#these are obviously joke plotlines but possible sneak here… | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

waywardwrestlewritingwaif · 4 years ago

Text

Raise the Stakes, Part 7

Bit of a longer section this time... Don't forget to catch up by reading Place Your Bets and Parts 1-6 of this story, linked in the Master List. (Please forgive me for not posting every link separately just this once.) I'm basically writing this one around whatever is happening on Impact/ New Japan every week, so I know some of the timing is screwed up but I didn't expect that this was going to be picked up as a plotline while I was writing the damn story.

Pairing: David Finlay x OFC (referenced Jay White x OFC)

Word count: 3,206

Content advisory: graphic sexual content, cursing, vaguely stalker-ish behavior that some might find troubling

Impact is a weird place. At least, it seems weird compared to New Japan, where everything is scheduled and organized and planned. Impact seems like it’s always on the brink of disaster but the people who’ve been here a long time seem to enjoy it a little, the happy chaos that makes things unpredictable. Everyone can and does screw up occasionally, so the one thing that’s intolerable here is acting like you’re infallible.

Since you arrived to fill the newly created position of talent liaison between the two companies, you’ve realized how insanely hard you’ve been working for the last few years. You always knew you were doing too much but being at a place that runs so differently, you find yourself worrying that you’re not doing enough. A couple of times, you’ve started helping to move equipment to demonstrate that you’re working hard.

The more low-key atmosphere seems to make everyone friendlier, which means that it hasn’t been difficult for you to get along with people. You’ll join in when everyone goes to a bar, or out for dinner. But the whole time, you’re keeping an eye on him.

You’re not exactly clear on why David and Juice got sent back to Impact when there’s clearly no plan to use them immediately. On the other hand, it’s not like either of them is going to be part of a huge program back in Japan, so it’s probably just a nice gesture so that the guys can see their families and friends before they get featured on TV every week. The nice part for you is that Fin Juice are always brought in for rehearsals, tapings, meetings, all the things that you’re part of, even if they aren’t used on screen. Impact want to use them as much as they can.

You keep your distance. When he’d first seen you, he’d gotten in your face almost immediately, although he waited until there weren’t any witnesses.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he hissed.

“I’m working for Impact now,” you’d answered coolly. “I guess you’re going to have to get used to having me around.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Maybe I just want to show a wider range of experience on my CV.” It was obvious that he didn’t believe a word you said, so you decided to drop all pretense. “I’m here because you’re here. Because I want to be close to you.”

“Well you’re shit out of luck there, sweetheart,” he snarled, “because I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

“I’m not going to get in your way or anything. If you don’t want to be around me, you don’t have to.”

“What sort of weird little game is it the two of you have going? Is he pissed because I haven’t told him that I’ll face him for his stupid title? Or is he just worried that I’ll beat him, again, and he thinks that sending you here is going to throw me off my game? Because I promise, I’m not falling into that trap again.”

“He has nothing to do with me being here,” you explained. “He didn’t even know I was moving. I came here for you.”

He sized you up, obviously still furious at having to be around you.

“Whatever he’s sent you here to do,” he growled, “I don’t care. Whatever we might have been before, we’re not friends, we’re not on good terms. I have no interest in being anywhere near you.”

“That’s fine,” you responded, voice weak with shame. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m just happy to be around you.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I’m serious. I know you don’t want anything to do with me. So just keep ignoring me. I’ll stay out of your way.”

Immediately, you could see that he was frustrated. He’d wanted to fight, maybe to tell you that you were wrong or that nothing could ever happen between you again. He hadn’t been prepared for you to just admit defeat and admit that you were so sad that you’d followed a man who couldn’t have cared less about your existence all this way.

Or perhaps he’d been angry because he sensed that you’d followed him here because you felt like he did care about you, that all the vitriol he’d spewed in your direction seemed like a cover for the fact that he had deep feelings for you, feelings that hadn’t been obliterated by seeing you back with Jay.

When you’re occupied, this feels like the exact job you wanted. When you went to Gedo and told him that you were going to quit, you’d made a calculated gamble. New Japan didn’t like to lose people and their fragile status because of the pandemic and the hiring of a new president made them all the more eager to hold on to the people they had.

At first, Gedo had just thought that there was a problem with you and Jay and had encouraged you to let it blow over. He hadn’t asked, although he was clearly curious. Everyone knew the man had an appetite for gossip. But as he’d listened to your reasoned case about your job and how you weren’t ever going to move on to something bigger and better, he’d come to agree, which was amazing since you hadn’t even given it much thought yourself until you’d sat down.

You’d been prepared to just quit and go back to the United States, to stake out Impact tapings and live dates if you had to, but Gedo had come up with a better solution. You would be the point person for New Japan with Impact and other American promotions. No one in Japan wanted to manage these things from a distance and the few American employees they had were occupied with the Los Angeles dojo.

You’d asked that you be the one to tell Jay that you were leaving, since you’d worked exclusively with him for so long. In the end, that had taken the form of a note you’d left him when you took off for the airport. You’d blocked him from your phone, from social media, everything. There was nothing wrong between you. There was nothing at all between you. Because if there was anything connecting you, Jay could find a way to get you to do what he wanted, to keep you captive the way you had been for years.

True to his word, David will have nothing to do with you. The other New Japan talents can work with you. If he needs anything, he sends his partner to work things out. You don’t push it because what you’re doing is already bordering on creepy. If you’re wrong and he really doesn’t feel anything for you, it’s well beyond creepy.

When you aren’t thinking about what kind of monster you are, though, the job is fun. It’s great meeting all the new people and, as bawdy and gross as they are, you get along especially well with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. They’re legends in Japan, so there’s a bit of a “rock star” aura about them for you. But they’re also just juvenile and dumb and sometimes, at the end of a long day, that can be very welcome.

Karl has been jokingly trying to grab your clipboard with all your notes from you throughout the day, and you’ve been telling him that he’s getting fined every time he does it. He walks by as if he’s not going to say anything at first but as he passes, he reaches back and grabs the clipboard. Your grip tightens immediately and you hug the board to your body. He isn’t even trying and you still need most of your strength to hold on.

The two of you struggle theatrically for a few moments, until he decides to surprise you by letting go. It unfortunately catches you a little too much by surprise and you accidentally smack yourself in the face, the metal clamp nailing you right underneath the eye.

“Oh my god!” Karl puts his hands on either side of your face, trying to get a look. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?”

He sounds legitimately mortified at the accident, which makes you laugh a little. You’re about to crack a joke at him when another voice cuts in.

“What the fuck? What happened?”

Out of nowhere, David Finlay is standing next to you like a chaperone, his eyes demanding an explanation.

“It’s fine,” you mumble, rubbing at your face a little. “Just an accident.”

David’s face flushes when he sees that everything is amiable. You pat Karl on the cheek and give a tough little smile.

“Good.” David grows visibly tense as he says that final word and quickly turns on his heel.

“Think someone has a crush on you,” Karl chuckles once he’s out of earshot.

You laugh but make a mental note. It’s not just you that thinks there’s something there.

This incident pushes you to be just a little bolder and so, when you realize that the both of you are going to be staying a bit later than others, you sneak out to the parking lot and move your car so that it’s close to David’s. It’s because you truly believe that there’s still some kind of unresolved tension between you. As you’re heading back to the building, though, you can’t help but think about how you’d feel if someone acted this way towards you.

The rest of the day, you make sure to stay well clear of Finlay. It isn’t that difficult but you still notice him a few times, popping up near where you are. Is he doing this on purpose? Is he watching you? Although you’re always aware of him in your peripheral vision, you don’t ever look directly to see if he’s got his eyes on you. Somehow, though, you can feel his gaze lingering.

You putter around after you’ve completed your work for the day so that you can accidentally run into him in the parking lot. You exit a few paces behind him and try to figure a way to get him to at least say a few words.

“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” you call as you turn towards your car.

He looks up, glaring, like he wants to start a fight. It’s possible that he does, but that would involve having to talk to you and he definitely doesn’t want to do that. So he just gives you a poisoned look.

“Can you give me something just this once? I’ve stayed away from you, I’ve given you all the space I possibly can. I make it easy for you to pretend like I don’t even exist. Would it absolutely kill you to acknowledge that you were worried about me for three-quarters of a second earlier?”

“Don’t know what difference it makes.”

“Maybe I’d just like the little ego boost?”

“Fine, then,” he grunts, refusing to meet your eyes. “I rushed over because I saw what I thought was someone getting hurt. Karl can be kind of hard to take sometimes and I was worried he was acting stupid.”

You smile just a little at the admission. The second he notices this, he continues.

“If I’d realized it was you, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

‘Could you please stop it?” You can feel tears gathering in your throat and you suspect he can hear it too. He turns to go without another word and for the first time since you’ve arrived here, you can’t just let him go.

“Wait!” You run up to him, grabbing hold of his arms. “I know that you hate me and that I probably deserve that. I know I deserve it. But can you just try being human with me for a second?”

He gives an exasperated sigh and rolls his eyes.

“What do you want?”

He sounds so fed up that you lose your nerve and are reduced to a stammering mess as you try to figure out what you need to tell him.

“I think you did see that it was me who was with Anderson. I think that you came rushing over because you saw me get hit and despite everything, you were worried about me. I think that even though you hate me, there’s a part of you that… that doesn’t. And I want to know if I’m right.”

If he’s affected by what you’re saying, he’s giving you no sign.

“Think what you want. It doesn’t matter.”

He tries to pivot but you hold on to him, grabbing his wrists.

“Are you not even a little bit flattered to know a girl moved from another continent just so that she could be close enough to admire you from a distance?”

“Yeah, you’re not at much of a distance right now.”

“Am I that repugnant?”

His face grows darker and he grabs both your wrists, pushing you back against your own car. His lips flutter like he’s trying to decide which bits of bile to hit you with first. You wonder if the sensation of your bodies being close for the first time in months is having the same effect on him that it is on you. He’s certainly breathing heavily, his chest swelling against yours.

He appears ready to speak but the only word that tumbles from his lips is “Fuck.”

He pins your wrists against the car and presses his lips to yours. It’s not the wild, angry kiss you might have expected, either. It’s hesitant and soft but insistent. After a few moments of this, you loosens his hold on your wrists and you immediately run your hands up his biceps and grab hold of his shoulders. He tenses under your touch, so you can feel the bulge of the muscle there. He’s not carved like Jay, not close, but all that power and strength is still there, hidden just beneath the surface. Although it’s never occurred to you before, it feels intimate and intensely sexy.

The kisses continue, increasing in intensity with your lips opening a little, your tongues dipping into each other’s mouths, until you’re both practically tearing into each other, grinding your bodies against the side of your car. Clumsily, he reaches for the door handle and, realizing what he’s trying to do, you slide your hand over to complete the job. You have to separate momentarily so that you can open the door, but he doesn’t even give you the chance to utter a word, pushing you down on the back seat and climbing on top of you before picking up very much where you’d left off.

He mutters curses when he breaks for air, clamping his hands around your face, as if he had to hold you there, as if this wasn’t exactly what you want to be doing. You can feel the rigid outline of his erection against your thigh and you ease one hand over it, rubbing the palm of your hand along the length until he pushes back a little.

He continues to plant wet, angry kisses over your chest as he works to open the buttons of your shirt with remarkable dexterity. He frees your breasts from the cups of your bra, roughly rubbing them and sucking one nipple and then the other hard between his lips and teeth.

“Play with your tits,” he rasps, pushing himself up and grabbing his belt.

You’re happy to oblige, making a show of running your fingers around the aureole and over the nipple, making each one prick up even more, then licking your fingers before returning them to the tender little peaks.

He’s worked his cock free and strokes slowly, his eyes fixed on your chest as you do as you’re told. You try to get his attention on your face, at least momentarily, but he’s consciously avoiding eye contact. After a few minutes, he pushes your skirt up and pulls your panties down a little, increasing the speed of his hand as he stares at your wet pussy. He brings his tip close to your entrance, only to grimace and move back.

Worried that he’s about to run away despite the condition he’s in, you lean forward as much as you can, gently pushing his hand out of the way and replacing it with your own, guiding his engorged prick into your mouth. God, the sounds he makes, half-words and cries tumbling out of him in blind lust. Surreptitiously, you slide the rest of the way out of your underwear and run your hand over his thick thigh, tucking the panties carefully into the back pocket of his jeans. Let him find those a little later, when he’s questioning whether this was a good idea.

He begins to shudder a little but rather than finish in your mouth, he grabs a handful of your hair and shoves you back down on the seat. Once again, he pumps his cock, now shiny with saliva and precum, and once again, he’s taking pains not to look you in the eye.

“Touch yourself.” He nods at you and watches as you let one hand glide down your body, over your aching pussy.

The two of you continue like that, moaning as you both grow more excited. You hold yourself back a little, not wanting things to be over this quickly and also hoping that he’ll push inside you, the way you want so much.

“No,” he grunts, "Make yourself come.”

And so, a little begrudgingly, you increase the pressure on your clit, trying to keep your hand steady despite how slippery it is, watching as his movements grow faster as well. Just as you can feel yourself about to burst, you’re able to find his hand with yours, lacing your fingers through his. He doesn't resist. That contact is enough to pull you over the edge, and at the same moment, you feel the hot streams of his come hitting your chest as he gives a sort of ecstatic, pained cry.

You run your fingers through the mess on your skin, laughing softly. You have to use your shirt to wipe yourself off and as you do, you notice how ashamed he looks, turning his face as far away from you as he can.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I should have asked.”

“It’s fine.”

He doesn’t look reassured by this at all. He looks a little mortified, so you wrap your arm around his neck and pull him into a kiss. For a few seconds, he responds, eagerly even. But then he pulls back, shaking his head.

“No, I have to go, I can’t do this.”

“Can we at least talk?”

He shakes his head again and scrambles backward out of the car, refastening his pants as he does. He doesn’t even bother with the belt, just turns and walks away.

You crawl out of the car, clutching your shirt closed rather than lose the time it would take to do it up again.

“David, come on, we aren’t just going to pretend that didn’t happen.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for… I got a bit carried away. I’ll talk to you tomorrow or whatever.” He never even glances back.

#njpw fanfic #njpw imagine #david finlay imagine #david finlay fanfic #jay white fanfic #jay white imagine #wrestling fanfiction #wrestling imagine #wayward wrestle writing

14 notes · View notes

did-he-just-hiss-at-me · 5 years ago

Text

i present to you, another f***ing sanders sides swap au cuz there can never be enough of them

i'm gonna call this corruptive switch cuz the dark sides are arguably worse than in canon

Patton is Dark!Creativity

also known as Intrusive Thoughts

Aside from the usual I.T. things, he seems to suggest a lot of good things but with bad intentions, which slowly turn into completely bad things

"You should offer to house-sit for them, that way you can take the opportunity to steal and use their house for parties! Oh, or even better, steal from them!"

instead of The Duke, he is The Painter(no dukey-esque jokes, sorry)

his Dark Side animal theme is the Fear Mongrel(disguised as a cat. look up what the fear mongrel is)

makes alot of crafts that are either made of gross things or resemble gross things

i chose the fear mongrel because it poison's peoples minds and it has no set form so i can do whatever with patton's animal traits

Constantly stealing things from the other sides

Roman: Patton, why do you have my cloak?! I need it back!

Patton, wrapped in the cloak like a burrito: No.

Logan is Light!Creativity

also known as Logical Creativity

Everything he comes up with has reasoning behind it

"Just because a Manticore and a Chimera are already combinations of other animals doesn't mean they can't be combined; That just makes it a more powerful & threatening enemy to fight! So many more animal parts to contribute to the danger!"

instead of The Prince, he is The Author

doesn't always wear his coat

has a dislike for "cartoon logic", unless that logic actually has a good explanation

does not hate the laws of fiction, as long as he can see it as a possible irl event

sneaks memes into his writing

Roman is Anxiety

also known as Uncontrollable Anxiety

All the anxiety he gives Thomas is based off of wildly improbable ideas, and Thomas can picture the scenarios too(not just hear Roman say them)

"But Thomas, if you go to this party with your friends, your DD might get drunk and still try to drive you home, and you could either end up arrested or in a car crash! And probably die afterwards!

his Dark Side animal theme is a Nian(look it up)

due to the Nian's hatred of the color red he hides from all mirrors and reflective surfaces

only Ethan can combat his abilities

likes to get up close to people when spreading his anxious thoughts

hyper, like, all the time

i chose the Nian because it's pretty creepy to me and it's immortal(comparable to how difficult it can be to get rid of deep-set fears) and people fear it and what it can do(of course)

dark circles around his eyes cuz ironically he keeps himself awake at night with his fears

meme king

Virgil is Deceit

also known as Manipulative Self-Preservation

Makes things sound scarier than they actually are, solely to get Thomas to stay on track with his life

"If you tell him why you ducked out of the project, he may never ask you to partner up with him again; which will inevitably lead to him never talking to you at all, forever!"

his Dark Side animal theme is a Firefox

Unlike Canon Deceit, he does not care for Thomas' mental health

anti-villain. thinks he's doing good but he's just flat out evil

only reason I chose a firefox is because i wanted him to have something on his face, so i chose burns and scars, which brought me to the firefox, and foxes are cunning, stealthy manipulators

likes to sing villain/dark songs, to Ethan's dismay

Deceit is Logic

also known as Self-Protecting Logic

name in this AU is Ethan, just to prevent confusion with Virgil

Will do whatever it takes to keep Thomas safe. Will only resort to whatever is circumstantially necessary.

"I know you don't like the sound of it Thomas, but doing this will lead to the safest result. You could ruin this friendship otherwise."

glasses are actually just empty frames

cares way more about thomas's mental health than Canon Logic, CS!Logan, Canon Deceit and CS!Virgil combined

instead of scales, he has scars that look like vitiligo. he gets more of these spots as thomas goes through more and more things that negatively effects his mental health. they don't hurt Ethan physically, but they're constant reminders of his failures

only looks at memes that don't encourage negative feelings

huge freaking emphasis on positivity like ffs dude chill out

Remus is Morality

also known as Moral Ambivalence

Does the right thing but his morals are, quite obviously, a bit misguided

"Stabbing isn't wrong if they consent to it! He said he wanted to be stabbed!"

please don't let him near strong-heat-producing objects... like stoves... Virgil convinced him they're ok to touch

admires Patton's works but will never admit it to him. also admires Logan's but will admit it, and even give him some inspiration

likes to pretend to be a detective for some reason

yes, he still has his mustache, his dark circles(?) around his eyes are there too, but they're not as noticeable tho.

does not get memes

There are minor differences to the episodes that still keep a roughly similar plotline,, these are what i could think of

Like in The Dark Side of Disney, they're talking about Pixar movies in specific(Cuz Logan would be a firm believer in the Pixar Theory due to how interesting and plausible it is) and Roman's always suggesting sh** like "Wall-e killed all the other robots cleaning up earth" and "Toys can die and their owners wouldn't know they'd just be playing with a dead corpse" and Logan's like "cAN YOU NOT" the entire time cuz he knows it's probable and he hates it

In Can Lying Be Good? Virgil pretends to be Logic instead of Morality, because he can't keep up with Remus's energy and his points will make more sense coming from Ethan's mouth... or so he thinks. yeah by the end he's exposed. Ethan was tied up in a closet the entire time.

In Learning New Things About Ourselves, Ethan isn't the one against the puppet shenanigans like you would suspect, it's Logan... again. Since he's Logical Creativity he doesn't see how playing around with puppets and singing songs will fix Thomas's problem. It's still illogical.

In Selfishness vs. Selflessness, Virgil has(more or less) the same goal as Deceit does in canon(to get Thomas to realize he's not a perfectly good person) except instead of doing it in a regular courtroom, he does it in a nightmarish one in Patton's part of the imagination(who is in the background, manipulating the room during the trial)

just some other facts

Thomas is only a complete wreck when his dark sides are kept out of check(my writer abilities have peaked. i made a rhyme unintentionally.)

out of the dark sides, not even anxiety is TRULY "accepted" in this au. the dark sides are just tolerated. the only reason they're allowed to exist and interact with thomas like the light sides is because Ethan realizes how important they are and enforces a rule preventing them from being banned

speaking of which, the darks and lights do interact like normal friends but that doesn't mean they're happy with their opposite's roles

Somebody: You and Logan have a good brotherly relationship, right Patton?

Patton: Absolutely not. He is a sworn enemy to Thomas's well being.

Somebody: But I saw you two geeking out over something earli-

Patton: I would sell him to satan for one corn chip. I don't even like corn chips.

dark sides are based on fictional animals/monsters instead of real animals

everyone keeps their little quirks(Logan likes crofters, Patton likes cats, etc.) unless they are tied to their canon role(Deceit's emphasis on the letter "s" when speaking, Roman caring about his appearance, etc.)

don't let the dark sides combine their powers, ever. that's when they're truely strong

Roman and Remus are no longer brothers, it's Patton and Logan instead

yeahh that's all i've got. i'm working on character refs now, in fact right after this post goes up i'm posting logan's. here's hoping people like this concept hdgdjdhds

54 notes · View notes

daddycardan · 6 years ago

Note

I started reading tcp because I was curious about the hype surrounding the series but I have...mixed feelings about it. but I really enjoyed twk and I thought it was much better than the first book. can you do a review on both books and include things that you liked and things that you didn't?

Okay, so I’m obviously pretty happy with the series since I’ve been fangirling over it for quite a long time, BUT I don’t claim that it is perfect. It has its flaws. Recently I convinced my friend to read it, and now that she finally got into the first book, she pointed out a few pros and cons as well, so I think I can see it a little more clearly than I used to.

So first on the Cruel Prince. I love this book. L O V E it. It is one of the best books I’ve ever read, okay? But it was not an instant love, not like I opened it and immediately was obsessed. When I started reading it, it took me like a month to slowly work through the first 5 or so chapters. Not that it was boring but it… but it didn’t quite drag me in either. Ok, I’m gonna say it, the beginning is not a literary masterpiece. I love the world, I love the mood, I love cruel faeries, but it kinda just drops you into the middle of it, without explaining much, and suddenly an inky eyed, clawed imp is braiding Jude’s hair, and they are just about to head to the revel which takes place inside of a hill, full of weird, colourful, long-eared creatures that I’ve never even heard of. What the is an imp, to begin with? Is this common knowledge and I’m just dumb, or what? I cannot imagine this creature, can u at least describe it? And like what the hell, are they inside a hill? Hills are filled with fucking earth, right? What is happening??? So, yeah at first I was a lil confused about it, and I missed the descriptions of these different kinds of imps, goblins, brownies, nixies and pixies and motherfuxies,,,

also Jude’s narrator voice is a little unsteady and confusing at first. So there is a chapter at the beginning, where Jude tells about her childhood memories and starts to talk directly to us, readers, and it seems like she knows that we are listening to her thoughts. But other times, we hear her thoughts as she is talking to herself, and she is not aware of us witnessing it. So this was a little weird for me, but I got over it quickly, and the story just sucked me in as the plot moved forward. The things that I really loved is mostly the the characters. They are so unique and interesting, and always developing unlike in most books where u get the basic teenage Mary Sue who falls for the hot blonde six-pack guy for the first sight and ahhhh I’m so fucking sick of that! I loved that Jude is like a real person, Holly doesn’t try to make her perfectly beautiful or clever and all that crap. Jude makes mistakes and does stupid things and screws everything up, and I love it because it’s actually relatable but also really inspiring, seeing how she works hard and gets to the top like the badass queen she is. And she doesn’t manage that by falling in love with the guy, or being the chosen one, or possessing superpowers, no fuck it, Jude earns her place by sweat and blood and I’m fuckin here for it. Ok this “review” went into a rant real quick sorry lol

But to mention a few more things I didn’t like: it’s kinda insignificant, but I’ve actually read TCP for the first time in Hungarian and the translation was legit embarrassing. Just shitty on a whole new level. Like, no joke, even I could do better than that. (Any other people who’ve read it in other languages? Are they any good??) Also, this is a personal preference, but the bloodshed wasn’t gruesome enough for my taste. (I was kinda wishing for Game of Thrones style descriptions.) Like the slaughter of the royal family or Jude’s parents, they describe the thing like “his blood was dripping like rubies”, but c’mon this is kids mode. They should say something like “he pressed his hands against his slashed stomach, trying to stop his insides from spilling out. He was fighting for his last breath while choking on his own blood” ANYWAY.

Alsoo another con, and this is a huge one. Okay, so u guys remember that one chapter towards like, the middle? When Jude sneaks into Hollow Hall and kidnaps the mortal servant Sophie for no apparent reason other than empathy??and tries to get her out of Faerie but she falls into the water and “dies”? So, that chapter made literally no sense. Sorry, Holly, but dis is tru. I felt like Jude was so OOC in that scene, I don’t think she would take such risk only out of empathy. I genuinely thought that Holly was foreshadowing or like planting a plotline with this, but we’ve never heard about Sophie again. Oh, only once, in the next revel when she was standing there with the Undersea court, turned into a weird sea monster. But like, in TWK, she is never mentioned again. And will she play a role in QON? I don’t know. Maybe. But for now, it just looks like Holly dropped or forgot about this plotline.

So now, moving on to the Wicked King, I cannot say too much about it, because this book was nearly perfect. Sorry, I’m just really biased with this little paper baby. I definitely think that TWK was better than TCP, but like, don’t get me wrong, they both are excellent. So in TWK I really loved how fast paced it was, full of emotional tension and political intrigue and OF COURSE plot twists. The faerie world widened even further with the involvement of the Undersea and we could see more of the High Court as well. Character development was on f l e e k especially with my boi Cardan, whom I’m really proud of (also kinda hating him). The only con that I can think of from the top of my head it that mayyybe it was a lil too fast-paced. Maaayyybe it was a little too overwhelming at times. I would have appreciated if Holly put some breathers in, u know, some chilled moments, with characters just bonding, banter, possibly some more Jurdan moments, and to just calm my nerves down a little, because this was a wild ride.

#tcp #twk #cruelprince #the cruel prince #cruel prince #the wicked king #wicked king #the folk of the air #folk of the air #tfota #asks #sorry this was such a long thing i was trying to include as much info as possible

69 notes · View notes

vickdrops · 7 years ago

Text

An Innocent Bet [1940′s Bucky x Reader] ~ part 1

Pairing: bucky x reader (Y/N) Genre: fluff (for now...hehe) Warnings: N/A A/N: welcome to a new multi-part bucky fic! I had this little baby planned out in my notes for a while, but I’ve finally gotten around to starting it. It’s a little bit of a cliche plotline, but I hope to give it my own, fresh spin. I’m happy to start a tag list, so pop into my inbox if you would like to be notified when part 2 comes out (I would appreciate it if you were following me!) Thank you for all the love so far. It’s good to be writing again! I’m currently taking prompts for bucky barnes, frank castle (/kastle), and billy russo.

It’s a quiet day at Josie’s diner; Y/N’s been hovering around, refilling half-empty mugs of coffee and lazily wiping down booths that don’t really need wiping down. Quiet jazz fills the room, interrupted only by the occasional clinking of cutlery against plates and the murmuring of casual conversation from the two occupied booths.

The other waitress, a redhead named Cecilia, is sitting on the counter, legs swinging as she watches Y/N with a little frown on her face.

“There’s hardly anyone here, Y/N,” she laughs. “Relax a little, won’t ‘ya?”

But Y/N just shoots her a shrug, and continues wiping down the bar. It’s her first week on the job, and she’d like to keep it as long as possible. Her ma’s a single mother, and Y/N knows that getting food on the table for two kids in this economy, without a husband, isn’t the easiest thing in the world. So she likes to help out where she can. The corner shop she worked at before had cut her loose, after the owner had gambled away his rent money in a late-night round of god-knows-what. After weeks of searching, she’d landed the job at Josie’s, and she’d be damned if she’d let herself get fired again- even if the first time wasn’t her fault at all. She can’t afford to be out of job- not when her mother and little brother depend on it.

“Is it usually this quiet?” she asks Cecilia, after she’s wiped down every surface that she could think to wipe down. She smooths down her half-apron absentmindedly.

“We’re pretty out-of-way,” the other waitress responds. “We get enough business to keep us open, but that’s about all.” It shows in the decor, Y/N observes. The furniture of the diner is clean and well-maintained, (a sign of low traffic and bored staff), but upon closer inspection, the wallpaper is slightly peeling, and some of the plates have noticeable chips.

Y/N’s about to ask if there’s anything in the kitchen that needs attending to, but before she can get the words out, the door is pushed open, and a pile of boys tumble into the diner. They’re joking and laughing and shoving each other around, and they make their way to a booth in the back without so much a glance in Y/N or Cecilia’s direction. Cecilia sighs, obviously ready for her shift to end, and grabs a bunch of menus from the pile Y/N’s just straightened. But before she can hop off the counter, Y/N plucks them from her hand.

“You don’t want me to go insane from wiping down tables, do you?” she grins, and Cecilia laughs.

Y/N walks towards the group, plastering a welcoming smile on her face. There’s four of them altogether- three blondes and one brunette. They’re well dressed, with their hair slicked back- none of them looking much older than herself.

“Hi. Welcome to Josie’s,” she chirps as she reaches their booth, reciting the greeting that had been drilled into her when she was hired. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

They look up, acknowledging her presence for the first time, and she ignores the way they all look her up and down like she’s a piece of meat. It’s a common occurrence in the diner (despite the fact she’s only been here one week); she’s learnt to keep her mouth shut about it, and smile through her uncomfortableness.

She places the menus down on the booth.

“You don’t happen to be on the menu, do you, doll?” a blonde asks, charm dripping him his silky voice.

“Nope,” Y/N says, popping the ‘p’. She picks up a menu from the pile she’d just put down, and adds, breezily, “But we do have a burger special. That seems more like it’d be in your price range.”

The other two blondes snicker, as the first boy takes the menu from her, slightly disgruntled at her easy rejection. The brunette looks surprised, but a slow, small smile, graces his lips.

“Let me know when you’re ready to order,” she smiles politely, tucking her notepad in her apron pocket, before turning and making her way back behind the bar. Y/N is nothing if not professional.

----

“What did I tell ya?” Peter laughs, roughly shoving the boy next to him with his shoulder. “That pick up line hasn’t worked for you before and it never will, Jack.”

“Shut up, idiot. ‘S’not my fault none of these girls have any taste in men,” Jack replies, shoving Peter back just has roughly.

“Just accept it, knucklehead,” Walter says, amused. “You’re hopeless.”

Bucky rolls his eyes and reaches across his friends to grab a menu. Sure, he finds it amusing that Jack always seems to fail at snatching dates, but the jokes are getting old. In fact, he’s not quite sure why he’s still putting up with the three of them; Jack, Peter, and Walter are a laugh to hang around, and they’re always up for a night out (unlike Steve), but he mostly keeps their company just to please his father. His father is in the middle of brokering a business deal with some of the wealthier businessmen in their neighbourhood, and he’d urged Bucky on multiple occasions to make friends with the sons of these men, to ‘keep things jolly between the families’, in his words.

Bucky thought it was a load of crap, honestly, (what does he have to do with his father’s business ventures?) but even he’s not bold enough to stand against his father’s wishes. So here he is, squished in a booth with the sons of rich businessmen, keeping up his father’s friendships.

“I bet you a burger special that I can get her to go on a date with me by the time we walk outta here,” Jack boasts, and Bucky laughs.

“Jack, I thought you didn’t believe in miracles,” he smirks. Jack narrows his eyes at him.

“Like you can do better, Barnes,” he scoffs. Bucky merely shrugs, flipping through the menu absentmindedly. “You know what? I bet you can’t. I bet you ten dollars that you can’t get that waitress to go out with you.”

Bucky stops flipping through the menu.

Ten dollars?

That could buy Steve’s asthma medication for a month.

“Deal,” he says smoothly, flipping the menu shut and sliding out of the booth. “Get ready to pay up.”

----

Y/N’s fiddling with the coffee machine, when a smooth voice interrupts her concentration. She looks up, startled, and meets the warm brown eyes of the brunette from the table she’d just left. His hair is slicked back, like the rest of his friends, but a strand escapes the gel when he cocks his head at her.

“Are you new here?” he asks, leaning casually against the bar, a cheeky smile on his face. “Haven’t seen you around before- and trust me, I would’ve remembered if I had.”

Y/N’s eyebrows jump up at the easy, flirtatious comment. Her heart skips a beat involuntarily- this boy is gorgeous- but she can’t help but feel a little skeptical. After all, one of his friends had just asked her if she was ‘on the menu’.

“Just started this week,” she replies, before noting, “You must come here often, then.”

“Nah, just when I’m in the area,” he shrugs. He can feel Jack’s eyes on him. “I’m Bucky, by the way.”

“Y/N,” she replies, rather pointlessly- her name is printed on the tag across her chest- but he smiles at her introduction anyway.

“Y/N is a pretty name,” he says sincerely.

“Bucky is a...weird one,” she replies, just as sincerely, and it makes him laugh- a real laugh.

“That’s fair,” he allows. ��Middle name is Buchanan,” he explains, before pausing. “But really, it’s because I used to run around buck naked when I was little,” he admits, lowering his tone and leaning closer, as if he’d let her in on a gigantic secret. Y/N lets out a peal of laughter, and Bucky finds that he quite likes her laughter- it’s bright and innocent, and her eyes sparkle with genuine amusement.

“How promiscuous of you,” she teases. He chuckles, opening his mouth to reply, but a shout from his booth interrupts him before he can get a reply out.

“Oi, Barnes, are you gonna order, or what?” Jack barks, and Bucky shoots him an unimpressed glare over his shoulder.

“Oh- sorry,” Y/N shakes her head, reaching into her apron for her notepad and returning to professionalism. “What can I get you?”

“Uhh- just four burger specials, please,” Bucky says. “And four chocolate milkshakes.”

“Good decision, Barnes” Y/N notes, scribbling down his order and ripping off the page. “I do make a pretty mean milkshake,” she grins.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Bucky teases, and Y/N cracks another smile. She knows better than to be fooled by the antics of the male customers, but...damn, Bucky Barnes is an entirely new definition of the word ‘charm’. She’s not quite sure how to deal with it.

Bucky gives Y/N a final, wide smile before turning and walking back to his booth.

“I thought you weren’t on the menu,” Cecilia accuses suddenly from Y/N’s side, making her jump.

“What?” Y/N blinks, flustered. “Oh, stop it. I was just being nice.” Cecilia rolls her eyes playfully in response, before whipping the docket from Y/N’s hand and gliding off to the kitchen. Y/N frowns, shaking her head as she busies herself with the task of four chocolate milkshakes.

---

Bucky can’t help but sneak glances at Y/N, even long after Jack, Peter, and Walter had moved on to other topics of conversation. He’d never admit it to his friends, but Y/N had turned out to be the complete opposite of what he had been expecting. He’d waltzed up to the bar with every intention of charming her pants off, but when he walked away, it was with a genuine smile on his face. She’d been guarded (and understandably so), but polite and friendly, and Bucky had felt a genuine warmth emanating from her.

Plus, he’d secretly admired how easily she’d taken Jack’s ego down a few notches.

“Y’know,” Jack starts (with a mouthful of burger). “I can’t help but notice that you’re still rather...dateless.”

Bucky sips on his milkshake.

“And so are you. What’s your point?” he quips. Jack holds up his hands in a mock surrender.

“Just sayin’. Ten dollars could buy a whole lotta those milkshakes,” he says innocently, and Bucky sighs. In any other circumstance, he wouldn’t have hesitated to ask Y/N out. She’s just his type, and (going off the conversation he’d just had with her), extremely pleasant to talk to. And he likes the way she laughs. In fact, he regrets that he’d taken Jack’s bet in the first place- Y/N seems like a nice girl, who doesn’t deserve to be asked out on a bet.

“Ten whole dollars,” Jack reminds lightly.

Bucky squashes down the uncomfortable feeling in his gut; it’s one date, the little voice in his head nags. She’ll never find out. Do it for Steve.

----

As his friends file out of the diner, plates empty and glasses dry, Bucky sidles up to where Y/N is wiping glasses at the bar.

“You were right,” he informs her. She cocks her head in confusion. “That was a pretty mean milkshake,” he elaborates. He likes the way her eyes immediately brighten as she laughs.

“I told you,” she says smugly.

“Alright, alright, no need for the ‘I told you so’,” Bucky fakes a groan. Y/N sticks her tongue out. He taps his fingers on the bar, unsure how to proceed.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” Y/N asks. Why is he still here?

“Uhh...no. Nah. Just wanted to say thanks for the food,” he shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck. Bucky is no stranger to asking girls out, so he’s not sure why he’s nervous this time ‘round.

“It was my pleasure, Bucky,” she beams. “I guess I’ll see you next time you’re…‘in the area’”.

“Yeah, I guess.” Bucky hesitates for a second, before licking his lips. “Or you could see me sooner? Say...tonight?” he asks softly. Nervously.

Y/N’s eyes widen in surprise.

Sure, they’d been flirting lightly ever since he’d come up r to order his friends’ meals, but she hadn’t expected him to actually ask her out. And if she’s being honest, she’s not quite sure why- they’ve only known each other for- what? The span of an hour? She’s in work clothes, and she’s pretty average-looking, so she’s confounded as to what exactly had prompted him to ask her out.

...but he’s absolutely gorgeous and he’s friendly and has managed to make her laugh multiple times; Y/N still hasn’t let go of all her skepticism, but really...what could it hurt?

“I get off at nine,” she says shyly, and Bucky beams a smile so bright that it makes Y/N smile too.

“I’ll see you then, beautiful,” he grins happily. He taps his fingers on the bar again, before turning and leaving the diner.

Y/N is left standing with a blush across her cheeks, and her heart pounding in her chest.

Part 2

Masterlist

#bucky x reader #bucky x oc #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes fic #bucky fluff #bucky angst #bucky imagine #bucky fanfiction #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #1940s!bucky

186 notes · View notes