#so its weird ! but they also uh. are too into each other to be normal | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

callmeagardengnome · 27 days ago

Text

❤︎ office affairs ❤︎ | SONG MINGI

pairings ࿔ mingi x fem! reader

genre ࿔ office au, non-idol au, romance, SLOWW BURNNN

synopsis ࿔ working for a job promotion is the smart thing to do, but working to make song mingi fall in love with you is way more fun.

w.c ࿔ 8.1k

c.w ࿔ suggestive but no smut, mingi likes thighs woops, mutual pining (?) reader watches anime, reader also wears pencil skirts a lot of the time, this is an IT company, light swearing, alcohol, kiss scene

author’s note: this took way too long to finish but im glad its done! also rmbr to like and repost!

not proofread!

other fics

the moment your eyes found song mingi, you knew that he was the one.

okay, ‘the one’ might be extreme, but he definitely caught your attention on your first day.

you applied to ‘ATECH’ after graduating from college, hoping to land a job in one of the top IT companies in the city. you’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time learning how to code and develop software, so imagine the joy you felt when the job offer finally appeared in your inbox.

“over there are the bathrooms,” your boss, hongjoong, said as he pointed to a set of doors at the end of the room. “and this is where you’ll be working,” he patted the desk.

“thank you,” you smiled, letting out a quiet groan as you set down the heavy box in your arms.

you looked around. the office was pretty normal, each section had desks right next to each other with the company-issued computer sitting on each one.

you turned back to your desk, your eyes landing on who your deskmate would be - and you swear that your breath was taken away within a second.

he was the definition of your type: neat, built, handsome.

not to mention the way his glasses sat on his face or the button-up shirt he wore that had his sleeves rolled up slightly, exposing his defined forearms. he looked good. impossibly good.

“mingi will be showing you the ropes of the company,” hongjoong began, giving mingi a sharp glare when he was about to protest. “don’t hesitate to ask him for help.”

you nodded. “got it,” you replied, settling into the swivel chair at your desk.

as hongjoong walked away, you heard mingi mumbling something under his breath, but it was too soft for you to catch. he quickly returned back to his work, typing on his keyboard at speeds you didn’t know were possible.

“hey,“ you spoke up, sitting up straighter. “i was wondering if you could help me with-“

“-ask him,” mingi muttered, barely looking away from his computer screen as he pointed lazily to a guy at the next table.

you blinked. “but hongjoong told me to ask you?”

mingi sighed, finally stopping his typing to face you. “i don’t know why he did that. i’m not anyone special, i’ve just been working here for a while.”

mingi then pushed himself back slightly so that you could see who he was pointing to. “wooyoung’s the manager, you should be asking him on how things work.”

“oh.. okay,” you replied slowly. “mingi-“

“-mr song,” he corrected, cutting your sentence short again.

you raised an eyebrow, looking down at the polished nameplate on his desk that read out, ‘SONG MINGI’.

“right.. mr song,” you nodded slowly. “i guess i’ll just do that.”

you ignored the weird exchange and began to unpack your things. after sorting out everything, you decided to find this ‘wooyoung’ guy mingi was talking about earlier - it was actually easier than you thought since he was talking pretty loudly with the person next to him.

you took a deep breath as you walked over to his section, feeling your palms sweat as you wiped them on your pencil skirt. “hey uh..” you trailed off as wooyoung’s eyes widened.

“you’re the new hire?” wooyoung blurted out in surprise as he looked you up and down.

he then blinked and shook his head. “wait shit- that sounded bad.”

wooyoung turned his chair around to face you, waving his hands defensively. “sorry, we don’t normally get girls here- you know, it’s IT. not that it’s never happened but they’re usually.. a lot older.”

“cool..” you chuckled awkwardly, offering a polite smile as you were unsure of how to respond. “well, mr song said that i should ask you for help.”

wooyoung’s eyes widened even more than before. “mr song?” he said a little too loudly, making a few people glance in your direction - though wooyoung didn’t seem care. “did hongjoong tell you to call him that?”

you shook your head. “no? he corrected me when i called him by his name.”

“oh…

my…

god.”

wooyoung busted out laughing. “i’ve never heard anyone call him mr song- even jongho doesn’t! and he just started working here last month!”

“wait really? then why-?”

“-it’s definitely a kink thing,” wooyoung muttered to the guy next to him, who you now noticed was watching the whole interaction.

“what was that?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“nothing, nothing,” wooyoung waved it off, still chuckling. “anyway, this is yeosang. if you ever need anything just come to either of us. we’ll help you out.”

yeosang nodded politely, giving you a small smile. “nice to meet you. welcome to the company.”

“thanks..” you responded, bowing slightly. “nice to meet you too.”

soon enough, you found yourself sitting between them - with wooyoung desperately trying to teach you the company software (though he was messing up terribly) while yeosang corrected him at every step, trying to fix his mistakes. the two eventually got into a mini argument as you sat there awkwardly, watching two grown men argue on whether to press the ‘s’ or ‘z’ key.

you eventually spaced out, looking around the office. your eyes landed on song mingi once more, watching how focused he was on whatever he was doing.

the more you looked at him, the more boxes he ticked in your books. but this rigid character of his was going to be an issue if you wanted anything to happen. you cracked your fingers, and only one thing was on your mind as you turned away from mingi.

you were going to break through that ‘serious’ personality of his.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

you’ve learnt two things about mingi during your first month of working at ATECH.

number one: he seemed pretty reserved - at least, when you’re around.

it was a little odd. whenever you were nearby, mingi was quiet, silent even. but the moment you were out of sight or busy, laughter would erupt from his table.

you had a pretty important deadline coming up and you needed to work on it with your full attention. you put on your bluetooth headphones and got straight to work. the music did help you focus, but unfortunately, your headphones died with a loud beep.

annoyed, you took them off, moving to grab a wire to charge them when suddenly - you heard something. talking. coming from none other than your deskmate, mingi.

“no- you don’t understand, the fight scenes are incredible!” mingi exclaimed, almost jumping off of his chair. “the animation alone is on another level.”

“overrated,” jongho countered, smirking as he leaned back. “mingi, i don’t know why you keep recommending anime to me. i only watched one episode because you forced me to.”

mingi rolled his eyes. “you don’t get it- episode four is gonna change your life.”

it took everything in you to not laugh out loud. you’ve never seen mingi so passionate about something - and it was about anime of all things.

not that there was anything wrong with it - hell, you watched it. it’s just that seeing mingi so invested and defensive was.. kind of cute. maybe you should give the show a go.

but in the middle of mingi’s rambling, jongho yawned and suddenly glanced in your direction, giving you a friendly wave as his grin widened. “hey ‘___’.”

mingi froze mid-sentence, his hands moving to his keyboard almost instantly, the rant coming to an awkward halt. he quickly straightened his back and cleared his throat, acting as if nothing had happened.

jongho raised an eyebrow, clearly holding in a laugh. “you done with that deadline?” he asked.

you blinked. “uh- yeah almost,” you replied with a nervous chuckle.

you turned back to your work quickly, trying to refocus on your attention to your work but it was pretty difficult to ignore the scene playing out beside you.

from the corner of your eye, you could see jongho trying, and failing, to hold in his laughter, his shoulder shaking as he repeatedly hit mingi who was frantically typing on his keyboard like he was trying to forget what happened.

jongho wiped the imaginary tears from his face. “i’ve never seen you like this before.”

number two: he was definitely single.

thanks to your friendship with wooyoung and yeosang, you were spending almost all of your breaks together - which meant that you were always finding out new things about the office.

as the three of you settled down in a nearby food court, wooyoung started yet another rant about the office, but the topic eventually shifted to your coworkers and somehow mingi.

“he’s probably never felt the touch of a woman,” wooyoung snorted, leaning back into the chair.

yeosang immediately smacked wooyoung on the arm. “don’t say that, he’s our friend..”

“..but yeah, that’s probably true,” yeosang shrugged, slurping the noodles in his bowl.

you couldn’t help but laugh, shaking your head. “you guys make it sound like he’s so strange.”

“he is. he’s so weird around you,” wooyoung said, waving his fry around. “i swear- it’s like he’s never met a girl that can code or something.”

you sighed, stirring your iced coffee. “maybe he’s shy.”

“shy?!” the both of them exclaimed in unison, their wide eyes blinking at you.

“he is not shy,” wooyoung emphasised, to which yeosang nodded violently to his statement.

wooyoung took a sip of his soda before clearing his throat. “you should’ve seen him before you got here. he’d laugh at every dumbass joke we made. and now? he’s basically a robot.”

yeosang made a sound of agreement, wiping his mouth before adding, “i mean- he’s probably not used to women being in the office.”

“yeah, especially if they're young and actually, you know-” wooyoung wiggled his eyebrows at you, earning another smack from yeosang.

you rolled your eyes. “shut up.”

wooyoung shrugged with a grin, taking a bite out of his fry. “i’m just saying it how it is.”

you chugged your iced coffee. “is there anyway i can- i don’t know, get to know him better?” you asked as you looked at your coworkers. “how do i make him…”

you trailed off, resisting the urge to ask ‘how do i make him like me’, knowing that wooyoung would probably make fun of you.

you sighed, settling for a, “how do i make him not a dickhead?”

“i mean…” wooyoung bit his cheek, quickly glancing at yeosang before turning back to you. “you could try making out-?”

“wooyoung!” yeosang exclaimed. “we need to give her actual advice. she’s gonna be working here for a while.”

“fine, fine,” wooyoung rolled his eyes, leaning closer to you. “honestly? you want to get closer to him?”

you nodded, maybe a little too eagerly, making wooyoung smirk as he continued, “just talk about anime. trust me, once he gets started, he won’t shut up.”

you and yeosang chuckled. “noted,” you smiled.

“i’m being serious,” wooyoung leaned in even closer, his eyes bigger than before. “i would love to see the look on his face when he finds out that girls who code and watch anime exist.”

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

even though the whole office knew how awkward you and mingi were around each other, it wasn’t enough to stop hongjoong from pairing you two up for whatever work he had.

the two of you were tasked with test-running the company’s latest software before it was handed off to the client. you spent the next hour sifting through its features and finally, you found a bug.

“mr song,” you called, barely looking away from your screen. “can you come here? i found something weird.”

mingi rolled his chair over to your desk, glancing at the screen as you hovered your mouse over a link.

“so when i click here,” you explained. “it brings me to an error page. i tried all the reboot methods and it still won’t work.”

mingi leaned in a little closer to see the issue. “okay, that might be because-“ he began, but suddenly started to trail off.

you raised an eyebrow, noticing how he wasn’t really looking at the screen anymore. you followed his eyes and realised that his gaze had dropped, landing on your legs.

more specifically, on the way your pencil skirt had ridden up a little when you crossed your legs.

you swear that you could see the faintest hint of a blush dusting his cheeks as he stared - and it took a moment for him to catch himself.

“you good?” you tilted your head.

his head snapped back up, eyes wide as he cleared his throat. “shit- sorry,” he stammered, sitting up straighter in his chair as he quickly focused on the screen. “i was just.. thinking.”

you nodded, biting back a smile. “right.. thinking hard about that error, huh?”

“y-yeah,” he stuttered, his words rushed now. “it’s probably an issue with the script- i’ll need to check this out with yunho.”

“sure, you do that,” you replied with a grin, watching as he walked away hurriedly, running his fingers through his hair.

but of course this wouldn’t be the last time you caught mingi like that.

during meetings when the two of you were forced to sit next to one another, you began to notice the way his eyes would drop down whenever you crossed your legs.

or sometimes, you would adjust your skirt and you would feel his attention drifting towards you, only for him to blink repeatedly and turn back to the discussion. it wasn’t obvious, but it happened often enough for you to catch on.

you didn’t want to be delusional. what were the chances that the hot guy in your office you liked was actually interested in you?

you decided to wait for the perfect opportunity to test the theory - and fortunately for you, you didn’t have to wait long.

you were both working late and mingi sat at his desk next to you, trying to explain his thoughts on the layout of the software.

mid-conversation, you leaned back in your chair, stretching your arms behind your head with a soft groan. but while doing so, your pencil skirt rode up - a lot.

you pretended like nothing happened as you absentmindedly nodded to whatever he was saying. you could see mingi’s eyes shift downward, his sentence cutting short.

“what were you saying?” you asked, stretching a little more as if the movement was completely natural. you watched as mingi blink back to reality, processing what you said. “you were telling me about the layout.”

mingi cleared his throat, his eyes darting up to your face, then back to his screen when he realised he trailed off once again. “uh- yeah, the layout. it’s good.. it’s just that um- we need to fix the code if we want it to be usable.”

you could see his leg bouncing under the table as he turned back to his computer, his typing slowing down.

“are you okay, mr song?” you asked innocently, drawing out his name just a bit, watching his reaction worsen - his blush deepening and his hands coming to a stop, hovering above his keyboard.

“i’mfine,” mingi said quickly, pushing his glasses back up. he started to type on his keyboard once more, completely avoiding eye contact with you.

you smiled to yourself, giving him a hum of acknowledgment as you turned back to your screen.

so he likes thighs, huh?

oh this is getting fun.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

mingi might actually be going insane.

he never realised how bad he was at talking to women - at least, not until you joined the company.

working at ATECH for six years taught him to keep his distance with new hires. watching friends come and go because of the draining job made it seem pointless to make friends with people who might disappear at any moment.

you were no exception. to mingi, you were just another person behind a computer. so even though you were seated right next to him, he barely made an attempt to acknowledge you. what was the point when you’d probably be gone soon? at least, that’s what he told himself.

mingi didn’t want to get attached.

he had to draw the line somewhere. he’d already betrayed his own words of ‘not getting close to anyone new’ with jongho, who only joined a few months ago yet managed to find himself a soft spot in mingi’s heart.

that was already enough for mingi to double down on his ‘professional’ act to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

when you started, he would give dry answers to whatever questions you had, hoping that you would keep your distance from him. but for some reason, the more he avoided you, the more he found himself paying attention to you.

not to mention how you were insanely gorgeous - which messed with him. a lot.

when you first joined, mingi was confused of why you picked IT to be your job of choice instead of modeling, acting or anything of that sort. but he quickly understood why you entered the industry when he saw the way you coded. it was way beyond any expectations he had.

so not only were you impossibly beautiful, you knew how to code well.

whenever you had to work together or you had a question to ask him, mingi would catch himself straightening his back, doing anything to hide his image of being the nerdy, anime obsessed guy in the office.

mingi knew it was ridiculous. he barely knew you and yet he felt this insane urge to impress you. he didn’t even know why he told you to call him ‘mr song’.

he had never done that before. it just slipped out, like he was trying to seem professional. though, it just made things more awkward.

but the worst part of it all would be those pencil skirts you always wore to work.

you seemed to have a wide range of them, he noticed. some days they would be neutral colours, some days they would be bright and patterned.

he never thought that something as simple as a pencil skirt could derail him of all the thoughts and human decency in his mind. yet there he was, looking at the way your things pressed against each other as you shifted in your chair or how the fabric lifted up ever so slightly-

-god, he felt like a pervert.

he didn’t know exactly when he started to pay attention to your attire or how your skirt hugged you in a way that left him stunned. was it when you had to work together on that one test-run? or during all those boring meetings the company had?

well, not that it mattered. all mingi knew was that he wanted- no, needed to stop being distracted by you.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

“shit, i’m late for work,” you muttered through your teeth as you turned off your alarm. you quickly put on your clothes, grabbing your bag as you slammed the door open and headed out the house.

you unfortunately reached the office half an hour late. you were nearly out of breath as you rushed to your desk. as you slid into your seat, you noticed mingi’s gaze on you, looking.. relieved?

you logged in, pretending not to notice his eyes on you. you began to get started on your work, hoping to make up for lost time.

but just as you began to focus, wooyoung strolled over to you, leaning against your desk with a smirk.

“you’re late,” wooyoung tilted his head.

you looked at him with a deadpanned expression. “you’ve been late three times this week.”

wooyoung grinned, grabbing a random chair nearby and plopped himself between you and mingi. he began to talk about some ‘crazy’ thing he was going to do on the weekend, acting as a podcast as you coded.

just then, wooyoung’s attention shifted to your phone, which suddenly lit up with a notification, revealing your lock screen - a character from the anime that mingi had been talking about.

“wait..” wooyoung leaned in, his eyes narrowing. “is that anime?”

you glanced down at your phone, nodding. “yeah, i’m kind of hooked right now.”

wooyoung raised an eyebrow, turning to mingi then back at you. “don’t tell me he converted you into one of his anime minions..” he pointed to your deskmate.

mingi sputtered, completely thrown off by the conversation that he was suddenly involved in. “what? no, i didn’t- she just-“ he stumbled over his words, his face heating up.

you smacked wooyoung’s arm. “i did hear him talk about the show, but i got into anime itself on my own.”

jongho, who happened to pass by your desks as you said that, stopped. “you guys are talking about anime?” jongho looked at mingi with a wide grin on his face. “didn’t know anime recs were the new pick-up lines these days.”

wooyoung smirked as he leaned closer to mingi. “so she’s a weeb and can code. mr song, does that do anything for you?” he teased.

mingi’s face was now a shade of bright red and he kept his eyes locked onto the computer screen, avoiding any eye contact. “i didn’t even say anything to her about it..” he mumbled.

after wooyoung and jongho continued to tease him, they eventually walked away to do their own work. you glanced over at mingi, tilting your head when you realised that he had already been looking at you.

he turned away quickly, clearly flustered as he muttered, “don’t.. don’t listen to them.”

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

“have you done the surveys hongjoong sent in the group chat?” you spoke up, your voice echoing in the quiet office.

mingi blinked. the two of you had to work overtime again to complete a piece of software that a client wanted. he didn’t even realise how late it was until he looked at the time.

“he sent surveys?” mingi asked, raising an eyebrow.

you nodded, holding out your phone to him. “its all about ‘staff satisfaction’ and other bullshit like that. he’s forcing everyone to get it done quick so you should get started.” you turned back to your computer, putting your phone on the desk.

mingi watched as you returned back to work, but there was one thing that he couldn’t get his eyes off of - your lock screen.

he couldn’t stop thinking about how you were paying attention to that conversation. he had to admit that the fact that you actually took his recommendation did make his heart flutter slightly.

mingi’s fingers rested on the keyboard. ‘don’t say anything,’ he told himself. but then again… you liked anime?

his mouth moved before he could even think. “did you finish episode four yet?”

you looked at him, not knowing what he was referring to until you saw that he was staring at your phone screen. “mhm, i actually finished episode six yesterday. i can’t stop watching it.”

“wait, six?” he turned his chair to face you completely. “so you saw the fight scene right? and that whole backstory part?”

you nodded excitedly, matching his enthusiasm. “yes! and the twist with that guy’s brother? insane,” you replied.

“right? i told jongho it was genius,” mingi continued, words spilling out of him way faster that he could control them. “and there’s this one part- wait i can’t spoil it.. uh, but just know that it’s a whole new level.”

only now and then mingi realised how ‘out of character’ he got with you, especially when he saw the way you were watching him. your eyes sparkling with interest as you leaned in, actually listening to whatever he was saying.

and for a second, he couldn’t look away.

his heart stuttered and suddenly, he was back in his own head. what was he doing? he forced himself to turn back to his computer, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“well- uh.. anyway. we should probably get back to work..” he said, leaving you confused of what made him stop.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

“alright, i think that’s everything,” hongjoong said, shutting his laptop. “you guys can head home.”

the sudden meeting your boss called dragged on a lot longer than anyone thought. so the moment it ended, everyone around you got up immediately, hurriedly packing their things.

suddenly, hongjoong realised something. “oh, i need someone to print out these reports by tomorrow morning.”

you barely had time to react before his eyes landed on you, then mingi who was almost out of the door.

“mingi, you’re familiar with the printer setup right?” hongjoong asked with a smirk. he then turned to you. “this is a good chance to teach our new hire how we handle our documents.”

both you and mingi let out identical, disappointed sighs - your frustrations perfectly in sync.

everyone, including you, knew that the printing room was a nightmare - old, dusty, falling apart and tucked away in a corner of the office building that was farthest away from the entrance.

“of course,” mingi muttered, his voice flat. “the printing room.”

hongjoong gave a shrug. “it’s not that bad,” he said, obviously lying.

you swore quietly but gave a polite nod to your boss. “got it. anything else?”

“nope, just the reports. shouldn’t take too long,” hongjoong replied as he grabbed his things, heading to the door. “thanks guys!”

with a collective sigh, you took your notepad and followed mingi - who was already sluggishly moving his feet to the printing room.

he pushed the door open, the musty smell of old paper and ink greeting the both of you instantly. “why hasn’t anyone fixed this place yet?” he asked, mostly to himself as he used his hand to cover his nose.

you stepped inside, wrinkling your nose. “because no one comes here unless they need to?”

“right,” mingi muttered. he flipped the light switch, the fluorescent bulbs taking a moment to stop flickering.

the room was cramped and small. dust floated lazily in the air and the ancient printer hummed ominously at the end of the room.

“let’s get this over with,” you said, putting your stuff on an unstable metal shelf.

mingi took out his phone, looking for the files that hongjoong sent him. he glanced at the printer, then at you as he sighed. “i can load the paper. you can.. figure out how to make the rest work.”

“gee thanks,” you said sarcastically as you rolled up your sleeves.

mingi eventually taught you how to use the printer, which took a lot more steps than its modern-day versions. the sounds of each page churning out filled the silence in the small room.

when it was done, you reached for the stack of printed sheets as mingi went straight for the door.

but just then, there was a metallic clatter. you turn around to see the doorknob lying and rolling on the ground.

“you’re kidding me,” mingi muttered. he crouched down to pick it up, but the doorknob was useless. the door was jammed shut. completely.

the room was barely big enough to fit the both of you and now you were stuck here? it couldn’t get worse than this, could it?

mingi sent a text to yunho to come to the printing room to let the both of you out. even though he already heading home, he told you both to be patient while he made his way back.

soon enough, the both of you settled on the floor to wait. mingi sat with his knees close to his chest. when you sat across from him, your knee bumped against his, making him freeze slightly.

you crossed your legs, adjusting your skirt as you do, but you catch mingi glancing before quickly looking away, pink dusting his cheeks.

he cleared his throat, reaching for a nearby clipboard on the shelf and offering it to you. “uh, you can use this if you uh- if you need to cover up or anything..”

you raised an eyebrow, a smile forming on your face. “thank you,” you said, accepting it.

the room falls silent once more and the buzzing of the lights above began to become louder.

mingi shifted a little, clearly hyper-aware of how close you were. you could hear his breathing getting faster, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

after a while, he fumbled with his phone, typing another message to yunho. you watched as his fingers tapped quickly on the screen, slipping a couple of times.

you bit the inside of your cheek. “do i make you uncomfortable?” you asked once he slid his phone into his pocket.

mingi’s head snapped up at your question, his eyes widening as they met yours. “what?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

you leaned back against the wall. “do i make you uncomfortable?” you repeated.

“nono, of course not,” he said hurriedly, his eyes locked on the printer.

“are you sure?” you raised an eyebrow.

“i-“ mingi rubbed the back of his neck. he shifted in his spot once more, though his knee bumped into yours again - making him jump slightly. “i don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“come on,” you grinned. “you barely talk to me unless you have to, and when you do, you can’t even look at me- like right now!” you giggled as you watched his eyes dart around the room.

you fiddled with the printed papers. “i’ve seen how you act around your friends. you’re fun, you’re loud. so why are you so quiet now?”

mingi opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. his hands fidgeted with his shoelaces, his jaw tightening. finally, he let out a soft sigh and glanced at you - for just a second.

“i don’t know,” he admitted.

“you don’t know?”

“i mean-“ mingi stuttered, his eyes on the door. his lips were pressed into a thin line and his shoulders slumped. “i guess- i just don’t know how to act around you…?” he said, already regretting his words.

mingi wiped the sweat off of his forehead, adding onto what he said. “you’re just different from the people i’m used to.”

you nodded, giving him a smirk. “ohh, it’s because i’m a girl right?”

“nonono it’s just-“ he said quickly, his ears turning red. “you’re uh..” he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck. “you’re uh- focused? yeah.. and you’re good at what you do. that’s all..”

you let out a soft laugh, making him look at you nervously. “is this your way of saying you respect me or something?”

his cheeks flushed. “you can say that..”

“hmm.. okay okay,” you hummed, trying to suppress a grin. “so if that’s all..”

you leaned in closer, “..you wouldn’t mind if we went out for lunch together right?”

mingi blinked. “like with wooyoung and yeosang?”

you shook your head, tucking a stray hair behind your ear. “just us two.”

“well..” mingi looked at the ground, trying to find the words in his brain. “aren’t most places far away?”

“there’s a manga cafe nearby. it’s pretty cute and has a decent menu.”

his eyes widened at your suggestion. “a manga cafe..?” he repeated.

you shrugged. “i thought you’d like it.”

“i do,” mingi muttered, clearly unsure of how to respond. “you don’t think it’s weird? not a lot of people like manga.”

you frowned, shaking your head. “i don’t find it weird.. do you not want to go?”

mingi immediately straightened his back, his blush deepening as he stumbled over his words. “what? no- i do-“

you laughed, cutting him off. “relax.. we’re friends right?”

you could see a smile forming on his face as he nodded. “yeah.. we’re friends.”

suddenly, you heard a chuckle from the other side of the door as it creaked open. yunho stood there with a grin, leaning against the doorframe.

“sorry it took me a while,” he said, giving mingi a knowing look. “getting cozy?”

mingi’s flustered expression turned into a glare as he stood up, brushing the dust off of his pants. “just let us out.”

yunho moved aside, watching as his friend walked hurriedly towards his desk. “hope you two had fun,” he winked.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

you leaned back into your chair, taking a bite out of your sandwich. “you know, i just finished the season this morning.”

mingi’s head shot up, his eyes wide with excitement. “really?” he asked, mid-chug of his drink.

“yeah, i was up all night watching it. i even got a little emotional at the end,” you replied with a nod, causing mingi to flash you a grin - one that you’ve never seen before.

the cafe around you had walls lined with manga shelves. the faint music of anime soundtracks playing in the background. the decor was adorable and you had to resist the urge to take a photo of every corner of the cafe.

the two of you continued talking and for once, it didn’t feel awkward. mingi seemed more relaxed, even joking around with you at times - but of course, he still had a habit of looking away whenever you made eye contact with him.

as the clock ticked closer to the end of your break, you stood up and pointed to the manga shelves. “i think i’m gonna grab something before we head back,” you said, wandering over, mingi soon following behind you.

“i don’t know what to pick,” you admitted, tracing your fingers along the spines of the books. “you got any ideas?”

his face lit up as he reached for a manga volume. “this one is really good. the world-building and plot is great. and the characters? the way they develop over time is just-”

mingi went into a passionate ramble, flipping through the pages as he spoke. you leaned against the shelf, listening to him as you bit back a smile.

suddenly, he stopped, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “sorry, i got carried away.”

you shook your head. “no you didn’t. i’ll take it,” you said, taking the book from his hands.

mingi blinked, stunned. “really?”

“yeah,” you replied with a grin. “you obviously like it, so it must be good.”

he stood there, a little speechless as you walked towards the register.

as you passed the manga to the cashier and reached for your wallet, mingi suddenly pointed to a random corner of the cafe. “woah what’s over there?”

you turned your head, confused. “what are you-”

before you could finish, you heard the tap of a card on the card-reader. turning back, you saw mingi sliding his card back into his pocket, acting like nothing happened.

you stared at him in disbelief. “..did you just pay for that?”

“would you be angry if i did..?” he said slowly, taking the bag where your manga was from the cashier.

you sighed, a small smile tugging at your lips. “no, but i can pay for my own things.”

mingi grinned. “maybe next time.”

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

it had been about two months since you and mingi started to eat lunch together. at least once a week, the two of you would grab a meal and talk about work or a new anime that either you or mingi were hyper-fixated on.

to be completely honest, mingi was pleasantly surprised at how your conversations evolved. what used to be a little awkward and dry now felt natural and easy.

mingi cracked his fingers. his screen had been glaring at him all morning, the same error popping up no matter how many times he rewrote the code. he leaned back into his chair, rubbing his temples in frustration.

“hey,” your voice pulled his attention away from the screen. “what do you want for lunch today?”

mingi blinked. “shit- i’m sorry,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “i can’t go today. too much work to do.”

you didn’t seem bothered by his response. instead, you tilted your head. “okay, then what are you craving?”

“uh... something light, i guess?” he replied hesitantly, unsure of why you were asking.

you just nodded, grabbing your phone and standing up. “be right back,” you said, leaving before he could question you further.

when you returned about 20 minutes later, mingi stared at you in disbelief. you set down a steaming cup of noodles, his favourite chips and a coffee.

“w-wait,” he stammered, immediately reaching for his wallet. “how much was it? let me-”

“-it’s fine,” you interrupted, brushing his offer off. “just eat before it gets cold,” you slid back into your seat.

mingi stared at the meal infront of him, his heart racing in a way that he couldn’t explain. it wasn’t just the food (though that definitely played a part), but it was the fact that you knew and remembered his favourites. you even went out of your way to do this without making it a big deal.

‘that’s just what friends do,’ he convinced himself as he took a bite out of his food. but when he glanced over to you, the butterflies in his stomach told him something that he wasn’t ready to admit.

not yet, anyway.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

you were busy testing out a software when jongho appeared, dragging a chair behind him. he sat it in your section, right between you and mingi.

“guess what,” jongho began as he faced mingi. “i finally got that place i was looking at.”

mingi turned away from his monitor, eyebrows raising slightly. “oh? that’s cool. congrats man.”

“thanks. i’m thinking of having a little housewarming thing this weekend,” jonogho continued. “nothing big, don’t worry.”

mingi nodded, leaning back into his chair. “sounds good. let me know what time.”

it wasn’t until then when mingi noticed that you were listening in into their conversation, your fingers paused over your keyboard. his eyes darted to yours for a moment before he spoke. “do you want to come?”

you blinked, your eyes shifting to jongho. “i mean.. do you want me there?”

jongho shrugged. “yeah, you’re cool. bring wooyoung and yeosang too.”

mingi didn’t say anything, but the way jongho gave him a knowing look didn’t escape your notice. you bit back a grin, nodding slowly. “alright, i’ll be there.”

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

“damn you look good,” wooyoung said, looking you up and down.

you raised an eyebrow. “what are you talking about? i’ve worn this outfit to work before.”

“yeah but the work air does you dirty,” he said, earning him a smack from yeosang.

“focus,” yeosang said, pointing to jongho’s door. “who’s knocking?”

“not me,” wooyoung shook his head quickly. “i already carried the chips here. i’ve done my part.”

you scoffed. “you brought two bags and i’m pretty sure you ate one of them.”

“they’re big bags, okay?” wooyoung defended.

yeosang sighed. “fine, i’ll-“

before he could knock, a deep sigh was heard on the other side of the door. the three of you exchanged a look with each other before the door swung open.

wooyoung and yeosang, who were leaning against the doorframe, stumbled forward and landed infront of jongho’s feet.

jongho stepped back, opening the door wider. “welcome.”

you blinked, giving him a smile. “hey, jongho.” carefully, you tiptoed over the two fallen bodies on the ground as you entered the apartment.

the apartment had a warm and cozy feel. there was a decent amount of fake plants and the furniture looked new but comfortable. the dining table was lined with snacks and the kitchen counter was filled with a surprising amount of alcohol.

you walked over to yunho and mingi who were already standing around the kitchen. you waved to yunho before turning to mingi and giving him a quick hug.

mingi froze for a bit, though he quickly recovered, his response stiff. “uh- hey.”

jongho clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention. “alright, don’t get too comfortable. let me show you around.”

he led the group on a small tour around his apartment, showing off his bedroom, bathroom, living room and office space - he even had a guest bedroom.

after the tour, you found yourself back in the living room, chatting with yunho and mingi.

“so how’s the project going?” yunho asked, taking a sip from his drink.

“not bad,” you replied. “it’s a lot of coding but i’m enjoying it for the most part.”

mingi nodded. “yeah, and you’re good at it,” he muttered quietly, mostly to himself.

you glanced at him, giving him a smile. “thanks.”

the tips of his ears turned pink and he quickly turned to yunho, who was trying to hide a smile behind his glass.

after a while, you wandered over to the snack table where yeosang and wooyoung were hanging out.

“chips are food,” wooyoung said angrily.

yeosang sighed, turning to you. “this is his third bowl.”

“it’s a party,” wooyoung shrugged. “i’m living my best life.”

before anyone could say anything, jongho’s voice was heard from across the room. “wooyoung!”

wooyoung froze, a chip halfway to his mouth. “what?” he shouted back.

jongho stood by the door, his arms crossed. “tell me why there’s a group of at least 15 people outside my house saying that there’s a party here?”

wooyoung chuckled nervously, clearing his throat. “um.. about that..”

jongho’s eyes narrowed. “don’t tell me you-“

the doorbell rang and before you knew it, a large group of people poured in, loud music taking over the entire space.

wooyoung scratched the back of his neck. “i may have uh- spread the word a little.”

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚

the house grew loud, music bouncing off of the walls as laughter filled every corner. you squeezed through the crowd, heading over to the kitchen for another glass of soju. but when you reached, your eyes landed on mingi who was downing many shots of alcohol.

“heyheyhey, stop,” you said, stepping forward and gently taking the glass from his hand.

mingi blinked at you, confused, his cheeks pink. you looked at him with concern. “what’s going on? why are you drinking so much?”

he mumbled something incoherent, rubbing his forehead. without hesitation, you hooked your arm around his and tugged him toward the hallway. “you’re sitting this one out,” you said firmly, guiding him into the guest bedroom which thankfully, was unoccupied.

closing the door behind you, you made him sit on the edge of the bed. mingi groaned and slumped down, half of his body dangling off the bed while his upper body rested against mattress.

you sat on the bed next to him. “are you okay? what’s wrong?” you asked softly, rubbing slow circles on his back.

“...i don’t like people,” he mumbled, his face half-buried in the sheets.

a small smile tugged at your lips. “it’s okay. i get it.”

“i like you, though,” his said, his voice muffled but clear enough to make your eyes widen in shock.

“wait, what?” you blurted out, staring at him disbelief.

mingi got up abruptly, sitting on the bed properly like nothing happened. “why did wooyoung bring so many people? this isn’t a party party,” he said.

“i.. i don’t know,” you stammered. “can we go back to what you said before-”

“i didn’t finish the code i was supposed to give hongjoong,” he interrupted, looking at you with glassy eyes. “am i getting fired?”

you shook your head. “no, he gave you until next month to complete it. can we-”

“-i haven’t eaten pasta in so long,” his voice cracked, on the verge of tears.

“i’ll get you pasta tomorrow,” you said quickly, giving him a small, reassuring smile.

mingi’s face lit up. “really?”

“yes,” you nodded.

the two of you sat in silence for a moment, the muffled noise of the party bleeding through the walls. soon enough, you finally spoke up. “hey.”

mingi turned to you, his eyes a little clearer now.

“when you said you liked me,” you began cautiously. “what did you mean?”

“that i like you,” mingi said plainly like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“well, yes, but,” you cleared your throat. “as a friend or-”

“i like your eyes,” he cut in, his gaze locked onto yours. “and your nose.”

you blinked, stunned.

“your lips are pretty,” he added as he leaned in slightly. “and so are your outfits.”

“i-”

“i like your voice,” he continued. “and the cafes you bring me to.”

your heart raced as you stared at him. “...is this the alcohol talking?” you asked weakly.

mingi tilted his head, reaching up to touch his mouth like he was checking for something. “i’m pretty sure i’m the one talking,” he said, completely serious.

a wide smile broke across your face. “you’re cute.”

“me?” he looked behind him, seeing if there was someone else in the room.

“yes, you,” you laughed softly.

mingi’s face flushed a deeper red - whether it was from the alcohol or your words, you weren’t sure.

a comfortable silence fell over the two of you once more and you could tell that mingi was beginning to sober up. he shifted slightly, his movements becoming nervous.

“i’m sorry,” he began, but you quickly cut him off.

“don’t apologise,” you said.

“but i made you uncomfortable- oh my god i made you uncomfo-”

“i like you,” you said, pulling him out of his spiral.

mingi froze, his eyes wide. “are you serious?”

you nodded.

“b-but you’re so..” he trailed off, his eyes searching yours. “..pretty.”

“thank you,” you said, your heart fluttering. “though i think you’re really downplaying yourself.”

“why would you like someone like me?” mingi asked, his voice a whisper.

you shrugged. “for all the same reasons you like me.”

“because i watch anime?” he asked, confused.

“that’s a bonus,” you grinned.

the next thing you knew, your hands brushed against his, lingering for a moment as his eyes shifted to your lips. it was such a simple action and yet it sent your heart in circles. slowly, he leaned in closer, his warm breath against your skin.

“are you really okay with this?” he asked, worried that you were playing a prank on him.

you looked into his eyes, your voice soft. “i’ve been waiting for this.”

then mingi’s lips were on yours.

it was soft at first. but the second your hand found his jaw, tilting his head slightly - something in him changed. his hand was on your thigh, his fingers curling into the fabric of your skirt like he needed to hold on or risk floating away.

your hand moved to his chest and you could feel his heart pounding beneath your palm. mingi’s other hand found your waist, pulling you just a little closer.

“mr song,” you mumbled against his mouth, the name drawing a low groan from him.

“god- you’re so perfect,” he muttered, the grip on your thigh tightening, his thumb tracing the seam of your skirt, sending shivers up your spine.

you lost track of how long you stayed like that. the music from outside faded into the background and the room slowly disappeared from your mind.

and then the door slammed open.

you and mingi jumped apart, faces flushed and breaths uneven. just then, wooyoung stumbled in, his arm draped lazily around a girl.

“oh my god,” wooyoung’s eyes widened, darting between the two of you with unhinged glee. without waiting a second, he whipped out his phone and snapped a picture before slamming the door shut - his loud voice echoing the hall. “i knew it! i knew it! i knew it!”

you groaned, covering your face with your hands as you got up. “this bastard-”

“-hey,” mingi caught your wrist, his fingers gentle but firm as he tugged you back toward him. his face was still flushed and his lips were slightly swollen, but his voice was soft. “don’t focus on him. focus on me.”

your heart skipped multiple beats. you nodded, letting him guide you back into his arms.

this time, the kiss was much slower - no rushing, no interruptions, just the two of you. his hand returned to your thighs, this time squeezing it lightly, and you couldn’t help but smile against his lips.

when you broke apart, his eyes studied your face, his thumb gently tracing your lips. you brushed away the stray hairs that stuck to his forehead, adjusting his glasses which were lopsided.

“was i good?” mingi asked nervously.

“of course,” you giggled, your cheeks warm. “way more than good.”

he let out a sigh of relief. “i’m glad..” he said softly. your words made him smile, the stress in his shoulders easing.

“if wooyoung posts that picture..” mingi said, leaving a trail of kisses on your jaw. “..i’m deleting his league account.”

any and all feedback appreciated <3 remember to like and repost!

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lacucarachapisser · 2 months ago

Text

sad to say i’m already yours colin zabel x gn!reader

a/n : okay omg it’s happening. beware of the cringe conversation and pathetic angst i really wanna punch myself in the face. no warning, this just too rush and lame and pretty basic also apologies if its weird cuz english isn’t my first im so so so so sorry. i just love colin sm. 1k wc.

this wasn’t the first time colin shut one's eyes to your presence. you’ve grown very used to his demanding job that takes energy, time, and even attention, which often makes you feel like you’re just a second priority. or perhaps not even counted. you think these all are pretty normal because colin is a very capable and responsible when it comes to work. and you get it.

you frequently texted him asking if he’s working late again. the dinner you’d prepared often ended up in the fridge. you waited for him with the light of the television or with an open book on your lap, while your eyes close from weariness. alone. his reply always comes with an apology buried in his deep voice. you get it.

sometimes you choose to sleep first, only to be awakened by the creaking of the door. your man, with his tired face, throws himself onto your shared bed.

"rough day?"

colin just nods, burying his face in the pillow with a long sigh.

“wanna talk about it?”

“can’t.”

he clearly didn’t have much contribution for the conversation he’ll just kill it. also, colin would likely act as if you weren’t there, so you just smile at his brief response. you actually not sure if you want to cry or laugh at that. the cases that colin handles are sometimes too horrific to share. besides, they’re confidential. you genuinely respect how dedicated your man is to his job. you get it.

colin turns his head slightly toward you, his eyes half-closed. you move closer, give him a quick kiss on his cheek and say goodnight. colin, already asleep, faster than you thought, doesn’t even flinch, nor does he say it back.

for days, communication between you two hasn’t been that intense— no dinners together, no movie nights like you used to plan on weekends, no dates. when was the last time you became intimate with each other? probably two weeks ago. or three? four? you get it.

“want me to make you some snacks?”

“no, that's okay baby.”

his voice was soft, and somehow, ironically you miss him so bad even though he was right next to you.

“i heard there’s a new coffee shop and they have like bunch of pet inside, interesting 'right?”

"uh-huh"

"yeah they have puppies! i really wanna go there,”

“sure. can we talk later, baby? i’m busy right now.”

although he comes home every day, sleeping in the same bed with you, his presence just clearly made you felt nothing but more alone. it hurts to see him come home every night as if you’re just a place to stay. never home, probably just a hostel. how cruel if he’d forgotten your efforts, how you filled his empty cup after what his ex did to him. you didn’t take the easy route to win him over. or maybe you were never capable to replace her in the first place? where did you went wrong? isn't it ironic to think how heartbreaking and sad that you already belong to him?

that day, he forgot his breakfast, and even the coffee you have made remained untouched. how long this has to continue? you don’t hate him, not for a second. it’s just that your efforts to make him happy always seemed to fail.

“colin, we need to talk.”

“about what?”

it takes courage for you to start this conversation. you’re actually scared to bring it up because colin might think you’re overreacting.

“i always tell myself that you don’t mean to hurt me— which makes it less painful. but you know what? you never really see me.”

you slowly touch his hand, feels the veins through his skin, strong beneath your fingers, firm and solid.

he gives you a crooked smile. “what’s wrong with you? of course i see you,”

“no. i know you’re busy with work, but… col, i’m right here. how long do i have to hold on to this if you keep acting like that? i can’t take it anymore,”

“baby, i have work to do,”

“oh can we talk later? we never really talk later. why can’t you at least recognize my existence that i’m here? talk to me,”

a bitter taste filled your mouth. it hurts to face colin's expression, one that looks disgusted with you—at least, that’s what you think. now he’ll even hate you because you crave his attention.

“okay, i’m sorry i’m always busy, it’s not my fault it takes up a lot of my time as if i have choices. but i promise—“

“no. stop,” you shook your head, protesting with what colin said.

“stop what?”

“you talk to me like i’m stupid. i’m not stupid. i didn’t blame your job, i would never,”

“i know you’re not stupid, but you did blame me for a stupid reason,”

there his classic maneuver. his words seem like a clever observation to shift the blame, but it's all wrong. that’s not the issue, it never was, and you’ve never blamed his job. your eyes start to fill up with tears, and soon they’ll spill over. the lines on colin's face looks vividly serious, gazing you with intense look.

“t-this is why your ex—"

colin’s hand quickly grabs your jaw. it’s not rough, but enough to surprise you and make you stop your sentence. you gasped at his furrowed brows, his expression so tense with his wide-open eyes.

“don’t.”

you immediately regret it. you didn’t mean to brought up his past, you truly didn’t intended to hurt him.

“please, don’t.” his hand is still gripping your jaw, but his fingers start to loosen, and his thumb gently strokes your cheek. your eyes are still locked with him, and then you realize that what you see in colin’s eyes isn’t anger. it was fear.

you throw yourself into his arms, burying your face in the crook of his neck, muttering apologies between soft sobs. colin wraps his arms around you, holding you tight by the waist. he hides his face on your neck, pressing his body into yours with all his strength.

“colin, i’m sorry, i’m so sorry…”

for a moment, he becomes a complete silent. letting you stay in each other’s embrace. then he finally speaks.

“don’t leave me. please, not again.”

#colin zabel #colin zabel x you #colin zabel x reader #evan peters #cringetober #cringecore #cringeyyyy #one shot #mare of easttown #oh what the fuck is this?#this is fun #im having fun #thankyou user colinzabelswife and jazz-berry for the encouragement ilysm #im too ashamed to tag my moots cause they’re incredible me can not compare #i should write more should i #oh what the fuck im so happy?#oh happy friday well its already friday here #not very proud but my writing!

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birdies-aus · 3 months ago

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Okie dokie sending it here because idk why I'm nervous I just is lol but okay okay

Hot nights and Wally a walking furnace and Kori and alien I headcanon also overheats hence her outfits showing a bit more skin, and in the middle poor Dick is suffering but will not leave Bec he literally can't Wally is a octopus of a cuddler in his sleep he's trapped lol

Catboy Dickie Bec like, it so cute and Kori being a cat girl both just ugh!! So the braiding each other hair and adding bells and bows and Wally feeling left out being so sad so they do it to him.

Yuri times, cute little picnic dates??? In cute dresses??? And they're having fun??? Pog

Butch Kori and femme fem Dick, idk what to do more than I like it, and vise versa too if you enjoy differents

Only au of mine I'll add is Mei Dick and Kori are besties in it and still talk after Dick sold his soul to Lucifer, they still have frequent hangouts in a field of flowers even tho it doesn't exist anymore on earth, that's not a prompt tho just thought I tell ya because I'm rambling ahhhhhh

Protect the bird ^

And one angst prompt that been a fic in the making,,, Wally coming back from the mind trip of the speed force having to tell himself he's still here, and when the panic attack is coming on he called Dick to talk but.... He's off planet and he's about to lose it needing to talk to someone to tell him he's not on the speed force this ain't a trick.

And last idea, this is an au of mine but works with vampire king or reg vampire, Dick refusing to drink blood because he doesn't want to hurt his love ones but his two favorite gingers are trying to make him drink something because he needs to feed!!!

Okie dokie I go idk why I was nervous idk brain is being weird but uh yeah

Have a cookie 🍪 for putting up with this lol

out of all of these ideas my hands have given u butch4femme yuri dickkori doodle sluggy.. i used my friends ipad 4 this and on a sidenote i rlly hate using procreate lol

ANYWYAS ON TO THE ITHER THINGS YOUVE DROPPED FOR ME (i might doodle things 4 u more later just god my hands have not been working recently lol)

ill do a read more so i dont annoy anyone with long posts

i lobe the idea of both wally and kori running warm which is really nice for dick who gets cold easily- unless its in the summer somewhere where it gets like 100° but he still would never give up being able to cuddle his favorite people no matter how warm it gets trust trust meeee

Wally just pouts at catboy n catgirl dick n kori n then hes pulled into thwir little self care pile and he gets a little make over two- WHICH THE AFTER MATH WILL DEFINITELY BE SOMETHING I DRAW ACTUALLYYYYTT that sounds so cuute itll be its own post ill tag u in tho

okok but like my yuri cowgirl au but kori kidnaps her girls sometimes to take them out on a picnic date outside of town n sometimes it turns into a little-

williows never to be trusted with horse riding/steering bc she trues to go as fast as possible (without hurtting or straining the horse ofc) btw

Its a very common sight to see kori or willow dragging robin somewhere after catching her in rope btw its do silly in my head- its how they make sure shes taking care of herself and not getting caught up in mystery shenanigans

Aahhh kori n dick in ur mei au making flowercrowns togetherr hehe

kori n wally being over protective over their favorite birdd ♡♡♡♡

CRYINNGGF AT U FOR THE ANGST yk dick would panic when he gets home and hears a worrying voicemail from wallyyyyy sluggy pleaseee

ALSOOOO thats my favorite trooe in vampires but BUT ALAOSOOOO if wallys still a speedster hes like the best canidate for dick to drink blood from bc the guy would be able to replenish his blood quicker than a normal human meaning dick would be ablw to actually be full sometimes which would be very niceeeee-

#wally west #koriand'r #dick grayson #flash #starbirdflash #dickkori #birdflash #nightwing #starfire #SLUGGY ♡♡#asks answered #my art

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decks-writing-blog · 11 months ago

Text

Whatever the Fuck Benrey Is: Chapter One: Never Stayed Dead

Summary: Following the events at Black Mesa, Gordon ends up learning more about Benrey. He might even end up liking him eventually.

[A/N] This was supposed to be a one shot about Gordon and Benrey starting to get along; the start of a slow burn that still feels complete as a stand alone. And then I was gonna do more one shots along their relationship journey, each feeling complete on its own. I've done this with ships before to great success but uh... that didn't happen here. It just kept going until I had to start splitting it into chapters at which point I was invested in it. I have nothing planned so it might end up meandering at some point but that's okay, I'm working on chapter 7 now and still going strong and still enjoying writing it so the journey will take us wherever it ends up taking us.

Also, I know that Benrey seems to most often be portrayed as basically not taking damage from things but like, in the series because of how G-mod works, blood still sprays from him sometimes so I have chosen to interpret that as he takes the damage but then heals from it really quick. Which lead to other ideas that end up being rather important to how I write Benrey.

Upon getting hired at Black Mesa, Gordon hadn’t thought too much about the housing provided to the employees. It was a top secret research facility out in the middle of the New Mexico dessert, mostly buried under it, and a long multi-hour drive from the next nearest bit of civilization. Said bit of civilization being nothing but a small town that didn’t even have an airport. So of course the job had come with a place to live, anything else would’ve caused getting to and from work to take longer than actual work or require him and everyone else to camp out in the dessert above the facility. Now though, upon fast walking away from the Chuck E. Cheese – with Tommy’s birthday party over, capping the nightmare at last, he was finally free – he really wished he had a place to stay in Tuefort too.

Whether the living area in Black Mesa was still intact or not was hard to say for sure. But even if it was, based off the state the rest of the facility he’d seen had been in, likely it had been overrun with aliens and military goons, leaving it a horrid mess. One he wouldn’t want to clean up or just live next to even if the option had been available to him. Which it wasn’t thanks to how long the drive down there was when he didn’t even have a car currently.

Did he even have a job at Black Mesa anymore? If so did he want to keep it after all that? Even if the answer to either of those was ‘yes’ he didn’t want go back right now for sure. Not until someone else cleaned up the mess. Which should take a while, meaning he had plenty of time to think about it for now.

Instead he kept walking, trying not to think about anything other than finding Tuefort’s one hotel, if he could just remember where it was. He should still have his wallet on him under the HEV suit and thus some money, hopefully enough to rent a room long enough to figure things out.

Dressed in a blood splattered suit of what was essentially orange armor and with a hand that was hopefully not too obviously a gun at first glance, he got curious looks from passersby as he made his way down the sidewalk. There were quite a few people about too; the town was abuzz. Likely that had something to do with the military flying over to get to Black Mesa. Luckily, despite their intrigue, no one stopped him to ask questions about who he was or what he thought about the military. Tuefort’s one claim to fame was being a weird place filled with weird people so he could hopefully continue to pass as a normal type of weird person that had nothing to do with anything important. So he avoided eye contact as much as possible and held his gun hand close to try to disguise it as such.

He’d have to do something about it eventually though. Walking around with a gun for an hand might not be illegal – this was America after all, gun laws were way more lax than was probably wise – but it sure was weird. People would ask about it for sure and he didn’t want to talk about it. Could anything be done about it though? Was taking it off and replacing it with proper prosthetic an option? … If not then he would have to…

“Hey.”

He jumped, snapping to face the ally he was passing by, pointing said gun arm at the figure leaning against the wall within. Quickly, he lowered it; he couldn’t just go around pointing his gun at anyone who startled him even if the voice had sounded uncomfortably familiar. Except well, it wasn’t just the voice that was familiar.

“Benrey!” Gordon snapped the gun back up. “Why aren’t you dead? You’re supposed to be dead.” It was a struggle to keep his voice down but he didn’t want to call undue attention.

“What? Who told you I was dead?” It sounded like a genuine question but with Benrey who could possibly tell if he was genuine about anything?

“No one. We killed you or… or I thought we did.” He should’ve known better though, huh? Benrey never stayed dead.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re a cheater but I’m better now. So where you headed? Off to steal something?”

If Gordon shot him, how much trouble would he get in? … Probably more than was worth it considering Benrey couldn’t die, not permanently anyway. “No. I’m looking for a hotel ‘cause I need a place to sleep for a while before I try to find out if any part of Black Mesa’s still operational and if I also still have a job there if so. I don’t have time for you so I’m just gonna leave now.”

Maybe it was a mistake to turn his back on whatever the fuck Benrey was but Gordon didn’t really care anymore and did it anyway, resuming heading down the sidewalk. If Benrey wanted to kill him, he would do it and Gordon couldn’t do a single thing to stop him apparently. So he was just going to do his best to not let Benrey bother him and hope that would convince him to finally leave.

“You’re headed the wrong direction.”

Gordon skid to a halt, turning to look back at Benrey as he stepped out of the ally. “What?”

“Hotel’s down that way, on the other side of town.” Benrey pointed in the opposite direction Gordon had been heading.

“Are you sending me in that direction so I’ll walk all the way to that side of town, find no hotel, forcing me to walk all the way back to this side of town again before I finally find it?”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to make my life a living hell.”

Benrey stared at him in silence for a several seconds. Had his eyes always been that yellow and Gordon was just now noticing or was it a new thing? “Whatever, I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m just trying to help an old pal out. Which I didn’t have to do after you cheated to beat me up. Uncool, man, uncool.” Well at least he wasn’t unphased by his defeat. Not that him being bitter about it really helped Gordon much. If anything that was bad as it gave Benrey all the more reason to target him.

“You know what? Fine. If you know where the hotel is, take me there, lead the way.” Gordon flourished his good arm in the direction Benrey had said the hotel lay in.

“Why? You planning to steal something once you’re there?”

Far too tired to play this game, Gordon didn’t take the bait. In hindsight, he should’ve never responded to such nonsense, it’s clearly what Benrey wanted. Well, with defeating Benrey for good off the table, Gordon was done playing his games. He wasn’t going to be a fun target anymore. “If you don’t know the way, that’s fine. I’m fully capable of finding it on my own.” Though he would really rather just have someone bring him there, even if it was Benrey, so he could finally get a shower and a full night’s sleep that much sooner.

More of that silent thoughtful stare, his pupils narrowing to slits. How Gordon had ever missed the fact that Benrey wasn’t human was a mystery. What was he though? Gordon would love to know but at the same time it was Benrey. No doubt he’d make any attempt to study or experiment on him a massive pain in the ass.

“I’m waiting. You gonna lead the way or no.”

“Well uh… I don’t know where it is exactly,only that it’s on the side of town closest to Black Mesa, which is over that way.” He pointed again and it was indeed the direction Black Mesa lay in.

“Great, awesome, thanks for the help.” Gordon started in that direction. If it was a trick, he’d already been walking so long already it hardly mattered. And if not, it’d get him to a place he could rest that much sooner. So it was probably worth the risk.

“You’re welcome,” Benrey said as he fell in step with Gordon, sounding as if he hadn’t picked up on the frustration and sarcasm at all.

Gordon turned his head to look at him, intending to tell him to leave but bit back on it. It wouldn’t make him leave and might give him opening to be more annoying. So instead he clamped his mouth shut, turned to look solely where he was going and kept walking. His only hope of escaping Benrey was no longer being a fun thing to play with and that meant he had to do his best to ignore Benrey and all his attempts to be a nuisance.

The silence between them held for maybe a grand total of two whole minutes before Benrey broke it. “So when’s your hand gonna grow back?”

Gordon took a breath to respond but again bit back on it. He wasn’t raising to the bait. Benrey was trying to make him angry by bringing up his missing hand again.

“I mean I know humans heal slower and stuff, it’s why everyone’s always taking my juice, ‘cause they’re impatient and don’t wanna wait, but it’s been days now so it should be starting to come back, right? Unless it can’t ‘cause the gun’s there now. I could cut that off for you if you want. Unless you wanna keep the gun, it is pretty cool. You have to promise not to steal anything with it though.”

Gordon should stay quiet, really he should, Benrey was talking nonsense, again. But even with how exhausted he was by the events of the last week, or however long that nightmare had lasted, he couldn’t just not be curious. “What do you mean ‘everyone’s always taking your… juice’?”

“I mean they’re always taking my juice. What else could that sentence mean?”

“What are they taking your juice for?” And what did he even mean by ‘juice’? But one question at a time.

“To put in health packs and stuff so they can heal up real fast when they get a boo-boo. You should really pay better attention when people are talking.”

Gordon skidded to a halt, too shocked to be annoyed by the implication he hadn’t been paying attention. “You mean the healing stuff in the health stations and health packs that Black Mesa makes are filled with your… juice?”

Benrey continued on for a couple more steps before realizing Gordon had stopped. He turned back to face him. Before he could get a word out though, Gordon interrupted.

“And before you accuse me of not paying attention again, I am paying complete and total attention. I just want clarification because I was told it was just a compound one of the teams in Black Mesa invented in a lab. There was never any mention of any juice from any… whatever the fuck you are.”

Benrey frowned, smacking his lips a couple times in seeming thought. “I told them to tell people. But yeah, they take my juice, mix it from something to make it go further and last longer, then put it in the medkits and stuff.”

He could still be lying, trying to mess with Gordon through making him believe he’d injected himself with Benrey’s ‘juice’ a fuckton of times over the years and especially in the last week. But on the other hand, he did undoubtedly have some crazy regenerative properties, healing from gunshot wounds like it was no problem, so of course someone in Black Mesa would try to harness and use that if they could. And from what he knew, a not insubstantial amount of Black Mesa’s funding had come from selling those medkits, often through shady channels if the rumors were to believed.

The realization that Benrey had been at Black Mesa as far more than a security guard wasn’t surprising as he was the exact kind of thing many of the scientists there liked to poke, study, and use. What was surprising though was that they’d managed to contain him. Congrats to them, if only they’d managed to keep him locked up.

Shaking off the shock, Gordon resumed walking. Though he moved slower than before; he was tired and not done with this conversation. So this time, Benrey falling in step next to him was exactly what he wanted. “Okay, knowing I’ve been injected with your… juice is kinda gross. I guess how gross depends on what exactly you mean by ‘juice’. Is it your blood or… or… where do they draw it from?”

Benrey shrugged. “Why do you wanna know? Gonna try to steal some to grow your hand back faster?”

Would straight from the source be enough for such a thing? The medkits and health stations could do a lot, up to and including healing bullets wounds as he’d learned the hard way, but they couldn’t grow back lost limbs. That had been stressed pretty hard in training to prevent people from getting too reckless. But even straight from the source could… “No. I may not like you but stealing your blood or… whatever you mean by ‘juice’ wouldn’t be something I want to stoop to.” Even if he did have some right to because it was Benrey who had caused his arm to get chopped off in the first place. “Gotta try to return to having some sense of morality now that I’m outta that nightmare. Besides, I doubt it would work. Unlike whatever you are, human limbs don’t grow back once they’re cut off. If you’re quick and the cut is clean enough it can sometimes be reattached but that’s the most anyone’s ever been able to do even with the medkit goo.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Of course it’s gonna grow back, it just takes longer ‘cause all your healing stuff takes longer for some reason.” Did he really not know or was he messing with Gordon, trying to get an angry raise out of him? Either way the only thing making it easy to resist the temptation to shoot him in the face was the fact so many other people were around and would see.

“No. It’s never growing back. It physically can’t grow back. My hand’s gone for good and there’s nothing I do can do to change that.” It was old news by now but saying it out loud made it more real somehow. A tinge of panic threatened to crawl up his throat and take his breath and thought away. A part of his body was gone, chopped off and replaced with a gun of all things. A tool good only for hurting and killing.

He had to stop walking and step to the side to lean against a nearby building so he could focus on just breathing. In and out… in and out… he wasn’t having a panic attack today. He was far too exhausted to put up with that. He’d freak out about it again later! Right now he just needed a place to rest and relax and that was the only thing he was going to be thinking about until he got there. Nothing else in the world existed but that goal.

It took a couple minutes but he eventually steadied himself. Full blown panic attacked averted – for the moment at least – he took one last deep breath before looking up again. Benrey stood before him, his expression unreadable as the watched Gordon. “You for real? It ain’t gonna grow back?”

Gordon was tempted to resume walking and hopefully leave him behind but… “You seriously thought it would?”

“Yep. But… I guess that explains why it’s been taking so long, huh? Humans are even weaker than I thought. Oops.” There was an emotion in his voice that his natural monotone made hard to place. “Guess you’re just gonna have to be Gordon Gunhandman now, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Don’t think about it too much! Gordon pushed off the building and resumed walking towards hopefully the hotel. He could be angry at Benrey for thinking the whole thing was just a prank, causing nothing but mild inconvenience, later when he had more energy. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, the sky darkening. In another couple hours it would set and the cold would creep in. Hopefully he’d be clean and in a real bed by then. While they were still walking though and to change the subject… “Do you give them your… juice,” gosh, he couldn’t believe they were still calling it that, “willingly? Like do they pay you?”

Benrey was quiet for a few seconds before replying. “They let me go wherever I want in the facility ‘long as as I cooperate.” Implying they’d otherwise force him to and then keep him locked up in whatever kind of cage they’d invented that could hold him. So no, he didn’t do it willingly, he just didn’t want to say that right now. And honestly, Gordon couldn’t blame him. Who would want to admit that kind of thing to their enemy?

Silence settled between them after that. Gordon still had questions but was too tired to try to find a way to ask them that might actually get him some sort of answer from Benrey. And perhaps, maybe, just maybe, Benrey was finally feeling guilty enough about the hand thing to make him uncomfortable enough to want to stop talking for once. That sure would be nice. Either way they didn’t exchange another word until Benrey pointed out the hotel up ahead. Thank all that was still good in the world, he hadn’t been lying about the direction.

It was old and visibly rundown on the outside. The inside though looked more modern and even if the carpeted floor looked like it could do with a deep clean, it wasn’t bad. In all it was all exactly what one should expect from cheap hotel in a small town in the middle of nowhere. To Gordon though, it might as well be the gates of heaven.

He beelined for the receptionist’s desk, before he got there though…

“Hello Gordon!”

He stopped, turning to see Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy, seemingly waiting for him as they stood from the plush chairs set off to the side.

“What took you so long?” Bubby said before turning his glare onto Benrey. “And aren’t supposed to be dead.”

“He doesn’t stay dead, remember?” Gordon interrupted before Benrey could reply and probably start something. “It’s annoying but there’s nothing we can do about it so try not let it bother you and maybe eventually he’ll get bored and go away. But why are you guys here?”

It was Tommy who answered. “Because Mr. Freeman, Black Mesa, isn’t exactly a cozy place to live anymore right now so um… we came here, looking for rooms. We wanted to invite you too but um… you ran off so fast we didn’t even know which direction you went in. But uh… it makes sense you’d come here, right? ‘Cause it’s uh… the only hotel in town. So we were waiting for you.”

“We weren’t sure if you had money to pay for your own room,” Dr. Coomer added. “So we discussed it and decided we would wait for you here to ask if you need the financial assistance. So Gordon, do you have need for us to pay for a room for you? We haven’t paid for our own rooms yet because we thought you might want to be our neighbor after all we’ve been through together.”

Gordon wouldn’t have thought they’d take the time to think he might need help affording a place to sleep for the night. They’d even sat here and waited for him after he’d rushed off and left them behind at Chuck E. Cheese. People going so far out of their way for him wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before. It was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“They waited,” Bubby cut in before Gordon could do more than take a deep breath to hold back the tears, “I wanted to hurry up and get a move on.”

“He was about to get up and go looking for you,” Tommy said in an almost whisper that Bubby had to have heard though he seemed to be set on pretending he hadn’t.

“Thanks. I…I appreciate it a lot, like… yeah. But um… I should still have my wallet on me and its got my debit card in it so I should be fine. It’s uh… under the suit though. Which, I’m probably gonna need help taking off since there’s not a thingy to take it off anywhere here for obvious reasons. So uh, actually…”

“I’ll pay for your room tonight,” Tommy cut in as he trailed off.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” A big one because gosh, Gordon would just about kill for a real bed right now.

“What ‘bout me?” Benrey of course hadn’t left. “Do I get a room too?”

“Of course, I’ll pay for a room for you too.” Tommy didn’t sound at all bothered by Benrey’s presence. Not too surprising, they’d seemed to have been friends before the resonance cascade. Apparently things hadn’t changed too much.

“Well, let’s hop to it.” Dr. Coomer didn’t seem bothered either as he started for the receptionist’s desk. “Daylight’s wasting, as they say.”

Welp, seems Gordon’s time with the Science Team wasn’t done yet. He… didn’t mind though. Despite everything, he had grown fond of them and they’d been through a lot together. And they were willing to wait for him and help him out and willing to talk to the receptionist to sort out the room situation, meaning he didn’t have to. What more could he possibly ask for in friends?

“We’re currently in the middle of a big renovation project,” the receptionist was saying as Gordon, trailing along at the back of the group, caught up. “Between that and everyone here to attend the Cacti Enthusiasts Conference, there are currently only three rooms available. So, um, some of you are going to have share for at least tonight. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Dr. Coomer was apparently in charge of the transaction. Maybe not the wisest but it was probably fine. He turned to look at Gordon. “Hello Gordon! It turns out, some of us are going to have to share a room.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care.” They’d all been sleeping in the same room since they’d met anyway. Sharing space for a little while longer wasn’t going to hurt any of them. Just as long as Gordon didn’t end up rooming with Benrey anyway.

“Dibs on bunking with Feetman.” It was almost as if Benrey had just read that thought and decided to ruin the mostly good vibes Gordon had just been feeling because of it. “Gotta make sure he don’t steal nothing.”

Gordon lifted his gun arm, pointing it at Benrey’s face. He held it there for a grand total of two seconds before lowering it though. “Fine. I don’t care.” Getting upset was what Benrey wanted from him and he wasn’t giving him that. Never again. … And besides, revealing he had a gun for an arm and Benrey was some kind of something that wasn’t human would call attention to them from the authorities. Bad in general but after how many US soldiers they’d killed, lying super low for probably the rest of their lives was wise. So he wasn’t going to cause a scene. Even if that meant putting up with god damn Benrey. If Benrey killed him in his sleep then so be it, he barely cared anymore as long as he got to sleep properly in a real bed for several hours beforehand.

After some discussion it was decided Dr. Coomer and Bubby would share a room too and Tommy would get one to himself because he was paying for two of them and, “Sunkist will want to share with me when she catches up.” They weren’t neighbors but they did luck into all being in the same hallway even if one of them was way at the end of it while the others two were closer to the opposite side.

They all gathered in the far room first, ostensibly to help Gordon take the HEV suit off. The only one really helping though was Tommy, though Bubby did talk through what he knew of the suit’s built in fail-safes should it need to be taken off manually which helped a lot. Dr. Coomer offered to take it off for three Play Coinstm but not wanting to go into debt in a currency he had no idea the rules of, Gordon had declined.

Partway through the process he regretted declining that offer. The suit was designed to be taken off by a machine, the means to take it off manually had been an afterthought. A just in case the world ended and thus said machine had no power and/or had been destroyed. Not exactly something anyone thought was likely to happen given Black Mesa largely being underground, making it suitable as an impromptu bomb shelter, complete with a host of backup generators not connected to the main power grid. His strong hand being replaced with a gun made it even more difficult, resulting in Tommy doing most of the work of taking it off. Making it a mortifying ordeal; he needed help getting undressed like some kind of giant toddler.

But finally after way too long, the suit was off and in a pile on the floor next to him. He suddenly felt much lighter and less sturdy, like a slight breeze could blow him over. His clothes were a rumbled, horrid, sweat stained mess but he was free at long, long last. “Thanks Tommy, I owe you big time.”

“Don’t… don’t worry about it Mr. Freeman. But, um, maybe you should take a shower before going to bed. Not that um… just, you know… a thought.”

“You stink,” Bubby said.

“I’m afraid he’s right, Gordon,” Coomer said, putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder, “you smell like you’ve bathed in the concentrated stench of all the locker rooms in the world combined.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Gordon could tell them that they all stank too because they did but sans the suit, he did smell substantially worse. Other than the part at the waist that could be moved aside to allow the wearer to use the toilet, his body had been encased in metal for days with no break. During which he’d been running around and getting his literal hand cut off and having the single most stressful experience of his life, resulting in quite a lot of sweat that had had nowhere to go. So he did indeed reek to high heaven and as hard the bed had called to him earlier, it was now nothing compared to his need for a shower.

“I’ll uh, go do that now. Thanks again Tommy for paying for the room tonight and uh, helping get the armor off. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning, I guess. Goodnight.” With a chorus of good night from the three of them, Gordon stepped into the bathroom.

Hot showers were always nice but this one was downright magical. Even the hotel’s cheap soap and shampoo felt luxurious and smelled divine. It was awkward using his left hand but he was getting used it to and thus fairly quickly got some sort of a hang on it. He could adapt, he could make it through this. The nightmare was over, he’d survived it, everything was going to be okay now.

He washed himself multiple times, trying to get rid of every bit of dirt and grim that had stuck to his skin. Rinsing and repeating until he felt rubbed raw, then he just stood there under the hot water. It would’ve been easy to stay like that for hours and hours if not for the way the hot water easing his sore muscles also reminded him of his exhaustion. If it were the kind of shower that doubled as a tub, he’d likely have just lain down in it and gone to sleep. So it was probably for the best that it was just a stand up shower as that would’ve been dangerous and awful once the water ran cold.

Instead, with a longing sigh, he turned the water off and stepped out. The provided towels were scratchy but clean so he barely cared. Once he was about as dry as he cared to bother making himself, he took one look at his discarded clothing before putting on one of the hotel’s bathrobes instead. It was also stiff and scratchy but it was be better than going nude because he’d rather burn his old clothes than put them back on. Tomorrow he’d coordinate with the others to get them all clean clothing.

Upon stepping out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth with just his finger – the hotel had toothpaste but no toothbrushes so that was another thing he needed – he took two steps towards the bed before stopping. Somehow he’d forgotten Benrey had called dibs on bunking with him.

“You steal that?” He asked as he looked up from where he sat on one of the room’s two chair’s next to the room’s one bed. It was a big bed but still… oh no. Maybe, hopefully, he didn’t need to sleep though.

“No, it comes with the room. You can and should go take a shower now too.” Gordon gestured towards it.

Benrey lowered the remote he’d been presumably flipping through channels with based off the fact that the TV was and playing what looked to be a infomercial. “Huh? Why?”

To get him out of Gordon’s hair long enough for him to fall asleep but also…“’Cause you’re nasty.” Even if whatever he was didn’t sweat and thus body order wouldn’t be as much of an issue, he’d been through some pretty disgusting places in Black Mesa and thus needed cleansing regardless. “And don’t put those clothes back on either also because they’re nasty. There’s another couple bathrobes in there instead. We’ll get clean ones tomorrow sometime. And when you’re done, if you’re gonna kill me in my sleep, please do me a favor and at least wait until I’ve slept for like… five hours before you do it, okay?”

Benrey opened his mouth to respond but before he could get a single word out, Gordon snatched the remote from him, earning a, “Hey, rude,” instead of whatever he’d been going to say. He then turned off TV before flipping off the light and crawling into bed, keeping the remote with him to make it harder for Benrey to steal it back. Benrey said something else, his voice a protest, but as soon as Gordon’s head hit the pillow he was already starting to drift off, making his exact words indecipherable. He’d deal with Benrey tomorrow, right now he really, truly didn’t care anymore.

Chapter 2: But You Owe Me

#hlvrai #frenrey #benrey #gordon freeman hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware

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silentstyx · 6 months ago

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request where Benny Weir gets put under a mind control spell to kill the reader but they snap him out of the trance by telling him they love him

"saying somethin' stupid... like i love you." ~ benny weir x reader

tw! stalking, murder attempt... 😰 suggestive humor

this literally has nothing to do with that song but it was stuck in my head and it sorta kinda fits

also 🤓☝️ uhm this can be changed, its not explicitly said at all, but i was thinking that this is Ethan's family member/sibling. Of course though if that doesn't work for you, it is not explicitly mentioned. You could also say that your adopted (???) if you wanted to do sibling!! If not you're just childhood besties !!☺️

He seemed off, different. Where's that stupid geek who made weird annoying jokes? Now he just has a weird smirk. An annoyingly, jerk, cute, handsome, smirk.

You walked over to him, trying to bribe into doing your homework of course, but he looked you up and down and then walked away. Smirking.

Now, you'd be lying saying you hated the way he looked at you. Denying the butterflies that fluttered in your stomach, the giggle you could hear in the back of your mind. Although you hated it, his smirk was coursing through your veins, don't admit that though.

Dude, you've known each other since you were little. You're being weird.

The rest of the day you had an odd feeling. The feeling where someone's watching you. You've been looking around you all day, staying on edge. As you were looking around you bumped into someone, Ethan. It's fine.

"Dude, watch where your walking" you say to Ethan teasingly.

All he did was give you a look and annoyingly roll his eyes, then you thought to ask.

You ask, "Have you talked to Benny today?"

His brows furrow, wondering why and also from the topic change, "uh no not yet. Why?"

Weird, they walk to school together like all the time. And they have multiple classes together?

"He's acting weird. He just- I don't know. He wasn't acting like he normally does. He also has on a leather jacket?" You start to explain, trying to keep it short though as well.

If you go too in depth he might find out how you feel.

"Oh, well I'll tell you if I notice anything" Ethan says before walking off to class.

You stand there for a second, brows almost knit together. He hasn't talked to Ethan today, he's dressed differently, and he's acting different? Whitechapel Freaky Shit.

You roll your eyes before walking back to class, starting to get that eery feeling that someone's watching you again though... you see Benny staring at you. Except this time your heart doesn't flutter. This is a stone cold, evil, horrible, death glare. You force your eyes to stop looking at him and look in front of you. Feeling unsettled.

What is he planning?

You sit in class as the teacher rambles on about the Pythagorean theorem or some bull shit. You can't focus right now, so who cares? All you can think about is Benny. What happened to him? Is he cursed? Whats he planning? Why was he looking at you like that? Why is he only just now wearing that leather jacket?

Keep your head straight.

You start walking home, you can see Benny and Ethan walking together. Seems normal? Seems like everything between them is the same as always?

He sees you, shooting you another glare. Except this time, an evil smirk along with it. Like he's planning something you don't know about. God you're nervous.

You ignore him and continue walking, keeping your eyes looking at the ground.

!TRIGGER WARNING BELOW, VIOLENCE, ATTEMPTED MURDER!

Later that night you were hanging out with Ethan and Jane in the living room, then the doorbell rang. You were already getting up, so you answered it. You open the door and you felt a tight hand around your neck as well as your oxygen intake cut off, you look at who the hand is attached to. Benny. You grab his wrist with both hands to try and pry it off, but his hand is not even budging. For someone who's known as a dorky, wimpy, geek, he sure is strong?

Except the whole time he strangles you, he has a forced smirk on his face. He looks like he's enjoying it, but when you look in his eyes he looks terrified. Like he doesn't know whats happening nor liking it.

"Last words?" Benny says, his hand getting looser for you to speak. Never letting go though.

"I-" You can speak but the words won't come out of your mouth.

He misunderstood and loosens his hand, now it's just sitting there. Almost as if a threat. You let out a sigh, of relief? Of adrenaline? Who knows.

You're obviously not going to explain why you were struggling to speak so he tightens his hand, so you just act like you're catching your breath before you say this.

"I love you. I've loved you since I was 7. I don't really understand what happened and why you're trying to kill me all of a sudden, I think you're cursed by someone or something, but you could also just be sick of me beating you at every game on this Earth." You say quickly, taking no breaths in between.

His face changed. As if something had came over him. After his, what looks like, realization he took 2 steps back. Hands to his side. Eyes wide.

You didn't necessarily know what to thin-

Put his hands around my neck again.

no.

You got closer to him, slowly and carefully so you wouldn't like... yk die?

You put your hand on the side of his face, and you looked at him. His face was the same dorky one you've known since you were little. Also the giving away factor was his face turning redder than a tomato.

"sorry.. about the whole.. trying to kill you?" Benny says, sounding awkward.

All you could do was chuckle, him being so nervous and apologizing for trying to kill you. Jesus christ it’s hilarious.

"So who was at the door?" Ethan comes to the door and asks. His voice immediately caught in his voice seeing the two of you.

#my babysitters a vampire #benny weir #ethan morgan #jane morgan #my babysitters a vampire x reader #mbav #mbav x reader #benny weir x reader #reader insert #reader x benny weir #ethan morgan x reader #reader x ethan morgan #reader x mbav #reader x my babysitters a vampire #somethin' stupid #playlist fics

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lemon-natalia · 8 months ago

Text

Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 25

hah, she’s telling the Emperor Ortus the First kissed Cytherea as part of a gossip tea sesh, this is hilarious. also what with this and the Silas & Gideon meeting last book, dramatic tea parties are becoming a staple

‘Harrow do something normal’ omfg, GOD thinks Harrow is being too weird. he really just told her to get a life

and Harrow does what many a person does in an existential crisis - learn how to cook!

girl hasn’t slept for six days? idc if she’s a Lyctor, she’s gonna pass out soon

the whole the Emperor serving the food at the table - what with this and calling his Lyctors his children, there’s a weird emphasis on almost forcing domesticity

Harrow added all the veggies Ortus the First doesn’t like, she’s so petty lol

WHAT THE FUCK. she put HER OWN bone marrow in the soup to murder him from the inside out???? ok i absolutely double down on never wanting to eat anything any of these people make. i see this is the book to traumatise me with cannibalism, i’m not eating soup ever again

‘his eyes were the eyes of death’ also holy shit this guy in general is very powerful, and it think this is the first chapter to really get it across. also wdym its been a thousand years since you ate human being, dude - again suggests that he did also take part in a similar process as the Lyctors to become what he is now?

also, you’re not okay with them trying to kill each other in front of you, but anywhere else is fine? what kind of a rule is that?

Harrow when this sleep deprived is, uh, unhinged to say the least.

also Mercy gradually decreasing the ages that she’s calling Harrow is hilarious, at a certain point she’s just going to be calling her a toddler

fuck me this chapter was something else to read, i think its probably the first chapter to properly shock me like Gideon the Ninth did

#lemon natalia reads the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveblog #the locked tomb #tlt #harrow the ninth #that was a lie reader #i ate meat soup again like three days after reading this chapter

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imlivinginyourtrashcan · 8 months ago

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Hi hello and howdy

Since I can't contain my thoughts here's all the "Mirage" logicistics. Basically they either swap or enhance ones personality, heres a few examples:

Mirage Lenore is way more looney and impulsive, with a practically nonexistant off switch having to be dragged off screaming before she sets anything on fire, her group mainly sticks with her for fear of their own lives and she and Annabel are ALLOWED TO BE GAY!!! HOORAY!!! They still have the pretend to hate each other thing but thats mainly due to Annabel's paranoia

Mirage Duke is a shit magician who constantly looses parts of his tricks, he's also like WAYYY too overdramatic, the kinda mf to fall over if you steal his chip,

"MY CHIP!!"

"Its... its just a crisp.."

"I WAS GOING TO EAT THAT!"

"Oh my god..."

So yeah, pathetic cringefail looser LMFAO, but he is the kinda person to pull a "OMG MY BEST FRIEND! MOVE!" And shove whoever out of his way

Mirage Pluto is if you took a wet cat and made him a golden retriever. He's very hyperactive, social, easily distracted. Mf is like "wanna hear abt my hyperfixations?!" Talks and doesn't wait for an answer a neat thing i did with some characters Mirage's is i inverted stuff abt them like hair, emblems, all that. He still thinks M! Duke's magic is cool

Mirage Berenice is a feral little creature, constantly biting or nibbling on things (mainly Eulalies arm, or her own. I dont think chewlery exists in the victorian era). She's also the queen of being unhinged, in spectre form shes somewhat normal at least. For the most part she's in her own world

Mirage Eulalie is the mean autistic, less into creepy/old things n thinks their lame and/or weird. She's the one dragging Berenice around and keeping the gang from falling apart. Her and M! Morella really out here sharing the only group braincell, shes also blunt as fuck and wont hesitate to tell you you look bad. I wanted to lean more into the japanese part of her character so she just kinda- speaks more of it now (lol idk how else to explain it)

Mirage Morella, like M! Eulalie, is a mean autistic. She's less emotional, and more of "I dont give a damn just get me out of here.", sticks with whatever group she's feelin that day tbh. Won't tell you you look bad, will probably just call you a dumbass and leave

Mirage Annabel is kinda like regular Annabel but without the "Life is like chess" mentality. So more jumpy, kinda a walking talking mental breakdown waiting to happen. Excess paranoia and increase of hallucinations cus pookie and I decided we aren't giving her a break

Mirage Prospero is no longer fancy and polite, he is sopping wet germaphobic wet cat. He will go through great lengths to avoid disease, faints around blood and puke, screams at the sight of his own rats (or just rats/bugs in general), actively raising his and Annabel's blood pressure with how scardy he is.

Mirage Montresor is imo the funniest one cuz he's just a polite little gentleman, doin all the chivalry shit like opening doors, pushing chairs in and out, saying his pleases/thank yous/welcomes, he's even calling everyone "Sir" and "Ma'am". He's still an asshole, but you really gotta provoke him to see that

Tbh, I didn't think much abt Mirage Will since Will to me is kinda just there as Monty's lackey who gets kicked around. SO he's less of a pushover, more demanding, up and refuses what people tell him, bullies M! Monty, he tried bullying M! Ada and M! Morella but bro got his ass kicked. On top of it, he's unfortunately more sexist and stubborn. No more people pleasing ig 🤷‍♀️

Finally, Mirage Ada. What I wanted to do for her is have her be an absolute girlboss who is always serving 100% of the time. Everything she does is her choice and for her and her friends, and and and shes Aroace too, pretty chill when she has to reject someone just like:

"Hey i like u"

"Oh! I don't feel the same but we can still be friends?"

"Ok"

EPIC HIGH FIVE

She also beat M! Will up, good for her

So uh, yeah! Thats all i got. If you have questions, feel free to comment or ask in the askbox. :)

#nevermore webcomic #annabel lee webtoon #nevermore webtoon #lenore nevermore #lenore vandernacht #annabel lee whitlock #annabel lee nevermore #duke nevermore #pluto nevermore #eulalie nevermore #berenice nevermore #prospero nevermore #will nevermore #morella nevermore #nevermore fanfic

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19871997 · 6 months ago

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NEED to read a natemac cmd fic kind of desperately now. Um. also thinking about the people connecting them… off the top of my head, sidcros, tyson barrie, mitch marner? like. cmd in cole harbor like I Am Here To See Sid. Uh. Definitely The Only Reason. ALSOOO weren’t they on that one golf trip together with sidcros and marner too???

GUYS. i cant believe we forgot. team north america. they were actually teammates at some point. also according to my personal favourite nhl related site hockey teammates notable shared teammates, outside of tbarrie, include: aaron ekblad (more 1oa connections and such, via tna), am34 (see aaron ekblad), nail yakupov (rip), our beloved rnh (on tna, more 1oa angst and such, something something rnh seeing how connor is w leon and then how he is w natemac at the world cup and then having a sit down with him), jeichel, JODROU ! (team north america i miss u every single day, something something jodrou having a sit down w natemac 'we broke up three years ago bud either fuck mcdavid or stop flirting with him for all our sakes'), calvin pickard, and also burakovsky and macdermid who were both on the otters w connor and the avs w nate

ALSO. somehow over the years nate's turned into connor's most consistent hook up (they were messing about during tna, spilled over into the regular season - not every time they played each other because sometimes they really do have to dip out the city as soon as they've taken their skates off, but nearly every time, and the all star game is. well. like sure, its entirely for fans and to make money but watching connor win fastest skater year on year... sometimes the competancy kink wins out over the competitiveness) and OBVIOUSLY. this changes during the 2022 playoff series (connor has some misplaced blame in the anger/disapointment post-ecf (probably knows it's misplaced but wallows in his misery), airs nate's texts and calls and the tiktoks and tweets he sends him entirely, cannot think about him without thinking about how much pain leon was in during that series, can't watch him lift the cup, can't watch him be so fucking proud of cale, without feeling sick with jealousy, and obviously someone (rnh/tbarrie..?) notices how he's so weird about it all and connor's insistent that it has nothing to do w how they were hooking up ('it's not just hooking up if it's been going on since 2016, connor' 'what else would you call it?' 'the most annoying courtship ive ever had to witness. i just got here from the leafs, connor') and that he can in fact be super normal just in general and maybe this is the natural end of their situationship ('you are way too old to be using words like 'situationship', tyson' 'who just got asked about their biological clock, connor') and its fine. really) AND THEN sid extends an invitation to connor (and to leon becuase lbr sidcros INVENTED the hockey boybestfriends who cant do anything without each other) to train at gary's that summer and connor accepts a bit too quickly knowing he'll have to sweet talk it to his agent a bit because he did agree to biosteel like, six months ago, but cmon it's sid! and in the euphoria of training at gary's (max. 20 people) instead of biosteel (half the damn gta) it slips his mind that cole harbour's second son will also be there until leon reminds him when he facetimes him. ('are you sure training with crosby is worth seeing your ex for half the summer?' 'dylan's at biosteel' '...' 'leon i have got to quit the nhl. he's not even my ex.'). ANYWAY. training at gary's also involves jonathan drouin and it's fun for connor to see what nate's like around someone he really does care about, instead of, say, a fuckbuddy and leon notices him be so fucking weird about drouin and connor's watching sidney freaking crosby and brad freaking marchand do puck battle drills in nova freaking scotia when he realises he might actually have a crush on nathan mackinnon. who's flirting with jo drouin so aggressively connor has half a mind to send a text into the old erie group chat sincerely apologising for when he was clumsily trying to flirt with dylan. (leon tells him later that helping jo with his wristshot is not actually flirting, because helping someone with thier job is not flirting, and connor mortifyingly realises that all those times leon wanted help with his stick dangles back in hte day he was not flirting. leon also tells him that he has got to get his jealously under control before jo notices, because he really doesn't deserve to get caught in all this, connor). something something eventually jo does talk to him and ends up asking if he's with leon 'out of curiosity, you guys seem close' and connor can't help himself but ask similarly about nate -> 'we messed around as kids, years and years ago, but he, uh, has his eye on someone' -> connor pretends he isnt crushed about it, because he's not, obviously, and just because nate's been connor's most consistent hook up definately doesnt mean that connor was nate's, and connor can kind of only assume it's cale, or quite literally anyone else in the denver area (is there a greater denver area? it's not really connor's bussiness to know, anymore or ever, really) -> connor and nate FINALLY. talk

maybe at the fated golf trip w sid and mitch? mitch is making nate laugh and giggle and connor realises he has it really fucking bad when he thinks that he wants to be hte one to make nate laugh like that. jesus christ -> ends up coming last by an insanely large margin -> after nate's like let me make you feel better, and they havent done this since the regular season, and jo told him that nate likes someone, and connor just, can't, be a convenient hook up for him anymore, because he knows the way these things go and he knows that the smart thing to do is to quit while youre ahead and failing that, pull the parachute when you're falling, not when youre crashing into the ocean, and nate thinks. either he can respect that, and that's fine, or he can push, just a little, because it's connor and he's pretty sure he's been a bit in love with him since team north america (and tyson has a tendancy to tell him that he falls in love with his friends as easy as breathing, but it's a different type with connor, because he loves cale, he loves gabe, he loves EJ and tyson and jo, and yeah sure he's a little bit in love with all of them, but connor he's wholly in love with, so much so that he doesnt really know what to do with himself, doesn't know what to do when he sees oilers admin post clips of him, leon and tyson messing around, or when he sees him and ekblad turn back into sixteen year olds with eachother or when he sees the way he sticks to leon's side like there's nowhere else he can be, wants to accept that he wouldnt even crack top ten of connor's list of people he cares a lot about, but.) anwya. -> nate pushes a bit connor thinks nate knows? and has known the entire camp and gets a bit upset about it -> nate literally just found out now. world changed. stunned. tyson cannot find out for at least a year. he owes cale a slushie (cale, who was there at the all star game. cale who shoved him in connor's direction when they were all at the bar and told him to stop making eyes at him if he wasn't intending on picking him up). -> they get together ♥️ eventually.

#AND NEXT YEAR. nate at biosteel. what will he get up to... (flirting so horrendously with connor all of the damn time BEDARD notices)#sorry this was so long and rambly 😭😭😭😭#championing mcnate ? mcmac ? to the moon !#connor mcdavid #nathan mackinnon

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short-black-diamond · 2 years ago

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ANGST PURE FLAVORED ANGST! tis is what i crave! tis is what i want! tis is what i need! tis is what i ask!

Wednesday x Reader

Absolute neglect after The Hyde situation, Wednesday is stuck to Enid like a bear to honey, ignoring your attempts to hang out with her, ignoring ur dates, ignoring you. You finally had enough and its time to let go of your hopes and dreams with her, your future with her. You know you deserve better, you deserved better than to be just a second. You willingly cut that line that connects the two of you together and go on with your life, to be finally happy.

You control the plot author, the dialogues , the way you want them to break up, the levels of angst, i leave it up to you to create a heart breaking, heart stomping, teae inducing of a masterpiece! Remember to always have fun writing or the flavor of the story will fall flat. Goodluck!

Okayyyy, alright! Thank you for the request!

I did it slightly different from your request, with Wednesday being out of character, and, like with a happy ending. and I'm not that good with angst but I'll try! so uh, yeah, eheh...

Wednesday x reader angst everyone!!!

Warnings: Angst obvi, very ooc and toxic Wednesday

Btw everyone can request something, don't be shyyyy

---

"Why can't you believe me?", your voice echoed in the big corridor, fast steps following even faster ones. Nobody dared to come out of their dorms, scared to get a taste of your or Wednesday's anger.

It should actually be the other way round; with Wednesday chasing you and not you chasing her. But you needed to know.

"How come that everytime you tell me something, it happens in a short amount of time. How come that you always know what happens next?", the girl said while her back was to you and she was skidding to a stop when she sharply turned around and faced you.

She was the right one to speak when she was the one with the visions...but you didn't say that outloud, at first being grateful that she even turned around in the first place.

Even though you would've liked for her to listen to you, understand your reasons, why you knew all this, you knew that it still wouldn't end well. Because Wednesday never understood you. She may be the weird girl everybody knows, but to her, you were the weird one.

As you were looking at her perfectly symmetrical face and dared to admire her beauty, you also frowned. "You are my girlfriend, Wednesday. I care about you. I have my reasons, Wednesday. You have yours too. You are not comfortable talking about what happens in your visions, I am not comfortable talking about why I know all this. Let's not overstep each others boundaries here-"

"You overstepped the boundaries when you followed me to the cafe and pulled me away from Tyler-" "I had a good reason to do that! You cheated on me! You were so caught up in kissing him, not noticing how his eyes were fucking open the entire time! He was using you, Wednesday! And we two, we were fucking together!", you screamed now, not noticing that your argument had gotten louder.

Wednesday didn't tell you that she had a vision mid-kiss.

As you were panting, and so was she, she took in your state. Your hair was a mess, your eyes looked like they have been producing a concerning amount of tears, your face was pretty pale and your choise of clothes wasn't the best either. Sure, she felt really bad for cheating on you, but maybe she liked 'normal' people more than she'd like to admit. She also wished that she could apologize, but the damage was done and her throat had a big stone in it. It was weird, really, how she couldn't say anything. Not even a simple sorry. And she somehow felt her eyes burn. And she didn't like the feeling that was bubbling up inside her.

Finally realizing that this argument lead to nowhere with the girl in front of you, tears started forming in your eyes. You knew that you shouldn't apologize, but you always were sorry for doing something wrong, even when you never did anything wrong. And even though you were the one who got cheated on, you still felt like apologizing. "I'm sorry, Wednesday. I really care about you, a-and I was scared that something bad would happen-"

"Leave me alone. It's over between us.", was all the girl said before turning around again and rounding the corner to her dorm. you were left standing there, dumbfounded. She didn't aknowledge that you literally risked your fine ass to save her, leaving her with minor wounds and you with major ones. She fucking cheated on you. She ignored you for the rest of the day and you couldn't help but get depressed, but also angry and displeased.

The next time you saw her, she was literally touching shoulders with Enid, making the rainbow girl gleam in delight. W-were they together now? you felt like puking. Enid and Wednesday didn't look good together, and other people expressed their disagreement by looking at the weird pair with a 'wtf' expression. At least you weren't the only one who didn't like what you saw.

...

It has been a few days after your break up with her. Being away from Wednesday lead you to think about yourself while you meditated. you had a flower-like power, with plants errupting from any surface you touched with your bare hands, feet, or naked body. That's why you always covered as much of your body as possible, and even though it didn't work on humans/monsters, it did work on any other surface and you had to wear gloves and socks all the time. But hey, at least you'd always be warm!

you had your own dorm because apparently, nearly everyone had an allergy against at least one plant in your room. closing the door, you stripped off your clothes and lay down onto the moos and grass ground, loving your ecosystem. The offsprings engulfed your limbs with open...roots? Anyway, as you closed your eyes, your mind wandered to her.

Wednesday, with her hair open, swaying beautifully in the wind.

Wednesday, who let you read her works.

Wednesday, who always bought you chocolate milk. (-Sorry I had to indulge myself there)

Wednesday, who helps you with the homework, patting your head with a satisfied smile on her face.

Wednesday, with a beautiful dress in your room.

Wednesday, who smiles at you before she is about to-

"NO!", you yelled, the flowers around you rotting. They all turned a darker, shadier shade from their original colour, and the roots and becoming thinner and thinner.

.....

....

...

...See, your feelings were connected to the living creatures of your little world. And when you felt bad, they feel bad. In other words, the flowers in your room mirrored your feelings and mood. Instantly, you apologized and calmed your breathing.

As you steadied your mind, the flowers blossomed again and you sighed. taking care of your feelings was a shit ton of work, especially when somebody- in this case something- else got hurt in the process. You stroked the green underneath you and murmured sweet nothings to your loves, smiling when they began to glow.

"I'm sorry, it's just- Wednesday...seems to like Enid even more than ...me. And here I thought I had a chance. I mean, we were together...", you chuckled dryly, laying yourself down once again.

Then, you thought about Wednesday, who'd never tell you where she went.

Wednesday, who never asked how you were, thinking that a simple pat on the shoulder or head would bring enough comfort.

Wednesday, who'd rather go out with Enid than you, because Enid was socially accepted and you...not so much.

Wednesday, who always pushed you away when you were about to hug her, or kiss her, or generally, just touch her.

Wednesday, who'd get angry when you brought earth and dirt into her side of the dorm she shared with the incomplete werewolf.

Wednesday, who once told you that your powers were useless, but your flowers were the exact reason you could find and save her.

Wednesday, who once yelled at you for taking Thing out for a walk, but Thing only wanted to spend time with you.

Wednesday, who you now seemed to realize, wasn't as hot and romantic as you thought.

Yes, the more you thought about it, the more you grew to hate that girl. But you somehow also thought more about Enid.

Actually, Enid was pretty nice. She was very polite to you, loved it when you brought in dirt, and enjoyed it when you two went out to dig in dirt and bury some bones. It was her tendency as a dog hybrid to do that and your interest to know how long it would take the earth to absorb the contents of the bone, and you two actually became close friends.

the flowers were pulsating, pulling you out of your nap and when you opened your eyes, you found a blushing Enid next to you.

"H-hey-"

"AAAAH!- WHAT THE FUCK-GET OUTTA HERE I'M NAKEDDDDD!!!!"

Yeah, that...was not so nice. Anyway, after you've quickly changed into some comfortable clothes (jeans and a tight shirt to show your abs/tits wink wonk), you opened the door, surprised that she took off her shoes and socks. you once told her that you didn't like it when people stepped on your ground with their dirty shoes, so she took your plea to heart. As she stepped in, she relished the fact that she didn't develop any allergies. and your room really was a sight. also, her animal instincts were in pure bliss.

your room smelt nice, was nice, calm and beautiful. She noticed a few butterflies here and there, worms on the ground, bees collecting nectar and much more. "Your room is so beautiful...", she whispered, scared that if she talked any louder, it would hurt the creatures in your room. you giggled and aknowledged the fact that she was talking quietly. you liked that about her. she respected you and what you loved or did.

"Thanks. Um, may I know why exactly you're here?", you asked, raising a hand for Enid to sit on a moos covered rock which errupted from the grass. It was more comfortable than any chair she's sat on. "Well, I thought that maybe...you'd like to go out sometime?", she asked, a hopefull glimmer in her eyes.

You gave her a sad smile, but the flowers all grew thorns, and Enid noticed. "Aren't you together with Wednesday now?", you asked. Was there some sort of disrespect from you at the goth girl she smelled?

Your question surprised the blonde and she waved her hand in a dismissing manner, frowning at you, her lips turned upwards. "No, we are not. I only like her as a friend. but...there is somebody else I like.", she said, standing up, coming closer to you and softly taking your hand in hers.

Oh.

"U-uhm, Enid-", you stuttered, blushing at the body contact, probably because of Wednesday. yeah, you were pretty touch starved.

"Can I hold your hand for a little longer?", she whispered, looking at you through her blonde eyelashes. Was she doing the puppy-eye? Well, it did the fucking trick.

You looked to the side while nodding and she engulfed it in both her hands. She traced soft patterns on your skin, making you shiver. Her hands were so soft and delicate and you asked youself what she could like about you.

Wednesday never told you sweet words or touched you like a lover like Enid did.

Wednesday never gave you the feeling of being extraordinary throughout the entire time you were with her like you were with Enid in these few minutes.

Wednesday seemed to have accepted your proposal out of pity.

Enid suddenly let go of your hand. "So...what do you say?", she asks, still in your comfort zone. "Sure...!", you answered, craving her touch again. However, something else cought your attention.

"But...I thought-" "No more thinking! You tend to overthink, sweetie!"

your cheeks went warm at the blonde girl's words and she realized what she said too. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, I hope it was not too much?" You only shook your head, smiling giddily at the petname you got, looking to the ground shyly.

"I...quite liked that.", you murmured, feeling bold and gently taking her hands in yours. "Would you...like to move into my dorm? You seem to be the only one to not have an allergy against my flowers."

Jeez, you felt like you were proposing to her, but at this age and these feelings, it might just be one.

As she felt your warm hands hold hers and your even warmer gaze on her face, she had a big smile etched on her face. "Yes!"

...

"Noooo, why?", Enid whined when she saw you scoop up ice with one of your french fries. You pouted at her.

"You eat pizza with pinapple pieces. let me do how I please.", you grumbled, enjoying the sweet and salty flavour.

You two were currently eating at Mcdonald's, a date, where you payed for the food and you were talking about the most random topics. It turned out that you two had a lot more in common than you thought.

"I can't believe that you still watch barbie and my little pony when you've had such a personality.", Enid remarked, grabbing your attantion from sticking more fries into your ice cream.

You looked up at her with childish wonder before beaming at her. "I only had that shitty personality when I was with her. But no more of that. I want to be...myself, you know?"

"I couldn't believe it when you let Wednesday bully you like that.", Enid suddenly exclaimed. your jaw was slack and you gulped. "Wh-what do you mean..?", you answered, frowning at her with an uneasy smile.

"She told you that you were useless, sweetie. it was you who saved her, you know? without you, Wednesday might've been dead already. And your powers are actually pretty good for the environment. And if more people had such a pure heart like yours, then the world would be a much better place."

your face scrunched up, a telltale sign that you were about to cry soon. Good thing that Enid was already done with her food, so she quickly grabbed your ice cream, the fries and your hand and went out.

The fresh air did you good after you two sat down on another rock, and you took deep, shaky breaths. Enid tried out one of the french fries which were stuck in your ice cream - sometimes you really behaved like a child - and she grew to love it.

When you turned to her after having calmed down, you couldn't help but burst out in laughter. Enid only looked at you with a confused expression, not feeling the ice on top of her upper lip. "Growing a beard I see?", you asked, touching her cheeks softly.

"Let me kiss it off of you.", you whispered softly and Enid nodded eagerly, much to your delight. you gently licked away the ice before giving her a sweet kiss-

"Enid.", Wednesday said, startling both you and the girl in your arms.

She gave Enid a death glare and you too, to which you frowned. The young Addams girl took a step forward, with you going on front of Enid protectively. "Just what the hell so you think you're doing, Enid?"

"I kissed her." "I saw. And I told her to leave you alone." "And why would she do that?"

"Because she doesn't deserve some useless nobody like you."

"You know that if it weren't for my plants, you would've been dead."

Wednesday stared at you, and you glared. "Leave us alone Wendesday. You don't even know what you want or what's best for you.", you boldly exclaimed, taking Enid's hand and leading her away from the goth girl. "I hope you'll live through a tragedy of a life, Wednesday Addams."

"Rich coming from somebody who's kissing my best friend.", the latina boldly said, provoking you with a smirk, thinking that she'd have the upper hand.

But you were tired of her bullshit. "Even richer coming from somebody,", you started while walking towards her, your eyes glowing and a slight earthquake making itself known, "who was cheating on her partner- which she couldn't even look after properly- with a fucking Hyde in human disguise!"

You grabbed her shoulders and your face was covered in plants, but you looked terrifying. Wednesday looked scared for the first time in her life and you lived for that with a wicked grin. "Stay out of my life if you know what's best for you, Wednesday. You're a toxic, lying, untrustworthy, unreliable, whorish, slutty piece of shit and if that doesn't go through your stubborn, shitty head then I have no idea what to tell you more except to tell you to fuck out of my life again!", then you let go of her. Your face twisted back to normal, you gently took your girlfriends hand and led her away from your ex.

---

How was that? I hope it was not too boring. I wanted to bring in some funny parts and I hope you guys laughed-please act like you did.

I've read this story again and I Don't think that I can write angst that good likt other authors, but I hope it was okay..

#wednesday x reader #wednesday angst #wednesday cast #wednesday spoilers #wednesday show #wednsday addams #wednesday #adams family #addams #goody addams

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wrathofrats · 1 year ago

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Kinktober day 3

Blood play

Prompts by the lovely @kroas-adtam as usual

Swiss x aether

Yes I got carried away as usual. This was my chance to be weird and I’m fucking taking it. This isn’t safe and it’s barely sane (it’s not sane)

Aether gives Swiss a tattoo.

Cw obv blood, tattoos, unsafe tattooing practices. Op has tattoos but needs to be weird so she’s ignoring normal safety regulations. Weird about blood and pain and just be …. Be careful with this one y’all pls

To be fair it was aethers idea.

Swiss can’t be the one to blame. Hell dew had been the one who bought the tattoo gun in the first place. It started as a joke, something to mess around with in their spare time. Maybe give each other some small smiley faces while the other was too high to care.

Again, it was a joke.

Aether was the one who couldn’t stop watching, seeing them at the kitchen table, dew grazing the side of Swiss’s arm with the gun. Seeing the small beads of blood well up and aether couldn’t help but notice how swiss was biting his lip, staring at the blood intently.

Dew wrapped his arm carefully after wiping it down and earned a sharp hiss from the multi ghoul, the fresh wound was surely hot to the touch, sensitive.

It also wasn’t aethers fault when he had instinctively grabbed Swiss’s arm to get his attention, accidentally grabbing the fresh tattoo. Swiss inhaled sharply and pulled away. It was truly an accident, but aether couldn’t help but take the sounds he made when he was grabbed and replay them over and over again in his mind. Just meaningless gasps and even a whimper as the needle shot in his arm? realistically he knew he was getting too worked up over it. Assumed he just needed a hunt, it had been a while anyways.

He quickly let go of Swiss’s arm after a pause that seemed just slightly too long.

“Shit sorry man”

“ ‘s all good” Swiss smiled

Aether approached him about it the next day after a long night of keeping himself up thinking about it. Just, simply asking if he could also give him a tattoo. Just a bonding thing, something fun to do since he loved watching him and dew so much, and of course Swiss immediately agrees. He picked out two small leaf stems to wrap across his hips, something aether found online that he knew Swiss would love.

They sit across from each other at the table, machine already set up. Swiss has on low hanging sweatpants, pulled down just enough for aether to have access to his hip bones. Aether almost drools at the trail of hair on his stomach, fuller bush peaking out the top of his waistband.

“I uh-“

“What’s up?”

“You need to sit in my lap” aether blurts out, blushing.

its hard for swiss to keep a smile off his face, watching aether fluster over just seeing him shirtless is something he could revel in for days, “I need to what?”

“I- just, I can’t tattoo you at this angle, it would be easier if you sat in my lap” the excuse technically made sense if it wasn’t for aether already starting to chub in his pants and not being able to take his eyes off of the curve of Swiss’s hips. He truly was irresistible.

And so swiss did, straddles aethers hips and grabs his shoulders to lean back so he could have full access to his hip bones.

Aether uses one hand to keep him in place, a firm grip on the side of his hips, the other holds the tattoo gun. He drags the needle across his hip bone.

ink and blood mix on the surface, a black and burgundy dark concoction. He could feel Swiss inhale, breathing picking up, sweats a bit.

As aether gets lower, Swiss jerks his hips forward at the pain, flinching.

“You ok?”

“M fine” he pants

Aether outlines some of the smaller leaves, slowly going over and shading each one carefully. Hes particular, probably slower than he needs to be, but it’s more of an excuse to keep Swiss like this.

Swiss continues to pant in his lap. He tries to sit still, but can’t help but flinch every couple of minutes when aether goes over a couple spots more than a couple times. There’s a point where Swiss is almost certain he’s trying to make him writhe on purpose, but he has no proof beyond a particular glint in aethers eye.

Aether slides a hand around his neck, pulling sharply at his locs “you need to sit still baby”

And he does, only jumping at the harsh dry paper towel that slid across the artwork. Swiss feels dizzy, his hips sting, and aether wiping the blood off of him has him almost seeing white.

It’s hard not to notice a distinct tightness in his boxers, he can’t tell if it’s from the strong commanding hand that keeps his neck in place, or the way the sharp needle has him rock his hips against aethers. Whatever it may be, it has him embarrassingly worked up.

Aether wraps the tattoo in plastic, knowingly teasing his arm over Swiss’s hard cock trapped in his sweatpants.

“You turned on from that? Watching me mark you up permanently? Watching me wipe the blood from your skin?”

The multi ghoul cant speak, words catching him off guard, he just nods and pants.

“You wanna ride me baby boy?”

It’s not Swiss’s fault he can’t control himself.

In one swift motion, aether has pulled his own pants down just enough to free himself and helps Swiss slowly pull down his own, doing his best to mind his artwork and not put him in too much pain.

He lowers down, gasping at the stretch and where the wounds on his hips burns from all of the movement.

“Come on, I know you can take it”

Aether bucks up, making him see stars. It was a harsh feeling, aether fucking up into him, dragging his body across the fresh tattoo. His skin burned, he was too full, Swiss wants to sob.

too much too much too much too much too much

He continues to bounce, a steady mind numbing rhythm that he prays distracts from everything else going on. Aether hand on his cock has him practically drooling. Nothing completely distracts from the pain but he would be lying if he said he couldn’t get enough of it

A loud whine racks his body when he finally comes, white liquid leaking onto the thin plastic.

Aether lightly drags his fingers along the hot tattoo, gathering his release and fingering it into Swiss’s mouth.

It was aethers idea after all.

#my bad fr #ok it’s not that bad #maybe it is #aethers allowed to be weird bc I love him #swiss is always weird and I hate him #sigh #the band ghost #ghost #fanfic #nameless ghouls #ghost bc #swiss ghoul #aether ghoul #wrath writes #nsft #blood #kinktober

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starlightsuncrow · 8 months ago

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Heyyy :3 can I hear about how Crow and Momo met each other for the first time in each version? I know you mentioned in Starfall at least that there should've been a rivalry between them, but how exactly does that go? And at what point in GW2 do they meet? (Am also curious to hear more about the Starfall Guild if you'd like to talk on that as well!) - @magitechbatt

Oh this will be so fun to explain!!! I'll start with the meetings and if i got space, the guild ! If not, i'll make a post <3 In Gw2 Crow stayed under Dragora's wing for a long time, but in s2, right after the meeting in the grove and its disastrous ending, Dragora urged Crow to join the commander and the others, since he couldn't. Thing is... Crow is very quiet in general. So you got this weird sylvari who barely talks and has a piercing gaze following you around because a firstborn told you they would be helpful. Okkk. Caoimhe wasn't impressed, but hey, any help is appreciated. At least he was extremely cuuuurious in understanding them though!

Crow who doesn't care about titles and actually despises them , which didn't help in this case, it's less about Momo as a person and more because...of the role? and Caoimhe who doesn't quite know...how to approach warmly this guy. Very formal for a long time! Until HoT starts and that's where formality was thrown into the wind. Working together closely and for survival truly does wonders to relationships. It's not as serious as I make it out though. They trip on each other because social stuff is neither strong suit.

As for Starfall! The meeting is funnier. Crow was scraping for money ( he's wanted by the Guild and so hunted constantly. I mean it) and went for bounties in small areas where the help is highly needed but less "seen". Momo was staying in the same area, driven by his purpose, meaning slaying anything that was a danger to a magic imbalance. So uh... Crow was looking at the bounties on a wall and uh.. Momo kiiinda was asking him to move, putting a hand on their shoulder but uh. Crow reacted and punched immediately. Startled them. Not a great impression. Crow decided to work together with him because it's safer and as a ...favor? apology? for that. It was supposed to be just for one big bounty. They kept going. First it was for safety, then to test each other, became a sort of amicable rivalry in who was gonna deliver the final blows and such, friendly competition. As for last...well, the company was nice wasn't it? Crow doesn't know yet he's a fae and Momo frankly didn't care in telling anything, because he thought it was gonna be a fleeting moment with a person. Too bad Momo <3. The rivalry was in part due to the dryad/fae thing, it isn't easy to surpass this eternal hate the two have, but ...neither Crow or Momo are quite normal for their own race standards. The other part is because they are goobers. Both isolated and tripping over social cues and stuff, they bonded over spars and fights and moments of reprise until it got harder to imagine going back to be alone ( It happens in Starfall for a while sadly <3)

They're enemies by race, rivals and friends by progression and then something more i dont have the right label for it and neither do they ahah. There's always that sort of friction with them but they make it work! As for the Guild... that's all me ! It's a place, a bit isolated from the big city, where the mages get "reformed" into mage hunters. Starfall is a world where magic in the big towns and stuff is considered scary and kind of forbidden. So if people got caught or seeing a child with magic? Guild time. In Northward ( city) a mage child has to go to the Guild. Mandatory. In the public's eye it's just normal! Nothing bad happens to them after all. ( wrong). There's a lot of propaganda and brainwash. The Guild is formed by recruits, hunters, teachers, professionists, a leader and its right hand. Plus other mansions that don't need soldiers like librarians and such. Recruits go through a period of training and learning, slowly forgetting the outside and learning rules and what's needed to survive. Passing the test, which gives you a lovely magic brand ( tracker), you are now bound to the Guild, going out needs permission and the brand acts as a leash. Fun, i know. Hunters then go through actual training, where they can slowly decide what profession they wanna be: Spellbreaker, Assassin and Reflector. Each of them is to stop a mage to cast and be captured/killed ( the black gradients on the body is a tattoo that indicates how many tasks you completed. It's painful. It's a stain) In picking one or more, you get your own mentor. Not many can pick 2 or even 3, it's a lot of work and dedication ( or high ranks want you to shine). The more you prove you're a good asset , the more you're sponsored? That's how Crow ends up with two professions and a lot of people who wanted to see him rising up in the high ranks. This is where they form teams too, after seeing how the hunters work together in the trials and missions. It's where teams solidify , due to mentors being friends too or smth. (In my case... Crow and Swan were a team, no i've never shown Swan here aaaa) High ranks are mentors usually, people who can go in the fields but usually are the trainers and the ones with power to discuss and decide with the Leader. One of them is also the right hand. Hunters usually ...die in the fields. Not many had the chance to retire and work in the Guild, even less Hunters who were able to retire out of it ( these...usually are killed from the Guild itself to protect secrets ) It's a bleak prospect for a future but the brainwash is so powerful they don't quite realize or fight against it, and when it's too late...well... you know. Mentors don't treat you bad per se, but... it's all to create soldiers and weapons after all, there's affection or care but rarely it goes beyond that. You're numbers to them unless you're ,again, sponsored and quite loved in the Guild due to status etc... Let's not add the fact Crow got the worst mentor ever , that added even more fucked up things to the training and we're good /jk. There's some snippets still but they're related to Crow mostly. Like...you have no contact with the outside even if your family is alive. Yeah, it's a secret, yeah Crow found it, no the reaction to know it wasn't pretty and it was one of the small sparks that made him fight back. In Fallen Au... Crow becomes the leader of it and it's 10x more fucked up. I think this is the gist of it! Sorry about the length! And thank you so much for asking!! The Guild is my personal playground >:)

#cromo #cardamomo #caoimhe #crow #selkastra #2000starfall #considering making more starfall posts but i forget how to ramble <3

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canonisdead · 10 months ago

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I'm the type of person that doesn't believe in 'Tinky's friends hate him for what he did'.

Usually because Tinky is such a sweet baby, like he could see a mouse and he'd probably jump on a chair screaming while holding onto his skirt.

And they lived in an isolated dome so they wouldn't have a normal reaction to your friend killing everyone. And Teletubbies are not like humans, they love each other very much.

Now if Tinky Winky was killing with malice then yeah maybe hate would be expected. But he wasn't. He killed because he was infected and he no longer had any control once he reached the beach.

I don't believe he killed Dipsy after Po left the dome (or Po and Laa-Laa depending on the path) because uh I'm pretty sure there would have been noises that would have drawn Po's attention. I think Tinky killed Dipsy instead of actually chasing Po when she ran from the beach. Since he's obviously very fast in the main story.

And my three are the kind of people to go like "Well that's weird Tinky is killing everyone, I'd like to know what's causing him to act so out of character" *Everyone suspiciously looks at Noo-Noo*

And so I don't believe in the whole "Fuck our friendship with Tinky" Because Tinky deserves good things too. Why is Tinky Winky always top villain (Other than Shadow sometimes) in some fanworks I read? He didn't start the infection, Noo-Noo did.

My sweet favorite boy isn't a victim in the same way the others are, he's the same level of a victim that Arrow is. Poor boys were forced to kill their friends.

Hating Tinky for something he couldn't fight against seems a bit unfair. And worst timeline because that means I create the angsty plotline of Tinky going to Noo-Noo or just somewhere that Noo-Noo was at last because no one wants to be around people that hate them. So Tinky would rather go to someone who would at least accept his infected self. Look its good angst but I don't write the three hating Tinky because it makes no sense in my AUs.

This has nothing to really do with the topic of hate but why do so many people draw or write Po and Laa-Laa being best friends. Just because they're the same gender?

Boys and girls CAN be JUST FRIENDS. Even best friends. I'm a growing expert on Teletubbies at this point. So I know who are best friends. (Though in-show they say 'favorite friend'.)

Teletubbies is ACTUALLY a great show because while it has a usual classic tropes of a girly girl and a masculine character. It also has the greatness of a tomboy and a femboy. And it's great that the close friendships is basically some platonic opposites attract.

#slendytubbies #I have a theory on the whole Teletubbies siblings thing #they're still not siblings in my aus

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decks-writing-blog · 5 months ago

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Gordon Swap Chapter Two: Weird Thing to Say

Previous/First Chapter

The halls were long and empty. Every so often distant gunfire was audible but for now at least, didn’t seem to be getting closer. So other than the occasional headcrab, easily killed with the crowbar he’d found stuffed in a trashcan – it looked oddly like his old one except its head wasn’t bent from how hard he’d smashed a military goon’s head in – Gordon wasn’t in immediate danger. Given how things had been going that wasn’t likely to last long.

Comforting as it was the have the crowbar and thus not be completely defenseless, a gun would be far better. Preferably he’d find all his guns again and thus have a whole small arsenal to defend himself with. For now though all he could do was keep going.

Whether he was going in the right direction to be headed towards the Lambda Lab or not was still impossible to say. But as long as he was moving he was making progress, right? He’d find a way point eventually that would get him headed in the right direction if he wasn’t already. And when he arrived at Lambda… who knows? They were apparently working on a way to fix this though thus that’s where Gordon was going to help with whatever they came up with. He’d caused this so it was his responsibility to…

Turning a corner, he froze. Down towards the end of this hallway was another person, heading down this way. The distance and dim light – caused by many of the overhead lights having been broken – made it hard to determine who it was but the security guard uniform with its rounded metal helmet and bulky bulletproof vest gave it a distinct silhouette. Good, it wasn’t the military. Even better, it might be Barney. Probably not, with how big the facility was, there were a ton of security guards about. But Gordon could hope because it’d be real damn nice to see him again and know he was okay.

Resting the crowbar on his shoulder, Gordon started down that way. About a quarter of the way there, the fellow seemed to spot him based off the way they accelerated out of their meandering stroll. No called greeting though meaning it probably wasn’t Barney. Damn. Oh well. They might still be able to point Gordon in the right direction and/or be able to get him into a security office to get a proper gun or two.

As they closed in, the guard’s face became easier to see, confirming it wasn’t Barney. As they got even closer to each other though something seemed off about him, he didn’t look quite right. Probably that was just Gordon’s imagination. This was a rather stressful situation after all and the dim light was probably just making the shadows on his face look odd.

“Yo,” the guard said as they reached each other. “Why you here all alone? Seems awfully… Oh, wow, your hand grew back already? I thought uh… it’d take longer for a human, you know?” What a weird thing to say, especially as a greeting.

After attaching the crowbar to his front, Gordon lifted his hands to ask, “Do you know where I might find a gun? I lost mine. Also, do you know the way to the Lambda Lab?”

The guard stared at his hands as he signed. “You making gang signs now? Didn’t know you were part of a gang, man. Guess that’s why you’re trying to steal stuff all the time, huh?” Great, in addition to not making sense, he didn’t know sign language. That was fine though, many didn’t, Gordon was used to it.

Normally he’d have pulled out his notepad to write down what he wanted to say but he didn’t have it with him. He’d left it outside the test chamber and had been a bit too distracted to look for it afterwards. There wasn’t time to stop and have a drawn out conversation anyway though. So he made a ‘follow me’ gesture – there should be a security station nearby he could let Gordon into – before continuing past the guard, trusting him to follow or not as he chose.

“You giving me the silent treatment?”

With a sigh, Gordon paused and turned back to face him. Why he was choosing to be difficult about this now with so much else going on was a mystery but people were weird like that sometimes. Gordon shook his head, “No,” as he gestured to his mouth.

The guard blinked at him. “You uh… lost your voice or something?”

Close enough. Gordon nodded before turning and starting down the hall again.

The guard followed. “Ah, okay. I guess you did do a lot of screaming when they cut off your hand, huh?” Another mention of Gordon having lost a hand. What was that about?

Probably he was having some kind of psychotic break. He’d watched a buddy of his get their hand cut off and probably die a horrid death afterwards. Now he was confusing Gordon for them as some kind of extreme stress response. He seemed calm and collected but that didn’t have to mean anything; different people responded to high stress situations in different ways. If the poor guy was having some kind of episode, it was a good thing Gordon had found him. Keeping him safe until they came a good area to leave him in, preferably with somebody who could keep an eye on him, wasn’t going to be easy but nothing ever was. Gordon had caused this mess, granting him the power to cheat death in the process, so he was doubly obligated to fix it and save as many as he could.

***

The halls were long and empty. Every so often distant gunfire was audible but for now at least, didn’t seem to be getting closer. So other than the occasional headcrab encounter, easily avoided, Gordon wasn’t in immediate danger. Given how things had been going that wasn’t likely to last long.

A crowbar, its head slightly bent, he’d found in a trashcan was the closest thing he had to a weapon should he encounter anything properly dangerous. It was awkward to hold in his left hand though and thus there was no way he could wield it effectively. Gripping it did make him feel a little better, just barely enough to hold back the need to scream.

How the hell was he going to get out of this alive? It had seemed barely possible when traveling with a group but alone… he was just delaying the inevitable, wasn’t he? That had been true from the start though, hadn’t it? He wasn’t cut out for stuff like this. He’d only survived as long as he had because there was safety in numbers. Even with them though, his chances of making it out alive had always been the lowest of the group. Their betrayal, resulting in a lost hand, sealed his fate.

This was where he was going to die, alone and forgotten. No one would care or even so much as miss him. Maybe Benrey or Bubby might find his rotting corpse and feel a little guilty but probably not. Tommy would perhaps feel a bit sad. Dr. Coomer… who really knew with him? He was impossible to read. But that was the best he could hope for, them maybe happening upon his corpse after he’d been killed by the military, an alien, or heck, maybe just falling down the stairs like a moron – he wouldn’t put it past himself to stumble into the most ignoble end possible. Probably they weren’t looking for him though so it was doubtful that…

Turning a corner, he froze. Down towards the end of the hallway was another person. The distance and dim light – caused by many of the overhead lights having been broken – made it hard to determine who it was but the security guard uniform with its rounded metal helmet and bulky bulletproof vest gave it a distinct silhouette. Good, it wasn’t the military. Not so good, it might be Benrey. With Gordon’s luck lately, it probably was.

Benrey and Bubby had been the main ones behind the betrayal, right? They’d certainly been scheming leading up to it and had been the most insistent on getting Gordon to go into that room. So perhaps he should turn and run, avoid the confrontation entirely. It was too late though, he’d been spotted, the guard was headed towards him. So in hopes of them being a normal security guard and thus also hopefully someone who could help him, Gordon started down towards them too.

As they neared, the other guy raised a hand in a wave. “Gordon! Holy cow, man, I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

It wasn’t Benrey, thank goodness! Who was it though? He clearly recognized Gordon but… as they got closer, he was more familiar. Gordon had seen him around; he was one of the guards that was assigned to the to the area of the facility that included the Anomalous Materials department. They hadn’t had a single conversation that Gordon could remember though, not even in passing, making the familiarity of his words odd.

“Last I saw you,” the guy continued, his tone still that of someone talking to a good friend – was Gordon messing up big time in not remembering ever even speaking to him? – “you were getting dragged away by some military guys. I wanted to help but I had some sort of temporal something or other going on thanks to a portal I went through that was acting up. It was vanishing me all over the place before finally dropping me off down that way a bit.” He gestured down the direction he’d come from. “I’ve been trying to get my bearings ever since. But boy am I glad to see that you’re…” He cut off as his eyes finally caught on Gordon’s stump. “What the hell happened to your hand?”

Well, even if Gordon didn’t remember his name or ever having had a conversation with the guy, he wasn’t about to say so and possibly ruin his final chance of getting out of here alive. He’d play along and pretend they were friends, how hard could that be? “Those uh, military guys you saw dragging me away, they cut it off when they jumped me. Sucks real hard.” Understatement of the century.

The fellow’s face darkened as he took a step back. His hand lowered towards his gun. Damn it. Even if he was only now realizing he had the wrong guy, he didn’t need to get hostile about it, did he? “Gordon Freeman?”

“Uh… yeah, that’s me.”

“I don’t think you are him actually.” Taking another step back, the guard drew his gun and pointed it at Gordon’s head.

“Whoa hey man!” The crowbar fell to to the ground with a loud echoing clatter as Gordon dropped it so he could raise his hands. More like hand and stump. “I thought we were cool. I am Gordon Freeman. I… I work in the Anomalous Materials department. I was there when the thing happened and uh…” Saying it was maybe his fault probably wasn’t wise. “Look, I’m just trying to not die now, man. So can we maybe not point a fucking gun at me anymore, please.”

The guard’s expression didn’t soften but he did lower the gun, pointing it towards the floor but still held it ready. “The Gordon Freeman I know can’t talk. You look exactly like him and he works in the same department as you. Wanna explain that?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! I don’t know any other Gordon Freemans in my department or anywhere else. And I don’t know anyone who looks exactly like me either.” Gordon’s arms were starting to ache from holding them up but he didn’t quite dare lower them yet. He’d been through enough today without adding getting shot in the face over a case of mistaken identity to the list.

The guard’s studied him. “If you’re some kind of alien mimic thingy, you’re doing a real poor job of it.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m not a mimic!”

“Hmm…” Finally, with a sigh, the guard holstered his gun. “I suppose, whatever you are, you don’t seem be a threat.”

With a wave of relief, Gordon let his arms drop to his side once more before he sagged against the the wall. If one more bad thing happened he was going to lose whatever little of his mind remained intact.

“You a clone? I heard Black Mesa dabbled in cloning before but the clones got violent so they stopped. Maybe they were trying again when the cascade thingy happened, freeing you and your clone buddies.”

Gordon took a breath to say there was no way that was the case but… with all the other crazy shit happening did he know that for an absolute fact? Did any of Dr. Coomer’s clones know they were clones? Or did they all think they were the original? Maybe he was a clone. He had memories reaching back to childhood but what if they were fake? Memory was reported to be quite fallible after all, easy to implant false ones. … Even if he was a clone though, “Why would I be able to talk if the Gordon you know can’t? ‘Cause like, if I’m his clone, I should be like him in basically every way, right? Maybe he’s my clone instead, huh? And he got messed up so he can’t speak or something.” Yeah, that made more sense, right?

“Nah, I’ve known him years before we started working here or even knew of Black Mesa. As for you not being like him though, I’m not sure. The rumors say that the clones got weird and violent. Supposedly one ripped one of the researcher’s throats out with its bare teeth. A lot of it’s probably exaggerated, you know how the rumor mill goes, but they certainly weren’t exactly like the original. So maybe this batch of Gordon clones can talk. I feel like he would’ve told me if they were cloning him though so maybe he didn’t know either. Which might also be why you think you’re him.”

Gordon groaned. Just what he needed right now, an existential crisis. What if all his memories prior to the Resonance Cascade were false and he was one of Black Mesa’s experiments that had been inadvertently freed during it? That would certainly explain why his prior companions had been so okay with betraying him. They’d known the whole time he was a clone and thus didn’t consider him a real person. With how fucked up and weird everything had become there wasn’t anything around he could look to that would tell him for sure one way or the other.

“Anyway, I’m Barney Calhoun.” He lifted his right hand in offer to shake before quickly realizing his mistake and switching.

With a sigh, Gordon shook it. Awkward and clumsy, he hated only having his left hand. How the hell was he going to survive this hell with only his non-dominant hand? Couldn’t they have cut off his left instead?

“Sorry about the scare with the gun. Just you speaking really threw me for a loop. Gordon’s a good pal of mine and I’m a bit worried ‘bout him. But I’m sure he can take care of himself… hopefully. Especially since uh, it was you I saw getting dragged by the military goons?”

“Probably yeah. They jumped me, cut off my hand and then dragged me somewhere.” No need to explain the obvious trap he’d fallen for that lead to that or the betrayal. He didn’t want to talk about that, not with a stranger.

“All right. Gordon’s definitely still okay then. Supposedly he’s on his way to fix this mess. If anyone can do it, I suppose it’s him. I on the other hand was trying to get out with a guy named Dr. Rosenberg. He and a couple of pals made it but like I said, the teleporter malfunctioned for me so I guess I gotta go with Plan B; find another way out. I can’t exactly leave you here like that, even if you are a clone, so… wanna come with?” As he spoke Barney bent down and collected the crowbar. Straightening he held it out for Gordon to take once more.

He accepted it because what else was he going to do? It was better than being completely weaponless. “Yes, please, yes.” He didn’t even need to ask, what luck.

“Awesome. Let’s get a move on then before something nasty finds us.”

Next Chapter

#hlvrai #half life #hlvrai gordon #benrey #gordon freeman #barney calhoun

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