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#it was definitely fun trying to walk through memory lane on the many things I came across for video games
mewkwota · 10 months
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I had a Big Thinking Moment today. A lot of the discussion (or rather argument) around Smash Bros and their playable fighters tend to revolve around "popularity"-- which I've come to learn really means "personal familiarity which in turn determines their worth to you".
So I thought with my siblings as to how many of these characters we actually knew prior to any instance of them being mentioned in Smash, this includes if they were placed in discussion as a potential fighter. And I got a, I guess, fairly-decent score for myself.
It's very interesting to see all this now that I have it down on "paper". (With little tidbits on particular Yes-n-No's below.)
To note, my first Smash game was Melee. And I did not own an N64. That in turn already shapes how familiar I am with certain titles.
A lot of the big-mascot characters I knew in passing, save for Mario who I was first exposed through Super Mario World Advanced, and so everyone following after would be seen in passing-- or through Mario Kart.
My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess on the Wii... Very late, I know. I remembered seeing Toon Link from a Windwaker Wii Ad.
I first remembered seeing Kirby in some ad for Nightmare in Dreamland. For some reason I thought he was a badguy.
I first saw Meta-Knight, Dedede, and K.Rool as trophies in Melee.
I recognized Snake in his trailer as "the guy who my cousin showed me throw up on-screen". I do not know which title it was.
I grew up on A Lot of bootlegs. These included titles like Mario Land, Duck Hunt, and Rockman World.
Dark Pit makes no sense because Pit has a palette swap in Brawl that Dark Pit could be based from, but it's also not him exactly. I gave him a pass since he only existed so recently.
I believe my most early memory of Simon would be from some Newgrounds-esque video where he appears for a portion of the video. I would not know more about him until Captain N and after.
I was introduced to Richter's name through a friend's fan-fiction.
I have absolutely no recollection of Banjo's existence prior to discussion of people wanting him in Smash.
I have practically grown up with a majority of the Fighter Passes. My big childhood games include Tekken, Xeno(saga), and Kingdom Hearts-- it would be surprising if I did not recognize someone from a fighting game, I've played so many.
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basils-phot0-album · 2 years
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Agere ask game!!
Amber
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💡- How did they discover age regression?
Amber discovered age regression from gliding lessons with the Traveller. After accidentally swapping the actual Gliding Manual with a children's story book, he started feeling nostalgic and spent a whole day just looking through his childhood items. She started by finding and reading books she used to love, then retrieving her old box of stuffed animals to buying herself replacement toys and plushies for ones that were broken or lost and then before she knew it, Amber had slowly started regressing everytime he went for a small trip down memory lane
📈- Age range?
3-10, whenever she regresses it’s always random but still in that range! Although she tends to stay in the older part of that range
🍼- What’s their favourite age regression accessory/gear?
One of his non explosive Baron Bunny’s, but a mini pocket sized version. She also has a tangle toy, if she doesn’t have that then she’s always carrying around string or elastic bands!
💕- Do they have a caregiver?
Yes! Kaeya is currently his only caregiver but he doesn’t mind! This also means that she gets to spend time with her favourite playmate Albedo a bunch! And what can I say? Kaeya loves his little ones and collects them like Pokemon /lh. Kaeya found out because one day Amber suddenly dragged him away from his “duties” and sat him down to do his hair. By the end of it there were accessories all over the floor and a sleeping Amber on Kaeya’s front (he wasn’t even doing anything in the first place, just sitting  around and fiddling with his pen)
   🧸- What’s their favourite toy?
Kaeya. Diluc’s hair too
👒- What do they like to wear when they regress?
A crimson hooded shirt with bunny ears with a skirt, tights and sneakers! He is quite the fashionista. Amber also puts a lot of accessories in his hair, so many different ones that it’s near impossible to name some of them!
🎮- What’s their favourite thing to do when they’re small?
Playing something she calls “Hide and Scare”! Little Amber can be quite mischievous so she came up with her own version of Hide and Seek where while hiding from the seeker, you also have to try and scare or surprise them. If you manage to scare them without getting caught you get extra points! Amber likes to think that she’s good at the game but in reality Kaeya’s just faking getting scared, but it’s completely worth it to see her proud smile when she realizes that she’s won.
✨- How are they different when they regress?
He isn’t all that different. But she’s a lot less serious and much more carefree like when he was younger, she’s also loads more mischievous 
🎨- What does their ideal nursery/playroom look like?
Like this, just more windows and bunny themed objects!
🐬- What is their ideal play date/regression day like?
He really wouldn't know what to do! Maybe start out with playing Hide and Scare, and then Tag, and then Freeze tag to mix it up a bit! Then maybe afterwards she could go to see Albedo to take it on one of her epic-super-awesome-treasure-finding adventures! And then she would stay up allll night doing loads of fun things that she can’t think about because she’s so excited thinking about the amount of things she could do!
🧁- Favorite regression snack/meal?
She’s definitely a meat lover but doesn’t like them in large portions. With that in mind, she actually prefers Liyuen food over Mondstat food as it reminds her of her Grandfather. His favorite meal is probably Rice Buns with Tianshu Meat or Grilled Tiger Fish! The food should be diced into small pieces though because Amber tends to walk around whilst eating when small. Kaeya has tried to stop this habit but was forced to give up for now when he saw no progress (but we all know that Kaeya’s no quitter, he’s just thinking of some other things).
 🥳- A holiday that they love celebrating while regressed
April fools. This one’s self explanatory
🤸- Do they have another regressor they play with?
Albedo!! He’s his favourite playmate because he always listens to her and he’s nice and he tells her cool things and he’s cool too! In a literal sense! Both of their personality’s contrast each other but in the best way possible so they get along really well!
🔮- Do they like to play pretend?
Amber is literally the queen of imagination. She could be in Kaeya’s office at the Knight’s of Favonious Headquarters but in her mind, she’s in a candyland full of rainbows and unicorns. Tell her otherwise and she’ll just stick her tongue out at you, cross her arms and say “Yo’ jus a bo’ing grown up.” 
❤️- Who knows about their regression?
Kaeya, Diluc, Jean, Lisa, Sara (From Good Hunter!), Xiangling and Albedo! Quinn (Fruit stall!) also knows and he does like to entertain Amber when she’s small, they get up to some mischief!
☀️- What triggers their regression (positive)?
Being told to take breaks, being called “Little Outrider” (it’s less effective if she’s being teased), being carried and being alone with Kaeya. Like it really just takes them to exchange a certain look before he starts slipping, fast. 
🌀- What triggers their regression (negative)?
Remembering her Grandpa and feeling sad and confused about him leaving. Usually this leaves her in her younger headspace so that she can try and ignore the pain :(
🌈- What about their regression is unusual, unexpected, or non-traditional?
He hates paci’s, he finds them uncomfortable and doesn’t like how they feel.
👾- Favorite game to play while regressed
Hide and seek (scare)!
🐾- If they also pet regress what to? (If they don’t pet regress what’s the favorite animal?)
A bunny!
🎲- Is their regression voluntary or involuntary?
    Involuntary!
🏳️‍🌈- Are they LGBTQ+ or neurodiverse?
Yes! Amber is Bigender and identifies with both “boygender” and “girlgender”, her pronouns are he/she and he’s a Lesbian! He also identifies with sugarrrushgender! She also has ADHD 
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Idea Credits: @/decopaci
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a-libra-writes · 4 years
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Hey! Could you do these headcanons [💖,💐] for Jaime, or Tyrion? I've been in the GoT fandom “recently” (like a month or two ago?), and I don't see much of them; especially Tyrion (I don't know book-Tyrion yet 👀). I've been reading your blog for a while, and I really like your writings; I'm taking my time to read them again jsjsj. I understand if you don't want to, or doesn't catch your eye; I hope I'm not being rude or anything, but I wanted to try my luck. Please take care and be safe! <3
welcome to our cluuuub! welcome to our cluuuuuub! 
im glad youre enjoying GoT so much, and my blog! You should def give the books a try if you ever have a chance! Book Tyrion is rlly diff in many cool ways, same with Jaime. 
also i uh ... did the thing where i confused the emojis again, so I did “date” for both of them as well LOL oops
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💘 Tyrion Date HC
Once Tyrion really starts liking you, he takes you to the loveliest places. We’re talking walks through gardens with little ponds and animals, a covered boat ride on a river, or walking through an exciting market full of Essosi traders. The thing is, he’d never call this “courting”. That makes it too official, too serious. He plays it off as simple visits two friends would make.
He’s excellent at finding out the things you’re interested in. You aren’t aware of it, but Tyrion really pays attention to what you respond to and what you like the most. I mean, he’s already watching you because he loves you, but if you aren’t vibing with an activity and location he’ll take that into consideration for next time.
He has lots of fun experiencing new things with you, period - after you’re together, after you’re married. If he finds out about something new, he’ll tell you so you both can do it together.
Tyrion prefers more private locations, since the court is exhausting and nearly all people he meets don’t like him anyway... but there’s something exciting about having such a pretty girl on his arm, someone who clearly adores him and wants to spend time with him.
Gifts! You tell him he doesn’t have to, but he likes presenting you with little things at the beginning or end of a date. First it’s practical things, so he can brush it off as “You seemed like you could use that”, before it’s just outright pretty jewels and dresses and he has no excuse. At that point it’s because he clearly loves you.
When it’s your name day, he has such a great evening planned out. If you’re married, make that a weekend or a week to travel and enjoy a little mini-vacation. Tyrion is excellent at planning an event in secret, so you have no idea what he has in store until the morning of your birthday.
In a modern AU, he’s not too different - he wants to explore new places and new things. He’d probably live in a city and would always find the strangest hole in the wall places to eat and shop at. If you like books, or records, or clothes, he’s gonna find something really out of the way and specific.
💖Tyrion Pregnancy HC
From the time you announced your pregnancy to the entire 9 months, it was like the worst emotional whiplash he’s ever had. There are SO many thoughts going through his head. Some of them are:
One, he’s delighted you want to have a family with him. Yes, you two are married, but it’s not out of duty to the Lannisters. It’s the ultimate proof you love him, he decides - because there’s a real chance your child could turn out like him, and you don’t care. And he knows you’ll love the child if that happens. He just knows you’ll be a wonderful mother. Second, you clearly express your joy to his family and the courtiers. You’re proud and you don’t care who knows. Third, he thinks about how horrid his own upbringing was, and he’s absolutely 100% determined to be an excellent father. Fourth ...
You get the point. He’s so torn between worry - what if the child is born with a problem, what if you die in childbed, what if he turns out to be a terrible father - and absolute, unbelievable devotion. You thought he was protective and doting before? Nothing is too good for you. You have to tell Tyrion to dial it back a bit, you don’t need new clothes every month and ten sets of silken bedsheets and all this jewelry....
He’s a bundle of nerves the closer the due date is. You two might actually get into spats because you’re exhausted and achey, and he’s just a mess. Jaime actually has to knock sense into him and get him to calm down.
But once your child is born...  it all washes away, like a wave carrying him. He’s so happy. He can’t even function. He wants the hold the child all the time, he wants to see them, talk to them - and he asks so many questions to you and the maester. When will the child talk? When will they walk? Can they understand him? Do they know he’s their father? And so on.
Also, his protectiveness would go through the roof. He would never forbid you from going anywhere or doing anything, but.. he would be obviously nervous if you mentioned you were going travelling or something. 
And it goes without saying he’s keeping extra tabs on Cersei, certain courtiers, maybe his own father. He doesn’t trust any of them for anything.
Bronn will probably get assigned to bodyguard duty for you. He’s clearly not pleased, and you just sigh and dismiss him for the day so you don’t have to listen to his smart mouth.
He likes to feel your stomach, especially when the babe kicks! It relieves his worries that the child might be born “wrong” somehow. The fact they’re kicking, wiggling and moving, seemingly in response to him, makes him feel much better.
💐 Tyrion Family & Kids HC
He’s an excellent father, even though he has his moments of emotional hang-ups. He wants to ensure his child is educated, empathetic and uses their damn head. While he’d be doting and affection, he wouldn’t be a total pushover and can reasonably discipline them. Tyrion is great at talking to children respectfully and treating them like people.
On that note, he has no patience for someone like Cersei or his father trying to butt in on his parenting. He’ll stand up to them and firmly insist he can raise his child on his own, thank you. He won’t take any “advice” or threats from them.
He’d be quite good at figuring out what his children are talented in, and encouraging them. He’s seen what it’s like when a child is forced into a single box and hinge all their worth on that (Jaime) and when they’re looked over and ignored (him and Cersei). 
Yes, he basically decides to do the opposite of whatever his father did.
There would be times when he’d want to educate his children himself, but only on certain subjects - reading and writing, for example. He trusts the maester just fine, he just wants to have that bonding opportunity with them. 
(He’s so proud of all of them no matter what though 😭)
If you’d be up for it, Tyrion would like several children. He’s not 100% on how many, since he’s never really given himself a chance to hope and daydream for a family. He knows he needs a son for the Lannister line to continue, but he’d never force you to continue risking your health for that. Ultimately, however many you want, that’s what he’ll be happy with. If it’s all girls, he’ll love them the same.
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💘 Jaime Date HC
It’s actually amusing how bad he is at taking you somewhere interesting. It ends up being an accident - you run into him in a beautiful garden or some obscure part of the Red Keep, and he offers to show you something interesting he found. From there, you two get lost and take a while to find your way back.
... Or you take him somewhere you thought was interesting, and he goes along with it. When you point out that Jaime is pretty bad at this “courting” business, he just scoffs and says that’s definitely not what he’s doing. He’s just visiting with ... a friend ... .... just a friend. Yup.
Another aspect is the fact he’s a Whitecloak, and he might be having to avoid Cersei. That kind of makes things dicey.
However, when he returns from the Dreadfort and that absolute hell of a journey, he’s doesn’t care so much who sees you two. He wants to get away from the Red Keep, even if that’s his duty, so he starts wandering out with you. When Jaime is patrolling on his own and sees a place of interest, he makes a mental note to bring it up to you later. And when he does, and you offer to go with him ... Well, he won’t complain.
Since you two have been so many places, he starts to associate them with you. When he’ll pass by it on his own, he thinks about something you laughed at, or something you told him there. If you ever touched his hand or his face while you two visited a garden, he will remember that touch every single time he passes by. 
After you’ve known each other for a while, and he’s feeling sentimental, he’ll ask, “Do you remember those docks a mile away from the Red Keep? There was a man pushing a cart that had these colorful glasses and wares. You were wearing a blue dress, and when you dirtied it, I carried you around down the street?”
You have no idea where he’s talking about, but that’s the sort of road his memory lane is.
In the modern AU, he’s still pretty terrible at dates. He’s more of the type who wants to wander around with you and just pop into a place that seems interesting - and then he’ll associate you with it. Anytime he sees that cafe chain again, even in a different city, he remembers the hot cocoa you ordered and the little marshmallow mustache you gave yourself.
And honestly, he prefers to stay home with you, cuddling and watching something. He can be as bad as a needy cat when he wants cuddles and attention; you aren’t escaping anytime soon.
💖Jaime Pregnancy HC
Oh no.
Back when Jaime was a boy and lectured endlessly on the duties of a Lannister heir, he didn’t truly understand what that meant. Especially after Cersei coerced him into taking the white cloak, he figured he’d never have children of his own.
... Well. Then there was three. but they never felt like his, which was Cersei’s intention. It was so strange, even if they looked like him, he couldn’t connect Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen to himself.
Also, look who his father is. That’s a lot to unpack.
It’s not until he’s completely left Cersei and lost his sword hand that he starts thinking and seeing things differently. It feels different when you play with the children, when you look longingly at mothers, when he’s intimate with you and you let him finish inside. He starts thinking what it’s like, and that’s scary, considering it never crossed his mind before.
And then he thinks about how his mother died, and what it did to his father. He never openly discusses it with you, but he has nightmares about it. Jaime doesn’t sleep well for a lot of your pregnancy, especially toward the last few months. He does a little better with each child. To distract himself, he takes care of you.
He likes the idea of having two children, a boy and girl, or two boys, but he’s fine with one or more than two. Anything more than four would probably overwhelm him.
Gods save the person who threatens you, even if it’s his sister. His protective instincts go into overdrive, to the point where someone being disrespectful to you on the street will make him want to fight.
💐 Jaime Family & Kids HC
When you tell him, honestly... his first thought is what an awful parent he’d be. He had one example for what a father is like, and he was hardly an influential part in the lives of the three children he sired. You’d have to reassure Jaime and give him confidence, because he has none where this is concerned. He’s positive he’ll screw it up somehow, he’ll be too distant, or too cruel. How do you even hold a baby? What do you say to little ones? He’s going to take care of you, there’s no question of that, but his nervousness is palpable. 
Still, he has such a cute smile when he holds his child - what he considers his first real one - and he right away sees you in them. Their nose, and smile, and eyes. It’s amazing, he decides.
Jaime is a terribly indulgent father. He tries to scold where he can, but more often than not he’s amused by his kid being mischievous. When they pull pranks on guests or get into fights with other kids, he’ll let them off easy if he felt like it was justified. If you’re the more disciplinary parent, the kids totally learn to go to Jaime when they want something.
He’s not overly physically affectionate, but he often ruffles their hair (even if they’re a girl with hair you just braided), gives them rides on his shoulders and lets them sit on his lap and fall asleep. He also has a habit of patting their cheeks or shoulders when he’s pleased.
Jaime didn’t think he’d be excited to teach swordplay and horseback, but he’s so happy when one of his kiddos is interested in both or either. Even if they’re a girl, he can’t help but teach her everything he knows. It also makes him feel better that he has something to teach and pass on even if he lost his sword hand.
Also ... he’s a terrifying papa lion. Do not ever even slightly threaten his children or wife in front of him. His temper and pride will flare and he’ll start a fight right there. 
Related to that, he can fight off Cersei’s cruelty and coldness to you and your children together because he knows how to deal with her. If Tywin disapproved of you in some way, or was trying to take control of how the children were reared, Jaime would genuinely struggle to stand up to him. He doesn’t want his kids to go through the childhood he had, but it’s difficult for him. He won’t go into full “fuck this” mode unless the children are seriously threatened. 
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surprises (aaron hotchner)
request: “imagine the reader goes to visit her family in south carolina. While she is there Hotch and Jack come to surprise her. One night they take a sunset beach walk and Hotch proposes to her on the beach. Hotch x reader. Love your writing so much”
a/n: I made some of the details a little less specific to make it more reader-friendly. I really hope that I’ve done this amazing request justice. It’s not my favorite of my fics, but I really hope that you enjoy it. (also not edited because I cannot stand to read my own fics)
about 2k words lol
warnings: none really, there’s a proposal which isn’t really a warning but um yeah, there's on slightly suggestive (but not really) joke and that's it.
gender-neutral reader, but let me know if I made any mistakes with that please!
masterlist
It was one of the first weekends off that you’d had in a while. Your boss was most definitely taking advantage of the fact that you were a semi-good worker, making you work almost as much as your boyfriend, Aaron Hotchner. 
With that rare weekend off, you decided to pay a visit to your hometown. The reason why is unknown even to you. You voluntarily decided to spend almost 3 days with your parents. Sounds like fun, right? 
After a very long (but also short) plane ride, you arrived in the airport that was near your hometown. By near, you mean over an hour away, but it was a small town, so what do you expect. 
Once you got to your parents house, it was a flurry of hugs, lectures, and playing catch-up. You stole some time away to get settled in your room (just the same as you had left it many years ago, diaries and band posters included). The only thing that snapped you out of your visit down memory lane was shouting coming from downstairs. Worried, you ran down to find your parents crowded around the front door. You didn’t want to be nosy, so you hid behind a wall and eavesdropped, naturally. 
“-just about to set out dinner-” You heard your mother say.
“-nice to finally meet you-” Came from your father. The person at the door had no chance to say anything with how fast your parents were talking, so you still weren’t sure as to who it was. 
“-so adorable!” Your mother exclaimed, talking in the same voice she talks to her dog in.
“Thank you.” You heard a little, shy voice reply. Though, you recognized that voice. It sounded so familiar, but there was no way.
A polite chuckle brought you out of your thoughts, and there was no way you could mistake it. You had no idea how it was possible, but you knew you were right about what you heard. So, you stepped out from behind the wall to confirm your suspicions. 
Standing in the doorway, looming over your parents, was that familiar head of dark hair, another chuckle coming from them. The people standing at the front door were yet to notice you, but you soon made your presence known.
“Aaron!?” You shouted, causing the four people standing there to turn to you. Sure enough, there stood Aaron with little Jack hiding slightly behind his Dad’s leg. 
A smile split open on Aaron’s face, and your Mother immediately sprung into action, inviting them in and running into the kitchen to grab every drink they possessed, and probably a tray of crackers as well. 
Once inside, Aaron walked right up to you, pulling you into his chest although it had only been a little over a day since you last saw him.
“What in the world are you doing here?” You asked, your voice muffled into his neck. You were confused, but so very happy to have him here with you, it was something you never expected.
“We wanted to visit you.” He replied, and that's when you became aware of the little monkey clinging to your leg. You pulled away from Aaron and hauled Jack into your arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek that he immediately returned. 
“How did you even know where my parents lived?” You suddenly asked, knowing that it was something you hadn’t really ever mentioned.
“Y/n, we have a Garcia.”
Right, you thought. You should’ve known. Garcia could probably pull up the results of your first dentists appointment if she wanted to.
The rest of the day was spent acquainting Aaron and your parents, while Jack played with some toys that they kept out for your little cousins in the living room. It was safe to say that your boyfriend had won over both you mom and your dad within the first 10 minutes of meeting them, which is something you weren’t initially very worried about, but you were very relieved that they liked him. 
Your parents prepared an amazing meal, and the whole night went very smoothly. After dinner, Jack was passed out on the couch, his head in Aaron’s lap. You smiled at his back from the other room, where your parents and you were sitting. 
“He’s a good guy, y/n.” Your dad said, and you couldn't possibly agree more.
“He’s very handsome too,” Your mother commented, earning a teasing poke from your father. Aaron had his head turned, watching the interaction from the other room. 
“Good genes.” She whispered in your ear, winking at you.
“Mom!” You pouted, but you couldn’t hide your laughter. 
After Jack was put to bed, your parents forced you and Aaron out of the house, and you were glad to have some alone time with him. You were sitting, waiting in the car while Aaron was lingering in the house, telling you he wanted to speak to your parents about something. You really hoped they weren’t sharing any embarrassing stories, because you knew Aaron would never let you live them down.
Finally, Aaron joined you in the car.
“Where should we go?” You asked him, trying to think of any places that would impress him.
“It’s your hometown, y/n,” He said, setting his hand on your leg and smiling at you from the passenger seat, “Take me to your favorite place.”
You didn’t even have to think, immediately following a route that you had driven many times before. You knew the perfect place to go.
The ride there was short, but it was filled with a surprising silence. It was comfortable, sure, but Aaron had a weird vibe rolling off of him that you couldn’t place, and it made you slightly uneasy. His pointer finger was rapidly tapping on your leg, something you didn’t even think he realized he was doing. 
Finally, you pulled up to your absolute favorite spot in the whole world. You jumped out of the car, excited to share the spot with the man you love. 
“I probably spent more time here than I did at my own house.” You commented, leading Aaron down a little path through some trees that were more overgrown than you remembered. Aaron was walking behind you, gripping your hand tighter than usual. 
“Don’t worry darling,” You laugh, “If you fall, I’ll catch you.” You state dramatically, expecting a laugh from Aaron. (You don’t get one).
“What?” He says, confused, and you are reminded of the weird vibe your boyfriend was still giving off, starting to slightly worry you now.
Once you cleared through the trees, you took a second to just soak in the sight you hadn’t seen in so long. Trees and rocks framed either side of a short, sandy beach. The calm waves lapped up against the shore, and the classic beach smell filled your nose. You took your shoes and socks off, signalling Aaron to do the same, setting them down on a nearby rock. You kicked playfully at the smooth, cool sand. The sun was setting on the water, reflecting a beautiful array of colors.
“Well isn’t this place suddenly romantic.” You joked, pulling Aaron down towards the water. You dipped your toe in, expecting it to be cold and being delightfully surprised when you found it was still warm. The second surprise you had experienced today. You and Aaron strolled on the beach, connected arms swinging between you. You were both quiet, soaking in each other’s presence. 
After one particularly aggressive swing, your hand brushes against his leg and you let out a surprised noise.
“Is there something in your pocket, or are you just excited to see me?” You joke, but Aaron just stops in his tracks. You quickly turned to him, growing more and more concerned as the seconds passed by.
“Actually-” He clears his throat, and you can tell that, yes, something is definitely wrong, “actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” He stops, thinks for a second, and then goes on, “Something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
You wait, clearly seeing that he needs a few seconds. You squeeze his hand that is still holding yours, feeling the breeze coming off of the water as it blows through you and Aaron’s hair. He isn’t looking at you, choosing instead to stare at his feet, the gears in his head turning.
After what you're sure is over a minute of silence, you bring your free hand up to Aaron’s cheek, and he automatically nestles into your palm. He takes a deep breath, and finally brings his head up and meets your eyes. 
“Y/n-” He stops, pausing for a second before mumbling, “I really don’t know how to do this.”
“Y/n.” He starts again, trying to fill his voice with more confidence. It was not often that you saw Aaron Hotchner at a loss for words, but here he was, staring down at you with so many emotions unconcealed in his eyes. His feet in the wet sands with water lapping up onto them, the sun falling lower and lower beneath the water. 
“Y/n, I just don’t even know where to start,” He smiles at you suddenly, and you unconsciously smile back, “When we met I was in a really low place in my life. You pulled me out of that. You stood by me even when I tried to push you away. You helped take care of Jack, and you helped take care of me, too. You became the light in my life, the sun.”
There's a feeling deep in your gut, like you know where this is going. Instead of thinking further about it, you nod at Aaron and continue to listen to his words.
“I don’t even know how to convey how much you mean to me, how much I love you. You make me so happy,” There are tears that start to gather in his eyes, and his smile grows wider with every word. He takes both of your hands in his, looking deep into your eyes. 
“I think I should stop stalling and get to the point.” He mumbles, and you both let out huffs of laughter. Your fingers are shaking, and you can feel that his are, too. You notice that you’re also tearing up, listening to the love of your life try to convey everything he feels about you.
“I just can’t even put it into words, y/n. I’ve tried, but I just can’t.” He whispers through his smile. You nod frantically, squeezing his hands tighter.
“I know, Aaron, I know.” You tell him, because you do. You feel it every time you’re around him. How much he loves you, depends on you. How grateful he is for everything you do, everything you are. 
He clears his throat one last time before beginning, “Y/n, will you-” He stops suddenly, and quickly drops to his knee, making you both laugh.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a little black box, opening it for you. You glance at the ring inside, before looking right back at him.
“Will you marry me, y/n?”
You’re frozen. You knew what he was about to say, and yet you were still standing stock-still, your breath knocked out of your lungs by his words. Every single cell in your body was screaming yes, pulling you closer to the man you love. The tears are falling freely from both of your eyes now.
You realize with a start that you had yet to respond. You can’t even get the words out, instead frantically nodding your head at him. He slips the ring on your finger and you immediately throw yourself into his arms, both of you falling down into the sand. 
“I love you, I love you.” He whispers in your ear, stroking your hair.
“I love you too, Aaron. So much. So much.” You say, trying to sniffle away the tears. 
You had many surprises that day, and all of them were unexpected yet welcomed with open arms.
Aaron Hotchner, the man lying next to you on the sand, watching as the last rays of sun slip behind the horizon, the man that makes your life so much better, the man that loves you so much, and that you love, is the man that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. Your soon-to-be husband, and your forever soulmate.
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harringtonstudios · 4 years
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vegas run. (II)
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plot: it’s the annual las vegas run. let’s see what kinda trouble you get into this year!
A/N: the fun allllmost begins. hope yall like <3. everyone say thank you ellie for forcing me to update ily! & i’m so so so grateful for all the messages i received, you guys make me so happy
masterlist! part I.
Sunday came sooner than you expected. Although your duffel bag was sitting in the backseat of your car, you’re were still anxious, nerves lining the pit of your stomach for some reason you couldn’t quite figure out. Wrapping up with your last customer, you ran over to Sarah, giving her a bear hug. 
“Thanks for taking over,” you mumbled, as she grumbled at the tightness of your grip.
“Yeah, yeah. Go have fun! Don’t do anything stupid,” she said, pushing you off as the door opened, people strolling in. 
“Me? Stupid, never,” you whispered back as you nodded at the customers before walking out to the curb. Your car was parked in the lot of Luca’s Diner, an easy spot as you walked in to pick up the order you had called in an hour ago.
Hefting the containers the waitress provided you with, you huffed your way to the car, one hand awkwardly opening the backseat. Tossing in all the food, you stepped back, closing your door and wiping your hands. 
Baze had texted you letting you know that they were planning on leaving the house around six, and you had quickly decided to buy them all dinner, knowing that someone had paid for your flight ticket. Happiness was passing the favor along forward and you were doing really well with the newfound success of your shop anyway. 
Driving to the house, you hummed alongside the radio, trying to quiet the buzziness in your stomach. You didn’t know why this trip was weighing so weirdly on your mind. You’d been on so many Vegas runs before, each other more hectic than the last. Running through the memories, a small smile grew on your face.
There was nothing better than getting drunk with some of the people you considered your closest friends. Even if you hadn’t spent a lot of time with them lately, you knew that they would always have your back, regardless. That was the things about the boys and the people they hung out with, loyalty and pure kindness. 
-
Two minutes away from the house it hit you. Every Vegas run so far, you’d been by Baze’s side. You were his best friend, and even though you were tight with everyone else, it’d just been natural for you to hang with him. You’d done the big group activities, ran after Kells when he’d popped a tab of acid and started stripping, but it was Baze’s hotel room you’d fallen asleep in and now things were going to be different. Ellie was going to come along on the trip, and even though you loved her to the core, you realized that you couldn’t just go crash in Baze’s room, not when he’d rather be with his girlfriend. 
Pulling into the driveway, you shut the thoughts up. It was going to be okay, this was a trip you were supposed to enjoy and getting a week break when you’d been working for the past two months straight sounded like heaven, regardless of who you spent it with. 
The door swung open before you could even get out of the car. Dub and Slim ran out, bags in hand as they rushed past you to the car on the side of the road. You waited until their car skirted off before stepping out of your own, pulling open the backseat door. 
Rook was standing on the porch and you called him over, eager to get the food out of your car before the smell started seeping into your seats. 
“Where’re they going?” you asked, handing him the containers. 
“They booked a different flight by accident. Idiots,” he supplied, before walking back to the house and you couldn’t help but laugh. 
-
The food was long gone, empty containers stacked on the countertop. You’d thought about cleaning it up, knowing the house was going to be empty for a week, but then Colson had picked up a garbage bag, and you’d laid back on his couch satisfied, socked feet propped up on his coffee table. 
Your eyes had lingered on him for a couple of seconds, taking in the sight of his tattoos rippling as he sweeped the boxes off the counter. You’d seen him shirtless countless times, but there was something different this time around. You hated your brain for thinking this way, but all the little bees that had been floating around all day suddenly swarmed your stomach as he picked up a bottle, taking a swig. 
His hand ruffled at his matted hair and then he caught your eyes. 
“So you’re just gonna sit there, stare and not help?” he questioned, tone light as he put the bottle down. 
“That’s the plan chief,” you responded, saluting him with two fingers as he laughed and flipped you off. 
You took a breath. This was going to be okay, these bees weren’t going to bother you anymore.
-
You all had made it just in time for the flight, checking in your luggage as the overhead announced that your flight was boarding. Running across the airport was not something you had planned to do and you scoffed as Kells took off, long limbs making up distance quickly. Rook was soon to follow, and then AJ and Baze ran right behind, leaving you and Ellie strolling behind them. 
“It’s okay, they’ll hold the plane for us,” she murmured, knocking a shoulder onto yours and you laughed before humming in agreement, happy that she was going on this crazy-fest with you. It wouldn’t be a Vegas Run without you both. 
Reaching the boarding area, you stopped yourself from laughing at the scene that lay in front of you. There was a long line, wrapping around the seats, and there were your boys, panting slightly at the back. Walking behind them, you went, “Great job guys. Marathon training is definitely working out.”
Colson rolled his eyes at you as Rook glared, wiping his forehead. You mouthed a quick sorry as he turned the other way. 
Moving up in the line took no time, and you smiled at the flight attendant biting her lip as Kells handed her his ticket. It was funny to see him so oblivious to it all as he thanked her, moving on without sparing another glance. 
Collapsing in his seat, he pulled your arm as you passed by, dragging you into his row. 
“What? This isn’t my seat,” you mumbled, checking your ticket to make sure. 
“Yeah, I know. It’s Baze’s, but I thought we’d switch so him and his girl could be together,” he answered, letting go of your arm as you furrowed your brow. 
Turning to sit down, you nodded at his proposition, pulling your seatbelt across. He had the window seat, and you pushed yourself forward a little, peering across him to the view outside. It wasn’t anything nice, just a couple of people milling around in bright orange outfits, but you still found it interesting as the sun started to set. 
It took a few minutes, and then you were being told to prepare for take-off. Colson had his headphones in, and you watched him move to the music, eyes closed as he mouthed the words, lips moving fast. Soon you were in air, and you unbuckled your belt, only to move back into his space. 
The clouds stood still in the darkening sky, and you smiled at the sight of California underneath you, lighting up with orange glows. The flight was only around an hour long, and your fingers tapped at your thighs, not really wanting to use your phone while you were on board. 
“Stop moving so much,” came a muffled voice. 
“Sorry,” you moved back, grimacing a little as Colson’s eyes peered open. He smiled a little at that, before noticing how you were practically at the edge of your seat. Sitting up, he scrubbed a hand over his little beard before going, “We can switch seats if you want?”
“You sure?” you perked up, knowing that watching the sky would be more than enough entertainment for the rest of the flight. 
“Yeah, here move,” he offered, hunching over to get up. The plane was tight enough as it was, and being six four probably didn’t help so you quickly slide over to get into his seat. 
You leaned back into the seat comfortably, eyes trained to the window. It was pitch dark now, the only thing lighting up the wings of the plane were the little blinking lights. There was a nice white noise sound running through the plane, and you closed your eyes for a second. 
Before you knew it, there was a sudden jolt. Reeling from the movement, you lifted your head up, wincing at the slight ache in your neck. The plane seemed to be landing and you blinked your eyes open, trying to move from where you seemed currently stuck. 
Colson’s head was lolled onto your shoulder, right underneath where yours had been. His mouth was hanging open, and you waited for a second, noticing the slope of his nose and the blonde of his eyelashes. There was another little tremor, and you bumped up your shoulder a little before using your hand to shove his head off. 
“Huh, what?” he mumbled out, arm going up to wipe at his mouth. 
“We, uh we landed,” you answered, looking away from him. There was something soft about the way he looked after waking up and this moment wasn’t for you. The bees reared their little ugly heads inside your stomach yet again.
-
 taglist: @iamdorka​ @no-shxt-sherl​ @bakerkells​ @findingmyths​ @rosegoldrichie​ @mayaslifeinabox​ @itjustkindahappenedreally​​ @hnbtx​​  @backoftheroomandnotbelonging​​ @nowhereiswhereibelong​ @whyisgmora​ @oopsiedoopsie23​
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drprettyboyspence · 4 years
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Memory Lane
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Dr. Spencer Reid/reader
Summary: Reader just can't seem to get to sleep one night so she decides to walk around the house she shares with her boyfriend, Spencer Reid. As she travels around the house she remembers significant moments in their relationship.
words: 2.9k
warnings: season 12 spoilers, mentioning of mental illness, nothing else to my knowledge! (just a lot of fluff) 
a/n: This is my first Spencer Reid fic and I kinda went off the rails with the word count, let me know if you enjoy it :)
I turn myself over in bed for what feels like the four hundredth time this hour, facing the ceiling now. I can hear the rustling of leaves outside and the distant sirens of the city, remembering how those sounds used to bring me some sort of comfort as a child, now all I can think of is the death and tragedy being an FBI profiler has brought me into contact with, the horrors at the end of the trail of sirens. Mostly noticeably though, I hear the steady breathing of the man lying next to me in the king bed, glancing over at my boyfriend of almost 4 years I smile warmly, his unruly hair draped over the pillow, glad to see him in deep sleep. Recently he hasn’t been sleeping well, suffering from PTSD from his time spent in prison as well as all the trauma the poor man has been through in the last 10 years of his life. I quietly get out of bed, making sure not to bother him, he deserves a good nights sleep and we have to be at the BAU in a depressingly minuscule amount of hours. My feet hit the cold wooden floors and I wonder for the uncountable time “Why did we decide on wooden floors?” A memory of an argument with Spencer answers my question,  
“Because silly, don’t you know that carpets can hold up to 200,000 bacteria per square inch, this room is 100 square feet, 144 square inches per square foot, that is 28,800,000 bacteria in our bedroom alone.” I remember shaking my head at him, he’s always been such a germaphobe. In fact, when we first met, he shook my hand, and later when I confided in JJ and Penelope that I had pretty intense feelings for the resident genius of the BAU, they mentioned that he usually hates shaking hands, is known for refusing to shake the hands of many people the team comes into contact with on cases. He shook my hand right away, it’s one of the things I love about him and we always say we knew right away that we had a special connection. I glance at Spencer’s sleeping frame one more time before leaving the bedroom and making my way down the hallway. There are pictures there, pictures of me and Spence, him and his mom, pictures of the team at work, Spencer won’t admit it often, but he wakes up every morning scared that he won’t remember those he loves, his mother’s dementia and schizophrenia have impacted him greatly. I stop in front of a picture of me and Spence, it’s the first picture we ever took together, Halloween almost 5 years ago now, at the FBI Halloween party.
October 2015
“Come on Y/n! How can you not love Halloween!”
“Spencer, what’s so great about Halloween!” I had asked laughing while filling up a plastic cup with punch. The party is fun, but all this dressing up just seems silly to me sometimes.
“It’s a uniquely American holiday! I mean, despite its obvious origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian All Saints’ Day, it really is a melting pot of various immigrants’ traditions and beliefs. It became a little more commercialized in the 1950s with trick-or-treat, and today it rivals only Christmas in terms of popularity!” I catch JJ’s eyes from across the room, she gives me a sympathetic look as I’m stuck in another of Reid’s constant statistics rants. Frankly, I don’t understand how the rest of the team can cut Reid off when he’s like this. He’s so genuinely excited by this holiday it makes my budding feelings for the man standing in front of me even stronger.
“Aw you guys look so cute! Say cheese!” the always-hyper voice of Penelope Garcia shouts from across the bullpen, snapping a quick picture of me and Spence before running after Derek. I glance down at my phone and see a text from Penelope “It doesn’t take a profiler to realize how gone you are for him Y/n” I blush profusely before continuing my conversation with Spencer.
Present day
Tearing my eyes away from that specific picture, I continue walking to the end of the hallway, painfully aware that the floorboards are squeaking with my every step, hoping Spencer’s just-finished-a-case level of exhaustion will prevent him from waking up. I pass the threshold into the kitchen and see the dim light of the clock over the stove, the red 2:15 blinking back at me through my tired eyes, I just can’t seem to get to sleep tonight, I’m sure Spencer would say something like
“Chronic insomnia is usually tied to an underlying mental or physical issue. Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of chronic insomnia but even if you do not suffer from chronic insomnia, 35% of Americans report their sleep quality as poor or only fair.” Dating a living encyclopedia definitely has its perks I suppose. I walk towards the fridge and glance at the refrigerator, my eyes traveling to a postcard held up by a doctor who magnet. Houston, Texas the postcard reads.
February 2017
Me and Spencer had been dating for less than 6 months but as we had known each other for over a year I was falling head over heels in love with him. The last few months hadn’t been easy, Spencer learned that his mother had been diagnosed with dementia and not a day had gone by where he didn’t try and find a cure, he had been traveling to Houston,Texas to talk with his mother’s doctor, he then brought her to live with him in Virginia, it had been difficult to say the least. My fingers traced the edges of the postcard I had received in the mail this morning, then flipped it over and saw Spencer’s familiar scraggly handwriting, it read
Dear Y/n,
I was able to speak with my mother’s doctors today, I feel as though there must be more I can be doing, she seems to be responding to the medicines but I am looking into new methods of treating the disease. I miss you so much Y/n, and I miss the rest of the team as well, tell them I will be back as soon as I can, I hate the thought of you putting yourself in danger on cases without me there, not because I doubt your ability to protect yourself, but because I doubt my ability to handle being 1,402 miles away from you. Please do not worry about me, if you’re anxiously awaiting my return, stop looking at the clock because remember, when looking at a clock our brains anticipate what we’ll see faster than we actually see it, so the clock seems to stop, Ill be back before you know it Y/n.
With all my love, Spencer Reid.
I giggle quietly at the added facts, only Spencer would describe the phenomenon of a clock appearing stopped when glanced out. I’m concerned about Spencer though, I’m not sure what is going on, but there is definitely something not right with him and if I didn’t trust him so much I would consider asking Garcia to do a background check to check the legitimacy of his travels to Houston.
Present Day
This postcard is extremely bittersweet, the next week we were all rushing to Mexico, responding to a call that Spencer was in jail, I was a nervous wreck, we all were, it was an extremely rough 6 months, truly showing me how strong the man I love is. I push some of those harsh memories out of my brain, choosing to focus on the happy memories if I ever want to fall asleep tonight. There’s a coffee machine next to the fridge, if there’s one thing Spencer loves more than me, its coffee, or rather coffee flavored sugar with the amount of sweetener he puts in his cup every day. Spencer smells like coffee, almost always, he struggles to sleep most nights and therefore is always hyped up on caffeine. It's actually played a huge role in our relationship.
August 2016
Dr. Spencer Reid and I are walking to the BAU together as we do every single day, we live close to each other, close enough that he walks about 5 minutes before arriving at my house, we then walk to the coffee shop on the way to the train station. We’re best friends, but I’ve been secretly in love with him for months. Walking into Quantico, we get the daily glances from Penelope, Derek, and JJ who are sitting together looking at pictures of Henry. Penelope always teases me that we’re both so in love with each other that everyone can see it but us, it’s ironic actually. As much as I don’t believe Pen, I have been noticing small changes in Spence’s behavior the last couple months, prompting me to, in the deepest corners of my mind, hope that maybe he feels the same way, our friendship is worth too much to risk him not feeling the same way though, so I’m forever stuck. We aren’t on a case right now, so there’s a lot of paperwork to be done, at one point during the day I get up, asking Spence if he wants another cup of coffee before walking to the break room. I return after a brief 5 minutes and am surprised to see Derek sitting in my seat, arguing with Spencer.
“Come on Pretty boy! We both know you’re in love with her! Just ask her out man, she’ll say yes!”
“Morgan, quiet down, she’ll be back any minute, besides I’m 35 and Y/n is 32, I’m not saying there would even be a chance that we would get married but the marriage success rate in the United States is only 50%, the worst it has ever been, that therefore shows the state of relationships in the country as well, I don’t want to ruin our friendship, I could never lose her. Besides, I’ve never been good with women.”
“But that’s the thing pretty boy, you don’t have to be good with women, you’re already good with Y/n, she’s the one who matters, just ask her out man, you’ll regret it if you don’t.” With that Morgan walks away and I take a deep breath, its now or never, walking over to Spencer and setting down the cup, whispering in his ear,
“You never know how good with women you are until you try, Spence” He looks up at me with wide eyes and licks his tongue across his lips, something he does often.
“Um, Y/n, y-you heard all of that?” I nod and I can see Spence take a deep breath just as I did before walking over, “W-would you like to um- go to dinner with me Y/n?”
“Hmm I don’t know…” Spencer’s face starts to fall as I quickly continue “Of course I would love to go to dinner with you silly, what did you think?” His smile lights up the entire room as he pulls me into a deep hug.
“Well finally you two. You couldn’t have waited just a few more months though, I assumed you lovebirds wouldn’t get it together until after Spencer’s birthday” Rossi says from behind us, passing a pretty hefty stack of bills to Penelope.
That was the day that started the greatest adventure of my life.
Present Day
I leave the kitchen and walk to the living room, a chilly breeze blows my hair slightly askew, its June in Virginia, warm enough that all I’m wearing is one of Spence’s oversized MIT shirts with pajama shorts, but the night air causes slight goosebumps on my skin, sending me into my memories once again.
August 2019
Spencer and I are sitting on the couch, participating in yet another Doctor Who marathon on the tv, it's a rare day off from work and the hot summer air fills our living room even with the fan blowing through the house. I lie my head in Spencer’s lap as we watch the tv and his strong hand strokes the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to pop up all over my arms. I giggle and glance up at him causing him to pointedly look at me asking me with his eyes “What is so funny that you dare distract from Doctor Who?”
“It’s just strange, its 95 degrees outside but your hands on my neck give me goosebumps like its a crisp fall day, isn’t that funny baby?”
“Of course the most common cause of goosebumps is cold weather, but when you’re experiencing extreme emotions, the human body responds in a variety of ways. Two common responses include increased electrical activity in the muscles just under the skin and increased depth or heaviness of breathing, resulting in goosebumps.” I roll my eyes at him and playfully swat his hair out of his eyes.
“Only you, Dr. Spencer Reid, would take a romantic statement and turn it into statistics, and I love you for that” he kisses me and well, the Doctor Who marathon was quickly turned off after that.
Present Day
As I turn the corner into the living room I smile warmly, it’s the room that Spencer and I like the best. There are book cases lining the back wall, Spencer loves books, I’d ask him what made his books so special and he’d tell me stories of his childhood, his mom reading him 15th century literature, I loved when Spence told me stories about his childhood.
December 2017
I knocked on the door of Spencer’s apartment, it wasn’t like him to be late for our daily walk to work especially because he had been on probation after his time in jail. I received no answer, prompting my concern as I unlocked the door with the key he had given me. I walked into his living room and saw him, Spencer was sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by books, running his fingers up and down the pages as he does when he’s reading at his top speed.
“Spence what on earth are you doing! Where did all these books come from? We aren’t on a case are we?”
“This year in the United States alone there have been 328,259 new books published, I read at 20,000 words per minute but at an average of 100,000 words per book, it would take me 27,377 hours to read all those books!”
“Oh Spencer how I love you, you don’t need to read every book ever published, are you going to start reading romance novels?” I tease while picking up a copy of 50 Shades of Gray from the ground at Spencer’s feet.
“Okay maybe you’re right, I just feel like I missed so much time when I was incarcerated, all that reading I could’ve done when I was trapped in that place, it's time I can never get back.”
“Spencer, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for you, but this is not going to help that feeling go away, let’s go to work.” Spencer nodded and began to tidy up the floor before following me out the door.
“Wait, Y/n, I have to ask you something that I’ve meant to say since I’ve gotten out of jail, and I might as well say it now, will you move in with me?” He’s chewing on his bottom lip again and I jump into his arms in excitement, kissing his hair as he caresses the back of my head.
“Of course I’ll move in with you! I love you, Dr. Spencer Reid.”
“And I love you Y/n Y/l/n.”
Present Day
I’m coming around to the opposite side of the living room now, sitting down on the couch in front of the fireplace. I love the fireplace in our house and I think secretly Spencer does too. We argued for days over the safety of having a fireplace in our house, Spencer of course supplied with enough knowledge of house fires to last him 5 lifetimes, “But Spencer it’ll be so cozy, doesn’t it sound romantic to cuddle up by the fire?” I had pleaded with him the day we toured the house for the first time.
“Y/n, there were an average of 357,400 residential fires per year in the US between 2012 and 2014, an average of 22,300 of those fires were caused by a fireplace or chimney!”
“But Spenceee, that’s only 6.24% of the residential house fires during that period, 43.9% were from cooking equipment, are you going to forbid us from having a kitchen too?” Hey, don’t underestimate how useful a cellphone calculator and a quick google search can be in winning an argument against your genius boyfriend. Obviously, we had ended up agreeing on the fireplace, but Spencer was still overly cautious whenever it was in use. As I stood in front of the fireplace I became hyper aware of the floorboards creaking in the hallway just as they had done when I left the room earlier, I felt a presence enter the room and the 6’1” frame of my boyfriend wrapped his long arms around me from behind while burying his face in the hollow of my shoulder.
“Hi, baby, what are you doing up so late? Are you feeling okay? Can’t seem to get to sleep?” I nod back at him and recline my head so it rests on his strong chest.
“I was just taking a trip down memory lane I suppose” I say before smiling up at the love of my life.
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spnirwin · 4 years
Text
Something Beautiful
Pairing: Eddie Diaz x Reader
Word Count: 1,900
Warnings: Mentions of death
A/N: Here’s a small dose of angst for your Saturday night! I apparently love making people feel a little sad, myself included. But hey, who doesn’t love a comforting Eddie?!
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“Seriously, you guys, just shut up!” you said to your friends. You rolled your eyes at the six people whose faces were scrunched together on your phone screen. They were all vying for your attention, shouting over one another for a chance to be heard. 
“All I’m saying is,” your friend Casey said as she ripped the phone away from the others, “that you should give it a chance. Even if it turns into a one night thing.”
You shook your head in response to her suggestion. “I am absolutely not joining Tinder. And besides, I don’t…” you trailed off into silence. 
“You have to try again eventually.” Casey’s voice had softened while she spoke. “You can’t hang on to Jack forever. It’s been almost a year now.”
“Listen, I’m just not ready, okay?” you said, frustration seeping into your voice. “I don’t want to talk about this right now, it’s almost time for my shift.”
Casey took the phone back over to the rest of your friends as you stepped out of your car. You grabbed your duffle from the backseat and began walking up the driveway to the 118. Your friends continued chattering at you as you stepped inside, reached your locker, and began setting your things inside. 
“Hey guys, I gotta go,” you said, interrupting the current story being told. After another minute full of goodbyes and “I love you’s,” you finally hung up the phone. 
“They seem like a rowdy bunch,” said a voice beside you. You jumped, not realizing anyone was there. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Eddie chuckled. 
“It’s okay,” you replied, slightly breathless. “Yeah, they’re loud but they’re pretty great. They’re my old crew from back in Florida, actually.”
“Oh.” Eddie raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. “I didn’t realize you still spoke to them.”
“We’re pretty close. A little distance isn’t going to change that.” You shrugged, turning to face Eddie fully. 
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you leave Florida then? It clearly wasn’t a work issue,” he said, gesturing towards your phone. He seemed genuinely curious, but you weren’t ready to give him a straight answer. 
“I was running,” you said softly. “But that’s a story for a different time.” 
Eddie gave you a knowing look. “If you ever want to talk about it, you know where to find me.”
You gave him a small smile before turning and walking out of the room. As you went you reached up, searching for the chain hanging around your neck. When you found it you gripped the ring it was attached to, an instant feeling of calm washing over you. 
The 118 had been the place you called home for three months now. You had been convinced that a fresh start was what you needed, but being away from all of your friends and family in Florida had taken its toll on you. Your new crew had seen you struggling and taken it upon themselves to help ease your transition.
The level of gratitude you felt towards them for that act of kindness was unparalleled, but you felt guilty at the same time. They had no idea they were only getting a surface level version of you. You had walls built up so high that they didn’t even have a chance of reaching the real you on the other side. 
“So, you got any fun plans after shift?” You looked up from the journal you were scribbling in as Buck slid into the seat across the table from you. You were sitting in the kitchen, with everyone else in various positions throughout the room. 
“Nope, not today,” you replied. “I’ll probably just go home and catch up on some things I’ve been putting off. Like the massive pile of laundry sitting next to the washing machine.”
“Oh, come on!” Buck threw his hands up in exasperation. “It’s Saturday, you should be doing something fun. At least come out with us tonight. We’re going over to that bar on 24th Street to grab some beers. It’ll be fun.” He waggled his eyebrows at you and you rolled your eyes in response. 
“You should definitely come!” Hen agreed as she walked by. 
“Yeah, you never hang out with us!” Chimney’s voice had a noticeable whine to it and you found yourself on the verge of another eyeroll. 
“Lay off guys,” Eddie piped up from his position on the couch. “She’ll join if she wants to. I’m sure you pressuring her doesn’t make her want to come any more.”
You shot him a grateful look and he smiled in response. When you turned back to Buck you found him smiling, a hopeful look in his eyes. 
“We’ll see,” you sighed, and, sensing victory, he pumped his fist in the air. 
You took a deep breath as you approached the bar. Pausing in front of the doors, you looked up at the sign. It was named “Jack’s,” and you shook your head. It seemed there was no escape no matter how many miles you traveled. 
With another deep inhale you reached forward and pulled open the door. You spotted everyone immediately. They were the largest, loudest group in the small bar. You stepped into the room and caught the eye of Bobby. He shouted and waved you over and you complied, crossing the room quickly. 
You slipped into an empty seat next to Eddie as everyone greeted you. As you got settled he leaned closer and whispered to you. “I’m glad you decided to come.”
“Me too,” you replied with a smile. 
As the night progressed you found yourself loosening up with every sip of beer. By the time 10:00 had rolled around, mostly everyone had dispersed to various corners of the room to play pool or darts. Only you and Eddie remained seated at the table, chairs now turned to face each other. 
“So, are you ready to tell me that story yet?” Eddie inquired, shooting you a look. 
You sighed, picking at the label on your beer bottle. “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“You’re gonna have to tell it eventually, right?” Why not now? It’s just us here.” You looked up at him and found him looking back at you earnestly. 
“Okay,” you said, setting your beer down on the table. You chose your words carefully, unsure of where to begin. “When I graduated from the academy four years ago, I got super lucky with my placement. I got put at a firehouse in Tampa, Station 154. The crew there was amazing. They welcomed me into their family instantly, not unlike you guys.” You paused, gesturing around you. 
Eddie nodded with a smile and you continued. “I fit in there well, and grew to love each and every member of that crew. Some more than others.” A short laugh huffed out of you. “I started dating one of the other firefighters, Jack. He was my entire world. It was the best day of my life when he proposed to me. And then he died.” 
The words rushed out of you, unstoppable now that they had started. “It was a car accident. He didn’t even get to go out on duty. No, instead it was a thunderstorm. He hydroplaned, and it sent him into the other lane.” 
Despite your best efforts at holding them back, tears began to drip slowly down your cheeks. Eddie reached out and took your hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “After that I saw him everywhere I looked. In our apartment, at work, at the grocery store. No matter where I went memories followed. I knew that if I wanted to survive Jack’s death I needed a fresh start. So I did what millions of people have done, and I came to LA.”
“Hey, I get it,” Eddie said. “I did the same exact thing, you know that.” You looked over at him and nodded. He had told you the story of how he and his son, Christopher, came to be in LA a while ago. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that. Losing someone you love is never easy, but I’m proud of you for having the strength to tell me about it.”
A few more tears slipped down your cheeks as you gave him a small smile. “Thanks for listening. I haven’t talked to anyone about it that didn’t experience it with me. Saying it out loud like that definitely helped.” 
“I’m glad,” he said. “Hey...I have an idea. Want to get out of here? I have something I want to show you that I think will make you feel a little better.”
Twenty minutes later you were walking with Eddie down Santa Monica Pier. Despite having been in California for months, you hadn’t explored anything outside of the neighborhood surrounding your apartment. While you looked around you in awe, Eddie looked only at you. Despite having gone through some trials of his own, he couldn’t believe how strong you continued to be after losing your fiancé. 
You spent three hours exploring the pier, walking around and talking. As the night stretched on towards 2 AM Eddie made the executive decision to head home. He drove you straight to your apartment, declaring that it was too late for you to drive and he would help you get your car in the morning. 
He pulled up to your apartment building and put his truck in park. You took off your seatbelt, simultaneously turning to face him. “Thank you for tonight. I didn’t realize how much I needed this. I haven’t felt this at peace in a long time.”
You reached out and laced your fingers through his, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. He smiled in response, no words needed. 
You pulled your hand away from his and opened the door. “Drive safe, okay?” you said before closing the door and walking into your building. 
He watched you walk up the steps and made sure the doors closed safely behind you before driving away. 
Over the course of the next several weeks you found yourself growing closer to Eddie with every waking minute you spent together. It was as if the night on the pier was a turning point and you were now sliding closer to something beautiful. 
You found yourself engaging in hidden looks and discreet touches throughout the course of your shifts together. Eddie was letting you take the reins, and for that you were appreciative. You hadn’t expected to be feeling this way for someone again so soon, but here you were anyway. 
You were once again standing outside of your apartment building, this time with Eddie joining you on the front steps. He was dropping you off after one of your now standard post-shift breakfasts. 
“Did you hear anything I just said?” he chuckled. 
“What?” You snapped back to reality and looked into Eddie’s amused eyes. “Sorry, I was just thinking about how I really want to kiss you right now.”
You took a step towards him and his smile faded into a more serious expression. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked, a concerned look in his eyes. 
You nodded as you stepped impossibly closer. “Positive.” 
He smiled as you leaned up and pressed your lips to his for the first time, a new beginning on the horizon. 
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twistednuns · 3 years
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August 2021
Eating the rainbow: I've started eating a large variety of fruit   for breakfast. Seeing so many different colours in my bowl makes me really happy.
Related: Perfectly ripe nectarines and peaches.
A trip to Austria with Lena and Sash // Ridiculous Spotify playlists. / Staying at a pharmacy loft in Graz with a great view. Right next to the Kunsthaus. An old book with botanical illustrations inspired my elaborate guestbook entry. / Sash making roasted cauliflower with parmesan and eggplant pasta for us. / Pumpkin seed ice-cream and a typical Styrian bean salad. / Walking through the tunnels, riding up the mountain in an elevator. Lizard friends. Walking back down. Orchards. / My new cat friend in Villach. I was very grumpy that evening so the ginger cat following me around for a while actually made my day. / Ossiacher See and another failed SUP attempt. Reading Murakami. Watching a thunderstorm.
Coming home. Beergarden with Sash and Yanch (who drove me home that day even though it was really far. Much appreciated.)
The book flea market in the middle of Bordeaux.
Driving to Cap Ferret, looking for film locations from the movie Les petits mouchoirs. The beautiful dunes bordering  the Atlantic Ocean. Jumping into the waves (after climbing a dune to reach plage d'Horizon which was so horribly exhausting I had to lie down for ten minutes before I could even think about going swimming). Then I got into a nasty current and got swept away further and further from the beach but luckily I remembered what do do in a situation like that from my diving training and managed to save myself.
My first time in Basque country. I absolutely needed to visit Bayonne because one of my favourite musicians is named after this city (at least I think he is). We also visited Biarritz that afternoon and drove on to Spain where we stayed in Bilbao for two nights. One thing I found really interesting is that there is a typical Basque font which is used everywhere, even on street signs.
Getting along famously with the receptionist (who spoke German - but the next day I managed to order coffee in Spanish... a proud moment)
The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. Especially Louise Bourgeois' Maman sculpture. I took a really great picture of the spider in the fog.
Late night shawarmas. Getting cheap fruit and olives for breakfast in a tiny deli.
Buying a ridiculous amount of canned beverages after the mountain incident/fight/tears. Turning the mood around. Having a nice dinner at a Basque restaurant.
A tour through Spanish mountain villages. Stopping in Guernica after listening to a Spanish podcast about Picasso's famous painting. Discovering a gorgeous beach with a little island by chance.
The house in the vineyards we randomly booked via email even though it wasn't available on Airbnb anymore. A gorgeous old manor in Sainte-Valière (which is usually an artist's residence) with our lovely host Eloise and her daughter. I wish we could've stayed there longer. I loved the old furniture, our green, velvet-upholstered bed and the fireplace in the kitchen. Eating dinner in the dark outside, playing Mastermind. Going on a nightly walk though the village, meeting most of the resident cats and driving the dogs crazy.
Going crazy at Géant. Looking at everything without R. rushing me. Buying everything I wanted.
A nightly picnic at the beach in Fréjus. Skinny-dipping under the full moon. A faint glow from an amusement park on the horizon. Fireworks from a distance. Strange lights from the fishermen.
Even though getting the car stuck in the sand and spending hours in the midday heat trying to push/dig it out (after a horribly stressful morning I might add) wasn't exactly fun, I kinda appreciate   challenging situations like that because they give me a sense of purpose. A concrete problem to fix. Focus and certainty. Do all anxious people perform better in a crisis? Anyway. Coming up with a plan and the kindness of strangers were definitely things to be greatful for.
Italian AutoGrill cappuccino. Still delicious.
Raphael is a better therapist than my actual therapist. We talked a lot on our drive home from France (it was really cosy - rainy weather, gloomy light and misty mountain roads through Switzerland; I was in the passenger seat with a pillow and blanket - fresh laundry smell makes me feel so happy) and I think he's on to something with his theories.
Making roasted chickpeas for the first time. And my favourite pasta sauce.
A lovely but very early dinner at a newly opened Italian restaurant with Lena and Christian on a sunny afternoon. The restaurant's name is Junge Römer - probably because of the Falco song?
Reading about the IFS therapy method and subpersonalities. Very relatable and comprehensible. It's interesting to try and figure out which split personalities you have within yourself; who they are, how they behave, interact and why they're there or what they're responsible for.
Warm milk with honey is always such a trip down memory lane. My grandma used to prepare this for me whenever we stayed overnight.
Wearing proper clothes for a change. Surrendering to the thought that summer is over (when it had never properly started in the first place). Putting on a dress, a headband and cowboy boots. A museum-food-cinema date with Sash.
The comfort of fall season. Thinking about wardrobe updates, learning opportunities, fresh starts. Pre-ordering books and watching movies with the appropriate vibes.
I love my popcorn half-and-half (salty/sweet); and I feel like it defines me as a person. Always in-between, stuck between extremes. Indecisive.
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mavstudentvoice · 3 years
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How Being a Maverick Changed Us
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It was the fall of freshman year when Rachael and I bumped into each other on our way to a Maverick football game. Slowly we learned that not only did we have the same name, but we also had the same major and minor and were in two classes together. Little did we know at that time, we would eventually take 22 classes together, be co-workers for an internship, and be president and vice president of the same club. Stories like ours is what college is all about, meeting friends and creating those connections. To wrap up our last blog on the Maverick Student Voice, we thought we would go down memory lane of our time as Mavericks.
What was your favorite semester?
Rachel: My favorite semester was probably my first semester of junior year. I was taking all classes from my major and minor, so the school part was a lot more enjoyable and interesting. That was also the semester I joined the club PRSSA, where I met a bunch of friends and got to go on trips to the city to tour PR firms. Also, Covid-19 had not taken over yet, so I still had somewhat of a social life and went to things on campus.
Rachael: I think my favorite semester was sophomore year of college. that’s when I started taking more classes in my major. I also moved into a house with my friends and that was a very exciting time.
What was the biggest lesson you learned from college?
Rachel: The biggest lesson I learned from college is to do what makes you happy. I think in high school a lot of times you are so worried about what others think of you, where in college you learn no one really cares. College made me realize there are so many different paths to take in life, and that I should choose what makes me the happiest and not others.
Rachael: I think my biggest lesson learned was to never take anything for granted. Some people don’t get the opportunity to get an education and attend a university like this.
What will you miss most about Minnesota State University, Mankato?
Rachel: The feeling of being part of a great community. At Minnesota State Mankato I made so many great friends and connections, and it really made me feel a part of something. I will also miss walking through the pretty campus and grabbing some yummy food from the Mav Ave Food Court.
Rachael: I’ll definitely miss my friends and the campus life at Minnesota State University, Mankato. With Covid I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time on campus but that was one of my favorite things about going here. I think the campus is beautiful and enjoyed hanging out with my friends there.
What was your favorite memory?
Rachel: Being in the dorms was something I will never forget and created a lot of favorite memories (hard to choose one). Whether it being walking down to get food at 11 p.m. or feeling like you’re having a sleepover with your friends every night. This is an experience that I think everyone should try out and experience!
Rachael: I think one of my favorite memories as a Maverick was attending my first football game. Everyone was so excited and ready to cheer on the Mavs. I love getting ready in my Maverick gear and walking to the stadium. During that game I met friends and roommates that will be in my life forever!
If you could give advice to any future Mavericks, what would it be?
Rachel: My advice would be to do everything. Take advantage of all the fun activities on campus, it is a great way to make friends and they really are fun! Everyone goes into college not really knowing what they are doing, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask questions. People are not lying when they say they are the fastest four years of your life, so enjoy every moment and make some great memories.
Rachael: I definitely would tell future Mavericks to savor every minute that you can. These four years go by super fast and it feels like I was just moving into the dorms yesterday. I'd say don’t be afraid to reach out and move beyond your comfort zone. There are dozens of opportunities out there if you just take the chance! Also build as many connections as you can with your peers and teachers because they can help you with future career possibilities.
Freshman Year:
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Senior year:
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-Rachel & Rachael
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war-sword · 5 years
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𝚗̶𝚘̶ 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕
summary: Y/N is Draco’s angel, his true love, sent to turn his life around. Nothing could ever break them apart. A/N: this was my alternative version of my winter exchange fic, but since it’s no longer for that i took out the Christmas elements, but you can still see the prompt I had in it (snow). hopefully it’s not too obvious tho, haha. words: 2.3k taglist: @clockworkherondale @accio-rogers @mayorofzillyhoo @diademofdraco @drawlfoy @ladybuginthetardis @lushlavenderskies @socontagiousimagines @acciodracoo @eltanin-malfoy @silentexplorer18 @shawn-is-bruh @heavenlycat567
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Draco Malfoy loved Y/N L/N.
Their love had been rather unconventional. Draco could still remember their younger years in school, the days when they were younger and he definitely did not like her. Y/N was sweet as sugar, and everyday she’d take the acid words Draco would throw at her and turn them to cotton candy. He used to hate her for it. Now, it was one of his favorite things about her. 
She would return his sneers with a smile. Drive his storm clouds away with sunshine. It was a battle to see who would crack first, and Draco vowed to disturb the peaceful waters of Y/N’s personality for as long as they were in school.
Until one day, he didn’t.
It was like waking up from a dream. What once had been effortless able to call atrocious in every way, Y/N’s features left him at a loss for words, for how could he describe such beauty? Her honeyed voice slowly sounded less annoying, and became downright intoxicating. Hands so holdable and lips so kissable. Y/N turned from the object of his loathing to one of devotion. 
Draco, who never got nervous, had a heartbeat of a mile a minute the day he decided was time to relay this strange new development to Y/N herself. He could seek no comfort in the solace of his friends, who all thought he was losing his mind. Pansy especially liked to preach he’d lost his mind, and Draco was terrified that was exactly what Y/N would say when he told her. In a quiet corner of the castle, Draco stumbled over his words trying to describe the complicated transformation that had occurred in his heart, while Y/N waited ever so patiently with a confused look on her face. He decided the only way he could ever explain it all was to take her face into his hands, and kiss her. 
“I’ve waited months to do that,” Draco had said as they pulled apart.
“I’ve waited forever,” Y/N replied.
Y/N pulled Draco into her sunshine. She enthusiastically introduced him to all her favorite pastimes–– feeding the fish in the Great Lake, finding cozy nooks in the castle to drink tea in, drawing outside on the lawn, or climbing the most inviting trees. Draco would hold onto her tight when she would squeal at the sight of the Giant Squid, and lay beside her while she would sketch him as he napped. She never wanted to share her drawings, but sometimes when she left it alone, he would sneak a peek. She was so talented. Draco called her his angel, sent from Heaven to make all his dark days light again, and he loved to tell her so. 
As the years passed, Draco slowly had to give up on trying to get his friends to accept Y/N. After a particularly raucous argument with Pansy in the common room one night, Pansy had screamed at Draco they couldn’t be friends anymore, if he was never going to wake up to Y/N’s poisonous psyche.
“I’ve told you time and time again, there is something wrong with her! She’s hiding something! I know it! What does a girl like her want with someone like you?!” Pansy screeched.
“Don’t talk about her like that!” Draco roared back. “It’s fine if you don’t like her! You never even had to talk to her, but it’s been almost two years, Pansy, and if you can’t even glance at us without a nasty look on your face then leave us both alone.”
Pansy was fuming. “Do you love her Draco? Actually? Because you used to hate her guts.”
“Why would I ever lie about that? Y/N is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, all you’ve ever been was a pain in my ass.”
“Then do me a favor and don’t ever talk to me again,” she sneered. “And especially don’t come running when it falls apart.”
Draco’s last year at Hogwarts had been rough, being totally alienated from his housemates. As angry as Draco was with Pansy for turning the rest of his friends against him was well, he knew he would always have Y/N. Every evening he knew he could count on her for a smile and a kiss that he swore could erase all his bad memories.
“I’m going to marry you one day, Y/N,” Draco said plainly one day as they relaxed in one of their favorite spots by the lake. 
Y/N lifted her head from where it was resting on his chest. “Really? Are you being serious?”
“Of course, angel,” he said, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I swear everytime I look at you it’s like I’ve never been more in love with you.”
The look of happiness on Y/N’s face could have probably gotten him through the rest of his life.
Draco didn’t mind that she changed him. His face became dotted with freckles with all of his newly spent time outside. He treasured every nick and scar that now covered his hands from his and Y/N’s adventures. On a larger scale, he would be forever grateful that Y/N had turned his opinions around about muggles and muggleborns. Y/N made him a better person, he just knew it. She made him whole.
Now, out of school, Draco and Y/N had a life of their own in a house together. They ate their dinner by the fire, and in the evenings Y/N would make him his tea just how he liked it before bed. In the days, Y/N had her dream job of working as a seamstress, and Draco was more than happy to help her in the shop with bookkeeping. He never wanted to be too far from her.
One night, Draco watched Y/N dance around the kitchen as she cooked, completely entranced by the sight of her. He especially loved the sight of the sparkling diamond on her ring finger, as she delicately dipped it into the soup to give it a taste. They still had a few months to go (Y/N wanted a spring wedding), but Draco felt like it couldn’t come fast enough. 
Unable to restrain himself any longer, he jumped up to stand behind her and wrap his arms about her waist. He planted an open-mouthed kiss on her neck that made her giggle. 
“It smells delicious, angel.” 
“It’ll be ready soon,” she says, offering him a taste. Draco hums into her ear.
“Tastes even better than I thought.”
Y/N pulls bread, fresh from the oven. They have their warm meal at the table while cold wind swirls around outside the house. They eat their meal in mostly comfortable silence, and as they’re finishing Draco notices something out the window. “Y/N, look! It’s finally snowing.”
“What, really?” She runs from the kitchen where she was getting another slice of bread to join him at the window. Sure enough, white flakes are beginning to come down.
Draco grabs her hand. “Let’s go out. You love snow!”
Y/N breaks out into a grin. “Okay. Yes!”
They break out into giggles as they throw on their coats and hats and scarves, stumbling into each other as they pull on their thick winter boots. They trapse outside, and Y/N giddily lifts her hands to the sky to catch the flakes on her mittens. “Draco, look, it’s already starting to stick! We’ll have so much snow by the morning!”
Draco’s chest swells with affection as he watches his fianceé spin in circles. “Yeah, we probably will. Come on, let’s walk around while it comes down,” he says, reaching out a hand. Y/N takes it and they start to walk down the lane from their house to the street.
While it’s freezing outside and Draco can no longer feel his face, it’s all worth it to see Y/N get excited about the snow beginning to cover the ground. By the time they finish their walk and are making their way back to the house, several inches have fallen and the sun is setting, nearly dark. The lights that are still on in their house cast a warm glow across the now-white ground. Y/N throws herself down onto the lawn on her back, and starts to swish her arms and legs. “Dray, come make a snow angel with me.”
Instead of laying down next to her, Draco gets down and lays right on top of her. Y/N laughs and tries to push him off, but he insists on peppering her with kisses. “You’re my snow angel,” he says, pulling back to admire her, cheeks and nose flushed from the cold. 
“I love you so much.” Y/N reaches up to brush some snow from his hair. “You look so pretty in this light…” she trails off, her grin slipping from her face. “Draco, what time is it?”
“Um, I’m not sure.” He rolls to the side and pushes up the sleeve of his coat to look at his watch. “Nearly eight. You want to go in?”
Y/N scrambles to her feet and holds her arms out to offer to help him up. “Yes, please. Come on, it’s time for tea and bed.”
“What’s wrong? We’re having fun,” he says reassuringly. Y/N just grabs his wrists and hauls him up, rushing towards the house. 
“Nothing!’ I’m just… cold! I’m cold. Please, let’s go in.”
“Um, alright. Let me get some more wood to put on the fire.” 
“No, it’s okay! I’m sure it’s fine, let’s just go in.” Draco allows her to pull him back inside the house. She yanks off her jacket and kicks her boots off at the same time, bolting into the kitchen.
Draco lets out a chuckle, slowly taking off his layers. “Y/N what’s the rush?” He peeks around the corner to see Y/N in the kitchen, frantically waving her wand to summon teacups and tea bags. He turns back to the hall closet, shaking his head, and starts to put her haphazardly scattered clothes away in the closet. 
By the time he gets to her discarded hat, he finds himself staring at it with a sort of disconnected recognition. He knows this hat. The texture and pattern are familiar, so many memories attached as his fingers brush across the wool. And yet, he’s also seeing it for the first time. Why does he know this hat. 
He’s pulled from his thoughts by the sound and sight of Y/N sliding into the entryway, tea sloshing over the side of the cup. Draco turns slowly from looking at the hat in his hands to looking at her. 
“Draco, here–” She shoves the tea in his direction. The cup is ratting on its saucer in her shaking hands. 
Everything is coming into sharper focus now. Y/N’s frantic face, her shallow breaths. His nostrils are filled with a familiar and homely scent, but there’s nothing from his childhood it reminds him of. Draco ignores Y/N’s pleas to take the tea and pushes her aside to walk into the living room.
It’s covered in him. Moving photographs of him and Y/N in frames. His jumper he’d had since 6th year is draped over the back of a chair. Dishware he remembers receiving from his mother are stacked clean, next to the sink. Dishware he’d gotten when he’d moved in with Y/N.
All these memories, so clear in his mind, yet no recollection of them actually happening. Draco feels like he’s been transplanted into someone else’s consciousness. No, someone else is in his.
He turns again, where Y/N still stands in the entryway. Her eyes are now filled with tears.
“Y/N, what am I doing here?” A heavenly aroma wafts from the cup she’s now white-knuckle gripping. “Y/N,” Draco asks again, more forceful this time. “Why. Am. I. Here.”
“Draco,” she stammers, her voice cracking. “P-please…. Please just drink the tea.”
Draco starts to back away from her. Reality is hitting him fully now– the shiny diamond winking on her left hand, books that were his from the Manor sitting on the shelves. And so, so many photos. “You’ve been drugging me. You’ve been giving me amortentia.”
The china slips from Y/N’s hands, shattering on the floor in a deadly starburst of porcelain and potion. She sinks to her knees, her eyes taking on the vacant look that Draco’s held just moments ago. “I’m sorry, I just wanted–”
“Me,” Draco snarls, reaching for his wand in his pocket. “You just wanted me. You’re sick.”
Y/N had started to sob. “There was no other way! I-I could n-never get you to notice me.”
“BECAUSE I HATED YOU! I HATE YOU!” Draco yelled. Y/N curled even further into herself, laying down on the floor in a ball.
Draco didn’t turn his back on her, but he grabbed as many things as he recognized as his into his arms. He moved back towards the entryway to put his shoes back on, shaking with rage at Y/N and also fear of having nearly five years of his life taken from him. Y/N reached out as he walked past to brush his leg, and he pulled it away as fast as he could. “Don’t touch me,” he snarled.
“Draco please, you have to remember,” she begged, eyes red from crying, pieces of broken teacup stuck to her hands. “You love me. You tell me all the time.”
“No, I do not. I never have, and I never will. And if I ever see you again, I swear to Merlin I’ll kill you myself.”
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soft-dyke-omo · 4 years
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Omovember in August - Day 1: Desperate In A Vehicle
Pairing: Supercorp
If you’ve somehow stumbled upon this fic not knowing what omorashi is despite me not tagging the pairing - it’s about Lena pissing herself. Twice. Don’t look.
As she sat there, stewing in her own misery and the awkward silence that permeated the car, feeling another sharp pulse from her bladder that decided that actually, it hadn’t had enough the first time it emptied into her pants about ten minutes ago, Lena felt it was safe to assume this was one of the worst days of her life.
Certainly the day hadn’t begun as awful as it ended – it had begun rather serenely, with Kara sprawled halfway across her chest, snoring gently. Her girlfriend had always been a starfish sleeper. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to wake her for a good thirty minutes – not after all she’d been through the day before. Non-stop emergencies, rogue aliens, blowing out her powers...when Alex had told her to make sure Kara gets a nice, stress-free day to recuperate or die trying, she hadn’t hesitated a second to swear to do so.
And so Kara and her had compiled a list – things they’d always wanted to do, but hadn’t yet been able to because of superpowers or a strict Luthor upbringing. Truth be told, it was mostly Kara supplying the ideas, and Lena trusting her, completely, because even if the experience of laser tag sounded a lot like “sweaty people playing with toy guns in the dark” and she failed to see the appeal of it, she’d always say yes to spending more time with her girlfriend.
So they took Alex’ car for the day (“not a dent, Alex, I promise!”) and they were off to the races.
And Lena was ready to admit that maybe she’d judged Kara’s ideas too harshly. There was something about just letting go for a day and letting Kara win her stuffed animals at a fun fair, consuming copious amounts of slushies (maybe too many, but what was a lesbian to do when Kara insisted on kissing it better every time she got brain freeze) and giving into her competitive streak to absolutely eviscerate an unpowered Kara at laser tag.
Maybe she should have known better. Because “best of three” quickly turned into “best of five”, and then “please just one more round Lena”, even though the slushies in her bladder definitely started making themselves known by now.
“One more round”, she agreed, shifting her balance from foot to foot. “But then we need to go.”
Then I need to go.
The one more round turned out far harder than it had seemed at face value, because now Lena had to deal with getting distracted by the insistent signals her bladder kept sending. Normally it was easier to anticipate Kara’s next move, her being the type to charge in heroically and ask questions later, but now she had to factor in regular breaks to cross her legs and compose herself. Why on earth did she let it get so bad in the first place? Okay. She had to concentrate. The laser tag arena was littered with brightly coloured obstacles to crouch under or take cover behind, broken up only by one main lane straight down the middle and two smaller lanes circling around the area in its entirety. Usually these smaller lanes were where Kara liked to attack from the most, but during their most recent plays she’d started to branch out a bit more. Lena had to be on guard.
There! A flash of blonde hair, about 15 metres away. Her girlfriend was keeping lookout with great concentration, even from so far away Lena could see the furrow in her brow. She was also slowly stalking her way over to were Lena was ducked behind cover. Immediately she threw herself into the shadow of a larger object that would give her a better chance at ambushing Kara – she regretted her decision at once as the impact jostled her bladder and she felt herself leak for just a fraction of a second.
She blanched, drawing her knees to her chest and holding herself with one hand as her bladder continued to pulse painfully. Shit, please not again. She wasn’t keen on reliving the incident of her first date with Kara, where she’d wet herself at the dinner table. She cringed in humiliation at the memory, even though Kara had assured her time and time again that it was okay, and she didn’t think any less of her for having an accident. Well, Kara might not, but Lena definitely did. And the prospect of a second accident so soon after the first chilled her to the bone – God, Kara would think her incontinent.
Lena grit her teeth and rocked against her hand as subtly as she could until the urge subsided enough for her to trust herself to take her hand away. At least she couldn’t yet feel a wet spot on her pants. Now she just had to get her head back in the game-
“Gotcha!”
Lena jumped in surprise when she saw Kara towering over her, triumphant, pretending to blow smoke off of the toy gun, Lena’s vest beeping to signal she’d lost this round.
“I told you I could do it! You should have seen your face!”, she cheered, and, as Lena still hadn’t gotten up yet, added: “Are you okay, baby?”
Lena swallowed dryly, thanking whatever gods were looking out for her for not having lost complete control because of the shock.
“I’m fine, darling, I just fell on my ankle awkwardly.”
Liar! She didn’t know why she kept doing this to herself. Why was it so hard to just ask Kara to take a break so she could go to the bathroom?
“Are you okay? Do you want me to have a look at your ankle?” Kara asked, before remembering that she didn’t have X-Ray vision. “Or, well, have someone else have a look at your ankle.”
“I’m fine, darling”, Lena assuaged, despite her continuously mounting panic. “Help me up?”
The worry didn’t leave Kara’s face as she extended a hand to pull her girlfriend to her feet, especially not at the hiss that escaped Lena’s clenched teeth – not from pain, as Kara misconstrued it without a doubt, but from the effort of stopping the second leak she lost the moment Kara hoisted her upright.
“Do you need me to help you walk?”, Kara asked.
Lena gave her her best approximation of a smile while clenching her thighs against the pulsing ache of her bladder.
“I’m sure I’ll make it to the car on my own”, she said, but in truth she was unsure whether she’d make it to the car at all. Kara nodded, and hand in hand they made their way out of the arena. Every couple of steps Lena could feel another leak, and she was grateful for the black jeans she was wearing because she was sure that by now she must have saturated her underwear. Her heart was beating in a wild panic that for once in her life Kara’s dampened powers caused her to be unaware of her girlfriend’s plight. This couldn’t happen again, not so soon after the first time she’d disgraced herself. Kara dragged her more through the lobby than she walked, and the spurts she was losing kept growing larger and larger and this couldn’t be happening…
“Actually...I need to use the bathroom before we go.”
She couldn’t stomach looking Kara in the eyes. She could only imagine how Kara must be seconds away from praising her for voicing her needs in time or something equally embarrassing. Her voice already echoed in her head: See, we’re making progress already!
She turned without a further word and made her way to the bathrooms as quickly as possible without outright running, but when she arrived her heart sank once more: The queue was dishearteningly long and moving at a snails pace, while the painful pulses of desperation kept building and building. At least being able to stand still and cross her legs gave Lena some reprieve. She snuck a hand between her legs to check the wetness on her pants and froze when she felt the damp patch expanding to the size of a fist over her right thigh. Lena caught her self chewing on her lower lip, an anxious habit she’d long since thought she’d kicked. She surreptitiously tried to check the stain, she’d thought it fairly invisible until now, but in the harsh, flickering neon light she suddenly wasn’t so sure. God, what if someone saw – what if someone recognized her?
The thought alone made her nauseous with anxiety. She could already see the headlines in front of her mind’s eye:
Luthor’s Little Accident: Luthor Heiress Wets Herself In Dingy Laser Tag Arena Bathroom.
Her breath is coming in short, panicked bursts now, the queue still hasn’t moved an inch and to make everything worse she can feel a new burst of wetness creep down her inner thigh.
It’s too much. She feels like there are dozens of eyes on her, she can feel hot tears welling up and she can’t breathe, she has to leave, now.
She turns on her heels and pushes past the women that have already queued up behind her, keeping her eyes to the ground.
“Good to go?”, Kara asked her, cheerily, as Lena rejoined her in the lobby. The joy quickly drained from her girlfriend’s face when she saw Lena’s expression, and the CEO didn’t miss the fact Kara’s eyes flitted down to her pants to catch any signs of an accident.
“Queue was too long, let’s just go home.”, Lena hissed.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes I’m sure!”, Lena snapped, and immediately regretted it.
“I’m sorry, darling, but can we please hurry?” She hated how desperate she sounded, hated the open pity Kara regarded her with.
“Of course”, Kara murmured, taking her hand again and leading her out onto the parking lot. Lena followed behind, every single muscle in her body tense, and yet she kept losing the fight. She could feel dampness all the way down to her mid-thigh now, cooling rapidly in the late summer air outside, and even more pathetically, tears were leaking down her face from the effort, the pain, the humiliation of it all…
“Hey, hey Lena.” Lena sniffed, trying to put on a brave face. She couldn’t pretend anymore: There was no way she’d make it. She couldn’t even see anymore, tears blurring her vision. The sudden warmth of being enveloped in a firm embrace by her girlfriend. “Kara”, she cried out, an exclamation somewhere between let me go and I can’t hold it and help me.
“Lena, it’s okay. It’s okay.”, Kara murmured into the crown of her head, and Lena wanted to argue, to fight, to tell her that it was anything but okay, but her body seemed to take Kara’s permission and run with it. With one final sob her muscles gave out, her saturated underwear not doing anything to stop the steady stream soaking her pants and filling her shoes, puddling at her feet. And still, despite the horrid situation she’d found herself in, she couldn’t fight the effect that Kara’s voice still crooning soothing words into her ear had on her, she felt herself close her eyes and relax into the relief almost against her will, sagging heavily against Kara’s frame. Distantly she was aware of Kara gently manoeuvring them, shielding Lena from view with her body on one side and Alex’ van from the other. The gratitude that washed over Lena was almost, almost enough to eclipse the burning shame at pissing herself on a date with Kara again. Eventually, it was all over, and Lena disentangled herself, blushing furiously as she was faced with the evidence of her accident she’d left on Kara’s pants. God, she’d pissed all over her girlfriend!
“Kara, I’m so, so sorry -” she told the ground. The mere act of looking at Kara seemed an impossible task to her. Kara, of course, knew her all to well. Gently, she took Lena’s chin in a butterfly-soft hold.
“I told you it’s okay, baby, You couldn’t help it, it’s not your fault the line was so long.” She mercifully emitted the fact that Lena could have requested a break hours ago before waiting a few minutes in line would even have been a problem.
“Hold tight, I’ll see if Alex has any plastic bags for us to sit on.” Kara gave her one last kiss to her forehead before scurrying to the back of the van to rifle through the trunk. Lena leant against the side of the car, so exhausted by her struggle her knees didn’t support her weight anymore.
“Fuck”, she breathed out, burying her head in her hands. “Fuck.”
Kara procured two plastic bags only moments later, and Lena tried to ignore both the squelching of her shoes with every step she took towards the passenger seat, as well as the crinkle of the plastic bag protecting the seat, and the sour smell of urine that clung to her. She let her head loll back against the seat. At least it was over.
Ten minutes later, and it was far from over. Just her luck. The ache came back, suddenly and with force, as if she hadn’t gone at all. And the urgency grew fast, faster than Lena thought possible. She must have really overtaxed her muscles this time. She forced herself to breathe deeply, calmly, slowly fanning her legs.
Kara took her eyes off the road for a second to shoot her a sympathetic smile.
“We’ll be at your apartment soon, and then you’ll get out of these clothes. Don’t even worry about it.”
Lena had no fight left in her to even lash out. She’d wet her pants twice in Kara’s company, there wasn’t much dignity to be saved.
“It’s not that”, she said in a small voice. “I – I have to go again.”
“Again?”, Kara blurted out. Embarrassment displayed itself hot and bright red on Lena’s face.
“Sorry”, Kara mumbled sheepishly. “I don’t think I can pull over anywhere, we’re in the middle of the city, but I promise it’ll only take ten more minutes until we’re there.”
Twenty, with this traffic, Lena thought bitterly.
“Hey”, Kara said, reaching over to place a comforting hand on Lena’s thigh, not even flinching at the sodden state of the fabric. “You can make it.”
Lena didn’t answer. She threw dignity to the wind and buried both of her hands in her clammy crotch, grinding against them to somehow persuade her body to just hold out until they’ve reached the privacy of her apartment. She couldn’t help the desperate sounds escaping her lips, hunched over in her seat because every wave of desperation brought a stabbing pain and -
“Baby, don’t hurt yourself.”
Lena couldn’t answer, couldn’t take an ounce of focus away from keeping Alex’ seat dry.
There was a sigh that carried a hint of exasperation with it, then Kara’s hand returned, her touch moving from a gentle reassurance on her thigh to soft, but insisting pressure on her abdomen. Immediate panic gripped Lena with an icy grasp. She frantically tried to push Kara’s arm away, but the second she moved her hand from between her legs an uncontrollable stream escapes her, warmth blossoming through the cold and wet material. With a whine, she shoves her hands back again, managing to stop the impending disaster just so.
But the gentle pressure on her abdomen returned, increasing.
“Kara, don’t, I’ll wet myself!”, she cried, but Kara shushed her.
“Better than hurting yourself.”
Lena knew she was fighting a losing battle, infrequent leaks turning very, very frequent, having long since completely re-saturated the seat of her pants, but that didn’t mean she was done fighting. She couldn’t ruin Kara’s sister’s seat, how would Alex ever look her in the eye again without seeing the same woman who wet herself twice in one day?
Kara started pushing harder against her bladder, and to Lena’s horror no amount of clenching and grinding could prevent the inevitable from happening.
“Kara – Kara I can’t-” she choked out, urine now steadily spilling over the seat and pattering onto the mat below.
“I know baby, I know. Just let it out”, Kara hummed, and it was over.
“’M sorry”, was all she could say before finally, her body relaxed, hot liquid streaming through her fingers she hadn’t had the presence of mind to remove. All in all, she had barely more than 5 seconds of urine left in her, and somehow, this made her humiliation even worse. This was it? And still she couldn’t hold it for ten more minutes?
“Lena, you’re doing it again.”, Kara chided softly. “Don’t beat yourself up over an accident.”
Lena nodded, not trusting her voice to respond, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt and cringing when she noticed how she’d wet them from the wrist to mid-forearm in her desperate attempts to hold herself.
“Tell Alex I’ll pay for cleaning.” There was no way to hide it from even her girlfriend’s sister anymore.
“Alex?” Kara asked, as if only now remembering whom the car they were sitting in, that Lena just soiled, belonged to.
“Oh, don’t worry about Alex. I’ll just tell her that I misjudged my human holding abilities and it got so bad you had to drive me or I would have crashed into the next wall. Still didn’t end up making it.”
Lena balked.
“Kara, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s no problem! Alex would be far more likely to believe I’d had an accident because of having burned out my powers anyway – it’s not the first time it’s happened.”
Lena turned to regard her girlfriend who was now fully focusing on the road again. There was not a hint of embarrassment on her face, almost as if what she’d been saying again and again was true:
That it wasn’t that big a deal.
For once in her life Lena could almost believe it.
44 notes · View notes
geekygoddesss · 5 years
Text
B.F.F (Part 3)
Summary: Journey through the life of a girl whose heart belongs to her best friend, but he doesn’t feel the same way.
Words: 5.8k
Taglist: @dreamer-loves-lyrics​  @5sosfanfix​ @calssunflower​ @madformichael​
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“I can’t believe you’re dragging me into this”
Those were the words she has heard repeatedly for the past ten minutes ever since they got inside the Range Rover parked outside her door, and most likely, those were the words she would hear for the whole ride if Luke continued trying to be this annoying. Because apparently, this was his way of starting the hungover morning with a kick, being grumpy. 
If anyone asked, she definitely saw this as some sort of coping mechanism on his behalf, seems that he had chosen a very bad night for going out and getting drunk and now he was dealing with all of the consequences, he was tired, with a headache and with the most makeup he’s ever worn to cover up his decrepit face, going to work was torture for him and whining out to his best friend was turning into torture for her, but he had no other option than to suck it up and show up like this, after all, he would probably not be the only one dealing with the same thing, but it’s kind of his fault that this is even happening, he should have known better.
“It’s not that bad” (Y/n) shrugged, gripping on the steering wheel tightly and keeping her eyes on the road. Luke groaned, being already tired of her optimism, trying to see the brighter side on stuff he did not want to do. She just laughed “It’s not like you can turn your back on your job, buddy” she teased, leaning to the side and pinching his arm. Hopefully, that would wake him. 
He was starting to get more annoyed by the second and for her it was both, concerning and hilarious. As much as she loved Luke in general, she hated to see him upset, all she wanted was to bright him up a little bit before having to face any sort of camera. “Press rounds are not fun, their not even fun interviews, these people work for things my grandma would watch”  he continued whining as he leaned his head on the window, his shades weighing heavily on the bridge of his nose and covering his annoyed look. 
Poor baby, he is just so hungover. “You need promoting” she added, again, trying to see the brightest side of it all “I’m sure there will be a couple fun ones”  
She tried to give Luke at least one comforting look, but driving in the middle of the Los Angeles traffic was hard enough, the last thing she needed was an accident when they were so short on time and with Luke’s distractive whining and the fact the was surrounded by cars, it was impossible to take her eyes out the rode for at least two seconds. 
“Since when is daily news fun?” he asked, raising both of his eyebrows in question. 
She really didn’t know how to answer that because, in a way, he was right. 
This was really not his morning, he was a grumpy beast, he was supposed to be in the studio in about two hours, between the hungover and having to stick with (Y/n) for the few errands she had to do instead of taking some time to sleep, he could feel his stress growing and this was not even the most intense part of the day, it was yet to come. At least he had the relief of having her with him, making sure he wouldn’t fuck up, not today. “Please” (Y/n) said, almost begging him, suddenly not feeling like listening to his whining anymore. 
There is something inside of her telling her that maybe this was the perfect chance to grab his hand and comfort him, run her thumb over his skin and telling him he will do his best today, like always; but she couldn’t do that, she was limited to keep her hands on the wheel and try to let her words calm him down, which seemed to do not the best job. 
“Also, I can’t believe you’re driving my car” He said, directly referring to her in his thread of complaints “when I am going to drive your car?” 
This made her laugh for so many reasons.
 She was not going to lie, driving Luke’s car was kind of cool, it was bigger, fancier and it had the best speakers for music, which was always for her benefits, she had all the rights for DJ-ing in his car and vice versa, it was their deal; but that was not the reason why she decided she would drive his car today, she thought it would be better for him, she would be driving him around all day, carrying a kid and possibly a bunch of groceries, driving big distances and from one point to another around city, his car would handle it better than her second-hand trash. 
No shade for that, she loved her car, but it was starting to weigh on her the fact that it would be soon the time to turn it into actual trash and get a new one.  
“Probably when you don’t have a couple speeding tickets behind you” she said sassily looking at him for a very short second “I want my record clean” 
He laughed, almost as he couldn’t believe she just mentioned that. “you’re such a baby” he teased, showing her his tongue for a second. She leaned in to pinch his arm again, that was for teasing her. “ouch” he laughed again, moving back from her touch “You’re mean”
“Shut up” she laughed, looking over at him once she could and raising her brows.“Want to switch seats?” she offered as if she was even serious. 
Hungover Luke driver seemed like the worst idea ever, almost as bad as a DLD, Drunk Luke Driver, both of those concepts either could die or take a hike, while he was in those states, he could consider driving a banned activity for the sake of everyone’s safety, especially his own. 
Not like he didn’t know that anyways, his best friend was the one person that took charge to remind him that every time; but he still pretended to consider the option, cocking his head to the side and acting pensively. Dork. 
“Nah, I’m good” he said, leaning his head on the window and shutting his eyes closed “My head is killing me” he whined once again, letting out the biggest sigh. 
Predictable. Very predictable. 
“Of course” She chuckled, turning the wheel to drive into the highway “Are you done complaining? I don’t need this much whining to get Joe” she asked nicely, now being serious on her petition, she would like her brother to not ask questions later on. 
“No, I’m done” He assured her, making himself comfortable once and for all. “Driving my way to public torture, hurray” 
His monotone tone just set up a whole mood, again, very predictable. She couldn’t help but laugh at her dork of a friend. Oh, how she loves him. 
She was thankful that her home wasn’t actually that far from the city, if not, Luke would be acting ten times worse than he already was, sometimes he could be kind of a diva.
 Today was one of those days that were exclusively made for her to take care of her little brother, who would spend time with her at least once a week and who she loved to death, no one in the world would make her change her plans of hanging out with her brother, she loved it way too much. That was just why she has decided it might have been a good idea to pick him up earlier and steal a couple of minutes from Luke’s busy agenda to drive all the way to her home. It would make a ton of things easier later on, she might as well get over with these now. 
The whole drive there was tranquil and smooth, she took not only the fastest but the less congested road, which got them there twice as fast, it was perfect, that would make up for the time they will lose on the way to the studios to drop the star of the show. Coming here at this time was the perfect timing. 
Every time she drives into her street something warm started to grow in her chest and she loved that feeling, this was a place filled with good memories and now that she didn’t spend as much time here as before, each time here was like walking down memory lane and disconnecting, at least for a couple minutes. She loved entering that street, it was always looking the same; kids playing around the streets, gardens shining with green grass and colorful flowers, adults here and there having conversations, walking their dogs, it was a nice sight to see, every time she came here it was a moment of mental relaxation. 
Out of all houses, hers was the biggest, the most noticeable one of the bunch but also the oldest. It has been around ever since her mom moved to the states, which was already quite a while, she wasn’t even born yet, her parents didn’t know each other's existence but still, it’s always been her dad’s property, her whole life has been built around this place and somehow she was never tired of looking at it or being there.  It was the typical and perfect LA house, she loved it, she always would. 
Pulling into her garage with expertise almost seemed like a reminder of how she should come here more often, this last month has been so busy that she has had to reduce her visits to just a couple and ask her parents to drive Joe over to her place, it was in a way very weird to not be at her home as often as she’d like. It seemed like a reminder because right when those doors opened, letting her drive directly into the garage, she could see those familiar gazes looking over at the unfamiliar car and seeing her face inside, raised weirder looks, she didn’t love that, this was her home after all, it shouldn’t be this weird that she comes over. 
“There they are” She announced to herself, once she caught her father’s look with her own. She wasted no time, once the car was parked, she rolled down her window to take a look, mostly looking for the person she wanted to see in particular and feeling lucky because she saw him right away. “Hi Joey!” She waved her hand, smiling down at the seven-year-old boy, playing on the front yard. 
“Hi!” He yelled back, waving in her direction. 
The sound of Joe’s voice almost acted like an alarm clock for Luke, who sat up straight once he heard it, he must have fallen asleep, how could he not? he was being a straight-up zombie today. He leaned over to take a look at the place, to then imitate her actions and make himself noticeable. 
“Hey buddy!” He waved his hand at the kid, but unlike her, he moved on and waved his hand at the old man who was already walking towards the car. “Hi Mister P.” He said politely, trying to keep as much composure as his hungover let him. 
“Hi Dad” She said too, greeting the man standing before her, it would be rude not to greet him. 
“Hey sweetheart” He greeted back, taking the liberty to raise his hand and caress her hair like he would usually do.“You got here early, what a surprise” he chuckled, resting his weight on the car door to look inside, almost as if he was feeling especially talkative today. 
Out of all people in her family, aside from Joe, her dad was her favorite person inside of that house. She has always felt like their connection was the most special of them all; he was smart, he was calculating, he could sometimes have an attitude but there was a reason of why he had the life he had, he didn’t just get to the top acting soft with everyone, and she admired that. Her father has gone a long way and there was a lot she wanted to learn about that. 
“We got a couple of things to do, I figured Joe would like to hang out for a bit more” She answered, shrugging a little at his observation. 
She didn’t bother to mention all the rundowns she had yet to make for the day thanks to Luke, she just left it at that, further questions could end up being complicated answers and she didn't want that. 
“That’s good” He nodded, looking back at his youngest son and nodding at him once. “You got everything, pal?” he asked, Joe nodded eagerly from his place “Good, go grab your bag” he ordered. 
Just like that, Joe was getting up on his feet, picking up his toys and rushing to the door. She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely excited to come over or just underwhelmed because this was already their routine, he knew how it went. For the sake of this day turning out good, she was hoping he felt excited for what was to come, it would be heartbreaking for her if Joe ever got bored of their weekend getaways.
“Have any plans?” her dad asked, taking a look at the pair inside the car. 
She nodded. “Baseball” she simply said, because there was nothing else to mention besides that, he knew what was up. 
“Good call” he said, raising his hand up, she high five it.  “Good to see you kid” he smiled, leaned to kiss her forehead and backed up a bit. 
“I’ll come over Wednesday for the barbeque” she promised with a soft smile. She almost felt necessary to point that up, after being away for what felt like forever she didn’t want them to assume she wouldn’t make it to their family event, she had to, it was her parents anniversary after all. 
“You better, you won't believe what I have planned for dinner, it’s going to be fantastic” he bragged proudly, leaving the integration hit her. “Luke, you coming?” he asked her partner in crime, almost snapping him out of his own cloud of thoughts. 
He could get distracted way easily. 
“I think so, I need to look at my agenda but if I’ve got the time I’ll bring wine and everything” he said, being too sure of his words even though he wasn’t even sure if there was anything for him planned on the days ahead of him, he was lost on a crazy time table.
“I like that” Her father cheered, pointing at luke as he nodded in response “I’m out, I have to pick some groceries but, it was good to see you” he mentioned one more time, waving his hand at them “See you later guys, bye sweetheart” 
She smiled at him a soft smile, inside she wished to talk to him just a bit more, but it was better if they just cut on some time and let this conversation for another time. Again, they were short on timing. 
“Love you, daddy” she said to him as he walked away to his own car. 
“Love you!” he said back, waving at her one more time and blowing a kiss. She smiled, how sweet her dad was. 
Times like this made her feel nostalgic, she should really come over more often than just this. Leaning back on her seat and letting out the biggest sigh made the trick for her feelings to drain out a little bit, it was weighing a little bit on her to be the typical child who flew away from the nest, but that’s life, she guessed. Of course, Now was not the time to have a breather and think by herself, because once she turned her head he saw Luke’s stunning smile pointing straight to her and with a look that she suspected wasn’t out of complete happiness, it was creepy. 
“Don’t look at me so weird” she said, cringing at that look, it made her feel strange. 
“Sorry, it's just… cute” he chuckled, looking away “You call your Dad, Daddy” he teased in a low tone, laughing at that fact.
Now it was her turn to roll her eyes; this was one of Luke’s talents, he could turn from annoying, to diva, to whiny fuck in a snap, and she didn’t know if she loved it or not, but for him, it was for sure hilarious, especially when it meant annoying her in any shape or form. 
“Shut up” she laughed, leaning in to slap his arm, but he turned away like a champ, for being so hungover, he sure felt not so slow this morning.
She could have said anything to defend herself since he seemed to be in the mood to tease her this morning, but before she could even think of something good enough to answer she heard those little steps rushing out of the house and into the patio and that distracted her completely. The sight of her little brother walking over the car made her smile, as he walked around with that big blue backpack on his side and trying to get to the car as soon as he could, that made her happy because that’s how she knew, he was happy to come over. 
“Where’s daddy?” Joe said, once he was closer to the car, the heavyweight of the bag making him walk over leaned on his side. 
“He went out, bud” She announced, pouting a little bit. She felt kind of bad though, she knew he liked to say goodbye to their father before going out. “Are you ready?” she asked, looking at him as he got closer. 
“Yes”  he nodded eagerly, letting the bag fall on the floor and grabbing the handle of  the door “Open” he insisted, jumping in place. 
Luke was the one reaching out to find the button, for some reason when it came to pressing buttons around this car, for her it was kind of weird, there were too many of them, that’s why Luke always had her back, she didn’t even need to ask, he just did it for her. They were connected. 
Joe opens the back door with ease, however, it seems to be a bit of a struggle to climb up, considering his height and the weight of his back, along with the size of the car, getting up in there wasn’t the easiest thing to do. 
He is a smart kid, that’s why she knew she didn’t really need to help him with that. Once the door was open for him the first thing he decided to do was slip his backpack inside, it took him a bit of work, but it didn’t take him long get that part done, he’s gotten some practice with this before. But then came the hard part which was getting himself up on the car seat, he was still a kid, so we had a seat pull up for him already, but still, with the height of the car, everything was easier said than done. 
He got one part of it figured out, once he learned part of his body on the front of the car, but before he could even lift his body up, someone called his name inside of the house, which called his attention and got him down onto his feet again. They heard steps coming from the garage and into the patio, steps of heels covered feet walking them with ease and fast, none of them were a stranger to those, because that was her mother. She was rushing into the garage with a smile on her face, wearing those usual heels accompanied by a colorful dress that flattered her in every way, that was her usual look, she pulled it off every time. 
Once she got close enough to Luke’s car, she was smiling to them, mostly on her direction, she hasn’t seen her daughter in what seemed like forever and it showed, the feeling was mutual.  Seeing her mother was always such a pleasure for her, it was like seeing a best friend. 
“Let me help you there” Mom spoke letting that thick accent show, as she grabbed her youngest son by the hips and eased him into the vehicle, making it a lot easier for him to get comfortable. “Hello” she said, looking at both of the young adults through the car’s window.
“Hi mom” (Y/n) said first, leaning over the frame of the car to take a look at her mother a bit better. 
“Hi Beautiful” said her mom, going over to great her with a quick on the cheek and then turning to Luke, who just stuck to stare like a creep from his seat “Hi handsome, how are you two doing?” she asked politely, caressing her daughter’s hair with the tip of her fingers. 
Sometimes she could swear Luke was such a guy, it drove her nuts. Whenever he saw Gloria, his best friend’s mother, it was like something shut down inside of him and he was just a stupid boy; he rambled, he could barely get words out and he stared -like- a lot, it was weird. She got it, she has always gotten it, her mother was fairly attractive, she didn’t need a reminder, but getting this kind of reaction from her best friend was ridiculous, sometimes she wished she had enough guts to slap him for that.
But that would be something she wouldn’t ever forgive herself.  
“Great, the day looks pretty promising” (Y/n) answered for the both of them, after Luke proceeded to just nod his head once and stare like a creep, as usual. 
“Another day in sunny California” he added, smiling a sweet smile, trying to act natural. 
“Are you guys going anywhere?” (Y/n) kept going, suddenly realizing she actually had no clue of what her parents were up to and that wasn’t right, she wanted to be informed. 
Her mother nodded in confirmation, showing a bright smile to the pair. “We have reservations for this all-day Spa, your father isn’t very excited at all but I’m sure he’ll love it, they have pools and a massage center, a theater...” she numbers, sounding very excited about it as she keeps going. 
(Y/n) almost wanted to groan at that comment, her Dad could sometimes be a little picky and collide minded about the places he goes, all based on things that might hurt his image, which was stupid. They all knew he was going there just because Gloria was excited about it, but at the end of everything, he would end enjoying himself too and that’s all that counts, her parents deserved to have the best time ever.
“That does sound like quite the place, it’s weird he doesn’t want to go” said (Y/n), acting surprised, even when it was horribly predictable. 
“Daddy says it lacks testhosterwone” Joe says, from the backseat, having a hard time vocalizing his words. 
Gloria laughed but the older sister just rolled her eyes. 
“Do you know what that means, Joe?” (Y/n) asked, looking back at her little brother with a raised eyebrow. 
She wasn’t a fan of Joe talking big words he didn’t know, it could mean possible chaos if those were used in the wrong moment. 
“like candy, I think” he shrugs, not caring about anything at all and going back to his business; moving on to pick up some toy peeking out of his backpack.
(Y/n) nodded, not having much to say about that, nor feeling like explaining things to Joe right now, it would be too complicated and he wouldn’t understand anyway, he’s seven, he wasn’t going to even care about it now. 
“Sounds like a nice place” she said, nodding at her mother. 
The woman gave her daughter a reassuring smile, not going any farther on that. “Are you going baseballing?” She asked the pair. 
(Y/n) shrugged “That’s part of the plan, we’re going to drive Luke to the studio place in Hollywood and then back to the baseball courts, then all the way to Luke’s” She shortly explained, just to make it easier to take in. 
It was not a secret that Hollywood was not the easiest place to go to from the place they were at, neither it was a secret that Joe wasn’t the biggest fan of road trips or staying still in one place for a long amount of time, so dealing with that was about to be an adventure. 
She didn’t dare though, she would deal with that later. 
“Hm, I see” Gloria said with an unsure tone, obviously not loving the idea but not saying much about it “Update me” she warned, pointing directly at her. 
  “We won’t be going to far, just far enough” she made clear, not wanting to discuss this more than it was necessary “Also, there’s a dog in Luke's house and a basketball thing, we can always go play there if anything goes differently” she shrugged, making the situation lighter.
For the sake of making some presence and instantly sensing how she couldn’t work on this alone, Luke activated instantly, turning on the kid's direction slowly and nodding no his way once. 
“I’m going to crush you this time, dude” he said in a challenging tone, pointing at her brother directly. 
“You wish” Joe scoffed, showing his tongue back to Luke, following his lead, totally feeling challenged by that. 
She laughed, it was quite cute that her little brother and her best friend had this kind of inside jokes, where they would spend time with each other and have fun leading to this, they didn’t feel awkward with the presence of each other, it felt right. Oh, how she loved that. 
“If we make it out early I’ll buy pizza, promise” She said to her brother, turning to look at him with a smile. 
Her mother gave than a comforting look, apparently feeling satisfied and convinced enough that her youngest son was for sure in safe hands, as usual. She would take care of him every weekend and they have never had a problem, not one at all, she trusted (Y/n), she always does, nothing could really go wrong if she was in charge. 
“Alright, just be careful, okay?” Gloria warned, leaning in to kiss her daughter's cheek  “Won’t take more of your time, Los quiero mucho, have fun you guys” She smiled, taking a step back and waving her hand. 
“Bye, Miss P.” Luke said, with that prince charming smile appearing on his face out of the blue. “You look radiant, by the way”
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him was such a challenge. “Bye mom” She said waving her hand too, ignoring what her friend just said as she heard Joe repeating the exact same thing on the background  “Love you!” 
They didn’t make this any longer, she started the car and moved on, opening the garage and making their way out. It was late after all, it was not like they could hang in there for longer. So after their conversation was closed, she found it right to just leave her childhood home and move on to their next destination so they could finally start their day. 
It was a long ride and they knew it was going to be like this all along, but bringing along Joe into this was kind of a Russian roulette, if they were lucky he wouldn’t whine on the whole ride and they would be fine, but if they weren’t, he would probably start crying and beg to be brought back home, like it was expected of him at times, he hated long rides. 
For their luck that did not happen, not today. Their whole journey was smooth and tranquil before they even noticed, she was finally pulling into the big studio’s parking and going all the way to the front door, just to make Luke’s walk of shame a bit shorter, making things easier for her hungover friend once again. 
She would be lying if she said it was weird to be in a place like this, this was a place were usually only famous and talented people frequent, but he was the reason she has been a part of that group plenty of times, seeing the facility now was kind of regular for her at this point.  
Seeing Luke’s face when pulling in front of the door was a true poem, it was clearly noticeable how much he did not want to do this, but today was not his day. He took his time taking off his seatbelt and then grabbing his backpack from the floor, making some time for himself to process the whole journey he had along, it was almost funny. Once his time came, getting out of his car was painful and once he stepped out into the real world, he clearly couldn’t just go into the studio and end it all, instead, he placed both hands on the door of his own car and looked inside, almost checking he was not forgetting anything and making sure everything was fine, to then stare at his best friend, his eyes said a lot even when he was saying nothing, he was tired and he was not in the mood, she could see his biggest wish right now was for her to pull him back in the car and drive him away, but she was not about to drive him out from his responsibilities. 
Not now, not ever, not in his wildest dreams. 
“Thanks for the ride” he said awkwardly, bouncing on the balls of his feet back and forth, as he looked straight at her through the open window. “Can I count on you tonight?” he asked, clicking his tongue once. 
She frowned a little. It was a bit of a weird question. 
“Tonight?” She asked. He could count on her with everything, but she didn’t remember tonight being on any of the plans. 
He nodded “Writing session? It’s at mine” he made sure to clarify, almost speaking like if this was so overly obvious, she didn’t think it was. 
They never discussed this. She knew he had some kind of work session after he got out of this, but she didn’t think she would actually be included, or that it would be at his place. It was weird that he made one of those at home, for starters, so in a way, she fairly doubts that would even happen. 
“Is it? I just thought that was a lie so mom didn’t know we would actually be at the real studio” she said, lowering her voice, just in case Joe decided to eavesdrop now. He didn’t need to know they lied to her mother. 
It was not a full lie though, they were being honest, in away. It was just the friendliest way to put it so Joe could come along. 
“Nah” Luke shrugged, shaking his head “I’ll pull strings, no one actually wants to go there, it gets suffocating” he says, letting out fake shivers, acting like if it was the craziest place in the world.
It was not, he actually liked being there, he was just acting dramatic. 
She could comment on it, but she decided staying silent might as well be the best way to go. 
She turned, nodded once to her friend and said “Got ya” she stated, holding tight on the wheel with both hands “Text me” she indicated and it was a direct order. 
His eyes widened, he took a step back of the car and grabbed onto his bag tightly, like it would soon fall off his shoulders. 
“I will” he assured her with an energetic nod.
She repeated his move too, starting to move the car just a little, but just enough to keep eye contact with him without crashing.  “Call me if you puke again” she warned, pointing a finger at him, trying to be intimidated.
Now, this was where the real look came out. He rolled his eyes so hard he probably saw his brain.
Classic, Luke. She thought it was funny. 
“Yes, sweetheart” he nodded again, walking backward to the door, never taking his eyes off her “Anything else?” He asked, waiting for her to add on anything like it was usual.
She laughed. 
With nothing else to say or do, she just lowered her hand to a nonvisible point, away from the child’s vision and flipped him off. She made clear that meant a million things, and if it ever felt right to do it, now was the time, when they would see later and he would now, he deserved to be sent eat shit for at least once today, even for just doing a few fuck ups the night before. He needed a wake up call and this was it. From his best friend. 
“that’s for waking me up at midnight” she warned, taking the grip back on the wheel and looking forward. 
He thought it was hilarious. In his head it made perfect sense that she decided now was the time to tell him to fuck off, it was only fair she did that now and not later when they would forget; so he let that pass. He didn’t care, after all, he loved her too much to care about that. 
“Fair enough” he only answered, slowly turning on his back to leave for work, but not before repeating those usual words of good luck, which made him have a better day all along. “Love you!”
He always did that. It was adorable and killer.
The fact that he felt the need to let her know that each time had the most meaning. It was the little things that built all these so well, that’s why she loved this so much.
“Love you!” She called back from the car, letting him go in peace as they parted ways. It was important she knew he would think of her, and it was important for him to know, she would always think of him, no matter what.
That’s why they did this. It was just a little thing to make sure, they were fine; to make sure, it was all in order and they would keep in contact, that’s all.
Even when they would spend the day away from each other, she didn’t care, she needed space to think and have some family time, let go a little; he needed space to be creative and make his living, she wouldn’t interfere on that, he couldn't expand on stuff when people get on the way, but later on, they would see again, like always, and when they did, she would start thinking again, she would start wandering and coming to new conclusions, which were the ones she was the most afraid of, she guessed that's why she needed some time for herself, maybe with that she would come to fair and smart conclusions that wouldn't make her fuck up in the future. 
Sounds too good to be true, maybe it is, but who cares. She would manage that later. 
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songbird-wings · 4 years
Note
for the fic prompts: anakin and aayla are about the same age and I like to think they grew up together as their masters, obi-wan and quinlan, were close so I'd love to maybe read something with them being friends and teasing each other as adults. so idk if you want to write something like this but if you do I think it could be cool. love you!!
i LOVE this prompt Maddie! I had so much fun with this one, I really hope you enjoy! (Also read it on Ao3)
Racing Through Memories
Anakin hated library duty. It was boring, quiet, and he hated the stuffy Masters that paid no attention to him when he asked if they needed assistance. This job made him feel invisible. But Master Kenobi always told him it was an important duty given to Padawans his age, and that it would teach him the importance of tranquility, knowledge and practice. That didn’t make it any less boring. 
He sat now in a far corner of the library, eyeing the stacks of papers and holo-disks he needed to organize. They towered above him on his desk, some coated in a thin layer of dust. He wondered if they really needed to be sorted or if Jocasta Nu just ran out of other tasks for him to do. 
“Anakin… psst!” A whisper came from behind him. He spun around maybe a little too quickly, his padawan braid smacking him in the face. His eyes scanned the shelves but he saw nothing. Surely he wasn’t hearing things. Anakin got to his feet and approached the area the noise came from. When he reached the bookshelf he paused, he quickly jumped into the aisle. Empty. That can’t be right, he was sure he heard something. Anakin shook his head and turned back to his desk.
“Hi Anakin!” Aayla greeted quietly. Anakin's shriek however was not as muffled. 
“Aayla!” He lowered his voice, once he calmed down. “Stop scaring me like that. It’s not funny.” Aayla just snorted and skipped over to his desk as he sat back in his chair. 
“I think it’s pretty funny. Besides, it’s probably the most excitement you’ve had after being assigned library duty.” She jokes, running a finger over a holo-disk and scrunching her nose at the dust left on her fingers. 
“What are you doing here? Come to gloat at my misery?” Anakin says with a smirk, using the force to take the top hoploads off their pile and set them in front of him. Aayla chuckled. 
“Not exactly.” He watched as Aayla reached into her robes and pulled out two slips of paper. Tickets. She held them up to her and he recognized them instantly; Podracing.
“Woah!” Anakin gasped, snatching the tickets from her hand. “How did you get these? I thought Podracing wasn’t popular on Coruscant.” Aayla grabs them back, holding them to her chest now. 
“It’s not, at least on top. There's an underground course that you can only get into with a ticket. Master Vos took me to one last year but there was a big crash and he never brought me again, although he kept going without me.” The Twi’lek explained leaning onto the side of the desk. 
“So these are Master Vos’s tickets.” Asks Anakin. She nodded. 
“They are, but he was called away on an assignment and he’ll be out of the system so I thought, why let these go to waste. And then I thought, who else loves podracing?” She takes one ticket  extending it to Anakin. He grabs it and stares at it intently, and then reality set back in.
“I can’t go.” He mumbled, holding the ticket back at her. 
“Why?” Aayla’s brows furrowed looking at the ticket then to him. 
“If Master Kenobi found out I left library duty, and snuck away from the temple to go to an underground podracing match, he might send me back to Tatooine.” Anakin slouched in his chair. 
“Oh come on!” Aayla whined. “It’ll only be for a few hours. No one will know you’re gone. Please, it’ll be fun!” She pleaded, nearly bouncing up and down. Anakin so wanted to say yes. He hadn't been to a podrace in forever. He missed the excitement and adrenaline that came along with the sport. Aayla did say they would only be gone a few hours. Master Kenobi wouldn’t suspect anything. 
“Okay fine, I’m in!” He exclaims. Aayla squealed and then checked the time on the clock above them. 
“Meet me by the statues on the south exit of the Temple in four hours.” She instructed him as she began walking away. “Don’t be late!” 
Slipping out of the library was much easier than Anakin originally anticipated. The librarian was nowhere to be seen and it was late so the isles were pretty much empty. He quickly made his way to the south exit and outside near the statues was Aayla was waiting for him. “You still have your ticket?” She asks, holding up her own. 
“Yes.” Anakin responds fishing it out of his robes. “But how are we getting there? You didn’t forget about that little detail did you?” Aayla scoffed. 
“You think so little of me, Anakin. Follow me.” She said and she led him down the steps of the temple where a speeder bike was parked and waiting. 
“Where did you get this?” Anakin awes, he makes his way over to it admiring the design. 
“My Master gave it to me as a gift. I’m not supposed to use it without his supervision, but, he’s not in the system so he’ll never know.” She shrugged, getting on the vehicle and starting the engine. “Get on and hold on.” Anakin climbed on behind her and gripped the sides of the bike as she drove it into a lane. The bike shook and chugged beneath them and there was a faint smell of burning metal emitting from the engine. 
“You know, if you opened the couplets and tightened the bolts near the exhaust, it would run a lot smoother.” He shouted over the sounds of traffic. 
“Okay, you can do that once you're done with library duty if you care so much about it!” Aayla teased back, steering them down below the surface. They descended further and further, until Anakin began feeling a little anxious. But he pushed that feeling away, and replaced it with his excitement over the podrace. It was darker on this level, the only light coming from the lamps on the streets. Finally, Aayla parked their bike and the padawans climbed off. 
“You didn’t get us lost did you?” Anakin chides, pulling his hood over his face, watching Aayla do the same. She just rolls her eyes. 
“Come on, it’s about to start!” She says and takes off down the road. Anakin chases after her until she stops in front of a building. It definitely doesn’t look like an entire podracing course could be inside it’s small frame. But below his feet, Anakin could feel the ground rumble, just slightly. 
“Tickets!” A raspy voice shouted out from the ticket booth in the front of the building. Aayla nudged Anakin, prompting him to show the ticket. The woman in the booth scanned the tickets and then the padawans. “Watch yourselves in there, kids.” She says nodding in the direction of the door. 
“Thank you!” Aayla told her, as Anakin pushed her way past eager to be the first in the door. On the other side was a staircase that led them down into a large chasm of a room. They seemed to be on a balcony that overlooked the circular podracing course. The room was packed, dimly lit, and smelled of drinks and something Anakin could’t place, but it wasn’t pleasant. He didn’t care though, the familiar hum of the repulsorcrafts racing in the course called to him. He ran to the edge to watch, ignoring Aayla as she told him to wait. 
He found a spot he could squeeze into and looked over the edge at the race. The course was huge, built in segments with different terrain, one sector being desert and another a dense forest. He watched as the repulsorcrafts dodged and weaved at dangerous speeds through the trees and he even cheered with the rest of the crowd once the last racer cleared the forest. He sensed Aayla coming up behind him and he moved over a few inches to give her space.
“You see that one?” She pointed at one of the podracers near the front. Their repulsorcraft was small, and painted in purples and light greens. The vehicle was driven by a Rodian woman and she was picking up speed quickly. “That’s Alvee Chunteff, she’s won so many races down here. My Master is a huge fan.” Aayla explains, shouting over the noise. She and Anakin stand on their tiptoes as the racers round the curve of the course, trying to get a better look. 
“Here she comes!” Anakin says as she passes the racer already in first place, taking the lead. The podracers zoom past them sending a plume of dirt in the air but the padawans cheer anyway. The excitement distracts them, and Anakin didn’t sense the figures coming up behind them before it was too late. Hands grab at their shoulders and pull them from the crowd to the back of the room, cornering them against the wall. They were pirates, drunk pirates by the smell of it. Anakin reached for his lightsaber but Aayla grabbed his arm, shaking her head, no. 
“Hey kiddos.” One of them coughed out. He reached down and ran his finger along Aayla's padawan beads. She flinched away and Anakin stepped in front of her. “Long way from the Temple isn't ya!” 
“Leave us alone!” Anakin shouted to the pirates, there were three of them, blocking any direction he could run.
“Ah, see, that’s just not gonna happen.” The one in front of him laughed. “I’ve noticed ya don’t seem to have any Masters with ya. What a shame.” He shook his head stepping closer. “Do you know how valuable you are to the Jedi, hm? Do ya? How much would the council pay for two padawans to be returned to home safely?” Almost like an alarm going off in his mind, Anakin sensed the one on his left lunging forward and grabbing Aayla, before his hand could even touch her, Anakin reached out and sent the pirate sailing across the room, slamming him against the wall. The room stood still for only a moment until the noises and the movement started again. 
“Run!” Anakin yelled, grabbing Aayla’s arm, taking the new opening he’s created. 
“After those kids!” The pirate shouted behind them. Anakin and Aayla made their way through the crowd, back towards the way they came in, but it seemed more pirates were in the crowd than chasing behind them. Hands were grabbing at them, slowing them down. One grip was a little too strong and the pirate yanked Anakin back making him fall to the sticky floor. He opened his eyes and the pirate's cruel smile was above him. 
“Ay, boss I’ve got-” Anakin didn’t let him finish as he used the force to send him crashing into the ceiling and falling back down to the floor. Aayla came out from the crowd next to him and pulled him to his feet. 
“Let’s go-” Anakin started saying once he was upright again, but he was cut short when he sensed it. Then he saw him. The sound of a lightsaber activating quieted the room.
“Those padawans are more trouble than they’re worth. I’d leave them alone if I were you.” Obi-Wan's voice filtered over the crowd. Anakin was torn between running into his Master's arms, or running away back to the Temple. He wasn’t given a choice. “Anakin, Aayla, you’re leaving. Now!” Anakin could feel the disappointment seeping off of Obi-Wan and it made every step towards his Master even more difficult. The pirates ran past them and the Jedi Knight, back towards the staircase. Obi-Wan pointed in that direction. “The speeder is waiting for you outside.” Aayla and Anakin shared a solemn look before following his orders and exiting the podracing rink. 
On the way back to the Temple, it was Aayla who apologizes first, admitting that it was her idea and that she was sorry. “It is not my place to tell you your punishment, young one.” Obi-Wan said to her. “That will be your Masters decision once he returns, as for you, Anakin.” 
“I’m sorry, Master. It won’t happen again.” He mumbles to Obi-Wan.
“Oh, I hope not.” The Knight replies.
“How did you find us anyways, Master?” Anakin questions him as they pull into the Temple hanger bay. 
“Maybe next time you decide to slip out on your Jedi duties, you do it in a place that doesn’t have so many cameras.” Obi-Wan smirked, stepping out of the speeder. He winked at his apprentice and then pulled Anakins robes tighter around his shoulders. 
“I’ll take that into consideration, Master.” 
<<<>>>
“It’s Starork taking the lead now as he passes Ikti around the bend, this is a close one folks, it’s too early to say…” The announcer is drowned out by the shouts of the crowd around them. Anakin cheers and gives a high-five to his padawan as the racers continue. 
“So, how’s your first podrace going, snips?” He asks her as they settle into their seats, Aayla emerges from the crowd and sets the overpriced snacks onto their table. 
“It’s amazing! I can’t believe you did this when you were a kid, Master!” She exclaimed over the noise. “I didn’t know you were such a fan, Master Secura?” 
“Oh, your Master and I would always sneak away to races growing up. One time, we ran into pirates while we were down here. Alone. We were very lucky Master Kenobi found us in time.” She explained. 
“Alright, you don’t need to give her any ideas, Aayla.” Anakin rolls his eyes. 
“Pirates?” Ahsoka sat up in her seat. “I want to hear about that!” Anakin shakes his head.
“Like I said, you don’t need any more reckless ideas in that head of yours.” He says sternly, taking a sip of his drink. “Now c’mon, we’re missing the race.” He motions them over towards the edge of the course. 
Ahsoka eyes Aayla once her Master is away from the table, pleading with her eyes. Master Secura laughs at her eagerness. “I’ll tell you the story later, young one. When your Master isn’t around to add in his own version.”
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ma-gic-gay · 4 years
Note
It took a few too many hours to take care of the Florence situation, but he was confident that she would be happier in her room at the long term care facility than she would be at a safehouse.
He was much less confident with what would happen next. On the one hand, he knew that Cyrus knew that Carly had taken his mother - as much as he loves her, she needs to start thinking her plans through before she ends up dead - and that she was the reason he was alive. On the other, Florence had remained unharmed and been returned within ten hours. That doesn't erase what had happened; kidnappings are always a terrible, traumatic thing and not in his worst moment had he hoped to kidnap someone or, worse, have someone get kidnapped, but it did make it a bit easier for him to sleep at night.
In short, she was pretty much the biggest target at the moment. An even bigger one than him, which seemed impossible maybe fifteen hours ago.
Yet another reason having her in Port Charles was something he'd been concerned to do. Even though she swore she'd stay at home, she'd promised the same thing before his meeting with Cyrus earlier and that was a promise she didn't end up keeping.
Maybe this time, though, since Josslyn was home with her, she'd stay home.
That would explain the fifty seven voicemails he has from her and at least one hundred texts. It was honestly less than he had been expecting, mainly because she had been incredibly worried he'd get killed, moreso than normal.
Probably because not even an hour before he left, Cyrus had tried to kill him. It definitely didn't have anything to do with last night.
Right?
He shakes his head to get that out of his head; it's been a long night and probably why he's thinking about it. Willing himself to think of anything else, his mind wanders as he drives, thinking of the possible kidnapping targets.
Maybe thinking about last night will be a better alternative.
Glancing at the clock, he realizes that it's almost time for a call from a hopefully still at home Carly.
"Like clockwork," he chuckles, answering the phone. "Everything okay on the home front?"
A laugh he instantly notices as Cyrus's leaves his phone speaker. Quickly checking the caller ID, it's Carly. "Well, Mr. Morgan, I'm not doing well right now, considering your organization took my mother. Though I suppose your question wasn't directed towards me."
No shit, he thinks, containing his anger and quickly switching to a business tone, "I already told you, I don't have your mother. What the hell are you doing with Carly?"
Chuckling evilly again, Cyrus says, "I'm just spending some time with Mrs. Corinthos, Mr. Morgan. Calm down."
He's dead. The second that Jason gets back in town and sees his stupid, ponytail clad body, he will die. And if he puts a hand on her-
Focusing on the call instead of the growing anger in his blood, he asks, "Where is she and what have you done with her?"
"She's being taken care of very well, don't worry. In fact, I think that she'd agree I'm being quite a polite host, especially given the fact she had my mother kidnapped."
Maybe he should torture him before he kills him, that sounds appealing. Very appealing.
"I actually just looked into it and your mother is at her care facility. So tell me where Carly is, now," the former assassin demands.
Killing him looks more and more appealing by the second and making it as painful as possible does too. He deserves it for doing anything to Carly. Where exactly will kill him the fastest and make it painful? Maybe being shot in several places at the same time would help.
Clearly enjoying this Cyrus continues, "Is she? Well, I received a call earlier that she had been checked out of there."
"They must've been wrong."
"Well, still, I think she's getting even more delightful as time goes on. In fact, I'm finding her to be quite beautiful. What do you think, Mr. Morgan? Should I seduce and make love to her?"
Anger is the only emotion he feels right now, combined with disgust at the thought of that. "I wouldn't recommend it."
"And why is that?"
To lie or tell the truth, that is the question. The answer is lie. "She's a terrible lover. Absolutely terrible. Believe me, I'd know. We were involved at a certain time and I'm not sure anyone should have to go through that."
"You two have been quite close in the year since her husband passed. Are you sure you don't just want her for yourself?"
This sleazebag is going to be in hell when Jason finds him, he swears on his life. "Yes, I'm sure. Now, where is she?"
Chuckling again, he says, "Mr. Morgan, I'm not stupid. You think that since you've returned my mother, I'll return your friend in exchange for her. But, you see, Mrs. Corinthos isn't just someone you can take as you please. I'm truly seeing her beauty in this light and I find her to be quite intriguing. Perhaps I'll go against your advice-"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now, last time I'm asking, where is Carly?"
"Why don't I let her tell you yourself?" Cyrus offers before handing the phone over to who he can imagine is the blonde. A scream is emitted in the background, probably from a gag or something.
The second he lays his eyes on him, that man is dead.
"Jason?" A scared Carly asks. "Are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm right here Carly. Can you tell me where you are right now?"
"You remember that little room above Jake's, where we got our start? I miss that room sometimes. Especially now that the Floating Rib isn't even really a working building."
"So do I. It was plain and undecorated. Now, where are you?"
"I love you and my kids, you know that, right?"
"Yes, yes I do. You know I love you. Are you okay?"
"No one else will probably ever be in that room again. Kinda sad, don't you think? I kinda like that we'll be part of the last people to be there, but I think it's a damn shame that room won't get better use out of it." Carly continues, clearly not getting his point.
Wait. The room above Jake's. That's where she's being held! She's been giving hints. God, sometimes he thinks she's do dumb but others she's practically a genius.
"Has he laid a hand on you?"
"Yeah," she says and his blood boils. This bastard is going to die, just for thinking about doing this.
"I'm going to go down memory lane," Jason says, changing the topic but hoping she'll read his signal. "Drive around some spots I used to go. I'll be home to check on the kids in twenty minutes."
"Have fun with that journey, Mr. Morgan," Cyrus says, having taken the phone from a surprisingly silent Carly. "In the meantime, I'm going to tell you what to do to get her back. You will meet me at Pier 57 at noon tomorrow. Until then, I think that the two of us are going to be spending some quality time together."
"You so much as lay a hand on her-"
"I'm going to advise you to stop speaking if you ever want to see her alive again," Cyrus chuckles. "Goodbye, Mr. Morgan."
Just like that, the phone is hung up and the call ended. "Fuck!" Jason screams, driving faster.
He's got to get to her and fast. She doesn't have much time before Cyrus rapes her and he'll be damned if he lets her go through that. Not if he can stop it, and he knows he can.
After all, if there's one thing his men have told him that he remembers, it's that Cyrus suffers from erectile dysfunction. If he had to pick one dude who would never be able to get it up in their life, without a doubt, he'd pick that sleazebag in a heartbeat. Especially now, given the situation his best friend is in.
He can make it there in ten minutes if he breaks a few traffic rules.
Fuck traffic laws; he's got to go save her, he thinks as he speeds up, taking every turn too fast and going straight through at all the stop signs and red lights.
It's a minor miracle he doesn't get a ticket as he pulls into the parking lot of the Floating Rib, which has been abandoned ever since the explosion that sent Lulu into a coma and killed Dev and Dustin.
Deadly explosions don't exactly appeal to buyers.
Gun drawn and loaded, he finally realizes that there is no plan here. Call the cops? No, then Cyrus gets to walk away alive and this son of a bitch needs to die.
Kill him and then call the cops? Not a bad idea, especially with Carly as a witness. She's not a perjurer, no one would ever accuse her of that. Especially when she's newly traumatized from a kidnapping. Besides, it's self defense. But bullets can ricochet and she could be killed or comatose. Whatever happens, it could be really bad.
Fuck.
Going in without a plan is the best option and that scares him more than anything he's ever faced.
Bounding silently up the stairs, he kicks in the door and sees an almost nude, terrified Carly and the sight of an aroused Cyrus. Fuck. Guess those erectile dysfunction pills work for him.
A sparkle appears in his eyes when Cyrus realizes he's there. "Mr. Morgan, how kind of you to join us. Though, I don't believe you were expecting this."
Bastard. He deserves to be killed, the most painful death one can ever suffer. Acting as though he's a fucking host of a party, not a kidnapper who's about to rape his best friend. How many other women has he done this to?
The thought of it makes his blood boil. "I'm only gonna say this once, get away from her and you might live."
"Was that a threat?"
"It was a promise."
"Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Corinthos and I are having a moment here and you're being rather rude, intruding upon it."
Carly's been suspiciously quiet this whole time. She's planning an escape, he can feel it. No use trying to explain how he can feel it, but he can.
That's new.
Refocusing his attention to the ponytail clad piece of shit in front of her, he says, "You two aren't, because she's most certainly not into this. I know what she looks like when she is and let me tell you, that's not what she looks like right now."
"Ah yes, your past. Well, her face may have changed."
"From last night?"
With the mobster stunned enough to do a minor double take, Carly kicks him right in the balls. That's gotta hurt, especially considering that he's got his dick out and everything.
Jason snaps into action, undoing the handcuffs she's in and removing the duct tape, wincing when she screams in pain. That hurts his heart.
"I was right with my suspicions, wasn't I? Mr. Morgan, what are your feelings towards Mrs. Corinthos?"
"None of your fucking business," he answers, kicking Cyrus in the balls himself as he calls the cops. That felt good. Not as good as killing him would, but it does give a rush of dopamine. "I'm above the Floating Rib, in the little apartment with a kidnapped Carly Corinthos and her kidnapper and attempted rapist Cyrus Renault."
"An officer is being dispatched there and will arrive in five minutes, sir. What is your name?"
"Jason Morgan."
"Well, Mr. Morgan, can you stay at the scene with Mrs. Corinthos?"
"Trust me, I'm not leaving until this son of a bitch is behind bars on death row," he growls at the operator. For someone who's normally so good at controlling his emotions, right now it's all he can do to not pull the trigger and take him out himself. His walls have fallen as his best friend softly cries next to him, minorly breaking his heart.
"I wouldn't count on that, Mr. Morgan," Cyrus snickers, "after all, I could just kill you two."
"The dispatch is going to be there in under one minute now, sir."
"Cyrus, if you so much as grab that gun and point it at me, I can kill you out of self defense. So I guess if you've got a death wish you could grab your weapon," Jason counters him.
"PCPD! Put down all weapons!" Chase shouts. Of course he's the lead detective.
"Up here!" Jason shouts and he finds the staircase before walking into the room.
"Mr. Renault, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" Chase asks, cuffing him.
"Damn you, Morgan," Cyrus says before another cop escorts him out and into a cruiser. Thank god, he was afraid if he saw his stupid, smirking face one more time, it would be the last thing that Cyrus ever did.
"Mrs. Corinthos, can we bring you and Mr. Morgan down to the station and have you two recount what happened tonight with Cyrus?"
Words don't leave her mouth, a sob does. Jason pulls her gently out of the chair and into a tight embrace, for his benefit as much as hers. "She's in no shape to be giving you the details."
"Mr. Morgan, it's better if she tells us what happened sooner rather than later."
"I'll do it," she agrees, though she's still visibly shaking in his arms. "If Jason's there, I'll do it."
Pressing a kiss to the side of her head, he agrees, "I'll be there."
Attempting to inform then they can't, Chase says, "You can't actually be in the interrogation room together; it's a very rare occurrence and not one I'm sure I can get permission from the commissioner to have right now."
Glaring daggers in his direction, Jason informs him, "You heard Carly's terms. If you want her to tell you what happened, I'm going to be there."
Finally giving in, Chase agrees to let them go in his car before leaving to call Jordan.
"Do you think you can stand?"
"No."
"We're getting you to the hospital then," Jason declares. "Detective!"
"Yes, Mr. Morgan?"
"I'm taking her to the hospital to get checked out before the police station."
"Could we question you two at the hospital? It's really important we get your testimony before Cyrus's. He's smart enough to ask for a lawyer and we'll do our best to have one take their time, but it's possible if she goes to the hospital she could end up giving it second."
"Do you feel up to getting questioned at the hospital?" Jason asks the sobbing woman, feeling a combination of emotions he can't push away.
"I guess," she agrees uncertainly. "You'll still be there, right?"
"Of course. I'm not leaving your side unless you tell me to," he reminds her. "Ambulance or my car?"
"Oh god, not an ambulance. I don't need all that fanfare," she groans.
"Okay. Detective, will you meet us at the hospital?" Jason asks to his own chagrin. He can't believe this dude has the audacity to ask a woman recently traumatized by an attempted rape and kidnapping to tell him what happened in detail.
Chase nods and leaves the two alone again, offering a tissue to the sobbing blonde in Jason's arms.
Scoffing, Carly takes the tissue and resumes her sobbing. "I was so, so scared you wouldn't get here in time and he'd kill me. I know, I broke the only rule, but in my defense, I had to work and I got taken there."
"I'm sorry I didn't get here quicker," he says, "and that you feel like you're to blame for this. You're not. Cyrus, that sick son of a bitch, is the only one to blame."
"You told me to not go out!"
"I didn't think he'd move in so fast... If I had, I never would've left the house."
"Hey, you are not to blame for this."
"Neither are you."
"Yes, yes I am. He-he kissed me, Jason. He started making out with me, and he hit me when I didn't kiss him back and when I said no. That's when I got the duct tape to my mouth."
To be continued when I can write this and not feel like crying (aka after I watch the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movies because they're BOTH on Netflix now and that's pretty fucking cool.)
@ryleighjosephine
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La Pomme ~ Chapter Six
Pairing: Sam x OC (eventual Dean x OC and Dean x Castiel. And I mean eventual.)
Series summary: George is a casual French-Mistake-universe Supernatural fan living in no-COVID 2020, who's life is upended when she's suddenly launched between realities, two years into the boys' past (S13E22). What begins as an insane, immersive fan experience turns into more when Jack goes missing and George offers up her AU information to help track him down. Soon it's discovered that she and Sam may actually have history. But that's impossible, right?
Word Count: 6,200
Warnings: {smut, fluff, angst, show level violence, swearing, mentions of suicide} ***Detailed warnings will be tagged for specific chapters.
A/N: Following the events of my prequel Paradise and second story From My Eyes Off. Reading those first gives context but isn’t necessary to start this one.
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Approximately three hours of arguing with herself about staying away from them later, George went to see if Jack and Sam had returned yet. She reasoned that, at this point, they'd been so adamant about her coming that staying away altogether would probably raise a larger red flag than if she just made a quick appearance.
That's not true! I'm just going so that they don't come looking for me. This is definitely the last time. Once I get the kid set up on the games, he'll forget I exist. Then I can slip back to my as-yet-undiscovered-room and wait quietly for Rowena to return and return me home. Everything will be fine. This has nothing to do with the beard.
I have to go to keep seeming uninteresting and innocuous, She reasoned with herself, though she knew it was dangerous. It was also not the real reason she was going.
There was no part of her that believed any of that. Especially as her heart fluttered at the thought of bearded Sam in that tight, gray deep v-neck.
First, she stopped in the kitchen to grab two beers from the fridge. Then she went to check Jack's room. As she walked up to the open door, she heard the two men talking.
"I don't understand why you don't want to tell me what happened." She heard Jack say.
Sam's annoyed huff made her pause, "I did tell you; nothing happened. She passed out exhausted and I didn't know where else to put her. There are so many new people here right now, I don't know what's an empty bed and what's not."
"OK…" She heard Jack's doubtful reply and then a pause before asking, "If Brent had passed out in your arms, would you have carried him to your bed?"
George grinned devilishly at the implication of the question, covering her mouth with her hand to stay quiet. There was a long, intriguing silence before Sam ordered defensively, "Shut up."
George decided to take that as her cue. She stepped into the doorway and cleared her throat, "'Shut up,' huh? Interesting parenting philosophy." She smirked as Sam started a bit and looked over at her. Presumably, he was wondering how much of that conversation she'd heard, and she felt in no hurry to fill him in.
Jack smiled at her and pointed to a surprising amount of booty on his bed and the floor in front of it, "George! They had everything on your list! Oh, except Mario 64."
Looks like the shoe's on the other foot, She thought smugly.
"Wow, really?" Her eyes went wide when she saw the small flat screen TV box leaning against the footboard and she looked at Sam with a surprised chuckle. She guessed Sam really wanted to keep Jack occupied. "And you bought it all, I see, awesome! Did you want some help setting up?"
"Yea, come in!" Jack nodded enthusiastically, waving her in, and then began unpacking his loot. George hesitated for a second as Sam watched Jack lay out all the equipment to start getting it set up.
Bitch, I don't know why you're taking pause now! You brought the damn beer. You planned this; just go in already.
With a quick, annoyed shake of her head to quiet the smug voices, she finally stepped into the room.
When she got close to him, Sam smiled, "Hey."
"Hi," George returned his smile nervously. "I don't remember that being on my list," Sam followed her gaze to the flat screen and then squirmed a bit, guiltily. Motioning to the rest of the stuff, she asked with a chuckle, "Feeling a little bit of dad guilt over something?"
Sam feigned ignorance, "Hmm?"
"I mean, OK, you needed the system and some games but…" Her eyes ran over the huge pile of game cartridges on the bed, wide with judgement. "And the TV? Kinda screams single-divorced-dad overcompensation. And I speak from experience."
"Oh, are you a divorced single dad, too?" Sam joked.
George snorted and corrected, "Raised by one… well, on Wednesdays and every other weekend. And he worked weekends… and most Wednesdays, so…" She trailed off with a what-are-you-gonna-do shrug and Sam nodded, understanding the semi-absent dad thing.
"I can definitely relate to the unavailable father," Sam's tone was serious but there was a smile on his face.
George stared at him curiously for a minute, Supernatural episodes flashing in her mind, and then nodded, "Oh, yeah, I guess you can." She was still getting used to television characters being real people. When he furrowed his brow curiously at her, she quickly said, "Anyway, yea, uh-expensive presents helped ease my dad's guilt about not really being there. That's how I got most of my video game experience." Just as he opened his mouth to respond, she held out a beer with a questioning look and said, "I think I owe you one or two of these? Although, seeing as this one is also from your fridge, think of this as more of a symbolic gesture. Since I can't actually repay you."
He chuckled and took the beer with a soft, "Thank you. And, no repayment needed. Trust me, we're just happy to be able to help. All of you." He was referring to the people from the camp again and she grimaced as a twinge of guilt zapped through her. Lying to him made her feel awful.
While it seemed like Jack was focused on unboxing the TV and not paying much attention to them, she held up the other beer and asked quietly, "Can he? I wasn't sure if you let him, but I brought it just in case."
Sam frowned a little and shrugged, "My brother lets him and I… choose my battles," he finished with a sigh. George smiled and nodded understandingly.
Seeing Jack was still preoccupied, she shrugged after a moment and offered, "Well, I don't normally drink beer but I can just say it's mine? He may not even ask for one."
Sam nodded appreciatively, snapping the bottle cap off his and tossing it into the garbage can in the corner. As she watched him raise the cold bottle to his lips, she couldn't help but stare at his gorgeous, newly bearded face. As he took a swig, her mouth went dry. Luckily, she was able to look away just before he caught her staring and she mentally kicked herself.
He raised an eyebrow at her when he noticed she didn't join him. Setting his drink down on the desk next to him, he reached out to take the unopened beer from her. "Ya know, it's more believable that you're drinking it, if it's actually open?"
"Oh, right," She let out a 'heh' of embarrassment as he popped the cap off and tossed it into the can as well. Taking it back from him, she admitted, "Like I said, not a big beer drinker."
With a teasing expression, he said, "Hmm… but really anything you drink out of a bottle has to be opened first, right?"
She blushed and smirked at his ribbing. Forcing herself not to laugh with all her might-made more difficult by the fact that she could see him trying not to smirk-she simply said, "Well, like I said, I was a latchkey kid. I typically drink strictly from the garden hose."
Jack finally looked over at them, finished plugging the TV in, and called to her, "George, come check the games!"
She grinned at the small "HA!" he let out at her joke. With a small, mental shrug, she lifted the beer and took a swig.
Fuck it, maybe it'll help calm my nerves. She then heard a smug sing-songy voice say, famous last words.
She walked over and looked at the cartridges that were laid out on his bed, "Nice! Oh, no way! Perfect Dark?!" She picked up the game and clutched it excitedly, "I totally forgot about this one!"
"Yea, I picked up a couple extras that weren't on the list. I hope that's OK, they just looked interesting," Jack said nervously.
"Of course it's OK! You might end up hating my game suggestions-not that that's possible because I have the best taste, obviously, but still. I'm glad you have a few to try on your own." Her grin increased as she looked at the game in her hand again, getting lost down memory lane for a moment. This game had gotten her through some rough patches.
She set it down and glanced over the few that were unfamiliar to her. "These ones I've never played before, so that'll be great. You'll get to actually figure out a few on your own."
"Will it be hard?" He wondered.
"Probably. And you'll most likely get so frustrated that you'll want to tear your hair out and throw the console against a wall. But, it'll be so freaking fun you can't stop. As Charles Dickens said, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'."
Sam laughed, picking his beer back up and taking another drink. George couldn't help but grin, drinking hers as well.
Damn if I'm not addicted to that sound.
While Jack was trying to get the console set up, he struggled to hook the system up to the small flat screen he'd placed on his dresser. George came over to help. After a moment, she identified the problem.
Holding up the console's composite cable she huffed, "This TV doesn't have RCA ports!"
"What?!" Sam 'pffted,' coming over to check it, running his hands along the back. When he found nothing, he stood back and put his hands on his hips, "Are you saying we're actually going to have to use our crappy old TVs for this?" He shook his head in disbelief.
George shrugged, "Eh, at least it gives him an authentic experience?"
A short while later they had the system set up on an old tube set and the three of them were playing a few rounds of Mario Kart 64. Jack was sitting cross legged on the edge of his bed. On the floor to his left was Sam, slouching against the bed with his legs stretched out long in front of him. George was to his right, with her knees bent and her feet planted on the ground, sitting straighter upright but also leaning against the bed.
In terms of play, all three were taking it serious. George was a little rusty but her muscle memory helped her quickly grab and keep first place almost every round. Jack was picking it up surprisingly quick but struggled with the strategic aspect of trap setting and disabling opponents. Sam needed a lap to get used to the buttons, but was now smoking Jack and catching up to George with ease.
At the moment they were in the middle of the second lap of their fourth round. Surprising everyone except George and Sam (because they threw it), Jack had won the first round and was very proud of himself. Unfortunately for Jack, he got a little too proud of himself. Her competitive side had roared to life at his boisterous celebration and the boys ate George's dust on the second and third rounds.
Sober George would have known better than to agree to another round. She would never admit it, but Sam had been hot on her tail the entire last round; he'd definitely be able to beat her by the next one. Unfortunately for her, she'd already finished her second beer and was feeling real cocky when they'd both demanded another round of her.
She had warned dramatically, "Alright, but if you're gonna take a shot at the Queen, you better not miss."
George was fairly far out in front and feeling great, when Sam's Peach shot a red shell at her Yoshi and she wasn't able to avoid it. As her Yoshi tumbled, George watched Peach fly past her into first place, a string of inventive curses flew out of her mouth, explaining in detail exactly where she thought Sam could put his red shells. He couldn't help but give her a quick, amused 'wtf' expression at her colorful vocabulary but she was too busy mashing her buttons to get back in gear again.
Just as she was gaining back on him, she gasped when Yoshi flipped over again. Another red shell.
"The FU-JACK!?" Her jaw dropped at Jack, whose Mario drove by and was now in second place. George let out a frustrated screech as the two men high fived each other over Sam's shoulder.
"Looks like we didn't miss, your royal highness," Sam teased, then dodged a kick to the shin with an evil laugh.
When Yoshi was upright and ready to go again, she pressed the A button down so hard her finger turned white. Pulling out all the stops to try and catch up to them again, she finally hit a mystery box. It took all her might to refrain from jumping for joy when three red shells appeared around her kart. Neither Jack nor Sam had noticed. Falsely confident that they'd disabled her, they'd devolved from their joint effort to take her down and were now going against each other. Jack lucked into hitting Sam with a tossed banana peel but Sam was able to out maneuver him on the next few turns and had scooted ahead again already.
George continued to gain on them, using her memory of the course to cut every corner she could and climb her way back up to third place. Sam and Jack were neck and neck, nearing the finish line on the final lap, and smack talking each other. They were barely paying attention to her and she waited for just the right time, before mashing her trigger button. Her red shells launched rapid fire. She watched with glee as Peach and Mario flipped over and stalled mere feet from the finish line.
As Yoshi sailed past them both and crossed in first place, George leapt up from her spot on the floor in triumph, "YES!" Sam and Jack flinched in pain; they were pretty sure everyone in the bunker had heard that.
"Tried to take me out, huh?" She asked Sam, then turned to Jack, "Didn't think I could get back up, did you? How ya like me now?" They were both trying to hide their annoyed grins and she continued, "You want to know why I always play Yoshi? Because he ain't a BITCH, and Neither. Am. I." She mic-dropped her controller onto the bed and did a victory dance in place. "Both. Of. Y'all. Can. SUuuUUuuUUuck. IiiiiIIiIIiiiIIiiit!" She sang joyfully, punching her arms into the air.
"Suck what?" Jack mumbled at Sam in exasperation, bummed that he'd lost again.
"Er-Nothing. It's just a saying, don't worry about it," The other man assured with a nervous throat clearing.
George quickly stepped over Sam's outstretched legs to the open space at the foot of Jack's bed. Jutting out her hip and placing a firm hand on it, she promptly began cat walking back and forth while singing, "Walk, walk, fashion baby. Work it. Move. That Bitch cuh-ray-zee." Jack was far more annoyed at losing than Sam, but they were both incredibly amused at her flamboyant, over-the-top reaction.
Sam watched her display with a smile and, after a moment, commented, "OK, Cindy Crawford, I'm cutting you off."
Pausing her catwalking to victory dance in front of him, she then lobbed, "And why? Don't like having your ass handed to you by a drunk woman?"
"You LUCKED out with all those red shells, George!" Jack argued defiantly.
"Now, now, Jack. Don't be a sore loser," George admonished jokingly, still wiggling her hips in delight.
"Yea, you're clearly only allowed to be a sore winner around here," Sam said pointedly with a chuckle. When George froze mid victory dance, her butt no longer bouncing in front of him, Sam regretted saying anything.
She scrunched her nose at him in offense, holding her hands up in surrender, "OK, fine. Yes. If it hadn't been for those red shells I would have been in third place."
Sam gave her a smug grin and said, "That's right."
She continued sweetly, "And obviously Jack would have won." A triumphant smile spread on Jack's face and he nodded his head in gracious acceptance of her determination.
"Thank you, yes-wait, what?" Sam started to agree with her and then it registered what she'd actually said. He did a double take. She knew darn well Sam would have won that round, but the smirk on her face told him she'd never admit it. Curiously, he was as turned on as he was infuriated.
Then, George added, "But the entire game is luck, dude! Most video games are. If you can't handle this, I would stay away from Mario Party," She warned in a serious tone.
Jack and Sam exchanged a serious look, then looked back at George. They had the same determined expression and Jack said, "Let's do it," while Sam nodded in agreement. He was having fun for the first time in weeks.
Maybe months, he thought grimly. He also hoped she'd say yes so he could do everything in his power to make her win and score another full frontal victory dance.
George laughed a little and nodded, "Alright. But don't say I didn't warn you. It's fun as hell, but no one wins at Mario Party. No. One," She finished ominously.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom before we keep going," Jack got up and headed for the door. He turned back with a thoughtful look on his face and said, "I might go to the kitchen for some snacks, too. Do you want anything?"
George shrugged, "Well, here's the situation Jack: I'm gonna say no but I will most likely steal some of whatever you bring back. So, I would say just accommodate for that and you should be golden."
Sam chuckled and said out of the corner of his mouth, "There's a life lesson in women if I've ever heard one." He avoided acknowledging the dirty look she shot him and shook his head at Jack, "Nothing for me, thanks."
After Jack left, George gave Sam a suspicious look and teased, "No more beer? Hmm, I see what you're doing."
Sam gave her a 'feigned innocence' expression and murmured, "Hmm?"
"You can stop drinking all you want; I can beat you, sober or not," Crossing her arms over her chest, she gave him a mean mug.
He chuckled, but said, "Truthfully, asking Jack to bring me a beer felt a little-"
"Alcoholic single dad?" George finished with a laugh and he joined her, nodding in agreement.
"Right," Sam pointed a quick finger in the air. "Not a great look," He said, standing up with a groan. "Yikes, shouldn't have been slouching like that. The older I get the less forgiving my back is."
"Have you ever tried a massage?" She asked, almost absentmindedly as she was distracted by him. His full height always took her breath away at first; she loved it.
Sam considered her question for a moment. Looking her over appreciatively, he asked with a teasingly incredulous tone, "No. Why, are you offering?"
That snapped George out of her stupor and she blinked rapidly. Thinking she hadn't heard him correctly, she asked "Oh, what? Oh, no! Er-I-I mean, I just, I wouldn't know where to begin. What? No, I mean I wouldn't know what I was doing. Not-no, I know what I'm doing I just-I'm not a professional. I-" Stop talking. Stop talking, now! George felt a bit warm and started fanning herself, "Hoo d'awgy, is it hot in here or just me? Maybe you should cut me off," She finished with a nervous laughter.
He had watched her nervous, adorable rambling gleefully, chuckling once or twice. Whenever he was near her, an eerie pressure would build in his chest that was reminiscent of feelings he'd thought were long since lost to him. He realized it was that feeling that spurred him on to be so flirtatious. At her last statement though, he reigned himself in and answered her question more earnestly to help break the tension and give her a chance to calm down, "I'm not so big on strangers touching me. And I worry about how sanitary those places are," he finished with an exaggerated shudder.
It had been kind of him to cut her a break, but when he started stretching out the kinks from his prolonged seat on the floor, any chance she had of calming down disappeared. She couldn't help but admire his physique. Her eyes trailed his body once over but then quickly settled back on his beard. She could kill the show producers for not letting him be bearded sooner than Season 14. 'Smoldering' didn't even begin to cover it.
She hadn't realized that she'd gotten lost in thought about those sexy whiskers until she heard his throat clearing. Widening in horror, her eyes quickly met his, which looked half amused, half curious.
With a lick of his lips, which made George's brows furrow with desire, he asked gently, "Is there something on my face?"
"No!" Gulping, she blushed from head to toe. After thinking about it for a split second, she heard a buzzed voice in her head say fuck it, you've already embarrassed yourself. Tilting her head to the side, she boldly proclaimed, "Well, actually…Yeah!" A nervous chuckle escaped her lips as she tried to figure out how to say this without giving anything away. In her inebriated state, she finally settled on, "The last time I saw you, your face was less… Hagrid?"
Sam let out a loud laugh, a look of mock offense on his face. She covered her mouth as she snickered, realizing maybe that wasn't the nicest thing to say.
"Oh, wow! Hagrid, huh? I… Well, I'm not sure how to take that. Maybe I should go shave real quick," He teased sadly, rubbing a slow hand over his beard. It made her weak kneed.
"No! Please don't! I'm sorry," She leaned forward and gently squeezed his forearm with both her hands, then let go. "I was just trying to make you laugh! And I couldn't think of an attractive bearded man reference fast enough; Hagrid was the next best thing."
"Nah, you're right. Hagrid was good; you had to do it," He shrugged in acceptance. Squinting at her curiously, he asked, "But, just to clarify, you don't think I look like Hagrid, right?"
She snorted and then looked unsure. As she spoke she slowly craned her neck up, "Well, now that you mention it, he was half-giant!" Another laugh escaped him and she bit her lip to keep from grinning. The sound mixed with the beer was lowering her inhibitions a bit and she ran her eyes over him quickly in appreciation. Before she could stop herself, she assured him, "Seriously, though. The beard looks good. You look…" All the descriptions she could think of were too inappropriate even for her less inhibited state. Finally, she breathed, her eyes wide for emphasis, "good."
Sam gave her a shy, sexy smile and he looked down at the ground for a minute. She could swear the skin of his cheeks near the top of his beard was slightly pink.
Was he hiding a blush behind all that rugged? George wondered, watching him closely. Her stomach was nearly painfully tingling with nausea; she knew she should stop but fuck, when was she ever going to get this opportunity again?
Sam looked back up at her, the look in his eyes making her gulp, and asked with a questioning shrug, "'Good,' huh?"
George could tell he was baiting her but unfortunately her rational side was beating her horny/ buzzed side back with a stick, trying to keep control. So, she simply nodded and gave him a flirty smile, confirming, "Yes. Good." The word came out as a painful purr that caused Sam's eyes to darken curiously. George unconsciously licked her lips; it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
"Hmm," was the noise that broke the silence finally, rumbling heavily from Sam's chest. He was feeling very conflicted. For one, the alcohol was obviously affecting her and he wasn't trying to take advantage. But also, she was causing him to feel a lot of intense and strange feelings, feelings that hadn't been stirred up in years, and he couldn't explain why. He'd just met her! Knew almost nothing about her, yet he was flirting with her left, right, and center like he was… well, Dean! It felt so comfortable around her; he felt a calming sense of ease, as though his life wasn't a giant crapshoot of terrible day in and day out. That feeling should have been foreign to him but it wasn't completely. That's what terrified and confused him.
They'd been staring intensely at each other. George thought it seemed like he was holding himself back; she recognized the look and assumed it was the same one on her face right now. Running a suddenly nervous hand through his hair, he huffed a little and smiled.
"Well… thank you," His tone sounded as sincere as it did nervous. "I-"
Just then Jack came back and broke the tension in the room. George released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and turned to look at him. Balancing in his arms were two packs of red vines, one large bag of peanut M&Ms, six beef jerky sticks, two 'sharin' size' bags of Cheetos, and four Yoohoos.
The intensity of the previous moment paired with the absurd amount of food made her exclaim, "Dude!" The laughter bubbled out of her before she could stop it; she got near tears. Sam joined her with distinct but far less intense chuckles at Jack's attempts to interpret George's earlier instructions.
"What?" Jack asked curiously, "You asked me to account for you wanting some! I figured it was more efficient to just bring you your own."
"Ah, yes, a classic mistake, Jack. Half the fun is eating the other person's food," Sam teased.
George shook her head and sighed out the last of her laughter, "Oh, man. That was great. OK, I have to pee and then we'll have a talk about appropriate food portions before the game. Also, the fact that you brought peanut M&Ms and not caramel is near criminal."
Sam followed her out the door, saying, "I think I've changed my mind on that beer. I'll be right back, too."
"Grab me one?" She requested over her shoulder and he nodded affirmatively.
On her way back to Jack's room, George was wringing her hands nervously. Her mind was racing; she'd barely been able to concentrate on peeing! There was a heated debate going on in her head about what the hell she thought she was doing. A very large, very selfish part of her had not wanted to hold herself back. But she was skating on thin ice. Thin? Try imaginary! You seriously believe Sam Winchester is flirting with you? You have lost your damn mind. You look like a bumbling moron to him. A total Becky! Not to mention, he's a 10 and you're an Idaho six, if we're being generous.
The unnecessarily hurtful arguing in her head silenced instantly when she rounded the corner and found Sam in the hallway, sans beer. He was nervously pacing about 6 feet from Jack's room. She gulped; he looked agitated all of a sudden. Was he about to give her a talk about being inappropriate and how they should just "be friends?" She heard a voice sing-song in her head: I told you so, six.
Forcing herself to move forward once again, she tried to steal herself for the blow. To her surprise, his expression shifted to regret when he noticed her finally.
"Hey," He started, his tone apologetic. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but-" he held up his phone with a grimace.
"You have a hunt," George finished slowly with an understanding-and incredibly relieved-head nod. She watched Sam glance back at Jack's room with sad eyes. It clicked after a moment and she added with a less understanding tone, "And you want me to keep Jack distracted while you go?"
Sam gave her an adorable, pleading face, "Yes, please? I already broke the news to him and he's… upset about not being able to come."
George frowned, "Dude, are you seriously leaving me here by myself to entertain him? Sam!" She stomped her foot quietly, mock upset, "I don't know anything about what young adults are into these days. SnapChat? Four Loco? Miley Cyrus?!"
"Hey, look at this as an opportunity to finally play those real deep cuts from Avril," Sam joked back and George punched his arm gently; both laughed.
"OK, but really, do you have any tips for how to handle a teenage boy who's pissed because he can't go kill things?" She looked nervously toward Jack's room. "How do I cheer him up?"
"Well, I think we both know what you're going to have to do," Sam said with a deep, apologetic sigh. George raised an eyebrow curiously. Sam raised both of his and widened his eyes with a pointed head tilt in response. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she began to see where he was going with this and his head started nodding slowly.
"No," George said matter of factly, starting to shake her head. "No!"
"Look, I know it's not ideal, but-"
"I refuse!" She dug her heels in and her arms crossed over her chest.
"Now, now," He began in the same tone you would use to speak to a toddler. "You asked how to make him happy."
"I am not going to debase myself like that, Sam. No!"
"Listen, I know it's hard! But you've done it once already! Was it really tha-"
"Horrible! You of all people should understand why this is a terrible thing to ask! You had to do it once, too!" She uncrossed her arms and pointed at him, demanding, "Look me in the eye and tell me a little piece of your soul didn't die the last time?"
"Oh it wasn't that bad," Sam rolled his eyes dramatically.
"That's easy for you to say, Sam! You're bad at it! But, I have a reputation to protect!"
"OK, Kinicki, well if you want Jack to have fun, you're going to have to suck it up and let him win at Mario Kart!" When she huffed, shaking her head in continued defiance, he rolled his eyes and offered a compromise, "Every once in a while!"
After a few moments of mean mugging each other, neither one willing to give in, they both just started laughing. Once their laughter died down, he gave her a serious, apologetic expression and said, "Georgia, I really am sorry to do this… I was having fun."
As he used her full name, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. With a gentle shake of her head, she waved him off, "Don't be sorry; you have to go. And truly, I don't mind. Jack's actually a pretty cool kid…" She trailed off and then furrowed her brow in mock concern, "or am I a lame adult?"
He chucked, then shrugged and said, "Well, if you are then I am."
"Good thing Dean didn't hear you say that," She joked, shooting a finger gun at him. The look on his face in response was indiscernible and she kicked herself. "Shit, sorry. That was insensitive. With Michael and everything, I-I didn'-"
Sam waved his hand in the air and cut her off, "Nah, I know you didn't mean anything by it. I was just thinking how accurate the statement was, yet… you haven't met Dean, right?"
Her eyebrows went up in sobered surprise. Shit. She gulped and stuttered out, "Oh-right-no, that's right. I haven't… I-I just, uh, I know what it's like to have a big brother! He's-he is your big brother, right? I mean, I think I've heard Jack or someone say that…" Sam's brows furrowed further, looking at her curiously and nodding slowly in confirmation. "Right, well, yea. I just-I figured since Dean was your big brother, he'd relish the opportunity to make a comment about you being a loser. I know my brother certainly lived for it." She felt like he could tell she was sweating and it made her sweat more.
"Uh huh," Sam said with a slow drawl, not entirely convinced.
As George watched him she became less nervous, realizing that there was a lot of pain behind his bright hazel eyes. It was obvious that he was really worried about his brother; her heart twinged in empathy.
Without thinking, she placed a hand on his forearm and gripped tightly. With a comforting smile she promised, "Don't worry, Sam. You'll find Dean soon."
Sam felt as if the wind knocked out of his lungs as an intense burst of deja vu hit him. It couldn't be… that had been a dream. A fake dream at that! All part of the trickster's mind games trying to get him to give up on saving Dean. Obviously, there was no way this was the same woman. Yet he knew he'd heard that consolation before. From her, he felt sure. But how would he have dreamt about a woman from an alternate reality?
She jumped when she heard someone shout from down the hall, "Sam!"
George was panicking internally. He'd flinched at her words and the look on his face made her sick to her stomach. She let go of his arm quickly. Had she gone too far? Had she offended him? Was he just disgusted at being touched by her? A million thoughts raced through her mind as a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
Sam snapped out of his stupor and furrowed his brow a bit. "COMING!" He boomed in their direction and then looked back at her in apology. Though he still seemed perturbed by something.
George smiled understandably, eternally grateful for the interruption, and began before he could say anything, "You have to go! I'll keep an eye on Jack for a while longer. But I swear to God if he starts trying to talk to me about Fortnite or TikTok or FOOTBALL: I'm. Out."
Sam had moved around her, slowly starting to head for the map room, "Football?"
"I just really hate sports," She deadpanned with a shrug, turning her body around to follow him.
He chucked and nodded, "Ah. Noted." He bowed to her slightly as he backed away, "Well, Thank you again. I owe you a beer now… or maybe a massage?" He offered innocently, adding, "I may not be a professional, but I definitely know what I'm doing." He watched just long enough to see her jaw drop, then with a wink, he turned and left.
When she'd mopped herself up from the floor and had finally started breathing again, George looked up to the ceiling and begged, "I have thirty five thousand dollars in savings and retirement and it's all yours for a copy!"
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wordsfromthesol · 5 years
Text
Out of Place (5/6)
Author: @wordsfromthesol Pairing: Dick Grayson x Reader Summary: Meeting Dick, and the rest of the batboys.  You’re confused, since you are nowhere near Bludhaven or Gotham. Some tragedies, some battles, etc. Happy ending because I’m a sap. Warnings: Language, blood, rape Word Count: 2.0k A/N: I’m almost finished with the story and hope to post the rest soon.
Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 6
You opened your eyes, and everything was black. You screamed for Dick, but no sound came. Frantic, you looked around until you saw light. Rushing towards it, you see yourself. Well a much younger you, standing next to your dad. It was Christmas, and the day he gave you the necklace. You were only five at the time, but he began explaining what it was.
Y/N. You are the light of my life, my sunshine. This will protect you throughout your journey of life. It will also, be a source of great harm. People will try to take it, but you must never give it up. You would not be alive, and neither would this earth, if you ever take the necklace off. I can’t tell you exactly what it is but know that Dr. Fate entrusted me with it. Now, I am entrusting you. Too many people are after me, my time may be up soon.
You awoke in another unfamiliar place. Though, this time, you were not afraid. It was dark, except the small glass room you were in. You were attached to more machines than you cared to count, and finally dressed in proper clothes…not the swim suit you had donned during your capture. You grasped at your neck, the necklace still there. Your head began to clear, and you noticed the pressure against your hand; leaning up as much as you dare, there he was. Richard Grayson, asleep against the bed. You gave his hand a light squeeze and laid back. He immediately shot up.
“Y/N?”
Eyes still closed, “I’m here Dickiebird.”
They had you in a medically induced coma for two weeks, in order to allow your body to heal. While you were stuck in your own head, you figured something out. The necklace, your dad gave you the necklace. You always wore it. That had to mean something. To Dick’s surprise, you asked for Tim next.
“Tim, right. That’s the other one?”
“Uhm, yeah…he was there. Why?”
“Get him for me sweetheart?”
Dick rose slowly and soon came back with Tim and Jason in tow.
“Wow, asking for my replacement, and not me? That hurts.”
“Jaybird” you smiled softly. Turning towards Tim, you usher him closer. The boys both exchange confused glances. You reach up and take off the necklace and place it in Tim’s hand. “Find out for me.” And again, you were out.
“Well, what was it? Why did she want you?” Jason questioned his younger brother, slightly hurt that his best friend asked for his brother instead of him.
“I…I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” Tim held up the necklace to both of the boys. “Any thoughts?” They were just as confused as he was.
Tim scoured the internet and every database he could think of. Finally, information on a similar piece surfaced. “Magic…” He immediately rang Zatanna. There within minutes, she glanced at the piece and immediate shock hit her.
“Where did you get that?! Who did you take it off of?! I need answers now Drake!”
“Damn, what the hell is it?”
“Now.”
Tim points to the med bay. “I didn’t take it, she gave it to me.”
“No no no no no…” Zatanna snatches the piece and raced over to Y/N, securing it back around your neck. “Why, why would she take it off? Doesn’t she know?” Zatanna held her face in her hands. “Read me in. Now.”
Tim called the boys to the cave and they explained everything.
“It is an amulet of Eshu. The proclaimed wearer is offered safety from death, but if they take it off…well they could be lost on one of the 256 paths to the underworld. And even if they find their way there, they must then challenge Eshu. If they lose, they set the god of death and chaos free. My hope is, since she gifted it…and it only briefly disconnected from her, she has not been set on her path. I need M’gann.”
The Martian soon entered the cave, as Bruce and Damian walked downstairs.
“When did we send out invitations to the cave?” Damian scoffed as he stalked to the corner.
“What’s the news?” Bruce knew this escalated quickly, for so many parties to be involved. The situation was explained, and a plan formed. The combined powers of M’gann and Zatanna should allow them into Y/N’s mind and make sure she has not begun her path to the underworld. Dick was insistent that his consciousness be brought along.
Zatanna and M’gann worked together and suddenly…darkness. It enveloped the trio as their bodies fell to the floor.
“Where are we? Why can’t we see anything?” Dick questioned the girls, wondering if this spell even worked.
“I’m guessing this is what her mind looks like. It’s being lost on the pathways to Eshu.” Zatanna’s fears had been confirmed. “We have to find her, quickly”
“Look! A light!” Dick began to rush to it, before even waiting on his ride back to his own body.
“M’gann, do you see a light? Can you sense where Dick went?”
“Nothing. I see nothing. I hear nothing. We can only wait and hope that Dick is enough to pull her out. Her mind, someone has tampered with it. Only Dick was permitted in.”
Dick looked back, and the girls were gone. Guess he was on his own. He couldn’t lose her, he just got her back. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Dick followed the light, and it was revealed to be a memory. The same memory Y/N recalled, that fateful Christmas Day when she received the necklace.  He followed the young Y/N, and another memory surfaced.
Y/N was sitting on her bed, crying. She was a bit older now, Dick guessed about 8.
Why, why do we have to move dad! I don’t want to! Alaska is cold, and all my friends are here. I DON’T WANT TO GO!
Y/N, it is important we leave this place. It is no longer safe for you. For…anyone.
He glanced down at the necklace and quickly walked out.
Dick noticed tears forming in her dad’s eyes. Almost like he never wanted to give her the necklace in the first place. There was definitely more to the story, more than her dad was letting on. Again, the young Y/N took him through to another memory. Y/N was about 14 in this one.
Let go of me!
Dick cringed, he hated that he could do nothing. He just had to sit back and watch the events unfold.
I said let go! I don’t have anything to give you! Money? Is that what you want? Newsflash, I’m a child! I don’t HAVE any.
Money is that all you think has value, girl? Pathetic. The man grabbed her by the hair and threw Y/N on the ground. I want that. He pointed at the necklace.
Yeah, well you can’t have it. Y/N spit at his shoes.
Dick had to chuckle at that, guess she was always stubborn and snarky.
And just like that, the sound of a gunshot reverberates through the memory and everything goes black. A few seconds passed and the light returns. Y/N is still in the same alley, intact, with blood soaking her shirt. She didn’t know what to do except run. Y/N ran home, but afraid to go in looking like this, she climbed through her bedroom window and took off the shirt. There was so much blood everywhere, and a bullet wound still dripping blood from her abdomen. Panicked, she searched everywhere for a needle…and some fishing line.
Dick stood staring at the memory in shock. She should’ve been dead. She said she didn’t even know that fishing line would work.
A knock on her bedroom door interrupted his thoughts.
Y/N! You’ve been missing for days! Her mother ran in and embraced her child. Her father and sister quickly followed. Where have you been? Your father wouldn’t even let us call the police!
Y/M/N, there is a reason for that. One which I now must discuss with our daughter, in private. Y/N’s mother and sister quickly left the bedroom. Tell me.
Well…I…I don’t know. Someone was trying to rob me. When I had nothing to give them, well they wanted my necklace. Then all I know is there was darkness and then I woke up, covered in blood.
So, you don’t remember anything? Your time on the pathways to Eshu.
I don’t even know what that is dad.
You’re not ready. I knew you weren’t ready. I’m so sorry my sunshine. He calls out for Dr. Fate. Appearing almost instantly, he murmurs an enchantment and is gone as quickly as he came. Her father looked back at her. You got off on the wrong bus stop, Y/N. You were lost, but finally found your way home three days later. He turned and walked through the door. Y/N’s mother and sister came bounding in.
Y/N! What happened! How could you leave me here alone with mom and dad!
I got off on the wrong bus stop. I was lost, but I finally found my way home three days later. Y/N shook her head back and forth and crawled into bed.
Dick found the young Y/N tugging at his sleeve for the next trip down memory lane. But his mind, it was still in shock. How could her father do such a thing? Had Y/N relived these memories as he was doing?
Last stop. The young Y/N said just before she disappeared.
College, this was where Y/N went to college. Dick remembered the diplomas hanging on your wall. He was always so proud.
Michelle, I don’t want to be here anymore. This party is so not fun. Can’t we just go get wine drunk and watch a romcom?
Y/N this is a once in a lifetime party! We can’t leave now…that’d be like…a crime or something.
Fine. I’m going to find a drink that’s not disgusting. Y/N wandered through the party and finally found a passable drink. Or so she thought. Soon she was completely out of her mind, loosing clothes left and right. A sock there…her top on the counter. Dick didn’t know if he could bear to watch what was going to happen, but soon a sign of relief came as the drunken girl he loved so dearly wandered up the stairs and found herself a bed. She even locked the door, he was so proud. Until he noticed the memory wasn’t ending. Soon two guys knocked down the door.
Fuck man why did someone lock my damn door. He glanced at the helpless girl on the bed. Dude, she’s out.
Imagine what we could do. I’ve always wanted to try the handcuff thing.
You go for it. I’m going to find an open bed. As the man walked out, he screamed back to his friend, handcuffs are in the bottom right drawer!
Dick didn’t want to watch, but it seemed like every time he closed his eyes the memory stopped. Just to restart once they were open again.
The man fastened her wrists to the bedposts, just as she was starting to stir.
Fuck. Dick thought, he didn’t want her to wake up. He didn’t want her to have to remember any of this. He cringed through the rest of the horrid memory, his fists balling up…urging to punch something, or someone. Yet, all he could do it watch the love of his life struggle and cry against the assailant. The man finally passed out and you watched Y/N dislocate her thumb against the bedpost and pull her wrist through. She did the same with the other wrist. Finally, the memory faded to black. Dick saw Y/N, his Y/N sitting on the floor.
“Y/N! It’s me! Sweetheart, I’m here. I’m never leaving you, I’m here!” Dick raced towards her. He found her bloodied and battered, just as he had so many weeks ago in Ra’s al Ghul’s personal torture chamber. He bent down and held her close. “I’m never leaving you. We are in all of this together.”
“Good. I don’t want to remember this. Any of it, I only want you.” You sobbed into his chest.
“And you have me.”
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