#that man was raised by tories and his friends HATE being reminded of that
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marshmellowtea · 27 days ago
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genuinely still so obsessed with the ebenezer huge line from accgw. my favorite things about it are A) the way jonathan and trevor look sooooo uncomfortable when chris says it and B) the fact that robert would've absolutely LOVED that line if it weren't directed at him
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chulemonchi · 2 years ago
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Joe Locke is a very skilled man when it comes to using his voice to bring life to a character, and here are a list of moments that I want to bring focus to. (This is for you @fandom-indy ! 💖)
Long post so get ready!
His voice is airy and soft whenever he says hi to Nick Nelson. It's as if the air is being taken away from him whenever his eyes land on Nick. Nick saying hi to him (usually before him) is his heartstopper moment, and we could feel it just from the way he greets Nick back. It starts as mildly hesitant and shy to becoming an absolutely wonderful infatuation as the series progresses.
His voice when he was still secretly dating Ben was soft and caring, and yet to me, it feels unsure and off-kilter. It feels like he is keeping his feelings in check- as if he is placating Ben whenever they talk (which makes sense because that is literally what Charlie wants to do when it comes to Ben and his tendencies to lash out at any hint of doing more that kissing on the down low). The way he talks is meant to calm down the person he is talking to. This habit lead him to using the same tone with Nick.
The way he talks to his friends in the series sounds far stronger. His voice is clearer and louder, and it gets even stronger and more confident in the confines of one of their bedrooms (the way he raised his voice at Tao during Monopoly made me happy dance, because hey look! This is a soft spoken person in his greatest comfort zone!) . Even in moments of uncertainty, his voice is still less airy and soft- it's more "Charlie" as how we might imagine him in the webcomics, and maybe that is the intention.
When he talks to his sister, it sounds comforting and familiar. You could hear his exasperation and sarcasm most of the time when they talk, which I absolutely love to hear with on-screen siblings, however, there is this one somber moment in episode 8 that I would like to talk about. Charlie hates telling the truth, and yet, no matter how painful, it was flowing out easily when it came to talking to Tori. It was a sad and self-depreciating tone that tugged my heartstrings because I could feel the pain as if it were mine. It was so well done that the crack of his voice stuck to my mind for an entire day.
In the rare moments he talks to Harry (and I would assume is how he would react to his bullies and homophobes), his voice is flat-devoid of emotion. This is such a "defense mechanism" voice that I myself am familiar with. His voice in these moments immediately make me feel defensive as well (and my face immediately blanks out, same as him) so I could definitely attest to its effectiveness. It's such an artful choice of characterization that constantly reminds me of a scene in Heartstopper Vol. 3 (where Charlie gives Harry a verbal beatdown).
As a full circle moment, back to Ben and Nick
In nearly every altercation he would have with Ben, you could hear his frustrations and coldness. His voice sounds deeper, and confrontational. I genuinely think that if I were Ben Hope in those moments, I'd fear Charlie Spring. From such a soft-spoken character, it would feel like the entire force of his power is upon you. (kinda like those anime moments where an enemy figures out they fucked up when a closed-eyes character opens their eyes? How does one explain that in live-human terms?)
Finally, the way his voice for Nick slowly became stronger and comforting in the moments where its just them. All of the positives from the way he talked to his friends and Tori was slowly being integrated to his conversations with Nick. The way he gains a teasing and flirty tone honestly makes me giddy (and booooy does he flirtingly tease Nick a lot). These moments of just them was definitely enhanced by the way he talks in these scenes. It's just a very fun and loving tone that I will now constantly associate with their own moments (the way he sounds while talking to Nick by the crane machines? Top Tier Content✨️. The " No being sad on my birthday" owns my heart your honor)
Gosh I have lots more to say about acting and characterization choices in Heartstopper, but I'll stop here for now because I am definitely skiving off of work at the moment (I do not regret it much)
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spiderstyles04 · 4 years ago
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COBRA KAI SN 3 SPOILERS
Episode 1:
Can’t stand the fact that they’re trying to make Sam the victim, fuck the white bitch 😤. (okay yeah she’s kinda the victim but like she deserves to be blamed)
I can’t stand the fact that everybody keeps trying to make Robby the villain (ik he’s MIA, but the words they’re calling him make me wanna punt their asses into oblivion 🧎🏽‍♂️🏌️)
Episode 2:
Kreese is actually fucking sadistic wtf.
fuck men (esp. those that prey on young girls).
cops @ the prison rlly said: “I aint see nothin at all -👄-“.
wow so you can definitely see who is Johnny’s priority! Instead of continuing to look for his missing son, he went to go see Miguel🖕🏻.
and Miguel is like boohoo why’d this happen to me it’s all Johnny’s fault. Uh no it’s partially yours for accelerating the fight. Shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of a fight if you wanted to come out unharmed.
Robby blaming himself for everything and worry abt the others before himself is making me cry my eyes out pls 😭😖.
Daniel fucking Larusso rlly said let’s catch this scared teenage boy off guard and have a cop sneak up on him and arrest him
Episode 3:
I hate that Robby is in jail but he looks hot af
Not the LaRussos blaming Robby’s grudge on him being a teenage. Like you literally had a cop sneak up on a terrified kid and you expect him to take your calls???? I think tf not.
Sksks Sam rlly out here acting like Tory got angry outta nowhere and that she had no reason for being brutal. Yeah having a bad background doesn’t justify bullying but you kinda provoked her. YOU KISSED ANOTHER GIRL’S BOYFRIEND WHILE YOU HAD ONE OF YOUR OWN. SUCK IT UP AND SHUT UP LIL BABY.
Not Robby fighting with guys in prison over their comments abt Sam of all ppl 💀 she’s the reason you’re in there and she cheated, what the fuck are you defending her for?
sad puppy Robby is making me tear up shit I love him too much to see him in pain 😖
God I hate Eli. Imagine being jealous of not being able to creative enough to raise money for your friend so you resort to stealing the money from the only ones able to get money for him 💀.
“Douche clown” BAHAHA.
NOT JOHNNY MISSING OUT ON SEEING ROBBY BC HE WAS WITH MIGUEL HE COULD’VE CALLED AND LET HIM KNOW FUCK JOHNNY
Episode 4:
NOT JOHNNY ASSUMING THAT ROBBY IS THE ONE STARTING FIGHTS (reminds me of Jess and Rory from Gilmore Girls when she accused him of fighting with Dean when rlly he just got attacked by a bird)
I love that Robby is telling Johnny off like PERIODT KING GO OFF
Nah if some idiot wrecked my lego diagram that took me weeks to build, I’d knock him on his ass no hesitation. Idgaf if I got expelled
Not the counselor completely disregarding the fact that Dimitri’s project was wrecked
Every time Johnny enters Robby’s life, he just makes shit harder for him. I feel horrible for my bby
Kreese has a god complex & I wanna put him in the ground 🕳👨🏻‍🦽👩🏽‍🦯
Little miss princess got some anger issues oop
Not Johnny making a paralyzed kid get out of bed 💀
THOSE KIDS IN JUVIE BOUTA FEEL MY WRATH MFRS DISRESPECTING ROBBY MAKE ME WANNA SKSKSJSB
KREESE BETTER BACK THE EVERLOVING FUCK AWAY FROM MY BBY ROBBY I WILL NOT HESITATE TO RECREATE A CRIMINAL MINDS EPISODE WITH YOUR BODY GRANDPA DONT TEST ME
Episode 5:
Robby basically telling Kreese to fuck off and tell talk to “somebody who gives a shit” is everything to me I love him
Not Johnny using a sex magazine to motivate Miguel 🤢
If Robby gets back with Sam I will RIOT
Imagine taking pleasure from terrorizing others and children sksksk couldn’t be me
Damn it Robby you shouldn’t be fighting. It’s only gonna make your sentence worse bby. Ik he’s an asshole, but you gotta be the bigger man
The fight in the lazer tag place I- not even gonna comment
YAY MIGUEL GOT SOME MOVEMENT BACK IN HIS LEGS
POP OFF MRS. LARUSSO YOU PUT KREESE IN HIS PLACE
Episode 6:
I’m glad Eli is abt to get the vibe check he deserves
Miguel rlly should choose what he says more wisely like sir you can’t just tell the angry mentally unstable girl that she needs help sksksksk those are words of war to her
Oh Mrs. LaRusso getting in on the action lmao
Episode 7:
Damn Tory rlly wakes up every day and chooses violence uh it was a dream nvm
There’s no fooking way Miguel recovered from a spinal injury so quickly 🙄 also why’d they throw away the wheelchair??? That shit is expensive af
Imagine having a dad that actually feels genuinely bad for not keep up with your life SKSK couldn’t be me
I haven’t seen Robby in a hot minute and I’m getting pissed abt it.
I love when ppl tell Eli off. Gives me a diff kind of joy
tf is Eagle Fang sksksks
@ Kreese: Bye bitch 🥴
Episode 8:
THE DIFFERENCE BTWN THE THREE DOJOS IS SO FUNNY BAHAHAHAH
I cant believe they’re dicusssing Kreese when they’re abt to pick up Robby I- none of these men are fit to be stable father figured to him
Glad Robby told them to fuck off bc when the going gets tough, unfortunately, they will always choose someone else over Robby
But I’m all here for Miguel’s character development. Looks like soon I’ll have a total of 2 characters that I like on this show
NOT ROBBY DEFENDING SAM FOR CHEATING AND CALLING IT A MISTAKE PLS YOU ARE SO NAIVE SHUT UP SHES A STUPID GIRL WHO THINKS SHE CAN GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING PLS OPEN YOUR EYES
Eyyy go off Miguel preach
Nvm fuck that. I’m glad Robby walked in on Miguel and Sam flirting so he could see she isn’t all she’s cracked up to be. I’m glad he’s telling them off. I just hate that they’re making him out to be a villain, AGAIN UGH
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO IF ONLY YALL COULD HEAR MY SCREAM OF ANGUISH WHEN ROBBY WALKED THROUGH THE DOORS OF COBRA KAI BABY NO YOURE THE GOOD GUY DONT GO WITH THE FUCKING PSYCHOTIC ASSHAT PLEASE
Episode 9:
Fuck fuck fuck I’m terrified for this episode
MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄
oh shit Ali...
Trouble is in the air....
Miguel and Sam 🙄😀
Oh so Robby is back in his sn 1 wardrobe... 🤬
OH I SWEAR FOR FUCKS SAKE IF TORY AND ROBBY GET TOGETHER I WILL STOP WATCHING THIS SHOW FOR GOOD ISTG
PERIODT ROBBY DENY THE BEER A WISE DECISION
Not you making bad decisions again Robby smh we’re trying to keep you out of jail
I repeat... if Robby and Tory get together I am RIOTING
Fuck Johnny
Episode 10 - final episode:
I am the quintessential example of seething anger. If I was an anime character, I’d have steam coming out of my ears and a tic mark on my forehead smh
BAHAHAH DANIEL’S GLACES TO JOHNNY ARE SENDING ME
Tory has got some anger issues that surpass even my own, and that’s saying something
Also why tf are they fighting in Sam’s house??? Like I don’t like her but thats not only trespassing passing on private property, but the damages they’re causing are gonna cost a buttload
I’m just glad that Robby isn’t there to fight. Thank you bby
I LOVE THE MUSIC IN THE FIGHT SCENE WE LOVE SOME ROCK CHRISTMAS INSTRUMENTALS
I love the fact that Eli is realizing how fucking stupid he’s been acting
NO ROBBY DONT FIGHT JOHNNY YOU DONT KNOW THE FULL PICTURE BABY STOP BEING FUCKING DUMB
NO JOHNNY THREW ROBBY INTO THE LOCKERS FUCK IS HE OKAY IS BABY OKAY
DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT KREESE DONT PICK IT UP YOU GERIATRIC ASSWIPE
NO ROBBY IS FULLY UNCONSCIOUS FUCK IF I WAS THERE I WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP BC IM FIRST AID TRAINED AND CPR CERTIFIED CALL 911 JOHNNY
YAY DANIEL TO THE RESCUE
I’m still crying over Robby fuck
Everybody over here hashing shit out and Robby is inside the dojo like X👄X
NVM HES OKAY HES WALKING IT OFF
NO GO BACK TO FUCKING SLEEP BITCH BC YOURE STILL NOT THINKING STRAIGHT WHY ARE YOU STILL WITH KREESE GOD FUCKING DAMN IT
Anyways all in all, fuck season 3 gn
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sebbytrash · 5 years ago
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Through His Eyes - Part Fifteen
Summary - Bucky arrives at the compound to start afresh but you and him have a somewhat colorful past, colorful being that you met him once before as The Winter Soldier and it did not go well. New beginnings, yeah? If you can learn to forgive.
Pairing - Bucky x Reader
Warnings - Not much, a little angst, a little implied sexual content
A/N -  OK here it is, finally managing to squeeze a little writing in whilst the baby is sleeping! I hope this is still something you guys enjoy, love you all so much for sticking with this one for the last (2) years!!
Through His Eyes Masterlist
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Shit. ShitShitShit. You did it again. 
You’ve woken, once again, tangled in the sheets with a very naked Bucky Barnes.
Shit.
You meant what you’d said about being friends, how could you not? But then you’d seen him standing there with all that anguish and been overwhelmed with the need to soothe it, soothe him. OK, yes, that should not necessarily lead to hopping straight back into bed with the man, but here you are. Zero self control and an abundance of poor decision making skills that combined spectacularly, the gunpowder and lead, fired directly at your life.
As you lie there pondering those life decisions, you listen to the sound of Bucky’s deep even breaths, realising after a few seconds that your breaths match his when his arm knots around your waist. It fits against you like it was missing all along, like there was an arm shaped whole across your ribs that's now filled in perfect proportion, almost how your breaths match his, too. There’s no one, you think, less suited for Bucky than you.
You leave without waking him, again.
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“Sam.” You say, as you walk towards him in the kitchen, and then more urgently, “Sam.” 
“Marshmallow, are you okay?” He asks, instantly worried at your tone and the sudden closeness to him, his face searching yours for signs of your usual demons.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” You sigh, step forward and lean your head on his chest.
“Okay, do you wanna maybe explain?” He says, like your tone wasn’t enough, when you’d so obviously tried to project your thoughts into his head so you wouldn’t have to say them out loud. 
You bite your lip and raise your head, wondering how on earth you say what you need to say to him, watching his face grow tighter and tighter in concern and force out in a rush, “I slept with Bucky.”
His face. Right away, his eyebrows were doing something entirely different to his eyes, and his eyes were doing something different to his mouth. He had three expressions at once. They all fight for dominance, or probably more accurately, simply line up in a row to give you all three in quick succession. 
“You…” He begins, and the stops, and you begin to wonder how badly he’s going to yell at you for this that he needs so much time to arrange his thoughts when Bucky appears beside you.
“Hey Sam, Y/N.” He says simply, like he hasn’t just walked in on your word vomit, and then to Sam directly, “You ready to go?”
“Go?” You ask before you can stop yourself, more confused by Bucky talking to Sam than anything else. 
“Yeah, to the VA. Bucky has been coming along with me.” Sam answers, still staring at you in that three-expressioned way. You glance at Bucky, worried he’s going to pick up this weird vibe but when you do, you find he’s looking at you already, giving you a different kind of look but one with no less weight to it. 
“Oh.” You say, glance between them a little too long, “Oh! Ok, that's good. Right? Yeah. Good. I’ll just...leave you guys to it then?” You trip and stumble over the words almost as much as you do over your feet as you back away from them, letting your eyes take up too much space on your face. 
Double shit.
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It’s a few hours since your confession to Sam, you're sitting in your room with Netflix on in the background, staring at the door. You know it will knock, you're just wondering when it will and, more importantly, who it will be. Or, more accurately, who will be first. 
Despite the staring, your startled when the knock sounds, heart suddenly throat bound and climbing. You know who it is by the knock alone.
“Can I come in?” Bucky asks when you open the door, a soft, unobstructed smile on his face, his hair tied neatly at the back of his head. You open it further in answer. 
He sets down a paper bag on your side table as he does, hovers awkwardly at the edge of your couch like he isn’t sure if he should sit and you hate that, hate that your making him feel like that after all your progress.
 You sit, and gesture for him to join you, “How was the VA?” 
“It was good,” He says, rolls his tongue like he's measuring his words, “I like it there.” 
Truthfully, it surprised you that he was going there, that he was mentioning it so casually now, that he was taking steps towards his own well being after so long of not. 
“I’m glad.” You offer quietly, “You deserve to.” 
He smiles at that, loses an inch in height as he does, settling into the silence with a comfort you’ll never master with it. Finally, he offers a branch, “So, no more nightmares then?” His subtle way of bringing it round to last night, or nights, and you laugh despite your trepidation.
“It must be your bed, so comfortable, it feels brand new.” You joke, if only to stall.
“Hmm, yeah I guess it is. Never slept in it till you.” He confesses, his smile still light despite the nature of it. 
“You didn’t?” You ask, confused because where else would he be sleeping then and a flash of a memory pushes against your eyes. The night you saw Bucky having a nightmare, him all tangled up with his sheets on the floor. “Oh.”
“Yeah, turns out it's pretty common actually. Something from the war, not from Hydra.” He explains with such ease that you assume has come from his time spent at the VA, his time spent with Sam. Oh Sam, forever the friend, always the healer. Your heart is fit to burst with pride for him. 
“You think you’ll stay there now? In the bed” You try not to weigh his recovery on the edge of the question.
He looks at you solidly as he answers, “Yeah, think I’m there for good now.” 
Both of you jump as the door swings inwardly, Sam waltzing in like he lives there too and then halting, comically, when he spots you both on the couch looking a lot more guilty than you should for two people having a simple conversation. Like there was anything simple about either of you. 
“Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt, just wanted to finish our conversation from earlier, Y/N.” Sam says your name a little thicker than usual, hinting at what’s to come.
“I was just about to head out, anyway.” Bucky rushes, looks at you carefully and adds, “I’ll catch up with you later.” You find yourself nodding, even though you know you shouldn’t. 
Sam claps him on the shoulder as he passes, waits till the door is closed before turning back to you, eyebrows near the damn ceiling, “You!”
“Me?” Your smile turns to a grimace under his stare. 
“Yes, you. Dropping a bomb on me like that and then running off before I can disarm it.” 
“In my defence, I had no idea you were about to leave.” You remind him, avoiding the topic altogether.
He takes Bucky’s spot on the couch beside you, arms folded across his chest as he turns to face you, “All right, let’s hear it.” 
And so you explain, tell Sam about each of the encounters and how you’d gotten to this point and to his credit, he says little, makes no expressions that might reveal his thoughts, just lets you get it all out. 
When you finally finish, you push the heels of your hands into your eye sockets, the hopelessness of the situation suddenly overwhelming, more so now that Sam knows. Now that your actions can be judged by someone sane and separate. 
“I just…” You start, trying to explain how you felt, feel, “It was just nice to feel something else other than all the dark stuff, you know? And as weird as it is, he gets it, that feeling.” 
“I can understand that.” He says after a pause, reaches over to take those hands from your face and hold them in his, solid, steady. So very Sam. 
“It doesn’t mean anything.” You say, looking anywhere but at him.
“Yeah? Then why did you tell me?” 
“I don’t know.” You answer honestly. 
“I think you do.”
-----
Later, when Bucky knocks on your door far later than is polite, you consider ignoring it. Or you consider that you should ignore it. That you should do the right thing for you both, for him and let this be washed away like a fever dream.
You don’t.
-------
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backtobasicbellas · 5 years ago
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hi friends, just wrote something in honor on 10 years of victorious. don’t think i’ll put this one on AO3, but feel free to enjoy here!
you think you know better
Word Count: 3,451 Relationships: Tori Vega/Jade West
//
The last thing Jade wants to do is play Tori Vega’s wife in a play.
However, Sikowitz is being a total gank and now she’s here, multiple rehearsals in having to pretend she’s in love with the stupid brunette. It’s already one thing that her ex-boyfriend’s playing her son. How on earth is she also supposed to pretend she’s happily married to Tori?
Jade knows that her acting kind of sucks right. She knows it does and she knows Tori’s acting sucks too because she hesitates even looking at Jade too long when she reads a line or touching her in the slightest of senses. True to her craft, Jade is usually able to put personal feelings aside for the sake of whatever project she’s working on, but something about this is different. Something about Tori frustrates her to no end that not even being forced to play love interests in one of Sikowitz’s weird plays is able to push those feelings aside.
“I love you,” Tori says with squinted eyes and an awkward punch on the shoulder.
“I love you,” Jade answers with gritted teeth.
Seriously, this is painful.
“Uh no you don’t,” Sikowitz interrupts loudly, shutting his notebook and slamming it onto the empty seat next to him.
Despite his clear frustration, Jade inwardly sighs in relief, glad she doesn’t have to keep up the act for another moment. She hardly even hears Sikowitz and Burf’s exchange, too focused on the fact Tori is standing way too close for their comfort levels.
“You girls are ruining this play.”
Sikowitz’s comment brings Jade back into focus, and she almost feels bad because it feels like she’s disappointing Sikowitz - which, honestly, is kind of difficult to do.
“Why?” Tori asks.
“Andre, Beck, take five,” he nods at the two boys, who gladly take the break and walk away rather quickly.
The teacher turns his attention back to Tori and Jade and says, “This is our fifth rehearsal and you two aren’t getting any better at playing a believable husband and wife - BURF BE QUIET!”
Jade’s shoulders jump just a little at the outburst, but something in her stomach doesn’t sit right. She can’t believe she’s letting Tori ruin her acting like this.
“Meet me at Nozu tonight. 7 pm,” Sikowitz tells them sternly, putting his playbook in their face as he begins to walk away.
Jade’s jaw visibly drops at his comment. Tori’s the one who vocalizes the same thought they’re having.
“But I don’t wanna g-” 
“Nozu!”
“But why are you-”
Sikowitz then starts yelling gibberish, to which Tori and Jade both just stare at him like he’s crazy.
“At least let us-” Jade tries, but Sikowitz just yells louder.
“SEEYOUBOTHATNOZUATSEVENPM,” he yells, angrily stomping out of the room.
They stare after him for a moment, then Jade feels Tori look at her.
“So...are we just...not rehearsing…?”
Jade gives her a look before she scoffs and promptly storms out in a similar fashion as her teacher. She’ll be damned if she has to go to dinner with both Sikowitz and Tori.
//
Jade goes.
Not at all by choice, of course. Sikowitz tells her later in the day if she doesn't, she’ll receive a failing grade for the play. So Jade sucks it up and drives to Nozu, praying that she can sit for a few minutes, get a free meal, and then leave without too much suffering.
She walks into the restaurant, eyes wandering, hoping the other two haven’t arrived yet.
“JADE!”
Her head snaps, seeing an overly unenthusiastic Sikowitz waving his hand wildly in the air. Tori is sitting next to him, something similar to a grimace on her face. Jade only rolls her eyes, dragging her feet to join them at the bar. She purposefully leaves a seat between herself and Tori before sitting down.
“Okay I’m here,” she announces. “Why?”
“Because you two need to learn how to play a husband and wife believably,” Sikowitz tells them.
“What does that have to do with sushi?” Tori asks, clearly irritated.
Jade hides a smirk; she doesn’t mind when Tori shows other emotions than being the sweet, goody two-shoes she’s always been.
“Listen, I once had to do a show where I had to play a man in great pain. So to prepare, I threw myself down a flight of stairs.”
Jade and Tori only stare at him, unsure if they should even respond.
Sikowitz adds, “You wouldn’t believe how many times I hit my head.”
“Yeah we would,” Jade supplies without hesitation.
“We really, really would,” Tori nods in agreement.
Sikowitz ignores them both, continuing on, “Now to prepare for your roles, you two must date.”
Jade stares at him, wide eyed.
“So, have fun,” he concludes, standing up from his stool.
“What date?” Jade snaps.
Sikowitz points at the two of them. “This one. It begins now at,” he pushes up his sleeve to reveal nothing but his bare wrist. “Seven-oh-twelve p.m. You two will stay here, eat, chat, drink and giggle until the restaurant closes at midnight.”
Jade is absolutely not going to be forced on some dumb date with Tori. She immediately pulls herself up from her seat.
“Forget it, I’m leaving.”
Tori follows suit. “Yeah, me too.”
“Ah!” Sikowitz warns, making the two of them freeze and turn to him. “If either of you two leave before midnight, you both get an F for the semester.”
“Sikowitz,” Tori lets out in a whine, stomping like a child on the verge of a tantrum.
“It’s fine,” Jade insists, mainly to get Tori to shut up as she slings her purse over her shoulder. “He’s gonna know when we leave.”
Sikowitz gives her a look. “Oh yes he gonna.”
The two just stare at him, as if wondering how much worse this can get.
“I have two spies watching you. Sinjin and Burf,” he informs them, pointing to both of them awkward and lanky boys from their respective spots.
Jade looks at Sikowitz again, unable to believe she’s being forced to sit through this. Tori glances at her and it’s clear she’s in the same boat.
“Happy dating,” Sikowitz tells them before he’s slipping out the door.
Jade shares a look with Tori before they’re both slouching back into their chairs with a glare.
“Excuse me,” Tori says in her stupidly sweet voice.
Jade hates it.
“Hi, my date and I were wondering if you had a flight of stairs we could throw ourselves down.”
Jade has to school her features because she’s surprised at Tori’s comment. She keeps a straight face, but honestly, she’s impressed.
She’d never let Tori know it, though.
After sitting there moping for a moment, Tori lets out a sigh.
“Let’s at least order food,” she suggests. “I’m hungry.”
“Fine, we’ll eat in silence,” Jade decides.
Tori gives her a look to which Jade pointedly ignores before she’s shoving a menu Tori’s way.
When they order, the waiter just looks at them hesitantly, as if he doesn’t quite understand what’s going on, but when Jade glares at him he turns and sends their orders in without having to be told twice. Jade groans. She isn’t sure how she’s supposed to survive this night.
It’s just uncomfortable silence for the most part, one Jade is trying to eat through the best she can, but then Tori starts slurping on her soup and really, didn’t anyone teach her better?
“NO!” Jade shouts when Tori’s slurping for the third time in the past five seconds.
Tori side eyes her, slurping another spoonful just to spite her. Jade resists the urge to smack her arm.
“Worst night ever,” she states, sifting through the remnants of her meal with her chopsticks.
“Oh, you think I’m having fun on this ‘date’? ‘Cause I’m not,” Tori responds with a glare
“Then let’s not talk,” Jade suggests quickly.
“Fine!” Tori agrees.
Jade feels like she’s won at least a small part of her night, turning back to her food, but of course, Tori has never been a quiet one.
“You know-”
“Ugh!” Jade groans, as if she’s physically in pain at the sound of Tori’s voice.
Tori rolls her eyes, staring at the ceiling for a second before she says, “There is no reason you and I shouldn’t be able to sit here and have a conversation”
“I’ve got a good reason.”
“Which is?”
“I don’t like you,” Jade reminds her in a duh voice.
Tori raises her eyebrows, taking it as a challenge. “Really? You can’t think of one good thing you like about me?”
Jade pretends to think about it for a moment before she says, “I like when you’re sad.”
Tori looks at her before she lets out a scoff. Jade shrugs like there’s nothing else Tori should’ve expected. Because really, she should’ve seen it coming.
“Okay, try again,” Tori tells her, turning to face her again. “Reach down into your twisted, bitter soul and see if you can find anything nice to say about me.”
Usually, it doesn’t go like this. Usually, by now, Tori gives up and just lets Jade have the last word. Something about this piques Jade’s interest in conversing now, a side of Tori that only she’s really been able to pull out of her.
“Uh okay,” she begins, thinking for a moment. “Your singing isn’t...awful.”
Tori nods, a sardonic smile on her face. “Thanks so much.”
“Now let’s hear you say something nice about me,” Jade suggests.
“Sure,” Tori relents. “Um, I admire how you’re never afraid to say what you think.”
“That’s stupid.”
“See?”
Jade rolls her eyes. Stupid Vega’s getting better at this, she notices.
“Now your turn again,” Tori says.
“Uh,” Jade starts, and the first thought that comes to her mind - well, she can’t have Tori the satisfaction of knowing that. But she’s got nothing else so, “I guess some people might say, that from certain angles you’re pretty.”
She’s suddenly focused on poking her chopsticks through her rice and definitely not looking at Tori. She can feel Tori’s eyes on her though, and when she risks a side glance she notice the way Tori’s lips lift up into a small smile.
Jade ignores the feeling in her gut.
“You could say I’m pretty,” Jade suggests, trying to stop Tori from smiling like an idiot.
There’s a pause and then, “You are pretty.”
Jade looks back at Tori then, and Tori can only manage a shy smile and a shrug. Jade hates how it makes her a little soft. Then, as if they both notice the air has shifted, Tori and Jade look back at their meals and take a bite, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
Jade thinks this night couldn’t possibly get weirder.
...until it does.
Jade’s met her fair share of annoying, overly-confident boys at Hollywood Arts alone, but these two are a whole new level. Every glance she shares with Tori is confirmation enough that they need to get rid of them like now.
“Sing us a song!” one says.
“Yeah we wanna hear a little songy-song action,” the other chimes in.
Jade thinks she’s just going to smash both of their heads onto the table. But wait - songs. What was that lesson with Sikowitz the day they cast themselves into the play?
With a new idea, Jade turns to Tori, concealing a smirk.
“You hear that? They wanna hear a little songy-song action,” she says smugly.
Tori stares at her like she’s crazy for a moment, and Jade almost screams because how is Tori this dense - but then she’s smiling along the moment it clicks. A big smile with a nod, and Jade knows Tori’s acting when she sees it.
“Okay, we’ll sing you a song,” she agrees, standing from her chair.
Jade follows her to the DJ’s makeshift station, smirking at the back of Tori’s head.
“Hey.”
The DJ looks up.
“Break’s over,” Jade tells him, crossing her arms.
“What song do you want to sing?”
“Um,” Tori squints, leaning over to inspect the song list.
Jade feels the eyes of the boys on them.
“T305,” Tori answers, looking up at Jade with a knowing smile.
Jade looks down at the page, finding the listing. She smirks. Not bad, Vega.
It’s not the first time they’ve sung, but Jade is pretty sure it’s the first time they’ve sung together by choice, and the first time it’s just the two of them. She finds herself enjoying this, performing with Vega. It’s no secret that Tori’s always been a good singer - that much was clear from day one, but for once Jade isn’t looking at her as a threat.
Maybe, just maybe, everything with Tori isn’t a competition. And of course, making two idiot boys squirm never hurts either.
As the crowd applauds them, the two boys silently make their exit. Neither of the girls notice though, because Tori is throwing an arm around Jade as she laughs, and Jade lets her without complaint, and maybe they’re finally getting somewhere.
//
“That was phenomenally better!”
Sikowitz is outright applauding them the following day at rehearsal. Sinjin and Burf lookin with glee. Even Beck and Andre are impressed by the looks of it.
“See? Doesn’t acting like this feel better?” Sikowitz asks.
Jade shrugs. “It’s alright I guess.”
She won’t give Sikowitz or Tori the satisfaction of knowing that yes, being able to fall into a role like this feels immensely better than forcing herself to go through the motions with someone she hates.
“Seriously that’s stop good stuff,” Andre nods. “How’d you guys do it?”
Tori smiles, like it’s a secret only for her and Jade. “Oh you know, just a date night at Nozu.”
Jade suppresses the smile that wants to appear on her face. It’s kind of fun, like an inside joke no one else will quite understand with Tori. Tori wears her heart on her sleeve, she is open and honest and welcome to those who approach her. To have something with her, even if it’s just a dumb forced date night, is something Jade holds on to.
She misses the way Beck looks at her curiously, as if trying to understand the new dynamic between them.
//
They start hanging out. No, actually, not really. It starts as Tori suggesting they go over lines together after school in the days leading up to opening night and Jade agreeing. That’s all.
But Jade finds herself laughing more than she should. She finds herself finding less and less reasons to snap at Tori - though, don’t be mistaken, she is all for pushing buttons and poking fun. Tori can handle it, this much Jade knows.
But Tori always surprises her, coming up with a sassy remark or a quick comeback when Jade leasts expects it. It keeps Jade on her toes and for the first time in a long time, she doesn’t think about missing Beck.
“Why did we hate each other?” Tori sighs, stretching back on her couch the night before opening day.
“Did?” Jade asks with a smirk and a quirk of her eyebrow. “I still hate you.”
Tori rolls her eyes, giving her a look. “Well, I, for one, don’t hate you. I don’t think I ever did.”
Jade looks at her. “I know you never did. You definitely have every right too, though.”
And it’s true. For all Jade’s thrown at her, Tori has never once retaliated as hard. She has always forgiven Jade, even taken the blame when Jade’s the one who pushes and pushes. Tori has done nothing but forgive Jade time and time again, and Jade isn’t even quite sure why.
Tori looks at her curiously, her head doing an adorable tilt.
“I think I like us better as friends.”
“Who said we’re friends?”
Tori scoffs, pulling a pillow out from under her and smacking Jade with it. Jade laughs, grabbing another pillow and hitting her right back.
Jade is having a stupid pillow fight with Tori Vega in her living room, but she can’t find it in her to stop smiling.
//
Opening night is something like a dream.
Jade loves opening night of plays, honestly. There is something about it that is so unique, that there’s never anything quite like it.
(There is also the fact that on the opening night of her play a few semesters ago, Tori made sure it happened exactly as she’d hoped.
She tries not to think too hard about that, though.)
The black box theater is packed despite it only being an in-class play, and Jade thrives off the full room. Something about the acting tonight elevates it all, and she knows Tori can feel it too from the way her eyes shine the entire time.
“You are no sleepy loser,” Jade tells her, squeezing Tori’s arms in comfort. “You’re an astronaut.”
Tori looks at her for a long moment, long enough for something to bubble underneath Jade’s chest.
“I love you,” Tori tells her in a deep voice.
“I love you,” Jade replies without missing a beat.
Her voice is so soft and genuine, she truly doesn’t know where it comes from.
Tori pulls her in a hug then, and Jade wraps her arms around her tightly. Sikowitz leads the audience in applause, and when they finally pull away, Tori is looking at her with a smile as if to say we did it.
As they take their final bow, Jade holding Tori’s hand, two voices become louder than the rest. Standing back up, Jade’s eyes fall to the back row and her stomach drops in dread. Tori is hitting her shoulder, starting to say something, but Jade cuts her off quickly.
“It’s them,” she says, grabbing Tori’s arm. “It’s them.”
Tori gives her a confused look, but then she’s looking into the audience herself and her eyes widen.
“What do we do?” Jade asks.
The boys are beginning to stand up and it’s clear they are trying to make their way over.
“Run,” Tori decides. “Run Nancy.”
“Yes, Walter,” Jade nods without hesitation, grabbing Tori’s hand and practically sprinting to the back of the theater.
They exit the room and down the hall, both of them tugging off their wigs and Tori pulling off her fake mustache in the process. They end up in Sikowitz’s classroom by the end of it, breathless. The two of them look at each other for a moment before bursting out in laughter, unable to help themselves.
“God I’ve never been so scared in my life,” Tori admits through her laughter, clutching onto Jade for support.
“Tell me about it,” Jade breathes out, shaking her head in disbelief.
When they’ve finally calmed down enough, they are still holding hands, wigs discarded on the nearest chair. Tori is so close and she smells like her dumb fruity perfume. Her eyes still shine brightly, and Jade can’t help it.
She kisses Tori. It only lasts a moment, soft and quick, but it’s enough to both know it wasn’t a mistake. Jade pulls away, and they’re both left staring at each other with wide eyes. Tori is clearly surprised, but at least she doesn’t look upset.
“Did you just…?” Tori asks in a quiet voice.
“I..um, yeah. Guess I did.”
Tori bites her lip. Jade hates how good she looks still with her hair tied back and pinned in place from the wig.
“Can you do it again?” she asks, uncharacteristically shy.
Jade smirks then, pulling Tori into her again.
Maybe they end up making out in Sikowitz’s classroom while everyone is looking for them, but hey - it’s better than the janitor’s closet.
When they finally return to the dressing room, Jade holding Tori’s hand, Beck and Andre are already changed and Robbie and Cat are also there, hanging out.
“Where have you guys been?” Beck asks. “There were two guys who were looking for you.”
“We didn’t want to see them,” Jade tells him.
He notices their hands and quirks an eyebrow, silently posing a question. Jade only raises her eyebrows in response, pulling away from Tori to change out of her costume.
“Oh you know,” Tori shrugs, biting her lip to hide a smile. “Around.”
Everyone exchanges a look, but none of them say anything further about it as the other two change.
And when Jade kisses Tori in front of everyone at Nozu later that night, Tori gives her a big smile.
“I knew you didn’t hate me,” Tori sing-songs.
“Don’t push it,” Jade teases, but her arm rests comfortably around Tori, not minding when Tori slides her hand into hers and kisses the back of Jade’s hand softly as Cat tells a story.
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smallblueandloud · 4 years ago
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kendar gorgeous
the original concept of this is from @words-writ-in-starlight, the bastion of kencyrath-related content on the internet. everyone say “thank you, star!”
-
Tori: I was like 12 years old and my dad walked up to me and he said, “Hello… [chuckles] Hello, I’m Ganth Gray Lord. I’m your father.” And then he said the following, “You know, Tyrandis… was one of the great Knorth and masters of the Senethar, but sometimes he would be Shanir. And according to a song I heard once, when he was holding back the Shanir part, he did some of his best work.
Now we don’t have time to unpack all of that. And I don’t know if he was discouraging me from being Shanir or encouraging me to betray my people because of rigid concepts of honor, y'know, the way he did. But that is how he thought to phrase it to a 12-year-old boy. How would that ever work? Like years later, I’d be the Highlord about to follow my sister, the nemesis, into battle and I’d be like, “Wait a second… What would Tyrandis do?” Which of course would be to follow Jame into battle. I never talked to my dad about that after this, but I figured I would tell all of you.
-
Tori: I never went to Tentir. I got all of my training from this randir, his name was Harn Grip-Hard. Go ahead and laugh. His name is ridiculous. That was his name. It was Harn Grip-Hard. He was from Tentir. He was a beserker. [audience is silent] Oh, gee, very sorry everyone, did that make you uncomfortable? Well guess what! You're all randir and he's not even HERE! So imagine being TWENTY THREE YEARS OLD, fresh out of the Haunted Lands, COMPLETELY untrained and you're sitting in a small enclosed space with him. He's still got blood on his ears. And he's looking you in the eye to tell you for the first time in your VERY young life that SOME people REALLY HATE YOUR HOUSE. And they may just have to kill you over it!
So Harn came every night with a program to teach me about the violent world waiting for me outside my bunk in the Southern Wastes, and that program was called Street Smarts! “Time for Street Smarts with Harn Grip-Hard. Shut up! You’re gonna die. Street Smarts!” That was the general tone. He would give me tips to deal with infighting between the houses.
I will share some of the tips with you this evening. “Okay, tip number one. Street Smarts! Let’s say a Randir pulls a knife on you to try and get the Highlord's seat.” You remember the scourge of muggings when you were in the Southern Host. You know how a Kendar thinks. “Man, I want to be Highlord, the traditionally Knorth seat. Hey, maybe that random Ardeth bastard with the extreme PSTD, y'know, shivering like a wet Chihuawawa will be able to help.” "Let’s say a Randir Kendar pulls a knife on you to steal the Highlord's seat. What do you do? You go fumbling for your father's ring. And you go fumbling for your father's ring. Well, in that split-second, that’s when he’s going to stab you. So here’s what you do. You kid get yourself an Ardeth crest on your jacket. Okay, you can get these at any haberdashery. You put a bright silver Ardeth crest and then when a guy flashes a blade, you point and go, ‘I think I saw a Knorth go that way!’ Then you run the other direction.”
“Tip number two. Street Smarts! Let’s say a kidnapper throws you in their base on a volcano…” This was at nine in the evening. [audience laughing] “Let’s say a Karnid throws you in their base. Don’t panic. [chuckles] Once you get your bearings… find the fabric that contains reality, get some slack in your chains, make a fist, punch through the fabric, thus creating a hole in reality leading to our ancestral enemy Perimial Darkling, then stick your little hand out and wave to your darkling sister training in the eaves of the Master's house to let her know that something HINKY is going on.” Can you imagine seeing that? [imitating the Senetha, pauses] “I think Tori's telling me I'm supposed to be on Water Blowing by now!” [audience laughing]
“Tip number three. Street Smarts! You Knorth have no upper body strength.” And we were like, “We know but, hey.” “If some guy tries to grab you, you can’t fight him with fists. So here’s what you do. You kids run into the nearest building, then go all the way up the stairs and jump down at him from the upper-level window. That’ll throw him off his rhythm.” That was a big thing with Harn, throwing potential assassins off their rhythm. “He’s not gonna know how to fight back with a feral creature of legend coming down at him.” [audience laughing] “If the Knorth women had an accessible flight of stairs and a fascination with the clouds, they’d still be alive today. Street Smarts!”
-
Tori: Harn told me things that haunt me to this day. He came one night for training. He goes, “Okay, when you get kidnapped…” Not if, when. [audience laughing] "Okay, so when you get kidnapped, the place where the guy grabs ya, in the biz we call that the primary location. Okay. Your odds of coming back alive from the primary location, about 60%. But if you are taken to a secondary location, your odds of coming back alive are slim to none.”
I am 35 years old and I am still terrified of secondary locations. If I’m at a place, I never want to go to another place. I’ll be at a council at Gogrethor and someone’ll be like, “Hey, Highlord, you coming to the barracks? We’re all gonna get drinks and keep the party going with the Kendar!” I’m like, “Nah, sister. You’re not getting me to no secondary location. You want it? Look at my Ardeth crest!” Street Smarts! Stay alert out there.
Between Harn and my father’s warnings about the Shanir, I thought I was going to be murdered my entire childhood and young adulthood. As Highlord people are like, “What are your top three plans for the Kencyrath?” I'm like, “Top three plans? I thought I would be dead in a Karnid base or murdered by my darkling sister by now!”
-
Tori: I restored Gogrethor. The whole thing! Holy shit, right? I just got a letter from the Women's World, which was fun ’cause mail, you know? So I open up the letter and they said, “Hey, Torisen, it’s the Matriarchs. You remember?” I say, “Yes, of course.” And they said… How did they phrase it? They said, “Give us a child!”
-
Jame: I found out recently that jokes don’t do well in court. So, some friends of mine were sued back in Tai-Tastigon for property damage. And they were guilty. And the lawsuit dragged on for years and years and eventually I got a letter when I was lordan of the Knorth. It was my friend from Tai-Tastigon, Darinby. He said, “Hey, that lawsuit with my neighbor is still dragging on and my neighbor just subpoenaed all my letters that mention him or the lawsuit.” And I said, “That’s crazy. But why are you calling me?” And he said, “Because you should be concerned.”
"He said, “I have an letter here from when we were apprentices where I wrote, ‘Hey, guys, I’m going to miss drinks at the Moon tonight because I have to meet with my neighbor about that lawsuit thing.’ And you replied, ‘Hey, do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you. Okay. See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.'”
[audience laughing]
Of all the things I did in Tai-Tastigon I would be ashamed to have mentioned out loud in a court of law, I think the top one is “See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.” I'm goddamn religious and everything, but that rat bastard doesn't need to be reminded that people worship him.
-
Tori: Jame would go like this. [glares intensely] And Caldane would just do whatever she said! Now that’s not nice, right? The way I was raised, you’re supposed to say, “May I please have some respect, please?” And then maybe you will get some. And I bet all of you were taught to say please and thank you. But if all of us could go "Boo!" and Caldane would float up to the ceiling, we’d do it all day long. Even if you're not even mad at Caldane, you’d just do it so you could get some shade in the afternoons.
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kitanoko · 5 years ago
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In which the doctor meets his match Part 4!!
Note: I haven’t updated this since Sept 2018....y’all thought you seen the last of me HAHA. Finally, things are building up ....... shinsou is also going to meet todoroki EVENTUALLY ~
Read Part 1 here
Read Part 2 here
Read Part 3 here
Warm.
That was the only thing Yaoyorozu could think of when he shook her hands and laid a gaze that lingered on her luscious, mascara-coated lashes a second too long. She unknowingly scratched little circles on the hardcover of her lacquered folder when she looked up and saw the way he’d run his hand through his hair as the two walked out of the meeting room.
It was habit that she had come to notice Todoroki would do whenever he was about to say something but hesistates. A feeling stirred inside her and her arm tensed. It was definitely Aizawa sensei’s fault for making the atmosphere so….strange now, Yaoyorozu thought. She’s going to his office straight away after to demand an explanation!
The receptionist immediately dropped whatever she was doing when the two closed the meeting door, her eyes directing at the white and red haired man. Yaoyorozu knew the receptionist was checking the doctor out and she rolled her eyes.
The elevator slid open after a short while and Todoroki waved a goodbye. He entered, hands naturally smoothing out the bottom of his suit, and pressed the door to ground floor. Yaoyorozu, catching his teeny smile the second before the door fully closed, mirrored his gesture and hugged the newly signed contract to her chest even more as if protecting it.
Yaoyorozu had agreed to conduct a site visit this Saturday (which was sort of silly since she could go to his clinic right now if she wanted to) and cradled the papers in her hand even closer to her heart.
“So he signed?” A voice rose behind her with a teasing tone and she turned to see Aizawa crossing his arms, shifting his body weight on the wall beside him. The smirk that had formed on his face wrinkled his jaw. Yaoyorozu huffed, making sure to be conspicuously annoyed.
“Yes he did sensei…but I cannot believe you! You came in and made it so awkward!”
Aizawa’s smirk did not fade. “I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t like Shinsou.”
At the mention of their rival’s name, Yaoyorozu scrunched her nose. She playfully slapped her mentor’s arm, a tint of pink highlighting her cheeks, and huffed again, earning her a light chuckle from the man.
Just three weeks ago, the aforementioned Shinsou showed up at their doorstep, asking to speak with her. Yaoyorozu was slightly weary –after all, they have never worked together before (and he’d always convince her to quit Erase) but figured if he was coming for an alleged business opportunity, she’d better hold onto the chance. The potential client was a millionaire who wanted to design a chain of malls he had just acquired. Shinsou, being the sole designer in his growing firm, decided to seek help from Erase. Yaoyorozu respected his humbleness and ambition and so had agreed to meet him.
Their discussion was great and from it she learnt a lot about Shinsou’s character. He was overall quite quiet, lips always in a thin line, and hair always disheveled (reminded her a lot of Aizawa to be frank). It was hard reading his expressions. Despite this, deep down, Yaoyorozu knew Shinsou’s passion for design shown through his work. The way he’d use his words to paint a beautiful picture of the planned end product was admirable. Yaoyorozu decided that Shinsou was no doubt a talent that she could learn from. Unfortunately, the deal busted and so they had to terminate the contract. Aizawa began to tease her about Shinsou ever since; he suspected there was something ‘blossoming’ between them but of course Yaoyorozu would scoff every time.
It had bothered her however. Recalling that every time Shinsou had come, Aizawa and the former would always politely greet each other but something about the conversations between them had displayed a familiarity between the two. Yaoyorozu never asked but she had a feeling they had known each other for a long time.
“….I knew you’d bring it up.” Yaoyorozu said, walking beside her mentor.
“Hey, I’m not the one who’s getting phone calls from that guy still.”
“Shinsou and I are STRICTLY business. ONLY.” She emphasized, raising her index finger. Yaoyorozu had met Shinsou for dinner once (on friendly terms) but she wasn’t going to let anyone know that other than her best friends. Aizawa shrugged.
“There’s no conflict of interest by the way, just looking out for my favourite student!”
“Oh please…curl back up in your worm suit and take a nap to rewire your mind.” Yaoyorozu stuck her tongue out childishly at her mentor and took a step towards her desk. She sat down and kicked off her heels and changed to her Tory Burch flats. “Feel free to ask admin to stock up on the white chip macademia cookies in the pantry, I may need some sugar for the weekend.”
Aizawa saw the spark in her eyes. “Sure, you got it,” he said and left.
Yaoyorozu licked her bottom lip and stretched, curling her toes inside her shoes. Cracking her knuckles, she straightened herself in her ergonomic chair.
The designer was starting this project with a bang.
~~
“So?” Kendou asked. She walked over to the table next to the couch to stack the Elle magazines back into a neat pile. “The designer’s going to come in on Saturday, when?”
The sun was setting, casting shadows over Kendou’s perfect bright ponytail and the streets were beginning to fill with crowds of the after-work drinking group. There were quite a few hang out dens  around this area which was something that benefitted Todoroki. He’d often meet up with his longtime friends after his shift.
Todoroki cracked his neck and leaned over the counter with a mug in hand. He was now back in his suit which had cracked Kendou right up because of their contrast. She was wearing an Ivy Park tank with leggings while he looked like he was ready to hit up a gala.
“She’s free any time but I told her to come at 3 since we’d be done by then.”
“Okay, sounds good. Any idea what it’s gonna look like after?”
“It’ll be traditional Japanese-inspired, something I’ve thought about since before our latest renovation.”
“Which may I remind you was only a year ago.”
“Right.”
Kendou cocked a brow, strolling back the other way to grab the purse locked under the front desk. “So what made you suddenly feel like we needed a makeover again? I don’t think we ever got to that.”
The doctor took a sip of his drink, avoiding eye contact.
“There’s never a bad time to make our patients feel at home you know.”
That answer was awfully suspect but Kendou knew there was no point in interrogating the doctor about it. The clinic is his after all and no one but him would know how he wanted to envision the place.
The girl looped her arm through the handles of her canvas bag. “May I also remind you that I doubt anyone’s homes look like a ryokan except for yours?”
Todoroki gave a chuckle, lips resting to a small smile. He looked almost proud. “Yes of course. I guess I wanted to make sure the patients feel like they’re at my home, alright?”
Kendou laughed. “Making jokes now are we? You’re in a chipper mood, doctor. I’m heading out. Tetstutetsu and I are getting yakitori so I’ll see ya tomorrow!”
“See ya.”
With that the orange haired girl hopped out of the clinic with a skip in her steps.
Todoroki’s shoulders slumped a little when he turned his gaze back to the front desk. His eyes landed on a nearby medical poster and he curled his fingers around his mug once more. The office was silent except for the bustle of people’s laughter and chitter seeping through the door and he casually strolled over to switch off all the lights on his right.
The phone beside the mug began to shake and vibrate, then ‘X gon give it to ya’ started booming from it. Todoroki’s brow twitched a little seeing his screen brightening.
It was Bakugou.
“Yea?” Todoroki answered in a monotone voice, lifting his phone to his ear, “What’s up.”
“I hate hearing your voice too, half-n-half,” Bakugou grunted.
Todoroki exhaled a little, chuckling, “Need me for something?”
“No..well yes. But no, not me. Harry Potter says he’s planning a surprise party for his girlfriend uh…you know, what’s her face. Purple hair girl. He wanna check if ya can come with. I don’t wanna go but I will just because I’m feeling generous.”
“What a sacrifice,” Todoroki retorted, pressing the phone between his ear and shoulder, “When is it?”
“This Saturday.”
Todoroki thought for a bit. If Yaoyorozu came around 3:30, he’d be able to make it.
“Sure.” The doctor grabbed his mug and swallowed the last drop of Milo, “Who’s going and when’d you become Kaminari’s secretary.”
Bakugou cursed into the phone. “Fcking bitch is having a panic attack about his cake or whatever that sludge he’s baking. Fcking even gave him the recipe and helped him with most of it and he can’t even squeeze icing properly.”
“You? Baking?” Todoroki said incredulously, “Never thought I’d see the day when you’d bake.”
“For your record, I can fcking C O O K.”
“Yea, I definitely know now.”
Todoroki heard a weensy bit of Kaminari’s whining at the back and Bakugou grunted again.
“Bring some peeps if you want, the dolt over there wanna fill up the apartment, though it shouldn’t be that fcking hard since it’s a two by two square.”
Todoroki gave a half-hearted hum. “I’ll think about it. But tell him I’ll be there.”
“K, bye.” And with that Bakugou hung up. Todoroki stuffed the phone back into his pocket. Walking to the bathroom, Todoroki rinsed his mug in the sink. His reflection caught his attention, seeing his Tom Ford suit reminded him of Erase.
Yaoyorozu.
He eyed the ceiling a bit and back to the mirror in front of him. Fixing his collar with a tug, a thought sprang like ripples on water.
He wondered, would it be crazy to invite her to Jirou’s party?
~~
“JIROU, IM GOING TO PLAY THE MOVIE!!” Ashido’s shrill voice startled Yaoyorozu and the latter quickly turned to her friend.
“We have ears you know.”
Ashido gave a small ‘hehe’ and Jirou snarled at her when she appeared behind the couch. “And some of us have REALLY sensitive hearing.”
“Sorry, just making sure you don’t miss anything. I love this movie!”
The three were chilling together in Yaoyorozu’s house with fuzzy pyjamas and slippers. The fleece blanket that Yaoyorozu so adored fell across Ashido’s lap and Jirou plopped a bowl of popcorn overloaded with butter between them.
“Extra extra greasy?” Ashido said as she stuffed a bunch of popcorn in her mouth and Jirou repeated after her.
“Yes, extra extra greasy. I’m scared for all our arteries.”
“Just do 3 laps tomorrow and you’ll burn it all out.”
This was the designer’s usual entertainment, her friends’ constant bickering.
“….or we could ask Dr. Todoroki for some advice.”
At his name, Yaoyorozu coughed out half-chewed kernels, eyes watering. Jirou quickly handed her water, though her hands were shaking from laughing at Yaoyorozu’s immediate reaction.
“Oh, so now we can’t even MENTION his name?” Ashido guffawed, kicking her legs up and down as the movie’s opening song began to fill the air.
Yaoyorozu squinted her eyes. “I’m going to kick you guys out if you keep at it.”
“Ashido started it!”
“No I didn’t! WAIT SHH the movie!”
Jirou tottered her legs on the couch for a bit as Shrek 2 began and stood up, “Wait can you pause, I have to go washroom.”
The pink-haired girl flicked a popcorn at her and licked her fingers before reaching for the remote. “Ugh why didn’t you go earlier. Fine, we’ll wait.”
When they heard Jirou slide the door to a close, Ashido quickly leaned over to the designer who was leisurely skimming through ASOS.
“Ohh! That top’s really cute Yaomomo! But wait I need to tell you something.”
Yaoyorozu reeled over at her friend who was acting suspicious as if she had a secret and put down her phone.
“What is it?” She asked confounded.
“Kaminari and I are planning Jirou’s surprise Birthday, it’s going to be Saturday.”
“Oh sounds fun! Where?”
“It’ll be at his place, can you bring some snacks?”
Yaoyorozu grinned, “Of course I can. Anything else you guys need help with?”
Ashido twirled at lock of hair playfully. “Nope I think we’re all good. Show up at 7, we’ll all hide and wait for Kami to bring her in.“
“I have a client to see right before but I should be there on time.”
Seeing the way her friends’ eyes glistened, Yaoyorozu could tell she knew who ‘the client’ was.
“Oh…come on, bring the doctor.”
“What! I’ve only talked to him twice. That’s absurd. He would think I’m interested in him.”
“Hey, all relationships starts off with friendship of some degree. Fine, bring Shinsou then.”
Yaoyorozu rolled her eyes, “No and no.”
“Aww…come on…we need some hotties in the room, well other than us of course.” Ashido burst out giggling at her own humour, “I did hear that Kaminari’s bringing a bunch of his friends over so it’ll be sooo much fun, I can’t ---“
“WAIT..she’s back!” Yaoyorozu whispered and the two girls quickly retrograded to their previous positions. Jirou walked in, not suspecting a thing.
“So ready for some Shrek?” Ashido asked, reaching out for the glass of lemonade slicked with condensation. It was a good thing Yaoyorozu and her had fast reflexes.
Jirou jumped back onto the couch, “Yup, ya betcha!”
~~
Watching her work so precisely and meticulously, he found himself feeling as though he was intruding. Yaoyorozu was prisoned in focus – perhaps in her own world where nothing mattered except to make her designs come to life.
The doctor was curious, careful eyes admiring how she’d measure every obscure thing in his office. Every angle should direct the audience to a certain highlight, Yaoyorozu had explained. He just nodded as if he understood.
Todoroki made sure to give her enough space so she can do her work.
“Mm, maybe if I put that over here…” The designer muttered to herself, tapping her chin. Forming dialogues in her head while working was a habit of hers.
Todoroki noticed Kendou mindlessly wiping her computer monitor, but the receptionist’s gaze was towards the designer.
“If you keep that up, your monitor’s going to break.”
Kendou snapped out of it and smiled sheepishly.
“It’s after hours, you can go you know.”
“Oh I know,” Kendou said, now directing her gaze at him. She walked closer and whispered, hand cupping her mouth slightly. “I remember her now. She’s gorgeous, I can’t believe she’s so talented as well. Ugh, look at her dress, I want that sense of fashion.”
Todoroki shifted his attention to the designer. Yaoyorozu was donning a tight crew neck black top with an A-line skirt painted with bright patterns. Her hair was up in her usual pony tail though it looked curlier than usual. Large round hoops hung on her ears, glinting gold, while the watch she had on was one with classic black leather straps.
“Hm.” Was all Todoroki said.
Kendou huffed. “Oh you boys don’t know what fashion is.”
The doctor ignored her snarky comment, hands shoved back into his pockets and began to walk over to the woman who was now packing up her materials.
“So, I assume everything’s done?��
Yaoyorozu swiveled around, finding herself staring into gunmetal and cyan. His minty breath too close.
“Um---“She ended up stuttering, taking a step back, “Yes, almost! I’ve got what I need for the most part, I will be coming back quite often however. What’s your schedule? I’d suggest 2 months of closure so by mid-October at the latest?”
“That sounds good.”
The clock on the wall read exactly 5 p.m. and the designer found herself feeling relieved. Plenty of time for her to go back home and freshen up before the party. Kendou was now waving her goodbyes and heading out, leaving the two lost for words at each other’s company.
Todoroki rested a hand on his neck, scratching the area right around the nape and exhaled.
“Are you busy tonight?”
The woman puckered her lip.
“Tonight? I have plans with my friends.”
“…I see.” His chest sank, though keeping his voice light. Nonetheless the woman could sense the disappointment.
“Is there something you wanted to do? If you want to talk about the project, I’d be happy to discuss.”
Todoroki shook his head, the little pieces of white hair hanging right between his brows. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh.”
Things went quiet between them again. The rustle of Yaoyorozu’s purse that squished between her arm was the only distraction before the designer decided to head off.
“Thanks, I’ll see you—“
“Soon.” He finished for her in haste and meekly smiled at his outward response. Yaoyorozu reciprocated the gesture before the phone in her purse began to vibrate.
“Sorry I have to take this.” The woman said, pushing open the door. She added cheerily, “Bye doctor!” With a wink she left, the last sound of her heels’ clicking echoing away.
Though he was slightly disgruntled at his failed attempt to invite her to Jirou’s party, Todoroki’s heart skipped a beat. Not that it was his first time hearing anyone call him doctor. But what was it that made her saying it so….enticing?
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catsitta · 5 years ago
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Handle With Care - Post Mortem
When I first started writing Handle with Care, it was going to be 100 chapters long and there were a few key differences in the plot. These changes occurred generally slowly as I gained a better understanding of my world and characters, while some shifted dramatically due to my feeling they were thematically inappropriate for the story I wanted to tell. So with the conclusion of the main fic and its various continuations, I decided to detail a little more in how I approached a 100 word daily drabble fic, and why certain events occurred or why certain characters played certain roles. This post is mostly for the folks out there who like all the nitpicky background information that goes around in the author’s head while writing.
100 WORDS A DAY
In choosing to write 100 words a day, I gave myself both a goal and a challenge. 100 words is often little more than a paragraph. Maybe two. I often found myself writing on my commute into work or during lunch on my phone, because while 1000 might feel overwhelming, 100 is not. Right? Yet some days I found just enough time to type up 100 words between work and other commitments (October was interesting, since I did Inktober and well as Promptober, on top of my usual working schedule). But the most challenging part was not writing 100 words. Writing 100 words was easy. Writing ONLY 100 words was where things became tricky.
In my original intentions for this fic, scenes were not supposed to span over multiple chapters. Each drabble was to be a self contained snapshot of time. But as the story became more emotionally centered, I shifted away from that idea and focused more on making each drabble exist as a chapter. Chapters can have cliffhangers. But they need to communicate a thought. An idea. A feeling. With 100 words a day, my objective became: Progress the story in a meaningful way or communicate some important information to the audience. With 100 words, there was often little room for getting lost in details.
Now one my ask again, why 100?
100 is the number of words in the definition of a drabble. 100, again, is an easy minimum to reach. But when you are used to writing 2-3k word chapters, flexibility is minimal and you have to decide what needs to be said, and what you were saying to fill space. And I found it a wonderful learning experience and valuable exercise as a writer. I’ve attempted to start drabble fics in the past, but rarely did they ever get past a couple chapters before I would get frustrated by the limitations. Because let’s be honest. Writing a 25,000 word story, 100 words at a time, is a test of one’s patience as much as anything else.
THE STORY
Handle with Care was originally supposed to be pure romantic comedy with just a splash of darker undertones in the background for color. But as much as I love fluffy comedies, as I wrote, there were conflicts that I didn’t feel should be glossed over. As some of my long term readers and commenters will know, I’m terribly fond of bitter with my sweet. Angst with my fluff. The bad things in life make the good all the brighter. And conflict drives a story forward.
So what changed?
There were many different variations on how Sans ended up raising Papyrus alone. Some took our overbearing science dad, Gaster, and outright cast him in the role of a villain as opposed to a mid story antagonist. Straight into, why aren’t you in jail, territory. Others barely featured Gaster at all, as he was disconnected from Sans after his son didn’t end up pursuing a ‘productive’ career in the sciences. There were even a couple considered drafts where Papyrus and Edge did have another parent and the reason Sans was distrusting and cagey was because of a broken Soulbond. (And for those of you who were Web/Sans theorists, well, there was a version where you weren’t wrong! Sans started an affair off with Web after the LOADs began as a sort of ‘regain control of his life’ thing.)
What may interest folks is that the story was originally not supposed to end with a wedding and a house in the planning. The happy ending was going to be less sugar and more height of the moment drama. Around the time Frisk intimidates Red into silence, she was going to instead start him on the path to discovering answers. No confessions from Sans. No journals. Instead Red goes on the hunt for clues and gets fragments of the story from different people, especially Gaster and Frisk. It was all quite emotional, but the pacing felt off, and I felt it would be more rewarding if Sans grew as a character and he was the one to confess all his secrets.
Another altered thread was Red being only Web’s son. Early, early on, Red was the product of Web and some other monster. I even considered that monster having died in birth with Edge. But I scrapped that quickly, and decided that instead, Edge was Pap’s twin, and that the grim mood Web was in, was because of what he saw as well as what he remembered from past timelines. He almost watched his friend and coworker dust in his arms. Properly traumatic, eh?
There is a completely cut scene that I may write in the spin off that goes more into detail about Red’s similarities to Gaster, and Sans’ to Web, and how people often choose partners that are like their parental figures. You may ask. Wait. What do you mean? Well, Webdings didn’t smoke. He drank. Red, despite having dabbled with the stuff, is never shown to drink recreationally or get drunk in the fic, for more reasons than being underage to do so. However, it is very lightly implied that Sans’ coping method of choice is alcohol, though Red quickly quashes this habit after the drunkenness incident. Now, who else smokes? Gaster. Sans doesn’t like that Red smokes (for obvious reasons it reminds him of his father and Red does try to quit in the fic, though ends up falling back on it when stressed.) There are other similarities if you look close. It’s one of the reasons that Gaster and Red don’t get along. They’re both strong personalities, and can be pretty quick to pass judgement on someone.
THE CHARACTERS
As many folks picked up on, Handle with Care, has multiple meanings. It is a moving pun based on the CAUTION: FRAGILE | Handle with Care, labels on the sides of some boxes. It is also one of the main themes of the fic itself. Everyone in the story is a person with their own pasts and pains, which makes them fragile in different ways. And some of them even represent different types of relationships and people we encounter in our lives.
Red - Our protagonist. He’s a young man picking up the pieces of his life after his father’s apparent suicide, left to raise his baby brother when he was only sixteen. He’s the child of an alcoholic and forced to take on an adult role too young. As a result, he has a few unhealthy coping mechanisms, struggles with his temper and his sense of self worth. But he’s the one that got out. That put his life on the straight-and-narrow.
Sans - The love interest. Grew up young from the sheer expectations in his life. He was never without, but when the LOADs happened, he cracked under a lifetime’s worth of pressure. He broke down. Stopped trusting anyone, including himself. And very likely only kept himself from Falling because of Papyrus. Much of his struggles is based on the single mothers who would say that their child is what saved them or got them through those darkest time by just existing. He is also the individual who was groomed for success that ended up with absoluting no proper coping skills because of his rigid upbringing.
Papyrus - The optimist. He stays positive through everything. Everything and everyone can do better, and he sees the best in all situations. But he also has a responsible streak with an urge to organize everything (clean/cook/no desserts before dinner). His relationship with Sans could have very well ended up problematic, with Paps taking on a parental role for his parent early on in his life.
Edge - The pessimist. Edge is the other side of the coin from Papyrus. While his world view is often just as rigid, he is emotional. While it is implied he was always a fussy baby, he’s very sensitive to change, and shows that children are capable of picking up on things that the adults in their lives try to hide. His abandonment issues run deep, and will cause him to lash out until he is older and learns better self control and comes to terms with his father’s death. It is not uncommon for children of single parent homes to become resentful, if not at their present parent, but at the one that is gone. It is difficult for Edge to separate his father’s death, and Red’s fights with Sans, away from himself, and his self-centric view of the world.
Gaster - The (sympathetic?) antagonist. There are points where you love to hate him, and other times, you have to step back. He’s the authoritarian parent that dictated most of his child’s life up until that child literally vanished and became a hermit for a while. It isn’t through callousness or unkindness that he acts this way, but in what he believes is the opposite. He struggles with emotions, especially showing them, an example of how often older generations, especially males, often don’t/can’t/won’t show emotional vulnerability. He wants the best for Sans and those he cares about, even if he often fails to show it properly.
Web - The dead dad. Red’s relationship with Web is complicated. He remembers when Web was a brilliant man, even if not the most fatherly of fathers. But he also laid witness to his fall from grace as well, his drinking habit the most evident. His role is ambiguous much of the story, though he’s left behind hole. His death is the catalyst to a number of the story’s events, and Red’s struggle with him in death is to show the complicated feelings people may have when they lose a loved one who may have not been the best person. Sans’ relationship with him was more to highlight how far he’d actually fallen in the end from where he used to be.
Toriel - The mother. She is a maternal presence in many character’s lives. Her mothering is revealed to be related to her inability to conceive a child. Infertility is a common problem for women. She goes on to foster, babysit and even adopt after Asriel is born. She also an example of the powerful bonds we form with others and how sometimes families are found. Toriel was as much of a mother to Sans as she was Asriel.
The Fallen Humans - The catalyst. If Frisk didn’t exist, there wouldn’t be a story. After all, she was the child that climbed the mountain, starting the events of Undertale. Frisk and Chara both are implied to have troubled pasts, which lead them to being vulnerable to that idea of absolute power corrupts absolutely. The meddle. They are often selfish and don’t consider the consequences of their actions, and when they do, there is a sense of it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters when you can manipulate reality itself. But where Frisk possess a sense of guilt for what happened with Sans, Chara does not, and even outright tells Red that he is willing to do anything to accomplish his goals (even if that means hurting everyone else). Kris is a ‘dreamer’, and while he has more control over tweaking the events that play out, he is far less calloused by RESETS and LOADS. He just wants to be close to his brother Asriel, as well as help his ‘siblings’ find a sense of belonging.
Undyne - The Protagonist’s parallel. A child of divorce, which for monsters often leads to trauma and death, she is left to be raised by Gerson. She’s angry, resentful and prone to get in fights. Red often compares her to Edge, but can also empathise deeply with her troubles. At fourteen she is old enough to understand the reality of the situation, but also young enough to be deeply affected by the changes. Given the rarity of divorce, it is implied that her home life was unstable before the events of the story. Red tries to help her as he never got help himself.
Asriel - The miracle child. Mostly a background character. Asriel’s main connections are to Kris and the Dreemurs. He was the child that a couple struggling with fertility finally conceived. His being born, however, resulted Gaster creating Red for Webdings.
Asgore - The powerful person. Gaster and Toriel both have names that are impactful in the community, but Asgore is the founder of Dreemur Medical and Biotech. He was the King of Monsters. Despite his passive role, he influences many of the character’s choices and actions but simply EXISTING as a person of importance. Gaster tries to literally create viable monster cloning/fertility enhancement methods for him which lead to Sans and Red being born. His inviting Web to work with determination led to the creation of the Machine.
Gerson - The substitute parent. His main role in the story is as a family friend of Undyne’s and in the end, her new parental figure. She resents him and he takes care of her. He cannot replace what she’s lost, but he tries to provide her a future. A hard role to fill in a child’s life.
Grillby - The old friend. Grillby plays are far more subtle part. He’s survived a broken Soulbond, he’s friends with Sans, and through every up-and-down, he’s remained open to Sans when he comes back around. Sometimes as children we form friendships with adults that are just as strong as those we form with our peers. This is true for Sans.
There are a few more characters that show up mostly for color and world building but don’t play a significant part in pushing the themes of the story.
CONCLUSION
Would I do this again? Yes. I am planning on continuing the 100 word trend in the Pre-Sequel This Way Up. It may be truer to the spirit of drabbles since we will have a lot more ground to cover since it will be telling Sans’ history. We’ll get to learn more about Gaster, Webdings, the Dreemurs, Grillby and the Fallen Humans. And for those of you who want to know more about the HwC boys as they are? Moving Day will fill in the blanks. And I also promised a sequel. Bubblewrap Blues will take place significantly in the future and center around a certain aptly named skeleton and the edgy boy that likes to get coffee in his cafe.
I’m pleased with how the story turned out.
I never expected the reaction and the feedback. To those of you who commented and kudosed. Thank you. And to those who quite literally followed me from the start, reading and commenting near every day if not every day? You’re extra amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much.
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seriouslyhooked · 6 years ago
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Dear No One (Epilogue)
Short CS holiday story, broken into three parts, where Emma is unlucky in love and decides that for her Christmas wish she’d like to find the right person for her. In an attempt to write what she wants into existence, Emma writes a letter to the man she wants to find someday and then shenanigans ensue. Rated T and based off of the song ‘Dear No One’ by Tori Kelly.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Story available on FF here and AO3 here.
A/N: Hey everybody! So as promised I have made a small (note the small) epilogue for this cute little Christmas story, and surprise, it brings in NYE too. This flashes forward a year and a week and shows Emma and Killian enjoying their happily ever after. There are a couple of surprises and a whole lot of fluff, so I hope that you guys will enjoy it. I couldn’t think of a better way to close out the year than with some cuteness. Can’t wait to see what you all think, and thanks so much for reading!
“So, how are you feeling about going back home?”
The words from his wife – God it felt good to say that – were more packed with meaning than even Emma could know. It had been a little more than a year since they’d met, and in that time they’d fallen so completely into their love and into a life together that Killian couldn’t really conceive of life before his Swan. There was a defining shift in his world after meeting Emma, and though it was hard to wait another year to marry her, Killian had done just that. They’d had a Christmas wedding, because it turned out that had always been a secret dream of Emma’s, and they spent that miraculous day with just their friends and their family in a little church in the city they both called home.
Thinking back on that night, which was now only a week ago, Killian still felt his heart race and his excitement rise. It was a long build up to make Emma his wife. He’d managed to hold off on asking her to marry him only through the spring of this past year, and by June she’d had his mother’s ring on her finger. If it were up to him it would have been that night last Christmas Eve, the one where Emma had run when finding the letter, but when they’d both truly come clean and started fresh together. Killian knew even before that that Emma was made for him, and so when he saw her at their wedding at last, walking towards him in a gown of white that was fit to perfection and hugged her every curve he was lost.
The memory of Emma coming towards him and ultimately taking his hands in hers to be wed was one that Killian would carry every moment for the rest of his days. He would recall the glossy tumbled curls of her golden hair, which always reminded him of the sun, hidden only somewhat by a wreath of white flowers. The bouquet she held in her grasp captured both Christmas and the intimacy of a wedding, with whites and shades of red that made him recall the scarf she wore before he even knew her name. But most of all Killian would remember the brilliance of her smile, for it was so beautiful and magnificent that it could outshine the sun.
In the instant where Emma vowed to have him for always and forever Killian was nothing short of elated. There were no words for his feelings at that point of the ceremony, because words simply couldn’t stack up to all that he felt. All Killian knew was that he was the luckiest man alive for having Emma and that he was ready to give her all of him in return. Every dream she’d shared, every wish that she had he was ready to give her, and he made that clear in his vows, even pulling some of his promises from the letter that had brought them together and almost torn them apart months before. He cherished every word of that missive that she’d written, which she’d shared that night a year ago, after they’d come home from the festivities with their loved ones. It was a remarkable work in his eyes, and to see his own wants so perfectly mirrored had been breath taking. Their hopes were so aligned and it told Killian that they were made for each other and that the dreams they shared were bound to come true.
Killian could hope for nothing more than a partner who would stand by his side in good and in bad, who would love as him fearlessly as he was willing to love in return, and to challenge him and push him forward in every way. Emma was the embodiment of that, a light in the darkness and a north star in good times and in bad. She had become his best friend and his better half, and there was never a day when he didn’t think of her with the fiercest kind of love. Even when they fought, and even when things weren’t as perfect as the fairytales would have one believe, what they had was all he needed. It was magic, pure and simple, and Killian knew that on some level a higher power, whether it was magic or something else, had led him to this remarkable woman who truly made him whole.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything, my love,” Killian said, answering his new bride after a short and thoughtful pause. “Save perhaps for our wedding.”
Emma laughed at his added words, the sound reverberating through him as she leaned against his side. They were tucked away in a cab, coming home from the airport after a week on the beach in paradise. Her hair was even more vivid and brilliant than before, blonder from the sun at the same time her skin was kissed with color. She was gorgeous and utterly relaxed, and she was clearly enjoying his expression of devotion and want to marry her. By now, Emma was well aware of his attachment to her, and she’d grown accustomed to his never-ending need to be near her and to see her safe, happy, and cared for.
“Wow. That’s a big statement seeing as you nearly charged out of the chapel with me in your arms before we could even say I do.”
“I managed to contain myself,” Killian responded, feigning some injury as Emma playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Barely,” she said, with her smile breaking through and her eyes coming back to his, sharing her love and her light. “But after reading that letter you wrote me I didn’t expect much else.”
Killian willed himself not to go red at his wife’s words, for he had nothing like embarrassment about what he’d written to her. It was a pre-wedding present, and honestly a necessity on his part. Her friends had insisted that they spend the night apart before the ceremony and Killian hated the distance when they were so close to their union. So, in the hopes of making himself and his intentions explicitly clear he’d written his own letter of want and desire. It felt fitting to give one to her, it being a year since she’d shared hers with him, and because he’d wanted every detail to be right, Killian found he memorized the words that had all been written from the heart…
My Dearest Emma,
To think that there was ever a time before knowing you is staggering to me. I know it existed, that life before us was once the norm, but you and your love have transformed my world completely. What I knew before is now so different, it’s so much better, and I want to start by thanking you for bringing me so much just by being you. You are the product of the life you have lead, the pain and the goodness, the sadness and the hope. There is no one else the world over like you, and for that reason, no one can ever begin to compare.
A year has passed since you wrote your own letter, and though it might not have had my name, I know your heart was calling out to mine. I remember every word of what you wrote, they’re tucked away forever in my memory, and I know this letter can never compare. But I hope you’ll trust that I mean what I say when I tell you that you are the love of my life. You, Emma Swan, are the answer I’ve been searching for. You are distraction and desire, joy and satisfaction, happiness and love. In short you are every good thing in this world and no one can deserve you, but I promise I will spend each day trying, my love.  I will be a man who does right by you, and who never lets you feel like you are anything less than perfection.
Though our vows might not be said until tomorrow, I feel it’s only right to lay out my feelings explicitly here, so that you may have a similar gift to the one you gave me a year ago. It is my most earnest wish to walk this world by your side, Emma. I could never envision a better partner. You see the world for all it is and you manage to find the beauty at every impasse. You make me hopeful and have helped me grow. Before you I was lost, a kind of lost I know you’ve felt as well. But those days are over. We’ve a whole life to get to, and a whole new world to explore.
I can’t wait to see all that our life will be. I can’t wait to build our perfect home, to start the family you’ve always truly wanted, and to face each trial with you on my team. It will be the greatest honor to be your husband, and I vow to protect, support, and love you as you have always done for me.
Wishing you were here, but knowing tomorrow will bring all we could ever need…
Killian
“Is it cheesy to say that I love how much you love me?” Emma asked, pulling Killian from his thoughts and brightening his world as she did. “Because I really really do.”
“No, Emma. Our love could never be construed that way.” Emma raised a brow and he amended the statement. “And if it can, well so be it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Would you?”
“Never,” she whispered before placing a kiss to his lips. It was one of so many Killian had lost count, but damn if it didn’t feel like the first kiss all over again. There was so much warmth and possibility and it was impossible not to feel the weight of every worry or care lift with Emma in his arms. Right now, life was damn near perfect, but as their kiss broke and the cab slowed to their end destination, Killian hoped that in the next few minutes things would get even better.
“I believe we’re here, love,” Killian said, extending his hand to hers and helping her exit from the car. Only when they were outside did the haze of their kiss seem to leave Emma, and when she looked at the beautiful home they stood in front of she was shocked.
“Wait, Killian what are we doing here?” Emma asked, her emotions and anticipation all written clear as day on her beautiful face.
Killian knew that Emma must be somewhat thrown by the house that stood before them. It was a lovely place just outside the city, and Killian and Emma has seen it before completely by chance. When they’d passed it a few months back while en route to another outing, Emma confessed that it was the ‘absolute dream’ in her estimations for best home. If she could pick any house to live in in the world it would be one just like this one, so, having that knowledge, Killian set out to make it so, unwilling to settle for something Emma might love less and making an offer that the owner’s couldn’t refuse.
“We’re coming home, Swan, just as I promised.”
“Oh my God,” Emma said as her eyes traced over the house with glee and excitement, and then it sank in that he was being honest and she ran back over to him, throwing herself in his arms and holding on tightly. “Oh my God you bought us a house!”
“Aye, I did. And though it was touch and go for a little bit, it all came together in the end.”
“So all those random business calls you suddenly had on the weekends… they were this weren’t they?” Emma asked, the pieces of the puzzle clicking more fully for her as she did.
“Yes. I had to have the team working round the clock to have it ready for us tonight.” Truth be told there were some changes that needed to be worked to make it exactly what Emma wanted, and through consulting her friends and the pinterest page Emma didn’t know he knew about, he was able to address some small gaps in the home that would make it more ideal.
“And it had to be tonight, huh?” Emma asked, her hand coming up to cup his cheek as she looked at him lovingly. “You couldn’t wait for a while, despite all the work that needed doing.”
“I wanted to start the New Year with my wife in our new home. I think we’ve waited long enough, and honestly waiting doesn’t suit me.”
Emma laughed at that, ducking her head into the crook of his neck before kissing him there gently. Killian held her tighter, glad that she was happy. Whatever came next would just be the cherry on top. Emma would no doubt come to make this house a real home for them both, furnishing it beyond some of the pieces he’d chosen that he thought were to both of their tastes, but he could tell he’d done a good job with this gift and that his bride was truly blissful. They hadn’t even gone inside yet, but she trusted him implicitly and that was clear as day.
“Well I can safely say it’s the second best wedding present that’s ever existed.”
Killian stilled, watching Emma as she came back to look at him still smiling. He was confused with her response and he let her know it. “This is only runner up?”
“Mhmm. I mean don’t get me wrong I love this house, and you are the world’s most perfect husband for doing this… but I got some good news right before I got your letter and I’ve been waiting to tell you ever since. It felt like the kind of thing that we should be home for.”
Killian wondered what she could mean as Emma brought one of his hands to the flat of her stomach. It took a split second for him to follow her meaning and then all words escaped him. Was his wife saying what he thought she was? Was she… could she really be pregnant?
“Emma?” he asked, his mind not able to string the words for such an incredible turn of events into something spoken aloud, but his bride just smiled happily, running her thumb across his hand where it was pressed against their growing child.
“In about seven months we’ll be having a baby,” Emma whispered and that was all it took for Killian. With those unbelievable words he closed the space between them, kissing his wife as much as decency would allow before he realized they were still out in front of the house and not inside. It was cold this deep into winter, too cold for his wife and child to be out, and instinct demanded he get them inside quickly. With a swift motion he swung Emma up in his arms, and he led her inside, crossing over the new threshold of their home intent on celebrating all of their good news.
“So I take it you’re happy then?” Emma asked as he brought them to their new room, laying her down gently on their bed and taking in the beautiful sight of her there before him. She was completely content and more than happy, and that was all Killian ever wanted for his precious Emma.
“Happy doesn’t do it justice, Swan. Not even a little bit.”
“Same,” Emma confided, pulling him closer with a look in her eyes that told him she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. “I love you, Killian. We’ve already had so much together, and now we’re going to have so much more.”
“Everything, Emma. We’re going to have everything.”
And after saying that he loved her too, and showing her exactly how much all the rest of the night long, Emma and Killian rang in the new year together, knowing that they were, in fact, on their way to having everything they could ever want and so much more.
Post-Note: Thanks so much to all of you for reading along with me. It was so fun to write this little fluff ball of a fic, especially since I got to write it as a sort of cleanse from school. I was hoping to get some smut in this fic, but unfortunately the muse wasn’t feeling particularly cooperative. Oh well, there’s always the next story. But anyway, it’s been such a fun story to share with all of you. Hearing your reactions and thoughts has been awesome and I want to thank you all again for the support and kindness. Wishing you all a very happy new year and a great 2019!!
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therandomfish · 3 years ago
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Victorious: The Final Season
Victorious was (and still is to many) a fantastic show. And there are some like myself who still watch the show today (on Netflix if you’re interested). Recently I came across a youtuber called Jayniac Jr and his videos which delved into the deeper aspects of the Victorious cast. And, unsurprisingly enough, he wrote a finale to the show due to it never receiving one in the actual show run. He gave an emotionally fuelled finale that I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I’m not here to praise Jayniac as I am here to write my own finale but with a twist! In his version he wrote the last episode that wrapped up everything in one episode. I wanna do something different over a bunch of episodes. One for each character and one for the finale in a way. Or maybe these will merge together in some kind of massive two parter… though I doubt it somewhat. Each episode will be headlined by each character’s name. So let us begin
Robbie: This episode begins with the core cast sat at their usual table and eating their lunch. There are sarcastic comments and playful insults thrown back and forth until Trina just goes ahead and spits out the question about Robbie and Rex; “Robbie. You’re going to be graduating soon, why is “that” still attached to you?” Rex responds with an insult to Trina possibly something along the lines of “Why is that face still attached to you?” or something like that. However this gets the conversation going and the others start asking questions about it too to Robbie except Beck. Robbie starts getting upset and runs off, leaving his bag behind. Tori goes to take the bag to him but Beck stops her and gives them some backstory. A backstory that they and thus we the audience, never heard. Beck tells them that Robbie was always quiet but was always bullied, more often than not by the popular kids (of which Beck was a part but never bullied Robbie himself) and Robbie never said anything but kept all of those insults in his head. He’s never gotten over it and never believed himself worthy of anything and thus has been using Rex as someone to keep him down forever. Jade makes a comment about just getting rid of Rex and Beck takes Robbie’s bag and goes after him telling Jade that while he can withstand her barbed wire comments, Robbie doesn’t exactly bounce back from these things and keeps them in his head forever. Beck goes and finds Robbie who is talking to Rex, there is some comedy being thrown around with them but when Beck sits down with them, he talks to Robbie only, ignoring Rex whenever he tries to speak and give off a sarcastic comment. He tells Robbie that he is worthy of his friends, he is worthy of being happy and that no one is stopping him, only himself (which is when Beck gestures to Rex) Robbie doesn’t say goodbye to Rex but simply puts him down and he breathes a sigh of relief. He asks Beck to help him with one last thing then he’ll never bother him again. Beck smiles and tells Robbie to bother him whenever he wants, they are friends, and nothing changes that. Robbie and Beck leave with Sinjin providing a bit of comedy with coming in and trying to pick up Rex and he can’t make him talk and puts him back on the bench. Robbie and Beck return to the table with Jade apologizing in her own Jade like way. Robbie then turns his attention to Cat and asks her to be his girlfriend.
Cat: This episode picks up right after that one with Cat freaking out and running away with Jade, Tori and Trina following her while Beck, Robbie and Andre stay at the table eating they girls food too. The girls run into the theatre where they have a talk about Robbie and Cat. Jade asks her why she’s running away when they all thought she liked Robbie, Tori agrees with Jade and Trina just thought they were already a couple with the way she’s always around him. Cat tries to make excuses and try to confuse them but it doesn’t work so she reveals the truth. She wants to be with Robbie but the fact is that she’s scared. Robbie has left Rex behind and is looking to move forward with her as more and she doesn’t know if she can or even wants to move forward when she likes things the way that they are. Going back to Robbie, Beck and Andre. They talk about Cat, with Beck and Andre giving Robbie advice on what to do, with the conclusion being that he shouldn’t be forcing something that she isn’t ready for. He leaves and heads into the theatre where he assumes they’ve gone. He sings an acapella version of “I think you’re swell” and sits down next to Cat where he tells her that there’s no rush and that he’s happy to be just friends. Cat smiles, and asks “What about friends who hold hands and occasionally kiss?” Robbie grins and this and agrees and we see Cat actually be the first to lean in and kiss Robbie. She admits it’ll take time but she thinks that what they have is worth the wait. They leave together trying to hold hands but Robbie can’t because he’s too sweaty, Cat giggles and tells him to wait until they find Sinjin then Robbie can wipe his hands on Sinjin instead. Tori and Jade are left alone which leads us too
Jade: Again, carrying on from the last episode. Jade makes a mean comment and they both leave. She then meets up with Beck and they leave the group with her making another mean comment to Tori. Tori has finally had enough and gets Andre to help her do something for Jade. They start work on making a short film that Jade wrote but never made. Her own version of the Scissoring called The Cutting. Jade and Beck go off somewhere and Jade tries to be all cute and whatnot with Beck but he refuses and tries to calm Jade down about Tori but finally Jade lets loose and reminds Beck that Tori basically came into her friend group, kissed her boyfriend and, even though Jade had made it abundantly clear that she didn’t like Tori, the girl has done nothing but force herself onto Jade. Beck asks about Sikowitz getting involved but Jade admits she understands why the teacher did it so that they could both remain professional about things on the stage, but Tori is trying to keep this going outside of the school and Jade can’t stand her. Beck then asks why does Jade stay in that friend group if she hates Tori so much? Jade blurts out that she saw Beck and Tori nearly kiss when she was at the music awards and she may have developed a bit of respect for Tori when she rejected anything with Beck in order to keep Jade happy. Beck then gets upset and tells Jade that she needs to stop putting up walls with everyone, that he father hasn’t influenced everyone and therefore there is no reason to assume that everyone is going to abandon her. They then see Tori and Andre trying to film a bit of Jade’s script and Jade goes after them, demanding to know what’s going on. Tori explains it and apologises. Jade smiles, freaking everyone out and she tells Tori that she wants to direct it, keeping Tori and Andre around and they leave together while Beck goes off to a classroom, saying that maybe one of them should be in the right class.
Beck: Beck enters the classroom where they mostly spent their time. Sikowitz emerges and he attempts to address the class and only sees Beck. He is disappointed but continues, nevertheless. Beck however interrupts him and asks about his future as an actor. Asking him seriously if he would ever make it in the industry. Sikowitz reveals to Beck that he has a contact that could get Beck a breakout role in a movie. No the main character but a decent side character with frequent lines and everything but then reveals that he has no contacts and the number he got was by accident and the police will be called if it happens again. Beck goes back to the others and talks to Andre about it as Jade and the others are off doing her short film and Trina is just useless and they talk about Beck actually having talent. Eventually Andre brings him to the theatre stage and makes him give off a speech from something which Beck does. During this Sikowitz enters and he makes Beck do other things that he got the group to do. As Beck does each thing he gets more frustrated and finally asks Sikowitz what any of it means. The teacher reveals that Beck is one of the most versatile actors he’s ever met, able to rise to any challenge and indeed has the most talent to be an actor out of any of the others. He didn’t need to do much because he was absorbing the world around him to become a better actor. He tells Beck that he has an audition for him for another acting school and even some auditions for theatre companies or even film productions that could potentially give him a leading man role. Andre stares and smiles at the back of the theatre and leaves when his phone goes off leading to
Andre: Andre picks up the phone upon leaving the theatre and gets told that his grandma has had a freak out but this time the police have picked her up and she’s been begging to see him. He goes to see her and finds out that she is getting worse and worse to the point where she may need to go to a home for the elderly. At the same time Andre gets an email through from a record company that wants to hire him as a songwriter for them. He is being presented with the best news of his life with the worst and he doesn’t know how to feel. He ends up going back to Hollywood Arts to think about it and ends up dealing with Trina Vega of all people. She points out how ridiculous it would be for him to give up on the dream of becoming famous. Andre says how he owes his grandma for raising him when his parents weren’t around and how he doesn’t want to just give up on her. Trina legitimately points out how she wants Andre to do well and that maybe his grandma will be better off with people who can help her and that maybe she’ll always be with him due to his music and his memories with her. Andre writes a song for his grandma that is one of the most heartfelt songs he’s ever written and he sings it all by himself to her. He messages Trina on the pear phone saying thank you and we cut to
Trina: Trina wants to do a big performance to close out her time at Hollywood Arts but no one wants to perform with her. She tries to get people to come but fails miserably. She returns home and sulks. Her parents try to get away but fail however she then asks them a serious question of whether or not they actually love her like they apparently love Tori. Her Dad tries to comedically get out of it but her Mum pulls him back and reassures Trina that they don’t love Tori more than her but then Tori walks back in the house and the parents run away from the problem. This all leads to a massive break down from Trina who declares that she is sick and tired of being put down by everyone. Tori then gives her a giant reality check and points out how ever since she’s joined Hollywood Arts she hasn’t had talent, that she bullies everyone around her, that she has no thought or regard for anyone besides herself and that she doesn’t care about being talented, she only wants to be famous. Trina is broken and starts crying out. Saying she only wanted to be those things so she would have one up on Tori. That everything happened to Tori in a positive way while it only happened badly for her. Which leads us into
Tori: Tori is left flabbergasted by what Trina says and leaves. Going back to Hollywood Arts she asks the only person who’s opinion matters to her when it came to the truth, Jade. Jade tells her the truth that yeah, when it came to Hollywood Arts and getting in, she was very lucky and to Trina it definitely looked like she was blessed where Trina was cursed, but Jade points out how Tori not only made friends with people but she also got them to tolerate Trina which is already a pretty big achievement. Tori makes one final effort with Trina and asks her to put on one last performance for her, the production of “A Woman in Chicago” which Trina doesn’t wanna do but Tori tells her that its not for any points, it’s just between them as sisters and Trina gives an emotionally heartfelt performance and sings not as well as Tori but manages to sing well. It’s then revealed that the auditorium had Sikowitz and the other teachers there. Trina is overjoyed and breaks her cycle of being insensitive and asks Tori why she decided to do that for her. Tori simply states that she didn’t want Trina to think Tori didn’t love her and that she’s always been a people pleaser which leads into
The Final Scene: Everyone has left Hollywood Arts and they all meet up at Tori’s house. Beck reveals that he and Jade are going to New York to go do a theatre production while Jade will make arthouse movies while Andre is off somewhere else to record his music. They are all sad but also very excited about the next chapter in their lives. We see them create a final version of the ABC improve game
Tori: Are we going to forget each other?
Jade: Blink and we’ll be gone
Trina: Can’t we all stay together?
Andre: Doubt it
Beck: Even if we could
Cat: Forget it
Robbie: Growing she means
Tori: How has it been 4 years?
Jade: I felt like it was years
Trina: Just what are you insinuating
Andre: Kings and Queens got nothing on us
Beck: Lovely sentiment man
Cat: Man I loved this school
Robbie: Never went anywhere like it
They all pause. They all profess how it’s late and they all leave. Except for Trina and Tori, who closes the door. Trina looks up and asks how Tori is feeling now it’s all over. She simply smiles and says “We all went to Hollywood Arts High School. And we are victorious!” Applause.
The End
Dunno if it works but it did in my head. Anyway, what do you guys think? Let me know
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bonsai-babies · 2 years ago
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"On the other side we have Samantha, who, despite her questionable actions, never really suffers for long."
The physical scars. The mental scars. A full-blown panic attack disorder. Her lingering dread of Tory (she raises her fists and gets ready for battle every time she sees Tory, THAT'S the level of lingering consequences all of those violent attacks caused).
Sam has an unstable HOME now because of this Karate bullshit! Amanda left, Daniel is always stressed and on the brink of an anxiety attack because of all of his demons, he barely has time to TALK to her, a bunch of old friends and foes come and go from her house, and she's burdened with the responsibility of defending the name and the honor of her grandfather, she's antagonized by a grown-ass man who blames her for acting like a teen!
Just because the script keeps neglecting to show how much this affects her, it's obvious that she suffers the reverberation of every single conflict directly or otherwise.
Sam does suffer the consequences, and these consequences persist. The script not showing it in detail doesn't equal not happening, especially because we can see indirectly from the way the story progresses.
Thing is, Sam would be the person in more need to get checked by people around her because whatever she does won't affect her living conditions or her comforts whereas with Tory it will.
Just because Tory is in a terrible economic and social spot it doesn't have anything to DO with Samantha. Tory needs support and good role models, the fact that Sam has it doesn't make Sam in need of repression.
Tory makes a lot of bad choices for herself, which again, Sam has nothing to do with. Sam isn't forcing her to commit crimes, be violent or take advice from stupid old people.
Sam doesn't need to be more punished because she's in a better place economically. And Tory doesn't get a pass for being poor. Poor isn't weak or dumber. I'm poor, and I hate capitalism too, but I don't go abusing my rich cousins and expecting them to not whine because they have better health insurance. After all, it isn't THEIR fault. They have nothing to pay for. Their pain won't make my life better.
Sam being treated worse isn't how you set the scores because her rival is in an awful place.
Her [Sam's] bad choices and actions get either brushed under the rug or excused because something else bad happens, even though she continues to repeat these mistakes.
Sam is reminded of her mistakes by the script repeatedly. By Aisha -- justifiably; by Yas and Moon -- who were jerks at the beginning with her whole deal with Kyler; by Robby -- who still blames her for the fall of their romantic bond, even though he showed no attempt to help either -- and Miguel -- who more than once questions why she isn't supporting him enough while ignoring her own needs; by her own nightmares; by the text which won't show her in a good light.
And I agree this all gets rushed, easily fixed, or forgotten because as I established the text doesn't WANT to develop Samantha. They don't was to show us how she navigates through all that. All these resolutions happen offscreen and it's unnerving.
If you mean that her repetitive mistakes are not treating Tory as a sad little meow meow, you're not paying attention to the gravity of abuse your fave committed purposefully against Sam.
[Tory] not having anyone in her corner for most of it [the season]
This time Tory CHOSE not to hear Robby, she chose not to see how wrong Cobra Kai was. She stayed because she chose to stay and because she would rather listen to Kreese!
It was manipulative of him, yes. But her isolation didn't come from anyone but herself and the abusive mentor she picked.
I kept waiting for the moment she would finally pack up all that attitude for the previous seasons and walk away like the girlboss she is. But she didn't. Was it a stupid choice from the writers or not, could be argued. But not unjustifiable.
I've seen a lot of Robby discourse here and how the show treats him and his relationship with Johnny badly, and I agree, but can we talk about my girl Tory for once??
Things are seemingly just becoming worse for her ever since s3, ironically even after she starts bettering herself and getting on the right track. On the other side we have Samantha, who, despite her questionable actions, never really suffers for long. She has friends, bfs, even ex bfs who seemingly cannot stay mad at her for longer than two episodes, family and ex rivals she suddenly gets along with all on her side supporting her. Her bad choices and actions get either brushed under the rug or excused because something else bad happens, even though she continues to repeat these mistakes. This is where Tory and her differ because we can actually see growth in Tory's character where she, albeit slowly, does learn what not to do and why and that it isn't helping her situation. Thing is, Sam would be the person in more need to get checked by people around her because whatever she does won't affect her living conditions or her comforts whereas with Tory it will immediately make life harder for her and bite her in the back- the extra lecture is not really needed here. As we saw in s4 she needed encouragement and positive influence like Amanda, not scolding.
I didn't think of it much at first, but after having three seasons of Tory's suffering only escalating, to this season where it was just absurd, and still not having anyone in her corner for most of it, isolating her, it started to seem like favoritism in the writers room. No way in hell does the natural progression of the story lead the only two people she thought she had to respectively betray and ghost her when she needed them the most.
As if she has to be tortured, abused, freezed out and scapegoated to "earn" something. Don't really know what.
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lovelawactually · 7 years ago
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Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
It was the best and worst part of Tori’s day - before the shop would open - everything silent, everything in it’s place.  The smell of green soap and ink, with a hint of disinfectant.  She would use this time to work on sketches - new ideas or final touches on work for the clients she would see later in the day - it was the only time where she felt any sense of peace anymore.  A time that her mind would slow down enough for her to think.  About her future.  About the past.  That was the part that she did not enjoy.  The reminder.  The life Tori led was a far cry from the life she wanted.  She was thankful for being able to at least do something that she loved - she had begun drawing as a child, something she would do to escape - putting her dreams to paper, her way of making them real.  As a child, she would never have envisioned that she would be a tattoo artist - the manager of a shop - or under the thumb of the Yakuza.  
Tori’s goal had been to work in Behavioral Science when she grew up, something that she had become interested in during her sophomore year of high school.  She had always been a curious child, seeking to understand why people behaved the way that they did.   Her childhood was one that was far from what one would consider ideal - her home life was stable, her parents loving - but it was her father’s circle of friends and family that made it more unconventional.  Tori’s father was a member of the Yakuza - and up until his death, had been considered one of the inner circle - he had been close to the Boss personally, and that afforded Tori and her family access to all the perks that went along with his position.  
It had been the Boss himself who had pulled the trigger - one rainy day in Tori’s third year in college - the one that sent the bullet into Tori’s father’s brain, killing him instantly.  He made no effort to hide the fact from her, or anyone else.  The message he sent was loud and clear.  That there would be no tolerance - that his hand would not stay - even if the one on the other side of the barrel was one that was considered family.  No matter the circumstances between them, the execution was swift.  Tori never believed that her father would betray the family - or the Boss himself - they had grown up together, entered the family business together.  Their families considered an extension of the other.  None of that mattered anymore.  
The weight of the transgressions of Tori’s father - his debt - was also placed upon her mother’s shoulders.  She had been given a choice - she could work and prove her loyalty - or be forced to commit suicide.  In spite of her disdain for the people and lifestyle that had taken her husband - she swallowed her pride and relented - for the sake of Tori, afraid of the impact that losing two parents would have on her.  Forced to work for little more than food, clothing, and shelter - she spent her days as a slave - running one of the many boutiques that served as a means for income for the Yakuza.  
With her father now gone, Tori could no longer afford tuition.  She was forced to drop out of school, and seek employment - with limited skills, she had to fall back on her family ties - eventually leading her to the place she was now.  The job itself was not all bad, she was given the opportunity to interface with all types of people - from every conceivable walk of life - it allowed her to see the different facets of people.  How each person has a part of their personality that comes forth - depending on their surroundings - or the people that they interact with.  It also allowed her to be able to read people - to discern the reason behind their actions - sensing whether they were based on some natural predisposition, or a conditioned response based on environment or upbringing.  Or fear.
Working at the shop afforded her a means to make a living, one that was comfortable enough to allow her to continue to pursue her interest in art - in various mediums - her most recent and enjoyable undertaking being fabrication.  There was something about the feel of a blow torch - the power to create or destroy, depending on the hands which held it - it made her feel a little less impotent.  The more time she spent working with the steel - bending and molding it to her will - she could see parallels in how to relation to people.  How even the most hardened of individuals could be made malleable, given the appropriate temperature and pressure.  The thought - the concept even -  had given her a small push, to find out exactly what happened with her father.  To answer the questions that had plagued her for so long.  To prove what she knew in her heart to be the truth all along - her father was no traitor.  
Tori used her position as a means to try to gather intel - listening more intently to the chatter that occurred between members while in the shop - watching more closely when she took part in Yakuza functions, taking note of which members favored the company of others.  Those who seemed purposefully conspicuous with their actions, or worked to remain strictly in the shadows - both behaviors were considered suspect - in order to perceive the meaning behind them.   Anything she could do to help her find the answers she needed.  She shared some of her insights with the Boss’ son, who had been like a cousin to her - who in turn, shared the information with the Boss - and through that exchange of information, she earned a bit more trust from the Boss as well as other members of the Yakuza.  The thought of helping the man who killed her father sickened her, but the result gave her more freedom - to do more of the things she wanted - to move about as she pleased, and observe.  
A loud buzz echoed though the quiet of the shop, causing Tori to pull her attention from the tablet she had been sketching on.  She saw the familiar silhouette of one of the many Yakuza flunkies - she stopped trying to remember their names after the first year, they seemed to not stick around for long - she pushed the stool away from the desk and strode toward the front of the shop.   When she reached the door way, she turned the three deadbolts and kicked away the bar that secured it.  She turned to walk away from the door without opening it, stopping to lean against the glass topped counter inside.  
The flunkie barked at Tori as he stepped though the doorway.  ��Oi.  Why didn’t you open the door?”  Tori crossed her arms over her chest - taking a deep breath before responding - her eyebrows both raised with indifference.  “Do I look like a doorman to you?  I assume you are here to collect the payments from last evening?”  The flunkie frowned and pulled a manila envelope out of his jacket, slapping it down on the counter.  “Yeah.  This is from the Boss.  He said you would know what to do with it.”  Tori eyed the envelope, her jaw set.  “Yeah.”  She bent down and spun the knob on the safe located in the floor, pulling the lid free once the combination had been entered.  She retrieved a zipped and locked bag from within and stood up.  Handing it to the flunkie, Tori picked up the envelope and furrowed her eyebrows.  She turned around to head back to her work.  “Now get lost.  I have customers coming soon, and I need to get set up.  I don’t have time to entertain you.”  
Tori smiled when she heard the bell on the door tinkle, signaling that the flunkie had departed - she hated dealing with them, even though it was necessary - and she preferred to see the message that had been sent for her in private.  She sat down onto the stool in front of her art station, and opened the envelope - she pulled the contents out and laid them in front of her - a photograph and a note, in the Boss’ handwriting.  
Watch this one.  
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zimniysoldat-fiction · 8 years ago
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Robot Heart [Tony StarkxReader] 1
Summary: Sometimes you wonder if your boss even has a heart, or if it’s just the arc reactor.
Pairings: Tony Stark x reader
Warnings: Shades of angst, language.
Word Count: 1,437
A/N: Angsty angst angst-angst. Apparently a series? I thought this was going to be a one-shot, but again, I’ve been a wordy mother fucker. So I have no idea how long this will be. Or where it’s going in the end, really. Inspired by this song. Heavily inspired. Because I always think of Tony when I hear it.
Series Master List
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Tony Stark is a narcissist.
Tony Stark is an egomaniac.
Tony Stark is the definition of vanity.
When you told anyone that you had applied to be Tony Stark’s new personal assistant, this is what you were faced with—‘Tony Stark loves himself’ in varying syntax. You would roll your eyes and ask how that made him different from your last boss, an international rock icon who died of an overdose while you were at your mother’s funeral. Every time people would point out Stark’s vanity, asking why you would want to work for ‘that man,’ you felt like they were ridiculing your decision, belittling your character, insinuating that you were too stupid and too weak to be prepared for what you were getting yourself into.
And that was just when they found out you applied.
When you were hired, it only got worse. On top of ridiculing your decision, they wanted gossip, swag, favours—whatever they could wring out of you so they could get their foot in the door. You knew these people weren’t real friends, they were leeches. Some of them were supposed to be family. You kept them all at an arm’s length, careful not to burn bridges, but also diligent in making sure they could never cross that bridge. As a result, you didn’t have very many people left in your life that you were close with, that you trusted. You had Tori, your former boss’s sister whom you loved like your own sister; Gwen, your friend since high school, who stubbornly stuck by your side and supported you—even in your darkest hours; and Hank, your brother, your rock, the only person who has been by your side through it all—all the pain, the loss, the hurt, and the triumph. The person who had lived it all with you.
Your new job forced you to leave them all behind, forced you to move across the country, when Stark decided to shift his base of operations to New York, a decision no doubt influenced by his role with the Avengers. So you were alone in a new city, your boss your only acquaintance. At least the bagels were good. Hell, they were fucking delicious.
“Good morning, Mr. Stark!” You smiled, carrying in a tray of coffee and a paper bag of breakfast orders.
Colonel James Rhodes and Harold Hogan were sat with Tony around the industrial workbench he called his desk. You quietly served each of them their breakfasts, before collecting the messy pile of papers Tony had stacked for you to take care of.
“Where’s your breakfast, Friday?” Tony almost sounded sincere, his lopsided grin and raised eyebrows putting on a good show of it.
“Why do you call her that, man?” Rhodes interjected, his eyes rolling to match his annoyance.
“She’s my girl Friday. What else would I call her?” The lopsided grin stayed, but his eyebrows furrowed as his attention shifted to his closest friend.
“Oh, I dunno,” Rhodes sighed sarcastically, “her name?”
“It’s fine, really, Colonel Rhodes. I don’t mind.” You jumped in, not wanting to cause a fight over something so silly. “And Mr. Stark, I ate my breakfast at home, before coming into work.” You refused to call him ‘Tony’ whenever he had anyone in his office, no matter how much he would protest.
“At home?” The grin was gone. “By yourself? That won’t do.”
“I promise it’s fine, Mr. Stark. I—”
“Tomorrow, be sure to pick up your own breakfast. We’ll have breakfast together from now on.” He interrupted you, his words assertive despite being muffled by a mouthful of bagel.
“Thank you, sir, but—”
“Don’t call me sir, I hate that.” He swallowed his food, “hell, I barely tolerate you calling me Mr. Stark.”
“Man, you’re making her uncomfortable,” Rhodes scolded Tony before turning to you. “Ignore Tony, he doesn’t know how to interact with people. Get out of here before he decides you have to exercise with him, too.” He smiled, but you knew that it wasn’t entirely in jest—there was a good chance that Tony would, in fact, find some other strange demand to heft on you.
This was a typical exchange between you and your boss, though it wasn’t always the case. Your first year with him was challenging, so much so that you kept your desk empty, not sure if each day was your last. His response to questions was always one word, curt, or even aggressive. His demands were mostly comprised of ‘why didn’t you do this last week?’ on items that had only come in that day. He was cold in demeanour and hot in temper—it had you walking on eggshells whenever you were dealing with him.
That was why you were so surprised when he insisted you move to New York with him, even offering to pay your rent, on top of the raise that he thought was obvious you were getting. Once you were settled on the east coast, nothing changed with your boss; not immediately, at least. It took a few months of growing loneliness and the accompanying depression, a few screwed up requests, and a quiet breakdown at work at 1am, when you thought you were safe to let it out in the small staff break room.
You had set him up for his call with a scientist in Australia, made sure he had everything and was satisfied before giving him the privacy that he insisted upon, and taking your leave. You knew that you wouldn’t be able to go home, not until after Tony was finished and had you wrap everything up. You were tired—exhausted—and you had been at his beck and call all day. You hadn’t even realized you missed Hank’s birthday until you got his drunk text while making yourself a cup of tea. It was enough to break the dam, and you found yourself sobbing uncontrollably. You did everything you could to muffle the sound, even though you were certain Tony wouldn’t be able to hear you, while your knees gave out under you, sending you crashing to the floor.
You were just beginning to regain control, your sobs growing quieter, when you felt the warmth and strength of his calloused hand grip your shoulder. You raised your head to see your boss crouching in front of you, a strange, sort of sad, sort of worried smile playing at the corners of his lips. You could feel the embarrassment sear through your veins and you couldn’t wipe away the tears fast enough under his intense stare.
“I didn’t break you, did I? Rhodey keeps saying I break assistants.” His words were nonchalant, blunt and matter-of-fact, but there was still a hint of humour in there, a coy self-deprecation that you were unaccustomed to coming from him.
You shook your head succinctly, feeling strands of hair rebel and escape from your updo. “I missed my brother’s birthday.”
You were surprised by how composed your voice sounded. Sure, there was a little bit of a tremble, and it was quite hoarse after all of that sobbing, but the words were clear, not hidden between sobs or hiccups. You couldn’t understand why he was smiling, why his eyes were so full of compassion (but not so full as to push out the smugness that usually danced around his pupils). And yet he was, and they were, and his hand still gripped your shoulder, the pressure firm enough to bring your awareness to it, but at just the right degree for you to find it oddly comforting.
“Brother?” You nodded timidly. “Is that the guy that I had Happy send that Rolex to? Hank, or something?” It was a rhetorical question that allowed him to gloat, but it didn’t make you any less confused.
“You—Han—huh?” You fumbled through your thoughts, unsure of what to say or what to ask.
“I saw it on your calendar this morning.” He shrugged like his actions were nothing short of normal for him, like it wasn’t a big deal, or that he did it with everyone, but he didn’t. He never did anything for anyone without at least three reminders.
Tony’s change wasn’t an overnight thing, not even close, though it had started that night. Bit by bit, he grew nicer. Bit by bit, his sense of humour began to show. Bit by bit, he seemed to become more comfortable with your presence. After ten months of growing bit by bit, he insisted on your having breakfast with him at the office. What was next? A day off?
TAGS: @oneshot-shit; @marvel-ash; @bovaria; @hymnofthevalkyries; @archangel-trauma; @bionic-buckyb; @lostinspace33; @bucky-plums-barnes; @marvel-fanfiction; @jacks-on-krack
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moonlitjiminn · 8 years ago
Text
Purple Part Eleven | Taehyung, You
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Photo cred: NU-NA V
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Why do you have to be different?
Tori looked back at the older man and didn’t like the way Taehyung reacted to him, causing her to push him behind her.
“May I help you?” an officer slid in front of the two of them and they looked up.
“Yeah, my friend Kim Taehyung was called to come here?” she said after a silence, waiting for him to speak.
“Kim Taehyung…” the officer turned around and asked if anyone was looking for ‘a Kim Taehyung’.
“Oh yes!” someone exclaimed, raising their hand. Tori weaved her fingers through Taehyung’s and started walking to the officer.
“Hello,” she bowed to him, though the corner of her eye she saw Taehyung do the same thing, although his expression was of shock, of expectation; he knew what was coming next.
“You are the son of Kim Min Jae, correct?”
“Yes,” he said dejectedly and when the officer turned and motioned for the man from before to walk over, she felt his hold on her hand get looser, instead his own started trembling.
“He was found pointing a gun at a few teenagers, demanding them to give him some money, and a phone,” the officer showed him the handcuffs, “Would you like to bail him out.”
Taehyung’s eyes scanned over his father and then he squeezed them shut.
Say no, Tae, say no.
“I’ll bail him out,” he muttered quietly but they all heard, causing Tori’s eyes to widen.
What are you doing?
He knew he couldn’t just walk away, he was his father.
“Okay, you’ll have to come with me,” he told Taehyung, leading him to another office station, leaving Tori and Kim Min Jae alone.
She eyes him up and down, her gaze more of a glare than anything else.
“So, you his girlfriend?” the man drawled and she couldn’t help but think that he was going to give Taehyung so much trouble after today.
She had hated the man ever since the day Taehyung told her how he walked out on his mother, leaving the both of them in a difficult financial situation to deal with by themselves.
Not answering his question, she looked over to Taehyung and she could feel his anxiety from across the room. His nervous blinking, his shaking hands, his rapid breathing. She wanted to run over to him and place her hand over his, to tell him everything was going to be okay.
But she didn’t want to leave the man alone.
“Okay, let’s go,” Taehyung’s low voice could be heard approaching and Tori looked up to see him indicating the door. “Where do you live, sir?” he asked his father and she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“Taehyung, I told you, I’m your-”
“It’ll take a bit more than a phone call and getting arrested for me to think of you as my father,” he interjected and started pacing to the door, “Do you want me to drop you off or are you alright finding your way back?”
“Aren’t you curious, at all? About how I found you? About where I’ve been?” the man asked and this time Tori saw the desperation in his expression.
And she pitied him.
“No,” he replied curtly, reaching his car, “I’m guessing you don’t want a ride?”
“Is there a chance we can see each other again?”
“You ruined that chance when you walked out on us 13 year ago,” he told him, “don’t get arrested again just to see me, please.”
Taehyung got into the car while Tori just looked from him to his father, watching the pained expression strike his face.
To say she felt sorry was an understatement.
“Give him some time,” she said, “Wait for him to come to you.”
She joined Taehyung inside the car and he turned the ignition on.
“Tae-”
“Where do you want to go?”
“We should probably get to sleep,” she suggested but he shook his head.
“I’m not ready to sleep yet, do you want me to drop you home?”
“Where are you going to go then?” she asked, ignoring his question.
He thought for a moment, “The lake.”
“And you think you’re allowed to go there without me?”
She didn’t want him to sit there, wallowing in self-pity on his own.
He changed the gear, “Let’s go then.”
--
“I remember this one time,” Taehyung told Tori as they both lay on the grass, staring at the stars, “My dad came home super late. When he opened the door, I ran up to him and hugged his leg, asking him over and over again where he was the whole day. He leaned down and gave me a plastic bag with a toy in it, my first ever toy, kissing my head, he carried me to my room and tucked me in bed. After he thought I was asleep I heard him talking to my mom, back then I didn’t understand what he was saying but now, I guess I do.”
Tori looked over at him when he stopped speaking, only to see his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“He kept apologizing to her, saying that he was sorry, that he couldn’t do anything to help the ‘shit’ that he was in, he wouldn’t stop apologizing.”
“Why?” Tori whispered and he shook his head.
“I don’t know, I don’t remember,” he opened his eyes, looking up at the sky, “I just can’t help feeling like he was doing it again today, apologizing, again and again.”
“But he didn’t,” Tori reminded him, thinking that it would have been comforting but it wasn’t, “He didn’t apologize.”
“Couldn’t you see it in his eyes? He felt so guilty… and I couldn’t do anything but turn him away.”
“Baby,” she said softly, sitting up and looking down at him, “Don’t do that, don’t blame yourself for any of this,” her thumbs went to his cheeks as she wiped them away. “You didn’t cause anything, none of this is your fault.”
“But he was asking me for help, he was asking his own son- I called him sir,” his eyebrows tied in an eternal knot, as his tears continued flowing from his eyes.
His eyes flew to his face as he covered it, feeling ashamed of himself. But she wasn’t letting him do it.
Pulling him up to sit, she wiped the rest of his tears and held him in place, looking into her eyes with her two fingers pinching his chin.
She wrapped her arms around him and let him melt in them, his sniffs getting louder into her shoulder.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she recited, stroking the back of his hair, “Don’t blame yourself.”
He listened to what she was saying. How could he not? This was the first time someone was comforting him in times like this and he couldn’t help but feel so lucky to have her in his life.
But he hated the fact that he would just receive everything she was doing for him, he always felt like he was just taking and hardly ever giving back to her.
He pulled back, lifting his eyes to look into her own but she wasn’t looking back at them. Instead, her gaze was on something a bit higher than his eyes and she saw her leaning in before he felt the warmth of her lips against his forehead.
“Let’s straighten out these eyebrows,” she said, pecking his forehead again, this time, however, he relaxed his eyebrows, realising she was probably talking about how he had them furrowed. “Good, you’re gonna get wrinkles too early.”
He flashed her a tired smile and she puffed out some air, “We have classes tomorrow.”
“We do,” he nodded, finding his smile widen when he remembered that the class he had tomorrow was Chemistry, his favourite, while she had Population Health, her least favourite.
“What are you doing after?”
“I think I might visit my dad,” he told her and she gave him a look of surprise, which softened immediately after.
“Good,” she nodded, “I’m proud of you, baby.”
He blinked, tears threatening to fall, no one had ever said that directly to him before.
“Remember, everyone deserves a second chance.”
He looked away, over her shoulder and at the sea behind her. He didn’t like the thought of giving his father a second chance but he knew it had to be the right thing to do.
“We should get going,” he looked down at his watch.
“Okay,” she smirked, using his arm to anchor him closer, “Soon.”
Her lips overcame his and she felt him sigh into them, as if he was letting go of everything in those few seconds.
And because she was Tori, he could free himself of the thoughts he had had of being a terrible son.
Because she was Victoria.
--
“So what happened?” Tori asked into the phone, as she sat in the last row of the bus, travelling to work.
“He said that he was sorry,” Taehyung’s guilty voice said, “Victoria, I don’t know what to do, he’s been leading a pretty bad life up until now, stealing, dropping acid, taking drugs…”
“Did he tell you that?”
“No, but the police officer guarding his house did.”
“He has a police officer guarding his house?”
“Uh-huh,” the bus reached her stop and she got off, walking to the supermarket she worked at.
“But he did tell me that he wanted to change,” he admitted, “That he wanted to stop his bad ways and start anew.”
“Do you believe him?”
“He looked genuine, but I don’t know.”
“Give him the benefit of the doubt,” she advised.
“Huh?”
“Believe him, help him become a better person, you want your dad back, right?”
“I guess so.”
“So let him change, and if it truly works, you’ll see his sincerity.”
“Thanks,” Tori put the ‘In’ card next to her name in the break room and entered her station.
“I need to go, Tae, let’s talk tonight, alright?”
“Okay.”
“Love you, baby,” she said and heard him fidget with something before replying.
“Love you too.”
That was something they had hardly said to each other, they didn’t often end their phone calls with it, nor did they ever say it face to face. But the few times they had said it, those were the times they needed each other most.
Tori put the ‘open’ sign on her aisle and waited for someone to walk into it.
“Just these?” she asked, seeing someone plonking two tin cans of baked beans. Looking up, her eyes widened when she recognised who was standing there.
“H-Hello,” she stammered, not knowing what to say. “Nice to see you a-again.”
“Stay away from him,” he cut you off.
“H- I’m sorry, what?”
“Stay away from my son,” he repeated.
“I- I don’t-”
“And don’t think I didn’t do my research before coming here,” he pulled out a phone and showed you a picture of someone, making you gasp, your hand flying to your mouth.
Your little brother, playing on the swing at school, his mouth wide open as he laughed to his heart’s content.
“Ben…” you whispered.
“If you want him safe, you’ll break up with Taehyung, and leave him alone.”
“B-But w-why?” you asked, the only way to stop the tears from falling was to stutter over your words.
“Because I can’t get anything done with you in the picture,” he said and she frowned.
“What are you trying to ‘get done’?”
“I just want to be in his life again,” he said but she heard his mocking tone. “Have you finished scanning my items?”
Tori looked down and did it quickly, “That’ll be three ninety-five.”
He handed her a five dollar note and picked up the food, “Keep the change, and remember what I said, because if you decide not to listen, you still have two more siblings, and there’s just one Taehyung.”
She thrust the money into the cash register, watching him walk away through the hair falling over his eyes. She was hoping the deathly glare she was giving him could be strong enough to burn his back, but sadly it wasn’t.
Her purple eyes really did nothing.
--
That night, Tori sat in her bedroom, staring at her phone.
She didn’t know what to do.
Listen to Taehyung’s father or not.
So she did the first thing that came to her head.
“Hello?” a cheery voice answered the phone and she breathed out a sigh of relief when it was the exact person she was looking for.
“Ben?”
“Noona?”
“Hey loser,” Tori smiled and he laughed.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing to hear you say that or not.”
“Ben, has anything happened to you lately?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Like a strange man following you, or threatening you, or anything like that?”
“I don’t think so? Why, what’s wrong?”
“No, just wondering, good to know my baby brother’s safe.”
“Okay, there are two things wrong with that, why would I not be safe? And I’m not a baby,” she literally heard the pout through the phone and she laughed.
“Well if you’re safe, Ben, that’s enough for me.”
“Wait! Noona!” she paused.
“Yes?”
“Do you know some Ajhusshi called ‘Kim Min Jae’?”
Her heart sunk.
“What?”
“He said you knew him, and that you guys were good friends.”
“What else did he say to you?”
“Nothing, really, he just used to ask me questions about what I did apart from school, he’s really nice.”
Great.
“Ben, listen to me,” her voice grew serious, “Don’t ever talk to that man ever again,
“What’s wrong?”
“Just listen to me, promise you’ll listen to me?”
“Yes, okay, I won’t talk to him again.”
“Thanks, I’m gonna have to go, talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay, bye noona.”
He was being serious.
He wasn’t just bluffing.
Tori picked up her keys and shrugged on her coat before leaving her apartment, locking the door behind her.
She was at Taehyung’s apartment room ten few minute later, knocking and waiting.
The door opened, to reveal a smiling Taehyung.
“Hey,” he looked so happy to see her.
Her heart panged.
“T-Tae, we need to talk.”
“Hmm?” he looked so innocent, she didn’t want anything to hurt the poor child, “Come in.”
She slowly followed him and he noted that she wasn’t her normal outgoing self, normally she would have just pushed past him.
When she was inside, he closed and locked the door behind her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, not daring to touch her, he was afraid she would push him away.
And for good reason.
“Tae, we can’t do this anymore,” she gritted her teeth, looking to his feet.
“What?”
“I can’t believe I thought this would work out, it can’t, we won’t work out.”
“But Victor-”
“You’re a nerd, Taehyung, a dork, a geek, I was out of my mind to think that I, the most popular girl in college, could even date you.”
That’s right.
Make him hate me.
Maybe that way it would hurt him less.
“Did I do anything wrong?”
She looked up at his words. Bad idea.
Flinching at the hurt expression on his face, she shook her head, “No, it was my fault. Thinking that my social status wasn’t as important as my want for something different.”
I’m sorry Tae.
He blinked, “O-Oh okay,” looking down, she saw him start to fidget with his fingers, “Well then I guess we won’t be seeing each other again.”
Her heart hurt so much. The fact that he was just accepting it like that. As if he had been waiting for this day to come, as if he knew they were going to break up any time.
“I guess so,” she nodded, “Bye, Taehyung.”
“Bye,” he mumbled and she waited.
Look at me, dammit.
Look at me for the last time.
He slowly lifted his head and she caught sight of his red eyes beneath his glasses. Immediately turning around before she started tearing up, she stormed to the door and flung it open.
I hate this.
Why do I have to do this?
--
Days went past, but to Tori and Taehyung it felt like years.
They were both back on their regular schedules, and of course a big part of them had been chopped off, the parts where they would go out together, spend time together, just be together.
It was hard for Tori to keep her grades up, but the fire from having to break up with Taehyung inspired her to work harder, and therefore her B pluses turned into A minuses and eventually As. She had never achieved such great grades, and she was so happy to tell her parents about them.
Taehyung, on the other hand, could easily get his A pluses, but he would lock himself up in his labs after lectures, never coming out except for the times his father had called him out. He would often ask Taehyung for money, to go buy cigarettes, drinks for him. And he would oblige, he was his father after all.
“Taehyung,” someone called and he recognised the voice.
“Yes, dad,” he replied, heaving in the groceries and putting them in his father’s fridge.
“Did you buy me something to drink?”
“Dad, you know too much liquor is too bad for you, how about y-”
“I don’t need a lecture, what I do need is a drink,” he chucked him a bill, “Go buy me some.”
“Okay,” he trudged out the door, shoulders drooping.
Once this man was back in his life, everything had taken a turn for the worst.
And to make matters worse, he didn’t have Tori by his side to talk to.
He was alone again.
Walking into the nearest grocery store, he picked up the most familiar bottle on the rack in front of him. He didn’t know liquor too well, but he was sure this was the brand that his father would normally buy.
Sauntering to the cashiers’ section, he dumped the two bottles on the table without looking up.
“Will that be all fo-” he looked up sharply at the familiar voice.
“Victoria?”
Taehyung?
“For today?” she gulped.
“Huh? Oh… yeah,” he thrust the money onto the counter and put his hands in his pockets.
“Having a party?” she asked, putting the bottles into a bag.
I wonder what all this alcohol is for.
I know Taehyung would never drink.
Or have a party.
“Uh, yeah, you could say that,” he muttered and she gave him the bag.
“By the way,” she said, “Five glasses of this is enough to knock any grown man out.”
“Uh, thanks,” he let out quickly and grabbed the bag, rushing to the exit.
Knock any grown man out?
What does she think he’s going to do with it?
He reached his father’s house again, and propped the bottles onto the kitchen table, “I’ll see you later, dad, I’m going to go and do some work.”
“Okay, study hard, my son,” his voice was almost loving, but he didn’t let it get to him.
He knew better than to do that.
--
Taehyung was back in his safe haven. His happy place, his only regular hangout. The lab.
He was pouring the rest of the diluted vitamin C tablets into a solution of Sodium Thiosulfate, his order was to record the content changes, which, wasn’t that hard.
But for some reason he couldn’t concentrate.
And soon he figured out why.
It wasn’t loud but even with his back turned to the door of the classroom which was locked, he heard it.
Taehyung, I’m so sorry.
His fingers started to shake uncontrollably, and he put the test tube back into the rack, too afraid to turn around.
I love you, I just don’t know what else to do.
He didn’t dare look, even though he knew she was on the other side of the door.
I want you back, so badly.
You’re my other half, I don’t know how I’m hanging on without you.
His breath caught in his throat.
He didn’t want to think of Tori ‘struggling to hang on’ because that would make him lose all his meaning in life.
If she felt this way, just why did she break up with him?
Don’t forget me, Tae.
Please.
He didn’t even get the chance to tell her that he could read her thoughts.
She kept joking that since he could see her purple eyes, they were destined for each other.
The fact that he could read her mind would have sealed it, but it looks like he wasn’t going to be able to let her know
--
“Why are you being so slack lately Taehyung?” his father’s voice boomed when he entered his house.
“Huh?”
“You’re slower than I expected you to be after the first few days.”
“Oh… sorry.”
“Are you still seeing that girl? I thought I sorted that out,” he muttered that last part under his breath but he heard.
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“What do you mean by ‘I thought I sorted that out’? What did you do to her?”
“Nothing, I didn’t do anything,” he feigned innocence, “Just told her to leave you alone, that’s it.”
“Why did you do that? What is it to you who I spend my time with?” Taehyung was so close to raising his voice, feeling his blood boil.
“My job as your father is to make sure you’re ‘spending your time’ with the right people, and she’s not one of them.”
“Says you,” he scoffed, putting his coat back on and heading for the door.
“Kim Taehyung, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” he opened and slammed the door shut once he was outside, walking to his car. Pulling his phone out, he called the officer from the other day.
“Hello, how may I help you?”
“Can I get my name taken off of my father’s info sheet? As his guardian? I don’t want to have anything to do with that man.”
“Pardon? Uh, yes, I can do that for you, Taehyung, are you alright?”
“I will be after he is out of my life, can you do that for me? Please?”
“Yes, of course I can, what did he do?”
“I think influencing underage children to smoke and drink, and dropping acid with teenagers as well as threatening to kill shop owners when they don’t give him money would be enough to arrest him, no?”
“He did all that?”
Taehyung nodded, “And I have evidence, I can send it all over.”
“Why didn’t you report this before?”
Taehyung closed his eyes, looking to his lap.
“Because he’s my father.”
--
He arrived at Tori’s door, and knocked, completely out of breath from the way he rushed there.
The door opened and you saw her familiar figure emerge.
“Tae?”
“Victoria,” he breathed, “I’m so sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t know he was doing that to you, I didn’t know he was threatening you.”
She realised what he was talking about.
“Don’t worry Tae, none of that’s your fault.”
“Yes it is, I’m the one who accepted him even though it was so obvious he was dangerous.”
She sighed, “No, Tae, it’s not your fault. How did you find out?”
“When he told me he told you to stay away from me, I figured he didn’t just ‘tell’ you that.”
She nodded, biting her lip.
What do I say?
“I reported him,” Taehyung stated, “I told the police.”
Her eyes widened, “Taehyung!”
“I couldn’t just let the man get away with everything, on top of what he was doing to you,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry he did that to you.”
“Tae,” she held his hand, causing him to look up at her in shock. They hadn’t touched each other, felt each other, blended with each other in so long. “It’s not your fault.”
“We’re too broken, aren’t we?” he asked and she gave him a quiet laugh.
“That’s an understatement.”
“And I can’t do anything to change that?”
“Tae… I-”
He cut her off, holding each side of her waist. He kissed her and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. His hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled.
It took a while before she ran her fingers down his spine, pulling him nearer until there was no space left between them and she could feel the beating of his heart against her chest.
Her fingers ran through his hair, wanting to get him closer and closer.
This kiss was different to every other kiss the two had shared. They weren’t laughing, let alone merely smiling. There were no spontaneous giggles or tickling here and there, like there used to be.
This was different.
And they felt it.
Tori leaned back, looking into his eyes. He slowly lifted his own to look into hers, dreading what was coming next.
“There’s nothing I can do, is there?”
She let a tear escape and before he could wipe it away, she did it herself.
Shaking her head, she said the last words she knew she would regret, “You said it yourself, we’re just too broken, Tae.”
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