#the mentioned swearing occuring in my comments I mean
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Trigun Bookclub Trimax Vol8 Part2
Vol01: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Â | Vol02: Part 1 | Part 2
Trimax: Vol01 Part 1 Vol01 Part 2 | Vol02 Part 1 Vol02 Part 2 |
Vol 03 Part 1 | Vol03 Part2 | Vol04 Part1 | Vol04 Part2 | Vol05 |
Vol06 | Vol07 | Vol08 Part1 | Vol08 Part2
Oh hell yeah we'll get to one of my favourite spreads of the whole series in this Part.
I will also not excuse any swearing that I'm doing while writing this review.
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Now I don't think I got this on my first read through, but the sound here ("Gakin") sounds very much like no bullet was loaded? Sooo I guess Wolfwood very cleverly anticipated this move by Legato so we have him double-tricking him! Good boy! (I haven't read all bookclub posts to vol8 yet, if smb else already said this, whoops)
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He's free...but instant knock-out. Ouch.
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"Oh no fucker, I WON'T have you staring at my bf's ass." (loosely interpreted Wolfwood's thoughts)
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If he missed, does this mean Legato changed the trajectory of the bullets with his powers? Sounds like a wild thing to do (but I'm not sure if it's a wild thing for HIM or completely within his normal powers?)
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THIS shit was not part of the plan.
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Reclaimed his ass (good for him)
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This panel of Livio shooting behin him and saying "Amen"? It's pretty fucking cool.
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Much less cool is that he's shooting Wolfwood.
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And now Chapel literally casting judgement upon Wolfwood from above. God has this boy not suffered enough?
It's started, guys. The inner thoughs of Wolfwood...You know when I started reading Trigun, I had just watched ep4 or 5 of Trigun and I thought Wolfwood was "just" another cool character, but basically a sidekick to the main character Vash. Then I binged the manga in 3 days and saw that, although none of the other characters like Meryl and Milly are any less fleshed out or any less important, next to Vash he's probably the only one about whom we get so so much wonderful insight. So much deep character feelings, so much thoughts...and I'm so so in love with his inner monologues. They hurt to read but they show he's not just the cool priest with the machine gun, but he's hurting, he's self doubting, he's vulnerable and afraid at times and he has wishes too...
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And when he's sitting there, riddled with bullets, it's the thought of Livio and how he still has to save him, that manages to get him to keep going.
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They were friends, brothers! Memories of happier times...
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Which fucker shot my Wolfwood.
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Gnaring, biting, chomping on wood.
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It's coming it's coming
SJAKD fskfa Vash literally answering his prayer. Cradling Wolfwood in his wings gently!! And protecting him from the bullets. And also being turned to him with his body, partly shielding Wolfwood with himself, too. This whole page. is so...romantic. And that feels almost like it doesn't even describe it accurately. This is most definitely the part where I really started to ship them, but then, is it romantic or platonic? It doesn't really matter because as much as you want to or NOT want to interpret into their relationship at this point, to me it's clear that there's some kind of love here that's based on their mutual understanding, trust, and how they both have supported each other until this point.
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sjkADfaf *sighs*
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Big fan of this Vash drawing with this pose here.
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Reading this for the thousandth time and falling only deeper into the Vashwood hole.
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Knives your vulnerability is showing again.
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Cheeky bastard! (I say with love)
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The right page is absolutely beautiful. And I love how the panel on the left pages insinuates how they are bumping againest the ship on their way through very comedy-style.
Next chapter! Chapter 5:
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I'm cherishing every panel where we see them close and caring about each other. Imagining Vash gently leaning Wolfwood against the rock after catching them both from the fall (did they land on his feathers or did they fly to the earth? I'd have loved to know how they did it)
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Love that panel at the bottom of Wolfwood! And, Vash with his hair down (and cloak off) like this looks soo young! More like Wolfwood's age instead of 150 haha
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Baby Wolfwood Baby Wolfwood
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The situation is turned into a funny one on the next page, but these pleas, they are very much real and urgent and from the bottom of Wolfwood's heart...and he rarely ever begs or asks for anything.
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Marlon!! So so happy to get some characters back that we know, and he's a very lovable character!! And, of course, Meryl <3
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Knowing that his friends are there to back him up, even from afar, he looks more sure of himself. Because you're not alone!
And THEN you had to go and ruin the atmosphere, Wolfwood. Because you just WALKED AWAY you big idiot
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Anybody else got reminded of the Cowboy Bebop ending notes?
And that's all of the Vol8 recap I'm gonna do. There's one more chapter but I don't really feel like doing that, others have already discussed it anyway, so that's it for me! Now I can really dig into vol9 this week, oh lord I can't wait.
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đđĄđ đđđđŤđđ¨đ¨đ¤: đđĽđŽđ đđ˘đđđŽđŤđđŹ
đđ˛đ§đ¨đŠđŹđ˘đŹ | Following Fridayâs events, Eddie Munson was on a mission to apologize to you, though everything fell short when your life began to crumble in a matter of hours.
đđ¨đ§đđđ§đ đđđŤđ§đ˘đ§đ đŹ | Swearing, yelling, crying, self-deprecating thoughts, violence, experienced anxiety and panic attack, mentions of childhood abuse and neglect, and brief mentions of blood, body shaming, and non consensual touching.
đđŽđđĄđ¨đŤ'đŹ đđ¨đđ | For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to need all of you to ignore the blatantly unrealistic process of making a book in this story, lol. If there are any necessary warnings that were accidently left out, please feel free to let me know!
đđĄđđŠđđđŤđŹ | One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
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đđĄđđŠđđđŤ đđ. đđĄđ đđđđŤđđ¨đ¨đ¤: đđĄđ đđđđ¤đĽđđŹđĄ
Whatever mantra of the Munson Doctrine Eddie had been feeding himself to believe about the highest of the social hierarchy embedded within Hawkins High was really starting to fall short, specifically when your pretty face started monopolizing every one of his thoughts imaginable.Â
As much as heâd like to admit otherwise, Eddie Munson liked staring at your face, and it was really starting to piss him off just how much he really liked doing it. And the situation only became worse when he steadily watched your wonted bewitching smile fade into a disheartened look of dejection, because that following weekend after your impromptu photo shoot with Hellfire, became the worst week of your life.
And Eddie Munson watched it entirely unravel right in front of him.
It never really occurred to Eddie just how much heâd casually gawk at you prior to said photo shoot. I mean, you were the face of the school, of course, you were hard to miss when you practically lit up the halls with your smile. And thatâs merely what Eddie had chalked it up to; your popularity involuntarily placed you at the forefront of his attention. It wasnât the small strands of baby hairs that perfectly framed your face, whether you decided to keep your hair natural, or styled it for the fun of it; it wasnât your enthralling eyes that seemed to almost squint close because your cheeks became so full of delight with your spellbinding laugh; and it definitely wasnât your apologetic reassurance that everything was okay to the kid from the drama club who accidentally bumped into you, causing you to drop your books, and you gave Andy McAvoy a stern talking to when he tried to defend your honor with violence against the poor kid.��
No, it was none of that that caught Eddie Munsonâs attention to you (he forced himself to believe).
But now, things are different.
Heâd actually gotten a chance to talk to youâyes, that cafeteria instance was the first time Eddie Munson had ever actually spoken to you, and he berated you with dehumanizing commentsâand he blew it with his rash decision to automate you into a box of prissy cheerleaders that had nothing better to do than gossip with their friends- ah yes, that box, that was formulated by sexist losers who used it to justified their mean actions against innocent teenage girls. Oh, fuck, Eddie cringed to himself at the sudden self-realization.Â
He had to fix this. He didnât even have to confess his feelingsâwhich, he didnât have *cough* *cough*âhe just had to apologize for his mistakes. What he wanted to believe to be patronizing was actually sincere on your part, and you didnât deserve any of his degrading tirade. And his conscience was letting it be known. Resuming the campaign had been a shit-show that Friday, when all he could focus on was your crying face. It became even worse when he realized that heâd never actually seen you driveâalways painfully third-wheeling with Jason Carver and Chrissy Cunningham, or silently pleading to Patrick McKinney to control Andy McAvoy when he felt entitled to nonconsensually feel you up in his convertible when they drove you to schoolâmeaning you were probably left crying alone at night waiting to be picked up, or worse, walking home. And you did it just for him. For his friends. To be included in some stupid fucking yearbook, because he made a big deal out of it in the first place. Â
Oh, shit, he was an awful fucking person, Eddie thought. Â
So, come Monday morning, he would apologize. He had all weekend to find the right words, rehearse his apology to perfection, and plan when to actually say it to you.Â
But Eddie Munson never got to correctly apologize to you on Monday.Â
Because aforementioned, Monday was the start of the worst week of your life, and he got scared and simply watched everything happen.
-Â
âNo running in the halls, young lady.â Mr. Long sternly reminded, as you zoomed past him.
âSorry, sir.â You werenât sorry. The second he turned the corner, you picked up the pace and ran to the newspaper room, frantically attempting to shove the slender key into the slot with shaky hands.Â
Earlier on Saturday, the Yearbook Committee had worked to finish the final draft of the Hawkins High 1986 Yearbook, and with the teamâs effort, you all concluded the first official copy that held the recognition of all staff and students intertwined with a school yearâs worth of memorabilia, squished between the glossy green and orange cover that encapsulated Hawkins High.Â
And now, you were about to destroy it.Â
Sixty minutes. You had sixty minutes. You managed to wake up early that Monday morning, practically running to school, and situating yourself within the newspaper roomâsweaty and exhaustedâan hour early before the bell rang to commence the school day. In truth, youâd like to say you were a badass, and demolished the yearbook with no regrets, but reality had quite literally sucked, and you were panicking for a solid five minutes before you came to a consensus.Â
It had to be destroyed- well, not destroyed, just unbinded. God, you were such a dramatic coward.Â
See, that Saturday afternoon with the Yearbook Committee, you had done your part, you really did. You gathered photos, helped have them printed, assisted Nancy Wheeler with the placement of pages, and took over binding the book together when Fred Bensonâs scrawny hands cramped into oblivion. You also may haveâvery discreetlyâhad Hellfireâs picture printed, created an entirely new page to fit them between the Glee and Math Club, and it was then you realized you didnât even know half of their names. It had never occurred to you on Friday night thatâwith the exception of Eddie Munson, Lucas Sinclair, and Mike Wheelerâyou never caught the names of the other four members, prompting you to lose precious time after having to locate their stupid names in the student registry for identificationâthey werenât stupid, you were just really frustrated at that point.
And now, on this fine Monday morning, you persevered through blistering callouses, contracting muscles, and sore knuckles to unbind and bind back the yearbook with an additional page within the âHawkins Highâs Clubsâ recognitional section.
Hellfireâs page.
And it was perfect.Â
The pages were still intact with their crisp stiffness of that of a newly unopened book, and you cleaned off any smudges that impaired the quality of work within the creation. You stood back. You couldnât help the soft giggle that left your lips at the mere sight of Hellfire sticking out like a sore thumb against the formality of the other photosâin true Hellfire fashion. But there it was. Their title, their photo, and their names that gave them the minimal ask to simply be acknowledged in a school that consistently disregarded their beings, and you were happy they finally got it. They deserved it. Even if Fridayâs event left you crying alone in your bed feeling awful. It was worth it. Your thumb gently caressed the smooth page of their photoâEddieâs photoâand reminisced on that night.
Had you actually done something terrible? Was Eddie right to call you out on your actions? You certainly knew you hadnât caused this entire commotion out of pitiness, though you understood where he may have interpreted it as such. I mean, even though you never did anything, your friends made his life a living hell, villainizing his differences, casting him as a danger to society, affecting his life beyond just a superficial high school social life. It was true torment.Â
You understood the facade which Eddie Munson had to put on to protect himself, but what you didnât understand was the sudden shallowness that appeared when you thought you proved yourself to be more than just a ditzy cheerleader. Why were you even trying to prove yourself to some guy? Eddie Munson was an awful person. Right? He yelled at you, judged you, degraded you, and all for nothing- well, as far as you knew. So yeah, Eddie Munson was an awful person. You may have understood him, but he was still an asshole. Youâd done your part, adding Hellfire to the yearbook, and that was that. That was all you needed to do. You no longer had to think about his stupid feelings, his stupid hairâwhich you totally didnât want to run your hands throughâhis stupid brown eyes that made you shutter as they bore into yours, and his stupidly beautiful smile. You also kinda wondered how his hands might feel on your-
âWhat are you doing here?â
Jesus Christ, how long has Nancy Wheeler been standing there? You didnât even hear the door open.Â
âUh, um, j-just looking at the, uh, yearbook?â You mumbled. You wished you had better control over your facial expressions, because right now, Nancy Wheeler was eyeing the fuck out of your worried guise.Â
âYou came to school early just to see the yearbook?â She questioned.Â
âW-well, yeah, I mean, isnât that why youâre here early? âŚRight?â You prayed.
Nancy blinked. âYeah, I guess, just had to make sure everything was correct before Fred takes it to make copies.â
âOh, Fredâs here?â You piqued with interest.Â
Fred Benson didnât actually pique your interest all too muchâthough, it was quite fascinating seeing how fast his slender fingers would cramp after just a couple minutes of workingâbut he did give the perfect escape from Nancy Wheelerâs captious glare.Â
âUh, yeah, heâs out front waiting for the book-â
âIâll hand it to him!â You interjected, watching her face scrunch with confusion. You could only awkwardly laugh, âYou know me and Fred,â you zoomed right past her, âjust always so, uh⌠tight.â And you left without further explanation.Â
Shoving Mr. Longâs word of chastisement right up his ass, you ran down the empty hall, yearbook held tightly in your tired hands, as you rejected any of Nancyâs calls for you to come back. Reaching the double glass doors, you spotted Fred mindlessly tweaking with his camera in the front seat of his car.
âFred!â You could visibly make out the bewildered âhuhâ that fell from his gaping mouth from your sudden appearance. âFred, here take this and go!â You shoved the yearbook past the small crack of his window.Â
âW-wait, didnât Nancy want to che-â
âNo, she sent me to give this to you!â You urged. âAnd she said go now, or else the copies wonât be done in time!â My god, the entirety of this situation had you lying more than you ever had in your life.Â
âBut the distributors donât close until six-â
âFred, I donât care!â You whined. âDo you really want to make Nancy upset?!â If your calculations were correct, Nancy Wheelerâs flats were currently speed walkingâshe was one to follow the rulesâpast Mrs. Durberryâs science classroom, meaning you had ten more seconds until she appeared.Â
âWell, n-no-â
âThen drive! Now, please!â He scrambled to turn his car on, and luckily, the old piece of junk managed to roar alive with a heavy blow of carbon dioxide, and you heaved watching Fred Benson skirt past the incoming wave of students on bikes and cars, leaving tire tracks on the cracked pavements. When he came back, youâd be sure to apologize for demanding him so aggressively.
Nancy Wheeler screamed your name.Â
Turning around, she came pummeling towards you with a might of pure irritation. âWhat the hell was that?! I didnât even get to check the book!â
You huffed with exhaustion. It was only 8:18 a.m and it had already been a long day. âNance, come on, Iâve been on the Yearbook Committee for the last three years, donât you trust me by now?â Admittedly, guilting Nancy probably wasnât the best option, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
âI donât care how long youâve been in the committee, I have the authority to make final calls, not you!â Gee, you really had an act for getting people to yell in your face. Were you actually the problem?
âLook, I understand, but I promise everything was perfect with the yearbook. I mean, come on, you saw the finished product on Saturday when we completed it.â You reasoned.Â
Nancy took a deep breath to regulate herself. âThis is your only strike.â She pointed a finger at you like a child. âYou pull something like this again, and you're off the committee. Understand?â
You swallowed thickly. The trouble you went through just for Eddie Munson- his friends. Just for his friends. âYes, I understand.â You submitted quietly. âBut I promise, the book was fine, everything is going to be perfectly okay.â
Everything was not perfectly okay.
Because unlike your little white lie of being âtightâ with Fred Benson, he actually was with Nancy Wheeler, and, boy, did he rat you out when he paged through the printed copies of the yearbook and found the seven believed satanic cultists mischievously smiling right back at him, tainting the committeeâs precious work.Â
-
It was in the midst of your A.P U.S History class when the staticy call of your name over the intercom interrupted Mr. Whitneyâs lecture of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and prompted you to the principalâs office at 10:57 a.m. Now, it wasnât an unusual occurrence for Principal Higgins to often call you down as you were a valued student representative of Hawkins High, though you quickly knew your visitation had nothing in relation to an honor medal or scholarship award. No, it became quite evident that such subject matter was beyond any congratulations to you, because upon entering, you were faced with a choleric Nancy Wheeler, displeased Principal Higgins, and timid Fred Benson. You were fucking screwed, I mean, Principal Higgins quite literally had a yearbook in his hand. Crazy part of it all is that a good third of your being actually believed you may have gotten away with it, but they managed to find out in a matter of two fucking hours. Who were you kidding?
There was only so much nonchalant-ness you could mask, though your previous revelation of being unable to control your facial expressions was really biting you in the ass, and your insistent cracking under pressure was palpable.Â
Your wide eyes flashed between everyone as they stared you down. You didnât speak. You couldnât even manage to speak. And they didnât speak. Why wasnât anyone speaking?
âAw, you miss me already, Higgy-â
Everyoneâs attention snapped at Eddieâs sneering voice as he strutted his grand entrance, though he was quick to flinch back in surprise when he saw everyone looking at him. And you, shit you were here! You were here looking at him. Heâd been searching for you all morning just to apologize, and now you were here⌠with everyone⌠why was everyone here?
âNow that I have everyone situated,â Principal Higgins cleared his throat, âIâd like to clear up a matter that has been brought to my attention. Iâm sure as you all are well aware of, an unauthorized change has been made to our yearbook and Iâm looking to get to the bottom of it.â Higgins turned to you, âMs. Y/L/N,â he spoke with such care, âthis is a safe place for honesty. Did Mr. Munson subject you into making these changes?â With a dramatic slam to his desk, the yearbook was turned open to showcase Hellfireâs designated spot on the page.
âWhat?!â Both you and Eddie questioned in unison.Â
âI didnât âsubjectâ her to shit!â He was quick to rightfully defend.Â
âLanguage!â Principal Higgins was even quicker to yell back.Â
The atmosphere was taut, and it felt like their judgmental stares were swallowing you into an endless blackhole of utter disappointment and failure. You couldnât even muster up the courage to meet their gaze, simply staring at the old rug beneath your sneakers, wishing itâd come alive and consume you already.Â
âMs. Y/L/N, is that true?â Principal Higgins lectured you.
A part of Eddie actually wished you would have lied and accused him of being the aggressor while you were the helpless victim, because that was the usual reality of Eddie Munson: to be denigrated. It would have justified his previous beratement against you from Friday, it would have supported his initial beliefs about you, it would have cleared him of being an asshole, and most of all, it would have changed the way he viewed you, from a genuinely beautiful person inside and out that took a sincere interest in bringing simple recognition to him and his friends to a cold-hearted superficial bitch that chalked up this elaborate plan as a vendetta with your jock friends.
But Eddie Munson knew you werenât like that.
Which only made it hurt worse when he watched you pain through the sting of your manicured nails stabbing into your palms and your teeth sinking into your tender lip.
âY-yes, thatâs, uh, true, sir.â Your voice was so delicate, Eddie was ready to jump in and just take the blame. âHe didnât make me do anything, it was, uh, all me. I lied, and made him and his friends take the photo. And, well, I, uh, added the page and told Fred to print it.â
You shuddered at the sudden slap of the book, as Principal Higgins closed it with much despondency against you. âAnd is there valid reasoning as to why?!â Principal Higgins wasnât one to be known for his placidness and he was quick to make that apparent. âYou are the best student at this establishment, you should not be falling under influence of a hooligan like Mr. Munson! How have you fallen so naive all of a sudden?!â
You were really tugging on Eddieâs heart the way your eyes grew round with panic, completely helpless to the grown man scolding you, just as he did last Friday. And while he may have caused it the initial time, heâd be damned to watch it happen to you again.
âHey, look, you can insult me all you want, but you donât have to yell at her like she made some dire mistake!â Eddie lambasted Principal Higgins, far more harsh than any regular tone Eddie used when he was regularly being reprimanded.Â
Higgins could only scoff in disbelief. âVandalizing school property isnât a mistake to you, Mr. Munson?! Well, given your grotesque track record of uncivilized activities, it seems as though Iâve answered my own question!â He sneered back with intended offense.
âPlease, âvandalizing school property?!ââ Eddie mocked. âShe fucking put our picture in the yearbook, and for good reason, too. Youâre the one at fault here, excluding students from recognition!â
The thudding sound of your heartbeat was completely muting you from the onslaught of shouts that was suffocating you in the tight room. While Nancy Wheeler was beginning to contemplate if telling Principal Higgins was too far, Fred Benson was merely watching with joy that none of the blame was being casted on him, and you, well, your body was racking with stiffness, as it suddenly felt like your airway was tightening every breath out of you. Your hands began shaking by your side, unable to control the instantaneous wave of trepidation, as everything was beginning to blur around you.Â
And no one was noticing.Â
âI have rightful reasons to exclude your gang of misfits from my yearbook!â Principal Higgins walked from his desk, standing against Eddie with pure spite in his eyes. âYou and your posse of cons and aberrations have done nothing but taint the reputation of our school and town, running around like imbeciles who have nothing better to do than waste their lives away! And I will not stand to have you be associated with the work Iâve done to correct this school from delinquents like yourself!â
Chest heaving and nostrils flared, the Eddie Munson from the cafeteria instance was back, though angrier, and he was two seconds from actually gaining an assault charge from hitting Principal Higgins square in the face. But the older man was quick to turn, and eject his dissonant castigate towards you.Â
âAnd you, missy!â Your eyes were blinking posthaste with fret to control the swell of tears that were burning your eyes, at the clashing outburst being directed against you. âHow did you even gain the facilities to take such picture?!âÂ
Your mouth was dry with consternation, unable to formulate words, and simply quivering your mouth open.
And unlucky for you, Fred Benson spoke for you.
âAfter our yearbook meeting on Friday,â heads snapped at his gravelly voice, âshe said she was going to stay after to work, and that she would lock up herself. She must have taken the key, and stolen a camera.â
Higgins scoffed with great disgust as he judged you, before turning to Nancy. âMs. Wheeler, as president of the Yearbook Committee, had you permitted her to do so?âÂ
Nancy looked at you with guilt. She hadnât anticipated the situation to blow up this much, though she spoke honestly to the authoritative eyes of Higgins. âUh, no, I didnât.â She meekly answered.Â
âAnd Mr. Munson,â Eddie rolled his eyes, trying to control his frustrations before doing something he wouldnât be able to take back. âWhen did Ms. Y/L/N enforce these photos?â
âWhy the hell does that even matter?â Eddie gritted with a clenched jaw of tension.
âMr. Munson, you choose not to answer me, and I will not hesitate to place you as an accomplice, and you certainly cannot afford another detention or suspension if youâre planning on finally ending this school year as a graduate.â In a perfect world, Eddie Munson would have lied for you and lessened whatever punishment you were about to receive, but Hawkins, Indiana was far from perfect, the threat made him budge under the pressure of his potential future and your distraught eyes.
âIt was, uh, after her cheer practice. After school.â He sheepishly murmured with regret.
âAh,â Principal Higgins turned to your shaking stature. âSo, not only did you make unauthorized changes to the school yearbook, but you stole school property, used our equipment prohibitively outside of school hours, and actively unsubordinated my authority. I have to say, I am awfully disappointed in the person you have become, Ms. Y/L/N, and I am ashamed to have valued you so highly when you simply choose to go down the path of delinquency.â Everything about Principal Higgins words were humiliating and slammed you into a vicious cycle of believing the worst about yourself. âFinish the rest of your day,â he sighed, âbut youâll be suspended for the rest of the week for your actions.â Your heart sank at his news, and Eddie stood dumbfounded that he contributed to it.Â
Your visions grew blurry under the swell of tears, and your breath was becoming sporadic with panic, and everyone just kept fucking staring at you. âN-no, sir, p-please!â You choked, âI-I have scholarships, a-and acceptances that I-Iâm still waiting to hear back from, this could ruin that for me, p-please, sir!â
While your pleads were being disregarded, everyone stood stun watching your fate unfold in front of you. Eddie Munson didnât know what to do. Nobody did. On top of being berated by him from Friday, you were now facing the worst possible consequence for something so trivial, and he watched it happen. Granted, there was quite literally nothing Eddie could do to fix the situation, but seeing you stand there, panicked about your future and trying to conceal your incoming sobs through the ache of heart palpitations, it was fucking excruciating for him to witness.Â
âYou should have thought about that before you made your choices. Everything is on you.â His words were ringing in your ear like a loop confirming everything youâve ever hated about yourself. âIâll be sure to let your father know of the news, and as for your spot on the committee, it is up to Ms. Wheeler to determine where you stand. Now go, everyone back to class.â
Fred Benson was first to leave, giddy to have been cleared from any trouble. Eddie Munson should have left, but he couldnât stand to leave, simply watching you turn to Nancy Wheeler in a flash. Your round eyes were pleading to her to let you stay, but her previous words of âThis is your only strike,â was tormenting you. She sighed, âIâm sorry,â and the shake of her head answered everything before she could verbalize it.Â
You were off.Â
You stormed out of the room, bumping shoulders with Eddie, though with no malice intent, just simply needing to get out. The second you reached the clearing of the empty hall, your tears were drowning your cheeks, your sobs so unbearably hard your breathing staggered for release. Suddenly, your little cashmere sweater felt like it was sticking to your skin, giving you hot flashes that brought dizziness to your pounding head. The blood battering your ears cleared out any noise, including Eddieâs calls of your name. He reached out to hold your arm, causing you to severely flinch in hysteria, and he appeared devastatingly concerned for your state of being.
âSorry! Ar-are you okay?â He winced at the loud sob you choked out, as he felt stupid for even asking you that question. âLook, everything, uh, everythingâs gonna be fine.â He rushed to reassure. In truth, Eddie Munson was completely talking out of his ass, he didnât know if everything was going to be fine, your panicking was just causing him to panic, and all he wanted was for you to be okay. âJ-just, uh, breathe for me.â He offered.Â
âI-I c-canât! Iâm scared, Eddie, help me!â You pleaded with frightened eyes.Â
Your beg hit too close to home. Suddenly, Eddie was a little boy curled up in the corner of his trashed living room, as he watched his parents abuse one another with words and fists. He pleaded the same words to his parents, who merely ignored his shaking little body. Such horrific events disfigured Eddie Munsonâs belief of healing. No one cared for his emotions, no one cared for his feelings, and no one cared to make sure he was okay. So, yes, Eddie Munson yelled at you Friday night because he was petrified. Petrified to be hurt, just as everyone else had done, because to Eddie Munson, that was his fate. To be hurt and to be forgotten. Maybe thatâs why he cared so much about being excluded from the school yearbook. While anyone would have rightfully been upset, being excluded cemented the notion that Eddie Munson was disposable. His father spoke it, the townspeople spoke, his teachers spoke, and his peers spoke it. But you didnât, and that fucking scared him. Itâs why he yelled, itâs why he panicked, and itâs why heâd try anything to help you right now.
âI-I know, sweetheart, just listen to me, please.â He quietly spoke. âIâm not gonna touch you or anything, I just really need you to listen to me.â
You fervently nodded your head, and he sighed with relief, because though minor, it was progress, and progress was incredible.
âI, uh, I want you to focus on my voice, okay?â His wide eyes connected with your red ones. âI wouldnât lie to you, and I mean it when I say everything will be okay. I-Iâll make sure of it.âÂ
Could he physically do that? No. But would he try his damn hardest, putting his being through anything to make it happen? Yes. For you.
âOkay, I want you to-â
âWhat are you doing to her?!â
Eddieâs eyes screwed shut with disappointment.Â
Jessica fucking Lewis.
âGet away from her!â She charged past him to get to your hysterical figure. âDid you do something?!â
âNo, no, Iâm trying to fucking help her.â Eddie implored. âStop yelling, sheâs having a fucking panic attack.â He gritted through his teeth.
âDonât fucking come near her ever again, you freak!â Eddie watched as you tried to get your words out, but your shrinking throat made it impossible to get your voice out, and he recoiled, watching the fear in your eyes as Jessica held a tight grip in your arms.Â
But before he could stop her, Jessica was dragging you into the girls bathroom, and he stood frozen doing everything in his power to not rip out his hair in frustration.Â
-
Aside from her fault-finding comments against Eddie, Jessica Lewis had actually been a fairly good friend to you through the years of cheer, connecting with the girls through the pact of lifelong sisterhood, as she insisted. Though such pact also came with unwarranted advice when she felt one of you was âfalling out of lineâ with a pristine, perfect image. That being said, when she found you panicking at the hands of Eddie Munson, she was actually concerned, impetuous, yes, but concerned, nonetheless. Sheâd sat with you, decisively skipping the rest of Mrs. Otisâ home economics class, to console you, bitching out any innocent girl to leave as they attempted to alleviate themselves, while you sat heaving with the back of your thighs sticking to cold tiles of the bathroom. When you did finally manage to catch your breath and calm your heart rate to a healthy status, Jessica had petted your hair with care, constantly asking what was wrong and what Eddie had done. Through your tremored voice, you hoarsely clarified that âHe didnât do anything,â and âHe was just trying to help.â That revelation had actually baffled Jessica Lewis, honestly, some part of her believing you to be lying, but she gave it a rest when you assiduously shook your head in response to her asking what was actually wrong. By then, the bell had rung to signal the start of third period.
And it was during said third period when your situation only worsened completely unbeknownst to you.
While you were in the middle of trying to focus on your quizâwhich proved damn near impossible after todayâs eventsâFred Benson was seemingly trying to get back at you for nearly inducing him into a heart attack after your actions almost cost him his spot on the Newspaper and Yearbook Committee (In reality, Nancy Wheeler had only yelled at him for not previously checking the books).
See, once Fred had informed the rest of the Yearbook Committee of what you had done and how you were being punished, the news had spread like wildfire; nerds, geeks, punks, jocks, everyone knew one version or another. âPerfect Cheerleader Falls Under Satanic Cultistâs Influence and Vandalizes School Facilities,'' small town high school students sure had a talent to dramatize any given situation. Youâd only taken a picture, thatâs all it was, but the students of Hawkins High had conspired together to formulate you into a freak slut who allegedly got fucked by the Eddie Munson after cheer practice in exchange for putting his club in the yearbook.
As the students of your class hurtled to mitigate the dreaded boredom of the school day with the clashing laughter and stale food of lunch, you sighed in your seat, head pounded and anxiety still churning in your mind and stomach, slowly packing up your belongings before handing over the quizâquite literally the worst youâve ever performed on one. Lunch seemed like the worst possible thing to conquer, right now. Despite the horrid grumbling of your stomach, you felt no need to satiate that hunger, as your appetite was long gone for the afternoon. In addition, youâd known Jessica Lewis long enough to know that she had informed all your friends of your panic attack, and if you chose to call her out on it, you knew you would only be met with a âIâm only trying to help,â as if you needed an intervention. Sheâd done it to Paige Semore when the girl healthy gained a couple pounds over the summer and got ridiculed by Jess.
But when you entered the cafeteria, you quickly wished you were subjected to Jessica Lewisâ harmful âadviceâ, rather than the reality you got. Â
The sound of the heavy double doors announced your arrival, and suddenly all eyes were on you. No, like quite literally, all eyes were on you. No greeting smiles from acquaintances, no shying-away looks from crushing students, no bright wave hello from Chrissy Cunningham from across the cafeteria, in fact, she was heavily avoiding you, seemingly finding the table more interesting as Jason Carver glared at you. Everyone was staring at you as if, without notice, you had become the town pariah. Because you had. Your perturbation had bombarded you like a missile hit, as quiet whispers flooded your senses. Peering around you caught his eyeline. Eddie. His brows had severely been furrowed with much worry, because he knew. He knew how quickly it went around, and he knew just how bad the news got twisted. Now, he was no stranger to the onslaught of destructive rumors, but you werenât, and with the day you had, his chest was pounding with dread for you.
Chalking it up to merely being in your head, you swallowed the lump in your throat, and with quick steps, you sped to your usual lunch table. But everyone kept staring- your friends were staring. âCan someone tell me what the hell is going on?â You whispered, as they genuinely looked at you with disgust.Â
âWhy donât you tell us?â Jason scowled. âSeems like youâre the one who caused all of this, you desperate slut.â
Your mouth dropped incredulously. âWhat did you just call me?â
âYou fucking heard me!â Jason stood from his chair, rejecting Chrissyâs quiet ask to not cause a scene. âItâs exactly what you are.â He laughed.
Eddie Munsonâs residual anger was fueling. Hard. He stood from his chair all the way across the room, metal legs scraping the floor with a deafening screech. But his presence only caught the worst attention. âOh, would you look at that? Your little freak coming to help you?â
Eddie faltered at your watery eyes, begging for everything to just stop. If he spoke, nothing would help you. âWhat are you talking about?â Your voice stung with pleads to just understand what was happening to you.
âStop acting like you donât fucking know!â Andyâs booming voice startled you. âYou wanna choose some gross freak to fuck, then fine by us, go right ahead, but donât think that youâll be able to with us!â Andy McAvoy was taking it far more personal. He liked you. That was obvious. But hearing the rumors simply led him to believe you chose Eddie Munson over him.
âWhat?â Your voice cracked in distress.Â
Eddie had had enough.Â
âShe didnât fucking do anything!â He marched his way over. All the boys of the basketball team stood in preparation for a fight that Eddie Munson was known to love to finish. Finish, not start. âYour bland lives got that fucking boring you all have to go around making shit up to make things interesting?! She didnât do anything!â
âAw, defending your precious little fuck toy, isnât that cu-â
Chrissy Cunningham's shrilling scream startled the entire cafeteria as Jason Carverâs blood stained her powdery skin. You flinched at the bone-crunching punch that busted Jasonâs pretty face, and everything felt heavy in your chest. Your hands were beginning to shake beyond your control, as everything was horrifyingly disfiguring in front of you. It was happening again. Before your mind was about to shut off from the assault of todayâs events, your instinct had elicited all rash decisions, and you had to leave. All you could comprehend was the diffusing sounds of students instigating the fight before everything fell silent and you trudged down the hall to escape.
Staff were quick to call Eddieâs name before another detrimental hit was casted upon Jason. It was only then, Eddieâs judgment was left unclouded, and he noticed you were gone. âDid she leave?â He hadnât necessarily asked anyone in particular, moreso questioning himself, but Chrissy Cunningham had ardently answered him with a swift nod of her head and bulging eyes of fear.Â
Eddie broke through the doors with force, catching you near the end of the hall. âY/N!â You didnât turn, though. Every repeated call of your name fell with no response, and he chased you down, following you into the zephyr of the afternoon weather outside. âY/N, câmon, wait!â Heâd grabbed your arm.
âWhat?!â
Eddie staggered at your biting tone. Not once, in the four years heâd known of youâfreshman to senior yearâhad he ever heard your voice so malicious, yet drowning in urgence to make everything stop. Your inconsolable state devastating him helplessly.Â
âI-Iâm sorry.â He sighed so softly.
ââSorry?ââ You affronted. âNow youâre sorry?! After everything thatâs happened! Why, is it out of fucking pity?!â Internally, Eddie was begging you to stop, because if you kept yelling at him like this, his defense mechanism was going to lash out, especially when he was already angry from everything thatâs just happened. âI donât want some stupid apology, not when every time you appear, my life gets worse! I just want you away!â You cried.
Eddie scoffed in disbelief. Were you actually blaming him for all this? No, you werenât. But after the day you just had, you were not looking to be comforted by someone who partially hurt you. But Eddie Munson couldnât understand. His judgment had a habit of being clouded; his cynicism about anything good happening to him had protected him from a lifetime of hurt, and now, unfortunately, your rightfully pent up polemic about him was believing his suspicions to be true.Â
âThis isnât my fucking fault, youâre the one who wanted to take our picture in the first place!â He shouted, shielding his vulnerability.Â
âBecause you made a big deal out of it!â You screamed with frustration. âYou yelled at me first, you said mean things to me first- why- why were you so mean to me?!â You blubbered through drowning tears.
âBecause- be- ugh,â Eddie pained with vexation. âYou fucking terrify me, okay?! You terrify the living shit out of me!â Guarding his tearing eyes from your shattered being, he groaned realizing you werenât going to understand unless he opened up, but he couldnât bear to, and maybe that was the best solution to move on, run away. âItâs just fucking hard when, you know, you look like that and youâre fucking you, and Iâm just me, and you have a great life-â
ââGreat life?!ââ You derided through tears. âYou know nothing about my life!â You shoved him. âYou know nothing about me!â You shoved him again. Eddie was quick to retrain your wrist in a tight grip, preventing you from touching him again, no matter how hard you tried. âStop acting like you know everything about me when you know absolutely nothing! Iâm not going to stand here, and let you say mean things to me, when you know nothing, do you understand?! I have never done anything to you, and I never will, because unlike you, Iâm not some sulking asshole who canât handle their fucking emotions, and uses their sorry life to lash out at people because theyâre too pathetic to deal with their own problems!â
And maybe your rash psycho analysis of Eddie Munson was too much, or not harsh enough, but either way, your critical comments derailed him off the edge of sanity. He aggressively dropped your wrist, and got into your face with a full might of fury. âYou are such a miserable bitch!â He shouted, invading your space with intent, causing you to wince and step away from him, but he wasnât relenting. âFor once, you got a fucking taste of what your bullshit friends have been doing to me, and now you canât fucking handle it?! God, just love playing the fucking victim, donât you?! Maybe they are right, maybe you are just some fucking desperate slut craving fucking attention?! Is that why you did all this shit in the first place?!â
The way your face flashed with sudden dejection had him biting his tongue. Oh, fuck. He regretted it. He fucking immediately regretted it.Â
Eddie began furiously shaking his head in denial to what he just uttered, he couldnât believe it. âNo,â he heaved out. âNo, I-I didnât mean it, Iâm s-sorry.â He could only muster a whisper.
You didnât even have the energy to fight back, merely accepting his words as truth with a silent sob that burned your being. âYeah,â you shakily sighed with a sniffle of sobs. âIâm sorry, too, Eddie. I would have loved being your friend, and now I just want nothing to do with you.â His heart dropped at your calmness. When he first spoke those words to you, demanding you to stay away from him and his friends, he knew a deep part of him didnât mean it. Why would he, you were fucking perfect? But you, the stillness and tranquility of your words cemented them to be the final verdict. You were done. âSo please,â you wiped your drenched face from tears, âjust leave me alone and stay away from me.â
No malice, no anger, no fury.
Just pure defeat.
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đđđ đđ˘đŹđ | This is my first time making a tag list, and I got overwhelmedâin a good wayâthat I simply tagged anyone who commented. If you were not looking to be tagged, Iâm so sincerely sorry, and please let me know to respect your wishes and remove you!
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#stranger things#eddie munson#eddie munson fanfic#eddie munson angst#eddie munson imagine#eddie munson oneshot#eddie munson x y/n#eddie munson blurb#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson fluff#mean!eddie munson#the yearbook: club pictures
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gn!reader x platonic!core four (and wes, amber, anika, and liv)
summary: you and your group of friends decide to spend the night together and watch movies at sam and taraâs apartment
content warning: swearing, mentions of food (popcorn, skittles, m&ms, chips, and nachos)
word count: 903
authorâs note: helloooo this is my first proper drabble!! i hope you all like it :)) btw this has not been proof read
âcan we watch a slasher film, or just something in which people get their guts spilled out?â, mindy pled. âi donât wanna watch that stupid-ass comedy that chad keeps suggesting.â
chad gasped, clearly offended by mindyâs remark. ânight at the museum is not a âstupid-assâ comedy! it teaches you shit and also, who doesnât like ben stiller??â liv glanced at her boyfriend, not being able to contain the chuckle she was struggling to keep in. ânow what are you laughing for?!?â
âlarry wasnât the best character in the movie, jed was.â, commented liv. âare you kidding me? owenâs role was as small as his character!â
well aware that the bickering occurring in the living room was going to continue for a while, sam got up from her spot on the couch and went to the kitchen to get snacks for you and the others. tara and amber were painting each otherâs nails, while you, wes, and anika were engaged in a game of uno. âplus four??!! fuck you wes!!â anika exclaimed, annoyed that her chances of winning decreased because of wes. yes, whenever you and your group of friends hang out, thereâs always be yelling. despite that, you always seem to have the best time, feeling comfortable and safe with them. âthe colour changes to red, hereâs my sample card, uno! anddddd i win!!â both you and anika roll your eyes at wesâ victory, not excited about having to give him 10 dollars each.
as you were handing wes yours and anikaâs his money, sam was still busy scavenging for snacks in the pantry. she only has three big bowls, which means that she can only pick three things. your eyes flickered to sam from your seat, the confusion on her face evident. since you didnât have anything else to do, you decided to go join her.
âwell, popcornâs a must, thatâs for sure.â, sam nodded in agreement. âmhm, but iâm not able to pick between chips or nachos and skittles or m&ms.â you bit your lip, considering your choices carefully. âletâs do popcorn, nachos, and skittles.â, you decided. sam gave you a playful thumbs up at your response. you both took the packets out of the pantry and started pouring their contents into the bowls.
after, you and sam went back to the the living room. jus then, tara and amber had just finished painting their nails, and anika, wes, and liv were chatting with each other about who knows what. but there was still one problem.
âchad, mindy, are you guys seriously still struggling to pick a movie?â, sam said. she went to the kitchen ten minutes ago, thinking by the time sheâd come back theyâd have decided which film to watch. âitâs not my fault that sheâs some horror freak who- oh popcorn!â chad tried to argue back, but the golden popcorn seemed to have hypnotised him, at least it looked like that because he took a big handful before you and sam could even put the bowls on the table and shoved it right in his mouth. ânow we know how to make chad shut up, by giving him popcorn.â, amber remarked teasingly with a smirk, causing tara and liv to burst into laughter. âheyâ
âjust do rock, paper, scissors, this is taking forever.â, anika groaned. âugh, fine!â, replied mindy. they both turned so they were now facing each other, and after a minute, you heard something, or rather someone.
âNOOOOOOOOâ, chad yelled, startling you, but also enlightening you about who won the battle.
âok mindy, what do you wanna watch?â tara asked while taking a few skittles in her hand, eating them one by one. âhmmmmm, letâs watch psycho.â mindy responded, causing chad to groan. âwhateverâŚâ, he tried to maintain his bugged demeanour, but the small grin creeping up on his face was quite visible.
âoh, shit! we have to rent it.â anika pointed out. âsammmmmmm??â all of you looked at her with the sweetest smiles, none of you wanted to spend your money. besides, samâs basically the mom of the group, therefore, itâs her responsibility.
sam was clearly not amused, but what choice did she have? âalrightâŚ..â, she mumbled while grabbing her phone from the centre table.
after she rented the movie, you all sat on the sofa together with a bunch of cozy blankets and pillows. you sat next to mindy and tara, covering your legs with one of the quilts and placing a pillow behind your head. tara gently took the bowl of nachos from wesâ hands and offered you some. you happily accepted, shooting her a soft smile and then receiving one back yourself.
âhey, after this, do you all want to play twister?â wes spoke suddenly. âyeah that sounds fun!â liv replied, hums of agreement from the rest of you following. âletâs just hope that tara wonât sprain her ankle again this time.â chad added with a chuckle, making tara frown at him in a light-hearted manner.
âguys shut up, itâs starting!â mindy exclaimed. anika then nudged her shoulder. âwhat?!â, mindy gave her a puzzled look, making her giggle. even mindy did after seeing her impish expression.
everyone was now quiet. it created an atmosphere where it felt as though the nine of you were the only people on earth. the cacophony of noises emanating from the streets gradually diminished, fading into an almost distant memory as the picture on the screen started.
#scream#scream 5#scream 6#scream 5 drabble#scream 6 drabble#scream fanfic#sam carpenter x reader#tara carpenter x reader#mindy meeks martin x reader#chad meeks martin x reader#wes hicks x reader#liv mckenzie x reader#anika kayoko x reader#amber freeman x reader#amber freeman#sam carpenter#tara carpenter#wes hicks#mindy meeks martin#chad meeks martin#anika kayoko#liv mckenzie
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can you write a nick smut? itâs okay if you arenât comfortable but thereâs not much for nick in this appđ
âş TEACH ME
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n. sturniolo x male!reader
summary: Five months ago you met Nick, your now new best friend but what happens when the attraction might be too much for you to handle?
warnings: smut, oral sex (male!receiving), mlm, use of y/n, alcohol, swearing, mention of drugs, dom!Nick, degrading kink, praise kink, handjob, hair pulling, masturbation, angst, pet names.
word count: 3.6k
âI donât have a fucking clue of what to wear,â You say as you scavenge through your closet, scanning every single item that you own. Tossing shirts and belts on the floor and a chuckle emitted from your phone on the night side table.Â
It was Nick, you met each other five months ago at a party, it was an instant click between the two of you, not only because you shared the same thoughts about trusting people. It made you feel such a bond that you felt like you could trust him with your life.
âWhy donât you wear that shirt you showed me the other day?â He said it seemed like he was sitting on his bed eating some popcorn while the TV screen brightened his face, different colors displaying every three seconds.
You kept scavenging your closet, the hangers swinging from side to side, a clicking sound popping up every time this motion occurred. âI had to throw that one in the washer today, I spilled juice all over it and itâs ruined.â
âSo what? You can wait until the cleaning cycle is done and drop it off at the dryer, the partyâs in a few hours, I donât think it would take too long.â The bowl that he had filled with popcorn was heard in the background as if he was grabbing a handful of it.
You closed the closet doors, rubbing your face with both hands as you sighed out of stress, howâs this one party so stressful and important to you? It was the most casual thing ever and yet the anxiety was there.
âYou know what, you're right, I'll just go with that shirt and maybe some baggy jeans and Iâll call it an outfit.â You sighed once again, your legs making the last effort to bump into your bed and reach out for your phone, a smile spreading on your face as soon as your eyes encountered Nickâs face.
He returned the smile and returned his attention to the TV. âYou sure you donât want us to pick you up later?â He asked, he picked up another handful of popcorn and feasted it out as if it was his last meal. âYeah, Iâll just order an Uber, itâs way more comfortable for you guys.â
Nick rolled his eyes, his attention brought back to your face through the screen âItâs not a big deal to pick you up, you knowâŚyouâre my friend after all.â He smiles softly.
âNick, if Matt comes here it means that he will have to drive all over where you guys came from and more, so yeahâŚI donât believe thatâs a good idea.â You bit your lip anxiously waiting for an answer.
Nick sighed, âFine, fine, just share your ride so I can make sure the driver wonât kidnap you.â He smiled and raised his left hand with his thumb up.
You laughed, âSee you there then?â You replied, a flirtatious expression lingering on the question as you fidgeted with your fingers, awaiting an answer from Nick.
âSee you later, loserâ He jokes, hanging up fast enough for you to not even think about his reaction towards your comment, you toss your phone beside you and look at the ceiling. Your eyes shift to a deep sleep, the tiredness making your eyelids feel heavy.
A buzzing sound makes you wake up from your sleep, you could feel the damp sensation of your skin and the disorientation of the abrupt shift of your eyes. You try to reach out for whatâs buzzing on your bed, just to pick up your phone; Nickâs display photo pops up on the screen, the light dazzling your eyes the moment you see the picture, you answer half-asleep âNick? Whatâs wrong?â Your voice was raspy as you took sharp consciousness of where you have to be right now.
âWhere are you? Iâve been texting you for two hours and you donât answer, weâre already here!â Nick says through the phone, the loud music muffling his voice slightly.
You look up at the sky before rubbing your eyes with your free hand, âFuckâŚâ you muttered, your hand on your forehead, rubbing it slightly as you stood up from your bed in a swift motion.
âIâll be there in ten, I swear.â You say to Nick before hanging up and tossing your phone to your bed as you rapidly look for your stuff, such as the outfit you planned on wearing.
Before getting out of your house, you take a final look in your mirror, your baggy jeans, sleeveless shirt, and boots made you look like a seventies Hollywood star, and your hair sat the way you liked â everything looks great, somehow this makes you feel an immerse ego boost through the way you look.
After what seems like an eternity, you finally arrive at the house party. The house blasts colorful lights and music all over the first and second-floor windows. You gulped nervously, thinking about how probably Nick would be drunk and as soon as he would catch a glaze of you, he will sure kick your ass for coming three hours late.
You take cautious steps toward the inside of the house, taking a glance at the gigantic crowd that surrounds the living room and kitchen â the music blasts intensely making it difficult for you to even listen to the hustle and bustle of the people.Â
Your eyes finally spot Chris on the ping-pong table â playing some beer pong with a few of his friends while he has a red solo cup on his left hand, you could already tell that heâs sort of tipsy.
You make your way towards Chris, as he redirects his eyes, he catches a glimpse of your tall figure âYo, Y/N! What's up?â He says cheerfully, and in this right instance, you could tell he was more than tipsy, he was drunk as fuck.
âChris, hey!â You replied coyly, your sight still trying to find Nick through the crowded room but still no success at it. You look back at Chris, a smile smeared all over him, and you frown confused.Â
âTryna find Nick?â He asks like a little kid hiding something.Â
You nodded slowly, unsure as to why is he asking about it all of a sudden. âWhy? Do you know where he is?â even though, desperation takes the best out of you.
He nods â giggles escaping through his mouth as he points to the kitchen lazily and pats your back in a signal for you to stroll your way toward it. You furrow your brows once again, patting his back awkwardly before walking away.
You go through the wave of people, everyone dancing, drinking, smoking, and hooking up, As a result of your lateness this ambiance feels rushed, it feels overwhelming as each minute passes by. However, you must say it makes you fuel your desire to get into the mood any sooner after finding Nick.Â
You open the double door, displaying the kitchen scenario, and you breathe in the smoke that was encapsulated inside the room. It was weed, you spotted a couple making out, the girl sitting on the counter while she hungrily kissed the dude she was with. Your eyes keep scanning the room, your hopes up to find any trace of your best friend, the smoke making it sort of difficult for you to take a good look at every person that was inside the room.Â
Still, there was yet no trace of Nick there â you entered deeper into the kitchen, a dead end clear in your view a few meters, you spot a guy hooking up with someone â it couldn't possibly be him, wasn't it?
As if the universe could listen to every thought that you had, the guy moved, and there he was â his lips red and swollen and his eyes displayed that drunk look on them. You werenât stupid, you knew what had happened between these two.Â
And somehow it made your heart shrink and your throat goes dry as a desert, you looked at the both of them nervously and stormed away from the kitchen, trying to find the nearest table that had alcohol that you could freely consume. Your body stiffens the crowd away from your path, and you spot a table with a few bottles of vodka and what seems to be some tequila.Â
As you arrive at the table, you get your red solo cup, a weight almost knocked you down to your right side. Chrisâ cheerful voice chimes in âDid you find him, buddy?â He asks as he rubs the side of your bicep of your left arm.
You take a sip of the vodka you just poured on your cup and nod, âYeah, he was hooking up with some dude back there in the kitchen so I left.â You replied, trying to act nonchalant, drinking more vodka to hide the nervousness that your face betrayed you with.
Chris scans your face and smiles, âAlright, you wanna get drunk or drunk drunk?â He asks, brushing the subject off completely; the mood shifts to a less tense one and more to a relaxed one.
You shrugged, downing the rest of your drink âDepends, whoâs tonightâs designated driver?â You ask, even though you already know the answer. â âMatt, you know he hates these types of settings and he usually never comes with us or he stays around but doesnât drink.â
You nod, pouring tequila now in your cup âThen, drunk drunk.â You smirk deviously.
A few hours had passed and you had been playing beer pong with Chris for a while, failing every time it was your turn on purpose to get as drunk as you could. Nick on the other hand was watching you on the other side of the room, his face somewhat in pure disbelief by how less you couldâve cared about him.
And thatâs exactly what happened, you couldnât care less about it or at least thatâs how you managed to convince yourself within the next few hours. But his eyes lingering on you made you feel shivers down your spine. Self-control wasnât your biggest forte, not when it came to being attracted to someone, and youâd be lying if you hadnât been trying to flirt with Nick for the past few weeks. He was most definitely your type.
Those blue eyes, his hair, and his sharp jawline.
You dared to look around the room, your eyes catching a glimpse of Nick, his eyes still bore into your figure, his cup on his mouth as he took a sip and then licked his lips attentively. You feel like your breath was taken away once again, Chrisâ voice making you come back to your senses, you look over your shoulder and see his cheery demeanor, both his hands loaded with two boxes of beer cans.
You smiled at him slyly, âI gotta go take a piss, Iâll come back in a second.â You tell him as you make your way upstairs, your eyes trailing on Nick before you disappear onto the second floor.
You open the bathroom door, close it behind you look at your reflection in the mirror, you decide to freshen up a little by tossing some cold water all over your face feeling the chilly sensation felt like you were back to reality, the drunk dazing fading a little. As you lift your head where the mirror is, you grab the towel beside you to dry your face.
Your eyes opened slowly and steadily, taking in the space that surrounded you, you see Nick leaning against the door, his eyes resting on yours through the mirror. You gulped nervously, your Adamâs apple prominently shadowing your throat. âYou didnât reply to my texts three hours ago and neither did you say anything when you saw me back there in the kitchen.â He says, biting the inside of his cheek.Â
You turned around, your hands resting against the counter and your eyes looking anywhere but Nick, âWell, back in the kitchen you seemed kind of busy and I thought I texted you when I was on my wayâŚâ You replied in an awkward tone that made Nick scoff.
âRightâŚand what about when you were playing beer pong? Did I look busy to you? Hm?â He walked closer to you, his eyes defiant and his arms crossed.
âWhy are you being such an asshole all of a sudden?â You bluntly say, regretting it right after the words escape from your mouth.Â
He nodded painfully slow, you could see the resentment on his face, he scoffed before speaking again âI act like an asshole? And why the fuck is that?â He spats out, his chest heaving up and down and his breathing uneven.
You rolled your eyes, wetting your lips before talking âI honestly donât know what you expect me to say, Nick.â â âHi?â â âWhat the fuck do you want that youâre acting all this bitchy for?â You say, your breathing becoming raged as well. You look into each otherâs eyes, his full of anger and a brief hint of lust.
âIâm acting bitchy? Youâre acting like a fucking prick! Iâm just trying to figure out why are you acting so fucking weird with me all of a sudden?â His voice rose slightly. Your noses almost touching.
âJust forget about it, alright? Seems like you were having lots of fun with Mr. drug addict back there.â You say, before walking toward the door, your grip on the handle Nick stopping you from leaving the room once again.
His eyes dart over your face, scanning you as a slight smirk appears on his face, making you feel on fire âSo thatâs why youâre acting like this? Because youâre jealous? He chuckles incredulously. âYouâre fucking unbelievable.â He scoffs as he shakes his head.
You purse your lips, trying to contain the frustration that he is giving you as of now, âJealous? Youâre so full of yourself that you would believe that I feel jealous about that?â You spoke, even though you knew deep down that it was all a lie.
Every single thing that you just said to his face was a complete lie.
And it seemed like he could see through you, his smirk only grew as he chuckled âYouâre such a liar, Y/N.â He said cornering you back again where the counter is, your lower back hitting the edge of it. Your breath hitches as your faces are mere inches away from each otherâs.
Nickâs hands cupped your face, both perfectly fitting in your face, âIâm not." You replied, gulping anxiously as his head tilted to the side, crashing his lips against yours molding perfectly as if they were made for each otherâs.Â
His hands went to the curve of your jaw, his thumbs tracing it every once in a while, as you gave him access to tangle his tongue with yours, the kiss deepening and fastening in a heated motion, feeling your heart fasten and the heat and lust emanate from your bodyâan evident bulge friction against your pants.Â
Your hands roamed over his body, traveling his skin under his shirt with your fingertips, feeling the way his abdomen contracts through the light contact and graze. The insatiable desire to feel remotely something else, share more than kisses, and feeling his skin with your fingers was making you go wild, your lips leaving his to trail and nip on his jawline and neck, giving open-mouthed kisses to that sweet spot of his.
A groan escaped from his throat his left hand tangling on your hair to push your body onto your knees, which you without hesitation do. You steady yourself, your drunken state making you almost lose balance as you go down to your knees, you look up at him, as he caresses your cheek, his thumb grazing your lips as he demands silently for you to suck it.
You do as he commands, your tongue swirling around his thumb, a clicking sound as he pops out in merely seconds. Finally, he speaks, his above a whisper. âNow, why don't you teach me how that pretty mouth of yours works?â Â
You didnât need to be told twice, your hands were needy and fast unbuttoning and unzipping Nickâs pants. His bulge was already visible prior, a slight stain of his pre cum leaking, you played with the waistband of his boxers, your lips now trailing delicate kisses on his happy trail and v-line. You looked at him through your lashes his head rolling back as his hips buckled to the front looking for more contact.Â
You pulled his waistband down, his dick sprung free hitting his happy trail. You muffled a gasp, youâd never expected that Nick could be this big. It sort of terrified you but nothing you couldnât take.
You cupped the base of his shaft with both your hands as you pumped them up and down painfully slow, Nick on the other hand tried to fasten up the feeling by thrusting on your fist, but ended up falling at it.Â
Your tongue licked slight trails around his tip, teasing and rubbing his throbbing erection, âFuckâŚY/NâŚâ His hands went to cover his face, the teasing and pleasure being too overwhelming for him.Â
You felt empathy towards him when you saw his red swollen tip, his hard-on nowhere near to release, his body shudders for more and more, his pleas like music to your ears. âPlease, babyâŚâ He pleaded.
You hesitated at first but decided to give Nick what he needed the most, you open your mouth taking in the most you could of him, bobbing your head slowly. Your tongue swirled around his dick, his breathless moans making your dick twitch against your pants.
Your left hand kept rubbing his base and the rest of his cock as your mouth kept working on his length, and your right went straight to palm your clothed dick. Your groans escaped from your mouth and vibrated through Nickâs length feeling it twitch every time you kept giving him the pleasure he needed.
You looked back at him, his eyes darting over you in awe at the spectacle you were giving to him, his hand reached to touch your hair and face gently his eyes now on a less dominant look and more sweet and caring, full of pure lust and ecstasy through the new source of pleasure your mouth was offering. âLook at you, so desperate and needy to touch yourself.â He says between shaky breaths, his dominant tone still present.
You replied with another groan, his shaft twitching once again as the vibrations pulsated over him, âEven with your mouth fullâyou still have that little attitude, hm?â He manages to say, his head throwing back slightly when you tried to take in his full length. âMâ, fucking hellâŚâ He muttered, a whimper escaping from his lips.
You manage to unbutton and unzip your pants, the tent is more visible through your boxers, Nick smirked as he closed his eyes and let out a low moan, you gagged, your throat squelching his cock slightly, making him grow more aroused. âF-fuckâŚâ He groaned, his hips bucking slightly as the tip of his shaft touched the back of your throat, his hands now holding your head to the sides.
Tears breamed out of your eyes, the back of your head now against the counter of the bathroom sink, your hands now were reaching to spring free your dick as Nick kept pumping in and out of your mouth, pornographic moans leaving his mouth. He looked down at you, his voice shaky and breathless âThatâs rightââ he cuts himself, his hands shaking, âTouch yourselfââ He managed to say before a low whine came out from the back of his throat.
You allowed yourself to gently stroke your member, feeling the incredible high sensitiveness that you already possessed. Your hand slid off from your tip to your base, the new sensation relieving you, moans emitting from your mouth as Nick kept thrusting in your mouth.
You closed your eyes, the speed of your hand fastening up as the knot in your lower stomach got closer within minutes, the pleasure being so much for you that your mind felt fuzzy and foggy all of a sudden.
You kept pumping your hand into a fist, your climax only adverting to come close and quick, the waiting making you melt into a million pieces. Nick on the other side kept fucking your mouth senseless, reaching his high too.
You let out a few guttural curse words as your chest began to fall heavily, your hand stroking your cock sloppier within minutes, Nickâs hands loosen up the slightly tight grip against your head. âm- so so closeâŚâ Nick panted, your ears deceiving his words due to the amount of ecstasy you were experiencing at that point.
And thatâs when you felt him reach his high, his hot cum spurt at the back of your throat, he pulled out of your mouth, taking deep breaths as he pulled his underwear and pants back on, before looking back down at you, getting on his knees as his hand helped you reach your climax quicker. âLet me help you down here, mâkay?â He says, his voice low and raspy.
You nodded, whimpers escaping through your lips as the pleasure set into new levels, your back arching as the knot inside your stomach snapped within seconds, threads of your seed shoot right straight to Nickâs fist and yours. Your breathing ragged and your chest fell up and down heavily, your face glazed slightly with sweat as you finished to swallow the last trails of Nickâs juices.
âGood job, baby,â He said before letting his forehead fall against yours, your noses touching, the both of you trying to catch each otherâs breaths. Faintly smiles spread across each other's faces.
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HAUNTED
Chapter 7: Wtf??
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You didnât want to open the journal by yourself. Even with Lumine there with you. What if it opens pandoraâs box and you unlock a 1000 year curse? You donât know what it contains. Sure Charlotte said she found Albedoâs momâs old vintage journal, but that doesnât mean this is the same one.
However, curiosity always kills the cat and you decided to be the cat for the day. You werenât going to do it alone. Thatâs why all twelve of you are cramped inside the dorm room again!
âWhat if we sold this shit on depop for $150 because itâs vintage?â Heizou mentioned jokingly. He was sprawled out on your bed acting like he owned the place.
âWho would buy a used diary?â Xiao raised his eyebrow.
âYou wouldnât be surprised on the shit people sell there,â Began Hu Tao. âI once saw someone selling TXT cereal.â
âOkay but did you buy it?â Heizou asked.
âNo? Who would?â Hu Tao replied in a judgmental tone.
âThe same people who would buy Taylor Swift concert confetti.â Heizou retorted.
âEnough with this stupid conversation,â Scara interrupted. âAre we going to open this dumb book or not?â He looked over at you.
You had the book on the ground in front of you. In any other context this would be a dumb thing to be nervous about. However you did find it in a secret library room after your friend got kidnapped. You didnât know what would happen.
You slowly picked up the book from the ground and started examining the outside. It was made out of a faux tan leather. At least no cow died for this book. The outside had nothing strange besides a butterfly charm in the front.
Slowly you started unraveling the string around it.
âImagine we came all this way for it to be blank inside,â Aether chuckled.
Lumine quickly elbowed his side which earned her an âowâ from him.
You opened the journal, the cover crinkling due to its old age. The front page had the words âProperty of Rhinedottirâ in small black cursive.
It is his momâs journal.
The page was an off white almost yellow color, most likely due to it not being opened for so long. It mustâve been at least 20 years since someone has found this book. You carefully turned the page, afraid the fragile paper was going to rip.
The page started off as an entry. You started reading out loud.
September 1st,
First day of being accepted into Teyvat University! Not only is it the most prestigious schools but thereâs been some hush rumors about it. Why is it so well loved? How come only a few are accepted each year? Iâve decided to start logging in everything I learn. Maybe one day I can write a tell all book about my experience.
You finished reading the small passage and looked up at everyone. They were staring back at you, wanting you to read more.
You turned to the next page and read the second entry out loud.
September 8th,
It has been a week and strange things have been occurring. Itâs fall but it shouldnât be this cold in the hallways or in the dorms, right? I swear every time Iâm in my room I have to bundle up because of how freezing it gets. Youâd think this school would invest in some heaters. Not to mention the random gusts of winds in the hallways. Every time I bring it up to a professor, they simply brush it off and say itâs from a window. All the windows are closed in the hallways. The other day I heard someone call my name but there wasnât anyone around! Maybe Iâm going crazyâŚ
September 9th,
It feels like Iâm being watched. Thereâs eyes in the forest behind the school.
You were about to continue onto the next entry when Yanfeiâs voice cut in before yours, âOkay this is getting creepy.â Sheâs known to give logical reasonings. This time was different.
âYeah, I donât believe in this sort of stuff but the eyes in the forest gave me chills,â Heizou commented.
Scara scoffed, âLooks like she needs to be admitted into a hospital.â You all stared at him giving him a look that almost said âreally.â
âOr maybe thereâs some truth to her words,â He muttered.
You didnât feel like reading all the entries, mostly because you had class in twenty minutes. Instead, you skimmed through the pages. Most of them were entries but a lot of them had rituals and facts about the ghosts in the school.
Later on, Rhinedottir realized there was more to this school than what she initially believed. She jotted down everything she knew and had rituals that summoned different entities. Thereâs specific rooms in the school that is best for all this. Granted, none of them were evil demons but they were for wisdom, wealth, beauty, etc.
Just because beings that lay within the school arenât inherently evil, doesnât mean theyâre good either. There are some that are mischievous and will purposely ruin your plans. Even almost make you get in trouble. There are others that will purposely scare you. Give you nightmares, but wonât cause you physical harm or downright possess you.
You flipped some pages to find drawings of some of the school ghosts. One of them was the little girl Charlotte told you about, Qiqi. If you play with her then she gives you helpful herbs.
âYou think she can give me weed?â Aetherâs voice cut you off.
âDude a ghost plug sounds so cool!â Cyno high fived him.
Yanfei and Xiao facepalmed while Lumine sighed at their antics.
âYou guys are insufferable,â Navia mumbled.
You continued skimming through the pages. Rhinedottir learned a lot about the history of the school.
Teyvat University was founded by the Chlothar Alberich. He comes from an old money family that has a lot of connections to various people. All of what was written was public knowledge until you continued reading. Apparently, there has been reports about shady business practices. When the school was first founded, there had been deaths that were covered up. In order for Teyvat University to be successful, they created a secret organization called the Abyss Order. They were the ones doing shady business practices.
Rhinedottir found this out by going through the secret rooms underneath the school and digging deep within them. She mentioned how dangerous it was and how closer she was to getting caught each time. Itâs not like it mattered to her, what mattered was her getting to the truth. No matter how close she was, it wasnât ever good enough. There was always something preventing her from trying to find out the full story.
One day, she was planning on going into the deanâs office. She never wrote again and seemed to vanish completely.
âWait so thatâs it?â Xiangling questioned, intrigued by everything.
âWell no, thereâs definitely more details but for times sake we can look at that another day,â You said as you closed the book.
âDamn thatâs a lot to take in,â Heizou laid back, staring at the ceiling.
âDid she mention what shady business practices there were?â Navia tilted her head.
You shook your head looking at her, âI donât think she ever found out. I think that was one of her goals though.â
Heizou got up from your bed and started pacing around the room. He was too deep in his thoughts to say what he was doing. You all just let him do this thing.
âWhat kind of dumbass name is the Abyss Order?â Lumine spoke up.
Aether laughed, âIt sounds like theyâre trying too hard to be edgy. Or become a dollar tree Illuminati.â
âWhat should we do now?â Kazuhaâs soft voice chimed in.
You pondered for a moment before replying, âHmm Iâm not sure. This could help us with our investigation but Iâm not sure where to start.â
Thatâs when Heizou gasped and immediately went to the whiteboard you and Lumine shared. He erased what was previously on it and began brainstorming his thoughts.
âHoly fuck holy fuck I figured it out!â Heizou kept repeating.
âWhat the hell did you figure out?â Scara looked at Heizou like he was crazy.
Heizou didnât respond but instead kept writing. To be honest it looked like a throw up of words. Nothing made sense and you werenât going to attempt to figure it out.
After he was done, he turned around with a spark in his eyes. It looked like he solved the biggest unsolved mystery ever.
âWhile Y/n was reading the history, the name Alberich sounded familiar. I had no idea why. Thatâs when I realized that a descendant from the family goes here. His name is Kaeya. I met him during orientation because he was trying to recruit people for the frat heâs in. I think there was another guy there? Some ginger guy I forgot his name,â Heizou rambled on, âBut anyways! Maybe that Kaeya guy knows something. I mean heâs here because his family quite literally founded the school. Heâs the nepo baby final boss.â
After Heizou finished his coke rant, you all stared at him in disbelief. Not that what he said was untrue but because he has never been this excited about anything before. Heâs truly in his element.
âWait I think I know that little ginger bitch!â Lumine finally said. âI think his name is Tartaglia? But I think his friends call him Childe. Heâs in my business class and heâs a bit obnoxious. Heâs always talking about the frat heâs in.â
âYou should try getting close with him. In order to get close with Kaeya,â Hu Tao suggested.
âI donât want my sister to start being associated with a weird frat guy,â Aether huffed.
âDonât worry Iâll be fine! Plus I can get us all invited to parties. Just because weâre doing all this doesnât mean we canât have a normal college experience,â Lumine smiled.
Except it wasnât ever going to be a normal college experience. Youâre all willing to risk everything just to save someone and possibly shut down the school. The stakes are high.
âI know this is off topic but did Albedoâs momâŚyou knowâŚever mention him?â Cyno asked.
âI think I saw something mentioning his name. Let me look again,â You said as you opened the notebook again.
September 13th,
My beautiful baby boy is born. His skin is pale like chalk and I know heâs going to have a bright future ahead of him. I think the name Albedo will suit him the most. Heâs my pride and joy.
âSo who wants to get close with her beautiful baby boy?â Kazuha looked around.
Everyone stayed silent. Nobody knew anything about him besides the gossip of him being a hot loner boy.
âI think Y/n should,â Xiao spoke up. âTheyâre good at making friends.â
Lumine looked at your direction to give you a subtle wink. You wanted to shut her up so bad.
âI mean I could try,â You hesitated. âBut I donât think itâll be easy.â
You all agreed that your plan should start first with the offsprings. It should be simple and subtle enough to not gain attention of any administration.
You then looked at your phone and realized you and Scara were 15 minutes late to your class. You quickly grabbed your things, said your goodbyes, and dragged him out of the room. As you ran out, you swear you saw the same person from the night before in the library. You turned and she wasnât there. You must be freaking yourself out from all this mess.
Masterlist II Previous II Next
A/N: New chapter!! I canât wait to spill more lore and clues as the story progresses! I hope you guys like it so far đ
Synopsis: Friends start their first year at Teyvat University. The school that is known for its paranormal activity. The group doesnât truly believe the rumors until they start to experience how frightening the school can be. What happens when the friend group investigates the truth of the hauntings?
Taglist: @morgyyyyyyy @state-of-grac3 @trulyylee @jellichuu @practicoi @yuminako @eyshamuun @kunikuzushis-darling @heartsforni-ki @lalalaloveallmydays @animeobsessed56 @samyayaya @lloovvv @adepticiaoo @cherrysnows @miisamores @strayharmony943 @xionri @kazumiku @bethleeham @sukisprettyface @jayzioxx @kaikaidenkai @js-a-silly-little-guy @jiminscarmex @i-am-me-and-you @crimxeorcremeexistspeacefully @brideofbriar @floweringanna @miy-svz @vitanye @kunislettrs
#genshin impact#genshin impact smau#genshin impact x you#genshin impact x y/n#genshin impact x reader#genshin smau#genshin x y/n#genshin x you#genshin x reader#xiao smau#xiao fanfic#xiao x y/n#xiao x you#xiao x reader#haunted smau#chuusheartattck
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đđĄđ đđ¨đđ˛ | đŹđđđŻđ đĄđđŤđŤđ˘đ§đ đđ¨đ§
summary: in which best friends, y/n henderson and steve harrington get caught up in their feelings while paranormal activities occur in the small town of hawkins, indiana
cw: fem!reader, I wrote this a long time ago(I apologize for everything cringe), shit writing, first person pov, steve being mean, mentions of sex, 2.4k
<3
The next day I ride my bike to school. After stopping by my locker I notice Nancy walking down the hallway a nervous look on her face.
"Hey, Nance," I say, coming up from behind her, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." She says hesitantly, "I just... I feel like everyone staring at me." She adds looking at the passing group of girls who seem to be whispering with pointed looks directed towards Nancy.
"Yeah, I see it too." I say, my gaze following the group of girls as we approach Nancy's locker.
"You don't think Steve toldâ" Nancy starts.
"Steve can be an asshole sometimes," I say, cutting her off, "But he wouldn't stoop that low."
Nancy nods, opening her locker.
"So you and Steve...?" I ask, glancing at the ground.
"Yeah." Nancy says with pink cheeks.
My heart breaks at the confirmation that her and Steve, did indeed, do something last night. My eyes brim with tears before I can stop it from happening.
"Um, I'll see you later Nance." I say quickly before rushing to the nearest bathroom.
On my way, I just so happen to stumble upon Steve. He notices my tear-filled eyes and grabs my arm to stop me from going any further.
"Hey, (Y/n), you okay?" He says softly and gently grabs my shoulders.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I snap and wipe my eyes, noticing I'm making a scene, "Just let me go, Steve."
His eyes go wide at my harsh tone. Steve then notices the people staring all around us and immediately drops his hands back to his sides. Before he can respond I brush past him into the girl's bathroom.
My fingers grip the sink's counter so hard it turns my knuckles white. With tears streaming down my face, I press my lips together in an effort to keep my sobs inaudible. Once I manage to compose myself, I splash water onto my face, take a deep breath, and head for my classroom, trying my hardest to remain unfazed.
|ââââââââ|
At lunch, I claim my usual spot next to Steve. Tommy and Carol are across from us. Nancy didn't show up. Thankfully, Steve doesn't mention our encounter from earlier this morning.
"That's why science doesn't make any damn sense to me." Tommy says.
"No, I swear. Look at this." Carol says, proudly displaying her ankle on the lunch table, "It's totally frostbite."
"It's not frostbite, Carol." I mumble, noticing Nancy heading in our direction, a worried look on her face.
"Oh, thanks, man," Tommy says spooning applesauce into his mouth, "It's a heated pool."
"Well, if it's not frostbite, then what is it?" Carol asks.
"Ugh, I don't care what it is," Steve says, clearly grossed out, "It's disgusting!"
"Yeah, we're eating here, Carol," I say rolling my eyes, "So get it off the damn table."
Tommy tries to sneak a spoonful of Carol's applesauce, only for her to swat his wrist in response, "Ew."
"Hey, Tommy." Nancy speaks up, after sitting down on the other side of Steve. "When you left, did you see Barb?" She questions, leaning forward.
"What?" Tommy replies.
"Barbra." Nancy says, frustrated, "She's not here today."
"I seriously have no idea who you're talking about." Tommy says and chuckles at himself. Carol laughs too.
"Come on, don't be an ass, man," Steve says, "Did you... did you see her leave last night or not?"
"No, she was gone when we left." Tommy answers finally.
"Probably couldn't stand listening to all that moaning." Carol comments with a smirk.
"Ooh. Oh, Steve!" She and Tommy mock, "Oh, Steve! Oh, Steve! Ooh, Steve."
"Oh, Steve." Tommy grunts as he bangs his hand on the table.
I clench my jaw, hiding my jealousy and Nancy shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
"Okay, chill." Steve says to Tommy and Carol before they break out in laughter.
"I'm sure, she's fine Nance. She was there when I left." I say, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Yeah," Steve agrees turning to Nancy, "She's probably just... She's probably just, like, skipping, or something." He adds with a shrug.
"Yeah," Nancy says, "Yeah, probably."
|ââââââââ|
As soon as the final bell rings, I walk out of the building, feeling exhausted. Across the parking lot, Steve is sitting on the hood of Jonathan's car, with Tommy and Carol nearby.
This can't be good.
Upon witnessing Steve stand up once Jonathan approaches, I rush over to the scene ahead.
"What's going on?" I say standing by Jonathan's side.
"Oh, (Y/n), just in time," Steve says, "Nicole, here was just telling us about Jonathan's work."
"We've heard great things." Carol comments.
"Yeah, sounds cool." Tommy says.
"And we'd just love to take a look," Steve says, "You know as connoisseurs of art."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jonathan says before attempting to walk away.
"Oh no?" Steve says, as Tommy snatches Jonathan's bag.
"Hey." I utter, taking one step forward, but Steve places his hand on my shoulder and nudges me back.
"Please, just give me my bag," Jonathan begs as Tommy throws the bag to Steve, "No just..."
"Man, he is, like, totally trembling." Steve says unzipping Jonathan's bag, "He must really have something to hide."
Steve instantly pulls pictures out of Jonathan's bag, "Ahh, here we go." He says looking through the pictures, "Oh man."
"Let me see." Tommy says glancing at the pictures in Steve's hands.
"(Y/n), take a look at this one." Steve says turning to me.
With a hesitant step forward, I cast a concerned look in Jonathan's direction. He wears a guilty expression, which only increases my anxiety. Steve hands me the picture, eyes searching my for my response.
The moment my eyes fall on the photograph, my heart skips a beat. There I am in my white bra, Steve wrapping me in a towel after everyone else went inside. In the picture our eyes meet, and there's a hidden meaning behind the glance.
I hand the picture back to Steve and look up at Jonathan with a hurt look, "Jonathan...? What..."
"Dude." Tommy says, looking at the photo.
"Yeah, this isn't creepy at all." Carol says, looking through a few of the other pictures.
"I was looking for my brother." Jonathan defends himself and sends me a pleading glance.
I look away.
"No," Steve responds right away, "No, this is called stalking."
"What's going on?" Nancy asks coming up from behind Jonathan.
"Here's the starring lady." Tommy says with a smile.
"What?" Nancy asks adjusting her shoulder strap.
"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol says, "He was probably gonna save this one for later." She says and hands a picture to Nancy.
Nancy looks at Jonathan shocked and Steve clicks his tongue.
"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but..." Steve says, taking a step towards Jonathan, "Man, that's the thing about perverts... it's hardwired into them. You know, they can't help themselves." Steve finishes tugging at Jonathan's jacket, making him uncomfortable.
Steve then starts ripping the picture he handed me and throws the pieces at Jonathan, "So, we just have to take away his toy."
"Steve..." I say and gently touch his arm before he can grab the camera. He looks at me, and after a moment of hesitation, he shakes my hand off and snatches the camera from the bag.
"No, please." Jonathan says, attempting to make a move for the bag but he's stopped by Tommy, "Not that camera."
"No, no, wait, wait... Tommy, Tommy. It's okay." Steve extends his hand with the camera towards Jonathan, "Here you go, man" Steve says before dropping the camera right in front of him.
The group laughs and Jonathan looks at the ground where his broken camera lies.
"Come on, let's go." Steve says, brushing past everybody, "The game's about to start."
"Boo." Tommy says in Jonathan's face as he walks away.
Carol then rips the pictures in her hands and drops them on the ground with a gasp, "Bye." She says before strutting away.
I glance at the boy with a hurt look in my eyes. Quickly shoving pieces of the photo Jonathan took of Steve and me into my backpack. I look at Nancy who seems to want a moment with Jonathan alone and I rush to Steve's side.
"Why did you do that?" I whisper when I approach Steve.
"I... He was stalking us, (Y/n)." He says catching a glimpse of my distraught face. "I couldn't just do nothing."
"But breaking his camera, Steve?" I say gesturing back to Jonathan, "That was pretty low, even for you." I point at his chest.
"Even for me?" Steve repeats, offended, "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Henderson?"
"You know exactly what, Harrington." I glare at the boy before turning and walking away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Steve yells, frustrated.
I throw my middle finger up, fighting angry tears, and continue on my course.
|ââââââââ|
Nancy called shortly after I returned home from school. I found it odd because I assumed she would be at the game with Steve. Still, she said she needed my help so I reluctantly agreed to walk to Steve's house, in search of our missing friend, Barb.
"Holy shit, is that her car?" I say spotting a familiar blue vehicle.
"Oh my god." Nancy says, worriedly as we walk up to Barb's car and look in the windows, "Why is it still here?"
"I don't know..." I say before walking away, gesturing for Nancy to follow.
I successfully sneak Nancy and I through the back gate of Steve's house, which I know too well. And we continue our search for Barb.
"Barb?" Nancy yells.
"Barb?" I shout as well.
There's a crunching sound that emerges from the woods grabbing both Nancy and I'd attention. We walk into the trees and I feel a tingle down my spine.
This doesnât feel right.
"Barb?" Nancy calls out again hoping to find our friend.
There's another crunching sound.
"Barb?" I yell.
A dark figure suddenly charges past us, vanishing into thin air.
That definitely wasn't Barb.
Nancy let's out a startled gasp before tripping on an unseen object and toppling to the ground.
"C'mon, let's get out of here." I say, helping the girl up before we both run away.
|ââââââââ|
I sit peacefully in my bed, the quietness of the night surrounding me. Suddenly a loud ringing emits from the living room. Knowing exactly who's calling, I stomp over to the phone picking up angrily.
"Hey (Y/n). Look, I'm really soâ" Steve attempts to apologize.
"Jesus christ, Steve, I really don't want to talk to you right now!" I yell before slamming the phone back on the wall.
I sigh, frustrated, before running a hand down my face and trudge back to my room. But before I can make it, I hear the front door open, and a noise that sounds a lot like crying.
As I'm rounding the corner, a figure appears in the dimly lit hallway before me - Dustin, wiping his eyes and making his way towards me. My mind races with concern.
"Hey bud," I say, softly bringing him into my arms, "What happened?"
"They... they found Will's body." Dustin croaks out before sobbing into my chest. I gently stroke his hair and guide him to his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind me.
"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay." I say slowly tucking him into bed. "We're gonna be okay, alright?"
"Okay." Dustin replies and I kiss his forehead before I slowly make my way out of his room and to my own.
As I walk into my room a wave of grief waves over me. I slowly sink to the ground and lean my head back against my bed frame, allowing my tears to fall. I fold my knees, bringing my head rest on them before I hear taping on my window.
I walk over to the window and open it. I'm met with Steve's sad expression, "Steve?" I say, confused.
"Hey, I just wanted to apologize," Steve says as he climbs through my window. "And when you hung up the phone I just..." Steve trails off, staring at tear-stained cheeks.
"Have you been crying?" He asks, concern in his voice
I look down.
"Oh, sweetheart, I didn't mean to make you cry." Steve says bringing me into his arms and gently rubbing my back.
I shake my hand against Steve's chest and he pulls back, a confused look on his face.
"Will," I let out a sob, "They found Will's body." I choke out while grabbing onto Steve's jacket and burying my head onto his chest. With my face pressed against him, my tears trickle down onto his shirt.
"(Y/n)..." Steve whispers bringing us to sit down on my bed.
Steve stays quiet, allowing me to express my grief, silently stroking my back and gradually running his hand through my hair. His motions soothe me and my breaths begin to even out. Eventually, he carefully raises my face off his chest and gently wipes my tear stained cheeks. My lips quiver and I slowly let out a shaky breath.
"I'm so sorry." I sob again once I catch a glimpse of his soaked shirt.
"Hey, hey, hey, no, look at me," Steve says, lifting my face up again, "What are you sorry for, honey?"
"I got your shirt wet." I say stupidly as I point at his shirt.
Steve chuckles lightly, making me smile at the sound.
"You don't have to be sorry for that," Steve says, taking a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger, "You know I can always get a new one."
Steve then discards his wet shirt and draws back the soft covers of my bed, gently guiding us underneath. He wraps his arms firmly around my body, drawing me closer, providing me with warmth and comfort.
"What are you doing?" I ask Steve our faces too close. Way too close.
"Sleeping." He says closing his eyes.
"Whâ"
"Shhhh." Steve cuts me off, bringing a finger to my lips, "Go to sleep, (Y/n)."
With that, I rest my head on Steve's warm chest, closing my eyes and letting the rhythm of his breaths lull me to sleep. My tears no longer flow, bringing me well-deserved rest.
<3
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Autobot Protocol-Codeword: Peaches
Another day, another battle between the Decepticons and Autobots. Today's battle involves the kidnapping and rescue of the scientists of a new energy production device, including Chip Chase and a heavily pregnant Carly Witwicky. Before the battle could drag out an unexpected event was occurring and the resulting chaos following it would not make this a very typical day.
T/W: Non-Graphic depiction of imminent childbirth, swearing
'âLooks like Daniel couldnât wait anymore.â
Red optics widened in horror and his face plate got more pale as realization hit the blue jet.
âOH PIT! Oh no, please tell me you are not having what I think you are having right now!â'
I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE MENTIONED FRANCHISES. TRANSFORMERS BELONG TO HASBRO AND ICE AGE 3 MOVIE BELONGS (BELONGED) TO BLUE SKY STUDIOS.
This was am AU head canon event idea of mine I've had for close to a year and I finally got the motivation to write it. Hope you enjoy it.
The sun rose high over the active battlefield as another fight between the Autobots and Decepticons was in full swing. Today's current evil plot was a means to obtain a new invention of Carly's that would revolutionize Earth's power struggles of safe recyclable energy and improve trade with Cybertron with its added effect in producing energon. Sadly, Megatron found out and launched a raid to get the device and the staff that were developing itâŚÂ
Meaning, Carly, Chip and a few of their partner scientists are currently being held hostage on Astrotrain in a cage. Guarded by Thundercracker, Frenzy, and an annoyed Starscream, who was being punished by his âmerciful leaderâ due to some unknown reason. While the other scientists nervously huddled together, their head scientist of operations and top IT specialist both stayed calm, focusing on their friends as they watched the battle below. In Carly's case she watched her husband, who was currently furiously trying to get to them while fighting against Rumble in his prototype power battle suit she and Wheeljack developed.
Chip, even in his wheelchair, was able to maneuver close to Carly mostly to his own worry at her current condition. Lately, the blond woman looked more weary and in pain, especially since the last couple weeks. Carly herself just watched Spike take down Rumble into a gulch in a tackle, while tentatively rubbing her swollen belly and ignoring the hard kick inside it and Frenzyâs curious stare at it.
Spike was able to get back up from the gulch and run toward Carlyâs position. However, Rumble hopped back to his peds and activated his piledrivers, knocking Spike and a few Autobots off their feet in the resulting tremor. Surprisingly, Spike was able to get back up fast enough to hold back at Rumbleâs incoming tackle and the two returned to their tumble fight.
Iâll talk to Wheeljack later about getting the suit's stabilizers upgraded for earthquakes, thought Carly. She turned her head toward the bored looking Starscream, as he watched Optimus land a hard punch to Megatron who responded back with a kick to his torso.
âYou know,â Carly started, not flinching when the Decepitcon glanced at her. âYou guys could have waited a couple months for a viable prototype of the device for a grab and go, weâre still in its development stage.â
âTHANK YOU!â exclaimed Starscream, his arms jetting out and looking at her with exasperation. âOh my Primus! Thatâs what I said when we first learned about it! But of course, our âmost wise leaderâ got too carried away and took off with this raid without his processor to catch up! Still, we could have just run off with you instead, but oh no, âlet the fleshlings watch their precious Autobots get scrappedâ. A colossal waste of time from complete idiocy!â
Carly smiled tightly, a new pain in her gut started to throb. âThat sounds like him.â
Starscream stood back up, placed a servo on his hip and smirked agreeingly back at her. âCarly, my dear, that is about the most flattering comment about him.â
âWasnât supposed to be one,â she snarked back. She then slapped the small metal finger that had started repeatedly poking her belly through the energy cage bars and turned to scowl at the Minicon attached to it. âWill you cut that out!â
Frenzy smirked nastily at her and sat crossed-legged close to her. âJust find it weird that you got so fat so quickly.â
Chip and the other humans looked at the Minicon, shocked and in fear. But not in fear of him but for him as an outraged look crossed Carlyâs face that she rightfully gave him.
âExcuse me?! I am not fat!â
âYeah you are, I remember last I saw you less than ten months ago. You were much skinnier then, must have packed on the pounds for you to get that fat. Haha!â
He slapped his knee joint, like he had made the best joke. Meanwhile, the quiet Thundercracker just looked down at them, trying to make sense of some details about the blond woman. Something was going on with her, but his processor couldnât form an exact reason for it, despite all the information and human entertainment he secretly watched filed away. But he forfeited it to try to separate the Minicon from their hostages.
âKnock it off, Frenzy. We just have to watch them until the battleâs over.â
âAww, youâre no fun T.C.â
âAhhh!â
âCarly?!â
The Decepticons looked back at the cage to see Carly hunched over as Chip and the other scientists gathered around her. Carly was groaning in pain and panting hard as she looked back down her lower body, shock and worry crossed her face as she took in what lay under her.
âEWWWW!â Frenzy scrambled away from the cage with open disgust, Starscream looked just as disgusted. âI knew you humans leaked a lot but not that much all at once! Gross!â
Ignoring the Minicon, Carly looked at Chip with a small, panicked look that equaled his.
âLooks like Daniel couldnât wait anymore.â
âNOW?! Youâve got to be joking!â
âWish I was.â
This time, Thundercracker took in all he saw at that moment and sorted out all the clues he observed up to this point and compared them with all the medical dramas he had watched.
Gained weight in under 10 months⌠protecting her belly when the attack first happened⌠the protective nature of the other humans and Spikeâs behavior in battle⌠moments of pain flashing across her face while as a hostage⌠and now a spontaneous leak of large amounts of water and other proteins coming from under herâŚâŚ
Tick, tick, tick, tick⌠DING!
Red optics widened in horror and his face plate got more pale as realization hit the blue jet.
The giant robot scrambled to get in front of the cage and crouched down to look at the humans, startling Starscream and shoving a surprised and indignant Frenzy away from the cage.
âOH PIT! Oh no, please tell me you are not having what I think you are having right now!â
Frightened, but still protective of the expecting mother, the other humans stood in front of the panting Carly at the Decepticonâs sudden movements. Carly was able to look up while holding the hand of one female scientist, who tried to comfort her from the pain. She looked into Thundrcrackerâs panicked red optics she once was afraid of when she first met the Decepitcons. Yet now she couldnât help but chuckle under panting breaths at his statement. She looked back up at him with a pained smile.
âIf you think Iâm having, pant, pant, what you think Iâm having, then yes, pant, pant, I am and heâs not very patient. Ahh!â
Thundercracker immediately stood right back up with his servos on his helm to the astonishment of his Trine leader and Minicon. âOh slag! Tell me you have a protocol for this scenario!â
âWe do actually, pant, pant, I have a codeword for it, but I need to tell, pant, pant, Spike and Ratchet.â
âFrenzy!â the blue jet turned sharply to the startled Minicon. âCan you drop the comm scrambler and contact the Autobot medic?â
âT.C you crazy! Soundwave gave the order not to do that, and anyway I ainât doing slag for you or the squishies!â
âThundercracker, have you lost your processor?!â Starscream finally spoke, tapping his temple. âIf Megatron finds out you want to help the humans itâll be my aft on the line!â
Thunderscracker stood still for a moment then turned back to Frenzy again with a determined look.
âGive me your megaphone.â
âWh-my megaphone? I said already I ainât doing sl--eep!â Any protest stopped when a large dark servo grabbed the Minicon and brought him up to face the blue jetâs red optics glaring at him.
âRemember that nature program you got curious about once and got traumatized by it?â Thundercracker pointed down at the cage where Carly let out another painful moan. âWell, that same thing is happening and it's live and in person. Want a refresher?â
Frenzyâs red visor dimmed instantly, went into his subspace, and handed over the megaphone without hesitation.
âThank you,â said Thundercracker as he grabbed the megaphone and dropped it to Chip, who caught it, while also dropping Frenzy without setting him down. Frenzyâs hard landing and swearing afterwards would have caused some laughs if anyone was paying attention.Â
âHere, Carly,â Chip said as he handed the megaphone to Carly after turning it on.
âThanks,â Carly was panting more as she tried to stabilize her hands while holding the megaphone. Before saying anything she suddenly had a blank look on her face. âOh, no.â
âWhat âoh, noâ?â Chip gave her a look.
Carly had the effort to look at him, embarrassed. âI forgot the codeword.â
âARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!â
âWell, my brain is a little preoccupied at the moment! Ahh!â She curled at a contraction.
âRight, sorry, sorry.â
âDonât you know the codeword?!â cried out Thundercracker.
âI wasnât exactly a part of the planning process!â The glasses-wearing man, nearly falling out of his wheelchair, barked back.
âTry any related words and maybe itâll come to you,â suggested the female scientist attending Carly.
âRight,â groaned Carly as she brought up the megaphone to her mouth and shouted.
âSPIKE! PINEAPPLES!... ineapples⌠apples⌠plesâŚâ
The amplified word echoed across the battlefield, shocking all the combatants to a brief standstill and they looked up at its source with great confusion.
Rumble looked back down at the equally confused battle-suited human under his ped, who was on his back and held said ped ready to twist it off.
âPineapples?â part of the Miniconâs visor rose up.
âShe gets cravings?â Spike replied back with a shrug then twisted the foot-ped hard, causing the purple Minicon to fall on his aft. Spike was able to get up only for Rumble to grab his armored boot making him fall and they grappled with each other again.
âPomegranates? Grapefruits! Nectarines?!â
âWhat sort of nonsense is that fleshling doing, Prime?! Not exactly a good distraction, such poor weak-minded things,â snarled Megatron as he resumed his attack on the Autobot leader with a blast from his laser gun. The Prime neatly dodged the beam then using a snag log he grabbed from the ground, swung it at the tyrant with great accuracy, knocking the con to his back.
âWhy donât you lay off her, buckethead,â snapped Jazz nearby, as he did a sweeping low kick to Soundwaveâs feet then leapt onto the radio conâs back to punch him. âSheâs been having to go through a lot lately, including your dumb raid. Sheâs probably hungry and  ordering a fruit cocktail, non-alcoholic of course.â
Optimus took a moment to look worriedly at Astrotrainâs open cargo where the hostages were being held, trying to understand what was happening and sadly not even the matrix of leadership could answer for him.
âCarlyâŚâ
Meanwhile, frustrated at herself, Carly tapped her forehead with her fist, ignoring Chipâs concern and the female scientistâs admonishment at the action.
âOh, come on, think!â she then gasps at recognition. âAh!â Then takes the megaphone back and lets out her strongest shout.
âPEACHES! ⌠eaches⌠aches⌠chesâŚâ
Spikeâs brown-haired head in his helmet tilted for a moment at the loud echo as he held fast against Rumbleâs hold on his hands.Â
âPeaches?...â
At Rumbleâs POV he got to witness something he wasnât expecting to see. He never thought a human could morph their faces with so many expressions from confusion to recognition, to excitement, to absolute shock and horror. He also didnât know human faces could change color so much in one go, like those color changing lizards he looked up once.
Spike suddenly let go of their battle hold, causing Rumble to fall flat on his faceplate to the ground, and grabbed his suitâs helmet in panic.
âPEACHES! THE BABY!â the expectant father then turned around in all directions at once then back up to the direction of his wife. âWH-WH-WHAT NOW?!â
Every Autobot, and a few Conâs that actually did research on humans, paled in realization at this announcement, immediately forgetting their fights.
âOh,â groaned Ironhide as looked to his pale Prime while holding Ramjet in a headlock before knocking the Con out with a hard punch. âThat ainât good.â
Back with Spike, he was babbling in excitement and anxiety looking at any Autobots who were close enough to share the news. Leaving a bewildered Rumble on the ground to watch the brunette lose it and recoiled when the human male grabbed his shoulders and shook him for a second.
âYou guys hear that?! Cuz I didnât, well we were expecting it! But now, it's happening now- - I mean I imagined it in my head, but stillâ!â
Meanwhile, not too far away, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe paused their jet judo session with Skywarp, who was currently slammed to the ground with Sideswipeâs foot-ped on his helm. The red twin scoffed, while his gold twin just calmly stared out at Spikeâs direction.
âSeriously!? Weâve been waiting nine months for Danny to pop out and she picks now for him to come out?!â He pressed his ped harder onto the purple jetâs helm, who groaned with anger, and cupped his servos by his mouth plates to shout back.
âHey, Carly! Weâre kind of busy in the middle of saving you! CAN YOU TRY TO HOLD IT IN?!â
The red Lamborghini flinched back in surprise as every human, Autobot, and the few in-the-know Conâs on the field glared at his direction in angered annoyance. Even Sunstreaker groaned and facepalmed at his brotherâs idiocy.Â
All the Autobots and humans back at the ARK, monitoring the battle, had zero empathy for Sideswipe as they shook their helms and heads in exasperation.
âHmph,â scoffed Gears with a rare smirk as he looked at the monitor watching the red twin. âNot even Iâm dumb enough to complain about that.â
We turn our attention back to a scowling Carly; her eyebrow twitched with irritation and brought the megaphone back up.
âCAN SOMEBODY SLAP HIM FOR ME?!â
Close by mechs, even the downed Skywarp raised their servos at the ready at the confused Sideswipe, but his own brother beat them to it. Sneaking in behind him, Sunstreaker slapped the back of his red-coated brotherâs helm hard enough to send him to the ground like they did with Skywarp. The mentioned purple jet turned his helm from the dirt enough to laugh mockingly at him. Sunstreaker looked down with an accomplished smirk as he dusted his servos.
âDone and done.â
âGET OUT OF THE FRAGGING WAY!â
All eyes and optics looked toward the voice of an enraged Ratchet as he sprinted across the battlefield toward Optimus, never looking away from the area where his human charges were held. Every Bot and Con quickly moved away to make a wide pathway for the white and red medic CMO.Â
âPrime! I need to get up there! Give me a boost!â
Optimus punted a protesting Megatron away and down the hill they were fighting on and got into a ready stance. With bent legs and his arms stretched out with both servos cupped to each other facing his CMO. He made doubly sure he was aiming in the right direction.
âAlley Oop!â
Ratchet leapt up and landed a ped on the Primeâs cupped servos and, with all the strength of the Primes, was tossed up toward Astrotrainâs cargo hold in a clean arch. Upon landing, he ignored the surrounding Decepticons and made his way toward the cage, his optics never leaving the painful panting Carly.
âHow far along are your contractions?â
âTheyâre not that close, Iâm just feeling lots of pain in bursts,â Carly was able to get out.
âWell, we still need to get you to the nearest hospital, I have the proper equipment and materials set up just for this âtil we get there.â
âLet me come along,â requested the female scientist, while helping Carly stand up. âIâm a volunteer EMT, I can help with her along the way.â
âPerfect,â Ratchet then shot a glare at Frenzy, who flinched back. âYou! Call off your comm scrambler, I need to contact Skyfire for emergency transport!â
âNo way! I ainât helping the squishes no more! Gulp!â the protesting Minicon shrank down at the furious glare from Ratchet.
âLISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!â
âIâll take you!â
Everyone on board turned in shock to Thundercracker, who himself was surprised at his offer. Still, he steeled himself to amend the offer realistically.
âI mean, not all the way but I can at least take you out of range of the scrambler to call Skyfire and I wonât go supersonic.â
âNow just wait a minute!â Starscream shrieked out, his shock faded, with his null ray pointing at the medic and glaring at his blue trine mate. âYou have lost your marbles, Thundercracker! We are in the middle of a - -â
âAhh!â a pained cry from Carly stopped his rant enough for Thundercracker to move between the medic and the null ray.
âAhem! Excuse me!â Astrotrain finally lets out a shout after remaining silent for all this time. âI donât want any disgusting fluids or anything else from the organics on me! Get them off me before I hurl up my fuel tank and knock you all off!â
âIâll take full responsibility for this, Starscream, please let me do this.â
For a few moments no one spoke, only Carly pants echoed in the cargo hold during the standoff.Â
.
.
.
Finally, with a hard ex-vent Starscream powered down and lowered his null-ray and crossed his arms to sneer at Thundercracker.
âFine. But only the two females can go with the medic.â He jabbed a metal digit to Thundercrackers cockpit chest. âSince you stated that youâll take responsibility, you can do as you like. Just donât expect my forgiveness anytime soon, much less from Megatron.â
âUnderstood.â
Starscream huffed and snubbed his nasal away from the transformations of both Thundercracker and Ratchet. The medic opened up his doors to reveal a gurney for Carly to climb on with help from the female scientist after a grumbling Frenzy opened the cage to let them out. Once both were strapped in and his door locked, Ratchet moved in place for Thundercracker to hover down and use his cargo straps to securely carry the ambulance up into the sky.
Meanwhile, fed up with Spikeâs excited chatter, Rumble flipped up into a battle-ready stance. âOk, enough already! Letâs get back to me ground-pounding ya!â
At this Spike paused to blankly look back at the Minicon for a moment. He then noticed Thundercracker flying up with Ratchet underneath him and understood what was happening. Spike then smiled big and ran up to the surprised Rumble and gave him a huge hug, locking his armored gloves around him.Â
âIsn't it exciting Rumble! Iâm going to be a dad, or a âSireâ in Cybertronian terms!â
Rumble stopped his struggles to regard the male human with an addled smile. âCongratulations?â His smile then turned feral. âNow hold still so I can squash your skull!â
Spike just gave him another happy smile back. âHow about a raincheck on that?â
âHuh?!â
Click, whoosh!
Rumble jerked when the battle suit suddenly opened in the back and Spike crawled out and stood on its shoulders over them. Rumbleâs jaw dropped as Spike, in his skintight bodysuit, put his hands on his hips and waited.
âSPIKE!â
Both beings looked up at the voice of Tracks as he flew towards them in his flying Chevy Corvette Stingray alt-mode, his passenger door open with the seat hanging out.
âHOP ON!â
Spike turned back to an enraged Rumble, who struggled with the battle suit upon realizing it had locked him in its embrace. The brunette gave a smirk and a small salute at the struggling Minicon.
âLater Rumble!â
He then timed his hop off the suitâs shoulders and sat in the passing chair, its seat belts held him in. Tracks brought in the chair and locked his doors in place as he turned up and away from the area and flew up to follow Thundercracker and Ratchet.
âHEY!â shouted Rumble as he tried to raise his arms out of the battle suitâs hold. âGET BACK HERE YA TURD, I AINâT FINISHED WITH- -â
He stopped his shout at the sound of beeping in front of him, he looked toward the infernal suit and deadpanned.Â
There on the plexiglass helmet face was a light screen display of a countdown.
3⌠2⌠1⌠then an emoji of the eccentric engineer, Wheeljack, smiling with his mask and flashing headlights and his servo in a peace sign popped up. Along with a moving text saying, âBoom!â
âSigh, I hate that guy.â
The resulting explosion gave Optimus enough motivation to leave, after watching the blue jet fly off with his medic and Tracks following in his wake. Having relieved Megatron of his cannon, more like ripping it off his arm, he broke it in half and used the pieces to slam them at Megatron to knock him down again.
âAUTOBOTS! RESCUE COMPLETED! FALL BACK!â
Immediately, the Autobots started their retreat, some laying smokescreens, and transforming away from the battlefield. Sunstreaker was able to pick up his brother enough for them to also make a hasty retreat, all the while Sideswipe angrily grumbling at his gold-coated twin.
Back up on Astrotrain, Frenzy watched their retreat with confusion and his own addled smile.
âWait, they're leaving?! But we've still got hostages! HEY! WHEREâD THEY GO?!â
Frenzy and Starscream looked to the cage, an empty cage, and then looked around frantically for the humans.
âWhat hostages?â a cultured voice fluttered at them from the cargo holds entrance.
The two Decepticons sharply turned to the voice.Â
There was a smiling Mirage, holding a human friendly carrying container with all their human hostages safely secured in their seats, even Chipâs wheelchair.
As the humans said their own mocking goodbyes to the shocked Conâs, Mirage gave a little wave with one last light smirk.
âBye-bye.â
He then jumped back into the air and he and all the humans vanished under his invisible cloak. A small green UFO quickly flew by and took off from the area.
After a few brief tense moments, Starscream gave another hard ex-vent then proceeded to walk to one side of the cargo hold and sat crossed legged on the metal floor with folded arms.
âAs I said, âa colossal waste of time from complete idiocyâ.â
--
Down on the ground, an angry and confused Megatron took in at the sight of the battleâs aftermath. His gun broken at his peds, his soldiers scattered about in various forms of damage, and empty of all Autobot presence, and no way to complete the main objective of his raid.
âWhat the slag just happened?â
Soundwave just ex-vented painfully where he laid.
An absolute failure⌠again.
--
The next day a global broadcast announced the birth of Daniel Orion Witwicky to the first human friends of the Autobots. The following week held a press conference with the new father, along with the Autobot CMO and human doctor to reassure the world of the mother and her baby's complete health. Another live broadcast later showed the Prime giving his blessing to their new human friend as an honorary Autobot, just like his parents. The whole of Earth rang with joy and celebration at this and the news of Carlyâs new energy device now in the works, with extra security courtesy of Red Alert.
--
One month laterâŚ
Thundercracker walked back to his dorm room from the brig as he rotated his shoulder to dull the throb of pain from the beatdown he had gotten from Megatron one month prior. It wasnât a pretty sight, and even with his trine mates watching still didnât sit well with him. Starscream had told him, earning their forgiveness was going to take a very long time. When he was finally released from the brig, he ignored all the sneering looks and quiet jeers from his fellow Decepticons and avoided crossing his leader with great caution.
Yet, thinking back to the reason for his insubordination, he had little regrets.
Especially seeing Carlyâs grateful look at him when Skyfire closed his doors and flew off to the hospital.
When Thundercracker reached his room doors, he ex-vented expecting his room in shambles from the others as their own form of punishment to him. Surprisingly, upon entering it still looked pristine with little dust layers. After a time of dusting, he noticed a package on his berth. Going up to it he saw a notepad in Vosian on its screen.
âA certain spybot handed this to me before I could blast him. Donât think Iâm doing you any favors.â
SS
Flickering his red optics, he then opened the package and gasped at its contents. A wrapped portrait of two human adults softly smiling while holding their brown haired blank looking month old baby.
Spike, Carly, and Daniel were written on the picture frame.
Thundercracker looked at it with confusion then saw in the package box was a rock, cut open to reveal glittering crystals within it, the crystals looked to have the same shade as his own body color, and an envelope.
Picking up the envelope, he opened it carefully and read the contents of the humanâs English.
âTo Thundercracker,
I never imagined writing this to a Decepticon, but we all feel we must say this to you. âThank youâ, for what you did that day. Thank you for helping Carly get the help she needed and protecting her to your best abilities despite your station. We havenât told the press of your involvement and Prime has ordered no one mentions it to anyone either.
I know our current circumstances are not the best, itâs worse and more complicated to a degree. I donât know what will happen in the future or how youâll view us then. You have your own idealâs that I know you wonât change regarding your war and your cause; I donât expect you to. We humans donât have the long lifespans Cybertronians have and maybe youâll outlive Daniel and feel that what you did for us wasnât worth it to you. But please know this, for as long as we live and for what Daniel will feel when we eventually tell him, we will be eternally grateful to you.
Donât think too hard on these words, and maybe youâll disregard them all together, but we still want to express our gratitude to you anyway. You can do with the picture how you wish it, keep it or destroy it but our feelings with it wonât change. As I mentioned, we donât live long and even the picture might disintegrate with time, but the geode in the box is our gift to you. It will last much longer than the picture, and if anyone asks, just say you got as a souvenir from âconqueringâ Earth.
 Again, Thundercracker, I donât know what the future holds for all of us, but from this small insignificant human being, thank you for saving my wife and child. May God and Primus bless you.
Sincerely,
Samuel James âSpikeâ Witwicky of Earth
âTil all are one.â
For a long time, there was no movement and no sound other than the occasional groans of the ship's hull echoed in the room.
Static intakes finally sounded and the servos holding the picture and letter shook. Putting down the letter, Thundercracker crushed the picture and then walked to his personal incinerator and threw it in. Heâd rather not have any hard evidence for anyone to blackmail him about it; he took a memory file of it anyway. He then walked back to the package and took out the geode to examine it.
The human must have gone to great lengths to find the right crystal color.
After throwing away the package box in the incinerator, and hiding the letter securely, Thundercracker climbed up to his berth to lay on it with a conflicted expression. He brought his arm across his face, occasionally his intake staccatoed in the room space.
He wonât change his ideals, he agreed.
He believed in a better Cybertron.
He believed in the Decepticon cause for order and unity.
⌠but his fellow Conâs, Megatron⌠he felt that they had lost their way.
Thundercracker moved his arm away and turned his helm to the geode displayed on his work desk, its crystals catching the faint light of his optics and glittered slightly.
The faces of the small human family momentarily flashed in his processor, and he smiled softly.
Well, small miracles are better motivators than others.
What the future holds ahead, held little stance to the blue jet. Heâll just go along with what he believes is best for himself and his ideals.
With one last intake, Thundercracker fell into recharge, and waited for a new day for his recovery and new orders.
#transformers#maccadam#g1#generation one#Carly Witwicky#chip chase#thundercracker#starscream#frenzy#spike witwicky#rumble#optimus prime#jazz#ironhide#ratchet#astrotrain#megatron#sideswipe#sunstreaker#mirage#cosmos#soundwave#wheeljack#skywarp#gears#skyfire#jetfire#tracks#daniel witwicky#tf g1 carly
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The Prince and The Fox (2)
[ modern! ⢠Aemond x friend! ⢠female ]
[ warnings: bullying, mention of sexual abuse, trauma ]
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f7cbb9b2c50e02b04b2b9d85a1347e51/33c7c8237302a36b-cc/s540x810/aab2a417b828ab128119c21c1c56d94ee1f67edd.jpg)
[ description: After the events of her childhood, despite her best efforts, her neighbor and the younger brother of her friend Helaena, Aemond, does not want to know her. This state lasts until a house party organized by his older brother, Aegon, during which an incident occurs that will change their relationship forever. Slow burn, angst, toxic ex-Alys, rough Aemond. This is several anon requests combined into one fic. ]
WARNING: The main plot between the characters takes place in high school. Yes, in high school. The belief that teenagers wait with an intimacy when they are in love in high school is ridiculous to me. Aemond and the character here are the same age. Don't ask me how old they are, in my country you are of the age of consent in your first year of high school and an adult in the last year of high school, so if it is more convenient for you, think about it that way and decide for yourself. In this story, I am not following the trail that they are magically friends right away, but how they become friends and what that even means. I'm writing this fic to give the perspective of young, lost people, not adult women who want to see exactly themselves in everything they read. If that's all you expect, this isn't the fic for you.
I don't want whining about this in my comments or asks. I will delete these and block you. You have been warned.
Aemond + Evans Series Moodboard
This is my first story that has its own playlist, but yes! Get in the mood! Story Music Playlist. Songs used in this chapter: Turn Your Back on me & The Lion's Mouth by Kajagoogoo and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses.
* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *
Next chapters:Â Masterlist
_____
That night she slept very badly. Her parents asked why she had come back so early and if she had enjoyed herself. She burst out crying, unaccustomed to lying, and told them what had happened.
Her father was furious, stormed out of the house and made her show him which boy had nagged and touched her. She begged him to let it go, Cregan had been away from the party for a long time, they had gone somewhere with friends.
Her father said he wouldn't leave it like that and demanded to speak to Aemond. The next morning she appeared, accompanied by her father, at their house, embarrassed, her father explaining what had happened. Their mother was shocked by what she had heard.
She, her father, Alicent, Aegon, Aemond and Helaena sat down in the living room to talk about it.
"What? God, I swear, Mum, I didn't know Cregan would do something like that!" Mumbled Aegon, shocked at what had happened, Helaena was distraught and sat beside her, stroking her hand. Aemond looked at her, some kind of understanding in his eyes.
He felt that she had done the right thing telling her parents about it.
"Aemond, my daughter told me that you stopped him and stood up for her. I am very grateful to you and I want to ask you, if his parents insisted that it was word against word, will you be able to confirm what she said?" Her father asked, and he nodded without hesitation, tightening his lips.
"Yes. It was exactly as she said. I heard him tell his mates at school during break that he was planning to fuck her here at the party." He said in shame, lowering his gaze, his mother shaking her head in disbelief, slapping her hands on her thighs in a gesture of helplessness and rage.
"And you kept silent?" She asked with disappointment and pain. He pressed his lips together and swallowed hard, overwhelmed apparently by remorse.
She felt her stomach tighten at the thought that he really hadn't meant to stop then, that he could have done something much worse to her.
Aemond lifted a gaze full of pain and shame at her.
"I-I thought he was just bragging to his mates and... I don't know, that you're into each other. That maybe you want this too. That he's actually a good guy and wouldn't do anything to you against your will. But when I saw your face when he started touching your thigh on the couch, that look of discomfort, IâŚ" He said in a slightly trembling voice and paused, looking her straight in the eye.
She swallowed hard, understanding what he wanted to say.
He didn't expect it from him either.
She nodded, feeling warm in her heart nonetheless at the thought that he had followed them out to see if anything would happen to her.
If he would hurt her.
She covered her face with her hand, her father put his arm around her and stroked her tenderly.
"It's good that you spoke about it, sweetheart. You can't leave it like that." Alicent said, nodding her head. Suddenly she clapped her hands as if she remembered something.
"The cameras! Our security company keeps footage for 48 hours. We also have one in the garden in case of a break-in, why don't I call them and ask them to send us the video from yesterday? We'll check if we can see anything on it." She suggested, her father said it was an excellent idea.
She lowered her head, terrified that her father and others would be able to see it, that perhaps on the video it wouldn't look like sexual assault at all.
After all, she had hugged him herself.
They waited impatiently by Alicent's laptop, sitting down and glancing at her inbox, the security company employee who was in charge of her equipment said he would try to send her the footage within fifteen minutes.
They all flinched and moved closer as a new message appeared with a video file. She swallowed loudly, terrified, ashamed, feeling a tightening in her stomach and throat, afraid that it didn't look at all like she said it did, that everyone would think she was lying, that they would never believe her again.
She felt herself shaking, her knee moving up and down in an involuntary tic. She shuddered when she heard someone put a chair next to her, Aemond sat down touching her with his knees and shoulders, placing his elbows on the table, leaning over the monitor.
"It was about ten o'clock at night, Mum. I remember because by the time I left the clock was striking the hour in the living room." He said lowly, and Alicent quickly ran the cursor to that hour and turned on the accelerator a few times.
"Oh okay, mum, it's them, I can see Cregan!" Said Aegon, leaning between them, turning off the acceleration. Alicent pressed the spacebar, stopping the video.
"Do you want everyone to watch this?" She asked her quietly. She looked around and thought, in essence, that she recognised that these were people she trusted, who she hoped cared about her.
She nodded, swallowing hard.
Alicent pressed play.
The camera was up high and part of the bench was obscured by the canopy, their faces not visible. She saw them sit down, saw his arm around her, stroking her hand for a moment. She felt a cold sweat on her back as she saw his fingers lift higher and higher, heard Aegon and his mother draw in a loud breath as his hand slid under her dress.
Her father covered his mouth, heartbroken when he saw her hand immediately clamp down on his wrist in a clear gesture of defence, her whole body tense, it was obvious she was trying to pull away, to push back, to escape, and instead of letting her go he pressed her tighter against him.
She felt tears under her eyelids and lowered her head, not knowing where to look, she felt Aemond press his body closer to hers, felt his breath on the top of her head, felt him looking at her.
"â Jesus â" Muttered Aegon in disbelief, running a hand over his face. "â fucking piece of shit â"
Then they could already see Cregan and Aemond struggling with each other, her sitting down on the grass and crying, Aemond crouching down beside her and putting his arms around her, saying something to her.
The footage had no sound, but what could be seen on it was enough to clearly understand what had happened.
Her father got up and said he needed to get some air for a while and smoke a cigarette. Alicent followed him out, apparently wanting to work out what they were going to do, whether to report it to the police or not.
She felt Helaena's warm embrace, felt her lay her head on her shoulder and hugged her immediately, Aegon and Aemond looked at them in silence.
"â I'm sorry â fuck â if I had known, I would never have invited him! â I saw you two cuddling on the couch in the living room, but God, I thought you two were just in love â that, I don't know, you're together, just unofficially yet â" He mumbled, and she swallowed loudly, rubbing her eyes, trying to pull herself together.
"â please, Aegon â it's not your fault â you didn't do anything wrong â don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the alcohol â" She said quietly, tiredly, and he sighed heavily, scratching his head, clearly distraught that something like this had happened at his own party.
Aemond said nothing, fiddling with his mug of already half-cold coffee, it seemed to her that he hadn't slept well that night either.
Her father had decided that they would drive with this recording to his parents.
She was horrified.
"I will go with you." Aemond said, and her father nodded.
They drove there together in their car with Alicent's laptop. They sat side by side in the back seat, she saw that he was pulling at the cuticles around his fingernails again, she noticed with pain that he had actual wounds around them.
When he saw in the reflection in the window that she was looking at him he stopped immediately and swallowed loudly, lowering his gaze.
He was stressed too.
When they arrived a surprised Mrs Stark opened the door for them, asking who they were and what had happened.
"I would like to talk to you about your son."
She, Aemond and her father sat on the couch on one side and Cregan and his parents on the other as her father played them the video. Cregan was pale, sitting with his arms folded, feigning indifference, his knee shaking restlessly, he was biting his lower lip, his eyes red.
He was terrified.
His mother made big eyes when she saw the moment he slipped his hand under her dress and looked at him with disbelief mixed with pain. His father snorted, shrugging his shoulders.
"And what, are you going to go to the police? Destroy a young boy's life because he made a mistake, because his hormones are raging?" He asked as if it was a trivial matter, a complete nothing. She felt the rage surge in her father.
"Because of your son's hormones, he can act like a mindless monkey and grope girls who don't want him to?" He hissed, his father raising his eyebrows, pointing at her with his hand.
"Please, forgive me, but from what I can see in this video your daughter was pushing herself into his arms, after all he could have misunderstood herâŚ"
"Mark." Said his wife, clearly not believing what she was hearing, pale.
Her father stood up, pointing his finger at her.
"My child came home crying because someone molested her. He only stopped because her classmate went out into the garden. And what would your son do if no one helped her, hm? How long would he hold her while she tried to break free?" He thundered furiously on the verge of tears, she had never seen him like this before.
She just sat on the couch, looking at her shoes, shaking all over, feeling that her biggest nightmare had just taken place in front of her eyes.
Please, forgive me, but from what I can see in this video your daughter was pushing herself into his arms.
Mr Stark raised his hands in a defensive gesture as if to show that his aim was not to argue or escalate the conflict.
"I admit, my son acted unwisely. He misread the girl's signals and behaved badly. We will be watching him more closely in this area. Is that all?" He asked, and her father closed the laptop with a loud slam and growled to them that they were leaving.
She stood up and cast one last look in Cregan's direction, he was looking at her with a hatred she had never seen in her life before.
She burst into sobs as soon as they got into the car, her father comforting her loudly telling her not to cry, that they were driving to the police station.
"No, no, please, no!" She whimpered, leaning forward, grabbing his arm, her father looked at her in the mirror.
"What?"
"I can't do it, I can't do it anymore. I⌠stop, I think I'm going to throw up." She mumbled, her father stopped with a squeal of tyres. She got out and immediately vomited on the grass, coughing and crying, feeling her stomach convulse in pain.
She heard them both get out of the car, her father put his arms around her saying that everything would be fine, Aemond stood beside them not knowing what to do with himself, not knowing how to behave.
The next few days at school were extremely difficult for her. Some of her friends and acquaintances were shocked and horrified, giving her their complete support and understanding, saying they were disappointed by Cregan's behaviour.
However, others thought that she was simply lying.
"Attention whore." One of his friends growled, hitting her on the shoulder with his arm as he walked past her.
She saw that someone had scratched the word 'liar' on her locker standing in the corridor. She looked at it indifferently, then opened it as if nothing had happened and exchanged the books she needed with the ones she could put away.
This time he was the one looking at her.
She felt his gaze on her back in the classroom, in the corridor, as she sat at the bus stop looking at her shoes.
For some reason, even though she was alive and everything was going on, she felt dead.
She couldn't erase his touch from her mind.
She sat on the bus in total reverie, occupying the seat at the back by the window, sitting in her earphones, listening recently to nothing but Kajagoogoo songs, 'Too shy', 'Turn Your Back On Me', 'Ooh to Be Ah', 'The Lion's Mouth' looped on her player.
Their electronic sound and the wonderful bass guitar in the background energised her when she had no strength and couldn't rouse herself.
She had just listened to 'Turn Your Back On Me' for the second time since the morning when she felt someone sit down next to her.
She glanced to the side and spotted a black sweatshirt, familiar hands clicking something on his phone, apparently pausing the song he had just listened to on his player, she saw that it was 'Welcome to the Jungle' by Guns N' Roses. She pulled down one earpiece, looking at him in surprise.
"What are you listening to?" He asked, pulling on the cord of his black earphones, which dropped gently onto his lap with a quiet click.
She handed him her earphone, which he took from her, placing it in his left ear, moving a little closer to her so that there was enough cable for both of them. He mused, listening.
"Interesting." He muttered lowly, glancing at her player.
"Kajagoogoo." She said quietly, going into the track list so he could see what their songs were called.
"Nice bass." He admitted, as if surprised by this discovery himself. She nodded and closed her eyes, resting her temple against the glass, just sinking into the sound of the music.
He listened to the songs of her favourite band with her until they reached the school.
When the bus stopped he handed her back her earpiece, their hands touched. They looked at each other, for the first time so closely. He picked up his backpack and rose, trying not to hit his head on the low ceiling and walked out in front of her, no longer paying attention to her.
She walked through the corridor of her school listening to "The Lion's Mouth", trying not to pay attention to whether anyone was looking at her or not, focusing on the words of the song, staring blankly ahead.
Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth -
Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth (I don't think so) -
Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth -
The music suddenly stopped when someone tripped her up. She wobbled and fell over, collapsing on the floor, her earphones falling out of her ears. She lifted herself up on her arms and turned over her shoulder, noticing Cregan's hateful stare.
A moment later, several things happened at the same time. Aemond who threw him to the floor, pounding his face with his fist, holding his sweatshirt, growling that he was a fucking piece of shit, a mere abuser, a nobody, a zero.
His colleagues and teachers had to separate them, Cregan spat blood on the floor.
She felt someone grab her shoulders, Helaena stood over her, looking at her in horror.
"Are you all right?"
She sat in her classroom terrified, glancing anxiously over her shoulder at the empty seat in the bench he sat in, knowing that he and Cregan had ended up at the headmaster's office.
That he was in trouble because of her, that he could be suspended because of her.
She shuddered when she heard the sound of the door opening and saw him step inside, the teacher paused his reasoning for a moment and grunted, returning to the subject of the lesson.
Aemond walked over to his bench without a word, not looking at her, and sat down in his chair, pulling off his backpack, taking out his textbooks and notebook, giving her one calm look.
She pulled her phone quickly from her sweatshirt pocket, reminding herself that she had his phone number, and quickly texted him.
She heard his phone vibrate on his bench. She sat looking ahead, feeling her heart pounding hard.
After a moment, the display of her phone lying on her thighs lit up and she saw that she had received a new message. She opened it quickly, feeling a tightness in her throat.
She turned towards him over her shoulder, his lips curving into a grin. She smiled gratefully at him and breathed quietly, turning ahead, trying to finally focus on what her teacher was talking about.
Boarding the bus after class, she dared to sit next to him. They looked at each other, he watched as she untangled her earphones and plugged them into her phone. She saw him pull his own off and pause his player.
"Are you going to listen to that band with weird name again?" He asked lowly and she nodded, smiling at him.
He held out his hand to her and she handed him her earpiece, this time with her left hand, turning on 'The Lion's Mouth'.
"This is my favourite." She admitted with a smile, feeling calm for some reason, her stomach filled with warmth.
"Mmm." He hummed, their elbows resting against each other lying on their armrest, however neither of them seemed to mind.
She understood then.
The Little Prince took a step towards the Fox of his free will.
She smiled under her breath.
He wanted her to tame him.
_____
Aemond Taglist:
(bold means I couldn't tag you)
@its-actually-minicika @notnormalthings-blog @nikstrange @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @k-y-r-a-1 @g-cf2020 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @chainsawsangel @iiamthehybrid @tinykryptonitewerewolf @namoreno @malfoytargaryen @qyburnsghost @aemondsdelight @persephonerinyes @fan-goddess @sweethoneyblossom1 @watercolorskyy
#aemond fic#aemond fanfiction#aemond targaryen#aemond x oc#hotd aemond#aemond x fem!reader#ewan mitchell#ewan mitchell fanfic#aemond targaryen angst#aemond angst#hotd angst#hotd fanfic#aemond fanfic#aemond fluff#ewan mitchell fandom#aemond fandom#house of the dragon fandom#hotd fandom#hotd fanfiction#hotd fluff#aemond smut#aemond targaryen smut#ewan mitchell smut#modern aemond angst#modern aemond smut#modern aemond#modern aemond targaryen#aemond x original female character#aemond x original character#aemond kinslayer
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OMG GOLDY, your post where you mention catching a grenade for the one you love. I can't stop thinking about a few months back when Jk was going through his missing Jimin spiral & during one of those lives, he sang Bruno Mars Grenade. Its so painful to listen to him. He wanted Jimin so bad while he was super duper busy & now we know Jikook have had this planned out for a while, enlisting and going through the process for a while. He really meant that song, every fucking word of it.
Also Jikook are fucking geniuses. Some said they thought they were laying low publicly cause of MS & now it seems true. They didn't want added attention cause they were going through the process behind the scenes. They weren't about to gay out. Taking separate planes to meet up. Smart as fuck. Jk however, couldn't keep his emotions in check & kept going rogue on their plan & started doing his Jimin lives. Doing online stuff Just enough to let us know everything was great, even if we weren't seeing them together. Jk timing his lives when JM leaves & posting pics for Jimin to comment. You sneaky little shits. Its all deliberate. Jikook keeping it online, even though we know they were meeting up behind closed doors, due to things they were saying and things they were working on, that was picked up by k-army. Like Jimin talking about them drinking together or Jk mentioning Jimin moving his stuff. Never underestimate queers in the closet. They always get their message across. Now that the process is over and it seems to be a done deal for them. Now look. Jikook took that plane TOGETHER to Tokyo (no more separate planes) and went on one last vacation together. No more worries cause it's most likely set in stone them enlisting together and the hard part is over and now nothing can hinder it now. Damn, that must have killed Jikook having to watch people claim they weren't close after Chapter 2. Don't those people feel stupid.
I also wonder if this is why Jk tried to say that J on his finger above the M is for Jk, cause its too obvious going into Military with a big ass J M on his wedding ring finger, knowing he is enlisting with JM. Interesting.
đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘
The closet can feel so safe and miserable at the same time. Imagine the source of your security also being the one thing chipping away at your mental health and sanity.
I don't wish that on anyone.
But it's also the safest place we could ever be.
Jungkook should have been more creative than he was coming up with that cock and bull story about the JM.
When you think about how Jimin had to fight Namjoon on stage when he called him JM the whole Jm on his hand start to feel even more sus than it already is.
Like how did that conversation go?
Jk: Guys look, I tattooed my initial on my ring finger above Army. It's J for Jungkook. Not Jeon. Jungkook.
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Bts: wait a damn mininute that spells..... JM not JK
JK: HOLD ON IT DOES? HUH.... THAT'S WEIRD
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Jimin: don't look at me my name is J.I.M.I.N not JM
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Those two are accomplices đđđđđ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł
I want the interview where someone asks them about the JM thingy again cos it's too in our faces not to notice and surely he's seen it, noticed it- like did the thought never occur to him his hand makes so much sense if it was attached to Jimin's wrist? Cos I swear if people didn't know him and you showed them that hand they'd assume that was Jimin's hand since it had his initials on there.
If I were a director at Hybe, I'd set them up and let them talk about it head on and make a joke out of it with Jimin stating for the camera- Jungkook is obsessed with me he even has my name on his finger.
I mean he said he's always thought Jk was his copy cat it would make so much if he escalates it into obsession cos that's where we at nowđ¤§
Imagine people start calling him JM instead of JK because they think that's his nameđĽ˛đ
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Ever wondered why the Elucien arguments pulling out Sarahâs 2016 interview and Facebook comment (yeah that one after ACOMAF came out) are SO annoying? đ
Ok so I ended up in a TikTok comment section today (yes I know that was my first mistake) and it occurred to me, we are once again not on the same page about some fundamental ideas on writing. The OP argued Sarah hasnât changed her mind on the next books &elucien and that she said so in an interview after ACOSF.
Ok, but thereâs a huge GLARING problem with that.
Basically, a writer makes promises in the text. Iâm paraphrasing Sanderson here (I watch his lectures for fun, even tho I donât write cuz Iâm a dork) so he was talking about the first chapter and prologue of a book, or movie⌠but if youâre writing a multi-book epic, then youâre probably going to make promises about plots and characters of your future books, right?
So what are these promises? Basically what kind of book it is, plot&trope hints, the tone, goals, journeys and obstacles.
Ok back to SJM: why is the argument that âshe said Elucien and hasnât changed her mind infuriating? Because she made different promises in the books. And that is what Elriels mean when we say âset upâ.
I mean just from the amount of interactions, Elriel have more than Elucien.. not to mention the warmth, positivity and thoughtfulness she put into their interactions over seriously 4 books. The promises are crystal clear: there is a romance that started as friendship==plot, but she has a bond w/someone else==obstacle, and Rhys forbade it in a moment resulting in her thinking he rejected her, but he didnât == twist.
These promises need to be addressed, resolved, fulfilled. Is there something even CLOSE to this kind of story promise existing for Elucien?
I have seriously seen people claim that Elucien are both âfriends to loversâ AND âenemies to loversââŚ. These cannot both be true, like come on⌠youâre not even sure what kind of story they promise to be? Youâre not sure what kinds of promises Sarah made about Elucien?
Why are you not sure? Because itâs not in the text. My personal view is that Elucien is neither⌠if they happen itâs kind of worse than either trope, theyâre certainly not friends, they are at best indifferent to each other and at worst resentful. Mmmm ⌠delicious âindifferent to loversâ đŤ
On a serious note, I donât âhateâ Elucien, but SJM hasnât made a single promise in the text that I can quote in here that would make me excited about them. He gave her gifts that she didnât throw awayâŚ. ?? Really?⌠she made a half step toward him⌠once⌠no, just no! And thatâs how I feel, regardless if âLulu deserves loveâ⌠sure he does, then write a love interest that brings out flirty firey fox boy from book1 and Iâm on board 𫡠âŚ.and donât try to convince me after 4 books of a tepid nothing that all along it was Elain. Because. I. Donât. Buy. It.
And my last point (I swear!) why did I get my panties all up in a twist⌠basically this: a writer makes promises IN THE TEXT, and if what you are saying in interviews directly CONTRADICTS your actual text, then you kinda have a problem. ⌠at that point either youâre a bad writer, or you canât blindly trust an interview from 7 years ago, itâs outdated!
The great GRRM himself said how often his âgardening styleâ of writing led to character arcs and romantic pairings changing⌠so why donât we start treating Sarah as an adult author, and trust the text, and not an old interview?
It also comes down to trust. You donât wanna be left feeling like âhmmm this doesnât feel real, I donât buy itâ it takes you out of the text, and it happens when an author messes up promise-delivery . When an author foreshadows well, and sets up the story with their promises, still manages to surprise us while keeping the promises⌠well I trust THAT PERSON to tell me the most satisfying story.
#rant post#elriel#bad arguments that make me mad#why I canât love Elucien even if it isnât horrible
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Hi! This isnât an ask and Iâve been meaning to do this for a bunch of other authors since before 2024 ended or even the beginning of 2025, but I kept backing out. Iâve been a silent reader since last year but then I saw your recent post andâŚ
I need you to know how much I love your writing and your fanfics. (And this is a warning to potential people, other than you, who might read this should you decide to post it, that the following may contain spoilers for some fics đŤ ).
I finished the series the summer of 2024, and while I donât remember exactly what fanfic I read the first time I visited the Ao3 fandom, I can without a doubt say that your works were some of the first I read.
Smile is one of the fanfics I go back to when I want to read something angsty (usually all the time). Chapters 1 and 2 are so heartbreaking, the way you wrote Rowanâs hand resting on Lyria? Or the way Rowan calls Aelin âFireheartâ when Aelin was walking away from Rowan and Lyriaâs wedding? I love it. If I need a good cry, I go back to this fic.
I also go back to How to Fix This because how could I not? The last chapter was so angsty and beautiful and my only wish was that it was longer.
Other fanfics that I enjoyed are Breaking the Rules, The Look, Zoom Interrupted, Replacing You and Stupid Regrets. Secrets Held in Time (this was so good!), Healing (absolutely genius, I think I teared up at the end), The Whitethorn Tradition and The Tradition Continues (this was so fun to read!), Reading Buddies and Uncle Lorcan Helps Out (lol to both! It was so adorable) were definitely fics I had to tell my friends about because they were so good!
I have also read It Takes Two and thereâs a certain particular chapter (or chapters really) I go back to because the angst is good and when they make up? One of the best feelings during a read.
But my most favorite fic of yours, one I think about a lot even though itâs been months since Iâve read it is Made of Ashes. (At this point, youâre about to receive my unfiltered and unhinged thoughts of this fic and how much I adore it).
I picked this fic randomly thinking it was done and boy oh boy, am I glad that I did. I did not expect Fenrys, freaking FENRYS?! to be Aelinâs new boyfriend. That was genius. It made the plot so much more complicated and I love it.
The back and forth timelines?! I was eating them up. The gradual spiral down of Rowan and Aelinâs relationship? Believable. I devoured every chapter, and I think I slept late that day because it was so so so good. I swear, their fight in Chapter 11 was so heartbreaking. It was coming but I was not prepared for that. And then Chapter 18 with the voice mail? If I need a good cry, I go back to those two chapters because it is so sad and so angsty. And the fact that you do the flashbacks in both POVs is genius because you see both sides and the audience knows both perspectives but the characters donât and ugh. Amazing.
I have so much love for this fanfic and so many questions because I love how you wrote Fenrysâ heâs an amazing boyfriend. But Iâve already read the bonus chapters youâve uploaded to give more context for the story and Iâve also gone back to the earlier chapters and as much as I do love Fenrys, heâs also super suspicious?! Thereâs that comment about him not being boyfriend material or something and that flashback where Aelin delivers food to the office and he mentions something about how it could have been him. I love him, but heâs suspicious, but heâs so good to Aelin and Elsie?! Iâm so conflicted đŠ
But then when I think about this fic, I think about all the angsty moments that could happen, especially with the way things are right now. I think about how Rowan would eventually get to see Elsie more and spend time with her but in return, heâll see more of Aelin and ugh. The angst that will come when he realizes all that heâs missed.
Sometimes, when I let my mind wander to this fic, I think about potential scenarios that could occur with this fanfic. I think about Rowan finding Aelinâs letter in his old couch (jf I remember that correctly) or I think about a potential scene where Rowan ask how pregnancy was and instead of being angry, Aelin actually opens up about her experience and itâs just angst everywhere because he realizes how hard it was for her.
I also think about Aelin and how itâs hinted that something happened and itâs not talked about and Iâm just curious because itâs more potential for drama hahaha.
On a much happier note, I do love Lorcan and Aelinâs relationship in this fic. For most fics Iâve read, itâs usually Fenrys that would take the role Lorcan is in, but not this one and I love it. The âdriving to the airport, learning stick-shiftâ lives in my head rent free and even the scene before that, when Lorcan was stalling and lingering in Aelinâs apartment because of contractions were some of my favorite moments in the fic. Really, their friendship is precious and itâs one of the things I love about your fic.
Point is, I think about this fanfic a lot and itâs probably at the point where it is unhealthy, but I just love it.
Thereâs still a lot more fics to read from your master list, but basically, your writing brings me and others Iâm sure, a lot of joy. I was really sad that the Ao3 TOG fandom isnât as active as other fandoms, but when I discovered you had Tumblr and then discovered other authors through you, I was really happy.
This post is already extremely long, but I hope youâve found it helpful on your quest to fall in love with writing again. Writing is tough, but I applaud you for all the times youâve posted your ficsâ both in Ao3 and Tumblr. It takes courage and Iâm glad for all the times youâve shared your work because itâs been a pleasure to read. Until then, Iâll be waiting patiently for when you return. đ
Ohhh my cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. Thank you thank you THANK YOU. I appreciate this message so much. And wow you really went through the whole catalogue. Iâm so glad Iâve found another angst loving friend.
I havenât encounter MoA discourse in a while and oh boy I missed it so much. Just a little bit behind the scenes information, it originally wasnât meant to be Fenrys. I was going to make the boyfriend Chaol and basically ruin his life, but then I got this glimmer of a scene in my head and it absolutely wasnât Chaol. It was Fenrys. Then I realised it was a stroke of genius and I just had to do it đ and yes I also love the Lorcan and Aelin friendship, itâs been one of my favourite things to write in the fic. That and the emotional turmoil.
If you havenât already, I would recommend reading The Calling. Itâs a personal favourite of mine.
I know I said thank you already, but really truly thank you for taking the time to send me this message đ see you around
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Thess vs Transphobes' Misconceptions
It occurs to me that I have a story that can be given to every asshole who says shit like, "Kids aren't trans - they're being brainwashed and groomed by the horrible pedophiles in the media calling for so-called 'rights'!" and "Schools have no business telling kids about that LGBT stuff; they're too young to understand that!"
Picture the scene: Montreal, QC, 1985 or so. Now, I specify the where and when because it does actually mean something: Quebec was super Catholic for a very long time, and while it was getting less so in the 80s, it was still pretty prevalent in the general mood of the boomers who were our parents, and whatever the fuck the generation was that were their parents. Not that there weren't gay people, bi people, trans people; gods, no. Just they were a lot more circumspect, and quite often in very deep denial. (Hell, my mother only came to terms with the fact that she's bi a few months ago, despite being head-over-heels in love and lust with one of her best friends when I was a kid. But she was raised Catholic, so I guess her denial shouldn't be a surprise, especially after Mum made her feelings known and the best friend ran for the hills. I swear I want to punch that woman in the mouth for being such a bitch about it, even if she probably is approaching seventy by now. ANYWAY.)
So I'm in elementary school, and one of my best friends is this kid named Alex. I remember him surprisingly well - very red hair, very brown eyes, lots of freckles. And we were both fans of the Jem and the Holograms cartoon. And Alex insisted that Kimber Benton had been born a boy (or, y'know, a trans woman - we were kids and didn't really have the right terminology available to us at that point, not to mention that the terminology has changed a lot over the last few decades). He had a whole lot of weight behind his headcanon too, and I wasn't about to contradict him - hell, even then, I knew not to harsh someone's squee when it didn't really matter to me either way.
But it mattered to him. It mattered desperately to him. And one day, I found out why it mattered so much to him. He didn't say it outright; it was a lot of very nervously dropped little comments over the course of a conversation about a recent episode. But it was pretty clear to me, even at, like, eight or so - he needed Kimber to be a trans woman because if she was, with her bright red hair kind of like his ... then he could be too. I don't think he ever came out and said that he felt like he was a girl, but I'm pretty sure he came close - that or I was just way more perceptive than the average eight-year-old.
Nothing really changed, outwardly. We were in elementary school, in a pretty Catholic province, in the 80s - hell, at the start of what we now call the AIDS epidemic. Preferred pronouns, style of dress, even borrowing my lip gloss ... none of that was on the table for my friend. But my friend knew, absolutely. I do remember inviting my friend over for a sleepover - I think I mentioned that maybe we could play with my makeup kit. My friend said "No, Mom won't let me have a sleepover with girls" and just ... so many reasons I couldn't understand why not, but I could understand being entirely afraid of what your mother would say if you broke the rules.
My friend went to another school the next year. We never saw each other again. I don't know what happened, and I only hope my friend stayed safe until she could get away and be who she wanted to be. And I will call her she now. Whether she's out there living her best life or ... gods, please not the victim of some conversion therapy nightmare or worse ... she deserves that at least.
And she was eight years old when she knew. So don't you go telling me that kids can't know that they're trans when they're that young. My friend was eight, and she was a girl, and she knew no one would let her be a girl because of the contents of her pants and what a doctor called out when she was born. I hope she's allowed to be that girl now. Well, I guess it'd be woman now, but you know what I mean.
(As a side note - if I had a 5p piece for every non-cishet AMAB redhead named Alex I'd had in my life, I'd have ... 10p, but it's weird that it happened more than once.)
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To the Shadows that Cry Witch /// Chapter 9
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Hello! I've finally managed to access my documents which means I'm posting on time! I do apologise for the random POV change throughout, but it was the only way I could get what I wanted to write flowing properly. I also just want to say thank you to those who have given me support, you all mean the world to me. But other than that, enjoy! <3
Summary: Welcome to Middle Earth! We're currently in the Shire, though not for long. Dark times are ahead. Enjoy your stay!
Tags: KĂli x oc/reader - FĂli x oc (POV to be written soon) - Thorin's company x ocs/reader (platonic) - fluff - angst - SUPER slow burn - crack - Bagginshield
Word Count: 1716
Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of Minor and Major Injuries from last chapter.
Taglist - comment or message to be added!
PLEASE START FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY OK LOVE U
Want some background music? Check out my Soundtrack Playlist!
Now available on Wattpad and AO3 (please let me know if links aren't working)
< Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 >
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PART 1: Chapter 9 -
The Teletubbies could never
Numinous (Definition): Feeling both fearful and awed by what is before you. (Adjective / Origin: Latin / nu¡âmi¡ânous)
The place was almost identical to how we had pictured it.
Round hallways of cream framed by planks of dark, golden brown, with intricate furniture taking up every possible area, but nothing disorganised, each object having found itâs place.
âAnd you call me a hoarder.â I murmured to Kay as we both stared. She didnât retort straight away this time, too busy absorbing the sight in front of us as I picked up and fiddled with some random object.
âHoly fuckkkk.â Was all that she eventually said.
âExcuse me!â
Damn, I almost forgot he was here. Bilbo seemed to find his voice quicker than earlier, marching over, a frown on his face at Kayâs choice of words. I made sure to discreetly slide the thing in my hand back where it was whilst watching the ordeal amusedly.
âI would very much appreciate it if you refrained from using words like that.â He lectured; one arm tucked behind his back as he wagged a finger at her. I snorted quietly at the sight of Kay looking down at him with wide, guilty eyes. And the fact that swear words existed here. âSuch profound language will not fly here, especially with me.â
Looking down myself, it occurred to me that I didnât realise that he would be this small. No matter how many times I stood a measuring tape next to me, I couldnât really comprehend his size back home. If he headbutted me right now, his head of bouncy curls would only just reach the bottom of my ribcage. I mean Iâm 5â9, so he was always going to be miniature next to me, but even comparing him to Kay, who only reached around my nose at 5â4, next to her this guy was the definition of tiny. He looked as though he couldnât hurt a fly.
However, he most certainly had proof of denying that last statement, his feisty mothering personality most certainly making an impact, as levelled us with a stern gaze from two and a half feet below.
Oh right, weâd hardly spoken a word, let alone to him directly, and we were currently in his house!
âSo sorry! I â uhhhh.â Kay began hesitantly, before elbowing me. I eyed her accusedly, but quickly looked back down at the hobbit.
âOh! Uhm, I donât suppose you know where we are?â I questioned.
He looked between us, perplexed as he was most likely trying to reason why two women were probably wandering unknowingly in the forest behind his hobbit hole. He had noticed earlier as he politely investigated our rucksacks, unbeknownst to us, that we carried no weapons, and the contents within didnât look as if they would last them a day. We most certainly didnât look like merchants or travellers. He didnât even go on adventures and he knew us two werenât cut out for travel.
âWhy, youâre in the Shire of course!â He answered. âNow, what business do two big folk have coming to Hobbiton?â
âUm.. no business?â I replied.
âWeâre lost!â Kay chimed in.
âLost?â He frowned. âWhat on Middle Earth were you doing, getting yourselves lost?â
âWell⌠We went to visit a waterfall, near our home, and havenât been able to find the way back since.â Explained Kay, figuring the truth was the best option.
âAnd weâve errrâ never been to or heard of the Shire,â I added, half-lying. âSo we must be incredibly far away.â
âNever heard of theâ! By Valar you must be far from home!â He spluttered, his slight irritation from them landing in his garden now replaced by a new wave of sympathy, as he realised these girls with their nervous eyes, muddy, ripped â also highly unusual â clothes, entangled hair, and just their overall dishevelled appearance, seemed to truly be a bit too far away from anywhere familiar for their liking. A slight twinge of guilt panged in his chest at his slightly unorthodox attitude earlier, clearly they were in some state of shock.
Taking in a bit more, he also noticed they seemed a lot more injured than he thought, watching as theyâre expressions contorted uncomfortably whenever they moved, along with one of them nursing a bandaged hand that had blood seeping in some places.
As for me, I absorbed as much of his appearance as I could whilst he spoke. As aforementioned, he was unusually short, considering the faint lines on his face didnât show signs of childhood youth, and observing further, I saw that he had the strangest of features. His ears, half hidden by his curly locks, were wide and pointy, reminding me that of an elf. I secretly gawked at his feet, because they were the most abnormally large feet I had ever seen, especially for someone who didnât even look as if he hit 4ft. Not to mention they were incredibly hairy. Along with his handmade dressing gown, looking as if it was crafted from a quilt blanket from some charity shop.
How peculiar.
âSooooo,â I began as a sudden thought came to mind, drawing Bilboâs attention. âHow did we end up in your house exactly?â
âWell,â he began, albeit slightly nervous. âI happened to find you both quite knocked out, and I wasnât going to let you both freeze to death in the pouring rain, so I took the liberty of taking you both in and lending you the guest room.â He explained, waving his finger down the hall at the room we just came out of.
âSo youâre saying you dragged two unconscious strangers⌠into your home?â Kay questioned, a slightly concerned look on her face.
âI mean, itâs not often thatâthat we get big folk around these parts.â he rambled as he shifted on his feet, feeling the tips of his ears turning pink under the pressure of our slight interrogating. âCertainly not ones that I-er, find falling from my roof.â
âYour roof?!?â We both replied, completely perplexed.
âWell by the sounds of it, you had quite the tumble!â He exclaimed with a slight laugh, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the front door. âLanded smack dab right in the middle of my bush, you did!â
âOh, then where were weâŚâ I trailed off.
My stare wandered from Bilbo to the door at the end of the corridor, and within a moment I was down the hallway, ducking under beams and through archways until I arrived at the door. It took me a second, but I managed to figure out the handle and it wasnât long until I was in the fresh air.
Kay had followed, leaving the poor hobbit trailing after us in confusion. Coming to a stop next to me, we took in a sight we never thought would be possible to see.
Rolling green hills stretched in front of us and we stared. And stared. As if we havenât done that enough already over the last day or so. And I then realised that it was the hobbitâs circular doors that I had tried to make out through the distance in the rain last night.
By the looks of it, and by some miracle, we had stumbled mindlessly into the bloody Shire. I mean, we wouldâve known if we were in the goddamn Shire yesterday if it hadnât been so DARK. Neither of us could even begin to describe how we felt, all I could do was really try my best not to scream or cry as I dug my fingers into my palms, and I could guess that Kay was having a similar reaction. Who wouldnât? The Shire was literally the dream place, and we were stood right in the middle of it. Not the movie set, no, like, the genuine real Shire, and with, by the looks of it, real hobbits.
My mouth just hung open as I whipped my head around, feeling both amazement and excitement rise within me. âWhaaaaaatt theââ I started, but stopped myself from completing that sentence, feeling Bilboâs stern glare on the back of my head.
Finally shaking myself out of it, I carried on with what I came out for. Scouring the ground, I spotted where we had landed, the now half-flattened bush twisted oddly and I gazed uncomfortably at the splots of our blood dotted around, the red shining in the morning light against the vibrant green.
Taking the path down to the closed gate, I stepped over it, not bothering to take the time to open it since it barely reached past my knees, though being careful with my injured ankle. Taking a few more steps back, I managed to be able to look up the hill Bilboâs house resided in, following the trail of flattened wet grass and mud streaks until I zoned in on the top.
There was the grass bank we were on! Though now I realised it was a hill, with several chunks missing, along with the evidence of a miniature landslide.
Looking back at the two remaining confused at the door, I called out.
âWe mustâve accidentally wandered here, and weâre travelling across the top of the hill when we fell!â I explained to Bilbo as I pointed. Kay raised her eyebrows and nodded in both agreement and realisation.
Now happy with our explanation, Bilbo clapped his hands to get our attention.
âRight!â He declared and we both looked down at him, jumping at his sudden switch. âFollow me!â
He waved his hands about, frantically beckoning us towards him as he led us back into Bag End. Me and Kay shared a quick glance, excited grins on our faces as we followed him back in. We both bent over at the low height of the door frame, me doing so the most, much to the chagrin of my ribs, but we were able to straighten out as the ceiling inside stood somewhat tall enough. However, I could still feel the ceiling brush the top of my head when I stood at full height, and I realised my time spent here would consist of me avoiding any ceiling fixtures along with the low, circular doorways. âBut it was forever worth it, considering where I was currentlyâ, I thought to myself, making sure to dodge the chandelier in front of me as we walked deeper into the hobbit hole.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Ok, to preface
this spawned from the Kirby movie poll and was way too long to be a reply so I'm putting it here. It's very long, you can ignore this if you want, I just had to put this somewhere and I figured as a fellow Kirby fan you might enjoy my crazed ranting.
My original comment:
Imo crystal shards would make for the best adaption because it hits all the right notes that could make good movie:
-squad of loveable and dynamic characters
-premise with a clear goal
-iconic locations
-incredible final boss
-ending without any loose ends
Return to Dreamland (for a movie adaptation) is iffy because I can't imagine any voice for Magolor that doesn't sound absolutely cursed, and I feel like the ending doesn't work as well in a movie format...
(And that's where the original comment ended. I then proceeded to go completely off the rails and wrote like a whole essay on a random concept that will never happen)
(Spoilers for Return to Dreamland Deluxe below)
...UNLESS- hear me out- what if they adapted the bad ending from the True Arena. Not only could this be done in such a way that it is interesting for people who already know the story, but people who don't know the story already or don't pick up on the whole possession aspect still get a conclusion. To them it would feel like an epic battle and though they might question why it feels sad/desperate or why it seems like it's not a true victory, there isn't the same feeling of "where did magolor get yeeted to". (I mean there is- but like, not in the same vein, they could even make the portal at the end more subtle if they wanted) Also just imagine being at the climax of the movie as a kirby fan and all the sudden you notice something is different.. familiar.. and then BOOM Magolor Soul. Perhaps the Magolor battle happens like normal but then once the characters beat the regular boss fight instead of ending it transitions to the eyeless phase of Magolor Soul. I'm not sure exactly how it would work out pacing wise. I also have no idea how they would choose to write the ending, but this leaves room for them to write an ending that is slightly different. Plus it could end on a bittersweet tone (which is like, my personal favorite type of ending.)
I think as a representation of the Kirby franchise this would actually work really well because you have a lot of staples of the modern Kirby games
-the dream quartet/dream team entirely present (something that crystal shards would be missing)
-A story with a relatively tame beginning that ramps up a whole lot towards the end
-Dreamland/Popstar as a primary setting (not necessarily a staple of modern Kirby but important for getting the audience to care about the world Kirby & co. are protecting especially if it's the first Kirby movie)
-A soul boss
-Another Dimension
-Mentions of the ancients
-A tragedy (I mean we've gotten a few happy endings but there is still tragedy that occurs along the way)
-A what if/alternate universe scenario
Finally, and this is the last point I swear! Doing this would clearly set the movie in an alternate timeline that can't interfere with the canon of the games. Which would make the movie a lot more enjoyable as a fan because even if it's "canon" it's not in the same timeline/universe. Much like the "what if" modes it can provide more context/substance to the main story without ever taking place in the main universe.
Anyways, that's it. Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Context: The Kirby Movie Poll
Anon this is so cool!! :0 /pos
Mod is obsessing over this- thank you for sharing this with them! :D /pos
#not tournament related#not a poll#kirby questions!#kirby propaganda#<kinda?#kirby#rtdldx spoilers#krtdldx spoilers#long post#<just in case!
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"Light Showers"
Here it is! My very first Junior Wheeler/Lexy Cross oneshot! This one is INSANELY long, the longest oneshot I've ever written and I worked so hard on this, so I reeeeeeally hope you all like this! Please comment because comments mean the world to me!
Enjoy! :)
Word count: 8.3K
Warnings: Mention of underage drug use, mention of food issues/eating disorder, swearing, Logan and Chucky are warnings enough, not proofread because proofreading is for losers
Notes: Junior is biromantic asexual and a demiboy who uses he/they pronouns, Junior and Lexy are the main characters of this story and everyone else are background characters, a lot of Barclay-Wheeler/Final Family elements, very tiny hint of BarclayPierce, Junior is more in touch with his Filipino side
~You are the light I've been searchin' for forever~
Junior and Lexyâs relationship at first had always been rocky at best.Â
Lexy was controlling and Junior let her be. He knew that it had to deal with their own issues of always obeying other people, particularly his father. So Junior did whatever Lexy wanted them to do.Â
Well, mostly. Junior could never go further than making out despite Lexyâs insistence of wanting to do more. That was a discovery he would need to uncover later on on their own, his asexuality.Â
There were also times Lexy would flirt with Oliver Hayden and it made their heart clench. Junior truly cared for her, maybe he was close to loving her at the time, but what the hell did they know about love? So he held their head down and allowed it, just like how he did in their personal life as well.Â
Well, that didnât last very long until Junior finally made the move to break up with her.
Ironically, it wasnât because of Lexyâs controlling behavior or flirtatious nature towards someone else. It was her distance and all the secrets she was hiding from him. Junior hated secrets. And after just finding out about their motherâs cancer, his mind was far too occupied so they decided to end things with Lexy.Â
He hated seeing the tears in her eyes but felt that was the right thing to do.Â
Until Juniorâs life fell apart.Â
~Feels like, man, I've really never felt the rain~
Their mother, Bree, died right in front of him.Â
Junior spiraled further into depression and was certain that they would have died by his own hands that night had Chucky not invaded their life and mind.Â
Chucky planted the seeds in his brain to murder their father and eventually, he did.Â
Years of anger, of pain, of conforming and destroying themself to be exactly what Logan Wheeler wanted him to be was released. Taken out onto their fatherâs skull over and over and over again by his own son to the point where he was almost unrecognizable.Â
After that, everything seemed to go blurry.Â
It was like Junior wasnât in control anymore. Everything happened too fast and they continued spiraling, this time into madness, until it was too late.Â
The knife in his chest that they took in order to protect Lexy was proof of that.Â
And that was when Junior Wheeler died.Â
~Buried in the desert, didn't think I'd push through the dirt~
Well, not entirely.Â
Juniorâs heart stopped for three minutes until the doctors were able to bring him back. They supposed he should send them a thank you note, but at that moment, they didnât want to be alive. He just wanted to be with their mom. Or in hell. The latter seemed to be a more likely option since he was a murderer.Â
But circumstances occurred that caused their true desires to be haltered. He escaped from the hospital a couple weeks after their near survival and landed in the woods.Â
Practically dropped on Andy Barclayâs doorstep.Â
And then it was them against the world, despite their rough start. But it became worth it and after some time, he began to feel almost like they were home with Andy. Junior opened up more as well, about his daddy issues and their somewhat tumultuous relationship with Lexy.Â
LexyâŚshe was someone that he couldnât get out of their mind. Despite being broken up, he still cared deeply for her. How could they not? He basically died for her. They remembered her crying as she held his bleeding body, begging them to hold on. But all he could do was apologize before their world faded to black.Â
But late at night in the abandoned cabin he and Andy shared, when Junior was still awake with their mind whirling with too many thoughts, he would pray to every single Greek god they ever heard of for her to be okay. Thatâs all he wanted. They just wanted Lexy to be okay and for her to one day forget about Junior Wheeler and the harm that he caused.Â
Please, gods, let her be okay. Junior Wheeler prayed while staring up at the ceiling that they were certain was growing mold. Just let her live the rest of her life in peace. Please make sure Chucky never gets to her again. Please let her find someone who can be whatever she wants them to be and have a family and be happy. Let her forget about the person who ruined her life by joining Chucky. JustâŚlet Lexy forget about me.Â
Well, he didnât think the gods heard them that night. Because the following day, after a year, he saw DevonâŚand Lexy.Â
~You just cleansed me like a waterfall, you came~
The moment Lexy saw Junior, she couldnât take her eyes off them. He couldnât blame her, they did make her believe that he was dead all this time. Besides, she wasnât the only one staring. Devon was too although it didnât seem to be as intense as Lexyâs. But even after explanations were given, she still wouldnât look away.Â
Junior would admit, it started to make them feel uncomfortable. He was never fond of staring, it always felt like when someone did stare too much, they were staring into their soul. Trying to find out every single secret from him so they knew how to tear them apart from the inside. Maybe that was what Lexy was trying to do. He wouldnât blame her, they did deserve it after everything heâs done.Â
Before their asshole side could come out and snap at her to ask if there was something on his face, Lexy suddenly reached out and placed her hand on their cheek.Â
The abrupt motion made Junior stiffen and flinch away slightly before he quickly gave into her touch.Â
Was her hand always this warm and soft?Â
âUmmâŚwhatâŚwhatcha doing there, Lexy?â They managed to ask her instead once he found their voice, now staring back at her.Â
WowâŚshe still has those little green flecks in her eyes. He thought absentmindedly to themself before she gave her response.Â
âYouâreâŚyouâre realâŚright?â It was an odd question, but it was something that was yet again not that surprising to Junior.Â
She thought he was dead. Now theyâre alive and well, with only a scar on his chest to prove their near death experience. Maybe she thought he was seeing a ghost or something. A ghost that somehow looked a little bit taller and had longer hair that was almost touching their shoulders rather than to look completely the same as when he âdiedâ.Â
Then again, what did they know of ghosts? There was a serial killer possessing a doll for over three decades, anything was possible.Â
But instead of saying all of that, Junior just leaned into her hand and grazed his fingertips on her wrists lightly. âYeah. Iâm real. Iâm alive, Lex.â
Calling Lexy by that nickname seemed to soften her more, relieved tears filling her eyes before she smiled at them. After what felt like forever, she finally pulled her hand away from his cheek.Â
Junior would later find out that she asked if they were real because she started to do drugs. And when she was too high, she would sometimes hallucinate and see him. However when she wanted to reach out and touch them, he would disappear.Â
It broke their heart knowing this but Junior still promised that he would help Lexy through her recovery. They would be by her side every step of the way.Â
Once again, with ease, he fell back into the role of willing to do anything for her.Â
Only this time, Lexy would do the exact same for Junior too.Â
~I'm screamin' like a kettle on a stove~
After that, it was like Lexy couldnât take her hands off them.Â
Not that Junior minded, of course. He adored physical affection but had only really received it from their mother, so he had been fairly touch starved still. But Lexy wasnât one to be so touchy with them.Â
Sure, sheâd hold Juniorâs hand at school or kiss him in public sometimes, but that was it. They never cuddled or hugged or anything like that. But now, it was completely different.Â
At first, Lexy would press her shoulders to theirs when they were standing or sitting close by. Then, it led to her looping her pinkie around his. That soon evolved to intertwining their fingers together when they held hands, hugging their arm, and resting her chin on his shoulder if they were sitting down.Â
Honestly, it was adorable. Junior was seeing a different side of his ex-girlfriend that they didnât even know existed. Even Devon and Jake looked confused by her sudden acts of affection toward their best friend and cousin.Â
While it was incredibly cute, it just made him realize that she was perhaps just as touch starved as they were, maybe even more.Â
That was something he had no problems fixing.Â
Just about a week after they reunited, Junior noticed how fidgety Lexy was acting. Picking at her skin, shaking her leg, and they remembered that she was trying to go through withdrawal. So he allowed themself to finally return her physical affection.Â
He moved closer to her and wrapped their arms around Lexy, pulling her into a hug. It took her a few seconds to hug him back but when she did, she immediately buried her face in their chest, right where his heart wasâand subsequently, close to their scar.Â
âYouâre doing great, Lex. Youâre okay. Youâre gonna get through this, I promise. Iâm not leaving you alone again. Iâm here.â Junior told her and began playing with her long hair, twirling the blonde strands around his finger while their other hand stroked her back up and down soothingly.Â
He could finally feel her starting to relax and Lexyâs grip tightened around their body as if he could disappear if she didnât. She even moved her head just slightly so she could plant a small kiss on the pink scar that was hidden under their shirt.Â
With how close Lexy was, Junior wondered if she could feel his heart racing.Â
~You cranked the heat up, I was cold~
Junior had a hard time deciphering their feelings for his ex.Â
On one hand, they genuinely still had an attraction to her. What he thought was an old flame was proven to be false the moment they saw Lexy again and that feeling only grew when he realized just how much sheâs changed for the better.Â
But at the same time, there was too much chaos happening in both of their worlds. With Chucky, drugs, and self-discovery, Junior felt it was too soon for them to get back into a relationship. They were hesitant to tell her this but when he did, she understood. Lexy just held their hand and reassured him that they could take it as slow as they needed to.Â
âIâll wait forever for you if I have to,â she told him with that sweet and genuine smile, âtake your time. Iâll be right here when youâre ready. Iâm not going anywhere, Juni.âÂ
Gods, Junior almost gave in and wanted so desperately to kiss her right then and there when she called them by that nickname that always had him so weak.Â
But they did take it slow. They would still hold hands or cuddle, sometimes sleeping in the same bed, but that was it. And they were both fine with that, even with their so-called friends teasing them about their strange new relationship.Â
It was a little odd, Junior would agree and admit to it. They didnât say they were âdatingâ and they havenât even kissed since the last year before they broke up. But Lexy didnât press on it even though they knew that she did want to kiss him whenever they caught her staring at his lips. Junior was tempted too, but thought it was still too soon.Â
This âarrangementâ continued for a month until Christmas changed that far too soon.Â
Ironically, it wasnât mistletoe where they had to be forced to share a kiss to honor a stupid tradition.
It was Lexy covered literally head to toe in Chuckyâs blood with a chainsaw in her hands.
Junior wasnât sure what came over them.Â
Although if he thought about it more, it was maybe just because the most beautiful girl they had ever seen was soaked in the blood of the piece of shit that ruined their lives and the lives of everyone they loved, with an almost maniacal look in her eyes after the deed was done.Â
That must have been it because before he could stop themself, he went up to her, cupped her face in their hands, and slammed his lips on hers.Â
Junior remembered the first time they ever kissed. Lexyâs lips tasted like her strawberry flavored lip gloss.Â
This time, her lips were metallic with Chuckyâs blood, some of it even dancing on their tongue from how intensely he kissed her.Â
Junior was used to the taste of blood, having had some of it land in their mouth when he had killed their dad and tortured dozens of different Chuckys. But somehow, it felt different when it was on Lexy.Â
Fuck, was he in love?Â
When the dust settled and everything seemed to calm down after a few days, they both knew that they had to talk about this.Â
âSoâŚabout the kissâŚâ
âIt was the heat of the moment,â Junior admitted while fiddling with the zipper of their jacket, âbut that doesnât mean that IâŚthat I didnât enjoy it.âÂ
âOh, I enjoyed it too,â Lexy giggled with an amused look in her eyes, easing the tension in her ex-partnerâs chest, âI know we agreed to take it slow, and Iâm all for that. ButâŚdo you think we couldâŚdo that again sometimes?âÂ
Junior smiled before nodding. There was no way he could go back to not kissing her again. He had a taste and knew they needed more.Â
âEh, I guess so.â He joked and she lightly swatted their arm with the back of her hand before leaning up on her toes, kissing him softly.Â
This time, Lexyâs lips tasted like mint flavored chapstick and they could smell the hot chocolate that she drank earlier on her breath.Â
Yeah, Junior could get used to this.Â
~My past grew mold around my heart~
âNo.âÂ
âOh come on! Please?â
âNo.âÂ
âI wanna see!âÂ
âNo.âÂ
âPlease?âÂ
âNo.â
âPretty please, Juni sweetie~?âÂ
â...no.âÂ
âDamnit, Junior, youâre gonna have to show me eventually!âÂ
âLike hell.âÂ
The banter that was occurring was out of Juniorâs hands. Well, actually, the object in question that Lexy was so desperate to see was in fact in his hands. It was an object that had been taunting him and now they finally had to have it despite never wanting it ever in his life.Â
Glasses.Â
Junior Wheeler needed fucking glasses.Â
They knew his eyesight was slowly getting worse over the last year or two. But they could squint and be able to see the words on a book okay, however the blurriness now grew more and more. Although it was easier for him to read something if it was further away from them.Â
Stupid farsighted eyes.Â
And now because of this, Andy finally noticed Juniorâs predicament and insisted that he get glasses. Junior fought tooth and nail over this but Andy somehow managed to put his foot down and made them go to the eye appointment.Â
And here he was, with glasses that made him feel like a fucking nerd.Â
Junior was going to kill someone.Â
Probably Jake because that asshole kept teasing them and was practically begging to be murdered.Â
âJun, I bet youâll look so adorable!â Lexy insisted once again, now throwing her arms around his shoulders and leaning into them. âI just wanna see!âÂ
âSo?â Junior spoke with no emotion.Â
âJunior!â She now scolded before huffing. âCome on! I promise I wonât laugh or anything. I wonât even take a picture! JustâŚplease?âÂ
He grumbled under their breath, not saying anything for a moment before he ended up giving inâjust like they always did. He begrudgingly opened the case, pushed the glasses onto their face, and stared at her with the same deadpan expression.Â
Lexy stared back at him before slowly smiling. âJuni! You look so cute!âÂ
âNo, I donât.â Junior groaned and was about to take the glasses off before she stopped them by grabbing his wrists.Â
âYes, you do,â she said stubbornly, âyou look like Harry Potter!âÂ
They raised an eyebrow, seeming unamused. âReally?âÂ
She nodded her head quickly. âYeah, but like, way hotter.â
Juniorâs face flushed a bright shade of pink and he giggled quietly at the compliment. âYeah, okay, sure.âÂ
âIâm serious,â Lexy whined and let go of their wrists so she could run her fingers across the circular frames, âyou look super cute. Besides, now you can see me better so you can admire how hot I look too!âÂ
He snorted and rolled their eyes playfully. âMy eyesight wasnât that damaged, Lex. I just had a hard time reading up close, now I can do that.âÂ
âThen that means you get to read everything I post on Twitter about how you should be casted as the new Harry Potter.âÂ
âOh gods no.â Lexy giggled at his reaction and then kissed the tip of their nose before standing up.Â
âWanna go to Starbucks?âÂ
Junior grinned widely. âAbsolutely.âÂ
~And all my anger, sadness, regret disappeared~
Movie nights were a frequent occasion in their house.Â
They had movie nights quite often, sometimes varying from twice a week to every single night. It depended on who was available to stay over and binge, also switching off on who picks out the movie each time.Â
Jakeâs turn was three days ago and Junior was relieved it wasnât his turn again because it was far too soon for him to see another horror movie.Â
Seriously, their lives were horror movies enough, they all didnât need to watch even more of it.Â
It was Andyâs turn this time but he was taking far too long on the phone with Nica in his room. Gods, it was so obvious that they were into each other and if Nica was in person, theyâd totally be shoving their tongues down each otherâs throats.Â
But for now, they just had to wait for Andy to get off the fucking phone. So they sat around the living room, all talking about whatever was on their minds.Â
Junior was sitting on the floor in front of the seat Lexy was on. They could sit on the couch with her but he was in an antsy mood and knew they would be moving around too much, so he settled on the floor instead. During the conversations, they felt Lexy move closer to him but remained behind them still. Before Junior could ask what she was doing, she ran both of her hands through his hair.Â
The words died in their throat before they could even leave his lips, their eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head and they completely melted under her touch.Â
If Junior tried to think about it, he would remember that they did tell Lexy earlier that morning that he enjoyed having his hair touched or played with, even scalp massages felt nice, and how it always helped relax them. But right now, his brain was completely mush.Â
They could hear Jake and Devon laughing quietly at his reaction but they didnât pay them any mind. Junior just allowed himself to be relaxed with her nails running across their head slowly, basically giving him a scalp massage.Â
This must be what Elysium feels like. They thought to himself.Â
Lexy continued doing this for a while, maybe ten minutes, until Andy came back into the room to start the movie. She pulled her hands away from him and Junior looked up at her with a pout.Â
She giggled at the probably pitiful look on their face. âIâll do it again after the movie, I promise.â
Even during the movie, Lexy was still playing with his hair. It wasnât like the massage but she would still run her fingers around their hair, playing with it just like he would do to her own hair. The entire experience still made Junior completely relaxed, leaning their head on her knee so she can continue playing with his hair.Â
And if Jake teased them about it later?Â
Well, Junior would wait until he was agitated again so they could yank at his cousinâs curly hair.Â
~It's madness, I'm not used to all this water, love, it's true~
Junior liked watching Lexy do her makeup.Â
They werenât quite sure why. Maybe it was because she was very precise in her work, completely focused when she was doing a winged eyeliner. Maybe it was the different eyeshadow colors she would use, sometimes darker and sometimes brighter, depending on the occasion. Either way, it was simply fascinating.Â
Maybe too fascinating.Â
âDo you think you could do my makeup?â Junior asked without thinking before completely shutting his mouth.Â
Lexy had just finished applying her lipstick, a pretty shade of pink that almost matched her blush, before turning her head to look at them with an almost surprised look. âYou want me to do your makeup?âÂ
Every single part of Junior was now screaming to abort, quickly shaking his head. âIâitâsâitâs nothing, sorry, forget about itââ
Before they could do anything else, Lexy was up, grabbing his arm, and pulling them to the seat she was originally on in front of her vanity. âOh my god, I have been waiting for ages for you to ask me that!âÂ
âW-what?âÂ
âJuni, your face is perfect for makeup. Seriously, have you seen your cheekbones? And your jawline is to die for!âÂ
Junior began blushing deeply, making his ex giggle. âWell, I donât even need to apply blush on you, so thatâs one step out of the way.âÂ
âLexyyyy!â They whined, blushing more as Lexy laughed softly and then grabbed a beauty sponge.Â
He remembered calling it a clown nose before and she nearly threw her makeup bag at them.Â
âHold still, babe.â She told him and they obeyed, not wanting her to mess up as she began her work.Â
The feeling of makeup on his face felt weird. It was a foreign sensation that a part of them enjoyed, while the other part wanted to stop.Â
He knew what that other part was, the one that their father molded to be what he wanted his own child to be, a traditional masculine man.Â
He hated that part of themself.Â
âThis isnât weirdâŚright?â Junior asked her, his eyes closed since she was applying gold sparkly eyeshadow on their eyelids that she let him pick out with the tips of her fingers.Â
They felt Lexy falter for just a second before continuing. âNo, of course not. Iâve always wanted to do your makeup. Besides, anyone can wear makeup. Doesnât matter their gender or some other bullshit. Girls can wear it, boys can wear it, and anyone in between can wear it.âÂ
Her truthful response made them relax a little, opening his eyes to look at her after she finished their eyeshadow. âYeah, youâre right. Sorry, I justâŚhave that stupid voice in my head, you know?âÂ
She nodded truthfully, reaching to grab two eyeliner pencils. âI know, but you donât have to listen to it. Itâs wrong anyway, itâs just what your asshole piece of shit dad wanted you to believe.âÂ
Junior couldnât help but to snort at how venomous Lexy sounded when she mentioned his father. Sometimes, it made him wonder who hated Logan more: them or Lexy.Â
Probably Lexy now that he thought about it.Â
Actually, Andy. Their guardian always looked like he was three seconds away from bringing Logan back to life only to torture him slowly and painfully whenever Junior talked about some of the things his father made them do, especially when it came to restricting his food intake.Â
âWhat color do you want? Black or purple?â Lexy asked, shaking them away from their thoughts.Â
âPurple.â He responded after a moment, finding the shade of darker purple nice to look at.Â
Junior once again closed their eyes so she could draw the eyeliner onto his lower eyelid. It was harder for them to stay still during that part, the pressure of the pencil on his eye. It wasnât unpleasant but it was certainly odd enough that they werenât enjoying this process as much as the other ones.Â
When Lexy finished, he opened their eyes again to see her grabbing mascara. âOkay, you gotta keep your eyes open for this one, Jun.âÂ
His eyes widened almost in horror and started shaking their head. âUh uh, absolutely not, keep that away from me.âÂ
âJunior.âÂ
âIâm going to get stabbed in my eyeball.âÂ
âIâm not gonna stab your eyeball, Iâve done this a million times.â Lexy rolled her eyes in exasperation. âYour eyelashes are gonna look so fucking cute with mascara, so please hold still.âÂ
Junior groaned quietly before giving in, his entire body now stiff. Most likely not trusting that they wonât move, Lexy placed one hand behind the back of his head before using the mascara wand to go down and up their eyelashes.Â
It took everything in him not to want to pull away, although they started to at one point but her grip tightened around him and she didnât let go until she was finally finished.Â
Lexy leaned back, looking at them almost proudly. âFuck, you look so hot and you donât even know it yet.âÂ
Junior snorted from her statement. âDoes that mean I can see it now?âÂ
âNo, not until weâre done. We just have one thing left,â she began rummaging through her makeup bag, âI think red would be a good color on you. Do you want to try red lip gloss or red lipstick?âÂ
He certainly didnât feel like they were ready for lipstick, so he went with the former. Lexy pulled out the bright red lip gloss, carefully putting it on Juniorâs lips. They couldnât help but to stare at her as she did this, the way her eyebrows scrunched together with concentration and complete focus.Â
Now that was fucking adorable.Â
Finally, Lexy pulled away and clapped her hands together with a beaming smile. âOkay, okay, now you can look!â She told him excitedly and allowed them to look at the mirror.Â
For a moment, Junior didnât even recognize himself. Their eyes were glittering, his lips shimmering and face contoured and highlighted, noticing features in themself that he never thought to notice before.Â
They lookedâŚ
âPretty.â He ended up saying softly under their breath.Â
Lexy dropped her chin on his shoulder, still grinning ear to ear. âYeah, hella pretty. I told you, you have the perfect face to do makeup on.âÂ
Junior turned their head now to look at her, smiling softly. âThank you for doing this, Lex.âÂ
âOf course, sweetie.â She told him affectionately with them leaning forward to kiss her but she quickly backed away. âNuh uh, no kisses yet. Iâm not letting you ruin my hard work, weâre taking at least a dozen pictures and then weâll talk about kissing.â She insisted stubbornly, already reaching into her pocket for her phone.Â
He rolled their eyes but knew that she wouldnât settle on this. âFine, but only because you did a really great job.âÂ
Lexy giggled triumphantly, quickly taking a selfie of the two of them.Â
Junior would later notice that that picture she took would be on her lockscreen, and it only made his heart race.Â
~But you made me want to~
Junior was exhausted.Â
The weather was starting to get warmer now, spring hitting its highest, and the almost overbearing warmth was enough to make them tired.Â
So he had gone to bed earlier than usual, with only one blanket on top of him because they would struggle to sleep without a blanketâbelieve him, theyâve tried. He must have been sleeping for a few hours, face down and drooling on his pillow while dreaming of two of the cutest kittens they had ever seen, before becoming slightly aware of the bedroom door opening.Â
This still wasnât enough to wake Junior up from his slumber. It was the feeling of a body climbing into their bed that finally jolted him awake.Â
âIt-itâs me, Jun.â They heard a familiar voice say next to him and they sighed softly, nodding and turning to face her.Â
âHi Lexy.â Junior said groggily as she shimmied under his blanket and curled up beside them.Â
Of course it was her, this wasnât the same time she had slipped into his bed in the middle of the night. Besides, they had done the same to her as well.Â
âHi.â Lexy replied with her voice quiet and almost shaky, as if she had been crying.Â
That realization woke him up a little more and even though they couldnât see her in the darkness of their room, he could still see her silhouette. They reached out carefully and felt wetness on her cheeks, gently wiping away her tears with his thumbs.Â
âYou okay Lex? Did you have a nightmare?â They asked her with a soft frown, still stroking her cheeks.Â
Lexy sniffled and he felt more tears on their hands as she nodded. âIâŚI lost you. You died, JuniâŚyou died in my arms and IâI couldnât do anything to help youâŚâ
Junior knew that this wasnât the first time Lexy had nightmares about that night in the theater. She had told him before, it was a recurring nightmare she had when they were believed to be dead.Â
âIâm here. I didnât die, I pulled through. See?â He gently guided her hand to their chest, right where the scar was.Â
He wasnât fond of touching or even looking at their scar. Well, the first part would go out the window in moments where he was overwhelmed or upset, rubbing the scar because it felt like they were being stabbed again. But Lexy would often touch his scar or place her head on it, as if it was a reminder that they were alive.Â
This method seemed to work because Junior could feel her start to calm down, lightly pressing her fingers on his chest. They knew that she could feel his scar even through their shirt, it was that noticeable.Â
Lexy was quiet for a few moments before taking a deep breath and pushing her cheek against his chest. âIf you ever die on me like that again, Iâll kill you myself.âÂ
Junior chuckled under their breath and decided not to mention the impossibility of that. He wouldnât underestimate her, she would absolutely try if she could.Â
âGo to sleep, honey. Iâll be here when you wake up. âM not going anywhere.â They reassured her, now rubbing her back with one hand.Â
He heard Lexy hum in acknowledgement, keeping her cheek near their scar while fidgeting with his shirt by their waist. She continued doing this for a few minutes before finally falling asleep again.Â
Junior smiled fondly when he noticed she was sleeping before doing the same not long after, accepting their fate to spend the night overheating.Â
~Plan out my last days on earth, eating you~
There was a lot that Junior was still working through that his father implemented into their brain.Â
That it was okay to be feminine, to take breaks, to cry, to wear whatever he wanted, to not need to change themself to be what someone else wants him to be. Just the basics, at least thatâs what they saw it to be.Â
But when it came to food, it was the hardest thing for his mind to work through.Â
Junior still counted their calories, still sometimes slipping and asking Andy how much he was allowed to eat, hardly asking for seconds even though they did want more food. Thankfully, Andy seemed to know when Junior did want more and would always serve him more food without needing to ask them.Â
Andyâs mother instincts were something he was still getting used to.Â
But on good days, Junior could eat as much as they wanted without hearing his fatherâs voice in their head, even eating the occasional sugary and sweet desserts without much hesitance.Â
However on bad daysâŚhe would barely eat. They would have maybe some snacks, or a fruit, but would throw himself into reading or writing or playing their guitar that he would genuinely forget about eating until someone reminded them.Â
This week had been a bad week for Junior. He was lost in their mind and did what he could to distract themself. Unfortunately, that included skipping meals. But he thought that they had it under control.Â
Until the day before when Junior nearly fainted in front of everyone after he lied about eating when in fact they went the entire day without eating.Â
Now, he hadnât meant to lie. It was a reflex when Andy asked them since he hadnât been home that morning. He always said âyesâ even if it wasnât true. By the time they realized it, he didnât want to go back on their answer. He figured that they would eat later on.Â
That was proven to be false, of course.Â
Junior would admit, it was a little scary. He stood up too fast and suddenly got punched in the face with dizziness and saw black spots over their eyes. He would have landed on the ground had Jake not been close by to catch them.Â
His cousin and Andy were quick to get food for him, despite how embarrassed they felt. The embarrassment only continued when he noticed that they both were keeping more of an eye on him. All Junior could hope was that they wouldnât tell anyone else about their little âincidentâ.Â
Once again, the gods were not on his side.Â
âJunior, Iâm going to kick your ass!â Was the first thing Junior heard the next afternoon from Lexy, startled out of their reading and staring at her in both surprise and confusion.Â
âWhat did I do this time?âÂ
âMore like what you didnât do. You seriously didnât eat all day yesterday and almost passed out?! Are you kidding me?!â She nearly shrieked in frustration.Â
He didnât say anything for a moment before mumbling angrily under their breath. âIâm living with a bunch of snitching bitches!âÂ
Lexy stomped over to where he was sitting on their bed, snatching the book from his hands despite their protests, and replaced his book with a chocolate chip cookie that they hadnât noticed she was holding.Â
Junior went quiet, staring at it for a moment before looking up at Lexy. âI already ate breakfast, plenty of it. You can ask Andy or Jake, Iâm sure theyâll attest to that.âÂ
âOh I know that,â she started, âbut I already decided to bring over cookies, thereâs plenty more downstairs. I still want you to eat that.âÂ
He didnât want to, their fatherâs voice kicking in the longer he stared at the cookie. They werenât sure how long he was sitting there, staring with their hands beginning to tremble until Lexy sat down beside him and placed her hand over theirs. âWhatâs going on in that pretty little head of yours?âÂ
The phrase that Junior often said to his ex got them smiling a little, inhaling before speaking. âItâs justâŚbeen a bad week. Iâm stuck in my head with everything my dad told me. I really really didnât mean to not eat yesterday. I just needed a distraction and forgot to eat. I even lied about it, which really wasnât my intention. I donât want you all to be worrying about me.âÂ
âJuni, weâre gonna worry more if youâre almost fainting from not eating anything all day,â Lexy said gently, âif youâre struggling, you can talk to any of us. Weâll help you. You know that, right?âÂ
âI know,â he replied, âbut we both know that me asking for help isnât my forte.âÂ
âItâs not either, but Iâm still trying.â She told them with a small chuckle, running her hand through his hair which caused Junior to close their eyes. âNow, will you please at least take a bite from your cookie? Iâll give you a kiss if you do.âÂ
Lexy truly was persuasive, wasnât she?
And just like he always did, they gave in to her wishes. He opened their eyes and took a bite from his cookieâfuck, that tastes really goodâ, and after they swallowed the bite, he leaned in to kiss her softly.Â
She kissed them back for a moment before pulling away just enough to breathe. âYou taste like chocolate.âÂ
Her statement made both of them laugh before Junior said something. âMahal kita.â
Lexy raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. âWhat does that mean?âÂ
Junior had been learning to speak Tagalog for the past few months. It was a way to connect more with their Filipino side and even understand his mother more. Learning the language felt like they were forming a bond with his mom, even though she was gone now. So far, the only other person who was trying to learn Tagalog as well was Andy. Well, Jake too, but he mostly wanted to know the curse words so he could understand if Junior was swearing at him.Â
âIt means âyouâre sweetâ.â They lied.Â
Of course Junior had to lie. He couldnât tell her that it meant âI love youâ. That had to be far too soon, even though they had been together now for eight months, just without making it official.Â
Besides, what Lexy didnât know wouldnât kill her.Â
And she believed them too, smiling more at him. âThat sounds so cute when you say it,â she told them truthfully before suddenly going serious, âbut if you go an entire day without eating again, I will kick your ass. Got it?âÂ
Junior chuckled, knowing that Lexy wasnât kidding or exaggerating, and took another large bite from his cookie. âGot it, Lex.âÂ
~The tips of your teeth fit perfect in me~
Lexy loved to go shopping.Â
She could spend hours in the mall if she wanted to, spending money and splurging on clothes and makeup.Â
As for JuniorâŚ
âIâm going to strangle myself with a hanger.âÂ
They had a raging headache. They both had only been in the mall for a couple hours, but Junior was bored and tired. He hated shopping even though they did know that he needed some more clothesâtheir style kept shifting and changing because he kept exploring their optionsâbut right now, he needed a break.Â
âJun, we havenât even been here for that long.â Lexy looked at them, seeming almost exhausted by his antics while holding up a red shirt to see if it would look good on them. âCome on, just a little longer.âÂ
âWe can stay for another half hour as long as I can lay down on the floor.â He bargained.Â
âOkay, thatâs super gross and unhygienic. How about another hour, maybe a few minutes over, and Iâll buy you some food and coffee later.âÂ
Junior thought about it for a moment before nodding. âFine, we have a deal.âÂ
They shook hands on it, both of them giggling before they went off to look at other clothes while also remaining within eye view of each other.Â
They were still incredibly bored, browsing through different shirts and sighed loudly. He checked their phone and only five minutes had passed.Â
It was going to be a long hour.Â
Some time had passed, certainly not enough for Juniorâs sanity, but he was managing to cope. A girl about their age even came up and started a conversation with him for a few minutes. She seemed kind enough and at the moment, they didnât mind the company.Â
Someone else, however, did in fact mind.Â
Junior didnât realize Lexy came back until she was almost right next to him. Before they could even greet her, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed her lips on theirs with enough force that it made him take a step back.Â
It was almost reminiscent of the passionate kiss they shared after Lexy killed her first Chucky. But this one was more rough, teeth hitting their own and he wouldnât be surprised if she made their lips bleed.Â
He almost struggled to breathe during the forceful few seconds kiss until she finally pulled away and looked at the girl they had been talking to. âHi there. Who are you?âÂ
Uh oh. Junior knew that tone. It was the condescending, passive-aggressive tone she would speak in when Lexy was either pissed or about to say some of the most heinous things he had ever heard in their life. He hadnât heard her use that tone in a while, so it did take them aback a little.Â
He wasnât the only one, the girl now looked nervous, stuttering over her words before coming up with an excuse to leave. When she did, Lexy stared daggers into Juniorâs soul that had them nervous but confused as well.Â
âWhy are you looking at me like that? I should be the one looking at you like that! What the hell just happened?!âÂ
Lexy glared before spinning away on her heel and storming off. Junior was quick to catch up with her, his confusion growing. âCan you please explain to me whatâs going on?!âÂ
âShe was flirting with you!â She snapped and it had Junior blinking a few times.Â
âWhat?âÂ
âI was watching you, she kept on flirting with you and you let her!âÂ
âFlirting withâno she wasnât!âÂ
âYes she was! I know girls and I know how they flirt, she was flirting!âÂ
âI didnât know that! I thought she was just being nice!âÂ
Lexy stopped and whipped around to face them, a look of disbelief on her face. âYou cannot possibly be that oblivious, Junior.âÂ
Junior threw his arms up in the air. âYes! I can be that oblivious! Lexy, you were the one to ask me out on a date back in eighth grade. I didnât even know it was a date until you told me! I thought you were just being nice and wanted to hang out with me. I canât tell these things!âÂ
She stared at them even longer, running her hand through her hair with a look of pure frustration. âAre you sure that you and Andy arenât actually biologically related? Because of how unaware you both are to women flirting with you has got to be a genetic thing.âÂ
âI donât know, we havenât taken a DNA test.â Junior replied lightheartedly, shrugging his shoulders before a lightbulb went off inside their brain. âWait a minuteâŚareâŚare you jealous?âÂ
Lexy seemed to flush red, her glare returning. âI was notâ!âÂ
âOh my god, youâre totally jealous,â he chuckled and a mischievous grin grew on their face, âI never thought Iâd see you jealous before. Wow. I mean, I donât mind it, but Iâd appreciate it if you didnât cut my mouth open when you kiss me due to your jealousy.âÂ
She was quiet, huffing under her breath. âIf it makes you feel any better, I think I chipped two of my front teeth on yours.âÂ
They both laughed before Junior reached out to twirl her blonde hair around his finger. âYou donât need to get jealous, Lex. Iâm not going anywhere. Trust me, Iâm definitely not interested in anyone else. Alright? Mahal kita.âÂ
A certain look flashed in Lexyâs eyes but it was gone as quickly as it came before they could try to identify it. âWhat-what does that one mean again?âÂ
âIt means that youâre really cute. Thatâs all.â He once again lied, feeling grateful that she didnât understand Tagalog.Â
She just hummed and nodded, making Junior smile. âNow, can we get out of here? I really am hungry and am in desperate need of coffee.âÂ
âYouâre too obsessed with coffee,â Lexy rolled her eyes but giggled, âletâs go, we just gotta pay for these clothes first.âÂ
âFine, just donât get jealous of the cashier.âÂ
âShut the fuck up.âÂ
~You're a shower of light I'd devour any day of the week~
Junior always struggled with remembering what day it was.Â
They would blame the year he spent with Andy in the woods, away from civilization and only remembering the days from recent newspapers Andy would bring back on supply runs. Sometimes, the days felt like they were just merged together. Sometimes they would think it was Friday when actually it was Tuesday.Â
God, maybe Devon was right. He needed to get out more.Â
But it really didnât matter that much to them anyway. If he wanted to know what day it was, they could just look in the calendar app on his phone. Simple and easy.Â
But while Junior didnât always remember dates, including important ones, imagine their surprise when he was woken up with their door slamming open and light turning on in his room. âJunior, wake up!âÂ
Lexyâs voice absolutely shot them awake, protective instincts kicking in and bolting upright and grabbing his favorite switchblade from under their pillow. âWhatâwhat?! What happened?! Is it Chucky?! Where is he?!âÂ
âWoah, Jun, relax, thereâs no Chucky, itâs just meâ...why do you have a knife under your pillow?âÂ
âI think the better question is why donât you have a knife under your pillow?â Junior threw back before lowering his weapon, now a little more relaxed. âWhatâs going on? Did you have a nightmare or something? What happened?âÂ
She didnât say anything for a moment before jumping up onto their bed and settling next to him. âHappy birthday, Juni!âÂ
They blinked at her, quiet for a few seconds. â...what?âÂ
âHappy birthday! Itâs your birthday today, September 26th. Youâre sixteen now!âÂ
Junior slowly turned his head to look at their alarm clock before turning back to stare at her in bewilderment. âLexyâŚitâs 4:30 in the morning?! You couldnât wait another six or seven hours to wake me up for my birthday like a normal person?!Â
Now it was Lexyâs turn to blink. âWowâŚJake was right, you are really grouchy when youâre woken up this early.âÂ
âThat fucker knew about your little plan?!â He hissed, already now coming up with a dozen ways to murder their cousin and pin the blame on Chucky.Â
âYes, but it was just because I wanted to make it special for your birthday since I missed your last one due to you faking your death!âÂ
âI did not fake my death, I was nowhere near as elaborate to fake it.â He grumbled, pushing their switchblade under his pillow and started to lay back down. But Lexy prevented them, grabbing his shoulders and pulling them back up as he groaned even louder.Â
âCâmon, Jun, work with me here.â Lexy whined, something she didnât do often but made her sound adorable whenever she did.Â
Juniorâs eyes began slowly closing. âCan I work on it when Iâm not running on three hours of sleep?âÂ
âNo,â Lexy insisted stubbornly before cupping their face in her hands and the action made him open their eyes again, âI need to say something first and you have to listen.âÂ
Her serious tone was enough to make him wake up more, raising an eyebrow. âUhhhâŚokay? What is it?âÂ
Now, she looked nervous. Shy even. Maybe even anxious. They were looks that Junior certainly wasnât used to seeing.Â
âIâŚummmmâŚuhhhhhhhâŚâÂ
â...areâare you having a stroke?âÂ
It took another couple minutes until Lexy took a deep breath, looked into their eyes, and spoke slowly. âMahal, masaya ako na nasa buhay kita. Ibig mong sabihin ang mundo sa akin. Mahal kita.â
Juniorâs heart stopped.Â
He understood every single word she said.Â
My love, I'm happy to have you in my life. You mean the world to me. I love you.
Holy shit.Â
âW-what?âÂ
âLook, I know I butchered the pronunciations, please donât make me say them again.âÂ
âNo, itâsâitâs justâŚwhen did youâŚ?â Now Junior was the one struggling to get the words out.Â
âI started learning Tagalog a couple months ago,â Lexy admitted, âI wanted to surprise you for your birthday. I mean, Iâm definitely not fluent yet, but I understand the basics. And IâŚdefinitely know what mahal kita means now.âÂ
They closed his eyes for a moment and sighed quietly before opening them again. âYouâŚyou knew at the mallâŚ?âÂ
âYeah, I knew. âSweetâ my ass, Jun.â She teased with a playful smile before looking serious again. âWhy didnât you just tell me what it really meant?âÂ
Junior wanted to look down but her hands prevented him. âIâŚI didnât know if it was too soon. Or if you were ready to hear it. ButâŚI did mean it. IâŚummmmâŚâÂ
âAre you having a stroke?â Lexy repeated their previous question with a smirk.Â
Knowing that he deserved that, they chuckled quietly before finally growing a pair and saying it. âI love you, Lexy. I always have. It just took some time for us to find each other again. But I love you. Mahal kita, maganda.âÂ
âThat last one means âbeautifulâ, I know because you say that one a lot to me,â she grinned and it made them both laugh, âbut I love you too. It took losing you for me to realize that. But now that I have you back in my arms, I am never letting go again.âÂ
âGood,â He smiled at her, leaning one side of their cheek to one of her hands, âsoâŚdoes this mean we can be official? LikeâŚyouâll be my girlfriend?âÂ
âJust as long as it means that youâre my partner.â Lexy grinned, amusement yet adoration in her eyes.Â
Junior could drown himself in her eyes if they could.Â
âI would love that, Lex. Iâll be the best partner you ever had. I know Iâm oblivious and kind of an idiot, but Iâll still be by your side no matter whatââ
âJuni?âÂ
âYeah?âÂ
âKiss me.âÂ
âOkay.â
~Baby, cleanse me~
#Luna talks#admin#Chucky#Chucky 2021#Junior Wheeler#Lexy Cross#Jexy#Andy Barclay#Jake Wheeler#Devon Evans#Nica Pierce#Barclay-Wheeler family#Final Family#oneshot#Chucky oneshot#Chucky fic#Light Showers
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Ninja Daily: Vapors 70
Donkey shrunk down a little further in grudgingly given sympathy, not really paying attention to his own spar. Fish gritted his teeth and pushed the older man, trying to get him to focus. It was a lost cause.
"Are they really that fascinating?"
His subordinate jolted at the exasperated tone, glancing back at him. "No." Donkey snorted. "Just glad I didn't get paired up with the rookie. She must be on the rag."
His eye twitched, and Yukimasa reflexively moved to swipe Donkey's feet out from under him and unceremoniously spill the older man onto his ass. "Inappropriate," he scolded lowly, putting away his blade to turn their match into taijutsu. 'Not to mention it's an idiotic comment to make. It seems far more likely that Aiko-san has a personal grudge against Boar to work out.'
Despite the hypocrisy, Yukimasa's eye wandered over to the other spar. He cringed a little as the big man barely dodged yet another barrage of those bizarre glowing chains, getting his standard short-sword tangled up in a failed attempt to block them and having to abandon it. Oh- no, not completely dodged. That was just cruel. Yukimasa resisted the temptation to cover his own behind to ensure that he didn't get spanked. How embarrassing.
'Whatever Boar did, he probably deserves the workout,' he tried to tell himself. But really, to be honest⌠'Better him than me.'
In a head-on fight with intent to kill, he knew he would be able to overpower Butterfly. But that repertoire was completely out of reach in a training match. As far as he could tell, she was both exponentially faster and more vindictive than he'd pegged her as.
A grudge could explain her enthusiasm, but the drastic increase in speed was frankly baffling. There were more than a couple times when he literally could not see her move. It seemed as though she was suddenly in another position without even moving to take a step. His best assessment⌠'It's creepy. Really creepy. I should probably ask her what's going on. Either that or work on my own speed and perception time until I can figure out how she's doing it.'
Most of the time, he could see the purpose of her bizarre bursts of speedâshe was pushing Boar into a corner, or pulling away his weaponry, or otherwise harrying him. But occasionally she flickered somewhere and then immediately moved, as if she'd miscalculated the first time. So she probably hadn't mastered whatever she was doing to increase her speed, or at least hadn't mastered her ability to perceive as quickly as she could move.
Yukimasa didn't particularly treasure the possibility of being outmatched by his youngest soldier. Finding out that she wasn't nearly as much of a rookie as he'd initially thought was a good thing, but that didn't mean he wanted to be surpassed so soon. He'd always thought that he was speedy himself.
He shook his head, casually sidestepping Donkey's attack and letting the other man take the offensive entirely, only blocking and dodging. Donkey's hits hurt, but strangely enough his attention kept being drawn to his elbow where Butterfly had touched him to get his attention at the start of practice. He could swear that her chakra signature was lingering⌠But that was ridiculous. Of course, it was in the one place he couldn't look at, he scoffed quietly. Typical. So his paranoia would just have to fester.
With a frown, Yukimasa determined that he would have to follow up on that later. It hadn't occurred to him at the time, but it was unusual for her to touch him, and she'd⌠she'd actually touched the other two as well, hadn't she?
'Methinks the rookie is up to something trickyâŚ'
His lips quirked into a smile under his mask as he rolled to the left and darted from pole to pole in the training ground, Donkey hot on his heels.
'It almost fits. She didn't speed up until she got her first hit in on Boar, and then he couldn't avoid her at all.'
But he just couldn't think of a way to connect that. She was a tracker, so it wouldn't surprise him if she had a way to zero in on a target that required some sort of physical contact for a genetic sample or something, but that couldn't possibly explain how it could help her when she already had an opponent within short-range.
'If I can't figure it out in a month, I'll ask her,'Â Yukimasa promised himself silently, holding up a hand to signal that practice was over. It would be a blow to the ego to have to come slinking to her for information, but better that than do nothing about apparently being far slower than he'd realized. Three masks swiveled to take him in, and he had to blink for a moment to readjust to the situation mentally and recall what he needed to say.
"We're on patrol tonight. Dismissed until 2300 hours, team."
They were just barely too disciplined to groan about their on-call status being bumped up to active duty, but shuffled off. Yukimasa was eager to take advantage of what relaxation time he could, even though they only had about three hours. He spent his time taking a shower, raiding his aunt's fridge for leftovers (she was the best cook in Hi no Kuni, he'd swear it on his headband) and flopped down for a short nap before he re-dressed in uniform and met his team. They seemed good-naturedly resigned to the extra shift, though admittedly it could be hard to tell when they were all masked and silent.
'There's something exhilarating about running a four-man team through Konoha in the dead of night.'Â The wind was whipping through his hair, his heart was pounding, and his unit worked in perfect unison covering their patrol designation only by the grace of shockingly white starlight. It seemed like the city was theirs at this time of night.
'Rather romantic musings,' he chided himself, not really feeling guilty about his good mood.
Donkey and Butterfly stiffened in unison. He caught the movement in his peripheral, but had sensed the intruder so soon after they did that he hadn't had time to wonder what was wrong. He pushed slightly farther ahead of the group, pushing them to fly down out of the cover provided by the rooftops to land in a diamond around a figure in one of Konoha's outskirt training grounds.
"Name and identification number," he demanded brusquely.
Occasionally, shinobi were out training in the dead of night. There wasn't a problem with that, at least when there wasn't a wartime curfew. Inadvertently intimidating poor, hard-working Chuunin was the most entertaining thing that usually happened on these patrols, but it wasn't a big deal. They would stutter out their information politely, white-faced and clearly unnerved by their ANBU protectors.
This personâa woman, he thought it was a womanâblinked at him. "Of course." Slowly, she reached up to cover an involuntary yawn- that turned into a spray of what had to be a liquid poison. Shocked, Yukimasa jumped back, noting that some of it had made contact with Butterfly on his right, and grabbed for his sword.
"Capture, not kill!" he barked, throat nearly closing up.
That didn't mean that they couldn't maim her, of course. She just had to be able to be taken into interrogations.
Heart pounding, he swerved inward, catching the fist that flew at his face- and then blinked stupidly when a shock of those blue-colored chains sprang out and wound around the intruder. She looked just about as surprised, comically wiggling like a worm with her hands bound awkwardly (one snugly held to her torso, the other poking out and still caught in his grip) before she teetered over with a whumph.
Boar cleared his throat, shifting his weight from foot to foot uneasily. "Well."
"What?" came the muffled reply, sounding honestly perplexed. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no." Yukimasa stifled a snicker. 'Just something anticlimactic, I suppose. Whoever taught her had a very poor flair for the dramatic.' He knelt, pulling out a length of wire from his hip pouch and beginning to secure the prisoner in a more permanent fashion. "Could you move this bit- yes, thank you."
He bit his lower lip in concentration, completely binding both of the woman's hands before he moved to secure them together so she couldn't even try to whack them with her wire-wound hands. As he worked, Butterfly obligingly wiggled the chains keeping the woman immobilized, at times moving them up or out, dissolving a few links altogether, or shrinking an area to wire-sized tendrils that left him plenty of room to maneuver while still keeping their prisoner still. He had to take extra wire from Boarâthis woman was rather tricky, and had nearly managed to get a leg free to kick at him. She was cursing up a storm now, but he paid it little mind. When he was done and Butterfly had slipped the last of her chakra generated chains off, he patted their prisoner's head just once before slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of rice.
The mask hid his grimace. She was heavier than they looked, but it could have been all the metal restraints. "Donkey?"
It took a moment for the man to catch on, but he stepped forward and put his hand to the woman's forehead to force pulse of chakra in that caught her in what was probably a rather nasty sleep genjutsu. At least she stopped struggling. It would have been rather embarrassing if her wiggles managed to put him off-balance. He wasn't the largest man.
"Lovely."
Surprised at her tone, he glanced upâand blanched. "Ah. That was an acid that she spat earlier, wasn't it," he said rather faintly.
If it was possible to communicate a glower from behind a mask, that was exactly what was happening. It could have just been his imagination though. 'I feel a little guilty⌠I should have realized that she was injured before now.'
Butterfly must have dodged most of the spray, as the only damage he could see was splotches of blood poking out from holes in her left glove that had not been there before. Just droplets, then. She must have miscalculated the force used and how widely it would spatter. Idly, he noted her move to clench and flex her hand, as if making sure it was still in working order.
As the highest ranking member, he'd taken it upon himself to keep the rookie close in their formations. Unfortunately, that did increase the likelihood that she would get caught up in attacks meant to take out the largest threat. As she had today.
It was the type of injury that would be discomforting, but nothing that a half-decent medic couldn't fix given half an hour and a large quantity of sanitary water, he assessed. 'After we report, I'll take her to the hospital to get patched up.'
"Boar, Donkey. Take the intruder to the holding cells and report to Ibiki-san. You'll be at his discretion for your next orders."
They nodded in unison, and Boar moved to pick the woman off his shoulder and into a princess hold. As they left, he turned to the remaining member. "Come."
The order was probably unnecessary, but he thought it polite. At this hour, the Hokage was certainly not in her office, but all reports of actual intruders had to be made directly to the highest authority for further orders. Doubtlessly Ibiki would send out at least another full patrol to check for any other breaches in security, but Tsunade might have more insight.
He found the woman in what looked to be her bedroom, sleeping inâ"oh my," Yukimasa said faintly, hoping to god that he wasn't about to get a nosebleed while the Hokage moved to pull on a nightgown.
"What is it," she barked.
Eyes still averted, he swallowed, hard. "Reporting an intruder in sector two, Hokage-sama. She was taken captive and should be in Ibiki's custody by now."
A lowly ANBU had no reason to expect the Hokage to pay attention to him, but he still felt a little uneasy when her gaze drifted right over him. "Is that all?" At his nod, she rubbed at her eye. "Alright then. Come here, Aiko-chan. What happened to your arm?"
His heart dropped to his gut.
'I'm dead.'Â Yukimasa realized dully. 'Not only did I not get some random rookie as a snub, I must have been assigned someone important. Someone the Hokage knows by name. And I let some amateur hurt her. I'm a terrible captain, and I'm dead.'
Aiko sighed, rotating her wrist and periodically bending her elbow to be sure that the new patches of skin didn't stiffen. She was lucky, really. If she had gone to another medic, she would have shiny patches of scars dotted on her arm.
'I wouldn't have gotten burnt at all if I wasn't a twit in the first place,'Â she moped, giving a sad little kick that scuffed at the floor as she struggled out of her uniform one-handed.
It was embarrassing, but it probably served her right. She'd been beaming under her tacky little mask about getting so much better about using three moving Hiraishin tags to navigate. (It was hella hard, especially since that bastard Fish just wouldn't stay still while she'd been working out her frustrations on Boar. Fish was fast.) Making a rookie mistake like underestimating the way that stupid acid was going to carry on the wind was just karma for getting arrogant.
Tsunade had dismissed Fish (and good thing too, he'd been terribly twitchy) and healed her right away. Of course, that had meant that Aiko was sitting on the edge of Tsunade's bed and wincing with her eyes squeezed shut while the Hokage grew her new skin when a shame-faced messenger from T & I had come by to sheepishly admit that their hostage had woken up and used some sort of suicide technique.
He hadn't given details, but he'd had a bit of what looked to be brain matter in his hair and more than a bit of blood on his front, so Aiko had taken a guess.
At least seeing her had reminded Tsunade to take her ANBU team off active patrols and first reserve lists. She was really starting to feel stressed and like she had a little too much to juggle at once. Aiko was only free from regular ANBU duties, but that probably also took her away from her Root project, since she hadn't moved to actively sneaking around.
At this point in time, Tsunade was hoping to gather what information she could about Root's infrastructure before she made a move against Danzo. If it fit her fancy, she could have had him arrested at any time. But that would have left him with an unknown amount of resources with unknown orders. The more that she could find out â where and how many bases they were, what financial and human resources they had, what Danzo was trying to do and might have as safeguards if he needed to be rescued from the lawâwas better, as far as the Hokage was concerned.
Of course, nothing could be perfect and her break wasn't complete. She'd immediately been given other orders for a project she'd start in the coming week. At least it would be less time-consuming than ANBU patrols and guard shifts interspersed with occasional midnight summons from Danzo.
'At least, it is since I have Hiraishin,' she reminded herself wryly. 'If I didn'tâŚ' Aiko shuddered.
Apparently Terumi Mei had included a proposal for some sort of conference in the documents she had sent back in Kakashi's care. Among other things, she was angling to get included in the Chuunin exam rosters, so that she could boost her tourism and mission requests.
Thankfully, Aiko had dodged that bullet. She hadn't managed to evade getting stuck as the designated messenger/delegate from Konoha to help Terumi put together the conference. Tsunade hadn't gone into much detail, but she understood a fair bit of what was going on. Terumi was looking to adjust her contracts with pretty much every country that she could. In order to be competitive, anyone who had anything to do with Water Country would have to send representation to ensure that they didn't get stiffed. Of course, if half the countries in the Elemental Nations were sending representatives, then the other ones would get suspicious and sneak in to be sure they knew what was going on, so Terumi was skipping the middle man and obligatory spies by just inviting them all in the first fucking place.
Supposedly, Nadeshiko was the other host for this event. In honor of that, it would be restricted to kunoichi participants.
Tsunade had growled something to the effect that Terumi just wanted to make things difficult and didn't want to let the Raikage into her country.
'To be fair⌠I'm not sure I could blame her.'
Aiko had never met the man, of course. But his reaction to Gaara's call for international action had been a pretty poor first impression. The Raikage couldn't actually be a total idiot, but âŚ
'No, there's no point in lying to myself, Aiko snorted. 'Of course he could be a moron. That's what happens when you choose your leader by strength instead of intelligence or political mien. Them's the breaks.'
She toed off her boots, not bothering to fix them when they fell over. The only sound that greeted her in the apartment was her fridge humming. Aiko grimaced, half-wishing she'd taken a tv from the other house so she could have some background noise. It felt like she was living in a cemetery sometimes. To fill the air, she absentmindedly began singing whatever came to mind under her breath. 'Kiss the Girl' had turned into 'Mac the Knife' by the time she found what she had been looking for in her room.
"Aha!" Triumphantly, she flicked through one of the notebooks she'd filled while traveling with Jiraiya and Naruto. He had shown her something that at the time had seemed paranoid and stupid, but now⌠"Why wouldn't I want to put up a seal that prevents foreign chakra constructs from getting into my house," she muttered under her breath, half-mocking herself but partially serious.
It was a nasty little piece of workâor she'd thought so when she looked at it last. At this point, it seemed gloriously simple. Unlike the last seal she'd put up, this one hardly needed to be interlaced into the overwhelming security system that spider-webbed through the apartment, over walls and across the ceiling.
Instead, she ran a simple line around the borders of her apartment, tracing the baseboards and crown molding to ensure that she had specified the relevant area in all three dimensions, and attached the threads to a single seal that she tapped onto the ceiling. She bit her tongue between her teeth and breathed slowly as she did it, less because the seal required concentration and more because she had to do that part while perched with one foot on her kitchen table and the other braced against the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room.
If her balance had been any less good, she probably would have hurt herself falling when the seal flickered into being, out of pure shock.
"Ah!" She slipped and dropped to the floor in a crouch, tears rising to her eyes and both hands cradling her jaw. 'Owww.' Aiko swallowed, as if that would end the burning on the very back of her tongue, almost to her throat. 'How on earth did I forget about that?'
Of course her root seal was using Danzo's chakra. It was just a little trace, but it was enough to cause discomfort. It faded to manageable levels even as she focused on breathing calmly, and after a moment she waveringly rose to her feet and stumbled to her bedroom with one hand to her temple.
By this point, the pain had radiated out to give her a seriously wicked migraine. She couldn't let that distract her, though. The notebook she had been working out of had provided an array that would allow her to adjust the wards to let certain chakra constructs in. She was going to have to allow the Root seal, potential problems be damned, because she couldn't live with this in her own home.
'Again, I'm an idiot,'Â she berated herself, trying to concentrate on the details she was reading. It would be important that she adjusted her wards to accept just the root seal, and not Danzo's chakra in general. She didn't want the man himself being able to send clones or the like in her apartment, no matter how unlikely that was.
'It may have been easier to just tolerate Sai's stupid ink roaches.' She huffed indignantly. Fucking roaches. Why was it never ink butterflies, or ink puppies? What was wrong with things that weren't completely foul offenses against nature and good taste?
The thought had been meant to convince herself into taking the seal down entirely, but instead it bolstered her to focus better on the modifications she needed to make. No more fucking roaches, thank you. Granted, she didn't see a reason for him to spy on her any longer, now that they both knew the other was in root. But still, as long as Danzo was paranoid, there was a chance that people would be spying on her, and that just wasn't acceptable.
Even after she struggled through altering the seal (and thank all the kami that she'd gotten around to replicating it, because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to tailor the security seal to allow Danzo's chakra when in a root tattoo), her headache lasted. It faded, though, so she pawed through her cabinet for pain relievers and swallowed two down dry because the thought of waiting for tea was unappealing. She made the tea anyways, of course, because it helped her get to sleep and she desperately needed that.
'I really don't want to be alone,' she realized, feeling oddly lonely.
It was a little late to do anything about that, though. It was four in the morning at that point, and she was feeling far too worn down to stay up until nine am to meet with team seven. Aiko could be pretty rude at times, but she wasn't feeling bold enough to bother anyone at such an awful time just because she wanted company. She was far too old to climb into bed to cuddle with Naruto now anyway.
Hot tea settling in her belly, she set her alarm for eight twenty and pulled the covers up to her chin. What little sleep she got was fitful, but that was a problem she periodically had and nothing new.
"I feel like shit, and I probably look like shit," Aiko muttered when her god-awful alarm when off, but dutifully pulled on the first outfit in her drawer and avoided mirrors. That part was easy, since the only one was in her bathroom attached to the medicine cabinet. The heather grey leggings and sleeveless top set with a peach skirt she had found most certainly did not fit her mood at all, but she couldn't muster the effort to give a single fuck, or the determination to sort through her mostly dirty mission appropriate attire for something plainer and more somber. Awkwardly, she gathered her hair into a messy spritz high on her head while attempting to shove her feet into her boots, an apple held between her teeth all the while.
At least the juice and sugar from the fruit seemed to revitalize her on the short trip over to the training grounds where she could feel everyone else congregating. Naruto was already there with Yamato and Sai. Kakashi was lingering by the memorial stone, but she still didn't have a tag on Sasuke.
'I should take care of that today. I might as well ask him, though, instead of just sneakily touching him. No matter how funny it is to see Yukimasa trying to see the end of his elbow, it's not really morally upright to do that to comrades.'
She'd been a bit gung-ho about planting her seals wherever and on whoever took her fancy lately. But when the target in question was a teammate who already knew about her Hiraishin, she might as well be honest. As she walked up to the group, she noted that they were only waiting on Kakashi. It figured.
'Then again, Sai doesn't necessarily know about Hiraishin, and he'll be there.' She frowned contemplatively, distracted by her earlier train of thought. 'I don't exactly plan on telling him that I tagged him, especially not with an explosive.'
"Morning," Yamato nodded. She gave a grunted reply an instant before Naruto seemed to spot her and launched into some discussion that she couldn't focus quite enough to follow. His enthusiasm did make her smile, though.
"What?" she asked distractedly, turning to blink at Sasuke. He'd muttered something.
Sasuke frowned, creasing his forehead. "I asked if you were alright. You look terrible." Behind him, Sai looked up and gave one of his clinical once-overs, seeming to catalogue her hideousness for himself.
She gave them both a dirty look. "Thanks. You really know how to perk up a girl's ego."
"That's not what I meant," Sasuke scoffed. "Your eyes are glazed and you're clearly half-asleep."
When all he got in reply was an imperious sniff and a raised jaw, the Uchiha rolled his eyes and seemed to give up. Yamato got them all started on some conditioning while they waited for Kakashi to show up. Aiko couldn't help but wonder about what such a large group would do. Six people? It was a little ludicrous. Really, this was two different teams that just happened to both be headed by Kakashi. She felt a little out of place practicing with Naruto and Sasuke. Yamato gave her a weary look that communicated he might be on the same page.
"-why you gotta be such a bastard all the time-"
"Same reason you're an idiot, probably," Sasuke jeered, flipping a bit of bang off of his face and pushing to touch the tree that he and Naruto had established as the goal first.
Sai looked confused at it all, but kept longingly veering closer to the bickering boys. Yamato heaved a tired groan, but his expression brightened almost immediately after.
She would have known that visible relief meant Kakashi had shown up even if she couldn't feel the seal he carried.
"All right boys, break it up," Kakashi sighed. He didn't sound particularly invested in whether or not they listened, but they stopped shoving each other long enough to pay attention. "If you're really feeling that frisky, save your energy."
Naruto was practically vibrating with excess energy. "Can we have a battle royale again?" He pumped a fist and crowed, "Yes, yes, yessss," when Kakashi nodded with an amused air. "Last one standing picks where we go out for dinner!"
"No," Sasuke interjected with a cruel little smile. "If Kakashi isn't the last one standing, he buys dinner for everyone."
"Now hold on just a-"
"Alright! Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
What followed was hideous chaos. Aiko had reflexively taken higher ground to get out of the mass, but Yamato had jumped after her almost immediately. 'Alright. I should use this as time to practice more triangulation. It's probably going to be even harder with extra seals around to choose from and not everyone on the ground level.'
Thus committed, she pulled on seals and bounced around like a rubber ball. At least, that was what it felt like.
Sometimes it worked really well, like when she tugged on Kakashi's stationary seal (he was hiding in a tree) along with Yamato and Sai's in order to spring herself up behind Yamato, completely baffling him.
Other times⌠Well. It only happened once, but she was ridiculously glad that no one was paying attention when she accidentally materialized a foot to the left of the tree branch she had aimed for and started to fall. Her expression was probably embarrassing. After a while, Naruto seemed to catch on that she hadn't been hit at all, and veered away from the three-way fight he'd been having with Kakashi and Sasuke to provide Yamato with an assist.
She might have had to worry if Sai didn't side-swipe him with a magnificent ink cockatiel, which he then rode to higher ground when Naruto staggered to his feet ready to knock Sai's block off.
"Aiko, switch me!" her otouto rasped, turning to barrel at Yamato instead. She snickered.
"Of course." She crouched and sprang straight upwards as if she planned to jump directly up to Sai, despite the fact that he was far too high for that to work. There was just enough time to giggle internally at how much this could fluster him when she used Sa i's seal to rubber band herself directly above his ink bird and land like fucking Batman.
Sai was too disciplined to look surprised, instead moving to confront her with taijutsu as much as was possible in the limited space they had. When his split attention caused the bird to veer off course and tilt over, he jumped straight off.
She probably should have followed, but instead she sprang up to the bird's head and spread her arms wide, grinning into the artificial breeze. "I'm queen of the bird! Wheee!"
It wasn't quite 'King of the Mountain,' but it was close enough to rouse competitive feelings in Sasuke. Light-footed, she trotted off the ink beast even as it crashed, ducking under his initial blow and weaving around him, letting her arms sway and not even attempting to get her own hit in. 'He looks so serious,' she giggled, easily flipping backwards and landing facing him. His eyes widened and he moved to say something, coming at her with a fist cocked. She readied herself to grab his fist and use him as a brace to flip over the blow-
The next thing she knew was pain in her upper back and that her nose was in the dirt. Dizzily, she braced her palms on the ground and attempted to push herself up, swaying a bit.
"Sorry!" Yamato called out from somewhere behind her. He really did seem apologetic. "I was aiming for Sasuke."
"You suck!" she managed to hack out, collapsing onto her side. "I'm out. Avenge me, Sasuke!"
'At least I didn't even break a sweat and I'm not gross. That was an abrupt ass-kicking. I forget how powerful his wood ninjutsu really is,' she thought, feeling terribly sorry for herself while the now five-sided battle raged around her. That thought cracked her up. It hurt to laugh, but she couldn't help it.
Apparently, that was just a little bit too strange, because her teammates turned some level of attention to her.
"I could swear I didn't hit her head!" Yamato called, sounding a little panicked. "Sasuke-"
"No, I'm fine," she gasped, wiping away tears. "It's just- I was thinking that your wood is soooo hard, Yamato," she crooned, curling further in on her side.
The silence that followed was aghast, only broken when she collapsed into a fit of giggles, slapping the dirt. "I don't know you," Naruto muttered, an inappropriate grin stretched across his features nonetheless. Yamato looked like a tomato.
It took another six minutes of merry hell, but Yamato and Naruto apparently decided that they wanted a free meal enough to work together. She watched with interest while Naruto scattered what she would have assumed were pre-prepared explosive seals and over charged them while Yamato penned everyone into a wooden cage to prevent Kakashi from sneakily escaping. The seals turned out to be paralysis seals. She managed to dig into some reserve she didn't know she had in order to laugh at his morose expression when he woodenly fell over, resigned to paying for lunch. She dragged her sorry carcass over and picked at the chakra threads restraining him, grinning all the while. "I'll pay for half of lunch," she offered. "Since we were the first two out."
He heaved a sigh and gave her a very sad looking stare.
"I'm not paying for all of it. You lost, fair and square." Her lips twitched. "No arguing." The last bit of the seal unraveled with what seemed to be a sense of a snap to her, and her eyes flickered to watch the chakra she could sense but not see. It dissipated when she didn't try to hold it together, wisping away into its two components and then to nothing. She had wondered if he had bought the tags, but it really was Naruto's chakra, so he'd made this on his own. Impressive.
She looked up to find that her captain was giving her an odd look, having traced her gaze to see there was nothing there.
"The seal network," she explained vaguely, waving a hand. "When it snapped, itâŚ" Aiko trailed off. "What?"
Kakashi's brow was furrowed, but he just shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. You're talking about sealing concepts that are over my head again."
She scoffed, shoving him with a shoulder. "You're a lying liar who lies."
"I'm serious."
Aiko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." She drew her knees up and rested her elbows on them, wincing a little at what felt like a massive bruise on her back. At least it wasn't so bad after she'd managed to get her breath back, but it sort of felt like she'd gotten in a fight with Gai. Yamato really was formidable in a fight, even if he was rather silly outside of it. "You're just propping up my ego, like how you let those two catch you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Her reply was a withering glare. 'No way do I buy that. He let them get him out of the match, probably because he was bored with sparring.'
She pulled up a bit of grass and tossed it at him instead of continuing to argue. In companionable silence, they watched the shifting alliances and fights among the remainders. A glowering Sasuke was the next to join them, followed by Yamato. The last fight made her shift uneasily, twisting her fingers together.
"Maybe we should stop them," Aiko ventured.
Kakashi shook his head. "I think it's best to let them fight it out and get this out of their systems.
Displeased but obedient, Aiko watched Naruto and Sai go at it. They'd abandoned all finesse in favor of beating on each other with their fists. She cringed, covering her face with her fingers, but peeked out with one eye nonetheless. It wasn't pretty. She couldn't quite hear, but they seemed to be arguing, and Sai actually looked visibly upset.
-even have any feelings-
-such an-
-Of course I-
"Wow, that's ugly," Yamato muttered, scratching at his head. He gave an awkward laugh. "Those boys really want to be able to pick dinner, huh?"
The joke fell flat. So did Sai, physically pinned by about 150 lbs of angry, confrontational Uzumaki.
"Alright, that's enough."
Naruto took a long moment to get off Sai, but huffed, stretching, and turned to the group.
"Whatever you say, nee-chan. Kakashi, I hope you're ready to buy a whole lot of ramen."
Sasuke groaned and started some argument about lunch, but she was focused on peeling Sai up off the ground. He followed silently, a little depressed looking. It tugged at her heart strings, so she moved closer to his side and stretched her arm over his shoulder. At his inquisitive look, she shrugged sheepishly. "I'm barely standing," she lied, giving a fake smile that was much more convincing than his because she knew to crinkle her eyes and duck her chin to feign embarrassment. Wordlessly, he tucked an arm around her waist to steady her.
Of course, her sneaky way of getting a half-hug in backfired on her at Ichiraku, where the group kept an embarrassingly close eye on her as if they thought she was about to sway off her stool. At that point, she could hardly claim to be fine without Sai realizing that she'd just been trying to distract and comfort him, so she scowled and bore the mothering as patiently as she could. Her vice was probably prideâit galled to let people think she was less capable than she really was, but she could do it in a pinch.
Worst of all, the difficulty she was having focusing on conversation and the yawn that came unbidden indicated that perhaps she really should be lying down. Granted, it was because she was sleep-deprived and not because of injuries, but she really should be more disciplined than to yawn in public.
Her pride might be stinging, but at least she had her self-satisfaction to keep her warm on cold nights.
'I think I was right earlier.'Â Aiko pushed her empty bowl away and drummed her fingers on the wooden bar surface, waiting for the boys to finish eating. 'Sai is unconsciously leaning closer to me. He may not have realized it, but he definitely wants physical affection.'
Not surprising. Touch was a human need, and he'd been denied a lot of the things that humans need. If Naruto really had hurt his feelings, he would be more vulnerable than usual. Either he would open up or shut down⌠making today a good opportunity to work on making sure he was emotionally reliant on her and less loyal to Danzo.
"Also, what the hell was that, Aiko?"
"Huh?" She glanced up. "I wasn't paying attention."
"The thing you were doing in practice," Sasuke clarified for Naruto, leaning forward onto his elbows. "It wasn't quiteâŚ" His eyes drifted to Sai. Pointedly, he finished, "the usual thing."
'Was so, just because I wasn't ending up anywhere near you guys doesn't mean anything.'
She gave an intentionally catlike smile, turning her face up. "Not telling."
Sasuke scoffed, but abandoned the subject. Kakashi slumped slightly out of her notice, apparently not willing to ask but curious as well.
Underneath her stool, she tapped her boot against the metal bar and tried not to grimace. Kakashi had been doing that ridiculous trick where he distracted the others before taking off his mask to eat, and was now slumped contentedly in front of three empty bowls. Her stomach hurt in sympathy just thinking about overeating like that. Yamato was futilely trying to hold a discussion with Ayame, who was staring wide-eyed at Kakashi and none-too-subtly tugging at her clothing as if she was overheating. Teuchi was cheering Naruto on in what appeared to be an eating contest with Sasuke.
'There is no way that can end well. Sasuke doesn't even like ramen.'
With a scrape, she pushed her stool back to stand and bent to dig into her boot for the pouch she kept inside. "What's the bill, Teuchi-san? I'm paying for half." Intentionally, she swayed just a bit. Subtle enough that it looked as though she was attempting to stay steady, but drastic enough to catch Sai's attention. Straight-faced, she counted out bills and laid them out on the counter, noting his conflicted attitude out of the corner of her eye. "I'm heading home, guys."
Sai didn't say a thing while she waved and exchanged goodbyes with those few who were paying any attention at all, but he stood and walked with her as if there had never been a question. She didn't call him out on his spontaneous chivalry. It would be a mistake to make him feel uncomfortable.
He might turn her down if she invited him in. So instead she just held the door open and moved to the side as if there was never a question that he'd come in, taking off her boots and gesturing to a pair of house slippers. "Those are for you."
With strange reluctance, he switched out his foot gear. Maybe he thought she was going to steal it when he wasn't looking? Ridiculous. She'd only do that if he ran off with the house slippers.
'Don't smile,' she sternly commanded. 'No matter how cute his uncertainty is, do not smile.' Sai didn't appear to know what to do in her home when not spying on her, so she determined that she would have to play hostess properly to avert awkwardness. "Why don't you have a seat on the couch? Do you need anything?" He was silent, so she moved to fill the air as she started tea to get the taste of lunch out of her mouth. "I was hoping to show you the next book Ino wants to get published, since they liked your other illustrations so much."
When she came out with tea, (rubbing at her temples because that damn headache was back, making her head feel muffled and about to pop) Aiko saw that Sai had found the book in question on her coffee table and was paging through it. She set their cups down relatively close together and sat down at his side to peer over his shoulder.
'Damnit, not another yawn.' Vexed, she rubbed at her cheek with the hand that wasn't cradling her hot beverage, but it was a losing battle. Somehow she managed to focus enough to at least begin a discussion, but hell if she could remember a thing that they said. Whatever it was must have worked for Sai, because he pulled out his sketch book and began to languidly trace something out.
He was looking like a really good pillow at that point in time.
'I was just noting that he longs for human touch,' she justified, unknowingly pouting. Black eyes flickered from her and back to the paper. 'It's not just a nap, it's a step towards my ultimate goal. Does that story logically hold together?' Aiko rubbed at her eyes again. 'I think it does.'
She turned onto her side, pushing her feet out to the far end of the couch and letting her head drop in a smooth motion.
Sai stiffened as if he was afraid the head on his lap was about to turn to bite him.
"Washboard?"
"Can I take a nap, Sai?" she muttered into his tummy, curling her knees up into the back of the couch. With her nose poking into his bare skin, Aiko couldn't see the slightly wild-eyed look he gave her, or that his grip on his paintbrush shook slightly. 'He didn't say noâŚ' She gave up entirely on staying awake.
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