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fanfic-scribbles · 1 year ago

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Dinner Date Chapter 28

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Overall Story Facts:

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Story Summary: Steve Rogers has a girlfriend. A prickly, generally asocial girlfriend, but they make it work. They have more in common than some people might think.

Quick Facts: Romance – Steve Rogers/Reader – Female Reader

Story Warnings: Reader-insert that verges on OFC, written in 1st person past tense

Chapter 28: A Celebration of Life

Chapter Summary: Steve gets an early birthday present, and reflects on good things past and present.

Chapter Word Count: 4342

A/N: This frigging chapter. It took some work but I’m finally pretty happy with it, and I hope you all have fun with it too. Warning for the very end: there is a section marked ~extra~ that goes into third person, present tense from an outside perspective. It was a little experiment and if you don’t like it I don’t think you have to read it since it is slightly divorced from what this fic is actually about, but…it does hint at something that will come up again in the future. Not any time soon, judging by how much work this chapter took, but… :3 Anyways. Enjoy!

Watching Pepper on the phone was an…experience.

Steve was doing some Avengers stuff in the training room and he was late so I ended up waiting in one of the upper floors, because apparently leaving to chill at a coffee shop was ‘weird’ and ‘anti-social’ and the day Tony Stark got to brag about being a better-adjusted human being was the day I bit off my own tongue. So there I was, drink in hand, with Pepper for company, while Pepper was still technically working. Or something.

What could have been an unbearably awkward situation though became a masterclass in how a functional adult handled a difficult phone call. At least, I assumed it was difficult. I sort of hoped it was difficult because if this was what she had to deal with normally that was fucked. I tried not to stare, and she was far enough away, (in this giant room bigger than most city apartments), that words filtered in and out, and she danced the line between patient and patronizing in a way her voice kind of masked but her facial expressions betrayed. It was kind of hilarious, at points, but eventually her expression relaxed, her shoulders sank, and she said, “Thank you,” in a way only the truly tired could, and after a few more pleasantries she lowered the phone, let out a heavy sigh, and detoured back to grab something from the fridge before she came back to the sitting area.

“I am so sorry about that,” she said and fell back onto the chair next to me.

“Oh, no, don’t be–” I said and waved her off, only realizing that was my drink hand just before I could slosh liquid onto a couch that probably cost more than my rent, and quickly settled back down. “I’m sorry for crashing.” I could only bite my tongue so far though. “However, no offense, but Tony Stark doesn’t get to be right about anything, ever, if I have a say in it.”

“That’s the only right way to deal with him,” she agreed. She popped the tab on her can, whatever was inside fizzed, and she took a long drink. Even that looked refined when she did it. She breathed a sigh of relief. “In any case, I have most of his birthday sorted, so that’s one thing off my plate.”

I nodded. Tony Stark’s birthday would be a huge to-do– wait. “Wait.” Wait. “Didn’t…didn’t he just have a birthday?”

“I start planning well in advance,” Pepper said. She gave me a very tired look. “Do you have any idea how hard he is to shop for?”

“God I can only imagine,” I said, because even without the obscene amount of money…yeah. I had decided to err on the side of liking Tony Stark, (especially after he had that PR ‘snafu’ for going off on that asshole who had been snarkily homophobic about Steve), but he was, and probably always would be, A Lot. “That must be nice to have it all set up though. I just barely found something for Steve’s birthday.”

Pepper got a look on her face that felt familiar. Though whether that was a ‘Steve’ grimace or a ‘another fucking gift-giving holiday’ grimace I was a little unsure of. “Speaking of people hard to shop for…” She sighed and rubbed her head.

I could sympathize. Hardcore. “If you really want to get him something he’d be fine even with a nice message on a pretty card.”

She gave me a ‘seriously?’ look, so I said, “Seriously.” And I (seriously) thought about it. “Heartfelt can be hard though, so I get it. But he really isn’t fussy. Charity donation in his name? A ‘get out of PR jail free’ card the next time he pisses off Fox News?”

She seemed to consider it, but then shook her head. “What did you get him?”

I puffed up, because my gift was awesome. “Concert tickets for an act and opener he’s going to love, and I’ve planned out dinner at a place he hasn’t been to yet.” It was torture to have to wait on the second one, but it was going to be worth it. Pepper was right; Steve was awful to buy for and always insisted he didn’t need anything and I was about to score ‘best girlfriend ever’ points for at least a month. I could only hope the memory of this birthday would help ease the sting of the future gifts I was inevitably going to whiff it on.

“That sounds wonderful,” Pepper said. Calculating. I did not like that. “How good are the tickets?”

Yeah, I really didn’t like that. “They’re perfect.”

She smiled deviously. “I bet I can get you better ones.”

“Nuh uh, paws off,” I said and mimed smacking her hands away. “This is my gift. You go get your own.”

She faked a heavy sigh– the smile gave her right away. “Any suggestions?”

I shrugged. “Are there any art things going on?”

It was a sort of flippant suggestion– she seemed like a fancy, in-the-know lady, and fancy, in-the-know ladies would know about stuff like art shows. However, I realized we both understood it for the surprisingly good suggestion it was at the same time. A part of me was a little bummed I hadn’t thought to bank that for myself for another time. A bigger part of me though was pretty happy to look smart in front of Pepper Potts. Also being helpful to Steve’s friends was nice or whatever.

And by the near-glow of her eyes, she already had a good idea, which was going to be good for Steve, so I couldn’t be too upset about it. “That. Is genius.”

I shrugged and tried not to smile as hard as I wanted to. “I try.”

“Do you know what kind of art he likes best?” she asked, whipping out her phone and tapping at the screen with furious purpose.

“He varies a lot and I haven't delved into his absolute favorites yet,” I admitted. It seemed to change by the week sometimes. “He posts some stuff on social media and goes around there liking things. Though if I could say one thing, I would advise you to be careful of abstract. Some of it he really likes and some of it he really fucking hates and I have no idea where that line is.”

“It’s okay; this– I think he’ll like this. It’ll be a little early but…” she said and beamed at me as she held the phone up to her ear. ‘Thank you!’ she mouthed and walked off before starting a whole new conversation.

I shrugged and leaned back against the couch. Since it involved Steve, I’d probably find out why she seemed so excited soon enough.

A few days later counted for soon enough. “So,” Steve said, fake-casual as he slid onto the couch next to me. Why he bothered trying to attempt casual with that barely-suppressed grin on his face, I could not fathom.

“So,” I said and kissed him, because he really was too cute to resist sometimes.

“So,” he repeated, but slipped his arm behind me and cupped my hip in a way that told me we could continue that line of activities later. “Pepper got me two tickets to an art gallery I’ve been looking forward to,” he said, focusing again. “Opening night of a new exhibit. Would you come with me?”

“That sounds great,” I said. “Pepper doesn’t want to go with you?”

“She’ll be there, but she said she’s going to be networking,” Steve said. “This way we can come and go whenever we want. I’ve been to a couple of showings; most of the time the people there are too snooty to care about Captain America hanging around, but I’ve seen previews of the pieces that are going to be there and they look amazing…”

Steve continued to go on about some of the artists and that somehow led to lighting and negative space and tonality and I sort of lost the thread after a while but I couldn’t help it– interesting though it was, it was more interesting to watch him go off into his own little world, smiling so easily as he talked about art education videos he was watching and he was just so happy that I couldn’t help but stare at him and soak it all in.

When he took a moment to go to the bathroom, I snuck out my phone and opened up my text log with Pepper.

Me: A++++ gift giving he’s going to be excited all the way to it Pepper: Thank you for the excellent idea Pepper: I hope I’ll see you there? Me: Definitely

“Who are you texting?” Steve asked as he sat back down and pulled my legs into his lap.

“Pepper. I was just telling her she did a great job with your gift,” I said and put my phone down.

“Really?” He let out a sigh of relief. “I was afraid I was boring you already.”

“I like hearing you talk about it,” I said. “I like hearing you happy and excited.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s almost like I care about you or some bullshit.”

“Well that can’t be right,” Steve said, but he was smiling too hard to be serious. “You have a reputation and all.”

“Damn right I do,” I said, and opened my arms. “Now get over here and ruin it.”

His grin was a little more wicked for what I had meant by that but, well.

I definitely didn’t mind his definition of ruin.

Art parties had pretty great food.

Well, this one did. The drinks were a little substandard but I kept an eye on the waiters with the finger platters at almost all times as I wandered around with Steve who, true to his prediction, did not get glommed on at all. I also watched for snootiness but everything felt really oddly chill and relaxed and…nice. It wasn’t as fancy as I had feared, but it definitely still cleaved to the nice side, and we had dressed up accordingly, but everyone really did seem to be there for the art, which was also pretty awesome.

And then there was Steve. He mostly stuck by me as we wandered from piece to piece, and whenever the artist was around and willing to talk with him, he always took the chance. So far he had a hundred percent success rate in surprising them by actually knowing his shit, and that was kind of vindictively fun to watch. I hadn’t paid attention to the theming and was at the point where I was too embarrassed to ask, but it seemed like a new art take on classic pieces and movements of the past. Leyendecker through a Warhol lens which had a companion piece of Warhol but make it like Leyendecker. Art deco graffiti. Alphonse Mucha if his seasons were made in the era of global warming.

So it was pretty fantastic. And we even got to hang out with Pepper for a little bit, the three of us stealing away to a corner with a small pile of pilfered snacks and drinks.

“You really do find the best hideouts,” Pepper told me appreciatively.

“I take my duties as resident miser very seriously,” I said, and tried not to beam too much at the compliment. Steve was grinning at me though, and when Pepper was distracted by saying hi to someone, I threw a napkin at his face.

“I saw that,” she said, but with a wicked smirk. She then stood up and straightened the end of her form-fitting dress. “Steve, have you seen the hallway gallery yet?”

Steve and I both peered where she was gesturing; a very wide hallway with good lighting that not many people were going down now. “Not yet,” he said as we both sat back.

She smiled cryptically. “I think you should. There’s a really great artist– well, several of course, but there’s one with a piece in particular that I…I think you might like.”

She escaped with a quick farewell, and I munched on the last of the snacks. “Mysterious,” I said once I was dusting my hands of the crumbs.

Steve stood and held his hand to me. “Let’s go find out, Watson.”

I scoffed, but took his hand. “I’m way more of a social disaster than you,” I said as we walked. “I should get to be Sherlock.”

“Solving mysteries seems like a lot of work though,” he said.

“True,” I admitted.

We meandered leisurely down the hallway, looking at each art piece and leaving the scarce few people behind as we went. I remembered briefly looking down this area at the start of the night and thinking, ‘Nope,’ with the ridiculous amount of people that had been down here before, but apparently they had all seen what there was to see, leaving us to enjoy it practically on our own.

“This is nice–” I suddenly bumped into Steve. “Oof!” I quickly backed up a few steps and he remained. Stock still. “Steve?” I asked, but he was staring up at the wall to my right, his expression stricken, and I turned to see what had him by the metaphorical throat. It was a mural, massive, and it took me a second for it to all come into view. When it did, when the image of a man with a very familiar visage fell into place, all I could manage was a soft, “Oh.”

“Bucky,” Steve said in an awed exhalation. I looked from him, to the painting, and back and forth again. He seemed to be taking it all in and I had nothing I could think to say, so I did much the same. It was a beautiful work of art; colors faded seamlessly together and words of varying sizes acted as modified stippling to create the whole image of one James Buchanan Barnes, larger than life like a comic book hero, but with a serious set to his face, wearing the iconic jacket, and fading out where it looked like he’d be holding a gun in his arms.

After several minutes of utter silence, I tentatively rubbed Steve’s arm. He flinched a little, but gave me a small, slightly twisted smile. “Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you were still breathing.”

He huffed a laugh, but his eyes looked a little wet and he blinked furiously. “It’s…I’m sorry; it’s…”

I squeezed his arm. “Hey,” I said softly. “It’s okay. It’s always okay and it’s always going to be okay.”

He swallowed and sniffled, but through sheer stubbornness did not let go of one single manly tear. Crying in public did suck though, so I wasn’t about to give him a hard time about it. I rubbed his arm up and down as comfortingly as I could, trying to help, and he moved slightly to take the hand I wasn’t using. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” he admitted softly, and gave me a weak smile.

“I know,” I said softly. I would have kissed him if I could have gotten away with it, but someone was walking down the hall towards us, so all I could manage was a brief but tight squeeze of his hand before I let go entirely, and he visibly tried to brace himself for the oncoming interaction.

“Hello!” a breathless woman said as she approached. She looked young but carried herself confidently, dressed in a stylish combination of pants, half-skirt, and suit-top, with locs in a beautiful half up-do that framed her face and cascaded down past her shoulders. “I was told there was someone who–”

As soon as she saw Steve, a lot of that confidence just evaporated and she froze with kind of an ‘urk!’ look on her face. As the seconds ticked on and Steve didn’t (probably couldn’t) speak, I squared up and hoped I wasn’t going to make a mess of things. I cleared my throat. “Are you the artist?” I asked. She looked at me, still a little frozen, but she managed a jerky nod and pulled her shoulders down from her ears. “It’s beautiful,” I said as emphatically as I could.

She seemed a little reassured, but her eyes flicked back to Steve, who was looking at it again. He swallowed and managed to look at her, a small smile on his face. “Absolutely amazing,” he said.

She exhaled such a long breath that I had to bite my hand not to laugh, while Steve was startled into doing just that. “I’m so sorry,” she said and waved her hand, relaxing a lot more as she walked closer. “My brother told me someone was standing over here but he didn’t mention who, and when I saw you, I wasn’t sure if it was uh…offensive?”

“In your brother’s defense, no one’s come that close so he probably didn’t get a good look at me,” Steve said, still a little dreamy as he looked at the picture. After a second though he frowned and looked at the woman, more focused. “Why would it be– it’s not offensive; it’s incredible. And I mean technically too; the way you…”

He drew closer to her, talking about the art itself, and she snapped into being a professional, talking to him, explaining the piece that was part of a series on the Howling Commandos, and I stepped back to let them have at it. I couldn’t keep from looking at the art itself again. I tried to imagine how I would think, if it was of Steve, if Steve had– but…I didn’t really want to think of that, right now, in the middle of what was actually Pepper’s birthday gift to him, meant to mark his life.

Though, I thought and tilted my head to see it from another angle, what a life. To make such a mark on the world that this many years after he was gone, an artist, a complete stranger, would spend however many hours of her life putting forth the effort to try and make him as large as the legacy he left behind.

Steve was right. It was pretty amazing.

We stayed there until it was time for the gallery to close. Though Steve had made sure he had all of the artist’s socials, and her website where he could see the picture any time he wanted, he still seemed to be soaking in the presence of the piece itself. So I felt a little like a jerk that I was getting sleepy, and I leaned into him to try and relinquish some of the energy used in standing straight to focus on appearing as awake as I could. He leaned into me in return, and I looked up at him. His expression was…peaceful. A little happy, even, and he glanced over at me and smiled a little more.

“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.

I was more curious about what was going on in his head, but I wondered if even he knew. I still didn’t know how I would really feel if someone I loved so dearly was now being immortalized by strangers in giant murals, gone long enough to have become simply part of a story long past. Steve was here, and alive, and I was grateful for every moment of that, every turn of his life that led him here, that I didn’t want to think of the other way it could have easily been.

So I snuggled in and asked, maybe a little quietly, “Is it weird if I say your boyfriend was pretty cute?”

That probably could have gone badly, I thought in a way too belated realization, but Steve snorted and clamped his hand over his mouth as he tried to get a handle on it. Eventually he breathed deep, but the smile stayed strong. “He was very handsome,” he agreed and shot me a little smirk. “He would have corrected you with that.” Steve shook his head. “God, the two of you…I don’t know if I’d’ve survived that.”

I rested my head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand. “You probably would have been fine,” I said. “I would have been hard on him too. Sharing a boyfriend doesn’t get you any free passes. Just ask Peggy.”

He snorted, then looked abashed. “Fair enough.” He looked around. “Let me just snap a quick picture of this and then we’ll head out, all right?”

“Of course,” I said and took a few steps back to make sure I was out of the way. Steve took several shots, some from different angles, and then started to slip his phone back into his pocket when he suddenly stopped, and looked at me. “Hey,” he said. “Can I take a picture of you in front of it too?”

I leaned my head to one side and looked at it again. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Past and present; I just…really like the idea.”

“Sap,” I said, but my heart melted faster than an ice cube in July and I went to stand in front of the picture. I didn’t know how to pose, but after a moment considered how well Steve had taken my joke about how attractive Bucky was and– what the hell. I turned my back to the subject, clasped my hands in front of my face, bent one leg behind me, and threw the most coquettish look over my shoulder I could muster.

Steve snorted so hard, and took so long to regain his composure, I started tilting from my poorly-thought-out balance before he finally snapped a photo he was happy with. “You’re terrible,” he said with an out-and-out grin as I rejoined him.

“You love it,” I said and stood as close as I dared, even with the event winding down.

Steve showed no concern for any of that, and wrapped his arms around me. “I really do,” he murmured and snuck a soft, but lingering kiss.

~extra~

The picture causes a sense of overwhelming echoes in the back of the mind. It makes him want to break something.

He doesn’t. Someone spent time and effort and this isn’t his and this isn’t him. Not really. Not anymore. He sighs and relaxes his shoulders, and checks the time absently. The security guard won’t make it over here for at least another twenty minutes, and he intends to be long gone by then.

He should be gone now, and yet he stays. James. Barnes. Bucky. They don’t feel quite right anymore, fitting better the unreal image in front of him, and yet still he keeps them, like a familiar old coat gone too tight at the shoulders but too sentimental in value to throw out. In any case he refuses to be the Asset or the Soldier, and he can’t think of another name he would choose otherwise, and so he…keeps them. Just in case they fit right again.

He can’t wait to be out of New York though. He thought it would help, maybe bring things into focus, but those old memories come with flashes of pain, like when they were forced out of him, and he has to grit his teeth against every flinch they bring. He only wanted to come and check on…Steve. Because Steve is, was, always has been, the one thing that matters, and as hard as it has been keeping him ignorant of the ‘Soldier’s’ identity, the one thing that makes it easy is imagining the look on Steve’s face if he realizes what Bucky became.

That fight. It still hurts to think of; makes him wince. It’s better now than it was at the time though. At the time he fought through what felt like double-vision, a face ghosting over the one in front of him, and then to complicate things, the Target, the Mission, was competent in ways he had never known before; every hit matched, blow for blow, the Asset’s implacable strength against the Captain’s unyielding resolve.

And then.

“I can do this all day.”

And he had cracked in two. Six little words had broken him entirely, backup had arrived, and the Asset-not-but-yes had…fled.

But not back to his masters.

The months thereafter were (are) a haze of repressed memories, repressed nightmares, repressed…everything. But without constant conditioning and punishment, he had managed to pull himself back into the shadow of a person. And now he…

He breathes slowly, and finds himself holding his forehead again. He shakes away the pain, stands tall, and looks back to the museum entrance where he had watched Steve leave. With his date. With his partner. And it…hadn’t made him violent, like he feared it might.

Steve is happy. Genuinely happy in a way that makes Bucky nearly relax with relief, and the hurt isn’t as bad as it could be. He’s taking care of and being taken care of in return, and the jealousy and anger Bucky was prepared to have to deal with is just an empty space. This is good. This is better for everyone.

He sighs and checks his watch. Time to go. He has a tip that the redhead has not managed to sniff out yet (Jesus Christ she’s like a bloodhound sometimes) and he’s left another trail for them to pick up on while he follows this because, no offense lady, but this one is a lot more personal and he is actually looking forward to tracking this particular ‘head’ down so he can kick it right in the teeth.

Steve has a life. A good life. And he has a chance to live it now. He’ll handle cleaning up the small fries, and come home at the end of the day. Bucky will continue to take care of the worst of it. As he has. As he should.

He turns, and leaves the image of James Buchanan Barnes in the past. Where he belongs.

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#steve rogers x reader #captain america fanfic #avengers fanfic #captain america reader insert #avengers reader insert #dinner date

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more-than-a-princess · 11 months ago

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Sonia nodded, shrugging her shoulders with her admission. She used to be far more self-conscious about it when she was younger: now, she'd come to terms with her upbringing. Mostly. "Well yes," She confirmed, "I was not allowed out much from Novoselic Castle until I entered middle school, save for the few royal appearances I made with my family. Thus, my windows to the world were books, television, and films. So I wanted to read anything and everything I could, just to feel like I was part of something more than royalty."

Having her friends chosen for her didn't help matters. But it was due to both safety and propriety reasons: keeping the heir to the throne both secure and surrounded by those who would aid her in her eventual reign was the priority. "I was not allowed to meet anyone at random, so the only way I could socialize as a child was with those my parents chose for me," She explained. While it was standard for those born into noble families, Sonia understood it was likely quite unusual for everyone else. It was also a topic she was eager to get away from: it only highlighted the vast differences between them, and in a way that seemed to fracture, rather than strengthen, their friendship.

Something that art, in contrast, did not. She smiled far more brightly at his inquiry behind her favorite genre. "The most succinct way I think to describe gothic romance would be a romantic story that is shaped in desolate, or grotesque, or mysterious events. A combination of romance and suspense, a departure from daily life," Sonia paused, wondering if that description was indeed enough. "Think of it like this: unlike a romantic comedy, or a Japanese drama featuring a romance that unfolds in everyday life and normal circumstances, it instead takes place in a haunted home, or there's a supernatural creature involved, or a murder or a mystery, or both! The love and romantic tension still thrives, but it shares the stage not with situations surrounding daily life but something darker, more foreboding. Have you heard of Charlotte and Emily Bronte? They wrote Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, respectively. Those are gothic romances."

She'd needed a moment to think about the manga she enjoyed best, in-between bites of cup noodles. They were good for both a quick meal and a quick thought. "My favorite manga," She repeated, setting down her chopsticks. "Hm...I have read so much, but I think what my favorites have in common are female characters with compelling stories to tell. They may fall in love, they may not, but they will always have adventures that captivate me. Esper Ito will always be a favorite, but I adore earlier works of female mangaka too. No one should diminish the influence the likes of Riyoko Ikeda and CLAMP have had on how women and girls tell stories in manga today. What about you, Ryuji-san? What books and manga do you enjoy best?"

It sank in, then, that surely things like treadmills and other athletic equipment were sold in shops. She'd simply never been to one: they'd always been provided for, whether it was Castle staff or by friends, like Nekomaru Nidai back in high school. On several instances he'd wanted to encourage and inspire her through training, and had brought his own equipment, lesson plans, and methods to motivate even the most exhausted and disagreeable of athletes. She was currently in negotiation for him to spend a month-long retreat in Novoselic to coach the national football team prior to the FIFA World Cup. "I have never bought athletic equipment before," She confessed, through a smile nevertheless. "I would hardly know what to look for. Or what would make something more expensive than another."

The same would go for soft drinks, unless she simply gravitated to the flavors she knew best. But she wanted to try new things, whether it was fizzy sodas or ramen packets. "I just do not want to miss out on experiencing things, experiencing life," She said, straightening her shoulders with a newfound confidence. "Time is precious, and I know for me that one day I will not have both the time and the freedom to explore the world and those who live in it. So I must do so now, at every opportunity: including ramen. Why should we wait, if there is somewhere we wish to go and something we wish to do?"

As he spoke, he was surprised at his own energy and talkativeness when speaking of his own job. He wasn't really used to speaking about his job much at length - or really, much at all - even among the brief shifts that he shared with fellow co-workers, any talk about business was brusque and to the point. His job had never been anything that he had taken particular pride in, having begun as a stopgap to earn money while he worked on pursuing his true passion but somewhere along the line, what was supposed to be a temporary stopgap had become his seemingly permanent occupation. That wasn't to say that this was some terrible, despair-inducing job but it still wasn't exactly one that he was eager to discuss, simply because he had little to say of it - no real pride to take in.

Being around Sonia to bring out a different side of him though - it was only around Sonia that he really found him discussing his job, having to actually pause and think about it, for once. Perhaps, this came down to the sheer earnestness and innocence of her questions - sure, he'd had customers politely ask questions but those questions were of a forced albeit polite, obligation - a way to awkwardly make conversation while they waited for their purchase. With Sonia, however, her inquiries didn't feel awkward or forced. "So, you just loved to read anything, yeah? I think I feel that way about manga - I'm willing to try any manga at least once," Ditto on any actual novels, though. "Your parents chose your friends for you? You couldn't even choose that much...?" He had to admit, that was rather sad - just another strange detail about her, that he couldn't say more about, however much he wanted to. "I guess it does make sense that they'd want you to keep up with the news to know what's going on in the world," Given her royal position, it made sense - though he was much more interested in the other things that she read.

"Gothic romance...? What's 'gothic' mean...?" He had heard the term before, though the image in his mind that popped up was one of old castles and scary looking gargoyles. While he wanted to ask if it maybe even involved vampires or werewolves, that part, he wasn't so sure about so why not ask Sonia herself and hear about why she liked these books? Even if they probably weren't his thing, it'd still be fun to hear about something that she liked! "I didn't know you were a manga reader, Sonia - you'll have to tell me some of your favourite types of manga to read - maybe I can check them out too!"

His own drink of choice was a simple Pepsi - not at all like the Sakura Pepsi he had just told her about. Taking a sip from her drink, he mulled over her question for a few seconds before answering. "Well, since we were just talking about books - the book store, naturally." He added, with a chuckle. "There's also a big chain electronics store that sells these amazing looking treadmills - they're fun to look at, even if they're expensive," He joked, nearly paling as he recalled the hefty price tags on them.

"Energy drinks, huh...? I think all of 'em do have caffeine, since they're supposed to give you energy, keep up, right? Almost like coffee in that sense," He didn't really know much about how it all worked, usually saving energy drinks for a late night cram session. "I have heard of energy drinks without any sugar - and some brands have different flavors, like fruity flavors!" There was even one well known brand out there had a watermelon flavoured can - and as someone who didn't typically indulge in these kinds of drinks, he had to admit, it wasn't bad!

"It's what I usually recommend to customers too, whenever they ask me," He chuckles, now taking another sip of his own drink. "When someone's asking you for advice, you always to recommend a safe bet, yeah? Don't want to be blamed for them not liking some weird flavor or anything," While it would be fun to recommend a super out there flavor, for the sake of his job and avoiding any potential trouble, sticking with the safe bet was usually best.

"I might have some extra packets I can give you," His suggestion was quick and immediate - having a hoard of various different ramen back at his home. Normally, he wasn't so quick to offer to share his ramen, especially a seasonal limited edition flavour, but in this case, he didn't mind at all! "You're really open minded when it comes to flavours and yet you know where you draw the line! That's pretty admirable and self aware, Sonia!" He was impressed. "As for me, I sometimes get to have a sneak peek of new products, but some of 'em are a little too out there, even for me!"

#electricea #Non-Despair AU: The Princess of Novoselic #(Sonia is in here saying 'women's stories are worth telling because they inspire us')#(She is so real for that)#(Her femininity is hella boss)

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nissakii · 3 years ago

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April 2022: Top 7 Anime Airing This Month!

Welcome to another anime listing post!

Who would've guessed, spring is finally here! The flowers are blooming as quickly as these anime are bustling in, and with the previous winter season finished we are now settling into spring season.

No matter how stressful your life might be right now, let us together go through this list and find you your next binge-worthy anime that will help you take your mind off of things. Be it school, work, university or any other adversity in your life, we hope that this assortment of anime will have something for you!

No matter what genre, be it romance, comedy, action or mystery we will make sure to present you the most interesting titles of April 2022.

With the intro out of the way, let us begin!

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai (April 2nd)

Do you know that feeling when you don’t quite understand what the person you’re in conversation with is trying to convey?

Sometimes it can get challenging to understand other people, especially when they dance on the line of unpredictability and eccentricism. Matsuboshi Raidou is in a similar situation, when he sits next to the mysterious Aharen Reina in class one day. A fateful encounter blooms when he picks up her eraser and suddenly finds Aharen inches away from his face.

The interesting thing about the tiny Aharen is that she is completely clueless when it comes to social settings and relationships. Misinterpreting Matsuboshi’s help as an invitation to become friends, Aharen now clings to her new companion rigorously. Matsuboshi on the other hand has a free and creative mind despite his appearance and gives his best to try and understand Aharen. The duo is truly one for the books as they both seem so different, yet find a person they want to stay with.

If you’re searching for a cute and calm anime, in a school setting with soft color undertones and two very different characters, make sure to put this on your list!

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Fanfare of Adolescence (April 2nd)

No matter how hard you try to find your calling in life, no matter how much you plan your future, in the end it could take you somewhere you hadn't expected.

From their teen years to now their young adult life's, three young boys all with different background wish to become horse jockeys. You Arimura has already seen fame and success with his very own eyes, but can't shake the feeling of wanting to ride horses more than anything.

Together they try to work hard and become students at a prestigious academy that will train them in three years to become jockeys. However, to get in one needs to go through rigorous tests. Will our protagonists have what it takes?

Despite all sorts of sports anime already existing, this horse riding anime seems to tackle a very unique and new angle that we haven't seen before. If you're just as interested in Yuu's career change, make sure to bookmark this one.

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Deaimon (April 6th)

At times, you need to take your time and work out the details of your projects carefully.

Which is exactly what Itsuka Nagomu Irinos father is doing as he works diligently on some Japanese confectionery in his traditional and beautiful family shop.

Naomi himself has left his Kyoto home ten years before to pursue a youthful dream of his and rushed back home after hearing that his father isn't in good health.

Ready to take on the responsibility of running the family shop, he encounters Itsuka Yukihira, a young girl that is rumored to be the actual next person to take over the shop. The story takes a turn when a contest between Nagomu and Itsuka is supposed to rule who will take over the family business.

With an extremely calm and relaxing atmosphere, this anime might be the worth your 'sweet' time!

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Love After World Domination (April 8th)

Love is a tricky thing, is it not?

Especially when the person you love is actually your enemy!

In a world in which the secret organization "Gecko" fights for world domination against the honest humans who wish to protect the earth, there are two focal persons that work a bit against their purpose.

Fudo Aikawa, the leader of the hero squad "Gelato 5" is there to destroy all perils that would put the civilians at risk, is in love with none other than his masked enemy.

The masked "reaper princess" that works for the secret and villainous "Gecko" organization is none other than Desumi Megahara, a beautiful young girl that has struck love in Fudo's heart. With the risk of getting caught and never being able to be together they then keep their cute relationship secret.

A secret enemy to lovers' development that has to be concealed in front of the entire human race. Are you ready for some secrets?

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Kaguya-sama: Love Is War - Ultra Romantic (April 9th)

If you feel too scared to tell your crush how you feel, do not worry! You’re certainly not the only person to ever feel that way.

Although, if the only thing holding you and your loved back is a quarrel of intellect, it might take a little while.

After two seasons of Kaguya-sama and a fanbase excited to see more, the third season of the anime is coming!

Shinomiya and Shirogane are both at the top of the Shuchiin academy. Shinomiya is part of one of the biggest conglomerates of Japan, and with her beauty and excellence in school she shows everyone around her confidently what she is capable of. Shirogane on the other hand comes from simpler customs and mesmerized his classmates with a top-notch work ethic and a helping hand when needed. Neither of the two are willing to take the first step by confessing, and rather try to make the other person admit their feelings.

With a third season full of "ultimate-romance" and more progression into the story, we're all hoping you're ready for some more slowburn!

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Spy × Family (April 9th)

“Liar, liar, pants on fire”, is the story we hear when we’re told not to lie as it is seen as deception and unethical.

But sometimes it's necessary, especially when it is part of your job.

As a spy, Loid Forger has played the part of a father, taking on a faked family of his own to pursue his mission successfully. With life-threatening danger lurking in his mind, he is unaware that his fake wife Yor Forger is nothing else but a master-class assasin with countless killed men on her record.

Together they adopt the tiny and adorable Anya Forger, who brings the spring back into their step with her shenanigans, as the parents both hope that their true identity will never be discovered. Unbeknownst to both Loid and Yor, Anya is an Esper with telepathic abilities.

With the setting having an older vintage vibe and the characters constantly living in a lie, this title promises comedy, action and drama with maybe a hint of romance? Make sure to keep it in mind if you’re interested!

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Bubble (April 28th)

Sometimes, all it takes is a leap of faith.

Is exactly what Hibiki is thinking as he makes a dangerous parkour move and plummets deep into the completely changed ocean, only to be found by the bubbly and mysterious Uta.

Tokyo has become a sunken city, with uncanny bubbles raining from the sky that have cut off the city from the rest of the world. With nature overriding the technical metropolis, a group of people is the only thing left.

With team parkour games they battle each other until Uta saves Hibiki and they both hear sounds only they can listen to. With incredible animation, battle sequences and a whole stack of incredibly talented writers known for hits such as Attack on Titan, Madoka Magica and Your Name, Bubble will hopefully "bubble up" in some of your watch lists!

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Have you encountered any interesting titles that you want to watch? Anything that has struck your fancy, or another anime coming out next month that you would like to recommend?

Make sure to leave it down below!

Until then, let's drink this tea before it gets cold!

-Nissa

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sneezefiction · 4 years ago

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untouchable | vi

Atsumu x Reader

desc: in which an accidental run-in with pro volleyball player, Atsumu Miya, at a 7/11 leads to a strangers-to-lovers situation… but the catch is, you have no idea that he’s famous.

warnings: slight language, anxiety

wc: 6.6k

part 5 ⚬ part 6 ⚬ part 7

untouchable m.list

—

Recap:

And for the first half of this year you found yourself falling in love. Falling for this second glance of a man.

So finding out that Izumi Kenji had a partner was a punch to the gut.

Reaching for his hand that summer was a defining moment for you. The way he snatched his hand away from yours would have knocked all the air out of your lungs if you’d had any breath to spare.

—

Laughter echoes off the sides of buildings as you make your way past food stalls and restaurants. It’s warm. A gentle breeze tussles his hair, different strands catching purple and orange light from the store signs.

There are several things that are begging to hold your attention right now.

A new café to your right is stringing a “Grand Opening” banner across its shop doors. Bike bells ring off in the distance, the wheels gently thrumming against dusty cobblestone. Groups of teenagers snicker as they pass you by, their voices carefree and teasing. Two dogs tread loyally next to their owners on the other side of the street, their claws clicking as their paws hit the pavement.

But even among all of those distractions and details, all you can see is him. The mop of messy hair atop his head. His umber brown eyes. A curious smile.

Izumi Kenji had stolen your heart slowly and carefully; he did so without a balaclava or a disguise to lure you in. And as you meander the downtown area with him, your fondness for him only grows.

Meeting him at that after-work party may have been the best thing that happened to you this year. You were comfortable - in the middle of a bar, talking to a stranger and laughing with him. And who were you to turn down the one good thing life had sent your way.

Although, with how nonexistent your social life was, you would’ve let almost anyone into your social circle. You just deem yourself lucky that it was Kenji who happened to be in your vicinity.

He’d ended up asking for your number at the end of the night - you rattled off the digits faster than you could blink.

“...if you ever need anything, just send me a text.”

It was an outstretched hand of a sentence. A bone thrown to a starving dog. Finally, there was a person you could rely on.

You took his words to heart.

After that night, it was almost unfair how easily he broke down your barriers.

It was Kenji who took you sightseeing through all of Osaka in the Winter months, making sure that you’d mapped out the area so that you were more comfortable when you went exploring on your own. Your snow boots and his became well acquainted.

He’d shown you his favorite eateries and shops, rambling quietly about his favorite pastries and old, dusty memories that came from his time spent in the area.

His jacket made its way to your shoulder when you visibly shuddered from the cold as Winter shifted to Spring. And as Summer approached, you allowed yourself to let your guard down. With distant eyes, you learned about his family and his plans. You wondered if maybe there was a place for you in that future.

Any doubts about this connection you had with him had melted away.

He was your closest friend by far… and who’s to say he couldn’t be more?

You glance to your left, a small smile working its way onto your lips. Kenji’s eyes wander the street, completely lost in thought. His expression is serene under the violet glow of street lights.

And his hand… his hand is achingly close to your own.

Its a position you frequently found yourself in: walking side by side, almost touching, but never quite close enough to grasp at his hand.

You’ve never really seen yourself as someone to make first moves, but this has gone on for too long. And your fingertips are begging you to do something about this distance between you two.

You swallow hard.

Choking back your hesitation, you brush your hand against his.

He doesn’t pull away, only sending you a quick glance. Kenji’s soft smile doesn’t budge, though he does raise an eyebrow at you.

You assume that this is a good sign. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable, the moment feels natural, and this… this could actually work.

You take one more deep breath and gingerly link your fingers with his-

But before you can even blink, Kenji snaps his hand back to his side. His head whips toward you, feet stopping in their tracks.

“What… what are you doing,” he stammers, eyes widening.

You wince. That wasn’t the reaction you were hoping for. Far from it.

“I think that’s-” You glance down at your rejected hand, eyes wide, “-kind of obvious.”

He stares at you, mouth agape. You take a step back, heart dropping. Why would he pull his hand back? Did I do something wrong-

“I’m seeing someone-” He breathes, “-you knew that.”

Like a tree branch splintering after a lightning strike, you feel as though something inside of you has cracked and split.

Your body can’t decide if your blood should turn to ice from shock or if it should succumb to the heat of humiliation rising in your chest. How did you not know this?

And why hadn’t you just asked him first?

That’s what normal people did. If you hadn’t acted based on a silly impulse maybe you would have spoken to him about your relationship with him first… but it’s too late now. And the pressure continues to build up in your stomach until you feel like a balloon on the verge of popping.

“...you knew that… didn’t you?”

Something sharp stabs at your heart.

“I had no idea.” Your reply is flat. Distant.

It twists.

“I- I’m so sorry, I could’ve sworn I’d told you…” He responds softly.

In a tearing motion, it rips back out.

“No. You hadn’t.” You say curtly, eyes glazing over.

You let on to the bitterness welling up in your chest more than you wish you would have… but who could blame you?

Tucking your hands deep into your pants pockets, you try to hold your composure.

Your mouth is uncomfortably dry and your hands are suddenly very sweaty.

What does someone do in a situation like this?

You’d always assumed that this was the type of thing to happen to somebody else. Thinking that feelings were mutual and then being struck with the fact that your “almost-boyfriend” was actually already deep into a relationship. It sounds like something out of a teenage romance novel... but it’s clear that the shame clouding your mind is not secondhand.

Unintentionally or not, Kenji had led you on… and here you are, feeling like you’ve just been publicly gutted.

He doesn’t owe you anything. No, not at all.

If anything, you owe him for all of the kindness he’s extended to you.

But that doesn’t explain everything he’s done for you these past few months.

Paying for meals even though you’d practically fought him for bills at every restaurant you’d visited together. Spending hours together on weekends when you both had work to complete. Meeting his friends, taking the train together on days when your schedules collided, exploring the city and your past with him…

You’d wondered why he hadn’t asked you out yet.

It didn’t make any sense.

Maybe he was confused too?

A thought crosses your mind that maybe he may have been using you as some sort of support system. Maybe you were just let into his life to comfort him through his own relational instability. Were you just Kenji’s escape? Is he just completely unaware?

But now you’re just jumping to conclusions. It might not be anything of the sort. Trying to piece together a story that doesn’t add up in the first place won’t help you at all - at least, not right after such a blatant rejection.

You take another step back, effectively tuning out anything he has to say. The light on his face no longer reflects something inviting; instead, all you can see is the confusion marring his previously peaceful expression.

He’s trying to talk to you, he’s taking steps toward you, he’s even reaching a hand out… but you just can’t. Not with the discomfort in your chest and a thundercloud of tension rumbling above you.

You can’t remember what shitty excuse you’d made to get out of there, but not even 10 minutes after this awkward, messy, fucked up moment, you’re on a train back home.

And everything is numb.

The shuffle and shake of the passenger car is enough to distract you for now.

But the moment you get home - the very second you kick off your shoes - insecurity comes knocking at the door of your mind.

You lay face down on the couch. The room stirs in darkness, gloom sinking into the cracks of the wall and pooling at the corners of your eyes. Because how was this fair? What had you done to deserve this? Was nothing going to be easy for you?

You let yourself cry.

Questions swim through your mind. Fears too. The pain of, once again, being alone exposes itself through heavy tears and spluttering sobs.

So you attempt to bury it all deep down...

As far from the surface as it can go...

But as most things do, these questions and insecurities will resurface.

It’s only a matter of time.

—

You noticed it from the moment you woke up.

The stiffness in your arms and the churning in your stomach were telltale signs… but as the hours rolled on and the sun sunk lower in the sky, it became more obvious.

Your lungs were fine yesterday, but today they shrink and tighten with every passing minute.

In an attempt to distract yourself, you’ve switched on the TV and turned to Netflix for comfort. It isn’t much, but the modulated noise of a baking show and a warm blanket draped over your lap blocks out some of the dizzying worries in your head.

First date nerves are a thing.

The clammy palms, the jitters, the loss of appetite… you have it all.

You’re well aware that this is a universal experience, so you try to empathize with yourself. There’s no reason to be embarrassed by it. Shame would only drag you deeper into this muddy pit of nerves that you’re so desperately trying to claw your way out of.

But this technically isn’t even a date.

And you’re not about to assume that it’s anything like one.

Just to be safe, you’ve decided that this outing would blandly be categorized as a “sporadic meet up with a stranger.” Your words, not Atsumu’s.

But just because it isn’t technically a date doesn’t mean you can’t be jittery…

You grip the remote in your hand tighter. It accidentally shuts the TV off, but that’s probably for the better. You haven’t gotten ready yet and it’s getting close to 5 pm. Somehow you’d managed to snuggle the day away in your apartment. Again.

Letting out an anxious yawn, you hop up from your nestled position on the couch.

You step into the hallway and make your way to the bathroom to wash your face. As you patter the length of the hall, you finally allow your mind to roam. It immediately hones in on your anxieties like a dog chasing a delightfully peeved squirrel.

Is it pathetic? To be 20 something years old and petrified by something as simple as a dinner date?

Your brain says “no,” but a part of you is whispering out a quiet “yes” in response. Most people would be excited to see someone after being lonely for so long.

So why are you this bothered? What’s with this piercing fragility that makes your hands shake and your skin crawl?

When did you become so… scared? Like you would crumble just by being in the presence of another person?

And then it hits you. Your head plummets into your hands.

Ever since you’d met Atsumu, you haven’t had the mental stamina to think about Izumi Kenji.

Or what he’d done to you. Or how he’d metaphorically pushed you when you were already toeing at the precipice of a cliff. You’d been a step away from falling and breaking under the weight of the past few years, and he’d shattered you in a single night.

So, yes, that would explain the current twisting in your chest. It’s also probably why you’re so worried about Atsumu. Or, at least, it’s one big reason as to why, you conclude.

But, even with this epiphany, you find yourself stepping into the bathroom, wrung dry and physically unsteady. Thinking about Kenji doesn’t make you feel any better.

Your fingers grip the rim of the porcelain sink, eyes fixed on the drain in the center.

You stare at it.

One reminder of him and you were already weary.

The glossiness of the bowl reflects a splotchy, humanesque blob back at you. You swivel the faucet handle, letting warm water coast around the bowl and spiral down the drain. It erases that human-like reflection.

If only it could wash away your problems. Now that’d be something to write home about.

The cool of the tile beneath your feet and a splash of warm water on your face is a welcome distraction… but short-lived. The water drips off of your face. You blindly feel around for a fresh towel and, after laying your hands on one, you gently pat your face down.

Blinking your eyes open, you stand up straight.

As you do, you find yourself studying a much clearer reflection than the blurry face in the sink bowl. Sunken features bore into you from the bathroom mirror. You sigh and turn to open up a medicine cabinet to grab a few facial products, applying them one-by-one.

If you do happen to crash and burn tonight, you figure you might as well look damn good in the process. Skincare would help with that.

But before you can further sink into the idea that tonight might turn into another nightmarish scenario, a friendly face, someone sunny and charming, enters your mind.

The picture Atsumu’s wavy hair and that smug smile of his. While the rest of his face is a little fuzzy in your mind, you vividly remember how his mouth quirk upwards and the electric buzz you felt from the sheer warmth of his eyes.

Atsumu has been on your mind a lot these days. And, as much as it’s been a distraction, it’s also been a welcome mental detour.

Somehow, the very thought of him coaxes your own lips to relax into a smile. You sigh, tilting your head back in defeat. So this is what 3 years of loneliness can do to a person - how embarrassing.

But you can’t deny that he gives you something to look forward to - an emotion you can’t quite put your finger on. You two share a connection; there’s some common ground that hasn’t been dug up just yet. And, for whatever it’s worth, you want to keep digging until you figure it out.

As you smooth a moisturizer over your skin, you decide that you’ll wear something nice tonight. Maybe you’ll pick out an outfit you haven’t worn before and do your best to drown your shaky hands in the fabric of a long-sleeved shirt. If it goes well, maybe you’ll have found someone who actually likes you.

If it doesn’t work out, you can just drive back home and forget he ever existed. Simple as that.

But...

You’d like to think that Atsumu could be just as sweet as he seems; assuming the worst about him would get you nowhere.

You continue to repeat that to yourself before you leave. That all you can do is hope it goes well.

Nothing more, nothing less.

—

You rest your foot firmly on the brake and switch the gearshift so that your car is in park. You rub your eyes and double-check the location on your phone’s GPS. Back at your apartment, it looked like you would be arriving at a café near the park… but you’re not so sure anymore.

Did… did Atsumu really send you here?

You never entertained the idea of him being a prankster… but if this was, perhaps, a practical joke? Well, you’re not above calling him and telling him to “fuck off.” There’s nothing stopping you from driving away and blocking his number right now.

Scrolling through the map application, you notice that you’re relatively close to several restaurants, so there is that. He’d promised you dinner and there’s an abundance of food within walking distance.

But you weren’t expecting to pull up to such a secluded location. You shiver in your seat and grip the steering wheel. Does he realize just how scary it is to meet someone at a random place like this?

Whipping out your phone, you tap a quick message containing something along the lines of “why the hell did you send me to a park.” Your therapist would probably give you a high-five for being so straightforward.

You hit send and sink into your chair.

A brief glance out your car window helps to settle your frayed nerves just a hair.

It’s not quite as empty as you thought it was. The area is just… calm. Many couples stroll along the main path, hand-in-hand. Others are sat on picnic blankets, tucking their toes into the cool grass and chattering away.

And, most comfortingly of all, it’s still bright outside.

You thank the sun that it still rests above the horizon, drenching the trees tops and green grass with deep-honey hues. People and daylight mean safety. You’ve had to learn that after living alone for so long.

A text notification pings on your phone only seconds after messaging him.

You’ll give him some credit. Atsumu is a timely texter. You’ve found yourself in more real-time texting conversations with him than almost anyone else you’ve met in Osaka. And it’s been how long since you met him? A few weeks? A month?

Atsumu’s text reassures you that you’re not at the wrong place.

At least the park was intentional, you nod to yourself. You’re doing your best to trust that he wouldn’t take you somewhere that would make you uncomfortable.

Another text informs you that he’s already seated on a bench near where you parked.

Your heart skips a beat and your head jolts upward, scanning the area. A hand also shoots up to clutch at your chest, gripping the fabric of your top.

Yep. You’re still jumpy.

But this time, the shaky hands and pounding nerves are rooted in restlessness instead of fear… and maybe a little bit of excitement?

Suddenly, the park is far less frightening.

You step out of the car, wallet and keys in one hand, and smooth out your outfit with your free hand. The wind nips at you through the fabric of your clothes, but with the sunshine painting your skin, it isn’t too bad.

Maybe bringing a coat would’ve been wiser than relying on this sweater to keep you warm… but it’s too late to think about that now.

Your eyes dart around and you trod through the grass and onto a graveled pathway. It crunches satisfyingly underneath your feet, but you can’t enjoy it when you’re so intent on finding him. With a few short strides, you’re quick to spot the back of someone’s head. A familiar head of blonde waves shines golden thanks to the setting sun.

You’re almost entirely sure it’s Atsumu.

And as if he had sensed your presence, the man in question tilts a glance over his shoulder.

His face is blank until he catches your eye.

An easy grin, one brighter than the stars, bursts into existence.

For someone so conventionally attractive, he sure looks excited to see little ole you. Raising your hand, you wave and send him a shy smile back.

He’s quick to jump to his feet and as he does, you’re quickly reminded of just how tall he is. Atsumu’s head matches the height of several tree branches. It makes you think that he’s probably walked into a number of things. Door headers, branches, signs that are hung a couple of inches too low… you’re sure he’s learned to duck and dodge over the years.

You wish you could ask him about that.

You blink.

That’s right. You can ask him about that - you’ll do that later, though.

“Hey there.” He chuckles.

His voice… it’s huskier than you’d remembered.

You spoke with him over the phone just yesterday to confirm that tonight was still happening, so why was his voice giving you chills now? It’s deep and smooth and, without the static from the phone audio, it’s actually kind of sexy.

Okay, you’ve got to calm down.

“Hi,” you reply sweetly, tilting your head.

Should you hug him? Just keep standing there? Hopefully, he’s better at filling awkward silence than you are. You’re not bad at handling social situations, but it seems safer to wait for his cues.

Atsumu keeps his hands in his pockets, “Long time, no see.”

It’s phrased as if you were both old friends reuniting after years of distance. It kind of feels that way too.

“I don’t actually think it’s been that long.” You raise an eyebrow, keeping a straight face.

“It’sa turn of phrase, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

That word sounds so easy on his tongue, damn it.

A few beats pass… and both of you break into grins once again.

But before you can respond, and much to your confusion, Atsumu spins on his feels to face the pathway. The pebbles under his feet shift as he takes a few steps forward.

He turns his head to catch your eye, “Well? C’mon then, let’s walk and talk,” and juts an arm out.

You stare at him for a moment, confused.

“Are ya gonna leave me hangin’? Atsumu tilts his head back, a coy smile on his lips as though whatever he’s trying to do is ridiculously obvious.

After a few moments of deep contemplation, realization dawns over your features. He’s extending his elbow out… for you? To hold onto?

Oh.

With a slight flush, you step forth and link arms with him. He grins down at you, perfectly resembling a fox you saw in a National Geographic magazine last week. This is a lot closer than you’d anticipated on getting with him; not that you’re complaining.

Although, for someone you’ve only met twice, you feel like you’ve known him for years.

The few phone calls and those text conversations have given you some insight into his life, but they don’t explain why you two click so well in person. He’s illogically familiar.

You decide not to question the closeness and instead choose to spark a conversation.

That should be easy enough; after all, he’d promised you dinner, and you were given directions to a park - you’re anything but questionless.

You lean into his side slightly and break the silence, “You smell good.”

Considering he’s crossed that line with you already, you aren’t too worried about saying it back to him.

“Thanks, I showered.” He smiles and shrugs as if to brush off your compliment, but you swear you see a fleeting blush on his cheeks.

“Thank God.” You sigh in mock relief, relaxing your shoulders.

He squints, clicking his tongue, “Okay, no need to tease. At least get to know a guy first,” but his voice is void of offense.

“So if I tease you, you won’t take me to dinner?” A curious tone rings in your voice.

“Oh, I will even if ya do. Where do ya think we’re walkin’ to?”

You snort, “Hopefully a restaurant?”

“Bull’s eye.” He winks.

Atsumu looks down at you and you can’t help but smile up at him. Your nerves had melted away like a popsicle under a blazing summer sun; all that’s left is a sweet, melty feeling that has you feeling a little too comfortable.

Maybe you shouldn’t be so trusting. Protecting yourself has been your number one goal since Kenji let you down…

But that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh or get to know Atsumu.

It just means you need to keep your expectations in check. This may seem like a date, but until he says something, you won’t jump to conclusions. In the meantime, you just need to keep talking. Enjoy it while it lasts and laugh a little.

You nudge his side, “By the way…”

“Hm?”

“What’s with bringing me to a park?”

You’ve been dying to hear this explanation since you arrived. Sure, the atmosphere is perfect; fall weather is notorious for pleasant walks and colorful leaves. However, you’d like to hear his reasoning.

“I thought we could get to know each other better before stuffin’ our faces.”

You make a face, “Well, doesn’t that sound lovely. You sure have a way with words.”

Atsumu is nothing if not blunt.

He pouts, eyes narrowing, “You gonna make fun of the way I talk now? I’ll have you know, I’ve been mocked enough to last me a life time. I ain’t all that sensitive anymore.”

You laugh and subconsciously tighten your hold on his arm.

“Alright Mr. Not Sensitive, I won’t make fun of you anymore.”

If you were paying attention to his face, you might’ve seen another flush of pink… but your eyes are squinting from the sun and Atsumu is sure to pull himself together before you can notice it.

“But I do have some important questions for you,” You begin.

Those words are sure to spark fear into anybody. This is confirmed when his arm stiffens ever so slightly and your eyes crinkle in mischief.

He swallows, “Yeah, go for it.”

“Favorite color?”

Atsumu’s eyes flick down to yours, squinting. They seem to say, “important, my ass.”

He instantly loosens, “Easy. Red.” Confidence is clear in his tone.

You nod. You don’t have to know him well to know that the answer suits him. Atsumu is fiery and he’s burned bright in your mind since you met him. If anyone should be allowed to like red, it’s him.

“Favorite food?”

“Mmm…” He furrows his brows in deliberation, “ I gotta say fatty tuna. But my brother makes some killer onigiri, though. I think that’s a close second.”

Your brows shoot up, eyes widening. He’d never mentioned anything about his family before this.

“You have a brother?” You press, leaning in to study his face while trying not to trip over your own two feet.

“Technically, a twin. But I’m the older one...” He huffs, “...and the better lookin’ one.”

Your jaw drops. “I can’t believe you hadn’t mentioned him before this!”

As an only child, you can only imagine what it’d be like to have a sibling, much less a twin.

“Well,” Atsumu rolls his eyes at you, “He’s alright…”

It looks like he’s about to change the subject, but one glance at your face is all it takes for him to realize that you want to hear more. Your eyes are sparkling. Full of vibrant curiosity… how could he stop now?

You’re actually interested in him.

“We’re really close actually,” Atsumu clears his throat, straightening up a little. “I mean, he isn’t like me at all. He’s real’ calm in comparison. A great cook. Some people say he’s handsome - but he got the looks from me, y’know?”

You roll your eyes, keeping in stride with him. “Yeah, yeah, keep going.”

“He’s good with the ladies, smart, athletic...” He rambles on. “If he’d just slow down a little, he would probably be married by now...”

You just listen, fully invested in his words.

It’s nice to hear about family - you haven’t seen your’s in a long time.

The fondness in Atsumu’s expression seeps through his abbreviated words.

He looks almost pained as he compliments his twin and amusement flickers in your eyes as you watch it all unfold. You hadn’t asked for a dating profile description of his brother, but you’re not about to shut him up.

“I bet you’d like him. Not as much as you’d like me, of course,” he smirks and your chest tightens.

The butterflies you’d thought you’d left back in highschool seem to have dusted themselves off and started fluttering again.

“But, yeah. He’s a good guy.”

Atsumu’s free hand then runs through his hair, pushing the waves back. You can see a sudden onset of nerves on his face. He’s quick to hide it though.

“And, uh, just so you know… he may or may not own the restaurant I’m taking you to tonight.”

That’s enough for you plant your feet in place. Atsumu stops as well.

He’s… taking you to his brother’s restaurant.

You gaze up at him, at a loss for words.

Is his brother going to be there? I mean, it is his place. But meeting his family? Out of the blue, like this? It’s all out of order.

You can’t help but wonder if he’s ever going to give your racing heart a chance to settle.

“Is that too much?” Atsumu is quick to cut in. His voice isn’t gentle… but even with it’s roughness, you can hear something that resembles concern.

“A- ah, no! It’s fine!” You reassure him, “I… I’m happy to go.”

His shoulders drop down again and so do yours.

There’s no point in getting worked up about it. But it’s becoming clear that Atsumu isn’t a very conventional person. Nor is he daunted by sporadic plans. Next time, you’ll ask for a point-by-point itinerary, just to be safe.

Atsumu reveals the name of the restaurant, “Onigiri Miya,” and you find yourself asking more family-related questions as you two dawdle down the pathway…

Which naturally leads to conversations about high-school.

It turns out that he and his twin were on a volleyball team together. Which makes sense. He definitely has the muscle, the height, and the spunk to be an athlete.

You know shit about the sport, but that doesn’t mean you don’t see the gleam in his eyes when he rattles off a story about one of his old games. It’s been a long time since you last listened to someone speak about something so passionately.

But there’s even more.

You hear mentions of many boys’ names.

There’s his brother, Osamu; he mentions their little spats and occasional fist fights. Although he makes sure to clarify that they’re both a lot more level headed nowadays. Next is Atsumu’s upperclassman, Kita; he’s someone Atsumu respects and fears with every inch of his being. Then there’s Suna, Omimi, Aran, and… too many others to count.

Games and nationals and several terms you can’t quite grasp swim through your head as you re-live some of Atsumu’s own memories with him.

His high-school years sound exciting, bright, and funny. Of course, those experiences would create the charming mess that is Atsumu Miya.

After padding under draping treetops, you both finally make it out of the park and onto the sidewalks.

Restaurants and small shops line the streets and pedestrians cross in groups across the narrow roads. At this point, the sun is loosing its shine, sinking beneath the trees’ branches and ever-darkening buildings. But you, with your phone in your pocket and your arm in his, feel safe.

Atsumu’s effortlessness and his blunt way of speaking really made for easy conversation.

But before you can ask him if he still plays volleyball, you find yourself standing in front of a small, bright storefront: “Onigiri Miya.” The words are plastered on a wooden board in white, chalk paint. It’s sleek and cute - if you’d stumbled upon the shop before this, you’d have walked in of your volition.

“I’m thinkin’ I just talked your ear off the whole way here.” Atsumu sighs apologetically.

You shrug, “I guess that just means I’m a good listener.”

In all honestly, you’re glad he rambled. It got rid of your restlessness and calmed your racing thoughts.

He unlinks your arm from his and your side is now exposed to the cold air. It only just hits you how physical that walk had been. Even without a coat, having him at your side had kept you warm and cozy.

How long has it been since you were comfortably side-by-side with someone? It’s been months since you’d been around Kenji… years since you last slept with someone you actually liked… but when was the last time you held a hand or wrapped your arm around someone else’s?

Atsumu’s words cut into your thoughts, “You’re easy to talk to, but I wanna hear more about you when we get inside.”

And he’s holding the door open for you, one hand clasped around the handle and the other tucked casually into his pocket. You thank him… he didn’t give you the impression of being “gentlemanly” or whatever that word meant, but you find the gesture to be sweet.

As you step inside the small restaurant, your senses are overtaken by the smell of freshly cooked rice and an explosion of delicious seasonings. There are bar stools open at the front counter and metal chairs surrounding worn-down wooden tables. The atmosphere is homely and diner-like; as though, no matter how often you actually visited, you would be treated as a regular.

Someone calls out from the back, “C’mon in, I cleared the place out for y’all.”

The voice resembles Atsumu’s style of speech; gruff and straight to the point… but a little smoother. Then you realize what that voice had actually said. There’s nobody else here.

“Alright, we’ll make ourselves at home then. I can take your-”

He scans you for a jacket… that doesn’t exist.

“You didn’t bring a coat.” He says flatly.

You glance down at your outfit, grasping the edge of your sweater and feathering a thumb over its seam.

“I forgot one.” You admit, looking back up to him, “Why? Is that a problem?”

“Nah, I was just gonna offer to take it.”

You hadn’t noticed what he’d been wearing before this, but now that you’re under the soft lighting of the restaurant, you realize he’s dressed up a little.

Atsumu removes a short, tan coat and places it onto the back of a chair. A black turtleneck sweater is revealed underneath. The fabric outlines his chest and arms in the most unfair way while the dark color pleasantly contrasts his lighter skin tone.

How hadn’t you noticed how gut-wrenchingly attractive he was before this?

With how fast things were moving and how comfortable you felt talking to him, you must’ve conveniently glossed over this fact. It’s not like you’d planned on getting to know him.

But now that you do? Well, it doesn’t hurt that he basically has the body of Chris Hemsworth. Atsumu’s definitely not some Walmart version of him though - this boy deserves his own brand of attractiveness.

You swallow hard as your eyes trail his body.

“Like whatcha see?”

You startle, shuffling backward. If you weren’t already out of your element, you sure are now. Caught red-handed (red-eyed?) staring at your not-date.

“Awh, c’mon I’m joking - take a seat,” Atsumu pulls a chair out for you, cringing when it lets out a shrill squeak on the floor. The sound rings through the air and you find yourself laughing.

In a swift motion, you jump up and onto the chair.

He slides the chair back toward the bar counter, except this time you both expect the screeching of the chair’s legs. It’s worse than nails on a chalkboard, but it’s perfect for loosening up any tightness in the airspace. This time, it’s his turn to chuckle.

He mutters out a quick, “Sorry,” but you just shake your head, amused.

Snagging his own chair, and this time lifting it off of the ground to avoid bursting another eardrum, Atsumu slides up next to you.

You lean on the counter, a hand propping up your cheek. “That was very smooth, Atsumu.”

“Thanks,” he rolls his eyes, “I try.”

“‘Tsumu? Smooth? Yeah, right,” that same voice travels from the kitchen to the front of the store.

Footsteps are soon to follow it and you’re greeted by Chris Hemsworth 2.0. Maybe you should refer to him as Liam Hemsworth? Nope, Osamu, you quickly decide, is also his own genre of attractive.

Although Osamu is dressed in a simple, black “Onigiri Miya” t-shirt and cap, he could probably be a Calvin Klein model. For someone who owns a restaurant, his muscle tone is absolute perfection - these brothers are really something.

And their resemblance of each other, though twins, is almost uncanny. You thank some unknown force that hair-dye exists, because if you saw them from a distance, you may not be able to tell them apart.

“Ah, shaddup. You’re just sayin’ that cuz you’re jealous,” the blonde snorts.

“Jealous of what? Your shit attempts at flirtin’?”

“That’s below the belt, ‘Samu. Don’t be such an ass.”

‘Tsumu? ‘Samu? That’s cute, you chuckle to yourself. Of course, these guys would have nicknames for each other. It was common sense.

You sit back as they bicker, wondering who must’ve raised these 6-foot chaotic giants. You’d love to meet them just to give them a medal and a bouquet of flowers for putting up with them. They must’ve dealt with so much bullshit.

“I could say the same to you. Ya haven’t properly introduced me yet.” He nods his head toward you, cool-grey eyes warming up when they meet yours.

Your lips quirk into a smile and before you know it, you’ve introduced yourself.

He copies your smile, though it’s much softer than your own, and begins his own little introduction; although you’re sure that, with all the information Atsumu has already listed off to you, you don’t really need one.

“I’m Miya Osamu, but that’s probably obvious by now,” he adjusts his cap, “Callin’ me Miya would be confusin’ for all of us, so just Osamu’s fine.”

He’s polite and carries himself confidently, but his voice is a little softer than Atsumu’s. Or, it is when he’s speaking to you. There’s a brotherly gentleness to his tone and it relaxes you instantly.

“Please keep in mind that I’m the better twin,” Atsumu adds, shooting daggers at his brother.

Osamu shoots them right back, but you don’t fail to notice the playful fondness behind their eyes. You can almost picture them as kids, with band-aids on their knees and mud on their clothes. They make it seem like being twins meant having a built-in best friend.

Their closeness is overwhelming.

There’s a warmth in the atmosphere, and you’re positive that it’s not just because something’s cooking in the kitchen. It feels special, just being allowed to sit and watch them banter.

And the fact that Atsumu is sharing this with you?

Well, you’re counting yourself very lucky to be here right now.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #atsumu x reader #atsumu miya #atsumu #osamu miya #osamu #miya twins #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #untouchable series #it's been awhile since i've updated #but i hope u can enjoy it!!!

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sillydg · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter Nine, part one: Out in the open

Book: The Royal Romance

Rating: 18+

Pairing: Drake Walker X F!MC (Riley Herreld)

Word count: 6000

Series Summary “What if”: Riley and Drake spent a passionate one night stand together on the last night before the social season. The next day they find out the harsh truth of her being the new suitor in town and him being the handsome best friend of prince charming Liam… Are they going to write a fairytale of their own or will everything crash and burn?

Masterlist

In this ninth episode, Part 1: We dig into the situation where Riley’s in, find out things about her past and she decides to take a leap of faith. Again Liam based chapter, next one will be all about Drake again. A/N: First of all, a very special thanks to @kachrisberry for sharing her thoughts with me and editing and most of all inspiring! Thank you! You’re amazing! A/N: PLEASE CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS! A/N: So I promised you guys the Burger Double Date… But I couldn’t do it yet. See my additional A/N right here why if you’re interested! A/N: Thank you for reading and staying with me during this series! Please let me know if you want to be added to or removed from the taglist! A/N: SOOOOO I'm not very familiar with how laws work and only a bit familiar with business structures (of course, did some research) so please be gentle and it's fic. So I just tried to create something that might not be accurate at all! But in this world it is. A/N: Disclaimer: Characters and some dialogue owned by Pixelberry.

Episode Warnings: Bullying (trough talking down), referring to physical and emotional abuse and murder. Language (Swearing also unholy- and sexual terms). Please do not read if you’re triggered by any of this.

Out in the open, Part 1.

Three months before the start of princess training.

Benjamin, Riley’s stepdad, and Karen, Riley’s mom, are sitting in the back office of their luxury car company.

Benjamin grins, “you’ve got to give that girl some credit. It's been three fucking years since she found out about her sister's co-ownership of the family business. And she is still searching for a solution to get her sister's name off the company. What a waste! She would have made a great addition to the family company with her undying determination if she wasn’t such a fucking moral knight.”

Karen rolls her eyes, “focus Benjamin! We are talking about how to get rid of that pathetic daughter of mine, not pointing out the few positive notes which are not positive for us to begin with. We need her out of our hair if we are serious about taking bigger jobs. I just refused the third car strip offer this month because she walks into the shop at the most unpredictable moments! She does everything to prevent us from expanding.”

“Ahhh, and that is where I come in. God, I love a good entrance at the right moment.”

Benjamins and Karen’s heads snap towards the door and see a tall man standing in the doorway with a leather business case in hand. He presents himself with his arms wide like a showman, clothed in a fancy three-piece suit combined with a top hat.

Benjamin jumps up, “who the fuck do you think you are barging in like this? Do you have any fucking idea who the hell you are dealing with?”

The man smiles broadly and bows, “James Perkens Valtoria, at your service.” He straightens his back, moves towards one of the chairs, and sits down with a dramatic touch.

He meets Karen’s eye and she flushes completely red, “and maybe you should ask your wife who YOU are dealing with since she remembers me very well, don’t you hon?" He ends his sentence with an overly confident wink.

She stumbles, “James… it’s been a while since I saw you. This is my husband, Benjamin.”

James grins and nods towards Benjamin, “always nice to meet the partner in crime… But a long time indeed. If I’m correct it's about 23/24 years ago? Since Riley is getting 23 in a few weeks isn’t she?”

Benjamin frowns, “you’re Riley’s biological dad? The one-night stand guy?”

“The one and only!” James grins, “but Karen, you must have been really desperate after I refused to be used for my money! Damn, you remember how you tried to trick me into marriage with that little worm? But I never expected for you to end up with a pathetic small-town criminal!" He turns to Benjamin, "so how are things going? Are you already a step closer to the big boy league? OR are you stuck at laundering, running special errands, and selling stolen cars just like your daddy and granddaddy?”

"We are doing just fine, thank you ve..."

Karen rolls her eyes, “Shut up, Benjamin. What the hell are you doing here, James? Because I doubt that you took an eight-hour flight from that crappy Cordonia just to point out some sore spots.”

James grins, “you are right about that, Karen. Because I’m here to finally give you what you initially wanted 23 years ago…"

"Oh, really? What's that?"

"A chance to make money off Riley’s back, while getting her of yours in the process. How's that? You get money, and in three months you can finally say yes to those stripping jobs and set a step in the right direction towards the big boy league... " He casually leans back in his chair, "I mean, how can you say no to that?"

Karen eyes him suspiciously, "we've learned that if something sounds like it's too good to be true, it probably is. So... what's the catch here? What's in it for you?"

"I'm just taking her back to Cordonia. I never got the chance to, you know, settle down, get a heir. I need her to marry for the stability of the house Valtoria, maintaining the bloodline. That's all."

"Nah, not buying this James, still feels like an unfair deal at your side, and that's not how things work in this business. So, what's in it for you? What are you planning to do with her?"

"Since when do you give a hoot about her? What the hell do you care?

"I don't, James," and she puts up a wide grin, "but I know your type, and I know that it takes a lot of desperation for you to show up here. So there MUST be something you're not telling us, meaning we are definitely pulling the short straw here. Besides, it could be VERY beneficial for you to let us masterminds into your plans."

"I highly doubt that."

"Well, then. Bye-bye," and Karen shrugs, taking a seat behind the office, pretending to work by clicking wildly onto the keyboard.

James stands up, "okay, missed opportunity, but suit yourselves," and he disappears through the door.

Benjamin is fuming, "what the hell are you doing? That man gives us a golden ticket to finally get rid of her, and you are sending him away?"

Karen rolls her eyes, "do you seriously believe that he would take an eight-hour flight if he's only planning to arrange a marriage with a random noble for stability purposes?" She grins and taps her fingers against each other, "nooo, there is more to this. Trust me! He is desperate, and he is coming back."

Present-day

Riley puts on a plastered smile as she sees how Liam is having trouble with climbing down the balcony, “come on Liam. Tik Tak… don’t risk your life by keeping a woman from her burger!”

She really tries to keep her spirits up, but it's getting harder and harder as her mind keeps racing back to the conclusion she came to earlier tonight. Maybe it is better to leave, to see if James agrees to an arranged marriage instead of this. Because after everything that happened at the tea party and what just happened in her bedroom, it might be the only solution.

She takes her phone out of her pocket and starts tapping. Her eyes drift over the lines over and over again, but her finger keeps hanging above sent.

R: Me getting married was all about the stability of the house Valtoria, so why would he object for me to go with the arranged marriage? Right?

She rolls her eyes at her own words.

R: Seriously Riley? Still, keeping up the dumb act to get through it? There is no way that this could be about stability and maintaining the bloodline alone. There is more to it, and you know it. You just haven't figured out what... And that's why you are feeling so guilty towards Liam. Because you don't know what you are getting him into. And whatever it is, it can't be good. And he doesn't deserve that. So you need out. And that starts with texting the guy who took you here. Go!

And she taps 'sent' and stares for a few seconds at her screen before putting it back into her pocket.

She knows asking this might be a bit of a long shot, but she hopes that quick results, meaning if possible marrying within the week, could be a way to persuade him into agreeing.

And as long as he didn't find out about the connection she and Liam already share, he might actually bite and go for the fast-food option instead of gourmet. Because well, if she learned one thing, James is certainly not a patient man.

R: And you know what, if he agrees. I'm just going to ask for the biggest dickhead there is, making me only feel guilty until a just bearable level, and voila. Problem solved. No more hurting a sweet, caring, and innocent man. Yes, the only option is to leave. Even if it means... even if it means never finding out what this thing with Drake is.

She sighs at the thought. Life has never been really kind to her, to begin with, but this was truly a finishing blow.

Meeting a guy the day before the social season, for the first time in her pathetic life-crushing hard and never having the chance to find out what it is or what it could've been. Hell. The feeling of having an actual chance at happiness slipping through her fingers felt like a punch in the stomach. But hey, what's new right?

And impatiently she grabs her phone again, to see if he already responded.

R: But what if he says no? That will mean that there is no way for her to proceed. But if she just dropped everything her sister could be facing the consequences. But if she doesn't Liam might be facing consequences... So that means... there might be one leap of faith left...

All of a sudden she feels her phone vibrate in her hand, and she snaps out of her thoughts. She frowns at the screen as she receives a whats app phone call from 'James, source of all evil, Valtoria'.

R: Huh? He never calls over whats app. He is paranoid AF and if he calls me he would do that with a disposable phone.

She picks up but holds still, as she recognizes the voice of James, clearly not knowing that she can hear everything.

"That bitch, she sent me a text saying that she wanted out and going for an arranged marriage."

R: He must have accidentally pressed call after reading my whats app. God that man and modern equipment. NOT a match.

"Is that so bad though?"

Riley frowns, as she recognizes her dad's voice.

James ups the volume of his voice, "are you kidding me. Didn't you just hear her having a heart-to-heart with that oblivious prince of hers? Good thing we bugged her room. Hot damn! He actually wants to take that pathetic low life on five dates. No way we are backing out! If she becomes queen, we actually have the chance to throw over the throne and take Cordonia into our own hands. And I know... it's not my thing to say, but we are officially in for the long run ladies and gents."

Riley blinks at his words. So it was true. There was more to it than just stability and a bloodline. No way of denying it after hearing those words coming from his mouth. James was after power, after Cordonia.

And she realizes that no matter who she marries, there will be far going consequences, not only for her future husband but also for his people.

And with him hearing everything that just happened in that room, the five dates and the developing connection. And even though it was just friendly from her side, it was there. She looks up as Liam dusts himself off after he fell into the bushes, and he waves at her. A surprise hits his face as he sees her with a phone in her hand.

R: Oh God, James is never going to let me get out of this. Liam, he cannot choose me... I can't hurt him and jeopardize his people like that. But also in an arranged marriage, there will be a lot of innocent people hurt. This is so much bigger than just my sister. Oh, God.

But the thought of her sister as a casualty breaks her heart. She looks up as Liam gets closer and closer with a broad smile, which turns into a worried one as soon as he spots the look on her face.

R: So the only way to get out of this is to fix my sister's problem. And John, Nick and I have been trying that for three years now...So what hope is left? I'm going to hurt someone innocent nevertheless. So maybe, maybe... there is only one solution left.

And with a sigh, she makes a decision.

R: I... I need to tell him everything. That will at least prevent one disaster from happening...

She motions Liam to stay quiet, and she turns James on speakerphone. Liam mouths in confusion, 'what's going on?' And she points to her ear, signing him to just listen.

Her eyes watering and her body shakes in a mixture of adrenaline, fear, but also relief that leading him on will stop. Liam remains quiet and slings an arm around her shoulders to steady her because her body is almost uncontrollably shaking now.

She swallows as she recognizes her mom's voice.

"We just have to be really careful though, if she ever finds out that there are more innocent lives at stake than only her sisters, then there will be a chance that she chooses for something we are not going to like."

Riley closes her eyes as the tears start rolling. It hurts that her mom knows her so well, but doesn't give any fuck until she can use it for a risk assessment to secure her own purposes.

Her mom continuous speaking, "after these three years we have seen that she will stop at nothing to help her sister, so by the time the social season is over, she could start to care about this god-forsaken country. And that might be the reason for her to just spill the beans. So would it be that bad to avoid taking that big of a risk and to let her marry another powerful noble within the week? Besides, our plan involves messing around with a marital prenup, and the risk that they find out that we've been messing with papers is a lot bigger when we are talking about a royal wedding with all the royal guards around, instead of an arranged one with a lot less security and publicity to worry about.”

They hear James sigh through the phone and Riley still has her eyes closed, not ready to meet reality just yet.

"Have a little bit of fate in the great man I am, Karen! I've got this all figured out! It takes one phone call to initiate the emergency plan, making the guilty look innocent and the innocent will take the fall here. So when she actually dares to threaten to come clean, we can use that as leverage or if she goes straight to the press, she will be cutting her own finger off since I have contacts all around the press agencies. We will be hearing it before they print, twisting the story towards our own hand. Easy peasy."

"You know, that's rich coming from a guy whose company is not at stake, without being certain to get something in return."

"Look, I know that it is a big risk the two of you are taking, but you are receiving big dimes for Riley right now, and I did promise to help you guys get in the big league with my contacts by starting a new business after everything works out. Besides, the two of you kind of dug your own grave when you decided three years ago to not just get rid of her, but to fill one plothole with the other, just to keep her from turning you guys in. We both know how much it literally cost you so far."

Benjamin sighs, "I told you Karen that we should have gone with murder, but you thought that it would only create a bigger mess."

Riley's hands turn into fists. The way they were talking about her, how easily and casually the topic of murdering her rolled off their tongues. It hits her hard as the only thing that stopped them was because it would create a mess. It is not like she didn't know that she means less than nothing to them. Her stepdad always despised her for not being his 'blood' and the only thing her mother sees when she looks at her is a missed-out money bag and a burden to live with. But this... indescribable. And she feels how Liam's hands clench around her shoulder, pulling her closer and his breathing becomes unsteady.

"Well honestly, I'm glad you guys are the amateurs you are because otherwise, the two of you left me empty-handed.

So I say we are continuing with her persuading the prince, and if that's not working out we will find another powerful man.

She gets married just like we are planning and we will make sure to fraud the marital prenup, making everything owed shared equally. We will write the company over to her name, plant evidence that the royals or other random powerful guys' families are using the company for laundering, causing so much of a scandal that they can do nothing but step down. Liam, or another random dude, and Riley will die in a horrible suicide plan, and because the Rys family will be done for and in their will, they will be leaving Cordonia to me..."

"You mean us," she hears her stepdad say with his stern voice that runs an oh-so-familiar shiver of fear through her body.

"Of course, of course. To us! And besides, if Liam doesn't pick Riley, then we always have our option for the arranged marriage. Framing the guy in the same way and we will live happily ever after... As long as house Valtoria does not end up empty-handed, it's fine. But not before we chase the jackpot!"

Liam hangs up the phone and all of a sudden it turns quiet around them. She keeps her eyes closed, but she can't stop the tears and they roll over her cheeks. He pulls her even closer, whispering "oh Riley, what the hell is going on."

She finds the courage to open her eyes and tries to wipe her tears away, but they keep coming, "can we talk somewhere private?"

Liam nods, "let's take a walk in the maze! We will have all the privacy we need. I will text the guys that we are running late and to ask them to wait for us at the secluded beach we always used to hang and hide from the press."

He now holds her tight in a side hug and leads her over the terrain, into the maze. They remain quiet, needing to be certain that no one would overhear them talking as they finally arrive at the three where they held their first date less than twenty-four hours ago.

Riley sighs, "O my God, I don't know how I could have been so stupidly naive. I'm so sorry Liam."

He tries to pull her close again, but she sets a step back. "First you need to know everything, please. Just," and she motions for him to stay back and even though he really wants to hold her right now, he nods and accepts it, waiting for her to begin.

Riley takes a deep breath, "James told me when I was forced to come here, that the only reason I was here was so that I could marry for stability and the bloodline of Valtoria. I didn't know that they were planning to take over Cordonia, what the hell? Can they even do that?"

"I don't know Riley, but I will take it up with Bastien. He will know at what kind of risk we actually are, it will be alright. Step one is knowing."

She frowns at his static reaction, and she meets his eyes, but they are unreadable, "how do you remain this calm, Liam. Hell, I betrayed you. You should be fuming, calling the guards, have me locked up for treason."

He takes a deep breath, and carefully sets a step forward. And with a finger under her chin, he forces her to look up. Their eyes meet and he finally lets her in again. A mixture of sadness, combined with fear, anger, and just a bit of tenderness.

"Riley, honestly I'm fuming. But not at you. The way they talked about you, it was so, so heartless." It's becoming more and more clear that it takes a lot of effort to keep calm, as his eyes start to water and a light crackle in his voice breaks through. "You asked me tonight how my heart survived over all these years, but if these are the people who you have to call your parents. How the hell did yours?" He brushes her cheek," but right now, my anger will not be helping, so I try to remain calm and we will be figuring this out. Together. Riley, we are going to help you and not let you down. You did such a brave thing just now. And know that I will be saving my anger for the moment we get these three behind bars."

She takes a deep breath getting her tears under control, "but I don't understand. Why would you help me? You know me for less than 24 hours."

"Oh, Riley. In the little time that we know each other, I've come to find that your heart is in the right place! And you're a wonderful person who deserves love and support. Plus, how can I blame you for this. Your mom stated how you've been protecting your sister, and they kept worrying your heart would get in the way of their plan. None of this is on you." Carefully he searches for her hands and entwines his fingers with hers, "So instead of talking about who is to blame, which we know who is, let's talk about the situation because I need to know how it began and everything up until now so that we can help you and your sister."

She nods and takes a deep breath. “Three years ago, I found out that shady things were going on in my stepdad’s luxurious car company, after overhearing a private conversation my mom was having with a potential client.

So silly old me decided to break into my stepdad’s home- and work office, and since he is stupid enough to use his favorite car as his password, I was able to get in his computer. I found some documents, and after examining them with John and Nick, we discovered that the company is a set up for laundering and selling stolen cars.”

She sighs as she tries to keep her emotions under control, “but the worst part was finding out that my sister was co-owner with my stepdad. I’ve been taking care of my sister for all of her life, and I never heard her talking about her wanting to take over the company.

So... the only thing we could think of, was that it had to be a setup.

John and I decided to talk to her about it and she told us that she had no clue.” She swallows as she recalls the fear in her sister’s eyes the moment she told her what exactly was happening in the company, and with her being 50% it meant that she could be held accountable for everything that was going on.

She lets go of Liam's hands and she shifts nervously in place, trying to get her emotions under control. “And at that moment we promised her to do everything in our power to help her. So I decided to start with confronting my parents. By myself... Which might not have been the best place to start, especially not alone. I should’ve brought John or at least told him about it, but hell, I was fuming!!”

Her hands turn into a fist, her eyes spitting fire and she turns back to Liam, “I’ve been mentally and physically abused for the biggest part of my life. And I took it. All of it. Because I had to stay and take care of my sister. No, they never touched her, never called her names, because she was their blood. But she deserved love, to be heard, and all the support a young woman needs in this world, which my parents were absolutely not capable of giving. So I did that, at every cost.

I accepted every goddamn thing they threw MY way, every punch, every word that felt like a stab in the guts, but I lost it when I found out they were doing this to her. To HER. And that was their mistake!” She takes a deep breath, her fist still clenching.

“Oh, Riley…” But the moment he takes a step towards her, she shakes her head, “no, please. I need you to hear everything, Liam. Before you decide to help me.”

Liam nods as he finds it harder and harder not to comfort her, “okay, so you confronted your parents? Oh God, by yourself.”

“Yes. They told me that if I ever planned to turn them in, that they would be framing my sister in taking all the blame. And hell, what did I know? If they were already capable to make my sister part-owner, without her knowing... What more could they do? So, at that moment I knew that I needed help with this solution. I decided to go with their story.

But... it turned out that me promising that I would never tell, that I would let things go was not enough for them. Because, well, even though they hated me with every fiber in their body, they both knew that I was lying. They both knew that I was never going to let this go.”

She falls silent and her eyes turn cold, “So they put some force with their words. Two hours later I woke up in John’s room. They threw me out and burned everything I had. John has been my neighboor all his life, he rushed over because he heard," and she swallows, "certain sounds trough the walls. He came to my rescue together and managed to safe me with my favorite stuffed animal and that was it.”

She sets her jaw and meets Liam’s eyes and she sees him standing with pure shock on his face, “So in the past three years I moved into an apartment with John, and I turned to lawyers specialized in business law and private detectives, just to see if I could get her out of the company in one piece. I wanted to know if it was possible to prove that she’s innocent. But again and again, they told me that there was no hope. Eventually, I dropped out of university, started working full time in a bar to pay the bills and to save up for my sister’s education, so that she at least would have a fair chance in life, since my parents took all our funds away.”

Liam looks at the woman in front of him, and he was never so taken aback by someone. The fierceness, her determination, her caring for her sister no matter what, and even though she had to go through the worst possible thing for all her life, she managed to stay positive, to have faith in others until they prove it wrong. He swallows back tears as he whispers, “and then James brought you here?”

She nods, noticing him holding back tears the second their eyes meet. It was hard for her to acknowledge the care in his eyes and actually believe that someone who knows her for this short period was able to feel that towards her.

She averts her eyes, “He showed up at my 23rd birthday. Bringing me the gift of marriage, since I was his long-lost daughter. I declined of course and he was not happy. With the investigation, my job and I couldn’t leave John, Nick, and my sister behind.

But unfortunately, he was not one to let go. He came back with my parents, blackmailed me by threatening to expose my sister. At first, I didn’t get why my parents would be putting their company on the line like that, but well… Apparently they are getting a huge monthly bonus, and the chance to join the big boy league once they drop everything on someone else.

And well, now I’m not around anymore to keep my parents on their toes, they will be adding bigger crimes to the list. So.. If I don’t figure it out fast, the crime list will only be expanding, making things worse for my sister, because with this many lives at stake. I will be forced to expose everything…”

Liam smiles softly as a few tears escape, “if we, we Riley. We are going to figure this out together..”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath because she can’t accept his help before he knows everything. That way he will be able to make an honest decision. But it will be going against Drake’s wishes, without them talking first.

R: No more secrets, I’m sorry Drake. Please forgive me.

And she starts tearing up, “Liam, I need to tell you one more thing though. After that, you can decide with the whole picture in sight.”

“Of course, please.”

“The night before the masquerade I went to Kismet with John and Nick, to celebrate one last night of freedom.”

Confusion is showing on Liam’s face, “what? You went to Kismet? But the guys went to Kismet the night befo…” he falls silent, feeling in his guts where she’s building up to.

“I.. uh, know because I kind of ran into Drake over there."

He stays silent and Riley reads the horror on his face as realization dawns on him.

"I didn't know that he was your best friend, and well he didn't know that I was going to be your suitor. We kind of made a mistake without knowing that it was a ... you know." Riley feels a clutch in her stomach the moment she called their night a mistake because it felt like everything but a mistake, and she couldn't bear to get the word over her lip again.

Liam's stomach drops as he recalls what she is actually saying and he composes himself. He puts on his so well-trained political voice, "I see. So you were the one-night stand?"

Riley sets a step back, as she sees the sudden change in his whole attitude. His straight back, his stern, and politically correct voice. But the only thing that he couldn’t hide from her was the emotion in his eyes, screaming confusion, anger, and disbelief. And he was right to be angry of course. So she nods, but remains quiet, not sure what to do.

"Okay, well thank you for sharing, Riley." He puts his hands behind his back, "So, let's talk about how we proceed here, is that okay?”

Riley frowns, not sure how to react as he casually brushes over what she just told him. Didn’t he want to know if it meant something? If it still means something? But before she can react he continues.

“Well, I need to talk to Bastien to see what the risks are for our beloved Cordonia if you stay to participate further in the social season.

He also will be our key to figure out how we can help your sister and you put those three behind bars. But for now, I think we should keep up our appearance that you are my suitor until we know for sure that you actually can remain one."

Riley stares dumbfoundedly at him, "whha.. what?"

"I said that...

"Wow, wow, I know what you said. And you want to keep participating in the social season? But why? I kept everything from you! And aren’t you, not at the least mad at me for, you know? Liam, I mean… Drake and I… I might need to figure out.."

He coughs, interrupting her since he definitely doesn’t want to find out how that sentence ends, "I will certainly talk to Drake yes, but it's like you said, you both didn't know that the two of you made a definite mistake. The only thing I can hold him accountable for is not telling me."

"I don't think you should hold him accountable alone, even though he is going to say that you should. Liam, I made my own decisions, I'm just as accountable as Drake. Besides, don't you have, you know, questions?"

Liam swallows, he had many, many questions. But he was scared that she would be answering them in all honesty. And he was certainly not ready to hear those. He just wanted to change her mind about him, about Drake, and he needed time for that. But first, he needed to find out if she could stay. So he shakes his head, as she very well sees the thousand question marks in his eyes.

“Why don’t we just focus on looking forward. Because nothing is going to change my mind, Riley. I am going to help you. No matter what. If you are allowed to stay or have to go. But I am hoping that you will be allowed to keep participating.”

She sighs, "I don't get it, Liam. Why would you want me still in the social season after all of this? Why are you still willing to help me? God, how am I ever going to repay you for this?"

"Because first of all, you fought long enough and you deserve someone fighting for you too. Second, I think that you will be good for Cordonia, my feelings for you aside. But before I speak my mind further, I first want to wait after I've talked to Bastien to see if it's even possible. And to answer your next question, yes you can tell Drake if he promises to keep his cool as James makes an entrance, but for now, we have to leave Max out of it."

"Because of his ties to Bertrand?"

"Indeed, I will be talking to Bastien tonight. There is enough privacy at the wiggling tail to do so, but for now, it is important to keep up with you being my suitor in front of Maxwell.”

Liam sighs as her earlier words play through his head, Drake and I… I might need to figure out..' And if he is really honest with himself, he has been denying the way the two looked at each other today. How effortless she made Drake laugh, their banter, and him looking out for her like he has been doing all day and apperently yesterday.

So If she is able to stay, which he hoped for, she is going to be seeing Drake a whole lot. And most of the time he is not able to join them. There could be a possibility that it doesn't work out between them, that she falls for him instead for Drake. But as long as there remains a question mark between them, neither of them will be able to build something. Besides, even if she chooses to be with Drake, arrangements are not unusual in Cordonia. He shakes his head.

L: Step after step Liam. First, figure out IF it's okay to stay. Wait for what Bastien advises. But until then...

And he takes a decision he rather not, but there is no other way. He meets Riley's eye, who is waiting patiently as she clearly has noticed him disappearing in his thoughts.

"So I get that it's not the easiest situation right now. And I meant it that I want to wait for Bastien's advice to see how we proceed. But until we get there, I just want to say; If you or Drake decide to do something stupid together, just make sure you do it where no one sees, is that clear?"

"What?"

"You've heard me, Riley, let's not make a big deal of this okay? Us Cordonians are not really known for our monogamy, an arrangement outside of marriage is not out of the ordinary, as long as we know it from each other and can talk about it, that is. Just make sure no one sees, and we will be fine. Now is there anything else?"

"Ehm..." Riley is still flustered about what he just told him, "ow, you might also want to discuss with Bastien about searching our rooms. They apparently bugged mine, but are you sure about..."

He rolls his eyes, "you heard me Riley, and I will and I am. Now let's go. The guys must be worried sick." And without further ado, he walks towards the exit of the maze, leaving a flustered Riley behind.

“Did he just…Wait, what just happened?”

Links to master list or next chapter!

Masterlist

Chapter 9, pt.2

Taglist, please let me know if you want to be added or removed.

@karahalloway @angelasscribbles @lovingchoices14 @kingliam2019

@walkerdrakewalker @queen-arabella-of-cordonia

@tinkie1973 @tessa-liam

@ladyangel70 @princessleac1

@kachrisberry @jerzwriter @gkittylove99 @pixelberrygirl

@ruy-oh

@choicesficwriterscreations

#choices fic writers creations #fics of the week #drake x mc #drake walker #choices royal romance #choices the royal romance #choices trr #fanfic #the royal romance fanfic #trr fandom #trr fanfic

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stellar-lune · 3 years ago

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*KOTLC incorrect quotes*

Anyways, a long list of incorrect KOTLC quotes, feel free to use these for anything if ya want!

Glimmer: Arson? Oh, you mean "crime brûlée".

Fitz: Oh, so when crows remember people who wronged them and hold grudges, its “intelligent” and “really cool”.

Fitz: But when I do it, I’m “petty” and “need to let it go”.

Keefe, holding up his class notes: And then this doodle of a burrito because when I first read Aristotle, I thought it was pronounced like “Chipotle”.

Marella, in shock: Wait a minute, is it “Chip-o-tottle”?

Sophie: I wasn't hurt that badly. Elwin said all my bleeding was internal, that's where the blood's supposed to be!

Police Officer: You have the right to remain silent.

Marella: I choose to waive that right!

Marella: *screaming*

Brant (whoops sorry bout this one): Do not come over to my house. If the house is on fire you may knock once, if I don’t answer assume I set the fire and I want to burn to death.

Sophie: I would never say that my best friend is a bitch and I don’t like her. That’s not true… Biana is a bitch and I like her very much!

Lex, Bex, Rex: If I can't cause tiny bits of chaos every day, I think my body will shut down.

Keefe on Tuesday: *glues a dime to the sidewalk* Heh heh heh.

Keefe on Wednesday: *walking down the street* Ooh hey! A dime!

Forkman, to the squad: And remember, if I get harsh with you it is only because you’re doing it all wrong.

Keefe, tearing up the room: Where are they?

Keefe, looking under a pillow: Who moved them? Who moved my children?

Keefe: Somebody moved my E.L. Fudges, and now I am going to run away again.

Tam: Your existence is confusing.

Keefe: How so?

Tam: Your presence is annoying, but the thought of anything bad happening to you upsets me.

Sophie: I have one foot in the grave but in a kind of fun flirty way, the way one might slip on a fishnet stocking.

Linh: I've never encountered a problem that can't be solved by an spontaneous musical number.

Dex: Dracula had it right, sleep all day, live alone in a castle, and explode into bats to get out of all social situations.

Sophie: Fuck capitalism. It's a rigged system that keeps us poor and it isn't fair. You shouldn't need to work three jobs to afford basic necessities.

Sophie, playing Monopoly: Sorry, if you wanted to win you should have tried not being poor.

Dex, to Stina: If karma doesn't hit you, I fucking will.

Sophie: My life isn't as glamourous as my wanted poster makes it look.

Dex: If I'm extra sarcastic with you it probably means I'm flirting with you or you really annoy me and I can't handle your crap... have fun figuring out which one, Wonderboy.

Marella: As someone who has a long history of not understanding anything, I feel confident in my ability to continue not knowing what is going on.

Fitz: I'm a firm believer in "if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly."

*out grocery shopping*

Linh: *takes a free sample twice*

Linh: Robbery and fraud. I am a Rebel (TM) .

Sophie: Sometimes I wonder if I’m hearing voices.

Sophie: Then I remember that’s the last bit of sanity I have trying to get me to fall asleep at a reasonable time.

Sophie: Does anyone know how to relax? Asking for a friend.

Demon: Hey, I took your soul last month and-

Tam: No returns.

Demon: *sobbing* But it's making me sad...

Dex: So, according to my university, it is, quote, “my responsibility if there is an internet outage to contact the faculty and the department.”

Dex: Now, if you’re a critical thinker like me, you might be wondering one thing.

Dex: HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO EMAIL THE DEPARTMENT?!?!?!

Tam: Hey, what’s the name of the other guy who lives with Tiergan?

Linh: His cats' names are Walter and Rose.

Tam: That's not what I asked.

Linh: That is all the information I have.

Keefe: Ro, remember when you said you weren’t going to interfere with my love life?

Ro: No, that doesn’t sound like me at all.

(alternatively, Alden)

Linh: Ayo, what the FUCK is this?!?

Tam, sitting down, surrounded by corpses: I won Mafia, that’s what.

Marella: I'd roast you, but my mom says you can't burn trash.

Marella: *slow-mo walks out of the room*

Biana: I'm gonna get my piolet's license. I've already got a driver's license and a cosmetology license, that's two of the big five licenses.

Fitz: The big five licenses?

Biana: Driver's license, cosmetology license, pilot's license, fishing license, and… license to kill! I can't wait to get that one.

Dex: You are irrationally angry 365 days a year.

Fitz: Well, that’s just your personal opinion, I don’t have anger issues. Biana, do you think I have anger issues?

Biana: Well, I wouldn’t really call it an issue. An issue is something you can fix.

Keefe: So how’s the food Sophie made?

Fitz: It's great! Compliments to her.

Keefe: *goes to the kitchen*

Keefe: You're adorable.

Sophie: *blushes*

Biana: And now for a gay update with Linh and Marella.

Marella: Getting gayer.

Biana: Thank you, Marella.

Sophie: Hey, do you know the password to Keefe’s computer?

Biana: I love you, Sophie.

Sophie: Aww, that’s so swe—

Biana: No, you misunderstood, the password is "iloveyouSophie".

Sophie: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

Fitz: Hey, Biana, are you free on Friday? Like around eight?

Biana: Yeah.

Fitz: And you, Tam?

Tam: Umm... yes?

Fitz: Great! Because I'm not. You two go out without me. Enjoy your date!

Biana: Did he just-

Sophie: Do you cook?

Biana: I made a cake once.

Fitz: Yeah, it was good.

Biana: Really?

Fitz: Don’t make me lie twice, Biana.

Dex: Nice rock.

Keefe: Thanks, Tam gave it to me.

Tam: I threw it at you!

Keefe: Isn’t he the sweetest?

Juline: I just had a long talk with the triplets about hitting and now they are yelling “it’s my turn to perpetuate the cycle of violence” before hitting each other.

Sophie: I made you all playlists!

Sophie: Tam, yours has only heavy metal and punk, and is dark like your soul.

Sophie: Keefe, yours has sad songs and blues to pair with your crippling depression.

Sophie: And Biana has the ABBA Gold album.

Fitz: A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.

Biana: An optimist sees light at the end of the tunnel.

Dex: A realist sees a freight train.

Tam: The train driver sees three idiots standing on train tracks.

Mr. Forkle: For self defense reasons, I'm going to pretend to be a burglar and you guys have to act wisely.

Biana, Keefe, & Sophie: Okay.

Mr. Forkle: If you don't want to die, give me all your money.

Biana: Bold of you to assume I have money.

Keefe: Bold of you to assume I don't want to die.

Sophie: Bold of you to assume I can die.

Sophie: My life is a little too much panic and not enough disco.

Keefe: My life is a little too much fall and not enough boy.

Dex: My life is a little too much chemical and not enough romance.

Marella: My life is a little too much imagination and not nearly enough dragons.

Biana: What’s it like being tall?

Marella: Is it nice?

Sophie: Can you reach comfortably for the cupboards?

Fitz: We live in constant fear of the short ones who, in my experience, will climb four chairs, two boxes, a small coffee table, and six oddly placed stools to get what they want.

Stina: You have friends and I envy that.

Marella: You're welcome to share my friends.

Stina: *looks at Dex and Sophie*

Stina: I don't want those.

Della: Tommorrow's garbage day.

Fitz: I can't believe you made a whole day dedicated to Alvar.

Linh: Bottling up negative emotions is bad for your health, so you shouldn't do it.

Tam: I know, that's why I bottle up all my emotions, both positive and negative, so it cancels out.

Linh: Th-that's not how that works-

Marella: Do you want to know your gay name?

Linh: My... my gay name?

Marella: Yeah, it's your first name-

Linh: Haha. Very funny Marella-

Marella: *gets down on one knee* And my last name.

Linh: Oh- oh my god.

Glimmer: You know you've made it when you see your picture everywhere you go.

The Black Swan: Those are wanted posters!

Biana: Are you mad?

Tam: No.

Biana: So sharpening your knives at 3 in the morning is just a hobby?

Keefe: Astrology is fun because i can pretend that all of my behaviors are just a result of being a Gemini and not symptoms of mental illness.

Biana: Being a Gemini is a mental illness. That’s not hate it’s just a fact.

Biana: *on the phone* Hey Fitz, do you know my blood type?

Fitz: Of course, it's A+.

Biana: Oh, I guessed wrong. Excuse me, nurse-!

Fitz, to Sophie: Are you ready to commit?

Sophie: Like, a crime or a relationship?

Literally Anyone: Hey, aren’t you Sophie Foster?

Sophie: You a Councillor?

Literally Anyone: No.

Sophie: Then yes, I am.

Sophie: I typed "bitch" into my GPS and guess what? I'm in your driveway.

Stina:

Sophie: Vroom vroom, come out already.

Stina: I’m gay—

Sophie: Not what I meant, but cool.

Keefe: Remember that time you dared me to lick a swingset?

Sophie: No, I said "Keefe, don't lick that swingset" and you said "Don't tell me what to do" and licked the swingset.

Mr. Forkle: I’m not so sure you’re stakeout material.

Sophie: I’m a chronic insomniac, I was born for this.

Juline: I only have two emotions: exhaustion and stress. And I’m somehow always feeling both simultaneously.

Marella: *gets set on fire and screams in agony*

Marella: Nah, I’m just kidding. Fire does nothing to me.

Biana: Maybe the true treasure was friendship all along. But I hope not, because I can’t spend friendship on new clothes

Dex: Do you want to play 20 Questions?

Fitz: Sure!

Fitz: Whats your favorite color?

Dex, laser fucking focused: Triangle. Do you like men?

#kotlc shitpost #kotlc incorrect quotes #kotlc memes #kotlc sophie #kotlc dex #kotlc fitz #kotlc marella #kotlc linh #kotlc biana #kotlc tam #kotlc glimmer #kotlc black swan #kotlc neverseen

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allwaswell16 · 4 years ago

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BRITISH & SCOTTISH FIC REC

This is a fic rec of my favorite One Direction British/Scottish fics as requested in this ask. You can find all my other fic recs here. Please leave the writers kudos and comments if you like the fics! Happy reading!

Larry

⚔️ Take My Breath Away, @realitybetterthanfiction (E, 153k, Top Gun au, pilot Harry, flight instructor Louis, pilot Liam, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, plane accident, character injury, recovery, PTSD, Scotland)

⚔️ Tired, Tired Sea, @mediawhorefics / MediaWhore (M, 113k, famous/not famous au, popstar Harry, B&B owner Louis, Scotland, recovering addict Harry, isolation, loneliness, hurt/comfort, pining, slow burn)

⚔️ A Taste of Desire, @casuallyhl (E, 104k, historical au, Victorian au, mill owner Harry, social activist Louis, a/b/o, alpha Harry, omega Louis, fluff, smut, character injuries, fire, angst)

⚔️ Black with Autumn Rain, @whimsicule (93k, T, thriller, magical realism, crime, journalist Harry, blood, background character death, folklore, North York Moors)

⚔️ Emperor’s New Clothes, @magicalrocketships (E, 92k, famous/not famous, pop star Harry, money troubles, outing, pet cat, tabloids, harassment, angst with a happy ending)

⚔️ won’t you wear my watermark, @bottomlinsons (E, 90k, soulmate au, historical au, Regency era, slow burn, soulmarks, angst with a happy ending, pining, bl)

⚔️ And down the long and silent street, @whimsicule (M, 86k, historical au, rich Harry, poor Louis, 19th century, Victorian London, social injustice, emotional hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending)

⚔️ Wibbly Wobbly (series), @lululawrence (NR, 76k, parallel universes au, canon divergent, friends to lovers, pining, bed sharing, hiatus, no smut, writer Louis, photographer Harry, dimension travel)

⚔️ We are timeless, @tommosgun / Star_Henderson (M, 75k, lost love au, time jump, first love, singer Louis, Lord Harry, recreational drug use, smut)

⚔️ After Dark, After Light, @becomeawendybird / QuickedWeen (E, 71k, historical au, medieval, Scotland, Scottish Highlander, commander Louis, laird Harry, secret relationship, self discovery, sexual tension, light angst, smut, light bondage)

⚔️ Lend Me Your Hand, @becomeawendybird / QuickedWeen (M, 63k, historical au, regency romance, soulmarks, soulmates, fluff and smut, light angst, London, Viscount Louis, flirting)

⚔️ put the stars in our eyes, crybaby (E, 53k, farmer Louis, mail order husband Harry, fluff, smut)

⚔️ Love’s Truest Language, @smrwine / summerwine (E, 48k, hate to love, flower shop, London, smut, flower sex)

⚔️ If I Loved You Less, @allwaswell16 (E, 36k, Regency au, historical, A/B/O, Alpha Harry, Omega Louis, aristocracy, courting rituals, heat, smut, kidnapping, minor violence, light angst with a happy ending, secrets, pining, proposals, marriage, scenting, scent marking, side Shiall)

⚔️ Tesco (series), @dinosaursmate (E, 31k, Tesco au, office sex, smut, getting together turned established relationship, going on holiday)

⚔️ On This Winter’s Night, @reminiscingintherain (T, 27k, meet cute, London, Christmas, bakery, comic book shop, fluff)

⚔️ Torn on The Platform, conscious_rambling (M, 27k, tube au, fluff, pining, strangers to lovers, London)

⚔️ These Roads We Stumble Down, @onewasturning (E, 18k, road trip au, Oxford to Glasgow, hitchhiking, fluff, smut)

⚔️ Autumn at Fairbridge Hall, @noellehenry (M, 14k, Regency au, historical, autumn ball, marriage proposal, fox hunting, north Yorkshire, period typical homophobia, country house)

⚔️ A Stór Mo Chroí, @icanhazzalou / kiwikero (E, 9k, historical au, Scotland, highland clans, enemies to lovers, fluff and smut)

⚔️ Slow Hands (Slow Days), @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderry(T, 9k, farmer Harry, veterinarian Louis, Yorkshire, veterinary clinic, cows, fluff, humor, embarrassing situations, strangers to lovers)

⚔️ All I See Is You, @runaway-train-works / runaway_train (G, 2k, meet cute, pining, fluff, no smut, commuting)

Tomlinshaw

⚔️ I Had Rather Hear My Dog Bark At A Crow, @magicalrocketships / sunsetmog (E, 122k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw, canon compliant, secret relationship, hate sex, love/hate, kink, watersports, angst with a happy ending, long distance)

⚔️ Kissing in the Rain, @writsgrimmyblog / @writcraft (E, 96k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw, canon compliant, internalized homophobia, romance, boys in love, kissing in the rain, coming out, first time, smut)

⚔️ You Don’t Care About Me (One More Night), @lululawrence (NR, 60k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw, canon, pining, miscommunication, coming out, forced come out, banter, humor, jealousy, panic attacks, fwb, sexuality crisis, hurt/comfort, light angst, no smut)

Ziam

⚔️ The Killing Type, @protagonist-m / protagonist_m (E, 130k, Liam/Zayn, Scotland Yard au, murder mystery, violence, uni, serial killer, Lilo friendship, slow burn, angst, art)

⚔️ your crimes are quiet, my love, @lightwoodsmagic (E, 97k, Liam/Zayn, Miss Congeniality au, M15 au, agent Zayn, agent Liam, contestant Harry, pageant coach Louis, crime, serial killer, riddles/puzzles, violence, undercover mission, injuries, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, smut)

⚔️ Untamed Hearts, @laynefaire (E, 68k, Liam/Zayn, surfing au, enemies to friends to lovers, summer, surfer Liam, artist Zayn, Lilo friendship, surfer Louis, side Larry, tension, pining, kissing, smut, angst with a happy ending)

#fic rec #larry fan fiction #larry fan fic #ziam fan fic #tomlinshaw fic #allwasficrecs #british and scottish fics

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vepiwrites-coisas · 3 years ago

Photo

Story

Fifteen years ago your sister, Melody, mysteriously disappeared. Since then you've established a career as a private investigator, solving mysteries and helping people in need. Now you have finally returned to your hometown, Hercchester, determined to solve the mystery that has plagued you for years. However, as soon as you arrive you meet an orphan girl named Iris, she says she wants to be your assistant so that you can train her to one day become a great detective. Solve puzzling cases with the help of your assistant as well as several other characters in Hercchester as you try to find the truth about what acctually happened to your sister.

Features

Play as a woman, a man, or a nonbinary person.

Train your young protegé and teach her how to be a great detective.

Four love interests with unique personalities. (Five, if the shadow watching you finds you interesting enough.)

Try to uncover the truth about your sister's mysterious disappearance fifteen years ago.

Use logic and observation to solve five different cases, or just guess your way to the answer.

Demo Link(soon)

Your Assistant

Iris Jones

Age: ??

Personality: Iris is a determined girl with a tendency of blowing situations out of proportion. She can be very deceitful and calculating, but if something doesn't go as planned she ends up getting lost. Iris refuses to use people's real names, giving them nicknames most of the time.

Appearance: 4'9". She has dark brown skin, brown eyes, and kinky voluminous black hair usually tied up.

Romance Options

Charles Garcia: Inspector Charles, or Charlie if you want to annoy him, Garcia is the local Police Inspector of Hercchester. He is a serious man with a short temper and terrible social skills. Despite that, when investigating a case, he demonstrates a calm and rational nature, always following the rules and seeking the best for his community. He doesn't bother trying to hide his irritation when you start tampering with his crime scenes, however, he also doesn't deny the effectiveness of your methods when they deliver good results.

Age: 30

Appearance: 5’7". Tan skin, sharp jawline, black eyes with visible dark circles underneath, and a small scar on his left eyebrow. His dark brown hair is short and straight, and despite his best efforts, it refuses to stay neat. When out investigating a case, he usually wears a brown trenchcoat.

Leah Khan: Dr. Leah Khan is an outgoing young woman with an optimistic outlook on life(and death). She works as a coroner at the Herccherster Police Station. For her, death is not something tragic or disturbing but an important part of existence that must be studied and discussed. Despite her casual demeanor toward corpses, she genuinely cares for the victims and works hard to help solve their deaths.

Age: 27

Appearance: 5′10″. Deep olive skin and green eyes. Her curly black hair is usually pulled back into a bun. She usually can be seen wearing more masculine clothes and a pair of round glasses, as well as her lab coat inside her mortuary.

Isabelle/Isaac Snow: You initially meet “Isa” while working your first case in Hercchesters, they are the victim's former butler/maid. They're kind and hard-working, despite sometimes being a little naive. You help them after you start investigating the murder. Quickly they prove themselves to be efficient and essential to your new life. They care a lot about Iris and are always trying to support her.

Age: 25

Appearance: 5’9" for Isaac, 5′7″ for Isabelle. Blue round eyes, a heart-shaped face, and pale skin. Straight light blond hair short groomed back for Isaac, and in a long braid, wrapped around her head for Isabelle.

Arthur/Agatha Greenward: During your childhood, you two were great friends. However, after the incident with your sister, you ended up growing apart and lost contact with each other. "A" is now a mystery novelist who has established a promising career. They can be a bit too serious at times and have a cold and distant disposition. They also have a daughter named Emma, the result of their first marriage. She is the most important person in their life.

Age: 34

Appearance: 6’2 for Arthur, 6’ for Agatha.Rosy freckled skin, grey eyes, and medium-length wavy red hair. Arthur has broad shoulders, a square jawline with a short stubble beard. He keeps his hair side-parted. Agatha has a sleek body and a sharp face. Her hair is kept in a bob.

Supporting Characters

Samuel Kane: Your cousin. He is an irresponsible and unsuccessful artist(or, as he likes to say, an undiscovered talent) with a terrible habit of falling in love with women and immediately proposing to them. Sammy has a long track record of failed relationships and disastrous wedding ceremonies, but despite all of that, he still believes love will find its way into his life.

Age: 28

Appearance: 5’9". Light skin, green eyes, and wavy golden-brown hair, kept shoulder length. An average-built and a round face.

Setting

Hercchester is your typical murder mystery town, located in an ambiguous place in the United Kingdom, with a community full of peculiar characters and a surprisingly high death rate. Explores the parks, shops, and all the other locations that seem to only show up in order to have someone be murdered in them.

#if #interactive fiction #murder mystery #detective fiction #puzzling crimes

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satsuki2406 · 4 years ago

Text

OPEN SKY Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

“…And never, ever forget that, your dreams are the wings that’ll help you fly.”

(L/N)(Y/N) has always been forced to live according to others’ expectations. As a member of the powerful and influential (L/N) Family, she has had to live with the heavy weight of seeing others write her destiny with no choice but just obey. But when (Y/N) finally decides to risk it all to take the only opportunity to regain the control of her own life, everything ends up going horribly wrong. Surrendered and disappointed, she receives one last chance to prove to herself and to U.A, along with some unexpected help that this was not a crazy and meaningless waste of time.

Maybe this plan could work after all…

PAIRING: (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

GENRE/WARNINGS: Romance, Fluff, Angst, Mentions of sex (nothing explicit tho), dark themes, My poor attempt of comedy, family dysfunctionality, toxic relationships, Strong language (Courtesy of King Lord Explosion Murder 💥), Manga Spoilers.

STATUS: On going

Masterlist \(￣︶￣*\))

6- Have We Got a Deal?

✒A/N:

I rewrote this chapter like three times, and hopefully, now it turned out better. I read my progress again a couple of weeks ago and it was simply, not right. I hated it so much that I decided to delete it and work again on it. The essence is the same of what I planned for this chapter and although it is a bit longer now, I took the chance to get into more detail about certain things and express better about others. The conversation between Reader-chan and Kaguya may have become a bit deeper than it used to be, but I really liked the outcome and gave me more ideas for the future plot. That's all for now.

Hope you enjoy it! q(≧▽≦q)

So, my dear sweet cousin, do you accept or not?

“W-Wait a minute! You can’t be serious, do you- do you understand the implications of what you’re saying?!” You said incredulously.

“Of course I do, why do you think we are here?” Kaguya said while she took another canape and bit it. She chewed slowly while you watched her attentively, the dread in your stomach growing by increments, exasperated for her to continue. She finally swallowed and took a sip of wine.

“So? Would you care to explain what on earth is actually happening, because you don’t expect me to believe that the cause of such an unprecedented change is because of some internet gossip” You said in a demanding tone.

“Of course it’s not, but if you are patient enough I’ll explain it to you with pleasure, so you better watch your tone with me, brat.” She hissed.

You puffed out your cheeks but nodded in cue for her to continue.

“Approximately three days ago grandmother convened a last-minute meeting in her abode to discuss this problem. At first, I thought she was overreacting about this whole ordeal, after all big corporates and companies are attacked and critized all the time, but after a long, long discussion, we all agreed that the situation should not be taken lightly and it needed to be addressed as soon as possible.”

“That bad it is?” You asked slightly concerned.

“Unfortunately,” Kaguya answered. “Walls covered in graffiti in Kyoto, people protesting and messing with the employees at the ER main entrance in Hosu, broken windows in Deika and thousands and thousands of emails and nasty messages in all our social media accounts. We had to hire the services of a whole publicity agency so they could deal with the problem, hardly. It has been difficult to contain, but it paid off because it hasn’t been leaked into any important newscast. Internet, the origin of the problem, has been another story, unfortunately, in these cases, it can be very difficult and unforgiving to work with; once something enters, is nearly impossible to pull it out and if you succeed there’s always a risk it would pop up anywhere when you least expect it.” Kaguya said while she rubbed her temples.

“Internet is a huge source of news and information for thousands of people nowadays, even millions, fake or not, and also the main responsible that this situation slipped out of control faster.”

You contemplated your next words as you soaked in all the information you just were provided with, so you could express your ideas and queries as clear as possible. “Okay…but why is everybody so angry about our current family situation? I get it’s messed up, but why go as far as vandalize privite property and nag about it on social media?” You asked slightly hesitant.

“As an institution, we had always presented and preserved ourselves as a family, working to, and for the Japanese families generation after generation, no matter where we went, we always went together, always radiating the image of a happy, healthy, and unified family. Throughout the time several members of our family had made multiple presentations in public inspiring kindness and charisma, earning the trust and love of the people, which is impressive considering the heavily hero centered world we live in. Now that there are strong rumors putting all of these apparent facts into question, some people feel mocked, disappointed, and cheated… besides other things.” Kaguya mumbled.

“Sorry I could not listen the last part Kaguya.” You said puzzled.

“Don’t worry, I was just talking to myself, the important thing is that the problem is been solved, millions will be invested but is necessary. We have already started a huge ad campaign, a lot of important heroes will be involved so we can reassure and remind people why we have been their number one choice during over a century, that we still the same and will always remain the same, that we do not change, we improve.”

“I see, but you haven’t explained what does this have to do with me going to U.A-”

“As I told you she decided to make exceptions, due to the unusual situation we are going through right now we need unusual solutions as well and as part of our ad campaign and for the sake of our image she decided that two fortunate souls would have the chance to pursue a carrier of their choice, you know to placate the masses.”

“ Of course, a different series of factors would be taken into account when examining the option chosen and its potential benefits for the interests of the company, if these results are not satisfactory, the other alternatives will be analyzed to find a more suitable one and the aforementioned process will be repeated. Once we find satisfactory results, grandmother will proceed to revise everything once more and give her approval or deny it.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that we are doing the same thing but with more options? And they are going to evaluate if we can actually perform well in these new career options?” You asked unimpressed at your grandmas’ unwillingness to let the leash lose a bit even in a situation like this.

“Exactly right, it’s a change but there are still rules nonetheless.” Kaguya affirmed as she refilled her cup again. “Don’t get me wrong, she is really mad, just the thought of sacrifice two pawns in one single move is driving her crazy”

“Which selection system will be used in this case?” You asked.

“Nominations. As you already know there are two potential candidates, besides you of course.”

“Two? But there’s other three-”

“Aya has already been selected by grandmother herself, he’ll be enrolled into U.A next year via recommendation, everything is ready and processed the only thing left is to break the news on him.”

You grimaced, anxious, and preoccupied to see your already thin chances narrow even more. Your cousin, Aya was a famous vlogger and influencer with a strongly settled fanbase in and out of Japan. His videos generally focus on his daily life, trips to cool and exotic destinations, and the typical ‘eat this’, ‘do that’ challenges that always went around the internet.

He also participated in different campaigns to raise funds for different charitable causes and was a fervent advocator of animal rights and the environment, even donating millions from his own pocket. He always did his best to involve the name of the (L/N) Group, allowing them to organize, participate and sponsor some of these events helping bust their image as a caritative, conscious, and woke organization.

The bastard overflew with kindness and charisma and knew how to surround himself with the right people to manage his channel properly, although no relatable for the regular mid-class YouTube user, you had to admit that his videos were fun, entertaining, interesting, and sometimes, informative, that was the reason they were always flooded with millions of views, comments, likes and overall the crushing success he was experiencing every time he uploaded a new one.

He’s rich, famous, handsome, and had an appealing personality, add hero to that list and you’ll get the recipe to success. It wouldn't surprise you at all if he reached the top 10 of the HBC in a year just out of sheer popularity. His quirk is also fitted for a hero, he’ll need some serious training, but nothing that money and elite PT could not manage.

“How am I supposed to compete with that?” You whispered with your head down watching how your knuckles turned whiter as your hands crinkled your uniform skirt.

“Don’t trouble yourself with what you’re not supposed to, Aya is not competition, not anymore, instead try to focus on the actual competition, and may I add that you got a really big chance with my brother out of the picture. Kaguya smirked at you confidently.

“You think so?” You asked doubtfully.

“Believe me (Y/N), my sister is really smart and competent, but has the charm and social skills of a cardboard box, and Himeko, well… we could resume all her virtues, abilities and skills to shopping, makeup, gossip, selfies, social media, being pretty and an absolute headache. Grandmother got big plans for her after she graduates though, so I’ll take her out of the picture as well.”

“Big plans?” You said arching your eyebrow.

“Let’s say that, right now, we have a great, juicy, and very convenient deal that is in negociation right now and she is a vital piece to close it successfully. Don’t worry, your curiosity will be satiated soon enough.”

“What worries me is that I think I got a grasp of what you’re talking about.”

“Aw. Come on, businesses are businesses (Y/N), C’est la vie.” She said as she shrugged uninterested.

“Yeah, because is not you.” You grumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, why don’t you continue.”

“You are right, where we were? Oh, right.”

‘Was she really just dismissing the topic like that?!’

“Tell me (Y/N), do you think that I would have brought you here and propose this plan to you if I didn’t have an ace up my sleeve? Please. There are some important and positive points that can grant us success if we exploit them properly, but we must play our cards wisely, unfortunately, that’ll have to wait until we are completely alone.” Confused your arched your eyebrow, until your ears were met with the sound of the wheels of a certain golden cart rapidly approaching.

“Hello again ladies, let me take this off,” Hiro said while he took the almost empty canape plate along the rest of the dishes. “Is there anything else you would like? Would you like another beverage (L/N)-sama?” Hiro said looking at your semi voided glass.

“Y-Yes please”

“Alright!” With the swift and skill of years of experience, Hiro served your plates, removed the shiny silver food covers, refilled both water cups and Kaguya’s wine cup as well in less than a minute. “Please enjoy, if there’s anything else you would like I’ll be happy to assist you! I’ll be back in a minute with your drink miss.”

You spent the next couple of minutes in total silence waiting for your drink in order to continue your conversation privately and interruption-free. Just as said, Hiro returned instants later with the promised drink and finally left you two to converse calmly.

“Well, now that the coast is clear, let me fill you up with what you have to know and do in order to obtain a favorable outcome for both of us.” Kaguya began as she sliced a bite of quail breast.

“So, this is my plan…”

Now with your dinner night already finished, you were now heading to your house. This ride was as quiet as the one to the restaurant, but without the suffocating weight of uncertainty. Your head was filled now with the echoes of your conversation with Kaguya, debating, analyzing, considering, comprehending every single word of it.

“You seem troubled, you are doubtful, aren’t you?” Said Kaguya interrupting your thoughts.

“I’m more scared than anything if this doesn’t work-”

“It will, you already know what to do, just focus on that. I’ll keep in contact with you anyway, in case of emergencies or any last-minute matter.” She then proceeded to rummage in her purse and took out a brand-new phone, it was one of those not so high-quality flip phones that you can get for a really low price, probably a disposable one.

“I already put my phone number in it, so we can communicate without issue. This phone is a really basic one, so it has no internet access but you have unlimited calls and texts. Just make sure to keep it hidden from your mother or that blabbermouth maid of yours.”

“Yes, I’ll find a place.”

“Perfect, remember, the announce dinner will be this Saturday, surely your mom would tell you, everybody will be there, they must at least.”

Another twenty minutes passed before you were at the main door of your lavish home. Silently, you excited the car after Soichiro opened the door for you and you headed to the front door.

“We’ll keep in contact, until then, (Y/N).” Kaguya said softly, once she finished Soichiro shut the door, bowed his head, and wished you a good evening. He straightened up his posture and proceeded to hop in the car again. Quietly you observed the car get farther and farther until it disappeared. You stayed there in silence, while the nightly wind swayed your hair delicately. The sound of the door opening distracted you, then, you turned around to be met with the gentle smile of Nobu-san.

“Okaerinasai, (Y/N)-sama, how was your dinner with Kaguya-sama?”

“Pretty…unexpected.” You looked everywhere, making sure that nobody else was listening to your conversation. “I’ll fill you out on the details later” You whispered and Nobu-san nodded knowingly. “I see, your bath is ready (Y/N)-sama. Please take your time and relax, it’s been a long night after all,” He got slightly closer to you and cupped his hand around his mouth, and whispered. “I’m pretty sure you’ll make good use of this time to ponder any thought that is troubling your mind.” He distanced from you, crossed his arms behind his back, and gave you a gentle closed-eye smile. “Would you like a cup of tea after your bath?”

You smiled at him fondly.

“(F/T/F), please.”

You’ve been lying if you said that you could actually sleep the night before. Your head could not stop to reproduce in a loop your conversation with Kaguya the night before, like a broken record you couldn’t escape from. Before you noticed, the outrageous melody of your alarm resounded in the spaciousness of your room. You groaned in protest, unwillingly getting up to start your day.

Dressed and ready, you took your bag and went downstairs to have breakfast. Before you could finish hopping down the stairs you caught a glimpse of your mother sitting at the head chair, like always with your father by her side, she was holding her morning coffee while she read some emails on her laptop.

As always she looked stunning in her soft pink and golden outfit, she crossed her legs, put down her cup and started typing in her laptop.

You straighten your posture the best you could and approached the table with delicate steps. “Good morning mother, good morning dad”

“Good morning dear, how did you sleep?” Said your mother without taking her eyes off the screen in a somewhat flat tone as her fingers tapped nimbly over the keyboard. “Pretty well, and yourself?” You said while you took a seat at the innecesarily expansive dinning table.

“Not so well sadly, there’s been some… issues I had to take care of.” She hissed a bit irritated as she rubbed her temples.

“I-I see, hopefully, you’ll have a better day today, mother.”

“I doubt it, unluckily, but thank you for your words, darling. Now hurry up or you’ll be late.”

“Yes, mother.”

“You should have some fresh fruit honey; the mangos are delicious!” Said the cheerful voice of your father. You smiled fondly at him while he reciprocated with a smile of his own. “I’ll do then, thank you for your suggestion dad.” You answered while one of the maids served you a portion of fresh mixed fruit in a bowl and Nobu-san poured tea in your cup.

“(Y/N)” Spoke your mom.

“Yes, mother?”

“Your grandmother had organized a family dinner this Saturday that we must assist, of course, I expect nothing less of you than be on your best behavior, also is imperative that you choose your outfit today so I can determine if it’s appropriate for the occasion. If you need to go shopping just tell Sasaki, I activated your debit card again just this time.” She said authoritatively.

“Yes mother, I’ll do it today after class.” You said as you topped your fruit with some honey, yougurt and granola.

“Splendid, now if you excuse me, I have to go now, Haru, hurry up or we’ll be late”

“Yes, cara mia” Your father beamed. Your mother then rose from her chair took her handbag and draped her coat over her shoulders. Your father then finished his coffee as soon as he could and went behind her. “Have a good day princess!” Exclaimed you dad. “Thank you, you too!” You answered while you saw them get escorted by an army of bodyguards.

Soon enough the door was closed and you were left alone. “(Y/N)-sama I advise you to hurry as well, school starts in thirty minutes” Said the familiar voice of Nobu-san. “What!? Oh, I’m going to be late! Ok, I got this! I’ll brush my teeth and I’ll be ready-please ask Sasaki-san to start the car! I will be there in a minute!” You stuttered while climbing up stairs.

“Sure thing, Ojou-sama,” He said with an amused smile.

“Thank you again for joining me for shopping Momo”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, I’ll also take the chance to buy some new accessories as well,” Beamed your ravenette friend. It was the end of the school day and you had asked Momo to help you choose new accessories to complement a dress you already had.

“But to be honest I never imagine that your mom would lose her grip on you so soon even if it’s temporary, what surprised me more was what Kaguya-san told you yesterday,” She whispered trying to no let your conversation be known by Sasaki-san although the automated partition window was up as a precautionary measure. “Are you sure you can trust her?” She said concerned.

“I still don’t know, suddenly everything became so complicated, I mean her plan is good and has a high probability to work, and right now I don’t have a better option, I don’t even have any options, to begin with!” You groaned, confused.

“What’s still bugging me is why is she helping you in the first place? I can’t help but find it suspicious no matter how much I think about it. Did you ask her something about it?”

“I did, but she went into this mysterious and enigmatic mode and just said something like ‘You’ll know soon enough’ It would be easier to pinch a glass than get something out of her.” You said with a tone of frustration.

“I guess that the only thing we can do now is to wait and see,” Sighed Momo while she shrugged her shoulders. “By the way, what are we going to do first?” She said more animatedly.

“Let’s start with the shoes and then maybe a new jewelry set, a new clutch as well would be good. What you think?”

“I think is a splendid idea!” Momo exclaimed.

🏷Taglist:

@bakasbitch18

41 notes · View notes

damnzawa · 4 years ago

Text

ARRANGED — U. KEISHIN

Some angst requested by @mooniethepooh ! I had fun writing this and let me know if you want a part 2 or something hehe. Also requests are open!

Warning(s): Extreme angst train, and some curse words because it's Ukai Keishin we're talking about.

—

In the eyes of people outside your shared house with Ukai, you two are the perfect couple. A match made in heaven. People were envious everytime the two of you show up in important events and gatherings, calling you two the 'it couple'. But in reality, you two weren't. In reality, you weren't a couple at all! Well atleast emotionally—and physically I guess. You two were just a couple, a married one at that, on paper. That was it. That was all there was to it. Ukai let you that know the moment you two met.

Now, your 'relationship' was the result of an arranged one. An arranged marriage to be exact. You were against it, Ukai was too, but you couldn't do anything. It was final. So you just went with the flow. Ukai though, did not.

He was an asshole. He was so cruel. You tried to make this marriage thing work for the both of you. Heck, you even tried to just be friends. But no, he just doesn't wanna acknowledge you and your efforts. Living with him was hell. He doesn't hide the annoyance he feels about the situation which only seems to grow as time passes.

At social gatherings he was the perfect man. Loving, caring, charming, you name it. He was the man you dreamed off. Your knight in shining hoodie with the apron on top of it. But what hurt you was it was all for show. All an act. Behind close doors, he was distant, a stranger.

Of course there are times that he forgets about his hatred for you, and is actually nice. Like genuinely. Sometimes you guys would exchange small talk, with a little smile here and there. Though once he realized what he did, he'll go back to his shitty behavior and as much as you want to confront him about it, you can't. You just can't, fearing that it would make things worse.

At first you brushed this all off and continued to be nice. But you could only handle much of his shitty attitude towards you. Clearly, he didn't want any of this. So you were finally gonna give him that.

Ukai woke up to a seemingly quiet house. No sounds of your feet walking down the hall nor the sizzling sounds from the kitchen. Nothing. None. And it felt so empty.

Sighing as he stood up, Ukai went to the kitchen, surprise filling his eyes when he saw you weren't there. Instead, a brown envelop with a note caught his eye, not the usual sight of you humming quietly while flipping a pancake or something with your hair tied into a neat bun. He quickly picked up the envelop and read the note.

"'Give this back to me when you're done.'? The fuck does that mean?" He opened the envelop anxiously, is this what he thought it is?

Yes, they were.

They were divorce papers.

Upon further inspection he saw that you already signed it.

'Fuck.' By the time he processed it, he was already dialing your phone number.

"What?" Your tone was cold making him flinch slightly.

"Meet me at the cafe in 30 minutes." And with that he ended the call, hurrying to get himself ready.

—

Why did he have to meet you at the place where your heartbreak started? Why? Why at the place you first met? Glaring a little at the shop's sign, you entered the cafe. You immediately saw him in the sea of people. He was sitting there, at the spot where you first met.

You sitted across him then tapped your fingers impatiently on the table.

"Are you finished?" Finally, you're torment was ending. Once he gave you the envelop, you quickly scanned the paper for his signature.

It was nowhere to be found.

He didn't sign the papers.

"What do you want now, Ukai? Why can't you just fucking sign it? Isn't this what you wanted?" You felt yourself release all the anger you've been bottling up for months. He was taken aback by the words that came from your mouth but he couldn't blame you. If he was in your shoes, he would probably do the same too. "Stop making this hard for the both of us."

"I don't want to sign those papers." Your mouth was agaped by his answer.

"Oh, I see." You sighed. "You want me to suffer, is that it Ukai? You want me to break even more?" He was about to reply but you quickly cut him off. "That's unfair. You're unfair."

"Let's start over." You snapped your head towards him in surprise.

"We can start over when you sign the papers. Let's start over seperately." And with that you stood up. And just like a cliche romance movie, he grabbed your wrist before you can even walk out.

"I... I mean it, Y/n." He says with such intensity that you just had to stop. "I was—I am an asshole for dumping all of my shit on you, I was frustrated yes, but I should've considered what you felt." He paused as he took in a shaky breath. "What i'm saying is, as fucked as it sounds, I enjoyed sharing a house with you, living with you, just simply existing with you. I just realized it a little bit late."

"Looks like what you're looking for is a roommate, Ukai. Not a wife you can just ignore whenever you want. So, if you could kindly just remove your hand from my wrist, I will be going now. Away from you." You might've seemed like you weren't affected by his words but in truth you were. In all honesty, you fell in love with him, even if you knew he wouldn't ever reciprocate those feelings. You were foolishly, helplessly, and undeniably in love with him. So hearing those words made you wanna turn back and hug him, accept him into your life again.

But you didn't know if you could trust him or not.

"Y/n, please. Just one more chance. Let's go on a date. Let's start over. Let's start this properly. Get to know each other, actually spend time with each other. Please?"

"... Goodbye, Ukai Keishin." And with that you left his life. But he hoped that it was not for good.

#haikyuu!! reader insert #haikyuu!!#haikyuu!#hq imagines #stan ukai keishin #ukai keishin x reader #ukai keishin #keishin ukai x reader #coach ukai #ukai x reader #angst train whoop whoop #buckle your seatbelts!!

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tabloidtoc · 3 years ago

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Life & Style, May 10

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Celeb Diet & Fitness Tips

Page 1: Photo Flash -- Tom Cruise is well known for doing his own stunts, but during a location shoot in Yorkshire, U.K. for Mission: Impossible 7, Tom's co-stars Hayley Atwell and Esai Morales proved they were no slouches either: all three actors wowed onlookers with their daredevil moves aboard a train that was in motion

Page 2: Contents

Page 4: The Top 10 Floral Looks -- follow these stars' style lead and celebrate the spring season in fresh prints -- Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, Kelsea Ballerini

Page 5: Cate Blanchett, Elle Fanning, Gabrielle Union, Kathryn Newton, Mindy Kaling

Page 6: There's no limit to what Angelina Jolie wouldn't do for her kids and instead of living abroad, she purchased a home for them in L.A. because she wanted it to be close to their dad Brad Pitt and now, Angie reveals she's had to give up her dream of directing because she had a change in her family situation that's not made it possible for her to direct for a few years and she needed to just do shorter jobs and be home more, so she went back to doing a few acting jobs -- Angie filed for divorce from Brad in 2016 and while they were declared legally single in 2019, the former couple have yet to settle on a permanent custody arrangement for kids Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne while at age 19, son Maddox Jolie-Pitt is able to make his own decisions about whom he lives with and Angelina is blowing through millions of dollars on lawyers and she isn't broke, but she can't exactly afford to stop working either and amid mounting legal bills, Angie's signed on to blockbusters like Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Marvel's Eternals and while Angelina would rather work behind the scenes, it's too time-consuming and as an actress, she can make ends meet and be there for her kids

Page 8: Less than a month after giving birth to her third child, a baby girl named Mae, Hilary Duff is opening up about the pressure that comes with breastfeeding, saying all of the babies latch really great but she's just not a huge milk producer, so it's emotional for her and she has tons of anxiety, and then she's in her head, and then she doesn't feel like enough, and then the spiral continues from there -- she decided to share her postpartum struggle as a way to cope and to let other new mothers out there know that they're not alone in this

* Sarah Jessica Parker is trying to convince Hugh Grant to star in the upcoming Sex and the City reboot because it's unlikely Chris Noth will be returning as Mr. Big, so she needs a new leading man and Hugh's the perfect candidate -- Sarah Jessica finds him so charming and talented and she was blown away by Hugh's recent acting in The Undoing so she's desperate to have him on the show -- Sarah Jessica, who appeared alongside Hugh in 1996's Extreme Measures and 2009's Did You Hear About the Morgans?, absolutely loves the idea of working with Hugh again and he hasn't agreed to anything yet, but she's hoping he'll say yes

Page 12: The Week in Photos -- Bathing Beauties -- Sailor Brinkley-Cook and her rescue pup Chester, Rita Ora on the sand of Bondi Beach in an orange bikini, Kate Hudson celebrated the launch of Fabletics new active swim line by jumping in the pool

Page 13: Olivia Culpo in a green bikini, Vanessa Hudgens in a red-halter swimsuit

Page 14: James Corden dressed up as rapper Bad Bunny's arch rival Good Bunny for a sketch on The Late Late Show

Page 16: Stars Behaving Badly -- Derek Hough played makeup artist for Hayley Erbert, Total Bellas twins Nikki Bella and Brie Bella put Bachelor Nation's Jason Tartick and Matt James in headlocks at Wrestlemania, host T.J. James let his tongue do the talking on the NYC set of Good Morning America

Page 18: Say What?! Mark Wahlberg on trying to put on 30 pounds in six weeks for the movie Father Stu, Selena Gomez on her Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, Margaret Josephs on five decades of wearing fake eyelashes, Jamie Dornan on his devotion to The Golden Girls

Page 20: Chris Hemsworth landed in hot water with Elsa Pataky after pics of him hanging out with Australian stunner Cheyenne Tozzi hit the internet -- Chris was photographed with the model at Zambi Wildlife Retreat in Wallacia while his wife was off shooting Interceptor in Sydney and it's definitely put Elsa on high alert and she had a lot of questions for Chris when they finally spoke and Chris said he had the kids with him and it was all very innocent -- the couple has often been at odds over their careers and while Chris and Elsa try to coordinate their schedules so that their children, daughter India and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, are always with one parent, Elsa was usually the one forced to put family before fame, but now that Elsa's been working more, she's not always home like she used to be, and this little incident was a huge wake-up call because she might trust Chris, but she isn't stupid: who would want their handsome husband running around with a blond bombshell?

Page 21: Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Claudia Jordan is alleging that Kanye West made a move on her while he was still with Kim Kardashian, saying he tried years ago when she and Nikki Chu were in the club and they shut the door and she had met him before and she hung out with Kim as well and because of Girl Code, she couldn't do it

* Jennifer Lopez isn't wasting any time getting back on the dating scene after splitting from Alex Rodriguez -- J. Lo can't help feeling that she squandered a good couple of years on A-Rod and she doesn't want another ring; she just wants to have fun

Page 22: Cover Story -- Stars' Summer Body Secrets Revealed -- discover the diet and fitness tricks these celebs swear by -- Gwen Stefani's shedding for the wedding, Julianne Hough skips the gym

Page 23: Kate Hudson's flat belly formula, total transformations: Adele, Rebel Wilson

Page 24: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker engaged on her 42nd birthday -- after just four months of dating, Kourtney and Travis are ready to take the next step in their romance

Page 26: The Osbournes: Family in Crisis -- personal, professional and physical setbacks plague Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne and their daughter Kelly Osbourne -- after a heated on-air argument over Piers Morgan's treatment of Meghan Markle, Sharon was accused of racism toward co-hosts behind the scenes -- Ozzy's health is always an issue and he's had to rehab from pneumonia, neck surgery and more over the past few years but he's stubborn and acts like he's still a young rock star -- while she's back in AA, Kelly was scared to admit she'd relapsed while her mom was dealing with her own scandal

Page 28: Prince William and Duchess Kate: Stepping Up for Queen Elizabeth -- as the queen grapples with tremendous loss, Prince William and Kate Middleton provide support -- a frail-looking Queen Elizabeth sat alone due to COVID-19 restrictions at the funeral of Prince Philip, whom she called her strength and stay and the loss has been even harder than she expected -- William and Kate are lightening the queen's load and they worked on the queen birthday to give her time to mourn

Page 30: John Travolta breaks his silence on losing Kelly Preston -- for the first time since Kelly's death, John opens up about his personal journey through grief

Page 36: Who Lives Here? Rihanna

Page 38: Beauty Beat -- spring's prettiest pastel polish -- embrace warm weather with a lacquered look the complements the season -- Jennifer Lopez

Page 40: Diva or Down-to-Earth? Alison Brie shopped for her own groceries at Gelson's in L.A. -- down-to-earth, Rachel Brosnahan's hairstylist went to work in between scenes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in NYC -- diva, Kylie Jenner kicked up her heels on a private plane -- diva

Page 42: Social Stars Posts of the Week -- Kerry Washington stopped and smelled the roses, Snoop Dogg and Blake Shelton, Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman looked straight out of the '80s in a scene from the latest movie Thunder Force, Nicole Scherzinger in a bikini in Hawaii

Page 44: Horoscope -- Taurus Adele turned 33 on May 5

* They're Not Together, But They Should Be -- Sagittarius Ashley Benson and Cancer Chace Crawford

Page 48: What I'm Into -- Mayim Bialik

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 4 years ago

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Royal Friends Headcanons

Because they are good friends, business meetings tend to be relaxed, not so much tension of someone wanting more than their share, they all just want to work together to get the best outcome.

However, for some it can get so friendly that Alonso and/or Chloe would go off wanting to discuss personal stories and just having fun rather than treaty work. Though when they do get together to party Hoo boy. They party. There's no party like a royal party. And I don't mean Esteban's fancy waltz, seven chambermaids to seven men, I mean the Galdonian chair dances and mulberries and impromptu olaball matches and dance-offs. It's a lot of fun, and no one but a fellow royal really gets how much a party is needed for stress relief.

Being the only two princes, Alonso quickly took Marzel under his wing to become his best "bro" and his wingman. And though sometimes Alonso's "legendary" plans are disastrous, they are a good influence on each other with Alonso helping Marzel be more outgoing and Marzel bringing Alonso back down to earth.

Alonso plans to bring Prince Ari under his wing when he gets older. Rebecca not-so-jokingly swears it will be under her dead body. She likes Alonso, but she doesn't trust him to be a good babysitter much less a good role model.

The girls have royal girls night which is basically a spa weekend with some olaball thrown in, and dressing room fashion shows. Sometimes there’s matching outfits at Val’s insistence. And yes, they it looks awesome.

Chloe and Marisa became such fast friends. Their bubbliness overflows into one another and they're the two main huggers of the group. Plus they both are very interested in learning about each other's worlds, and Marisa can gently but firmly guide Chloe when she backslides in social habits of oblivious selfishness. Also Marisa is always up for helping Chloe journey back to the territory of the sea nymphs and visit her gf Maliga.

Rebecca develops a snarky relationship with Alonso since she was one of the few that doesn't fall for Alonso's charms or tangos AT ALL. He likes to tease her about her perfectionism and she mocks his playboy attitude. They act like they can't stand each other, but also are brutal when they team up for olaball. When Valentina joins their team, basically the match is won before they even do anything.

Valentina was a bit perturbed by Chloe's touchy-feeliness, especially when it smushes her ruffles, but she comes to enjoy Chloe's positivity. They really enjoy shopping together too and admire the materials found in the other's countries.

Valentina sometimes takes Marisa and Marzel as her "pet projects" in teaching them the ways of the human world, and outfitting them in the best of the best Paroisan outfits even if they cannot walk in the many layers and in Marisa's case, the corset.

Chloe, Marisa and Rebecca have ongoing bets on Valentina and Alonso, and Eleteo's relationships.

More and specific Elena and XY hcs under cut.

Marzel has a small crush on Rebecca, best displayed that whenever Rebecca has to take a trip overseas, he volunteers to guide the ship in case of rocks, even if it takes a couple of weeks, and he has his own princely duties. But he is smitten enough to forget that he has his own kingdom. Rebecca finds it sweet and is considering seeing where it goes especially with Marisa's jokes that they can be sisters-in-law.

Rebecca is lowkey the mom friend of the group, always trying to find solutions to other's problems and trying to make events enjoyable for everyone.

Alonso is the one who unofficially cheers the other's up. He doesn't do emotions, and likes to keep things light, so he's the one to go for jokes and pratfalls and caricaturing himself, bound to put the smile back on their faces.

Chloe gives the best gifts. Not all yachts like King Hector, but very sweet and personal homemade ones.

Elena and Alonso

They still have a teasing flirtation with Alonso knowing it won't go anywhere and Elena always smirking as she shoots him down. But now Elena freely helps Alonso with his romantic woes with Valentina when he endearingly, frantically asks for help to show Val how he cares without looking lame and "whipped."

In return, Alonso offers free advice which Elena ignores because she doubts Mateo will like the things which Alonso claims "all men want."

Alonso gives Elena updates on how Charoca and Charica are and sends the lava crystals that they send as gifts.

They enjoy having dance-offs and whenever Alonso wants to show off some new moves, Elena is usually his partner because she picks up dances quickly and they are surprisingly in-sync a lot of the time (they did do an amazing impromptu tango the first day they met after all).

Alonso actually enjoys indulging in her love of puns. Even if he thinks they're lame, he still does them till Elena is crying with laughter.

Elena and Valentina

Elena and Val are probably the closest even if they sometimes fall into a friendly competition. Elena likes to try out her magical expertise, and her new spells that Mateo has taught her with Valentina who is a very proficient wizard in her own right. Their kingdoms actually hold wizard exchanges and Elena often invites Mateo to join her meetings with Valentina because watching Mateo and Val geek out about magic to be amusing. As well as Mateo's silent frustration at her boasting.

Now they are allies in the kingdoms, they make amazing teammate on the olaball field and invented the Double-Trouble Queen fastball.

Elena actually taught Valentina to cook since Val had made it part of her royal duty to learn about all different aspects.

Their first dish was pan dulce, with Avaloran chocolate. In return, Val has taught Elena some new hairstyles with copious locks and waves, with some of the best Paraisan hair ornaments.

Elena and Marisa

Marisa gave Elena multiple, stylishly dyed kelp shirts for her visits to Coronado and inadvertently created a trend for kelp clothes.

Much like Ariel, Marisa goes to Elena to confirm or ask about new human objects that come to the shores that Camila no longer recognizes.

Marisa got Elena addicted to romance novels that are apparently very popular in Nueva Vista and they spend some beach days laughing about some of the cheesy paragraphs and then they talk about their own romantic lives or the lives of others.

Elena and Marisa do amazing duets together and every year on the Human-Sirena Treaty to celebrate the improved relations.

Elena and Marisa took crossbow lessons from the Turners, and have an ongoing competition for who can get the most center targets. So far Marisa is in the lead with 3-1. It's slow-going.

Elena and Marzel Elena and Marzel enjoy each other's company a lot during kingdom negotiations. They find they have a similar worldview with formerly having a black & white morality, insecurities in living up to their fathers and so they work well together in working toward a common goal. They enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

Marzel taught Elena how to play Hermit Hold'em which is basically a poker game, and soon the two were running around Coronado's casinos, having the time of their lives. But that was a bad idea with all the money they wasted, they have been banned by their family members.

Elena urges Marzel to participate in athletics and helped to teach him olaball, and fencing, the latter which Marzel was surprisingly proficient thanks to his own battle training. But he still enjoys frisbee the best.

Elena also helps undo some of Alonso's more damaging advice about how to act on the human world, especially in regards to girls.

They both share their concerns about their younger siblings, while Marisa and Isabel see them as overprotective and overly cautious, they think Isabel and Marisa are impulsive and jump into situations before they're ready. It's nice when you have someone who automatically agrees with you on things.

Elena and Chloe Elena and Chloe share the same humor when it comes to puns, and always greet each other with a hug and a pun.

Chloe tends to go off-topic when she sees her friends again instead of focusing on business as she should, but she also asks questions about the other's lives (as Elena once taught her or sang to her to be more precise) and then Elena gets dragged in describing the latest event that her kingdom faced and a whole afternoon goes by before they go back to the treaty Elena came for.

Chloe gave Elena a taste of some of the best mulberry pies which Elena quickly consumed and had seconds. Which Chloe made into a friendly pie eating contest.

Chloe takes Elena on hikes through Norburg's amazing pine trails and Elena shares some of the "winning" yoga moves that Ixlan taught her.

Chloe gives Elena updates on the relationship between Abigail and Hector and proudly details her own diplomatic skills when they fight. Elena is just glad it's not her who has to do it. Elena and Rebecca

Rebecca became a sort of big sister inventor to Isabel, though she's not as knowledgeable in STEM, she has the creative knack for it and helps bridge the gap between Isabel's scientific talk and Elena's out-of-the-box thinking.

Elena and Rebecca share a love for cultural events and what it means to bring the kingdoms' communities together so they often trade lessons on important dances and foods.

Rebecca and Elena both have a tendency to focus on the minutiae of event/business details when they feel stressed with something. Luckily, it's not at the same time and usually can talk the other off the brink. Though Rebecca tends to hold herself to a high standard, Elena helped to unleash her fun side and created a vicious prank master. Prince Ari blames Elena for all of it.

Elena and Rebecca are often the first ones to go for adventures like rock climbing or horse racing and the others are jealous of how easily they take to things like that.

#elena of avalor #elena castillo flores #prince alonso #princess marisa #princess valentina #princess chloe #princess rebecca #prince marzel #my headcanons #my hcs #headcanons

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twinkleallnight · 4 years ago

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Marshmallow

(Part-4) Frozen thoughts

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC, Drake x ??

For previous chapters: catch up here

Thank you @bbrandy2002 for pre reading.

Tags: @ao719 @bbrandy2002 @choiceskatie @drakewalker04 @gkittylove99 @hopefulmoonobject @jovialyouthmusic @mrswalkers-blog @mom2000aggie @speedyoperarascalparty @texaskitten30 @no-one-u-know

Frozen thoughts---

There is no going back. I have lost Livy. I am listless as I lumber around the lawns when my phone buzzes. It is Liam. I take the call.

“Yes Liam?”

“Hey, can u distract the Big B?”, he says in a hushed tone over the phone. He is referring to Bastein, the head guard.

“Where are you?”

“In my room. And he is right outside my door. Can you please come over?” he whispers.

“ On my way.”

Bastein, chief of guards, holds a special place in our lives. He was my father’s close friend for most of his life though half his age. But after losing my father, he has been that fatherly figure in my life. Since king Constantine keeps busy in stately affairs, Bastein has been there for Liam and Leo too. As much as he loves us all he makes sure to keep all of his brats--us--in check. Bastein has taken care of the former prince Leo, who had a very risqué lifestyle and always found Liam as very easy one to deal with.

Liam has always been the golden boy. The most well-mannered, obedient and disciplined of us all. He still agrees with Bastein's suggestions. What surprises me is why Liam needs to get rid of him? I sprint towards his room and I am greeted by Bastein’s stiff figure standing in front of Liam’s door. He nods and allows me to enter.

As soon as I see Liam, all the memories from few hours back, come rushing in. He has a mischievous smile on his face, which fades when our eyes meet.

“What’s wrong?”, he voices his concern. I sit down on the couch with a heavy heart, placing my head down in my hands. “Is this the same thing that was bothering you earlier at the lawn party too.” I nod. He sits besides me, a hand on my shoulder. “ Can I help?”

“Yes, it’s Livy.” I gather myself and fill him with all the details.

He is remorseful about what happened. When I finish, he speaks,“ I am sorry. It’s my fault. I should have at least called her. But,” he claps on my shoulder, “ I will make this right. I will make it up to her. Please relax. I promise you.” I gradually calm down after his persistence.

“How are things coming along with the social season and the suitors?”, I ask after some time. I see the playful smile return on his face.

“ Yes, about that...We need to be somewhere right now if you can help me.” He grins.

A look at my wristwatch and it dawns on me, “Oh! I am sorry! I totally forgot. Riley’s Cronut sneak out!”

“Sshhh! Quiet! That man out there has keen ears” Liam says in a muted tone.

“ Okay! Okay!”, I say softly. “ So what’s the plan?”

“ If I move out from the main door, he will surely follow me.”

“So, where do you want to make a getaway from?” I ask him, puzzled.

“From the window?” He looks at me, quite unsure.

“Crown prince of Cordonia wants to sneak out through a window to be with his girlfriend,” I chuckle.

“Oh yes, go on and mock me. Yes, I want... no, I will sneak out to be with her. Now stop giggling like a lass and come over here and help me! Once I am out of here, you walk out of the main door, pretending you are leaving me back in the room so that Bastein doesn’t suspect anything.”

“Sounds good.”

I help him out the window. He lands on the bush down with a thud and an ah and a ooh! I control my laughter and turn back to get out. I make small talk with Bastein appearing normal and then head out to the lawns. Riley, Max and Hana are all busy plucking thorns from all over Liam’s clothes.

“You good there?” I ask, amused.

“Yes, except that I landed on a rose bush full of thorns!” He stares at me.

“ Well, you need to pay the price to sneak out.”

After the clean-up, we walk to Maxwell's SUV and hop in. I take the driver's seat while Liam sits with Riley in the back seat and Hana on Riley’s other side. We get down at a pastry shop near the beach.

Liam takes the ladies to a table while I follow Max to place our orders. As we carry our food to the table, Max makes his signature dance move with a shout-out, “Cronuts here we come!” The girls laugh and we all plunge into the delicacy. Hana, Max and Liam try them for the first time so all the comments start pouring in after the first bite.

“Do you know the recipe, Riley?” asks Hana in her smooth voice. I notice she has a soft and low tone even when we are out of court. I feel like asking her if she always speaks so softly.

“Ahaan!” nods Riley, her mouth full. She is just the opposite of Hana with her heavy commanding voice.

“Please do share with me.” Hana requests politely.

Liam perks up,“ Thank you, that means I don’t have to be punctured with thorns anymore for a sneak out.”

“Oh, Liam, I’m so sorry. I put you through this.” Riley apologizes since it was her mastermind plan to do all of this.

“Riley, I don’t mind the effort if the result is so scrumptious, not to forget the company of my friends.” Liam assures her.

Friends--with that word, I lose track of the conversation. Not all friends, I feel. Livy's forlorn face floats in front of my eyes. I start missing her again.

Absent-minded, I follow the group as they walk out of the shop.

“Bastein, We...I… How did you know?” Liam stutters. I come out of my trance and see Bastein standing tall, right at the exit point.

Riley and Hana giggle, looking at Liam fumble with his words.

“Sir, I have had the honour to train at the hands of your elder brother. I hope you can grant me that much. Liam snickers at the mention of Leo. “The king awaits in his study to talk to you about some urgent matter.”

Liam returns to his stoic self. “ Let’s go back,” he says and turns to the ladies, “ Thank you so much for this little outing. I apologise I will have to cut this short. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Max, I trust you will drive the ladies back to the palace safely. Drake, you may walk lady Hana to her quarters from there.” Liam assigns us the roles and I glare at him. He knows well I don't do well with strangers, especially a lady! I could have escorted Riley; I know her a little but Hana…! I have hardly spoken a sentence or two in these two meetings.

To worsen the situation further, Riley insists on taking the front seat and I have to share the back seat with Hana. We drive down to the palace. While I get out to walk Hana to her quarters, Riley accompanies Max to the parking lot. As he starts the SUV,Riley shrieks, “Full speed ahead!" Hana and I both giggle, then walk away.

“She is a live wire”, Hana says.

“Yeah, may be the right balance for Liam,”

I stop in my tracks realising my remark must have hurt Hana. She is a contender for the same position, after all. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Hana kept treading on, “ You don’t need to apologize for something that is obvious. I can sense the heat between them. And believe me, I am perfectly fine with it.”

She sets me back on heel by saying that. “But you are officially a suitor in this social season. How is it that it doesn’t matter to you at all?”

“Grabbing the crown to be a future queen is not the only purpose for some of us. In fact, even Riley is not a crown chaser. Some people live for love!”

“Oh, you mean you have already found someone in your life.” I make my presumption.

“No. There isn’t anyone yet. But when it happens, I wish it to be as strong as what Liam and Riley share. Until then, I aim to prove my worth at working with the state affairs.”

“I understand. The royal court is not a piece of cake and Liam surely needs to build a fresh set of representatives who serve the youth.”

She smiles and turns with a twinkle in her eyes. “Thank you for walking me down. It was fascinating talking to you.” I realise we have reached her room.

“Pleasure is mine, Lady Hana. Hope to see you again soon.” I curtsy and turn on my heels.

My steps get sluggish as I cross Livy's chambers. ‘Is she awake? Is she listening? She said she can make out my footsteps. Should I wait to see if she opens the door and comes back?’ The whirlwind of thoughts push me slowly to my room and I hit the sack without changing my clothes. I drift into a deep slumber without effort, tired of the day’s events.

---------

Morning comes with a new hope. We are travelling to Lythikos today. The snowy north duchy of Cordonia that belongs to Duchess Olivia Nevrakis.

There is much to do before I leave. I quickly pack my bags and then make a run to the stables, instruct my assisting vet for things to be done in my absence. I rush back to my room, load my truck and drive safely to catch up right behind Max's limo. Riley is with him in there.

Liam and Livy had planned an early morning drive as she is the host and I am hoping that they have got time to talk to each other and smooth out the creases.

I can feel the chill just by the sight of the snow after almost an hour-long drive. Max and Riley have already moved inside the cosy chateau. I pull on my jacket before getting out. As I drag my bags up the entrance, I hear her. 'The Guanaco call', I always teased Livy, saying her sharp laughter sounds just like the lama and she hits back saying 'what better comparison can I expect from an animal doc?’

I spin to find her ice skating with Liam at the frozen lake. She is beaming, radiant and glowing again. I feel a surge of fresh energy watching her.

But I am staggered, I stand there, I don’t know for how long, just with my frozen thoughts.

#pixelberry #olivia nevrakis #playchoices #drake walker #liam x riley #olivia #the royal romance #king liam x mc #trr #trr fandom #hana lee #twinkleallnight #marshmallow

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wonwhomps · 4 years ago

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Y.H.R.Y.D

Pairing: Choi Seungcheol x Fem. Reader

Summary: After telling Seungcheol that you hate him and wish to never see him again, will it be too much if one day he appears in front of you telling you how much he missed you or will it start something that could've started years ago?

Genre: romance / fluff / angst

Words: 2602

『Reminder: This story is the sequel / part two of Lie Again. To better understand the situations written below, I suggest reading Lie Again first. Thank you!』

Sitting on one of the station's public bench, you waited for your assigned train to arrive. For the last 10 years of riding the train in order to go to school, work and back home, this will be the last time of waiting and boarding.

"I'm finally getting a car," you said while standing up and getting ready to enter the train.

Every time you wait at the same station after the tragic confession that happened 3 years ago, every word came back and you constantly think if there's anything wrong with how you look. You never forgot the words you also said to him that night.

"I wish I don't get to see you again", you sigh.

It's already 3 years, get a grip _____! You should be happy, 3 years of putting everything for work and now you're getting a car. Tomorrow.

With a sigh, you look out the window and enjoy the scenery of huge buildings passing by.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Incheon International Airport. Local time is nine-thirty pm and the temperature is twenty-three degree Celsius. (...) Have a nice evening!

Looking out the window, Seungcheol can see the familiar tall buildings and highways. Working in LA for almost 3 years, everything actually stayed the same... Or just the things that couldn't actually be changed.

"Did she change?" he whispered.

Resting his head over the window, "I want to see you again. I missed you,” he said.

"Ouch! I bit my tongue..." you woke up from daydreaming just the right time to get off the train.

"I wonder who's thinking about me? I did not bite my tongue on purpose... I'm not dumb!" Well except for the fact that I fell so damn hard to the man I don't dare say the name... and even meet. Psh.

Good thing there's not much people walking with you at the station. They might think that you're ill considering that you're talking out loud with no one else to talk to.

Tomorrow, there’s no need to buy tickets anymore. You’ll go home riding a car not a train. Tomorrow, you'll never get to remember what happened at the station 3 years ago. Tomorrow, you're moved on. It took you too long to finally convince yourself that you're over him.

For the past 3 years, you always say to yourself that you hate him, that you don't miss him even a single bit. But you find yourself trying to search his name on social media to see what's he up to these days. You can't help but sometimes worry about him, knowing that he's the breadwinner. You worry about him because you're his best friend before everything turned to ashes.

Your mind is full of wonders about him and his whereabouts for the last 3 years until you reach your home. It's only a walking distance from the nearest station up to your place. You did your routine, ate dinner and finally went to bed.

"A new day is waiting for me tomorrow. And a new car!" You excitedly said before closing your eyes and dozing off.

"Hyung! Over here."

Seungcheol couldn't believe that he's seeing his brother personally in 3 years of working overseas to send him to a decent school and provide a decent life for him.

"Video calls didn't inform me that you become taller!" He said showing his gummy smile to his younger brother while putting an arm on his brother's shoulder.

"How are you?"

"I'm glad that you're back, hyung. I missed you."

"You're too cheesy. You want something, don't you? I know your tactics. Let's go around town tomorrow. For now, let's go straight home." He said while hailing a cab.

jeo taeyang wiro my my my my my way~

-10 am-

A smile creeps on your face while you turn the alarm off, remembering something special about this day.

Owning a car is one of your dreams. Now that it's finally happening, you felt proud of yourself. Your parents are living on the countryside, that's why it is hard for you to visit them when you have a day off from work. With your dream car, you can now visit them whenever you want during your free time.

After eating breakfast, you took a shower and wore a black long-sleeve turtleneck shirt, mom jeans and black ankle boots. You put all your necessities inside your handbag and head outside to go to your chosen car's dealer shop.

While walking on the way to the station, you can't help but think of all the things that happened in years of riding the train. Although not all of them are happy ones, they're still a part of your train memories.

Seungcheol and his younger brother are on their way to the city to just spend some time together... and money.

He felt proud of where he is and what he is right now. He successfully raised his younger brother. Look at him achieving all of this. But something is still missing... Even after being with his brother, he still feels lonely. A sigh escaped his lips as he followed his brother who entered an electronic shop.

Before entering the shop, Seungcheol eyed something at the store beside the e-shop.

"I should probably start saving up for a car, sometime." He said while entering the shop where his brother welcomed him by pointing to a newly released computer.

"I thought I saw someone," you shrugged. "Must be someone I happen to see at the station. Geez. I think I'm familiar with everyone's faces after all the years of using the train as my main transportation." You said while entering the dealer shop.

Since you already settled the needed information last week, you are now signing some papers and the salesperson is telling you some stuffs about the car you chose. It's just a red sedan car, red has always been your favorite color.

Nothing special, except that you gave the color red a new meaning 3 years ago. Hatred and acceptance. It didn't change the fact that red is still your favorite color tho.

The salesperson told you that you can pick up your car later this afternoon. They still need to process your papers. So you decided to roam around the town, maybe buy some clothes or do a window shopping.

But you ended up sitting on one of the station's public chair, your eyes following the passing train. You don't want to be emotional or start any drama. You're just here because after all those years, the station somehow calms you. Weird, but it really does.

You stand up near the ticket booth, you suddenly remembered how both of you take turns on buying tickets. The one who arrives first buys the ticket for two.

How both of you wait for each other even until midnight for the sake of riding the train together. Cheesy, but that's how it goes back then.

All the laughter every time both of you accidentally bought two tickets, now holding a total of four tickets.

Moments when you lend your shoulders for him to rest his head on when he's exhausted from his part-time jobs.

How you didn't even feel bored at all whenever you're riding the train with him. All his dad jokes that you actually find yourself laughing to. Basically, standing here... brings back all the memories of your friendship. But you never really think of it as friendship, you assumed something was going on. And here you are, alone.

Seungcheol ended up buying his younger brother the new pc. Something for study, he said. Seungcheol knows better that it's not for study, but still bought it for him, this is the first time his brother ever asked something from him.

He was left walking around the town as his brother immediately went home after holding the magical box. Seungcheol looked at the red car that was being tested. "Someone bought it," he said. "That was actually what I'm eyeing earlier."

He was still tired after the long flight last night, so he decided to just go home instead of roaming around town. While walking towards the station, memories of 3 years ago flashed in his mind.

He saw how disappointed you were back then and how hurt you were. After seeing you turned your back to him that night, he badly wants to run to you and tell you the real feelings he feels about you, but he needs to provide a better future for his brother, so he needs to let one go.

He realized how foolish he was thinking that lying to you was the best option for everything, when he could've just said he's going away to work. "Things were done and there's nothing else I can do now." he sighed as he stand in line for the ticket.

You realized you were standing near the ticket booth and some passengers might think this is the official line. All your thoughts vanished when you feel someone stand behind you. "Shit." You said before turning around to politely say that this is not the line.

You froze.

You're not expecting things to happen like this. This is like the last time except it's him.

Seungcheol's eyes widen and his lips parted, trying to say something but nothing's coming out.

Staring at him feels surreal, it feels like one of those dreams you had before. He grew more handsome for the last 3 years. You bet he has a lover now, remembering how he rejected you back then. You wish he was yours.

Looking at him, you started saying things inside your head.

I thought I hate you. But the truth suddenly came out, I never really hated you. I was waiting for you to come to me that night when I turned around. But you never came. I lied about hating you. I lied about not wanting to see you again, because I badly want to see you. I want to love you. You're now here, again. I want to hold you but I'm afraid to be rejected again and that makes me want to run away from you.

You were about to leave, but he grabbed your arm. You can see that he wants to say something because his eyes tells you to listen.

"S-seungcheol... I have to go somewhere," you tried to escape. "I'm running lat-" !!

You were surprised when he suddenly hugs you... Tightly.

You remember his scent. You remember the time when he comforts you every time you need someone by your side, this feeling was the exact same feeling back then.

"I'm very sorry," he said while caressing your hair. "_____, I'm sorry."

I missed this.

"I missed you." Seungcheol said.

This must be a dream. You feel like crying after all those years of wanting to hear his voice and to feel his warmth. You want this, but a part of you says you need to let go.

And so you did.

You backed away from Seungcheol and started to walk away. Slowly.

Just like the last time.

You are silently waiting for him to come to you. Because if he does, you can't hide your feelings anymore. Now that he's here, your feelings for the past years suddenly came back.

You noticed that you are now near the exit of the station.

Maybe, he's just here to say sorry.

He's just here to say he missed me... Our friendship. To say sorry for the hurtful words he said to me. He's just here to end things more clearly. Maybe, I should too. I should turn around and say the words I wanted to say to him because now's the right time.

“We were friends, after all.”

You turned around and you suddenly felt a lips on yours. A pair of hands finding its way to rest on your hips.

Seungcheol deepens the kiss because of how unresponsive you are.

Everything's not processing, but you closed your eyes and started to move your lips against his.

Both of you feels like you're in a separate world where there's only the two of you, no one else.

Both of you parted lips when you both heard the station’s announcement.

The next train is arriving at platform X. All passengers who will board the next train, please stand by.

You looked at him. Still can't believe what happened. Same goes for him.

"_____, I love you," he pecked your lips and hands still resting on your hips.

"I.. uh," your phone rings.

You answered the call, Seungcheol's hands still on your hips, while looking at you. Memorizing all of you.

Seungcheol didn't expect already meeting you after arriving back here, and at the station too where everything started and paused.

He always believes that everything just paused between the two of you. That night was not the end. And here he is, holding you. Staring at you like he found something precious that he will take care of forever.

He waits for you to finish the call. He is mesmerized by your beauty. Indeed, everything he said back then were all lies.

After receiving the call, everything is suddenly processed. He just said the love word to you!

I mean, I love him. Not that I was just pressured when he suddenly said that. I was originally planning to say that when I turned around, but he just kissed me. Damn, we're still at the station. Should I say I...

"Love you?" your eyes widen.

"Are you asking me? Yes, I love you." Seungcheol can't hide his smile.

I just said that out loud, didn't I?

"No... I.. I was saying that I.. uh," you looked away. "I love you."

Seungcheol smiled as he hugs you again.

"_____, I want to tell you that I love you that night until today. Until forever."

xxxxx train arriving the platform.

Seungcheol looked at you.

"I'm supposed to take that train, you know? But I forgot to buy a ticket since it's you who's more important right now." he said.

Remembering the call you received, "I'll give you a ride."

His eyes widen.

"Aren't you a little straightforward, I mean... We just exchanged 'I love yous' earlier... Not that I'm saying that you're a little bold. But are you that hungry for me?" Seungcheol said like rapping, trying to avoid your eyes.

"What are you saying? My car is ready to go. I'm saying I'll give you a ride back home. Only if you want." you said, amazed by how his face started to be red like the color of your car.

Oh.

You can see how embarrassed he is right now. He can't even look at you properly. He just nodded, still not looking at you. Ears all red.

You hold his hand and walks towards the station's exit, back at the dealer shop to finally drive your car. With him. The one you love and the one who loves you, too.

Like how the stations and airports always say that the passengers reached their destination. I, too reached mine.

A/N:

I hope you reach yours, too.

Finally, after almost a year posting Lie Again, the sequel is now done. Lie again is a bit angst and I'm not really a fan of angst endings LOL. So if ever my stories ends with angst, expect that I'll write a sequel of that story. I hope you enjoy reading my works. To more stories together! I seriously thank you all esp my followers!

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