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saladejin · 5 years ago

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Call An Uber? | 02

BTS x Reader | idolverse au, uber driver!Reader, translator!Reader | Fluff, flirting, super slow burn, angst and hurt/comfort, mature themes and eventual smut

Summary: Your normal life with a normal, yet inconsistent job gets drastically changed when your dreams come true. Sounds boring right?

What happens when all of this occurs, but you’re still doing something you love AND getting a large sum for it? Now there’s something to think about, and it’s definitely not what you’re thinking.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2.4k

< masterpost >

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Bold = English

"You make it sound like we're gonna die."

"Yeah well you will, if you don't move your ass." I swung open my door, tugging the mask higher on my face and swishing my (h/c) hair around to cover the rest partially.

Hopefully any lurking cameras wouldn't sneak a peek of my flustered appearance, because that would be embarrassing in itself. I had worn only the lightest makeup possible today. Of course I didn't want to look like a troll in front of my customers, but now that I was breathing right next to two perfect, ethereal human beings, I suddenly wished I’d made a better effort to impress.

"Quick!" Jimin's abrupt gasp snapped me out of my thoughtless gazing, and I turned around to see Jungkook walking towards me swiftly. Jimin was already heading inside, but had thrown a worried glance back in my direction when he saw my frozen form on the pavement. I instantly started at the sudden pressure on my lower back and jumped forward when Jungkook's large hand pressed me in that direction.

"Sorry, but you probably shouldn't touch me if people can see," I murmured and led the way through the sliding doors into the cooled administration room.

Jungkook's tentative hand jerked away as if he had touched a burning hot iron.

The weather had been quite warm outside, but I hadn't taken too much notice because of the exceptional air conditioning of my car. I whipped my head around one last time to blow a tiny kiss to my precious baby parked outside, as it was still new and had already been through an exciting car-chase of sorts. Even copping a harsh slap to the ass in the process.

I'll be back soon Red.

I turned back around to see the cheeky maknae giving me an incredulous look with one eyebrow raised.

"Don't judge me, it's new."

When Namjoon came to fetch his two younger members, he was definitely far from pleased. As soon as he entered the room all three of us were sitting in, he gave me a quick glance up and down with his expression hardening the closer he looked. Despite his misgivings, the tall man still managed to flash me a strained smile while he dipped his head in a sign of respect. He was truly a kind soul, and I knew he’d probably need to make an initial judgement based off this first look.

The professional demeanour continued as his careful eyes flickered to Jimin and Jungkook. He had already gone through the initial apologies and displays of gratitude as soon as he bowed, but now his expression was disappointed as he beckoned the other two members in the room.

"You two come with me."

Damn, his leader voice was definitely no joke! I felt myself squirm in my seat, probably from the uncomfortable tension suddenly flooding the room. Namjoon looked as good as ever, silvery grey hair styled in a way that just made me speechless, but his usually calm and thoughtful expression was tired and stressed.

Poor guy, he must have torn his hair out over this. I hope he doesn't think I'm insane or something.

I knew there was absolutely no way he would trust me completely on the first meeting, but seeing as though his fellow band members had mentioned their situation and fortunate escapade, his gaze seemed softer than it could've been.

Thinking about what could've gone wrong made me shudder, and I pushed the thoughts away as the two boys I had shared a car with for the past half an hour jumped to their feet. I was sad, but I mean who wouldn't be? I had fangirled over them so many times and once I’d actually met them, it seemed quite literally too good to be true.

I knew they couldn't stay though, and when it came down to it, I was most likely viewed as just another fan. Just another fan that they had happened to meet coincidentally, but still nothing too estranged from a fan meeting event where girls from various backgrounds would provide them with gifts and words of encouragement.

Why would I expect anything different from this?

I forced down the bile rising in my throat and avoided making eye contact with any of the boys, as I couldn't bear to watch them go. Slipping through my fingers, kind of like the moment you begin to wake up from a dream you longed to replay over and over.

The realisation that they’d halted in their movements took me way too long, but as I snapped up to meet Jungkook's conflicted expression, I suddenly gasped. "Oh, sorry!"

I tugged off the mask he had graciously lent me and held it out with a shaky hand in the younger boy's direction. His eyes flashed with recognition and even surprise, much to my own confusion.

"Oh, that...I won't mind if you keep it, I have plenty of others."

I let out a sharp breath and smiled forlornly. "Creepy, you're giving me your clothes now?"

I laughed softly when he rolled his eyes and dismissed me with a joking wave of his hand, bunny smile flashing. Jimin also couldn't help but grin at the maknae's chivalrous attempt and how it had completely backfired.

Someone cleared their throat deeply and I met the pointed look of Namjoon once more, even though his gaze had settled the tiniest bit at seeing his fellow members act comfortably.

"(Y/n)-ssi, is it?"

"Yes, I'm sorry to make you wait so long Kim Namjoon-ssi. You must have been worried sick." I struggled to be as respectful as I could, my eyebrows knitting together in concentration as I spoke. Did I even use the correct honorific? Maybe I should have used something higher because he's the leader of the group. Ah, I don't know!

A chuckle broke me from the horrifying contemplation, and I flinched slightly as Jimin bent down to enter my line of vision. "Don't worry too hard about all the honorific stuff, Namjoonie-hyung will understand."

I nodded with a cringe alighting my features, annoyed at my own obvious floundering with their language. I had been in the country for a couple of months, so why couldn't I just get my act together and converse properly?

"Do...you speak English at all?" Namjoon ventured with a smile that made his dimples pop adorably. I let out a big sigh and ran a hand through my windblown hair while nodding.

"Yep, I'm from (Y/c). But I do understand Korean fairly well, it's just the honorifics and technicalities that trip me up a bit."

Jimin and Jungkook groan simultaneously at the revelation that I was fluent in the language they practiced the most, and I couldn't help but smirk. They must have had some suspicion, as I did't exactly look Korean anyway, but there was always the notion that I could have been born to foreign parents and grown up here.

"I never would have known! Your Korean is still great," Jimin whined lowly and I couldn't help but laugh, the look in my eyes eventually shifting to one of apology.

"That's fine, it's alright to just use 'ssi' anyway," Namjoon nodded and I relaxed my shoulders in relief. The switch back to Korean was somewhat jarring, but it was only fair that everyone in the room should understand the gist of the conversation.

"But hyung, she told us she doesn't mind if you don't use them for her," Jungkook was next to pipe up, and I was surprised he even remembered such a thing at this point in time. I just smiled and shook my head in response.

"I don't mind either way. I'm not fussed at all."

"Yes, well we should be going anyway." Namjoon cut off the conversation and glanced at his watch, looking back around at everyone in the room.

"Thankyou (Y/n)-ssi for taking care of our members, something like this shouldn't happen again."

At the sound of their leader's stern voice, the boys both hung their heads slightly, and I knew that even though the situation had worked out for the best, it definitely was not ideal for this kind of thing to happen when their careers could be put on the line.

"It's alright, Jungkook's mask is the only thanks I need," I decided to joke so that I can see the younger boys smile again, and I was rewarded with the most beautiful pearly white grins yet. Namjoon chuckled and motioned with one hand for the boys to leave the room before him.

Jungkook turned and threw a small wave and bow in my direction. I returned them, and he finally exited the room with a hefty sigh to let out all of his pent-up stress. Jimin followed with the same gestures and I responded with a faintly sorrowful smile. Ah, what I wouldn’t give to just spend a whole day with them. I was then ultimately left alone with the leader of BTS. To say I wasn’t a tad intimidated would be a lie.

"Once again, you have truly done us a service. We are glad to have a fan such as yourself supporting us,” Namjoon spoke after a few seconds of silent tension.

"Thank you, you have no idea how much you guys have helped me already, so please don't feel as though you owe me anything," I quietly respond and watch as his eyes cloud with admiration and respect suddenly.

Maybe he regretted acting so robotic and cold when he came in, but he was the leader and professionalism mattered so much when you were faced with a situation that called for big demonstrations of leadership. Namjoon smiled and bowed again, reaching out to shake my hand kindly before leaving the room to join the others. I knew all that was left was meeting the CEO of Bighit Entertainment.

Yeah, because that's something to just brush over.

God, so much was happening to me today. How could I possibly go back to streaming endless amounts of videos and fangirling over pictures when I had actually spoken with three members of the band itself? I forced down the niggling thoughts of 'that's only three out of seven' and grunted apprehensively.

You're lucky enough as it is, don't be greedy.

The thing is, nothing about my long-distance relationship with the boys was normal anymore, and I wondered if the girls who attended fan-meetings felt exactly the same way. The fact that they were just normal guys with normal thoughts had always crossed my mind when I watched them through the screen, but seeing it in action proved to be disarming at the very least.

Stupid world-famous idols, don't play with my heart like this.

The meeting and disclaimer signage with Bang PD went well in the end, and I was consistently surprised at how kind-hearted and open he was with everything that had gone down. All the staff I had encountered were nothing short of accommodating, and they were continuously apologising for the mess caused. Even though I had told them many times it was truly a blessing in disguise, they remained insistent on the matter.

"Please, I want you to take this as a token of our gratitude." Bang PD smiled warmly in my direction, and before I could refuse he held out a slip of paper. It was a cheque, and my eyes blew wide when my eyes scanned the tiny bold numbers printed neatly on the surface.

"Please, I can't accept this, I already got paid for my service."

Before the short man could shake his head and insist further, a light knock sounded on the frosted glass pane of the office door before opening. In stepped a young woman who bowed repeatedly for her intrusion, her short night black hair bobbing up and down along with her.

"I'm terribly sorry Bang PD-nim, but the donor from Chile has arrived back at the office ahead of schedule."

The founder of Bighit nodded in understanding, clearing his throat to speed up whatever process was happening. He turned back to me with a reassuring glance and I took a deep breath, fully understanding I wasn't really able to refuse his generous offer.

"Right, well thank you once again for your service, I have other things to attend to it seems. It was lovely to meet you."

The cheque still scorching hot in my left hand not going unnoticed, I forced myself to return his smile with a gulp. He gestured softly for the door and followed me out. The young woman looked quite flustered as she shifted from foot to foot just outside the bleak office entryway.

The building's interior was very modern and clean-cut, and I knew it was probably very, very different from the actual Bighit Entertainment building itself. Seeing as it was meant for living arrangements and not vital meetings such as the one mentioned earlier.

I exchanged formalities with Mr.Bang once more before I turned towards the exit of the dormitory building, my big and exciting day coming to a close just like that.

"I'm sorry, but it seems our Spanish interpreter has called in absent today. I've just been informed that the donor came without one," the hushed whisper from the woman reached my ears as I took a couple of steps towards the large glass doors. I heard a sharp click of a tongue and a deep, masculine sigh from behind me.

"Well what are we going to do? I don't know enough Spanish for an entire face-to-face meeting like this."

"Does anyone else in the company?" The woman's voice was growing frantic, as she was apparently about to drown in her sudden bout of panic.

Bang PD's tone was irritated. "Why the hell was this not scheduled better?"

I honestly could not blame him. What kind of interpreter would just call in absent on such an important event? Even if the sickness was life-threatening, there were ways to notify and organise something to compensate for it, or give some warning to reschedule.

A small smile stretched my lips as I twirled around on one of my heels happily, once again facing the distraught looking woman and CEO who were deep in hurried conversation.

"If I mentioned that I was fluent in Spanish, would that help?"

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thran-duils · 4 years ago

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Watch Me Burn (P.7)

Title: Watch Me Burn (Part Seven) Summary: Fem!Reader x AU!Cas. Fem!Reader x AU!Sam. This fic was inspired by both parts of “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem & Rihanna. Castiel and the reader are toxic for each other and keep falling back together until the reader moved away. It’s been years and now she is back home, waltzing back into Castiel’s life. She is determined to do better this time, to make them work, but outside forces as well as the scars the two have left on each other weave their way into their reconciliation. Will they be able to overcome the past and new threats to their sustainability? Words: 3,076 Warnings (for the fic in entirety): Extreme angst, domestic violence, smut, unprotected sex, dom/sub dynamics, BDSM trust breaking, fluff, language, alcohol abuse, !!! eventual !!! happiness

Chap 6 || Chap 8 || Fanfic masterpost || Masterpost (mobile)

Sam walked in with Dean and you locked eyes only briefly before turning your gaze back to Castiel.

“He’s here. Longer hair,” you said quietly, barely audible above the music. Castiel threw a glance in his general direction and cocked an eyebrow. “I know, I know.”

“He’s coming,” Castiel warned you quietly, before saying at a normal volume to not arise suspicion, “This should be a fun night though for you guys.”

Suddenly, Sam was at your side. He had switched his jacket out for a button up cardigan over his dress shirt, his tie gone. It made him stick out in this bar, but you knew that was his attempt at dressing down.

“What are you ordering?” he asked you, leaning in close. You guessed he was purposely ignoring Castiel; he was good at making people feel invisible.

Castiel was staring at Sam, a piqued expression that only you would be able to recognize. It was not exactly a tight-lipped smile but close to it.

“Uh, I haven’t yet. I was just talking to Cas,” you said, gesturing at him standing opposite the bar.

Turning his attention to Castiel, Sam gave a nod of acknowledgment. “Sam,” he said, holding out his hand. “Worked with Y/N back in Austin.”

Castiel, thankfully, knew to play it cool. He reached out, taking Sam’s hand in turn, giving it a shake. The two of them held on a couple seconds longer than necessary, eyes piercing the other.

“I’ve heard,” was all Castiel said calmly in return.

You did not miss the slight raised brow Sam displayed at Castiel’s comment, no doubt wondering how much Castiel knew. He brushed the comment off quickly though.

“What are you going to order then, Y/N?”

“Probably a double whiskey with diet,” Castiel answered for you, throwing you a small smirk. He picked up the glass and went to work without waiting for you to confirm. It was your go to, that was correct. But you knew he was trying to prove a point to Sam by not even asking you. He knew you better, he wanted Sam to know that.

“Hmm. Whiskey,” Sam said surprised, rising his brows in surprise. “Far different than all the Paloma’s I’ve seen you down. Too many too count.”

Castiel snorted, drawing Sam’s attention. “What? Was she trying to get wasted? Y/N can’t handle her tequila very well.” He placed your whiskey in front of you.

Giving a small nervous laugh at their surreptitious shots at the other, you said, “Yeah, that’s true. But I paced myself.”

“Sometimes,” Sam quipped. You narrowed your eyes slightly at him and he chuckled. “Sorry. Right, you never got drunk. Ever.” He winked at Castiel across the bar. “I’ll take a Tom Collins.” You made a disgusted face and Sam chided you, “Yeah, yeah. I know. You hate gin.”

“Thanks,” Sam told Castiel. “I’ll see you at the table then, Y/N.”

Sam turned and left your side. When you met Castiel’s eyes again, he cocked a brow.

“I have a lot of questions,” he told you before walking off to take someone else’s order. You waited for him to return after a few minutes and cut in quickly.

“I know, I know. He’s pretentious.”

“You could say that again. What is he even wearing?”

You laughed a little and said, “That is him – and Dean, to be honest – trying to be casual. I can assure you.”

“So… not what I would expect from you.”

“There’s probably a reason why it didn’t work out.”

“I can think of a couple reasons, actually,” Castiel responded, throwing a glance over at where your coworkers were sitting.

Snorting, you nodded in agreement, “I know.” You took a drink of your whiskey and raised your glass half heartedly to him. “Here goes nothing. I can’t promise he will behave himself, but I’ll do my damndest to stay away.”

“Don’t think that’s possible with the seating arrangement at the table now. Looks like the only empty seat is next to him,” Castiel said sounding sour.

“Of course,” you muttered, turning around, and seeing what he said was true. You forced yourself to walk towards the table.

Playing it cool, you thanked Sam when he pulled the chair out from beside him to allow you to sit down.

“I ordered a couple of baskets of fries for the table and some deep-fried pickles,” Charlie informed you. “I told everyone that the burger is solid but if they are looking to be adventurous, that tater tot pizza is also good.”

“How much did you eat last time you were here?” Dean asked jokingly.

“Oh, shove it. I’ve been here a couple times with Y/N. It wasn’t all in one shot,” Charlie returned. “Thankfully, they live upstairs and I was able to crash on the couch one time! Don’t judge me, Tara, it was on a Friday!”

Tara held up her hands, “I wasn’t going to. I know you’re responsible.”

“Upstairs?” Sam questioned you.

You nodded, “Yeah. The floor above. It’s convenient.”

“Very,” Tara agreed and then asked, “But, do you not get sleep sometimes?”

“It’s fine most of the week. Fridays and Saturdays are a little wild, but I’m used to it. It’s nothing new. I’ll finally fall asleep in the early morning and can sleep in.”

“I would indulge so much in bar food, I would probably gain fifty pounds,” Charlie joked.

“Same,” your coworker Sahir agreed, raising his glass to which him and Charlie took a quick drink.

“I make sure that doesn’t happen. I meal plan,” you assured her. “It’s one thing I had to set right when I moved in. He was eating like absolute shit. I told him no one really likes quinoa, but his body will thank him.”

“Ew, gross,” Charlie said, her nose scrunching. “I hate quinoa.”

“It’s a power food, Charlie,” Sam told her.

“Don’t care.”

“I gotta agree with Sam and Y/N. Although, still with you, Charlie. I don’t like it but sometimes you gotta suck it up and play chess, not checkers, with your health,” Tara chimed in.

“Exactly!” Sam agreed. He turned his attention to you and asked, “You still on that 5 on, 2 off?”

He was referring to the exercise program you had been on while in Austin. One that he had strongly encouraged to get yourself in shape, something that was extremely personally important to him. You knew you could never be as fit or healthy as him and had tried to please him for a while.

Shrugging, you said, “More like… 3 to 4 on… maybe one of those days being yoga only. To keep flexibility.” Charlie snorted into her drink and you cocked your head. Sahir and Jennifer laughed as well and you demanded, “What?”

“Just… I make everything sexual,” Charlie laughed.

“Jesus, Charlie,” Tara said, but smirking despite herself.

Charlie apologized whilst laughing.

The food was delivered, more drinks, and even more jokes shared. Sam was leaning in close the whole time, his eyes roaming freely and Castiel was most certainly keeping an eye on you across the bar. You tried to stay straight up, not leaning yourself towards Sam while still maintaining a calm demeanor. Sam, outwardly, was not seeming to notice.

Your attention was drawn to the door as you saw Aspen walk in and you suppressed the urge to roll your eyes. All you needed tonight was her flaunting herself around Castiel when you were already high strung. You knew it was normal for her to go to the bar for a drink, but you knew it was Castiel she was aiming for.

Sam’s arm slipped around your shoulders, drawing your attention back.

<> <> <>

“Hey, Cas,” Aspen chirped, leaning on the bar.

Castiel greeted her and asked how she had been since he had not seen her since the first night Y/N had come back. He was not surprised considering the air in which she had left in.

Holding out her credit card, Aspen said, “My regular, I think, to start out.”

When she looked back was the moment Sam’s arm slipped around Y/N’s shoulders. He pulled her towards him, close in proximity. Aspen rose her brows in surprise and looked back at Castiel who was placing her drink down in front of her.

“Wow, uh, who’s with Y/N?”

Castiel’s gaze moved over to the table and his jaw tightened when he saw Sam’s arm around her. Y/N was forcing a smile as she spoke to him.

“Coworker,” Castiel answered tightly.

“Oh…” Aspen trailed off, throwing another look over her shoulder. “All of them coworkers?”

“Yes.”

“They close…?”

Castiel pierced her with a stare and said, “I’m assuming you want your tab open?”

Aspen switched gears, nodding. “Yep. I’ll be here awhile. Maureen agreed to drive me home… if need be.”

“How kind of her,” Castiel chuckled lightly, purposely ignoring her insinuation.

<> <> <>

“Remember when Larson fell down those stairs outside The Outlook?” Sam asked you, his fingers pressing into your shoulder.

“Unfortunately,” you answered, smiling, trying to keep yourself from jerking away from his embrace.

“You tried so hard to get him to stop drinking. I mean, we all did. But it did fuck all to stop it.”

“Was he injured?” Dean asked, raising his brows.

Sam laughed, “Surprisingly, no! I don’t know how he just tucked and rolled, like his body was reacting defensively even in his state. The man could barely order a new drink. And that’s when the bartender was like, ‘nope, no more’. And cut the whole group off because they were afraid someone else would order him a drink and give it to him. Ruined our whole night. Well, momentarily.”

You stiffened then. That night was the first night the two of you had hooked up. That was the sole reason he had brought it up.

“The night continued after that for the rest of us after we got his drunk ass to bed.”

You noticed Castiel approaching the table. Thinking he was going to table touch, you asked Charlie quickly, “You want a refill?”

“Duh,” she said and then noticed Castiel. “Oh, hey! Perfect! Can I get a refill?”

Castiel gave a curt laugh and said, “When I get back. I’m on break. Y/N? Wanna come outside with me?”

“Oh, yeah,” you said quickly. You saw Sam watching you out of the corner of your eye as you pushed your chair back, his arm leaving you, and grabbed your jacket. “Don’t you need your coat? It’s chilly.”

“I’ll grab it on the way out,” Castiel responded as you came up to him. His arm slipped around you, guiding you away from the table. His hand was tight on your waist, protective.

Castiel did not take you outside. Instead, he led you to the back room and you followed his lead, a weight pulling down inside. You knew he was not pleased with how he was acting. As soon as he closed the door behind the two of you and locked it, he turned to face you. Getting in your face, he did not miss a beat.

“He’s been laying his hands on you all night.”

Throwing your hands out in defeat, you said, “I’ve tried skirting away, Cas. I can’t do that too much without making a scene though.”

“You’re not trying hard enough.”

Your mouth fell open.

<> <> <>

“Charlie,” Maureen greeted approaching the table, two shots in hand as Tara, Sahir, and Jennifer went out for a smoke.

Charlie straightened up, a smile on her face. “Oh, hello! Maureen, right?”

Maureen nodded and said, “Just spotted you across the bar and thought I would pop by to say hi. We did have a good few rounds last time!”

Smirking, Charlie said, “I kind of remember.” This caused Maureen to laugh, as well as the other people at the table.

“I just thought I would bring this over for you. Rum, right?”

“Oh, yeah. You got that for me?” Charlie asked surprised.

Maureen nodded, “You bought me one last time and I did not reciprocate. I hold pretty strong convictions about that. Speaking of which, I saw Y/N and Cas leaving out the back. He’s not off work yet, is he? He still owes me a shot since someone spilled mine at last call last time I was here, and I won’t be able to cash in without him.”

Charlie shook her head, “No, he went on his break and asked Y/N to go with him.”

Maureen snorted, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come back flush.”

Sam’s jaw clenched ever so slightly.

“They always had their ways in the past.”

Charlie let out a laugh, “Oh, do tell.”

“Just leaving to go… relieve themselves.”

“Maybe we should not pry into our coworker’s business,” Sam advised Charlie sharply.

Charlie stumbled a little at his change in demeanor, “Oh… right.”

Maureen smirked at Sam and said, “It’s not quiet business in this bar. Castiel has owned this bar for years… him and Y/N are old news. Them being back together scared a lot of people. It was a nightmare half the time to be honest. But… they seem to have grown up. Sigh of relief there.”

Sam straightened up at this comment. “How do you mean?”

“Just drunken fights, a couple cop calls. Break up, break off. They were young and stupid. Can’t say I wasn’t the same myself.”

Charlie was the one now becoming uncomfortable for her friend. “Oh, well… I mean, the past is the past.”

“The past does inform the future,” Sam quipped, and Dean nodded in agreement.

<> <> <>

You snapped, “I told you what happened between us and where he stands in my company. He’s not just some… schmuck! He’s a junior partner!”

Shaking his head, Castiel said, “Junior partner or not…” He trailed off, beginning to walk forward, forcing you to go backwards. “He needs to know where you stand with me! You apparently need to be reminded too.”

Castiel turned you around in a swift movement and pushed you chest first into the wall, pinning an arm behind your back. You gasped his name, trying to look back at him but he kept you firmly in place.

“I am just reminding you who you belong to,” he growled into your ear.

Your breath shuddered, feeling his hands grasp the hem of your dress, yanking it up to your hips. Slipping his fingers into your underwear, he stroked your lips.

“I pay attention to you, Y/N. I treat you right,” Castiel breathed as he played with your sex. “I dote on you, angel. Don’t I?”

“Yes, sir,” you answered.

You keened as he worked you up, fingers slipping inside to caress you. You pressed back against him, begging for more. His grip tightened on your wrist, holding you more firmly in place and you stilled your movement, following his direction. You stood there, letting him rile you up, biting your lip.

“Look at you… so needy,” he said breathlessly. You could hear the want in his voice, feel his fingers move more freely, coated in your arousal. He leaned forward to be closer to your face. “Are you needy, angel?”

“Yes, sir. Only for you,” you told him obediently, giving him pleading eyes.

Castiel kissed your temple and praised, “I know, baby.”

Pulling away, his fingers left you to pull your underwear down and you kicked them off in tandem. His cock slid in easily in your wet folds. He sighed in content, his hands gripping your waist as he fully seated inside you.

“That’s my girl,” he purred.

His fingers dug in as he drove into you, taking you against the wall. You stayed sturdy, holding on. He drove up sharply into you again and you bit down on your cheeks.

Kissing up your neck, Castiel demanded, “You gonna do better for me? Let them know who you belong to?”

“Yes,” you said.

“Angel, don’t make me have to work harder for this,” he warned, his breath hot on your neck.

“Yes, sir.”

“Mhm, you’re not saying that with too much conviction. You’re too quiet,” He squeezed your nipple hard, causing you to keen loudly before burying your face into the wall, fingers digging in beside you. “We can do better than that, can’t we?”

His fingers closed in around your jawline, pulling your head to the side, you following his movement obediently. He wanted your mouth exposed, your noises to be heard.

You nodded quickly, saying louder, “Yes, sir!”

Castiel drove deep and quick, bouncing you against the wall. “I know you can do better. You’re so beautiful. I love hearing you scream for me.”

“I belong to you!” you declared, knowing damn well anyone walking outside the room could hear the two of you. He was jeopardizing his place of work for this. What rumors would fly of people being railed in rooms in the bar. “Fuck me, please! Let me cum!”

Castiel laughed, nipping at your ear. “Angel, you can’t help yourself, can you?”

His speed increased, his hand falling from your face to come to your nub, circling fervently. He praised you, laying sloppy kisses along the side of your head. You whimpered as you came undone beneath his hand, your legs shaking with your orgasm. Castiel held you upright, allowing him access to finish himself.

Panting, you settled against the wall, basking in the coolness of it against your hot skin. Castiel pulled away eventually, leaving you exposed behind. The cool air was welcome, and you continued resting to regain your grounding.

When you had the strength, you reached for a roll of paper towels to clean yourself up. And then pulled your underwear back up, straightening out your clothes.

Turning to face him, you found him looking well put together again, beside his hair. He was trying to tame it, running his hands through it.

He eyed you and informed you, “I’m not losing my temper with him because I know how much you love your job and how important it is to you.”

You took this in, nodding. He was telling you this for a reason. In the past, he would not have hesitated to make a scene without care for consequence.

Coming closer, he cupped your face, pulling you in for a long, deep kiss. “Now that we’ve got that out of our system… we ready to go back out there?”

~~~

CASTIEL FOREVER TAGS: @willowing-love @perseusandmedusa @greenappleeyes @afanofmanystuffs @earthtokace @shikaros-blog @marisayouass @splendidcas @stixnstripesworld

#castiel x reader #spn fanfic #supernatural fic #sam winchester x reader #my shit

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calenheniel · 5 years ago

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Queen of the Ashes, a frozen fanfic | Part IV

Frozen | Alternate Universe | Hans x Elsa | Romance, Drama | T+

They met as children, each with a secret. Plagued by tragedy, their paths meet again many years later, and their secrets are unraveled.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Updates: #QueenoftheAshesFrozen

Author’s Note: This fic is probably going to end up being 7-8 parts in total in draft form. I may then go back and re-edit to have it published in 4-5 longer chapters. Anyway, I don’t want to say anything else. Happy quarantine reading!

»»————-　❈　————-««

IV.

She awoke the next morning to a vicious headache, groaning at the sunlight streaming through her window.

Every scene from the night before came into clear focus, and she swore at herself for refusing to drink, wishing that she could forget certain conversations.

I wouldn’t joke about something like this.

She rolled over, stuffing her face in her pillows, trying to block out the sound of his voice.

I wanted to be honest with you, Elsa.

She raised herself up on her hands in a huff, marching over to her closet and throwing the doors open with a burst of wintry wind. She regretted it as soon as she saw her clothes covered in a dusting of snow, and brushed it off while muttering to herself, the headache unabating.

Just as she finished changing, a knock on the door made her jump, and her newly-made crown nearly fell from her hands.

“Your Majesty? It’s Gerda,” said the voice of a servant on the other side. “Breakfast is ready for you. The princess is already at the table.”

The queen almost dropped the crown again, blinking. “Anna is… at breakfast? Already?”

The older woman creaked the door open a little to smile at her queen. “Yes, Your Majesty. With one of your guests, I believe.”

She turned red from her face down to her hands, still uncovered, and her mouth dropped open, then shut again, before she could manage to reply. “I see. Thank you for telling me,” she said, and quickly slid on her gloves. With trembling hands, she secured her crown atop her head. “I’ll be down shortly.”

“I’ll let them know,” the servant said, curtsying and closing the door.

The queen leaned against her bedpost, shaking her head. A frown spread across her features and remained there even as she left the room, taking long and angry – but still outwardly composed – strides through the hall and down the staircase.

She stopped just before the entryway to the private dining room, and took a deep breath, knowing what waited for her if she turned the corner.

I can promise you that it’s not Anna I’m after.

She shifted her frown into a neutral expression with some effort, swallowing, and stepped forward.

Her headache was gone.

»» —— ««

“Elsa! We’ve been here for a while. I thought maybe you decided to sleep in, for once.”

Her sister’s exclamation forced the queen to present a smile, though her nose wrinkled as she did. “Yes,” she replied dryly. She ignored the other person in the room even as he rose and bowed to acknowledge her entrance. “How the tables have turned.”

Her sister laughed at the remark until she snorted, and the prince sat down again. “She’s saying that because I’m never up this early,” the princess explained to their guest, grinning. “Elsa’s always back at work by the time I make it downstairs.”

Her smile dipped a little at this last comment, though the prince was quick to reply: “Is she?” He looked up at the young queen, who was taking her seat at the head of the table when their eyes finally met. “I can see that.”

She stared daggers back at him until he turned away. “I feel very fortunate to have been invited to a private breakfast with you two,” he continued, bowing his head. “It’s been a long time since I shared a meal with family,” he said, smiling sadly, “or something like family.”

Her lip twitched at the comment, and she could barely restrain a scowl as her sister pressed a sympathetic hand to his. “Well you have us, now,” the princess assured him, “and you can join us for breakfast or for any other meal whenever you like.”

Irritation crackled through the queen’s spine. “Anna…” she said, “I don’t think—”

“Don’t worry, Elsa,” her sister interrupted. “I already told Hans he’s welcome to stay with us in the castle as long as he likes, so he doesn’t have to go back home so soon.”

Her mouth went limp. “As long as he likes,” she repeated, oblivious to the servants placing her meal down in front of her.

“Yep,” her sister said, smiling. “Won’t it be great to have him around? Up until yesterday, we haven’t had anyone else here in the longest time,” she said, adding in a gentler way: “I know it’ll be a change from what we’re used to, but… isn’t change good, sometimes, too?”

She gripped her silverware hard enough to feel them start to ice over, and then she exhaled, compelling herself to nod politely in agreement. “It can be,” she forced the words out, and then looked at the prince, her gaze hollow. “And has our guest agreed to stay?”

He matched the princess’s smile. “Yes, at least for the next two weeks of festivities,” he replied, standing to bow. “Or as long as you’ll both have me.”

She gestured for him to sit again, and turned to her sister. “We should talk about this later,” she said. “Anyway, please keep eating, or the food will get cold.”

The princess pouted but went back to buttering her toast, eyeing her sister with caution in the silence.

The queen refused to meet the look, finding her gaze torn between her breakfast – which she had no appetite for – and the prince, who ate his meal with patient precision, his utensils hardly making noise as they touched the plate.

At length, she cleared her throat to get his attention. “So,” she began, tapping her nails against her glass of water, “what were you two talking about, before I arrived?”

“I was just—”

“We were mostly just talking about that time he visited when we were kids,” her sister interjected, looking relieved to be speaking again. “He was reminding me about a lot that I had forgotten.”

She swallowed, her stomach turning just as it had the night before. “Did he?” she asked. “And what did you remind her of, Hans?”

“Just the games we used to play together—or rather,” he corrected himself, “of the games I used to watch the two of you play, while I skulked off to the corner.” He chuckled. “I was really so unfriendly back then. It’s a wonder you two were still so kind to me in spite of it.”

Suspicion laced her stare as her sister giggled at the memory. “Yeah, you were a little on the antisocial side. But you did help us with those puzzle sets that I hated, and I almost got to dress you up in one of Elsa’s gowns that one time, before you ran away.”

As they laughed, the queen watched their exchange between small bites of her meal. Observing how her sister’s sunny, bright disposition was unflinching throughout, she wondered if her deeper fears were unfounded.

“But you told us that really good story that one time, about a kid who could… make fire? Or something like that.” The princess shook her head with a smile. “You had a good imagination for such a sourpuss.”

He looked embarrassed at the comment. “Oh, that? I’m surprised you remember it,” he replied. “I just made it up on the spot, actually. It wasn’t from a book, or anything like that.”

“I knew it!” the princess proclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Even as a kid. I mean, I don’t really remember it that well, but…” She trailed off, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I think I was upset because you didn’t give us a good ending, or something like that.”

His smile flinched for a second. “No, I didn’t.” He sat up taller. “But enough about me. What about you two? Are you still getting into any trouble, these days?”

“Us? Trouble?” the princess replied. “No. Not really.” She forked a morsel of smoked salmon over to the side of her plate. “Not in a while.”

The two sisters exchanged a long look at this, and the elder coughed to break it. “Not for a long time,” she agreed, and took another sip of water. She shot the prince a dark look. “We can’t afford to get into trouble.”

“Well, Elsa can’t, anyway, now that she’s queen. Me, on the other hand? I do all sorts of crazy stuff,” her sister said in a conspiratorial way, smirking. She added in just above a whisper: “I just do it behind the scenes, you know? So it’s not obvious.”

“Right,” said her older sister, her blonde brow rising. “It’s not obvious at all when you’re riding a bicycle in the hallway, whooping as you go.”

“Okay, well, a little obvious.”

The two shared a genuine laugh at this, which lasted until the queen remembered the presence of a third party at the table. She cleaned her lips self-consciously with a delicate dab from her napkin, and when she looked up, she noticed him staring at her.

Her face flushed. “I should be going now,” she said suddenly, “as I have some work to attend to.” She forced her head to turn towards her sister. “And I believe you have a meeting with the French ambassador and his party starting in a few minutes, don’t you?”

The princess slid down in her chair with a groan. “I forgot about that,” she sighed. “Can’t we take the day off? Your coronation was only yesterday, and—”

“No, Anna, we can’t,” she cut in with a stern tone, though her skin was still tinged red, feeling his eyes on her. “And besides,” she continued, “it’ll be an opportunity to put your French lessons to good use. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

“I guess,” her sister muttered, crossing her arms and sliding down the chair further. “If I have to.”

The queen held in a chuckle, her attention finally returning to the prince. “And you…” she paused, uneasy.

He glanced down at the napkin on the table next to her plate, and then back up at her. “I’ll find some way to occupy myself, I’m sure,” he offered, smiling in the same, unnerving way he had all morning. “Should you deign to have me at another meal, I would be honored to join.”

“The library,” she said suddenly, wearing a thin smile. “We have an extensive collection; I think you might like it in there.” After a beat, she explained: “If I recall, you were quite the bookworm when we were children.”

He nodded, a little taken aback. “Yes, and still am,” he said. “I’ll go there, then. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

She did not like his manners –the overtness of his looks, the presumption of another invitation to dinner, the use of her formal title – but, for her sister’s sake, she smiled and nodded as she rose from the table. The prince and princess followed, curtsying and bowing to her as she left.

As she reached and then ascended the staircase, her heart pounded so loudly in her ribcage that she could hear little else.

»» —— ««

The presence of the dignitaries at court meant that the queen could not avoid in-person meetings as before, and her morning was soon occupied by one foreign sycophant after the other. Each was more eager than the last to make an impression on the mysterious young queen, with more than one unsubtle mention of marriage prospects and suitable candidates.

Forced to endure their suggestions, she was at pains to smile through the conversations, and often tried to change topics to trade, politics, architecture, or really anything else. She snuck a curious glance in the direction of the library whenever she got a chance, and her nose would wrinkle a little each time she did, remembering who was inside.

When the last meeting with the Spanish ambassador had drawn to a close – she ended it early after the words “Prince Diego, a fine young man” had left his lips – she took a small lunch in her bedroom and walked directly to her guest’s place of temporary exile, finding that her feet were leading her there before her head could protest.

She was unsurprised to find her sister with the prince, sitting at a table with a large book of maps open between them. He pointed at locations while the princess commented between bites of her sandwich; his handkerchief being empty, the queen surmised that he had eaten his already.

“Ahem,” she said to announce her entrance, and the prince leapt up from his seat, bowing.

Her sister merely waved, gesturing for her to come over with a mouth full of food. “Elsa! Come and look at this. Hans has been showing me where he’s traveled with the Navy.”

She frowned a little as she approached them. “You know you’re not supposed to eat in here,” she scolded.

“Sorry,” the princess apologized, grinning sheepishly, and stuffed the remainder of the sandwich in her face.

This earned her an eye-roll from the queen, who nonetheless took a seat next to her, staring at the prince with feigned interest. “So you’ve traveled,” she said.

“Yes,” he replied, smiling as he took his seat. He smoothed his bare hands out over the pages, pointing at the North Sea. “I was just telling the princess about my last trip to Scotland on duty, some years ago. We were out on a naval exercise and got caught in a bad storm with crazy winds. I was lucky to—”

He paused when he noticed that both sisters looked uncomfortable at his tale, their gazes turned down. Realizing his faux pas, he sat back with an embarrassed look. “I’m so sorry,” he said, “I didn’t think—”

“It’s fine,” the queen snapped, eyeing her sister with some worry. When the princess nodded back, she repeated in a calmer way: “It’s fine. You were saying?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, “it wasn’t a good story, anyway.”

A silence settled upon the group until the princess broke it, remarking: “But his other trips sounded wonderful! He mentioned one to France, where he stayed out so late he missed his cleaning duties the next morning on the ship.”

She giggled, and he chuckled in return. “It wasn’t funny at the time, when I was sure I’d be whipped,” he commented, “but I was able to squeeze out of that scrape, fortunately.”

The queen smiled. “It’s good to be a prince, isn’t it?” she remarked, a hint of smugness in her tone. At his furrowed brow, she peeked at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room behind him. Seeing the time, her eyes lifted. “Oh, Anna,” she said to her sister, “isn’t it time for your music lesson?”

The princess blinked, following the queen’s eyes to the clock, and then sighed. “Yeah, it is,” she admitted, dragging herself up from the table with a frown. She patted down her dress, and looked at her older sister with pleading eyes. “Can this be the last of it today? I told Hans we could have tea together later.”

She inhaled, and then relented. “Fine,” she agreed, then added more gently: “You’ve been very helpful these last few weeks, Anna. Thank you.”

The princess beamed at this praise, nodding. “Of course, Elsa. I just want to help where I can.”

The two sisters curtsied to one another, and just before the younger one left the room, she grinned at their guest. “I’ll see you later, Hans. But don’t you dare eat any of the chocolate eclairs without me!”

He smiled back at her. “I’ll try not to, Your Highness.”

She flashed him a suspicious look before finally exiting, and he laughed a little when the door closed after her, eyeing the queen with a curious stare. “Does she really have a lesson,” he asked, “or was that just an excuse to get her out of the room?”

She frowned. “She always has music lessons on Mondays at one. Not everyone has ulterior motives like you, Hans.” Her gaze narrowed at him before turning to the table, and she brushed off the remaining crumbs from her sister’s sandwich into her palm with a sigh. “She brought you lunch, I presume?”

He folded the handkerchief, calmly following her lead. “I thought I’d made my motives quite clear last night,” he replied, “and yes. She was kind enough to bring it to me.” After they had both finished cleaning the table, he shut the book and placed it under his arm, meeting her eyes with one raised eyebrow. “I’m surprised you haven’t sent me away yet.”

She gestured for him to lead them as he walked to the original location of the book, following him with a straight and stiff posture. “I wanted to, when I heard you were at breakfast with her, but…” She swallowed. “Then I saw how you two were getting along this morning, plus just now, and I—well, I couldn’t just throw you out of the castle in front of her.” Her frown returned. “But you knew that would happen, didn’t you?”

He paused in their travels to turn around and look at her, his smile cautious enough to invite suspicion, but not confirm it. “You really don’t trust me at all, do you?” he asked. “I can’t say I blame you; I haven’t really earned it yet.” He didn’t aver his eyes from hers. “I was prepared to leave this morning, but Anna insisted I join her. And, remembering that you wanted to tell her yourself that I was leaving, well…” He shrugged and turned back around, continuing his walk between the library’s endless, tall shelves. “I didn’t want to disobey your orders, Elsa.”

She stood stunned for a moment, and then stomped after him, her arms crossed. “How convenient for you,” she hissed as she caught up to him, and then added with a crinkled brow: “And where did you find that book? I haven’t seen it before.”

He stifled a laugh. “The stacks at the end,” he informed her. “Reminds me of the library at home.” He continued after a beat: “I spent a lot of time in there, growing up.”

In spite of her reservations, the queen replied: “I did too, in here.”

He peeked at her over his shoulder, tapping the volume under his arm. “Then I’m surprised you didn’t recognize this.”

She glared at him. “I haven’t read every book in here—just most of them,” she retorted. “Nautical maps weren’t exactly my favorite.”

They arrived at their destination a moment later, and he smiled at her as he slipped the book back into place. “Then what is it that the Queen of Arendelle likes to read?”

She reddened. “History of architecture, mostly,” she mumbled, her arms relaxing a little, “and fiction, from time to time. Everything else I read out of boredom, or because—”

“You were told to?” he finished, and she frowned. “Yes, I’m familiar with that kind of reading, too.”

Their gazes met in the pause that followed, and her cheeks grew redder upon realizing how closely they were standing to each other. “Anyway,” she began, stepping back from him, “I… I’m not going to ask you to leave. Not yet.”

He blinked. “Oh?”

She pursed her lips. “Not because I want you to stay, of course,” she continued. “It’s for Anna. She hasn’t had anyone to talk to in a long time outside of me, and I’m not exactly the most thrilling company.” The redness in her features had not abated, though her face softened as she admitted: “I haven’t seen her this happy in a while, and I don’t want to take that away from her.”

Before he could chime in, she continued: “She does seem taken with you, to be sure, but… knowing Anna, if she liked you in that way, she’d have told me so already, and probably in dramatic fashion.” Something in-between a smile and a cringe touched her expression. “Thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet, so I’m inclined to believe that the connection you two share is… innocent, for lack of a better word.” Her gaze was penetrating as she added: “And it must remain so.”

He bowed his head. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he assured her. “I’m just grateful to know that you’re starting to believe me when I say as much.”

Reminded of what he had told her the night prior, she sucked in a breath, her stare still wary. “Right,” she rejoined. “Because your designs are on me, not Anna.”

“‘Designs’ makes it sound so… villainous,” he remarked, sighing.

“Is that so?” she scoffed. “Then which term, exactly, would you prefer me to use?”

“Just…” he started, and then leaned his elbow against the shelf, his hand brushing against a divider. His gaze grew more focused on her. “Interest.”

“Interest,” she repeated. She glanced at his hand dangling a few feet away from her, his bare skin unnerving her again. “The kind of interest that leads you to sit on the throne, I presume.”

“It’s not about that,” he replied so quickly as to catch her off-guard. “You said it yourself last night: if I really wanted a crown and nothing else, I could’ve had that already.”

“Then what is it, Hans?” she asked. “What makes your ‘interest’ in me so different from all of that?”

He looked down at her crossed arms, and she followed his stare; when she realized the meaning in it, her skin flushed anew, and she aligned her hands to her sides.

“You know, I thought it was strange, at first,” he began, cocking his head to the side, “how Anna never mentioned anything, in all our conversations over the last two days. I would’ve thought that she’d speak of nothing else, remembering how enthusiastic she was about it when we were children.” He stared at her in a thoughtful way. “Not to mention that shock of white hair she has now, which I can’t recall her having before.”

At her silence, he resumed his speech. “But then I remembered the news of how the castle in Arendelle had suddenly been closed off, and how, for years afterwards, no one had seen either of you in person. I thought at the time that it might’ve been related to what I saw here, as a boy, but I couldn’t be sure, and I…” He shifted in his stance. “Well, I had my own problems to deal with back then, and couldn’t spend as much time theorizing about it as I would’ve liked to.” He paused. “Talking to Anna, and then seeing you again, all those old ideas came back to me. I tried to bring it up with her in a roundabout way last night when we were in the gallery, after almost an hour of discussing our favorite kinds of sandwiches and chocolates, but she just gave me an odd look.”

She swallowed. “What did you ask her, exactly?”

“If you two were still building snowmen in there,” he answered, and her shoulders rose nearly to her ears. “She said, ‘how could we build them indoors?’ So I didn’t pry further.” He studied her red face and trembling hands. “I thought perhaps she was protecting you, but… given how chatty she is about everything else, I guessed that wasn’t it, either.”

His tone was calm but directed as he continued: “Then, I saw it at breakfast – when you were gripping your fork and knife – and when she didn’t even notice it, that confirmed for me that whatever is going on, I wasn’t going to find out from her.”

She bit her lip to keep it from quivering, but did not reply, staring at the ground.

“So I’ve been wondering, Elsa: what happened?”

She watched him take one step closer, and sucked in a breath, her head snapping up. Tears stung at her eyes. “I—” she started to say, but her reply was cut short by her own, erratic breathing. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

His gaze softened. “It’s all right. You can tell me.”

She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” he offered. “I might understand it better than you think.”

“How could you?” she shot back at him, a deep frown etching itself onto her lips. “You don’t know what it was like to be alone for all these years, to have to lie to your only sister, to not even be able to hug your own mother and father before they—”

She cut off her speech before she could finish, placing her face in her hands.

“Elsa.”

A familiar voice and a warm hand on her shoulder roused her from her misery, and she looked up, half-expecting to see her father again.

Instead, she was greeted by a pale-faced prince who held her steady with his hands on her arms, and when she had gathered her senses about her, she stepped back out of his grasp, faintly aware of the traces of snowflakes still stuck to her dress.

She passed a gloved hand over her face. “I hurt her, Hans,” she said in a small, quiet voice. “I hurt her.”

“How?”

Her hand dropped to her side, though she still would not look at him. “It happened a couple years after you visited,” she murmured. “I struck her in the head by accident while we were playing, and… everything changed, after that.” Her jaw tensed. “By some strange creature’s magic, she was made to forget what happened—not just on that night, but on all the other nights before. Anything related to my—”

She could not bring herself to say it, her voice coming out as a croak when she next spoke. “She thinks she was born with that streak of white hair.” She touched the spines of some of the books on the shelf next to them with shaking fingers. “She doesn’t know, because she doesn’t remember. But I do.”

He was quiet for a long while, venturing to speak only when the temperature had become more bearable. “It’s not just your powers that she doesn’t remember, Elsa.”

At his comment, she finally looked at him, bemused. “What do you mean?”

He brushed a snowflake from his shoulder, and watched it melt in the air before looking back at her.

“If she was made to forget who you were,” he replied, “then how can she know who you are, now?”

#helsa #frozen #frozen fanfiction #QueenoftheAshesFrozen #iceburns

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missingmywing · 5 years ago

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Let Us Embrace Whatever It May Bring

@boomchickfanfiction this was inspired largely because I randomly remembered your 30-day challenge, went back to reread them, and rediscover your D&D au. And then got seriously inspired by the remake because I’ve got this colossal D&D universe that I’ve never written or posted anything for. Which is a shame.

So, thanks for reinspiring me!

(Potential spoilers for FFVIIR)

(Link to headcanon post on this; here!)

. . . . .

“They’re going to be so confused.”

“Of course they are, that’s what makes it fun!”

“Cloud is going to hate us.”

“Oh, he is not. Admit it, he’s going to be so excited to bring back the goofy try-hard jackass from the original story. He’s been irritated at what Strife’s slowly turned into across the multiverse, all because he actually payed attention in Intro to Psychology and accidentally took the “play to reality” character type a bit too literally. A hard reset is exactly what he needs, bonus points when he realizes where we’re going with this.”

“Which, hopefully, won’t be until the end of the first part of the campaign.” Sephiroth sent Aerith a pointed look. “We’ll have to be careful not to give them too much to work with too soon.”

“Tell that to the DMs,” she shot back, nudging her cousin with a grin. “Who’s heading it this time? Angeal was the main one last time, even with your parents helping him out, but are we going back to that?”

“Time travel isn’t Angeal’s usual forte,” Sephiroth conceded, “but that adventure was very much his. I’m not willing to take that from him unless he’s an actual player this time. Which, considering where we’re starting the timeline, he can’t be. Not with his own character, at least.”

“That is true,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair to stretch. “I definitely agree; it was his and he really owned it. I know Auntie was super impressed.”

“Yes, yes, mother is very supportive of dragging people into nerdom. It’s why she and Gen get along so well.”

“And that they share a nickname?” she grinned.

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. “That too. So, how are we going to pitch this without arousing suspicion?”

“‘Hey, why don’t we see if we can keep Aerith alive this time?’”

He sent her a deeply unimpressed look.

“I know it may come as a shock, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you, y’know.”

“This one does!” she shot back with a brilliant grin. “Now help me figure out how to set this up so no one realises that we’re literally resetting the timeline.”

. . .

“Hot damn we actually got everyone here,” Barret looked around, impressed, at the barely-contained chaos of people reuniting, getting food and drinks, and discussing storylines.

“I didn’t actually expect everyone to show up when I sent out that message,” Aerith admitted. “I mean, I did send out the call for Avalanche specifically, even if everyone was invited.”

“What, ya’ thought we wouldn’t show up to a new campaign for this story?” Reno asked with a grin, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “Everyone shows up for the first and final sessions, even if they don’t participate. C’mon Aer, this is our baby. We all wanna know what new adventure awaits us on the distant land of Gaia.”

“Yeah, who’s getting possessed this time?!” Zack called across the room with a grin. “Do I finally get to come back to life for good? Does Cloud finally die for good? Do he and Seph finally bone in-game?!”

“No, that was Dissidia,” Cloud corrected with a grin, and laughter rang through the rooms.

“Oh boy, that campaign,” Genesis grinned, elbowing Sephiroth.

“You weren’t even there,” Sephiroth protested, elbowing him back with a smile.

Angeal shook his head from where he and Jenova were setting up the table. “That’s what you get for live-streaming it.”

“It was a fantastic campaign,” Jenova assured them. “Full kudos to your DMs, they did a fantastic job juggling everything and showing how young their gods were last time, especially in comparison to Cosmos and Chaos from the first two campaigns. And all from behind the anonymity of a computer and avatar.”

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her, and she winked at him. She preferred to stay anonymous in the wider campaigns like that; it preserved her character’s image.

“It was fun,” Cloud admitted, “even if it was chaotic. And speaking of fun and chaotic, is everyone here?”

“Role call!” Jenova shouted through the house. “DM’s to the floor prompto! Avalanche and evil people, to the table! Everyone else, spread out and stay out from underfoot!”

There were chuckles and laughter as people called out jibes and protests toward their treatment, but everyone gathered just the same. With some subtle prompting from the DMs and two schemers, the people from the Midgar section of the Meteor campaign were settled closest to the DMs, Shinra (Rufus, the Turks, and Reeve) on one side and Avalanche on the other, and Aerith managed to snag Zack into sitting next to her. At his raised eyebrow she winked.

Angeal cleared his throat, and it fell quiet.

“You all have your intro Meteor sheets, right?” He glanced around, and everyone nodded. “Right, get those out and let's get some stat comparing for this campaign.”

That raised a few brows and murmurs, but the rustling of bags and binders and papers soon filled the room.

Sephiroth was careful to hide his endgame Advent Children campaign sheet behind his intro Meteor one. No reason to give anyone ideas at this stage. The anticipation and confusion would be so much more fun if they were all kept in the dark.

His eyes met Aerith’s, and she looked just as excited as he felt.

They took a few minutes to minorly rework the sheets to better suit their play style now, but the changes wouldn’t be major enough to impede the story. Good.

Jenova clapped twice, Lucrecia and Vincent finished tidying up the papers, Hojo spread out the stat sheets, and Angeal once again cleared his throat.

“Imagine, if you will, a sky. Filled with clouds, oversetting a dusty plain with rocky hills. A bird flies overhead, feathers dark and scraggly. It soars through the sky, over the plains, toward a large mass of metal plunging into the sky.”

Angeal had the perfect voice for narration, everyone was hooked from the first sentence, and there were shifts of excitement at the mention of the ruins of Midgar.

“Carried up by the wind, if flies into a cloudbank, navigating through large metal beams and poles. With a burst of sunlight, it emerges on the other side- overtop of a thriving metropolis.”

There was a burst of noise at that. Gasps and shouts of surprise at the realization that these weren’t ruins, and it probably wasn’t Edge.

Jenova called for quiet, and all the DMs looked amused.

“So what, we doin’ a time-skip?” Cid raised a brow.

“No, that doesn’t make sense.” Elena dug through her notes. “In the AC campaign it opened with a five hundred year time-skip and Midgar was a jungle, remember?”

“Yep, Nanaki and his cubs were overlooking it,” Kunsel confirmed, pulling out the concept sheet he’d sketched out at the time, as well as the character sheet he hadn’t yet gotten to use. Apparently he wouldn’t get to use it this campaign either. Darn. He had tons of cool stuff Nanaki had learned over those five hundred years.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that we didn’t time skip,” Rufus pointed out. “It just means that we’re before it was reclaimed by the Planet. It could be a two or three hundred year time skip, and we’re descendents. A city could easily be totally reclaimed in a hundred years or less.

“Or,” Cloud cut in, “we could just wait and see what nefarious plot our DMs have in store.”

“I just got done with the Number 3 campaign with the KH crew, so I know what my theory is,” Reno drawled, drawing snickers from everyone who followed that particular convolution.

Aerith giggled, and tried not to do it too hard. Reno would be the first to figure it out, solely due to the central part he played as Axel in that particular campaign with that group. He’d keep quiet though, just to see how long it took everyone else.

Angeal smiled at them, but continued. “It flies over the train tracks, the cars on freeways, and down between buildings in what appears to be an entertainment district. Children on bikes ride down the street, past construction crews and people loading fuel cells into cars, shoppers entering and exiting shops along the street, and cars making their way along the road. The children ride down a hill, across a road, and reach a playground with a few toys… and a strangely shaped slide.”

Cloud stilled, suspicion arising in his eyes, and Aerith and Sephiroth bit back smiles.

“Day fades to evening, to night, and as the young girl slides down, something catches her eye in the distance. She turns to looks, and watches as a large burst of green erupts from a distant building along the giant outer wall.”

More and more people were beginning to realize, and Reeve looked breathless at the description of something he’d labored at for weeks alongside Jenova, Lucrecia, Hojo, and Vincent to make somewhat realistically believable for his first campaign with them. He was blindly groping in his bag for the sketches and blueprints he’d rendered out on his own.

“Imagine, the sparks of green float up and up, into the cloudy sky, until they resemble stars- and now imagine drifting through them, through the emptiness of space-”

Oh, Cloud knew this. He remembered this from their first Meteor session. Their introduction to the fully realized Midgar, at the introduction of Reeve to their group. And, judging by other people’s reactions, he wasn’t the only one.

“Holy shit,” Barret breathed from beside him, and an incredulous grin was slowly spreading across Zack’s face, while Tifa looked torn between excitement and horror.

“Imagine floating down, down, until buildings take shape. An alleyway, and in the alleyway is a girl. Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask.”

There was silence for a moment, and Aerith counted down the moments in her head. Three, two, one-

The room exploded into chaos. People were shouting, throwing out questions and theories, laughter and horror in equal bounds on people’s faces.

“Yes!!! Oh yeah, Wedge is back baby!” Zack’s gleeful shout was the most obvious, drawing laughter and groans of protest in equal measure at the reminder of Barret’s Avalanche cell.

“Are we reworking Meteor?!” Elena looked ecstatic. “Because there is so much I want to rework with my fighting style! I have some nifty new spells that I want to try against a bigger level gap!”

“Oh noooo,” Reno groaned, dropping his head back. “I’m gonna go back to bein’ the guy who dropped the plate. Not cool, yo! I finally made everyone forget about that by bein’ a quirky idiot in AC!”

“Ha!” Yuffie grinned. “We’re never gonna let it die!”

Sephiroth focused on Cloud. “You seem conflicted.”

Cloud started, then grinned ruefully at him. “I am, a bit. I’m ecstatic to come back of course, to get Strife back before I put too much realism into his reactions, to completely rework him from the ground up. I mean, this was my first campaign as a major player the whole way through. I’m thrilled. I just also happen to remember all the horrible things that happened to turn Strife into sir angst-fest that he was.”

“Perhaps,” Sephiroth acknowledged, “but if we’re reworking it… then doesn’t that mean that you can change things this time around?”

Cloud sent him a flat look, though his eyes were warm. “I’m not naive enough to think it’s that simple. Between you and the DMs, this won’t go smoothly at all.”

Sephiroth smirked at him, that damn smirk that got to him every time. “Perhaps,” he repeated in a purr, “but isn’t that the fun of it all?”

“Alright children, settle down!” Jenova shouted, but her wild grin showed her true feelings on the matter. “Yes, to answer the question… we are, in fact, reworking Meteor. For a couple of reasons, but mostly… yeah, character development was a large part of it. A couple of people backed themselves into a corner with their characterizations, and needed a sort of… reset.”

Cloud winced, his own feelings being the most well known on the matter. “Oops,” he said weakly.

“It’s not just you,” Lucrecia assured him. “Vincent and I need to rework ours too, because Dirge wasn’t… hmm.”

“I need a character alteration,” Vincent said flatly. “I didn’t like how I played some of that, and would like to have come to some of those conclusions earlier, because some of my lack of action felt a bit too forced and I would like to see if I can smooth it out.”

Yuffie frowned. “What was wrong with it?”

“Essentially the same problem as Cloud, I took the after effects too seriously and made my character more depressed and stagnant than necessary. I’ll see if I can tone it down a bit, or at least form it into a slightly more active shape earlier.”

“And my entire character needs to just be completely reworked,” Lucrecia sighed. “Granted I use character very loosely, because she’s basically just an NPC, and since we based this whole thing on one of our high school campaigns, I am very annoyed with what I turned her into.”

“You turned her into that because she annoyed you and you didn’t like her anymore,” Hojo pointed out dryly.

“I know, but I’m hoping I might be able to fix it.”

“Hashtag-doubt,” Jenova murmured. “I, for one, am perfectly happy with my character.”

“You would be,” Sephiroth said dryly.

“And you aren’t, darling?”

“No, I am,” he assured her. “Just reminding you of your own nature.”

Murmured conversations broke out as people reevaluated their character sheets, considering possible changes. Cloud noticed Rufus, digging out a familiar pet-sheet and quickly scratching out the name up top, and snorted. A glance around revealed Zack gleefully revising Wedge’s sheet, While Jenova and Angeal already had Jessie and Bigg’s revised sheets out in front of them.

Reeve was considering his own three sheets, clearly calculating stats, as was Kunsel. He caught sight of Reno’s sheet just as Angeal called- “This isn’t Kingdom Hearts, Reno, you cannot pull Axel’s stats over to your Turk, he isn’t Lea.”

“Lameee,” Reno groaned, but put the sheet up well naturedly.

“They don’t even use the same element,” Tifa pointed out with amusement, her own sheet done with few revisions.

“Meh,” he shrugged, glancing over. “Not gonna revise stats, Tseng, Rude?”

“A few a bit later, perhaps,” Tseng responded distractedly as he flipped through his later sheets. “As of right now, however, no. I’m content until I can unlock a few higher-tier spell combinations.”

Rude nodded. “Same here. I know what I want to change, but I need higher levels first.”

Barret was grumbling along with Cid about potential mechanics later on, and Cloud turned his attention back to Genesis and Angeal bickering lightly about Scarlet’s potential and materia abilities. He shook his head with a smile, and waited for everyone to finish up.

Angeal cleared his throat once again, calling for silence, and continued.

“Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask. She starts, suddenly, as though breaking out of a daze, and straightens with a nervous glance around, as though looking for something. Nothing appears, but she quickly stands and hurries out of the alley, glancing over her shoulder as she does. She stumbles into someone, and drops some of her flowers, in her distraction. Quickly kneeling to pick them up, she collects all but one before a man carrying a box and thus can’t see it, steps on it. She slowly picks it up, cradling it in her hands, before her gaze is inexplicably drawn to the sky.”

Angeal to a breath, and continued.

“Pulling away from her, up and into the very sky she’s observing, see the building, lit brightly against the dark, theaters and shops and restaurants; further up and see the city take shape, enormous metal plates with large gaps between them, and at the center… at the center is a tower. Looming over the entire city with an ominous presence, it oversees all that goes on in the city.

Now we go down, down past the other side of the tower, down to Sector 1. A train flies along the rail, a delivery for Mako Reactor Zero. And atop that train is a young man. Blond flyaway hair and a modified SOLDIER uniform, a large sword attached to his back. As the train slows, he looks up, glowing blue-green eyes steely with determination. The train pulls to a stop in the station, and two guards separate to do an inspection.”

Angeal smiled.

“Roll for initiative.”

. . . . .

#ffvii remake #ffvii remake spoilers #ffvii au #d&d au #my writing #fanfic #whew #this was a ton of fun #i didn't even realize how much i'd written #and i'm definitely going to expand upon this verse #because this was way more fun than i was expecting it to be

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renatlia · 6 years ago

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Dawn of the 1st Day

“Where’d the Time go?”

(Part 1/2)

Sensing a looming danger but no immediate threat, they allowed themselves a moment to regain composure. Whatever magic it was pulling them around had never had such an effect before. While sometimes enough to make one falter, this one in particular left them all with vertigo. The miserable Hero of Legend looked ready to crumble under the migraine he typically was able to grit and bear.

The Hero of the Sky was the first to recover. While working at his friend’s neck in hopes of helping, he tried to assess the situation. They were in a new area, one that somehow felt more ominous than anything he’d ever encountered. An intense, sinister hate that sent shivers up his spine.

Those who needed to rest while crawling dungeons, raiding temples, and being wide open to attack develop a keen sense of atmosphere. The absolute rage radiating from all sides set the party of heroes on high alert.

The sky child was reminded of Demise, and yet, the sensation felt heavier. Personal. The demon king may have had targeted his hatred on the goddess and her hero directly, but he hadn’t originally fought out of hatred. That evil sought power and would only hold anger for those actively in his way. Though the curse had twisted into pure malice by the Hero of the Wild’s era, most reappearances focused primarily on attaining power, the other two reincarnations affected by the curse merely put under surveillance.

“Wasn’t it just past noon?” The question snapped the Skyloftian out of his musings. Glancing back at the clock tower, he found it read 6:07, the scent of dew indicating early morn. The youngest of them was correct. It had been just after lunch when the worlds shifted.

“Odd? That’s never happened before,” the Hero of Twilight grunted.

The area wasn’t familiar at all either, judging by the faces shared amongst his comrades. It raised suspicion. The strong aftereffects of the magic that brought them there, the time of day changing, the storm of emotion that made the humid air even heavier. A gut feeling told him that the shadow they’d been following wasn’t behind this.

“Those construction workers look like my own, but that doesn’t lend much. I mean, we did have to drag away the old man before he spent all his rupees on milk after meeting my era’s Malon,” the most colorful among them smirked.

Unfortunately, the reaction they’d hoped to catch was nonexistent. Their unofficial leader was nowhere to be seen. The notion of anyone getting left behind had to be the most disturbing aspect of the last fifteen minutes. The missing hero’s protege looked beside himself with worry and lost on what to do.

“Look!” The Hero of Ages clapped for attention. “Just because the shift was harsher than usual, it doesn’t mean he got left behind. We’d see him again if he had been anyways. We were brought together for a reason, after all. The old man knows how to take care of himself, and he wouldn’t want us fussing over his absence instead of focusing on the matter at hand.

“Something strange is going on-different than usual, but we can’t panic over the unknown. Let’s split up and ask around. Where are we? What and where is the danger? Has anyone seen the old man? He may have only wandered off. It wouldn’t be the first time any of us had.”

Huh. He sure knew how to boost everyone’s morale. Must come from being a captain where he’s from.

“It would be unlike him to wander?” The Hero of Hyrule spoke up.

“Yeah, but... maybe he knows the place? He could’a gotten caught up in his head and forgot the plot. Okay, we’ll keep an eye out,” the farm hand nodded. He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

The eight left of them paired off to cover more ground. As the saying goes, it’s dangerous to go alone. One pair stayed put as the others went separate ways.

~*~

Link let the young hero wrap himself in the end of his scarf once again, the sudden changes in temperature chilling the island dweller. Having become fairly close, Link found it a small comfort to have the boy near. The teen was more than capable on his own, but something in the air raised the hairs off his neck.

The air cooled further as they passed the threshold to an open playground. The dew had yet to dry from the grass sealing in the night’s chill for a bit longer.

“Tingle!” his excitable friend whispered. He jutted his head towards an odd fellow spinning in place. It was a wonder the guy didn’t get dizzy.

The man, who had to be in his mid to late thirties, wore what Link could only describe as dark red undergarments over a skin-tight, full-body suit of a vibrant green. A hood exposed only his face and came to a point sticking up on the top of his head. Finally clueing Link in to what he was doing, he had a pen and parchment in hand and a compass dangling from his neck.

Okay, a map maker. Spinning explained. Gaudy costume? Still weird.

The little sailor tugged him over by the scarf he had wrapped tightly around his arms and was still firmly tucked around Link’s neck. The “forest fairy” was rather nice if a little bizarre. He told them that he sold maps of current locations at a discount, and so, the pair sat down next to a slide to get a better look at “Clock Town.”

Link frowned. The name tickled something in the back of his mind, and Tingle also seemed vaguely familiar. He quit thinking on it when felt a sharp sting in his neck, which had been happening frequently as of late. He must’ve jumped, because he received a concerned glance that he had to wave off.

Link knew the sting wasn’t a bad thing. He could recall his adventures just fine, but names, faces, and locations had become foggy since meeting the others. He remembered traveling across different eras and meeting many people of legend and myth. He figured out that the sting would stop him from thinking on them, and he pieced together that they were probably people his companions knew on their adventures (and likely lost). The goddesses sure had peculiar ways to protect their heroes. He just hoped the fog would clear once it was all over, feeling a sense of loss over his amnesia.

He blinked to focus on the map. The town was sectioned off in four areas, convenient that they’d paired off. “South Clock Town” held the clock tower with little else but the banker they had passed on their way north. To the west was what looked like an alley for shopping and other errands. The east, however, was far larger and most likely housed the local inn, which Link made a quick mental note of. The playground they were in didn’t have much, but they decided to ask around a bit more before ditching the place.

The little boy shooting darts at a balloon didn’t tell them anything. He had refused to listen to them and yelled at them to leave him alone to his practice. Not wanting to anger the child anymore, they proceeded to speak with the guard positioned at the town exit. After flailing for a moment at having found such a decorated knight in Clock Town, he managed to collect himself enough to direct them towards a cave past where Tingle... had been? “If anything, surely the Great Fairy can guide you!”

Entering the Fairy Fountain was just as refreshing as ever. The temperature was always comfortable no matter the weather outside. A calm would wash over you like a serene spring morning. Tall arches layered in vines surrounded a shallow pool of crystal clear water. The same water cascading down the circular wall parting at the entrance.

Link heard a squawk beside him, and he gasped also catching sight of a swirling cluster of fairies. Typically, there may be three or four fairies milling about at any given time, but there had to be around twenty circling in the center of the fountain.

“Heroes! Please hear my plea!” a warbled voice squealed from the mass. “I have been broken and shattered to pieces by the masked Skull Kid. Please find the one Stray Fairy lost in town, and bring her to this Fairy Fountain.”

Without hesitation, they spun on their heels and sprinted away to hunt down the missing fairy.

~*~

Link sighed as his childhood hero spent another handful of rupees to retry a game for the umpteenth time. For one who treasures his wallet so much, the Hero of Legend sure loved gambling. He’d tried prying him away, but the stubborn veteran just kept getting more red and hell-bent with every loss.

“I’ll be right outside when you’re done!” Link shouted over the loud music. The only acknowledgment he received was a shooing motion.

Taking a breather, he watched two performers juggling to each other in a daze. They were actually really good. The balls were thrown high and were in order of color. Maintaining that had to be difficult.

Link ruffled his hair. He really shouldn’t be spacing out like that, especially in unknown territory. Deciding to at least start on their original task, Link made his way over to the jugglers and overheard their conversation.

“My, my! Funny things are happening in town, aren’t they? Funny. Funny.”

“You’re telling me! Like the rumors about the swamp to the south? Did you hear about the kidnapping?”

What? Kidnapping? Link worried his bottom lip. Should I grab the others? We should help, right?

“Oh, my! The kidnapping?”

“Yep! But then the kid woke up. Get it? Kid napping? Hooo... I got a million of ‘em!”

He glared at the twins’ laughter. Though honestly, it wasn’t even a bad joke. Relax, Link. You’re just on edge. He rolled his shoulders back and coughed. “Excuse me. New around here. Could you tell me what’s going on?”

“We’re the twin jugglers from the Gorman Troupe! We’re practicing for the big carnival! It happens once in a blue moon!”

“Or in this year’s case, once in a really, really scary, red-eyed moon!”

“Ho! Ho! I hear it’s gonna fall harder than the way my clumsy brother is always dropping our juggling balls!”

“You see, we’re entertainers. We must keep people smiling. No matter how grim things get, we must always be optimistic!”

They proceeded to talk about some fellow performers, but Link’s mind was elsewhere. Scary moon? What do they mean it’s gonna fall? He turned around to go get his partner but found him standing only a couple feet away.

“Sorry, come again? ‘Red-eyed moon?’ What’s fallin’?” the Hero of Legend asked.

“Why, just look up!”

“Frightening, isn’t it? Hooo...”

AN: I feel like it’s been at least a month since I posted the Prologue, and I felt kinda bad about it. At least this part was fairly finished in my opinion, so I wanted to go ahead and post it. I don’t really have the other half fleshed out as much as I’d like it to be, but I’ll continue to work on it. Hope you like! (The majority of the dialogue for the npcs are taken straight from the game. That’s something taking up a huge part of my time trying to incorporate their words in scenes.)

#legend of zelda #linkeduniverse #linked universe #LU in MM #Ch 1 Pt 1 #only tagging the prevelant characters #Sky #Legend #Twilight #Ages #Wind #Hyrule #Tingle #Jugglers #sorry i took so long #enjoy

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landofmisfitfics · 6 years ago

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Irresistible - Gavin X Reader

Fandom: Detroit: Become Human

Pairing: Gavin Reed X Reader

Summary: Gavin’s caught some feelings for the reader. Requested by @xxperfectionisdeadlyxx (thank’s for sending in the first request! The ball is officially rolling!)

Word Count: 2,672 (I got a little carried away...)

Notes: This is the first thing I’ve written and finished in quite some time, so it’s a lot shaky. Well, that plus I’ve had one hell of a week between classes, homework, and practice, and whole lot of not sleeping (I absolutely did some self-projection, whoops). I plan on improving, though, so there’s that. Gavin is also probably ooc in some places simply because I’m still getting the hang of getting back into writing. It’s also worth mentioning that I a hc that he blushes pretty obviously whenever he gets flustered. Okay, it’s half past midnight, I’m a little loopy, and I plan on reading this over to fix my mistakes in the morning. Er- later morning.

Warnings: swearing; I believe the reader is gender neutral, which isn’t a warning, but correct me if I’m wrong.

Your name: submit What is this?

“Is it casual Friday or somethin’?”

The sudden voice had startled you, that much was obvious as you gasped out a squeak, spine going ramrod straight, and one fist coming into position to strike a mean punch. It took a few moments of blinking blearily for you to realize that you weren’t in danger. No, it was just your asshole partner staring down at you with a raised eyebrow and his arms crossed rather cockily across his chest.

“God, you scared me,” you murmured, running your hands down your face.

“No shit.”

Peeking from between your fingers, you managed to shoot a tired glare at your partner. Why was he at the precinct so early, anyway? The sun hadn’t yet risen and it would be a few hours until anyone showed up for work. Well, anyone but you. And Gavin, apparently.

“Why the hell are you even here?” you grumbled, glancing at the clock on your terminal. 5:47 am.

“I get here early every Wednesday. I go for a run, then come here to shower and do my reports.” Gavin rolled his eyes as if this was supposed to be some well-known fact. Sure, the fact that he saved all his reports for one day of the week wasn’t exactly surprising with the amount he didn’t do during normal work hours, but expecting you to know his exercise routine was ridiculous.

“The better question,” he continued, “is why the hell are you here? And what are you wearing?”

You grabbed the cuffs of your over-sized hoodie in each hand, irrationally offended that his scathing tone of voice was directed at your favorite sweatpants and your comfiest sweatshirt. “Bold word from a man wearing tight shorts and a sweat-soaked tank top,” you snarked. “And I’m here because I never left,” you managed through a yawn. “I wasn’t gonna wear my work clothes longer than I had to, hence the loungewear.”

Gavin moved so he was sitting on the corner of your desk, his arms remaining crossed. “You’re telling me you’ve been here all night?”

“Yep,” you replied as you made a disgruntled attempt to move some papers out from under your partner’s leg to no avail.

“Why the fuck would you want to stay here?”

“Move your fucking leg and maybe I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me and maybe I’ll move my fucking leg.”

With an annoyed sigh and an utterance of “whatever, asshole,” under your breath, you abandoned your papers and leaned back in your chair. “It’s not like I was gonna sleep if I went home, so I just stayed. I figured it would be more productive if I just didn’t go home!” you huffed, face contorting into a childish pout.

There was a moment where Gavin just quirked his brow quizzically, but a look of realization crossed his face soon after. “I’m assuming that our last case is the reason you’re not sleeping and it’s not just some sadistic habit?”

At his words you suddenly found yourself flinching away from your own memories of tracking down your suspect, only to arrive three-and-a-half minutes too late to save the three people she had dismembered. Your avoidance of his gaze would tell him that he was exactly right, but you were too tired to care.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know.” Reed reached a foot out to nudge at your leg in an uncharacteristic moment of compassion, his voice soft and sincere.

“Debatable,” you murmured. Had you not been so disturbed by the images flashing through your head, you might have picked up on the fact that your partner, the infamous heartless dick, might have had something of a soft side to him. Instead, you preoccupied yourself with clasping your hands together and digging the nail of your thumb into your opposite hand in hopes that the dull pain would distract you from your own thoughts.

“Alright, well,” Gavin moved suddenly, pushing himself to his feet and handing you the file that was previously trapped under his thigh in one swift movement, “if you’re gonna just sit here and wallow, I’m gonna go take that shower.” He paused for a moment, giving you one last glance over before he walked away. “You better be done with this whole sadness shit by the time I come back.”

There was the prick you knew! Always equipped with a scornful comment, he was. You couldn’t help the subtle upturn in the corners of your mouth at his utter predictability.

You managed to get in a solid fifty minutes of work done before Gavin returned from the locker room, clad in his usual jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket. His hair was still wet, as evidenced by the fact that it had begun to drip on you when he stood next to you.

Looking up to see what he wanted, you were more than surprised to find him holding out a cup of coffee for you. It was so unlike him to do something for someone else without an ulterior motive that you couldn’t help but blink dumbly, first at the mug in front of you, then at the man himself. “You-- you brought me coffee?”

“Look, you don’t have to take it if you don’t want it,” he snapped. “I just figured you could use it. Just ‘cause we’re partners doesn’t mean I’ll pick of your workload if you fall asleep on me,” he snapped

Although he sounded annoyed with you, the slight blush gracing his cheeks told you otherwise. He probably thought you thought he was weird or something.

“No! I want the coffee!” you backtracked. Your cold fingers wrapped around the hot mug as you carefully took it from his grip and took swig of the liquid energy. “I’m just a dumbass when I’m tired, alright? Don’t read too much into it.”

Gavin moved from your side in favor of sitting at his own desk. “You’re always a dumbass,” he smirked, an unfamiliar teasing lilt in his voice.

“Oh, fuck you, Reed,” you laughed over the rim of your mug.

“You wish, Y/N!”

“You wish I wished!”

The two of you shared a moment of quiet amusement before making an unspoken agreement to get started on your reports (or get back to writing your reports, in your case).

You worked in amiable silence for a few hours before you got up to retrieve a change of clothes that were more suitable for work from your locker and Gavin got up to go make more coffee. Then there was some friendly banter back at your desks just as the first few of your coworkers began to arrive. From there, it wasn’t long before the place was full of the usual morning hustle and bustle and it was back to work as normal.

It wasn’t until the mid-afternoon that the morning’s events fully settled into your mind. Gavin Reed not being a complete and utter dick? Either he was one hell of a morning person or he wasn’t quite the devil spawn you had previously thought him to be. Huh. Okay. You certainly weren’t opposed to this change in behavior.

You were just beginning to come to terms with Gavin not being a complete ass when Connor stopped by your desk.

“Detective,” the android greeted politely.

“Hey, Connor! What can I do for you?” you smiled, turning your chair to face him.

“You can go home, for starters.”

“Pardon?” Through your confused gaze you caught your partner looking up from his work, his gaze instead flitting between you and Connor, in your periphery.

“Judging by your caffeine intake, persistent yawning, and inability to concentrate, you are suffering from sleep deprivation. I checked the overnight security footage of the precinct and found my suspicions to be correct: you have not slept in over twenty-four hours.”

Connor stared at you expectantly, as if he wanted you to explain yourself, or perhaps try to deny his claim. Instead, you returned his stare, elements of shock and embarrassment shining in your eyes as your mouth opened and closed like a fish’s as you tried to figure out what to say. After all, he was incredibly intelligent and had proof, so you couldn’t exactly refute his words.

After a few long moments of silence on your part, your partner decided to cut in. “Mind your business, you plastic prick.” His voice was cold and his gaze even icier as he stared at the RK800.

You found yourself even more lost for words. Maybe you had been too quick to jump to conclusions when you said Gavin wasn’t a dick. But... was that him trying to stand up for you? God, what was happening?

Shaking your head to rid yourself of the conflicting thoughts colliding in your brain, your attention was brought back to Connor as he spoke again.

“My apologies, Y/N, if I overstepped a boundary. I simply worry about your well-being,” he said, sending the briefest of glances in Gavin’s direction.

“No, it’s okay, Connor,” you reassured him, reaching up to place a hand on his shoulder. “You’re my friend and you’re just trying to look out for me. There’s nothing wrong with that.” You sent a pointed look at Reed as you said those last words, hoping he would get the message that you didn’t appreciate him insulting your friend.

Connor smiled, happy that you weren’t upset with him. “I’ve spoken to Captain Fowler,” he continued. “You’ve been cleared to go home early and get some rest.”

You wanted to argue, to say that you were fine to finish the workday, but the rational part of you knew he was absolutely right. You were exhausted and you had stopped making headway on your work hours ago. It wasn’t until you involuntarily released a face-splitting yawn, though, that you finally concerned.

“Alright. No need to tell me twice,” you chuckled, gathering your jacket from the back of your chair and standing up. “Thank you, Connor,” you smiled, gently patting his arm.

“Of course,” he responded. “Take care of yourself, Detective.”

With a nod to Connor and a quick wave to Gavin, you were gone walking out of the building.

After leaving work, you had quite the relaxing day. You still weren’t quite able to sleep, but you had managed to finish a book, catch up on your favorite TV show, and cook yourself a good dinner. By the time the sun sank behind the clouds and ten o’clock rolled around, you were pretty content with life.

And then there was a knock at your door.

What the hell? Who would be at your door this late?

Upon opening the door you were surprised to find the one and only Gavin Reed.

“Uh... hi?” you managed, eyes wide in shock.

“You opened your door at ten o’clock at night without knowing who was on the other side? Have you learned nothing from this job?” Gavin scolded as he entered your house without waiting to be invited in.

To his annoyance you weren’t processing what he had just said, instead opting to ask, “How do you know where I live?”

“Found it in your file,” he shrugged.

“Okay,” you said, mind still reeling, “now why the hell did you need to know where I live?”

Gavin seemed to freeze up for a moment. “Shit, you didn’t get my text?” he asked.

“Uh... no.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, furiously swiping at the screen for a moment before his eyes widened and his cheeks began to flush. “Well, uh, it basically said that I was gonna come over to make sure you actually went to sleep tonight and told you to let me know if you had any objections to that. I took your lack of response to mean you were okay with it, but, um...” he trailed off, rubbing at the back of his neck, “I guess I forgot to actually send the text.” He met your gaze sheepishly, usual smirk replaced with a grimace as he held out his phone to show you the unsent message.

Maybe the lack of sleep was messing with your emotions a little bit, but you swore you could feel a tug of something within your chest. Your partner, who maybe was secretly not an asshole, had gone to the trouble to check up on you when you got out of work rather than go to his own home and do... whatever he normally did. Maybe it was a little odd, but you could acknowledge that his heart was in the right place.

“Alright,” you said slowly, shutting the front door and moving further into your house.

“Alright?” he asked. “You’re not mad?”

“Nah.”

Gavin visibly relaxed. Was he really that worried you were going to be upset with him? His recent change in behavior was somewhat alarming, but not unwelcome.

“I do have one more question, though.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you being so nice to me all of the sudden?”

Freezing once again, the blush returned to Gavin’s face with a vengeance, spreading all the way to his neck this time. “The fuck are you talking about?” he asked, cringing at the way his voice rose an octave.

You simply raised a brow in response. “Okay, let’s see, there was the coffee this morning, then you were joking around with me instead of bitching like usual, I think you were trying to defend me or something when you yelled at Connor, and now you’re-” your voice cut out as you flailed your arms in exasperated confusion for a moment, “-you’re showing up at my house to make sure I go to sleep?”

“Jeez, if you’re that upset about it, I’ll stop!” he cried, throwing his hands in the air.

“Gavin, that’s not what I meant,” you pinched the bridge of your nose. “I’m just confused, is all. We’ve already established that I’m a dumbass when I’m tired, so if there’s some obvious answer here, I’m not seeing it.”

“I like you, alright?” he shouted.

Your words died in your throat and all your thoughts ground to a halt. He liked you? That is what he had just said, right? Or did you just hear him wrong?

“I like you,” he repeated, the bite in his voice now gone. “You can laugh at me now. Go ahead, do it.” He turned his head away from you, arms coming up to cross self-consciously over his chest. His posture was awkward and uncomfortable and he suddenly regretted is stupid idea to come to your place.

Your heartstrings pulled taught as you watched him. He really did like you, you hadn’t just misheard him. Well, he had proven to be unexpectedly sweet and he wasn’t bad-looking, either. It would suffice to say you were willing to give this... whatever it was... a chance.

“I- I’m not gonna laugh at you.” Your voice was soft as you bridged the gap between the two of you.

Gavin didn’t move, but his eyes flicked to meet yours. They narrowed the longer he looked, suspicion beginning to shine in is irises. “You’re not?” he finally asked.

You shook your head, smiling gently up at him. “I’m not opposed to you liking me. I might even... have some feelings of my own,” you admitted.

As soon as the words were out of your mouth it was like a switch had flipped. Suddenly Gavin was back to his normal, cocky self. “Well, I am pretty irresistible,” he grinned.

You returned his grin with an accompanying playful punch to his arm. “Oh shut up!” you rolled your eyes.

“I don’t hear you denying it.”

“Gavin Reed, I swear to god-”

“You know it’s true,” he laughed. “Watch I’ll prove it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. See, I’m gonna ask you on a date- say, we go get lunch together tomorrow- and you’re gonna say...?”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little as you responded with a lighthearted “I’d love to!”

“See, I’m irresistible!”

“Shut up, Reed.”

“Only if you make me.”

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calif0rnia-lovers · 8 years ago

Photo

Request (Anon): Tom and the reader have a fight so she won't sleep in the same bed as him

words: 1838

Eight months

That's how long you and Tom have been together. Exclusively at least. You've known each other for nearly six years, each of those years spent denying feelings for one other. So, whenever Tom finally silenced the words of encouragement from both his head and his friends and told you how he truly felt it was no surprise to anyone how easily the two of you fell together. Over the years, the two of you have had your share of fights. Best friends always do. Maybe that is why he hadn't expected your first fight as a couple to have such a terrible fallout.

He wasn't prepared to be on the other end of words that caused tears to fall from your eyes, or to be the one incapable of making them stop. Throughout the majority of your friendship, he'd been the one to comfort you in times like this. He was always the one to talk you out of moments of self-doubt. Only, today, he had nothing to say.

And that was the problem.

Instead of speaking, he'd shut completely down.

He left you alone in the house to replay the morning's argument on a loop to yourself. He went to retrieve your outfits for the wedding the two of you were obligated to attend tomorrow. When he'd returned at three, he shut himself in the bathroom long enough to shower and dress.

"You look beautiful, Y/N" he'd smiled softly when he'd met you at the front door.

Part of you knew he was trying to test the waters. You had merely switched out the sweatpants and the oversized shirt, he'd last seen you in, for a pair of jeans and a simple white shirt.

In his absence, he'd hoped your anger would subside, but after nearly two hours on the road, Tom was beginning to see this wasn't the case. If he wasn't afraid he could make the situation worse, Tom might actually be impressed with how well you've mastered the art known as the silent treatment. He couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been able to make you smile or laugh.

Impatiently tapping his thumb against the steering wheel, Tom glances into the rearview mirror. He forces himself to take in the music playing softly through the speakers, the thought of talking to you quickening the pulse of his heart. Part of him wants to reach forward and shut it off. Maybe that will force the two of you to talk. Just when he thinks he's built up enough confidence to do so, he reaches forward to adjust the tempo of the windshield wipers. Tapping his thumb to the rhythm of the wipers, music, and rain blending together he finds himself trying to fill the silence in the car. Anything to pretend he doesn't see your impatient shifting in the passenger's seat.

You release a sharp intake of breath before saying. "Can you not?"

Tom's actions instantly halt.

"Sorry," he clears throat before sitting straighter in his seat.

Keeping your eyes on the road before you, you watch as the highway lines blur beneath the heavy downpour.

"Maybe we should pull over." You suggest, the fact he was only doing twenty confirming your suspicions he was trying his best to be careful.

"That means we'd probably have to wait out the storm for the night."

"Better that than us not being able to see."

It takes nearly twenty more minutes for Tom to locate a motel. The parking lot was nearly empty. The bright sign read "Riverton Inn", the letters casting a bright blue hue across the dark ground. It wouldn't normally be his first choice, but Tom couldn't imagine staying on the road any longer in this storm.

Resting against the counter, Tom drags the silver bell across the surface before giving it a ring.

Movement can be heard coming from the back room, a pair of brown eyes peeking around the corner before disappearing again. Looking around the room, Tom finds his mind drifting to the rooms. The parking lot was nearly empty. He wonders if he's picked the correct stopping place.

"Welcome to the Riverton Inn," the young teenager sighs as he comes around the corner. He waits until he finishes typing on his cell phone, and have safely slipped it into his back pocket, to finish the rest of his greeting. "Where small town hospitality still exists. Thank you for choosing our service. How can I help you?"

"Yeah, can uh...can I get a room?"

"For one?"

Tom's gaze drifts over his shoulder to where you stand by the window, back towards him. He shakes his head in response.

Holding up two fingers, he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet. "Can we have two beds?"

"Friend zone?" The young man chuckles, the knowing look on his face causing Tom's posture to straighten.

He's not sure if it's the question itself that irritates him or the drifting of the young man's gaze over his shoulder towards you.

"Not quite...more like relationship problems."

Accepting the room key, Tom turns to find you squatting down in front of a slightly unhappy and drenched Tessa.

"So, I was thinking, we should probably get back on the road around seven thirty." Leading the way towards the room, Tom concentrates on keeping the bags out of the rain.

"Okay."

Pushing the door open, you pause the moment you step inside.

"There's only one bed."

"Huh?"

Dragging the suitcase to the door, Tom peaks over your shoulder for a better look.

"I said, there's only one bed" you repeat.

"That's strange," Tom's brow furrows as you glance back at him. "I asked for two...Want me to go back-"

"No," you huff, the exhaustion in your response easily outweighing any irritation. "It's fine. You can take the couch. Tessa and I will take the bed."

Tom doesn't bother objecting to your request. There is a reason he'd asked specifically for separate beds. Somehow, sleeping in his own bed seemed a lot less daunting than having to sleep on the sofa. Sleeping on the sofa typically means you're in the doghouse, right?

The entire time you're in the shower, he finds himself trying to picture how tomorrow's events will unfold. He knew you wouldn't dare ruin your friend's wedding, but something told him you wouldn't be dragging him to the dance floor for a dance marathon either.

"Come on, Tess." Pressing his lips against her head, Tom releases a soft sigh before letting his cheek rest against her fur. "You gotta help me out here. Work some of your magic, yeah, loosen her up a bit for me?"

The second the bathroom door opens, Tessa wiggles out of Tom's grip before running towards you.

"Hi, sweetie," you giggle as the wide-eyed pit bull applies a few licks to your leg and hand before letting you scratch behind her ear. "Let's get you to bed."

Tom sends Tessa a silent "attagirl," before taking his turn in the shower.

By the time he's done with his shower, Tom finds Tessa's head resting in your lap. Combing his fingers through his slightly damp hair, Tom leans down to give her a kiss.

"Alright," he sighs as he retrieves the pillows from the vacant side of the bed. "I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep."

It is his lingering along the slide of the bed that you makes you respond. You can't deny him a smile as he glances in your direction.

"Okay." Focusing on your phone, you try not to look at the puppy dog eyes in which he has perfected.

"Yep..." Tom releases a dramatic sigh before turning and starting in the direction of the sofa. "I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep...all by myself...on the sofa...all the way across the room...away from the two most important women in my life..."

"Okay. Well, we'll be over here."

Dropping the pillows onto the sofa, Tom glances across the room to find you reaching over to cut off the bedside lamp.

"Tess, you wanna come over here?"

The soft giggle you release as the puppy remains where she is caused Tom to smile.

"I think you're on your own tonight," you reply as he lays down.

Even though you had cut the lights, you find that you do not fall asleep. Instead, you keep your eyes on the ceiling, listening to Tom's movements. He just couldn't seem to get situated. You suppress your smile as he shifts between fluffing his pillows and tossing and turning on the sofa.

If it weren't for the dramatic sighs he released every thirty seconds, you might have believed he was just trying to get comfortable.

After five minutes of this, you cover your face before sitting up. "Tom?"

Tom shot up at his name on your lips. His eyes adjust to your figure in the dark, in hopes he can read your expression. "Yeah? You okay?"

"You're making too much noise," you huff.

A deflated, "sorry," comes in response as you rest back against your pillow.

"Get over here," you sigh after a moment of silence. "Before you mess up your back."

Tom is off the couch in seconds, his pace slowing once he realizes he might come off too eager to your words. Carefully folding his blanket, he drapes it over the back of the sofa. His gaze shifts to the bed where you lay checking to see if you are going to sit up and change your mind. When you remain where you are he grabs his pillow and starts towards the bed.

"Thanks," he yawned as he climbs into bed. He leans over and quickly presses an unsuspecting kiss against your cheek. "I'm sorry for being a dick earlier. A dick who...does not think sometimes."

"You can definitely be a dick," you respond after a moment of silence. "Sometimes..."

Rolling over, you press a quick and light kiss on his cheek. It happens too fast for Tom to react. By the time he does, you are back on your side of the bed, and the heat of your lips is fading rapidly. You smile before looking back at him. Before you can lean over to kiss him, Tom's lips are on yours.

He holds you close, a sigh of relief coming once your fingers begin to toy with his hair. Peppering kisses along your neck he felt your pulse

"I love you," he mumbles against your skin. "Sorry for today."

#gifs: spiderholland #the gifs are too cute #let me know what you think?#tom holland #tom holland imagine #imagines

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thetravelersjournal · 7 years ago

Text

Gear Foxx- Chapter 4

Bogus (Sonic) Colors!

I tugged at the thumbless brown gloves I had borrowed from the Freedom Fighter’s luggage. Sneaking onto their plane had been hard enough, what with them packing their bags into the aircraft, other random Mobians watching their progress, and Mina, who kept trying to persuade me to stay in Knothole. I hadn’t even had to explain to her what my plans were- it was like she knew what I was going to do as soon as it was announced that Sonic and the others were going to The Hidden City. Thankfully, everyone’s attention was torn away from the plane when dazzling bright lights started coruscating through the royal reliquary windows.

“Whatever that was, it helped me sneak in here unnoticed,” I thought as I tried shifting my good leg between a few trunks. The plane flew rather smoothly, and I barely felt any turbulence. I could probably fall asleep, if it weren’t for the baggage crushing my tail.

I slid my tail forward, freeing it from its confines. I stared at the roof of the jet, collecting my thoughts. I remembered seeing the city in what little leftover memories I had of this world from The Human, and if I was correct, they may have information about Dr. Cain there. After all, Robotnik had to have come from somewhere, and I doubt him and Dr. Cain shared names by simple coincidence. It was a shot worth taking, at any rate.

The plane ride took hours, and eventually, having little to entertain myself with, I fell asleep. By the time I had woken up, the roar of the engines was gone, and I was covered in a layer of sweat.

“I have a bad dream or something?” I wondered out loud, sitting up and moaning from the stiffness in my back. Before I could even begin to recollect my dream, however, a scream rang directly into my ears as a flash of pink darted out of my vision.

“Amy? What’s wrong?” I heard Sal (or rather, Sally, according to Mina) say.

“You mind not yelling in my ear?” I groaned, my cover already blown.

“Who eez zis?” a brown, French-sounding coyote in soldiers uniform asked.

“The name’s Gear. Yours?”

“My name eez Antoine, but zat eez not what I was ask-” he began, but Sally cut him off.

“I remember you… you helped us fight those Swatbots as we were running toward Knothole.”

A voice matching the high-pitched scream I heard resonated from the floor. I peeked over some luggage to see a familiar looking pink hedgehog say, “I remember you too! You saved me and Nate from those Swatbots back in the city!”

I looked at her curiously. “Um… do I know you? Because I recall saving someone who looked a lot younger than you…,” I inquired.

“Oh! T-that is, uh…” she stammered.

“How did’yah get on board, sugah?” a southern-accented female rabbit said from behind Sally. I noticed her legs and left arm were encased in metal machinery.

“Well, uh… I heard you guys were going to some hidden city, so I thought I’d hitch a ride…,” I trailed off.

“What, did you think we were going on a picnic?” Sally piped in, anger seeping into her voice, “None of us know what kind of danger lurks in the city. You-”

I spoke over her. “I can take care of myself. I didn’t hop on board not thinking there was danger.”

Nate suddenly came from behind Sally. “We’ll just have to bring him along for now. Come, or Sonic and Tails will get impatient.”

Sally looked at me a bit longer before sighing and following behind Nate. I removed my appendages from the pile of luggage while stretching my legs- it had been a long flight. I grabbed the crutches I had brought along with me and followed the rest of the group.

We boarded a minecart, with tracks extending far off into a long dark cavern. A biplane soared over our heads, gliding down the length of the tunnel. Looking back, I could see the faint haze of twilight at the cave’s entrance. I glanced at the others as the cart flew down the railway.

“So… I never did catch the rest of your names,” I said, hoping to get on good terms with the others.

The pink hedgehog did a sort of curtsy (which was an amazing feat, considering the small amount of space the cart offered) and replied, “I’m Amy Rose, Sonic’s sweetheart!”

“...Right,” I responded.

“And mah name is Bunnie Rabbot!” the cyborg rabbit said.

“Oui, and my name eez Antoine D'Coolette, pleased to be meeting your acquaintances,” Antoine chimed in.

Bunnie glanced over at him. “Yah already gave him your name, sugah-t’wan.”

“I’m Princess Sally Acorn, but I’d prefer if you just called me Sally,” Sally said, confirming what Mina had told me.

“And last but not least, I am Nate Morgan. A pleasure to meet you- Gear, you said?” Nate asked.

“Yep, that’s my name. Gear Foxx.”

Suddenly, the cart stopped, pushing everyone towards the front. “It appears we are here,” Nate said, hopping out. The biplane landed a short distance away as Sonic and a young yellow-orange fox, which I could only assume was the Tails that Nate had mentioned earlier, jumped out to join our group.

“Welcome, Freedom Fighters,” Nate continued as the rest of us made our way out of the cart and to a small opening that he was standing near, “To The Hidden City of the Ancients!”

The tunnel opened up into a large cavern that held an enormous city in its bowels. Lights shone across the many skyscrapers that traveled to each end of the cave. I gasped in disbelief, the rest of the Freedom Fighters following suit. The sight was amazing. What weirded me out was that, even though I was pretty sure we were in a cave, the moon could still be seen illuminating the city.

Nate led us down from the entrance to the city streets below. Humans stared at us as we walked past, unable to believe what they were seeing. A slight uneasiness washed over me. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to come here after all.

As if to affirm my suspicions, a squadron of police cars and a few helicopters converged on our location. Their blaring lights blinded me, the bright noise of the sirens filling my ears. My muscles tensed up as I gripped my crutches tightly, ready for action.

A voice from within the police copter rang out through a megaphone attached to its side. “Place your hands above your heads and don’t make any sudden moves!” it shouted.

Nate quickly ran up to who appeared to be the chief officer, who seemed to recognize him immediately.

“It’s my old pal Nate Morgan! At ease officers- I recognize this guy!” The other soldiers reluctantly lowered their weapons. I held in my sigh of relief, just in case.

“What brings you back to town after all these years, old-timer?” the chief continued, “And what's with the pets?”

I looked angrily up at the officer. “Pet? You want to say that again to my face?” I growled.

Every cop within earshot looked at me with amazement. “You can speak?” the chief sputtered.

“Yeah, and so can you. You trying to call me stupid?” I asked loudly, taking a step forward.

A hand held me back. I turned to see Nate holding onto my shoulder. “I’d appreciate it if you let me handle things from here, my friend,” he said calmly.

I huffed angrily before taking a gulp of air and apologizing, “My bad. I just hate that word, s’all.” I stepped behind Nate and let him continue his conversation with the officer, Sally joining in. I glared at the other humans that were passing by, all of whom were astonished at my fluency in English. I sighed. And just to think, a few days prior I was a human, at least, partly.

Nate and Sally finished their conversation with the lieutenant, and a few of the police officers quickly led us to a hotel near the heart of the city. Sonic raced back to the plane to gather everyone’s luggage, and was waiting for us by the time we got there. After we finally got to the hotel room, most of the freedom fighters hit the hay. Having already taken a nap before getting here, I wasn’t tired in the slightest.

I peered out the window of the suite me, Nate, and Antoine shared at the city below. It was beautiful in its own way, distinctively different from Knothole’s own stunning beauty. Stars twinkled down on the citizens in the streets below, shifting their walks into midnight dances. I heard the soft tap of a cane behind me.

“What was with that outburst earlier, Gear?” Nate asked me.

“Well…,” I sighed, not tearing my gaze from the window, “I don’t know, honestly. Just, when he called us pets… it was like taking a shot to the stomach.”

My eyes crossed so I could see Nate standing behind me in the window. His features looked even more tired and grey in the glass. He observed me thoughtfully, his face growing sad.

“Perhaps that is my fault… I should have warned you that the humans here are not familiar with Mobians,” he said.

“No, it’s not your fault… I shouldn’t have gotten mad like that. Guess I just have a quick temper,” I put a hand to my face, stroking the muscles on my forehead, “Besides, you guys are here on freedom fighter business, aren’t you? I was making a fool of myself and you guys by getting in the way.”

Silence filled the room for a few moments, only interrupted by Sonic’s snores next door. “Actually, I have yet to ask why you are here, my friend. You must have had some reason for stowing away on the plane,” Nate questioned me.

I didn’t reply. I wasn’t really sure what I should say. Would he view me any differently if I told him what I was? And even if he didn’t, I felt like this was my own problem, not his.

Nate must have taken my silence as an answer, because he started to turn to walk away. I swiftly twisted my head to look at him. “Hey,” I said, catching his attention, “Have you ever heard of the name Dr. Cain Kintobor?”

Nate turned and looked back to me. “No, can’t say I have. Is he related to Robotnik by any chance?”

I figured this would be his response, but I still sighed as I shifted my gaze back to the window. “That remains to be seen.” I got up from the windowsill, grabbed a crutch and limped to the door. I picked up a map lying on a desk next to it. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be…,” I inspected the map closely, “...At the Station Square Library.”

“Is it really a good idea to be wandering out all by yourself in your condition?” Nate called out quietly behind me, so as not to wake Antoine.

“Please- Sally and Sonic both know I’m perfectly capable of handling things by my lonesome. I’ll be fine,” I whispered loudly back before closing the door.

“It's got to be here somewhere…,” I sighed, lifting another book off the shelf and bringing it back to the table I was occupying. A few humans looked at me strangely as I staggered past, but I ignored them. It had been a full day and a half since I had first hobbled into the library, and I was no closer on finding any information pertaining to Dr. Cain. I lazily poured through a book titled History of Station Square, looking for at least some mention of the doctor. About five minutes passed before I realized I had been rereading the same paragraph over and over again.

“Gosh, I need a nap,” I complained loudly, earning a “Shh!” from the librarian. It was my own fault, of course, since I hadn’t gone back to the hotel once since I got here. The only time I left the library at all was just to grab a quick bite to eat, using some of the money that Nate had given me when we had first entered our hotel room. I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if I should head back.

“Gear?” I heard a voice behind me say.

I turned to find Nate and Sally standing over me, Nate holding a gigantic book in his hands.

“What’s-,” I paused to yawn, “-up?”

Sally looked at me with annoyance. “We’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been?” she asked.

“Uh… here. I told Nate I would be here if anyone needed me.” I turned to Nate wearily.

“Yes, but I had assumed that you would have returned to the hotel at some point… I didn’t think that you would be staying here through the night,” he explained.

“What can I say? I’m dedicated,” I stretched, yawning again, “Though I suppose I could do with a nap.”

“Did Amy come through here?” Sally asked, concerned.

I noticed the seriousness in her voice. “No, why? You can’t find her either?”

Sally shook her head. “I’ve sent Antoine and Bunnie out looking for her, but I had been hoping the two of you were together.”

“No, I’ve been in here the whole time, and I haven’t seen her once.”

Sally looked at the book I was reading. “Doing homework?” she asked.

I grinned, the exhaustion in my face showing, “You could say that. Guess I just wasn’t paying attention to the time.”

“Did you happen to come across anything relating to a being called Chaos?” Nate inquired.

“Not that I can remember specifically, sorry,” I said thoughtfully.

Sally looked back at Nate. “Then I guess we have some homework of our own to do.” She turned back to me, “Why don’t you go back to the hotel Gear? You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

“Waaaaay ahead of you,” I said, giddiness starting to creep into my system, “But after I help you guys find whats-its. Three heads are better than one, right?”

“We may have already found something,” said Nate, heaving the book onto the table. The book was worn, probably due to its extreme age, but was surprisingly well kept and untouched. Nate opened the book and flipped through its contents.

“This book appears to be older than The Hidden City itself,” Nate continued, “and contains information written in an ancient language.”

“Yeah, if you call English an ancient language,” I argued, “Hmm… Perfect Chaos?”

“Wait, Gear, can you read this?” Sally asked me unexpectedly.

“Huh? Yeah, I can read it, can’t you?” I lowered my voice uncertainly. I looked back at the book. I understood every word on the page perfectly, but the closer I looked, the more I realized that what I was reading wasn’t English. How could I read something without knowing the language I was reading in?

Before anyone could say anything else, a robotic voice rang out softly near Sally. I looked down to see a small handheld computer in her hand. “It would appear that Gear can read ‘Old Echidnaese’, Princess Sally. This language has been extinct for approximately 900 years,” it electronically chimed.

Sally and Nate looked at me perplexed, but all I could do was shrug my shoulders in response. “Do you think you could translate for us Gear?” Sally asked.

“Uh… sure, why not?” I leaned over towards the book, “Let’s see… a tribe of echidnas settled in a nearby valley… something about fights between them and another clan, that may not be important… oh, here, the native inhabitants of the land, called- Chao?- worshipped an entity entirely made of water called Perfect Chaos… Chaos attacked the tribe, but the Chao absorbed Chaos and turned into seven Super Emeralds… each of which spread in different directions across the globe.”

Nate turned to Sally in shock. “I found one of the Emeralds years ago and used it to forge the Ring of Acorns, whose energies now infuse Amy Rose!” he exclaimed.

“Wait, what? Am I missing something here?” I gave the two a perplexed look.

Sally ignored me, continuing Nate’s line of thought, “If Robotnik is reviving Chaos, he probably plans to use Amy’s energy to help him!”

“Yep, definitely missing something,” I sighed.

Sally got up, pushing past me. “Gear! You head back to the hotel. Me and Uncle Nate need to find Antoine and Bunnie and tell them about what Robotnik could be planning!” She darted out of the library, followed closely behind by Nate.

“Er… you’re welcome,” I paused before saying, “Wait, Uncle? But he’s a- ah, forget it.” I yawned and grabbed my crutch. Might as well get a good night’s sleep before trying again in the morning.

The very next day, I was at the library again, doubling my efforts to find any useful information.

“Back again, are we?” asked the librarian as I walked in, too used to my presence to involuntarily gasp at the sight of me.

“Yep. Hopefully a good night’s rest can help my search go by quicker,” I said.

“You know, I noticed all the books you were looking at. Are you looking for a specific event from the past?”

I was surprised by her powers of intuition. “Yeah, you could say that. You read anything about a man named Kintobor?”

The librarian shook her head, “No, can’t say I have. But If you’re looking to delve into the ancient past, perhaps even before the creation of this city,” she pointed to a section of shelves at the far back right of the library, “Over there would probably be your best bet at finding him.”

“It’s a start. Thanks!” I hurried over to end of the library, excited about this new lead.

A full four hours later and I was no further than I had started. I moaned, pulling another book off the shelf called, Days of Fury. I leafed through it, not expecting to find anything relevant. My eyes paused on the sentence, “A research team, headed by Dr. Ivan Kintobor, captured the leader of the alien race, in hopes to understand the biology of the creature”.

I jumped out of my chair, ignoring the pain in my leg. I read a little deeper into the page, eating its contents.

While the passage didn’t name Dr. Cain specifically, it talked about Ivan quite a bit, saying that his actions unwittingly caused an alien race called the Xorda to come down and wipe out life on the planet sometime in the year 204X. Before this, humans made shelters deep within the earth, like the city I was in now, to protect themselves.

“204X… but it was 2014 when I escaped the lab! Did I end up in the far future or something? And if so, how far?” I thought to myself. I leaned back in my chair, more questions rising in my mind.

“Dr. Ivan Kintobor… just what relation are you to Cain?”

The questions roared in my mind like a tidal wave of water, and I sat forward in my chair, absentmindedly peering out the giant window in front of me. As people walked down the street, I tried clearing my mind of- No, wait- the people running down the street.

“What the…?” I said, before spotting the giant wall of water that was ripping through the streets, lifting people up off their feet and-

-Heading straight for the library.

“Oh crap,” I muttered weakly as screams began to resonate from between the bookshelves.

Read the Beginning!- Prologue

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Gear and Dr. Cain belong to me.

Nate Morgan, Sally, Sonic, Mina, and others belong to SEGA, Archie(?) or Ken Penders.

#journal entry #gear foxx #STHfanfic #nate morgan #dr. ivan kintobor #station square #chaos #this man don't have time for two crutches

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