#mutuals you don’t understand I’m not exaggerating at all | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kissitbttr · 7 months ago

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how would frat!mig be in a huge argument w his girl?? idk a part of me feels like he’d be lowk immature abt it. of course he makes up to her un the end bc i cant stand angst 👎👎🧌

oh very

—

“so that’s it? you’re not even going to talk to me?” miguel stares at your moving figure, who’s hastily picking up a fresh shirt from the dryer. “never realized i’m actually dating a child” he scoffs when you don’t answer to him,

before the two of you started dating, you already knew how many girls miguel had swept off their feet. the ex-girlfriends, the jealous glares, the talking in between groups. it does brings the greatest displeasure in you to witness all of that. but miguel’s top priority is to ease your worries, and he doesn’t want to lose you over something that’s not worth to be talked about.

but the thing is, miguel sometimes forget how to set boundaries. almost like he’s not even trying anymore.

like today during practice. when you were practicing your tumblings and routines whilst miguel did his football drills. your eyes fell upon a familiar blonde girl from the volleyball team making her way towards your boyfriend.

it’s not like you don’t allow miguel to talk with other girls, you’re not as insane. letting a girl touch and feel his biceps is another story. you don’t need a damn book to know what the girl’s intentions are. obviously she was being flirty. blinking her eyes up at him, subtly biting her lip though knowing he’s taken.

the girl was previously known to be acting like a total slut. not that you’re shaming her when it really is a fact. prances herself around other guys even though their taken. you and gloria shares the same mutual dislike towards her when she had told you how the blonde kept trying to get into beck’s pants. thankfully, beck knows how to handle it.

so you waited. waited and watched at how your boyfriend would respond. instead he did nothing. nothing but a smile on his face without brushing the girl’s touch. they carried on a small talk

it broke your heart. and to some, it may sound a little bit too exaggerated but they wouldn’t know for sure until their partner was being felt up by other people and them not doing anything about it.

you were about to make your way towards the two of them, wanting nothing but to rip that girl’s hair off of him but stopping when your coach calls you to inform the practice is starting soon,

your mind wasn’t at ease for one bit during practice.

“i’m a child for wanting to communicate over what happened today? yeah, sure. talk your fucking shit, o’hara” you reply to him, rolling your eyes as you furiously toss your other belongings into a bag. “a real keeper you are”

the sound of his last name falls upon your lips doesn’t feel right to him. sure, you may have called him that in a fun manner but he knows that this time you’re actually pissed.

and miguel is not an expert at expressing his feelings and emotions. he’s got a lot to learn. the only way he knows how it to use anger and frustrations, which is something that he should control. especially when he’s talking to you.

“por el amor de dios! are you serious? we’re still on about that?! get over it, muñeca. it’s not a big of a deal!” he exclaims, removing his shirt before throwing it away on the nearest chair of his room,

“not a big of a deal?!” your tone rising as you walk out of the bathroom to see him. “you let another girl felt you up, letting her get close to you and you said that it was nothing?! are you out of your mind!”

“veronica and i were just talking! am i not allowed to talk to other girls simply because i’m dating you? that’s quite ridiculous, baby” he chuckles but there’s no humor in it, almost like he’s mocking you. receiving a baffled look from you.

“stop putting words in my mouth, that’s not what i said! you missed the part where i said you were letting another girl touching you, when you already have a girlfriend!” you point at him, trying to get him to understand but it seems like it’s no use. seeing him only roll his eyes and dismissing your words with a wave of his hand. it furthers your already broken heart to more pieces,

“fucking immature little shit” you spit, going back to zip up your bag,

he laughs loudly at that, shaking his head. “look who’s talking!” he turns around to face you. “i can’t control the people that like me, sweetheart. what am i supposed to do with that?”

“you really are entitled and narcissistic” you laugh sadly, “maybe try setting up boundaries between people especially girls? ever thought of that?”

“ever thought about not being insecure and jealous all the time? may come off handy”

and that does it. the words just pierced right through your heart, making you stop your movements all together.

never thought in your life that miguel would be the one person to say all of that to you. is that how he views you as? a insecure girl?

is it wrong that you love your boyfriend so much that you want him all to himself and for him to learn how to listen to you?

“if that’s how you feel, then maybe we should just end it here” your eyes turning glossy, trying not to break down in front of him. “if you missed being flirted by other girls or flirting back to your flings, then i am not stopping you. so instead of making me feel like shit, calling me insecure, we should just see other people”

that’s not what miguel had expected you to say. his blood runs cold, face faltering at your suggestion because that is not what he wants. not at all.

hearing what he just said to you makes him want to crawl into a hole and let himself die. he didn’t mean it! he didn’t mean what he said, he’s just grown tired of this argument that he wanted nothing but to end it. yet instead of making you feel secured and listen to you, he chooses the latter.

holy fuck, o’hara what have you done?!

“wh—n-no! muñeca, I didn’t mean what i said, i did—“ he stutters, walking closer towards you only for you to step back. “baby please i wasn’t thinking—“

“exactly! you weren’t!” you yell, picking up your bag and getting ready to walk out of his room, the frat house and his life for good. “i’m giving you, your freedom card from now on”

this can’t be it, right? fuck, no, no, no

“you’re not leaving” he says while trailing you from behind, hands shaking at mind in scrambles at the thought of you walking out of him for good. “y/n please—please don’t leave me—i’m sorry—i—i cut off every girls on campus if you want me to, just stay—please” he tries to reach out to you but your pace is quicker while walking down the stairs, ignoring the looks from some of his frat brothers,

shaking your head, you try to ignore the pain in his voice. part of you wants to hug him and tell him that you won’t be going anywhere. but part of you realize that this time, you need to put yourself first. because as much as you love him, you love yourself more,

this is going to be painful.

“that’s not what i want you to do, i just— i can’t do this, miguel. at least not now” your head shaking, voice lowering to prevent the eavesdropping ears from the kitchen. “i—i need to think, for a while. competition is coming up and exams are too—everything is just so overwhelming. i think we need a break. i think you need a break”

“a break?! I don’t need a break. i need you” his voice cracking, tears welling up in his eyes as he gathers your hands quickly and pull them into his chest. “i love you, muñeca—please—i’m so sorry—i’ll do better i promise. just stay, por favor”

his eyes are pleading at you, staring intently into your eyes as his grip tighten around your smaller hands. for just one second, you almost cave in.

almost,

you smile sadly, “just give it a week or two, okay? and we’ll see after that”

but miguel doesn’t need a week or two. he doesn’t need to see after. he knows who he wants to spend the rest of his life with. he knows who he wants to marry. he knows who he wants to have his kids with.

and it’s always going to be you, no one else.

however looking at the state of you now, miguel has no right to force you to do anything. he cares too deeply about you,

so he complies,

“o-okay” he nods and agrees with a heavy heart. “if that’s what you want—i’ll give you space, but just know that you’re the only one that i want. the only girl i want to have by my side. keep that in mind, okay?”

a small smile appears on your lips, as you reach up in your tippy toes and give him a soft kiss on his cheek before you turn around and open the door. giving him one last look and walk out of the house, carrying his heart as you do.

miguel breathes out a shaky sigh, watching the door closes. his tears are rolling down his cheeks without him realizing.

without you here right now, what else is he supposed to do?

—

don’t worry, i’ll make these two make up :)) i just think that miguel needs to be humbled rn lmao

also, reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated xx

#frat!miguel

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ikn0wtheend · 2 years ago

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thoroughfare - modern!ellie x reader

summary: you knew ellie once and a road trip back home together complicates things more than it should.

pairing: modern!ellie williams x reader

word count: ~4.5k

c/w: angst, fluff, mutual pining, language, implied sex, hopeful ending? loser lesbians as always.

a/n: um I do not know where this came from seeing as this is quite the diversion from ‘the record’ but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I was just listening to ethel cain’s ‘thoroughfare’ (as a girlie does) and I blacked out and apparently wrote 4k words of whatever this is. spoiler alert: they don’t even make it back home, they drive for like 5 hours. as always let me know what you think and if you’d like me to make this a series (I'm currently on the fence about it). <3

main masterlist & thoroughfare [2]

It was hot. The kind of hot that doesn’t give you a reprieve no matter how many layers you take off or how hard you fan yourself with your hand. It was sticky and miserable. You want to claw at your skin.

Sitting on the sidewalk you waited for Dina to arrive, you hadn’t really gotten the full details from her. All she had said was “meet outside your apartment” giving you a specific day at a specific time. But you couldn’t complain, you were the one that had called her in distress, forgetting about timezones when she answered the phone half-awake.

Someone eclipses the sun from their spot next to you. You turn with your hand above your brow to get a better look at them and when you do your face automatically scrunches up.

“Why the fuck are you here?”

“Why the fuck are you sitting on the sidewalk?”

You stand up, brushing your pants off. “Oh fuck you, Ellie.”

“No fuck you.” She retorts.

You were going to punch her. Right here. Right on this very sidewalk. You were going to draw your fist back and punch the freckles on her left cheek off of her face. You clench your fists. “I’m not gonna stand here and argue with you.”

“You started it.”

“You’re really gonna play the blame game?”

“Who the fuck calls it a ‘blame game’?”

“Literally everybody you fuckwad.”

“So we’re calling each other names now?” She places both hands on her hips. “You’re such an asshole.”

“I see you’ve lost your touch.” You mirrored her stance. “Asshole isn’t very creative.”

“Neither is fuckwad, you fuckwad.”

You throw your hands up. “Jesus Christ, you’re impossible.”

“No you’re imposs-”

Your phone rang interrupting Ellie from finishing, what you were sure was a very clever rebuttal, Dina’s name flashing on the screen. You quickly turn your back to Ellie and answer.

“Hey-”

Dina cuts you off. “Has she shown up yet?”

“Who?”

“Ellie.”

You sucked in a breath and pinch between your eyes. “Dina, please don’t tell me my ride across the country is Ellie.” You chanced a look at the girl in question, painfully aware of the way she raised her eyebrows to remind you she could still hear you.

“Um yeah? You said you need a ride and that it was urgent and Ellie was closest.” Dina stated simply. As though she didn’t know that this was bound to create a mess, one you might not recover from.

“Okay maybe I exaggerated when I said ‘urgent’, I would’ve happily of waited for you or Jesse.” The words rush out of you, eager to get her to understand and to undo this mess.

“You were literally in tears when you called and like I said Ellie was closest. You’ll be fine.” She said flippantly. As though she wasn’t a first-hand witness to the shit-storm that had happened two years ago.

“I don’t think we share the same definition of ‘fine’, Dina.” Her name comes out with a bite.

You hear a long sigh. “Look just trust me on this. And hey maybe this will be good for the both of you, you’ll finally be able to talk about it.”

“Did it even occur to you that I left because I didn’t want to talk about it?”

“Fair point.” She concedes. “But listen I can’t come get you until next week, and that's being generous, so just suck it up and come home. I miss you.”

Fuck, you thought. You couldn’t stay here, not for another week, and hearing Dina say she missed you made you press the heel of you palm into your chest to try and calm the ache. It wasn’t the first time she had told you she missed you since you left, you heard it everytime you called. Sometimes when the time stretched thin between the two of you she would send you a text reminding you she was thinking of you. That she hadn’t forgotten.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?” You can hear the concern in her voice now.

“Yeah. Thank you.” You clear your throat. “I miss you too.” You really did.

She throws out a number of goodbyes and ‘I love you’s’, words you return, before she hangs up. You take a deep breath before turning to look at Ellie again who was standing there with your bags in her arms. She looked silly, you thought. Adorable. You scowl.

“I can carry my own things you know?”

“Just get your arse across the road and into the car.”

“Sir yes sir.”

You think you hear a huff of laughter escape her, you think the heat is making you imagine things.

You’re avoiding looking at Ellie, instead you’re focused on the stretch of road laid out in front of you. The two of you had been stuck at a stand-still for the last couple of hours, neither wanting to be the one to break the silence. Maybe it had less to do with not wanting to and more to do with not knowing what to say.

You knew her once, could tell anyone that would listen how loud she liked her music, the way she took her tea. You knew which side of the bed she preferred despite her protests that it was childish to have a favourite - it was the left.

You knew her. You knew her. You knew her.

You’re not sure if you still do. Her hair is different and her shoes look new - you don’t recognise the brand of air freshener hanging from the mirror. This time when you feel an ache in your chest it feels like something akin to grief. But she still looks like your life two years ago and the thought that you might not look the same makes you slump in your chair.

It’s another silent hour before you make your first stop at the gas station, even so Ellie still gets out of the car without saying a word. You watch her for a second, eyeing the way she leaned back against the car with her arms crossed over her chest, before unbuckling your seatbelt and heading inside to grab some snacks.

You take your time browsing down the aisles, glad for the chance to stretch your legs for a bit. There was something about gas stations that made you nostalgic, something about you and Ellie at a gas station that made you nostalgic even though she was outside pumping the gas. There were too many times to count when the two of you would make your way to the closest one at all hours of the night to stockpile on chips and candy for movie nights. You would walk through every single aisle and she would follow, not once complaining over the fact that you got the same things everytime and they were two aisles over. She would hold out a hand to carry the food and you would pay, swatting at her whenever she tried to sneak her card to the cashier who looked far too tired to even act amused. Ellie would say ‘thank you’ and you would tell her that it was on her next time although you both knew that was a lie.

So you allow your mind to wander and your feet to carry you aimlessly. You rely on muscle memory to take you where you need to go because all these gas stations are built the same. You pay and try to leave the memories at the automatic doors.

Ellie is still standing outside the car when you exit with a full bag, arms still crossed. You call her name and chuck a chocolate bar at her a bit more aggressively than you originally planned, because it hits her square in the chest and falls to the ground with a sad splat. Ellie looks at you irritated.

“What the fuck?”

You wince, shoulders up by your ears. “Sorry.” You say sheepishly.

She rolls her eyes as she bends down to grab the bar off of the ground, you see the moment her harden gaze softens and as quick as it was there it was gone again. She rises slowly, flipping the bar around in her hands.

“I hope they’re still your favourite.” You wring your hands together.

She nods. “Get in the car, we gotta go.” Before you can respond she turns her back to you and retreats to the car.

You puff out your cheeks before blowing the air out and make your way back to the passenger side, dumping your bag of snacks onto the floor in front of you. You buckle your seatbelt and lift your head to see Ellie already looking at you, she raises an eyebrow in lieu of asking if you’re ready. You nod.

The two of you drive in silence for roughly another 30 minutes before the urge to speak hits you. The last time you were in this car, you and Ellie talked until you couldn’t breathe, saying whatever was on your mind and taking breaks to sing whatever song was playing. You fear that if you don’t say something now you might choke.

“Do you remember the time Dina was learning to drive and she hit the curb so hard she started crying?” You don’t know why this is the thing your brain conjured up, maybe the combination of recycled air and the smell of Ellie’s cologne was getting to you.

Ellie snorts in surprise and looks between you and road. “How could I forget. We had to drive home with a flat tire.”

You’re laughing now, “And you had to bribe her back into the car with the promise of burgers.” You throw your head back.

Ellie’s laughing now too, a far away look on her face. “Yeah I did, didn’t I? Jesus Christ I thought she was gonna stand in the middle of the street all night and someone was gonna run her over, honestly I wouldn’t of blamed them.” One of her hands was off the wheel and gesturing wildly. “I don’t even know why she was standing on the road, the car was halfway up the sidewalk she should’ve stood there.”

Your laughter tapers off but a wistful smile remains on your face, you see Ellie look at you funny out of the corner of your eye. “What?” You ask softly, your eyes now on her profile. Pretty, you think.

“Nothing. Your laugh sounds the same.”

You struggle to maintain your composure. “Is that a bad thing?”

She shakes her head. “No. Just makes me remember.”

You don’t ask what exactly it was she remembers, because you think that it doesn’t really matter. She remembers your laugh and that's enough for you. It has to be, because you know you weren’t in the position to ask for more.

Ellie hesitantly calls out your name this time.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you leave?”

The question was sobering, you were expecting it the moment you saw her yet it still made you flinch. “I couldn’t stay.” You say.

You don’t elaborate.

She furrows her brow and you have the urge to smooth it out gently with your thumb and apologise for being the reason that its there. “Why didn’t you come back?” She tries again, voice strained like it hurt her to ask. Maybe it did.

You give her a smile. “I am now aren’t I?”

“I don’t know, are you?”

Your smile falters.

“Fuck you.” You snap, smile fully gone and replaced with something harsh. You quickly try and backtrack. “I’m sorry-”

“No it’s okay.” You both know it’s not okay. “I shouldn’t of asked.”

“Ellie-”

“Do you want to listen to something?” She interjects as she reaches over you to open the glovebox and pull out a stack of CD’s with one hand, you remember buying her some of them, she plops them down in your lap. “Take your pick. That Fleetwood Mac one is in there somewhere if that’s still your thing.” It was still your thing.

You grab something different instead, something that you couldn’t immediately attach a memory to and put it in the slot and press play.

You had swapped out the CD playing twice before you finally gathered the courage to speak to Ellie again, still embarrassed you had thrown your words at her face.

“How have you been?” You wince at your own words.

She turns to look at you incredulously. “Is that really what you’re going with?”

You huff even though you knew that it was a dumb question. “Fine. Why did you say yes to driving me home?”

“Dina forced me.” She was quick with her response.

You let the words sink in before asking another question. “You still could’ve said no.” The Ellie you knew was much more stubborn than Dina, could often outlast any insisting from her.

You watch as she shuffles in her seat and sighs. “Yeah I could’ve but then she would’ve annoyed me about it for forever, so it was easier to just say yes right off the bat.”

Silence fills the air once more as you think about it. Something wasn’t right and perhaps the stifling air in the car was making you agitated or perhaps Ellie wasn’t telling you the truth. The sky was so blue out here, you think.

“Not everything has to mean something.” She blurts out in irritation.

You turn your head to find her already looking at you. “What?”

“I can tell you’re sitting there trying to pick apart what I just said.” She bites at you like you did her, eyes darting between you and the road rapidly as her knuckles grow white from where she clenches the steering wheel. “You do it so fucking much that you forget to fucking listen. Not everyone is trying to speak to you in fucking riddles you know? Maybe, just maybe, when someone tells you their favourite colour’s blue they just really fucking love the colour blue. It has nothing to do with the ocean or the sky, it’s just something that is.”

There was a version of you that she knew and probably was expecting, the same version of you that had snapped at her earlier. That was a small lapse, one apparently Ellie managed to bring out of you. But that part of you that resides somewhere in your chest wanted to yell at her, deny everything she had just said and say something back that would hurt her - hurt you too when you see the look on her face. But nowadays you’re mostly just tired. Besides, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

You click your tongue and hold her stare when she looks back at you. “You done?”

Her chest heaves. “Yes.”

“Good.” You look away. “Focus on the road.”

You hum along to the song playing over the sound of her deep breathing as she tries to calm herself down. When some time passes you open up a bag of what used to be her favourite chips, you were unsure if she still liked them, but you still offer them to her first. You hold the bag steady when she huffs and sticks a hand into the bag to grab some. You’re still mad at her and you’re sure that she’s still mad at you, but you couldn’t find it within yourself to care when she continues to crunch on the chips like her life depended on them. It was all so familiar.

Your anger had settled into quiet exhaustion when Ellie pulls into a 24-hour diner. It was iffy-looking but there was something oddly charming about it. You follow her inside and take note of the outdated furniture and the weird smell permeating throughout the room, you like it, you think.

Ellie slides into a booth and sitting across from her you see her under the fluorescent lights. She looked more gaunt here, eye bags prominent. You still thought she looked good. You pretend to look at the menu when its placed in front of you by a young teenage girl, knowing what you’ll get but wanting to look busy. The waitress, Betty her name tag says, comes by with a pot of coffee in her hand, she fills up your mug first and goes to fill up Ellie’s when you quickly cover the cup with your hand. Betty’s look of initial confusion is replaced with a big grin.

“So, what can I get ya?” Her voice is chipper.

You open your mouth the speak but Ellie beats you to the punch.

“She’ll get the pancakes, extra strawberries, and I’ll just get some bacon and eggs please.” Her eyes widen. “Sorry-”

“-No, it’s okay.”

“I must be tired from driving. I wasn’t really thinking-”

“-No really it’s okay.”

The sound of both your voices overlap as Ellie tries to apologise and as you try to tell her that it’s okay. It’s okay that she still knows you. You see Betty out of the corner of your eye watching in amusement, but to be fair the diner was empty so this was probably the most entertainment the place had been in awhile.

“Is that all?” Betty asks, grin still taking over her face.

“She’ll get a diet coke.” You say nodding your head in Ellie’s direction. She looks away with rosy cheeks.

“Y’all are cute. I’ll be right back.” You watch as Betty practically skips away. This diner was oddly charming indeed.

You’re fiddling with the handle of your coffee cup when Ellie’s drink is deposited in front of her. There was an outrageous curly straw swirling from the tall glass and the sheer disbelief on Ellie’s face made you want to laugh. You lift your mug to hide your face behind it. It was decided then that you and Betty would make great friends.

“You think this is funny don’t you?” The defeat in Ellie’s face is endearing.

You take a loud sip of your coffee, eyes meeting hers over your cup. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She sighs.

“It’s a straw Ellie.” You say, unable to hide the teasing in your tone. “If you don’t want to drink from it just drink straight from the glass.”

Ellie looks you dead in the eyes when she takes her first sip and you try to look anywhere but her mouth around that damn straw. She sucks the drink up and you watch the liquid travel around in its various loop-de-loops, Ellie releases the straw between her lips with an exaggerated lip smack. “Refreshing.”

You snort. “You’re making me jealous.”

She takes the opportunity. “Of the straw?” A single eyebrow lifts in question.

“No you bitch.” You feel yourself begin to fluster. “I obviously meant of you. Because you got a cool straw and I got this chipped mug. I mean look at it-” you gesture wildly towards it, “-its bright pink and has like a million swirly things.” Swirly things? Really? Maybe Betty is better off remaining your waitress and not your best friend. It wouldn’t be too big of a loss, you didn’t know her that well anyway.

Ellie was laughing, very clearly proud of herself. “I’m just fucking with you.” She says. “You know that right?”

Right.

You avoid her eyes that were looking for yours, cheeks still warm. “Of course, no harm done.”

“Good.”

There’s a stretch of silence before you hesitantly break it. “Ellie?”

“Yeah?”

You pointedly make eye contact with her hoping that she sees if for what it is, an apology or an admission, either way you hoped she saw it. “I meant it when I said I couldn’t of stayed. Back in the car.” You hold up a hand to stop her from interrupting. “I know you’re gonna ask me why, but I don’t know if I can you reason.”

She reaches across the table to grab your hand that had abandoned your mug. She looked feral in a way, eyes wild. “Try.” She begs. “Please.”

You nod and try to clear the lump forming in your throat. “I think I always wanted to leave, think you knew that too, but I wasn’t gonna leave without you and you weren’t gonna stay without me.” Ellie nods and you continue. “And I would’ve been happy, more than happy to continuing the life that I was living with you. You were my best friend. But do you remember when we got into the argument? The one right before I left?”

You watch as Ellie looks down at your intertwined hands and gulps. “Yeah. Yeah I do.”

“Yeah I remember it too.” You give her hand a squeeze. “I called you every name in the book and you told me that it was suffocating being my friend.”

She grips you tighter as though she was scared you’ll pull away. “I didn’t mean it-”

“I know.” At the time you wished you had read between the lines to find the something in her words, in the same way she had berated you over in the car. Because she did mean it when she said it and you had felt the same way back but hadn’t put it into words. The two of you were suffocated by the love you had for each other that was disguised as being merely platonic. “But Ellie, I left because I was suffocating me too.”

It seemed as though Betty had impeccable timing because there she was happy as a clam with your two plates of food. You look at Ellie looking at your hands still holding each other and you think Betty was either your saviour or your worst enemy.

“Here you two go!” You and Ellie break apart. “And here’s your extra strawberries.” Betty gives you a wink and skips back to wherever she appeared from.

Ellie looks between you and the food. You give her a smile. “Eat. I’ll still be here to talk about it later.” The words you said sounded awfully like a promise.

Betty comes back to grab your empty plates, coffee in hand as she pours you another. “Can I get you another diet coke?” She tempts.

“No I’m okay. Thank you.” Ellie says.

“No problem, holler if you need anything.” There she goes again.

Ellie calls your name this time, you leave your mug untouched. “What did you mean when you said that you were suffocating yourself too?”

“Everytime I looked at you I felt like I was dying.” It wasn’t a full answer, but you weren’t ready to give so much of yourself away. You feel the same way you did two years ago before you left. “Do you understand?” Please understand, you think.

She looks at you with something in her stare that feels holy, like a revelation. “Yeah I think I do.”

The period of time between you meeting Ellie and now is often remembered in differing stages of hurt. The hurt in your hands when you clenched your fists too tightly that time in class when you saw her staring at a girl you couldn’t even name. The hurt on your hip when the two of you got matching tattoos. The hurt in your heart when you went away and stayed away.

The waiting hurt and so did the leaving.

And the realisation that it didn’t need to hurt, especially for as long as you did, left you feeling unsettled. The hurt was familiar, almost as familiar as Ellie, and you didn’t know if you could leave it behind too. Didn’t know if you would survive it. But surviving wasn’t living and this hurt could feel different. Because maybe, finally, all this love will have a place to go.

You stand up to go pay and Ellie doesn’t try to stop you like she used to. You leave Betty a big tip and she gives you a cheesy grin in return with her thanks. Ellie is waiting by the front door with her shoulders slumped and hands fiddling when you turn around. You walk towards her.

“Let’s stop somewhere for the night, yeah?”

“Yeah-” her voice cracks and she clears her throat, “-yeah sounds good.”

When you arrive to the closest motel it wasn’t nearly half as charming as the diner you had just eaten in. There was also no Betty to greet you at the front desk, instead a ragged man who was staring a bit too hard at you told you there was only one room left available. He looked far too happy when he sensed your discomfort.

Ellie places a foot right in front of where you’re standing and steps forward, obstructing your view. “We’ll take it.” She pays this time.

The man throws the keys on top of the counter and grumbles to himself. Ellie places a hand on the small of your back when you turn to walk away and you subconsciously lean into it before you feel her nudge you along. The two of you made the walk to your room in silence but you can still feel the heat from her hand radiating up your spine. You shiver.

Ellie taps your hip, a gesture you remember, to get you to move aside. She swings both bags she was carrying on her shoulder higher so she can open the door and you’re immediately met with the sight of a bed, there was other furniture in the room but the bed really stood out.

There was one bed.

It’s okay, you thought. You had shared a bed with Ellie multiple times, you practically lived at her house that one summer and all the summers following.

“Are you coming?”

You don’t trust your words so you nod and step inside. You didn’t realise closing the door would make the room seem infinitely smaller otherwise you might’ve left it open and just dealt with whatever the consequences were. Because there was still only one bed inside of a really small room. You try and play it cool.

“You’re taking the left.” Smooth.

Ellie agrees easily. “Fine by me.”

You watch as she throws the bags onto the bed and begin rooting through hers, pulling out an old t-shirt that you recognised and a pair of sweatpants. She makes her way to the bathroom without once looking at you. You huff and grab your pyjamas too, changing into them hurriedly and lying down on the right side.

Ellie turns off the light and joins you in bed, the two of you staring at the ceiling. You hear her breathing and it sounds like your childhood. It sounds like your future too, the one you dream but never talk about.

You both lay there under the covers on your backs and you think about how close she is to you. You didn’t know how to tell her you missed her, there simply weren’t enough words in the English language to express it, so you remained quiet. You think a lifetime has past when she decides to speak. In a way it had because you feel a new you being created in this dirty motel room.

“I hate you for leaving.” Without me. You hear the unspoken words this time.

“I know.”

“I hate you.” She states, stance firm.

“No you don’t.”

“No I don’t.”

You don’t know who reaches for who first, all you know is that you turn over and there she was, consuming your senses in a way only she knows how. You think about her lips on yours and the way her tongue traces your bottom lip. You think about her hands gripping your waist tight and the way she sighs into your mouth, you think that you want her to do it again. You think that everything about this road trip was doomed from the start. You think that it’s a problem for tomorrow’s version of you to deal with.

You stop thinking when she pulls you on top of her and tugs at your shirt. You sigh into her mouth this time.

#ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x you

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its-jaytothemee · 2 months ago

Text

Until I Met You - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: A Curse Broken

Pairings: Halsin x Tav

Word count: 4,999

Rating: Currently M, will be Explicit in later chapters.

Read on AO3

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Summary: Tav and Halsin set out to find Thaniel's missing half. Part 32 of the slow burn fic. Tav and Halsin POVs.

Tags: Slow burn, mutual pining, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, fluff, eventual love confessions, eventual smut, angst, implied past rape/non-con and abuse, graphic description of injuries, brief suicidal thoughts.

A/N: And we're back! Enjoy this next chapter! Sorry for the long wait between updates...don't worry I'm definitely still chipping away at this fic! They'll still be a bit sporadic while I'm in school but more story is coming I promise <3 Thanks so much for coming back to read after such a long break!

Halsin barreled past the mingling inhabitants of Last Light, still clutching Thaniel tight against him. The small groans and labored breaths coming from the small boy in his arms brought tears to his eyes. From what he could tell, Thaniel was suffering from a similar malady to Art Cullagh, but the hold on his mind was far stronger. In his weakened state, it must have been easier to take over his mind, allowing the shadows to take deeper roots. Without returning his missing piece, Halsin was certain Thaniel would remain under Shar’s spell.

Their brief sprint across through the woods led him stumbling past the edge of their camp, Gale and Astarion gasping for breath behind him. To his surprise, Shadowheart had returned from Last Light. She sat in front of her tent, lost in prayer or meditation.

Halsin laid Thaniel down next to the campfire to try and warm him up. Despite being huddled in Halsin’s arms, his skin was still cool to the touch.

“Who’s this?” Arabella had come skipping over to the fire.

“He’s a friend of mine, his name is Thaniel,” Halsin responded as he tried to catch his breath.

When he looked over his shoulder, Gale and Astarion had averted their eyes away from Arabella. They shuffled in place, kicking the dirt around their feet into little piles.

“He looks like the other boy I saw before Tav found me.” Arabella cocked her head to the side as she studied Thaniel’s face.

Of course. How did you not make that connection you old fool?

“I think you may have met his counterpart, Arabella. The part of him who has been trapped here since Thaniel was taken away to the Shadowfell.”

“Huh, he just asked me to play with him. I couldn’t find him though, so he must be good at hiding.”

“Do you remember where you saw him?” Halsin asked.

“Not exactly, it was too dark to see much. I remember being close to a graveyard,” she said.

“That’s alright, chances are he doesn’t stay in one spot for long.” He sat down next to Thaniel.

Astarion and Gale had wandered over as well, still decidedly avoiding Arabella.

What is that all about?

Having interrupted her meditations, Shadowheart also joined them.

“He…he’s just a child…” Shadowheart whispered next to him. “I thought you were exaggerating, or…or lying.”

“He’s much more than a child,” Halsin corrected her, “but he doesn’t truly know that.”

When he spared a glance up at Shadowheart, he saw confusion and anger oscillating over her features. He could see her pointed ears twitching behind the black fringe of her hair. Her hand was balled into a fist at her side.

“I don’t understand…” He heard her mutter under her breath before composing herself once more.

“Where are the others?” she asked, raising her voice so they could all hear.

“Tav was injured rather badly,” Gale explained, sparing a sympathetic look at Halsin. “Everyone else stayed behind so she could heal.”

“This must be important indeed if you came back without her,” Shadowheart aimed a bewildered scoff at Halsin.

“More important than you realize, Shadowheart. Her injuries were not life-threatening, I’m confident she’s capable of tending to them on her own.” He tried to project confidence with his words despite the fact that each one felt like a knife in his gut. When he looked back up at her, there was an unfamiliar softness in her expression.

“I…I need to meditate. To see if I can find any clues in his mind.” Halsin stood up, once again taking Thaniel in his arms. “Would you tell me when…”

“We’ll let you know when she’s back, Halsin,” Astarion said with a wink.

He gave him a grateful nod before taking Thaniel to rest in his tent.

***

Tav rolled her wrist and shoulder around, testing her range of motion. She had taken care of her wounds with ease – the injuries had been painful, but not life-threatening in the least. Wyll, Lae’zel, and Karlach had stayed behind with her after the fight so she could get healed up a bit. They also managed to salvage plenty of useful materials, so she was counting the battle as a win.

Gale came running up to them as soon as the camp was in sight.

“It’s good to see you up, my friend.” He patted her on the back. “Halsin’s waiting for you, he wanted to know the second you returned.”

“Thanks, Gale. I’ll head over right away.” She nodded to the others as she jogged over to Halsin’s tent, Lunari close at her heels. He was sitting on the ground outside of it, concentrating over Thaniel’s body.

“Halsin?” she called out softly. His head snapped up to her.

“Tav…you’re back.” He let out a relieved sigh as he stood up. “Forgive me, are you alright? I wanted to stay but–”

“I’m fine, Halsin. My wounds are healed, and Thaniel is safe here at camp. There’s nothing to forgive.” She held up a hand to cut him off. Even as she spoke, he was inspecting her wrist and shoulder.

“You…you dove in front of an arrow for Thaniel. For…” A single tear ran down his face as he looked into her eyes.

“Not just for Thaniel, for us. For you. And I’d do it again,” she assured him. Before she could continue, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

When she pulled away, she noticed marks up and down his arms in the shape of handprints.

“What happened?” she asked as she gingerly ran her fingers over one of them.

“There were wraiths and shadows that pursued us through the Shadowfell. Their grip was cold enough to leave burns,” he shuddered as he recalled the creatures.

“Here, let me.” Tav murmured her simple healing spell. She wasn’t nearly as skilled as Halsin, but it was more than sufficient to mend a few burns.

“Thank you, I suppose I forgot about my own injuries while tending to Thaniel.”

She smirked back at him. Of course he had neglected his own pain to concentrate on others’.

“Now…what have you found out? You said there was a part of Thaniel missing.” Tav reached up to wipe away his tears.

“Yes, his counterpart. It seems they were ripped apart when Thaniel was dragged to the Shadowfell. If we can find his other half, he should be able to recover. Once he is whole again, he can banish these shadows once and for all.” Halsin’s voice had taken on a new tone, full of hope and courage. Having found Thaniel, his confidence in finding an end to the shadow curse seemed to be born anew.

“Okay, where do we start though? What are we looking for?” she prompted.

“Even while subdued, this curse cannot fully suppress Thaniel’s power. We must look for signs of life in the darkness. Leaves, flowers, anything that doesn’t seem warped by the shadows.” Tav could see his mind racing, trying to think of any clues they could have seen during their travels. A sudden look of realization spread over his face.

“In fact, I saw something like that on our way here. Fool that I am, I didn’t recognize its significance.” His eyes widened as he spoke.

“Show me!” Tav fumbled with her bag to pull out the small map Jaheira gave them.

“There…just outside of Last Light,” he said breathlessly. They made a small mark on the map to save their destination.

“Okay then, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll head there right away.” She smiled and turned to walk back to the others, but Halsin caught her hand and spun her back toward him.

“Wait…” He pulled her a little closer. “This doesn’t have to be your burden alone. I’ve asked enough of you without being at your side. From now on, if you require my aid, you shall have it. Against the curse, against the Absolute…” He brought his other hand up to rest on the one he was already holding.

“…anything. Just say the word.” He tensed as he looked at her, almost as if he expected to be sent away.

“Then let’s get moving,” she responded with a smile. His shoulders relaxed as he squeezed her hand.

She whistled for Lunari to follow, but the wolf had curled up next to Thaniel with her head on his chest.

“I must admit I would feel better knowing he’s being looked after,” Halsin mused.

“Very well, we’ll leave her with Thaniel.”

Tav led him back towards the others, ready to brief them on their next mission.

She let him take the lead. The others listened with intense stares as he told them of his meditations with Thaniel. Halsin eagerly explained what would need to be done to make him whole again.

“Come now, surely this group of adventurers can handle a child.” Astarion’s eye roll was audible in his words.

“He is no mere child. Oliver is part of the spirit of the land. He has the power of this land as well. There is a good chance he will not come willingly after being isolated amongst the shadows for so long,” Halsin warned.

“We have a possible location, but this will be dangerous. I’ve asked too much of all of you to expect you to join another personal tangent.” Tav looked between her companions, hoping they would come with her anyway.

“We’re in this together soldier. Your tangents are my tangents.” Karlach came and put her arm around Tav’s shoulder.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Wyll stood up from his seat next to the fire.

“I’ll always look for an excuse to put a bratty little child in their place.” Astarion was nonchalantly twirling his daggers between his fingers.

“I’ll be by your side, whenever you need me,” Halsin said as he took one of her hands.

“Hang on, are you coming with us bear man?” Karlach jumped in front of them to yell.

“If you’ll have me.” Halsin’s voice was anxious again.

“Fuck yes!” Karlach grabbed his free arm and hugged him. He seemed startled by the motion, but quickly recovered and hugged her back, his lips turned up in a soft smile.

“Here, this might help.”

Tav turned to see Shadowheart standing at the other side of the fire, holding out the Lathander mace they had found in the Creche.

“What happened to going against Shar?” Tav spat the words with a little more venom than she intended.

“This second spirit isn’t being held by Lady Shar. And…” She took a deep breath. “I need to see it for myself.”

“Then why not come with us?” Karlach asked, head cocked to the side.

Tav tensed at Karlach’s offer, but another bout of guilt gripped her chest when Shadowheart’s eyes darted to her. The obvious distrust she saw there was enough to make her want to hide in shame.

“Just because this spirit isn’t being held by her doesn’t mean I want to incur any further displeasure by participating in its release.”

“Fair enough,” Karlach admitted.

“Besides,” Shadowheart continued, “I heard you were injured rather badly before. This can at least help with the shadows.”

The look of shock and suspicion on Tav’s face must have been painfully obvious. Shadowheart just rolled her eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped back. “Regardless of our differences I’d prefer you all come back alive. I can’t exactly dispel this Absolute cult on my own, can I?”

“Thank you,” Halsin said, walking over to accept the weapon.

Shadowheart gave a curt nod before stalking back over to her tent.

Tav wanted to call out to her, but no words would form. She could feel the others’ eyes on her, wary of her erratic behavior throughout the day.

No matter. One more step, maybe one more fight, and this duty can be done.

***

Halsin’s heartbeat pounded in his chest, the rhythm resonating deep in his ears as they made their way up the hill. At the top was a small, decrepit house. Just like the rest of the cursed land, it had fallen to ruin. The walls barely stood, parts of the roof had collapsed, and the wood looked to be rotten all the way through.

Despite its concerning appearance, Halsin felt his breath catch at the sight of the small pathway leading to the door.

All around the perimeter of the house were patches of grass, in each patch a small group of flowers bloomed even in the darkness. Tall, sweet-smelling flowers with rounded, purple petals stacked upon one another in little clusters at the top of the stem.

Lavender.

“This is it,” Halsin whispered to the others.

He walked over and held one of the delicate blooms between his fingers. They were fragile, struggling to grow in such a harsh environment, but when he closed his eyes and focused, he could hear the smallest hint of a laugh through them. He stilled his mind to all other thoughts and just listened for a moment. A hopeful smile spread over his face as he plucked one from the ground and took a deep inhale, absorbing what little life he could in the darkness.

As everyone else caught up to him, he pulled out the small notebook he kept in his backpack, pressing the small flower between the pages. He wanted to preserve this one little piece of hope he found among the shadows.

A small voice cut through his reveries, one that was familiar, but felt twisted…tortured.

“She wasn’t very fun,” the voice sneered. “All I wanted was to play.”

Halsin took note of the few bodies around the house. The freshest one was a githyanki.

“But someone else is coming.” He heard the childish whisper but couldn’t seem to find its source.

“Creepy,” Karlach said. He could see the small shiver that ran over her body.

“It definitely sounds like a child,” Tav remarked. She had the glowing mace strapped to her back to chase away the shadows.

Their group peered around the decaying doorway into the house. It was small, only one room. Broken furniture lined what was left of the walls. The air around them made the hair on Halsin’s arm stand on end.

Something, or someone, was watching them.

“Boo! I scared you!”

“Fuck!” Tav, Astarion, and Karlach all shouted together. Each of them clutched their chest in shock as they stared down at the small child that had appeared out of thin air.

“I win! No one beats me in hide and seek.” He rocked back and forth on his feet, heel to toe, like he was waiting for praise for a job well done. The eager, playful look in his eyes caused the recognition to click immediately in Halsin’s mind.

He walked up behind Tav, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“That’s him,” Halsin whispered, “he’s like an echo of Thaniel.”

Tav nodded her understanding, never taking her eyes off Oliver.

“So, will you play with me?” he asked, eyes still sparkling with mischievous energy as he looked at Tav expectantly.

“Oliver, right?” she asked gently.

“You know me?” His eyes brightened further, feet tapping in place with excitement.

“Yes, I know who you really are,” she continued, reaching a hand out. “I’m here to help bring you back to Thaniel.”

Oliver’s expression darkened.

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I have everything I need here. I just want to play,” Oliver pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Will you play with me or not?”

“Easy,” Halsin urged Tav, “remember, he doesn’t think of himself as any more than a child.”

“I’m not really one to play, Oliver. But I’m sure Thaniel is. If you come with us, maybe you could play with him.”

Halsin gave her an appreciative smile but noticed Oliver’s face twist into a frown.

“Spoilsport,” he muttered. “I don’t want to go back…I like it here. I get to play all the time.”

Oliver looked pensive for a moment before waving their group away.

“I don’t want to play with you anymore.”

With those words, he conjured a portal and disappeared beyond its edge.

“Any other ideas?” Tav turned to ask Halsin.

“The shadows have warped Oliver even further than I expected.” He couldn’t help the dejection seeping into his voice. “We must follow him. I think we should be expecting a fight on the other side of that portal.”

“Ah, that reminds me! Now that you’re coming with us bear man, you should know the safe word.” Karlach came up and clapped him on the shoulder.

“…safe word?” he asked, trying to hide his confusion. Either he was misunderstanding, or this group was much closer than he had originally thought.

“Yeah! The word is ‘whizbangs.’ Anybody says it, we get ready for a fight.” She smiled back at him.

“Right, understood,” he said, concealing a laugh with a small cough. Tav fought a smirk to his side.

“Onward?” she asked, looking to him for confirmation.

“Onward.” He tilted his head toward the portal and led them through.

The moment they stepped beyond its edge, Halsin felt a shift in the shadows.

“You should have just left me alone!” Oliver cried out.

A large, glimmering dome appeared over him just before he conjured several shadows that looked just like him.

Halsin dashed up to the barrier, avoiding swipes from the small shades as he ran.

“Oliver, please!” He pounded his fist against the dome but pulled it back with a hiss.

Burning pain had shot up his arm at the movement. He could feel the dark magic stinging his flesh.

“Don’t touch the dome!” Halsin turned just in time to see a large wraith making a clawed swipe at him, catching its hand with his staff.

“Maybe we can weaken it from afar,” Tav suggested as she drew her bow. She fired an arrow, careful to aim it past Oliver.

A beam of necrotic energy was reflected back at her, striking her in the gut.

“Fucking hells that smarts,” she wheezed, doubling over from the impact.

“You alright, sis?” Karlach yelled as she cleaved through two other shadows.

“I’ll manage. Keep those shadows under control until we can figure out a way to get rid of that barrier!” She stood up and shook off the brief attack.

Wyll started hurling spells at the wraith in front of Halsin. Eldritch Blasts soared through the air to strike the shadow, distracting it for a moment. Halsin took advantage of it, bringing down a tall beam of radiant light in front of him. With a blood-curdling screech, the wraith puffed out of existence.

Behind him, Halsin heard a noise that sounded like glass breaking. When he turned around, he noticed small cracks now lining the dome protecting Oliver.

The shadows are the key.

As the thought crossed his mind, he saw Tav take out another large wraith causing a large crack to appear across the top of the dome, solidifying his theory.

Oliver conjured shadow after shadow. A discordant symphony of childish cackles filled the air as each of his “friends” joined in. Whenever they dispelled a handful, another wave came to take their place. Everywhere they turned a small shadow hissed and swiped at them, desperately trying to deter them from Oliver.

“Hells below, these little brats are everywhere!” Astarion yelled as he took out another one.

“We’re close, every shadow vanquished weakens that shield around him,” Halsin called back to him. “Look at the cracks forming around it!”

The shimmering dome surrounding Oliver started to look like a glass bowl that had been dropped but hadn’t quite shattered yet.

We might make it through this yet.

Just as he finished the thought, Wyll took out the last little shadow with a spell, and Oliver let out another laugh.

“Now you want to play? Fine, let me show you my favorite toy.”

He conjured a shadow just outside of his shield in the shape of a massive owlbear. It let out an ear-piercing shriek before lunging at them.

“Fuck that’s a big guy,” Karlach hissed as she narrowly avoided one of its swipes.

Halsin responded in kind, shifting into an owlbear to counter it. Not a moment too soon either, for its next swipe caught him in the shoulder. A blow that would have been near deadly in his elven form. The creature followed with a hard stomp onto the ground beneath it, causing a small quake strong enough to knock his other companions into the dirt.

He tried to keep the owlbear busy, lashing out with his own paws to give the others a chance to recover.

Karlach was the first back on her feet, charging at the shadow from Halsin’s flank. She aimed a powerful cleave through the owlbear. The blade stuttered through the apparition like it caught on something, but then passed through the rest of the way in a smooth arc.

The others seemed to be having trouble getting up. Astarion was cradling his arm on the ground, Wyll was gasping for breath as he rolled to his side, and Tav had only made it up to her knees.

Karlach came in for another attack, but the shadow knocked her away with one mighty swipe of its paw. She was thrown into a nearby tree, slamming her back against its trunk.

While Halsin was distracted checking on the others, the owlbear leaped at him, pinning him beneath a heap of shadowy muscles and feathers. Just as it reared its beaked head, ready to attack, it cried out with a pained, unnatural shriek.

He spared a glance to his side where he saw Tav on one knee, bow still held out in front of her from firing an arrow.

With that final shot, the owlbear puffed away to be reabsorbed into the shadows, and the dome protecting Oliver crumbled to the ground around him.

***

Tav let out her held breath as the owlbear disappeared into thin air, still kneeling on the ground. When she looked back up at Oliver, the barrier protecting him had vanished as well.

Halsin dismissed his wild shape and was now taking slow steps toward the boy. Tav followed close behind, not wanting to startle him.

“Why can’t I just stay here, playing? I had everything I’ve ever wanted, right here, and now you’ve ruined it!” Oliver paced and pouted at the top of the stairs. “I’m not leaving – you can’t make me!”

Tav looked to Halsin for help, unsure how to soothe this powerful force of nature with the soul of a child.

“Be gentle,” he urged her, “like I said, he’s much more than a child, but he doesn’t truly know that.”

“You should talk to him, Halsin. You know what he needs to hear better than anyone.” She reached over to take one of his hands. He nodded back to her with a sad smile before kneeling in front of Oliver.

“No one is going to make you leave, Oliver. This is your home. But…” Tav choked back tears hearing the cracks in Halsin’s voice. “But it’s lonely and empty. I don’t want you to be here alone, I want you to be with Thaniel.”

“Why would I go back to him? He abandoned me!”

“No, you were taken from each other. Neither of you are to blame. I know your pain, truly I do. Thaniel was my friend too. I used to play with him, I grew up with him even though he stayed the same. I am who I am today because of him, and then he was ripped away from me, same as he was for you.”

“But would he even want me back?” Oliver kicked a small rock on the ground, not meeting Halsin’s eyes.

“Of course he will,” Halsin sniffled and took one of the boy’s hands, “you need not invent friends, you don’t have to be alone. Thaniel is back. And he’s waiting for you.”

“But I was alone. Even when it was scary.”

Tav rested a hand on Halsin’s shoulder and knelt next to him. “You’ve been so brave, Oliver. Spending so much time among the shadows? All on your own? Think of how much you’ll be able to help Thaniel.”

“I suppose he’s a bit scared too,” Oliver looked back up at them, a small smile threatening to spread across his face, “I bet he’d like to have someone to help him.”

He took a moment to think before speaking again. The brief pause felt like an eternity as her heart pounded against her ribs.

“Okay, I’ll do it. It might be nice to have someone to play with again.”

Halsin let out a relieved, breathy laugh.

“Well done.” He leaned into Tav as the tears in his eyes started rolling down his cheeks, causing hers to do the same.

“Are you crying? You’re both a bit big to be crying.” Oliver cocked his head to the side. “I guess that’s okay though.”

They both chuckled as they leaned against one another.

“I guess this is goodbye for now,” Oliver smiled, “but thanks for playing with me!”

Right before their eyes, they saw a swathe of golden light envelop Oliver’s body. The dark magic that had been lining his features was burned away, causing him to look even more like Thaniel. His face looked peaceful as he slowly faded away with the light.

Halsin and Tav stood back up, staring at the spot where Oliver had just been a moment earlier.

“It’s done…” Halsin turned to her, astonishment obvious in his handsome features.

Before she could say anything in response, his arms shot out to draw her into a crushing embrace. She threw her arms around his neck to pull herself closer. Their joyful, relieved cries mingled in the still air as they held each other.

He did it. Halsin actually did it.

Shar’s cursed darkness would choke the land no more.

“You did it.” Tav’s sobs were muffled by his shoulder as he picked her up off the ground, keeping his arms tight around her waist.

“We did it.” He sat her down again and took her face in both of his hands. “I could not have done this without you. Thank you, Tav. Thank you.”

He wiped her tears away; she reached up to do the same for him as he left a soft kiss in her hair.

“I couldn’t have done this without all of you.” Halsin let go of her to turn and address their companions. “You have helped me at a great risk to your own lives, and I will be eternally grateful.”

Karlach wore a mushy expression as she watched Tav lean against Halsin, hugging herself close to his side. The happy tears gathering in her eyes as she gave Tav a quick wink caused her smirk to turn to a toothy grin.

“Not to be the depressive voice of reason,” Astarion spoke up first, “but I see the shadows are still here and dark as ever.”

“It will take time for them to disperse. Thaniel is still recovering his strength, but with Oliver returning to his side I am confident that we will see them banished soon.” Halsin looked back to Tav, still wearing a soft smile.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys but I’m fucking beat,” Karlach yawned as she stretched her arms out in front of her. “I wonder what Gale’s got on the menu tonight?”

“Well, courtesy of our friends at Last Light, we were able to get some more fresh meat,” Wyll chimed in. “I’ve no doubt he found something incredible to make out of it.”

Wyll and Karlach turned away from Tav to start the walk back to camp. Astarion followed close behind as the other two started to salivate in anticipation of their evening meal.

Tav started to follow, but Halsin caught her hand.

“Wait…” he whispered.

She hung back a few steps behind everyone else with him.

“I don’t know what to say. There are no words to express my gratitude.” He brought his other hand up to envelop the one he was already holding.

“I…” Tav trailed off as she looked up into his gentle eyes, still shining with tears even in the darkness. “I’m so very happy for you, Halsin.”

One of his hands came up to cup her cheek.

“This victory is yours as well, Tav. I want you to share that joy with me. I know Tev’s death weighs heavily on your mind, but I hope you can allow yourself just a brief reprieve from your grief.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. For just a moment, Tav let her pain float away. She gave herself permission to have a fleeting feeling of happiness and accomplishment.

“Banishing these shadows was such a distant dream for so long. Seeing it become a reality…I must admit, I’m not sure what to do next.”

She smiled back at him as she opened her eyes. “I guess you’ll just have to find a new dream to chase.”

“Perhaps once there’s less talk of curses and mind flayers, I can do just that,” he chuckled.

Tav saw the rest of their group turning around a nearby corner.

“We should catch up with the others, otherwise Karlach might claim all the food before we get back,” she teased.

“Lead the way,” Halsin said as he placed a soft kiss on her knuckles.

At least one problem had been solved. Soon enough, the shadows would no longer choke the land.

Now all she had to do was dismantle a murderous cult of mind flayers being led by a former paladin of Shar before all of its True Souls could be turned into illithids and take control of the Sword Coast. The past three days had already proven difficult and overwhelming, but Tav had a feeling that the hardest fights were still yet to come.

#bg3 #bg3 fanfiction #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 fanfic #halsin x tav #bg3 halsin #halsin silverbough #halsin fanfic #oakflower

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hanasnx · 8 months ago

Note

diff anon but what fandoms did you meet your close moots through? i don’t know if that counts as indy lore

that counts! more under the cut. i wanted to talk about all my mutuals

@its-clockwork-princess one of my best, oldest, and dearest friends. years and years of friendship, roleplay, fanfiction, writing. every time i see a duo on screen or in any media my first thought is always her and my second thought is always “us.” we went through a thousand different fandoms and i can’t remember our first but we definitely bonded heavily over fandoms like marvel, dc, and fnaf at the very early stages of our friendship. her dad was actually dating my mom for a long time, which gave us plenty of time together. literally cant even summarize everything we’ve gone through together, everything we’ve built, seriously been friends for a decade and i plan on staying that way for the rest of my life. i cant imagine my life without her, how bleak and colorless it would’ve been. i’m honored to know such a generous and kind person, and someone who helped shape me into who i am today. a love truly unconditional.

@ohgodmyeyes loved his takes on anakin, thought he was so real and so down to earth even though he could stand to be more egotistical considering how talented he is. i think about a certain post he made about anakin -> vader's dick literally once a day. i'm not even exaggerating at all when i say it was my roman empire. in just that small amount of time i was taught his quiet confidence, his exquisite way with words, and his unapologetic thought process. i maintain a distance from him because i'm playing the long game and from what i've seen on his personal posts i feel like he might be overwhelmed if i come on too strong, as i often do. but that doesn't stop me from grinning every time i see him in my notifs and i get to think, "this message was approved by ohgodmyeyes." very proudly.

@somuchfrstardust we talked in the comment section of anakin edits on tiktok i feel like and then i was like "hey wanna be friends" and we haven't talked in a while but that's totally cool, that's just how i am. i still consider them my friend i think they're a rly cool person.

@banakinbabygirl was one of the first anakin/hayden blogs i followed, i love how they write smut. it's a very emotional way of writing, very heavy on the descriptions and realistic reactions that drew me in and kept me there.

@starmanskywalker is one of my favorite writers in general. anything on her masterlist is an instant recommendation from me, instant like, instant reblog, instant indy review. i'm such a jealous person in general but the way i feel about alanis' writing is beyond jealousy. it's admiration, it's fondness, it's awe. i don’t feel envious i feel fulfilled. i was very proud to become her mutual, her friend, be on a first name basis with her, and write fanfiction with her. we have a collab we've been working on for a while but because we're both so busy and it's such a big project it takes a lot of time and a lot of love, but i'm still so excited for the day it's finished and can be published.

@xstarkillerx is so much more than a person i met on the internet. truly one of my best friends, and i can’t imagine not having him in my life. there’s so much i can say that i have actually already said on this blog before. donnie has a way with seeing the world i just love to hear about. i’ll ask his opinions and experiences on everything simply to hear what he, specifically, has to say about it. when we have conversations inhibitions are left at the door for the both of us instead of just me. i feel skinless, muscle-less, body-less with donnie. an entity obsessed with him on discord as we write novels to each other, sonnets about how we view the world and its fictions. donnie is my bread and butter, and i’m so glad i found him and stalked him and forced him to be my friend and now he’s reliant on me just like i want.

@weixuldo such a sweet person and very understanding of me and my boundaries. i first found wei’s blog through their fanart of darth vader which i loved so much i sent every single one of their posts to my best friend who i mentioned at the beginning of this post. i still go back to look at those works every so often to brush up on my love for them. such a talented artist i’m very happy i’m worthy of a follow back, and that we enjoy each other’s content.

@mcondance i met through hobie brown back in june 2022. i loved how they kept luring me to their page by mentioning me and my hobie works they kept reading, i swear they were using my vanity as bait and it worked. they are, genuinely, so fucking funny. i only have friends that are funny don’t get me wrong, but there’s something about jupie that when i’m talking about them to other people, that person is like “omg jupie is so funny.” like. jupie just transcends my sense of humor to other people’s. they’re funny to the masses. i’m very bad at texting, but jupie is a person i try to reach out to so they know i’m virtually loving on them. they like the attention. another writer i’m so pleased to be mutuals with when they’re so skilled at the part of writing i always feel like i’m most wooden at. the side of smut writing that takes feeling and sensation and even an edge of genuine horniness, jupie is so good at translating that onto a page.

@murdrdocs is another mutual i gained from the height of the hobie brown era and i believe i saw her content through jupie’s page. now we don’t get to talk too much but that doesn’t mean i don’t think she’s not a super cool person. i don’t read much, but the things i do get to read specifically on icarus’ page make me very proud to be her mutual. not only is she an accomplished and gorgeous writer, but her blog designs are always envy-inducing. she shifts her aesthetics so seamlessly—even tho i know how changing a theme can be draining and time-consuming—and it’s always easy on the eyes. her navigation is especially creative and i’ll never forget her newspaper clipping themed announcement for last kinktober.

@princessbrunette another writer i’m constantly in awe of. i met her through her anakin works, and invited myself onto her kinktober taglist when she was still a relatively new blog that’s how much i was instantly attracted to her work. her style is so distinct and so refined, i can overlook non canon work because hers is just that good. she’s also very funny, and has a gifted silver tongue. i’m always impressed with how she’s able to paint a picture in her pieces using nothing but the most concise and visualizing words. it’s not often that i watch something because a friend watched it, but i watched obx for her so i could still enjoy her work that’s how much i love it. our universes we create in our dms are so special to me.

@empiresheir was someone i met through their anakin one-shot about order 66 which i’ve reblogged several times and it’ll never be enough. it was such a good piece i gave live updates to my best friend who was reading it too. i sent those screenshots to her orc cos she deserved to know what i had to say. she was also an essential help when i was writing my kinktober project, kind enough to read my pieces and give me line by line feedback just like i like so i wouldn’t go crazy from lack of attention on pieces i couldn’t post til october. not only another talented and powerful writer (capable of dropping my jaw at how insanely good she is at wording things), but such a sweet person to talk to. and though she’s not active in the fandom anymore i think of her fondly and i hope she’s having such a good time with baldur’s gate.

@darthvvder had a collection of anakin drabbles that i found on wattpad of all places and i was amazed at what i read. thoroughly impressed by the physical reactions her works were eliciting in me. got me to care about smut tropes i hadn’t cared about before simply bcos she was so good at writing them. i posted about a line that gripped me and she commented that it was her, i followed and the rest is history.

@jarebare99 is my boyfriend :) he gets an honorary mention. i wrote him an entire book of poetry and my thoughts on him so he can read that if he’s feeling left out from everyone getting paragraphs. i met him in irl not through a fandom but idc.

@ddejavvu was someone i’d see in my notifications including my inbox every so often and she was very recognizable. i really can’t remember how us being mutuals happened? i’d like to say i somehow discovered she wrote and wrote well and once i began noticing i consistently liked her content then i followed and lo and behold she was following me too. mei is very respectful of my space and i like that she texts me without expecting an answer back bcos i like to read her updates and don’t always know what to say. i have some of her inbox messages i gatekeep and i go back and read them every so often and think about how diabolical it would be if i answered them and floored the world, but i have yet to be ready to share the genius.

@anakincentric technically through anakin. even though we don’t talk much bcos both of us have really similar no-contact ways that doesn’t mean i don’t think she’s real sweet. i like when she pops in, drops a banger, and then peaces out. like a disney cameo appearance.

@harrisonbrainrot i wanna say han/indiana. i feel like i was already following his blog because i got to read some of his stuff when i was in a han mood and was like, “yea, this guy gets it.” and then when we reconnected in the comments of someone else’s post, i told him i was a big fan which was true, and then wham bam thank you ma’am mutuals. i have no idea if he knew who i was before or if he was following me, but he’s cool asf. not only is he hot and chill, he’s also really kind with me about not texting. a very generous soul who let me use his crunchyroll to watch jjk out of the goodness of his heart, which i am kissing him for. one of the rare writer’s on here who’s unapologetic in the shit they say, which i always admire and prioritize in who i choose to follow. love his han characterization, so when he’s reblogged a han work of mine, i believe it’s been christened by the harrison ford pope.

@anitheus tagging this blog bcos it’s what i followed first but i also follow her other account @silxani because i love her art style. i love how she draws anakin every time. her spider-sam fanart, and her nsfw anakin works are my favorite, as well as the fanart she made of us for my birthday. gorgeous art style i could look at all day, and i like her personality when we text.

@ivysangel i wanna say it was dc comics but i can’t remember the character, might’ve been jason todd. she came for the dc, and stayed for the other stuff including my general tomfoolery. she flatters me with kind words about how i’ve influenced her, which always makes me soft. we have a lot in common, which is always so much fun to compare, and i love that she watched batman beyond when i recommended it even though i wasn’t expecting her to a) do it and b) love it. she’s aware and respectful of my boundaries when it comes to sharing my ideas which i appreciate, and i love seeing her in my inbox. we haven’t had enough time together for me to nail down everything i like about her, but i will.

@loveliestlovelygirl eloise caught me by surprise bcos it’s not often i get instantly hooked, or at least it hasn’t been that way for a while. i haven’t been in an anakin mood for a while, but i still reblog her works instantly so i can get to it later because i know i’ll like it even though i haven’t read it. idk much about her, but her theme makes me bonkers jealous. it’s so beautiful. like her chapter HTML for her fallen angel au makes me drool.

@psuedosis newest mutual. her reaction towards me made me instantly endeared, and i loved her jet works. some zuko pieces as well! hit at the right time bcos i just finished atla animated. very excited to get to know her more.

boom. indy lore and extensive thoughts on tumblr mutuals.

#indy shoots the shit #thanks for the msg!!#anon #indy lore

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vettelinyourarea · 2 years ago

Text

kid in love - oliver bearman

genre: fluff

warning: english is not my first language

word count: 799

inspired by kid in love by shawn mendes

definitely a shorter fict, but i had a lot of fun writing it.

feel free to give me a feedback!

and i know that we just met

and maybe this is dumb

but it feels like there was something from the moment that we touched

Ollie met you for the first time through a mutual friend. He remembers that moment very clearly, as if it just happened five minutes ago. It was in the small bookstore you family owned. And no, Ollie is not the biggest reader, but he surely spends a lot of time in the bookstore just so he could talk to you.

He still remembers how soft your hand was when you shake his hand for the first time. Olli was not a believer of ‘love at the first sight’ or anything of that sort, but he surely felt his breath got taken away when he first hear your voice saying his name.

“Hi Ollie, nice to meet you.”

the way you’re lighting up the room

caught the corner of my eye

we can both sneak out the back door

we don’t have to say goodbye

it was a few months after Ollie got introduced to you when he finally gather up some courage to ask you to hang out. The first time he went out with you, he insisted that it wasn’t a date or anything like that. Well, he tried to convince himself that anyway.

He invited you to go to the aquarium after he noticed how much love you have for sea creatures. Listening to your ramble about them makes himself happy even though he doesn’t understand much.

Ollie can confirm that the moment he saw your eyes lit up when you entered the aquarium area, that was the moment he finally admitted to himself that he had fall for you, hard. The way your eyes sparkled underneath the aquarium light makes him unable to look at anything but you. The way you smiled and thank him for taking you there makes Ollie realized he never wants to say goodbye to you at the end of the day.

“Do you want to go grab some dinner first?”

maybe i’m just a kid in love

maybe i’m just a kid in love oh, baby

if this is what it’s like falling in love

then i don’t ever wanna grow up

Okay, maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration when he called you to be the best thing that ever happened to him in his whole entire life. Afterall, he just turned 18 a couple of months ago. But that doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t true.

For Ollie, falling for you comes naturally. He loves everything about you. He will listens to anything you said even though he doesn’t understand any of it, he will watch over you anytime, he would sacrifice anything in his life if it meant you’re living happily.

Both of you are just two cluelessly in love. But oh, how much Ollie wish not to grow up if this is how it feels to be a kid in love.

if you’re feeling kinda crazy

turn down the lights

we can take our time

do whatever you like

Ollie also remembers the moment he asked you to be his girlfriend. It was midnight, you were reading a book while he finished his essay. He remembers the soft music playing on the background and a couple of scented candles lit up on the kitchen counter, making the scene feels very romantic.

“Can I be your boyfriend?” he had asked, mentally scolding himself right after. Because who the hell said that? He had thought

“What?” you asked, pretty surprised by his sudden outburst. How could you not? You were literally shoving down an entire bowl of popcorn into your mouth when he asked you that, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he finally asked correctly with a blush coloring his cheek.

You don’t need to be asked thrice and a full confession to accept him.

you make me feel like i got it all

and you make me feel like i’m just a kid in love

you make me feel like i got it all

and you make me feel like i don’t ever wanna grow up

Being in a relationship with you is way better than what Ollie had ever dreamed of. You are always there for him. You were there when he finished his F3 season. You were there when it was announced that he will be joining F2 for the next season.

Ollie is also there on every step of your life. He was there when you graduated high school. He was also there right next to you when you opened your offer letter from your dream university

With you on every step of his journey, Ollie was sure that he will always be a kid in love and how he wish to never grow up.

#f2 #oliver bearman #ollie bearman #formula 2 #ollie bearman fluff #oliver bearman fluff #ollie bearman x reader #oliver bearman x reader #ollie bearman imagine #oliver bearman imagine #f2 x reader #formula 2 imagine #f2 imagine #formula 2 fluff #f2 fluff #vettelinyourarea

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fandom-monium · 1 year ago

Text

Sweet Poison - Part 4

Summary: In which you realize some things about your friend, Zagreus. “Death may be normal here, but the pain…”

WC: 1.5k

TW: Zagreus (Hades Video game) x Succubus!Reader, GN!Reader, a succubus AND an artist bc sex is just work and food, au where in game Zag commissions the paintings using gems, what if boons actually affected Zagreus, slow build, strangers to friends to lovers trope, sex work, fluff, fluff and humor, mutual pining, idiots in love, mild angst, pheromones (technically it’s succubi magic aura), Zagreus is at least 6 ft convince me otherwise, eventual smut

AN: What is a slow burn without the angst??

“Why go through all that effort? Surely you understand how dangerous it is,” You say, referring to his runs through the Underworld. As far as you know, there’s been several. Buried in the covers with a good book, you lay on your side and flip to the next page, though it's lost your attention since Zagreus arrived. “Death may be normal here, but the pain…”

At your lounge chair, Zagreus waves you off, eyes flicking from your figure to your sketchbook in his lap between exaggerated strokes, obnoxiously scritching the parchment. You roll your eyes. “I’m more than familiar with pain. As for why…”

Hearing the somber shift in his tone, you look up, willing him to meet your gaze. “Please don’t feel obligated to answer if it’s too personal.”

“No I… I trust you,” For a moment, Zagreus expression softens, like he can’t believe he’d befriend a demon to this point. You know you can’t, but you also know you could tell him anything and he’d listen.

Almost anything, that is.

The sketchbook shuts with a soft thud. Zagreus crosses the short distance to sit at the foot of your bed, by the curve of your hips. The bed dips under his weight before he takes a deep breath. “Long story short, I found out the mother that raised me isn’t my biological mother, and eventually I learned my biological mother escaped the Underworld and is somewhere on the surface.”

“So once you get to the surface, you intend to find her?”

“Exactly.”

“And what then?”

“Get answers,” He simply answers. Though his eyes steel with conviction, he slumps forward, resting his elbows on toned thighs.

Heat rises to your face, and you turn back to your book.

“You must think I’m a fool.”

“No.” Zagreus shoots you a flat look over his shoulder like he doesn't believe you, so you fully turn your attention to him. “Really! I don’t. I mean, shades aren’t allowed to leave the Underworld, natural order and all that.”

“…Shades. Right,” He says slowly, breaking eye contact for a split second.

“But I understand why you’d want to try. I just wish I could help you in some way, maybe smuggle you out on my next job.”

He perks up, gazing at you curiously, “You’ve been to the surface?”

“A few times for work. Though it has been a while since my last assignment…”

“What’d you have to do?”

Oh, you know: make contracts with humans and feed off them until they’re a husk of their former selves. You know, as succubus do. You settle on, “Demon things. You wouldn’t get it.”

Zagreus shrugs, unable to argue with that.

“… Suppose you do find your mother and get your answers,” You start, tone low and nervous. You swallow, trying to keep your nerves from wracking your vocal cords, keeping the tremble out of your voice. “What-what do you plan to do after?”

“That depends,” Wild, black hair falls over his eyes as his gaze drops to the floor. “If she hates me or not.”

You cock your head. Was that fear in his tone? For a moment, you allow yourself to study his broad back, scolding yourself when you admire the exposed ridges of muscle. Harsh, green light frames his profile, turning him into a slim silhouette among the soft shadows of your chamber. But now, as he sits at the edge of your bed, no longer he looks poised and regal as he usually does. No boons livening the air around him, no charming grin or cocky smirk. Posture be damned, he slouches, beautiful lips pressed thin, and he looks defeated—no, he looks…

Tired.

It never occurred to you how miserable your friend is here in the Underworld. He always seemed so lively by the time he reached your chamber, even when he’s scuffed and bloodied, like the heat of battle cheers him up. And yes, it’s Tartarus; souls are supposed to be despaired, miserable, tortured—for gods’ sake, it’s your jobs—but looking at Zagreus, exhausted yet still handsome as ever in his flaming laurels and refined chiton, feet seering footprints into your floor, he looks out of place in your humble abode.

Your heart clenches, suddenly self aware. Self conscious. Differences that hardly mattered before now at the forefront of your thoughts.

“I’m not finished, by the way.”

You meet his gaze, visibly perplexed though it’s painful. His heterochromia, the contrast of the blood red and forest green, is needlessly beautiful, as if the man isn’t magnificent enough already. Curse his family for whatever genes they poured into him.

The bed rises once more and as Zagreus leaves for the balcony, the gap between you—once miniscule and quickly closing—begins turning into a chasm.

“My drawing. It’s nowhere done.” Stopping before the balcony’s threshold, Zagreus gestures to the sketchbook. You sit up, blankets and furs pooling into your lap as you take it into your hands.

You, or a semblance of yourself at least, stares back. The strokes are short, thick, lines of charcoal jagged and uneven, though that’s to be expected. Zagreus snorted at you he buys art not create it, but that did nothing to deter him from trying. You lent him your sketchbook and pencils anyway, the thought of sharing your hobby with him filling you with giddiness you haven’t experienced in gods’ know how long.

As you study the amateur sketch of yourself, your heart swells so big, it terrifies you. There’s scuffed edges where the side of his palm pressed into the strokes, leaving partial prints. The proportions are atrocious, and if he’d been anyone else you’d tear into him. Yet, far from accurate as it may be, he manages to highlight your most discernible features. Just not the ones you expect. It’s not your chest or your hips or waist or even your legs, no.

It’s the fluid lash of your tail as you lay on your stomach, as if he tried to capture the cat-like movements on paper; the draping of your wings and the way you relax them against your back like a blanket; the graceful curve of your horns, the ends pointed not in a threat but a promise. And your face—

Smudges blot all over the background of your figure but most of all where your face is, the paper slightly damaged as if he erased one too many times trying to capture your visage.

Your heart skips. Blood and darkness.

As Zagreus’s back disappears behind the rumbling door to the next chamber, it’s for the best, you think, left to the familiarity of your quiet chamber. Your heart thunders in your ears.

Zagreus and you, a demon—a succubus? You’d never last.

As friends. As friends, of course.

This is for the best.

It’s for the best.

…Is it possible to feel loss when there is nothing to begin with?

Eyes misting over, you snatch up your sketchbook and pencils, letting your tears stain the page with Zagreus’s eyes still fresh in your mind.

It’s for the best.

#zagreus x reader #hades game #hades supergiant #zagreus and reader #zagreus (hades video game) x reader #zagreus (hades video game) and reader #supergiant hades

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eds6ngel · 1 year ago

Text

✎ when i kissed the teacher | part three

summary: post-rejection, steve receives some hard relationship truths from robin and vickie. but, how will he continue to act around you with the upcoming elementary school's easter brunch?

part one ♡ part two ˚⋆｡˚ full masterlist.

warnings: dad!steve. singledad!steve. 90s!au. swearing. fem!reader. mutual pining. slow burn. fluff. angst. hurt. rovickie!! mentions of homophobia/lesbophobia. artificial insemination + adoption mentions [in regards to gay parenting options]. pregnancy mention. post-partum depression mention. mentions of alena's mother walking out. mentions of heartbreak. slight age gap [r is 24, steve is 29]. food and allergy mentions. jancy make an appearance!! more warnings in future chapters! [3.6k].

Steve would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t let a few tears shed on his way to pick up Alena from Robin’s apartment.

But, he remained calm, or as calm as his mind would allow him to. Alena was great at interpreting people’s emotions, she would clock his sadness in a heartbeat otherwise.

As he pulled up to Robin’s apartment, he slowly gets out of the car and knocks three times on her door. After hearing some shuffling and an “I’ll get it!” the door swings open to a pink-dressed Vickie, a small tiara on top of her head.

“Oh, hey!” she smiles, turning back and yelling, “Babe! It’s Steve!”

“Okay, we’re just finishing up in here!”

Steve chuckles at Vickie’s physical state, “Looks like you guys are having fun.”

Vickie signals him in with her arm, closing the door behind him as he treads inside, rubbing his hands together, warming them up from the outside cold that had infected his fingers.

“Christmas tea party,” she simply states, Steve immediately understanding what the young redhead meant. They both walk around the corner together to see Robin and Alena sat on the floor, plastic cups in hand, the pair giggling together. Like her girlfriend, Robin also was wearing a plastic tiara, golden gemstone centered in the middle as her and Alena spoke in posh accents.

“Hello father, will you care to join us for some tea?” Alena spoke, Steve trying his hardest not to burst out into a fit of laughter. God, she was such a character.

“Thank you for the grand offer Princess Alena, but I’m afraid we must head home before it gets too dark outside,” he replicates her accent, folding his arms over his chest.

She puts her hand to her heart, gasping in a faux shocked manner, “I am not the princess dad! Robin and Vickie are the princess rulers!”

“Oh, are they now?” Steve smirks, looking between the couple, “Two ladies leading the kingdom must be super powerful!”

Alena giggles, “Yeah, much more powerful than you would be daddy!”

Vickie looks down to the floor and purses her lips, trying not to let out a laugh as Robin lets it full rip, putting her hands up and saying, “Hey! I’m not arguing with that.”

“Of course you wouldn’t, Buckley,” he retorts back with an exaggerated eye roll. “Come on pumpkin, time to go home!”

“But, daddy,” she whines, “We are in the middle of a tea party!”

“I know buttercup, but it’s getting late. It’s already 6PM!”

She huffs, “Fine,” lifting herself up off the floor, kicking her feet, Robin tucking her hair behind her ear and saying, “I’ll clean this up, don’t you worry.”

She cheesily grins, grabbing her bag of items which she bought at the Christmas Fayre and bouncing over to her dad, “Look at all the stuff I bought!” she exclaims, holding her bag high in the air.

He leans down and gives her a quick kiss on the head as she hugs his leg, “Thanks for taking care of her guys. And I can’t wait to see it all, pumpkin! How about you show me on the drive home?”

“Okay!” she says loudly, Robin wrapping an arm around Vickie’s waist as they all head to the door, ”No problem at all, Steve. Call us whenever if you need her to be looked after, we’re always more than happy to look after that bundle of joy,” Vickie replies.

“Dad! Can I get in the car?” Alena whines, Steve shouting over, “Sure sweet-cheeks!” as he presses his car keys, the young girl opening the door and hopping inside. Steve turns back to the couple, “You know, you two would make great moms some day. Wait,” he pauses, “Can you two even, you know… have kids together?” Steve phrases his sentence as carefully as possible, trying to not let his lack of knowledge cross over into offensive territory.

Robin sighs, “We could technically, but it would be an extremely long and potentially dangerous process.”

Vickie nods along with her girlfriend, “One of us could get artificially inseminated, but that is very expensive and not always guaranteed to work. Adoption wise, we can’t just do it. One, like anyone else, you need to be married, which is literally impossible for us. Two, we’d have to find someone willing to allow adoption for us as a lesbian couple, which is definitely not here in Hawkins that’s for sure. So again, more money…”

Steve breathes out heavily in frustration, “It’s just annoying. You got the lasting relationship, you got the stable income, stable house, all of that. If the law just allowed the marriage part, you are pretty much guaranteed to have a kid.”

Robin nods, “You’re telling me. Hawaii’s trying to get us somewhere, but that is very unlikely if we’re being realistic here.”

Vickie purses her lips, “Unfortunately. We’ll just continue living vicariously through your daughter for the time being,” Vickie laughs, laced with an awkward tone.

“I mean, go all for it,” Steve says, buzzing his lips, “You two are the closest thing to a mother figure she’s ever gonna get.”

“Well,” Robin smirks, “Unless yours and Miss. L/N’s lovebird shenanigans go anywhere that is.”

Steve didn’t know that an open wound could get any worse. The rejection was like a fresh cut, and now Robin had poured salt into it. It was an instant sting to the heart.

Steve coughs as he looks down at the floor, his feet scraping across the outside rug that reads ‘Welcome Home.’ He wishes he had the stability the two women in front of him had. His love life was so lost that a worn-out, mud-stained rug with the intention of home made him feel like a failure. Maybe love was as simple as ruining the object that defined your picture-perfect life inside. That rug had six years worth of welcoming kisses and hugs, a constant reminder that when one of the two girls stepped foot in that door, they would feel wrapped in a basket of warmth. They felt at peace.

“Yeah, well, that ain’t happening any time soon,” Steve mumbles in a bothered manner, “Or at all.”

“Are we talking about Alena’s teacher?” Vickie questions, Robin nodding as her girlfriend lets out a small “Ah.”

“You told her about this?” Steve agitatedly asks, pointing over to Vickie with his thumb.

“You think I’m not going to tell my wife about your love life?”

Even with the legality barrier, Robin would still call Vickie her wife. They never let the outside expectations of the world define their use of language. It was their relationship, they could call themselves whatever they wished. Steve, on the other hand, didn’t have a metaphorical use for the term, he had no figure in his life to call that, and with his track record, it seemed like he never would.

Steve sighs, “Look, maybe love just isn’t for me, okay? It never worked with Nancy no matter how many times I tried, Linda didn’t even attempt to make it work, Heidi just wanted sex and Katie—”

The mention of Katie sent chills down his spine. He thought she was the one. After all, they had been together since the end of 1986 until the start of 1990. Their relationship was arguably the strongest Steve had ever felt in his life, even more so than with Nancy. That was until she got pregnant. They were both elated, Steve excited to expand the family he always wanted with the love of his life, her just as much so. But, everything changed once she had given birth. After speaking with Jonathan, Steve knew that his girlfriend had Post-Partum Depression and had suggested to her many times to seek therapy, just like Nancy had been doing, yet she refused, claiming she didn’t have the mental illness. After six months of not actively seeking help, Steve came home from work one day to see her bags packed, her saying motherhood was all too difficult to handle. That night, she had left, leaving Steve with a six-month-old baby to raise entirely by himself.

“Steve,” Robin begins, “I know your love life hasn’t been… the best, so to say. But, let’s not give up hope. Did she give you a reason for you not to date her?”

Steve huffs with a roll of his eyes, “Student confidentiality, all that bullshit. Can’t date me because she’s my daughter’s teacher.”

Vickie sadly smiles, “I mean, in all honesty Steve, it makes sense. It’s like if I started dating the older brother of the kids I used to babysit. It would mess things up.”

“Besides,” Robin butts in, the couple used to their rambling natures constantly interrupting each other, it was practically their love language, “That isn’t a no because she doesn’t like you, it’s a no for safety reasons. What about in six months time when Alena moves to second grade? She’s not gonna be her teacher then.”

Steve thinks for a moment over Robin’s statement. It was true that you weren’t gonna be her teacher forever. But, Steve’s thoughts are disturbed by Vickie’s further input, “She’s still in her vicinity though, right? Alena can’t view her as your girlfriend in a school setting. It’s like when my mom worked in my elementary school, I got scolded so much for calling her ‘Mom’ instead of ‘Mrs. Wilson.’ I think it’s that problem she’s probably talking about.”

“Okay,” Robin shrugs, “So Middle School!”

“Robin, that’s not for another four years!” Steve complains.

“If you were that in love, it wouldn’t be hard to wait that long, Steve,” Robin straightforwardly says, “I waited two and a half years to even ask Vickie out, and I would’ve waited a lot longer if I had to.”

Steve sighs as the sound of “Daddy!” can be heard from behind him, turning around to see Alena’s door open and her head leaning out, “Are we going home now?”

“Just a second, pumpkin! Daddy’ll be two minutes!”

“Okay!” she yells, slamming her door shut again, her shifting through her bag of items.

“Steve,” Vickie says softly, “There’s gonna be a way around this, I promise you. From the way Robin’s described your experiences and just the way you talk about her in general, you really like her. This isn’t desperation from you, you really do feel something for her.”

He breathes out, taking in the girl’s words, “Well, you guys have a lot more optimism than I do,” he quietly chuckles, “Just… thanks for everything. Thanks for looking after Alena most of all.”

“As we always say,” Robin reminds him, “Anytime.”

“It was nice seeing you two. Always a blast hanging out with Alena,” Vickie beams, “And good luck with the potential relationship.”

“Thanks guys. Have a good Christmas.”

The three of them bid farewell as Steve heads over to his car, Alena already holding the first item in her hands as he clicks in his seatbelt. He tries his best to listen to his daughter’s rambles, but his mind is invaded by a million different questions, trying to figure out a way to get you to date him.

It was now his turn to research the same questions you had been constantly looking into for the past two months.

You were currently organising Hawkins Elementary’s annual Easter brunch. Hawkins was unique in its traditions, their Easter brunch being one of the many few events that other schools did not do. The parents would bring in their children at 10AM and would have a brunch-type event with them in your classroom.

You had the added benefit of having an extra hour to yourself with no teaching to set up. However, both Easter decorations and food were a must. You spent the hours of 7:30 until 9 pinning up various strips of hanging bunnies, little Easter egg stickers and sitting little fluffy chicks on the tables. Your next task was to lay out the pink-checkered picnic blanket on the floor and throwing pink and yellow cloths on the tables. The cafeteria staff were bringing food around to the classrooms as the teachers decorated, the platter consisting of ham sandwiches, potato chips, squares of cheese, mini sausages, strawberries, bananas and a little basket full of mini chocolate bunnies — perfect for the Easter spirit.

The first parents to arrive were Nancy and Jonathan Byers, their little girl Ashley wearing the biggest pair of white and pink bunny ears.

“Well, looks like someone’s in the Easter spirit!” you say, the girl giggling as she replies, “I put pink bows in mom’s hair!”

Nancy participates as she shows off her pink bows, twirling around and making her daughter smile, you hyping her up, “Wow! Very nice! They make your mom look very pretty, don’t they?”

Nancy turns to you and grins, “Thank you,” you nodding in response, “Take a seat anywhere you want either on the picnic blanket or on a table. Ash has no allergies to anything if I’m correct?”

Jonathan nods, “Yeah, nothing so far. We’re hoping nothing forever.”

You laugh softly, “Good to know. Yeah, just sit anywhere you want, whatever makes you feel comfiest.”

“Thank you,” they both say in unison, Ashley already seeming to take a spot on the picnic blanket, the Byers parents not having much of a choice in the matter.

Many other parents and their kids arrived soon after, spreading themselves out across your colourfully decorated Easter classroom.

Since many families were arriving at similar times, it didn’t give you much of a chance to interact with them all, which was beneficial to an extent, especially when a certain father-daughter duo appeared in front of your door.

“Hi Miss. L/N!” Alena yelled, holding a stuffed animal in the shape of a bunny between her small hands, you waving back at her.

You tried your best to avoid Steve’s gaze, although you still had to ask him about Alena’s allergies. You were stuck communicating with him in some form.

The past couple of months had been rough. No more conversations when he dropped Alena off in the morning, no more waves through the classroom window, even his friend Robin had gotten added to Alena’s permanent record of people allowed to collect her, which you noticed when the young, dark blonde-haired woman appeared outside of your classroom a lot more regularly.

But, you couldn’t risk your life for a guy. You made that loud and clear, so if he got offended by that, tough luck. Your job was much more important than a relationship right now.

“What a nice bunny you have there!” you brightly say, “What’s their name?”

“Mr. Hopps!” she smiles, “He’s very tough, but he needs a girlfriend. Daddy won’t let me find him one.”

“Oh, will he not?” you ask, looking up at Steve and acting as casual as possible, smirking at him. It’s ironic that he won’t let his daughter get her toy bunny a girlfriend, it’s almost as if that bunny was him. “Well, how about you ask him really nicely and maybe he will say yes? Be extra good for him.”

“Okay!” she shouts, giggling away to herself, you now having to focus your attention to the man who had caused all of life’s recent stresses. “Steve, good to see you,” you awkwardly say, hands held behind your back, “Have to ask, does Alena have any allergies?”

He coughs, “Uh… No. None at all.”

“Great,” you sigh out, “Sit anywhere you’d like. Table or floor.”

He mumbles a “Thanks,” before leading his daughter next to the Byers. You lean against the wall as you see the two families interact. The way Jonathan had his arm wrapped around Nancy, her head leaning on her husband’s shoulder as her daughter played Rock, Paper, Scissors with Alena made you wish that you could fill the empty space that was next to Steve. You wanted to lean into him, you wanted him to hold you tightly close to him, you wanted him.

But, life is unfair. It’s not a straight cookie cutter, it’s hand-crafted. And you had already crafted your life for this job, you spend four years in college to get to this place in your life which you had been craving since you were thirteen years old. If you chose a guy over your dream job, your younger self would be incredibly disappointed. You couldn’t hurt her like that.

The Easter brunch had been a wonderful success. Most of the food was gone, minus a few sandwiches and squares of cheese, every mini chocolate bunny emptied out of the basket, as you highly suspected.

As the parents bid farewell to the kids, they got sent out for recess, the staff organising a small Easter egg hunt for the children to enjoy.

You thought your classroom was empty, until you heard the clearing of a throat from behind you. You jumped a little in your skin, grabbing your chest as you stare at the person who had frightened you, “Jesus, Steve. You need to stop scaring me like that!”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, you noticing that his nervousness around you from before had now turned into something much more somber, as if his body couldn’t decide whether to be near you or not. “I was just wondering if you needed help clearing up?”

You peer around your classroom, realising that you could probably have a helping hand, “Um… Sure. That would be great,” you say, “Need to clear up the tables and the picnic blanket.”

He nods, blinking rapidly as he stutters out, “Yeah, sure… Sure,” walking over to the table closest to him and collecting the fluffy chicks in his large palm.

The room remains in a solemn manner, the two of you getting your task done in silence, before you suddenly speak up, “You didn’t just want to help me, did you?”

It was obvious from his change of attitude that there were ulterior motives than just simply being polite. He wouldn’t have ignored you for so long, denied so many opportunities to speak to you if the politeness was a natural thing. No, of course there had to be something more.

You can hear his sigh from across the room, the one breath filling the atmosphere, “No, not really. I just… I wanted to apologise for how I’ve been acting.”

You remove the fluffy chicks from your second table, “It’s okay. I don’t expect you to act like everything is okay. I hurt you, it’s understandable.”

Sure, it would’ve been nice if he made an effort to be a little kinder in the small moments he spent with you. But, realism was the key to understanding people’s behaviours. You had to understand how it felt from his perspective, not just your own. And, if anything, if you didn’t have to remain professional for the sake of his daughter and your other students, you would’ve avoided him like the plague too.

“It’s still not an excuse though,” he lets out, “I used to do it in high school. I left fucking Nancy in a bathroom drunk alone because she told me she didn’t love me anymore. I don’t want to become the asshole I was ten years ago.”

“Steve,” you softly say, the pair of you approaching the middle table in sync, “I promise you, you will never be like that again. You’re becoming self-critical of yourself for a simple mistake. It’s simply heartbreak, of course you wanted to avoid me as much as possible.”

As you finish your sentence, yours and Steve’s hands connect over the same fluffy chick, the both of you about to grab the small decoration, yet, Steve’s hand suddenly linked between yours, your breath hitching in your throat before you can say another word.

He turns to you, a mere few inches apart between your bodies, Steve looking you deep in the eyes, letting out, “I never want to avoid you. I wanna always be near you.”

You can see his eyes flick down to your lips, you breathing out his name as he leans in, your body involuntarily doing the same, before your lips connect in a soft kiss. He places a hand on your cheek, as if that’s where it was made to belong as you hold onto his bicep for support. You lost yourself in him, the feeling of his lips on yours melting away everything around you.

You hear him hum into the kiss, the sound bringing you back to reality as you quickly pull away. Shit, what were you doing?

“Jesus,” he mutters, you covering your face with your hands as you shake your head, “Look, I didn’t mean to do that. You just looked so beautiful and I couldn’t resist—”

You cut him off, pointing towards the door and harshly saying, “Get out of my classroom, Steve.”

He begins to ramble, “I’m sorry, all right? I promise I didn’t mean to—”

You uncover your face, full-blown rage presented across it as you shout at him through gritted teeth, “Get the hell out!”

He tries to say something, but nothing comes out, him simply huffing in defeat and turning towards the door. Once he’s exited, you try your hardest not to let the tears spill, not allowing yourself to go through that shit again. What the hell was he thinking?

More importantly, what the hell were you thinking? It was obvious by the look in his eyes what he was about to do. Why didn’t you stop him?

But, that’s the problem. It’s not that you didn’t have the capacity to stop him, you didn’t want to stop him. And if anything, for the amount of time it lasted, that was the best kiss of your life.

i'm sorry guys, but it's just rejection after rejection in this fic :')

taglist: @livsters @bakugouswh0r3 @nix-rose @ihatepeanutss @cats00089 @suitelif3 comment if you want to be added!!

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let-your-chaos-explode · 2 years ago

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Hii! Can I have a fic about reader being lady lesso's best student, idek what I want actually MAYBE THE VALIDATION and to sate my mommy issues but what if lady lesso discreetly shows r off to dovey like look omg my best student and other things and it's just favourite student fluff

I had so much fun writing this one! Thanks for the request. I realize it probably doesn't have as much fluff as you were looking for. Alas...

It started simple, really. You weren’t even quite sure what was happening at first.

“Y/N, come here for a moment. I need you to show Professor Dovey what real talent looks like.” Lady Lesso summoned.

“Yes, ma’am!” You obliged dutifully.

The Deans for the School of Good and Evil always seemed to bicker. No one was ever sure if it was good-natured or not. Always trying to one-up the other… Was that what this was?

You were a Never under the tutelage of Lady Lesso. While your fellow future villains feared the Evil Dean, you had a different perspective. A mutual understanding built on a foundation of respect.

Everyone just called you a suck-up.

“Do you see why she is at the top of her school?” Lady Lesso questioned Dovey.

You stood in front of them, slightly uncomfortable. You weren’t sure what you were supposed to be doing other than standing there as they talked about you. Professor Dovey sent you a kind smile before returning her exasperated gaze back to your Dean.

“As talented as she may be, the Trial by Tale will determine the School’s champion. And I’m quite confident that Good will continue our streak of wins!” Dovey shot back with exaggerated pleasantness.

“You’re looking at our champion right here!” Lesso crowed, grabbing your cheeks.

You flushed in embarrassment and pulled out of her grasp, stumbling over your feet as she pushed you with her cane toward a seat in the bleachers.

It started with calling on you more frequently in class, in front of your Never peers. Almost like a test. Her quiet appraisals and quirked brows stoked your desire to do better. To be better. Soon, she had you doing demonstrations in class. And then asking you to tutor your classmates.

Lady Lesso always seemed to have an air of superiority. It came out in villainous glory during shared Ever-Never classes and school assemblies with Professor Dovey. Soon, you were the topic of every round of banter.

“Don’t worry your airy little head, Princess. Y/N here can handle it! Won’t you, Y/N?” Your formidable Dean’s hands came to rest on your shoulders with a tight squeeze.

“Your princesses are only good for fainting and brewing tea. Y/N could be twice the prince of any graduate of your school, if she possessed any chivalry. Your students lack substance!” Lesso said forcefully, gesturing at you with her cane.

“Pfffft! Y/N is excelling in Curses and Deathtraps. I pity the Ever doomed to be her nemesis.”

And as you sat in the end-of-year assembly, the realization finally dawned upon you. Lady Lesso, for all her toughness and grit, cold glares and sharp tongue, evil extraordinaire, actually believed in you.

“ATTENTION!” She screamed to the hall of students.

An immediate hush fell upon the chamber. Lady Lesso smirked smugly at Professor Dovey next to her before standing back and allowing her to speak.

“Evers and Nevers! Today marks the end of another successful semester at the School for Good and Evil!” Dovey smiled with arms wide open. “As is tradition, our top students will begin the Trial by Tale at sundown.”

“May the best student win!” Lady Lesso added, shooting you a confident wink.

Heat peppered your cheeks and you offered a nervous smile in return. You squared your shoulders and gave her a curt nod before following the rest of the students out of the hall. You were determined to win. Definitely for yourself. And maybe a little bit for her.

Your feet pounded against the damp earth and your lungs screamed for air. You kneeled against a looming tree and attempted to catch your breath. The sky above was starting to lighten, melting from an endless black to an inky blue. It wouldn’t be much longer before sunrise. You just had to make it a little while longer.

The Reapers, wolves, and biting foliage were no challenge at all. And in the chaos of the Trial, you had bested one Ever boy and two other Never girls. Your special talent of camouflage had made it easy.

A rustling behind you made you flinch. With exhaustion creeping in your bones, you let the cool shiver of your camouflage ripple across your skin, fading into the endless blue of the forest.

“I know you’re there, Y/N!” The haughty voice of your classmate called.

It was a Never boy, Caym, second in your class only to you. His hulking form crept out of the shadows, cocky and unafraid. His talent was brute strength and an absolute lack of regard for others.

You held your breath steady and attempted to skirt around the girth of the tree. While the Ever students were of no concern, direct combat with your peer would be less ideal. You chanced another look at the sky above. You could do this.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Caym laughed as he uprooted a small tree and threw it into the glade.

A startled gasp fell from your lips as you ducked and rolled to avoid the rolling timber.

His dark eyes followed the rustling foliage from your movement. “Gotcha.”

Caym grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it at you, outlining your frame before launching an attack. Smaller and faster, you dodged each hit thrown at you.

“It’s just you and me, Y/N. And I will take my win. It’s time everyone in this place sees just exactly what I’m capable of!” He roared.

You let the camouflage fall, determined to save your energy for walking through the school gates. A quick jab to his kidney followed by a kick to the back of his knees sent him falling to the forest floor.

“I won’t let you take this from me! They think you’re perfect! They think you’re the one to finally swing the balance back to Evil. You’re nothing more than a show off! A know-it-all suckling at your mommy Dean’s teat!” Caym seethed as he rose from the ground.

You launched into a flurry of hits and kicks that seemed to bounce off of his muscled body. And on the last kick, he grasped your ankle between his palms. A cold, unforgiving smile split across his face. And with a loud crack, he twisted, splintering the bones of your ankle and leg in a deft move.

You let your scream erupt from your throat as you fell to the ground. In your pain, your camouflage flickered in and out in an unconscious attempt to shield yourself from further injury.

A chilling laugh rumbled in Caym’s chest as he hovered over you. A swift kick to your shattered ankle pulled another scream of pain from your mouth, cut off only by his meaty hands around your throat. And with terrible ease, he threw your body through the air and onto the broken trunk of the uprooted tree. The remaining air in your lungs left with the force of the blow.

“See you on the other side, teacher’s pet.” He spit. “Maybe now Lesso will see just how much attention has been wasted on you.”

Caym turned and didn’t see you lift your glowing finger. Blue vines from the forest floor snaked across the ground and wrapped tightly around his legs and yanked him off the ground and into dense leaves of the tree tops. With a rattling wheeze, you fired off a sleeping curse at his bound form.

With Caym incapacitated, you let your head fall back to look at the sky. Indigo was giving way to hues of scarlet.

Sunrise.

If you could just make it to the gates of the forest. You reached your hands in the inner pocket of your tunic and fingered the edge of the handkerchief.

You inhaled another shuddering breath and pressed your hand against your shoulder, flinching as it came away wet and red. A small, pointed branch from the log jut out from your upper chest. With a pained howl, you wrenched yourself off the fallen tree and collapsed onto the earth.

Your body trembled through the exhaustion and pain. Adrenaline and pure spite were the only things powering your limbs to move, pushing you up onto your good leg. Heart pounding, blood began to weep in earnest from the jagged wound at your shoulder. You needed to move now or you would never make it.

In one final burst of energy, your finger glowed dimly and a fallen branch began to slim and form a handle under a bowed cradle. Body shaking from the effort, you positioned the crutch under your intact shoulder and began the hike to the gates.

Thankfully, you didn’t have to walk far. Each step was throbbing agony to your broken body. Sweat and blood made your tunic stick uncomfortably to every crevice. When the gates finally erupted from the horizon, a choked sob fell from your lips.

The entire staff and student body was lined up at the entrance, clamoring to see who had won the Trial by Tale. Rowdy cheers erupted from the Never students as some began to rush toward you. Your eyes scanned the crowd, looking for one in particular. Her flaming red hair stood out at the edge. She was animatedly gesturing to Professor Dovey and puffed out her chest.

As if recognizing the safety net that had appeared in front of you, your body finally gave up. Your crutch fell from underneath you and you crashed to your knees. Your vision blurred and you felt the hands of one of your classmates grab yours.

“Caym is still in the forest under a sleeping curse.” You rasped before your eyes rolled and everything went dark.

Consciousness cut through the fog in the form of pain. With a hiss, you blinked open your eyes and attempted to clear the haze that clung to your vision.

A sea of red slowly started to come into focus.

“Y/N, relax. I am just changing the bandages at your shoulder. You should continue to rest.”

Lady Lesso’s cold fingers applied the fasteners to the gauze and wrap before pulling the blankets up around you once more.

“Did I win?” You croaked groggily, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

The Dean of Evil frowned harshly as she summoned a chair, falling into it heavily.

“I’m sorry, Lady Lesso.” You sighed deeply with disappointment.

Her red curls flew wildly as she shook her head. “Don’t apologize. Apologies are for the weak.”

She let out a soft snort at your wry expression.

“And besides…you won.”

A small smirk pulled at the edge of her lips and pride shone clearly in her eyes.

“I…won?” You asked in disbelief. “Then why do you look so upset?”

Lady Lesso leaned forward onto her arms and leveled you with a scrutinizing look. She pointedly inspected your shoulder, slid her gaze to your casted ankle, and then lifted a sculpted brow.

“At what cost?” She asked you quietly. “Why didn’t you drop your handkerchief, Y/N? Why didn’t you surrender?”

Shame bubbled in your chest. Unable to take her searching look any longer, you averted your eyes.

“I…just wanted to win. I didn’t want to disappoint you, again.” You whispered.

Her hands atop of yours stopped the nervous fiddling you didn’t even realize you were doing. You ignored her silent request and met her eyes only with the uncharacteristically gentle lift of your chin upward.

Her expression was concerned and you felt deeply unsettled for having been the one to put it there.

Lady Lesso took in a steadying breath and squeezed your hands. “I push my students, not just because I want Evil to win. But because I want you to succeed. I want you to live! To be a villain outside of these castle walls is a curse, Y/N. Nearly every student I have ever taught has perished. I don’t care about the Trial by Tale. I care about you.”

You didn’t fight the watery smile that grew on your face.

“And you were too damn stubborn to lose, that you almost died.”

“But I didn’t!” You reminded her impishly.

Lady Lesso let out a bark of laughter and ruffled your hair. “As Dean of Evil, I do not have favorites. But if I did, it would be you.”

She gripped her cane and rose from the chair beside you and sauntered to the infirmary door.

“Get some rest. I have some bets to collect and a win to rub in Clarissa’s face.”

She paused with her hand on the knob and sent you a smile over her shoulder. “I am so proud of you.”

#Lady Lesso #Leonora Lesso #Lady Lesso & Reader #Platonic relationships #teacher student relationship (platonic)#SGE #School for Good and Evil #Trial by Tale #maternal Lesso #Lady Lesso is soft for her favorite student #one shot

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it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream · 1 day ago

Text

The Beacon Witch - pt.3

-Y/n moves to Beacon Falls to stay with her Guardian Deaton and finds love in the shape of a wolf- Reader x Derek Hale-

You don’t know why you had gone to Stiles, in the moment it seemed like the logical thing to do. He was the mutual party in the group, the thinker. If you were going to tell your secret to anyone, why not him first?

You knew he’d be alone, you’d seen Scott getting into Dereks car. Stiles looked a bit surprised when he saw it was you standing on his door step.

“Hey Y/N! You okay?” He looked a bit twitchy, you knew something was going on, the girls acting funny at the game, Derek and Scott on the steps and now this.

“Stiles can I come in, we need to talk..” He put his hand behind his head, you know, stroking the back of his buzzed hair in that thinking way that guys tend to do.

“I don’t now Y/N, nows really not the best tim-“ You didn’t let him finish that sentence.

“Stiles, I know Scott and Derek are werewolves.” Stiles fake laughed. Like a nervous laugh but over exaggerated to the point where you knew he knew it didn’t cut it. “That’s- wait what how do you even know!” He couldn’t keep his facade.

“Because, I’m a Witch.” Stiles head could have exploded at that moment.

“Well sure why didn’t you say, come on in!” Stiles was muttering to himself all the way to his room in disbelief.

By the end of explaining everything, Stiles mouth was wide open in awe, both of you sitting crossed legged on his bed. It felt good to finally tell someone, even if you hadn’t been here for that long, you couldn’t hold it in forever. He was pissed about Gerard, exclaiming that you should magic him away with your powers, but alas, you didn’t know how to use them yet.

You had a Grimouir, but you’d never been able to understand it on your own, the basics were there, something told you that now you were in Beacon Hills, learning your abilities would probably be something that came in handy.

“So what can you do?” You knew that you were going to be close friends with Stiles, call it your Witchy senses, but you couldn’t help but grin at his child like enthusiasm. He shivered slightly as your raised your hands, purple veins throbbing under your skin, almost glowing, that alone made him “oooooh” and “Ahhhh.” Then he looked around and noticed things that were once settled were now floating in mid air, like being in a spaceship, no gravity. It only lasted a second, Stiles phone interrupting your thought process.

“It’s Allison.” His face during the call, it didn’t scream good news. He was getting his jacket on before he’d even hung up.

“Feel like really becoming one of the gang?” He didn’t have to ask you twice.

Turns out Beacon Hills was bigger than you thought, Stiles speeding around in his car gave you more of an opportunity to look around rather than concentrate on the driving side of things. The Sheriffs Station was getting closer and closer and as it did the feeling of dread in your stomach got stronger and stronger.

“Remind me again why you like risking your life, especially as a human?” You nervous laughed and Stiles shrugged, apparently it was the norm for him these days. “You have a plan right? Please tell me you have a plan.” He nodded.

Picking up Derek Hale was not how you pictured the plan going. You guess, he didn’t expect you there either by the shocked and… pissed look he shot past you and right to Stiles.

“Stiles, why the hell did you bring her here?” Rude. The man looked stressed with a capital S.

“Oh hi to you too Derek.” His back rippled when you said his name, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Stiles who wiggled his eyebrows at the Alpha. You were oblivious.

“Look Mr big bad wolf, she knows about everything.” Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. “No time to explain, she’s here that’s that, how are we going to get passed the front desk?” You peered past Dereks shoulder to see a woman officer at the front desk of the Sheriffs department.

Derek’s bright plan was to distract her, after giving you firm instructions to stay in the car, you could tell he was serious. Stiles, was more fidgety than before, right before Derek left, he told Stiles something only he could hear, enough that it surprised him a lot. Now he was looking at you liked you had two heads.

For whatever reason, it boiled your blood watching Derek walk into the station and flirt his ass off. Stiles couldn’t help but laugh. You glared.

“You’re a cute Witch when you’re jealous, and purple” He motioned to the interior of the car where true enough, your veins thrummed with a purple hue lighting up the dim space. Stiles booped you on the nose and got out of the car following after Derek, you rolled your eyes, they really didn’t know you well enough to think you’d actually stay in the car.

You both peered around the frame of the door where Derek flirted heavily with the woman on duty. You made silent fake gagging noises, Stiles rolled his eyes at Dereks easy charm. With the deputy well distracted, you snuck past with Stiles and into the Sherifs office…. where the keys were.. missing? You both looked at each other, Stiles Aura shifted from excited and panicked to full on panic mode.

You shouldn’t have ran out into the corridor. You should have stayed in the car, just like Derek had said, because before you knew it, you’d been knocked clean out, a wooden box crashing upside your head and Stiles was dragged off.

-Blink- -Blink- Fighting werewolf… -Blink- -Blink- Stiles rushing across the floor and tapping your face… -Blink- Your eyes slowly started adjusting, you groaned as a throbbing pain consumed your mind, red blurring your vision. You fingers reached up to touch the crack above your eyelid… blood. It was a good job you were dealing with Werewolves and not Vampires. Stiles had sat you up against a wall, he’d shed his over shirt, pressing it to your bleeding wound.

“Hold on Y/N, help will come.” You didn’t know if he was trying to convince you or himself. You noticed him hold onto you a little tighter, when you looked up, a half-formed Issac Lahey was stalking towards you. Obviously you had a little more research to do, maybe wolves liked human blood too?

Issac didn’t have time to get a taste. The sound would have scarred anyone else. But the loud roar that came from Derek and the glowing red eyes comforted you as he put Issac back in his place. The Alpha had arrived and god did it turn you on.

Derek didn’t hesitate when he saw you bleeding, in seconds he had you in his arms and on his lap in the back of Stiles car. He brushed away the hair that had started to matte in the blood only to realise, there was no wound? You were about to explain, but your body was drained, it automatically used what little magic you’d learnt to somewhat heal the wound, leading your world to go black once again, passing out in the Alphas leather clad arms.

-Stiles Journal entry-

It didn’t take long for Derek to get Y/N back to her godfather, or as she liked to call him, ‘Unlce D’. God, it was still weird to think that she was Deaton’s family. A few weeks ago she pops up into our lives and now look, she’s hurt already and this was from the mediocre stuff we sometimes had to handle. Honestly I haven’t known Derek that long, but i’d never seen him act this way around anyone. Me and Scott always classed him as the brooding loner type, but after he told me in my jeep that Y/N is his mate, it all made sense. I wonder if Scott knew about mates? My early research when Scott was first turned brought a few things up, but the topic wasn’t what we were focused on at the time. Side note: maybe look into that.

Anyway, we got to the clinic, Derek still had her in his arms. He was quiet but we could tell he was freaking out. He shouted when he slammed through the doors alerting Uncle D (Remember not to call him that to his face.) Just like many of us before, she was laid out on the metal surgical table through the back, all the while Dereks fists clenched at his sides, his jaw too.

Deaton looked her over and gave her the all clear, a collective sigh echoed around the room, then I knew I was in big trouble.

I got it in the balls by Derek, if Scott wasn’t there, immmm sure he would have ripped my throat out. Deaton diffused the situation by letting us know that she would be fine, her magic healed her blah blah blah, there I was in the background making ‘no’ signals looking like a frikin air traffic controller.

The rest went like this….

“Stiles what do you know..” Me explaining that I knew Y/N was a witch, Derek exclaiming, “My mates a witch?!”

Deaton Exclaiming… “She’s your mate?!” Scott looking confused as hell and me, well, I was standing as far away as possible.

In the end, things didn’t go as I thought they would, obviously as I’m writing the events of tonight in here, i’m still alive, throat intact and A okay… Derek on the other hand, he was confused, angry, sad all of the above.

“Don’t tell her, not yet. Scott, Stiles, don’t encourage her on your reckless trips and group life style. She can’t get hurt, just leave her alone, it’s for her own good.”

Derek didn’t hang around long after that, with a kiss to Y/n’s forehead, whoosh, the Alpha was gone and the three of us were standing around Y/N waking body perplexed, a howl echoing in the darkness.

That’s it so far, we left before Y/N woke up, I currently have 10 missed calls, 3 texts and it’s killing me not to answer. But I’m gonna wait till tomorrow, see what the day brings. They better thank me for making this stupid journal, maybe it will come in handy one day.

#fanfic #beaconhills #teenwolf #derek hale x reader #angst #fluff #writing #smut #fanficwriter #stiles stilinski #scott mccall

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hypergamiss · 10 months ago

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Do you have advice on how to get over someone? I had this huge crush on this guy years ago. I never told him about my feelings but it was clear that he didn’t feel the same way. Even worse he had a crush on my sister. They kinda stayed friends although it’s obvious that he’s not over her. And I’m kinda not over him. I thought I was honestly. But yesterday my sis mentioned him and told me about what he’s been up to and it really triggered me. All those old emotions came back up. I still think he’s a great guy and since our families are connected I think I’ll run into him every now and then. I want to get to a point where I’m not bothered by seeing him or hearing his name mentioned. I want to get past this. Do you have some advice on how I can achieve this?

If you’re hanging on to a crush from years ago, you might be experiencing limerence. I could be wrong, but based on the information you’ve given me so far it seems like it. Signs of limerence to look out for:

The most insignificant and short interactions with the other person give you such an intense high, you continue to fantasize, obsess over, and think about it for many days.

Your feelings are more rooted in obsession, jealousy, possession, and delusion than they are in a true connection, honesty, mutuality, intimacy, reciprocation, and reality.

You exaggerate and glorify the other person’s few positive characteristics to the point of red and pink flag blindness.

You become so hyper-focused on the other person that you lose track of your own life.

EVERYTHING that the other person does/doesn’t do and everything that you find out/don’t find out is given a meaning that perpetuates the limerence in some way.

You find yourself fantasizing about the future even though there is no relationship.

You experience physical symptoms – Extreme anxiety, trembling, nausea, sweating, and in some cases, paranoia around the other person. You then, allow those symptoms to pedestal the other person and affirm that they’re “The One.”

You replay every conversation and interaction again and again. No matter how insignificant or minute.

Everything you see, listen to, and do reminds you of them.

You try to find a deeper meaning in everything that the person does and doesn’t do.

Your thoughts about the other person are obsessive and involuntary.

As the circumstances become more obnoxious (and hopeless), your feelings become more intense.

You feel irrationally jealous and possessive. Even if the relationship is nonexistent.

You feel a magnetic pull toward them. You are convinced that this person is your only soulmate and you were born to love them. Even if you barely know each other.

You idealize their bad qualities as much as you do their good ones.

You experience intense mood swings – high highs and low lows in regard to the other person and your self-worth.

Limerence is the romantic love drug that pop culture perpetuates the addiction to. This starts at a young age when we are at our most impressionable and it continues until we become so hopeless in our romantic addiction, we start to confuse true love with limerence.

I think it’s more reasonable to justify not being over an ex years after a long term relationship ended, but this is a crush we are talking about. And on top of that it seems like you’re stuck in a love triangle that involves your sibling which can cause a lot of damage to your life depending on how she feels and where she stands in all of this.

I can see why your eager to just get over this man. The key to getting rid of the crush is to first identify the symptoms of Limerence (if it applies to this situation) and then, understand the difference between limerence and true Love so that you can rewire, cleanse, and ultimately, get clean.

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lillyspeakz · 2 months ago

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You don’t have to pick or choose a side if you don't want to or if one side is giving you too much stress. I'm neutral leaning towards Wilbur - mainly because of all the hatred and harassment the internet lynch mob threw his way - but I think that they both sucked at handling their relationship.

Wilbur probably has bitten Shelby more than what she was comfortable with and he himself said that he wasn’t the best boyfriend, but I highly doubt that Shelby is the innocent, perfect-angel picture of a girlfriend that she portrayed herself to be given some of the stuff she said and actions she did during all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if she exaggerated some stuff about their relationship or misremembered some things as well as some other things that I won't get into but still rubbed me the wrong way.

I don’t like Shelby (I do not hate her but I don’t think I’ll ever like her) but I do hope that she heals and move on - the same goes for Wilbur. I want them both to heal and improve.

I think they had a mutually toxic, dysfunctional relationship layered with misunderstanding and miscommunication that they couldn't solve or couldn't create compromises on.

You are not a bad person for choosing a side, you are only a bad person if you harass or attack others over what side they chose or their opinion. How others treat you is a reflection of them, not you, or vice-versa how you treat others is a reflection of you, not them. And I believe that I can say with confidence, you are not a bad person.

(Sorry for the rant.)

Ok who ever this is, I love you so much. Thank you for this. I have no hate or bad intentions toward Shelby supporters, but it just sucks when people dismiss others opinions and don’t listen to reasonings. So that’s why I just- it sucks when people dismiss others feelings.

And I do agree with you. Both of them were toxic in some way, they were not in a good relationship, and just the understanding of the situation flew out the window. And I feel like it got out of hand, that’s what sucks. She didn’t try to do anything to calm it down, which I feel like was necessary in some ways. So many people got hurt in that process, and she lowkey- kinda watched it. Again no hate but- I just want people to understand why I’m frustrated about this whole situation still.

#lilly answerz.#anon dearest <3

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inoghmia · 2 years ago

Text

If Carmen and Crackle/Grey are supposed to be a sister-brother relationship, why didn’t the show known for its show don’t tell, show it? What even are they?

Before you say that it was clarified 2 times and that you prefer Julia x Carmen, this is NOT a Redcrackle post, just hear me out. I love Jules and Carmen as much as the next fan, but since season one I couldn’t shake off the weird tension Grey and Carmen have.

I’m not really good at rants and these are just my thoughts and confused feelings I’m trying to understand.

Ok so it was clarified in the beginning that Crackle is “like the big brother she never had”, and in the flashbacks of the academy you can kinda feel that vibe, it’s very reserved but it is there. They’re kinda playful and caring but not to an extent I personally would call it a sibling relationship, but I digress, family bonds come in all forms and some may be more reserved than others. However, having said that, after the academy flashbacks, it’s back to the weird tension in the train. It was really hard for me to describe it, but I feel like the fact I had to repeatedly remind myself of their supposed relationship indicates something about the writing.

Carmen Sandiego as a show is great in “show don’t tell”, the quiet representation of different relationships (lgbtq+ representation my beloved) and atmosphere and even if some aspects are stated, a lot of things are left for interpretation, or it just well shown. The best example I can come up with at 2 am is how we see shadowsan slowly become more and more a part of the family, and even if in the later episodes it’s acknowledged by the characters once or twice, we mostly see the development happen and notice it for our self. It's great writing.

Now I’m mentioning this because Carmen Sandiego did an amazing job at writing family relationships, in which we have a sibling relationship, Zach and Ivy, and they did an incredible job. Some aspects can appear exaggerated, but even I, a lonely child, felt like all their interactions and body language was one of true siblings, it felt right and I never had to question anything.

So WHY (I’m asking this genuinely) do they mess up on Grey and Carmen? You could argue that they both come from very different lifestyles, Grey lived his life presumably lonely and since he doesn’t seem to have any family bonds with any foster family, (assuming all VILE operatives are indeed orphans) and doesn’t have a pet or partner, he doesn’t seem like someone to get acquainted with others. Carmen on the other hand, has been always surrounded by people she sees as family and later on seems to love making new acquaintances. While others may see students at the academy as just that, students, Carmen may have seen them as something like distant cousins you see at family gatherings. It would be understandable if they weren’t very compatible but despite it, they don’t necessarily need a strong bond to maybe be called siblings by Carmen since everyone at VILE is, to quote Coach, family. If you look at their relationship, it truly started off the “mutual enemy” kind of thing, and and idk, I feel like it would be understandable why their vibe was off when calling eachother such endearing names. (Edit Note: I wrote this at like 2am and have no clue what I was going on about for the most part of this paragraph)

They act more like work friends than anything. The lack of intimacy that you’d find in siblings COULD be explained, seeing as Grey may never have had the chance to feel brotherly love for a longer time than a few years (assuming he even had siblings in a foster home to begin with) and Carmen being mostly surrounded by adults and therefore not having a chance to bond with someone her age. Still, personally, I expected SOME intimacy, seeing that they were at the very least best friends, which is to be fair, something we see happen in the academy flashbacks, but like only once (talking here about body language).

In the train scene there’s this tension between them, but it’s not one of seeing your best friend or sibling betray you, it felt more like a coworker letting you know HR is mad, and tbh, I was really surprised when Carmen said she saw Grey as a brother.

(Edit: this was a part written late at night so it’s a bit hasty)

Later on their relationship is hard to describe, it feels uncertain and could range from a random coworker to the dearest person in the world, it’s really confusing imo.

Then the amnesia happens and oh boy. I 100% believe Grayham had a crush on her, I mean, who wouldn’t fall for a random mysterious lady in red that (literally) sweeps you off your feet? Every time I saw them interact I was always expecting a different reaction from Carmen, instead of acting like the supposed younger sister, she acts mysterious, (imo) almost unaware to herself flirty, due to her unnecessary secrecy.

They later on bump into each other and at that point it was SO fucking hard to understand what they were, they were neither acting like siblings, two strangers attracted to each other, nor friend or enemies, the jail scene was so confusing I had to rewatch it a few times and I’m still not sure what I’m meant to understand them as.

After Crackle gets his memory back, I will say it, he acts like a past lover. In all the later episodes I always felt like I was watching two people that had some tragic lovers-to-enemies story which one was still bitter about. I’ve often been considering the possibility it may have been Greys resting fuckboy face, but idk, I don’t think that’s totally it. As I said it feels weird in the grand context of things, but I really would believe they were lovers at some point If I were to watch just the last season. Heck, when Carmen was evil, they lowkey had a power couple vibes, but EVEN THEN it was hard for me to distinguish if they felt romantic, platonic or like siblings.

Tell me I’m not the only one who sees this

(WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?!???)

Here’s my biggest problem tho:

In the last episodes, the moment Grey contacts ACME, was the first time in the show I felt like I was watching a brother fight for his sibling. Idk if it was because it felt like I first ever really saw raw emotion in him or what it was, but I truly understood the sibling implication for the first time. In the scene he’s begging her to come back and Carms about to electrocute him (side note, can we talk abt how she was willing to kill like 3 ppl), I truly felt the sibling dynamic.

AND THEN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL SCENE MAKES IT FEEL LIKE THEY WERE IDK WHAT BUT SOMETHING LOVING, IDK IF IN A PLATONIC, FAMILY OR ROMANTIC WAY BUT IT WAS LOVING AND AWISSFIOASJMDFÖIKJAGJWSIO WHY IS THIS SHOW SO CONFUSING

final conclusion:

I am so fucking confused and its 02:30 am - somebody send help

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multifandomplushie · 2 years ago

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Sorry no background this time. Wanted to get this fella out as soon as possible. Though I'm mimicking the style of The 7D fandom wiki anyway, so it fits.

As you'll, I didn't hold back the description of the character's relationship with the canon cast like I did with Coral Cove, because in Coral's case, I believe I can still make at least a few twists and turns on the way and surprise you, but with Theo you would understand where I'm going with him from just by looking at his allies line, so I thought it would be better in this situation to clear up his relationship with the characters already to give you a better understanding of what type of person he is in terms of interactions.

Also, I want to remind you that I don't hate Queen Delightful. I simply think of her as overrated, especially within the show itself, so I just thought it would be fun to make someone who puts her goofy personality under great scrutiny and also comically exaggerate my own love of theorizing and overthinking.

With all of that out of that out of the way, let's jump right in and meet my OC, Theo Hunch!

Character Information

Nickname(s): Theo, Worrywart (by Grim and Hildy), Looney (by Jollywood's residents)

Occupation: Journalist

Gender: Male

Hair: Dark brown

Eyes: Black

Relationships

Enemies: Queen Delightful, Hildy Gloom (formerly), Grim Gloom (formerly)

Frenemies: The 7D, Lord Starchbottom

Allies: Hildy Gloom, Grim Gloom

Appearance

Just like many other citizens of Jollywood, Theo is very short. He has a pale peach colored skin, dark brown messy hair and mustache, and bags under his eyes. He wears black half-rim glasses, a white shirt, a maroon tie, a dark greyish yellow trench coat, grey pants and black boots.

Personality

Theo is a journalist whose curiosity and tendency to overthink and overanalyze things slowly led him to become a very paranoid and stressed-out mess of a guy who's on edge most of the time.

Despite the fact that he gets easily frustrated due to a horrible lack of sleep and people being dismissive of his theories, he doesn't actually possess hostility towards anyone, except Queen Delightful. Quite the contrary, his negative view of the Queen is directly tied to his desire to help the citizens of his home kingdom, since he believes they are all victims of the Queen's manipulations.

While his intenstions are understandable and his heart is in the right place, he's so fixated on the idea of the Queen actually being evil and fake and the citizens of Jollywood being her poor victims that he can be oblivious to the thoughts of the very people he's trying to protect, believing that getting Delightful off the throne is best for them.

Relationships

Queen Delightful

Theo is very distrusting of Queen Delightful. He's certain that the Queen's friendly demeanor is just an act that masks a disingenuous, manipulative and controlling person who abuses her power and creatively fools her subjects into fulfilling even the silliest and most selfish of her desires.

The paranoia and the animosity towards the Queen that sprang from it got so out of hand that he made a conscious decision to turn to the Glooms and form a mutual partnership with them to reach the goal of getting Queen Delightful off the throne of Jollywood.

Despite his thoughts being potentially concerning, the citizens of Jollywood see him as a somewhat delusional but harmless fella and don't take his claims too seriously, especially considering that he's a long-time friend of the 7D.

Lord Starchbottom

Being a journalist, Theo tried to talk to Queen Delightful quite a couple of times, but before he could actually take any kind of interview with her, he ended up only being able to interact with Starchy instead, which helped him take a closer look at the Queen's assistant only to see an overworked and underappreciated loyal guy who suffers from not so well-kept insecurity in his own efficiency due to Queen Delightful's always calling seven small miners from the other side of the town to do even the most mundane tasks instead of asking the personal helper who lives with her and constant work injuries that aren't always given enough attention.

Theo's connection with Starchy isn't as strong as the one he has with the 7D, but he still spent enough time for them to consider each other friends and for Theo to know all the mishaps Starchy has to indure because of the Queen or the things she asks the 7D to do want to save him from what he believes is an abusive boss.

The 7D

Grumpy

Theo and Grumpy are quite on the same page in terms of not having a happy-go-lucky attitude compared to most citizens of Jollywood. Theo really appreciates having another person whose attitude opposes kingdom's sugarcoated mentality as it makes Grumpy's personality read to him as genuine.

However, they do, of course, have differences in their opinions on the Queen: while Grumpy can agree that Queen Delightful may sometimes be a bit silly and improvident in her requests to The 7D, he thinks of the Queen as a kind-hearted and generous leader, just like most people of the kingdom, while Theo thinks she's not the benevolent person she appears to be.

Grumpy was vocal about his strong opinion on Theo's joining forces with the Glooms, but their mutual respect and appreciation of each other didn't let any of the two see the other one as an enemy even if the situation certainly made the relationship more complicated.

Happy

It's easy to assume, based on Theo's distain of the Queen's over-the-top positivity which he views as a manipulation tactic and him being somewhat similar to Grumpy in terms of not having the best mood most of the time, that he wouldn't be a huge fan of Happy. But despite all the odds, he actually has quite the friendly feelings towards the fella. While he can find his pushy cheerfulness irritating at times, he perceives Happy as someone who is pressured into keeping the role of the biggest optimist by his environment. And since Theo's overanalyzed review of Happy's behavior led him to believe that this dwarf's necessity to suppress all his emotions aside from happiness to meet people's expectations has also turned into his personal coping mechanism to distract himself from his issues, Theo tries not to be too harsh on Happy and not put him in a situation where Happy would have to spend too much energy on trying to cheer him up while putting his own feeling aside.

In addition, he really loves Happy's singing voice and enjoys both his more slow-paced songs and melodies, which he finds very mentally and emotionally stabilizing, and his more up-beat tunes, which are quite good at helping him stay awake and keeping him from drinking too much coffee.

Their relationship didn't change at all after Theo started his partnership with the Glooms: Theo's opinion on Happy, just like on the other dwarfs, stayed the same, and Happy, being a type of person who almost never feels hostility even to towards bothersome villains like Hildy and Grim, still saw him as a friend who just needs some cheering up and hugs. Meaning the two keep being stuck in a circle of obliviousness where each one thinks the other is emotionally overwhelmed and needs his help.

Sleepy

At first, Theo questioned Sleepy's constant sleeping, but then remembered how messed up his own sleep schedule is and realized that Sleepy's routine was much healthier than his. He also started viewing it as escapism which, in his opinion, an understandable reaction to the stress the 7D get because of the royal duties.

Theo sometimes envies Sleepy a bit and wishes his own brain was able to just go into the sleeping mode without constant ideas and theories flooding and turning it back on.

He often likes to watch Sleepy while he's sleeping because his peaceful look, just like Happy's songs, is able to distract Theo at least a little bit from pressing issues and give him a certain amount of serenity.

Sneezy

As someone who has some health problems himself, Theo can somewhat relate to Sneezy's constantly sneezing. Just like with Sleepy, Theo enjoys Sneezy's company and finds it really comfortable talking to him, since both Sneezy and Sleepy are the only dwarfs who he believes aren't pressured into displaying specific personality traits based on their names (unlike someone like Happy who's expected to act a certain way), so they are free to express more of their genuine feelings.

Bashful

Bashful is the member of the 7D Theo has the most difficult relationship with because of Bashful's crush on Queen Delightful. Bashful is very defensive of the Queen and never holds back from stating how wrong Theo is about her. And Theo, being aware of Bashful's crush on Queen Delightful and reasonable enough to not address his crush too explicitly, can have an actual heated debate with the dwarf but still not hold anything against him, since he believes Bashful fell the biggest victim to Delightful's mind tricks and feels nothing but concern for the timid dwarf. Theo actually really appreciates Bashful for his ability to break out of character at times and not let his shyness defy his whole personality.

Bushful's feelings towards Theo didn't change too much after the latter started helping the Glooms since he wasn't really on the good terms with him to begin with, he mostly now just simply felt more justified in openly antagonizing the guy, which Theo doesn't really see as a personal attack but merely as Bushful being irrational due to the Queen's strong influence.

Despite that, both before and after Theo's partnership with Hildy and Grim, Bashful occasionally cut Theo some slack and gave him the benefit of the doubt on the basis of the other dwarfs' more positive outlook on the guy.

Dopey

Theo likes Dopey and appreciates his care and friendliness to animals. However, he does find it difficult to interact with him sometimes as he's unsure of what pattern of behavior he should display towards him due to Dopey's animalistic habits of his own.

Doc

Both being curious nerds with an analytical brain, Theo and Doc get along very well and always have something interesting to talk about.

However, just like in his relationship with Grumpy, the only thorn in Theo's friendship with Doc is the radical differences in the perception of Queen Delightful as a person. Though just like Grumpy, Doc can objectively understand the reasons behind Theo's point of view while still standing confidently by his own opinion.

Theo and Doc's relationship after Theo's joining forces with the Glooms is the same as the one with Grumpy.

The Glooms

At first, similar to other residents of Jollywood, Theo wasn't fond of the Glooms, thinking of them as a threat. But as the time went on and his view of Queen Delightful become more and more negative, he started paying more attention to the behavior of the witch couple and found himself much more drawn to the wicked duo.

Grim, despite his dim-wittedness, was able to win Theo over with his unmistakably genuine warm and slightly childish nature pretty early on, since it was occasionally contrasted by the wizard's poor attempts to appear an intimidating villain, which really helped Theo figure out his true character.

Hildy was harder case because of her spoiled, demeaning and bratty personality. But Theo interpreted her behavior as Hildy just being open about her flaws.

The thing that convinced him the most though is their treatment of each other. While Theo may not be an expert on love, he is very well aware of the aspects of different types of love and can see that the pair are clearly dedicated to one another and can't live without each other, and Hildy sometimes being bossy and impatient with Grim while still having pure undiluted love for him to Theo feels as something truly sincere compared to the Queen's sweet yet somewhat aloof attitude towards people, even those who are closest to her.

All of this led Theo to see the Glooms as people who aren't necessarily good but ones with good intentions and loving hearts.

#the 7d #the 7d oc #oc #my oc #theo #theo hunch #conspiracy theorist #my art #multifandomteddybear

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