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saphstories · 1 month ago

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✨Welcome to the Sapphire Storybook! ✨

My little realm of make believe! Feel free to leave reality at the gate. 😁🥰💖

My name's Saph, Saph the Dragon! I'm so happy you decided to check out my blog page, where I share my imagination and love for all my fandom craziness! You'll find all the need-to-knows and directory under the cut! Have fun! 😘🥰

Main Info:

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: Late Twenties.

Spirituality: Christian. (I only mention this to give you a better understanding of who I am, what makes this little dragon tick!😁)

I am the creator formerly known as SkyWriter. If you've come looking for her, you've succeeded!

My Ask Box is OPEN.

Requests are CLOSED.

Hyperfixations: Currently? ALL THINGS SONIC!!! 😂🥰 SHADOW MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Current Project:

The Three Sovereigns: A tale of war, a tale of hope, a tale of Sovereignty, and of course, a tale of our favorite hedgehog trio! 💖 No promises, but I hope to release Book One in the holiday season, so stay tuned!

AUs:

The Three Sovereigns (In Progress)

Second Chance AU (Casual; Unwritten)

Luna AU (In Progress)

Ghost House AU (Casual; Unwritten)

Blue Myosotis AU (Casual; Unwritten)

Safe In My Arms AU (Casual; Unwritten)

Sonic Droid AU (Casual; Ask Box)

Terabithia AU (Casual; Unfinished WIP)

Go Find Me:

AO3: Saph_Stories

Ko-Fi: saphstories

Wattpad: Saph_Stories

General Rules:

No NSFW or Explicit Content. Keep it PG-13 or put on a Maturity Filter or Trigger Warning, please!

No Real-World Political Content. This is a world of make-believe, it exists to have fun and tell stories, not to debate about the state of the real world.

No edits, recolors, reposts, or blatant theft of my work. I pour my heart and soul into my works, guys. If you wanna share it, reblog it!

I say yes to fanworks of my work! If it inspires you that much, I'm honored! So fanart, fanfic, videos, any type of fanwork of my works is very much allowed and encouraged, so long as the OG is credited and I'm tagged so I can see and squeal over it! 🥰 (If you aren't sure what qualifies between these two rules, feel free to check with me!)

Be Kind. Be Respectful. Be Mindful. Hatred and Nastiness is NOT TOLERATED in the Storybook. First time offenders get a personal, single warning. A second-offender? You will be blocked and reported. This is your ONLY warning.

Request Rules:

ALL GENERAL RULES APPLY.

If the Directory states that Requests are CLOSED, then REQUESTS ARE CLOSED. DO NOT HARASS ME ABOUT OPENING OR TAKING REQUESTS WHEN THEY ARE CLOSED. I open requests when I have time, in between major projects, because I choose to. Harassment about opening Requests will lead to immediate banishment from the Storybook.

I reserve the right, as the author, to refuse any request for any reason, with or without disclosure to the submitter. Basically: I can and will say no and don't have to explain why.

I do retain ownership and all creative licensing as the author for any and all fic requests written. As such, I retain the right to post them on any such of my platforms as I choose as my own work. Reposting of any sort is prohibited. No exceptions.

DO NOT HARRASS ME ABOUT WHEN YOUR REQUEST WILL BE POSTED. I write requests in the order they are received. Please, for the love of all that is holy, be patient. I will get to your request when I get to it and not a moment before. Harassment about posting schedules will result in your request being denied and banishment from the Storybook.

If there is a theme or prompt list, please do your best to stick to it! Some outliers or deviations are okay, but if I decide on a theme or prompt list, do your best to keep your request within those parameters, please!

Be as specific or as vague with your requests as you like! If there's a specific scene or character dynamic or anything you want to see happen, please do tell!

If the request features an OC and/or Content from a third party (Not owned by me the Author or you the Submitter), I will be verifying they have given express permission for their OCs and/or Content to be used! This is to protect my credibility as an Author and my DMs from accusations of theft. If they have not given express permission, I will not be writing requests with any OCs and/or Content they own.

I WILL WRITE ✔️:

(Listed below are the Mains, if you don't see something specific that isn't outlined in the ✖️, feel free to ask! 😁)

Types: Canon Explorations or Divergences; Fix-Its; Character Studies; Alternate Universes; Crossovers.

Fandoms: Sonic the Hedgehog (I feel like this one was obvious 😂), Chronicles of Narnia, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Doctor Who (Specifically the Nine and Ten (TENNANT MY BELOVED) Era, but I won't object to Eleven if I like the Request enough. 😊), the Bad Guys, Phineas and Ferb.

AUs: Most of my AUs, The Murder of Me (Not Mine, but Gigi has stated that she allows fanworks.).

Characters (Canon or OC): Just about Any from the Fandom List, along with most of my OCs and AU Alternate Characters.

Ships: Generally: Any CanonxCanon, CanonxOC, or OCxOC (So long as they have compelling chemistry!😊 Mind the WNW✖️'s) Specifically: Sonamy, Shadouge, Shaph(...What?), Silvaze, Zutara, Tenrose, TenSaph(Whistling Innocently), Phinabella.

I WILL NOT WRITE ✖️:

(These are the Mains/Umbrellas and are Non-Negotiable. If you don't see something stated or that falls into these categories, feel free to ask me!)

Explicit or NSFW Content of ANY Kind.

Romantic Non-Consensual Ships and Content.

Incest or AdultxChild ships.

LGBTQIA+ Ships and Content.

Real-World Political Content.

CanonxReader Ships and Content.

Non-Fiction. (I feel like this should be obvious.)

Horror. (Think Texas Chainsaw or Friday the 13th. Things like that.)

Overly Complicated/Headache Inducing Time Travel. ('Nuff Said.)

✨️ These Rules and Guidelines, both General and Request, are subject to addition and revision at any time as I, Saph the Dragon, Owner and Author of the Sapphire Storybook, deem necessary.

You are loved. You are valued.

Have fun. ♥️

#the sapphire storybook #introduction post #welcome!#saphstories #saph the dragon #main info #pinned post #formerly known as skywriter #ask box is always open #have fun gang!#saph's world of make believe #introducing me #rules of engagement #please make sure to read those guys #requests are currently closed #blog directory #sapphire storybook table of contents #sapphire storybook index

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odessy-clan · 9 months ago

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Hello! And welcome to Odessy Clan!

This is about a clangen RNG based story-telling blog. I will try my best to keep this blog PG-13, although this blog WILL CONTAIN: mentions of death, swearing, perhaps gore-like artwork, mentions of self-deprecation, insinuations of childbirth, and perhaps gender dysmorphia and if you do not do well with these topics, please click off for your own good!! I don't wanna hurt anyone's feeling or trigger them!!! Now more info here!

This clan is a "tragedy clan"! Meaning this clan will have certain rules.

It MUST contain:

● only ONE starter clan! Maybe some rougues but no others!

● some sorta tragic backstory or past

● atleast 30 moons (unless they all die before then!) THIS RULE IS FOR ME so I can stay focused and not lose my motivation to do this!

No:

● replaying a moon

● manually deciding roles (mediator is the only we I'll pick (for the plottttt))+

● sticking EXACTLY to the text

● having boring updates!!!

all of these may be broken if they can play into some badass backstories or some SUPER interesting art!!!!

I will try my hardest to not break any of these unless abso-LUTE-ly necessary. BUT I will fo a death draw when needed, this comes from @whispering-clan! Although if nothing fun happens that moon, I just won't draw it. I will NOT draw every single moon for every single update!!!! I don't have the time for that!!!! I still have to juggle school in the mix so expect updates maybe once every week? If schoolwork starts to build up I'll go on hiatus and/or slow the frequency of updates. I can't live on Tumblr sadly.

This is ONLY on Tumblr!! The only time you may see this somewhere else is if A) someone has my permission to repost B) I myself move it/copy it to another platform or C) said person is a friend who has permission and gives FULL credit! This project is NOT A+ quality okay.... I highly doubt anyone will WANT to steal anything I make in the first place, but if someone DOES, please please PLEASE lmk! DM me if you see this anywhere other than this blog! Please don't put it in my ask box as I'll be trying to leave that open for asking characters and ooc questions!

After the prologue my asks will be officially open! You can ask me questions or you can ask my skrunkles questions, please don't make anything weird thoughhh. I've seen a few other clangen pages that had to address some inappropriate asks about the characters and even though they knew yall were joking they still asked the anons to tone it down! And keep in mind please if I do have to address this, NO HATE!!! Ik most ppl would be joking and that's okay!!! I just am personally not comfy with it and I would appreciate for my lines to not be crossed!

Nowwwwww let's move onto the prologue!!!!!!!!!!! (Happy reading!)

#clangen #warrior cats #intro post #creative writing

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marky4l · 2 years ago

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any thoughts on mark to spare... of the nsfw nature... pls...,

this ask has been snoozing in my inbox for centuries and now I feel a bit more capable to answer it. nsfw under the cut also this was going to be a headcanon but I’m sorry. I needed to write a drabble its like my nature tbh

quick rundown fwb mark andddd yes

you’d always been curious, but this is your first time asking. your arm reaches out, fingertips shoving against the rough stubble of your best friend’s cheek, lying down beside you.

“why do you take so many pictures of me?” it’s not like you don’t allow it—in fact, you encourage it at times, to get a rise out of him.

his gaze switches over to you, a brief distraction from the book he’d been reading. “pictures… like, pictures of you eating and goofing off?”

your face flushes and you feel warm. best friends is clearly not the label to go by in this discussion. your passive face answers the question and he pipes up again. “oh, you mean why do i take my phone out all the time when i’m blowing your back out?”

“so much for keeping it pg-13,” you mumble, hiding under the blanket. his hand finds your waist and he tugs you, with his annoyingly remarkable strength, onto his side. your panties dampen from the show of strength but you stay quiet, playing with the drawstrings of his hoodie.

he dog-ears the page and sets it on his table. “it’s my wank bank,” he says simply. your legs maneuver so they’re wrapped around his thigh, and you slowly move onto the material of his sweatpants. he laughs into your hair, pushing his glasses off. “jesus, are you wet because i said the words wank bank? i kinda expected the opposite from you.”

you rut harder, whining. “can you shut up?”

“you want to see it, don’t you?”

the silence is telling for you both, and in seconds, he’s pulling out his phone. you burrow into his bare chest, already feeling hesitant at allowing yourself to see this, and he tuts, flexing his thigh so you can feel more friction. “don’t be shy, take a look.”

you sigh and crack your eyes open, suddenly wishing you never had. you’re looking at several—and that’s a massive understatement—pictures and videos of you and mark in various compromising positions. your eyes land on one, zeroing onto it, and he seems to notice, clicking on it and letting the video autoplay. you remember this day vividly: mark had been gaming, playing call of duty the entire day, and had taken out the victory of winning on your poor self.

you can’t help but grind harder, watching yourself in the video—the way you beg for mark to slow down, the way his dick is stretching your pussy out. you can almost feel it. your hands find purchase wrapped around his forearm and he drops the phone, watching you rut onto his thigh.

“could you go any faster?” he mumbles teasingly, a free hand coming up to rub against your drool slick lips. you groan, losing all shame and fully grinding against him. the friction between the seat of your underwear, your cunt, and his sweats is too much, and your mouth parts in a dazed, drawn out whimper.

“who knew you were good enough to get yourself off on my thigh like a good pet?” he hums. “budge up, sweetheart. knees.”

and when you’re slinking onto the floor, pulling his sweats down to mouth at his cock, you almost giggle at the shutter sounds coming from his phone above you.

#idk about this #the idea of mark having a wank bank inspired me #the concept of him being Just Some Guy lines up w the whole wank bank thing #anyway #mark lee smut #nct smut

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kamino-blues · 3 years ago

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Body Dysmorphia (Bad Batch x Reader)

Rating: Pg-13, sfw

Warnings: This is about Body dysmorphia, so mentions of some of the affects it has (for example hyper focusing on a certain part of the body and wanting it to change, seeing yourself in a bad light, covering parts of your body since you are uncomfortable) - I based it mostly on what I experience. These headcanons focus mostly on dysmorphia involving the readers thighs and stomach. There is also mention of eating disorders, specifically in Hunters headcanon, so if you are uncomfortable reading about it please don't read.

Authors Note: Hi Everyone! It's been a little while, I hope everyone has been well!! I've been struggling with my body recently, and I just kinda wanted to write something about the Bad Batch cheering the reader up (cause I need some cheering up 😅). This tends to focus on what I experience, so it may be different from what you experience if you experience dysmorphia. I also didn't want to dwell too long on the specific affects, I wanted to write more about them cheering the reader up. Hopefully this came out ok.

Hunter

Hunter notices how you skip meals, how your eyes flick down to your body as you are sitting, arms crossed and chair completely tucked in

He had seen you grabbing at your stomach when you thought no one was looking

It was concerning to say the least

After you skipped another dinner, Hunter went to your room, knocking lightly on the door

He would gently ask you about it, holding your hand the entire time as he assured you that you didn’t need to go into detail

He just wanted to know what was going on, he was really worried

You would most likely break down, telling him bits and pieces as you cried

Hunter would pull you into him, letting you bury your face into his shoulder

Hunter would constantly reassure you that you were safe, and that he was here for you

After this happened, he would constantly tell you how beautiful you are, and would try his best to help you stay healthy

He would often bring ration bars up to your room, sitting with you and talking

The talking helped, it distracted you and helped you eat more

It was a slow process but he really wanted to help you

Hunter would hold you whenever everything got to overwhelming, and would always be there to help you

Tech

Tech noticed your mannerisms and habits almost right away, and would note when it was happening

He kept track of when you ate, and when you were acting out of it

Tech didn’t ask you right away if you were experiencing dysmorphia, but when you started dating, he carefully asked you

You would be silent, but slowly nod, and he would pull you into a hug

He had a plan to make you feel as best as you can, that was the reason why he was collecting so much data on your mannerisms

Tech knew the times during the day when you were most out of it, and would make sure to be at your side when he predicted it would be at its worst

Would distract you by talking about his new projects, about anything you wanted to talk about ( you loved listening to him)

Hugs always helped you, and he would often have his arm around you, pulling you into his side

If he was working, he would let you lean your head on his shoulder, and would softly chat with you about what he was doing

He knew how hard it was to control one's thoughts, so he tried his best to distract you

Tech just wanted you to be comfortable, and he would try as hard as he can to help you

Crosshair

Crosshair would notice every time you would quickly walk past mirrors, avoiding your reflection as if it was the plague

He would see you constantly pulling down on the legs of your shorts, and covering your lap when you sat down

Cross noticed everything, he is very perceptive because of his job

Wouldn’t intervene at first, not wanting to intrude on your personal problems

But when he walked in on you crying as you were gripping portions of your thighs in your hand, he knew he had to step in

That day he wrapped his arms around you, grabbing your hands and holding them in his own

You were frozen in place, still fixated on your body, mumbling about how Cross deserved someone better

“You are so beautiful princess, your body is beautiful”

From that day on, he made it his mission to make you recognize how you weren’t flawed

Would grab your hands when you were pulling at your shorts, holding them in his own

When you were seated, would hold his hand on your thigh (He would keep the pillow/blanket on your lap still, he knows how uncomfortable you would be if you didn’t have it)

He constantly would bring up how beautiful you are, and would never EVER make snarky remarks at your appearance

If someone makes any comments about you, he will fight them no doubt

Crosshair just wants you to feel comfortable in your own skin, and will do anything in his nature to help you out

Echo

Echo picked up on your body dysmorphia long before you mentioned it, as he also goes through it

His body was changed, changed in ways that he could never get back, so he knows how it feels to look in the mirror and see yourself in the completely wrong light

You brought it up one night, since you noticed he acted similar to you, and told him about how bad this was affecting you

Both of you were on the same page, knowing each others signs if either of you were uncomfortable

If he noticed that you were getting quiet, pulling at your clothes to cover more skin while glancing down. Echo would pull you away from wherever you were and pull you into a hug, telling you how beautiful you are

If you were in public, he would offer to bring you back to the Marauder so that you would be more comfortable

If you were on the ship, he would quickly grab a spare top of his blacks and a pair of your sweatpants, so that you could be cozy in layers

Would lead to a cuddling session

You would do the same for him. When he got into a really bad mindset, you would stay up with him, holding him against your chest

Both of you were able to calm the other down, and even though the body dysmorphia would never go away, you would cope together

Wrecker

At first, Wrecker wouldn’t understand what you were going through

He thought that you were amazing, that you were so dang pretty

So the fact that you thought so lowly of yourself confused him, and it honestly made him upset

Wrecker wanted you to know how beautiful you are

He would give you constant affection, and if he ever noticed that you were staring at a certain part of your body or grabbing at it, he would wrap you into a hug

Wrecker would do his best to distract you from your thoughts, keeping you in conversation, getting you to workout with him, and other activities

If you were smiling and happy, then he was smiling and happy

Sometimes you would fall silent, Wrecker being unable to distract you from your true thoughts

At those moments he would just hold you

Wrecker has the best hugs, and he used them to help you with the best of his abilities

He loves you, and would do anything to make you realize how amazing you are

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blackbat05 · 3 years ago

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I need a break

Shangqi x Reader (Platonic)

A/N: I feel like I’m loosing steam towards the end of my placement and wow I have never needed a break this badly before. Perhaps a short Shangqi x Reader imagine where they are both University students. Seriously at this rate I’ll just be solely a Shangqi writer HAHAHA. Doing this on my phone because I don’t want to open my work computer. Let’s see where this impromptu idea takes me to. Hope you enjoy it and as always like and comment if you wish!

Genre: PG-13

Warnings: None really, just friends supporting each other! I guess there’s an inaccurate timeline if you look at the MCU but hey this is an imagine plus if you look at some of the wiki pages, Shangqi is actually born in 1998/1999. So appreciate if you’re kind enough to go with the flow to read this comfort fic!

‘Y/N!’ Shangqi rushes to catch up with you after class. You made an effort to conceal your tiredness but he saw it right through. ‘Gosh…you alright?’

You think to yourself. Were you really alright? The answer was pretty obvious. You were ten weeks into your placement and your emotions were a jumbled up mess. Having to deal with work responsibilities was one problem, school assignments were another issue all together. At this point, you felt like you were just getting through each week for the sake of it.

At first, you believed that what you were going through was simply a transition to becoming an adult. You thought that naturally, you would be able to persevere through the stressful periods by yourself. But of course, it has been hard.

You were a social work intern at a neighborhood youth centre, thirty minutes away if you took the train and bus. The work was fulfilling in it’s own ways, but recently there were self-doubts filling your brain, if you were really cut out for the job in the future. If you weren’t, what else could you do?

As you sat with Shangqi in the school’s student-ran cafe, you found yourself pouring out the exact same concerns to him. Credit to him, Shangqi never interrupted your monologue, he just simply listened. That’s what best friends were for. That’s what you did for him to when he ran into issues with his family.

Even then, he couldn’t deny that hearing you doubt yourself broke his heart. He had known you since high school. You mostly kept to yourself and one or two close friends. Despite joining the school’s athletic team where you were one of the main athletes, you preferred to stay in the shadows unlike some of your teammates. That didn’t stop you from going out of your way to help other students in need; like helping the girl who was in an arm cast to copy the social studies notes, even if it meant you had to do it twice. Or maybe just talking to a friend who was stressed out about their results.

Basically, you had studied your ass off to get a secured spot at this university who were only one of the few that offered the degree. He remembers you telling him the moment you got your offer, ‘I’m finally good at something. I don’t have to worry anymore!’

Shangqi wasn’t stupid. The pandemic had done some crazy things. And by crazy, it affected the self-esteem that you had been working so hard on by participating in various projects and events, with you being in charge of a drama production that was promoting on mental health. That was a big deal considering that you were a major introvert.

Online engagement was never easy. In fact he has heard some of your struggles that you’ve shared with him regarding this and it only makes him admire you even more. For someone who preferred to keep to themselves, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, to take on a role that wasn’t just simply about helping people - that took guts.

‘I’m sorry I’m just loading you with all this. I just feel…’ You trailed off, suddenly becoming emotional again. Again, Shangqi does not pry. ‘That I can’t do anything right.’ You emphasize that you had ended the statement for you were unsure that you could keep your cool if you had tried to continue on.

‘If I hear you saying sorry another time,’ he chides, ‘you’re paying for our meal later.’ Your lips curved upwards slightly before returning to its somber position. Shangqi decides that a meal won’t cut it. He needs to deploy ‘Operation Y/N’. Standing up with your buzzer to collect the food, Shangqi whips out his phone. There will be a few changes for today.

Food was definitely a cure in this situation, but it was only a part of the solution. After inhaling your ramen at light speed, Shangqi tells you that today will be a different Friday. ‘And you can’t complain! It’ll be a weekend tmr,’ he tells you. So why not? You figured that even if you went back home early, your head wouldn’t be in the right place to complete the essay for your English module.

‘Hold up! The VR studio that Katy was talking about?’ You look at the tickets inside the taxi that was taking you and Shangqi to the location. ‘How did you even, it was so hard to get these tickets!’ From the time Shangqi met you outside the classroom, he had yet to see you so ecstatic. Until now.

‘Well,’ Shangqi gives his best shrug. ‘I called in a favor from a friend. Said that it was for emergency purposes.’ He raised his fingers to make connotations in the air much to your amusement.

‘Wow… just how much do I not know about you Mr Popular?’ You teased. Shangqi decides to leave the fact on him having to persuade the Wakandan Princess in giving him free tickets.

‘Please! I swear whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it! It’s for Y/N!’

‘Ey well why didn’t you say so? If it’s for that nice friend, of course!’ Shuri leaves the entrance of the compound, an exasperated Shangqi trailing behind.

Yeah, the VR studio that Katy told them about was also funded by King T’Challa himself. With stunning life like visuals thanks to Wakandan technology, the VR studio was located in a middle class neighborhood. T’Challa believed that no matter where kids came from, they should have the right to enjoy and to explore the world. For now, he wasn’t ready to share that he was on the way on becoming a full-fledged Avenger yet - you just had too much on your plate. He’ll just have to settle with this white lie.

‘Is Katy coming?’ You were on the verge of vibrating off your seat. ‘She would love this place!’ Even when you were struggling, Y/N still manages to think about other people. Today, Y/N will put her needs first.

As if to answer your previous question, you can see an equally excited Katy waiting for the two of you at the roundabout. ‘HEL-LO EVERYONE! LET’S GET OUR FRIDAY STARTED IN PROPER SHALL WE?’ Her loud voice had attracted stares, some very displeased looks too but at this point in time, you didn’t give a damn. Katy was right, it was time to enjoy!

You wished that you could slow down time, or even replay it continuously when you needed cheering up because the only thing you felt was pure happiness - euphoria even. Your stomach was in knots for laughing hysterically together with Katy when Shangqi jumped in shock from a surprise scare from a zombie. ‘I’m keeping that for leverage,’ she tells you, quietly slipping her phone into her fanny pack.

The Wakandans had really outdone themselves this time. Your favorite VR was the paradise VR. Slipping the headgear, you say goodbye to the smiles of Katy and Shangqi, whisking away to a beach that oddly reminded you of your dream destination - Hawaii. From where you were standing, you were surrounded by green and majestic islands. Despite their sheer size, you weren’t intimidated. In fact, you were healing.

Your mind was no longer in the room of the VR studio. How could it when the sun kissed your skin, giving you the much needed energy that you were lacking for so long? In the room, the two sees you kick your shoes to the side, going barefoot. It may have seem strange, but with the monitor beside you, your actions were perfectly logical.

As a kid, you used to despise the prickly feeling of sand in between your toes. But now, you grew to love the sensation that each grain of sand had on your skin. It made you feel grounded, that everything was going to be ok. You raise your virtual hand to touch your face - were you crying?

‘She must have been really stressed huh?’ Katy whispers to Shangqi who nods in return. How he hated the fact that you were giving so much to your work but still felt underappreciated. Forget the Avengers with superhuman abilities, you were the true MVP. The VR ends and you remove your headgear. ‘I’m ok,’ you automatically reassure them despite the dry tears left on both cheeks. You step down the platform slowly, trying to regain sense of the real world.

What you didn’t expect was the two embracing you in a hug, squishing you in between them. Maybe that had set off the waterworks. For someone like Katy, she had sage advice.

‘Life can be pretty shitty right? But I’m so proud of you fighting it Y/N. Just remember that it’s ok to be weak. I mean, I’ve seen worse from Shangqi,’ she jabs her finger towards his direction, earning a glare from him. That’s Katy, always trying to add a bit of humor to this grey world. Calming down, you let go of the both of them. ‘Thanks guys, for everything.’

‘Hey,’ Shangqi responds, slinging his arm over your shoulder. ‘We’re friends, so we don’t leave each other behind.’ Phone beeping, he retrieves it to check the message. ‘And look at that, nice timing. Who wants Korean BBQ?’

Trailing behind them, you get an amusing view of Shangqi bickering with Katy on how many Soju bottles she’s allowed to order later. As San Francisco welcomed the night, you were just thankful that you had the two of them to walk through this crazy maze called life.

‘Last one to the shop is paying!’

‘Oh you’re on Mister!’

A/N: I really just think that this was also an imagine for me to cope too. So I can only hope to finish my placement/assignments/exams well! To anyone who does studies and work simultaneously, I fucking respect you (allow me to use expletives for now, these people deserve the respect). If you’re going through a stressful time, I hope this brings the slightest comfort for you and remember… YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Again, thank you for reading!

#shang chi #xu shangqi #shangqi x reader #shangqi imagine #katy shang chi #shang chi x reader #shangqi #simu liu

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bamfdaddio · 3 years ago

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X-Men Abridged: 1981 - the Body-Swap

The X-Men, those body-swapping mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(Uncanny X-Men 151 - 152) - by Chris Claremont and Josef Rubinstein

Emma Frost and her frenemy Ororo Munroe have not been getting along! One fateful evening, as the two quibble away, they mysteriously switch bodies and minds. Talk about your Freaky Friday! What lessons will they learn, walking a mile in one another’s shoes? And will they be able to switch back, or will they stay in each other’s bodies forever? Mutant Monday, coming soon to a cinema near you. Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett and Elliot Page. (PG-13)

For a moment, we’re in a proper period drama: a letter delivers ill tidings!

I love that Kitty’s parents are so self-involved that it took them A WHOLE YEAR to realize that it’s weird that Kitty is the only non-adult attending the Xavier Institute.

I can only assume the mailman interrupted a pool party of some kind? Or a communal shower? I get why Kurt would not swim a lot - all that fur - but did Scott wear that while they were splashing around? Was it a beach volleyball competition where one half got to wear swimsuits and the other half superhero costumes? Most importantly, was Scott’s costume always this tight?

Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

The awful thing is that Kitty’s parents are transferring her to the Massachusetts Academy, not realizing that headmistress Emma Frost is, in fact, a terrible human being. Charles, uncharacteristically, says that changing their minds telepathically is a line he does not cross (any more) and half the viewing audience bursts out in laughter. More importantly, last they saw Emma, she was kind of dead-by-Phoenix, so it might be better there this time? Kitty does a Classic Teenage Stomp-Off and Storm comes to comfort her. Kitty cries that life is unfair (“My parents are only doing this because they’re splitting up”) and Ororo tells her that yes, life is unfair. You just gotta roll with the punches as best you can.

To be fair, bald men are technically all cheek, so it doesn’t matter where you kiss them.

While I enjoy the relationship Kitty has with the other X-Men (Scott gave her a compliment! Logan told her his name!), especially the mother-daughter-bond she shares with Ororo, the whole Piotr-thing always gives me pause. Even if we’re being very generous with age, Kitty is, what? 14 going on 15? And Piotr is… 19? At best? I get why Kitty would have a crush on him: he’s a gentle hunky giant: at fifteen, my teenage ass would have felt the exact same viz-a-viz Colossus’ upper arms. The fact that Piotr reciprocates feels skeevy, though, especially because they’re always treated like star-crossed idiots these days.

Skee-vy.

Ororo drives Kitty to Massachusetts, where her young ward is greeted by someone named Muffy and whisked away for orientation. All seems well. Ororo stands in a parlour, surveying the grounds and considering that they should have fought harder for Kitty. Still, nothing seems too wrong just yet: this Academy just seems very preppy.

Not-at-all-dead Emma takes her cue and jumps out, saying (essentially): “Surprise motherfucker.”

There’s a flash of light, and then...

I’m willing to bet that Emma’s EVIL journal has the following to-do-list: - Steal Storm’s body. - Experiment with her powers. - See how good Storm looks in white. (Leather? Fur?! Both!??) - REWARD: Smoke break.

I wonder if Emma’s plan hinged on being able to body-swap with Storm, or whether any X-Man would have sufficed. Was her original target Xavier? Cyclops? What if one of Kitty’s parents had brought her to Massachusetts, would she have taken Kitty instead?

In a locked cell, Storm wakes up in Emma’s body and is horrified. I wonder why Emma didn’t take any more precautions. Couldn’t the guy who made the freaky friday-gizmo also make a power dampener to nullify not!Emma’s telepathic abilities? Or did Emma count on her victim being so utterly incapacitated by her mind-powers that they’d be driven mad? (This would actually tie in with some of Emma’s later-revealed history: when her powers first emerged, she also got locked away in a padded room because of her madness.)

Emma is not wrong, by the way: Storm can’t get a handle on Emma’s powers. What follows is possibly the sweetest moment in an arc filled with sweet moments:

This arc isn’t drawn by any of the regulars - not Byrne, not Cockrum - but Josef Rubinstein brings his own kind of panache to the pages. I love the way he draws women’s faces: in a story that’s all about women, their faces are actually distinguishable. Kudoz.

Emma, meanwhile, coordinates with Sebastian Shaw to execute the second part of their two-pronged attack on the X-Men. They both laugh evilly in their phones while the mansion is attacked by Sentinels! These androids take out Cyclops and Xavier with some sleeping gas and knock out Nightcrawler, but the rest of the X-Men manage to trounce these robots. Then ‘Storm’ appears! She zaps the rest of the X-Men (and Amanda Sefton), successfully finishing their master-plan.

It’s not entirely clear what the Hellfire Club wants with the X-Men this time, but I’m assuming it’s more experimentation to improve the sentinels? Eh, doesn’t matter! Nefarious Hellfire Club is nefarious.

The real Storm, meanwhile, comes to claim Kitty, forgetting that she looks like the one and only Emma Frost. Kitty spooks and Storm accidentally reaches out, knocking her out telepathically. Whoops! Storm takes Kitty and flees in a car, while Emma gives chase. (How dare Ororo run off with her body, which is absolutely the kind of hypocritical hilariousness we all love Emma for.)

Kitty awakens and jumps from the car, causing Storm to swerve and...

JETSTREAM!? Speaking of which, where are the Hellions in all of this?

Kitty sees that an unconscious ‘Emma’ is about to burn to a tender and moist little crisp and she is faced with the hero’s dilemma: would you save a villain that would never save you?

Emma, meanwhile, has realized the downside to body-swapping: somebody else gets to run around with your body too. Shaw, of all people, talks her down from her anger.

You can’t just introduce a persona exchange gun to the plot WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHERE THE FUCK YOU GOT IT FROM.

My favorite detail is that Emma keeps calling Kitty brat, like she’s some sort of Pokémon-villain.

Kitty, meanwhile, has saved ‘Emma’ and tied her up with a special knot. Storm tries to convince Kitty, going for the “ask me something only Storm would know”, but Kitty’s all: “Duh, you’re a telepath.” Ororo insists, but the thing that clinches it is when she breaks free of her ties without breaking a sweat. That knot was taught to Kitty by Ororo and she’d be the only one who knew how to break out of it.

Storm and Kitty recruit Stevie Hunter to come pick them up and during the ride, Storm-being-angry-mother!Storm convinces Kitty more than anything else:

After all, Storm was voted most likely to say: “If you don’t stop this nonsense immediately, I will turn this Blackbird around, so help me God!”

Ororo and Kitty sneak inside. Ororo even uses Emma’s telepathy to help her pick a lock after phasing through a door. (Kind of funny: Kitty’s still such a neophyte that she can’t even phase with anyone else yet.) Emma, meanwhile, taunts the captured X-Men, presenting herself as the new white queen:

Anybody feel the inclination to point out that the Hellfire Club did this exact same thing last year, except then they tried it with a redhead?

I secretly suspect that the Hellfire Club’s plots always revolve around seducing X-Men to their side and dressing them up in sexy lingerie. (Which: fair.) There’s also a subplot where the guys Wolverine cut apart last year want to exact revenge on him for being made bionic, but eh. We’ll start paying attention to them when they become actual Reavers.

Kitty phases through the locks of the X-Men, freeing them, and a kerfuffle ensues. Emma starts using Storm’s powers, but they grow out of control. Colossus tosses Shaw out of the window - which should just be company policy, really: all Shaws should be defenestrated - where he’s promptly hit by a rogue thunderbolt.

When he doesn’t get up, Emma starts to lose it. The weather goes wild. Storm intervenes, using her telepathic power to help calm down Emma (and the raging storm), but she also manages to get a hold of the swap-gun. There’s a zap, and with a satisfied sigh, the status-quo is restored again.

My favorite implication is that, apparently, Emma decides which school Kitty attends and not her parents.

While this little arc is neither the most iconic nor the most profound of 1981 -- those would be Days of Future Past and I, Magneto, respectively -- I still love this for a couple of reasons.

As a lover of Freaky Friday, 17 Again and the new Jumanji-film, I just have a soft spot for body swap plots. (Hi Psylocke!)

It focuses on the Xavier Institute as a school, planting seeds for the upcoming New Mutants.

It is very female-driven without beating you over the head with it. (Looking at you, Birds of Prey.)

It has three definitive main characters, who all get fleshed out in fun and interesting ways. It starts the trend of robbing Ororo of some of her powers and tossing her into against-the-odds circumstances, only for her to come out on top.

It solidifies the Storm/Kitty mother/daughter (or older/younger sibling) dynamic. Kitty is a believable teenager when it comes to Storm - clever and kind, but also looking for answers and prone to rash decisions - and I love how much they care for each other.

Jean/Storm-friendship-callback, yay!

Emma gets fleshed out as a villain. Resourceful and petty, powerful and vain. It’s no wonder she’s one of the break-out antagonists of the X-Men, because, like Magneto, Claremont is not afraid of giving her depth. Arguably, she is the most three-dimensional of the Hellfire Club at this point.

Yay! And fuck completely sensible plots, if you don’t know what to do with your plot, just introduce a random persona exchange gun. Let’s use it on Xavier and Legion in Way of X next!

#x-men abridged #abridged x-men #x-men #storm #professor x #kitty pryde #uncanny x-men #emma frost #cyclops #nightcrawler #stevie hunter #colossus #sebastian shaw

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misslilli · 3 years ago

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Thank you guys, for your encouragement 😌 and thank you so much @today-in-fic for getting this wee fic out there :)

Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. PG-13. | tagging @today-in-fic | read on AO3

Chapter 19 - Enjoy The Good Times While They Last

[ DS ]

On the morning after the party, I’m awoken by the tickle of sunlight on my face and a chilly ocean breeze through the partly open doors. I keep my eyes closed and stretch languidly, the memories from last night putting a smile on my face. What a night! This morning, I feel lighter than air, high on endorphins and him. The one whose touch lights my skin on fire. The one whose presence makes me stumble over my words. The one whose smile has a blush creeping up my cheeks. The one whose voice sends a tingle up my spine right into my brain, the neurons misfiring. The one in whose arms I felt so safe, so protected. The one who makes cleaning up a dirty kitchen seem like the most enjoyable activity on the planet.

I’ll keep my eyes closed for only a minute longer, blocking out the reality I know will come rushing back in when I open them. The past. The hurt. The scary. But for now, for a few moments, none of it matters and I let myself fall for him, in the darkness behind my closed eyes and the cozy confines of my bedsheets.

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[ In the kitchen of the beach house ]

“Operation: Bullwinkle is going really well, don’t you think?” Sarah looks immensely pleased with herself, stretching out her arms over her head.

“Who would’ve guessed that it would be the little Moose who’s our very best wingman, getting her out on the dancefloor where she could be whisked away by his dad! And then gets her to stay way past the duration of the party. The look on Moose’s face when he saw them, I wish I could’ve snapped a picture!” Holly sighs at the memory.

“Okay next up, Halloween. What are we goi-“ Alex is interrupted by a sharp “Shh, Squirrel!” from Sarah and they turn their heads in unison towards their friend coming downstairs to join them for breakfast.

“Wow, look who’s walking on sunshine!”

They haven’t seen a smile so big on their friend’s face for far too long now and once she sits down, Sarah starts the questioning.

“So Smiley Miley, care to tell us what happened last night?” Dana only smirks around a bite of her bagel.

“No.”

“Oh come on, D, don’t make me beg! I’m dying to know what happened between you waking up alone with the handsome stranger and sneaking into the house in the middle of the night!”

“It was a good night, that’s all I’m going to say.”

Sarah gasps. “Did you sleep with him??”

“What? No!”

“Then why in the world are you being so secretive about it?”

Their friend rests her chin in her hand with a dreamy smile on her face. “I love you guys but I don’t want you to dissect it to what it all means and taint my memory. I just want to remember how it was. I want to remember how it all was!”

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[ FM ]

The morning after the party, Sam and I gather around the kitchen table for breakfast. Felix is still fast asleep so it gives my sister and I some alone time to recap the events of the previous evening. Sam never beats around the bush and gets right to the point.

“Bro, I really like that girl of yours.” I smile wistfully at that and touch my hand to my cheek; I really do too. “The way you guys looked on the dance floor was breathtaking, let me tell you. It’s a pretty perfect match, don’t you think?”

“Sam, I feel like I’ve looked for someone like her for all my life. She makes me so nervous, I stumble over my words and say and do stupid shit, I called her Snoozy for crying out loud.” Sam laughs at my pained expression and pats my arm.

“You really don’t know your head from your ass when you’re in love, do you?. So, what happened afterwards? Did you talk to her again? Did you ask her out like I told you to?” She looks at me imploringly on her last statement.

“Yes and no. Yes we did talk, she fell asleep with Felix on the couch reading about butterflies and when she woke up, we cleaned up the kitchen together.” A reproachful look from my sister.

“You made her clean up the kitchen with you? Are you insane?”

“Hey, she insisted! And I didn’t want her to go just yet. We had such a good time, laughing and bantering back and forth, flirty stuff. And then, there was a moment…” Sam gasps.

“There was a moment?”

“Yeah… the perfect moment where we just stared at each other and I wanted to kiss her so bad, Sam, but…”

“Oh God there’s a but…”

“But then Felix came downstairs for a glass of water and the moment was gone.” She groans in frustration.

“I love that kid but damn he’s got bad timing!”

“I’ll say. So then I walked her to the door and I was so dazed from that almost-kiss, I couldn’t think of anything to say to make her stay. So no, I didn’t ask her out. She kissed my cheek before she left and that almost made me keel over…”

“I gotta say, bro, I’ve never seen you talk about anyone like that before and I’m really happy for you! Now, ask her out damn it!”

“If I can string two coherent words together the next time I see her, I’ll try!”

My sister nods and at that moment, Felix comes padding down the stairs in his dinosaur pajamas, rubbing his eyes. He crawls into Sam’s lap, stealing a piece of her waffle.

“Good morning, handsome! Did you have a good time yesterday?”

“Yeah auntie Sam, I did, it was awesome! Did you see how I danced?”

“I did, you did pretty well!” At that, he grins widely. “Too bad your dad cut in, huh? Did you watch them dance, too? It was pretty amazing, I think”

“Meh… it was okay, at least you didn’t step on her toes, dad! Did you see all the gifts people got us? Can we go open them now?”

“Breakfast first, gifts later, son!”

We clear the table before heading to the living room where we put the gifts yesterday, opening them one after another, Felix beside himself with glee.

One of the last gift bags is the one from the four teachers and I’ve been wondering all night what they got us. Felix pulls out both presents, handing the one with a neatly written “Fox” over to me. There’s a card for both of us as well and in a loopy handwriting, it reads:

Felix,

We know how much you enjoy reading, so we hope you’ll enjoy your gift and we’re looking forward to all the interesting thing’s you’ll be able to tell us at recess soon!

A big hug and a very happy birthday

Miss Scully, Miss Anderson, Miss Spencer and Miss Carter

“I know what’s in there!,” Felix exclaims and rips the paper off to reveal the very heavy “Oxford History of Ancient Egypt”. He gasps excitedly, gripping the book tight. “Oh my God, I love it! I’m gonna go read it right now so I know all the facts on Monday!”

I open my own card with shaky hands, very aware of Sam’s eyes on me. In the same loopy script, this one says:

Mr. Mulder,

As a fellow magician’s son, it is absolutely essential for Felix to hear the amazing stories of the greatest wizard of our times. It makes a wonderful good-night story and we hope you and your son will enjoy it as much as we did!

Happiest of birthdays

Dana, Sarah, Holly and Alexandra

My finger traces the twists and turns of the D in her signature thoughtfully and with a smile I imagine her sitting at her desk, writing our cards, a scowl of concentration on her face. Sam interrupts my daydreaming: “So? What is it? Open it!”

I oblige and pull out an elaborately designed copy of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. It’s the collector’s edition with beautiful pictures almost on every page.

It’s the perfect gift. Because it’s from her. For me.

#xf #the x files #xf fanfic #msr #felix felicis

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monstersdownthepath · 3 years ago

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Demigod Dossier: Velstrac Demagogues, part 1

Pictured: Aroggus, the Abbey-Maker

Lawful Evil Mad Artists of the Shadow Plane

The Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 120~121 Additional information is also present in Adventure Path: Return of the Runelords: The City Outside of Time, pg. 74~79

Our second-ever Demigod Dossier, now fully in-swing! The Velstrac Demagogues are the rulers of the Shadow Plane and all the lives within, though many of said lives within aren’t really fans of them. Natives to the Netherworld find the presence of the Velstrac an annoyance at best and a threat to their lives at worst, and would much prefer if they went back to Hell where they came from, but unfortunately for everyone everywhere they don’t appear too eager to throw themselves into the jaws of the inferno just yet. Instead, they’re busy throwing themselves into the jaws of one another.

The Demagogues represent the pinnacle of a specific subset of the Velstrac’s twisted senses of ‘art’ and ‘perfection,’ either because they’ve mutilated themselves into something wholly unlike anything else that can, did, or could exist, or they’ve pioneered a form of artistry that other Velstrac couldn’t even conceptualize in the first place and gathered a fandom. It takes some very twisted, alien forms of thinking to become a Demagogue and get others rallied behind you, even moreso because the Velstrac themselves are, putting it kindly, completely out of their gourd. When your audience already expects the insane and outlandish, you have to go even further, and many of the fiends you’ll soon see have.

We’ll only be covering four in this initial post, with the rest to be saved for later...

Demagogues view mortals as little more than primal clay to be shaped, and thus see little worth in investing true divine power into them, worshipers receive Boons that are are relatively simple: a trio of spell-like abilities, each of which may be used 1/day. Boons are normally gained slowly, at levels 12, 16, and 20, however entering the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel Prestige Classes can see the Boons gained as early as levels 10, 13, and 16. Note that while they are Lawful Evil fiends originally from Hell, they are not devils, thus you cannot enter the Diabolist Prestige Class to obtain their Boons without DM fiat.

Aroggus, the Abbey-Maker

Demagogue of Possibility, Revenge, and Sanctuary Domains: Evil, Law, Protection, Trickery Subdomains: Deception, Defense, Fear, Tyranny

Obedience: List the names of those who have wronged you until the writing covers a page, then consume the parchment. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws to resist compulsion effects.

What a completely normal, sane, and healthy thing to do! As the first of the Demagogues to flee from Hell, Aroggus is EXTREMELY angry at the devils for locking them up in the first place. Angry enough to want revenge on the whole of the diabolic race, as well as the Asura... Angry enough that he hasn’t yet even started getting around to enacting his revenge, instead just constantly thinking about and refining it as if no iteration of suffering is perfect enough to match his fury.

True to form, he wants you to ruminate in your anger rather than doing anything to enact your vengeance, blacking out a page with the names (or just one name) of all who’ve wronged you no matter how petty or insignificant the inconvenience they may have caused. Unfortunately, no two ways about it, you’re going to look insane (in the literal definition of the term) doing this every day, especially if you only have one or two people who’ve wronged you enough to get onto your list. Scrawling their name, front AND back, until the page is filled and then eating it is behavior that will raise eyebrows no matter who you’re adventuring with. Best to keep this one behind closed doors. Make sure you have a glass of activated charcoal after, because all of that ink day after day (unless you write with, I don’t know, berry juice or blood) is going to do amazingly terrible things to your constitution.

The benefit is good. Compulsions are typically Save-Or-Suck effects, so having more Save means less Suck for you later on. It’s useful at any point in your adventure, so I can’t say anything bad about it! My only wish is that it was a little stronger, since some other gods give +4 vs compulsion and charm effects.

Boon 1: Nondetection Boon 2: Forcecage Boon 3: Imprisonment

Nondectection is a good spell for those times when you need to sneak by diviners, hide magic items from scrutiny, avoid the gaze of a Paladin who’s a little too judicious with Detect Evil, or to add another layer of shroud over Invisibility and the like. It’s a spell that’s a pain to prepare every single day, but useful to have when you need it... but you only have one casting of it per day, so using it wisely is paramount. Ironically, it combines well with your own Divination to find out if you’ll even need it later. More often than not you won’t be using it at all except to idly ward yourself when going into town or diving into a dungeon.

Forcecage is a completely different animal, the offensive and defensive applications of the spell simply mind-blowing, to the point that keeping this to just one paragraph to save space is going to take some herculean effort on my part! So, the basics: Forcecage has two versions, both of which halt all movement through them: A 20ft square of force bars that allow spells, projectiles, and line-of-effect through, and a 10ft cube that blocks line-of-effect and all forms of magic and supernatural abilities. A Forcecage is effectively invincible (having Hardness 30 and 20hp/level) and impossible to move, so anyone trapped inside without the ability to teleport is likely to stay there for the spell’s duration. Also, to put it simply, shoving enemies in the cage is the main point, but if you cannot, a 10ft/20ft square is an enormous roadblock to stop up narrow passages with.

Which leaves Imprisonment, a portable hole you can shove all sorts of problems into, which will likely create new problems down the line if the target had anything you needed on them. I recommend knocking out a foe, stripping them of their valuables, and then shoving them into their baby jail for all eternity! With the Freedom spell being the only means to undo Imprisonment (even Wish and Miracle fail), you’ll have no actual way to undo the spell against any target you cast it on for one or two more levels, if at all (depending on the party composition). Make sure to use it only when the villain has no MacGuffins, or is a powerful recurring threat. Imprisonment works on anything and everything capable of failing the Will save (take note, anyone wanting to fight Kaiju, Great Old Ones, or Spawn of Rovagug), which gets a -4 penalty if you know the target’s name and some facts about its life, so famous villains are even more vulnerable to being thrown into the Eternity Marble!

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Barravoclair, Lady of the Final Gasp

Demagogue of the Elderly, Fatalistic Insights, Resurrection Domains: Death, Evil, Healing, Law Subdomains: Murder, Restoration, Resurrection, Undead

Obedience: Practice breath control, holding your breath until you nearly pass out. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on checks to resist drowning and on saves against inhaled poisons.

A hell of a step down in terms of unhealthiness in terms of Aroggus, and significantly less suspicious, too. Breath control is practiced by people of all stripes, from athletes to explorers to simple monks attempting more profound meditation. While ‘nearly passing out’ is skirting an edge most people won’t approach, it’s not exactly as dangerous for you as, say, inhaling water or eating poison every day. Without any materials needed, the Lady of the Final Gasp is one of the simplest and probably the single cheapest Obedience ritual one could ask for! There is a minor caveat in that races who can’t breathe can’t technically do this Obedience at all, but those aren’t the audience Barravoclair wants anyway.

Unfortunately, the benefit is as weak as the Obedience is easy to do. Drowning is unlikely to come up as a danger unless you’re physically dragged into the water by a monster (which means holding your breath likely isn’t an option anyway), and inhaled poisons are the least common poison type in the game. Against the odd Catoblepas or Green Dragon it will come in handy, but it’s protection from injury poison you really need, which the Lady of the Final Gasp doesn’t provide.

Boon 1: Speak With Dead Boon 2: Resurrection Boon 3: Soul Bind

Alright, let’s face it. Some days, you need Speak With Dead to keep the plot running smoothly. Whether your overzealous DPS kills everyone in the room, your Fireball-lobbing Sorcerer kills everyone in the room, or your summoner’s unchained beasts kill everyone in the room, chances are at some point in your career you’re going to save the party a lot of headaches by being able to pull answers from a corpse. Having Speak With Dead available every day will likely not matter 80% of the time (meaning you can typically use it at your leisure just before going to bed), but much like with Water Breathing and spells like Remove Curse and Neutralize Poison, having it for those 20% of times you need it can keep the wheels spinning and stop unneeded side quests.

... And speaking of side quests and things you’ll need once in a blue moon, Resurrection? For free? Even 1/day? With the hefty cost of 10,000gp for the normal spell, even a well-off party will feel the impact every single time they have to use Rez, but the removal of the cost ups the power level of the spell by a margin so enormous that it doesn’t really matter what Boon you get before or after this one; THIS boon rewards worship of Barravoclair enough to justify putting up with her empty benefit. Even without factoring in the ability to raise party members, you can now curry favor with people of all stripes and demand all forms of insane payments for your ability to raise centuries-old dead at no cost but time... or do your work for free and call in favors at a later date. Do note, however, that you’ll also need someone else on standby to remove the negative levels/stat drain caused by the resurrection process.

I said it didn’t matter what the third Boon was and I stand by it. Unlike with the free Rez above, Soul Bind’s enormous cost still makes its use as anything but a once-per-campaign finisher of an annoying enemy irritating and unfeasible. Spell-likes normally require no components, but Soul Bind operates in a gray area of the rules in that its focus component becomes the subject for the spell, meaning that a DM can very easily and very rightly say you DO require the�� gemstone whose value must equal or exceed the target’s HD x 1,000. Binding even a simple 5 CR creature requires the tall order of a 5,000gp gemstone, and if you want to use it on a target that’s worthwhile, it gets expensive fast. It’s way cheaper and easier to just hire a Cacodaemon.

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Fharaas, the Seer in Skin

Demagogue of Experience, Murder, and Patterns Domains: Evil, Knowledge, Law, Repose Subdomains: Ancestors, Fear, Memory, Souls

Obedience: Study the interior of a freshly severed limb. Benefit: You are immune to bleed effects that deal 6 damage or less.

This Obedience is deceptively simple for what its implication is. You’d best get yourself a Sack Of Rats or have access to a lot of disposable prisoners (or the Regenerate spell)! But thankfully, there’s some wiggle room in the wording: ‘freshly severed’ means no cheating and using Gentle Repose on the same arm over and over, but it ALSO means you can carry around a single corpse and slowly slice it apart, as the limbs themselves don’t have to be fresh, just freshly cut off for the purpose of the ritual. Also, you can use the bodies of Undead, Constructs, and any other creature that technically has severable limbs! Though Fharaas, the Seer In Skin, will likely punish you if your ritual doesn’t involve the examination of actual flesh.

You’re going to look really weird, is what I’m saying. At least if someone barges in on you, you can claim you’re inspecting them for something or other. Infection, signs of magic, etc, whatever you can come up with to blunt the blow. You can cover yourself moderately well by being a butcher or a hunter in your day job, as the severed limb doesn’t have to be human, or even sapient (hence why I suggest a Sack Of Rats), letting you freely slice up and examine your kills.

Bleed effects are fairly uncommon in the grand scheme of things but are also a pain in the neck to deal with in the middle of battle, so this giving a +4 bonus aga--wait, sorry, hold on no, this isn’t a bonus to saving throws? Or skill checks to heal bleed? It just... Stops them if they deal 6 or less damage? You don’t even have to make a save?

Okay. Okay, alright. So you’re just immune to bleed, then?

More or less, really. There are very few monsters that deal more than d6 bleed damage with their attacks (be warned that higher-level ones can sometimes stack their bleed!), and this ability also works on the rare but dreaded stat bleed, and off the top of my head there are NO monsters that deal more than a d4 dice in stat bleed damage. My main problem is that it doesn’t reduce the bleed damage you take by 6, so taking even 1 more point of bleed damage makes this ability useless. Still, though it’s fairly narrow, being effectively immune to a dangerous and irritating status ailment at level 3 or so (when bleed is at its most threatening) is well worth taking up butchery.

Boon 1: Keen Edge Boon 2: Vision Boon 3: Foresight

Keen Edge is a spell you absolutely want to slap onto any vaguely pirate-y or hoity-toity party member you may have, as cutlasses, rapiers, and scimitars all leap from a dangerous 18~20 critical range to a terrifying 15~20, meaning they threaten to critically strike 1 out of every 4 attacks instead of just once every other fight or so. With a duration of 10 min/level, the enchantment will likely last multiple fights even if you only have it 1/day, but unfortunately it refuses to stack with any crit-boosting enchantments or feats the wielder may already possess, lessening its usefulness as your adventure goes on and your martial party members pick up increasingly fancy gear and pad out their collection of feats. Still, it’s useful for when you get it, and will remain useful for several levels after.

Vision is a whole different beast, and a dangerous one at that. It operates as the Legend Lore spell but vastly accelerated, allowing you to scrape the public consciousness for any information it may have on a specific person, place, or thing. I’ve complained about the general niche uses of Legend Lore before, but Vision grants the information in a much shorter time (a single standard action) at the cost of a potential for failure and a slap of fatigue whether you succeed or not. I don’t like 1/days that do nothing on a failure, but since Vision is purely a downtime spell (unless you need to know the boss’ weakness or info on the Evil Doom Artifact right now immediately), it’s not as much of an impediment to lose out on whatever information it could give you. That being said, the DM will likely have ways for you to do whatever plot-relevant research you need anyway, so Vision is more of a way to speed up the process than anything.

Which leaves Foresight, a spell whose main benefit relies intensely on DM cooperation, as I’ve ranted about here. Mechanically it’s fairly unimpressive, but if the DM reads the spell carefully, they should realize it gives whoever you cast it on a 6-second glance into the future at all times. Whatever horrors befall the victim 6 seconds from now should spring into your mind before they happen, making you the best trap radar on the planet, and the spell’s warnings for the best ways to protect yourself will urge the DM to grant you information about the enemy’s capabilities you may never otherwise know... but what do you expect from 9th level magic? It SHOULD be filling you in with details you’d never figure out!

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Inkariax, the White Death

Demagogue of Preservation, Absolute Cold, and Solitude Domains: Evil, Law, Void, Water Subdomains: Fear, Ice, Isolation, Slavery

Obedience: Inventory your collection of hoarded knickknacks, reciting your unique name for each item as you do Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws to resist effects that would petrify or paralyze you.

God, finally, someone normal. At worst you’ll look like someone with a few obsessive issues, but at least you won’t look like a menace to society as you lay out your, I dunno, marbles or bone dice or dolls or what have you and make note that they’re still there, cooing to them with names only you know. It’s fitting for Inkariax, of all the Demagogues, to have an Obedience that requires no self-harm, physically or psychologically; unlike all the rest, he was born perfect and doesn’t need to chase after it. Instead, he pursues finding perfection in others, freezing and collecting people and items he believes represent perfection in whatever unusual way he desires that day (having perfect posture, or a perfect scream, or a perfect pair of eyes, etc). Much like him, you’re encouraged to expand a collection of whatever you deem perfect and desirable, which you’re often going to do just over the course of normally adventuring. I’ve yet to see a player character that doesn’t start amassing all sorts of junk in their pockets the moment they get a Bag of Holding or similar.

Indeed, you can just pick up whatever catches your fancy, be it stones, sticks, or severed bits of an enemy, though I’m sure Inkariax will ever-so-slowly raise a disapproving eyebrow if you just pick up any old junk. Make sure to curate your collection now and then! Being able to perform this Obedience with anything you happen to gather is especially helpful if you’re ever separated from your collection (always a danger) and need to start again, but note that each item you gain in your collection must have a completely unique name. That’s only really a danger for especially RP-heavy campaigns, but in such campaigns Worship of the White Death isn’t for everyone who just names all their collected bird feathers Jeffery. Start getting in the habit of stretching out your inventory sheet with names for all your items!

The benefit you get from lovingly counting up all your stolen statuettes and dusty books is resistance to two of the worst status effects in the game. While petrification is relatively rare it typically appears in Save-Or-Suck form, which makes protection against it far more valuable than, say, protection against something like the far more common fatigue or exhaustion. Paralysis is an ailment just short of a death sentence by itself, costing the victim their turn at best and their life at worst, so even a +4 between you and that is something you need to cling to with your entire being.

Boon 1: Sleet Storm Boon 2: Sequester Boon 3: Microcosm

Sleet Storm is a very simple spell with a decent number of functions. Its Long range means that any enemy in your line of sight can potentially be a target, letting you lash out easily at ranged enemies or dangerous casters by creating a 40ft-wide and 20ft-tall area of concealing sleet that’s impossible for any vision to pierce (except the rare and niche Snowsight or Fogcutter Lenses). Anyone inside will have to rely on Tremorsense or Blindsense (though the jury’s out on if the splashing of the sleet would confound those, as well) to navigate it, and 40ft of difficult terrain can feel impossible to clamber through when you start right in the middle of it with no idea which way is the way you need to go. It’s one of the strongest vision-blockers in the game due to its immunity to common tactics that thwart lesser spells (Gust of Wind, True Seeing, etc), forcing enemies to either blow their valuable uses of Dispel Magic or suffer for its entire duration. My only complaint is that you only get it 1/day and that it screws over your party just as hard if you use it incorrectly.

Sequester is as niche a use spell as there ever was for players, requiring a bit of forethought about what or who you’d want to hide with it. The target must be willing or inanimate to be affected, so tricking an enemy via Charm or Dominate into accepting the spell can keep them fresh as a daisy for weeks at a time if you ever have a reason to do such a thing. More often than not you’ll use it to conceal items you seriously don’t want seen or detected, such as a Bag of Holding or similar loaded with your collection of knickknacks or emergency supplies, a particular hostage, an NPC you need to keep alive, or your phylactery if you’re a Lich. If you’re especially sadistic, using it on an item someone else needs and throwing it into a well or a hoard of other objects will keep them occupied for a while. If you’re a more martial character, using it to hide your armor is viable, making it seem as though you’re invincible when enemy blows bounce straight off, or even your weapon to confound your enemies who seem to be taking wounds from an unseen item. Your mime routine will be killer, literally! Just... Just don’t drop the thing, because in the heat of battle you’re never going to find it.

Microcosm is one of the best spells you can hurl into a crowd of commoners or a swarm of foes meant to gum you up instead of actually threaten you. Its 30 HD limit will mean it likely will only strike one or two creatures capable of actually threatening you, but it’s brutal even then. The spell is permanent, trapping your victims in an illusory world in which everything goes right for them even as their bodies starve to death in the waking world. Anything with less than 10 HD is automatically affected with no saving throw, the spell easily mopping up mobs, while anything with 11~15 HD escapes automatically after 10 min... per level you have. On a successful save. There’s Save-Or-Suck, and then there’s the immensely rare Save-And-Suck! No wonder Microcosm is ONLY on the Psychic’s list! Anything with more than 16 HD is unaffected if they succeed their save, but all their allies are likely in an everlasting dreamland now. The big issue is that the HD restriction is way tighter than you may think; creatures, especially at higher levels, usually do NOT have HD matching their CR, but if you’re mainly battling level-appropriate Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid creatures, Microcosm is fairly reliable in such battles, as those foes typically have HD that roughly matches their CR. But if you’re up against, say, Dragons or Outsiders, good luck bud.

Side note: Microcosm and Sequester used in combination make for excellent ways to start your own morbid collection of living creatures, just like your icy master! Just make sure you have some non-Divination means of seeing them, as Sequester blocks even True Sight.

#Pathfinder #dungeons and dragons #Demigod Dossier #Spiritual Spotlight #Sinister Spotlight

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adamfoolcry · 4 years ago

Text

How the Tables Turned (One-Shot)

pairings: Reader x Hendery, Lucas(mentioned)

rating: PG-13

warnings: none just cringe inducing fluff

genre: comedy, fluff

synopsis: You are a student assistant at the library and Hendery seems to love staying in the library past open hours.

word count: 1,734

a/n: Mentioning @nctcreations in case the tags don’t work. I love Hendery he exudes so much positivity and is very thoughtful.

Everyone who is acquainted with you knows that you are good-natured and possess a calm temperament. Right now though, the way you are glaring at the back of Wong Kunhang's head makes you resemble a bull seeing red complete with steam blowing out of your nostrils. The ticking of the old clock as it counts every second passing by infuriates you as if it's its sole purpose. It is already past five in the afternoon to other high school students it isn't much of a nuisance but to you, it is life or death. You need to be out of the school premises past five and should be on the way to the cafe you work in the evenings. Being a minute late at your part-time job means that you will receive a lengthy sermon from the cafe's owner as if they will not deduct it from your salary. But here you are still at the library waiting for Wong Kunhang to go on his merry way so that you can return the book he is pretending to be reading back to its respective shelf. Honestly, you would have let this pass but it's as if he is doing this on purpose for the past seven days. Adding salt to the wound, for every single day he takes a different book bringing it to his desk leafing through the pages eyes unfocused. Making you conclude that he is not doing any reading at all but just drops by the library to spite you. Each time before he leaves he will try to approach the desk where you are situated at and as if changing his mind in a millisecond he always makes a hasty retreat, exiting rather abruptly. You have reached your threshold and decided that you are going to confront him, for whatever his game is this got to stop. You walked towards the desk where he is, standing from behind his seat. You cleared your throat to get his attention. He craned his head back to look at you.

"Ummm, hi"

He immediately stood up from his seat in a frantic manner and rise to his height to stand opposite you. The seat's leg scratched the concrete producing a screeching sound.

"Hi, my name's Kunhang you can also call me Hendery if you like." He scratched the nape of his neck sheepishly smiling.

"I know who you are it is past five and the library closes at 5:00 PM sharp and I need to be at work -"

"I can totally take you there!" Kunhang exclaimed cutting you off. His words echoing in the empty library. You were not expecting that, the heat started blossoming on the tops of your cheeks.

"Uhhhmm, I was going to say that if you can, you know tidy up before five that would be great." You replied awkwardly.

"Ohh uhmm sure sure." You can see that he was embarrassed. He picked up the book from the desk. "I am sorry, I am gonna put this book back." You watched him as he put the book on its respective shelf and exited the library leaving you bewildered. Well, at least you got that over with.

After that incident, you no longer have to deal with him as he does not visit the library anymore. But he now occupies the other half of your brain you see him from your peripheral vision wherever you go. It seems that you are hyperaware of his presence and you can't take your eyes off him. How could you not notice before that he sits a few seats away from you at classes? By the things are going you can probably write a one-page essay about him.

He likes cats, not fond obsessed is the right word. His pencil case is imprinted with cat designs. He keeps a picture of his cats in his wallet, you know because you peeked over his shoulder at the cafeteria while he is paying for his food. He always remembers to feed the school's resident stray cat every morning. You saw him one morning bending down at the bushes near the outskirts of your school petting and feeding the stray cat.

He always hides a manga behind his textbook during classes snickering quietly so that he wouldn't be caught. Strangely enough, for someone who is not trying to do his best academically, he excels in maths and sciences and actively participates in those classes.

He likes to exchange crumpled notes with Yukhei. Maybe containing a joke or two because one time the teacher caught them they were kicked out of the class and got detention for the rest of the afternoon.

You can't deny that you are fascinated with him the same Wong Kunhang that you used to curse in your mind. You might even develop a tiny crush on him. This is why you found yourself boring holes at the back of his skull with the intensity of your gaze. Looking for minuscule details to add to your Hendery's cute and quirky habits list. Yukhei caught you in action sending you a wink and a teasing smile like he knows what's going on in your mind. He leaned down and whispered it to Kunhang.

Oh god no ...

Which made Kunhang spare you his attention looking at you with his biggest signature goofy smile. You abruptly hide your face behind your textbook and pretended that you are not gaping pathetically at his back so intently. You avoided looking at his direction for the rest of the day but you can feel Kunhang's eyes following your every move making you flustered and rendering you to something akin to tomato for the rest of the day.

You do not feel good scratch that this is the worst menstrual cramp that you have experienced in your life. Top that with the fact that your PE teacher has instructed your class to do ten laps in the field under the sweltering heat. Your peers are already ahead of you and you have long given up trying to match their pace. You stopped jogging and clutched your stomach the spasms intensifying making you double over in pain.

"Hey _______, you okay?" Kunhang kneeled at your crouched figure.

"Yeah, I am fine." As soon as you said that your abdominal muscles contracted so hard and a whimper escaped your lips.

"Let's go to the clinic you don't look so good." Kunhang reached for your forearm and slung it on his shoulders providing support to your frail figure helping you stand up. Although feeling like you might pass out any minute you can't help but observe Kunhang now that your bodies are now in close contact. His perfect side profile, tall straight nose, big doe eyes, plump pink lips, his floppy hair that frames his face, and his light perfume which smells like the sea breeze. As Kunhang led you to the clinic he started telling you about the time he collapsed due to over-exertion at one of the PE classes blaming the teacher's strenuous routine and launching on his tirade about what a pain in the ass the teacher is. You giggled finding his attempt to comfort you adorable.

"I am on my period Kunhang. The cramps are a bit on the painful side today."

"Oh ..." Hendery said embarrassed.

After dropping you off at the clinic Hendery got back to the PE class to inform the teacher about your mishap and that the nurse advised you to take the rest of the day off. You decided to rest up at the clinic and head home after the classes are over. Exiting the clinic you advanced your way to the classroom to collect your belongings when you froze on the spot upon seeing Kunhang leaning at the opposite wall to the clinic. He was carrying your bag on his shoulder. Noticing your presence he greeted you with his smile.

"I thought it'll be a hassle for you."

You can't help but smile back at him, taking your bag from him as the two of you walk towards the school gate Kunhang started bribing you to buy him ramen as payment for his good deeds.

He has this habit of looking at you but he isn't trying to hide it, in fact you think he is waiting for you to catch him because every single time you caught him redhanded he'll flash his goofy smile at you. The first few times you caught him your initial reaction was to start blushing but after the novelty of being embarrassed wears off you just shook your head smiling your eyes crinkling in mirth.

He'll always approach you and start acting cute doing silly little poses sometimes Yukhei drags him off before he starts embarrassing himself other times Yukhei will join in and start imitating Kunhang's comical poses resulting in overjoyous laughter erupting from your classmates.

He leaves you food and other trinkets on your desk. Lately after coming back from the cafeteria the ever-presence of food at your desk baffles you sometimes it contains other miscellaneous items like hair clips and ties. It was not after that your cramps manifested again that you finally knew who the culprit was for in your desk is a hot water bag. You quickly looked in the direction where you knew Kunhang was sitting, his head thrown back laughing at Yukhei's joke. As if sensing your stare he turned his face in your direction and grinned charmingly doing another of his silly poses.

It's fifteen minutes to five o clock and you need to make sure that every book is on their designated shelf and there is nothing out of its place scrutinizing the library with a sweep of your eyes you deemed that everything is in order. You grabbed your bag under the desk when the sound of the door hinges creaking got your attention. You quickly look to whoever dares to come in at the library fifteen minutes to its closing time. Surprise it was none other than Wong Kunhang. You walk up to him to stand at his opposite side, clearing your throat to get him to address you.

"Is the offer of a ride to my workplace still up?"

"Only if we go to the movies afterward."

"It's a date then."

There it is Kunhang's goofy smile. Perhaps you are too, smitten with him.

a/n: Read more of my works for NCT here:masterlist.

#nctcreations #hendery nct #hendery x reader #hendery fluff #hendery scenarios #hendery imagines #hendery wayv #nct fluff #wayv fluff #nct imagines

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silma-words · 4 years ago

Note

14. “Just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.” for adrian x mc?

N/A: Thank you for the prompt @detectivedumortain 😊 I don’t know if this is what you had in mind, but I hope you will like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pairing: Adrian Raines x MC (Ellie)

Rating: PG-13

Warning: Alcohol consumption

Category: Random fluff

Summary: Bloodbound AU (after book 1 – the events of book 2 never happened) – While Ellie is gone out with her friends, Adrian receives a much unexpected message from her after she has had one too many drinks…

Inspired by prompt #14 from Prompt List #1: “Just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.”

Words: 2450

**Disclaimer: Characters and background plot are the property of Pixelberry.**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hangover

Adrian was lying lazily on his couch, nose buried deep in the folds of an old worn-out book, when a sound made him jump out of his concentration, drawing his attention to the phone lying face down on the coffee table. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting between the device and the page he very much wanted to keep exploring. When the ping was immediately followed by another four, he smiled fondly and dropped the book onto his lap, knowing with certainty who these texts would be from.

*You don’t know what you’re missing*

*Drop your boring book and join us*

*I promise you won’t regret it*

*They have that fancy whiskey you love, Macallan Sherry Oak*

*And play decent music that even you would approve of*

Her texts made him chuckle, secretly filling him with warmth knowing that she was thinking about him on her night out with Lily and a few of their friends. As much as Adrian wanted to spend all of his time with her if he could, he was convinced that they both needed some time for themselves once in a while. Especially when Ellie and Lily were planning to meet with some of their common friends, with whom it was always a little tricky to keep up appearances to make sure they did not find out about the vampire world.

Adrian was not a huge fan of texting, but he couldn’t leave her hanging. That, and he also did appreciate the chance to interact a little with her despite the distance.

*Macallan Sherry Oak, hum? Consider me impressed*

The fact that she remembered which whiskey his favourite was made him smile. She did not lie during her interview: she did have a great memory.

*Sounds tempting, but maybe another time? I feel that I’d enjoy this new bar way more with you alone*

Once he read over his text again, he worried for a second that it might have been a tad too blunt. He really needed to get a hand around these ‘emoji’ thingies, and start using those. It took a few minutes until the phone pinged again with her response.

*Is that a date then, Mr Raines?*

The winking smiley face ending her message eased his worries instantly. Another proof that emojis did actually have a purpose.

*Sure it is, Miss Reed*

His answer was met with a flurry of pictograms, making him smile brightly, before he drifted back to his reading, confident that Ellie would be soon too distracted by her friends to continue their exchange. And he was right. His phone remained awfully quiet for hours, letting him indulge in his ‘boring book’ (her words) and slowly doze off on the sofa.

When he eventually woke up from his unexpected nap, his attention was captured by the flickering light of his phone, indicating that he had missed a few notifications while he was out. A couple of work emails, a few newsflash from his financial news app, and... eleven text messages, and five missed calls. All from Ellie.

He raised up quickly to sit properly and open the messages, a ball forming in his throat at the idea that maybe something had happened. It wouldn’t be the first time. This woman had a talent for trouble. But his worries faded instantly upon browsing quickly over her texts, which were... nothing but a succession of random pictures of her evening, accompanied by random sentences full of typos. The series of text ended with a bunch of random fruit and veg emoji that Adrian was not quite sure how to interpret.

Adrian chortled at this. Well, the girls were having a good night by the looks of it!

Checking the timing of her missed calls, he saw that these had been only a few minutes apart, but that she had eventually left a couple of voice messages. He could not repress a laughter upon hearing her inebriated voice as he started listening to the first recording, nearly able to picture from her pitch the blissful smile that must have adorned her lips as she spoke.

*Hey, handsome! I guess you’re probably asleep or something but... huumm, I just wanted to hear your voice... because I... hum, well... I guess ‘cause I’m missing you like crazy right now and I wish you were here... although tis’ probably best you’re not, you’d probably be embarrassed of my sorry drunk ass right now but... aaarh, I guess I just wanted you to know that I miss you, even if I see you aaaalll the tiiiime and... aaarrg I probably shouldn’t say that... you’re goin’ to freak out and think I’m like some kind of overly needy panda bear clinging to your leg... oh god, why the hell am I sayin’ t...* /end of message/

Adrian’s smile was nearly reaching his ears by the time that first message was cut by the robotic voice, the corner of his eyes crinkled with amusement, but his eyes gleaming with warmth at the sound of Ellie’s declaration. The seconds he had to wait for the next voice message to play nearly seemed interminable.

*Hum, well... sorry about that... hum… right, hum… nevermind! Well, I should probably get going now and leave you to whatever your old ass is doin’ right now but… aaarh I guess I’ll see you soon at work on Monday anyway… or before if you want, or… but if you don’t that’s fine… aaarh ok, that’s me hanging up now, before I get even weirder… byyyye!! I love you!.......... ooohhh sh…* /end of message/

Well. That was a hell of a message. Adrian was beaming, the sound of her voice still ringing in his ears, the sweetness and awkwardness of her ramble warming his body all over. And his heart was slowly restarting after it had jumped and landed with a thud when he had heard her last words.

He had definitely not been expecting that. Neither did she, by the sound of the muttered curse that seemed to have followed. Neither of them had spoken these words before. Neither of them had dared rushing things by voicing their feelings out loud. Although to Adrian, those feelings were as clear as day. Silently expressed in the way he looked at her, touched her, cared for her. But he did not want to presume that Ellie was feeling the same, although he had been desperately hoping so. Hearing her saying it out loud was a relief, an unexpected gift that he was not still entirely sure he deserved.

But what to do now? Should he say it back? Run to find her to tell her he felt the same? She might not even remember saying it, judging by the state of intoxication she seemed to have been under when she called. She might even regret it, or might not have even meant it. The conflicting thoughts now rushing through his head instantly washed down the smile from his lips. Oh God, it was like being a teenager all over again!

He had to go and see her. At least to check if she had made it home ok.

His mood swinging from elation to anxiety as he was replaying her messages in his head, he made his way to Lily’s and Ellie’s apartment, eager to see her but nervous about what he should say. That journey seemed to last forever. So did waiting at the door for someone to let him in, his ears trained on the slow and familiar heartbeat he could hear through the solid wood. Luckily, Lily was quick to answer the door, although she was clearly surprised.

“Hey A!” she greeted him with a smile, before furrowing her brows in concern. “Oh no, what kind of messages did she send you? Did she freak you out?! That was a bit of a struggle at some point to get her hands away from her stupid phone..!”

“No, no, don’t worry Lily”, he reassured her. “I… I just wanted to check up on her as the night seemed to have been quite… wild?”.

Lily sniggered at his choice of words. “Oh yeah, that was a good night!”, she beamed, gesturing for him to come in, before adding with a grin, “… although I don’t know what Ellie would say right now… I had kind of forgotten the lovely after-effects that overly sweet and cheap cocktails can have on a human organism… and so did she, I reckon.”

Lily giggled a little at this, shooting an adorable apologetic grin at Adrian as if to prevent him from even thinking about blaming her for Ellie’s massive hangover. If she had reached that stage yet.

“Well, may I go and see the damage for myself?” he asked with a grin.

“Be my guest! But I hope you have learnt how to block your nostrils over the years, coz in there... yuk!”

They both shared a laugh at this, as Adrian dropped his coat and jacket on a chair before heading towards Ellie's room, bracing himself as he knocked softly at the door “Ellie? May I come in?”

His call was met by the sounds of ruffling sheets and by an intelligible grumble that he interpreted as a ‘yes'. Slowly pushing the door open, his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the room to find Ellie’s form, surprisingly not tucked in the sheets, but instead awkwardly sat on the floor by her bed. Her cheek was resting on the edge of the mattress, her arms sprawled around her head lazily as if to prevent herself from slipping off to the floor.

Adrian quietly crossed the room to kneel by her side, laying a comforting hand between her shoulder blades while reaching over her arm to brush away the sticky strands of hair from her face, revealing a pale figure staring ahead into nothingness, her mouth slightly open as she was taking in shallow breaths.

“Oh sweetheart…” he sighted softly, offering her a warming smile as her eyes finally seemed to have focused on him. Caressingly gently the burning skin of her temple, he offered: “Do you want to stay down here, or do you want me to move you to the bed?”

It took Ellie a while to answer, as if gathering her thoughts as well as her strength to voice them was beyond achievable for her. She finally nodded weakly, her lips finally moving to let her feeble voice out: “I tried but… couldn’t get back on the bed after I…”.

Nodding back at her to show her that she did not need to say any more, he pressed a quick peck on her forehead before gently moving around to collect her limp body in his arms and deposit her carefully onto the bed. Helping her out of her clothes was the next step, and Ellie did not complain whatsoever during the whole process, focused on keeping her eyes closed to try to ignore what this shuffling around was doing to her stomach. Once he was done, Adrian sat by her side on the edge of the bed, one hand holding hers onto his lap, the other on the side of her neck so he could brush his thumb over her cheek soothingly.

“Sounded like you had a great night yesterday” Adrian teased, as Ellie looked at him with foggy eyes, attempting to raise a sceptical brow but failing miserably.

“Yes we had… but” she had to stop for a second, her stomach heaving dangerously, “not so much fun now”.

“Yes I can imagine”, he chuckled lightly, his eyes roaming over her features to check everything else was alright.

Lost in the peaceful silence that was filling in the room as she was gradually relaxing next to him, securely tucked in in the bedsheets, Adrian had nearly forgotten why he had initially rushed to her place. That was until he saw her eyes suddenly snap open and her brow furrow, as she broke the silence to ask: “Wait… what do you mean by ‘sounded like you had a great night’?”

Well, at least that answered his previous concern that she might not remember was she had said in her messages. He could just pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened, and leave it at that, hoping that those words would grace her lips once more in the near future, under better circumstances. Hopefully. Except he did not want to pretend. Or could not.

“You don’t remember calling me last night?”, he asked softly, unable to hide the gleam of expectation in his eyes.

Her frown and confused gaze answered his question before her lips did. “No I….” she started, before suddenly widening her eyes in silent realisation, as glimpses of last night’s drunk endeavours resurfaced to hit her in the face. Eyes wide, she was starting to remember… bits after bits… and then all of it.

“Oh nooooo…”, she muttered, the blood somehow suddenly finding its way back to her cheeks despite the weakness of her body. If the flush of her skin and the thumping of her heart were not enough to ensure Adrian that she was now remembering everything she had said, the sheepish smile that adorned her face as she dropped her eyes to their joined hands was proof enough.

Squeezing her hand a little more tightly, he braced himself: “Ellie, I…”

But as he was about to speak, Ellie suddenly straightened up in the bed, covering her mouth with her hand and she heaved once more, her body violently reminding her that now was not the time for heart-to-heart conversations. No. Now was the time for her to pay the consequences for over indulging on G&Ts and margaritas a few hours before.

Clutching Adrian’s arm to keep herself up, she pleaded weakly, the corner of her mouth curled in a feeble smile that showed that she was admitting defeat: “Adrian, please… just… please, be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to…. I’m gonna need you to carry me to the bathroom…”.

If Adrian was a little disappointed, he did not show it. Probably because he knew that now was clearly not the right time to discuss this. And probably because he could see the reassurance in her eyes that she was not going to take her words back. They would get to this part again eventually, there was no point in rushing things just because the alcohol had loosened her lips.

Smiling at her warmly, he simply nodded, pushing the bedsheets away to cradle her trembling body once more in his arms and carry her to the bathroom. She was right. Now was not the right time. He would tell her. Eventually. Just not right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @adriansbiss, @itsjustwinter, @shanzay44, @purvishraick

If anyone wants to be added/removed from the tag list, let me know!

@choicesficwriterscreations

#bloodbound #bloodbound choices #adrian raines #adrian raines x mc #bloodbound fanfiction #choices fanfiction #choices stories you play #choices fic writers creations #fics of the week #play choices #fanfic prompt #answered asks

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kindness-bliss · 4 years ago

Text

New Beginnings Ch. 8

Timothy Thatcher x OC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: none

Maya got ready at her shoot as she looked at herself in the mirror and scrolled through her instagram feed to let time pass, searching Tim’s name in the search bar as she looked through as raised a brow at how many fans adored him and posted pictures with him and events “Well damn, he’s wanted” she nodded impressed as she continued to read captions, not understanding most of them since they were in German, raising a brow as she saw heart emojis on captions “Too bad he’s mine”. She grinned as she saw more and more from men she assumed were his friends always talking about how respectful and hardworking he was in the business She sat up startled from her lurking when she heard a familiar voice and sighed “Are you kidding me ? What the hell are you doing here ? This is a private shoot” Marcel sighed as he stepped through and thanked the security guard “I saw you on the same company’s page who works hair and makeup for NXT, I put 2 and 2 together when I saw their stories and you happened to be tagged. I know, it’s very stalker of me” “Extremely” she answered sternly as she covered herself in her robe “who does that ? This is my job you psycho. Once again, head empty no thoughts in that pretty big ass head of yours” “I don’t even know what that means” He admitted quietly as he stood in shame in front of her “are-are you calling me stupid ?” Maya let out a breath as she shook her head “Kind of, now tell me why you’re here ?” she asked as she got touched up “and make it quick preferably, this is my work remember” “What’s this I heard about Tim insulting you ? Why didn’t you tell me when it happened ? I’m gonna assume that’s why you were crying the other day at the store ?” he asked, giving a small nod when he saw her face look down at the floor “and yes, Walter told me everything so don’t worry you don’t need to go into details I just wanna know if you’re okay” “I am fine, we’re all good” she nodded “I’m going to see him tomorrow, he has a match and he invited me”

“What ?” he whispered as he looked up at her “y-you’re gonna go see him ? After what he did ?”. Marcel knew how much wrestling meant to him, how much he prided himself in his work. He knew Tim inviting Maya over was a big step for him in how he felt about her.

“Absolutely I am, I wanna see him wrestle and how he is in that environment. I’m gonna assume you’re gonna be there too ?” Maya asked as they got her ready

“Yeah, we have a match too and well chances are Tim’s gonna introduce you to me so what are we gonna do ?”

She stiffened at his question and fixed her curls as she looked in the mirror as she slid off her robe revealing a one piece bathing suit with a deep plunge as she turned to look at him “If you think I’m gonna tell Tim that you and I had a 3 year long relationship then you’re dead wrong. No way I would ever tell him something like that at his workplace, so let’s get this straight alright ? Tomorrow you keep your mouth shut and you tell your little friends or whomever to not say a thing or I’ll have my other model friends put a word out that you guys like screwing around when you’re on the clock”

Marcel widened his eyes at her look and tone as he clenched his jaw “Maya I-”

“Maya nothing” she snapped back “You really think I didn’t know ? You really think Walter also wouldn’t tell me that you tried to get Alex and Fabio or whatever the fuck his name is to tell Tim for you ? To do your...our dirty work ? He texted me everything just before I got here, how you wanted to tell Tim abruptly and then I’d have to deal with the rest. Alex ? Yeah did you forget I also helped his wife out with her bridesmaid dresses and got to know the both of them really well ? He sent me an instagram DM telling me everything too, basically apologizing for your shitty actions. You’re a spineless little coward Marcel, 3 years and you haven’t changed one damn bit”

“I-I...it w-wasn’t like that” he stuttered out nervously stepping forward

“Bull shit !” she exclaimed as she slapped him across the face and breathed heavily

Marcel stood back as he rubbed his cheek and gave a frown as his blue eyes stared at hers “I’m sorry, I just….I still love you” he whispered as he left hastily

Maya sighed as she rubbed the feeling back in her hand and let the makeup artist fix her eyes “Mickey, did you tell him I was here ?”

“You try saying no to that piece of German goodness” Mickey shook his head “His accent came out and I melted, then he did the whole pleading puppy dog thing with his blue eyes and well, I was sold. I’m sorry Maya, I didn’t realize how big of an issue it would be. You really gave it to him good though, he walked away as if you stomped on his heart”

“Yeah well I didn’t wanna do that exactly” she admitted “He’s just being sneaky and I hate it, it reminds me of what happened when we were in a bad spot”

“Well I’ll tell you this girl, Timothy Thatcher is all man and would never do that shit to you” he giggled Maya raised a brow as she let out a chuckled “and how do you know I’m seeing Tim, what’s going on here that I’m not aware of ?” Mickey smirked as he dabbed some gloss on her lips “Tim from what I’ve seen and heard is quiet but apparently he told some of the guys that you’re gonna go see him and he’s a little...giddy. Now I’ve been working hair and makeup there a while and I’ve been there since he got there and nothing has made that man do a complete 180 like you have” She blushed as she listened and looked around the room “So you think he...likes me likes me ? Like he wants me to be his...you know ?” “Girlfriend ?” he chuckled “oh yeah, I heard from Candice, who heard from her husband Johnny who heard from his friend Oney that Tim told him tomorrow was pivotal” “Oh” she whispered softly as she walked with him “I’m not gonna expect anything though, especially after this whole fiasco. I’m gonna have a nice day with him tomorrow and focus on that. Now let’s get this thing done so I can call him” “You’re just as whipped as he is” Mickey chuckled as he helped set her up ______________________________________________________________ “What’s with that face ?” Tim asked Oney “You’re red and you’ve been on your phone for like 5 minutes, Oney ?” he sighed as he walked over and took his phone and let out a tight cough “this-this from today ?” “Yeah” Oney nodded as he took his phone back and put it in his pocket

“Um all I can and want to say is….you are one very very lucky man Tim, very lucky”

“I like her for other things besides her looks” Tim rolled his eyes as he grabbed his gym bag “she’s a good person, she’s understanding, she’s really smart and funny. She’s a great cook, she’s super funny” he chuckled “and she-what ? why are you looking at me like that ?”

Oney grinned as he walked with him to the showers “You really like this girl, it’s not just a little rendezvous like you had thought it’d be. I’ve known you for a while and never have I seen you act this way towards a girl”

“Don’t” Tim warned as he took off his shirt “It’s just that I like her and I feel she feels the same about me and you know that’s it”

“So it’s okay if she dates other guys while talking to you ?”

“I never said that” he said almost immediately as he turned around “Why ? Is she ? Have you heard anything ?”

“Chill out, I was just joking but point proven” Oney chuckled “I say you ask her out, officially like to be your girlfriend”

Tim nodded as grabbed his things “I was thinking about that after tomorrow”

“I think you should” Oney nods as he looked around “oh look it’s Marcel, shit look at his face” he grimaced

“What the hell happened to you ?” Tim asked concerned “Your cheek is red as can be, are you okay ?”

“We need to talk” Marcel said sternly “Alone, and it has to be now”

Tim nodded as he changed and followed him outside

Maya arrived at her apartment as she exited her elevator and saw Tim standing against her door “hey” she grinned “what are you doing here ?”

“So when were you gonna tell me you were engaged to one of my closest friends ? Or did you plan on keeping that a secret forever ?” he asked wasting no time as he crossed his arms trying his best to stay calm

Her stomach turned as she blinked trying her best to catch her breath “I-I…. Tim listen, I wanted to tell you I did, I promise I did but things happened and then the Walter thing and I just couldn’t find the appropriate chance to do so but I promise I was. I promise, you have to believe me” Maya pleaded as she reached for his hand flinching when he yanked it back

“I don’t believe a word you said, I don’t. I don’t even trust anything you’ve told me in the past, probably more lies from you. I’m not gonna insult you or demean you like I did last time because quite frankly...you’re not worth it” he said coldly as he stepped back “Have a nice life and don’t contact me again”

“Tim, please don’t do this” she whispered tearfully as she grabbed his arm lightly

“Don’t touch me” he responded quietly as he carefully lifted her hand and placed it by her side “Goodbye Maya”

He left her apartment quickly, and didn't look back knowing if he saw her face he wouldn’t be able to leave. Once in his car, he wiped his eyes quickly as he turned on the radio and sped off back to his place where he knew he could release his emotions freely and privately

“What did you do !” she practically screamed into her phone “You fucking told him !”

“It needed to be said” Marcel said quietly “I’m sorry, I am but we both know you were gonna wait it out too long and it would only make things worse. I did this for the both of us”

“I fucking hate you” she spat out “and I will never ever speak to you again in my life, ever. You’re dead to me” she hung up

Marcel rubbed his face as he threw his phone across his room and laid down in bed as he looked up at the ceiling and drifted to sleep, trying his hardest to forget about the chaos he selfishly created

All eyes were on Tim as he entered the Capitol wrestling center the next morning, he heard and saw it all as he walked into the locker room. The looks of pity people gave him, the mumbles and whispers they gave each other as rumours about what had happened at the gym went around. None of it mattered, at least not to him. The damage had been done and if there was one thing that was hurting him other than his heart it was his pride. He knew deep down it had been kept for him for a reason, but the lying and deceiving still hurt.

“Hey” Marcel said quietly as he opened his locker “Listen I won’t bother you but I just want to say I’m sorry about what happened and it's my fault entirely. Maya wanted to tell you after today” he finally admits “After your match, she wanted you to have a good match and then break it down to you on he own time and I selfishly told you because I still love her and in my stupid head I thought that once you knew and let her know she would somehow want me but instead she told me I’m dead to her”

Tim nodded as he laced up his boots and didn’t bother to look at him “yeah well, that makes two of us. I don’t want her around me, I don’t wanna hear from her again or anything like that. It’s done and over with and we should just not speak of her again. She’s something of the past and well I’m not gonna hold your past against you”

Marcel furrowed his brow “Y-you’re not going to attempt to talk to her ? She’s pretty sad Tim….”

“Nope” he shook his head “She’s the one who started this so it ends, I don’t like things like that and I can’t just let it slide by. Her choice was made to lie, so now we leave it at that please. I don’t care nor do I wish to hear about her again”

“I understand” Marcel nodded as he put on his tracksuit and headed down seeing everyone glare at him as he sped down the hallway to catering sitting down by himself in a table and beckoning over Fabian and Alex “Over here guys”

“No thanks” Alex muttered as he looked at him and turned around “I prefer not to deal with you unless it’s necessary for tv”

“Agreed” Fabian nodded

“I know it was a mistake okay, you can stop with the harsh punishment.I should have never tried to involve you two either and I’m sorry I did. I regretted this whole thing as soon as I opened my mouth and saw his face. I was selfish and it was wrong, can we just stop now ? Please” he pleaded “I hurt Tim, I hurt Maya, Walter isn’t answering any of my messages or calls. I get it now, I do” Marcel rambled “Please just sit with me, you don’t have to talk to me but just sit with me so I can at least have some company while everyone stares at me”

“No” they both answered in unison as they shook their heads and left him alone

Marcel looked down as he played with his plate of food feeling all eyes on him as he tried his hardest to ignore the stares and whispers and took out his phone seeing still no messages or calls from Walter and sent one last message “Hasst du mich jetzt ?” (do you hate me now ?) “Nein, nur sehr enttäuscht” (no, just very disappointed)

He sighed and put his phone away as he shook his head, upset at himself for what he had done but knowing deep down he didn’t regret it. Maya was his one true love, the one person who understood him and helped him cope with the loss of his father and deal with the emotions rather than ignore them and hold them in.

“Are you gonna go after her ?” Tim asked nonchalantly as he sat with him “because you can, I don’t care”

“What ?” Marcel asked his head shot up quickly

“Don’t act stupid Marcel, you still love her and I know you did this in a way to get me to be mad at her so I”d leave her alone and therefor you could go after her”

He knew him so well, so well it truly fucked with him “Yeah” Marcel nodded “I let her go once and it ruined me and now she’s here and right now she wants nothing to do with me but I’ll give her that space and then I’ll fight, I’ll fight like I should’ve fought for her 3 years ago and this time, she’ll end with me” he looked in his older friends eyes “We’ll get that happy ending we both wanted”

Tim simply give a short nod as he sipped his water “Then go ahead”

Marcel looked around as he got up and left back to the locker room, not wanting to cause anymore awkwardness between them and sat by himself as he listened to music

“Well if it isn’t the life ruiner” Oney rolled his eyes as he stood in front of him “Are you happy with your actions ? With ruining the one thing giving Tim genuine happiness ?”

“Oney, please” he rubbed his face “This is something you don’t understand, don’t get involved”

“You ruined the one thing my friend wanted, I’m sure as hell gonna get involved you traitor” he shoved him

Marcel sighed “Don’t do this, I don’t have the energy to-” he stumbled back as he held his eye and groaned

“You deserve that and way fucking more” Oney spat out as he left ______________________________________________________________ Maya wiped her eyes for what seemed like the 500th time as she once again got sent to voicemail and let out a frustrated cry getting up when she assumed her takeout was delivered “I said to just leave it at the door” she whined putting on her hoodie “stop knocking !” she finally yelled as she opened the door ready to rage “I clearly said-” her eyes widened at the scene in front of her “what the hell happened to you ?” she asked

“Oney punched me” Marcel said quietly as he removed the ice bag he had and revealed a bruised and bloodied eye

“Oney ? That’s Tim’s friend” she said as he remembered his face from the gym

“Yes him, he punched me in the locker room for….for what happened” he said quietly “I needed to get out of there and the only place I could think of was here. I know you hate me and wish I was better off dead but I just had to come. I’ll leave though if you want me to”

Maya looked up at him as she opened her door and stepped aside “come in”

He stepped inside and sat down on her couch “I’m sorry, I am so so sorry” he whispered “I acted so selfishly”

“What’s done is done” she whispered “You unfortunately can’t take it back, and truth be told you were right” she admitted “I would’ve just kept waiting and waiting to tell him and let time pass by, in a way what you did benefited me more than anyone Marcel, you did the hardest part and all I had to do was explain myself”

He shrugged as he bit the inside of his cheek and looked up

“Don’t cry” Maya chuckled weakly “I’ve been crying since last night, and I’m positive I can cry for the both of us and this whole fiasco

“I’m not” he blinked away tears quickly

“You’re doing the thing, the cheek thing and looking up. You really think I wouldn’t forget how you try to hide emotions after all this time ? she scooted over as she gently patted his hand “You’re the ugliest crier too” she joked trying her best to lighten him up

Marcel gave a light laugh as he sniffled “You’re really good that you know ?”

Maya gave him a small grin as she dabbed his cheek with a tissue and got the alert of her food delivery “stay for dinner ?”

“Absolutely” he answered as he nodded. Sometimes life truly does work in weird weird ways.

#timothy thatcher #timothy thatcher x oc #timothy thatcher fic #marcel barthel #imperium #wrestling fic #wrestling imagine

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lizzy-williams · 4 years ago

Text

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 (𝟏/𝟑)

★ Warnings: None (for now)

★ Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cry85KUzzU

Turning Page by Sleeping at Last

((YES, I know it’s the wedding song from Twilight but it’s really wholesome so suck it up, dammit.))

masterlist

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐓 of the mirror, and although you looked stunning, you felt as if you were about to pass out. This was the day you had been anxiously waiting for since the day Colson proposed, and you couldn’t help but feel nervous.

He had proposed before he went on tour for his Tickets to My Downfall tour, and you facetimed every night. You two loved each other more than anything. And although it was challenging wrangling all the boys into their groomsmen suits and picking out the right shade of fucking flower arrangements, it paid off, and you knew that everything was going to be perfect.

You were practically shaking in your heels as you turned your body slightly, looking at the cutouts of the dress that was on your sides. Your hair was made to perfection, your makeup amazingly orchestrated to make you one of the most beautiful brides these people had ever seen.

Your best friend wrapped their arm around your shoulder, resting their head on the other, smiling at the reflection.

“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” you breathed, obviously on the verge of a panic attack.

“Girl, don’t let the press intimidate you. their just a bunch of dorks with cameras. Besides, we know your beautiful face is going to be all over the front of their magazines. People wish they were you. You got this. I’ll be there the whole time,” your bff’s words spilled out like word vomit.

You smiled gratefully at them as you looked at yourself some more, “You know, I do look pretty smokin’ though,” you laughed.

“That’s the spirit.”

“God, I’m excited to see his face...and Casie walk down the isle with her little fancy dress... I have a present for her you know.” you admitted.

“Ooo, spill,” your friend anxiously responded.

“I just got her a necklace. Just a symbol of promise. I wanna be a good step mom. I don’t wanna be like my parents. Kells is a good dad, and he set the bar pretty high as far as a kick-ass parent goes,” you sighed.

“She loves you, you know that. You’re like... one of her best friends.”

Your friend wasn’t lying. You and Casie were close and you connected quickly. You had the same interests, not to mention you were a real challenge for her in Mario Kart.

You suddenly heard a knock at the door, scaring the daylights out of you. You turned around and behind the door was one of your brides maids, peeking in.

“Hey, it’s time.” she said softly.

You flashed your best friend an anxious look, flashing her a panicked smile. You fixed your veil, praying it looked okay.

“Girl, you are going to do amazing. You got everything down,” they started to walk towards the door, and just before they walked out, they turned towards you, “See you at the alter.”

So there you were, standing face to face with the doors you were supposed to walk out of to marry the man you had loved more than you’ve loved anyone before. You two were made to each other. You wanted this. You both did.

Just as practiced, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen walked down, and I smiled as I saw all my friends, watching the people go by.

And then came Casie, one of the most beautiful flower girls you had ever seen. Although she was reluctant to wear the dress, she looked amazing, little ‘awe’s and ‘ohh’s coming from the audience, the cameras flashing like crazy.

Alright. Now or never. This was it. Your time to shine. You weren’t going to have anyone walk you down the isle. You knew damn good and well you could do that yourself.

As you turned the corner, you saw everyone stood up, music playing as you made eye contact with the people watching you walk, your head held high.

And the look on Colson’s face said everything you needed to know. He looked at you as if you were the only girl in the world, and his eyes lingered all over you. His eyes met yours, and you gave a shy smile, glancing down at your feet.

Everyone was smiling at you. You felt so special, so wanted. You were now standing in front of Colson, the two of you finally face to face.

And the priest began to speak. His part went quickly, but then it got to the vows. You had stayed up several nights, thinking of how you could fit all your feelings into the words you wanted to say; a promise to always be there.

You took a deep breath, smiling.

“Colson, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you the moment you introduced me to your beautiful daughter. I always thought that a love like this was only something known in PG-13 romantic comedies and stories. But now, standing in front of all of my friends and family, I’m confident that I love you more than anything. You make me feel human, even when I make mistakes, even if I get discouraged, you’re always there to make me happier. You make me a better person and I can’t wait to grow old with you, experiencing all that life has to offer. I love you Colson Baker.” you were now wiping tears away from your eyes as Colson’s hands held yours, the same reaction coming from him.

You then turned to Casie, giving a smile. “And Casie. I know that you hate the mushy sensitive stuff, you were like me when I was your age. But I promise to be one of your best friends, and to be there for you as a step mom. And I promise to love your dad deeply for as long as I live. You and your father mean so much to me, and I can’t wait to be accepted into your family.” you then reached into your bouquet, pulling out a small box and opening it, taking out the necklace and putting it on her, a smile lighting up her face.

It was a token; a symbol to show her that you weren’t going anywhere.

Colson was as happy as he could ever be, his face beaming, tears of joy already slipping down his cheeks. When you turned back to him, you gave a compassionate grin, wiping away his tears.

He took a deep breath in, trying to pull himself together, taking out a small notecard from the pocket of his suit, unfolding it, his eyes meeting yours.

“Hey baby. I never thought that I would get married, especially to someone so beautiful as you. You make my life better in so many ways, you inspire me to keep going. You love me for me, not caring about past mistakes or misunderstandings. And although I can be stubborn, you are the only one can see me, and truly see me. Without the records labels or the money or the fame. You were able to dig deep and uncover a part of myself I thought had died a long time ago. Before you, I didn’t know what I was doing for my future. But after you, I couldn’t wait for the next moment with you. I can’t wait to see what happens with us. I love you so so much baby, and nothing will ever change that.”

Your hands were once again in yours, the tears now non-stop from you, happiness bubbling over like boiling water in a pot. You couldn’t contain it. You had never felt so happy, so ready, for life. His thumb absentmindedly glided over the backs of your hands in comfort.

“The rings?” the priest asked, Casie stepping up, at the bottom of her flower basket was a red velvet box, holding both rings.

Colson took out your ring and you took out his. You gently took his ring finger, putting on the ring you knew he wouldn’t take off. Then it was your turn. Colson took your hand, and lifted it to his lips, placing a tender kiss on the back of it, before slipping the ring on your small fingers, the size of his hand obviously way bigger than yours. The rings fit perfectly on both of your fingers.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.” the priest announced, pausing tauntingly, know Colson wanted to kiss you so badly, “You may kiss the bride.”

Colson grabbed you and it was like the whole world stopped. This was your first kiss as a married couple, and it was like an otherworldly experience. It was like you were floating, you were so happy. It was a total serotonin overload, Colson’s arms gripping tightly onto your waist as he kissed you like he never would again.

You pulled back, your senses just now taking in the fact that everyone had been clapping. You gave your biggest smile, Colson holding up your arm with his, “NOW LET’S PARTY LIKE FUCKIN ROCKSTARS!!”

((I’m updating Famished soon so calm ur tits lol))

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zigtheeortega · 4 years ago

Text

out of time

✿ pairing: sienna x danny

✿ word count: 3354

✿ warnings: death, loss

✿ author’s note: well, i thought i’d just flesh out what we didn’t get to see, since i highly doubt they’ll expand on it since it’s off screen. it’s not my best work, but it was written out of spite so hopefully that makes up for the lack of quality LMAO. anyways, i tagged everybody who liked this post and added it to the end since there were quite a few! [sidenote: i wrote this post after i’d started this fic so if you see similarities, that’s why] i really hope you like it and that i did both sienna and danny justice!

•─────────✦✿✦────────•

She sprinted down the hallway, pager still beeping erratically on her hip, the weight of the numbers enough to make her feel like she was slugging through wet concrete.

No, no, not him, please, not him, she chanted to herself, vision blurring with tears before she had the chance to let the negative possibilities set in.

He’s gonna be okay. It’s okay. We’re okay.

Thankfully she was only one floor away, taking the steps two at a time, shoes squeaking against the waxy floor. Sweat formed on her brow as she shoved through the stair’s exit door, pushing past every intern in her way.

Normally she’d stop to apologize, but not today. She didn’t know how much time she had. It could be minutes, and she wasn’t going to waste even a second apologizing when someone’s life was on the line.

She saw the small crowd forming outside of the room and barrelled towards them without a second thought, tearing her way to the front.

When she saw Spencer’s terrorized gaze, her chest tightened involuntarily. Her body covered the entrance to the room, so she could barely see into the room, but she did catch a glimpse of something that made her blood run cold.

A purple pant leg strewn across the floor, ankle relaxed, unmoving, peeking out behind Spencer’s side.

“Sienna, stop. You can’t go any further,” Ethan murmured, gently holding her in place with his arm.

“But I have to – Danny – he’s –” she struggled against his grip, lip wobbling.

“Please,” he said, more of a statement than a question, like he was holding back, too, the strain in his voice enough to stop her in her tracks.

She watched, helpless, as Spencer and Rafael scrambled to seal the room, Bobby convulsing on the ground, Travis passed out, and Danny getting weaker and weaker by the second.

It was like turning on the news and seeing tragedy after tragedy – she always felt absolutely helpless. Her empathy always felt like a curse in those moments. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling everything, whether she wanted to or not.

She wrapped her arms around herself, digging her fingernails into her side, rocking from foot to foot. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Danny’s frail form on the ground.

“Hey, I came here as fast as I could,” a voice huffed at her side. She turned, met with Jackie’s concerned gaze, hands on her hips as she panted, tiny sweat stains dotting her teal scrubs.

“It’s… All of them, Jackie, –” she couldn’t find the words to quite describe the soul crushing weight of the situation.

Bobby, Rafael, Spencer, and Danny… people that had been her emotional rocks through the lowest points of her life.

Bobby was her unsung hero. He’d keep guard while she cried in the supply closet so she wasn’t disturbed, in return for a dozen of her chocolate chip cookies. After the first few times, she brought him baked goods weekly regardless of whether she had a breakdown or not.

Rafael was her empath twin, as weird as it sounded. She’d branded them that as a joke, between giggles, on her late night break at the cafeteria. Despite it being stated jokingly, it was true – they found themselves confiding in each other each time they faced a difficult situation, bonding over the fact that their jobs took a lot more out of them than the normal person.

Spencer was her late night confidante, the person who she’d crawl into bed with at 3 a.m. after having another detailed nightmare where she was cursed with endless terminal patients. There weren’t that many people she’d platonically cuddle and sob until she was a snotting mess next to.

And Danny… he was the future. He was a vision of what she’d always wanted.

It took her too long to break away from Wayne’s hold. She knew he was toxic, but she didn’t want to admit it – how was she supposed to admit that she’d been wrong for that long?

With Danny, she was comfortable. He got her in a way no one else did. He had the potential to be every single role that her friends played simultaneously.

God, and she’d told him she needed time. She hadn’t properly healed from Wayne so she needed some time before she moved on and –

Now it’s too late, she thought to herself as she watched them wheel out Travis and Danny in glass cases.

And Bobby in a body bag.

“Holy shit,” Jackie breathed, eyes widening. “Fuck – Oh my god, Sienna –”

The tears were already flowing as she slammed her face into Jackie’s chest, body wracked with inconsolable sobs.

She’d never hugged Jackie like this before, as she hated physical affection unless it was… PG-13.

Jackie stiffened, but wrapped her arms around Sienna’s shoulders, patting her back, slowly melting into the embrace.

“We’ll visit him as soon as we can,” she said in her ear, holding Sienna up as she nearly crumbled.

––––

Danny’s body was still, the only movement his heaving chest as he took shallow, labored breaths, his normally warm skin tone muted, drained of color.

“Hey, it’s me,” she called as she closed the door behind her, voice shaky, tote bag at her side. “I hope you can hear me.”

No response.

“Uh… I brought some of our favs. Secret of Ninradell and some music to play so hopefully it makes your dreams a little sweeter – ” she forced a laugh, trying to keep her brave face. “I brought some cookies that I baked last night – uh, I’m sorry they’re not fresh – I –”

Her voice cracked, and she rolled her lips together to keep her chin from trembling. She dragged a nearby chair closer to the glass box, sliding into it, never taking her eyes from his face.

God, why did it have to be you? She thought to herself, covering her mouth with her hands as she cried, her soft sobs muted by the loud machines monitoring his vitals.

She popped open the cover of the hardback, highlighter in hand. “I’m gonna read this to you, if that’s okay? I’m highlighting passages that remind me of you,” she smiled sadly, watching his eyes roll underneath their lids. He was dreaming.

“I know you hate when I mark up books. That’s the librarian speaking, huh?” She giggled, remembering the time he told her about his job in the campus library, and his deep hatred for the Dewey decimal system.

She began reading, trying her best at different accents, failing miserably, but it distracted her from reality if just momentarily.

Her year had been full of blow after crushing blow, both professionally and personally. Losing Wayne, breaking the news to terminal patients, dealing with the toll it took on her mental health, as well as dealing with an intern that was using her – she wasn’t stupid. She just would rather suck it up than have someone upset with her that was supposed to look up to her. Stupid, but she couldn’t handle the thought of disappointing another person.

Hours later, voice hoarse, pages and pages marked up, her hands stained with neon yellow ink, she was drifting off to sleep where she sat – but a groan startled her awake.

“Uhhhhhh,” he moaned, visibly in pain, writhing uncomfortably.

“Danny? Hey, I’m here,” she rushed forward to the box, pressing her hand up against the side, hoping he could feel the warmth of her hand through the glass.

“Sienna…?” He asked, eyes fluttering open and closed. He couldn’t focus on her face.

“I’m here. I’m not leaving.”

“Good,” he croaked, weakly flopping his hand to touch the glass.

He didn’t know it, but those two words were enough to strengthen her withering resolve. She fell asleep cradling the glass, arm slung over the top.

–––

She was ripped from her sleep by intense beeping from the machines surrounding Danny, and she glanced down, peering through the glass at Danny’s quivering form, switching between violent shakes and gentle shivers.

She slammed the emergency button and quickly went to work trying to find the source of the issue, waiting for the nurses to come as back up.

“Danny. Danny, stay with me. Listen to my voice. Hold on, alright? Nurses are heading here now, and we’re going to take care of you,” she said calmly, betraying her shaking hands.

They set to work immediately, trying to keep him from slipping into unconsciousness, all four nurses working swiftly, nimble fingers and precise movements, never getting into each others’ way.

Sienna watched from outside as they worked, glass box open, desperately wishing she had a hazmat suit. Ethan and Jackie observed, giving calm commands.

“Sienna!”

She turned, eyes red rimmed from crying and lack of sleep, startling Elijah as he rolled to a stop next to her.

“Jackie asked me to send an intern up to bring you a hazmat suit… but I thought I’d bring it myself, to check on you,” he said, eyebrows furrowed, handing the folded hazmat suit from his lap to her arms.

“Don’t feel like you need to talk to me right now, alright? I’ll wait out here, if you need me.” He gave her a sympathetic smile as he patted her arm.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, hastily throwing on the hazmat suit and ripping at the zipper, growing more and more frustrated as it caught on her clothes. “Come on. Come on, come on –”

“Here, let me help,” Elijah offered. “Bend down and I’ll zip it up.”

She followed his instruction and squatted as Elijah glided the zipper upwards, patting her back softly when he was done.

And like before, she had no time to thank him. She didn’t want to miss one second with Danny.

She burst into the room, not disturbing the hive-like efficiency of the nurses.

She watched as they poked and prodded and worked tirelessly to keep him conscious. There was an undeniable tension in the air, stretched so thin it could snap at any moment.

The strained atmosphere of the room didn’t come from the doctors – it came from the nurses. Sienna knew how much Danny meant to his coworkers. He was always the first to resolve conflict and make people feel at ease.

They were tight knit; losing Danny would be a crushing blow.

“Please, Jackie, tell me what’s happening,” she said between panicky breaths, unable to contain her anxiety. “I need to know.”

“We’re trying to stabilize him… but we’re not sure what’s causing him to go into shock in the first place,” Jackie said, brows furrowed.

Three long, painful minutes later, his heart rate returned to normal, his whole body in a feverish sweat.

“That took a lot out of him,” Sienna whispered, watching a nurse press a damp, cool cloth to his forehead and neck.

“You know we have to get rid of your bag, right? It’s contaminated,” Jackie grimaced, motioning to the nurse that was zipping it into a sealed bag, about to throw it away.

“No, you can’t – I didn’t even get to finish reading Ninradell to him last night,” Sienna pleaded, rushing forward to the nurse.

“You can’t take it out of this room,” Ethan shook his head, his statement dismissive, but his tone of voice sympathetic.

“Can I at least finish reading it to him? I promise I’ll dispose of it properly. I just… I need some more time with him.”

“I don’t think –” “I’ll stay with her,” Jackie nodded, holding Ethan’s gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll page you if anything happens.”

With one firm tilt of his chin, he left the room, presumably towards Spencer and Rafael.

“We think he can hear what’s going on around him, so it’s actually a great idea to read to him,” Jackie said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “It might help pull him through this.”

Jackie grabbed the bag from the nurse wordlessly, handing it back to Sienna. “You can take a break,” she said to the group of nurses anxiously huddled next to Danny. “We’ll watch over him.”

One of them started sealing the box, but Sienna stopped them with a frantic “Wait.”

“Keep it open. I’ll seal it later,” Jackie ordered gently.

She slipped into the seat next to him, holding firmly onto the edge of the glass.

Jackie must’ve noticed she was debating whether or not she should touch him, so she confirmed it for her. “You can touch him. Don’t be afraid.”

“But I am,” she said, voice cracking, tears threatening to spill. It was tiresome how much she’d cried over the past twelve hours.

She was thankful he’d held on for that long, but she had no idea when it was coming. From his steadily declining health as well as appearance, it was inevitable.

“I’m so scared,” Sienna whispered, refusing to look at her, eyes trained on the rise and fall of his chest.

“You have every right to be, babe. I’m so sorry,” Jackie said, striding over to rest an arm around her shoulders.

“I… told him I needed more time to be me, you know? I needed to figure out more about me because with Wayne and with surviving last year and the stuff with Spencer and Mrs. Martinez and – and –” she cut herself off, trying to regain her composure.

“You lost sight of who you were.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly it. Everything I thought I knew was thrown out the window and it’s like I haven’t even had time to recover,” she said, her voice still wavering.

“I did the same thing last year. But you can’t beat yourself up about it. You never in a million years would’ve guessed that this could happen.”

Sienna took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to unravel the tight coil in her chest. “But he was the only thing making coming to work worth it. I like him a lot and I just… told him to wait.”

“If he had a problem with that, he would’ve moved on.”

She glanced up, met with Jackie’s soft expression, sympathetic and kind – so much different than the tough exterior she was used to. “Don’t blame yourself, Sienna. It’ll break you.”

She knew she was right, but the nagging voice at the back of her mind wouldn’t allow her to let it go.

She cracked the book open, flipping to the last page she’d read from, about two-thirds into it. But before she could start reading, Danny stirred.

His hand twitched, his fingers flexing like he was grabbing for something. Without a second thought she grasped his hand between her glove-clad palms, the book clamoring onto the ground.

“Sienna…” he whispered, trying to open his eyes, but they fluttered shut, like a weight pulling at his lashes.

She wanted desperately to see his bright eyes again, to hear him to reassure her that it’d all work out. That she’d be okay. That he’d be okay.

“Hey, I’m here,” she said, lightly squeezing her hand.

He moaned, presumably in pain, wiggling like he couldn’t stay still.

“How bad is your pain on a scale 1-10? I’m gonna count up and you squeeze my hand to stop me, alright?”

He gave a weak tilt of his chin, a single nod the only thing he could muster.

She began counting. “One… two… three…”

Nothing.

She kept counting, feeling a weak squeeze when she said “Nine.”

“I’ve never felt this bad before,” he whispered, Sienna having to lean in to hear him.

“Danny, if it’s a ten, you need to tell me,” she chewed the inside of her lip, already racking her brain for the best pain medicine that wouldn’t react with the mystery poison.

“It’s not at a ten…” He stirred, wincing, managing a weak smile. “Because you’re here with me.”

He sighed, like it took a lot out of him to say two sentences.

“That was so sweet,” she said, glancing up at Jackie, knowing her haunted expression would ruin the moment if she let him see it.

Jackie looked equally as upset, her jaw set, fists clenched at her side.

“Stop it, Dr. Varma… you’ve done –” he took another deep, shuddering breath. “You’ve done so much for me already.”

“So have you. You’re a trooper,” Jackie nodded, looking up at the ceiling. Sienna couldn’t tell if she was trying to hold back tears or keep herself from thinking about it. “Thanks for holding out for us, Danny.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can, though,” he said, gripping Sienna’s hand, opening his eyes unexpectedly.

She shook her head, holding his hand to her chest. “No, don’t think like that. You can hold on for a while longer. I believe in you.”

“Sienna… You’re my favorite person,” he breathed, looking up at her with a spark of life in his eyes, a contrast from the gaunt look of his face. His dark circles gave the allusion that his eyes were sunken in, a skeleton of who he was less than 24 hours ago.

It scared the hell out of her how quickly he changed – and how content he looked with slipping away.

“You have to let them test on me,” he squeezed her hand. “It’ll help.”

“No, you’re gonna be fine –”

“It’s okay,” he reassured her, a soft smile adorning his lips, pale and cracked. “You’ll be okay.”

He craned his neck, trying to hold his head up. Sienna slipped her hand underneath the nape of his neck, supporting him. He tilted his head forward, lightly pressing his damp forehead against her hazmat suit.

She leaned forward, pressing hers against the loose protective fabric, feeling the warmth of his skin through it.

“You can’t go, I – your family hasn’t even gotten to visit you –” She choked, the warm tears dotting the thick plastic screen, streaking down to fall farther into her suit.

“They couldn’t get here in time,” he said, matter-of-factly.

They sat there like that for a while. Her concept of time was thrown out the window as soon as she got the initial page, so it could’ve been ten seconds or ten minutes.

“Thank you for reading to me.”

She laughed, sniffling. “We spent all night talking about Ninradell, so it was only fitting I stayed up all night to read it to you.”

Another little while passed. Talking took so much out of him, that he had to take a few breaks between his speech so he wouldn’t pass out from exhaustion. “Don’t blame yourself,” he said, cutting through the silence. “You couldn’t have stopped this.”

She stared at her hands, clasped around his own, drained of color. He’d closed his eyes, so thankfully he couldn’t see her pained expression.

“I know. I can’t help but feel responsible for everything, even when it’s out of my control… I’m so sorry,” she said, voice breaking for the millionth time. She could barely form words without choking on them.

She cursed herself for not being stronger. Overwhelming emotion was enough to render her speechless, meanwhile Danny was pushing through searing pain in order to leave her with words she’d carry with her forever.

He’d mustered his last bit of energy to tell her to be kind to herself.

The machine behind him beeped. His heart rate had slowed to a crawl, and he was gone before Jackie could spring to action.

And when his hand went limp in between her palms, she let out an inhuman wail that no one, not even Spencer, had heard before.

––––

tags: @saintniceguy ; @part-of-the-circus ; @vandalasal ; @dudebro-lahela ; @averysheart-raleighsdick ; @cptnvers ; @bringing-back-socks-with-sandals ; @la-huerta ; @ironysyndrome ; @anotordinarygoldfish ; @pumpkinbutt ; @browneyedmissy ; @soo-empty ; @anonymous2094 ; @lumpyspaceprincessismybitch ; @lady-stirling ; @papinaveensbitch ; @writinghereandthere ; @unusualvisionsblog ; @beccadavenport ; @messofakind ; @violinet ; @serafinedupont ; @raleiighcarrera ; @pixeljazzy ; @pixelsandkink ; @altairadtaz

#open heart #sienna trinh #danny cardinal #sienna x danny #danny x sienna #my fic #jade writes choices fics #sorry if i normally tag u and forgot !!!#prob need to make a taglist but i am SO inconsistent im sorry #also im sorry if this isn't great LMAO again i wrote this out of rage and pure spite so #like i said hopefully that makes up for it !!!#very nervous ab this one !!!!#tw death #tw loss

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dameintoyland · 4 years ago

Text

Dance for Your Life

AO3: Dance for Your Life

Plot: Barry has to prove he has the dance skills to keep the girl, and maybe save his life. Set between episode 3x3 and 3x4. Pure fluff and humor.

Rating: T/PG-13

Warnings: None that I can think of...maybe some really mild suggestive language and a brief mention of alcohol

“One...two...three!”

The voices of the group quieted as heads tipped back and the golden liquid held in the small glasses disappeared behind lips.

“Ahhh,” Iris sighed loudly as she slammed her shot glass back onto the round table she surrounded along with her friends and family.

The last time they’d gone out like this had been at least two timelines ago. Before Barry had changed the past, under the influence of understandable grief, and then tried to reset his mistake. While he had mostly succeeded, the team was still freshly mending from unanticipated fractures. When Cisco had suggested the night out, they had all jumped at the chance to let loose and hang out as Team Flash again.

Barry caught Iris’ eyes from across the table and flashed her a toothy grin. The one she sometimes liked to imagine that he reserved just for her. Iris returned her own smile.

Barry’s eyes darted quickly to the left and then back to Iris. She looked over her left shoulder to follow Barry’s cue and saw Cisco who had been by her side only a moment ago out on the dance floor doing an odd jerky movement that looked like he was giving the empty space in front of him the heimlich.

Iris turned back to Barry with wide eyes. They stared at each other with identical looks of amusement mixed with dread until something broke and Iris couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling up. Barry responded with his own laugh. After a moment, Iris could see Barry’s lips moving but could barely hear him above the sound of the music. As clubs go, this one wasn’t the loudest, but it still made communication across a table difficult. Iris shook her head and gestured at her ears. Barry seemed to take it as an invitation and walked around the table to her side in the spot previously vacated by Cisco.

He slipped an arm around her waist and leaned down to say something at the same time that Iris turned to face him.

“I said—” he started, his warm breath falling on her face. It smelled minty and she really wanted to lean in to kiss him, Cisco’s dancing a long forgotten memory. It wouldn’t be strange for her to kiss him now that they were dating, but they were also out with her dad and Wally and that was killing some of the mood. Or more appropriately, Barry’s awkwardness around them was killing it.

Barry must have had a similar thought because she tracked the movement of his eyes down to her lips and back up. She could hear him clear his throat just before speaking again, “I said we really have to talk to Cisco about those dance moves.”

“I don’t know. I think the moves work for him.” Barry eyed her skeptically, but Iris pointed to the girl dancing near Cisco watching their friend intently and nodding along to his moves.

“Just to be sure we’re still on the same page, I’m still not allowed to do that at our hypothetical wedding, right?” Barry asked. He raised his brows at her and did a very slow and exaggerated roll of his shoulders and arms.

“Is that the cabbage patch?”

“You know it.”

Iris snorted. “Nice, but to answer your question, not unless you want to be a dead man on our wedding day.” The two of them laughed and Iris leaned back against Barry as they continued to watch their friends. Aside from Cisco flailing on the dance floor; Caitlin was at the bar talking very animatedly to her dad and Harry, the latter throwing menacing glances every few seconds at Wally and Jessie, who were dancing quite closely. Iris suspected there was something between the two of them, but it still seemed pretty tentative.

Barry was swaying them gently as they watched the crowd. Iris bit her lip, wishing that it were her and Barry on the dance floor right now.

“Now that I think about it, we’ve never really danced together.” Barry’s voice cut through her thoughts.

“What?” Iris responded a little incredulously. “Of course, we have!” But she chuckled nervously at the end, doubting her own words the moment they left her lips.

Iris shook her head trying to remember. “We’ve known each other for how many years? I mean, what about prom?”

“Our dates wouldn’t allow it, remember?” Barry replied and Iris quickly recalled the disappointment she’d felt at not getting to dance with her best friend that night. That had always kept it from being the perfect night for her.

“You’re right, but we’ve definitely danced together at a party before.” Iris turned her head and looked up at Barry.

He studied her with a thoughtful gaze for a moment. “Depends on what you count as dancing together. We’ve always been in a group, so never just the two of us. And definitely not that closely.”

Iris frowned and stood up a little straighter. “And we haven’t even danced on a date yet.”

“Nope,” Barry added, shaking his head but otherwise unconcerned.

“We have to remedy this.” Iris stepped away from Barry’s grasp and turned around to face him. She grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the dance floor.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to see your moves Mr. Allen.”

“You’ve seen some,” Barry closed the distance between them and said into her ear.

“Not those moves.” She slapped his arm lightly and dragged him in between Cisco and Wally and Jessie.

Barry stood watching her with an appreciative grin as she moved herself around him to the music. He moved his shoulders somewhat stiffly to the music, but didn’t put in any additional effort. Iris was a little surprised, because she had expected a little better from him. She came close to him and wrapped her arms up around his neck, drawing him into her space and causing him to move with her although he was still tense.

“Come on, Barr,” Iris said over the music. “This is your chance to impress me. Our future, maybe, wedding depends on what you show me right now.”

Iris knew she was breaking rules by talking about a wedding so early in a relationship, but honestly after knowing about the future Iris West Allen and the existence of a happily married Barry and Iris on another Earth, she figured this was one bridge that they had already crossed and could never go back on. She’d known there was no going back the moment she’d told Barry he had someone to come back to when he went to Earth 2—hell, she knew the moment he confessed his feelings to her and she couldn’t stop thinking about him even when she was with someone else. Probably the result of a culmination of all those years of knowing deep down that she’d felt something more for her best friend than just friendship.

They were at the beginning of their relationship but she knew that she was his, he was hers.

Barry swallowed thickly, and looked up quickly before looking back down at Iris. “It’s a little crowded here, don’t you think?”

Iris frowned. They were on the edge of the dance floor with plenty of space between them and the next person, maybe with the exception of their friends. Cisco was still gyrating wildly behind them, occasionally throwing Barry a thumbs up. Though now he was joined by Caitlin who was doing her best to keep up. Wally and Jessie were still stuck in their own world, although dancing a little further apart. Iris realized it was probably the presence of both Harry and her dad near the edge of the dance floor that threw cold water on the young lovebirds’ private dance party.

Then it dawned on Iris, that maybe Barry felt awkward dancing with her in front of everyone...and by everyone she knew it was her father. She really needed to talk to Barry about it, especially since he was staying at her dad’s house. Iris glanced over at her dad and he seemed more amused at the scene than judgemental, but Iris was not going to let Barry’s misplaced chivalry get in the way of her fun. She had a question that needed answering and as an investigative journalist it was her duty to pursue all sources. So Iris dropped her hands to Barry’s and pulled him further into the crowd.

Iris found an open spot in the middle of the dance floor, tucked away from the eyes of their family and friends. Coloured lights flashed around them, lighting their skin. The privacy seemed to be working, because Barry had come out of his shell. He spun Iris to face away from him and circled his arms around her. Barry swayed her gently to the beat, leading her through the deep bass and intense melody of the song. Their bodies pressed together so that Iris could feel the warmth radiating off of him.

Iris lost herself to the music and the feeling of being surrounded by Barry. Her question of his dance skills long since answered. She wondered why exactly they had never danced together like this before.

They continued to dance in their own little bubble for several more songs, still hidden in the crowd. Iris turned around in Barry’s arms and smiled up at him, she stood up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding your dancing skills from me this entire time.”

“To be fair, I don��t think I’ve ever danced like this with anyone else in my life,” he responded.

“Really, what changed?” Iris asked, running a hand across the back of his neck.

Barry gave her a roguish grin and spun her wide, before pulling her back and dipping her low. He pulled her back in and bent down to speak into her ear. “Well, I can’t be a dead man at my own wedding, can I?”

#westallenalphabet #westallen #d #is for dancing #barry allen x iris west

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