#that’s why I like to be purposefully affectionate to the guys in my life | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

anonymityisfunwriter · 2 years ago

Text

Two Sides of The Same Coin - Epilogue Pt. 1: "Long Story Short"

"Long story short, it was a bad time. Long story short, I survived..."

Pairing: Sunshine!Reader x Grumpy!Bucky Barnes

2 Years Later...

"Wow..." you awe, leaning over the railing at the very edge of the canyon. "I guess it's called the Grand Canyon for a reason."

Bucky chuckles, rolling his eyes affectionately, but joins you on the very precipice. It was an incredibly warm day, but he loved the unbothered, peaceful look on your face as you looked over the canyon.

You turn your head away from over the railing and look at Bucky. "Makes me want to scream into the void, you know?"

"So do it," he shrugs nonchalantly.

"No!" you exclaim, jolting back from the railing with an incredulous expression. "We'll look like crazy people."

"I think you forget that people already look at us like that."

"No, they don't," you scoff, slapping his shoulder.

"Metal arm?" he says, lifting up his arm that glints in the intense Arizona sun. "Lady who singlehandedly took down a government facility."

You suck in a breath as your jaw drops at Bucky's brazen comment. Even though a lot of time had passed since that whole incident, no one ever really talked about it. And for a moment Bucky thinks he took it too far. But then you start laughing, "Oh my God, we are the crazy people."

"Your boyfriend is a super soldier staring machine and you think knocking a building down makes you crazy? Sticking with tin man makes you crazy," Sam mumbles, standing on the other side of you.

"Ignore him," you chuckle. "He's just cranky."

"If I'm cranky it's because I just drove halfway across the country watching the two of you make eyes at each other. It's adorable- and absolutely disgusting. And you made me sit in the back."

"You could've stayed in the car," Bucky points out, side-eying Sam.

He couldn't really be mad, even annoyed at Sam. Sam was doing the two of you a favor by tagging along and was generally being a good sport about driving across the country with the two of you.

Even though he wouldn't admit it, by being here Sam was making both yours and his life a whole lot easier.

In the weeks leading up to your trip, Bucky tried talking you out of following the rules and leaving Sam back at the Compound. But in spite of them loosening their vice-like grip on you, you tried to avoid pissing off SHIELD whenever possible. It was already lucky that you three all got to take time off for your second vacation in a year, you didn't want to push it.

"You dragged me along on this road trip- the second one I've been forced to endure because of you two. And you're just going to leave me in the car?"

"Of course not," you assure him.

"Yes," Bucky replies simultaneously.

"I hate you guys."

"But you love us," you counter with a wide grin.

"Yeah," Sam begrudgingly sighs. "Most of the time."

You spend a few hours there basking in the dry Arizona heat. The three of you hiked one of the trails around one side of the canyon, and enjoyed the unbothered pace and generally relaxed nature of the day. And as you watched the sun set once again at the edge of the canyon, you screamed into the void. And you were right, it was a lot of fun.

"You sure you don't want anything?" you ask, stopping at a little store to get some treats and drinks after the long hike.

"I'm good," Bucky says, pecking your lips.

"Can you not do that when I'm right here?" Sam whines from the backseat.

Purely out of spite, Bucky does it again, leaning over the console to peck your lips, only this time purposefully dragging out the kiss. You playfully push him away, turning to Sam. "Sam? You sure?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for remembering that I'm still here."

You roll your eyes and step out of the car. The two men watch as you walk into the store. And as soon as you enter, Sam punches Bucky's arm. "Why didn't you do it?"

Bucky remorsefully sighs, fully knowing that this question was coming. "It wasn't the right time."

"And when exactly is the right time? You've been carrying that ring around for months already. You're just lucky I can keep a secret. If Steve finds out, this whole thing is a moot point."

He shakes his head, "I don't know! It just- it has to be perfect."

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were having second thoughts. Or stalling," Sam quietly accuses.

"Second thoughts about her? Never. Stalling? Eh... It just needs to be right."

"She's not going to say no," Sam states, answering Bucky's silent worries.

"She could."

"She loves you. And if you ever tell anyone I said this I'll deny it, but you're perfect together. Compliments of Sam Wilson matchmaking."

Bucky turns away from the steering wheel, his eyebrows pulled together in clear objection of Sam's revisionist history. That's not at all the way Bucky remembers that happening at all. "I believe for the first six months we knew each other you threatened me and warned me not to flirt with her."

"Reverse psychology- people always want what they can't have," Sam convincingly lies, knowing that he meant every single one of those threats.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Bucky snorts.

Sam shakes his head, throwing it back as he slumps back into his seat. "I can't believe we drove across the country for you to chicken out. Again."

Bucky shrugs, "It's on her bucket list. It's one of the only things we haven't done."

"I'd ask what else is on the list, but I don't think I want to know."

"Don't be sick," Bucky chides, thought a wry smirk pulls at one side of his mouth. "But yeah, you probably don't want to know."

Sam gags dramatically. "I'm going to take away my blessing if you don't stop talking. And if you don't stop chickening out."

He lets out a long breath and nods, silently agreeing with Sam's vague threats. "It just has to be perfect."

"Hey," you hear Bucky call from the doorway.

"There you are. I haven't seen you all day, I missed you!" you exclaim, sitting up on the blanket you'd laid out in front of your garden. You three had only been back a week before Bucky was needed on assignment. He'd been gone almost the entire day. "How was your mission?"

"Good," he shrugs, doing his best to feign nonchalance. "Just a little tired. Come nap with me?"

"Sure," you smile, folding up your blanket and walking toward the door. As you start to walk alongside Bucky, you immediately notice the nervous expression on Bucky's face. "Are we going to talk about what's wrong or would you like me to pretend I don't notice yet?"

"Pretend you don't notice," he chuckles, wiping his palm on his pant leg.

"Okay," you nod, intertwining your fingers with him. "Well, look at this, Peter sent me a bunch of memes. People on Twitter are pretty funny, you know?"

"It's funny until Sam starts posting things that he shouldn't," he grumbles, remembering the day Sam 'accidentally' posted a picture of you and Bucky.

It was a sweet picture, you and Bucky were sitting on the couch and you laid on top of him in a koala bear hold. You remembered that day well. You were just coming back from a particularly difficult and long mission, so it was nice to come back and be reunited with Bucky. Unfortunately, Sam snapped a picture of that reunion and posted it online, confirming your relationship to the public. It was almost a year ago and they still bickered about whether or not it really was an accident.

"You're still mad that he accidentally outed us?" you chuckle.

"Was it an accident if he did it completely on purpose?"

"Well look at this one," you say, walking next to Bucky down the hall to your room. You point at the screen. "This one's you. The caption is Bucky Barnes when he's happy and Bucky Barnes when he's angry. But it's the same picture!"

"Hilarious," he grunts, knowing exactly how much the public loved to tease him about his grumpy disposition. Multiple times he'd seen people refer to you two as a real life 'grumpy sunshine' couple. Which, admittedly, was true.

He tried for the most part to be a good sport about the whole thing. It was to your benefit anyway, the public loved you. They liked your sunny demeanor and willingness to share little snippets of your life as an Avenger.

And it was another way for you to get more leverage on SHIELD. With the occasional remark about how you technically weren't an Avenger but a SHIELD asset, and a couple words about what exactly that meant, people started taking your side. And Bucky knew better than most that the court of public opinion mattered. And right now, you were winning.

"I will say, I'm not sure I like it when people take pictures of us walking down the street. It's not my fault I'm expressive, they always get me at the worst times."

"And by expressive do you mean how you make weird faces?"

"I do not!" you scoff, playfully pushing his shoulder.

“Do you remember the day we met?” Bucky asks, dramatically pivoting the conversation as he opens the door to your shared bedroom. As you walk in, he's careful to block your view into the actual room.

“Feeling sentimental?” you quip, placing the blanket on the small couch.

He huffs in amusement, still blocking your view as you take your shoes off and place them at the door. “I want to show you something.”

“Okay.”

“It’s just in that book right there,” he says, nudging his head to the bookshelf to the side of you. You spot the book slightly sticking out of line from the rest of them. You grab the book and open it to the page being held. When you open the book, you see a blue flower perfectly pressed between the pages.

“Is this-” you quietly gasp, gently stroking the pressed flower.

“That flower you gave me that very first day? Yeah,” he replies.

You turn around, still staring at the flower in the book. “I can’t believe you kept - James?” you ask, seeing him down on one knee, holding out a ring. Though your eyes don't leave his, in your peripheral you can see your room covered in rose petals and sunflowers, dim lights strung around the entire room. “What are-What are you doing?”

“Please tell me you’ve seen a proposal or something because I’m kind of worried I’m looking like an idiot,” he anxiously chuckles, though he knows that you've watched enough romances that you know exactly what he's doing.

“I have,” you whisper, frozen in shock.

“Okay, good,” he exhales in relief. “I'm not really good with words, so I thought I'd show you how much you've always meant to me. I kept that flower because I had this gut feeling. I trust every single gut feeling I have, Doll. Every single one. My instincts keep me alive, and I had this feeling like I couldn’t just throw that away. Like every freaking fiber of my being was telling me that this was important. That you were going to be important. I just didn’t know that you were going to be the most important person in my life. And every day, I wake up so thankful that you are. That you decided to stick with me, that you saw the real me even when I was being a grumpy asshole.”

Through the tears, you chortle, “You made it so easy to love you.”

“No, I didn’t. I really did not make it easy, but you stayed anyway. And I always want you to stay. You make my life brighter, after being cold for so long, you bring so much warmth and I never, ever want that to go away. I want you with me forever. Marry me. Stay with me forever.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” he chuckles.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Bucky doesn't get the chance to say anything else before, he hears on the opposite side of the door. You're pretty sure the familiar voice is Steve. "Did she say yes?"

"Of course she said yes," another voice whispers, this one you're certain belongs to Sam, "But did she?"

“Sam,” you interject, taking a deep breath to try and remain calm. “You can’t be James’ best man.”

What followed the proposal was something you never anticipated. Things were quiet in the Compound for a few days, but the peace didn't last very long. You and Bucky made it abundantly clear that you didn't want a big event- nothing of the sort, just a simple ceremony with the people that were closest to you. You'd moved slowly your entire relationship, but this was something that you and him were both eager to do. Something quick and simple- those were your only wants. Or at least what you thought you wanted.

Your small ceremony was then commandeered by your fellow teammates.

In their defense, it only took a slight nudge in that direction and a little bit of convincing on their part.

And they didn't hold back on their meddling and persuasion methods, like them telling you how after everything you two had jointly and individually gone through you both deserved an actual celebration. Or that it could be so much fun, and how they could collectively take the brunt of the planning.

You were won over by Wanda's wistfully descriptions of a beautiful ceremony and her endless talkings about what kind of wedding dresses she thought you would love.

Bucky was won over by Steve's incessant ramblings about this being the start of your lives together that it should be a moment that you'd look back on over your lifetime together.

You remembered that conversation with him very well:

"Ugh...finally," Bucky sighs in relief, hearing the door click open and shut. Though he's laying on his stomach and his face is flat against his pillow, he sticks out his arm to reach for you.

You chuckle, lazily padding toward your bed. You, like Bucky, are absolutely exhausted, and ready to crash after your days long mission with Nat and Wanda. As you make your way to your bed, you haphazardly drop your gear on the floor leaving a trail for you to pick up later.

You sigh deeply, crawling into bed right beside Bucky.

"They didn't let up, huh?" he mumbles, turning away from his pillow toward you. He lifts one of his arms to allow you to curl up next to him as you throw the comforter over the two of you.

You shake your head before resting it on Bucky's chest.

"Steve either. And now Tony's joined in too."

You took a deep breath, wondering how exactly how to tell Bucky that somewhere in the weeks of badgering and long conversations, they'd won you over. They had a point, you didn't have a normal life, you didn't have a childhood or a first day of school, or anything that vaguely resembled a normal milestone, but this was something that you could have. And you could have that with Bucky.

You waited for Bucky's normal quip about how the two of you could just elope or go to city hall without telling anyone. It could be a legally binding ceremony too now that SHIELD had given you an ID. Of course that ID was more for optics and to appease those around you, while still remaining nothing more than SHIELD property.

You kept waiting for Bucky's snide comment, but it never came. You looked up at him and saw a conflicted, pensive look on his face. "Everything okay?"

"What if-" he starts, letting the words trail off as he shakes his head like the thought isn't worth finishing.

"What if?" you urge, tracing lines in the palm of his hand.

"I mean, would it be so bad?" he coyly asks.

Your fingers stop in their tracks as you look up at him. "James, do you want to have a wedding?" you quietly ask, carefully watching his reaction.

"No," he reflexively replies. "But also not no? Ugh...I don't know those little shit-heads are really persuasive."

"It could be fun," you offer, resuming your little tracings. "The whole ceremony, reception."

Bucky grabs your hand, intertwining your fingers with his own. "Oh my God, they talked you into it too?"

"They're really convincing when they want to be," you chortle.

"Trust me, I know," Bucky scoffs. "The entire way back Steve and Tony were talking my ear off about this being the start of our lives together. That it should be special. That we should do it right. I almost threw myself out of the plane."

"With a parachute this time?" you knowingly ask.

Bucky chuckles, knowing that of all things you were a real stickler about his safety measures- or lack thereof. "Yes, with a parachute this time."

"Good," you huff. "They did it on purpose, you know? Divide and conquer to get what they want."

"Meddling assholes," Bucky grumbles.

"Well, it's not a bad strategy. It worked, didn't it?"

He looks down at you with a warm smile, "So we're doing this? Having a real wedding with the black tie, the ceremony, we're really going to do it?"

"Yeah, I guess we are."

And that's how you found yourself here.

This wasn't even your decision to make, but that certainly didn't stop Steve and Sam from trying to force you to force Bucky to pick a best man.

And when he refused, and was now admittedly ignoring them, they didn't hesitate to use you as a liaison for Bucky- and maybe to sway him one way or another.

No matter how many times you told them it wasn't up to you, every time they saw you they were relentlessly pleading their cases. His mouth drops a little. “Oh no, Steve’s got you on his best man campaign too? That stings-”

“Can you please let me finish?”

“Fine,” he huffs in annoyance.

“Nat and Wanda explained to me that apparently someone’s supposed to walk me down the aisle - that normally it’s someone’s dad that gives them away. And you know that I don’t have a dad, but I don’t think I’d be here if it weren’t for you. So I want you to do it.”

Sam's annoyed expressions drops immediately as he gestures to himself like he can't quite believe what you've just asked him. "You want me to walk you down the aisle?"

"I know it's not the same as being James' best man-"

You're cut off by the sight of Sam starting to fan his face. “I told myself I wouldn’t cry. I told myself I wouldn’t cry.”

He abruptly stops fanning his face, throwing his arms around you in a bear hug.

"I won't tell them if you cry," you mumble into Sam's shoulder.

"Thanks," he mumbles back.

"Okay, I'm here. I'm here!" Sam exclaims, running in from the large entrance.

"Where the hell have you been? We're supposed to start in like 5 minutes."

"35 minutes," Sam corrects.

"What?"

"35 minutes. Not 5. We lied before so you'd be on time for once in your life."

You angrily gasp, "I don't have good perception of time! I've told you that like a million times."

"Exactly. And now we're all nice and early. And no one has to worry. You look beautiful by the way - Bucky's a lucky man."

"Thank you," you huff, still slightly annoyed that they lied to you. "I can't believe you guys lied to me."

"I have something for you," Sam states, completely ignoring your irritation and pulling out a file from behind his back.

"Do we need to do this right now?" you ask anxiously, gesturing to the large wooden doors. "We're kind of in the middle of something."

"It's important," he says, pushing the file towards you.

You sigh and nod, taking the file from him. The file in hand, you notice the SHIELD stamp on the manila envelope and you stop reading immediately. “They’re giving me a new handler again?” you meekly question.

You didn't hear much from SHIELD these days so long as you didn't do anything too defiant, so when you did it always made you a little uneasy.

“Why don’t you open it? Read the whole thing," he urges.

“Is it bad? If it’s bad I don’t want to open it.”

“You think I’d give you bad news, on today of all days?”

You take a deep breath and relax your tensed shoulders. “I guess not.”

“Just trust me. Open it.”

You open the folder to see a slim stack of documents. The first one with your name and birthdate on it. “What is this?”

“A birth certificate. A social. Your very own bank account. Everything you’re going to need.”

“Everything I’m going to need?” you echo.

Sam shrugs, feeling himself choke up. “Everything you’re gonna need to be on your own. Or with Bucky, I guess.”

“I don’t understand,” you exhale, fighting the tears welling in your eyes.

“As of yesterday, you are no longer a SHIELD asset. You are officially your own person. An Avenger if you want. A private citizen. Magician, maybe?”

“You’re not my handler anymore?”

“Nope. You’re officially a fully functional, productive member of society.”

“So I’m not going to see you anymore?” you ask more out of fear than actual rational thought.

“Well, you’re not getting rid of me that easily," he scoffs playfully, though you can hear the undercurrent of emotion in his voice. "You’re just your own person now. You’re free. You can make your own choices, live your life however you want to. Even if it is with that idiot. You don’t need me anymore.”

You throw your arms around your mentor. “I’m always going to need you.”

"Alright," he forcefully exhales, trying to shake off the emotion. "You've got that idiot waiting for you."

"Why do you keep calling him an idiot?" you chuckle, trying your best to blink away the tears. "He's your best friend."

"And because he's my best friend, I can say that he's an idiot. Anyway, today my loyalty is to you and only you. As a getaway car, if you want. If you want me to threaten Bucky and kick his ass. Just say the word. Whatever you need."

"Just walking me down the aisle will do, thank you very much."

"Then let's do it."

It all sort of blurred together after that. Walking down the aisle to Bucky. All the people you'd come to love surrounding you in a small ceremony. The wide, goofy-looking grin on Bucky's normally stoic expression.

The only thing that remained perfectly clear were the vows you exchanged as you stood right in front of him.

Holding his hands, you spoke first, "These last three years I've had to learn so much. So much that sometimes I feel like my head's just going to explode. And something I've always liked to believe is that somewhere out in this big, wonderful world is another part of you- that somewhere there's your other half waiting for you. I've always thought it was just so pretty to think that all along there was an invisible string that tied you to me. And you and me? I know you like I know myself. There's this book I read, and the quote goes, 'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.' Or like Sam once put it, two sides of the same coin. I'm so lucky that I found my other half in you. That all this time I had someone who understands me better than I understand myself. And if I had to do it all again, I would because in the end, it brought me to you."

"And that's what I promise. I promise that I'll sit with you in the trenches, to show you the good even when you can't see it in yourself. And to love every part of you, even the parts that you don't like. Just you and me forever."

Bucky took a deep breath, both out of nerves and the raw emotions of hearing your vows to him. As if you know what he's feeling, you gently stroke the back of his hand with your thumb. He smiles and then begins speaking, "I'm not like you. I don't see the magic in the world. I don't believe in some epic destiny or fairytale happy ending. At least, I didn't. And I was perfectly fine, I really believed I was good on my own, that I was better off alone. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, or maybe I'd given up, but I never saw you coming. And I'll never be the same. And I can say with absolute certainty that I never thought about another person in the world that would know me like you know me. I've lived a lot of lives. Done things that I'm not particularly proud of. And there were so many days that I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror. And you've turned me into a person that I actually like. You saw that in me when I couldn't even see it in myself. You're the brightest, warmest person I've ever know, and to know that you chose me, there aren't words for how that feels. Actually there is, it feels like peace. You feel like peace."

"Our lives are not peaceful. We both know that, so that's what I promise today, to be your safe place. To be your home. And even when everything feels like it's falling apart, I will be there. And I promise that as long as I'm here, you'll never have to be alone again."

You remember blinking away the tears welling in your eyes, the feeling of Bucky sliding your wedding band down your finger. Saying your I do's.

And then hearing, "You may kiss the bride."

He wasted not a single second, cupping your cheeks and pulling you in a sweet yet breathtaking kiss.

It was just you and him forever.

And you couldn't have imagined it getting better than this.

Next Chapter

"Two Sides Of The Same Coin" Chapter List AnonymityIsFun Masterlist

484 notes · View notes

latte-fairytaekwoon · 4 years ago

Text

𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑓!𝐴𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑧: 𝐴 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝐺𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑇𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢 (𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑)

Warnings: NSFW content/Older Ateez but age differences is written withing legal boundaries.

Continuation to this reaction.

❥𝓚𝓲𝓶 𝓗𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓳𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓰

Peeking his eyes up from the test papers he was currently grading, Hongjoong glared as he saw how the student that had recently transferred was eyeing you up. He tried to look away but it truly disgusted him to see him stare down at your legs. His hand then clenched into a tight fist as you crossed one leg over the other, exposing more of your skin which the student did not shy away from gawking at, even tilting his head to see if he could get a glimpse of something else.

As if on cue to keep him from slamming his hands on the desk, the bell rang for all the students to go back to their dorms or other living spaces.

"Miss Y/N, could you please stay a moment?"

You smirked to yourself as it seemed your plan had worked. Putting on the most innocent face you could muster, you leaned your hands on the desk in front of your teacher, purposefully bending over so your cleavage could be seen by him.

"Yes Mr. Kim? Do you require my.... assistance?" You wiggled your eyebrows at him.

Knowing what your little game was, Hongjoong slid off his chair and slowly walked to the other side of the desk. His hands went to your waist and moved you so you could face him. His bottom lip poked out while his hands went underneath your skirt to toy with the hem of your panties.

"Miss Y/N, I'm afraid these skirts of yours might prove to be too distracting for classes."

You nearly threw your head back and laughed loudly, but instead you opted for pulling your sexy teacher closer to you by his tie.

"For whom exactly? The other students.....or you?"

Hongjoong breathed in deeply when you swiped your tongue across his bottom lip.

"I would prefer it if they only distracted me." He admitted as he began sliding your panties down your legs.

You let out an amused hum as your hands began to rub across his chest, giving his nipples a little harsh tug through his button up shirt.

"Whatever happened to those words you said the other day? Remember? About not wanting to mess around anymore with the school's cum bucket?" You began prying his buttons open.

He swallowed hard as he began regretting calling you that, not knowing you didn't mind at all and instead used it to fuel your plan for revenge on him. Sighing softly, his hand cupped the back of your head.

"I don't want to hear anymore gossip or whisperings about anyone else fucking you ok? I don't even want to think about any other asshole getting their dick anywhere near here. Got it.?"

You giggled at his confession. Propping yourself up on the desk so he could fully tear your panties off you, you spread your legs out for him, letting him inhale your scent of arousal.

"Then why don't you claim it as your own? Right here, right now, on this desk?"

❥𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓢𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪

Having been under a lot more stress than usual, Seonghwa was extremely irritable and often walked around with a scowl. It was starting to bother you honestly.

"If you don't want to be here, you can just leave you know." You spat out one day while you two were in bed.

Turning his face to you, he looked at you with a warning glare.

"Don't you talk to me in that tone missy."

You rolled your eyes and scoffed at him.

"Last time I checked this was my house, meaning I can talk to you however I want to." You reminded him.

Grunting angrily, Seonghwa sat up and began dressing himself. It kinda had you worried that he was going to leave you for good.

"You're leaving me?" You hid away your disappointment.

"Obviously. Why would I wanna stay here any longer with a slut like you?" He didn't actually mean those words and he instantly regretted spewing them out, but he was stubborn and prideful so he simply left you without another word.

You were fuming, enraged that he'd dare just walk out on you like that. You weren't going to let him leave so easily though. And if you had to take drastic measures to ensure he'd be back in your arms, so be it.

"Slut you say? You don't even know honey." You mused to yourself.

For the next few days Seonghwa moped around his home, sighing to himself. He'd often look over the walls that separated the two of you, wondering what you were doing and if you were thinking of him. One day while his wife was out, he sat quietly on his bed, glasses on as he read one of the many books he owned. He was disrupted by a loud pounding against the wall. The obnoxiously pornographic moans gave a huge clue as to what was going on.

"Oh fuck! Your cock feels sooo good."

He gritted his teeth as he heard your voice being mixed with another male's which didn't belong to him. He slammed his book close, outraged that you'd be fucking someone else so soon.

"Oh yes! Cum inside me!"

Punching the wall, Seonghwa got off the bed and stormed out the room, not wanting to hear anymore and waited by the front door to catch a glimpse of your new lover. When he finally did see him, he scoffed at the young lad, shaking his head furiously. As soon as he left, he went straight over to your place, letting himself in as he pressed you up against the wall.

"If I remember correctly, only I was allowed to cum inside that hole of yours right?"

His snarling against your ear was making you get turned on once more, your legs parting when he drove his knee up your crotch.

"After all you did promise to give me a baby....."

He grinned evilly as he peppered kisses along your jaw.

"And I'm holding you to your word."

❥𝓙𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓸

He knew......he knew that sometime, sooner or later his relationship with you had to end. Only he hoped it would be much later...much later. Yunho always blamed himself. He tried to remind himself over and over again that there was absolutely deep between you two. It was strictly a no strings attached relationship.

So why was he getting bothered by someone else coming in your life hoping to steal you away? After all, if either of you wanted to see other people, you had every right to.

"What's on your mind little one?" He asked you out of nowhere earlier that day as you poked at your food, hardly taking a bite out of anything even though it included some of your favorite dishes.

You shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. Scooting his chair closer to you, he lifted your face up so he could look at your eyes.

"Tell me." He urged you.

You still kept quiet though, afraid that if you said anything he'd be mad, hurt or anything of the sort. But Yunho only chuckled and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

"Go see that boy."

You were startled by his words, wondering how on earth he knew about it.

"Go on your little date with him. Who knows? Maybe you two will hit it off or something. Have a little fun."

Although he encouraged you enthusiastically, now he was sitting on the couch watching the hours go by. It was late, well not too late, but still late. He started thinking if perhaps you would spend the night with this new guy, but his mind quickly shut away all those thoughts. He hated admitting it, but it pained him to picture you in someone else's arms. He started cursing himself for allowing his heart to develop feelings for you when you probably didn't even think of him in that way.

Little did he know you were sulky at having him encourage you to see someone else like nothing, like he did not care about you. And although you had a nice date, the guy wasn't who you wanted. The person you wanted was waiting back home no doubt, so you made it back home early, hoping he was still there, which thankfully he was.

"Hey, had fun on your-"

You didn't let Yunho finish his sentence when you suddenly straddled his lap and began kissing him fervently. He could only groan as he pulled you closer to him.

"You know I'll still take care of you? You don't have to do this if you don't want to." He pulled back to remind you that, bracing himself for your answer.

"I know.....but do you know that what I want is you?" You finally admitted, shocking Yunho to the core.

He let out an involuntary smile as he realized his feelings were indeed reciprocated on your part. Stroking your hair in an affectionate way, he pulled you into another kiss.

"You're either really young and naive, or really dumb my little one." He teased you, squishing your cheeks together.

You frowned at his teasing, hating how he constantly reminded you of your age difference and used it to baby you.

"Shut up and make love to me already old man, that is if you can even get it up."

Yunho giggled at your snarky remark, flipping positions so he could pin you on the couch.

"Trust me my little one, with you around it's impossible to keep it down."

❥𝓚𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓮𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓰

Yeosang was restless ever since you went on vacation. Since it was summer break and his daughter was spending time with her maternal grandmother, there was no need for you to stay with them for the time being and honestly, you deserved a nice break to enjoy yourself and go be the free, young spirit you were after spending months cooped up inside that mansion looking after an intelligent and adorably sardonic 8 year old.

His mind was no longer focused. He didn't have a lot of things to do and even the small tasks he had to do he found them too difficult. He couldn't stop thinking about you. His thoughts kept revolving back to you and the nights he spent by your side, either when he snuck inside your room or he brought you into his room while his wife was away. He was missing your body, missing you, missed talking to you as he caressed your body after a passionate night of love making.

He was in the middle of those thoughts when his trusted butler came in, the sly smile on his face signaling he had useful information.

"Well? How is she? Is she all right?" Yeosang asked, having had his butler go stalk you out and report back to him on how you were.

"Oh you'll find Miss Y/N is in good health and.... in very good hands." He let out a muffled chuckle as he placed a folder in front of his master, containing photos and all sorts of information he deemed useful and interesting enough for Yeosang to know.

Not exactly liking the taunting tone the man used, Yeosang poured over the folder's contents, his eyes narrowing in on the rather attractive young man who seemed to be on almost every picture with you. You seemed to be having a lot of fun with him given that you were going out clubbing with him always by you, his arms always draped around you. Or you'd be seeing taking walks with him, his stance too close to you for Yeosang's liking. His nose twitched in disgust and he began tearing up any photo with the young man in it.

"Get the car ready and your swimming trunks in a luggage. We're going on a little trip." Yeosang smiled passive aggressively.

"I take it Madame must not know of this?" The old man raised a curious eyebrow.

"Exactly. Precisely." Yeosang chuckled, the two partners sharing a knowing and mischievous look.

After a long night at a beach party and too many margaritas, you dragged your feet to your hotel room, nearly stumbling in due to how tipsy you were but you were caught by strong arms that you had recently been missing.

"Mr. Kang.." You immediately sobered up as you stared at his handsome face.

"Remember what we agreed on? That I want you to drop the formalities?"

You giggled as he began pressing soft kisses on your lips, one after another.

"Go on. Say it."

Giving in, you wrapped your arms around his neck.

"Yeosang."

Sighing contentedly, Yeosang held you for a while, just enjoying your warmth as he inhaled your scent that he missed. But he soon grimaced when he detected a strange odor on you.

"You reek like him." He huffed out, clearly annoyed at smelling another man on you.

"Is that the reason you came all the way out here?" You snorted, yet flattered to know he cared that much.

You squealed as he picked you up and carried you to the bed.

"Just don't talk and let's get rid of that disgusting stench. I don't want you smelling like anyone else but me."

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓢𝓪𝓷

San glared for the hundredth time at the classmate who lately had been irritating him to no end by coming over just to go see you at work. He rolled his eyes as he heard the airhead dick say how he didn't understand a certain assignment just to have you bend over and pour over the information with him. You were too nice to say no.

"And too dumb to notice he's only paying attention to your chest." He let out a disgruntled sigh as he organized the books on the shelf for the 7th time, not wanting to move from his spot in case the little shithead decided to try anything on you.

Wanting him to go away, he sneakily crept up behind the counter and sneakily brushed his hand across your ass, fingertips slightly ruffling the hem of your skirt.

"Y/N if you're done with your little tutoring session, I need you to help me look over the accounting ok?"

You nodded, realizing you had wasted enough of your boss's time. Giving your classmate an apologetic smile, you told him you'd help him some other time. Although saddened by not spending more time with you, he did not want you to lose your job or get you in trouble.

"You truly are an angel Y/N. What would I ever do without you?" He pouted at you, trying to look as cute as possible.

"I'm sure your hand has kept you company quite nicely all these years, you'll be fine." San couldn't help but smirk as he said that loud enough for both of you to hear, shocking you and embarrassing your classmate, who quickly walked out of the book shop with his head lowered.

Not very happy with his little joke, you looked over at your boss who had his back turned to you as his eyes stared at the computer screen.

"That was rather rude and disrespectful don't you think?" You shook your head at him.

"Not as rude and disrespectful as annoying someone at their job with lame excuses just so they can get a peek at a nipple or an ass cheek." He replied nonchalantly, unbothered and unrepentant of his behavior.

You let out a sarcastic laugh.

"That's a bit rich coming from you don't you think? Given all the times you've stared at me when I've bent down or stood on top of the stool." You reminded him.

Turning his head to look at you, San smiled at you with such a deceivingly sweet smile, accentuating his cute dimples that never failed to make you melt.

"See here now my young apprentice, if I remember correctly, you would purposefully bend over just for me, you were begging me to check you out, even started cutting the length of these skirts so I'd look at your legs."

Humming softly, your hands went to his collared shirt, undoing the top buttons to expose the top of his chest.

"Guilty as charged then Boss..... so... are you gonna write me up or cut my pay for slacking off at work yet again?" You taunted him as you brushed your lips against his.

Playing along with your little game, San chuckled and gripped your waist.

"Oh no my little apprentice. I'm not that type of boss. I prefer a different punishment."

You let out a gasp as he suddenly turned you around and pressed your upper body down against the glass case, his foot separating your legs apart as he fumbled with his belt.

"I'm gonna bend you over and fuck that pretty ass of yours til it's stretched open."

❥𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓲

You were starting to get pissed off at the thought of Mingi blowing you off on yet another date. It was the third time he had done it and you were starting to get fed up honestly.

"For someone who claims to be responsible and mature he sure can't seem to freaking keep his word." She muttered angrily to yourself as you swirled the leftover ice in your drink.

Out of nowhere, a young stud slid onto the seat right in front of you. With two drinks in hand, he slid one of them across to you. You eyed the drink suspiciously, wondering if he was one of those types to add some kind of drug just so he could easily kidnap you or something.

"Relax doll face, I promise I didn't spike it or anything." He assured you.

Shrugging and realizing you had nothing to loose, you instantly downed the drink with ease. You tried not to grimace at the fruity beverage the stranger got you.

"What does he take me for? A little pussy that drinks bitch beers?" You thought to yourself, though you couldn't blame him. You were pretty young and most mistook your youth for inexperience or naivety. Little did they know you could down the hardest of liquors down as if it was water.

"Tell me doll face, why are you here all alone? Looking all moody and dejected?"

You pondered on whether you should really say anything or make up something. Neither it seems. You opted for a more vague explanation.

"Just tired of being stood up I guess. No biggie." You rolled your shoulders back.

The man looked at you with a sad and pitiful look. He began to wonder why would anyone stand up such a beautiful and gorgeous woman like yourself? Whoever they were, they were either stupid or blind.

"Well the night is still young. Why don't you come back with me to my place and have a little fun? No strings attached and I can promise you you'll be more than satisfied." He offered, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

You looked him up and down. Truthfully you'd turn him down merely for being so close to your age, still not very attracted to younger males, given that they promised more than they could offer. But sizing him up, he seemed to be well endowed, definitely above average. And besides you were frustrated by Mingi blowing you off that it wouldn't hurt to have a little rendezvous with someone else.

Sensing your hesitation, he smirked and began pulling your chair closer to him, his hand slithering its way up your skirt.

"Trust me doll face. You have nothing to worry about."

"No but you will if you don't take off your filthy hands off her right now."

You were startled yet amused when Mingi popped out of nowhere and pushed the guy's hand off you before grabbing your arm and pulling you up.

"Come on let's go. We're leaving." He gave you no choice as he began dragging you away, only to be stopped by the young man as he stepped in front of you two.

"Hold on here, you can't just haul her away like that. What are you? Her dad?" He scoffed, arms crossed as he looked Mingi up and down with disdain.

Instead of getting offended, Mingi simply smirked as he slipped his hand around your waist, pressing your body against his.

"Yeah, I'm her daddy, at least that's what she calls me at night."

❥𝓙𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓦𝓸𝓸𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰

Wooyoung's eyes pierced daggers into the man that was currently talking to you. He had seen him countless times at the strip club where you used to work. He knew the man had more than just a crush on you, he was practically obsessed with you. More than once he had tried to get a private show from you but Wooyoung always made sure those plans were thwarted since he didn't want anyone else looking let alone touching his prized possession. Hence why he took you out of there and kept you all to himself.

And now he was fuming at this crazed fan of yours wanting to get close to you once more, no doubt trying to get in your pants. He saw how he kept leaning close to you or stepping up to you. Each time he did, you would step away, slightly uncomfortable by his close proximity and even more uncomfortable at how he talked with so much detail about your previous performances at the club, detailing things that not even you remembered.

"You know I don't even go there anymore. It's a waste of time." He admitted, a frown on his face.

"Oh really?." You asked, trying hard to hide your sarcasm, not really interested in anything he had to say.

"Yeah, you're not there anymore so what's the point? Although...."

You froze in place when his hands came up to cup your chin.

"I would give anything to see you strip one last time." He winked at you.

His hand was harshly pulled away from you by Wooyoung, who shoved him so hardly he actually landed on the floor.

"Too bad you're never going to see that ever again you punk."

Linking your arm with his, Wooyoung dragged you back to the car where he then drove full speed back to your apartment. As soon as you both stepped inside, his hands were all over you, mouth devouring your own as a trail of clothes leading into your bedroom was scattered on the hallway. You had never seen Wooyoung jealous before and it turned you on so much. His possessiveness was even more evident as his nails dug into your skin, his hips slamming into your ass as his cock plunged deep inside you, threatening to pull another orgasm out of your body.

"You're my little whore, no one else's."

You let out a yelp when his hand came down to strike one of your already burning cheeks once more, his hand printed all over your ass.

"My little fuck toy that I can play with as I want." He growled, pistoning his cock even deeper in you.

"Ah! Yes! I'm your toy Wooyoung!" You cried out, breathing heavily and whimpering loudly as tears streaked down your cheeks, your vision starting to go blank once more as you felt yourself ready to burst once more around Wooyoung's cock.

"Fuck! Yeah. My little fuck toy. All mine and no one else's."

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝓸

Jongho fought hard not to scoff or roll his eyes at the man sitting across from both you and him. He was a nice young man that recently started working for your father, very responsible and efficient. And your father liked him so much he took it upon himself to have the two of you meet up in with hopes of getting you two together. The man of course was elated by you. You were so pretty and charming and was already head over heels for you.

Jongho and you were not very happy about it though, Jongho more displeased than you. At least you could mask your dislike of him better, being all smiles and kind to him. It honestly sickened Jongho seeking you be all fake, proper and polite when he knew better than anyone your true character.

"Sweetheart, you know this young man was the one who suggested we strike that deal with that other company? And his plan worked out brilliantly." Your father couldn't stop gloating about the man's accomplishments.

"Oh really? Do tell me all about it." You feigned interest.

"Oh my fucking god, I swear to hell-" Jongho fought back the urge to slam his fork against his plate, not wanting to listen to another boring and excruciatingly painful gloating from the idiot in front of them.

Minutes into the story and Jongho was already dozing off, bored to death by the incessant chatter coming from the man across you both. Looking over at you, he could tell you were bored too. A wicked plan came to his head. But you were both bored so why not make it fun. You at first thought nothing about having him press a hand on your thigh under the table, he'd often do that every now and then. But you started to worry when he began to travel his hand further up to cup your clothed heat. It was such a risky thing to do at the dinner table, with your parents and a guest right there. You tried to stop him when he tried to tug your underwear down, but were met by a pinch against your inner thigh. You covered your mouth with your napkin and pretended to cough in order to hide the squeak that escaped you. Giving in, you slightly lifted yourself off your chair and let Jongho slide your panties down.

He pretended to drop his phone just so he could stoop down and pick up your panties off the floor. You watched as he stuffed them in his pocket, the corners of his lips curling into a smirk. Suddenly you felt your phone vibrate in your purse. Glancing briefly, you saw a text from none other than your secret lover right next to you.

"After dinner. My place. You're lucky you're off for the next few days cause I'll make sure you won't be able to walk after I'm done with you."

Gifs not mine. Credit goes to their respective owners

#ateez #ateez reactions #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez fluff #ateez smut #ateez angst #dilf!ateez #ateez dilf au #ateez headcanons #ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez yunho #ateez yeosang #ateez san #ateez mingi #ateez wooyoung #ateez jongho

943 notes · View notes

inimikal-archive · 2 years ago

Photo

Its time for Erol headcanon stuff at long last. This is a big rewrite of stuff from Erol’s old blog !

The first thing to address, I think, is the character ages so I’m gonna start here. They’re completely insane & Erol is one of the few characters never given an age in the canon. A lot of people tend to put Erol in his mid 30s & I actually have no idea why because he always registered as a lot younger to me, keeping in mind almost all the characters are a hell of a lot younger than you would think because Naughty Dog made some very interesting choices with JnD. So while I don’t give a shit about the “canon” ages, & Erol never got a canon age, I still tend to see him a lot younger than fanon seems to. Plus, does the man look like hes in his 30s ? Not to me. He doesn’t act like it either.

My age for Erol is around 20-23ish, just slightly younger than Ashelin. Now I think the reason people tend to aim a lot older is because of Erol’s advanced rank in the KG. But things to consider here is that a lot of the KG were implied to be very young, more so than you might think, many (forcefully) recruited as children & (forcefully) kept in the service until their deaths & all evidence leads to the fact that many KG soldiers died very young given ever present battles against the metal-heads & the extreme corruption of Haven itself.

Again, other very high ranking members of the KG such as Ashelin Praxis were only in their early 20s. I believe Ashelin was around 22-23-24 years old throughout the games from Jak 2 to Jak X. Torn, an ex KG captain was by far the oldest at 28-29-30, but still not quite as old as you might imagine. I mean, I even think Torn’s on the young side but he seems older to me. If I hadn’t looked his age up I’d imagine him to be a little older but the thing is he’s just been through some shit & honestly given how life was in Haven city, anyone making it into their 30s was probably looked at as hitting middle age. OF COURSE, there are some characters in the game that ARE actually “old” but they tend to predate all of the craziness we see in jak 2, as we know Haven was not always like this, but that we’re introduced to it at a time where its teetering on the edge of losing a long & grueling war with literal monsters that are literally planning to kill & eat everyone. Furthermore, they’re not shown as high ranking figures in the KG because active Krimzon Guard personnel would obviously have a much lower life expectancy all of this considered.

& the final thing to consider is that kids are a lot easier to manipulate, radicalize & indoctrinate & the Baron’s dictatorship at this point was relying heavily on propaganda & martial law. Moreover, Erol himself was essentially treated as living propaganda. This was very, very intentional & above all why Erol always registered to me as a lot younger than he seems to hit in the fandom. Erol was, essentially, in my headcanon, an up & coming young race star who was purposefully indoctrinated & recruited into the KG to help boost the appeal of the KG & the Baron’s rule. Evidence of this, I think, is everywhere but what really guides my thought process is the way Erol has been canonly dubbed “The son of Haven City”, this is an affectionate moniker given to him by Baron Praxis & Erol’s races are highly promoted & glamorized throughout the city along with Erol himself. They’re also heavily linked to Praxis as the “prizes” for winning are not only an extremely large supply of dark eco (one that we could argue the Baron couldn’t actually afford to give) but also a tour of Haven Palace. These are both things the Baron was not the kind of guy to offer to just anyone. So this meant the reality of the NYFE championship was really just Praxis putting on a show where he promotes these races that get the city hyped because not only do many of them look at Erol as a hero & a celebrity, but this also promoted massive engagement with & glamorized the KG, because even if you didn't like Erol, you didn’t like the military & you just liked racing, you’d be tempted to try your hand at beating him & snatching his crown, as well as a massive supply of eco which could probably make your wildest dreams come true. But the thing was Erol never lost. He was undefeated & undeniably the most talented racer in the game outside of Jak’s protagonist powers.

This also suggests a kind of surrogate father-son dynamic between Erol & Praxis which seems to very much fit given Erol was closer to Praxis than it seemed anyone else was, including his own daughter. In fact, it even seems as if Erol was the only person in the entire city Praxis really trusted beside himself. I think when Praxis refers to Erol as “the son of haven city” he’s practically calling Erol his son given he is haven city. Again, Praxis was very much a cunning, foul tempered, stern & paranoid man so this is extremely unusual & definitely makes Erol very note-worthy & “special” way beyond his title as NYFE champion. Also brings me to the fact that Erol was very, very much like Praxis himself, as if the man was fundamental in shaping who Erol is. It seemed to me that Erol had picked up a lot from him & there is cut dialog suggesting Erol would become the next Baron in Praxis’ defeat/death. Which is a lot given Praxis literally had a biological daughter right there but she was not favored by him near as much as Erol apparently was. Which is stuff I think all fits & works for canon & honestly ND screwed up the game in the end there horrendously so I have to fix everything & I kind of see Erol as the perfect foil to Jak & this gives them some similarities in the sense that Jak has Samos as a surrogate father figure as he isn’t able to connect with his real father until Damas death.

Which brings me to Erol’s real father & his background, which is purely my own headcanons here that I tie into all of this. This is a nutshell version of what I wrote up for Erol’s blog because I’m lazy. I haven't named Erol’s father yet & I’m following the JnD trend of character’s having fathers with no mothers, but he was a track mechanic which is where Erol’s love of racing began. He always wanted to race, something that he maybe once hoped would come with the benefit of impressing his father. The problem being that Erol’s father was an abusive alcoholic & a small time criminal who was involved in a lot of shady practices, notably drug trafficking. Which is where Erol got all of his race training from - he was the delivery / errand boy for a lot of his father’s “business”, both legal & not so legal. He took this service as an opportunity to practice his racing skills by getting himself from point A to B around the city in record time. When Erol expressed wanting to race he was delighted to find his father was more than supportive. In fact, despite the serious danger of racing, he had a plan for Erol to win the Eco. & it was here when Erol’s speed & talents on the track got him noticed by Praxis, who quickly “befriended” him & invited him into the KG. Erol loved the attention, especially from someone so important. When Erol won his first championship he found out his father planned to take the Eco & split town, & Erol seemed to have been left out of the loop on this. A fight erupted & Erol returned to Praxis with the Eco, leaving his father for dead. From here, Erol officially joined the KG & the two began to conspire about the following races. As in it was Erol’s duty to remain champion & win the races in order to keep the eco & the palace tour out of the hands of the public. Further, Erol’s relationship with Praxis meant he moved through the KG fast making him as much of a ‘solider’ as he was a champion racer. Which leads me to another headcanon I have regarding Erol’s position as Commander, as in, I don’t think it was a rank that really existed before Erol & before Torn’s defection. Essentially, in my headcanon Torn was the highest ranking KG captain & once he defected it caused a bit of chaos, & was especially troublesome in the sense that as far as the canon goes, the KG isn’t something you just walk away from, hence the tattoos, its to the death, not only that but a high-ranking leader such as torn saying “screw it, Praxis is corrupt” & ditching really does NOT bode well for both public & private image. So in order to remedy this Torn was smeared as a coward & a traitor & a higher rank was applied, & Erol was naturally chosen to fill it. Erol, who was already pretty well liked due to his race-star status & potentially “trusted” by the public as a result meant that Erol taking over in such a way & thus helping spread the word that Torn was just a cowardly traitor made the story that much easier to swallow & helped to pacify both the public & the Guard.

This gave Erol more control over the KG & the city, & Praxis more control overall since Erol was basically just a younger extension of himself. Which means, roughly by the timeline Erol has been Commander for around 4ish years in my headcanon & why Erol is considered as much a threat to & enemy of the underground as Praxis himself. You can’t really separate the two of them. Another thing that made my thoughts go this way was the KG tattoos. Now these seem to indicate rank, however, you cant just change your massive face tattoo as you level up. Normally, you’d think if these tattoo's had to do with rank, you’d have to get a pattern similar to Torn & Ashelin’s before you moved up to whatever “addition” was made to indicate Commander, that is IF the commander rank always existed. From what we saw, Ashelin & Torn seemed to have a similar tattoo pattern which makes sense as they were both top KG officers with the Rank of “Captain”. Erol on the other hand has a completely different tattoo pattern that doesn’t even resemble what Ashelin & Torn have going on. You would think if this is the tattoo you get when you level up to Captain, Erol would have had to have a similar tattoo before he made Commander. But he doesn’t. Its as if the Commander title was added just for him & thus his tattoo pattern is exclusive to him. So how it goes in my mind is Ashelin was promoted to take Torn’s place as the lead Captain, & the tattoo was slightly changed for her & Erol was placed directly into a higher role, which came with a completely different tattoo pattern all together & was no doubt a shit on Ashelin in the process & feels very Praxis to do tbh, given he clearly didn’t trust or favor his daughter.

While Erol may recognize Praxis as a little unstable, he doesn’t actually fault him because he believes in him & believes hes right in his approach to everything. & if hes wrong ? No hes not & Erol will make him right, because Erol as much looks at him as a father figure as it seems Praxis thinks of him as a son. Erol’s less about the ultimate good of the city & more about pleasing himself & impressing Praxis. Another thing to note in Erols motives for helping Praxis is that he really doesn’t seem to like Haven city that much. Sure, Erol’s fighting for his city & his people, to protect them from the metal-heads but he doesn’t seem to have a lot of love over-all for the city. In fact, he seems quite bitter toward it & doesn't seem to like many of the people in it which is why I headcanon that Erol came from a dodgy background as opposed to always being among the city elite. Which means unlike Ashelin, he cant look at the city or his hopes for it through rose-colored glasses.

For me this just explains why Erol, despite being looked at quite fondly by the general public, doesn’t really return the love & seems to be lone wolf outside of the KG troops he commands. He appears more for individuals (like Praxis & Keira ) than for the majority. Hes “protecting” the city & following Praxis orders not out of a love for it & its people, & a hope to create a better future, like Ashelin , but more because doing so is a necessity given the very real threat of the metal-heads busting in & killing everyone, himself included, otherwise. Because even if Erol doesn’t have a lot of love for everyone, he does have those few people he does care about & the metal-heads taking over was a guaranteed death sentence for everyone. As Kor, the metal-head leader described once the metal-heads take a city they kill & eat until no one is left. Being killed by metal-heads is thought of as the worst way to go.

Anyway, now that all that rambling is out of the way I was talking to @pertrahe earlier about AUs & since I’d rewrite a lot of JnD going into Jak 3 I was thinking of like alternative scenarios for Erol’s death bc tbh ND fucked this up & got a bit of pocket with it lmao. Like they knew killing him off was a dumb move & tried to bring him back right away & made a mess of the whole thing so alternative events for Erol: 1) Potentially attempts to fight the metal-heads with his own squad as he thought he could do during the start of the game, after Praxis death. Gets mauled half to death as a result. Though to keep the Dark Eco exposure which I kind of think is important going forward he could be involved in an explosion perhaps by trying to bait the metal-heads with the eco or something along those lines. The over-exposure to the Dark Eco attracts the Dark Makers & they decide to save & “rebuild” him. 2) Erol’s “death” happens as canon but we actually get more details on the aftermath including Keira being acknowledged as having sage abilities & being able to harness Green Eco to save him from death since Erol’s “accident” was a very public thing, lmao. Though maybe she should have let him die given he’s in a pretty sorry state of being & it gets worse. I like to think maybe Count Vegar had something to do with Erol suddenly being labeled “dead” & attempts to eject him from Haven Hospital & leave him somewhere to die, looking at him as possible threat to his own plans in spite of his condition, which similarly to 1, leads to the Dark Maker’s finding him & perhaps were the ones linking with the KG robots to “rebuild” him into a cyborg-nightmare that the alien from Virus 1999 would be proud of. (thats the peek aesthetic here, btw) We know that the Dark Makers were very technologically advanced & they had some weird control over cybernetics. Though they dont really explain it in the game we can at LEAST assume this is how Erol’s canon counterpart was able to “link” with the Dark Marker’s & maybe the massive over-exposure to Dark Eco made Erol appealing to them. Though we just don’t know how he got “resurrected” as a cyborg in the first place. Like there is just no info on any of that, this is just me speculating & how I’d probably work toward explaining it in AUs / rewrites because I’m def not sticking to canon after Jak 2 regardless. Theres also a 3rd option in Erol never getting exploded at all & maybe just putting aside his ISSUES to work with the underground to stop Praxis from trying to blow up the whole city cos thats a bit extra. Like Erol would have fought with Praxis to the death but he probably wouldn’t want to go as far as blowing up the entire city & himself. He might be torn over it because Erol does follow Praxis logic but at the same time he held this personal glimmer of hope that it didn’t need to come to that & they could defeat the metal-heads. Again, Erol was quite convinced he could put up a good enough fight himself. But anyway, something happening in regards to Erol living long enough to find out Praxis actually planned to blow up all of them in an effort to take the metal-heads with them. I don’t know. I love the fact I have the real, canon based potential for a gory horror cyborg Erol but the way canon did it sucked so bad ! So I’m def down for exploring all the possible alternative options.

#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 💀 ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 💀 ━◞ 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓮 ↝ Erol ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 💀 ━◞ 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓷𝓼 ↝ Erol ⊱#erol headcanons #⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 💀 ━◞ 𝓕𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓸𝓶 ↝ Jak and Daxter ⊱

14 notes · View notes

yesimwriting · 3 years ago

Text

Falling Angels: chapter two

A/n took me longer to get around to writing part 2 than i thought!! i didn’t know there was an audience for this idea but im glad you guys liked it!!

Im adding a country to the grishaverse to make my story work,, def not a big deal i just needed a country in which i could control the history of without worrying about conflicting with cannon lol

Link to part one: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/yesimwriting/652318577650696192 (lmk if this works ive never linked something to a tumblr post lol)

Series Summary: Y/n is a rising star in the most famous circus in Ketterdam because of her ability to see the future. Unfortunately for her, Kaz Brekker knows more of her backstory than he should, and he’s willing to use that to his advantage. The one thing he’s not betting on? That he doesn’t know her entire story

Chapter summary: Y/n gets a visitor before getting tricked into the most dangerous show of her life.

Pairng: SOC x reader, Kaz Brekker x sunshine-y! Psychic! Reader

My father seemed to love me more after two glasses of something amber. It was after these two glasses that he would tell me realities his inebriated self believed I needed to internalize. He’d pat my head affectionately and smiled at me as he told me that the world was a bad place. Most of his lessons are lost in my mind, but the one I remember most clearly is that there’s no such thing as a kept secret. There’s always a leak or a flaw or a factor you could not account for. He told me that if I wanted to keep a secret, I would have to decide what I was willing to risk for it.

I know from Seria’s reaction to his presence that listening to Kaz is a risk, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take for my secret. “I don’t know what you think I am, but you’re mistaken.” It doesn’t really matter that he believes me. I have the paperwork I need to disprove him. “I have to get to my tent.”

“The princess gets her own tent?” His words are saturated by mock casualness but I can feel his pride on how he delivered that line.

My body is still tense from balancing over flames and his confidence only adds to my desire to unravel. I can’t get angry here. Not at him. Not with the way he grips that cane of his. “I don’t understand what--”

“You may be able to play pretend here where no one wants to look twice at you, but I know what you are.” His stiffness leaves my skin prickling. “I know who you are.”

I swallow back my panic. “Then who am I?”

“You’re that king’s bastard--the one with a high bounty on her head.” Don’t back down. Even the smallest crack will confirm his story. “As long as she’s returned alive.”

Thoughts of what my father would do to me if ever given the chance strike me with more anxiety than his presence does. “I’ve heard of the girl you’re talking about,” I admit, the lie leaving me as easily as the air leaves my lungs when I exhale. “But I’m not her.”

“You’re not from Ketterdam, if you were you would have known who I was after you friend referred to me as Dirtyhands.” I have no defense, but I never claimed to be from Ketterdam. “You make your business claiming to be a psychic.” I am a psychic, but now is not the time to make that argument. “Elkosa is a relatively small and self efficient port kingdom, the island is nothing more than a jagged coastline barely larger than Ketterdam, but I have connections in all places.” He knows someone from Elkosa? I have to fight the instinct to move all of my weight on the balls of my feet, prepared to run. “A captain of the royal fleet told me the story of the night the King’s bastard ran into the meeting room the night before ten ships were meant to sail to Ravka.”

He studies my reaction as I struggle to keep my expression blank. “None of that seems connected.”

“Patience is a virtue most Saints are familiar with.” I roll my eyes. “The bastard couldn’t have been more than nine at the time, but the guards did not want to let her in. The King told them to let her interrupt. The sailor noted this because he had never made an exception to his meeting before. The girl described a nightmare to her father, a nightmare of a storm and ten dead birds. The king did not comfort her, she finished her story by saying that he asked to know about all of her dreams. She went back upstairs and the King continued the meeting as normal but the next day the King cancelled the trip.”

I remember that night as the night I realized that if I’m not careful, I’ll feel what I see in my visions. It felt like I was drowning. I felt the death of each of those men and instead of comforting me, my father nodded once like I had offered him advice and sent me back to my room. “And?” My defense is weak, my mind too lost in the memories of drowning. “Many smaller countries are superstitious.”

“The next day the worst storm to have impacted that ocean occurred. For four nights and three days the storm continued.”

I press my nails into my palms. “You don’t believe that I am precognitive, so that sailor’s unverified story has nothing to do with me.”

“A princess that can see the future disappears at the same time a failing circus hires a girl who has no business in this city who claims to be able to see the future.” He adjusts his stance, taking pressure off the cane as if he’s preparing to need to use it for something else. “I am not fool enough to believe in coincidence.”

“And I am not fool enough to crack beneath the vague threats of a man. In my experience, men always threaten with a blade when really all they’re in possession of is a butter knife. Try to drag me from here kicking and screaming, find a way to incapacitate me and put me on a ship to Elkosa, but when the King sees that you brought him a stranger he will have your head.”

He blinks, expression hard as stone. I tense, preparing for a physical blow. “I didn’t expect you to be a half-decent liar, but I should have.” I bite my tongue to avoid resorting to something I can’t take back. Like begging. “Even if it’s in only half your blood.”

“I am not her.” My stubbornness burns more than the need to survive. I inhale, hoping to shake the grasp of the sensation but it only worsens. The pinch of dread in my chest is heavy and familiar. A vision.

No. Not now--not in front of him. I push against it even though I know that only makes it worse. Not now. Not now. I should be grounding myself but all I can think about is how stupid I am and how bad this situation is.

“I’m not an idiot, I know to be quiet. I see myself crouched somewhere dark.

“Being defensive doesn’t make you any more intelligent.” It takes me a minute to recognize Kaz in the darkness.

We’re somewhere small, our backs against the same wall but our shoulders do not touch. This vision is enshrouded by the feel of panic.

This other me grimaces, but her eyes lack anger, “Remind me why I agreed to help you again?”

“You never told me why,” he admits, “you can change your mind on participating and I can change my mind on whether or not you're more useful than your father’s money.”

Something loud crashes from behind the door we’re both staring at. “You’ll have no use for me or my father’s money if we die here.” I squeeze my hands together.

He hesitates, “My ghost will.”

The future-me almost smiles. “I wonder if I’ll be able to see ghost futures.” I hesitate, something strange behind my eyes. “I wonder if that can exist, if there’s a future beyond endings.”

Future-Kaz is silent for a long second. “There should be,” he says, “for someone like you, at least.”

I watch the way I take in his words. “You’d be there, too,” my voice is low, “your ghost at least.” I turn my head, staring at the door instead of him, “If you weren’t, I’d miss the brooding.”

The vision leaves me with sweaty palms and swirling thoughts. All of my visions do that. Not all of them make me feel so confused. Apparently, he needs help and I agree to do so. At one point we’ll be pushed into a life or death situation and I won’t loathe him.

I blink twice, forcing myself to hold onto the reality in front of me. I don’t have to agree--the future isn’t set in stone. For all I know tomorrow morning I’ll have a vision in which he kills me.

“Are you ignoring me?”

Shaking my head, I turn to face him. “You need help.” I don’t wait for his reaction. “You’re not here to return someone to the King of Elkosa, you’re here because you need someone that can see the future.”

“I--”

“It’s not that you won’t take me to Elkosa, it’s that you’d rather use my abilities for something.”

I’m confusing him again, but that’s okay. I’d rather deal with him confused than angry. “I need to know how a certain business deal of mine is going to be worth what it costs.”

He’s spent the entire time claiming he doesn’t believe in my power. Was that some kind of tactic? In the vision I saw, despite the panic surrounding the situation I didn’t feel panicked around him. The probability of that future occurring is probably low. I’ve been wrong before, the future changes too much for me to know everything.

“That’s not how readings work,” I admit, “I don’t have that much control on them. Most of them come to me randomly. The events I see always involve me or someone I care about to a certain capacity. I can give someone a general glimpse into their future but I can’t promise I’ll see what they want. Sometimes I can see the general vision by just focusing on their energy but usually I need some physical contact for it to work.” That seems like a fair explanation. “Oh--and not all of my predictions come true, most are blurry, few are solid--the future is always moving.”

Wait...the vision I saw where I was with Kaz wasn’t blurry. Those can be wrong, but it’s much rarer. Do I really agree to this?

“Then maybe I should make it involve you.” His aggression has me forcing myself to stand my ground. He can threaten me all he wants but that won’t change things. “Or take the money your father would give me and cut my losses.”

Every time I’ve purposefully destroyed a solid vision, something bad has happened. I’m genuinely considering it. “What do you need a psychic for, anyways?”

“To get through the Fold.”

Despite everything, I laugh. “I’ve never seen anyone get through the Fold, literally or in my visions.”

He’s unphased by my doubt. “It’s happened.”

I really don’t want to help him. “Well then good luck, I’m happy to part ways here.”

I manage one step forward before he moves his cane in front of my path. I’m getting tired of this. “You’re assisting me one way or the other, whether that aid will be financial or through your services is up to you.”

Anger pinches in my stomach the way it often does when I’m told what to do. The one thing centering me is the vision still reflecting in my thoughts. There’s no denying it--I had felt comfortable with him. There is a future in which I feel comfortable with him and I’m not sure I’ll be able to avoid it.

“I won’t get in trouble for you,” I tell him, “The Ringmaster holds onto those indentured to him, especially the commodities that bring him profit.”

There’s something stiff about his silence. I wonder if he’s always like this, pushing the weight of his presence onto those around him without saying a word. “When I have a goal, it is achieved. I’ll speak to him.”

I cannot imagine a conversation I want to be involved in less. The Ringmaster and this man that Seria had labeled ‘Dirtyhands’. “I just had a vision--I saw your entire conversation and it ends with you missing an arm.” His stoic expression does not shift. “Okay, I’m aware that it wasn’t the funniest joke, but throw me a bone--you threatened to kidnap me and sell me to my father in order to extort me and I’ve been nothing but polite to you.”

He’s quiet for a moment, something in his expression changing in a way I can’t read. “All you’ve done is lie since the moment you started to speak to me.”

The optimist in me would like to think that his annoyance counts for banter. I shrug, feeling a little lighter than I did a second ago. I’m certainly not comfortable but I’m starting to see how to put up with the tension without letting it strain me. “Well, polite for my standards.”

I let him brood. “You must have done well as a royal.”

My past cuts through the peace I managed to grab onto. It’s not his fault, he has no way of knowing what the castle was like for me. I open my mouth, but I don’t know what I’m going to say. “I had my moments,” I finally settle on, hoping the echo of pain isn’t visible behind my eyes.

I guess it doesn’t matter if he sees me bleed. He’s heartless, and I hate sympathy.

“Y/n,” Seria’s voice is genuine anger, “You’ve turned into an idiot--first the tightrope walk and now entertaining whatever deal he’s trying to coax from you.” I love Seria, she’s the reason I didn’t die in the street when I first arrived in Ketterdam, but she sees me as a mindless child. “Whatever he told you, whatever he promised you--it’s a lie.”

“He hasn’t promised me anything.” I need to calm her down. Once she’s calm, everything will be normal again. “And he knows.” I don’t have to turn to feel the way Seria gapes at me. “He knows who I am, so I have to do what he wants.”

“You never have to do anything a man is forcing onto you, y/n. We’ll find a way--”

“Seria, it’s fine,” I reach to touch her arm, “I’ll be fine, you can’t protect me from everything and you don’t have to.”

Kaz throws a pointed glare at the man who was with him earlier. When did the stranger get here? “Boss, she’s faster than she looked, but I have what we need to get the girl--”

“You’re late,” Kaz sighs, bored, “she’s agreed.”

Wait--what was he going to do if I didn’t agree? “Out of curiosity, what are you talking about?” The man blinks twice, squeezing a rag between his ring-clad fingers. “You were going to use chloroform to kidnap me, weren’t you?”

For some reason I don’t understand, the stranger gives me a look that’s a cross between sheepish and charming. “Nothing personal.”

“Or original.”

Seria pinches my arm. “Y/n,” she scolds, “your sense of humor is going to kill me one of these days.”

I cringe, pulling my arm away. “When I met you, you were pickpocketing in the pleasure district, please remember that.”

She rolls her eyes. “An attitude like that is going to leave you without a place to sleep at night.”

I take her comment for the empty threat it is. Every other day she’s threatening to kick me out of her private trailer so that I’m forced to fight for cots or speak to the Ringmaster about my lodging arrangements. He’d give me what I want, but speaking to him feels so slimy I’d sleep in the woods before trying it.

“Kaz.” I turn my head in time to see the girl that gave me the advice about the tightrope walker. “We need to go, he’s coming soon--you’ll do better to speak to him in the morning after she’s gone, that way he has nothing to hold over your head.”

“Once I’m gone?” The girl had called me a Saint. I can appeal to her. “I’m not--I’m not going anywhere, I said I’d help.”

Her eyes widen, sympathy reflected clearly in her dark irises. “There was never a version of this in which you ended up staying here.” I hear a hint of apology in her voice. “You won’t believe me, but I promise this will be better for you.” All of her pity is gone with those, replaced by something hard.

Seria responds for me, “I think you should go.”

“What?”

She almost smiles, but her eyes are painfully sad. “I never wanted you to be here forever. I don’t trust these people, but I trust their ability to get you out of here, even if only for a little while. Bad things are coming, and I think you’ll miss the worst of it if you go now.”

What she alludes to is a blade in my heart. “You want me to leave you here to deal with it?”

“Y/n, I’ve been hurt here more times than I can count--”

“No, I won’t leave y--”

Seria squeezes my shoulder, “It’s not forever.” When she wants something, it’s almost impossible to get around it. “Besides, if I need you, you’ll see it.”

My world feels to have lost the vibrance of color. I’ve left so much, but I let myself believe I wouldn’t leave her. I pull her into the hug. “The moment I see a vision of you in any type of danger, I’m coming back.” I hug her even tighter when she tries to pull away so that I can whisper something in her ear, “I’ll use this opportunity to leave the Ringmaster and then I’ll get you out, and together we’ll leave Ketterdam. We’ll find your child, like you always wanted to and they’ll know that they're lucky because they’re the only kid in the world to have you as a mother.”

She squeezes me so tightly I find it hard to take full breaths. “Two,” Seria whispers, “I have two children.”

My eyes burn as her words find their way into my heart. “I love you, Seria.”

“I love you too, my star,” she pulls away enough so that I can look her in the eye, “you don’t like being called a Saint, but I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the title.”

Tears prick my eyes as she releases me. “I’ll find you.”

“He’ll be coming soon,” the girl warns, “He spoke to an advisor about wanting to find you after the show.”

No doubt to praise the fire stunt he forced onto me. Bastard. I nod once but I don’t move. I can’t bring myself to leave Seria until the girl places a hand on my elbow.

Falling Angels Taglist: @glowstick-lesbian @cashlum @whatiswrongwithpeople @pass-me-jeez-it @thecraziestcrayon

84 notes · View notes

seawing-vibes · 3 years ago

Note

Clay!

favorite thing about them

Hes so nice !! Just unapologetically kind! I adore him for just being this big ol’ guy with the biggest heart, hes so sweet and its so cute I love characters that are just nice without needing any compensation. Of course Clay can still like. Defend himself & stuff , being sweet isnt his only personality trait, its just an addition that is really good to have in a protagonist I think. I just like Clay, I need to re-read his book

least favorite thing about them

Why was he reduced to nothing after the first book </3 Im sorry he got his good moments but really Tui made eating his prime gag which sucked, I dont even mind that he likes eating, I just wish it wasnt his main thing?? Like can we just let him express his other traits too please??? Remember how he was so emotional and open to express emotion and emotion towards others?? What happened to that?? Where was him comforting & checking up on everyone when he could? Like,, poof gone. No more </3 I love him but the way he was written kills me, so I guess it wasnt him specifically but more so how he was written

favorite line

"I'd die to save you and Starflight over and over if I had to." This line kills me despite it being quite simple , I dunno just the context overall and that entire scene just makes me loose it

brOTP

Clay and Sunny!! Besties/Sibling !! Love their lil side friendship, Sunny using Clay as a microphone (megaphone?) when she needed to be heard and clay just being sweet and defending her wail still letting her be her own person just so good!!

Friendship wise outside of sibling-hood, I actually think Peril & Clay are best friends! I have A Lot of thoughts on Peril, but I like to think that she mixed up romantic feelings with platonic ones (no thats not a bad thing!! Do not think I’m framing this as bad please !!) and either way Clay doesn’t reciprocate any romantic feelings. Despite this Clay & Peril become very close friends and are very physically affectionate too <3! Lots of big hugs and hand (talon?) holding in a very platonic and best-friends way

OTP

hes Aro Ace what do you mean /lh

nOTP

U h , romantically shipping him & peril makes me extreamly uncomfortable!! Not just because I view them as friends and my hc of him being Aro, but just due to how Peril perceives them in a romantic light and I feel is very unhealthy for both of them. The fact that the abscesses of Clay in Perils life canonically makes her “”evil”” again just gives me funky vibes /neg and I dunno I just dont enjoy! I dont know many other ships with Clay though so thats all I can thing of sorry to any Cleril fans reading </3

random headcanon

He just really likes pointing out small things that he enjoys ALL the time! At the end of the day he’ll sit with whoever is around and just list small things, like he witnessed two cardinals feeding eachother and he thought it was cute (cardinals do do this by the way, its a courtship thing its cute), he noticed that Pike was starting to enjoy paining more, just small things he takes notice of and likes to talk about. Starflight loves listing to this, but Clay tends to purposefully go down to visit Stonemover to tell him about all the cool things he saw that day, Stonemover is extremely grateful

unpopular opinion

Oh no uh i dont know, are there really any unpopular opinions,, on Clay?? I dont know I think my thoughts on him vibe with everyone else ?? I’m not sure really BHGV

song i associate with them

I listened to 200+ different genres this year and I have forgotten every single one of those songs I listened to Im sorry I have no idea

favorite picture of them

This one really embodies him <3333333333

#Adore this lad if you couldn’t tell one of The Most Dragons of All Time #a cool guy and if you dislike him I will. uh I dont know actully #clay #rambling #ask #thank you for letting me ramble about clay Anon <3 Also the fact that you added an explication point made me go 💕✨💖‼️✨💕/pos #*Exclamation #I’m v sorry if my messages sound sparratic or anything by the way!! Im fixating really hard on an old fixation again and its makin me vibe!!

22 notes · View notes

goldentournesol · 4 years ago

Text

The Receptionist and the Profiler (Six)

Chapter Six: Lifted Burdens

(Spencer Reid x f!Reader)

Series Masterlist

General Masterlist

The word reverberated around her brain for days after she heard it. Her brain was mocking her and she knew it.

Girlfriend. Girlfriend. My girlfriend.

Over and over again.

A heartbroken Y/N went home that day to an extremely livid Penelope. Y/N was the one calming her down instead of the other way around.

“How could he be so stupid?! I mean, he’s a genius, but he’s still the stupidest person I’ve ever met! Oh my God, I’m gonna kill him! A girlfriend?! He’s out of his mind!”

And although Y/N agreed with every single word Penelope’d said, there was little she could do about it now. She had shown Ashley around just like she had with every other new agent. It would have been a lot easier to hate her if she wasn’t so...nice. You know, even though her father was a serial killer and all.

She was so normal. And Spencer seemed happy around her. That’s all she could ever ask for, right? So why was it still so painful every time the three of them were in a room together? Why was avoiding all the team members’ apologetic stares as they witnessed a moment between the couple turning into a sport? Well, she knew exactly why, but she didn’t really want to give that thought the time of day.

Derek was almost as livid as Penelope when he’d learned of the new relationship. It took everything in his power to not chew Spencer out.

Spencer, on the other hand, was convinced that this was the only way he’d ever get to get over Y/N. Besides, she’s married now, what’s everyone so upset for? Is his happiness too much to ask for? Although, he did find it odd that Y/N wasn’t wearing rings on any of her fingers. He would have thought that a newlywed wife would have been much more excited to show off her ring. It was also quite strange to hear that Anderson transferred to a different unit. But he stopped himself from thinking about her too much anyway. Stopped himself from thinking about how much her eyes stopped twinkling as much as they used to. Or how her smile always seemed a little less bright than he was used to.

Stop, Spencer. You have Ashley now. He reminded himself.

Ashley was a nice girl. They’d met a few times before they began dating. He first met her when Rossi took him to the Academy to speak with some of the recruits who were interested in joining the BAU. Then, after that, he’d ran into her while he was guest-lecturing at her university. She’d been taking extra classes to get her degree faster and ever since then, they’d kept in contact. They’d met again while Spencer was on his medical leave. He had practically begged Rossi to take him to any lectures. Despite being a homebody through and through, Spencer had had enough of sitting at home waiting for his knee to heal. He needed to get out of the house and do something. Ashley had been the one to suggest a date and Spencer was shocked to say the least, but he accepted. Who was he to deny a pretty girl a date when the love of his life was already married?

Coming back to work was exciting to say the least, even if he wasn’t authorized to go into the field yet. The rest of the team still had to go though, which made the bullpen kind of eerily quiet.

He tried to spend most of his time in Garcia’s batcave to be able to be a part of any video calls with the team, despite the fact that Garcia could barely look at him without wanting to crush the rest of his bones (it’s all in the name of love, she swears). Him being in Garcia’s cave made it practically impossible for Y/N to go in there as often as she normally would. She’d normally spend her entire breaktime with her, they’d chat, eat, and watch kitten videos on repeat. But now Dr. Genius was occupying her space there and it left Y/N sulking out in the empty bullpen.

Now, Spencer wasn’t completely oblivious to the way the team was acting around him. He’d noticed a decrease in Penelope’s affectionate terms, he’d noticed Derek’s disapproving stares, even JJ was being short with him. Maybe it had something to do with him dating the new agent.

“Hey, Garcia?” Spencer asked from his seat next to her, he was currently going over a case file as she sorted through VICAP.

“Yes, Reid?” She asked, obviously not paying attention.

“Do you guys um, not like Ashley or something?” He asked tentatively, fiddling with his pen between his fingers. That got her attention because she turned in her chair and looked at him.

“What gave you that idea?” She asked with signature Garcia concern.

Spencer shrugged and pursed his lips together, “I don’t know, you’ve all just been acting super weird since I got back and every time I’m with her around you guys it’s super awkward.”

He saw Garcia take a deep breath and she slumped her shoulders, “No, Reid, we do like her a lot. I guess you can say we just weren’t expecting it. I mean, you’d just gotten shot and then came back with a girlfriend, it was kind of...surprising.”

“Why is it so surprising? Is it so surprising that someone actually finds me interesting?” Spencer almost scoffed, that had come out way meaner than he’d intended.

“No, of course that’s not what I meant, you know that!” She exclaimed, tears already threatening her eyes, “It’s just...we all thought it would...y’know, take you a while to get over Y/N.” She tiptoed around what she really wanted to say. Spencer held back a roll of his eyes.

“Well, I am. So...so you can all stop being so weird. Besides, what does it matter how long it takes me to get over her? She’s married now, remember?” Spencer said, not even trying to hide the bitterness behind his voice.

Garcia’s face drained of all emotion all at once, “What?”

Spencer analyzed her expression before shrugging, “What?” He asked, feeling like he was missing something.

Suddenly, she began laughing in disbelief, “No, no, no. There’s no way.”

Spencer’s impatience and irritability grew, “What are you talking about?”

“Spencer! Y/N has been living with me for the past 3 weeks, you big idiot! I’m not saying anything more to you. You need to be talking to her right now, not me.” He felt as though his brain took ages to process what she’d told him.

“What...why would she be living with you?” He asked, his brain raking through all the possibilities. Garcia shook her head and refrained from speaking to him for the rest of the day. The dread set in as he realized.

He’d only seen Y/N at her desk whenever he had to leave the batcave for something. Most times she’d just send him a polite smile but they rarely engaged in any conversation. Her energy has been cut in half lately.

Near the end of the day, Spencer trudged all the way to the kitchenette on his crutches to make himself a fresh cup of coffee. While reaching up to grab his mug, he tried to balance on his crutches but was still very wobbly. The result of his wobbliness was a shattered mug on the floor of the BAU’s kitchenette. Spencer winced at the sound and sighed a deep sigh.

He heard quick footsteps to where he was, “Is everything okay? Are you hurt?” Y/N stood in front of him, taking in the scene. He hadn’t heard her voice in days, it was the closest thing he’d felt to relief hearing from her again.

“I-I’m okay, I just dropped a mug while trying to make a cup of coffee.” He huffed frustratedly, upset that his mobility was compromised.

“Spence, next time you can just ask me or something--or someone else, it doesn’t have to be me, but I mean, I don’t mind doing it, if you asked.” She stumbled lightly on her words, cheeks reddening. Spencer smiled in response and nodded, touched at her kindness, “Now, step back and let me help you clean this up before someone gets hurt.”

Spencer took a step back, the feeling of guilt overwhelming him as he watched her pick up the pieces and sweep the floor, “I’m sorry...about that. You didn’t have to help me out, thank you.”

Her face cracked a smile and Spencer felt the hunch in his shoulders loosen slightly, “Come on, it’s really nothing. How’s the um, knee?” She pointed slightly as she brought down another mug and began to fill it with coffee for him.

He sighed, “It’s not great. It hurts sometimes, like a lot, but it could have been worse I guess.” He shrugged, unable to keep his eyes off her captivating face. If he thought the science of reading microexpressions was interesting, reading her face was on a whole other level.

“I’m sorry, Spence, I really hope you feel better soon.” She spoke while adding the perfect amount of cream and sugar. He could tell that there was something weighing on her heavily as she seemed to drift further away as she watched the swirls of the cream dance in the mug.

“Thanks, Y/N/N. Um, what about you? Are you okay?” He asked, noting the way she immediately snapped back into shape almost as if she’d been caught slipping. Her facade was back on as if it hadn’t slipped for a nanosecond.

“Yeah! I’m great.” She smiled, not meeting his eyes, Spencer was about to ask about her current living situation when she spoke quickly, not leaving a pause, “How about I walk this back to your desk for you?”

“Um, you don’t have to do that. I can take it.” Spencer frowned, feeling already guilty enough.

She giggled slightly, purposefully glancing at both his hands wrapped around his crutches, “Got a third hand I don’t know about, Spence?”

Spencer grinned in defeat, realizing what she meant, “Right…” He sheepishly began to walk back to his desk, is Garcia needed him she would call. She set the cup down and flashed him a smile before turning around and walking right back to her desk where she stood for a few seconds as if contemplating something then continued on in the direction of Garcia’s office.

“Garcia...I did something bad.” She confessed sheepishly stepping into the office and closing the door behind her, feeling somewhat like a child who hadn’t followed instructions.

Garcia turned around in her chair, “Oh no, sweets, what happened?”

“I talked to him…” She flopped down onto the chair next to Garcia’s and pouted. Garcia couldn’t hide her smile and shook her head.

“And…?” Garcia looked expectantly at her.

“I don’t think I can ever get over him, Pen.” She suddenly frowned, picking at a frayed thread on her skirt.

“Well it’s not gonna happen overnight, sugarplum. Tell you what, why don’t we have a girls night out when the team gets back tonight. Maybe you could get a little lovin’.” Garcia added suggestively but Y/N rolled her eyes and huffed playfully in response.

“Yes to girls night, no to getting any “lovin’”, I don’t think my heart can physically handle anything else.”

“Ughh, alright. But um...there’s something you should know…” Garcia began.

“What is it?” Y/N pushed.

“So...you know how Reid is a certified genius and stuff...yeah...he’s quite possibly the most obtuse man I’ve ever met.” Garcia spoke.

“Yes, we know this, what is it, Pen?” Y/N asked, growing more impatient and anxious.

“I found out today that he had absolutely zero clue that you called off the wedding.” She said.

“What do you mean? How did he not know?” Y/N almost laughed at the absurdity.

“I guess no one told him. I think we all got so caught up with him getting shot that no one told him. Y/N, I’m telling you, up until 1:22 pm today, he thought you were married to Grant Anderson.” Y/N almost grimaced at the mention of her almost-husband.

“Well, what good is it now, he’s got little miss Ashley, who, by the way, IS NOT invited to girls’ night.”

But she was, of course she was. But it wasn’t just her, oh no, the entirety of the BAU had invited themselves out.

Everyone was stuck in their own little conversations around the table and Y/N felt like the odd one out. She looked up from her glass to see Rossi and Hotch deep in conversation, Derek and Penelope were in the middle of a story to which Emily and JJ were listening intently, and finally, the cherry on top, sitting directly across from her, was Spencer and his precious Ashley sitting practically glued at the hip with his arm around her shoulders. This was supposed to be a girls’ night out, and here Y/N was, feeling as miserable and insignificant as ever.

“I’ll be right back.” She said to no one in particular as she got up from the table, not that anyone noticed or heard. Spencer caught her leaving out of the side of his field of vision but Ashley quickly began telling him another story. Y/N had almost made it out of the bar when a familiar voice stopped her.

“Y/N, hey!” She turned to see none other than Anderson himself, looking quite put together and smiling very largely at her.

“Hey! Um, you out here too?” She smiled awkwardly and looked around for his friends.

“Yeah, came out for drinks with the guys from the White Collar Crimes division. Hey, you should come say hi.” He nodded his head towards a table full of men. Y/N glanced back at her table and saw that no one was looking for her so she shrugged and agreed.

She sat at the table and they all immediately brought her into the conversation, which made her mood lift significantly.

Had Grant always been this funny? She thought. As the guys settled down after their stories, Grant turned to Y/N.

“Can I get you a drink?” He offered nicely and she thought about it. She spent 11 years with this man, what could one drink possibly do?

As they sat at the bar and chatted, Y/N noticed that Grant was being extra gentlemanly and just...nice.

“So, yeah, this is my life now.” He tilted his beer at the table they were at previously.

“They’re really nice guys, I’m glad you’re happy at work.” She smiled and nodded. Grant smiled back and studied her for a moment.

“Um, so...I was wondering...I mean, do you...are you still sure about all this?” He gestured between them, “It’s just that we get on so well and I um, really wouldn’t mind doing it all over again for you.” He ended his sentence with a genuine smile.

Y/N’s smile faltered from a grin to a sad smile, her eyes flitting across the bar to look for Spencer, who had been keeping a close eye on her since she left in case she was in trouble. Their eyes met for a moment but nothing longer.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” She nodded with finality. Grant followed her eye-line and felt some jealousy stirring up inside.

“Wait--is this all about Reid?” Grant stared at her incredulously.

“What?! No! Of course it isn’t. We weren’t working out, I already told you.” She defended quickly, but Grant was unconvinced. He gave her a look and she avoided his eyes, “Me and Spencer are just friends, I promise. We kissed like, once, it didn’t even mean anything.”

“You kissed? When?!” Grant’s eyes immediately filled with rage, looking across the bar.

“It doesn’t matter, look, can we just step outside for a second, get some fresh air?” She tried to reason with him but before she knew it, Grant was out of the bar stool and marching his way over to the BAU’s table. Y/N followed him quickly, trying to minimize any damages.

“REID!” Grant yelled in the small bar, quickly alerting all the agents. Spencer’s worried eyes flitted to Y/N’s.

In one swift motion, Grant lunged forward to attack a still-seated Spencer, eliciting a frightened yelp from Ashley next to him.

But thankfully, Derek was much quicker than Grant and effectively took him down yelling, “What the hell is wrong with you, man?”

Hotch and Rossi visibly relaxed upon watching Derek drag a livid Grant outside the bar. Mortified, Y/N grabbed her things and ran out, unable to meet any of their eyes. She flagged a cab and tried to stop the sobs from tumbling out of her.

Needless to say, the next month was the most awkward month she’d ever been through. Anderson was lucky he’d only been suspended without pay and not actually arrested for attempted assault of an FBI agent. She was downright mortified after what had happened at the bar and had fully retreated into herself, having finally moved out into her own apartment. Her pickiness ended when she realized she couldn’t stay with Garcia anymore.

Even JJ had tried multiple times to set her up with one of Will’s friends, but Y/N always refused. Invites to bar nights were turned down and ignored. Her days consisted of waking up, going to work, coming back home, pretending to unpack but in reality avoiding it and ending up sitting on the couch with a pint of ice cream. The entire team felt for her, but Spencer especially felt for her as well as felt like an absolute moron. Not about what had happened at the bar, he didn’t really care if Anderson had beat him up, maybe he deserved it for making her feel this way.

He watched curiously from his desk as Derek and Penelope walked through the glass doors of the BAU and stood at her desk. Penelope placed a heavy cookie tin on the raised part of the receptionist’s desk, the sound making Y/N look up from her computer.

“Morning, lil’ mama.” Derek grinned at her.

“Morning, D. Hey, Pen. What are you two up to?” Y/N’s gaze shifted between them suspiciously, “And what’s this?” She referred to the cookie tin.

“Oh, you know, just your favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies.” Garcia said with a smile. She watched as Y/N’s face lit up and immediately reached for the tin but Penelope held it securely.

“Uh-uh-uhh,” Derek taunted with a smirk.

“What? Why can’t I have the cookies?” Y/N huffed.

“These, my love, are a bribe and I’m not afraid to admit it.” Penelope said with a dramatic upturn of her chin.

“Oh no.” Y/N said.

“Oh yes.” Derek and Penelope both said. When Y/N rolled her eyes and was about to refuse, Penelope opened the top of the tin and Y/N took a peek and was hit by a whiff of heavenly chocolate chips.

“Fine, I will listen to your offer, but no promises.” She tried to stay strong even though the scent of the cookies was already driving her mad.

“We thought you might say that, which is why the entire tin is the bribe.” Derek said smoothly and Y/N’s jaw dropped.

“That is low, chocolate thunder!” She exclaimed and Spencer unwillingly smiled at her reaction.

“Anyway, you get this entire tin of cookies IF you agree to come to Rossi’s tonight.” Penelope offered and Y/N paused to think about it.

“I don’t know, Pen…” Y/N began.

“Come on, pretty girl, we miss you. You haven’t been out in ages.” Derek tried. Y/N’s heart pulled in her chest, maybe she did miss them too.

“Alright, fine, fine! I’ll come.” Y/N crossed her arms, trying to hide her smile as Derek and Penelope celebrated with a hug and a cheer, “Now, give me these!” She stood and grabbed a cookie, quickly taking a bite and visibly melting back into her chair from the taste.

“See? I told you that would work. No one can say no to my cookies.” Penelope whispered to Derek as they separated to begin their days.

She finally got some motivation to empty her bags and boxes when she returned to her apartment. It was mainly because she had to look for an appropriate outfit to wear. Ever since she’d moved, she’d been picking out her work clothes and pajamas from her suitcases, rewearing all the blouses and skirts that don’t need ironing, but it’s time to start taking care of herself again. Perhaps she felt like the clothes she was wearing didn’t belong to her anymore, she decided that she’d take herself shopping soon. After a relaxing shower, she picked out a black satin blouse and tucked it into a pair of fitting blue jeans.

Arriving at Rossi’s, she took a deep breath before ringing the bell.

“Ciao, bella!” Rossi graciously greeted, hugging her tightly, “We’re all so glad you could make it. Come on in, dinner is almost ready.” Rossi’s warm greeting eased the anxiety that bubbled in her chest. She was also greeted warmly by everyone in the room when she walked in. Penelope pulled her to sit next to her immediately.

“You look stunning!” Penelope complemented, making Y/N blush.

“I agree, you are looking hot as hell, mama.” Derek chipped in, making her laugh.

“Oh, hush, you two.” Y/N rolled her eyes and accepted the glass of wine that Emily offered her. She sipped on the wine, glancing at Spencer over the rim of the glass. He caught her eye and sent her a small smile. Y/N sent him a small one back before feeling herself shut down as everyone around her started conversations. She hadn’t noticed just how much she depended on Spencer for conversation in outings with the BAU until his attention was taken away. He would always stick to her side but now he had someone else’s side to stick to. With no Anderson and no Spencer, she really had to fend for herself. All night, she felt this indescribable weight on her shoulders. She did everything to try to get rid of it.

Soon, one glass of wine with dinner turned into two, then somehow turned into two rounds of whiskey. Before she knew it, she was up dancing with Derek and Penelope in the middle of the garden. They all had migrated into the backyard after dinner, where most people were chatting and eating dessert.

“Spencer, are you listening to me?” Ashley’s voice cut through Spencer’s daze.

“I’m sorry, what?” Spencer turned to her, he’d been caught up watching them dance, secretly wishing it was him she was grabbing onto for support instead of Derek. If it wasn’t for his damn knee, he would have joined them in dancing.

“I asked you if you wanted another slice of cake.” Ashley said, with a small smile on her face. She was nice, but she wasn’t her.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m good.” He shook his head and reverted his attention to the dancing trio. She was finally smiling, he hadn’t seen her smile that wide in so long. Her laugh was heard across the garden and somehow it seeped right into Spencer’s bloodstream. The familiar feeling of jealousy creeped up on Spencer as he watched her twirl herself in and out of Derek’s arms.

“See? Aren’t you glad you came out tonight?” Derek smiled as she twirled back against his chest.

She nodded and smiled, a tad bit too tipsy, “Yeah, I guess.”

Penelope grinned and pulled her away from Derek, “Alright! Quit hogging her, I wanna dance with her too!” Y/N laughed and wrapped her arms around Penelope, burying her face in her shoulder.

“Thank you for everything, Pen.” They swayed and Penelope squeezed her harder.

“Anytime, sugarplum.”

“Alright, I’m just about beat. I need some dessert.” Y/N said, pulling back and dragging them both to where everyone was.

While eating dessert, she watched as Spencer continued to converse with Ashley and felt her blood boiling beneath her skin. Or maybe that was the alcohol, she wasn’t sure. It was like a cloak of clarity cascaded upon her. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of everyone and speaking loudly, loud enough to halt the ongoing conversations. With her eyes on Spencer, she only ever had her eyes on Spencer.

“Spencer, I called off my wedding because of you. And now we’re not even friends. You were my best friend, the closest person to me. I don’t know what happened, but I miss you. I don’t want things to ever be this weird between us again. And--and I shouldn’t have been with Grant, I know that. There were so many reasons not to marry him, but the truth is I was ready to ignore every single one until I met you. I asked myself why I waited so long to get married and I thought I just wasn’t ready but I knew I didn’t want him,” she paused to swallow, her tears blurring her vision, “I want you. And now you’re with someone else, and that’s fine. She’s wonderful and she makes you happy and that’s fine,” A few tears escaped and she realized what she was doing, “and I think I’m drunk and I shouldn’t be driving home so if someone could drop me off that would be great.” She dropped her plate on the table and quickly made it inside, leaving a group of agents completely stunned.

And just like that, the weight she’d grown so accustomed to seemed to dissipate from its place on her shoulders.

previous chapter/next chapter

feedback is always appreciated!

taglist: @hopefulfangirl24 @spoiledtunaprincess @ellvswriting @drreidshands @pumpkin-reads @ssa-pretty-boy @thebadassbitchqueen @youareperrrfectls @literaila @greeny-kitten @reidcm @holytrashvoidpersona @hopebaker @word-scribbless @fellintotartarus @criminalmindzjunkie @jpegjade @randomfandomshitposts @differentkettleoffishalltogether @imjusthereformggcontent @confused-and-really-hungry @theseuscmander @purifycrowley @l0ve-0f-my-life @mrs-dr-reid @reidseidetic @onceuponathreetwoone @mosleylanes @eevee0722 @fear-less-write-more @andiebeaword @shameleswhorehourstm @missyredbean @moonshinerbynight @mggpleasedontlookhere @midnight-snac @justpeachykeeeen @meowiemari @sizzlingclamturtlesludge @unded-bride @nazdaniels @hercleverboy @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto

COMMENT ON THE CHAPTERS/SEND ASKS TO BE ADDED TO MY TAGLIST (so sorry if you asked to be tagged and i missed you)

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #Spencer Reid fic #dr spencer reid #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds fic #CM #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #spencer reid masterlist #the receptionist and the profiler #spencer reid series #spencer reid x ashley seaver

354 notes · View notes

early2000smovieimagines · 4 years ago

Text

Meeting and Dating Regina George

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- You technically don’t meet Regina, but she first talks to you one day after school while you’re walking to the bus stop.

- You see, you’re a part of the school yearbook; a photographer to be specific, and took photography class so you were fiddling with your camera while you were walking. You being a part of the yearbook was also initially the reason that she talked to you since Regina doesn’t give the time of day to people like you unless she wants something.

- So there you were, walking across the school yard when Regina fucking George called out to you.

- Now everybody knows who Regina is; which is why I said you didn’t technically meet, and Regina knows that they do, but she’s learned how to play people so she introduces herself. You shyly greet her back, wondering what she’s doing talking to you before she says “oh wow” and begins to ask about your camera.

- You don’t know enough about Regina at this point to realize that she’s playing you like a fiddle so you timidly talk to her for a while before your photography class comes up into conversation. She asks what you do in it and you mention the project you’ve just been assigned: having to pick one or a few subjects and photograph them for about half the year.

- She asks if you’ve chosen someone yet, you mention that you’ll probably choose one of your friends and she says an “oh” which has you hanging on to her next words.

“Well,” she says somewhat pointedly, “I was just thinking, I mean, you’ll have the rest of your life to photograph your friends, and I’m sure you do it all the time. So maybe you should pick a new subject?”

“If you wanted,” she says after you seem to be considering her words. “We’d be more than happy to help you out. You can come hang out with us and build up your portfolio.”

- You ask if she’s sure and she sweetly reassures you, writing down her number and telling you to think about it.

- Well bless your gay little heart, of course you say yes! You’re practically mesmerized by her! It’s just too bad that she only sees you as her own personal photographer ...at least at first.

- So you begin to hang out with the plastics, shocking everyone in your school whenever they actually give you the time of day. Though, of course, they have to give you a makeover and teach you the rules first.

- Everywhere you go, you bring your camera and snap some photos of them, oftentimes at their request. When you’re at school events working on the yearbook, Regina will call your name and you’ll obediently take some pictures of her/them wherever they are. Blinded by your growing crush on the mean girl, you don’t realize what’s happening, especially since she really seems to think of you as a friend.

- I mean, why would she tell guys with newfound interest in you to leave you alone or force you to hang out with her instead of your loser friends/boyfriend or call you up and tell you to sneak out and hang out with her.

- Truth be told, Regina George had taken an actually liking to you and perhaps it had started purely because of the attention you were getting from guys. Regina liked having what other couldnt and now that you were desired; and for other reasons, she wanted you.

- Things come to a head when Gretchen accidentally let slip exactly why Regina had made you their friend after the blonde upset her. The confession had come as a shock but at the same time, you felt dirty, like you’d known all along that it was too good to be true and this was just proving to you that it was.

- You were hurt, you were upset, you were ...angry. How dare she use you like that? Pretend to be your friend for some goddamn photos!

- You didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of blowing up on her, of letting her drop you from the group herself after you “overstepped your boundaries”, so, you ignored her. You didn’t answer her calls, avoided her at school, blatantly ignored her when she called after you. You gave her the silent treatment and it gave you a sick sense of victory.

- Regina hates being ignored and not having control of everything so you; someone she’s grown to have feelings for, just up and ignoring her like she was some common geek really pissed her off. God, you should have seen her after Gretchen admitted she’d told you; the blonde could have killed her.

- So now that the blonde knew what was wrong, she started working towards fixing the mess the “brunette bitch” had made. You obviously weren’t returning her calls nor letting her come near you at school, so she had to surprise you somewhere, somewhere you couldn’t get rid of her. The schools darkroom.

- No one was around there after school, well, no one besides you so when the blonde entered and shut the door behind her, tapping on your shoulder as music blared in your headphones, you nearly had a heart attack.

- Out of sheer shock and anger, you began to yell at her, hurling a few “what the hell is wrong with yous” and insults and explaining that you don’t want to see her. She remains blank faced before she tells you to shut up, successfully shocking you into silence.

- She told you that yes, initially she’d only talked to you for the photos but even then, she saw potential in you, she saw something she liked in you. She thought her interest in you was just some sort of jealousy thing but then she figured out that it was something more. When guys asked you out; well when they tried to, she felt the same way she felt when Aaron Samuels ignored her for some other girl.

- And then she asked if you would go out with her, well, she sort of demanded that you’d go out with her and for better or for worse, you said you would.

- For your first date, the two of you go to the mall together. You spend a few hours shopping around, getting coffees and talking like normal humans. It’s no surprise that you have a good time but you are surprised by how natural it feels to be with her.

- The two of you share your first kiss a few days later, after you’d gone to some party that she’d insisted you attend with her. Some guy had hit on you, causing her to subsequently pretend that she was tired of the place and wanted to go home. Once you were back in her car, she’d pulled you into a rough, obviously jealous kiss, leaving you grinning while she began to drive away.

- And thus, the queen of the plastics became your queen.

- Regina isn’t a huge fan of Pda unless she knows that someone in the vicinity has a crush on you. If there’s someone’s day she can ruin by doing it, then she’s all over you.

- You’ll usually keep your arm around her shoulder or have her arm around you.

- Blowing kisses.

- Just watch the lip gloss when she’s going to be in public, alright?

- Aggressive kisses and makeouts.

- She actually likes cuddling; particularly spooning, especially when she’s feeling upset. She’ll either hold you or let you hold her for hours, usually while watching television.

- You have your very own pair of fuzzy slippers for whenever you stay over at her house.

- Sunbathing on her balcony.

- Phonecalls before bed.

- Affectionate name calling and insults.

- Playful hitting and wrestling.

- Borrowing each other’s stuff: clothes, makeup, perfume, etc. She’ll occasionally buy you things just so she can steal them from you later.

- Small gifts.

- A surprising amount of compliments. You don’t expect Regina George to boost your self esteem up as much as she does but what can she say, she just loves everything about you.

- She likes hearing you rant, she finds it really amusing when you act all bitchy.

- Writing in the burn book, or at least being somewhat pressured into trying it; not purposefully. She just thinks that it’s cathartic so why wouldn’t you?

- Making fun of people together. She’s more mean spirited than you are but hey, you’re both being bitches, right?

- Expect her to make a few commands. She’s just used to having followers and puppy dogs for partners, don’t take it personally.

- Getting her to be nicer to her friends.

- Learning the rules of popularity.

- Getting matching jewelry.

- I’m sorry but you’re now her dress up doll and there’s no stopping it. She’ll do your makeup, buy your clothes, style your hair, whatever her little heart desires; and you’ll just have to let her.

- She actually sort of secretly likes punk/alternative music but you’re one of the few people that’s allowed to know. You bought her an Avril Lavigne cd this one time and she not so jokingly said that she’d go down on you for being so sweet.

- You’re dragged around a lot. You sort of just do whatever she wants, especially if you’re just hanging out rather than going on an actual date.

- Surrender the keys slut. Regina insists on driving no matter whose car you’re taking.

- Going shopping. She needs your advice before she can buy things.

- Holding her stuff for her. I’m sorry but your girlfriend acts like a princess.

- Getting coffees.

- Lunch dates.

- Going to parties together.

- Junk food binges.

- Having tons of photographs together. She has a good bunch of the more platonic looking ones; at least until she comes out, displayed around her room.

- Going to her sports games.

- Letting her rant to you before she has an aneurysm. You’ve certainly helped calm her down from some of her really bad tantrums.

- Hanging out with her little sister. Surprisingly enough, Regina actually really likes her and acts super cute when they’re together.

- She’s got a huge house and an aggressively supportive mom so if your parents are shitty, you’re always welcome to stay with them.

- Telling her how beautiful she is and trying to stop her from focusing on every little somewhat nonexistent flaw of hers.

- Reginas a very jealous girl. She hates seeing you with other people, particularly ones who she thinks are interested in you. She’ll ask what you’re doing talking to them and blatantly scare them away when she’s had enough.

- She’s definitely possessive of you; that’s just how she is.

- Don’t mess with mama bear. She’s sorta overprotective of you and gets offended in your honor. God forbid someone upsets you, or just accidentally bumps into you in the hallway, their life will be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

- The two of you probably fight a lot, sometimes merely bickering, other times having full on screaming matches. She’ll usually either act passive aggressive and pretend to not be bothered or be completely blunt and rude.

- You’ll usually give her the silent treatment and she’ll do the same to you, though she’ll snoop and secretly drive around to see what you’re doing without her. When she’s sick of not seeing you, she’ll give a reluctant apology and somehow always make you forgive her.

- Regina isn’t shy when it comes to saying she loves you, mainly because she usually says it playfully. Though, with that being said, she does always mean it when she says it.

- Perhaps the bus incident happens, perhaps it doesn’t. Nonetheless, the two of you are planning on sticking by each other’s sides; at least for a while.

#2000s movie headcanon #2000s movie headcanons #2000s movie imagine #early 2000s movie headcanon #mean girls headcanon #mean girls imagines #mean girls headcanons #mean girls imagine #Regina George imagines #Regina George headcanons #Regina George headcanon #Regina George imagine

272 notes · View notes

imagine-darksiders · 4 years ago

Note

Just like. Head canons. For our lovely Dad Guys. Whoever you want. Whatever you want. I don’t care. Just. The Fluff Beast. 😫 Getting too strong...! Help! (I’m sorry 😂 Seriously, just do whatever you want. It’ll be beautiful and I’ll love it regardless)

Well, I’ve had this little Eidad fic on the back burner for a while now, sitting in my drafts and not doing a while lot. This seems like a good time to post it <3 <3 <3

It’s a sick fic. Nothing too drastic, just an old maker getting worried about his human friend.

---

Eideard has always been an especially unflappable maker, a trait that tends to come with the territory of being the village elder.

He never gets flustered, and he always maintains the poise and composure expected of him.

Unless, of course, one of his fellow makers is under threat. Only then, by his own admission, does decorum fly out of the proverbial window and little else but worry takes over him, mind, body and soul.

Recently, he's come to discover that the same rule applies to a very specific, little human.

----

“I'm cold.”

That ought to have been their first clue.

You're sitting in the maker's forge, seemingly content to remain still and quiet beside the roaring fire whilst Alya and her brother, Valus, are hard at work at their anvil.

“Cold?” the former twin laughs incredulously, glancing up from the sword she's forging to turn and fix you with a raised brow, “You're sittin' close enough to that fire!”

Her brother though, always the more perceptive of the siblings, ambles around her and makes his way towards you, tugging at the green cowl that sits around his neck. You may be vastly smaller than him, but even behind that visor, he can see the shivers you're trying to suppress. Blinking, you watch him as he bends onto one knee in front of you and holds his treasured garment out, uttering a low, almost undetectable whine.

“I'm okay, big guy,” you murmur, sounding far from it, “Think I've just got a bit of a chill.”

At that, Valus doesn't wait for you to reach up and take the cowl from his grasp and instead, with a huff, he leans forward to drape it around your shoulders, his thick fingers tucking it up underneath you as carefully as he can. Once he's finished, he sits back on his haunches to inspect you, satisfied when you snuggle further into the fabric and give him a shy smile.

“Thanks.”

Pacified, the burly maker returns your smile with a nod and pushes himself onto his feet, turning back to his sister and the anvil.

With their attention elsewhere, you allow your smile to fade, burying your face into Valus's scarf.

You're loathe to tell them the whole truth, that accompanying your chills is a raw throat that feels as though it's been rubbed tender by sandpaper, and an ache in your limbs that only grows worse and worse by the hour.

There's no denying it.

You've come down with something.

At the very least, the makers don't know a lot about human biology, so you're relatively hopeful that you'll be able to pass this off as a mundane occurrence – definitely not anything they should be worrying about.

There is an unspoken rule amongst the giants, one that came about the moment they first laid eyes on you – a small, cowering little thing whose world had been destroyed only a few days prior.

The rule, never spoken aloud, yet understood by all, is that you are a youngling – despite your insistence to the contrary – and younglings are to be protected, especially those who have yet to reach their first century of life.

It also doesn't help that you're a human, and consequently only stand about as high as the makers' knees.

But for as endeared to you as they all are, there are none who are quite so taken as Eideard.

The village Shaman, Muria, speculates that their elder has seen more younglings and friends die off over the centuries than any of them, and thusly, that's where his protective tendencies stem from.

Thane, on the other hand, attests that Eideard has always been enormously tender-hearted, long before grief softened his edges.

If he were to find out that you're sick, you can't imagine he'd take it well.

Bottom line? You'd hate to worry him.

Unfortunately for you, there are some things that can't be kept from a group of watchful makers.

It's impossible to hide glassy eyes, tremors that rattle your whole body and a sudden, explosive sneeze that causes both Alya and Valus to jump out their skin, tools clattering to the stony ground.

“Stone's blood! Bit of warnin' before you go makin' noises like that, please!” Alya exclaims, resting a hand over her heart whilst Valus hurries over to you again.

“It was just a sneeze,” you try to protest, but the forge brother isn't buying it. Without a word, which isn't unusual, he clenches his fists and heaves himself about on a heel, marching purposefully towards the forge's entrance, deaf to his sister calling after him.

“Oi, Valus? Where are you off to?”

It's hardly a surprise that she doesn't get a response.

He disappears through the doors and you share a look with his sister, who hesitantly asks, “You.. sure you're okay?”

The fake smile you plaster on your face is apparently as unconvincing as it feels, judging by the flat look you receive from Alya in response.

A few moments later, the doors swing open once again and your ears pick up two pairs of resounding footsteps thumping through the forge.

Valus appears first, lumbering up the short flight of steps onto the raised dais where he's soon followed by the second maker, a particularly concerned-looking Eideard.

As soon as the elder's pale, grey eyes lock onto you, you slump forwards in defeat, any hope of riding this illness out in privacy now dashed. Of all the makers in Tri Stone, Eideard is the most well-versed in anthropology.

Shooting Valus a glare for his betrayal, you swallow your cough and groan, “Valus, I told you, I’m okay. You didn't need to bother Eideard.”

“I for one, am very glad he did.” From underneath his bushy, furrowed brows, the old maker studies you closely until you duck your head, weighed down by the heaviness of his stare, the whole while, your throat burns with the need to cough. Then, in a blink, his eyes widen again and the fingers clutched around his golden staff turn white as he breathes, “You're sick...”

At once, Alya shoots upright from where she'd been leaning casually against the anvil. “Sick!?” she blurts, her gaze snapping between you and her elder, “Why didn't you say somethin'?!”

“Because!” you argue, hating that Eideard’s face now appears almost twice its age thanks to the worry lines permeating his forehead, “It's not a big de-” As fate would have it, the raw spot at the back of your throat finally chooses its moment, and before you can stop yourself, you're lurching forwards into a vicious cough that burns at the tenderness like acid, bringing tears to your eyes and shame onto your clammy cheeks.

You become vaguely aware of a vast hand coming to rest on your back and fingers that pat you gently until you can catch your breath. Even after you've hacked yourself silly, you push Eideard's silken, blue sleeve away and try to get to your feet, hoping that if they see you standing, they'll be less inclined to fret. But the moment you begin to move, the same hand is cupping around your trembling body and you find yourself being lifted up and nestled against a broad chest by a maker who is wholly undeterred by your feeble resistance.

“I'm not a baby, Eideard!” you complain, trying to wriggle free as the maker presses delicately on your chest, forcing you to lay across his forearm, “Put me down! I can walk just fine.”

“Easy, now. You'll only hurt yourself further if you keep that up,” he rumbles in a tone that's far too gentle for your pride to withstand.

Embarrassed, you wilt down behind his fingers when you hear Alya's stifled giggles, but the old maker doesn't pay her any mind, simply turns away from the anvil and begins to shuffle down the steps, heading for the entrance. Almost immediately, you miss the fire's warmth and Eideard feels your shivers turn violent, his heart seizing at the sound of your teeth chattering together like rapid gunfire.

“You – you're not going outside, are you?” you croak, pulling Valus's cowl up to your neck, “It's freezing!”

“The weather is perfectly mild. You, on the other hand, are burning hotter than forge-fire.”

You open your mouth to protest but find yourself cut off when he continues, “I’ll not have this sickness turning into something worse. We may belong to separate species, but I wasn't born yesterday. A little fresh air will do you some good.”

“Ugh. You sound like my mum.”

His reply comes in the form of an affectionate, rumbling chuckle that you can feel travelling up through his palm and into your bones. Letting out a final huff, you flop backwards and turn limp in his hand.

It isn’t as though you can fight your way out of the Old One's grip, after all. For such an ancient maker, Eideard is powerful, and his age does little to detract from that strength. The meagre resistance you put up is also proven ineffective by the silken softness of the fur trim on his sleeves that you run between your fingers.

Perhaps if you'd been looking at Eideard's expression instead of the doors as he pushes them open, you'd take notice of the disquiet lingering at the edge of his eyes.

He plans on taking you to see Muria in the hopes that she might have a remedy that can alleviate the fever spreading through your delicate body, and, failing that, he will sit with you in the peace of the night air and keep you still and safe until your tremors cease and his old heart stops trying to beat its way out of his ribcage.

You're more than welcome to resent him for this, he muses quietly, but after seeing so many of his people lost to corruption, it isn't such an easy feat to quell the pervasive anxiety that writhes like an impatient, snarling beast in his stomach, and he would much rather endure your resentment if it means keeping you out of harm’s way.

The village elder is supposed to protect his own, and glancing down at you and seeing that you've buried your face into the fabric of his robe to escape the cold, Eideard realises with a sudden surge of paternal drive, that you fall under the scope of those he considers 'his.'

The old maker clutches you possessively against his chest and hurries as well as his tired legs can carry him up towards the Shaman's gazebo, knowing that his soul will never know peace until you’re well once again.

#darksiders #darksiders 2 #Eideard #Eidad #super rushed #sorry #Sick fic #reader #g/t

109 notes · View notes

a-small-batch-of-dragons · 4 years ago

Text

Hot Mess

Prompt: Hi, so I really flippin love your writing style and I was wondering if you could write a fic of the sides just flirting(mainly Janus because we all know he's the best flirter) with each other, like in (Un)wanted chapter 1 where Janus was flustering Virgil really badly, that sort of thing. Could be DLAMP or DLAMPR I don't mind. You don't have too I was just wondering... Thanks either way!

First off, thank you so much for the prompt! Second...

Listen. Everything is awful and I don’t understand how flirting works. Ever. Actually, you know what, no. No one understands what flirting is. There have been so many fucking tests run and no one can ever tell who is flirting ever. It’s bullshit. Everything is bullshit and I’ve never understood a damn thing in my entire life and I’m sure as hell not about to start now. So.

That being said, here.

Read on Ao3

Pairings: yes. LAMP, DLAMP, DLAMPR.

Warnings: sympathetic janus & remus

Word Count: 5884

If you ask anyone whose fault is it that everyone, for some reason, starting flirting with each other, they’ll blame Janus. Even Janus. He knows what he did. It’s his fault.

Anyway, there are a few things that are a given. Everyone flirts with everyone, with the one exception of Roman and Remus. They’re brothers. It doesn’t work. Anything else is fair game. Are they being serious? Who knows. Probably. Maybe. Keeping anything straight around the Mindscape is complicated enough, for obvious reasons.

Doesn’t mean there can’t be some level of trying to keep track of what’s bound to happen at some point.

Patton’s flirting is both the least obvious and the most obvious. It’s super cheesy pick up lines delivered completely genuinely and the sweetest pet-names ever. But the problem is that’s not too different from how he normally is. For some reason, the Dad Coaxing Tone™ is the worst and he knows it. He doesn’t flirt nearly as often as some of the others do and he’s surprisingly sweet about it. It normally just makes them kind of giggly and slightly redder than normal. Always comes with hugs, which is never something to complain about. Cheeky comments and cheeky smiles that leave them second-guessing everything that just happened. And, of course, by the time they’re just about finished wrapping their heads around what just happened, he’s back with another line and here they go again.

Roman.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

They should have expected this because his job is romance but fucking hell.

His way of showing love is through poking fun at things so…all the teasing. All of it. Not just verbal teasing, even though that in itself is enough to make everyone melt into puddles, but he gets close. Like, sneak-up-and-hug-you-from-behind kind of close. Or he’ll just stand really close with a smirk as he teases them, waiting for them to give in and run into his arms. Or he’ll crowd them against the wall. Or the counter. Someone probably dared him to do this—or not, because, again, it’s Roman—but he definitely pinned Logan to the wall and didn’t let up until his grip on Logan’s wrists were the only thing keeping him standing. Also, super gushy pet-names. Like, super gushy. Like Patton, very fond of telling them how cute they are, including asking them why they’re hiding such a cute face, come on, he wants to see how adorable they are. With Janus and Logan, he makes his voice lower, taking advantage of how close that lets him get. Dramatic monologues or sneaking up and dipping them are a must. He goes full Disney Prince and doesn’t let up until they can’t even ramble anymore, smiling down at their bright red cheeks. With the others, he makes his voice very sweet, soft, and gentle. He gets right in their faces so they can’t go anywhere and riles them up until they’re a melted squirmy mess. It’s not uncommon to find someone—normally Patton or Virgil— an absolute puddle with Roman beaming, just twisting them round and round his finger. Merciless and shameless flirt. Roman is the actual worst and they all love him.

Virgil is affectionately known as The Meme Flirter. No prizes for guessing who came up with that. He picks one nickname for each of them and just peppers it into conversation with a wink and a smirk. The master of timing. He doesn’t need to spend ages winding them up, he just picks the right moment and they’re covering their faces and squirming. Also uses the technique of being close but not close enough to touch. Sometimes he’ll team up with Roman or Logan and just be there all ‘you know he’s right’ when they look to him for help, or engage in conversation with whoever else is flirting about how red they’re getting, or how much they’re squirming. Or he’ll engage in flirt competitions. He’s way more confident about it than they ever anticipate and it always catches them off guard. He keeps an eye on them though, because he knows the others (especially Roman) can get carried away. “You don’t wanna break ‘em, do you?”

(They do sometimes but shh.)

For Logan, infodumping is the actual best way of expressing affection and you will not convince him otherwise. He’ll research topics so they can talk about them together if they want but if you think that is it then boy howdy you are wrong. This guy keeps notebooks on the best way to fluster each and every one of the Sides, okay. He knows his shit. He infodumps about them too, phrasing compliments as provable facts. Will pretend to be confused about why they’re getting so flustered, he’s just telling them the truth, why are you so red? It would be convincing if he weren’t purposefully making his voice as low as it can go and smirking. Also a teasy bastard. He will just ask them to do things he knows they can’t help doing when they get flustered, especially with Patton or Janus. He’s asked Janus to squee for him more often than he would like. (Liar.) Or they’ll be protesting and telling them to knock it off and he’ll just point out that ‘no one is holding you. Nor are we blocking any exits. By all means, if you wish to leave, then you may.’ Knowing perfectly well they’re puddles and puddles can’t move. But then ‘oh, you must not want to leave.’ ‘Accidental’ touches make it worse, as well as nonchalantly adding in pet-names. He’s the one who figured out that pet-names make them melt, by the way. Also figured out that firmer touches help ground them, so he offers them a deal sometimes. If they like, they can come and cuddle with him while he flirts. It gives them an excuse to cuddle and a place to hide, but that does mean he’s murmuring right into their ears. It’s a double-edged sword. When he teams up with Roman they are the worst, especially when they agree that it’s necessary to reestablish emotional stability. Or they’re bored, snickering when poor Virgil bolts out of the room from too much blush. Virgil will run away if it gets to be too much, he’s got that built into his whole deal as anxiety, but Janus…forget about it. That team-up definitely has overwhelmed the poor thing multiple times. You can’t freeze with these predators, they’ll eat you alive. They definitely teased and flirted with him until he burst into tears one time, it was…an experience.

“Enough!”

Roman pauses, midway through some dramatic gesture, faltering at the crack in Janus’s voice. Logan glances at him before looking back at Janus, his hands still pressed hard to his face, his shoulders tense. He takes a small step forward and tilts his head.

“Janus?”

He calls his name softly until he lowers his hands, unable to stop the comforting noise when he sees the tears on his cheeks. Beside him, Roman inhales sharply, only to make a noise of protest when he immediately covers his face again.

“Janus,” he says, dropping the flirty persona immediately, “may I touch you?”

Please say yes, please.

He nods. Logan reaches out, gently covering his hands to coax them away, clutching them tightly.

“Too much?” Janus nods. “My apologies, it was not my intention to overwhelm you.”

“Nor mine, little snake,” Roman says quietly.

“I know.”

“Would you like us to stay,” Logan asks gently, giving his hands a squeeze, “or leave you alone?”

Janus shuffles, his mouth drawing tight and his hands tensing. Logan is content to wait patiently for him to make up his mind, but Roman seems to have other ideas.

“Oh dear,” he murmurs, stepping a little closer, “we really overdid it this time, didn’t we, darling?”

“I said enough,” Janus mumbles.

“I know, I know, I’m done,” he assures, reaching out to tenderly wipe his cheek, “I promise. Oh, oh you poor thing…”

“Roman,” Logan chides gently, “I don’t think…”

He trails off when Janus frees one of his hands, tentatively reaching out for Roman. Roman swoops in, gathering him into a hug so tight his fingers whiten from his grip on him. As Logan watches, Roman tilts his head slightly, beginning to pepper kisses along the side of his face.

“I don’t understand,” he says quietly, “how…how is this not more overwhelming?”

“I think you’re going to have to wait to ask him that, Specs,” Roman murmurs, “because I don’t know that either.”

“Then how did you know it would work?”

Roman looks up at him, sadness coloring his gaze. “Because a different face told me it would.”

Ah.

“I’m right here,” Roman says softly, rocking Janus in his arms, “I’m right here, little snake. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Janus all but slumps into Roman’s embrace, his head tucking neatly against his shoulder as he presses more kisses to his face.

“I have you, alright? I’m not going to hurt you, you know I’m not.” Roman adjusts his grip. “It’s just like we always do, hmm? I rile you up and then you come here and I cuddle you right back down.”

He pulls back to gently catch another tear with his thumb. “Just pushed a bit too far this time, hmm?”

I rile you up and cuddle you back down.

Like we always do.

I’m not going to hurt you, you know I’m not.

“I understand,” Logan breathes, “I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“What’s happening.” Logan steps forward, gently resting his hands on the part of Janus’s back not covered by Roman’s arms. “And how I can help.”

“By all means then,” Roman says, “tell us.”

“Janus is…not accustomed to receiving compliments,” Logan begins, lightly hushing Janus’s noise of protest.

“It’s true, little snake,” Roman says.

“Yes, and we will work on that,” Logan promises, “but that does make it easy to blindside or disarm him with comments of that nature. Hence…”

He motions between the three of them.

“You’re not used to experiencing affection like this,” he continues softly, “and especially not through flirting or playful teasing, which is why it doesn’t take much effort on our parts to fluster you.”

Janus makes another noise of protest and he shushes him gently.

“I’m not trying to tease, Janus, I promise,” he murmurs, “but it doesn’t, does it? It makes you uncomfortable because you don’t understand it, not really, so you don’t know what to expect next. We have not exactly been…forthcoming with affection in the past, have we?”

Janus nods hesitantly.

“This, however,” Logan continues, leaning a little more of his weight onto his hands, “is a form of affection you understand very well.”

He steps a little closer, rubbing firm circles into Janus’s back.

“You are a very heat-sensitive person,” he says, “and you understand how to give and receive affection in this language, so to speak. When one of us touches you while we are teasing or flirting with you, it heightens the loss of control you feel because it’s something that should be familiar, but it’s being used in an unfamiliar way.”

“But when it’s like this,” Logan continues, leaning closer, “it’s calming. Grounding. Especially after you’ve just been in a state of higher stress. You know what we mean by it.”

“When I put my hand on your shoulder or your back,” he murmurs, shifting his weight further onto his hands, “you know it means I’m here, right here, and I’m not going anywhere. When Roman kisses you—“ Logan smiles when Roman uses that as an excuse to press another kiss to Janus’s forehead— “you know it means he cares about you, that he won’t let anything hurt you.”

“Look at our resident genius over here,” Roman says, leaning over to peck Logan’s cheek too, smirking when it brings a flush to his face, “aww, Logan, feeling left out?”

“No,” Logan replies stiffly, ignoring the growing smirk on Roman’s face, “and even if I were, we have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“No, no,” Janus mumbles, “I’m good now, I can leave, it can be Logan’s turn.”

Roman raises his eyebrows. ‘Are you gonna let that go?’

Logan will most certainly not.

“I can assure you,” he rumbles into Janus’s ear, “I am perfectly satisfied with our roles as they currently stand.”

Roman chuckles when Janus squirms in his grip.

“After all,” Logan continues, “we have just established that this can be quite the cathartic experience for you, it wouldn’t do at all to interrupt it before it is complete.”

“Did you just…create a scientific excuse to do this in the name of maintaining emotional stability?”

Logan smirks. “Perhaps.”

“You know better than to try and argue with Logan about science,” Roman adds.

Janus swats at them half-heartedly but doesn’t protest when Roman lets him go a few moments later, pressing one last kiss to his forehead and leaving. Logan taps him gently on the shoulder.

“Am I correct, Janus?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, a little red still on his cheeks, “you’re right.”

“Good.” Logan reaches out and slides the tissue box closer. “And…thank you.”

He looks up, confused. “For what?”

Logan smiles. “For telling us it was too much, and for letting us help.”

That’s the first time Logan’s able to determine exactly how best to help one of them calm down, especially after one of them is incredibly flustered. The first time he implements it is under…slightly different circumstances.

He’s not quite sure how Virgil and Roman talked him into playing Truth Or Dare, but here he is, on the couch, Roman sprawled across the floor, Virgil perched on the back. So far he’s had to cover his ears from Roman belting the third Disney medley in an hour and he has several questions for Remus about where his good clipboard is. Then it’s Virgil’s turn again and he picks dare.

“Are you sure, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance?” Roman asks.

“Just hit me with it, Princey.”

Roman taps his fingers against his chin, glancing around. His eyes land on a spot over Logan’s shoulder and he grins. Logan follows his gaze and sees Janus in the kitchen.

“I dare you,” Roman announced, “to flirt with Patton for two minutes.”

Virgil snorts. “That’s it?”

Roman just sweeps his arm dramatically. “Your dare awaits.”

Virgil shrugs, getting up off the couch and making his way to the kitchen. The instant he’s almost there, Roman scrambles up, jumping onto the couch next to Logan, almost landing on top of him, hooking his chin over the back.

Logan raises an eyebrow. “Comfortable?”

“Shush, Pocket Protector,” Roman says, flapping a hand, “and get your timer out.”

Logan rolls his eyes, checking his watch and watching Virgil lean on the counter, propping his chin on his hand.

“Hey there, cutie.”

Patton startles, whirling around to see Virgil. “Hey! Wow, you scared me, uh, yeah, hi there!”

“Sorry,” Virgil smiles, not sounding the least bit sorry, “can’t help it. You look like a cute little bunny when you’re startled.”

“Oh, god, not this,” Patton mutters, turning around, his face already starting to flush.

Virgil grins, his tongue between his teeth as Patton tries to go back to what he was doing. “You just make it too easy, cutie.”

“I do not!”

The grin turns feral. “Then why don’t you turn around and show me that pretty face?”

“Nope. No thank you. I’m going to stay over here.”

“Why, afraid of proving me right?”

“No.”

“Then come on, cutie,” Virgil says, tilting his head, “turn around.”

Patton leans his head back, sighing before turning around and spreading his arms. “Happy?”

“Mm.” Virgil grins. “You’ve got such pretty eyes, Patton.”

He stutters, his face already turning red. “Oh my god. Stop!”

“Can’t help it cutie,” Virgil says, waggling his eyebrows and chuckling when Patton covers his face, “I’ve been dared to do this for two minutes!”

“Good to know,” Patton squeaks, “that this is only happening because it’s mandatory.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, cutie, you know I’ll flirt with you anyway.”

“That is not what I meant!”

Virgil only laughs harder. “You might wanna pace yourself, cutie, you’ve still got…”

He trails off, looking at Logan. Logan checks his watch.

“One minute and twelve seconds.”

“One minute and twelve seconds left,” Virgil finishes, propping himself back up on the counter, “so…”

The sight is entertaining, Logan has to admit. Patton goes bright and flushed, his eyes squeezing shut, mumbling little things to himself and trying not to whine every time Virgil opens his mouth.

“Aw,” Virgil teases when he breaks and tries to bite down on his knuckle, “don’t muffle yourself, cutie.”

“Goodness, you need to stop.”

“I want your voice on my playlist, it’s so pretty.”

“Why?”

“I just said.” Virgil props his chin on his hand again. “It’s so pretty.”

“No, why are you doing this?”

Virgil smirks. “Because you’re so pretty.”

And with that, Patton’s reduced to another blushy panic with plenty of muttered comments and Virgil’s standing there, grinning. It’s refreshing, seeing Virgil so confident, so sure of himself. It looks good on him.

And, of course, Patton is objectively adorable.

The scene is so captivating, in fact, that Logan glances down at his watch only to realize the two minutes have expired.

“Time,” he calls, much to Patton’s relief.

“Thank goodness.”

“Aw,” Virgil pouts, “you’ll hurt my feelings, cutie.”

“Nope. No more.” Patton points a stern finger at him, the effect slightly undone by his pink cheeks and the fact that he’s obviously fighting a smile. “You get out.”

Virgil just winks and saunters back to the couch.

“Stellar performance, Dark and Stormy,” Roman declares, giving Virgil a round of applause, “truly excellent.”

“Well done,” Logan says, “that was quite the display of self-confidence.”

Virgil just lifts a shoulder and lets it drop. “Eh. Easy dare. My turn now, right?”

“Indeed.”

Virgil narrows his eyes, glancing between the two of them. “Princey. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Roman answers immediately, “what kind of prince would I be if I turned down a challenge?”

Virgil smirks. “Alright, then. You have two minutes to make Patton redder than I did.”

“Done.”

“Virgil,” Logan chides lightly as Roman prances off toward the kitchen.

“Relax,” Virgil says, settling in to watch, “it’s not like he’s gonna hurt him.”

“No, he’s just going to fluster him with the end goal of rendering him inarticulate.”

Virgil smirks. “Exactly. Now shut up and watch.”

“Oh, Addie,” Roman calls, smirking at the way Patton startles.

“Oh, um, hey, Roman, um, what do you want?”

“I just want to talk to you, Patton.”

“Oh goodness,” Patton mumbles, already covering his face as Roman crowds him against the counter, “don’t say my name like that, that’s really mean!”

Roman’s eyes gleam. “Dearest, if you wanted me to call you pet names instead, you only had to ask, my sweet, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“No!”

Roman just smirks, bracing his hands on either side of him. “No? Then what should I call you, gorgeous?”

Any reply is too muffled for Logan to hear. Virgil snickers as Roman sighs dramatically.

“Fine, I’ll just have to call you by your lovely, lovely name.” He leans forward to try and peer through the gaps in his fingers. “Almost as lovely as you.”

He chuckles when Patton whines again, spluttering like a fish out of water. “You’re so cute when you’re at a loss for words.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I was dared to make you redder than Virgil did.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re absolutely stunning, darling,” Roman answers easily, “and it’s stunningly easy to flirt with you.”

“It is not!”

Virgil snorts and Logan raises an eyebrow. Roman’s smirk widens.

“Of course is it, cutie pie,” he coos, “all I have to do is this.”

“N-no, don’t do that,” Patton stammers, trying to cover his face with a dish towel, only for Roman to catch his hands and effortlessly pull them out of the way, lacing their fingers together and holding them against the counter.

“What’s the problem, sweetie?” He gently blows a strand of hair out of Patton’s face. “Is it just that I’m…right here? Talking like this to you? Is that it, honey?”

“Mmm!”

“Hmm?” Roman tilts his head. “What’s that, cutie?”

“It’s not even flirting,” Patton manages, still looking as if he’s trying to sink into the counter.

“I’m not even saying anything, cutie,” Roman coos, “and there’s nothing I enjoy better than being able to render you speechless like this.”

Logan has to admit, Roman’s teasing is enough to make him shift on the couch, a slight flush rising unbidden to his face. Judging by the way Virgil starts fiddling with the strings on his hoodie, he’s not immune to it either.

It really should not be that much of a surprise that Roman is one of the most proficient flirters in the Mindscape. Romance, passion, and desire all fall under his purview. And yet, here they all are, slowly growing more and more flustered.

“Okay,” Virgil mutters just loud enough for Logan to hear, “Princey’s getting me and he’s not even trying.”

“I concur.” Logan adjusts his tie and glances at his watch. “Thirty seconds.”

“Come on.” Roman tugs gently at the towel in Patton’s hands. “You have to show me your cute little face, otherwise I won’t know if the dare’s over yet!”

He finally manages to get the towel away from him and gasps, quickly reaching out to cup his cheeks before he can cover his face again. “Oh, just look at you, you’re even cuter up close!”

“R-Roman!”

“Yes, cutie pie?”

“Let me go!”

“Go where,” Roman murmurs, pushing Patton gently against the counter, “can you think of anywhere better to be than right here, in my arms, while I tease you silly? Hmm? You’re not even trying to get away, sunshine.”

“Time.”

Roman chuckles, stepping back, perching his hands on his hips. “What do you think, redder than Virgil’s go?”

“Hmm,” Virgil hums, leaning over the back of the couch, “dunno. Can’t see his face from here.”

“I’m mad at you,” Patton mutters, already covering his face.

“Aw, no,” Roman purrs, “no you aren’t. Come on, gorgeous, if you don’t show us your face, I’ll just have to do it again!”

“No.” Patton forces his hands down, making Roman chuckle again. Sure enough, his face is beet red, covering his skin with such intensity that for a moment, Logan worries. Then Virgil snorts.

“Aww, he’s so cute!”

“I know, isn’t he?”

“Oh my goodness.”

“Virgil,” Logan chides lightly.

“You’re no fun, teach,” Virgil says, waving a hand, but he concedes. “Yeah, alright, Princey. You win.”

Roman bows, sweeping his hand in a wide arc, before taking one of Patton’s hands and pressing a kiss to the back of it.

“Thank you, sunshine.” With a wink, he strides back to the couch and sits down triumphantly. “That was fun!”

His eyes widen when he sees Logan adjust his glasses nervously and Virgil quickly flips up his hood.

“Don’t tell me that you got flustered too,” he teases, reaching up to poke Logan’s arm.

“Enough,” Logan says quickly, “your turn to ask.”

For a moment, he braces himself for Roman to not, indeed, agree, but then Roman simply pouts and tilts his head up.

“Logan, dare or dare?”

Logan blinks. “That is not the game, Roman.”

“Yeah, but you’re the only one who hasn’t done a dare yet, so…” Roman shrugs. “Dare or dare?”

“It seems pointless for me to choose between two of the same options,” Logan sighs, “but I will select ‘dare.’”

Roman tilts his head this way and that, considering Logan. Then he grins.

“I don’t think it’s fair if we leave Logan out,” he says to Virgil, “do you?”

“Oh, goodness, hasn’t Patton had enough?”

Virgil narrows his eyes at him. “So you don’t wanna have a turn?”

Logan fiddles with his watch. “…I didn’t say that.”

“Marvelous!” Roman claps his hands. “Oh, don’t be so shy, Logan!”

“We know you’ve got notebooks full of ways to fluster us, L,” Virgil adds, “you’re good at it, okay?”

Logan is quite proud of his ability to flirt, although how the others know about his research is a worrying question.

“So,” Roman says cheerfully, “you have two minutes, but you have a harder job than we did.”

Logan frowns and Roman’s grin widens.

“You have two minutes to make Patton melt.”

“Oh, Logan’s screwed,” Virgil chortles, tugging at his hoodie strings, “he’s so wound up right now.”

Well.

Logan gets up, adjusts his tie, and heads for the kitchen, ignoring the way Roman and Virgil scramble up onto the couch to watch.

Patton’s leaning over the counter, pressing his hand to his forehead. He glances up when Logan enters the kitchen and pauses. Contrary to his previous statement, he doesn’t look upset or angry, simply exhausted.

“You too, hmm?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Patton groans, letting his head drop onto the counter. “Did I do something? Or are you all just bored?”

“We’re bored,” Virgil shouts, “and you’re cute!”

“Shh, it’s not your turn anymore!”

“Shut up, Princey.”

Logan rolls his eyes fondly, stepping closer. Patton straightens up, waving a hand.

“Go on. Just get it over with.”

“And I thought Roman was dramatic,” Logan remarks dryly, “but I am not keeping you here. If you truly wish to leave…”

He gestures toward the stairs. Patton glances between him and the stairs.

“…really?”

“By all means,” Logan says, lowering his voice and leaning against the wall to demonstrate he had no intentions of moving, “be my guest.”

He watches, carefully keeping his face blank, as Patton starts to edge around the counter. He eyes the little bit of space he’s left and he can see the moment he realizes it’s not enough.

“Okay,” he says, “I’m gonna go now.”

“I know.” Logan tilts his head and smiles. “I’m not stopping you.”

He stops out of his reach and stares at the gap again. One more little push, then.

“You know…” Logan adjusts his glasses and looks Patton up and down. “You do not seem to be particularly…eager to leave, Patton.” He lets the corner of his mouth turn up into a smirk. “Could it be that…you do not wish to leave?”

Patton takes the bait.

As soon as Patton gets close enough, Logan hooks his foot around his ankle and blocks his exit, not bothering to hide his smirk this time. “However,” he says quietly, “I do have a task to perform.”

“You,” Patton mumbles, closing his eyes, “are mean.”

“Then allow me to make it up to you.” Logan moves, using his weight to push him back into the kitchen. “I have a proposition.”

“Logan…”

Logan smiles, leaning against the counter. “Come here.”

“That sounds awful.” Logan raises his eyebrows. “…okay, okay, I’m coming.”

Patton stops in front of him, his arms wrapped protectively around his waist. He does indeed look very cute.

“Touch can be very grounding for you,” Logan says quietly, careful to keep his voice too low for Roman and Virgil to hear, “so if you like, you may cuddle with me for the duration of the two minutes.”

“…really?”

“Yes, really.” He holds out one hand, palm up. “Or, you may leave. I won’t stop you this time.”

He hugs himself tighter, glancing between the stairs and Logan’s hand. He tilts his head.

“Come here, Patton,” he murmurs.

He takes his hand.

He pulls Patton closer, opening his arms and letting him hug him nervously. He hugs him back, creating a little pocket of intimacy apart from the rest of the room.

“There…” Logan leans down to whisper in his ear. “Isn’t that better? Now you have something to hold onto, something to hide your face, hmm?”

Patton nods, his face buried in his shoulder.

The other thing about having Patton in his arms is that he can murmur directly into his ear, which both prevents Roman and Virgil from hearing anything he’s saying and makes flustering him much, much easier. He says as much, smiling when Patton whines and tightens his grip.

“Do you know what my dare was, Patton?” When he shakes his head, Logan reaches up to gently run his hand through his hair. “It was not, in fact, to fluster you, but to make you melt.”

“M-melt?”

“Yes, dear,” Logan smirks when Patton shudders involuntarily. “Do you like the pet names, little one?”

“Logan…”

“Shh,” he murmurs, running his hand through his hair again, “it’s quite alright, dear. Physical affection helps you relax, pet names make you feel cared for. It makes sense.

“You are a sweetheart. No, no, don’t disagree with me,” he hushes, “you are. You care very much about how you can help other people and you do, sweetheart. It follows that having such affections be returned make you feel good.”

He tightens his grip, cradling his head against his shoulder. “You feel good right now, don’t you, dear?”

“…yes.”

“Then, truly, how can you blame us for wanting to call you so many?” Logan tilts his head a little more. “You always get so flustered by it.”

“No, I don’t…”

“You clearly do,” he purrs, “you’re not hiding it well, dear. I can feel how warm your face is, pressed into me like that.”

As he speaks, he feels it grow warmer still. He chuckles.

“Oh, there’s really no need to be so embarrassed, dear,” he murmurs, “it makes complete sense. Hugs have been proven to decrease stress, reduce blood pressure, and increase the production of oxytocin.“ He smirks. “Quite the addictive drug, no?”

Patton whines and he runs his hand slowly down his spine, pulling his hips against his.

“You are smaller than me—“

“Hey!”

“—you are, which increases the feeling of protection,” he murmurs, “and safety, and thus you will relax.”

He draws the word out with deliberate slowness, the end of it turning into a chuckle as he trembles in his hold.

“That’s it, dear,” he says softly, “relax. Because there’s one more reason you’re going to melt for me.”

Logan pauses, glancing up to see Roman and Virgil staring at them over the edge of the kitchen counter. He smirks and puts his mouth deliberately close to Patton’s ear.

“You care for me, don’t you, Patton,” Logan whispers, his breath ghosting over his neck, “you do, don’t you? You care for me.”

Patton whimpers.

“Say it, dear,” Logan coaxes, “say you care for me?”

“…of course I do,” comes the strangled whisper.

“Of course you do,” he purrs, “of course you do, and here you are…wrapped up in my arms…letting me call you pet names…letting you hide your blush in the crook of my neck…”

He shifts one last time, making sure Roman and Virgil can see. Raising his voice slightly, he cups the back of Patton’s head protectively. He glances at his watch.

“Ready?” He threads his fingers through the baby hairs on the back of Patton’s neck.

“One…two…three, melt for me, dear.”

The two minutes run out just as Patton whines and melts into a blushing little puddle in Logan’s arms.

“Holy shit,” Logan hears Virgil mutter, “he fucking did it.”

“I’m never underestimating him again.” Roman throws his hands up. “He did it in two minutes.”

He tightens his grip, his nails scratching the back of his neck. “Good job, dear.”

And if it makes him shudder and lean into him a little more, well, that’s just something else to add to the notebook.

It’s cathartic; he can wind them up, make them all flustered, and then open his arms and cuddle them right back down, give them the reassurance of getting all worked up in a safe environment where nothing’s really gonna hurt them. Plus, if they’re too tired to protest when he peppers kisses all over them, that’s just a bonus.

Janus—the one whose fault this is—is classic spy movie seduction. Textbook. His silver-tongue makes compliments as smooth as his scales and subtle touches that make their heads spin. Pet names, snarky comments, teasing, the lot of it. He knows they have a thing for his voice. All he has to do most of the time is get close and purr and they’re putty in his hands. Sometimes he’ll stay further away where they have nowhere to hide and just watch them squirm. Sometimes he just has to look at them a certain way and they’re gone. He is the embodiment of using the business end of your weapon to homo-erotically tilt up your opponent’s chin. Rivals Roman for how easy it is for him to make them flustered, but unlike Roman, with him, it’s a toss-up. He knows he’s a lot, and odds are, if he’s going to flirt with them, it’s more likely to be for the catharsis reason and less because they’re fun to play with. (Even though they are.) So, if he’s not having a competition with another Side or in a playful mood, he’s much gentler about it than Roman is, he’ll stop a lot sooner or pull them into his lap for cuddles. Or, like Remus, he’ll just touch them, let them hide their face in the crook of his neck, and just run his hands over them. It’s a perfect combination of grounding and flustering. Plus, warmth is good for snakes and there’s nothing warmer than a bright, flushed, flustered face. Totally doesn’t fluster people on purpose to steal their body heat.

Remus is by far the only side where his approaches are completely different depending on who it is. Virgil is flustered very easily by his innuendos and everything, the more audacious, the better. Sometimes it resorts to the two of them having a flirt-off, the loser hiding their face while the victor cackles. Or Remus will make something that totally isn’t an innuendo into one and Virgil’s gone. For Logan, often he’ll just find him and tackle him onto the nearest surface, flopping down on top of him like a cat and listening as Patton starts verbally vomiting as he gets redder and redder. But overt sexual references make Patton and Janus really really uncomfortable, so it’s the bad kind of flustered. Instead, he’ll just find them and cuddle them and loudly explain how they are in fact the best cuddler. He finds how embarrassed they get very amusing. And if it has the side effect of summoning everyone else to a cuddle pile both because of the outrageous idea that anyone is better at cuddling than them and also free cuddles, well. Oops.

So yeah. It’s a fucking mess.

At least it’s a hot mess, right?

General Taglist: @frxgprince @potereregina @reddstardust @gattonero17 @iamhereforthegayshit @thefingergunsgirl @awkwardandanxiousfander @creative-lampd-liberties @djpurple3 @winterswrandomness @iminyourfandom @bullet-tothefeels @full-of-roman-angst-trash @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind @demoniccheese83 @pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious @firefinch-ember @fandomssaremysoul @im-an-anxious-wreck @crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch @enby-ralsei @unicornssunflowersandstuff @wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams @averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @private-snippers @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @aularei @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws @elizabutgayer @i-am-overly-complicated @annytheseal @alias290 @such-a-dumbass

If you want to be added/taken off the taglist let me know!

#dragonbabbles #fic #sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #deceit sanders #remus sanders #lamp #dlamp #dlampr

211 notes · View notes

odd-birds-and-booksellers · 4 years ago

Text

Anything Like Christmas Wishes

It’s a very late and final “Tis the Damn Season for Two Dumb Bitches” from me and I’d like to once again express my hate for anything @doc-pickles talks me into and promise to never partake again. I hope you all had lovely Christmas and enjoy a little more of the Kit Kat universe, I never planned to write more than one oneshot for him and here we are so let me know what you think.

This is part of the Anything like series so if you haven’t already go check it out.

“Dad!”

Alex caught sight of Kit as he exited his friend's house, apparently, one of the kids in his class was born on Christmas Day which meant his parents always went overboard on the Christmas eve party.

Alex had been pretty bummed to lose half a day with Kit on their first Christmas together but he couldn’t let him down, especially when Kit had been so excited telling him all about this famous party. He had to admit the smile on his face had been well worth it. He’d only been in his life for a little over six months but Alex already felt like he’d known him forever, he’d made a point of knowing everything about him, what he liked, what he disliked, allergies, shoe size, favourite ice cream flavour, teachers names, anything and everything he could think of, he even quizzed Jo on her pregnancy when she let him. He was so desperate to not feel like the outsider looking in and the family he could've had.

“How was the party Kit Kat?” Alex asked as he buckled the young boy into his car seat, ruffling his hair affectionately before he shut the door.

“It was awesome...Jamie’s dad set himself on fire.”

Alex chuckles peering up to see Kits grinning face that was covered in chocolate cake still in the mirror. “Oh well, that sounds safe…”

“It was really funny…”

“I’m glad you had fun, are you excited for Christmas tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m so excited.” Kits eyes light up at the mention of Christmas as Alex pulls out onto the street. “Momma and I are gonna watch the Grinch and make lunch together, momma always burns something.”

Alex chuckles, catching Kit's eye in the mirror as he pulls up at red light, the miniature Alex falling into a fit of laughter as Alex shudders at the thought of Jo’s cooking. “Oh don’t I know it.”

“What are you doing dad?”

“I’m probably gonna go into work and check on my patients…”

Alex hears Kit gaps dramatically at his answer, making him furrow his eyebrows as he looks back at him. “You’re not...you’re not gonna see bista and El?”

Bista and El, Kit had accidentally called Alexis his bista instead of sister the first time they’d met and they’d found it so funny it had ended up sticking. It had been a great relief to Alex to see them all get along, Kit was so excited to have even more family and well for the twins Alex assumed they were getting used to surprise family members appearing every five years, plus they really enjoyed having a younger brother, someone to teach all the cool stuff they knew to and boss around.

“No, they're with their mom this year. We take it in turns. I saw them last year, so this year it’s their turn with her so I’ll see them the day after and then we’ll come to pick you up in the afternoon.” Alex forces a huge smile on to his face, hoping Kit doesn't pick up on the fact that it doesn't quite meet Alex’s eyes, he really hated spending Christmas without his kids, he hated more that he’d gone from the guy all alone on Christmas to the family man cutting the turkey and then back to being alone again.

“Oh…” Kits face dropped as they pulled up to Alex’s, looking down at his hands as he waited for Alex to open the car door for him. “So you’re all alone?”

“No no I’m okay buddy, I’ve got a lot of kids at the hospital that need my help.” It wasn’t a complete lie, he could go to the hospital, sure he wasn’t due to work but he’d definitely have something to do, he'd never wished a kid sick but he sure could use the distraction.

“You can come to my house.” Kit exclaims, throwing his hands up in excitement, sending sweets flying as they both kick their shoes off by the door, Kit tugging at Alex’s sleeve and he excitedly tells him his new idea. “Momma won’t mind at all, you can share my presents.”

“Thanks, Kit Kat, but you don’t have to worry about me, you and momma have your own plans.” He watches as Kit deflates once again, his little lip jutting out the same way Jo’s does. Alex hated this, he hated hurting his kids however inadvertent it was. It's clear a change in topic is in need if Alex is gonna rescue this KitKat and Daddy day. “Now...who wants to play Mario kart?”

The spend the rest of the afternoon playing as many games as they can, Alex may have gone overboard with the sweet treats, he was kind of a sucker when it came to spoiling his kids, it wasn't until Kit had begun running purposefully in the wall only to fall into a fit of giggles and go again that he realised he'd made a mistake one that he'd have to somehow explain to Jo.

“HI MOMMA,” Kit screamed the minute Jo opened her front door, his eyes wide as he raced past Jo, spinning around in circles in the hallway.

“Hi Kit Kat” Jo laughed bemused as she looked back at him before turning towards Alex who was sheepishly making his way up the drive with Kits bags in hand.

“He’s kinda sugar high” Alex mutters rubbing the back of his neck as Jo steps aside to let him, they’d agreed he’d have Christmas Eve with the Kit this year but Alex didn’t wanna lose any time with him so they’d decided he’d spend the evening with him at Jo’s so he could do the bedtime routine and Kit could still wake up with Jo. Jo had promised to make herself scarce already feeling bad Alex wouldn’t be with Kit on Christmas, much to Alex’s dismay who really wouldn’t mind spending time with her and Kit together, but Jo was pretty against the idea of giving Kit the wrong idea.

She’d insisted she’d be attending her hospital Christmas Eve party which is why she was standing there now, shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest, the deep red satin dress clinging to her body making Alex avert his eyes up to her face which wasn’t helping much because the red lipstick she’d chosen to wear really had his mind spinning as he stepped into her house.

“I can see that...Thanks for bringing him here, I don’t wanna ruin your time together I just thought it would be easier to put him to bed here.”

“Jo I get it you don’t have to explain it to me, I’m happy to do whatever makes you happy” Alex mutters carefully choosing his words as she closes the door leaving little space between them, making Alex shift uncomfortably.

“So you keep saying…”

“Well, I mean it, Jo.” Alex’s voice changes, sounding a life more serious as he peers his head around the living room door checking that Kit was alright, watching as their son every toy he could out of the toy chest in there. “So you're going to that Christmas party?” He asks looking back to Jo gesturing to her dress.

“Yeah...I wouldn’t usually, I mean if I’m off on Christmas I’ve always usually been with Kit but I...it’s only fair you have time with him but I can’t sit here on my own so the party’s a good distraction.”

“Well, you could’ve hung out with me and Kit.”

“No no, it’s your time I don’t wanna encroach.”

“Jo really it’s-“

Alex is cut off by another male voice.

“Jo...Hi” There standing in the doorway to the kitchen is a man Alex doesn't recognise dressed in a smart suit navy blue, that screams more expensive than one-months paycheck. “You must be Alex...Kit’s dad right?” The mystery man moves towards Alex, offering his hand out for him.

“Right.” Alex nods, his hand tightly clasping around the mystery man as he sized him up. He hadn’t seen Jo with another guy yet, he knew she’d been on a few dates the last six months but he hadn’t actually seen a guy with her, seen a goy put his hands on her. He’d assumed he’d be okay, so much time had passed since they’d been together but seeing this guy here now, in the house his son lived in, Jo dressed up to the nines to go out with him...it all made him feel sick.

That should be him, this man is in his place, in a life that should’ve been his but he’d ruined his chance a long time ago and he couldn’t really blame any guy for wanting to be with Jo.

“Sorry this is erm Dr Walker he’s the trauma chief at work.”

Dr Walker pulls his phone from his pocket as it pings, tutting at something before he begins to type away furiously. “We should get going.”

Alex withheld a growl that rumbled low in his chest as he watched Walker walk straight past Jo looking down at his phone as he grabbed his coat from by the door.

Jo looks a little uneasy as she checks her watch, glancing between the two men in her hallway before letting out a shaky breath. “Alex…”

“It’s fine Jo...go, have fun, you deserve it.” Alex shakes his head smiling at her, watching as she calls Kit to say goodbye before following the doctor out, glancing back at Alex as she heads down towards what he assumes must be Walkers car.

When Jo returns home later that night she’s pretty sure she’d never been happier to see her little yellow front door, waving goodbye to Dr Walker she heads up her drive, as she slips into the door she can hear the TV still on in the living room, poking her head around the door she spots Alex sprawled out across the sofa, one hand clutched on the remote, the other behind his head as he snores softly. His face is covered in Kits face paint in a pattern Jo could only describe as a drunken tiger, it made her chuckle softly as she stared at him. The relationship he’d been building with Kit made her heart soar, they were best buds and she was glad Kit seemed to adjust to his presence so quickly. It wasn't much of a surprise to her though, Kit had pretty much been a carbon copy of Alex since birth, even though Alex insisted he saw a lot of her in him.

A crash from behind her makes Jo jump as she whips around spotting those mischievous Karev eyes staring back at her. There Kit was standing on the staircase, dressed in his dinosaur Christmas PJs, his green teddy Link had bought him when he was born tucked under his arm, the Batman torch he’d dropped down the stairs lying on the floor by Jo’s feet.

“Hi Monkey...what are you still doing up?” She asks narrowing her eyes on him as she slips out of her feels making her way halfway up the staircase to meet him.

“Checking to see if Santa had been.”

Jo smiles, stroking her hand as across his cheeks as she sits on the steps, patting the space beside her for him to sit. “Well you know he only comes if you’re asleep, so you better run back up to bed.”

Kit squirms in her arms, protesting immediately making Jo frown. “But I need him to know I’ve changed my Christmas wish.”

“You have?”

“Yeah…”

“What about that remote control truck you wanted?”

“I don’t want it...I want dad to come for Christmas.” Jo opens her mouth, words failing her as her heart breaks a little, she hadn’t expected Kit to ask that she had never wanted to give Kit the wrong idea about doing things as a family it was the whole reason she'd not invited him, even though she'd questioned her decision every time she saw her boys together, having to remind herself each and every time that they both weren't hers, only Kit was. “He’s gonna be alone, I don’t want him to be alone.” Kit mumbles pulling at Jo’s hair as his eyes downcast to the living room doorway.

“That’s a really nice wish Kit Kat.” Jo smiles softly brushing back his hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You know the good thing about Santa?...he always knows what your Christmas wish is, now back up to bed please.” She whispers, holding her hand out for Kit as she guides him back up to his bedroom.

Half an hour later when Jo managed to slip out of Kits room, happily convinced he’d finally gone back to sleep, she wonders if Alex had woken up at all.

She finds him exactly where she’d left him, sleeping soundly on the sofa, he looked so peaceful and she had to fight the urge to curl up beside him. “Alex…”

She tried to gently shake him awake as she kneels down on the floor beside him. “Alex.”

“Huh, what’s the time?” He croaks abruptly sitting up as he looks around the room frantically trying to get his surroundings.

“Just gone midnight.”

“Oh sorry,” he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face as he meets her eyes, making Jo’s heartbeat speed up as she realises how close his face is. “How was your night?”

There’s something that flashes through his eyes as he asks about her night and she knows he’s testing the waters, wanting to ask about the man he’d met earlier.

“It was okay,” Jo shrugs, smirking as he looks her up and down.

“Just okay?”

“Eh pretty stuffy, I hate these parties, don't even know why I bothered.”

“And that Dr Worker?”

“Walker.” Jo corrects, she has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched the lines form across Alex’s forehead scowling after the thought of the man. “What about him?”

“How was he?”

“Fine...so was his wife, who I’m good friends with,” Jo mutters waiting for Alex to react as she fiddled with her empty ring finger. She hadn’t even worn her ring that long but she’d never got used to the empty space it left.

“Huh?”

Jo rolls her eyes he really was dum sometimes. “She got called into surgery last minute but I’d already agreed to go with them so I didn’t have to walk in alone and he wouldn’t take no for an answer, anyway she joined us there.”

“Oh I thought-“

“Oh, I know what you thought.”

“I’m sorry Jo, I know I have no right…”

“No, you really don’t.”

Alex sighs, for a second there had been a wave of relief flood through his body when she’d told him it wasn’t in fact a date she’d been on, but that was soon replaced with the reminder that she wasn’t his, and that he’d still be going home tonight alone. Slowly he rises off the sofa, grabbing the throw banker he’d laid out and haphazardly folding it up never meetings Jo’s eye as she rises from the floor in front of him, “I should get going. “

“Alex?” He’s just made it the doorway when he feels her slender hand wrap around his arm pulling him back towards her before he even has a chance to question it.

Suddenly she’s all he can see, her red lipstick a little faded from her evening out, her eyes a little tired but they still had the same beautiful sparkle they always had when they’d look at him, he honestly thought he’d never not see pain reflecting in her eyes when he’d bumped into her at the hospital six months ago but he was relieved to see that wasn't true.

He watched as her eyes flick up, pursing her lips as she tries to fight the smile on her face as Alex stares back at her dumbfounded still, his whole body set on fire from her simple touch.

Mistletoe.

Mistletoe hanging neatly with a gold bow from the doorway, Alex hadn’t even noticed it earlier this evening.

Jo raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question, her hand still wrapped around his arm as she leaned in closer her breath fanning across his face making Alex’s heart thump harder in his chest.

He wasn’t a shy guy, he didn’t get nervous kissing women he was attracted to but this wasn’t just any women this was Jo, Jo who knew him better than most people, Jo who he loved with everything in him...still even now. Jo who happened to be standing before him in a red satin dress that set his pulse racing with one glance and suddenly he was a teenage boy who’d never kissed a girl sitting in the nurse's office.

He’s hesitant as he leans forward, pressing his lips against her soft cheek. It’s a simple and sweet and over way too soon but it’s closest he’s been to her since they’d reunited and with every movement, Alex was scared she’d back off, turn around and tell him she hated him and she’d be well within her right to.

“That’s pathetic,” Jo whispers stepping closer to Alex, both hands tracing up his arms coming to rest against his shoulders. “How the hell am I meant to know if we still have something with a kiss like that?”,

Alex shakes his head confused for a moment, surprised as his hands wind around her waist as if they’d never stopped doing so, “You don’t know if we’ve still got something?” He asks in disbelief at how she could ever question their connection as he feels h er fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck and he lifts his lips in a small smile as she leans further into him.

“Well it wouldn’t be bad to confirm it…” she teases, her lips brushing over his.

Alex cuts her off, his lips pressing against hers, making Jo yelp as he pushed her against the wall tightening his grip around her waist.

“How’s that for you?” He mumbles nipping at her bottom lip gently. Smirking at the way her red lipstick is now smudged, his cocky boy self proud he’d been the one to smudge it.

“Good…but erm maybe we should check again?" Jo mutters little breathlessly, her thumb wiping her own lipstick from Alex’s lips as she leans back in pulling Alex’s head down so she could reach him as her lips find his again. “And again,” She whispers in between kisses. Now she’s started she can’t remember why they haven’t been doing this the whole time, maybe the pain she felt had been covering over the memories of him because right now she’s pretty sure nothing ever felt as good as this. “And again.”

The tiny groan Alex lets out, lets Jo know he's thinking the same thing as his hands slide higher up her waist.

When they break part in need of oxygen, Jo finds herself holding back a laugh at the absurdity of the situation, leaning back against the wall with Alex’s arms still around her. When she finally catches her breath she pushes off the wall untangling herself from his arms and for a moment he thinks she’s leaving but she surprises him as she reaches the bottom step when she turns around holding out her hand for him.

“Come on…”

Her words seem to act as cold water shaking Alex from his daze as he stops dead letting her hand fall between them. For a moment the fear they'd both read this all wrong creeps in.

“Jo I don’t wanna rush this, and it’s late and Kits asleep and I have no idea what this means or if I’m dreaming and then this means nothing at all but I know we should slow down…”

Jo wants to laugh because she’s never seen Alex Karev wanna slow down anything, he’d told her he loved her before they’d even kissed, he’d asked her to marry her before they’d been together a year. He had never taken things slow, not with her. She got it, he was scared, god knows she was but all she knows is that she spent most of her evening stood alone at that party tonight wondering why she wasn’t at home eating Chinese takeout with her two favourite boys in her pyjamas. And then she remembered she was too scared to, scared of being hurt again. Maybe this won’t work, maybe they aren’t destined for forever or maybe they are. Maybe if they just keep trying one day it will all work out, all she knew was that she didn’t wanna look back and think of how happy she could’ve been if she’d just been a little less scared.

“I think we’re a bit past the taking it things slow stage Alex...now come on there’s a little boy who’s Christmas wish for his dad to be here when he wakes up...you wanna make his wish come true? Maybe make my wish come true too?”

She grabs hold of his hand dragging him upstairs without a response, keeping her firm mom voice on so Alex couldn’t argue with her. They had plenty of time to sort it all out, right now she’d really just like to fall asleep in his arms again.

“Mom...mom he’s been, he’s been, he came...Santa came.” It’s Kits voice that wakes Jo up the next morning the little boy bursting into the room, stocking in hand as he clambers over Jo’s bed completely obvious to sleeping Alex he’d kicked in the stomach.

“He did…” Jo grins just about catching Kit before he falls headfirst off the bed, her whole face lighting up at her sons' excitement.

She watched as his little face twists up when he’d notices the usually empty side of his mom's bed is currently occupied, frowning as he peers over recognising the sleeping figure. Of course, Alex could sleep through all that noise.

“DAD” He screams leaping over Jo as he jumps onto Alex’s back making him groan as he shook him awake. “YOU'RE HERE” Kit squeals, hugging Alex's back tightly, as a sleepy Alex winces twisting carefully as Kit sits on top of him.

“Oh hey Kit Kat, good morning bud…” Alex smiles sleepily, rubbing a hand over his face as he looked towards Jo who was smiling beside him, her eyes watering slightly as she met his.

“Mom, dads here.” Kit whispers his little arms wrapping tightly around Alex’s neck as he hugged him close.

“Yeah, he is baby.” Jo’s voice cracks a little as she watched the two, turning away slightly as she wiped her own tears on Alex’s T-shirt sleeve that she’d thrown on at some point early this morning.

Alex tries to ignore the way his heart breaks knowing the reason for Jo’s tears as he watches Kit begin to rip open his stocking, he’d missed this, he’d missed their family he missed her. All this time wasted.

“Don’t…” she whispers from beside him softly as she snuggled into his side watching as Kit begins to line up some of his gifts. “It’s okay we have time now.” She mumbles against his neck as if she knows exactly what’s he thinking her hand tenderly reaching up to wipe the tears he hadn’t even known he was crying before he felt her wipe them away.

“This is the best Christmas ever.” Kit exclaims looking up at his parents completely unaware of their quiet moment as both their faces smile brightly back at him.

Alex nods wrapping an arm around Jo as he tugs her closer to him, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as Kit begs them to follow him downstairs to the rest of his presents.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty amazing Christmas...” Jo agrees as Kit crashes down between them, the little boy's laughter ringing out as Alex hoists him up ticking his side as Jo begins to smother him in kisses.

#jolex #alex karev #jo wilson #jo karev #greys anatomy #greys abc #greysanatony #justin chambers #greys #camilla luddington #jolex fanfic #jolex fanfiction

26 notes · View notes

jennycalendar · 4 years ago

Text

not posting this to ao3 bc the convoluted context only exists on tumblr, but here’s a mini thing i wrote today from that au where oz is dating giles and jenny’s daughter. also giles and jenny were in a band together pre-canon for a little while and have a very convoluted love story that i swear will eventually be a fic. fun times.

other things pre-fic that are fun:

ripper and jenny spent like a decade in la co-running a music store together while also raising their kids. jenny handled the actual business, ripper taught guitar classes on the side. janna is very musically gifted but teddy can’t carry a tune to save her life.

theoretically this is a version of canon where janna and buffy are the same age, and someday i will also write the fic where janna appoints herself buffy’s watcher, kicks wesley in the knees, and screams at every member of the council that comes near buffy. she’s heard enough horror stories from her dad.

“Are you nervous?”

The question took Oz by surprise. “Should I be?”

Janna didn’t answer. When he turned to look at her, he saw that she was looking out the window at what he assumed was their final destination: a relatively ordinary-looking house with the beginnings of a vegetable garden on the front lawn. “The last time I brought a guy home to meet my parents, he was super nervous,” she said. “Like, all spacey and weird. My dad was extra nice to him to compensate, but my mom kinda antagonized him a little ‘cause she thought it was funny. She probably won’t do that to you, though. I bet she’ll like you. I mean, she likes pretty much all my friends that I actually care about, and last time I brought a guy home I didn’t actually like him. Mostly it was just to show up Teddy ‘cause she’s always giving me grief about—”

Abruptly, Oz understood. Without a word, he gently tugged Janna’s clenched fists into his own hands, untangling the tightly coiled fingers to lace them with his own.

Janna exhaled. Shakily, she said, “I just really want them to like you.”

“I know,” said Oz.

“I mean really. Usually I don’t care a whole bunch, but you’re different.”

“I know,” said Oz.

“And sometimes my mom can be a little mean. Not like mean-mean, she’s just like that, it’s her way of being nice—”

Oz tugged on Janna’s hands, pulling her into a careful hug. Janna let out a nervous laugh and pressed a clumsy kiss just under his jaw. “I’m a pretty easy guy to like,” he said. “Unless your parents are the kind that don’t like it when a guy is in a band.”

“That would be totally hypocritical,” said Janna. “They were in a band.”

Processing this, Oz felt a slow smile sneak across his face. “So it’s genetic?”

Janna blinked, then smiled too. “Kinda, yeah! They ran a music store in LA till we moved. My dad’s the one who taught me how to play guitar and sing and stuff. He’s not classically trained or anything, but he takes it super seriously.”

“Your dad sounds pretty cool,” said Oz.

“He is pretty cool,” said Janna, her smile growing.

Gently, Oz tugged on Janna’s hand, then let go to open his door and get out of the car. He crossed around to open the door for her too, extending a hand to help her out. She laughed, letting him pull her out of the car, and tripped very purposefully to fall for a moment against his chest; he nudged the car door shut behind her and tugged her into a hug. “We got this, Jay,” he said, smoothing down her hair.

Though she was still very clearly nervous, Janna nodded, tucking her arm into his as they walked up the driveway. Oz rang the doorbell.

Thudding footsteps came from inside the house. Janna groaned. “Oh, no,” she muttered under her breath.

“Is this the boyfriend?” demanded a voice as the door was wrenched open. Looking down, Oz saw a small girl of about twelve surveying the two of them with interest. “I thought he’d be taller. How come he’s shorter than you? Why—”

“I am gonna punt you into next Tuesday, Teddy,” Janna threatened.

“Oh, this is Theodora?” said Oz with interest. “Pleasure.”

“At least someone has manners,” said Teddy with great dignity, turning on her heel and striding down the hall.

“Aren’t you gonna invite us in?” Janna yelled after her.

“Nope!” Teddy yelled back. “You’re probably vampires!”

“Someday I’m gonna kick her like a soccer ball and no one will ever see her again,” Janna was muttering as she yanked Oz over the threshold, roughly divesting him of his coat to hang it on a nearby coat tree. “I used to play soccer in middle school and I think I still know how to do it. Maybe I can get Buffy to do it. I bet if I kicked her really hard—”

“No kicking your sister,” came a very familiar voice.

If Oz was the kind of person whose jaw dropped, he thought it might have right then. Standing in the kitchen doorway was none other than Jenny Calendar, the original drummer for the Spitfires—the one who had toured with the band for two years before she and the lead guitarist dropped out to raise a kid. Jenny Calendar was looking between the two of them with an intrigued grin. Oz had a record with this lady’s face on it. “Uh,” he said. “What?”

“What?” said Janna, as though this was just a normal meeting between Oz and his girlfriend’s mom. “Anyway, mom, this is Oz. Oz, this is my mom, she—”

“I know who she is,” said Oz.

“Well, duh, I just told you,” said Janna. “Where’s Dad? Is he upstairs dissecting bug things for Buffy again?”

“Yeah, that was one time and I told them both they’re never doing that again. That’s my job in this house.” Jenny ruffled Janna’s hair. “Glad nothing ate you on your way here.”

“If it does, you gotta make a necklace out of my bones or something metal like that,” said Janna very seriously.

“God, you’re just like your dad,” said Jenny.

“Oh, yeah, it’s me she gets it from,” quipped Ripper, rounding the corner with Teddy on his shoulders. “Not like anyone else in this house was violent and terrifying at fifteen.”

“Okay, one, shut up. Two, no one needs to hear any of those stories. Three, shut up.” Jenny punched Ripper’s shoulder, careful to avoid jostling Teddy.

Oz was thankfully a little bit more prepared for Ripper’s entrance. If the Spitfires’ drummer was Janna’s mom, the lead guitarist pretty much had to be her dad. “Uh, hey, Janna,” he said, tugging at his girlfriend’s sleeve, “can we—talk outside for a sec?”

Janna looked a little puzzled, but acquiesced without much argument.

Shutting the door behind them, Oz said, “Your parents are Jenny and Ripper.”

“Huh?” said Janna, then, “Oh,” and then her face split open in a huge smile. “I didn’t know you knew about them! Pretty much nobody does! They left the Spitfires before the band got big, so it’s not like I bring it up a lot—”

“Okay, this makes so much sense,” said Oz.

Janna blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Your whole,” Oz waved a hand, “cool thing. It’s not just you, it’s genetic.” He grinned. “I don’t think I stood a chance.”

Janna went very pink, her smile impossibly bright. “You totally have to tell them you like their stuff,” she said. “Dad’s kinda mellow about it, but Mom has these insane stories from the years before she and Dad hooked up and she loves telling people about them.”

“Well, I’d love to hear your mom’s cool band stories,” said Oz, squeezing Janna’s hand. “Probably have a few of our own to share, right?”

“I mean, I’ve told them most of my good ones,” said Janna. “Remember that one time I broke a guitar over Devon’s head?”

“Fondly,” said Oz.

Janna snickered. “Dad’s done worse,” she said. “He was in Wretched for a little while. It was more of a Brit thing so you probably haven’t heard of it, but we have a demo album that they made and it’s soooo bad—”

“Mom wants to know when you’re coming in for dinner!” Teddy yelled from inside the house.

“IN A MINUTE!” Janna yelled back.

“We could go in now,” Oz suggested, “if you—”

Draping her arms around his neck, Janna said, “Give me a minute, Daniel.”

~~~

“Oh my god, I love him,” said Jenny delightedly. “Rupert, he knows our stuff! Does anyone ever know our stuff?”

“Janna’s last one didn’t,” said Ripper, attempting to take a forkful of casserole off his wife’s plate. Jenny whacked his fork with her knife. “Though I do think our darling Teddy psychologically broke the poor chap halfway through dessert.”

“If he was weak enough to be broken by a fifth-grader, he deserved to start crying,” said Teddy mildly. “It’s just facts.”

“She gets the mean streak from me,” said Jenny affectionately, looking at Teddy with adoring pride. “Mama’s girl.”

“They both get the mean streak from you,” said Ripper. Jenny started throwing wadded-up paper towels at him. “See?” he said, catching one of them and lobbing it back in his wife’s direction. “This. This is what I mean.”

“Your family is cool,” said Oz. “My mom’s gonna have a lot to measure up to.”

“Oh god I have to meet your mom?” squeaked Janna. “No one’s ever wanted me to meet their mom! Oh my god, you didn’t—why would I—”

“You know she’s never been this nervous about anyone she’s dated?” said Teddy conspiratorially to Oz. “I think she really likes you. Plus she writes your names together all the time on the fogged-up mirror in the bathroom and she made you a mixtape but she’s too scared to give it—”

“I’m gonna throw you out a goddamn window,” Janna hissed in Teddy’s direction. “You better believe I will.”

“Oz, you’re in a band, yeah?” said Ripper, giving Oz a little grin. “Might be nice to play sometime together, if you’d like.”

“Yeah, I would,” said Oz, and smiled back.

#fic #janna au #calendiles #ISH but they're married #(they got spontaneously married in vegas so that it would be easier to co-run a business)#anyway: yes. pls enjoy this snip. i am writing again now but it's all stuff that will take a while to see the light of day.

19 notes · View notes

skamamoroma · 5 years ago

Text

WTFOCK Season 3 Analysis- Touch and Distance - (Sander focused)

First of all, this will be long. As in, VERY long. If you know me and you followed me at ALL for Skam Italia or WTFOCK ‘analysis’ posts (which I WILL finish) then you’ll know the length to expect… so if you get even half way, you deserve a medal.

So, I have been promising this for a LONG time. I think I first said I’d write this when the reunion clip was released and I just… haven’t but seeing as we’re all in quarantine and I’m doing anything and everything to stay sane in my flat alone and we could all do with stuff to cheer us up, I’m offering this to fandom and I hope it makes you smile.

I think the reason I fell in love with Skam, the format and the intense character focus is because I love just that. I have always had an obsession with strong character driven TV shows/movies and even when I was tiny, I wrote an essay about Mary Poppins because I found her so mysterious and amazing. Shows like Skam and its remakes, when they’re GOOD they’re really really bloody amazing, mainly because they hone in on character detail and really use it for that perfect Skam-esque “show not tell” format. I’ve always found that kind of stuff so interesting and over the years have held this little collection of couples/characters/friendships from allsorts of shows/movies/theatre dear because they celebrate nuance… and Skam just spoils me!!

I have been MASSIVELY impressed with WTFOCK have done with Sander. He feels so fleshed out and dynamic as a character and in SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS too. I think one of the things I was so giddy about was the way they still managed to keep the mystery there while also making it seem like we knew him so well. And we do. But I think that’s the reason it’s so cool because a lot of the things we know about Sander, he hasn’t really TOLD us. We’ve learned it through his actions or from reading into his words, from his reactions to people and the way he lives his life. That, to me, is like crack hahaha. I live for that stuff and for analysing a character and so I became a bit fixated on the way they used touch in season 3.

Now, it’s not just with Sander but with Robbe too. Touch was an ENORMOUS part of the season and we never really EVER had either of them talk about it. Robbe never really expressed verbal discomfort with touch early on but we saw it and Sander never expressed how important touch was to him but we witnessed it...and now we’re watching wtfockdown with Sander specifically struggling with lack of touch. Safe to say, I knew I had to write this eventually and after quite a few messages (you lovely lot), I am doing this for you. Enjoy!

SANDER FIRST...

SANDER.

When it comes to Sander, I feel like I have SO MUCH TO SAY but I think, the most important thing, is that touch is a cornerstone of character in terms of what calms him, what makes him happy, what makes him feel connected, what soothes him, how he expresses love, how he wants to show love, how he flirts… ALL OF IT, and distance is what plagues him.

I re-watched each clip in turn and I’m still obsessed with how they layered his character with this idea. No other Even and not even Even himself has this element so strongly emphasised. Yes, they all like touch and some of the parallels have specific things that form part of their character like Eliott and Lucas and the whole touch of skin thing and Cris/Joana with the hair/cheeks thing and Even always loved to ground himself in touching Isak ETC… but with Sander, it’s such a narrative and it’s woven in so beautifully. ABOVE ALL, what makes me smile and what is so meaningful is that as Robbe grows and opens up and learns about touch himself (see my Robbe post to come), we see that Sander is gifted this really sweet boy who LOVES to touch and who is incredibly affectionate and finds himself learning that he is INCREDIBLY good at providing comfort. So their love story also becomes a story of touch and navigating distance from those perspectives.

I guess writing it out helps to see it so I’ll go chronologically.

The first time we see Sander use touch is when he’s in the kitchen with Robbe. The entire scene is practically choreographed it’s so fluid but the lack of space, the shuffling around each other and the general ‘oh my god this person makes me feel things’ vibe makes the fact that when Sander purposefully touches Robbe for the first time, it’s a THING… that hand on his back. They do kind of brush up against each other a few times but that little linger of the camera on Sander’s hand on Robbe’s back makes me GIDDY because it’s all so intentional. It’s Robbe’s face that does me in. You don’t need his words because he does this sort of glance behind him and a bashful sort of dazed stumble… it’s so obvious that being touched like that by Sander got to him in an overwhelming way. It’s all electricity and that kind of giddy new love thing in the kitchen but that moment KILLS me because it’s touch that Robbe WANTS but doesn’t feel able to have… but Sander gives it because he’s SANDER. He’s demonstrable and purposeful (I will use that word a lot!) with touch.

Sander does stuff in a way that’s bold and purposeful (told you) and touch is part of that. ALL THE WAY OR NO WAY - right? So many times, you can see Sander decide and then act immediately. SO MANY TIMES. In the supermarket, feeding Robbe, in the bar when he decides to take Robbe off on an adventure, at the swimming pool ETC. SO MANY. And touch is a thing all wrapped up in that sense of purpose and spontaneity. His actions are mostly not overbearing or unwanted though which is so key. People seem to feel comfortable with him even if he is a little forward and NOBODY more than Robbe. Robbe doesn’t recoil, he lets it happen and not in the passive way we see him do early on but in the OH WOW HE TOUCHED ME way that can only come with attraction and early feelings. BUT THEY HAD KNOWN EACH OTHER HOURS. Hours, and Robbe was fine with it.

Sander and flirting... HE IS SO OBVIOUS and touch is part of it every single time. That whole ‘oops I rolled into you in the sand’ is just textbook, man! Hahaha. I laugh at him early on because he is genuinely adorable with how obvious he is. Same can be said for the “oops I just need to grab this bottle that just happens to be right next to you which means I need to stand so close to you and wrap my arms around you’ - hahahaha. Not to mention the ‘oh let me teach you to turn on the oven and lightly touch our fingers’. Purposeful.

Then you get the first time they’re together alone for their bike ride. I mean, we all know Sander is giddy. It’s what makes it so sweet to watch because he’s just SO HAPPY to have Robbe by himself and to go off on this adventure together. I LOVE the way he holds Robbe’s hand after they high five…. BOY. He takes advantage of stuff while he can. But when they get to the pool, it’s obviously an Even move and we all know how it goes but the first time he touches Robbe is to kiss him. We know it’s all he wanted, we know it was his plan, we know he’s been wanting to do it a long time but I LOVE that they kept in the recoil from Robbe because it is absolutely NOT a gradual progression for Robbe when it comes to Sander… it’s ALL IN and scary and overwhelming and Robbe’s instincts kick in but the second Robbe kisses Sander back, we get the start of seeing Sander and touch being a HUGE DEAL. Robbe is still learning and faced with the way Sander acts first, thinks later, the differences between them in this moment are STARK. It’s why it all goes so catastrophically wrong afterwards but why I understood what Robbe did even if it was so very wrong.

Sander is SUCH an Even and I’ve always said he reminds me of Even the most of all the parallels but especially when he kisses. He’s a passionate dude! He kisses with meaning and with all he has and it’s little wonder Robbe described it as his head exploding… poor guy! You get that first glimpse of Sander acting on his feelings and he’s overwhelming. In that pool, he grasps and holds on and Robbe’s hair becomes a total THING for him.

For me, I get most interested in touch from Chernobyl onwards. THAT CLIP. The stuff in it that’s so subtle but AMAZING when it comes to Sander makes me roll around in it, in the way it MEANS so much and says a lot about who he is. The DISTANCE he keeps from Robbe is not something we’ve seen from him yet. It’s clearly not comfortable for him but he deserves to keep it until he feels comfortable and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he only moves closer but DOESN’T touch Robbe yet. And this next moment is what sparked my obsession…. The “i’m going to nearly kiss you and then not kiss you” moment. He uses touch to make a point. Purposeful. He stands close but they don’t touch and then he teases with it… tests Robbe’s response with it to see what he’d do. Robbe doesn’t move and allows it. He then clarifies how Robbe feels about stuff now and the second he gets his answer … fuck all of that noise and fuck all the issues I had in my head (a sentiment we KNOW Sander understands and grasps onto eventually - Chernobyl being the way he himself describes the effects of his bipolar disorder) he goes all in and closes the distance. KILLS ME. That use of touch to make a point is Sander ALLOVER. Never without purpose.

They don’t STOP touching AT ALL… until it’s used AGAIN. This time, this huge focus on pulling apart. It’s gradual. They disconnect from their bodies then they disconnect from lips and then that lingering shot on their hands and the whole holding on until the very last second…COME ON. It’s so perfect. So intentional and so meaningful. The fact that Sander holds on purposefully for so long until he absolutely can’t anymore, it makes him STUMBLE…. If that’s not a whole metaphor for who he is as a character then I don’t know what is! He WON’T allow that distance until he absolutely has to… and that fact characterises their ENTIRE story right up until wtfockdown!

Onto the cuddle scene and again, from Chernobyl, it’s full of poignant moments. It’s an overload in terms of seeing Sander respond to touch. There’s a lot of touching in this clip, a lot of playful stuff and kisses and cuddles but I think there are a few specifics that are in there for a reason that say so much. The first is the hair stroking. Now, we know Robbe and Sander LOVE touching each other’s hair and there’s a fair amount of pulling involved too… haha… but it’s so telling the way that Sander relaxes under Robbe’s touch. He spends most of that scene with his eyes closed. It relaxes him, makes him sleepy and comfortable and Robbe clearly realises it because when Sander seems distressed, Robbe goes straight to do it again. It’s all part of Robbe’s journey wrapped up in there too, learning how his touch can be soothing.I love that Sander barely moves from his position upside down on the bed. He allows Robbe the ability to do ANYTHING. He lets Robbs move around him, lets Robbe touch him and climb on top of him. He just basks in it and please go rewatch it and watch his eyes even when Robbe is talking… he closes them constantly like it’s making him fall asleep. He’s so comforted by it. When Robbe climbs on him, his eyes are even closed! He’s just VERY VERY happy allowing Robbe anything when it comes to moving around him and in his space. He lets Robbe koala himself on his back without a flinch, is so comfortable with the affection and clearly soaking it all in. I think the other moment is when Sander realises Robbe’s jealousy/upset and goes to very purposefully lie down against him to tuck his head under Robbe’s chin. The purpose in it, at the time, seemed kinda sheepish but we know better now. We KNOW Sander had tried to distance himself from Britt but she wasn’t allowing it and this is Sander purposefully closing that distance, taking it back and seeking Robbe’s touch again. It’s like he’s had that comforting touch now and, without it, it doesn’t feel right so he closes the distance the VERY SECOND he can. He does this a few times from here on out too… that lack of ability to stay apart from Robbe, the wish to keep that comfort coming.

There’s this struggle we see from him AGAIN and AGAIN. When stuff with Robbe suffers because Sander’s truth gets in the way (with Britt texting in the cuddle scene, with their distance before the reunion where Sander tried to leave Robbe behind etc)... he CANNOT wait to remove the distance as quickly as he possibly can. The only exception is when they’ve been apart post hotel and Sander is unwell… but we know he’s frightened, embarrassed, worried about hurting Robbe and we know that he’s trying to keep Robbe at arm’s length to protect him but… and I’ll get onto it later but it’s PERFECT to me that the second he has touch back, the second Robbe kisses him, he crumbles. It means THAT MUCH to him. It’s such a pattern with him and it starts here, with Sander crawling across the bed, not allowing Robbe to be too far away while he still has him.

For me, it epitomises that idea of “i don’t know if I’ll find someone like that, at least not someone who loves me”. Because, for Sander, he WANTS so badly. He wants to be in love and to find someone special and be able to show love but he’s terrified. For such a purposeful person, someone who acts on instinct, that is clearly so hard for him. He WANTS but he has to force himself NOT TO for all of the reasons he gives and for all of the reasons we can read from his behaviour. Those moments he stays away - aka post assault, post hotel - are all for a good reason and yet the second he realises that the worries that lead to his belief that he can’t HAVE are unfounded or resolved, he closes any and all distance and holds on for dear life. “I’m never ever letting go of you”. ALL THE WAY OR NO WAY. He either allows himself everything and that ‘all in’ sense of falling head over heels and clinging on for dear life or he cuts and runs… and the cutting/running part honestly must have hurt so badly for him. We know how much Robbe means to him and how much touch and comfort he gets from their relationship… to leave that behind when he can’t remain over the other side of the bed from Robbe normally must have been so hard for him.

ANYWAY. The date. I’ve talked about this endlessly but the first minute or so of this clip is some of the best chemistry I’ve seen in the SCU and, in general, to be honest. It hit me like a freight train when I first saw it. For LGBT+ folks, seeing stuff like this is impactful. Mainly because it’s shown as so natural and normal and given the same respect and focus on desire and sweetness and simplicity as hetero love stories have been given for millenia!

They touch constantly throughout this clip but I just LOVE the focus on it. The camera lingers. Every shot is there for a reason. Sander’s touch goes from playful to casually affectionate to passionate to suggestive within seconds and he drowns in it! It’s mesmerising to watch. Again, it almost feels choreographed. The moment that kills me is Sander just running one finger across Robbe’s collar bone. WHOEVER decided to include that --- director or writer or even actor --- it’s just perfect. It’s so Sander. He doesn’t stop touching and that little focus on the fact that he always wants to show how he feels through touching Robbe...the fact that it is on his skin when Robbe is wearing a full on sweatshirt shows how much Sander seeks intimacy out. It’s so purposeful once again and yet so simple… but the main thing is that Sander uses touch to keep that connection going. The music change at that exact moment is what does it for me. It’s dream-like, swoony and mesmerising. You can feel the dazed sense of love and adoration, the intimacy of the fact that Sander can’t help but hold onto Robbe’s hair again and even when he’s whispering to him, can’t help but chase it with kisses. Sander uses every thought and feeling he has inside and translates it directly into touch. He communicates with it!

Which leads pretty nicely onto the reunion… because the next time we have Sander able to reach out physically is SO MUCH LATER. The assault, the distance Robbe enforces (for good reason because of what he believes happened at the party) and then the confusion about the mural creates SO MUCH DISTANCE.

The start of the reunion clip is one of my all time favourite SCU moments from any remake. The acting is near perfection. I’ve posted tons about it before but GOD. I love that, to this point, after that intense, hazy kind of love they were starting in the bar… everything was torn away from them. As I said before, Sander is either ALL IN or not at all. When he’s in, he’s REALLY in and touch is fundamental.

So it KILLLLLLSSSSSS MEEEEEEE (Yes, I am being dramatic but GOD) that the first thing he does when he walks in the foyer of Robbe’s building, without explanation and after so long apart and so much mess existing between them is… close the distance between them physically.

This scene reminds me of the La Grotta scene from Skam It s2. Every touch and movement in that scene with Marti and Nico is a form of communication and it’s the same here. I guess it’s why I love both scenes so much because ‘show not tell’ is precious and intelligent and so so much more meaningful for a viewer. The way Sander just stands there and then without words, kisses Robbe and tries to do what he can normally do so easily and communicate through his touches is heartbreaking. But too much has gone on. It’s not possible to communicate that way after so much hurt and confusion.

Then that forehead touch. GOD. I remember watching it and being so bowled over without how much was SAID by both of them. The way that Sander leans into it like he KNOWS he can’t use kisses to sort it all out but just NEEDS comfort and Robbe’s touch… and the way Robbe lets himself have it for a moment but then makes genuine crying noises of frustration to get Sander to stop. The “I want this so much but stop, it’s not fair what you’re doing” is so obvious in his actions. It’s all because it’s how they communicate. BECAUSE touch is their love language, the fact that they can’t give into it is PHYSICALLY painful for them both. They both just stand there with their eyes closed. Sander looks exhausted, devastated but also so deeply comforted by Robbe’s presence and the fact that he can be close to him again in equal measure. Robbe lets out this big sigh and it screams “I know, I feel the same, this feels so right and I miss you so much but I can’t let you forget everything that happened” - YET THEY DON’T STOP TOUCHING. I love that regardless, they stay connected and cannot physically part themselves. It’s written all over Sander’s face how much it means to have Robbe so close and Robbe’s little nose rub is plain adorable. They are literally standing there comforting each other while at the same time trying to communicate through nothing but touch… and the RELIEF in those touches too.

It’s little wonder that what happens next happens in the way it does. Those few words from Sander and the touches between them are enough for them to just KNOW. Their connection is so fundamental that it’s worth fighting through and relying on that gut instinct for them.

Sander is then able to do what he’s good at and be purposeful, firm and to throw himself into it. ALL THE WAY. Once he knows he is ok again, that he has permission and is allowed to let his heart go, he just falls into it and it’s ALL TOUCHING from then on. Every kiss is so meaningful and there are a few specific moments that are really meaningful to me.

The first one is Sander’s smile when he lands on the bed. He is never happier than when he’s able to be free like this. He revels in the ability to throw himself into his feelings. He’s ridiculously enviable tbh. The next moment is the whole clawing, clinging thing he does. Yet again, poor Robbe’s hair gets yanked every which way but I love that we get that glimpse of ‘never letting you go’ mentality he has to keep Robbe as close as physically possible and the way he closes his eyes, smiles and loses himself in those moments. They’re so close to Sander POV it’s crazy. It reminds me of during the cuddle scene when he closed his eyes. Touch grounds him in the most astounding way! I LOVE that the lyrics during this as “take it how you want it, take all my love”. PERFECT, man. That idea of give and take is SO IMPORTANT for them, for Sander especially. The ALL THE WAY mentality he has means that he could only EVER fall in love with someone who is able to counter it, someone who is able to GIVE IN to Sander the way he needs and lose themself too the way he likes. He could only ever fall in love with someone as willing to give and take the way that he is with comfort… and Robbe fits the bill, which is obviously as much of a surprise to him too! I think that’s where their connection comes in. That spark between them and the way they feel for each other is one of contentment so they’re quite happy taking what they need from the other person because the other is SO GIVING. Robbe is so affectionate which is what Sander craves and Sander is so purposeful and bold in his ways which is what Robbe needs. The last moment is the hand holding. Again, Sander is grounded by that physical connection. He clings and holds on and receives so much comfort from it. The knowledge that they’re in something together is clearly huge for them both.

The morning after scene is most meaningful in terms of touch when they get into Robbe’s room. I LOVE how natural it all is. Sander is very happy letting Robbe do what he wants again and it’s almost seamless for Robbe just to sit on his lap. But he’s completely incapable of reigning himself in. The purposeful side of Sander comes out in full distraction mode with Sander genuinely incapable of keeping his hands to himself. The whole playful kind of sexy “I’ll throw you around” thing is not only them at peak comfort with each other but Sander’s way of physically showing he’s not going anywhere, of reminding Robbe that he’s all Sander’s attention is on and all he cares about and that he can DO this now, just toss Robbe onto the bed and crawl all over him - hahahaha. He treats Robbe like he’s precious and completely focused on but also treats Robbe perhaps the way HE wants to be treated… those promises followed by touching with a little possessiveness, that reminder that he won’t be left alone. He gives it all to Robbe and in true Sander style, tries to communicate through touch as much as he possibly can because words mean honesty and they mean a risk of losing it all.

The next notable moment is YET AGAIN, Sander playing with touch when he arrives at the flat. The “nope, Robbe, you’re not getting what you want until we do this fun thing I want to do with you to create a tradition”. He does it twice, playing with denying Robbe touch and physical contact. He has a task to do and he needs Robbe focused on it so he uses touch to keep that focus sharp… and then the fact that the VERY SECOND that task is done, Sander literally walks straight into Robbe’s arms and kinda carries him off towards Robbe’s room makes me laugh. He’s like “ok touching is allowed right this instant” … he knows himself. If he’d have allowed them to touch before he did his task, there’d have been ABSOLUTELY NO SHOE PUT OUT! He’s self aware ;)

Then the hotel… and oh my heart breaks and is soothed in equal measure because this evening was HANDS DOWN one of my most favourite Skam watching experiences. It is gut wrenching in real time and so beautifully acted, I can’t handle it, especially from Willem DS. That kid can act rings around most professional Hollywood actors. They both can. Yet another Skam remake showcasing young talent at its most special and honest. Anyway, I digress!

The shower scene has to be talked about. The show runners etc explained why they included it where the original didn’t (although planned to!) and I get why some found it a little too much but, for them, it worked. I mean, I’m not the person to talk about sex scenes but I definitely CAN talk tons about them when they’re MEANINGFUL and layered and this one is. It’s complete and utter trust. I love so much of the camera work here because you can see they tried to be as respectful as possible while also getting the meaning across and it worked so well… especially as the stuff that clicks for me is Sander’s behaviour. He’s so lost in it. Again, he’s someone who acts on instinct and needs someone who will respond to him with understanding. If someone’s not on the same page then he’s THROWN (and this is why the whole cyber sex things is killing me with its meaning for him!). Again with Robbe’s hair being pulled all over the place but Sander allows himself take and be taken and it’s so important to who he is that it’s ALL THE WAY kind of love and that he’s allowed to be both in control and also completely vulnerable.

The way they segue into the shot of the bed and sander is completely wrapped up in Robbe’s arms kills me. There’s no one right way for them. Touch comes to Sander in his ability to be DEMONSTRABLE and also to RECEIVE. In these moments, he just snuggles into Robbe and takes and takes and takes and takes… but only because Robbe is so perfectly willing to provide. It’s why they work. That balance is what is so key about their relationship. Sander feels ok to suddenly go from firm and handsy to extremely vulnerable and the shot when the camera closes in on his face so serene and at ease, happy to be kissed repeatedly on the forehead by Robbe is just incredibly meaningful and emotional. He is allowed to be himself and to fall into it without worry even when he’s at his most vulnerable. He basks in it and it’s so comforting to watch. I love that he plays with Robbe’s necklace because not only is it him looking at a guardian angel around Robbe’s neck but it’s like a tick to ground him and comfort him right back. A touch to something so fundamentally Robbe.

The segue into the second clip where Sander is even MORE wrapped up in Robbe’s arms breaks my heart. I remember seeing the og Skam cuddle clip all those years back and realising that my god, I’d never seen affection from an LGBT+ couple before in that innocent, gentle, normal way! It’s sad that this was the case but it’s why Skam got under my skin and why the s3 storyline is always so precious to me. This is yet another example but throw in the respect shown to mental illness in a really human and raw way and I’m gone. I love that Sander is able to be so cuddly and open without worry. He’s going through it, struggling and when this clip aired I remember almost every post in the tag was about his eyes, the frantic eyes showing that so much is going on inside his head while he lies there still, soaking up the comfort Robbe is willing to provide. The antithesis is insane but works so well. Robbe has no idea that he’s effectively holding Sander together. He’s clinging on. He’s doing what he always said he would and never letting Robbe go.

The night time switch into Sander’s struggles hurts because he’s still trying so hard not to let go but his brain is struggling, he’s panicking, he’s not in control of himself and he’s scared. You can see it all over his face, in his eyes and body language that he WANTS to stay with Robbe and when Robbe asks him to come back, tries to pull him back to cuddle, Sander goes because he ALWAYS DOES. He tries so so hard till he can’t try anymore and that distance is forced upon him. It was devastating to watch in real time because we all KNEW what was going to happen (we’d seen it all before) but, for some reason, the way Sander was and what we’d learned about him made him being separated from Robbe in this vulnerable state really upsetting. He was so happy in Robbe’s arms, so comforted and then all of sudden it was gone.

The fact that the cycle happens again to lead us into the next time we see Sander physically WITH Robbe is just crazy meaningful because this time, Sander’s truth is not able to be hidden. He can’t use touch to distract and to ignore his thoughts and reality. Everything about the way he acts is out of shame and embarrassment and fear of not being loved for who he is - flaws and all. When I eventually finish my analysis posts, I have SO MUCH to say about this but my goodness, Sander is the only Even aside from Eliott who doesn’t reach out and they both have that same feeling of shame in common. The difference is that Sander actively tries to hide away, to push Robbe away and ACTS on what the other Evens said aka I’ll hurt you, it won’t work, I should leave… he physically does that. The thing that makes me a little misty eyed is the fact that he also provides Robbe with information to help find him. He desperately wants Robbe to be the only one to find him while also simultaneously wanting him as far away from him as possible. He’s done it before with the mural, that “I love you and I need to show you but I can’t be with you”. It’s that desperate pull they have that just ends in mess but at the core has such love and comfort. Sander has run away from everyone, hasn’t reached out to any of them except Robbe and it’s his way of closing that distance even if he’s so sure Robbe is better off without him. Why else would he send Robbe that message, effectively using their history and experience to suggest where he is. Robbe was all he wanted, was all that comforted him (hence the drawings all over the walls) and the fact that when Sander is found, he kept pushing and pushing and pushing and resisting and falling apart through grief and pain and shame and every other negative feeling that overwhelms him… but STILL follows when Robbe asks. He’s trying so hard for the NO WAY of it all but it was never going to work. The fact that when Robbe properly touches him, he falls apart is just about the most obvious thing for me. Robbe is comfort and safety. He may not have all of the answers but just being close is so clearly and viscerally affecting for Sander that he collapses and lets Robbe take the weight of him both literally and metaphorically. That touch is all he needs to fall back into ALL THE WAY and let himself believe.

The fact that the next scene starts with Sander, completely wrapped around Robbe, their skin touching and Robbe stroking Sander’s hand just goes to show how much he allowed himself to use that touch again not only as comfort but as belief that he doesn’t need to mask things anymore. He doesn’t need to pretend and hide his reality, he can be open and vulnerable and also have the ALL THE WAY too. Robbe is that solid warm weight and reassurance. The purposeful Sander is still buried there, it’s just the vulnerability is too overwhelming and so he relies so much on Robbe here to provide what he needs. And god BLESS Robbe’s enormous affectionate heart because he’s perfect with him. Sander clearly meant the words from the day before, signifying he really expected Robbe to change his mind in the morning...those really quiet questions in the dark to Robbe are just heartbreaking because he needs reassurance. Robbe closes the distance to him, gets so close, kisses him multiple times, presses their foreheads together and doesn’t judge… and Sander is completely comforted enough to be able to fall asleep.

THEN… one of my ultimate favourite moments of Sander and touch. It’s like a culmination of EVERYTHING we’ve learned about Sander (and also it’s the same for Robbe but I’ll leave that for my Robbe post!!). He’s still vulnerable but getting back to his usual self a little playing games with Milan and you can see the spark in his eyes, the way he uses his words again to assert how he feels but, above all, it’s that contrast between him asking for a kiss and leaning back into Robbe in this purposeful way that’s perfectly softened by the fact it’s him receiving and seeking comfort too. It’s then that both sides of Sander come together and the fact he’s found what he seeks it in one person is so special. Robbe is EVERYWHERE. He’s all hands in Sander’s hair, legs either side of him, resting his chest against Sander’s back, holding his head gently, kissing everything he can get his lips on (mouth, nose, head, hair) and then settling with his arms around Sander’s neck. It’s EVERYTHING. Sander has shown from the start in most things he does how much touch is important in terms of asserting himself, seeking comfort and showing love and in this tiny little scene it has ALL THREE and is why they are both so dear to me as a pair. It’s INCREDIBLY romantic and very reassuring for anyone who has ever struggled in the way Robbe or Sander has… because it confirms that it is possible for people with specific needs and people who have been shaped by their experiences and come out of it with certain needs and vulnerabilities are able to be loved completely without judgement.

“In good time, you’ll come to know, when you release, when you let go, you can find yourself where you belong”

The best thing though is the way that Sander responds in this moment. He shakes his head and smiles to himself like he’s coming out of a trance. That little ‘yeah’ is adorable. That moment is enough to say all there is about what touch means to Sander as a human being and a partner. For a moment, Robbe helps him forget, sends him a little dizzy with love, gives Sander overwhelming comfort that Sander disappears into it and, as cheesy as it sounds, they fit. It’s exactly what all of the Even and Isak parallels had, that ‘i save you, you save me right back’ love story. They all did it in different ways but with these two, I was stunned with how much they put into the unspoken, especially with Sander. We don’t see him as much, we don’t get inside his head like Robbe’s but we still understand him, possibly more than any other Even parallel by the end of season 3 and this is the season closest to the original for unanswered questions! It’s why I don’t at all mind questions left unanswered and a lack of exposition and clean cut resolution because if the emotion is there and the nuance is there then it does half of it for you.

I love that the final scene of the season, for Sander purposes, is him wrapped in Robbe’s arms! It’s kinda poetic.

I love his character so much. He’s insanely expressive and complex and he’s fascinating to me and to have WTFOCKDOWN is a total gift...because not only does it give us insights we’d never have gotten otherwise, we get this continuation of Robbe and Sander’s relationship and what is it about…. TOUCH. Hahaha. I mean, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect topic for exploration of who they are together as a starter for ten, not to mention it’s so Sander focused too!

When it comes to Wtfockdown, we get to see Sander operating in enforced distance. We KNOW that when distance has been a thing in the past, he has tried everything he can to make up for it (murals, drawings, reaching out to Robbe cryptically). That compensation for the distance never ever worked. It always made it so that when Sander eventually had Robbe close again, he threw himself back in head first and touch was HUGE when it came to that. Now, Sander has Robbe completely and vice versa and no doubt knows fully what it is like to have that comfort and touch all of the time… but now it has been taken away. For Robbe, he’s an affectionate koala of a human but his relationship with touch has been a journey of discovery and of self but he doesn’t depend on it like Sander does. He communicates with it but, for Sander, it’s a vital part of who he is. I love that the first clip has Sander asking to meet up… hahaha. I remember being so giddy reading that because OF COURSE. He’s trying everything he can again. Then he broke my heart because this time, his form of compensation is to take Robbe with him on his walks. It’s yet ANOTHER form of compensation to try to fill that void where touch once was!

Clip 2 starts their face to face journey and GUYS. I mean, Sander flat out saying that the thing he misses most about Robbe is his touch just about broke my heart and made me giddy once again! They really did that. He’s so happy to see Robbe, to spend time with him but over and over again he’s repeating ways to stop the distance like swapping places with Robbe’s mamma…! Bless his heart. The fact that he says “there’s nothing better than you”, he REALLY does mean it. We’ve seen a whole season of why that’s the truth! We’ve seen him reach that conclusion! Also, that compensation once again on dreams and daydreaming… ANY WAY HE CAN to stop the distance. He breaks my heart.

Clip 3...ONCE AGAIN. “The endlessness of this tunnel symbolises the physical distance between them”. He cannot cope with it. This one made me a bit emotional when I first saw it. They’re not just words for his fairytale; he means them. The distance is DIFFICULT for him. You can see it on his face when he says those words, he frowns. He’s speaking the truth even if he’s making it seem a little light hearted. Then that little private moment where it says he just wants to be with Robbe. It’s genuinely incredibly hard for him to not have Robbe nearby. For someone who thrives and depends so much on touch, the distance is painful and a genuine loss. It’s not just ‘i miss my boyfriend’ because there’s a real nuance there, a real part of who Sander is that prioritises touch and closeness so significantly.

Clip 4. It took me FAR too long to get through this clip the first time around because I SHOULD NOT BE SEEING THIS but hey ho. I watched it again for you, dudes. Sander’s on the quest for compensation for the distance again, this time trying something new and yea, it’s a risk but he means it. It’s something he wants to try because it’s Robbe and it’s fun and he loves him and misses him and feels like it’s another way to feel like the distance isn’t so vast. The moment Robbe tells him he’s not into it, Sander looks a little crushed but immediately understands and lies down. Now, for me, I might be reading so much into it but because we have seen what touch means, as a stand in for it, and Sander now feeling so comfortable with Robbe, that moment of ‘I’ve gone too far’, ‘we’re not on the same page’ is huge for them. Sander can’t find what he’s looking for during the distance and you can see he feels so embarrassed but the moment he laughs at himself, tells Robbe that just lying together is enough and respects Robbe, you can see him trying to get back on that even plane. He loves Robbe so much and would never want to make him feel uncomfortable but for that split second, the comfort they have built wavered and Sander’s ability to be completely vulnerable was questioned… until it wasn’t and all was well for the moment because they talk and love and try. I love that they did that. I love that Sander’s inherent need for closeness was brought to light and Robbe’s need to GIVE affection was shown to be so true… only in person. Robbe thrives off that honest touch whereas Sander is grounded by it, comforted by it and finds it necessary...so without it is left floundering. THE LAYERS, guys. Rolling around in them!!!!

Clip 5 and we see Sander questioning himself. Sander still hasn’t quite felt ok since the other night and he’s letting it affect him. That questioning himself is the same stuff we saw pre-final reunion where he allows his issues to cloud his judgement and he spirals a little when left to his own devices. It’s that insecurity that Robbe managed to settle in him, that push and pull they have but Sander is human and he’s struggling and Robbe’s not there to provide that settlement. He doesn’t RELY on Robbe so much as WANT him because he makes things better. The fact that all the while, Robbe is learning how far his own ability to provide affection and closeness from afar is able to go by seeking advice from Milan makes me want to weep… because the writing is perfect! Of course he is. Everything we know about him tells us he’d do this!

So we’re in present day and I can’t wait to see what they do next. The way they write these two separately and together shows so much understanding of who the characters are, what they mean to each other and this great respect for honouring what they’ve created with so much gentle nuance and emotion. If the past 50000000000 words didn’t suggest it clearly enough - I love what they’re doing so much!

If you’re still awake after all that, you’re super human. Thank you for reading and this post is LONG overdue but it’s here and as rambly as you’d expect. Robbe’s specific post will be along soon! <3

#wtfock

154 notes · View notes

deniigi · 4 years ago

Note

hello! rain city is wonderful and very upsetting. thanks for writing it, it's the first time I've ever hated Foggy. anyway, what do you think kingpin Foggy would think of Murderdock? Murderdock's got his intense love of all Foggys, but how would kingpin Foggy feel? In a lot of ways he's waaay more evil than Murderdock, and I have the uncomfortable feeling he would not appreciate a Matt that's his equal, completely uncontrollable and unblackmailable.

I have written a little bit of this actually.

In short, he doesn’t give a shit about Murderdock.

Miles POV - I wrote this ages ago, so ignore the twin shit, but like the basic idea of this piece is that the Multiverse crew are trying to help bb Spidery Peter by finding his DD.

-------------

“What the fuck’s gotten into you?” this new Foggy demanded. “Are you insane?”

Murderdock’s sneering dropped into confusion.

“Jesus,” this Foggy said, shoving Murderdock back and standing up to dust himself off.

Murderdock remained super confused. Like, visibly confused. Confused enough that Peter pressed everyone back into their little hollow between the storage containers so that they couldn’t be seen.

“Is that—where’s the suit I gave you?” the Foggy asked.

“Suit?” Murderdock repeated.

The Foggy tsked. Murderdock reeled back in shock at the gesture.

“Useless,” the Foggy said. “The gray suit. I told you to wear the gray one. It’s labeled. I literally handed it to you. Christ. You’re better than this.”

Murderdock actually patted at his chest as though he’d forgotten what color he was wearing.

“This suit is? Gray?” he tried.

The Foggy paused and turned back towards him with dark eyes. His lip did something strange and he took a step in towards Murderdock. One slow step. He reached forward and gently caught a handful of Murderdock’s jacket.

“This,” he said patiently, “Is charcoal, dear heart.”

Murderdock latched a hand over the new Foggy’s wrist and held it there.

“Touch me again,” he warned.

And then he got slapped. Right across the face. Loud enough for the sound to be heard over the glugging of the water all around them.

Holy shit.

Gwen had to cover her mouth to muffle her gasp.

“You don’t get to touch,” the Foggy said kindly. “Did you forget, hun?”

Dear god.

Murderdock twisted his head back to facing forward in what could only be silent fury. Gwen started freaking out.

“Do it again,” Murderdock said out of nowhere with almost no rise or fall in his tone.

The Foggy—he was wearing a neat slate blue suit himself with a navy tie and a ring on his little finger—seemed to look Murderdock over, long and slow.

He sighed and shook his head.

“Matty, we’ve talked about talking out of turn,” he said.

A chill vibrated up Miles’s spine.

“Have we now?” Murderdock asked with the sound of a grin on his lips.

The Foggy’s expression darkened.

“You’re still talking,” he pointed out with his own, much lighter smile. “Let’s stop for now, hm? We have work to do.”

Murderdock, to Miles’s surprise, took a step back and let there be more distance between him and the new Foggy. The new Foggy considered this and then nodded in approval.

“I guess charcoal’ll just have to do,” he huffed, reaching cross the new distance to straighten Murderdock’s collar. Then he paused and pulled his hand back. “Are you wet?” he asked. “Why in God’s name are you wet?”

Murderdock, Miles was pretty sure, just grinned.

The Foggy frowned.

“You’re acting strange,” he said.

Murderdock played along. He shrugged one shoulder without speaking.

Gwen put a hand over her heart in anxiety.

“Hm. I don’t like it,” the Foggy said in a suddenly deep tone. Then he smiled wide and kind again. “You’re going to stop it. Immediately. Yes?”

“Yes,” Murderdock promised.

Why was he acting like this???

Miles was going to have a heart attack. Why??

A soft sound caught him and the others in their cozy alcove by surprise and they turned to see the Daredevil from before standing there, just as stunned as they were.

In a light gray suit.

Shit clicked into place faster than anything had ever had the right to.

Peter flailed in horror.

The other Daredevil panicked at his movement and looked all over, trying to hear what was happening down below, where the Foggy was still chatting softly with Murderdock, then he gasped so quietly it was almost inaudible. His shoulders rose and he jerked around only to be shushed by the rest of them.

They tried to explain as quickly as they could that that was one of their doubles of him, but the poor guy was on the verge of an anxiety attack. He wouldn’t hear them and he wouldn’t stay, even when Peter and B tried to reason with him. Instead, he leapt down from the alcove and the sound of him landing was enough to draw the other Foggy’s—the other…Kingpin’s…attention.

The Kingpin stopped smoothly at the sound and lifted his chin.

Murderdock’s grin curled into his face.

“This is unexpected,” the Kingpin noted. “Didn’t realize you had a twin, Matty.”

“Step back,” Daredevil demanded of Murderdock.

Murderdock shrugged that silent shoulder again. But he didn’t move.

“I said, step back,” Daredevil growled. Which was weird because like, that was the Kingpin. And yeah, it was Foggy and holy shit that was terrifying in so many ways, but like.

Still the Kingpin. The guy who’d ordered him to kill his Spiderm—

Nevermind, Kingpin Foggy was the worst thing in the multiverse. On like. Every level.

“Make me,” Murderdock oozed at the Daredevil.

DD started to hunch over with no idea of what he was dealing with. None. Gwen stiffened.

“Stand down, Matt, it’s okay,” the Foggy said out of nowhere. “Seems like there’s been a misunderstanding is all.”

How was he so reasonable?

“I’m gonna puke,” Peter whimpered, crunched into B’s side. B shoved him away with an order to puke quietly.

“Might I ask who are you, friend?” the Kingpin asked down on the ground.

“I have many names,” Murderdock said.

“Well, I’m thinkin’ one is probably a good start,” the Kingpin said amiably.

His pinky ring was silver. It glinted ever so slightly in the dockyard’s floodlights.

“They call me Murdock,” Murderdock said.

“So you are twins,” the Kingpin said.

“Get away from him,” Daredevil ordered.

Murderdock sneered at him.

“Why? So you can carry on being his dog?” he asked. “Is that what you’ve lived your pathetic fucking life for?”

Foggy recoiled and touched his chest in surprise. Daredevil rolled his shoulders.

“Oh,” Murderdock said, straightening his spine. “I get it. You like it.”

“Matt, stand down,” the Kingpin ordered.

“You like it,” Murderdock goaded. “Bowing down to lick his shoe—you kinky fucker. Didn’t want the responsibility of choice? Too much? Was it easier to just…take it?”

“Gwen, your Kingpin is gonna get himself King-pinned to death,” B hissed over his shoulder. “We need to do something.”

“He probably deserves it?” Gwen said with a high palms.

B and Peter’s faces said that this was not the right response. She looked to Miles for support but he had nothing for her.

“Okay, okay. Hold on. Make sure they stay on the words and not the stabby things and I’ll be right back,” she said.

“I think you’re misunderstanding mine and Matt’s relationship, Mr.—” Foggy said.

“Murdock,” Murderdock repeated sweetly.

“Murdock. Right. Of no relation of course,” the Kingpin said. “But regardless, I don’t really appreciate you talking to—”

“Your things like that?” Murderdock finished for him like a man determined to die by falling on his own sword.

Foggy cocked his head.

“What is your profession, Mr. Murdock?” he asked.

“In my universe? Or yours?” Murderdock asked.

There was a pregnant pause. Miles held his breath.

Then the Kingpin laughed. Just like the Foggy back home did. He even reached for Murderdock’s shoulder the way that Miles’s Foggy did with Matt. Except Murderdock didn’t give him a little grin like Matt always did to Foggy.

Miles wasn’t sure what Murderdock’s face did. He couldn’t see it very well. But he assumed that whatever expression he wore, it was serious enough to make the Kingpin stop and reconsider. He left his hand where it was on Murderdock’s shoulder, though.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” he said. “In yours.”

Now, Miles knew Murderdock was smiling. Wide and white and horrible.

“They call me many things,” he said so that Miles almost didn’t hear him. “Matt Murdock. The Western Sun of the Hand. That bastard. But these days, folks in the know call me the Kingpin of New York City.” Miles didn’t have to see to know that that smile had gotten sharper. “And I don’t like to share.”

Miles held his breath. The Peters in front of him did, too.

But then Foggy burst out laughing down there all over again.

He patted at Murderdock’s cheek affectionately.

“You’re so cute,” he said. “And I’m sure you’re very scary in your universe. Hm. So cute.” He cleared his throat. “Now, if you don’t mind, Mr. Murdock. I have business to attend to. Matty? Come on now. Business waits for no man and all that.”

Daredevil withdrew and Murderdock’s face followed him as they rounded each other. Daredevil dropped his shoulders and face when he sloped off to catch up to his Kingpin.

His Kingpin watched this fondly and, when DD was at his side, took a moment to reach over and straighten his collar, just as he had done for Murderdock. He brushed a bit of dust off Daredevil’s shoulder and, apparently finding him in better condition, purposefully looped their arms together.

#fic #ficlet #into the multiverse

61 notes · View notes

misssophiachase · 4 years ago

Text

Right of Way

For @klaroline-events KC Bingo - Enemies to Lovers - On AO3 and FF

At the Palm Beach Equestrian Club, Klaus Mikaelson is the prince of the polo field and Caroline the showjumping darling. They immediately dislike each other but, at the same time, can’t seem to get out of each other’s way.

right-of-way (noun) \ ˌrīt-ə(v)-ˈwā \

1: a legal right of passage over another person’s ground

2: in polo - when a player has the line of the ball on their right, they have the right of way (ROW). Enforced to keep all players safe and avoid collisions on the field, players may only enter or cross the ROW if they can do so safely and with enough distance.

Present Day (February) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“I hate you.”

“Well, I hate you too, Forbes,” he growled, “now are you going to keep talking or am I going to have to...”

Before he could go through with his threat she’d pushed him up against the stall door, his intense gaze only increasing her desperation.

“Has anyone told you that you talk too much, Mikaelson?” He didn’t respond, just leaned in impatiently, his mouth claiming hers greedily.

Caroline pulled him closer, grabbing ample handfuls of his number 3 polo jersey. He was warm and familiar against her skin and a delicious aromatic mixture of spice and sandalwood. She’d never admit it, but Caroline loved being close to him post match. They’d just won convincingly, no surprises there, but he was always more needy and urgent and the sex decidedly more explosive.

His mouth travelled down her neck and Caroline had to bite her lip to stifle a moan. She wanted to take her time and enjoy him but given where they were that wasn’t an option. Plus, she knew from experience that he would make it up to her later.

He was trailing kisses along the length of her collar bone now, his lips teasing the swell of her breasts and his tongue close to delving into the valley between them when she heard a noise in one of the far stalls.

It startled them and broke up their kiss. They started at each other intently, panting but at the same time holding a silent discussion with their eyes. Should they risk it or should they move apart and avoid suspicion? It seemed like a fairly easy decision. No one could know they were together but the strong magnetic pull between them made moving seem inconvenient.

A further noise and subsequent horsey neigh made them realise that, unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen. Not now anyway.

“I don’t like you that much anyway,” she reiterated, shrugging her shoulders. If he was offended by her comment he didn’t show it. His crimson lips curved into a knowing smile, a rogue dimple making an appearance in his left cheek.

“The feeling is mutual, love. Don’t miss me too much.” He was walking purposefully through the stables before she had a chance to reply.

Asshat.

Caroline hit her head against the stall a few times, hoping that it would somehow allow sense to prevail but unfortunately she knew if he kissed her again she wouldn’t resist. She was supposed to hate the guy not be rubbing up against him every chance she got.

Caroline felt a soft nuzzling against her shoulder, looking up into the warm and expectant eyes of her chestnut mare Coco.

“Don’t start,” she murmured, patting her nose affectionately.

How did she get here? How did they get here?

It had all started out so innocently. You don’t like the person, you ignore them.

Simple, right?

10 months earlier (April) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

Equestrian was the way of life in Wellington. In fact, if you didn’t ride, compete or spectate there was no point in actually living there. Home to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre and to the famed Winter Equestrian Festival, they lived, breathed and everything else horse related. Caroline’s mom and grandmother had both competed at a national level and were local legends in her hometown.

She was following in their footsteps and out of the three she possessed the most natural talent. While skilled in dressage, her forte was showjumping and there were hopes she’d one day compete in the Olympics for the USA. As much as Caroline loved horse riding, she didn’t love the pressure associated with it.

Her best friend Kat competed with her from a young age, but she maintained she only stuck it out because she couldn’t resist a hot guy in jodphurs.

It was a Tuesday, Caroline remembered because she had her private lesson. After arriving at the club, she noticed a few new faces. Two guys and a girl, all around her age. The brooding blonde was especially good looking, he looked kind of familiar but she wasn’t sure why.

He also seemed generally unimpressed with his surroundings as the director Jenna Sommers showed them the facility. Caroline hung back, but was still close enough to overhear.

“The stables were built in 2017, there are sixty 12x12 stalls, twenty wash stalls, specialty hay and grain storage, multiple dressing rooms, laundry rooms, office space, full sized kitchen and bathrooms. There are three arenas, one covered, one sand and one grass.”

“And the polo facilities,” the blonde interrupted, clearly impatient. His voice was very English and his tone incredibly brusque.

“The Polo Club is adjacent. It spans nearly 250 acres and includes seven state-of-the-art tournament fields that can accommodate multiple games simultaneously.”

“I suppose that will have to do,” he muttered. Caroline knew she was biased but the polo club was internationally renowned and held many top level national and international competitions, this guy was clearly hard to please.

“Oh, Caroline,” she didn’t realise just how close she was. Jenna was looking at her curiously and she could tell was relieved by the interruption. “Meet the Mikaelson siblings, they’re new to Florida and the States. Caroline Forbes is one of our very best show jumpers.”

They seemed intimidating from the outset as they looked at her expectantly and Caroline wasn’t quite sure what to say, until she managed to get something out.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

The good looking one’s eyes flickered over her attire briefly before looking away. Charming. Well, two could play at that game.

“Rebekah is the same age, Caroline,” she said, gesturing to the blonde girl. “Maybe you could take her out to the arena for your lesson so she can look around?” Caroline figured it wasn’t a suggestion but an order.

At first Caroline thought Rebekah was incredibly uptight. Katherine would say she had a stick up her ass and Caroline was secretly glad her best friend wasn’t part of the welcoming committee.

She found out that the family were members of the exclusive Cowdray Park Polo Club in West Sussex and Rebekah’s older brother was skilled in polo. Rebekah excelled in dressage and was quite heavily involved in competitions like Caroline.

“So, I take it this isn’t that impressive compared to your previous club in England?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Your brother didn’t seem very happy with the polo facilities.”

“Niklaus isn’t happy with anything,” she drawled.

“Niklaus?”

“He hates it but I do it just to annoy him,” she offered, a slight smile crossing her face. Maybe there was a less uptight side to her after all.

“No, I meant that name sounds familiar.”

“He’s one of the best polo players in England and beyond, but don’t tell him I said that because I will deny it,” she groaned.

Now, it was all coming back to her. Caroline didn’t play polo but knew she’d seen him on the cover of quite a few magazines. He was incredibly good looking but from what she’d seen, he was clearly arrogant and self absorbed too.

“None of us are happy that my father was transferred for work but Nik is feeling the move the most. Elijah is off to Yale so is only passing through town and Kol is Kol.”

Caroline wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was certain she’d find out.

4 months later (August) USA v Argentina Display Match, Palm Beach International Polo Club, FL

“Look at that South American stallion in action,” Katherine purred from the sidelines. “And by that, I don’t mean the horse.”

Caroline rolled her eyes although it wouldn’t be Kat if she wasn’t checking out the talent.

The annual display match was a big event on the club’s polo calendar. People from all around the country and overseas attended and it was one of the premiere fashion events of the year. Although Caroline enjoyed it, something was making it less that way. Or someone if she was being specific.

Klaus Mikaelson.

Watching him take the field like he owned the place was a bad enough start to her day. In the four months she’d had the displeasure of knowing him, Caroline had decided that he was one of the most arrogant, conceited and smug idiots she’d ever met. Of course, the other girls at the club didn’t share her feelings and were all vying for his attention on and off the field. Caroline thought they were all pathetic for not seeing what she saw.

That he was an ass.

Caroline had every intention of steering clear of the guy but it seemed as if everywhere she went, he did too. It didn’t help that her and Katherine had been spending time together with his sister. It also didn’t help that he looked so attractive annoying her. Whether it was a flash of those dimples or a curve of his crimson lips, Caroline found herself doing all that she could not to jump him. And she hated herself for that. It also meant she was moody more often and it clearly hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“The grouchy look on your face is doing nothing for that stunning Burberry dress, Care,” Kat insisted. Caroline looked down at the white, fitted ensemble thinking her friend was right that it didn’t match her personality.

“Why do we have to watch this?” She growled, noticing Katherine was about to interrupt. “And I don’t want to hear about the South American stallions."

“Well, unfortunately the club has this really annoying policy whereby all younger members need to be present. Apparently, it helps with publicity and that means more members and we all know what that means.”

“Money,” she murmured. “I don’t like it but I get it. But since when did we become the cheerleaders for the guy’s polo team? I don’t see any of them at our show jumping meets.”

“As much as you don’t want to hear this, polo is more popular and it doesn’t hurt that the club’s star player is the best advertisement they’ve got.”

“If you say his name…”

“The club has hit a gold mine with Hottie Mchottie as a member and I’m inclined to agree.”

“You did that on purpose.”

“I could have meant anyone,” she smirked. “Okay, maybe. I have to admit, I love the way he riles you up, it’s like watching live action foreplay.”

“You have a one track mind.”

“And you, my dear, are in denial.”

“I can’t stand him and his pompous ass.”

“Talking about his ass again, are we?” Kat teased. “Anyone would think you were obsessed.” Caroline gave her a look which plainly said she wasn’t interested in engaging. “Have you considered relieving some of that sexual tension with him in the nearest stable on a strategically placed haystack? You might find that helps with your general mood.”

“Well, on that rather weird and erotic novel type note,” she growled, annoyed that Kat probably had a point. She couldn’t stand the guy but there was no denying her attraction. “I’m going to get a drink and then spike it so I don’t have to deal with your wild opinions.”

“Best thing you’ve suggested all day, get me one too,” she called out to her retreating back. Caroline could hear her laughter and it wasn’t helping improve her mood.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?”

What was this, pick on Caroline day? She looked over at Kol Mikaelson standing by the buffet table, his plate piled high.

“You realise you can come back again for more, right?”

“This is my third helping,” he said, gesturing to his food. “I don’t know why they insist on these tiny plates.”

“Probably so people like you don’t hoover up the entire buffet in one fell swoop and leave nothing for the rest of us,” she offered. “I’m surprised to see you actually.”

“Really? This is my dream come true, free food and beautiful women.” Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes.

The youngest Mikaelson had always been an enigma to her. Kol had absolutely no interest in horses. Period. Unlike his sister and brother he only attended the club on social occasions. She actually found him to be the most fun, not that she’d ever admit that.

“Of course,” she sighed knowingly. “I’m not sure why I said that. I can see the food has been a hit, how about things on the girl front?”

“Not yet, but it’s still early. I have to say Katherine is looking…”

“I’m going to have to stop you there,” she interrupted. “I love my best friend but she is a pariah and will devour you and not in a good way. Plus, she likes older guys.”

“Well, that explains her checking out Elijah,” he muttered, referring to when his older brother visited the club on a break from college a month earlier. “Any other friends for me?”

“Not any I’d introduce you to, Kol,” she joked, noticing his face falter slightly. “The day is still young though and I’ve caught April Young checking you out.” Given the way his expression changed, Caroline figured she’d buoyed him slightly.

“Of course she was,” he grinned. “So, why so glum, sugar plum?” He asked, placing his plate down and looking at her earnestly. “Usually Niklaus has to be in at least a half mile radius for this kind of reaction.”

“This has nothing to do with…”

“I’m his brother and, trust me, I know the signs,” he advised. “I assume you’ve heard about the Winter Festival then?”

“Well, it’s held every year,” she replied.

The Winter Festival was the premiere equestrian event running from January to April every year in their hometown of Wellington. It was considered the largest and longest-running competition in the world and attracted varying levels of riders from all over the US and beyond.

“Yes,” he drawled sarcastically. “I meant about you and Niklaus doing...”

��Me and Niklaus?” His face was ashen now, clearly he’d misjudged the situation and her reaction. “Doing what exactly.”

“You’re going to have to ask him,” he blurted out, holding up his plate of food like a shield between them. “I have no intention of being the messenger who gets shot, especially when I’m so young and handsome and have so much to live for.”

“Gee, how dramatic. Just tell me, Kol, “ she pressed. “Trust me, my anger will be squarely directed at your brother. If you need any proof just look at precedent.”

“He told me that you two are going to be the faces of the festival,” he mumbled. “Do all the publicity and promotional things for it.”

“Unbelievable...” she scowled. “I’m going to kill him.”

She was gone before Kol could offer any rebuttal.

45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“No need to tell me how wonderful I am, Forbes,” he smiled, walking towards the stall leading his stallion Jet.

He’d happened upon her pacing outside his stall, her white dress doing nothing to hide her delectable curves. He’d almost lost concentration multiple times during the match thanks to that particular ensemble. Klaus wasn’t one who lost concentration often but was starting to realise that Caroline Forbes did something to him that no one ever had before.

Sure, he liked to give her a hard time and revelled in the way she reacted but she’d commanded his attention for months now. No one even stood a chance when she was in his line of sight.

It started when they met. Those golden waves and blue eyes were mesmerising but if Klaus was being honest it was the slight dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that really drove him crazy.

“I’m not one of your pathetic, sycophantic groupies,” she hissed, finally coming to a stop and placing her arms across her chest defiantly. “I hear you’ve been making decisions on my behalf.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” he said, leading Jet into the stall and removing his bridle. Klaus wondered how long it would take for the news to reach Caroline.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You can’t just go around making decisions on my behalf,” she argued.

“The festival, I assume?” He asked feigning innocence. “They needed two photogenic, equestrian talents to promote it. If anything I thought you’d be flattered.”

“Wow, you really think I’m going to fall into a giggling heap because you called me both photogenic and talented? You picked the wrong girl.”

“I didn’t pick anyone…”

“Oh no you don’t,” she shot back. “I just spoke to Jenna and apparently it was all your idea.”

“She asked me for suggestions and I obliged.” Klaus figured that at least sounded half true, even if it wasn’t.

Klaus knew that if he was going to be stuck doing publicity then the only person he wanted by his side was Caroline. Yes, it was selfish, and now, probably in hindsight, a little creepy sounding but he wanted her to see there was more to him.

“If that’s true,” she accused.

“If you do this then think of all the benefits.” She gave him a curious look and Klaus knew he had her attention. “Sponsorship, fame, fortune.”

“Just because you want those material things doesn’t mean I do,” she answered. “There’s more to life than all of this.” Klaus detected a sense of sadness in her tone, like show jumping wasn’t her only ambition in life. Before he could respond, she did. “Anyway, why would I make a pact with the devil?”

“You know, I’m much nicer once you get to know me, Caroline.”

“Says Satan,” she drawled. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Well, you’re going to have about six months to see it,” he replied.

“This is not happening,” she insisted. “I’m going to tell Jenna that this was all your hair brained scheme and I want no part of it.”

“Now, even I know you won’t do that,” he said, knowing he was right. If she backed out on this it would be frowned upon by the upper echelons at the club, not to mention her family. “Look, maybe you might even have a bit of fun. Did you ever think of that?”

“I’ve never associated you with fun,” she murmured. “More like the impediment to it.”

“We’ll see about that, love.”

“If we’re going to at least pretend to be friends, don’t call me love.”

Klaus watched her walk away, her hips wiggling hypnotically from side to side. Jet nuzzled into his neck, almost like he was thinking the exact same thing.

“Hooves off, boy, I saw her first.”

2 months later (October) - Municipal Beach, FL

“Why exactly am I wearing high heels on a horse on a beach?” She asked, as someone touched up her make-up. “I think this is up there with the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s supposed to be artistic.”

“Well, it’s not. Anyway, who asked you?” She shot back, as he held onto the reins of her horse. “You get to wear comfortable footwear at least.”

“If it’s any consolation, red is your colour,” he said, gesturing to the patent heels she was wearing. She groaned, no doubt moving around in order to get more comfortable, but given she was wearing a matching ball gown, Klaus knew it was no mean feat.

“I’ll tell you where you can stick your consolation, Mikaelson.”

“Now that’s not the way for a lady to speak, is it Jigsaw?” He spoke to the horse she was atop.

“Remind me never to agree to do this again,” she mumbled, leaning down so she could say it in his ear.

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh aloud, she’d been saying it ever since the publicity campaign began in September. Photo shoots had become commonplace for them but they’d also just finished a nation-wide interview blitz where he’d be charming and Caroline had no choice but to follow suit. He might have also held her hand a couple of times and gone out of his way not to deny a possible romance between the newest equestrian darlings. The media had eaten it up of course and Klaus was in no rush for it all to end. Luckily, they still had a while until it all wrapped up.

Her frustration with him seemed to only add to his need to be near her. Klaus knew it was a tactic she employed and that the attraction between them was not only one sided. Caroline seemed to make it her aim in life to keep her distance but Klaus could feel it in her looks and her touch.

“You secretly love the attention.”

“Not bloody likely.”

“Someone’s clearly been around me too long,” he teased hearing the ‘b’ word.

“And don’t I know it,” she groaned, then attempted to sit upright again in the saddle. In the process her left shoe fell off and landed on the sand. Klaus sprang into action, kneeling down and picking it up. He noticed her looking downwards from the saddle and held it up to her foot.

“I think there was a fairytale about this once.”

“That’s fantastic,” the photographer shouted excitedly, what seemed like a thousand clicks sounding out from his camera. “Smile, Caroline, it’s your very own Prince Charming.”

“You’re never going to let me live this one down, are you?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“Never, Cinderella.”

One month later (November) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

“That’s not the right of way,” he insisted, watching as she attempted to get the ball further down the field. “The line of the ball needs to be on the right.”

“But it’s my right of way,” she argued, moving the ball again.

“No, that’s cheating.”

“You are no fun, anyone ever tell you that?” She laughed.

“They want the faces of the festival to play in the charity polo tournament,” he said. “I don’t think the organisers would take too kindly to you breaking the rules.”

“Polo is entirely too civilised for my liking, far too many rules.”

It was at that point, her horse stopped dead in the middle of the field and no amount of encouragement was going to move her. Klaus swept in and took possession of the ball and rode the rest of the distance to score.

“Hey, that’s not fair! My horse is broken,” she shouted.

“That’s no way to talk about Scout, is it girl,” he grinned, trotting closer so he could rub her ears and mane affectionately.

“Sabotage, that’s what this is,” she growled. “I should have known when you gave me one of your fifty million horses for practice.”

“I have three and every polo rider should have a few to choose from,” he remarked. “And as much as I love Coco, she’s not a polo pony.”

“She wouldn’t cheat like this little lady.”

“Says the biggest cheater of them all,” he teased, nudging her slightly.

Caroline, not wanting to be outdone, pushed back until it became a full on play fight. Catching him by surprise, Caroline pulled at one of his stray curls causing Klaus to reel backward and off his horse completely. It had been raining overnight so the field was wet and muddy in parts. Klaus managed to fall right into one of them.

As much as he wanted to get angry and be upset, Klaus couldn’t help but think her melodic laughter was contagious and he started to follow suit. Pretty soon they were both in fits of laughter and Caroline wasn’t expecting him to reach up and pull her off the saddle and into the mud with him.

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Says the girl who started it,” he joked. “I don’t know, I think mud is a good look for you.” Before she could react he’d smeared it across her cheek.

“You did not just do that!” Caroline threw some back, hitting him square on the chest. “This means war, Mikaelson!”

“Bring it on, Forbes,” he provoked, pulling her into the mud with him.

45 minutes later

“I think we can safely say that our first polo practice was a disaster,” Caroline murmured.

They’d both showered in the centre’s bathroom facilities and were sitting outside waiting on some clothes to dry. Klaus was trying not to notice just how good she looked in a towel, her usually creamy skin tinged pink from the hot water.

“I don’t know, I personally thought it was a lot of fun, especially when I pulled you into the mud pit.”

“Of course you did,” she drawled. He noticed her eyes riveted by a stray water droplet running down his bare chest. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one currently distracted by the view. “I, uh, didn’t think you had it in you, to be honest.”

“Have what in me?”

“I thought you were far too into yourself to let loose and have a bit of fun,” she offered.

“Wow, you really think that badly of me?” He asked, not exactly surprised by her account of him but also slightly offended. “Talk about judging a book by its cover.”

“I’m sorry but you seemed unimpressed with everyone and everything here after you arrived in town.”

“I was homesick,” he replied honestly. “I still am sometimes. I never wanted to leave England. My whole life was there, my friends, my family. Florida is like a whole other world and I wasn’t sure how to act.”

“Yeah, it is intense.” The empathy reflected in her eyes was enough to tell Klaus she was reconsidering her views. “You do that confident, smug act a little too well.”

“Trust me, it was difficult. This place is like horses on steroids, well you know not the animals themselves.” Klaus couldn’t believe how stupid he sounded, he decided to blame it on her being barely dressed.

“I know exactly what you mean, although Wellington is all I’ve ever known.”

“You said something about there being more to life than this,” he recalled. “What did you mean by that?”

“The dreaded legacy.”

“Family pressure?” He guessed. Klaus knew from asking around that both her grandmother and mother had been champion riders.

“This life was it for them,” she murmured. “This is all they’ve ever known and they want me to follow in their footsteps but I’m not quite sure that’s what I want.”

“You mean there’s more to life than this equestrian dream?”

“I want to get out of Wellington, go to college next year and see what else is out there.”

“Have you ever considered talking it out with them?”

“Many times,” she shared. “But I chicken out every time. How do you start a conversation like that?”

“My step father is the opposite,” he offered. “Mikael thinks riding around on a horse is extremely unmasculine and that I should be doing more practical things in my life, like concentrating on college.”

“Wow, he sounds like a real…”

“Ass?” He answered for her. “I think he hoped this move would make me reconsider polo but I don’t really know anything else.”

“We are an extremely pathetic duo.”

“Maybe we need to do something to cheer ourselves up,” Klaus suggested, trying to ignore just how much he wanted to pull off her towel and play out every single fantasy he’d had starring Caroline.

“I’m not going to roll around in the mud again with you, Mikaelson.” He could tell by the way she was looking at him, biting her lower lip as her eyes devoured him, that she wasn’t opposed to it at all.

“I could think of other, more clean, ways to pass the time until our clothes are dry?” She clearly didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Now that you mention it, I think I missed a few spots,” she smiled, pulling him up by the hand and leading him towards the showers.

“I’d be more than happy to help with that, love.”

The tension that had been building between them for months finally dissipated in a shower stall. Her back up against the tiles as he moved inside her, the hot water falling down on them. Time stood still and they only emerged once the water ran out and they were forced back to reality in a cold burst.

As relieving as it was, Klaus was disinclined to ask too many questions in case the spell was broken. Caroline seemed just as reluctant. Suddenly, being near each other was all that mattered and any talk about their feelings pushed into the background.

Present Day (March) - Competition Arena, Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“Only one circuit between you and the championship, Care,” Kat smiled, giving Coco an obligatory good luck sugar cube.

Caroline barely heard her best friend or the announcer over the loudspeaker, she was too busy trying to get into the competition zone. Usually, it was easy to block out outside influences but she’d been struggling for the last few weeks.

It had all started when Klaus decided to ask the question they’d managed to avoid for months now. They’d finished their ‘picnic’ at a secluded spot they secretly visited and rather than redressing and leaving as usual, he’d asked the question.

“What are we?” She’d frozen to the spot, unable to respond. They didn’t do this, they didn’t talk about their feelings or wherever this was going between them. They didn’t do anything.

“Klaus…”

“You and I both know that things can’t continue like this.”

“Why not?” She cried. “We’re having fun, we’re enjoying ourselves. Let’s not ruin what we have.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what we have,” he murmured. “I know that you make me happy and that the last few months have been the best of my life.”

“So, why do we have to put a label on it?”

“Because no one knows about us, we hide away like we’re ashamed of being together. I don’t want to do that anymore because I love you, Caroline.” He’d never said that before and she wasn’t quite sure how to handle it, especially mid-fight. His gaze was as intense as it was imploring.

“It’s just…” Caroline broke off, unable to explain how she was feeling and what she wanted. She knew she had strong feelings for Klaus but it scared the hell out of her. “You’re going to Oxford in the fall and…”

“So, you’ve had enough of me then? This was all just a game to you?” She knew it wasn’t a game but it was difficult to find the words. She was expected to keep on the equestrian track in the States and the thought of him leaving her there was too much.

“Of course not,” she murmured, her gaze now firmly downcast to avoid his gaze. “I just don’t know where this is going and the sooner we realise that the better.”

He was gone before she looked up and they hadn’t spoken since.

“Caroline, hello?” Katherine asked, waving her hands in front of her face animatedly. “Where did you go? If that was a sex trance, I want to know all of the dirty details.”

“I only told you about that because you’re my best friend, but I have no intention of going into detail, even if you’re giving me those pleading, sex-starved eyes.”

“No fun, bestie,” she pouted. “So, why do I sense there’s trouble in paradise?”

“There’s no trouble,” she offered. “We’re actually not seeing each other anymore. It’s really for the best given...”

“Are you dumb or blind or both?”

“It’s not going anywhere, he’s off to England in the fall and then what? I’ll still be here doing what I do.”

“And you sound so excited by that prospect.”

“You’re going off to Columbia, Rebekah to Harvard and I’m going to Brown, not because I really want to go there but because it has the best equestrian team.”

“You need to tell your mom that this isn’t the life you want.”

“Easier said than done,” Caroline groaned. “Did I tell you that I got into Oxford?”

“What do you think?” Kat drawled. “How could you not tell me this, I’m only your best friend.”

“I only received the letter on Thursday.”

“So, I’m officially confused. You want to go to Oxford, you always have. Doesn’t this mean that all the moaning and groaning about Klaus and a possible future is redundant?”

“Kat…”

“Caroline, I say this with love, but you’re an idiot. Yes, your family wants one thing but I think you’re old enough to make your own decisions. Plus, I bet the equestrian team at Oxford is pretty good, you know if you want to keep your options open.” She did have a point.

Caroline didn’t have time to respond though because one of the guys they knew from the polo club came running towards them frantically.

“Please tell me that’s not some new and really bad dance?” Kat asked, looking at him curiously.

“There’s been an accident on the polo field.”

“What happened?” Caroline asked, her stomach dropping. It could have been anyone but for some reason she felt like it was him.

“Number 3,” he panted. “Opposing team broke the right of way, there was a collision and he was thrown off his horse.”

“Is he okay?” Caroline asked, all composure lost. She didn’t care who knew just as long as he was going to be okay.

“They took him to hospital by ambulance, he was unconscious,” he replied.

Caroline handed Katherine the reins, and they held a conversation with their eyes. The decision about what to do was the easiest one she’d made. No championship was worth it, she was going to the hospital.

1 hour and 45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“He always was the most dramatic one in the family.” Klaus heard Rebekah’s voice as he started to come to. They all knew she was the most dramatic but liked to pretend she wasn’t.

“Oh, look,” Kol exclaimed. “I guess Rebekah having a voice like nails on a blackboard has finally come in handy. Welcome back, Niklaus.”

“Is this a nightmare?” He managed to get out, his gaze trained on his younger siblings.

“Wow, you made a joke,” Rebekah cooed. “Looks like big brother is back with an even worse sense of humour.”

“Can I have some water,” he rasped, his throat dry, not to mention a splitting headache. “And as much as I love your comedy act, can we please keep the yammering to a minimum.”

“Oh, he’s definitely back,” Kol joked. “How about I get some water and you find the doctor, Beks?” She hated that nickname and her scowl confirmed it.

They both left the room and Klaus had to admit he was happy to enjoy the silence and just close his eyes for a moment.

Although he wasn’t at fault, Klaus knew he’d been off kilter for a few weeks now and might have had a slight lapse in concentration. It was bad enough he hadn’t seen Caroline since their argument but the worst part was that she didn’t even seem to want to try and make things work for them. She also seemed embarrassed for some reason and that hurt more than Klaus had imagined.

Sure, things started off fun and as much as Klaus liked that he knew things couldn’t continue that way. Yes, he was off to Oxford but he hoped that she’d offer to try rather than giving up. He even told her he loved her and nothing. To say he was hurt was an understatement.

“Oh my god,” he heard her voice, almost like he’d summoned her or something.

“Klaus.” He could hear the emotion and the slight wobble in her voice. “What have you done?” He heard her take a seat at his bedside and felt her take his hand. Klaus knew he should have opened his eyes but he was curious about what she might say.

“Please tell me the other guy looks worse and if not I’m going to kick his ass.” Klaus had to fight the urge not to smile. She was incredibly adorable when she was being jealous.

“Can you please just open those pretty eyes so we can talk? I want to tell you what an idiot I was last time I saw you.” As much as he wanted to do just that and gloat, Klaus stayed still waiting.

“Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn about it,” she muttered. “A couple of things.”

“One, I was an idiot and if you expect me to admit that when you’re conscious, think again. Two, I was scared about losing you and what we have because my family has these overwhelming expectations and I was trying to be all things to all people.” Klaus figured she was just about done and then she continued.

“Three, I want you and I want us and I love you and I really regret not saying that the other week. And finally, four, I got into Oxford and I really want to go but I don’t want you to think I’m some crazy weird stalker..”

“You got into Oxford?” His eyes flew open and he spoke before thinking, he was that shocked.

“You were awake the whole time?” She growled, squeezing his hand tightly.

“Ouch, Caroline.”

“You deserved it,” she insisted, before relenting and loosening her grip. “Yes, I got into Oxford.”

“And you love me?”

“Well, there’s no point in asking given you heard it all,” she muttered.

“And you were an idiot?”

“I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”

“Probably not,” he smiled, pulling her closer. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way. Hang on, aren’t you supposed to be competing right now?”

“I was but decided I needed to be here,” she replied. “I need to start doing more of what I want with my life. But don’t let it go to your head, Mikaelson.”

“Come up here,” he asked, pulling her onto the bed so she was laying beside him. She felt familiar, comfortable and like home. “I want to make up for the last few weeks.”

“You want to do it in the hospital bed?”

“No, but someone is clearly over eager,” he chuckled.

“I’m so glad I’m in a hospital right now because I’m going to be sick,” Kol groaned, walking into the room with the doctor and Rebekah on his heels.

His reaction was predictable but Klaus and Caroline didn't really care, they were far too immersed in each other to even respond. Not when they had a future to look forward to and, after all of the initial animosity, it was most definitely worth it in the end.

#kcbingo2020 #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfic #klaroline #misssophiachase #my writing

46 notes · View notes