#im trying to be very nice about this because i have friends who love houses but
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didsomeonesayventus · 2 years ago
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Every day of my life I peek at twitter to look for nice art of my Engage darlings only to be repeatedly hit across the face with the worst takes imaginable 😒
From calling Alear a coward/overly emotional/“insert other negative adjective here because people are upset Alear’s personality doesn’t make for a typical power fantasy MC to self insert onto” to saying “insert character here” would’ve made for a better protagonist than Alear to endless complaining about the focus on familial/platonic bonds over romance to the nonstop whining over “weh weh the story is so cheesy and silly and lighthearted not like the LAST a game so that means there’s nothing to like about Engage and it SUCKS” and blah blah blah (I could go on and on about the numerous other takes I’ve seen)
ah at it again with having Many Words and Things To Say
ngl the overly emotional/cowardly aspects of Alear is like. precisely the POINT of loving them as a protagonist? I'd say for M!Alear especially as like. he's a bit contrary as a male protagonist because of his gentleness, his silliness, his emotional honesty + expression, his emphasis on not feeling especially powerful or in any more control than anyone else (an ironic contrast with him being essentially Dragon Jesus and honestly a trope I love when gods are essentially just more powerful people).
The game is Alear's story and it's their growth and coming into their role as the Divine Dragon and gathering all these connections and friends and family to come in and defeat the evil problem dragon because the power of friendship and love and its transformative brilliance deserves to shine on its own. Like yeah I have ships im rotating in my brain but make no mistake that Engage is all about the friendship and family and unironically expressing and reveling in that love and it's always a delight to remember that.
and I know folks are comparing it to houses because houses was the last entry but it is literally comparing apples and oranges and I wish all doing it to feel superior a very Cut It Out. There's like almost no point to comparing them because their design + storytelling philosophies are literally opposite ends of the scale. Like maybe there's value in comparing them from a broad "what makes a fire emblem a fire emblem" sort of question but they're so vastly different you're literally only going to answer what your preference is.
And like! no shame in that! I couldn't get into Houses, you don't have to get into Engage. the series isn't dying or regressing or anything it's literally just exploring another angle that I'd argue is closer to its roots. I'd also argue it does a good job with what it wants to be. Not every story has to be an epic nuanced mess of complexity sometimes the Guy is Good and Everything Is Solved By Killing The Very Evil Problem Dragon. Dare I say we needed a story like that with the way the past few years have been.
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pixiesndberries · 11 months ago
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𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐉𝐉𝐊 𝐌𝐄𝐍 —
a small series of Jujutsu Kaisen men as your husband !
☆ OUR STARS : Gojo Satoru, Nanami Kento, Geto Suguru, Choso Kamo, Aoi Todo, Toji Fushiguro, and more !
━ REQUESTED BY : none
━⁠ WARNINGS : none
ෆ PIXIE'S NOTE ! : were back again at daily posting 🙏🏻 to my pookies who supported me, y'all made me giggle and kickin' my feet in my bed last night 👉🏻👈🏻 love lots!
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GOJO SATORU, as your husband !
• Gojo being your husband is no different from being your boyfriend — he still gotta be that same person you dated few years ago, though he became more serious about situations and decisions because you guys are married but his goofy, annoying, clingy side is still there — I mean when he met you and been with you for like two weeks your caller name is already set as 'wifey'.
Gojo who totally acts like a mom when you leave for work, he is like a freaking HOUSEWIFE —
"honey!" he sings as he walks into the living room seeing you brush your hair Infront of the mirror, getting ready for work. "hmm?" you responded and quickly turns your head at him — he's wearing a this is what an awesome husband looks like apron which made you too stunned to speak, "I created a bento for you." he smiles as he hands out a nicely wrapped bento box which was really new to you because it's always you who keep creating bentos for him, usually when he leaves for a mission.
"thank you, honey." you say softly with a warm smile as you accept his bento that he specially created for you, he can't help but to feel like a love sick teenager seeing you smile like that. He officially takes the position of being a housewife 🫡
Gojo who couldn't stop talking about the future he wants with you like nonstop — this man would talk about having three million carbon copy of him with you and would name them after megumi, yuji, nanami and basically all of his friends, students, and dead relatives 🏃🏻‍♀️💨 — I FEEL LIKE HE GOTTA BE THAT TYPE OF PERSON.
Gojo always flexes you everyday and YOU are his hyper fixation — argue with the wall, he gotta be the type of man to say "she's my wife." randomly when he's talking to an old friend he haven't seen for a long time. HE WILL BE THE HUSBAND WHO YOU WILL SEE WEARING "I LOVE MY WIFE" TYPE OF SHIRT WITH THE UGLIEST FONT AND PHOTO TEMPLATE EVER. Once a person mentions your name he ain't gonna shut the fuck up.
I just know this marriage go'n be like Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's relationship 🙏🏻 ABSOLUTELY RANDOM TEXTS FROM HIM, UPDATING YOU TOO MUCH.
2:32 pm
gojo : shitting at the mall cuz i don't have anywhere to shit on.
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : i miss you my wife, my beautiful wife.
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : your very handsome husband ❤️
2:40 pm
you : stop spamming me messages love, im at work 🙏🏻
gojo : why? is it turning you on 😏
you : that's a photo of your feet.
Gojo who became a seriously hands on person when you told him that you're pregnant — when he has missions with yuji, megumi, or maybe nobara and you told him that you're very tired to do anything today he will be like,"okay kids, I got to go I have important things to do." and dashed away before they could say something and mf arrived at yalls house within a second.
Gojo who cried when he carry his baby for the first time, he was sobbing like hell — girl dad? boy dad? BRO HE IS BOTH ‼️ "okay we'll name this one suguru and this one-" he is going to come up with the most ridiculous names, probably the worst one was his dead ancestor.
okay seriously, Gojo would be a full time dad after his children were born — he will always stay at home as much as he can, having twins isn't easy plus he's trying to help you with his full power and make sure you don't feel alone through this.
"gojo.." you grumble as you felt his presence disappearing next to you at bed, you open your eyes and sees he wasn't there which led you to stand up and start looking for him — you walk out of the bedroom and noticed that the twin's bedroom door was open so you check it out.
in your suprise, gojo was in the rocking chair with the twin's in his arms peacefully sleeping and he is snoring like hell. You can't help but smile seeing this moment, it warms you heart. You quickly grabbed your phone and took a quick photo, this is what you exactly wished for.
Gojo who couldn't stop posting you and his little angels and his fans are absolutely living for it, it's like his day wouldn't complete without posting cute photos of his angels and of course, you as well. Gojo is indeed a Facebook mom —
; gojosatoru
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tagged : @y/n.instagram | fam time 🤍 !
liked by megumi.22 and 8,957 others
itaaa.yuji | I volunteer as a tribute to babysit them 🫡
nobaraaa | CUTIES.
shokoleiri.7 | adorbs
─ REBLOGS, LIKES, AND COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED FEEL FREE TO REQUEST!
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rxmxa · 1 month ago
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random astro observations part 13.✨
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✨just for fun im just talking random ass shit based on PERSONALL observations..✨
PART TWELVE. 📀
virgo risings and people getting intimidated by the way they speak (scorpio 3rd house). But then when you get know and befriend them theyre so sweet (pisces 7h, cancer 11h). My virgo rising bestie & when i first met her in college she was speaking in class and i was like woah shes smart asf and intense 😭
or sag risings and them speaking to people in a direct yet still obscure manner! or sometimes even cold in a sense.. like girl what do u really mean fr 🤨 (aqua 3h). But then you get closer with them and they love to chat with you (gemini 7h) and make anytime u hang out a pleasant and nice time (libra 11h). my sag rising friend throws the best parties (going all out with the decor, presentation of food, having a theme & ofc taking nice pics after… real libra 11h shit).
taurus risings and them communicating in a very soft, comforting manner (cancer 3h) and as you get closer you notice their intensity in their relationships with people (scorpio 7h) and their giving, helpful nature in their friendships (pisces 11h).
another thing about taurus risings, you can bet they are getting FREAKYYY with their partner with that scorpio 7h 😭they are very private with their relationships and rarely reveal personal details about it unless they trust you. my taurus rising cousin and she never shares anything about her bf (whats mine is mine you dont need to worry about it) energy. and she also has mentioned she doesnt need to give ppl a reason to try to found out for themselves what a great time shes having lmfaooo
also my taurus rising coworkers and one time we all went out for drinks and one of our coworkers was complaining about how women always have a shit time when having seggs with men and my taurus rising coworker was like “wellppp cant relate.”.. and i oop 🙈
the 2nd house rules the vocal chords and as an aries 2h sometimes when im excited or even mad i sound like a 12 year old 😭 like naruto when hes giving one of his NEVER GIVE UP NEVER BACK DOWNNN speech. I also feel like if you have scorpio or aries 2h people always think you're mad and want you to "calm down" when you talk. like no im not mad have you ever heard of being fucking passionate? hmmm?
In general, aries placements could also find they get a lot of patronizing comments or aries women could even find that men often try to "mainsplain" them. just bc aries are being assertive doesnt mean theyre being reckless or not seeing the big picture.. its all a balance. Aries DOES have this youthful /bold energy, but that doesnt mean they cant be wise people who prefer to learn by doing, even if others mistake their approach for inexperience..
we know plutonians can be seen as having this “abrasive” energy to other people. it can throw them off or make them be like “oh i dont like them.” but pluto doms recognize other plutonian people its that silent understand lmaooo its giving "real recognize real😎 " overall tho pluto dom ppl try to give others the benefit of the doubt (not necessarily bc they like them but just bc they wanna feel the energy on their own). like if people are talking shit about someone pluto doms might sit back and stay silent about it. they do their digging on their own. theyre not gonna let the crowd influence how they feel about someone. plutonians will be DOING THEIR DIGGING FIRST no matter what.
I remember a time when my cousin, who’s a Scorpio rising, asked me if I liked one of her friends (not in a romantic way). I said, 'Yeah, why?' and she replied, 'Oh, just asking because she said she feels like you don’t like her, but I knew she was overthinking it.'" We moved on from the conversation, but later, I realized that was such a typical Scorpio rising move. Instead of just telling me, 'Hey, my friend feels like you don’t like her,' she asked me that question first to confirm or deny it. I felt like she did that on purpose to make it harder for me to lie, even though I wouldn’t have lied in the first place. It annoyed me because, like, why would I lie about something like that??? But then I understood it’s just her nature. Scorpio risings ask questions in a detective ass way because they want to dig for the truth and feel out people’s responses.
plutonians and scorpios do that shit all the time, tilting their heads like little cats, squinting, being all like "oh..hmm, why do you think that?" like no im about to do this shit with u rn sherlock fuckin JONES u know WHYYY
in my moon aspects post ppl asked me if it still applied with “harminous aspects” and yes. it still does. just bc u think its easier doesnt negate the energy. for ex i have moon trine neptune and my mom (moon) has always been in her own world (neptune). and other family members find her energy “endearing” or ask me to “be kinder to her” but its also hard when your mom often times cares more about the world of what ifs in her head more than the real world with her daughter ... also my moms way of coping (moon) at times would literally be by saying in front of the family as soon she got home that she hates her life and wish she could “grow wings and be somewhere far away from everyone ” like delulu was always the solution for her 😭….
but also i wonder if people with moon-neptune placements feel confused (neptune) about motherhood (moon) in general. i use to say i didn't want kids but as ive gotten older i do like the idea of it. it just feels very....… [static noises]
nui.views on instagram reminds me of the aries-libra axis so much. Most of her videos have titles like “how to be soft and direct” or “how to balance sharp and soft expressions.” usually titles along those lines. We know theres always time to read the room (libra) but also knowing when its time to stand up or speak up! (aries) and nui.views basically says it’s possible to do both.
12h moons & their moms being their biggest enemyyy is crazy!! 🤨 the passive aggressive behavior, entitlement, hating from the sidelines. AND the expectation of the 12h moon child to “repay” or be “grateful” mother for all they did. my ex had a 12h scorpio moon and brooo anytime they got a good thing, mom would make it all about her (for ex they bought a new car, mom was LIVIDDDDD). the moon can show how mom takes advantage. for ex: scorpio moon in the 12h and mom (moon) is possessive about the resources (scorpio) you have or over you in general. taurus moon and mom (moon) is possessive about your money (taurus) or maybe even holds over your head that “she feeds you.” i have a coworker with a 12h taurus moon and her mom constantly borrows money from her or literally steals it and never pays it back. capricorn moon and mom may feel like your accomplishments belong to her or “you wouldn’t be successful without all i did” energy.
^ their can be a lot of enmeshment with the mom with this placement (especially if their is a moon-pluto aspect) but its something the 12h moon person has to decide to sever or break from on their own and on their own time. this placement has to deal with the “mother always knows best😊😊😊😊” energy
12th house Moon women and other women (Moon) being their hidden enemies (12th house) is so real! I remember at my old job, one of my coworkers had a 12th house Aquarius Moon, and all the women would talk so much shit about her behind her back. (To be fair, she wasn’t doing her job well, but their comments were just unnecessarily nasty.) I used to feel bad for her in meetings because everyone would act normal to her face. I wasn’t at that job long… With this placement, it's common for other women (whether friends, family, or acquaintances) to secretly harbor resentment, jealousy, or animosity that isn’t obvious on the surface. Plus, with 12th house placements, if the person is genuinely doing something wrong or needs feedback, instead of being honest, people often use that as an excuse to bring up unrelated complaints or things they don’t like, turning it into something bigger than it is!! Like girl how did you go from talking about her customer service skills to talking about her haircut be fr!
how do you guys feel about people who plan their pregnancies to get a sign/ birth chart they are compatible with for their child? not gonna lie I use to think that shit was crazy but then I think about the 12h synastry and squares I have with my mom and im like... this shii couldve been way cuter...
gemini placements are the people that wake up in the middle of the night to google a random fact. its a itch they gotta scratch 😭 me with my chart ruler gemini jupiter in the 3h. trying to do type a paper for a class in one sitting? well no i got sidetracked reading about how to defend yourself against bear attacks which led me to bear survival stories on reddit which led me to reading about polar bears which led me to finding an article about the farmer that got attacked and eaten by his own hog named teddy and then… boom . its 3am.
Its so hard though like we know the "jack of all trades" label that comes with mercurial energy but damn what if I just wanna be a jack of one trade and be really good at that one thing? I bounce around from thing to thing because im always getting these diff ideas but im really working on finishing something once I start it. its just hard.... sometimes I b having a lot to yap about, ya know? (ive had many diff hobbies, writing fan-fiction, painting, making candles, crocheting, LMAOOO its just chaos sometimes)
sometimes aspects can be very literal. im spilling some family tea sorry tia but for ex my aunt has venus conjuct pluto in the 10th house and her relationships (venus) are known for (10h) being taboo or just frowned upon (10h). She dated her besties ex-husband and it caused A LOT OF drama and then he fucking died bro...like?? Being known for (10h) her lovers (venus) dying (pluto)?????? im not trying to be a judgmental asshole but also its so disappointing though when people use aspects like this for evil? fucking ur besties man as soon as they get divorced? with that venus-pluto in the 10h she could've found herself a successful ass business man!
my bestie is a teacher and she was telling me about how the kids were sharing about what they wanna be when they grow up and when it got to this one girls turn she said she wanted to be a basketball player or some shit like that (the point is it was a very 5th grade response similar to her peers) but then like the kids started clapping when she said hers??? LMAOOOO and to me that is the most sun-venus SHIT EVER. and then she told me all the the 5th grade tea, how some of the boys have a crush on her haha. shes admired and well liked (venus) just for being who she is (sun)!
moon-venus is different. my experience with venus-moon aspect has consisted of women always feeling comfortable enough to confide me, me feeling more comfy with women around, children loving me, children in my family venting to me (im that one cousin the babies reach out to first to get picked up ejeje). the moon is about the inner self, privacy, and our home life. A moon-venus person might be very well-liked, but often in a more low-key, intimate way. They're the type of person you confide in or feel safe with, rather than someone who shines in the spotlight or dominates a social scene the way a sun-venus person would. both aspects make a person likable, but in different way. sun-venus is more about being confident and noticeable, while moon-venus is more about being caring and emotionally connected with others.
btw doing personalized astro observations in the style of the way i usually write my random ones but instead based on your birth chart 😙🥰
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maxlarens · 6 months ago
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Hi, I have a smau request for Charles (based on c.ai bot lol, and the fact that I love painting), so the reader is invited by her friends to a house for vacation, her friends are all with their s/o and they also always try to set up reader with someone, that's when her and Charles meet, and reader finally gives it a chance because she knows her friends won't stop to set her up. They talk for a whole evening about what they do in life (reader is an artist/painter) and they get along really well. Eventually they get together and reader is very liked by the public, even if there will always be haters, but most fans thinks she's just very adorable (especially because of her insta/twitter posts)
CL: slip up and i call you baby
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pairing(s): charles leclerc x artist!reader
summary: you love your friends, you really do. you just wish they’d stop trying so hard to set you up with random guys. [smau + written fic] (read on: ao3) (part 2)
fc: faceless
word count: 5.1k
warnings: mild sexual references
a/n: this is such a cute idea! thank u so much for sending it in!! u will not believe how much this idea gripped me like i never write one shots like this its just unheard of for me if im honest. anyway i know u asked for a smau so i will be doing a second part/continuation to this that is solely an smau to make up for that. (ALSO sorry for disappearing i was super sick for the whole week and have been getting my shit back together in the aftermath😭)
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ynusername italy we are in u!!!
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Amalfi Coast, Italy
You’ve never been particularly boy crazy. At least not the same way your friends are.
There have been a few not-quite boyfriend’s over the years, but those relationships never last long. They never really get you, or they never really get the art thing. Which means, of course, that they don’t get you and never will— and that’s fine, you’re content with that. If living for your art means you’ll never be in love then so be it and frankly, good riddance to them.
For the most part, you’ve given up trying. You go on a few dates here and there, but you never let them stick around. Even the ones that seem interested in your paintings you don’t bother with— none of them really seem to be able to grasp what art truly is to you. It isn’t just paint on a canvas, it’s living, it’s breathing. You are only yourself with a way to make art.
It’s difficult to put into words.
So you don’t. Instead, you send texts that say ‘thanks for your time but this isn’t working out’ and you keep the men your friends try to set you up with at arm's length. You placate Chloe and her partner Rowan– who collects friends like they’re Pokémon– with, “he wasn’t my type” and “I’m not looking for a relationship right now”, which you suppose is true, but also isn’t the entirety of it. Yet, every time without fail, there’s a new boy at the scene of the crime.
Chloe doesn’t get it, none of your friends get it. You don’t try to explain it to them. So, y’know, here you are again.
Anyway, here’s the thing: they’re getting closer. Inexplicably, without knowing how you really feel about it all, Chloe and Rowan are getting better and better at picking the boys who are able to tempt you. Which is a pain really, because sometimes you’re trying to have a perfectly nice vacation in Italy without the lure of a boy you can’t let yourself have. But alas, these things generally don’t go your way.
You should know that by now.
Charles Leclerc is bang on the money, he really is. He is unbearably cute, like so cute that you have to leave the room when he walks in, because you don’t trust yourself to be in close proximity to him right now. You have a hard time looking at his face when you are forced to be around him. The dimples when he smiles, the squint of his eyes even when he isn’t. If you look too long you’re liable to stare and that wouldn’t lead to anything good at all.
He’s nice as well. So nice, just like Chloe told you. You try to pretend he doesn’t exist and he still asks you questions about your job and the area of Monaco you live in— like he’s even interested, like he’ll remember you two weeks from now. You try your best to be pleasant, to answer without it being like pulling teeth, and to ask questions of him as well. You’ll probably see him again after this, so best to not to go too far and act like you hate him. It’s difficult though, toeing the line between friendly and encouraging of more. Or it feels difficult for you. Charles doesn’t make even the slightest suggestion of the two of you being set up by your nosy friends. That’s unbearable too. Part of you wishes he’d just make a clumsy pass at you so you can rebuff it and make your intentions abundantly clear. But, obviously, he doesn’t, because he’s perfect or something.
It sucks. You hate him, you think.
Or you want to.
On the second day of the trip, you’re on the villa’s private beach, laying in the hot sun. Chloe, Anaïs and Bea are there; everyone else is either still sleeping off the wine from last night or swimming in the glittering ocean. You’ve got a secondhand book, a 2B pencil and a pair of sunglasses over your eyes. You’re trying to read but you just end up doodling, drawing your friends bikini-clad bodies over the text and shading grapes into the margins. Trying desperately not to accidentally put Charles Leclerc’s dimples, messy hair, or sloped nose to paper.
“So,” Chloe says conspiratorially, as you abort an attempt at drawing a slightly squinted eye with thick lashes, “What do you think of Charles?”
You raise an eyebrow carefully at her over your sunglasses, betraying nothing of your inner turmoil, “I think nothing.”
Anaïs laughs, rolling onto her back, “That’s such shit. You practically sprint away from him everytime he comes near.”
“I do not,” you answer too quickly.
Anaïs laughs again, louder. Chloe joins in and Bea raises her eyebrows at you like you’re a fucking liar. You frown, glaring a little before stubbornly turning your head back to your book. The conversation about Charles ends there, but unfortunately your actions have spoken for themselves. A chill of something like panic chitters up your spine and into your shoulders. You have to roll them to make the feeling go away.
As the sun climbs higher in the sky you lose some people to the heat and gain others. It’s just you and Chloe sweating onto your towels when Rowan and Charles finally give up on whatever game they were playing in the ocean. Rowan collapses unceremoniously into the space between you and Chloe, kicking up sand and getting water droplets all over you like he’s a wet dog. You let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and an exasperated groan as you roll away from him, landing in the sand.
“Watch it,” you cry, “You’re getting my book all wet.”
Rowan laughs, “You’re drawing in it!”
“So.”
He pulls a face at you that makes you roll your eyes; then he turns into Chloe, shoving his face into her collarbone and flinging limbs over her. You snort, leaning over to snag the book off your towel before it gets dragged into the mess that Rowan is causing. You’re about to get up and go inside until you realise Charles is still standing there. Has, in fact, been standing there since Rowan ran over. Your breath catches, heart skipping a beat as you look up to find him standing there.
“Hey,” you smile briefly at him, quickly looking away from his damp hair and bare chest (–which is difficult to do because, holy shit–) so you can gather up your towel.
“Hi,” he replies.
He might smile back. You don’t look. You’re trying to get the image of his washboard abs out of your head. This proves difficult when you clamber to your feet and find yourself face to face with him.
“Are you heading back?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
God, you want to kick yourself. You’re being so awkward, and right in front of Chloe too, who may not be watching but is absolutely listening to you make a fool of yourself in front of a guy you have very firmly said that you are not interested in. It must be clear to him too, that you’re trying very deliberately to not be interested in him. You cant tell what would be worse; if that means he’ll think you’re a weirdo or if it means he’ll take it as a sign that he should make some kind of move.
Ugh.
“I’ll come with you?”
“Hmm,” you blink yourself back into existence, seeing the questioning look on Charles’ face, “Yes, yeah. Sorry.”
You say goodbye to Chloe and Rowan who barely look away from one another, still rolling around in the sand like teenagers.
“Gross,” you say to Charles, as the two of you trudge through hot sand toward the sandstone steps that lead up to the villa.
He laughs, a breathy thing that tapers off with a sigh, “A bit, yes.”
You don’t say anything else, but you find yourself staring at his back and the way his muscles shift and move underneath his tanned skin. At the top of the stairs you part ways, he smiles at you and you offer something awkward in return, trying to pretend you hadn’t been looking at him. You don’t think he notices, but your cheeks red burn anyway.
You don’t see him watching you leave.
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chloegarelli hungover, sunkissed and lovesick
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Amalfi Coast, Italy
Dinner is a huge affair, as it always is on these trips.
You, Anaïs and Chloe spend three hours in the kitchen that afternoon making chicken fricassée and about a hundred different side dishes to go with it. Everyone crowds around the dinner table to eat and drink even more wine than the night before. Piero Piccioni plays on the old record player, crackling away as you laugh and talk and tell stories with your friends well into the night. You watch the sun set through floor-to-ceiling glass windows and you wish wish wish that you had your paints right now.
You brought along a set of oil pastels and one of your art notebooks, but it doesn’t compare at all to painting. If you could get your hands on cadmium yellow in all it’s hues, maybe vermillion and a powder blue, your lack of paintbrush or canvas wouldn’t even matter. You’d use your fingers if you needed to. It bothers you so much that you get up in the middle of clearing away the meal and go to your room for the pastels and notebook. You need to get it on a page at least.
You push a few plates to the side, folding out your notebook and immediately marking the page up with a creamy white pastel. Bea teases you when she comes over to take the rest of the dirty dishes, but you just mumble something unintelligible, too engrossed with smudging the sunset into something that looks like what you’d seen out the window. When the oranges and yellows blend to your satisfaction you take the black and brown and draw in the top of your friends’ heads, not thinking about how much attention to detail you’re paying to the shape of Charles’ side profile.
When you’re finished, you’re surprised to see that the table is cleared save for a few half-full wine glasses and a fresh bottle. Only Chloe, Rowan and Charles are still sitting by you. You’re listening to another Piero Piccioni album now, or maybe just the other side of the record. You remember saying goodnight to the others and saying yes to a glass of wine, so you’ve not been totally dead to the world, but it’s all in a bit of a haze.
You think this might be part of the reason why you can’t hold down a boyfriend. The disappearing into your art like you cant breathe until it’s finished. That may as well be the case if you’re honest.
You sigh, wiping your stained fingers on the next blank page, then you take a long sip from your glass of merlot, pretending you dont notice the others’ eyes on you.
“All done?” Chloe quips, somewhere on the border of teasing and being annoyed at you.
You look at her, your eyes just narrowing enough for her to notice. She does and purses her lips. You raise an eyebrow to ask okay, what’s your fucking problem? And you see her eyes flash to Charles. You follow her gaze to see him and Rowan pretending to look disinterested in your answer. Charles is tracing the base of his wine glass and absently biting the inside of his mouth. You have to tear your eyes away.
“All done,” you answer, tone clipped, before gathering your things (including the wine glass) and leaving the room in a move you hope doesn’t come off as too rude.
At your back you hear Rowan ask Chloe, “What was that?”
Chloe means well, you think as you wind through the villa, making your way to the balcony overlooking the private beach. She wants you to be happy and she thinks you need a boyfriend to be happy. But she’d found the love of her life in Rowan after only a few years of dating around and she doesn’t quite understand that it’s never going to work like that for you. There aren’t enough people out there that understand the kind of passion you have for your art and certainly not many that would also be compatible with you. You’re fine with that, but Chloe doesn’t know what to do with it. Especially not now she’s cottoned onto the fact that you have some kind of interest in Charles. It’s killing her.
It’s irrelevant though, whatever interest you have in Charles doesn’t factor into anything. He’s cute, he’s nice, but so were the dozen boys that you’ve already dated and not continued dating. So really, Chloe needs to stop pushing it because it’s pissing you off. You’re here for a holiday, not to be forced into conversations with a guy you don’t know. If she needs to have an argument to finally understand that, then so be it. You’ve been friends for years, it’ll blow over eventually.
You flick a switch and blinking lights illuminate the balcony. Fairy lights are wound up the posts and draped on the awning, intertwining with the lush green vines that have grown up through the wood slats. The air is balmy and the breeze light as you settle into one of two cushioned chairs situated by a coffee table. It’s perfect. You spread the oil pastels out next to your glass of wine and set your open notebook on your crossed legs, listening to the sound of waves lapping against the shore.
You’re alone for what feels like a long time but is probably only an hour or two.
When the sliding door clunks open you expect it to be Chloe coming over to have it out, but it’s not. Instead, Charles slips through the gap with the rest of the wine gripped in one hand.
“Hi,” he greets, smiling at you in a way that makes dimples carve in his cheeks, and dashing any hopes you have that he’d walk right past you.
“Hey,” you forget yourself for a moment and bite your lip on a broad smile.
He holds the bottle out toward you, offering more. You lean over your notebook and hold your empy wine glass up in acceptance.
“Merci,” you say, and in a moment of weakness (and probable wine drunk-ness) you gesture at the plush chair across from you.
Charles, somewhat caught off guard, looks between your outstretched hand, the chair, and your face, before shaking his head almost imperceptibly and finally taking a seat. Despite his apparent shock, you find it hard to believe he’d come out here simply to offer you some of the last of the wine. Surely, this is Chloe and Rowan’s doing. Though, strangely, you cant quite bring yourself to care.
He sets the bottle on the coffee table, next to your oil pastels. You lean forward to place a few back in their rightful spots, snagging your wine glass as you go.
Charles eyes’ scan your face for a moment, searching for something you suppose, then he points at your notebook, “Have you been drawing?”
You nod, “Mmm.”
You think perhaps the answer is a bit obvious. He seems to realise this, you watch a blush spread onto the top of his cheeks and he flutters his eyelids slightly, almost like rolling his eyes at himself. You don’t think about his eyelashes, thick and dark as they brush against his cheekbone, and you don’t think about his eyes, the lights reflecting off them, making them sparkle.
“What are you drawing then?” he asks after a moment of collecting himself, an edge of embarrassment to his voice.
You give in easily to the strange urge you have to show him, grabbing the notebook off your lap and holding it out for him to see what you’d been scribbling in the book for the past two hours. You let him take it off your hands, ignoring the spike of anxiety. He holds it gingerly, like it's a precious artefact (of course, to you, it is), which makes something warm bloom in your chest. You take a sip of wine and gesture for him to flip through a few pages, which he seems hesitant to do without permission. The book is angled in such a way that you can see most of the page, so you’re content to let him. Or at least you are until he flips to the page you’d started when you’d first come out here.
Panic drops like a stone in your gut because he’s looking right at a fully rendered drawing of his eyes. It’s in amongst some pillars strung with lights and covered in climbing vines; your best attempt at capturing the way the beach looked earlier in the day; and, perhaps your saving grace, Chloe half asleep on her towel. But the drawing of her is haphazard, it’s half-scribbled and half-finished, whereas the one of Charles eyes’ is as detailed as the sunset scene you’d done the page before. It had been something you just needed to get out, drawn in one of those hazes of yours. You’d felt better after it was done, your hands had stopped feeling like they were itchy.
Now, you itch to snatch the notebook off him, but you fear that would be even more incriminating. So you watch him look at the page and try to sit with the panicked feeling spreading in your chest.
Eventually, he points at the page, “Is this me?”
You bite your lip, breathing slowly through your nose to try and abate the blush spreading up your neck. You don’t say anything exactly, just shrug and rock your head back and forth in a kind of confirmation that doesn’t really admit anything. Though, there’s no denying the drawing is him.
“It’s good,” he says, seemingly stumbling over the words, “It’s very good.”
You frown into your drink, “Thank you.”
“I mean it.”
You know he means it. It’s not that.
“Yes,” you put down the wine glass, looking at him but avoiding eye contact, “I know. I know it’s good. I’m just… I’m embarrassed,” you admit.
He furrows his eyebrows– or it’s more that he squints and his eyebrows fold in with it. You watch his tongue dart out to run across the top of his bottom lip and you stamp down the less than innocent thoughts that come bubbling up at that. He waves the hand that’s not still holding carefully onto your notebook about for a moment, trying to conjure up words that he doesn’t have yet.
Slowly, he says, “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. I– It’s–”
He’s about to say flattering, so you cut him off, not wanting to hear the tone of it, whether it be pity or something else entirely.
You try to explain yourself, “Things get stuck in my head sometimes. Like after dinner,” you reach forward and flip the page back one, to the sunset, “I have to get it onto paper. Or… or… it just runs laps in my head for the rest of eternity, I guess. I don’t stop thinking about it.”
You cringe internally. You’ve just told him that you were so consumed by thoughts of his eyes that you had to draw them immediately. That is perhaps worse than just wanting to draw him because you thought he was cute. Charles raises his eyebrows, clearly surprised by your admission, but there’s perhaps also something sincere in there? You can’t pinpoint it, but it makes you feel a fraction better you think.
You sigh forlornly, “That’s weirder, huh?”
He laughs, properly laughs, and it sends some strange feeling skittering down your spine, “No. No, I get it. I don’t have any way to get it down as quickly as I’d like, but I definitely understand the feeling.”
You bite the inside of your lip, hesitant but still curious, “You understand the feeling? Really?”
“Yes,” he smiles easily now, relaxing more in the chair after he places your notebook onto the counter with a cautiousness you still don’t expect, “For me, with racing, it’s like I get an idea and I can’t sleep until I try it on track or talk about it with someone. Some of them don’t work, or aren’t possible, which is fine, but if it sounds right to me and it checks out with the people that it needs to, then, well, then it literally does run laps in my head.”
You laugh, mostly to yourself. You’re not sure yet if he understands what you’re saying, but he’s trying. That’s more than you can say for a lot of people. You try not to let that thought linger for too long.
“You think it’s similar?” you ask in a way you desperately hope comes across as curious and not accusatory.
He hums, waving his hand around again for words, “Perhaps. I think the urgency is the same. The passion is the same. Do you ever feel like something terrible will happen if you can’t–”
“Yes,” you’re a bit breathless in your haste to agree, to talk about this feeling with someone who understands, “Yes. I do. It’s like I need to put it somewhere before I lose it. Otherwise, it won’t be perfect, or it’ll be too late.”
“Exactly,” his eyes seem to light up, for a long second you watch the flickering lights reflect in them, “Exactly.”
“It’s never as good as I want it to be,” you admit, finding it easier to look him in the eye now that some strange barrier between you has been broken, “It’s never quite how I imagine it in my head.”
Charles points at your notebook, “These are very good, really. I don’t see how they could be better. But,” he shrugs, “Eh, I will win a race and still think of everything I did wrong.”
You nod eagerly in understanding as you lean back into the chair, finally relaxing into the cushions. It’s strange to have this conversation, knowing you’re talking about two entirely different careers, but feeling like they’re so similar. Maybe it’s just you and Charles that are similar, maybe your jobs have nothing to do with it? You don’t know, you just know it’s nice to feel like someone gets what you’re talking about.
Charles continues, speaking like he’ll explode if he doesn’t get this off his chest, “It’s there all the time, do you know what I mean? Maybe I’m not thinking about it every second, but it’s always there waiting for something to draw attention to it. And people ask what else is going on in my life, and of course I do other things, and I enjoy other things, but I want to be on the track. I want to be driving whenever I can.”
You nod again, more subdued now, “Mmm, right. I want to be making art all the time, and when I can’t it’s like missing a limb. To me art is– it– it’s like–”
“–breathing,” he finishes, almost the lilt of a question to it, but not really, it’s like he knows exactly what you mean… how you feel.
You exhale, long and slow, “Yeah. Like breathing.”
Both of you are quiet for a little after that. You’re trying not to stare at him, but it’s not easy. He’s looking at you almost blatantly and you can feel blood rushing to your cheeks the longer he stares. The air feels thick with some feeling you can’t place. All you know is there are butterflies in your stomach and a smile keeps pulling at the edge of your pursed lips.
The smile takes over as you catch him starry-eyed in your peripheral vision, you mutter, “Stop that. Stop looking at me.”
“Why?”
You tip your head back so you can’t see him looking at you, “Because.”
“Because?” he laughs breathily, shaking his head at you, “Okay, well, tell me if I’m misreading anything, but I’m pretty sure that drawing of me in your notebook says something, at least.”
You run a hand down your face, sighing loudly, “Yes, okay. I suppose it does. But– I–” for a moment you struggle for the right words to explain yourself, “I guess I’m not really looking to date anyone.”
He tilts his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows and looking for all intents and purposes, like a confused puppy, “You guess?”
You nod, resisting the urge to just launch over the table and grab his face. He is very cute and he is making this so hard for you.
He sucks his teeth briefly, shrugging, “I’m not really either.”
“Alright,” you say, “Good.”
As over as that should make the issue, strangely enough it doesn’t feel like you’re done with Charles Leclerc and it certainly doesn’t feel like he’s done with you either.
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Amalfi Coast, Italy
You try to avoid Charles after that, you really do, but he doesn’t quite let you.
For a few days of the holiday you give him pointed looks and purse your lips a lot when he’s around. Chloe catches on straight away and that makes it all infinitely worse until she finally realises she might need to leave you alone (yeah, shocker). When Chloe finally forces everyone to get off your back about Charles, it becomes much easier to be around him. You’re not glaring at your friends while they make eyes at you, or worrying if you’re acting weird; you’re just allowed to be.
It’s nice. He’s nice.
But you knew that already.
Neither of you are looking for a relationship so there’s no pressure for it to be anything at all. But you have this sneaking suspicion that perhaps both of you are looking for a relationship with eachother regardless. You try to ignore the thought.
On day five, you’re sitting together on an outcropping of rock that overlooks the ocean and you’re letting Charles doodle in your notebook with a ballpoint pen. The bare skin of both your arms are pressed together, they stick with sweat from the hot midday sun but neither of you seem to care. As you watch him doodle inexpertly you can smell him— salt and sweat and whatever cologne he uses masking the very faint scent of burning rubber. Your hair, still damp, brushes his forearm, you wonder if you smell of acrylic paint and mildew from all the water cups you accidentally leave out for your paintbrushes.
You reach out to trace a line he’d made, “Here, it should be more like…” you taper off, taking the pen from his hand and quickly fixing the curve of the beach before handing the utensil back.
“Hmm,” he hums, giggling a little, “I guess that looks better.”
“You guess?”
He nods, “What if I had a very specific vision?”
You raise an eyebrow in disbelief, leaning back to look him in the eye you tease, “A vision. Did you?”
He tilts his head down to look at you. You’re very close now, you can feel his breath fanning over your face. In the reflection of his sunglasses you watch your lips part slightly and your eyelids flutter. Your chest grows tight with anticipation and maybe a little bit of panic. Still, you reach out and slide his sunglasses up to settle in his hair. You’re a little careless, but you like the way his hair pokes out from them at odd angles. As he breathes out you hear it catch for a split second.
“Did you?” you repeat, knowing he won’t remember what you were talking about.
He blinks twice, still staring at you, “Hmm?”
“You said you had a vision,” you breathe.
“Oh,” as he says it, his eyes flicker down to your mouth, only for a second, but it’s long enough to you know you’re done for.
You both lean in at the same time, your noses sliding off each other in your eagerness. You breathe a kind of laugh into his mouth and you feel him try to suppress a smile against your lips. It’s slow for the first few seconds, just you and Charles figuring out how your mouths fit together. His mouth is warm and wet and so soft, and it’s easy to lose yourself in it. You move the hand that had adjusted his sunglasses, sliding it up his shoulder to the back of his muscled neck. Your fingers weave into the short hair at the base of it, your nails scratching absently there. He groans, ever so slightly into your mouth and it sends heat skittering down your spine, into the low of your gut.
The hand of his that isn’t clutching onto your notebook slips forward and winds around to press at your bare back. He pulls you closer to him as you slide your hand up to cup the back of his head, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. Soon it’s a mess of tongue and teeth and Charles blindly shoving your notebook somewhere it wont slip into the water so he can grab you with both hands. He tastes like red wine and coffee and you love the way his fingers dig into your skin and the way his teeth have been grazing at your bottom lip, like he wants to sink into it.
You’re almost in his lap when you’re forced to pull away for air.
Foreheads pressed together, you breathe heavily into the space between you. Your hand is still stuck in his hair and one of his on the small of your back, the other holding your knee. The sides of your noses touch, you nudge yours against his affectionately, tempted by the proximity of his mouth.
He laughs and you feel it against your lips, intermingling with your own breath, “Alright. That was–”
“Yeah,” you finish, dipping forward to kiss him again.
You’re lost for another few minutes. Tongue and teeth and the sound of the waves crashing against the rock behind you. And his hand on your jaw and in your hair and pulling you closer closer to him.
He pulls away this time, turning his head to press your cheeks together, mouth at your ear, “So,” he drags the word out with a laugh, “are you looking for a relationship now?”
You snort unceremoniously, and tease, “Hmm. I guess I would be amenable to that.”
“You guess?” he asks— but not really needing to at all because you can feel his dimples pressing into your cheek as he smiles knowingly.
You nod, smiling too, “I guess.”
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🎨 yes of course i made a playlist>> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6cAJaZjvK0V7SrmxoMosBX?si=ADlJGHxxQYKnlZ1jWFJxfw&pi=a-AI0MKbo3RTqE
taglist: (pls message if you'd like to be added to the taglist for charles. my yuck! one is full so need to start a new one😭)
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slytherinshua · 3 months ago
Text
SUMMER'S #1 PERK
genre. fluff. warnings. gyuvin is shirtless ‼️⁉️ n reader gets very shy. AND GYUVIN IS SO FLIRTY GOD. not proofread cause it's 6 am and i'm going to sleep but i'll fix it later if i have to skdjsk. pairing. gyuvin x fem!reader. wc. 1k. request. requested by 🥟 anon for prompt #27: "eyes up here, idiot" ++ written for @blue-jisungs <3 (i forgot if this was a deal before or not but uhh ik im getting gunwook in return for finishing this so a win is a win 💪) a/n. the zb1 delusions continue guys (send more in if u have any 😭‼️)
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You had never been a fan of summer. The overwhelming heat, sticky sweat, and endless free time just clashed with you. As soon as summer started, you were already counting down the days until it would end, much preferring winter to it any year. 
But, as you sat on the pool chair under an umbrella, you realized that summer might have at least one perk to it. And that was your boyfriend shirtless at the pool.
You had been dubious at the idea of swimming with your boyfriend’s friends when he suggested the idea to you that morning. It was only your second or third time hanging out with them, and you never particularly liked water activities. But all your prior reluctance seemed to have disappeared into thin air the second Gyuvin walked out of the house with iced lemonade in his hands and a very clear absence of any swim top. 
You couldn’t help but blush at the sight. Truthfully, the most you had seen was him in a tank top as the weather got warmer. You were always one to take things slowly, and while you knew he worked out and definitely had muscles hiding underneath, you were never in a rush to see them. Maybe because you knew you would get flustered like you were now. 
Gyuvin’s eyes searched for yours, as they always did when he was apart from you for any amount of time. His face brightened when he spotted you sitting cross legged on the pool chair, book in your lap, trying your best to look anywhere but him. 
“Want some lemonade?” He asked as he walked over, holding a cool glass topped with a pink straw and a paper umbrella. The sun shined straight down on him, doing wonders to warm his skin tone to a rich golden colour, his chest and abdomen catching the warmth of it as well. 
He had told himself he wouldn’t get his hopes up about your reaction to him being shirtless. He loved having an effect over you; it boosted his ego. But he didn’t want to be cocky. It was true that he had worked on his chest and abs a little harder specifically for you. Who could blame him for wanting to look nice for his girlfriend? He just wanted to match up to how pretty you were.
He didn’t miss the way you were avoiding eye contact, or the flush that was taking over your face. Now that he saw how shy you were, he couldn’t help the grin that spread to his face. You took the lemonade from him and used it as a distraction, although you snuck another peak at his stomach when he handed you the glass.
“The boys want to do a relay race. I’ll be back once I win!” He said cheerfully, leaning over your chair to give you a kiss on the forehead.
You let out a sigh of relief when he turned away from you, so sure you were going to completely melt into a puddle under his stare if he looked at you for even a second longer. Watching him from a distance was infinitely easier on your racing heart.
The boys did several rounds of relay races, and then started to play catch with some pool toys. You just watched them with a smile on your face. They were having fun, and you loved to hear your boyfriend’s laugh. He was on a team with Jiwoong, Yujin, and Ricky for a game of pool volleyball, and somehow, miraculously, they won against the others.
You saw Gyuvin cheer, hugging Ricky in celebration. It was cute how hard they celebrated just for winning a game of pool volleyball. Gyuvin then turned to you, grinning as your eyes met. You smiled at him and he beckoned you over to him, meeting you at the side of the pool.
You dipped your feet into the water, sitting on the poolside as the other boys got out to dry off. Gyuvin swam over to you, still somehow taller than you despite standing much lower in the water.
“Did you see I got the winning point?” He laughed, pushing his hair back off of his forehead as he got to the edge of the pool. 
“I saw! It was a super close game.” You smiled as he wrapped your legs around his waist, closing the little distance between you two. “You know, you distracted me from my book.” You draped your arms around his bare shoulders, not minding how they were still wet from the water.
He started to smile, “Oh? How so, baby?” He teased, already knowing where this was going. 
“How am I supposed to focus on anything when you’re shirtless?” It was hard to even say it in front of him, the sight of his smirk widening making you blush. You would’ve run away from his teasing if you could, but he had you trapped, hands securely on your waist, keeping you close to him.
“Eye's up here, idiot.” His eyes twinkled as he lifted a hand to your cheek, feeling how warm it was. You couldn’t even think of a suitable defense to save yourself from the embarrassment given how your brain was short-circuiting. Not that Gyuvin gave you any time to respond regardless, much more focused on capturing your lips with his. 
Seeing you shy only made him bolder, confidence bubbling in his chest more than it ever had before. Your blush was already the most adorable sight Gyuvin had ever seen, but to know it appeared because of him made his heart warm in his chest. 
Summer’s biggest perk was definitely this. Shy giggles, flushed cheeks, and warm kisses shared in the pool with your (shirtless) boyfriend. 
↳ zerobaseone taglist (bolded could not be tagged): @eternalgyu,, @okshu,, @chewryy,, @haecien,, @sobun1est,,
@emmylksblog,, @talkingsaxy,, @thesunsfullmoon,, @chenleszone,, @sxmmerberries,,
@cupidslovearrows,, @dimplewonie,, @50-husbands,, @hursheys,, @mjupis,,
@kangtaehyunzzz,, @nonononranghaee,, @forever-atiny
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six-eyed-samurai · 2 months ago
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Hello ! (I’m not sure if your requests are open but I love your fics so I really wanted to try 😭) Could you maybe write a Genya x Male reader one ? Where like Genya deals with confusion and internalised homophobia after realising he fell in love with a guy ? IM SO SORRY IF YOU DONT DO MALE READERS OR SMTH LIKE THAT, HAVE A GOOD DAY !!
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SUMMARY: Genya's emotionally constipated. It's the Shinazugawa genes - but even more so when it comes to...guys?!
A/N: KYAAH Ty anon glad you enjoyed, and DW my inbox is open anytime I'm just a little slow in writing rn because of exams and I'm moving house. I have done male reader before but I'm not too used to writing gay T-T so I'm sorry if this turned out the way you wanted
WARNINGS: Male reader in case you don't read the asks and only warnings/Minor swearing
Much romance happens at Kimetsu Academy.
There's Zenitsu and Nezuko, although Genya considers it more of an obsession on the blonde’s end seeing as Nezuko doesn't openly display any signs of liking him back romantically, whatever the delusional idiot thinks. There's also Tanjiro and Kanao, the perfect epitome of friends to lovers. And whatever Aoi and Inosuke have going on.
But none of that ever happened to Genya. Sure, he thought the occasional girl was pretty or nice, but aside from the fact he explodes into a tomato just from a simple “hello” he's never been actually interested. Of course that occasionally made him feel a bit left out amongst his friends, like he was missing something great, but hey, Muichiro and him would be single pringles forever and that was fine.
(Genya's very betrayed to find out Muichiro had received a confession…and was considering accepting it.)
But it was a little unbelievable to the Kamaboko Squad that in all of the sixteen years of his life he had never had a crush, hence the interrogation they were giving him that particular day during lunch.
“Have you never fallen in love? At all?!” Genya wants to snort; as if Zenitsu would ever notice anybody else's love life but his own.
“HAHAHAHAA! LOSER!”
Tanjiro calmly shoved Inosuke away from a fuming Genya, smiling brightly. “I'm sure Genya has one! And we'll be more than happy to help him confess!”
“Aren't crushes supposed to be secret-”
“Then we have to figure out who it is first!” Zenitsu hollers.
“No-”
“Is it Kocho?!”
Kanao, Tanjiro and Genya both look scandalised but Zenitsu barrels on. Aoi face palms. Inosuke steals everyone's food.
“Is it Kanrojii?!”
“Why is everyone you're listing so much older than me!”
“OKAY, OKAY! Uh…Koyuki-”
“SHE'S ENGAGED TO SOMEONE ELSE!”
“Sheesh, I got it, stop yelling! That Shabana girl?”
“Just why-”
“Maybe Genya does like someone but just doesn't realize it,” Kanao offers timidly.
“That's a good point, Kanao!” Tanjiro beams, causing Genya and Kanao to flush red but for entirely different reasons.
“How am I supposed to know if I like someone?”
“If you find them cute?”
“That seems really superficial,” Aoi says disapprovingly.
“You'll get really nervous around them, like your heart speeds up. You'll probably stare at them a lot too, and want to do lots of things for them, maybe hold open doors?” Tanjiro nods wisely.
“And they're the first person you look at to see if they're laughing at a joke,” Kanao agrees.
Genya considers. “Then none of the girls you just listed, honestly.”
“It's alright, you'll find the one for you one day. There's no rush now.”
“HAHAHA! TENYA IIDA IS GOING TO BE ALONE FOREVER! HAHAHHAA!”
“MY NAME IS GENYA!”
***
Truth be told Genya had lied.
It wasn't a lie exactly either. More of…an avoidance of the truth. He didn't feel that way about any girls Zenitsu had mentioned, or any of the girls at school.
But he did like someone, yes.
Or no. Definitely not. It couldn't possibly be.
“Oh, hey, Shinazugawa.” Your simple wave as you joined his side outside the classroom door was enough to get his heart pounding and slightly sweaty like he had just suffered an entire class with the gym teacher Tomioka.
“Thanks for holding the door!” You call out over your shoulder, flashing him a bright smile while entering the class and taking your seat. You immediately turn to start talking with your friends, something Genya's extreme thankfully for because then you can't see the tomato red that's painting his face as he's still stuck, frozen and speechless, by the door. Only Iguro-sensei’s cold “Do you plan to have the lesson by the door or something?” Shook him out of it.
You're so confusing, Genya thinks, averting his eyes when you catch his with a mouthed “oops” and raised eyebrows, because he wants to revel in your attention and hide in a hole from it at the same time.
It was a pleasant kind of confusion, though. The kind he wouldn't mind thinking about forever; it gave him an oddly warm, fidgety feeling inside like he had just drunk an entire thermos of hot chocolate and got marshmallows to top it off. Then he promptly slaps himself (mentally) because he shouldn't be thinking about this, that and you.
Not like it stopped him from staring at the back of your head all through class. He doesn't realize it until your friend turns their head around and makes a face at him, leaning closer to you to whisper something. Genya panics and ducks his head, burying it into his arms for a few minutes before he judges it's safe to look up.
And when he does you're smiling at him knowingly, as if the both of you knew something the rest don't. Oh good lord.
Your laughter is something Genya wishes he could make as well, when the whole class watches Iguro-sensei trying to tell Inosuke off, but the dumbass can't get the teacher’s name right at all. He finds himself laughing as well, a combination of that and because of you before it hits him.
“You'll get really nervous around them, like your heart speeds up. You'll probably stare at them a lot too, and want to do lots of things for them, maybe hold open doors?”
Oh shit. Check, check, check.
“And they're the first person you look at to see if they're laughing at a joke.”
And check?!
Shit shit shit shit shit-
Genya groans. He does like you after all.
But that's not right, it's got to be wrong.
You're a boy. Genya's not gay…at least he didn't think so…Then again he's never actually liked a girl. But he's never liked a boy either. Until you.
Forget it! You're not a crush, you're the reason why Genya is going to drive himself crazy right now! Hell, why did the idea feel so wrong but so right at the same time?
Genya rubbed his temples. If he was being honest the idea only seemed so wrong because…well, because he's just never considered that possibility before. It just hasn't really occured to him he might be attracted to the same gender. It's a new concept, yes, but…not really a terrible one. He got all red with girls yes but it wasn't because he like-liked them or thought they were cute.
Was crushing on a guy really going to be any different than a girl then? Genya groaned again. Judging by his behaviour these days…yeah, not really.
Okay, then if hypothetically he DID like you and he liked guys…how would Sanemi and his friends react? Would they still want to hang out with him? Would Sanemi still…consider him his brother? What would his mom think?
What a headache. What would…you think? It'd be pretty embarrassing to like you and you're straight, Genya thought. Then again was he even sure he was gay, even certain he had a big fat crush on you?
“Hey, you alright?” The voice startles Genya out of his thoughts. He lifts up his head and looks around, startled to see everyone's left. Shit, he hadn't even realized class was over. Idiot.
He glances to his left and nearly dies of fright.
You cock an eyebrow. “Um, seeing a ghost, Genya?”
“No!” He just about shouts, flailing his arms as he tries to stop himself from falling out of his chair. “I'm fine! Really! Sorry…just, just kinda out of it.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
Yeah, let's talk about how I've just realized I might be-
“It's fine, it's nothing important.” Genya notices your fidgeting however. “What about you?”
You hesitate. You're playing with your sleeves quite nervously. It's making him paranoid.
“I'm just…there's a new arcade that just opened up.”
“Sounds fun,” Genya offers. He's got barely enough brain cells still functioning from the close proximity between you both.
“I was wondering - um, do you wanna go with me? I can buy all the tokens,” you quickly blurted out and held your breath.
“Sure.”
“N-no. Just you and me. Like on a date.” You rub the back of your neck, looking away. “No - no pressure or anything! I know you might not be into guys, you might already like a girl-"
“You're gay.”
You wince at his tone. Genya wishes he hadn't sounded so accusing. “Last I checked, yeah.”
“Sounds fun,” Genya repeats dumbly, because holy shit, you like him you like guys too he likes guys he really wants to go to the arcade with you oh thank god-
You blink. “So that's a…yes?”
“Absolutely.” Genya waves his hands frantically. “If you're still up for it! Nothing’s awkward! I - I do want to go as a date, not as friends, and, uh-"
He snaps his head away, embarrassed, but he glances back long enough to see you grinning like you've won the lottery.
"Does 2 pm work for you?"
Shit. He really does like you after all. And with the way you're smiling at him like that maybe he can deal with whatever bullshit that's going to come next.
***
“Hey Genya, do you want to come over this weekend?”
“Muichiro wants to go to that pizza place again.”
The Tokito twins stare at him expectantly over the usual din of the Kamaboko Squad's usual shenanigans. Now or never.
“Sorry, I'm busy.”
“With what?” Muichiro looks out off; Yuichiro frowns in surprise.
“With someone.”
The silence was so thick you could've cut it with a knife - or Zenitsu's screaming.
“WHO?”
“HAR?!”
“Is it a date?” Tanjiro managed to slap a hand over the blonde's mouth while Aoi deals with Inosuke. The twins and Kanao's mouths hang open in surprise.
Genya picked at his food. “Yeah. At the new arcade.”
“Congratulations!”
“I thought you were planning to be single forever-”
“Shut up, Mui!”
“With who?"
He says your name and again the silence is thick.
Tanjiro's eyes light up in recognition and shock. “Isn't that the new boy?”
Genya nods stiffly.
“You're…gay?” Kanao asks tentatively.
Genya nods again.
“I had no idea! I never would've guessed either.” Tanjiro shakes his head, stunned. Much to Genya's relief…he's smiling? “But good for you, Genya, I'm sure you'll enjoy the date!”
This wasn't so bad after all. It's like a weight’s been lifted off his shoulders. Now it's just how well…Sanemi will take it and his family. Probably not as easy.
“I thought it was a little weird you rejected that cute girl the other day.” Muichiro looks excited. “Now I've got a gay best friend!”
“What are you, twelve?” Yuichiro grumbles, but turns to Genya. “Have a good time then.”
“THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! DON'T SHOCK US LIKE THAT, GENYA!” Zenitsu finally squawks, clutching his heart.
“Wait, what's gay?” Inosuke's lost. “Is Genma happy or something?!”
Never mind.
***
“Damn, I knew you were good at shooting, but basketball too?” You wiggle your eyebrows at him, pretending to throw an imaginary ball as Genya throws an actual one through the basket easily.
“Heh, this one's just easy since it's so near.” The machine flashes lights and beeps, displaying a new highest score. “And kinda short.”
“You are pretty tall,” you agreed, counting the leftover tokens. “Hey, we still have enough for that claw machine!”
“Seriously?”
So far the date's going pretty well. Genya hadn't made a fool of himself when you showed up dressed up in that letterman jacket and excitedly tackled him yelling about how you managed to get about an entire bag's worth of tokens. You both had spent your time mostly fooling around playing air hockey, shooting games (he had a moment of crisis before sitting next to you in the cramped space), he got forced to dance with you, you claimed he cheated at the racing, he won you a figurine as an apology for accidentally smacking your hand during Whack-A-Mole. Genya was kind of regretting that now, because you were now convinced Genya had amazing luck and could continue to win you more prizes. But as Sanemi said - a million times - those things were a scam, so Genya compromised by saying if only there was tokens leftover from the basketball game.
Alas and alack, he supposed, but you were already speeding towards the claw machine.
“Come on, come on, almost there, almost there!” Your chanting is barely heard over the obnoxious arcade music but you're practically breathing down his neck.
“Okay, okay, I got it, shut up for a sec.” Genya's grip on the controls is so tight he's actually afraid he might rip out the joystick by mistake like Sanemi last time…although Sanemi had done that on purpose during his rage quit and since had been banned from that particular arcade.
“Dear Kami-sama, please, please, please-”
“SHIT.”
“NOOO! So close!” Your head's tossed back in an exaggerated groan, flipping off the stupid claw that let go just a second too early. “I could've won that Hashira figurine!”
“I was the one playing!” Genya protested.
“I got the tokens!”
“I offered to pay you back! You said no!”
You punched his shoulder playfully. “Hey, this was supposed to be my treat. You can pay for the next date.”
“Next - next what-"
“Oh jeez, your face is so red now. Let's get some fresh air; I know a good dessert store.”
Genya's down bad alright.
***
“Where the hell have you been?”
It's already late by the time Genya lets himself into the house. His siblings should've been asleep, his mom too, so hopefully he could…uh, break the news the next day, when he's written and planned everything out, chewed off his nails and get that support you promised him earlier.
Luck had decided to abandon him since his second attempt at the claw machine however, since now he's been caught kicking off his shoes and smiling down at his phone, at the picture you've sent him of the figurine in your shelf.
>>Maybe I'll get more from you
You wi<<
He shuts off his phone quickly. Sanemi’s sitting on the sofa, arms crossed and does not look like a happy camper. Genya tries for an innocent smile. He probably looks like he has a stroke. If Sanemi were a cop, every criminal would be cracking in less than a minute under his interrogations.
“Out with a friend. Sorry I'm late, I was talking them back home.”
“Really? Saw all your friends - Tokito twins and that Kamado kid - earlier today. Try again."
“Someone else.”
“Cut to the chase, Genya, you were out on a date, weren't you?” Sanemi barks.
Genya's shoulders slump. “Yeah. Please don't be mad, I did tell Mom.”
“You should focus on studying. Your math grades are still too low.” Sanemi's expression softens, just slightly. "Who's the lucky girl?"
“Ah.”
“I swear to god, if it's that Shabana girl-”
“It's a guy.”
A very awkward beat of silence.
“WHO?!”
Genya almost expects to be attacked when he says your name. Or mauled after Sanemi demands every detail of what went down at the arcade. Maybe thrashed while finally confessing yes, he's not straight. But not stand there while Sanemi stares at him, strangely quiet.
“You two didn't do anything suspicious?”
Nope. You'd been quite understanding when he admitted he was still kind of getting used to the newness of…all this and offered to save a kiss for next time, causing him to explode into scarlet and try to poke you with his straw. “Aniki!”
“Is this a new thing or have you been…keeping this from me?” Unbelievable. His older brother almost looks hurt by that notion.
“A new thing, I swear, I wasn't planning on keeping anything from you, I was just waiting for the right time and right thing to say and I - I didn't know how you'd react.”
“Well…” Sanemi mutters something unintelligible, eyes moving away slightly.
“Um…what?”
“I SAID, AS LONG AS YOU'RE HAPPY WITH HIM, IT'S FINE BY ME! NOW GO TO SLEEP!”
Genya couldn't stop his grin. “Really? Thank - thank you, Aniki, and okay, I will.”
“And don't do anything too intimate before you're married!”
***
You spat out your straw. “He said what?”
Genya takes a long sip of his latte, slipping his hand into yours. “I didn't make that up.”
“No,” You say, shaking your head. “That sounds like Shinazugawa.”
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loversj0y · 1 year ago
Text
saving face
pairing: siren x gn!reader (villain wilbur soot from tommyinnits clinic for supervillains)
tws: okay so, im going to be REALLY thorough because there is some dark content throughout so kidnapping, chloroform use, drug use (power enhancers), reader gets called sweetheart at one point, violence, injuries, torture, major head injuries, alcohol, alcohol is poured on reader, mental manipulation (attempts at it), blood, broken nose, siren tells someone to claw their eye out, mentions of a fractured skull and concussion
notes: big major thank u to @medlarwrites for this idea!!!! ive been obsessing over siren since i read clinic and had to write something abt him. im not in love with the start of the fic bc i had a very different direction at first but!!! dont care i like how it ended up!! so :3
medlars original prompt: “anyways lemme leave you a siren!wilbur who finds our his bestfriend from college got kidnapped because they suspect she's associated with siren and so want to get information about his identity from them :)”
word count: 5.5k!
taglist: @l0veb0mb1ng / @core-queen / @zooone
When you were in college, you had a rather… peculiar best friend. Maybe you should’ve cared a bit more about the moral consequences of what he did, but honestly, it was college. Your best friend was one of the most well-known supervillains, Siren.
That wasn’t how you met him, though. You met him as Wilbur Soot, the guy who sat next to you in your Literature class, who often forgot his pens. You had a small crush on him, so you made a habit of always bringing an extra pen for him. You became quick friends after, bonding over mutual hatred for the professor’s teaching style, as well as sharing an onslaught of opinions.
You didn’t mean to find out about his identity, it was a complete accident. You and him had this mutual agreement that if something was going on (life troubles, finals stress, etc.), you have free permission to come over for some company. If the other person wasn’t there, you would just wait until they got home. It was a good system that kept both of you from getting too lonely, especially you. He lived at home, but you lived in a dodgy apartment by yourself. He would always make an effort to show up any time he had anything he wanted to talk about, mostly to keep you from feeling too alone. One night, the loneliness had gotten pretty rough, so you decided to go to Wilbur’s house. You two had given each other spare keys a long while back, and it wasn’t the first time you’d done this, so you were quick to unlock the door and head into his room to wait for him to come home. When the door did finally open, it wasn’t Wilbur who walked through.
You immediately jumped, backing up a bit as you saw Siren walk in. Once he’d processed that you were there, he cursed under his breath, trying to console you while quickly pulling off his blindfold. You watched as he went from Siren to Wilbur in a matter of seconds, your head swirling with confusion. You two had a very long conversation that night, while you helped him clean up a scratch along his arm.
After college, you didn’t see Wilbur as much anymore. You worked a lot, and he worked quite a bit too. You two still saw each other, just not as often.
You saw Siren much more often, though. Since Wilbur knew where your walk home from work was, he would always make an effort to be there and walk you home at night once a week if he could. Sometimes he would only watch you from the rooftops, other times when it was a bit darker and there were fewer people out, he would walk with you, chatting about anything he could think of. Over time, what once had been a small crush blossomed into genuine love for your best friend.
It was nice, a really good system. Kept you and him talking, even when your busy schedules tended to keep you from each other. However, for as good of a system as it is, it also had some apparent downsides.
Like your current situation.
You didn’t know exactly where you were.
The last thing you remembered was leaving work. You locked up the small bookstore you worked at and began your walk home when you felt a hand wrap around you, pressing a cloth against your mouth. Whoever it was ended up being too strong for you to fight against, and it was only a few minutes before the chloroform reached your brain, knocking you out quickly. In terms of kidnappings, it was fairly tame, at the very least.
It took a while to wake up, your consciousness floating in and out a few times, allowing you to get small glimpses of conversations.
“Try and get ‘em to talk. Just being friends with Siren doesn’t mean they’re strong. We can break them, even if it takes some… stepping in.”
A bit of a horrifying thing to hear post-kidnapping, but even if it wasn’t on purpose, it at least got your guard up a bit.
When you woke up, you spent a few minutes looking around and familiarising yourself with your surroundings. You were in some shitty warehouse. Which, honestly, cliche, and how many abandoned warehouses did this city have? Large, brown-stained windows lined the top of the walls, allowing for a bit of light to pour in. There were garage-type doors every few feet, but most of them had large padlocks, except for one the furthest away from you.
Your hands and feet were tied onto the chair, one hand behind handcuffed while the other hand and your legs were attached with zip ties.
Escape was not going to be easy, but you knew a bit of fighting, Wilbur having taught you how to protect yourself. You finally looked over to the middle of the room.
It took you a while to recognize the guy who’d kidnapped you. You did know him, though, only because of the things that Siren had told you. Schlatt, previously known as Gunmetal, an ex-hero. His power was the ability to strengthen his body to a metal-like level, making him incredibly hard to take down. The Syndicate considered approaching him for membership, but he was… unstable. He got discharged by the Hero Committee after his increased strength led to the destruction of an apartment building. There weren’t any villains around to pin it on, either, and there were too many witnesses. It had also been discovered that he’d been utilizing power enhancers, which were supposed to be outlawed, in order to extend his abilities and allow him to strengthen multiple parts of his body at once.
If what Wilbur had told you in his frustrated rants was true, Schlatt wanted to take over the Syndicate. He’d attacked them numerous times, always aiming to kill, and he’d taken a particular interest in finding out Siren’s identity.
You sat up a bit, preparing yourself for whatever bullshit he was about to spew at you.
Wilbur caught onto something being wrong a few hours after you’d been taken. He had gone on a minor heist with Techno, and things ran… suspiciously well. No hero intervention for the majority of the heist, until Flame showed up towards the end. Blade handled most of the fighting for him, while Siren took care of their escape. It was when they finally escaped that he noticed something odd. He and Techno passed by your apartment, and he knew your habits well enough to know that you would not be asleep this early. Despite that, the lights in your apartment were off. A bit of searching later, and he was quick to notice your disappearance. When he arrived back home, he was quick to enlist Tubbo to see if they could get a ping on your last known location. Your phone wasn’t anywhere to be found, so he hoped he could at least figure out where you had been. Normally, he would pace to try and distract himself, but when it came to you, there was no use. He immediately headed out, trying to find any sign of you and waiting for a response from Tubbo.
“Good mornin’ sweetheart,” Schlatt chuckled, standing in front of a table in front of your chair. He had two briefcases set out in front of him, “Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna hurt you.” There was an implied ‘yet’ at the end of that sentence. You got a good look at him. He wore a pressed suit, and an airsoft mask – equipped specially with two ram horns on the sides, his signature look. His knuckles were wrapped with red athletic tape, at least you’d hoped it was originally red.
“Then what the fuck do you want with me? It’s hard to believe you aren’t going to hurt me when you kidnapped me off the street.”
“I just need a bit of information, that’s all.”
You scoffed, “Really? So you just fucking kidnap me?”
“It’s effective, is it not?” He chuckled, leaning forward, “Do you have any powers?”
You rolled your eyes, “Cut the shitty small talk. Why am I here?”
“To answer my fucking questions.”
You looked down at your arm, noting a small cuff wrapped around it, “If I tell you, will you take the stupid power dampener off?”
He snorted, “Don’t act dumb.”
“Oh, good, then I’m not telling you.” You did have a power. It was part of why Wilbur felt comfortable being around you. You were also a mind manipulator, but you couldn’t get people to actually do things for you. You could just easily see through their words and arguments. Which meant that you could get them to believe you were telling the truth as well, which would be a bloody good thing to be able to utilize right about now.
“Fine, be like that.” He held up a photo, “So, if you won’t tell me your power, maybe you’ll tell me why Siren has had such a close eye on you?” You looked at the photo closer, being able to clearly make out Siren walking you home.
“He’s just a nice dude. Wants to walk me home sometimes,” you shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly, “I don’t know much about him if that’s what you’re wondering.”
He snorted, “Yeah, like I’d believe that.” He pulled out a folder, spreading out numerous photos of you and Siren, hanging out and eating together in your apartment.
“Have you been fucking stalking me, you absolute creep?”
“Not you, but Siren. You just happened to be there. And I wanna know why.”
“What? You’re mad that a citizen can show compassion to a villain?” You scoffed, “Boo-hoo, poor Schlatt, must be such a sad life you have.”
He growled, and you grinned at how easy it was to get under his skin, even without your power. “I couldn’t give less of a shit about that. I want to know why he’s trying to recruit new Syndicate members.”
You laughed, “God, you could not have worse of a grasp on the situation. He’s just a nice guy. Came to my bookstore once, offered to walk me home, and we became friends. Is it impossible for villains to have friends?”
“Supervillains don’t have friends. Not without an agenda.”
“What about their healer? He’s a friend, isn’t he?”
“He works for them. He doesn’t count.”
“Well, I clearly don’t work for them. So just leave me alone, why don’t you?”
“Okay, I will let you go. If you tell me one thing.”
Oh, here came the stupid request. “Oh? Let me guess? You want me to tell you Siren’s real name.”
“Obviously.”
“Do you really think he’s that stupid? To let a random civilian he met know his name?”
“No. But I know you’re not just a random civilian he met. Because these photos date back years.”
You tensed a bit, trying to hide any clear facial reaction, “And?”
“And, no one who doesn’t work with him would stick around that long, unless there was something keeping them there. So, you obviously know who he is.”
“Oh, obviously?” You tried to will down the blush on your cheeks. “Is it really that obvious? You don’t know anything about me, and you clearly don’t know anything about Siren.”
“So tell me what I don’t know.”
You rolled your eyes, “I’m not falling for that, dipshit. If you want information on Siren, you’ve got the wrong person.”
“Yeah, except that can’t be true. I know you have a power you’ve been hiding, and we know that Siren has spent a highly significant amount of time with you, longer than he ever did their healer. And, we have photos of you with him and other Syndicate members at your apartment. So we know you know his identity. But we can figure out other ways to make you talk.”
“Wow, so you’re adding misuse of power against a civilian to your list of crimes? That combined with the kidnapping, not to mention the murder and the numerous times you’ve hurt civilians and destroyed their homes, oh and getting discharged as a Hero?”
That got under his skin, “I have no problem adding torture onto that list.”
“So much for being a hero then.”
His fists curled up, and he slammed it down on the table, “ex-hero, for a reason.” He walked closer, crouching down to be eye-level with you. “So then, you’re really trying to tell me that the numerous dates you’ve gone on with Siren just don’t mean anything?”
“We- They weren’t dates!” Your face flushed dark red, “We’re just friends!” You blatantly tried to ignore the fact that you’d been in love with him for years.
“Your face is telling a different story,” he smirked, “Is he hot under the mask? Or maybe you just like a man with power?”
You moved back from his hand, jaw tensing, as he tried to cup your jaw, “Hm, well, if you aren’t saying anything willingly, I can make you talk.”
He stood again, walking over to the second briefcase, opening it to where you couldn’t see the contents. You didn’t know if you wanted to. “Plus, this is all just a distraction.” He lifted your phone, turning it on, “They’ll be here soon enough. I won’t need you then, I can take down the Syndicate myself.”
A shiver went down your spine, and you prayed that Wilbur hadn’t noticed your absence.
Tubbo was able to find you pretty quickly. Just when he’d thought your phone was too far for a proper ping, he got one with an exact location that he quickly relayed to Siren. Siren was on it almost immediately, but he wasn’t going in alone. He didn’t know who took you, so he was going to be prepared. By enlisting most of the Syndicate to join him. He made it to the location first, but he knew better than to jump in early, especially since he was one of the least physical fighters. He did some surveying, though, spotting a few guards in suits. Suits were the tell of Schlatt, and he mentally cursed the team members for not getting there as fast as he’d wished. He knew Schlatt could be violent, unpredictable, and hot-headed.
The rest of the Syndicate arrived, and Nemesis and Thanatos made quick work of taking down the guards. Which meant it was time to take down Schlatt.
You’d lost track of time. Schlatt had some interesting methods for getting you to talk. Most of them involve hitting you, his ability making it easy to hurt you, if the broken nose and cut lip were anything to go by. But a lot of it was mental. Using taunting words to try and get under your skin.
“It’s going to be so funny when you’re little boyfriend comes here,” he snickered, grabbing your jaw to make you look up at him, “It’ll be even better to make you watch him die.”
He almost seemed drunk the more and more he continued, “Or, maybe, I could hurt him more. Make him watch me kill you slowly. Or,” he chuckled, but the laughter quickly turned maniacal, “I’ll let him kill you. I’ll make him use that shitty fucking voice of his to kill you.”
You snorted, and he raised an eyebrow, “Something about that funny to you?”
You looked up at him, spitting blood out of your mouth, “His voice is real nice, actually. Much better than yours.” You were playing with fire, but you needed to buy time to get him hopefully exhausted enough to give you a chance to escape.
He smacked you, a loud crack reverberating and echoing throughout the warehouse.
“You piece of shit,” he rolled his eyes, moving away from you. He grabbed a water bottle, downing half of it easily. You watched cautiously, becoming all too aware of how thirsty you were.
“What? You want some or something?” He chuckled, walking back over to you, “Be my fucking guest,” he poured the water over your head. You tilted your head back and drank some of it down. Once you’d gotten some of it in your mouth, though, you quickly realized that it was not, in fact, water but instead vodka. You coughed once you realized, spitting out as much as you could.
He laughed as you hissed in pain, the alcohol stinging the wounds he’d left. He went to throw another retort at you, but before he could, the door slammed open.
Just as Schlatt predicted, the entire Syndicate was there. You sat up, watching as Schlatt moved back to his briefcase and pull out a syringe.
“Siren, run!” You yelled, thrashing and trying to draw attention to yourself, “All of you! Run! It’s a trap-”
You weren’t able to finish your sentence as Schlatt stormed over, grabbing you by the hair. “Oh, Jesus, just shut up with your whining,” he rolled his eyes, hitting your temple harshly, sending the chair to the ground and you with it. The ground rushed up to meet you, and the darkness of unconsciousness was quick to follow.
Siren was pissed. Blade quickly began to advance on Schlatt, but Wilbur was faster. It was stupid, he knew he was being stupid to rush in like this, but he was angry. He watched as Schlatt quickly injected himself with something, some odd shimmering yellow liquid, and in seconds, his body started glowing the same yellow. Power enhancers, Wilbur’s mind supplied. He cursed, hanging back to allow Blade to hit first. Zephyrus flew overhead, getting behind Schlatt to prevent him from running. As much as Wilbur wanted to fight, he needed to make sure you were okay.
He rushed over, grabbing a knife from the table that he prayed hadn’t been used on you. The first thing he did when he approached you was check your pulse, thanking anything that would listen that your pulse was still coming through. He cut the ties easily, then he moved onto the power dampener, trying to pry the thing off. He had no clue where the key for it was, but he didn’t have time to waste looking for it. He started breaking it off when he was tugged back, Schlatt having grabbed the back of his collar. He slammed Siren against the wall, grinning at him.
“For a world-class supervillain, you’d think you’d be smarter,” he chuckled, leaning his knee against Siren’s back and pinning him there. He pushed all of his power into his knee, strengthening and solidifying the metal against Wilbur’s back. “You know how easy it was for me to track them down? You made them an easy target, Siren. You’re the reason they’re here,” he pushed his knee further into his back.
“Let me go,” Siren ordered but to no avail.
Schlatt started laughing louder, “What, you think I’m an idiot? You thought I wouldn’t prepare my mask for you?”
Fuck.
Siren didn’t have to fret much longer, though. Blade came up behind Schlatt, driving a sword through his shoulder. He’d put too much power into his knee, leaving the rest of him vulnerable.
The rest of the takedown was easy. They were planning on taking Schlatt in, hopefully, to use as a bargaining chip against the Hero Committee since he was wanted by them. Once Zephyrus had him subdued, Nemesis and Thanatos grabbed his things and started heading back. Siren lingered with Zephyrus, Jester, Blade, and Ender (who’d only shown up to help take anyone who needed healing to Apollo). Siren walked over, ripping Schlatt’s mask off.
Schlatt was still spilling curses and threats against them, but he’d quieted for a moment as Wilbur pulled his mask off, eyes adjusting to the light. Wilbur threw the mask behind him, and a sinister grin spread over his face.
“We need him alive, Siren,” Blade reminded him.
He groaned, huffing softly, “Fine.” He hummed, tilting his head.
“Claw your left eye out, then knock yourself out.”
Wilbur didn’t stay to watch the aftermath, but he heard the groans and screams of pain from Schlatt as he walked back over to you. Ender was waiting next to you, double-checking for any serious wounds.
Wilbur got the rest of the power dampener off, throwing it to the side. He carefully lifted you, making sure to be mindful of your head.
Ender gave him a concerned look, "It looks bad, but they should be okay."
“No, not should be.” Siren snapped his head towards Ender, shaking his head, “I need them to be okay. Bring us to Apollo.”
Ender nodded, placing a hand on Siren’s shoulder. In seconds, they disappeared in a flurry of purple particles, appearing now in Apollo’s clinic in the Syndicate building.
Tommy was sitting by the desk, playing on his DS. He perked up quickly when he heard Ender teleport in, looking up and seeing Siren cradling you. Siren moved forward, placing you down on the doctor’s mat in the center of the room.
Tommy quickly walked over, “Jesus, man, what the fuck happened?” He placed his hands near your head, warmth emitting over them as he began healing you.
“Schlatt happened. But he won’t be a problem anymore,” Wilbur huffed, tearing off his blindfold and coat, draping them over a chair. He paced around the room as Tommy worked on healing.
“You’re going to burn a hole in the floor,” Tommy huffed.
“I couldn’t care less, Toms. They weren’t supposed to be involved with any of this, I’ve fucked it up again, I-I put them in danger,” Wilbur ran a hand through his hair.
Tommy straightened, pulling his hands away as he finished healing, “Don’t start with your self-deprecating shit, man. They know you’re Siren. They’ve stuck around, and they always knew this could happen. You’re not to blame.”
“But I-”
“You weren’t the one who kidnapped them. It’s not your fault,” Tommy sighed, grabbing a glass of water.
Wilbur nodded, walking up to you, still unconscious, “They- they’ll be fine, right? They’ll be okay?”
Tommy took a sip of his water, nodding, “Yeah. Head injury was the worst of it, but it should be all healed up now. They might be a bit foggy when they wake up, though.”
“When will they wake up?”
Tommy shrugged, “Should be soon. Probably an hour or two. Can’t give you an exact time. You should get them somewhere more comfortable before they’re up, though.”
Wilbur nodded, carefully picking you back up, “Thanks, Tommy.”
“You don’t have to thank me, man, it’s my job.”
Wilbur rolled his eyes, “I want to thank you, dickhead. Now, go to sleep, child.”
“I am n-” Wilbur cut off Tommy’s response by closing the door to Tommy’s clinic behind him. He called Techno, and within a few minutes, Wilbur was being driven home with you still resting in his arms.
“They’re going to be fine, you know that.”
“I know they will be, but they never should’ve been there in the first place. They never asked for this.” Wilbur sighed.
“Oh, please.” Techno snorted, “You tried to scare them away way back when. You even used your ability to try and convince them to not want to be around you.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the same. They turned down the offer to join the Syndicate, which meant they never should’ve been involved with this stuff.”
“Maybe you should ask again,” Techno shrugged. “Even if they don’t want to fight, we could use someone to help out with questioning people. Their ability would work pretty well for that.”
“Techno, I just said they shouldn’t have been involved with this stuff.” Wilbur sighed.
“All I’m saying is if they do become a member, it would be a lot easier to keep them safe. Less loose ends that we can’t keep our eyes on.”
Wilbur bit his lip, nodding with realization, “True. I- yeah. I’ll ask them.”
“Plus, with how in love with them you are, it won’t be long before something like this happens again.”
“I- What?” Wilbur spluttered, eyes widening, “How-?”
“How do I know that? Wilbur, it’s insanely obvious,” Techno laughed, “I have no clue how they don’t know.”
“They won’t know. And you won’t tell them.” Wilbur hissed out.
“Mmhm, okay, sure. Pretty big wimp move for a supervillain.”
Wilbur groaned but didn’t respond past that.
The rest of the car ride was quiet, Wilbur gently playing with your hair gently. He routinely moved a hand to check your pulse, just as a reminder that you were fine and alive and here with him.
He carried you out of the car once Techno pulled up, heading straight to his room. He laid you down gently, placing your head on his lap.
The world seemed fuzzy when you came to. You were too comfortable to open your eyes at first, shifting slightly and letting out a soft groan. Your joints felt sore and stiff, but your face felt even weirder. Your face felt warm but like all of your muscles were new and had never been used before. You scrunched your nose, slowly opening your eyes and letting them get used to the environment around you.
You recognized the room instantly and relaxed as the memories started flooding back to you. The kidnapping, Schlatt, getting knocked out. You heard humming, looking up to see Wilbur leaning against the wall, humming with his eyes closed. He was fidgeting with his fingers and biting at his lip.
You slowly shifted to look up at him fully, “Hey.” Your voice was groggier than you’d expected.
He looked down quickly, “You’re up,” he smiled, “Hi.”
“Did everything go well? With Schlatt?”
He laughed, shaking his head, “God, you just woke up from getting knocked out and tortured, and the first thing you ask is if the fight went well?” He moved a hand to your hair gently, “Are you okay?”
“Well, yeah,” you shrugged, “I feel fine, just a bit tired, I guess. I feel like I’m supposed to feel worse.”
“Tommy healed you,” he supplied.
You sat up slowly, and he carefully placed a hand on your back, keeping it there until you’d gotten in a better position. “He didn’t have to do that. I would’ve been fine.”
“You would’ve had a concussion and a fracture in your skull.”
“That’s not the worst thing in the world.” You joked and gave him a lopsided grin, and he shook his head, chuckling.
He pulled you into a tight hug, “I’m so fucking glad you’re okay.”
You hugged him back, burying your face against him gently, “I would’ve been fine.”
You were lying. You were not fine, actually. As strong as you acted, you couldn’t deny the slight shake that lay in your hands as you thought about that warehouse and the overwhelming fear the image of that mask in your head put in you.
You could’ve used your ability to make Wilbur believe you. You didn’t honestly have the energy to do so.
“You don’t have to be fine,” he whispered, rubbing your back gently, “I know how terrifying it must’ve been. But it’s okay, you’re safe now.”
Your fists balled up the fabric of his sweater, and the tears started falling soon after. He rubbed your back as you cried, the waves of fear and stress finally coming out. You could only hold it together for so long, and Wilbur would always be there when you finally broke.
By the time you calmed down, you were left with soft gasps of breath and holding Wilbur like a lifeboat. He leaned over to his nightstand, handing you a glass of water. After a moment’s hesitation, he placed a gentle kiss on your forehead.
You drank slowly, not wanting to overwhelm yourself. Wilbur’s kiss didn’t exactly help, but physical affection wasn’t something new to either of you.
As if he knew exactly what you were thinking, he wrapped his arms around you gently, leaning his face against your shoulder. You leaned into his touch, letting your eyes close for a moment.
“He was stalking me. Well, he was stalking you, but he had photos from years ago of us. Of Siren walking me home. Of Blade at my apartment. Of Zephyrus in my living room.”
Wilbur tensed, keeping you a bit closer. “I’m so sorry.” He whispered, “I-I never should’ve let you get involved with the Syndicate stuff, I was so stupid to think something like this wouldn’t happen.”
“Wilbur, you never let me get involved. In fact, you were the one pushing me from getting involved. I chose this. I knew something like this could happen, and I chose to stick by you.”
“You’re not a member of the Syndicate, though. I know you can protect yourself, but I don’t want to be the reas-”
“Wilbur.” You hissed out. “If you even for a moment insist again that this is your fault, I will use my ability to make you believe that the best way to sleep is by falling out the window.” He bit his tongue from responding, nodding. “I didn’t turn down the Syndicate offer because I thought it would keep me safe.” You reached for his hand, taking it and squeezing it tightly. You didn’t know if it was your foggy mental state that made the idea of confessing your feelings so appealing or if it was just the residual fear in your system, but you didn’t care regardless.
“Why did you turn it down, then?” Wilbur asked softly.
“I turned down the Syndicate offer because I was worried about working with you.” You sighed, “It’s hard to focus around you, Wilbur.”
“Me? I don’t understand, we’ve been best friends for years, why would..?”
“That’s the problem. It’s hard to focus around you because I am constantly wishing that you would love me back.”
You held your breath once the words left your mouth. Wilbur pulled away from you, and you felt your heart drop.
“Do you mean that?” He asked softly, moving to sit in front of you.
You nodded, unable to respond further in fear of the tears resurfacing.
Wilbur reached a hand out, pausing and hesitating for a moment. He continued though, gently cupping your cheek.
“Can I kiss you?”
Your eyes widened. “Only if you mean it.”
He smiled softly, leaning forward and kissing you hard. You wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him close as you kissed him back, putting all the passion behind it that you’d wanted to for years.
When he pulled away, you rested your forehead against his, catching your breath slowly. He smiled, fingers lightly tracing your arms.
“So… about joining the Syndicate then,” you started.
He laughed, pulling away to grin at you, “You don’t have to decide anything tonight. But it would be really nice. You probably wouldn’t be on the front lines, but we’d love to have you. Plus, we’d be able to see each other a lot more.” He grinned.
You smiled, “Well, I’ll give you a formal answer in the morning. But as for an informal one, I’d fucking love it.”
He grinned, holding you close once more. You ran your hands up and down his back gently, and he hissed in pain when you reached the midpoint of his back. You pulled away.
“Will? You alright?”
He gave a thumbs up, and you smirked, “Say it out loud.”
He groaned, “I am alright. I am perfectly fine.” You could feel the pressure of his words in your head, and they almost sounded distorted. A clear lie.
“Let me see your back.” You smiled, and he groaned.
“You know how much I hate that I can’t lie to you?” He huffed, turning and pulling his sweater up.
“I know, I know,” you took a good look at his back, frowning at the dark bruise on his back, “Wilbur, you have a huge bruise. Are your ribs okay? It looks like some might be cracked.”
“They feel fine,” he shrugged. The pressure returned to your head, and this time you could feel a sensation of burning below your hands. A big lie, then.
“...I’m texting Tommy.”
“No, do not!”
You already had your phone out, texting Tommy to ask for him to come as soon as possible, both for Wilbur and so you could thank him for healing you.
“Too late,” you smiled, and Wilbur huffed, pulling his sweater back down.
He wrapped an arm around you again, kissing the top of your head, “You’re lucky I love you, Aletheia.”
“I am,” you smiled softly. There was no pressure or warm sensation. He did love you. He meant it. “Alethia? God of… truth, right?”
He nodded, “It’s Techno’s codename for you. He chose it out months ago.”
You smiled fondly, “Cool. Has a nice ring to it.”
He nodded, “I agree. And for what it’s worth, I’m lucky too.” He smiled, and you gave him a gentle kiss.
“We’re both lucky. Maybe our duo name could be Tyche.”
“Oh, god, I’m going to have to deal with so many more Greek mythology references with you in the Syndicate, aren’t I?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
597 notes · View notes
megalony · 1 year ago
Text
Overload
This is an Eddie Diaz imagine requested by anon, thank you for this it was so fun to write. I hope you all enjoy.
Taglist: @lunaticspoem@butlegendsneverdie@langdonzvoid@jennyggggrrr@rogmeddows@radiob-l-a-hblah@rogertaylorsbitontheside@chlobo6@rogertaylors-lipgloss@sj-thefanthefan@omgitsearly@luckytrashgooprebel@scarsout@deaky-with-a-c@killer-queen-ofrhye@bluutac@vousmemanqueez-blog@jonesyaddiction@milanosaurus@httpfandxms@saint-hardy@7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls@mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me  @hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@noonenuts@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway
911 Masterlist
Summary: Chris is invited with the 118 to Denny's birthday party and he has a great time, until things start to overwhelm him. Then a meltdown ensues.
Enjoy.
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A smile lit up Christopher's face and he reached his arms out towards his dad, pointing up at the present that Eddie was just about to get out the boot of the truck.
"Be careful then," Eddie handed the present down to Chris, guessing that he wasn't going to be using his crutches today by the look of things.
He grinned madly and took the rather light box that rattled whenever it moved. Chris had taken the liberty to pick some dinosaur wrapping paper and he had stuck the large green bow on top of the present after he watched his mum expertly wrap it up ready for Denny. And Chris wanted to be the one to carry it in and give it to his friend on his birthday.
Hen had asked all of the team if they wanted to come over for Denny's birthday party today. She knew Chris would panic if there were a lot of other kids here who he didn't know and because Denny was very set on Chris coming along, they only invited two of his close friends from school. Chris knew everyone at the squad so he was comfortable around them and he knew Athena's son Harry who he was also comfortable around.
It was a close knit party which is just what everybody wanted and needed and Chris had been excited about this for the past three days since he found out they were coming here.
"Remember, don't tell him what the present is," (Y/n) kissed the top of Chris's head as the three of them set on a slow walk up the drive towards Hen's house. The last time Chris went to a friend's birthday, he had been very excited to give the present over but he accidentally told his friend Andrew what they had bought him. Andrew didn't care, he had laughed and still looked surprised when he opened the gift, but it was a gift and it was always nice to have a surprise present.
She felt Eddie's arm loop around her waist as they approached the door and he gently grabbed Chris's shoulder after he knocked on the door. Chris had a tendancy to try and walk in houses without or straight after knocking, he didn't quite grasp the part about waiting to be invited in. He thought it was like with his own home or his grandparents house, he could go straight in and the door would be unlocked and people would welcome him in.
"Hi! Denny will be thrilled you're all here, come in." Karen opened the door, a wide smile on her face as she ushered them inside. "Everyone's out in the garden."
They followed Karen down to the kitchen and out the back door where the noise level raised and the chaos ensued.
There were a lot of balloons tied around the fence, to the few tables outside and placed around the garden with weights to keep them from floating off into space. A banner of Happy Birthday was pinned against the fence on the right side of the garden above the buffet table.
(Y/n) could see something that would grab Chris's attention towards the back of the garden. A paddling pool. Chris was very sensory and he loved the swimming pool, if they weren't careful he would be straight in there in his clothes and they wouldn't be able to get him out. And next to the pool was a sandbox that was usually closed up but today was wide open with spades and buckets and a signpost that (Y/n) couldn't read from this far away.
They didn't get very far before Denny spotted them and it was heartwarming to see his bright smile when he realised Chris had finally arrived. Chris was the person he was desperate to be around and play with.
"You're here!" He bounded over to them, almost stumbling when Chris pushed the present out towards him with a cheesy grin and his eyes almost closed.
"Happy birthday,"
"Thank you," Denny carefully took the present and looked up at his mum who nodded and took it from him so it could be put with the rest of the presents inside for him to open later.
"It's lego."
"Chris!" Eddie tilted his head back and brought his hand up to rub his eyes, trying to smother his groan with a laugh. He knew it. He just knew Chris wouldn't be able to contain the excitement and keep the surprise. When it was his own birthday, Chris loved surprises and opening presents but for anyone else, he had a fixation on telling them what it was.
Leaning back, Chris pushed his shoulders back into Eddie's legs and tilted his head back, giggling up at his dad as he bit down on his thumb.
"Come on, mum's gonna open the scavenger hunt," Denny took Chris's hand and walked slow enough so they could trot side by side towards Hen, Harry and two other friends from school. They were all stood near the sandbox that made Chris's eyes light up.
"Scavenger hunt?" Eddie tucked his free hand into his back pocket as he and (Y/n) followed Karen over to where Athena, Bobby, Chimney and Maddie were all sat with drinks and the radio blasting music.
"Hen's buried sweets and little fidget toys in the sandbox. They'll have to dig around for buried treasure. And Buck, being the big kid that he is, has decided to help supervise them." Karen gestured to the drinks table near the rest of the team so they could help themselves to something. All of them knew that Buck would be the one to join in the games and the fun with the kids. He was a child at heart, a kid trapped in an adult's body. It was why all the kids were drawn to him and loved him playing around with them.
"One sec," Leaning over, Eddie kissed (Y/n)'s temple before he jogged towards the sand box where the kids were all eagerly looking round. They were waiting to be told when they could get in and start digging as Hen was going through the rules of the treasure hunt. "Buck,"
"Yeah?"
"Can you keep an eye on Chris while he's in there?" He pointed towards the sand, already feeling the unease washing through him.
"Don't worry, I know where all the treasure is," Buck winked and clapped his hands, he wasn't getting what Eddie meant.
"No… he's got pica and sand is sensory, he'll try and eat it if you don't watch him. It's a different texture."
Chris had been diagnosed with Pica when he was three, it was a condition that meant he would try and taste, eat or just put random things in his mouth that weren't food. He understood he couldn't eat things like sand or mud or paper but they were so sensory that he couldn't help putting them in his mouth. Chris did it for the texture, not to try and eat them or because he was hungry or desperate. It was a fixation, a sensory feeling, putting things in his mouth was Chris's way of getting a sensory fix and feeling textures.
Eddie had had a lot of arguments with Chris's last school when they didn't watch him closely and Chris started to eat the sand and either made himself sick or it came out in his nappies as a child. It wasn't safe or nice for him and he had to be watched.
When he was five (Y/n) had been doing the washing and Chris came up behind her and stuffed a handful of wash powder in his mouth because it felt grainy and fluffy and itchy. It was a bi sensory feel in his hand and he automatically put it in his mouth, then threw it up.
"I'll watch him." Buck grinned and nodded as if it was no big deal or nothing new and it made Eddie relax. The team never seemed surprised or shocked or put off when they learned about Chris's conditions, especially Buck. He took it all in his stride and he strived to make Chris comfortable and understood and help him however he could.
When Hen said the boys could start digging, Buck reached down and picked Chris up and sat him down in the left corner of the sandbox, right near a bag of sweets he knew Hen had buried there. She had planted enough so that each kid could get at least two mini bags of sweets or a little fidget toy.
"Find me some treasure," He whispered to Chris as he kneeled down on the grass beside him with Hen a few feet away, watching the other four kids.
With a smile, Chris tucked his left hand down into the sand and spread his fingers, curling his fingers to his palm and spreading them again to move the sand and get the sensory feel. He held the dark blue plastic spade tight in his other hand and started to pat and scrape at the sand until a mini pack of Haribos was uncovered.
"Uncle Buck's treasure," He giggled and tossed the pack onto Buck's lap, grinning when he turned to look over at his parents.
He could see Eddie giving him a thumbs up and (Y/n) smiled at him from where she was sat on Eddie's lap.
Tilting forward, Chris dropped the spade and rolled until he was laid on his stomach on the sand with his legs kicking out behind him. He burrowed his hands down into the sand, grabbed fistfuls and pulled his hands back up. He watched, fascinated, as the sand fell through his fingers like droplets of rain.
He grabbed some more sand and tipped his head down until his chin was perched on a mountain of sand. His lips parted in a cheeky smile and he locked eyes with Buck just as he poked his tongue over his lower lip towards the sand.
"Ah-ah, your dad told me what you're like. If you wanna try something, try a sweet." Buck held a sweet out towards Chris who kept laughing but took the bribe anyway.
(Y/n) tilted her head back on Eddie's shoulder, nuzzling her face into his neck as she looped an arm around the back of his neck while her free hand held her cup of juice. She crossed one leg over the other, trying hard to focus on the conversation but she couldn't keep track. All she could focus on was Eddie's hand that had drifted up beneath the hem of her dress and kept gliding higher and higher up her thigh.
And when she looked over his shoulder every now and then, she could see Buck laughing at Chris who was spraying sand everywhere along with Harry. It looked like all the boys had found the buried treasure they had been digging for.
"Alright, who's up for musical statues?" Hen gave a sceptical look around the team who were all sat chatting and watching the kids have their fun in the sand box.
"I'll control the music," Bobby tapped the radio that was sat next to him and caught the CD that Hen expertly tossed over to him. He wasn't so good at musical statues but he could be fair and impartial with the music and turn it on and off for the kids.
"Up, up up you lot. You can all join in,"
A few groans rumbled past their lips but all of them got up and moved towards the centre of the garden as the boys hurried over. Chris stood so he was facing both parents, stood near to Denny who was clapping and smiling in anticipation. And (Y/n) shared a look with Eddie, they both knew Chris wasn't very good at this game and he probably wouldn't try to play, he would just go along with the music.
"Okay, when the music stops, you all freeze. Anyone still moving when it stops is out. Off you go," Karen stood in front of them all, playing the role of referee as Bobby started the music.
As predicted, Chris seemed to switch off to the rules and what was happening and he went into his zone with the music.
The CD was a new pop chart with all the latest music and it was Chris's sort of thing. He held his arms out at his sides and started to shake his hands, a new stimming technique he had picked up recently. He didn't exactly move his legs or his feet but he swayed and rocked back and forth very rapidly like he was being blown about by the wind.
Every few seconds, Chris did a quick round of clapping before he went back to shaking his hands and laughing. This was his sort of party game. It wasn't often that other people danced with him and when he looked up and saw his mum and dad dancing, it made him squeal. Whenever he clapped, his mum rose her hands in the air and clapped with him and he could see his dad mumbling along to the lyrics while his hands were on (Y/n)'s hips.
Maddie and Chimney stood near them, waving their arms up and down and bending down to shimmy and sway along to the beat like they were doing a new dance routine they had memorised.
Buck was dancing with the boys and Hen, and Athena and Harry were towards the back clapping and swaying about to the beat.
As soon as Bobby paused the music, almost everyone stopped.
(Y/n) kept her arms high in the air and tried to tense her elbows so she didn't move or waver. She could feel Eddie's chest pressed up into her back and his fingertips squeezed into her hips as he tried to stay perfectly still behind her. But when both their eyes moved to lock onto their son, they grinned.
Chris was still rocking. He had his eyes snapped closed, his thumb between his teeth morphing his grin and he was almost violently going back and forth as his other hand was stimming and shaking at his side. He didn't quite grasp the rules and he didn't want to stop, he just wanted to dance and move about and have everyone laughing and dancing along with him.
"Chim, you're arm moved. You're out."
"Damn," He stomped his foot into the ground before he moved over towards Bobby to sit with a drink and watch the game plan out.
Karen looked between Chris and his parents for a second, a bright smile on her lips as she turned to check everyone else before Bobby pressed play. They couldn't tell Chris to stop dancing and sit out, he was having too much fun and he wasn't trying to play a game or win the game. He could keep dancing away and rocking in the corner, they would continue the game around him.
The music continued for a little while, Bobby timed it just right to stop the music when Harry and Athena were in the middle of their jam session and both of them wobbled on their feet before stumbling two or three paces.
They were out.
Right as the music stopped for a third time, Buck was in the middle of his dance, one leg up in the air and his arms out at his sides. (Y/n) gasped, holding her arms out when he stumbled on his back foot and fell towards her. His arms swung out, grabbing (Y/n)'s shoulder and taking her down like a domino. She slipped and felt her back knock into Eddie's legs, swiping them from under him so that he went down with them.
"I'm afraid you're all out now," Karen leaned over them with a grin and (Y/n) sighed dramatically, flopping her head onto her husband's chest.
With a manic laugh, Chris finally stopped dancing and trotted forwards until he could slump down onto Buck's chest.
"You lost Buck,"
"Have you had enough, baby?" (Y/n) tilted her head to the side as she looked up at Chris when he walked over to them.
All the boys had been sat very close to the buffet table in case they wanted seconds. They had been sat in a big circle on the grass to have their dinner while the rest of the 118 were in the chairs near the radio, finishing off their food.
(Y/n) knew Chris was a fussy eater and if he looked at the buffet, there would be too much choice for him and he wouldn't be able to choose anything, it would overwhelm him. So she had gone along the table, picking out a few tiny bits that she knew he would definitely eat and grabbed the pack of crisps from her bag she brought. He was particular on what kind and brand he would eat.
"Finished," He whispered quietly, handing over the plate so she could see he had eaten at least half of what she had put on the plate, and all the crisps she gave him.
"Good boy," (Y/n) put the plate down on the grass next to her and opened her arms so he could sit between her legs. She was sat down between Eddie's legs, her head resting on his thigh and his legs squeezing her sides lovingly. Every now and then he kept leaning down to kiss her head or card his fingers through her hair.
She curved her arms around his middle and pressed her lips to the top of Chris's head, swaying them side to side between Eddie's legs.
"You okay?" (Y/n) whispered quietly into his hair when she noticed his hands that had come up to hold her arm were twitching. He was trying to stim, he didn't usually do that when he was having a cuddle.
"Hm,"
"Mum said we can go in the pool, are you coming?" Denny hovered by the side of them, a hopeful look on his face that brightened even more when Chris grinned. He had been waiting for them to say he could jump in the pool ever since he noticed it.
"Yeah… mummy?"
Chris turned around in (Y/n)'s arms and lifted his arms towards her so she got the silent message. She smiled down at him and gently lifted his top over his head and put it down next to her bag that had all of his things in.
"You can go in your shorts baby, I've got spare clothes in the bag," (Y/n) didn't see the point in Chris taking off his shorts and sitting in his underwear when he could just get them wet and change into the spare outfit she had packed for emergencies or food disasters.
With a lasting look towards his parents, Chris swiped off his glasses and dropped them onto Eddie's lap before Denny took his hand and they headed towards the paddling pool. Eddie rolled his eyes and hung the glasses around his neck to keep them safe. The last time Chris had put them down and forgot about them, Eddie had sat on them and broke them. He wasn't making that mistake again.
Chris flopped into the water like a penguin sliding off the ice and the moment he was sat up in the water, he threw his arms out and splashed the water until it was spraying around him and bubbles started to appear between his fingers. He wasn't expecting it to be so cold but the shivers it caused and the way it made his legs jerk had him in fits of giggles.
When one of the other boys jumped into the pool rather close to him, Chris shuffled back until he was in his own little corner of the pool. He smiled when Denny handed him one of the spades from the sandbox so he could splash properly and flick the water up.
He shovelled up the water and started to stim, flicking his wrist so the water sprinkled slowly over the edges of the shovel and rained down onto his legs.
As soon as another boy started to skid and jump around the pool, Chris turned to the left so his side was pressed up into the plastic edge of the pool and he was facing away from them.
They were starting to become rowdy.
They were laughing and babbling too fast for Chris to understand what they were talking about and he didn't really want to know either. He wanted to listen to the CD playing over near his parents but even the songs sounded much too fast. It sounded like they had been sped up and the volume wasn't loud enough, he wanted it louder to drown out the sound of everything else.
He could hear beer bottles clinking together and a lot of gruff laughter and one of the boys he didn't know was shouting along to the music, ruining the song for Chris.
Chris tipped his head down and started to rock back and forth, trying to concentrate on the music he could barely hear over the loudness of everything else. His fingers tightened around the spade and his blurry eyes moved until he could see a bright green balloon a few feet from the pool.
Hen had blown up some normal balloons and put them around the garden in case the boys wanted to play with them or play throw and catch or kick them around. Chris liked balloons, he liked it when his dad would play don't let the balloon touch the floor with him and they would jump up on the sofa to hit the balloons around.
Someone popped one.
Lurching forward, (Y/n) felt Eddie's hand tighten on her shoulder and she turned around between his legs. She leaned her arms up on his thigh and pushed up between his thighs as his arm moved around her shoulders as he turned to look behind him over at the pool.
Chris didn't like loud bangs, especially not balloons popping.
"Boys, be careful please-"
"Christopher no!" (Y/n) thrust her drink out towards Buck who was sat next to Eddie before she stumbled to get up and hurry over to the pool.
As soon as another balloon popped, Chris screamed. He started to slam the spade down into the water causing waves to roll around his legs and water to sprinkle up around him. He whacked the spade down so fast and repeatedly that he started to hit himself in the knee and the thigh but he didn't care. Another scream left his lips as his eyes screwed shut and he bashed back and forth, waving his hands out at his sides.
"Baby I'm here, mummy's here it's alright. Give it to me," Reaching the pool, (Y/n) knelt down beside the edge and reached over to try and grab the spade off him, he was making his legs blotchy red and sore.
His scream pierced through her ears and when she grabbed his hand, he jerked his arm back and accidentally smacked the spade against her neck. (Y/n) leaned back, swallowing a hiss because she knew Chris didn't realise he had caught her, his eyes were still shut tight.
She pulled it out of his hand and tossed it out the way on the grass before she tried to wrap her arms around him and calm him down. She didn't want him to have a full meltdown here, not when he'd been having such a good day so far and enjoying himself. He rested his forehead against her shoulder, but only for a second before he started to thrash his head into her arm and moved his hands to scratch his nails up and down his arms.
"Come on,"
"NO!" He kept rocking back and forth and moved to kick his legs out when (Y/n) tried to pick him up.
He couldn't keep having a meltdown in the pool, (Y/n) had to get him inside so he was somewhere quieter, safer and secluded so no one could see. It wasn't fair for everyone to see him like this and it was Denny's party. But (Y/n) could already hear the music had been turned off and everyone was as quiet as a mouse. No one moved closer and all the boys got out the pool but stayed close in case there was something they could do to help.
None of the boys, or even the team, had ever seen Chris get overstimulated and go into a meltdown before.
"Eddie…" (Y/n) looked up at him with pleading eyes as her husband hurried over beside her and leaned over the pool.
"One, two, three." They carefully took an arm each and stood up, pulling Chris out of the pool and lowered him down onto the grass. "Good lad," Eddie muttered when Denny silently handed him a towel.
Eddie knelt down beside Chris and held both Chris's wrists out in front of him with one hand while he draped the towel around him with the other. Once it was tight around his body, he let go of Chris's hands so he couldn't scratch himself anymore. As soon as it was around him, (Y/n) picked him up and got to her feet. She shivered at feeling Chris scream into her neck and she could feel his nails puncturing into her back from how tightly he was clinging to her but she didn't care.
Her eyes stayed on the ground as she tried to be quick, rushing from the pool towards the house to get him inside and away from the party.
"I'm sorry, I think it's an overload, he's had too much stimulation," Eddie looked at Hen with an apologetic smile while he leaned down to grab (Y/n)'s bag so he could take it to her.
"Don't be sorry, he's not done anything wrong."
"You can turn the music back on and carry on, don't let this spoil their fun. Once he's calmed down he'll be fine." It wouldn't be fair on Denny and the boys if they kept the music off and effectively stopped the party. They were all having fun and the party wasn't over yet, they could go back to their games.
This was normal for Chris and it didn't mean anyone had done anything wrong. He had too much stimulation with the sand, the games and the water and then all the different noises and music. He needed a quiet zone to calm back down and go to normal again.
Slinging the bag on his shoulder, Eddie tried to smile at them all and waited for Bobby to turn the radio back on before he headed over to go in the kitchen where (Y/n) had gone.
"Shh, alright baby, mummy's here."
(Y/n) leaned her back up against the kitchen cupboard and bent her knees out to the sides to accomodate Chris who was curled up between her thighs. He burrowed his face into her stomach and kept his hands pressed tightly over his ears. His knees were bunched up to his stomach, the towel was wrapped around around him and (Y/n) was slowly swaying them from side to side.
"Daddy's back, look," Her hand rubbed up and down Chris's arm and she tried to nudge him to look over at Eddie who knelt down in front of them.
He rummaged around in the bag until he managed to find the dark green headphones tucked away in there. They were large oval headphones that were noise-cancelling for emergencies like this. If they were out in public and the music or the voices were too loud and overwhelming, they could slip these on Chris and he would calm down and wouldn't have to leave.
Eddie carefully nudged Chris's hands away and put the headphones on him before he tilted his chin up so he could kiss his forehead.
He dug back into the bag and found the purple dinosaur crammed at the bottom. The moment he held it out towards Chris, his eyes stopped darting from side to side and he gingerly took the teddy, pulling it into his slightly damp chest and binding his arms around it.
"There we go, all better." Eddie shuffled around from his knees to sit down on the floor just in front of them.
He spread his legs out around either side of (Y/n), caging her thighs between his and he looped his hands under her legs and lifted them up. He gave a small tug and pulled her closer until her legs were hooked around his waist and Chris was curled up between them. Chris moved down so his head was on (Y/n)'s thigh, arms still bound to his teddy and his legs splayed out over Eddie's thigh.
The shaking subsided quickly with (Y/n)'s fingers running through his hair and Eddie's hand smoothing up and down his arm, coaxing him into a rather sleepy state. He had exhausted himself.
Reaching out, (Y/n) curled her fingers around Eddie's hand, smiling up at him until he closed the gap between them and pecked her lips.
"Hey, how we doin' in here?" Hen held the door halfway open and leaned in, smiling gently down at the couple. When she peered her head a bit closer, she could see that Chris had his eyes closed and his thumb pressed between his lips. He was falling asleep.
"We're good, looks like we'll be heading home though." Eddie hadn't expected them to stay for hours today, he knew at some point Chris would either be too tired to stay or he would get fidgety and irritated and want to go home. They hadn't been expecting a meltdown, but at least it was over and he had tired himself out. They would have to suffer another bad mood later when they woke him up for his tea and bath but he would certainly be in bed earlier tonight.
"Are the boys okay?" (Y/n) tilted her head back and looked up at Hen, she felt bad for them, especially Denny, it was his party and he had to see Chris have a meltdown for the first time.
"Please, they're hyped up on cake sliding in and out of the pool. Everything's fine as long as Chris is alright. Denny's really enjoyed spending time with him."
Chris had had a good day, they would just have to be a bit more cautious next time.
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erinwantstowrite · 5 months ago
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hi!! first off i just want to say i love LOF and i think it really stands out in this niche genre of “spiderman in gotham”, its my absolute favourite fic rn and im loving the long chapters and dynamics between characters :)
for my question, i wanted to know if you ever considered writing any portions of peters past. specifically when he was “Parker”, an informant for the avengers. it sounds like a really interesting story and i’d love to know more about it, no pressure tho ^^
thank you so much!! I do plan on writing more about it. I honestly want to do a prequel,,,
I have some of it written actually. It was called It's called "Technically Not a Lie (Just Omitting Information)" and what is hilarious about that is it's only 27,000 words right now. I haven't touched that fic in forever because I just... had all of the information written down and the planning, and I got into Batfam and was like "Let's just write a little about this" and we can all blame @alighterwood for where we are now LMFAOOO
Thing is, I never expected LoF to get so popular, which is why it was posted first. I was like "I'll just make sure as much as I can that LoF is clear about his past so anyone who isn't me can read it and be fine." And now that we're here, I'm like "...that might be important."
I think it would be fun to have a prequel so more people can see the dynamics of Peter's world from before LoF in a much clearer light.
I kind of wanna shed a little light on how this prequel would go:
He ran from his last foster house at 12 years old, and he's year years old in this fic. In that time, he has been determined to make a life for himself all on his own, as well as help people as Spider-Man. He has no idea that his personality made people trust him so much. He's only on the street for about a year by the time the story starts, but "Parker" is very much intertwined with people. People just know him, he's the kid that the other kids go to for help. Even without Spider-Man (who, at this point, has only just gotten a proper suit and people actually realize he's not a cryptid), Parker manages to help people.
That's why the Avengers end up talking to him. Kids are going missing in Queens and show up dead- but most of them are the homeless population. They think it has something to do with people trying to make a knock-off super solider serum, and during their investigation, everything comes back to "That Parker Guy." Not in a bad way- everything has nice things to say. One kid even says they'll only talk to them if Parker vouches for them.
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Turns out, Parker is a 13 year old and a fucking genius. I mentioned in LoF chapter 1 about it a little bit, and here and there it was mentioned. Peter gives the Avengers a real run for their money the way he does for the Batfam. Except it's ten times worse because he hasn't gone to therapy and is on his own, yknow?
So Bucky and Steve run across Peter (who is doing his own investigation into the missing kids as both Parker and Spider-Man) and that conversation ends with Peter going "Look behind you!" and sprinting in the opposite direction.
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Sam and Banner are the ones that really track Parker down and have the first contact with him, and from there, he becomes their informant. Of course, he's also lying to their faces. Swears that he has a mother waiting for him and that he's just really good friends with these people. And people have lied several times to their faces for Peter, going with the lie, which muddies the waters about what is and isn't the truth.
From there, the rest is history. Tony thought he was just viewing Peter like he was a puzzle to figure out, and is truly shaken to his core when he realizes how much he cares about the little shit. When Peter gets kidnapped by the people making the knock off serum, they go looking for him. And Peter ends up having a home :)
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mrsshabana · 5 months ago
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honestly i need a story time about the cult? also the link to that podcast, im intrigued now lol
𝐌𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭
Ok children gather around. It's story time 🤓
Note: Now I won't provide a link because I talk about a lot of personal stuff including my name and location, and I don't want so many people having access to that. But I don't mind telling my story here.
Content warning: Mentions of religious trauma and eating disorders
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Ok, so let me set the scene. I was 18 and moved out of my parents' house. I lived in a ghetto apartment near my university where I was studying art.
Now when I moved out my parents stopped talking to me. So I really felt alone, I had no family, no friends, and I was in a new place so I was very desperate to have a connection with someone. So really I was the perfect victim for a cult because I was vulnerable.
One day I was walking out of the mathematics building when a student stopped me and asked me if I would like to read the bible with her. She was a Korean international student and she was really nice so I was like sure why not. Now at this point, I wasn't super religious but I did consider myself a Christian. But I never knew the bible very well and my family was the kind of family that only went to church on easter and Christmas.
So anyway, I read the bible with her and she explained it to me. The way she explained the passage was insinuating that there was a female version of god. That was something I had never heard of before but it was interesting to me so I decided to come with her to her bible study.
Long story short it ended up being this organization called "The World Mission Society Church of God." I went to their church and spent hours with them every Wednesday and Saturday because they made me feel accepted. They welcomed me and became like my family which I didn't have at the time.
Something I really loved about them was that their church was so diverse. There were so many different kinds of people there, I really felt welcome. Because growing up churches seemed so segregated. I'm biracial, my mom is white and my dad is black so growing up we either went to the white church or the black church. And at both I felt like people would stare at me and my family and that I wasn't welcome there.
So it felt really nice to have such a diverse church where I felt truly welcomed. Anyway, I ended up making a lot of friends there and I stayed with them for about 6 months. Then I figured out they were actually a cult. It's a long story but I won't go into it because this isn't even the main part yet.
After leaving the World Mission Society I felt really lonely again because I lost the only friends and sense of belonging I had. But I had to just keep going.
Maybe about 3 months later this random Korean guy approached me on campus and he asked me if I'd like to participate in a survey thing about the bible. I was skeptical at first because my previous church had told me that every Korean person was a part of their church. (Which obviously is NOT true). But my mind was thinking, "Oh no, what if they are trying to get back to me."
But I decided that it's not right to assume that this man is a part of that cult just because he's Korean. So I agreed to participate in this survey and I gave him my phone number.
Basically, a professor was writing a book where she'd answer people's most common questions about the bible. And she was surveying students to collect questions for the book. It sounded pretty cool to me so I was very interested.
I met up with the professor at a Starbucks on campus and I answered her questions about things I've always wondered about the bible. We'll call this lady Anya.
During our meeting, I expressed to Anya how I felt discarded by god because of my previous cult experience. I felt like I wasn't worthy of his love and I was very ashamed of what I did. Because we would literally pray to a human man who claimed to be god. After leaving I knew that wasn't true, and I figured god no longer loved me for what I did.
Anya was so encouraging and kind. She told me that is it 100% untrue, and that god does love me. That he put me through that experience for a reason and it only made me stronger.
Then she offered to do some bible study lessons with me so I could learn things the right way and start to feel a little bit better about my situation. And of course, I agreed. I was desperate to redeem myself and make friends again.
So I started going to this bible study once a week. Which turned to twice a week. Which turned into me going to some woman's house to have lessons. We'll call this woman Cara.
Cara was from Korea and so was her husband, they were extremely nice and welcomed me into their home. They would feed me ramen and cool snacks, and I honestly felt like a part of their family. There were lots of people in this bible study too and I made a ton of friends.
So fast forward, I had been studying the bible with them for about a year now. And nothing crazy, I was learning about the parables of the bible and the meanings of all those things in the bible that make no sense. It was very informative and interesting but nothing outlandish.
They sit us down for this big "reveal" about who the 2nd coming of Jesus is. Now they hyped it up so much and they told us that we can't judge this person no matter what. This whole time I thought it was going to be someone crazy like Kanye West or something. But no, it was an old Korean man.
He seemed unassuming enough? I had never heard of him so I didn't know why they made such a big deal out of it.
Now at this point, you are probably thinking, "Why the hell would you fall for this again?" Listen, trust me I was frustrated with myself when I left but you have to understand these people love-bombed me when I had no one. They became my family when I had none. They lied to me for an entire year so I'd trust them and get close to them before they revealed who they really were.
And they were a church called Shincheonji.
And I had no problem accepting this because these people had been my family and my best friends for an entire year. They'd feed me, watch movies with me, do anything to help me out. So I trusted them wholeheartedly. But really I was just being brainwashed.
So after I found out that they were Shincheonji they put me in their group for advanced students. And I'd begin studying multiple times a week at Cara's house and Anya was always there too. I would join the twice-weekly sermons via zoom as well. Where one of the Korean tribe leaders would give a sermon about something. I was in the Mathias tribe by the way, though that doesn't really matter.
I would do so so much with them, we even all went on a road trip to Houston where the other branch was. They even got me a birthday cake and surprised me for my birthday too. It was honestly great, and I loved them a lot.
We were basically encouraged to recruit as many people as we can because if we don't they will go to hell. They put so much pressure on us for this. They'd say things like, "Don't you want to save them?" And I am a very empathetic person so I felt like omg I want to save everyone! But on the other hand, ever since I joined Shincheonji my anxiety and depression went through the roof. The pressure to save the entire world is a lot for a 21-year-old girl. So I never recruited anyone myself because I didn't want them to have to struggle with the same mental health issues I did when I joined.
I also had some physical health issues arise as well. Their teachings would always preach how "The word of god is all the food we need." How spiritual food was more important than physical food. And that really stuck with me, especially when I got food poisoning and I couldn't eat solid food for two weeks. Something about not eating made me feel good. Like I didn't even need food because the word of god was enough, so why not just not eat at all? Not eating felt like the only thing I could control, so I clung to it. And I became anorexic. Being with Shinchenji was the only time I was ever considered underweight.
Anyway, I have so many crazy stories to tell about my time with them but I'll save those for another day.
I had been with them for about two and a half years before I started to question things.
We got a new teacher from Korea to replace Cara because she was going to have a baby. And this new teacher was a lot different and a lot less loving and nurturing than Cara had been.
She had said some things that I didn't agree with, and it started putting some doubt in my mind.
Ok so, on a side note I used to work at the library at my school doing data entry in the basement. And I would listen to podcasts a lot throughout the day as I did my work.
One day I found an interesting podcast about cults, where the host would bring cult victims onto the show and they'd tell their story. Well I was listening to an episode about the Moonies and I thought to myself, "Huh, they sound very similar to Shincheonji in some ways..."
But I knew I could not think such thoughts and that if I did any research then the devil would poison me through the internet. And I needed to strengthen my spirit for even thinking of such a thing.
So I went to reddit, and I found a subreddit called r/Shincheonji. I was like, "Oh yes! Now I can talk to other Shincheonji members and we can strengthen each other's faith!"
But it wasn't a subreddit for believers. It was a subreddit for ex-members and people who were against Shincheonji.
And at this point, I had already seen enough to plant that seed of doubt in me. I read more and more even though Shincheonji warned me I'd be poisoned if I ever researched them. But I couldn't stop myself.
I went through so much inner turmoil, you guys have no idea. My reality was crumbling so hard and I felt like my world was ending. It's hard to explain, but I was so indoctrinated and brainwashed by this point. This really ruined me.
I had to mourn the loss of all of the family and friends I gained these past years. I would cry almost every night because I missed them, and it was so hard to accept that they never truly loved me at all. To be honest, I still think about some of them to this day and I hope they got out and found peace in their lives.
No one in my life had known I was a part of Shincheonji. My closest friends nor my family, who had slowly started talking to me again. But I had to tell someone so I told my childhood best friend, we'll call him Blaine.
I got in a Playstation party with Blaine and I just cried. I cried so so much, and he was so confused. But eventually, I told him everything. And he was really supportive and gave me no judgment at all.
My main issue was, how could I leave? I have quite literally been living a double life this entire time and not having that scared the shit out of me. But Blaine advised me to cut them off completely and just leave without saying anything. Because his concern was that if they got the chance to talk to me, they would most certainly be able to pull me back in. And I know them well enough to know this is true. So that's exactly what I did, I left and went cold turkey. I even went as far as changing my work schedule too.
And here's where things get creepy.
I hadn't spoken to them for about a week now, and I'm at work. I'm working as usual in the basement on the computers and low and behold, three girls walk in. Girls from my cult, girls that I was close to.
Now students aren't allowed to just waltz into this room so they had some big balls to do that. But the weird thing was, I had completely changed my schedule and I was working on a day I normally had off. They should have had no idea I was there.
But here they were, holding a large cup of boba from my favorite place. And in my favorite flavor too, winter milk cap with mango popping bubbles.
They came up to me and said, "Hey girl, we noticed you haven't been coming to worship lately. Is everything alright?"
I said, "Oh uh yeah everything's fine! I've just been super busy with work and a ton of projects for class..."
"Ok, well we got this for you," they handed me the boba, "We were hoping to talk to you. We can wait for you outside and talk to you when you get off."
I started panicking so I said, "My mom is actually picking me up as soon as I get off so I won't be able to, I'm sorry! Maybe another time though, I'll text you."
They were convinced by my response so they left. And boy did I RUN so fucking fast after I got off work. I even called Blaine so he could talk to me in case they came after me, but luckily they didn't and I got home ok.
He started yelling at me for drinking the boba saying, "YOU IDIOT! THEY PROBABLY POISONED IT!"
But hey, free boba is free boba.
Anyway, after that event I knew I had to text that girl and tell her I was deciding to leave Shinchenji because I didn't want them to show up at my job again or follow me around.
So I texted her, trying to be as nice as possible and explain to her that I just couldn't do it anymore. I told her how this affected my mental health and my physical health. How I developed an eating disorder from being in Shincheonji too.
Her response was really rude and condescending. She said my mental health issues and my eating disorder were my fault and the work of satan trying to blame them. She told me that once I leave I can never be accepted into heaven, that I'm damning myself to hell as well as all of my family members. I'll be honest, she made me feel incredibly guilty and selfish for leaving. Their teachings were still ingrained in me. But I knew that I could never return after everything, so I blocked her and never spoke to her again.
Oh yeah and that book the professor was writing in the beginning, that wasn't real and she wasn't a professor. It was just a ruse to lure students in.
I will admit I could never get their teachings out of my head. And to this day, even though I know they were wrong, a part of me believes I am going to hell for what I did and all of my family will suffer because of me. So now I can't even look at a bible, and I no longer consider myself religious.
And after this experience, I reached out to that cult podcast that helped me realize I was also in a cult, and I got an episode of my own where I got to tell my story.
So yeah haha that's my story!
Today only my close friends know, and I never told my parents. They still have no idea and honestly, I don't know if I will ever tell them.
I'm still really plagued by a lot of things they did, and my worldview has never been the same. My life has never been the same. But I've been cult free for about 2 years now so I'm just taking it one day at a time.
I'm sorry this was so long. But if you read the whole thing I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading my story. And if you are a college student, please be careful because cults like this are rampant on college campuses, especially in the U.S.
After leaving the cult, I needed something to obsess over, something to make me feel normal. And that was Gyutaro! And I gotta say, obsessing over him is much healthier than obsessing over the teachings of a cult.
Anyway, I want you all to know that this blog has been an escape for me and helped me to feel normal again after this experience. And I don't need a cult to make me feel loved anymore. Because I have all of you :)
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hepaidattention · 1 month ago
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my chaotic obx4 part 1 thoughts.... without any order
OBX Spoilers!!!
JJ's name is Jackson............????????? WHATS HIS MIDDLE NAME
jiara is everything. they are my everything. they literally are all we ever wanted. would never complain for more kissing maybe, okay just slightly. like a kiss on the cheek even. but they are perfect. perfection.
ruthie. you don't even have to listen to jj's threats honey. because it's KIARA you should really be scared of. wrong pogue to make an enemy of.
protective jj makes me just.... ugh. he will do ANYTHING crazy and thoughtless and dangerous but if kiara wants to he's gonna be level headed and try to talk her out of it. he's a presh bean
absolutely love Kiara Carrera and absolutely hate her parents. wouldn't expect anything less from our girl, but the fact that her parents said "don't come back unless he's gone" and she said "okay bye then" and never looked back is just. I love her. I love jiara.
the writers really said "lets make jj's mom dead and oh yeah that asshole dad? not his real dad - raised him out of the goodness of his heart, then beat him. yeah but NO no no no noNO no sarah can't be his sister. the fans want that too bad."
the way kiara put up a pillow to make out with JJ (or more *wink*) in the chamber pod thingy *chefs kiss* and the way she and JJ had traded places, of course implying that there was definitely some rolling around going on in there *wink* best part imo (just woulda been better if we had seen them kiss but its fine IM FINE) I'm just a slut for some kiss scenes that's all. I honestly didn't even feel like their dynamic needs it. I just like to see that kissing content
I actually really love the dynamics this season. They have THREE couples in the main group and they've done amazing not making it feel like that, tbh. Though I did get frustrated because I COULD use a little more PDA sometimes, it also (especially for JJ and Kie) makes perfect sense for their characters. Plus, as friends first (and friends for so long), it's nice watching them get to slowly be more comfortable in showing affection beyond closed doors.
I know Rafe is crazy. really I do. but I really want him to become good. I love how this girl has seemed to help that, too. she's a pogue and he doesn't care - like he does but he loves her anyway and it's helped him realize why Sarah did what she did. being a pogue doesn't really change who you are. He also has shown remorse for hating on pogues, like the whole beach scene. I saw someone say they didn't understand the point but I think the point was to show us Rafe and his gf (forgot her name I'm so sorry girly), and show how mad she became, and for Rafe to realize maybe this whole pogue vs kook thing was STUPID and hurtful. It also seems to have to do with Topper development but I kind hate Topper so I don't care about him lolll
still not over the jiara kiss. THEY"VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR ALMOST 2 FUCKING YEARS.
JJ. Babe. I love you. But you have dated that girl for 2 years and have not taken her out on a date???? I know, I get it, you've been very busy building a life. BUT HONEY. tsk tsk. Treat her right, sir.
Absolutely love how soft he gets towards her.
Pope: scolding
JJ: I KNOW MAN I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THIS ALRIGHT??? I DID WHAT I DID AND I DIDN'T DO NOTHING WRONG
JB: argues
JJ: IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT ACTUALLY
Kie: scolds
JJ: you're right baby I'm so sorry I'm just trying to help
the pogues being pogues. this season feels very fanfic in the best ways. like we actually got all of them living together in one house???? all just being best buds and loving one another platonically (and romantically)???? and I'm just. I love it. it's what we all asked for and it was worth the wait (tho the wait has been very very long)
it's the way Sarah and JB put up a seashell to let them know they're busy *wink* and Kiara almost walks in and says it's getting excessive IMPLYING that Sarah and Kie are roommates. which that makes me cackle because now I think JJ and JB are roommates and Kie and Sarah are roommates but JB stays in Sarah's room so much that Kie basically lives in JB and JJs room
cannot get over how solid jiara is. they're just... they're just right. they fit. and now that they've been together for 2 years working crap out, there's no silly early dating drama. it's just JJ being JJ, or Kie being Kie, and they both know each other so well they know there's not a reason to even argue. like JJ didn't even fight Kie on diving because he knew he couldn't fight her. she's too stubborn. just like Kie knows there's no need in getting mad at JJ when he does something wreckless because he does something like all the time. she knows talking to him calmly is the only way to even reach him anyway.
JJ: does something stupid
Sarah: "your bf's doing something stupid again"
Kie: "I know this and I love him."
cannot wait to see how they all get back together, or how Kie and JJ reunite, or how Kie will react to the news, or Rafe will help with this adventure, and how JJ will meet his dad (even though I wish it was Shoupe and not the random evil dude).
Also. They WOULD give JJ a death curse. SMH.
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00belle00lovely00 · 8 months ago
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Can you pls do Craftycorn x Dogday? I'm STARVING for craftyday content 🙏
OH MAH GAWD IM GETTING SO MANY BY AMOUNTS- I AM-
OK OK OK OK OK I GOT PLENTY FOR THIS ONE
☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨☀️🎨
I'm sticking with this one ship called "Sunshine and Rainbows."
He calls her Pretty Lady regularly.
We all know how Craftycorn is very much soft-spoken, in my head, she always played out as not exactly a shy girl but rather someone very intimate with herself you know? WHILE DOGDAY? NAH. HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT PERSONAL SPACE, HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT NOT WANTING TO MAKE FRIENDS IS LIKE, THIS MAN IS THE EMBODIMENT OF EXTROVERTS.
I think the biggest headcanon we all agreed to is that one scenario where Crafty gets all nervous to show people her art, while Dogday says: "LETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETMESEELETME-" on poor Crafty.
Okay, underrated headcanon. INSTEAD of Craftycorn liking Dogday and being such a nervous mess about it. WHAT IF DOGDAY WAS THE ONE WHO HAD A CRUSH ON HER- WHAT IF YALL, WHAT IFFFFF!
Can't we all just equally agree Dogday sucks at drawing so we got Crafty as his art teacher? PLEASE-
I've said it so many times. Live laugh love Craftycorn girl failure.
DOGDAY👏GIVING👏CRAFTYCORN👏PRINCESS👏TREATMENT👏>>>>>>>>>>
Dogday, although sunny and joyful, can obviously get VERY stressed regularly. As if in case any of his friends get into a small fight, he gets to stay up all night trying to figure out a way to reconcile the group back together. Telling himself that "it's what the leader has to do". Of course, Craftycorn gets worried by how Dogday's house lights are still on. And decides to go check up on him. She's not as good as Catnap in helping people go to sleep, but she is non less a good company to stick around. So if Dogday declines to get to sleep right away when Crafty asks him about it, she considers perhaps doing some arts and crafts to at least ease his mind. Hopefully, him falling asleep at the desk to then be tucked him with a blanket.
They gotta absolutely LOVE cartoons.
SHE BETTER BE SCRATCHING THIS PUPPY'S EARS- IF IT'S NOT HER. I AM. WE ALL ARE.
Dogday ultimate good boy hehehhehehehheeheh.
Bobby is listening to the whole tea the moment she finds out about this.
Here's a nice headcanon nobody thought about
Craftycorn when typing: " (*^▽^*)\(@^0^@)/(●'◡'●)(✿◕‿◕✿)¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ╰(*°▽°*)╯(^///^)(❁´◡`❁)☆*: .。. o(≧���≦)o .。.:*☆( ̄︶ ̄)↗ ( •̀ ω •́ )✧(~ ̄▽ ̄)~(✿◡‿◡)(*^-^*)(≧∇≦)ノ(^・ω・^ )(^._.^)ノ╰(‵□′)╯(°ロ°)(⊙_⊙)? "
Meanwhile Dogday typing: "😊👍"
AM I RIGHT?????
Crafty would make him so many matching bracelets that at this point he had to put them up on the walls as decorations. Yes, she gets embarrassed asf every time they have a slumber party with the group.
Crafty is known to be a very quiet and collected gal, BUT. HERE'S THE SITUATION- IF SHE EVER SNAPPED AT SOMEONE SHE SNAPS ALRIGHT? And BECAUSE she gets so pissed, she attempts to shut her mouth instantly, rush to the nearest room she can find and look herself inside. Guilt and embarrassment eat her alive. Yet, of course, we got Dogday to walk in as an optimistic reassurance.
OOOOOH, WHAT IF DOGDAY WAS BRAIDING HER HAIR AND TAIL- G A S P...... OH MY LORD, I GOTTA SEE ART OF THAT-
ONTOP OF THAT, LET CRAFTYCORN PUT MAKEUP ON HIM, AAAAHHHH!!!!
Between the two of them, Craftycorn is much smarter than him.
PDA?... oh man, have you seen how Dogday is? Of course, there's gonna be a PDA. What you'd expect?
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lord-owlsnake · 26 days ago
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Just noticed your "Bird in Hand AU" tag on bird monster River...care to elaborate?
You have no idea how much i want to talk about this weird little AU that's kind of gotten out of hand. Initially i was like haha im gonna make a monster form for River because that's usually what i end up doing for any character i like but now it's become it's own thing lmao.
Anyway, A Bird In The Hand is an AU where River is actually a giant bird monster because Frank was cursed to be one. So he's just. Born that way. River's mom still leaves him with his grandparents, but what she leaves them is not a very human looking kid. They love him anyway. Take it upon themselves to teach him to fly after he tries by himself and ends up busting his leg. He's really bad at landing. Eventually he learns how to make himself look like a people (because he wanted to be like his grandparents. David comes home one day to find a regular kid with too sharp teeth in the living room). He can't quite get the hang of making his teeth look normal. He doesn't smile when he's out in public, but he can be anything he wants at home.
No one really knows about this fully until like, in between seasons 2 and 3. And it's just the people at Slough House who do for now. Things get dicey in the Graybooks, but it's somehow still managed to be kept mostly a secret. There's absolutely an outing at some point where everyone goes out into the countryside to have a nice day and Louisa, Marcus, and Shirley get up to shenanigans in a field trying to teach River how to land properly. Catherine and Lamb watching from the sidelines of course. (Lamb says it's strictly because of security concerns but Catherine catches him smiling a bit when River finally sticks that landing)
Patrice, Yves and Bertrand are all also monsters. Definitely more beasts than people. I've decided that in season 4 Patrice swoops down outta the sky to cause that car crash and he actually takes River away and River ends up stuck back in Les Abres for months. (He does get rescued, don't worry. Louisa just almost gets eaten about it it's fine.)
Basically it's just an au to go ham with the entire thought of "People don't love/want me when I'm Normal, how could they ever want me when I'm Not?" Being a huge scary monster but your friends loving you anyway. Scared to lose yourself to it.
Anyway that's the gist haha. Thank u so much for asking!
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shattersstar · 1 year ago
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ok but we need to hear more about college dick now👀👀
hehe ask and u shall receive because ohhh myyy dick in college is such a messsssssss but like so pretty it’s almost unfair
i love the idea of dick and a bunch of his friends getting a house together with the intent of being Normal for the first time in a while, which means being absolute menaces as most 20 smth yr old guys are
very much known for being a party house bordering a frat but all the guys r so nice that it’s rlly hard to think of them like that. it’s a space where he can let go, feel like himself and with the encouragement of his friends, dick puts the brakes on like relationship hunting and just has fun..
he’s been in pretty committed relationships since he was old enough to be and has always struggled with casual dating let alone sleeping with people he barely know. but when dick learns there r ppl out there looking for the same thing and not everyone wants to b the next future ex mr/mrs. grayson it makes it a lil easier to be his charming self with no bounds <33
and then he mets you and it’s the usual routine, flirting you to his bedroom which is in the basement—of course—well alllllmost doing so until you vanish out of his grasp for reasons dick cannot discern (you weren’t here for him silly)
and while he’s not like one of those oh i wanted to hit and couldn’t so im gonna chase you types, dick does have to reconcile with the fact your friends with roy and spend a lot of time at the house now
which also means he learns how cool you r and how goofy he feels for just tryna sleep with you
and despite his friends vouching for him you really only see (and have heard the numerous rumours) dick as a rich playboy and that’s not for you. plus he’s def a business or poli sci major……….but with a psych minor bc it feels the most practical despite how boring dick finds most of his classes
though when he realizes your both in a psych elective together he’s all toothy grins and obnoxious air which isn’t helping his case but of course he’s a decent student and when you mentioned hating statistics—you were stuck with the worse prof outta the two—dick jumped at the chance to help
you were sooooooo skeptical and even though agreed you kept brushing him off until dick just started helping you when you were over to hang out. he drops a textbook in your lap while sitting in roy’s bed or starts reviewing your notes and adding examples while your hanging out on the living room floor building lego sets with everyone else.
and dick did that a lot—sure it was his house and roy was his best friend along with all of his other housemates but dick never hesitated to insert himself into whatever you were doing when you came over. and it shouldn’t surprised you but everyone being so..unbothered by it had you confused. like maybe that’s how dick is but it spoke bounds to their closeness and was the First time you actually saw a little more to dick than just some campus hottie douchebag who threw parties to get laid
and while you weren’t about to tell dick that, you did start coming over with the intent of working on stats together. it usually meant dick having to re-lecture whatever your prof barely managed to explain and helping you with the page long equations needed for assignments
and dick keeps it as platonic as possible, on a mission to prove he’s not the person you think he is and not only because he wanted to be with you—well yeah he does—but because dick cares what you think about him. he knows his friends care about you and value what you have to say and he wants you to know it’s the same for him
and maaaybe you see that too but dick needs to suffer a little more
bonus: you talk to dick abt ppl you’re interested in at some point (either genuinely or to mess with him) when he insists on always hanging out with you and roy. and while he gives advice with a smile, still trying to prove his capacity for mature, platonic relationships, dick screams into his pillow later that night when he goes over the convo again and again and agai—
bonus bonus: he’s probably on the school’s gymnastics team <3
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kenlvry · 2 years ago
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reader as kennys, tweeks, and butters older sibling!!
an: someone requested this but i accidentally deleted the request i panicked so bad and im sorry!!! butters colour is only on laptop and my laptop is at home rn so for now butters is
gn btw!
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kenny mccormick
you and kenny were inseparable even though you were a year older than him you would still talk to him during recess, even sometimes dropping by his class to annoy mr garrison. when things got tough at home esp when mom and dad is fighting you and kenny would always protect kevin and karen, you two are the most sane people in that house fr.
you were always protective of kenny and would travel to the world and back for him, when he introduced his friend group to you, you were..... shock to be honest. esp the one whos a disrespectful racist sexist person who mocks the jew friend. the others was decent, the most normal friend out of the three of them is definitely kyle, you'd trust your little brother anywhere with kyle. but with cartman? you might have to spy a little.
you sometimes hang out with them! just to protect kenny of course, they dont mind tbh. but you were worried on how stan thinks of you because whenever he sees you he pukes, you tell your little brother but he says to not worry and laughs abt it, you wonder whats so funny about it??
sometimes kenny also follows you around with your friend group, they dont mind, they think hes the most cutest thing ever. they would surround him and compliment him, he definitely likes it.he was protective of karen and you were protective with kevin, you two always try your best to support your other siblings. doing extra shifts just to buy them toys they never got as a kid.
whenever kenny wants to do something you were always there to support it, it doesnt matter how stupid and dangerous it was, you were there to help him no matter what.
you dont remember when kenny dies so whenever he does you'd go livid, you'd cry all day and mom wasn't helping either. who was going to help you support the other two now? who's gonna accompany you when you feel like getting food? you were crying 10 buckets but then just like that you were okay, you didnt even know what you were bitching about.
in conclusion he's definitely your bestest friend. even if he kills someone you'd defend him with your life, you'd do anything for your little bro.
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tweek tweak
ever since tweek was born you'd swore with your life to protect him, he was the cutest thing ever, everyone calls you the perfect older sibling. you were two years older than him, 6th grade.
you were really famous amongst the school, everyone liked and respected you. anyone knows that if they mess with tweek, they mess with you. you'd act all tough infront of your friends but then your lil bro came along and you were all soft petting his head comforting him, giving him coffee candy to calm his nerves. almost every 6th grader loved tweek bc of his older sibling.
at home if he had a panic attack or would get really anxious you'd calm him down with coffee (that you bought yourself so no weird shit in it) you knew what your parents put in his drinks thats why you always tell him to only drink your coffee and not to drink them, he doesn't get it and would still drink it but only if he is realllllyyyy stressed out, he trusts your opinions
he trusts you alot, if he gets worried about north korea attacking again you would def help him.
every morning when he buttons his buttoned up wrong you wanted to help but he'd freak out, boy hasn't had his morning coffee of course he's freaked out. you'd forget to fix it by then so you just let it be.
you love him so much and wouldn't ask for any different younger brother, and he is very grateful to have a older sibling as nice as you.
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leopold "butters" stotch
butters was the sweetest angel and the best younger sibling you could ask for, although you hated your parents you cared for him so much.
whenever your troubling with something he'd always try to help out anyway he can even though he cant help but he'd try anyways. you hated how unfair your parents was towards butters, he'd get grounded for the stupidest shit and you always argue to your dad about how unfair he's being but instead you'd get grounded too.
you always took the blame for him because he's still a kid and needs to enjoy the outside world, not be cooped up in his room. everytime that eric cartman tricks your sweet angel brother to do something stupid, you hold in the urge to murder some 4th grader, you try talking him out of it but he insisted saying cartman was a good person and hes a good friend, oh how naive butters was
he was very grateful to you and whenever he had doubts about something you are the first person he'd go to, it didnt matter how stupid the doubt was you are always trying to help your sweet younger brother <333
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bleedingoptimism · 1 year ago
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First of all, love what you wrote for the Murray prompt. Second, I got another one if you want it. Steve's parents are really nice and cool and supportive of him, they are just very busy with work and he understands, but they find out Steve and Eddie are dating and Eddie is in a band so they show up to one of his shows to be supportive. Cue semi-embarissing parent moment they both secretly love
ok first, thank you! and thank you for sending these prompts, they are lovely and im having a wonderful time thinking of the scenarios. now lets get on with the show...
Steve always calls his parents once a week. His dad's job requires him to be abroad a lot and after a misunderstanding, a bad secretary, and his mom's very jealous, very fiery personality she started traveling with him, only for them to pleasantly discover she was actually very good at making connections and closing deals so it became a thing.
So yes, his parents are not there a lot but that doesn't mean they weren't there for Steve. They talk a lot over the phone, they tell him about the places they've seen, the cute clothes his mom bought for him, the way she embarrassed a sexist businessman in Spain by responding to him in perfect Spanish to a comment about her dress. They worry about him being alone in that big house and encourage him to have friends over all the time. They ask about work, they know everything about Robin and Dustin and the kids, had been very proud of him for babysitting, thinking it was about him wanting to have more of his own money.
His dad is a man of few words and very strict but he means well and his mother is a force to be reckoned with, loud, unapologetic, and loving.
She talks a lot and has a way of making Steve talk a lot too, to get things out of him. When he's not feeling well she can always tell and she always makes him talk through his feelings. Which is why, his parents know about Steve's crush.
So when they come home for a weekend in the summer, and after he cooks dinner for them, he says he's going out for a bit,
"There's a show at The Hideout, Eddie's band is playing, is it okay if I go?" he asks. He usually stays with them the whole time they are back in town since they don't see each other a lot, but he figures they'll understand this one time.
"Of course amor, but don't stay up too late, you said you'd go trekking with me in the morning," his mom answers, so he smiles at them and, then he's off.
He goes, meets with Nancy and Robin there, listens to Corroded Coffin, and sighs enchanted as if he was hearing ballads instead of heavy metal. The band spots them and they wave and smile, Eddie winks at him making him blush and he has a great time.
Except halfway through the show, he notices people moving out of the way and hears murmurs so he looks and- jesus fuck is that his mother?!
And yes, of course it's her, Marina Harrington's hair only rivals his own, it's noticeable everywhere. The tight red dress isn't helping either and his fucking father, in a suit, hovering behind her and glaring at people who stare at her isn't helping either. He quickly goes other to them, and he walks- he does not stomp like his mother tells him he did later. And asks,
"Mom! Dad! What the- What are you doing here!?"
"Esteban! Well, we wanted to meet that boy you like, you said his band was playing?" his mom tells him excitedly.
"Is this them?" Richard asks, looking like he's smelling something awful.
"Oh don't be mean Dick! It's not that bad!" Marina says but then flinches at a particularly loud yell from Jeff and Richard hums and smiles at her, pulling her close.
"Okay no, sweety this is horrible," she says chuckling and leaning closer to her husband.
Steve snorts, "I like it, just because it's not what we usually listen to, doesn't mean it's bad," he says defensibly. Marina smiles at him and lifts her hand to touch his hair but he slaps her away,
"I think you have heart ears," she says and Richard nods and then lifts his shoulders like he's trying to hide his head inside his body so he doesn't have to listen to them anymore.
"Ok, no. You guys need to leave, you are attracting so much attention!" Steve whines and his mom is talking about 'nonsense' and 'lets get closer' when Nancy and Robin show up behind him,
"Mr and Ms Harrington! It's good to see you! what are you doing here?" Nancy asks, probably worried, she must think there's no way they'd be here unless something bad was happening. Steve groans and pinches his nose.
Richard nods at her politely, "Ms Wheeler" And Marina purses her lips, refusing to acknowledge her, and looks over her shoulder, and that's when she spots Robin and lets out a delighted little 'oh!'
"You must be Robin! Oh hi, darling, we've heard so much about you!" she squeals at her and hugs her.
Robin stands completely frozen for a second before slapping her back awkwardly, "Uhm hiii, Ms Harrington"
His mom and Robin talking is actually kind of scary Steve thinks while he puts a hand on Nancy's shoulder, "Sorry" he says regarding his mom, who never forgave Nancy for breaking Steve's heart, even if Steve did. Nancy smiles at him and shakes her head, then shrugs.
"Ah!" Richard says then, and Marina and Robin stop their chatting to look at him,
"Riqui?" Marina wonders looking at where his dad is pointing at the stage now,
"I know which one is Eddie" he says smirking, and stage-whispers in her ear, "Long curly hair, big dark eyes"
Marina's eyes light up and actually jumps up and down in her place, "Oh, of course! It's so obvious now! Ay Esteban, es lindo!"
Nancy and Robin giggle and Steve hides his face in his hands and groans.
"Guys, please. Leave. If you wanted to meet him you should've said something I would've-"
"Oh please, don't lie to me jovencito! You've never brought him home to meet us," Marina interrupts him.
Steve sighs and nods, "Yeah you are right" and then looks at his dad, like he can reason with him, "But I will tomorrow, if you leave now?" he begs.
And he's about to answer when Eddie taps the mic and talks, "Hey so, this next song is a little different from our usual but it's a good one, and I would like to dedicate it to someone very special to m- us" he says and then his eyes find Steve and Steve gasps and his dad hums and his mom squeals, it's all very confusing.
Eddie is blushing and looking intently at him, smiling when he notices Steve gasp, knowing he understood he was talking about him. The first notes of Dancing in The Dark start playing and Steve realizes, this is a confession. The thing he was waiting for, hoping for, dreaming of... finally. He gives Eddie a big smile back and bites his lips excitedly.
But then Eddie's eyes drift over Steve and go huge when he notices the couple standing behind him. Fuck, right...his parents are here. Eddie's mouth opens in an 'o' shape and stays like that for a second and then he blinks, smirks mischievously, and shakes the hair out of his eyes,
"This one goes to that lovely couple in the back!" he yells, waving back at Marina who is waving at the band excitedly, and then he starts singing.
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