#maybe i missed it but i am surprised no one mention crocs? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

watchyourbluesturngolden · 4 years ago

Note

harry and his wife going to a birthing class would be so precious !!

imagine him asking all the questions wanting to be informed as much as possible !! + him bragging to the other new parents about how proud he is of you for carrying his baby!! and him rubbing your belly throughout the class(!!) he’d be so nervous after watching a birth video knowing that you’ll have to go through that soon but he’d be so happy knowing at the end of it all you’ll have your baby (i re watched the snl skit and i couldn’t resist 🥺🥺)

soon to be dad!harry is my favorite thing ever :)

birthing class

warnings: none

word count: 3.2k

"Are you almost ready, love?" Harry called from the living room. "I'm coming!" you replied, struggling to lean down. You had finally reached the point in your pregnancy where you couldn't get your shoes on by yourself. Huffing, you kicked the tennis shoes back to your closet and grabbed a pair of crocs from the shelf. Not the most fashionable, sure, but they fit and they were comfortable. Good enough.

"I'm ready," you said, grabbing your water bottle from the table. "Couldn't get my shoes on." "Oh, I could have helped you!" He cooed, looking guilty. You had to refrain from rolling your eyes. It was sweet that he was so attentive, but it was also getting really annoying. He acted like you were made of glass. He didn't let you do anything anymore. At first you had been fine with it- after all, you weren't about to complain that he was suddenly jumping to do the chores around the house. But sometimes you missed your independence. "It's fine, Harry," you sighed. "I figured it out. I am a very resourceful woman." "You are," he grinned, grabbing the keys from the bowl by the door. "My incredible wife." "Oh yes, I'm so incredible for putting on a pair of crocs," you said, this time not stopping yourself from rolling your eyes. His happy expression didn't change as he ushered you out the door. That was one other thing- he had been incredible throughout this whole thing. He didn't get annoyed when you snapped at him or cried at random things or woke him up in the middle of the night because you were hungry. He just kept that happy smile on his face, or rubbed your back, or went to find something to satisfy your cravings. You were more thankful than you could ever explain. "So, are you excited?" You asked him, already in a better mood as you buckled your seatbelt. He didn't mention your mood swings, another thing you were very thankful for. "I am," he admitted as he backed out of the driveway. "I'm gonna ask all the questions. I'm gonna learn how to be the best birthing partner you've ever seen." "Please don't refer to yourself as my birthing partner," you shook your head. "It's super weird." "Alright, uh... baby... delivery... support?" "Baby delivery support? Really?" You raised your eyebrows, crossing your arms over your chest. "Well, is it better than birthing partner?" He grinned. "Not much," you said, unable to hold back your laugh. "Why are you taking this so seriously?" "Of course I'm taking this seriously. It's learning how to bring our baby girl into the world. Very important stuff," he said, grabbing your hand and kissing the back of it. "Yeah, but I'm just gonna get an epidural. I honestly don't know if we need this class." "Too late, we're already here," he said, flashing a cheeky smile as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. “Let’s go learn how to have a baby!”

-----

"Hello everyone!" The instructor chirped. She was way too cheery. "Please, choose a yoga mat. Partner sits behind mom." "See?" Harry nudged you, leaning closer to whisper in your ear. "Partner. Birthing partner. I was right." "Shut up," you huffed, elbowing him lightly. "You know I'm right," he grinned, pressing a light kiss to your ear. You did know he was right, but you would never admit it to him. So you just shook your head, leading him over to the closest yoga mat. He helped you get comfortable before he settled himself behind you, putting his legs on either side of yours and resting his hands on your belly. He put his chin on your shoulder, looking down at his hands on you. "Did you feel that?" He asked excitedly. You smiled at the fluttering feeling inside you, putting your hands over his and guiding them to where the movement was strongest. "She does that every time you talk," you informed him, tilting your head to look at him. "Really?" He grinned, looking so boyishly happy that you couldn't help but smile with him. You nodded. "She already loves you." "Well that's good, because I already love her too." You smiled at this, tilting your head more to press a gentle kiss to his lips. Before you could get too carried away, you were pulled from your sweet moment by the instructor clapping loudly. "Alright everyone, it's time to get started!" She announced, taking her place at the front of the room. "First we'll go around the room and introduce ourselves. Then I want you to say the thing you're looking forward to most in this class. I'll start: I'm Sandy, and I'm most excited to answer all of your questions, and hopefully ease any fears or anxiety you may be having." She gestured toward you and Harry next. You smiled, waving to the other couples in the room. "Hello, I'm Y/N. I'm most excited to learn about epidurals and how to go about getting one." This got a small chuckle from the others in the room, and several knowing looks and nods from the other moms. "I'm Harry," he said, lifting his hand from under yours to give a small wave. "And I'm most excited to learn about how to support my wife during the rest of her pregnancy and the delivery." Sandy nodded. "Both excellent things to learn about. Who would like to go next?" "Aw, you're sweet," you whispered, leaning back against him. "What a good husband you're being." "Please, I'm always a good husband," he grinned, turning his head to kiss your cheek. "I'm just better than everyone else here, so I look really good by comparison." You reached back to smack his shoulder playfully. "Be nice, we haven't even heard from any of the other dads yet. For all you know, one of them could totally blow your answer out of the water." "I seriously doubt it," he scoffed, speaking in a low voice so he wouldn't interrupt anyone. "Look at them. That one looks ready to bolt. Keeps eyeing the door. That one over there looks like he's gonna be sick just looking at the diagrams of the female body. And that last one- well, he actually looks fine." Just as Harry finished analyzing everyone in the room, the last man spoke. "I'm Lucas, and I'm most excited for Kristen here to have some questions answered. She's been so freaked out the whole time, it's getting ridiculous. It's like, babe, I don't know either! Why are you asking me?" Harry leaned closer to speak in your ear again. "Nevermind, maybe he's not fine." You tried very hard to keep your laughter to yourself, mostly because you felt bad for Kristen. Sandy seemed a bit stunned by his blunt answer, pausing slightly before she regained her chirpy tone. "Um... yes! All very good goals. Let's get into it then!" Harry stretched his arms out in front of you, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, get ready for me to be the best baby delivery support you've ever seen," he said into your ear. "Lucas wishes he could be as good as me." You rolled your eyes, but you couldn't keep the smile off your face. You felt very lucky to have such an attentive husband, one who was even more excited for birthing classes than you

were. There was no one else you would rather have by your side. "First, we're going to go over some breathing exercises. Now, you may be thinking "I don't need to learn how to breathe, I do it every day!" but you may be surprised how much regulating your air can help with relaxation and pain relief. So, get comfortable. Moms, rest on your partner behind you. Let them support you. Partner, your job here is to hold them up and keep your breathing even. You can place your hands wherever feels comfortable. This may be on their belly, or legs, or even holding their hands." "I'm keeping my hands right here," Harry whispered, placing his hands in their previous position, right over where your baby was kicking. "Now, everyone follow me as I take a deep breath in..." She inhaled exaggeratedly, raising her arms up in the air, before she spoke again. "Then exhale," she lowered her arms. "Repeat this a few times. Inhale... and exhale." You could feel Harry's chest moving at her prompts, and you matched with him. You wouldn't tell him (his ego was already big enough) but his presence was extremely soothing. He made you feel so safe, and you were much less worried than you had been before. You usually played it off with jokes and sarcasm, but you had been pretty anxious about the delivery process. But with Harry behind you, holding you and staying so calm, you felt like everything would be just fine. After a few minutes of this, Sandy brought her arms down one final time. "Excellent! How are we feeling after this? Hopefully more relaxed." "I feel very relaxed," you said quietly, tipping your head back against Harry's shoulder. "You're good at this." "I told you," he smirked. "I have a very soothing personality." "Very soothing," you agreed. "Alright, for our next activity, we're going to go through some birthing positions. In fact, you are already sitting in an ideal position, but there are others that can be more comfortable. So partners, help mom stand up, and we'll get the birthing balls." She gestured over to the corner, where there were large exercise balls lined up. Harry helped you up slowly, making sure you were steady before he went to retrieve one. He set the ball down behind you, helping you settle yourself on it. He placed his hands on your shoulders, looking up to the front for the next set of instructions. "All you have to do for this one is bounce slightly. This can help decrease back pain, and relieve pressure in your pelvis and abdomen. It can even shorten the process of labor." You did as she said, bouncing a little. "Having fun there?" Harry smiled, looking down at you. "So much fun," you quipped. "I could do this all day." After a few more minutes on the ball, and then learning several other positions, you were ready for a break. Thankfully, the other expectant mothers seemed to feel the same, and Sandy noticed. "Why don't we take a few minutes, just talk with your partner or some other couples, and then we'll regroup after that." She said, leaving you to your own devices for the time being. You sighed, leaning against Harry again. You were in the same position as you had been while doing the breathing exercises, and so were the other couples. You turned to the couple to your left, deciding to start a conversation. "How has the whole pregnancy thing been for you?" You asked. "Honestly, not too bad," the woman, whose name you had learned was Chloe, informed you. "I think William has been more stressed than I have." She patted his shoulder with a small smile. He grinned sheepishly behind her. He was the one Harry had said looked ready to bolt, but he looked much more relaxed now. "Hey, don't blame me, I'm just trying to stay informed. It's not my fault I keep stumbling upon all these horrible things." You laughed at this. "Harry's the same way. Aren't you, baby?" He smiled, blushing lightly. "He's right, there's a lot of horrible things. It's a bit scary, if I'm being honest." "Right!" William said, eyes going wide. "But it's not like I'm going to say anything about it, I'm not the

one giving birth." "Exactly!" Harry nodded. His hands were absentmindedly rubbing over your belly, so light that you weren't even sure he was aware of it. "We should have met up sooner, mate. We have a lot in common. But someone didn't want to come to the birthing class." You smiled, hitting his arm playfully. "I didn't think it was worth it, but I'm kind of glad you convinced me. This has been pretty helpful." "Chloe didn't want to come either," William laughed. "I think she just gave in because I was so stressed." "Yeah, I was sick of you freaking out every five minutes," she joked, leaning back against him. "Not every five minutes," he rolled his eyes. "Maybe every other day. Maybe." "Mhm," she narrowed her eyes at him, before they both broke into smiles. Harry kissed your cheek again, nuzzling his nose against you. "What are you doing?" You giggled, turning your head away from his tickling touch. "I just love you so much," He said quietly. "You're amazing." He spoke a little louder then, directing it toward Chloe and William. "She really is amazing, though. She had the worst morning sickness. But you got through it, didn't you?" He smiled, kissing your cheek again. "My amazing wife." Chloe nodded. "Mine was terrible in the first trimester. We almost had to go in to the hospital once, I was so dehydrated. Couldn't keep anything down." "That's how mine was, too. The only thing I could stand to eat was pickles." "Which is odd, since you used to hate pickles," Harry reminded you. "I did," you laughed. "But then one night I woke up and just had to have them. We didn't even have any in the house, Harry had to go out at three in the morning to get me some." William smiled. "I did quite a bit of that, too. Babies have weird cravings, don't they?" You and Chloe both nodded. "But I'm very thankful for my lovely husband, who is willing to get up and go to the store in the middle of the night for me," you smiled. This time it was you who kissed Harry's cheek. "Anything for my love," he said, blushing again. "Are we ready to get started again?" Sandy asked, raising her voice over the chatter in the room. "We just have a few more activities. Next, we'll go over how to put a diaper on a baby." "Oh, I'm so ready for this," Harry said quietly. He wasn't lying. He had been practicing for at least five months. When he first found out you were pregnant, he had gone to the store and bought a baby doll and a pack of diapers. He had carried the doll all over the house with him, figuring out the best way to hold it and rock it and burp it and- most importantly- diaper it. He was basically an expert at this point. Two baskets were passed around- one full of dolls, and one with diapers. Harry had the diaper on your baby before Sandy even gave any instructions. He looked up at you, incredibly proud of himself. "Good job," you smiled. "You're an expert." "Pretty much," he nodded. "I'm basically ready to be a father, I think." "Definitely," you agreed. Once everyone had figured out this step, Sandy informed it was time to move on to the last activity. "Lastly, we will be watching the miracle of life video. You might have seen this in your high school health class, but it's never a bad idea to revisit this, just for an idea of what to expect." Harry, who had been very calm and collected during this class, suddenly seemed nervous. He shifted around, tightening his arms around you and laying his chin on your shoulder again. "You alright?" You whispered, putting your hands on his forearms. He nodded, his eyes glued to the screen as the video started. You could practically feel his eyes going wide as you watched the baby being born. Each time you glanced back at him, he had the same look of mild horror on his face. Once it was over, and the woman onscreen was holding her baby, he seemed calm again. "If there are no questions, I think we'll wrap up for today," Sandy said as she turned off the TV. "Thank you all for coming! I hope you learned a lot and had some of your fears eased." "Um, I have a question,"

Harry said meekly. "How does... um... I can't help but notice... that baby's head seemed... much too large to come out of such a small place." Your face felt like it was on fire as he spoke. Your dropped your head, resting it in your hands as the instructor turned to look at him. "I just don't... what if the baby gets stuck?" "Oh my god," you mumbled, shaking your head. "Actually, that's a question many new parents have," Sandy assured him. You finally lifted your head, noticing many of the other dads were paying close attention. They seemed to have the same thought in their minds, but apparently only Harry was bold enough to actually say anything. "It can seem very scary, but the skin in that area is made to stretch in this way. Some women do have tearing, but this happens less often now that doctors know how to properly support the area. And as for the worry of the baby getting stuck, that's also something that happens very rarely. There are several methods doctors can use to deliver the baby in that case. But you really don't have to worry too much; your wife is in excellent hands. Our doctors here are first rate, and they are highly trained to handle any kind of complications." Harry nodded, looking much less worried as helped you stand up. You both waved at the couple you had made friends with, before thanking the instructor and making your way out the door. You shook your head as he opened your car door for you. "Really, Harry?" you sighed as he got in and buckled his seatbelt. "What if the baby gets stuck?" "Hey, it's a valid question!" He defended himself as he backed out of the parking spot. "You heard her. It's a question that many new parents have." You shook your head again, but didn't say anything back. You did feel a little bad for him. The video had been slightly disturbing, even for you. And you already knew exactly how it was going to go. "Well, thank you for making me go to that," you said. "I do feel more prepared now." "Me too," he smiled. "And I feel better knowing that I'm better than those other dads there." "It's not like it's a competition," you laughed. "No, not a competition, I just can't let them win." "Right, makes sense." He nodded. "But really, I'm so excited. I can't wait to meet our little baby." "I know, I can't either," you smiled, resting your hands on your belly again. "She hears you talking. She's kicking like earlier." "Is she? She's excited to meet me too." "She is," you agreed. "We're going to be the best parents. But first, we need to get McDonald's. She's telling me that's what she wants." "Oh, is she?" He smiled as he got into the turn lane for the restaurant. "Well, who am I to deny what my baby wants?"

#harry styles #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n fanfiction #harry styles x reader fanfiction #harry styles/reader #harry styles/y/n #harry styles/reader fanfiction #harry styles/y/n fanfiction #dad!harry #stevie #stevie fics #one direction #one direction fanfiction

336 notes · View notes

noladyme · 4 years ago

Text

Chess. Chapter 6

Y/N never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. She only took what she needed, or what she felt others needed. She’d stayed out of sight for a long time, avoiding anything that could get her in to too much trouble. But for some reason Rick Flag shows up in her life, and in an instant, everything changes.

TW: Violence, language, sexual themes, blood

(This story is obviously non-canon, i.e. Diablo and GQ, but I hope you’ll enjoy it either way. Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list.)

“St. Roch, Louisiana. We’re staying in our own backyard”. Flag was reading from a tablet; as we were taken through a long hallway, leading from the cellblock, to what seemed to be a large garage.

I had a guards pistol aimed at me, as it’s owner followed my every move, with cold eyes.

I had spent the rest the day before, trying to wrap my mind around my new situation.

I was officially a prisoner at Belle Reve – a high security penitentiary, in the sweatiest asscrack of the Louisiana swamps. I was there for the kidnapping and assault of judge Jeremiah Kelper.

The assault and maiming had been of such a horrible nature, that I was committed to this facility, without trial. My conviction was a formality, as I apparently confessed to the guards of Belle Reve, the night of my arrival.

I was to serve life, without parole.

There was no mention of the incident in Wayne Tower in my file.

Unofficially, I was the newest member of Task Force X, a top-secret group of meta-humans, and people with exceptional skills, required to complete missions of a classified nature.

These individuals also happened to all be convicted felons, and the scum of the earth.

There was Floyd Lawton; a.k.a. Deadshot. The man who never missed a shot. During dinner – sloppy joes, yum… – he’d shown me a picture of a cute 8 year old girl, who had his eyes.

“She’s a bit older now, writes me every day. She just got an A on her biology report!”, he’d exclaimed proudly. It was clear Floyd loved his daughter, more than anything.

Killer Croc – Waylon Jones. He was huge, terrifying; and made me feel safer than I had in weeks, just by his presence. Croc – as he insisted on being called – had won me over, by calling me cher’.

I’d talked to him about Sammy, and recounted some of the trucker stories he’d told me.

After Croc’d told me he’d once eaten a truckdriver, he said: “I’m glad it wasn’t your boss. He seems like a decent guy”.

I’d been surprised by the gentle and kind demeanor of Chato Santana; or, Diablo, as they called him. I’d seen a videoclip on the news once, of him torching a group of inmates at a prison he was held at. I thought he’d be a hothead – pun intended – but he turned out to be calm and remorseful about his violent past.

Harley. Now, she was a different story. She was about as calm as a puppy on poppers. She also seemed to have no remorse for anything she’d done, as the sidekick and girlfriend of the Joker. I was equal parts terrified and enthralled by her person.

She’d spent most of the rest of the day, singing lullabies to a picture of a hyena, and doing her nails. Once, she’d disappeared for about an hour, before returning to her former activities, with a satisfied smile plastered over her pretty face.

We soon discovered what Harley had been doing, when the napping Digger Harkness – Captain Boomerang, the australian – suddenly screamed; jumping up and down, scratching at his body.

“Ants! Bloody fire ants!”, he’d yelped with a shrill voice; running towards the bathroom.

He’d returned a while later, shaking his coat, and sending the giggling Harley a deadly look. His arms and neck were covered in tiny and angry red welts; that he’d scratched at for the rest of the day.

This was my new family. I was very aware that none of us had chosen to be here, but it seemed that we were all determined to make the best of it, until such an opportunity arose, that we’d be able to leave.

Apparently, Harley had tried to run multiple times – even having made it back to the Clown; and stayed of the grid for a few months, before arriving back at Belle Reve, with a pair of roller skates, and a taxidermized beaver.

I didn’t know when or if I’d be able to escape; so for now, I decided to settle in.

---

In the middle of the large garage stood a helicopter the size of a tank. In front of it stood six crates; each of our names written on the side of one of them.

The rest of the squad seemed to know the procedure. They opened their crates, and dug through them. Flag paced back and forth in front of us, carrying a machinegun.

“You know the deal”, he hollered. “Three weapons. Two ranged, one for close combat. Croc and Diablo, you are both the exceptions”. No weapons for them, I guessed.

“Oy, colonel”, Digger called.

“No, Digger”, Flag answered, before the aussie had a chance to ask. “Boomerangs do not count as close range, though they can be used as such. You bring two. No more”. Digger cursed under his breath.

They’d all been through this before. I couldn’t help but feel like it was the first day of school, and that I’d forgotten my backpack at home.

“You alright?”, Floyd asked from behind me.

“Yeah”, I answered. “It’s just…new. How do you do this? How do you work for these people, who treat you like shit, and then demand that you risk your lives for them?”. I bent to open my crate, and started going through the equipment in it.

“Look”, said Floyd. “Ain’t none of us here who wants to be here. Except for maybe Harley”, he smiled, and looked at the person in question.

She was swinging an oversized fairground hammer, almost knocking over a soldier who was busy checking out her ass.

“We do this, because we have to, for one reason or another”. He looked at me seriously. “I’m here for my little girl. Every time I finish one of these missions, I’m one step closer to seeing her again; and to show her that her daddy’s not a monster”.

I pulled out my jacket, stood up, and looked at it.

“You find whatever reason you need to do this, but make sure it’s important enough, not just to survive for, but to live for”, Floyd finished, patted my shoulder, and walked away.

I sighed and returned to my crate. I had no idea what in my life was important enough to live for at this point.

I didn’t have a family to protect or impress. That had all ended after Hatter had entered my life.

Sammy… he was a friend, but he’d be better of if I didn’t return. Ever.

That left my cats. But they were fine where they were.

So what?

I was interrupted in my train of thought by Flag, who suddenly appeared next to me.

“Hey. You need to get ready. Liftoff in 10”.

“Sir, yes, sir”, I retorted, and rolled my eyes.

I went behind a tall crate to change into my outfit. Leggings, top, boots, jacket; and finally, my claws. I tested the knives once, against the crate in front of me, carving through the thin metal easily.

Retracting the claws, I went to join the others.

Flag stopped me before I had a chance to enter the chopper with the rest of the crew.

“One last thing, Chess”, he said, and pulled out a strange looking harness, made out of some synthetic material and wires.

“What’s that?”, I asked, skeptically.

“This is an armed device, that will explode, should you decide to… smile, without being ordered to do so, by myself”.

I looked him, dumbfounded. “You’re gonna blow me up if I go invisible?”, I guffawed.

“No”, he answered. “I’ll blow that nano-bomb in your neck if you try to run away. This device will explode on it’s own, whenever its sensors recognize that you are using your powers”.

I shook my head, confused.

“If I’m not here to do that, then why am I here?”.

Flag used a strange key to unlock the harness.

“After what happened yesterday…” he started. I interrupted him.

“You mean when I didn’t run away?”, I spat.

He was unmoved by my exclamation.

“After what happened yesterday”, he repeated, “Waller seems to think it would be better if I take control of when you should… do your thing. You’ll be able to make things you touch invisible, as usual; but you cannot disappear yourself”.

He held up the newest addition to my outfit, to let me put it on.

“From now on, you will be wearing this whenever you are not in your cell. I can disarm the device at any time, for as long as I deem necessary”.

I stepped back, shaking my head.

“No”.

Flag frowned.

“Put it on”, he said, a slight edge to his voice.

“No”, I repeated, and crossed my arms in front of me.

Flag exhaled through his nose.

“Put it on, or I’ll put it on you myself”, he growled. I tilted my head, and raised my eyebrows at him.

“Is that a promise?”, I asked.

He raised his chin, and looked down at me.

“I can have one of GQs men do it”.

I ripped the harness from his hands, and begun to put it on; trying to figure out where each strap was supposed to go.

There were two straps, one going over each shoulder. One strap went around my torso, from my back to my front. Holding it all together, was one last strap, starting from my back, going down between my legs, and connecting with the others, on the middle of my chest.

Flag grabbed the straps in front of me, connecting them to a round disc, with a small red light in the middle. He tightened the harness as much as he could, making me bump against him; and locked the disc with the key.

“You go invisible; you die. You try to take it off; you die. You even think of trying to steal the key, guess what…”.

“I die?”, I jestered.

“You die”, he answered.

I tried to move around in the strange contraption.

“How am I supposed to pee in this?”, I asked angrily.

“We’ll climb that mountain when we get to it”, he answered, and turned his back to me, walking away.

“Old Fashioned”, I called after him. He turned around.

“What?”, he asked.

“If you’re gonna ride me this hard, it’s only polite to buy me a drink”, I said; turned my back to him, and walked away to join the squad.

---

Landing in St. Roch, our first destination was an old gas station just outside of town. It was abandoned by its owners; probably due to the explosions going off less than a mile away.

“You have your orders”, Flag called. “We go in discretely, locate our target, and take them out”.

“It’s probably going to be more complicated than that”, Diablo muttered next to me. Croc growled in agreement.

“You know, Flag, we’d probably be even more discrete, if you didn’t have Y/N here tied up like a Christmas ham”, Floyd smirked at him.

Flag frowned.

“This is Chess’ first mission. Let her find her legs before we throw her into it”, he said. “Let’s head out!”.

“Someone’s got a crush”, Harley said in a singsong voice, skipping past me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”, I asked.

Digger chuckled, and followed her.

“She means, he wants a gander at your map of Tassie”, he winked back at me, and took a swig of the can of beer he’d taken from one of the fridges in the small store.

I shook my head, and feeling a machinegun between my shoulders – I was just thrilled that the Tweedles had joined us on this little fieldtrip – I followed the rest of the group.

Sneaking past a checkpoint – Floyd taking out the inhabitants from afar – we made our way downtown.

I heard crying from behind a dumpster, and stopped to see what it was. A young woman was hiding behind it; shaking in fear.

“Are you ok?”, I asked, reaching a hand towards her.

“Chess!”, Flag called, from a few yards away. “Get your ass over here”.

“She might need help”, I said, and stepped towards the crying woman.

She recoiled from my touch.

“No! Please leave me alone!”, she cried.

Floyd came up behind me.

“She’s afraid of us, Chess”, he said. “Just leave her alone”. He went back to the group, who continued down the street, leaving me alone with Flag and the terrified woman.

I backed away from her, a lump in my throat. Turning around, I walked up to Flag, trying desperately to hold back tears. Behind me, I heard the woman get up, and run down the street, away from us.

I looked up at Flag.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her”, I said quietly.

“I know”, he said shortly. “But she doesn’t”. He made to touch my shoulder; but changed his mind, straightened his back, and turned around.

“Let’s go, kitten”.

We joined the others.

“That was quick”, Harley smiled. “It’s ok, colonel. It happens to all men”.

“Lady, I will rip your pigtails off with my bare hands”, he growled at her, stomping to the front of the group.

“Never happened to me”, Croc winked at Harley, who beamed back at him.

Another checkpoint. Digger took care of this one.

Huddling up behind a couple of cars, we finally saw our target. A lieutenant of Ra’s Al Ghul, who had been stirring up trouble, laying the groundwork for a new stronghold for his master. They had chosen to set up shop in the town square; having tied up a group of around 10 hostages to a statue in the middle.

Flag started barking orders in a hushed voice.

“Alright. Floyd, you got the roofs. Keep in radio contact”. It was clear he trusted Floyd more than the rest of the group.

“Croc, see that van? Make sure anyone in it, and in the immediate vicinity of it, don’t have the chance to warn the target”. Croc went down on all fours, and disappeared into a nearby shrubbery.

“Diablo and Digger. I want you on each side of that building. If they do spot us; I want you to bottleneck them into that alley”, he said, pointing in the direction he meant. “GQ, you and your men join them. One on the flame, two on boomer”. Digger scoffed at the nickname.

“Harley; I want you… actually you just do whatever it is you do, without giving the rest of us away”, he sighed at her.

“Sure thing, boss”, she mock-saluted him. “Go team!”.

“You got your orders. Go!”, he finished; and the group scattered, each to their assigned positions.

“What am I supposed to do?”, I asked, feeling slightly left over.

“You stay on me”, he answered, and looked through his binoculars.

A few minutes went by. Hearing a growl from the direction of Crocs assigned post, I saw blood spatter on the inside of the windows of the van.

I heard Harleys voice yelling; “Batter up!”, followed by a clank and a loud scream.

Some of the lieutenants soldiers began scrambling.

“Goddamnit, Quinn!”, Flag cussed. “You! Stay here!”, he growled at me, and ran in the direction of Harleys voice, leaving behind his binoculars. I picked them up, and looked through them.

In the square, the soldiers were rigging up chains and wires around the hostages. Connected to the wires were multiple red sticks I recognized from movies I’d seen. Dynamite.

I looked in the direction Flag had gone. He and Harley were arguing quietly behind a bus.

I looked back at the town square. Our target was walking back and forth in front of the hostages, ranting about something I couldn’t make out.

I tried zooming in with the binoculars. Military tech for the win, I thought, and looked through them again.

In his hand, the lieutenant was holding what seemed to be a tablet. Large numbers read 5:00. The bastard walked up to a teenage boy, who had a stick of dynamite strapped to his chest. He put his hand on his cheek, and said something to him, that made the boy break down in tears. He then pressed a button on the screen. The numbers began to count down.

4:59.

4:58.

4:57…

Fuck!, I thought, and threw the binoculars on the ground.

Reminded of my harness, I rolled my eyes. Ok. So I couldn’t smile. But I did know how to move quietly and quickly. I pulled up my hood, and closed my jacket.

I snuck forward. I heard a gunshot and a grunt behind me, and looked back; seeing an enemy soldier on the ground, a bullet hole right between his eyes. Thanks, Floyd, I smiled up at the roof of a nearby building, seeing Deadshots white hood disappear back into the darkness.

I moved forward again, hiding behind a truck. A stone landed on the ground next to me; and looking in the direction of the thrower, I saw Flag waving at me.

“Get back!”, he mouthed at me angrily. I shook my head, and looked towards the hostages. Continuing forward, I suddenly heard a beep. Looking down, I saw the light on the disc on my chest turn from red to green.

Looking back at Flag – his wrist raised, pushing some buttons on what looked like a watch – I smirked, and nodded at him. Thanks, I thought.

A purr moving through my body; I smiled.

Readying my claws, I ran towards the square. A soldier looked in my direction, having heard my movement, but unable to see me. Oops. Quietly now, I thought, and scaled a car next to him, making as little sound as I could.

I saw Digger and the Tweedles running towards a group of soldiers exiting a building. They finished them of quickly, but not before having drawn enough attention to make the lieutenant aware of their presence.

He yelled something I couldn’t I understand, and dropped the tablet he had been holding.

Gunfire sounded, and I ran faster, making my way to the group of hostages.

I reappeared, startling a few of the hostages who screamed at me.

Picking up the tablet from the ground, I desperately began pushing the screen, trying to make the countdown stop.

2:35.

2:34.

2:33…

There was no way I could stop the detonation.

I spun around, ran to the statue, and began pulling at the wires.

“You’ll make it go off!”, the teenage boy from before shouted at me.

I ran to the back of the statue, finding a simple lock, holding together the two ends of the chain intertwined with the wires.

This I can handle, I smiled, and got out my kit.

I managed to break two of the lockpicks, my hands shaking from the stress of the situation. I looked at the tablet on the ground.

1:01.

1:00.

0:59…

Taking a deep breath, I gave it one more try. Please, please, please!.

The lock opened.

I grabbed one end of the chain, and ran with it around the statue, releasing the hostages. The teenage boy carefully pulled at the tape that held the stick of dynamite to his chest, and put the red stick gingerly on the ground.

“Thanks!”, he smiled at me, and ran. I smiled after him.

An elderly woman was having trouble keeping up with the others.

0:37.

0:36.

0:35…

“Just go on”, she yelled at me.

“No!”, I answered, and ran to put her arm around my neck. Stumbling a few steps forward, the woman was suddenly lifted from the ground, screaming, as Croc – with a smile plastered across his gruesome face – ran to safety, the old woman hanging over his shoulder.

We did it!, I thought, and went to run after him.

Someone grabbed my leg, holding me in place. Looking down, I saw the lieutenant – a gash across his face, and a gunshot to his chest – laughing up at me. His strong hands were holding on to my leg, making it impossible for me to move.

I looked towards the group waiting for me at a safe distance. The hostages were continuing down the street, running towards sirens and blinking lights.

0:15.

0:14.

0:13…

Flag screamed something at me, Edwards and his soldiers holding him back.

I yanked at my leg, desperately trying to get the dying man to let me go.

0:09.

0:08.

0:07…

I lifted my fist and screamed; cutting through my captors arm. He let go with a yelp; and I ran.

0:03.

0.02.

0:01…

0:00.....

Tag list:

@gloriousgam3r

@hyp-oh-critical

#rick flag #rick flag x reader #rick flag fic #rick flag imagine #suicide squad fic #suicide squad imagine #deadshot #harley quinn

87 notes · View notes

mini-moongi · 5 years ago

Text

Notification [REVAMPED] || 1

Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Story prompt: What if you got an alert on your phone every time someone thought of you? They tell you their thoughts in the form of text messages.

Summary: Alert!AU, School!AU; A mysterious app appeared on your phone and you can’t get rid of it?? It texts you people’s thoughts. One day, you accidentally send the star basketball player, Min Yoongi, to the nurse’s office.

A/N: I got the sudden urge to revamp this old fic of mine bc it has SO MUCH POTENTIAL I just sucked at writing :,)) Anyways it’s been a good few years since my last written fanfic so--

Chapters: 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 coming soon!

series masterlist

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You tapped tirelessly on your phone; your eyes so dry you can hear yourself blink. It’s 3 am and you have school tomorrow, but you just have to download this new album you found whilst “studying.” After it finishes loading into your playlist, a notification popped up. You thought that maybe your years of illegally downloading music has finally caught up with you.

“ALERT: Unauthorized app: E C H O downloaded. [ERROR_606_RESET] LOG DELETED.”

You panicked, what if it’s a virus?? Going onto your home screen, you find an app called E C H O. Nothing else was out of the ordinary, except for the cryptid new app. After that fateful night, you’ve learned that it texts you the thoughts that people have about you. You couldn’t delete it, no matter how hard you tried, and you tried for weeks. Not many people think of you anyways, so it’s no biggie.

Thinking that was your first mistake.

Your friend, Byeol, was chasing you down the hallway with a dead roach she found on the floor. “Ew look, it’s guts are oozing out!!” She’s never been afraid of icky things, and will not hesitate in poking a dead organism with her bare hands. She’s a madman, and she knows you’re about to gag when she squeezes the guts of the roach between her fingers.

You’re running away from the horrifically explicit roach Byeol is holding, and as you turn your head to spew out an insult, you crash into another body. It sends you tumbling on top of them with no support to stop the fall. He lets out a deep guttural groan from the impact, and a loud “Fuck!” escapes the stranger’s lips.

Bumping into him was your second mistake.

You don’t even look at them, too scared to make eye contact as you blurt out,” I’m so sorry!!” You hastily try to recollect yourself and offer your hand to the poor victim. When you finally glance at him, you almost freeze up. You just whammed yourself into the school’s best basketball player, Min Yoongi™.

Min Yoongi is one of the seven guys at the top of the High School tier class. Some fan club even started the name, “Bangtan Boys” to address the seven handsome guys. He’s an excellent pianist, a fantastic composer, a basketball star, and unmistakably a bad boy. Guys and girls swoon over him, but he’s given them all the the cold shoulder. You recalled a friend of yours who said that his glare was so piercing, you literally feel your body tense and freeze up. You also happen to remember that he had to sit out on the last basketball game because he sprained his ankle. Ouch.

You look back over your shoulder, and of course, Byeol was pretending not to know who you were. She picked up conversation with a nearby stranger, hoping that they didn’t see the cause of this destruction. You didn’t blame her though, no one wants to get on Yoongi’s bad side. You were sure your phone had a ton of messages from ECHO, even though you’ve put it on “Do Not Disturb.”

Your guilt sinks in and it weighs heavy on your shoulders at the thought of you being the reason he’s in pain. “..Are you alright? Here, let me take you to the nurse.” You help him up and wrap his arm around your shoulder. “You can lean on me, it’s okay.” On the inside, it was definitely not okay. He accepted your offer, but he hasn’t said a single word to you this whole time. The air was thick and the silence was fueling your uneasiness.

You check him into the nurse’s office and explain the incident. Good thing it’s your lunch period, or your teacher would’ve chewed you out for being late. You check ECHO while the lady logs Yoongi into the records.

[11:37pm] Woah!! Did that girl just slam into Min Yoongi? She’s got balls..

[11:37pm] Should I pretend I don’t know her? Y/n will forgive me, right?

[11:38pm] What the fuck was that??? Why am I on the floor? And in pain??

[11:45pm] ...now what am I going to do? Who is she?

The nurse lady sets him up on one of those bed thingies, and you take this opportunity to apologize again. “I’m so sorry Yoongi, I should’ve been paying attention. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just let me know.” The desperation must’ve been obvious in your voice.

“...What’s your name?” Yoongi stares at you. His eyes don’t waver when you look at him in surprise. He stays unmoving, waiting for your answer.

“My name? Oh, uhm... it’s Y/n. L/n Y/n,” You were not expecting a response from him, since he seemed uninterested when you tried conversing earlier. Yoongi asking for someone’s name is considered to be something really honorable; people would pay anything to have him say that to them. But then again, they would also pay Yoongi to step on them...

“I have a request for you then, Y/n.” He lulls his head to the side, thinking his decision over. “I want you to...” He looks at you with a gaze that you just can’t shake. Your breath is caught in your throat at his stare. What is he going to say? “Be my substitute.”

“Like a substitute teacher? I’m sorry but--” You try to quickly intervene. Does he think you’re an old hag?? You didn’t think you looked that old.. or maybe he means something else? “Or did you mean a substitute as in like for your basketball game because I don’t even know how to play basketball I just--”

“No, calm your tits. I meant you’ll act as my replacement for school and go where I usually go. I need you to be my eyes and ears while I’m stuck here and at home.” He draws out a long sigh,” You just need to collect my assignments and give them to me everyday after school until I get better. If you can, fill me in on what that day was like. It’s not that hard to do, right?”

You let out a sigh of relief. Just then, you hear a knock at the door. Three boys shuffle into the clinic, giving a casual greeting to the nursing staff. Your eyes widen, how could you forget? Of course the other Bangtan Boys would come check up on him. Kim Taehyung, Park jimin, and Jung Hoseok smile to acknowledge you and turn their eyes to Yoongi.

“Are you alright?” Hoseok asks him. He’s bubbling with energy as he speaks. “We were wondering where you went. I almost had a heart attack when they said you were here!!” Hoseok grabs at his chest like he’s in more pain than Yoongi.

Jung Hoseok is known for his positive energy and “legendary” hip work. He’s a street dancer who knows everybody, and everybody knows him. He’s also in medical class for vets, and he does charities in his free time. He’s super sweet and will sometimes send flowers to the fan club.

“Are you still eating lunch with us?” Jimin pipes up. He’s leaning on the nursing bed as he drapes himself dramatically across Yoongi’s shoulders. He whines,”What will we do without you? Please tell me you’re eating with us today..”

Park Jimin is also a dancer, but he does contemporary work. When he dances, he’s graceful, like a mythical creature. He’s shy and shorter than the rest of the guys, which makes people want to dote on him. If he dances with Hoseok though, he flips like a coin. He’ll act like a playboy and tease his audience when given the chance.

“Yah, You know I can’t.” Yoongi gestures to his ankle, and his inability to move due to the immense pain. “The nurse said I should stay in here for at least an hour or two.”

You don’t know if you should leave or stay. You were about to excuse yourself because your conversation with Yoongi ended a while ago. You shouldn’t expect them to talk to you when they don’t know who you are or why you’re there. You pick up your bag and sling it over your shoulder.

Taehyung mentions you, stopping you from escaping so easily. “Who is that?” He points to you. Leave it to Taehyung to point out the elephant in the room...

He’s popular for his charming personality and ethereal looks. Taehyung is in agriculture, and he often helps Hoseok out with the animals. He plays the saxophone, which combined with theatre class, drives the fans nuts. Taehyung also seems to be super observant, and he will point out small details other people seem to miss. If he was doing a police report, he’d probably be able to tell you the exact time the incident happened and what colored crocs the perpetrator was wearing.

As if Yoongi just remembered that you were still here, he makes another request.” Oh, as the new Yoongi, can you also keep an eye on these guys? They’ll cause chaos if I’m not there.”

“New Yoongi?” Jimin looks incredulously at you. “What do you mean--”

Yoongi retorts,” She’s my stand in, my understudy, my alternative, my stunt double, ecetera. Need I say more?” His cold demeanor doesn’t hesitate with the response. He talks as if it was a natural request, but what part of this is natural?

"How would I...” You trail off. You find yourself stammering, unable to voice your concerns. All of the guys, attractive ones at that, were staring at you.”..How would I even do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? For starters, we all have the same lunch period, so just eat lunch with them or something.” Yoongi shrugs his shoulders,” Do I need to plan everything out for you?”

You’re quick to object,” No!! I’m.. I’m fine. It’s okay.” It’s bad enough that he’s injured, so you shouldn’t worry Yoongi anymore.

Taehyung’s eyes light up. He speaks as if he had a eureka moment. “We have the same forensics class, don’t we? No wonder I recognized you..” You were really hoping he wouldn’t have remembered that. If people see you hanging around these guys, they’ll get the wrong idea.

“Well I guess that settles it. I’ll sit next to you in class, and we can be partners for that new project he’s assigning.” He takes you by the hand. His touch was so sudden and warm that it takes you a minute to realize you’re in the cafeteria already. He looks down at you and smiles. “This is our spot.”

Only when you part from him to grab your bag that you realize he held your hand this entire time. You start to miss his warmth, but you shake out any of those thoughts from your head. What were you thinking? Your heart pounds in your chest, and your cheeks grow hot. You breathe out a shaky breath, trying to calm down. Anyone would feel this way if they were you. You go from being an average joe to suddenly sitting next the the Bangtan Boys? It’s almost like you’re in a fanfiction. You shouldn’t fall in love with one of them, that would be too cliché and very, very dangerous.

You finished settling down your things and find that Taehyung was still waiting for you. Hoseok already rushed to the pizza line, and Jimin was swarmed by girls who made him bento boxes. He smiles politely to them all, unsure of how to decline. His eyes glance at you like a plead for help, but a girl starts to scold him so he looks away.

“What did you want to eat? Noodles?” It was pretty loud in the cafeteria, so Taehyung walked closer. He leaned down and whispered in your ear. “..Or do you want to eat me?” His hot breath tickled your ear. It was a deep and husky voice, one that sent shivers down your spine.

Shocked at his words, you jumped back. “W..What?” You never thought Taehyung was so bold. You’ve heard of him being flirty, but this was cutting it close. It was like dirty talking, but you’ve barely met him!!

He tried to suppress his laugh as he looked at you. “I said: Or do you want to eat meat?” He raises an eyebrow at you. He knows you’re flustered, and feigns innocence. “There’s a rice with two meat deal today. What did you think I said?”

You could’ve sworn he said “me” and not “meat,” but maybe you were thinking into it too much. You decided which one you wanted and Taehyung walks to the line with you. Whilst waiting for your turn, you check ECHO.

It was what you expected. Many of them were like:

[12:03pm] Wtf??? Who is that girl?

[12:03pm] Is she their girlfriend? No-- it has to be a cousin, right? But she’s so plain looking...

[12:04pm] Why is she holding Kim Taehyung’s hand? Don’t tell me--

[12:05pm] Y/n?? What did that girl do now.. ((((゜д゜;))))

Oh yeah, you should probably tell Byeol that you kind of have to sit with Bangtan during lunch now. Good to know that everyone is gawking at you now, I guess. There are hundreds of messages screaming about “who is that girl!1!1!!!!” so you scroll past most of them. One however, catches your eye.

[12:10pm] She’s so cute lol

You don’t think ECHO has ever sent you a compliment like this before. Someone thinks you’re cute? The thought warms your heart. This is the first time you’ve had an admirer.

“Hey, what are you looking at on your phone?” Taehyung rips you to reality. “How do you have so many messages?” He starts to lean over your shoulder to get a glimpse.

Antsy, you turn off your phone and press your hand to his chest to give some distance. “It’s.. It’s my online friends! They wanted to play the new game with me.”

He stands back up, no longer breathing on your neck. “Oh? The one that was released just last week? What was it called...” He ponders for a minute,” Animal Crossing?”

You nod. Conversation starts from there, and you let out that breath you’ve been holding in. You both pay for your meals and head over to the table. You could see Hoseok stuffing his face with pizza and sprite while he scribbles down answers to a worksheet. Jimin is desperately trying to get him to eat some of the bento boxes, but all of his attempts were futile.

“...So I know you’re the New Yoongi or whatever, but what’s your real name?” Hoseok asks you. “If you don’t know me already, I’m Jung Hoseok, but you can call me Hobi!”

Jimin and Taehyung look at each other. You hadn’t even thought to introduce yourself earlier, how much more embarrassing can this day be? Quick, be cool!!

“I’m L/n Y/n, but just Y/n is fine.”

“You probably know us already, but you can call me Tae or any various nickname you can conjure up,” He laughs,” The more creative the better.”

Jimin nudges his shoulder,” Like Spoiled Yogurt Kid?” It’s hard for the smaller one to contain his laughter.

“It was one time!!” Taehyung playfully shoves him away, clearly embarrassed. “It’s not my fault my sleep paralysis demon told me to eat the 3 month old yogurt at like 2 am.” He grumbled,”Ugh, it’s not like I tell everyone about your weird impulses..”

You couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. Hobi notices and adds fuel to the fire,”Yeah, get a load of this guy. He’s blaming all of his mistakes on his sleep paralysis demon. Poor demon, honestly.”

Jimin continues to mock Taehyung teasingly, getting him worked up.“You know what??” Taehyung growls as he whips his head around to face you. His soft brown hair falls over his eyes, and his jaw is clenched as he looks at you with an emotion you can’t quite read. His face is flushed, but he tilts his head up in a cool manner. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was serving up some bedroom eyes.

He runs his fingers through his hair and speaks with a voice that oozes sex appeal without meaning to,“If you don’t know what to call me, just say Oppa.” Taehyung’s eyes widen as if he realized what came out of his mouth. He covers his lips with the palm of his hand and instinctively looked at how you’d react.

It was your turn to flush from embarrassment. Before your brain could process what just happened, the words croak out,”..o..okay?”

Hobi is choking on his sprite,”Damn, what the--” He continues to try and suppress his coughs,” Who the hell taught you that? Namjoon? Jin?” Hoseok shakes his head in disappointment. You thought it was because he ruined his drink, but then he said,” Ah, I told them to stop doing stuff like that.. If Yoongi were here he probably wouldn’t even know how to scold you.”

Jimin’s mouth is agape in shock. He suddenly doubles over the table, unable to contain the fit of laughter inside of him. “Wha- that was so smooth!” He’s holding onto his stomach for dear life, and his shoulders shake up and down. He gives suggestive eyebrows to Taehyung, whose ears are scorching red. “I didn’t know Taehyung was such a player.”

Taehyung is trying to hide himself with the sleeves of his hoodie. He’s silent at first, but eventually he speaks barely above a whisper. “...I don’t know what came over me..” His words tremble and tread lighter than a feather so scared it might step on another bomb.

"Was it your sleep paralysis demon?” You make a witty remark despite the blush dusted across your face.

Tae sinks farther into his chair,” Oh my god...” He can’t help but laugh a little at your joke. “..Please forget about what I said today.”

Jimin’s laughter dies down as he looks at you. His smile is soft and reassuring. “Don’t worry, Y/n. He’s usually not like this. I swear, we’re all gentlemen.” The bell suddenly rings, signaling that lunch was over. Jimin starts to clean up his spot, stuffing the unfinished bentos into his bag for later. “Ah, Taehyung, you’re saved by the bell this time, but next time you have got to show me some moves.” He winks before leaving for his next class.

Hoseok waves to you and Taehyung,” I’d walk with you two if I could, but my next class is across campus. I gotta dash, but good luck with Forensics!”

You’d almost forgotten about Forensics with Taehyung. Unfortunately, Tae seems to stay unmoving from his spot. You would be like that too if you were him, but you really can’t be late for class. It’s better if you approach him now rather than later, so it’s not as awkward during class.

“Hey...” You start out. He doesn’t respond as his head is till buried in his arms. You hesitate at first, but you put your hand on his shoulder. “...Taehyung Oppa?”

Immediately he shoots up, his eyes are wide and he’s as stiff as a board. He brushes your hand softly away and grabs his bag. He avoids your gaze as he packs up, but he returned his gaze when you started walking in the hallway. His eye’s remain forward, but he speaks to you,“...I didn’t think you’d actually call me that.” He chuckles.

“Oppa?”

He rubs his hand across his face and he licks his lips,” Yeah, that.” He sneaks a glance at you, but since you were already looking at him, he turns his face away.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

-A/N-

oof it’s been AGES since my last bts fic. If y’all are following me bc of my text au, I’m going to try and update that soon too! I... did not expect to have such a flirtatious Taehyung,, but honestly I’m kinda into it. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

74 notes · View notes

alittlefoxedup · 5 years ago

Text

An Unexpected Reunion p2

Hey, sorry this is late, but I totally decided to do this whole week thing last minute. I have no idea how to link posts, but I come bringing fluff.

Day 2: Omega and pup

Jason held his phone between his cheek and shoulder. He hadn’t been able to sleep knowing this call was coming. Damian only managed to call once a month. The family didn’t know, and Jason wasn’t sure how Damian was keeping it a secret. It didn’t matter as long as he kept calling.

Damian chattered away about the dog Bruce had gotten him and other important issues of eleven year olds. Titus was apparently smarter than his classmates, and Tim was sighing just to annoy Damian. His nonstop talking always rolled back around to the dog though.

Arms wrapping around his waist scared Jason more than he’d ever admit. He managed to keep his mouth shut even though Roy deserved to be chewed out. He’d been very touchy the past couple of weeks. Three missions and four months under the same roof must be when Roy gets comfortable with someone. Jason wasn’t fighting it, but he didn’t understand. Was it just how Roy was or something more?

“Ahki? Is something wrong?”

“I’m still here. I was just trying not to burn breakfast.”

Roy took the spatula out of Jason’s hands and spun him away from the slightly crisp pancakes. The shooing motion was understood but not followed. Jason couldn’t get his brain to move past Roy not wearing a shirt. His scent mixed with the pancakes and bacon was not something Jason wanted to move away from.

The smirk and eyebrow wiggling quickly changed Jason’s mind. Jason refused to boost Roy’s ego. He sat down at the island and only watched Roy’s back muscles a little bit. Jason wasn’t going to mess up his call just because Roy wanted attention.

“Mother said you’ve been working with someone.” Damian was good at asking questions without actually asking a question. It had taken Jason a month to teach him to not outright demand answers.

“Yeah, I am. I’m busy when she’s free and vise versa so she hasn’t gotten to meet him yet.”

“I doubt he is worthy of your time.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “We’ve talked about this. You don’t get to decide who I hang out with.”

“Mother says he’s an alpha. He will pursue you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You are a qualified omega.”

“Qualified?”

“Yes. You have learned how to manage a household and defend it. You are not unattractive.”

“That’s so sweet.” Jason bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“It is the truth. Only the best alpha should have the honor of courting you.”

Jason snorted. “Uh huh.”

“I am not being funny.”

“That’s why I’m laughing. I love the way you phrase things is all.”

“I don’t understand what you find so humorous. Your worth is not a laughing matter.”

“I know, I know. Dami, I know exactly what face your making when you say stuff like that. It’s really cute.”

Damian huffed. “I am not cute. Pennyworth will be here shortly. I will speak to you soon.”

“Bye, stay out of trouble.”

Roy set down a sizable stack of pancakes and two plates. He was still shirtless when he drowned his pancakes his syrup. Jason put a reasonable amount like a normal person and tried to ignore the fact that Roy was using the bars on his stool as a foot rest. Their legs were almost touching.

“So how’s the pup?”

“He thinks I’m a qualified omega.”

Roy choked and laughed at the same time. “Oh, yes. I’ve see your qualifications and concur. Smart, gorgeous, a good cook, gorgeous, and a badass.”

“You said gorgeous twice.”

“Because you’re extra pretty.”

“Shut up.” Jason felt heat rise to his face and tried to hide it.

Roy made a satisfied alpha noise that Jason didn’t know how to describe. “So damn pretty.”

Jason tried to ignore him and go about the rest of his day. Unfortunately, Roy had been turned into a lost puppy overnight and stayed close but strangely quiet. Having someone blatantly stare at him made reading and research difficult. That and Roy still refused to put on a shirt. The house was cool enough so Jason was sure Roy had motives but couldn’t figure them out.

“Why don’t you just go see him?” Roy took the laptop out of Jason’s hands as he finally settled on what he wanted to say.

“I told you I can’t. It was the last order he gave me. I’m sticking to it.”

“What if Talia ordered you to check on Damian?”

Jason furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”

“You said Talia was your mom so you’d have to listen to her even if it went against a certain asshole’s orders. It would be an exception that he doesn’t even have to know about even though I don’t think you should follow something so ridiculous.”

“That’s a poorly constructed loophole. Not happening.”

“He’d never know!”

“I would. I don’t want to do it.”

“Jay.” Roy leaned in and held Jason’s face in his hands. “You told me you missed Damian so much it hurts. A good alpha would never do something to bring pain to a pack member. He made it clear you’re not in his pack. You don’t have to listen to him. It’s not going to convince him you’re telling the truth.”

Jason couldn’t stop his whine as he tried to pull away.

“I know it hurts. You are the most selfless person I’ve met. You can be selfish for once. I hate seeing you suffer over this. I know Talia would be happy to help. We could make him think Damian’s visiting with Talia and maybe surprise Damian at the same time. That’d be fun, right babe?”

“Yeah, it would be, but it won’t work.”

“It will. Give me Talia’s number, and we’ll figure it out while you pack.”

“You mean go now?”

Roy nodded. “As soon as Talia can do it.”

Talia could be in Gotham in a week. Jason trusted Talia’s planning abilities but was skeptical of Roy’s. There had to be something in this for Roy. Just because Jason couldn’t figure out what it was didn’t mean it didn’t exist. There was no way Roy would risk running into Dick without a very good reason.

Roy was not going to be allowed to make hotel reservations ever again. Jason liked the distance from where Talia was staying, but he had concerns about their room. Roy had only gotten one room with one bed. The couch was obnoxiously small and looked uncomfortable. There were no excuses or explanations given. The only curtesy Jason received was Roy agreeing to wear pants.

It wasn’t even a king bed. Jason was painfully aware of all two inches that separated him from an alpha who was incredibly pleased with himself. The fact that one of them had to be the adult and it wasn’t Roy was the only thing that kept Jason from kicking him.

An hour of restlessness ended with Roy muttering under his breath. Jason lowered his guard to try to understand what Roy was saying and deeply regretted it. Roy wrapped his arms around Jason’s waist and pulled him against his chest. He threw one leg over Jason’s and started rumbling. Jason hated how much it worked but slept better than he had in a long time.

Jason left for Talia’s hotel room mid morning, grateful Roy hadn’t mentioned anything from the previous night. Being cuddled into submission was not something Jason had planned. Stupid alphas and their annoying good looks. Jason shook his head. He was there to see Damian not think about how tightly Roy held him. Hopefully, Roy wouldn’t get into too much trouble without him.

Talia let him in silently. Damian didn’t notice until the door closed. He stopped pulling out things from his backpack and froze for a second. Jason managed to slip off his jacket in time for Damian to practically leap into his arms. Damian smelled like Wayne Pack. Jason set about fixing that quickly.

After a quick greeting, Damian cut straight to the point. “Why do you let an alpha scent you?”

Jason ignored the pointed look from Talia. “He didn’t scent me. We were just in close quarters recently.”

“Why would you allow him to come with you?”

Jason didn’t have an answer. Roy could have easily stayed in their safehouse. Archers didn’t always make sense so Jason hadn’t thought much of it. It didn’t really matter as long as Roy didn’t get into any trouble. Jason just shrugged and steered Damian into talking about what he’d been up to.

The day ended too quickly. It had been fun and well needed. Talia brought only the best of nesting materials, and Damian showed off his artwork. Jason had managed to get Damian smelling like pack if only for a few moments. He couldn’t go home like that or Bruce would know or keep Talia away. It might have been overkill, but Jason felt better covering his tracks.

All that was left to do was fall into bed. The room was empty when he made it back before nightfall. Jason hoped Roy hadn’t slipped up. If he didn’t hear back in an hour, he’d check the closest bars. Roy would definitely sleep on the couch if Jason had to deal with entitled drunken alphas.

Halfway through getting ready for bed, Roy walked back in completely devoid of any scent with a ziplock bag of cookies. “How’d it go?”

“Good. What’d you do?”

“Went to talk with my sponsor.”

Jason cocked his head and leaned against the bathroom door frame. “I didn’t know Killer Croc was a baker.”

“Bet he only makes frog cakes. No, I needed to do something. Alfred gave them to me.”

“What did you do?”

Roy sighed and rubbed his face. “Nothing that could be possibly linked to you. I didn’t trust Dick not to spy on Damian so I distracted him. I don’t want to talk about it. I hope the cookies make up for the room thing. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

“You can’t just drop it at that.”

“You gonna tell me why you really saved me? If you get a secret, I get one to. I’ll tell you when I’m good and ready. Eat your damn cookies and let me sleep.”

The cookies tasted like home, but Roy’s arms felt like home.

#ojtw2020 #jayroy #jason todd #roy harper #omega!jason todd #alpha!roy harper #fic: an unexpected reunion

41 notes · View notes

fantasyfandommaiden · 5 years ago

Text

ML Counsellor AU: Talking with Jagged Stone

Not so much a session as two adults talking shop about mental health, akumas and the magic behind music.

[[MORE]]

Carmine sat in her office during lunch, with the door locked and the radio playing softly in her office as she updated her reports on various students, as well as some of profile on Hawkmoth. There was still not a lot of information to go on, which was frustrating, but unfortunately there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

She perked up slightly when she heard a familiar song come on the radio, smiling as she turned it up ever so slightly to hear it better. It was a classic Jagged Stone song from his first Album, and also one of Carmine’s favourites that she would often listen to, as well as any Jagged Stone song. She began to sing along softly to it as she typed away at her laptop, her work seeming slightly less tedious now.

Her enjoyment was short lived by a very loud, obnoxious knock at the door, causing Carmine to scowl slightly before sighing and turning down the volume as she stood up to open the locked door.

She opened the door, expecting a student, however instead of looking down like she expected she would have to do, she ended up looking up to see none other than Jagged Stone, looking at her and grinning widely.

“Hello!” He said in English, grinning widely “Your Miss. Regal right? The cool psychologist helping the akuma victims right? Was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk?”

Carmine stared at Jagged for a solid five seconds, her face completely neutral of any emotion before she said softly “Sorry, could you give me ten seconds please?” She asked, closing the door as Jagged look at her with a raised brow “Okay?”

Once the door was closed, Carmine’s face broke into a large, ecstatic smile asp Carmine jumped up and down, her arms flailing in excitement as she did everything in her power to not make a sound because ‘OMG JAGGED STONE IS HERE AND HE WANTS TO TALK TO, MY FAVOURITE ROCK STAR WANTS TO TALK TO ME, OH MY GAWD, OH MY GAWD!’

After exactly ten seconds Carmine open the door, the picture perfect image of calm as she smiled warmly at Jagged. “Sorry about that, come on in!”

Jagged smiled, gesturing beside him where Carmine looked and jumped back at the sight of a very large crocodile laying down beside Jagged. As the rockstar began to walk into the office, the crocodile did the same, Carmine looked at it cautiously, even pinching her arm to see if this was all a really bizarre dream.

She slowly walked over to her desk, looking at Jagged as he sat down on one of the chairs “Can I offer you some blackberry tea?” She asked, going straight to her tea shelf, looking at the different tins she had.

“If it’s not too much trouble.” The rockstar asked, looking around the room with mild interest. Fang, ever the loyal crocodile, lay beside Jagged, also lazily looking around.

Carmine took a deep breath, calming herself as she turned around and handed Jagged one of the mugs of tea. “I’ll have to admit Mr. Stone-“

“Jagged.” Jagged corrected her, smiling “Mister is so... dull and boring, not rock and roll you know?”

Carmine smiled “Than please call me Carmine, anyways, I have to say I am surprised by your visit Jagged. I was aware you were in Paris and knew about what happened the other day with you being Akumatized... but I didn’t know you knew of my exsistance.”

“Oh of course I did!” Jagged stated grinning “Marinette Dupain Chang mentioned you after she made me these awesome Eiffel Tower sunglasses! Said how you helped a lot of the kids around here and were a fan of mine!”

Carmine blinked, her cheeks becoming a soft pink colour “Um... I don’t see how she would know that-“

“Something about you singing to one of my songs really loudly hours after school was out or something.” Jagged said, sipping his tea “She promised me you would treat this conversation professionally however, which you are, which I greatly appreciate!”

Carmine felt her face become red hot, brining her tea cup up to sip her tea in a vain attempt to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure if she should chastised Marinette for revealing that little secret to someone or to thank her for arranging this. “I see, well I try to make it so that o remain professional well in my office.”

“That’s good! Isn’t that right Fang!” The rockstar said, looking down at the crocodile, who simply looked up at Jagged and gave a slight nod, and a yawn. “Anyways...” Jagged began “It all started with my lousy producer Bob and his usual antics...”

Jagged than regaled Carmine with the tale of what happened to cause him becoming Akumatized, leaving no detail out.

“I mean, he goes behind my back and had this awesome girl redo the album design because it’s not like his lousy sons band? Who does that? ALSO, she drew up two COMPLETELY different album covers, IN ONE DAY!” He said excitedly, almost bouncing in his seat “I’ll tell you, that girl is GOING places! She even found me these shades!”

Carmine smiles, an idea suddenly forming in her head as she smiled coyly “Oh, Marinette most likely made those actually. She wants to become a fashion designer.” Carmine said off handedly, sipping her tea.

Jagged blinked, looking at Carmine with a new found interest “She any good?”

“She won a hat design contest that was judged by Gabriel Agreste...” Carmine said slowly “And I know that all the art teachers rave about her work with fabrics and design.”

Jagged let out a soft hum, rubbing his chin as an idea slowly mulled over in his head “Hmm.... maybe I’ll ask to take a look at her designs next time I see her, she do commissions?”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask” Carmine stated, smiling “But back to the topic at hand... how do you feel after everything that happened?”

Jagged gave a nonchalant shrug “Honestly, after the whole thing, nothing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was confused as heck and pissed that I let some lame ass villain get the best of me, but hey, what can you do? At least I got to see Ladybug and Chat Noir in action, even if it was well beating me up.” He said, taking a sip of the tea.

Carmine’s pencil stopped mid sentence as she looked up at Jagged, blinking “... I’m sorry, what do you mean by that exactly?”

“The fight? It was spectacular! Don’t remember all of it, but bits and pieces are there.”

“... that’s... not possible.” Carmine stated slowly, looking at the rockstar “No one remembers anything after being Akumatized.”

Jagged looked at her with a neutral tone, giving a small shrug “Guess that just means I’m a special case, which makes sense. I am pretty awesome!”

Fang, who had been quiet for most of the conversation, gave a small rumble from his throat that almost sounded like laughter, Jagged looked down at the crocodile with a slight scowl “Oh quiet you!”

Carmine sat up a little straighter at the interaction, looking between Fang and Jagged, eyes narrowing slightly. Carmine tried to remember everything she knew about crocodiles from living in New Orleans for a few years during her childhood... one of which being they were unpredictable and made poor pets. She, however, knew of some mages who enjoyed having familiars that were on the more dangerous side for protection...

“... how long have you had Fang Jagged?” She asked slowly, looking at the croc.

Jagged looked up at the ceiling, letting out a soft hum “Since I was 15, when he hatched.” He said nonchalantly.

“Hatched or appeared?” Carmine asked, causing Jagged to freeze momentarily, the rockstar looking at her with a raised brow.

“When I was 13, my dog Gladiolus appeared before me, he’s a ferret now thought...” Carmine said to him in a hesitant tone, hoping beyond hope she was right.

“You don’t say...” Jagged said, looking the woman straight in the eyes.

The two adults sat there, starring at eachother for a solid thirty seconds, not saying anything, waiting to see who would make the next move.

Jagged broke the silence first “Anyone every question why you don’t buy your familiar food?”

Carmine let out a short laugh, grinning “No, only people who know I own a ‘ferret’ are my close friends, and I just say he likes to eat in private, I’m more curious how you convience your staff on why you have a crocodile that doesn’t eat!”

Jagged grinned widely “Oh, he eats fish and the like, so they leave it off. Fang prefers to be a crocodile is all, been like that ever since I first summoned him.”

“Ahh I see.” Carmine stated grinning “... this would explain why you remember bits and pieces, your magic must have been interfering with the akuma. Do you remember anything about Hawkmoth?”

Jagged frowned leaning back in his chair “Sadly no. Don’t even remember his voice or what he said to me sadly, which is weird since my entire magic DOMAIN is under music, yours?”

Carmine grinned “Equal parts creation, illusion and brewing. I specialize in ‘tea’ magic however.”

“Kitchen witch?”

“I loath the term but yes, the kitchen is my domain.” She said grinning as she sipped her tea “Do any of your staff know about you being a mage?”

“No... not yet anyways.” He said sighing “... I’m probably gonna tell Penny soon, she’s stayed around the longest of any of my previous managers and I’ve grown quite fond of her... however...”

Carmine looked at him, frowning slightly “... she isn’t a magic user is she?”

“Nope, not a drop of it. Unless you count her unnatural patience for my antics.” He said, letting out a small chuckle “Ah... still, she’s important to me, and I’ve known her for... God’s, almost seven years now, about time I told her.”

Carmine looked down at her tea as Jagged continued to speak, the blackberry liquid the same hue as her best friends hair, albeit without the red streak of colour in it. She’s known Nathalie nearly twelve years and hasn’t uttered a word to her yet, or any of her friends for that matter...

A loud ringtone brought Carmine out of her train of thought as Jagged brought out his cellphone answering it “Ello!” He said into the small device.

After a short conversation Jagged ended the call “That was Penny, reminding me of my recording session.” He said grinning “But I would love to come back and talk shop with you sometime! I haven’t spoken with another magic user that wasn’t some old bat in YEARS!” He exclaimed holding out a business card to Carmine.

Carmine gave a small grin, taking the business card from the rock star “Like wise Jagged, like wise.”

#ladybug au #ml au.#counsellor au #carmine regal #jagged stone #tea magic #carmine is a fangirl

71 notes · View notes

you-are-worth-the-wait · 5 years ago

Text

g’mornings Beautiful. i’m sure you’ve seen it. the advertisement for free crocs for healthcare workers? and i know i mentioned it and i’m thinking you are already good and on top of it, your nursing license.

so, looking at the picture you posted. i’m curious as to your take on it. who’s/what perspective are you looking at it? i see the good and bad here. i feel it really depends on your own interpretation and how you may be feeling in a particular moment. i know there’s no right or wrong here. i’m just curious as to what your mind saw when you saw this pic.

i know you don’t follow the stock market the way i do but i would like your input/feedback because i do hold you knowledge/intellect in high regard and value your thoughts and opinions. based on what you are seeing/hearing, how long do you see this effecting the economy and the stock market? i’m trying to create am investment timetable for my parents’ money along with mine and ours. there is no wrong answer here. if you don’t want to answer or speculate, that’s fine too. there’s no pressure or judgement.

i’m sitting up here in my bed, back against my wall, typing this out to you and it just takes me back to when we would have our “serious conversations”. us sitting next to each, you explaining what’s on your mind, and me trying to give you whatever help/feedback i could in order to help you figure/sort out your thoughts. i’d like to hope they were helpful/therapeutic for you. i do miss that aspect of our relationship. being able to talk and communicate so freely with each other. not that i would want to, unless they were surprises, but i’d like to think that we wouldn’t keep any secrets from each other. you answer my questions with such openness and honesty that you’ve taught me how to come around and do the same for you. i’m sorry i was so closed off to begin with but i’m glad you felt i was worth it to give me the benefit of the doubt and still made the effort to get to know me. i sometimes think of all the times/opportunities/chances we either gave ourselves or each other the choice to walk away from this...but i’m grateful and thankful you never took me up on those offers. all this that you/we are going through right now could have been avoided but then we wouldn’t have the thoughts and feelings that we currently have now that is making this moment so difficult right now. so maybe in a way, maybe all this hurt and heartache is a good thing in the sense that it’s so difficult because of how far we’ve come. maybe a silver lining in all of this is that all this pain, suffering, confusion, negativity, self doubt, and all that you are going through just means/shows how much you may actually care about me. maybe the reason why you are having a difficult time being in the moment with him is because maybe, in you heart and mind, you know you’d rather be with me. maybe there is some guilt in staying or leaving because you know that you may not belong there or the possibility that you are meant for more/better with me. i don’t think you should feel guilty or ashamed that you are on a different path than he is. you ventured down this path different path while you were still with him before you met me. you may or may not have known it but at some point you two were on the same map but going in different routes/directions. neither of you were on the wrong path. it’s just that at some point, you two got separated and were lost even though you were still together. you were walking your own path and i just so happened to be walking on mine when we just so happened to cross paths. i think both our paths were very similar so we just started walking together along both our paths heading in the same direction. what direction it was, i really didn’t know because i always told you i really didn’t have a plan. even though all three of us were on the same map, you and me, our paths seemed to take in a random direction and at some point, our paths overlapped to the point it became just one path that we both were heading down, side by side, hand in hand, ready for whatever wherever that path may take us. we may not be walking together, physically, at the moment on the same path, but i think there still is a strong bond/link between us in that even though we may be apart, you and i are still traveling down the same path. i know that it’s not as clear for you and you’ve got a lot of obstacles in your way because of what you are going through but a part of me knows that once you are ready to “move forward”, i’m right there to help/guide/be with you, and your path to/with me will be just as it was before. remember...whenever you are ready...i’m right here...

2 notes · View notes

iamnotawomanimagod · 5 years ago

Text

2019 Retrospective Survey

Once upon a time, in the wayback ancient days of yesteryear, aka 2006 or so, people would fill out little self-important surveys about themselves almost every night on Myspace. These surveys were then posted to your profile via a “bulletin” and could be perused by your friends at their leisure.

Eventually, this phenomena evolved into what we now know as “ask games” - people taking these surveys and, instead of just filling them out, reblogging them in the hopes that their followers might grow curious enough to send in some numbers.

Well, to that evolution of this tradition, I say - pah! I’ll answer all these questions and you’ll like it!!

Or you’ll skip it, which is probably the reasonable thing to do. This is mostly for me, so I have some vague record of this year to look back on, which I’ve been bad about the past several years.

1. First things first, did you have a good year?

It’s kind of tough for me to discern what is good and bad, anymore, especially when it comes to my life experiences. Things kind of just “are.” I think I had a pretty good year overall, though, if I step back and look at it, and ignore my mental health and those other niggling little details.

2. How old did you turn this year?

Twenty-eight. Getting up there. I’ve been doing some version of these surveys since I was like, fourteen. That’s fourteen years of random, unnecessary internet void-shouting.

3. Do you feel your age?

Not really. When I was younger, I definitely thought 28-year-olds always had their shit together, automatically, just because of the age. Like it feels like an age where I really should’ve outgrown a lot of things. But I haven’t yet, not at all, and I have zero interest in conventional adulthood.

Did your appearance change in anyway?

I got new glasses, because I lost my old ones in Hawaii.

Post your favorite selfie.

I rarely like selfies where I smile, so even though this one is clearly some goofy cheesin’, I still consider it kinda special.

If you traveled, where did you go?

I went to a place called Monroe, in Utah, which has some amazing hot springs. Slept overnight in a converted hippie bus. It was freezing (if you weren’t in the springs), but really fun!

I also went to Maui, Hawai’i. It was beautiful and I do see why people love it there, but it was very much so not for me. Also flying while fat fucking suuuuucks aaaaass, hugely.

Which fashion trends did you love?

Eye makeup got really fun and weird this year - I love the new shapes and crazy colors.

Here’s a decent example on Halsey. The way her top lid has a line above the lid and under the brow - I’ve never seen that before this year. Really fun and new kinda twist on makeup.

Which fashion trends did you hate?

Chunky dad shoes, the popularity of Crocs (and I fucking love Crocs, don’t get me wrong,) and other seemingly-ironic “comfortable chic” styles. It’s super cute on most skinny girls but the moment a fat girl tries to rock that style, it’s “sloppy” or “lazy.” On the other hand, it was good to see some women reject more revealing or extravagant styles in favor of being comfortable. It’s just tough for a fat woman like me to pull off.

What was your favorite article of clothing this year? Post a pic if possible?

I pretty much lived in black sweatpants and baggy t-shirts this year.

What song sums up this year for you?

“I Think I’m OKAY” by Machine Gun Kelly feat. Yungblud

What album came out and has been on heavy rotation since then?

I listened to a ton of “thank u, next” and “when we all fall asleep, where do we go?” this past year.

What was your favorite movie of the year?

I haven’t seen any movies from 2019 yet. I watched one film this year: “Slow West” - it was pretty good!

Did an actor/actress catch your attention for the first time this year?

The entire casts of Legacies and Runaways.

Favorite new TV show?

Probably Legacies! Really surprised me, but it’s a fun show!

Which new ship/fandom has taken over a lot of your time, attention, and tears?

Cheleanor stole my heart this year, from The Good Place. I, of course, spent way too much time thinking and talking about The 100. Gotta give another shoutout to Legacies and Runaways. Special nod to #deanoru and #hosie, respectively.

What food did you try for the first time?

I tried dragonfruit and papaya for the first time while in Hawai’i. It was also the first time I’d ever tried and enjoyed mango. All the other mango I’d had was never sweet enough and always reminded me a lil bit of cat pee, but a fresh tropical mango is fuckin’ heaven.

Did you make any big permanent changes this year?

Not really “permanent”, but semi-permanent - I moved out of one place and into a new one. We definitely won’t be here forever, though. Maybe a year or two.

What was one nice thing you did for someone else?

I do a lot of little nice things for my husband every day, it’s kinda tough to list them all.

What was one nice thing you did for yourself?

I reached out to an old friend that I had been fighting with and made amends, and we’re friends again.

Did you develop a new obsession?

I always move from TV show to TV show obsessively - lots have already been mentioned. I think I got more into The Try Guys this past year than I have before. I also played a lot more management sims than I ever expected to - games like Dead in Vinland, Banished, Frostpunk, Weedcraft Inc, and This War of Mine.

Did you vote?

Shoulda - didn’t.

Did you move?

Yup! Moved out of my old roommate’s house and into my own apartment.

Did you get a job?

In a sense - I drive for DoorDash. It’s definitely work, but not a conventional job.

Did you get a pet?

No. :( In fact, I kinda lost some - I loved the shit out of my roommate’s dogs, I got way too attached to them. I miss them too much.

Do you regret not doing anything?

Not really.

Do you regret doing something?

Yeah, I let a friend down in July. Wish I hadn’t done that, but. I’m not a very good friend to have, and I’m okay with that. The people who get it stick around through the tough stuff.

Have you done anything that scared you?

I always think it’s a little scary to get on a plane. That’s probably it.

Did anyone/thing make you so mad it stayed with you for days?

God, yes. Too many things. Still angry at my old roommate for being such an asshole about cleaning and for threatening to kick us out. That’s the one that happened this year, lol. But I’m still angry about things that happened years ago. I can hold a hell of a grudge.

Did you lose anyone close to you?

Not this year. Got lucky. Guess the universe decided to give me a little break.

Did you fall in love?

Nah, but I stayed in love with a coupla people. ;)

Did you fall out of love?

Nope!

Did you start a new relationship?

Nah. My husband and I have been together for 8 years.

Did you go through a break up?

See above!

Did you have to cut ties to someone?

Kinda. Had one or two people who wanted to be my friend. Made the mistake of being approachable and shit. But they figured out I’m a flakey asshole soon enough. :)

Who was important to you this year but wasn’t important last year?

I made amends with my friend, Tracie, this year. She was always important to me. But I was pretending that she wasn’t, last year.

Who wasn’t as important to you this year as they were last year?

I can’t really think of anyone. I guess my husband’s best friend - she moved out of our old house first, and I stopped talking to her as often. Prior to that we’d been pretty close. Proximity-based closeness is a trip, y’all.

If you could have a do over on one thing you did, would you take it?

Nah. I made it through. That’s all that counts.

What was the best moment of the year for you?

Seeing my friend get married. It was a really, really lovely ceremony.

What was the worst?

Probably when I tried out a new form of self-harm - aka banging my head as hard as possible against the bathroom sink. Gave myself a mild concussion. 0/5 would not recommend.

Did anything happen that you were sure would change you as a person but it really didn’t?

Going to Hawai’i. I don’t know why I thought it would change me - it just seems like one of those “life-changing” destinations, y’know? But it wasn’t. It was beautiful and otherworldly, and also full of a weird and uncomfortable mixture of white wealth and brown poverty. If anything, that only affirmed my beliefs more.

Did anything happen to you that you were sure wouldn’t change you as a person but it did?

It’s tough to answer these sometimes, because I just don’t really know who I am “as a person.” I don’t think there was anything I didn’t expect. Not this year.

What are you most proud of accomplishing?

I got out and worked a lot. I pushed through some really tough times and experienced some nice things on the other side. I was able to care for my husband during his down moments, the way he’s cared for me. I fuckin’ survived, which is always an accomplishment for someone whose brain is frequently shouting at them to end it all.

What have you learned about yourself this year that you didn’t know in the years prior?

I’m more resilient emotionally than I thought I was. I’m less resilient physically than I used to be.

Did your opinion of anyone change for the better?

I feel warmer and closer to my mother-in-law than ever before.

Did your opinion of anyone change for worse?

My sister continues to find new ways to disappoint me, but that isn’t exclusive to 2019. My former roommate went from being, in my mind, a mostly-okay guy, to potentially one of the worst people I’ve ever met. And that’s really saying something. Duplicity and lack of awareness go a long way in making someone shitty, though.

If you make resolutions, did you complete them this year?

Nah, pahaha. I was supposed to go outside and also journal every day. Didn’t do that. I mostly kept up with it, but there are a lot of gaps. I definitely spent a week or two consecutively indoors, at least twice.

If you make resolutions, what will your resolutions be for the coming year?

Probably gonna keep trying with the old ones, tbh.

If you could go on an adventure during the remaining days of the year, where would you go and what would you do?

I would go pick up Cami and head north, for Alaska. Find someone beautiful and peaceful to see the aurora borealis. Drink cream liqueur and hot cocoa with scarves and hats and gloves on. Look up at the endless stars. Have a long, sleepless road trip back, screaming our favorite songs at the top of our lungs, stopping at interesting places when we can.

What do you wish for others for the coming year?

I just hope things get better, dude. Stabler. Less scary.

What do you wish for yourself?

Same as the above, but on a micro scale. I’m heading into my 30s in this next decade. I gotta find something else to do besides just surviving.

#rambling about my life #plz do not rebagel thank u #about me #2019 retrospective

2 notes · View notes

ladyvivienneloyola · 6 years ago

Text

Challenge #8

Alternately Titled: For Loyola-ty to the Heart

a/n: hello hello hello everyone! This is it! This is BHBKSSJKSNKJNJKNSKJNSKJWNWJSDN. Okay so honestly I don’t want to cry writing this a/n cause I already cried enough writing this because of all the crazy stuff happening with me. Quick life update: I’m finally in college, just started taking classes and you know, just adjusting to dorm life. It’s been more than just a crazy few weeks for me and well, yes- enough tears have been shed. So y’all probably know that this is technically my final-final OC season and I’m so happy with what I had been able to accomplish with all my girls. It’s been a pleasure playing all three girls, each of their characters definitely being vastly different from each other and wELL, I’M JUST SENTIMENTAL because the OC had really been a huge part of my life for the past year and it’s definitely brought me a lot of highs and lows. With this being said, I’m HONORED ™ ™ ™ to have made it this far in this season with my homegirl, Vivienne and it’s been a wild ride trying to play this smol angry lifeguard/escort. Being this outspoken as a character was a lot of fun and well, I just hope you enjoyed reading her thoughts as much fun I had writing her. I’d really like to thank @benjaminschreave (BRIANNA AND ESTER) for giving us the opportunity to really develop our characters and plotlines- and being ever supportive hosts and for cranking out all of their own plotlines and ~drama~ and well ALL THOSE RPs and HONESTLY TO MY FELLOW FINALISTS AND FRIENDS @danielle-leblanc and @opheliagardinier GIRLS WE MADE IT AND AHUDHKHEJKHDSHJFHEDSHJEN AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH *SCREAMS* i JUST AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH THANK YOU FOR BEING AROUND TO LISTEN TO ME BE WEIRD AND TALK PLOTLINES AND I’M SORRY FOR ALMOST KILLING VIV’S DAD OFF. ANYWAY YES. This is the point in time where I really say good bye to all of you and the OC so yes, Thank you so much and I’ll probably be making my OC farewell/exit ™ post soon within the weekend. So this has been Anya, your resident procrastinator, here to say good bye with this last fic. I hope you all enjoy and remember that I love you all! <3

Would it be possible to watch the whole world pass by you while you stayed in one place? One singular point in the world among the millions of places in the world? If I could just stay here, and stare at these paintings, maybe somehow I’d be stuck here long enough to become an exhibit myself, probably titled “Selected Contemplating Last Date with a not-so-boyfriend Prince”. It feels like forever had gone by as I looked at the paintings, trying to find the one kernel, one inkling of an idea as to what I wanted this date to be.

Considering everything that had happened in the past few weeks, it was a surprise to be kept around as everyone around me had been getting sent home. To even think I stood a chance after the whole escort thing had been exposed. I tried to pretend to not be as bothered by everything said on the magazines, the derogatory terms I haven’t already heard or thought of as everyone accused me of sleeping my way to stay in the competition. But it all hurt, and what hurt even more was how the whole scandal had affected Ben’s reputation too.

Guilt is possibly the worst feeling in the world, thinking about how your actions affect other people- which is why I try to limit it by trying to not really care about people- but this was a whole other level of guilt when everything was made so public. And somehow, guilt made me want to make this last date even more special than ever. Somehow to prove my worth that Ben’s decision to keep me was worth the hellfire he went through with… for me.

This is why I’ve been trying to think of something worth it all, and maybe the paintings that Ben loved so much could give me a hint as to what would be the perfect thing to do. It felt too long ago, getting guided along this art gallery and toured personally by a prince. My first genuine memories that wasn’t ridden with the fear of wanting to impress him because I wanted him to like him. The first time he really was Ben to me, Ben with the thick glasses and the knowledge of all the paintings in this gallery. Ben who first introduced me to a painting of bananas before he showed me a portrait of a wave, and the Ben I discussed coffee and sunrises with on the balcony nearby- and then and there, as I wrap my hands around myself I realized. I realized my best memories with him and thought of the one thing I wanted to experience with him for the last time.

I send him a note right away.

First of all, why must you put this much pressure on us? Seriously. Second of all, I'd like to formally invite you to a date tonight no later than 7:49 PM. SHARP. But don't look too sharp. Be comfortable. You're in for a long night. I'll see you in front of Room 42 on the second floor. Alright, later stud. -Viv

I was a little jealous of the girls who got bedrooms that faced the ocean part of the palace, and Room 42 was my favorite view, the room never haven been occupied and was left as this empty but well-kept guest room that was still bigger than my apartment back in Bonita. I grew worried though as the minute got closer and closer to 7:49, fearing the inevitable arrival of my guest to the area I had set up on the room’s balcony. I check my watch.

7:45, it’s still too early for him to come around.

7:46, don’t get too desperate. He’ll be here.

7:47, is the food still hot in their happy meal boxes?

7:48, should I have worn something prettier? Were the shorts too short? Maybe I should have left the crocs in my room.

7:49, he should be here. The sun’s starting to set. Oh no, he isn’t here. Maybe he already made his decision and asked Fee or Danielle to…

There’s a knock coming from the door at exactly 7:50 and I don’t waste a second to rush and open it to see Ben do everything I had asked him to except come here on time.

“You’re late.” I point out after giving him a once over. He was in a shirt and a pair of jeans, a sight for sore eyes, something new against the monkey suits I’ve seen him in for the past few months.

“By a minute. I thought I'd be funny but from the look on your face I don't think I am.” He raises a brow, attempting a small smile.

My tone immediately goes dry, “Ha ha, I'm laughing so hard right now.” I roll my eyes at his intentional lateness, huffing a breath out as I grab his hand and lead him through the room, the door shutting from behind us. He follows me through and I look over my shoulder to give him my own smirk- making sure he knew that I wasn’t mad. “At least you weren’t any more late. I was starting to worry that we’d miss it.”

His head tilts, “Miss what?”

“Miss the season premiere of Riverdale.” I joke before turning forward, tugging him towards the doors of the room’s balcony.

“You know there’s a guy who looks like Wyatt on there.” Ben mentions, making me tilt my head at the lack of resemblance with any of the actors on the show but I don’t dwell on making any further comparisons as we soon reach the doors and I open the balcony doors to show him what I had been planning been preparing for the past hour or two.

There was a reason I had asked Ben to meet me at an exact point in time, at this exact location.

It was the sunset, because nothing said stupid romantic moment than watching the sunset along with a blanket and a pile of junk food in the middle of the blanket, and a box of still hot happy meal orders I had picked up earlier. A picnic.

The sun was dipping back into the horizon of the ocean, the big ball of light, starting to disappear into glinting waters and turning the sky into a burst of blues and oranges. It was beautiful, but I turn my eyes to Ben’s direction to gauge his reaction. Was it too plain?

The small smile on his face contradicted that though, his eyes looking around the balcony before they meet mine. “You’ve certainly outdone yourself.”

“Considering that it took me forever to think about this… thank you.” I manage out a small smile, putting my other hand on his arm, hopeful that this was good enough.

I feel the arm between us, wrap around my waist, the feeling making my stomach do a flip. Why did it do that? He’s done that a dozen times before. My stomach does another flip when I feel him kiss the top of my head, a chuckle escaping me.

“Thank you, small fry. Speaking of which, I think they’re calling my name.” Ben remark before heading over to the direction of one of the happy meals, dropping down to sit on the blanket I set down.

Small fry. I was not that small. I move over to sit across him on the blanket and give him the box I ordered for him, the order already memorized by heart. “I’m pretty sure that you know what’s in this already.”

“I’d be offended if it wasn’t what I thought.” Ben replies as he takes a fry out, throwing one at me before he starts stuffing his face with the rest.

I dodge the dry, grabbing my own fry to toss it at him with a smirk.

“Did you even wash your hands?” I ask as I start eating.

“I don’t see you washing your hands now do I?” his eyes narrow.

That’s where he was wrong. I reach over to the side of the pile and pick up a small bottle of hand sanitizer and wave it in the air, smirking. “I used this a while ago, you heathen.”

“Heathen,” he scoffs. “Alright then, toss it over you clean freak.”

I throw it over to his lap, talking around my mouth. “I’m not a clean freak. I just find the idea of eating with dirty hands unappealing.” I stick my tongue out at him.

“Unappealing.” he snickers.

“Yes, unappealing” I echo back, shaking my head before reaching for one of the sodas and turning my head a little to watch the sun going down. I don’t think I could be as cheesy as wanting to do this with him, or with anyone for that matter. There’s a certain silence between us, focusing on the food for a while before Ben pipes up with a question.

“So. Angeles or Bonita sunsets?”

He asked a question like that, and no matter what I do I feel the memory coming back to me. Coffees and balcony included. And do our sunrises live up to Bonitas? The entire conversation over the different sunsets between the two places makes me feel slightly homesick.

“No place can ever quite compare to your home province.” I reply to a comment made by Ben about him picking the sunset in Angeles.

“Bonita's are beautiful, of course. But their lifeguards are my favorite.” I see him grin from the corner of my eye, and I try not shrug at him.

“Smooth move, stud.” I chuckle at the comment, shifting slightly to face his direction. “Do you think that line’s really gonna work?”

“I'm extremely confident seeing as we made it this far.” his grin turns slightly more crooked and I try not to smile too much.

I wrinkle my nose in response, still trying to suppress the smile tugging on the corners of my lips at the knowledge that we really did make it far. “And considering where this all started, if I might add.” I finally let go and let myself grin back, and I sigh. “The good old days.”

“Right well these are the better days, Miss Loyola.”

“That’s Lady Loyola, Prince Schreave.” I tilt my head as I eat a fry pointedly.

He quirks his brow up, “I thought that name was off limits.”

“I’m referring to the title, not the name, stud. While I’m here, I’m a Lady.” I snort, “And you're right. That name is still off limits.”

“Even for me?” he bats his eyes at me.

I purse my lips to the side. “Do you honestly want to be dating someone with the name ‘Lady’?”

“I, personally, don’t mind that your name is Lady. I think of you as Viv anyway.”

“Aweeee,” I tilt my head sweetly before dryly saying, “well you don't mind it because you're not the one who has to avoid getting called ‘Lady Lady’.”

A short laugh escapes Ben. “That’s fair. Forget I mentioned it, dearest small fry.”

I swipe the back of my hand over my forehead, “Consider it forgotten.” I blink blearily for extra effect, looking around disorientedly. “What were we talking about again?”

“Such a comedian,” he laughs again, this time flicking at my hair.

“Comedienne.” I correct before shoving a fry in my mouth. “It’s with an ‘ienne’ like the last letters of my name.”

Ben snorts, throwing a fry at me. “You’re ridiculousienne.”

I try to snort back before feeling the fry hit me in the face and making me chuckle slightly. “Try saying ridiculousienne 10 times. Sounds like a great tongue twister.”

“I’m not even going to attempt that. Ever.” Ben says as he reaches over for his mcflurry.

“You made the word up,” I say as I continue to go through the remainder of my happy meal, nuggets and all. “I dare you to do it.”

He sighs talking around a bite of his mcflurry, “Fine, but I’m only setting myself up for failure.” Ben swallows before he starts to recite. “Ridiculousienne ridiculousienne ridiculousienne ridiculousienne ridiculousienne ridiclousnkasokdnd.” his words start to jumble up, ending with him making a face and instantly making me start laughing uncontrollably, some of the food I was chewing making me choke slightly.

“Oh my God,” I try to manage out between coughs and wheezes. It wasn’t supposed to be that funny, oh god, it wasn’t supposed to be this funny. “ridiculousienne.” I suddenly fall to my side as I try to contain my laughter.

I can hear Ben’s laughter mixing my own a little before suddenly feeling him poke me. “Stop it, I told you it would be bad.”

I scrunch my face up while laughing- taking a moment for me to sober myself before sitting up again.

“Okay okay okay…” I blink, curling my lips in to avoid laughing. “It wasn’t that bad. It was just… ridiculousienne.” The word was just weirdly funny, so funny that it made me suddenly start laughing again.

“Vivienne.” a small laugh comes from him, making me look up to see his face flush slightly before he suddenly flops back onto a nearby pillow. I move over to hover over him a little, sitting closer to him- still trying to contain myself.

“Benjamin?”

For a moment, he just stares up at me and I’m taken by surprise when I feel his hand reach up to squish my face between his thumb and index finger. “Your cheeks are perfect for this.”

“My cheeks? Really Ben?” I lift a brow up, “Well we can’t all have great bone structure like you.”

“Yes, it is especially fine, isn’t it?” he smirks, feeling the pressure on my cheeks grow a little more before I lose that contact from him, a small travesty.

I reach over to pinch his cheeks in retaliation, smirking down on him. “Actually the whole package is especially fine.”

Ben’s eyes narrow, his face suddenly going red again. “How do you always manage to catch me off guard with your flirting?”

Well…

“I’ll let you in on a secret.” I lean down, making sure to close the space between us. Flirting with Ben was always hilarious, and his reaction to my lips hovering over his was priceless, the sudden bobbing up and down of throat, the look in his eyes. “I just need the right inspiration.” Of course teasing was just part of all of this and I shift slightly so I can place a kiss his cheek.

Nothing was ever as good as the real thing though. I feel him put his hand behind my neck, bringing me and pulling me in for a real kiss, only kissing him back and leaning down even more to cup the sides of his face and I could feel the two of us smile against the kiss before Ben pulls away.

“I’d say you’re also a pretty good motivator.”

I smile down at him as I lean back, “I suppose the combination of insults and compliments might bring out some pretty good results.” I toss a part of my hair back out of habit.

“Ah, the hair toss. What a trademark.”

“As iconic as your smile.” I reply before he reaches out to me and wrap his arms around me and pulling me down to him, making me squeal a little, looking up at him with a laugh. “The one time that I didn’t have to tilt my head up to look at you… ending so quickly.”

He laughs a bit, “Yes, this giant was eager to feel even more like a giant today.”

A groan escapes me at his smugness, but I can’t help but tuck myself closer to him. “Today of all days!” I jokingly lament. “How selfish of you.”

“I know, I’m absolutely terrible.”

I reach an arm over to hug him a little, my arm barely managing to wrap around his torso. “Terrible, awful, dreadful, atrocious, ghastly,” I look up to him. “Should I continue?”

“By all means. Since I have a walking thesaurus now I should put it to use.” He smirks.

“I consider this a challenge.” I chuckle before racking my brain up for even more synonyms. “Appalling, abhorent, sickening, unpleasant.” Of course I meant none of that, but an idea crosses my mind as I continue to list things down. “Heinously... handsome, agonizingly... sincere, abominably kind, grievously benevolent…”

“Oh my God,” he puts his hand on his face. “Is it your mission in life to make me the most embarrassed person ever?”

“Why would you be embarrassed?” I watch his reaction. “I mean every word of it.”

He glances over to me, pausing for a moment before speaking up with a hint of curiosity. “The good parts right?” he lets out a short chuckle.

“Yes, only the good parts.” I laugh, keeping my arm around him. “All those good parts are synonymous to Ben Schreave.”

I feel him reach up to hold one of my hands, a small smile on his face. “To think I could only get a compliment out of you every week, if that.”

That was true, my compliments were very rare at the beginning of this but somehow, they started to flow more naturally now.

“Oh don't worry, the important thing is that I'm thinking about it when I'm not saying it.” I smile, squeezing his hand. “I just have that prickly reputation to protect.”

Ben shifts, rolling onto his stomach, propping himself on his forearms. “Hmm, so I get thought about often then?”

What? No… “Um…” suddenly the breeze from the ocean could do nothing to save the odd feeling of the heat rushing to my cheeks. I try to reach up to cover my face and formulate an answer. I couldn’t deny it, that’s for sure. I couldn’t because if I did it would seem like I didn’t care.“Not exactly often. Perhaps... moderately?” Nope, that didn’t help me at all.

Ben moves again, taking my hand away from my face, a crooked smile on his face. “You can tell me if it’s more than moderately.”

I huff out a breath. “Okay, maybe it’s more than moderately…” I feel myself flush even more, feeling awkward with admitting that I do, making me try to look away and prop myself up on my elbows.

His hand gently turns my face to face him, gently holding me. “I know you, well we, both have trouble talking about our feelings, but… well if we could keep up the honesty talk I’d appreciate it.” he smiles genuinely but I feel a sudden pang in my stomach. I try to let his words sink in, holding his gaze for a while before sitting up and try to put my feelings into words.

“Then I need you to be honest with me too.” I furrow my brows, “ I don't want anything to be unsaid right now, hard as talking about things could be.”

Like it or not, this could really be my last date with Ben. This could be it, the end and I suddenly flashback to one particular conversation I had shared with my dad on better days between us. The story of my mom leaving him, a delicate conversation between a 15 year old and her dad.

Ben immediately sits up and nods once, “Okay. Full honesty.”

“Where do we begin?” I cross my legs and tuck them underneath each other, not breaking eye contact with him, huffing another breath out as I run a hand through my hair. “Do you wanna ask each other questions?”

“I think I'd like to know what you ask first before I do. I'm not even sure what I want to say.” the corners of his mouth lift up slightly, as if it was a small reassurance that this conversation was going to end up being good.

“Fine, Lady first.” I slump my shoulders down, not bothering to practice perfect posture right now, not with my mind is so burdened with all these questions in my head, making me look around before settling on a question. “Why did you keep me around even after the whole scandal incident? Even after everyone judged you for keeping me?”

It hurt me to see people try to hurt Ben because of something I did.The one thing I’ve always tried to be is genuine with him, no matter how unpleasant I really could be. My hands fidget as I listen to him, try to see things through his point of view because a part of me needed to know why, if I really was worth all the trouble to him.

“Because I know you. I like to think I do, at least. Your values have always been with loyalty to others and to who you are. What I've gotten to know is worthy of my trust in you and your character, no matter a less than ideal job. You deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

Everything he says makes me glance down, leaving me touched because I had gained his trust.“I hated that job with the passion of a thousand suns.” I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to avoid any unnecessary flashbacks. “I always had to pretend to like people.” I shake it off, opening my eyes once again and looking up at him. “But trust me when I say that there was no pretending with you.” My lips curl in, “Thank you for believing in me that way.”

“I care about you, Vivienne. I couldn’t do anything else but believe in you.” He says, drawing up his knees to his chest- leaning forward to rest his arms on them. Well, make yourself comfortable because obviously both of you are trying to have a heart to heart.

I nod my head once, tilting my head a little to try and get over the growing lump in my throat, trying to do what he asked and try to express myself. “I care about you a lot. At times, I get scared because I feel like I'm drowning with how much I do.”

There, I dare not break eye contact with him for a few seconds before he glances a way and picks up a happy meal toy and starts fiddling with it. “Drowning, huh?” His words come out in a mutter, as if he was talking to himself.

“Head reeling, shortness of breath, this feeling of being overwhelmed... feels a lot like drowning.” All of those, I’ve felt whenever I was with him, or even thought of him at times. I blink when I see him look away, and I fear that he may think of this as a bad thing for me. “I've never really felt this way about someone before.”

This is that feeling only matched when I think and try to care for my dad, but vastly different too. It was in a different way, the kind that I just wanted to try and avoid- but now, here: there was no avoiding all of this.

Ben finally turns back to me, “ Ever.” he echoes, as if in question.

I shake my head, my chest feeling like it’s starting to cave in on itself with exposing myself like this. “Never to this extent.” Never with someone I think I could be in love with, and think that it could end up destroying me.

“Which extent?” he quietly asks. That is an excellent question.

“To the extent that I know that if this doesn't end up working out, it's going hurt.” I run my hand through my hair, continuing as I glance down and try to explain things. “And I've seen how bad relationships ending could be, my dad's the perfect example. The first heart attack he had? It was right after my mom left him. The doctors called it stress induced cardiomyopathy. Most know it as broken heart syndrome.” I finally look back up at him. “Seeing that happen to him... it made me want to avoid every situation that could leave me like that.”

It’s never easy, the thought of having to say good bye to someone you have a relationship with- or if I relented a little, I’d say romantically involved with in good consideration that you’d want to see a future with them. Nobody ever gets their chance to say good bye to their love. Neither my dad. The day my mom had left him, he’d lament to me how all he wanted to say was that he loved her. He still loved my mother to this day, even after she fell out of love with him and left him for someone else. Even when he had his accident, all he could ask me to do while I watched over him was to call mom and tell her that he did.

Would you honestly believe that? The last words he’d ever want to say to my mother, and it was that he loved her.

It makes me wonder, could you still really be in love with the person who hurt you the most? Or is it because you love them the most, that they’re damage on you is the greatest? I believed it was the latter but I hoped to never put myself in the position to get hurt.

But here I was, waiting for an answer and trying to grasp at everything he says for a clue as to what the future ahead.

And it scared me, it scared me too much because I was considering giving up what I dreamed of because there was everything good, everything I couldn’t imagine wanting right in front of me encapsulated into soft brown eyes and an unrelenting smile. And I fall, I fell, and I grew into the lovesick person I didn’t want to be in fear of becoming as weak as my father.

Ben’s quiet for a moment, holding my gaze. “I’d never want to do anything to hurt you like that, Viv.”

I shift a little from where I’m sitting, wrapping my arms around myself and taking a moment to try and believe that, as if Ben’s final decision wouldn’t hurt me, I understood that it would- but I still nod my head. “I know you don't. But we've got to be honest and acknowledge that even the best intentions can leave damage.” I shake my head this time, noticing the sad look on his face.

“The worst part is that I still want to take this risk.” I meet Ben’s eyes, “Or maybe it's the best part.”

It could be the best part, wanting to take this risk. To even think of all of this as a means to an end. I could see it, and what hurts is the possibility of it all not happening.

“I’ve always known you to be a risk taker.” the smallest of smiles hints at his lips, a small bit of humor to relax our minds from how tense this topic could be and for a moment the joke does make me want to smile, but I curl my lips in.

“When it comes to the people I care about the most, I'd take risks for them any day.”

“And I’m part of the most category?” his expression changes again, turning more serious and I sober my own too.

“There's no denying that you are, Ben. Somehow in the time we've spent together, you've somehow managed to find a spot there.”

“You’re incredibly important to me too, you know. Don’t doubt that.”

“I would have never guessed.” I hang my head for a moment, looking at my own fidgeting hands with a hint of a smile.

From the corners of my eyes, I can see Ben smile just a little. “Good.” he says before pausing. “So is this… well I don’t know what this is.” he seems to admit, probably referring to this whole conversation.

“I'm pretty sure you gave it the name ‘honest talk’ earlier.” I reply as a matter of factly before I try to get back to business with him. “Do you have any questions to add to this? This could be your last chance to ask it, stud.”

“I don’t think so. Waiting for what feels like something big.” he says, running a hand through his hair and looking at me.

“Alright,” I breathe out before deciding to flop back onto the blanket and close my eyes, somehow exhausted from all that talking about feelings. “You've got the whole night, stud. That's a lot of time to think.”

“Um.” Ben stares at me for a while. “I guess the only one on I can come up with is whether or not this reveal is good or bad.”

I turn my head to his direction, tilting my head as I ask, “What reveal?” Reveal that I like him? That wasn’t obvious enough??

“I don’t... I don’t know. I mean, we’ve established we’re important to each other, that we mean something. I can’t think of anything else to say other than- well, I don’t know who I’m picking yet. It’s all complicated.” he sighs, glancing away for a moment.

My brows furrow at the uncertainty he’s showing me, and I suppose this is his way of being honest too. I sit back up again to reach over and place my hand on his arm. “I don't think complicated can really sum up what's going on right now. Everything right now... it feels like we're walking around eggshells. You're afraid. So am I.” I sigh.

“I don’t think I’m afraid actually. More anxious really.” Oh.

“Who wouldn't be? Most 21 year olds don't have this kind of decision to make. So you're anxious and I'm scared. Great combination, if I do say so myself.”

He chuckles at the joke, “I’m sorry I don’t have more questions. I genuinely don’t know what else to ask.”

“It's alright.” I click my tongue before reaching out for my sundae, a little disappointed that it had already melted but nonetheless opening it to mix the melted soft serve and hot fudge and creating a make-shift milkshake and taking an experimental sip. Surprisingly good. “I think I have a couple of more questions to ask you.”

“I’m ready.” he gives me a crooked smile as he starts cleaning up around him.

“Do you know what you're looking for at the end of all of this?” I raise a brow up, wondering what his idea of this ending would result to.

“Lots of things. Someone I love deeply and who hopefully feels the same way. Who can also be a great queen for my people because- well it’s not as simple as love.” he makes a face. “Even love isn’t that simple.”

It never was. I nod my head in agreement, another question coming into mind. “Do you think you're already in love with someone here?”

He immediately pauses, his lips curling in as he turns his focus away, speaking up with an “ I think so. My only dilemma is who.”

“And these last dates are here to help you figure that out?”

“Mostly. And to... give everyone some closure in a way. Or at least try to.”

Closure, what a blessing.

“Yeah, it would have sucked if I didn't get to have a conversation like this with you.” I admit, glancing down for a moment. “Not a lot of people get to have this kind of talk…” They just pack their bags and leave a note on the fridge.

“No, they don't.” Ben says before I feel a hand over mine, tilting his head. “Are those all your questions?”

“For now, yes.” I look up and take his hand in mine. “Thank you for answering them.” I brush my thumb over the back of his hand, managing out a small smile.

“To quote myself and with a signature smile.” He grins. “'happy to do it.'”

I let go of his hand, my face going flat. “Oh my god, you sound like a broken record with that.”

“That was the point.” he smirks and I snort, reaching over to my happy meal to throw a fry at him and his stupid smirk, but find the box empry-deciding to just grab a wrapper and turn it into a little ball before throwing it at him.

He immediately blinks when it hits him in the face. “That's what I get for being so compliant? Rude.”

“You catch onto things very slowly, Ben.” He smirks, “You should have noticed my rudeness a long long time ago.”

“Hey” he throws the paper ball back at me. “I chose to be decent and not point it out until now. I am not slow.”

”You're decently slow for someone who loves fast food so much.” I tease before the ball hits me on my shoulder and I pretend to feel the pain of the impact, clutching my shoulder and falling to my side. “Oh! The agony! I've been hit! Go on without me.”

He snorts before poking my shoulder, “I think I will. And take the oreos with me.”

“I knew it. You were in love with the oreos all along! *points an accusatory finger at him* This is how you leave me for another, injured, broken hearted... Oh the humanity!

I hear the crinkling sound, watching him immediately grab a pack of oreos from the pile of junk and clutching them to his chest. “I won't apologize for having my priorities in order.”

“Oreo sure about your decision?” I look up at him, still on the ground but trying to maintain a challenging expression of my face and try not to laugh at my own joke.

Ben rolls his eyes, “Now I'm 110% sure of my decision. There's really no coming back from that.”

“Thank you.” I joke. “I knew that my humor was really going to win you over.”I tilt my head with a smirk.

“Right right, the puns. That's what it is.” He chuckles.

I point my thumb to the room. “Should I go and start planning everything then?”

“Plan what? More oreo binge eating?” He laughs,

Ben snorts. “Yeah, and I was soooo going to raid the pantry's entire oreo stash.”

“Not before I get to it. I know all the secret nooks and crannies.”

“Really now?” I hold his gaze for a while, lifting my brow up. “That sounds like a challenge.”

“No challenge.” He narrows his eyes, “My secrets are going to stay my secrets.”

“The ever so honest Ben, keeping secrets?” I gasp as I cover my mouth with my hand in mock shock. “This is a completely new side of you I've yet to see. ”

He smugly replies. “A wonderful, exciting side.”

I tilt my head. “Exciting? Really? Does this side of you come with sarcasm?”

“Every part of me comes with sarcasm.” he gestures to his body before he takes an oreo out of the pack in his hands.

“I still find that hard to believe.” I say as I reach over to pick out the oreo from his hand and pop it into my mouth, smirking at him.

Ben’s jaw suddenly drops before he grabs a blanket and putting it over his head. “No more theft!”

If you listened in well enough, you’d probably hear the distinct sounds of him eating underneath.

“Oh my god, the prince has disappeared! Oh whatever would I do without him now?” I try not to smile at how ridiculous he’s being, but play along anyway.

“You sound like you're talking to a five year old.” he pauses, “And please don't say I'm the five year old or a child of any age.” I hear him eat again.

“Fine,” I snort as I reach over to lift the blanket up to see how he was doing. “You act like a baby, all swaddled up in your blankey.”

He pouts before bringing the blanket over his head. “Let me eat in peace.”

I chuckle, an idea coming into mind as I quietly stand and tiptoe off the balcony and into the empty room, choosing to press my back against the wall by the door- waiting to see how long it would take him to realize I was gone.

After a while and a few more eating sounds, I hear him call out, “I hope you know, wherever you are, that I'm not moving from my oreo safe haven. I'm very comfortable.”

I try to stay quiet, not quite wanting to give away my hiding spot and suppressing a groan with him not playing along.

“I'll wait.” he calls out again after a quiet moment. Well, I guess I’d have to lure him here.

“I'll just be waiting here too.” I slump down, moving to sit on the ground and staying hidden. “I think I'm liking my view better here. Enjoy your special time with your oreos.”

”I bet you're staring at your couch or something.” he snickers.

A snort escapes me, “No I’m not,” I pause before adding, looking forward. “I’m staring at the door.”

“Because that's such a great improvement.” Oooo, I can just smell the sarcasm from here.

“It's a-door-able, unlike you.” I prod back at him, bringing my legs to my chest, laughing at the joke and sure that could lure him in.

I hear a scoff and the sound of some rustling a distinct sound of someone starting to walk to the door and my direction. “Alright now we need to share some words.” I can hear him approaching. Bingo. “on how you're absolutely, terribly, completely wro--”

“BOO!” I yell as I stand up and surprise him.

“AH!” He takes a step away from me, putting a hand over his chest with a glare. “You’re mean too.”

I cackle, seeing the look on his face making me laugh hard enough to hold my sides and lean against the wall. “I'm sorry! Oh god, sorry!” I laugh again, “Please continue describing me. Go on. I'm absolutely, terribly, completely…”

“I was going to say wrong but horrid might be another one.” He gives me a flat look.

“Come on.” I laugh, unbothered by the look on his face. “You know you love me.” I snicker. “You just can’t admit it.” I joke, the words leaving too quickly that I don’t realize in time what I had just said.

Ben suddenly blinks at the statement, his face going red before laughing nervously. “Well um, I don’t know about that.”

I look at him, his reaction and well… “Oh.. OH, sorry. I didn't mean it like /that/... or anything. I was kidding.” I try to laugh, coming out more nervous as I feel my own face flush- eye contact wasn’t exactly an option right now, looking down and mutter. “You know you love me... pshhh. I sound stupid.”

He just told you that he didn’t know. Don’t push it, don’t seem desperate.

“No, not so stupid.” Ben mumbles before gulping, a quick silence between us. “I have a question for you.”

I lift my brow up at the nervous expression on his face, nodding my head. “Fire away.”

Please don’t be what I think it could be.

“Do you love me?”

There comes a point in your life when you try to get a grip on yourself when just a couple of words could leave you shaken to the core. My eyes widen at first, the entire world slowing down as I feel my heart start to race. “The one question you ask, and it’s that one.”

I look down. I try to get a grip on myself, I try to- because I couldn’t lie to Ben, even if it means forgetting to protect myself. How do you even answer that question without getting hurt? I don’t want to say it out loud, saying out loud could make everything worse, but Ben… nothing left unsaid. This was it.

“I've always known that there was a danger to falling in love with someone. Most of the time, I always had a tight grip on that reality…” I try to take a breath, trying to keep myself calm but feeling the nerves catch up to me and my throat. “but I can't let go of everything that's in front of me right now because no matter how many times we joke about ending this, I can't because…” Time to take a page out of dad’s book. I meet his eyes, trying my best to keep every emotion imaginable at bay.

“I do.”

As always, I knew what I wanted. I wanted Ben. I loved him. I wanted all those sunrises, and sunsets, and breakfasts and lunches and dinners with him and this all felt even more stupid the more I think about wanting it and the possibility of that and so much more was actually appealing to someone like me. I wanted to be loved by him too, was that so bad? Was that honestly such a bad thing to want? To be loved in return?

Everything seems to go at slow motion as he blinks a few times, sucking in a breath before he reached for my hand. “I... don’t know what to say other than like earlier, it’s all so complicated. But you feeling that way, it makes me happy alright? Really happy.” He manages out a small crooked smile, his smile doing what little effect it could to soothe the feeling that I had opened a new wound on myself and everything just start spilling one after another.

I squeeze his hand hand once, taking a step towards him. “I know, it's all so complicated. It's complicated for me too.” I furrow my brows as I shake my head- another reality coming into my mind, something tucked away to avoid even more complications. “I know that being with you means going down a certain path. and after considering it for a while, I realized that going down road means giving up the one dream I had been holding on to for the longest time.”

Ben’s brows knit, “And are... you willing to give up that dream? If it came to that? Even though I’d hate asking you to sacrifice something you love, it’s an unfortunate part of the job.”

“You can't ask me to give it up, I know. In the long run, it really goes through two separate choices.” I feel the pit in my stomach grow as I think about it. Giving up wanting to be a doctor? “Right now, I'm going through two ifs. What if I choose you and you choose me in the end? I let go of being a doctor, I'd always end up feeling the regret of not pursuing it, probably hating myself to a certain degree. If I chose it over you, I'd end up always asking and hating myself what if I stayed with you?”

In the end, I’d be hating myself either way. I end up shaking my head again as I hold his gaze- one sure thought coming into mind. “Just because I have those thoughts /doesn't/ mean you're not worth the sacrifice because,” I huff a breath out. “you are.... but I've already given up so much for other people, Ben.”

There’s a sad look on his face. “I know you have. That's why I'd never want you to do something that felt wrong in your heart, regardless of what I feel. I want you to have the freedom of your own choices.”

I held onto that dream for so long, I’m not quite sure I’d ever let it go. It got me through the worst, knowing that I’d get a better life for me and my dad while doing what I’d want to do- but a possible life with Ben? That’s a chance of living life with the reassurance of having someone there, someone who’d choose to love you. (Hypothetically speaking of course).

“Thank you.” I take a look at him, closing the distance between us and running my hand through my hair. “Everything's been pretty complicated these past few days because of that.” I shake my head once. “ I just needed you to know that... and that other very important thing…” I reach a hand up to run a hand through his dark hair, starting to come to terms with all of this. “if this really is the end.”

He looks to me, staying quiet for a moment. “Are you willing to stay then? For me to decide? Or…” he trails off, not needing to continue the thought since we both had it on our minds.

“I've waited this long Ben. I think you and I have been through a lot.” I move my hand slightly to rest on the nape of his neck, trying to comfort whatever distress was on his mind with a small smile. “I'm staying, and I'll wait to find out what you decide. I think I can trust the feelings that lead you to keep me here.”

I’ll stay for as long as he wants me to be here. If time was going to run out, then so be it. At least I could say I tried.

Ben seems to let go of a breath he was holding, a tired smile on his face. “Okay, that's... good to hear. Thank you, Viv. For everything really.”

“Thank you, too.” I reply, slowly closing the gap between us and giving him a soft kiss. “You don't know how great these past few months have been for me. This was the life I finally got to experience everything I never got to do back home.”

I feel him lean in and kiss my forehead, “That's all I could ever want for you. A life that you wanted and needed.”

I move to lean my head against his chest, wrapping my arms around him. “And I just want you to be happy… as cliche as that really sounds.”

That’s the least we really want for the people we love, happiness, contentment- things that sound easy at first but more difficult than assumed.

“Cliche but always true. Feeling is mutual.” I catch a smile tugging on his lips.

“This is actually the part where I'd usually say, ‘oh god, we're not going to hug now are we?’ but seeing that we already are.”

“Well you are. We'll see if I return the hug.” he smirks down.

“Fine, don't hug me then.” I reply, only squeezing him tighter.

“Losing... oxygen…” he says out in a strangled way, obviously pretending.

“Shhhh, just let a girl hug you a little longer.” I laugh, loosening my hold on him.

He laughs along, finally returning the hug. “That can be arranged.”

“Finally.” I smile smugly, leaning more into him and trying to remember things. There were a lot of little things I’d miss about him, this small little piece of happiness for the past few months. The kisses on the top of my head, like the one he gives me now. Ben’s hair, sometimes softer than it looks, the way he always managed to smell fresh but also as rich as brewed coffee, kisses with the boy who smiled despite everything around him. I both hated and loved how much I grew to care for him this way, because one day I could be forced to stop.

I guess you could really say that I am my father’s daughter. We just loved getting our hearts broken. I could only hope that this story had a happier ending.

#selection oc #selectionoc #vivienne loyola #viv fics #challenges #ben tag

5 notes · View notes

legggoes2qatar-blog · 7 years ago

Text

First Offshore Job!!

I went for my first job on March 6th and stayed offshore until May 8th when I got to go back to land for the casing break (after begging the company man to let me go to drink beer) then I returned to the rig for the last section May17-28th.

Here’s what I documented while offshore:

Day 1:

Arrived to the heliport at 5:30am. It is just like an airport but much smaller and no carry-on liquids limit! Watched a pre-boarding safety video, put on lifejackets and earplugs then loaded the helicopter. This was my first helicopter ride! I was surprised how gently the helicopter took off and landed, much more gentle than any airplane I’ve ridden. The platform we are working on for the next undetermined amount of time is smaller than I thought but from what I’ve gathered from other people this is a normal size except the accommodation is very, very small. I think the maximum number of people on here is around 200. I cannot see any land or buildings in the distance. However, it is quite hazy today. The water is a very pretty blue color and the waves today are bigger than I expected! Everyone has told me I will start hating all the blue soon but I am optimistic because blue is my favorite color. J

I am sharing a room with 3 coworkers. I am the only female on this rig. We share a bathroom with 2 other guys, 6 total. Due to the high capacity, there are no extra rooms to give me a private one but I don’t mind sharing so it’s a non-issue for me. Our room has bunk beds; I’m in one of the top bunks. There are curtains that go around the entire bed so you do have your own private area…kind of! The bed is comfortable except for the pillow, which is hard. There are constant PA announcements so it is not a little difficult to get a good night’s rest. The water depth here is only 12 meters so the waves don’t sway the rig, the drilling does. It feels like a small earthquake so I woke up twice confused because I wasn’t in California, haha! The food is very good! The water in the shower only stays hot for 2 minutes at a time so quick showers only.

So far I have enjoyed my first day offshore. The rig is still in set-up mode so we are looking at a possibility of not having anything to do for the next 3-7 days. I’m loving every second out here watching this operation!

Day 2:

We still have no internet. There is not much more we can do until we are granted access to the rig internet. After dinner, I got to go up to the rig floor and stand in the dog house (driller’s cabin) to watch them make up the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA). We are starting a new well so the first section will be the conductor pipe; water table protector, largest hole size. The tools used to drill the conductor are huge. I’ve seen big bits before but never a hole opener! **Note to self: find picture of 36” hole opener to post** We should begin drilling tomorrow if all goes according to plan!

Day 3:

Still no internet—the struggle is real. We are able to call the base to talk to the Drilling Engineer and our Field Service Manager (FSM). Again, not much to do today. I learned a lot about running electrical cables and the sequence of the wires when using the crimping tool to change/add a head. We were supposed to start drilling today but it looks like we won’t start until early tomorrow morning. I am still enjoying myself. The SLB team that is with me is one other MWD Engineer and two Direction Drillers (DD). The DD’s are the age of my dad and the other MWD is 9 years older than me. All of them are very smart and funny. Hopefully, tomorrow we get internet so I can do some studying on the tools we are going to be running.

Day 5:

The mudloggers wouldn’t let us share their internet cable that runs from their unit, which is right next to ours, to the company man’s office in the accommodation and to the geologist’s office next to the accommodation. So, we had to run our own cable which required opening ceilings, drilling holes through walls and lots of zipties. It was a long process but, luckily, we have extra down time because there were some issues spudding the well. SLB won’t be running any of their MWD and directional tools until the 3rd section which was supposed to begin on the 10th of March but will likely happen around the 12th or 13th.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned how awesome the laundry service on offshore rigs are. You just put your dirty clothes outside your room and 3 hours later they’re back nice and clean. I think I would prefer staying offshore 24/7 if we got internet access. I’m still loving the ocean view!

Day 6:

I slept so good last night! Best sleep since being here. At breakfast, I convinced the kitchen staff to let me have some of the company man’s strawberries…early win for the day! They are running conductor pipe today so nothing to do for us. Still no internet access, which is real annoying. The mudloggers got their internet access yesterday. l won’t be able to access the internet from the accommodation, but I can in our unit. I didn’t properly prepare for coming offshore. I learned I should have brought less clothes and downloaded a lot more books, I guess not that many lessons lol! I am very appreciative of my co-workers, we laugh a lot and talk a lot.

I’ve been doing a lot of studying during all this downtime. I will be going to school sometime in June and July. By then, I will be very prepared. Most people do this schooling with no field experience and I will have 5 months field experience. Because I don’t have internet access, I only have the first two school’s information downloaded and I have gotten through that material so I’ve begun bugging our DD’s about their job. I got a lot of the DD school information from one so I can start looking through that.

Day 7:

Still no internet. In the accommodation room, on the 1st floor, there is a small collection of books so I won’t die of boredom after I finish the last 10 pages in the book I’m currently reading. I’ve also been collecting movies and TV shows from various people around the rig. I should have brought my big hard driver—another lesson learned.

This week has gone by fast. It is easy to lose track of the days. I’m excited to get to the section of the well where we start running our tools—it will be another big learning curve I am excited to learn but nervous about remembering everything in such a short time period. I will get to shadow during the 26’’ section and then be on my own for the rest of the well. Still not sure if they will keep me out here until Total Depth (TD).

Day 8:

We finally got internet access!!! We requested for 11 mac addresses to be granted internet access but they only gave us 4. So, to compensate we set up one of the laptops as a hotspot and now have wifi in the unit. But no one knows and no one should find out. It was so exciting to finally get on the internet and let everyone know I am okay. I had emails from people I wasn’t expecting and from people I wanted to contact to talk drilling stuff. The rig crew is installing to BOP so we aren’t neglecting work to play on the internet.

I was able to download two more books even though I already started a new book that I got from the Rec room. Progress is happening! I think I will be out here from at least another 2-3 weeks.

Day 9:

We are finally drilling. Still not running our tool so I have more time to prepare for my job. The other MWD out here with me is leaving to go back to land and they are sending a new MWD on loan from Algeria. I’ll be switching to night shift tomorrow, hopefully things will be calmer during the night shift and I won’t have to talk to so many people (company man/manager/town). J

Day 13:

Time is flying by! I can’t believe I’ve already been here for almost two full weeks! It feels like 5 days. Night shift is really relaxed, partly because we still haven’t run our tool downhole and partly because most people are sleeping so no one is bugging us for data. I miss the sun because I liked looking at the ocean and watching the waves. Today we had TWO drills. Went to bed at 7am, woke up for the first drill at 10am, went back to sleep for maybe 5 minutes and the second drill started. Thankfully, I was able to go back to sleep. I had worked a double the day/night before so sleep exhaustion helped to get back to sleep quickly!

The night DD is fun. He plays music and dances! He’s become like my second dad—very protective. He says he doesn’t like the other guys here asking about me and talking to me so whenever the driller calls for a survey print out I send Yuri up to deliver it. But if the company calls, I’m the one that’s sent. I’ve been put on a mission to figure out how the guys in the surface room are able to get on facebook when it’s blocked for the rest of us. My coworkers tell me I need to use my “woman power”. I just laugh. Disclaimer, no one has been rude to me, just Uncle Yuri looking out!

I’ve been assigned a mentor just 2 days ago. Turns out to be a Texas A&M alumn! I thought I escaped all the Aggies because I’m working in Qatar and not Texas! He’s been extremely helpful, kind and very intelligent. I’m very appreciative for all of his help and for all that he is teaching me! I need to figure out a way to thank him BIG for all he has done for me!

Day 19:

We have been on standby for 6 days now because of a bad cement job. I’ve been gathering 3-6 movies from people around the rig every day so my collection is getting pretty good. In the mornings I’ve been going up to the helideck to walk/run (running gets boring pretty quick without music and running in small circles). I especially enjoy watching the sun rise, it’s so beautiful over the water. Yesterday it was a really, pretty pink sunrise! I saw a big, brown sea turtle, first sea creature I’ve seen since coming here!

My normal schedule has become:

16:30-roll out of bed, throw on my coveralls, put on socks and crocs, brush teeth, head downstairs to the galley for dinner

17:30-walk into the unit, get the update for current operations and what happened during the day, joke around, get the latest rig gossip (yes boys gossip a lot!)

18:00-start shift

00:00-go to the galley (if operation permits) for some soup

5:00-6:00-go have breakfast

6:30-go to helideck (weather permitting) and walk/run

7:30-go take a shower

8:00-read until I fall asleep

REPEAT

Day 21:

The new joke in our unit has become “are you speaking English?” any time anyone has to ask “what”. It started because the other MWD from Algeria and the day DD from India have a really hard time understanding my English because of “my accent”. I also have a hard time understanding their English but we’re making it work. I’ve been learning some Hindi, French, Arabic, and Indonesian. Just a few words, mostly naughty words.

Day 23:

Today and yesterday have been long! We got H2S (hydrogen sulfide gas) at surface so we’ve had to muster for 5 hours total yesterday and so far 3 hours today. H2S is a toxic gas, smells bad at low concentrations but can’t be detected by smell at medium-high concentrations which makes it very dangerous. Our unit is located right above the shakers where H2S is usually located. Because I am working night shift, my sleep has been majorly disturbed. After waking us up throughout the day to stand at our muster stations with SCBAs on, when day shift went to bed they decided against having everyone muster and just have those working night shift to muster. So, us working night shift are getting screwed out of sleep. I’m ready to get this section over with!

Day 30:

We are experiencing problems with the well. We almost got to go home because it was going to take longer than a few days to remedy the issue but town called with a new plan that requires us to stay. I was looking forward to going back to land but I was also kind of bummed because I wanted to work with a Rotary Steerable System (RSS) that we are running in the next section. Right now it looks like I will be staying, you never know though, decisions are always made last minute!

The night DD working with me found some real coffee, not the instant nescafe crap! We don’t have a proper coffee machine nor do we have filters but in Indonesia they don’t make coffee the way we do in America. You scoop the ground coffee into your cup, add boiling water, stir, let it sit for ~5 minutes for all of the grounds to settle to the bottom and enjoy! It was a little weird at first but it’s totally worth having good coffee.

FINALLY BACK TO LAND!

As soon as I arrived on land, I dropped my bags off at the hotel, changed into normal clothes and met the Oil Installation Manager (OIM), rig superintendent and the mud engineer at a hotel bar to celebrate finishing the section. How good beer tastes after so long! After spend a couple of days in base testing tools and a few days sitting by the pool, I returned to the rig to finish drilling the well.

It was fun returning to people I knew. Drilling only took us about a week, the geologist called early TD because we hit water (not what you want when drilling for oil). One of the tools we ran in this run is brand new, only three in the world and two were on board with me. I was very nervous going into this run because I hadn’t run the older generation of this tool, never ran a LWD tool so I had to do a lot of studying and research to gain knowledge about the tool to be prepared for any issues during drilling. PLUS it was even more important for this run to go well because the tool is in the field test stage. Inshallah, all went really well and only took ONE run to finish! This was SO unlike the previous section where it took 9 runs to finish. It was such a happy feeling when TD was called. After all of the problems experienced throughout this well, I didn’t think we would actually finish it.

My first hitch offshore was great. Challenging yet rewarding. It was an experience I won’t soon forget! Now it’s time to prepare for school in RUSSIA!

1 note · View note

elsdell · 8 years ago

Text

The Gang Leader’s Love-Child

Summary: A conversation between Mr R. Gold, Peter Pan, Wendy Darling and Felix regarding the unborn child and the whole teenage pregnancy in general.

Characters: MR R. GOLD is the leader of a gang called the Dark Ones and their secret, bespoken weapon is called the Dark One’s Dagger. The leader often covers up his true image by feigning the role of a humble pawnshop owner leading the average life of a married man with one son and a child on the way.

PETER PAN is the son of Malcolm Pan (shockingly, Gold’s half-brother) - a billionaire and the former leader of a gang called the Lost Boys, which he handed leadership of over to his son. The only thing he continues to hold onto is his title, business and ownership of the Pan Estate until he retires from the business as well. Unfortunately, Peter’s mother, a supposedly respectable, strong woman unfortunately passed away while giving birth to him. Her name was Evanna Pan. Peter used to be heartless, cruel and ruthless - often considered to have pandemonium and often compared to a demon - until he impregnated and fell in love with Wendy Darling.

WENDY DARLING is the daughter of an honest banker for a father and a humble co-manager of a boutique for a mother (Mary, Wendy’s mother, works with her sister-in-law, the manager, Millicent). Now pregnant with the gang leader of the Lost Boys’ baby, not only has Wendy lost rights of heritage to the boutique, she now faces more than blackmail since the unborn child will be the heir to the Pan legacy.

FELIX is Pan’s second-in-command, best friend, adviser and, most importantly of all, brother in arms, having known him since they were babies. He’s always there to support and help Pan in any situation and Pan, although careful enough not to show it, is always grateful to Felix for his undying loyalty - he’ll never show his gratitude since nearly every member of the gang wants in on Felix’s position.

Scene Setting The conversation is held in a meeting where the Lost Boys also dine and discuss ‘business’. There is a long square table in the middle of the room, which is long and rectangular itself. The room is relatively dark and worn - how you’d picture a room in a gang’s warehouse. There are two chairs, opposite each other and both situated at either end of the table. Chairs are also situated all along the sides of the table. One chair at one end is rather big, brown and leather (where the leader of the Lost Boys usually sits) while the other one, identical to the rest of the chairs, has been pushed back into one of the far corners of the room, behind Peter Pan and Wendy Darling.

Now, on with the conversation…

(Peter is standing at one end of the table, an arm around Wendy and a hand on her belly protectively) (Felix stands somewhere to the side, obviously ready to pounce if there is trouble) (Mr Gold stands at the opposite end of the table to Peter, seemingly unfazed and not intimidated in the slightest) (On the table in front of Mr Gold, there are some black and white photos spread out)

GOLD: I heard about your pregnancy, Miss Darling…congratulations

PAN (after a roll of his eyes): What do you want, Gold?

GOLD: Oh, I want nothing, Pan. I simply wanted to offer my congratulations.

(Mr Gold turns his attention back to Wendy)

GOLD: I especially wanted to congratulate you, Miss Darling. You must be…thrilled to be the bearer of the heir to such a…prominent family

(Mr Gold’s finger tips brush over some of the black and white photos)

PAN (irritated, snaps before Wendy can speak): Enough of the theatrics, Gold! How did you even get a hold of those scans? You wouldn’t show your face on MY turf unless you had an ulterior motive…

GOLD (expression remains impassive as he returns his attention to Pan): What if I do? Your family must be used to it by now…

PAN (snaps impatiently): Just spit it out already! Then I’ll refuse and then it’s up to you if you want to pick a window or have two of my boys see you out

GOLD (chuckles, then speaks in a low voice): Oh, no matter how far down the tree your family goes, no generation is ever different, is it? A father-like son - why am I not surprised…

(The muscles in Peter’s arm around Wendy tense up) (Peter scowls at Mr Gold) (Wendy runs a hand up and down Peter’s chest, attempting to soothe him)

PAN (with a growl in his voice): Gold, I swear, say I’m like my father one more time…

GOLD (voice stays steady): Careful, boy. I’ve been very tolerant of your brash moods; while your father had years of experience, you’re a gang leader still wet behind the ears. However, do not make me regret suggesting this deal to you…

PAN: Offer up the deal, then! Just get to the point - explain how you got those baby scans while you’re at it - before I make the decision of your exit for you…

GOLD: Fine, since you’re so eager. Our gangs have been in dispute for years - before your father and I took them over, even - as you well know. But, it has gone on for too long and there’s been bloodshed on both sides. So, I want us to form, not a friendship or partnership, but a tolerance of each other. I want both our gangs to acknowledge the territories that are mine, and the territories that are yours…

PAN: What’s the deal, Gold? I’m running on a rather short fuse with you…

GOLD: Impatient today, are we? Very well…

(Mr Gold reaches into his black blazer and brandishes a scroll)

GOLD: …Here is the contract inscribing my proposal in full detail…

(Mr Gold throws the scroll across the table) (Scroll halts and drops on the table just before it reaches the end of it as if by magic) (Scroll unrolls before Peter and Wendy) (Wendy leans forward slightly, eyes skimming the paper)

WENDY: You want Peter to hand his father’s title, business and ownership of the estate over to you?

PAN (sarcastically crows with laughter): Absolutely not, Gold! What makes YOU think I’d hand over the estate, family business and my dad’s title over to a crocodile like you? This meeting is over and I refuse this deal - it’s ridiculous

GOLD: I think…[Mr Gold leans forward in the chair]…not, boy…

(A calculating expression clouds Mr Gold’s eyes)

GOLD: You’re going to need this deal. Trust me, this meeting is far from over…

PAN: Then tell me, Croc. Why the hell would I want to agree to a deal like this? I know my dad is an ass, but…

(Mr Gold holds up his hand, signalling for Peter to let him finish)

GOLD: This deal involves the safety of your girl and the future of your gang…

(Instinctively, Peter holds Wendy closer)

GOLD: No, no…neither of you will be receiving threats from me or my gang. Well, depending how this meeting progresses. The estate, business and title are merely my price for my generous offer.

(Peter sneers) PAN: GENEROUS? What’s generous about demanding for my dad’s title, family business and estate - everything I’m going to inherit someday?

GOLD: Careful, boy. Once you hear what I’m about to put forward, you won’t be able to refuse.

PAN: And why’s that?

GOLD: If you’d stop interrupting like a child, you’d…

PAN: Well, if you didn’t go the long way about it and give us the price BEFORE the offer, then maybe I would…

WENDY (softly): Peter…

(Peter glances down at Wendy, then back over at Mr Gold)

GOLD (smiling with a hint of teeth over at Wendy): Thanks, dearie

(Mr Gold clears his throat before refocusing his attention back on Peter)

GOLD: As I was saying, my contract clearly states that, in exchange for your family’s business, your father’s title and ownership of the Pan Estate, I offer peace. Neither me, my gang, nor our connections shall blackmail or cause your girl harm in any way - the baby included. We also make that same promise to you and your gang as well

(Something clicks and we see something vulnerable flicker across Peter’s features)

PAN (more calmly); Why would I agree to this?

(Mr Gold shrugs)

GOLD: I have a lot of connections. Think of the amount of harm and blackmail your girl and unborn babe would be saved - not to mention you and your gang would have one less enemy to deal with. Think about it: your girl is carrying the next heir of Pan - who wouldn’t want to use her as a means of getting to you? Not only does this deal offer peace, I also offer help in providing protection of your two most prized possessions. We can keep watch over our territories when your girl passes through them and we can also keep a close eye on her when she passes through the neighbouring areas of these territories

PAN (suspicious): What’s the catch?

GOLD: You should know by now my deals are honest; both parts of the bargain must be fulfilled. I’m no Ursula and, in all honesty, I can’t see how a deal like this one can be twisted round so it’s only in my favour

(Peter appears seemingly considering of the offer)

GOLD: Didn’t one of the Pirates, Jones’s gang, break into the apartment your girl’s family is currently living in and stab her while she was visiting?

PAN (conflicted and angry): …Yes…

GOLD: You see, her parents and brothers are taking up residence in an apartment that neighbours one of my territories. Had I offered this deal sooner, Miss Darling here would not have been in the hospital that night

PAN: What made you even think of this deal?

GOLD: Miss Darling is my son’s friend. That’s enough for me to offer my services

(Mr Gold gets up off the chair, leaning on his cane for support) (Scroll is left on the table)

GOLD: Well, I think that concludes my business here…

(Mr Gold makes his way across the room, towards the same door he entered in) (Felix follows)

PAN (distractedly while staring down at the contract in front of him): Felix and another boy he chooses will see you out

GOLD: Just think about it, boy. You know where to find me and you have my main building’s number if you want the deal. But, I’m not too patient and the deal isn’t open for you to take forever. A week or so to think about it should do?

PAN (glances over at Mr Gold and nods slowly): Sure

(Mr Gold nods and turns to leave)

WENDY (Just before Mr Gold and Felix disappear through the doorway): Wait!

(Wendy turns to face the door and breaks away from Peter’s arm) (Mr Gold halts, stepping back until he’s back in the room completely) (Felix halts, stepping back until he’s back in the room completely)

GOLD: Yes, dearie?

WENDY (curiously): How DID you get access to those baby scans?

(Mr Gold shrugs)

GOLD: Oh, right, that. Let’s just say my sources are phenomenon. That’s why I offer my services. I wouldn’t be surprised if nearly every gang in the city already knows that it’s a boy you’re carrying…

(Peter grips the edge of the table with both hands at Mr Gold’s words) (Mr Gold exits) (Felix follows close behind him) (The door shuts)

(Wendy pats her belly as she turns back to face Peter)

WENDY: Peter…

(Peter lets go of the edge of the table and makes his way over to Wendy) (Wendy places her hands on Peter’s arms while his arms wrap around her waist)

PAN: Stop - I don’t want to hear it

WENDY: But, Peter, you gave away all of your heritage…for me. Wh-why?

PAN: You’re more important - you and this baby

(Peter’s hand rests on Wendy’s belly) (Wendy’s hand rests on top of Peter’s)

WENDY (sighs while resting her head on Peter’s shoulder): Oh, Peter…

(Peter kisses the top of her head)

WENDY: Do you think Gold will keep his word?

PAN (sighs): I don’t know…but if there’s any chance to protect you and our baby - I sure as hell am going to take it

~ END OF SCENE ~

#darlingpan #ouat #felix #peterpan #peter #wendydarling #wendy #mrgold #rumplestiltskin #script #ouatscripts #ouatmiscellaneous #pendy #pan #gangs!au #unplannedpregnancy #teenagepregnancy #mine!lol #thegangleaderslovechild

6 notes · View notes