#so they get that sports team to help them DRIVE THE PLANE TO ANOTHER AIRPORT. peak comedy it cracks me up so hard | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sylphid187 · 4 years ago

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Coming Home, Taking Flight ‐ Chapter 1: Touchdown, Japan

A look into Hinata's return to Japan, his interactions with his friends, and how he makes it into the MSBY Black Jackals.

Reposting Chap 1 in text format.

His plane lands on an early morning, the sun just about to rise, as if it's rays were greeting him and welcoming him back.

Hinata Shouyou steps into Sendai Airport with a big smile and a feeling of euphoria. After two years navigating through the sands of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Shouyou was finally home. Two grueling years of trying his best to master the sands, to stand on his own two feet, for the chance to compete with the monsters that were waiting for him here. He was finally confident enough to say that he knew how to stand on his own on the court. He no longer needed to be branded as anyone's accessory, and he's finally found a way to fight his own battles.

He was ready to show the world that Ninja Shouyou was finally home where he belongs, and the first thing he has to do to make that happen...is to head to baggage claim.

Hinata navigates the airport with ease, as he successfully locates his things, and makes sure to double check that nothing is missing. He didn't want a repeat of when his money got stolen in Rio, so he takes ample time to check that he has everything, before making his way to the arrivals bay.

It feels odd to Shouyou. The sensation of finally being home, but also the feeling of starting something new once again. Here he is back in familiar territory, and after two years of making a name for himself on the beach, he is once again a complete stranger to those in the world of professional indoor volleyball. But that's okay. Shouyou's used to not being in the spotlight, being the decoy, the odd one out. He'd just have to find a way to make sure he makes an impression on the court.

He's just exited through the arrivals gate, baggage in tow, and about to grab his phone from his pocket to send a message to his mom regarding his arrival. Suddenly, another body barrels into him and envelopes him into a big, tight hug.

"Nii-chan! Welcome Home!" Shouyou doesn't even need to look to know who it is, and he immediately hugs back. For two years he's missed this. Two years of missing his little sister's birthday, her entrance to Niiyama Girl's High School, her volleyball tryouts and her overall presence. It feels like ages since Hinata has seen Natsu, feeling as if he's already missed so much in the short two years he's been gone. The thought of missing all of her newest milestones, and of not being able to see her whenever he came home at the end of the day, just makes Shouyou tighten his hold on her.

"Natsu. I missed you." He tells her, while eagerly lifting her up with ease. She's gotten much taller, her smile still bright and her eyes still sparkling like they used to.

"I missed you too Nii-chan." Natsu pushes away a bit, still being held up by her brother, and smiles wide. "Nii-chan you got a tan!"

Shouyou grins and lets out a laugh. "And you got taller! Unfair! You're probably going to end up taller than me!" He puts her back down, waits for her feet to properly touch the floor, and ruffles her hair with his other hand, full of affection. He notes in relief that Natsu still loved the attention from her big brother. He won't mention it out loud, but he's happy that, at least, hasn't changed.

He breaks their little moment together, when he notices that Natsu is alone. "Wait, I thought mom said she couldn't come to pick me up today? Because of work?" he asks her confused, he was already ready to book a taxi to make his way home. Shouyou didn't want to burden his family knowing that his flight would arrive extremely early.

"She couldn't." Natsu says with the grin never leaving her face. "Someone else is here to pick you up Nii-chan, I just got mom's permission to tag along."

As if on cue, not one, but multiple footsteps could be heard rushing towards them. "Hinata!!" Shouyou looks up and can't help his smile from widening even more.

"Yamaguchi! Yachi! Saltyshima!" He hears Natsu laugh at this.

"Seriously? I show up here for you and that's the first thing you say to me? I should have stayed home. Tsk." Tsukishima crosses his arms but a smirk is definitely etched on his face.

"Aw don't say that Tsukki!" Shouyou grins back. How he's missed this, bantering with Tsukishima.

"Don't call me that."

"Saltyshima it is then!"

The other two Karasuno alumni then immediately rush in between the them to give Hinata each big hugs. Yachi hugs him first, complete with the tears of joy in her eyes as she revels in seeing her friend again after two years. Yamaguchi hugs him next, laughing and joking at his height and new tanned look. "I can't believe how tall you've gotten Hinata! You're not so small anymore!"

"Yama-yama! I missed you! I hope you kept Slatyshima in line while I was away." Shouyou sees Tsukishima's eyebrows raise, and he just grins. Yachi and Natsu are chatting in the sidelines, while noting how Shouyou has changed so much in two years.

"Where do you even get these nicknames." Tsukishima sighs.

"Don't worry Saltyshima! I made sure to buy a special souvenir just for you." Shouyou grins.

"Oh god." Tsukishima sighs.

He hears Yamaguchi laugh again at their playful exchange, before they each begin to help him carry some of his belongings. "Now come on you two, I know you missed each other" Yachi starts "but we have to get going now, we have to drive the Hinatas' back home!"

"Awww you guys are driving me?" Shouyou exclaims, and then his smile softens. "You guys didn't have to. I didn't want anyone to go through the trouble, really."

"We wanted to." Yachi assures him softly. "Did you really think we would let you travel all the way back home by yourself?"

"Well..."

"Besides, we had to fight Kenma-san for this chance so..." she says with a grin.

"Wait what?" Shouyou asks, confused. He looks over at Natsu to ask for answers, but she shakes her head and replies. "Don't worry about it too much Nii-chan. They were able to reach a pretty good compromise."

"Compromise for what?" he asks again, but no one seems to want to answer him.

"Don't worry about it." Yachi tells him again with a wink. "That's something for you to look forward to."

Yamaguchi grins and chooses now to butt in. "Think about it this way, Tsukki loves you enough to drive for you, Hinata."

Shouyou looks over to the side and he's pretty sure he sees Tsukishima twitch. "Awwwwww Saltyshima!! I knew you loved me!" Yachi and Natsu giggle in the background as Tsukishima lets out a huff.

"First off, Yamaguchi shut up." a small, practiced 'sorry Tsukki' could be heard in the background. "Second, I only agreed to do this because everyone else was worried you'd get lost somewhere if we left you to find your way home on your own."

"Alright Tsukki, whatever you say. Whatever gets you to sleep better at night." Shouyou grins.

"Let's just go before I leave you here, you shrimp."

Yachi laughs as she pats Tsukishima on the back, and tells him in a singsong voice. "He's not a shrimp anymore."

Soon enough, they eventually get to moving and continue to walk and talk. Once they make it to the car, with Tsukishima driving, Yamaguchi in the passengers seat and the two females and himself at the back, Shouyou can't help but look around the scenery outside. It's finally hitting him that he's back in Japan for real.

Japan's scenery passes by them in a blur as they drive past, and Shouyou begins to ask his sister about how she's been in school. Natsu is ecstatic to tell her brother all about her volleyball games in Niiyama. "You should have seen me Nii-chan! We're going to make our way to Nationals just like you guys did!"

"We should play together some time Natsu! I can toss for you!" He exclaims in excitement. The idea of playing the sport he loved with the sister he loved made Shouyou extremely happy. Getting to share his love of the sport with Natsu was something he was very much looking forward to.

"I can't wait to see that. Think you can toss better than the king now?" And even when he's driving, Tsukishima could still look smug through the rearview mirror.

Shouyou laughs. "I don't think so, but I've been getting some practice in, these past two years. That, and the Grand King taught me." The thrill of playing with Oikawa-san in the beaches of Brazil will never truly wear off. And Shouyou will happily boast about that fact that Argentina's very own Oikawa Tooru had been one of the people who'd taught him the basics of setting. That, and Oikawa-san's image of his face hitting the sands mid-dive, will also be forever imbedded in Shouyou's memory.

The conversation eventually drifts away from volleyball and Shouyou begins to ask his friends how other members of their old Karasuno team have been. He briefly wonders if he'd have the time to properly visit everyone during his short stay in Miyagi before his tryouts, but knows this might be best postponed at a latter time, when he is better settled in. The last thing he would want is to rush a reunion just because he had no time available at the moment.

"Suga-senpai is a teacher now, and Daichi-san works for the Miyagi Police Force. They're living together now, I think?." starts Yamaguchi. It's no surprise to all of them that their captain and vice-captain eventually ended up together. Even during high school, the two were already considered as the pseudo parents of the team.

Yachi then claps her hands together before continuing "Asahi-san's new line is supposed to be out soon too! And Nishinoya-san is still travelling I think. I've seen most of his photos on social media!"

"Am I the only one surprised about Tanaka-san and Kiyoko-san?" Tsukishima states. "Is no one going to mention that?"

Shouyou can't help but laugh at that "Now you're just being mean."

"So are you telling me that it didn't surprise you when you found out?" Tsukishima looks at him from the mirror and raises an eyebrow.

"Well...." It's true that the mentioned couple was definitely one of the most surprising, but Shouyou likes to think that Kiyoko-san would definitely balance out Tanaka-senpai pretty well.

"It definitely surprised me! Can't believe he actually did it." says Yamaguchi with a grin.

"I can't believe she said yes."

"Tsukki!"

"Again, weren't you guys just as surprised?"

"Oh yeah, definitely." agrees Yachi with a small laugh of her own.

"I rest my case."

The drive home continues as they laugh and reminisce, and soon enough Shouyou feels himself drifting off. The tiredness suddenly overcoming him as he slowly begins to fall into slumber, and let out a yawn. He faintly hears teasing coming from Tsukishima, while Yachi and Yamaguchi are telling the latter to let him get his rest. As he continues to lose consciousness and let sleep overtake him, he feels a head rest on his shoulder and forces his eyes open for a few more minutes, only to see Natsu looking up at him.

"Welcome home Nii-chan." she tells him softly.

"Glad to be home Natsu. I missed you tons." He tells her, as he slowly reaches up, with his other arm, and pats her head. "I'm proud of you, and I hope you're ready to have me back. Because I have two years worth of memories to make up for."

Natsu smiles wide. "Of course Nii-chan. I missed you tons too. Things weren't the same without you." she leans into his side a little more before speaking again. "I can't wait to watch you play in the league." she tells him softly. Seems like Natsu was also starting to drift to sleep. Shouyou is unsure if any of the others are still talking at this point, but he figures they're probably also giving the siblings some time to catch up on their own, even if it was just for a little while.

Shouyou chuckles. "I have to show up to tryouts and make it into a team first Natsu."

"You will. You'll make it, I know you will." Natsu says with certainty.

"If I do, you'll be the first to know, I promise." He tells her. His eyes are beginning to close now. It's feels like it's been ages since he's had a moment like this with Natsu. Shouyou wants to revel in it, just a little longer.

"You mean WHEN you do." Natsu tells him again, firmly. "Believe in yourself more Nii-chan. You're Hinata Shouyou, and people are about to see just what you're made of."

Shouyou already knows the team he wants to be in, knows the capabilities of the players in the Black Jackal's roster, and knows the names and faces to some of those greats. Shouyou knows within himself that he is good enough, he just has to find a way to get others to see how high he can fly.

He smiles as he lets Natsu's words of encouragement and comfort wash over him. How lucky he is, Shouyou thinks, to have the best people surrounding him in this life. Natsu is right. He's trained hard to compete with the monsters of today, the last thing he has room for is self-doubt.

As Shouyou fully lets his thoughts drift, and his body give in to the lull of sleep, he feels his sister already drifting beside him with her head still on his shoulders. In the background, he thinks he hears what sounds like a camera clicking, and is sure that either Yachi or Yamaguchi has taken a photo of himself and Natsu while drifting. 'I should ask to see that photo later'

This warmth and comfort he surrounds himself with, and the excitement of the days to come are Shouyou's continuous reminders that:

It really was great, to be back home.

#haikyuu hinata #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #hinata shoyo #hinata natsu #tsukishima kei #yamaguchi tadashi #yachi hitoka #homecoming #post timeskip

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jalapeno-princess · 4 years ago

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Chapter 3: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Mark Tuan X Reader

Part 3 of the “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” Series

Word Count: 10K

Genre: Angsty Angst (This chapter is actually the saddest one of the five chapters but don’t worry, it gets better soon)

Summary: Distance makes the heart grow fonder—or does it?

A/N: Hey guys! So this part sounded better in my head(it’s kind of all over the place) but so is my life hahahaha please enjoy! (Italics are past tense but I bet y’all already knew that)

“I’m sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later—“

The frustrated groan that fell from your lips was expected. This was the sixth time you tried to get in contact with your boyfriend tonight but all your attempts went straight to voicemail. You knew being in a long distance relationship was going to be difficult; not having Mark around anymore was driving you to the brink of insanity more and more each day.

It didn’t help that there was a seven hour time difference between the two of you. When he would be waking up, you were in the middle of class and if you were about to go to sleep, he was getting ready to go to soccer practice. As much as you tried to make sure that Mark heading off to college wasn’t going to affect your relationship in any way, there was only so much you could do to stop yourself from worrying about what the future really held for the two of you.

From the beginning of your relationship up until now, you and Mark experience distance on multiple occasions. However, the twenty-minute distance between your elementary school and his middle school was nothing compared to being stuck in California while he went off to study at New York University.

You remembered the day he found out he was accepted like it was yesterday. Not only was Mark extremely talented in almost every single sport any college had to offer, but the grades he maintained all throughout his high school career was unbelievable. It was only natural for all these colleges to reach out to him; offering many different kinds of scholarships and even full rides to some of the universities Mark could only dream of being able to attend.

When you were younger, the older boy would always fantasize about traveling to New York. He would watch all kinds of shows, documentaries and anything kind of tour program that the travel channel had to offer. At the time, you thought it was extremely adorable. Any time Mark seemed very passionate about something never failed to pull on your heartstrings. But when the many acceptance letters began coming in the mail, you wanted nothing more than to rip them all up.

You’d be lying if you said the breathtaking grin on his face each time he opened up one of the letters didn’t make you happy yourself. You were extremely proud of Mark for being able to excel in almost every single thing that he put his heart in to. To this day, it boggled your mind at the idea of how perfect he genuinely was. There was not one letter of rejection and it wasn’t shocking to you. Mark was the kind of student athlete every school wish they could have.

He had acceptance letters from almost every university in California and you tried to indirectly hint towards wanting him to choose from one of them. At the same time, you forced yourself to accept whatever it was that he wanted. After all, it was his life—his future. You were being selfish for wanting to get in the way of that. Unfortunately, everything you’ve been worried about since you’ve realized Mark was going away for college at the beginning of your sophomore seemed to come true.

Fights began to occur whether you liked it or not. Deep down, you knew it was harder for him because he was thousands of miles away from his friends, his family and his favorite person—but that was his choice. His schedule and your schedule tended to collide. You were both extremely busy at the same time and it was evident that making time for one another was harder than you both thought it would be.

He called you every single day for the first month that he got settled in and he never failed to mention just how much he hated it. The campus was huge; your parents allowed you to go up with him and his family to explore New York City together while helping him set up his dorm. It was honestly one of the best experiences in your entire life. Just like Mark, you’ve always dreamt about traveling the world and the longer you two were dating, all you ever really wanted to do was experience going on trips all around the world with him.

For the most part of the trip, the Tuan family had an itinerary of what they wanted to do while in New York but they did give you and Mark some free time to do whatever it was that your hearts desired. You found yourself at Central Park having a cute little picnic that he planned out prior to landing in New York and he also took you to the skating rink in the middle of Times Square. Watching him fall on his ass multiple times made you come to the realization that maybe Mark wasn’t perfect at everything—but that didn’t matter. He was still flawless in your eyes; and it was one less activity for you to get jealous over.

The days seemed to fly by to both his and your dismay and soon, you and his family were just hours away from heading back to California. You deemed yourself old enough to say that leaving Mark had to be the hardest thing you have ever done so far in your entire life. You’ve never seen him cry so much before and you didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Sure, the idea of not having his family around really upset him; but the fact that he was no longer going to be able to see that breathtakingly beautiful smile of yours—nor would he get to hear your contagious in person really broke his heart. If it were up to him, he would’ve held you captive and prevented you from going on that six-hour plane ride home. His grip on your hand as you all drove over to the airport was tight while his face was hidden in the crook of your neck.

“Fuck—I made a mistake didn’t I?”

You gently pulled him away from your nape in order to look at him and you could’ve sworn you’ve never felt a pain in your chest like you did when you saw his eyes so swollen and red from all the tears he cried. Out of force of habit, you cupped both his cheeks and tried to give him the best fake smile you ever put on before.

“No, you didn’t make any mistake babe. If anything, this decision had to be one of the best ones you’ve made so far. Four years will be over before you know it. Trust me, you’ll be over the moon when you finally become a successful engineer and you’ll learn that it was all worth it.”

“Will it be worth it though? Leaving you—no longer physically being with you. Not being able to kiss these pretty lips of yours, not being able to hold you as much as I want to, not getting to hold these dainty little fingers of yours that seem to fit mind so effortlessly; like they were made for me. God y/n, I’m going to miss you so fucking much. I don’t think I can do this. I can’t live without you.”

The tears were practically burning at your eyelids. Then don’t. You wanted nothing more than for him to change his mind and those two little words were on the tip of your tongue—but it was too late. He was already registered; he had a jersey for all three sports teams he was going to be a part of. His dorm was filled with all his items—this was going to be his home for the next four years and you just had to accept it for what it was.

“This is your future Mark—“

“You’re my future baby. All I want—all I could ever need, for the rest of my life is you y/n. I’ve known it since I was seven years old and I’ll know it when we’re eighty. Promise me, we’ll be okay. Please. I know it’ll be hard; missing you is probably the only thing really fucking me over right now. I can’t promise you that things are going to stay the same between us as much as I would hope it could, but don’t give up on me. Okay? I love you y/n, more than I could ever fathom in to words. We’re going to be okay.”

His words from that night came back like a slap to the face. It was like they were taunting you. The two of you were definitely not okay. Although his college experience was off to a rough start, things seemed to fall in to place for your boyfriend during the second month. When football season began, he had something to do to take his mind off of how much his heart was longing to be with you.

You felt at ease knowing that he was finally getting used to being so far away and that he was actually enjoying his college escapades. He informed you on all the new friends he was making, how practices were longer and more grueling, how the campus food was nothing compared to his mom’s cooking and how people in New York would walk like they were on steroids.

If only you could say you were having as much of a fun time with school as he was. Junior year wasn’t all that you thought it would be—but you also blamed yourself for your disinterest in anything that didn’t regard your boyfriend. Your life revolved around Mark and it was something you never wanted to admit out loud in fear of sounding pathetic. What person in their right minds would spend the only free time they had sitting around with their phone in their hand, waiting for a call from their boyfriend? Only you apparently.

Your family were quick to pick up on how you were no longer yourself; everyone and their mothers were well aware of how much Mark meant to you and equally aware of how much you meant to him. The two of you were magnets; where you would go, he would follow. Nobody could separate the two of you even if they tried.

There was a gravitational pull between you and your boyfriend and everyone knew that his absence had to be the reason you were always so out of it. You might have been there physically; whether you were at school, hanging out with your friends or just sitting at dinner with your family—but mentally, you were with Mark.

Your mom was actually the one who talked you in to either getting a job or joining a club. Seeing as how you weren’t someone who liked to interact with anybody you didn’t really know on a personal level, you decided to go with the former and found yourself applying to many different jobs. Unlike a lot of your classmates who chose to work at coffee shops or at the state library, you accepted the job at a grocery store ten minutes away from your house.

It wasn’t the most ideal job, but you could use some extra money. The first day of work was pretty simple; it was more of an orientation to get you prepared for your next shift. Your manager went over what was expected of you as a cashier, how you were supposed to wear your uniform, where you could find items if customers were to come up and ask you for assistance and other necessary information about your responsibilities.

Right as you were packing up your things and preparing to head home for the day, it was then you walked in to the break room and noticed someone sitting on one of the couches. That someone just so happened to be one of the biggest pains in your ass.

“Jaebeom, what the hell are you doing here?”

When you first were introduced to him a little over five months ago, you didn’t think he was going to get under your skin like he has been for the last few weeks. In the first week of his arrival from Korea, your teacher gave you the responsibility of showing him around the school. Not only did you not feel as if you were personable enough to be the one to actually give a campus tour, you cringed at the idea of having to be alone with him.

At first, he attempted at small talk with you; he wanted to know what your favorite food was, how your high school experience was so far, if you were in any extracurricular activities and the kind of music you listened to. You decided to not give him the time of day and tried to limit any interactions with him specifically because you didn’t think Mark would be too fond at the idea of you befriending another guy. Especially one he wasn’t all that familiar with.

You also felt that there was a chance Jaebeom took a liking to you. Although you never really thought too highly of yourself nor did you want to assume that he had developed feelings for you, he always seemed so eager in wanting to talk to you. In fact, you had yet to see him try and pester anyone else the way he would with you. It was if he was picking on you purposely.

A part of you felt as if you were being extremely rude towards him; he was nothing but friendly and patient towards you and you were nothing but hostile with him. His kind personality only lasted for so long. When he realized that you had no intention on being friends with him, his considerate nature took a 360 degree turn.

Out of nowhere, his flirtatious compliments soon turned in to insults. He also started picking on you; throwing paper airplanes in your direction to get your attention, always selecting the good supplies before giving you a chance to and even hiding your things while you were away from the table. You knew you were at fault for his behavior; your hostility towards him when he was nothing but nice to you was unfair on your part. But you knew guys like Jaebeom—you had a feeling he was like most of the guys at your school. As much as you enjoyed hanging out with Mark’s friends, they obviously only chased after girls for sex.

Your boyfriend was the only one with genuine interest in relationships and being in love. Jaebeom didn’t seem at all different; it’s as if his aura screamed trouble and the last thing you needed was someone to meddle with your relationship in any way. The older boy looked up at you incredulously; he was wearing the uniform you were just given and he was sitting in the break room—obviously that meant he was an employee and you were well aware of that.

It was just that you had a hard time processing; or accepting rather the fact that you were going to be working alongside someone you considered an enemy. Out of all the places—why did he have to work at the same grocery store that you just got hired at? He already gave you so much stress at school, you could only imagine it was going to be worse now that he was your coworker. You found out in that same week that he was a stock member, so you wouldn’t have to deal with him at all which you were glad to say the least.

The less time you had to spend around him, the better. To your dismay, your contact with Mark went from a couple times a day to only once or twice a week if you were lucky. That wasn’t the worst part; the distance seemed to be getting in the way of everything. For the last three years in high school, you were good with keeping up your grades. You were also very good whenever it came to participation and answering any questions your teachers would ask you.

You didn’t realize just how unhappy and dejected you were until you and your parents were called in to the office by your counselor to talk about your grades. Not only were you failing two classes, you were one letter grade away from being on probation. Your parents wanted to be understanding; although you never involved anyone in to your relationship, they were well aware that your behavior was the subject of Mark’s absence and his failing to call and text you. You began to feel like he no longer loved you the way that he used to—the way you still did with him.

If he did, wouldn’t he use every minute of his free time, no matter how exhausted he was to talk with you? There were countless nights you’d stay up past midnight because it was the only time he’d be able to contact you. Here you were bending over backwards in order to even get a glimpse of him and yet—he couldn’t; or didn’t even think about doing the same for you and it sucked. It sucked because all your biggest nightmares were coming to life right before your eyes and there was nothing you could do about it. You couldn’t help but cry every time you thought about how he practically begged you to never give up on your relationship, no matter how hard it was.

Where was the boy who claimed to love you more than life itself? The same boy who would call you up at 2 in the morning just to cry over how much he missed going to sleep with you in his arms? Where was the boy who was willing to give up his entire college career if it meant being able to see you every day and who was this stranger who couldn’t care less about how you’ve been doing?

A part of you felt as if you wanted to confront Mark and tell him about how you felt, but you never got around to it because if he ever did get in contact with you, it was to complain about what he was suffering through or how his life was going. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to be there for him; you were so grateful that Mark trusted you with all of his worries and problems, but you missed being able to do the same with him. You didn’t want to accept it, but your boyfriend no longer cared about you and it was a hard pill to swallow.

As irresponsible as it was for you to cry while at work, there was one day in particular that you just had enough. You stayed up the entire night before, contemplating your relationship with Mark and wondering if it was even worth fighting for anymore. Keeping up a long distance relationship was a team effort and you knew you were the only one putting in your heart and soul to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart.

Your manager had a feeling something was off with you that day as soon as she saw you walk in with your shoulders slumped and tear stains on your cheek. When you were ringing up customers, you had zero energy and you weren’t even trying to put on a fake smile—you just did not want to be there at all. Most of your friends felt like giving you your space even if they were extremely concerned with your well being. But they didn’t feel like there was anything they could do.

Your sister moved out of the house to live with her boyfriend a couple of months ago and both of your brothers were away at college. It was just you and your parents and even then, they would both work up until late. You felt so alone—and it wasn’t like you had Mark to run to. Everything in your life was falling apart and you were so unhappy. You loved Mark, more than you wanted to; and more than he deserved as of right now.

There was nothing more you wanted than to fly up to New York and knock some sense in to him—you also wanted to kiss him for as long as time permitted you to. Only one hour in to your shift, your manager pulled you to the side and asked you if everything was okay.

Honestly, you didn’t know how to respond. You were definitely not okay; nothing was okay. By the weary expression on your face, she knew something was wrong and instead of trying to force it out of you, she allowed you a fifteen-minute break just to take a little breather.

Sure, you have been working there for quite a while; but you didn’t want to take advantage of your manager’s kindness. She already had done so much for you; whether it was switching around your schedule so you could study for your midterms or finding someone to cover your shift if you called in sick so you didn’t have to, you knew she was an employer who genuinely cared about her employees and it was something you would be forever grateful for.

Once she told you to head to the back, you found yourself releasing the quietest whimper before you broke down in tears. You didn’t care whether or not someone were to walk in on you crying, everything was just too much for you to handle. Your chest felt tight and your throat grew sore with every sob. Why was all of this happening to you?

Just months ago, you were living out your best life. You had your entire family to come home to every day, your grades were almost perfect, you had both your friends and Mark’s friends to make you laugh and take your mind off of how difficult school could be but most importantly, you had Mark. You were so busy wallowing in self-pity that you failed to notice that you were no longer the only person in the break room.

You felt Jaebeom before you saw him. He glided his hand gently along your back as a way to get you to slow down your heaving. When he noticed that you leaned back in to his comforting touch, he took that as a sign to hold you even closer—and he did. Jaebeom had brought you on to his lap and began to run his fingers through your hair while rocking you back and forth.

Although he knew he was getting in to dangerous territory; there was no way he could just let you cry by yourself. There was a chance you would be mad at him for taking advantage of you while you were in such a vulnerable state, but he didn’t care. He’d accept whatever you were to throw at him once you realized what he did to help console you.

What you weren’t aware of, was that he did in fact have a crush on you. It may have been a suspicion on your part, but it was true—and he made it painfully obvious that he liked you. On his first day when your science teacher had him sit with you, he was captivated by your beauty. Sure, Jaebeom has seen many pretty girls in his lifetime, but something about you stood out to him and he could explain what it was because he didn’t know himself.

However, when your teacher had you bring him around the school—take him to his classes, show him where all the important buildings and offices were; he learned that you were a no nonsense kind of person. You were also very bold and blunt; something he wasn’t used to in a girl. Maybe that’s why he liked you so much. Unlike other girls, you hardly ever batted an eye to him nor did you appear to desire his attention. It wasn’t something he was used to; Jaebeom was always well-known and well-liked by his peers.

In the few months he’s been at your school for, he grew to be a crowd favorite. Everyone in your junior class either wanted to be him, be friends with him or date him. You however, wanted nothing to do with him and something about that made him all the more interested in you. He didn’t know why, but seeing you cry made his chest feel heavy. He had no idea why you were so upset, but he wanted to beat up whoever it was that made you cry.

Even if it wasn’t towards him, he’d observe the way you were such a bright and bubbly person whether it was with customers, your fellow classmates or your teachers. It was a bit of a stretch to desire a friendship with you, but he at least wanted to be civil. Jaebeom wasn’t going to lie, he got a kick out of teasing you and doing things he knew would get a rise out of you, but it was his only way of really getting to interact with you and he was going to take whatever he could get. When he realized you were no longer crying, he decided it would be best to get you off of his lap. You shocked both yourself and Jaebeom when you stopped his movements and cuddled in to his chest even closer.

“Wait—just a couple more minutes. Please?”

You didn’t know what came over you in that moment; whether it was because you were lonely and felt as if you had no one, or because this was the first time in a long time that someone held you in such a comforting way, but you didn’t want him to let go. You couldn’t help feeling as if it was wrong; being held by another guy who wasn’t your boyfriend—you knew Mark wouldn’t be all too happy if he were to find out that you were the one who wanted to continue being held by Jaebeom, but you weren’t able to find it in yourself to care.

The two of you stayed like that until Jaebeom told you he had to clock in, but once the two of you got up from off the ground, he pulled you against his chest and held you ever so gently. This was the first time you ever felt anything other than disgust for him and it actually felt pretty nice. He could’ve have just left you there; he could’ve allowed you to cry all by yourself and honestly he should have with the crude way you’ve been treating him, but he didn’t. You were evidently hurting and Jaebeom came to your rescue.

From that day on, your friendship with the kind-heartened boy blossomed immensely. Instead of hiding in one of your classes or in the back of your school library for lunch, you were now meeting Jaebeom in the courtyard. It took you a while to come to accept it, but being around Jaebeom felt like a breath of fresh air. Although his presence didn’t completely take your mind off of your failing relationship and what was barely left of it, he did make you laugh with some of the corniest jokes and he also brought you some of his mom’s homemade strawberry milk.

The longer you were friends with him, the more you learned that he was the complete opposite of what you thought he was. First, he was the biggest momma’s boy. Well—other than Mark, but being an only child, Jaebeom was always clingy and overprotective when it came to his mom. He wasn’t embarrassed to answer her calls if he were around you and one day, he brought you over to her café in order to let you try a few of her other concoctions. He was also a huge cat lover.

He was the proud father to five different cats he all adopted from the humane society. The fact that surprised you the most though; was that he was a b-boy dancer. He didn’t give off the vibes of being passionate for dance, but at the same time you didn’t think he was capable of taking care of anyone but himself—let alone five cats. You didn’t want to believe that there was anyone else for you other than your boyfriend—nor did you think you harbored any romantic feelings for Jaebeom; but at the same time, your chest would feel empty every time he would drop you home.

You wanted to believe that the love you had for Mark was enough to fight off the feelings you assumed were growing for the boy in question. It wasn’t until he called you outside of your house on a Saturday with a bouquet of roses in his right hand and a teddy bear in his left. You would never be able to forget how shy and flustered he looked; you never thought you’d see the day Im Jaebeom’s cheeks would be flushed with pink—it was even harder to process that you were the reason.

“Hey—I uh—would you maybe want to—I was wondering if you and I could—Junior prom?”

Shit. You were too focused on everything else going on in your life that you failed to remember than prom was in less than a month. Honestly; you didn’t really care about going. Mark never asked you about it and when you tried to bring it up to him one night, he told you he would be busy on that day so you ultimately decided you wouldn’t go.

There really wasn’t any point in going anyway; you were hardly close with anyone in your year and you didn’t want to waste hundreds of dollars on a night where you’d be alone and miserable. Plus, you already got to experience both Junior and Senior prom with Mark. Both nights were too amazing to even describe. Mark never failed to compliment how beautiful he thought you looked; in fact, most of the night was spent with him staring at you in awe of your beauty. There was no way you would be able to go to prom without tearing up over how much has changed in less than a year.

A year ago, Mark rented out a hotel room for the two of you to return back to once prom was finished and you knew exactly what his plans were for the rest of the night once he pressed you up against the elevator mirror and kissed you with all the energy he could muster. Even if you weren’t really in the mood to go, you didn’t have it in you to tell Jaebeom no.

Knowing the kind of guy he was, you were sure it took a lot for him to build enough courage to ask you such a nerve-wrecking question. The two of you may have been friends; but that didn’t necessarily mean you would want to go with him. As soon as he saw the small smile that he was falling for faster than he’d like to admit rise upon your face while you nodded your head in agreement, he returned back an even bigger and toothier grin. He was quick to hand you the gifts and pulled you in to his warm embrace before your mind could really process what was happening.

“I like you a lot y/n. Would you be my girlfriend?”

Hearing those words made your head spin. At this point, you were confident that Jaebeom liked you. He was so sophisticated and chic around anyone else but to you, he would conform in to the smallest little baby. He was so soft for you and followed you around like a lost puppy. You’d be stupid if you didn’t think there was even the smallest chance that he liked you.

Seeing him with such hopefulness in his eyes broke your heart; your relationship may not have been what it used to be, but there was no way you would ever cheat on Mark—nor did you want to give up on him just yet. You were waiting—what for, you had no idea. But there was a tiny voice in your head begging you not to give up on him just yet. You wanted to believe that one day soon, he would realize exactly what he was doing to you. He would realize how he was breaking your heart and if he didn’t hurry up and get his shit together, he would lose you completely.

“Jaebeom, I’m so sorry—I can’t—I—I have a boyfriend.”

When you watched his face practically drop at your confession, you wanted the ground to swallow you whole. Why didn’t you say something earlier? How could you lead him on like this? He was nothing but caring and thoughtfull; everything Jaebeom did was to make you happy. Something that only your boyfriend should be worrying about.

You didn’t feel like you needed to tell him everything about yourself nor did you feel as though that information was all that important. Yet—you couldn’t help but feel as though there was another reason as to why you didn’t tell him. You didn’t think it was because you didn’t want him knowing you were in a relationship just in case he did have feelings for you.

So what was the real reason? His frown was quick to disappear and you felt as if you’ve known the older boy long enough to distinguish his real smiles from the fake ones. The smile he was currently giving you did not reach his eyes. You wanted to reach out to him and give him a hug—but you would only be giving him more confusing signals.

“Jaebeom—“

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it okay? I should have expected it. There was no way someone so beautiful with such a charismatic and gracious personality was single. Please know that I won’t let my feelings for you get in the way of our friendship okay? Your boyfriend is a very lucky guy; I hope he knows that. I’ll see you on Monday, have a nice day.”

That was the first time you ever cried over someone who wasn’t Mark. Your heart hurt from Jaebeom. It was evident that he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy; nor did he seem to be the kind of person who would buy flowers for someone but he did so—for you. Jaebeom was changing his ways in order to impress you—to be the lucky guy who got to be the one who called you his. But that position has been taken for over ten years now and there was a battle going on between your mind and your heart on whether you wanted to continue your relationship or if you wanted to take a break from it.

That following Monday; you could tell Jaebeom was trying his best to show that the rejection wasn’t affecting him in anyway, but he was only human. You were the first girl ever that he fell head over heels for; so it was a lot for him not only to face rejection, but to hear the reason as to why. He wasn’t as talkative nor did he really show interest in anything at all. You even tried to come up with all kinds of conversations about topics you knew he was heavily interested in, but all your efforts failed.

You broke Im Jaebeom.

Thankfully, things didn’t stay awkward between the two of you for too long. If the only way he could have you in his life was as a friend, he was going to take it. Prom night finally arrived and you knew you should have been excited, but you couldn’t wait to get it over with. You didn’t even tell Mark that you decided to go—you didn’t think he would care anyway. It was disheartening for you to come to the realization that your relationship was causing you more anguish and pain than it was excitement and adoration.

When did Mark grow tired of having to put effort in to your relationship? When did he realize that you were the last thing he should be worrying about? When did he stop loving you? As much as you didn’t want to think or even believe that your boyfriend fell out of love with you, there was no other explanation as to why he’s been acting the way he has towards you. Sometimes, you felt that the only reason why Mark continued to stay in the relationship was because it was convenient for him. Your relationship continued for a span of a decade.

You were all he has known for the last ten years. You’ve seen it all; the good, the bad and the ugly. The idea of starting over with someone else, having to get used to someone else must’ve been troublesome. While you got ready for your prom, you were quick to pick up on your mom’s unusual behavior.

She was constantly texting someone on her phone and she motioned for your dad to walk over to where she was so she could show him what was making her so animated. You wanted to think it was because she was just excited that you agreed to go to prom, but something in your gut told you there was more to her exuberant exterior. You were just getting the finishing touches of your makeup done when the doorbell rang and your mom wasted no time making her way downstairs.

“Y/n! Jaebeom is here, and he’s looking especially handsome today!”

Your parents were aware of your friendship with the older boy and they seemed to approve of him. They were fond of the idea that he took care of you in the way Mark always did when he was still in California. You decided to leave out the fact that he liked you just in case it caused any unnecessary drama. After you finished putting on your dress and your heels, you started heading down to the living room and you could’ve sworn your heart rate increased as soon as your eyes landed on him.

Everyone with good eyesight could see that Jaebeom was exceptionally good-looking. You actually hated just how handsome he really was; but seeing him with his hair slicked back, wearing a suit and tie was all the more breathtaking. You didn’t think it was possible he could get any more handsome than he already was. When his eyes landed on you, his eyes widened in shock and you even saw his jaw drop a little bit. His stunned reaction was making you feel things you know you shouldn’t have been.

“Wow y/n you look—wow—“

You giggled softly as you playfully pinched his cheek as a way to prevent him from seeing the effect his words were having on you. “Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself. Shall we get going?”

He placed your corsage on your wrist and gave you his arm to hold while saying goodbye to both your parents. Jaebeom in more or less words, was the perfect gentleman. From the moment you both arrived to the hotel, he opened every single door for you, pulled out your chair for you and helped lift your dress to prevent it from dragging.

As amazing as the night had been so far, you despised the fact that you wished it was Mark there with you instead of Jaebeom; but it was only human of you to do so. No matter how much hell he was currently putting you through, you would rather go through the ends of the earth to be with him than to go to heaven with anyone else.

When your date excused himself to the bathroom, you decided to go on your phone until he was too come back. Right as you saw that you got a text notification, curiosity got the best of you since the only people who would get in contact with you these days were your parents, your siblings and Jaebeom. At first, you just assumed it was your sister wishing you a good time or your mom reminding you to watch your step. However, your heart both fluttered and sank when you finally opened up the message and saw who it was from.

Babe: Hey, are you free right now? Can we talk? 9:23 p.m.

You wanted to laugh hysterically. Out of all the times he could contact you, it had to be the night of your prom. A night where you were supposed to have fun and enjoy your last year and a half in high school. Was he really being serious right now? You wanted to leave his message on read; you told him that you were going to prom and you were sure he must’ve seen a couple of posts on social media from some of his friends in your grade that he still kept in touch with. But your heart was dying to hear what he had to say.

For some reason, you thought it was something negative. Those three words never led to anything good. Was he finally feeling the distance between the two of you? Was it suffocating him as it was slowly killing you? You didn’t know what he was going to tell you, but you couldn’t let it wait.

You: Sure, let me just go outside real quick. 9:24 p.m.

You decided to send Jaebeom a quick message that you needed to make a phone call so that he didn’t worry about your sudden disappearance. Once you made your way outside, you gave yourself a few seconds to recollect your thoughts. The last time you had a conversation with him that lasted for longer than five minutes was almost two weeks ago. It was currently almost summertime, yet the temperature was in the low sixties, so you began to rub alongside your arms to keep warm. After taking in a deep breath, you pulled up his contact and dialed his number.

“Hey baby. How are you?”

You absentmindedly rolled your eyes at his question. What did he care? How you’ve been no longer seemed to matter to him for over four months now, so what was so different about tonight? “I’m fine. What is it that you wanted to talk about? I’m kind of busy right now.”

You didn’t mean to come off so coldly, but you were just so frustrated with the entire situation and you were anticipating something negative to fall from his lips.

“Aw shit—I forgot. Tonight is your junior prom right? Damnit—if it’s any consolation baby, you look so fucking beautiful.”

You were confused at his compliment; when did he get a chance to see you? Since you weren’t all too excited for tonight, you didn’t really post anything—nor did you feel the need to send him any pictures. Maybe your mom sent him photos of you or something. Right as you were about to respond, there were two hands that lightly covered your eyes.

You knew exactly who it was without even having to guess; these were the hands you’ve held for more than half of your life. The same hands that would wipe away any tears that would fall from your eyelids. Mark. He spun you around and immediately placed a searing kiss upon your lips before you could even say or do anything.

“Hi baby, missed me?” Seeing him for the first time in almost five months should have been more thrilling, yet when you looked at him, you felt nothing. No butterflies, no sparks, no increasing of your heart rate—nothing. When you looked at him, you didn’t see the love of your life.

The boy in front of you held no familiarity at all. You wanted to react; you wanted to cry—to wrap your arms around him and kiss him all around his handsome face. You wanted to go in to detail about how much you’ve missed him and how these last five months without him were extremely difficult—but nothing came out. You could tell by his furrowed brows and the way he was biting his lip that he wasn’t expecting such an emotionless reaction from you.

“What are you doing here Mark?”

He frowned. Mark had a feeling he was being such an asshole towards you for the last few months. He knew the distance between the two of you was all his fault. It was killing him as much as it was with you. What you didn’t know, was that he took on a job in order to make some money for a trip back home—to see you. To say he was tired was an understatement.

If he wasn’t at school, he was at work. If he wasn’t at work, he was at practice and the only time he had to rest was right before bed. There was no excuse for not reaching out to you more often; honestly all he wanted to do was to call you and see what you were up to. That’s why all your calls were so short. He didn’t care what the two of you talked about or how long the conversation lasted, he just wanted to hear your voice. It was what kept him going.

No matter how hard college was for him, he knew he was going to get to see you again soon. If only he knew what his absence was going to do to your relationship; then he would’ve just asked his parents to pay for his flight home but it was a pride thing. Mark hated having to depend on people. He was independent from the day he could walk. Your reaction was the complete opposite of what he was expecting, but it wasn’t exactly unexpected.

“I wanted to surprise you. Listen, I can explain why I haven’t been so involved in our relationship these days and I’m really sorry y/n. I’ve been such a jerk and you really don’t deserve that but—“

“I think we need to take a break.”

You couldn’t even look at him; you were sure the two hours of makeup that the makeup artist work so hard on would get ruined if you were to see his reaction. It took you a long time to come to that decision; not once in your ten years of knowing him and loving him for would you have ever thought you would want to take a break from him. You never wanted to be away from Mark—ever. But he was never around anyway and waiting on him only interfered with what was going on in your life. It was also taking a huge toll on your mental health and you no longer wanted to give him that power anymore.

“Y/n, you don’t mean that. Baby you’re just mad and you have every right to be. But please, hear me out—“ You let out a scoff of disbelief.

“Hear you out? All I ever seem to do is hear you out Mark. Everything is always about you! Go check your messages. It’s always me—I’m always the one reaching out to you. I’m always the one initiating the calls, I’m the one staying up till the wee hours of the morning and going to school so exhausted just so I can talk to you. I—I can’t help but feel as though you fell out of love with me. Don’t get me wrong, your happiness, your health and your well-being is all I care about. But you don’t seem to give two shits about me or anything that goes on in my life Mark. I got a new job—I tried to tell you, but I never get any word in before you have to leave for school or for practice. I’m also on probation—my grades are shit right now and if I don’t get my act together, they’re going to hold me back an entire year and guess what Mark—it’s all your fault. I’m tired Mark. I can’t keep doing this anymore.”

“So that’s it? You’re going to give up all these years—these wonderful, amazing and unfathomably perfect years together because you’re being stubborn and refuse to hear me out? You’re giving up on us so easily y/n! You claimed that I fell out of love with you—you and I both know I am still so madly in love with you and I’m always going to be in love with you Damnit! What happened to all our plans huh? What happened to forever? You and I are soulmates y/n—did you forget that?”

“Of course I didn’t Mark—but don’t you dare play the victim in this. Our relationship is no longer what it used to be. I tried so hard—so fucking hard to get it back to what it used to be but each and every single one of my efforts went to shit because you obviously don’t think anything is wrong. I’m dying Mark. This relationship is going to be the death of me. I’m unhappy Mark. I haven’t been happy in such a long time. I’ve missed you so fucking much—“

“I’m here now baby. Fuck y/n I’m so fucking sorry baby. Please—please, please—let me fix this. I can fix this. I’m not letting you go this easy—fuck I’m never letting you go y/n. Get it through that thick head of yours. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”

You hesitantly brought your hand up to cup his cheek and released a gentle breath of relief when you felt him lean in to your palm. You grazed his bottom lip with your thumb before leaving a chaste kiss against his lips. Your heart was begging you to hear him out—stupid heart. Such a stupid—stupid heart.

In his eyes, you could see the little boy who added an extra red piece in the slot when you weren’t looking so that you could win connect four against him. The same boy who gave you his shoes to wear as he walked with just socks on because he saw how much pain your heels caused you at his junior prom. There was not a doubt in your mind that Mark loved you even if you kept trying to convince yourself that he didn’t.

The love he had for you was still there. It just wasn’t as fierce or as strong as it used to be. You wanted to deepen the kiss; you loved kissing Mark. There was nothing you missed more than having his pretty lips meld perfectly with yours—but you knew if you were to kiss him, your entire speech about going on a break was going to be for nothing. You rested your head against his chest before placing a gentle kiss right below his jaw.

“I love you Mark. I truly believe I was made for loving you and I’m always going to love you. I have every intention to getting married to you, starting a family with you and spending the rest of my life with you. But right now, I think we need some time apart in order to find ourselves again. I lost myself loving you Mark—I gave you everything and you took it all without hesitance until there was nothing left. I need to learn to live without you Mark. I’m not giving up on us—I’m just doing what I feel is going to bring us back to each other again. You are my person Mark Tuan and I’m yours.”

The two of you stood there for what felt like hours. His grips were tight on your waist and you began to tear up as soon as his chest began to heave against yours. You knew he was crying and you weren’t actually expecting any kind of emotion out of him; you were still so shocked to hear him grow angry with your decision. When you looked up at him and saw his eyes were now bloodshot red and filled with tears; you were ultimately regretting your decision. You wiped a tears away with your fingers and pecked his nose lovingly.

“Don’t cry baby. In due time, we’ll be fine.”

You were selfish; you were the one pushing him away, yet you still wanted as much time with Mark as you possibly could get. You didn’t know just how long it would take for you to heal, so you wanted to cherish this moment while you still could. Unfortunately, your little reunion with Mark was interrupted and you had a bad feeling that things were right about to go downhill.

“Hey y/n, they’re going to start announcing the king and queen did you want to—oh—uh—hey man, you must be Mark. Nice to meet you.”

Mark’s grip on your waist tightened as his jaw clenched; yeah—this wasn’t going to end well. Mark was the definition of a jealous boyfriend. One time, he almost ended up twisting BamBam’s arm when the younger boy made a joke about how you were in the bedroom. He was extremely protective and territorial over you—but since he’s been absent, he had yet to hear about who this guy was that seemed to know who he was.

His eyes landed on Jaebeom’s tie and how it matched your dress perfectly. It only made him wonder—who exactly was this guy to you and why were you at the prom with him?

“Jaebeom, do you think you could go inside? I’ll be right there.”

He looked at your worried expression then noticed how both of Mark’s fists were balled at his sides. Jaebeom wasn’t stupid; he wasn’t all that bright when it came to his studies, but he could tell that you weren’t as happy as you played yourself off to be. Seeing how tense you and Mark both were, he couldn’t help but feel that your boyfriend was the reason.

As much as he wanted to call Mark out for making you cry so much these days, it wasn’t his place to do so. He was just your friend and if he wanted it to stay that way, he knew it was best to keep his mouth shut. You relaxed when you saw him nod in agreement before walking back inside of the ballroom.

“Mark, I think it’s time for me to head back—“

“Him. Is he the reason why you’re leaving me? Did you fall in love with him? Did you cheat on me y/n? Did you get lonely while I was away—working my fucking ass off at a job I hate in order to save enough money so I could come and see you?—“

“Mark, stop. You know it’s not like that—“

“Needed another dick to keep you satisfied while I was away? Is that what it is? What—did he say all these nice things about you to get you to fall for him? What is it y/n? What’s so good about him huh? What does he have that I’m lacking—“

“ENOUGH! Don’t you dare accuse me of cheating on you. You and I both know I would never EVER do such a fucking thing. My heart—this pathetic heart and what’s left of it, my mind, my spirit, my body—you own it all. How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want anyone else but you for you to get it through your fucking head? Stop trying to play the victim Mark! You’re at fault here! Accept it! Jaebeom is just a friend—he was here for me when I had nobody. I had no friends—my siblings are all out of the house—my parents are gone all the time and my boyfriend only calls me when he wants to—when it’s convenient for him. Jaebeom is a genuine friend Mark. You should be happy that I had him to keep me sane. Instead of wondering who he is to me, you should be focused on what you are to me. Good night Mark.”

Jaebeom tried his best to cheer you up in any way possible, but he could tell by your body language alone that you just wanted to go home. He didn’t hear what happened after he left, but the curiosity was eating away at him. However, you already looked so distraught—he didn’t want to add on to it. You felt bad for Jaebeom—this was just as much his prom night as much as it was yours and now you ruined it for the both of you. What you could use was a three-month long nap. When Jaebeom dropped you home, he placed a soft kiss on your cheek before wiping a tear from your face that you didn’t even know fell.

“I don’t know what happened earlier and I don’t expect you to tell me. But just know I’ll be ready to listen whenever you’re ready to talk.”

You didn’t know what it is that you did to deserve such an amazing friend like Jaebeom—if someone were to put you through what you’ve been putting him through since the day you met him, you would’ve dropped that person completely. But here he was—so understanding—so willing to give up and sacrifice anything for your happiness. You made a mental note to make it up to him once you were mentally ready to do anything.

Your parents were shocked beyond words to see you coming back alone—they actually didn’t expect you to come home at all knowing that Mark was going to surprise you. They actually conspired with Mark to go and surprise you at the hotel because they’ve noticed how broken you’ve been for the last few months and they were hoping that seeing him again would get you in a better mood. Your mom was about to approach you, but it was evident that you just wanted to go to sleep.

Only three days in to your break with Mark did you realize you may have made a brief lapse of judgement. Sure, it was as if nothing has changed. You were already used to not hearing from him; but now that you knew the two of you currently were not a couple, it made things all the more difficult. Minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days and days felt like months. Waking up felt like a chore; you missed him like crazy.

Even if you only heard from him on his time, it was better than not hearing from him at all. Exactly one month after that heartbreaking night at your prom, you found yourself on a plane to New York. Once school was out for the summer, you found yourself at the grocery store almost every single day in order to make enough money to afford a round-trip plane ticket to see Mark with the hopes of mending your broken relationship. In this last month, you came to the realization that you were willing to have Mark in your life even if it was only once or twice a week; it was better than not having him at all.

“A105, A106, A107—A108. Here goes nothing.”

You were afraid that in the last month, Mark could have realized that maybe this break should be a permanent decision. He hasn’t tried to get in touch with you once since your prom night nor did he try to visit you once while he was still in California—but then again, you couldn’t blame him. He was giving you the space you asked for; now, you were hoping and praying he was going to open the door and welcome you with open arms. You knocked a few times and it felt as though you were about to throw up your heart. When you had yet to hear a response, you reached forward to knock again. When the door finally opened, the person behind it wasn’t who you were hoping it would be.

“Y/n?”

#got7 imagines #mark tuan #mark tuan imagines #got7 #got7 mark

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years ago

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Leave No One Behind

Chapter 11- Mama Don’t Preach Part 1

Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: It’s Hannah’s turn to head home for a week to see her Mama, and there’s a surprise request waiting for her too. Meanwhile, back in Sudan Ari’s left holding the baby...or in this case, puppy…

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+ only)- in Part 2

Episode Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Song for Episode: Only You- Yazoo

A/N: This is a big chapter so split into Parts to allow you to read as and when. Part 2 will be posted soon after this. Translations: “Me cago en todo” For Fucks sake. “Por el amor de Dios” For the love of God “mi niña”- My Girl All I needed was the love you gave, all I needed for another day, and all I ever knew, only you.

Series Master List // Main Masterlist

Hannah looked out of the window, taking in the familiar sights as the plane got ready to land and a few minutes later, as the wheels hit the runway and the passengers cheered she couldn't help but sigh. She was home. Just as she unfastened her seatbelt and waited for the sign signalling they could disembark, her mind wandered to the moment she had said goodbye a few hours earlier that morning. She felt a pang of sadness at the image of Simon trying to follow the truck as Ari had pulled out of the resort to drive her to the airport, a couple of hours earlier than initially planned-she may or may not have told the team her flight was a few hours earlier than it was so that her and Ari could grab a drink at a small coffee shop not far from the airport. It was hardly what one could call a ‘sweep you off your feet’ date but it was nice to get out alone, just the two of them. It had felt good that Ari and her had been able to experience a certain level of normalcy before the inevitable and emotional goodbye and promises to try not to miss each other too much.

She wandered through passport control and after picking up her bag she went out into the arrivals of Ben Gurion airport almost on autopilot but she smiled hard when she saw her Mama and, just like that, her eyes filled with tears as she hurried forward and hugged the woman tightly. After the emotional reunion they headed back to the house, Hannah's childhood family home, where she had been living with her Mama since she had left the apartment her and Andy had rented once they’d gotten married. Unable to stay there alone after his death, she’d moved home and had remained there up until the moment Ari had come into the clinic turning her whole world upside down. As her Mama opened the door Hannah smiled at the familiar décor of the hallway and let out a little, happy sigh as she stepped over the threshold. It smelt like home, it felt like home... it was home.

Hannah headed upstairs and ditched her bag in her room, thinking to herself about how the last time she’d been in here was before she left in January. Back then she’d never have guessed how things would have turned out for her so far in 1980. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and decided that she needed a shower so turned to grab some fresh clothes out of a drawer, and as she did so she spotted a few photos of her and Andy on the unit. She glanced at them, a soft smile on her face and then turned to look around her room at the numerous other snaps of the pair of them dotted in various places in the room. She contemplated moving them for a moment before she finally came to a decision and did just that, popping them carefully in a drawer which she slowly closed after a last, nostalgic look at Andy's handsome face. She’d loved him, there was no doubt about that. But time moved on and she was finally ready to move on with it now. Shaking those sad memories from her mind she went into the bathroom to shower and twenty minutes later she made her way down to the kitchen at the back of the house which overlooked the large communal garden they shared with 4 other homes.

She found her Mama was stood at the stove, preparing dinner, and Hannah approached, wrapping her arms round her from behind, hugging her close.

"Nothing like your food mama. Not that Aziz’s isn’t good because it is but, well, there’s nothing like yours." she trailed off.

Her Mama turned to look at her kissing her head. "I’m making your favourite from when you were young, mi niña."

"Beef wellington?" Hannah asked, her eyes lighting up.

Mama nodded and Hannah gave a groan. "Sammy is gonna be so jealous when I get back."

"You don’t have beef in Sudan?" the woman asked as she stirred what looked like some kind of gravy in a pot.

"Half the time I haven’t got a clue what I’m eating to be honest, other than when it’s fish. Last time we had some form of steak I think it was camel."

Mama laughed heartily. "Your brother must be having a hard time, he’s always been the picky one."

"He’s still a pain in the ass, mama." Hannah said as she moved from her mother's frame and leaned casually against the counter.

Mama looked at Hannah spotting the crease on her brow immediately and, raising an eyebrow, she asked. "Are we still talking about food, honey?"

Hannah shrugged. "In general, and you look just like him when you do that, stop it."

"When I do what?"

"Raise your eyebrow and look at me like that."

"Like what?" the woman, whose eyes were on the pots and pans in front of her again, asked.

Hannah groaned with frustration. "Come on Mama, you know what like."

Mama sighed and, setting the wooden spoon aside, turned to look at her daughter, her hands falling down to her hips in a typical mother stance. "The only thing I know is my daughter, who I haven’t seen in months, looks more gorgeous, relaxed and happier than when she left... In fact, more so than I’ve seen her in years. Which is ironic really considering what you’re doing out there."

Hannah blushed a little at her mum's last sentence but decided to roll with it. "Well it’s nice to be doing something mama, back in the thick of it all so to speak."

Now she saw her mother was sporting a wide smile, not a sympathetic smile but a knowing one. And Hannah knew she must have anticipated something like that, if anything her mother was clever. "Something uh?" the woman said.

Hannah looked at her blankly, not understanding what she meant, or rather not wanting to give in that easily. "Yeah, the resort and the job."

"I know that look Hannah, You’re my daughter remember, I raised you. Something tells me it’s not simply all down to those people you’re helping." her mother baited her again.

"No…I…it’s not…" Hannah's train of thought stopped as she spotted her mum's eyes skate down her neck just before she nodded to her necklace, and instinctively she reached up to touch it. Mama smiled and whether it was at the necklace or at her sudden need to touch it for comfort, Hannah couldn't tell.

"That’s pretty."

Hannah smiled back at her before speaking. "It was a birthday present. Along with my watch, look."

She stretched her forearm and turned her wrist slightly to show her mother the watch but the woman wasn't one to be fooled and smiled before taking her eyes off the watch and nodding back at the necklace. "What is it, some kind of bee?"

"It’s a firefly."

"I take it that it was from the only person who calls you that?" her mother asked then and Hannah flinched. She had served her mother the opportunity on a silver plate and now she felt herself growing warm again under her mom’s scrutiny, but, much to her dismay, Mrs N was not letting go. "I’ve got to admit, it was a nice surprise when Ethan told me what Ari was planning to do for your birthday."

Hannah then let out a low laugh, shaking her head at her mother’s tenacity. "Why don’t you just ask me, Mama?"

"Why would I ask when I already know?"

"And what is it that you think you know?" Hannah asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Her mother looked at her for a couple of seconds before delivering the final blow. "That you and Ari are together. And not for the first time."

Hannah gasped. That last part had shocked her big time, she wasn't prepared for that. "You knew about us the first time?"

Mama nodded. "I did, yes."

"How did you…?"

"Once again Hannah, I’m your mother. It was pretty obvious to my eyes that something was going on there between you two back in the day. And then you started going out almost every night and your friends used to call asking for you, so you clearly weren’t with them. And you were glowing, at the time. Just like you did when you were with Andy, and just like you are now."

Hannah looked down shyly before speaking. "Ok, so clearly I wasn’t as good at hiding it as I thought." she snorted and then paused. "Did you know about why…" she began to ask but stopped mid-sentence as she shook her head. "Actually, it doesn’t matter."

"Why you two split up? Yeah, I do. And I was mad at your brother for weeks." her mother conceded with a sigh.

“Seems like everyone knew bar me." she muttered absent mindedly.

"Sadly it's always like that, honey." Mama stated while rubbing her daughter's arm reassuringly before resuming her work over the stove.

"Did you know it was Andy who told him? About me and Ari I mean."

Mama snapped her head at Hannah, looking at her visibly shocked. "No, No I didn’t."

"Well it was." Hannah snorted. "Ironic huh, I married the guy that broke me up from the first man I…"

"You loved?" her mother asked, finishing the sentence for her, apparently recovered from the shocking news her beloved late son-in-law had some sneaky ways in him.

Hannah gave a little smile and nodded.

"So how did Sammy react to it this time round…not that I need to ask." Mama chuckled as she bent over to check the meat cooking in the oven.

"You know him. Made a huge fuss, punched Ari again." at that Hannah snorted. "Ari let him have the first one but the second time, well I had to stop him from ripping Sammy’s head off."

"Must have been something worth seeing. No doubt I’ll hear all about it in a few weeks when he comes home."

"No doubt you will. He seemed a little better after my birthday party, and the last mission.” Hannah bit her lip, her mind straying back to the disaster of the mission and she looked at the floor.

Her Mama gently touched her arm. "Ethan told me about the woman you helped and how her baby didn’t make it. Sweetie, that must have been awful."

"Yeah it was…" Hannah paused, frowning at her mother "Hang on, Ethan told you? When did you speak to him, mum?"

"Oh he took me out for dinner last week." she brushed her daughter's question off.

Hannah blinked at her mother’s matter of fact tone. "Ethan took you out for dinner?"

"Yes he did. We had a great time. You look surprised honey.” Her Mama’s eyes flashed with mischief “Is it that hard to believe your mother still gets it in her?"

"Oh my God…mama, that’s…ergh…"

"Hey, you’re acting like your brother now." Mama protested.

"Me cago en todo." Hanna cursed in Spanish earning, a scoff from her mother, and then she looked at her mom. "Mama…did you put out on a first date?"

"Young lady, watch your mouth." she said and Hannah laughed. "And have some respect for your mother." she paused for a moment as if considering what to say next. "Besides, what if I did? It's not like you and Ari are playing chess in that damned diving resort every night, is it?"

"OH MY GOD YOU SO DID!" Hannah exclaimed as she brought her right hand to cover her slack jawed mouth.

"Por el amor de Dios, Hannah. I’m not discussing this with you, now go wash your hands…dinner is ready."

"I just showered, why do I need to wash my hands?" Hannah offered somewhat feistily.

"You don’t, I just wanted to shut you up."

"God, mama, how am I supposed to look Ethan in the face tomorrow?" Hannah whined as she helped her mother with the oven tray.

"Same as I’m supposed to look at Ari in his, when I know what you’ve been up to." her mum retorted.

"Oh, for..."

"Mind you, I can’t blame you mi niña, Ari is a good looking guy. If I was 30 years younger…" the woman trailed, smirking.

"Mama, STOP!"

"What, it’s true?" Mama shrugged, amused by her daughter's reaction.

Hannah just shook her head before she grinned and pointed her finger at her mother "Well hands off, he’s mine."

"I don’t doubt it, honey." her mother declared, a wide smile spreading over her gentle face.

****

The next morning Hannah woke up and it took her a while to remember where she was. It wasn’t the sound of the waves crashing on the beach she could hear, but car horns and traffic. She recognised almost instantly though the smell of her ma's favourite soap in the sheets, but whilst her bed was comfy and familiar it felt odd. There was something missing. No Simon, no Ari, and that meant more to her than all the commodities she could ever have in Tel Aviv.

Well maybe she could trade sleeping snuggled to Ari for being able to eat Beef Wellington once a week… She chuckled and shook her head at her own absurd thoughts. Considering she spent years sleeping alone after Andy died, it hadn’t taken her long to get used to sharing a bed again, and if she was completely honest it was unnerving how she didn’t like Ari not being there, she knew it was stupid but still. She stretched and laid still in bed for a little while more as there were no breakfast duties to get to, but she suddenly remembered she did have a meeting with Ethan at HQ. Hannah cringed at the memory of her conversation with her mother last night, groaning to herself at the thought of the pair of them having dinner and… whatever. How was she going to be able to look him in the face? Shuddering at the thought she threw back the duvet and headed for her morning shower taking her time because she could, and also because she missed decent water temperature and pressure.

After her shower Hannah got dressed and went down to have breakfast with Mama. They sat and watched a little TV, another one of the things they quickly got used to not really having much chance to do in Sudan, before the car arrived to take Hannah to Mossad HQ. Once there she went through the security checks and headed up to Ethan's office, smiling to his secretary who told her to go in.

No sooner had she knocked lightly on the door before pulling it open, Ethan stood up from his desk, a smile on his face as he strode over and pulled her into a huge hug.

"You look well, Hannah."

"Thanks Ethan."

"Must be all that sun, sea and sand huh?" he said, pulling back to take her appearance in better.

"And life or death situations…" she smiled fondly at the man.

Ethan chuckled and directed her over to the couch where she took a seat at one side as Ethan headed out and asked his secretary to get them a coffee each. Then he closed the door and sat opposite her. They chatted for a little bit, just about how the resort was going, how everyone was, a debrief of sorts on the last mission which Hannah wasn’t all that keen on reliving, but she knew she had to. Then their coffees arrived and Hannah took the time to compose herself, the emotion of talking about what had happened to the baby girl having choked her a little. She took a sip, then eyed Ethan and smiled.

"My mom says you’ve been out on a date."

Ethan paused, his stoic stance faltering a little, then looked at Hannah. "I’ve…taken her for dinner, yes."

"Has she seen your silk robe?" she attacked again.

"How do you know about that?"

Hannah grinned at the sight of Ethan's creased brow. "Ari told me."

"Course he did." he sighed. "And that reminds me... Sarah Levinson called last week asking me when you were home." Hannah blanched at Ethan's words and he noticed. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Hannah hesitated. She wanted to take another sip of her coffee in order to buy herself some seconds but with a swift glance she realised her cup was already empty, and that was all the confirmation Ethan needed. The experienced agent rolled his eyes at her before stating the obvious. "I knew this would happen."

Hannah shook her head. "Why does Sarah want to know when I’m home?"

"Reading between the lines I think she wants to see you." Ethan said, his gaze never leaving Hannah's face.

"But why? I’ve met her like 5 times, if that!" Hannah sort of protested, rubbing her sweaty palms over her denim clad thighs.

"I think that’s obvious, you’re fucking her husband." Ethan shot, bluntly.

"They’re separated Ethan. And it’s not like that. You make it sound so crass, we’re not fucking…" she trailed off, her initial offended tone dying as she spoke.

"I know." Ethan agreed, his voice softer this time and stood up and headed to his desk. He reached into the drawer for a piece of paper which he gave to Hannah once he had checked it was the one he wanted. "She requested I ask you to call."

As Hannah took the paper from him there was a knock on the door and it swung open to reveal a short, slight, grey-haired man dressed in grey slacks and a light blue, short sleeved shirt. Hannah shoved the piece of paper in her pocket without giving much thought to what it meant and smiled at the man as he stepped into the room.

"I read those fucking reports you left on my table, Ethan, and let me tell you…"

Ethan cleared his throat and nodded to Hannah who blinked at the man, slightly amused at how angry he was despite his unassuming appearance. Ethan gestured to Hannah. "This is Hannah Horowitz. Hannah, meet Barack Isaacs, Mossad Chief."

Hannah stood up and shook his hand. "It’s a pleasure Sir to finally meet you in person."

"And you Mrs Horowitz. I’ve heard a lot about you from Ethan, and of course I knew your father. He was a good man. Taken far too soon." Isaacs said, not an ounce of anger in his voice or features now.

Hannah smiled. "Thank you Sir."

A few minutes later, after having said her goodbyes to both men who would be now no doubt be discussing the reports that had earned all those expletives from Isaacs’ part, Hannah headed down to the car and climbed in the back to head home. She watched the familiar buildings as they moved past and realised that the last time she had been in HQ was when Ethan broke the news of Andy’s death to her, in that very same office she’d been in today. She hadn’t even thought about it until now, but she remembered Isaacs calling her Mrs Horowitz and, now that she came to think of it, Ethan had introduced her to him as such. And whilst that’s what she was, the truth was she didn’t feel like it any more. She felt a little pang in her stomach at her own thoughts, a pang that she couldn’t quite place. Maybe it was guilt, she pondered, but what did she have to feel guilty about? Andy was dead. Had been for years and she had every right to move on.

Then the car stopped at a traffic light and her eyes drifted to a shop on the corner, nothing special, it was an ordinary grocery store but she remembered her and Ari buying a bottle of wine from there for one of their many clandestine nights in at his apartment. They had snuggled up to the latest Led Zeppelin LP and made out a bit, in fact that was the first night Ari had ever made her come using his very talented fingers. And, as the car set off, Hannah realised that the memories of her so-called hidden relationship with Ari were all so vivid in her head now, especially after so many years of blocking them out. She sighed and her hand fell absentmindedly into her pocket and curled around the piece of paper with Sarah’s number written on it.

By the time she got home she had decided. She was going to call Sarah and see what she wanted.

****

Ari had no idea how it had happened but Simon was missing. He’d searched the resort up and down and was currently going bananas looking for him around the beach and cursing the day he had backed Hannah up in keeping the damned dog. He was legit shitting his pants when suddenly he heard him barking as he rounded the rocks with Max and Jake hot on his tail. Thank fuck, Ari thought. He might keep his head on his shoulders after all. He gave a sharp whistle and Simon looked up and then set off hurtling towards him. When the dog was close enough he jumped up at him and Ari caught him in his arms. "Hey, buddy calm down." Simon was whining and whimpering and licking Ari’s face as he rubbed the pup's back. "What the fuck has gotten into you?" Simon continued his little noises and nudged into Ari’s face and he glanced up at Max and Jake who were now within earshot. "You pup-napped my dog." Ari glared at them.

"It’s Hannah’s dog." Max deadpanned.

"He’s more mine than he is yours." Ari snapped, still angry at his two teammates for taking the dog without letting him know. And as that was just what he needed to appease himself, Sammy appeared, watching the exchange with an amused air.

"Only because you’re fucking his mom." Max mumbled.

Ari glared at him. "I heard that, dickhead."

"Technically he’s right." Jake quipped.

"Technically you’re an idiot." Ari bit back at Jake.

He was on edge, he was fully aware of that but there was nothing he could do about it. They had taken his fucking dog and it had almost given him a heart attack, not helping the bleak mood that had fallen over him ever since Hannah had left two days before.

"Technically?" Sammy asked and Simon growled. It was like a reflex action the dog had every time Sammy spoke.

"Never, ever take my fucking dog without my permission, you hear me?" Ari hissed glaring at Max and Jake.

Once again he knew he was overreacting but he couldn’t help it. If anything were to happen to this dog, he'd be a dead man, plus he’d miss him too. Ari looked at them once more and then headed off, Simon held to his chest like a small child, with both his arms underneath the dog's butt supporting him, Simon’s paws on Ari’s shoulders, head looking around. He nodded to Rachel, who walked past him towards the spot on the sand where Jake, Max and Sammy were, and without saying a word he retreated to his hut.

All three men stood put for a moment watching him leave and then Max turned to Sammy. "God I can’t wait for your sister to come back, he’s being a pain in the ass."

"As grossed out as it makes me I kinda agree." Sammy acknowledged Max's comment.

"Blue balls don’t suit him." Jake groaned.

"Leave him alone you guys, he’s in love. Wait until it happens to you." Rachel, who had reached them now and was shading her eyes from the sun with the palm of her hand, warned them. All three rolled their eyes and she scoffed. "What?"

"Nothing mom." Max quipped, earning a slap round the back of his head from Rachel.

"I mean seriously though, what were you thinking taking the dog? You know he’s in charge of him and he’s been on edge since Han left. Don’t make it worse."

"See, even you recognise he’s being an insufferable bitch." Max whined.

"Yes and you’re making it worse Maxwell." Rachel looked at him.

"Whatever, I’m hungry now."

"What else is new?" Jake scoffed before stating "You were born hungry."

"All babies are born hungry, asshole." Max snapped as he started walking towards the main building.

"You’re the asshole. The Maltese asshole." Jake shouted at him, following suit.

Rachel groaned, following the bickering pair up the sand. Sammy dropped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze and she shook her head. She really needed Hannah there to help her deal with the bunch of overgrown kids. So much for the trained Mossad agents they were supposed to be.

By the time the sun had begun to set and they were sat at the table having dinner everyone had calmed down bar Ari who persisted in being a little bitch. There he was trying to eat whilst Simon was on his lap as the fucking dog wouldn’t leave him alone now. Jake and Max must have played some tricks on the pup for him to be so anxious and clingy ever since he got back to Ari.

Assholes.

Sammy, in turn, was glaring at Simon as every time he spoke, the dog's lip would curl up in a snarl.

"What is your fucking problem?" Sammy snapped at the dog.

"Hey, don’t talk to him like that." Ari warned him, pointing at Sammy with a fork.

"Really, Ari?" Sammy scoffed and Simon growled again at the sound of his voice.

Ari sighed. "Si, quit it for fucks sake."

Rachel who was desperately trying to have a peaceful dinner without having to intervene, again, didn't miss the look Jake was giving at Sammy while mouthing "Si??" so she glared at the pair of them before she cleared her throat.

"We got a letter this morning, from the tourist board."

Ari turned to her "Yeah? What do they want?"

Rachel took the letter from her shorts pocket and handed it to him. She wasn't planning on playing that card, she had just shoved the letter there just in case but the boys' attitude had left her no choice. "See for yourself."

Ari pushed Simon off his lap and took it. He unfolded it, his eyes scanning the words for a few seconds before he nodded. "They want to visit this weekend. I’ll call Madibo tomorrow morning, tell him it’s ok."

"Yeah…you checked the date?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah it says Thursday…so?" Max, Jake and Sammy exchanged glances and Ari looked around with an air of frustration. "What?" "Hannah’s back on Thursday." Sammy reminded him, speaking quietly as if he was walking on eggshell.

"And?"

"Nothing." he shook his head. "I’ll pick her up from the airport if you’re busy."

Fuck Ari thought before pausing and shaking his head. "No need. I’ll go. You don’t need me here."

"Yes we do. That letter says he wants to see you." Rachel pointed at the letter.

Ari frowned and reached for it again before groaning as she was right. "Fucks sake. What time are they coming? Maybe I can…"

Once again Rachel, the voice of reason, cut him off. "No you can’t. They’ll be here by 11. Her flight gets in just after."

Ari looked at her as if she had just slapped him on his face.

"Ari I’ll go, it’s not an issue." Sammy offered.

Ari just nodded as he didn't trust his voice to come out right at that moment. He was raging inside, his mind ticking off all the curses possible. And as such he spent the rest of the meal sulking in silence before he excused himself and went back to his hut. As far as he was concerned his evening was over. One week, one fucking week without her and he had just been denied the possibility of picking her up. Instead he would have to put up with Madibo and who knows who else from the fucking corrupted tourist board.

With Simon whining, as he had clearly detected his dad was upset, and snuggling round his head on the pillow Ari laid on her bed for what seemed like hours, contemplating what a needy bastard he’d turned into (or rather Hannah had made him into) in such a short period of time, before sleep overcame him.

**** As Hannah made the 10 minute walk to the small Café she had arranged to meet Sarah in, the nearer she got the more nervous she was. She’d only ever met Sarah a handful of times, the last one being at her and Ari’s wedding. When she reached the café door her hands were sweating so she wiped them on her jeans and pushed the door open. As soon as she stepped in she spotted Sarah sat at a table near the back. She hadn’t changed much, was just as pretty as the last time Hannah had seen her. Striking cheekbones, deep brown eyes, light red hair. From the photo Hannah had seen of Maya which Ari kept on his nightstand she could see where the girl had gotten her looks from. She was very like her mother but had inherited Ari’s hair colour and face shape.

Sarah looked up, and gave Hannah a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes as Hannah approached the table. She stood up and offered a stiff hand to Hannah, which Hannah took, the shake very business-like.

“It’s been a long time.” Sarah spoke in her deep, American accent.

“Yeah, it has.” Hannah agreed as Sarah made to sit down again. Hannah followed and took the seat opposite her, hanging her purse on the chair back. No sooner had they done that than someone was over to take their order. They both requested a coffee each and when the waitress disappeared Sarah spoke.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet me. I wasn’t sure you’d even call so..”

“Well it would have been rude not to, plus I also have a letter for Maya from Ari. Saves me posting it I suppose.” Hannah smiled and reached for her purse, retrieving the thick envelope. She handed it to Sarah.

“Ari said Maya wanted some photos of Simon- my, well, the group’s dog really and she wanted to see the resort too so-“ she nodded to the envelope “- there’s some in there for her.”

“Thanks.” Sarah took the envelope, exchanging it for a slightly smaller one. “I also have a letter here for Ari from Maya, would you-“

“Of course.” Hannah nodded, taking it form her.

“You know she asks about you in there.” Sarah nodded to the letter “Her and Ari talked about you when he was home. He told her you picked her little beaded bag out, which for the record she still carries everywhere.”

Hannah blushed a little “I’m glad she liked it.”

“Are there any photos of you in here?” Sarah tapped the envelope and Hannah frowned, not quite sure what she was getting at.

“No.” she shook her head. But before she had chance to say anything else their coffee arrived. Both thanked the lady who set the cups down, then busied themselves adding sugar, Hannah stirring hers a little more than necessary before she broke the silence, deciding to ask the question that had been on her mind since Ethan gave her the piece of paper with the other woman’s number on it. “Sarah, why did you want to see me? We’ve hardly ever spoken before, certainly not like this.”

“Curiosity I suppose.” Sarah shrugged

“Curiosity? About what?”

“About you.”

“Me?”

Sarah nodded, taking a breath “Will you be honest with me Hannah?”

Hanna nodded, steeling herself as she waited for the inevitable question about whether her and Ari were back together. She knew Ari hadn’t confirmed it to Sarah when he visited, because, well they hadn’t actually labelled what they were then, neither of them knew, but she also knew he hadn’t denied it.

“Do you love him?” Sarah asked.

“Oh…” that had surprised Hannah. She swallowed, “Sarah, I-“

“Because I know he loves you.”

Hannah took a deep breath before she shrugged “Yeah, yeah I do.”

Sarah nodded “In that case then I wish you good luck because you’re gonna need it.”

Hannah frowned and swallowed some of her coffee “What do you mean?”

“I mean when you all finish this mission and you’re not in your little fantasy reality anymore and you’re no longer his ‘bond girl’-”

“Hey, now, just wait a second-” Hannah interrupted a little tetchily but Sarah continued, ignoring her.

“-because he’ll never quit Hannah.” Sarah looked at her “-hell he wasn’t even there when Maya was born because he was stranded in some god forsaken part of Saudi Arabia.”

“He regrets that, he told me.” Hannah sighed and Sarah shrugged.

“I’m sure he does but his wife being 8 months pregnant wasn’t enough to stop him going. His own daughter since has never been enough to stop him going. This life, this sense of duty he has to those people, whilst it’s admirable it’s consuming him. And I just want you to know what you’re letting yourself in for. He dragged you back into all this, Hannah. He won’t be as easy to drag back out.”

Hannah looked at her, mouth hanging open a little as she wasn’t sure what to say. Part of her was pissed off, part of her felt guilty, and beneath it all a pang of sympathy. Ari hadn’t been a great husband or father, and Hannah knew that.

“That said, maybe he will quit for you.” Sarah continued “I mean, maybe me and Maya were simply just not enough…”

“Sarah, it wasn’t like that.” Hannah shook her head, sighing “I won’t make excuses for him being a shit husband and a lousy father because there are none to be made, and he knows that.”

“Yeah, he said all this when he came home.” Sarah gave a huff of laughter “He actually seemed different, happier almost, he was so relaxed with Maya and I get now that’s because of you.”

Hannah took a deep breath. “I kind of feel like I should be apologising for something here Sarah, I’m not sure what but-“

Sarah smiled “It isn’t your fault he’s been in love with you for the past 10 years.”

“Sarah…”

“You ever asked him why we weren’t at your wedding?” Sarah suddenly change the line of the conversation and Hannah looked at her, blinking “It was because he couldn’t bear to watch you marry someone else.”

“No, that’s... that’s not…”

“Ask him. He never admitted it but it was obvious. I was always second best in his eyes.”

“Ari loved you Sarah, I know he did, he’s told me.” Hannah implored “You’re the mother of his child.”

“Oh I don’t doubt he did.” Sarah smiled “Just not as much as he loved you. And here we are, he’s got you back in the end.”

At that Hannah felt the nerve twitch in her jaw, pissed at the nerve of the woman sat opposite her, blatantly trying to blame her for Ari’s attitude in their marriage. Like she was responsible for whatever he’d done over the last 8 or however many years it had been. She desperately wanted to defend Ari but couldn’t, simply because he had been an ass hole to Sarah and she wasn’t about to stick up for him when he didn’t’ deserve it, regardless of the fact she was dating him. But, she wasn’t about to sit here and take this crap from his estranged wife, especially not when Hannah had been through enough shit herself. She took a deep breath, folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess he did. And all it took was a dead husband and a divorce huh?”

If her harsh, sarcastic tone bothered Sarah the other woman didn’t show it as she simply looked at Hannah with a small smile on her face, not a shred of anger on her face as she spoke “Well, fate has a wicked sense of humour.”

PART 2

#leave no one behind #ari levinson x ofc #ari levinson fanfiction #ari levinson #red sea diving resort #red sea diving resort fan fic #fan fiction

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trashfor-imagines · 5 years ago

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How I Met Your Mother Father: Haikyū Edition! | 2

Ft. Oikawa / Iwaizumi / Ushijima / Tendo / Semi

Summary: How you met your husband-o! Warnings: I took creative liberties regarding Ushijima’s story and how the Olympics work. Also I’m sleepy and going back in and editing my mistakes. :)

Part 1: Ft. Kuroo / Bokuto / Akaashi / Yaku Part 3: Ft. Daichi / Sugawara / Asahi / K. Ukai

Oikawa Toru

You and Oikawa met in university. You were studying for a degree in Kinesiology & Sport Science and your goal was to get into Sports Medicine and work for one of the National or Olympic teams.

It was by chance you joined the men’s volleyball team as their manager. You originally gunned for track and field, but a mishap with your train pass at the station made you late for sign ups.

On your first day of practice you arrived early to get a head start on things - ordering uniforms, getting sports drinks ready, gathering clean towels. You were coming back from the laundry room when a ball was headed straight for you. Fear reached your knees decided to lock them in place so your first instinct was to block, holding your palms out, but the sheer force and velocity caused your hands and the ball to be thrown back, still smacking you in the face and quite literally knocking you off your feet.

Lying there, you wanted the gym floor to open up and swallow you whole.

“Are you ok?! I’m so sorry!” Eyes fluttering open, you looked up into brown eyes, wide with worry.

“Well boys, this is your first year team manager. Oikawa! I thought I told you first years to stop showing off! Take responsibility and help her to the nurse’s office. When you come back you’ll be doing flying laps until I say stop,” the coach yelled, blowing a whistle and signaling the start of practice.

He picked you up easily in his arms, some of the boys who were out of earshot of the coach whistling at him. Now that you weren’t lying on the ground and he wasn’t so close in your face, you could really take in his features and god was he handsome. You really did wish the ground had swallowed you whole.

The nurse flashed a light in your eyes. “Well, you’re definitely going to have a bruise.”

“You don’t have to stay with me,” you told told Oikawa as the nurse looked you over for signs of concussion.

“I feel bad; I just want to make sure you’re ok,” he reasoned, giving you his most charming smile.

“If you feel bad, then you can make it up to me later instead of using me to stall facing your punishment.”

“It’s a deal. No take backs, my cute manager,” he sang, quickly escaping before you could rebut.

And that’s how you ended up going on a date with Oikawa Toru and marrying a year after he went pro.

Iwaizumi Hajime

You sighed, resting your chin in your hand as you watched Iwaizumi from across the library. While most girls at school fawned over Oikawa, you were absolutely smitten with his best friend.

Letting your shoulders drop, you turned back to your textbook, tapping your pencil eraser to the tip of your nose as you bit down on your lower lip, clueless that the boy who’d invaded your thoughts had noticed you.

Months later and graduation was today and it was official. You’d spent the whole year pining for a boy you’d never ever spoken to. In a month you’d be starting college and hopefully someone new would catch your eye.

The summer wasn’t exciting. You spent your time packing for Tokyo and wandering around town, hoping to catch even a glimpse of Iwaizumi in passing; no luck.

You were starting classes at UTokyo in a few weeks for two degrees in Creative Writing and Publishing. You wanted to write stories and if you couldn’t do that then you wanted to help people get their stories out there.

First day of classes were incredible. Everything was interesting and you were reignited with a new sense of excitement. You’d almost forgotten about why you were so mopey before.

It was Wednesday and you were on your way off campus to find lunch when you felt your heart skip. There he was just across the courtyard; Iwaizumi.

Was he seriously here too? Gripping your hands tightly around your book bag, you considered your options.

New school.

New city.

New you.

Right?

Breathing steady, you quickly crossed the courtyard. The closer you got the stiffer your body felt and the more your hands shook until you couldn’t walk anymore. Your feet were glued in place and you watched as Iwaizumi walked right past you.

Dammit.

As weeks passed it was like high school all over again. Now that you’d seen him once, he seemed to be popping up everywhere and it was driving you mad. You even saw him at a coffee shop off campus the other day.

You sat in the library, studying for your first exam. Nervously, you bounced your restless leg as you tapped your pencil’s eraser against your forehead, frustrated.

Things were supposed to be different.

You barely registered when someone sat next to you.

“If you aren’t careful, you’ll leave a mark on your face.”

Your face flushed and you dropped your pencil; that’s Iwaizumi’s voice. Almost mechanically, you turned your head and met his gaze.

He sat with his body turned toward you, arm propped up at the elbow with his cheek resting on his fist.

“I wasn’t sure it was you, but now I’m positive,” he said, smiling at you. Smiling at you. You’d only ever dreamed.

“You know... who I am?”

“Well yeah, we went high school for three years together.” His voice was teasing and everything you ever wished for. “I was always busy with school and volleyball, I never gave myself a chance to talk to you.”

“You wanted to talk to me?”

“I might have seen you looking at me a few times.” There it goes. Called out. You were a stuttering mess. There was no way you could play it off now.

Letting you flounder a bit more, he rested his hand on your bouncing knee, sending a jolt of electricity through you, and that expression on his face told you he might have felt it too.

“(Y/N) why don’t we go out and we can catch up for lost time?”

And that was how you and Iwaizumi Hajime became inseparable ever since, marrying a few years after starting your careers after college.

Ushijima Wakatoshi

The Olympics were almost every athlete’s dream.

You were raised to play, eat, breathe, and dream gold.

Gold medals that is.

All your life you’d been on national teams and qualified for the Youth Olympics in Track and Field at 14.

Now, four years later, you were off to the actual Olympics. You were boarding the plane to London for athletes who were heading over early. It was a long flight with a layover in Turkey.

Dressed in leggings, your Team Japan Olympic sweatshirt, and slipping on a pair of comfy house shoes you wore specifically on planes, you snuggled into your window seat, gazing through the small frame of glass.

You snapped out of it when you felt someone sit in the seat beside you. Turning, you felt your jaw slack slightly at the large and fit build seated right next to you.

Okay, full disclosure, you were boy crazy deep inside. Your parents didn’t allow dating and drilled into you that boys were just a distraction from your dreams.

“Go for gold. Boys come later.”

But holy shit. He was looking right at you too. Oh my god, was he talking to you? What was he saying?!

Oh right.

Smiling, you reached up and removed your earbuds. “Sorry, what was that?”

“My seatbelt.”

You felt your mouth run dry. His voice. Was life serious right now?!

“Sorry,” you laughed lightly, reaching under your thigh for the belt strap, handing it to him. You might have handed it to him in a way so that your hands touched on purpose. Maybe you didn’t. All you knew was that you wanted to keep talking to him and you definitely wanted to touch him.

“Thanks,” he spoke simply, buckling in before facing forward.

Okay, you mouthed silently, straightening up in your seat. Tucking a stray hair behind your ear, you turned to him again. “I’m (Y/F/N), Olympic Track and Field.”

He turned to look at you. “Ushijima Wakatoshi. Volleyball.”

A man of few words? “You know, I think I recognize you now.”

“We were featured in the same article in Number last month.” His voice was blunt.

Your eyes widened. “Wow! You remembered what article we were both in?”

He didn’t respond, but by god, he just said more than just three words to you and it was a full sentence. You gave a few more tries at making conversation, but he had no response. With a sigh, you shrunk into your seat and put your earbuds in.

You weren’t sure when you’d fallen asleep, but you were awakened by a jerking and shaking motion. An arm was wrapped tightly around you as the cabin continued to shake and rattle.

A ding sounded and the captain made an announcement: “Sorry passengers, but we’re currently experiencing some turbulence. We’ll be adjusting our flight pattern. Please stay seated with seatbelts fastened.”

The hand on your arm tightened, but you were tucked tightly into his side to where you couldn’t adjust your head to look at Ushijima’s face. Reaching over, you placed one of your hands on top of his and he adjusted to hold your hand tightly, as your other arm stretched across his torso, holding onto him.

Even when the plane moved into less turbulent air space, he continued to hold onto you and eventually you slept again.

He woke you up when you landed in Turkey and asked if you’d spend the layover with him in the airport while some of the other athletes left to explore. Though most of the conversation was one sided with you talking and him listening, there was a connection and when you finally made him laugh, you knew you wanted to always be the reason for his smiles.

When you finally reached London, you spent as much time as possible with one another before the events began; morning runs in the city, sightseeing, eating meals together, taking tons of photos together.

You’d won gold in the 500 meter. The volleyball team won bronze.

When the both of you finally returned home to Japan, the two of you stayed in contact as more than just friends, but he’d never label your relationship out loud.

That’s how you and Ushijima Wakatoshi, medal winning Olympians, ended up together, keeping your relationship on the down low and out of the press for two years and marrying just before the next Olympic Games.

Tendo Satori

As far as you were concerned, Tendo was an insensitive goof.

You had known him since you were babies, your mothers were best friends, and by god he was the most annoying force to ever appear in your life. Your childhood was filled with plenty of hair pulling and teasing.

It was embarrassing when girls started growing breasts and you were still flat as a board. His teasing was unrelenting. And when you finally grew some semblance of breasts? You didn’t even want to get started on that nightmarish period of life.

When high school came around, he was like a second shadow to you, never far. It was irritating, but you tolerated it.

He wasn’t an idiot, managing to also get into Shiratorizawa. He also knew when you were reaching your limit with him and he’d instantly change his behavior, turning into the sweet and gentle boy you first knew.

Hell, you even welcomed his attention at this point. There weren’t any other boys looking your way. As soon as you’d start talking to a guy, the next day they’d avoid you like the plague.

He was your best friend.

You hated him.

You loved him.

Second year didn’t seem to be any different from first year. Valentines Day came around and a boy you’d been crushing on rejected your chocolates. It was absolutely embarrassing.

You studied in the library, keeping yourself mentally preoccupied, while waiting patiently for Tendo to walk you home after school, you only hoped his practice didn’t run late like normal.

You heard girls whispering about your rejection earlier. It was so hard to not just break into tears. You’d been holding them in all day.

After a couple hours, you slammed your book shut, temporarily stopping the whispers while you packed and left, waiting for Tendo outside of the school gates.

“Hey washboard!” came his cheery voice.

Biting your lip, you kept your head down as you walked with him down the street. You hadn’t made it ten steps before stopping, trying to hold in your sobs. Reaching into your bag, you pulled out your thoughtfully wrapped rejected box of sweets and held it out to him.

“Weren’t you going to give these to that Suzukita guy on the swim team? Chicken out?” He turned the box over in his hands.

Balling your hands into fists, you snatched the box back from him. “Look Sato, if you don’t want them then just say so!”

He took a better look at your face, noticing streaks of tears down your face. With a small growl, he snatched them back before tearing into the box, eating a couple of pieces. “I didn’t say I didn’t want them!”

Shoulders trembling, you let yourself cry freely.

Tendo frowned, brows furrowed in worry. Stuffing the chocolates into his bag, he held your hand, pulling you along with him and walking you home silently. No jokes. No teasing. Just the sweet boy who always made you hold his hand when you were toddlers.

Your troubles weren’t over just yet though. White Day came along and you weren’t ready for the horror show of feeling alone again.

The day was uneventful. You hardly spoke to anyone. Even your girl friends avoided you so they didn’t accidentally make you feel bad.

White Day was lonely and it sucked.

Thankfully, the day didn’t drag out and Tendo didn’t have practice, just a quick team meeting, so you waited at the front gates like normal.

“(Y/N)! Ready to go home?” he asked, ruffling your hair.

You shrugged, running your fingers through your hair in an attempt to fix it.

“Hey.” He caught your wrist, gaining your full attention. Holding out his hand, he offered you a small white box with a white ribbon. “Here.”

Carefully, you accepted, removing the ribbon and handing it to him. You opened the box and a small smile made its way onto your face. Marshmallow chocolates. You got them once when you were little from your dad. You shared them with Tendo and hadn’t had them again since.

“Thanks, Satori,” you whispered, unable to meet his eyes.

He reached forward and grabbed a lock of your hair, clumsily braiding it before tying the end with the white ribbon from the box.

Reaching down, he took your hand, walking you home. As the two of you walked, the hand holding yours began to fidget. Glancing over you watched as he slipped a white beaded bracelet from his wrist onto yours.

Stopping, you let go of his hand to look at it. Peeking up at him, you caught the faint blush on his cheeks before looking at the hand made kid’s bracelet carefully.

SATORI <3 (Y/N)

“Sato...”

“It’s true. I... I love you, (Y/N).”

And that’s how you and Tendo Satori ended up attached to each other for life, getting engaged after high school and marrying after college.

Semi Eita

“What can I get you?”

Those were the first words you ever spoke to him. He was dressed casually and brooding at the bar you worked.

At night, you worked at one of the many tiny bars in Shinjuku’s Golden Gai, a huge tourist trap, and during the day you were a student at Bunka Fashion College.

He wasn’t much of a talker and wore an unmovable scowl, but he bought drinks all night and didn’t bother you unlike the other customers.

You were surprised when he showed up again the next night, and the night after that, and again after that.

When he stepped into your tiny bar for the sixth day in a row, on a Monday night, it was almost automatic the way you moved, pouring him a whiskey before setting the glass and bottle down in front of him.

It was pretty quiet tonight. And late. There wasn’t a ton of activity. In fact, your only other customer left within the next thirty minutes, leaving you and Mr. Serious alone.

“Let me know if you want something different for a change,” you said, laying out some books on the counter before hopping over the bar and taking a seat at one of the eight stools - the only seating in the whole place.

“What are you reading?” His voice surprised you. Honestly, you almost forgot he was there.

“Ah, it’s for one of my classes. History of sewing, basically. Kind of boring, but they say I have to learn it,” you shrugged, laughing a little.

“Where do you go?”

You smiled at him in a teasing matter, holding a finger up to your lips. “Can you keep a secret?”

He quirked a brow. “Promise.”

“Hmm... I guess I can trust you,” you teased, “I go to Bunka. Students aren’t supposed to have jobs so my life’s in your hands, okay?”

He scoffed, masking a laugh that almost escaped him. “Sure.”

From that night forward this was a common theme. He’d stay late and when it was just the two of you left, you’d have deep conversations and talk about anything and everything either of you could think of.

You learned quite a bit about him.

He was a musician in a band and a civil servant.

He was stressed about some projects he was working on, which was why he started coming to the bar.

He liked “your calm energy” and how you didn’t bother him; that’s why he kept coming back.

He played volleyball in school and was a setter.

His favorite food was tekka maki.

He was a Scorpio.

His friend used to tease him a lot in high school about how he looked in clothes so now he tried to be more conscious of how he dressed.

Soon your relationship evolved from just bartender-patron. He was inviting you to his concerts and asking to see you during your time between school and work.

You recalled him mentioning wanting to find a new casual jacket that didn’t make him look weird, so you spent a few days in your design class making him a jean jacket you thought would flatter him.

He met you outside of the school building one evening - the two of you had plans to go to a night market for dinner and try the different stalls. It was supposed to be chilly so it was the perfect time for you to give it to him.

“Semi! Here, this is for you,” you said, holding out a simple gift bag to him. You literally finished today, applying some patches and last minute details. “Go ahead and open it.”

“(Y/N)... This is exactly what I was looking for.” His normally grumpy expression was softer as he held it up, examining it. He noted there wasn’t a tag and he was pretty sure there was the tiniest bit of blood on the collar. “Did you really make this for me?”

You stuttered, “I-I know y-you were having a hard time finding something you liked so I thought you deserved something you wanted.”

“I... deserve what I want?” he repeated, looking you in the eye.

A blush flared across your cheeks. “Well... Yeah.”

He paused, taking in your face and how different you looked when you were flustered. “I want to date you, exclusively.”

And that’s how you became the musician Semi Eita’s girlfriend, marrying a year later.

#oikawa toru #oikawa x reader #iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi x reader #ushijima wakatoshi #ushijima x reader #tendo satori #tendo x reader #semi eita #semi x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#haikyu #volleyboys #how i met your father #fanfic #reader insert #aoba johsai #shiratorizawa

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timelock97 · 5 years ago

Text

Game Changer

Epilogue: What Time Will Do

Word Count: 5283

Warnings: Language, ADULT CONTENT (18+) [will be tagged]

_________________________________________

“How does it feel?” Leon whispers in my ear as he squeezes my hip over my dress. “Finally being my wife.”

I hum as we sway to the song playing for our first slow dance as a couple, one hand resting in his while one of his hands rests on my waist and mine rests on his chest. “I think it feels pretty damn good, but now you’re actually stuck with me, so no take backsies.”

He laughs at that, spinning me out and away from him before pulling me back into his chest again. He sighs, leaning forward to tease a kiss on my lips, whispering against them. “Oh darling, I would never do that.”

I smile, leaning in to seal our lips together for what feels like the millionth time tonight.

When we pull away, he lets out a soft sigh. “I think tonight has gone exceptionally well.”

“Indeed-”

“Who would have thought we could get everyone out here in Galar, it didn’t rain like the forecast predicted, they were able to clear and clean the field for today, and we have not had any unexpected guests.”

“Are you sure? I think there are a couple people from Team Yell that showed up-”

“Love-”

“You know they did-”

Leon laughs softly, “They aren’t ruining anything.”

I shake my head and brush my nose against his, “And it looks like Caroline and Raihan will keep the region from falling apart while we are gone for two weeks on a honeymoon.”

“Say goodbye to paperwork, meetings, and patients and alola to, well, the Alola region.”

I pull back, smirking, “I still want to know how close Alola is to Hawaii-”

“Can’t you just enjoy our trip-”

“My curiosity is piqued!”

Leon laughs again, spinning me out before dipping me as the song comes to an end. He brings us both back up into a kiss and mutters a soft “I love you,” into my ear.

The two of us then take turns with our own parents, me with my dad and him with his mom.

My dad sighs as we sway side to side, “Can’t believe you’re married now.”

“Soon you will be having to worry about grandbabies-”

“Please don’t, I still have a kid to get through highschool.”

I let out a laugh as we sway, after a minute I ask, “Are you happy, like with everything?”

“I wish you were closer to home, but I know you enjoy living out here, and I also don’t blame you.” My dad’s eyes drift about the area, eyes darting past the tented room. “But I think you and Leon will end up having Aiden come and spend the summer with you from how he has been talking to Hop.” We turn and look at the two, Aiden has a Goomy perched on his shoulder while Hop lifts his Rotom to show him his latest battle strategy.

“I knew they would be good friends, but what will you do if he decides he wants to move out here?” I tease, thinking about how I had been trying to convince my own parents to move out here after retiring.

“We will figure it out,” he mutters, chuckling. We sway for a few more minutes, my dad pulling me into a hug as the song finally comes to a close.

Leon reaches for me, his hair swaying side to side against his back. It had grown about five inches below his shoulders, just enough to style. We both grab a glass to call a toast. “We would like to thank everyone here for coming, for celebrating this wonderful day with us.”

“It has been a crazy year, and with that, we could not ask for a better day to spend with all of you here.”

“So, a toast to great friends, amazing family, and a future full of promises.” Leon calls out, making everyone cheer and clink glasses with one another.

“Now! Let’s all enjoy ourselves!” I call out, the music changing to a more upbeat song and I reach forward to grab my brother from the crowd, who grabs Marnie, who grabs Piers and so forth. The small dance floor is filled with people Leon and I could not live without, dancing and laughing together in one place.

Raihan manages to drag me to the side to hug me separately, and give me a few notes about places to go in Alola, only for us to be dragged back again. Leon managing to keep me within arms reach the whole evening, the world melting away.

As the night draws to a close, a couple of last minute pictures are taken before everyone starts making their way to Wedgehurst, or at least those who hadn’t left already. However, Leon and I instead walk back to his childhood home, finding Aiden and Hop sleeping peacefully on the couch.

Leon takes my hand and leads me upstairs to his room, giving us a little bit more privacy before we take a taxi to the airport to take a private flight to Alola overnight. He pulls me close to him, cupping my face and kissing me deeply as his other hand rests on my hip holding me there.

“Leon,” I whisper against his lips. He hums in response before leaning down to kiss me again. “Lee, baby,” I try again, eyes not wanting to open.

“Yeah, love?”

“We need to change so we can head to the airport.” I whisper, hands resting against his dress shirt, holding onto his slightly untied tie.

He hums, nodding before kissing the top of my head. “I can, I can unzip your dress, darling.” He whispers, but before I can turn around he stops me. “But first, before I do, I just want to tell you how beautiful you look. Arceus, (Y/N), you look so fucking beautiful and I can’t even fathom how lucky I got to say that you’re mine for the rest of our days.”

I lean up and capture his lips again, wrapping my arms around him and tangling my fingers into his hair that had fallen out of the french braid. We kiss for what seems like forever, but eventually we have to pull away. I press a few kisses against his cheeks and neck sleepily as I feel his hands slide down my back and unzip the fabric. He dips his head until his lips meet my jaw, running his teeth and eventually trailing gentle kisses there as his fingers brushing against my bare skin as he gently pulls the dress to help me out of it. I place a hand over my chest, keeping the fabric from falling too far. “Leo…” I mutter, making him sigh.

“I know, wait until we are out of town.” He chuckles as he takes a step back. He cups my cheeks before kissing my lips softly before he lets go to shrug off his jacket to hang up.

I turn around and shift out of the dress, the white gown pooling at my feet. I step out of it and unclip my bra, swapping it out for a more comfortable one and grab one of Leon’s tee-shirts to pull over my head. After I pull on a pair of sports leggings and fluffy socks, I turn and look at Leon. What I find makes me laugh, “Need help, hot shot?”

Leon is laying on his back in bed in only his boxers. He groans softly, muttering out an “I’m tired.”

I giggle as I walk over, moving the pile of clothes so that they are on top of him.

He groans loudly again before covering his face with his arm. “Why did we decide to fly out tonight?”

“Because we could sleep on the plane and have the day in Alola to explore. Of course that will be after we get settled in our house on the water.”

He hums at the thought before finally sitting up, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. I shake out his shirt, handing it to him before taking the discarded dress clothes and hang it up beside my dress. It only takes another five minutes for him to be ready, our bags already waiting downstairs for us.

I take his hand and lead him, quick to say goodbye to Hop and Aiden who only mutter quiet goodbyes in their sleepy states before Leon and I are out the door and walk to the taxi that was already waiting for us.

Neither of us expect the other to fall asleep in the cab, but a soft knock on the window causes me to jump, which scares Leon, his arm tightening around me protectively.

“Sorry you two, but I need to get home to the wife and you two need to go on that honeymoon.” The taxi driver smiles, opening the door a little wider.

Leon gives him a small, tired smile before standing, dragging me behind him. Steven and Felicia smile at Leon and I when we walk over and offer to take our bags. They each give us a hug before ushering us inside the private plane.

Leon and I settle in our seats, which is more of a couch than anything else. His arm finds its home around my shoulder and if it weren’t for the fact that I had to stay upright until we took off I would have just curled up in Leon’s lap.

The pilot tells us we will be on our way soon, my head lulls onto Leon’s shoulder and I sigh into his ear.

“Soon,” he whispers, the plane jolting as we begin backing up to take off. My mind gets fuzzy, in between needing to fall asleep and trying desperately to stay awake for a little bit longer.

When the plane finally levels out in the air, Leon doesn’t hesitate to move seats, making me whine before he just scoops me up and moves me with him. He settles into a group of seats that he can strategically recline but still puts his feet up on the seats in front of him while kind of cradling me so that I was mostly on top of him, keeping me close as possible. It’s only a matter of him settling completely with a soft, “I love you, baby,” before I fall asleep completely curled up on top of him and wedged against the wall.

“Alola!” A small group calls as we exit the plane hours late, comfey floating nearby “Welcome to Melemele. We are so happy to see you have arrived in one piece and hope that you enjoy your stay!” They place lei around our necks and before we can get much further, I see someone holding a sign with my and Leon’s name on it.

He smiles widely as we make our way over, tucking the paper under his arm. “Let me take you to your home away from home.” He motions us to a cart where two Tauros are at the front. We clamber on and settle as he starts to drive along. People smile and wave as we head up the main street, turning off onto another path that takes us along the ocean, breeze blowing our hair around us as we see the house down the hill.

The house is gorgeous. Nestled on the most quiet part of the island where the water is quiet and the Pokemon are still wild. It’s our little slice of paradise for the next two weeks. We have to walk down a long dock to get to the large bungalow. All the windows could be opened for easy access to the deck and the floor was nothing but tile. It was the perfect beachy feel with both wick furniture, ocean smoothed decorations, and soft painted walls on top of the gorgeous views from every angle. Leon and I were in love with it from the moment we laid eyes on it. Once our guide walked back down the dock, Lee did not hesitate to scoop me up and carry me back to the door, bumping it with his hip before walking inside the home.

“We literally have been here less than a two minutes and you have to carry me in-”

“You are supposed to carry the bride over the threshold!” He laughs before pulling me into his arms to kiss my lips softly

I hum into the kiss, arms wrapping around his neck as we stand there in the doorway. After a minute we pull away and I sigh, “Leo, I need to go hop in the shower.” I look up and bat my eyes at him. “Would you want to join me?”

Leon’s cheeks flush a soft shade of red and he rubs the back of his neck. “You go on ahead, I am going to explore the house and unpack our things-”

“Don’t unpack everything, I have things that I wanted to surprise you with-”

“Or how about I go into town and do a little shopping then we can make dinner- lunch? I actually don’t know what time it is.”

I sigh softly, quietly slipping off my shoes and setting them by the door. “You do you, love.” I call over my shoulder as I walk inside, finding the master bedroom with ease, the bed set against the back wall and the door to the bathroom with a large shower with multiple shower heads nestled into the back. Oh this trip would be one to remember.

~ADULT CONTENT AHEAD~

Slowly, the first week slipped by. Leon and I spend time by the water, snorkeling, swimming, and just watching the sun rise and fall. At some point the two of us hike up a side trail into the trees, taking notice of the Pokemon that come and watch us at the edge of the trees. It makes my heart warm, spending quality time with Leon as my partner for the rest of my life, to grow up and grow old with. I couldn’t be happier watching him in the early morning after we had woken up and see him interacting with the small, wild water Pokemon that came poking into our bathroom where a large tub had been placed by out in the open. They take too him like water, jumping into the bath and playing with him. I happily take pictures and send them to Raihan as a “We are doing great!” But there was something missing from our perfect honeymoon.

“I’m going to go get changed out of my suit, okay?” I call over my shoulder as I walk away from Leon who is toweling off his hair from our day spent swimming in the ocean.

He pulls the towel away from his head and lets it rest around his shoulders. Leon smiles and nods, “Sure, baby. I am going to pull the leftovers out of the fridge and reheat them. Maybe throw in a movie while we eat before we shower off?” His voice is sweet, and after spending all day with him out in the sun with his abs on full display, I can’t help but feel a little more hot and bothered under the Alolan rays.

I nod as I walk in, feet leaving wet footprints on the tile as I move from the back deck and inside to our room. I wait and watch Leon enter the house at the opposite end of the deck, smiling to myself at the fact that he would be in for a surprise soon. I bite my lip at the memory of Leon’s hands on me on our wedding night, and the fact that I had told him to wait. Now finally being on our honeymoon I thought we would revisit the feelings of that night, but no luck. We had spent so much time together but at the end of the day we hadn’t done it. Which we had been waiting to do while we were away so we could solely focus on us, and of course we had with everything we had been doing. If I was at all honest, I just didn’t know how to bring it up at this point.

I walk over to the dresser and rifle through the bottom drawer and pull out a set of lingerie that I had bought specifically for the occasion. The white, lacy number had soft decals around the breasts, double strapped in an interket pattern paired with a white cotton thong with lace decal and straps that attach to matching garters. Once on I look at my reflection, fluffing my hair and eventually tossing on one of Leon’s shirts which easily hid everything but the bottoms of the large garters. I smile at myself in the mirror before skipping down the hallway.

I find Leon in the kitchen, humming to himself while our favorite movie plays on the television screen, the title music looping from being on too long. I bite my lip as I take him in, Leon’s hair is pulled up into a ponytail and his shorts are dangerously low on his hips, skin tanned under the Alolan sun. I waltz up behind him and wrap my arms around his torso, making him hum happily as he taps away on his phone. I press a few soft kisses into his back and allow my hands to move on their own, one sliding up his front to his pec while the other falls south, nails scraping against his skin just gently enough. I bite my lip when I hear his breath hitch, thinking that maybe something would happen when the microwave beeps, making us jump in surprise.

Leon chuckles and detangles himself from my grasp moving over to grab dishes from the cabinet. “Uh,” his voice is nervous and his cheeks are slightly pink, “Why don’t you grab our drinks and start the movie and I’ll get the food, yeah?”

I hum, moving past him to grab a beer and a wine cooler from the fridge, wiggling my bottom at him as I do before looking over at him. I get the last glimpse of his eyes falling back to my face and putting on a nervous smile. “Sure thing, Leo.” I purr, walking past him and back into the living room. I settle on the couch and toss a blanket over my lap, smiling over at him as he comes back over, plopping down beside me and handing me my plate as I start the movie. Now I just have to pace this correctly.

Once we finished eating I cuddle into Leon’s side, his arm resting around my back and keeping me pressed against his side as he made comments about the movie. After a bit, the hunger for him had started growing, and I finally decided to just deal with it.

I whine in annoyance, catching his attention easily as I shift so that I wasn’t nestled in his side, stretching out my back. “Not comfy,” I whisper, making him laugh.

“Probably tight from swimming all day, I can rub your back if you want?” He looks at me with sweet eyes. I watch as they go wide as I move to straddle his lap, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck and pressing feather-like kisses there. He sighs underneath me, hands moving to rub softly into my back, “Did you just want to cuddle closer, (Y/N)?”

“I always want to be as close as possible,” I tease, lazily kissing his jaw. I hear him sigh again, hands moving to trace my calves and run up and down my clothed back. I slowly start to nibble on his neck, sucking and nipping gently on his skin as his hands tighten on my waist.

Leon’s breath hitches before he lets out a soft chuckle, “You, uh, you wanting some attention, love?”

I hum, moving away from his neck to take a look at the new marks on his neck. I can see his eyes are darker, half lidded in contentment. His hand cups my face as I lean down to capture his lips in mine. Finally. I slide my hands around his neck and leave one there before tugging his hair out of its ponytail, tangling my other hand inside as one of his hands slide behind my head to angle my head better. We kiss lazily for a long time, and I finally decide to move our little make out session a step further. Slowly I move away from him to take a breath, kissing his lips a little more forcefully as I grind my core over his center.

Leon pulls away with a pop, his eyes falling to where our centers were meeting. He looks back at me as he smiles slyly “You sly little thing, this is what you wanted? Why not just tell me?”

“I figured,” I pause as a wave of pleasure runs up my spine. “I figured showing you was better.” I whisper, his hands sliding to cup under my thighs and moving me softly. I tug at his hair and bring his mouth back to mine as his hands slide up and cup my ass, and I can feel a smirk playing on his lips as his hands slide against the garters.

He pulls away gently, looking at me with a devilish smile, “Darling, what do you have on?”

I smile and run my nails down his chest. I lean forward and let my lips linger by his ear, speaking softly, “Why don’t you find out?”

I feel his hands squeeze my ass, making me moan in surprise before his hands move to grip my shirt and tug it up until he has it almost over my head. I hear how he groans and I pull the rest of the shirt off before tossing it somewhere. His eyes linger, tracing the details as he starts brushing his fingers against the fabric. He pulls me forward, a gasp leaving my mouth before it turns into a moan, his lips mouthing at the skin of my neck before dipping down and on top of my chest. I tangle my hands into his hair again, tugging as I start to grind again against him.

He moans softly, and that prompts me to detangle my hands and go to unhook my bra, but he stops me. “I, I want to do it,” he mutters, hands sliding around to attempt to unhook the clasps. The longer he takes the harder he bites down on my collar bone. I whimper, moving to unhook it quickly as he runs his tongue over the new mark. His hands are squeezing and helping me grind down on him, and I can definitely tell that he is hard underneath me. Leon dips his head down and sucks a nipple into his mouth as one hand leaves my ass and falls to the opposite breast. I throw my head back and moan, making him groan against my skin as he moves to bring my mouth back to his.

“Leon,” I whisper, listening to him groan softly. “As much as I would love to stay here and-”

“I’d rather plow you into the mattress.” He states, making me groan as he lifts me up, standing and kissing me deeply as he walks back to our bedroom. I tug at his hair gently, keeping him as close as possible. I feel him pause, and I feel him place a knee on the bed. Leon is crawling on the bed while I am koalaed to his front, the same way he pulls me into bed on nights he is gone too long, or like the first time I had come home to him in Galar.

He lays me down so that I am laying in the middle of the bed, head resting on the pillows. Leon changes his pace, suddenly trailing kisses down my body, he takes his time on my chest, making me moan and sigh contently. As he gets lower, I look down at him, watching as his amber eyes look back at me, a small smile forming on his lips. “Darling, I know I said I wanted to plow you into this mattress, but I think I want to do something else with you, if you would let me.”

“Whatever you want,” I whisper, blushing as he kisses my hip softly. He wiggles down further until he is settled between my legs, and before I can ask, he kisses the wet patch on my panties, making me shudder and whimper out.

He hooks his fingers into the sides of my panties, looking at me with soft eyes. “Can I take these off, baby?” I nod, but he waits, “Need to hear you, love.”

“Yes, baby.”

He hums, a soft “Good girl,” falling past his lips as he attempts to get my panties off. He attempts to get them and the attached garters of with one tug, but the popping of seams makes him pause and look at them in confusion.

I giggle, sitting up just enough to unclasp everything and point out what needed to come off.

Leon chuckles, “Why was that so complicated?” He settles between my legs, pushing me down in the process.

“Believe me, putting it on the first time was a pain in the-” A gasp falls past my mouth as Leon licks a stripe up my core, causing my hand to fly to his hair.

I feel him chuckle into my center, testing the waters on what I like and don’t like, what gets the most noises out of me. I feel his mouth suck around my clit as his fingers pump into my core, a loud moan falling past my lips as my back arches. I hear him laugh as he pulls away from me, moving an arm over my hips to keep me down. Leon hums into me, recognizing the way I shutter. A gasp falls past my parted lips as I pant, the knot in my stomach tightening.

“Lee…” I whimper, tugging at his hair.

“Gonna cum, love?” He muses, rolling his tongue around my clit, “Cum for me.”

I gasp again as my body shudders, mind falling blank at the way Leon is playing my body. I whimper as he continues to pump his fingers into me, moving his face against my thigh as I whimper. I mewl as he adds a second and third finger into my core, pumping relentlessly as he leaves hickies all over my thighs.

“I,” I whimper, turning my head into the pillow and biting the fabric as I try to close my legs around his hand. “I never usually, never usually try and-”

“Oh, so my pretty girl has never done anything like this? Does she like my fingers pumping in and out of her?” Leon coos, nipping at my stomach in between the question, causing me to clench around his fingers. It doesn’t take long before I am cumming again, and Leon places his mouth over my core again to lap it up.

I feel Leon move above me, lips soft as he kisses my skin. My eyes flutter open and I give a lazy smile to him as he comes level with me. “How are you feeling, love?” He kisses my cheek before kissing my lips softly.

“Like putty,” I giggle, moving to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss. It’s softer than how we had been on the couch. He lazily peppers my face in kisses, body still spasming gently as I come down from my high.

He presses a kiss to my temple, moving so his lips brush against my ear as he bucks his hips into me. I moan softly as I hear him chuckle, “You okay for one more round?” I open my mouth to respond but he continues to buck against my center, making me whimper and moan.

“Lee, I-”

“Use your words, baby, what do you want?”

I gasp again, tangling my hands into his hair as I tug his face back so that I can look at him. He smiles as he brushes his nose against mine. “You, I want you, Leon,” I whisper, using my feet to carefully push his swim trunks down as far as I can get them.

He kisses me softly, moving to reach to the side and grab something off the side table. He tears the wrapper of the condom before sitting up on his knees to push his shorts down and slip the condom on. He leans down and kisses me again, muttering a soft “Ready?” against my lips.

I nod, and thankfully he doesn’t wait any longer before sliding into me. We moan in unison, his head falling into the crook of my neck. He starts to pump in and out, keeping his pace slow unlike the last two times. He moves to bring one of my legs up for a better angle, making me moan loudly underneath him. He keeps the same pace, the knot in my stomach growing again already.

“You close, love, I don’t think I will last very long.” Leon groans, gasping as he pumps into her.

“Not to far behind you-” I whimper,

He sighs, lifting his head to meet my gaze. “You feel so good around me,” he whispers.

The two of us moan in unison as we hit our highs, my head lulling back as he rests his head against my chest. We lay like that for what feels like an hour, the two of us slowly catching our breaths. Eventually he pulls out of me with a groan and I wince at how over sensitive I am.

Leon rolls to the side sighing at the cool sheets.

“Okay,” I manage to whisper, “Have you been spying on me masterbating or some shit, that was way too good.”

Leon looks at me and smiles, “I know you, I think I should know how to make my wife feel like she’s on cloud nine.” He chuckles before pulling me into his side. His hand tangles into my hair as he rubs my head, my hand falling across his chest. “Holy shit.”

I immediately laugh, “That good?”

He shakes his head before kissing my forehead. “Better than what I imagined.”

I hum, kissing his chest before speaking, “Guess I will need to return the favor at one point-”

“I mean, you don’t have to…” He smiles softly, cheeks tinted pink.

I move to sit up a little, almost falling in the process at the fact that my legs still felt like jelly. I giggle as he holds me up, leaning down to kiss his lips softly, “I’ll get you when you least expect it.” After a few minutes lazily making out and cuddling, my ears pick up on the movie still playing in the living room.

“I think the heros are storming the castle-”

“Oh my God, Leon,” I giggle, laughing into his side. I sigh after a minute before shifting away from him.

“Where you going-”

“I have to pee, no need to get an infection.”

“Oh,” Leon chuckles, sitting up as I slowly slide out of bed, “Uh, I’ll go turn the movie off, then we can cuddle more?”

“Or you can leave it playing until the television turns off-”

“The television doesn’t turn off here on its own-”

“Then fuck the movie, stay there, I will be back!” I yell making Leon laugh loudly as I disappear, my heart happy and my body glowing. Oh, if this is the rest of my life I could die happy.

_________________________________________

A/N: WE ARE AT THE END! I hope you all enjoyed! ~CG

Masterlist

#cg writes #champion leon #champion leon x fem!reader #champion leon smut #champion leon fluff #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon leon #pokemon shield leon #pokemon sword leon #dandeleon #dande

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lycorogue · 4 years ago

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Canonically, When Does the NY Special Take Place?

So, in today’s episode of “LycoRogue way overanalyzes things”, I think ZagToon has actually given us some pretty decent evidence to more-or-less lock-in when this special takes place.

The key to narrowing it all down relies on this quick shot that the Miraculous team deemed worthy to grace us with:

This is Adrien’s bodyguard starting up a meditation app just as the flight from Paris to NYC is about to take off. This, plus the sunset showcased in the next few scenes, will help us start to narrow it all down.

So, let’s actually start with their flight. Based on a quick Google search for “fights from Paris to NYC” I got this list of potentials in November (yes, just about all of them will then give you a pop-up stating that flights are restricted to/from US because of COVID, but we’ll ignore that right now).

The airline the animators created for the special has a design that seems to mimic Air France.

So, we’ll go with Air France’s listed nonstop flight - given that Alya mentions the “looooong” flight, we don’t see or hear anything about layovers, and everyone passes out, we’ll presume it’s a nonstop flight - and say that the class was on that plane for 8hrs and 40mins, more-or-less.

Okay. So we have the flight taking off at 15:55 (3:55pm). It is roughly an 8hr and 40 minute flight. This brings the class to 00:35 (12:35am) their time. At the latest, if we go with the 8hr 55min flight listed above, they’re arriving at 00:50 (12:50am). Add in the roughly 30min drive from JFK international airport in Queens to where they’re staying somewhere presumably around midtown Manhattan, and it’s past 1am their time. No wonder Ms. Mendeleiev wants them to go directly to bed when they get to their rooms!

Anyway, back on track. So, if they’re landing somewhere between 12:35am and 12:50am their time, that means it’s between 6:35pm (18:35) and 6:50pm (18:50) Eastern Time.

Now, we won’t get into things like “how the heck did they see the sunset on the plane and it was still happening as they drove into Manhattan when it probably takes an hour to make it through disembarking and Customs and weaving through a crowded JFK alone” because there are superheroes for friggen everything in this universe canon, so we can pretend 9/11 never happened and airport chaos isn’t as bad.

Plus, the “sunset” Adrien and Marinette watched was still mostly above the cloud line, so it was closer to “golden hour”.

Now, the attack on the plane from an American supervillain and the quick capture by the main NYC/East Coast superhero team pinpoints the flight as nearing its end. They’re probably only a couple of miles out from the coast. Especially since Majestia welcomes their arrival, the flight is probably close enough to being over American soil.

Further proof: the flight is making its decent into JFK as TechnoPirate is handed over to the authorities. Since the superhero team was flying faster than the plane’s cruising speed, it shouldn’t have taken them long to land and hand him over to the probably already awaiting SWAT team.

Okay, so we have established that the plane is probably coming into JFK International between 6:35pm and 6:50pm ET, and that they are in the Golden Hour leading to the official sunset as the plane descends. Which is also why the sun isn’t close enough to the horizon for an official “sunset” quite yet as they drive through what is presumably Broadway.

I mean, it’s not crucial that it’s Broadway, but it looks like they’re aiming for it to be...

Although this one marquee says “Roadway Musical”, so....

BACK ON TOPIC!

Okay, so it’s closing in on 7pm ET - or is closer to 7:20pm if you go with the 6:50 arrival and add in the 35min drive - and it’s the Golden Hour. Based on where the sun is, I’d maybe peg the sun to be officially setting (as in, touching the horizon and sinking below it) between 7:15 and 7:45pm (19:15 and 19:45).

Plug THAT information into timeanddate.com set for Manhattan, and you’re looking at the first week of September or even the last week of August.

Alternatively, you could argue that it could also be the last week of March/first week of April.

HOWEVER, when the class arrives at the hotel and Marinette and Adrien are first trapped by the dreaded Automatic Doors, we do see this shop sign in the background sporting a jack-o-lantern design. Halloween-themed stores like this are usually seasonal and don’t open until the end of August/start of September. Spirit, the largest Halloween-themed company in the US, has its “pop-up” stores open late-August through early-November. So we’re probably looking at those September dates over the March ones.

Especially since we also get this establishing shot of the class pulling up to the museum and the second show of Adrienette vs Automatic Doors where we clearly see that some of the trees are already changing color. This solidifies that the French-American Friendship Week is indeed during autumn.

Based on that evidence, the first week of September does seem a bit early. First of all, leaves don’t start changing in NY until the last week of September/1st two weeks of October, depending on how dry/cold the weather has been. So, what if we take the dialogue at face value and ignore that “sunset” is when the sun touches the horizon? What if we take it as “the start of Golden Hour when the sky becomes more of that orange hue”? In that case, we’re going back to the projected arrival time and using THOSE times against that one website.

The US premiere - which ended up being the world premiere - of this special was on September 25, which had a sunset time of 6:47pm. It could be a nice, neat way to have the air date be the canon date of this special and the class’s arrival within NYC. We can even bump it to the premiere on Disney Channel France and have it be Saturday, September 26th, with a sunset time of 6:45pm ET. This way it makes sense that Marinette wouldn’t already be with her class leading up to the bus departure, since it would be a Saturday and non-school day, as well as why Luka would be available to give her that ride at about 3pm (15:00) instead of being in school/just getting out of school himself.

Also, if Adrien still has the same schedule he did back in “Copycat”, he has fencing practices on Fridays.

We know that post-practice, Adrien tells Kagami that his class is going to NYC “tomorrow”, which would seem to confirm that the class is flying out Saturday afternoon. Kagami’s “I’ll see you tomorrow” and mention of "give us more time to practice” doesn’t necessarily mean fencing class and instead probably explains what they do for “dates” in this awkward “are we dating now?” limbo they’re in.

So, what do you think? Is their NYC trip from Saturday, September 26th through Monday, September 28th? Should we give more attention to the actual sunset times and have the trip be the first week of September?

Regardless of how we time the sunset, this trip IS in autumn, but it’s also after everything that’s happened in the first 3 seasons, which most likely means this is the start of a new school year. How do we feel about the entire class lucking into being in Miss Bustier’s class again; no new students and not losing anyone to a different class? What about the fact that Marinette and Adrien have officially been Ladybug and Chat Noir for a full year, and that Paris has been surviving Hawk Moth attacks apparently daily for that year? What about the fact that Adrien’s birthday is probably right around the corner again? You think they’ll do another episode focusing on that and how it differs from his birthday in “The Bubbler”?

What’s your theory on everything? Do you have more evidence to lock this date down further?

#ML #Miraculous Ladybug #ML NY special #ML spoilers #Miraculous Ladybug spoilers #ML NY special spoilers #essay #LycoRogue analysis #LycoRogue original #meta #analysis #over-analysis #visual cues #visual clues #canon timeline #I spent way too much time on this #I just wanted to rewatch the special #and I fell down a rabbit hole instead #long post

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tom-holland-stuff · 5 years ago

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The Exchange

chapter one

my masterlist

summery: Y/n gets the opportunity to study abroad in her last year of schooling. What will happen when she finds that her host family is related to the one and only spider man.

A/N: ok so here is chapter one. i only quickly checked it cause i really wanted to post it and i finished it literally just then so i hope you enjoy.

let me know if you want to be tagged x.

warnings: none

word count: 1.1K

I try to stay positive while on planes cause you know, you’re only in a tube made of metal that is hurtling through the sky thousands of feet above the ground (wow have you ever met someone who loves to travel but hates flying haha…. Me). But anyway, it’s hard to stay positive when there are small children constantly crying and kicking your seat. How do kids have so much energy? I can bearly get myself out of bed in the morning.

Exiting the plane is a blur as all I can think about is the exciting experience that lays ahead. Before I departed I was given information about the family that I was going to be living with. From what I can remember they are a large family, 4 boys to be exact, but not all of them live at home. They have one boy close who still attends school but he is a bit younger than me. I think his name was Patty? Paddy? No it was definitely Paddy.

I’m brought out of my thoughts by a female voice coming over the comms in forming passengers that our luggage pick up is at number 4. I quickly brush past people in an order to make my way to collect my bags before that area becomes over crowded. I than make my way of to the information desk closest to gate where I shall meet one of the few exchange organisers.

as I approach the desk I notice a young lady wearing a bright orange t-shirt holding a sign saying ‘International Student Exchange’. I make my way towards the lady. “Hi are you an international student?” She asks me. I reply with a “yes I am” and then she proceeds to point me in the direction of another young women who seems to be holding a list. The lady informs me that I will get my name marked off and then I will be escorted with some other students towards the pick up area, where the host families will be waiting for us.

As we begin to walk towards the exit of the airport butterfly start to form in my stomach. As soon as I walk through these doors I will meet the family that I will have to live with for the next 6 months of my life.

We walk through the doors and the airport is buzzing with life (and this is only the entrance and exit) we are ushered towards a small area near one of the main exits. just in front of the door I see a bunch of people waiting and talking. They must be the host families. The lady who escorted a bunch of us begins to talk to the people waiting and informs them that she will read out the name of the student and the family, they must sign a form and grab a schedule and then they are free to leave. “Callie Turner, Williams family” she begins. I few more names and family are called before I hear “Y/N L/N, Holland family”. I step forward to see an older women with red hair and two boys one is a bit taller than the lady and the other one is much shorter. “Hi you must be Charlie” the older women goes for a hug, to my surprise. “Yes! And you must be/ Nikki” she cuts me off as I return the hug. We break apart and she turns to the two boys “ This is one of why second youngest, Sam.” She states as she point towards the taller boy. “Hi” he says in a soft voice as he extends his hand for me to shake. I politely reach out and shake his hand and whisper a “hi”. “And this is paddy” Nikki States as she points to the shorter boy. I go to shake my hand and say “ hi” but I’m met with a strong and enthusiastic shake. “Hi, y/n, its going to be so exciting going to school with you. Even though we are going to be in seperate year groups, I get to be that one kid who can say ‘ I have that older exchange friend form Australia who rides kangaroos to school’” he states. I can’t help but laugh at the energetic boy.

After I grab my schedule we begin to make our way to wards the car park, but not before the two boys offer to help me with my bags. As we head towards the car park Nikki begins to inform me of the rest of the family. “So you’ve met Sam and Paddy now, but I do have two other boys. The eldest being Thomas and the Harry who is Sam’s twin”. “I’m the better one” sam quickly jumps in which makes me laugh. Hhmmm one of those names sounds familiar but I can’t seem to think of where I would know it, but then again Thomas is a popular name so it could literally be anyone. “ sure..” Nikki roles her eyes at her son “ the other too are away at the moment, but they actually get back the day that school goes back” Nikki explains to me earning a groan from paddy.

We all pile into the car and begin the journey to my new home. Through out the car ride paddy goes on to tell me all the fun things that his school has to offer, such as; dance, drama and music programs. Football (or as Australians call it, soccer), swimming and other sport teams. One thing is for sure, I’m definitely am never going to be bored. “ so a house full of boys?” I ask Nikki as she drives. “Yes” she laughs “I love em to death but there is sometimes too much testosterone in the house. It will be good to have a girl in the house” she explains.

We pull up a driveway in front of a lovely two story house in the suburban area of South West London. we all jump out of the car and begin to unload my bags and make our way towards the entrance of the house. The house isn’t modern but it doesn’t look old either. Decorated with various plants I can tell that this home has housed the family fo quite some time. Nikki opens the front door and we enter the house. once I’ve entered I here a pitter patter of small feet…. Wait, no PAWS. OMFG THEY HAVE A DOG. I turn around to see a staff heading straight towards the group of us. The dog jumps up onto me and almost knocks me over but I quickly regain me balance. “And this is Tessa” Sam says as he points his hand towards the puppy. “ oh my god she is too cute” I say as she bends down and scratch her ears.

This is differently going to be the best 6 months. EVER.

A/N: i promise Tom will enter in the next chapter. let me know if you have requests or want to be tagged x.

The Exchange Tags:

@eridanuswave

#tom holland #tom x reader #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland x y/n #peter parker #peterparker #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker headcanon #peter parker x reader #tomholland #harry holland #sam holland #zendaya #spider-man: far from home #spider-man: homecoming #spiderman #fanfiction #fanfiction series

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honeymoonjin · 6 years ago

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A/N: It’s here!!! Like I said before, this fic will be a lot lighter and more humor-based than DOPE, so that you have some variety! 3k words.

LOST IN TRANSLATION ↳What do you do when you have no qualifications but want to see the world? You help teach English in a Korean primary school, apparently. ↳Principal!Jin, math teacher!Yoongi, PE teacher!Hoseok, English teacher!Namjoon, school nurse!Jimin, art teacher!Taehyung, and science teacher!Jungkook.

CHAPTER ONE ↳You arrive in Seoul and begin to meet the teachers you’ll be spending your whole year with.

You hover awkwardly in the arrivals foyer, consulting your phone again, reading the email you had been sent a week ago. According to the information given, there should’ve been someone there for you already, waiting to drive you to the school.

But no matter how often you glanced around, up on your tiptoes as you tried to scan the massive area of Incheon International Airport, you couldn’t see any signs with your name on them.

Oh shit, you thought, what if they’ve written my name in Hangeul? You sigh and begin another dutiful look-over, deeply focused on the countless signs with Korean characters on them, trying to recognise ones that would make up your first or last name.

You just about jump out of your skin when someone taps you on the shoulder out of nowhere.

“Are you Y/n, here for teaching?” He’s younger than you were expecting for a schoolteacher, although you remember the email stating he was in charge of physical education and the rec sports teams, so maybe it was better to have someone still pretty fit. And he definitely was fit. Although he was in a grass-stained polo shirt and basketball shorts, he had a contagious smile and kind eyes, and his dark, wavy hair was endearingly a little bit messy.

Clearly you were looking over him for a little too long, because he smiles sheepishly and pats down his shirt. “Sorry about the messy clothes. I came straight from practice.”

You frown, hoping your Korean will be at least coherent if not entirely correct. “But it is 8am.”

He gives you a wide beam and laughs a little as you get through the sentence one syllable at a time. “Yes, soccer practice is from 6am to 7:30 on a Monday morning.”

“Oh. The kids still play soccer when it is very early?”

He shrugs, beginning to lead you towards the carpark area. “Actually, we have 6am sport every day of the week. Soccer on Monday, basketball on Tuesday, swimming on Wednesday. You get the idea.”

“And you teach all sport teams?”

“Your Korean is fantastic, you know?” He chimes the final part in a cutely accented English, and you blush at the praise, shaking your head modestly. “I teach almost all of the sport teams. Technically the mathematics competition team is classified as a sports team, but Teacher Min does that. You’ll meet him later.”

You nod slowly as he talks, a little overwhelmed by how fast he’s speaking. You had studied the language for five years, but all of the other teacher’s assistants you had spoken to had said a thousand times how when you were finally confronted by a native speaker in that country, your mind went blank and you forgot every single word.

It was what you had been obsessively worrying about on the whole red-eye flight over, and you were lucky that some last minute studying had made you feel a little more confident in your abilities.

He comes to a stop beside a shabby Nissan, unlocking it and gesturing for you to get into the passenger side. It smells like sweat in there, and you can see a random assortment of various balls and other equipment stashed into the backseat and boot. “Sorry about the mess in the back,” he apologises, starting the car up and pulling away towards the exits.

“You don’t need to apologise, I’m very thankful you drive me from airport to school.” The matter is forgotten completely as the car breaches the exit and your eyes are filled with light. Several skyscrapers dot the horizon line in the near distance, and everything looks so advanced and modern. There’s a large amount of people milling around outside, and the traffic just around the airport is rather congested, but the man navigates it with ease. You sit in a comfortable silence for a good half an hour before directing your gaze back inside the car with a sudden thought. “Sorry, I don’t know your name now.”

“Oh, you forgot?”

“Ah, yes, I forgot.”

He glances over at you intermittingly, hands relaxed on the wheel as he winds through the streets of Seoul. “My name’s Hoseok. Well, Teacher Jung.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Y/n.” You purse your lips in the awkward silence that falls, trying to work out something grammatically correct to say. “Uh, the school is good? You like it?”

He hums his affirmation, and with a surprised blink you realize the car is already pulling up to a relatively small primary school, heading towards the staff parking. “You’ll love it here. The kids are great, and the staff are more like family.” He slides into a park in one clean swoop and stops the car. “Alright, out we go.”

You can’t see much of the school before you’re taken straight to the reception building, but it looks like there are only five or six classroom blocks out back, all lined up around a slightly bumpy and overgrown sports field. When you had applied to three different schools in South Korean, they were all smaller schools. You had decided you’d feel more comfortable with a rural primary school rather than a large one in the city. But you hadn’t connected the dots that a school away from the hustle and bustle of the city meant that funding wasn’t so high.

It probably worked out quite well for a school like this to get a teacher’s assistant. You had paid for your own flights, and they basically just provided you with a homestay for accommodation and a small weekly allowance for your work. Coming fresh out of a half-completed university degree, it was a nice break from student life for you, and a good opportunity for them to save a little money on staff.

One thing that immediately stuck out to you was the lack of receptionist in the reception office. Technically, it looked more like a waiting room with a few offices branching off. Hoseok bounced up to the door right across from the main entrance and rapped three times.

Principal Kim Seokjin, the plaque read, and the amount of time it took you to work that out by reading the characters, the door was falling inwards, and a warm voice called out, “Ah, Y/n, come in!”

You look up from the silver engraving and your mouth falls open. In the correspondence that had occurred between you and the principal, you had always imagined a grouchy but softhearted, slightly older gentleman. Okay, if you were honest with yourself, you just imagined Ji Seokjin from Running Man. If the shoe fits; but in this case it most certainly didn’t.

It felt like you had stumbled straight onto a cheesy k-drama set. He had honey blonde hair that swept over his much darker eyebrows, perfect bone structure and full, pouty lips that made you want to pass out just so he could perform mouth-to-mouth. “Uh…Yes, I’m Y/n. Nicetomeetyousir.”

He grins at your rushed introduction and invites you in to sit. His office is warmer than outside, and you automatically tune in to the principal’s brief conversation with Hoseok as you take off your coat and scarf.

“…those clothes. Didn’t you have time for a shower?”

“Why am I not hearing ‘Thank you, Hoseok, I’m so grateful, Hoseok’? I could’ve easily gotten Yoongi to go. She would’ve turned right back around and hopped on the next plane out of here.”

“Go back to class, Jung. Year 3 PE starts in eight minutes.”

“You’re most welcome for picking her up, sir. I appreciate the thanks.”

Principal Kim huffs and shuts the door gently behind him, making his way back to sit behind the large desk you were sitting across from. As your gaze follows him around the room, you notice a few frames nailed to the wall; a teaching certificate, a local management award, a photo of the school itself, and, larger than the rest, a professionally-shot picture of himself, with a white blouse and some round-framed glasses, lips slightly parted and staring dead-on into the camera.

You cough lightly as he turns to you with the exact same posture and expression. “How was your flight?”

“Good. I slept the flight.” Every time you say a sentence, you cringe internally when you know you’ve messed up, but he doesn’t really seem to react.

He breaks the gaze, reaches into a drawer and pulls out a stapled pile of pages, tossing it over to you to flick through. “There’s a map of the premises, though I imagine you’ll be able to find your way around soon enough, a copy of the official contract, and some general advice for living in Korea. Don’t worry too much about all that, since you’ll be living with a member of staff. He’ll take you to and from work each day and we’ve given him some extra funding for meals for you.”

You nod gratefully. “Thank you, sir. It is very helpful.”

A grin lights up his face as he leans back in his chair. “Now, that’s the boring stuff out of the way, are you ready for a tour?”

You blink, not understanding one of the words he used. “Tour?”

He gestures vaguely around himself. “I’ll show you the school, introduce you to our other teachers, that’s what tour means.”

“Oh, I see. Yes, let’s do it!”

One of the first things you learn about Kim Seokjin is that he walks pretty fast with those long legs of his, and you spent so much energy on half-jogging to keep up with him, that as he explained the history of the school, you couldn’t really focus on that too. You tried your best to make general sounds of surprise or agreement so that he thought you were listening, and hoped you weren’t missing anything too important.

It wasn’t until you finished following him around the school field that he comes to a halt outside the first classroom and you can finally zone in on what he’s saying. “…is the physical education classroom since it’s the closest to our equipment shed. Jung is teaching in there now, but you’ve already met him, so we won’t go in. You won’t really have to go over here much, but I thought I should mention that if you ever get here early, this is the only classroom that’s unlocked since it’s where the kids meet for early morning sport. There’s a bathroom in there too, so it’s a good place to stay warm until we officially open at 8am.”

You barely have to walk fifteen meters to be standing in front of the second building. Instead of staying outside on the concrete quad, he leads you up a short wooden ramp and into a small locker room. When he continues speaking, he’s dropped his voice to a stage whisper. “To the left, Class 2, that’s a basic room, we have most classes like Korean, English and Math in there.” He pops up to the small window on the door. “Ah, Min’s doing Year 5 math. Let’s go in.”

“Oh, we don’t have to…”

Your protests go unheard as he barges right in without knocking. “Can they do Pythagoras yet, Teacher Min?”

A low voice from inside the classroom calmly replies, “You can’t do Pythagoras yet, Seokjin.”

Principal Kim turns to you from half-in, half-out of the doorway, and tips his head over to get you to follow him inside.

The voice belongs to a man with dark hair and perfect skin. Like Principal Kim, he’s pretty young, and you’re beginning to regret not listening better to Kim’s speech, wondering if he had explained why all the teachers looked well under thirty so far. He’s lounging at the desk, one leg crossed leisurely over the other, eyebrows raised from behind his glossy bangs. His students, kids around 9 years old staring blankly at the three division questions written on the blackboard.

“You haven’t placed first in a regional beauty pageant, but you don’t see me complaining,” Kim bites back.

The teacher quirks his lips up a little in bemusement. “I wonder how long it’ll take you to realize that’s not a relevant achievement in the line of education.” His dark eyes flick over to you, and he raises his eyebrows further. “The new kid arrived?”

You bow to him. “Hello, my name is Y/n, nice to meet you.”

Principal Kim smiles benevolently and turns to the kids, who have long since given up on the math questions and are watching the interaction with wide eyes. “Children, Y/n will be helping you with your English. Take good care of her.” He leans over to you. “Say a little something about yourself.”

If there’s one thing worse than being put on the spot for an icebreaker, it’s being put on the spot for an icebreaker in a foreign language. Your mind whirs on double-time as you desperately try to find something interesting to say. “I have not been to Korea before, it is very kind here but more winter than my home country.”

An unreadable smile plays on Teacher Min’s lips. “What a relief that it’s English you’ll be teaching.”

You blush violently as Kim scolds the Teacher and quickly hustles you out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him with a little more vigor than usual. “Sorry about Min. He’s the only math teacher we could find. You’ll get used to him.”

“It’s fine,” you breath out with an awkward laugh, “I know my Korean is not good. I want to learn better here.”

He pats you on the shoulder, then points behind you. “That there is our art classroom, I’ll introduce you to Teacher Kim.” You frown. “Different Kim. Actually, there are three Kims at the school including me, so we call the other two Art Kim and English Kim. Anyway, let’s go in.”

You’ve always been a little biased towards the arts; you would’ve gone to university to study art history and painting were it not for your parents insistence that education was a much better field, and so it gave you a certain kind of wonder to see the people that had pursued their dreams in the field, and the kind of life they led where their job was their passion.

Your first impression of the classroom was how chaotic it was compared to the one across the hall. Instead of four lines of chairs and tables, students were bunched into small groups dotted around the room. The room itself was lined with benches; some had sinks where old streaks of paint led down the drain, some had boxes of charcoal sticks and pastels, others held cardboard sculptures and mock-ups. A fond smile played on your face at the scene you were met with. Principal Kim had chosen not to noisily announce his presence, and you could see the teacher looking like a giant on the extra small and short children’s chairs, talking quietly but passionately to a student attempting to draw an old green bottle that sat in the middle of the table.

His voice was surprisingly deep, and his hair was much longer than most men you had seen, flopping over in the front and reaching near his shirt collar in the back. Like every art teacher you had ever met, he had an endearingly quirky fashion sense, wearing a patchy pink woolen robe over a dress shirt and pants. The other students at the table bunched up as best they could, listening intensely and looking at him like he was explaining all the secrets of the universe. You remembered that feeling of awe well.

He glanced up when the principal called out his name, and let a boxy smile overtake his face. He quickly excused himself from the table and stood up to his full height, approaching you two as the kids called out in disappointment behind him.

You notice that when Principal Kim introduces the two of you, Art Kim never once takes his eyes off of you, staring at your face with some intent curiosity. You smile at him awkwardly and give a short bow. “Nice to meet you, Teacher Kim. Art is my favorite school subject.”

His lips drop open slightly. “Oh, really? Why do you like art?”

You weren’t prepared for the extremely open-ended and opinionated question, and it takes you a moment of stumbling over your words to get any coherent thought out. “Well, I see…no, I think art is, uh, beautiful, because it is…um, it is like a conversation from artist to person looking. I’m sorry, that doesn’t make sen-”

“It makes perfect sense,” he cuts you off quickly. His chestnut hair glows under the harsh lights in the room and his eyes stare deeply into yours. “You’re completely right. Art isn’t just a picture, it’s meant to be given and experienced. The artist is sending a message to the viewer, of course, but art is nothing if the viewer doesn’t see it and give something back, even if it’s just an emotion or an analysis.”

You don’t understand most of the words he just said. “Yes, exactly.”

He smiles at you again, shyly this time. “It is very nice to meet you, Y/n. I look forward to seeing you around.”

Principal Kim looks back and forth between the two of you, blinking like he’s just as lost in the conversation as you are. “Thank you for your time, Teacher Kim, we will be moving on with the tour now.”

Art Kim bows quickly and gives you a cute little wave, then goes back to his students, pulling up a chair at a different table and immediately entering into a conversation about whether the young boy should make the sky orange and the sun blue instead of doing it the normal way.

Once you’ve left the building and stand outside in front of classroom 4, Principal Kim turns to you and tuts. “Ah, this tour is so boring! Math and drawing pictures. But don’t worry, next is the science blo-”

He’s cut off by a loud bang coming from inside, which is paired with a flash of white and kids squealing in excitement and delight. A thin wisp of smoke trails out of one of the half-open windows.

Principal Kim lets out an exhausted sigh. “Dammit, Jeon Jungkook.”

TAGLIST Send me a message or an ask if you wish to be added, and you’ll be notified every time I post a new chapter of LiT.

#bts fic #bts x reader #bts au #bts imagine #bts scenarios #seokjin x reader #jimin x reader #hoseok x reader #taehyung x reader #jungkook x reader #namjoon x reader #yoongi x reader

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geneshaven · 6 years ago

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Mother And Daughter

Part Two

Donna was parked in front of a Lucky Seven’s slot machine on the outskirts of the baggage claim area. Felicity’s plane had just landed a few minutes ago and Donna began to feel the anxiety that settled on her after she had sent that text to her daughter. A part of her felt as if Felicity was now a stranger, and after the discovery Donna made about her and Oliver being some kind of vigilante hero team; well it was a gamer changer. She had a thousand questions for her daughter, and at the same time, she didn’t know what she was going to say to her.

The slot machine paid off twenty dollars as three bars lined up. Donna listened to the electronic payoff, a sound that she never really got used to after the casinos took away the coin-operated machines and replaced them with the electronic, almost industrial type of machine that gave the player all the bells and whistles, but without the ambiance of actual coins dropping into the hopper at the bottom. She wasn’t really sure how important this observation was when held up against the coming confrontation with Felicity, but she still missed the old school aspect of how Vegas used to be.

The past month for Donna had been like an awakening for her. Some of that awareness was still imprinted beneath the scarf tied around her neck, fading bruises she got from Damion Darkhe when he held her by the throat and tried to get Felicity to play his evil game. Things seemed to slow down on that crazy night, and as she felt her life force draining from her body as Darkhe held her aloft, the slow motion effect and the pace of events that followed crashed in on her as she realized that things are not always as they seem. Donna had not a clue that her daughter was involved with a man who wore a green hood and had many roles to play under it---temporary Mayor, lover and brother, father; a whole lineup of parts to play. Donna was still a little disappointed that Felicity would keep something like this from her for so long. But she had to admit that she had kept the same level of secret from her daughter about her father. Another twenty dollar payoff beeped from her slot machine as Donna fed her mind with everything that had happened in just four short weeks.

After she and Quentin left Star City, even then she could sense something was wrong with her new man. As they drove south to Vegas, Quentin seemed to digress the further away they drove from his city. He was silent as the miles passed, returning his focus on the inner turmoil he was still dealing with after Laurel died. And then, on the outskirts of Carson City, he suddenly opened up to her and revealed his part in helping the Green Arrow take down Damion Darkhe. He told Donna who the Green Arrow was under the mask and how he brought Quentin closure when Oliver took Darkhe out. As his words rolled over her, Donna made the connection between Oliver and Felicity. She began to feel cold inside as the secret life her daughter was living became clear.

Donna reached up and took her money card from the slot machine. She turned around on her chair and glanced over to where the passengers from Felicity’s flight would come to get their baggage. It was almost in desperation that Donna had sent that text to Felicity. She wanted to have her daughter with her, she wanted to understand how Felicity’s life became such an adventure. She wanted to let Felicity know that maybe Donna wanted to be a part of that adventure.

One thing she was sure of----both of them needed to sit down and be honest with each other. They needed to build a new common ground to stand on. But she needed to hear Felicity’s story. She needed to have it in her life.

Then the passengers began to flow into the baggage claim area and Donna saw Felicity tucked in with them.

Felicity spotted Donna standing off from the crowd gathered at the baggage turnstile. Shades of what happened to her mom back in Star City still lingered; her mother’s eyes looked unfocused and lackluster. She looks tired, Felicity thought. They already had something more in common now that the dust had settled from the events that opened up this Pandora’s box between them. Felicity was tired as well. The last year for her had been one of fulfillment, beginning in Ivy Town, and then it turned darker as Oliver lied to her about his son, kept something that important from her. A sudden vision of them at the tree lighting ceremony and Oliver down on a knee displayed itself in her mind and heart again. Her weariness deepened. But Felicity did not come to Vegas to rest. As she approached her mother and put her arms around her, Felicity still had nothing but love in her embrace as Donna returned her hug.

“So, how was your flight,” Donna said as she pulled away to examine her daughter more closely. She reached out and brushed Felicity’s hair. “I know you don’t like to fly.”

“I’m okay, mom. But there was a man in the seat across the aisle from mine who was snoring so loudly it almost caused its own turbulence. Man, that approach to the airport was frightening. I will probably drive down the next time I come to visit.”

Donna smiled and waited for Felicity to make the next move.

“Well, let’s get out of here.” Felicity went over to the baggage carousel and got the large sports bag she had packed her stuff in. Then she took Donna by the arm and the two of them left the airport. They were about to take another journey together and Felicity had a sudden feeling that she was not standing on such unstable ground. She felt that her mom would be okay with the story Felicity was going to tell her. Donna knows about love. And if her daughter is happy, she will be too.

But the biggest feeling inside of Felicity was relief. She was still building the trust she had lost with Oliver when he lied to her about William, but maybe her mom will be the deciding factor. Maybe she could help remind Felicity that her and Oliver had found each other in one another. Maybe Felicity will find her own answers in the questions that were sure to come from Donna.

“I guess we have some things to talk about,” Felicity said to her mother. They climbed into an Uber and drove toward the neon jungle of Vegas.

Oliver’s plane landed in Vegas twenty minutes after Felicity and Donna left the airport. It touched down and Oliver was just getting his breath back after the crazy turbulence the plane went through on the way down to the runway. When it rolled to a stop in front of the gate, Oliver was already up in the aisle awaiting his turn to disembark.

When Felicity showed him the text Donna had sent, telling her daughter that she knew who he was and that the secret Felicity had kept from her was now out in the open, Oliver did not feel as exposed as when he told Thea or Roy, or even John. It wasn’t the same thing with Felicity when he first told her. Mostly because he was in love with, even though he had not fully embraced that love at the beginning. He was still lost in the darkness he brought back from Lian Yu and the thought of allowing himself that kind of vulnerability was not something he could let in.

Oliver moved down the aisle of his plane and nodded a smile at the flight attendant poised by the door. Then he moved through the terminal. He did not bring any luggage with him, so he bypassed the baggage claim area and went over to the car rental agencies lined up against the wall next to one of the airport’s main entrances. He got himself a small sedan and went out to retrieve it. Steering the car away from the airport, Oliver drove the six miles to Donna’s apartment.

Even though Felicity did not invite him to come to Vegas with her, Oliver made his decision shortly after he read that text. He arranged with City Hall to be out of Star City for a couple days. He wasn’t sure how it would look if the provisional Mayor left shortly after assuming the office, but Oliver didn’t care. Family was and always has been more important to him in the long run.

He was going to be there for Felicity. For both of them. It was because of him and the life he chose to live when he put on the hood that Felicity and Donna were now charting new territory between them.

Oliver was always going to be a part of that, a part of their lives.

@swordandarrow @it-was-a-red-heeler @memcjo @hope-for-olicity @icannotbelieveiamhere

#Donna and Felicity #And Oliver

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truthofherdreams · 6 years ago

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life behind the camera (#3)

also on ao3 + main instalment + outtakes

“So, Peter’s mother,” is how Lara Jean introduces the subject as she sits on John Ambrose’s couch.

He’s done filming for today’s video, laptop propped up in front of him and slowly importing the video he will then start to edit. She caught him at a good time – not yet too busy – but still he arches a surprised eyebrow at her.

“Rachel Kavinsky,” he spells out slowly, deliberately. “Doesn’t like me much, to be honest.”

“What, you? No! You’re like, the poster boy for parents to like.”

He grins and she’s reminded of how handsome he is, in such a different way. Peter is Hollywood-handsome, the kind you find in magazines and movies and everywhere. John is more old-school, like he tumbled out of a black and white movie and decided to just salary living in modern times. Not for the first time, LJ wonders why he’s not dating anyone. It would be so easy for him to find someone to fall in love in love with him.

“Right,” he laughs. “She’s the exception though.” LJ doesn’t reply anything, but her confusion must show in the puzzled look on her face, because John sighs a little. His shoulders drop, slouching a bit as he looks for his words. “Peter ever told you what we were doing before moving to LA?”

She shakes her head. She knows they moved here when they were 19, and Chris followed them a few months later when Peter convinced her to join the squad. Greg was already living in LA when they met him, and Lucas showed up about a year later. Then came along Lara Jean, a few years down the road. But she never questioned what happened before, or how it all led them where they are, because she already knows. Passion, hard work, and their fair share of luck. She’s been through it too.

John sighs as he leans further into his seat. “Of course, he wouldn’t,” he says with a shake of the head, hand rubbing against his face. “We were both in college together, same room and everything. I was valedictorian so I got a scholarship for my grades; Peter got in with a scholarship for the Lacrosse team. That’s when his channel really started to explode too, because we had more time to film and edit and actually create quality content.”

She gets it, she thinks. It’s not something she can relate to herself, because her channel was already doing good enough by the time she left high school, so she only had to find a part-time job in the local bakery to help daddy with the bills. It wasn’t long before she was able to live off her channel, and she only waited until Kitty was done with school too before they moved to LA together. She never got to worry about a degree, or college, or even getting in.

But Peter did. Peter got it, did a full year of it while still producing content every week for his online audience. “You both dropped out to come to LA,” she guesses and finishes for John. It does make sense.

“That we did. And it was mostly my idea, so of course Rachel blames me for influencing Peter, and keeping him from his brilliant sport career, and all of this. I think it’s easier for her to blame me than to blame Peter, which is fine. We don’t interact nearly enough for it to be a problem, but. Yeah. She doesn’t like me much.”

“That’s stupid,” she comments. Because it really is, in a way. “I don’t know anyone who could force Peter to do something he doesn’t want.”

John’s smile is pleased, if a little shy, before he snorts a laugh and raises an eyebrow. “Well, I do know one person.”

Lara Jean finds herself blushing.

…

Lara Jean’s history with Oregon stops at one or two visits to Portland during tours, and that’s about it. She’s never been anywhere else, especially not somewhere as remotely lost in the middle of nowhere as Greenpoint. Their plane lands in the little hours of the morning, and then Peter rents a car at the airport, and everything is grey and cold outside, having her adjust the scarf around her neck and missing California’s weather already. She can’t remember her life before being able to wear skirts without tights, a life where cardigan were not just a night option.

They drive for two hours before Greenpoint’s town sign welcomes them. It’s a little town like there are so many in the USA, not unlike the one Lara Jean comes from. Houses built in residential areas, a sad little main street, corner shops everywhere, one lone Walmart at the outskirt of town. Try as she might, she can’t picture Peter and Chris and John growing up here. It’s too quiet, too empty. Like they had to compensate with their loud Youtube personalities to fill the void left by the town, like being loud on camera was overcompensating for the quiet of the place.

Peter drives by his old high school, just to show her. There’s a football stadium he says used to be for lacrosse practice too, and this one building where the cafeteria was, where John and he came up with so many ideas for Vines and videos. Lara Jean has seen pictures, Peter-as-a-teenager with his too tall body and too skinny shoulders, John with a stupid haircut, clothes that looked ridiculous. She tries to associate those images to everything she sees around her. But there is so little of Peter in those buildings.

His house is different. Better. There are family pictures everywhere, for one, him and Owen at different periods of their lives, from babies to toddlers to young adults. Boy sneakers still lined up by the door. A few sport trophies on display in the living room, and the fridge packed with Peter’s favourite snacks and those bottles of kombucha nobody else drinks.

His bedroom is the best.

It’s like someone froze time when he was seventeen, its own little millennial bubble. The bed is made, dark blue tartan, but everything else is a rightful mess. An old laptop sits on the desk, next to a mirrorless camera. Posters from overrated movies he’s forced her to watch at least once are on the walls, along with pictures of him and John, him and Owen, and even one of him and Gen that he takes down and throws in the bin. A few books here and there, mostly comics or hard scifi. More trophies than Lara Jean thought possible to win during a high school career. And clothes everywhere, one lone lacrosse stick, soccer and basket balls in the corners.

“This is so you,” she grins as she sits on his bed. It bounces a little.

“How so?” he asks as he drops their overnight bag in a corner and joins her. Kicking his shoes off, he lies down with his back against the wall, pulling at her hand until she lies down against his side.

“All over the place!”

He makes a face and she laughs. Maybe it should be weird, knowing what this bedroom has seen. She’s learnt enough from John and Chris, and sometimes even Peter, to know he only ever dated Gen before he dated her, no one else. This bedroom must have been the witness of many makeout session disguised as homework together, late-night phone calls, date planning. Lara Jean doesn’t want to be weird about it, because it is in the past. Gen’s shadow no longer has the power it once held on them, on her. She doesn’t feel second-best, or second anything. Peter loves her, and it is all that matters.

Still. Still, possessiveness surges through her as she wraps one hand around the collar of his shirt and pulls him toward her. Peter lets out a small noise at the back of his throat but doesn’t complain when she kisses him. Instead, one of his arm circles her waist and, before she knows it, Lara Jean’s back is against the mattress, Peter towering above her. She somehow wonders if this is what it feels like, making out with your high school boyfriend when the parents are not home.

“LJ,” he whispers against her lips, voice already breathless and broken. It’s been months of dating, properly dating, but Lara Jean still loves that rush, the one that comes with the knowledge of the effect she has on him. She hopes it never goes away, how it makes her heart beat faster and her skin warmer to his touch.

His hand sneaks under her skin, fingers splayed against the small of her back and bringing a shiver down her spine. She arches to be closer to him, mouth opening in a wordless gasp when his mouth find the pulsing point on her neck. That is new territory, after months of her being afraid of physical intimacy. She was so scared before, but she can’t remember why when only a touch of his hands or a kiss down her jaw lights her entire body on fire.

“I’ve been dreaming about this,” he admits with a chuckles as he noses at her collarbone.

She laughs too, and it comes out ragged and breathy. “Really?”

He nods, and lets his teeth graze against her skin.

Downstairs, a door slams.

They both startle

“Peter? Are you home?”

“Fuck.”

He lets go of her quickly and sits up. She does the same, fixing her top then her dress, carding her fingers through her hair so she can pull it up into a decent ponytail. There is no hiding the disaster that is Peter’s hair though, not when he’s been growing it out a bit and it’s now a mess of curls going in every direction. It’s hard to tame it, or at least make it look like Lara Jean didn’t just spend ten minutes destroying it with her fingers.

There is nothing to be done about their red cheeks, or the bulge in Peter’s pants, either.

“Hey, mom!” he calls back loudly. “Down in a second!”

He doesn’t meet Lara Jean’s eyes, but the way he tightens his lips is very telling; he’s trying hard not to laugh at the situation. So Lara Jean slaps his shoulder, faking affront and not-so-faking embarrassment, which truly makes him laugh. He’s already up, checking his reflexion in the mirror on his wardrobe, when Lara Jean tries to fix her tights and to ignore the warmth pooling deep in her stomach. That will have to wait.

“Ready?” he asks softly, after another attempt at fixing his hair.

“To meet your mom after a hardcore makeout session? Sure!”

He laughs once more and leans down to kiss her, hard and fast, which does nothing to help her forget how wet she already was from his kisses alone. Not exactly the right mindset for when you are about to meet your boyfriend’s mother, and her cheeks turn a deeper shade of crimson.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. She loves you already.”

That she does.

Rachel is nothing short of amazing as she coos over how pretty Lara Jean is, or how nice it was of her to bring a fresh batch of macadamia nut and white chocolate cookies, or how excited she is to finally meet one of Peter’s girlfriends. Lara Jean raises a eyebrow his way at that comment, but fills it in her ‘for later’ box. It probably shouldn’t thrill her that much, to know Gen and Mrs Kavinsky didn’t have much of a relationship, but it does. She isn’t even the slightest bit ashamed of how competitive she is, when it comes to being a more important girlfriend than Gen. Probably because she wins every round.

“It’s so sad Owen couldn’t come back for the weekend. I feel like I never get to see the both of you at the same time anymore.”

Peter rolls his eyes behind his mother’s back, but there is nothing short of fondness in the motion, before he grabs a bottle of apple juice in the fridge and pours them all drinks. “You saw us both at Christmas, mom. It was like, five months ago.”

“An eternity,” she comments. Then, turning to Lara Jean, “How do your parent cope with you being so far from them?”

She tenses, just a little, but enough for Peter to notice. He winces visibly. “Mom, I told you LJ’s mom passed away. It’s only her dad now.”

His mother lets out a little ‘oh’ of surprise, but Lara Jean cuts her off before she can even think of offering an empty apology. She is used to those by now, after all. “Actually, our mother wanted us to leave the nest and live our best lives. My older sister went to uni in Scotland, so LA is right next door for my father, in comparison.”

“And you guys facetime all the time. Which we do too, mom, if you remember!”

“Still,” his mother sighs, moving closer to him so she can wrap one arm around his shoulders. She’s almost as tall as Peter is. “You could visit more often.”

He kisses her cheek. “I will, I promise.”

…

Dinner is a quiet affair of homemade lasagna followed by bowls of ice cream in front of the television. Mrs Kavinsky doesn’t do the embarrassing thing with the family albums, but she does offer her fair share of embarrassing childhood stories that have Lara Jean laughing and Peter blushing.

They both offer to take care of the dishes, and work in comfortable silence side by side, the same way they do after a night in at Lara Jean’s. Everything is so peaceful and quiet, she understands how it makes for a lovely place to raise up children.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” he tells her once all the dirty dishes are either in the dishwasher or cleaned and put away. “I told her about your mom but…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” She sits on the kitchen island, and smiles when Peter puts his hands on her knees to pull them apart and stand between her legs. He smiles too, and they stay like this for a while, forehead against forehead, silent and loving. Which of course means Lara Jean has to ruin it. “You never told me what happened with your dad.”

Peter sucks in a breath. “They got a divorce when I was six. Owen was just a baby back then. As far as I know, he’s got a brand new family now. It’s like, whatever.”

Her fingers find his jaw, nails scratching against his late-evening shadow. He closes his eyes and leans against her touch. “We don’t have to talk about it, but it’s not whatever.”

He smiles, his hands grabbing her hips a little too possessively. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“It’s always worth a repeat.”

#covinsky #covinsky fanfic #covinsky ff #to all the boys I've loved before #fanfic #ff: tatbilb #ff: do it for the views

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newstfionline · 3 years ago

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Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Two travelers submitted fake vaccination cards before flying to Toronto. Each was fined nearly $16,000. (Washington Post) Before two passengers flew from the United States to Toronto last month, they submitted required copies of their vaccination cards and negative coronavirus test results to a portal reviewed by Canadian authorities. But it wasn’t until they arrived in Canada the week of July 18 that officials discovered the documents the pair presented were fraudulent, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a news release Friday. Now, each passenger must pay fines totaling nearly $16,000 (about $20,000 Canadian) for submitting “false documentation” and failing to comply with quarantine and testing requirements. Both travelers were Canadian citizens. In Canada, airline passengers who are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus must spend three nights upon arrival at a hotel approved by the government and submit proof of a 14-day quarantine plan, even if they have tested negative for the coronavirus or have already recovered from the illness. They must also submit proof of a negative coronavirus test taken at least 72 hours before their flight. Upon arrival, passengers must get a second coronavirus test and collect a kit containing a test they must take on Day 8 of their quarantine.

Senators produce $1T infrastructure bill (AP) After much delay, senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, wrapping up days of painstaking work on the inches-thick bill and launching what is certain to be a lengthy debate over President Joe Biden’s big priority. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act clocked in at some 2,700 pages, and senators could begin amending it soon. Despite the hurry-up-and-wait during a rare weekend session, emotions bubbled over once the bill was produced Sunday night. A key part of Biden’s agenda, the bipartisan bill is the first phase of the president’s infrastructure plan. It calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years above projected federal levels, what could be one of the more substantial expenditures on the nation’s roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and the electric grid in years.

Abandoned oil wells (AP) In 1859, Pennsylvania became the site of the first successful commercial oil well in the United States. What followed was an oil boom that lasted decades, but one where nobody was actually keeping track of where people dug wells, so the technology to seal defunct or abandoned wells was still decades off. As a result, Pennsylvania is estimated to contain 100,000 to 560,000 unplugged abandoned oil wells around the state, an environmental and safety disaster. To date, Pennsylvania has located 8,700 orphaned wells. Across the country, there are an estimated 3.2 million abandoned oil and gas wells.

Europe’s heat dome (Foreign Policy) Europe could see new record-high temperatures today as a heat dome continues to drive a heat wave across the continent’s southeast. The dry conditions have already contributed to wildfires in Greece and Italy, while in Turkey at least 8 people have died in fires that have blazed since last Wednesday. Turkey has seen an unusually high number of wildfires this year—133 in total. From 2003 to 2020 Turkey averaged 43 wildfires per year, according to EU data.

Sun-seekers enjoy European summer 'workcation' before office return (Reuters) Drawn by sun, sea and speedy Wi-Fi, remote workers are converging on Europe's southernmost islands to try "workcationing" before employers order them back to the office, giving battered tourism businesses a welcome boon. Combining holiday destinations with remote work is a growing trend in Spain and Portugal's sunniest archipelagos, as travel bans ease and the starved tourism industry offers discounted stays and dedicated workspaces. The remote workers register as tourists, making them hard to quantify, but evidence of their presence is ubiquitous, from new co-working spaces sprouting up to stickers advertising free, extra-powerful Wi-Fi in many restaurants, cafes and bars. The "Nomad List" website counted the Canary island of Tenerife among the 10 fastest-growing destinations for teleworking in the first seven months of 2021, after the trend began last year.

Boar battle (Washington Post) In the Brandenburg forest, a bounding 4-year-old black Belgian shepherd named Uschi picks up a scent. Wearing a neon high-visibility jacket, she stops by an overturned tree and barks. In the mud is the rotting carcass of a wild boar. It’s exactly what they spent the day hunting. As the world fights the coronavirus pandemic, teams in Europe are battling another outbreak: African swine fever. Hundreds of miles of fencing have been thrown up in Europe to stop its steady march west across the continent. In fenced-off “red zones,” teams work to clear the area of the infectious wild boars that have succumbed to the sickness and hunt any still alive in an attempt to break infection chains. While the virus cannot be passed to humans, it kills almost every pig it infects in about a week. The stakes are high for Germany, Europe’s largest pork producer, exporting $4.7 billion in pig products each year. The arrival of the virus in Germany’s wild boar population last year triggered bans on pork exports to countries outside Europe, wiping out $867 million in sales to China. Then, in mid-July, the first case was discovered in a domestic pig farm in Germany—exactly the spread that teams picking through forests had been hoping to prevent.

At an extraordinary Olympics, acts of kindness abound (AP) A surfer jumping in to translate for the rival who’d just beaten him. High-jumping friends agreeing to share a gold medal rather than move to a tiebreaker. Two runners falling in a tangle of legs, then helping each other to the finish line. In an extraordinary Olympic Games where mental health has been front and center, acts of kindness are everywhere. The world’s most competitive athletes have been captured showing gentleness and warmth to one another—celebrating, pep-talking, wiping away one another’s tears of disappointment. Runners Isaiah Jewett of the U.S. and Nijel Amos of Botswana got tangled and fell during the 800-meter semifinals. Rather than get angry, they helped each other to their feet, put their arms around each other and finished together.

Belarus athlete enters Poland's embassy in Tokyo after refusing to return home (Reuters) A Belarusian athlete at the centre of an Olympic standoff with her own country walked into Poland's embassy in Japan on Monday, a day after refusing to board a flight home she said she was being forced to take against her wishes by her team. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, would seek asylum in Poland, said a member of the local Belarus community who was in touch with her. Earlier, Polish foreign ministry official Marcin Przydacz wrote on Twitter that Tsimanouskaya has been "offered a humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses." In a brewing diplomatic incident on the sidelines of the Olympics, Tsimanouskaya's refusal to board the plane has thrown a harsh spotlight on discord in Belarus, a former Soviet state that is run with a tight grip by President Alexander Lukashenko. The sprinter, who was due to compete in the women's 200 metre heats on Monday, had her Games cut short when she said she was taken to the airport to board a Turkish Airlines flight. She then sought the protection of Japanese police at the airport.

Australia tightens COVID curbs as Brisbane extends lockdown, army patrols Sydney (Reuters) Australia’s Queensland state on Monday extended a COVID-19 lockdown in Brisbane, while soldiers began patrolling Sydney to enforce stay-at-home rules as Australia struggles to stop the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading. Queensland said it had detected 13 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours—the biggest one-day rise the state has recorded in a year. The lockdown of Brisbane, Australia’s third-biggest city, was due to end on Tuesday but will now stay in place until late on Sunday. Australia is going through a cycle of stop-start lockdowns in several cities after the emergence of the fast-moving Delta strain, and such restrictions are likely to persist until the country reaches a much higher level of vaccination coverage. Meanwhile the lockdown of Brisbane and several surrounding areas comes as Sydney, the biggest city in the country, begins its sixth week under stay-at-home orders.

U.S., Britain, Israel blame Iran for fatal drone strike on oil tanker; Tehran denies responsibility (Washington Post) The United States, Britain and Israel on Sunday all accused Iran of carrying out a drone attack last week on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea that killed two people on board, raising fears of an escalating maritime war in the Middle East, as Tehran denied responsibility for the strike. American and Israeli officials had previously said that Thursday’s attack on the Liberian-flagged Mercer Street bore the hallmarks of an operation by Iran, which has been accused of deploying attack drones in the past. The Mercer Street is managed by Zodiac Maritime, a London-based company owned by an Israeli billionaire. Those killed included a British national and a Romanian citizen, the company said. Hostilities over the past two years between Israel and Iran have frequently played out at sea, in tit-for-tat attacks by both countries on oil tankers, private commercial vessels or warships—a conflict often referred to as part of a “shadow war” that feels increasingly overt. The strike on the Mercer, off the coast of Oman, marked a significant escalation and was the first time fatalities had resulted from one of the recent attacks.

Food insecurity (Foreign Policy) Ethiopia’s Tigray region, southern Madagascar, Yemen, South Sudan, and northern Nigeria, were all named by both the U.N. World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization as the most at risk of “catastrophic” food insecurity in the next three months. Six countries have been added to the list of “hunger hotspots” since the two agencies last assessed global hunger in March: Chad, Colombia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, and North Korea.

Survivalists (NBC News) Americans worried about climate change are flocking to survivalist schools and taking urban-disaster preparedness courses. Once the domain of campers and hunters, survivalist schools across the country are busily instructing young families and urbanites in skills they can use if faced with wildfires, droughts, and destructive storms increasingly brought about by Earth’s rising temperatures. Whether or not one thinks that training to survive in the wilderness is the best way to prepare for the looming crisis, it’s likely that periodic disasters will force many city dwellers to at least temporarily evacuate their homes, which is why urban-preparedness courses at survival school are particularly popular. Tony Nester is head instructor at Ancient Pathways, which teaches desert and wilderness survival in Arizona and Colorado. “We talk about it. What plans do you have in place? How do I get my family evacuated? Where do we go? What supplies should we have with us? How do we get out of our house in 15 minutes? How do we get across town to get to our kids? We’re discussing those issues more and more.”

#headlines #news

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donttellpeterparker · 7 years ago

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Opposite Teams

Summary: You have been dating your boyfriend Peter for 6 months... neither one of you knowing the others secret... Not till the team split, the both of you going to have to fight against each other.

Requested: Yes

Word Count: 3.7k

Taglist: @cutie1365 @luke-the-princess @that70skiwi @mang0fruitblast @fairydustparker @fortheloveoflamp @jamesbuckybananabarnes

Want to be on the taglist?: here

Warning(s)?: Spiderman!Action, Reader!Action, a lil flufff, Tony being a little shit...

masterlist (x) requests (x)

--------------------------------------------------------

Opposite Teams

You grew restless as the day continued on. Everyone on the Avengers went to the control center for some huge meeting, excluding both you and Wanda seeing you were both just teens. You hated not being included in things, or being kept in the dark but decided to let it roll for now.

You stood in your room in the Avenger's head quarters. You were just in your training attire which usually was just a sports bra and pants. You sighed heavily, picking up the next Chinese dagger. You threw your arm back and launched the knife into the air, landing exactly where you wanted it to.

Tony Stank's face.

You had one of his iron man pictures up on the inside of your wardrobe door. Unfortunately you had to replace the doors every few weeks due to the amount of damage your daggers would cause.

You often Trained with Natasha, working on your combat and martial arts. You were originally from a military family, having grown up surrounded by guns and violence you have grown accustomed to it. You knew how to handle a gun but chose often not to, knives were more your thing.

You were kind of like Clint in a way, though he used his good ol' trusty bow and arrows. In fact, when you arrived at the compound you hated Tony Stark to begin with, he always grew on your nerves. Clint took you in under his belt with his daughter, Wanda, and brought you guys up. They were practically your family after yours had died.

''Y/N!'' You heard Wanda call out for you. You threw one last dagger, it landing just between Tony's eyes before leaving the room. You didn't bother to change seeing as you were going to head back to training anyways.

''What?'' You asked as you left your room. Both her and Vision were standing in front of the glass mirror that overlooked the city.

''What is that?'' You asked, once your eyes had spotted the fire in the distance. You felt your phone beep in your pocket. You reached for it and pulled it out, opening up the messaging app.

~Heading out for the weekend xx I love you

You smiled at the text from your boyfriend Peter. You guys have been dating for about 6 months now. You met him at your local high school, Midtown tech. You bit your lip, texting back a response.

~Have fun hun xx love you too x

''Stay here please'' Vision commanded, disappearing through the walls and over towards the explosion. Wanda and you stood silent for a few seconds, staring after him once you heard approaching footsteps. Without thinking you reached for a knife that was in your belt, turning around fast getting prepared to throw it. Wanda must have heard it to cause she did the same thing, though she heard her powers to grab a knife and launch through the air, stopping just in front of Clint's face.

You let out a sigh of relief before holstering your weapon.

''Guess I should have knocked'' He jokes, Wanda moves her hands and places the knife back down.

''Oh my god... what are you doing here?'' Wanda asked, leaving your side to begin approaching Clint. With furrowed eyebrows you followed, curious as to what was going on.

''Disappointing my kids'' He responds, walking past the both of us, shooting two arrows across the room from one another.

''We're supposed to go skying'' He says sarcastically before grabbing onto both Wanda and your arms. He pulled you both over towards the entrance.

''Kat needs our help.. come on'' He instructs while he began to lead you guys away. You weren't even dressed?

You stopped where you were, both Clint and Wanda stopping to face you.

''Then I should probably change'' You state. Clint hadn't even noticed while Wanda was so use to it, it didn't seem to faze her. They both nodded, allowing you to go off and change.

As you turned around you saw Vision appear again through the walls. This can't be good...

''Clint.. you should not be here'' He states, causing both Clint and Wanda to turn around to face him. You decide to just walk past them, leaving them alone in the living room. You walked into your bedroom and closed the door, finding clothes to change into.

You tied your hair into a ponytail behind you before leaving your room. You made sure to grab your daggers, gun, knives and numbchucks, holstering them into your waist belt.

You began popping on your combat boots, hearing a loud thump from outside. You quickly left your room, zipping up your jacket on the way.

''What's going on!'' You called out as you made your way back into the living area. Wanda stood off to the side while Vision head Clint in a head lock.

''Enough!'' You shouted again, both of them seeming to ignore you.

''Clint, you can't over power me'' Vision states as Clint begins to visibly relax.

''I know I can't... but she can'' He says, looking towards Wanda. Wanda begin to circle a red fireball through her hands, stepping in front of them both.

''Vision... that's enough... let him go'' She says, the red fireball growing and growing. You placed a hand onto one of your knives, hoping this doesn't get out of hand.

''We're leaving...'' She says.

''I can't let you'' Vision responds, seeming slightly hurt at Wanda.

''I'm sorry'' Wanda whispers out, raising her arms to intercept vision's power. Clint fell through Vision, crawling across to Wanda. Vision began to fell through the floor, seeming in pain.

''If you keep doing this... they won't stop being afraid of you'' He warns.

''I can't control their fear... only my own''

~Airport

You guys flew your way out to Berlin. Clint had explained to you both what was going down during the flight. It was a no brainer for you.

You were on Cap's side.

Wanda seemed to struggle slightly with her decision but soon decided to follow you, not wanting to be against either of you.

Once the plane landed the three of you walked through the airport, hoping into the white van that was parked outside. From there your began your trip towards another airport, where the Van parked on the multi storing parking.

A blue car pulled up three parking spaces beside yours. Clint hopped out of the drives side, walking over to the car followed By Wanda who stepped out of the passenger side. You stayed in the back, watching as Scott continued to sleep.

''How's our other recruit?'' You heard Cap's voice speak up outside the Van after a few minutes of talking. You walked over to the door and slid it open, Steve's eyes slightly wondering at the sight of you here. He definitely was not expecting you to be here. Clint noticed his reaction and turned to face Cap.

''It was time for both of them to get off their asses'' He responds to Cap causing him to laugh. Unfortunately you had missed out on the start of the conversation and was clearly lost but decided to let it go. Once the door was fully opened Scott woke with a start. You snickered slightly before jumping out of the van.

''What timezone is this?'' Was the first thing to come out of his mouth as he made his way out of the van. You stood off to the side next to Wanda.

The boys got their introductions down, Scott making a fool of himself as usual. You held in your laugh as this went on, just wanting to get suited up already.

''Did they tell you what we're up against?'' Steve asked Scott, beginning to get serious.

''Something about psycho Assassins'' Scott responded, seeming a little uneased.

''We're outside the law on this one'' Cap replied with a firm nod, crossing his arms over his chest. You looked down to the ground and studied your boots. Wouldn't be the first time...

''If you guys come with us your wanted'' Cap spoke up to everyone.

''We should get moving!'' Bucky spoke up as he finally stood up out of the car. You gave him a polite smile which he happily returned. You didn't him personally but, of course, know of him through Cap. You trusted Cap's judgement more than your own sometimes, which is why you are in this mess.

You turned around and walked towards the van, hoping in to grab a few things. A voice began to blast over the P.A in German.

''What's happening?'' Scott spoke up. You sighed and stepped out of the van.

''They're evacuating the airport, shit just got real ant man'' You replied sarcastically to Scott. He just rolled his eyes at you but still smiled.

''Stark'' Sam spoke up beside Cap. Of course it was Stark...

''Stark?'' Scott questioned.

''Suit up"

~Later

You all decided to split up and take different directions towards the airport. Botch Wanda and Clint had left your side, setting up a post. You decided to run straight ahead with Cap, veering over to the right to hide behind one of the trucks. You heard the familiar sound of Iron Man's suit flying through the air, signalling his arrival.

''Wow don't you think it's weird who you run into at the airport?'' You could hear Tony's voice speak up.

''Definitely Tony'' War machine responds. You rolled your eyes at their pointless banter, wanting to get this mission over and done with.

''Listen.. Tony-'' Cap begins before he was interrupted by the arrival of Black Panther. You saw this from where you were.

''Captain'' You could hear him speak out.

''Your Highness' He responds casually.

''Anyway... Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in... that was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?'' You rolled your eyes as Tony talked.

''Your after the wrong guy'' Steve replies.

''Your judgement is askew'' Tony spits out.

''Your war buddy killed innocent people yesterday-'' Tony begins, being cut off by Cap.

''And they're five more super soldiers just like him.. I can't let the doctor find him first... I can't'' Steve finishes.

''Steve... you know whats about to happen'' Your eyes widen once you heard Nat's voice. Nat was on their side too?

You glance down at your phone once you felt the familiar vibration. You unlocked the screen and replied to the text from Peter.

~I miss you xx I promise I'll be back soon!

You let out a small smile as you typed back a love heart emoji in response. You pocketed your phone again and regained focus. You sighed to yourself, hoping today wasn't going to go down like Nat had said.

You felt guilty for keeping such a secret from Peter but you didn't want to drag him into this. You knew you had to tell him sooner or later but opted for later. You weren't sure how he was going to react once he found out. You loved him to much to lose him..

''Underoos!'' You heard Tony call out. The familiar sound of webs shooting out entered your ears. Spider-man was here? What the hell was he doing in Germany?

''Nice job kid'' Tony appraised.

''Thanks.. well I could have stuck the landing a little better it's just... new suit, weait- it's nothing Mr Stark, It's p-p-erfect thank you'' The superhero stuttered out. You furrowed your eyebrows as you listened in into his voice, he reminded you of someone, a very quirky and dorky someone.

''Yeah, yeah no need to start a conversation'' Tony interrupts.

''Course, Hey Cap-Captain, Hey everyone'' He greeted. He almost sounded excited/nervous?

You began to move out of your hiding spot, sticking to beside the truck as you slowly crept forward behind Natasha, her not noticing you were there.

''You've been busy'' Cap speaks out.

''And you've been a complete idiot'' It wasn't till now that you noticed Cap's hands were webbed together and his shield was taken away. You reached into your belt to get one of your daggers out.

''Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a safe- safe place and Y/N who.. I don't even know why you dragged her into this'' Tony spoke out. Your eyes rolled at the mention of your name. Just because you didn't have powers doesn't mean you were useless.

''Your going to turn Barnes over and come with us...Now! Cause. It's. Us!'' Tony yells out.

''We found it, the Queen Jets in hanger five, north of the runway'' You heard Sam speak through the ear piece. You smirked as you saw Cap raise his arms, giving you guys the signal. You heard one of Clint's arrows sore through the air, cutting Captain free from the webbing. You looked up to notice Wanda was also with him.

''Alright... lang'' Cap spoke softly in the ear piece.

''Guys something- UGHHH'' Your heard Spiderman screech as Scott enlarged and punched him backwards, throwing the shield across to Steve.

''Believe this is yours Captain America'' Scott spoke up as he did so. You crept up behind Natasha, quickly knocking her off her feet taking her by surprise. You reached for some wire and tied her hands behind her back, pushing her into the ground.

''No hard feelings Nat'' You spoke into her ear before standing again. You walked over and stood beside Steve, a hand placed firmly on your belt as you could hear Nat trying to take the wire off her wrists.

He glanced towards you, nodding into the direction of Bucky and Sam. You nodded your head quickly, seeing Black Panther come towards him.

''eight o'clock'' You stated, Cap facing around to prepare for Black Panther. You turn and began to ran in the opposite direction, deciding to use your small height as an advantage and get through the tunnel.

You ran up and quickly found yourself inside the airport. You looked to your left to see Bucky and Sam only 100 meters away. You began to sprint after them.

A loud crash came through the windows. You saw a flash of red and blue begin to attack Sam and Barnes.

''You have a metal arm?! That is awesome dude!" You heard Spiderman spoke up in Aww as he grabbed Barnes arm, seeing as he was about to strike. You ran up to them, seeing they were occupied and took shelter behind a plant. You grabbed out one of your daggers as you heard Sam fly into Spider-man.

You ran towards Bucky, both of you chasing after Sam. Bucky reached for a huge piece of metal and threw it towards Spiderman catching him by surprise. The both of you hid behind two separate pillars.

''I think you dropped something'' Spiderman spoke out, launching the piece of metal back towards you guys. You ducked as you felt it fly through your pillar and connect at Barnes.

Sam attempted to attack again but Spider-man was one step ahead. He webbed him on the balcony, causing him to be stuck. You nodded your head towards Barnes then at Spider-man. He catch your drift and nodded in response.

''Are those wings carbon fiber?''

''Is this stuff coming out of you?'' Sam asked.

''That would explain the regility stability ratio which i gotta say, that's awesome'' You froze once you started to piece together the voice. Of course you have heard it before and knew it so well!

It was Peter Parker.

''I don't know if you've ever been in a fight but there's usually not this much talking'' Sam responds.

''Alright, sorry my bad'' Peter speaks up before swinging towards Sam. Bucky moves to block peter as you raised your taser whip. You pulled him back, causing him to fall to the ground. the dagger in the other hand, you used that to throw into one of his web shooters.

''What the hell?'' He spoke up with a grunt. He began to sit up as you approached from behind him. You could feel your palms shaking from your side. He quickly got up pushed both Barnes and Sam off the balcony, through the glass.

''No!" You screamed, causing Spider-man to turn around at the sound of your voice. Peter's eyes widened underneath his suit. He quickly went over to web up Barnes before turning back to face you.

''Y/N?'' He asks out in a hurt voice. You shook your head, feeling tears beginning to well up in your eyes.

''Leave'' You spoke up, wanting him to listen to you.

''What are you doing here?'' He asked, completely ignoring you. A tear fell down your cheek

''It doesn't matter... you don't get what's going on Pet-'' You cut yourself off, not saying his name aloud. He just stood there frozen, watching you with his own hurt expression.

''You lied to me...'' He spoke out hurt.

''So did you...'' You responded, letting another tear fall.

''Y/N! Run!'' You heard Sam call out from the ground. You walked over towards the edge, your eyes finally leaving Peter as you glanced down. You nodded with a sigh, turning back around.

You glanced at Peter one last time before beginning to run past him. While Peter was frozen, staring after you Sam used it to his advantage. Controlling his flying backpack to pick up Peter, fly him out, breaking the glass and dropped him. You froze and turned around, hearing Peter's scream. Your eyes widen as you continued running, but this time towards Peter.

''Couldn't have done that earlier?''

~....

By the time you got to the spot where Peter had fell he was already gone. Sighing you began to run again, this time towards the others. Vision was up ahead in the air and drew a line in the concrete with his laser.

''Captain Rogers... I know that you believe what you are doing is right'' Vision spoke up. You slowly down your pace and ran up to Wanda, her turning towards you with a smile once she saw that you were okay. You moved past her and over to the front where Steve was. He glanced towards you as you stood beside him, just staring straight ahead.

''But for the collective good... you must surrender now'' He continued on while the others began flying in, Peter being the last to swing in. Your eyes trained onto him, watching as he walked forward. You felt your breathing starting to become shallow.

Steve looked towards you in concern and followed your train of sight over to Spider-man. He furrowed his eyebrows but turned back around to face Tony.

''What do we do Cap?'' Sam speaks up, being the first to break the silence that had fallen.

''We fight''

With this you all began to charge towards them, the other beginning to run towards you guys as well.

''They're not stopping'' Peter speaks up. You pick up your pace as you first ran over to Blank Panther, using your taser web to bring him down. He quickly got back and swung his claws towards you. You ducked out of the way each time, managing a kick her and there.

He clipped you across the face and gave a kick to you stomach, sending you to the ground. You coughed before glancing up, noticing him coming back towards you. You rolled over and grabbed a dagger out. He swiped his claws down but instead scratched the concrete instead of you. You got up and swung onto his back, a dagger in your hand. He wrapped his claws around and dug them in, causing you to scream out in pain. He pulled you off of him and threw you to the ground, wrapping a hand around your throat. You did the same, raising a leg to kick him in the groin. He doubled over in pain so you grabbed his arm, swinging him over you and into the ground. You got a dagger out and threw it at him, causing it to go through suit and into the ground. It didn't scratch him, just held him there.

He ripped it out quickly and threw it back out you, you catching it just in time. He quickly got back up and charged at you but froze halfway. You noticed red swirling around him as you glanced to your side, Wanda.

She threw him across the air and into a truck. You sent her a thankful smile as she returned it, running off to help Clint. You heard the familiar sound of swinging in the air. You glanced up just in time to notice Peter swing in and pick you up, seeming to take you away from the fight.

''Peter put me down!'' You yelled as you tried squirming out of his grasp. He stopped swinging after a minute and landed on the ground, placing you as well onto your feet. He let you go and you quickly pulled away.

''What the hell'' You growled at him. You began to try and walk past him so he wrapped his arms around your waist pulling you back.

''Peter, let me go'' You said.

''No, I am never letting go of you again'' He spoke up as he began to web you down onto the concrete. He webbed your feet down so you couldn't move. You glanced up and shook your head.

''Why?'' You asked out in a broken voice.

''Why?! Cause I care about you!'' He screams back, seeming frustrated that you were willing to put yourself in harms way. He pulled of his mask quickly and began walking towards you. He cupped your face in his hand before planting a soft kiss onto your lips. Seeming to convey worry and love.

He pulled away shortly after, fluttering his eyes open.

''Just to be sure'' He says before also webbing your hands together. Now you couldn't reach to grab anything. You glanced back at him and shook your head.

''Stay here'' He says as he pops his mask on, shooting out a web to begin swinging back over to the fight.

''Peter don't do this!'' You called out.

''Peter!"

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

A/N: This was a longy and definitely more action packed then fluff! Hope you enjoyed this Imagine Anon! xo

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #tom holland #tom holland imagine #spiderman #spider-man: homecoming #spiderman imagine #donttellpeterparker

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memorylang · 4 years ago

Text

2020’s End and 2021’s Beginning | #48 | December 2020

If 2020 came in a flash, it ended with a fade. Still, it was a pleasant fade. I describe here my U.S. adventures from Christmas to New Year’s. For photos from these stories, you can check my WeChat or Instagram @memoryLang. I also reference tales from Christmas 2019 and New Year’s 2020, about which you can read in December 2019 and January 2020 stories. Onward to adventures!

Christmas 2020

Since my family couldn’t attend Midnight Mass as we usually do, a sister and I instead decided to carol at home. The year before, when I’d come home from Mongolia, we’d caroled at church. This time we caroled to Sister’s own piano accompaniment, with lyrics in old hymnals and online. We enjoyed singing harmonies inspired by Pentatonix and various years of choir. Through this, Dad mostly slept while other siblings did other activities. Our youngest sister was with her boyfriend’s family, our older brother with his girlfriend’s, and our stepsisters with our stepmom at their place.

On Christmas Day, my siblings and I readied the house while Dad helped our stepfamily finish cooking. The evening before, we’d done cleaning with Dad, too, but Dad always had more for us to do. Then the stepsisters and Tita arrived, bringing food with which we filled the kitchen island upon which my siblings and I had draped a large cloth. We watched online a Christmas liturgy while waiting for my older brother and his girlfriend to arrive, I botched the before-meal prayer since I was put on the spot, then we enjoyed a delicious meal of both American and Filipino dishes and desserts.

After the meal, we had about a half hour before Stepsisters needed to head to work, so we moved from the dining room to the living room for gifts. We began our Secret Santa. I delivered my gift first, to my youngest sister. She and the others felt amused that I’d simply wrapped the Amazon box in which her gifts came, scribbled out “Alexa” from some ads then wrote her name half a dozen times instead. Our oldest stepsister couldn’t make it since she was home with her partner and their newborn. But, she video called in to see my sibling’s reactions from her gift.

As gifts that I’d received from my youngest stepsister, I’d gotten new travel items, like a journal and eye mask. I felt delighted. From my dad and Tita, I received a new brainstorming notebook and a jacket coincidentally in my Hogwarts house colors of silver, black and yellow. From myself I received a CrashCourse Mongol t-shirt that even a Mongol friend recognized and loved!

National and State Parks, Monuments and Forests

From the next days, Dec. 26 to 29, my national parks friends and I embark on our last trip of the year, to see a collection of sights in Arizona. Over the next few days, we see Walnut Canyon, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sedona's Devil's Bridge and the Grand Canyon. I feel awed by the spectacles and amazed by the geological history of this earth. My friends and I take lots of photos.

As on our other road trips, we talk politics and life goals and telenovelas, too. As a group of minorities, we’re pleased with the presidential election results that released since our previous road trip. Still, we’re glad that the current administration has been able to get COVID-19 vaccines out to people even before the year’s end. I feel relieved that my prospects of returning to Peace Corps Mongolia seem more likely. Till then, we’re also glad that we’ll get more stimulus money to help cover our weird year’s last expenses. As for the telenovelas, I find out about Turkish and Hispanic stories, popular characters and a global community of viewers. Between the day’s adventures, I complete online at our hotels some freemium Pokémon yearend challenges, too.

Of the sights we behold, I’m most awed by the Grand Canyon. My family had visited it the year before we moved to Vegas, but that was over a decade ago. During that trip, my youngest brother had gone off the path to return down a slope to our minivan and had encouraged Mom to follow. Well, Mom slipped on the rocks and broke her ankle, which cut short that trip. I didn’t remember much from the Grand Canyon because of that.

On this trip, my friends and I see the snow-covered Canyon blanketed by encroaching cloud banks only sometimes split by sunlit rays. I love the rainbow of colors, from the red rocks to the aqua Colorado River. The pines of green and dark brown hold sheaths of white. The sky shows hints of violet from the blues and pink as our sun sets.

And the sheer faces of the rocks, my God—They were so steep! I’d wanted to hike into the Canyon, but the ice made that less safe. Instead, a friend and I hiked the southern Rim Trail to its first lookout points. I felt quite a fill of wonder. We saw fauna, too, perhaps elk. The animals added to the natural grandeur that we saw on our trek. With our trip having built up in scale from the smaller Walnut Canyon and Petrified Forest to the epic Devil's Bridge in Sedona, the Grand Canyon truly felt like our grand finale.

New Year’s Eve 2020

Just after midnight passed to begin Dec. 31, 2020, I was taking a few hours to wrap up my year-in-review post for WeChat, to share with my Chinese family and friends. Concluding it, I slept many hours. I re-awoke during what was daytime for Dec. 31 in Vegas but in Asia just past midnight to begin Jan. 1, 2021. For the next hour, Chinese and Mongol friends wished me Happy New Year, and I returned the greetings.

Vegas and Siblings

After I broke from my New Year’s greetings, my siblings and I spent a little over an hour playing Nintendo Switch games. My little sister with whom I’d sung carols on Christmas Eve did the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” yearend event, so I joined her in co-op to gather resources on her island. Our younger brother wanted to play “Smash: Ultimate,” so the three of us played that next, including for the first time the Roy amiibo that our older brother had gifted me for my July 2020 birthday. I played a lot of Byleth and Corrin since I’d still “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” on my mind. (Just before Christmas, I’d finally reached the time skip in the Blue Lions story.)

After the games, our sister wanted to hike the Lone Mountain on the west side of the Vegas valley. So, we hopped in a sedan to ride over. Though on the day before, Sister had let me practice driving for my first time in over a year, I didn’t feel like asking to take on the highway. I comfortably rode in back.

The hike felt surprisingly strenuous, given that the small peak sat right there in Vegas. Though, our hike was much quicker than my national and state park and monument trails. The scenery reminded me of my trip to Red Rock Canyon back on Nov. 18 with another friend. With no discernable single path up Lone Mountain, I remembered hikes on Mongolia’s mountains. My siblings and I found its summit windy. I registered our names in a composition notebook at the top, then we proceeded down. On our way home, we passed through a shopping plaza from which I’d accompanied Tita to pick up food for my older brother’s March 2020 birthday. I felt amazed by how many months have passed.

Back at the Vegas house, I showered and had meal of Christmas leftovers. Then I finished packing my small personal item for my Allegiant flight, hopped back in a car with my younger sister, finished my last social post of 2020—a family-focused reflection—then began my march to airport security for Terminal A.

Even though I reached the airport at my flight’s boarding time, the place was so empty that I went through security and found my gate before staff finished boarding passengers. I’d received a message that a Mongol friend wanted me to review her personal statements before she submitted them for U.S. college applications. So, I finished reading and commenting on those aboard my flight before staff had us turn our devices to airplane mode. I felt stressed about having dropped my learner’s permit card somewhere, penned a last journal entry of 2020, slept through most of my flight then felt relieved when a flight attendant found my ID card before our plane descended.

Reno and Friends

I disembark from my flight to Reno just after 8:40 p.m. I feel touched on my walk from the terminal by the voice of Mayor Schieve in an ad, “If this is your first visit or your home away from home, welcome to Reno.” At this moment I realize that Reno really is my home away from home.

I exit the airport, where my guy friend who’d married last year walks up to me. To my surprise, his red sports jersey contains two Chinese characters, “火箭,” in gold across the top. He asks about their meaning. Given that we’re at New Year’s Eve, I think at first, “fireworks.” But, I know those characters as “烟火” /yānhuǒ/.

Certainly, his jersey’s first character, “火” /huǒ/, means “fire.” As for the second, I only recognize parts. The top’s ⺮ /zhú/ radical means “bamboo,” while the bottom part resembles “前” /qián/, which means “before.” As for what fire, bamboo and before mean together, I’m not sure.

While we walk, I at last consult my Pleco dictionary app. I scribble in the “箭” to see that it’s pronounced /jiàn/ and means “arrows.” This explains the presence of the bamboo radical. Thus, “fire” and “arrows” taken together, “火箭” /Huǒjiàn/, mean, “Rockets.” My friend explains that this is a sports team.

After getting in the red vehicle with his wife whose first wedding anniversary was just the day before, my friend explains that he’d gotten to learn about Chinese characters in his religious studies course about contemporary Daoism. So cool!

The couple and I had kept in touch the past year over video, but this New Year’s Eve is our first time together in the same city since my return to the Peace Corps in January. I’m elated to see them again! My friends and I arrive at the newish fencing studio of our friend who owns it and was part of their wedding party last year. Turns out that he’s relocated to a larger studio since the time that my friends took me fencing in the spring of 2018, before my second trip to China. This new studio used to be a mechanic shop apparently, so it’s quite spacious.

2020 Ends in Dodgeball

Though I don’t recognize the few others present, I’m warmly greeted by one who’s the girlfriend of our fencing friend. She introduces me to others. I’m touched by folks’ inclusiveness. I’m amazed to find on the food table Pizza Plus, as, just a few days before, I’d weirdly craved some Reno-Sparks Pizza Plus (which I hadn’t eaten in over a year). God blesses us.

For the next few hours, after a series of mostly leg stretches, we play a physically distant sport that I haven’t played in years, dodgeball. While I’m not used to dashing with a facemask on and sanitizing my hands between rounds, I have great fun. While my aim remains lacking, I can for the most part still dodge, and I’m able to swipe balls to hand to my more capable teammates. To my surprise, I receive MVP status from folks after finishing a round by catching a teammate’s fumble and getting our last opponent out.

A couple hours in, we switch games to a form of “Mushroom Ball,” a free-for-all type of dodgeball game in which we individually try to take out other players before someone gets us. In this game that we play till just before midnight, I do much better. I’m able to catch and throw at close range against folks who don’t notice me. Still, the amount of times others hit me causes me to really work my legs, since we squat when we’re out. My legs haven’t recovered much from the recent dodgeball, the afternoon Lone Mountain hike nor the evening flight from Vegas. Yet, I love the fun.

2021 Begins

My friends new and old walk out into the cold night of light snow, where one pops a shower of confetti and another a champagne bottle when we see fireworks appear across the valley of Reno-Sparks. We chat about our resolutions and take selfies. I recount memes about how saying, “2021,” sounds like, “2020 won.” We laugh and return inside as the wind picks up.

I discover that I don’t much like the taste of even flavored champagne, but thankfully my friends’ cookies have enough sweetness to cut the bitterness. My friends mention that their family always bakes holiday cookies, which brings back vague memories from their wedding when I stayed with their family at an Airbnb. Our 2019 had ended in what felt such different times.

My friend in the Rockets jersey talks up my accomplishments and Mongolia service, which makes me feel both bashful and delighted. Turns out that some of the folks at this little get-together had been looking into Peace Corps service! I share my experiences with them and my hope to return. One woman and I had even taken a class together in fall 2017, which feels like a remarkable blast from my undergrad past. Before the couple who brought me from the airport drives me to my family’s house, I exchange contact info with my new friends. I’m surprised to realize that the new fencing studio is just a few blocks from the neighborhood in which I’d lived from fall 2017 to spring 2019 graduation.

Into the New Year

I arrive at the now-quiet Reno house, where I continue to exchange New Year’s greetings over social media well past midnight. I shower then get my bearings while others are still out and about. After resting away the rest of my morning from aching over the eve’s soreness, I play some seasonal events on the freemium Pokémon games. Then, I reengage on social media with New Year’s greetings.

Quite liking the quiet home, I bring together this New Year’s blog story. Oddly enough, many of the couches that were in Vegas during Christmas are now here in Reno, since my parents and siblings had moved them while I was in Arizona. Curiously, the little neighbor boy had alluded to this when calling from his window when he saw me having just returned to Vegas. Before I’d left Vegas for Reno, I’d seen him on a hoverboard that he and his siblings had gotten for Christmas, reminding me of the one that my Mongol host family had gotten the August 2019 week when we’d said goodbye.

Here in Reno, there are Christmas leftovers brought up from Vegas, too. So, I’m grateful not to cook. For dinner, I reunite with the couple who’d greeted me last night, and we enjoy sushi to celebrate the end of their brief return to northern Nevada, in the fellowship of our fencing instructor friend and his girlfriend. I heard such wonderful stories from everyone and feel quite inspired for whatever blessings may come. Life’s been nice.

My New Year’s theme is, “serenity,” through which I mean to focus less on the things I can’t control and more on those that I can. Part of this will involve closing up some old projects and making myself ready to go back to Mongolia as soon as the time comes. This is at least going to soak up the first quarter or half of 2021. Perhaps when I’m back in Mongolia I’ll focus more on readjusting.

In the meantime, I’m trying to finish moving through the stories, “Kafka on the Shore” and “The Brothers Karamazov,” while I work on my memoir writing. I’m looking to finish my close-read of “The Souls of Mao” while I re-re-(re-, etc.)revise my thesis for journal submission. And, I’m looking to complete “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” while I tidy my things. I always welcome new suggestions to my lists, and you can see mine on Goodreads.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I look forward to writing to you soon in 2021. May you stay vigilant against the spread of the Coronavirus disease, as we await wider access to vaccines. I pray that soon our lives will open into the new world that we’ll know when we can at last be together again.

Sincerely, Daniel Lindbergh Lang

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #WithMe #story #Catholic #memoryLang #Nevada #Arizona #Las Vegas #Reno #winter #travel #COVID-19 #newyear #Christmas #holidays #Grand Canyon #books #Nintendo

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tumbleweedshorts · 7 years ago

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The Return of Malaysian Flight 370

Inspiration from blog writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com :

“You work at an air traffic control tower. A plane that disappeared 12 years ago has contacted you on the radio to let you know they’ll be landing at the airport in 15 minutes.”

"Mayday, mayday, mayd-" came the message., cut off in the middle. Suddenly I was wide awake, all my training kicking in.

"Station calling mayday, this is Busselton Regional Airport. Please state your emergency." I answered immediately.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Malaysian 370"

I didn't immediately register the call sign, just wrote it on a flight strip and stayed focused on the call, already in emergency mode.

"370, this is Busselton, I read you. Please state your emergency."

"Busselton, Malaysian 370, we've got fire in the cabin and we need to land immediately. Is your runway available?"

"Roger, 370. Can you please state your aircraft type and number of souls on board?"

"Busselton, 370, we are a triple-7 with 239 souls on board."

"Roger, 370. Do you need to dump fuel?"

"Busselton, 370, that's a negative, we'd like to come in to land immediately if possible."

"Roger, 370. Please confirm your location"

"Busselton, 370, we are at three-two degrees three-niner minutes south, one-one-fiver degrees fiver-zero minutes east, descending past flight level two-zero-zero, bearing one-oh-six true at three-seven-niner knots."

"Roger, 370, maintain one-oh-six true and descend to flight level one-zero-zero. Reduce speed two-fiver-zero knots. Path is all clear of traffic, you are first in line to land on runway two-one. Please acknowledge."

"Busselton, 370. Maintain one-oh-six. Descend one-zero-zero. Reduce speed two-fiver-zero. Path clear to runway, first in line to land, runway two-one. Thank you."

"370, will you need emergency services upon landing?"

"Busselton, 370, af-" Silence for a few seconds.

"370, Busselton, I missed the end of your answer"

No answer.

"370, Busselton, please repeat"

No repeat.

"370, Busselton, come in"

They didn't.

"370, Busselton, please acknowledge"

No one acknowledged. Unsure what to do, I nevertheless called emergency services, thinking 'better safe than sorry', to make sure they'd be on the runway when the plane landed.

All the while I kept trying to contact the plane. When they reached the point where they needed to turn, I called, "370, Busselton, turn right, heading two-zero-seven, reduce speed one-eight-zero knots, you are cleared for a straight-in approach. Wind Conditions are clear, visibility unlimited, wind is one-fiver knots out of two-two-fiver degrees. Please acknowledge."

"Busselton, 370, rog-" came the brief reply. I tried to contact them again, while staring at the radar screen. Suddenly I realized how nervous and scared I was. I'd never had a crash before. I'd never even had radio difficulties with an aircraft.

As I called out repeatedly to the plane, I kept my eye on the radar. I saw it turn and head down toward the runway. Then, suddenly, meters away from the threshold, the plane vanished from the screen. By then I should be able to see it clearly out the window. Nothing. Craning my neck to look over the monitors, I tried to see it. I stood up for a better view. Nothing there. Dumbfounded, I stared back and forth between the radar and the runway. I then fumbled for the phone to call the emergency response team. They hadn't seen it either. The burning plane had completely vanished. It was like-

A jarring alarm brought me back to reality. A nightmare. It had all been a bloody nightmare! I hadn't lost a plane, I was lying in bed, at home, with nothing to worry about except getting up and going to work.

So as usual, I got up, woke my roommate Joe and hit the shower. While I was washing I thought back to my nightmare. It was still vivid in my mind, and I couldn't shake it. There was something creepy about that nightmare... I mean, aside from the nightmare part. Ridiculous. Nightmares are just in your mind. It must have just been nerves... Maybe I'm close to burning out, maybe I need a vacation.

Still, there was something nagging me at the back of my head. To convince myself of the absurdity of that impression, I played it again in my mind. The call from Malaysian... Oh. That was it. Malaysian 370. Why that particular flight number? In fact, why would the flight number stay so imprinted on my memory of the dream when I was already starting to lose some of the details? That must have been it.

As I killed the water and put the shower head back, I dismissed it again, for what I hoped would be the last time. It was just a nightmare, Malaysian 370 was just a fluke, maybe because of the fuss it caused almost 4 years ago when it vanished. Dried and dressed, I went to the kitchen for a bite to eat. Joe was there, ready to go. He was always faster than me at preparing.

"What took you so long?" he asked. I realized just then that my thinking must have taken longer than I thought.

"What? Oh. Nothing. Did we get more cereal bars?"

"Yeah, I put them in the big cupboard."

"Thanks"

I checked the time and realized we were running late. I just grabbed a couple of the bars, stuck them into my bag and signaled to Joe that we should go.

The drive to the airfield was fairly quiet. As Joe swung the car around the corner of the airfield and drove past the area where the private jets are parked I looked at them. The Cessnas, the Learjets, the gliders and all the way in the distance, a few ATR-72s sporting the livery of the only commercial airline based here.

We parked the car in the staff parking lot and got out. I told Joe, "Enjoy your shift!". He nodded back, then made his way to the tarmac to coordinate ground services. I made my way up to the control tower (basically just a large third-floor office with a bay window sitting on top of the small terminal building).

I sat down at my workstation and logged in. Steve was still there for another hour, and before he left he passed on information from the previous shift. I was going to be alone tonight, as it was a quiet time of year. Before Steve left I went downstairs to the vending machine for a Diet Coke (the vending machine in the actual office only has regular). He and I chatted for a bit, catching up on life and everything (he'd just been on three weeks' vacation), which kept me awake and interested and best of all, thinking about anything but the nightmare.

Once alone, however, it came back with a vengeance. I didn't seem to be able to just forget it. Usually my dreams and nightmares are gone within the hour. But it just kept nagging.

And then...

"Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Malaysian 370". Oh no. It's happening. My nightmare is coming true. What the hell is up with the world? Anyway, just in case, I do have a job to do and bosses to report to, so I answer.

"Malaysian 370, this is Busselton Regional Airport. What is your emergency?"

"Busselton, 370. We've run out of fuel and have lost both engines. We're gliding down."

"Roger, 370. I only see you on primary radar. How many souls do you have aboard?"

"Busselton, 370. We have 239 souls aboard."

Oh bugger. Sounded like a larger jet. At that size, I wasn't even sure whether it could land decently on the runway here. At least they were out of fuel, that made for less weight.

"370, Busselton. Please confirm your location."

"Busselton, 370. We're at one-one-four degrees oh-six minutes east, three-three degrees, fiver-four minutes south, gliding oh-eight-fiver degrees at four-zero-zero knots from flight level two-fiver-three"

"Roger, 370. Continue on your track of oh-eight-fiver for sixty nautical miles, then turn left to two-fiver degrees to align with the runway. Conditions are clear and dry, wind is oh-one-niner at twelve knots. Cleared to land, you are first in line. Please acknowledge. Will you require emergency services?"

"Busselton, 370. Continue oh-eight-fiver for sixty miles, turn left two-fiver toward the runway, cleared to land first in line, wind one-two knots from oh-one-nine. Yes, we will require emergency services. Repeat, we will require emergency services."

"Roger, 370. Calling emergency services."

Suddenly I woke up. Apparently I'd just had another nightmare about MH370, having dozed off at my post. Panicking slightly, I checked the radio logs and the planned schedule in case I'd missed any flights. I hadn't. The perks of working night shift. I resolved to stay awake for the rest of the shift. Maybe out of shock that I had dozed off during the shift, more likely because I was freaked out at what might have happened if I'd actually missed an emergency while I was asleep.

The rest of the shift happened quietly, however. No extraneous flights, no problems, everything ran like clockwork. When Dan arrived for his shift at five, I took my usual late break to meet Joe out on the tarmac for a breath of fresh air and a smoke. Dan was a smoker, so he had to take his breaks outdoors. I'd stopped smoking a year ago, but this time I figured maybe a cigarette would help me clear my mind so I borrowed one from Dan and walked down. As I exhaled the first puff I sat down against the wall and asked Joe, "Have you ever handled an emergency out here?"

"No... why would I?"

"I don't know... Plane on fire, both engines dead, whatever"

"Naaahhh. this is Busselton, what are the odds anything like that's going to happen here?"

I took another puff and blew it out before answering.

"The size of the airport doesn't change the fact it might happen"

"True... But it might make it less likely. You remember, a few years back, when I applied for a transfer to Perth?"

"Yeah"

"It was going to be more interesting, bigger airport, more action"

"Yeah, I imagine it would be"

"I turned that down after all... Simpler, quieter here, and I already make almost as much"

"Right" I said simply, and kept smoking. He was right, of course, it was much quieter here. But emergencies can happen everywhere and anywhere. I was really troubled by the two back-to-back matching nightmares. I wondered what it could all mean (if anything - I don't believe in that kind of stuff).

After a few minutes I crushed the cigarette butt under my shoe.

"Hey, I gotta go. Meet you here at six?"

"As always!" he answered.

Before I left, I looked around at the airfield. Still the same Cessnas, Learjets and ATRs, nothing more. You couldn't fit much more or much bigger planes on this airfield anyway. Joe was right, it was simpler and quieter here.

Back in the control tower, Dan was relaxing, reading some adult magazine (he is a randy bugger), with his screens dead in front of him as usual. There would be a couple of scheduled flights to handle within the hour, I knew, then the rest of the day team would start arriving and I'd be off back home.

"All quiet up here?" I asked.

"You know it!" he answered.

I sat back down at my workstation, still bothered by the nightmares. I decided to pull out a notebook and take some notes on them to see if I could make any sense of them later on, especially if they were to happen again. No sense came just then. I left the notebook there, lying open, in case a brainwave came. It didn't.

At seven my shift was over, so I said goodbye to the team, walked down to the car and found Joe already there. As we drove out of the parking lot something caught my eye: almost dead ahead, in plain sight, was a 777 that shouldn't have been there at all. They're too big to land here.

"Hold up, Joe. What's that triple-7 doing here?"

"Yeah, that's weird."

"Think we should go check it out?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I don't know, something about it just feels weird"

"A great bloody wide-body on a small airfield like this? Course it's weird. Still no reason to butt into their business"

"Yeah but get this: we didn't have any wide-bodies all night, and I don't think you have either"

"So? Maybe it was here last night."

"It wasn't, I remember"

Now he seemed at a loss for words. I sensed he just wanted to get home to bed. But I couldn't leave this alone.

"Let's go check it out."

Reluctantly, he accepted. We drove back into the airport, this time right onto the tarmac, and parked next to the jet. We got out and walked around it. "Malaysian Airlines", it said, and had the now famous red-and-blue stylized plane/bird thing on the tail fin. Its registration was 9M-MRO. A quick search on my phone indicated this was indeed the plane that had vanished, MH370. I pinched myself to make sure this wasn't also a nightmare.

"This is it. Joe, this is the actual plane, MH370!"

"What? You don't mean... Are you bloody joking?"

"No, look!" I showed him my phone, then pointed to the plane's registration.

"We've got to report this. If it IS the jet, we could be in for a hell of a reward." I said.

"Yeah, but you were in the tower and I was on the ground when it popped up... How would we explain this?"

"I don't know, we can figure that out later. The authorities have been looking for this jet for years."

We both stood there, hesitant, unsure what to do.

I said, "We should check it out. Could you get a moving staircase here?"

"Sure. But... You're not thinking of going aboard, are you?"

"Just to make sure this isn't some kind of weird prank or something. Better not be if we report this to the authorities."

"Yeah, guess you're right. Come on."

We went to fetch one of the moving staircases and tucked it up neatly against the jet's forward port-side door.

I went upstairs then, unsure, started by knocking on the door. No answer.

I knocked again with the same result.

Then I decided to open the door. I pulled the outside latch and moved the heavy door aside.

Inside, all was silent and dark. Nobody was there. Moving through the cabin with my phone's flashlight on, I looked around. Not a soul, not a sound. On each seat was a rose and a picture of someone. I went back to the door and called out to Joe, "Hey, you've got to check this out, it's really weird." He joined me a minute later.

"Crikey" he said as he saw what was there. Together we moved back to the end of the plane, the same eerie scene greeting us at every row. We then went to the cockpit. There too, a rose and a picture lay on each seat. Then we heard something: the door slamming shut. We looked at each other, unsure what was going on.

"I'll get that open again" Joe said, and hurried out of the cockpit.

Looking at the instrument panel, I noticed they were all off. Normal, the plane wasn't flying. Then out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. The throttle was moving up slowly. Then I felt the plane start to move.

"Joe!" I called out, not sure what was going on.

"What the hell's going on?" he answered.

"We gotta get out of here!"

"Well this door's stuck... I'll try the other side"

Meanwhile, I decided to try to pull the throttle back down. As soon as I touched it, however, I found myself in the pilot's seat, all buckled in. "What the..." I tried to release the seat belts so I could get out of the plane. They were stuck. I then tried to at least stop the plane. Pulling the throttle down and pushing on the brakes as hard as I could, the plane slowed a little, but then raised the throttle again with a vengeance.

"I can't get it to stop!" I yelled to Joe.

"I can't get this door open either!" he yelled back.

Glancing out the windshield, I noticed the plane was already lining up onto the runway.

"Then get the overwing door! I'll join you in a sec, we've got to get out, and not in front of the engines!"

"Right-o"

Just then the throttle shot up out of my hands, and I was thrust against the seat back. I hoped Joe would be OK. The plane was taking off.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, almost at the overwing door"

"Get that thing open quick, we're taking off!"

"What the hell are you taking off for?"

"I'm not doing it, the plane is!"

"What?"

"Just get that damn door open!"

"It's stuck too!"

By now it was too late anyway... Even if we'd gotten out of the plane alive, we'd have been dead meat landing from over five meters up at close to 200 knots... Then something else happened: voices popped up. I heard voices, as though from a crew talking to air traffic control. The instruments were all still off. No radio, no GPS, no altimeter, no ADI, nothing. Yet I heard voices. Joe shouted something, but his words were blanked out by the voices.

By now we were in the air, unable to open the doors, to control the plane or, in my case, even to get out of my seat. Survival instinct told me I had to try to get this plane back on the ground at all cost. Lucky I was such a big fan of flight simulators! But it really isn't the same, especially with no instruments.

I tried moving the control column, but it wouldn't budge. Panicking more and more, I tried putting more force on it, jerking it one way and the other, but it wouldn't respond.

After several minutes we were over deep ocean and still I wasn't able to control the damn jet. Then suddenly, unwanted, unbidden, came an urge to just push the control column forward. I fought it off, thinking it was just my desperation and resolve beginning to fail. But it came back, over and over again. I kept fighting it off, and trying to fight with the controls.

Then came something else: along with the urge, a voice in my head, saying "...don't...fight...destiny...must...closure...". And a force, unseen, unknown, irresistible, pushing my hands toward the control column. Forward, forward...

The last thing I consciously saw was the sea rushing up toward the plane's windshield.

***

ATSB investigator Kelly Cochrane looked at the aerial picture for the hundredth time, lost for words. In his 42-year career in air crash investigations, he'd never seen a case quite like this one.

"What the bloody hell..."

Two pieces of wreckage were obvious, floating on the surface. A tail fin with a red-and-blue stylized plane/bird, and a piece of fuselage with "9M-MRO". And just near them, floating there: hundreds of roses and pictures.

In the intervening days they'd found that the plane did match MH370, vanished for four years. It was already hard enough to explain just that. Then news came in that there were only two victims, neither from the actual plane and both, it seemed, employees in some small regional airport near Perth. And the pictures were all of victims of the original flight.

"Excuse me, Mr. Cochrane?"

His secretary Sarah was at his office door.

"Yes?"

"This just came in from the - umm, pilot - well, that victim's sister. She said it might be useful for the investigation."

"What is it?"

"She was going through his stuff, and it seems he left this notebook at his control station the night before the crash."

"And?"

"And it's mostly information from his training for the post, and details about some flights he's handled, but... well, you should see the last entry for yourself."

Cochrane took the notebook and sat down to read it. Indeed, most of it looked like boring, humdrum stuff. He skipped ahead to the last handwritten page. As he read, disbelief and confusion grew stronger in his head. What the hell was this? All this told anyone was that the guy had had two nightmares about the plane before all this happened. He made to throw it away, but then something struck him. The very same flight, that very flight that had vanished years earlier... It couldn't be... He'd always firmly believed that there was no such thing as coincidence.

He then set to work typing a letter.

When he finished, he printed the letter, signed it and took it to HR, where he dropped it right into Sebastian's in-tray. He then left the office for the final time.

Half an hour later, when Sebastian was back from his meeting, he saw the letter in the in-tray.

"Dear Sebastian," it read, "I have spent 42 years piecing together hundreds of aircraft and crashes. I have proven my worth over decades of investigations and succeeded every time in finding a full and complete explanation for all the facts of every case. And even though I do say so myself, I believe i have earned every bit of praise I have received over the years for my work."

So true, Sebastian thought. Cochrane had been a brilliant investigator for his entire career, even coming up with a brilliant case-breaking detail on his very first investigation, after all the others had failed. He read on: "But now, with this case, I cannot in good conscience provide an answer. Faced with such strange and counter-intuitive evidence, I have to either give an outlandish supernatural explanation and go against everything I believe, or admit to complete ignorance. This case has beaten me. That is why I believe this is the right time for me to retire from the service, effective immediately. I wish to leave now rather than after this case, which it seems would inevitably result in the first blemish on my record.

"As for the ongoing investigation, I think the best that can be done is to just file it as additional evidence of the previous MH370 disappearance, and leave it at that. There will be no satisfactory solution. Yours, Kelly M. Cochrane"

***

A few days later, Bunbury Airport air traffic controller John McDuff was sweating. He'd just awoken from an awful nightmare. He was in the cockpit of a 777 and a voice was telling him "...don't...fight...destiny...must...closure..." over and over again, while an irresistible force pushed his hands onto the control column and forward.

#short #story #horror #mystery #mh370 #fiction #airplane #flight #accident #crash #dream #nightmare #ghost #unfinished business #cycle

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