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lilstarkeydream · 6 months ago

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Hidden Flames- Chapter 3

Summary: Y/N, a Kook who prefers the company of her Pogue friends, falls for Rafe Cameron. Despite their growing feelings, they maintain a facade due to their conflicting social circles and personal insecurities. Y/N is best friends with Sarah, Rafe's sister, which fuels Rafe's hidden affection. He despises how Y/N hangs out with the Pogues, believing she has more potential, while Y/N can't stand Rafe's for fights and stuck up nature. After a dramatic confrontation, they confess their feelings but must keep their relationship secret, with only Sarah in the know.

Warnings: 18+ only! Fluff, Angst, Smut (p in v), Adult language,

Authors note: Hey guys! Ugh I'm so sorry I made this like crazy long again and that it has been SO long betwen chapters. I've already sort of started working on Chapter 4 so hopefully I'll have it done soon. Anyways enjoy and feel free to message me if you have any requests xoxo.

9k words

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The warm sand felt soft against your feet, the gentle waves lapping at the shore. The sun was settling, casting a golden glow over everything. You were laughing, you don’t know what from, but Rafe was beside you, smiling, his eyes filled with softness. Rafe's arms wrapped tightly around you, holding you close as he spun you in slow circles, laughter mingling with the sound of the ocean. He pulled you closed, gently kissing your lips and whispering sweet nothings into your ear. You were dressed in white, almost like ghosts in a beautiful, ethereal world.

Rafe leaned in, his forehead resting against yours, “I want you forever Y/N. Even when I’m gone I’ll still be with you.”

Before you could respond, a loud powerful jarring sound shattered the peaceful scene. The scene faded away and turned black and you groaned and opened your eyes. You padded your bed around you searching for your phone trying to turn off your god-awful 7:30 am alarm. Early mornings are going to be the death of me, you thought.

You instinctively pulled your cover back over your head, dreading the day ahead. Dress shopping for midsummer’s… perfect. With only a week and a half to go, you already dreaded the thought of the superficial conversations that were bound to happen.

You try to hold onto the sweet memories of your dream but it is suddenly ruined when your mom yells down the hall.

“Y/N time to get up! We are already behind schedule, we are leaving in an hour for the boutique”

You groaned, slamming your face into the pillow and then pulling yourself up to start preparing for the day. You can already imagine your mom with her cup of coffee in her hand criticizing every dress you pull off the rack. Your parents were very particular when it came to a lot of things but the main thing was presentation; they hated it when you dressed in “pogue” attire. Hence why dress shopping is so important to your mom, it validates to her that there is still hope for you. You rolled your eyes at the thought of her voice in your head but smiled, knowing it was easier to just go along with her sometimes.

The boutique was glowing with varying colors, patterns, and dress types; it was overwhelming. From rack to rack, your mother picked out various dresses and styles for you, ushering you to the changing room to try on every single one.

You spent what felt like hours trying on dresses, in and out of the changing rooms, accumulating a small pile of maybes. Finally, as you were about to call it a day, your mom came over with a navy satin, backless dress with a bow detail.

“Now I'm not a fan of the backless back but I do think the bow in the back ties it all together,” she said as you slipped it on. But when you turned to the mirror, the fit was perfect. It was the one. Scenarios played in your head on how Rafe would react seeing you in this dress, so tight fitting and revealing, you know it would make him ogle.

“I agree Mom, this has to be it,” you said smiling running your hands down the dress.

Your mom was about to respond when you felt goosebumps begin to rise on the back of your neck like someone was watching you.

You quickly glanced around in the mirror at the surrounding store as your eyes locked with Chris’s.

Oh god, you got to be kidding me, you thought. Out of all places, this is where you see him? He must be with his mom and sister or something.

A twinge of nostalgia immediately began to coarse through you. You quickly looked away, pretending not to notice him, but of course, he noticed you—and began walking over, giving you his typical polite smile.

“Oh my gosh is that Christopher Phillips?!” Your mom whipped around, beaming with recognition. She practically jogged over to greet him, her eyes lighting up with that motherly approval. She quickly pulled him into a hug. “Christopher! How are you? Look at you, still as handsome as always!”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes, your mom failed to acknowledge boundaries sometimes.

“Hello Mrs. Chastain, it is great to see you, you look fantastic!” he said as he pulled away, quickly glancing over at you as well.

“Oh please Christopher, call me Linda. You're still such a charmer. Anyway, Y/N is just trying on some dresses for Midsummer but I’ll let you old love birds catch up, I’ll just be right over there” She pointed to a random corner, and knowing her we would still be eye-shot. As I’ve said before… she is a huge fan of Chris.

As she eagerly waltzed away, Chris visibly got a bit nervous shoving his hands in his pockets, clearing his throat.

“Hey Y/N, uh, I wasn’t expecting to run into you, you look great,” he said gesturing to your dress, his voice carrying a hint of the awkwardness that hung over you guys even after the breakup.

“Yeah, Chris, good to see you too,” you said, keeping a neutral smile. The idea of catching up as old friends was tempting, but you could tell by his eyes that lingering feelings were still there, and you didn’t want to stir them up.

“So, are you going to Midsummer?” he asked, trying to make conversation.

“Yeah, I am. You?”

“Same,” he replied, nodding with a tight smile.

Silence settled between you. You were about to excuse yourself when he cleared his throat. “Are you… seeing anyone new?” he asked, his voice a bit too casual.

Your heart skipped a beat, and you forced a neutral expression. “Nope. You?” As you spoke, a flicker of guilt stirred. Rafe was still in the back of your mind, his presence lingering, tugging at the corners of your thoughts. The memory of his touch was enough to make you blush, but you couldn’t say any of that—not to Chris, and not to anyone else.

He hesitated, noticing your sudden change in demeanor, then shook his head. “Nope.” He looked away noticing your mom eagerly waiting with prying eyes, “Anyway, it was good to see you, take care. I’ll see you around, I guess.”

“Yeah. See you around,” you said, relieved as he walked away.

God that was so awkward

You stepped out of the boutique with your mom, your newly purchased dress slung over one arm. The bright afternoon sun made you squint, and you took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air after what felt like hours spent in stuffy fitting rooms.

"Well," your mom said, eyeing you with satisfaction, "now that we’ve got that settled, we can get on to the important things, like accessorizing.” She gave a little smile, seeming more pleased with you than usual.

You smiled, barely listening as your mind drifted back to your encounter with Chris. Why here, of all places?

Just then, a familiar voice called out across the street. "Y/N! Hey, Y/N!"

You turned to see JJ striding over, his hands shoved casually in his pockets, but his expression lighting up when he saw you. As he reached you, his gaze darted between you and your mom, a flicker of mischief in his eyes as he took in your shopping bags.

“Oh,” your mom said, straightening, “this must be one of your…friends.” Her voice held that edge she always had when she saw you talking to Pogues. She gave him a quick, tight smile. "Well, Y/N, I'll just grab a coffee down the street. You two…catch up. I'll be waiting in the car." Her heels clicked against the pavement as she walked away, looking back just once before disappearing into the café.

Once she was gone, JJ grinned. “Nice to see I’m still charming the Kooks, as always.”

You rolled your eyes but laughed. “You have that effect.”

“So, what’s all this?” He pointed to the bags with a teasing smirk. “Getting ready for Midsummer? Gotta say, I never pictured you as the ‘princess of Kooklandia’ type.”

“Oh, very funny,” you said, nudging him. “Yes, it’s for Midsummers. My mom practically forced me to come out today.”

“Lucky me, running into you, then,” he said, shoving his hands back in his pockets and giving you an easy smile. “So, how’s it going? You look…like you’ve been through it.”

You shrugged, laughing a little, but your voice softened. “I actually just ran into Chris.”

JJ’s face fell, the teasing look replaced by concern. “Wait, Chris? Like…Chris Chris?”

“Yeah,” you replied, the awkwardness of it making you cringe all over again. “It was…strange. He was trying to be nice, but I don’t know. It just reminded me of how I’ve changed, you know?”

JJ nodded slowly, eyes narrowing as if weighing his words. “Y/N, listen. Be careful with those Kook guys—no offense, but they can be a lot. And Chris…he’s bound to have feelings still, so just, you know…keep an eye out.”

You raised an eyebrow, surprised by the intensity of his reaction. “JJ, he’s harmless. We were just talking.”

“Yeah, maybe,” JJ muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, “but I don’t know. You’ve seemed kinda distant lately. Like…you’re around, but not. Got me worried, is all.”

Just as you were about to respond, your phone buzzed in your pocket. You glanced down, your pulse picking up slightly as Rafe’s name flashed across the screen.

Been thinking about you. What are you up to? The message was simple but meant everything, and you couldn’t stop the faint smile that crept onto your face as you typed back a quick reply, your heart beating just a little faster.

JJ’s voice snapped you out of the moment. “Uh-oh,” he said, smirking as he watched your expression shift. “That look’s usually reserved for the extra-rich Kooks.”

You quickly pocketed your phone, fighting to keep your expression neutral. “What look?”

He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Y/N. I may not be a Kook, but I know you well enough to see when something’s got you all…happy like that.”

You let out a laugh, shrugging it off. “It’s nothing. Just someone I know.”

JJ gave you a curious look, his playful smirk softening as he studied you. “Well, whoever it is, I hope they’re good enough for you. Just don’t go getting lost in Kooklandia too long. Us Pogues kinda need you”

The genuine concern in his eyes made your heart twist slightly, and you nodded, touched by his words. “I won’t, JJ. Promise.”

A flash of relief crossed his face, and he returned your smile with a lopsided grin, nudging you playfully. “Alright, princess, get out of here before your mom thinks I’m corrupting you or something.”

You laughed, shaking your head as you said goodbye, his words lingering in your mind as you headed to the car.

During dress shopping earlier, your phone had buzzed with a text from Sarah, asking if you wanted to hang out. She went on about an argument she’d had with Topper, making it sound both dramatic and all too familiar. You’d texted back, agreeing to come over once shopping was done, already bracing yourself for whatever rant awaited you.

Your mom is currently driving to the Cameron's residence as she droned on about Midsummer's etiquette and the importance of making a good impression.

“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll pick you up in a few hours. We can get lunch and talk more about Midsummers,” she said as she unlocked the car. But her phone buzzed just as she opened the door. She glanced at it, frowning.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…” She sighed, her voice turning business-like. “They need me at the hospital honey. I’m so sorry, would you be able to grab a ride home.”

“Yeah, of course. Don’t worry, Mom, I understand. I’ll ask Sarah if she can drive me,” you replied, secretly grateful for the change of plans. You’d had enough of Midsummer's talk to last a lifetime.

She gave you a sympathetic smile, and as you shut the passenger door, you watched her drive away, feeling relieved. But that feeling quickly gave way to nerves as you noticed Rafe’s truck parked in front of the house. Of course, he’d be here,you thought, trying to keep your pulse steady.

Once your mom was out of sight, you made your way up the Cameron's all-too-familiar staircase. You hadn’t been here since that night—when you’d drunkenly found yourself in Rafe’s room. The memories flickered back, and you thought you caught a faint hint of his cologne lingering in the air. You passed by his door, stealing a glance, but it was empty, the bed neatly made. Maybe he’s out with Topper or Kelce by the pool, you mused, trying to shake the thrill of knowing he was nearby.

Reaching Sarah’s room, you barely had time to knock before she flung open the door, grabbing your arm and pulling you onto the bed beside her. “Finally!” she exclaimed, tossing her phone onto the bed as she settled in next to you. “You have no idea how badly I needed to see you today.”

“Really?” you laughed, stretching out beside her. “What’s going on?”

“Ugh, where do I even start?” She let out a dramatic sigh, flopping back against her pillows. “The guys are outside right now, so I can’t be too loud, but Topper and I had the stupidest argument last night. He gets jealous of everything—it’s unreal. Sometimes I think he’s the insecure one, not me! He saw me talking with John B near the docks and now he’s convinced I’m sneaking around behind his back!”

Your eyebrows shot up. “John B?” That was news to you. John B and Sarah had never shown much interest in each other before—or at least, not that you’d noticed.

Sarah nodded, biting her lip with a mischievous smile. “Yeah, he and I talked a bit last week, and honestly, I kind of liked it. He’s so…different from Topper, you know? But I swear, I wasn’t doing anything sketchy. Topper just freaked out and, ugh, it’s such a mess.”

You couldn’t help but imagine how the Pogues would react if they knew about Sarah’s budding friendship with John B. It was complicated enough with your friendship with them, let alone…well, your situation with Rafe. The Pogues wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to know you were sneaking around with the one person they despised most.

“Wow,” you said, trying to sound casual. “I just can’t picture John B with a Kook like…well, like us, honestly.”

Sarah laughed, rolling her eyes. “I know, right? It’s complicated.”

“Speaking of complicated…” you began, realizing you hadn’t yet told her about the day’s chaos. “I ran into Chris today.”

Her eyes widened, surprise flashing across her face. “Chris? No way. How did that go?”

You gave her a tight smile. “Awkward, mostly. He was…polite, I guess, but I could tell there was something else. I don’t think he’s over it. He even asked if I was seeing anyone new.”

Sarah groaned, shaking her head. “Classic Chris. He’s just trying to find an excuse to come back into your life.”

“Maybe,” you admitted, “but I had to lie and say no. And that made it even worse because…”

You paused, hesitating. Sarah propped herself up on her elbow, eyes narrowing. “Because what?”

You took a deep breath, feeling your pulse quicken. “Because I snuck out with Rafe last night.”

Sarah’s eyes went wide, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Oh my god, what? Go on!”

“He came to my house, tapping on my window like a total maniac.” You laughed at the memory, but your voice softened as you remembered what had happened next. “We ended up going for ice cream and walking on the pier. He…he told me he wanted to try with me, you know? Like, actually give it a shot. And I said yes, Sarah. I told him I liked him.”

Sarah’s expression shifted, a mix of excitement and caution. “Wow…okay, so this is getting serious, huh?”

“Yeah,” you admitted, feeling a flutter of nervousness at her words. “It feels…different.��

Sarah sighed, looking at you with a gentle but wary smile. “I get it. Rafe can surprise you sometimes. But be careful, Y/N. He’s my brother, and I love him, but…he can be unpredictable.”

“I know,” you replied, grateful for her understanding. “But right now, I just…I don’t know. I feel happy.”

Just then, a familiar voice drifted through the open window from the backyard, and your stomach did a flip. Rafe’s unmistakable laugh mixed with Topper and Kelce’s voices, the sound sending a thrill through you.

Sarah noticed, smirking. “He’s right out there, you know.”

You rolled your eyes, feeling a blush creep up your cheeks. “Ugh, I know. But we’re trying to keep things secret, remember?”

“Sure, sure,” she teased, winking.

You both laughed, and the conversation drifted to other things. But as you glanced out the window, you saw Rafe and the guys heading inside, his attention focused on his phone. Sarah’s voice faded into the background as you heard him walk through the house and up the stairs, heart thudding as you wondered if he might notice you.

Excusing yourself with a quick “I got to go to the bathroom,” you slipped out of Sarah’s room, making your way quietly down the hall. Just as you rounded the corner, you nearly collided with Rafe, who looked up in surprise, his lips curving into that familiar smirk.

“Whoa, well this is a surprise, what are you doing around here, pretty girl?” he murmured, voice low and teasing. “Sneaking into my house just to see me?”

You rolled your eyes, unable to hide your smile. “I’m best friends with your sister, dumbass. You’re the one who’s supposed to be downstairs with your friends.”

Rafe leaned casually against the wall, his hair still damp and tousled from the pool, water droplets catching on his tan skin, his arms toned and relaxed. He flashed you that familiar, mischievous grin. “Kelce and Topper just headed out, so I guess that leaves us. Think you can handle it?”

Your heart skipped a beat as he closed the space between you, the playful glint in his eyes making it clear he knew exactly what he was doing.

You opened your mouth to answer, but his hand was already reaching for yours, pulling you into his room. The familiar thrill of being this close, in a place where you could be caught any second by Ward or Rose, made your pulse race.

“You know,” he murmured sitting on his bed pulling you between his legs, his voice barely above a whisper, “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“Yeah?” You tried to keep your voice steady running your hand down his chest, even as your heart raced. “What about me?”

He chuckled softly, his thumb tracing circles on the back of your hand. “Everything. The way you laugh, the way you look at me…” He paused, leaning in just enough that you could feel his breath against your skin. “The way you make it really hard to keep my hands off you.”

You swallowed, feeling the warmth spread through you. “Who said you have to?”

A slow grin spread across his face leaning in to capture a kiss, and for a moment, everything else faded away—the house, Sarah, the risks of being caught. It was just the two of you.

But then, footsteps echoed from the stairwell, and you both sprang apart, glancing nervously down the hall. Rafe gave you a quick wink, his eyes dancing with mischief.

Rose’s voice called down the hall, clear and firm. “Sarah! Rafe! Y/N! Dinner’s ready!”

Rafe pulled back, his lips just inches from yours, his playful expression turning to one of frustration. “Of course,” he muttered, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Before you could respond, Sarah’s footsteps sounded from the other side of the hall, followed by a quick knock on the bathroom door down the hall. “Hey Y/N dinner’s ready! Rafe, dinners ready. Come on, let’s go!”

Rafe raised an eyebrow, smirking as he glanced at you. Then, with his best impression of an annoyed brother, he called out, “I’ll be down in a few, Sarah!”

Satisfied, Sarah’s footsteps faded down the stairs, and in an instant, Rafe’s arms pulled you back toward him. His lips found yours again, the urgency even stronger now. The thrill of secrecy rushed through you as his fingers tangled in your hair, his touch somehow gentle and desperate at the same time.

“Alright, you really need to go now,” he whispered between kisses, his voice thick with reluctance.

“You don’t make it easy,” you murmured, smiling against his lips. Finally, you pulled back, running a hand through your hair as you gathered yourself, fixing your clothes.

Taking a deep breath, you slipped out of his room, glancing over your shoulder one last time to see him watching you with that signature smirk.

When you entered the dining room, the Cameron family was gathered around the table, and Rose flashed you a warm smile. Sarah was already seated, chatting with Wheezie, who was recounting some story with animated hand gestures. You slipped into the seat between Sarah and Rose, offering a polite smile to Ward as he nodded in greeting.

“Glad you could join us, Y/N,” Ward said, his tone warm. “We don’t get to see you around here often enough.”

“Thank you for having me, Mr. Cameron,” you replied, feeling a bit more at ease as Rafe entered the room and took the seat across from you. His expression was casual, but the glint of mischief in his eyes was unmistakable. As he sat down, his foot tapped against your thigh under the table, and your cheeks flushed.

Dinner began with light conversation, Rose asking about school, and Ward making polite inquiries about your family. The food was excellent, and for a while, you settled into the cozy atmosphere, almost able to ignore Rafe’s occasional gaze across the table and the flutter it stirred in you.

“So, Y/N,” Rose began, setting down her fork and smiling at you with that piercing, Kook-perfect smile. “I’m assuming you’ll be going to Midsummers? Did you end up finding a dress?”

“Oh, uh, yes! Just today, actually,” you replied, hoping to sound casual despite your racing heart.

She nodded approvingly. “Wonderful! Midsummers is such an important event, especially for making connections. Do you have a date lined up yet?”

The question caught you off guard, and you took a quick sip of water, trying to keep calm. “Not yet,” you replied, glancing down at your plate to avoid looking at Rafe.

“Oh, what about that young man you were seeing before?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. “What was his name? Chris, right?

The mention of his name made both you and Sarah choke on your drinks at the same time. Sarah quickly recovered, covering her laughter with a cough, but your cheeks burned as you struggled to respond.

“Oh, uh, we’re…we’re not together anymore,” you managed, giving Rose a small, tight smile. You could feel Rafe’s eyes on you, though you didn’t dare look up.

Rose’s eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise. “Oh, I see. Well, no matter. I’m sure you’ll find a date—someone with a good head on his shoulders,” she added, her gaze lingering a bit too long on Rafe as if expecting him to say something.

Rafe cleared his throat, his expression unreadable as he casually picked at his food. “I’m sure Y/N will be the best-dressed one there,” he said smoothly, his tone calm but laced with a subtle edge. The mention of Chris hadn’t gone unnoticed, and a hint of jealousy flickered in his eyes.

The comment hung in the air for a moment before Ward chuckled, drawing the attention back to himself. “Well, I thinkit’s great that you’ll be attending, Y/N. Midsummers is a special event. It really brings out the best in everyone.”

“Yes, sir. My family is excited about it—it’s all my mom has been talking about,” you replied, chuckling as you offered Ward a polite smile, eager to steer the conversation away from your love life, especially with one of the culprits sitting directly across from you.

As the meal continued, Rose turned her attention to Sarah, her smile a little too fixed as she asked, “So, Sarah, I heard you were spotted down at the docks last week with…what’s his name? John B?”

The question dropped into the conversation like a stone, and Sarah froze, her fork hovering mid-air. You felt your pulse quicken as you glanced over at her, sensing the shift in the atmosphere.

“Oh, that?” Sarah laughed, shrugging nonchalantly. “We just ran into each other. It was nothing.” She was doing her best to act casual, but you could tell Rose wasn’t convinced.

“Well, it just seems like…an unusual friendship, doesn’t it?” Rose remarked, her voice light, though her eyes were sharp and watchful.

“Considering his father’s…reputation.”

Sarah’s jaw tightened as she replied evenly, “John B’s not like that. He just…runs with a different group of people, that’s all.”

Ward set his glass down, nodding thoughtfully. “That’s true. John B’s worked well with us, especially on the boats. He’s shown some responsibility.” He paused, looking between you and Sarah. “But I’d hate for either of you to get caught up in their habits—like sneaking around and stretching the truth. It’s just not the kind of influence we want for you two.”

You exchanged a quick, uneasy glance with Sarah, sensing that Ward’s words held more weight than they seemed to on the surface. The underlying warning was clear.

Rose’s attention shifted to you, her eyes narrowing with curiosity. “And you, Y/N, seem to spend quite a bit of time with the Pogues, don’t you?” she asked, gesturing lightly. “How would you describe their…character?”

The question hung in the air, and you could feel the unspoken judgment. You hesitated, thinking about how to explain it without stirring more suspicion. “They’re…genuine,” you said slowly, choosing your words carefully. “They’re rough around the edges, maybe, but they’re loyal, and they don’t pretend to be something they’re not.” You looked down, aware of Ward and Rose’s scrutiny. “They’re just good people, in their own way.”

Rafe cleared his throat, breaking the tension. “Come on, Rose, it’s just a friendship,” he said, his tone casual yet carrying a hint of protectiveness as he glanced at you. “It’s not like either of them are running off with the Pogues and getting into trouble.”

Ward’s silence lingered, his frown subtle but clear. “It’s not the friendships themselves that concern me,” he said at last, eyes settling on Sarah and then you, “but the sneaking around and secrets. That’s what’s…disappointing.”

Just as the conversation drifted back to more mundane topics, Ward turned his attention to you. “Actually, Y/N, there’s something I wanted to ask you about. Your father’s company—he does business in real estate, right?”

Caught off guard, you nodded. “Uh, yes. He’s got some investments around the area.”

Ward nodded thoughtfully, his expression unreadable. “Interesting. I heard he’s been expanding into some new developments recently, some pretty big projects.”

You sensed there was more to his curiosity than casual interest, and out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Rafe’s gaze sharpened. What was Ward getting at?

“Yeah, I think he’s been working on a few,” you replied, keeping your tone light, though you felt a prickle of unease. Your dad had mentioned some big investments lately, but he was always cagey about the details.

Ward gave a satisfied nod, swirling his glass thoughtfully. “It’s good to hear. The market around here’s always shifting, and it’s smart to have eyes on it.”

“Exactly,” Rose chimed in, shooting Ward a supportive glance. “Families that know how to work with each other tend to do better in the long run, don’t they, Ward?”

You nodded politely, feeling Ward’s intent but still uncertain about the details. What exactly was he interested in?

“Tell him he should swing by sometime,” Ward added casually as if it were an afterthought. “We could go over some ideas, and talk business. Who knows, might be a win-win for both of us.”

“Oh, sure,” you said, keeping your tone neutral. “I’ll let him know.”

Ward nodded with a pleased smile, raising his glass in a small toast. “To partnerships,” he said, giving you a look that seemed almost fatherly.

You nodded politely, feeling Ward’s intent but still uncertain about the details. What exactly was he interested in?

Dinner was winding down as everyone began clearing dishes from the table and bringing them to the kitchen. Rose stood at the window, watching the heavy raindrops pelting down outside, her brows knitting together in mild concern.

“Oh, it’s really coming down out there,” she said, glancing back toward you. “Y/N, you have a way to get home, right?I’d hate for you to get caught in this.”

You hesitated, unsure how to respond as Sarah chimed in. “I was going to take her, but I, uh…let Topper use my car earlier.” Her eyes flicked toward you and Rafe, her mouth twisting into a half-smile as if she could sense the tension brewing.

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Ward said, looking over at Rafe, who was lounging casually on the couch in the other room, scrolling through his phone. “Rafe, why don’t you take Y/N home? I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

The suggestion hung in the air for a moment. You and Rafe exchanged brief glances, each of you caught off guard, but Rafe recovered quickly, nodding with a tight-lipped smile.

“Yeah, I can take her,” he replied, his tone nonchalant, though his gaze lingered on you a second longer than necessary.

Rose beamed slightly taken aback by his sudden willingness. “Wonderful! Thank you, Rafe.”

Excitement and nervousness coursed through you knowing you would get alone time with Rafe without anyone suspecting anything.

Your heart thumped as you ran upstairs to grab your bag and then you said goodbyes to the Camerons. Ward remindingyou again to talk to your father about the business deal and Rose just telling you to tell your mom hi.

Rafe grabbed his keys, and after a quick farewell to Rose and Ward, he led you outside, holding the door for you as you climbed into his truck, his eyes glinting with something you couldn’t quite place. The rain continued to pour down, droplets hitting the windshield in a steady rhythm that enveloped you both.

As Rafe pulled out of the driveway, silence filled the space between you, his fingers drummed on the steering wheel, and his jaw was clenched just enough to hint that something was bothering him.

Finally, he broke the silence, his voice soft but edged with something deeper. “So…looks like you got stuck with me .”

You chuckled, glancing over at him. “Guess I am.”

He shot you a sidelong look, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Doesn’t seem like you mind too much.”

“Maybe I don’t,” you replied, your voice barely above a whisper, “maybe we can finish what we started earlier” your hand resting on the seat between you.

His gaze flicked down to your hand, and then back to the road, dodging your flirty comment. “Seems like Chris came up a lot tonight,” he muttered, his tone casual but carrying a distinct note of tension.

Oh gosh is this what was making him so bothered, you thought

You glanced at him, feeling your heart pick up pace. “Well, it was Rose who brought him up,” you said softly, sensing that this was more than a casual comment.

Rafe nodded, a small frown crossing his face as he kept his gaze on the road. After a moment, you hesitated but felt it better to be honest. “Actually…I ran into him earlier today. At the boutique.”

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, his expression hardening. “You ran into him?”

You sighed and nodded, feeling the familiar tug of conflict. “It was nothing, Rafe. Just…awkward. He tried to make conversation, and he asked if I was seeing anyone. I told him I wasn’t because…well because we’re supposed to keep this between us.”

Rafe’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly, his jaw flexing. “So…he thinks you’re single, then?”

You glanced at him, taken aback by the edge in his tone. “Rafe, it’s not like that.”

“But it sounds like it,” he shot back, his voice soft but insistent. “I don’t like the idea of him thinking he’s got a chance when he doesn’t.”

You looked away, raising your own voice caught off guard by his intensity. “Well, what do you want me to do? Tell him I’m secretly seeing someone who…hasn’t even asked me to be his girlfriend?”

The words slipped out before you could stop them, and you instantly regretted it, resituating yourself in your seat glancing out the window, feeling vulnerable under his gaze.

Rafe’s eyes flickered with surprise, then softened as he pulled the truck over to the side of the road a block from your house, rain pattering loudly on the roof. He turned to you, his expression unreadable. “Do you…want that?”

Your breath caught, and you forced yourself to meet his gaze. The vulnerability in his eyes almost broke you, “Maybe I do,” you said, a faint smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. “But I’m not ready to put a label on it just yet, I like this sneaking around”

A smirk played on his lips as he leaned in, his hand finding yours and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Fine by me. But you’re still mine, Y/N,” he murmured, his voice low and possessive. “And if I see Chris—or anyone—try to touch you, it won't go unnoticed” His jaw clenched, and he shook his head.

A shiver ran down your spine at the intensity in his voice, but a warmth spread through you at the same time. “Rafe, you know I’m not interested in anyone else.”

“Good,” he whispered, his hand moving to cradle your face, his thumb brushing over your cheek and your lip. “Because I’ve wanted this for a long time.”

“You’ve wanted this for a long time Cameron?” a smile tugging on your lips, “I always knew you had a thing for me.”

“Just shut up and kiss me,” he muttered, his lips curving into a smile as he leaned in.

You felt everything fade away as he pressed his lips to yours, the rain still hammering down. You melted into him, your hands threading into his hair as he deepened the kiss, his grip on you tightening as if he couldn’t get enough. The intensity between you grew, each kiss more urgent than the last, and before you knew it, he was pulling you over onto his lap, his arms wrapping around your waist to hold you close.

You could feel the heat radiating between you, your breaths mingling as he kissed you with a hunger that made your head spin. His hands traced along your back, drawing you closer, as he whispered, “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world, you know that?”

You felt your cheeks heat up, his words making your heart pound as his fingers traced gentle patterns on your back and he began to kiss down your neck hitting your soft spot. “Rafe…” you moaned out.

“And if I see any guy even thinking about getting too close…” He trailed off, his lips brushing against yours as he spoke, a possessive glint in his eye. “I’ll remind you exactly who you belong to.”

His words sent a thrill through you, and you captured his lips in another kiss, feeling the heat between you building.

“Rafe,” you breathed between kisses, “I can’t get enough of you.”

“Good,” he whispered, his voice rough as his hands explored you, pulling you closer. “Because I don’t think I could stop, even if I tried.”

He held you close, his lips moving from your mouth to your jaw, then along your neck, each touch igniting sparks across your skin. You felt as though you were lost in him, the way he looked at you as though you were the only person in the world.

“I can’t wait to see you in that Midsummers dress,” he murmured, his voice rough with anticipation, his hands lingering at your waist. “I can only imagine how good you’ll look.” he continues to whisper, “and how good it'll be when I take it off and fuck you.”

His words made you blush, a smile playing on your lips as you gazed at him. “You’ll just have to be patient.”

He grinned, capturing your mouth again in a kiss that was anything but patient, his hands roaming up your back, pulling you closer. Without thinking, your fingers drifted to the buttons on his shirt, fumbling slightly as you began to undo them, feeling the heat of his skin beneath your hands. He exhaled sharply, his grip tightening as you pushed the shirt off his shoulders, running your hands over the hard lines of his chest.

You pull away quickly, and Rafe can sense your reason for hesitation.

“Don’t worry, baby. It’s raining so hard, and my windows are too tinted,” he says confidently, immediately going back to attacking your neck.

Rafe’s hand slipped under your shirt, tugging it off with a swift motion, his fingers exploring the newly exposed skin with an intensity that left you breathless. His hands cupped your breasts, and you shivered at the sensation.

“God, Y/N,” he murmured, his lips pressing against your collarbone as he pulled you flush against him. His mouth left a trail of fire along your skin, kisses becoming more insistent as he marked you with small bites—a silent declaration that you were his.

Your hands drifted down, fingers skimming over his toned chest before finding the waistband of his shorts. You felt his body tense under your touch, his breath hitching, eyes darkening with a fierce, barely restrained desire as he looked down at you.

“Careful,” he whispered, his voice low, almost a warning. But the challenge in his gaze made it impossible for you to hold back. You pressed

closer, letting him know you were just as ready for this as he was.

You locked eyes with him, a smirk playing on your lips as you took your time grinding your hips down, feeling his hardness beneath you. Rafe let out a low groan, his hands instinctively gripping your waist, urging you to move. His grip tightened, one hand sliding over your thigh and pulling you closer, making you roughen the kiss as his touch neared the edge of your skirt.

A shiver ran through you as Rafe’s hand inched along your inner thigh, each slow movement sparking anticipation. When his fingers brushed over your panties, you caught your breath, your heart pounding as he pulled the fabric to the side. His fingers found your warm, wet center, and he sighed against your mouth, his arousal pressing insistently against you.

A low moan escaped your lips as his fingers entered you, the roughness of his touch making you grip his seat for support. You’d craved this feeling, the way only Rafe could make you lose yourself, and every lingering memory of your first night together flooded back, more intense than ever.

You let your lips drift down to his neck, biting and sucking as you went, intent on leaving a visible reminder. Your body was moving on instinct, grinding against his hand as he picked up the pace, each thrust of his fingers igniting you further. When he angled his fingers just right, your body tensed, and a choked gasp escaped you, urging him on as he went deeper.

You rocked your hips against his hand, feeling the pressure building, each movement pushing you closer to the edge. The pleasure built steadily until you felt it crest, your entire body shuddering as you surrendered to the intensity of it. The truck windows fogged up, trapping the warmth between you as the rain pattered on the roof outside.

Rafe’s fingers slowed, coaxing the last waves of pleasure from you, and you moaned softly, holding tightly to his arm. Just when you were catching your breath, he slipped his fingers out, leaving you with an ache at the sudden emptiness.

With a sly smirk, Rafe reached down, pulling his boxers lower to reveal himself to you. The sight made you bite your lip, but he didn’t leave you much time to dwell on it; his hands tugged at your hips, guiding you over to your knees. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a condom and tore it open, sliding it on in one smooth motion.

Breathless with anticipation, you steadied yourself above him, slowly lowering your hips as Rafe guided you down. A gasp escaped both of you as he filled you completely, the world around you fading away as you moved together, lost entirely in each other.

As he entered you, a shared moan echoed between you, raw and unfiltered. “Holy shit, you’re so perfect,” Rafe breathed, his head falling back, his voice laced with awe.

He leaned forward, capturing your mouth with his, his breath mingling with yours as he deepened the kiss, sending a rush of pleasure straight through you.

You began to move, adjusting to his size. Each new rise and fall brought a wave of intensity that heightened your pleasure. His hands gripped your hips tightly, guiding you as you took him in fully, and you wondered if his fingers might leave marks.

Your own hands curled around his arms for support, gripping tighter each time he filled you, your bodies falling perfectly in sync.

As you grew more comfortable, your pace quickened, driven by the sheer pleasure that neither of you could hold back.

“Rafe…” you whispered, your voice trembling as you began to falter, feeling yourself edging closer. No one had ever made you feel this way before, and you could sense you wouldn’t last much longer, each movement pushing you closer to the brink of release.

“You just feel so good. You’re so perfect, princess,” he murmured, trailing kisses down your neck and onto your breasts. With each thrust, he guided your movements, pulling you down harder onto his lap, as if channeling the jealousy he’d felt over Chris into each motion.

Rafe’s arm tightened around your waist, drawing you in deeper, the pressure becoming almost unbearable in the most addictive way. The sound of your pleasure filled the small space, mingling with the sound of the rain pounding against the truck. You swore that if it weren’t raining so hard, anyone nearby would hear the sounds of your moans. Soft whimpers and moans spilled from your lips as Rafe continued, making you completely his. He groaned, his voice low and rough, as your moans nearly sent him over the edge.

You were lost in the rhythm of it all, overwhelmed by the sensations as you neared your peak once more. Rafe’s thrusts became more intense, and you felt the tightening of your walls around him, a telltale sign that you were on the brink.

“Rafe!” you gasped, feeling your climax wash over you in waves, pulling a deep moan from your throat. “I want you so bad,” you murmured,

“Come inside me, baby…” Your words seemed to ignite something in him, his eyes widening as he watched your body react, his arms wrapping around you, holding you close as he thrust deeper.

You could hardly breathe, your body trembling as the overwhelming pleasure intensified. It felt like you were floating, the world outside fading until only he remained—his touch, his heat, the way he made you feel. Rafe groaned, a low, desperate sound as he felt your walls tighten around him, his own release fast approaching.

With a final thrust, he buried himself deeper, his hips moving sloppily as his climax took over. His hands gripped your waist as he moaned against your skin, his lips finding your chest as he rode out the last waves of pleasure. For a moment, both of you remained still, panting as you caught your breath, hearts racing in unison. Rafe whispered sweet nothings in your ear as you caught your breath, Rafe fixing your hair.

“You okay pretty girl?” he asked leaning in to kiss you.

“More than okay, Rafe,” you say between kisses, smiling more and more. You swear you've never felt so happy.

You pull back slightly, and he does too, your eyes meeting in a moment of vulnerability. You can't quite put your finger on why kissing him feels so different—so much better— so right.

You kiss him once more, instantly melting into his warm touch. You want to stay in his arms forever until your moment is interrupted by the buzzing of a phone. You glance over and it's Rafe's phone on the dashboard, Dad.

Rafe answered the call, his voice shifting to a more serious tone. “Hey, Dad,” he said, leaning slightly away from you as he focused on the conversation. You watched as his expression darkened, his jaw tightening at whatever his father was saying.

“I told you I’d handle it,” Rafe snapped, frustration evident in his tone. You could see the tension building as he rubbed a hand over his face. “No, I’m fine. Just… give me a minute. Just dropped Y/N off. I drove extra slow since the rain was so bad.”

Your heart sank as you realized your time together was slipping away. Rafe looked back at you, his expression apologetic, but you could see the stress brewing in his eyes. “I have to go. I’ll call you later, Dad” he said, clearly trying to wrap up the conversation.

You sat back slightly, feeling the warmth of your earlier intimacy fade, trying to give him space while the weight of the moment lingered between you.

Rafe ended the call and exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry about that. My dad’s being… well, you know how he is. Just pissed off about some investment bullshit,” he said, frustration still etched on his face.

“It’s fine,” you replied, trying to sound more upbeat than you felt. “Family stuff comes first.”

“Yeah, but I was really enjoying… this,” he said, with a smirk on his face but his voice still lingering with regret.

“Me too,” you admitted.

He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to your lips, and for a moment, everything felt perfect again. “Let’s go do something this week, okay? I’ll take you out on a real date.” His words wrapped around you like a warm embrace, promising more to come.

You nodded eagerly, giving him another soft kiss, cupping his cheeks as you savored the moment.

He helped you swiftly off him, both of you collecting your scattered clothing and attempting to put it back on correctly.

“I should get you home before your dad starts worrying,” Rafe said reluctantly, the reality of the situation settling over you both.

You nodded, feeling a mix of disappointment and understanding that this moment together was ending. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Rafe started up his truck, creeping closer to your house. He pulled over in front of your home and parked.

As you climbed out of the truck and into the pouring rain, Rafe came over to the other side and offered you his hoodie to protect you from the rain. You swiftly put it on, feeling its warmth envelop you.

“Do you want me to walk you to the door?” he asked, his eyes searching yours, finding any reason to spend more time with you.

You didn’t really have a choice but to nod. “Yeah, that’d be great,” you replied, a flicker of anxiety rushed through you at the thought of getting caught but it out to be rainy and dark enough, no one could make out his figure.

As he walked you to your front door, you said a quick, discreet goodbye, not wanting to raise any flags or cause your dad to look out the window. You took one last glance at him, watching him walk back to his truck, his shoulders slightly hunched against the rain.

As you slipped inside, your heart raced as you stood in the hallway, the familiar sounds of your home bringing you back to reality as you tried to shake off the lingering adrenaline from your time with Rafe.

“Y/N?” your dad called from the living room, pulling you out of your thoughts. You took a deep breath, mentally preparing yourself as you approached.

“Hey, Dad,” you replied, forcing a casual tone. He was sitting on the couch, the TV flickering in the dim light.

“Where have you been? You got home a little late,” he said, looking up at you and the clock with a hint of concern.

“Oh, I was just with Sarah,” you said quickly. “Her brother drove me home since she didn’t have her car.” The words felt slippery, but you hoped they’d hold.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly gauging your sincerity. “Okay, just make sure you’re careful out there, especially with the rain coming down so hard.”

You nodded, relieved that he seemed to accept your explanation. “I will, Dad. I promise.”

He glanced at the hoodie now draped on your arm, his brow furrowing slightly. “That’s a nice hoodie. Is it new?”

“Yeah, I just borrowed it,” you replied, trying to sound casual as you fiddled with the fabric. “I got cold, so… you know how it is.”

Your dad nodded but remained silent for a moment, his expression thoughtful. “Just remember honey, I worry about you, sometimes I don’t know if you’re out with those pogues or not. I’d rather you be safe than sorry.”

“Of course,” you said, forcing a smile to reassure him. “I’m always careful Dad, I promise.”

He smiled back, his worry easing a bit. “Good. Now go wash up and get some rest. You’ve had a long day. I love you”

“Okay, night Dad, love you too,” you said but right before you headed up the stairs you turned around, “Oh Dad, Ward Cameron wanted to meet with you about some business investment stuff”

He simply chuckled and said “Okay” before you continued heading up the stairs towards your bedroom.

Once back in your room, you collapsed onto your bed, burying your face in the pillow as a muffled scream escaped—equal parts frustration and exhilaration. The adrenaline started to fade and the memories of Rafe’s touch, his kisses, and that promise of a real date whirled through your mind, making it hard to catch your breath. Excitement buzzed through your veins, filling you with a warmth that felt as surreal as it was intoxicating.

None of tonight felt real.

You could still feel the comforting weight of his arms around you, and his hoodie was still curled up in your arms, smelling strongly of his cologne—a lingering reminder of everything that had happened.

Your phone buzzed on the nightstand, snapping you out of your thoughts. Reaching over, you saw a message from Kiara.

Hey, Y/N! The Pogues and I are hitting the beach tomorrow. The waves are supposed to be crazy good. Wanna come?

A grin crept across your face as you quickly typed a reply.

Oh, hell yes! That sounds perfect!

But as soon as you hit send, another notification flashed across your screen. This time, it was your manager, Lance.

Hey Y/N! I’m so sorry it’s late, but could you pick up a morning shift tomorrow? We’re short-staffed, and I could reallyuse your help!

Your heart sank as you rolled your eyes in frustration. Taking an early shift meant skipping the beach day you’d just agreed to. You hesitated, caught between the thought of spending time with the pogues or actually making some money.

With a reluctant sigh, you typed out a response to Lance,

Sure! What time?

Then, biting your lip, you shot a follow-up message to Kiara.

Shit, Ki, I’m so sorry! My manager just asked me to work tomorrow morning, so I’ll have to miss out. But maybe I can meet up later?

After a few seconds, you saw Kiara’s text bubble pop up.

Ugh, bummer. Don’t let those Kooks work you too hard! We’ll be at the Chateau if you wanna swing by later. I’ll even save you a drink. Plus, we have some stuff to catch you up on.

You tossed your phone on the bed with a sigh, the weight of the skipping out kind of making you upset but you’ve called off so many shifts these past few weeks. Plus you know there will be a party this week to make up for lost time. You kicked off your shoes and pulled the covers over you. Your body was utterly exhausted.

As you settled into bed, Butters, your cat, jumped up and curled himself beside you, purring contentedly. You ran your fingers through his soft fur, letting the rhythm of his purring lull you into a sense of calm.

"I hate skipping out on the Pogues," you muttered to Butters, who responded with a contented purr. "But, hey, at least I won’t be broke."

You sighed, snuggling into the covers and letting the warmth of your cat and the quiet of the room start to ease your mind. Just as you were starting to drift off, a new notification buzzed on your phone.

You picked it up, blinking at the screen in surprise.

Goodnight beautiful

A small smile tugged at your lips as you stared at the text. You couldn’t help the flutter in your chest, even though you knew you'd have to face the consequences of whatever you were getting yourself into with Rafe. For now, though, you let the words settle in and your exhaustion wins, letting sleep pull you under.

--——----------————- ❥・-------------------------

Taglist: @rafesno1bae, @drewsphswife, @maybankslover

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handelplayssims · 2 years ago

Text

Right. Back at the Wallace’s after having Candy go over and pick up things of Yuki’s and sell off things from what was once her home. Man. But not that that concerns the Wallace family. They had no clue about Yuki and no reason to be sad. Only I am the one who suffers.

Right, Ashlynn awoke with a sore back thanks to this low-quality bed. Might think about putting in a new one. And the all important thing while at it, figuring out what furniture style they like. I decided to pick up the Crosshatch Delight from Seasons, and with it, the Mid Century furniture as their particular favorites, though I also add Farmhouse, another décor style the specific bed is tagged for, for Ashlynn.

Anyway, it’s Neighborhood Brawl day, a randomized holiday that can pop up on occasion. Incidentally, Zayne can’t participate in it as a child. Santiago and Kiara don’t care but Ashlynn loves this holiday. Sounds about right, you hot-head you. Ohp, and there she goes. Off to work on a Saturday. Crime stops for no one!

Zayne. Just a thought. Maybe you eat your food not near the father you are currently grudging with, yeah? Anyway, I’m having Santiago fix up the better with firmness controls so that the mattress gives nice moodlets upon sleep. I’m turning Santiago’s shared sadness upon his wife’s discomfort into action! And then I’ll go upgrade those bathroom appliances like I was going to do. Once I’m done with that, I hear we have an alert for more mail meaning more celebuserum potions, which’ll combo nicely off of Santiago needing skill gain increase to get that promotion! I drink a confident one and set him to work writing up a self-help book. To combo off of his confident moodlet from doing good repair work. Oh and of course he drinks it in his son’s proximity, giving him that ultra tense moodlet again. Zayne, by the by, is doing homework, nerd he is.

So with that tense moodlet, what to do? ...I’d say he needs a break from this household. There is a neighborhood play area out and about. Let’s head on over and play space explorer! Santiago finished his book so let’s write another! Zayne’s still tense so a dip in the family pool should help. Aye! Kiara’s finally awake! And two hours before her daycare shift. Also at long last are we actually cooking for the family again. And it’s more grilled salmon. -shrugs- I mean it’s either this or fish tacos and I’d rather go for the one that’s salmon only. Though it ended up in awful quality. -shrugs- I blame routing making Ashlynn automatically go “Ooooh, son! I want to chat with my son!” Annnd tense moodlet on Zayne as father eats food near him again. Welp. I would have him run off elsewhere but I want to have Ashlynn actually fight people. I’m going to call up his closest friend to vent. Jace Cruz. Kid I made myself who’s also a genius.

And now I finally having Ashlynn fight a random dude off the street, my favorite way to celebrate this holiday. Guy named Brad Mayer, a file clerk. We punch his lights out and then we head home to snooze.

Welp it’s time. TIME FOR BEAR! Just before Zayne heads to bed even. Welp, lets head to bed then. Annd we got monsters under Zayne’s bed. Good thing Kiara is here to help! I would have her ask about the bear thing but she doesn’t seem to care as a teen. Zayne’s heading back to bed and Kiara’s going to have a bit of fun with the cat Scotch. She did and now it’s time for food for her. I was thinking of having her have some salmon but I think she could probably tell it wasn’t great. Besides which, inspired moodlet! Perfect for cooking and making a salad. And now both of her whims pull towards painting. And so we paint! Decided to paint the night sky. Do so like stars and that stuff. And then we had our kitty cat begging for attention.

Hmm. Painting didn’t turn out so well. Kinda just blue with some light dots around it. Ah well. Anyway, it’s 5AM so it’s well past time for-!

Neighborhood Watch!

Mt. Komorebi: The Kobayashi household recently moved in.

Evergreen Harbor: The Ferhat household recently moved in.

Elaine Thorne in the Thorne household has started a job as a Bean Blender in the Barista career.

Lucia Arellano in the Arellano household has died. Lucia was victim to a vicious chicken attack.

#sims 4 #liveblogging #zayne wallace #santiago wallace #ashlynn wallace #kiara wallace #just a casual weekend day

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midgardianweasley · 4 years ago

Note

hiii i love your fics so much omg! anyway, i have a request that i've been daydreaming about that haha: nat and r get into a really big fight about smth (anything but cheating pls my heart won't be able to take that) and r kind of shuts down, and wanda & carol become super protective of her and follow her everywhere making sure she's ok. (and they're also glaring at nat any chance they get) but then nat comes into r's room one night and apologizes and they make up and snuggle and its soft hours

thank you so much! and of course lovely! here you go<33

Priorities

Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Summary: Natasha has been missing date nights, leaving Y/N embarrassed for the final time. When confronted, an argument unfolds, but can they come back from it?

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: some swearing, some self-neglect

Message/ask if you’d like to be added to the taglist! <3

“Another drink, miss?” The waiter in a smart, black tux asked you for the second time this evening, a part of you felt that it was out of pity as you sat alone at a table for two, and had been for the last two hours.

You were supposed to be meeting your girlfriend tonight for date night, you got all dressed up, makeup applied and hair styled perfectly, which had taken forever, only to be stood up. You wouldn’t have overly minded if this was a first occurrence, you would’ve brushed it off and rescheduled for another night. Which is what you had done, two missed date nights ago.

This was your third night of sitting alone in a crowded, candlelit restaurant as couples around you glanced over with a sympathetic gaze, which had only made you feel worse. Your girlfriend should be here. ‘Natasha should be here’, you thought. You looked up at the kind waiter, giving him a gentle smile before shaking your head.

“No, thank you. I think I'm calling it a night.” You spoke as you hurried to gather your things and get out of there as soon as possible, trying to hold back tears that you refused to let fall, not in front of all of these strangers. You hated this. You hated feeling so exposed. So vulnerable. You couldn’t help but feel anger bubble inside of you, thoughts of Natasha being the only thing currently plaguing your mind, most along the lines of; ‘What was her excuse this time?’ ‘Who is she with instead?’, but, there was one in particular that you couldn’t help but focus on.

‘She promised.’

You hadn’t realised you were crying until you were in the taxi, catching a glimpse of yourself in the rearview mirror when the driver had adjusted it slightly to see the cars behind you, in the process, you’d also caught her eyebrows raise in concern and it wasn’t long before she started conversation.

“You okay back there?”

You laughed somewhat bitterly, but it wasn’t towards her. “Nothing I can't handle.”

Your response didn’t seem to settle her worry as she turned quickly and shot you a sad smile before returning her eyes to the road.

“Boy troubles?”

“Girl.” You rubbed your face, trying to rid yourself of any tear stains that may be lingering and messing up your once really pretty makeup. Not that it really mattered at this point.

“Ah, been there.” She held up her left hand, showing you the shimmering diamond on her finger. “The wife and I have had our fair share of arguments and fallouts, some of them included a situation like this one.”

“Crying in the backseat of a taxi?”

“Crying in the backseat of a taxi.” She laughed lightly, making you smile for the first time tonight.

“It had always worked out though, we’ve never been stronger.”

“Congratulations.” You looked towards the woman “I hope I could be so lucky.” You mumbled, though still loud enough for her to hear. You were mad at Natasha, more disappointed really, but you still loved her, dangerously so. She could stand you up for another 50 dates, and you’d still be head over heels. Angry, but your love would never falter.

“I’m sure you will be. If there’s one thing I've learned over the years, it’s that things have a way of falling into place eventually.”

Pondering her words, you looked out of the car window and noticed that you were pulling up to Stark Tower. It wasn’t long before the car came to a complete stop, the woman turning round to you and beginning to speak again.

“You’ll be okay. It’s obvious you love her, okay? Speak to her. I’m sure it’ll be alright.” She looked at you with nothing but kindness in her eyes, which you did your best to return with a smile. You reached into your purse, handing her the money owed, plus a tip.

“Thank you for the help.”

“Don’t worry about it, go get her.” She winked as you got out of the car and watched her drive away, quickly taking yourself inside to avoid freezing to death as the cold wind blew harshly. Kicking your heels off, you set off with one task at hand. Talk to Nat.

__________________________

“Hey, have any of you guys seen Nat?” You addressed some members of the team who were hanging out in the Kitchen, fixing themselves a snack or just conversing with one another. The second they looked up and took in their appearance, you could’ve sworn their faces paled and saddened slightly as if they knew what had happened.

“I think I saw her head off to train a while ago, but I'm not sure if she’s still there.” Carol replied, her face morphing into one of seriousness. She knew about the missed dates, having found you one night looking completely defeated in one of your nicest dresses and heels. She, alongside Wanda, who had found you both later that night, had spent their night comforting you and reassuring you that she probably hadn’t meant it. They didn’t know what to do, they’d never seen you look so sad before, no matter how much you told them it was okay, the pang in their chest for their best friend hadn’t ceased.

You nodded, quietly thanking Carol and wandered off in search for your girlfriend.

It didn’t take long, she was still training when you’d walked into the gym, sweat practically pouring off of her. Your heart softened briefly when you saw her, her fiery red hair tied back into a ponytail with loose strands all over the place, wearing a black t-shirt, grey sweatpants and a deadpan face as she attacked the dusty punching bag with such force that you’re surprised it hasn’t flown off of the chains yet.

She hadn’t noticed you had walked in, still giving all of her focus to her punches. Maybe she just hadn’t heard you?

“Hi Nat.”

Nothing.

“Nat”

All you could hear was the furious rattling of chains, still not getting a response from the redhead. With a sigh, you decided to try another approach. You stepped closer to her, still keeping a little distance, and leaned forward to tap her shoulder, instantly grabbing her attention. She flung herself around, arm still in midair, her closed fist almost coming into contact with your face.

You don’t know what you expected when she turned around and finally acknowledged your presence, but you definitely didn’t expect to be met with a scowl.

“Seriously? in the middle of training? I could’ve hit you.” She huffed as she turned back to her previous position.

“Sorry. I just wanted to come in and talk to you.”

“About?”

You paused, expecting her to look at you again, but she didn’t.

With a small sigh, you continued. “you missed date night again. I waited for you, but you were a no show.”

“Right, yeah, date night” she muttered, seeming to be unfocused as her eyebrows furrowed and her head kept darting around the room, looking anywhere but at you. “I’ll make the next one.”

“This is the third one you’ve missed this month.” You said firmly, wanting her to understand that this can’t keep happening, of course cancellations or rearrangements were bound to happen sometimes, but she’s just not showing up and then leaving you in the dark as to knowing why.

“I told you, i’ll make the next one.” She walked over to the bench, picking up her water bottle and taking a swig of water, looking directly at you, you look back at her and she just looks so, unbothered.

“I don’t believe you, Nat. You say you’ll make it up to me and then I sit there again, hoping that you’ll be there this time, but you don’t turn up. And now I come back and you’re just training. Could it not have waited? Was that seriously more important?” You raised your voice now, all the anger and frustration you’d felt earlier coming back up to the surface.

You just wanted an explanation, or something to justify how she was acting, but she gave you nothing, not even an attempt, only adding fuel to the fire.

“Why are you getting so annoyed? You should know better than anyone that this is my job.”

“I just explained that to you! Which is more than what you’re giving me right now.”

“Okay, fine, forgive me for not making everything about you for a minute.” She spat bitterly towards you, her temper starting to go as the discussion became more heated.

“Seriously? That’s how you’re seeing this?” If you weren’t so unbelievably irritated, you would’ve laughed at her response.

“You’re being selfish. So I missed a date or two, you’re blowing this out of proportion once again, it’s infuriating.” Selfish?

You raised both your hands, as if in surrender. It was one thing to ditch you, it was another thing to then insult you for speaking up about it. With a tight lipped smile, oozing with sarcasm, you decided that you’d had enough.

“I don’t need to listen to this.”

She shrugged her shoulders, adjusting the gloves she’d just put on. “Then don’t, i’m busy anyways.”. This time, you did laugh.

“What a fucking surprise.”. And with that, you turned on your heels and walked out, hearing the echo of punches fill the room once again, every one feeling like a punch to the stomach.

Maybe these are things falling into place, just not the place you’d hoped.

________________________

You were still in bed at noon the next day, unable to bring yourself to get up and face the world. You didn’t need to worry about anything in the confinement of your bed, even more so considering it wasn’t the bed you shared with Natasha.

After speaking, well, arguing with her last night, you went straight to your shared bedroom, gathered some clothes and your essentials, and slept in your old room that you used to stay in before the two of you started dating. It felt wrong. You always spent your nights with a warm feeling of love washing over you as your girlfriend pressed kisses all over your face, tangling your limbs together in the process.

It wasn’t the same. You felt cold, a type of cold that no heating or blankets could solve. You lacked a weight on your waist, fingertips stroking the skin that was exposed due to your top riding up slightly. Instead, the only comfort you had was the small bear you’ve kept for the las year. It was one that Natasha had given you after she won it at the funfair on your third date, and you could never bring yourself to part with it, remembering how happy she looked when she handed it to you, and the butterflies you felt just from seeing her look so pleased.

The bear was a little worn and torn now, it had been ripped in a couple of places, now replaced with a little sewn on patch of material that didn’t exactly match the shade of brown, and one of the eyes had started to fall off, but you liked that it was different. The assassin had tried to offer to replace it and buy you a new one, but you’d always refuse, insistent that you would keep that bear with you for the rest of time. Even now, when the two of you weren’t speaking, you still held onto it with a death-tight grip.

A knock on the door snapped you out of your daydream.

“Y/N, open up, It’s me.” A familiar voice shouted through. Carol.

“And me!” Wanda.

You heard some muttering outside of the door, something along the lines of Carol suggesting they break the door down, immediately being told that it was unnecessary by the Sokovian. Feeling pretty against the idea of having a doorway with no door, you called out for them.

“Guys, it’s unlocked.” You were quiet, but it was clear that they had heard you as the faint talking stopped altogether and you heard them walk in and shut the door behind them with a ‘click’.

Wanda was the first to approach you, kneeling down beside the bed so that she was at eye level with you, pulling the bed covers down a little to uncover more than your forehead. Once she could see your eyes and nose, she sent you a warm smile.

“Hi sleepy. It’s noon.”

“I know.” She frowned when she heard you speak, your voice raspy from your crying through the night. She hated seeing you like this, she loved both you and Natasha, and it hurt to see you so sad because of the woman you adored.

“We should go and eat something, it’ll help.”

“‘M not hungry.” You pressed your head further into the pillow, the last thing you wanted to do was eat, your stomach already feeling like it was twisting with every minute that passed.

“C’mon, i’ll make you your favourite.” the blonde winked, leaning against your wardrobe.

“Your special pancakes?”

“With extra whipped cream.” She sang, playfully trying to encourage you to leave the bed. You had to hand it to her, she knew you too well.

WIth a brief look between the two, you rubbed your eyes and threw the covers off dramatically, sighing and ensuring that they knew you didn’t approve of this. They knew you were joking, even if you weren’t, all they cared about was making sure you were okay, knowing that when you felt like this, being left alone allows you to neglect yourself and get really low. They don’t mind if you dislike them for a little while, as long as you are looked after.

“There we go! Well done.” Wanda stroked your back and led you towards the door where Carol held it open for you.

“No breaking it down behind my back.” You shot towards her, slightly amused at the guilty look on her face as she realised you’d heard her quarrel beforehand. Shaking her head, she nudged you out of the door, and the three of you made your way into the kitchen.

_______________________

Carol had stuck to her promise of preparing a sweet treat for you, a stack of fluffy pancakes sat in front of you, topped with whipped cream and two cherries on top. You ate slow, still a little cautious of how stable your stomach felt. You could see your two friends talk with one another, not wanting to stare and make you uncomfortable, but occasionally looking over silently to check in on you.

You were feeling pretty content as you sat at the counter, munching away with the two avengers for company. It was only when you heard a voice that you could recognise anywhere.

“Hi guys.”

Not daring to look up, you ket your eyes focused on the food in front of you, hoping that if you just stay quiet, you’ll be invisible to the human eye.

“Hey Nat.”

“Hi.”

Wanda and Carol replied, wary of any interaction between the pair of you that could unfold into something neither of you wanted or that would lead to any regrets.

You lifted your head slightly, able to see the daggers Carol was throwing at Nat, not impressed with her being in the room. You both had always been quite close, often talking about life before becoming superheroes that protect the planet, in her case, planets. In the process, she’d found herself having a soft spot for you, wanting to protect you from anything that could bring you harm. Which you were grateful for, but her glaring was terrifying sometimes, you were more grateful for the fact that her powers weren’t in her eyes, otherwise you would’ve definitely become single five minutes ago.

You could see Natasha out of the corner of your eye, she was filling up the bottle she used for when she was training, her eyes weren’t on what she was doing, instead, she was trying to subtly look up at you through the hood of her eyes. You subconsciously took the opportunity to really take in her appearance.

Her hair hadn’t been tended to since you last saw her, half of it was hanging out of her ponytail, most of it falling in front of her face. Her eyes looked glassy and bloodshot, like she had been crying recently and you could’ve sworn that was your t-shirt she was wearing. The sight sent a wave of sadness over you, wanting nothing more than to leap over the counter and pull her into your arms and tell her things were fine, that the two of you were fine. But you stayed seated, too nervous to make a move.

You didn’t know it, but she regretted speaking to you last night, instantly realising what she’d done after she came back to her room to find it empty and half of your stuff gone. She knew immediately where you’d gone and would’ve gone through to talk it through with you, but she didn’t think it would help. She wanted you to have your time and space before approaching the situation.

With that, she tightened the lid on her bottle, sent you an apologetic smile and walked out of the room, leaving behind an awkward atmosphere in her absence.

“You alright?” Wanda asked

“Yeah, yeah no I'm okay. I’m feeling a little tired though, I'll catch you guys in a bit, okay?” You stood from your seat, not giving either of the two a chance to stop you as you walked out and back to bed. What a day.

_______________________

Hours had gone by now and you were back wrapped up under your bed covers, still clinging onto your bear. You hadn’t bothered to change, you went straight to bed after walking in the door. You’d managed to get some sleep earlier, not a lot, but it was something.

You tossed and turned, trying to find any way of being comfortable so your body could rest and your mind could shut off, but it was deemed to be impossible. All you could think about was your argument with Nat, and how she looked so upset earlier. The thought alone triggered the waterworks again, this time, you didn’t even attempt to stop them.

Only a couple of minutes had passed before there was yet again, another knock on your door. You rolled your eyes, really not wanting any more visitors, you were grateful for the help, but you really wanted to be alone.

“Guys, I’m fine! It’s late, get some sleep.” You called out, waiting to hear retreating footsteps, but they never came. Huh. That’s weird? You brushed it off quickly, assuming that it must’ve just been too quiet to hear, which you wouldn’t put past you due to all the sniffling you’ve been doing in an attempt to silence your crying.

You were wrong. The person at your door hadn’t walked away. They also weren’t Wanda or Carol. Instead, it was who you least expected to be in your room at god knows what time at night after the events that had unfolded recently.

“Hi.” The redhead whispered, worrying that if she spoke any louder, you’d be able to hear her voice shake with nerves, or the huge lump in her throat that wouldn’t budge.

You froze on the spot when you realised who it was, not entirely sure how you were gonna play this. Realistically, you might as well just see what it is she wants, it couldn’t hurt, could it?

“Hey.”

Her footsteps were practically silent but still felt deafening as she stepped closer to you, cringing slightly at how tense and forced all of this felt. It was her fault, she knew that, she hoped you did too. She didn’t want you blaming yourself for her actions, although she couldn’t say anything if you did, she was the one who had insulted you and planted the thought in your head, and she felt every fibre in her body beg for you to forgive her.

Approaching with caution, she walked up to the top of the bed, kneeling where Wanda had been earlier, but unlike Wanda, she didn’t reach out for you. She didn’t feel she had the right. Not now. She quickly took note of your eyes and how they were drooping and red, just like how hers had been earlier, which is how she could know in an instant that you had just been crying. She felt like a knife had gone through her chest at the sight, knowing that she had done that to you. She’d let you down so much that it had brought you to laying in bed alone and crying.

You mumbled something incoherent, completely muffled by the covers that were blocking your mouth.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you through the cover, could you tell me that again?”

You looked down a little, debating on doing it or just asking her to leave this conversation for another day. ‘But, she was already here, so you may as well get on with it.’ you thought, and with that, you tugged the covers down a little, letting Natasha see your full face now, unable to stop a tiny hint of a smile creeping up on her face. Your nose was runny, your eyes were puffy, and your face was flushed, but that didn’t change the fact that she still believed you to be the most beautiful woman she’d seen.

“Has something h-happened?” You hiccuped, noticing the frown take over her features as she maintained her eye contact with you.

“Yeah. i was a complete idiot.”

“Nat-”

“No, no, please. I want to explain. I need to explain. Please?” She pleaded, not caring how desperate she might’ve looked.

You paused for a minute before sighing gently, nodding at her and giving her a non-verbal go ahead to continue. She took a deep breath, looking away for a second then looking back at you before you could even blink. You could see her hands tremble a little, and while you were upset with her, you couldn’t leave it alone. You reached your hand out from under the cover and held it out to her, offering it for her to hold. She grabbed it without hesitation, squeezing it gently as a single tear fell, gathering the courage to say her next words.

“I have no excuse for what I did. There is nothing I could say that would make my actions plausible or acceptable, I shouldn’t have treated you like that or said what I did, and I understand if you can’t forgive me, or don’t want to. But I needed-, no, I need you to know, I'm sorry. I’m so sorry, Y/N. You deserve better.”

More tears had fallen down her face at this point, her thumb not ceasing in their circular movements on the back of your hand. She didn’t know if this was going to be the last time she felt your hand in hers, so with every circle, she was savouring the moment, no matter how badly she wished it was under different circumstances.

You shuffled a little so you were in a more upright position, hoping that it would make speaking easier. You’d taken in every word, and while you were hurt, extremely hurt, you saw how remorseful she was. Her face showed no sign of humour or like she was lying. You could always tell when she was lying, her eyebrow always twitched a little, which you would always be in stitches about when she tried to say she didn’t eat your last cookie and her eyebrows would be moving like mad. They were as still as stone when she was speaking this time.

“You really hurt me, Nat. I didn’t think I was asking for much, just some time with you, that was all. And you left me every time, for work and with no notice. It was embarrassing.” She nodded in acknowledgement as she listened. “A-and then to come back and witness you being so, so, hostile, with me, I didn’t understand what I'd done.”

She gulped audibly before speaking again. “You hadn’t done a thing. Not a thing. I-I threw myself into work, into training. The last mission, I was sloppy, I wasn’t on my A game, it almost ended up with other people seriously hurt. So I thought-” She took a shaky breath in. “I thought, if I trained harder, It would mean I would be better for the next mission. But I disregarded everything else on the radar, including you, and then I got so mad at myself for it that I ended up taking it out on you instead. You don’t have a selfish bone in your body, and it was out of order for me to ever say so. It was wrong, and I don’t think I can apologise enough.`` She gave you an apologetic smile, tears streaming down her face steadily now.

“You know, when I came home from the restaurant, I had this driver.” You smiled. “Nice woman, she’s got a wife. She was telling me that it wasn’t easy for them. They had their ups and downs, their fights and bitterness. But they always found their way back to each other.” You whispered so softly that if there was any other noise in the room, Natasha wouldn’t have heard a word.

“And, when we argued, I really didn’t think we were going to be able to come back from that. I thought that maybe our time had expired.” You sniffled, your own tears trailing their way down your cheeks. Without thinking, she wiped them away, her palm pressing onto your warm cheek as you nuzzled into it, still finding comfort in her touch.

“I don’t want us to expire, Nat.”

There it was. There was the sentence that turned silent tears into fully body wracking sobs, your hands instinctively going to pull away and cover your face, instead, Natasha brought herself up to sit on the side of your bed, hastily bringing you into her chest and her free hand combing its way through your hair.

She rocked you back and forth, letting you get everything out of your system, no matter how much it hurt to hear.

“Shh, I’ve got you. I’m so sorry, moya lyubov.”

Your sobs soon died down with Nat’s help, sobs turning into faint pants with how tired you were and how much energy it had taken out of you. You looked up at her softly, as she smiled down at you.

“I love you, Natty.” You murmured, the words making the assassin’s heart grow fonder for you, if that was ever possible.

“I love you more.”

“Can you stay with me tonight? I can’t sleep without you.”

“Of course. Anything for you.” She leaned over you, bringing the blankets back up and over you, catching a glimpse of some brown fur among the darkness. She knew exactly what it was. She picked up up with the blankets and handed it to you, happiness overtaking her as she saw your eyes light up at the teddy she won for you.

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you, Detka.” She pressed a kiss to your temple before settling down, holding you tight in her grasp, refusing to let you go for anything or anyone, not that you were complaining, you’d missed this.

Nothing had to be decided tonight, there was no rush for discussion. Sure, there were still things to talk through and work out, but that can wait. All that mattered right now, was that Natasha was there. She was holding you in her arms and you felt every ounce of love and apology she could give you. And that was enough for now.

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callsign-magnolia · 2 years ago

Text

I Hope You Dance // Ch. 39

MATURE CONTENT (18+)

A/N: This is cross posted to my Wattpad, so if this seems familiar that is why!

TW: Mental abuse, emotional abuse, slight physical abuse, death and loss.

Description: When Caila meets Rooster, sparks fly. But, she's already married, to a man who she thought loved her, and won't let her go. Rooster will fight for her, he just has to convince Caila to fight for herself.

Word Count: 8.1k

Chapter 38 | Masterlist

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else you could be doing today? You know, anything for the Hard Deck, maybe hanging out with Mav?” I asked Penny as she flitted through the never-ending rows of white dresses. “Pete is out at the hangar today, and everything is caught up at the bar. So no, and there is nothing I’d rather be doing.” I sighed, looking at the different shades of white, cream, ivory, eggshell. It was all so much, and I didn’t even know where to start. “What were you going to wear for your wedding to Aaron?” I was taken aback by her question, not expecting it. “Um, it wasn’t really what I wanted but it was form fitting, long lace sleeves, and it had a high neck. I felt like I was suffocating in it.” I said as I turned to her. “Then why get it?” I shrugged my shoulders, stepping up next to her. “I didn’t. His mother bought it, and we tried telling her no, but she said if I didn’t wear it, they would pull all the money they put in for the wedding and we couldn’t afford it on our own.” She nodded. “What about your parents?” I sighed. “My parents may have money, but they told us they would only pay for a portion of the wedding, and it was even smaller than what his parents were paying.” She nodded.

“Okay, so you hated your last dress, so you know what you don’t want.” She said before walking past me and over to the counter that we passed when we first came in. We originally said we didn’t need help and we were just browsing, but now she was walking towards me with a sales associate and I was nervous. “Hey, so I hear we need a little help.” I nodded as I started pulling on my thumbs. “She’s been married before and did not like the dress she had, even though she never got to wear it. She just got engaged a few weeks ago and has no idea what she wants.” The girl, Ana as her name tag stated, nodded and gave me a soft smile. “Okay, so what did you not like about your last dress?” I sighed, my eyes widening slightly. “Everything. It had these long lace sleeves, it was a high neck, it was form fitting, and it had a million buttons on the back.” She nodded. “Okay, and how do you feel about strapless?” I nodded. “As long as it holds up the girls, I love it.” She nodded. “So, no form fitting. Any style in particular you like?” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not sure.” She nodded, looking around for a moment. “What size are you?” I really didn’t know anymore, depending on the dress it varies. “Um, I used to be a sixteen. But if it’s a corset I may fit into as small as a twelve.” She nodded. “Okay, how about you two take a seat and I’ll pull a few for you to look at.”

We nodded, taking a seat in one of the waiting areas. “A sixteen?” Penny asked, raising a brow. “Yeah, I have really wide hips and a big bust. I may have abs but I’m not super slim in the middle.” She nodded before giving me a dopey grin. “Speaking of wide hips, are you two still trying for a baby?” I twirled may hand as if to say yes and no. “We aren’t preventing it that’s for sure, but now we may wanna wait. If I got pregnant that’d throw the wedding off because I am not walking down the aisle with a baby bump.” I chuckled, making Penny grin. “I don’t think Rooster would mind.” I shook my head. “He wouldn’t. I think he wants it more than I do.” I said as I leaned back in the chair. “Okay! I think I have a few options!” Ana said as she came over carrying garment bags, another associate behind her carrying more. “Oh my…” I said as I looked at the six bags they hung up. “I stuck with white because I didn’t know if you preferred a different color, so this was the safe bet.” I slowly stood, taking in all the dresses. “So, this is the first one. It is an a-line with off the shoulder sleeves. The bodice had lace over it and the lace slowly fades as it goes down the skirt.” I admired it, taking in the little floral lace details. “It’s pretty.” I said and Ana scrunched up her face. “But it’s not quite doing it for you.” I shook my head. “That’s okay, we have more, and you don’t have to decide today or go with these exact dresses. These are just a few of the options we have.” I nodded, encouraging her to show me the next one.

Soon Penny and I walked out, feeling accomplished. “Your face lit up when you saw that ball gown.” She said as we walked to her car, getting in. “I never thought I was a ball gown kinda girl. But something about wearing it down the aisle makes my heart flutter.” She grinned at me as she started the car. “I think we’re on the right track here.” I nodded, biting my bottom lip. “Hey, do you have some more time today?” She nodded as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Of course, why?” I looked over at her as I slid my sunglasses over my eyes. “There’s a florist and a venue I wanna look at.” The excitement oozed from her as she grinned at me. “Sure. But I figured you’d want to do that stuff with your mom.” I nodded. “Mom is gearing up to go back on tour in May. She’ll make time for a few things like my dress, but for the most part, I’m on my own.” She nodded as I told her the name of the florist, stepping on the gas to get us there by lunch time so we could talk to them before they went to lunch.

“I knew florists in Georgia were expensive but my god.” Penny chuckled. The florist was sweet, she gave me many great suggestions. But the flowers there alone would take up a good portion of our budget, which we need to figure out. “That’s California for you, expensive.” I scoffed at the word. “Hell yeah. Do you know how much that roast cost me?” She nodded. “I know because I looked at one the other day.” I sighed, resting my head on the window. “I love living in San Diego but sometimes I question the prices on things. I’m half tempted to get chickens, start my own garden and start homesteading.” She laughed at my words. “I can imagine Rooster coming home to a literal Rooster running around his back yard.” I nodded. “I mean seriously. I’m half tempted to buy a cow, and once it’s slaughtered I’d have plenty of meat for an army.” We laughed but went quiet, looking at each other. “That’s an idea.” She said and I nodded. “We could buy local, go in half and still have plenty each.” It was a thought and we needed to save money for this wedding. “I’ll talk to Pete.” She said and I nodded. “I’ll think about it.” It was quiet for a few minutes before she turned to me. “You know, a burrito sounds amazing right now.” I chuckled and nodded. “There’s a great Mexican place a few streets over.”

Once we were full, we drove to the venue I wanted to look into. “A hotel, really?” I nodded. “It was one on Bradley’s list. Plus, we can put our out-of-town guests here.” She shrugged, looking up at the tall building. “You got a point.” I walked inside, looking around the grand lobby. It gave old Hollywood glamour vibes, which I loved. “Hi, how can we help you?” The concierge asked as we walked up to the counter. “Hi, I don’t have an appointment, but I was considering having my wedding here. I just wanted to look around.” He nodded. “Of course. Let me get my manager for you, we’re a little slow at the moment so I’m sure she can show you around.” I nodded as he made a call. “She’ll be out in just a minute, have a seat if you want. Can I get you anything? Water?” I nodded, realizing how thirsty I was. “Water would be great.” He nodded, pulling a few from the fridge behind him and handing them to us before we sat down. “It’s nice in here. Is this the one with the garden?” I shook my head. “No. That one is closer to the base.” She nodded, looking around. “Hi, I’m Margaret. The hotel manager, I hear you’re considering having your wedding with us?” I nodded, shaking her outstretched hand. “Yes, I was just wanting to take a look around the place.” She nodded, holding out a small stack of papers to me. “Well, here are a few pages on what we offer. Different plans with pricing, just in case you consider us.”

“Now, follow me and I’ll lead you into one of our ballrooms.” I grinned at Penny, getting a little excited we followed Margaret down a hallway until she opened a set of double doors. I was expecting a little more. The pictures online showed how grand it was, but the only grand thing about it now was the chandelier. “This is our biggest and best ballroom. You’ll have to get your own decorations and decorate yourself but it's a great blank slate for creativity.” She wasn’t wrong there, but it was so plain. White walls with tall windows and wooden floors. It wasn’t bad but not what I wanted. “Do you happen to have an outdoor space?” Her face faltered at my question, maybe seeing I wasn’t that pleased. “No, ma’am. The ballrooms are the only spaces we have.” I nodded, biting my lip. I let her finish telling us about it before we parted ways, telling her I didn’t think it would work for us. “That sucked.” Penny said as we got back into the car.

“For the price they wanted it did. To pay sixteen thousand for blank walls is ridiculous. It would’ve been twenty-five thousand to use their chairs and have them cater. That’s basically our entire budget in my mind and we haven’t even made one yet. I’d still need money for bridesmaid dresses, tuxedos if Bradley doesn’t wanna wear his uniform, flowers, a photographer and so much more!” She nodded. “Listen, figure out your budget first, then call your mom see if she’ll pay anything. Then you can really buckle down on a venue.” I nodded. “Bradley docks in Australia soon so I’ll be able to contact him a little more freely.” She nodded, taking me back home. “I really appreciate this, Penny. I almost cancelled on you this morning.” She raised a brow as she parked in the driveway. “Really? Why?” I pursed my lips. “It feels wrong doing this stuff without Rooster. I know we can talk about it on our video and phone calls, but it feels wrong not having him with me.” I said as tears filled my eyes. “Oh, honey.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “I’d say it never gets easier, but you know that.” I nodded, taking a deep breath and pushing down the tears. “You can have a longer engagement. Wait till he comes home to start.” It was a thought I’d had before, waiting for him to come home to help me plan, it sounded great. “I just don’t know if I can wait that long to be Mrs. Bradshaw.” I laughed out, making her laugh as well. “It’ll be okay. If you need me, I’m always here.” I nodded, hugging her across the console.

A few days later I was waiting on Natasha. I was still on leave while she had to be back on base this past Monday. I had taken everything out of our closet, reorganizing seeing as Bradley just shoved everything in here. I put his stuff back neatly and decided to take the opportunity to go through all of my clothes, putting what I was keeping back in the closet and staring at the large pile of clothes still on the bed. “Magnolia?” I heard Phoenix’s voice from downstairs. “In the bedroom!” I called, catching her attention. I sat in the floor, going through my shoes when she walked in still in her flight suit smelling of jet fuel. “Woah, that’s a lot of clothes. Is this what you’re keeping?” I shook my head. “No that’s the pile you can go through. I’ve already put what I’m keeping back in the closet.” She peeked behind me into the closet. “Damn, you still have a lot. And why does Rooster have so many pieces of clothing?” I giggled at her words. “He’s a fashionable man. Something I appreciate.” I said as she started sorting through the pile on the bed. “This is adorable.” She said holding up the tiffany blue A-line dress, tears filling my eyes. “It’s your favorite color and you’re getting rid of it?” I sighed, pursing my lips. “Yeah.” I muttered, looking back to the piles of shoes in the floor.

“Hey, what’s wrong? If you want to keep it, then keep it.” I shook my head as the tears spilled over. “I can’t. I love that dress, it’s a favorite but, that’s the dress I wore to the courthouse when Aaron and I got married.” She furrowed her brows in confusion, as she sat next to me in the floor. “I hate that he still has this sort of control over me. Anything with memories attached to him is ruined, clothes, pictures, hell you remember I burned the comforter that was on our bed.” She tossed her arm over my shoulder, pulling me close. “I’m starting my life with Bradley, and I can’t seem to shake him. Rooster doesn’t deserve a girl who’s dragging a ghost around with her.” Phoenix chuckled from her spot next to me. “Magnolia. You could’ve shown up on his doorstep with a literal ball and chains attached to you, and he would’ve picked it up and carried it for you for the rest of your lives.” Her words made tears well in my eyes and I jumped up grabbing a notepad and pen I had in my bedside table. “What are you doing?” She asked, scrunching her brows. “You gave me an idea for my vows. Can I quote you?” I asked looking at her. Her bottom lip poked out and wobbled. “You want to quote me in your vows?” I nodded. “We haven’t talked about writing our own but just in case- AH!” I squealed as she threw herself at me, knocking us both over. She clung to me like a koala as she rolled us over in the floor. “Of course, you can. You’re my best friend and I love you.” She said, her voice cracking. “I love you too, Nix.” I said as I squeezed her back.

We laid in the floor a while, talking about the wedding. I knew I wanted her as my maid of honor, I just wanted to make it special when I asked her. “Well, I guess I’m going to get home. Jake is making spaghetti, and I’ve been anticipating it all week.” I handed her the bag full of clothes and shoes she decided to take. "But his still isn’t better than yours.” She said grinning at me. “Are you trying to butter me up to cook for you?” I narrowed my eyes at her as she smiled widely. “Please? Maybe some chicken and veggies?” I chuckled. “Okay, we’ll plan something.” She nodded, grabbing the bag. “So, what are you going to do with the rest?” She motioned to the pile of clothes still on my bed. “I figured I’d post it all on Facebook marketplace. Make a little money off it to put towards the wedding.” She nodded in agreement. “Okay,” She said as she started out the bedroom door, walking downstairs. “Just meet somewhere public. Can’t have crazies showing up here.” I nodded in agreement as she walked out. “Be careful on your way home.” She nodded, tossing the bag in her car. “I will! Love you!” She yelled. I yelled it back and I waited for her to drive away before I closed the door locking it.

I posted the clothes on the marketplace before scrolling through, looking at random things. But something caught my eye, that something being an antique Yamaha upright piano. It was almost an exact replica of the one I’ve seen in the Bradshaw family pictures I had hung up around the house. Many pictures of Goose sitting at the piano, Bradley sitting in his lap. I rushed, messaging the guy in hopes I could snag it before anyone else did. I laid across my bed, staring at my phone as I waited for a reply. I sighed, not wanting to go crazy. So, I got up and cleaned up my mess, ate dinner and had a shower before I crawled into bed. I got excited as I saw the man replied, telling me he’d give me a discount if I picked it up myself. I immediately text Hangman asking to borrow his truck tomorrow and of course he questioned why, then told me he was coming with me because ‘You’re not going to some guys house by yourself to pick up a so called piano.’ I rolled my eyes as I text the guy back, asking him to tune it if I paid the full price. He came back with an immediate yes making me grin. “Oh, Bradley is going to cry!” I said as I fist pumped the air. I text Hangman the time we needed to be there to get it and he just replied with a middle finger emoji. I rolled my eyes, laying my phone down on the wireless charger before sliding down in the bed. I was in one of Bradley’s shirts and I took a big whiff as the smell of his body wash invaded my senses. I laid there for a few minutes before picking my phone back up and sending Bradley an email. I told him how much I loved and missed him and told him we needed to figure out a budget. So, I would be going through my portion of the bills to see what we could change to have more money for the wedding. After that I laid my phone down, opting to try and get some sleep. With Sadie at my feet and Dahlia next to me, it wasn’t hard and soon I drifted off.

I heard Dahlia growling and I took my foot, gently nudging her and she stopped. After a minute she started again. “Shh.” I said, not moving from my spot. She stopped but shifted down towards the end of the bed. I drifted back off but woke with a start when she barked. I jumped out of the bed, looking out the open bedroom door and into the hallway. If someone was in the house, she would’ve been downstairs by now. I turned on my lamp before walking out into the hallway. I turned on every light as I went downstairs, I checked and made sure the back door was locked before checking the front door. As I grabbed the door handle I heard a vehicle speed down the road. I heaved a sigh of relief when I turned to see Dahlia and Sadie standing at the top of the stairs. “Really? It was a car.” I said as I cut off all the lights and headed back to bed. At this point I was cranky and made Dahlia sleep in her bed as I crawled back under the covers.

The next day Hangman showed up at my house by ten, surprising me with bringing Bob and Coyote with him. “I can’t believe you agreed to go to this guy’s house alone to pick up this piano.” He was leaned back in the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel, the other covering his mouth. “Aw, I’m glad you’re worried about me. But you know I can handle myself.” He scoffed, nodding. “Like how you beat the fuck out of Buck on deployment.” I froze in my seat, looking at him, then to the backseat to see Bob staring at me from his spot behind Hangman, and Coyote peeking around my seat too stare at me, wide eyed. “What?” Bob asked, adjusting to truckers’ hat on his head. “Rooster does not know, and he won’t find out.” Jake’s head whipped around to me, startling me. “You didn’t tell him?” I shook my head. “No, I wanted to do it in person. But I didn’t expect him to be home for Christmas and then he proposed! What was I supposed to say? ‘Thanks for the ring, by the way I got into a fight with one of your former colleagues after he forcefully kissed me’?” “WOAH!” Bob and Coyote yelled. “He did what?” Coyote asked and my head fell into my hands as I groaned. “He heard about my divorce and how public it was, and he kissed me saying ‘we could make more publicity.’ We shoved each other before I beat the shit out of him in the ready room on board.”

They all went silent as I picked my head up. “What’s this guy’s name?” “No!” I said. “Y’all are not going to beat him up.” I said as I leaned my head against the window. “His call sign is Buck.” “JAKE!” I screeched, turning to him. He just shrugged, keeping his eyes trained on the road ahead of us. “I just want them to know in case they come across this guy.” I stared at them for a moment before huffing. “I’m glad I’m engaged to Rooster. I couldn’t imagine trying to date with you three around.” They all grinned as Coyote smacked my arm. “Don’t forget about Payback and Fanboy!” “Or Phoenix.” Hangman piped up. “Oh, trust me, I couldn’t forget them even if I wanted to, and we all know Phoenix would be the first to attack someone for me.” It was quiet for a second before they all agreed. The rest of the ride was quiet and soon we arrived at the house. We got out and I stepped up on the porch, ringing the doorbell. I stared at the red door for a moment before it swung open revealing an older gentleman, possibly in his sixties. He smiled at me and swung the glass door open. “Hey, you must be Caila.” I nodded, shaking his hand. “I am and I assume your Charlie?” He nodded. “If you want to look at it before you take it, your more than welcome.” I nodded, holding the door myself. “Thanks. Guys.” I motioned them to follow me, and they did. “And you brought your own crew. Smart girl.” Once we were all inside, he led us into his living room, the old piano sitting tucked away in a corner. “I’ve already cleaned it off and tuned it.”

I sat down on the bench, pressing a few keys. “Sound good?” Hangman asked and I shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t play. But I’m sure it is.” I said, not wanting to offend Charlie and have him jack up the price. “So, what do you think?” I stood, running my fingers along the top of it. “I’ll take it.” He nodded as I pulled out the cash, holding it out to him. He smiled, taking it from me and counting it as we all grabbed the piano. It was heavy, but between the four of us we managed to get it out the door and loaded in the back of the truck. “Strap that down and I’ll grab the bench?” The boys nodded as I walked back inside. Just as I reached for the bench Charlie tapped my shoulder, startling me. “I’m sorry. Um, this may be weird but you’re the Caila Motley, right?” I nodded, catching my breath. “I’ve been a fan of your mother for years, an-and your brother.” I didn’t know where he was going with this. “Oh, and a lot of what you’ve released.” I just gave him a smile and nodded. “What I’m trying to say… can I get a picture?” I was a little relieved that was his question. “Oh, of course.” I was happy to take a picture with him, it was a simple request. “Do you mind doing it? I don’t know how to do this selfie thing.” He said and I smiled, taking his phone. He was shorter than me, so I bent down a little, one hand on my knee, the other holding his phone. He placed his hand between my shoulder blades turning to me. “Is it okay if I put my hand here? I’m a little unsteady in my old age.” I nodded. “Of course.” I turned back to the phone, smiling. “Ready?” I heard a small ‘yep’ from him and clicked to take the picture. As soon as I did, his hand disappeared from my back as I stood straight. But I was caught off guard when I heard a smack and a stinging sensation on my right ass cheek. “OW! What the fuck?!” I yelled, turning to him. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” He said with a large grin. I glared at him, deleting the picture before tossing his phone at him. “Fuck you, buddy.” I said as I grabbed the bench, walking towards the door.

“You okay?” Jake asked, stepping inside and stepping right back out as I almost ran him down with the bench in hand. We put the bench behind the piano and got in. “What happened? I heard you yell in there.” Hangman asked as I crossed my arms over my chest in the passenger seat. “Dude wanted a picture because he was a fan of my music and after I did it he smacked my ass-“ My hands shot forward to stop myself from face planting the dashboard. “What the fuck! You could’ve ruined the piano!” I yelled before Jake opened his door. “Stop! Jake!” I yelled, grabbing his arm, effectively stopping him. “He’s not worth it. He’s in his sixties.” He looked to me before sighing and closing his door. It went quiet as he started back down the road. “Was that the first time?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “No. I’m a woman who is occasionally in the public eye and I’m in the navy. Some men fetishize that.” He rolled his eyes. “Anyone in the navy?” I raised a brow at him, just Buck and you.” “ME?!” He squealed, looking at me in shock. “Um yeah, if I recall the first thing you ever said to me when we met was, ‘That uniform looks great on you, but it’d look better on my bedroom floor.’ It wasn’t a physical advance, but it was a verbal one. That and our deployment to Australia when I met Rooster for the first time you told me you’d love to know what I sounded like in bed.” His face was bright red, he wouldn’t look at me, but Coyote and Bobby were staring him down. “I never should’ve said any of that, Magnolia, I’m genuinely sorry I did.”

“It’s okay, I forgave you years ago.” He gave me a deadpan look. “A few years ago?” I nodded at his question. “Yeah, when I found out that underneath all that ego and douchiness, you were genuinely a good person.” He chuckled. “But I appreciate the apology anyway.” The rest of the way home, we were talking about how we all met, except Bob, I was the only one that knew him before the Uranium mission. Soon we got home and unloaded the piano, putting it against the far living room wall. I had a huge empty space to fill, and it worked perfectly. Once I thanked the guys with food and beer they left and once again I was alone. The house was clean, and the dogs were napping. That’s when I got the idea to go through all my statements, attempting to find stuff I could cancel to save money. Soon I was sat at the island, glasses on the bridge of my nose, with my statements and all of our bills. My Sirius Xm I never used it so I cancelled. A box subscription I cancel every month, delete. I even found we were wasting money on certain foods at the grocery store, so I cut it out. I stared at these papers, realizing our grocery bill was sky rocketing. I needed to meal prep so I didn’t waste food, make my groceries stretch. I pulled out my recipe box, looking for ideas when I pulled out my mamaw’s bread recipe. Looking at it, I realized I already had most of the ingredients. “If I made bread, we’d save money not having to buy it every week.” I said as I scratched down the idea. Looking through all these made me think of things my mamaw used to do, which included not using fabric softener and using white vinegar instead. Goodbye, fabric softener. I went through and had a few more ideas and when I added it all up, I realized we would save two hundred dollars all together each week, and that’s just on my portion of bills. I smiled to myself, proud of everything I had done. We may be able to afford this wedding yet.

The following week I met back with Dr. Lender, my therapist first. “Miss Motley?” I stood, following Dr. Lender into his office. Once we got comfortable, he gave me a small smile. “So, I’ve been instructed to evaluate you. It seems there was an outburst on your last deployment?” I was ashamed of what happened. That wasn’t me, I didn’t lash out like that but he pushed. “Why don’t you start by telling me in detail what happened.” I nodded, taking a deep breath. “From the minute we met Buck was giving me a hard time. I ignored it for the most part until he abandoned me in the air, after that him and Hangman got into it and pulled into the commander’s office. When he came out, he cornered me and told me to stay out of his way or watch his back.” He nodded, writing something down. “What happened after that?” I recounted everything up until our fight. “I called him Aaron.” Dr. Lender stopped writing, glancing up at me. “You called him Aaron?” I nodded. “He pushed me, and I pushed back. I was asking him if he thought he could push me around, then I asked if he thought he could hurt me and called him Aaron.” Tears started streaming down my face. “Caila, you’ve been through a lot and Aaron has been the source of your pain for a long time. Another man was physical with you, it’s not surprising that your subconscious made you think it was Aaron.” I wiped my cheeks, the wetness causing a chill to come to my cheeks. “So, I’m not going crazy?” I asked with a chuckle. “No, and I think you are fit for duty. But you have a lot that we need to work through. So, let’s talk about it.”

After my session with Dr. Lender we agreed I should see him twice a week right now and I headed over to Dr. Cortez’s office. Once I filled out the paperwork, I was taken back and a nurse took my blood work, sending me into a room. “Miss Motley, good to see you again. You’re looking much better than when I last saw you.” Dr. Cortez said as he sat on the stool in the room. “I feel a lot better.” He smiled at me, nodding. “So have you had any other manic episodes, bouts of depression?” I shook my head. “No, for the most part I feel normal. I was just hoping my cortisol levels were down.” He gave me a smile, looking down at my papers. “They are. They’re a little high in the normal range but they are normal. But I do want to see you back next month just to check.” I smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Cortez.” I said and we walked out. I had been terrified that either of these appointments would pull me from flying, so as I walked out to my car I was elated. I felt like I was floating almost.

This was my last week before I went back to work, so I spent it making sure the house was clean and hanging a few pictures. I put a few of Bradley and his parents on top of the piano, and a few family photos on the mantle. One of my parents, one of Bradley and I, one of Jameson, Laura and JJ, and one of his parents. We also had a handful of pictures of the team throughout the house. Having pictures around the house always gave me a warm feeling. When I would have those moment of doubt or fear, knowing this was where my life was at always made me feel better. The night before I went back, I spent it on the couch, staring at the wedding planner, the gold Mr. & Mrs. Bradshaw staring back at me. There were a few slots for pictures in it and under the words ‘The Engagement’ I had placed a picture mom had sent me. It was one of Bradley and I just after he proposed, his hands holding my cheeks as I held his wrists. I had been working on a budget and Bradley had emailed me that he would figure out his portion of the budget, as well as more venues and even a few date ideas. For a man who loves summer, he suggested a winter wedding. As if winter in San Diego was truly cold. His suggestion was winter because then we could have an outdoor wedding and not sweat to death. It made me giddy that he was so excited for this wedding, he wanted to be so hands on and involved.

It was like the love I have for this man grew daily, the dopey way he smiles at me when we’re on video calls, the he randomly grabs my hand and kisses it, his goofy personality. If you told me a year ago that Bradley and I would be engaged, I would’ve laughed in your face. When it was time for bed, like every night, I slipped on one of his shirts and curled up close to his pillow. The smell of him invading my senses and lulling me to sleep. The next morning I was welcomed into the morning briefing with hugs, making me grin widely. “So glad to have you back!” Fanboy said as he hugged me again. “Oh, I’ve missed flying with you guys!” I cheered as we all took our seats. I sat next to Coyote, fist bumping him as Admiral Simpson came in. We stood at attention until he released us, sitting back down. “Good morning, aviators.” He said, placing his hand behind him. “I have just received word from our new Pacific Fleet Commander. The Dagger Squadron is now a permanent Squadron based here on North Island. You will deploy for missions together, no more splitting you guys up.” We all grinned at each other, realizing this was a place we could all put down roots. “Does this mean the rest of the team is coming back?” I asked and he nodded. “Yes, Rooster will come back at the end of his deployment. But Halo, Omaha, Fritz, Yale and Harvard have all been called back.” We all cheered, excited that the entire team would be back. “Now I’ll hand it over to Captain Mitchell.” He nodded before walking away. Maverick told us the plan for today and soon released us to get in the air. As soon as we stood, I pulled out my phone and text Halo.

Text me as soon as you get in and I’ll send you my address to come over!

Yeah, because clearly, we have a lot to catch up on!

I furrowed my brows in confusion. I text her a picture the day I got engaged, so I couldn’t tell if she was mad at me or not. “Magnolia! You’re up with Payback and Fanboy!” Mav called, making me nod and I grabbed my helmet. I excitedly crawled into my jet, sticking a photo of Rooster and I on the dash before slipping my helmet on. “You ready, Magnolia?” Payback called before I taxied out. “I was born ready.” With that, we were off. We spent about an hour in the air before we landed, now all sweaty and burning up from the sun shining into our cockpits. “I know I just got back from a deployment, but I will always miss being in a jet!” I said as I joined Payback, Fanboy, and Mav in walking back into the hangar. Mav grinned at me, patting my shoulder. “You’re just like your dad in that way, so is Bradley. Goose loved flying.” I bit my lip, looking at him. “I wish they were here. We’re getting married Mav, this is a big event in his life.” He stopped as I walked a few steps ahead, only stopping when I realized he wasn’t next to me anymore. I turned to see him staring at me, his jaw open a little. “Mav?” He came over, pulling me into a tight hug. “Everything okay?” I asked, patting his back. “I knew you were good for him.” It was quiet, but it spoke volumes. “I really love him Mav.” He pulled back, his hands on my shoulders. “And he loves you. I can’t wait for you two to start your lives together.” Tears came to my eyes at his words. “Stop! I’m gonna cry!” I said as I fanned my face. He laughed, leading us back inside as my phone rang.

“It’s Bradley!” I yelled out when I saw his picture on my phone. “Hello?” I was so excited to hear from him. “Guess who docked in Australia!” He sing songed making me giggle. “Would it be my fiancé?” The word alone made my chest tighten in excitement. “Oh, say it again.” He growled, making my face heat up. Mav went inside, leaving me alone in the hangar. “Fiancé.” I said grinning and biting my lip. “God, I love that! But I think I’ll enjoy calling you Mrs. Bradshaw more.” I could’ve squealed at the title, my excitement built in me, making me do a little dance. “God, I cannot wait!” I yelled out. He chuckled and I heard a few papers rustle around. “Me either, which is why I was calling to tell you I have figured out my end of the finances. How do you feel about a forty-thousand-dollar budget for the wedding?” My jaw dropped, shocked at the number he gave me. “For-forty thousand dollars? Can we really afford that?” I asked, slowly lowering myself to sit in one of the chairs. “We can. Between fixing both of our finances we are saving a ton of money. That and I was left a lot of money when mom passed and I’ve been saving it for something like this.”

“Are you sure you wanna use it on the wedding?” I asked, picking at the skin around my nails. “Honey, I wouldn’t wanna use it on anything else and neither would my parents.” Tears gathered in my eyes. “I’m also gonna ask my parents if they want to contribute. I’m sure they will want to at least buy my dress.” He groaned on the other end. “You’re gonna look like a fucking goddess when you walk down the aisle.” I had butterflies in my stomach at his words. “I meant to ask, do you want to wear a tux or your uniform for the wedding?” It was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “I really don’t know yet.” I chuckled lightly at his words. “Oh, so I got good news this morning.” He hummed telling me he was listening. “The Dagger Squad is being made a permanent squadron here on North Island. We would deploy together and they’re even bringing back the rest of the team.” He gave a low whistle. “I wish that meant I got to come home early.” I nodded. “Me too.”

“Have you considered who’s going to be in the bridal party?” I sighed, I had been thinking about it and we needed the same amount of guys for the groomsmen. “Yeah, I know I want Phoenix to be my Maid of Honor. I know I’ll also ask Laura, I just know we need an even number in both parties.” I said leaning over, rubbing my face. “We do, but don’t stress over it honey. We can figure that out a little later.” I nodded, sitting back. “Have you looked at anymore venues?” I shook my head. “I saw a few this week, but they were all ridiculously priced and not worth that much money.” I said as I rolled my eyes. “We’ll find somewhere, honey. Have you thought more on colors?” I nodded. “I was leaning more toward navy, maybe just blue. If we use green in winter, it may feel too much like Christmas.” He hummed. “Let’s try to avoid doing it before Christmas. It would be a lot to juggle Christmas and a wedding.” I nodded. I heard someone yelling for him on his end, making my smile falter. “I really miss you, Roo.” “I miss you too, pretty girl. But I really have to go. I love you, future Mrs. Bradshaw.” I squealed at the title, letting him know how much I truly loved it. “I love you too, Mr. Bradshaw.”

“Bye, Mags.” He whispered. “Bye, Roo.” With that I hung up, standing from my seat and turning. “AH!” I yelled out seeing Coyote, Bob and Payback standing right behind me. “You two are gross.” Coyote said and I smacked his chest. “Is Phoenix with you? I don’t want her to know I’m gonna ask her to be my maid of honor yet.” They shook their heads. “But we won’t tell her if you agree to put us in the wedding.” Payback said. “Okay.” I said stepping around them. “Have fun being flower boys!” I called and they all whipped their heads around to me. “That’s not what we wanted!” Coyote yelled, him and Payback running after me. “YOU’RE IN THE WEDDING! BE HAPPY!” I yelled, running away from them. That night when I laid in bed, I took a picture of the dogs, sending it to him. Now that he had service, I felt better knowing I could reach him more often. I had to restrain myself from texting him constantly, not wanting to annoy him, but I wanted to update him on everything that happened in my day-to-day life. Soon it was getting late, and I finally had to stop scrolling through my socials, putting my phone on the charger before cutting out the lights. “Goodnight girls.” In response Sadie scooted closer to the bend of my knees and Dahlia groaned as she laid across Rooster’s side. I chuckled to myself, pulling the covers up and soon drifting off.

I was half awake when I heard Dahlia growl, and it took me a minute to register what was going on. “Sh.” I nudged her slightly and she stopped. After a few minutes she started again. “Dahlia, please.” I muttered as she continued to growl. “It’s just a car.” I said as I tossed my arm over my eyes, but her growls grew louder. With that I got up, her head was turned to the window by Rooster’s side of the bed. I furrowed my brows, standing on my side, and slowly peeking around the curtains. It was dark so I turned back and grabbed my glasses, looking back outside. I stared around for a minute, looking for anything, then I saw it. A shadow moved out from behind the Magnolia tree and hopped the fence to get to the outside of it. I gasped, grabbing my phone and dialing 911, I rushed downstairs, Dahlia on my heels. “911, what’s your emergency?” As the man answered, I checked that the front door was locked. “I’m at 423 Oceanside Lane in Miramar. I just saw someone hop my back fence to get to the outside.” I said as I rushed for the backdoor, checking it. Both doors were locked, making me feel a little better.

“Someone hopped your fence to get out of your backyard?” I nodded. “Yes, I think they might’ve been snooping around my back door.” I heard tires squealing and I looked out my front door seeing a black truck speed down the road. “A black truck also just sped off down the road.” My heart sped up, realizing the other night when a vehicle sped off, it could’ve been whoever was just in my back yard. “I don’t think this is the first time they’ve come snooping around.” I said as I leaned on my front door. “Okay, ma'am. I have officers dispatched to your location, do you want me to stay on the line?” I licked my lips as tears welled in my eyes. “Yes.” My voice broke as I started back upstairs to put pants on and grab my robe. “So this isn’t the first time?” He asked and I shook my head. “No. At least, I don’t think so. My dog growling woke me up and she’s done this two other times. Last time I head a car speed down the road and I thought maybe someone was just leaving their house but now I’m not so sure.” I said as I made my way downstairs. I sat on the couch, Dahlia resting her head in my lap as I heard a knock on my door, making me jump back up. “It’s okay, it’s just the officers I dispatched.” I nodded, sighing in relief. I realized they kept the sirens off so they didn’t alert anyone sneaking around. I walked over, looking out the window to double check that it was them, and when I was sure I hung up the phone and opened the door.

“Miss Motley?” I nodded. “That’s me.” There were two of them, and I recognized the one from when I passed out in the kitchen. “We’ve been told you had a disturbance?” I nodded. “My dog was growling and when I looked outside, I saw someone hopping my fence to the outside. Then I saw a truck speed off down the road.” They nodded, looking behind them. “We’ll take a look around.” I nodded as they walked around the side of the house. I closed the door, opting to make some tea while I waited. After ten minutes they came back to the front of the house. “We didn’t see anything. Are you sure you saw something?” I nodded. “Very sure.” I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Miss Motley, to be honest, it’s hard to believe without footprints or anything seeing as you were hallucinating the last time I was here.” My heart dropped into my stomach, fear creeping in. “What? No-I-last time I had a manic episode. I’m fine right now. There was someone in my back yard.” They sighed, looking at each other. “Without evidence, there’s nothing we can do. Have a good night, Miss Motley.” I was sputtering as they walked away, not knowing what to do. “Wh-yo-wait!” They turned to me as I met them in the driveway. “You’re sure there was nothing there?” They both nodded, sure of themselves. “Have a nice night Miss Motley.” It was stern, telling me this was the end of the conversation. I slowly walked back inside, locking the door behind me and looking around the house. I looked down at my phone, seeing it was midnight. I considered calling someone to come stay, but it was the middle of the night, and I didn’t want to be a bother. So instead I opted for sitting on the couch and turning on the tv. Dahlia crawled up next to me, facing the door as I set Sadie on my other side. “I guess it’s just us, ladies.” I muttered as I propped my feet on the coffee table.

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Taglist: @mak-32 @rosiahills22 @dhwanishah09

#rooster #bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster top gun #rooster fanfic #top gun maverick #bob floyd #robert bob floyd #natasha trace #phoenix #pete maverick mitchell #hangman #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #i hope you dance

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mysaldate · 3 years ago

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Whoever sent the ask about Journey, Tumblr ate it and had a stroke, here’s your answer!

THIS POST ORIGINALLY HAD PICTURES AND A VIDEO BUT TUMBLR DECIDED NOT TO ALLOW ANY OF THAT TO GO THROUGH. THIS IS A LONG-TERM ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN REPORTED BY SOME USERS AS FAR AS TWO WEEKS BACK.

Oh boy, I hope you don't mind the nerdy rant that's coming because ngl, I have a LOT to say about this game that hasn't even properly released yet.

AFK 2: Journey is an upcoming game collab between Lilith Games and Farlight Games. You may recognize this combination of developers from Dislyte, but don't worry, this is nothing like Dislyte. Well, at least not in the bad aspects of it. You can view the official trailer for the closed beta right here and there are already plenty of people who made videos about it on YT regarding the gameplay and general feel of the game. In short, it's a more or less open-world game where you play as a prophesized savior of Esperia against one particular threat. I'll go more into detail about what is and isn't in the game under the cut so I don't take up too much space on the timeline and I'll also be adding some pictures and maybe even videos of the game itself.

As I was a part of the closed beta testing, I was able to already see what the game had to offer, and here's my crude review. It won't go over everything so if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.

So to start with, what separates this game from the already existing AFK game, AFK Arena?

Well, for starters, it features 3D graphics. Now, usually, I'm not too big a fan of 3D graphics. It was my main issue with Dislyte (until I looked at the gacha properly at least), and I'm not a fan of Genshin's style for this very reason. 3D graphics make games difficult to run on devices with overall lower performance and everything becomes that much bigger in the storage as well. Not to mention, usually it doesn't even look good and 2D would've provided a lot more emotion and creative freedom. Genshin constantly struggles with supposedly emotional moments falling flat because of both pacing and the limited range of emotions in their 3D models. Dislyte doesn't animate most stories and thus avoids this pitfall... without actually fixing the problem either. On the other hand, I think Journey did a good job portraying emotions even on the NPC faces despite the 3D model limitations. If anything, they were a bit too much at times. The overall body language definitely added to this though so it's not like everything hung only on the facial expressions. They weren't afraid to utilize their whole models to get the feeling across and it certainly paid off. And sure, the expressions are still sometimes a mess and my poor screenshotting skills definitely don't help my case, but you'll see what I mean with the videos. For now, have this.

(very awkward screenshot of a sad bunny mom was here)

The model is a little awkward because of the screenshot but Adeline really sold her distress. She was constantly rubbing at her eyes wiping her tears away, blinking them away, and shaking. She's afraid about her lost child and she behaves like someone in such a situation. She doesn't stand stiff and stare blankly off into the distance.

Another key difference is the aforementioned open world. Now again, it is not quite as open as in Genshin, you cannot climb or swim, and a lot of locations require you to follow specific paths to get to, but you can still frolic in the fields of grain and go off course to grab a random treasure chest or fight a random enemy. You also get rewards for filling out the map. You can choose up to four characters you have drawn in gacha to follow you around and they have no relation to your party whatsoever so you can just put your favorites there without having to worry about combat. The world is split into several larger areas with a bunch of smaller areas within each one. You can progress to the next areas regardless of where you are in the main story which is nice. There's no Inazuma situation where you can't go somewhere until you get there in the story. Every bigger and smaller area is locked behind a small boss fight and there are also teleports on the map. Much appreciated is also the auto-pilot function where you can simply choose a goal and your character will automatically find the shortest route to get there if it is possible, and then walk on their own.

Last but not least, I need to talk about the main character. AFK Arena is wonderful thanks to it not having a main character to dictate the course of its story, even though it kind of seemed like that's where it was going at the start. Journey, on the other hand, decided to commit to the idea of having a playable main character. I wasn't a fan of it when I first heard about it but it kind of blew me away with how seamless they made it and how neatly it fits in with the rest of the game. I will get more into the MC a little bit later.

That were just the key differences between AFK Arena and AFK 2: Journey. So let's talk more about Journey itself.

The story of the prologue, and thus kind of the overarching story, is a little cliché at the start. No star-traveling twins fighting an evil god and getting separated, no world of godly powers bestowed upon mortals. There is a prophesized main character, us, who was foretold to save Esperia from the spreading corruption of dark miasma. That's right, no Hypogean threat and war between good and evil, well at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Also, we have amnesia. But don't worry, there's a reason for it. At the start of the game, we get found by a duo of traveling mercenaries, Ella and Valen. Ella is a mage who studied at the Astral Academy, while Valen is a sword-user, though he can't really be called a knight, and they were hired by someone to find this someone's master. At the start of the game, after they find us, we are completely covered up, you can't see anything at all about the MC.

(a screenshot of a covered up MC was here, they are wearing full-body robes that go over their head and a full face mask that hides their whole face, on their chest is a white gem)

This becomes important later because after meeting with the client who sent them to find us, we are taken to our main base – a building on the back of a massive terrestrial creature that has all the possible accommodations including the Noble Tavern (with best girl Dolly) and a changing room. The MC, once you get past the prologue, is CUSTOMIZABLE. You can pick between the male and female body, there's a variety of skin tones, both natural and not, and you gain avatar items as you progress the story or you can buy them from the shop. You can get fox ears, a monocle, an eye mask, full-body outfits, and more. This honestly excited me so much and it immediately elevated this game in my head so much more. Furthermore, while the MC doesn't fight on your team, they stand in the back and provide various valuable buffs from healing to attack power-ups to even damaging enemies. In a way, the MC is functionally similar to the new Beasts feature in AFK Arena.

The one drawback I would call out is that there's not really much of anything just yet but this was just the closed beta after all. They'll probably add a lot of new stuff before the actual release. You can also choose a faction for your avatar frame but the only ones in the game so far were Lightbearers and Maulers, and the Lightbearer one was the default frame while the actual Lightbearer-looking frame was labeled as Maulers, so nothing is perfect, but there is a very solid base that we could see great expansions upon.

Aside from the MC, you build a team of up to five heroes much like you would in AFK Arena. You also get tutorial heroes for free. These heroes are Ella, Valen, Chippy, and Hammie. Speaking of whom, Chippy and his cousin Hammie are the two who originally hired Ella and Valen and though I would personally consider them related to the Wilders or Maulers, they were apparently accepted as Lightbearers. Maybe the centuries-old race war is finally getting better? Chippy looks like a chubby little hamster knight and works as a tank, and Hammie is similar to a white weasel and has minor magical powers and healing abilities. They come with a whole family of similar creatures who all work for us and do lots of little background things like scouting out maps for treasure and enemies. What's most important though is that they are absolutely ADORABLE!

(several pictures of cute little fuzzy babies were posted here, you can still find Chippy as the game's official profile picture on FB, and Hammie appeared on the closed beta announcement picture)

Aside from the starting four, you can recruit characters through a gacha system in the tavern, just like in the old AFK Arena. The gacha now has an animation that, while far from great, I just can't stop watching. And it is pretty much only for the Dolly animation and especially the way her skirt twirls. 3D animated skirts usually tend to be awfully stiff or feel heavy and suffocating, but as someone who wore them quite a lot not that long ago, I appreciated how realistic and light Dolly's skirt seemed in it. This is a weird detail to get hung up on, I know, but I always focus on weird things, we all know that by now.

(a video of the gacha pull was here, it opens in a cozy-looking shared space with a bar, several tables, a changing room, and even a small store, Dolly is cleaning tankards when she notices the player came to gacha and sets her work down to motion towards larger animations playing out behind her where we can see some of the characters we can pull, after clicking on the 10-pull option, she runs out to the balcony and tosses out a handful of envelopes that fly into the air, day turns into night and a single envelope returns, lighting up beacons indicating the rarities of heroes in the pull)

And yes, I keep mentioning Dolly. However, Dolly is not the only familiar face we'll meet in Journey. A whole set of heroes from AFK Arena shows up in Journey as well. From the Lightbearers, we have Lucius, Rowan, and Mirael, from the Maulers, there's Brutus, the Wilders brought Eironn and Lyca, and the only Graveborn from the original game who made the cut, for now, is Thoran. Aside from them, the game also has a plethora of new original heroes. And these heroes certainly look every bit as unique and diverse as you would expect from an AFK game! During the beta, the game didn't have any backstories just yet, but it had a dedicated space for them so we can expect them to show up soon. Let me quickly walk you through the new heroes!

(two pictures from the promo materials were there; the first one depicted Ella, a young and fairly androgynous woman with chin-length white hair and blue eyes, she is wearing a blue barret, a white and gold vest with a closed top and a turtleneck, blue cape falls from it on both front and back and the front part is divided into two halves, leaving an opening to see her vest through, she also has dark blue booty shorts and long cream-colored stockings on, she wields a golden staff with a blue gem on top; the second picture depicted Valen, he is a leisurely looking young man with a mess of brown hair falling down to his shoulders and wears a white shirt with a dark blue tunic and a fur-lined brown cloak together cream-colored pants and high brown boots, he is equipped with a sword as well as leather arm braces, by his waist hangs the sheath and another sheathed sword)

First, we have Ella and Valen (and sorry I don't have my own screenshots for them, I have their animations). Both of them are Lightbearers and I also introduced them a little bit, but since they play a big part in the main story, I can talk more about their personalities. Ella is smart and relies on her wits but is prone to anger at times and has a strong sense of justice. On the other hand, Valen is laid-back and more careful about how he comes across to others but he has a good head on his shoulders and remembers to consider options outside of what's right in front of our faces. They're a refreshing duo and it's easily understandable why they've stuck together as mercenaries.

Sadly, Chippy and Hammie don't really show up much after the prologue so there's not much more to them other than being loyal and very adorable. Chippy has great faith in us as the prophesized hero while Hammie has a more leveled approach and keeps things on the cooler side.

(a picture here depicted Merrin, she is a young blonde woman, her hair is tied in twin braids but several strands escaped and stick out wildly, she's wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and brown pants rolled up to her knees and on her head sits a white and blue Robin Hood-style hat, she wields a bow and by her hip hands a quiver of arrows and a fox tail, she also has a dagger strapped to her other hip)

The Lightbearer lineup is finished by Merrin. She's born of noble blood but after her mother got murdered, she ran away from home seeking vengeance. This is actually a part of the main story so I don't want to spoil too much but she is very energetic, dedicated, and doesn't mind changing plans on the run if she can attain her goal. She's also not stubborn and can admit when she made a mistake, but she won't put up with nonsense. She's a genuinely refreshing character in an already very good story quest.

(a picture here depicted Hewyn, she is a small girl with pointy ears, her golden hair is tied in two braids and rolled up on the sides of her head, there is a tear-shaped mark on her forehead, she has green eyes and a somber or perhaps distrusting look, she is wearing an ankle-length dress of white and green with a few golden touches and holds a leaf bigger than she is as an umbrella or maybe to provide shade from the sun)

Moving on to the Wilders, we have Hewyn. Unfortunately, if she does appear in the main story, I didn't get to her during the beta so I can't really talk much about her, but she is a dedicated healer and her healing is absolutely busted. I'm sure this will get rebalanced soon but during the beta, she was easily healing 50k HP with her ult while my main AoE DPS dealt a little over 13k damage to the enemies. In her animations, she appears very shy and almost fearful.

(a picture here depicted Seth, a powerfully-built anthropomorphized black panther, he has golden tattoos or perhaps paint on his chest like the rays of the sun coming from below where his neck protection spreads over his shoulders, the neck protection gear is connected to a sleeve over his right arm, both of his arms sport leather bracers, he also wears tight pants of light leather and there are several protective bindings on his legs, his claws are painted gold, by his waist are several signal horns fastened to a wide belt)

That's all the Wilders so moving on to the Maulers. This is Seth and he's a black panther assassin. And that's all I know about him since he doesn't have a backstory and his animations seem generally guarded so I can't read much into them.

(a picture here depicted Bo, he is a massive rhino with a huge battering ram in his arms, he is wearing a fur-lined red attire and sports red body paint around his neck, he is also equipped with heavy-looking arm bracers and a protective piece on his head going from between his eyes to around his horn for which it has a hole, the armor seems to be made of black scales and held together with golden seams, he also has a golden nose ring)

Bo has to be one of my favorite designs simply for how unconventional he is. He's just. so. large. He's the tankiest tank who ever tanked. But in his animations, he also appears very aloof and sleepy, like he used a lot of energy charging and pushing back the enemy, and now he just needs a nap.

(picture here depicted two meerkat-looking Maulers, one significantly larger than the other, obviously the adult of the two if they truly are the same species, the smaller meerkat isn't wearing any clothes but is holding a blue bottle while the larger meerkat creature is wearing a red vest and red and brown drop-crotch pants, as well as red wrist bracers and a colorful necklace, they have dreadlocks on the back of their head and a green stalk between their teeth, one of their hands is extended forward and would be holding a censer if my screenshots weren't always taken in the worst possible moment)

Daka and Waka are a support duo of Maulers whose entire kit revolves around spreading smoke from their censer with different kinds of incense granting different buffs for their allies, with healing added to the mix at their ult. I couldn't even tell you which is which but know that the bigger one of the duo seems to be a parental or guardian figure to the smaller one – and is very anxious about anything possibly happening to their protegé.

(the picture here depicted a ginger hyena with a surprisingly large and fluffy-looking tail as well as very defined and round buttocks, he isn't wearing anything but a loincloth, a shoulder pad on his right shoulder, and a few leather straps that hold his quiver of blowdarts in place on his back, he has a blowgun in one hand and holds the index finger and thumb of the other hand up as if in a greeting, by his waist hangs the skull of a small cow and an inconspicuous flask, he has a leisure relaxed smile on his face, his eyes half-lidded)

The last Mauler of the bunch is Eddie. Okay, I lied, Eddie is probably my favorite design. He attacks with a blowgun and has a very relaxed air around him. For some reason, they gave him the seductive eyebrow wiggle in one of his animations. He's pretty decent at close combat too but definitely prefers to stay at a range.

(depicted here was Lelana, a graveborn young-looking woman with a very sleepy look to her, she has dark circles around her eyes like she hasn't slept in a very long time, her hair is very long and goes from dark gray on top to very light pale green at the ends, she is wearing a long layered dress of dark blue and dirty white with motifs of snowflakes towards the bottom, the white parts of her dress resemble melting snow, her long sleeves are poofy and white and she's wearing white gloves, over her shoulders is a dark blue overcoat and her neck is protected by a ruff, she is holding a tall and thin candelabra with three candles)

Lelana is absolutely gorgeous. That's it, that's my review. No, I'm kidding obviously. She's a mage who summons snowballs and snow-themed attacks, and I think her outfit is very lovely. It has the weight of a heavy blanket to it and it works really great. She doesn't move much but what few moves she does have in her animations are all fluid and elegant, albeit tempered.

(the last picture in this post was Igor, a graveborn whose face is completely hidden behind a knight-like helmet with only his long light green hair escaping it, a sword is sticking out of his upper back causing him to be hunched forward, a large iron with three heavy nails is rammed across his shoulder blades, and he has a heavy spiked shackle around each wrist, he isn't wearing a shirt and his pants, though they have holes in them, are a similar color to his skin but he is also wearing a loincloth over his pants, he dual-wields large blades and is crouching on a gravestone)

And last but certainly not least is Igor. He is somewhat similar to Grezhul with his kit of summoning gravestones but unlike Grezhul, he can teleport between them and activate them, giving debuffs and, I believe, damage over time to all enemies within a certain range. As for his animations, most are surprisingly aloof and seem to kind of hint at him perhaps feeling lonely as he currently is. Though only a full backstory will be able to tell us everything we need to know.

I will not get too much into the story and gameplay in this answer as this is already long enough but I want to mention one more thing regarding the battles. Aside from the battles having a hexagon grid system and thus a lot more combinations for positioning the party. Furthermore, there are various battle modes that allow you to experiment with your teams and units to figure out who works best where as well as devices you can manually use to turn the tide of battle. For example, there are defense battles where you need to defeat waves of enemies before they can damage a cart of supplies. There are solo battles where you can only use a singular hero to defeat several opponents. There are also tactical showdown battles where you can pick a limited number of units from a preset group and defeat tough enemies. The devices include a water gun that slows enemies down, walls and barricades that need to be broken down or circumvented, a flamethrower that deals damage and lingering burns, and more. The combination of all of these makes the battles really engaging and enjoyable, though, of course, you can still steamroll almost everything with high enough levels. There's also PvP, boss battles, and Labyrinth (although that one needs some severe adjustments).

Well, I'll get off my rant now, I'm sure I've wasted enough of your time. If you wanna see anyone's animations that I talked about or are ready to listen to me rant about the AFK Arena characters and their designs in the 3D art style, or anything else, hit me up anytime! My brain is overflowing with this game rn so I will be more than happy to answer anything!

#afk arena #afk 2 journey #afk journey #long post #sorry for ranting #also this took way too much time #tumblr had not one but at least twenty strokes #at the end of which it deleted the original ask #thanks a lot tumblr

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valenhell · 4 years ago

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From the studio that brought you “I can’t find good Byler fics in the ao3 tag”, comes:

"The Definitive Byler fic rec list"

Literally no one asked for this but because I spent the majority of last year (...and 2019, and 2018...) reading byler fics and coping with life, I thought I’d make a list of some of my absolute favorites.

The other day I was basically starving for some byler fics and the angel @magicalfairy provided me with some of her faves so I thought I’d do the same, because I love reading, and I love all of these fics and I appreciate their writers💗 And fic writers in general, come on!

- This is a mix of long works and one-shots/short stories. - Everything is mostly fluff with a tad of angst and a lot of internalized homophobia conflict. - Every fic is completed, except for the ones I mention that they are not. - I try my best to lay out the stories in a way that I won’t spoil you the plot but also warning you of some stuff you might don’t like. Either way, all of these fics are correctly tagged by their respective authors/owners, so read at your own risk. For better understanding, in between brackets I denote Rating, Words and quantity of Chapters. - I feel like I should clarify, none of these are narrated in the singular first person. None of that “And I told him...”, no.

Long fics

a dream always the same (T, 99k, 35 chapters) What happened in those few weeks between the Battle of Starcourt and the Byers leaving Hawkins. Literally a satisfying and very needed fill in of season three, with a good dose of Mike’s thoughts and conflict. Mike’s characterization is specially amazing in this one. The writing style is amazing and I know the author put everything into making it historically accurate, and it was really sweet. You probably read it, it’s by the amazing sevensided here on Tumblr🧡

Spring Break (T, 120k, 14/15 chapters) The slowburn of my dreams. Lots of internalized conflict and conflict with each other. Conflict within the Party (uhh kind of), conflict with Mike and Will. Byers family has moved and the kids are visiting! Chaos. Characterization is on point. Yeah, I know it’s unfinished, but the fourteenth chapter actually serves as a pretty nice ending.

This is where it starts (M, 148.8k, 24 chapters) Aged up characters. The Party is in college and Will disappears again, but now it’s different. Mike knows he didn’t vanish from thin air, and the discovery he and the Party end up making is pretty insane. Mystery solving/fantasy/third dimension, throw in a bit of D&D and Mike realizing some shit, and you get this marvelous fic. It’s a breath of fresh air. The world building is definitely one of the elements that stands out the most, because it’s very nicely described, it sounds like a dream and it’s completely immersive. Absolute gem of a fic.

there’s a Starman waiting in the sky (M, 30.6k, 8 chapters) Do I need to say anything? Will is out there living his best life and Mike realizes that wow, umm, maybe his best friend looks a bit too nice with that costume... and wait, is he getting horny? It’s actually really fun and sexy.

The Evening Speaks (T, 23k, 7 chapters) In where Mike is a late-night college radio host and Will is the art student that stays up till late to catch up with Wheeler on the Mic. They flirt through songs y’all, this one is really sweet.

heads or tails? (E, 24k, 3 chapters) Aged up characters. I know most people don’t enjoy sex in fics and with specific characters but this one is insanely well written. It’s a slowburn that commits to the tension and with every word you are grasping and anticipating their next move. I think you can find the author here on Tumblr as yousaidyes🧡

The Man of Average (M, 56.7k, 5/? chapters) Aged up characters. No but you don’t understand, the writing here is absolute gourmet. The story is exciting as well, it’s super interesting. Weirdly enough, for being very aged up characters, they are well characterized but they don’t feel like teenagers. They are naturally Mike and Will. The author really captured Mike and Will’s essence. I know, it’s unfinished and it’s updated very rarely, but this is the typical fic you can’t believe someone just posted on the internet for free. I will say though, I think it’s definitely not for everyone. Read at your own risk.

Heartstrings (E, 82.8k, 24/? chapters) Aged up characters. By the same author of The Man of Average. A collection of memories, the road to Mike and Will’s happy ever after. And fucking hell!!!!! You’ll cry and get angry, you’ll cheer for them, then you’ll want to crash their faces together because god dammit you love each other!!! But yeah, same thing here. The writing and the way the story is laid out as a nonlinear narrative is brilliant. And I also think this is one of the best Will versions I’ve read. The author might as well be the og creator of this two characters tbh. You can find the author here as mylesimeblr🧡

Sinners behind the walls (T, 1.5k, 1/1) And because I can’t stop recommending this author, a little thing of Mike tormenting himself but also being too deeply committed to Will.

The Red Envelope series (T/E, 167K, two completed works) Something happens that Will thought was impossible and from there, pure drama and romance. Anything by this author has the potential to become your absolute favorite fic, but this series in particular is amazing. I doubt that any of you haven’t read this, but it doesn’t hurt to put it in this list. I’m pretty sure the author is serendipitous-magic on Tumblr🧡

A New Fight series (T, 91k, two completed works, one WIP) And finally the Star Wars AU that we all needed. But this isn’t your typical “Mike is Han”, “Will is Leia” and “El is Luke”, it’s way more interesting than that, and the author has appropriated the Star Wars world like no other. I’ll admit I’m not a 100% fluent in SW lore but this is amazing to me either way. This author is also on Tumblr, tea-for-one-please🧡

- Yes, most of these are (if not all), in a way, canon compliant/canonverse/canon continuation into fanon. (In a way)

One-shots and short stories

Sundae for Two, Please (G, 4.8k) Steve being the supportive friend and older brother these kids collectively need. (not Jonathan erasure, we love him). Steve is very sweet himself, and this little cute thing through his POV is gorgeous. Yes, it’s byler.

Backstage (T, 10k, 2/2) Jonathan, you forgot to mention to Will how hot your new band’s guitarist is, dude. Now he’s hyperventilating and weirdly flirting with him in the corner. Background Stonathan because why not.

102 Peach Street (G, 3.8k) Established relationship, but not only that, they are married :’’))) PURE fluff. Extreme fluffiness. Diabetes.

sweatshirts and bottled up feelings (T, 3.2k) Or, Mike thinks that the sweatshirt Will wears looks insanely good on him. And kitchens are for lovers.

kiss it better (T, 16.3k) Basically one of the best character studies of a few precise moments of Mike and Will’s relationship and feelings.

will wonders ever cease (T, 11.3k) #i ship will and happiness. Omfg what a beautiful piece of fanfic. Will centric, this kid really deserves all the good in the world.

The Calm After the Storm (T, 1.6k) Tooth rotting fluff, boyfriends in love. Boyfriends being lazy, cuddling, love words, kisses. Boys loving each other’s company... Basically, Mike and Will in their element. What more can you ask for?

neither of us ready to let go (T, 4.8k) That scene from season three, but a bit of a fix it.

Still in love (G, 1k) Domestic, married life au fluff. Y’all, I’m a sucker for established Byler, even if I can’t find many fics with it. But this is very sweet. It takes place in 2020, but I don’t think there are any mentions of the COVID-19 crisis that I remember.

I Nver Find Out ‘Til I’m Head Over Heels (G, 12.5K) Classic 5+1 fic. If you haven’t read it, where have you been? This is your moment. In where Mike keeps inviting Will to the school dances and Will thinks it’s just a joke until he realizes it’s not.

Before You’re Gone (T, 5.9k) Will is leaving Hawkins and Mike thinks this is a great moment for a confession. This one I discovered last friday, thank you friend @magicalfairy 💗

You’re weird Wheeler (M, 4.5k) Mike unintentionally starts a tradition of going to each other to talk about their sexual encounters just after they finish. Will keeps getting more explicit with the details he shares, and he makes his best friend interested. This one is really fun y’all.

Out-Of-Town Friends (N/R, 4.6K) It’s not rated. I haven’t re- read it but I’d say it would probably fall in a T rating. So cute!! Will has new friends and sneaks off every friday and the Party doesn’t know where he is going, so Mike decides to follow him and is surprised.

Snowed Under (G, 1.3k) By the same author of The New Fight series. Mike is spending christmas by himself in college because a snowstorm hits Chicago and Nancy can’t drive to see him, but then he has a surprise visitor. Ahhh just a lil sweet holiday fic. Super cute.

you love me anyway series (T, 7.1k, three completed works) Literally just the cutest thing ever. Established Byler. Will loves to take pictures and he loves taking pictures of Mike. It’s adorable.

you wanna be friends forever (i can think of something better) (T, 9k) This one is so amazing. So. Amazing. From Will’s POV, my kid deserves the world and he gets it.

okay not to be okay (T, 4.9k) Mike is a bit sad but then everything is okay.

can’t hold out forever (G, 18.4k) Y’all!!!!! 5+1 sweetness. Mike has been falling in love since kindergarten. And it’s long af, you’ll enjoy it.

even if it takes forever (G, 1.3k) College short AU, they miss each other, they love each other, they promise all to each other. It is sappy y’all.

clear as day (N/R, 18.4K, 4 chapters) It’s not rated, but I’d say it falls in the T category. Strangers to friends to lovers. And also, everyone is pretty gay; we have our dynamic trio Mike, Max and El as disaster lesbians (and gay). Will works at the library and he is also gay. Lucas and Dustin and Will are the best friends we needed. It’s very sweet and the Party is kind of formed here!

I went overboard with the one-shots, so you must have realized how much I love long one-shots and I favor them over long works lmao but they are all amazing!!! If it’s on this list, I probably read it at 2 am, sobbing in my bed. So. Hope you enjoy it☺️🧡

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acradelius · 3 years ago

Note

Now I need a talon with moiras husband y/n cards against humanity night

"Cards Against Gabriel"

Fandom: Overwatch

Pairing: Moira x Husband!Reader

Rating: Lime [🟢] (Equivalent to PG-13)

Warnings/Mention Ofs: Vulgar Language, Alcohol Consumption, Intoxication, Cards Against Humanity, Arguing, Attempted Fighting, (Y/N) Slander, Gabriel Reyes Slander, BANNED!

Word Count: 688 Words

Author's Note: At this point there's no safe games for Game Night with the Talon besties.

Someone come call the authorities on this imposter because either Gabriel was kidnapped and cloned while he was out or he’s taking some new illegal drug of “joy”. Why? Because this man decided that he would rather play Cards Against Humanity and make (Y/N) the “Handler” than play Call Of Duty or Wii Sports: Golf for this particular Game Night. Even an audible gasp escaped (Y/N), eyes squinting as he stared at Gabriel, calling him suspicious. “Now, you know we definitely won’t stop just because you get offended, right? Just letting you know that’s a symptom for old, scraggly ass men like you?” (Y/N) questions, glancing over at Olivia whenever Gabriel muttered under his breath before downing his mixed drink of ‘Jack and Coke’. Yet, it could also be possible that it was Grabriel’s sixth drink or whatever.

“Alright, we’ll start with the first one then.” (Y/N) announces, shuffling the black statement cards all while glancing around at the other members that were either watching or actually participating. “First one to win ten statement cards wins, okay?” After some moments he pulls out the first card, laying it down out in front of everyone, snickers escaping past his lips. “Okay, okay. So, first card: “My favorite sex position is called “blank” style”. I’ll give y’all a couple of minutes to choose your answers.” After some more moments those participating give their response card, all giving everyone some chuckles. In the end, (Y/N) decides that the card that makes the statement the funniest is: “Denying climate change”. Obviously not any favoritism towards his wife as she’s playing as well.

Round after round, someone wins the statement card, but no one has won yet. Scores are coming close though, as those who are close to winning are Olivia, Moira, and Akande. With each round, Gabriel becomes more frustrated, mumbling under his breath with a pouting expression on his face, arms crossed. “This game sucks complete ass.” He complains, his voice loud and his tone being whiny, only making (Y/N) chuckle. “Told you old man, you got to have some sort of humor to win this game.” Lord behold, (Y/N) just said the words to make Gabriel explode. It becomes a mild visual of what World War 3 could possibly look like. Cards fluttering throughout the air, drinks being spilled across the table, food being thrown at those across the table. Of course, Gabriel’s main target being (Y/N).

“YOU KNOW WHAT? IF THERE WASN’T FAVORITISM ALL BECAUSE YOU’RE GETTING SOME PUSSY THAN MAYBE SOMEONE WOULD ACTUALLY WIN THE GAME!” Gabriel screeches into the air, flinging one insult after another towards (Y/N), his form becoming something considered monstrous as his body was going through some form of his own wraith form. “AT LEAST I’M GETTING SOME PUSSY YOU OLD, SCRAGGLY PRUNE LOOKING ASSWIPE!” Another insult echoing off the walls of the Council’s meeting room, probably being heard by passerbyers outside of the room. Moira had some hold onto his hair, soft gasping noises leaving him due to Olivia having her arms around (Y/N)’s neck to prevent him fully launching himself onto and then bolting across the table to strangle Gabriel. “WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT?! IF YOU HAD ANY SENSE OF HUMOR BESIDES “HAHA, GOLF MAKE BRAIN GO BRRR” YOU’D ACTUALLY WIN A ROUND, BUT NOOOO. SANJAY HAS MORE HUMOR THAN YOU DO AND HE’S LITERALLY THE EMBODIMENT OF A SQUIRREL WITH THE BRAIN OF A DAMN IDIOT!”

It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone when game night was deemed over way earlier than it usually happens to be. Moira escorts (Y/N) out of the meeting room while simply giggling at the banter the two men continue, before (Y/N) eventually starts the same pouty behavior that Gabriel started with. “He’s such a rotting meanie, Moira! You see how he purposely antagonized and verbally attacked me?!” Needless to say, Cards Against Humanity is one of those games that has to be discussed with everyone before playing again, but mostly ends up being banned. Cards Against Humanity? Nah, Cards Against Gabriel.

#moira o'deorain #overwatch moira #x male reader #lime rating #requests?! thank you<3

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theshelbyclan · 4 years ago

Text

Bells and Smoke

Summary: The youngest Shelby has to be send away to a convent, but you have no intention of conforming to their rules, even if you’ll die in the process

(Gif by @harmon-jane-black) A/N: Requested by anon: Could I request a Shelby sister where she is sent off to a boarding school and is getting badly bullied by teachers and pupils for being what they think is Birmingham poor scum. Maybe she comes home or gets visited and is losing her Birmingham accent and is a little thin and tired. V Polly and tommy nun scene vibes. Only if you aren't busy ❣️ x This has gotten really long, but this request gave me SO many ideas! Warning for abuse and neglect though. And I hope you like it!

Words: 6020 *** You couldn’t remember how it had all happened. One minute everything seemed to be fine and the next, life as you knew it had ended. Maybe it was Tommy’s idea, to give you the opportunities the others never had. But he never cared much about his siblings’ education. Maybe it was Arthur’s idea, thinking you’d finally become too wild. But he was too busy fighting his own demons. Maybe it was Aunt Pol’s idea, making a woman of style and class out of you. But she’d never abandon you like this.

All you knew was that one morning you had been in bed. As usual, you’d woken up with the workers as the factory whistles sounded, but there was no need for you to get up at five. So you’d turned around and tried to sleep on. But then Finn had come in and he roughly shook you awake. “Aunt Pol says you have to get up,” he had said, his voice filled with urgency. But you hadn’t been awake fully yet, “What… Why? It’s so early!” “You have to pack.” “For what? Where are we going?” Your brother had refused to meet your eye, “Not me. Just you.” And before you knew it, Aunt Polly had taken you and your small bag into the car and you were speeding out of Birmingham. At least Finn had come along, though Polly had forbidden him to go, but he had been adamant. “Where are we going?” you had whispered to him in the back. He had hardly replied to any of your question, but gave evasive answers like, “Away. Pol says it won’t be forever.” You remembered the all-encompassing feeling of loneliness that had washed over you in that moment. Was it something you had done? Were you being punished? Was the family giving you up? You were only fifteen, you’d never been away from Small Heath without any of your siblings by your side, and the separation had been too abrupt, too cruel. Suddenly, Aunt Polly had swerved to the right and stopped abruptly in front of the train station. “Get you bag,” she’d ordered you. Anger had flared inside of you, “No! You tell me where I’m going first!” “Y/N Shelby, I am your aunt and you will do as I say. Remember who you’re talking to and don’t think for one second that you will win this fight. Grab your bag and get out of the car.” Petrified at your aunt’s tone of voice, you’d gotten out of the car. And like a zombie, you’d walked over to the train. On the side it said Oxford. “Where do I get off?” You’d asked no one in particular. “Oxford,” your brother had never left your side, “Just sit tight until the end.” “You know what’s going on.” “I can’t change it, Y/N,” his eyes had been pleading for your forgiveness in that one moment, “I tried, I swear to God I did, but I can’t change it…” Not really understanding, you had only been able to nod, “Will you explain it to me?” “I’ll write.” Suddenly, tears had begun to fall from your eyes. The great unknown hadn’t even scared you that much, but the sudden realisation that everything had been altered had. “Here,” Finn had nudged you, as you’d hoisted your bag on board, “I nicked this for you,” and he’d handed you a hipflask, “might get you as far as Oxford. After that, you’re on your own.” His words had hit you hard, so there’d been nothing left to do but take a swig from the whiskey he offered. “What did I do wrong?” you’d asked him, uncertain. “Nothing. Don’t let the bastards tell you otherwise. You did nothing.” His voice had been so strong then. “Finn?” “Yeah?” “You can’t fucking write.” He’d burst out laughing and you couldn’t help yourself but join him. Then the train had started to depart and you’d taken one last look at the car with Aunt Pol’s silhouette inside. You’d turned to Finn and it’d been like you would never see him again. “Finn?” “Yeah?” “I bloody love you, you know?” He’d smirked, “I fucking love you too.” Eyes still locked, the train had started to move and just before it was too late, he’d added, “I’ll make sure you’re coming back home.” You’d clung to those words *** At five in the morning, the whistles sounded. Waking up this early was now your habit, as it was the habit of all the girls here. Like robots, you all climbed out of your sober beds, to put on your drab grey dresses and to stand neatly next to year beds. The dormitory looked like a prison cell and the girls’ faces were ashen. Shivering in the cold, you waited for inspection. “Adams!” “Yes, sister.” “Lee!” “Yes, sister.” “Williams!” “Yes, sister.” The first voice rang through the room like the bells of hell and the girls answered in meek tones. This was your morning ritual and there was no comfort to be found in it. Silently, you waited, while a part of you still dreamed of the horses you once loved and rode. Remember the freedom you felt, you told yourself. Remember the wind in your hair? The people who cared? The place called home? Remember Finn running alongside you? “Shelby!” You suddenly looked up, “Yes, sister,” and faced the nun who’d stopped by your bed. “What’s this?” she asked her rhetorical question. “My bed,” you weren’t supposed to answer, but it had escaped you before you could stop yourself. The middle-aged woman crouched down and tore up the neat bedding you’d just finished tucking in perfectly. Locking eyes with you, she gloated, “Look, it isn’t made properly.” “It was,” you replied through gritted teeth, “you just went and fucked it up again.” Without a warning, she struck you across the face hard. Then she flipped over the bed in one smooth motion and said, without any emotion, “Do it again.” Seething with rage, you counted to ten in your head. In your mind, you went back to Small Heath. You could feel the warmth of the fire in your kitchen, hear the men counting the money and could smell Aunt Polly’s cooking. This and only this was how you managed not to explode. “Ankins!” she continued her list. “Yes, sister.” “Elliot!” She was new here and you looked at her without turning your head, a skill you’d mastered in recent weeks. Some of the girls said she’d gotten pregnant, but she’d lost the baby before coming here. No one really knew what had happened to her. You only thought she looked too young, too fragile, like a little bird that could be squashed with a single movement of the hand. “Yes…” she mumbled, practically inaudibly. “Speak up, girl!” She hardly increased her volume, but repeated, “Yes, sister.” Just as you’d promised yourself you’d try to look out for her, evil incarnate turned around to face you again and snapped, “Shelby. You’ll report to my office after you’ve finished making your bed, properlythis time.” Great, you thought. After she’d left, you looked at your hands in resignation. Faint white lines betrayed the cane that had been on them. They’d only just healed. *** A few months earlier, Tommy was meeting a man dressed in black in an alleyway. As the rain was pouring down on Small Heath, they spoke in urgent whispers. “What did she do this time?” the concerned brother said with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. “Theft, mainly,” the other replied, “And she was seen at the races, leaving the scene of the murder.” Tommy knew his sister hadn’t been responsible for the death that day, but none of it mattered now, “How much do they know?” “Enough.” Tommy took another drag of his cigarette and paused for a second, “Well, what do they want?” “Nothing. Leverage.” “Fuck…” “Thomas,” the informant urged, “Get her out. Out of Small Heath, and do it fast.” “Where the fuck is she supposed to go?” He shrugged, “Don’t you have family some place else?” “Can’t protect our Y/N when she’s away from here,” Tommy said coldly, not betraying the emotions he felt. “Then send her somewhere she will be protected.” Tommy sighed deeply, “I’ll ask Pol, eh? She’ll know what to do.” The man looked at Thomas Shelby: gangster, businessman, brother. His face was impossible to read and his feelings remained hidden. So he said, “Do it tonight, Thomas, if you can. He said she’d hang for it. Get her out.” ***

The first time you had tried to escape you didn’t think about it. You hadn’t even planned it and had just decided to run. With two nuns hot on your heels, you’d raced through the corridors. Pretty soon, you ran into your first locked door. You knew all was lost there and then. “Shelby…” the mother superior had mused as you stood in her office, “I knew it would be you.” “And how the fuck would you know that?” you’d replied quick as a flash. “You watch your tone, filthy rat,” she’d shouted, but added calmly, “We know of your kind, child.” Through gritted teeth, you’d questioned, “And what kind would that be?” “Gypsy scum,” she’d spat, before beating you senseless for the first time. The second time you tried to escape, you’d thought it through more. In the middle of the night, you’d crept out of bed and tiptoed across the dormitory. “Get back in bed!” one of the girls had whispered, “Remember last time?” “Yeah, I fucking remember, that’s why I need to leave!” you’d whispered back, voice filled with urgency.

Two hairpins. The day you’d found those were the day you’d planned your second escape attempt. Because if growing up in Small Heath had taught you one thing, it was how to steal and lie and cheat. And, coincidentally, how to pry open any lock. The first locked door was conquered quickly, but the second one had proven to be more troublesome. The large black doors that were said to protect you from the outside world did their job of keeping you all caged inside. The hairpins were too small to reach all the tumblers. Cursing under your breath, you’d soon realised that you disappearance had been noticed. In a panic, you’d grabbed a chandelier from the chapel and broken a window. Ignoring the shards you’d climbed through, while they tore at your skin and blood stained your nightgown. Once outside, the fresh air had an intoxicating effect on you. But you’d never gotten far. Again, you were brought to the mother superior, who stood waiting eagerly this time, cane in hand. “Go on,” you’d urged, full of defiance, “Beat me and get it over with.” “No…” she’d said suddenly, “you will tell me what your plan was first.” “To fucking get out.” “Why would you want to leave this place?” she’d questioned innocently, “Why would you want to leave the house of the Lord, where we only want to offer you safety and education? Where you can atone for your sins and regain your place in heaven?” “I’m not an animal,” you’d replied, “I need to be free.” And with that, the nun had smirked at you, “Free. You want to be free. Well, maybe this will finally break your spirit.” They’d locked you up in the cellars for three weeks. Darkness had enveloped you, only broken when she came in to beat you or feed you. You could never be sure. After every beating, she’d say, “Now, I’ll pray to God for you and ask him for his forgiveness.” “I’ll do it myself,” came your steady answer each time, “I’ll deal with him on my own.” And in the dark you’d cling onto the black Madonna around your neck, the only mother you still had left in this Godforsaken place. Now, some girls would be broken by now, but not you. If anything, you’d been more determined than ever to get out. But you had to be smart about it. Maybe Aunt Pol wouldn’t take you back and maybe you’d shame Tommy, but Finn would look out for you. Running hadn’t worked so far, so a new plan had started to form in your mind: a new plan that involved the boy that delivered the bread. Because as the days droned on after you were being released, you started paying attention to the delivery boy for the first time. You knew he’d always had a thing for you, but you weren’t interested. As a way out, you were now extremely interested. “Hi,” you greeted when it was your turn to help him unload. He was so startled by your talking all of a sudden, all he could manage was, “Bread…” “Yeah,” you smiled your prettiest smile, “Bread. That’s what you’re here for, right?” “I am.” “Good,” and you continued to unload the crates, sending him a few glances over your shoulder. He was still rooted to the spot, so you decided a bit more effort was required in this case, “You only come here for the bread?” you asked with humour in your voice. “Well, that’s my job…” he almost stuttered, but when you made eye contact, he finally relaxed a little, “What else would I come here for?” “Me?” you asked innocently. You could tell his confidence was growing, “Well, maybe a little. I mean, you are the prettiest girl in the school.” That was easy, you thought. So you flirted on and chatted him up and soon he was all yours, “Your name’s Billy, right?” “Yeah.” “Well, Billy. I need a favour…” This plan was a lot more complicated but it had a higher chance of success. And it would’ve worked too, if it hadn’t been for the younger nun who’d spotted you talking to Billy. Before the third attempt had even taken place, you found yourself back at the office. This time, the mother superior didn’t even speak. As soon as you were marched in, she’d grabbed you by your hair and attacked you with a pair of scissors. “Get off me, you crazy bitch!” you screeched, as strands of your hair fell down left and right of you. But the old nun remained completely calm in her tone, while becoming increasingly vicious in her attack, “Do you know what we do here?” You clenched your jaw for the pain, because this was no longer just about cutting your hair, but also hurting you as much as possible in the process. You had about a thousand replies to her question, but quickly weighed your options and decided not to piss off an angry old nun with a deadly weapon in her hands. So she continued, “We offer you the gift of education. Through hard labour, lots of prayer and penance the girls can find their way back to Jesus Christ. By humbling yourself, denying yourself rest, food and drink even, and working beyond human endurance one may come closer to our Lord. Save yourself from eternal damnation.” “No, thanks,” you replied inaudibly. When your hair had been cut, she crowed, “Your arrogance has been defeated and your vanity has been lifted. You will do well here now.” The fuck you would.

*** “Aunt Pol?” “What?” the woman snapped. He faltered, “Is this a bad time?” “It’s never a good time. Speak up, Finn.” “Fine,” and he took in a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, “When’s Y/N coming home?” Aunt Polly turned around abruptly and said, “For fuck’s sake, Finn.” “It’s been months!” “And we haven’t heard from her,” with a large gesture, Aunt Polly threw some more wood onto the fire, “If something was wrong, she would’ve written.” “Well, no…” her nephew started protesting. “Yes,” his aunt interrupted him, “She’s fine. It’s Y/N. She can take care of herself.” “She can’t now, can she!” Finn suddenly erupted, “Yousend her away and for fucking what?! She didn’t do anythingwrong!” Polly held up a menacing hand, “You mind your fucking tone or I’ll slap you back to where you came from.” “I’m sixteen, Aunt Pol, same age as Y/N. Remember, we’re twins?” He’d only gotten more heated, “Something’s wrong. I can feel it, alright? And she wouldn’t write to you anyways, because you’re the one that send her away! Why would she write to someone who doesn’t even fuckingwant her?” Polly paused for a moment and seemed to calm down, “What do you mean you feel it?” “I just know, Aunt Pol, like when we were little and she fell in the Cut and I couldn’t breathe? It’s like that, only… longer.” She put down her black cigarette, “You’ve been dreaming, haven’t you?” “I dream about her, but I can never see her,” he nodded, “And sometimes…”

“What?” “It’s stupid…” “Finn, you tell me, right now!” everything about her was focused on the urgency of the situation now. But he didn’t understand, “Seagulls, alright? I keep dreaming about seagulls.” “Fuck,” his aunt whispered to herself, “I need to talk to Tommy.”

“Aunt Pol, you’re missing the fucking point!” he was seething again, “I was trying to talk to you about Y/N! I just want to know why you send her away and whenshe’s coming back!” “I didn’t send her away. Tommy said we didn’t have a choice,” she grabbed her coat and continued talking to herself, “I thought she’d be safe there…” “Isn’t she?” Finn asked, panicking as a result of his aunt’s strange behaviour. “Seagulls, Finn, fucking seagulls!” *** You couldn’t understand why they hated you so much. At first it had just been the nuns, and you had a vague notion of them calling you ‘gypsy scum’ had something to do with it. From the start, they’d commented on your accent, reminded you of where you came from and told you that you were nothing compared to the others girls here. And in a way this made sense: on the one hand this school had the outward appearance of being an institution of learning for young ladies, but the reality was very different. Parents who no longer wanted to deal with them or who had ‘shamed’ their families often dumped girls here. Others were orphans. Either way, the nuns collected the large amount of money paid for each girl and treated all of you badly. And you weren’t a complete idiot and you knew you were partially to blame for the situation as it was now. You knew you hadn’t made a great entrance when you walked into the school, but even from the start they had disliked you. But your resistance had made it worse, much worse. All the girls were treated harshly, had to work and were kept in line, but you were being treated like a slave held captive. There was zero intention on your part to come into the school to make friends. From the moment you’d stepped off that train, you’d decided you were done with people. All you wanted was your brother, and the rest of the family if they still wanted you. But after a few weeks, you had started craving some connections and you had tried to make friends with the other girls. But it soon became clear that you had very little in common with them. This however, wasn’t the main problem: they feared you. Your defiance made them anxious to be around you and receive similar punishments to yours. They kept away. “Elliot!” you whispered to the new girl, who was crying in the dark. You rolled onto your other side in bed to face her and tried to ask her gently, “What’s your name, your first name I mean?” After a few residual sobs, she said softly, “Anna.” “I had a cousin called Anna,” you smiled at her, “Why are you crying? Who do you miss?” “It’s not who I miss, it’s about who doesn’t miss me…” “How do you know…” you started, but you were interrupted. “Don’t talk to her!” another girl called out and Anna turned around to look at her. The girl continued, “Yeah, I’m talking to you. Don’t talk to Y/N. She’ll get you in trouble. Just… stay away from her.” Anna looked at you for a few seconds, eyes filled with fear and then she turned onto her other side. You couldn’t even blame her really. She was new. But slowly, it only got worse. All the girls crossed the halls when you passed and not only did they begin to shun you, but they started taking your things, stealing your food at times and made you an outcast in every sense of the word. And you suddenly understood: if they made you stand out even more, all the attention would be drawn to you. The nuns would leave them alone. You were the easy scapegoat, because you’d been the most likely choice from the start. And as the months wore on, you started to wither away. Jealous or full of hatred, you couldn’t tell, but the other girls tried to hurt you as much as the nuns did. You were cold at night because they’d taken your blankets. You didn’t eat because you were being punished. You didn’t sleep because you were locked up downstairs and the beatings kept you awake. And so you fell ill, heavily. After you recovered, you stopped eating, sleeping, fighting. Not because you no longer could, but because the loneliness had finally caught up with you: you no longer wanted to. *** Tommy watched his aunt as she strode over towards him. He’d known the woman for years and usually he would be annoyed by her interrupting his meeting, but by the way she walked, he knew she wouldn’t wait for anyone right now. “Get out,” she told the man Tommy had been talking too. He left at once. “It’s Y/N,” she said as soon as he’d gone, “We need to get her out.” “She’s at the school, the one you recommended, Pol. You told me she’d get a good education there.” “We were wrong, Thomas, wrong to send her away.” “What’s all this, eh?” he frowned, “We had no choice and she alright where she is. We took care of it.” With a wave of her hand, Polly referred to Finn, “He feels she’s in danger.” And Tommy turned to his youngest brother, raising his eyebrows sarcastically, “Is that right?” “I have a bad feeling, Tom…” Finn said uncertainly. “He’s been dreaming of seagulls,” Polly emphasized, locking eyes with her nephew. “Fucking seagulls…” he rubbed his head, “More gypsy witchcraft?” Swiftly, she slapped Tommy across the face, “You’ve forgotten where you’re from.” Quickly, Tommy’s face went through a range of emotions. First there was anger and the urge to strike back. Then there was the reaction of wanting to hide, like he was being chastised just like when he was little. The hurt over her comment came next, swiftly followed by a sense of shame, because she was right. His face settled on worry over his youngest sister. “What do we do?” “What will happen if we get her back to Small Heath?”

Tommy lit a cigarette and thought out loud, “Connor wants her dead. He has high influence in the police and he’s using her as leverage, after having seen her at the races.” “Y/N didn’t kill that soldier!” Finn called out, full of indignation. “Yes, we know…” Tommy said in a low voice, “But that doesn’t fucking matter because no one’s going to believe our word for it against his.” “Who else knows?” Polly continued. “My guess is no one does yet…” “JOHN!” Polly howled suddenly and for a second Tommy could only blink. Then he continued, “If anyone else knew, we’d heard by now. I’m guessing he intends to save the information for when he can use it.” Aunt Polly bend down and started unlacing one of her boots. That’s when John walked in and he immediately paused when he felt the tension hang in the air. “Take this,” she ordered him and handed him the small revolver that she kept hidden in her boots, “Shoot Connor.” “Fucking what?” he nearly spit out his toothpick. John looked at Tommy for an explanation, but it didn’t come. Instead Tommy asked Polly, “Then what?” “We go to Oxford.” Tommy nodded slowly, “John, go on. Shoot the man. Get Arthur out of bed when you’ve done it.” Shrugging like it was just another small task he had to fulfil without much enthusiasm, John walked off with the gun in hand. But Finn said carefully, “What if I was wrong?” “Have you ever been wrong about your sister?” Aunt Polly asked, “Apart from that time you thought she was in love with that Jewish boy…” “No.” “Trust your gut, Finn,” Tommy confirmed, “Pol’s right.” Aunt Polly smiled at him with an almost motherly warmth, “Let’s bring Y/N home.” *** Eventually you were moved to the hospital wing of the school. The neglect and lack of food had caused your body to shut down and you could no longer force yourself to get up each morning. At first, you were branded lazy and got punished for it. Finally, even the nuns acknowledged this was serious and the last thing they needed was another girl dying at their school. You’d lost all feeling for days, drifting in and out of sleep. One nun took care of you and she was different from the others. During your hazy periods, she tried to persuade you to eat, but with the last strength you did have, you refused. If you were to die, it’d be your own choice. “Y/N…” someone whispered to you gently. You tried to open your eyes, but it felt like lifting bricks with muscles you did not have. “Y/N,” the voice said again, and you realised this wasn’t the nun. Slowly you opened your eyes and saw Anna, sitting by the side of your bed. “What do you want?” you croaked. She looked down and said, “I came to see you.” “Why?” “Because I’ve made a mistake.”

You didn’t care for her feelings. You knew she despised you just like the others did and you didn’t need another girl gloating by your bed. So you decided to just wait and not answer her. “The girls told me you were scum,” she continued, “that you didn’t belong here. They said that’s why you always got into trouble, because you’re just Birmingham working-class trash.” Great, you thought, and how is this supposed to help? “When they told me to not talk to you, I listened. I thought it would help, that I would fit in more and the nuns wouldn’t beat me like I saw them do with others. But I was wrong.” “The nuns don’t need a reason,” you replied before you could stop yourself, “Reasons help, but they will find a way to vent their cruelty, no matter what.” “That night,” Anna said, “you talked to me and asked me who I missed. You were the only one that asked me why I was crying.” “I didn’t want you to feel too alone…” Anna nodded, “I know. That’s why I’m here.” But you didn’t understand, “Why are you here?” “Y/N. You’re not alone. Tell me, who do you miss?” Much to your own annoyance, tears welled up in your eyes. For last couple of months you had tried so hard not to think of Finn, Arthur, John and Ada. And you tried to ban Polly and Tommy especially from your mind, always wondering why they didn’t want you. Your heart can be cruel like that: those who don’t want you, you miss the most. Anna took your hand in hers and for the first time you felt another human being without pain. And so you started telling her of your brothers, of your aunt, of the horses and factories and of the streets of Small Heath. Anna didn’t say a word, but she listened intensely. After you’d cried all your tears and there were no more stories left to tell, all she said was, “Please. Eat.” When she offered you soup, you ate. *** It was a sight to behold: Polly Gray walking through the city of academia with four brothers practically having to run after her to keep up. When she arrived at the front doors of the convent, she didn’t ask to come in, but simply walked on into the halls. “Aunt Pol,” John ventured, “What do we do?”

“Keep up,” she said simply. Arthur looked around nervously. He didn’t like nuns and convents. But Tommy and Finn scanned every room and corner for you. Left and right, girls looked up in surprise as the strange family invaded their home. “Who’s that?” they whispered. But the nuns urged them away and said, “No one. Don’t look at them. They don’t belong here.” Tommy frown deepened as he noticed the faces of the girls. These weren’t what he expected. Of course, he wasn’t familiar with schools like this one, but he knew education played a part. These girls all looked tired, downtrodden and most of them were cleaning or scrubbing the floors. He shared a look with Aunt Polly and she nodded in understanding. “How are we going to find her?” Finn asked. “Oi!” Arthur called out to one of the girls, who jumped up at his voice, “Y/N, you know her?” “No, sir…” she shook. “Listen to my voice,” John added, “What about a girl who sounds like me?” And then one other girl stepped forward and she tilted her chin up high as a sign of arrogance, “She’s not here.” “And whyis she not here?” Polly asked pointedly. The girl got nervous, but tried to keep composure, “Because she’s filth and this is a decent school.” Again, Tommy looked around at the skinny girls, all dressed in the same drab depressing dressed, “Decent, eh?” His low menacing voice knocked all the attitude out of her, so she changed her mind, “She was taken to the hospital ward a few weeks ago.” “Where,” Arthur demanded. “North wing,” she gulped.

Aunt Polly marched through the halls like a woman on a mission. Her face bore a gritty look of determination and none of the bells, smoke and threats of a holy place could make her quiver. In fact, God shook as she walked passed.

Still, one nun tried to stop her, but before she could open her mouth in protest, Aunt Polly had pushed her aside and casually commented, “Better get out of the way, sister, you certainly won’t be the first woman of God I’ve knocked down.” When they entered the hospital wing, they walked into another depressing space filled with beds in lines. Most of them were empty, but one nun stood up and walked over to Polly. Her first instinct was to actually knock down this one, but when she saw her soft face, she paused. “Y/N Shelby,” she demanded, “We’ve come to take her home.”

“You’re her aunt?” the nun asked, “She’s asked for you.” “Is she alright?” Finn stepped forward, “What was wrong with her?” “We thought she might not make it. She stopped eating, you see,” the nun explained. John frowned and protested, “That’s not Y/N. She would never refuse food, unless…” Tommy didn’t need to hear the ‘unless’; worry was already eating him alive inside. So he walked around in search for his sister. He found her in a bed, with another girl sitting next to her. His sister was asleep. “Who are you?” Polly demanded harshly. But the brothers couldn’t speak when they saw their sisters. You were too skinny, eyes sunken deep and bruises were still visible on your face. The long black hair was gone. In many ways, it wasn’t their sister anymore, just a shell. The nun answered when the other girl was too afraid to, “This is Y/N’s friend. She came to visit her every day, even though she wasn’t allowed to.” Polly lifted one eyebrow, “Then why did you allow it?” “Anna got Y/N to eat again. She’s the reason she’s alive.”

Anna. Polly walked over to her and carefully took her hand, “You watched over my niece.” “I didn’t want her to feel alone. She felt abandoned, she said…” Anna said in a soft voice. Polly shook her head in an effort to banish the emotions, “Thank you, Anna. You’re a good friend and a guardian angel.” “What did they do to her?” John asked her through gritted teeth. “She was isolated, singled out for being… different.” Anna explained without meeting their eyes, “She tried to fight them from the start, but never won. She kept trying to run away. They beat her, kept her locked up in the cellar, but when the other girls turned on her and she thought she would never leave this place, she just… gave up.” Slowly, Finn had walked over to the other side of the bed. Clumsy but lovingly, he started stroking the hair out of your face. Seagulls, he thought. “Who’s in charge here?” Tommy suddenly spoke. “The mother superior has an office down the hall,” the nun said, “Anna can take you there.” “No,” Anna gasped, “I can’t…” Fear was written all over her face.

“What’s wrong with the office?” Tommy asked her with unusual kindness. “It’s where she…” And in an instant they all understood. So Tommy demanded, “Tell that woman to come here.” “She won’t like it, sir…” “You fuckingtell her to come here,” Tommy spat filled with venom, “Or I will burn this entire place down to the ground, and don’t think for a second I won’t fucking do it.” So the nun with the gentle face nodded and walked off. Somehow, Tommy’s explosion had triggered some old memories in you. Before you were properly awake, you dreamed of being back in your bed in Small Heath. The smell of the factories penetrated your nose and you could hear your family arguing. But when you opened your eyes, they were actually there. You looked at them one by one and stopped at Finn, “You said you’d explain.” “And I will,” he said, “when we get home.” “Am I allowed to go home?” you questioned in disbelieve. Aunt Polly shook her head, “You should’ve never been anywhere else.” “Can’t protect you if you’re not at home…” Tommy added with a slight hint of guilt in his voice. “It’s safe now,” John said, “I’ve dealt with it.” And just the way he said it made you smile a little. “Arthur, John,” Tommy started ordering them in his usual business-like manner, “Take Y/N out of here.” And Arthur lifted you out of the bed into his arms like it was nothing. “Finn, you go with them. Make sure you get her things.” At that, John pulled a gun and Finn nodded solemnly. “What about Anna?” you asked, looking at your friend, “I won’t leave her here.” “Pol and I are going to have a word with the mother superior,” Tommy stated matter-of-factly. You sighed in relief, but Anna still had a look of confusion on her face, “What will that do? She won’t listen to anyone.” “She’ll listen to us, love,” Polly said to her with a reassuring smile that left very little room for arguments, “We’ll make sure of it.” You smiled at Anna too, “This convent will be closed by tomorrow. Trust me.” “We’ll see you at home, Y/N,” Tommy said, “And then we’ll talk.” Just before Arthur walked out of the door with you in your arms, Aunt Polly ran over to you and pressed a kiss on your forehead, “Safe journey, sweetheart.” Then there was just Tommy and Polly left, clearing their faces of all sentiment and hardening their features. Arms crossed, they waited and knew what had to be done, and nothing would stop them from doing it.

“Mr. Shelby, Mrs. Gray?” the hospital nun had reappeared, “The mother superior will see you now.”

***

Masterlist

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the-insomniac-emporium · 4 years ago

Text

Slumbering Hearts (Alcina Dimitrescu/Reader, Soulmate AU) Pt. 3

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village

Rating: T for language, implied cannibalism (because Vampires)

Warnings: Aforementioned implied cannibalism

Summary: In a wicked twist of fate, you find out your soulmate is none other than your employer, Lady Dimitrescu. To your misery, she (at first) seems equally displeased, her heart already belonging to another. But in time, the two of you find yourselves wondering… could the universe be right, after all? Soulmate AU in which every person has a unique “soul mark”, which they share with their soulmate.

Notes: Features a cameo of sorts for my OC, Avaskian Caldwell. Not beta read.

Previous Chapters: 1: In The Shadow Of Giants, 2: Uncertain Destinations

3: Eat Your Heart

“Well,” Bela says, only moderately sounding hostile, “I do believe that marks the end of our tour. Unless you would like to see the dungeons? Perhaps get a proper look at where you might end up, hmm?” Resisting the urge to roll your eyes is more difficult than you would have preferred. Somehow you manage, though, and reply in a relatively relaxed tone.

“I think I’ll have to pass. After all, I wouldn’t want to be late for dinner, now would I?” You incline your head towards a nearby clock to emphasize your point. For a split second Bela seems surprised, as if she hadn’t been keeping track of time at all. But the look vanishes as quickly as it came about, soon replaced with a calculating gaze, and she gives a short nod. “Is it safe to assume that you eat together, as a family?” Another nod, this time accompanied by a small look of confusion. “Mmm, sounds wonderful. It’s been far too long since I’ve shared a nice family meal.”

That certainly wasn’t what Bela had expected you to say.

“Oh? I do hope that you can stomach the sight of blood, then. Otherwise it might not feel so nice,” she replies, after a slight pause. Her earlier confidence had returned, further bolstered by the resulting giggles from her sisters. They were a chaotic bunch. Regardless, Bela soon takes your wrist in her hand, pulling you towards the dining room, grip only tight enough to be slightly uncomfortable. Both of her siblings followed closely behind, occasionally whispering unintelligible jokes to one another. One in particular leaves Daniela pausing in the hallway, hunched over laughing, with an unnerving edge of something else you couldn’t quite place. A backwards glance in her direction leads you to make eye contact with Cassandra, who gives you a knowing smirk. Deciding that you didn’t want to know what she had said, you turned back towards Bela, and stayed facing that way until you reached the dining hall.

Inside, Alcina was already sitting at the head of the table, in a chair that would have seemed a throne to anyone else. On either side of her are two more seats, far less ornate than her own. For a moment the sisters and you hesitate in the entranceway. Evidently they weren’t accustomed to this particular arrangement, unsure where to sit. It’s not until Bela clears her throat that Alcina speaks up.

“On my left, dear,” she says, eying her eldest daughter, before turning to you. “You may sit to my right. I trust that you’ll find this agreeable?” Well, you weren’t exactly about to argue with her, so yes, you found it agreeable. Even if it meant sitting across from the more ‘direct’ member of your opposition. Though perhaps ‘judge’ and/or ‘jury’ was a better word for the Dimitrescu daughters. Regardless, you were going to have to sit with them, and in the end it hardly mattered who was where. As such, you semi-awkwardly made your way to your seat, hoping that you’d eventually feel less out of place. Soon enough Cassandra takes the spot next to you, giving you a concerning smirk as she does. What did she have planned? Before you can even contemplate her intentions, her mother is talking again, drawing both of your attention towards herself. “Splendid. I’m glad to see that you’re already finding your place here.”

It’s not hard, you think, when you’re directing my every step. Despite your biting internal commentary, you do not speak out loud, merely giving a polite smile and nod. Across from you, Bela gives her mother an affectionate expression before fixing you with a subtle disapproving look. Taking some small comfort in the fact that she wasn’t being openly hostile, you forced yourself to keep smiling, meeting her gaze with as much confidence as you can muster. Within moments both of you have your attention drawn elsewhere, thankfully, as servants begin carrying in various food platters. Most of the dishes appeared to be perfectly normal. But looks could be deceiving, and you knew that at least a handful had to contain less “traditional” ingredients. They remembered to cook something normal for me, right?

Soon enough your fears are somewhat alleviated, as one of the servants places an already filled plate in front of you. Admittedly you don’t recognize xer, despite xer oddly silver hair, or the red bandana xe wore. Something told you that xe wasn’t just another maiden, however, especially with the way xe brazenly made eye contact with each of the Dimitrescus. Before you could inquire about xer, you’re distracted by the arrival of Juniper, who instantly smiles when she sees you. In her arms she carries the last two side dishes and several empty plates, which the unknown servant gently takes from her. Together the two of them set the final items into place. Wordlessly, the grey-haired person removes a notebook from xer back pocket, handing it to Juniper with the barest sliver of a smile. Clearly having done this more than once, she accepts it readily, opening it to a bookmarked page.

“My Ladies, and our dearest, most esteemed guest, I present to you another fine selection of traditional Romanian dishes, for your sincere enjoyment. Today we will be drinking one of our more popular styles of wine, known as Febris Amatoria, meaning ‘fever of love’ in Latin,” she reads, only somewhat shakily. Next to her, the stranger inclines xer head to your employers, then does the same to you. At this point you have to assume that xe doesn’t speak, and that Juniper was serving as a translator of sorts. “Due to the unexpected nature of our guest, the dishes are not clearly marked in regards to their ingredients. You have my- as in Mx Caldwell- assurance that this will be handled by the next standard mealtime, where the shared dishes will be color coded. In the meantime, I- again, Mx Caldwell- will remain here, in order to prevent any… unintentional ingestion of human remains.” Gulping, Juniper returns the notebook to the stranger (Caldwell, apparently), then exits the room alongside the other servants.

“Isn’t Febris Amatoria also another name for a type of anemia?” Bela asks, slowly swirling the contents of her glass as she does. Caldwell, who had moved to stand several feet behind Alcina, gives a nod in response, and appears mildly amused.

“A clever allusion to our family’s nature, isn’t it? I know Daniela has certainly drained a number of ‘lovers’ over the years, perhaps causing a case or two,” Cassandra teases, much to her younger sister’s irritation. Personally you were surprised that she was willing to admit such a thing in front of her mother. Unless you were reading too much into the word ‘lovers’, due to the rumors you had heard regarding Lady Daniela. Nonetheless, the Lady in question is aggravated enough to sit up, looking ready to lunge across the table at Cassandra. As soon as Daniela moves (with frightening speed), her sister easily catches her wrist, using her other hand to wave a finger back and forth. “Ah, ah, ah, Dani, we have a guest. Do try to behave yourself.”

“Oh, because you’re the epitome of table manners? I’m amazed you haven’t already managed to spill wine all over your dress,” Daniela counters, before ripping her arm away from Cassandra. They both huff, but are quick to quiet down when their mother sends them a look. “Dinner looks delectable, as usual, Ava,” Daniela continues, after clearing her throat, accentuating the end of her sentence with a gesture of her wine glass. Then she takes a long drink from it, perhaps thinking that a little intoxication might make the evening easier to get through. Deciding that maybe she had the right idea, you take a sip from your own glass, relishing the subtle hint of lavender.

In the minutes that follow, things slide into easy comfort. Caldwell once more moves closer to the table, helping pass along side-dishes from person to person, quietly pointing out which ones you could safely consume, occasionally chuckling in response to the jokes that the daughters shared. A strange warmth built itself up within the center of your chest, heart yearning for age-old memories of your own family. Three months had passed since the last time you felt this way. Really, it felt so much like family that you didn’t catch the way Cassandra’s lips twitched into a smirk, or the way she met Bela’s gaze, or the way she pushed a dish just a tad further towards you than necessary. All it had taken was a single second of your gaze turned elsewhere… then you were reaching for the castle’s special variety of forbidden fruit.

“Ayye, nyet, nyet!” Caldwell snaps, voice oddly strained, hand wrapping around your wrist in an instant. All eyes are on you now, though Alcina’s soon flicker over to the servant. “Cass. Bad girl,” xe continues, going so far as to shake xer finger disapprovingly. Understandably, you’re rather shocked to see a butler be so bold with someone so dangerous. Even more shocking is the way that Cassandra backs down without a hint of a fight, refusing to meet her mother’s steely gaze, not even pretending that she hadn’t attempted to trick you. Satisfied with this outcome, Caldwell wordlessly fades back into the background.

Although you had almost committed an unwilling act of cannibalism, you managed to slowly relax again, content to listen in on (but not participate in) the conversations around you. ‘Twas somewhat awkward, admittedly, to be the odd one out in a family so close. Yet a part of you had gained a new sense of hope by meeting Caldwell. After all, if a human such as xerself could become so close as to chastise Cassandra of all people, why couldn’t you?

---------------------------

“Once again, I would like to… apologize, on behalf of my daughters,” Alcina says, rather softly, still keeping a gentle hand on your back to guide you along. “I must admit, I do not wish to dwell on what might have happened if not for Avaskian.”

“Believe it or not, I think I actually understand where they’re coming from. Though, of course, I am also grateful for Caldwell’s intervention. But really… your family has been together for several decades now, right? Any addition is guaranteed to stir things up,” you respond with a shrug. “Besides, I’m more than aware that I don’t exactly stand at the same level as your other romantic interest.” Suddenly both of you are halting in the middle of the hallway, unable to meet each other’s gaze, regret rumbling like butterflies in your stomach. You hadn’t intended to bring up your soulmate’s somewhat obvious affections for Mother Miranda.

“Hmm. So you are… aware of that,” Alcina murmurs, finally turning her head to look down at you. There’s no small amount of pain in her eyes, though you can tell she’s holding as much of it in as possible. “I would prefer it if we did not speak of this. I do hope you have no qualms with that.” For once, there is no hint of force or commanding edge to her tone. For once, she is letting you act as an equal, the first step towards actually accepting your role as her soulmate. It’s enough to make the corners of your lips turn up, if only for a moment.

“Alcina… I understand. I merely want to say that it won’t affect how I feel, or how I act. Love is a blessing, even when it ends in pain. I… have loved before. People whom I will never see again, people who never felt the same way, and maybe people who I really only thought that I loved. I’m trying to think of those experiences as lessons. Situations that taught me something about myself, or about what love is, that I can keep in mind and use going forward. Just as I promised to your daughters, I will try to love you. I will give you an honest chance, regardless of our past circumstances. Because we’re soulmates. Because this is the world offering us a shot at something amazing, and I’m not about to give that up,” you explain, placing one of your hands in Alcina’s. For a moment there’s silence, but you see both surprise and happiness in her expression. Still, there’s a hint of tension remaining in the air, so you do your best to dispel it. “Also your daughters threatened to kill me if I didn’t, and I’d hate to perish before lasting a full year here. I heard a rumor that one of the senior staff members makes cards to celebrate.”

Next thing you know, you’re hearing a beautiful sound, a light, genuine laugh from Alcina, who all at once releases the tension in her shoulders.

“Yes, I do believe Ava, or Caldwell as you said, still makes those. Always with strange little drawings of felines…” She trails off, voice fading into another chuckle, before at last resuming her walk, never letting go of your hand. “As much as I have enjoyed our chat, I do believe it is about time that I retire for the night. We will see each other once more in the morning. For now, I bid you goodnight. Sleep well, my dear.” With that, the two of you arrive at the entrance to the servants’ quarters, and you find just enough courage to bring her hand to your lips, for a brief kiss.

“Goodnight, Lady Alcina. May your dreams be as sweet as your company.”

#alcina dimitrescu x reader #lady dimitrescu x reader #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #resident evil: village #re8 village #j has ocs #avaskian caldwell

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kittymsmithwritesstuff · 3 years ago

Note

since we're on the maggie hype train, can we get some her + other legend relationship headcanons? maybe rampart, lifeline, octane, or mirage?

I’ll give you some relationship headcanons but not for those characters in particular. I abide by the rule that as long as it is two (18+) legal consenting adults then I’ll live and let live, but I’m personally not into shipping people with her that could damn near be her grandchildren. Mirage is riding a borderline, but personally I just cannot fathom them as a couple; he’s not exactly immature but I don’t think he’s at a maturity level where she’d even fathom it. She could objectively be like, “yeah, he’s a handsome guy” but not with any true desire. Have a few beers with him though.

Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy the HC’s for some of the older Legends and Maggie.

In order: Horizon, Fuse, Bangalore

Horizon:

-Horizon is drawn to her because she’s just so unlike anyone she’s ever met before. She grew up on Psamathe, even pre-syndicate one of the richest and technologically advanced planets in the Frontier. Maggie is legitimately batshit fucking crazy, but she’s also brilliant and all Horizon wants is to understand what the hell is going inside that head of hers.

-Maggie has a thing for redheads. Real bad. Real bad. Secondly, Horizon doesn’t spend a single moment cowering, avoiding, glaring or insulting Maggie and what she’s done. She makes it clear she doesn’t like what Maggie has done. The big thing about Horizon, though, is she is the first person in the dropship to say she understands Maggie fighting for her home That’s when the heart palpitations start.

-Somewhere between “gruff grumpy one falls for cute sunshiney one” and “bickering married couple”. Despite possible assumptions, who is in the lead with won arguments goes back and forth. They make a game of it; Horizon has a white board and pen and everything.

-They mostly work because Horizon meets Maggie head on in all things. If Maggie is petty, she’s petty, if Maggie is a dick, she’s a dick. If Maggie loses herself in anger, Horizon will give enough pause and then throw her side of the argument with as much mettle as any Salvonian.

-For most that would be a 100 percent not healthy way to handle things, but it’s what makes sense to Maggie; once she sees how she is being/what she is doing, she can usually take a step back and come back for an actual discussion. Over time, there’s less yelling.

-This only applies to her and Horizon though. Maggie still goes off the handle at others. It’s actually a little embarrassing how she almost does a 180 when Horizon is around but no one has the balls (or the deathwish) to say anything. Except Fuse but for every ribbing he gives Maggie she gives him two about Bloodhound.

-Same vein Maggie makes Horizon loosen up a little, not that she was a tightwad or anything before, but she’s a little more willing to let herself be angry, rather than continually hold herself up to her mother, who never did. It’s actually kind of a relief.

-Despite her bigger-than-life personality, Maggie is around 5’4. Horizon is 5’10. Maggie is 100 percent into it. Horizon is 100 percent into giving her forehead kisses where people might see, just to piss her off.

-Maggie steals Horizons shirts and jackets constantly. They’re not even really her style or anything, but Horizon has the mom ability to find the comfiest shit possible, something Maggie has yet to figure out.

-Horizon steals Maggie’s earrings sometimes. She doesn’t even wear them, just holds on to them for a little bit and puts them back at random. Maggie’s clothes are too short for her generally so, she makes do.

-They both like pecan ice cream.

Fuse:

-LOOK I’LL BE STRAIGHT UP I AM A SUCKER FOR CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS OKAY

-And tbh this would probably only work on the assumption they already kind of sort of had a thing and come to a compromise over the whole “blown off arm thing”. Or some other canon alterations or twists. Either way, it’s on the assumption they came to a truce or conclusion of some kind because neither of them are saints and whichever is worse is somewhat objective.

-And I do fully love them JUST being friends. I LOVE guy/girl JUST being friends and I think there needs to be more of it. As mentioned, though, I am a SUCKER.

-They know the ins and outs of each other. Exactly how to annoy, exactly how to destroy, exactly how to comfort. No one has more ammo on Fuse or Maggie in the world-and this is including their mothers’.

-Maggie isn’t one to “let down her walls” but Fuse is one to climb over them to make sure she’s doing alright. And he’s probably the only one she doesn’t shoot for trying.

-They can communicate with looks and it kind of weirds out some of the other legends. It’s the well and true “full conversation, argument and resolution” with only glances, stares and facial expressions that end in a miraculously formed conclusion.

-Even if they never were together prior to the games they would fall into a routine with an almost uncomfortable ease.

-Fuse tries to be a gentleman, but by Salvonian standards that mostly means pulling the pin out of the grenade and letting Maggie throw it or bashing the cap off of her beer first. It works for them.

-The main thing they argue about that’s like, an actual argument and not their standard bickering is Fuse’s mustache. She really fucking hates it.

-Maggie is a problem solver when it comes to issues, one of those people it can be hard to vent to because all she does is try and offer a solution and then end up confused or mad the person venting is still complaining and not doing something about it. Fuse is one of the people that just needs to rant on the rare occasion he gets frustrated. It was an issue between them for a long time before he figured out he just needed to signal beforehand whether he wanted a solution or just an ear to listen. Works out well.

-Fuse is the pillow.

Bangalore:

-She hated Maggie when she fucked with Kings Canyon and she hated her when she joined the Games. The thing to reverse that was time and study-looking into what was really going on on Salvo and recognizing that Fuse wasn’t exactly the golden boy being two main points. It brought up some parallels in her mind to her own discovery that the IMC wasn’t all she thought it was, and, you know, life and people are complicated.

-In the slow points during Games, she found out she could admire Maggie’s strategic mind. Maggie felt similarly about Bangalore; she seemed like the kind of woman to have her shit together, and she finds that pretty damn attractive. They meld well on field because they’re both goal oriented and experienced, and over time this translates off the field.

-Bangalore actually visits Maggie while she’s locked up. In an eventuality where Maggie isn’t confined to her cell she can usually be found in Bangalore’s bunk, silently occupying herself or watching Bangalore do whatever with her guns.

-They’re both really knowledgeable about firearms, but Bangalore knows so much technical stuff that Maggie would have never had the opportunity to learn, and she soaks it up like a sponge. She admires her knowledge, and the passion.

-They bicker a lot on moral quandaries but will live and let live with each other, which sort of baffles the other people that know them.

-Bangalore confides a lot in Maggie and is relieved that she never tells a single soul, far as she knows.

-She tries to be open for Maggie, but the woman is a pretty shut book. If she does open up it’s over whiskey after a long day. Bangalore will silently listen and not make any comments, and it feels like Maggie appreciates that.

-Bangalore also takes some of the stuff she learned in therapy and helps Maggie and Fuse kind of go from “kill on sight” to “glare petulantly”. Maggie will never tell her that she might have sort of appreciated it.

-They’ll have little food competitions, see who cooks a dish better, or swap back and forth on who does dinner. Loser owes winner a favor.

-Yeah, you can use your imaginations when it comes to what some of those favors end up being.

-Remember the tall girl thing? Applies here too. Except instead of forehead kisses, Bangalore thinks it’s funny to grab Maggie around the waist, pick her up like she’s nothing, kiss her, and then put her back down and continue doing whatever it is she was doing beforehand.

-Maggie gets super mad.

-…she’s still into it, though.

-This time, Maggie is usually the pillow. Bangalore will wrap her arms around her and lay her head on her stomach and just zonk out immediately.

#maggie #margaret kohere #mad maggie apex legends #mad maggie #maggie kohere #apex legends #apex legends headcanons #apex legends heacannons #horizon apex legends #mary somers #anita williams #bangalore apex legends #fuse apex legends #walter fitzroy #kmtalks #kmwrites #ask #anon

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reader-no-danna · 4 years ago

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characters: genos, zombieman, metal bat, amai mask

synopsis: headcanons for the characters stated above in a relationship with an s-class!reader

fandom: one punch man

warnings: none!

a/n: my first writing post 🤩 i love the s-class heroes so much so i decided to write some headcanons for them with a reader who’s also s-class! i may make a part two with flashy flash, fubuki, etc. hope you like it!

genos

at first, genos is indifferent to your presence among the s-class. he’s already prioritized his training and spending as much time as possible with saitama

i don’t even think he’d be aware you’d joined until it was announced at another meeting

he’s veryy curious to know about your abilities and how you shot through the ranks so quickly. but i think he’d keep his distance for a while

assuming reader is around his age, genos would be low-key shy around them. he just can’t bring himself to approach you first. this poor boy-

so at first he sticks to keeping things ✨professional✨ when he hears about a successful mission you were on, you’d get the occasional “i heard you did well against the enemy. well done, y/n” and a little awkward nod of his head

but you’d soon catch on him. when you gave reports at the hero summons, he would ALWAYS pay attention. like watch-dog man could be going on about how city-q is burning to the ground and you’d be like “well everythings fine over here-” and his head would shoot up-

silent fuming if tatsumaki scolds you or anyone interrupts you

and he’d make trips to whatever city you were placed in charge of and ask if you needed any help. he knows you can take care of yourself, he’s just looking for an excuse to talk to you

one day you saw him with saitama and the gang and you started hanging around them and that was it-

you all would be going on a lot of outings together, trying to ignore all the people gaping at you

he definitely finds time to steal you away from the others. he could never grow tired of saitama but fubuki would probably have loads of questions for you so he may excuse himself from the group for a bit and take you with him

the two of you fight sooo well together. you’re often assigned to handle monsters as a team because of how well you work with each other

you’re always with him if his parts get damaged during a fight. scolding him and telling him to be more careful, he’s getting too reckless these days

and genos’ fans take a particular liking to you... if your relationship is public then please believe the fan pages are goin wild

genos doesn’t care about all that, but he’ll quickly jump your defense if people start spreading false rumors about you and your relationship

he loves you and you’ll know it everyday 😌

zombieman

yet another stern man

he is also quite curious as to how you managed to make s-class.

because you either got in right away after the entrance exam, like genos, or you somehow managed to surpass amai mask. either way, he already has some degree of respect for you.

he seems like a bit of a loner, so i imagine the two of you would have to be assigned to a task or mission of some sort together to start communicating.

one thing i like feel he’d admire in an s/o is their strength, so he would be looking respectfully if you two were fighting together.

very observant. he’s looking for your fighting style, what attacks you normally use, and how he can help with his abilities.

he cannot stand heroes who’re only in the profession for the publicity. amai mask already annoys him- so that being said he’s very appreciative to see you actually saving people and being compassionate and not just smiling for the camera while leveling a boulder or sum-

in fact, he probably started to develop some sort of feelings after watching you save someone. maybe it was a child you had helped reunite with their parents after their town was wrecked.

you bring the kid over to their parents, and when you turn over to zombieman he was smiling for a split second before reverting back to that slight frown.

it can be slightly unnerving watching him fight, with his regenerative abilities and all that. you know he’ll recover from any injury but it still concerns you when he gets hurt.

he always reassures you, it’s not a big deal, he’s more than used to it by now. the last thing he wants is to scare you, so catch him actually looking out for his safety and trying to limit the damage done to him for you.

if you get hurt somehow, he’s by your side in an instant. your safety is top priority

he’ll blame himself for your injury, you gotta reassure him for him to feel better, and even that would take a lot of convincing

he’s glad to have you in the s-class, it was getting a little insufferable over there-

badd/ metal bat

remember when he had no idea who madame shibabawa was?? yeah this man does not pay attention during hero meetings 😭 he also was not aware you had joined s-class even though he definitely should’ve been told at that point.

another meeting was called and he’s sitting down in his usual spot, he turns around to see you there like ”😀”

he watches as you calmly give a report on recent sightings of monsters and other matters, like where?? did you come from???

he’s got a pretty boisterous attitude, and he’s very assertive and loud when you first meet him. i feel as though his rashness would be even worse if he thought he had feelings for someone

easily flustered, and it’s obvious too. you offer to come with him for a threat-level demon mission and he’s going on about how he doesn’t need the help of a “newbie” and how he can handle himself just fine. of course you have faith in him, he’s VERY strong but it’s fun to mess with him, and he’ll know when you’re doing it

eventually you decide to tag along with him on an assignment, and surprise, surprise, you hear no complaints from him

you two are a force of NATURE in a fight. his stamina and strength is boundless, and you’re also very impressive with your abilities.

you know those scenes in the manga where he’s in the middle of a fight, his shirt torn, hair all ruffled and in his face, and he’s got bloodstains on him? yeah you’re getting a full view of that on the regular 🥵

fights always end with you two walking away together, he’s swinging his bat and talking about the thrill and how much he enjoyed a good fight. he’ll also be slightly embarrassed to add “you weren’t so bad yourself, you know” and his face will be red but not from the exhaustion-

his sister zenko will become a big fan of you now that you’re s-class! he may even ask if you can give her your autograph and talk to her. he’d be so embarrassed but trying to hide it-

doesn’t know what to do with his hands so he just stuffs them in his pocket. also he avoids eye contact with you too. it’s too cute

“y/n, look, i don’t mean to bother ya, but my lil sis, she’s a huge fan and she'd really like to meet you so if you had the time that would be great. thanks.”

pleasee be nice to this mans sister 😤 i headcanon that he wouldn’t date anyone if zenko didn’t like them

after you meet zenko, congratulations- you have unlocked his soft side 🥰 you’ll find he's a real gentleman

if you’re talking during an s-class meeting and someone interrupts you- this man will NOT care who-

“oi! didn’t you hear y/n speaking just now? shut up or i’ll thrash you!”

in conclusion: badd >>> and his heart is yours 🥰

amai mask

this little prick right here

he wouldn’t be as upset if you went straight to s-class after the hero entrance exam like genos did. but if you actually climbed through the ranks?? and surpassed him??

he would’ve had to be a-class rank t-t-two for a bit 🤢🤮 like hurry up and move to s-class already, it’s killing him

despite being upset about it, he’s also quite impressed. the reason he refuses to move to s-class despite being more than capable is because he wouldn’t allow anyone he deemed unworthy to pass. you had to be very strong, and he begrudgingly had some sort of respect for you because of it

he also respects just people. a hero has to be beautiful, in both appearance and personality. so if you’re a good person then he’ll actually get along with you

make no mistake, he cares about his public image. so when he sees you, a young and stunning hero who made their debut in the highly esteemed s-class? he’d definitely see that as an opportunity grow his fan base

purposely greeting and talking to you frequently in public. and then acting surprised and bashful when being questioned about it by the media

it wouldn’t be long before the tabloids started rolling out with your names on the headlines, with people talking up your relationship

whether or not you’d be upset with it is up to you

if you don’t mind the gossip, amai mask would be muchh bolder with you in public. giving you those wry smiles that would make any other fan melt and openly flirting with you. the two of you may even be invited as guests on one of those talk shows he’s seen on

if the publicity is too much for you, he’d actually shut down the rumors immediately. “y/n is a wonderful addition to the s-class, and i’m looking forward to watching them grow. but their just an acquaintance… nothing more.”

why do i actually want to write a fic about amai mask and reader playing up their relationship in public now

buttt that’s actually not true because he’s starting to catch FEELINGS

he doesn’t like most of the s-class but you’re the exception

he’s a busy man but expect him checking up with you as much as possible to make sure you’re doing alright

after a particular stressful mission, he’ll book a reservation for you two at the best restaurant in the city! perks of being a star...

he’ll tell you all about his upcoming projects, but he’ll also listen very attentively as you talk about the s-class! he may even make fun of some of them just to get you to laugh

very attentive boyfriend and much nicer to you than he is to anyone else, s-class or not!

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makeste · 4 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 299: No Chains Left

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “and then AFO broke out all of the inmates from six other prisons and took a nap. well anyways, here’s the hospital angst.” Kacchan woke up two days later and was all, “WAIT BUT HOW ARE DEKU AND TODOROKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS EXCEPT IIDA DOING” and then we cut to Shouto’s room where the other U.A. kids were sitting around being Mutually Traumatized and giving each other moral support and such. Everyone was alll, “...”, and then the rest of the Todofam showed up, INCLUDING POSSIBLY REI?! which, omg. The chapter ended with Kacchan STOMPING THROUGH THE HALLS all “WHADDYA MEAN DEKU HASN’T WOKEN UP YET”, dragging along Satou and Mineta behind him, fueled by the power of ALL OF THE FUCKS HE NOW GIVES. He gives so many fucks now you guys. This boy cares so much he can probably deduct it on his taxes.

Today on BnHA: SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE A LOT OF FUCKS, the story cuts abruptly to Hawks, freshly recovering from his near-death experience, and pondering the threads that have weaved the tapestry of his life and led him to this moment. Basically he grew up in poverty with his Jerk Dad and Jerk Mom until his dad got arrested one day and his mom sent him off to go Find Money Or Something, and so he rescued a busload of people and found himself a new career. Back in the present day, Hawks and Jeanist ride around town in Jeanist’s Jamborghini having awkward encounters with civilians in a country on the brink of social collapse, and visiting Hawks’s mother’s home. Hawks is all “I know from an outsider’s perspective it must look like my life currently sucks, but now that the HPSC is gone, my public image is shot, and my parents are finally out of my life, I’m actually feeling SURPRISINGLY GOOD.” Anyway so he’s gonna go meet up with Endeavor now, and p.s. this chapter was fucking fantastic though, damn.

oh my god?? is this Hawks narration?? something about him growing up watching the heroes on TV and thinking of them as fictional characters

okay I scrolled down a little bit more to see the rest of that “Keigo” panel, and wow

this is basically a shed. poor boy definitely grew up rough. let me tell you guys, I came in here ready for some BakuDeku shenanigans; I was not prepared for Hawks Flashback Angst. I AM HERE FOR IT, but also wow I gotta brace myself now lol

HELLO MISTER HAWKS’S JERK DAD, SIR

BnHA sure does have an array of Jerk Dads, doesn’t it. makes me appreciate characters like Masaru and JirouDad all the more for bucking the trend

anyway. so Horikoshi, you really thought that one itty bitty chapter of hospital catharsis would be enough to calm us all before you went right back to showing us child abuse huh. my god man can we rest

BABY HAWKS

swear to god this kid can’t be more than five or six, and yet he has this completely blank look on his face even with his dad looming over him being all threatening and shit. like he’s shut down his emotions to protect himself. imagine what has to happen to a child for him to have learned this at such a young age. fuck

AND MEANWHILE THIS GUY

don’t mingle with humans?? not “other” humans, just humans?? what is this implying here?? and also holy shit Hawks definitely didn’t inherit his looks from his dad orz

then again he doesn’t really bear much of a resemblance to his strung-out mom here either

omg omg omg. and this child is basically trapped here in this environment with these two people. this explains a SHITLOAD about Hawks’s personality though you guys. his ability to completely separate his real thoughts from the face he presents to the outside world. his pragmatic approach to analyzing and solving problems. his layers of emotional walls. turns out almost none of that came from the HPSC training -- that was all learned hands-on in his own personal do-or-die survival nightmare childhood!! oh, boy

and small wonder then that he latched on to Endeavor so strongly if he really is the one who brought down his dad and inadvertently saved him from this. also, just putting this out there, I know people are always talking about him and Dabi being foils, and I think it’s very interesting how Touya grew up in a household where he saw firsthand the dark side of hero society, and so ended up becoming a villain in order to bring it down. whereas young Keigo had almost the exact opposite experience, growing up experiencing the dark side of villain society and becoming a hero in order to bring about a world where no one else has to experience that. just. both of them are so determined not to become their fathers. some interesting parallels there

so Hawks was sort of an accident after his parents had “thanks for helping me not get caught after I killed that guy” sex, and now this little boy is growing up in squalor and being beaten by his father for things like Sitting In The Wrong Out-Of-The-Way Corner Trying Not To Be A Bother To Anybody. holy fuck. this is so rough to read through you guys

wait so does Jerk Dad have a an eyeball manipulation quirk?? because he doesn’t have the wings like his son, but wth are these things??

this presumably also means that Keigo has never been to school or anything either. he basically doesn’t exist. he thinks heroes are fictional characters, he doesn’t realize that they’re real people. these are people who could help him if he could escape and find them, but he doesn’t know, and they don’t know about him

OH MY GOD HE’S JUST SITTING IN HIS CORNER HUGGLING HIS ENDEAVOR PLUSH OH MY GOD

how could this child possibly have an anti-fandom when he’s done NOTHING WRONG HIS ENTIRE LIFE. huh. just explain that to me. lol I mean I’m not looking to pick a fight with anyone, but also, MAYBE I AM, idk?? this kid has gotten me all riled up lmao

anyways, Protect Keigo 2021, and thank you Horikoshi for these three very terrible pages. I am pleased to inform you that you’ve effectively gotten your point across and you may now commence saving this kid already

YAY

oh no, Keigo’s dumbass jerk dad tried to steal a car and the popo nabbed his ass and now his mom can’t just sit around neglecting her VERY YOUNG SON all day long, oh horrors. sorry lady my tiny violin is on backorder. just imagine that I’m playing a very sarcastic song on it for you

anyway so what are you gonna do now, abandon him? I can hardly imagine he’d be worse off, if anything it might be a near-instant improvement

LMAO HE’S ALL “WAIT WHAT ENDEAVOR’S A REAL FUCKING DUDE?!”

AND THEY SAY THAT A HERO CAN SAVE US~~~~ I’M NOT GONNA STAND HERE AND WAAAAAIT~~~~~ I’LL HOLD ONTO THE WINGS OF THE EAGLES, WATCH AS WE ALL FLY AWAAAAAAY~~~~

lol what a randomly pivotal moment in his young life. TIME TO GO MAKE THESE MEMES INTO DREAMS YOUNG ONE

anyway so his mom freaked out and grabbed him and they wound up at a train station with her TELLING HIM TO GO GET HER SOME MONEY, oh my god. SURE MOM LEMME JUST WALTZ RIGHT ON DOWN TO THE “JOBS FOR FIVE-YEAR-OLDS” STORE AND TELL THEM I NEED SOME CASH. ffff manifesting someone to come help him in 3... 2...

...

SIGH, JUST GO RESCUE THE PEOPLE FROM THE BUS, KEIGO. is this the outfit he was wearing when that happened?? it must be, right?? I can’t imagine them surviving more than a couple days out here unless this starts getting REALLY dark in a way I know that even Horikoshi won’t explore, so yeah. cut to the HPSC now please. never thought we’d be glad to see them. I mean sure, it may be an “out of the frying pan...” case, but good god

THANK YOU!!

and I guess it was his mom’s eyeball quirk then. anyway, whatever, see you again never, hopefully. lol oh man. thaaaat, was upsetting. need to center myself here for a sec. NAMASTE

OH YAY THE PRESENT

so we cut from Baby Hawks Angst straight to Present Day Hawks Angst, huh. not that this exhausted and traumatized lil lad isn’t still a baby to me too, I’ll have you know

BEST JEANIST, ALWAYS WITH THE JOKES

“WHEW, THOUGHT YOU DIED ON ME FOR A SEC THERE KID.” lmao. Caleb will no doubt ruin this by making his word choice all stiffly formal as usual, so I’m just going to treasure this “WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, I’M FRESH OUT OF FUCKS” version of Jeanist while I can

look at him, driving his Jeanistmobile

again, is it any wonder Kacchan was bitching about Endeavor’s dinky little car when he was used to riding around town in style like this. anyone else staring at this panel trying to figure out how this car is somehow secretly made of jeans

NOOOOO

FUCK YOU DABI LMAO. PUTTING THESE VOICE ACTORS OUT OF A JOB ONE BY ONE

anyway so Jeanist is all “GOOD THING IT’S THE FUTURE AND WE’RE SO GOOD AT MEDICAL SCIENCE” to handwave how Hawks went from one step shy of being a very handsome corpse, to sitting around texting Jeanist in a car all of two days later

OH MY GOD, AND FINALLY AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS

wait a minute. I’m so confused lmfao. soooo, was Hawks all “anyway, here’s Jeanist’s dead body, you can examine it but please don’t look at him too closely and also I’m gonna need that back unharmed.” how tf did you pull that off lmao

(ETA: also isn’t this technically confirmation of the ol’ Noumu Jeanist theory lol. I’m gonna go ahead and say it is.)

NO BUT PLEASE, CONTINUE. I unironically love reading Horikoshi’s overly convoluted “SEE IT’S NOT A PLOT HOLE” explanations

lkldslfk so wait, you’re telling me Hawks convinced Dabi and the League to put Jeanist’s body in storage, and basically just hoped they wouldn’t use him for any experiments until he could put his plan into action and have the HPSC’s people break in and find and revive him?? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. A FOOLPROOF PLAN IF I’VE EVER HEARD ONE

fff this man really asked Jeanist to risk it all to prop up his little cover story, and Jeanist was all “sure why not” omfg. anyways, thanks for recapping all of this out loud for no particular reason in your car conversation you two

LMAO NOW WHAT

TROUBLE YOU SAY? GOOD THING THE NEW NUMBER ONE HERO IS ON THE JOB THEN

okay no it’s just some random thugs strolling around terrorizing the downtown. fuck ‘em. so Jeanist is making short work of them now

uh oh

won’t come? not can’t, but won’t?? what???

WOW

well I guess that makes the local heroes A BUNCH OF SHITHEADS now doesn’t it?? jesus

and okay, serious question, if the cops are spread too thin and the heroes have literally walked out on the job, what exactly is stopping everyone from deciding to use their quirks to defend themselves, legal or not? nothing, as far as I can tell. society just got a hell of a lot more chaotic

anyway so this is an interesting panel here

man, Dabi really did pull it off, didn’t he. well anyway so here’s that better world all of the villains were wanting, you guys! isn’t it so great?? everyone’s terrified and angry and losing hope and society is inches away from collapsing into total anarchy! but hey, at least we exposed the number one hero as a hypocrite

anyway so what are these guys up to

fucking hell, he’s visiting his mom. I really wasn’t prepared to commit this much emotional energy towards reading this chapter today. BUT VERY WELL, WE PRESS ON

?? wait she’s not there?

is this supposed to explain how Dabi knew who Hawks really was? except that there’s the little matter of how he even know where to find his mother in the first place. feels like we’re still missing something there, but oh well

OH MY GOD

RHA I TAKE BACK EVERY WORD I EVER SPOKE AGAINST YOU. YOU ARE A SCANLATION GROUP FILLED WITH ANGELS LMAO. I WILL TAKE THIS PANEL IN MY HANDS, AND TREASURE IT AND KEEP IT SAFE

ANYWAY, BECAUSE MY TIRED BIRD SON’S LIFE SUCKED SO MUCH ALREADY, IT TURNS OUT HE’S ACTUALLY PLEASED WITH THIS NEW TURN OF EVENTS LOL HOW ABOUT THAT

GOOD FOR YOU BBY. YOU GO OUT THERE AND BE YOUR OWN PERSON

and in all seriousness, I love that identity he chooses -- chooses, because it actually is him making a choice now, possibly for the very first time in his life -- is “guy who helps people”, though. it really is nothing short of miraculous that he held on to that kind of optimism and desire to do good even with everything he’s been through. there were so many times he could have chosen to turn his back on the world in retaliation for the way it treated him. but he didn’t!! and here he is now, finally free, and what he wants to do with the rest of his life now is simply to help others. anyway please excuse me for a moment, I need to go find some sort of basket or a big vase to put all of my fresh new Hawks Feels in, pardonne-moi

YEAH BOIIIIII

“FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MISTER JEANIST, WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUSELF THAT SWEETASS CAR.” hey, all I’m saying is if this boy’s wings really aren’t growing back, he’s gonna need to find himself a new means of transportation y’know?

oh my god you guys it’s a flashback to his mom buying him the Endeavor plushie when he was like two because, and I quote, ALL MIGHT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE

oh my god oh my god. my boy out here with a new lease on life finding hope in the darkest of times

wasn’t your throat supposed to be all fucked up lmao. Horikoshi was suddenly all “oh shit the VAs are gonna be pissed at me if I keep this up huh”

“that’s why Bubaigawara was such a great guy” motherfucker IT IS A TERRIBLE DAY FOR RAIN. FORECAST SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS

:’)

yes ma’am. yes indeed. confirmed, I really will straight up fight some motherfuckers for this child. well not really, but YOU KEEP YOUR DISCOURSE OFF MY LAWN AND OUT OF MY BLOG YOU HEAR. THIS IS A HAWKS-FRIENDLY SPACE. WE RESPECT TAKAMI KEIGO IN THESE STREETS

and he’s saying (or is he thinking?? what a weirdly shaped speech bubble this is) that even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki household is true, “I’m not sure it’s the same now.” which happens to be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. man this whole chapter really is all about saying “fuck the past” and moving forward and I am living for it

SON!!!!

“the first step is at my beginning” fklkjlk. what an iconic fucking line??

AND HIS WINGS!!!! THEY ACTUALLY ARE GROWING BACK AHHHHHHH. “PUT A RAINCHECK ON THAT CAR, JEANIST-SAN.” THE HAWKSMOBILE CAN WAIT, RIGHT NOW HE HAS TO GO INSERT HIMSELF BACK INTO THE TODODRAMA WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT

you guys. I came here ready for some BAKUDEKU HOSPITAL ANGST, and I got DIDDLY SHIT of that, and none of my other kids were even in this chapter, but!!! ASK ME IF I CARE LMAO omg. because bird son is hanging with his new best friend, and he’s out here Finding Himself and picking up the pieces and putting them back together stronger than ever because RESILIENCE HAS A NAME, AND IT’S SPELLED H-A-W-K-S, and you guys. profound, my love for this child. holy shit. hey google, play Silence by Marshmello

#bnha 299 #takami keigo #hawks (bnha)#best jeanist #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I found peace in your violence #can't tell me there's no point in trying #I'm at one #and I've been quiet for too long

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inukag-archive · 4 years ago

Note

Hello! I’m looking for recommendations for a particular trope/genre: Feudal Era AU as @superpixie42 would say. Fics that are Canon-era (Inuyasha-world without Inuyasha plot) but are not quite canon-divergent or fix-it? I’m thinking along the lines of Out of The Woods (Miss_Dyana), Kintsugi, If We Fall Anyway (both Evilillusions), for example. Any other genre/rating is good. Thank you! 💓

Hey @anisaanisa, it's no secret this is one of Mod Pixie's favorite AUs, so thank you for the chance to put this one together!

Shelter by @lavendertwilight89 (E)

Summary: Song fic inspired Stuck with You and Shelter. Inuyasha has been alone most of his life and one moonless night he gets caught up with a young priestess. She saves him and he, in return, helps her. What he doesn't realize is, this priestess holds a lot of secrets which may or may not cost both of them their lives...

Demon Nature by @shardetector (E)

Summary: He spoke low and gently, although his voice was gruff with his demon still so close to the surface, “You saved me wench, now I’ll repay the favor.” With that, his muscles bunched in his legs as he sprung up and out of the well, a red blur in the night as he made his way through the forest to his destination. His precious cargo held safely to his chest, as he raced to save her with his demonic speed.

there's no place (for us/like home) by guardianKarenterrier (G)

Summary: Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Inuyasha starts to creep closer to the fire at night. Now that he's not so injured, he's begun to vanish into the woods and come back to throw down rabbits and once a badger at the side of the hut, and Kagome hasn't had to worry about finding enough to eat as the air starts to turn colder. He hardly ever talks to them, or at all, and he won't come close enough to touch- he never comes as close as he had that first day again, but he stays. She's not sure why he stays, but she's glad that he does.

Comfort Food by @splendentgoddess (E)

Summary: Feudal AU one-shot. An ex-miko-in-training stumbles upon a seemingly human man alone in the woods during the moonless night. He seems all alone in the world - just like her. Goodness, when was the last time he had a decent meal?

Half-Breed’s Wife by @gypsin (M)

Summary: On the night of the new moon, a runaway girl stumbles into Inuyasha's life. Little did he realize then what he would be undertaking by saving her. But when Kagome has nowhere else to go will he leave her to her fate Or will he rise to the occasion? And what will the humans think?

Your Lying Smile by @dawnrider (M)

Summary: A beautiful day by the river quickly takes a turn, taking control of her life completely out of Kagome's hands. Her "rescuer" becomes something else entirely before she can get a word in edgewise. A Feudal-esue AU

We Are Family by @theladyofthewest (T)

Summary: Imagine a world in which the Inu No Taisho lived to raise his sons together, as brothers. Inuyasha never had to learn to survive on his own, he never met Kikyo, never heard of the Shikon Jewel. Now imagine if Kagome fell into this world instead of the one she did in canon. Imagine if she and Inuyasha had ... parental supervision.

Oblivion @meggz0rz (M)

Summary: Feudal-era Japan. A war to the death between youkai and humankind. Kagome, rebellious daughter of a noble family, is not about to let her grandfather sacrifice himself in battle. So she takes his place, dressed as a boy and ready to fight to survive. But in love and war, things are rarely as they seem, and there is a spy in the army ranks who just might be Kagome's downfall...

Everybody Wants To Be An Inuyoukai by @superpixie42 (T)

Summary: A birthday one-shot for kstewdeux very vaguely based on the plot of the Aristocats. When Kagome, newly widowed with a newborn son, is named the heir of her mother-in-law's enormous estate things suddenly go from bad to worse. She's drugged, kidnaped, and left for dead on the side of the road. With the help of some unexpected new friends, Kagome finds herself questioning: does she even want to make it back home?

The Shogun’s Daughter by @shnuggletea (E)

Summary: Kagome's father passed away when she was just a child but his Shogun status still makes her a valuable bride to a Lord of lands that border their village. Lord Inuyasha Tashio is pushed by the council into marriage, assured his new bride was an excellent choice. All their fears and anxiety are amplified when they meet.

Timeless and Forbidden Love by lunalibro (M)

Summary: Once, a long long time ago in Japan, demons and other horrid monsters out of nightmares roamed the lands. Wars were never-ending, famine, death and bloodshed abound. Admist this chaos, there lived a great priestess named Midoriko who was renowned throughout for not only her incredible power and fighting prowess, but also for ethereal beauty. She defeated countless demons and staved off many dark evils as the protector of humankind. Eventually, Midoriko fell in love and birthed twin daughters. The eldest was named Kikyo and the youngest was named Kagome, While alike in looks, the sisters were complete opposites. Naturally, these girls inherited their mother’s immense powers. From a young age, Midoriko trained them in combat and in the spiritual arts. The sisters grew in strength and looks. However, Kikyo’s powers had matured far greater than that of her sister’s. Midoriko decided Kikyo shall be the one to take her place as the new protector of Musashi. From then on, Kagome would find herself living in her sister’s shadow. Maybe with the help of a young half-demon named InuYasha, Kagome could realize her worth and possibly fall in love in the process. A forbidden love that will last throughout time.

Beauty and the Hanyou by mishelledor23 (M)

Summary: Inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but Inuyasha style! The terrible half-demon prince Inuyasha is under a fifty-year old curse that keeps him trapped inside his castle. Can Kagome, the reluctant miko-in-training become his friend? Maybe even his love? InuXKag, MirXSan. Lemons and language in later chapters!

For Better or Worse by Anime Wildfire

Summary: Kagome, priestess in training, turns her life upside down when she saves the life of the half demon Inuyasha… and accidentally finds herself bound to him via pesky subjugation beads. This is not how she thought her day- or her life- was going to go.

By the Match, Not the Flame by @goshinote (M)

Summary: Inuyasha is a hellbent hanyo on a mission for revenge. Kagome is a wanted miko on the run. Their intentions align in more ways than one, but secrets abound between them as they partner up during their travels. With an inevitable and impending betrayal looming over them, the pressure rises with every day they spend moving closer to the enemy’s clutches.

A Private Affair by JeremyMarsh (T)

Summary: During a simple patrol operation, Inuyasha, a general in a war between demons and humans that has been going on for two years now, goes all the way across enemy territory to reach the village where his betrothed lived before the conflict broke out. Here he is discovered by her younger sister who intentionally reveals something to him that she shouldn't have.

Shocked, Inuyasha decides to embark on a new and dangerous mission that could cost him his life or worse.

Koi no Yokan by @keichanz (E)

Summary: Koi no Yokan: The feeling when you meet someone that you’re bound to fall in love.

A prince discovering a deeper meaning to seemingly random hordes of bloodthirsty demons. A young woman unwillingly sold to a brothel by uncaring relatives, frightened and alone. How could these two circumstances possibly be related?

We are also including the works Anisa mentioned in the ask for those who are unfamiliar

Out of the Woods by @dyaz-stories

Summary: After the murder of Kikyo, the local priestess, the villagers start leaving offerings to the forest's god, who they think they've angered. Kagome, called to the village to replace her cousin, finds out, too late, just how far they're willing to go when they use her as the month's sacrifice. She decides not to go down without a fight — except that, instead of an angry god, she finds herself faced with a hungry half-demon, who's very annoyed he won't be getting a food offering for the month. “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s my food?” “Oh I’m sorry, am I not a sacrifice satisfying enough?”

Kinstugi by @soliska

Summary: AU. Failing to be chosen as her village's miko, Kagome had resigned herself to a humble life. An unexpected summons returns her to the city where she's forced to reconcile the taught virtues and the spiralling, warped reality created by those that abuse their power. She holds the key to repairing the fracture between humans and youkai, and the freedom of her new hanyou friend.

If We Fall Anyway by @soliska

Summary: What if the shikon jewel didn’t exist and Naraku never came to be? What if Kagome fell down the well anyway and met a gruff, young inu-hanyou. Would they still become friends? What would be their story? A tale told in snippets.

#inukag archive #feudal au #inuyasha #inuyasha fanfic #inukag fanfic #fic rec #anisaanisa

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kikyan · 4 years ago

Text

Yandere Soul Eater Headcanons

These are my interpretations of his persona and none of these are 100% accurate. I don't condone any of these actions in real life and all of this is purely fictional.

Yandere Server

Black Star

I probably am gonna butcher all three but here we go! I’ve only seen the anime so I’ll be going off of that instead of the manga. When we meet Black Star we see a loud boy, a VERY loud person with a ‘radiant’ personality. He holds himself to a high degree and is a very funny person with an outgoing personality. Tsubaki is someone who can match with his soul wavelength because she is a very understanding and patient girl. Off the bat I think that his yandere type would be possessive, clingy, and manipulative.

Let me start at the beginning. It was revealed that his parents were assassins, he never met them but somehow their reputation followed him. People judged him a lot despite him not being like his parents, wrongfully judged but he tries hard not to show it. I think that his personality ties in with that, he wants to alert attention to himself to show that he is his own person.

Clingy. He is a very clingy person because his personality is in a sense, seeking attention. The first person he would seek attention from would be his S/O. He would always direct himself when he completed an accomplishment. Turn to his S/O and ask for their praise, when he gets it he simply turns to say “Well I’m Black Star after all!” He will constantly want his S/O’s attention in anything and everything he does. He’s about to fight someone? You’re coming to watch. He wants to show up whenever he wants. He’ll leave his own home and show up at his S/O’s home through the window because he’s built differently.

Possessive. His S/O is his. Simple as that. He wants their attention 25/8 on him only, if his S/O is talking to someone else. No they aren’t. They aren’t. They simply can’t. Would call out to his S/O and grab them, hold them, put his arm around them, just assert dominance on them because that’s HIS S/O. It would get to the point where he would be over their house or would suggest them moving in with them.

Manipulative. He would be manipulative. If his S/O would be upset about anything he will hype them up. He wouldn’t put them down, but he would question them. “ Well I guess you don’t want Black Star as your boyfriend.” Something like that. He wouldn’t be the biggest with manipulation, but he would drop subtle hints or maybe stop going over making their S/O question what is going on. Make it seem as if it’s their fault he is acting this way, their fault that this happened, etc.

I don’t really see him as a dangerous yandere, but there is a slight chance that he may say some things that don’t sound the nicest at times. He could unintentionally say things he doesn’t mean, his S/O feels upset and then he may not apologize because he doesn’t understand what he said was wrong. It would take Tsubaki and the others to point out what he said was wrong, which would lead to him apologizing and feeling bad. Offering out to do something for his S/O because he is Black Star, he always makes up for mistakes.

Soul “Eater” Evans

When I first started Soul Eater, I immediately looked at this man and said "He cute asf <3" and I still stand by that. Throughout the series you can see him two sides of him you can see a very laid back individual or a sacrificial individual who needs to do everything himself (let me explain)

During the entire show he holds the 'cool' title and wants to be a laid back character who's morals aren't as laid back so he will step in when things aren't 'cool'. It doesn't take much to make him fall in love with his S/O just with enough interaction. With this relationship it's the most normal set up, you're a chill person and we've been friends, wanna go out? As a yandere? This is a tough one because it depends on the side that we're looking at. He, as himself, will do everything to make a normal relationship because I naturally see him as a little possessive guy. If we talk about after the black blood and dark thoughts, along with the little devil corrupting him, he would be a bit more cruel and sadistic in his ways to ensure his S/O will stay with him. With that I think of these, Possessive and Overprotective. Under the black blood's influence? Manipulative, Clingy, Sadistic.

Possessive. I see him being like this naturally, it's just you're his S/O and he wants to make sure people know that. Will walk close to you and if people get too close, he'll get closer till they get the idea. It's just something simple, has an arm around you constantly. Someone is talking to you? He is about to slide in there and wrap around you, inviting himself into the conversation. Sometimes it can get a little too overbearing but crack a joke here and there and it's all good.

Overprotective. He has Maka as his meister, but the cool thing about Soul is that he can turn his arm into a blade so he doesn't need Maka in some cases. No matter what you are, he'll always feel the need to protect you and take care of you. You could be dealing with things on your own but here comes Soul ready to help you. I see him either letting you deal with it while commenting, “Yeah, my S/O is a badass” or the one who thinks “ A cool boyfriend always helps out.” Towards the end of it, it seems a lot more overbearing. With the whole Kishin incident happening, he would be very overprotective to the point where he would request to be in the same group as you when you go scouting or after the Kishin. After the Kishin incident, he can’t help but fear something similar happening and wanting to be more overprotective.

After getting the black blood, you can see that he wants to do the most he can to take care of Maka and ensure nothing bad happens to her. Slowly going insane with the suggestions that the demon gives him. I remember that one episode in the anime where Stein placed them in a room with a scent that makes them reveal their true feelings. Soul wants to protect Maka and Maka wants to protect Soul. Soul wants to be the weapon that he is and protect Maka, even prepared to lay down his life for her whereas Maka wants to protect Soul and avoid him getting hurt. He gets the black blood and the demon starts to exploit his wish by trying to let him lower his guard and taking over him. With everything going on, I can see his S/O siding with Maka and wanting to protect Soul. If he is like this with Maka, imagine him with his S/O. Wanting to protect his S/O is his number one priority, but to what extent?

Manipulative. He would be manipulative with his S/O. He would guilt trip them in some cases if they chose to deny hanging out with him or being a little busy. I think he would gaslight them into thinking that they need him to protect them. They need him, because without him they would be in trouble or maybe even lose their life. If I’m being honest, all he wants is a normal relationship with his S/O but he is very protective over them and will do everything he can to take care of them.

Sadistic, but not by choice. This is a bit of a stretch, but I think he can. Of course under the influence of the Black Blood he would consider hurting his S/O to ensure that they are safe and sound. Breaking a limb or knocking them out to ensure that they can’t move. They need him and if they can’t see that, he needs to show them.

I know that these are confusing and probably won’t make sense, but I think that after everything that happened in that show, he would be horrified if he couldn’t protect his S/O and live up to the ideology that he is a cool person. He would not only break down and lose it, doing what he can to make his S/O trust, believe, love, and depend on him. He would be clingy and if these ever got to be too much, he would turn to them for help. He tries so hard to be the ‘cool’ guy that sometimes he neglects his own feelings. Overall, he would be a dangerous yandere. If I could give a rating, I would say a 4 or a 5/10. He would slowly lose his sanity for his S/O.

Death The Kid

Kid. I would say that he is a complex character but at the same time, not really. When it comes to Kid, I think he would be lowkey kinda scared for a romantic relationship because those require patience which a lot of people lose when it comes to him. Instead of laid back he is those people who go all out in relationships because they want everything to be perfect. With that in mind, I think he would be obsessive, lowkey possessive, and manipulative.

Obsessive. He wants everything to be perfect but it can only be perfect if he knows how to properly plan things without thinking of the what ifs. One way to avoid that is to know everything about your S/O. He would stop to memorize your entire schedule, what you enjoy eating, how much you eat, how much you sleep, your favorite sleeping position, do you sleep with a plushie, etc. Man is OBSESSED with his S/O. Honestly, it’s those thoughts that consume him in the worst ways and worst times. Fighting a Kishin? ‘ What if they don’t like the way that I wrote my name on the group project sheet?’ Like no, you plague his mind 25/8. It would get to the point where he starts to get so obsessed with their life that he might ‘suggest’ or even take it upon himself to ‘help’ you do something in a particular style. Maybe a bit overcontrolling.

Possessive. For starters, his S/O is someone who took patience with him. Liked his antics and understood his way of being. Never shamed him because in all honesty, I’m going to get real for a second. Kid has OCD, with symmetry and while some people find his antics funny and cute because they are portrayed that way, in a realistic setting this is the harsh reality. People with major OCD can’t do things they want to do without it taking an extreme, I don’t think I have OCD but I’ll give examples from what I’ve learned. People who don’t feel clean enough will often wash their hands, shower, or groom themselves very often. We know that while hygiene is very good, it’s very bad for the skin when it’s excessive. People would wash their hands frequently to the point their skin is raw from scrubbing or dry from the lack of moisture being trapped in the skin. Where something they did doesn’t feel right to the point they do it over and over again until it does. It’s something that can take time away from people, so while it’s portrayed to be funny in Soul Eater, it would be a real thing for Kid. His S/O would not judge him, would understand him, be patient with him, and genuinely care for him. People like that are very hard to find in the most extreme cases, of course I’m not shaming people who don’t want to be by someone's side like that because at the end of the day, you have no obligation to be there, but for Kid? His S/O would be there for him. Again, his S/O means the world to Kid because it’s someone who wants him for himself and for everything. He would not hesitate to dirty someone’s reputation or his own hands to ensure that his S/O stays with him. He isn’t playing games, he would proudly show them off because he loves them very much.

Manipulative. Kid is very smart and while knowing everything about his S/O, he can direct his or his S/O’s act to go into his favor. With this in mind, he can do a lot of damage. He would be in pain constantly but he wouldn’t be above making his S/O feel bad or doubt themselves if he has to. He would see that his S/O would feel bad when Kid goes into his mood where he feels like trash. He sees that makes his S/O lean more to him. If he wants their attention or time with them, he would pull that card to get his S/O with him.

Kid isn’t a dangerous yandere who means physical harm, but mentally yeah. He can be dangerous, he is literally the Grim Reapers son, he has so much power but he can be so vulnerable. Physically? He can deal a lot of damage, but mentally? He can deal more. Think of it like this, it’s the fear that this man can inflict pain. It’s the fact that this man who is strong, is being vulnerable in front of you, to you. It’s the fact that he knows certain things about, it’s that fact that his man makes it seem like you’re responsible and that he needs you. It’s the fact that this man could do something and it would be all your fault, doesn’t matter if you know, it’s the fact that everyone will believe that you’re the cause of whatever Kid did. He is the son of the Grim Reaper, he was raised and taught well but you? No, you weren’t.

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