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voguerush2 · 5 months ago

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Affordable Women's Fashion: Buy Online Trendy Women's Clothing at VOGUE RUSH

Affordable fashion for women does not have to be expensive. You don't have to make compromises on style and quality at VOGUE RUSH to feel that affordable fashion for women is achievable. It offers extensive and trendy clothing that ranges from casual wear to sophisticated outfits, and every woman can flaunt her sense of style without having to spend too much. Here's everything you need to know about getting the best deals and the best styles at VOGUE RUSH.

Why Affordable Fashion?

Affordable fashion empowers to try various trends and styles and give the wardrobe just that refreshing twist with so little investment. The demand of rapid change in fashions can be taxing, and when that seems to be happening, some may look to options for delivering the latest trends within a range that works towards different tastes. That's exactly what VOGUE RUSH does to get you well-dressed most of the times.

Benefits of Buying Online Women's Clothing

Clearly, I can say it is handy to buy clothing for women online. Here's why this online shopping with VOGUE RUSH is life-changing: Convenience: one cannot have to visit several stores anymore nor wait on a long line waiting in the queue to enter when one could do everything within a click of the mouse.

Wide Range : Online shopping sites like VOGUE RUSH offer much more variety than most local stores have. You can browse through these categories: casual, formals, activewear and accessories to get a different piece for your wardrobe

Time-Saving : Because of online shopping, which saves time and makes styles, sizes, and color available in minutes and after viewing them, one purchase is made within a very short time.

Exclusive Sales and Discounts: These can be accessed online where mainly exclusive offers, seasonal deals, and promotions on making the shopping experience less painful.

Affordable Fashion for Women: What VOGUE RUSH Offers

VOGUE RUSH is all about making fashion accessible without having to sacrifice the latest trends at reasonable prices. Here are some of the highlights of what you can find in their collection:

Casual wear includes sweaters and T-shirts that are so soft and cozy, trendy jeans, and skirts. In essence, VOGUE RUSH has a fabulous mix of casual pieces; it is an essential must-have that can be worn for everyday purposes.

Chic outfits: Want something that will make a statement? VOGUE RUSH has chic for you; you have dresses, blouses, and blazers to get you presentable for meetings or dinners.

Accessories: An outfit isn't complete without accessories. VOGUE RUSH carries wide affordable accessories such as jewelry, bags, and scarves to add some elegance to any look.

Seasonal Collections: Understand the latest trends by learning what VOGUE RUSH has in store seasonally. There are winter coats, summer dresses, and everything in between.

Size-Inclusive Options: VOGUE RUSH believes in body positivity, and therefore, offers the widest range of sizes available. Every woman can easily find her right size, clothes, and wear able to her body type so that she can be assured of having better confidence in herself.

How to obtain Stylish Women's Clothes Online with VOGUE RUSH

Online shopping for fashionable clothing especially for women is quite thrilling work. VOGUE RUSH makes it simple through collections sorted by style, occasion, and seasons, so here's how to make the most use out of their website while on the lookout for things which will complement your fashion styles:

Shop by Category: The categories will make the search much simpler. You can search for dresses, tops, bottoms, and outerwear; they take good care of each category so that you can find that perfect one.

Shop by Style: Filter on specific style or color. From classic to edgy, VOGUE RUSH has all.

Get well fit with size guides. Since the various detailed size guides can be there for every product, you'll shop in confidence that your selections are the perfect fit.

See Other People's Opinions on Them: People's experiences regarding fit, look, and even quality tell more about how good their purchases are than actual marketing. Their reviews let you know what makes the piece a sure success for your wardrobe choices.

Save it to wishlist: Get this without buying it yet. Wishlist will let you keep on checking the items to buy when you are ready for a purchase.

Here is How to Style Budget Women's Fashion

High-low mixing For instance, combine cheaper items with a few designer ones. A good quality handbag or shoes can be chosen to mix and match a high-end accessory with inexpensive clothing. This would eventually form an elegant look, blending well.

Accessories on: Accessories can even make the most dull outfit in the world come alive. You will look transformed right away when you layer a statement necklace, tie on a trendy belt, or wrap a vibrant scarf around your body.

Let colors and patterns play, as these can be great ways of remaining trendy. A nice combination would be bold and strong tops with neutral or monochromatic bottoms and, of course, one will not forget the occasional addition of bright accessories with it.

This basically adds much depth to the general overall look and also does wonders for comfort. Putting on a basic top plus denim jacket is another trendy move, or one puts a turtleneck and layer it under a nice flowing dress.

Confidence is the best accessory: no matter what you wear, it works. You will look more confident if you feel comfortable in what you're wearing.

Why VOGUE RUSH for Budget Fashion Clothing?

VOGUE RUSH is simply not a cheap fashion clothing brand; it is really about bringing an approach which makes high-street clothing more affordable and accessible for everyone. Here's a few reasons why VOGUE RUSH is just better:

Trendy and Up-to-date: With new arrivals each and every season, VOGUE RUSH will see to it that you keep well updated on the latest prevailing fashion trends.

Quality and Value: VOGUE RUSH offers very high quality clothes at pocket-friendly prices. Affordable certainly does not mean compromise with style or quality.

Customer-Centric Experience: It is totally customer-centric where from the easy navigation up to the customer support every shopping experience is smooth as well as enjoyable.

Commitment to Sustainability: VOGUE RUSH cares for its footprints on this earth and strives for sustainability day after day. Choosing a brand that cares when you shop with them, elevating your wardrobe, VOGUE RUSH today.

Finding fashionable clothing for women has never been easier. You get affordable fashion that will help you express your personality and look at your best every day with VOGUE RUSH. It offers casual trendy wear as well as elegant wear on special occasions for every woman.

Ready to transform your wardrobe?

Start shopping through the vast collection at VOGUE RUSH and find affordable fashion for women. Style yourself in trendy, high-quality pieces that reflect who you are. With VOGUE RUSH, you are not just shopping; you are investing in a wardrobe that empowers you to look your best.

Conclusion

VOGUE RUSH brings in-trend, fashion at affordable prices to women. Explore online for the latest style to take you through just about any occasion. Shop for what makes you YOU with VOGUE RUSH's expertly edited assortment and discover the confidence of stylish clothing at unaffordable prices.

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neofaa-clothing · 6 months ago

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Shirts for Women: Ultimate Styling Tips for Every Occasion, From Casual to Formal

Casual Day Out: Feel the Comfort in Style

These are the classic woman shirts intended for comfort and can be fashionably worn on casual days out in cotton or linen. Printed women shirts, with their playful patterns or bright colors, add fun to an outfit. The shirt can then be combined with jeans, preferably high-waisted ones, or shorts for that casual feel.

Pair that with sneakers or comfortable sandals and add a crossbody bag with as little jewelry as possible, and you’re good to go-looking effortlessly chic while still managing comfort through the day.

Styling Tip: Give it a laid-back feel by rolling up the sleeves of your shirt.

Office Ready: Professional Yet Trendy

It’s all about the perfect balance between professionalism and personal style. Choose a ladies’ shirt cut in a sophisticated style with neutral color. A well-fitted button-down or blouse with subtle prints seems most promising to give you that polished look without going overboard with formality.

Team them up with fitted trousers or a pencil skirt, and you are ready with your sleek office look. Drape a blazer or a cardigan over it to complete the office look. Top it up with classic pumps or loafers.

Styling Tip: Tuck in your shirt and add a belt to define your waist and give it a bit of a structured look.

Night Out: Glam Up with Printed Shirts for Women

Printed shirts for women are a great way to show off your personality and style when transitioning from day to night. Opt for a boldly printed or rich-colored shirt that makes a statement. Add some glamour to a nighttime look with a silk or satin shirt.

Try pairing this printed shirt with either a high-waisted skirt or fitted trousers, and you’ll cook up in style. Swap your shoes for heeled boots or dressy strappy sandals for added style. Add statement jewelry like bold earrings or a sleek necklace to create an ensemble of pure perfection.

Styling Tip: Add an instant touch of sophistication by layering a fitted jacket or statement blazer over your printed shirt.

Weekend Brunch: Stylish and Comfortable

The weekend brunches require a balancing act of style and comfort. Opt for a womens shirt in soft and breathable fabric. A relaxed-fit shirt will look stylish and comfortable with subdued prints. You can wear it with your favorite jeans or flowy casual skirt for an ultra casual yet fashionable attire.

Finally, complete the look with loafers or slip-on sneakers, adding a casual tote bag. Add sunglasses for that overtly glamorous touch. In this laid-back ensemble, one would be ready to go have fun over brunch without compromising on style.

Styling Tip: Tie the ends of your shirt at your waist for a playful casual twist.

Date Night: Romantic and Elegant

For a night of romance, choose a ladies’ shirt in a soft, luxurious fabric such as silk or satin. Delicate details like lace trims, ruffles, or even subtle prints will add that touch of elegance. Soft, muted colors or deep jewel tones also can ramp up the romance in the air.

Team it up with sleek pants or a chic pencil skirt. Complete the look with strappy heels or classic pumps, and light accessories with a trendy clutch or handbag.

Fashion tip: V-neck or off-the-shoulder-a shirt can add just that bite of sensuality without sacrificing class.

Vacation Ready: Effortless and Fun

Your women printed shirts just might start the show in your vacation wardrobe when it’s time to pack. Opt for lightweight, breathable fabrics in fun prints that say something about where you’re going. Bright colors and tropical patterns add cheer to your vacation outfits.

Wear shorts, skirts, or linen trousers for a casual yet comfortable look. Top with a couple of sandals or espadrilles with a large sunhat. Finally, don’t forget to carry an across-the-body bag that will be big enough to fit in everything you might need.

Styling Tip: Roll up the sleeves and tuck this shirt into your shorts or skirt for an effortless vacation look.

Holiday Parties: Festive and Fabulous

Holiday parties are the perfect time to go all out with an outfit. For women, select one of the more festive fabrics for the shirt, like velvet or satin. Or one could make use of an all-over glittery or metallic print on a shirt. Features like that would just make one stand out and fit for the occasion.

Pair the party shirt with a sleek skirt or tailored pants and add statement heels or ankle boots. Accessorize with bold jewelry and a chic clutch to tie everything together for a ready-to-party look.

How to Wear It: Experiment with mixing textures and prints for a really stand-out outfit.

Conclusion

A well-chosen shirt for women can be the most versatile piece that may fit any occasion. From women’s printed shirts, adding some fun to a classic style speaking volumes of sophistication, there’s something for every event and personal style.

Take for example these crucial styling tips to always keep your women’s shirts on point, whether you are dressing up for a casual day out or formal in the office for a night full of glitz and glamour. Shirts are versatile, so do not hesitate to experiment with different styles to keep your wardrobe new and exciting.

#shirts for women

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pinro · 4 years ago

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《 ◇ 》

°•A BREAK FROM IT ALL•°

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Characters used: Floyd leech, Jade leech

Reader: gender-neutral Mc! (They/them)

Scenario: getting a rest from Nrc shenanigans

Word count: 1,658

Writer's note: I always thought it was alot to take in for someone who came from earth and now needs compromise to survive don't you think?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

-Ramshackle dorm (your room)-

Feeling sluggish after waking up, you decided to get off of the bed.Grim didn't seem like he had any plans to open his eyes ;it was early after all. You check the mirror before anything; there's nothing that's planning on appearing nonetheless you decided to check just in case; occasionally ,random things appeared from that specific mirror, from 'dreams' about The great seven statues , and then there was this 'person' (rather a hallucination) called Mickey.

-Hallway-

A Lot of things have happened since you started attending this school as a student ..then a prefect. Sigh ,you just wanted a break from it all, it all feels surreal. Making your way out of your room , you didn't encounter the ghosts , you wonder what they are up to whenever they don't spend their time in Ramshackle dorm. 'what do ghosts do in their free time ?' You decided to ignore that question for now.

As you made your way down the steps, you cross by a crack on the wall, it takes you back to the time Ace had a fight with Grim in the middle of the hallway. Literally. Grim collided against the wall and the wall , being fragile, cracked easily. You tried to repair it with glue you've borrowed but it only seemed to get worse.

- Lounge -

You made your way to the kitchen, you were feeling a little thirsty , you would love nothing more than something refreshing. You opened the fridge with blinded expectations just to be shot with the cruel reality. Oh right. Food and what not in this dorm is nothing but a distant dream. You saw some canned tuna at the corner , but you don't think Grim would give you the end of it once he wakes up. "Guess i will go for a walk".

- Entrance -

"He doesn't seem to be around…" you pouted as you looked around for your friend 'Tsunotaro' ,or well what he goes by , you liked the nickname you assigned him to; you believed it fit him and it helped with familiarity around each other rather than being formal; He calls you 'child of man' instead of your actual name as well. The friendship is already blooming well if you're already assigning cute nicknames to each other!

Staring off to the distance you started to feel rather lonesome; usually Ace and Deuce would come around your dorm to hang out; it's a 'little' noisy and a 'bit' troublesome but it's something you would put up with for their company; it can be fun and hectic sometimes. The peaceful atmosphere was just something you're not used to, in fact , you're surprised you're not up doing something to clean up after that headmaster.

It's too early in the morning ; you wouldn't want to bother them just because you have nothing better to do, it just seemed unreasonable . You decided to think of something to do for the meantime to pass time.

You felt the breeze brush against your skin. With a sudden "ah!" You checked your uniform pocket "are they even open at this time?" You had an idea to visit Mostro Lounge for something to drink; although , you're not sure if your currency is close to what the menu has to offer. "In that case I will just order water" you concluded, placing back your pocket money.

Water wouldn't be expensive, right?

- Main street -

Making your way to the Lounge , you could hear the leaves bustling in the air , it wasn't the usual atmosphere you were used to in a place called 'Night Raven College'. You sped up with Journey Mostro Lounge. You felt like you needed to see someone right this instant. Anybody.

- Monstro Lounge -

Clank!!~

As you opened the door upon Mostro lounge , you were greeted by casual music that always played in the lounge , although a little quieter than usual.

"Oya? Are we having a customer already?" Your eyes laid upon a figure polishing the glass cups. Once your eyes meet , Jade blinks before greeting you with a smile "oh it's just you prefect , we're still getting ready to open but please feel free to take a seat." , you felt a little embarrassed ; as in you felt like you weren't allowed here but went in anyways. "Ohhh!~" Floyd cooed as he got in from the staff-only door "someone is already here!~" his voice echoed in the lounge from how loud he was being, he walked up to you "hey there shrimpy!~ you decided to have fun with us?"he would lean on the table you're sitting at with a cheeky smile. Jade chuckled "Floyd it isn't like you to be up at this time of the day" he glanced at his brother curiously , even if he were up this early he would be on about messing around campus or at his dorm. "Mehh~! The school is empty at this time of the day , it's so boring! " Floyd would stick out his tongue in annoyance "so I decided to check on what you were up to~" .

"Ah is that so?" Jade would ask rhetorically. You watched as the two got caught up over a conversation. "Hey shrimpy! What are you doing here?" He would suddenly flash you a question, "do you want me to take your order ?" Jade would offer "Hey i will do that! Stay right there!" Floyd would cut Jade off standing up from his spot. "I don't need to check the menu to know my demise-" you would mumble to yourself "I will just have water." you averted from your past words covering it with an awkward smile. Jade would chuckle "If you're in for something less of value you can check my secret menu~" he would look at you suggestively "Ehhhh! What about MY secret menu!!" He would snap at Jade "Check it out too shrimpy!" He would flip the menu for you.

You awkwardly took the menu ….both of them have questionable titles..although they were for a good price. "How come it's so cheap?" You would shoot the two a suspicious glance, surely there's a catch there , Jade would place a hand on his chin "oh my~ it disheartens me for you to think that way of us, we wouldn't add anything unpleasant to the menu, isn't that right Floyd?" He would roughly attempt to hide his grin as he tilted his head towards Floyd ,"surely! Even if we did so, Azul will be on our fins about it! He's so annoying when he's nagging~" Floyd would pout thinking about the amount of times he had to put up with Azul's 'nagging' even if it was reasonable. Floyd was just not in that type of treatment.

"Besides…" Jade would trail off "Both azul and my own brother have this uncertain hate for my well-taken-care-of- mushrooms...that they would want me to get rid of every trace of them...what a tragedy!" He would pretend to look wounded,"although they surely value much more ..don't you think it's better off to mend for them than just throw them off? " he would speak to you suggestively then avert his eyes shyly "that's why I decided to sneak in some mushroom recipes.." he would speak to himself. "As if!" Floyd would stick his tongue out in disgust "mushrooms are really nasty and it would only drive the customers away! How can you not understand that?" He would glare at his brother "oh please , aren't homemade ingredients convenient for Mostro lounge? That's what Azul said after all.." Jade would reply.

There..seems to be a commotion between the two ..you decided to break it off by picking a random recipe from the menu "i will have that please .." you would get in the middle of the two. Suddenly the twins became silent, until Floyd sighed leaning his body to the side "aghhh..wish people would pick somethin from my menu for once~" he sounded disappointed as he walked back to the counter, defeated. "Fufu~ i'm truly grateful for your selection prefect~ " whereas Jade sounded overjoyed ; does he want people to try his mushrooms that badly ? The two got to work.You decided to look at the lounge's tank as fish different in color and size swam by; it was oddly relaxing.

As you glanced around the tank you noticed a large tail poking at the end of the tank ,you decided to walk up to it then place a hand on the tank. "Oh hey shrimpy!~" Floyd ,from inside the tank would jump at you causing you to take a step back from surprise "look! I'm a fish !! "He would twirl in front of you then laugh at your expression "hehe~ shrimpy looks cute all flustered~ ♡" "this is my payback for not choosing my special menu!" He would nag as he held the tank glass and twirled his eel tail. "I-i thought--" you were taken aback, you surely believed that you just saw Floyd head for the counter to get to work, how did he get there so fast?? Reflecting on your reaction ..it actually made you laugh a little. "Floyd. Didn't Azul say swimming in the tank during opening hours is prohibited ? You will terrorise the poor guests~" Jade would state from the other end of the lounge , with a tray at hand that held your dish. "Your order is ready, why don't you take a bite before it gets cold ?" Jade would call for you , and that was your cue to get back to your seat.

"Ehhh!! Shrimpy come back!!" He sounded heartbroken, "fufu~ if you want to see them that badly why don't you get out of the tank?" Jade would suggest. "Don't wanna!!" Floyd folded his arms. You laughed along with Jade then processed to eat your food. It was ...refreshing.. this feeling ...it was comforting..

"So?~ Did you like the recipe I've prepared for you ? Then How about visiting the lounge more often, hm? "

"We will be more than happy to play with shrimpy!~ so please tag along~"

《 ◇ 》

#floyd leech #jade leech #twisted wonderland #twst

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gay-salt-amber · 4 years ago

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Where the hell is Kenma?!

Yuri on Ice x Haikyuu crossover

Just so you know, all the figure skaters kids are close with the other skaters so they consider ever skater they're close with family so the whole uncle aunt thing is just a friend thing

warnings: Gay, swearing, etc

Ships: leoji, yakulev, minotayuri

Пока= bye

All Russian is google translated

For the parents the kids will just be calling them by their names unless one parents is without the others then they will be called dad so it doesn't get confusing

Kenma pov

It was 10 alcock at night and I was up playing my video games as usual with Hinata, Lev and some other friends. We were playing a game that was a collaboration between Nerf and Xbox, it was quite good. Not my favorite shooter of all time but it was alright. When the match was over and the 20 second map and round type selection started, my phone rang. I was on a discord call with my friends so they saw the phone going up to my ear. Right when I was about to answer Lev spoke up,

"Who is it?" He asked

"Georgi."

"Popovich?"

"Yeah."

"Who's this Georgi?" Hinata seemed confused but curious.

"Just a family friend of ours." I answered, I don't wanna go into me and Lev being legally related right now.

"Oh, cool!"

I looked down at my phone and unlocked it to see the messages, "I might need to not play this round for a bit I need to respond to these texts." I said

The rest of them agreed and I went back to the messages.

---

Georgi: I was just wanting to remind you that the plane leaves at 7, so get some sleep kid.

Kenma: Thanks uncle Georgi, I'll try.

Georgi: Do you want us to bring the Russian team bus to pick you up from your house?

Kenma: Sure when are yall getting here?

Georgi: 6 prolly, depends on how long Lila and Yakov wanna take. Old asses -w-

Kenma: pfft xD

Kenma: Anyway, I need to get back to my friends see you later.

Georgi: K, get some sleep, my favorite nephew ☆⌒(*＾-゜)v

----

I unmuted my mic on the call and spoke after like 5 minutes

"Back, hows the round going?"

I didn't hear my dear Shoyo but instead Lev, "Good, Hinata got tired though and had to leave."

When I was about to say I needed to leave to, Lev spoke again,

"Oh yeah! You should get going, you don't wanna miss the flight!"

Once I exited the game I turned back to my monitor that had discord and moved it back to my main monitor, "I was about to say that."

"Пока" I said, my Russian feeling a little rusty.

"Пока Kenma!"

Pressing the 'end call' button made me sigh with relief, standing up, I walked over to my closet and grabbed some clothes for a shower before bed. I grabbed some long, loose black pants and a old Russian figure skating team shirt that one of my dads got me. While I was walking to the bathroom I was looking through some notes for class and deleted stuff I didn't need since I was going to be in an entire different country for a while.

I got out of the shower, dried my hair and put on my clothes. Once I got to the door, I looked into the mirror and I had an idea, 'Should I put my hair in braids so it'll look wavy tomorrow? Yeah that'll look nice!' I reached over and grabbed two small clear hair ties and put my hair into two braids.

I finally opened the bathroom door and walked back to my room to call it a night and sleep. Once I reached my room I noticed something, "You mother fucker.." I didn't pack my bags for the fucking trip. I whipped out my phone and thought of who I could message, we were gonna be in a bunch of places for skating and I wanted to check for how long, but guess what?! I don't know whos awake!

Right when I was about to wing it, I remembered its like 9 in the morning for Leo de la Iglesia, who is an American skater which I consider family. I guessed he would be up since he and Guang-Hong Ji, his boyfriend typically wake up at 7 to eat breakfast and go on a run together, virtually since they live in different countries but I guess they try. It took a while to find this name in my contacts since my phone doesn't really sort through who I texted recently but instead it sorts alphabetically the only time I would see his name at the top is if I had an unread message from him, which I don't. I kept scrolling reading off the letters as I went. H,I,J,K....

I finally got to L and found his name since I only have like 3 people whos name start with L in my contacts, I opened it and cringed at the date of the last sent message, 'June 1st' which was a happy pride month message. My fingers tapped on the message bar and I started typing quickly.

------

Kenma: Hey uncle Leo ヾ(•ω•`)o

Kenma: Ik this is a weird time to text since I should be sleeping but, you're the only one awake.

Leo: Ey Kozume! 💅 What do you need?

Kenma: I was wanting to know how long the competitions are gonna be , I forgot to pack soo...

Leo: Ah! Well you're going to be on the trip for a week and Georgi's gonna take you back to Japan the Monday afterwards

Kenma: I- Isn't it longer then that? (⊙_⊙)？

Leo: Yes but we know that Neko-

Kenma: Nekoma?

Leo: How ever the fuck you spell your schools name 😑

Leo: Anyway, we know you have a game against Karasuno the next day and we know you would wanna play in that sooo...

Kenma: Cool, thanks.

Leo: Np, see you in America (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

----

Once I was done snickering to myself at Leo and I's conversation, I walked over to my clothes drawers and got out the clothes I wanted, one formal outfit, some pj's and some casual stuff. I put that stuff in one suitcase and put my miscellaneous stuff in a smaller drawstring bag that had a bunch of video game pins on it. I walked downstairs to put my stuff by the door and when I got there I saw someone come in, it were my dads, Yuri Plisetsky, Otabek Altin and Minami Kenjiro.

I walked up and hugged all 3 of them, "Hey kiddo."

Since I decided to say screw sleep and talk to my parents which is something I didn't get to do much at this time of the year often since they have practice all the time. So we sat on the couch and had dinner while watching tv as a family and talked about their practice

Yuri chirped up while eating some rice, "Mila was being a bitch."

"Oh? What happened?" I asked

"So you know her kid Tendō?"

Minami put his chopsticks down and joined in the conversation, "He's that kid that goes to Shiratorizawa Academy right?"

"So, he's gonna be joining the Russian team since the he doesn't like the Italian team."

"Yet his uncle and other mom is on that team." Otabek pointed out

"Yeah."

"I don't get how she was being a bitch?" I said, trying to get the conversation back to the main point,

"Her ass was bragging about all practice, like shit I couldn't get 2 fucking works out without her interrupting."

We all laughed, and went back to eating.

After we were finished we all were doing the dishes, "Go upstairs and get some sleep kiddo, I'll do the rest of the dishes. Yuri, go get some rest too." Minami said

"Are you not going to America, Beka?" Yuri asked.

The black haired boy shrugged, "No, for some reason my couch decided I'm not going, I don't know why."

Minami was another one of my dads who was staying home, ever since they adopted me when I was 4 he always declined going to any skating competitions that weren't in Japan so that if I ever had an emergency someone would always be there. This meant that only me and Yuri, my blonde, sassy, Russian dad were going to America for the 3 back to back skating events that were happening there.

"I wonder why Lev's not going.."

"Your school doesn't want you both out when a game is so close." Otabek was right I still thought it was stupid since he was looking forward to this event, he's always wanted to go to America after all. But as compromise I promised to send him a lot of photos.

Minami who was still washing the dishes started shoving us out of the kitchen, "Yeah yeah, cut the chat get your butts upstairs and I don't wanna see you two down here until morning!" He said, waving a wooden spoon in the air as we walked up the stairs, laughing.

We reached the upstairs, both of my dads gave me a kiss on the forehead and wished me a good night. I walked into my room and instantly my tiredness from earlier came back to wack me in the face with 5 times the strength of before. I walked over to my bed and just.. flopped.

--In the morning--

My alarm for 5:30 went off and I got up, still tired but meh, nothing a bit of coffee wont fix. I walked over to my closet and got out a hoodie Shoyo gave me, it was a Karasuno hoodie with Shoyo's name and volleyball number, 10 on the back. I inhaled the scent of my lover. I'm gonna miss him but I still can call him. I grabbed a thin t-shirt to wear underneath and some soft black pants with red on the side, after I grabbed my clothes I walked to the bathroom and got changed. After that I took my braids out, my hair looked great!

When I left the bathroom right when I put my foot on the first step to head downstairs the scent of waffles hit my nose, I started to go quicker down the stairs since I fucking love waffles and I am starving! Once I got there Minami greeted me.

"Hey kiddo, did you sleep good?"

"Yeah." I nodded

"Are your other dads not up yet?"

"Nah." I shook my head getting out a plate.

"Before you eat imma wake them up."

I rubbed my forehead before sighing, "Oh god what are you planning, pops?"

"Nothing, let me just..." After finicking with his phone I heard a blast of noise from my parents room and the line I knew too well of "WELCOME TO THE MADNESS" blasted through the door. After like 2 seconds they were up and downstairs.

"You get creative when it comes to waking us up." Otabek yawned while Yuri wiped his eyes.

"I know, glad you're finally catching on~" Minami said, getting sassy, which he normally was this early in the morning.

"What'd you make for breakfast?" I asked.

"Apple waffles!"

I ran to the counter happily, grabbing like 3 fucking waffles.. What can I say? I love apple things!

"Goddamn! Leave some for us!" Yuri teased

"Nah~" I joked back.

When we had just finished our food, we were setting our dishes into the sink and just chatting, we heard a knock on the door. I turned to the clock, '6:00' almost on the dot. "Man when they say they'll be here at 6, they aren't kidding." Otabek said, looking at the bus through the window.

I snickered and got my shoes on, me and Yuri grabbed our suitcases and after my adopted dad kissed my other dads, we were out the door and on the bus. I stopped to talk to Mila whom was driving while Yuri went to go sit in the back by himself.

I tapped the red head on the shoulder, "Hey Mila can we make a stop before we go to the airport?"

She grinned "Yeah, of course, the flight was delayed a half hour anyway for whatever fucking reason."

"Ok, can we stop at Karasuno I uh.. Wanna see someone before we leave.."

Mila let out a quiet gasp before whispering, "Is this the boy you've been talking about?"

I nodded and Mila laughed, "Sure, I don't see why not!"

I gave a light smile and went to go sit down.

--When they stopped at Karasuno, Hinata pov--

"We aren't doing anything special today, hell do what you want if you wanna sit and chat do that, I am giving you a free day before we practice for our match against Nekoma." Couch Ukai explained

We all nodded with a 'yes couch' coming out of all us.

Me and Yamaguchi stayed chatting when our long haired ace, Asahi came in, "Sorry I'm late but there's a bus outside that says, 'Russian Figure Skating Team' outside for whatever reason."

"I wonder why..." I brushed it off though and continued talking to Yams

We kept talking before I heard a familiar voice, "Shoyo? Are you here?"

"Kenma!" I exclaimed before I jumped up and ran to give him a hug which almost knocked him over in the process.

"Hi Shoyo, its good to see you."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, releasing the hug and just holding his hands and I spoke again

"I mean there's a weird bus that says Russian Figure Skating Team or something outside but why are you here?"

"That's my ride." Kenma answered plainly.

"That's your- WHAT!" I was surprised and the others came over

Kenma laughed, "That's why I came here, I wanted to let you know I'm going to be gone for a week."

"Why? Did something happen?" Suga asked from the back

"No, no! I'm going to skate in America, I'll be back for our game though." His answer made me more curious

Noya's voice rang from the right, "When are you leaving?"

"Around 7:30, our plane got delayed but I get to talk with you more, right Shoyo?"

I was about to sit down when the door swung open and there stood someone who looked a bit like Kenma, but different colored eyes and plain blonde hair

"I'm hanging out in here with you kid."

"Yakov being annoying?"

"да ебать его задницу!"

"Who are you sir?" Asked Asahi who was putting away the few volleyballs that were used since most of the team was chatting, it was a free day after all

"This is Yuri Plisetsky, my dad." Kenma explained

"Cool."

I tilted my head, wondering what he said, I knew it was Russian just based on context but I didn't know what, "What was that you were saying?"

"He said, "yeah fuck his ass" My blonde boyfriend translated

"Ooh."

"Well before we go might as well do this," Kenma sighed as he held my hand tighter,

"Dad, this is my boyfriend, Shoyo." Kenma looked nervous.

"As long as he treats you well, then I don't care."

"W-wait that's it?!" Kenma seemed surprised

Yuri clutched his chest in laughter, "I-I'm sorry! Just.."

"Are you forgetting who I am?"

"What?"

"Kiddo, I am a trans gay man who has been married with 2 other men in a poly relationship for 2 years now, what'd you want me to say?"

Hinata looked surprised but also relived, "Really? That's so cool!"

Yuri looked at me and rolled his eyes and messaged the bridge of his nose, "Really? You went for the fanboy?"

"Dad, you're married to one."

"Meh, true."

We were talking for a while longer with me just being lovey as usual when someone else walked through the door and yelled "ITS JJ STYLE!" Which Yuri's dad looked pissed about

"I'll get him out give me a second."

"убирайся отсюда, канадский ебать!" Yuri yelled as he proceeded to shove the man I'm guessing named JJ out

"What'd he say?" I asked

"Get out of here you Canadian fuck."

"Oooh."

With that a new people entered, "Kozume!" A voice called,

"Hi Gramps."

"Whos this?" I questioned with my hand still on Kenma's

"That's my grandpa, Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov."

"That's so cool!"

Kenma blushed and just nodded,

"Does my grandson have a boyfriend~"

"Yep, this is Shoyo."

"So he's the one I keep hearing Chris say you brag about?"

"Mhm."

"We-"

Before Victor could continue I heard a slam

"Двигай своей задницей, черт возьми, свинья!" (Move your ass fucking pig!) And in came Yuri kicking another black haired boy in through the door.

"Yurio be nice you your mother!"

"HES NOT MY MOTHER! AND STOP CALLING ME YURIO!" He yelled back

Victor sighed, "Well we have 2 Yuri's here its confusing!"

The grey haired mans tone quickly changed, "Anyway~"

He helped Yuuri up and waltzed on back over to us, "Our grandson has a boyfriend!!!!"

"Awh that's great!"

"Aaand Shoyo, meet my other grandpa, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov"

"It's nice to meet you."

We talked a bit before Yuuri spoke up,

"We should get going, the others probably wanna get coffee before we go to the airport."

"Oh, yeah, I guess so."

I was sad that they had to leave because Kenma noticed and his face softened because when they were getting up to leave, he gave me a soft kiss on the lips,

" I will call you every chance I get, Ok baby?"

"Alright, I'll see you next week at the game?"

"Yes, I love you."

"I love you too." Those were the last words I said to Kenma in person for a week.

When I turned around I heard someone yell, "KOZUME HAS A BOYFRIEND!"

Lev pov--

Kenma: We're having another fucking flight delay!

Lev: I still wish I could've gone with!

Kenma: I know, you were really wanting to come, right?

Lev: Ofc! I have always wanted to go to America! 😭😭😭

Kenma: Oof

Lev: Hold on the team is worried about you, give me a moment

Kenma: Gl Kuroos gonna be all like 'well why didn't I know?!' or some shit

Lev: mhm 😑

---

I turned off my phone and listened to the rest of the team freak out about the gamer boys missing

"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?!" Yaku yelled out of panic

"Yaku, I am sure he's fine.." Yamamoto said, trying to keep the peace

"Well we don't know that! Hell! He didn't even tell me anything.." Kuroo was also pissed which just made me wanna chuckle since Kenma was right about Kuroos reaction.

"Uhm..."

"What Lev?"

"Well about Kenma being gone, I know where he is I just thought this was funny."

"So us worrying is funny?!"

"When I know why, yes."

Kuroo rolled his eyes, "Lev, Kenma never talks to you."

"Yes, yes he does, you don't know every fucking thing he does." I snapped.

"Are you sure?" Kuroo retorted

"Whos he dating?"

"I-"

"See you dont even know that"

"Fucking- Whatever just where is he?" Yaku asked

I held out my phone and showed the texts

"Where the hell is he going?! We have a game!"

"Yaku, please shut the fuck up." I whispered.

"What?!"

"Yaku I love you, but please shut the fuck up, he doesn't care about the game right now, he will be back for the game with Karasuno, but he is with family and doing something that will contribute to his future. Now shut up пожалуйста, перестань любопытствовать и дай ему жить!" (please stop prying and let him live!)

"..."

I took a step back, I swore my boyfriend out... I even yelled at him in Russian!

I felt like I wanted to cry, I didn't wanna snap like that.. Then I heard the door open

"HA I KNEW HE WOULD CUSS SOMEONE OUT! Виктор! ты должен мне 20 долларов!" (Victor you owe me 20) I turned to the voice,

"Oh praise god." I sighed

Yurio was walking up to me, "ты в порядке? ты выглядишь напряженным .." (are you okay? you look tense)

"Я огрызнулся на своего парня, и я устал, угадай" (I snapped at my boyfriend and I'm tired, guess)

"What are they saying.." Yaku was confused

"Well apologize you fuck!" Yurio scoffed

"..."

"Sorry sir, but Lev is fine, I was the one who deserved it."

"I'm still sorry!"

"Even better question! Lev, you can speak Russian!?" Kuroo seemed surprised

"Yeah, I just didn't wanna hear the, 'oh! Say my name in Russian' or, 'say something in Russian!' that gets annoying fast!"

"Oh, Beka has the same problem whenever he says he's from Kazakhstan."

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the airport with the rest of the Russian team."

"We would be in the sky by now is the plane would stop getting fucking delayed!"

"Well let the team rest in here! Its probably hot as fuck in that bus."

"Smartest thing you've said all day, Levochka." And with that he left

"And who was that?" Yaku's tone was serious so I beckoned the team over to the bench to explain

"So you know how I have left practice early?"

"Yes?"

"That's because I do figure skating and I am hoping to go into it full time when I am older and that person who was here a bit ago was a part of the Russian Figure Skating team."

"Nice!" Someone commented from the end of the bench

"Levochka!" A voice called,

"DAD!" I raced to meet the voice and gave a big hug to my father, Victor Nikiforov and gave my other dad, Yuri Katsuki a hug when he entered short after.

Yaku came up from behind, and kicked me, "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOUR PARENTS WERE FAMOUS SKATERS YOU FUCK!"

Upon seeing that the Russian team was pissed, "Держи свои гребаные ноги от него, ублюдок размером с муравей!"

"I still don't know what yall are saying.."

A voice came from the back, "Georgi said, "Keep your fucking feet off him, ant-sized motherfucker" I recognized Kenma's voice quickly

"Ey! I thought you would stay on the bus!" Yurio called

"Well, I finished my level and I have nothing else to play until a few daily bonuses roll in."

"Kid you run through games like me and Lev run through a thing of pirozhkis.."

"Meh I keep myself entertained."

"KENMA?!" Kuroo called, ran up and started to shake the boy

"I WAS WORRIED WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US WHERE YOU WERE GOING?1"

"Because it doesn't concern you, besides its not like I'm gonna be gone forever.."

"Kozume I am your best friend! You tell your best friend this shit!"

"Uh..." Kenma stuttered

"What?! Is there anything else you wanna tell me?!"

"1: I don't owe you shit and 2: Lev and Shoyo are my best friends, Теперь слезай с высокой лошади, ты трахаешься" (Now get off the high horse, you fuck)

"That's my boy!" Yurio cheered

Yuuri shook his head and turned to me, "Anyway, Lev can we pull you and Yaku to the side we wanna talk to you two."

I nodded and grabbed Yaku's hand and we exited the gym with my dads

"Levochka.. Are you sure he's the one you want?" My dad asked gently

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you said that this was your boyfriend when we talked about it before but are you sure he is what you want? I mean he kicks you and gets physical it seems a lot. I just want for you to be safe." My dad explained.

Yaku looked nervous as my dead continued, "Hell even Yurio when we adopted him, was never physical with anyone who didn't deserve it.. Minus Yuuri but you get what I mean."

I grabbed Yaku's hand, "I know but Yaku's trying and that's all I can really ask.."

Yuuri started to talk "Lev please be safe." His face was one of worry

"I'm sorry Mr. Nikiforov, I've been trying my hardest to not be as bad as I was, I am trying for your sons sake, I wanna make him happy.."

"I can see that and I hope you keep trying."

"I will, I care about Lev so much I wouldn't do anything to actually hurt him, I love him too much to do that."

"Th-"

"HEY VICTOR WE NEED TO GET TO THE AIRPORT!" Called Yakov's voice loud from the bus.

"Coming! Lets go!"

After gathering the others they left, till next week will we see them again.

#Yuri on ice #Haikyuu #Yuri on ice x haikyuu

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vcg73 · 5 years ago

Text

Free Kurt - Past Kurt

I wrote one extra story for the Free Kurt, anti-proposal challenge, but it’s a little different. 😊

~*~*~*~*~

“What are you wearing?”

Kurt jumped at the sound of a young and judgmental voice speaking directly in his ear.

He was standing on a wide marble step within the hallowed halls of Dalton Academy, surrounded by dozens of friends, acquaintances, and strangers from the assorted western Ohio high schools that Blaine had brought here today to witness his proposal. A proposal that was currently proceeding from the step below his own, and which Kurt was feeling increasingly pressured to accept in spite of his own very real misgivings.

And while it was a very distracting scene, he had not noticed anyone sneaking up behind him. He turned his head slightly, attempting to pay attention to Blaine’s words while simultaneously taking a quick peripheral peek over his right shoulder.

Kurt nearly jumped out of his skin when the voice spoke again, this time right next to him on the left. “Wait, are we getting proposed to?”

Whipping his head to the left, Kurt frowned. Who was that? He didn’t see anyone.

Blaine faltered a little, apparently noticing his distraction. “Kurt?” he mumbled, hazel eyes darting about as his intended frowned and looked everywhere but at him. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t you hear that?” he asked.

“I’m very good looking in the future!” the voice observed, sounding pleased. “Tall too! But that suit has got to go. Peacock blue brocade can be beautiful if used sparingly. Maybe a vest or a jacket against an all black suit. Though on second thought that might make it look like you were about to deal roulette in Vegas. But an entire suit? And with a violet silk shirt to contrast? I know this is just a dream, otherwise I wouldn’t be watching myself, but what has happened to my fashion sense since I got old?”

The young voice was so utterly horrified that Kurt almost laughed in spite of the bizarre circumstance. For he recognized the speaker now. What was even stranger, he remembered now with a startling burst of clarity, that he had had this very dream when he was about 14 years old. Himself standing in what he had thought was a fairy tale palace, watching himself be proposed to by Prince Charming.

Had it not been a dream? For he did recall suddenly that it had occurred following a whack to the head brought about after one of the goon squad, who had already started targeting him in middle school, had aimed badly when shoving Kurt into a locker. Kurt had told his dad that he’d been hit with a dodge ball during P.E. His dad had skeptically bought it, not able to prove otherwise, but Kurt had been given a few days off of school that week, and he remembered being watched like a hawk the whole time.

He also remembered having a lot of strange half-remembered dreams that he had written off to concussion.

A little shiver went down his spine. Surely it was not possible that he had done some kind of astral time travel thing. Wasn’t that just a little too sci-fi for the real world?

And yet, he could not deny the voice that was apparently only in his own ears at this moment. For nobody else was reacting as if they heard a young teenager passing judgment on this whole affair.

“Actually, forget our fashion taste. What the hell is he wearing?”

Kurt bit down a smirk. He had forgotten how dramatically fond of italics he had been as a kid. But he focused, really focused for the first time, on that hideous banana yellow creation that Blaine had chosen, and had to give his alter ego a point on it. No doubt Blaine had wanted something that would force every eye onto him. It wasn’t like he had ever been able to stand not having 100% of the attention in any room turned his way.

Blinking, Kurt wondered where that harsh thought had come from. Sure, it was true, but shouldn’t his thoughts be focused toward how romantic this all was? Apparently listening to the point of view of his less inhibited younger self was sparking a little rebellion inside of him.

“He’s handsome, our boyfriend,” the young voice observed in a clinical tone that made his older self want to laugh. He remembered using it when deciding between two equally perfect outfits, trying to decide which would have more of a ‘wow’ factor. “But his fashion taste is terrible and I don’t like the hair. That slicked back Elvis retro thing is so 1995. It also makes him look like he’s pushing 30. Wait. Is he older than us? How old are we? Are we 30?”

That age must seem ancient to a boy of 14, Kurt supposed. His conscience prickled at the remembrance of his own life plan having been to find someone and become husbands or domestic partners, depending on what the law dictated so far in the future, with him by 30. Before that, he had always expected to live a life of fashionable single fabulosity, with boyfriends by the dozen, while he conquered the career of his choice. It had not been until high school, developing his first bad crush on Finn Hudson, being swamped with insistent hormones, and being constantly surrounded by relationships, that he had started longing for a commitment. Not because he knew what to do with one then, but because he had hated being the only person who did not even have the prospect of a real relationship.

He knew better than that now. So why was he still so determined to do something he knew in his gut that he was not ready for? Even if their ‘teenage dream’ had been perfect, was he really willing to enter into a lifelong commitment before he even hit 20?

Apparently unaware of his thoughts, the voice of his young observer continued with relentless interest. “Oh, my god. Is that Rachel? Tell me you are not thinking of letting Rachel Berry be your attendant. She’s the most obnoxious girl in school! And she’s dressed better than you! Maybe this is actually a nightmare. Oh, hey, there’s Dad. Hi, Dad!”

Kurt looked at his father, looking slightly confused a few steps below where he stood just behind Will Schuester. Burt looked around surreptitiously, as if he had heard the call, but knew it was not possible for it to be there.

“If he’s here at our proposal then he knows about us!” invisible Kurt said happily. “Did we come out to him, and he’s happy for us?”

The sound of a dreamy sigh made Kurt’s eyes unexpectedly prickle with tears. How well he remembered that feeling. That co-mingling of fear, dread, and hope that had gripped him every time he had considered biting the bullet, and telling his father that he was gay. Of course he would have thought he was dreaming all this, seeing his father in his every day attire in a place like this, while they were both surrounded by the glitter and formality of dozens of smiling peers. Friends were another thing that young Kurt had never been sure he would actually experience in real life.

“If this is a dream, does that mean Mom is here too?” the invisible speaker asked, this note of longing in his young voice going straight to Kurt’s heart. He had heard that question deep inside himself for so many years. The small childish part of him that had never entirely accepted that someone as wonderful, fun-loving, and tenderly understanding as his beautiful mother could just be snuffed out of his world after only eight short years.

“No,” he said softly. He knew suddenly that if his mother had been here, she never would have approved of this. She had held the safety and happiness of her only child as a sacred trust from the day he was born until her very last day on Earth. He had always been able to talk to her about anything, and this would have been no different. Mom never would have allowed him to compromise his heart and his future for a dream that he already knew did not live up to reality. “I’m sorry.”

He had been speaking to past-Kurt and to his mother, but when he said the words, it caused Blaine to stop mid-sentence with a look of shock. “What do you mean, no.”

Kurt blinked. Suddenly he knew that while he had not meant those words for Blaine, a part of him had actually wanted to say them out loud ever since he walked in the building.

“Kurt, what are you doing?” Blaine said, his voice more annoyed now as Kurt brushed past him to walk down a few steps, looking around at the crowd and realizing for the first time how few of these people he actually knew. “You’re embarrassing me! I don’t what you’re looking for, but it doesn’t matter. Can we just get on with this thing?”

Kurt turned to look at him, frowning at the irritated question.

“This thing?” he repeated, eyes narrowing. “You mean the thing where I’m missing my flight home so my ex-boyfriend who’s still in high school can ask me to agree to spend the rest of my life with him, even though we’ve only been casually back together as a couple for a couple of days? The thing where we’re both supposed to agree to love and be faithful to one another forever? That thing?”

Apparently he had not entirely lost his love of italics after all. His tone was biting, the reminder of his own youthful hopes and expectations making him feel angry and betrayed all over again.

Instead of understanding, Blaine actually rolled his eyes. “Not that again. I told you, I thought we were over when that happened! And didn’t I promise I would never ever do it again? Isn’t that enough? Why can’t you just get over it? It’s not like it meant anything, Kurt.”

That injured way he said Kurt’s voice, the way that usually deflated whatever outrage Kurt felt and caused him to guiltily give in, enraged him this time.

“No, Blaine. I can’t just get over it. Because we weren’t anywhere near over when it happened, and you know it. It’s called a long distance relationship, and what you did was horrible. Our being boyfriends meant everything to me. The fact that you could throw what we had away on a stranger after just a few weeks apart, because I couldn’t devote all of my attention to you while I was starting a new life in a different state? That meant something to me. It meant that I couldn’t trust you anymore. I don’t trust you, and I can’t forget that happened, so I guess I was wrong about being able to forgive it too. I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I don’t want to spend my whole life with a guy that I don’t believe will keep a vow to honor and cherish me.”

Blaine sputtered. “But, but I . . . what about all this?” He gestured frantically around them as if he could not conceive of such a scene not magically wiping away whatever doubts Kurt had.

“This is all very beautiful,” Kurt said, glancing around at the streamers, balloons, and startled faces that filled the room, “but it’s only a child’s dream. The real world isn’t a pretty song and a lot of smiling faces. It’s hard work, and compromise, and shared joys, and making sacrifices for each other’s happiness. That’s what a real commitment means, Blaine. It means being there for the people you love even when conditions are not ideal. Even when they’re so bad that you don’t know what to say or how to move forward, but you keep trying because you love them too much to ever want to cause that person pain. It means being your best self and making good times for the two of you even when the worst things are happening.”

“I don’t understand,” he admitted, flopping his hands helplessly. “Where is all this coming from?”

Kurt looked at his dad, who was dashing away tears from eyes that carried mingled pride, regret, and new understanding.

“I was reminded on the way here about how much my mom and dad loved each other, and how deeply committed they were to each other. Even when my mom was dying, they never stopped trying to make each other smile. They never would have cheated on each other, or tried to pressure each other into making a decision that they knew was wrong. And when it was just Dad and me, he did the same for me. He wanted me to always know that I had a safe space with him, a home where I could be myself and try to block out all the pain of the outside world. And I did the same for him, even when I was a little clumsy about trying to protect him.”

Burt nodded, his smile wry as he was clearly remembering some of of the awkward, uncomfortable, but always deeply loving moments they had shared together

“I want that again,” Kurt said, turning back to his would-be fiance. “It’s been a long time since I had a place where I know I can always be myself without having to hide half of the things that make me who I am. A place where I can feel safe because I always know that I’m loved and respected. A home where I can be with someone wants to make sure that I’m happy, just because knowing that makes him happy. Because I deserve that, Blaine. And because I’ll do the same for the man that I’ll agree to spent my life with one day.”

“And I’m not that man?” he asked, sounding genuinely sad.

Kurt looked at him, smiled, and gently kissed his cheek. “No. I hope you will be that man for somebody one day, but we both know deep down that it can’t be me. Our relationship started right here in this hallway three years ago. It’s appropriate that it ends in the same place. Good luck, Blaine.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, Blaine reading the truth in Kurt’s steady gaze. “I’ll miss you. I’ll always love you, Kurt.”

“Goodbye. Dad, I’ll meet you out at the car.”

Holding his head high, Kurt walked down the steps and past the shocked crowd of onlookers.

“Thanks, Kurt,” he whispered, no longer able to sense his younger self, who had probably awakened from his dream at the same time his present self had ended the swirling nightmare of his unwanted proposal.

Pushing past the great double doors of Dalton Academy, Kurt smiled and stepped out into the sunlight, leaving the past behind him.

THE END

#Free Kurt #elledelajoie #Anti Klaine proposal challenge

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sportacringe · 5 years ago

Text

The Deal

After Robbie Rotten discovers that Sportacus isn't as human as he pretends to be he brings him down into his lair so that they can hash out a Deal

Sportacus watched in mute horror as Robbie spooned hot chocolate powder liberally into his coffee before adding a sizable splash of cream, and barely held back a wince as Robbie proceeded to essentially pour the mixture down his throat in three long draughts. In the deafening silence Sportacus half-imagined that he could hear Robbie’s heartbeat.

It was only after the mug was emptied that the villain lowered it to regard the hero before him, steady hands cradling the warm ceramic, a pinkie finger tap tap tapping against the vessel's handle.

"So" Robbie began, his voice pitched dramatically low "You want me to keep your secret?" The lair was damp and chilly, but Sportacus shuddered with anxiety rather than as a response to the cold. It was hard to find words—harder yet to speak them.

"I...yes" The pressure of the lair made him feel like he was choking. Prior to their visit he had assumed that it was merely the space’s unpleasant atmosphere that had made the hairs at the back of his neck prickle throughout every blessedly short visit, but now that the wards were active Sportacus recognized them for what they were. It was the kind of magic that he had never mastered, and he cursed himself for his negligence—across from him Robbie was eerily still.

“Now Sportanerves, why would I go and do a thing like that?” He was teasing, in control in a way that he had almost never been in Sportacus’ presence. The gloating was different too, self-contained and smug rather than loud strutting about. It stood in stark relief, and made Sportacus wonder what else had laid dormant, unnoticed for the entire time that he had resided in Lazytown. It was a manner that for a moment made Sportacus understand how Robbie could have been considered a high ranking villain, rather than the local public nuisance that he often seemed to be.

Sportacus spared a brief moment to be thankful that they were located in what must have been Robbie’s kitchen, it was as dark and utilitarian as the rest of the lair but it did contain a table as well as three dusty hard metal chairs. He shuddered to imagine how vulnerable he would have felt standing before Robbie and negotiating in the cavernous main room while Robbie lounged comfortably on his atrocious orange armchair. It was almost as through Robbie had brought him here, in an attempt to even their playing field. Sportacus couldn’t imagine the villain to ever be the sort to give up an advantage when it was presented to him, but as he felts the wards pulse he reminded himself that he didn’t really know his adversary very well. Perhaps it was simply manners, Robbie already had the upper hand.

“Please…”

Robbie poured himself another cup of coffee, repeating his process and stirring it all together with deliberate movements.

“Well it is nice to have you beg” The villain took a sip of his concoction, sweetened to almost syrup, but still at its heart coffee. The shadows under his eyes seemed nearly bruised. “I have a proposition for you Sportacus 10”

“What would you have me do?” Sportacus asked. His voice was strained and words mispronounced, stress had always worsened his accent. His brother would have chided him for having so many tells. Sportacus let his eyes focus low on the table between them.

“Leave” Robbie answered promptly, taking another sip “but that’s not what I’ll ask of you. Not tonight” as Sportacus looked up again the shadows seemed to darken, bony shoulders becoming more angular as Robbie’s true nature revealed itself in turn. Sportacus had known, of course he had, but like many things he had allowed himself not to see.

Now he had been revealed himself, lost the little advantage he’d had. Everyone knew that there was something more to Robbie—he hid himself as carelessly as he did everything else—but no one cared to look at him too closely. Sportacus lived in the light, in the people’s eyes, but now the veil that covered his one secret lay in the hands of a lazy but clearly antagonistic creature and the hero was bracing himself for it to be pulled away for all to gaze upon.

Everyone had always looked at Sportacus closely.

Robbie was avoiding his eyes.

“Come back tomorrow, at this time, and maybe then I will know what I would have you trade this little scrap of information for” The villain said finally, the words less formal than they had been a moment ago, but just as steeped in power. It was an open order, rather than a solid trade for a secret kept. Robbie kept him in the air, the deal intentionally vague. Sportacus in his heart knew not to take it—that if he did then he would be beholden to Robbie for as long as the villain saw fit to play with him. Tomorrow could easily become a week from now, which could become a month, the undefined power that Robbie held over Sportacus could not be allowed to fester or warp. When dealing with creatures such as Robbie said deals must be closed and finished with as quickly as possible—lest favors be called in at some fatally inconvenient moment.

“I need you to ask something of me tonight, this must be finished” If a bargain was made then it would be over, and then maybe Sportacus would be able to salvage his life here in Lazytown, Maybe he could continue on as if nothing had happened. If Robbie was willing to trade something for the secret of Sportacus’ true nature, then Sportacus might be willing to take that Deal and cope with the consequences as they came.

Now Sportacus hears his own heartbeat.

“Fine” Robbie bit out, familiar drama contrasting with the new heaviness of his presence—in the dim light Robbie was like a black hole, drawing light and shadow alike into himself. “Though it would be more fun just to tell them…let them find out that their beloved Slightly Above Average Hero was something else entirely”

He took another sip, grimaced, and spooned in more hot chocolate powder—this time Sportacus actually did wince. Robbie grinned in response.

“In trade for my continued silence I request continued honesty.” Sportacus looked up, startled. Robbie’s face was uncharacteristically serious as he peered through the dimness of the lair. He watched as the villain placed his mug onto the aluminum table that sat between them, the click of ceramic against metal ringing through the lair.

“One hero coming raised questions that I never got a satisfactory answer to” Robbie continued “Now there have been two—here in my town—and if you aren’t human then I’m sure that the last one wasn’t as well. This is my home and I need to know why it’s attracted such attention.”

Sportacus stopped breathing.

“If I were to tell you everything that you want to know” The hero began “would your continued silence extend to the information that you learned?” Their current conversation was proof enough in itself that information had immense power, and now Robbie was asking of him a share in all that Sportacus had. Unless Sportacus added a qualifier to their Deal then the price would be more valuable than the service. Haggling had never been his strong point, but if Robbie was as much of a softie as Stephanie claimed he was then he would accept the compromise—his curiosity would be sated without taking the means to further blackmail Sportacus.

“Yes, if that is your only compromise.” The tension in the air lessened noticeably as Robbie leaned back, apparently satisfied. Sportacus breathed again, before steeling his courage.

“Actually Robbie, I have one more condition”

“And what makes you think that you’re in a position to push a bargain?” Robbie looked appalled, face pulled into a familiar grimace. The harsh light of the lair had softened slightly and the syrupy liquid in Robbie’s mug appeared to be congealing. The mug was slung loosely by the handle in the villain’s bony fingers, the movement carelessly casual.

They stared at each other until Robbie sighed, resuming his tap tap tapping.

“Tell me, what else do you want Sportapush.”

“I want to the reserve the right to refuse to answer a question.” Sportacus replied, feeling his hands ball nervously into fists. “I will agree never to lie to you, but I cannot—I will not—tell you every secret I know, many of them are not mine to tell” He braced himself for an explosion, Robbie was prone to fits of temper and their situation was tense. Asking for more while already at a disadvantage was likely crossing a line, but Sportacus could not agree to Robbie’s terms without that qualifier. Still Robbie had been more lenient during their discussion than the hero had expected. When Sportacus had initially allowed himself to be lead down into the lair he had been bracing himself to be given the choice of either leaving or having his secret revealed to the public—he had been imagining microphones and banners, all with his secret scrawled across them in true ostentatious Robbie Rotten style.

What he had received instead could almost be called a kindness. He had been granted the dignity of a negotiation however stilted and awkward, and Robbie had not tried to force him to leave town. Sportacus still could not fathom why; Robbie’s questions, whatever they might have been, must be important.

Robbie’s tapping increased in volume for a moment before he placed the mug on the table with a harsh clink, the sound echoing against the metal walls.

“You’re in luck then—If our Deal had been intended to force you to answer every question I gave you I’d have specified.” The villain seemed almost offended “I may be lazy but even I’m not that sloppy.” They stared at each other for a moment; Sportacus could feel the tenseness of his shoulders as he mulled over the fact that Robbie had essentially just admitted to leaving an intentional loophole in their deal, one that would allow Sportacus some continued control over what information was to be passed on to Robbie. It was kind, in the sort of way that witches in stories could be kind—a backhanded compliment in the form of a riddle.

“Okay” He sighed, feeling a similarly conflicting mix of triumph and defeat “Okay I think we have a deal” Robbie’s expression turned unreadable for a bare moment before morphing into a smug smile. The villain reached out a hand to shake

“Yes Sportacus 10, we have a Deal.”

#sportacus #Robbie Rotten #lazytown #lazytown fic #fae!robbie rotten #elf!sportacus #original #i contributed #my fic

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zombiesbecrazy · 5 years ago

Text

Onion Rings

Summary: Damian stopped abruptly and lifted in his head to a gathering of people across the room. Clark zoned in and realised what was happening very quickly.“He’s drunk?”

for @audreycritter‘s birthday!

AO3

*****

“Mr. Kent?”

Clark’s eyes widened at the words before he turned. It was an address that he was used to, but not from this particular voice. It wasn’t at all like Damian to address him, or almost any adult as Mister, but this was a museum opening and he must be on his best Wayne heir behaviour for the formal event. Alfred would be proud.

“Yes?”

“My father is in need of assistance getting back to the hotel.”

“He drove here himself, right?”

“Yes, but he seems to find himself indisposed and needs extraction.”

“Lead the way.” It was a weird request from Damian. Clark and Bruce did have a public relationship, but it was mostly professional, only meeting up at events or pre-arranged meetings. In those instances they did come across as friendly, but at an event like this, Damian wouldn’t normally seek out Clark at all, let alone ask for help in something as small as getting him home. At worse, even Bruce’s public persona knew how to call an Uber.

Damian stopped abruptly and lifted in his head to a gathering of people across the room. Clark zoned in and realised what was happening very quickly.

“He’s drunk?” Clark had only seen Bruce drunk a handful of times and they were in very contained situations. It wasn’t out of the norm to see Bruce acting drunk, playing up the part of an affable idiot, but this looked like full on actual drunkenness. Loud, carrying voice, staggering posture, hands waving dramatically as he spoke. Clark could hear his elevated heartrate now that he was concentrating on it.

This wasn’t calculated. This was real.

“Luthor spiked his drink.” Damian crossed his arms and sniffed as he watched the display in front of him. “And with the amount of paparazzi outside, I can’t be behind the wheel to get him back safely myself.”

Not to mention that he’s thirteen and shouldn’t be driving regardless of who may see it. “Alright. I’ll look after it.” Damian turned to walk away. “Wait, don’t you want a ride, too?”

He paused and spun around again, shaking his head. “I’m fine. I’m going to go to Jon’s house.”

“My house.”

Damian clicked his tongue in annoyance, like he did what he thought someone was asking a redundant question that was beneath him. “Yes.”

“It’s 11:30, Damian. Jon’s asleep. He has been for several hours.”

“The text he sent me three minutes ago suggests otherwise.”

Clark groaned, because of course the son of Batman was slowly turning the son of Superman into being nocturnal. “Fine, but I’m letting Lois know you are on your way and you have to go to bed. No other activities. No outside activities.” His face was blank, undecipherable to an outsider if they were to overhear the conversation, but his message was clear.

“Fine,” huffed Damian. He was doing his best to look put out, but Clark caught the way that his eyes stayed trained on Bruce across the room, who had an arm resting around Lex Luthor’s shoulders, and a booming laugh that travelled through the room. He really was concerned if he had asked Clark for help. “Thank you, Kent. For looking after him.”

“Thank you for getting me, Damian.”

As Clark got closer he noticed that Bruce was flushed and clumsy, both things that he could fake with ease from his training, but his pupils were blown out to the max, something he couldn’t do on command, despite how many times Bruce insisted that he could. This wasn’t drunk like Clark has originally guessed. This was drugged, which was worse.

Clark quickly pulled out his phone to text Lois about their incoming house guest and then after pocketing it again, strolled up casually between the two men, and raised his hand in offer to Bruce. A greeting or a lifeline depending on who was looking at it. “Nice to see you having a good time, Mr. Wayne. It’s been awhile since you’ve been in Metropolis.”

“Clark!” exclaimed Bruce, beaming as if he hadn’t seen him in months and not earlier that evening before the gala, grumbling about Alfred sending him off in a Ted Baker suit instead of the Brioni that Bruce preferred. He grabbed Clark’s hand tight and pulled him in for a hug that to any outsider would look like was just an overly friendly tipsy Bruce Wayne thing to do, but Clark felt Bruce’s fingers curl into his jacket a little bit. Lifeline it was. Bruce pulled back again and clapped his hand on Clark’s shoulder. “Lex, have you met Clark? He’s my favourite reporter at the Planet. He always writes the nicest things about me. We talked after my company started working with that other company about that thing? The thing with the stuff that makes energy clean somehow? I don’t know how it works but it sounds neat. He’s so nice about everyone, don’t you think?”

Luthor raised his drink, and Clark saw him grinning behind the glass, and he had to refrain himself from punching the smile off his face. “We’re acquainted, but that hasn’t been my experience with Mr. Kent,” he drawled. “It seems like he doesn’t always agree with my ideas or how I conduct my business.”

“Really?” Bruce sounded surprised, and even pouted a little, like he was sad that the two of them didn’t get along, before shrugging and smiling again. “Oh. I wouldn’t know. I only read my own press. Gets boring when it isn’t about me.” Bruce’s drunken eyes lit up with glee and he gasped suddenly. “Clark, do you remember the burger place you took me to near the Planet that one time?”

Clark had never taken Bruce for burgers near the Planet if you didn’t count his own apartment, but he decided to play along. “You mean Superburger?”

“Yes!” Bruce snapped his fingers in Luthor’s face urgently, as if it was the most important thing in the world. “Lex, have you tried it? The onion rings, Lex. The onion rings.” Bruce shook Clark’s shoulder, like a child distracted by a new idea that had sank its teeth into them. “Can we go get some, Clark? I would kill for some of those.”

“Bruce, I’m sure Mr. Kent still has work to do,” said Luthor, clearly in attempt to keep Bruce with him. “People to interview and then inaccurately interpret their intentions about in the press later.”

“Actually, I’m done for the night and would love a burger. Escargot and caviar aren’t exactly my idea of a good meal.”

“Great! Let’s go now!” Bruce linked his arm with Clark’s and started to lead them towards the door. He waved back in a way that could only be described as thrashing. “Bye, Lex!”

Getting Bruce into the car was both very easy and extremely difficult at the same time. The valet brought the car around quickly, but trying to get Bruce to sit in the passenger seat instead of the driver’s seat took more convincing than Clark had expected, and then his limbs were all flaily when trying to get into the two seater. Only when Clark realised that Damian had the passenger seat pulled up closer to the dash and he released the latch to accommodate for Bruce’s long legs did things get easier.

He had also not expected to be confused the moment that he tried to put the car into drive. “Umm. I don’t know how to drive this.”

“You grew up on a farm. You can drive. I’ve seen you fly alien spaceships.” The last part trailed off into a mock whisper, as if Bruce knew that that was a secret, but couldn’t remember how to be quiet. Even with just a few words, and even while drugged, Clark could see the shift from Bruce Wayne into just Bruce, the Bruce that Clark knew best. Now that he was out of the crowd and in the safety of the car, the playboy demeanor gone and he appeared to be draining of energy fast.

“Sure, but where is the gear shift? I can’t drive the car if I can’t get the car out of park.”

“Oh.” Bruce looked around the dash, as if trying to remember what car he was in, before he pointed. “It’s the shifter that you normally use for the wipers.”

“Then how do you use the…” he spotted a wiper button on the console “Never mind.” He flicked the shifter down into drive and pulled away from the museum and started heading towards Bruce’s hotel. “You don’t strike me as the type of guy who would drive automatic.”

“I don’t usually. I just wanted to drive a red car. My Metropolis red car is automatic.”

Only Bruce Wayne would refer to a Jaguar that probably wasn’t going to be released to the public until next year as ‘his red car’.

“You know, everything I drive is an alien spaceship, technically,” said Clark. “Unless it’s at the Fortress or its Kara’s pod, it’s alien to me.”

“What about your pod?”

“I was a baby. I don’t fit anymore.” A few moments passed in silence. Bruce fumbled around in the glove compartment and pulled out a bottle of water. He seemed to have trouble twisting the cap, but finally managed. “What happened tonight?”

“Lex spiked my drink. Couldn’t ditch it without suspicion so…” Bruce took a long sip of the water, draining half the bottle and wincing as he swallowed, “down it went.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Clark sighed. It was the ongoing battle. Bruce and Clark. Batman and Superman. Fine never meant fine. Fine meant that he was planning on struggling through whatever it was by himself, except Clark never actually let him do that. It was all part of the dance. “What was it?”

“Something similar to flunitrazepam, but it’s been mixed with something else.”

“That’s like Rohypnol, right?”

“Similar.” He ran his hands through his hair, product making it stand up strange in all directions. “I have a tolerance to it, but being cut with something else means I am compromised.” Clark thought that compromised was a polite way of saying ‘wasted off his ass’ but ignored the word choice.

“But why?” Why in the heck would Lex bother with roofie-ing Bruce Wayne? What could be the benefit, unless… “Does he know?” Lex was smart and had known Bruce a long time, both as the business mogul and as Batman. It wasn’t a far leap to connect the two.

Bruce shook his head and looked like he immediately regretted it, and held his hand to his mouth for a moment, fighting a wave of nausea. “Corporate sabotage.” Clark raised an eyebrow, but kept his eyes on the road in front of him. “Happens more than you would expect. Probably just trying to get me to do something stupid publicly. Maybe leak some info that shouldn’t be leaked.” He cracked the window and rested his head in a position that the fresh air hit his face, eyes closed. “Jokes on him. It’s better for me long term if Bruce Wayne looks stupid.”

“You are Bruce Wayne.”

“Potato, tomato.”

“If you say so.” Clark struggled to keep a straight face. He stopped at a red light and turned his head to get a better look at Bruce. “How do you feel?” It was a better question than asking if he was okay. It had more parameters.

“Honestly?” Bruce fidgeted in the seat some. “Twitchy. Like when you are overtired and your legs get restless, but I feel like that everywhere.” The light changed and Clark continued to drive. Bruce was silent for a few more lights and Clark was wondering if he had drifted off before he started talking again. “Jason used to do that. When his legs started twitching randomly I know that I had to send him off to bed. He’d argue about it, but go.” Bruce inhaled audibly and let it out shakily. “I miss him.”

Clark had seen Bruce go down this path countless times. Whenever he was hurt or sick or drugged, there was the inevitable tipping point when he started talking about Jason; the Jason from before the Joker. The boy that he had lost. Bruce worried about all his kids, his protégés, but this one in particular always came up when he was at his most vulnerable.

Clark reached across and gave Bruce’s hand a squeeze. “He’s safe, Bruce. He’s okay.”

“But we’re not,” mumbled Bruce. “Jason and I are not okay. We’re never okay. He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you. Not really.” Clark tried to think of the best way to put it that made sense. “It’s like when you run two bulls together. You’re a lot alike and you just end up fighting and hurting each other. You both get too emotional when you try to talk to each other.”

Bruce’s eyes popped open at that and he sat up straighter to stare at Clark, jaw dropped comically. “I’m too emotional?” Clark sniggered and nodded while Bruce continued to stare at him in a dumbfounded way. “And to think Dick always tells me I’m emotionally constipated.”

“Constipated is not the same thing as non-existent.” It was something that he had heard Dick say countless times, in many colourful different ways. “You get backed up, is all. Then when you and Jason get together it explodes out in unfortunate ways.” He smirked at Bruce. “I don’t think I need to actually say the obvious poop joke there for you to get my point.”

Bruce grunted in response and turned back to the window. Clark thought that the conversation was over, until Bruce piped up again. “That’s a shitty thing to say.”

Clark burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it, and Bruce followed suit. For a few minutes it was just the two of them laughing in the car, not worrying about being drugged or Luthor or mistakes from the past. Just two friends being silly in a dark car in the middle of the night. It was moments like this when they were just normal people that Clark loved best.

Clark hit another red light and was at a literal crossroads. He had promised Damian one thing, but there was another, better option.

“Do you still want to go back to the hotel? Or my place? Damian’s sleeping over there tonight.”

“Hmm.” He thought the possibilities over for longer than it would have taken him on a normal night. “Your place if it is alright. I don’t want to be alone at the hotel.”

Clark nodded and turned right, in the direction of their apartment. “Home it is.”

“Wait. Pull over.” Bruce’s tone was urgent and insistent and Clark found himself pulling to the curb without hesitation.

“Why? Are you going to be sick?”

“No.” He pointed out the window, where the glowing lights of a Superburger were shining through the dark like a beacon. “I believe I was promised a burger.”

“I think you were more interested in the onion rings.”

“Burger, Clark,” said Bruce, in a familiar way to how he had sounded at the gala. Innocent and excited. “Getting food in me will only help.”

“Fine, but you have to eat it like a normal person. None of this ‘raised by a butler and uses a knife and fork’ nonsense.”

“Drunk Bruce Wayne can eat a burger like a heathen as long as there are a side of onion rings.”

“You’re an onion ring, you know,” said Clark. “A delightful onion with many rings.”

Bruce’s brow scrunched up in confusion, seemingly in deep thought. “I don’t get it. I have been drugged though. I’m not at my best for puzzles tonight.”

“You will in the morning, Dark Shrek.” Clark pulled the car into the drive through and up to the ordering screen. “Let’s go get that burger and go home.”

#clark kent #bruce wayne #damian wayne #lex luthor #batfic

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forbiddcnsirvn · 5 years ago

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@prxphcts

Tattered breaths escaped through lungs, a curtain of now-dyed brown splattering over countenance as if a curtain that had long shrouded mystique beneath those eve-laden eyes, vellicating a clog enigma which had been splayed over his flesh overtime. The two were all but silhouettes now, hopping through towns and nooks between unwonted territories, at least for the dark-haired, attempting to slither through the mark plastered above their head whenever she thought of the land which had labored her instincts and skewed roots. Remaining under the shadow had never been a fickle task, undercover duties an everyday meal for the former executioner before she had to clinch a life in her bare hands, but this time they were running from a different creature. Long gone were the days where all she fussed about was a long stream of threats, tediously mulling over what cover she should drape if someone became a casualty or the dread of being compromised would patter over like an irritating itch behind the slide of her thumb, skirting along blades and Eagles. They were running from what had birthed all that in the first place, all monstrous tales would end with the creatures gnawing the palms that had fed them and this was no different. She was on the loose, except instead of yearning for revenge – not yet, at least – she was skittering through destinations with her husband who was equally as wanted if not more, for he had been the culprit who had knocked over the dominos. Changing the game, once and for all, and she, now the unbridled vermint, would follow him to the depths of hell as if he were the ruler of it all with his shelter and unyielding passion – as fragmented as it might seem right now after the adrenaline had dwindled into a mixture of laden exhales, relieving all the tension they had built up over their course of escape. Evren was far from having herself in a tip-top shape, her arm was plastered with a massive make-shift bandage she had received before they took off into the sun which had devoured Icarus whole and allowed herself to alter parts of her appearance as soon as they landed. Fringes which had represented the mucked innocence and obedience were gone, her locks weren’t as obscure as her eyes anymore but they still glimpsed a hint of conundrum. Blazers, skirts, any formalities discarded in exchange for a more casual attire – ones she had snatched from her ragged husband and worn loosely, blending with the rest of people as if she weren’t a once-vamp who remained to possess bloodthirst under those painted nails. Not now, not until they were safe.

The scent of dark coffee she had brewed earlier coated her senses, causing the bleared vision to ease down just a tad, whilst she brought out her last release ontop of him with one grind of her hip and soon enough she was slumped aside – her chin resting on his chest and her long fingertips padded over the bumps on his flesh. It wasn’t as easy to move her arm around with the bandage, but the ceaseless liberty as its price was worth it all. No longer did she have to worry about them knowing where the two were – although knowing those people, they could send their best runts in no time to sniff them out, but right now, Evren didn’t want to ruminate too much over it. After everything, time with her spouse was precisely what she sought, perhaps he was still upset over what had occurred – who wouldn’t be, she had played both teams for so long now though her feelings, it wouldn’t take Einstein to know how deep they curled and curvated, twisted her insides in more ways than billions. There was a lot she had to tell, a lot he had to know, it was as if she could pluck the missing pieces which he had thought to have never existed. But if they were to attempt to be more earnest, in which she was endeavoring herself to be, then anytime close to now would be the best time to do so. The little eavesdropping she had learned through the phonecall with whoever was on the line, though she believed him that it was a trusted one, had plastered various reflection – she would muse over them, like she had when she stirred the coffee she knew she would forsake for a pack of gushers instead, and they pierced on her tongue and yet the last thing she desired was to bombard him when she presumed he would require time to adjust still. With only their huffs echoing around the room, the former agent planted a kiss along his collarbone, her naked torso pressed against his side and refusing to tear itself away. “Baby. Why are you still awake?” She asked, looking up to analyze his expression – concern numbing softened features. “You should try sleeping again, I know it must be difficult, but I cannot recall the last time you’ve managed to rest.” She had to keep touching him, keep letting her know that she was there and he was there and they hadn’t lose each other amidst the inferno. She couldn’t careless about losing those people, but not him. “Something on your mind?”

#cyrek #convos: cyrek #i hope this is alright <3 let me know if you need me to change anything

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level247-table-tech · 5 years ago

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like, i recognize to a lot of people the formality reads as generalized ‘early episode weirdness’, and i won’t pretend to think it was all intentional, but looking back it reads as progression. even knowing that things they share, or that we learn about them in general as they open up, are directed to the audience- made clear even by the camera angle - they are talking to each other in-universe, and i get the sense that they are learning about each other as characters too.

important note toward that point: they know what everyone else does, due to their functions, as well as knowing enough about each other’s specific inputs on various matters to clash about them. but as characters, i would argue they are unfamiliar to each other; they aren’t on a first-name basis and there’s little evidence of them interacting offscreen aside from said clashes. by getting to know each other by character, rather than just by function, they are more able to work together, come into agreement, and work toward a happier, more completely fulfilled thomas. as a couple extra notes, them being characters is what nondiegetically allows them to speak at all, therefore indirectly what allows them to come to conclusions together. there’s a neat symmetry in the concept that knowing each other’s characters is what allows them to work through things together more efficiently in-universe also. a more fulfilled thomas seems like the natural result of his sides being happier, given that they are his aspects, and that’s what all of them are working toward. them knowing and being decent to one another seems conducive to that. self-love, and all, but more on that later.

everyone seems less likely to show up, in earlier episodes, unless their function is pertinent[or they are called upon]. this is where we find one- or two-character installments. less of a group discussion, more just a necessity. in particular i’d argue that any of their appearances to thomas pre-series were more akin to either the example arguments in mind vs. heart[not mvh itself; thomas called them for that talk] or one-on-one discussions in the mode of way too adult[talking about what these represent from a non-imaginary point of view could be interesting, but not on this post]: they show up when they have a stance on whatever’s at hand. this more minimal dynamic holds up in early episodes, and correlating to this theory, the change from that is due to advancement in-universe. though it is pointed out by anxiety in alone on valentine’s day that he can’t just sit things out if he doesn’t want to participate. most likely it’s just because he has feelings about the topic of discussion and does not care to go unheard, but it’s worth noting.

early appearances of all sides[in dilemmatic episodes, that is; generally only anxiety is antagonistic where there’s no particular argument] are more hostile, but early episodes also focus more on reconciling their various areas. again, we can exclude single-character focus episodes[princey is barely in taking on anxiety and he’s called up by thomas. it’s an anxiety episode], but there are more 2-sided arguments in the early episodes. the heart vs. the mind is a good example, with morality and logic talking through their previous arguments, and working toward compromise. that word’s gonna crop up again a lot. of course, one does get the impression that there’s little animosity related to past arguments! but that, i believe, can be chalked up to civility. that, and potentially regret is someone else’s domain, or thomas prefers not to dwell on it. in any case, they come to an understanding that if they work with each other rather than against each other, thomas can come to conclusions more than conflict, which are satisfactory to both parties, and which removes a stressor. the dark side of disney showcases a discussion between two sides who are less inclined to civility in ordinary clashes: princey takes his duty very personally, and anxiety is conflated with his negativity in a way that frames him as antagonistic to others and to thomas. yet this is a more casual discussion, less about conflicts or life events great or small, and more about interpretation. presumably this is just thomas pondering disney plots, on that level of thinking[listen there are three whole layers of reality in this show; i can’t just say diegetic or in-universe. the viewers are real, the sides are imaginary, and character thomas is having thoughts. i don’t know what to call it], and the results of this discussion won’t impact much other than tarnishing disney’s image. it’s just a disembodied ideal based on an external, unrelated body of work. anxiety proceeds to point out flaws in the ideal. many of which are valid points, and princey anticipates anxiety bringing up stockholm syndrome in the context of beauty and the beast, demonstrating that he already recognizes these flaws, and is just more accustomed to not focussing on the negative. different values of the critical. by the end of the episode, though, anxiety also admits that he appreciates disney movies despite their flaws. princey saw the flaws, but didn’t want to dismiss works outright for them; anxiety in truth shared this position but was unwilling to let the praise stand without a critical eye: a valid condition[pretending disney is flawless is setting a bad, bad precedent]. from then on more discussions ensue wherein more sides have opinions to bring to the table, presumably because it works and they have input, up to my negative thinking, wherein morality and princey are tabled, put offscreen. they provide excuses for their absence. already, there is enough precedent for all sides being present to these talks that absence calls for justification, at least in the opinion of thomas[not sure if anyone else was writing by that point? them too]. this is less one of those compromise episodes, and more an early appearance of how applying logic to problems is really effective, but it acknowledges anxiety’s opinions/feelings as being legitimate[in the sense that feeling that way is valid, not that he’s right], and addresses the cognitive distortions that lead to this kind of downward extrapolation. anxiety was wrong, but them working together brought thomas to a place where he had a more realistic projection of the effects of his actions. less relatedly logic admits to appreciating anxiety’s adherence to the formal debate format[for as much as he did so, at least], and says that while he frequently disagrees with anxiety, he isn’t as opposed to him as anxiety seemed to believe. this is a debate between a side with that civility i mentioned, and one without. but anxiety mostly does not express that civility due to that mentioned conflation of him with his negativity, which logic does not engage in as much here; logic points out failures in reasoning without edging in on personal attacks, dismissing anxiety’s arguments due to fallacies, and not because he attributes them simply to anxiety being a negative person[side? you know what i mean]. the result is fairly peaceable. now, keep in mind this talk about anxiety, we’ll focus more on him in a bit.

another angle of progression is in time they actually spend together[not during the course of an episode; i hesitate to just say ‘not counting times where thomas is present’ but you understand. time not occupied by dilemmas, maybe]. as mentioned, there’s little proof they’ve seen each other pre-series outside the occasional argument[also that dollar morality borrowed, but what even was that? it was also with princey, who he seems to have the most in common with], but as end-cards made appearances, we could see the sides spending time together. in an after-the-scenes sort of sense, to be sure, where it feels like they’re sticking around after filming because they somehow have to. at least, that’s the impression i get from the losing my motivation end-card; princey and anxiety probably would not want to spend time together at that point in time. i’ll chalk the ‘necessity’ of that up to the bizarre non-diegetic framing[like, in that scene he calls his agent. i have no idea what they were trying to imply]. at other times, though, it does read more as the sides generally hanging out, such as in mind vs. heart, where it reads more as them spending time together in an unofficial, personal sense[if only because logic has the presence of mind that during any official capacity in which they would spend time together he probably wouldn’t be so loose-tongued as to let that joke slip] and other goofier, more personal moments. it’s hard to place the dark side of disney’s endcard between these possibilities for that reason; they’re goofing around, and it’s not so implausible to believe that they’re sticking around out of preference. aside from end-cards, which take a bit of a turn at the end of the season and fall almost completely into the ‘personal’, ‘unofficial’ setting, there’s more evidence of them spending time together off-camera in later episodes, after the familial progress. offscreen things like anxiety mentioning morality paid him a dollar to make a pun, a flashback from princey of him seemingly in the midst of a casual conversation with at least one other side[the one where he alludes to not being a huge jelly guy], and a bit further back, princey and morality revealing that they’d worked together on the holiday sweaters. furthermore, as less of an offscreen moment and less of an unofficial setting but still worth bringing up: morality’s appearance in losing my motivation. he shows up in costume to match logic’s, to help solve a problem he has no particular stake in[that we and they know of yet]. this can be attributed to a couple factors: he wants to be helpful, and he wants to spend time with logic. potentially that second factor is linked to him already feeling they have bonded from the then-recent mind vs. heart; their shared love of onesie pajamas[and wordplay, much as logic will deny it] causes morality to feel closer to logic, and wanting to spend more quality time. he’s the most sentimental side; it makes sense that morality would be the first to feel more personally attached to the other sides. and even though the events of lmm are problem-solving in an official capacity[by their standards], it’s also said to be playing[dress-up]. spending time together. morality’s sentimentality and attachment to other sides doesn’t end there. that is only the beginning. but further such declarations are less within the realm of quality time and more business hours, so let’s move on to our next focus.

i don’t care to think up a diegetic reason they all started showing up in the first place[the first episode relates directly to the audience with a fine mist of a 4th wall], but anxiety has been present too, since early on in the series. he barely misses out on any discussions, and that’s if you count the initial introduction as a discussion. and he makes good points at times, too. his initial episode is about how to work him down from a heightened state, but in future episodes, he offers legitimate arguments and good points. things like more realistic goals[he says he knows thomas’ limits, a fair assessment], saner plans, emotional insight, honesty that is brutal but ultimately helpful, and reflections on past events. he has issues at times with identifying the reasons behind some feelings, but anxiety is irrational[the feeling, not the character], and we can only guess how much insight he has into that anyway. what we know is that when he identifies problems, he really wants to be heard, and he’s not the best at telling whether problems he’s identified are as legitimate concerns as he’s guessed due to cognitive distortions. these are thoughts thomas has, and anxiety gives voice to. other sides, in the past, have been less willing to help with working through these concerns, and more willing to just shoot down anything he says on the grounds of he said it. and even if he has trouble with which hesitancies are reasonable, he’s worried about them ignoring actual problems if he doesn’t point them out. anxiety wants to be listened to, until he doesn’t. there are a few contributors to that, logic demonstrating his concern as being excessive, disparaging remarks about how unhelpful/relentlessly negative he is hitting home, how successful all their talks have actually been in solving problems, any number of these;very likely a combination. we shall focus on the third: they’ve all been communicating with one another, which has been helping a lot to work through problems. they are identifying problems, and solving them. anxiety feels that things they’ve said about him causing problems are right, and that he isn’t needed/is holding thomas back. but as mentioned, anxiety has been there since nearly the start, appearing just as often as anyone else. he’s been there throughout the developments the others have been making; as they all communicated, he was communicating too, and in fact contributed to the solutions of multiple problems. he’s been there all along as the family came together; he may feel like an outsider, but he’s as much a part of the group as anyone. morality’s card said family. the specific label was a product of sentiment[not inaccurate by any means though], but it was accurate in depicting them as a unit. they do work primarily as a unit from that point on.

now to address more recent events. deceit and the duke have made an appearance, the others[pros: accurate. cons: this is a word i want to use for other purposes, such as that one there], or ‘dark sides’[pros: distinctive. cons: reductive] have been confirmed to be a group. that said, they are only confirmed as a group, not a cohesive unit. who knows to what extent they communicate or operate as a team. there is still ambiguity, however, about whether they are more of a unit than the ‘light sides’[pros: distinctive. cons: exclusive] or famILY[pros: accurate. cons: unhelpfully inclusive, contains capital letters, sentiment-ridden] were before season one. no dark side we have encountered seems like the type to both have and act on the kind of sentimentality that attached morality to his family, but there is much greater evidence of them interacting offscreen before. yet that evidence shows no signs of particularly positive interactions. anxiety and deceit evidently know each other, but there's little evidence of what their past was actually like, and their interactions now are frigid, to say the least. deceit and the duke had a conversation about transparency, which was heavily paraphrased[i have to assume so at least] and occurred after deceit revealed himself in the first place. that seemed like less of a group decision and more an idea deceit had. furthermore, that idea seemed to be in response to events and actions on the part of the light sides. so who can say if the dark sides ever worked together. but it’s hard to imagine they’d have done so more than the light sides had been.

to be clear, my emphasizing morality as the one who declared them a family out of sentiment should not be read as disagreement with him saying so; i do not seriously believe anyone included in that family disagrees. he is the one who said it first, acted on it first, and initiated more of the social bonding. and referring to sentimentality as a factor should not be read as negative. that’s just what these are being attributed to. it’s a trait he has in spades, more than any other side, that contributes to his decision-making.

i know i said i was going to talk about self-love later, but that’s gonna be another time. besides, i have raw data to collect on that first.

i feel like i write more about the older episodes because they’re easier to parse, and i don’t know why. maybe it’s that they don’t have as many instances of people keeping their goals close to the chest. or it could be that they’re less of a time investment to rewatch. maybe the characters talking more like characters than people makes them speak less straightforwardly. maybe the fact that new episodes are caused by ‘real’[to character thomas] events and less about unprompted introspection is leaving some things to the imagination. maybe they’re trying to leave more to the imagination now! to be fair, imagining is fun. but insight lets me do things like this.

i did a whole separate section on virgil. to be fair, he could use the validation. he’s 100% a part of this family. plus, i’m not opposed to writing about other characters i love to the same extent. 8)

if you have thoughts about this, let me know! if you have questions, be assured i will be more upset if you don’t ask them than if you do.

#tabletech #sanders sides #i just have a lot of feelings #and this is how i articulate them #ocan't write this kind of thing for school because this endeavor is fuelled by love #and public education isn't actually conducive to my love of learning #vague analysis

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starbuck09256 · 5 years ago

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Can you write something about Mulder and Scully that includes some lyrics from "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel for Season 6 or 7? Or even use the lyrics to create a storyline? . Thanks so much. Love, *Lyrics Anon

Fictober day 6

tagging @today-in-fic @suitablyaggrieved

“I get so tired of working so hard for our survival”

Season 7 pre-requiem

He’s been more pensive then usually these last few days. Chewing on his lip, staring blankly above his coffee in the morning. I wonder what goes on in that beautiful mind of his. Wonder what he is worried about, I know he worries, probably a bit more than he should about things. Normally I would let him solve it on his own, give him time to analyze the facts, make the leaps and connections he always seems to find. His worry scares me this time though, we’ve been through so much, now when we wake up with one another I worry that he regrets it, regrets the change we made in our relationship. He’s so quiet this morning, when we first made love it was with such haste with the passion of two souls denying themselves the purest thing they could think of the days that followed were actually practically perfect. We both slept better, when we did sleep that was. Our caseload has been light recently, since we got that one month suspension over the cardinal o'fallon thing, we were still catching up on closing out all the extra paperwork. Mulder would normally do most of it. He has always been in charge of the hotel rooms, rental cars, the papertrail, not because I’m not capable. But because he has and still does maintain that the files are his in a way. He found them started them, got the approvals, got them reopened over and over. He also sees it as a way of protecting me, while it used to piss me off, his explanation was surprisingly well thought out. “If I do all the paperwork, if there is ever any blowback, any i or t or something like that you will have completely ambiguity. They will have no way to cost you your job. You can maintain that you are still just writing the reports as originally directed.” So after 7 years, he is still the first one in the office in the morning. He works weekends, files reports and makes sure we stay as clean as possible when using Bureau funds. Now he has a harder time explaining 2 rooms when one is only used. He has been filling out one form it seems over and over, and yet hasn’t asked me to sign off on it. I can’t imagine his lingering looks are about something so contrite as paperwork. It makes me think he is starting to regret the change in our relationship, that he

regrets getting involved with a woman who could never carry his children. I can’t help but feel the pain of the IVF failure as I leaned against my kitchen counter looking at him. A small tear escapes my lid and I try to turn to look out the window. Inside I’m damning myself for the weakness, he’s been so very good to me, always. I know now he will never ever leave me, he will never find a wonderful wife to give him children, to move to that small town in the middle of nowhere that he wants. He won’t get look into his son’s eyes, briad his daughters hair. I was so stupid to ask him to be the father, but I couldn’t bear it if I had any other children then his, and now instead of the world getting at least part of us living on, we will die without an hier. At least my family as Bill and Charlie their great kids. But Mulder has no one, his hope for Samantha now at peace and I feel so much worse for letting hours of pleasure restrict him from the future he so desperately deserves. I have no idea how to end this though, I have no idea how to live without him. He won’t stop my Mulder, he’s already gone to the ends of the earth for me. And that was before the earth shattering sex we have. Suddenly as if he can sense my sorrow his arms are around me. Pulling my body which is wrapped only in his dress shirt and blue panties against his solid bare front. He kisses my temple.

“Whatever you are thinking, is wrong.” he mutters into my ear, before trailing kisses down my neck and finally resting his chin against my collarbone.

“That’s pretty presumptuous, even for you,” I mutter letting my nails drum on the sink for a second to collect my thoughts, go through a way to rationalize how we have to end this, for everyone.

“I know the last few days I’ve been out of it,” his nose runs against my hair as he gives me more soft kisses.

“It’s not what you think it is, I promise Scully,”

“It’s not?” I whisper even I hear the catch in my throat as I turn in his arms. I trace my fingers over his face, let him kiss my palm, wrap his fingers around mine.

“I need you to sign a very formal form, and you are not going to like it.”

He releases me moving to his briefcase by the door.

“What form?” I ask as I trail after him my bare feet cold against the wood flooring. He sighs heavily rubbing his hand across his face and scrunching his nose.

“You know sometimes, I get so tired of working so hard for our survival.” As he pulls at the form. I can’t help but grin.

“Isn’t that a line in “In Your Eyes” ?'' he can’t help but chuckle.

“I believe it is, Scully.” he laughs a little.

He hands out a very long detailed form, his penmanship is practically perfect.

“Before you sign this, I know what I’m asking here, I know it goes against everything you’ve probably ever wanted for this, for us, please know Scully if there was a choice, if I could keep things like they are without filling this out I would. But we have an audit hearing in 2 weeks, and it is going to be more than messy, if we have this filled out and filed, we could possibly get through unskaved.” His seriousness is disconcerning as I reach out for the form.

It’s an HR form one proclaiming notification of a change in relationship status between partners. I look at him shocked as he looks at his feet. I can’t help but release a slow and steady breath as I sit down at my kitchen table to read through it. He hands me my glasses off the side table sits down next to me his hands linked resting under his chin. Listed are dates, detailed and organized chronologically it requests that we stay partners of course. This is very very serious. I remember when Jack and I dated, how this form was presented and how we had a very long argument about it. Why would I fill out something unless I was positive it would lead to something more, people who casually date each other, that were just fucking do not fill these out. Mulder has filled out dates on this, filled out perhaps far too much and been almost too thorough. I shallow hard, I know of only three other pairs of agents who got together who filled these out. Two of those partners were split up immediately, the last one that was granted, the one that made it, ended in a messy divorce 3 years later shattering 2 adults and their 2 babies.

“You want to give them the exact thing to split us up? Mulder this might be the craziest thing you have ever done!” I’m yelling I know I am.

I’m not going to sign this, even if I know in my heart Mulder deserves to find someone who can give him everything he deserves and this form will certainly help push that plan forward, I can’t. I can’t give up the one person in the entire world who has truly loved me for me. The only person who cherishes every part of me, the man who makes me believe in the impossible like miracles, and soulmates.

“Scully, Scully listen we fill this out, we file it away upstairs it just has to be in the file. No one has to see it. It has to be there, so if…. If hell when they find out that we only use one room. That we only live at one address we don’t both get fired for obstruction to conceal our relationship. We can start just paying for one hotel room, reduce our costs significantly. This would improve our overall budget by 35% Scully, we would be one of the cheapest departments in the Bureau, our solve rate with these dates and the form already being on file prove that we haven’t let our emotions compromise our ability on the job.”

He has my hands in his stroking his thumb across my wrist over and over.

“They will split us up,” I can barely get out the words before tears sting my eyes and I try to rip my hands away from his.

“Is that what you want Mulder? Is this, is it too much, being more?”

I’ve been so stupid my feelings for him have already clouded my judgement on more than one occasion and now here I sit practically devasated. Maybe this was the plan, having me fill out this form so he can see what I want out of the relationship. Use this form to push us into a next step he knows we aren’t ready for this form as stupid as it is basically states that we plan to marry that’s how serious the relationship would be before any agent would ever sign it. I pull my hand away rub my face walk over to the kitchen sink again, hang my head in shame. Shame for having thought I could for a second walk away from him, shame for letting feelings get so deep that our jobs would break us up before we even had time to have an actual first fight. Well here it is, our first and last fight staring us in the face with glossy bold letters including dates of sexual intercourse.

“Scully, I.. I love you, you know that, this isn’t… we… aren’t, I don’t want something as stupid as a form,”

“If it was so stupid you wouldn’t be demanding I sign it.” I know my tone is icy.

I know that my anger isn’t just from a form, it’s from how this looks on a female agent. A male agent can fill these things out all day the implications mean nothing, but for a woman this is basically saying you just sleep around.

“Fine, let them shut us down, over your inability to admit what this really is.” His words harsh. He grabs his coffee cup rinses it out in the sink. Grabs the form shoves it back into his bag. My anger isn’t abating and he knows now the discussion if there ever was one is over. He grabs his leather jacket and all I hear next is the door shutting. I’m still in his shirt the soft blue still smells like his cologne from yesterday. I’ll have to have it launder and given back to him, while I pick up the pieces of my heart.

#mulder and scully #txf fic #myfic #s7 #angst #lots and lots of angst #I wrote this in like 30 minutes #with no beta #on my phone #sorry for typos

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the-foxes-fangs · 6 years ago

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(that-otome-potato) I was thinking... from your point of view, how would your version of Mitsuhide and his mc handle a huge fight? Like one where she left his palace to go back to Azuchi and wouldn't talk to him? I need to take my mind off of how chapter X ended...

OOoh that’s a good prompt, thank you!

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

Her fury was as rare as it was unyielding. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t noticed the icy distance in her eyes until it was too late to assuage it with a simple concession, a kiss, a teasing joke to remind them that even if they didn’t agree they were still on the same side.

They had just secured a fragile alliance, and she had witnessed the visiting warlord beating his page and simply refused to let it go, damn the consequences.

He couldn’t help respecting her sense of justice even when it was as irritating as the noise of a mouse gnawing at a wall, as it was now.

They had gone back and forth, he countered her every suggestion with a list of reasons why the comfort of a single page was far less vital than the peace of an entire region, treating the conversation as if he was discussing tactics and strategy, trying to talk her out of trouble with potential compromises, not paying enough attention to the hard glitter in her eye.

He had then managed to toss a lit taper into what turned out to be a powder keg, asking “little mouse, why do you care so much?”

It would stand in his memory among the most spectacular rhetorical failures of his career.

He saw the mottled red flush rise up her throat at the same time that her eyes turned as hard and sharp, her expression as distant as a snowy mountain peak, and just as cold.

It wasn’t the anger, it was the disappointment with which she looked down on him as she rose stiffly.

“Why don’t you?” She said, voice as as flat and chilly as a frozen lake.

He knew better than to let his frustration add wind to the tempest but his own chest was tight at the sight of her, hands in tight fists at her side, stubbornly refusing to listen, refusing to see the larger picture.

“Perhaps I simply have more important matters to think about than what is, whether you like it or not, a perfectly normal part of the relationship between vassal and lord.” He said, matching the cold in her tone.

“Well don’t let me distract you from such important matters, in that case.” She said, so coldly that it should have withered the flowers on the shelf with frost.

She stood perfectly still for a moment, before she curled her lip in disgust as she turned away. He had expected that she was simply leaving to cool down, had expected that he would find her in the room she had turned into a workshop upon taking residence in his manor, her usual refuge.

Until he saw a glimpse of her, bag in hand, and heard her tell a startled maid she was returning to Azuchi.

He nearly rose to follow her, to go out into the street and tell her that he was sorry, to take her hand, but he pressed his lips together into an angry line and sat drumming his fingers on his desk instead. If she wanted to turn this into a match of wills, so be it.

He tossed and turned alone in bed, alternating between anger and regret as he felt the cold space where her body should have been. They rarely fought in earnest, which made him feel even more irritated by how he had allowed something so trivial to come to this. He tried to shake off the guilt he felt at the idea of her alone and probably crying. It had been her choice.

The morning passed as he worked furiously, the entire manor pregnant with tension as the maids and his retainers practically tip-toed around with curious eyes.

Their devotion to each other and the unified front they presented to the world was unusual enough to have been the subject of gossip in its own right, and now she wasn’t even speaking to him.

He rose and took his documents in hand and headed to the castle to make his report to Nobunaga.

She was nowhere to be seen on the way to the Tenshu, which he found irritating in its own right, since it would force him to either go to her with no excuse, or leave things to fester in silence for who knew how long.

He made his report and waited to be dismissed, grumbling inwardly as Nobunaga studied him with calculating curiousity.

“Our chatelaine has returned to her residence here. I expect you can explain this turn of events?” He asked, coldly.

“We had a… minor disagreement, my lord. Too trivial for you to concern yourself with.” Mitsuhide answered glibly.

“I’ll be the judge of what is and isn’t trivial, Mitsuhide.” Nobunaga responded, adding an amused snort. “Have you taken steps to rectify the situation?”

“I feel it might be unwise to act hastily.” Mitsuhide said, keeping his smile carefully fixed in place.

“How unusual it is to see you letting your feelings interfere with your goal.” Nobunaga replied, tapping his fan in the palm of his hand thoughtfully.

“This is hardly analogous to a political negotiation.” He said, eyes narrowed at Nobunaga’s self-satisfied smile.

“Is it not? I see two former allies at odds, each waiting for the other to open negotiations. Of course, if I were you, I would simply give the other side every concession, given that you stand to lose nothing but a little face and gain that which you most want.” Nobunaga replied with a shrug.

“I would gladly do so if the concessions were wholly mine to give.” Mitsuhide countered sharply.

“Is that all?” Nobunaga asked, with a decisive snap of his fan. “I trust your diplomatic skill implicitly. Do whatever you see fit.” He finished, with a gesture of dismissal.

Mitsuhide rose to leave, and paused at the library to write a hasty note, passing it to a maid. He plodded out of the castle to wait impatiently on neutral ground.

He saw her coming at last, walking resolutely toward the tea house, dressed gorgeously for the evening’s celebratory banquet, her proud demeanor adding an unusual touch of stateliness to her beauty that set his pulse racing. She nodded at him and sat beside him.

“This isn’t right.” He said softly, turning ostensibly to adjust her hairpin, to touch her cheek lightly.

The afternoon sun was soft as it felt across her face and he watched her expression begin to thaw.

“No, it isn’t.” She said, fixing him with a penetrating gaze.

“I’d never have guessed you were such a devastating tactician.” He said, offering her an honest smile. “But you know exactly how to turn the tables on me.”

She reached out to take a strand of his hair between her fingers, with a bittersweet smile. “This wasn’t about leverage. I’ve been angry, I’m still a little angry but–” she paused with a sigh.

“I know that we have very different experiences and ideas, but I’ve always believed that we share the same principles. I can’t just stop caring. I won’t.” She finished, a quaver in her voice.

He sighed audibly and reached for her hand. “You wouldn’t be the woman I love if you did.”

She knit her fingers through his and he saw the faint beginning of the gentle smile he knew and loved. “I know it’s not unusual to you, but I just can’t accept it. What’s the use of all this struggling for power if nothing really changes?”

He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer, kissed her forehead tenderly. “I lose sight of that sometimes and I need you by my side to remind me. Perhaps a bit less forcefully, but I’m aware that I can be…”

She cut him off with a soft laugh. “A condescending jackass?”

“You’ve made your point, my dear.” He replied, dryly.

“Well, I’m a jackass too.” She added. “There’s nothing I hate more than feeling powerless, and I took that out on you.”

She craned her face up to steal a quick kiss with apologetic eyes. He held her chin and bent to kiss her deeply, pleased with the lascivious sigh she gave.

“If you don’t stop we’re never going to make it to the banquet.” She murmured, as she ran her hand down his collar, brushing the bare skin of his chest.

“I’ll have to tease you to twice as much later to make you pay.” He whispered, mouth close to her ear, his blood heating with desire at how her breath caught and how she shivered.

She gave him a hungry glance as he forced himself to draw back, and focused on smoothing her hair and clothes into place. “That had better be a promise.” She said, heat in her lingering gaze.

“A promise, a threat, whichever you find the most distracting.” He shot back with a wink. “I’m afraid we have to part, but do me a favor and tell that page that I’d like to offer him a position.” He added, as they both rose.

“Is that a scheme I hear in your alluring voice?” She asked playfully, backing away from him, but holding on to his hand with her fingertips.

“Why, I can’t believe that you’d accuse me of such a thing!” He answered, feeling the heat rise in his face at her compliment. He strolled toward his manor, turning to wave at her one last time, and put the finishing touches on his plan as he changed into his formal clothes.

He had spoken to Nobunaga just before the banquet formally commenced, and took his place beside the lord whose alliance they were celebrating, pouring him a cup.

“That page of yours seems an unfortunate young man,” he said casually, “he looks rather out of place, and at such an important event.”

The lord scowled and tossed back his drink moodily. “He’s worthless I tell you, an absolutely hopeless idiot, but he’s my wife’s cousin’s son, and I’m stuck with him.”

Mitsuhide filled his cup again and leaned in conspiratorially. “You could leave him in my service.” He said, and offered the man a knowing smile.

“Now there’s an idea.” The lord answered with a tipsy chuckle. “He’d get he deserves, then, the little bastard.”

“But I have no one at all to offer as a replacement. How terribly unfortunate.” Mitsuhide said with exaggerated disappointment.

“You shouldn’t offer favors that you can’t deliver upon, Mitsuhide, but I take responsibility for your caprice, as always.” Nobunaga interjected with lordly disdain from the dais. “As a mark of my favor, I’ll send one of my own pages with you. I have no doubt that a man as beneficent and honorable as you will appreciate his talents.” He finished, leaving no doubt that any abuse would be taken as a direct insult.

“I– I-” the lord stammered, apparently only just realizing that he had been all but directly ordered to take a spy into his service, squirming uncomfortably under the twin smiles of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide. “Thank you, my lord.” He sputtered out at last.

“My lord is eternally wise and generous.” Mitsuhide said, showing the daggers in his smile.

She had been pouring for Hideyoshi, eavesdropping on the conversation, and she looked up to offer him a dazzlingly bright smile that seemed to set the entire world right.

#ikemen sengoku #ikemen sengoku mitsuhide #cybird mitsuhide #you-mass-effect-my-dragon-age #thefoxesfic #ask fic #akechi mitsuhide #sfw

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rhinozilla · 5 years ago

Text

Whumptober Day 1: Shaky Hands

Summary: The downside of installing the emotional expression expansion module is that Connor now has an outlet for how horrible some of his cases make him feel. Hank is there to help him through it.

Hank turned scrutinizing eyes on Connor.

“What about you, Connor?”

His partner blinked, seemingly coming out of a daze as he removed his hand from his terminal. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant. What did you say?”

“Geez.” Hank leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “The whole bullpen has been going nuts all day with all the staff androids making the most of this emotional expression update, and you haven’t batted an eye. You okay?”

Connor’s expression was as even and collected as it always was. “Yes. I’ve just been focusing on this case and didn’t notice.”

“Yeah, it’s a doozy. Did you stop breathing?” Hank asked.

Connor blinked again and then obviously switched his breathing program back online.

“Sorry. Sometimes those nonessential functions are turned off when I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Huh,” Hank grunted. “Did you even install that new update? You aren’t acting any different, and, uh, it’s a different kind of day.”

The way Connor’s eyes narrowed and his irritated tone of voice shifted answered Hank more than his words did.

“Yes, I have installed the update, and it is currently running. I am the most advanced—“

“Prototype that Cyberlife ever released,” Hank parroted, knowing this song. “Yeah, we all know.”

“And yet you continue to underestimate my advanced capabilities,” Connor said sharply. “BECAUSE of the specific coding in my software and the adaptability functions in my programming, I am more adept at integrating these updates than older models. That includes emotional expression. Just because I am not—“ He gave an almost reckless gesture toward the more visibly emotional staff androids that were out of earshot. “Do not assume that I—“

“Jesus Christ,” Gavin groaned. “We get it; you’re the most special…”

“Do NOT interrupt me,” Connor snapped, abruptly standing from his chair and glaring daggers across the office.

The others milling around the office stilled, glancing over at the sound of Connor raising his voice and jumping up so suddenly. Gavin’s face was somewhere between smug at eliciting a reaction and a little startled that it had actually worked. Hank pushed his chair back a bit, preparing to stand.

“Connor…” he started.

Connor seemed to realize how many other officers had witnessed his reaction and were staring at him. Hank saw naked panic make a foreign appearance on Connor’s face. Before he could do anything, Connor was walking.

“Excuse me.” He quickly crossed the bullpen, any faster would have been a run.

Hank watched him disappear into the bathroom and briefly considered leaving him alone. He was familiar with the need to be alone during a moment of vulnerability like that. However, this was one of the first times that he had ever seen Connor visibly vulnerable and exposed like that. He didn’t want the kid weathering through that alone.

With that in mind, he slowly made in his way in his partner’s wake.

Nobody else in the office seemed to feel the same satisfaction that Gavin had obviously felt at cracking through Connor’s composure, and he had resorted to grumbling under his breath at the chill that they all sent in his direction. Tina, more directly, picked up the ruler on her desk and swatted him on the arm with it.

Hank ignored them as he reached the door to the men’s room. He knocked twice just as a formality before pushing the door open and slipping inside.

“Just me,” he greeted, letting the door swing closed after him.

Connor was standing in front of one of the mirrors, hands wrapped around the sides of the sink, head bowed, breathing slowly and heavily. His eyes were screwed shut, and the porcelain of the sink was groaning under his grip.

Hank didn’t say anything for a beat, sauntering over and folding his arms. He leaned against the wall near the mirror and gave Connor a moment to collect himself.

“Does Gavin usually bother you that much, and this update thing is finally letting you show it? Or is it something else?” he finally asked, keeping his eyes casually on the opposite wall.

Connor gave a deep sigh and lowered his head farther. One hand came away from the sink and covered his eyes.

“It’s fine.” His voice wobbled a bit, to match the shaking of his hands.

Hank frowned and straightened. “Obviously it’s not. What’s going on?”

“This case,” Connor conceded. “Something about it…It’s just…a lot today.”

Hank thought back to the most recent case that he and Connor had been assigned. An android had been found disassembled and drained dry of all thirium in an alley a few blocks from a red ice lab. There had been significant signs of struggle on the android’s hands and arms. He had fought back, had fought to escape and survive. The more valuable biocomponents in his chest had been removed and not recovered. They had already submitted the serial numbers to locate the synthetic organs in case they turned up.

With a sympathetic nod of his head, Hank kept his eyes away from Connor.

“I get it. It’s a rough case. They come along sometimes, sneak up on you, hit a little close to home. Doesn’t help when you’re already dealing with something new…like the ability to express emotions more,” he said gently.

“I’m fine.” He said it like he was trying to will it to be true.

“Uh huh, but it’s okay not to be.” Hank reached out and gave his shoulder a reassuring shake. “Just because—“ He registered how much Connor was trembling. “—Whoa, hey…”

Connor let go of the sink, forcing his posture straight and looking at Hank with wet eyes. “I’m the most advanced prot…I’m not supposed to be weak like this…I can’t become compromised by every c-case that…” His speech sped up as the panic set in again. “I’m supposed to be able to control…supposed to be better…”

Hank tightened his grip on Connor’s shoulder and yanked him closer. He pulled Connor into a hug, wrapping his arms around him tightly when he felt Connor’s knees wobble from the stress. Connor seemed to buckle against him, surrendering to the hug and burying his face against Hank’s shoulder. Hank lifted one hand up to the back of Connor’s head.

“You’re not weak, kid,” he assured. “It’s normal to feel like this. Hell, the day this job STOPS making you feel things is the day you need to quit the force.”

Connor made a half hearted noise, and Hank could feel him trying to lock down the tremors racking his body. Hank just held onto him more tightly, for as long as he needed, until the shaking finally tapered off.

“You’re okay. I gotcha, kid.”

(You can read the ‘upside’ of the expansion module in my fic “Gigglefit” on AO3)

#whumptober2019 #no.1 #dbh connor #dbh hank #dbh #detroit become human #hank anderson #this was initially part of a bigger fic that just wasn't meant to be #but I managed to salvage this scene at least

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lonelypond · 5 years ago

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Moonlight Becomes You: Apocalypse Midnight Dance Party, Ch. 12

Love Live/Love Live Sunshine, NozoEli, KanaMari, NicoMaki, YohaMaru, 2.6K, 12/?

Summary: PARTY

And We Dance

Time Stamp: In the future the liberals want, as Dia Kurosawa wings across the Pacific enroute to an angelic encounter

Riko hated the initial surge of jealousy she got every time she and Sarah were invited to stay at the Kurosawa Malibu estate. She and Sarah had chosen to make LA their base, while Ruby and Leah spent most months in Japan. And when Ruby and Leah were actually in LA, Sarah and RIko just temporarily moved into the Malibu mansion so the Kazuno sisters could spend as much time as possible together and the Ruby-Leah duo could record without too much discomfort to the reclusive Ruby. Ruby’s mothers had built a state of the art recording studio on the grounds soon after their marriage and kept it updated as their careers merged.

The house was huge and gorgeous and well lit and had so many cozy romantic nooks it was practically a honeymoon getaway, except for the occasional interruption by Leah, who was literally the grumpy little sister third wheel. And sometimes, while sitting on a couch that cost a year’s worth of hit song royalties, Riko would get a twinge of envy, glance at Sarah, see the same echoed in her eyes, and then they’d both laugh. One of the things they’d initially bonded over was how callow they’d both been as teenagers, how selfish. To catch a flare of that now, just made Riko grateful for what she’d built for herself, a loving relationship, a successful, award winning career, and a cozy condo that required very little upkeep.

Restless tonight, Riko was wandering, mint tea in hand, staring at the Pacific, fuzzy oversized robe wrapped around sister friendly pajamas.

“PIGLI!” Ruby’s squeal of distress sounded and the tiny, cute redhead fell off the couch. Riko rushed to her side, mug left in front of the fire.

“I’m so sorry, Ruby. Are you all right?” Riko knelt near Ruby, careful not to encroach too much but ready to help.

Ruby nodded, shivering, accepting Riko’s touch. Sometimes, Riko thought, she was more like a small animal than a person, especially when startled. So unlike her parents, it was kind of amazing that they were...Riko shook her head at that segue, staying focused on Ruby. Riko had never made an effort to meet Ruby’s super famous mothers, for fear the blushing at the memory of the doujins she’d worn out during her teenage years would never stop.

Ruby sighed. Riko wondered if she should get Leah as she helped Ruby back to the sofa.

“Ruby had a nightmare.” Ruby’s childish way of referring to herself had somehow become endearing. And the fans adored her for it.

“Yeah, me too.” Riko sighed and sat down, “The world ended in flames, what was yours?”

Ruby yelped again and hid behind a pillow while Riko swallowed a curse. Wry was not a mood for a 3 a.m. session comforting your boss.

“I’m sure angels will save us.” Riko smiled.

“Okay.” Ruby looked confused.

“Want to talk about it?”

Ruby shrugged, “My sis is flying tonight. Ruby's just worried.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Riko stared longingly at her mug, across the room, but she didn’t want to disturb Ruby again. “And it’ll be nice for you to see her, right?”

More nodding.

“Want some hot chocolate? I think I saw some in the kitchen earlier.”

“Momma always keeps a stash for Eli.”

Another casual reference to a celebrity. Eli Ayase, now ran her own internationally renowned Legends of Dance festival, after a late leap into fame. The amount of talent and star power Ruby had grown up with, it was no wonder she had ended up in the entertainment business. But her shyness had made it a huge surprise to her parents, who had disappeared into seaside Japan with their family when Ruby started having panic attacks on their tours at the age of 2. Because family mattered more than anything. Friends and family were always Ruby’s first concern and that fit perfectly with the close bond the Kazuno sisters shared. It created a nice bubble of cozy around Riko, who had spent her youth with only the piano and yuri manga for company. Collaborating so easily with her girlfriend and the cutest idol duo on the charts made up for a lot of struggles.

BACK TO THE NOW

Yoshiko leaping, Yohane’s wings stretching upward, the shimmery, wavering layers of celestial spectrums opening above her, but weighting her, between her fingers, burning her hands, was the world, all of it, everyone, eyes and mouths open, billions of voices, every scream, Yohane looked down, she knew never to look down, but what surely be a mortal weakness tempted her and with horror, she saw the world slip out of her grasp, dropping, dropping to a dark dark doom.

Cold sweat, Yoshiko flew off her bed, literally, raised arm connecting with the ceiling before she came fully back to her senses. Alone, her bedroom, where was Hanamaru? Drifting back down, Yoshiko wrapped the blanket around her shivering shoulders, reading the note on Hanamaru’s pillow.

“Love,

Mari’s going to help You so I’m going along. I hope to be home before you have to read this. You really do look like an angel when you’re asleep.

‘Maru…”

Yoshiko closed her eyes. If she concentrated, maybe she could reach to her wife.

###

Pacing. Nico was going to be here soon, the ocean was in waves crashing mode, and through the open windows, Maki could see Mari and Kanan waltzing around the pool table. Waltzing? What the hell kind of thing was that to do? Especially to the playlist Maki had locked the sound system on. Did Nico dance? Who would lead? Is asking that question a reason you shouldn’t get to lead, Maki wondered. She threw out her arms, imagining Nico there, close to her, sliding in step, one, two, three...she’d taken dance lessons so long ago, just a couple for all the formal parties her parents had ‘encouraged’ her to attend. But she’d avoided the dance floor at all cost, unless her father insisted. Now that she was no longer a student, Maki’s family compromise was to attend the annual Nishikino Holiday Ball, but to limit her socializing to a favorite cousin and dragging Rin and Hanayo along. Hanayo loved celebrity spotting, but Rin was usually just as bored as Maki so they would throw things in the direction of any unattended punch bowls and dis the music choices. If Maki’s parents ever found out about that, they’d probably put her in charge of the playlist, but they seemed to be viewing the DJ business as a temporary vacation before med school.

Car lights. Maki felt a sudden fizz of excitement. Two sets? Was Nico being followed? Oh, maybe Nozomi drove her own car. That would make sense, everyone could leave at...Maki cast a frowning glance back at the house, surely Ohara and her cohort and maybe even the cop could be sent on their way, especially if she had Nico to back her up, surely Nico would back her up on that...but Nico had brought Eli along, did Nico actually want to party, or did she just not want to leave Eli alone. Was Eli going to...Maki started to jog toward the garage. Should she have removed breakables? Could she have just a minute to talk to Nico ALONE. Eli could break everything in the house if Maki could just manage that.

###

Yoshiko was in the air, again, blinking, and when gravity rediscovered her, she plunged, much like Dia, had, into water. But this was cold cold water, with the hard push of the tide trying to wash her away from the shore. The house Yohane had missed was lit at the top of a hill like a golden temple to sharp and terrible modern gods, all angles and glass. Yoshiko found her footing and pushed against the tide toward the shore, her eyes picking out a rock stairs leading to the temple where Hanamaru was a temporary goddess. Stomping did little to cut the shivers as Yoshiko climbed from the beach, fanning and flapping her wings while still out of sight of the house. Gnarled trees added an eerie air to the second part of the climb and Yoshiko felt a bounce in her step cut through the time lag nightmare sleepiness. Hanamaru was obviously being held in this dire fortress above against her will, by the very people who threatened their future, and Yohane, Yohane was going to sweep in and rescue the damsel...she would just have to remember not to tell Hanamaru she’d thought that, or Hanamaru would start to smoke at the nostrils a little and that might lead to property damage. Yoshiko, wings folded neatly into the ether just a step outside this world, continued the climb to her quest.

###

Maki managed to get out a “hi” when Nico stepped out of her car, but then there was Eli and Nozomi and…Maki couldn’t help but grimace.

Nico sighed and then winked, “Why don’t you point Eli and Nozomi in the direction of wherever the invasion is and then help Nico with this food.”

“You bought food?” Maki tried to lean into the car and sniff, but a window got in her way. Nico shook her head at Maki’s eagerness and reached for the door handle. Door handle, of course. Still stumbling, even standing still, Maki’s inner monologue grumbled. But Nico was here. And Maki didn’t have to go anywhere.

“How’s the party so far?” Nico put a stack of storage things in Maki’s hands.

Maki frowned, “They’re waltzing.”

“Waltzing?”

Maki leaned in the doorway, allowing Nico to pause and appreciate the view. Maki was wearing stylish yet slouchy olive sweats, a tight white t-shirt surprisingly lacking any graphics, and an olive Jeep cap pushed halfway back on her head with a rainbow dagger pin. “I locked Ohara out of the house sound system…” Maki chuckled, “and just put in a loop of John Cage pieces and they’re waltzing. Keeping a pretty steady beat too. If I weren’t so aggravated I’d be impressed.” Maki scratched her cheek, forcing her fingers to stay away from twirls of hair, “Do you waltz?”

Nico had started to bluff and bluster something about whoever John Cage was, but Maki’s question stopped her. “Waltz? Like La La Land?”

“Sure.” Maki blushed, looking away. ”I was thinking Cinderella.”

Nico was feeling more comfortable. “Waltzing is no problem for Nico. No problem at all. Nico is S U A V E and smooth on her feet. Impressing your average fairy godmother all the time.”

Maki glanced at her watch, “We could waltz to John Cage’s 4 33. I can hum it.”

Nico heard an edge of mischief in Maki’s voice and wondered exactly what the DJ was planning. But Nico was willing to go along. Leave the dishes on the hood of the car, arms open, step toward Maki, feel warmer when the redhead maneuvers herself so Nico’s hands hovered over her hips...Nico raised one hand and caught Maki’s, eyes widening at the burst of warmth as their palms brushed.

“Music, maestro.” Nico declared.

Nico found herself staring deeply into warmth, a lovely layered amethyst shades with an inviting openness and iridescence rarer than abalone. Movement brought Nico’s glance down as Maki pursed her lips and Nico remembered how close she’d gotten in the cabana. Nico could feel the gentle touch of Maki’s breath, but heard nothing and found herself stumbling as she tried to remember if a waltz was 1 2 3 or 1 2 3 4.

Nico stepped back, “It’s not fair to just hum the song to yourself.”

“I’m not.” Maki looked way too pleased.

Nico’s arms crossed, “You ask Nico to dance to a song and then don’t sing it…”

Maki’s eyebrows shot up and both hands went to her neck, ruffling through her hair. “It’s just...John Cage…” Maki closed her eyes and spoke rapidly, “it’s ambient sound, experiemental….you can use any instrument, you just don’t play it for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It’s a brilliant alternate perspective on the meaning of performance. ”

“You don’t play. And that’s the song?” Nico spoke carefully. “It’s not a prank?”

Maki opened her eyes and nodded, refusing to look directly at Nico.

“What else did this genius write?” Nico was not thrilled.

“One of his pieces was whatever was playing on 12 radios. He thought listening was more important than creating.” Maki snorted, unable to keep the gleeful mischief from sparkling in her eyes. “They’re probably into Roaratoria by now. That’s an hour of Dublin street noise, with Cage reading some James Joyce lines.”

Nico blinked and a low chuckle started. “Ohara must really be aggravating you.”

“She is.”

Nico’s arm suddenly looped around Maki’s waist and the taller woman found herself grabbing Nico’s shoulders as she regained her balance. Nico took that opportunity to breathe into Maki’s ear, “Next time you want to waltz, Nico picks the music, okay.” And as soon as she felt Maki steady, Nico released her hold.

“Okay.” Maki managed not to sound as shaky as her breathing felt.

“Good.” Nico picked up the food, “Let’s join this party.”

###

Nozomi had always appreciated dance but she had rarely had the opportunity to appreciate it this closely. After walking into a truly bizarre audioscape, with a male voice chanting lines in the midst of seemingly random street noises, and seeing Kanan and Mari bowing themselves out of a dance while You lounged on a couch looking bored, Nozomi was ready for anything. And then something truly marvelous happened: Eli took the spotlight.

“Ah, Kanan, now you really have a partner.” Mari indicated Eli with a flourish.

Amused, Kanan shook her head at her wife, who clapped the heels of her hands emphatically, and then shrugged at Eli, “How’s your Irish reel?”

To answer, Eli stretched her right foot out and tapped it on the ground, stepped it behind her, stretched out her left leg and repeated the motion. The audio hit a noisy patch and Kanan was suddenly promonading toward Eli with a challenge. The blonde reached her hand up and caught Kanan’s, Eli twirling, and then both women were facing their audience, reel steps impossibly fast as the noises biggened, birds calling to each other as Kanan and Eli turned again, knees pumping, legs a controlled force that could possibly have splintered the floor but for a shared sense of gentle glory as the dancers approached each other again. You whistled. Nozomi felt a little weak in the knees, and sat on the nearest chair, and Mari, Mari flung out her hands, threw back her head, and marched right in, pulling Kanan into a deep kiss. Eli, with a slight grin, continued the dance as Maki and Nico walked through the door, carrying food.

“That’s not waltzing.” Nico grumped, “Maki said waltzing.”

“No, it’s an Irish reel.” Eli announced as she promenaded in Nico’s direction, her toes and knees intricate pistons making their own fluidity out of the jumble of a raucous Dublin street scape. Nico dropped the food on the table, and shadowed Eli’s movements, laughing, as she caught Eli’s delight.

Before Maki could decide if she was upset about Nico dancing away from her, thunder crashed through the room, the lights flickered bright, then died, and in the darkness, a deep voice boomed.

“Cower Before Yohane, miscreants.”

A mouth that sounded full of pastry replied, “Turn the lights back on, zura.”

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halfgclden · 5 years ago

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Sharkboy, Lavagirl, Yeast-Man, and Bacteria Boy | Jack&Parker

Summary: Jack and Parker watch a movie together, Parker is excessively awkward, don’t talk about it.

Walking down the tree-lined promenade, Jack felt very out of place. This was a nice neighborhood built for nice people, which he certainly was not. Trying not to feel too out of his depth, Jack had put on a fairly nice shirt and combed his hair. What did somebody wear to a social event based on Sharkboy and Lavagirl? "You can't grow if you don't let yourself blow," Jack whispered to himself before buzzing apartment 6C.

Did Parker wear a long sleeved shirt because Jack was coming over and he didn’t know how much one would want to lean on the other? Possibly, but he’d just say that he looked good in underarmor. He hooked his computer up to the television, which took a while since he didn’t fully understand how an HDMI cable worked. He jumped when he heard the buzzer and ran over to press his palm against the button to open the door.

Halfway up the elevator ride, Jack wished he had taken the stairs instead of sharing this small car with a stranger who was very clearly avoiding any sort of eye contact or human-to-human acknowledgment with the burn victim standing two feet away. Of course, they were both heading to the 6th floor. Sighing in relief once he stepped off the elevator, Jack waited a full 30 seconds before walking down the hall to Parker's room. Jack took a deep breath to collect himself mentally then knocked three times on the door.

Should he have done something else with his hair? Parker ran his hands through it a few times. He kind of felt like an idiot worrying about how he looked before watching Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Could he have latched onto a different thing that Jack talked about and asked him to watch that? Probably, but instead he’d chosen to watch a movie that he was pretty sure was not going to be everything he remembered it being while he was drunk from white wine. He pulled the door open and flashed a smile at Jack. “Hey!” He stood to the side so Jack could enter. “What’s up?”

Jack grinned at Parker's greeting. He stepped inside, instinctively making sure not to accidentally brush against Parker. "Uh, not much. This," Jack chuckled. The apartment was gorgeous—well kept and well decorated. Jack was used to cleanliness by way of owning few possessions. It was refreshing to a see a room that had artifacts of life and love. "Oh, this is for you." Jack pulled a pair of old Spy Kids 3D glasses from his shirt pocket and held them out toward Parker.

Parker closed the door behind Jack and smiled at him as he admired the apartment. It would be a lie for him to say that he didn’t take pride in how nice his apartment looked. He almost laughed as he took the fragile glasses and unfolded them. He felt like he could rip them in half. “Wow. I’m amazed you still have these.”

"I have a folder where I keep all my nostalgic paper stuff, like drawings or whatever. It was in there." Jack gestured toward the TV. "I like your set up. I should have brought snacks or something. Like... Shark gummies or... Lava cakes?"

“That’s so cute.” Parker exhaled a laugh. He pushed himself away from the door so he could actually move toward the couch rather than standing awkwardly in his doorway. He laughed again and shook his head. “I don’t have either of those, but if you want snacks I can grab some?”

"Uh, that's okay. I'm not really hungry, I'm just trying to be cute and thematic," he confessed. Jack took Parker's lead and sat down on the couch. "Here, let me text you the link for the movie and you can pull it up on your laptop." Jack pulled out his phone to send the text.

Parker smiled. “You’re doing a good job of it.” He raised his eyebrows a bit and nodded quickly as he moved forward to the computer. He pulled out his phone so he could tediously type in the exact link into his computer. “Funny that they have a 3D version of this movie to pirate. They assume you have the glasses?”

"It's one of those DVD rips, so I guess? Honestly I've never seen it not in 3D." Jack pulled his feet up onto the couch, sliding his feet out of his old Converse. He looked around the room again, trying to deduce which parts were Parker and which were Kieran. "You guys have a lot of DVDs."

“Uh, yeah.” Parker bobbed his head as he typed in the link and searched it. “I guess I’m just behind then? I just watched regular old disney channel.” He glanced at their collection and exhaled a laugh. “Uh, yeah, they’re all my brother’s. I bought him a few? If that counts.”

"I'm guessing none of the ones you bought were in 3D?" Jack grinned. "I didn't always have TV, so I kinda just watched whatever DVDs I could get my hands on." Jack tried intently not to stare at Parker's back muscles through the fabric of his shirt. He tugged on the sleeves of his button down, suddenly feeling awkward for picking such a formal outfit. Trying to be discreet, Jack pushed up his shirt sleeves and mussed his hair.

Parker shook his head. “I just watched whatever was on cable.” He shrugged. Did that sound pretentious? He didn’t think it did, but after Jack saying that he didn’t have TV, it seemed so. He watched as the link loaded and he had to click out of a number of unsavory ads. He didn’t normally pirate movies. He was more the type to watch whatever he could find on whatever he could legally find. He clicked the movie, then clicked it again, and then again until ads stopped popping up and he could pause it. “Um, should I let it load?”

"Uh, sure." Aw fuck. Jack hadn't prepared any topics of conversation and could feel his nerves jamming up the part of his brain that controlled his speech. "So, uh, if you could be an animal-based superhero, what would the animal be?"

Parker turned slightly, still squatting so he would be ready to play the video, though the longer he sat the longer he found it strange. “Uh...” Parker had to think about this one. “Based on personality or based on what I’d want?” Were the answers different, or was Parker trying to buy himself time?

"Uh," Jack hadn't thought it through. He didn't think that such a dumb question needed any explanation, but he was glad that Parker seemed to be taking his idea and running with it. "I guess like a combination of personality, vibe, and what you feel in your heart?"

“Um...” Parker had no idea, if he was honest. He didn’t want to seem lame, but also, he didn’t know what exactly what compromised a ‘vibe’. “Maybe, like, yeast-man? Because then I can bake bread super easily. Does that count?” He laughed. “I don’t know, I’m never good at stuff like that. What are you?”

Jack cackled. "Ew, what? Yeast Man?" Jack applauded Parker's answer. "Wait, how would that work? Would you be like, part-yeast or would you shoot yeast beams out of your body?"

Parker dropped his face into his hands, as though he only realized how dumb his answer was when Jack repeated it back to him. “Ugh, no, nevermind. Please forget I said that. Let me be bear-man or something.”

"What? No! No take-backs!" Jack was curled up in a fit of laughter. "Yeast Man is incredible! You have to own it!"

Parker felt his face grow hot under his hands and he groaned quietly. He lifted his face and peaked at Jack from between cracks in his fingers. “I just mean because I work in a bakery!”

Jack shook his head. "You don't have to explain yourself, I'm all for it. Yeast Man, protector of gluten, dual wielder of baguettes." Jack laughed at his own joke.

Parker sighed and moved to take a seat next to Jack again. “You didn’t say what you’d be.”

"Um..." Jack tapped his chin. "If we're going with this theme, I could be like, Bacteria Boy. We could form the Scoby Squad."

Parker couldn’t exactly tell why he was absolutely charmed by everything Jack said, but he pushed the feeling aside as he smiled as he ran a hand through his hair. “It’d be like Osmosis Jones.”

"Uh..." Jack wasn't sure what Osmosis Jones was but nodded anyway. "Yeah, sure," he laughed. "Oh, we could do the power rangers morphsuits and then when we tap rings we just turn into bacteria and yeast. And then that's it."

Parker groaned again and shook his head. “Please never bring up the power rangers morphsuits again, thanks.” He briefly wondered why he sounded like an idiot every time he opened his mouth.

Jack laughed. "Okay." Jack rested his chin on his knees, his arms hugging his legs. "Is it loaded?"

“Ah, yeah.” He had almost forgotten that’s why he’d paused the movie. He stood to press play before settling back down on the couch. He slid on the paper glasses and he rested his hands in his lap.

Jack smiled wide when Parker put on the glasses, but refrained from making any comment just in case Parker might get self-conscious and take them off. "I'm really hoping this movie is as good as I remembered it to be."

Parker pulled one leg up onto the couch and wrapped his arms around it. He smirked and looked at Jack. “I doubt it, but here’s hoping.”

As the opening scene came on the TV, Jack sprung up off the couch. "Uh, let me get the light." Jack circled the room flicking a few switches on and off until the room lights flickered off, leaving them lit up only by the blue light of the TV. Jack returned to the couch, sitting a little closer to the middle now, casually and discreetly.

Parker turned to watch Jack and scooted an inch closer to where he was sitting while his back was turned. He rested his right ankle over his left knee. “It’s... Woah, it’s really 3D.”

Jack chuckled. "I mean... Yeah. Did you not watch any 3D movies growing up?"

Parker shook his head. “Not at home. Just in theatres.” He pushed his glasses down his nose and came to a realization. He looked at Jack. “Is... Is this giving you a headache? We can watch a non-3D version.”

"No, that's okay!" Jack didn't want to admit how much enjoyment he was getting out of seeing Parker with the 3D glasses on. "I can like, do one of these." Jack circled his thumb and pointer fingers around his eyes like glasses.

Parker exhaled a laugh and pushed the glasses back on. He smiled and shook his head. “Okay, but tell me if you do get a headache, I don’t mind missing out on the 3D.”

"I'll let you know." Jack turned to watch the movie. It was not, in fact, as good as he remembered it to be, but Jack still found himself smiling at some jokes. Every now and then, Jack turned to watch Parker, to see his reactions, to smirk at the way he looked in the glasses. At some point Jack pulled his legs up into a criss-cross applesauce, maybe not-so-accidentally letting his knee cross over into Parker's space.

The movie was... It was something. Parker couldn’t say that he wasn’t enjoying it, but the effects and jokes were... Not great. Much less high brow than the jokes in the movies he and Kieran would watch, but that did make them easier to laugh harder at, even if it was just at how ridiculously they were delivered. He pulled his sleeve down with his thumb so it was covering half his hand, somewhat unconsciously, as he stretched his arms out behind him on the couch. He was nowhere near actually touching Jack’s shoulders, but he had a moment of faint panic as he tried to focus on a young Taylor Lautner performing his song and dance scene.

"Dream, dream, dream, dream," Jack muttered along with Sharkboy. Jack turned to look at Parker. "Is it weird to say that Sharkboy was like... My gay awakening?"

Parker choked out a laugh and covered his mouth. He looked at Jack. “I hope you mean, like, as a kid.”

“Ew, duh, of course I mean as a kid.” Jack laughed. “Unless you think I’m only just now realizing I’m a homo.”

Parker smiled and moved his hand from behind Jack to rest on the back of his own neck. “Um,” he exhaled a laugh. “It was a joke. I’m still not great at them.”

In the corner of his eye, Jack noticed Parker's hand move away from the back of the couch. For a moment, his heartbeat stumbled. "You're better than you think." Jack nestled his face in his palms and turned back toward the screen to hide the red rising in his cheeks.

Parker leaned his upper arm against the back of the couch and rested his head against his hand. He glanced at Jack and smiled at him, seemingly engrossed by the film. He turned back to the movie. “Who was your favorite character?”

Jack leaned back into the seat of the couch. "Do you mean like, in this movie? Or just in general? Because definitely Sharkboy if we're talking Sharkboy and Lavagirl."

“Because he was your gay awakening?” Parker laughed. “Do you have one in general?”

"Yes! Exactly. How could he not be my favorite?" Jack laughed. "In general though, if we're talking childhood, I'd probably have to say... Miranda Priestly?" Jack laughed again, not sure if the reference would even land with Parker. "How about you?"

Parker rested his hand on his cheek. He didn’t know who that was, so he just nodded and hoped Jack wouldn’t want to talk about it too much. “Cool. Uh, I don’t know if I have one. I probably do, but not off of the top of my head.”

Jack tapped on the couch between them, watching his fingers. "You'll have to figure it out. And then we can watch your movie next." Jack slid his hand back onto his lap. "So we're even."

Parker watched Jack’s hand for a moment before looking back at him. He felt his ears grow hot as he grinned, so he turned back to the movie. “Yeah, cool.” He couldn’t stop smiling. He moved his arm back to the back of the couch. “I can look through the movies I have here. Unless we want it to be another childhood movie.”

"Whatever you want!" Jack answered a little too quickly. He didn't want to seem too eager to spend time with Parker. Or did he? He felt his face go red again. "I just want to know what you like."

Parker continued to smile and only glanced at Jack, afraid that he might be watching him instead of the movie too much. “Um, I like watching films with my brother, but I really like funny, shitty movies like this. I mean, not that this is shitty, it’s great. It’s just... I’m enjoying it.”

Jack turned to look at Parker. "You can say the movie's shitty, Parker. I know it's shitty," he laughed. "I hope you don't, like... Think that I think this is a masterpiece."

Parker laughed and pressed his cheek into his shoulder, a bit embarrassed. “I don’t, it’s just, I don’t want you to think that I’m not enjoying it, because I am. And sometimes I’m kinda rude with what I say, I’ve been told.”

Jack grinned and shrugged. "Eh. Words are just words. Sticks and stones may break my bones but just don't burn my eye out."

“Um,” He exhaled an almost-laugh at that, feeling bad for doing so, but feeling worse if he didn’t. “Yeah.”

Jack snorted. That was the first time he had ever made a joke about the incident out loud to another person. Despite Parker's reaction, Jack still felt a little rush come on, as if he had finally released a weight he didn't know he was carrying. He pushed his fingers into his cheeks, trying to get himself to stop smiling so hard. "Sorry. Just kidding." But not really.

“Oh, yeah, I mean.” Parker shrugged. He wondered how Blue would feel about Jack sitting on his couch right now. He swallowed. “Um, I’m gonna grab water. Did you want anything?”

"Uh, water sounds great." Jack pressed his face between his hands. Oh gods, was the joke too dark? Jack exhaled, not too loudly, trying not to psych himself out. He let his feet fall back on the floor to give himself some better circulation. Jack wasn't used to feeling this many emotions at once and he needed to remind himself not to cease all autonomous bodily functions.

Parker stood and ran to grab two cups of water. He closed his eyes for a moment as he stood at the counter and sucked in a long breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled. He felt like he was doing well, but he could feel himself crashing. He swallowed and moved back to the couch. He took a seat noticeably closer to Jack this time, but still kept about half a foot between them. He held the cup out to him. “Sorry I didn’t offer this when you got here. Bad hosting on my part.”

"That's okay. Sorry about that joke, I wasn't trying to make things awkward, or like... Uh." Jack took a big sip of water and set the glass down on the floor in front of them. He shook his head. "We're both pretty shitty at words, I guess," Jack offered meekly.

Parker sipped his water and shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine, just, unexpected, I guess.” He shrugged and put his water down as well. “God, yeah. I called myself yeast-man earlier. I thought that was an appropriate thing to say.”

"I still do. I don't know why you wouldn't think that's an appropriate thing to say." Jack smiled at Parker. "Since you're a baker and all."

Parker dropped his head as he laughed quietly. He folded his hands in his lap. There were moments when he was overwhelmed by how much he liked Jack, and in this particular one, he felt almost guilty about it, like it was a mistake having him here. He forced the thought away and sat back. “I guess you’re right, bacteria boy.”

Jack chuckled, exhaling a sigh of relief. The conversation was back on track. He folded his arms across his chest and sat back, leaning ever so slightly in Parker's direction. Jack had forgotten entirely about the movie but he forced himself to look at the screen to avoid the risk of making any more awkward jokes.

Parker moved his legs up to criss-cross on the couch, his knee inches away from Jack’s leg. He rested his hand in his lap and didn’t look at his leg. “Um, do you watch a lot of movies?”

"Uh, yeah." Jack answered the question absentmindedly, not sure if he was telling the truth or not. His eyes had fallen to the small distance between his leg and Parker's, and his mind was singularly focused on deciding whether to close the gap. "I've been watching a lot of shitty 80's horror movies lately. Like, summer camp slashers and that kind of thing. How about you?"

Parker pushed the glasses to sit more securely on his nose. “I’m not really a horror guy? But it might be because I don’t watch any. I watch, like, early French cinema. Like, pre-Nouvelle Vague and it’s all in black and white. I watch some Spanish movies too. My brother’s really into film.”

"Oh my gods, you're, like, sophisticated." Jack laughed. "Do you speak French and Spanish? Because that's... Kinda hot."

Parker laughed. “I’m not, it’s all Kieran’s influence. I never really watch movies on my own. Don’t know why.” He bit his lip and smiled. “Ha, yeah. You know, romance languages. Pretty neat trick, I guess.”

"Wow. Really neat." Jack let his hand slide to the side of his knee, occupying the small space between them. "Can you, like... Tell me something in French?"

Parker glanced down at Jack’s hand and turned to look at him. “Do you speak French?” He tilted his head.

"Not even a little bit." Jack smiled.

Parker smiled back. “Je te trouve très mignon, Jacques.”

Jack bit his lip, grinning from ear to ear. "Um... Something, something, steak, Jacques?"

Parker smiled and rested his hand on the back of the couch again. “You got the jist of it.” He pressed his cheek to his shoulder again.

Jack gave a small chuckle and looked back at the screen. Lips pressed together, Jack held his breath and reached his pinky out to touch Parker's knee.

Parker watched Jack’s hand when he felt him poke his knee. He didn’t move his head, hoping that the glasses would somewhat cover his eyes. “Do you speak anything but English?”

"Uh, I don't." Jack retreated his pinky to his own leg. "Just 100% English and bullshit for me."

Parker let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when Jack pulled his pinky away. “Ah, I can always help you if you wanted to learn French or Spanish. I think when I speak French, you can tell I knew Spanish first.” He pulled a face.

"Sure, yeah. I don't think I'll be any good, I've never really learned any sort of language before, but I'm down to try." I'll take any excuse to hang out again. "If it makes you feel better, I definitely couldn't tell."

Parker grinned. He’d successfully managed to get Jack to agree to hanging out after this. “That’s good, it means my accent’s getting better.” He looked at the hand behind Jack and played with the hem of his sleeve. “I’m not the best teacher, so we’ll see if I’m any better than Duolingo.”

"Well, I'd rather learn from you than an owl." Jack pulled his feet back up onto the sofa, hugging his knees and curling up again.

“I can French better than an owl.” Parker smirked at his stupid joke and looked back at the screen.

Jack propped his chin up on his knees and did his best to focus on watching the rest of the movie. Whenever the 3D became tiring to look at, Jack would drop his eyes to the floor or steal small glances at Parker.

Parker stayed somewhat amused by the effects and storyline. He looked at Jack again as Max and Linus fought with brains. “Do you think this is what it’s like when the Morpheus cabin gets upset with each other?”

Jack laughed. “Like a pillow fight but with brains?” He looked over at Parker with a smirk. “You should give them the idea for the next time they fight with the emo guy.”

Parker laughed. “I hear they’re apparently fine with just punching him?” He shrugged. “I really like Lavagirl. I think she was my favorite when I was younger too.”

"Wait," Jack turned to Parker. "You've seen this movie before?"

“Yeah.” Parker nodded. “I watched it a bunch, just never in 3D.”

"And you watched the whole thing again right now?" Jack laughed, clapping a hand over his face. "Oh my gods, I thought this whole time you hadn't seen this movie before. I wouldn't have tortured you with it if I had known!"

Parker shook his head. “No, no, I thought I told you!” He shrugged, smiling. “This isn’t torture. I’m having a great time.”

"Ugh. Good." Jack's cheeks flushed red, but he was smiling ear to ear. "I'm... Also having a great time."

Parker ran a hand through his hair and shifted slightly closer to him. “Good. I’m glad you’re not regretting letting me watch something in 3D while you... Don’t.”

Jack laughed. "I mean, I can't watch 3D anyway." He gestured vaguely at his face. "It would just be all red."

Parker nodded. “Ah, yeah, I figured. Thanks for... Letting me experience it? Sorry you got shafted though.” He pointed at his own right eye. “Is this one red?”

Jack smiled. "Um, yeah. You can't see it?" Jack reached out and held his hand in front of Parker's left eye, careful not to touch Parker's face. "See?"

Parker held his breath as Jack reached toward his face. He shook his head ever so slightly. “I’m, uh, colorblind.”(edited)

Jack clapped his hands over his mouth. "Oh my gods, please don't tell me I just made you watch a movie you couldn't see."

Parker laughed and shook his head. “No, I’ve been able to see fine. I just don’t know what color everything is. Like, I kinda do? Just, not fully.”

"Okay, thank gods," Jack laughed. "Um... Do you have a favorite color then?"

Parker shrugged. “Probably red? I don’t know.” He laughed. “Do you?”

"Wait, I'm confused." Jack paused. "So you can see red?"

Parker shook his head. “Well, a little? I can tell what it is sometimes? Against other colors, most of the time? But people say I look good in red, so I like red.”

"Huh." Jack sat back and looked at Parker for a moment. "Yeah, I can see that." I mean, you'd look good in every color, he thought. "I think my favorite color would probably be like... Black. At least if we're going with the clothes."

Parker laughed. “That’s a goth answer, but it fits, I also like blue.”

"Ugh, black looks good on everybody, okay?" Jack laughed. "Blue is such a straight boy color. Very American."

Parker laughed. “Okay, so I like blue and I’m straight but you get to like black even though it looks good on everyone?”

Jack laughed. "Uh, duh. Black is inclusive. You mix all the crayons together and you get black. Blue is like, the color that Danny Rinaldi hoarded in 1st grade because blue was for boys only."

Parker didn’t understand half of the references that Jack made, but figured he should probably find them funny. “Shut up.” He grinned. “It doesn’t matter, I can’t see it right anyway.”

"Sorry," Jack held up a hand in surrender. "You're right, I shouldn't mock the color blind."

Parker shook his head. “It’s fine, I don’t mind when you make fun of me.” He paused. He couldn’t tell if that was a lie. “That much.”

"Um," Jack wore a look of amused skepticism. "I don't think I believe that Mr. Parker Porsche Valentine."

“Shut up.” Parker repeated and ran a hand over his face. “Okay, forget I said anything.”

Jack laughed. "Sorry." He bit his lip and looked back at the screen. "I just, like, talk a lot of shit. I'm not—you're not actually... You know." Jack decided to stop talking before he accidentally shaded Parker again.

Parker laughed and shook his head. "Ugh, no, I was kidding." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't mind, I don't. I'm just sensitive. I think the Porsche thing is funny, I swear."

Jack snorted. "Ugh, these mixed signals. I can't."

Parker dipped his head and laughed. "I just think you're funny, that's it."

"Good. I am." Jack was beaming, his entire face bright red. He wondered if Parker would be able to tell through the 3D glasses.

Parker exhaled a laugh. "You are," he agreed. He looked at Jack and smiled at him before looking back at the movie. "I can't believe you thought I never saw this movie. It's like you thought I never had a childhood."

"I don't know! Some people are just, like, sheltered. I never saw Toy Story until like..." Jack scrolled back through his memories. "I... Don't think I've seen Toy Story."

Parker shrugged. “I don’t think the movies are that good?” He sighed. “Please don’t tell anyone that, though. They’ll probably yell at me about their childhood or something.”

"People are too sensitive about childhood stuff. It's like—I was just a snotty kid with two thumbs, I would've taken anything my mom put in front of me."

Parker smiled. “Same. I think it’s only when you start, like, actively choosing things for yourself that it matters.”

"Yeah," Jack smiled at Parker, his eyes lingering on Parker a little too long before flickering back to the screen. "And we chose Sharkboy and Lavagirl anyway."

“Yeah.” Parker smiled at Jack even when he looked away from him. He looked back at the screen after a moment. “The best movie.”

Jack's cheeks were aching from how much he had been smiling. As the final battle began wrapping up, Jack suddenly realized the window of time for an super casual movie cuddle was quickly closing. The butterflies in Jack's ribcage had evolved into bottle rockets. As subtly as he could, Jack leaned slightly more in Parker's direction, trying to minimize the space between them without making any obvious moves.

Parker couldn’t tell if Jack was actually moving closer to him or if he was just sinking into the couch. He wrapped his hand around his sleeve, what he’d kind of been preparing for. His heart skipped a beat in his chest. He felt like he was in middle school. He kept his arm on the back of the couch, but moved it slightly closer to Jack’s shoulders.

Jack felt Parker move slightly on the couch beside him and his heart lurched. With a little more confidence and intentionality now, Jack scooted an inch in Parker's direction until he felt his shoulder brush against Parker's body. Jack's breath was completely still.

Parker stopped as soon as Jack was barely touching him. He didn’t know how close he’d have to get to make Jack pull away. He didn’t put his arm around Jack, but turned his arm so his elbow was slightly against his back. A bit awkward, but enough contact to send shocks up Parker’s arm. He felt like an idiot. He kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Jack didn't quite settle into the position, but stayed frozen there. What the fuck is this right now? He was afraid of being too forward but too far in to turn around now. As the final scene flickered onscreen, Jack remained half-touching, half-not, his heart thunderously pounding in his chest all the while.

Parker closed the space between them, pressing his side into Jack’s. He clenched his jaw and kept his eyes on the screen.

Jack could have squealed. In fact, he had to bring a hand up to cover his mouth to stop the intense urge to giggle. Jack silently cursed his instinct to laugh in times of nervousness and intimacy. He tried his best to breathe deep and enjoy the sensation, but very quickly, the movie ended and the credits already began rolling onscreen. Oh, fuck you Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Jack sat still, waiting to see what Parker would do.

Parker pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, chest tight for a moment. He tilted his head back and laughed before turning to look at Jack fully, his face hot. "Apparently this movie has me acting like I'm in middle school. Is it cool if I have my arm around you?"

Jack laughed in return. “So cool.” Fully beaming, Jack nestled a little closer into Parker.

Parker draped his arm around Jack much less awkwardly, happy that he'd worn the long sleeved shirt to make that possible. He felt a bit awkward just staring at the credits roll across the scene, and finally took his glasses off. He folded them and held them back out to Jack. "Oh, here. I almost forgot I had these on. Next time we can watch something that you can actually see."

Jack laughed, taking the glasses. "Thanks." He let them fall onto his lap for the time being, not wanting to adjust just to slide them into his shirt pocket. "I guess they didn't make old French movies in 3D?"

"You know, surprisingly, they don't. I think me and my siblings should wear the glasses next movie night, though. Great accessories."

Jack gasped and nudged Parker’s leg with his own. “Parker Valentine, trendsetter. I’d die.”

Parker pressed his lips together to keep himself from smiling too much at Jack’s leg against his own. He wasn’t sure if he was more or less satisfied now that Jack was pressed against his side. “My family already makes fun of me for how I dress, couldn’t get much worse.”

"They're just jealous." Jack folded his arms across his chest and let his head fall back onto Parker's arm. He closed his eyes, wishing he could screenshot the way he felt in this moment.

Fuck. Parker almost felt like yelling. Jack was so cute and so close and yet... He scanned his eyes over Jack's features. He turned his head to press a quick kiss to his own shoulder and then leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Yeah, probably." he sighed.

For a second, Jack thought he heard... “Did you just...” He hadn’t felt anything, so he second guessed himself and decided not to finish asking the question.

Parker shook his head, doing an awful job at pretending he didn't know what Jack was talking about. "I didn't do anything." He squeezed his eyes shut and wished for a moment he could act like a normal person.

Jack chuckled. His heart was pounding out of his chest and not even Parker’s awkward quirks could stifle the amount of joy he was feeling in the moment. Jack shut his eyes once more, smiling ear to ear.

#c: parker #c: parkerjack #i urge you all not to read this bc....... parker is SO WEIRD #don't talk to me abt it

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