#people acting like he hard launched her this weekend like he was just seen with her a couple of times | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jazy3 · 3 years ago

Text

Free Guy Review

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

If you haven’t seen the movie Free Guy (2021) stop reading right now! Drop what you’re doing and go get yourself a ticket! You’ll thank me later!

I loved this movie! I saw it this weekend for the second time because it’s that good! I first saw the trailer on YouTube a while back and then when theatres reopened a few weeks ago I saw the trailer again and my interest was piqued. I had high hopes for this movie based on the fun looking trailer, the premise, the cast, and the sense of fun and escapism that the movie seemed to embody and it did not disappoint. It’s always nice when you have high hopes for something and it meets or exceeds your expectations.

Free Guy is just such a fun and joyous movie. Never taking itself too seriously, packed with lots of heart, cool cameos, full of gaming and pop culture references, and it’s fueled by a unique concept that is well executed. There are just so many things I loved about this movie! It was a ton of fun to watch and the actors clearly had a blast making it. During the movie I kept trying to figure out where I knew most of the actors from but couldn’t place them. When I got home, I googled it and I instantly realized why. The roles are just so different and the actors embody their characters so completely you lose yourself in the film and get completely sucked in. I was honestly so surprised when I figured out what I knew most of the actors from because the roles that they’re known for are so different from their characters in the movie. Their appearances, established ages, and even the accents are so different that I literally did a double take, but that’s what makes the movie so good! Because the main actors obviously didn’t need the paycheque they were just there to have fun and it shows. I think if the situation had been different and the actors involved had been desperate for money or took the role for some other reason it wouldn’t have worked. The film would have come off as cheesy, forced, cringeworthy, or just plain bad. Free Guy is none of those things. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as ‘Guy’ a bank teller in a video game called Free City, Jodie Comer whose best known for playing Villanelle in Killing Eve as programmer Millie Rusk and her avatar Molotov Girl, Joe Keery whose best known for playing Steve Harrington in Stranger Things as programmer Walter ‘Keys’ McKey, and Taika Waititi whose best known for playing Viago in What We Do in the Shadows as the Head of Soonami Studios and the film’s main antagonist and villain Antwan. Rounding out the cast are Utkarsh Ambudka as programmer Mouser and Lil Rel Howery as Guy’s best friend and bank security guard Buddy. In a nutshell, Free Guy is about a bank teller named Guy who finds out he’s a non-playable background character (NPC) in an open-world Grand Theft Auto style video game called Free City. Guy becomes the hero of his own story after meeting Millie, the girl of his dreams, and winning fans all over the world by racking up points by being the good guy and helping others. After leveling up and helping Millie escape a dangerous situation in the game, Guy wins her over and she falls for him thinking that he’s another player. But when the world that Guy knows and all of the people in it are threatened, he teams up with Millie to save his friends before it’s too late. In the real world, Millie enlists the help of her former programming partner and best friend Keys in a race against time to stop their code and all of the sentient characters from Free City from being deleted by Antwan the developer who stole their code when the game’s sequel launches. I love that the movie had a unique premise and didn’t overcomplicate things. There are so many movies that I’ve gone to see over the last few years with such excitement only to be disappointed. For example, I loved Wreck It Ralph, but was so disappointed by its sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet. The trailers made it seem like it would take the premise of the first movie and move things into the online gaming world, and I was excited for that. Instead, the sequel left the premise of the first movie behind entirely and way over complicated the plot and the end result was extremely cheesy and disappointing. Free Guy’s strength is that it’s a self-aware movie made by self-aware people who are excellent at what they do. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, nor should it, and that allows the story to flow and the characters to feel real and genuine. The movie achieves that perfect balance between being entertaining and telling a cohesive and important story because while the movie never takes itself too seriously the people behind it are serious about what they do. This was very clearly a passion project for all involved, especially Ryan Reynolds, and it shows! As he’s spoken about in interviews and on Twitter, Reynolds called on a lot of his friends to be in Free Guy and help him out and the end result was fantastic! I loved all of the cameos! The Chris Evans cameo was by far the funniest and the Alex Trebek cameo got me right in the feels. When I saw the movie in theatres me and everyone else in the theatre gave a collective “awww” when he appeared on screen. Enlisting real YouTubers to show up as fictional versions of themselves to talk about Blue Shirt Guy’s popularity was a nice touch and you’ve also got blink and you miss it voice cameos by John Krasinski, Dwyane The Rock Johnson, Hugh Jackman, and Tina Fey. Channing Tatum appears as the avatar of player Revenjamin Buttons which for the most part was hilarious. One of my few criticisms of the film is that they went a bit overboard the avatar’s antics as Guy and Buddy are attempting to leave and it got bit a cringeworthy. But I know other people found it hilarious so to each their own. I love all of the little details and references in the movie. Just listing them all would be a post in itself. If you’re someone that loves pop culture references and Easter Eggs this is the movie for you. The characters are fun and believable, and you get attached to them quickly. The actors commit completely to their roles which is makes the humour, romance, and heartfelt emotion of the film work. You buy it. 100%. Something that I absolutely loved was that the characters felt realistic and that the dialogue, attire, and settings for each character really felt authentic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a movie or TV show and walked away thinking, “The person who wrote that clearly never meet a kid, teenager, or twenty something in their life! That was so unrealistic.” The slang’s all wrong. The dialogue is so eloquent everyone sounds like they did Shakespeare in the Park last summer. You walk away thinking, “What the hell was that? No one talks that way!” What I loved about the characters in Free Guy is that they felt like real people you could actually run into or walk past on the street. I’ve read in interviews that in addition to the written dialogue the cast did a lot of ad-libbing and improvisation and the end result is both hilarious and relatable. The dialogue feels real because it is. The big exception to this of course is Antwan who is altogether off the wall and ridiculous. Antwan is such an outrageous, absurd, vulgar, and cartoonish character. He’s so fun to watch and the actors clearly had a lot of fun with his scenes! I’ve read that a lot of his lines with Keys and Mouser were improvised and I believe it. When he goes all Jack Nicholson on the servers? Lord. He’s such a great villain to watch. The characters that are established to be in their twenties like Millie, Keys, Mouser, and the other employees at Soonami Studios talk, act, and dress like they’re in their twenties. The actors that are in their forties are styled to look like they’re in their thirties and honestly, they’re in such great shape it works! I mean I was honestly shocked to find out Taika Waititi’s real age. I love how the costuming really fits each character and allows you to learn more about them. Keys’ clothing is your typical gamer chic which makes because as we learn from his interview with Millie coding is his life and what gets him up in the morning. From Mouser’s clothing we learn that he’s a sports fan, but also isn’t afraid to take risks like with that blazer ensemble he wears in his final scene at Millie’s apartment.

Millie’s clothing shows the contrast between her and her avatar Molotov Girl, and Antwan’s ridiculous coat enhances the overall wackiness of his character. Guy’s clothing tells us something too. He wears the same thing every day until he meets Millie in the game at which point, he starts deviated from his Free City programming and chooses a different blue shirt. I also really love that they put thought into why Keys needs to wear glasses. Something I noticed on rewatch is that Keys is far sighted which is why he has his glasses on when he’s looking at his laptop or computer and sometimes when’s talking to other people, but not when he goes to see Millie at her apartment or when he goes to get them coffee at the end of the movie. Another interesting aspect of Keys’ character that I noticed on rewatch is self-confidence is really something he struggles with in contrast to Millie and Mouser who are very confident. Millie is a genius programmer and Mouser is excellent at what he does, and they are both very confident in their coding abilities, but Keys isn’t despite being every bit the genius that Millie is. At the beginning of the movie when they first notice the issue with Guy Mouser jokes that Keys needs to be better at his job. In response Keys meekly says he thinks he’s pretty good at his job and trails off at the end. Mouser is just joking around, but because Keys lacks self-confidence comments like that hit him hard. Mouser is moving towards his own desk as he talks so he doesn’t notice how self-deprecating and uneasy Keys’ response is. In the interview from the indie games conference that Millie plays for Keys at his apartment, he brushes off the interviewers comment that he’s a genius and says Millie is the real genius because she created the AI engine and he just wrote the code to make it work. Later on, when Keys helps Millie get into the stash house, she calls him a genius and he tells her that as he’s currently sitting on a toilet stealing user code he doesn’t exactly feel like one. Millie responds offhandedly that he never does, but luckily, she knows better. When Keys realizes that Millie was right, and that Antwan did steal their code and their game worked he tells Millie they need to celebrate because once everyone sees their build she’ll be celebrated and she could win a noble prize. Both Millie and Keys are geniuses in their own right. The game wouldn’t have worked without both of their skills and Guy wouldn’t have come to life without both of them working together. Millie’s AI engine made his sentience possible, but Keys is the one who gave him hopes and dreams so that when he met Millie in the game, he came alive. When done right the settings we see tell the story just as much as the characters do and I love how realistic the settings in Free Guy look. The floor at Soonami Studios where Keys and Mouser work looks like a real office and I love that the desks have clutter and personal effects on them like real cubicles do and that they show Keys taking a box of his stuff with him as he leaves. The lobby with the moving water videos and Antwan’s massive but largely empty office fits perfectly with the obnoxious, zany, and over the top character that he is. I also love the contrast between Keys and Millie’s apartments and how those settings tell us a lot about each character and where they are in their lives when the film starts. When Keys comes home from work to find that Millie has broken in, we see that he lives in a stylish one bedroom apartment with an open concept kitchen full of stainless steel appliances, a large living room centred around an expensive wall mounted TV and entertainment system, with his computer and gaming station set up in the corner. On the walls we see artful clusters of black picture frames, through a partially open door we see a bedroom off to the side, the apartment is full of black and white furniture including a plush couch and nice lamps, and features a textured silver accent wall. All of which makes the fact that Millie managed to break in even more impressive because it is clearly an expensive apartment in a nice building. Keys’ style is minimalist and upper scale and based on what we learn about the events that took place before the start of the movie this indicates that Keys got the apartment and all of the nice stuff in it using the money he received when Antwan bought his and Millie’s game. In contrast, Millie lives in a bachelor apartment and spends her time in coffee shops ordering one single black coffee over four hours. This tells us that she kept her original apartment that she had from before the game was sold and is living off the money she got from the sale while she spends all of her time trying to find the proof she needs to win her lawsuit. When we see Millie’s place, we find that it’s cozy, full of plants, throw rugs, quilts, and comfy furniture. She’s got a bike in the corner, you can see her bed from the centre of the room where she’s got her computer and gaming station set up adjacent to the coffee table and the rest of the living room furniture. Her kitchen is smaller and full of wooden cabinets and her bathroom door has DIY multicoloured square panels on it. Keys and Millie’s apartments are very different and through these settings we see the contrast between where these characters are in their lives, their wealth, and their personal style. The song ‘Fantasy’ by Mariah Carey is featured heavily in the film and is guaranteed to get stuck in your head in the best way! Jodie Comer’s cover of it is amazing! It fits the moment where Guy makes it to the island that is Millie and Keys’ original build and shows it to the world perfectly. This movie made me appreciate Mariah Carey’s music in a whole new way and I can’t be the only way. After watching the movie, I went looking for the song on Apple Music, wound up listening to the Mariah Carey Essentials Playlist, and I’ve become obsessed. I knew some of her hits, but after listening to her music more I get why people love her so much. Her five octave vocal range is amazing, and her music is just so fun to listen to. The film has a really great soundtrack overall and I’ve had many of its song on repeat since I saw it. Something I really loved about this movie and the reveal at the end that Keys is in love with Millie and is desperate for her to notice, but she’s been oblivious the whole time is that they don’t do the supposedly nice nerdy guy whose really a jerk trope. So many movies do this where you have a nerdy male character whose unluckily love, looked over, or his love is unrequited, and we’re supposed to root for him because he’s a quote “nice guy”. But really, he’s not. He’s a jerk who feels slighted because a woman in his life doesn’t love him back or notice him and he feels as if she owes him something. The scene at Millie’s place where Millie tells Keys he looks cute when he brags, and Mouser encourages him to tell Millie how he feels is super frustrating to watch but it’s so important to Keys’ character. He asks Millie out for coffee and when she turns him down to jump back into the game, he doesn’t make a big deal about it even though Mouser wants him to. Instead he gets up and goes and gets her a coffee anyway. She goes to tell him her order, oblivious to the fact that he’s memorized it, he tells her he remembers, and goes to get the coffee anyway much to Mouser’s and the audience’s dismay. This is big because Keys clearly doesn’t want to be walking down the street by himself to get coffee. He wants to be getting coffee with Millie so that he can tell her how he feels to see if she might feel the same way, but when she turns him down he goes and gets the coffee anyway because he truly loves and cares about her and he values their friendship enough to put his own feelings aside and suffer in silence rather than lose her and what they’ve built. So, he takes the opportunity to get some air rather than continue to sit there in disappointment. Which is why he’s so confused when Millie runs after him and calls out to him from across the street. He doesn’t understand what she’s doing there. She turned down his offer to get a coffee and he already knows her order so why is she there? I love that they chose to make that scene non-verbal. I think if Millie had come out and made some big declaration of love it would have felt cheesy and overdone. But her running after him and silently communicating through her smile and body language that she understood and that she felt the same way was perfect. It was subtle and beautiful and perfectly acted. It also felt realistic to the characters because in real life when you’ve known someone a really long time and you’ve spent a lot of time with them you don’t always need words to convey what you mean. What Millie wanted to express in that scene was so big and so all-encompassing she couldn’t find the words to say everything that she wanted to say so she didn’t. She just stood there and smiled knowing that being the genius that he is he would understand. It’s like Keys says in their interview, words will fail you, but code never does. His coding worked and now she understands so rather than try and say it all and fail she just looks at him and smiles to show him that she finally gets it. She finally understands what he’s been trying to say to her all this time. And you can see the exact moment Keys realizes why she’s there. The moment where he goes from being confused as to what she wants to realizing that she saw the video and she knows how he feels and that she wouldn’t be standing there smiling at him like that if she didn’t feel the same way. When I watched the scene the first time around, I was anxiously clutching my nachos the entire time because when Keys ran towards her my immediate thought was, “Oh my god he’s gonna get hit by a car and they’re never gonna get to be together! Oh my god!” But then he didn’t get hit by a car and Millie ran out to meet him and for the first time in their relationship she met him halfway and they kissed and it was beautiful! I think because Free City had so much violence in it that’s where my mind went and I’m very glad they didn’t go that route. One of my only criticisms about the movie is that I wish they had stayed on Millie and Keys just a little bit longer. They kiss and embrace and then very quickly they cut to black. I wish they’d linger on that moment just a little bit longer because I love those characters so much and in the scene that follows where Guy and Buddy are reunited we see them hug and then walk away together to start their new lives and I wish we’d gotten just a bit more time with Millie and Keys. I also really loved the parallel between the different kinds of relationships within the movie and how platonic relationships are just as important as romantic ones. The reveal at the end about Guy being Keys’ creation and a love letter to Millie and her realizing she’s been loving Keys vicariously through Guy and them finally coming together and being on the same page is beautiful because from the very beginning the movie is full of clues, hints, and foreshadowing that all comes together at the end. Meanwhile, we see the friendship between Guy and Buddy and how important that friendship is to him because it’s something that he created on his own. His love for Millie is born out of the programming that Keys gave him, but his friendship with Buddy is something that Guy created all on his own of his own volition. Which is part of what makes Buddy’s death on the bridge so tragic. I cried when Buddy disappeared. Reynolds and Howery play their characters with such sincerity that his death pacts an emotional punch you don’t expect. I love that the security guards at Soonami are so moved by Buddy’s heroism and are so captivated by what’s happening with the live stream that Millie is able to sneak past them into the server room and stop Antwan from destroying what’s left of the game. Something else I noticed on rewatch is that during the final battle after Millie gets booted from the game and Guy has to fight Dude on his own the glasses he’s wearing are very similar to the ones Keys wears in the movie which I thought was a cool nod to Guy being Keys’ creation. This really is a movie in which you find something new every time you watch it. For instance, the second time around I noticed that the foreshadowing that Keys is in love with Millie, but she’s oblivious to it because she’s so focused on the game was really well done. In the video from the indie game conference that Millie plays for Keys at his apartment when asked by the interviewer about their chemistry Millie responds first and says that their friends, their relationship is completely platonic, and laughs off the idea that they have chemistry. In contrast Keys falters and is silent and then eventually says meekly that they’re just friends. Millie is looking ahead at the interviewer and to the side away from Keys as she’s laughing and so she doesn’t see Keys’ reaction. At the end of the apartment scene after Millie breaks in to ask Keys for his help, he tells Millie he cares about her and he almost says something else. It feels like he’s about to say, ‘I love you’ but then he catches himself and instead tells her that she needs to leave. When Keys visits Millie’s apartment to tell her that she was right and they’re sitting on the couch he reaches out and puts his hand on her knee and then snatches it back when he realizes he’s gotten too close. He wants so desperately to be closer to her and in his excitement, he gets closer than he normally would before realizing that putting his hand on her knee in that close proximity is not a platonic gesture. Millie is so caught up in the realization that Guy, the person she’s fallen in love with, is an AI and not a real person that she doesn’t notice. My heart broke for Keys in that scene as he realized that Millie had fallen for Guy and kissed him and was so upset about it and meanwhile, he was right in front of her desperate for her to see how much he cares. It must have just wrecked him to go home that night and realize that Guy was based on the lovelorn character he created and that Millie had fallen in love with his creation while at the same time being so oblivious to his real world affection for her. In the scene at Millie’s apartment after they’ve gotten the server from Antwan and Mouser encourages Keys to say something, I noticed on rewatch just how weak and meager Keys’ attempt to ask Millie out is. He stumbles his way through asking her to get a coffee and trails off at the end so it’s no wonder Millie doesn’t clue in that he’s trying to ask her out. And in Keys’ defence he sent her a whole video confessing his feelings for her and all of the little things he loves about her and then told her to watch it and he has no idea if she did or not. We the audience know that Millie only saw half of it, but Keys has no idea if she saw none of it, part of it, or all of it. He knows she got Guy to remember, but she’s also sending him mixed messages. One minute she’s saying he’s cute when he brags and the next, she’s turning him down for coffee to talk to Guy. From the outside it’s so obvious that Keys is in love with Millie, but she doesn’t see it because she’s always looking the other way, not paying attention, so caught up in the game, and too focused on their work to see what’s right in front of her. On rewatch one of the big things I noticed is that Keys is always on the edge of telling Millie how he really feels but he always stops himself because she brushes him or the idea off and because he’s scared of what will become of their work and their friendship if she doesn’t feel the same way. It’s a huge leap. If Millie doesn’t feel the same way it’s going to make their relationship incredibly awkward and could potentially destroy their partnership so Keys decides it’s better not to say anything or only hint at how he feels rather than run the risk of ruining everything. Something else I noticed on rewatch is that in the interview they give Keys says he thinks of himself as an author and that code is what gets him up in the morning and that he loves the ones and zeros of binary because words can fail you and let you down but code never does. At the end of the movie when Millie goes to talk to Guy in Free Life he tells her that he loves her and while he knows that’s his programming he’s realized that he’s a love letter to her and that somewhere out there in the real world is the author. Such a great callback. All in all, I can definitely say that Free Guy has been my favourite movie so far this year! Definitely my favourite movie of the summer. I went to see it twice in theatres and I’ve never done that for any other movie before. I’ll rewatch them at home sure, but I’ve never actually paid money to see something twice on my own. I’m very excited to see the sequel and my hope is that it will be just as good as the first. Until next time.

99 notes · View notes

starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years ago

Text

HASO, “The Harbinger.”

It was nice to finally write this piece, and sorry for not posting for the last two days. With my work schedule, weekends for me sometimes fall in the middle of the week.

Hope you all have a great day!

“This is going to be a disaster.”

Overhead the UN flag snapped in the wind desperately trying to cool their bodies from the beating Sun.

“So you say, but I disagree.” She glanced down at the crew roster in her hands, “The boy really did his research, asked for people specifically, all the way down to the marines. A lot of them crewed the original enterprise. If this were a deck of cards I would say he has a royal flush.”

The other Admiral grunted but didn’t argue with her.

The man had never personally be into space, never even visited mars, so he didn’t pretend to know more than she did, while simultaneously being skeptical. She could deal with that, but at least he respected her enough to have trusted her decision.

Together they stood on the tarmac of the launch field.

The new ship wasn’t there as it had been built completely off-earth at Europa station considering how massive the ship was and how unwieldy the thing would have been in atmosphere. However, someone had taken the time to throw up some projectors, showing the view at Europa station as the last finishing touches were added, and cargo was loaded into her hull.

Across the Tarmac, they watched as Captain Vir stepped from UNSC headquarters and out onto the pavement. If the boy had any more bounce in his step he might as well have been skipping as he made his way up to the lectern and sat just off to the side on a metal folding chair. There were still other speeches to be given, those being the UN president, a few other major officials, and a broadcast by the GA, who were very pleased with their decision despite continuous grumbling by UNSC officers who still thought the boy was going to screw it all up.

The other admiral turned his head to look at her, “just look at him, he’s like a puppy, probably gonna piss all over himself with excitement.”

Admiral Kelly looked over to where he was sitting, on the edge of his folding chair, hands casper before him and one leg bouncing like a jackhammer against the pavement. There WAS something surprisingly doglike about him, “Oh give him a chance. I was just as excited as he was to fly my first mission, the difference was I didn’t show it. You can hardly blame a man for wearing his heart on his sleeve.” “More like smack in the middle of his forehead.”

“Give him a chance.”

He glanced over at her, “You’re fond of him.”

“He makes it easy to be fond of him.”

The UNp resident finished with his speech and stepped down from the lectern.

“Oh here we go, what is it gonna be, a cheesy joke and a Star Wars reference.”

She glanced at him from over her shoulder, “how do you know about star wars?”

He blushed only slightly, “I have a son who is into that old vintage stuff.”

“Mmmmm Hmmm.” She said pointedly before turning back to Captain Vir as he stood from his seat. She watched as he took a deep breath to calm himself, and then walked slowly up to the lectern his back straight, his expression serious

She smiled as she watched her friend’s eyebrow raise in surprise.

“Just over a year ago I sat in a VA hospital wondering if I was ever going to walk again, Eight months ago, I wondered if I was going to survive, six months ago I wondered if I would ever fully recover, and one week ago I wondered what kind of drugs the brass was smoking to offer me this job.” He smiled slightly as the crowd laughed, “All joking aside, I am privileged and honored to have been chosen. I know there has been a lot of controversy behind my appointment to this position, and Ithink Admiral kelly especially for her faith in me. I am not going to delude myself into thinking I can make any promises about whether or not I will succeed, but I can promise that I will do my best, which is as much as any man can promise considering such uncertain circumstances.”

He glanced down at his papers as the wind tugged at his cap, “As we speak the last cargo is being loaded onto my ship in preparation for our first deployment into the stars. I have thought long and hard in preparation, and for a proper name for the ship that will help usher in a new age of cooperation and companionship between us and extraterrestrial life. Sleepless nights, hours with the Oxford dictionary, and plenty of inappropriate suggestions from family members…” He paused there to allow a light chuckle from the crowd, “Hours and hours of thought and planning,...” he paused smiling ruefully, “I actually found the perfect word while out with my dad searching for new tractor parts. You know how these companies are, they have to make their tractor parts sound really manly or they’re worried we won’t buy them.” There was another slight chuckle from the crowd, “Anyway, the word I found means ‘ something that comes before and that shows what will follow in the future, a herald, a precursor or a forerunner. The word I chose and the name that my ship will take is Harbinger, a herald of things to come, the forerunner of humanity’s expansion into the stars and our alliance with alien races. She will be a harbinger, but a harbinger of good things to come. The crew of the harbinger will uphold all the values and oaths of the UNSC, protect, when others cannot, sacrifice when others will not, and fight when others actively rise against those that we protect.”

He went quiet as the un flag snapped behind him in the breeze.

“I give my soul to this endeavor with every fiber of my being, and I ask for my crew to do the same.”

***

Europa station 1200 hours EST

UNSC identification badges must be worn at all times.

“Now remember, she’s got six main engines, the back one is the most powerful but make sure to use your left and right for maneuvering to keep power. Never fire the warp core andt the engines at the same time unless you want to end up a thousand light years away and by all that is holy try very hard not to initiate that shatter sequence if you can help it.” Europa station director, and lead commander on the build team led him across the open deck and towards the open cargo ramp.

Adam’s eyes were wide, stuck open with awe as they approached the ship. He had seen her only once in her full glory, having asked the shuttle to take a quick tour around the Europa station so he could get a good look at her where she was docked

By all rights she was as aesthetically pleasing as a cinder block, but he thought she was beautiful all the same.

The man pulled him to a halt waving over another figure who had, up till that point, been busy shouting orders to a group of grey jumpsuits people who scrambled to do her bidding.

She stopped yelling at them long enough to turn and walk over.

“Captain, I would like to introduce you to your Chief Engineering officer Narobi. She knows everything there is to know about this ship. If she so much as suspects something might go wrong, you listen to her, no dumbass macho man act, and no blowing her off because she's probably more important than you will be when it comes to keeping this beauty in the air.”

She was tall just an inch or two shorter than him with dark skin and hard brown eyes. She wore one of those grey jumpsuits of the other engineers, but had wrapped a bright orange and red scarf around her head, tied up in a decorative knot. She was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen though the look on her face made it very clear that she wasn’t the type to hold such things at a high priority. Looking into her cold hard eyes he had no doubt that she was ready and willing to brain him with a pipe if he ever deserved it.

Adam held out a hand to her, “A pleasure to meet you-”

She took his hand, her grip as a calloused vice against his. He hadn’t expected that and grimaced as her fingers crushed his, she leaned in very close, “You see that ship right there, captain.”

He squeaked out a response, suddenly afraid for the safety of his bones.

“That right there, that ship, is mine. You may pilot my ship, and I will even allow you to talk about her like she’s yours, but at the end of the day she is mine. I take care of her, I fix her when she is sick and I keep her in the air. You treat MY ship well and we won’t have any problems.”

She squeezed again just a little harder before letting go, and he took back his hand waving it slightly to disperse the apin, “Got it, she is your baby.” He grinned at her, “Strong grip you have there, though I’d like to keep my hands for flying next time if that’s cool.”

His smile seemed to throw her off guard and she frowned slightly, “I…. I’m sorry I was sort of expecting….”

“Some raging asshole on a power trip….?”

“Something like that.”

“It’s ok, I get it.” he flexed his fingers and waved at her as he was carted off. She stared after him eyes narrowed slightly and a look of confusion on her face .

That boy is either a real idiot or a scapegoat for the UNSC who thinks he’s going to fail

Adam stepped onto the ramp before him and headed up into the interior of the ship wide eyed like a child and bouncing with excitement. When he reached the top of the ramp he looked around watching as men and women hurried to stow cargo and do last minute checkers to see if everything was strapped down.

Turning he found a group of marines standing in one corner receiving orders on how to help. One of the marines turned, and they locked eyes.

The marine’s face was split with a matching grin, and he broke formation to race across the floor. Adam did the same, and by the end they had the entire cargo hold’s attention as they met in an embrace each of them trying to squeeze the life out of the other. Eventually Adam used his superior height to pick up the other marine and spin him around once before setting him down.

“I knew you loved me but I didn’t know it was that much.:”

Adam grinned, “ramirez you son of a bitch. I missed you.”

“I can hardly blame you.” He winked a grin splitting his handsome face, “Last time I saw you, you were on a shuttle to Anin.” His smile died slightly, “I heard about what happened, I’m sorry to hear….” He glanced down at Adam’s leg before a smile lit up his face again, “On the brightside, you’re a cyborg now, can I see?”

Adam was surprised, not entirely used to people being so bold about wanting to see the prosthetic but, well it made him feel better, and he liked the idea of being a cyborg, so he pulled up his pant leg to give the marine a good look.

“Damn! How far does that go?”

“Buy me dinner and find out.”

The marine looked up, grinned and laughed, “Wow look at you. Not even blushing either you raging prude.”

“I only blush when I’m attracted to people.”

“Ouch, rude.”

Adam grinned and patted Ramirez on the shoulder, “I am glad you took my offer.”

“Glad to receive it. They’ve had me sitting on my ass over at fort Georga for the past year, and man being a marine is a lot less fun when you aren’t out being abducted by aliens.”

“That I can understand. Anyway, I gotta get up to the bridge, but I’ll catch up with you later, alright.”

“Later then.” The marine jogged off and he turned back to see some of the officers staring at him. He just shrugged, smiled and allowed them to lead him up and onto the bridge. The moment he stepped in was like, like nothing he could have ever dreamed. The station was facing towards jupiter, and glowing light from her swirling surface filtered in on the command center seats, and the captain’s chair was placed high above it.

It took every fiber of his being not to jump up and down squealing like a child. Even so he couldnt stop the stupid little dance that led him over to the chair. He could still sense the others staring at him, but he didn’t much care, sliding into the seat and feeling a warm rush of pure joy shooting through him like fire.

He leaned back in his seat.

Then he reached into the little pocket at the front fo his uniform and pulled out the small notebook there.

“Preflight!”

The officers hurried to their stations, and watching them rush at his words sent another thrill through him.

Engines

Warp core

Crew

Cargo

He rubbed his hands as they were almost done, “And one last and most important part of the preflight.”

They all turned to look at him, as he scrolled through his downloaded playlist, “You can’t just launch a ship without some epic tunes. My life didn’t come with a preset soundtrack so I guess I have to make my own.” They stared at him, but he just grinned and turned on his pre picked music selection. It had been difficult to chose, but he had finally made a decision.

The crew shifted almost nervously as they looked back and forth between each other unsure if they wanted to be a crew under this lunatic.

Adam engaged the microphone for the rest of the ship, “Alright Ladies, gentlemen and…. marines , welcome to the Harbinger, please keep your hands and feet inside the car for the duration of the trip, don’t throw marshmallows at neutron stars and no playing golf out the airlock. Next destination, Andromeda.” He let go of the announcement button and sat back in his seat.

“Harbinger ready for launch in Ten…” He engaged the countdown, and the crew rushed to their positions. He felt the rumbling of the engines as they engaged below him, and took control of the manual drive as the ankers were disengaged from his ship. There was a sharp thud as they disengaged from the airlock.

He slowly adjusted their rotating engines.

The ships engines fired, and he took control of the ship, gently maneuvering her away from Europa with all the skill and finesse of an eagle riding an updraft.

He pressed the button to call down to the engine room.

“Captain Vir calling for report.”

Nairobi’s voice came over the intercom, “She’s practically singing, Captain.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

He let the com drop, “Engage warp core.”

Europa station was already receding into the backdrop against the massive glowing orb of jupiter.”

“How far?”

“Safe warp distance approaching in in ten…”

He flipped up the switch on his chair, and waited for the count.

Their navigator turned to look at him and gave a thumbs up. At that moment he shut off the engines, and flipped the switch for warp following the targeting directory and input.

The entire crew braced themselves for warp, many of them remembering what it had felt like the first time.

Luckily for them it was a long warp, so it wouldn’t be so instantaneous.

Adam’s eyes went wide as he watched the stars bend around them. His teeth flashed white.

He had a good feeling about this.

235 notes · View notes

schrijverr · 3 years ago

Text

The Fear of God... Or Auntie in this Case

5 Times Midoriya and Bakugo Mentioned their Auntie & 1 Time Everyone Met Them

Bakugo and Midoriya are childhood friends, while they don't always act like it, they have their moments where it's undeniable.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none, but tell me if I missed any!

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

Midoriya was in the kitchen with Iida and Uraraka drinking something after hero classes. They had fought other classmates and Midoriya had gotten his ass handed by Bakugo, who had perfected a new ultimate move.

Bakugo entered the kitchen and Midoriya smiled and waved: “Hi, Kacchan!”

“What was that pitiful performance today, Deku?” Bakugo spat as greeting, “If this is your best, I’ll be the No. 1 hero unopposed easily. It was pathetic.”

“I will work hard and beat you next time, Kacchan!” Midoriya was unbothered by Bakugo’s harshness, “Your new move was effective, but not unbeatable. I’ll get you next time.”

“You’d better try, don’t need more extra’s in my life,” Bakugo huffed.

To anyone else it would seem like an insult, but Midoriya only heard that so far he wasn’t considered an extra, which was high praise from Bakugo. So, he just smiled: “I’ll try. Also mom wants to know what you want to eat next Friday.”

“Tell her to make her super spicy curry,” Bakugo replied.

“But it’s so hot,” Midoriya whined.

“You can take it, I’ve seen you eat it without blinking before, Deku,” he huffed, “Besides, we ate katsudon last time, you don’t get to complain.”

Midoriya’s smile returned at that and he agreed: “That’s true, I’ll text her.”

“You’re eating together on the weekend you get to go home?” Uraraka asked from where she and Iida had followed the conversation from the sidelines.

“Huh, yeah, why wouldn’t we?” Midoriya said confused.

“Oh, you just don’t seem to like each other very much, that’s all,” Uraraka squeaked.

“What do you know, round-face,” Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.

“Don’t be rude, Kacchan,” Midoriya scolded.

“Their fault for being stupid,” Bakugo shrugged then walked off, while Midoriya rolled his eyes at his actions.

When Bakugo hadleft he turned back to Iida and Uraraka and explained: “It’s a bit of a tradition to eat together on Fridays. Our moms used to be very close and Kacchan’s parents would work late on Fridays, so mom would get me and Kacchan from school and we’d eat together, because Kacchan’s parents would be home late and that way they didn’t have to cook. In return they would bring me to school on Monday mornings when my mom had to work.”

“And why are still doing it?” Uraraka asked, “Not to be rude, I just don’t get it, since you’re always fighting.”

“Ah, well, we didn’t do it in Middle School anymore, but when we both got into UA mom and auntie picked up contact again and she wanted to see me too when we got back from the dorms and mom had the same with Kacchan, so we started again,” Midoriya told her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“And you’re okay with that?”

“What?” Midoriya stuttered.

“Uraraka, don’t be intrusive, it’s unbecoming of a hero to pry into other people’s business,” Iida was seemingly back online and in scolding mode.

“Ah, sorry,” she quickly apologized.

“Don’t worry, Uraraka!” Midoriya smiled, “I guess it was weird at first, but me and Kacchan have known each other since before we could walk. We’re good now.”

And with that Midoriya left, not noticing that both Iida and Uraraka had difficulty wrapping their heads around the fact that despite everything, Midoriya and Bakugo still shared a close bond that included eating dinner with the other’s parents regularly.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t known they were childhood friends, but with how they could be around each other and how their relationship had been at the start of the year, it was sometimes hard to connect that to their classmates.

However, the dorms were shedding more light on the vast amount of time the two had spend together throughout their life.

Another instance like this happened a few weeks later. Midoriya had worked till late the day before and wasn’t up by the time most were already eating their breakfast.

Bakugo entered the kitchen and asked: “Where’s Deku? That dumbass is usually here way too early, did he already leave of something?”

Tsu said: “He went to bed late last night, I think he’s still in bed, kero.”

“Stupid,” Bakugo huffed, before grabbing a bowl, pan and some ingredients, apparently done with the topic and starting breakfast for himself.

He was plating the final pancake, everyone confused why he’d made two plates, when Midoriya stumbled into the kitchen, his uniform looking a mess as he wrestled with his hair. As he walked, he noticed the plate and his eyes lit up: “Pancakes!”

“Don’t ruin them with that stupid syrup,” Bakugo only replied as if it was completely normal that he made breakfast for Midoriya when the boy was running late.

“Syrup doesn’t ruin them, you with your boring only butter just don’t know taste,” he stuck out his tongue, swiping one of the plates.

“Oi, I can take those back, Deku,” Bakugo threatened.

“Sorry, Kacchan, thank you for the pancakes,” Midoriya bowed, quickly retreating with his prize, but not before snatching the syrup off the counter.

“Idiot,” Bakugo huffed.

Kaminari broke the confused silence with: “Since when do you make breakfast for anyone?”

“I don’t make breakfast for anyone,” Bakugo said, “I just want auntie to murder me because Deku is too stupid to make breakfast for himself and dies.”

“Auntie?” Mina asked, but she was ignored by Bakugo, who went back to eating his own pancakes and scowling at the world.

Sadly for Bakugo, his friends were a lot nosier than Midoriya’s, so when they encountered a snippet of a side of Bakugo that they didn’t know, they wanted to get to the bottom of it.

They tried asking Bakugo about it, but the boy just grumbled about them being nosy and it not being a big deal. Asking Midoriya didn’t help much either, he just shrugged that pancakes were his favorite and he and Kacchan were childhood friends.

That explained little and only added more questions.

Naturally they pestered Bokugo after that, popping up to ask questions like: “When did you two meet?” “Don’t know, too young to remember.” “Are there pictures of you two?” “None of your business.” “Is that a yes?” “Leave me the fuck alone before I blow you face off.”

So, they were pouting in the common room, brainstorming ideas when a situation arose naturally, since Midoriya was on a nearby couch playing a board game with Momo and Tokoroki.

“Can I play red?” he asked, “It’s my favorite color.”

“Sure, I want the black one, it’s stylish,” Momo said.

“Favorite color?” Tokoroki asked.

“Yeah,” Midoriya smiled, “What’s yours?”

“Never thought about it, I suppose,” Tokoroki said.

“Really?” Momo asked.

Tokoroki shrugged, while Midoriya offered: “You can pick a favorite color now. Which color do you like the best? Any color bring you joy?”

At that Tokoroki pulled a thinking face, obviously putting a bit too much thought in a such a silly question as what’s your favorite color.

It was at this moment that Bakugo entered. He spotted the unstarted board game and Tokoroki’s extreme thinking face and yelled: “Oi, Icy-Hot, what are you thinking so hard about? Finding start really that hard?”

“Don’t be mean, Kacchan,” Midoriya called back, “Tokoroki is picking a favorite color, that’s important.”

“Pshh, favorite colors are stupid and for babies, I don’t have one,” Bakugo said.

“Oh, really?” Midoriya asked, a shit eating tone creeping into his voice that made Bakugo and the others look up with suspicion, “I vaguely remember something about green being your favorite color.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Deku,” Bakugo’s tone was threateningand trying to stop the conversation.

“Really?” Midoriya said, before doing an impression of what was presumably a small Bakugo, “Please, auntie, can you make me a green birthday cake? It’s the bestest color and I want a cake with leaves on it, please, auntie?”

“Shut up!” Bakugo launched himself over the couch to tackle Midoriya, who shrieked as he tried to get away to no avail.

Bakugo mercilessly tickled him as he tried to fight him off through the giggles. Meanwhile Todoroki said: “I think I like blue best,” not noticing or caring about the spectacle that was Bakugo and Midoriya.

After the other had been threatened, Bakugo stomped off, while Midoriya could only give them the reason of being childhood friends for all this.

It was a reasonable explanation, but it was slightly unbelievable that Midoriya had only been mildly maimed in that encounter. The two of them shouldn’t work as friends, no matter how long they’d spend together.

They just shouldn’t.

There must be another reason for them to be close enough for these random encounters to happen, they just had to find it.

So, a small group was on high alert whenever the two were in the same room. They watched like hawks for something to happen that could explain their friendship, so when Bakugo got a call from his mother, no one left the room, just in case Midoriya walked in. Instead they just pretended to be absorbed in whatever they were doing while they waited.

After a few minutes their patience was rewarded, because Midoriya walked into the room right as Bakugo was saying: “Yes, I’m eating just fine, you old hag.”

“Auntie?” he asked with a shine in his eyes.

Bakugo lowered the phone for a second and rolled his eyes: “Yeah, it’s her,” before going back to the conversation with a, “I’m listening, I’m listening, geez, Izu wanted to know if it was you,” a small silence, “Yes, he’s here.”

Midoriya leaned over the back of the couch next to Bakugo on the side of the phone and called out: “Hi, auntie, how are you? Everything good with the business, I hope?”

With a sigh, Bakugo angled the phone so that both could listen to whatever his mother was saying, not even that annoyed that his private phone call got hijacked.

“Yeah, he’s eating his greens,” Midoriya chirped, earning him a glare, but Bakugo didn’t shove him off, “Still not eating the turnips though.”

“They’re gross, I don’t care what you think,” Bakugo complained, “And Izu is staying up late to do his homework.”

“That’s mean,” Midoriya pouted, before assuring Bakugo’s mother, “He’s lying, it’s just much work, but nothing unreasonable. And the only reason he knows, is because he’s still up as well. So, if I’m late, so is he.”

That did earn him a small slap from Bakugo and he exclaimed: “Ouch! Kacchan!”

There was an incomprehensible sound from the phone and with a shit eating grin, Midoriya said: “Yes, he’s hitting me, auntie. He hits hard.”

“He- he deserved that!” Bakugo protested, “And it wasn’t that hard, he’s sticking his tongue out at me.”

“No, I’m not,” Midoriya lied.

“You don’t get to team up against me with my mother,” Bakugo said.

“It’s not teaming up if you’re misbehaving,” Midoriya told him.

That was the limit for Bakugo who threw up his hands and pushed the phone in Midoriya’s grip as he got up and said: “I’m done, apparently she likes you better, you talk to her.”

Midoriya blinked a few times, before something Bakugo’s mother said snapped him out of it and he said: “Kacchan just walked off, yeah. I’ll make sure he says goodbye properly. He probably just didn’t wanna say that he loves you with the others here.”

Something Mitsuki answered made him laugh and he agreed: “He’s always been sensitive. But how are you, I feel like we haven’t talked in a while, say hi to uncle from me and to mom.”

And with that Midoriya spiraled into small talk, starting to walk around while he talked until he disappeared up the stairs, presumably to force Bakugo to say goodbye to his mom.

The people in the room were gobsmacked that Bakugo would trust Midoriya enough with his phone to just leave it with him while he stalked off, or that Midoriya would just throw Bakugo under the bus like that in front of his mother and got away with it.

Everyone who had witnessed it were now incredibly curious to what exactly happened, what their childhood must have been like. They still refused to believe that there hadn’t been anything big, but it really had just been the little things that built up.

The first time it happened both boys were four and walking back from school with Mitsuki. It was a hot summer day with the sun beating down, causing them all to sweat. So, the two little kids wanted ice cream.

Finally Kacchan decided that his friend’s miserable looks were too much, so when they passed an ice cream cart he asked his mom: “Mom, can we get ice cream?”

His mother had been dotting the last i’s on something in her phone and only vaguely picked up the noise, not actively registering the words. She snapped back into reality and said: “Hey, why don’t you boys go get some ice cream while I finish this?”

The two cheered and smiled as she handed them some money, keeping one eye on them while the other focused on her task.

“How did you do that, Kacchan?” Izu asked.

“Do what?”

“Make auntie think it was her idea to let us get ice cream,” he explained, “That was so cool!”

Kacchan realized that this was an opportunity to look cool, so he said: “I’m just awesome like that, maybe it’s my quirk. I suggest something and someone else then offers it.”

“Really!” Izu had big eyes.

“Maybe,” Kacchan shrugged, “Can you do a handstand?”

Izu felt no urge to do it, but he didn’t want to disappoint his friend, so he said: “Why don’t I do a handstand?” then after a beat, “I don’t feel anything.”

“Hmm,” Kacchan hummed, “Oh, I know, hey, do a handstand.”

“You know, I should do a handstand,” Izu still felt nothing, but he was having fun thinking of new ways to say this.

“While you’re at it, maybe do a handstand,” Kacchan giggled, he also was aware that it probably wouldn’t be his quirk and it was a fun game to do with his friend.

The two boys walked back to Mitsuki while playing their game and after that it became a thing. Whenever one had to do something and said it out loud, it was the other’s cue to jump in and suggest whatever the first had said back to them in a different way.

Midoriya and Bakugo hadn’t done it in forever, but living in the dorm had made both more comfortable around each other. So when Bakugo got up on a study evening stating that he had to grab a new pen, Midoriya didn’t even register that he countered: “Hey, why don’t you go get a new pen?”

Bakugo looked surprised for a moment then, smirked: “I was thinking of getting a new pen.”

“While you’re at it, grab a new pen as well,” Midoriya was still looking at his homework, more doing it on reflex then anything else.

“Hey, I think I’m getting a new pen.”

“Great suggestion, get a new pen too, okay?”

“I could grab a new pen now that I’m up.”

“Now that you’re up, why don’t you grab a new pen?”

“What are you two doing?” Momo interrupted them.

“Yes, you are distracting the whole class, who are trying to study,” Iida back her up with a lot of chopping movements.

Midoriya looked startled, then blushed heavily, while Bakugo grinned and left the room to grab saidnew pen. Now Midoriya was alone in front of everyone’s curious gazes.

He shrugged and said: “It’s a long story and it’s not even that funny actually. We got ice cream and stuff, but we asked auntie and then she said it and then we thought it was Kacchans quirk and I didn’t do a handstand, but we did the repeating stuff and it was funny…” he petered off into muttering, explaining nothing.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Iida said.

“It’s an inside joke,” Midoriya settled on, not thinking he’d be able to explain.

“An inside joke!” Mina repeated loudly.

The door opened and Bakugo came back with the pen in hand and Mina whipper her head around to him, making him freeze in his spot.

“Bro, not manly to lie,” Kirishima whined, “You told me, you didn’t do inside jokes.”

“And I don’t,” Bakugo told him.

“But-” Kirishima was cut off by Bakugo: “Izu is the exception, now get the fuck back to your math, you suck at it.”

“Brooo.”

After that Bakugo refused to engage with anyone and ignored the looks. Midoriya had a harder time, but he managed on the warmth of the return of the childhood nickname.

After the call with auntie, Bakugo had started calling him Izu here and there again. Midoriya was sure, he hadn’t wanted to call him Deku in front of his mom, but Midoriya felt weird, so he had settled on Izu, but after that, he had tried to not call him Deku anymore.

They were going back to when they were good, when they were equals and friends who had stupid fun. And Midoriya couldn’t be more excited.

Most accepted that neither wanted to comment on it and went back to their work. A few, however, filed this away and kept a closer eye on them.

There would be a few more instances where they found the two repeated the same thing back at eachother, or when they were getting along, or made a comment that would be weird if the other didn’t react like it wasn’t completely normal or entirely hilarious.

But they wouldn’t get any insight into why they worked as friends until both of them got hurt in a street fight.

They weren’t badly hurt, hadn’t even needed a hospital, but the fight had been televised, so after Aizawa had cleared them he said: “Your mom’s are coming over to check on you. They were worried after seeing the fight, so reassure them.”

The two immediately turned to the other with wide eyes as Aizawa left. Then class 1-A witnessed the weirdest thing to date, almost in sync the two proclaimed: “You came with the idea.”

“I said it first,” Bakugo exclaimed.

“Nu-uh, I did,” Midoriya said.

“First off, no you didn’t. Second off, even if you did, it wouldn’t make it true.”

“You threw the first punch!” Midoriya yelled.

“And you wanted to help them.”

“You did too.”

“Yeah, but you suggested it.”

“Noooo, Kacchan, auntie will scold me,” Midoriya whined.

“Yeah, but my auntie will be sad and she has the same eyes as you and I’ll feel bad,” Bakugo countered.

“What’s going on with you two?” Mina got between them, “It’s just your mothers being worried about you. You’re lucky they care so much.”

“You don’t underst-” Midoriya began, only to be cut off by the door slamming open to reveal two ladies.

“Do you two have any idea how scared I was when I saw the news,” the smaller, green haired one began, “You know I can’t watch that kind of stuff, but then it was you two as well? You will give me a heart condition if you go on like this.”

She shook both their shoulders violently, while tears streamed down her face. Neither boy could react to her, however, due to the shaking.

Mitsuki stepped in: “Hey, Inko, relax, don’t injure them with the shaking. The teachers said they were fine,” the two sighed in relief when they were released, so she added: “Don’t think you’re both not getting the scolding of a lifetime.”

Both had been pulled into a hug by Inko, so they just looked chastised over her shoulders at Mitsuki, who seemed satisfied at that.

“First injuries, though,” she said, “I know Inko won’t be able to sleep otherwise.”

Bakugo had the most visible injury of a cut on his face, so Inko started with him. She gently cupped his cheek and inspected the cut. Everyone expected him to push her off or get mad, but instead he leaned into her hands and softly greeted: “Hi, auntie.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, “Your head feeling okay? The teachers said you didn’t have a concussion, but make sure to tell Izukuif you feel woozy, yeah?”

“I will auntie, it’s fine. Looks worse than it is,” he assured her.

“Did they clean this properly?” she replied.

“Yeah,” Bakugo nodded.

“Sting?”

“A bit, but it’s fine.”

“I think he’s alright, Suki,” Inko told the other woman.

While she had been checking over Bakugo, Mitsuki had taken upon her the task of scolding Midoriya: “What were you thinking, dragging Kat into a street fight with you? I know you both got your licenses and you’re proud of it, but it is not an excuse to mix yourself in every fight.”

“But Kacchan jump-” Midoriya started to protest.

Now Inko involved herself in the conversation: “No buts, young man. I support you, but I asked you to not needlessly endanger yourself.”

“And you,” Mitsuki directed herself to Bakugo assured that he was fine, “You should know better. I know you are also responsible for half the shit you got up in your childhood, but I thought you had grown out of it. I really wish you two weren’t such trouble magnets.”

“That was very irresponsible indeed,” Inko told him and while she looked like a hurt puppy, Bakugo did a pretty accurate impression in reply.

“Kacchan jumped in first,” Midoriya defended, finally getting the whole sentence of throwing Bakugo under the bus out without being interrupted.

“And you suggested it first, right?” Mitsuki didn’t even seem phased or surprised as she presented Midoriya as the prime instigator between him and Bakugo like it was a fact.

Midoriya didn’t respond so she said: “I’m taking that as a yes. You always were a sneaky one that got the two of you in trouble.”

“The ant incident was only partly my idea. Kacchan was the most adventurous, not me. He came up with a lot too,” Midoriya protested.

“That’s not true,” Bakugo said, “The ant incident was completely your fault. I still fell them crawling sometimes.” He shuddered.

“Boys, concentrate, the ant incident is in the past,” Inko interrupted them, “I don’t care who suggested it first and who threw the first punch. You both behaved recklessly and worried me. We know you’re in the hero business, but you could’ve least called to tell us you were okay.”

“Sorry, mom.”

“Sorry, auntie.”

Both were looking like properly scolded young boys, ten years being shaved off under the worried gaze of their mothers and suddenly their friendship didn’t seem so weird anymore.

With Midoriya also appointed as a trouble maker and Bakugo an unwilling victim of their own bullshit, they could see how two adventurous little kids got up to so much trouble that their mothers scolding invoked a fear that made them rush to blame the other for whatever had happened.

A lot can happen to break friendships and a lot can leave him beyond repair, but not a lot of feelings can compare to sitting in front of your mother after getting in trouble with your friend that you enjoyed too much to truly regret.

Seeing that the message had sunk in, the stern expression faded from their faces and Mitsuki asked: “I saw you landed a bit rough on the end there, Izuku. Your ankles alright?”

“Yeah, my boots protected me from most of the damage,” Midoriya assured her.

“Good,” she nodded more to herself as she checked both of themover again.

“You’ll tell a teacher if you start to feel bad, won’t you?” Inko asked.

“Yes, mom,” Midoriya said.

“And you’ll eat enough?” Mitsuki checked.

“Yes, old hag,” Bakugo rolled his eyes, with the scolding over, he was reverting back to his usual self.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, young man. Your dad is also very mad, but he couldn’t make it, so you are just lucky,” the blonde said.

“Say hi to uncle from me,” Midoriya smiled, his mom now having pulled him into a hug.

“I will, but don’t think you’re not getting a scolding come next Friday,” she said, before hugging Bakugo and then him, giving both a kiss on the cheek before the two moms said their goodbyes.

Once they were out the door, Kaminari said: “So, what’s the ant incident?”

“WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE ANT INCIDENT!” Bakugo roared.

#RR writing #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha bakugou #mha bakugou #bnha midoriya #mha midoriya #inko midoriya #midoriya izuku #bakugo katsuki #bakugo mitsuki #bakugo and midoriya #class 1-a #bnha class 1a #mha class 1a

25 notes · View notes

thoseofgreatambition · 4 years ago

Text

First Impressions

DUET MASTERLIST

desc: all love stories have a first page. for y/n and george, that first page is marked with paper swans, paint and ribbons.

a/n: hello! this is part of a collab between @ickle-ronniekins and myself! we’re both very excited, and hope that you adore this as much as we adore talking about it. please, go and send erica lots of love! all of this was inspired by her lovely writing, and i’m so blessed she went along with this crazy idea of mine.

warnings: none

George wondered how he’d never seen you. Of course he’d looked at you before-- it was impossible not to, given all the classes you’d had together the past couple of years. You were the quiet Hufflepuff, with the love of ribbons. If George was hard pressed to think he would suppose you two had exchanged a few hello’s before.

But now he’d seen you. At thirteen, George hadn’t thought there was much of a difference. Today he’d finally realized that there was.

George’s mess up in charms had flung a paper swan right into your hair, and when you’d made eye contact with him from across the class you’d let out the most beautiful laugh he’d ever heard. Delicately you’d sent the bird fluttering back to him, only to land softly into his hand. Wide eyed, he’d stared at you still. Fumbling over the right way to say sorry he’d finally heard your voice.

Soft. Like a bell.

“If you’re not more careful you’ll send it flying out of the classroom!”

George felt as if he couldn’t breathe, nodding numbly. Fred seemed unable to pick up the difference in behavior, and grinned confidently at you from across the classroom. “How do you know that’s not the plan, huh?” He nudged George with his elbow, expecting him to chime in and was puzzled with his brother’s silence.

You’d gone back to helping your friend, and George wondered desperately how to get your attention.

____________

You were angry. It was an uncommon feeling for you to have. Normally nothing bothered you all that much. If Professor Snape was to believed, “Miss L/N, if your head would be farther in the clouds it would be detached from your body.” That one had hurt your feelings a little bit. But this time you were angry. You were angry and sad. Your grandmother had sent you a very pretty jumper for your birthday, since you got to go to Hogsmeade for the first time, and now it was covered in paint. You directed all of your frustration towards the ones responsible. The Weasley twins. One of them at least had the decency to look abashed about it. George stared at you, focusing on what looked like tears in your eyes. It was meant to be a harmless prank. Some floating balloons of paint floating above the Hufflepuff’s common room entrance. He’d set them to pop when he’d seen a mass of students exit for breakfast. They’d chosen the weekend deliberately, so no one would be late to class.

Groans were to be expected, but it ripped his thirteen year old heart apart to see you, who’d been on his mind almost every second of every day looking so upset.

An older student noticed your expression and worked to calm you down whilst shooting the boys a severe look.

“It’s just paint!” Fred called out. Seeing someone so upset over a prank bothered Fred too, though he tended to hop on the defensive when that happened. “No need to cry about it!”

“You’re mean!” your voice cracked with emotion, even as the older student worked to vanish away the paint. You wondered if your hair had gotten disturbed. It’d been a long process to look for your first trip to Hogsmeade. If you were going to be truthful to yourself, you’d wanted to impress the twin who’d flung the paper bird in charms, but now you wondered why you would want to look nice for someone so rude! “You’re inconsiderate! What if someone had gotten paint in their eyes, huh? You’re both mean!”

George hated how your lip was wobbling.

Fred’s shoulders slouched as he looked at the Hufflepuffs, the crowd growing larger with the commotion. Had someone gotten paint in their eyes? That would have been a mood killer. He didn’t want to actually hurt anyone that day.

When no one seemed to be rubbing their eyes, Fred turned-- refusing to apologize if no one got hurt, and tugged at George’s sleeve. “C’mon, let’s get going.” George couldn’t tear his eyes away from you, and it wasn’t until Fred had tugged at his sleeve much harder before he’d began to retreat with his brother.

Still dumbfounded, he retreated wordlessly.

_______

A week later, George was still pouting. It was infuriating. Fred wondered if he could launch a bludger at his twin in the next game. “It’s just one girl who got mad! Stop acting like a sop.”

“She was right though-- it was a mean prank.” “We’ve done meaner.” “Doesn’t make it better.” Fred groaned, his head thrown back, loud enough to draw attention from Ron and his first year friends. “Bloody hell! If you keep talking like this I’ll start thinking you’re in love with her.”

When George was silent, Fred snapped his gaze to him. “You can’t be serious, George. Are you kidding me?”

“Sod off.” He sat up quickly and made his way out of the common room before anyone else could overhear. “And shut up, Fred.”

“Have you even talked to her?”

“I said shut up.” “What’s her name?” George paused, his cheeks red. “Y/N.”

“And how do you know that?” He knew it, because he’d peaked at the title of your History of Magic essay. Fred didn’t need to know that. Instead, George was silent.

Until Fred stood in front of him.

“Do you not know what sod off means?”

“Is this why you’re acting weird? Because she got mad?” “She looked like she was going to cry!”

Fred blanched at the idea that something he did might have made someone cry. At least someone who wasn’t a jerk. He disliked having to confront the idea that even nice people might dislike his pranks. “So? It’s a dumb thing to be upset about!”

George continued to glare at his brother before Fred let out a dramatic groan. “Fine! Fine. We’ll find her, apologize, and then you can make out in a corner somewhere before you get married forever since you’re so deeply in love with the girl you’ve never talked to.”

Fred dodged George’s wide swipe at him before taking off down the hall, with George nervously following.

No, this could not end well.

_____

George had been right. When they’d found you reading underneath a tree, you’d looked none too pleased to see them. It wasn’t until he’d seen your lips wobble a bit before you spoke that he realized he’d been staring at them.

“What do you two want?”

Fred looked at George to speak up, and rolled his eyes when his twin still seemed shocked and silent. He focused his gaze back on you. “We’re sorry.” There was some frustration behind Fred’s voice. “We didn’t mean to make you upset with the paint. Should have thought about it first before we tried that.”

Your eyes darted between the two, caught off guard. You only knew them as pranksters, not much else.

Though your friends had been teasing you a lot about your moping around ever since the prank. It’d been hard to explain how sad you felt over the pretty twin who’d launched the paper. Especially when you knew it’d make you sound silly. The one you’d become smitten over stayed silent like always. “Why’d it take you so long to apologize?”

Fred grimaced, and George finally seemed to find his voice. “We just wanted to be funny… didn’t want to think about making someone sad.”

For a moment your frown grew. “That’s silly.”

The boys spoke in unison, “We know. We’re sorry.”

“You ought to know pranks can make people sad.”

“We should. We’re sorry.”

With a few more sighs, you closed your book. George watched as your frown eased up. “I forgive you both.” In fact, your easy going smile returned. He felt his heartbeat race so quickly that it caught in his throat. “Now, who’s who?” You pointed your finger at George. “You’re the one from Charms.”

You watched his face turn a very pretty shade of pink, one that highlighted his red hair and freckles wonderfully. You wondered how it’d taken you so long to realize how absolutely sweet he looked.

That supposedly made the other one also adorable, but the shy one had something special about him. You couldn’t put words on it.

“How do you know it was me?”

“You’re the shy one.” Your brow furrowed at the sound of the other laughing. You wondered why. “You’re the quiet one.”

He seemed rather shocked while his twin continued to laugh loudly. When he stayed silent, you worried you’d touched a nerve. “It’s alright to be shy and embarrassed! Once a few weeks ago I realized one of my buns had fallen out when the ribbon came off. I felt very silly, I hadn’t figured out all day why people were giggling when I walked around.”

Somehow, you’d become even cuter. George wondered how that was even possible. But your soft voice and easy smile seemed to smooth out every single nerve he felt.

“I’m George.” He reached out his hand to shake yours.

“George!” It made his heart stop, to hear you so delighted while saying his name. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Y/N.”

George resisted the urge to comment that he already knew your name. Instead he took your hand and shook it, delighted to find it so soft and warm.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

taglist: @georgeweasleyx @seppys-return-to-madness @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @iprobablyshipit91 @darling-details @laneygthememequeen @lupinsx @keoghans @helloallthethingsilove @bobduncanlover @dreamer821 @feffffffy @the-hufflepuff-of-221b @62442-am @wtfweasleyy @obsessedwithrandomthings @sleep-i-ness @shadowsinger11 @shadychaoticcollection @haphazardhufflepuff @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @hood-and-horan @geeksareunique @insearchofnewdreams @notstandingstill-imlyinginwait @lumos-barnes @thatfuckingliardavidtennant @slytherinqween @xinyourdreamsx @skiving-snackboxess @wildfire-whizbangs @dwarfwizard-from-panem @diary-of-an-onliner @answer-the-sirens @woakiees @black-widow-fangirl @theheirofnightandday @summerstardust @whysoseriouspadfoot @chocok22 @myhopesareanchoredinyou @siriusblackisme @illusivedaydreamer @zeeneee @writingwitchly @wolfpotter12 @obsessedwithrandomthings @carolinesbookworld @shadowsinger11 @pit-and-the-pen @summer-writes @peachesandpinks @gweaslvy @alpinewinchester

#george weasley #george weasley x reader #george weasley fanfiction #george weasley imagine #george weasley oneshot #george weasley series #george weasley x you #george weasley x oc #george weasley headcanon #my writing #fic; duet #fic: duet #duet #ickle-ronniekins #fred weasley #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley headcanon #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction

286 notes · View notes

heavyarethecrowns · 3 years ago

Text

As Kate re-emerges more tanned and confident, a new Middleton girl takes a bow - May 2007

Amid the clatter of small talk and social niceties, it was a well-meaning attempt to rally a young girl's spirits: "Keep your chin up. Don't let them get you down. You'll be fine."

But when Tara Palmer-Tompkinson delivered these words of wisdom to Kate Middleton at a fashionable book launch, what was striking was not the kindness of the older woman's words but how superfluous they appeared.

For, since splitting from Prince William, Kate Middleton seems to have had very little trouble in keeping either her chin, or her profile, high.

ndeed it has become a much remarked oddity of Kate and Prince William's break-up that, in the weeks since her apparent heartbreak, she has never looked better...or happier.

Far from appearing shattered by the very public end of a romance that many - including Kate herself - predicted would end in marriage, Kate sans William is cutting a frankly far sexier figure.

Her hair is shinier, her skin more tanned and her dress sense more youthful than during her tweedy William days.

Far too dignified to accept the vast sums on offer for a royal 'kiss and tell,' she has, The Mail on Sunday has learned, drawn on the support and advice of a trusted few.

And, in the process, one figure has emerged above all as key among the newly single Kate's loyal coterie: her younger sister Pippa.

At 22, Pippa is three years junior to - and 4in shorter than - her more famous sibling but she has had an enormous impact on the emergence of this increasingly sleek and confident Kate.

She is, according to those who know her best, more sassy than Kate, more direct and, tantalisingly, less discreet.

And though these days she may pass largely unrecognised she is unlikely to do so for long.

After all, it was Pippa who joined Kate at the launch of Simon Sebag Montefiore's book on Stalin at Asprey's, Pippa whose hand Kate held as she left trendy London nightclub Boujis at three in the morning four days later, Pippa who will be at Kate's side when the girls attend the Kuoni World Class Cup Polo at Hurtwood Park, West Sussex - a tournament at which both Prince Harry and Charles have played.

In the weeks since her split from William, Kate has gleaned style advice from an executive at Vogue, discussed strategies for dealing with the media from Tatler editor Geordie Greig and, fascinatingly, turned to Guy Pelly, one of William's best friends, for entrance to some of London's coolest clubs. But it is Pippa who has been her ever present consort.

For where Kate's entree into high society was as the prettier 'add-on' to a powerful partner, her staying power may owe much to establishing herself in another, formidable, double act.

And according to one well placed source: "Kate and Pippa have already been dubbed The Wisteria Sisters - they're highly decorative, terribly fragrant and have a ferocious ability to climb.

"Pippa has just graduated in English from Edinburgh University and while other students are taking advantage of the last weeks of term to lie around in the meadows, have late breakfasts and long lunches and generally do very little, Pippa couldn't wait to get down to Kate and to London.

"She'll go back for the graduation ball at the end of June but it's clear that Kate is the key to unlocking a new social life for Pippa and Pippa is there to support Kate.

"So many doors were opened to Kate when she was with William and she's certainly not going to let them close now."

Certainly Pippa seems more than up to the task of putting a well-shod foot in the way of any door that threatens to shut now that Kate and William are no longer together.

According to one university friend: "As soon as Pippa arrived at Edinburgh, she was assiduous about joining the right social circle.

"At Edinburgh, the aristo crowd are divided into two social sets - one crowd who go to London for the weekend and are really into partying and hard drinking and the other who are more staid and go off to each others' country houses for weekends.

"Pippa joined the country set. She was very charming about it but quite ruthless in cultivating the "right" friends.

"If she found out that someone had impressive social credentials - the right title, standing, connections - she would immediately pay them a lot of attention where before she wouldn't have shown the least interest.

"She would leave notes in the pigeonholes of people she coveted as friends, desperate to arrange a time or date to meet.

"She was always well turned out to the point of being prim, always conscious of projecting the "right" image and, if she heard of other girls' "naughty" behaviour - too much drinking or partying or risque behaviour - she'd pull a face like there was a bad taste in her mouth."

Like Kate, Pippa attended Marlborough and, like Kate, her university ascent into the social elite was rapid. By the end of her university days, she could count Ted Innes-Ker and George Percy as flatmates - the sons of the Dukes of Roxburghe and Northumberland respectively.

And her boyfriend, who graduated two years before her, is JJ Jardine Patterson, an Eton friend of Edward and George and scion of a highly successful Hong Kong banking family.

"She met JJ through the boys," a friend said. "It really wasn't the family millions that attracted her to him but the social cachet."

Someone else who has met Pippa on many occasions recalled her as: "A charming girl who hung out with absolute toffs, most of whom are named after counties.

"She is incredibly well mannered and well-brought up. At dinner she always makes sure to speak to the person seated to her left and right.

"She has a lovely figure, much better than Kate's really. She's a very keen and aggressive tennis player. A mother's dream, in many respects.

"But she makes no secret at all of being very socially ambitious - almost aggressively so. She wants power and money."

Which explains perhaps, in part, the mixed feelings that Pippa has expressed to friends since her big sister split from her famous boyfriend.

According to one: "Pippa absolutely loved the fact that Kate dated William because of the cachet it brought but she's also quite pleased Kate's single again.

"She sometimes felt that her mum and dad tended to put Kate first, above her and her brother James, when she was dating William simply because of the extra responsibilities and practical considerations that went with that.

"And she was a little bit jealous that her sister was dating the future King of England.

"It didn't help that James, who's also at Edinburgh, would go around saying, "My sister's going to be the Queen of England." He can be very indiscreet.

"Also, Pippa's glad to "get her sister back". The two are very close and she never got to spend much time with Kate when she dated William. Kate would always put William first."

Indeed, Kate put William before all other considerations - personal and professional.

It is worth noting that, since their split, she has been promoted from assistant accessories buyer to accessories buyer for High Street store Jigsaw.

Pippa is similarly bright, but she is yet to fall upon a career path of her own. She enjoys travel and writing and has expressed an interest in journalism.

However, such thoughts are not foremost in the girls' minds this summer.

Instead, Pippa has moved into the Chelsea home that the girls' parents Carole and Michael bought for Kate and, according to a friend: "The two of them are enjoying being quite girlie together.

They have a mobile tanner who comes round and does their spray-on tan. They love shopping on the Kings Road.

They get ballet pumps at French Sole and Pippa loves Chloe clothes and has her hair done in Richard Ward's VIP section just like Kate.

"Kate gets sent a lot of free clothes and gifts and Pippa is very keen to get in on the action as far as that's concerned. She's happy to go along to parties and events on Kate's coat-tails."

Certainly there has been no shortage of invitations. On Wednesday, the girls will be at Mahiki - a favourite haunt of Prince William and the site of his infamous I'm Free! 'celebration' following his split from Kate.

The marketing for the club is looked after by Guy Pelly and it is Guy who is believed to have invited Kate and Pippa to Wednesday's Johnny Cash-themed party.

Kate and Pippa have also been invited to Richard Branson's pre-Wimbledon party - and have received invitations to the members' enclosure for the tournament.

They are on the guest list for Royal Ascot - though whether or not they will venture towards the Royal Enclosure remains to be seen - and have been invited to the Cartier Polo at Windsor Great Park on the last Sunday of July.

Ahead of them both lies the tantalising prospect of a summer of sisterly fun - with a social agenda writ large.

One close friend says: "Obviously, Kate and William aren't together any more but they have an ongoing arrangement. They will go to a couple of things together - things that were planned before they split and which William will honour.

It seems a bit of a habit among that set not to entirely sever relationships. There's rarely a clean break."

As we reported last week, William will go to the wedding of Kate's cousin on July 21. It is understood that they will also spend a weekend together in William's cottage in Balmoral in August.

Being in such close proximity to the man she once hoped to marry - and being so as 'just friends' - must be a prospect that Kate regards with profoundly mixed feelings.

However glossy her image and admirable her poise, there are, in the weight she has shed and the cigarettes she has started smoking again, clues to the effort required in presenting a positive face to the world she knows is watching still.

The importance of Pippa's place at Kate's side right now cannot, friends say, be underestimated.

"Pippa and Kate really are very close," says one. "Sure, they have a very like-minded approach to life and if Kate is leaning on Pippa at the moment who can blame her?

"The whole Middleton family were thinking of holidaying in Scotland this year but Kate felt it was too much of a thorny reminder of the last time that they were all together in Scotland, earlier this year, when they rented a great big house in Perthshire and waited for William to show up for New Year and he never did.

"Instead, they're looking at renting some fabulous villa in Tuscany or Umbria for a few weeks in August at the end of the summer.

"And goodness, I'd have thought by the time they reach August, the girls will need a break."

#duchess of cambridge #kate middleton #pippa middleton #article #proof

11 notes · View notes

sailtoafarawayland · 4 years ago

Text

The Things We Don’t Say - Ch 2 (modern AU - actors)

Summary: No one is perfect, and sometimes, two people are just so perfectly flawed that those pieces fit together and make something beautiful. When sparks fly between two leads of a new hit show, is there a happy ending in sight, or will their own mistakes overshadow any chance they had at something worth fighting for.

Rated: Explicit

Warnings: This is a joyfully Captain Swan story, but there are a few warnings. It does start with Emma/Neal and Killian/Milah. I don't write non-CS, so there won't be any sexual anything happening 'on screen', so to speak, between those couples, but I won't guarantee there may not be a mention. This story contains numerous episodes of cheating. If any of these things make you squick or are not your bag, carry on.

AO3 - FF

- or read below the cut -

As always, let me know if you’d like to be tagged (or removed) for further updates.

Tag list: @xarandomdreamx @jrob64 @wefoundloveunderthelight @teamhook @tiganasummertree @pirateprincessofpizza @lfh1226-linda @kmomof4

Chapter Two

Killian sighed into the hard press of his fingers against his tired eyes, listening to the soft hum of the elevator as it climbed to his floor. He’d look like a drunken raccoon by the time he got into the apartment, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. An early morning shoot that had dragged late into the day left him feeling more dead than alive, and he hadn’t bothered with his normal clean up on set. The time saved getting back to his bed was the bright side—the downside was a few fans had recognized him when he jumped out of his uber, his trademark eyeliner and messily styled hair a giveaway. He’d managed a few weak smiles as they snapped pictures and hurried on his way, taking a few strange turns and slipping a spare beanie he kept in his pocket over his head. That, a popped collar, and hunched shoulders normally did the trick. Being famous certainly had its perks, but crazed fans knowing where he lived certainly wasn’t one of them.

It was usually simpler to drive to set, but lately he’d been to worn out to trust himself behind the wheel. The past two weeks had been a nightmare of last minute reshoots and publicity, and he couldn’t wait for it to all be over.

The elevator doors slid open, Killian staring at them for a moment before he realized her was staring at the familiar artwork that spanned the hall outside his condo. Desperately trying to blink away sleep, he trudged down the hall, leaning his forehead against the cool metal door for a brief second before unlocking it and heading in.

God, he hoped Milah was content to have a quiet night in.

Everything was blessedly dark and quiet when he stepped into the entryway, shrugging his leather jacket off and hanging it on the waiting hook, his boots next as he eased them off his aching feet and lined them up neatly below the jacket. He rolled his neck and stretched, wrinkling his nose as he realized a fifteen-hour day filming had left him less than fresh.

A hot shower and bed—that was the plan. With any luck, and the darkened apartment seemed to be on his side, Milah would already be stretched beneath the covers and he could slip in behind her and fall asleep pressed to her warmth. It would be the perfect start to a weekend otherwise free of engagements and obligations.

“Milah?” he whispered, not wanting to startle her if she was relaxing in the living area.

There was always the chance she’d gone out with friends earlier and wouldn’t be home until late. It was a Friday, after all.

His back ached as he stretched his shirt over his head, balling it up and launching it toward the hamper as he walked into the bedroom. A glaring light greeted him from around the corner and he realized that Milah was indeed home, but not where he’d hoped. It looked as if a tornado had blown through the walk-in closet—every pair of heels she owned were tossed onto the floor and the chaise was covered with a haphazard pile of glittering dresses. Milah was standing in front of the mirrored wall, a sequined, black strapless number pulled over her body but left unzipped as she adjusted a pair of large earrings, her brow furrowed.

“Oh, thank god your home,” she huffed, flashing an annoyed smile over her shoulder as she slid her second earring in. “This zipper is absolutely impossible.”

He smiled and stepped into the closet, taking care to avoid the dresses that had sloughed onto the carpeting.

“I’m happy to help, darling,” he assured, catching the nearly invisibly zipper and easing it up her back. There were certainly nights he would have coaxed her into agreement that off was the far better option, but tonight he was more than happy to get her dressed and out the door if that was what she so desired. “Headed anywhere special?”

“It’s that opening of the new club—you know, the one with the glass ceiling that everyone has been going on about. I mentioned it the other night—good lord, Killian, you positively reek.”

Killian flashed a tired smile in the mirror, but her frown only deepened.

“Honestly, Killian, you can’t go out like that. You’ll need to have a quick shower.”

Killian’s brows echoed her own displeasure as he realized what she was implying.

“Did you want my company, as well?”

“Do you even listen when I speak? Sometimes I wonder. I told you two nights ago that Lara and William were expecting us. They’ve barely seen you.”

Killian couldn’t remember a Lara, but he seemed to recall a bright, friendly man with reddish-blond hair who may have been a William. No matter who they were, he had no interest in spending the evening with them, and even less in spending the evening on his feet in an obnoxious club.

“It’s been a long day, Milah—every day for the past couple weeks has, and I’m exhausted—”

“You’re absolutely right, Killian, it has been a long day, a long few weeks, and I’m sorry that I thought I might get to spend some time with you at the end of all of it. How foolish of me,” she snapped, and Killian felt the words like a slap to his face.

“No, you’re right. It’s—I’m sorry. I’ll have a quick rinse and get dressed.”

Milah beamed at him, adjusting her hair and checking that everything was just as she wanted it to be in the mirror. Killian pressed a soft kiss to her bare shoulder, the warmth of her smile washing away a bit of his exhaustion.

He wanted her to be happy, and perhaps the past few weeks had been more difficult for her than she let on.

“It will be a lovely night, I promise,” she said, shoving him gently toward the bathroom as she turned to reappraise the pile of heels.

* * *

Despite Milah’s initial enthusiasm that he’d agreed to join her and two people he most definitely did not remember—apparently William had brown hair and was quite pretentious—it was not a lovely night. The hot shower and the warmth of Milah’s arm in his had been enough to fool him into think it might be the tiniest bit enjoyable—after all, it had been some time since he’d been to a club—but he’d been wrong, very wrong.

Everything from the moving lights to the music to the stench of hot bodies pressed against one another was giving him a pounding headache, and he slid down further into his chair, nursing a rum and casting about for Milah, wherever she’d gone. He’d wanted to give her a nice evening at his side, but he hadn’t been able to find it in him to join her on the dance floor—probably because his feet had blisters from filming in his costume boots all day—and she hadn’t been able to find it in her to forgive him.

He’d been able to keep track of her at first, but soon she was lost in the crush of bodies and he was lost in his rum—at least it helped dull the sounds a bit.

He didn’t know if it was the insane schedule he was booked to finish shooting for his latest movie, or just the lack of free time, but nothing felt quite right lately, and he was worried a change was needed. Milah was clearly unhappy with his schedule, with how much distance it put between them. He found himself wondering if perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad time to step back a bit, to get away and really dedicate some time to the two of them.

It was a question he’d come back to more than once in the past few months, and as much as he wanted to feel that doing so was the right answer, his gut kept telling him it wasn’t.

He loved her, he certainly didn’t want her to be miserable, but the thought of missing out on opportunities at the high point of his career, it did worry him. Liam had worked more than any person should have to help put him through school, and he’d only ever wanted happiness for his little brother. Liam was a big enough man to know that for Killian that meant acting, even if it was a hard path. If Killian were to step back now, would that be doing justice to his brother’s sacrifice. What if he started turning down offers and never bounced back from it?

He searched the dance floor once more, but there was no sign of his Milah. Knowing she was probably hurt enough to ignore him for the rest of the night, he whipped out his phone and started scrolling through emails, most of them simply things his manager had already spoken with him about over the phone. It wasn’t until he scrolled farther back, nearly hypnotized by the small boxes flying along the screen, that a flagged email came to his attention and he stopped. The details were familiar, and he only just remembered the conversation he’d had with Cora.

It had been an offer for the lead role in a new series, but he’d turned it down due to the filming location. He’d been worried about having to uproot Milah, but scanning through everything once more, he found himself second-guessing his first decision. Perhaps it would be the answer they needed, and the more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him personally.

Maine was certainly quiet and would allow for more quality time together—and the pay was bloody obscene, which never hurt. According to Cora, the role had been written specifically for him. He wondered how the showrunners had taken it when he declined.

His finger hovered over reply.

He should probably discuss it will Milah first, but then thoughts of Liam tugged at his tired mind and he reread the arc for the lead role, each sentence making him more inclined to see if taking it on was still a possibility.

He’d earned his name and place in Hollywood by becoming the face of playboys and scoundrels, all of his characters well-known for their rakish appeal, but to be honest, he was starting to become concerned he may not be offered anything more diverse if he didn’t branch out soon. This role—this would be something different, something Liam would be proud of. The series treaded water somewhere between a fantasy show and a piece that examined the very fabric of what is real, the main character a man who suffered great personal tragedy and loss only to have his independence and health rocked.

The more Killian looked at it, the more he knew it was for him, the words swimming with possibility...or rum. He didn't know what about his previous roles had drawn the showrunners to him of all their choices, but for the first time in a while, he really wanted something.

He really wanted this.

A feeling of certainty settled in his gut and he shot off a reply to Cora.

K: I want this, do what you need to do.

The message sent and he almost expected to look up and see Milah hovering over him, a flushed smile on her cheeks from dancing, her hair falling in tendrils around her face, but his table is still empty and the dance floor is still a writhing mass of faceless people.

Raising his glass in a lonely toast, he took another drag of rum and closed his eyes.

He wants to dream that she’ll be as happy as he is, that’s all he wants for her.

#Captain Swan #cs fanfic #cs ff #emma and hook #sailtoafarawayland #the things we don't say #modern au

21 notes · View notes

be-the-spark-flyboy · 4 years ago

Text

Invisible String (1/3)

A/n: This was supposed to be a drabble requested by @spider-starry for the cliche prompts list. But then my hand slipped, so damn fking hard, so ya oops.

Pairing: Poe x Reader (modern au)

Warnings: Swearing, angst, nightmares, brief mention of dead parents

Prompts: There's only one bed and we sleep as far away as possible from each other but wake up cuddling + We dated in high school but then you moved away but now you’re back in town

Word count: 4k~

---

So I talked to the manager. We have a slight issue,” Rey grimaced, wringing her hands. “We’re short of one room, and they said that they’re fully booked. No spares.” She sighed, throwing herself back onto the couch.

“What? How did that happen?” You asked her, taking a seat beside her.

“I may have miscounted the number of rooms we had to book,” Rey winced, “I mean, planning a wedding is so stressful, why is it so stressful?”

“Okay, okay. So what do we do now?” Guests were just slowly starting to arrive. You hoped Rey already had a solution to the problem.

“Um, Finn suggested, since you have a room to yourself, maybe you wouldn’t mind sharing with someone?” Then she quickly added, “No pressure, only if you’re comfortable, or I can find some other solution.”

You had been helping Finn and Rey plan their wedding for months. The beach resort you had booked for the wedding had been a popular one. Of course, they were fully booked. There was no other solution.

“Fine, I guess, if the other person is okay with it?” you shrugged.

“Oh, that’s great! You’re a true lifesaver,” Rey exclaimed.

“Who is it?” You asked.

“Um, about that,” she hesitated.

“Rey?” You narrowed your eyes at her. Who could it be that she’s so reluctant to tell you?

“It’s Poe,” No.

“Rey,” This was not happening. Share a fucking room? With Poe motherfriggin Dameron? Your fucking ex-boyfriend? Was Rey out of her goddamn mind?

“You can still back out! I’m not forcing you to do anything. It's just that, you know my grandfather. He’s going to make a big deal out of this if he finds out we have problems with the lodgings.” Rey launched into a full-on rant which you knew could last for several minutes if you didn’t stop her. ”Oh god, why did I even send Palpatine an invitation? I don’t even like him!”

“Rey, it's okay,” You sighed, interrupting her ramble. “I’ll do it,” Of course you’d do it. It was your best friend's wedding. You’d do just about anything to keep her happy.

This time she threw herself on top of you, tackling you with a hug. You had worked way too hard on this wedding for someone like Palpatine to spoil the event nitpicking at everything. If the price for that was to spend two nights in the same bed as your ex, you’d do it, for Finn and Rey.

“Great! Finn said Poe should be reaching in an hour or two,” Oh gods, that was fast. But it's better to get it over with right?

“Have you told him yet?” you asked her.

“Oh, not yet. I wanted to get your approval first,”

“What if he isn’t okay with it?”

“Nah, I don’t think that would be a problem,” She assured you.

—-

Poe hesitated before your door. Would it be too late to turn around and run? He was absolutely terrified of facing you. You agreed to share a room with him, so you didn’t hate him right?

Three short raps to the door then Poe waited for you to open it. He raked a hand through his hair, shorn to a length that would be considered neat. So unlike the unruly curls flopping onto his forehead and the full beard he was sporting just last week, dangerously toeing the line between sexy bed hair and caveman. It didn’t feel right to show up to a wedding like that. Especially since he was the best man.

Poe felt his chest tighten like a rope was tied around him, twisting tighter with each passing second until he felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore. The door swung open and the remaining air emptied from his lungs. There you stood, looking at him. It was you, really you.

Those eyes he hadn’t seen in more than a decade. It really shouldn’t have affected him that badly after so long but he had no control over the way his heart threw itself against his ribs over and over again. No control over his hands as he white-knuckled the backpack slung across one shoulder, trying to stop the shaking. He definitely shouldn’t have felt lightheaded just looking at you.

If he wasn’t so lost in his own emotions, he would’ve noticed that you weren’t doing so well yourself. You were pretty sure you were hearing the dial tone playing somewhere. Or was it just in your head? Your mouth worked but not a single word came out. What could you possibly say to him? It was Poe, but at the same time, he looked nothing like the boy you knew more than a decade ago.

The teenager who had so carelessly shrugged off the love you offered him, leaving everything behind in search of something better. But that was more than a decade ago and the man who stood before you had changed. Just like you were no more the eighteen-year-old too heartbroken to leave your room for weeks. No, you weren’t the same people anymore.

“I um, need to go check on the catering. M-make yourself comfortable,” You threw a forced smile at him, pushing past him before he can react.

No, you didn’t have to check on the catering, it wasn’t arriving until next morning, but you just threw the first excuse that popped up in your head before you were forced to make small talk with the last person you ever wanted to talk to.

Poe watched you almost sprint to the elevator, too dumbfounded to act. Your first words to him in years was you brushing him off. Good start.

He could’ve just asked Finn about you, but Poe felt like that would be prying. If you wanted him to know you would’ve told him, right? If you wanted him, you would’ve spoken to him. Poe sighed, walk into the room sitting on the edge of the bed, yanking off his boots and socks.

A lot had happened over the last decade, from joining the air force against his father’s wishes to watching his best friend get shot out of the sky and being honourably discharged, a broken man returning home with the horrors of battle and loss etched into his being. But Kes was there with open arms, ready to put his son back together, no matter how long it took. If he ever had the chance to raise a child of his own, Poe wanted to be exactly like his father.

There was once when Poe had thought too little of the simple routine of a normal life. How could anyone settle for doing the same thing over and over again for decades? But now he yearned for any type of normalcy in his own life.

He wondered if you had it. A normal life, going to work in the morning, returning to loving boyfriend at night. Date nights in the weekends, planning vacations to get away from it all. You came here alone, that was saying something, right? Or did you have someone waiting for you back home?

Poe should really be paying more attention to his surroundings, because he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, thinking, for five whole minutes before he realized it. He really should’ve seen this coming. The room was supposed to be for one person. So there was one queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, staring back at him, mocking him.

Why did he agree to this? Why did you agree to this? It wasn’t that he had any problems keeping his hands to himself. He’d more sooner bite his own fingers off than laying one on you without your consent.

There weren’t any other options for him. The only other furniture in the room was a table and a chair, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let you sleep anywhere except the bed. He’d slept in worse places, a chair wasn’t that bad. Or perhaps he would forgo sleep for the night. He needed a shower, and maybe just a few minutes of sleep. Then he would get out of your way.

---

It was late when you decided to return to your room. It had been hours since the sun had set and your feet hurt from all the standing. You were more than ready to go back to your room and crash in that bed that looked so damn inviting.

There was only one problem. One that you couldn’t just ignore so easily, because you had to share a bed with said problem. In all honesty, you had no idea how you felt about Poe. Surely seeing him after all these years felt a tiny bit weird and very nerve-wracking, especially since the last words you had exchanged with him weren’t very kind. You didn’t hate Poe Dameron. That was for sure. But you had absolutely no idea how he felt about you.

You found an empty bench, facing the midnight sea, watching the waves crashing into the sand. A calm settled in your bones, the kind that made you wish you could be in that moment forever. No wonder people were willing to pay so much for a few nights here.

You could hear the soft strumming of a guitar from a distance and that caused your thoughts to propel straight towards the one person you were trying not to think of. The goofy little songs he would sing to you, strumming his guitar with deft fingers like he was born to make music.

Poe Dameron was born to do a lot of things. Apparently, loving you was not one of them.

You sighed heavily into the crisp night air. It was getting late. And as much as you loved it there, you still had to go to sleep soon if you wanted to be up in time the next morning.

You were surprised to see that the lights were still on in your room, but when you stepped inside you saw Poe curled up in a fetal position, fast asleep on one side of the bed. His curls looked a little damp and the smell of soap lingered in the air from the shower he took. A small mercy, at least you didn’t have to make small talk until the next morning.

Poe looked so calm and at peace when he was sleeping. You definitely didn’t share Poe’s sentiments about prying into your personal life. You were aware of everything that happened in his life since he left. Finn had told you about the state he was in when he returned after being discharged from the air force almost two years ago. You will never admit it but you still cared about him after all these years, you never stopped caring about him.

Silently, you padded around the room, careful not to wake him as you changed into your soft t-shirt and sleep shorts and slid into the bed beside him.

---

Poe jolted awake, shirt soaked in sweat, gasping for air as the image of a blazing cockpit remained seared into the back of his eyes. The disorienting darkness wasn’t helping in the least as his vision blurred with tears. The only thing he could feel was a warm hand on his chest and another on his face. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears and a voice calling out his name in the distance like he was miles away.

The only light was coming from the glass balcony doors. It took Poe a few long seconds to recognize where he was. He flattened his palms on top of the sheets, the soft cotton cool and smooth beneath his palms, as he forced air into his burning lungs.

He wasn’t there anymore, he was safe.

“Poe?” your voice came clearer as you smoothed the tears off his face. Your face came into view above him in the dark, eyebrows pulled together in worry. Poe felt your fingers in his hair, running through the damp strands fingernails lightly scraping his scalp. You didn’t realize it, but that helped more than anything to ground him as the panic finally released its hold on him.

“I'm okay,” Poe croaked out when he felt like he could breathe again, but his whole body still felt tense. He wasn’t okay by any means, his hands still shook when you handed him a water bottle from your side table, but at least the worst was over. Poe pulled himself up by his wobbling arms, sitting against the headboard.

“Nightmare?” your voice cut through the heavy silence in the room as you joined him. He nodded, head downcast, staring at the bottle in his hands. “Wanna talk about it?” Poe looks at you like that was the last thing he ever expected you to say to him. You were offering to help him? After what he did to you? Sure, that was years ago, he was young and dumb, but you two never really had the chance to talk about it. He was under the impression that you hated him, he surely deserved it.

But you didn’t look like you hated him and he couldn’t help but notice how adorable you looked with your hair all mused up, swaddled in an oversize t-shirt. The urge to wrap his arms around you, lay his head on your chest and never let go threatened to swallow him whole. How could he have been so stupid to ever let you go?

You tilted your head to the side in question as the silence stretched between you. Oh god, he had been staring the whole time. He looked away from you, clearing his throat.

“No, not really,” he replied. He’d done enough talking, he just wanted to forget about it. Going back to sleep was definitely not an option and he didn’t want to keep you awake any longer. “Sorry I woke you up, you should go back to sleep,” his voice was barely a whisper by the end of the sentence. He was just so tired.

“It's okay,” you settled back into your side of the bed but Poe made no move like he had any intention to go back to sleep. “You’re not going back to sleep?” you ask.

“No, I don’t think so,” He answered truthfully. He didn’t want to risk getting pulled into another nightmare. The room fell silent again, the only sound the barely audible distant crashing of waves. Suddenly the thought of you going back to sleep and leaving him alone with his thoughts didn’t seem so ideal. Poe felt his chest constrict in barely contained panic when you spoke.

“How have you been, Poe?” You quietly asked in the dark, almost like you didn’t expect a response from him. Poe swallowed the lump in his throat and burrowed deeper into the covers until the two of you laid facing each other.

“Not too bad,” he shrugged, his voice barely holding as he spoke, but he carried on nevertheless. “What about you?”

“Same, I guess,” you replied. Poe could make out your eyes glinting in the dark, suddenly thrown back into his childhood bedroom when you would sneak in late at night. When you were best friends, you’d spend the night in each other’s company chatting and laughing in hushed tones, careful not to wake up his father. Then you grew older and talking turned to other activities. If Kes knew, he never spoke of it.

“How is Kes doing?” you asked as if you were thinking the same thing. An admittedly large part of him hoped you were. Those memories got him through so many nights when he was bunking with his squadmates but never felt more alone. They weren’t easy to forget. You weren’t easy to forget.

“He’s doing fine. Great, actually,” The thought of his father made him smile. Maybe that was your ploy. “You know, he actually managed to finish that motorcycle restoration he was working on. A few years ago, but he wouldn’t let me touch it,” That made you chuckle, and oh how he missed that sound.

“He still doesn’t trust you after you broke the taillight,” you recounted.

“It was an accident, for goodness sake,”

Silence slowly took hold again as your laughter died down, and it hit you more heavily than ever. You missed Poe so much. Sure, he hurt you when he up and left so easily as if you meant next to nothing to him, but he meant everything to you. You shouldn’t have let the bitterness and resentment get the best of you. You missed so much of his life.

“Mom’s sickness got worse after I graduated,” you spoke again. “I couldn’t stay in the house after she died so I sold it. And college wasn’t great either, I almost dropped out,”

You shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal. It couldn’t have been easy moving to a different state all on your own, with no one to lean on, no one to go to for help. At least you had Finn and Rey.

“But things worked out, and everything is okay now,” you smiled at him. Poe reached out and took your hand in his, shuffling closer to you.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. The words felt too heavy, too shameful to even say out loud.

“For what?” You asked.

“I should’ve been there,”

“Poe,” you sighed. “You know, I was so upset after you left, I refused to even talk about you for like almost a year after that,” He looked like he was going to interrupt with another apology but you stopped him. “Senior year was hell after you graduated, even with Finn and Rey right there. But you know what? I understood why you wanted to leave so desperately.” Oh? This wasn’t where he expected this to go but he let you continue anyways.

“I mean, it was a great place to grow up and all but there really wasn’t any future there. I saw it when I finally graduated the year after. I’m not saying I supported your decision to just throw away everything and leave so suddenly like that. It’s just that, neither of us was mature enough to handle that decision properly,” Poe nodded slowly. Looking back, there were so many things he would change if he could. You were right, you were both so young and dumb.

“You know how sometimes you feel like if you don’t do take an opportunity when its right there, you’ll never see it again? That’s what it felt like,” He sighed. “I just really wanted to follow mom’s footsteps so badly. Dad wasn’t too thrilled either. He said I should take more time to think about something so life-altering,”

Did he regret it? The question hung heavily in the air between the two of you, lying on the tip of your tongue, rattling around his head and not for the first time. Some part of him didn’t want to answer.

He didn’t want to regret it. Didn’t want to voice out that the biggest ambition of his life was the reason he laid there a broken shell of a man in many ways. But one thing he knew was that if he hadn’t chased after that desire, if he had let himself take the ‘safe’ option, he would’ve hated himself.

I missed you. Those three words he held back. What right did he have to say it when he was the one that left when he was the one to cause you so much hurt?

“Can we just-” You hesitated. Was it too much to ask for? “Can we just be friends again?” You asked meekly.

Just a few hours ago, he was under the impression that you wanted nothing to do with him. He was still reeling from the fact that you even considered talking to him. You wanted to be friends again? There was nothing more he wanted.

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, very eloquently.

---

Poe woke up to the soft scent of flowers. And then he realized that it was because his face was buried in your hair and he was smelling your shampoo. Poe rubbed the remaining dregs of sleep from his eyes as he fully awoke to you laying almost completely on top of him.

Your form gently rose and fell with every breath you took. Poe considered shifting away from you before you woke up but your arms were tightly wound around him and your weight was settled over him, so warm and soft. He didn’t want to move.

Shit, how did you two end up like this? The last thing he remembered was talking to you, catching up on the decade he had left you behind for. Did you fall asleep like this? How were you going to react to it? He sure as hell didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. But the way your face was buried in the crook of his neck gave him the impression that you weren’t exactly uncomfortable.

He was probably thinking too much about it. He was just thinking that he should go back to sleep and deal with it when you wake up when you slowly stirred awake. Poe froze as you lifted your head and blinked at him blearily.

“Mornin’” you rasped before you realize the position you were in. You were so close to him, you could feel his breath fanning against your cheek and your face heated.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” The pet name earned a soft, sleepy smile from you which sent his heart violently thundering in his chest. Hopefully, you didn’t hear it.

You planted a palm on the mattress beside his head, trying to lift yourself off him, but the only thing you managed to do was position yourself right above him as if your previous position wasn’t awkward enough.

You felt Poe’s hands on your hips steadying you on top of him as your elbow came down on the other side of his head, unintentionally caging him under you. Your mind was too sluggish to let you move, you decided, because you stayed there hovering above him unable to move.

Or maybe it was because he was looking at you like that. The heat in eyes robbed the oxygen from your lungs and you watched his throat bob as his grip on your waist became just a fraction harder. You should have moved but you felt frozen in place. He was so close. So close that you could kiss him if you tilted your head just a little-

The shrill sound of your alarm popped the small bubble the two of you found yourselves in. You jolted away from him, pawing at the side table as you reached to grab your phone.

The previous tension melted into an awkward silence as you set your phone back onto the side table. Did you almost kiss him? Christ, what were you thinking? Poe slowly sat up beside you.

“Um, sorry I kept you up for so long last night,” he gave you a small sheepish smile.

“No, it’s not a problem. I’ll be fine,” you assured him. “I um, I should go get ready,” you awkwardly gestured before getting out of the bed.

You had a long day ahead of you.

---

The Dameron taglist (open): @writefightandflightclub @arkofblake @yougottakeeponkeepinon @multifandomlife22 @skymerons @smol-peter-parker @rae-rae-patcha @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol @hkmultifandom @cloud-leader @elmoakepoke @staringmoony @valhallavalkyrie9 @the-cry-of-youth @liadamerondjarin @m1rkw00dpr1ncess @takemepedropascal @xremember-me-notx @softly-sad @loserbelle

#poe dameron #poe x reader #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron au #poe fic #poe dameron fic #my writing

75 notes · View notes

mojofun · 4 years ago

Text

Not My Type (Sirius Black x Reader)

Hello earthlings :) This is an entry for This is an entry for a writing challenge I’m taking part in, launched by the wonderful @obsessedwithrandomthings for getting 500 followers; congrats again :) The prompt I chose this time was <<You look so good in my shirt>>. I can just imagine our dear Sirius using lame one-liners when flirting with girls, and this is the result. P.S. I’ve been listening to Motionless in White lately, so this thing is packed with lyrics references. Besides, Sirius looks like the kind of guy who would totally dig that style of music so I thought “why not?” I hope you enjoy it!

Gif not mine, credits to @snuffles-padfoot07

<<Remus?>>

No answer

<<Remus. Remus Lupin>>

Still silence

<<Remus John Lupin>>

Still no reply

<<Moony. Moony, Moony, Moony->>

<<WHAT?!>> The taller Marauder ultimately snapped, turning to glare at his bespectacled friend; said friend acted like nothing happened, simply holding up a slip of paper

<<Do you think Lily will like it?>>

Sighing, Remus gave the poem a skim before rolling his eyes

<<Won’t you give the poor girl a moment of reprieve, James?>>

<<Cmon, help a friend in need!>>

<<Why me?>>

<<You always has a way with words>>

A snort came from the opposite side of the room

<<And yet, he still got no date>>

Remus scowled

<<Prongs, why don’t you ask Padfoot then? Merlin knows Y/N loves his idiotic pickup lines>>

Sirius acknowledged the hit, rising from his bed and walking toward his two mates with a strut. Once there, he took James’s poem and read it, nodding in approval

<<Go for it, pal>>

<<What about you, oh great master of poetry?>> Moony teased, still miffed about Sirius’s jab <<How will you annoy your muse today?>>

The shorter male chuckled, smirking mischievously

<<Don’t worry, Moony. I’m very well-prepared>>

<<That’s exactly what worries me>>

_______

<<Y/N! Y/N!>>

Sirius greeted the H/C girl who’d just walked in the class with her friends. As soon as she saw him, she groaned

<<Oh no>>

<<Come sit by me!>>

Another H/N patted her back soothingly while she face-palmed

<>

<<Oh love, come on! You don’t need to be afraid of me!>>

<<I’m not scared: now that I think about it, you look like my boggart after I’ve cast Riddiculus>> The female deadpanned.

Sirius was stumped.

Beside him, Janes cackled

<<Your girl’s got sass, Padfoot>>

The other guy could only nod, watching as his crush took a seat as far as possible from him- or tried to: thanks to his distraction, all the other spots were occupied.

That meant she was sitting in the next desk.

Y/N hoped that she’d successfully quelled the Gryffindor’s idiotic onslaught.

Well, she did... Just for a little while though

<<Such a sharp tongue for someone so pretty, doll>>

<> The girl countered, glaring at him <<Do not tempt me>>

<> He cackled

<<Yes, my killing instincts are very strong right now>>

The quaint theatre was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, who immediately gave dispositions for the class

<<Very well. Today, you will work in pairs>>

The sentence every student dreaded, especially poor Y/N.

It seemed luck was not on her side that day because, when the professor announced her partner, she was faced with a smug Sirius, grinning from ear to ear

<<You know, my therapist says I’m afraid of commitment. Wanna help me prove em wrong?>>

<<Interesting. I’ve never wanted to commit more>>

<<Really?>>

<<Yes; a murder>> The E/C-eyed student walked away from him, heading toward the fire crab the professor had assigned them

<<Ready to give up, Padfoot?>>

<<Never>>

<> Remus commented

<<She’s made of fire, but I can handle it. And no, James; I’m not talking about the crab>>

_______

<<No no no no. Stop right there>>

<<What?>>

<<You need to chop those before feeding the crab>>

<<Oh>>

<<Give them to me>>

Sirius nodded, handing her the food and watching her cut it, slowly and precisely

<<Where have you been all my life?>>

<<Hiding from you>> Y/N replied coolly.

The boy cackled

<<You’re smart, funny, pretty, and you’ve got an insane amount of sass. You’re everything I’m looking for in a girl>>

<<Wow, I’m so lucky>>

It would have been impossible to ignore the sarcasm lacing her words, but Sirius didn’t acknowledge it

<<Would you want to go watch a movie with me this weekend?>>

<<I’ve already seen it>>

<<How can you know?>>

<<You’re asking me out again: I’ve already lived this horror enough to last me a lifetime>>

The older Black brother laughed, shaking his head in amusement

<<Alright, let me try again>>

<<Please no>>

<<Can I take you out on Saturday?>>

<<Sorry, I’m having a headache this weekend>>

<<What?>>

<<Leftovers from the one you’re giving me now>>

But you->>

<<Bitch you’d give a fucking aspirin a headache>> She growled.

Once again, Sirius was at a loss for words. Not only had Y/N just used two swear words in a sentence, but he knew he’d already heard those words somewhere...

<<Wait a second. You listen to Motionless In White?>>

He cried out. The female snorted

<<Are you kidding me? They’re one of my favourite bands>>

<>

Finally, the tension between them seemed to dissipate. Finally, Sirius’s smile was not a smug grin but a real, happy smile.

Finally, Y/N smiled genuinely back at him.

How cliché would it be to say that they felt like they were the only ones in the world at the moment?

(Fire crab aside)

And yet, that exactly how they felt.

It was so exhilarating that Sirius just had to try again

<<Y/N?>>

<<Yes?>>

<> The girl chuckled, prompting him to continue <<but I’m here to stay, forever and always>>

She laughed more. It was not sarcastic or mirthless but a true, joyous laugh

<<You know, you’re not so bad once I get past the smug act>>

<>

<<You’re probably right, but don’t get ahead of yourself. My killing instinct are not raging right now: let’s keep it that way, shall we?>>

<<I’m ready to bleed to make amends>> He joked. The young woman cachinnated, shoving him playfully

<<You idiot. You’re making it hard not to like you>>

<<That was my objective>>

<<Continue on this road and you might just achieve it>>

<>

Y/N cackled one more time, shaking her head in amusement.

It was an incredibly welcome turn of events.

_______

Later that day, the two students sat together for lunch in the Great Hall, discussing anything that came to mind. Mostly their favourite bands.

The more they found out they had similar tastes the more engaged they became.

It was quite a sight. It surely left Remus and James gobsmacked: they would have never thought Y/N would actually want to be with Sirius. Didn’t he annoy her as much as James did Lily, with his dumb pickup lines?

Apparently not.

Their surprise grew even more when their friend suddenly asked her on a date- nothing new there.

They’d enjoyed endless attempts by Padfoot to win the heart of the smart and beautiful H/N.

Her answer, on the other hand, was something entirely unexpected

<<Yes, Sirius: I will go on a date with you>>

The black-haired Marauder offered her a huge smile, making her laugh

<<Thank you, darling. You won’t regret it>>

<>

<<I’ll even make sure the place I take you to has sharp knives, so you’ll know what to do if I get too annoying, alright?>>

The girl laughed so hard that tears fell from her eyes

<<You’re an idiot>>

<<Duly noted. But doesn’t this idiot deserve a kiss?>>

Remus and James half expected Y/N’s smile to turn into a frown, and for her to smack him in the face.

Instead, against all odds, she giggled and pulled him closer, pecking his cheek

<> Sirius beamed. Y/N snorted

<<Not entirely: you’re still an idiot>>

_______

Idiot or not, the date went so well that they went on a second one, and a third, a fourth... And so on, until they officially became a couple.

Which meant Remus, James and Peter had to deal with their best friend and his girlfriend sucking faces and being all lovey-dovey- though they were sure those two only did it to piss them off.

Well, they’d learnt how to deal with it, as long as it was just holding hands and kissing- making out, actually.

But none of them was ready to find the two of them in bed together in their dorm room

<<What the->>

<<Ah!>> Y/N startled, waking Sirius

<<For crying out loud, guys, won’t you ever knock?>>

The poor friends just stood there, red in the faces while Padfoot rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

Once he’d had enough, he shouted

<<Well, why are you still standing there? Get out, we need to change!>>

Not even Death-Eaters after them would have made the three boys run so fast.

The female chuckled, standing up and smoothing our her boyfriend’s shirt that she was wearing like a dress.

The boy in question stared at her adoringly, pulling her closer

<<You look so good in my shirt>>

He fully expected her to blush, but she smirked and replied cheekily

<>

The wink that came immediately after threw him for a loop

<<Y/N...>>

<<Yes, dear?>>

<<... That’s such a lame pickup line>>

<<Yeah... I stole the idea from you, along with your shirt>>

<<And my heart>> Sirius played along

<<... Just like that, the lame throne is yours again>>

<<But that makes you the queen of lame>> He pointed out.

She didn’t know what to reply to that, so she swatted him on the chest.

He gasped in horror

<<You said you’d never hurt me>>

His joke made her laugh.

When she calmed down enough, she teased

<<You’d still give a fucking aspirin a headache>>

<<Oh, are you an aspirin?>> For old times’ sake, he decided to throw in another lame pickup line <<I’d love to take you every 4-6 hours>>

<<Isn’t that too much for you?>> She teased. He chuckled and pulled her in his lap, pecking her cheek

<<You are too much for me, but I’m never letting you go>>

Despite the light atmosphere, those words held a promise of forever, and they both wanted that.

Their lips met and their hands held the other close.

Once again, as cliché as it may sound, they felt like the only two people in the world

___Extra____

Outside the door Remus, James and Peter stood still, looking at each other in confusion and embarrassment

<<How long do you think it will take?>>

<<Well, Wormtail, I don’t know much about Padfoot’s prowess in bed but->>

<<I’m not talking about that, James>> The shorter Marauder spluttered.

Remus sighed

<<That was probably the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me. And that’s saying something, taking into account I hang out with you three>>

James cackled

<<Oh, Moony, you wouldn’t->>

<> Peter piped up again

<<What would that be?>>

<<Why are we still standing here?>>

<<Oh, right. We should come back later>>

<<Better yet, let’s change our house>> Remus groused <<Merlin knows I’m never going back there>>

After some silence, James spoke again

<<Hey, Moony, do you think if I used those pickup lines on Lily, she would->>

Professor McGonagall spent the whole day wondering if the incredibly loud sound she heard in the morning was actually a scream, and where it had come from

#dees500challenge #sirius black x y/n #sirius black x reader #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black imagine

57 notes · View notes

prose-for-hire · 4 years ago

Text

In the middle

Pairing: Spike x reader; Faith x reader Request: Not requested. Oblivious reader in the middle of Faith and Spike crushing on them. Sort of a weird timeline, after Faith was in a coma and Spike was chipped but they’re both like, ‘fighting for good’. Not sure I’m happy with it, but I wanted to write something a bit different than my usual.

Feel free to request something, anything, I love bringing your ideas to life!

y/n/n – nickname or your initial that Faith would call you. Warning: Swearing/cussing.

Spike and Faith had returned to Sunnydale both for their own reasons. But soon after you had seen each of them again, they found themselves drawn to you. You were kind and you made them feel like the only person in the room. You were slightly older than the other Scoobies and you had your own little place on the outskirts of town. Close enough that you could haul yourself over and help Buffy out if she needed but far enough from the Hellmouth that you didn’t feel so trapped all of the time.

Spike felt it as soon as he saw you again. He had a tendency to fall headfirst without thinking, but he was used to being love’s bitch. This time, he knew it was for real. He found himself following you, just to make sure you were safe after dark and when you noticed a few times and asked him to walk you places ‘for protection’ his heart almost rose in his chest. He felt wanted and trusted by you, like you relied on him.

Faith felt it gradually, not really realising what it was until it was too late. She prided herself on not getting attached, opting for a quick fling here and there, but that all changed when she became close to you. The rest of the Scoobies still didn’t trust her but you were just the same you had always been with her. You were kind and you didn’t try to compare her to Buffy the way everyone else did and you didn’t like reminding her of all her mistakes either. You liked her for herself and knew she was her own kind of Slayer. Plus, you were fun to be around.

You were happy, you had gained two good friends that seemed to always want to spend time with you. It only got awkward when all three of you were together, which was happening a lot more recently. You weren’t really sure why though.

Both of them had an unspoken agreement to keep out of the others way, trying to navigate their friendship with you without the other interfering. This was how it got to this point. Spike had been standing under the big tree outside your house, smoking and watching just until your light turned out, convincing himself you should be safe after that. He would stay out all night just to make sure you were safe. Faith had decided to give up patrolling for the night and not able to resign herself to the loneliness of the motel just yet, thought she would swing by your place. Maybe check if you wanted to go to the Bronze or just talk. That’s the thing she found herself wanting more than anything, just to hear your voice and that was something that told her she was in deep. She felt her slayer senses and whipped around, realising who it was.

“You’re fucking kiddin’”

“Don’t start with the self-righteous slayer bit, Buffy’s already given me an earful tonight” Spike rolled his eyes, flicking his cigarette end to the floor highlighting the pile at his feet.

“Leave them alone, it’s kinda pathetic man, stalking them from the shadows. Everyone’s laughin’ at you, y’know that right? Lovesick vampire after someone that wouldn’t look at you twice”

“Yeah well, a fella’s gotta have hope” He admitted softly which made Faith scowl further. He was horrible, the only reason he wasn’t dust was because the Scoobies seemed to have a use for him. When Faith started to walk to your front door to knock, Spike continued, “Don’t think I don’t see it. The way your psycho-bitch act melts into nothing when they’re around” He said, raising an eyebrow as Faith looked away slightly. Her face faltered for a moment and Spike’s smirk widened, “Slayer’s scared of the way she feels… if you can’t have them, I can’t is that what this is?”

“You don’t know me, dude-”

“I know what they can do to a person… their sweet nature, the way they feel for everyone, no matter what damned ugly creature they come across…” He stared into the distance as he spoke of you, towards your window where your light was now out. Faith didn’t like the way he spoke about you and so she started to show the vampire with her fists.

You were in comfy clothes, getting ready for bed. You had just slipped under the covers when you heard a massive noise outside. Living in Sunnydale should have told you to stay put and hide from the threat, but you peaked through your blinds anyway to find two familiar figures arguing, with Spike having been thrown against your dustbin. You ran downstairs, swinging open your front door.

“Um, what are you both doing here?” You hissed. Their faces both dropped at the sight of you, they were hoping to avoid this. You were both of their weaknesses and this was a big thing for both of them to admit, considering their big personalities. You managed to see the good in everything in a way that they never could. You had noticed how close you were getting to both of them and being their friends made you happy, but you had no idea that they both had feelings for you.

“Fang-less over here was lurkin’ giving himself a massive hard-on at the idea of catching you changing in front of the window”

“I wasn’t lurking! I was standin’ about, it’s a whole different vibe” He protested and you gave them both a perplexed smile, yawning a little as Spike deflected onto Faith, “Well, Second-class-Slayer, what exactly were you doin’ here?”

“Oh, well, do you both wanna come in-” You decided, gesturing inside, seeing as you were up now.

“Hey, y/n/n, don’t!” Faith started, trying to stop you from inviting Spike in. That was the last thing she needed.

“Come in, you know, before you both need to slay or fight or… whatever it is you guys do at night”

“Thanks pet, awful nice of you to invite us” Spike smirked as he waltzed in and Faith groaned, walking in after him.

“Can I, uh, get you anything? Coffee? I might have some tea somewhere”

“Nothin’ stronger, love?”

“No, uh, me and Faith finished the bottle at the weekend…”

“Oh, really? Funny that” Spike muttered, annoyed she had managed to get precious time alone with you. You frowned as Faith smiled, slinging an arm over your shoulder. You didn’t understand the look and if you were honest you were starting to pick up on a strange tension between the three of you.

“We had some real fun, huh, y/n/n?”

“Yeah, it was nice. I didn’t realise how much of a lightweight I was until I met you both” You chuckled, turning to move from Faith’s friendly arm to boil water for your own hot drink seeing as nobody else wanted one.

“Yeah, that time in the crypt was a laugh, right pet?”

“Oh yeah! That was cool, with the drinking games… who knew a crypt could be so comfy” You said softly as Spike smirked at Faith smugly behind your back.

“Comfy?” Faith looked pissed and there was nothing worse than an angry slayer. Both were silently gesturing for the other to leave while you had your back turned, busying yourself in your little kitchenette. When you turned around, they both tried to keep a straight face, pretending they weren’t desperate for the other to leave to have time alone with you. They both gave you a smile, their expressions softer than you would give either of them credit for if you didn’t know them so well. All their attention was on you when you were back with your hot drink of choice.

“You, uh, can both sit you know. It’s not a stand-off” You smile, settling on the sofa. There was a spare space next to you and Spike slipped into the seat first as he was closer. He launched himself next to you as Faith had to sit on a single seat closest to you and opposite Spike so she could make sure he didn’t try anything. He smirked, sliding his arm along the headrest to rest behind your head.

You looked between them, they kept glancing at each other every so often before bringing their attention back to you. You realised something, their weird behaviour. Their bickering. You finally figured it out. You kept silent for a while, blowing on your hot drink. When they glared at each other again, after Spike had shifted closer to you, you decided to say something.

“Maybe you two should admit your feelings already” You mutter and their eyes widened and they scowled at each other. So you weren’t as oblivious as they thought.

“Woah, woah, feelings? You think this guy has anythin’ like that? No freakin’ way”

“Oi, I can love! You’re the bloody scary Slayer with no feelings and a penchant for stabbing people”

“Aw, Spike, you’re scared of me?”

“Well, you’re always at each other’s throats. There’s clearly, um, some tension between you… I’ve n-noticed that you’re always using me as a buffer. I don’t think I’ve been around one of you alone very often since you both came back to town. You don’t need me in the way, you just need to talk about your feelings” You finished, pleased with yourself for picking up on it. A lot of people have called you naïve before, but you decided that was pretty smart of you.

They both exhaled a massive sigh of relief, neither was ready to admit their feelings to you. They enjoyed being your friend because at least then they could be close to you. It would hurt if you picked the other over them. They were almost relieved that you appeared to believe they liked each other.

“Yeah, you know what, let’s do that” Faith grabbed Spike up by his leather duster and started to pull him to the exit, “I’ll see ya round y/n/n”

“Bye guys, hope it goes well! Don’t be strangers!”

“Alright, pet, I’ll be back before you know it don’t you worry” He called over his shoulder as Faith threw him through the front door and they went for their ‘talk’. You went back to bed, pleased with yourself for helping them out. Maybe you could become Sunnydale’s resident match-maker.

#spike x reader #spike x you #spike imagine #spike btvs #faith lehane #faith lehane x reader #faith x reader #faith lehane imagine #not requested #requests open #love triangle #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #btvs x reader #btvs imagine #reader insert #gender netural reader #queued

123 notes · View notes

currentfandomkick · 5 years ago

Text

Miraculous and Batboys - how it starts

BIG CANNON CHANGE HERE: Chloe never revealed her identity in this one, because I like the name Queen Bee, and I prefer characters learning from mistakes and growing for real.

Marinette rubbed her forehead as she wrote down yet another of Lila’s lies, the timeframe it ‘happened’ in, and added it to the open document of ‘Lila Rossi’s life, according to her’ that she convinced the class to work on her with Adrien’s help.

Why?

Because the class was reading it over sometimes and would find the inconsistencies for themselves.

Including the changing date of when she met various celebrities, where she grew up, who she met when…

Sabrina, Max and Alya were now doing independent research into earlier stories for the class. It only took a few years, but better late than never.

The class was waking up (finally) and it looked like Chloe was in full ‘protect Adrikins’ mode now. Which was bad and good. Good, because Lila and Gabriel refused to oppose Chloe and risk upsetting the Mayor. Good because it meant Adrien could get away from Lila and her claws. Bad because it meant Chloe and not getting away to be Chat as easily. And finding time to hang out with him to talk ‘end Hawkmoth’ strategies was a lot harder.

Which meant on the ‘scour cities Wonder Woman was seen in’ days, only Marinette could go. Which was fine, just, she’s still not the greatest at English, and Adrien was better at talking to people on the fly. She did have the better cover though—helping Fu tend to his tea plants and checking on his health. Maman and Papa did worry about the old man helping their daughter with her Mandarin.

She left school with a wave to the blondes, Lila once more thwarted in trying to force Adrien to study with her by Max claiming he was the better student with a more open schedule, and therefore the superior tutor.

Marinette smiled as she slipped out knowing she’d have a few hours to scour Metropolis, the latest location Wonder Woman was spotted in. She’d go out of costume—no need to step on another hero’s toes yet. They needed help but Master Fu was careful to remind her that she still needed to be careful with how many knew of the Miraculous.

No need to get the attention of the League of Assassins—age old enemies that did almost destroy the Order on too many occasions.

“Voyage!”

One minute she’s in Fu’s shop, the next she’s in Metropolis. She’s careful to leave the Metropolis Museum’s bathroom and leave without the cameras seeing her. No need to end up on any meta-human watches.

Until she bumped into a brunette in too much flannel that paled when he saw her. She didn’t know what was going on with him, but she doesn’t have time for it. She was quick to leave and move about Metropolis like she was far more familiar with it than she was.

She didn’t see her before the timer went off. Maman would worry if she didn’t get home soon…

Kaalki used voyage on their own to get them back.

“Any luck Marinette?” Fu asked.

Marinette shook her head. “None. Sorry Master.”

“It is okay Marinette,” Fu reassured. “You can try again on the weekend.”

Marinette nodded, twisting a bit of her shirt. She really hoped they found her soon.

Jon froze when he saw the girl with pigtails. She—how do you get breaks like that? How can you be alive? He’s seen something like that on a few of the Leaguers but they fully healed before going back out. This girl’s were wide open.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but the girl was gone.

He tried to follow where she left, but she was gone.

He was worried and sent a message to his dad: we need to talk—saw something I can’t explain.

That night he tried to explain what he saw.

“This girl, not middle school but definitely not college, she shouldn’t have been alive, let alone walking.”

That had his dad’s attention.

“I know, she, she acted like she was fine but I x-rayed her by accident and dad, there were cracks and breaks on all her bones. Different states of healing but she shouldn’t have been moving like it was fine. I, Dad I’m worried. Can you keep an eye out if you see her?”

Superman nodded. That… she could be an experiment or meta or mage but no matter what, it sounded like she was in anything but a good place… she might be a good fit for one the League affiliates if she did have powers of some kind, or issues to work out more like the Robins. Speaking of…

“She didn’t happen to have black hair or blue eyes, did she?”

Jon frowned. “I, yeah, why?”

Superman sighed. “You might have found Bruce’s next student.”

Things got worse for Marinette. Hawkmoth and Mayura tried to kill her and Chat this time something about it being easier with dead heroes.

She felt sick.

“Master Fu, I know we said to be cautious but…”

Fu nodded. “Go as Ladybug. It might be easier if Wonder Woman is aware there is an active Ladybug.”

Marinette checked the WonderWatch. Last place was still Metropolis.

“Tikki, Spots on!”

Kaalki opened a portal for her, flying in behind her. Once they got there, Marinette put the glasses in her yoyo, Kaalki following.

It didn’t take Marinette long to run into someone—well, Superman on the roofs. Who looked ready for a fight.

“And you are?”

“Ladybug, one of Paris’ heroes.” Marinette launched into an abridged explanation while Superman froze at one point. Unknown to Marinette, he check her for injuries and felt sick at the sight of her (very much should not function) skeleton with too many injuries. Just like the girl he said he’d keep an eye out for.

“How did you get here?”

Ladybug opened up her yoyo, showing the glasses as she put them on.

“Is it time to leave Ladybug?” Kaalki asked, looking around to see Superman. And then be very unimpressed. “This is not the child of Hippolyta.”

Superman took a deep breath. “You’re coming to the Watch Tower, we can get this sorted there.”

Superman use his comm to contact Wonder Woman while Ladybug put Kaalki away.

“There a kid here that’s looking for you, looks like a magic user and goes by Ladybug—“

“You are to bring her right away!”

Superman turned to the red spandex hero on the roof, looking a bit awkward.

“Do you mind coming to the Watch Tower with me, Wonder Woman wants to speak with you.”

Marinette nodded, hoping that maybe Wonder Woman could get her in contact with the former Ladybug. Perhaps she’d have more insight on how to take down Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Once there, Wonder Woman grabbed Marinette. “How long have you wielded Tikki?”

Marinette relaxed at that one. “Three years, the Grand Guardian didn’t want the League of Assassins to know the Order survived their last purge.”

Marinette didn’t notice how Superman or Batman froze at that.

“Of course,” Wonder Woman shook her head. “How many survived?”

Marinette gave a weak smile. “Just my master to our knowledge. If Chat’s civilian life allowed for it, he’d be training more with me but as it stands…”

Wonder Woman squeezed her shoulder. “You are young to take on that burden.”

Marinette shrugged. She was the only one available. “My teammates all have a hard time getting away or haven’t earned his trust to that level.”

That had Wonder Woman narrowing her eyes. “How old are your allies?”

Marinette rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, I’m the second youngest, but we’re all close in age.”

Wonder Woman frowned at that. “I see… the Guardian must have only just begun rebuilding the Order then.”

“Order?” Batman asked.

Wonder Woman sighed. ��Order of the Miraculous, protector of the Kwami—concepts incarnate. If properly used, they are a force for immeasurable good. When used incorrectly, they could devastate the world.”

Marinette nodded. “Chat and mine are the targets by the corrupted butterfly and broken peacock user, we don’t know why beyond using them for a wish that would have some cataclysmic side effect.”

Wonder Woman took a deep breath. “Would it be of use to speak to my mother?”

“Maybe, but we need to figure out their identities since they’ve escalated beyond theft, mind control and possession into outright trying to kill us.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on,” Batman grumbled, rubbing his temples. “And how we didn’t know about this sooner?”

“The butterfly is Transmission, which means people can only learn of our situation if you see it yourself or someone tells you directly in the case of the restrictions the current butterfly user placed on the kwami.”

“And we wouldn’t see the destruction of Paris because…”

“The Miraculous Cure,” Wonder Woman launched into an enthusiastic explanation while Marinette took out Kaalki.

“Ladybug, where are—ah, Hypolita’s daughter.” Kaalki moved to examine Wonder Woman. “If you could tell me where the former Ladybug is, then we can be out of your hair.”

“What—no, we have to help!” Wonder Woman exclaimed, clearly intent on making sure Marinette wasn’t going back alone. “The current Order is operating with only one Gaurdian, and a team unsupervised children—No offense Ladybug, but I can not let you leave without ensuring your team has more support.”

Marinette winced at that. “I know, but I don’t think we could take on any Leaguers if Hawkmoth akumatized them. Or if Mayura made an amok using them.”

Wonder Woman opened and closed her mouth. “Then what can I do?”

Marinette knew there was only one way to get what she needed and keep the League out as a whole. “If you can find someone that can keep their emotions in check and knows how to investigate, they can focus on unmasking Hawkmoth and Mayura’s identities.”

“If I may,” Batman interrupted. “If you can explain the situation, I believe my sons can assist you.”

Marinette was quick to agree in exchange for Wonder Woman taking her to Thymescira to meet the former Ladybug.

Marinette was skeptical of the bayboys. Red Hood was known to kill (she’d count him in the hero category given the change in MO to moderate injury now). The current Robin had killed too… Red Robin felt off and Nightwing looked like he’d be more at home in a circus.

Chat was with her, Queen Bee at her side with a raised eyebrow.

“So this is who we’ll be working with?” Red Robin sounded tired.

Chat looked at Marinette, and what could she say, it was this or be trapped in the Watch Tower with the Justice League trying to take over. Which could get League of Assassin attention and she was avoiding that. The new order was too fragile still.

Marinette offered her hand. “Ladybug, team strategist.”

“And leader,” Queen Bee chimed in with a grin.

Nightwing frowned. “I thought some guardian was?”

Chat shook his head. “M’lady is in charge. The Guardian takes care of the kwami and decides when we should use more than mine and M’lady’s.”

“And mine now.”

“And Queenie’s now.”

Marinette fondly shook her head. This was her newly minted permanent team, and the only way to keep Chloe from sticking to Adrien during attacks.

Here’s the normal fic version, @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles

#maribat #daminette au idea #my writing #miraculous team and batboys

199 notes · View notes

pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles · 4 years ago

Text

Wicked Game (Part 2)

Word Count: 20K+ total Team Long Winded Bitch strikes again, this will be posted in multiple parts over the next couple of days. The first part is about 5K, part 2 is 7K

Rating: 18+ Slash fic Strong language, alcohol and drug use, and a misogynistic and racist comment. Sexual scenes including masturbation, toys, voyeurism, oral, and anal sex.

Summary: Ashton is ready to move on with his life after his painful divorce from Luke and the demise of the restaurant they’d built together. With the help of his protegee and sous chef Hima Singh, Ashton is ready to take on opening weekend of his new restaurant Anne-Marie’s. Calum is a reporter filling in on an assignment and is surprised when his past comes back to haunt him. Hima arranges an interview that takes an unexpected turn between the two men.

Ashton grabbed his bag and shut off the lights in the bar. Hima was waiting impatiently by the door, keys in hand. Following the disaster of an afternoon, they'd been packed until closing. He'd been too busy cooking to think about it, something he loved about his job. The rush and the heat combined with the complete focus on his work. You had to keep your eyes on your fingers or you got hurt. The satisfaction of plating an order and sending it out until the next order came in, starting the process over again.

"Will you come on?" Hima tapped her foot, making her keys jangle. "My brother is waiting for us." Her twin brother had passed the bar exam a month ago, but everything had been so crazy with the opening they hadn't properly celebrated yet.

The bouncer recognized Hima and let them in immediately. Tirana was a sleek, neon-lit bar favoring overpriced cocktails, elaborately garnished and meant to be as much of a showpiece as a beverage. Ashton eyed the crowd full of men sporting off the rack Italian suits with egos as inflated as their dates' chests. Kabir was waiting in VIP with his friends and waved them up. Ashton congratulated him and ordered a spiked seltzer, passing on the bottle service Kabir offered. Hima was taking shots with the guys and he joined them in a toast. As he was taking a drink he spotted Calum Hood leaning against the wall, looking bored and maybe a little drunk. Hima must've seen his expression because she whipped around just as Calum looked up and noticed them. Ashton tried to look away and act as if he hadn't noticed the other man. Hima had other ideas and made a beeline for the reporter.

"Hey Calum, fancy meeting you here," she said relieved when he seemed happy to see her. "Come have a drink with us, or am I interrupting something?"

"If you're buying," Calum replied. "A friend brought me here and then fucked off on a phone call." He laughed, but it died out when he saw Ashton.

"Listen," Hima cut him off before he could speak. "I know this afternoon didn't go well, but what you don't know is just before you came in, my boss had to sit through an interview with Kevin Mackie. It did not go well "

"Oh God, that insufferable bastard," Calum snorted.

"Exactly, and you know Mackie brought up all that old shit from Lune Rouge," Hima told him "That's in addition to insulting every woman who works there, of course."

Calum cringed, and his eyes flickered back towards Ashton talking to Kabir and his lawyer friends. He couldn't help but notice the contrast between the intense scowling man he'd encountered this afternoon and the smiling bubbly ray of sunshine he was looking at now. Was that an actual giggle? Calum blamed the tequila for agreeing to join Hima for a quick drink since his date still hadn't come back. He'd allowed his editor, Shamara, to set him up twice now, but there wouldn't be a third time.

Ashton wiped his sweaty palms on his black jeans as he watched Calum following Hima over towards them. He'd found the reporter attractive this afternoon, but he'd been wearing a long sleeve button up for the interview. Tonight Calum was in all black, and the tank top he wore under the leather jacket showed the ink etched into his skin above his collarbones. Ashton gripped the drink in his hands a bit tighter, trying to keep his nerves steady. He slowly edged his way over to where they were talking just as Calum launched into a story about his magazine sending him on a tour of small mom and pop restaurants up the California coast.

"The owner's husband was sick that day, so she was doing most of the work herself," Calum was saying as Ashton listened in on the conversation. "Beulah was amazing, but they were getting slammed. I asked if she needed any help, and I spent the next three hours manning a fryer. I cooked the chicken, and she'd toss it in the hot oil and spices before slapping it on a bun with the sauce. You'd get the sandwich, pickle, and fries in a little brown sack. We sold hundreds of them, but I knew why when it slowed down enough that I finally got to eat. It's the best chicken sandwich you'll ever have! Tossing it in that spicy oil gives it a flavor that punches you in the mouth. She taught me most of her secrets over the two days I ended up staying until her husband got over the flu.."

I could listen to this man talk all day, Ashton thought watching Calum's expressions and hands as he told the story. The way his chest rumbled when he laughed, which was often throughout the tale. He seemed like a genuinely warm person, and Hima seemed to like him. Maybe I was wrong, five years is a long time

"That's so sweet," Hima smiled up at Calum as he finished.. She was smitten despite hearing rumors he played for the other team.

"Ended up extending my trip for an extra five days which caused all sorts of headaches when I got back. My boss was pissed I'd gone over my expense account," Calum said, shaking his head at the memory, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol now loosening his tongue. He was relieved his date was still MIA. Ashton was standing close enough for Calum to smell his cologne, and it was proving distracting.

"Is that the same magazine you work for now?" Hima asked.

"Yeah, but I was damn near fired. I paid back the money by throwing cash onto my boss's desk when I turned in my story, and he was not amused. The editor-in-chief, who also owns the publisher, loved my story, and after that, I was sent on more in-depth character profiles. I wanna get to know the people behind the food." Calum looked directly at Ashton, meeting his eyes as he spoke. His breath caught in his throat at the intensity in Ashton's hazel eyes as he listened. How is he this handsome? Calum thought. This man has no right to be this good looking. That chest hair peeking out from under that pink shirt is teasing me. Wonder what's underneath? Wait, no I don’t. Stop thinking about that or you're gonna get hard.

"So what exactly were you sent to find?" Ashton asked, his tone still guarded but more friendly than before.

Calum took a deep breath and thought quickly. After the interview bombed this afternoon, he came up with a backup plan if Ashton didn't come through. He made a decision to float both his ideas.

"Look, I know a lot of people are bugging you for gossip about your personal life, but that's not what I'm here for. You opened your first restaurant at 25, and the food at Lune Rouge was fantastic. I know I didn't give you a good review then, but I was trying to be edgy and cool," Calum admitted.

Ashton exhaled and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry about this afternoon. Mackie brought up Luke, and when you mentioned Finn I snapped. I'd like to try again, but I know Hima is more interesting. So what did you have in mind?" Ashton smiled and Calum had butterflies in his stomach.

"I'd like to watch you cook, and see how you are in the kitchen. Tell me how your philosophy on cooking has evolved and what stayed the same," Calum replied. I hope that didn't sound as cringe to him as it did to me. Turning to Hima, he continued talking, "I'd like to do an extra little feature on you if that's ok. It'll give the article a nice balance I think, what do you say?"

Ashton saw Hima's face light up and knew he'd have to say yes. He had to admit, the pitch sounded great, even if the idea of Calum watching him work made him nervous. They turned towards him to see what he thought, and Ashton's gaze landed on Calum's mouth just as he licked his lips. Please don't do that, he thought to himself. Don't make me think about how you taste, and how those lips would feel against mine.

"I definitely think Hima deserves her own feature. I'll go along with whatever you want," Ashton told them.

"You know Calum," Hima turned on the charm. "I'm off tomorrow. I could take you to the best Indian restaurant you've never heard of for lunch." Her eyes got huge and she grabbed Calum's arm. "I'm a genius you guys, listen, the restaurant is hella busy, and the boss man," she nodded towards Ashton, "won't be much fun to interview if there are customers waiting. He just redid the kitchen in his condo, so why don't you do the interview there? That way he's not around us idiots at the restaurant."

Both men stared at her, and Hima panicked thinking she'd overstepped somehow until Ashton nodded. "Sounds like it could work, what do you think?" He asked looking at Calum who nodded, his smile getting broader.

“Sure, um, that sounds great. Really just um, great," he fished his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it before handing it over. "Go ahead and put your number in, and I'll text you tomorrow."

"Is that your little sister?" Hima asked, spotting the picture on his lock screen.

"That's my daughter, Vanessa Joy. Absolute light of my life," Calum beamed, pulling up another pic.

"Daughter?" Hima and Ashton exchanged shocked looks before quickly regaining their composure.

"We were kids. I hadn't figured things out yet," Calum gave his standard explanation.

He started to say more, but he spotted his now-forgotten date headed back towards them. Hima saw his grimace and followed his gaze to the approaching man. She guessed he must be a lawyer who wanted everyone to know it, wearing a double-breasted British tailored suit and gold Submariner watch.

"Sorry about that Cal, that was a client who's a real pain in the ass," the newcomer joined their little group, peering at Ashton with suspicion. "I'm Nick Callahan, a junior partner at Fish, Filbeck, and Greene " Hima almost laughed out loud at this skinny little dude in a fancy suit trying to puff out his chest and put some bass in his voice as he went to shake her boss's hand. Ashton looked amused but Calum not so much.

"Calum, if you don't mind, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Nick waved at a group who'd just come in. He tried to pull Calum away, but he shook Nick's hand off his arm.

"Give me a second, and I'll be over," Calum said, nodding at someone he recognized in the group. "Tell Teddy to order a round of drinks, I'm buying." When Nick still didn't budge, Calum turned his body towards his date and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I'm interviewing this young lady tomorrow, and I want to get it set up before I get drunk, ok?"

Nick swallowed at the warning in Calum's voice and scurried off to meet his friends.

"Sorry about that," Calum turned back, smiling again. He had them each put their number in and saved the info with a smile. "I'm so glad I ran into y'all. Hima, I will text you in the morning, and Ashton just let me know when and where." He gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek which made her blush furiously. He shook Ashton's hand and everything seemed to pause as they locked eyes, exchanging smiles. The handshake lingered a beat too long before they both pulled back completely flustered.

"See you guys then," Calum made a hasty retreat towards Nick and his friends.

"What did you do?" Ashton hissed, feeling dizzy, excited, terrified, and nauseous all at once.

"We'll just have to see, won't we? You two are obviously into each other," Hima tossed her hair over her shoulder, giving Ashton a pointed look.

"I'm not trying to start anything, you know that. Since the divorce it's been too hard and-" Ashton stopped when she put her finger to his lips.

"It's an interview. With a very attractive reporter. You'll be in your element, you can hide behind your food and your knives, but you can get through this. I want my feature." She glared at him and stood on her tiptoes trying to go eye to eye with him.

He had to laugh. Hima was impossible to stay cross with. As he glanced back over towards Calum, he couldn't deny he was intrigued. Don't get your hopes up, Irwin.

Kabir came over to drag them back to his friends. Ashton spent the next hour dancing with Kabir's girlfriend and watching his friends try to hit on Hima without getting caught. Hima's family was overprotective, and her mother was constantly pressuring Kabir to find his sister a good match. As a result, she kept her private life closely guarded, even Ashton didn't know much, although he suspected she had a thing going with one of the servers at Anne-Marie's.

As the song ended, he realized he had to pee. Ashton excused himself and followed the neon arrows to a dimly lit hallway decorated with glow in the dark graffiti. He made his way past the line for the women's room and around two people noisily making out next to the emergency exit. He reached the men's room door just as it swung open towards him. He stumbled back to avoid being hit and collided with the couple behind him. An arm shot out from the tangled bodies, shoving him forward chest first into the man who'd just come out of the bathroom. Ashton put his hands up to steady himself, inhaling the scent of leather and whiskey with a faint whiff of stale tobacco as he looked at Calum's face inches from his own.

"Sorry, uh, I was pushed," Ashton apologized, unable to stop staring at the other man's lips.

"It's ok," Calum's heart was pounding, and he was sure Ashton could feel it through his jacket. He was tempted to make a move and go in for a kiss. He paused long enough to remember the interview, and not wanting to have another misstep, he let the moment pass. "It's all yours," he said squeezing over so Ashton could pass.

Ashton paused, confused, but remembered he was headed to the bathroom. "Thanks, uh, see ya," he replied trying not to stammer. Yeah, that was smooth, he thought. Before he closed the door, he looked back and caught Calum looking back at him.hey both smiled before the crowd closed in and he lost eye contact. He had to stand and splash cold water on his face to get his pulse back to normal. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that his face was still very pink and he was grinning like a fool. I didn't just imagine that did I? What am I doing? What am I going to cook for him?

*********

Ashton jumped at the sound of the buzzer even though he was expecting her. He quickly let her up, and within seconds Hima was at his door.

"How did it go?" He hadn't even fully opened the door before the question was past his lips.

"Eager much? Why don't you get me a drink, and I'll decide what I want to tell you," she said, taking off her jacket and hanging it up.

"You impertinent bitch," Ashton cracked up and headed to the kitchen to put on the kettle.

"You sound like my mother," Hima settled at the bar facing him.

Ashton had expanded his kitchen so he could install a six top gas range and a convection oven while giving himself extra counter space with a small sink directly across and a small island in between. Instead of a dining room, he had an L-shaped bar where he could serve guests directly from the kitchen. He pulled a pitcher of cold brew out of the fridge and poured himself a glass with a splash of cashew milk adding a splash to her cup of hot chai.

"It's such a shame you're gay. We'd have such a great marriage," she joked blowing on her tea.

"I love you too much to marry you, darling," Ashton replied as always.

"Good thing I like my new stepdaddy," she told him, and he choked on his coffee.

"So what did you guys talk about?" He asked when he'd recovered.

"Mostly me, but also you. What do you want first, the details about him or what he asked about you?" Hima smirked at him, almost laughing when he glared at her.

"I'll let you decide, how about that?" Ashton rummaged through the refrigerator before pulling out a loaf of bread.

"Ooh snack time. When did you go to the market? I thought you opened for Rafi today. What are you gonna make for him?" She fired off, trying to crane her neck to see what he bought.

"Nope, you're gonna talk or you're not getting fed. I went before I went in at ten and I stayed till eight. I've barely got home, and I don't need your attitude, young lady. Now spill it," he told her as he pulled out a couple of onions and some gruyere cheese.

"I love it when you're pissy. It looks so good on you. So I took him to Parvati's and ordered chana masala on roasted sweet potatoes. It was so good, I wish you liked Indian food more. We talked about my family, and how they're mostly engineers and lawyers but food was my passion. Confessed that when we first met, I had the biggest crush on you because you were so handsome." She giggled and made a show of fluttering her eyelashes at him. Ashton blushed and threw a caper at her. Hima swatted it back at him and kept talking. "Calum agreed you were handsome by the way. So I told him how you'd mentored me, and when you left the Hilton to open Anne-Marie's, you brought me with you. It was very heartwarming, and I promise I made you look good. He asked a few questions about you, but it was mostly professional stuff. What was it like working for you? What kind of collaborative effort went into the menu? Stuff like that," she shrugged watching Ashton heat up some soup as the sandwiches cooked.

"Well, that's a lot of nothing. I thought you were better than that," Ashton said, pouting his lips at her.

"I know he asked if you were single, but he was hella smooth about it. He asked what kind of gift he should bring tomorrow, whether it should be a bottle of wine or something you could share if you had a roommate. Don't worry, I let him know you were single, but I was cool about it," Hima grinned at her boss's discomfort. He cut the sandwich in half and poured a cup of soup to go with it. He cut some fresh chives to top off the soup along with some crème Fraiche and fresh cracked pepper.

She stopped talking to enjoy the food. Ashton introduced her to cream of celery soup and it quickly became a favorite. The sandwich was beyond good yet incredibly simple: sauteed onions on a grilled cheese sandwich made with Ashton's homemade compound shallot-butter.

"I'm disappointed, I thought you were better than that," Ashton raised his eyebrows at her.

"I'm not done, I'm just enjoying the food. My compliments to the chef." Hima ripped a piece of crust off her sandwich and dipped it in her soup. "I found out some things about Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome," she told him before running her tongue along the edge of the bread and then taking a bite.

Ashton laughed and flipped her off. He had pastry cream cooking in a double boiler, so he was continuously stirring between bites.

Watching him work, she never knew if she was completely in awe of him or a little in love with him, but probably both if she was honest with herself. She'd told Calum as much, off the record of course. It always amazed her how his large hands could be so nimble and quick with a knife, yet so delicate and careful when he was garnishing and plating. She'd told Calum how grateful she was that Ashton had given her such a huge opportunity without being patronizing or expecting her to touch his cock.

People might think cooking would be a natural fit for a woman but professional kitchens were very much a man's world. You had to be physically and mentally tough. She was lucky that she'd gotten out the hotels before she'd been subjected to sexual harassment, but she'd seen enough. Ashton didn't tolerate any kind of physical or verbal harassment, but every cook could curse a blue streak and work through an injury. Most cooks wore their scars like battle wounds. Hima had a jagged thin white line trailing down her left forearm from a staple on a lettuce box that ripped her flesh open while putting away a truck. Ashton had a couple of red welts from the panini grill decorating his arms and a gnarly pink, puckered scar on his left wrist from an accident with molten sugar years ago.

"Ok so, he's a year and a half younger than you, turns 28 in January actually. Aquarius, so that should be fun. Never married, but he's got the kid," Hima informed him.

"That really came out of nowhere the other night. I never would've guessed that," Ashton said over his shoulder, turning his back on her to keep stirring.

"It happened when he was in high school. His first girlfriend, their senior year of high school. They'd already been broken up for two months when they got the news, just when he'd started to figure out his sexuality. They tried to get back together for the sake of their daughter but quickly realized it wouldn't work in a traditional way. Now they're best friends and co-parents to Vanessa Joy. In fact, when Nicole married her boyfriend, Michael, two years ago Calum walked her down the aisle," Hima told him.

Ashton's jaw dropped. "What the hell, Hima? You guys had lunch one time and you know his life story."

"My mother's interrogation skills rubbed off I guess. His daughter also happened to call while he was with me. It was so cute; she made the honor roll and he was so proud. He apologized for taking the call during lunch but said he always has to answer if it's his daughter or his mom."

Ashton turned towards Hima, smiling and blushing, "I can respect that."

"I'm sure you can, Mama's boy," she replied. "Honestly the two of you are adorable. A pair of smitten kittens. He kept asking questions about what it's like to work with you. What are you like as a boss? And every question he got this funny little smile and couldn't look at me. I really hate that you get the best looking guys. It's bad enough you look like that," Hima gestured at him as she looked him up and down. "First Luke, and now Calum, I'm so jealous. That being said I really hope you hook up with him. You could stand to get laid."

"Watch it," he cautioned, not wanting to kill the mood.

"Sorry, but the other night y'all had some serious chemistry. You should go for it. Speaking of, I gotta go. Kabir is having a date night so I actually don't have to go home," she checked her phone, and Ashton didn't recognize the gaudy pink glitter case.

She caught his puzzled expression and laughed, "My mom checks my location, so my iPhone and my car stay at Maisie's. Everything gets forwarded here, and I don't have to answer a million questions."

"You're 24, how are you still dealing with this? When is your mother going to treat you like an adult?" Ashton shook his head, he never understood how she dealt with her family.

She sighed, "It's impossible to explain unless you have Asian parents. My mom grew up here, but my grandparents were still very much rooted in India. If you think my mom is difficult, you should've met grandma." A text came in, and she wrinkled her nose in annoyance reading it. "Why am I the only person who's punctual?" She muttered to herself before looking back at Ashton. "So what are you making tomorrow for the big date, I mean, interview? Mind if I smoke?"

He shook his head and followed her onto the balcony. "Stop saying that, I'm nervous enough as it is. I'm starting with a wilted chard salad with figs and goat cheese, and maybe a soup. I haven't decided, but for the main, I'm making mushroom Wellington with my specialty Mac and cheese and whatever vegetables I pick up at the market tomorrow morning. I'm making a sorbet for dessert. I was going to make a pavlova, but I don't have the patience for merengue right now."

"Calum doesn't stand a chance, he'll be thoroughly seduced. Then I'll get my magazine story and be a star. People will start asking me for photos on the street, they'll learn how to pronounce my name, and I'm only going by Hima. I think I can get away with just one name, like Madonna, Beyonce, and Cher. Don't you? I promise the fame won't go to my head. I'll still be Hima from the block."

Ashton cracked up. "Ok there, Roxy Hart," he teased. "You are so extra, it's too much for an old gay like myself."

"You're not even thirty," she protested. Another text came in and her eyes lit up. She stubbed her cigarette out on the bottom of her shoe before wiping it clean with a napkin and stuffed both in her purse to throw away outside. "You've just gotta get back on the horse, and Calum seems like the type who'd be into chaps and spurs."

"Don't you have places to go, people to do?" He asked, walking her to the door.

"Sure do, good luck tomorrow," she kissed his cheek and was gone.

*********

Calum finished the dishes and popped another antacid in his mouth. Spicy food didn't used to give him heartburn. Getting old I guess. His dog, Brutus, danced around his feet begging for a treat.

"Not gonna happen, old man," he bent down to scratch the pooch behind his ears, but Brutus immediately flipped over for a belly rub. "Greedy bastard," Calum chuckled but obliged with a ton down and chin scratches. He found a chew stick on the couch and tossed it over by the dog's bed, and soon Brutus was curled up contentedly gnawing himself to sleep.

Calum watched his little guy for a bit before heading to his desk to type out a rough draft. Hima was a firecracker, full of energy and ideas, and hard to keep up with. She talked a mile a minute, often switching topics mid-thought as she spoke. He'd had his voice recorder on, but he liked to write his first draft from memory. He admired her passion for her work, and her determination to follow her own path. She was fiercely loyal to Ashton and grateful for the opportunity he'd given her. Calum would've suspected she was a bit smitten with her boss, but she openly admitted her crush. She was quick to insist Ashton had never encouraged or entertained the idea, but she didn't need to tell him that.

Calum knew all about Ashton's history, the cheating, the fights, the messy breakup that brought the restaurant down. He exhaled, nervous about having that conversation. He shut his laptop, now too distracted to write. It's just an interview, calm down. He tried to be rational, but his thoughts kept drifting back to bumping into Ashton at the bar. The pink shirt, the star tattoo begging to be traced with his tongue, those hazel eyes that made his heart jump into his stomach. He tried to focus on his laptop. This article wasn't going to write itself.

****

Ashton laid on his back, concentrating on his breathing as he pressed his knees to the floor in reclining bound angle pose. He'd had too much coffee, and although his body was tired, his mind was racing. His phone was vibrating on the dresser, but Ashton ignored it, moving into a butterfly pose and touching his forehead to the floor. He exhaled, trying to clear his mind. But all he could think about was Calum Hood. He had a brand new restaurant to run. Now was not a good time to become infatuated with a handsome reporter. So why haven't you stopped smiling all day?

He breathed deeply, in, out, in, out. But he couldn't concentrate, couldn't calm down. He pushed himself off the floor and grabbed his water off the table. He opened his phone and was surprised to see a notification from the restaurant security system.

Alarm deactivated at 12:02 AM

Alarm Panel 2

Code: 4452

Ashton realized Hima was at the restaurant. He knew she usually went there after her accounting class but that definitely wasn't the case tonight. Probably popped in for a bottle of wine, which doesn't sound like a bad idea.

The kitchen tiles were chilly beneath his bare feet as he headed towards the small wine fridge on his counter. Craving something sweet, he found a Shiraz he'd been saving and poured a small glass. He scrolled through Spotify, picking a playlist at random, and Robyn's "Dancing on my Own" came over the speakers following him through the apartment back into his bedroom. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and paused.

He pulled his shirt off and turned around examining the freshly-healed Phoenix tattoo decorating his left side from his hip to the top of his ribs, covering up the tattoo of Luke's name, birth date, and their wedding date. He trusted his tattoo artist and let him have creative freedom on the brightly-colored feathers and flames. It turned out beautifully. He turned sideways, rubbing his stomach and flexing in the mirror. He was in the best shape he'd been in since he was a teenager. Yoga kept him toned and lean so he was muscled without being bulky.

I'm giving it my all

But I'm not the girl you're taking home

He let the Swedish synth-pop beat take over, his hips swaying as he listened to lyrics about loneliness and feeling left out.

I keep dancing on my own

The irony wasn't lost on him as he kept dancing, moving away from the mirror. The next song was too slow so he quickly scrolled looking for something better. He clicked on Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know," and began to sing along. He saw that Hima hadn't left the restaurant and opened up the security camera feed on his phone to make sure she was ok.

****

The more Calum stared at the screen the more his concentration drifted. He wondered if Ashton had a type. Cal knew he was decent looking, but he wasn't Luke Hemmings. He snorted at the thought of that simpering pretty boy. Luke was a spoiled child, soft and weak, thinking only of himself. I bet he's selfish in bed, probably a bossy bottom He was surprised at the surge of jealousy he felt. Don't bring Finn into this. He rubbed his temples at the memory of finding out his then-boyfriend was cheating with Luke.

Finn was always looking for an opportunity, whatever would take him to the next level. His relationship of almost a year with Calum failed to get him noticed in the food press. Finn felt Ashton didn't give him enough credit at Lune Rouge and whined constantly about it. Cal was having his own career struggles at the time and personally thought Finn was acting like a spoiled brat instead of being grateful for the opportunity. They began to spend less time together after Calum's snarky review caused a huge blow up. So when Ashton and Luke's relationship began to fray, Finn had time to lend a sympathetic ear. Calum suspected Finn was cheating, but he bought into the “golden couple” bullshit so Luke never crossed his mind. Calum was shocked and gutted when he walked in on the two of them one afternoon. Finn was supposed to be out of town, and Calum popped by to check on his dogs. The sound of sex greeted him when he opened the door and he should have left right then. His curiosity got the better of him, and he walked towards the bedroom. Their moans masked the sound of his boots as someone had a very loud orgasm. Calum opened the door as they were falling away from each other. He walked in to find them panting for breath, sweaty and beautiful with the afterglow. Luke panicked and tried to hide himself, but Finn didn't flinch.

"Well, I guess you know now," he said, smirking as his green eyes met Calum's. "If you're down for it, we've been talking about trying a third. You can top us both if you want." He shrugged and Calum physically felt the spell break. Looking back, he knew Finn broke his ego more than his heart. He'd been humiliated when it all came out, but he knew the affair had been worse for Ashton. He could tell Ashton was still damaged but definitely not broken. Wouldn't mind letting him break me, Calum thought, his mind wandering back to that unbuttoned pink shirt, Ashton's chest and neck begging to be marked up. I bet he likes it rough.

Calum caught himself daydreaming again and blinked the half-filled word document back into focus. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a crush on someone, and he felt ridiculous. How am I gonna get through this interview? It didn't help that Hima kept teasing him about it being a date. Calum's last date, with Nick the lawyer, had been a disaster. He'd ended up leaving after Nick disappeared on another phone call.

The truth was, he was excited about this interview and wished it really was a date. He'd scheduled a quick haircut and shave in the morning and carefully picked out an outfit. He figured his short-sleeve, red button-up paired with a black tank underneath would show off his arms while helping to hide his tummy pudge. He rubbed his stomach, still poking out from the leftover Indian food he'd finished off an hour ago, before letting his hand wander down and brushing his fingers across his cock and feeling it twitch in his basketball shorts. He wondered what Ashton would be wearing tomorrow. He pictured Ashton at the club, the ripped black jeans and the pink shirt unbuttoned enough to tease him. His dick twitched in his hand, waking up and demanding attention.

****

Ashton gasped and almost dropped his phone at the sight of Hima standing in the break room in nothing but her bra and panties. He hadn't recovered from that shock when a male figure crawled into the frame. It took Ashton several seconds to realize the man was nude and covered in tattoos. The tattoos rang a bell, and he realized he was looking at Dakota, model/actor, Maisie's nephew, and a server at Anne Marie's. Dakota was a dark, brooding pretty boy with a perfect pink pout and tousled dark curls that he was always brushing out of his eyes. He was great at his job, but other than that he'd made no impression on Ashton, until now. Ashton watched the younger man on his knees in front of Hima as he sucked on her bright pink cock. What the fuck is happening?

Ashton blinked at his screen, still processing everything when Dakota stood up and bent over the table. Hima lined up behind him and thrust her hips against his ass. Ashton gulped for air and felt beads of sweat break out on his upper lip. He watched for a minute, hypnotized by Dakota writhing in pleasure, his black curls bouncing with every stroke, shoulders hunching over as he gripped the table. Ashton's mind flashed to Calum and what it would look like to have him bent over like that. He realized his dick was getting hard and quickly closed the app, feeling embarrassed for invading her privacy. He fumbled getting his phone into his pocket and accidentally skipped to the next song. "Anytime, Any Place," by Janet Jackson filled the room. He laughed to himself at the sexy song and took another sip of wine.

****

Calum squeezed himself through his clothes. He vaguely remembered Finn telling him Ashton was rumored to have a massive cock. He groaned at the thought of Ashton's hazel eyes looking down at him while he was on his knees. He imagined Ashton's cock brushing against his lips, teasing both of them. Calum groaned and gave up any pretense of trying to work. He stood up too quickly and knocked his chair over causing Brutus to wake from a dead sleep and start barking his head off.

"It's ok, boy," Calum assured him, making sure he laid back down before going into his bedroom and shutting the door. Moments later he was stripped down to his boxers and shirt digging through his top dresser drawer until he found the small bag hiding under his socks. He pulled a bottle of lube and a small silicone sleeve out of the bag and walked back to the bed. He peeled off his shirt, kicked off his underwear and laid on his back on the bed. His cock was flat against his stomach, and as Calum reached for it he wondered what Ashton was doing right now.

****

Ashton felt the plug slip into his ass and shivered at the chill of the stainless steel. He wiped his hands off on a towel and walked out of the bathroom into his bedroom. The music was still playing. Janet's silky smooth voice gave way to Beyonce’s sultry vocals

Baby put your arms around me

Tell me I'm a problem

He walked back into his bedroom, feeling delicious shivers from the pressure on his prostate as he moved. The city lights illuminated the room from the open blinds on the balcony.

Stop acting so scared, just do what I tell

First go through my legs, go back on your head

And whatever you want, yeah baby I'll bet it comes true

He reached down and squeezed his dick, rubbing his thumb over the tip down to the sensitive underside of the ridge. Pulling the shaft down and away from his body, pushing almost to the point of pain before easing up and giving it a nice slow stroke. He repeated the motion, each time pulling a little harder, edging a little closer to making it hurt, each time when he pulled back the relief was more intense. His fantasies were new visions: dark eyes and black curls still coming into focus in his mind's eye. He squeezed his muscles around the plug as he tapped the remote on the table next to him. The plug began to vibrate on the lowest speed and Ashton hissed at the sensation. He wondered if he'd let Calum fuck him. Ashton didn't bottom very often. Luke didn't like to do the work, rarely agreed to switch up and whined whenever he did. Calum looked like he could give as well as he got.

***

Calum grunted as he pushed his cock, slick and shiny with lube, into the sleeve. His hips jerked upwards into the air as the countless smooth nubby fingers lining the inside of the toy closed around his swollen shaft, gripping and massaging the taut skin with every stroke. He screwed his eyes shut picturing Ashton on his back with his knees pulled up to his chest as he begged for him. Calum bit his lip to stifle a moan, slowing down his speed, not wanting to cum too fast. Hima told him Ashton called himself a “bendy boy” and had a strict yoga routine which just sent Calum's mind spinning, picturing trying different positions until Ashton was screaming for him. Calum moved his hand away, leaving the toy. The scenario in his mind began to switch up. The only thing Calum could think of hotter than fucking Ashton was getting railed by his massive cock.

****

The combed cotton, high-thread-count pillowcase felt velvety soft and air-conditioned chilled when he bunched the pillow in his fists as he thrust his hips, burying his shaft in the soft folds. It felt amazing but was cold comfort when he was craving Calum's body heat. He turned the remote up a notch and adjusted the settings; a pulse pattern began throbbing against his core. He squeezed down on his dick even harder. He could feel the delicate feathers snapping under his fingers, but he didn't care. Ashton ached for release, longing to have Calum in his bed tonight. Every nerve in his body seemed to come alive as his orgasm began to build. His hips pumped faster trying to match the pulsing rhythm inside him. He wanted Calum, with a craving he’d never felt before. Something in those dark eyes challenged Ashton. There was something about this mysterious reporter that he needed to discover. He was getting closer with every stroke, the fantasy switching to pounding Calum into the mattress, seeing how well he could throw it back. The image was too much and he shuddered, cursing out loud as his climax hit. His hips stuttered and his legs wobbled, forcing him to his knees. The vibrator extended his orgasm, milking him drop by drop as he whimpered and fumbled for the remote. When he finally turned it off, he rolled onto his back and tried to catch his breath, thankful he'd bought a nice fluffy rug to put next to his bed. .

****

Calum flipped over onto his stomach, grinding down with his hips, the sleeve moving with the friction. He wondered if Ashton was vanilla or if he could get into Calum's slight pain kink. He'd looked for Ashton on FetLife to no avail, but he was fairly sure he'd found Hima so that was a surprise. Calum reached up and tugged his nipple hard as his hips rocked slowly. There was a power to Ashton. He had a dominant side which Calum had clearly seen in his dynamic with Luke, despite Ashton being smaller in size. Calum wanted to see how he'd take charge because he wasn't soft like Luke, but he had no doubt Ashton could handle him. Calum raised himself up on his forearms, pumping his hips furiously. He thought about those arms wrapped around his neck, his teeth grazing Ashton's blood moon tattoos as he bent Cal over and took him hard and fast. He whimpered, biting the pillow, his rhythm starting to stutter as he thought about Ashton looking up at him, eyes wide with Calum's hand at his throat as they reached their high together. Calum was just at the edge when he quickly rolled over, removing the toy and ruining his orgasm. He gasped, his whole body shaking as his release spilled onto his belly. After a moment he reached down, using the sleeve to tease the tip through the aftershocks until it became too sensitive to touch. He was hungry again, so he grabbed a Kleenex and wiped himself off as best he could before walking, still naked, back through his house to turn on the oven. Pizza was always a good snack after sex, and he had an article to work on.

@sublimehood @tea4sykes @be-ready-when-i-say-go @scribblesos @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @wildmichaelflower @castaway-cashton @damselindistressanu @notinthesameguey @cashtonasfuck @irwinkitten @mermaidcashton @malumsmermaid

#calum hood #ashton irwin #cashton #cashton smut #calum hood imagine #calum hood smut #ashton irwin smut #cashton slash #5sos #5sos smut

44 notes · View notes

ourcboros · 4 years ago

Text

𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐃: present day but not. 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: the patronus charm drabble task. 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑: death. 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: @dolors ( astoria greengrass ), several now dead npc’s & grandpa erberk !

they’re eight, almost nine, and they chose a quiet birthday lunch over the offered party because they knew nobody would come. it’s meant to be a happy day, and it is, kind of - they got all of the books they wanted & the promise of a trip to the birmingham zoo when the rain clears up, and both are enough to spark joy, but when they think about the girl at school who got a lollipop from their teacher & a rousing chorus of the happy birthday song right before break time, last week, they feel almost winded.

their hair is the same shade of brown that tints the edges of a rotting flower bouquet, and they sit in the middle of a kitchen that could do with a fresh lick of the ancient yellow paint, rereading the same page of madame bovary over and over and over and over while a mother washes up the plates they’d used & the other bustles over something in the corner. they can sense the downward spiral, even if nazli does not. even if nazli will not admit to it, because admitting to it is being ungrateful for what they’ve already got, and that isn’t who they are.

mum will turn on her heel, suddenly, and gesture for attention. mother will abandon the dishes to soapy water and paste huge smile onto her face to join the out of tune rendition of the happy birthday song that they begin, and nazli will give well rehearsed smile, to begin with, that turns into something much more real when they see the jarringly PINK birthday cake with its imperfect dip in the middle - charity had never been talented baker. there’s nine candles aflame on top, one for every year of life. they’ll act all embarrassed by this display of attention but a streak of pink the same color as the icing will shoot through their hair and when they muster up their energy for a blow that will take down half of those licks of flame in one go, they feel less sad, somehow.

they’ve going to be fourteen soon, one of the eldest students in their year, and they’ve been alone in the hospital wing all weekend. the first time their body had gone to war against them while at school, madam pomfrey had been utterly beside herself. she wouldn’t leave them alone their entire stay, fussing over them in a way they’d forgotten people used to when their bodies random changes were a SURPRISE to be awfully frightened of. it’s been a few years, now, and she’s gotten pretty used to it. she tells them that she’s seen them in worse shape the day they’re brought up & they smile wryly and agree, but it’s best to be on the safe side, so here they lie - trying to find their own entertainment as poppy ( it’s first name basis only, now ) works her way through paperwork.

they have a potions essay due first thing monday morning that they haven’t been able to get finished. they can’t expect special treatment just because of where they are, so they’ve been trying, but the words won’t come to them and the parchment and ink have both been abandoned. good thing, too : if they’d still been holding their quill pointlessly when the doors burst open, there’d have been an awful mark right across the few words they had from the surprise.

they recognize the first year who has joined their house from the sorting ceremony, because they remember cheering VERY loudly for them, but they don’t know much else. they can’t imagine why they’re here, too, since they don’t look very ill on the outside - though that’s hardly something to go off of given the battle waged on their insides, daily. madam pomfrey fusses in a familiar sort of way for the rest of the evening, making sure they’re comfortable on a bed two down from nazli, only leaving them alone for short spans of time until it’s time for her to clock out and leave the night nurse on the watch, a woman who prefers to sit inside the office & read her magazines. nazli steals glances towards the other every so often, their curiosity burning, but they just look forlorn. it’s a little sad, really.

they choose a few of the books that sit atop their bedside cabinet - classics like the picture of dorian gray & the bell jar, a beaten up copy of twilight, a book they’d never recommend to anyone, a book they aren’t yet finished - and they pick their way across the shadowed hospital wing, barefoot. the other starts when they drop the small collection on the bottom of their bed, and they give a friendly smile, launching into an unprepared speech. “i’m nazli. madam pomfrey is brilliant, you know, but i spend a lot of time here and it only really gets bearable when you have some books to read - you can have these ones, if you’d like. i’ve got more if they aren’t your cup of tea, though - my cabinet is a sort of miniature library.”

astoria sits up and offers them a far more wary smile than they’ve defaulted to. that’s okay, though, because it’s good enough for nazli. they hop up onto the end of their bed. “my twilight is annotated but i did that during my i love edward cullen phase, and i’ve been meaning to go back and redo it because now i know i like girls and i have a bigger crush on rosalie than i ever had on him, and that sort of changes my worldview, a little, and makes me feel a lot more critical of his character the entire way through, you know?”

they’re seventeen and their dede can’t hide the SURPRISE that flits across his face when he emerges from the farmhouse in time to watch them trudging up the garden path, every inch of them covered in some kind of muck. it’s early morning, and they’re already tired all over again, but they’ve been laying about moping for days and days because they haven’t got an owl from either mum in a while, and they know they left england for their own safety and that charity had a duty that they did not, but they really wish the two had come, too.

the distant cousins they’re staying with don’t know nazli knows more turkish than they’ve been letting on & didn’t think that they’d heard them telling erberk that they need to start pulling their weight. they had, though, hence this : there’s things to do on a farm first thing in the morning, and nazli’s been hard at work so they find no FAULT that might be big enough to send either of them on their way. erberk hasn’t said, but they know he’s worried all the same.

he makes a comment about the smell and nazli BRISTLES, intends to walk right past until he reaches aged hand out to grab their upper arm & bring them to a stop. they expect to see the laugh lines creasing at corner of his eyes as he repeats himself, perhaps, but instead his voice drops low. “iyi iş çıkardın. sen çok temiz kalplisin, alanur.”

they’re eighteen years old & the friends they’ve taken london by storm with are taking cover under a bus stop, but nazli is standing in the midst of the downpour, head turned to the sky.

they’re twenty one and they’re learning to find happiness in smaller places than they’re accustomed to - the smell of new books, the taste of a morning coffee, the sound of bird song in the early morning.

they’re twenty four and they have so many years of happy memories to draw on and they know that it shouldn’t be so hard to make them count, but even when their wand is the only thing agianst them & the dementor, they cannot help but remember that someday they’ll be the only one left, and they’re already halfway there. they know all of the words and the theory, but the patronus never comes. they’re starting to think it never will.

#nox.task #( 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐑 𝐍𝐀𝐙𝐋𝐈 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐒̧ ) ━━━ * drabble !

2 notes · View notes

shakespeareanwannabe · 4 years ago

Text

Engineering the Future

Hi everyone! So this is my second Supernatural fic, the first one I cross-posted here on Tumblr, though I have written a couple of other things on this wonderful series. So here’s the thing: this is a bit of a project that I’ve been working on to keep myself writing even when I feel like I have nothing to say.

So here’s the deal: I’m going to write one one-shot per episode. Multiple friends say that I’m driving myself to drink, but so far it’s been fairly smooth sailing. If you guys have any ideas about certain episodes, I’d be happy to hear them, but know that I’ve got a list of prompts for three quarters of the episodes, so I may not write your prompt. But I’d love to hear your ideas. Just, no Wincest or Destiel because I honestly don’t ship either of them (no hate please, it’s just the way I feel. And no, I don’t hate anyone who does ship them). Just brotherly love here!

This chapter is tagged to episode 1x01, Pilot. Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. This is a work of fiction based on characters from The CW’s Supernatural, created by Eric Kripke.

To completely plagiarize someone else, “Being his real brother I could feel I lived in his shadows, but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow.” Who said that? Why was his relationship with his brother so important? Doesn’t matter. This isn’t about him. This is about them, and the moments we don’t get to see.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Dean had imagined this day since that balmy July evening when a rickety tin door had slammed shut and seemingly separated his family forever.

Depending on his mood, there were several different scenarios that would play out. When he was at the bottom of his third bottle, he would imagine showing up at his front door, having him open the door, stare at him, then shut it again without a word. The second bottle was kinder, allowing them to pass on the streets, perhaps nodding at each other before the one went on with his normal life, leaving the other to thank a God that he didn’t believe in that he had at least seen him one last time. The first bottle didn’t give him enough hope to even attempt to dream up a reunion with his little brother.

The fourth bottle was Dean’s favourite. He would get an excited phone call and drive all the way to Stanford just so that Sam could tell him he was getting married face to face. They would settle into a table at some hoity-toity bar or into a booth at some frou-frou café and would talk as though no time had passed. The natural lighting would fade to black and neither of them would move. Topics of conversation would wax and wane until they found themselves in the same companionable silence that graced the majority of their childhood together.

Sam would eventually sigh sadly and mutter something about having to be in court early the next morning, to which Dean would make a crude joke that would have Sam blushing behind the ears as he laughed. Dean would walk him to his car and deal with the chick-flicky hug bestowed upon him by a drunk and/or over-caffeinated Little Brother. As they pull apart, Sam would get all shy and red again as he stammered through saying that he hoped Dean would be his Best Man (because screw this Brady kid that introduced the happy couple). Dean would laugh, hug his brother, completely deny the tears in his eyes, and say “Who else could fill those shoes, bitch?”

Dean would hang around in California for a couple of months and relish in being stationary for the first time since he was four. He would meet Jessica, automatically start calling her Jessie, and plan a small bachelor party for Sammy and his college pals before taking his kid brother on a kick ass, blow out ‘Brochelor’ party in Vegas to make up for every birthday, Christmas, and any other calendar holiday that they had missed out on. On the day of the wedding he would straighten out his brother’s tie, all the while denying that he had asked the guy at the store how to do so. He would give the kid the picture of Mom that he carried around in his wallet with the explanation that she needed to be there with him on this day. He would stand up next to his little brother during the ceremony, give the most awesome speech ever written during the reception, and dance with his new sister-in-law when the time came.

While he and the other, less important guests waved the happy couple off (he had even given them the Impala to borrow for their honeymoon road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway) he would get a phone call from Dad, saying that he had finally pinned down the son of a bitch who had killed Mom, and that he needed his son there with him. Dean would hotwire a car and go. He’d stand side-by-side with his father as they ganked the sucker, turn, and shake his father’s hand before walking away from the life.

He’d stand hat in hand on Sam’s doorstep when they returned from their honeymoon, praying that his baby brother still had room for his older, less intelligent but far more handsome brother in his new married life. Sam would laugh and pull him into a hug, ensuring him that of course he would always need his big brother. After all, he and Jessie apparently hadn’t come home from their month-long vacation on their own, and this kid was gonna need a really cool uncle to bitch at when his/her parents were giving them a hard time. Any nephew of his was gonna be educated in the ways of the Impala, rock music, and the Dean Winchester Scale of Burger Perfection. Any niece of his would also be educated in these things, but he would need to be there more for Sam when the boys came snooping around, because what was more intimidating than two guys over 6-feet tall who had marksmen’s abilities?

Dean would maybe become a cop, or a mechanic, or maybe even a firefighter, but one thing he would do for sure is protect his family. He’d gank any evil bastard that came within a thousand miles of that two story, white picket fenced house on Normal Boulevard.

Maybe he’d settle down, maybe not. All that was important to him was that his Sammy was happy.

That was all that would ever matter to him.

So, when it came down to it, Dean would have traded everything he had for it to have not happened like this. Never like this.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Sam had imagined this day since that first night alone at Stanford.

At first, he’d dreamed that Dean would show up, kick his roommate out, and curl up in the twin bed approximately six feet away from him. Dean would go to the registrar and apply to the school and get in, obviously, because his big brother was a genius. He’d probably take engineering, because Dean could do things with machinery that Sam could never have dreamed about. They’d watch each other’s backs on and off campus, and when one of the dorm rooms ended up being haunted, they’d take care of it, as though they had never been off the job. Dean would go on to open his own body shop, while working side projects like helping to rebuild homes for people who lost them in fires or natural (and supernatural) disasters. Sam would become a kick ass lawyer and help the law protect people. He’d help Dean on the weekends at the shop or with the houses, because they were brothers and why wouldn’t he? They’d still go out and watch the stars when they could, and they’d make sure to go to the first game of every season for the Jayhawks. They’d make a weekend of it. Just Sam, Dean, and the Impala. Of course, Jess would be fine with it. She’d love Dean as much as he did, because what wasn’t there to love? Eventually, he and Jess would get married and Dean would be his Best Man (even though Brady would throw a fit about it, but Dean was right, he was better off without douchebags like Brady in his life), then go on to be the best uncle to the kids they would have. Dean would meet a nice girl and they’d settle down too, and soon it would be Winchester Weekends, filled with barbeques and Little League games and dance recitals and tinkering with the Impala while drinking a cold one together and hiding from their wives and kids.

A few months in, the dream changed. One of the kids in Sam’s classes had a brother in the military, who surprised her by showing up during lecture wearing his fatigues and announcing that he had been honorably discharged and was staying home for good. She’d broken down into tears and hugged him until the professor had just wiped his eyes and dismissed the class, claiming that he didn’t want to bring the room down by talking about the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

Sam started imagining that something similar would happen to him. Dean and Dad would kill the thing that had killed Mom, then Dean would stroll right into his Economics class wearing his torn jeans, steel toed boots, band shirt and leather jacket (the uniform of one of the longest living hunters out there, and the youngest to boot), acting as though he owned the joint. Sam would launch himself into his brother’s arms, not even minding that that cute girl Jessica sat only a few rows behind him, and bury his face in his brother’s shoulder to hide his tears. Dean would clasp him around the back of his neck and whisper that he and Dad had gotten the damned thing, and that he was quitting the life. Dad would keep hunting with Uncle Bobby, Pastor Jim, and Caleb as back up when needed, but he was out.

Dean would help him hook up with Jessica, because he had seen the way they looked at each other, and Dean couldn’t stand the lovesick puppy dog eyes anymore, then the rest of the daydream would stay the same. Engineering, lawyering, cars, court cases, house building, Jayhawks, star gazing, the Impala, wives, kids, all culminating in the two of them sitting side by side at some Old Folks Home, the lines between what they knew and what the world knew blurred by old age and one too many hard knocks to the head courtesy of any one of monsters of the week that they used to hunt. They’d sit on the front porch, drinking whatever alcohol they could get their hands on, loudly debating the proper way to kill a wendigo (Sam would say iron because he knows his big brother’s mind is fading and he needs him to stick around a while longer because Jess was already gone and he wasn’t quite ready to go and he doesn’t want to be left alone, not again).

No matter which scenario he dreamt up (defending Dean in court, forcing him into retirement when a werewolf gets the better of him and his left leg is basically useless so Sam brings him home with him, or even something as simple as Sam just picking up the phone and asking him to visit (because it’s DEAN, and there’s nothing he won’t do for his little brother, and Sam knows it), there was one common thread that remained the same, and that was that the time they had spent apart held no consequences. They would just fall back into being brothers, knowing that if they were back to back or side by side they would be fine.

That’s why, when Dean bursts through the bedroom door and drags him out of the burning brownstone, Sam couldn’t bring himself to fight at full strength. Dean was there. As much as Sam wished it had been any other scenario he had dreamt up (and not the nightmare that had been plaguing him for weeks), he knew that his big brother was there. And since when had there been any problem that Dean couldn’t solve? He could’ve been an engineer, after all.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #crosspost #in his glow

3 notes · View notes

princessanneftw · 5 years ago

Text

The Crown's Erin Doherty on playing Princess Anne – the voice, the hair and the style

By Caroline Leaper, Senior Fashion Editor for Stella Magazine.

As she joins acting royalty for the new series of the hit TV show, the actress discusses her transformation into a princess and just how long it takes to create THAT ’do

Erin Doherty is explaining how much fun it is to pretend to be very, very posh when you’re not. In the lead-up to playing Princess Anne in the new season of the hit Netflix drama The Crown, she says that she spent days practising her best royal voice in mundane scenarios, and offers to order a smoothie at the café we’ve met in ‘as Anne’, by way of demonstration.

‘Anne’s accent, and the whole family’s accent, is so weird,’ she laughs, snapping back into her own south London dialect. ‘It’s alien to me, I’ve never heard anyone else talk like that. My natural voice is the opposite. I watched YouTube videos and would practise when ordering a coffee, or speaking to people I didn’t know. The reactions were brilliant; I’m looking casual with this crazy posh voice coming out of me.’ Indeed, today she looks quite unroyal in her Breton top, khaki trousers and Birkenstocks.

Playing the Princess Royal is Erin’s first major television role. The 27-year-old from Crawley had a small part in the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables this year, and appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife back in 2017, but has otherwise stuck to the stage, graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to The Young Vic and The Old Vic, after being hailed a rising star of her generation. She is palpably excited about being in The Crown, and refreshingly honest about how she’s ‘winging it’ on one of the most anticipated TV shows of the year. She does, I should say now, deliver an incredibly convincing Anne. When casting director Nina Gold told her she had got the part, she celebrated by having a curry.

The Crown season three will span more than a decade, from 1964 to 1977, warranting an all-new cast to play the ageing royals.  Olivia Colman picks up from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies follows Matt Smith’s Duke of Edinburgh and Helena Bonham Carter takes over from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. We’ve reached the years when the Queen’s children are coming of age; Erin’s Anne is in her late teens when we meet her, and is full of fantastically feisty opinions about being ‘launched’ as an adult in the Royal family.

We all know the plot, or so we think, as The Crown is based on real events. But the brilliance of the show is that we don’t know which bits of history creator Peter Morgan will zoom in on. Season three might cover the time when, in 1974, Ian Ball attempted to abduct Anne and hold her to ransom for £3 million. (‘Not bloody likely,’ she famously said to her kidnapper, and her father Prince Philip quipped, ‘She would have given him a hell of a time in captivity...’). We might get to see Erin in bridal attire, as Anne’s first wedding to Captain Mark Phillips took place in 1973.

Erin is tight-lipped about which events do and do not make the cut. ‘You know what happens to Anne,’ she says. ‘It’s not hard to guess. But Peter makes these people so fascinating because of the way he focuses on stories which might not have been the headlines everyone remembers.’

Anne’s story, Erin says, was largely unknown to her before she began researching ahead of her audition. ‘Princess Anne, honestly, didn’t mean anything to me,’ she explains. ‘Like a lot of people who grow up in Britain, I think, [the Royal family was] always just there. My family watched the Queen’s speech at Christmas, but other than that, you feel a bit removed from it. I had to research her and then I realised, wow, this woman is awesome. I fell in love with her.’

Anne’s reputation as the reluctant, truculent royal, who was more interested in riding horses than wearing ballgowns and playing the part, has come good of late. Where once the tabloid press dubbed her ‘rude’, ‘dowdy’ and ‘austere’, her dependability, cracking wit and commitment to public duty now see her celebrated as the most hard-working royal each year (she completed 180 days of engagements in 2018, 20 more than Prince Charles). And her never-wavering signature style suddenly chimes with the fashion industry’s new drive for more sustainable shopping. ‘At 69, Princess Anne’s country-chic look and penchant for rewearing couldn’t be more on trend,’ a fellow fashion editor of this newspaper wrote back in August.

Erin discovered pretty quickly that her new ‘family’ is full of eccentric, fun and  complex characters. In one of her first scenes, she is sitting around a television with the Queen and Princess Margaret for tea, cigarettes and whisky, to watch Royal Family, the famously ill-fated 1969 BBC documentary (the reception to it was so bad that it was banished after airing, with the press suggesting director Richard Cawston’s fly-on-the-wall approach had ‘cheapened’ the monarchy). In real life, of course, that meant cosying up with her new co-stars, a cast of national treasures and Oscar-winners.

‘Scenes like that were surreal, but everyone was so normal on set,’ Erin says. ‘Seeing someone like Helena be so calm and cool has been a gift. What makes it weird is that I then go home to my houseshare and my housemates are like, “Your job is insane, did you see Olivia Colman today?” I obviously can’t tell her that they love her in Fleabag every day, that would be weird. And ultimately I’m trying to be like her daughter and build this relationship up with her, so the main goal for me is to forget about the fact that she is Olivia Colman. My dad is the worst for it, he took a flight and texted me, “I’ve just seen Olivia Colman doing the BA safety advert – tell her she’s great in it.”’

As well as the voice, the other thing to get right when becoming Anne was the hair. Today, Erin’s hair is soft, straight and centre-parted. She says it takes a lot of work to mould it into the Princess Royal’s trademark style each day.

‘The hair takes a solid hour and a half,’ she laughs. ‘Most of that time is spent backcombing and setting it with hairspray. Sometimes if it’s not poofy enough, we have to use a sponge doughnut underneath to hold it up more. I’m no wiser as to how she actually does hers. It must be pretty solid, as she doesn’t change it much.’

In Anne’s youth, Erin points out, the Princess typically only set half of her head, leaving some hair down and smooth at the back. For season four, though, which started filming this month, Erin is expecting to double her time in the hair chair, as Anne switches to her mainstay full halo. ‘It takes even more time if she’s wearing any sort of a hat,’ she groans. ‘I brace myself if it’s a hat day.’

Costume was crucial to Anne’s character. This season of The Crown will revisit the Princess’s fashion heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, when she wore sharp checked suiting and chic flares, and was photographed by Norman Parkinson in the era’s Pucci-esque saturated floral prints. Costume designer Amy Roberts recreates some of Anne’s most memorable outfits – many of which would still look relevant and stylish today.

‘She was so on-trend in the 1960s and ’70s. She figured out her style at that age and she has stuck with it ever since,’ says Erin. ‘I created a Pinterest board of her outfits and I saw this amazing thing of Anne throughout the years, reusing her gowns, sometimes rocking it again 20 years later. I love that about her. She must not get rid of anything.

‘My favourite outfit, though,’ she continues, ‘is the one in the first scene you’ll see from me. The idea is that her parents have just pulled her away from riding and she’s  angry and stressy, so I’m wearing riding boots and stomping around.’

Erin understood that, of all the looks, this would likely be the one that the Princess Royal herself would favour too. ‘So often she’s in these amazing ballgowns, but you can tell that this would be her preference,’ she says. ‘It just feels more like her. Because of her sporting side, I don’t think she gets enough credit as a style icon. You meet some people who remember that she was fashionable, but a lot are like, nope, she’s just horses.’

Ah, the horses. For Olympic athlete and European eventing champion Anne, riding has been a passion since childhood. For Erin, it was a case of all the equestrian gear and no idea.

‘I’d never been horse riding before filming this, it was the first time I’d ever put on jodhpurs,’ she admits. ‘After my initial meeting with the casting team, my agent rang and was like, “Are you OK with horses?” The part was still in the balance, so I said, “Yeah, of course I am.” As soon as I put the phone down I thought  I can’t believe I’ve just said that. It’s notorious that actors will say they can do something and learn how later, isn’t it? I was petrified. Luckily I had  a bit of time, so it’s sorted now and I can ride.’

Horses may not have been on the agenda for Erin growing up, but football was. ‘I was pretty good – I was scouted to play for Chelsea,’ she says. ‘I really hated school, so I lived for the weekends; I’d play football on a Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon I would go to stage school. When I was about 14, the schedule was getting so intense that my dad said I needed to choose one. I still do my keepy-uppies in the garden. I’d love it if someone remade Bend It Like Beckham – I’d be totally prepared for that part.’

Erin is one of three children (she has an older sister and a younger brother), and her mother, a retired medical practice administrator, and father, who works in airline operations, split up when she was four and now, respectively, live in Guildford and Folkestone. She’s living in south-east London in a houseshare with strangers who have become friends, and who work in entirely different fields. She grew up, she says, happily hanging around in Croydon wearing a tracksuit. ‘That was our best town to go to with your friends.’

When The Crown was first released, the original cast found themselves famous around the world. Appetite for the show is especially high in the US where, as Erin points out, ‘they flip for the royals.

‘It exploded for the last cast didn’t it?’ she considers. ‘They’re all pretty high-profile now. It’s mental what could happen, but I’m really not prepared for it and I also don’t think it’s healthy to expect it. Imagine thinking your world is going to change then nothing happens, that would be heartbreaking. I don’t think people would really recognise me in the street anyway, I look quite different when I’m not made-up with the hair.’

Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, particularly, benefited from the magazine covers and fashion status that came with the territory, as designers from Erdem to  Gucci vied to dress them on the red carpet.

‘I’ve never really done a red-carpet event,’ Erin says. ‘I was speaking to my publicist and I think we’re going to get a stylist to help. Honestly, these conversations are so alien to me. It’s actually more intimidating to do these things where you have to be yourself. I can get very anxious and I’m more of an introvert if I’m not acting, so the simpler these things are and the less I have to think about what I look like, the better.’

Her photo shoot with Stella is the first that she’s done, an experience that she enjoyed, she says, because she was able to treat it like playing a role.

In her own life, comfort takes priority. ‘My style is pretty androgynous,’ she says, ‘I’m all about not abiding by gender norms, not because I have any particular view of myself that way, but I like messing things around and trying different things. I’ve always been sporty and I’m drawn to clothes that are baggy. What I hope is that you’ll still be able to see me [even when I’m dressed up on the red carpet] and I’ll look back and think this whole experience was amazing and fun, not a surreal period of my life that I didn’t really live in.’

It will be surreal, probably. But Erin seems to have put in the work to ensure that her portrayal isn’t a caricature, and she has got under the skin of one of the nation’s famously-hardy senior royals. She did weeks of research, listened to the historians on set, nailed that voice and even investigated Anne’s Chinese zodiac sign, just in case it gave a crumb of insight to work with. ‘Anne’s a metal tiger,’ she confirms.

Talented, funny, hard-working and, crucially, not at all starstruck by the royals. It is, likely, exactly what the Princess Royal herself would want from the person deemed tough enough to play her.

#amazeanne #now shes a stanne #ily #she looks stunning #anne energy af #im so excited to see thisssss #erin doherty #princess anne #the crown netflix #the crown #british royal family #brf #olivia colman #tobias menzies #helena bonham carter #ben daniels #josh o’connor #emerald fennell #andrew buchan

38 notes · View notes