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crowdedimagines · 1 month ago

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All My Friends Say - Bradley Rooster Bradshaw

hi y’all, it’s been a minute!! i was listening to the song all my friends say by luke bryan and got a lil inspired

2.8k of ANGST❤️‍🔥 masterlist

Rooster should’ve left the second she walked through the door. He knew that. His friends knew that. She was the last person he could’ve ever expected to walk into the Hard Deck. Y/n, the one that got away. She walked in with a smile on her face, a tan radiating off of her like she had spent the day at the beach. Her smile is what pulled Rooster in in the first place all those years ago. The thing that was truly pulling his attention this time was the man she walked in with. He didn’t think she would ever date another Navy man after him. In fact, he was pretty sure she swore it.

“Is that?” Coyote doesn’t finish his thought, he knows that Rooster knows who he’s referring to. The whole group all turns away from the pool table they surround to see the familiar face he’s already spotted. Rooster simply nods, lacking any words to form a response. Instead he just gulps down the rest of the beer in his hand.

Y/n looks around the place she once was familiar with. It was a just under a year ago that she was a regular at this bar, mainly due to her boyfriend. Her now ex-boyfriend who’s eyes have remained on her since the second she stepped in the bar. He loved it here, always did. His whole group would frequent the Hard Deck, which meant that Y/n did too. When she said yes to a second date, this is not where she pictured them ending up after dinner.

She should’ve known better than to date a Navy man. Apparently the lesson needed to be learned again.

Rooster turns back to the game of pool he should’ve been focusing on. Trying to focus on anything other than her or all the attention the group is giving them. Phoenix squeals loudly passing off her cue to Bob walking over to meet Y/n at the bar. They were always close while he had been dating Y/n, and Phoenix hasn’t mentioned if they’ve kept in contact.

“Y/n?” She asks, causing her to turn at the name. Rooster watched her eyes light up leaning down to hug Phoenix before he forces himself to look away. The last thing he needs is for her to catch him staring. Hangman happens to love giving Y/n attention, so it doesn’t surprise him when he moves to join them at the bar.

The man who came in on Y/n’s arm orders drinks for the two of them while Rooster tries to ignore the huge hug Hangman is giving her in the corner of his vision. He could hear her laugh over the music which finally gets him to glance over again. Y/n looks over Phoenix’s shoulder taking in the rest of the bar when her smile falters. She finally sees who else is at the Hard Deck tonight. They both take a few too many seconds before looking away. She breaks first, finally pulled back to the people she’s standing with when a drink is placed in her hand.

“It’s been way too long! Where have you been?” Phoenix excitedly asks, while subtly trying to figure out who the man she’s on a date with is.

“Still in the area!” Y/n smiles, focusing back on her friend. Rooster decides to follow her action and ignore her by continuing the pool game that is still ongoing, “What brings the crew back to town?”

Phoenix begins to explain that some top gun graduates were called back to Fightertown for a specific mission. Hangman explains that they’re all stationed here permanently now that it's been completed. It drives Y/n crazy not knowing how long they’ve been in town. How many near misses have there been that she would have run into Bradley? Would he have inevitably reached out?

Rooster can’t keep his eyes off of her for long. He’s straining to hear whatever the four of them are all talking about. There’s too many people here for him to be able to hear much of anything. She looks good, everyone in the bar can see that. Her hair is longer now, and her smile seems brighter than the last time they saw each other. He can’t even focus on the pool game in front of him as hard as he tries. He sets down his cue causing Coyote to complain before he steps closer to join the group gathered by the bar.

“I gotta hear this.” Bob gets up from his stool and the rest of the group follows suit wanting to hear this too. Rooster has to weave between a few people but walks right up to them, setting his empty beer down at the bar.

“How ya been, Y/n?”

Rooster interrupts their conversation, not really caring about the look Phoenix is giving him. She’s cutting him obvious daggers, worrying that he would scare away the girl that she hasn’t been able to catch up with in a while. Now that Y/n’s looked up at him, he can’t break eye contact. He can smell her shampoo from here, still the same. Her eyes still look as enchanting as ever. His heart started pounding a little harder than it was before he had her full attention.

Y/n’s breath falters, not expecting Bradley to be so forward, she expected awkwardness and maybe a nod in each other's directions. Now that he’s standing in front of her she can finally give in and take in how he looks. He looks better than she wants him to. Taller. Broader. Maybe he’s just standing straighter? Does he have something to prove?

“I’ve been good, Rooster.” Calling him by his callsign hurts, Hangman lets out a low whistle when he hears it. Everyone knows why that has a little kick to it. To Y/n it felt almost too personal to call him by his first name, but when they were dating she had a rule that the callsign wasn’t for her because everyone called him that. His actual first name was much more rare to hear and that made it more special. The group had always teased her by calling him a name they so rarely heard. They all knew this and how intentional it was now.

“Yeah, you look good.” Rooster admits, his heart racing. Bold. Bold to say something like that to an ex girlfriend and even more bold considering he’s saying this to her date’s face. Being this close to her again makes it feel like old times. He has to fight the urge to pull her right into his chest. He doesn't get to do that anymore. It looks like that privilege belongs to someone else now.

Y/n’s face flushes red for a second and she turns to look at her date who isn’t looking pleased. Looking to break the tension Phoenix clears her throat, still looking shocked at Rooster for being so forward.

“So, who’s this?” Phoenix questions, looking at the man who is also in service uniform like the rest of them. The slight difference is the amount of badges that sit on his chest.

“This is Will.” Y/n introduces to the group, she finds it hard to meet Rooster’s eye now as he takes in the man who has her all wrapped up. His fingers wrap around the side of her waist, keeping her close.

“Captain Bennett?” Bob speaks up, recognizing his former Captain now that they’re in a large group. Bob wasn’t around when Rooster and Y/n were dating, but he’s heard a lot about it since. Bennett was his captain for a few months when he was overseas.

“Bob!” He shakes his hand, they step off to the side to catch up. Y/n doesn’t know who Bob is but it seems he’s a part of the group Rooster is with. Y/n takes a long sip of the beer that Will had bought for her. If she’s going to stay in this bar she’s going to need something a lot stronger to get through the night.

“Did he say Captain?” Hangman echoes, a smirk growing on his face and he turns to look at Rooster and let out a laugh.

“That sucks, man.” He pats a clap on his chest and that Rooster brushes off.

“I need a drink.” He mutters before turning away from the group, the group shifts back to the area around the pool table so there’s more room to talk.

Y/n makes her rounds of hugs to everyone who she hadn’t seen in a long time, introducing Will to them as she does. They catch up for a bit while also keeping a watchful eye on Rooster who is slamming back drinks at the bar. He seems to be drinking this away. Y/n watches him throw back another shot before slowly walking back to join them.

“-so I actually graduated early with honors.” Will answers with a smirk, Y/n can’t even remember the question he was asked that led to him rattling off his accomplishments, she was hardly paying attention to him at this point. Her mind racing over seeing Rooster again. They didn’t end on the best terms, and it seems like it might stay that way

“Oh fuck off” Rooster laughs, sitting back down to join the group. He brings a wave of whiskey with him, the hard liquor definitely taking an effect in the last ten minutes.

“Excuse me?” Will questions, raising his brows to the man he’s hardly met.

“Tell us one more time about your marksman scores, I don’t think I heard you the first two times.” Rooster jabs, getting a couple of laughs out of the men around them. Maybe Will was talking louder than she thought, she hardly noticed. Her face plainly goes red at the sudden outburst.

“Rooster, don’t.” Y/n cuts, her eyes serious and tone threatening.

“What?” Rooster shrugs, his inebriated shoulders slouch with drama. “Did you feel a need to come show off your shiny new Navy boyfriend, Y/n?”

Everyone is quiet taking in Rooster’s out of character bitter tone.

“Do you have a problem?” Will asks, unsure of why some guy he’s never met has such a problem with him.

“No problem here! Seems like Y/n is a fan of navy men, so good luck with that.”

“Rooster-” Phoenix tries to stop him.

“What, Nix? She brought a date here? Don’t try and tell me I’m in the wrong on this.” He finishes off the rest of his drink, setting it down on the pool table before leaning against it to face the couple. He knows if Penny looks over she would chew him out, but he’s too drunk and pissed to care right now.

“It’s only our second date Rooster, we haven’t had the ex-boyfriend talk yet. And for your information, not that you deserve it, I didn’t pick the place. I don’t know if you noticed but this is the first time I’ve been back here in a year.” She bites back defending herself. Managing to stay composed and it pisses him off even more. How is she this calm?

“Right? And I should believe that?”

“Wow, you’re really on one tonight, aren’t you?” Y/n laughs but her anger is showing on her face more now. “Is this making you feel better?”

“Maybe we should go sit somewhere else.” Will clears his throat standing up, placing a hand at the back of her waist.

“I think that's a good idea.” Y/n agrees, they get up to move to a different spot in the bar.

“I’m never gonna love again, that shit isn’t worth it.” Rooster says while shaking his head softly. His words felt quiet enough to think only the guys closest to him will hear, but the drinks he’s consumed are convincing him he’s quieter than he actually is.

She stops in her tracks the second she hears the words he mutters to himself.

“You can’t rewrite history, Rooster. Why don’t you leave? You’ve always done it better than me.”

Rooster’s heart pangs with guilt. She’s right, and that’s part of why he’s let alcohol take over since she came in.

It’s true, he can’t rewrite their history. He can’t change the fact that he was always leaving and finally she had enough of that. Couldn’t blame her for dumping him after two and a half years together when he left on a boys trip less than a week after his return from a nine month deployment. He didn’t even know why he did it, he knew it was gonna crush her for him to leave without her by choice for another week just to spend time with guys he had just been deployed with. Granted, all of his friends didn’t have anyone to come home to, something that he had taken advantage of. He was still in shock to come home to a half empty apartment when he came back from the boys getaway.

Captain Bennett leads her away and Rooster turns back to the pool table to make himself stop watching. The guys rerack to start a new game and he can feel Phoenix glaring at him.

“What?” He turns to look at her, he might as well have a tail tucked between his leg with how he’s avoiding eye contact.

“That was ugly, Rooster.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

“What, and going on a date with someone else here isn’t?” He defends himself.

“Yeah, and it’s not like you’ve spent the last year hung up on her, right?” Phoenix huffs sarcastically checking his shoulder before breaking away to walk up to the bar.

“The one that got away.” Handman laughs, shaking his head at his somewhat friend.

“Can it, Hangman.”

“No, actually I think I’m finally not the one leaving someone hanging out to dry tonight.” He pats Rooster’s chest mockingly as he steps around to the other side of the table.

Rooster sees Phoenix approach you and your date at your new table standing there talking. He takes a seat and watches the team continue on playing their game but his mind is elsewhere. He manages to get ahold of another shot, and another beer which is the last thing he needs right now. Phoenix eventually returns from speaking with Y/n but her icy attitude towards Rooster hasn’t faded.

Rooster stands to join in the next game, his knees buckle a little when he sees your previous table now vacant. He can’t tell if he stumbles because you left or from all of the drinks.

“I think you need some fresh air.” Y/n states, taking in his sloppy state. She didn’t leave? He looks to his side to see her standing next to him, arms crossed over her chest. Anger is still rolling off her in waves. He was too focused on scanning where she went to see her pop up right next to him.

“I think that you don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” He fires back, “Where’s Mr. Perfect?”

“Alright, let’s go.” Y/n rolls her eyes before roughly grabbing the arm of his shirt and dragging him out of the bar to the back deck. She knows that he’s going to get an earful tomorrow from the rest of the squad for letting you drag him out on his ass.

The breeze is nice and cool. She doesn’t let go until she can plant him down at one of the tables outside. The noise from the bar is still loud, but quiet enough to hear the waves too. He sits, leaning his back against the table behind him but she doesnt move to sit.

“You’ve been a real prick tonight, Bradley.”

He can’t ignore the fact that this is the first time all night she’s actually used his name. He missed hearing it.

“I didn’t expect to be best friends or anything after our breakup, but I didn’t think you would completely lose it and turn into someone unrecognizable. What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t think that most ex-boyfriends are too thrilled to see their girl on a date with someone else in their favorite bar.”

“Your girl?”

“Fuck, you know that you’re my girl. Everyone knows that! At least until you broke up with me!” Bradley shouts loud enough to turn his face red. “You’re the one that got us here.”

“I broke up with you because you were never fucking here, not because I stopped being yours! You left! You always fucking leave! That is never going to change.”

“What and another navy man is going to be around?”

“You and I both know you were gone more than when the Navy needed you.”

A knife to Bradley’s chest.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s great, you’re sorry and I’m done. I’m going home.”

“Y/n wait-“ He stands, a little dizzy but holding himself up.

“I don’t wait around anymore, Bradley.” She gives him one last look before opening the door to go back in the Hard Deck, “You taught me that.”

Bradley lowers himself back down to sit when you disappear back into the bar. How did he end up here?

do we need a part two?! lmk 🫶🏼

#bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradsaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw imagine #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw x reader

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somethinginthewayiam · 4 months ago

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The girl behind the bar (Part 7)

pairing: Jake Hangman Seresin x plus-size reader

warnings: mentions of past body shaming, angst

words: 3.5k

Summary: After what happened between you and Jake and those stupid guys making fun of your appearance, you weren't too keen on seeing him again. Let alone having him surprise you in the storage room to talk things over...

Link to my masterlist

Rooster, Phoenix and the rest of the gang came in right when you opened the bar. Even Hangman and Coyote were part of the group when they entered. They were early for their usual arrival and went straight for the pool table.

It’s only been two days since that fallout with Hangman, but you were already over it. Or at least that’s what you told yourself.

You were stupid to think that something could have been between you and Jake. It was a stupid little kiss born out of the situation and meant nothing. You were glad that you didn’t ask him to come up to your apartment that night as it would only have been another thing that you would have regretted.

It might have been a nice little fantasy but daydreaming was over.

You might have been ready to act like the kiss never happened but you weren’t ready to forgive him for letting those guys talk about you the way they did without him saying anything in your defense and then act like you were mad at him for no reason.

“Hey girl”, Phoenix arrived at the counter and snapped you from your thoughts. “Hey girl”, you returned the greeting.

A few nights back, you and Phoenix overheard a bunch of girls saying hey girl all the time and as a joke, you now always greeted each other that way.

“Can we have 7 beers, please?”, she asked and moved over her credit card. “Sure thing, girl”, you said and grabbed it. “Thanks, girl”, she replied and made you both laugh.

You opened 7 bottles and arranged them evenly on a trey. “I got it, thank you”, Phoenix said and carried the trey over herself. Unknowingly, she did you a huge favor as she delayed you having to come face to face with Hangman again.

Another group came through the door and kept you busy for the next few minutes until another group showed up and slowly the bar got more crowded.

Later in the evening, Bob showed up at the bar counter and sat down in one of the chairs. When he looked up, he caught your stare. “I just need a moment away”, he said and you knew what he meant. Having this specific group of navy pilot all in one place, you knew from experience that it could get quite overwhelming.

“Take all the time you need”, you said and just placed a beer in front of him with a wink which earned you a shy smile from him.

While you continued serving drinks, you shot Bob a look every now and then, checking on him and that’s how you noticed that he was looking over at a girl sitting across the bar from him. She seemingly looked over as well but you weren’t sure if she was interested. She definitely played it cool.

"You can just go over and talk to her, you know?", you said with a smirk while polishing some glasses close to him and putting them into the shelves beneath the bar. Bob looked at you with big eyes like he was caught red handed. His cheeks even turned a light shade of red.

That guy flew in fighter jets for a living and was afraid to ask out a girl. It showed you again that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. With the exception of Hangman. With him you got what you saw.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, he shook his head and took a sip of his drink. “I’m talking about the cute brunette across the bar that you’re looking at ever since you sat down”, you said and shot him a smirk.

“I can bring over a drink from you”, you suggested. He looked at you and then over to the girl. “She doesn’t look interested”, he shrugged his shoulders. You looked over at her again. She looked around the room, obviously looking for someone to flirt with. Not to feed the cliché but she looked like your typical pretty girl that wanted something the most when she thought she couldn’t have it. Sometimes, us women weren’t better than our male counterparts.

“Just lean over and say something in my ear”, you turned to him, saying in a whispered tone and leaned forward. He looked at you with big eyes behind his glasses. You two had never been physically that close to each other. “Huh?”, he eloquently asked. “Just say something to me”, you repeated slowly.

After a moment of hesitation, he leaned forward and said “And what should I say?”. You pulled back and laughed like he had made a sexy joke. “God, Bob! Stop it!”, you said extra loudly and playfully slapped his arm that was resting on the bar top as you kept giggling. You carefully looked over your shoulder, seeing that the girl was looking over at the two of you. Her eyes wandered from you to Bob, now clearly checking him out.

“I don’t know what’s happening”, he continued in a whispered tone and looked like a deer in the headlights. You leaned your arms on the bar and put your face close to him. “I’m helping you get her attention”, you explained with a whisper. For people across the room, it must look like you were having an intimate conversation.

“Hey Y/N! Can we get another round?”, Rooster called over and held up his hand, showing 4 fingers and you dove back up from your conversation with Bob. You grabbed four bottles of beer, opened and placed them on a trey before you came around the bar. When you walked past Bob on your way to the table, you let your hand glide along his shoulders that were pretty tense. “Relax, I know what I’m doing”, you whispered at his ear, then grabbed the trey and walked over to the group.

“What was all that giggling about?”, Fanboy asked, wiggling eyebrows as you arrived with the new round. “Just an inside joke, you wouldn’t understand”, you brushed it off with a smile like you and Bob had a secret, which you kinda had.

“Yeah? What about?”, Hangman asked from the other side of the pool table, leaning against the wall with his drink in hand.

“About being a decent guy. Like I said, you wouldn’t understand”, your voice was ice cold when you talked to him. Coyote had the decency to look down at his feet, avoiding eye contact with you.

You placed the last drink down a bit hard in front of Rooster before you turned around and left the group again.

“What was that about?”, you heard Rooster asking. “Hangman, what did you do?”, Phoenix asked him immediately. “Mind your business”, he just said and emptied his drink.

You had forgotten that the group didn’t know what happened two nights ago as only Hangman and Coyote were here with these guys you had never seen here before.

When you came back to the bar, you saw that the brunette was now sitting next to Bob and they were talking. You stepped behind the counter and saw that her drink was empty. “Can I get you guys anything?”, you asked and shot Bob a little proud smile.

“Could I have a Rum and Coke?”, she asked and leaned a little closer to him while she was talking to you. I get it, you’re talking to him now, you thought to yourself and bit down on your bottom lip to hide your smile.

You grabbed all the ingredients to make her drink and noticed that you were low on Rum. You poured the rest of what was in the bottle into her glass and onto the ice in it, topped it off with Coke and placed it in front of her.

“I have to go to storage, real quick. You okay here, Jimmy?”, you asked your colleague, who was serving drinks on the other side of the bar circle. “Sure thing, darling”, he nodded and placed the dish towel over his right shoulder which was kind of his trademark.

You grabbed the key for the storage room from under the counter as you walked out of the bar circle and weaved through the crowd towards the door to the little hallway. There, you found a couple making out against the wall next to the storage room door.

“Hey, guys. You’re either on your way to the restrooms or your way back. No kissing in the hallway, please”, you told them. “Sorry”, the guy said and pulled the girl back into the main bar area while she giggled. “Mhm, must be nice”, you said to yourself while you unlocked the door and put the key into the pocket of your apron.

The bottles of Rum were on the top shelf which you were definitely too short for. You pulled over a wooden box and stepped on it. Even with that help, you had to stand on your tiptoes to reach the bottles. You grabbed one at first and then reached for the second one. The box was kinda shaky but you managed to hold your balance. Until you didn’t.

When you wanted to step off, the box moved and made your descent quicker than you would have liked. All you could think about was to not drop the two big bottles of Rum and bracing yourself for impact. And then…two strong arms caught you.

“Are you okay?”, you heard behind you and recognized the voice immediately. Jake.

As soon as he put you back on your feet, you shook off his hands. “Get your hands off of me”, you shot at him with an angry look. “Hey, I just saved you from a fall”, he countered and looked surprised that you were angry with him. “I didn’t ask you to save me”, you told him. “You don’t have to ask someone to save you…”, he countered again, huffing annoyed. “I would have preferred someone”, you said, indicating that you meant literally anyone but him.

“Could you just shut up and listen to me for a second? God damn it”, he raised his voice in anger. You put the two bottles on a shelf next to you and crossed your arms in front of your chest.

“What do you want, bagman?”, you asked with a cold tone. Your eyes flickered over his shoulder and you noticed that he had closed the door behind him. You didn’t know how you felt about that.

He shot you an annoyed look for the use of Phoenix’s interpretation of his call sign that he hated so much and took a deep breath, sort of looking for some composure.

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened two days ago”, he began.

“What’s there to talk about?”, you asked him but your tone indicated that there were tons to talk about.

“I was stupid”, Jake said. “At least, we can agree on that”, you spat at him, shifting your weight from one leg to the other.

“I was an asshole that night. I should have said something when he talked shit about you and I didn’t. I’m sorry”, he said. “Okay”, you simply stated but the tone in your voice let him know that it was not okay.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s okay”, he mentioned. As a response, you put your hands on your hips and just looked at him, your jaw clenching.

“Look, I didn’t see you there, otherwise I would have said something”, he tried again.

“It shouldn’t matter if I was there or not! You shouldn’t have let him talk about me that way”, you angrily spat at him while you took two steps forward, ramming your finger into his chest. Your patience wasn’t running low, it was all gone. “And on top of it, you acted like you didn’t even know me and then made me feel like I was overreacting. That hurt, Jake”, you told him and you felt your voice getting a little shaky, which you hated. You took the two steps back again and took a deep breath.

“How come you’re ready to risk your life every time you fly those jets but being associated with me is something you can’t handle?”, you asked him straight out and from the expression on his face you knew you caught him off guard. Your eyes burnt from the oncoming tears.

“Y/N…”, he started but you interrupted him. “Is being associated with me hurting your brand?”, you made quotation marks with your fingers.

“I’ve got enough insecurities on my own, I don’t need yours on top of it”, you added. You were getting worked up with every word you said to him. Maybe you were overreacting on some level, but years of suppressed feelings bubbled up to the surface and you didn’t know how to make it stop.

Jake had the ability to find your deepest scars, ripping them open again and deepening them even more. You just felt like with what had happened that you had your biggest insecurities confirmed.

Jake remained silent, visually lost for words of what you had just put in front of him. You sighed defeated.

“Listen, what happened between us here during the storm was obviously a mistake. We were caught up in some moment and I can dismiss it as that. But I thought over the past few weeks we became some sort of friends. And as a friend, you should have defended me against an asshole making stupid comments about my appearance like that. But since that wasn’t the case, you made it clear that we’re not friends. So, we might as well go back to just being a customer and a bartender”, you motioned between the two of you as you made it clear where you stood on your relationship to him. If you could even call it that.

Now, it was your turn to just look at him as you had made your point and said what needed to be said. From your point of view, whatever this was between you and Jake was now over and things could go back to normal.

You grabbed the two bottles of Rum from the shelf next to you and walked past him towards the door. When you were right next to him, his hand grabbed your arm with a light but determined grip.

“Y/N, I’m sorry what happened, I really am”, he told you and when you looked up at his eyes, they looked sincere. You wished so badly you could believe him, but something deep inside you still doubted him. You carefully pulled your arm from his hand and opened the storage room door with your elbow. You took a step out and to the side to tell him to leave the room as well.

When he came to stand next to you, you put the two bottles in his hands and grabbed the key from your apron to lock the door again.

“We’re shipping out soon and I don’t want to have this standing between us”, he tried again and to your ear, it almost sounded desperate.

“It’s all good Jake, really. In the future, I’ll make sure you’ll see me so you’ll know when to defend me”, you said, not hiding your sarcastic undertone at all, and collecting the bottles from his hands again. “I hope you’re doing well on your mission. I really do. God knows you need the confidence boost”, you told him and the cold tone in your voice even made yourself shiver a little bit.

You shot him an icy look as you took a step back and then turned around to walk back to the main bar area. You had left Jimmy alone long enough.

As a pleasant surprise, when you came back to the counter, you found Bob and the girl still talking. You put one of the bottles of Rum on the liquor shelves in the middle of the circle and stored the other one in the cabinet beneath it.

“There you are, I almost thought you got lost back there”, Jimmy called out when he saw you. You shot him an apologetic smile.

After getting some space between you and Jake, you now realized how much that conversation had drained you. You watched him walking back to the pool table, saying something to the others and then taking off towards the exit. Right before he left, he turned around to look at you once more. You held his stare for just one second and then turned towards a new customer to serve her a drink.

When you walked along the bar circle to check on the other side of the bar, you found Rooster standing there, shooting you a concerned look.

“What?”, you asked him straight out. His sad eyes gave you the creeps.

“Coyote told us what happened two nights ago”, he told you and shot you another sad look. “He didn’t speak up then, he should have kept his mouth shut now”, you told him and looked over his shoulder to shoot Coyote a stern look for blabbering to the others.

“I’m sorry that happened to you and that Hangman was his usual, stupid self”, Rooster said compassionately. “Oh god, don’t give me those pitty eyes. I’m a grown woman and my skin is thicker than it already looks”, you told him and pulled a face. You tried to diffuse the situation with humor. Pitty was even worse than what that guy had said.

“It wasn’t okay what happened to you. From both of them”, he added. “Rooster, I really appreciate that. But Hangman and I cleared the air and if the other guy ever shows up here again, I’ll just spit in his drink”, you told him with a wink.

“It didn’t look like cleared air from the way he left”, Rooster mentioned. “His feelings are not my concern as mine are obviously not his. We talked, he understood most of it and that’s that”, you told him.

You leaned over and grabbed two shot glasses. “And I don’t know about you but I need a drink right now. Will you take a shot with me?”, you asked him and grabbed a bottle of tequila from behind you.

“How can I say no to that?”, he said and a smile played around his lips. You weren’t sure if he believed you that you were already over what had happened but he was willing to let it go for now.

You filled the glasses, each of you grabbed one, clinked them and downed your drinks with one swift sip. You both pulled a face when the liquor burned down your throats. “Jesus”, you called out with a raspy voice.

To Rooster’s surprise, you filled up the glasses again. Instead of saying something, he just raised his eyebrow at you. You pushed over the full glass to him and looked at him challengingly. “Are you sure?”, he asked and was talking more about you drinking on the job than him getting free drinks.

“Drink up or I’ll make you play, piano boy”, you told him and now raised an eyebrow at him. His eyes lit up like you just gave him an idea.

“I’ll gladly do both”, he said, grabbed his drink and downed it like the last one. “Wait, what?”, you asked confused and forgot to drink your shot. “Guys!”, he called over to the pool table and motioned for them to get over to the piano. “You too, Bob”, he slapped Bob’s shoulder who was still talking to the brunette. As he got up from his seat, he just took the hand of the girl and pulled her with him.

Rooster walked right over to the piano and had Payback pull the plug from the jukebox. On his way back, him and Fanboy grabbed your hands and pulled you from behind the bar and shoved you over to the piano as well. Shit, you should have downed your second shot.

Before you knew it, Rooster was playing the first notes of Great Balls of Fire…

When you got to the bar the next day, Penny told you that they got shipped out that morning, including Maverick.

Even though you were still mad at Jake for what he did, you were also scared that you might have seen the last of him. He had told you that his job and the missions he took on were dangerous and it was a very real possibility the he wouldn’t come home from them. Penny looked very nervous as well and that didn’t help your own gut to settle down.

Yes, you hated him for not defending you but you would hate it even more to not see his stupid face or his cocky grin ever again.

Next chapter: Part 8

#jake hangman seresin #the girl behind the bar #jake hangman seresin x plus-size reader #glen powell #topgun maverick #jake hangman seresin imagine #jake hangman seresin fanfiction #glen powell imagine #topgun maverick fanfiction #jake seresin

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raven-dor · 5 months ago

Note

hii, can i reheat a harry potter x reader?? i dont really have anything specific in mind except maybe the reeder could be a slytherin and it would take place during the 5th book/movie so his friends, Sirius and the rest of the order of the phoenix are telling him to stay away from her or something?? that would be an interesting dynamic, i think?? Some angst and of course fluff maybe??

Thank you❤️

us.

In which harry potter falls for forbidden fruit

PAIRING: harry potter x slytherin!reader

WARNINGS: AU where cho and harry aren't a thing, angst, anxiety, dissaproval, arguing, death eaters, mentions of death, fluff

WORD COUNT: 5.3k

Her hair was wild and free, Harry had noticed over the years. She’d tried to control it with a maroon ribbon, but it always fought against her. She’d always been around, at Quidditch games, the Triwizard tournament, always watching. She didn’t make herself known, which Harry found odd. Most people at Hogwarts wanted to make a name for themselves, but Y/N Rosier kept her head down.

She had good grades, good enough to rival Hermione’s. She was kind; he’d observed her caring for a crying first year on more than one occasion. And she was friends with Luna, and he didn’t take Luna for being someone with a bad taste in friends.

He’d thought about her this summer before his mind was preoccupied with wondering if he’d even be allowed to go back to school. Thankfully, Dumbledore saved him.

Again.

He was sulking in Grimmauld Place for the rest of the summer and could often be found staring out the window longingly. Sirius had even sat beside him one day, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “What’s troubling you?”

Harry looked at his godfather curiously. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen that look before.” Sirius laughed. “Your father looked out windows constantly while he thought about your mother. Who is she?”

“She-” Harry sighed. “You wouldn’t like her.”

“I’m sure she’s wonderful.”

“She is.” He looked back out the window. “She’s kind and smart. Caring, too.”

“Sounds like I was right.” The man smiled. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

Harry smiled back but didn’t respond. In truth, he hadn’t talked to Y/N once in their entire time at Hogwarts. How do you introduce someone to your godfather that you’ve never talked to before?

The first time Harry talked to her was on the third day of school. He’d just had his second detention with Umbridge, the wicked old toad when he saw her walking into the Defense classroom with a solemn look on her otherwise serene face.

“Rosier,” Harry spoke.

She stopped as if surprised he was talking. She gripped her wand. “I don’t want-”

Harry laughed. “I’m not- I’m not trying to attack you, I promise.” He smiled lightly. “Why are you in here then?”

She hummed. “Same as you, I suppose.”

His eyes widened. “You have detention?”

The girl smiled. “Something about betraying my house and defending…” She turned red, shaking her head. “Anyways, I have to get going.” She nodded, walking further into the classroom. “Bye, Potter.”

The second time Harry had talked to her, he’d spotted her from across the pitch. The first practice was always a sort of train wreck, but people still came out to watch. If there was one thing about Hogwarts students, almost all were too involved with quidditch. Bets were placed, fights broke out, and points were taken away and given carelessly. It had amused Harry when he was a first year.

Now, he was tired of it.

He’d spotted her Slytherin scarf before he’d seen her. The way his heart started skipping was embarrassing. His cheeks were pink; he knew it, and he thanked Merlin that she was too far away to see. The way his eyebrows furrowed at the sight of green and silver confirmed his thoughts: if he hated Slytherin that much, then there was no telling how much Sirius, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of them would act. She was reading, occasionally glancing up to watch the practice. She was the only one sporting green and silver in the crowd of red and gold, which made him think, why was she here?

He knew for a fact she only hung around Luna and Cho, so why was she at a Gryffindor quidditch practice? Angelina yelled, knocking him out of his trance. “Oi! Watch for the snitch, Harry!”

He saluted her, flying higher into the sky as he shook his head. Godric, give him courage. And strength.

Angelina called it a day hours later, and Y/N was still there as if she was waiting for someone. He felt jealousy bubble up in his stomach. Who was she friends with on the team? He flew directly above her, putting on his most charming smile. “Waiting for someone?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t know any Gryffindors. Besides Granger.”

Harry nodded, trying to fight the grin that threatened to give away his crush. “You know me.”

“And Hermione.” She added.

“That’s all you need to know, really.”

She laughed, and in that moment, Harry vowed to make her laugh forever. “I don’t want to keep you.”

“You’re not.” He responded too quickly. “I mean-”

She stood up, waving. “I’ll see you around.”

“I-” His voice got caught in his throat, and all he could do was wave back at her disappearing figure. “Bye.”

Sirius’s face had appeared in the fire out of nowhere. Once Ron and Hermione had gone to bed, his godfather’s tone switched to a light one. “So, how is she?”

“She?” Harry tilted his head. “Who-” Oh. Harry flushed. Sirius had remembered their conversation. “She’s good.”

“Good?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “Have you talked to her?”

“Once.” He smiled. “She’s quiet.”

Sirius smiled. “The quiet ones.” He laughed. “They’re tough to crack but very worth it.” His godfather held a sad sort of look on his face like he was reminiscing on a lost love. “Be patient with her, Harry.”

“I am,” Harry responded. “But she seems so sad.”

“Well,” Sirius whispered. “Give her a reason to be happy then.”

The third time he’d talked to her, she had approached him. Mainly because he hadn’t even seen her coming, too wrapped up in his thoughts, too wrapped up in all the chaos that his fifth year had produced. He was trying not to pass out from the pain that stabbed at him from the back of his hand. He’d thought he was used to it, the quill that cut into the back of his hand, but a weekend off made him weak.

“Potter?” He hadn’t responded. “Harry?” She tried. That had made him stop and look up. He smiled, but she could tell something was wrong.

“Rosier, hi.”

“What’s wrong?” She whispered. “Are you hurt?” She checked him over while he stared at her. She was touching him. Merlin, he thought. Soon enough, she’d find his scar. She gasped. “Your hand.”

He laughed, pulling his hand out of her hold. “It’s nothing.”

She raised an eyebrow, looking rather upset at him. That wasn’t a look he thought she possessed enough attitude in her body for. Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought. “Harry…” She pulled up her sleeve, the back of her hand holding a matching scar. “You get used to it after a while.”

“She did it to you too?” He scoffed. “What did your parents say? That’s-”

“My parents suggested it. Thought it would teach me a lesson.” She laughed, smirking. “Little do they know, the only lesson it taught me is to never trust them again.” Harry grinned, and she shoved him lightly. “Why are you smiling?”

“You’re just-” He laughed. “Not what I expected.”

She laughed back. “Well, if it’s any consolation, neither are you.”

Harry did not want to be here. He’d made that abundantly clear to Hermione, who simply ignored him. Ron laughed at his best friend, who was practically dragging his feet to the meeting. “Bloody hell, mate. It’s only a meeting. You’re acting like we’re marching you to your death.”

Hermione glared. “Poor choice of words, Ronald.” Rubbing her hands together, she walked into the old building. “We’re here.”

Harry whispered to Ron. “Where exactly are we?”

“No idea, mate.”

Harry groaned. “Who’s supposed to be meeting us then?”

“Just a couple of people.”

They stumbled up the stairs, and Harry fought the murderous glare toward Hermione. There were definitely more than thirty people, not a few. The boys sat down, but Hermione stayed standing. “You all know why we’re here. We need a teacher. A proper teacher. One who’s had real experience defending themselves against the Dark Arts.”

“Why?”

Harry looked through the crowd, glaring at the boy who spoke. Ron scoffed. “Why? Because You Know Who’s back, you tosspot.”

“So he says.”

“So Dumbledore says.”

“So Dumbledore says because he says. The point is, where’s the proof?”

“If Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed-”

Harry pushed out of his chair. “I’m not going to talk about Cedric, so if that’s why you’re here, you might as well clear out now.” He whispered in Hermione’s ear. “Come on, Hermione, they’re just here because they think I’m some sort of freak…”

“Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?” Harry looked over, his eyes widening when he made direct contact with hers. She was here, standing beside Cho and Luna.

Hermione nodded. “Yes. I’ve seen it.”

“Blimey Harry. I didn’t know you could do that.” Dean looked amazed.

“And he killed a basilisk with the sword in Dumbledore’s office.”

“Third year, he fought about a hundred Dementors at once.”

“And last year, he really did fight You Know Who.”

“Wait.” This was all so overwhelming, and now that he could feel Y/N’s eyes staring into him, he felt like he was burning. “Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that, but the truth is, most of that was just luck. I didn’t know what I was doing half the time; I nearly always had help…”

“He’s just being modest.”

“No, Hermione, I’m not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there, when you’re a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don’t know what that’s like.”

“You’re right,” Y/N spoke, the room turning to face her. Murmurs echoed through the room; what was she doing here? “And I know that none of us want to know, but it’s inevitable.” She smiled softly at Harry. “So teach us. Because Voldemort is coming, and it’s only a matter of time until we have to fight, too.”

Harry nodded, truly smiling for the first time that day. “Exactly.”

The room lined up, signing the parchment of paper Hermione had brought as a sort of roster. When Y/N had gotten to the front, he’d straightened his posture, smiling widely. “Rosier. Good to see you.”

She smiled back. “Wouldn’t miss it.” She sighed her name, waving. “See you, Harry.”

Ron squinted his eyes, staring at his best friend curiously. “What is a Slytherin doing here?”

Harry shrugged. “Dunno. Probably heard about it from Cho and Luna.”

Ron scoffed. “How do you know they’re friends?”

“Because I-” He panicked. “Cedric told me they had a Slytherin friend.”

Ron nodded but was unconvinced. Harry felt horrible for not saying what he truly felt; he’d had a crush on Y/N for a while, not Cho, contrary to popular belief.

Harry had lost his breath when he saw her walk in beside Cho. She didn’t look any different than normal, he supposed, but her smile was bright, and she looked happy. He walked over. “Rosier.”

Y/N turned toward him, blushing. “Harry, you can call me by my name.”

He grinned. “I’ll try. No promises, though.” He clapped his hands together, surprised at how clammy they felt. “Excited for the first meeting?”

“Very. I love DADA. Especially the days that we practice. And this is practically that so…” She smiled. “I’m very excited.”

Ron called out, ushering Harry over. The boy sighed. “I have to-”

She nodded. “Go. I’ll be here.”

He practically raced through his welcome speech, jittering about knowing Y/N was watching him. The DA formed a single line, Neville going first in their disarming exercise. He was nervous, and so was Harry, but he suspected for two completely different reasons. Neville held up his wand, waving it carelessly. “Expelliarmus!”

Somehow, his wand flew backward, flying through the line as people ducked out of the way. Harry tried not to laugh, but when he spotted her giggling, a grin broke. He put his hand on Neville’s shoulder sympathetically. “Next time.”

Y/N was next, smiling shyly at him. “Harry.”

He nudged her. “Do you know how to cast a disarming spell?”

She nodded. “Of course I do.”

He smiled wider, stepping back. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She flicked her wrist quickly, her voice firm. “Expelliarmus.” The ‘death eater’s’ wand vanished like dust, the dummy swaying back and forth. She nodded, satisfied with her work. Harry clapped lightly. “Perfect. That was perfect.”

What he’d actually wanted to say was, ‘You’re perfect.’

“Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It’s sort of a wizard’s bread and butter, really.” Harry stopped at the opposite end of the room, facing his opponent. Y/N smiled reassuringly at Nigel; he looked frightened.

She understood. She would be, too, if she were facing the Boy Who Lived.

Harry clapped his hands. “Come on, Nigel, give me your best shot.”

Nigel tightened the grip on his wand. “Stupefy!”

Harry flew back, hitting the wall, but funnily enough, so did Nigel. Y/N slapped a hand over her mouth. “Good.” Harry gasped. “Not bad at all, Nigel; well done.” He stood up, looking at the crowd. “Perhaps that’s enough stunning for today.” He smiled. “Anyone fancy a duel?” Y/N stepped forward, smirking. Harry’s smile grew. “Rosier.”

“Potter.” She gripped her wand, standing on the opposite side. “Ready?”

He nodded, eyes full of determination. “Are you?”

“Impedimenta!”

Harry couldn’t even get a word out, moving at a sloth's pace. She smirked, sending one more spell his way for good measure. “Depulso!” He flew back, the room gasping. Her spells quickly faded, and she walked over, smiling shyly once more. “I’m sorry, was that too much-”

Harry had never been more in love with her than in that moment. He shook his head, scrambling to his feet and addressing the crowd. “Take notes, everyone. Rosier here gave you all a perfect example of how to best an enemy.” He gestured to her, clapping. “Fantastic work, Y/N.”

She blushed, shaking her head. “Please, it was nothing.”

Y/N watched in horror as Draco started chanting. Ron wasn’t Y/N’s friend by any means, but he was kind enough, and Draco publicly embarrassing him would not end well. She marched over, hissing at the bright blonde. “Stop that this instant.”

Draco’s eyebrow rose. “And what will you do about it, Rosier?”

“You-” She crossed her arms. “How would you like it if Gryffindor started chanting about how your dear daddy is a death eater?”

Draco’s eyes widened, but he continued. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She stalked away, standing back with Luna. “I can’t believe you actually wore it, Lu.” Her friend was wearing a giant lion’s head made of paper mache. Y/N was very sure the students behind her were less than happy with the obstruction to their view.

Luna smiled. “Interesting you’re standing in Gryffindor’s section, Y/N/N.” She raised an eyebrow. “How is Harry?”

“He’s fine, we actually-” Y/N stopped, glaring at her friend. “Why do you ask?”

Luna smirked but said nothing. “No reason. Curiosity, I suppose.”

The game wasn’t fair, and when it ended, Y/N felt the tension in the air. She raced to the field, panting from how fast she ran. “Harry!” She called out. He turned around hesitantly, practically glowing from anger. Her stomach flipped, even if he was angry, he still looked gorgeous. Walking closer, she smiled brightly. “You did wonderfully. You’re an amazing seeker.”

He blushed, still visibly upset from Slytherin’s actions. “Thanks.” He opened his mouth and then closed it.

Y/N smiled. “I’m sorry about Draco. He’s obnoxious.”

Harry scoffed. “That is one word to describe him.”

“Harry, I wanted to say-”

“Well, well, well.” Y/N rolled her eyes, turning around to face Draco. “I heard you were a blood traitor, Rosier, but I never thought it was true.”

She crossed her arms, standing beside Harry. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Draco hissed. “Stooping down to the likes of Potter, I can tolerate. But Weasley?” He smirked. “You know, he was raised in a bin.” He looked at Harry. “Did you like that lyric Potter?”

Harry didn’t respond, grabbing Y/N’s hand and pulling her towards the team. She blushed but didn’t fight it; it felt nice, knowing that he wanted her beside him. Draco continued. “We wanted to write another couple of verses!" Malfoy called as Alicia hugged Harry tightly. "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly--we wanted to sing about his mother. And we couldn’t fit useless loser either, for their father.”

Y/N clenched her fist, tapping her foot impatiently. Harry smiled; it was endearing to see how upset she was for them. He whispered, rubbing the back of her hand lightly. “Just leave it.”

Draco continued once more. “You like the Weasley’s, don’t you, Potter? Spend the holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I supposed when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells okay-”

Harry let go of Y/N’s hand, grabbing George. The lot of them were seething, and Y/N understood, not far from it herself. “Or perhaps," Draco said, leering as he backed away, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter. And Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-”

Y/N snapped, glaring. “Draco, stop this right-”

Harry and George charged at the Slytherin, and she gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth in shock. Good on them, she thought. It serves him right, talking like that about their family. And as much as she loved that Draco was finally getting what he deserved, she couldn’t watch as they got in trouble. “Stop! Harry, stop!” Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were still holding Fred back, and Hermione, Y/N assumed, was off comforting Ron.

Madam Hooch practically glided over. “Impedimentia!” She placed her hands on her hips, appalled at the sight before her. “Never have I seen such a disgrace. Go to your Head of House immediately!”

Y/N followed after Harry, casting healing spells over the cuts he acquired while walking. “Harry, I’m so sorry. He shouldn’t have said that.”

He glared at the ground, humming at her touch. “S’fine. Just-” He scoffed. “Thanks for-”

She shook her head, placing a daring hand on his cheek. “You don’t need to thank me for anything. Just take it easy; we don’t need you in any more trouble.” She smiled, whispering. “I don’t need you in any more trouble. You’re too important.”

He rolled his eyes. “Thank you for the reminder. It’s not as if I hear it everyday.”

“Harry…” Y/N blushed, murmuring. “I wasn’t talking about that. I meant…” She sighed, stepping away. “Never mind.”

He grabbed her hand, pulling her back. “Say it.”

She smiled. “Harry…”

“Y/N…” He looked desperate, and it broke her resolve instantly.

“You know that I care about you, and you’re-” She hesitated. “You’re important to me.”

Harry stood by the mirror, staring at all the newspaper clippings that hung on its borders. So many people lost, so many people still lost, but all he could think about was Y/N. You know that I care about you. He’d been thinking about it ever since she’d said it, his mind constantly on her. What was she doing? What class was she in, and what hairdo had she done?

Those were all fine thoughts, but not so much when you had a secret class to teach. They’d just had their last term lesson, and Harry felt relieved. He felt terrible thinking it, but he did. A cough broke through the silence, tearing him from his thoughts. “Harry? Are you alright?”

He didn’t turn around but nodded. “Fine.”

She smiled, stepping beside him and staring into the mirror. “You look worried.”

“Really?” He turned toward her, a surge of confidence racing through his veins. “Odd, I don’t feel worried.”

She rolled her eyes, shoving him lightly. “Confident today, I see.” Y/N blushed, whispering. “I like it.”

“Yeah?” He stepped closer. “I like you.”

Her eyes widened, and she scoffed in shock. “Harry!”

“I’m sorry.” He grinned. “I’ve been trying to deny it, but- I can’t.” He leaned down. “I like you. A lot.”

Her eyes watered, and she shook her head. “Harry, I don’t deserve-”

“Yes, you do.” He grinned, panicking that she wasn’t completely on board already. “Unless you don’t like me?” He backed away, bright red and staring at the ground. “I’m sorry, I thought-”

Her lips pressed against his quickly. “I do like you. I just-” She backed away. “I can’t.”

Break had been a nice reprise from Hogwarts. Even if it meant not seeing Y/N every day, he thought about what she said over and over and over. It was becoming habit now to think about what she said constantly. I do like you. I just can’t. What did she mean by that?

Harry stared out the window once more, gripping a cider in his cold hands.

“May I assume that she is on your mind again?” Sirius laughed, sitting beside his godson. “What’s happened now?”

“She kissed me.” He looked helpless, and Sirius couldn’t help but laugh again. “And then she told me that she liked me-”

“Well, that’s great-”

“But she couldn’t.” Harry leaned his head back against the chair. “What does that mean?”

Sirius was at a crossroads. Assuming the worst, that meant she was in danger, and assuming the best, she felt like she wasn’t good enough for Harry or something of that nature. “What could possibly be the problem?” Harry didn’t answer, refusing to look his godfather in the eye. That had scared Sirus. Had Harry fallen for someone he shouldn’t have? “Harry?”

“She-” Harry didn’t want to tell Sirius. At least, not like this. Sirius was known for hating Slytherins. What would he say when his godson told him he liked one? “I-”

“Harry, I support you, no matter what.” His godfather smiled. “Nothing you could say could upset me.”

That made Harry feel reassured enough to form the words. “Don’t be mad.”

“I won't?” Sirius felt nervous.

“She- She’s in Slytherin.”

Ah. Sirius felt conflicted, smiling awkwardly. “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. Not all Slytherins are bad. I’m sure she’s-”

“She’s a Rosier.”

“What?” Sirius whispered. The Rosiers were known for their extremely dark nature and affinity for He Who Must Not Be Named. “It wouldn’t be Y/N Rosier?”

Harry faltered. “Why?”

“Harry, the Rosier’s are not to be trusted.”

“She’s not like-”

“NO!” Sirius hadn’t realized how upset he’d become. “Harry, listen to me-”

Harry stood up, shocked at how quickly Sirius had turned. “You don’t know her. She’s kind and-”

“So was Evan Rosier.” Sirius fought. “Her father. He was my brother’s best friend, and he-” His voice broke. “Is the reason Regulus is dead.”

“Sirius, you don’t-”

“Harry.” His godfather’s eyes were dark. “Don’t fight me on this.”

Who was Sirius to tell him what to do? Y/N was nothing like her family, and, at least to Harry, practically was doing the same thing that Sirus had done nearly 20 years ago. “Sirius, she doesn’t get along with her family. She got-”

“Harry! Leave it alone!” Sirius was glowering with anger. He huffed, stalking off into his study, leaving Harry deeper in his thoughts than Sirius had found him.

His argument with Sirius had put him in an even worse mood than normal, stalking about the castle with an invisible storm cloud over his head. He was a hypocrite, Harry had decided. If he had just heard him out, surely Sirius would understand. He entered the library, pulling out a crumbled piece of paper and started drafting a letter.

Key word started, because about two words in, he heard sniffling, and he became distracted. He walked into the aisle, surprised to see Y/N openly sobbing. “Y/N?” She seemed startled, and tried to wipe the tears off her face, but Harry was quick. He stood in front of her, wiping of her tears gently. “What’s happened?”

“It’s nothing.” She smiled. “How was your break?”

“Y/N, don’t lie to me.” He laughed to ease the tension. “Not many people cry in the library.”

She scoffed, staring at her hands. “I beg to differ. Many a panicked student cry while staring at their homework.”

“Y/N…” He sighed. “You can tell me.”

“I-” She sobbed again, trying to fight it. “My parents threatened to kick me out.”

His eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“I-” She whispered. “I can’t tell you.” It’s like she had practiced it her whole life, because in seconds, her entire demeanor changed from sad to calm and collected. She stood straight, and walked away from him without a second thought.

Harry was thoroughly confused. Running back to grab his things, he pulled the map out and followed after her. She looked over her shoulder, shock evident on her face. She turned back around picking up her pace. He groaned, running to catch up. “Y/N, wait!”

She whipped around, running into him. “Leave it alone Harry!”

Leave it alone.

He now knew that was his least favorite phrase of all time. He shook his head. “No.” He grabbed her hand, pulling her down the hall. “Come on.”

She rose an eyebrow, but didn’t fight him, following after. “What are you doing? Going to kill me?”

He rolled his eyes, not looking back. “I need you to trust me.”

She blushed, murmuring. “I’ve trusted you for a while, Harry.”

The wall in front of them changed, her eyes widening. “What-”

“The Room of Requirement.” He smirked. “You should know this, Ms. Top of our Class.”

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “I’m not-”

“Top of the class. I know.” He sat her down on the couch, sitting beside her. “But you practically are.” Holding her hands in his, he whispered. “Tell me what happened.”

“You know my parents are…” She sighed. “Avid supporters of Voldemort.” Harry nodded. “Well, now they want me to also become an avid supporter of Voldemort.” His eyes widened.

“You said no, right?”

She glared lightly. “Of course I said no. To which they responded, you will do this, or you will not have a home to come back to.” Her eyes started tearing up again, and she fell into his arms. “What am I going to do?”

He pulled her close, sighing. “I don’t know Y/N. But I’ll figure it out. I swear.” He kissed her temple, whispering. “I swear.”

He knew she hadn’t told them, he just knew. Harry swore to everyone who told him, Y/N would never tell Umbridge a thing. She had to scars to prove it. Everyone that had once been in Dumbledore’s Army had practically ostrasized her, with the exception of Harry himself. Hermione and Ron were quiet about the subject, but Harry knew what they thought.

For the first time in his life, he hadn’t cared. Y/N was kind and loyal, she wouldn’t have betrayed them like that. She wouldn’t have betrayed him like that. Besides, it wasn’t Y/N that Filch was holding when the walls had been blown in, it had been Cho.

Yet everyone immediately blamed Y/N. Simply because of her house.

He rolled his eyes, glaring at the fire. Ron laughed, nudging him lightly. “What did the fire ever do to you?”

He glared at Ron. “You think Y/N told, don’t you?”

“Harry-”

Hermione stayed quiet, which came as odd to him. “Have anything to say, Hermione?”

She sighed. “Harry, you have to understand… she’s in-”

“Slytherin, I know. Merlin himself was in Slytherin.” He scoffed. “I don’t hear the entirety of the Wizarding World shaming him.”

“It’s different.” Ron mumbled.

Harry whipped his head around. “No!” He stood up, glaring at his friends. “She would have never done something like this. You don’t know her like-” He took a deep breath, realizing the other lingering students were staring. “You don’t know her like that.”

Hermione was beet red. “She didn’t do it.”

Harry tilted his head. “What did you just say?”

“I know she didn’t do it. I- I charmed the parchment to expose any traitors.” She was now whispering, staring at her hands. “The only person that ‘betrayed’ us was Marietta Edgecombe.”

He was now fuming. “You knew? You knew and said nothing?”

Ron was standing in between the two. “Now wait just a minute-”

“NO! She defended you, she defended all of us, and you just leave her to the wolves?” He felt livid. “What sort of people are you?”

Hermione sighed. “Harry-”

He was already gone, the portrait slamming against the wall.

Ron and Hermione had apoligized to Y/N, and Harry, for behaving horribly. Harry had felt a sense of protectiveness over Y/N that he hadn’t felt since becoming friends with Ron and Hermione.

Sure, school had been horrible, but at least he had had her and his friends. And Sirius.

Not anymore though, he thought bitterly. Because Sirius was dead.

He was going through Sirius’s belonging in Grimmauld Place when he spotted a letter, addressed to Prongs Jr. Harry had rolled his eyes. He ripped the letter open, eyes watering at it’s contents.

Harry,

After writing Dumbledore multiple letters, I found that you were correct, Y/N Rosier does not get along with her family. From his accounts, she is like you said, kind, caring, and smart. You’re a lucky man.

I feel horribly about our fight. You’ve always seen the good in people, and are rather optimistic for such a melancholy boy. You’re parents would have been proud.

I’ve told you this many times, but I feel trapped in my own home. I know Uncle Alphard meant well by keeping me heir, but I swear if I ever see him again, I’ll give him a peice of my mind.

I meant what I said before you left, we’ve all have light and dark inside of us. Thankfully, Y/N has chosen to hold onto the light. Her family cannot say the same. I should never had judged her so harshly, and for that, I apoligize. To both of you. I understand all too well what it is like to have a wicked family. Hopefully you forgive me, and bring her around the old prison soon.

You are a good person, Harry. Never forget that.

Your Godfather,

Sirius Bla-

The words on his last name were scribbled, and Harry could only assume his godfather had been writing this answer when Remus told him what was happening at the Ministry. A single tear fell down his cheek, and he angrily wiped it away. “Harry?” He turned around, smiling at his girlfriend. “Oh Harry, it’s alright.” Y/N knelt beside him, huggin him tightly. “He’s still with you. You know that.”

Harry laughed, nodding. “He wrote a letter to me. The day he died.”

She smiled. “That’s wonderful.”

“He talked about you.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh.”

Harry smiled, kissing her cheek gently. “I love you.”

“Harry!” She scoffed, shoving him away and standing up. “What have I said about-”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” She glared. “Now, will you please help me move my things in here? I feel bad enough that Dumbledore himself is letting me stay in a house that isn’t even mine.”

Harry rolled his eyes, stood up, and followed after her. “Sirius would have wanted you to stay here, trust me.” He smirked. Besides, this is technically my house."

Y/N laughed. “Sirius didn’t even know me.”

“He did,” Harry teased. “In a way.”

Y/N sighed, turning around and hugging Harry quickly. “He was a great person Harry.”

“He was.” He agreed, looking deep into her eyes. “And you are too.”

taglist: @beebeechaos

#harry potter #literature #fanfiction #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfiction #order of the phoenix #harry potter x slytherin!reader #slytherin!reader #evan rosier #marauders #sirius black #x reader #🪩! fics

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withahappyrefrain · 5 months ago

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opening the door for them or pulling their seat out before they sit down with bob would be delightful!

You had only been at the bar for ten minutes and already regretted all the decisions you made that led to this moment.

Why did you agree to a blind date?

First of all, it was with your friend's coworker. And no matter how much Natasha said it was fine, you couldn't help but be nervous.

You had heard stories of the squad Nat worked with, some good, some…not so good.

"It's not the Hangman guy, right?" You asked her when she first brought it up.

Nat pretended to gag, "You're my friend, not enemy. It's my WSO."

So there you were, awkwardly shifting in the chair at the bar as you looked towards the entrance for the sixth time, anxiety building up in your stomach and threatening to come out like bile any moment.

This was a horrible idea.

You tried dating, you really did. Various dating apps, going to different bars and strike up a conversation, but nothing seemed to work out. Sometimes you'd get ghosted, other times it would end with you curled up in a ball on your couch with a pint of ice cream while some stupid romantic comedy played in the background. You quickly learned that it didn't matter how great the first or second date went, folks will change their mind about you at the drop of a hat.

At least with Hinge or Tinder, you could see a picture of the person and speak before meeting them. With a blind date, you didn't have that, only the information your matchmaker had given you.

He went by Bob. He was a WSO. From the Midwest, specifically Montana ("Don't refer to his accent as Southern, he will go on a spield '' Nat warned you). Very sweet, but shy at first, which was why he supposedly had trouble finding someone.

He sounded nice. Potentially lovely. But you knew better by now, after years of failed attempts and broken hearts.

Sounding nice didn't guarantee anything.

You wondered what Nat had said about you. Probably that only your parents called you by your full name. That you and Nat met through college was also a given. She's had shit luck when it comes to finding someone, hopefully you can change that?

You checked your phone for the upteemth time. 7:12. He was supposed to be here twelve minutes ago. Surely he wouldn't stand you up, considering he had to work with Nat the next day?

The idea was surprising, but not shocking. Despite the intention of dating, some folks were quite careless when it came to a heart that wasn't theirs. You had been on that receiving end more times than you'd like to admit.

He probably thought the idea of going on a date with his coworker's friend was too risky, too weird. Perhaps he looked you up on social media and found an aspect of you that he didn't like. Thanks to numerous assholes, you could list off several potential reasons. Not pretty enough, not interesting enough, not affectionate enough, too affectionate, too clingy-

The list could go on and on. Thankfully it didn't. Thankfully, the sound of your name, said by a soft voice broke you out of your thoughts and made you turn around.

Oh.

He reminded you of the male love interests from those Old Hollywood films you watched with your grandmother as a small child. Sandy brown hair that was tousled in waves, piercing blue eyes that stood out against his sharp nose and rosy cheeks.

But above all, he looked kind. Truly kind. Maybe it was the lopsided, assuring grin or the way his cobalt eyes shone against the soft lighting of the restaurant.

"Bob?"

His thin lips formed into a saccharine smile as he stepped forward, extending a long arm out.

Holy shit, he brought you flowers.

You couldn't help but stare, wide-eyed and open mouth at the beautiful marigolds and orange sunflowers. You didn't know people still did that-no date had ever done so for you.

"I-I'm so sorry for bein' late. I swear, I'm always on time, I just wasn't sure which flowers to get ya. I-I mean, I knew you liked sunflowers, Phoenix told me that but I wasn't sure if yellow was overdone or if I should do something different and I'm really sorry-"

"You're perfect," your eyes widened at your own words, "The flowers I mean! The flowers are perfect and beautiful and traffic happens, it's okay!"

His smile widened at your reassurance and you swore it melted your heart. Heat rose to your face as you accepted the bouquet, your fingers brushing against his.

The two of you walked to your table. When Bob pulled out your seat for you, your heart fluttered.

There was no way this guy could be real. Why was he single?

Often, the conversation on a first date was awkward and full of long pauses.

Not this one. Not with Bob.

He asked you questions about yourself. Hell, he even asked follow up questions. And they were thoughtful.

Bob felt the same way.

Yes, he found you stunning. But you were much more than that. You were insightful, passionate, kind.

Why on Earth were you single?

Bob was determined to make everyone else's loss his gain.

"Would you want to go get ice cream?" His fingers were tapping the table, a nervous habit that you found adorable, "I mean, I get it if you're tired but if you're not, I'd love to continue?"

A downright dopey smile overtook your face as you nodded enthusiastically.

"I'd love to continue!"

You couldn't hide your surprise though when Bob all but jogged in order to hold the door for you.

"Oh, thank you! But you don't have to do that," you explained. His brows knitted together in confusion, the corners of his lips slightly downturned.

How could one man be so cute?

"Do what?" He asked, confusion all over his voice.

"Oh, um, holding the door?" Was it wrong to have brought that up? Oh God, was he going to think of you as rude?

Instead Bob smiled as he shook his head, "Nonsense. You should never have to hold the door."

Oh no. You were going to be down bad.

As the night went on, your nerves disappeared, giving Bob a sweet smile when he held the door open or pulled out your chair.

You didn't say anything when he held the car door open to drive you home, just that smile that made his heart flutter.

But when he opened the car door after arriving at your home, you stood instead of walking forward.

"I....I had a really good time tonight," the nerves came swelling back. You couldn't recall the last time you had clicked with someone so quickly.

"I did too," his smile warmed your body, "Maybe...if you'd like, we could-"

"Do this again?" God, you really hoped that's what he was going to say. You didn't think your heart could handle it otherwise.

"Yeah," he let out a nervous chuckle, "I'd love to do this again."

Your heart soared. Nat now had rights to the biggest "I told you so" but you couldn't find it in yourself to care at this moment.

"I'm not doing anything this Friday," containing your excitement was difficult. You were positive that big, dopey grin was plastered on your face right now.

Bob loved it.

"I'm not either." That was kinda a lie. Fridays were usually when his squad went out to the Hard Deck to celebrate the end of the week.

But Nat wouldn't mind and that was all that mattered.

You two exchanged phone numbers, hands clumsily typing as you both tried to sneak glances at one another.

Once your respective phones were back in your hand, it seemed like the front door was calling your name.

Not that you wanted to leave.

Offering him coffee at this hour would be silly, no one did that anymore.

"Can I walk you to the door?" His voice was timid, unsure.

"Please." It came out abruptly, as though you had lost control of your mouth, "I mean, yes. I would like that."

When Bob offered his arm, you accepted, linking yours with his.

"This is my stop," you motioned to the front door, earning a chuckle from Bob. God, he was so handsome. And his hands were so large. What would it be like to hold them?

"I had a really good time tonight. Probably the best date I've had in...a while." The dusting of pink that spread across his cheeks was downright darling.

"Could I-"

"If you don't kiss me, I might explode."

Normally you weren't one to be so bold. But the ache inside you was threatening to burst at the seams.

"Oh thank God," was all Bob could get out before pressing his lips to yours.

#my writing #bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #bob floyd x you #bob floyd x y/n #bob floyd x female reader #robert Bob Floyd #robert bob floyd x reader #robert bob floyd x you #robert bob floyd x female reader

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box-dwelling · 6 months ago

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I put this in discord but fuck it it's post worthy. I missed the month but AA charcaters and are they publicly out (like in terms of being legal celebrities, not with friends and family) and do they attend pride.

Phoenix: He is not out because he doesn't like talking about his personal life at fucking all. But if asked directly he's gonna admit to it. But he does definitely go to pride every year with Trucy and is the guy to give dad hugs to queer kids who's parents don't support them

Apollo: The press will wrestle his sexuality and being trans from his cold dead hands. He does go to pride but very specifically because he's trans, not because he's gay. Given his taste in men he does not think that's something to be proud of

Mia: 100% out publicly and does go to pride.

Athena: Not really famous enough for people to care but she's not hiding anything at all from the public. She goes to pride every year and loves it

Maya: Out publicly as a deliberate stance around the complicated gender politics of Kurain. Loves pride and brings pearl along who loves the rainbows but will stare homophobically at any gay person she sees.

Ema: not famous enough for anyone to care but she will absolutely mention it if she ever is. She is going to pride and she is getting wasted and high and then having a questionable hookup

Miles: Literally started this train of thought. He is not out publicly. He would find the very concept of revealing his sexuality publicly demeaning and invasive. He doesn't like pride for introvert reasons, he only ever goes as a chaperone for Kay and Seb.

Franziska: Very very out. But she is not going to pride unless she's asked to do a speech because she is a god damn workoholic. She only goes personally if Maya drags her along and then she does actually have a ton of fun.

Godot: I don't think he's even out to himself.

Klavier: He is very very out publicly but his fans still debate it. A lot of people think he's queerbaiting for his career despite all evidence to the contrary. He is at pride EVERY yeah and will go to as many parades as he can manage. Huge pride guy. He also probably performs there 99% of the time.

Simon: Robert Patterson levels of out. He is not here to represent anyone, he is here to baffle. He goes to pride mostly with Athena and refuses to wear any colours.

Gumshoe: Again not really famous enough for it to matter. But he fucking loves pride. He enjoys himself so much. Honestly even if you don't interpret him as queer I think he'd still go to pride as a loud as hell ally.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #apollo justice #mia fey #athena cykes #maya fey #ema skye #franziska von karma #diego armando #klavier gavin #simon blackquill #dick gumshoe #trucy kay pearl and seb dont have their own secirons because i mentioned them else where

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phoenixeclipse-lmkau · 29 days ago

Text

Mother~Mother River – Short Fic

Chapter #1 - Mother-Mother River

!Not connected to Cursed Warlords Au! This shall henceforth be known as the Mother AU, for obvious reasons. Just under 8,000 words, damn I did not think it would get this long. Oh well hope y’all enjoy!

The group passes by the mother-mother river. Macaque has to fight with himself out of making a terrible decision. Wukong, however, has other plans when he hears the nature of the plan. You are oblivious to their scheming. Believing they see you as a friend.

How terribly wrong you are.

>>>>>

“Wow, what a surprise. Another… fucking RIVER!” Wukong yelled kicking his feet angrily.

Wukong stared at the damned water with anger in his red rimmed golden eyes. His golden fur was not meant to be wet, it was meant to be properly groomed, he hated when river water soaked it. He was a STONE monkey one who sank, so as soon as he saw the water of course his anger spiked. His tail snapped to the ground, a single golden band that was wrapped around it dented the ground from the strike.

He could barely believe he was still on this stupid mission. He should just go back home back to his people. There was no reason to stay-

“Wukong please calm down,” Your voice spoke up, your ever beautiful voice. The group had just gotten him to rejoin the journey and you really didn’t want him running off again.

Oh, that’s right. Wukong stared at you for a moment before huffing, you were the reason they were staying. If it hadn’t been for your damned shield than they could have simply taken you back to Flower Fruit Mountain without having to stay. It would be easy, so easy to just grab you and take you back to Flower Fruit Mountain where you could live happily and peacefully.

A slight ache in his head reminded him of the other reason that he didn’t wish to think about. The circlet had made itself very well known on his head. The dull aches it caused were annoying and honestly he wished for nothing more than to rip the thing off. However he knew that it didn’t work that way, not even close.

The feeling of warm, gentle hands rested on his head and he all but purred as you gently rubbed the edge of the band. The phoenix stone that hung from your ear, while an annoying thing was useful at times. And when you used the healing ability it had it felt absolutely heavenly. He almost whined when you took your hand away.

“You feel better?” You asked with a gentle smile.

He let out an exaggerated sigh as he followed closely behind you. You looked back to see him nod and you continued on your way. He should have just trapped you on the mountain the last time you came over. Your shield was unable to move so it wouldn’t have helped you much. Besides you would have gotten over the Monk’s death eventually. The thought crossed his mind again, it was such a lovely dream. Unfortunately one that would have to wait until he found a way to break the damned shield. A way that wouldn’t harm you anyways.

“Whatever,” He rolled his eyes slightly annoyed with his own thoughts.

Sha Wujing spoke up next, “Brother monkey, please calm down. We need to be resilient until we reach the Buddha.”

“Quite whining already,” Zhu Bajie snapped in annoyance.

Wukong just rolled his eyes again, the river demon was far too cheerful for his tastes. The only ones he enjoyed seeing that much joy on were his people, his moon and you his soon to be bride. As soon as he broke the shield and properly courtnapped you that is. Turning he was about to start ranting again when he noticed that his mate wasn’t in front of him, specifically his shadowy mate. You were in view but where did Mac go?

He looked around for a moment before finding him walking farther back from the group. This by itself wasn’t all that off but what was odd was the way Macaque was staring at the river. He was staring at it intently with a look of concentration and something else. Curious he found himself hopping backwards to meet his mate’s slow pace. His eyes still hadn’t left the water.

“Moon~ Is there something wrong?” He asked cautiously, if there was something wrong that was never a good sign. His mate could hear many things that he couldn’t possibly hear himself with only two ears. He was always first to know when there was danger around the corner. It was best to be prepared now.

“… Don’t… Don’t drink the water,” was the only thing he said. Wukong’s face scrunched in confusion but shrugged as they finally reached the bank. They were far enough back that no one else head what they said.

On the river bank the group noticed a boat. At least there was a way to cross safely. Wukong stared at it for a while but after seeing that it was a normal mortal woman who was perched in it he shrugged once again. He didn’t care to know why this woman was doing a man’s job and wasn’t going to pry. He was much more concerned with the way his Moon continued to stare at the water. His dark purple eyes were dilated and his tail lashed back and forth, while his hands were clenched into fists while he hugged his arms around himself.

The glamoured pitch black monkey kept his mouth shut. His deep purple eyes staring at the water, as his ears fanned and flicked at every small sound. The array of purple, blue and red was always a sight to see in Wukong’s correct opinion. Along with the swaying tail that flicked, the golden ring around it shining in the light of the sun.

“Does anyone need a ride?” The woman spoke up with a warm smile.

You the kind soul you were replied with an equally warm smile, “That would be greatly appreciated actually.”

Wukong examined the way that Macaque’s eyes snapped towards their soon to be bride when she spoke. The way his tail puffed up and the way his gaze snapped between the water and her. Something was up, there was something brewing through his mate’s mind and he was going to figure it out. One way or another, his mate was hiding something and he did NOT like being left in the dark.

“Moon~ Would you care to explain your nerves?” He whispered as he leaned against his mate’s ears. The three closer to Wukong twitched before lowering closer to his head. He was definitely hiding something.

The moment their eyes met when Macaque turned to look at him, Wukong knew that there was some plan forming in his head. Some sort of plan that made him both excited and desperate. What the plan was however was beyond him. Something must be special about this river and it wasn’t a demon that would attack them. Macaque would have already said it was if that’s what it was. Whatever was different about the river and the plan that was clearly forming in his mind were connected.

Whatever his plan was must be something fantastic if it was coming from his beloved Moon though. He wanted to know what was going on, his mate should let him in on what he’s planning, especially if it had him so deep in thought.

“…” He didn’t respond instead turning away again causing Wukong to frown. He must be really deep in thought to ignore his own mate.

>>><<<

Deep in thought he was. Macaque knew what the river was, what it could do. The Mother-Mother River. It was right in front of them, it was right there. All he had to do was mix some magic from him and Wukong and then… the very thought made him almost droll.

Fuck! You would look so damn cute, nice and round with their cubs. So, so cute and delicate. It would be all the more reason to take you back to Flower Fruit Mountain, where you would be safe and protected from all sides. Where you could be safe and provided for at all times. Where you could raise their cubs happily and safely. Where you couldn’t escape their grasp.

The thoughts pounded through his head. It was wrong, so so very wrong. It would be wrong to do that to you. You deserved to choose, to choose when you wanted cubs. Macaque was more than willing to wait for such a time. He was willing to wait. All he had to do was court you properly and you would eventually be willing to have cubs with him and Wukong.

But… It was right there. You could be having their cubs growing in the next few months. The would have his Sun’s beautiful golden eyes. They would have your pretty hair color too. They might have his six ears, though he’d be fine if they only had two. There were so many possible outcomes of how they would look. They would be so small, so cute and so- so perfect.

He’d wanted cubs since well before the attack against the Celestial Realm. Both he and Wukong had wanted cubs but his mate was so reckless that he didn’t believe it was the time. The thought of not only having cubs of their own but their beautiful, sweet, merciful flame being the one to carry them… It sent him spiraling with selfish desire.

It would stake their claim on you. You might hate them for it. You would be theirs. You already were theirs. But it could hurt you. The thought of hurting you gave him a feeling of disgust for not only the idea but himself for actually thinking about going through with it. It would break your trust in them, possibly forever. He despised the thought of hurting you… but the thought of losing you was a thousand times worse.

They had already slept together before though. It’s not as if you’d know that it was because of the water… because of him. It could have been that night, that beautiful blissful night, when you three got drunk. Of course you were such an adorable and flirty drunk. He had never even thought that you’d come onto them but that night you were… so open and welcoming. He adored it.

He only wished he had made a better show the next morning. Instead of slipping up his words as you fled in embarrassment. And of course when he thought about going after you, fucking Zhu Bajie had to come to wake him and Wukong. Wukong who actually started a fight with the pig for interrupting his morning. They hadn’t been able to broach the topic since, especially with you being the Monk’s shield. The thought made him want to snarl.

His eyes drifted back to the river. So many thoughts flew through his mind as he tried to tell himself that it was a bad idea, a terrible idea. You weren’t pregnant, you would have shown symptoms by now surely. It was such a long time ago… five months. You would know that it wasn’t from that night. Unless… it wasn’t as if Celestial Primates bred that often. There were only four in existence. There were no studies that showed how long it took for one to be with child.

Fuck!! He was thinking about it again! All it would take is one, tiny sip. Then you’d be so well and throughly claimed as theirs. Even more than you were now. The image of you draped in blankets, heavily pregnant and barefoot in their nest, forced its way into his mind. The very thought had Macaque purring, you would look so utterly perfect.

*Snap* *Snap* *Snap*

“Macaque!” You called out from aboard the boat, causing Macaque to flinch in shock out of his thoughts.

His face burned when he noticed everyone staring at him. They were waiting for him to get on the boat. He grumbled a ‘sorry,’ more so for you than anyone else. As he jumped onto the boat right next to you who was looking at him with a worried expression, he calmed himself. As the boat began to move he felt the back of your hand grace his forehead.

“You’re not overheating. So no fever,” You frowned, the worried expression refusing to leave your face.

You were so precious. Seeing him so concentrated and she was worried about him. It almost made him flush, but he refused to let that happen.

“I’m fine,” He grumbled forcing himself to pull away from you. He needed to keep his thoughts to himself right now.

“Are you sure?” You questioned, your face still covered with worry.

Oh what he would do to keep you by his side. It would be so easy, all he had to do was… his eyes glanced back at the water once again. You wouldn’t even suspect a thing, all you would know would be that you were gaining weight. At least at first… How cute and perfect you would look, you would be shuffling around not only in their nest but also simply on Flower Fruit Mountain. You’d never be out of their sight again, protected and cared for at all costs.

He wanted that, he craved that. To see you curled up in their nest, safe and sound away from this dangerous journey and happy. You’d be happy… at least he wanted to believe that you’d be happy. He knew how much you wanted to return home… but he didn’t want you to leave. It was selfish and it was kind of cruel but… you were theirs, you belonged with them.

Feeling your hand on his shoulder he jumped back a bit. He needed to get those thoughts out of his head, they were much to dangerous to think about- But you would be bound to them… not only as their mate but as the mother to their cub, no their cubs. They could have a whole tribe of cubs, they would protect them, love them, feed them… you would breast feed them of course, as long as you could. You could grow another one during it~

No… no you all would want to space it out, wouldn’t want too many cubs at once. That would be far too overwhelming. The first one could be from the river water and after that they could properly woo her until she was sure not to reject them. If you had their child, you wouldn’t be able to bring yourself to keep them away from the cub! You were far more likely to stay by their side, after all you wouldn’t be able to protect them alone. You would need help, their help~

“Hey Moon! You’re distracted again,” Wukong poked at him from beside him, floating next to the boat on his nimbus.

Just like that his fantasy popped and he was forcing himself to calm down once again. The whole plan was stupid, stupid and downright cruel. They needed to woo you first before any plans of cubs should even arise. They needed to properly court you, like properly, with the gifts, the shows of their skills, providing food and valuables for you, scent marking you, courtnapping you~

At the thought of that he felt you shake his shoulder, saying something. Immediately he jumped up from the boat and jumped onto Wukong’s cloud. Wukong nearly fell over in shock as Macaque cuddled up into him. Surprised by the turn of events but he didn’t reject his mate from the offered cuddles. It would be even better if you were cuddled with them, but that would have to wait for next time. Because the last time he’d tried he got decked in the face. Probably because he scooped you up without even revealing what he was doing but that was besides the point.

“Hmph, he must be in a bad mood,” Zhu Bajie grunted in annoyance.

“You thin?” You bit back slightly before looking up at the duo on the cloud. That… that was too bad, hopefully he would feel better soon.

“My Moon, what are you-“ His words were cut short when his mate whispered into his ear.

“The river below us… The river is the Mother-Mother River… it makes those who drink its water become pregnant. I can’t get the thought of it out of my head… tell me- tell me that it’s a bad idea,” Macaque whispered and all at once Wukong knew what his mate had been thinking.

A bad idea? How was that a bad idea? He absolutely LOVED that idea! Oh that would be the perfect plan. He didn’t have to even explain the plan. No Wukong knew what it was. He could already imagine it. The thought of their sweet, beautiful bride ripe and round with THEIR child! It would prove even more just who you belonged to, just who you were mated to. None other than the Monkey Kings of course!

Why would Macaque ever think that was a bad idea? Why did he look so nervous and worried about this? Of course Wukong would agree to this plan! To have you come back home to the island not only as their official mate but as the mother of their unborn cub would be a dream come true. Of course he would agree to this plan. In fact this was one of the best plans his mate had come up with in a long time.

>>><<<

“Hey Reader… are you alright?” Tripitaka asked as he glanced at you with a worried expression across his face.

You looked at him for just a moment before laughing it off, “Oh yes. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure about that dear?” The boat maiden asked, her gaze was both soft and kind.

Even a stranger could tell? You thought to yourself with a bittersweet thought. Those two really did do a number on your emotions didn’t they? You pushed the thoughts aside, they were your friends, mere friends who you were traveling with for but a few years of their immortal lives. You tried to push the bitter pang out of your chest. It didn’t work.

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. I’m just worried about my friends is all, he isn’t normally that… standoffish,” You muttered… friends, they were your friends, right?

They had stopped trying to attack the group a long time ago, and they started to give you gifts too. They clearly wanted to show you they didn’t mean any harm, even if some of the gifts were rather off. Like the time Wukong tried to give you a still beating and bloody heart. You honestly weren’t sure why they insisted on giving you gifts when they were clearly just trying to make friends. But you also knew they were monkey demons, and as such they expressed their emotions differently.

So of course, you all were friends. You could say that confidently, after all why else would they be so protective? Why else would they make sure you were provided for? Why else would they get so pissed off when another mortal tried to court you?

That- That had happened after… that night. Her face flustered at the mere memory. The memory of their arms around you, the memory of naked skin against fur, the memory of- Hold it right there! That was not at all appropriate thoughts for your friends. Neither Macaque nor Wukong had mentioned it again and you had all been drunk. It meant nothing, it was nothing but a drunken mistake that you would take to your grave.

“If you say so young lady. But bare in mind when the mind is plagued, it can cause you to loose focus on what really matters right in front of you. The here and the now,” The woman finally responded after a long moment of silence.

“You sound like the Master-“ Bajie snorted with a laugh.

Sandy smiled and nodded with his brother, “You are a very wise woman.”

“Thank you gentlemen. We’ve arrived, I wish you all well on your travels,” The Maiden said with a slight bow as the group slid off the boat with ease. “And young miss.”

“Yeah?” You responded almost immediately.

The maiden looked at you with kind and almost sad eyes, “Take care to figure out what it is your thinking so deeply on.”

You felt your face flush again. You knew what you were thinking of, that wasn’t the problem. No the problem is that you were thinking of such things at all. Those thoughts were both impure and inappropriate. Wukong and Macaque were your friends, nothing more and nothing less. Though a part of you, a very small part of you kind of wanted more.

You glanced up at the monkey kings who were still sitting, half on top of each other on Wukong’s nimbus. You couldn’t help but smile, maybe Macaque just needed some alone time with his mate. You were glad they were happy together, they truly were like the Sun and the Moon, always longing for each other. There was no room for you in that dynamic, it was best to get those thoughts out of your head.

Turning around you followed after the group, your thoughts still plagued with the two monkey demons. You should give them privacy. You were completely unaware of the argument that was being spoken by the two simians above the group. No, you weren’t aware of the dangerous and life altering argument that they were having.

The group continued walking for a while. Tripitaka atop Ao Lie getting the easiest ride. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing were following after carrying the little luggage that was required for the group. Bajie and Wujing were rather large demons and only took on more reasonable sizes whenever you were near or at a human settlement. Such as on the boat, while now they decided to return to their regular forms.

You… you didn’t have a horse, nor did you have the advantage of size to travel easier. It was merely by the grace of Ao Lie’s slow pace that allowed you to keep up. You didn’t have the true speed to keep up with any of them, and you could be easily left behind. But… you weren’t. For that you were quite thankful to the white horse-dragon. Along with the slower pace, you traveling by foot also resulted in you needing to rest more than the others.

As the group continued to walk, you could see the upcoming town. A breath of relief left you, if there was a village than surly the monk would decide to rest there for a proper night of rest. If you were lucky then you’d stay there for two or three nights. However you knew that was rather unlikely as none of the group had any serious injuries. One night, one night would be enough.

Up above you, there was tension between the two monkey demons that were getting into a heated argument.

>>><<<

“Damnit Wukong! You’re supposed to help me NOT find the good in this stupid, idiotic idea!” Macaque seethed to his mate, his tail flicking angrily as he gripped the cloth of Wukong’s hanfu.

“Stupid? Idiotic? No love, this is a beautiful and absolutely PERFECT idea. It would be so easy too,” Wukong purred at the thought.

Macaque tightened his grip, “Wukong. I want this as much as you but it’s wrong. It’s wrong to force something like this onto her.”

“Oh my Moon~ We don’t have to FORCE her. All we have to do is offer the water, she can always reject it~” Wukong muttered leaning in to give Macaque kisses across his ears. “It’s not our fault if the river isn’t… regular water~”

A shiver ran down Macaque’s spine, he knew what his mate was thinking. He knew his mate very well and knew when his mate was thinking up some plan. He was going to offer the water without telling you about what it is. No, this was wrong. This was all wrong and terrible and a bad, bad idea.

“Wukong-” Macaque began.

“Think about it~ She will look so beautiful when she’s with OUR child, OUR CUB. Just imagine it,” He whispered. He gently biting one of Macaque’s six ears, causing a shiver to run straight down his spine. It wasn’t just because of the bite but also the image forming in his head once again of you heavily pregnant and thoroughly claimed in their nest.

“But- But we don’t even know if she wants cubs-” Macaque tried to persuade his mate as well as himself. He shouldn’t have said anything, he should have kept his mouth shut. Especially when all of his reasons were so easily deflected, especially when his mate who he wanted to stop him was trying to tell him all about how much of a GOOD idea this was.

“You and I both know that she wants cubs. Not to mention she was so good with the baby monkeys on the mountain. Remember~? They were climbing all over her, such curious little cubs they are, all interested in meeting their new Queen~” Wukong purred once again.

The memory was tranquilizing, it made his whole body stiffen. You had been so careful, so kind and so motherly when the baby monkey climbed up into your arms. You had cradled it gently to your chest and cooed as if they were the most precious thing in the world. The beautiful little cub that cuddled up to you was lost and clung to you while you found it’s mother. One who was so grateful to you. Neither the mother nor the cub had even sensed any danger from you at all.

“Come on! Just think about it. She would have to stop this stupid journey and come home with us. She wouldn’t be able to use the artifacts anymore because it could danger the cub and we both know the mere thought would devastate her. She would soon become ripe and round with OUR cubs. She wouldn’t even be able to fight back against us anymore like that~” Wukong sighed at the mere thought of you being unable to fight against him and his mate while also being pregnant with his cub. “We would keep her safe, and provided for. No one would ever be able to even think about taking her away from us~” Wukong chirped into Macaque’s ear happily.

It was the last sentence, the one about no one being able to take you away. The one about you staying with them and no one else that made the moon monkey’s resolve crack. His eyes dilated into slits as his tail curled with his mate’s. A deep purr rumbled through him and Wukong knew that he had won him over. They were going to have a cub! A precious little cub with their beautiful, merciful Reader! The thought caused him to start purring too.

As dazed eyes looked back up at his, Wukong grinned happily. A kiss landed on his lips and Wukong leaned into his mate, his clawed hand pulling Macaque closer into him. Claws dug into fur as they both purred happily, neither of them were letting go of the other. Each were practically trying to devour the other. They only released the other when they heard that annoying pig.

“Oh! Master told me to go get the water! You two have to come with!” Bajie called with an annoyed look across his face. He looked as though he was trying to get a rouse out of them. He also clearly didn’t expect for the monkey duo to agree however it was the perfect excuse to get exactly whaat they wanted.

“Ugh!” Macaque groaned dramatically, while hiding the thoughts that were swirling around through his mind. They were going to make you theirs! You were going to be theirs and absolutely NO ONE could stop them or take you away from them EVER.

>>><<<

“Are you sure it was a good idea to send Sun and Mac with Zhu Bajie?” You asked nervously looking back towards the river that they all headed towards. With how they act around the pig demon you doubted it was a good idea to leave them alone.

Tripitaka shrugged, “It should be fine. They don’t attack people anymore remember? They have been on their best behavior for a while now.”

You only grew more nervous. Sure, the two hadn’t outright attacked any humans in their path recently but.. that didn’t really say much. You still saw the glares of disgust and the annoyed expressions they gave any time other humans were around and whenever you had to come to a village. As much as you care for the two at this point, that didn’t mean you fully trusted them to be alone. Especially with Bajie, who had a tendency to piss them off to no end with his own arrogance.

“If- If you say so…” You muttered quietly, it would be fine. They wouldn’t kill the pig demon, that would send them both into painful torture for hours maybe even days. The pain of the tortuous headbands was something that the two avoided at all costs. They weren’t stupid. Reckless, stubborn and destructive? Yes. But by no means were either of them stupid in any sense of the word.

>>><<<

Meanwhile with the two monkey demons in question.

Bajie had gathered some water front the river in his water skin, lifting it up and taking several gulps without thinking twice. Macaque snickered to himself as he watched the unsuspecting demon. If he were kind maybe he would have warned him, but not only would that spoil their plans. He also loathed the existence of the pig for all the pain and humiliation he liked to cause the duo.

Wukong held in his laughter as the pig started his trek back. He didn’t even bother looking over his shoulder to make sure the two were following him. He didn’t care, the lazy pig simply wanted to return and get back to sleep in the inn. The inn that the rest of the group had probably already arrived at.

“Now. How do we make sure that its OUR cub she conceives. There has to be something special we have to do,” Wukong said quickly as Macaque looked at the water, a small water skin in his hand.

The shadow monkey stared at the water he collected. The best way to make sure that you conceived their child? The best bet would be blood and magical essence surely. Maybe they could have tried to mate after giving you the water- but he wasn’t sure you’d allow that. This was the best bet to make sure you were all well round and pregnant.

“Give me your hand, I need some of your blood,” Macaque said and without another word his mate gave it to him, his claw slicing through the stone monkey’s flesh. The skin healing quickly but after applying enough pressure there was blood left atop the now healed skin.

He sliced his own hand and added just a drop of blood from each of them. That should be all it takes… on second thought maybe they should add some magic too, just to be sure that it works. He allowed his shadows to easily flow into the water and Wukong added in his own powerful magic. Looking into the water it looked normal, he swished it around and his eyes widened as a shimmer of light purple and gold was visible. It was faint and almost unnoticeable hopefully you wouldn’t notice.

“We should get back now, we’ve been gone long enough,” Wukong grinned, a smile so wide it looked like his face might split.

“Yes! Let’s go and get our darling pregnant,” He giggled while wagging his tail happily.

>>><<<

It didn’t take much longer for you until the two monkeys suddenly appeared in front of you. Right out of your shadow. Wukong let out a loud hoot as he jumped out of the shadow portal his mate opened and pulled Macaque with him. You couldn’t help but chuckle at their giddy nature.

“We’re back… how did you too get here first?” Bajie asked his face covered in an irritated expression.

“Because you’re slow, duh,” Wukong laughed at the offended shout of the pig.

“There is no need to fight,” Tripitaka spoke up calmly as he was handed water.

“Sorry Master,” Bajie apologized but Wukong only rolled his eyes, not interested in apologizing at all.

“Wukong,” You said sternly.

He grumbled under his breath before sarcastically saying, “Sorry master.”

You knew that was the best you were going to get from the demon. He wasn’t one who liked to apologize or admit he was in the wrong. But he was getting better, slowly very, very slowly.

“We got some water for you too,” Macaque said as he held the small water skin up for you.

You blinked in surprise when he held it for you, but as you thought back on it there were many times that the monkey demons had given you food and water. You couldn’t help but smile softly. It was in their nature to provide and take care of those who they considered friends after all, at least that’s what you told yourself. You accepted the bag from his hand, not noticing the ay his eyes twinkled in excitement and his tail wag happily.

If you had looked into the bag and looked close enough you might have noticed the slight gold and purple glow that shimmered through the water. But the bag was mostly closed and you closed your eyes as you drank the water. So in the end neither color was noticed as you finished off the water.

“Thank you, I honestly didn’t realize how thirsty I was,” You laughed, truly thankful that they were so attentive.

“No problem,” Wukong grinned, a lovesick smile across his face at the successful plan.

“Do you need anything else? Food? More water?” Macaque asked as his tail thumped against the ground. His initial poor mood seemingly gone, though you still didn’t know how he came to be in that sour mood from before.

You pointed towards town and grinned, “No thanks. We should head over to the inn though, we’re almost there.”

“Of course,” Wukong grinned back at you, answering for himself and Macaque.

Usually they would travel on his cloud or Macaque would take a nap in someone’s shadow. It was odd to see the two monkey demons walk right next to you, though it wasn’t the first time they had done this, but it wasn’t often. At the change of their demeanor, a strange feeling settled into your gut. You narrowed your eyes, what did they do? Surely it was something if they were acting like this.

Just as you were about to speak up and ask, you heard Pigsy groan in pain. You’re head snapped towards him before Tripitaka followed suit in pain. Running over you noticed that Pigsy was on the ground clutching his stomach while the monk slid off the horse almost hitting you before you helped him the rest of the way down.

“Are you two okay!? What happened?” You nearly yelled as you got to them, fear lacing every word.

Macaque’s eyes darkened, why should you show them such care? He and Wukong deserved that attention far more than either of them ever would. Oh what he would give to slice them limb from limb, maybe even gift you their hearts to show that he was the stronger one. He was the one who deserved your attention. HE could gift you the monk’s flesh and with it immortality… he shook the thought away. No, you would only hate that. You and your ever soft heart.

“My stomach hurts,” Tripitaka groaned as you helped him to sit on the ground, he sounded as if he were about to die. A part of you told you, he might be dramatic knowing the monk, but you weren’t for sure.

“I’m dying!” Bajie groaned, now he was definitely being dramatic.

You immediately took your phoenix stone in hand and tried to help the pain go away for both of them. However as you tried the magic from the stone glowed for a moment before flickering out. Your eyes widened in shock, what the- You tried again, it wasn’t cold out there was no reason it shouldn’t work. Fear struck you and you summoned your shield… why did it work and your phoenix stone not?

“Reader are you alright, what’s wrong?” Macaque spoke up as he came over, crouching down to look at you as you allowed the shield to fall.

“It’s not- It’s not working,” You stuttered eyes watering when your only actual weapon wasn’t working.

Macaque glanced at the shield, it was a protective thing, one that didn’t require your magic. He wanted to grab it and shatter it, maybe then it would be out of his sight. If it required energy than maybe it wouldn’t work either, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Instead of it not working it seemed to be even stronger, the magic within it sensing your more vulnerable state. He was actually impressed, Su was able to make such a strong enachantment and one that could sense you immediately.

In your state of turmoil you tried to think of a reason when Wukong placed a hand on your shoulder. “We’ll have to figure that out later, right now Master seems to be sick.”

You nodded, as you pushed the thoughts out of your head. Now wasn’t the time to freak out, no your friends needed you calmer. Taking a deep breath you looked around and noticed an elderly woman walking up to your group, seemingly on her way towards the river.

“Are you all okay?” The woman asked, quietly eyeing the demons in the group before turning her attention to you.

“We don’t know what happened! Our master and our companion suddenly fell over after drinking some water!” Wujing nearly yelled, completely freaking out over the situation. He tried to help Bajie sit up the same way you held up Tripitaka.

“Water? What water did they drink?” The woman asked, her fave creasing with worry as she pursed her lips in thought.

You didn’t notice the way that Macaque bit his lip in worry and irritation. You were about to find out the truth, what they had done. No! You had no way of knowing that they knew what they were doing, he knew this was a bad idea- but… you- you were carrying his child now. The thought sent a shiver of excitement down his spine. It was only a matter of time-

“The water from the river-,” You began to say, but as soon as the words left your lips the woman began to chuckle before falling into a fit of laughter.

“What’s so funny!” Bajie shouted through his pain, anger splitting across his face.

“The river, you drank the water from THAT river?” The woman asked pointing back to the river that they had just left behind.

You nodded irritation covering your face at her nonchalonce and clear amusement at your companions suffering, “Yes, THAT river. What about it?” Why would someone laugh at someone else’s obvious pain?

You also couldn’t figure out how the river could be causing their pain. After all Macaque and Wukong had gotten you water too and you were perfectly fine. Besides the artifact not working you were perfectly fine, absolutely nothing was different. Then again… with your forest stone- you were immune to most poisons but surely there wasn’t a whole river that was just poisoned… right?

“You see my dear, this is the land of women. There are only women who live her,” The woman began with a kind smile.

“Okay? Cool what does that have to do with-“ You cut in but was cut off by the woman who was telling the story.

“We have no men here, so when a woman wants a child and to be pregnant… they go to the mother-mother river. When she drinks of the water, it makes the woman conceive a child,” She finished explaining completely calm about what she just said.

There was a moment of silence as the facts slowly settled onto the group. Tripitaka, Bajie and you had drank the water, the water from the mother-mother river. You- you were all… pregnant!?!? No-No this couldn’t be happening!

“What!?” You shouted in shock, your worry for your friends completely cut off when the fact that you- yourself were pregnant. Pregnant with a child, a child. You were pregnant!! Child, you were going to have a child!? Were you ready for a child? How were you supposed to continue the journey with a child at your hip!?

Of course, you tried to push those thoughts away when you looked at the other two. You had a female body, you had the organs to carry the child… Tripitaka and Bajie- they, they were men. They couldn’t carry a child, what- what would happen to them!? Would it kill them? Their bodies were not designed to carry life within them like a female’s body did. It was a part of nature that way. The mother-mother river wasn’t meant to be drank by men!

“So… you’re telling us that, Tripitaka, Bajie and Reader are… Pregnant?” Wujing asked, his shock evident across his entire face.

Behind the group Wukong suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. He fell down to his knees as he clutched his stomach, deep laughter rolling freely out of him as he cackled. He had been so caught up in their plan to get you to drink the water, for YOU to get pregnant that he didn’t even think about the monk or the pig demon. He laughed and laughed unable to control his fit of laughter as he realized that they were both indeed also pregnant.

Faintly he heard Wujing follow suit with the laughter. He wasn’t as worried and more amused at the situation. Of course the river demon would also find this situation as amusing as Wukong did.

“What!? No that can’t be!! How- How can we fix this!?” Bajie shouted angrily at the woman, his whole body shaking with rage at the mere thought of it.

“Fix it? Oh of course. You must follow the river up to the source where the river begins inside of the mountain. Within the mountain there is a spring separate from the river, that is where one can choose… to terminate the pregnancy,” The woman explained calmly as she eyed the group, holding back her laughter.

Almost immediately you felt yourself relax, your friends would be safe. You didn’t need to worry about them, there were three others who hadn’t drank the water and could get to the spring. You knew that a child could not grow within them, it would die before their life could even begin and it would probably take them with it. Your heart was pained at the thought, but you knew there was nothing that could be done about it.

“Wukong, Macaque, and Sandy you three go find the spring and bring back some water,” Triptiaka ordered quietly as he clutched his stomach in pain.

Wukong’s laughter all but seize up almost immediately before he looked at the monk and scowled. He hated when the monk told him what to do. He hated how the monk thought he was above him! He had no right to… but that wasn’t what he was most worried about right now. No. If they got the spring water then his own cub… NO DAMNIT! His face twisted into a snarl. You were carrying their cub! There was no reason for you to get rid of such a blessing!

“Hold up! Why should we fix your-!?” Wukong shut up when Macaque placed a hand on his shoulder and squeeze almost threateningly.

It was a silent but very real warning, if he kept talking it would ruin their oh so well thought out plan. Or rather the plan that they both jumped into without pausing attention to the consequences, even thought they knew what they could be. They had only thought of themselves and what this would all mean for them. Macaque knew very well that they were on thin ice, they were so close to being found out. He couldn’t have that, they were expected to fix their compainions’ fuck up. They needed to stay calm and think.

“I-I drank the water too though. Why am I not in pain?” You finally spoke up worry and confusion covering your face.

“… That would probably be because you are female. You are female are you not?” The woman asked with a warm and kind smile.

“Yes. I was- I AM female,” You nodded.

“Your body has accepted the child gracefully. However neither of your companinons are well- female. They cannot exactly carry the child so their body’s are clearly rejecting it and it is causing them a great deal of pain, and eventually it can lead to their death,”. The woman explained calmly.

The explanation calmed you down slight but it also worried you a great deal too. They were like this due to their anatomy, in pain with the possiblity of death looming over their heads. As for you? There as no threat to your life with a child growing in your womb. The worry for yourself had vanished but… your companions-

“Sandy, Wukong and Macaque go get Tripitaka and Bajie the water,” You said glancing at the three who had still not moved.

“What about you? You’re weak like this-“ Wujing asked, a worried expression crossing over his face for your safety as well as his other companions.

You stayed silent, you weren’t able to use your phoenix stone and you had no idea how long as that would last. You knew that it was dangerous in this world to be stuck without a weapon but- you could still use your shield. At least- for now. You didn’t know what to do you needed to protect your friends, and what would happen when- when you returned back to your world.

No! That’s not what was improtnat right now. Your shield still worked, you would be okay. You felt your eyes water and your vision blurred. Tears threatened to spill down your cheeks but you fought them back. It would be okay- Besides they wouldn’t be that long.

They would probably bring you some water to- the thought crossed your mind. You weren’t sure if you wanted any but Wujing was clearly offering to bring you water too. Was this the right choice? You were weak like this and you would grow even weaker as months passed. You weren’t even sure how long it would take to get back to your world, would the child be born here? Or there? Would you be able to protect them? So many questions filled your head and you had no idea what to do about any of it.

Was giving up the child the right decision, but it was a child- YOUR child. The thoughts wouldn’t leave your mind as you looked up at the worried expression of the river demon. You didn’t notice the deadly aura that was slowly coming off of the monkey demons behind you. You were completely unaware that they knew what they did that they had decided to do it freely and willingly. All to have you to themselves with a little one one the way.

They would NEVER allow for something to happen to you or your- their cub. Even if you didn’t know it yet.

OKAY!! Finally finished the first chapter. How this turned from 4,200 words to almost 8,000? I have no idea. But I hope everyone enjoys. I’ll probably rewrite the rest of the story too, but damn I don’t know if the other chapters will be this long. This- is really long. Well I hope everyone enjoys! Right now I just want to know everyone’s opinion on it, if you are willing to give it that is.

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forestdeath1 · 10 months ago

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Canon Sirius through quotes

Part 1. Appearance

In the canon, he's described as handsome 3 times from Harry's point of view - but never pretty. By the way, Harry has only described four people as handsome (+ Tom Riddle, Cedric Diggory and Gellert Grindelwald).

"Sirius was tall and handsome. He loped with an easy grace, his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face."

"Beside him was Sirius, carelessly handsome, his slightly arrogant face so much younger and happier than Harry had ever seen it alive."

"Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so."

"Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James’s nor Harry’s could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn’t seem to have noticed."

"He's still handsome, isn't he, even after Azkaban?" (Tonks about Sirius, Pottermore)

So, Sirius was handsome, but definitely not pretty. The word handsome can be used for all genders, highlighting attributes like strength, elegance, or a more classic form of beauty.

His height is described as tall several times. James is described as the same height as Harry in the Deathly Hallows, meaning at the time of his death James was as tall as Harry in the 7th book: “James was exactly the same height as Harry”. He was described as tall in later books but not as tall as other characters like Dumbledore, Ron, Sirius, Draco, Tom Riddle, Bill.

In England, as in most Western countries, a man is usually considered tall if he is over 6 feet. Typically, very tall is considered to be 6 feet 3 inches and above. So, James could be somewhere from 6 to 6'3", and Sirius taller, say 6'3"-6'4", Remus possibly under 6', but not short, since Harry doesn't note his height at all.

"To Sirius’s right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much admired rebels that James and Sirius had been."

The average head length of an adult, regardless of gender and age, usually about 8.7 to 9.8 inches. So, Peter was noticeably shorter.

6'3"-6'4" is indeed very tall. (When fanon gives Remus a height of 6.7, I wonder, have you often seen such giants in real life? My granddad is 6'8" – and he's huge to me, frighteningly so.)

After Azkaban and in the fifth book, he has long hair, but in the fourth book, when Sirius is doing well and is relaxing somewhere in the south, he has short hair.

"Sirius looked different – the hair was short and clean now, Sirius’ face was fuller, and he looked younger, much more like the only photograph Harry had of him, which had been taken at the Potters’ wedding."

"Sirius, when he still had short hair" (Moody about Sirius in the Order of the Phoenix photo)

Though in the story about Sirius and James for the auction, Sirius had long hair in 1977:

"The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter’s guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend."

I prefer him with long hair, so that's usually what I go with.

Build isn't described. We know Regulus was definitely smaller than Sirius, but nothing specific about Sirius himself.

"Regulus was instantly recognisable as the boy sitting in the middle of the front row: he had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter and rather less handsome than Sirius had been."

His animagus form is a bear-like dog of huge size, but that’s a weak argument.

"The enormous, bear-like dog bounded forwards."

Perhaps canonically Sirius was naturally inclined to muscle (i.e., tall and muscular rather than lanky, because lankiness usually suggests skinniness. Regulus, likely, was lanky), but since he probably didn't engage in activities like workouts, he wasn't exactly buff. Muscles don't just appear out of thin air, but some people are naturally more muscular. Basically, a normal build that doesn't need any special description (not bulky, not skinny, just normal, but tall).

He definitely doesn’t have any tattoos described, but it's unlikely Harry would have inspected every part of his body for tattoos... So, I don’t quite get it when someone says "Sirius didn’t have tattoos". It's a blank slate.

#sirius black #the marauders #sirius black meta #hp meta #the marauders meta #padfoot

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supermarket-goblin · 14 days ago

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Phoenix Wright celebrates Almost Christmas. Maya helps him shape traditions. The tree always has to have one parrot ornament, an old photo depicting Miles and Phoenix as kids playing while Gregory Edgeworth keeps an eye is put up in a festive frame, some part of their day involves walking down to the lake. When Maya leaves, he tries to get Larry involved but the holiday period is a busy time and he's got his own traditions. The first person he truly gets to share it with after Maya is Trucy. He introduces her to these things as if they are normal but Trucy's Christmas tree has never had a parrot before and why does her new Daddy insist on this place specifically for their walk? She goes along, learns and performs the traditions without any understanding. When she is around ten or so, she meets Uncle Miles, who wants to spend Christmas with them. She tries to explain their traditions to him and she can tell his feelings on the subject are mixed. He rolls his eyes at the parrot on the tree, he stares fondly, with a longing, at their photo. "Why?" Miles asks Phoenix when he thinks Trucy can't hear as they take their walk around the lake. "Why do you keep revisiting these memories?" The disbarred attorney just smiled. "Because as horrible as it all was, it saved you. It helped me prove to you something I already knew, that you aren't a murderer."

Miles tried to respond at that, only to be interrupted by Trucy, asking him about his Almost Christmas traditions. He gave her a and took her hand and talked with her as they walked. After that, a new frame appeared in the Wright home every Almost Christmas, clear fold lines in the newspaper clipping of the story of Manfred Von Karma's conviction.

Apollo instantly understood what Almost Christmas meant, his hero worship of Phoenix Wright providing him with all the information he needed. It would seem like an odd thing to celebrate, until you see the way the Edgeworth and Wright look at each other.

Athena was confused by what Wright meant by "stepping Almost Christmas up a notch" after he got reinstated. She soon found the office was home to a fair few more fireworks than she had recalled. Trucy was working on a whole new parrot puppet just for the occasion. She'd met Miles Edgeworth briefly in Germany one time but here, in the anything agency office, preparing for Almost Christmas, he was almost a completely different creature. He had stepped into the office with two tote bags, placing them on Wright's desk (which he seemed not to notice or pay attention to) and removing from them a series of frames containing photos and newspaper clippings and even a doodle of a radio with the caption "It's Almost Christmas." When Apollo later filled her in on the story behind Almost Christmas, she was shocked, but she supposes for the Wright Anything Agency, wild and unimaginable shouldn't be a surprise.

#narumitsu #ace attorney #trucy wright #apollo justice #athena cykes #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #larry butz #maya fey #manfred von karma #almost christmas

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violentlydefending · 9 months ago

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okay that's great and all but hear me out. what if they had pokemon. [id in alt, more under the cut!]

hi. (wearing a shirt that says "ask me about my yakuza pokemon au" but i'm looking in a mirror so i just start going nuts right off the bat)

woah it's some guy with a dragon tattoo!! lotsa dragons, lotsa fighters, and of course THE parent pokemon!! the zangoose is part of a matching set with majima's seviper, naturally. also it matches his autism stare. blaziken's there out of respect for nugget.

GO GO HARUKA!!! lotsa baby pokemon when she's younger :] the pichu turns into an idol pikachu mainly because i wanted something for her that'd fall in line with that but i also think igglybuff is ugly. sorry. happiny's there in particular because of the crazy eldest daughter syndrome she catches from y3 onwards LOL. that caretaker role hit her hard. sorry girl.

seviper's part of the matching set with kiryu's zangoose, naturally :] plus it fits the snake thing he's got going on with his tattoo. also some dogs!! specifically some fucked up ones!! also did you know froslass only goes after men it thinks is handsome. yeah.

daigo's so funny in y2 imo. aegislash is there in particular because it detects innate qualities of leadership!! anyway that bisharp becomes a kingambit when he's chairman (thumbs up!!)

tiger man gets the tiger man. cat. lots of big burly guys for the big burly guy. etc etc. i like that his training in y4 is just to go mining so i HAD to have at least one fossil mon. hi bastiodon!!!

yasuko's getting hit with the one-two of Beauty(TM) and Small(TM) versions of what her older brother's got :']

tanimura gets a lot of fighty guys, in particular i tried to find ones that sorta fit with the little asia stuff he's got going on. blastoise is there because of the tortoise thing and he's got a gun so ??? actually i might switch blastoise out if i end up exploring this au more LOL and zebstrika's there because he's a horse girl <3

akiyama!! a bunch of kicky guys to fit his fighting style and talonflame because of his phoenix thing. audino because he's the lifeline of kamurocho :]

hana!! why does she not have a last name!!! anyway lotsa guys to match her fighting style :]

magikarp -> gyarados is literally THE most obvious thing to pick out for nishikiyama but if it works it works!!!

makoto and tachibana get a matching set of eeveelutions :] i think a shaymin shows itself before makoto either when she gets her watch back or when she gets the new watch strap

i'm not 100% sure for most of these teams if anyone wants to share their own ideas i'm all ears!!

anyway yeah. hi. thanks for checking this out ily <3 (is still wearing the "ask me about my yakuza pokemon au" shirt and but i am now looking directly into your eyes)

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manicpixiedreamedwins · 13 days ago

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GINGERWREN'S PAYNELAND RECS 2024!

I can't believe we have had Charles and Edwin for less than a year. Even still, we've had a lot of fun! I wanted to share some fics, art, and gifs that made this year worth it for me personally. I was talking to a friend recently, and we noticed recent rec lists seem to be short, tag based lists with no real input from the list writer. Many of them also seem to rec the same few fics. Sometimes I feel left out as a smaller writer, and I know my favorite fics also don't always make it onto these lists either.

So, gentle reader, I will not be making a list of tags and summaries. You can read the tags on the fics and the art work, should you choose to view. I will be telling you why I love the works themselves. This is the best way I can think to recommend work to you.

Without further ado: the list is below.

WRITING

sweeter than honey from the rock - @dearheartdont

This lives rent free in my head. Literally in my mind this is like a lost episode or something. I do not want to spoil it or anything, but some of my favorite things in it are the world building (there are delightfully sympathetic clients, and witty antagonists), Charles does... exactly what one would expect Charles to do in order to help the client and protect everyone, and he makes things temporarily worse for himself. Rest assured though, there is a very, very satisfying resolution. Really, this is such a wonderful fic.

Winter Bloom - @skinnybritishdudes

PINK!!! EDWIN!!!! NOW!!!! This was my request for our server's Christmas exchange and it blew me out of the water. Genuinely, the magical mischief PLUS the subtle horror PLUS the absolute tenderness at the end?? Was everything I wanted, and more than I expected. Friendship ended with my own pink Edwin origin story. THIS is Pink Edwin now. Run don't walk for this one (as you can see, I still have not calmed down I am so excited about this one).

Nothing Left to Hide - @roseganymede95

I know I need to say more than "spider jar" but there's a point where I just start crying softly and going "spider jar" while I am reading. Honestly I'm sure if I said that to you, you would probably know which fic I'm referring to. It's this one. It's brilliant. It rewired my brain early on and I haven't been the same since. I found a spider jar pin because it may as well be canon in my mind. They call each other mine in the fic what more do I need to tell you to get you to read this? Join the spider jar cult with me.

right. never finished it.- taableclofh

A classic. Charles tries to save Edwin from Hell. He figures some things out in the process. (This is canon divergent in the best possible way and was a real balm on the soul, somehow).

molliculi (soft little things)- @williamvapespeare

This was made in a lab to make me cry specifically. The first time I finished reading it, it was two in the morning. I stared at my bedroom wall for like twenty minutes, bleary eyed, and then finally managed to type something to @williamvapespeare (who was really gracious about whatever mess I sent, lol). God fuck. It's a character study on Edwin. It's a history of living and dying in 1916. It's wondering what it means to continue on existing, but never have lived on with your peers. It's an outsider's perspective on Charles' trying to figure things out. Go. Go now. Suffer with me.

Do you like possessive Charles? (There's one right answer and it's yes). This fic is the fic. This also lives rent free in my brain. I wish I could say something more coherent but honestly I do not know how much I can say- well there is this lovely description where Charles compares Edwin's eyes to the sea on a stormy day (ao3 is sadly down, I cannot pull the full quote, but it was gorgeous). The rest... 🌶️🌶️🌶️

The Case of the Omegaverse Portal - miraworos

Omegaverse, as specified in the title. Also a very well written casefic, and some really satisfying feelings revelations. Once again: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

ART

Kiss (Blue) - @ent-is-indecisive

Genuinely A I am just amazed by how lovely all the kisses you draw are. Like they come out stunningly, over and over. I have no idea how you pull off this wizardry but it is amazing. Anyway I picked the first picture we ever talked about but I am also genuinely blown away whenever you drop something in LOMA

Collab Gifset For Payneland Week- @mellxncollie

I know you have all seen Olly's gifs. If you haven't, what are you even doing? (Maybe you're new here. That's okay). It's something special when Olly makes a gifset for your fic. Genuinely, sometimes I just go back and stare at this one because WOW THOSE ARE MY WORDS. BUT ON A GIF. Genuinely thanks for making my first year in the fandom special Olly.

Pink Slip- @arisprite

Ari was super great during the flash sketch commissions and we had a blast. Now this reminds me of ongoing convos that @majorlb @deadboyslullaby and I have (and perhaps one day we will do something more with those) but the point here is Ari is great. You all should go and appreciate the wide range of payneland she has made. Her fem!payneland is dazzling, and so is her sad boy Charles (which I think is the first piece I ever fell in love with).

RITUALS - @deadboyslullaby

THE RITUALS ARE INTRICATE. This was a collaboration with @likemmmcookies . @deadboyslullaby worked really hard on the inscription around the edges for this one and I am forever in awe of all the little details here. I want more of them doing strange, arcane stuff together always.

ORBWIN IN CHARLES’ RIBS- @jube-art

This is absolutely what I think is going on when one of them is orbing and the other isn't. No I am not taking feedback. Once more, this was a piece of art that re-wired my brain early on. Ribs are for lovers.

BONUS:

Feathers and Fur - merle_p

Super secret rare pair that rewired how my brain works forever. I love you catcrow. I love you Monty that's a little bit depressed a little bit of a masochist. I love you Thomas who can't help but take in strays but still has teeth and hasn't been declawed in this fic. This fic is just... so... gorgeous*chef's kiss*. I won't spoil it for you, but I implore you to read it so I have more people to talk about this pairing with.

These were all my recs for now. Thank you Dead Boy Detective fandom 2024! We may have had some bumps in the road, but here's to a strong and healthy 2025!

#payneland #painland #paynland #charles x edwin #reclist #ficrecs

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queenlua · 4 months ago

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hey lua what decks do phoenix aceattorney and miles aceattorney play in magic

PHOENIX WRIGHT

once upon a time, a friend bullied me into going to a Pro Tour Qualifier, which was probably the largest Magic tournament i’d ever been to at that time, right?

i was happy to be bullied, to be clear, but the problem was… i hadn’t played standard-format Magic competitively in about 2-3 years. so my knowledge of the current metagame, what deck archetypes were popular, and what the current cards even were, was staggeringly limited.

“it will be fine,” said my friend. “here, take this spare deck i built. it’s super-straightforward and easy,” he lied.

he said this to me approx. 8 seconds before the first round began, so uhhhhh, i sure was playing a game of magical cards without ever having even looked at the damn deck before!

so, lo, literally in the course of playing the deck, i was learning how this shit was supposed to work. “oh!” i’d exclaim with delight, halfway through my turn. “THAT’S how those two cards are supposed to interact. oh that’s super clever. what a neat combo.” and then i’d proceed to shiftily look at my opponent over my cards, riffle those cards a lil bit, and then say “pass” with as much of an enigmatic vibe as i could muster.

meanwhile, my opponent was Actually Prepared, and they were Trying To Win, and they were pissed. they threatened to call Slow Play on me because i was taking so fucking long reading all the cards. as in, he literally called a judge over, who stood there watching me the whole time, in order to determine if i was being Criminally Bad At Magic versus just A Regular Amount Of Bad At Magic, and i was sweating bullets the whole time because i didn’t know this deck or their deck or any of those cards and AHHHH why is the judge staring at me!!!

….which only served to make it EXTRA-humiliating for this poor fuck when i proceeded to eviscerate them 2-0. hahahah get dunked onnnnnnnn nerd!!!

and then i also proceeded to eviscerate my next opponent???

sheer dumb luck. i cannot overstate how ill-prepared i was for this tournament. i absolutely did not deserve these wins.

meanwhile the friend who gave me the deck was having a much worse time with their deck, and they were like “what the fuck. you weren’t supposed to win. how are you winning with that shit, my deck’s so much better than yours”

anyway. i think that’s the kind of scenario Phoenix would get into if he were an MtG player. dude Gets Himself Into Situations And Then Uses Cleverness + Bullshit + Luck To Get Out Again.

(AA4-era Phoenix seems like he’s doing the same thing… but, in reality, he’s actually been meticulously crafting his deck in secret for the past six months. he’s not even aiming to win the tournament, he’s just exploiting a known weakness in the opponent-matching system that lets him know with certainty who he’s going to get matched up against (spoiler: first round is Kristoph), and he’s hyper-optimizing his deck to beat Literally Only Those People. meanwhile, Apollo, who built a tryhard hyper-optimized variant of Red Deck Wins, is lowkey annoyed that Phoenix's seemingly-random pile keeps vaulting him just one table above him in the standings, because Apollo knows his deck is better. he knows it!!!! just let him go 1v1 and prove it aaaaughhhh!!!)

((also, in case you want Actual Concrete Cards And Colors And Stuff: in general i think Phoenix prefers limited play (draft, sealed, "anything where you open booster packs on the spot & throw a deck together") to constructed play, because he doesn't like being tied down to any one game plan. when he does play constructed, i think he's less attached to a specific colors and more attached to specific mechanics. in particular: he's not a combo player exactly, but he likes mechanics that feel like bullshit. dude saw Madness for the first time & his eyes lit up & he was in LOVE, "you mean i'm discarding the card but then i can cast it for free??? hell YES." he absolutely ran a poison counter deck during New Phyrexia. ah fuck i just realized he was probably a huge stan for noted awful expansion Battle for Zendikar, i think i gotta cancel him now, sorry))

((and i think Phoenix also has a touch of Timmy in him! like, i went to a huge state tournament once with a bunch of really skilled players, and there was this one dude in our car who had a really solid deck, clearly adhered to a lot of the trends in the meta at the time... but his win condition was a Shivan Dragon. which wasn't a bad card at the time, it was a reasonable win condition, but it was... slightly suboptimal? not at all the obvious pick? sort of random? and multiple people asked him "why is that your win condition" & he shrugged and said "i like dragons." so the dragon stayed & that dude ended up getting second place in the whole tournament so FUCK optimal play, bring a dragon. i think Phoenix would sneak in a dragon now and again. just 'cause))

MILES EDGEWORTH

this one is trickier!!!

young!Miles is just going to play Whatever The Meta Deems To Be The Best Deck, right. the von Karma perfection thing and all. it's all very boring & micro-optimized to be the Best Deck Of Its Kind & he pours over the results of the big name tournaments week after week & does some math or whatever to hyper-optimize his own build of the Obviously Correct Deck. there is no soul in any of this, purely Executing On A Formula.

...but then he experiences Character Growth & has his big gay crisis & now he has to pick up the game again. he opens the latest tournament results... clicks around some win % stats for various cards in a desultory kinda way, and... his heart's just not in it, right?

enter 2-4 era Miles. 2-4 era Miles is playing some utterly unhinged Five Color Good Stuff thing. there's a lot of Planar Chaos cards in there, because that whole set was about Weird Shit & cards doing Stuff You're Familiar With (But In The Utterly Wrong Color!!!) & all that is resonating with Miles more than he'd care to admit. he cannot possibly talk about his unnecessary feelings but he can make a weird noise rock album about them. and by noise rock album i mean this fucking Magic deck.

and he's playing this deck with a 100% straight face, as though this is the exact same behavior that won him the Junior Super Series five years in a row & not a desperate cry for help from a madman. everyone else is like Miles... are you playing fucking singletons... in a fucking standard deck... you know your deck will be more consistent with four-ofs right... and then he gives a cool fish-eyed stare & taps out to cast some arcane bullshit legendary creature & gives a single rap of his knuckles against the table to indicate that he's passing the turn.

and it works, is the thing! all those years of training to be the Spikiest Spike Ever have paid off; this Five Color Good Stuff thing relies on some pretty clever insights to make the mana base work, and parts of what he's doing eventually get adopted by the larger metagame to become an Actual Serious Deck. but, like. it's still a monstrosity. any skilled players watching are still definitely wondering Are You Okay, Dude.

after 2-4, i think Miles settles back into playing something more normal. he still cares about winning, but he's going to do it with a touch of class. he wants a game that involves dialogue, some actual back-and-forth, because just trying to combo off is lame coward behavior.

aw yeah baby we're talking counterspells!!!

he's a blue player at heart & he's happiest when he's updating the autopsy report shutting down whatever his opponent's plan is. he'll splash other colors as the occasion calls for it, but he'd be happy running mono-blue the rest of his life. like, i ran a pretty fun Legacy deck back in the day which consisted of:

every kind of counterspell i could get my hands on,

propaganda because FUCK creatures,

thieving magpies for the card draw,

and a few silver wyverns to, y'know, actually win the game

...and i think Miles would appreciate that deck. just play counterspells until the opponent runs out of steam & then cruise your way to victory with a couple birds. simple. elegant. classic. doesn't involve any of this modern Planeswalker bullshit (Miles regards most developments that happened to MtG post-Time Spiral block or so as affronts to game design).

(i do think Miles has a secret fondness for sagas as a card type, however. they remind him of all that Character Growth, but in an abstract/subconscious/nonthreatening way. too bad most of them are a bit of poor match for the kinds of decks he likes to play)

FINALLY: i think Miles hates playing Commander with every fiber of his being & Phoenix loves it & this is a pretty serious point of contention in their relationship. poor dudes

#when i tell you i HOWLED laughing when i got this ask. literally breathless. THANK YOU i had so much fun with it #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #ace attorney #mtg #a few other random off-the-cuff typifications:#maya is a Timmy after my own heart. our girl is playing DINOSAURS and having the BEST TIME #franziska favors Red Deck Wins & is pissed that it's so often regarded as the n00b archetype #why wouldn't you fight fire with fire. you should fight everything with fire. etc #blackquill is a combo player so unfortunately he must be cancelled #i like to think Mia is the Michelle Bush of AA universe #(Michelle Bush: first lady to top-8 an MtG Grand Prix #and (more importantly) invented the Donate-Illusions Of Grandeur deck #which is my FAVORITE BULLSHIT DECK OF ALL TIME #and then she disappeared from the scene entirely to become a dermatologist #good for her hope she's well.)

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