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aforrestofstuff · 5 years ago

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What do you think the OPM characters' guilty pleasures would be? I feel like Tatsu loves soap operas and Atomic Samurai secretly loves a really popular boy band, like SMAP

Thanks for your request, anon! Sorry this took me so long to get to, you were buried in my inbox lol. But I hope this was worth the wait because oh boy this required all 3 of my brain cells.

Tornado of Terror: As you said, soap operas. She also loves candy apples in canon. But...she also is a HUGE fan of those really cheesy Cosmopolitan magazines that have all of the personality quizzes and the “which hot male celeb would date you” scenarios. She doesn’t fall for it one bit. In fact, she hate reads those fuckers in the same way that people pay to go see bad movies. It’s fun.

Silverfang: Yoga and following along to some cheesy-ass 80s workout videos. I’ve said he likes yoga in a previous headcanon, but he also likes to exercise along to some obnoxious 80s pop while some dude in a leotard instructs him on what to do from a TV screen. He wears sweatbands and legwarmers, too. The whole shebang. He only does it when he’s alone, though. Sometimes he’ll try to teach yoga to his disciples as a way to help them decompress after a long training session, but his workout tapes are his best-kept secret.

Atomic Samurai: I don’t know what a SMAP is, but he’s definitely got some questionable music choices going on considering he’s... well, the way that he is. I’d say he likes to listen to old country, like Marty Robbins and Glen Campbell. It’s really funny because you’ve got this intimidating man from Japan (or a fictional universe basically set in Japan) with a badass katana and shit but inside that empty head of his, there’s just a faint “out in the west Texas town of El Paso....”

Child Emperor: Picking at scabs. He’s often on his knees fixing shit in his lab, and he probably gets burned all the damn time from playing around with lasers so he’s undoubtedly always has a wound healing somewhere. Whenever he’s working on something, he’ll just absentmindedly pick at his scabs. It’s a bad habit and he knows it, but nothing beats the feeling of peeling off an entire patch of that shit. So satisfying.

Metal Knight: Buying books. He doesn’t even read them. He just buys bigass novels with smart-sounding names to fill up his library because he thinks it’ll make his dick grow another three inches or some shit. One of the few things he likes in this world (besides homicide) is the smell of a new book. If he’s feeling particularly pissy, he’ll go into his library and just ssssssnnnnnnnnnniififfffffffffff. He spends an outrageous amount of money on it. If he has anyone over (which is unlikely, but hypothetically speaking) and they mention his library by asking something like “have you read all of these?” It’ll be one of the few times in his life that he’ll feel shame.

King: Reading and writing fanfiction based on his favorite video game/anime series. Nobody knows he does this except his small following online, of course. And even more so, nobody online knows he’s an ultra-popular S-Class hero who’s friends with the most powerful man on earth. He’s actually a pretty decent writer, he just doesn’t take himself too seriously so the plotline to his stories tend to get a little haywire and overly self-indulgent. Let him have his fun. He just wants to be a Sailor Scout.

Zombieman: Singing. He actually used to be a good singer (he sounded like a discount Steve Perry back in the day), but constant smoking really fucked up his voice. He might as well have lungs the size of grapes because he can’t carry a note for more than 2 seconds without wheezing like an accordion with asthma. He’s never sang in front of anyone before because he thinks it’s silly thing that isn’t worth showing off. Play anything from The Eagles though, and he’ll have a hard time resisting.

Drive Knight: He likes to open up panels in his arms and legs to play with the wires (basically a robot’s version of nerve endings, I’m assuming) just so he can feel something. It’s kind of sad because he doesn’t experience pain or the cold or being tickled... (I know what y’all are thinking and you’d better STOP). So he sometimes takes it upon himself to dick around with his insides and dip his toe into what it feels like to be human, even if it’s just for a little bit. He’s super secretive about it (he’s just secretive about everything, really) because he doesn’t want anyone to know that he desires something outside of being a weapon of mass destruction justice.

Pig God: His whole schtick is basically indulging in a guilty pleasure — pigging out on delicious food with no regard whatsoever for one’s overall health. Other than that, however, he does like to collect body pillows. There, I said it. All he fucking does is eat and he’s too much of a big boi to be going out 24/7, so he’s gotta be on the internet/watching anime/playing video games/reading manga during all of that downtime between his stints of doing hero work. His bed is fucking ginormous to handle all of that big boy-ness and on it, he has his body pillow nest. He rests on a throne made for kings. A true icon.

Superalloy Darkshine: Also working out along to some cheesy 80s exercise videos. His hero outfit was inspired from what those ravishing instructors would wear on the television. Well, it was supposed to be a full leotard but it ripped every time he flexed just a tiny bit so the speedo is the only thing that’s left. He’s gotta hella rhythm and keeps up with the music using little to no effort. Although, he can’t go too hard because he’s also a big boi and he’ll literally shake the entire building if he gets too turnt up. Dance muscle boy, dance.

Watchdog Man: Eating too many dog treats lol. Sometimes while he’s stationed on his little podium thing, visitors will leave him little offerings like dog treats and other miscellaneous food items/toys. He never takes them or eats them in front of people, but he often brings everything home with him after a long day just to gobble that shit up. He’s gained a little weight since he started doing it but you can’t even notice it because his suit is hella bulky. Some of it is due in part to stress-eating because being a dog and dude at the same time is hectic, but it’s honest work.

Flashy Flash: Racing shit. Whenever he’s on his travels during, say, assassination missions or hero work, he gets hella bored really quickly. So, to help with this, he’ll often race birds or planes flying in the sky on his way to his destination to see who’s quicker (it’s always him). Sometimes he’ll even play catch with himself by throwing a pine cone or something and running to the place he guesses it’ll land before it even touches the ground. He just does a ton of weird speedster shit whenever he’s bored and he’ll deny it if anyone asks.

Genos: Purposefully putting a little bit too much oil on his joints after each upgrade so he’ll be as slick as a salamander. It’s a really funny feeling to be able to move your limbs with little to no resistance without having to worry about popping or breaking anything. It just makes him feel so agile despite being like, a hunk of actual metal. If he wasn’t so uptight, he would loosen the screws in his fingers to he can bend them almost all the way back (he’s actually thought about it a few times), but both Dr. Kuseno and his 3 remaining braincells attested to that. He just likes to tinker around with his body and see what weird shit he can do. It’s a bad habit because it’s led to a few things being broken on multiple occasions.

Metal Bat: Zenko’s shitty pop music. Whenever he drops her off at school or piano practice, he’ll immediately go home and blast that shit on full volume (because he’s practically deaf from always jumping out of falling buildings and continuously blasting music in his earbuds) while doing chores and the like. He’s one of those people that HAVE to have something going on in the background as they’re getting shit done. He’d rather be caught dead than listening to the OPM equivalent of Taylor Swift because he knows Zenko would never let him live it down.

Tanktop Master: Wearing suits around the house when he’s not even going anywhere. He’s got to wear his tanktop 24/7 whenever he’s in public to keep up The Image (which he has no problem with, he genuinely loves the tanktop ideology) but he also needs to feel fancy every once and a while. So, if he happens to have the time while in between appearances, he’ll prance around in a suit tailored just for him. Because he’s so fucking huge that he had to pay someone a large sum to custom make an outfit that actually fits. He is 7-motherfucking-feet tall. 7.

Puri-Puri Prisoner: Making Valentine’s Day cards all times of the year. Listen, it gets boring as hell in prison. Sometimes the guards will let all of the inmates have a little glitter and glue to keep themselves busy because no harm can come of a little arts and crafts, right? He likes to make cards on the daily just to let all of his lovers know how much he appreciates them. If they express even the slightest amount of disdain for his creations, he’ll spent the next week crying in the darkest corner of his cell block. He also likes origami. Origami is huge in prison because it’s hella time-consuming and guaranteed to calm a busy mind. His favorite things to make are little unicorns.

Amai Mask: Bath bombs. There have been several mishaps in which he’s used a poorly-made bath bomb and came out of the tub looking like Shrek but he’s grown and lot since then, okay? After a long day or a particularly stressful concert, he’ll sink into some hot water and drop a ball of lavender-scented goodness in there. It’s become a bit of an addiction because he’s got multiple cabinets dedicated solely to his collection, but at least he always smells divine.

Iaian: Shakespearean dramas. Kama got him hooked on theater shit and he’s since ripped through all of the most well-known plays. He thinks in iambic pentameter. It wasn’t always noticeable since he’s a quiet, well-reserved guy but his fellow disciples and Kami have recently noticed that he’s developed a bit of a dramatic flair. Even worse, he’s started calling himself a knight whenever he puts on his armor. Everyone prays it’s just a phase but seeing as how stubborn Iaian is, that seeks highly unlikely. Kami is dying inside because he can’t handle another drama nerd.

Okamaitachi: Soap operas, like Tatsumaki. Kama is the most dramatic out of all of the disciples so it’s only natural that she’d like the most dramatic genre of any show out there. She doesn’t exactly watch them religiously though. She’s the type of viewer to drop off the face of the earth for three seasons and come back without knowing what the fuck is going on (because the disciples have limited access to cable due to Kami’s dumbassery and ignorance to anything technology-related), but still cry during the finale anyway because oh no these people are so hot and one of them is deaaaaaad and the other one is that person’s long-lost sister....

Bushidrill: Taking alcohol from Atomic Samurai’s stash every so often. Bushidrill knows what the good shit is and he could buy it himself if he wanted to, but why would he when there’s a perfectly good alcoholic to steal from living right down the hall? He only takes in small doses because, believe it or not—he’s smart, but Kami isn’t gonna notice regardless of whether or not Bushi takes 1 or 5 bottles at a time because the old shit couldn’t spot a purple raccoon if it was 3 feet in front of him. There have been times where Bushi has opened bottles of Kami’s alcohol right in front of him just to play God and he always, without missing a beat, says “Oh, we have the same taste. How neat.”

Fubuki: I’ve said this before in a previous headcanon, but she has a mild obsession with Victorian aesthetic. She’s got a small collection of semi-authentic ballgowns that cost upwards of a-fuckton-of-money each, but anything’s worth it to be able to play dress-up with Lily. Fubuki’s favorite thing is making Lily feel beautiful because everyone has been an insecure teenager at one point and she knows how it feels to not be comfortable in one’s own skin. This isn’t exactly a guilty pleasure because she’s not guilty about it, but it’s almost gotten to a point where an intervention is needed. She’s got so many damn dresses and sooooo much fine china....

Saitama: Retail therapy, lol. Saitama is only good at budgeting because he has no choice given how fucking poor he is, but give this boy even a little bit of leeway and he’ll buy the ugliest clothes (to which he thinks look poppin’) and the best meats without even batting an eye. His entire manga collection is the product of him having little to no self control the moment he realizes he’s got a bit of money to spend on himself. This is also the only time he’ll experiment with cooking because now he can actually afford to fuck up, literally.

Mumen Rider: Sweets! I’ve said this in a previous hc but he has a major sweet tooth. You can substitute salt for sugar in any given recipe and he’ll see it as a major improvement because he just goes absolutely buckwild for anything sweet. His pancreas is suffering, but he believes nothing feels better than curling up under the covers on a rainy day with a heaping helping of milk chocolate. The only thing that makes him feel better after getting beat to shit is a kiss on the cheek and box of his favorite cookies (and some bananas, lol).

Sonic: Like Flash, he also likes racing things. But, in addition to that, his guilty pleasure is doing his own hair in elaborate hairstyles (when it was longer). He’s pretty much homeless so he’s got a lot of time to himself in between murders. This is when you can find him sitting in the woods somewhere braiding flowers into his hair and tying it off with a moss ribbon. He’d never admit he does this because he’s a big macho man and he’d probably cry.

Garou: Spicy chips. I’ve said this before in a previous hc, but he absolutely inhales his food without even tasting it half the time so it’s not even like he gets to enjoy the flavor that much. He just likes the burn because he’s a shithead. He also doesn’t fear death or a torn-up asshole, so he’ll eat an entire family-sized bag of the OPM-universe equivalent to Takis without even batting an eye. He’s been beat to shit so many times that the agony that comes with downing so much spice is lost on him. He doesn’t even need water. It’s insane. Someone stop this madman at once.

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imagines-for-the-fangirls-soul · 5 years ago

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Return to Me - Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty: Wish I Was There With You

A/N: A time jump! I love this chapter and I hope you all do, too. I was going to add a chapter in between this one and the last, but I think it’ll be more fun to speculate wildly about what might have happened since Poe and the reader saw each other last. Anyways! I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you want to be tagged and what you think! (Also this gif is totally him at the dinner scene. Okay I’m done. What a beautiful man??)

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader Word Count: 5,215 Synopsis: It’s been months since Poe and the reader saw each other last. The separation of the Resistance and the Republic has caused for their separations and hard feelings towards each other, but when a new planet’s help is needed, they’ll have to journey together to Aleen and work together.

Tag LIst: @xeniarocks, @too-many-baes, @araceli91103, @idocarealot, @treblebeth, @treestarrrrrrrr, @thescarletknight2014, @charlottie2998, @ibikus, @mellow-f1, @mrsdaamneron, @trustme3-13, @missjess71, @ella-solei, @minelskede, @gleigh42, @usuallyweepingnacho, @givemethatgold, @and-claudia, @constantdisgrace, @wordsinwinters, @readingvogueonprivetdrive, @trshbb, @kaitlynw011, @ihave2muchtimeonmyhands, @fairytalesforever, @thanos-jeep, @mixedfandxms, @pastelbunny1501, @emotionalcal, @daniellajocelyn, @getyourselfaunicorn, @spider-starry, @jimhalpertcanbuymelove, @angelicaxhouston, @roserrys

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

It had been a few months since you had last seen Poe or anyone from the Resistance in person. During your occasional Holo-meetings with Leia or D’Acy, he would sometimes appear and inform you of one mission or another, but for the most part, the two of you were moving in completely different circles. The reformation of the village outside of Theed was now complete and that meant that you could help your parents with persuading other people around the galaxy to join in the Republic.

You hadn’t decided on a new location yet, although Coruscant still seemed the most promising. Many of the pledged members of the future Republic met on a weekly basis via Holotech to discuss what was happening on their planets and around. The Republic was reforming in front of you, and when your parents asked you to sit in on another meeting, you were surprised and delighted when they announced that they wanted you to make a special trip to Aleen in order to convince their government to sign on with the Republic, and the Resistance, as well.

You accepted immediately, needing to get away from your overbearing parents who seemed to always be around every corner, asking for your opinion on how to talk to certain diplomats, or to ask how things were going with you and Lin.

The representative from Manaan, Senator Rebianakl, informed you that the Resistance would also be sending down one of their fighters to try to persuade King Manchikya to your side. With that in mind, you decided with your handmaidens that you were safe to go on your own, as long as the Resistance fighter who would be joining in your discussions was trustworthy enough to watch over you.

You had no idea until you arrived on Aleen that the fighter the Resistance had chosen to send was Poe.

“They chose you?” you asked once you had landed on Aleen and exited your Royal Starship to find Poe standing at the foot of your descent.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said, holding out his hand to help you off the ship.

“I just had no idea it was you. How are you?”

“I’m alright. And you?”

“Good.”

Poe started to take a step towards the castle, but you stayed put. When he noticed that you weren’t following him he looked back at you. Nové had descended the walkway with you and was looking at Poe suspiciously.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I trust him.”

“Fine. I’ll be just outside of the planet. Contact me if you need anything.”

“I will, thank you.” She nodded to you and walked back to the ship. Once the doors had closed, you looked back to Poe, finding him with a soft smile on his face.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes.” He held out his arm for you and you took it somewhat hesitantly. He led you towards the castle, staying quiet the whole way. You waited in awkward silence inside the entrance hall and were thankful when you were finally granted access to the throne room.

The Aleena were short, reptile-like creatures with sharp toothed smiles. You had to crane your neck to look down at them and could see that as they quickly surrounded you, exclaiming excitedly about your presence, a large crowd gathered to greet you. It was through this crowd that you saw King Manchikya ushering his way towards you.

“King Manchikya,” you said, bowing when he arrived in front of you. Poe bowed on your left as well. “Thank you for welcoming us so kindly.”

“But of course, Your Highness,” he said, returning your bow, “It’s a pleasure to have you here. You as well, Commander.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Poe said.

“I trust your travels were well,” he said.

“Yes,” you both answered.

“Well good. Please, come into our home.”

You smiled cordially at him and allowed him to lead you and Poe deeper into the throne room.

The castle on Aleen was very mechanical and dark, but gorgeous, nonetheless. It had tall walls like in Naboo, but these ones were of a much darker stone that seemed to make the room bigger and more hauntingly beautiful. Thick, potted plants decorated the hall as you were led towards Manchikya’s throne. He motioned to the seats surrounding the throne and you and Poe each took one.

“Thank you, again, for having us here, King Manchikya,” you said once you had taken a seat, smoothing out the folds of your dress around your legs.

“It’s always a pleasure to have our friends from the Republic and the Resistance,” he said with a toothy smile, “But I must admit, it is a little bit odd.”

“Odd?” Poe asked, leaning forward.

“Well, we had a visit from a member of the First Order yesterday,” he explained. You and Poe exchanged a nervous look.

“What, may I ask, did they stop by for?” you asked.

“They tried to bring us to their side. Suggested that they build an outpost here on Aleen. Naturally, we declined.” You nodded and relaxed a little bit.

“Did they threaten you at all?” Poe asked.

“No. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t fear for my people.”

“We can talk with the Resistance about protection for your planet.”

“We do have an army, but we are very small. And if I am to send troops to help your fight, I’m not sure what will happen to our planet.”

“I promise we’ll talk with General Organa about sparing some troops as protection if you do decide to help in our fight. The Resistance does not abandon their friends,” Poe said.

“Thank you, Commander, that is good to here. As for joining in the Republic,” he said, looking to you, “You didn’t need to come, Your Highness.”

“Oh,” you said quietly, dropping your head.

“Our allegiance will always be to the Republic. You needn’t ask if I’m on board.”

“Really?” you asked, smiling widely, “That’s wonderful. Thank you, Your Highness.”

“No need to thank me,” he said, waving his hand. “Although, I do worry that I have wasted your time inviting you both here. I know we have some policy to discuss, but I’m sure you have other places to be to convince others to join in as well.”

“There’s nowhere else we’d rather be, Your Highness,” Poe said charmingly. You smiled at him and turned your smile back to Manchikya.

“He’s right.”

“Splendid! You’ll both be joining us for dinner, then?”

“Of course.”

“Perfect. I’ll have my people get started on the preparations. In the meantime, I can have someone show you to your rooms for the evening. And tomorrow, we’ll discuss policy.”

He clapped his hands and an Aleena girl, much shorter than Manchikya, appeared from out of the hallway. She led you down to your rooms, which she proudly announced were adjoined. You thanked her and opened the door to your room, looking back at Poe as the girl walked off down the hallway.

“Why did they give us adjoining rooms?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” He started to walk towards his own room, but you grabbed hold of his forearm. “You’re not going to sit alone in your room until dinner. Just, come in,” you said, pulling him into your room.

The rooms inside of the Aleena palace were not unlike the halls outside. The same, tall, dark walls surrounded the room. An elegant, marble tub sat in the corner, with ethereal water pouring into it from a fountain just outside the window. At the center of the room was a ginormous bed with dark sheets and a mountain of pillows.

“With a bed like that, we don’t need two rooms,” you said with a smile. Poe didn’t laugh at your joke. He focused on the room, looking around every potted plant, even throwing open the curtains to check for something hidden behind there that you didn’t understand. There was still a tension between the two of you since you had last spoken.

“It’s funny that the First Order arrived here a day before we did, don’t you think?” Poe asked once he had finished his sweep of your room.

“You don’t think the spy could have told them we were coming?”

“I’m not sure. Who knew you were coming?” he asked. You rolled your eyes.

“A lot of people. Probably the same amount that knew you were coming, too.” He nodded his head. “So, I take it that you aren’t anywhere closer to finding out who the spy is?”

“No,” he said with a sigh. You nodded and turned away from him, looking to your bag that had been brought to your room when you were meeting with Manchikya. “Y/N,” he said softly. You looked back at him. His eyes weren’t filled with anger or sadness, but they weren’t showing you his true emotion, he was holding something back.

“What?” you asked.

“Will you just say something?”

“About what?” you asked.

“Anything. About what happened a few months ago. We’ve been apart for months and you haven’t . . . I don’t know,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t want us to be apart like this.”

“I know,” you said with a sigh, sitting down next to him. “For the past few months I’ve been feeling like you hate me.”

“Y/N,” he said with a scoff, taking your hand in his, “I could never ever hate you. It’s just hard knowing that our lives are on different paths right now.”

“The same path,” you said, squeezing his hand, “We’re just focusing on different things.”

“There’s so much I want to tell you, but can’t, that it feels easier not to reach out sometimes.”

“I understand,” you said with a nod of your head.

“And it’d be a lot easier to talk to you if I knew that the decision to keep you out of Resistance affairs didn’t push you into his arms.”

“I’ve told you nothing is going on with Lin and me,” you said, looking into his eyes seriously. “And nothing is going to.”

“I believe you, but I still don’t trust him.” You frowned and shook your head.

“Well, you should trust me.”

“I do.” He began to lean in close to you as a knock came from the door. You laughed and pulled away from him, your lips an inch from reaching his. You opened the door and looked down at the Aleena in the hallway.

“Hi,” you said.

“King Manchikya wants to inform you that dinner will be served in an hour.”

“Thank you,” you said, shutting the door behind you. As you looked back at him, you found Poe standing up again, smiling sadly.

“You need to get ready for dinner.”

“Yeah,” you agreed.

“That’s alright, so do I. I’ll see you in an hour?” he asked, walking over to the adjoining door.

“Yeah.”

You watched him leave, feeling as if things were not resolved between the two of you just yet. Dinner would be starting soon, though, so you began scouring for the perfect gown to wear in your bag. When you found the one you had in mind you laid it out on the bed and then set yourself to work in front of the mirror, affixing the matching headband to your head and touching up your makeup. The dress was tight, but once you got it on, you didn’t notice how much it squeezed your ribs and hips.

Before your hour was up, a knock came from the door connecting your two rooms and you walked over to let Poe in. He had changed as well. He now sported a more formal jacket than the one he wore when you landed.

“You look good.”

“Thank you, so do you. Are you ready?” he asked, holding out his arm for you again.

“I am.” You wrapped your arm around his, holding him a little tighter than usual to show him how much you truly had missed him these past few months.

The grand dining hall of Manchikya’s castle was unlike every other part of his home. The hall was filled with gold everything. The table was laden with a gold overlay, the chairs were crafted of a gold-colored marble, the walls were decorated with gold artwork, everything shone under the light, including the jeweled accents of your gown.

King Manchikya welcomed you both into the hall with another kind, toothy smile. The seat to his left was meant for his wife, but the two to his right were for you and Poe.

You both took your seats as the dinner began. Servants brought out trays of food, creating an elaborate banquet in front of you. Manchikya was determined to talk politics with the two of you for the first half of dinner, but after a few glasses of Aleena’s best brandy, all of his attention went to his wife. The other guests at the party tried to hold polite conversation with the two of you, but they all eventually turned to their own conversations, leaving you and Poe to have your own.

“That was so not my fault!” you said, laughing, “You’re the one who crashed that speeder.” Poe laughed, too and took a drink of his wine.

“No, that was definitely your fault.”

“How was that my fault?”

“You distracted me!” he exclaimed.

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did. You kissed my cheek, and since I can’t– couldn’t resist you,” he corrected quickly, “I turned to kiss you back and that’s when we crashed into that tree.” You smiled at him, thinking about what he really meant to say and took his hand in yours.

“Fine, I guess it was my fault.”

“Eh, I say we call it a joint effort crash. Do you still have that scar of your shoulder from where you hit the tree branch?”

“Of course,” you said, turning slightly so he could see the tiny scar on your shoulder blade. He touched it softly with his thumb, sending goosebumps all across your skin.

“I’m sorry I ever did that to you,” he said softly.

“You didn’t do anything to me,” you said, turning to face him.

Dinner ended early and soon you were back in your individual rooms. You sat at your mirror, brushing out the knots of your hair when a knock came from your connected rooms. You opened the door to find Poe standing shirtless in front of you, looking exhausted.

“Hey,” you said quietly.

“Hey. I couldn’t sleep. Is it alright if I stay in here for a while?”

“Sure,” you said, moving aside so he could step in. He went straight over to your bed and laid down. You laughed and walked over to him. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Are you wearing that to bed?” he asked.

“No, I was just about to change.”

“It must be exhausting to be a queen with all of these outfit changes.”

“So exhausting,” you said, laughing as he intertwined his fingers with yours.

“Well, it would be alright with me if you didn’t change into another gown. Actually, it would be fine with me if you didn’t wear anything at all.”

“Smooth,” you said with a laugh, sitting down next to him.

“Thanks,” he said with a smirk, propping his head up with his arm. “So, what do you say?”

“Maybe not the best idea,” you said softly.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because after we leave here, who knows when we’ll see each other again. Remember, we’re still on different paths.”

“Exactly,” he said, pulling you closer, “But going in the same direction. And we’ll have a great memory to remember each other by after tonight.”

“We should probably rest up for tomorrow. We’ve got an early morning.” You walked away from him, back towards the mirror, and notice Poe start to get up. “You don’t have to leave.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.” You walked into your bathroom, your nightgown in hand, and suddenly started to second guess yourself. You dropped the nightgown to the floor and grabbed the robe hanging off the door.

When you came out, Poe was still lying on the bed, his eyes shut. You frowned, thinking that he had fallen asleep while you decided what to do. You climbed onto the bed with him, looking at his shirtless chest as he took in deep breaths. You propped your head up on your hand so you could look at him better, just as he opened his eyes.

“I thought you were asleep,” you said, jumping slightly.

“No,” he said, lacing your hand in his again.

“That I can see.”

“You changed,” he said, looking at your robe.

“Yes.”

“It’s cute,” he said with a smile.

“You think so? You should see what I’m wearing under it,” you said. Poe cocked an eyebrow at you and carefully opened your robe to find that you weren’t wearing anything underneath.

“I thought it wasn’t the best idea.”

“I don’t care,” you said, moving closer to him. “I want to be with you. Here. Now.”

He smiled and wrapped you in his arms, his hand traveling down to your ass, which he gave a little squeeze. You kissed him, putting your hands on his cheeks. You couldn’t help but smile as you continued to kiss him, feeling his soft lips on yours again sending excitement flooding through your body.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, you woke up in Poe’s arms. He was sleeping soundly, a small smile on the corner of his lips still. Not wanting to wake him, you moved gently out of his arms, although you wished you could have stayed in them forever. You made your way towards the bathroom as a knock came from the door. You moved over quickly and opened it to find the young Aleena girl from before standing in your doorway with a giant tray of breakfast foods in her arms.

“Hello,” you said, keeping the door barely open to ensure that she couldn’t see a very naked Poe lying in your bed. She gave you a crooked, toothy smile as she handed the tray to you.

“King Manchikya sends his apologies, he is not feeling well this morning and would like to request that your meeting be pushed back to this afternoon.”

“Um, of course, that works perfectly,” you said, glancing back at Poe briefly.

“He’ll be delighted to hear that. This food is meant to show his deepest sorrow for having to postpone your meeting.”

“Tell King Manchikya that there is nothing to worry about.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” she said, bowing so low you had to peer over the tray to see her. “Enjoy your breakfast.” She skirted off down the hall so quickly, you weren’t even sure which way she had gone. You shut the door behind you with your foot, your arms too full of breakfast foods to do the work for you.

You set the tray down on the coffee table in the room, and when you did, the ceramic tabletop made a delicate ting! when it touched. Poe groaned into his pillow at the noise and sat up. His hair was in provocative curls and a sloppy smile spread on his face when he saw you.

“Morning,” you said gently, walking over to him.

“Morning,” he said, putting a hand on your waist as he smiled up at you, his eyelids heavy still with sleep. He titled his head up and closed his eyes, waiting for you to close the gap. You did happily and planted a few loving kisses to his lips.

“How’d you sleep?” you asked, turning to walk away from him. He grabbed your wrist and pulled you back, smiling up at you.

“Great. How did you sleep?”

“Great, too,” you said, running your fingers through his hair. He hummed at your touch.

“What’s over there?” he asked, nodding towards the coffee table.

“Breakfast. King Manchikya is still very hungover, it sounds like,” you said with a laugh, “So he sent us a fancy breakfast as consolation for having to push our meeting back later.”

“He sent that to us?” Poe asked, his face making an adorable, confused expression. You laughed at him until dread crossed over your face.

“No! Go to your room, now,” you said, pulling him out of bed. He stumbled and grabbed onto the bedsheets, pulling them down with him.

“What are you doing?” he asked as you threw his pants at him aggressively.

“They’re going to bring you breakfast, too. Those trays are giant, but it won’t take her too long to bring you one.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked as you pushed him towards your adjoining door.

“We are not supposed to be in the same room. They’re going to bring you breakfast,” you strained, pushing him with all of your strength as he planted his feet in the ground, “And you need to be there when they do. I barely hid you lying naked in my bed from her, we don’t need to make it any more obvious that we slept together.”

“Fine,” Poe said, a smirk on his face, “But when I come back will I find you naked in bed?”

“Go!” you groaned, pushing him through the doorframe. You shut the door behind you and let out a sigh as you heard a knock come from his door a few moments later. You listened close and heard Poe schmoozing with the Aleena girl, which made you laugh to yourself.

Thinking quickly, as you heard him wrap up his conversation you grabbed the ginormous tray of food from your coffee table and brought it into bed with you. You rearranged the pillows and fluffed up the blankets, and when Poe walked in a few minutes later, another gigantic tray of food in his arms, he found you sitting up in bed, your legs exposed slightly, and a smirk on your face.

“Oh, hell yes,” he said, moving towards you quickly. He dropped his tray down on the vanity and crawled onto the bed with you, his lips meeting yours quickly.

“Hi,” you said, putting a hand to his cheek to pull him away.

“Hi.”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we have all morning together, then,” you said with a smirk. He started to move closer to you, just as you looked back over at the tray of food. “I know I brought that over here to have a cute breakfast in bed, but I think you should put it back because I want to do not cute things to you right now.” Poe grinned at you and went to reach for the tray but came back and kissed your nose before.

“Well, jokes on you because everything you do is cute.” You laughed and eagerly waited for him to drop off the tray and come back to you, his body crashing into yours in the best way imaginable.

Later that morning, you fell back onto bed, your breathing heavy. You looked over at Poe who also had that same, happy, exhausted look on his face. You reached over to touch his cheek and smiled.

“The best breakfast food I’ve ever had,” you said, reaching for another pastry from the tray. Poe laughed and nodded his head.

“I don’t know how you’re still eating,” he said, putting a hand on his stomach.

“What can I say,” you said, taking a bite of the treat as you laid down on his chest again, “You wore me out this morning.” He laughed and kissed the top of your head, his hands relaxing in your hair as he played with your long locks.

“I love you,” he said after a pause, his voice quiet, almost as if it was a question.

“I love you,” you said, looking up at him.

“Good,” he said simply. “I want to see you more.”

“I know, so do I,” you said, snuggling back into his chest.

“And I think we should talk about the whole spy thing.” You sighed and sat up, looking at him with a frown.

“Okay,” you said, taking in a breath. “I kind of thought we were supposed to not be talking about it.”

“As much as Leia would like to keep you in the dark, I can’t,” Poe said with a smile, sitting up as well. You nodded as he reached out for your hand. “I’m sorry for what I said about you being out of touch. That’s not who Leia thinks you are, and it’s definitely not who I think you are.”

“It’s alright.”

“It’s not, and I should trust you, it’s just—”

“You don’t trust Lin, or whoever you think the spy is. It’s alright. If he or anyone else around me is the spy, then we need to find him out. I understand.”

“You do?” Poe asked. You looked at him in shock, making him laugh. “I just didn’t think you’d agree.”

“Well, you and I are pretty connected.”

“I know,” he said, pulling you into his lap. “And it’s hard knowing that you’re not with me, that I can’t watch over you,” he said, giving your shoulder a kiss, “Not that you need me to watch over you, but I would like to. And knowing that Lin Ral’s with you more often, trying to win you over—”

“Baby, I told you, he can’t win me over.”

“Really?” he asked, raising his eyebrow beautifully.

“Really. I decided on you a long time ago.”

“So did I,” he said, resting his forehead against yours.

“I love you,” you said, kissing him gently.

“I love you, too.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Can you just zip me up?” you groaned.

“Does every dress you own come with its own set of instructions?” Poe asked, struggling with the zipper on the back of your dress.

“Ugh, why can’t you be Nové?” you complained.

“I like to think that I am here for more than just zipping you into your dresses,” Poe said, finally managing to raise up the zipper at your back.

“You are,” you said, looking back at him, “But we can’t do any of those things now because you took too long zipping my dress.” Poe laughed as you turned away from him quickly, your dress swirling out around you.

The two of you walked down to the room Manchikya had chosen for your meeting and checked each other over at the door. You tugged on Poe’s collar to hide a hickey on his collarbone and walked into the room.

Manchikya sat at the center of the room, on a giant chair that’s back was taller than both you and Poe. He smiled a toothy smile at the two of you and motioned for you to take a seat on either side of him. You took in a breath as you sat down and gave Poe a reassuring nod.

“I hope you both slept well last night,” King Manchikya said, hiccupping slightly. You both nodded that you did, and he smiled at you. “I’m glad to hear it. I am truly sorry I had to push our meeting back, I seemed to have fallen ill overnight.”

“Absolutely no troubles, Your Highness,” you said, “We’re just glad you can talk to us now.”

“As I mentioned yesterday,” he said, “Aleen is more than happy to help the Resistance and is ready to rejoin the Republic.”

“That’s really wonderful to hear,” you said.

“But first and foremost, the safety of my people is of the upmost importance to me.”

“We understand that perfectly, Your Highness. It is neither the Resistance nor the Republic’s way to senselessly put anyone in danger. But the threats of the First Order are severe. If we want to return the galaxy to the way we knew it, we have to put our faith in the Resistance and the Republic.”

“And I will,” he said, smiling, “I will take your word that our people will be taken care of, then?”

“Of course,” you said.

“And this reformation of the senate, what can I expect from it?”

“Our senate is going to serve exactly the way it did before. The galaxy is vast, and try as we might, the Republic can’t be everywhere. With the reformation of the senate, we can all highlight the necessary issues around the galaxy and decide how we can help. We want to make good, positive change in the galaxy. We want to do the opposite of what the First Order is doing.”

“We lost our representative and a lot of our people in the destruction of Hosnian Prime. It might take some time, but we would be glad to join your Republic, and your fight,” he said, looking at each of you in turn.

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Manchikya stepped down from his chair. You and Poe both stood and faced him.

“Thank you for coming. I know you’re both busy, so I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedules to visit us.”

“It was our pleasure, Your Highness,” Poe said, giving Manchikya his most dashing smile.

“I’m sure you both must be on your way, but please, let us send you off with some food and supplies for your fight.”

“That would be wonderful.”

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“So, Fly Boy,” you said, wrapping your arms around yourself as you looked at Poe. The ships landing around you both made his hair fly around him in beautiful curls. “I guess this is goodbye.”

“Yeah,” he said, biting his lip as he took your hand in his. “But we’ll see each other again.”

“I hope that’s true.” Your starship landed behind you, and you knew that if you weren’t on board in a few moments, Nové would come down the ramp herself to grab you. You looked back at it and sighed, turning back to Poe.

“Soon,” he said, answering your unspoken question. You nodded and quickly wrapped your arms around him. His strong hands settled on your waist, squeezing you gently and holding you firmly against him.

“Goodbye,” you said, pulling away from him. You kissed him softly as the walkway of your ship opened up.

“Goodbye, Y/N.”

#poe dameron #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #sw imagine #star wars #star wars imagine #star wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #poe dameron fanfic #poe dameron fanfiction #sw #sw fanfic #sw fanfiction #return to me

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saipng · 5 years ago

Text

hi please accept this slightly nonsensical jonmartin fic (?) that i just had to write after the last ep. this is quite lovely and fluffy, or as lovely and fluffy as it could possibly get?

aka martin gets trapped in the lonely for a while

dialogue only.

i kinda yadda yaddaed the whole extinction business but shhh this is not why we’re here

*click*

- Statement of the entity previously known as Martin Blackwood-

- Martin, stop that- It’s not funny.

- No? I thought it was pretty good. Not exactly a joke, anyway.

- You’re not- You’re not an entity, alright?

- Well it’s not like I’m entirely human either, now am I?

- I mean, no, but... Listen. You’re alive. You’re still you. You’re still Martin. That’s all that matters.

- Or what’s left of him, anyway-

- Martin!

- Alright, sorry, sorry! Jeez, I’m kidding, chill out. I just wanted a cool new nickname.

- ...Excuse me?

- W-Well, you know? Like, you’re The Archivist and that sounds so... Foreboding. I want a name like that.

- I’m not sure that’s-

- I was thinking The Forsaken, maybe? How’s that sound? Very fitting, wouldn’t you say?

- You’re not forsaken, Martin. Quite the opposite of that, in fact.

- ...Really, Jon? Really?

- Look, can we just get to the statement? We’ve wasted enough tape.

- Only if you use my new name.

- I- Al-Alright, fine. Let’s just. Get on with it. *sigh* Statement of Martin Blackwood.... The Forsaken, regarding his time spent in the Lonely. Statement taken directly from subject, 31 August 2019. Statement begins.

- ...I missed that, you know. I mean, hearing you say that. I remember I‘d overhear you record sometimes and it was just... nice. It’s still nice. I’m stalling, aren’t I. I just- I-I don’t really know what to say, Jon. It all just happened so naturally. You died. I failed to protect you. I promised that that would never happen again so I- I went ahead and struck up a deal with Peter Lukas. Of course I had no clue how incompetent at protection he would actually be, but I mean- He tried. And with enough time I began to realize that the Lonely wasn’t... as terrible as I was making it out to be. It was... easier, in a way? Even after you woke up. Especially after you woke up. I kept my head low and kept on working on figuring out the Extinction, while giving you just enough to keep you off my back. It felt right. It... I- I’m not going to make excuses. I knew exactly what I was signing up for when I decided Peter and I were going to disrupt it’s first and only ritual on our own. I wasn’t planning on coming back. Counting on it, really. Dying a probably heroic death didn’t really sound so bad at the time. I still have no idea how you managed to find us on the night we were leaving, though... Well, I mean I guess I do have an inkling, heh. I didn’t expect to see you there, of course. Didn’t expect you to- To be so mad with me. ...Definitely didn’t expect the kiss. Um, it became a lot harder to be willing to, uh, sacrifice myself after that. You just had to ruin that for me too, didn’t you... Heh, I guess it was for the best after all. I won’t bore you with the details of our trip, I know Peter already gave his statement. All I can say is that when it did come the time for me to pull the trigger to prevent Extinction from emerging, I didn’t hesitate. It was like I- I knew I wouldn’t die. There was the pain, the flash, and then... Darkness. Funny enough, when I woke up in this desolate empty place my first thought was that I did indeed did die and- and ended up in hell or something, but that wasn’t... It wasn’t what it felt like. It stretched out for miles and miles, this endless deep dark sea. The thick white fog covered the horizons, and the sky was a never ending milky grey. It was cold. So cold, the ice seeped all the way down through my bones and into my very atoms, burning me from the inside. And it felt so overwhelmingly familiar, I could just cry. It felt like returning home. I could hardly move those first few seconds as I adjusted my eyes, my vision bleary and distorted... Though that could have been because of the fog. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so easy in such a strange, otherworldly place. Not that I’ve ever, you know, been to any other strange otherworldly places but I just- Like I said, it felt good. Right. It was so weird how I could just stand on that dark water, walk as easily as though stepping on soil. I think I fumbled around a bit, trying to grasp a sense of direction. I think I might have even been a little unsettled as the disorientation set in and I could no longer feel if I was even moving forward at all. It was enormous, this bleak open space that went on for god knows how far, and yet it felt... tiny. I was all alone, and that incomprehensibly ginormous vastness in the end amounted to just... me. I closed my eyes when I realized this, took a deep breath. I wasn’t in any hurry after all. That was when I heard it- a voice. Your voice, Jon. I don’t remember what it was saying, just that- It was so clear in my head. I started following it, with my eyes closed. I simply went towards the sound, wherever my feet would take me. It was so easy, Jon, god- It was the easiest thing I have ever done, simply following your voice wherever it would lead me. I... I don’t know how long I walked for. I want to say it felt like an eternity but really it felt like mere minutes-

- Two months.

- I’m- I’m sorry, what?

- You’ve been gone for two months, Martin. And- And they were- They were the most agonizing months of my existence. When Peter returned and you didn’t I- I think I lost it a little. The rest, they- they kind of just accepted your fate, but I wouldn’t. I couldn’t, Martin, I- I promised I wouldn’t lose anyone else and I wasn’t about to lose you. I couldn’t. Not you.

- Jon....

- I Looked. It was painful, so goddamn painful, to see through the fog and the ice and the dark, but I kept Looking until I was passing out because I Knew you were still out there. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking... The moment you started to fade from my memory I knew it had to be real. Martin, I did everything - and I mean everything I could not to forget you. At first I realized I couldn’t remember the color of your eyes. I didn’t think too much of it, I- I’m not great at these things, so maybe I never noticed in the first place but- Then it was your hair. Then your face. Then I could hardly picture even a blurry shape so I- I started keeping pictures- God, your hands are so cold.

- Heh, yeah, it’s the- A-Anyway, pictures?

- Remember that one we- The one Tim forced us to take at the Christmas party? Near the tree?

- Oh, god, yes. I was so embarrassed I thought I was going to fall through the floor. He made us wear those antler headbands.

- Yes, well. I made sure to look at it every day. It was the only picture I had of you, if you can imagine.

- I-I can, actually, but- You kept it on your desk!? Really?

- Had to. Otherwise I’d go crazy.

- J-Jon, that’s a bit-

- What did you expect me to do, Martin!? Even the picture started to fade, eventually. You began to disappear, and then I began to forget the sound of your voice, so I- I listened to all your tapes, over and over and over, every single one I could find. I’ve, um, found a few of your old poetry tapes in the storage room and-

- Oh my god, Jon, don’t tell me you-

- I-It was an accident, I swear, I- I didn’t listen on purpose, not at first, I was just curious what was on them-

- I’m going to die. No, I’m- I think I should have died. That would have been easier than-

- Look, Martin, they’re- They’re the ones that helped the most. I don’t know why, it’s just- The tapes where you were just being you, not reading a statement or being brainwashed by Elias or- The ones where it was just you, reading your poetry into a tape recorder without a care in the world... They grounded me like nothing else, Martin. Even when they were a little tough to hear, I still felt like... Like you were still with me...

- ...

- I liked the one with the graying hair and the scars-

- Bloody hell, Jon...

- I, um. I decided to write out things about you too, Martin. Not exactly poetry, but... Just something before I started to forget what kind of a person you were. You are. Everything I liked, everything I hated, everything I lo- Uh, everything I’ve found interesting. And when I ran out, I started writing to you instead. About myself, about the Archives, about the world.... Everything I wished I had said. All the things that could have ended up different. I think I filled up 4 or 5 notebooks, hah. It was... It wasn’t easy.

- I... I can’t imagine it must have been. My trip to the Lonely sounds like a vacation in comparison to what you went through... I’m sorry.

- No, I- You were the one trapped and... I should be the one apologizing, this is your statement.

- There is not much left to say, really. I followed your voice. Sometimes it was as clear as though you were standing right next to me, sometimes as quiet as though you were a million miles away. I tried not to lose it, straining hard to hear, going on way past the point where my legs had to have given out. Eventually I found a door - one that i have seen a thousand times before, almost intimately familiar and yet so strikingly wrong in this empty world. The door to the Archives. I’m not going to lie, Jon. I... Hesitated. I could hear your voice so clearly, coming right from the other side, and yet I also knew that I could also just... Turn around. Walk out into the Lonely, let it consume me. Never have to worry about anything ever again. It was such an enticing idea, Jon. The warmth emanating from underneath the Archival door was unbearable. I felt like I was going to suffocate... And yet I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching out no matter how much I wanted to... What was it that you said to me before I left? “I would very much like to kiss you again, so don’t you dare die on me”? Yeah, I- I couldn’t do that to you, Jon. I couldn’t do that to myself. Not after everything, I just couldn’t- I couldn’t die. I knew I wouldn’t be the same, but it was still better than nothing. I promised you I’d come back. I wasn’t about to let you down, you know. Not again. And so I wrapped my fingers around the sizzling hot metal and I pulled and- And there you sat. Propped up against one of the bookshelves, a recorder in hand, looking worse than I have ever seen you, including that time in a coma. God, I don’t think I was ever so happy, Jon, I- And when you looked at me, when you saw me, and your eyes lit up and you had that look on your face that you just couldn’t believe it or thought you were hallucinating or- Hah, I just wish I had a camera.

- And I’m just glad that you didn’t.

- Well, uh. Y-You know what happened after that. You know very well.

- Yes, I- I believe that part isn’t necessary for the official statement. Though, I do think I blacked out for a moment or two there just from sheer disbelief.

- R-Right, um... Don’t worry, I’ll recollect the details for you later.

- O-Oh! Hah, I’ll keep you to that. Although, um... Martin, I have to ask... When was it that you began to realize I was the only one who could see you?

- Oh, er- Well, I- I don’t really know exactly when? I mean, I remember walking out of the Archives that evening, happy as a clam and so positively lost in my own head I didn’t notice bumping into a woman on my way to the station. It was quite late and she was the only one on the street, her eyes fixated on the screen of her phone. She mumbled a quick apology, immediately looking up, and then she just. Paused in her step. She had such a bewildered look on her face. We were the only ones on the street, yet she kept looking around as though she couldn’t comprehend what just happened. I thought it odd, but I was a bit too, erm- preoccupied to bother with it. So I just went home. I think it was when I got back this morning and not a single person in the Archives even so much as looked my way, yet alone said a word to me. I tried to chat to Melanie but she just ignored me. Like I wasn’t there. I tried to pretend that she was mad at me, but... I think I realized it then.

- Right...

- You know, the funny thing is, it almost feels as though no one else is there either. I was looking at Basira just earlier and she just... Kept drifting out of focus. Like I was a camera lens that just couldn’t find the right setting. No matter how hard i tried squinting it was like the image just kept shifting away, and I almost thought my vision was giving out until I looked at you and realized you were perfectly fine. As sharp and clear as always.

- Martin, I’m... I’m so sorry.

- Oh, it’s not all bad. It did make for an amusing moment with Daisy when she found you snogging with thin air-

- Y-Yes, well, let’s not dwell on that- I just. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you.

- Not at all, really. I’ve spent so much time avoiding people myself that it’s actually a breath of fresh air to be able to walk around naturally with no one paying any attention to me. I honestly was beginning to imagine that maybe I had died and returned as a ghost or something but I don’t think so- I mean I can still interact with objects, and I can obviously still touch other people. And it’s not like I’m invisible either. People might bump into me way more often but they don’t exactly sit on me on the train or try to walk through me - so at least subconsciously they know I’m still there... Plus, animals seem to notice me.

- Is that so?

- Yeah, there was this cat at the entrance to the station today. It spent a good five minutes just staring at me as I bought my ticket and when I tried to approach it ran away. So that’s something.

- Maybe you should get a cat then. I-If that would help.

- Hm. Never really thought about it. It just seemed a bit... Sad, you know? Getting a cat to alleviate your own loneliness. I know that’s not exactly the reason people get pets, but it just... It always felt that way to me. Now getting a pet together with someone, that’s quite different-

- I like cats.

- O-Oh! Um, do you?

- Er, I mean- Well, uh, Georgie has this big one, called Admiral. Horribly fluffy, but I enjoyed his company greatly.

- Admiral? That’s just silly. Everyone knows the best name for a cat is-

- Colonel?

- Yes, actually, how did you- Oh, right.

- Just a lucky guess, really. I didn’t- I don’t think I can Know things about you anymore, Martin. Every time I try I just get this fog. And a brain freeze.

- You tried?

- Um, yes, I- Yesterday. After you left. I wanted to Know if you were really okay, or if you were just... If you were putting a front for me.

- You could’ve just asked, Jon.

- ...I didn’t think you’d tell me.

- Probably not. But I really am okay. Surprisingly few differences in this new invisible life I’m leading. I’ve lost contact with what few friends I had close to a year ago now, and it’s not like I was ever the most popular guy around. I mean, just at lunch I held a door for like, 5 people before realizing it. No one ever said thank you before and certainly not now.

- Martin-

- If you’re going to say you’re sorry again I’m going to punch you. I’m telling you this is fine. You can see me, Jon, and for now that’s- That’s enough.

- I... I’m glad. I’m glad I can see you.

- Me too... Hah. Haha. A bit ironic, isn’t it? All this time I’ve been trying to get your attention, and now it’s the only thing I’ve got.

- That’s...

- It’s not a bad thing. In any case, I think I got quite lucky. Don’t think other Entities are quite as benevolent.

- I don’t know if this is what you would call benevolent. Your misguided optimism concerns me a bit, you know.

- Oh, sorry, would you rather I mope around and drown in my own misery?

- Well, obviously not, but-

- Then quit it, Jon. We can’t change things by complaining. Maybe we can start looking for a solution tomorrow. Maybe this will pass on its own. Or maybe I’m stuck like this forever and ever, haunting your sorry arse till the end of times! Who cares? It’s fine. It’s all fine.

- ...Right. Right. Then I’m going to be here for you, as long as you need me.

- Good. I mean, thanks, Jon. It’s... I know it’s a lot, but I’m glad it’s you.

- You, uh... You going to head home now?

- Yes- Er, actually. I was going to ask, uh... Would you like to come over, perhaps? D-Don’t take this the wrong way, I just- Well, it was sort of horrible last night, being home all alone in that apartment? I know it contradicts everything I just said, but something about that place still unsettles me. And I really would hate to spend yet another night in the Archives, so-

- Of- Of course, Martin. I- Anything you need. I’d love to come over.

- Jon- I- *sigh* Please don’t feel as though you have to say yes just because you’re the only person who can see me, alright-

- Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no- Martin, please, will you just think back on how many months exactly has it been that I’ve been trying to get to you. To just- Spend time with you. And you really think that after all this time I’m going to agree out of some sort of- moral obligation?

- Well, no, but- It’s just- It’s still kind of hard to believe you actually- That you want to-

- Of course I want to. This is me being selfish, Martin. In fact, why don’t you come over to mine instead. I’ll cook us dinner. If- If you want to, that is-

- Yes. Of course. I would- I would love that.

- Ah. Good. Erm. Shall we get going now then?

- Let me grab my jacket. And, I... Thank you, Jon. Really. You- You quite literally saved my life there, you know.

- The gratitude is mutual. I- I missed you. I missed you a lot.

- Yeah... I missed you too. Jon, I- Oh, wait, um. Statement ends?

- Oh. Right. Statement ends.

*click*

#please excuse any formatting errors too its 8:40 am #OH GOD ITS 8:40 AM #jonmartin #the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #fanfiction #long post #sai.fic

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gingerwritess · 6 years ago

Note

hello? i have a request? can you do one where loki arrives late home and the partner is upset and the next day he has a massive breakfast or flowers planned for them? sorry bad wording. I love ur writing tho!

sorry this took so long!! enjoy beb

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“Oh, so you are still alive.”

He closes the door behind him with a sheepish smile, stepping into the dim lamplight. “I thought you would be asleep by now.”

“I should be, shouldn’t I? Cause it's 3:30 in the morning?” You cross your arms and glare at him. His hair is uncharacteristically messy, sticking up in weird places and he’s got a jacket slung over his arm, his shirt untucked in the back.

Oddly...disheveled.

You try to give him the benefit of the doubt and not let your mind wander.

“I’m sorry, my love. It wasn’t supposed to take that long,” he offers, moving towards where you’re curled up in the corner of the couch. You just keep your narrowed eyes trained on his every movement, knowing he’ll convince you to forgive him sooner than he probably deserves...as usual.

He’s headed for the bathroom—hopefully to shower, he looks a mess—and he stops as he’s walking past the couch to stoop down and kiss the top of your head. His tangled hair falls in front of your face and you catch a whiff of something in it that smells strangely spiced, sickly sweet.

You grab his wrist when he goes to move away and you lean back against the arm of the couch, pulling him back down into an upside-down kiss.

Sure enough, he’s a little...sweeter than usual.

“So...you were drinking at that meeting?” You ask, locking your arms around his neck and keeping him bent over your face. “Didn’t think that’s normally what happens at ‘business meetings,’ even for superheroes.”

His forehead drops to rest against your chin in defeat. “I apologise. Once the meeting ended, Stark insisted, and you know my brother has the tendency to—”

“You didn’t get any of my calls?”

He pauses, opening his mouth to say something and apparently thinking better of it. “I...thought it might be better not to answer, considering the state I was—” a violent hiccup interrupts him. “Possibly still am in.”

You push him away with a sigh and sit up. “I was worried sick, Loki. Next time please let me know where you are?”

He nods seriously and steps around the couch, reaching for you, but his foot catches on the edge of the couch and he trips, stumbling down halfway on top of you. Maybe he’s a little drunker than he had originally let on.

He hiccups again and starts laughing, leaning into your side for support.

“Uh...Loki?” You nudge him in the side, more than a little concerned. It takes a lot to get the god drunk, and here he is at 3:30 in the morning, giggling. “Just how much did you actually drink?”

He thinks deeply for a moment, honestly trying to remember, then shrugs. “More than the stars that light the night sky, should my memory do me no wrong.”

Aaaaand here we go. Alcohol never fails to bring out the poet in your lover, somehow giving him the ability to be even more eloquent and well-versed than he already is. In the time you’ve been together, you’ve been subject to many a drunk, sappy poem, often dramatically presented to you by Loki in some language that probably hasn’t been uttered on earth for thousands of years—and more often than not while he is clad in a bedsheet toga.

I mean...I guess it’s kinda adorable.

“Go on...get it out.” You pull your legs up under you and sit back with a small smile, ready to enjoy watching him make a fool of himself.

“I have more adoring words of thee than grains of sand on the shores of Valhalla,” he whispers, grabbing your hands and bringing them to his lips. “Thou art fair, my love, and thy smile be the light that shineth from the heavens.”

The drunken grin on his face widens when you roll your eyes and a boyish gleam appears in his eye. “You believe me to jest, my eternal starlight?”

You grab his face in both hands and the grin that lights his face is that of a child’s pure joy. “You’re drunk, babe,” you remind him softly, “you’re drunk and just reciting more books. You ready to sleep this off?”

“Heavens, no. I’ve only just begun—hic—to find the words worthy of defining you, though they be few.” He leans forward to plant a sloppy kiss on your laughing lips. “What deeds I may have done to behold thy grace...are beyond my knowledge. My heart is held between thy fingers and I taste...I taste a new world in thy lips when err they...when err they meet mine—”

His head slips out of your hands and drops to your shoulder with a snore.

“Loki?” You poke him a couple times. “Loki? Babe?”

Wonderful. Looks like you’ll be sleeping on the couch now, cause you’re definitely not lugging the knocked out god all the way back to your bed, heck no.

Oh well. He may smell a little funny, but hey, he still makes for a pretty cozy blanket.

You wake up feeling an entire body lighter—oh, cause Loki’s finally not draped over you—and there’s an awful knot in your neck from sleeping at a weird angle.

“You’re awake!”

Loki’s sneaking through the door again, quite obviously hiding something behind his back. You quickly rub the sleep from your eyes and squint at him in the bright morning light, wondering what on earth could have gotten him out of the house at such an hour.

He comes over to greet you on the couch with a breathtaking good morning kiss, as all are, his hair still damp and curly from a recent shower.

Thank goodness.

“G’mornin, sunshine,” you grin, pulling him back for a longer hug. God, he smells so good. “Where did you go?”

He sits on the cushion next to you with a tired but devious smile, crossing his legs under him and keeping his hand and whatever he’s holding behind his back.

“Well…” he starts, taking your hand in his free one. “I wanted to apologise for last night. I am so sorry that I even put you through the trouble of worrying, much less actually having to care for me while I was intoxicated.”

Appalled by the fact that he thinks he needs to apologise, you had just opened your mouth to tell him to stop when he pulls a ginormous bouquet of flowers from behind his back, holding them out in front of your face and beaming proudly at you.

Uh...that’s a lot of flowers.

“Loki...what the hell,” you laugh, blinking in shock at him.

His face falls like a stone in water. “You don’t like them? Ríða, I’m never listening to Stark again.” He stands up and storms to the kitchen with the flowers in hand, dumping them in the sink before you can stop him.

“Loki!” You jump to your feet and run after him, stopping when you see him bent over the sink with a hand tiredly over his eyes.

The poor guy is absolutely beating himself over the head for this. He looks miserable, disgusted with himself for making such a “mistake,” and especially revolted by the overflowing amount of flowers now upside down in your sink.

“Loki, baby, sunshine…” you whisper and force yourself between him and the counter, making him look at you. “You didn’t let me finish. That was a good what the hell.”

He doesn’t say anything and just turns away from you, leaving you shocked and empty armed.

“Hey! Look at me, doofus!” You’re behind him in two quick steps, wrapping your arms around his waist and trying your best to hold him in one place. “Come on, you don’t think I’m actually mad at you, do you?”

“You’re...you’re not?” He freezes and looks at you incredulously. “You have every reason to be upset. I made many mistakes last night, and this morning as well, clearly—”

You grab his collar and yank him down to shut him up with a kiss.

He’s slightly breathless by the time you pull away and you rest your forehead on his with a quiet giggle. “Maybe I was a little...annoyed last night, but only because I was worried. And your poems and sonnets certainly made up for that.”

“My what?”

“Wait, you don’t remember?”

He shakes his head, undeniably concerned by the fact that he has no recollection of his drunken interactions with you.

“Oh, Loki, you poured out your little heart to me last night,” you tease, winding your arms around his neck. “You were so gushy, so sappy, so romantic…I swooned many a time.” You pause and throw all your weight on him with a dramatic sigh, trying to get a smile back on his face. “You said the word ‘thy’ about a million times, too, and I almost slapped you for that, not going to lie…”

Loki catches you with a hand on your waist and brings you into a tight embrace, listening intently as a smile finally begins to hint at his lips. “And that was the worst of it?”

You hoist yourself up to sit on the counter so you can be at his level, tugging him between your knees and into another quick kiss. “No, the worst part was that you fell asleep before you were finished.”

He scowls playfully and raises an eyebrow at your dopey grin. “Not another soul will hear of this, correct?”

“Mmm...you might have to buy my silence.” You tap a finger under his chin to remind him to pick his head up, meeting his worried eyes with a playful smile. “Lucky for you, snowflake, I accept flowers as payment.”

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hope you enjoyed, feel free to send me ideas!

loki tags: @bluediamond007 @himitoshi @drakesfiance @destiel1597 @dangertoozmanykids101 @archy3001 @jcalpha1 @yzssie @skullvieplu @forthesnakeofdragons @skulliebythesea @wegingerangelica @storiesfrommirkwood @agarwaeneth @adaliamalfoy @laurfangirl424 @paradisaicsam @fitzsimmons-is-forever @ladylokimischief @katelinwrites @tarynkauai @polaristrange @loavesofmeat @canadian-ravenpuff-multishipper @lou-makes-me-strong @holyn0vak @chocolatealmondmillk @swtnrholland

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emily-420 · 5 years ago

Text

try to hold the rising floods that fill my skin

jjba | jotakak | 5.6k | complete

It wasn’t so much that he was afraid of what might happen if he suggested it, but more that he was having a bit of trouble finding a way to word it that couldn’t be misconstrued as an insult.

One could likely suggest that this was Kakyoin’s own fault for phrasing near everything he said in way that covertly concealed an insult about as covertly as a thirteen-year-old shoplifting a candy bar for the first time, but he would no doubt undergo a spontaneous bout of deafness. read on ao3

Kakyoin suggested the idea about ten months after they’d gotten home from Egypt. To begin with, they had been sat with varying degrees of mounting frustration at the dining table at Jotaro’s place studying for their Japanese literature exam, until Jotaro threw down his pen and declared, “I’ve had enough of this.”

“Funny,” Kakyoin said, though his face held no trace of amusement whatsoever, “I could have sworn you’d had enough after the first three minutes.” Jotaro just sort of grunted at him, and though it was just a grunt, Jotaro had enough variations on the grunt in his repertoire to clearly convey that this was an accurate assessment. “Want to go for a walk?” Kakyoin asked, because Jotaro apparently had so much muscle that if he didn’t move around at every half-hour interval he was at risk of some sort of muscle-based internal crisis. Kakyoin didn’t know. He didn’t understand muscles.

They got up to go wander around the neighbourhood and promised to be back in time for dinner. Kakyoin had not been aware that he was staying for dinner, but it beat eating with his own parents, so he was not complaining.

“I hate this literature shit,” Jotaro grumbled as they started out on the street. “I’m fine with Japanese on its own because there’s rules and there’s a right answer. But literature is bullshit.”

“All of it?” Kakyoin asked sarcastically. “The entirety of all literature that has ever been written ever?”

“Shut up,” Jotaro muttered, because he didn’t know how to communicate. “You know what I mean. The fact that you can be tested on interpreting a subjective medium. And that there’s a ‘right answer’. That’s stupid.”

“Well, I know where you’re coming from. To me it’s less the interpretation of literature than interpreting what answers they want you to write during the test. I mean, the only critical framework we’ve been given is ‘what will get you marks on the exam’, so it’s not as if we’re really scrutinising anything.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jotaro mumbled. “I forget you like that shit. You know. Thinking about stuff.”

“Yes, I do indeed love to think about stuff. I do it all the time. You could say, in fact, that I am always thinking about stuff, constantly,” Kakyoin said, because, while he may have had a better grip on communication than Jotaro, he had less of a grip on how to have friends.

“I am going to kill you one day,” Jotaro said, kicking a rock, and Kakyoin didn’t believe him for even a second, which was how he had yet to cease being such a ginormous bastard.

Jotaro kept kicking the rock. Kakyoin took a couple turns when it ended up closer to him. It was late afternoon, not quite sunset, and the neighbourhood was comparatively quiet, muffled sounds of life in the air as if a solid barrier surrounded the two of them on the carless street. The two weirdos.

Life had gone back to normal alarmingly quickly after they’d recovered enough from their injuries to leave Egypt. Polnareff and Abdul stayed in Cairo, and Iggy went with the Speedwagon Foundation to get a prosthetic foot so he could go back to stealing people’s hotdogs in New York to his fullest capacity. Probably he would have been fine without a prosthetic - many dogs were - but he had been putting on such a show of suffering that Joseph got annoyed enough to give in and foot (ha) the bill. Apparently, Joseph and Suzie had stayed at the Kujo’s for a whole month to make sure their daughter was okay, being ‘really fucking suffocating’ (Jotaro’s words) in their displays of affection. Kakyoin wouldn’t know because he’d spent that month trying not to move too much so as not to agitate the massive bruising that still remained on what little abdominal muscle he was in possession of.

Probably he ought to be grateful that Dio had been arrogant enough to assume that a solid punch to the stomach with his (hi)jacked muscles and a good water tower to the back would be enough to do him in, but mostly he had just been sort of hibernating and playing video games and trying not to think about the pain. At least he still had all of his appendages, anyway. And with all his bountiful parts, Kakyoin went right back to school as soon as he was up and about, and it wasn’t even entirely because his parents didn’t quite understand that an evil immortal vampire had done a real number on his insides and wanted him to get over it and back to studying for exams. No, he was still on his Conquering His Many Psychological Issues kick, and was trying to prove that he was like… tough, or something. It made sense at the time, in any case.

He hadn’t quite forgotten that he went to the same school as Jotaro, but it was a close thing, given that they’d had all of one day of school together before leaving the country, and also that Kakyoin was brainwashed for all of it. As it happened, in that one day of school, in the brief window between arriving at the institution and trying to do some murders in the nurse’s office, Kakyoin had chosen the desk beside Jotaro’s at the back of the room. At least, he can only assume he did given his things were there, and it would have only been so he could stare at Jotaro and think about all the murder he was going to do on him for the good Lord Dio while their teacher talked about calculus, or something equally non-murder related.

Anyway, as they happened to be in the same class, and happened to sit next to each other, and happened to have gone on the same journey across the planet where they had to try very hard not to die all the time constantly, he and Jotaro were… friends, he supposed. He supposed because Kakyoin had never had a friend before, but he had seen what they were like -- boisterous, considerate. Sociable, definitely. He couldn’t say that they were friends the way other people were friends, but then, it wasn’t as if they weren’t, either.

They ate lunch together. A few days a week, they’d either study at Jotaro’s place or play games at Kakyoin’s. One time, out the front of a convenience store, Kakyoin tried one of Jotaro’s cigarettes and decided immediately, amidst a lot of coughing, that he did not like it at all thank you, and Jotaro shrugged, said ‘you get used to it,’ and shoved the cigarette Kakyoin definitely would not finish in his mouth beside the one he was already smoking. He’d looked stupid, and Kakyoin told him as much more than once, but all he had to say for himself was ‘I’m not gonna waste it.’

So, in a lot of ways, their friendship could be seen as fairly normal, if you only looked at about half of it. For Kakyoin, at that point, after travelling with him, it just felt normal to be around Jotaro, but not in quite the same way as the others. With Abdul and Joseph, there was a barrier of respect and formality that had a tendency to inhibit real closeness. Iggy was, in addition to being a vicious little bastard, a dog, so you’ll have to forgive Kakyoin for not being overly close to him. And then there was Polnareff. Polnareff was in general incredibly bright, accepting, and fun to be around no matter who you were, but this tendency of his was especially meaningful to the two teens. Kakyoin couldn’t speak entirely for Jotaro, but he knew that for himself, the way Polnareff had delighted in his quirks and was entertained by his info-dumping was touching, in stark contrast to the way people usually slinked away from him at the first sign that he was Not Normal.

So, Polnareff had been sort of a goofy older brother to him, yes. But it was different to the sheer amount of sameness between him and Jotaro. Sure, they had different interests and personalities, but they were the same age, both autistic, both stand users. There was a similar kind of disinterest in everyone else in the world who couldn’t begin to understand them that made it remarkably easy for them to get along, to exist quietly next to each other, satisfied to have found someone who gets them so well.

This can sound very deep and emotional, but the surface-level result of it all, when thrust back into an everyday environment, was that they often spent long periods saying nothing at all to each other. This could, and in fact had, given the amount of concern for his imminent safety some of Kakyoin’s classmates had hilariously been showing, make it seem as if they didn’t like each other at all. Oftentimes Jotaro was content to say nothing and stare out the window, and Kakyoin, in addition to usually having his Gameboy somewhere on his person, was oftentimes content to make sarcastic little remarks to himself, or whoever might care to listen.

It was upon reflecting on this comfortable nature of their relationship that Kakyoin had spawned The Idea, and he had been mulling it over for a good few weeks. He felt like it was a good Idea, but there was every chance that Jotaro would think he’d lost the plot entirely, which would be truly a shame given that he was really Kakyoin’s only friend who lived in the country, unless you counted his Gameboy, which he did. That said, it wasn’t so much that he was afraid of what might happen if he suggested it - he was Jotaro’s only friend too, after all - but more that he was having a bit of trouble finding a way to word it that couldn’t be misconstrued as an insult.

To return to what we’ll tenuously refer to as the present, they had reached a waterway at the edge of the neighbourhood. The sun was setting by then, the light low and slanted over the creek, and the shadows were deepening. They stopped by the water, a few meters along from a footbridge that was also heavily used by cyclists and students. Jotaro went to school that way; he had once gone to stop a younger kid from being bullied for their cash only for the dude in question to take one glance over his shoulder, take in Jotaro’s physical mass, and immediately take off in the other direction. ‘It was like Hol Horse all over again,’ Jotaro had told him, clearly highly amused by the whole escapade.

“Sorry my mum assumed you’d stay for dinner again,” Jotaro said into the quiet.

“Not at all. I like her cooking. Anyway, it’s Saturday, so it’s not like my parents will be waiting for me,” Kakyoin said. His parents were both office workers, and while it was true that they both usually got dinner and drinks with their coworkers on the last workday of the week, it was also true that they weren’t exactly home early for the rest of the week, either. Between them not being home and Kakyoin frequenting the Kujo’s place, they had dinner together as a family about once a week, if that.

Jotaro knew this - he’d mentioned it previously - but didn’t comment on it. “Besides,” Kakyoin continued, “it’s nice to eat with people who I can actually talk to.”

He saw Jotaro tug on the brim of his hat out of the corner of his eye. “...For what it’s worth,” he started, and then paused for a few seconds. Kakyoin glanced at him - he had a discomforted twist to his mouth. “...I think she’s just. Happy. That I have a friend.”

“Ah.” Kakyoin gave Jotaro a single light pat to the back of his shoulder. “Me too.”

Jotaro gave him a very unimpressed look. “Yeah, thanks, shithead.”

“I meant that I was happy that I had a friend,” Kakyoin scoffed. And added, after consideration, “Shithead.”

“Whatever,” Jotaro said, but he was smiling as much as he ever smiled, which was to say, barely, and mostly emotionally. He was smiling in his heart, and he knew that, and Kakyoin knew that, and that was all that mattered.

“Did you shake out all your stupid muscles enough yet?” Kakyoin asked, gone directly back to being sarcastic.

“Stretch out, you mean.”

Kakyoin flipped a dismissive hand. “Whatever you do with them.”

“Yeah, I feel better.” Jotaro turned away from the water to head back the way they came; Kakyoin followed alongside him. “It’s nice to get out.”

“If you say so,” Kakyoin said, because he was a gamer, and his stand didn’t like enclosed spaces for no reason.

“Speaking of shitheads,” Jotaro said, “I talked to Polnareff last night.”

“He called you?”

“Yeah. I forgot to mention it ‘cause after that we had to see my dad off at the airport. But anyway, he says his Arabic is getting really good.”

“He says.”

Jotaro smirked. “Yeah. Probably he learned how to say ‘you’re welcome’.” Polnareff, in all his posturing about French being the most superior and beautiful language of them all, had never had the strongest English out of them. He was more natural than Kakyoin, who had a very textbook-based understanding and found it hard to follow along at first, but it was clear enough to him once he got used to the speed of conversational English that this was more due to the closeness of the two languages than any study on Polnareff’s part. If he knew any more of the language than Jotaro, who was probably more fluent given his test scores than the handful of words he uttered at any one time let on, Kakyoin would be surprised.

“He also said he moved in with Abdul. Like, officially.” Polnareff had been staying with Abdul while he tried to figure out what exactly his skillset was and what kind of work he could do. He didn’t have the chance to really figure it out before, having his early adulthood stolen by his sister’s murder and involvement with Dio, but he had said to them, when they were saying their goodbyes and while studiously not looking at his boyfriend, ‘All I know right now is that I love him. That’s all I have left.’

“He’s doing investigative work now. Apparently he didn’t want to make it permanent until they were equals.”

For a second Kakyoin thought that was incredibly stupid, but then he considered his own pride, and thought maybe it wasn’t that unfathomable at all, really. “I guess that makes sense. I do feel bad for Abdul-san, though. May God rest his soul.”

There was a shared moment there, as they walked down a residential street that looked like any other, where they silently contemplated the precise pitch of Polnareff’s snoring, and also the smell of his feet after being in the desert all day.

“...It’s nice, though,” Jotaro said after a minute, hands in his pockets. “That they’re happy. And they have something.”

Exactly, Kakyoin thought loudly, and then, well, I guess I have to ask sometime. “Speaking of,” he said lightly, “I had been kind of thinking, lately.” Jotaro grunted to show he was listening. “Well, you know. I’ve never been close to anyone the way I am with everyone we fought with, and especially you.” He took a moment to consider his words, what he really wanted to say, and also how not to accidentally take a sledgehammer to Jotaro’s pride, however unsuccessful such a thing may be.

“Essentially… I thought I would never have any fulfilling relationships if no one could see my Stand, and I still don’t think I could be satisfied, even as friends, if someone didn’t understand that about me. And given that, and me being the way I am,” --this was a polite way of referencing his autism, but it was also mostly about the way he read a lot of encyclopedias as a kid and had a habit of spouting facts at random, and also his long and storied history of doing unspeakable things to cherries with his mouth-- “...I just think the odds of me meeting someone who sees all that, and understands it, and still wants to be around me, it’s…”

“It’s not impossible,” Jotaro said, frowning, but then he was usually frowning, so this may not have been indicative of anything.

“No,” Kakyoin said, looking quite seriously at him, “it’s not, because it’s already happened.”

Jotaro blinked twice at him, and without breaking his stride pointed questioningly at himself.

“Yeah,” Kakyoin said. “I was just thinking. We spend a lot of time together. I like being around you. I don’t mind meeting new people, but it always feels like there’s a huge gap between us so I never feel really connected to anyone, and I feel like you’re the same. And we’re both Stand users so we don’t have to worry about putting each other in danger.”

“What are you saying?” Jotaro was still frowning, but somehow this seemed like more of curious frown than it had previously. Kakyoin briefly considered the possibilities of Jotaro having a discreet second Stand which surreptitiously rearranged his eyebrow hairs when no one was looking. Born from Jotaro’s inability to show emotion with his own facial muscles, no doubt.

“Wouldn’t it be easy if we dated each other?” Kakyoin asked directly. “Instead of struggling to find someone else to understand us?”

Jotaro blinked at him some more. “Wait. Are you confessing to me?”

“Oh, goodness, no,” Kakyoin said with a laugh.

“Gee, thanks,” Jotaro grumbled. “...I mean. It’s not like you have to date someone.”

“No, I know. I just think that I would like to share my life with someone.” He made a thoughtful sort of face, said, “And the intimacy would be nice, too.” Jotaro shot him a look of unbridled terror and Kakyoin waved his hands immediately, saying, “Not like that, I just meant, you know, everyday stuff--”

“Oh thank god. I don’t--”

“Yeah.”

“You remember,” Jotaro said, this time with a contemplative twist to his frown, “how I said I thought I might be gay?”

“Of course.” Kakyoin had been out as gay to Jotaro, and the others, from practically the very beginning, because his mouth was figuratively as well as physically big, and his openness about the subject seemed to have made Jotaro feel a little more comfortable talking about it, too.

“That was probably wrong.” Before Kakyoin could feel any kind of reaction to this in the wake of what he had just proposed, Jotaro continued, maintaining all the while a pointed frown at the bitumen in front of him as they walked. “I think it’s more like, I just don’t like people very often. Girls or guys. Our classmates for example. They aren’t my friends so why would I feel anything for them. If that makes sense.”

“I think it does. It just means you don’t trouble yourself with trivial crushes based solely on appearances. I’m a lot like that, too. Well, unless you count that guy in middle school, but to be fair, I was in middle school, so I wouldn’t.”

“...I like you, though,” Jotaro said thoughtfully, looking over at him. They were only about two minutes from the Kujo house, and a cool autumn breeze played with the curls under his hat as he walked. “It’s not the worst idea you’ve ever had.”

“Yeah?”

“I guess, sure. Let’s try it. See what happens.”

“Cool,” Kakyoin agreed. He made no move to take Jotaro’s hand, link their arms, or be closer to him in any way, but he did say, flipping a hand and not altering his tone to go along with the more theatrical turn he took, “So, oh dear boyfriend of mine, because I am so sweet and thoughtful, I have brought with me on my person my Tetris cartridge, purely for your entertainment.”

“Hell yes,” Jotaro said expressionlessly. “Did you beat my high score yet?”

“Does it matter?” Kakyoin asked, steadfastly not looking at him, because of course he hadn’t. Tetris, as it happened, was tragically the one game that Jotaro liked, and he also happened to be superhumanly good at it. His high score was nearly double Kakyoin’s. Kakyoin was never going to live that down, probably, but he was also never going to let Jotaro forget that he had bet his mortal soul on a game he had never played once in his life, on two separate occasions, so probably they were even. “I’ve been mostly playing Super Mario Land, anyway.”

Jotaro grunted, said, “That game’s annoying.”

“You’re annoying, you heathen. You uncultured swine. I do you the charitable favour of letting you play my games and this is what you say to me. I cannot believe you’ve said this,” Kakyoin bitched, entirely straight-faced. They had had this conversation any number of times now and he was having fun making his reactions to the claim progressively more outlandish and ridiculously phrased. Jotaro just snickered, and they carried on in this vein until they got back.

They somewhat reluctantly studied for about another hour when they returned, and then Holly happily announced that dinner was ready, so they cleared their books, worksheets, and other assorted paraphernalia away and ate. It felt a little weird to talk to Holly when her son had just agreed to date him, even if it was only as a kind of odd experiment, but only a little, given that they hadn’t, like, done anything to solidify their kind-of-relationship yet.

Holly said that they’d surely ace their exam with all the studying they had done, and Jotaro just sort of lowered his head to eat closer to his food, as if he was praying. Kakyoin knocked his socked foot against Jotaro’s bare ankle under the table; he glanced up at him, and when Kakyoin just gave him a deadpan look at two thumbs up, Jotaro gave him an unimpressed glare and the finger. Or, more accurately, Star Platinum gave him the finger, because he was a teenager and hated being scolded.

This didn’t really work out in his favour though, given that Holly roused, “Kujo Jotaro, I saw that!!” and spent a decent five minutes chasing him about the house with a tea towel and vines wiggling threateningly in his direction. Kakyoin ate quietly by himself, wondering why, if Jotaro’s legs were about twice as long as everyone else on the planet’s, and also he could stop time, he would choose to put the couch in between him and his mother instead. Not that getting whacked with a tea towel was really something worth running away from in the first place. He wondered if it was an American thing -- which it could well have been, given that everything Kakyoin knew about Americans was based entirely on Joseph Joestar’s personality -- and then had a great time by himself entertaining the notion that this was all a play they were putting on for his benefit. Dinner and a show.

It was nice, though. Family that liked and was comfortable enough with each other to goof around like that was something he never had. Though he sometimes felt like something of an intruder on the household, being folded into the mix of it, even just as an observer… it was nice. It made him feel very warm in the general chest area, and he didn’t know what to do with that, with knowing that these people felt more like his family than the people who brought him into the world.

Later, after dinner, he and Jotaro were hanging out in Jotaro’s room, splayed mostly across Jotaro’s futon. Kakyoin would probably end up spending the night; it happened fairly often, enough that his parents had stopped worrying if he didn’t come home. Plenty of people would undoubtedly give anything for that kind of freedom, but as it was, he was so used to them not really understanding or paying enough attention to him that all he could feel was a kind of cold, stale resentment that was as firmly lodged in his heart as his own self-loathing.

He could forget about that for the time being though. Jotaro was laying on his back playing Tetris on Kakyoin’s Gameboy, one knee in the air, and Kakyoin was cross-legged beside him reading a horror novel he’d taken out from the library. They were largely still in their uniforms, though Kakyoin had taken off his jacket and was only wearing the uniform short-sleeved white button-down shirt that Jotaro had mysteriously never acquired. It was quiet in the room for a good while, just the sounds of the night, Jotaro pressing at the plastic buttons, and Kakyoin turning the thin pages of his book.

One might wonder what, exactly, the point was of ‘hanging out’ with someone if you were only going to do something you could well do without them, but the answer was easy and simple. It was the presence of another person in the room, another sound of life, a solid reassurance. It was, really, just like having a cat, but we can keep that between ourselves for now.

After a time, Jotaro dropped his hand and the Gameboy in it down on the futon and let out a sigh. Kakyoin made a noise of agreement, even though he hadn’t said anything, because that was the kind of thing they did, and also treating any slight trace of expression that came from Jotaro equally was the most efficient way to go about actually communicating with him.

“Hey,” Jotaro said after a minute.

“Yeah,” Kakyoin said, not looking up from his book. Jotaro kept silent in a way that meant he was waiting for Kakyoin to look at him, so he said, “Wait a moment,” and finished the paragraph he was reading before setting his book down and turning his attention to his friend. Or, well, boyfriend. He wasn’t used to it yet.

“Was just kinda thinking,” Jotaro said shortly, looking at his ceiling. “Are you even, like… attracted to me?”

Kakyoin batted his eyelashes at him insincerely. “You want me to tell you you’re pretty?”

There was a second where Jotaro just looked up at him, and then, though Kakyoin was fairly sure he hadn’t stopped time, he had no warning before Jotaro was on top of him and attempting to smother him with his pillow. He wasn’t serious about it, obviously, or Kakyoin wouldn’t have been able to pry him away with Hierophant Green, cackling and pressing a foot into Jotaro’s stomach.

“Learn to take a joke, god,” Kakyoin said, still on his back, half off the futon. Jotaro just grunted and settled beside him, one leg folded in front of him, the other propping up his elbow. Kakyoin looked up at him consideringly, said, “I mean. You’re attractive, yeah, but that’s like, more of a statement of fact than my opinion or anything. I see you as my friend first.”

“Hm.” If Kakyoin didn’t know better, he’d said Jotaro looked unmoved, but as it was, he did, and he could tell that he was a little embarrassed by that.

Kakyoin propped himself up on his elbows. “Honestly, I was more attracted to you when we first met. You’re just kinda this big good-looking dork I know, now.” He shrugged, as best he could.

Jotaro wouldn’t look at him. “What do you mean,” he said, in that toneless way of his that could make him sound more demanding but really just meant he was having trouble processing things.

“Are you kidding me? I didn’t really notice when I was fighting you, because of the whole being brainwashed situation, but when I woke up here, you were leaning over me, you had my face in your hands, all focussed on me--”

Jotaro had his head in his hands at this point. “Stop,” he said desperately, which was probably a mistake, given that Kakyoin was an absolute shithead.

He grinned and poked Jotaro in the thigh. “I was like, jesus, who is this guy? Who’d I kill to deserve this? If you could only imagine the state of my little gay heart--” Jotaro made a noise like he could not physically bear to hear any more of this, and Kakyoin took pity on him. “Alright, sorry, but you did ask,” he said, flopping back down. “Anyway, then I saw you have a panic attack over having to kill a shark and you told me about different types of coral for an hour and I was like, oh no okay he’s just kind of a nerd.”

Peeking out at him from behind his fingers, Jotaro said, “Mm. And now you wanna go out with me.”

“I know for a fact I didn’t put it like that.”

Jotaro snorted, sat back against his hands. “I guess we should go on a date?”

Kakyoin made a face at the ceiling, which was definitely not fair considering this whole thing was his idea in the first place. “Yeah. Doesn’t feel real, huh?”

“I mean. It’s been two hours.”

Kakyoin just snorted, and Jotaro got up somewhat laboriously - it must have been such a curse, having so many muscles to carry with you all over the place, Kakyoin felt bad for him - and said, “I’m going out for a smoke.”

He had an ashtray on the desk in his room, and he took it out with him, other hand rifling in his pocket for his cigarettes. Holly knew he smoked, it wasn’t exactly easy to hide, but she also seemed to think there was nothing she could do to stop him, so instead she had a very firm Not In The House rule that Jotaro respected. The house being traditional, most rooms had shoji doors leading on to the engawa, and Jotaro’s room was no different. He slid them open now, and still laying on the floor, Kakyoin asked, “Mind if I come out?”

Jotaro barely paused, pulling a cigarette out of the pack with his lips, mumbling, “Do what you want,” which was about as much of an invitation as he ever gave.

Kakyoin didn’t get up immediately, his outrageously long limbs having made good friends with the floor. Honestly, he hadn’t really expected Jotaro to agree, and was at a bit of a loss as to what one did with their boyfriend. He supposed that their relationship had never really been normal, though, so he might as well do the whole dating thing however he saw fit. Sitting up, he grabbed his Gameboy and stepped quietly out to where Jotaro sat smoking at the edge of the engawa.

Sitting next to him, legs over the edge, Kakyoin asked, “Why’d you agree, anyway?” Looking at him out of the corner of his eye and crooking an eyebrow in amusement, Jotaro opened his mouth, but before he could make the terrible joke he was definitely about to make, Kakyoin said quickly, “Don’t you dare tell me you’re not sure.”

Jotaro snorted. “Spoilsport.” He sat quietly for a moment, looking thoughtfully out at the neat garden that was barely only scantly visible in the dark. “I guess, I thought about it and it seemed like dating you would be easy and comfortable. Seemed nice.”

That had been Kakyoin’s point, too, so he nodded. And then he pressed his shoulder against Jotaro’s and said, quite obnoxiously, “Aw, you mean it wasn’t just because you were captivated by my stunning good looks?”

“I,” Jotaro said, and then stopped, visibly struggling with something for a moment. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled deeply. He turned a little to look at Kakyoin more properly. “You know,” he said, “sometimes you’re too hard on yourself.”

Kakyoin blinked at him, feeling sort of vacant all of a sudden. “I literally just said I had stunning good looks.”

“You were joking, though,” Jotaro said evenly, and looked away from him again. “You know, you…” He made a face – or, well, more of a micro-expression, really – that suggested that whatever he was going to say next was going to be torn from the depths of his mind almost against his will, even though he was, unless Kakyoin was mistaken, very much in control of his own mouth. “You’re kind of charming in your own way.”

Kakyoin’s heart was beating in his chest. It usually was, and he knew this, but at that moment, he was particularly aware of it, for some reason. He looked out at the garden. “That just means I’m funny looking,” he muttered.

“S’not what I said,” Jotaro grumbled crankily. “I said it in a nice way because I meant it in a nice way.”

“Right,” Kakyoin said uselessly. He bumped their shoulders together again, and stayed there this time. “Thanks.”

Jotaro snorted, looked at him thoughtfully, and then, very slowly and awkwardly as if there was some sort of trap embedded on Kakyoin’s body that he wanted to avoid springing, maneuvered his arm over Kakyoin’s shoulders. Settling against him, Kakyoin shuffled a bit closer along the engawa.

“What’s that for?” It wasn’t as if they had never touched each other, but it wasn’t like Jotaro to be particularly touchy-feely.

He shrugged, putting his cigarette back in his mouth. “Thought I’d try it.”

“Right.” Kakyoin looked down at his hands. “Okay,” he said at a more normal volume than before, “I am definitely going to beat your high score.”

“Good fucking luck,” Jotaro said, and Kakyoin stuck a bony elbow into his ribs, and it was nice. Easy, and comfortable.

#jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #stardust crusaders #jotakak

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7wanderingpaws · 6 years ago

Text

A Windy Encounter (GOT7 Jinyoung) 4

A/N: Finally, the next part! 😊 Sorry for the long wait, hopefully it was worth it. Please let me know what you think and thank you so much for reading 💕

Pairing: Jinyoung x reader

Genre: Pretty Woman AU

Warnings: None

Word count: 3.8K

Part 4 :before the reunion:

Waking up in the massive bed was a very strange feeling for you. All the big pillows with unfamiliar textile were a tad uncomfortable and their smell was nothing like your mother’s washing.

Leaving the safety of the bed, you made your way to the ginormous glass wall overlooking the morning Seoul. It was just 6:38, which was your usual time to get up – actually, you overslept a bit. In your family, you were up before all the chickens could wake you with their screeching.

Just out of pure curiosity, you decided to visit the pool that was one floor above you to see if it was too busy. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t swim there as you didn’t bring any swimming clothes. You didn’t even own any…

Putting on your neatly packed clothes, you took the walk upstairs just to find it completely empty. Not a single soul was swimming there, the water’s surface calm and still. Sighing, you pushed up your jeans so you could at least soak your feet and closed your eyes at the pleasant temperature of the water.

The view of the Seoul skyline in front of you was nothing you expected although you’ve seen it on TV countless times. There was a strong difference between what TV showed and reality. In this case, reality was much nicer.

“Oh, good morning,” you heard from behind and you turned, expecting it to be a kind tourist. That was definitely not a stranger’s voice though.

“Good morning,” you said as you saw Jinyoung approaching the pool. Was he not wearing regular pants-

Realising the truth, you quickly became red in cheeks. He had a towel in his hand which he placed on the big, wooden chair just before he was reaching for the hem of his shirt. Completely panicked, you were trying to quickly stand up to run away from the situation he dared to put you in. Why the tease?!

Your poor-self did not register everything was slippery including your own feet and before you could do anything to save the day, your foot slipped, your back going backwards, your body colliding with the surface of the previously still and calm water of the pool

Jinyoung was so surprised he just stood there for a good second. After recovering, he took his shirt off and threw himself in the water. He didn’t know if you could swim and despite the whole incident being super funny, as a doctor he had bigger priorities.

You felt his hands hook under your arms and push you upwards, your body still in shock from the impact of the fall. You broke the surface again, gasping for air together with Jinyoung who was holding you firmly.

“Are you alright?” he breathed, looking you over with frantic eyes. “Did you hurt your leg?”

You were just letting out quick breaths. His grip tightened and you looked at him. A few water droplets were stuck on his eyelashes and the others were making its way down his handsome face from his soaked hair. “I’m good, thank you.” You tried to get out of his grip but he held you close.

“Let me help,” he mumbled and supported you as you climbed up the little latter. Once you stood on your shaky legs, he followed immediately crouching to check your foot. You yanked yourself away before almost tripping again. He grabbed you and gave you a dissatisfied look as he led you to a wooden bench, pushing you down to sit. “Listen,” he started and reached for the nearest towel. “You have to be careful. Your foot might be hurt so let me have a look.”

“I’m good, though,” you stated stubbornly but let his fingers slide to you ankles for a small check. It tickled but you bit your lip to keep the chuckle in.

He moved it and turned a little bit and when there was no reaction from you, he sighed, putting your leg down. “You are quite clumsy.”

“Is that an actual diagnosis?” you quipped.

He pressed his lips together. You figured he did that when his patience was being tested and not so surprisingly, you found it entertaining. “Considering your level of it, it might be.”

You frowned before you averted your gaze just for it to land on his bare chest. Oh. This man had actual human abs. Muscles. The ones you were supposed to know for med school. They were sculpted. So nicely. That one right there was musculus-

“Enjoying yourself?” he interrupted but didn’t turn away.

Heat rose up to your cheeks at being caught. “Not even a little.”

“Hm, so it is just me then,” he replied nonchalantly and you looked up at him just to find him staring at your chest. You looked down at it. Your black bra (the prettiest one you owned) was exposed through your light, white t-shirt. Crossing your arms over it, you stood up ready to leave. “Don’t forget,” he shouted after you with a smirk as you were half-way to the door, “breakfast at 8am. Then we are heading out.”

You turned to look at him quizzically.

“Shopping,” he explained.

You nodded and turned again to leave him to his work out. There were preparations to be made.

While shaving your legs to a baby-like skin, your med school preparation book was propped against the wall of the bath, trying to read every single sentence while dragging the razor down your legs.

There were sudden flashes of Jinyoung’s body as you tried to focus on the biology, which was the chapter you were currently stuck at. As you were biting your lip in concentration, you tried to think of the fact that you did not do the best job in high school in biology and chemistry classes which was your ultimate reason why you had to cram so hard these days.

“Photosynthesis is the process of- ouch!” Dropping the razor down to the floor, your hand now bloody, you tried to clean up the little wound that was now ever-so present just above your ankle bone. “Oh well,” you sighed, straightening up, your back sighing in pain. “This will have to do.”

You covered the wound in a plaster that you had in your handbag, always ready for any cuts as a farmer.

When you were ready, you met Jinyoung for breakfast. He was already there, sitting elegantly at a neatly prepared table.

“Good morning,” you said as you sat down opposite him with a small plate with western type of breakfast – croissant, jam, butter and a generous amount of coffee.

Jinyoung nodded at you. “Good morning.”

As if nothing happened.

“You have survived so far, I take it as a good sign,” he said with a chuckle as he was spreading butter on his own croissant.

You pursed your lips, stealing a glance at his features before retreating your focus on your food. “I figure you do not see me as a strong person, Jinyoung. I already accepted this entire offer, I might as well pull through it.”

“I meant your clumsiness, y/n, but of course.”

Blush crept up into your cheeks as you took a small bite of the fresh bakery, remembering the cut on your leg. Focusing on chewing without choking would be worthier to pay attention to than at his flirtatious remarks. Or were they flirtatious? He was too hard to read for you.

A few minutes went by unspoken when Jinyoung swallowed the last piece and cleared his throat. “So, what do you like to wear, y/n?”

Looking at him confused, he added: “Do you have a special style for your clothing? Any particular fashion you follow?”

Whatever was cheap and comfortable. “Not really,” you mumbled eventually, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. “I just wear-” mulling through the proper vocabulary, you uttered, “whatever is appropriate.”

Jinyoung nodded, not catching up onto your tiny voice. “Tonight is the first event, and the dress code is a cream coloured dress for the ladies, tuxedo for the gentlemen.”

You didn’t answer, waiting for him to roll out the war plan.

“That is why I’m asking to know what you like. I wouldn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

You took a sip of your coffee, winning time in thinking over your reply. Swallowing the hot liquid, you put the coffee cup down onto its small plate, noticing your hand shaking from the pressured down nerves. “This is a business trip in which I have to comply your requirements.” Feeling his intense gaze on your face, you took the coffee cup again and brought it to your lips to cover them, before saying, “You dress me up, Jinyoung.”

One hour later you found yourself in the car, roaming through the streets of what you saw as Sinsa-dong. The expensive cars parked on the sides of the roads, the fancily dressed passbyers, the buildings themselves and the impression they gave off all told you this was indeed an expensive area.

“They have wonderful cafés just off the main road. There are several small streets with cute cakes and sweet beverages,” said Jinyoung as he maneuvered the car into a car park, handling the steering wheel with confidence.

“Sounds sweet,” you mused as you were looking out your window. “I didn’t know you are interested in cute bakery.”

He didn’t smile, only when you turned to look at him he showed you his white teeth. You had to lift the corners of your lips as well.

“Let’s just say I appreciate the art,” he replied after a while and turned off the car, taking the keys and opening the door. You followed lead, making sure not to bump the door into the neighbouring car and closed it carefully. That freaking Mercedes seemed like it was being polished five times per day and looking at Jinyoung’s proud look on the car, you figured he wouldn’t bear as much as a finger print on the body.

Walking on the busy street, you noticed how some ladies would double-take at Jinyoung as you walked by. He wouldn’t as much as look their way but some of them would slow down their pace or nudge their girlfriends so they would pay attention. As on cue, Jinyoung looked at your unsure face and reached out his hand to touch the small of your back as he showed the way to the nearest clothes shop. Electricity sprung out of his hand and ran down your spine, causing shivers.

You hated entering such posh shops as the first person. Not like you’ve done it before, you certainly have not, but judging from the looks of the employees, you started to dislike it. Jinyoung following, the employees face lit up with a knowing smile.

“Mr Park,” she said, walking toward him, completely ignoring you. She bowed to Jinyoung.

Acknowledging her, he said: “Hello, Dani. Pleased to see you.”

“You haven’t stopped by in a while, Mr Park. What is the occasion?”

“I am here with my wonderful partner y/n to pick a dress for her. We are attending a gala evening tonight and the dress code for the ladies is a creamy dress. I supposed I could find just that in here.”

Haven’t stopped by in a while, you noted trying not to get into analysis already. It shouldn’t be a surprise, the manager yesterday said that Jinyoung is a regular. What was his business though?

Dani’s sharp eyes focused on you, the warmth disappearing from them. “And what are your partner’s y/n’s measurements?”

Gulping, you shot a look to Jinyoung who smiled at you supportively. Partner. “I-“ you closed your mouth, thinking. “I have, erm, gained weight recently, so I don’t know exactly the measurements.” You never knew your measurements. You would always take Jenna’s clothes and if they were bigger or smaller, you couldn’t complain. They were wearable and that was what mattered.

Dani looked you over once before disappearing to get all the necessary equipment. Quickly looking around, you were able to spot beautiful dresses but there were no price tags hanging from them.

“Mr Park, while I deal here with miss y/n, why don’t you take a seat. Would you like me to make a cup of coffee for you?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “I would rather be present for the fittings.” When you looked at him, surprised, he added quickly: “So I know how to match my tie with her dress. Because, uh, we have to match.”

Warmth spread in your insides as you focused on your reflection now. After Dani got all your measurements, you hid in one of the two massive fitting rooms and sat down on the leather chair, trying to overcome your nerves.

Both Jinyoung and Dani seemed so nonchalant about all the dresses, but this was not how ordinary clothes shops worked. There were no customers there for Christ’s sake! How could you communicate to Jinyoung that you were not up for this expensive business?

You sighed. There was a valid reason why you were undergoing all of this and it wasn’t anything less than your near future-self waving at you with her stethoscope, happy that she passed the final examinations at the university. You would become a doctor.

“Here,” said Dani, as she brought in a hurdle of cream-coloured dresses. “All of these were hand-made only for one size. Good news for you because they are exactly yours.”

You stood up abruptly, looking at the long, wavy skirts that were falling from the hangers all the way down to the floor.

“Call me if you need any assistance,” she said and closed the heavy, coral curtain.

Right.

Because these dresses needed rocket science for you to know how to put them on.

After fifteen minutes, you made your way out, holding the long skirt in your hands not to trip. The skirt was a tad too long for your small height but before you could point out this issue, Dani was already grabbing some high-heeled shoes and bringing them to you.

When she put them down in front of you, you stared down at them, not noticing Jinyoung’s curious look as he raised his head from the magazine he was skimming through, and the way his lips parted ever-ever so slightly.

The dress was a masterpiece and your gently tanned skin (which was one of the many ways why you were looked down by others), the cleavage showed just enough skin and left perfect amount for imagination as the soft but heavy textile hugged your chest. Sleeveless top showed off your muscled arms that you had from all the farming and Jinyoung got taken aback at the realisation that you could easily choke him if you wished so. He better not play with you (but he never intended to).

The skirt falling from the high of your waist down, now being hiked up with your hands, he could see how skinny but strong legs you had. Your feet were dark and blue which you quickly tried to hide by stepping into the heels.

Oh, my. You have never worn heels before. The shock of the sudden inclination made your hands let go of the long skirt and you tried to make a step forward but you stepped on your skirt and… heck, you were falling again.

Dani was quick to step in and hold you in place, your cheeks as red as those lobsters they served in the five star restaurant just across the street. “Oh, are they too high for you?” she asked sweetly, but her eyes were still sharp.

You forced a smile, still too shy to raise your head to see Jinyoung’s reaction. He was probably bored and tired from waiting for you.

“Mr Park, what do you think? Will this be good? I think this dress looks beautiful on y/n.”

You dared to raise only your gaze, keeping your head low as you saw Jinyoung sitting motionless, his eyes fixed on your face. Why wasn’t he looking at the dress?

“Yeah,” he breathed after a few heartbeats, “she looks spectacular.”

You let out a small breath you were not aware you were holding. His eyes were boring into yours, not daring to move down in front of your watchful gaze. “I think this will be good.”

“You don’t want to try on the other dresses?” asked Dani, looking first at you, then at Jinyoung. She was quick to see the small tension that suddenly arose in the air between you two.

When you knew Dani was looking at Jinyoung, you gently shook your head no to Jinyoung, giving him a pleading look.

“Thanks, Dani, this will be perfect. We will take the dress.”

You inhaled, relieved.

“Jinyoung,” you squeaked as you were now walking to one of those cute cafés Jinyoung mentioned earlier. “This is too expensive, I- I can’t possibly wear it. What if I will spill wine all over it? Or someone else will?”

Jinyoung took the bag from you, his hand brushing yours. “Don’t worry about that. That is also part of my business, which does not have to concern you.”

Part of you was jumping and clapping in excitement because you would be wearing this beautiful dress and accompany the most handsome man you’ve ever seen. Maybe tonight you could feel like a real princess! The only thing that would have been perfect was if you wouldn’t be so awkward around Jinyoung sometimes. He was trying hard to get to know you better but your closed off attitude wouldn’t let him know what kind of a woman he was dealing with. He was still unbelievably interested in you – not physically and he was not that intrigues with the secrets that belonged behind a bedroom door. It was your personality, the curious spark you had in your eyes, and the simplicity with which you saw the cruel world.

He was looking forward to other people meeting you, for sure you would make a similar impression on them.

Sat in the Doré Doré café, you picked the rainbow cake while Jinyoung picked the choco-mint one. You both tried each other’s and you managed to ease up as much so that you could finally share a good laugh with Jinyoung.

“But really, it is true!” laughed Jinyoung as well, covering his mouth with his hand. “I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t move.”

Barely catching air, you nodded, exploding into another fit of laughter. “So you used to be clumsy too, Park Jinyoung!”

Jinyoung just continued to laugh for an answer and he squeezed his eyes tightly shut, his eyes little moons.

Once you were able to breathe, you shook your head, entertained as you cut your cake with your fork for another bite. “I think I just grew a six pack, thanks.” Your stomach was hurting from so much tensed up muscles. Laughing was for sure a healthy action. It has been a while since you’ve laughed this hard.

“You know it isn’t scientifically possible,” said Jinyoung after he calmed down as well.

“Wah!” you let you, surprising the both of you. “Dry humour. I didn’t know you possess that skill.”

Jinyoung nodded his head with a smile as he took a sip from his mint lemonade. “You don’t know much about me, y/n. Just like I don’t know anything about you.”

Not answering, you blushed into your plate that was almost done. “I guess we will have just enough time for that.”

He once again nodded, looking at you through his thick eyelashes. “Exactly.”

“Thank you,” you said, fast. You looked up at him, catching him staring at you. “For the dress. For the hotel room,” you trailed off, “for the opportunity.”

“Y/n,” he said, his voice soft. “The pleasure is on my side.”

And, just like that, the evening came fast, the sky ridding itself from all the warmth the sun offered, exchanging it for cold, starry skies that were now perfectly visible with low air pollution.

Jinyoung ordered a spa lady from the hotel to take care of your make up, which was done now, and all you needed to do was to put on that dress that was now hanging in front of you.

Carefully putting on the stockings, you giggled as you imagined yourself being that princess you thought about earlier that day. Making sure your leg was nicely flexed, you were able to believe it after all. Pulling up the dress, you gave it life that it strangely lacked just hanging on the backside of the door of the bathroom.

A soft knock interrupted your intense admiration of your reflection in the mirror, in pure shock at how you looked like.

Grabbing your skirt, you rushed to answer the door, finding Jinyoung patiently waiting, and a pink bag in his hand. He was already dressed in his tuxedo which you haven’t seen him in before. Sure, constant suits and elegant aura made it look like Jinyoung could not impress you more, but here he was, stealing your breath away.

He wasn’t feeling any different, with the gentle touches of the make-up brush and the daring yet unbelievably innocent red colour of your lips were like magnets for his eyes as they fell on them.

A few seconds of awkward silence was enough to give you a small heart attack. “Come in.”

He coughed and stepped in, looking around the room to get his mind off of your face. “Erm, I see you are ready.”

“Of course,” you said gently and stood behind him, waiting for him to turn to face you. “It is almost 6.”

“Very precise. Good.” Still not turning.

“Is everything alright?” you tried, fidgeting with your hands.

“Yes. All good on your side?”

You frowned in confusion when he suddenly turned, catching you off guard. “Yeah…”

He gave you a tight-lipped smile, handing you the bag. “Here, this is for you.”

Looking at the bag, you did not accept it. “What is it?”

“Take a look for yourself.”

“Jinyoung,” you started, unsure. “I really can’t-“

He took your hand and pressed the bag into your hand. “Just take it. You haven’t even seen it.”

Sighing, you did as you were told. While you were opening the box that was in the bag, he looked you over several times, trying to remember every part of you. From any point of view, nobody would have thought how breath-takingly beautiful can a simple farm girl look like when dressed nicely with exact soft touches. Jinyoung never thought you needed much professional help, though. He hated your strong make-up in the club, that was true.

“Oh, my, am I supposed to wear this tonight?” you shrieked, holding the comfortable yet pretty combat shoes. They were slightly pink and on a high platform, which would make walking in them as easy as picking carrots!

Jinyoung smiled at your reaction. “I can’t let you wear high-heels and you skirt is long enough to cover these bad-ass shoes, so you are definitely wearing them tonight.” He pushed his hands in his pockets, swinging back and forth on his feet.

“Thank you,” you said, looking up at him.

Once you were fully ready and had your light cardigan on, Jinyoung offered you his hand. “Shall we?”

And you took it. “We shall.”

36 notes · View notes

jrubalcaba · 6 years ago

Text

Christmas in New York

A CHFIL/SlayerSoldier series crossover

author: jrubalcaba

featuring: OFC Evelyn “Evie” Collins x Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes x OFC Alice Winters

word count: 12,394 words

Rating: mature audiences please

warnings: cussing, suggestive situations

A/N: Okay everyone. So, this is the first chapter I ever posted about Evie and Steve, but it’s been updated. A LOT!!!! I hope everyone likes it!

THERE IS SMUT IN IT!!!! 18 AND OVER PLEASE!!!

With just a few days until Christmas, Evie was finally getting her gift for Steve. She had purposely saved him for last, as she knew he would be hardest to shop for. And, to ensure she got the perfect gift, she enlisted Sam, who knew him best. She was gonna ask Bucky for help, but he was too busy devouring Alice to be available.

Evie and Sam were walking down the sidewalk, arguing over what Steve would want.

“I'm tellin’ ya Evie, all you’d need for Steve would be a few strategically placed bows and he'd die happy,” Sam insisted, making Evie blush bright red at what he was implying.

“Oh, shut up Sam. Besides, he's got a girlfriend for that.” She looked down at the ground, avoiding his gaze. “If I did that, it would make things incredibly awkward between us,” she added, causing Sam to snort.

“Oh, hell naw girl. It would only make it awkward because then we'd all have to listen to him screw your brains out constantly.” If possible, Evie blushed even redder.

“Steve would never. He has a girlfriend, remember? I'm just his doctor,” she trailed off lamely.

“Yeah, and I quote ‘the most beautiful doctor he's ever seen’.” At this, Evie snorted.

“Yeah, whatever. He's seen plenty of them in his life, so..” she left it at that, making Sam laugh.

“Damn. Do you ever leave the state of denial? You both have it bad, but are way too chickenshit to do anything about it.” Evie shook her head and sighed.

Apparently, the other night when she admitted to Alice that she was in love with Steve, Sam had been nearby and heard it all. She begged him not to tell, and he agreed, but that opened her up to relentless teasing. Add to that the constant ribbing from Alice and Bucky and she was surprised Steve didn't know.

“Sam, I get that you, Alice and Bucky think that Steve has a thing for me, but he doesn't. Wouldn't you think he'd break up with her if he wanted me?” she asked pointedly. Sam shrugged.

“You would think so, but he doesn't know how you feel. If you let us tell him, you'd have your lips wrapped around his-”

“Samuel Thomas Wilson! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?!” Evie cut him off, smacking his arm. He laughed.

“No, but I kissed yo mama with it last night,” he joked, wiggling his eyebrows. Evie joined in with his laughter, heading down the sidewalk towards more stores.

They stopped at a crosswalk, waiting to cross. When the signal changed, Sam offered his arm and Evie took it as they went through, reaching the other side and continuing on, looking at the different shops.

As they were coming up on a shop, there was a grotesque looking snowman out front. Evie heard the person inside hiccup but by the time she went to stop Sam, it was too late. The dude inside had jumped, scaring the Avenger and making him scream like a little girl confronted with a spider.

If Evie wasn't too busy trying to breathe from the laughter, she would've felt bad for him. But she didn't.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Evie burst out laughing as Sam tried to act like he hadn't just gotten the scare of his life. “Oh my God, that was great! Are you in need of new underwear, Sam?!” She dissolved into another fit of giggles at the look he gave her as they continued to walk down the sidewalk.

“Har had, very funny,” he snapped as he tried his best to mimic Steve’s Sad Face. “You’re a sick bastard, ya know?” She grinned at him.

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad,” she teased. He shook his head at her.

“You do realize that you owe me one now, don’t you?” Evie’s face went white as she contemplated his words.

“How do you reckon that? I had nothing to do with it!” she argued. He chuckled at her.

“Yeah, you did. You let that asswipe scare me!” Her jaw dropped in shock.

“Sam, I heard him like a split second before he jumped! I had no chance to warn you!” she exclaimed, but her pleas fell upon deaf ears.

“A likely story. I already know how to make it up to me, so no worries.” At this, Evie stopped in fear.

“How so?” she squeaked. Sam turned to her and grinned evilly.

“You have to scare someone for me. And not just anyone, a certain someone. A certain someone who is all big and bad...and carries a red, white and blue shield.” She gasped at who Sam was talking about.

“No. No, Sam, I can’t. I can’t do that to him!” she pleaded.

“You can, and you will. Or I will march my happy ass right back to the Tower, find him, and tell him everything I heard you tell Alice the other night. Hell, I’m sure FRIDAY caught it on video/audio, so I could just show it to him. Your choice.” Evie was torn. There’s no way she could let Sam tell Steve, but she just couldn’t scare Steve like that.

“Sam, he’ll hate me if I do this,” she whined, causing him to smirk.

“Well, would you rather him hate you for a short while over a small prank, or possibly have him hate you indefinitely for wanting to be Mrs. Steve Rogers?” he mused out loud. After a few minutes of thinking, she hung her head and sighed.

“Fine. I’ll do it.” He punched the air in victory as they went on walking, discussing how to lure Steve out here.

***************

“Hey, Steve?” Evie called softly, knocking on his open bedroom door. She looked in and didn’t see him, and was about to walk away when he stepped out of the bathroom, pulling a shirt over his head. Evie internally groaned at the sight of his oh so yummy abs, wishing she could lick along the lines of his Adonis.

“You need something, Evie?” he asked. She huffed out a breath at being caught in a daydream and shook her head to clear it.

“Uh, yeah, actually.” She cleared her throat, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’ve gotten everyone something for Christmas except for Bucky and Alice. I don’t really know them well enough, so I was wondering if you would be able to go out with me and help me find them a gift?” Steve gave her a look.

“You want me to go out with you?” he clarified, smirking. Evie thought over her words and giggled at how she had phrased her question.

“Not like that,” she lied with a giggle. “Let me rephrase; will you help me find a gift for Bucky and Alice?” Steve smiled at her.

“Oh, well in that case, sure. I was actually gonna go grab something for lunch, wanna make a date of it?” It was his turn to be embarrassed at the choice of words. “Let me rephrase; wanna grab some lunch and do it after?” Evie struggled to keep her laughter at bay as he facepalmed.

“Yes, Steve. I’m actually getting hungry too so lunch and some shopping would be great.” She headed back to her room to grab her coat when she ran into Clint, literally. “Oof!” she went as they collided, the ginormous bowl of spaghetti in his hands spilling all over her.

“Shit!” Clint cried. She stopped in her tracks and looked down at her clothes, covered with red sauce. “Sorry, Evie!” Steve chose to walk out just then to see what the ruckus was about.

“Evie, you okay?” he asked, seeing the distraught look on her face. “Oh god. What happened?” He looked so upset for her.

“It was my fault, Cap. I wasn't paying attention and I ran into her. My spaghetti got all over her,” Clint confessed.

“Yeah, I'm gonna have to go change now, and shower,” Evie said in defeat. Steve frowned.

“Well, it doesn't seem to have gotten anywhere other than here,” he pointed out as he gestured to her lower stomach and hips. “Just change your clothes and take a shower when we get back.” He didn't want to miss out on spending as much time with her as possible, so he wanted to go now.

“Okay. Luckily it hasn't soaked through yet, so that'll work for right now. Give me a second to change and we'll get outta here,” she answered as she walked very carefully to her room.

“Here Barton, I'll help you clean this up while I wait for her,” Steve offered, stooping down to help the other man. Clint started to chuckle.

“You're welcome, by the way,” he said, still laughing. Steve quirked an eyebrow at him in response. “I gave her a reason to get out of her clothes. You just gotta go in her room and you can ‘help’ her take them off.” Steve blushed bright red as Clint winked.

“Shut up, Barton,” he growled, ducking his head to hide his blush.

“Just tell Evie how you feel. The worst she can do is tell you she thinks of you as just a friend.” Steve's heart took off as he wondered about if Evie felt the same. Just then, she came out of her room, wearing clean clothes.

“Okay, I’m ready to go,” she said, looking down at the two men. Steve stood then, taking in a deep whiff of her perfume. He loved it on her and he could honestly get high off of it because it always made him think of her.

“Awesome. Barton, I think you can clean this up by yourself. Be careful next time,” he instructed as he offered Evie his arm, and the two walked away, leaving Clint to clean up the spaghetti.

“Yeah, those two have it so bad for each other,” he muttered under his breath.

***********

“So, what do you think Bucky and Alice would like best? Should I get them each something or just a single gift for them both?” Evie asked as they walked down the sidewalk. Steve thought for a bit before answering.

“Well, coupley gifts are what everyone got them, so a single gift will work.” Steve led them further down the street, and as Evie looked around, she saw the snowman from earlier, and her heart sank.

God, this was going to suck.

“Maybe something they could take up as a hobby together, so they aren't….fonduing all the time,” he said with a shudder. Evie giggled half-heartedly.

“You know, it's not a crime to engage in copious amounts of physical love. It's actually a great stress relief, and as a doctor, I actually recommend it from time to time,’ she replied. He sighed.

“I know, Evie. I guess it's part jealousy on my part as to why I have an issue with it.” She looked up at him in wonder.

“Why? Do you have a thing for Alice or something?” she asked quietly. He sputtered for a while before he could answer.

“God no! She's my best friend's girl!” he exclaimed in shock. “No, it's just that they're so happy and in love, and….I'm not,” he finished lamely.

“Hmm. Well, I would say ‘I told you so’, but I won't and just settle for smug instead,” Evie said with a smirk. He turned and gave her his best ‘oh really?’ look before reaching down and scooping a handful of snow up and throwing it at her. “Oh, you did not just do that!” Steve smirked at her in response.

“Oh, I just did.” There was a split second before she dove at him, trying to knock him over. That didn't go far before he threw her over his shoulder and walked away, reaching up to swat her behind when she started to kick.

“Steven Grant Rogers, you maybe be old enough to be my great-grandfather, but that does not mean you are allowed to spank me!” she wailed. He laughed out loud at that, not realizing that he was walking right to the snowman. He was just next to it when he finally put her down in front of him.

“Well, someone needs to show you who's boss around here,” he teased, wrapping his hands around her lower back and bringing her closer to him.

“Sorry Steve, but you'll never be the boss of me, no matter how old you are,” she countered, smiling at him from under her lashes. He glanced down at her lips for a second before he started to lean in.

That's when everything went wrong.

The snowman decided to jump at that point, but instead of scaring Steve, it made the super soldier go into protector mode, and his priority was keeping Evie safe. He swept her behind him, out of harm's way. Unfortunately, when he did that, she slid on some ice and went down, cracking her head against the ground. Steve was in a defensive stance still, but once he heard her skull connect with the pavement, he turned back to see if she was okay.

“Oh my god, Evie! Are you okay?!” he exclaimed, worry dripping from every word. She looked up at him before bursting out laughing.

“Apart from hitting my head, your reaction was worth it,” she wheezed betweens guffaw. He looked down at her, a frown spreading over his face.

“You….you knew it was gonna do that?” he asked, incredulous. She nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. It got Sam earlier when we were shopping. I didn't get to warn him beforehand, so he said that I did it on purpose and to make up for it, I had to scare you,” she explained, still giggling. He stood abruptly then, looking thunderous.

“How could you do that to me, Evie? I thought we were friends.” She stopped laughing and looked up at him, a frightened look on her face.

“Steve, we are friends. It was just a joke, really,” she answered timidly. She was gonna kill Wilson the next time she saw him.

“No, it's not just a joke, Evie. I thought that thing was gonna attack you. Why would you deliberately do something like that to me?” Steve didn't wait for a response before turning around and walking away, leaving Evie still sat on the ground.

“Steve?” she called after him. He kept walking and knowing that she had made him do it broke her heart. She slowly stood, tears beginning to fall as she watched him walk further away.

From her.

Evie was frozen as tears ran down her face. She could no longer see him, as her eyes were obscured and there were too many people in the way. After her sobs subsided, she started to follow him, but since he was nowhere to be found and had a head start, she figured he was halfway back to the Tower by now. Defeated, she turned and went into the first store she saw, which happened to be a bookstore that young Peter had told them all about.

*************

Steve felt like an asshole.

He has never gotten mad at Evie, in any way, shape or form. Ever. And now, because he couldn't take a fucking joke, he went off and made her cry.

He was a sore loser, and she paid the price.

Steve sighed, glancing around to see where he was. He had walked pretty far in his anger, but even with his enhancements, he didn't want to walk all the way home, so, he had to go find Evie and pray that she hadn't left him there, even though he deserved it.

After a while, he finally found that fucking snowman, so he walked up to it.

“Hey, you remember scaring me and my girl earlier?” he asked the person inside. She wasn’t his girl, and probably never would be after this, so he took the chance to call her ‘his’.

“Yeah, and you threw her to the ground?” the guy replied in a scratchy voice. Steve was ticked in an instant.

“I didn't throw her. She fell, and it's my fault.” Steve just needed to find her, and this guy was making him feel bad again.

“Yeah, well, you're a massive dick for yelling at her like that. She started crying as you walked away.” Steve felt even worse now. He thought he had heard her crying, but hoped he had imagined it. “If that's your girl, I feel sorry for her. She deserves better from her man.” Steve hung his head and sighed.

“She's my best friend, and I'm in love with her,” he replied, making the snowman scoff.

“That's how you treat the woman you love? Nice.” This dude, a complete stranger, was right. He had treated Evie like shit, so he needed to make it up to her.

“Can you tell me where she is so I can apologize to her? I'm an asshole and I need to make things right,” Steve said solemnly. The snowman chuckled.

“She went down that way, might've gone into the bookstore? Not sure, but I know she went the way. Mighta been following you,” the snowman answered. Steve clapped him on the shoulder and set off, trying to find her. He made it down to where the snowman had said and went in the shop, the scent of Evie’s perfume letting him know that he was in the right place. He went through all of the sections, finally finding her in the self-help section. He watched her for a bit, walking up as she reached for a book way up high. He grabbed it and held it out to her, watching the grateful smile on her face vanish when she realized he had been her helper.

“A book on stress relief would be great for those two,” Steve murmured, giving her a small smile. He noticed that her eyes were all red and her face was blotchy, and it felt like a punch to the gut from Bucky’s left arm. He reached out to rub her arm and she flinched away.

“Don’t fucking touch me, Rogers,” she snarled, making his stomach drop to the floor. Evie has never called him by his last name like that. Steve knew he had fucked up.

“Evie, I’m sorry for earlier. I-” he started before she cut him off.

“Suck my dick, asshole.” With that parting shot, she turned on her heel and walked to the registers. He made to follow her, but was stopped by a group of teenagers.

“Hey, you’re Captain America!” one of them cried. As more and more patrons approached him, he could see the smug look on Evie’s face as she walked out the door.

************

Evie felt so good about walking away from Steve and getting the last word. She headed down the street, her Jeep her destination. About a block away, she had pulled her keys out, only to be grabbed and thrown over someone’s shoulder.

“What the fuck!” she yelled, struggling with whoever it was.

“Evie, knock it off! I’m gonna drop you again if you keep it up,” came the stranger’s voice. One she would recognize anywhere.

“Steve? Put me down, you asshole!” she shouted, drawing attention to themselves.

“Don’t mind her folks. Just a couple who got into an argument, and now I’m trying to fix it,” he replied. A few people cheered and clapped, but most kept silent and went on their way. Evie was stunned. Did he just call them a couple? He has a girlfriend, that isn’t her. Well, to be honest, looking at this from an outsider’s view, ‘couple’ was easier to swallow than ‘just friends’. Steve had finally gotten them to the Jeep and reached up to grab the keys, which she held out of his reach. “Hey, either unlock it or I’ll break the window,” he warned.

“Oh, like you haven’t done that before!” she snapped at him, molten heat pooling in their bellies at the reason why he had broke her window.

“Admittedly, this reason would be a lot dumber than the last time, so just unlock it.” She rolled her eyes and hit the button. Once the doors were unlocked, he opened the back door and laid on her on the seat before climbing in and shutting the door behind him.

“Screw you, Steve,” she spat, using her foot to keep him away. He chuckled as he grabbed it and held it to one side before doing the same with the other.

“You know, if you wanted me between your legs again, all you had to do was ask,” he taunted, pressing his hips against hers. Evie was getting too turned on to care about his language, so she tried to slap him to get her point across.

“Fuck off, asshole!” she snapped as she slapped his arms or whatever she could reach. Her hand came up to slap his cheek, but he leaned back just in time.

“Evie, now stop. I'm trying to apologize to you,” Steve grunted as he grabbed her wrists, keeping her from pushing him away.

“Oh, so if you want to apologize, I have to listen, but if I want to apologize, you're allowed to storm off and leave me all alone,” she snapped up at him, fighting back even though she'd never be able to fend him off.

The two wrestled in the back of her Jeep, each working out their frustration. After a while, they stopped, panting. Steve still had ahold of Evie's wrists, pinning them to the seat on either side of her head. His hips were keeping hers down, which meant that there were mere inches between their faces. They stared at each other, slowly calming down as they did. Once they had settled, Evie looked around and realized that she was once again underneath Steve in the backseat, but as she opened her mouth to tell him to let her up, he pressed his lips to hers.

Steve knew he was crossing a line. But he didn't really care. He was alone with Evie, her soft and warm body under him. Her perfume was all around him, making his head swim with thoughts of her. His memory of their first time together, in this very car, came to the forefront of his mind, and suddenly, a thirst sprang forth inside him.

And the only way to quench it was Evie.

He released her wrists, running his hands all over her body, cupping and squeezing every bit of her he could. He ground his hips into her, glad she was wearing leggings so she could feel everything that she did to him.

Evie was incapable of rational thought, a base instinct taking over as she kissed Steve back. She could feel his erection rub against her clit, sending shocks of pleasure through her body. She wound her fingers into his hair, tugging firmly. He growled into her mouth, his actions becoming frenzied as he reacted to her. Suddenly, he pulled back and looked at her, eyes wide, lips swollen from kissing.

Steve searched her face for any signs of hesitation or dislike, and upon finding none, relief flooded his body, quickly replaced by desire. Making sure not to break eye contact, he reached down and began to undo his belt. Before he could undo it completely, Evie grabbed his shirt and brought their lips back together. He stopped messing with his clothes, his hands coming up to tangle into her hair.

Evie knew where this was headed, and although she knew he had a girlfriend, she gave zero fucks that she was helping Steve cheat. She had him all to herself, and she'd be damned if she didn't take advantage. She reached down and resumed undoing his belt, then his button and zipper. Once that was done, she pushed his pants down over his ass before grabbing his length, pumping him a few times as she reveled at how warm he felt in her hand. His hands were gone from her hair, yanking her leggings and panties down before running a finger through her folds. She moaned against his lips, nipping his bottom one and running her tongue over it to take the sting away.

Steve wasted no time in lining his tip up at her entrance and pushing inside her. They both hissed at the feeling of being completely bare to each other again. He slowly sank into her tight heat, knowing above all else that this was where he truly belonged. Once he was in to the hilt, he started to thrust gently, opening her up for him.

Evie was in heaven. Feeling Steve, all of him, stretch her so much, but at the same time, not nearly enough, was a dream come true. She dug her nails into his ass, pulling him in deeper, his cock reaching places inside her that no other man ever could.

Or would.

Steve broke the kiss and pulled back slightly to look down at Evie, his exhales becoming her inhales. He never stopped thrusting, only slowing slightly, and as she ran her hands through his hair with the gentlest touch, something in him snapped. His brain tapped into a dark place and he sped up, thoughts of claiming her ever present in his mind. He pulled the collar of her shirt down, exposing the skin of her chest. He bit down, sucking a dark mark over her heart.

“Fuck, Steve...” she moaned, head thrown back. Once he was satisfied with his work, he added a bit of strength to his thrusts, almost weeping with joy as Evie accepted it, never crying out in pain.

He could never let go like this with any of the women he had been with. Not even Peggy.

Steve slid his hands up Evie's back, hooking them over her shoulders and used that as leverage to speed up and intensify even more, his eyes never leaving hers. Evie's hands cupped his face in the most tender fashion, her thumbs brushing over his lips. Their orgasms were fast approaching, and as hers began to wash over her, she closed her eyes and threw her head back again.

“No, don't hide it. I wanna see and hear everything,” Steve whispered. Evie opened her eyes and stared into his, transfixed. He got to watch as she became undone, her velvet walls clenching down triggering his own release. She was captivated by the look of pure bliss that came over him as he came, spilling his seed deep inside her. As they both came down from their highs, they peppered each other with kisses, hands wandering and caressing what they could reach. Once they had calmed down completely, Evie and Steve stared at each other, and they knew something had changed between them. He withdrew from her, both wincing in their sensitive state before he fixed their clothes. As they got back in the front, they shared another look before taking off.

“Evie….” Steve started before she cut him off.

“Steve, it's alright. This is a safe space. What happens in my Jeep, stays in my Jeep. Promise.” Evie wished above anything that she could shout from the rooftops about what they had just done, but outing Captain America as a cheater seemed like a bad idea, a complete PR nightmare for sure.

“Okay, only if you're sure.” He looked out the window, thinking about what had just happened. He just cheated on his girlfriend, and he was pretty sure he forced himself on Evie, which would explain why she was so quiet. “I'm so sorry, Evie,” he apologized. She looked over at him in surprise.

“For what? Breaking my dry spell?” she retorted. When she saw that he was serious, she grew worried. “Steve, what are you sorry for?” He sighed in irritation.

“You know what. Are you okay?” Evie honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

“Apart from my crotch being wet from your jizz oozing out, I'm great,” she replied. He sighed.

“Cut the crap, Evie. What just happened, you know what that's considered, right?” He didn't want to say the word out loud, but it seemed to settle in the air between them, unspoken.

“Yeah, you technically cheated on your girlfriend. Well, there's no ‘technically’ about it. You did cheat. That makes me the other woman.” Evie couldn't help but laugh at that, but it was true.

“No, I mean what I did to you,” Steve snapped. Evie had just pulled into her parking spot in the Tower garage, so she was able to turn and face him head on.

“What you did to me? Steve, you fucked me.” Evie was so puzzled as to what he thought they did. He sighed, getting out of the car and shutting the door with a little too much force. Evie got out and gave him a look.

“Sorry. Evie, I rrrrr…..” he trailed off, acting like he would be struck down by God if he spoke it out loud. “I...forced myself on you. You should be hating me right now.” Evie was floored. That was the absolute last thing she expected him to say.

“Steve, you didn't.” Evie crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. How could he possibly think that?

“Yes I did, Evie. I didn't ask if it was okay with you, nor did I give you a chance to say ‘no’. I just yanked your clothes out of the way and then went to town.” He looked so upset with himself, but there was no reason to be.

“Are you serious right now? Do you honestly think that if I didn't want to have sex with you, I wouldn't have said something?” she shot back. “Even if I couldn't talk, I would've hit or kicked or punched, hell I would have bit you to get my point across. But did I do any of that? No. I kissed you back. Hell, if I recall, I was the one who undid your pants and had my hand wrapped around your dick. How is that you forcing yourself on me?” Evie was beyond pissed now. He was ruining their moment.

“Evelyn, enough.” Steve's Captain voice was in full effect, and dammit if that didn't turn her on again. “This will not happen again. I can't seem to control myself around you, and that puts you in danger. End of discussion,” he added when she went to argue.

Evie bowed her head and walked passed him to the elevator, waiting for him to get in before hitting the button for the residential floors. They rode up in silence, Evie trying to keep her tears at bay until she was in her room. It broke her heart to hear him say that he would never have sex with her again, which obviously meant that Steve didn't think of her that way, that she was just a friend to him.

Steve felt like shit. He knew he was full on lying when he told her it wouldn't happen again. He would gladly sleep with Evie all day, every day, if she wanted, even if he was in a committed relationship. Which she would never want now, after all he said and done to her.

The elevator opened and Evie shot out, running straight to her room and slamming the door behind her. Steve, feeling like a complete asshole, hung his head and sighed as he walked out.

“Hey Steve, what's wrong? Why did Evie look so upset?” Wanda asked from where she was sitting next to Vision. The whole Team was in the common room, and they all looked to Steve expectantly.

“We had a disagreement, and I was an ass about it,” he replied as he walked over and sat next to Sam. “Can I ask everyone's opinion on something….for a friend?” For Steve to ask the whole Team something was pretty huge, and they all agreed.

“Sure Cap. What's eating your friend?” Tony asked from beside Bruce. Steve swallowed, knowing he had to tweak his question a bit.

“Okay, so….my friend has been in love with a….co worker of his for years. He's never been able to make a move because one of them always had a partner, and then he went….abroad for a while, so he definitely wasn't able to be with her then. Well, now that he's back, he has a girlfriend.” Steve stopped to take a breath when Bucky piped up, grinning.

“Hey Steve, what's this friend's name? Didn't think you had any outside of me and Bird-brain over there,” he asked, smirking at Sam who flipped him off. Steve blushed, knowing he couldn't exactly say his name.

“Uh….Roger,” he said at last. Everyone shared a look.

“Does his surname happen to be ‘Stevens’?” Alice joked. She got her answer when Steve blushed even redder. “Who is this coworker of his? Is she a doctor of some sort?” Alice knew exactly who Steve was talking about, and she wanted to tease him as much as possible.

“That has nothing to do with the issue, Alice,” he snapped. She grinned, but remained silent so he could continue. “As I was saying, Roger has a girlfriend, but he's still in love with his coworker. Well, ea-”

“Wait! What's his coworker's name? This could get confusing,” Alice cut in again. Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“For fuck's sake, Alice. Her name is Ev...a,” he finished lamely. She grinned wider than ever and laughed.

“Eva, huh? I like the name ‘Evie’ better, not that you're talking about our beloved doctor though, right?” she teased, staring him down. The entire Team was looking at him, waiting for his response.

“Okay, I think it's time for me to leave, especially if Evie is being name-dropped,” Bruce said as he stood and left for the lab. Steve coughed, realizing that it was probably a good idea for Bruce to not hear this next part.

“Quit interrupting, Alice,” he snapped. “Like I was saying, earlier Roger and Eva went shopping and after they had a tiny disagreement, they had gotten into the back of her car and-” Steve stopped, as he was unsure how to go on.

“And what, Steve?” Sam asked, looking stony faced. Steve swallowed thickly.

“Uh, well, they uh, kinda, sorta, uh, had sex,” he stammered, blushing bright red. The reactions of the Team ranged from proud (Bucky) to impressed (Tony) to appalled (Sam).

“So, Roger, cheated on his girlfriend with the woman he's actually in love with, Eva? I'd say ‘well done’ and buy him a drink,” Tony said, clapping. Steve bowed his head, hiding his smile.

“Is Eva still standing?” Alice asked slyly. He looked up at her, all traces of humor gone from his face.

“Well, yes, but I, I mean Roger, screwed things up with her.” They all shared a look before he went on. “Roger is certain that he, well, forced himself on her.” The air in the room was gone. Steve felt like the world's biggest asshole, and judging by the look on everyone's face, he was.

“Steve, and cut the shit, alright? What happened?” Nat asked, her tone stern. He sighed before answering.

“I didn't exactly ask if she was okay with me kissing her, and I didn't ask if she was okay with me touching her there, and I definitely didn't ask if she was okay with me….sticking my dick in her,” Steve said, resigned to his fate. Suddenly, he was yanked up from his seat by Alice, who had murder in her eyes.

“So, you just had your way with her? Did she fight back?! WHAT DID YOU DO STEVE?!” she bellowed, raising her hand to deck him.

“No! Evie didn't fight back at all! She let me do it to her!” Steve cried. Alice released him, a puzzled look on her face. Bucky, who had jumped up with Alice, stood in front of him, grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eye.

“Steve, if she didn't fight back or anything, then what makes you think that you forced yourself on her?” he asked.

“Yeah, we're with Barnes on this, Steve. If Evie didn't explicitly say ‘no’ or try to fight you off, then chances are she was completely okay with everything,” Nat added. Sam stood, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder as well.

“Face it, dude. Evie wanted the D,” he said, shoving the blonde slightly. “I told her to scare your ass, not tap it.” Everyone laughed at that, causing Steve to blush, as he figured the worst was over.

“Yeah, you're probably just feeling guilty about cheating on Amy, and now you have a reason to break up with her so you can have all the sex you want with Evie,” Bucky reasoned. Steve sighed.

“No, I doubt Evie will ever want to talk to me again, let alone have sex with me, after what I said to her earlier,” he lamented. When all that met him was silence, he explained. “I tried to apologize to her, but she kept saying I had nothing to be sorry about, so I snapped and said that I'm a danger to her ‘cause I can't seem to control myself when I'm alone with her.” Bucky snorted.

“Yeah, I don't think that'll be the case, Steve. Evie knew you had a girlfriend, and yet she still jumped on your dick and rode you like a horse. Trust me, she'll be back for more.” He, Alice, Sam and Steve began to walk towards the hallway, the tension from earlier gone. “Ya know, with all the different times you tried to join the Army with a new identity, you would think you'd be able to come up with better code names than ‘Roger’ and ‘Eva’.” The other three laughed at Steve, who went all Sad Faced.

“You guys suck, and for the record, she didn't jump on my dick. How do the kids say it nowadays, I ‘dicked her down good’?” he said with a chuckle before sighing. “I guess I need to go apologize to Evie, properly this time.”

“Oh hell naw. I do not want to see this,” Sam exclaimed, walking off. Steve squared his shoulders and headed down to Evie's door, Bucky and Alice following.

“Uh, I'd like to talk to her alone, if you don't mind,” he called behind him.

“Fine. You get five minutes before we knock. Have fun,” Bucky said, throwing a wink his way. Steve rolled his eyes as he knocked on the door, waiting for Evie to let him in. After a few minutes, it opened, revealing a freshly showered Evie.

“What do you want, Steve?” she asked, her voice wavering on his name. It broke his heart to know he was the reason she was upset.

“May I come in?” he asked after clearing his throat. She stepped back so he could enter, shutting the door behind him. “I'm here to apologize, and to admit I was wrong.” She had sat down on her bed, pulling the stress relief book to her and continuing to wrap it. He sat down across from her, waiting for her to speak.

“What were you wrong about?” She didn't bother to look up at him, as she was concentrating on getting the lines of the design right on the wrapping paper.

“I didn't….force myself on you,” he answered. She looked up then, sensing his hesitation in his wording.

“No, I wanna hear you say it. I want you to tell me what you didn't do.” She leveled him with a look that had him quailing at first before squaring his shoulders.

“Fine,” he huffed before taking a few deep breaths. “I did not rape you. We were both consenting adults that had sex in the back of your car. Happy now?” Evie smiled and nodded.

“Yes, thank you.” She resumed wrapping the book and he sighed.

“Wait, is my gift in here? I don't wanna see it if it is,” he said suddenly, looking around in alarm. Evie giggled.

“No, it's already wrapped. I've got a question for you now. Are you going to tell Amy?” It was a very loaded question, and there was a lot resting on his answer.

“Well, yeah. I did cheat on her, so she deserves to know. I just hope she doesn't cry.” Evie scoffed at him.

“It's a terrible way to do it, but just do it over the phone if it bothers you that much,” she offered with a shrug. He chuckled.

“No, doing it in person is the honorable thing to do.” Evie snorted at him, making him chuckle. “What?” She smiled at him.

“Well, I'm pretty sure the honorable thing to do in this situation is remain faithful to your partner.” Steve glared at her, but she was unphased. “Tell me I'm wrong,” she challenged, smiling even wider when he didn't. “I am curious though, why did we?” Evie knew why she had slept with Steve, but she wanted to know why he kissed her first and kicked the whole thing off.

“Well, honestly, having you under me made me remember our first time and I just couldn't help myself,” he replied sheepishly. She smirked at him.

“So, if I ever wanna have sex with you again, I just need to get you in my backseat and make sure I'm under you?” she teased. He returned her smile, before leaning in slightly.

“You just need to be underneath me, that's all.” Suddenly Evie was on her back as Steve pinned her backward on the bed.

“Whoa. That eager for round two, huh?” she asked. He grinned devilishly down at her.

“Well, why go elsewhere for subpar sex when I can have amazing sex with you?” Evie's panties were soaked, and she suddenly realized that she should have put shorts on before answering the door. Steve must have come to the same conclusion as he began to grind his hips into hers again, her panties doing nothing to dull the friction he was causing. Just as he was about to kiss her again, there was a knock at the door.

“You two better not be fucking again! Steve still has a girlfriend that he needs to dump before you two can you can fuck in peace!” Bucky bellowed through the door.

“Yeah, and I need to be able to tell you ‘I bloody told you so!’ before you're official!” Alice added. Evie used Steve's distraction to push him onto the floor, as that was the only place he could go. He laid there, stunned as she jumped over him and ran to her dresser and pulled on some shorts. He grinned when he saw the wet spot on her panties, knowing he was the reason behind it.

“We are not fucking again!” Evie exclaimed as she yanked her door open. Once her words caught up to her, she rounded on Steve. “Wait, you told them?!” He looked up at her from his place on the floor and knew he was in trouble.

“Well, not exactly. I didn't use our names,” he said as he climbed to his feet.

“What?” she asked, incredulous.

“He made up names to protect your identities,” Bucky explained, making Alice snort. “Yeah, completely unoriginal. ‘Roger' and 'Eva'.” She shook her head at Steve. “Aren't you supposed to basically be a spy? Those code names were diabolical and you should be ashamed.” He shrugged sheepishly.

“It was the best I could come up with,” he mumbled lamely. Bucky laughed out loud at that. “Yeah, I'm sure that the best you could 'come' up with,” he replied, winking at Evie, making her giggle. “God I hope you're better in bed than your imagination is suggesting,” Alice whined, making Steve blush. “He's not bad,” Evie replied with a shrug. “Much better than any other guy I've been with that's for sure.” Steve beamed with pride at this. “Oh yeah? What's his signature move?” Alice inquired, wagging her eyebrows.

“Eewww Alice! Boundaries!” Bucky cut in, gagging.

“What?!” she said with a wink.

“Well, it's not so much a signature move, but-” Evie started to say before being cut off by Steve and Bucky's shout of her name. She winked back at Alice, but said nothing more. Bucky shuddered before changing the subject. “So, does ‘Eva’ think that ‘Roger’ forced himself on her?” he directed at Evie, who didn't disappoint with her reaction.

“Hell no,” she replied with a snort. “That's good because I would have to kill Roger if he did try that shit,” the Slayer growled, glaring at Steve. “Trust me, Roger did no such thing. Eva totally wanted it. No doubt about it,” Evie assured them all. Bucky and Alice broke into matching smirks, causing Evie to blush under their gaze.

“Oh, did she now?” Bucky mused out loud.

“Well….yeah. She's been single for a while, so of course she isn't gonna pass up free sex,” she defended. She knew that Bucky and Alice both knew how she felt about Steve, but she wasn't about to admit it in front of him.

“Yay! So, Roger, when are you dumping the blonde tart and making Evie your girlfriend?” she asked matter-of-factly. Steve immediately began to stutter and blush at her question. “Who said anything about Evie?” he finally got out. Alice's eyebrows rose so high they were in danger of disappearing into her hair. “Excuse me?” she all but screeched. “You're excused,” Evie cut in before she could go on. “I'm gonna back Steve up on this. Who said anything about us becoming a couple?”

“Wouldn't you rather back up ON Steve?” Bucky interjected, wagging his eyebrows at her. “Bucky? Bite me,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

“Beat him to it,” Steve said quietly, knowing full well they could still hear him. “Seriously?” Evie cried, glaring at him.

“Wowwwww,” Alice drew out the word. “Steve's got a kinky side.” Bucky grinned his biggest grin yet at his best friend.

“Freak.” He looked Evie over, clearly looking for said love bite. “Let's see it then, although now I'm kinda worried that it's in a not so innocent spot,” he said when he couldn't find it.

Evie glared up at Steve, as this was his fault they even knew it existed. Shaking her head, she pulled the collar of her shirt down, exposing the deep purple, almost black, hickey just over her left breast. Bucky and Alice both gasped, before Bucky high-fived Steve.

“Goddamn Steve! Way to go bro!” he exclaimed, so proud of Steve’s work. Alice stared in shock a bit longer before recovering.

“Didn't that hurt?” she asked before smirking like mad at the Doctor. “I mean... sorry. Of course it didn't.” Evie blushed, fixing her shirt to hide the evidence of Steve's love.

“No, actually, it didn't. Wasn't really concerned about it at that point though. I had other things on my mind,” she admitted, blushing a bit more.

“Oh I bet,” Alice replied with a smirk. “But you two aren't going to make this official? You know, get to have all the sex all the time and in a BED?!” Evie sighed at her.

“He has a girlfriend. Kinda hard to make anything official,” she reasoned. Steve stopped and looked at her, realization dawning on his face. Evie paid him no mind, unaware that she had just inadvertently admitted to wanting to make it official.

Steve was in shock. There's no way that Evie wanted there to be anything between them, is there? He looked at Bucky, who, having just seen the myriad of emotions flutter across his best friend's face, nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, a girlfriend he cheated on,” Bucky cut in then, with a smile. “His momma raised no fool. He’ll break up with her.” He sounded so sure of this, but Evie wasn't convinced.

“She won't let him go, he's a catch. No woman in their right mind would let him get away,” she argued. “And what makes you so sure we'd even get together? We're just colleagues.” “Yeah, colleagues who have fucked twice now,” Steve said with a confident smile. Before Evie could say anything, Alice cut her off.

“What do you mean ‘colleagues who have fucked twice’?” Evie turned to glare at Steve as he had let loose another secret.

“We hooked up once before. It was after the events of D.C. You know, when you two were busy playing house,” Evie snapped. “It was a one time thing, no big deal.”

Alice Winters, resident ex-Slayer, was beyond ticked.

“That's it? You're just gonna spring that on us like it's nothing, like it's no big deal?” she said slowly, trying to keep her cool.

“Well, it's not. So what if we've had sex a couple times? The only issue is that this time, he cheated,” Evie replied with a shrug. Steve looked mildly concerned for Evie's safety, as he swore Alice had fire in her eyes and smoke billowing from her ears.

“The only issue?! The only issue?!” the Slayer shrieked before lunging for the Doctor, her hands outstretched. Bucky and Steve acted defensively, Bucky grabbing hold of his girlfriend while Steve jumped in front of Evie, becoming her shield. He was a lot more durable than she was, so better that Alice got to him first.

“Whoa, doll! Easy! No need to murder the poor woman!” Bucky groaned as he held her back. Steve stood his ground, not really wanting to physically fight Alice off, but would to protect Evie.

After a few moments of struggling, Alice calmed, sagging against Bucky's chest. “Fine! You two are just so stupid it hurts sometimes! Anyway, come on Bucky, let's go and enjoy the benefits of being in a relationship together. Sexually,” she spat at them. Steve rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, we got that, Alice,” he replied. She smirked at him.

“Lots of sex whenever we want. You're the idiots who are being so damn blind and can't see what's right in front of you.” Evie chuckled at her. “Yeah, well apparently all I have to do is get him in my Jeep so….” she trailed off. “We’ve christened it quite nicely if I do say so myself,” she said proudly, holding her hand up to Steve. He high-fived her back and grinned.

“Yeah we did. That's the one place I've come the most in, and I wouldn't change it for anything.” Steve felt smug saying that, as it was true. Evie felt smug and she decided right there and then that she would never get rid of her Jeep, because it’s the only place she got to have Steve.

“Imagine what you could do in a big, soft bed though. Whenever you want,” Alice pressed. Evie sighed.

“Secret rendezvous are apparently our thing, so why fix it if it ain’t broke?” she shot back. While the girls were arguing, Bucky and Steve were grinning at each other. Steve was over the moon at the thought of Evie possibly returning his feelings, and Bucky’s grin was getting his hopes up even more.

“Dude, come on,” the metal-armed man groaned.

“Sorry, I have a girlfriend that I need to go confess to. Bye you two, see ya later, Evie,” Steve said as he began to walk away.

“Yeah, and if Amy does break up with you, I’m sure Evie won’t mind sharing her bed one bit,” Bucky called after him, getting Steve to stop and look back.

“Yeah, stop acting like such a Tom Cat and treat Evie better, you wanker,” Alice taunted. Making the blonde go all Sad Face again.

“Hey, he treats me just fine, thank you very much,” Evie jumped to his defense. Bucky grinned at her.

“Yeah, and he treats you even better when you’re riding his dick.” Evie’s jaw dropped at his boldness.

“Well, you’re supposed to treat the person you’re fucking better, unless there’s an agreement to be treated like shit. And for the record, I wasn’t riding his dick….this time,” she answered after a beat. Bucky smirked at her, but Alice cut across him before he could say anything.

“Evie, seriously, you’re okay with this? You don’t want more from Steve?” Evie could hear the sincerity in her voice, but was unable to answer truthfully as all three of them turned to her expectantly. She blushed deeply as Steve looked entirely too hopefully for her liking.

“Uh….well, no. We’re just friends, right Steve?” she squeaked. She insisted to herself that Steve did not look disappointed, just caught off guard.

“Oh, uh yeah. Of course,” he answered. Alice rolled her eyes.

“Oh my GOD.” She literally pulled some of her hair in frustration at Evie and Steve.

“Seriously?” Bucky apparently shared in Alice’s frustration.

“Why mess up our friendship? It’s perfect just the way it is,” she replied, shrugging.

“Yeah, hate to change it in anyway,” Steve agreed, sounding incredibly heartbroken. Evie tried not to think about how upset he sounded so as to not get her hopes up.

“You absolute fucking MORONS,” growled Alice as she stomped away. Bucky shook his head and followed her, muttering something about ‘so much for a super soldier, just a super dumbass’. Evie and Steve looked at each other and smiled.

“I’ll go ahead and let you go. Bruce and I have tons of tests that we’re doing tomorrow, so I gotta get plenty of rest. Night, Steve,” Evie said. He took that as his cue to leave and walked out, stopped in the hallway.

“Night, Evie. If things go the way I expect them to and Amy breaks up with me, maybe we can get dinner some time.” She nodded at him.

“It’s a date.” He walked down the hall, hoping beyond hope that he would be single by the next morning so he could finally take Evie out.

********

It was finally Christmas Eve. Christmas was probably Evie’s favorite holiday. She loved the decorations, music, everyone being together. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Tonight, the team was having their annual dinner and she was excited to be able to go for the first time. Every other time either she was sick and couldn’t go, or had other plans that night. This year, Tony said that they all had to find naughty or nice Christmas shirts or sweaters to wear. It was time to join the party, so after making sure she was ready, she headed down the hall.

As Evie walked in, everyone was already there, mingling amongst themselves. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something glowing and flashing. She looked over and saw Alice, Bucky and Steve standing off to the side and that Bucky’s shirt was the thing that was flashing. Evie walked over and had to shield her eyes.

“Damn Barnes, didn’t know you wanted to be a tree for Christmas.” He flipped her off as the other two laughed.

Alice’s shirt was definitely tamer than everyone else’s, but it was still on the naughty side. “You know, Alice, I think Bucky will have to take that monstrosity off before there’s any plowing.”

We all laughed as she blushed just the tiniest bit.

“Oh shove it. I happen to like his jumper,” she pouted. “Besides, I’ve already told him to keep it on for later. It’ll help him see his present,” she added slyly, waggling her eyebrows. Evie looked away from her giving him bedroom eyes and caught sight of Steve’s shirt, reading it and grinning.

“Hahahaha I like it Steve.” He looked at her in surprise, as did the other two.

“You understand it?” He and Bucky asked at the same time. SHe nodded slowly.

“Well yeah.” Evie reached out and covered the MERI with a hand. “A,” then covered the A. “Meri,” then ran her hand across his chest with a flourish. “Christmas! A Merry Christmas! Get it?” Bucky and Alice nodded with understanding. She grinned up at Steve, feeling incredibly proud. “Nice job Captain.” He smiled and it took all she had to not go weak at the knees. She saw him glance down at her chest, not doubt reading her shirt.

“Wow,” he said with a smirk. “Is that an invitation?” He asked with a wink. Feeling very bold, Evie puffed her chest out a bit and smirked back at him.

“If it is, are you gonna accept it?” she asked coyly. They stood there, grinning at each other, for god knows how long.

“Hey Capiscle! Where’s your girlfriend?” Tony suddenly boomed, clapping Steve on the back. “Oh wait, I forgot. She’s banned from the Tower.” That one word was like having a bucket of ice cold water dumped on Evie. She ducked her head and turned away, catching Alice and Bucky’s gaze. They both smiled knowingly, Alice winking as Bucky threw a thumbs up. She walked away, hurrying to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.

Evie forgot that Steve was still seeing that Amy chick that Sam had set him up with. Just as Evie had predicted, after Steve had gone over to Amy’s and confessed that he and Evie had slept together, Amy did NOT break up with him, claiming that everyone makes a mistake. Amy wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t going to let Steve go without a fight. Evie jumped as someone knocked on the door.

“Evie, you alright?” Alice asked, concern evident in her British accent.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Be out in a sec,” the Doctor called back to her, drying her face before opening the door and flashing a quick smile. “I’m good. Let’s party, shall we?” Alice grabbed her arm and pulled her back to everyone. Steve regarded her with a sad look, almost like he regretted saying anything, and her heart sank.

They all took a seat around the fireplace, Tony sitting closest to the tree so he could begin giving out presents. Before long, everyone had a small stack of 12 presents and slowly began to open them, thanking the giver of each one. Finally, Evie had gotten to her last gift, which was from Steve. She took the wrapping paper off and found that it was a picture frame, flipping it over and seeing herself and Steve. They were both sound asleep on the very couch that Evie was sitting on, their arms wrapped around each other like it was the most natural and perfect thing in the world. She was speechless.

“That’s my favorite picture of us,” Steve explained softly, sitting down next to her. Evie raised an eyebrow at him, wanting more of an explanation. “The few times I’ve been in your room, I noticed that there weren’t any pictures of me. So, I found my favorite one and had it framed for you. I hope you like it,” he trailed off. She smiled at him, throwing her arms around him and squeezing.

“I love it. Thank you so much. I’m gonna put it up right next to my bed,” she gushed, releasing him, but he didn’t pull away completely. They sat there, in their own little bubble, just staring at each other. Evie agreed with Zemo, Steve does have a little green in his eyes. Suddenly, Steve’s phone began to ring and vibrate in his pocket, making them both jump. As he fished around trying to get it out, she shook her head and glanced up. Everyone was staring at them, and they all had the same knowing smirk on their faces. Evie felt her face burn as Steve finally wrestled his phone out of his pants and answered it.

“Oh hey babe,” he said, clearly talking to his girlfriend and ignoring everyone. He stood up and began pacing as they talked, going over their plans to spend Christmas Day together. Evie sighed, knowing that it’d never be her on the other end of the phone, making plans to spend the holidays with him. She suddenly couldn’t take being in the same room as him anymore, so she made a break for her room, leaving the presents behind.

************

Evie finally ventured out of her room a couple days after Christmas, feigning that she had been sick to her stomach and didn’t want anyone else to catch it. The rest of the team seemed to halfheartedly accept my explanation, but Alice and Nat eyed her warily afterwards. A few days later, Stark was getting everything together for his annual New Year’s Eve party when Steve announced that he wouldn’t be going, for he would be attending a party with his girlfriend. Evie could feel Alice and Bucky’s gaze on her, watching her reaction to the news. She kept her face as expressionless as possible, only looking up from her tablet for a split second before returning to her work.

It was New Year’s Eve, and Stark’s party was in full motion. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Well, at least Evie thought they were having fun. She hadn’t actually been down to the party except to grab a bottle of vodka, choosing instead to hang out on the roof of the Tower ever since, enjoying the peace and q-

BAM

What the hell? She looked over her shoulder in time to see Steve throw his coat to the ground. He didn’t seem very happy.

“Hey sorry. Didn’t know anyone was up here,” he stammered. “I’ll go ahead and leave you alone.” He made to turn when she called out to him.

“No it's okay. There’s plenty of room. Here, sounds like you need a drink,” Evie offered, holding out the half empty bottle to him. He sighed before walking over and grabbing it, holding it up in a salute before taking a big swig. “So...what happened?” she asked warily, not wanting to upset him more. “If you don’t want to tell me, I understand.” He passed back the bottle before sitting down, bowing his head. Evie sat down next to him, setting the bottle down between them after taking another drink.

“Remember how I was going to a party with Amy?” he started.

“Yeah.”

“Well, after we got there we ended up separated, and as it got closer to midnight I couldn’t find her.” His breathing was getting faster. She reached out and rubbed his arm in an attempt to calm him down. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. “When I finally did find her, she had another guy's tongue down her throat, but that wasn’t the worst part.” He took another deep breath and went on. “She had her dress hiked to her waist, while his pants were at his ankles.” Steve looked up at Evie, and she wanted to cry. He looked so broken in that moment. Her arms went around him, holding him tightly, willing the pain to be squeezed from him.

“Oh, Steve. I’m so sorry,” she choked out, tears welling in her eyes. He sat there, motionless for a while before she pulled away, realizing that her actions probably bothered him. “Sorry. That was uncalled for.” Damn alcohol. He shrugged.

“S’alright. Not your fault.” He grabbed the bottle and took another drink before putting it down and leaning in towards her. “Wanna know who the guy was?” he whispered, his breath fanning across her face.

“Who was it?” Evie breathed, not wanting to speak any louder that he was.

“Your ex Brian.” Her blood ran cold at the sound of his name. Brian had dumped her all of a sudden a while back. Things were going great between them, or so she had thought, until one day he accused her of flirting with Steve, of all people, and went out and started fucking any girl he could find.

“That bitch. He's not even in our lives anymore and he's still fucking things up!” Evie stood up and began to pace. She heard laughter and when she turned around, Steve was laying on his back, his mirth getting the better of him. “What's so funny Steve?” she snapped, hands on her hips.

“Did you really just call him a bitch?” he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

“Yes I did. Is that funny to you?” When all Evie got was more laughter, she walked back over to him, dropped to her knees and began tickling him. “If you want funny, I'll give you funny.” Steve froze for a moment as his brain processed what was happening, but wasn't long before he began tickling back.

They wrestling around on the roof for a bit, before Steve had maneuvered Evie to her back as he straddled her legs. “Say ‘uncle’ and I'll let you up,” he offered, his hands at the ready to resume his assault on her sides.

“Uncle,” she laughed. He stood before helping her up.

“Hey I can hear the crowd in Times Square counting down,” he said, pointing over in the direction of the lights. “15,14,13,12,11,” he counted out, nodding for her to join him.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

Steve and Evie hugged each other, and it felt amazing to start the new year off together. After standing there for a moment, she felt him start to pull away, but as shei made to unhook her arms from around his neck, his lips found hers. She sprang away from him almost instantly, shock evident in both of us.

“Evie, I'm so sorry,” he started to apologize.

“No, Steve, it's fine. Really. You just broke up with your girlfriend, who you had intended on kissing at midnight. It was an accident. Don't worry about it.” Evie was so heartbroken, and it took all her willpower to not cry. “Look, I'm getting tired, so I'm going to go to bed. I'll leave you alone. Happy New Year's Steve.”

***********

The next morning, everyone was in quite the hungover mood. Evie walked out to the common room and headed straight to the fridge to grab a soda. It's the one thing that could clear up her fogginess. Once her head was clear, she started making pancakes, bacon and eggs for everyone. It was the unspoken rule that whoever recovers first makes breakfast. As soon as the smell of bacon began wafting around, the team descended on the kitchen like a horde of zombies. She handed out plates to everyone and they dug in like they hadn't eaten in days.

“Mmm. Well, it's not a Full English breakfast, but it'll do,” Alice mumbled from beside Bucky.

“Oh, I'm sorry your Majesty, but seeing as how this is New York and not London, this is what you're gonna get,” Evie snapped at her. Bucky shot her a shocked look while Alice looked dumbfounded. Alice and Evie haven't gotten on very well since she, Bucky, Steve and the others came back from Wakanda. Evie tends to find Alice a bit abrasive and Alice tends to find Evie a bit thick. Evie closed her eyes and counted to ten while taking deep breaths. “I'm sorry. That came out harshly. I'm hungry and my head still kinda hurts.” Alice narrowed her eyes, scowling for a while before nodding curtly in understanding as Evie turned back to the stove.

“It's alright,” she replied. “Were you even at the party last night? How are you not as miserable as the rest of us?” Evie turned back to add the last of the pancakes and bacon to the platter before fixing her own plate.

“Well I didn't go to the party. I was up on the roof.” Alice quirked an eyebrow so she elaborated. “I'm not big on crowds or parties, so I grabbed a bottle of vodka and hung out on the roof.” She finished the rest of her food before grabbing their plates and taking them to the sink with hers. She heard a chair scrape back and then Bucky’s amused voice.

“Damn Steve, what time did you get in last night?” Evie peeked over her shoulder at Steve, who had grabbed a plate and was loading it with food. “Did you and Amy ring in the new year?” Her face burned as she remembered who Steve was with at midnight.

“No we didn't. I came back shortly before 12.” She turned back towards them, drinking her soda as they talked.

“Well then, where were you?” Bucky asked. Steve and Evie locked eyes again.

“I was up on the roof with Evie,” he answered proudly. Evie bowed her head to regain her composure before looking back up and seeing Alice watching her, a Cheshire cat grin across her face.

“So, you two spent the night together,” she mused.

“No. Not like that,” Evie began to explain before Alice cut her off.

“Not like what? Two people standing on the roof at the same time?” she asked innocently. “What did you think I meant?” Shit. Alice backed her into a corner, and they both knew it.

“That we were together, ‘cause we're not, er, weren't,” the Doctor stammered. The Slayer leaned forward on the breakfast bar, a satisfied smirk on her face.

“You were together though. Both of you were on the roof at the same time, which means you were together, right?” she reasoned, the smuggest she’s ever been. Bucky was giving Steve the same look that Alice was giving Evie, but he showed no signs of discomfort. Evie, on the other hand, was about to fold like a cheap suit. “Or does the word ‘together’ mean something different here than it does over in England?”

“No, no, that’s what I thought you meant.” Her face fell the tiniest bit as Evie found a way around the implied meaning. “Steve and I were together at midnight. We ended last year together, and we started this year together.”

“Cute,” she huffed.

“Did Steve ever tell you what he caught his ex doing? Or who?” Everyone gasped as they all looked to Steve, while he shot her his best ‘really?’ look. Evie shrugged in response. “What? You’ve spilled a secret, so why can’t I?” He shook his head at her.

“Evie’s ex-boyfriend,” he said simply.

“Wait a damn minute here,” Sam cut in. “You mean to tell us that Amy, Steve’s now ex-girlfriend, cheated on him with Brian, Evie’s ex-boyfriend?” Everyone exchanged glances as they processed this information.

“Ask Steve. He’s the one who saw it,” Evie argued. Sam wasn’t letting it go though.

“So, out of the billions of men on this planet, the one that she chooses to hook up with, completely at random, was your ex?” Everyone was looking at her, waiting for an explanation.

“Yeah, I guess so. What? I’m not his damn keeper.” It had suddenly hit her as to why it seemed so suspicious. “Do you think I had something to do with it?” she asked, incredulous. “When on earth would I have the time to do that and, why would I do that?” No one seemed to believe her. “Brian broke up with me, okay? Someone lit his car on fire and told him to dump me or the next thing on fire was going to be him,” she confessed. Evie was so worried about trying to get everyone to believe her that she missed the look that Bucky gave Alice.

“Well, then if you didn’t hook them up, then how the hell did they end up at the same party?” Nat asked.

“They must have a mutual friend and that’s how they got invited to the same party, or else…” she trailed off before turning to Steve, who had this delighted yet disapproving look on his face. “Where was this party at?” He thought about it for a bit, before answering.

“The Aurora.” Well, son of a bitch.

“That’s Brian’s apartment building. I’m guessing it was a building wide party, so all the tenants were invited. That’s how they met,” she pointed out proudly.

“Amy’s best friend lives there too, so yeah that had to be how they found each other,” Steve added. Everyone seemed to accept the theory and went about their day. Nat however, didn’t appear to be entirely convinced.

“Well, has anyone come forward to ask you out?” she asked. Evie shook her head.

“No, but that’s the thing. Someone obviously wanted me single, and yet not one gentleman caller,” she lamented. Alice chose this point to add in her two cents.

“Maybe they were waiting for the perfect guy to become single himself.” Alice caught Evie’s eye and winked before gesturing between her and Steve. “You both are single now, perhaps for your next relationship, you should look closer to home.” Bucky chuckled to himself at Alice’s statement before Steve silenced him with a look.

“Well,” Nat piped up. “I know this really great girl, who can be a bit of a flake sometimes, that would be good for Steve. She’s out of state right now, so it’ll have to be after she gets back.”

“Great. Can’t wait to meet her,” Steve said, somewhat enthusiastically. Nat smiled at him before eyeing Evie out the corner of her eye.

“I’ll set it up then. In the meantime, should you find someone else that you want to be with instead, go for it.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice. “Because you know what they say, the best way to get over someone, is to get underneath someone else.” Steve’s eyes got big as the full meaning of her statement sank in.

“That’s called a sexorcism,” Evie blurted before blushing. The four of them turned to her, making her blush even more. “Where was all this advice when I got dumped? I could’ve used it and gotten one. Hell, I still could do with one.” She buried her face in her hands as Steve snorted.

“I could definitely use one too,” he added. The chance to be Steve’s rebound was right in front of Evie, but she wanted to be more than that to him, so she stayed silent.

“Well, I’m going to go. Hope you all enjoyed breakfast.” Evie walked around the bar and headed down the hall to her room, needing a cold shower to fight off these hormones.

TAG LIST:

@suz-123 @avenger-nerd-mom @aglarelen @amaranthuspetals @amillionfandoms-onlyoneme @bad-wolf87 @bolontiku @brighterlightss @buckybarnesappreciationsociety @buckyywiththegoodhair @caplansteverogers @captainradicalpassion @caramell0w @celeb-fess @delicatecapnerd @doloreschanal @donnaintx @earinafae @etts21 @ghostssss @girlbehindthecameraposts @gramaeryebard @jhangelface0523 @kimistry27 @liz-pbnz @loki-god-of-my-life @magellan-88 @marvel-trash07 @pegasusdragontiger @punkfrog @ruinerofcheese @ryverpenrad @sarahp879 @silver-starburst @the-real-kellymonster @4theluvofall @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @stars8melanin @getinmelanin011 @honey-bee-holly @lostinspace33 @dustycelt @avengedqueen26 @amandarosemire @diinofayce @sillinessinseattle @lookwhatyoumademequeue @jewels2876

#jrubalcaba #suz123 #evie collins #steve rogers #alice winters #bucky barnes #cant help falling in love #slayersoldier series #there is smut

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kenkamishiro · 7 years ago

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re:quest [tension] - chapter 4

I don’t even know how it took me this long to do chapter 4 (please don’t ask). Unfortunately the last chapter will definitely take a while since I’ll be starting school soon, but I’ll definitely finish it at some point.

For those who haven’t read “tension”, the short story about the CCG art festival, you can read chapter 1 here. Enjoy!

(Thank you @tokyo-ghoul-out-of-context for proofreading.)

“Huh?” Koori-senpai, what are you doing?”

When Hairu had showed up to work at the S1 squad’s task room, she had found Ui cutting up photographs with a pair of scissors. “Do you have a grudge against those people in the photos or something?”

“Of course not.” Ui said, glaring at his hand. Hairu shrugged and sat down in her seat to escape from his line of sight.

When Ui finished cutting up the photo he had been holding, he began to clean up. Hairu rose from her chair and looked at him again. “Are you making a scrapbook then?”

In addition, the photos he had were similar colours.

“...it’s for the art festival. I’m making a collage out of them.” It seemed like he was going to paste the photos he had cut out to form one complete piece of art.

“You’re going all out, huh?”

“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do my best. If I hand in an unfinished product, I’ll look like a fool, and I don’t really want that to happen…”

Ui took a deep breath.

The annual art festival that had been a slump for all these years was now booming. It had become a topic of discussion among investigators, which was unheard of. And even though the deadline wasn’t near, the art festival executive committee was worried that the hall they rented every year to display the artwork wouldn’t be big enough to display them all.

“I never thought this would become this big of a deal.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted though, Koori-senpai?” Wasn’t this now an event that was suitable for Arima to adjudicate?

“...there’s a limit to everything.”

However, Ui was a pessimist. As Hairu pondered just what exactly was making him this high-strung, a visitor suddenly came into the room.

“Mmm...Koori-boy.”

With just a glance she could see the muscles bulging from the man’s brawny figure, hair styled into a pompadour coupled with a voluminous moustache. This was Tanakamaru Mougan, a Special Class investigator with a presence that was like overwhelming stench of a million spices mixed together.

He was a veteran investigator known as ‘Mougan of the 2nd ward’, but to Hairu he was simply someone who reeked of old man. His sweltering presence made it seem like the task room was heating up.

Ui stared wide-eyed at Mougan who looked like he had been planning to meet Ui all along, though it seemed like Ui hadn’t been expecting him at all.

“I heard about it, boy.” Mougan lumbered over to Ui’s side and approached him thoughtlessly.

“...h-heard what?”

“That you set this year’s art festival on fire!” Mougan was applauding for Ui as his way of praising him. Just how in the world did he make his claps sound like large explosions?

Ui was making a face that was impossible to describe because of the unwanted flattery. Was the sullen expression Ui made whenever the popularity of the art festival was brought up because this was the news that was being spread?

“I wholeheartedly believe that events that enrich life, or in other words, ‘adult extracurricular activities’, are a fantastic idea. Take me for example. I organized the CCG Dandy Contest and the Inter-ward Baseball Classic, though I wasn’t able to turn them into major events. Unbelievable, perhaps I should call you a young genius now...hmm?”

Mougan, who had been stroking his moustache the entire time while he was talking, grabbed Ui’s scraps of photos. “Koori-boy, you’re in the middle of making something as well! Hoh, how fascinating, you’re making a collage, I see.”

“Yeah…”

Mougan could guess what Ui was trying to make right away, thanks to his deep and extensive knowledge of culture from having grown up in a temple. “It must be difficult preparing the photos though.”

“I suppose…”

Mougan nodded in agreement, and then he suddenly made a fist and thumped his chest. “I see, boy! Is it that you need my help with your art!?”

“No, I’m good,” Ui said, turning him down.

But Mougan’s reply was, “Don’t hold back! So you were interested in my camera!?”

Once Mougan became like this, there was no stopping him. He firmly grabbed Ui’s shoulders. “Hahaha! Looks like we’ll be dripping sweat and tears for your fantastic art! Fwahahahaha!!”

Ui’s day is getting worse, Hairu thought as Mougan’s explosive laugh resounded in the room.

Even people with art experience were having difficulties. This wasn’t limited to just Ui, however.

“I told you, this should be like this, like this, like that, and this should be like that. Get what I’m sayin’, buzzcut?”

“No, I don’t get what you mean!” the Qs squad leader Shirazu yelled out without thinking in response to Saiko’s rude explanation.

Shirazu and Saiko were currently in a family restaurant. Sitting on top of Shirazu’s table was a glass of juice brought from the fountain machine and a motorcycle magazine alongside a sketchbook which had two circles and horizontal lines drawn in it. At a quick glance the drawing looked like an eggplant or a cucumber, but it looked like a motorcycle to Shirazu.

Shirazu was trying to get an award from the art festival, as the winners would receive prize money, though it was a meagre amount. But to him, whose biggest desire was to make money, this was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.

The problem was that it was virtually impossible for him to win an award. Shirazu had lived a life unrelated to the arts, and going for a ride on his motorcycle suited his nature more than holding a paintbrush. Because of that, he was aiming for the honourable mention rather than shooting too high for the grand prize or the runner-up prize. He had asked Saiko to teach him how to draw because it seemed like her drawings that she doodled to waste time were easier to draw compared to Urie’s oil paintings.

But it was more difficult than he’d expected putting it into practice. “For starters, show me what you can do,” Saiko had said, so he had tried drawing a motorcycle while glancing back and forth at the magazine. But it was evident that he couldn’t draw to save his life.

“Shiragin, how’re you supposed to ride that spoopy horse?”

“...shut up.”

On the other hand, Saiko’s paper had a well-drawn motorcycle drawn in a distorted style. Shirazu and Saiko had drawn the same motorcycle, yet the drawings looked like completely different things.

“I thought it’d be easy to draw if it was familiar and something that I like…”

“Guys are just like that. They can’t see the people in front of them.”

“And this ain’t even a person. Shit…” Shirazu fell flat onto the table and groaned. “I just wanna cover my face in black ink, stamp it against the paper, and just submit that as my self-portrait.”

“I won’t stop you then.”

“That’s when you’re supposed to stop me.”

“As a squad member, I shall watch over the Qs squad leader’s naked body print.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Ahh, I wanna eat a ton of karaage.”

“I don’t care if that’s what you wanna order, just teach me properly!” Today was Shirazu’s treat to Saiko for helping him out.

“Right, right,” Saiko said as she pressed the call button to bring the waitstaff.

While he watched her order, Shirazu thought about how surprisingly peaceful it was now.

“...eventually I’ll forget that I’m an investigator.”

“You know, I always forget.”

“And just how do you do that?”

“‘Cause the only thing in my mind right now is karaage. Karaage, karaage!” Saiko sang the word in her own tune. In this kind of state she wouldn’t be able to coach him until she was done eating. Shirazu, having become bored again, began filling the blank spaces on the page with circles. The small circles began to multiply.

The reason why he had been noticing how peaceful things were was because of the Auction Cleanup Operation that had taken place recently. Shirazu harboured all kinds of emotions from that battle.

I want to...be beautiful.

Those were the words that his opponent Nutcracker had spit out after his finishing blow, words that didn’t sound like anything like what a ghoul would say. Because of that, when he stabbed her it hadn’t felt like he had exterminated a ghoul, but rather killed a person, and those emotions weighed down Shirazu’s heart. It had reminded him of the mortality of humans, and also related his father’s suicide.

He wasn’t the type to think too deeply, but he couldn’t erase these thoughts burning within himself. Though in that fight, it wasn’t just Shirazu’s heart that had been affected. All the Qs had been affected one way or another; it had affected Saiko who was always cracking jokes, it had affected Urie, it had affected Mutsuki as well.

“Lotsa nice circles there, Shiragin.”

“Hm? Oh, you’re right.” Before he knew it, Shirazu had drawn circles all over the paper without any gaps in between them.

“Wow, this is kinda disturbing.”

Looking at the aggregation of circles, Shirazu closed the sketchbook, but Saiko grabbed it. “THIS IS...ART!”

“The hell are you sayin’?”

She pulled the sketchbook out of Shirazu’s hand and looked at the page covered in circles. “Shiragin, draw a ton of small circles on a big piece of paper. A ginormous one.”

“Huh? That sounds like a pain to do, where’s the fun in that?” he said exasperatedly to Saiko, who sounded like she was off her rockers.

She waved her finger and clicked her tongue at him. “You don’t understand what art is, so of course you’d find it boring.”

“Oi, I’m startin’ to get pissed off at you art geeks.”

“Funny comin’ from the CCG bastard! Draw the damn circles, draw them!” Saiko shoved the paper in front of Shirazu’s face.

“Stop it already!” Shirazu said, swatting the paper away.

“Do you want the prize or not, Ginshira!?” Saiko exclaimed.

“I want it…”

“Then listen to what the charismatic Saiko has to say!”

The way he was right now, he wouldn’t even have a remote chance of winning the award. That being said, Saiko didn’t think that those circles would help him win one, but she felt that Shirazu could somehow manage since circles were easy to draw.

“Fine,” Shirazu replied.

Now that the artistic direction was settled, all that was left was to just draw it. He and Saiko split ways when Saiko said that she was going to go buy art supplies for herself, and he began walking to the Chateau.

“Art festival, huh…”

Urie was going to paint as always, and Haise was going to make a gingerbread castle with Mutsuki.

“...”

Now that he thought about it, it felt like Haise had changed as well after the Auction Cleanup Operation, though it was hard to say just what exactly had changed in him.

“...who knows, he might just be tired or something,” Shirazu muttered to himself, and then he suddenly remembered something. “Ah, that’s right.”

Shirazu changed his course of direction. He soon arrived at a cafe called :re, and passed through the entrance.

“Welcome,” the cafe owner came to greet with a gentle smile. She was a lovely woman who looked around Shirazu’s age.

“Ah, thanks.” Shirazu sat at the counter and ordered a cup of coffee which the taciturn male employee behind the counter prepared for him.

The aroma of coffee rising from the steam, he placed the cup to his mouth without waiting to cool it down. It was delicious as always. Haise had teared up when he drank this coffee.

“Looks like you’re the only one here today,” the owner called out.

Shirazu raised his head. “Ah, yeah. The black coffee I drank last time was amazing.”

“Thank you so much. Come to think of it, we met at the hospital as well.”

A while back Shirazu had gone with Hanbee from the Suzuya squad to visit Juuzou’s partner Shinohara, and that was when they had passed by each other. It had been just for that moment, but it seemed like she remembered.

If that was the case, then maybe he could bring up the topic.

“Um, has Sassan come by?” he asked. “Um, he was the person that was with me before. But not the one wearing the eyepatch…”

“I haven’t seen him recently,” she replied. Recently, so that meant that he came by a few times. “He must be pretty busy, I heard he was doing some investigator work.”

“Huh, I don’t think it’s that busy right now though…” He should have plenty of time now because things were usually calm after a big operation like the Auction Cleanup Operation. Maybe it was because he was spending time interacting with the ghoul he had invoked ownership rights over?

“...um, you know, there’s going to be a CCG art festival coming up soon.”

“C-CCG?” The manager seemed to respond more to the fact that he had said CCG instead of the art festival.

“Pretty weird, huh? Sassan and the guy with the eyepatch, Tooru, are gonna make a gingerbread castle. It’s gonna be pretty fun, so if you have time do you wanna drop by? It’s open to the public.”

“I’d love to go, but the shop…” She looked at the male employee standing behind the counter. The silent man was washing the mugs and didn’t seem to react to anything she had said.

“Oh, I guess there’s nothing you can do about that. It was only if you had time.”

“Yes. Thank you for offering.” The owner gave him a soft smile, then went back to work. Shirazu also finished his coffee and left the cafe.

“Hnn...so much for that.” He’d thought about how happy Haise would’ve been if she had come…

“Oh well. Though I’m pretty sure I saw Sassan pass by here secretly…”

If the opportunity came up, Shirazu would ask her again. This time Shirazu walked towards the Chateau.

“Did that guy leave yet?”

After Shirazu left, a bespectacled man appeared from the back of the shop. With a listless expression on his face, Nishio Nishiki, known by the CCG as the S-rate ghoul Serpent, sat down in a chair with a thud. His face had been covered by a mask back when he fought the Qs, but they still heard his voice, which was why he had been hiding in the back.

“Shouldn’t you go to the festival, Manager?”

“Idiot,” the cafe owner, Kirishima Touka, replied to Nishiki’s words. She stared at the door that Shirazu had exited out of. If Sasaki Haise knew that he had spent time with Touka and the others as Kaneki Ken, what would he think?

“Make me coffee,” Nishiki demanded to Touka.

“Go make it yourself,” she retorted.

“So stingy,” he said, and he went behind the counter. “But an art festival, huh...it’s just like grade school.”

“What’s wrong with that? It sounds fun,” Touka said as she washed Shirazu’s mug.

School.

The sound of it made her chest ache.

Touka-chan, do you want to go to the zoo together?

She unexpectedly recalled that scene. This was back when she’d still been attending school.

The zoo?

Yeah! I can bring lunch, and we can go sometime during summer break...I want us to go together again. I know you’re busy with studying but…

It’s fine. It’s not like I’m gonna fail just by taking a day off.

In this life where all she’d done was lose, the only things she had accumulated were promises she’d been unable to keep.

Once we graduate, Yoriko, are we going to drift apart?

...I don’t wanna...

Yoriko. Even if we graduate, we’ll still hang out together.

The words she had said to her beloved friend in the end, became nothing but a lie.

“Hmm, I guess. Being able to do stupid things like that does seem like a lot of fun,” Nishiki said as he finished making his coffee. He then suddenly let out a sharp laugh.

“What’s that laugh for? You’re grossing me out.”

“What’d you say?”

Nishiki glared at her, but realizing that arguing would be pointless, he returned to his seat at the counter with his coffee in hand.

“I just remembered this guy from the school festival planning committee at the university who had the dumbest haircut.” He looked at Touka while grinning. He had been at the university that Nishiki had attended.

“...”

Touka looked at the door again. Even now, she still remembered the moment that she saw Kaneki - no, Sasaki Haise - appear and pass through that door.

Touka wiped the washed mug and returned it to the shelf. “Looks like he’s pretty valued by them.”

From the way Shirazu spoke, Kaneki was needed by them, and she could imagine that that was how Kaneki had come to call that place home.

“Valued? That’s kinda fucking scary, you comparing him to a female lion?”

“Huh? Want me to kill you?” She glared at him again, but feeling foolish she dropped her gaze right away. When she turned away, she saw Yomo looking at her, and she looked away again.

“...”

When was the last time he’d called her Touka-chan?

“...Nishiki, it’d be too difficult for me to go, so why don’t you go to the art festival in my stead instead?”

“Don’t you even feel a bit sorry for daring me to go out in this cold weather?”

The sun was setting, and soon the cafe would become crowded with salarymen and students commuting from school that Touka and Yomo would have to serve coffee to.

Speaking of which, a long time ago she had used her younger brother Ayato as her practice partner for making coffee. But no matter how much he drank, he never once said that it was delicious.

What would it taste like now? She wouldn’t be able to make her coffee taste like Yoshimura’s, but could she bring out the taste of Anteiku?

It was then that Haise floated into her mind. He had cried drinking her coffee. His name may have changed, but he was still him even with his memories lost.

Touka brought the coffee she’d made to her mouth. It wasn’t that she wasn’t lonely. It was just that there was an emotion more powerful than loneliness inside of her and in the cafe too.

The sun was setting, and the bars in town were bustling with people. The ghoul investigator, Fura Taishi, entered a cozy pub and found the back of a nondescript-looking man sitting at the bar.

“Hey,” he called out with a wry smile, without bothering to check who the person that blended into the pub was. The man, Hirako Take, looked over his shoulder. Seeing Fura, he gave him a small nod.

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

“Go ahead.”

After ordering drinks, Fura talked to Hirako while snacking on the appetizers that they were served. “The art festival’s become a pretty big deal.”

“It really has.”

“Are you participating as well? What are you going to submit?”

“Kuramoto told me to submit pictures of my dog.”

“I see.”

Hirako was supposed to submit something but had no clue what to submit, so the vice squad leader Itou Kuramoto had suggested he take photos of his dog.

Speaking of photos, Ui was also using photos to make a collage, but he was losing his mind because of Mougan, who had suggested that they work together. All of Mougan’s photos that he took were spirit photography, which he couldn't use. It was strange, considering Mougan had grown up in a temple. Furthermore, Mougan had even destroyed his camera after being disgusted by a ghost that he had photographed.

“What about you?” Hirako asked as Fura took out his cigarette and lit it.

Fura shook his head silently. “Art isn’t really my thing, plus Arima isn’t making anything himself.”

It had only been for a short time, but Arima had been in the same class as Fura in the past. Fura had become an investigator, and it had been many years since he last spent time with Arima, but he couldn’t forget his memories from that time.

I’m going to continue pursuing ghouls, moving from place to place. It’s been a while since I spoke to someone my age. Although I wasn’t quite able to live a normal school life...it was surprisingly fun. Thank you.

They had met in his second year of high school. Arima was blunt, didn’t have much to say yet spoke too many unnecessary things, and was indifferent to his work. But he had saved Fura’s life in the process. Once Fura’s wish to defeat the ghoul who had robbed the life and right eye of his childhood friends was granted, Arima had left.

Even to this day, many years later, Arima was someone Fura didn’t understand, but he might just be the type who didn’t like talking and kept to himself.

“...hey, that reminds me.”

Hirako was now a squad leader with his own subordinates, but he had been requested to return to the Arima squad to help Arima. Considering how the vice squad leader Itou had grown, Hirako’s time there would be up soon. However, figuring that Hirako wouldn’t have much to say about that matter, Fura swallowed his words and smoked his cigarette instead. As the man who had served as the long-time partner of the ‘strongest investigator’, he must be carrying a heavy burden.

“...do you have pictures of your dog with you now?”

“No, the only ones I had I submitted already.”

“I see. I’ll look for them with my wife and daughter then.”

He exhaled the smoke from his mouth, and the smoke immediately dissipated.

Time went by, and the art festival slowly drew near.

“...one, two, three...fufu.”

The white drawing paper was steadily being coloured bit by bit by Hairu, who was sitting on the floor, surrounded by coloured pencils strewn about.

She had drawn a field of flowers, the backdrop of her memories.

The deadline of the art festival that brought about excitement absent in previous years, finally arrived. Amidst the grief of the investigators who couldn’t make their artwork in time, the judging began.

“...why is there so much art?”

Every year, someone from the Washuu clan acted as the adjudicator. This year it was Washuu Matsuri. He looked at the crowded displays of artwork with a tired expression. Just reviewing all this artwork would take ages.

Meanwhile, Washuu Yoshitoki, the CCG Bureau Director and Matsuri’s father, looked at the art with a smile. “Isn’t this great? The art festival was a success!”

“It’s a waste of time.”

“These were all made with precious time. You should take your time admiring them,” Yoshitoki chided to the rebellious Matsuri. However, Matsuri’s discontent face refused to disappear.

A distance away from them, Arima was observing the artwork by himself.

He had been told to select just one piece of art that he liked. All he had to say was “I like this,” and that would be the end of it.

Arima moved forward at a quick pace.

He continued without stopping, and it seemed like he was going to run out of artwork.

“...”

Arima stopped. It was a single picture. A scene of flowers blooming profusely. Standing in the middle of the flowers was a gentle-looking teenager with black hair and a young girl.

“...”

A landscape from long, long ago.

Arima stayed there for a short while, gazing at that picture.

Previous chapter || Next chapter

#Tokyo Ghoul #Tokyo Ghoul:re #Tokyo Ghoul:re[quest]#Translations #my translations #Ui Koori #Ihei Hairu #Tanakamaru Mougan #Yonebayashi Saiko #Shirazu Ginshi #Kirishima Touka #Nishio Nishiki #Fura Taishi #Hirako Take #Washuu Matsuri #Washuu Yoshitoki #Arima Kishou

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wozman23 · 4 years ago

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Ode to Elf

Today, Netflix released a new miniseries, The Holiday Movies That Made Us, which features 45 minutes of insight into the creation and making of Elf. It’s worth the watch for any Elf fan. I made plans today to watch it, and immediately chased it with the full length film. I’ve always been a ginormous Elf fan! I think it is debatably Will Ferrell’s best film - rivaled possibly by Step Brothers, and with a few others close on its heels. But I’ll even one up that statement by saying it is easily the greatest Christmas movie, as well as one of the greatest movies of all time. (My Top 3 are probably The Jerk, Billy Madison, and Elf.)

The mini-documentary is the perfect supplement, really putting a bow on what makes Elf so great. I encourage everyone to go watch it, but I'll be bringing up just a few of the things discussed in it, and elsewhere, for the sake of further proving that Elf is a classic.

As is seen in many Hollywood cases, there was some trepidation going in. The screenplay was written ten years prior in 1993, with Jim Carrey in mind. At one point, there were talks to feature Chris Farley, but writer, David Berenbaum, did not like that direction, citing it would have been a very different movie. And as much as I love Farley, and wish he were still around making movies, I agree. Both he and Jim would probably have been great playing their own version of the character in their own unique way, but, while I may be biased since Will Ferrell is my favorite comedic actor, I think the role ultimately found the perfect Buddy with Will. He just hits perfectly on playing the sweet, naive, innocent yet clueless fish-out-of-water. It’s also what makes Step Brothers so good. Even many of his other characters, like Ron Burgundy, have a little bit of that DNA dipped into contrastingly more vain, reckless, foolish personality traits. I think there’s no greater type of comedic hero than the innocently stupid comedic hero. It’s pretty apparent from my Top 3, as well as my love for similar archetypes like Will Forte’s MacGruber, Joe Dirt, or Conan himself.

Now I’ve been on the Ferrell Train since the mid-90s, growing up on that generation of SNL and Night at the Roxbury. In college, not long before Elf, I went to a screener for Old School, which was one of Will’s early big screen breakout performances. Yet apparently, in the process of getting Elf greenlit in the early 2000s, prior to Old School, there weren’t many executives willing to take a shot on a movie where Will played the lead. What a bunch of cottonheaded ninnymuggins!

But those involved stuck to their guns, and they eventually convinced someone to hand them 30 million dollars to make the film. From there, an incredible string of smart decisions were made as talent was brought on board.

Writer, David Berenbaum, and his team of relative unknowns at the time had some key qualities that they wanted Elf to have. David took a lot of inspiration from the Rankin/Bass stop motion classic, Rudolph - which if you know much about me, you know how much I love it as well, being a misfit and all. (I wrote about it here six years ago.) Yet I never really realized just how much Rudolph inspired it, so it was a joy to see the documentary explain just how much of Rudolph permeates Elf’s story, themes, presentation, costumes, and set design.

When director Jon Favreau signed on, he shared some input that really cemented him as the perfect director. He too wanted to double down on the Rankin/Bass homage. He also wanted it to be a nice family Christmas movie, one that you could share with your kids, as well as a timeless Christmas classic. Check, check, and check! Mission accomplished!

There were some other interesting facts I didn’t know as well. The casting feels perfect. However, the original casting choice for Walter, Buddy’s dad, was for Garry Shandling. With great respect to Garry Shandling, I think their back up, James Caan was a much better fit. Caan really brings home the qualities of a cold, isolated businessman that a likeable Garry would have had to really sell. You need that non-comedic straight character for that role. Ed Asner plays a perfect Santa, as we’ve seen multiple times. And Bob Newheart is a terrific Papa Elf. Plus, this brilliant pairing of Will and Mary Steenburgen was just a hint of what was to come via Step Brothers and The Last Man on Earth. There are a lot of great supporting actors as well, like the writing duo of Andy Richter and Kyle Gass, and the secretary, Amy Sedaris. And last but not least, Zooey Deschanel. She’s been my muse for years now, but Elf was the moment I fell in love with her. Her character was pitched as everything under the sun, but finding a singer just complements everything so well. The one thing that’s always seemed weird to me is the shower scene. What kind of department store has a full locker room with a shower?! But when logistics is your only complaint about a movie, you know it must be good. One other interesting casting tidbit involves Jovie’s boss, played by comedian Faizon Love. He was a last minute add. They thought they had Wanda Sykes onboard, so much so that they already had the Wanda name tag for the costume. Faizon stuck with it, donning the name tag, so the character remains Wanda. I don’t know that I ever noticed that.

Early in production, the decision was made to avoid using CGI. Effects with actors were all achieved via some trickery with perspective. And the stop motion characters duties were handled by The Chiodo Brothers, who I oddly just learned about a few months back when I stumbled upon the 1988 cult classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, tucked deep in my Netflix recommendations. (If you enjoy campy horror films, I highly recommend it.) Growing up on the works of Jim Henson, I’ve always appreciated the use of analog means over digital options. Choosing that route for Elf paid off immediately, and will go a long way at allowing the film to maintain that timeless quality. As with any movie, there were conflicts. When the movie was originally screened, execs thought it would be smart to cut the final heartwarming singing scene and just end with Santa flying away - once again adding to a tremendous pile of dumb ideas that the suits have had over the years when it comes to controlling creative projects. The team was a bit taken aback by it, but apparently with Will Ferrell’s recent box office success with Old School, there were thoughts of cutting the film differently, favoring a style similar to Will’s Frank the Tank character instead of the lovably innocent Buddy. Cooler heads eventually prevailed when they realized that would be impossible given the footage, and we got the film as it stands today, as intended.

I vividly remember anticipating the movie. It’s probably one of my most anticipated films of all time. It felt like every week there was a new preview, a new cut chocked full of new jokes and gags. After what seemed like a dozen of them, I was growing a bit concerned that there would be nothing new left to see when the film found its way to theaters. Then release time came, I paraded myself off to the theater, and I was dumbfounded by just how much comedy was packed into that 90 minutes. The quantity and quality of the humor is impressive. Every scene feels important, and was iterated on for maximum humor. Will’s improvisation constantly enhances scenes. Like many of Ferrell’s movies, it’s an insanely quotable movie, but it’s not all just written jokes and physical comedy. There are some great silent parts, like just capturing Buddy’s reactions. And one of my favorite moments can easily be missed, when Buddy is caught on the evening news, traipsing through Central Park. It’s staged exactly like Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot footage, with a similar gait, a peek over the shoulder, and somewhat blurry camera footage.

Little details like that are precisely the things that make Elf the classic is set out to be. It feels like it was written for a misfit like me, catering to my loves for Bigfoot, Rudolph, and a lovably naive comedic hero. It’s funny and silly, yet heartwarming and endearing. And its a film I’d happily sit down and watch with any kid from one to ninety-two, regardless of whether it’s the month of December, or some time in early April. P.S. There have been talks about a sequel. James Caan recently conjectured that it never happened because Ferrell and Favreau “didn’t get along very well.” Those two are both far more successful these days, and could easily back the project if they wanted to. But as much as I love Elf, sometimes things are just too good to risk repeating with lackluster results. Look no further than the last franchise I wrote about, Ghostbusters. An Elf 2 would probably easily make a profit, regardless of quality. It could even be a good movie. But there’s probably a greater chance that it wouldn’t hold a candle to the original. The story is perfect, and contains itself well. There’s no need for a continuation. It’s really hard to top something when the bar was set so stratospherically high the first time. And attempting to do so could easily diminish the efforts of the original, sabotaging everything Berenbaum, Favreau, and the team achieved. Elf is the Rudolph of this generation: a timeless classic with a tremendous amount of heart. Let’s just appreciate it for that, and leave it as it is, for everyone to enjoy with everyone they enjoy.

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canyousevmyheavydirtysoul · 7 years ago

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*Halloween* The Better Me. (Gerard Way x Reader)

Request: a user on Wattpad: 'Idk if it's too late but could you do a prompt 6, with Gerard Way, where the reader is an asocial bean apart from their only friend(Gerard) and doesn't go to parties . When Gerard wants to come and forcefully take her to a Halloween party he finds the always smiling and laughing girl self-harming. The rest is up to you ^.^ I hope it's not too late/Then, only where he wants to take her to a Halloween party and she doesn't want to.'

Prompt 6: Grey/glum days

Being asocial and having a friend like Gerard wasn't the easiest of things to live with. Understandably, due to your condition, you tended to avoid any kind of interaction with people that wasn't absolutely necessary. You were quite content with spending your days in solitary – holed up in your apartment with your favourite books and series. But with Gerard being your only friend, and him being a lively extrovert who's always at some or other social gathering, he would constantly try and get you to leave your house, something you despised about him.

Today was a day like any other; you were cooking up some pasta in the kitchen while Supernatural played in the background when Gerard strolled in, whistling joyfully as he shrugged off his jacket and blindly tossed it onto the sofa.

"Hey, (Y/N)!"

"No," you said, not even bothering to look up from the sauce you were stirring in the saucepan.

Gerard huffed in exasperation and furrowed his eyebrows as he threw his hands up sideways. "I didn't even suggest anything!"

"But you were about to," you raised an eyebrow, "and seeing as how we both know that my inevitable answer will be 'no', I figured I'd just save us both some time."

"Just hear me out," he pleaded, walking over to you and leaning against the counter next to you, "Please."

"Gerard," you sighed, stirring the sauce a final time before tapping the spoon to get rid of the excess liquid, placing it on a side plate and turning to face your friend, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, but," he tried reasoning with you, "will you at least let me tell you what it is and then you can make your decision?"

Realising that he wasn't about to let this one go, you closed your eyes and nodded slowly, earning a huge grin from the singer.

"My friend Matt is throwing a Halloween costume party tomorrow night, and I thought it would be cool if you came with."

You stared blankly at Gerard for a few seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter, making him frown.

"Thats's funny," you giggled again and pointed at him, "You're funny, Gerard."

Gerard frowned as he darted his eyes to the side, trying to figure out what exactly he had said that caused you to laugh. "...I didn't say anything funny?"

"It's funny that you think I would go to a party."

Gerard groaned in aggravation. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" You shook your head, adamant that you wouldn't be leaving your house tomorrow evening. "Please," he begged, making his eyes wide at you and pouting, "for me."

"No, don't do that," you warned, jutting the spoon you had just picked up at your friend's chest, "Don't."

"Remember that time I saved you from falling off of the balcony," he started, staring off into space as if the memory was playing out in front of him.

"Gerard..."

"And you said that you owed me one?"

"Don't you dare."

"I'm cashing in that favor."

"You can't just-"

He held up a hand to silence you. "Yes, I can. And I just did. I was being nice by offering you the chance to agree to coming by your own free will, but now you have no choice."

"Fuck you, Gerard Way," you spat through clenched teeth.

"Maybe later," he winked.

You pinned the last piece of veil to your Corpse Bride costume, smoothing out the few creases that had formed in the skirt of your dress.

You look stupid; everyone's gonna be gossiping about you when you step into the party.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you shook your head in an attempt to get rid of that annoyingly menacing voice at the back of your head. You walked over to the full length mirror on the door of your wardrobe, holding up the hem of your dress so as not to trip, and examined yourself from head to toe. Your costume was great, even if you said so yourself. It was eerily realistic, and you were proud of yourself for putting it together in such a short space of time; thankfully, your time in art school had made doing the make-up considerably easier.

What are you doing? You don't go to parties - it's not your thing. You should just stay home, it'll save you the embarrassment of being cross-examined and most probably ridiculed by a huge crowd.

The voice had a point there. This entire thing was very unlike you, and you so much wanted to just ditch the party and cuddle up with your laptop and some junk food. You chewed on your bottom lip while readjusting the tiara on your head, brainstorming ways to get out of going. Many great ideas came to mind, but you knew that Gerard would see right through all of them, no matter how convincing they might be.

Sighing, you turned to grab your cell before calling an Uber, walking downstairs and climbing into the car a few minutes later. Murmuring a greeting to the driver, you confirmed the address and leaned back into the seat as he pulled away.

Staring solemnly out the window, you fixed your eyes on the swirling grey clouds above - remnants of today's glum and dreary weather; a perfect match to how you were feeling at the moment. How lovely.

You knew that there was no getting out of this - Gerard would literally come and drag you kicking and screaming if he had to - so you might as well get it over with. The party started at 21:30, so your plan was to show up, socialize (ew) for a little while, and then be back in your bed by 22:30. 23:00 for the latest. You had mentioned your plan to Gerard, and he was totally fine with it, happy to have accomplished getting you to come out and realizing that getting you to spend more than 10 minutes - let alone an hour - at a party was a miracle, and knowing not to push his luck.

Gerard's friend... Michael? Mickey? Mark? Whatever his name is' house came into view after a car ride which was miles too short in your opinion, and you swallowed the bitter taste forming in the back of your mouth. Quickly texting Gerard to let him know that you had arrived, you took a few notes out from the back of your phone case and payed the driver, thanking him and stepping out into the chilly night air.

You slowly stepped up the path as you waited for Gerard to open the front door, and when he did, you picked up the pace, the sound of heavy music and loud chatting filtering out from inside the house. The place was huge and judging from the amount of noise you were hearing, it was undoubtably packed to capacity. The thought caused a knot to form in your stomach.

"Hey, my love," Gerard - who was a vampire, obviously - greeted you with a warm smile, and even though you were as uneasy as ever at that moment, his smile still managed to calm you down, even making you smile back.

You stepped up to right in front of him, and extended your arms sideways, pursing your lips. "I'm here."

Gerard chuckled, leaning against the doorframe while his eyes raked over your body, taking in your appearance and given you an impressed look. "Yes, you are."

"I'm also terrified."

"Don't be," he placed a reassuring arm around your shoulders and gently guided you inside, "It'll be fine. And I'll be there the whole time."

Looking around at your surroundings as Gerard guided you through the crowded passages, you tried your hardest to not throw up from the nervousness of being around this many people in such close proximity. You breathed a happy breath once the two of you emerged in the less crowded kitchen, where Gerard guided you towards a group of three people standing around the island.

When the tall guy who was dressed as Mick Jagger, holding a glass of what looked like punch spotted the two of you, he said something to the other two - who nodded and dispersed - before turning to you and Gerard with a huge smile.

"Hey! You must be the famous (Y/N)!" he greeted, gesturing at you in a boisterous manner and smiling a ginormous smile. "I've heard so much about you! It's an absolute pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, likewise..."

"Matt."

"Matt," you nodded. Ah, so that's what it was.

"A quick disclaimer," he held up a finger and squinted a little, "I'm not as bad as Gerard's stories make me out to be. I promise."

You gave him a confused look, which made him frown.

"Wait," he turned to Gerard, offended, "you've never told her about me?"

"For good reason," Gerard scoffed, arm still around you, "you're a terrible influence."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Yeah," Gerard sucked on his teeth, nodding, "you kinda are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not and I can prove it to you!" Matt challenged, a devious smirk on his face, "I'll spend the rest of the night with you and (Y/N), and if the two of you are still fine at the end of the party, then it'll be clear that I'm not a bad influence at all. If the lovely lady is okay with having me around, that is."

Both men turned to look at you expectantly, and you felt your heart rate increase.

"Is that okay with you, (Y/N)?" Gerard asked, clearly concerned.

You gulped. You were nervous; you didn't know Matt. But at the same time, you didn't want to ruin the night. So you obliged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Rock 'n roll," Matt shot you a wink and clicked his tongue, "First things first..." he walked around to the fridge and opened it, "what can I get you to drink?"

Downing the last of the liquid in the cup, you tossed it to the side, letting it fall to the floor with a clunk.

"AND HIS NAME WAS..." you yelled out, standing atop the kitchen island.

"JOHN CENA!" Everyone else in the room finished, cheering and drinking while someone handed you another drink.

Gerard stood in the doorway, gawking at the sight of his extremely introverted friend, drinking up a storm and leading a hoard of intoxicated strangers in various chants and dances. "What the fuck... how the fuck... Matt!"

"Yup?" Matt popped up next to Gerard, taking a sip from his cup.

"I was gone for five minutes... Literally five, I counted. And I come back to this? What did you do?!"

Matt shrugged. "Hey, man, all I did was give her one wine cooler. The rest was all (Y/N)."

"That's impossible. She's the most introverted person I've ever met! There's no way..." Gerard trailed off, shaking his head, still not believing what was occurring right in front of his eyes.

"Clearly she's a different person when she has a couple drinks in her," Matt chuckled, the two guys watching you dance and sing your heart out to Bon Jovi.

"GERARD!" You called, waving him over excitedly. Gerard took a deep breath and made his way over to you. "Gerard, sing with me! You have a pretty voice!"

"Not tonight, my love," he said softly, gently pulling you down and tucking your hair behind your ear.

You pouted. "Why not?"

"Because you're not you right now, and I need to take you home so you can rest and get back to normal."

"I'm not me, I'm better!" You beamed at him, but when he didn't smile back, yours faltered. "Am I not better? Don't you like me like this? That's the only reason why I drank all those stuff," you waved a hand at the various bottles of alcohol around the room, "it makes me... not me... and I thought that's what you wanted," you shrugged.

Gerard's heart skipped a beat. "What?" He whispered, "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're always trying to get me to go out and stuff, and I never want to because it makes me feel weird. So I thought that if I was like this, and I could talk to people, that you'd like me better."

There's a lot of things Gerard had done that made him hate himself, but none of them made him hate himself quite as much as this did. It was then that he realized what he had done to you. He had forced you to do something that you weren't comfortable with, all because of selfish gain. He didn't stop to think about the consequences it might have on you, or just how much he was screwing with the way you saw yourself. Yet you went along with it. You were willing to put yourself into a situation you weren't at all comfortable with, do things you never would've done, and try and change yourself completely all because you thought it would make him like you better. But it didn't. He liked you just the way you were. He loved you just the way you were. And now he wished he had told you that sooner.

"(Y/N)..." he started, pulling you into his chest, "you don't have to change for me. You don't have to change for anyone. You're perfect, do you hear me? Perfect. Just the way you are. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that sooner, and I'm so sorry I made you do all of this, but I promise that from here on out, we never have to leave your house ever again, okay?"

"Okay," you mumbled against his chest, "but Gerard?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we invite Matt over? He and I are friends now."

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

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cinderellascribbles · 7 years ago

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1: Precanon

(ao3)

Sloane was missing something.

She had the battlewagon. She had the core-all thanks to the local dealer, not that they were yet aware of it. She just got the most badass getup for the race this weekend-a silky black cape that sent chills throughout her every time that she touched it, and a raven’s mask with real raven feathers that she was so proud of that she could burst. She had the skills needed to drive it-all of the medals and trophies hanging on her wall proved that, despite the giant learning curve that came from not having a second rider. She had almost everything that she needed for the race this weekend, save for one thing.

Standing quietly in the alleyway, watching the parade go by, she waited patiently for an opening. Di Mane, one of Goldcliff’s most famous designers, was touring the country to show off her designs, and had stopped by as a part of her tour. There was to be a big procession of all her stuff leading to the museum, where she would give a grand speech to start the grand opening. Even better, hundreds of shopkeepers had set up near the event, making the already crowded streets even more packed with people on top of the chaos. The whole thing ran through the part of town with the least amount of visibility, but throwing in the parade, the music, and the cheering crowds, it held the perfect opportunity. I should be okay, she mused as she slid on her mask, tightened the strings on her cape, and took one last breath, long as I can get past the other cops.

And cops there were by the boatload. If they weren’t darting between the crowd and the floats, making sure that people didn’t get too close, or thundering by on ginormous horses, they were surrounding Di’s personal cart, with the woman herself on it, waving and beaming at the crowd, draped in her most expensive creations-and the best of Goldcliff’s police that money could buy.

It was almost comedic how airtight they kept the perimeter around the float. There were two officers on horseback at least ten feet away from the front of the float, and two in the back. In between that were four officers bordering the float itself. Sloane recognized them from her previous run ins-the half elf in the front was formal, efficient, and brutal with evocation. Just looking at him made the burn scars that knotted her arm ache. The short, stubby one with the sleepy face was damn good with abjuration-Sloane put a hell of an effort in getting out of one of her last traps. The large reptile flanking the far left didn’t know anything as far as Sloane, but was dangerous enough in combat-Sloane saw them using styles that she didn’t recognize.

And all the way in the back was the halfling.

If Sloane had to describe her, she would describe her as compact-in word, movement, and action. It wasn’t just her short stature, or the clipped, proper way that she spoke to both civilians and criminals, or the corkscrew curls that were close to her head, just threatening to burst out from underneath her cap. If Sloane was pressed, she might say that it was in how she carried herself. In every run-in with this cop that Sloane could recall, no matter what trick she pulled, she’d always find the cop not too far behind her.

Sloane remembered this cop as unflappable, even in the heat of the moment-Dogged as hell, too, she recalled, even with the way that she gives chase. This parade wasn’t Sloane’s first run in with the halfling cop-they had clashed before over stolen valuables and magic items. Sloane would do everything to have the cop lose her trail-run through rushing water, navigate through crowded alleys, even hide in an abandoned factory at one point, but the halfling had swam through the river, bowled through the alley, and burst into the factory. She’d chalk it up to some overzealous newbie trying to get into some higher-up’s good graces, or a cadet bluffing themselves up into victory, or even just stupidity, but this felt different. Nobody was that overzealous, that self-absorbed, or that stupid. And every time that she’d meet with the cop-or more like, every time that she would corner her, she’d still be completely poised and precise, in speech, manner, and fighting style. The way that she moved in those few moments that they were alone, however, felt a little less rigid, less controlled, less compact. If I didn’t know any better, Sloane mused, I’d think she was enjoying herself.

A loud bang drew Sloane from her thoughts as a firecracker shell burst at the crowd’s feet, and pulling a flinch from Sloane. Delighted shrieks emanated from the audience as a prankster in a suit covered in firecrackers on the float in front of them laughed and beamed and waved, and despite her mission here, she felt a cloud foul over her good mood. Gaudy, she spat. On any other day, that’d be considered dangerous, but pay enough money here and it’s a party trick. Glowering, she sank her hand into the pocket and felt for her prop.

The trinket was barely worth mentioning-just a shell tied together with some leather, and a small pearl dangling from it. She had found it on some trader’s cart a few years back, and she figured that it wasn’t valuable enough to warrant him missing it much. The important thing was that it looked glossy and expensive, though. Sloane understood when everyone got upset when she took something that did something-block magic, or open doors, or give you good luck, but she found it funny the way that people put value on things that sparkled, glittered or just looked nice, then blamed her for stealing them. If people didn’t say they were valuable, she mused, then I wouldn’t be stealing them in the first place. She looked cautiously around the crowd, scanning for someone who would seemed like they would draw the most attention. Picking out a nervous looking redheaded girl, she walked past her quickly, brushing past her noticeably.

She saw the raven’s mask and the necklace dangling from Sloane’s hand before she saw Sloane. With a simple cry of “Thief!”, the crowd that she was in was roiling-some of them trying to get away, some of them trying to get a closer look, some of them trying to grab her. Good thing I don’t need to deal with crowds today, she thought idly. She touched the ring on her finger and jumped, sending her springing through the air and onto the rooftop. Even from up there, she could still hear the commotion down below her-people screaming and shouting, officers trying to control the crowd-and the orders of a commanding officer deploying a small squadron.

And I haven’t even really done anything this time, Sloane thought. She could barely imagine the chaos that would unfold if she did.

She could hear the squadron storming down the alleys, two on both sides of the building that she had landed on. She was well aware of the drill by now-they usually split off with the elf accompanying the conjurer, and the lizard going with the halfling. The magic user in the group would know some combat, and the fighter would have one or two magic objects on them, in the event that they were separated, but Sloane knew she could count on them not shifting roles. Choosing to attack on a parade day was a benefit as well-the streets were stuffed with attendees and sellers, but the police probably have most of the area behind me already cleared out. The area around her-full of small alleyways and tight turns-would be her best bet. I just need to know how far behind the cops are, she thought. Without stopping, she cast a downward glance at them.

Fuck, she spat as she watched the baby face caster and the giant lizard head directly in front of her, and the elf dart off behind her far left, the halfling trailing behind. On the one hand, she thought gleefully, it’s kind of flattering that they made a new formation for me. The lizard was built like a tank, and Sloane knew that they were there to cover the abjurer when she casted. So interrupting her concentration’s out. The elf wasn’t fast or strong, but he had a hell of an aim-her arm was testament enough to that. And even if the elf didn’t hit her, he’d certainly drive her into the abjurer’s trap. Then there was the matter of the halfling. Even if she weren’t part of the plan, she’s still good enough to take me in combat and cover the elf. It was all that Sloane could do to not just tilt her head to the sky and groan her frustration. In a matter of seconds, the entire squad had blown through her original plan-and her back ups-just by shifting positions.

Pushing past the panic that was rising through her, Sloane slowly sat down and reached into her pocket. Pushing past the magic bric-a-brac that she had packed, she brought up three smooth stones, midnight blue in color. She always did love how silent they made her as soon as she touched them-she couldn’t even hear the sound of her breathing, or the rustle of her cape. So it looks like the plan is to box me in, she mused, running the stones through her hand. The elf’s good enough to fire at long range, and the halfling’s fast enough to catch her while she was dodging his Magic Missiles, so going back or left is out. She cast a glance ahead, towards the abjurer and the lizard. The abjurer would box me in, and the lizard would make sure that I stayed put. Frustrated, she pursed her lips and let out a silent groan. So going forward or right is also out. Looking farther out forward, she saw nothing but rooftops of various lengths and areas. But the further they go, the closer that they get to the dumpsters and junkyards. Better than the developed areas behind her-she’d have more room to navigate, but she’d be sure to get caught.

She sat like that for a few minutes, weighing the risks and the options, twisting the rocks in her hands, trying to swallow the lump of frustration in her throat. The more that she sat there considering her options, the less time that she had to move-and the less patience that the officers down below would have.

At least there’s a breeze, she thought. Despite the still day, she was high enough to have the wind run by her, shifting her hair and her clothes. It helps me look cool in the ca-.

Realization hitting her lock a rock, she stopped mid-thought, her mind running with an idea, her hands racing around the stones. Without warning, they stopped, and she sprung up, rejuvenated with her new idea. Shrugging the cape off of her shoulders, she dipped deep into her pocket, searching intensely. I could have sworn that I had a rope in here…

She switched her concentration to the elf behind her. It looked like he had taken up rotations around a city block, moving in a line. The halfling was directly behind Sloane’s building, poised in a defensive position. Looking ahead, she caught the abjurer not even half a block away, the lizard directly next to her. Both of them were poised in front of the building that was two buildings away from Sloane. Not actively attacking, but not not attacking either, Sloane groused. At least the caster hasn’t put up the wall yet. Digging up the bottle from her pocket and gripping the cape in her other hand, she made her way towards the front of the building, concentrating on the elf’s rotations around the building. The breeze was right behind her, pushing her hair into her eyes and fluttering the cape forward. She looked behind her at the elf, who was finishing easily his tenth or twelfth revolution, and almost about to turn the corner away from Sloane. She held her breath as she counted his steps. This would be walkaround thirteen, she counted quietly as she listened for the hiss of air escaping the bottle. As soon as she heard it, she pushed the rest of the cork out with her thumb and slid it over the bottle. He was almost 500 feet to the corner of the block, and he would turn left, away from her.

Sloane took a breath in and let her thumb off of the bottle, flinging the cape in the direction that it was pointed. All she needed was a little gust…

The tornado quickly caught the cape, and the eye of the elf. Before Sloane could really process it, a Magic Missile flew right past it, and then another, then another. His eye on the target, he forged forward, casting with ease and directness. Sloane heard something break in the distance, and turned to see a large prismatic wall, more than a mile across, burst out from the ground, the abjurer crouched on the ground mid-cast. The lizard had taken a defensive stance around them, in the event that the Raven would try and break their concentration.

And the halfling was on the other side of the wall.

Sloane eyed the distance between the building that she was on top of and the wall that was right next to it. While she was no caster, she was familiar with the spell, and knew that going through the wall would leave her with some damage. Twisting the ring on her finger, she sprung down, then bounded over the wall and past the halfling, running straight as she hit the ground. She could hear the elf call out, “Hurley!” to the halfling, surprisingly more clerical than Sloane would expect from someone just outsmarted by a silk cape. She was after Sloane before he could even open his mouth, and she swore that she could feel the halfling’s-Hurley’s-feet hitting the dirt with every step.

So that’s her name, she thought with a pang of excitement.

Sloane knew that she should have been tired already, but all that she felt was the pulse of adrenaline running through her body, and the sting of exhilaration pushing her aching legs forward. She had spent the past few months planning, searching, calculating, all to make this meeting work out. She had run through what she felt was every possible variation of this evening, with all possible scenarios-the building crumbling beneath her, the prismatic wall breaking down early, her getting a muscle cramp-and did everything that she could to cut out any minor variable that could throw this off. There’s no way that this can screw up! she mused gleefully. ...Unless she arrests me. She shook her head, jarring the thought out. We’ll work around that.

Left, right, left, left. Sloane didn’t even have to think about where she was heading, she had visited so many times before. She turned around one last corner and walked right into a dead end. Set by a brick building easily 60 feet high, the little abandoned corner was a half circle of flat dirt, covered in junk, iron, and refuse around the edges. Perfect for a little rendezvous, she thought, looking over the area. To the average passerby, it looked dry and dead, but Sloane knew that anyone still enough could see small flowers climbing through the cracks in the ground.

She couldn’t resist-sinking to her knees, she scrutinized the little white flowers poking through. It’s probably because of the building’s shadow, she thought excitedly. I bet it creates enough condensation for them to grow.

Oh my God, what am I doing. She stood up and started dusting the dirt off of her pants, a flush rising up her face from catching herself in the moment. She’ll be here any second. The chase hadn’t treated her well, with dust hanging on her now loose clothes. I’m probably red from running all over the place, too, she sulked. Grabbing her mask, she made as if to take it off, then pushed it back on again. Wait, no. I should leave it on. She probably hasn’t seen me without it. Satisfied, she resumed her position against the wall, and then resumed attempting to remove the mask. Yeah, she’ll be real happy to see someone waiting for her in a dead end wearing an animal mask. Girls love that. She tugged on the ribbons in the back, only to realize that they were stuck.

Goddamnit.

Heart pounding, she slid it up her face to the top of her head, still working with the ribbons. How about, I just…

“Sloane Ramirez!”

Sloane froze mid tangle and tilted her head in the direction that the voice came from. The cop-Hurley-stood right behind her, feet planted firmly on the ground, hands held in a bare block position. Even caught with her fingers mid-tangle, just looking at her made Sloane feel enthused. She had just run-how far?- into an abandoned part of town, right after a twenty minute standoff, by herself after her team had gotten isolated from her, and she wasn’t even flagging.

She would be perfect.

Sloane gave the cop-Hurley!-a casual smile and swiped the mask from the top of her head. “Took you long enough,” she in a tone that she hoped sounded leisurely. “To get here. Running, I mean. Running fast.” Folding her arms behind her, she cast a teasing glance at her. “Feels like I’ve been here for hours.”

The halfling kept her stance. “Sloane Ramirez, you’re under arrest for petit theft and resisting an officer. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

...So not how she exactly imagined things going. Sloane had envisioned this with a bit more of Hurley dropping her stance and saying something like, From the kindness of my heart, I will hear you out. Sing me your cares, you muscular goddess, and then they’d sit and talk about Sloane’s plan for a while, right between the flowers in the cracks on the ground, with the breeze blowing through their hair.

Still, Sloane didn’t want to give up just yet. For months after each of their encounters, Sloane could close her eyes and still see Hurley’s attacking stance, her fluid movements, the gleam in her eye, and know that she was giving chase for as much the thrill of the chase as for the duties of her job. Even now, with Hurley right in front of her, Sloane could see the shake of her shoulders, measure the seconds between her breaths, watch her eyes follow Sloane’s movements. She isn’t tired at all, she realized with a jolt of euphoria. She was as excited for this meeting as Sloane herself was.

Taking one last nervous breath, she looked Hurley in the eyes and gave her her most devil-may-care smile.

“...actually, I was wondering if I could make you an offer.”

#hurloaneweek #The Adventure Zone #Petals To The Metal #hurloane #my writing

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