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dem-obscure-imagines · 4 years ago

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Second Chances

Ben Hargreeves x Reader

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy

Summary: With new threats about, the Umbrella Academy is looking for new members to (potentially) help save the world and your healing abilities make you the perfect candidate to join.

Note: Idk why I’ve been in a Ben Hargreeves mood these past few days, but have some fluff. Set in a no time travel no apocalypse au?

Warnings: Very mild mentions of death

Word Count: 1.2k

Reader is: Gender Neutral

When you’d called the Umbrella Academy claiming to be gifted like they were, the others were, admittedly, skeptical. Several times throughout their childhood, the Hargreeves had met countless parents with children they claimed to be special, and none of them ever actually were. But, with Reginald dead and world-ending threats lurking around every corner, the remaining Hargreeves siblings were a little more…open to having more help around.

So, you arrived at the house, with little more than your messenger bag, your laptop, your favorite mug, and some clothes. You figured you shouldn’t bring too many things in case they kicked you right back out, but they wouldn’t have any reason to. You really were gifted.

The monkey butler, named Pogo, welcomed you in, and a nice woman named Grace made a cup of tea for you, and in the meantime, the rest of the siblings slowly assembled in the living room. The first of whom was Klaus, who, as usual, was bored.

“So you’re the one who called, huh?” He asked, sizing you up.

“Yep. I’m (Y/N).”

“And what’s your ability?” Klaus asked, plopping down on the couch across from you.

“We’ll let them show us when everyone else gets here.” Luther asserted, entering the room. “Nice to meet you, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” You said politely, sipping from the mug of tea. Off in the corner of the room, you felt a…presence. You looked over there, your eyes narrowed, and sure enough, there was a bundle of energy concentrated there. Almost as though…

Huh. Odd.

You caught Klaus staring at you when you glanced back that way and he smirked a little to himself, although he didn’t explain why it had caught his attention. Given your faint knowledge of the Umbrella Academy members, heralded as heroes while you were growing up, you were fairly certain he was Séance, which could only mean one thing…

It only took the others a few more minutes to get to the living room, and so once everyone was assembled, a man who had introduced himself as Diego said, “Alright, so what’s your thing?”

“I’m a healer. I have healing powers and they’re…kind of ridiculously powerful.” You told them.

“Healing powers are great, but we’re going to need you to prove it.” Luther crossed his arms, focused on you.

“Okay.” You shrugged. There was a dead plant sitting in a pot on the coffee table, so, you concentrated, green energy manifesting around your fingers. You flicked them onto the plant, and when you did, immediately, it perked up, its brown and withered leaves filling out and returning to the green color they had been weeks prior before it had died.

“Woah.” Allison smiled, staring at the now, very much alive plant. “That’s…incredible.”

“Thanks.” You chuckled. “It, uh, works on people, too. Obviously.”

“Right. Well, next time one of us is injured, we know where to find you. Welcome to the team.”

“Thank you.”

***

And so, you moved some more of your things in, which included a large amount of books. You liked reading, so a lot of your time spent at the school was in the living room, curled up with a book and a mug of tea.

It was on one of those occasions that Klaus approached you.

“You can see him, right?” He asked, motioning to the…presence that was lingering next to him. It migrated swiftly to one of the chairs in the living room, and Klaus looked at it, seemingly listening to it before turning his attention back to you. “When you first got here, you looked right at him.”

“I cannot see him, no, but I can feel him. I don’t know if that makes any sense…It’s like a magnetic field, kind of. There’s a pull to wherever he is.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” Klaus nodded. “This is Ben. My dead brother. Our dearly departed.”

“Oh, uh, sorry for your loss.” You said, unsure of how to respond to such a statement. “And nice to meet you, Ben.”

Klaus looked to Ben before repeating, “He says it’s nice to meet you, too. I have a question, though, are you into spirituality? Like witchcraft? Or is this part of your gift?”

“I’m…not sure, actually. I collect rocks, but more because they’re pretty than any other reason.” You thought for a long moment about just what he was insinuating. “Huh…”

“What?”

“Hold still.” You told the empty space where Ben was supposedly sitting, calling your power to your hand and watching as the green light flickered around your fingertips. Then, you flicked your wrist forward, sending the energy in that direction.

Then, suddenly, a young man in a black hoodie and leather jacket appeared in the chair in front of you, staring at you dumbfounded.

“Holy shit!” You jolted, gasping and staring at him. “I did not expect that to work, honestly.” You admitted, giggling.

“You can see me?” He asked, looking down at his hands and then pressing them to his cheeks to feel his skin.

“Yeah, and I can hear you, too.” You told him.

“Am I…?” Ben murmured softly, feeling the fabric of his hoodie. He pinched himself.

Klaus walked over and poked him a few times. “I mean, you feel pretty real to me.”

“How did you…How did you do that?”

“I have no idea, but I guess we can add necromancy to my list of powers.”

“Is there something going on in…here…?” Allison was standing in the doorway, looking into the room. Her eyes landed on Ben. Immediately she teared up. “B-Ben?”

“In the flesh. I think.” Ben chuckled, still not positive he was really alive after all of his years as a ghost. Tears brimmed his eyes too. “Been a while, huh?”

Allison rushed into the room and hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks, and once she was done, she went to gather the others while Klaus took his turn, giving his formerly dead brother a hug.

As soon as Klaus let go of him, Ben walked over towards you and knelt down in front of where you were sitting, taking your hand, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Thank you. So much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Of course.” You said softly. “I’d say anytime, but I don’t want you to die again anytime soon, alright?”

“Right.” He laughed. “I’ll try to stick around a while longer this time.”

“Good.”

***

With Ben alive again, the occasion called for celebration, which meant some family bonding and drinks and music, and while you didn’t really feel like part of their mismatched family yet, the Hargreeves welcomed you quickly as one of their own, especially given that you had returned their brother to them.

And once the party was over and the others were slowly but surely going up to bed one by one, Ben made sure to single you out, approaching you with a smile brighter than the others said he’d ever smiled during his first life.

“I don’t mean to be too forward, but, um, second chances and all that…” Ben rubbed the back of his neck chuckling to himself and blushing for the first time in about a decade. “Do you maybe wanna go to the movies sometime? Or like out to dinner? I’d like to do something to repay you, and also…get to know you a little better? If that’s alright? If not, it’s totally cool, I just—”

“I’d love to, Ben. That’d be great.”

“Awesome. Cool. Um, Friday at seven?”

“Friday at seven.” You nodded, smiling. “It’s a date.”

#ben hargreeves #ben hargreeves x reader #ben hargreeves imagine #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy imagine

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generallynerdy · 5 years ago

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Everything (Daryl Dixon X F!Reader ft. Baby Dixon)

Summary: Trudging into DC after the prison fell, Daryl Dixon thought he’d lost everything. Then Aaron came along with a picture of Daryl in his bag, claiming that (Y/N), his girl, his (Y/N) gave it to him for safe-keeping. At first, he didn’t believe it. But then Aaron told him something about (Y/N) that only the two of them were supposed to know-- and he started to believe that everything was waiting for him in Alexandria.

Key: (Y/N) - your name Warnings: cursing, mentions of death, some grieving, assumed death, pregnancy mentions, newborn babies, lots of emotions but they’re sweet i swear Word Count: 2,859 (praise paul i’m actually productive)

Note: woops im obsessed with twd again. Thanks for putting up with my long hiatus and enjoy! I may have ideas for a part 2 where daryl adjusts to fatherhood and then negan Fucks Shit Up-- you know, as he does. Then maybe part 3 after the time skip where beth and judith get up to Shenanigans?? Idk if i feel like writing it but it sounds fun so we’ll see

In a barn not far from Alexandria, Aaron was having a rough day. It wasn’t bad-- not yet anyway-- but it did get significantly worse when Daryl Dixon shoved him against a wall.

“Where the hell’d you get this!?” He was shouting as he put a knife to Aaron’s neck.

See, Daryl had been perfectly content to leave the new guy to Rick and Michonne until something in his bag caught the archer’s attention. It was a picture-- a picture of Daryl.

“Where’d you get it!?” He asked again.

Rick took the picture from Daryl, getting a good look at it. It was taken from a guard tower back at the prison, one that was probably rubble now. Daryl was leaning over the guard rails, a cigarette in his hand and a smile on his face.

“Where’s (Y/N)?” Daryl growled.

Suddenly, it made sense to Rick. The picture belonged to (Y/N).

“Back at my community,” Aaron said quickly. “She’s safe, I swear.”

“You keeping her prisoner?” Rick questioned with a fire in his eyes, the one that was lit when others threatened his family.

“No, no! God, no--!”

Daryl interrupted. “Then why’s this with you?”

“She gave it to me,” Aaron claimed firmly. “She gave it to me so that I’d know you if I ran into you, so I could bring you to her. I was hoping it would be a surprise, but--”

“How do I know you ain’t lyin’?” Daryl shot back, unfaltering. “That she’s alive?”

“Because she told me something, something only the two of you know.”

After a pause, he lowered the knife. “Tell me.”

Aaron glanced around the room. He wanted to keep this between them, as (Y/N) had asked him to. So, he looked back at Daryl, lowered his voice to a whisper, and said:

“The baby’s okay.”

The first week was the hardest. After the Governor, after Terminus, after Beth, all Daryl could think about was (Y/N).

“We’ll find her, Daryl,” Rick kept saying. “We’ll find her.”

But after days of searching and finding nothing, he was ready to give up. One night, Rick said it again and he just snapped.

“We ain’t gonna find her!” he found himself shouting.

“You don’t know that--”

He cut his friend off. “Yeah, I do! ‘Cause we been lookin’ for days and ain’t nobody findin’ nothin’! (Y/N)’s dead, alright?! Give it up!”

He stormed off, unsure if his last words were directed at Rick or himself.

Later, Rick found him sitting in the woods by himself. He sat down beside him silently, waiting for a sign.

“Sorry,” Daryl finally mumbled.

“It’s okay. I know you and (Y/N) were close,” Rick sighed. “She was a damn good friend.”

“I loved her.”

The confession slipped out before he could stop it. Shame hit him as soon as he said it, his face going red.

Rick turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah? You ever tell her?”

“Every day,” Daryl finally admitted, a weight falling from his shoulders.

His friend broke into a massive grin. “You two were together? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Didn’t want to with all the new people,” he shrugged. “She knew it’d freak me out.”

“Did anybody know?”

He paused before nodding. “Beth an’ Hershel.” Before Rick could ask why them, he went on. “Look, about (Y/N)--”

He was cut off by the distant call of Rick’s name. The man in question sighed and, as he left, promised to finish their talk later. Daryl, however, took it as a sign and decided that it was already over.

“It’s your decision,” Rick said later. “If you think she’s still out there, if you wanna stay, we will. We won’t stop looking.”

Everyone knew it was hard for Daryl to make the call, but they didn’t know just how hard.

He didn’t tell Rick why Hershel and Beth knew about him and (Y/N). He thought it was better to shoulder that weight himself-- the weight of leaving a pregnant woman behind.

“What’d you say?”

Daryl had frozen when Aaron said it. The question came out as a whisper, a horrified whisper, which was a tone that most present had never heard from him.

Aaron nodded a single time, the epitome of understanding. “I think you heard me.”

Daryl was suddenly overwhelmed. He took a threatening step forward, knife in his hand again. “You--”

He apparently decided against skewering him, though. Instead, he stormed out of the barn like his feet were on fire, hiding his face and his unshed tears from the rest of the group, who stared at him questioningly.

Rick was in Aaron’s face in an instant. “What did you say?”

“You’d better ask him.”

Without another word, Rick followed Daryl out of the barn, suddenly feeling like there was more to Daryl and (Y/N) than his brother had told him.

Outside, Daryl found himself a tree and climbed it. Normally, he would’ve just sat down, but his hands felt like he needed to be doing something-- maybe punching someone-- so he climbed instead, ignoring the scratches the rough bark left on his palms.

Once atop his chosen branch, it took everything Daryl Dixon had not to cry. His lips quivered as he stared out into nothing.

He knew Rick was on his way over and he was begging himself to keep it together. This wasn’t what he needed, it wasn’t what the group needed. He needed to pull himself together and decide whether Aaron was telling the truth.

But some part of him, deep down, already knew the answer. Why else would Aaron know that only (Y/N) and Daryl knew about the baby? She would never give that up to a captor.

So, (Y/N) was still alive. She’d been alive this whole time and he hadn’t been looking for her. His child and his girl were out there alive and here he was, sitting on his ass in a damn tree, crying about it. He could hear Merle’s laughter in his head.

But thank god for Rick Grimes.

“Daryl?” He called up. “You good?”

He let out a shaky breath, wiping at a few stray tears that had escaped. “Y-- yeah, yeah, ‘m fine,” he managed.

Rick could tell it was bullshit, but he didn’t push. “Is he tellin’ the truth? Is (Y/N) with ‘em willingly?”

“She told ‘im what she did by herself, if that’s what ya mean,” Daryl told him.

There was a pause while Rick debated whether to ask him what Aaron had said or not. Daryl knew he had to tell him. The rest of the group wouldn’t just go on his word-- they needed Rick’s, too.

“The baby’s okay.”

Rick blinked a few times. “What?”

Reluctantly, Daryl removed himself from the tree, landing on the ground in front of Rick. “What he said. He said the baby’s okay.”

His friend’s eyes widened in sudden understanding. “(Y/N) was--?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, still not sure if he wanted it said aloud. “Beth an’ Hershel knew ‘cause (Y/N) an’ me were flippin’ our shit, not knowin’ what to do.”

“So they’re okay?” Rick asked. “She and the baby-- Aaron said they’re okay?”

Daryl nodded. “My kid’s okay.”

His blood brother couldn’t help the smile that overtook him and he pulled the man into a tight hug. “We’re gonna figure this out,” Rick told him firmly. “We’re gonna get ‘em back.”

“Put your weapons down!” (Y/N) found herself shouting from behind the cabinet.

She’d found shelter in an abandoned house for the last day or so. She wished she could’ve kept staying in the old gas station she found, but unfortunately walkers decided otherwise.

Two heads appeared from the doorway and soon enough both men had their hands in the air.

“We don’t have any weapons,” the taller one said quickly. “We’re here to help.”

(Y/N) stopped at that, a frown painting her expression. “What?”

“We’ve been watching you,” the second man said. “You got close to our community, so we kept an eye on you.”

“We wanna help,” his friend said, picking up where he left off. “I’m Aaron, this is Eric.”

(Y/N) hesitated, her gun still lifted high at them. She hadn’t gotten off the floor, but her head peeked out from behind the cabinet just enough that they could see her.

“Help? Why?”

Aaron shook his head with a small smile. “What kind of people are we that would turn a blind eye to a pregnant woman in the middle of the apocalypse?”

She had to pause for a moment. He was making a good case for himself.

“What’s your name?” Eric asked.

“(Y/N),” she muttered.

Aaron frowned. “Have you always been alone?”

“No.” She decided they were asking too many questions and lifted her gun again. “Tell me about your community.”

“It’s called Alexandria,” Aaron told her. “It has massive steel walls-- they’ve been there since the beginning. Most of our people have never been outside. We have food, running water, solar power, a sewage system; you name it. It’s safe and it’s open to you.”

“We have a doctor, too,” Eric interrupted. “He can help with the baby.”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a little cry sounded. Aaron’s eyes widened as (Y/N) moved to hold her baby.

“You already--?” He gaped. “I’m so sorry. I hoped we’d be here before, so you didn’t have to deliver on your own out here.”

(Y/N) shook her head, rocking the baby and whispering reassurances to it. “A doctor?” She asked them. “Walls? All of it? Can you prove it?”

Aaron nodded, gesturing to his bag. “Yes. It’s all real, I swear. You just have to trust us.”

Looking between these two men and her child, (Y/N) decided to take a risk. It was this or solitude-- again-- and that was something she wasn’t sure they would survive.

Being interrogated by Deanna only made Daryl more twitchy. He’d been itching to go off and find (Y/N) since they walked in the gate. Aaron had wanted to take him immediately, but the woman in charge had different ideas.

“I wanna see (Y/N),” Daryl had told her, refusing to go upstairs.

“And you will,” she reassured. “But I need to do this first.”

During the interview, she asked him about (Y/N), about the baby. He got a little defensive when she asked if it was his. Of course it was! God, she was getting on his nerves.

Finally, finally, it was over and Daryl rushed downstairs again, intending on finding Aaron immediately.

“Alright, Abraham, if you could--” Deanna began to say.

She was interrupted when the door to the house creaked open. Eric walked, er, limped in first, followed by Aaron. He was leading (Y/N) in, but kept her eyes covered.

“I hate surprises,” she told him.

“Oh, you’ll love this one,” he laughed, meeting Daryl’s gaze. “Trust me.”

Daryl’s heart wrenched. He couldn’t see her eyes yet and she had no idea he was there, but his heart was already torn in half. Tears came to his eyes and he dropped his crossbow. The others were awestruck as well, but none of their reactions compared to his.

“Three, two, one, and--” Aaron removed his hands. “Ta-da!”

The moment Aaron’s hands dropped, a strangled gasp escaped (Y/N)’s mouth. She covered it with her hands, eyes filling with tears.

“Oh my god,” she sobbed.

She threw herself at Daryl, who welcomed her with open arms. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, shoulders shaking as he wept with relief. He held her so tightly that it hurt, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him.

“You’re alive,” she said finally when he lifted his head. She placed a gentle hand on his cheek. “Oh god, I thought I was alone.”

“Thought I lost ya,” he murmured, pressing their foreheads together.

Then, he kissed her-- that sweet, gentle kind of kiss he’d give her every morning when he was overwhelmed with the joy of waking up beside her. It was the same kiss they shared when he slipped into the guard tower each night, smiling like a stupid teenager who’d gotten a night alone with his girlfriend. That kiss was good as “I love you.”

Behind Daryl, everyone but Rick gawked.

“Right. Now might be the time to mention that they’ve been together the whole time,” the cowboy snorted.

“Yes!” Carl cheered instantly. “Michonne, you owe me a Big Cat!”

Glenn stammered. “Seriously?”

Rick grinned almost mischievously. “It gets better.”

He didn’t get the chance to explain himself, because (Y/N) pulled herself away from Daryl and looked over at him with a smile.

“Hey, Rick.”

“Hey, yourself,” he greeted back, lifting his arms for the inevitable hug.

As she wrapped herself around him, they heard Eric sigh. “Oh, that was so worth the volleyball injury.”

(Y/N) went around the room, saying hello to old friends and introducing herself to new ones. Deanna then borrowed Abraham for an interview and Aaron began to take Eric to the infirmary. But he stopped himself, tapping (Y/N) on the shoulder and motioning vaguely toward the door.

She gasped and turned to Daryl. “You have to meet her! I’ll be right back.”

She raced out of the building, leaving a shell-shocked Daryl behind.

“You hear that?” He asked Rick, eyes wide.

Rick smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the club, brother. Hope you don’t like sleeping.”

“Well, I’m lost,” they heard Carol mutter.

“Not only were these two together--” Rick begin, a gleeful grin on his face, “--they were expecting.

The others gaped, especially Daryl’s best friend. “Why didn’t you say anything?” She asked him seriously. “You didn’t have to carry that yourself.”

Daryl shook his head. “We woulda killed ourselves lookin’ for ‘em. Couldn’t lose nobody else,” he admitted sheepishly.

The creak of the front door gained everyone’s attention. (Y/N) shuffled inside, a bundle of blankets in her arms. Daryl immediately stepped up, but she shook her head and motioned to the couch. The couple sat down, instantly surrounded by their friends, who all wanted to get a look at the baby.

(Y/N) went to pass her to Daryl, but the poor man was frozen.

“Ain’t changed since Judith was born,” she teased, her voice warm. “You can hold her.”

He took the baby then, though his hands were shaking. He cradled her as though she would shatter with one wrong move. Slowly, he moved his fingers to stroke her tiny hands, a loving smile emerging when her little fingers grasped his thumb.

“She’s perfect,” he muttered, placing a kiss on her forehead. His voice cracked, but no one said a single thing about it.

“She’s got her daddy’s eyes,” (Y/N) remarked wistfully.

They sat in brief silence, everyone watching the baby wiggle in her father’s grasp. Daryl was perhaps considering the full 180 his situation had just made. Everything he thought he lost was right there in his arms. (Y/N) was right, too, he realised. His little girl had his beautiful baby blues.

Aaron and Eric departed, seeing as the latter was due for an infirmary visit. Both (Y/N) and Rick thanked them as they left; Daryl was too distracted.

Michonne was the next to break the quiet. “Does she have a name?”

Daryl, curious, looked to (Y/N), who shook her head. “Didn’t feel right,” she admitted to him, “without you.”

Almost immediately, the group was offering ideas up like they were drinks.

Daryl looked down at his daughter and, cutting through the chatter, announced: “Beth.”

They all went silent.

“She an’ Hershel took care of us when they found out,” he explained, looking up at (Y/N). “She watched for ya when I was on runs an’ after-- after the prison she helped me get my shit together.”

(Y/N) nodded and rested her hand on top of his, the same one that their little girl held so tightly to. Meeting his eyes, she was glad she waited on the name. This meant everything to him; being able to name their kid, to call that kid his own.

(Y/N) then looked to Maggie, who sniffed and wiped at tears as she leaned into Glenn.

“She woulda loved that,” the woman rasped, her voice breaking.

“Beth Dixon,” (Y/N) announced, “the luckiest kid in the whole damn world.”

She saw the way Daryl looked at her when she said Dixon, like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest in the best way possible.

He pulled her and the baby close as the others congratulated them and celebrated with them. Even on the darkest of days, this memory would light up their whole world, he thought.

Beth Sophia Dixon, they decided; for the girl they couldn’t save and the girl who saved them. And (Y/N) was right.

She was gonna be the luckiest kid in the whole damn world. Daryl would make sure of it.

(Requests are currently closed. I’m finishing up my old ones.)

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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With respect, Ironwood brought an army to deal with a covert threat. In his FIRST appearance he'd had ozpin removed from the tournament staff with secret meetings. He was told many times his embargo was hurting the city, he kept a woman on life support prisoner and his treatment of Robyn convinced a technically legal protest into an outright criminal. Not to mention he abandons the best defense humanity has against the Grimm to keep some control. Shooting a dissenter seem very in character

“Ironwood brought an army to deal with a covert threat” - For which he was suitably chastised by Ozpin. It’s a whole conversation in “Welcome to Beacon” and, back when RWBY was doing a better job of handling these complex issues, that conversation gives weight to both sides. Ironwood isn’t trying to, idk, take over Beacon or something with his army. He wants to be prepared in order to help people. “I’m just being cautious.” Ozpin points out that scaring everyone won’t help, but notably the story acknowledges that Ozpin’s preferences are far from full-proof. “Do you really believe your children can win a war?” Can you prove to me that the kids we’re training will be enough when the shit hits the fan? Ozpin doesn’t have an answer. He dodges answering by saying only that he hopes his kids won’t have to fight, not that he has unwavering faith that they will win. Then Beacon falls. Ozpin dies. Ironwood is left alone with an entire kingdom to keep safe and I think it’s worth acknowledging that he did that. Mantle is far from perfect, there’s a lot there to fix, but the people are alive and that’s in part thanks to the soldiers that keep the grimm from eating them all. The rest? That’s due to Penny, a symbol of hope that Ironwood gave to the people. He learned that from this conversation with Ozpin.

“In his FIRST appearance he'd had ozpin removed from the tournament staff with secret meetings.” - It’s not Ironwood’s first appearance. He meets with the inner circle, has his talk with Ozpin, introduces his Atlesian knights to the public, attends the Beacon dance, discovers Ruby fighting Cinder, later compliments Ruby for her initiative in Ozpin’s office, confides in Glynda that night, and helps defend Vale against Roman’s attack. So your implication that as his “first” appearance this tells us he’s really an irredeemable person is not accurate.

Second, I’ve seen this claim a lot the last couple of months and I finally went back to find/watch the scene for myself (it’s in “Breach”). These were not secret meetings. Ironwood “reported” to the council which I assume is what he’s supposed to do. Given that he is a Headmaster. And this is the council overseeing the schools. Keeping updated is their entire deal. Were these reports fair to Ozpin? We don’t know. You might assume they’re full of lies and horrible misrepresentations, but that’s not what the text tells us. Ironwood told the council Ozpin’s plans, then the council said, ‘No way are you holding the Vytal festival with those precautions alone.’ Then the council asked Ironwood to provide troops for additional security. Did Ironwood manipulate the council and paint Ozpin as a villain to get what he wanted? Maybe. Did Ironwood objectively say precisely what’s going on - Ozpin thinks his huntsmen are enough to keep everyone safe in the event of an attack - and the council, independent of him, came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough? Maybe. Again, we don’t know. What we do know is that Ironwood is doing all this because he honestly believes it will help others. He begs Ozpin to understand that: “This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise I will keep our people safe. You have to trust me.” And you know what? He wasn’t entirely wrong. No one could have predicted that Salem’s minions would take control of his army. Ironwood did, however, predict that there would be an attack too large for a bunch of students to handle... and he was right. Beacon fell because a those half-trained kids weren’t enough to hold off a major attack, but Ironwood did everything he could to try and prevent that. In a slightly better world where his army wasn’t unexpectedly taken advantage of, that could have easily been what turned the tide of battle and saved Beacon instead. The world where everyone views Ironwood as a hero for providing those extra forces is just a smidge away from the world where everyone views Ironwood as a villain for inadvertently providing the enemy with those extra forces... but the forces themselves are not a black and white bad thing to have. Not in a world where your festivities are interrupted by the giant bird trying to eat the audience.

“He was told many times his embargo was hurting the city” - Yes, the embargo hurts the city financially. Ironwood is attempting to keep it from being hurt in the ‘everyone is wiped out’ kind of way. Post the Fall of Beacon he’s unsure if the other Kingdoms will declare war against Atlas or not, so it’s not wise to continue giving them one of the easiest means of attack. That’s the official story, but Ironwood (and the audience) know that Salem has also been collecting dust for a while now... so how about we stop giving her any more? Was this the right move to make? Are short-term economic difficulties worth avoiding the risk of potentially supplying enemies with the means of destroying you? I can’t answer that, but it’s not a clear-cut bad decision like you’re making it out to be. Retroactively we can say that no one attacked Atlas and Salem seems to have stopped collecting dust because the writers forgot about it... but Ironwood doesn’t get to see into the future. He didn’t know things would turn out this way. Once again, he’s trying to prevent tragedies, not just survive them when they come along. The balance between short-term sacrifice and long-term protection is far from an easy thing to strike and a character’s failure to achieve perfection despite their best efforts says more about their luck than their morals. Ironwood is an incredibly flawed man, but those flaws have always shown throw via his attempts to help others.

“He kept a woman on life support prisoner” - Are we talking abut Amber of Fria here? Either way that’s a gross misrepresentation of what happened and, frankly, does little to make me receptive to your other arguments. Amber was attacked, Qrow brought her back to the inner circle, Ironwood kept her alive so that the rest of the power wouldn’t immediately pass to Cinder (and, I would think, because this group isn’t in the habit of just letting friends die if at all possible). Fria was the Winter Maiden, she got dementia, and Ironwood had her live out the rest of her days in a facility so that a) no one murdered her, b) a Maiden with dementia didn’t wreak havoc on the city (we saw her powers go wild during the fight), and c) the power passed to an ally when she finally died. How do you know Fria was a prisoner? Was there a scene I missed where she said as much or, just as likely, might she have agreed to these precautions once her memory started to fade? Amber, meanwhile, was in a coma and unable to consent to anything. Ironwood did not kidnap her for nefarious experimentation, nor do we have any evidence that he held Fria hostage. That sort of thinking only makes “sense” when we’re already inclined to paint a character’s every action as morally corrupt. Is a 80 year old who keeps wandering into the street held prisoner because they were put in a home where they could be taken care of? That’s this with the added complications of “The 80 year old could kill everyone with magic. Or reveal to the world that magic exists” and “A lot of people want to kill this 80 year old” and “If they succeed the world is #screwed.”

“His treatment of Robyn convinced a technically legal protest into an outright criminal” - Robyn is a criminal. Ironwood never stopped her from protesting. He required that she a) not spy on a classified project, b) not keep his men from working on that project, and c) not steal supplies meant for that project... all actions that are illegal. Honestly I’m not entirely sure what this phrase is saying. That Ironwood forced Robyn to become a criminal? If so, we once again need to discuss agency and how Character A doing something that Character B doesn’t like does not give Character B blanket justification for every horrible choice they might make.

“Not to mention he abandons the best defense humanity has against the Grimm to keep some control” - I’m not sure what this is referring to either. What defense? The wall? Amity? Mantle? “To keep control”? That’s another incredibly simplified and subjective view of events. I’ve already done enough work on this blog to explain why, based on the group’s current knowledge, Ironwood’s plan is horrifying but also the best they’ve currently got. It’s not a grab at power, no matter how easy it is to paint it as that and move along. The morality of these actions is absolutely in question, but the motivation is not. We’ve seen no evidence - and a great deal of evidence against it - that Ironwood is simply out to maintain power.

Nothing here proves that Ironwood would be willing to shoot an allied kid. “Ironwood did controversial things in the name of protecting others” does not equal “Ironwood is willing to murder an ally.” Rather, these things contradict because we’ve spent six volumes with Ironwood pushing every limit possible to help others, not attack them. Lists like these likewise ignore everything that Ironwood did which doesn’t support shooting Oscar: every conversation he’s ever had where he didn’t attack someone for disagreeing with him, every action he’s taken being in the service of helping others (even if there’s disagreement about how to best go about that), him flipping his gun around when Qrow (presumably) attacked him, reassuring the Vytal students that there’s no shame in running from the fight, confiding in Glynda, standing up for Weiss, sending Yang her arm, being overjoyed to (he thinks) see Ozpin again, willingly training Oscar, choosing to trust RWBYJNR with both his plan and the relic, listening to them later about Robyn and telling the council about Salem, destroying his arm to protect the people, choosing arrest rather than, I don’t know, just trying to straight up kill Team RWBY for daring to say no to him. Because isn’t that the Ironwood you’ve described above? Someone who won’t hesitate to do anything to get what he wants, even murder? It’s a compelling character, but I don’t think we’ve seen that character anywhere prior to Volume 7′s finale. That character is the opposite of who we had before. When things get tough, stressful, and traumatic the show has said, time and time again, that this is how Ironwood treats his allies

So it’s a bit jarring to suddenly go, “Never mind. He shoots them now.”

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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butterbeeryuta · 5 years ago

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johnny as your boyfriend; radio!au

a/n: thIS was requested a looooooong time ago, and i am so sorry that i only wrote this now. My mocks are finally done, and they actually went pretty well, so i hope my results will match whatever i am claiming skdjkjd. This headcanon was really fun to write, and it was overall just adorable oof alright, imma head to over to my next oneshot now. Hope all of you have a great day.

Okay so ya’ll are in uniVersity (as expected because I am writing this)

You met johnny 2 years ago when you were freshman looking for a job on campus cause um,,, college is a bitch

And you saw this uni radio show ‘Night Night’ which went live every wednesday at 9 in the evening

You honestly had no idea what they talked about since you’ve never listened to one

Despite the fact that your roommate Sicheng always talks about it and claims how great it is

BUT ANYWAY

You always enjoyed radio shows in general, and saw that they were hiring for another radio show personality

HMMmmMmmmM i wonDEr wheRe tHIS Is gOInG

You were one intellect my dear; you were studying political science at Konkuk University, meaning, you were one opinionated ass individual

But, you also had your crack side acCording to ur roommate

You fucking chased Sicheng around with those incense sticks cause you couldn’t find your go-to rolling pin to scare the shit out of him for eating your pack of strawberries

I swear the two of you are great friends ya’ll just show love to each other in quite a unique way

ANYWAYS

YeAH so you went to ask for the job cause you need money to buy a safe for your precious strawberries

You brought whatever requirements they asked for, and nyyOoooOOooooOOOOnged your way over there

It was a pretty old building, or radio station per se. not that it was bad or anything but, it isn’t exactly a place you would like to step into

Going up the stairs, you just saw a really TALL and attractive guy clearing out a few things in the booth. Your guess was that he was also probably new to this and whoever lent him the place didn’t exactly clean up the place.

With whatever courage you had in yourself

Or i guess how much sugar you consumed this morning cause you casually just walked it without contacting the guy

‘Uh... hello?’

HE JUMPED, whatever shit he was holding? Yeah it dropped

Which caused you to jump too, not expecting the huge ass pretty guy to have that big of a reaction

he looked over to you, surprised to see a person in the radio station because um,,, nobody ever goes there except for him

‘Hello to you too??? uhhh, not meaning to be rude or anything but, why are you here? Are you lost?’ He asks, looking extremely concerned

You just shook your head and deadass told him that there was a job offer for another radio show personality, and he looked eveN more concerned

Sorta like a ‘are u fucking serious’ face

‘Oh! Right. That job has been open for about a year now so I didn’t expect anyone to come at all...’

OHHhhHhh????????

Well,,,, i guess you have a better chance of getting the job?

‘Well.... do i get a higher chance of being accepted then for being the first to show up? You ask, unsure if whatever you said made sense, or was even socially acceptable

Imagine going to a job interview being like: ‘so i saw ur job offer, and since i actually showed up, I’m accepted right?’

Babe i dont think it works like that, but let’s continue

Johnny honestly had nothing to say against you though. You were right in a sense that you had no competition since you were the only one that actually came to apply. At the same time, he wanted the quality of the show to still be good even if there was a limited audience

‘Higher chance is indeed right. But tell me, uhh, what’s your name again?’

‘I actually never introduced myself, but it’s _______’

‘I’m Johnny by the way. So _______, why do you want to be a radio show host for Konkuk University?’

you had two ways to answer this question: (1) be blatantly honest that you really need the money, and talking to earn cash seems pretty great in your opinion or (2) repeat whatever the fuck sicheng has told you about the show

And of course, you were going with the first option

‘i honestly need the money because college is a bitch. And also talking and having discussions is a pretty fun and interesting method to get some cash in. Also because my roommate loves your show and why not ruin it for him by including me in it’

Babe

BABE SKDJKSDJKDSJKSDJSKDJKSDJ

Johnny actually wanted to accept you immediately. I mean for starters, he found you pretty adorable marching up to the radio station determined to get the job. And not only that, you were quite the talker, which is something that could spike up the show since it was just always johnny speaking

And also because he was feeling quite lonely but he would never admit that

‘Alright _____, meet me this friday to talk about next week’s segment’

OOFT

And let me tell you, tall boi’s assumptions were right. During your first show together, the two of you decided to talk about the book ‘1984’ by george orwell and although it may sound boring on a superficial level, yOU made it sound pretty interesting and johnny was actually just laughing the entire time

You and johnny just clicked in an instant, and your way of describing things made ‘Night Night’ known by the students

Nobody could ever forget your infamous line about the book: ‘george orwell’s sexual frustration is honestly so transparent in the book; all he needed was to get his dick wet then maybe he wouldn’t have let julia and winston be caught by the thoughtpolice.’

And things like this happened every wednesday. The pattern of your radio show just included you being you, and johnny trying to make shit be on track

The two of you were doing it for a very long time now, and back to toDAY where ya’ll have been doing it for two years, well... it would be a lie to say you hadn’t developed feelings for johnny

of course the man was beautiful and well-built. But his personality and laugh? Yeah sicheng should’ve warned you about that.

He is probably one of the most open-minded person in the world, and he knows a bit about everything, making him so well-rounded. And and and he’s to kind???

If you tell him that you can’t make it to the radio show, he says it’s okay and even gives you snacks the moment you come back and he just makes you so soft in general i—

Meanwhile for johnny, damn is he in love with you

Over the past 2 years, you definitely helped him open up more. With the way you speak along with your galaxy brain, he couldn’t help but fall for you? You were intelligent, you had your own mind, and being friendly and funny in general is something johnny really liked about you

The time when he realised he loves you was when you curled yourself up against the seat while you were discussing about what to talk about next week, and you just fell asleep. He noticed how soft and peaceful you looked, and that he would want to see you like this on a daily basis

Shit this is getting me all soft i wasnt planning on this nsndnsndnd

So yeaHHHHH this week’s segment, you guys were talking about the spanish conquest of mexico and peru woohoooo

AND you were very excited for this because this was one of your (my) favourite topics you learnt during your time in high school

‘OKAY, good evening everyone I am ______D,’

‘And I am JohnD, and welcome to’

‘Night Night. Oof, we’re getting better at our introductions aren’t we JohnD?’

‘Nope, you just learned how to say it without cringing’

‘Touché’ and ya’ll began your discussion. And things actually got pretty interesting.

‘So _____ you’re telling me that it was Cortes’ leadership that allowed the Spanish to successfully take over Mexico?’ He asks you in disbelief.

‘No you tall dumbfuck, it’s one of the attributes that led them to succeed. Both Cortes and Pizarro had disease on their side and better weapons, so of course they’d win. I just wanted to include leadership as i don’t know, to see the defeat of the aztecs from a new lens?’ You respond, deadass looking at johnny in the eye

‘Well, i don’t think i can argue with that, mainly because i am too scared too. That is it for today, but before we end this, i would like to add one more thing.’ Johnny says, which took you by surprise

huHhh?

You looked confused, in fact, you were confused.

What the fuck was going on?

‘This academic year is ending, and this so happens to be my last year here at Konkuk University...’

Oh shit

Your eyes softened at his words, just realising now that johnny was two years older than you, and yeah, he’s graduating this year

‘... this year has honestly been one of the greatest years here at Konkuk, but for me, I think of my my most memorable memories here was when ______D entered the station and giving me a huge fright’

You laughed a little, remembering how much you scared the man

‘Taking this opportunity, ______D, I want to ask you something’

Shit

BRUHHHHHHHHH

‘I just want to congratulate you and thank you for joining “Night Night.” You made the show livelier and massively increased the viewer rate with that big brain of yours—‘

‘I prefer the term galaxy brain’

‘—yes, galaxy brain. I hope that you can continue this radio show, and maybe recruit someone else while i’m out in the world of disgusting adults. So yes, thank you ______. And because we won’t be colleagues in a bit, will you be my girl/boyfriend?’

You were initially teary eyed, buT yEET those tears out biTCH what????

You wanted to say yes, bUt how?????

Do you just nod at him and go ‘ye,’ or do you like, confess?

You felt weird in the stomach. Not that you can exactly do 459343948 cartwheels in one go, but that’s exactly what your stomach was doing. If you were to speak, you could have vomited.

Idk what happened to you, but you took off your headphones, and went to the tall boy and just hugged the shit out of him cause umm,,,, SAME????

And johnny wasn’t sure what that exactly meant so he just hugged you back, bringing you to his lap and holding you tight against him cause honestly, when will he be able to do this to a person he genuinely loves

There was a moment of silence of you two just holding each other, until you realised you were still live with lord knows how many people were listening.

‘U-um, yeah Johnny, I w-will gladly be yours—‘

‘_____ I love you’

OKAY RETRIEVE THOSE TEARS BISH YOU CRYING NOW TF

You sorta just placed your head on the crook of his neck, quietly whispering to him

‘I can’t believe I love your tall ass too...’

‘SHE SAID SHE LOVES ME TOO!’

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megashadowdragon · 4 years ago

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itsclydebitches

sent by anonymous

“In his FIRST appearance he’d had ozpin removed from the tournament staff with secret meetings.” - It’s not Ironwood’s first appearance. He meets with the inner circle, has his talk with Ozpin, introduces his Atlesian knights to the public, attends the Beacon dance, discovers Ruby fighting Cinder, later compliments Ruby for her initiative in Ozpin’s office, confides in Glynda that night, and helps defend Vale against Roman’s attack. So your implication that as his “first” appearance this tells us he’s really an irredeemable person is not accurate.

Second, I’ve seen this claim a lot the last couple of months and I finally went back to find/watch the scene for myself (it’s in “Breach”). These were not secret meetings. Ironwood “reported” to the council which I assume is what he’s supposed to do. Given that he is a Headmaster. And this is the council overseeing the schools. Keeping updated is their entire deal. Were these reports fair to Ozpin? We don’t know. You might assume they’re full of lies and horrible misrepresentations, but that’s not what the text tells us. Ironwood told the council Ozpin’s plans, then the council said, ‘No way are you holding the Vytal festival with those precautions alone.’ Then the council asked Ironwood to provide troops for additional security. Did Ironwood manipulate the council and paint Ozpin as a villain to get what he wanted? Maybe. Did Ironwood objectively say precisely what’s going on - Ozpin thinks his huntsmen are enough to keep everyone safe in the event of an attack - and the council, independent of him, came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough? Maybe. Again, we don’t know. What we do know is that Ironwood is doing all this because he honestly believes it will help others. He begs Ozpin to understand that: “This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise I will keep our people safe. You have to trust me.” And you know what? He wasn’t entirely wrong. No one could have predicted that Salem’s minions would take control of his army. Ironwood did, however, predict that there would be an attack too large for a bunch of students to handle… and he was right. Beacon fell because a those half-trained kids weren’t enough to hold off a major attack, but Ironwood did everything he could to try and prevent that. In a slightly better world where his army wasn’t unexpectedly taken advantage of, that could have easily been what turned the tide of battle and saved Beacon instead. The world where everyone views Ironwood as a hero for providing those extra forces is just a smidge away from the world where everyone views Ironwood as a villain for inadvertently providing the enemy with those extra forces… but the forces themselves are not a black and white bad thing to have. Not in a world where your festivities are interrupted by the giant bird trying to eat the audience.

“He was told many times his embargo was hurting the city” - Yes, the embargo hurts the city financially. Ironwood is attempting to keep it from being hurt in the ‘everyone is wiped out’ kind of way. Post the Fall of Beacon he’s unsure if the other Kingdoms will declare war against Atlas or not, so it’s not wise to continue giving them one of the easiest means of attack. That’s the official story, but Ironwood (and the audience) know that Salem has also been collecting dust for a while now… so how about we stop giving her any more? Was this the right move to make? Are short-term economic difficulties worth avoiding the risk of potentially supplying enemies with the means of destroying you? I can’t answer that, but it’s not a clear-cut bad decision like you’re making it out to be. Retroactively we can say that no one attacked Atlas and Salem seems to have stopped collecting dust because the writers forgot about it… but Ironwood doesn’t get to see into the future. He didn’t know things would turn out this way. Once again, he’s trying to prevent tragedies, not just survive them when they come along. The balance between short-term sacrifice and long-term protection is far from an easy thing to strike and a character’s failure to achieve perfection despite their best efforts says more about their luck than their morals. Ironwood is an incredibly flawed man, but those flaws have always shown throw via his attempts to help others.

iron-and-ice I never thought I’d see people referring to Ironwood providing comfortable protected residence to an elderly woman in possession of magical WMD powers as ‘imprisonment’. Fria, unlike other ‘good guys’, understood what her duty was. Vol 7 MVP, undisputed.

#rwby #rwby fria #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #general ironwood #ironwood rwby #itsclydebitches

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milfgritty · 6 years ago

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i’ll be good pt. nine | j. hughes & t. zegras

❀ ⇢ requested: yes | no ❀ ⇢ word count: 2.6K ❀ ⇢ a/n: i can’t believe the end of this series is finally here. this has been my longest series to date and to actually finish it is just insane. i might end up posting a bonus part/epilogue but idk yet. anyway, i just want to say thank you to everyone who has followed i’ll be good and i couldn’t be more amazed by the positive feedback it’s gotten. i hope this ending doesn’t disappoint!

having a crush on one person was confusing enough. now throw in one of their teammates and you weren’t sure where that left you anymore.

⇢ posted: 05.11.19 . | . masterlist prev. | next.

“We’re going out for a bit, want to come?”

Rolling over, you shifted the covers down far enough to look at your mom. You pondered the decision for a few seconds, staring at her head peeking in through the cracked door.

“I think I’m gonna stay here,” you told her, words muffled.

She hesitated in the doorway before sighing. “We’ll bring back food,” she smiled sadly, retreating and closing the door behind her.

Letting out a sigh, you burrowed back into the blankets. You were grateful that she was being so understanding, but that didn’t stop you from wishing it wasn’t necessary in the first place.

Closing your eyes, you fought back a fresh wave of tears at the thought. How long was it going to hurt like this? Why weren’t you enough for him?

You groaned loudly, cutting off your train of thought. Distantly, you registered the sound of the front door being closed signaling that you were alone. Shifting again, you stared up at your ceiling blankly. You could probably go back to sleep for another few hours—it was the weekend so you didn’t have to worry—

Your phone buzzed on your nightstand. Head falling to the side to stare at it, you debated if you even wanted to see who texted you. Why bother, you know? Like, did you really want to talk to anyone right now?

Not particularly, but curiosity won out as you stretched your arm to grab the offending object. Settling onto your side, you winced at who it was that sent it. It wasn’t that you were embarrassed that he was the one you called and cried on the phone to—

Wait—no. That’s exactly what it was.

Yea, he comforted you and said that it was fine but what else was he supposed to say? Blowing out a harsh breath, you decided to get it over with.

‘where are you? we need to talk’

Heart seizing up at the phrasing, you slowly typed out a reply.

‘at home in bed. family’s out rn. why do we have to talk??’

God, you hope this wasn’t him telling you that you couldn’t be friends anymore or some shit like that. One guy dumping you was enough heartbreak; you didn’t need another one adding to it.

‘nothing bad dw is it cool if i come over?’

You tried to ignore the way your heart sped up. Sending back a reply telling him that it was okay, you found the energy to get out of bed for the first time all day. Managing the bare minimum of your usual morning routine was nothing short of an accomplishment, no matter how sad the fact was.

It was only the thought of not wanting Jack to see you as a complete mess that got you going, but still. Progress.

After unlocking the door and sending Jack a text letting him know to just walk in��because what can go wrong there, right?—you made your way back upstairs.

Flopping down onto your bed, you sullenly scrolled through a few different apps to calm your nerves. Seriously, who tells a girl who literally just got broken up with that they need to talk? What do they need to talk about? In person?

The entire thing wasn’t giving you the best of feelings, but whatever. Might as well get some more bad news when you’re already down.

Right as you were finally calming down, Jack sent you a text saying that he was only a few minutes away.

Great, this was going to go great. Totally fine.

Oh god, was he gonna make a move? It hadn’t occurred to you but if he did—

No. No, he wouldn’t. That would be a whole new level of shitty. And even if he did, you weren’t going to just jump into things with him. That’d be so bad. No, new rule. Teammates are off limits.

Actually, hockey players in general. Who needs them? And dating? Not you, that’s for sure.

So lost in your thoughts, you nearly had a heart attack when the door downstairs opened.

“Y/N?” Jack’s voice yelled.

Cursing under your breath, you forced to calm down. “Bedroom,” you called back, pulling your legs up to sit cross-legged.

Fingers fidgeting, your breathing sped up before you worked on calming down again. You listened as Jack made his way upstairs—why did it sound like two pairs of—?

“Hey,” Jack appeared in your doorway, offering you a nervous smile.

You returned the greeting, tilting your head. “So what exactly did we need to talk about in person?”

“Uh, yea. You see, it isn’t just us that need to talk,” he trailed off, watching you with wide apologetic eyes.

Not understanding, you were about to ask when he stepped into the room. The words died in your throat when another figure stepped into sight.

“What the hell,” you sputtered, a whirlwind of emotions exploding inside of you at the sight of your bo—ex-boyfriend.

At least they both had the decency to look shamefaced, you mused to yourself as you sprung up off your bed.

“What the hell,” you repeated, unsure on who to round on.

“I told you this was a bad idea.”

You spun toward Trevor at the sound of his voice, ignoring how despondent it was and how your heart felt like it was breaking all over again. But then his words registered and you were marching at Jack.

“Wha—you brought him here?” you demanded, betrayal clear as day in your voice.

He backed away, hands in the air until he hit your dresser. “We need to talk about everything,” he tried, eyes wide in fear.

Pushing down the hurt, you shook your head bitterly.

“What’s there to talk about? He–“ you gestured at Trevor who had taken an awkward stance “–broke up with me. There’s nothing to talk about. And since there’s nothing to talk about, I want both of you out.”

“Y/N, stop,” Jack pleaded, grabbing ahold of your hands. “You and I both know there’s a lot we need to talk about—shit we should’ve just talked about a while ago.”

“We all fucked up,” Trevor cut in before you could respond. Going quiet, you refused to look at him and swallowed roughly. “And everything got out hand. I found out about you and Jack almost kissing and instead of just talking to you, I thought it would be better for all of us if I broke up with you—don’t look at me like that, I know it wasn’t the best idea now.”

A snort left you against your will, a small smile gracing your features before you caught yourself. “Yea, it was a pretty shit idea, man. You should’ve seen that,” Jack interjected quickly, shrugging innocently at Trevor’s glare but flashing you a smile when he heard your quiet laugh.

“I never claimed I had good ideas, okay?” Trevor attempted—maybe?—to defend himself.

“Can say that again,” you muttered under your breath, sniggering with Jack who heard your comment.

“Rude.” Trevor pointed at you in offense. Brought back to reality, you plopped yourself down on your bed.

“We really do need to talk about everything, don’t we?” you sighed, looking up at them. They nodded in agreement, turning to find chairs to sit down in.

Jack managed to lay claim to your desk chair. Trevor, given the option of the other side of your bed and your sad old beanbag, found himself practically on the floor.

“Be serious, man,” Jack mock scolded Trevor as the latter squirmed in the near flat beanbag. A laugh left you as Trevor flipped him off, and then yet another when you had to look all the way down to see him.

“Dicks,” Trevor mumbled, ignoring both of you as he finished settling into his bag.

“Now that that’s out of the way, where do we even start?” you voiced the unsaid question.

The boys exchanged glances and hesitated. “I don’t know,” Jack said quietly, slumping down.

“Great,” you nodded sarcastically, earning yourself a glare and laugh. The three of you sobered quickly after, realizing that none of you actually knew where to begin.

“I’m just gonna start by saying that before I even asked Y/N out, I seriously had no idea you liked her,” Trevor spoke to Jack before turning to face you. “I did know, though, that you liked him. Which—admittedly—wasn’t great, but still.”

Shaking your head, you tried to wrap your head around that. “That makes no sense. Why ask someone out if you know they like someone else? That’s like setting yourself up for failure.”

Trevor shrugged in response, reasoning, “Spencer is a good hype man.”

Closing your mouth, you nodded. He had a point.

“My thing is,” Jack leaned forward, peering up at you, “why did you agree to go out with Trevor if you liked me?”

Clearing your throat, you resisted the urge to blush. “Right before that, I heard you and the guys talking about some hot girl that gave you her number. After so long of you not making a move, that was just the last straw I guess. I was leaving, thinking about how it was time to move on and then Trevor asked me out and—well.” Ending your words with a shrug, you winced at how bad it sounded when put like that.

“You only went out from me to move on from Jack?” Trevor asked, hurt creeping into his voice. Jack leaned back into his chair, falling silent.

Meeting Trevor’s eyes, you shook your head rapidly. “No! It played a part, yea, but I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think I could actually like you. You looked all cute and flustered when you asked me and I just—it dawned on me that if I wasn’t hung up on Jack, I probably would’ve liked you for a while at that point.”

Talking about it like this was more than a little embarrassing, especially since you could feel Jack’s gaze on the side of your face.

“And if you’ve liked me for so long, why were you talking about how you were going to call that ‘hot chick’?” you turned it back on Jack, the question having bugged you since you found out Jack liked you.

Eyes going wide, Jack sputtered. “I said I was kidding! That she wasn’t my type, because you’re my type—not the you’re my type part obviously but—didn’t I say that right after the guys calmed down?” He directed the last question at Trevor, putting him on the spot this time.

Trevor went quiet for a second before answering. “I think? I can’t remember, right around then Spencer came in to tell me Y/N was leaving.”

“Spencer was the one who told you I was leaving—?”

“Wait, how did you know I’ve liked you for ‘so long’? I never told you that I actually liked you,” Jack questioned, talking over you.

“I think almost kissing someone is a pretty clear sign you like them, Jack,” Trevor told him condescendingly. Jack rolled his eyes at him, kicking him lightly, before looking back at you.

Avoiding his gaze, you found a sudden interest in your shirt. “I might have overheard the two of you fighting that night you spilled your drink on me,” you mumbled, pursing your lips.

“You did?”

“Oh god,” Jack groaned, covering his face with his hands as Trevor choked.

“Yea.” You drug the word out, grimacing. “Not your best moment, either of you.”

“Is that why you avoided us the first time?” Trevor asked, his head angled to the side. You nodded, confirming his suspicion.

Jack’s sudden laughter startled you. “This is why we communicate, kids,” he said between gasps for air. A snort left you and soon enough you were all laughing at how bad the three of you really are at handling shit.

After your amusement died down, Trevor brought up a valid point.

“What are we doing now?” he asked, glancing up between the two of you. “I mean, we know where we went wrong and all of that, but where does that leave us?”

The question everything came back to, it seemed.

“I still don’t know,” you admitted, darting your tongue out to wet your lips.

Quiet dawned over you again, contemplative and unsure. All of you lost in thought about what happens next.

“You know what? I don’t care what happens as long as I get to be around you,” Jack shrugged. At your curious gaze, he elaborated.

“It’s been too long of constant drama. I just miss being able to talk to you and be your friend.”

“Lame,” Trevor didn’t even bother to hide his whisper. Jack rolled his eyes, flipping him off. You rolled your eyes at the both of them. You missed their antics and agreed with him, saying as much.

“I think we should start over,” you told them, bouncing your leg.

Their heads snapped toward you, forgetting about their bickering. “What do you mean?” Trevor asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Jack mirrored his expression, staring intently at you.

You sucked in a deep breath, trying to figure out how to word it. After a second, you started, “Obviously, even from the beginning, this wasn’t the healthiest relationship if that’s what you want to call it. There was always something holding someone back or coming in the way of things. I think we should just forget everything. Let everything be in the past and start anew. As friends or some sort of weird in between—I don’t care. I’ve just missed both of you a lot and don’t want to lose either of you over something so stupid.”

You couldn’t get through it while looking at them. Your gaze had shifted down to your fidgeting hands at some point. After you finished, they stayed quiet taking in your words.

“I’m okay with that,” Jack said finally, causing your head to snap up. He met your eyes with a soft grin, reassuring your nerves. Your gaze slipped down to a still silent Trevor, anxiously awaiting his response.

He looked up after a few seconds to see the two of you staring at him. “Oh! Yea, I’m cool with that. As long as we’re good and not ignoring each other anymore, I’m fine.”

Letting out a laugh, you shook your head. Relief washed over you, resulting in a goofy smile taking residence on your face. “Great,” you told them.

“See, this all worked out because I cornered you in your bedroom,” Jack told Trevor, standing up and making his way to your bed.

“Wait—you what?” you asked, vaguely noticing Trevor having difficulty getting up and out of the beanbag. He kicked at Jack, waving his hands in the air.

“Yea well this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t kissed my girlfriend,” Trevor shot back at him as he pulled him up.

You stared up at them, trying to get an answer from one of them. Jack pushed you over, sliding down on your left while Trevor took a spot on your right.

“You cornered him—?”

“Get over it already, that was so last week,” Jack ignored you, tugging you down beside him. Trevor snagged one of your hands, lacing your fingers together. Your heart soared at the familiar gesture and you let yourself be maneuvered.

The bed barely big enough for all three of you, you tried again.

“What’s up with you and cornering people in their rooms?”

The boys bursting into laughter at your genuine confusion on each side of you, you found yourself smiling widely.

This is good, you thought to yourself.

Everything is good.

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five-wow · 6 years ago

Text

aaand my 9.18 thoughts! there are many of them. this is the episode with danny’s mother in law and it was... a ride.

half naked sweaty man growls at random cars in the dark - is this teen wolf? twilight? so many possibilities

half naked sweaty man just got hit by a truck in a way he probably won’t survive if he’s not actually a werewolf. i don’t recall that ever happening in twilight, gosh.

we get steve and danny arriving at the hilton! this i’ve seen, because it was one of the preview clips, but i do like it a lot. i also like that steve implies that danny has been holding the liver donation over steve’s head constantly for favors, because a) we haven’t actually seen danny do that in recent times as far as i remember? like, at all? but mostly: b) this opens up endless fic opportunities about the many and varied Things Danny Asks Steve To Do to repay him for, and I quote danny here, “the gift of life”. that’s beautifully dramatic. nice choice of words.

and another thing: steve is claiming that this is the last favor he’ll do for danny and then they’ll be even, but come on, steve, honey. we all know who you are. we’ve all seen you agree to run a flipping restaurant with danny. like you’re going to tell him no after this, next time he asks you to do something ridiculous

danny: “your naive optimism is uh, is very cute.” steve: [looks at danny sideways for a moment too long]

danny is trying to tell steve that his mother in law tortured him his entire marriage and steve’s not really getting it, so that’s Not Good, but i’m skipping past that for the moment and hopping straight into “what are you gonna do? just tell me.” / “i’m gonna stand there and look handsome and not say anything.” because that is Good. i rambled about this in the tags of some post, i think, but i love how steve’s response is clearly rehearsed and probably something danny fed him pretty literally (“[don’t just] stand there and look handsome” is an exact phrase danny used earlier this season, even), which is something all kinds of things could be said about in general, but also means that danny indirectly called steve cute AND handsome in the span of maybe a minute of this episode. wherever this ends up, at least it has a good start

this DANGER! DANGER! music when rachel’s mother opens the door both made me laugh with how unexpectedly over the top it was and has me kind of tired of the setup of this plotline already. terrible, horrible mother in law stories? i’m not a huge fan

alright, so i’m ignoring all the prickly passive-agressive behavior from rachel’s mom towards danny for the moment because ugh, and what i like far better anyway is how well steve is keeping to his mission to stand sit there and look handsome and not say anything. he even LOOKS AT DANNY FOR PERMISSION when rachel’s mom asks him a direct question that he can’t answer with stoic, handsome silence.

the first words out of steve’s mouth are, of course, “daniel’s my partner”. when are they not. (though he did remember the “we work together” bit this time, which is rare)

he called danny “daniel” and introduces himself as “steven” which cracks me up for no good reason. i guess he’s trying to be fancy?

i... i... you know, i just don’t really know what to say about the way rachel’s mom (amanda savage, i think? let’s call her amanda) snubs danny every chance she gets and flirts with steve in this extremely, well, almost stereotypical “rich older woman on the prowl” way. idk, i really think meeting rachel’s mom could have been very interesting, but with the way this character was written and behaves, she’s pretty much a caricature. not even in a way that’s clever or funny to me, just in a way that really tires me out because it’s mean and not very interesting and every so slightly misogynistic.

steve: “i can handle myself.” amanda, leering: “i bet you can.” danny: YEP ALRIGHT i’m going to jump in here with an unnecessary defense of steve that sounds like i’m boasting about him.

steve thinks danny needs to relax. oh boy. oh babe. that’s maybe not... quite the right way to handle this situation where your bff is very clearly being put down repeatedly by a woman that he’s been telling you (also repeatedly) that he has a bad history with. on the other hand, you know, i could almost make steve’s reaction here make sense for myself, because amanda reminds me of steve’s own mom in certain ways and steve’s never been good at standing up against doris or seeing her shit for what is really is either, so. gosh. boy has some issues. (but danny still REALLY deserves better support than this, so get over it, steve.)

why the random single word of italian, steve, omg. danny’s “kiss ass” was very deserved.

junior: “the killer’s dna or fingerprints could be on one of these vials.” tani: “ugh, wouldn’t that be oh so helpful? which probably means it’s not gonna happen.” tani, you poetic and nobel land mermaid, you really don’t know how these detective shows work, do you?

i do like this case that the rest of five-0 is working on, by the way! it’s very interesting so far

steve: “i am four glasses of champagne in today.” fdjkfdjk maybe that’s how he’s still so cheerful in amanda’s presence. hey danny, there’s your solution: day drinking.

okay. OKAY. amanda just handed steve and only steve a present for all his hard work because he “came of [his] own volition”, which sure, whatever, obviously she was going to snub danny here too by not getting him anything, but the reason for it is what bugs me. “i realize of course that daniel had to come because of the family obligations and that”, she says, but omg, WHAT family obligations? he divorced your daughter, holy shit. he’s your grandkids’ dad, but that’s a LOT of corners to take before we get to you two being family, let alone having any obligations to each other. which, really, even if he did have those - maybe you, dear amanda, could possibly be convinced to feel obligated to be ever so slightly less completely hostile to this guy who’s doing you a favor. this is. this is very annoying.

this thing where steve asks amanda about where she gets the ideas for her books and amanda says she just had some inspiration for a story about a policeman who risks everything for the love of an older woman? i mean, i knew something like that was coming, because it had to, but i still think it’s pretty damn creepy.

steve: “i would uh, i would read that.” steve, darling, the fuck are you doing.

danny: “yeah, except he can’t actually read unless it’s a cereal box or something like that.” completely untrue (steve is a nerd! steve reads for fun!), but also completely deserved, holy shit. wreck him, danny.

amanda complains about rachel’s wedding day (when she was getting married to danny, obviously, who’s sitting right next to her) and we’re getting some impressive Looks between steve and danny and yes!! that’s better!! that’s more like the understanding danny deserves

danny’s dad paid extra for the fish tank in the wedding day limousine for amanda (which means he went out of his way to get her something nice!) that she’s now ragging on, and her answer is “well daniel, you and i have different ideas of what constitutes class” which is just. god. i hate everything about that. and not even in the way where it’s fun to dislike a character, which it can be if things are done right, but in the way where it just... physically makes my skin crawl. idk if this is still supposed to be funny, but it’s not my idea of humor.

junior: “i’m pretty sure that guy thinks i’m gay.” tani: “weird. just a normal, heterosexual dude chatting up every muscley guy in this gym. what would make anyone think that?” okay, so this isn’t the most original joke ever, but this show is often so extremely straight that i’m just low key very excited about every single time they acknowledge the fact that that’s not entirely the only option. also, i love tani. so much.

TANI HAS TO IMPROVISE A DANCE CLASS. “booty boost 101.” beautiful. THAT’S the content i’m here for, omg.

danny: “you hear that stuff about the wedding?” steve: “yeah, that was a little harsh.” A LITTLE. and then he starts explaining the difference between the english and americans to danny, which, sweetheart, danny was married to an englishwoman for a decade. you’re mansplaining this except, like, to another man, for a change.

danny tells steve that he FLEW TO ENGLAND on a budget to ask amanda for rachel’s hand because rachel’s dad had passed away and amanda told him no. oh, fuck off. steve, you fuck off too, right now, because i love you but you’re being Not Great about this.

steve: “you know what that is, right? that right there, that’s self-pity.” STEVE. NO. BAD STEVE. i get where he’s coming from and maybe danny even needs to hear this on some level, but steve can’t say this shit after he’s already been taking amanda’s side all day.

steve: “cause let me telll you right now, you, my friend, you are more than adequate.” danny: “thank you. thank you.” steve: “you’re welcome.” that’s more like it! it’s a start, anyway, even though it’s probably all we’re going to get.

danny has made reservations at THREE fancy restaurants to give amanda options, but she asks for steve’s opinion and he (of course) takes her to kamekona’s. oh god. but hey, at least danny’s “please make sure that everything is fresh, because if she gets food poisoning we’ll all be killed” made me laugh.

FLIPPA READS ROMANCE NOVELS AND WILL NOT BE ASHAMED OF IT. this is the first actually good thing to come out of this whole romance novel author thing!

steve, to amanda, while danny is out of earshot: “you know i got to tell you something, i’ve known a lot of people in my life, and that man right there? [points to danny, pauses] he’s the best of the best.” this is GOOD, but you should perhaps consider not only taking danny’s side with any kind of conviction when it’s behind his back. he needs to hear this!!!

amanda pretends to be unsure if steve means flippa or danny and steve goes, actually kind of annoyed for the first time all day, “mandy”, and i appreciate that. i appreciate less that amanda immediately tries to change the subject so they’re talking about steve.

danny tries one last time to point out to amanda that she’s being unfair and when she’s still unwilling to admit to anything he calmly STANDS UP and WALKS AWAY. i can’t even put words to how much i’m cheering for him right now because SHIT YES GOOD FUCKING FINALLY. plus, the way he did this? fuck. i’m proud.

amanda’s reaction: “ah.” can we, like... send her into space? permanently?

steve’s face, though, is far more interesting to me.

lou shoots the doctor who was trying to run away in the leg!!!! holy shit, that’s exactly the thing i’m always quietly wondering about, because it would be SUCH a good way to keep someone from running without, you know, killing the suspect on the spot.

this thing with tani almost dying was intense, god.

danny is at the hotel bar and tells the bartender he has a buddy coming to meet him (which is why he buys two beers) soooo that’s very obviously steve. and then amanda turns up. which i knew would happen, because i’ve seen people talk about it, but still. not what we want.

amanda...... “swiped”..... steve’s phone. meaning she lured danny here using steve. great. awesome. just, really, just super. (like. fucking at least be honest about wanting to talk to danny or something, if that’s what you want. he’s been nothing but curteous to you despite your horrific behavior, and still you feel the need to trick him into this? jesus.)

“sorry for all the subterfuge but i had to have a conversation with you and i knew that you’d say no if i asked.” if there’s one thing that’s become pretty clear this episode it’s that she literally doesn’t know danny at all, omg, but i guess that at least this is in character for her by now.

oh my gosh. just. oh my fucking god. amanda tells danny that she kind of identified with him because she grew up with three siblings in a two-bedroom apartment, but she always wanted something more, and she was looking for a good man but never found one, and then she was jealous of rachel when rachel found danny because he is a good man. this is so many levels of fucked up all stacked on top of each other that i don’t even want to try to pry them apart right now.

danny, very drily: “hm.” I LAUGHED SO HARD. this episode is shitty to danny, but at least danny’s reactions are very on point and relatable.

amanda goes on, and of course shit gets worse, because her bodyguard isn’t even out of commission, she just used that as a ploy to “have a talk” with danny. danny kind of laughs like this is the weirdest shit he’s heard all week and goes “yeah?” and honestly, poor guy.

danny: “you didn’t wanna just tell me that when you, when you first saw me? you wonna torture me for the whole day?” you know, one thing i’m glad for is that at least, at the very least, the show lets danny be fully aware that this is Not Okay.

amanda: “do you care about my daughter, daniel?” danny: “yes, i do.” amanda: “well good, then don’t toy with her affections. i know that you two have been seeing each other a lot and i know that she is talking about you all the time so i don’t want to see her hurt again, okay?” listen. this is just. this is just such bizarre retcon shit the writers are trying to pull about the way things between rachel and danny went down that i just. i’m mad, on some level, sure, but mostly i just have to laugh because it’s so ridiculous? danny’s mother in law is an absolute nightmare to him all day, then lies to get him to this hotel bar for a talk, confesses she orchestrated this entire day just to get to this talk (but still wilfully made him miserable for some reason? why???), and tells him that he shouldn’t play with her daughter’s feelings after she’s never been anything but awful to him, has tried to keep her away from her daughter from the very start, and just told him that she apparently did all of that (for years and years!) because she was jealous that rachel had found a Good Man and she hadn’t. i am. completely overwhelmed, honestly. this is too much to take in.

amanda: “i want you to do right by her. will you do right by her?” danny: “yes.” danny looks confused, and that’s how i feel, honestly.

... and. and then he pays for champagne for her. wasn’t she having dinner with rachel and the kids? why is she drinking champagne with danny now?

okaaaaay. so. this was... an episode. that’s something i can say for sure.

for all of the rest of it, i think i need to give this some time to sink in and mull it over, because there’s A LOT to unpack here. amanda is, uh, a strong character. she doesn’t seem like a person i’d wish on anyone, least of all as a mom. rachel’s deception and her penchant for lying to danny? yeah, i can see where that’s coming from, now. that’s one interesting thing to come from this episode, i suppose - some character background for rachel.

then there’s steve, who took most of this way less seriously than i think he really should have, and when he finally started seeing sense and sticking up for danny near the end of the episode, he just... disappeared. i really wanted steve and danny to at least have some kind of talk after danny walked away from kamekona’s, but that was the last we saw of steve. danny was trying to have a beer with steve, but obviously that turned out to have been amanda’s charming little “ploy”, so he ended up having champagne with amanda instead. which is still. uh. weird. she never apologized for any of the shit she pulled (except for that little “sorry for all the subterfuge” which really doesn’t cover it) and even after she supposedly explained herself, she still turned her nose up at the beer that danny had bought for steve and offered to her until he said she could have something else if she wanted. doesn’t she have her own money? she’s a rich romance author. buy your own fucking champagne, amanda. or better yet, cover danny’s beer - it’s the last you could do.

what i liked a little more was danny’s complete lack of a reaction to most of what amanda said to him at the bar. i mean, he laughs and looks disbelieving and possibly a little wtf-ish, but that’s about it. i’m guessing, as usual when it comes to anything danny&rachel related, that the writers are interpreting this differently from what i want to read into this (or at least they’re using it to push in a direction i really don’t want to go), but that’s the thing about this - it’s pretty open to interpretation, because danny says very little and his faces could mean any of a million things.

also. that talk at the bar? it feels kind of useless in the end. amanda said some stuff but didn’t apologize or promise to change her behavior and in fact she seemed pretty much the same with her whole champagne thing, and danny didn’t really get to say anything at all, so this does pretty much nothing for them. i guess the champagne was meant as a celebration for... a new level of understanding? but is that really something that was happening there? you could read that into it, if you really wanted to, but i’m not seeing it.

anyway. i liked the drugs storyline that the rest of five-0 was working on! that was good. the steve and danny part... i don’t know. it was a lot.

#h50 #9.18 #i checked how many words this is and it's 3k fdjkfdjk #and i still haven't worked through my thoughts on this!#this is going to take me a while #*

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