#which I really need to go back to my hometown to pick up the supplies my aunt left me when she died
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I’m on mobile so if it’s linked somewhere I am so sorry.
Where can we send mail to? I found a postcard a while back that made me think of you but had no clue where to send it or even if there was a place to send it so I didn’t purchase it. (Big regret. A short while after I started using postcards as book marks because my box of bookmarks failed to have anything that matched the book I had started reading.)
Hello Mr. Gaiman, silly question but how often would you say you. read mail. In the not general but instead fan way (only asking because I sent a letter ending in my own struggles in sending a letter and I don't really know what ever happened to it) (though I perhaps should have included in the letter the fact that I may never really know what happened to that letter).
I spontaneously remembered today it was something I sent a bit ago, though it seems odd and a little rude to ask about randomly like this. (Maybe the letter has gone forever and it's on it's own journey now. Perhaps it will come to visit me again in the future.)
(Sorry, if I don't end this ask right now I'm going to get super emotional about the adventures my letter is going on, as if it were a child) (thank you)
Due to COVID and people having to be in other places due to family things, the LA office wound up basically being empty for two years, and we've just closed it for a while. Everything was packed up and a lot of it was sent to me. It arrived a few days ago. Lots of boxes, and many of those boxes contain letters and suchlike things that were sent to me over the last few years. So now I just need to start working my way through them.
Definitely not odd or rude to ask.
#this is to anyone not Neil specific#seems a trivial thing to bother him about#but this is the most relevant place to ask I think?#feel bad#I’m gonna post and go clean#today I get the second bookshelf for the makeshift ‘dream box’ or whatever it was called#over a grand for what you can accomplish with 4 bookshelves and some creative storage things#ridiculous#but I want to get back into creating and sending mail#I miss it very much#plus it means I can steal the desk thing from Husband and attach it to mine#doubles as a typewriter spot and a craft desk#I should also get a small cart thing for easy access to supplies I need#which I really need to go back to my hometown to pick up the supplies my aunt left me when she died#FINALLY GETTING A CRICUIT OMG THANK YOU AUNT LINDA YOU BEAUTIFUL SOUL#Anywho#time to clean and then breakfast#a beautiful day in Wisconsin#thankful I’m having a good day (or morning at least)! Very little pain and no crippling levels of depression today!#I might celebrate with sushi#WAIT IT’S FRIDAY!!!! Pizza night!!!#A *perfect* day in Wisconsin
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Taking a Chest of Drawers I Rescued from the trash and making it rainbow!!
Hello, tumblr family. Below is a repost of an article originally posted on adorpheus.com, and is being shared here for archival purposes. Original post date: July 23, 2022.
Several years ago, I think it was 2014, I was driving around my hometown and I came across a chest of drawers someone had left on the curb for trash day, apparently throwing it out. At the time I was in need of a dresser pretty much exactly like that - my bedroom was small and I was hoping to get a chest of drawers that was taller than it was wide so it wouldn't take up too much room.
Bless this mess, lol
Originally, the dresser was a blonde wood color with blue knobs. It was also pretty beat up - the back of it was scuffed and it was missing a knob. Even still, I jumped at the chance to get the chest of drawers I was looking for FREE, have fun repainting it, and get to upcycle some trash at the same time.
When I first got it, all I did was spray paint it white. I had ideas for things I wanted to do with it, but that was the first step in getting it ready to paint. Then I didn't do anything with it for like 7 years or something, lol. Then this year, since I have been re-doing my room anyway, I realized it was time to finally get this project finished.
I love pastel rainbows, so I decided to go with that for my theme. For the paint, I went to home depot and after looking over all the paint chips, I picked out some colors I wanted and got paint samples for all of the different shades. I used matte for the drawers and semi-gloss for the white part (the spray paint job was not very good to begin with, so repainting the white base was a must). All the paint is samples of the type of paint you would use on a wall.
After I finished painting, I felt the drawers needed an extra glaze of some kind to give them a bit of sparkle. The matte was a cool idea in theory but I wanted it to pop a bit more. I had a bottle of craft glitter clear glaze lying around so I decided to go with that. The bottle was half empty, so there wasn't much glitter left in it (plus a bunch of it chose to clump into an unusable blob at the bottom because the bottle was like 15 years old lol) but it did the job well enough. I love when I get to use up craft supplies I've had sitting around for a while.
Once the painting was complete, the last step was to figure out the knobs. Aside from the fact that I hated the original spherical knobs anyways because they were hella awkward to grab, the dresser was missing a knob sooo new knobs were an absolute must.
My original plan was to use rose shaped knobs, but the reviews I saw for those kind said the rose knobs were a bit sharp on the edges. I truly hate when things randomly have sharp edges, and last thing I need is getting pricked in the hand every time I need to grab a pair of socks. So those were ruled out.
After spending way way way too long looking at knobs, I decided on these crystal knobs (above) on amazon and decided to get them. I actually originally wanted a fancier, more expensive set, but those got sold out before I got a chance to buy them so I went with the cheaper set above. The photos didn't look quite as pretty as the ones I originally had my eyes on, but I had already spent so much time obsessing over fricking KNOBS I decided to just go with them. I'm actually really happy I went with these. The pictures don't begin to do them justice, they are way prettier in real life.
To protect the surface, I used my sewing machine to create this lavender lace altar cloth / runner type thing for the top.
Although the drawers are a little sticky sometimes (which they were to begin with, lol) I'm pretty happy with this furniture flip!! The exact kind of dresser I was looking for fell into my lap and I was able to make it cute.
Some other happenings in the adorpheus multiverse...
I recently became a Twitch affiliate after years of trying!!! Emotes coming soon, feel free to follow me on Twitch to see when I go live! This month I'll be playing the new cat game STRAY along with some other fun titles!
Speaking of cats..!
I also adopted a new cat!! It's MEOW time!! Say hello to Artemis aka Arty for short! She is best friends with my sisters cat Luna!! I am sharing photos and videos of her and Luna on my instagram and they also have their own tiktok!!
I hope everyone is having an amazing non-binary hot gurl summer!! Have fun and stay hydrated!!!
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Tag game - Get to Know You
Thank you for tagging me, @jerzwriter!
Alright, here I go with TMI about me nobody asked for! Sorry in advance! lol
Are you named after someone?
Not that I know of. Apparently my grandma wanted my parents to name me after her (Růžena), but thankfully they didn’t listen, lol. Not that it’s a bad name!
When was the last time you cried?
I don’t even remember. I almost never cry.. Usually only cry when I’m watching something (or listening to a song) where a beloved character or an animal dies.. Though I guess every few years the bottled up emotions overflow and anything can trigger the waterworks.. But I’m pretty sure the last time I cried was because of a TV show, but I really don’t remember which one it was and when (especially since I didn’t have much time to watch anything lately, lol)
Do you have kids?
No. I’m a two time aunt, that’s more than enough, lol.
Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Probably too much sometimes, lol
What colour are your eyes?
I always said Blue and green, but I think they’re mainly gray.
Scary Movies or happy endings?
I rarely watch scary movies (as in slashers)... I mean, if they’re on TV, I leave them on as a background noise.. But if we count movies like Sleepy Hollow, Interview with the Vampire etc as scary movies, then I would probably pick those.. But I prefer a happy ending in everything I watch!
Any special talents?
None that I know of. Other than maybe annoying people around me, lol.
Where were you born?
In a hospital in the town nearest to my hometown. Funny story about that (at least it’s funny to me, lol): The town I live in doesn’t have a hospital, so everyone from here was born in that nearest hospital, so I never thought ynthing of it.. Only to find out YEARS later that my parents only moved here when I was 6 months old! That my mom just happened to be in this town at her mother-in-law’s at that moment!
What are your hobbies?
Reading, watching TV shows and sports (tennis, snooker, ice hockey), foreign languages..
Do you have any pets?
I have a dog. But he lives at my mom’s so I don’t get to see him as often anymore..
What sports do you/have you played?
Edit: I left Elsa's anwer here by mistake! Sorry! 🤦♀️😅 So here's my answer..
I used to play tennis as a kid (because my sister attented a lesson, so I wanted to do it too), according to my mother I sucked.. But in my mother's eyes I suck at everything, so who knows, lol.
How tall are you?
I’m tiny. 157, 5 cm.. I’m not googling in the feet and inches again.. it was under 5 ft 2 in, i believe, lol
Favorite subject in school?
I always liked Czech (just the grammar though) and chemistry later on. Also back in 2007 when I was 16 and obsessed with German bands (yeah, yeah, yeah, mainly Tokio Hotel, I admit it! lol. But also Nevada Tan/Panik!, Cinema Bizzare and Killerpilze), I put extra effort into the German classes, lol. BECAUSE I saw a Tokio Hotel interview (or maybe it was just the twins? doesn’t matter, lol) and I was just thinking “Man, I’ve been learning German since the 3rd grade and I barely understand 3 sentences.. This is fucking embarrassing! I need to do something about that!” and (mainly thanks to German fanfic writers, lol) I was speaking fluently in no time! I really need to brush up on it agin, hopefully it’s still in there somewhere..
Great, now I’ve listened to “Ich bin nicht ich” at least 30 times over the past two days.. And 20 times to “Totgeliebt”.. HELP ME!!
Still love it, though.. And I must still have that DVD (and CD) somewhere, lmfao..
youtube
And since I’m off the topic anyway (I’M SORRY, but I did warn you, lol), can I just say that I still find it funny that my teen crush is now married to Heidi Klum? Who would have thought almost 16 years ago, lol? Shit, where did all that time go? 😭
Dream job?
Hmm, if I had unlimited supply of money amd could have done anything I wamted to, I would wanna try translating - combing reading and use of foreign languages.. I think that would be great!
Alright, that was fun! Sorry everyone who read my dumb answers, lol
Who else might wanna do this? I’m gonna tag @she-x-wolf (feel free to ignore, of course!)
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Meet the Zimms! Generation 1
Hello, I'm really excited to share my legacy with you! This is my first time really attempting to go through with it, I'm really new to this, but my posts will get better once I know more about how to format my legacy posts. Anyway... I started this save a while ago, so I'm going to catch everyone up to speed! Lets start with...
Introductions
Derych
It all started with Derych. He hails from planet Sixam, though our story starts in his Earth hometown of Evergreen Harbour. Young adult Derych was all about having a good time. He had two fleeting romances. He meets Joaquin Le Chien, and he's quickly smitten. Almost ironically, Joaquin would be the one to cause Derych's spiral out of control. Originally, he had a well paying job, working in the field of science; he was smart, and though he may not look so much now, he was dashing. It was easy to get Joaquin to fall for him, but their relationship was turbulent. Joaquin, Derych soon discovers, is a drug dealer. Joaquin pressures him into trying what he's got, after they sleep together for the first time. (This is when, and how he found out Derych was an alien- he was shocked at first, but quickly fascinated).
"I know how to make the second round better..."
Derych gets hooked. For a long time, he couldn't go a day without getting high. During his bender, he leaves his job, and lives off of his quickly dwindling savings for a short while, as he spends all of his money on drugs to supply himself and his boyfriend Joaquin, and nights at the strip club. During one of his escapades, he meets Bjorn Bjergsen, a married man.
Bjorn was looking to experiment with his sexuality. Things were already getting rocky with his wife, and he just decided... Why not?
Derych was crossfaded when Bjorn appeared in the bar, he was there by himself tonight after getting into it with Joaquin. Bjorn caught his attention real quick, and he decided to stumble over and approach him, flirting right off the bat. Bjorn was receptive, to his surprise. This was the beginning of their affair.
As Derych's bank account drains, Joaquin begins insisting that he find a job, if he wants to keep living this lifestyle with him. This was the cause of many arguments, and eventually when he's nearing broke, Derych picks up an acting gig. He begins to sporadically pick up gigs, as well as sell the odd artwork or two, just enough for him to get by.
He continues seeing Bjorn, and Joaquin eventually catches them in the act. Derych decides to leave Joaquin, though after things settle a little, they continue seeing each other casually as each other's booty calls. He continues to hook up with Bjorn on the regular, and they really begin to fall for each other. Derych pressures Bjorn into trying drugs, and this causes Bjorn's wife to catch on to their affair, which ends in divorce for Bjorn, though now they were free to openly pursue each other.
They begin to love together in Derych's house, though Derych pretty quickly begins to lose interest in Bjorn. Living domestically with him, and openly being partners took the thrill out of what they had together. The answer to him, was to turn to more drugs, to avoid spending time with him. In all of his alone time, he came up with a half-baked, nearly crazy idea.
Derych begins to build a ship. He needed to go back to Sixam, to find himself. He was utterly compelled.
Once his ship was finally finished, Derych set off. Back on Sixam, Derych runs into several old friends and flames, though he meets a woman who really catches his eye. He introduces himself. Her name was Kimber. She was beautiful. He felt revived, just meeting her. She thinks he's funny. Eventually he has to return home, but he continues to go back to Sixam, just to see her. They begin falling for each other, and hard.
Back on Earth, Derych ends up kicking Bjorn out, and breaking it off with him, and Bjorn is devastated. He was in the midst of a divorce, and the man he left his wife for was hardly in it. This triggered an obsession in Bjorn- he's still desperately in love with him.
After forcing Bjorn to leave, Derych finally invites Kimber to Earth, and begins going on dates, and sleeping with her. Kimber falls pregnant, and Derych invites her to live with him. Soon to be a father, Derych cuts back on his drug use. He doesn't get totally sober, weaning himself down to only pot.
Kimber
To everyone's surprise, Kimber gives birth to twins, two little girls. The pair decide to name them Dusk, and Dawn. Derych immediately falls in love with his babies, particularly Dusk. Kimber begins to suffer from post-partum depression and anxiety.
When their babies become toddlers, Kimber begins to seek out self medication for her post-partum, self soothing by sneaking into Derych's stash. When she got high, it was noticeable, and Derych pretty immediately found out- he was more than okay with it, and encouraged her to use what she needed.
Derych begins to clean up, for his family. He gets more consistent acting gigs, and starts painting more in his free time, bringing in a decent cash flow for the family.
Dusk
Dawn
Derych begins to get very close with his daughter, Dusk. She is a total daddy's girl. Dawn and Kimber get along decently, and Kimber has slightly less of a relationship with Dusk, as she spends so much time with Derych. As she continues to struggle with post-partum, she finds herself having a hard time connecting with her kids, and it's also affecting her relationship with Derych.
One night, Derych gets abducted, and assaulted, resulting in a pregnancy. He continues using drugs throughout, though he attempts to use them less. Eventually, he bares a son, and they have to move to Brindleton Bay, as there was no longer enough space in their home to accommodate everyone.
Asmodeus
After his son Asmodeus was born Derych ages up into an adult. The girls soon age up into kids, and Asmodeus eventually ages up into a toddler, bringing us to date with where we currently are. Dawn and Dusk have a strained relationship, although they were previously very close. Both of the girls have a great relationship with Asmodeus. They are both average in school, although Dawn aspires to do better.
Unfortunately, spending so much time wit her dad, Dusk has been exposed to some less-than-savory things, and this is the beginning of her going down quite a different path from her sister.
Well, now we're up to speed! Future legacy posts will be shorter than this, so I apologize for all the expo, but I wanted to catch anyone who was interested up before I continue playing! Thank you for reading, and I hope this was interesting! I'd be happy to hear any thoughts, my ask box is always open!
#ts4 simblr#ts4 legacy#ts4#ts4 gameplay#the sims 4#simblr#the sims community#sims 4#ts4 story#the sims 4 legacy#the sims 4 gameplay#zimm#zimm legacy#zimm gen 1
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Asynchronous With You: Chapter 3
ship: naruhina
rating: teen (this chapter is a little ecchi, but I think it's still T)
tags: Modern Day AU, Foster Siblings, Family, Angst, Unrequited Love, Poor Communication
summary: An awkward journey full of self-denial and missed moments between two foster siblings. Perhaps their love will find the right timing someday.
She didn't know what she was expecting when Kurenai announced that another child would be joining them soon.
He showed up a little smaller than her, with wary blue eyes and uncombed blond hair. He didn't carry anything with him.
The idea of having a forever playmate intrigued her, but after a few weeks it became clear he had no interest in playing, only fighting.
During those times when she managed to get away, she laid down on her bedroom floor curled around a picture book, and thought deeply about magical forests and open meadows. Away from stupid boys and their stupid ways.
And then suddenly he wanted to get rid of Neji. He thought she wanted to be rid of Neji, too. He was going to tattle on Neji really bad and that would be that.
Who taught him that the only way to fix things was to destroy them?
She told him she didn't mind Neji bossing her around. Maybe it's like what she's heard the adults say, that all she needs is structure. Plus, he was the only blood she had. Neji was part of her old normal and she wasn't going to give that up.
She didn't think he would listen. He seemed pretty sure about what he was talking about. But then he didn't tattle after all, and yet the fights seemed even more vigorous.
She found a volume inside herself that she didn't know she had, and it had scared her into her room. Her own ears had boomed. It reminded her of all the yellings she used to receive before Kurenai, and her instincts to hide kicked in.
It wasn't Neji who came after her, but Naruto.
He felt bad about his behavior. But he wanted something in exchange. He couldn't just have nothing after this.
She wasn't sure what 'bugging her' was going to be like, but she's been wanting to get along with him since day one. All because he didn't like Neji, she thought that would never happen.
'Sure,' she told him, and the following afternoon he pinched her arm.
_______________________________
Hinata laid down curled on her bedroom floor just like she used to when she was little.
She shouldn't be here, listening to the sounds coming through the half-inch diameter hole in the wall, his guttural teenage lust spilling over into her sanctum, the exaggerated moans of the other girl stabbing her heart.
He thinks she isn't home right now.
She wants to keep it that way.
Because no matter what he means to her, no matter how much she wants him, it can never happen.
She closes her eyes and pictures herself in the other girl's place. Girl no. 49 she calls her.
She doesn't have the courage to watch, but some twisted part of her wants the torture.
She wants to see a part of Naruto that she'll never have.
_______________________________
After the first girl, some drama had started up at school for Naruto.
She had seen Hinata's shoes in the genkan when she left, but had no idea who they belonged to.
She accused Naruto of sneaking away to invite a different girl to come over.
Now half of the female student body hated him, while the other half wanted to get some for themselves.
Hinata was disappointed to find that he relished in his new reputation as a player, that he would take whatever infamy he got if it gave him what he wanted in this world.
Some timid part of her that remained said, Good for him. After all, he deserved to be happy and enjoy his life.
And yet some shadowy part of her felt she was as good a stranger to him than a sister, seeing as how there could be no room for her as either a sister, a friend or love interest.
She thought to both test him and sabotage him after the fourth girl. Two terribly petty things she thought she would never do.
He knows when she leaves something of hers in his room, it means she wants him to come over.
So she left a pair of panties atop his bed in hopes Girl no. 5 would realize his promiscuity and go home.
It didn't work. Instead it excited Girl no. 5. Her expectations of his skill has risen with the proof that he had a revolving door of hot girls coming in and out of here and they went at it louder and rougher than the first four.
Hinata made sure to disappear before they found out she'd been home. When the coast seemed clear and Hinata feigned nonchalance as she came home, with a weak 'Tadaima' to the only other person home, she did not get the usual greeting.
She crept towards her bedroom, somehow not expecting Naruto to answer her invitation.
He sat at her low table in the middle of her room, the pair she had left behind now sitting atop her comforter.
He couldn't look her in the eyes.
He didn't seem mad, rather dumbfounded.
What a thing to give him when wanting to chat, is probably what was going through his head. Like, maybe she had an ulterior motive she was trying to express to him.
Well, she did, perhaps. This wasn't her ideal way to flirt with him, nor was it how she'd choose to shoot her shot.
She doubted her panties excited him, in the first place.
With a soft sigh, Hinata nodded to herself. She crossed her room without a word, hanging her school bag on the back of her desk chair. Then she approached her bed and picked up her underwear, telling him "Thank you for finding them," before placing them back inside her underwear drawer.
She was rooted to that spot, her hands gripping the trim of her double dresser.
From the corner of her eye, she could see him scratch at his cheek, the way he does when a reply feels too weird to say.
He stood up, and just before reaching the door he mumbled, "Just don't lose them again, okay?"
The door closed behind him, and Hinata's shoulders lowered along the length of her exhale, her stress leaving her like dropping water levels.
Then on a Sunday, when Hinata was invited to a dessert buffet with Sakura and Ino, she found out her favorite linen top with the frilly button trim had shrunk in the dryer.
While uncomfortably snug, she could still button every one but the two across her chest.
Ino loved keyhole cuts, but this would not pass social decency.
She tugged and tugged but still the buttons wouldn't reach their homes. Her eyes burned as a flurry of despair hit her in quick succession.
She was getting older. She was growing up. She was getting bigger. Like, inelegantly bigger. She loved this top. She didn't want to say goodbye to it. She didn't want to say goodbye to a lot of things.
Like choosing where to go for High School.
Something possessed her to walk out of her room and find him. She would play up her little sister role in utter defiance.
"Hinata?" Naruto shot up from the sofa and ran to her side.
"Did you dry my clothes?" More accusation than question, her voice was keened wetly with every consonant. "I can't wear this anymore."
Naruto stood there, sputtering, hands uselessly gesticulating at her ample cleavage.
She's never seen his face so red.
Did he look like this when he was thrusting into his rotation of harem girls?
"U-Uh, maybe it's still okay?" He reached out and gripped the fabric of her shirt, his rough fingers ghosting across her skin. A tingle ran up her spine. His eyes became wild for a second. As if to cover up his embarrassment, he became even more determined to prove he didn't ruin her clothes, but doing so made it worse for the both of them.
The forceful tugging made her breasts bounce in a way he was all too familiar with, but none had ever been as big as hers.
As if catching his dirty thoughts, Naruto released her and ran out of the living room, shouting spastically "I'msorryI'llreplaceit!"
Hinata had placed a hand over her exposed skin, right where he had touched her, and she couldn't fight down a smile, however pained and wistful.
This was probably all she was ever going to get.
She decided to play up the risks today, and forwent a bra, using a velvet cropped jacket to hide her nipples.
She received a lot of compliments that Sunday.
Things like this had happened between her and the object of her adoration and frustration, but nothing ever really changed.
He still brought girls over when he thought she wasn't home.
And she still snuck in to try and be a part of it, to learn more about him, to indulge is some form of masochism she didn't know she had.
It wasn't good for her heart.
And when she and Naruto decided individually that they'd stay with everyone else and go to Konoha Normal High, Hinata decided it was time to get serious about her life.
Her renewed late night phone calls with Neji gave her back her structure.
She started her own club. Called it the Volunteers Association. Basically all they did every Sunday was clean up trash in a pre-chosen location from the crack of dawn until lunch time. Beautifying their hometown was a lesson in gratitude and pride.
She also joined the Public Morals Committee, because it would look good on her resume, not because she’d developed an interest in policing others. It also helped her overcome her fear response to raised voices.
But when she did police others, she learned more and more about other people in a way she never thought she would.
For example, the majority of the porn magazines they confiscated were of G-cup models, with M-cup and C-cup ranking in second and A-cup ranking in last. This told her the preferences of the male student body. How important that information was to her? Well, it kind of helped know which boys to be leery of. She had grown to be a little more realistic about herself: She had curves.
Another example was how many students came to school in a hurry and for what reasons. Most of it was due to oversleeping, which were the result of late-night gaming (like someone else she knows), or excessive studying, or part-time jobs. Few others showed up looking like they had taken a detour to the baseball supply closet to fool around (also like the same someone else she knows).
Running in the halls ensued due to prankish behavior.
Failure to advertise for upcoming club events due to limp commitment or a loss of interest.
When the time came for bag checks, where a teacher would confiscate candy and make-up, that’s where Hinata drew the line. She knew her classmates needed sugar to make it through the day. She advised the pretty girls, the gyaru, even the ones she knew had been in Naruto’s bed, that they could still cheat the system if they were clear lip gloss and neutral colors. That really turned their impression of her around on its head.
To sum it up, everyone was going with the flow, chasing one promise of excitement after another, the future too intangible for them to grasp. Their Springtime of Youth was not over.
The amount of blank career sheets cemented her point.
_______________________________
Hinata collapsed onto a bench as the physical and mental exertion caught up to her.
The school was bustling with a multitude of craft projects as they prepared for their annual School Festival.
As a committee member and Volunteer Associate, she was running herself ragged from classroom to classroom, club to club, helping to ensure that everyone's efforts were going smoothly.
A smooth chill touched her cheek. She opened her eyes. Ino held out a cold water bottle against her heated skin, and Hinata smiled.
"Thank you," Hinata accepted the bottle and held it to her neck. Ino sat down next to her. A series of violent thumps met their ears as an irritated Kiba chased down a gloating Naruto, with Kiba's club materials in his hands. Hinata's voice cracked once she opened her mouth, but Ino's voice rang out in her stead.
"NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!"
Hinata thanked her again as she sank against the wall and relished in the soothing sensation of her water bottle. She didn't realize she had overworked her voice already, too.
"That one's going nowhere," Ino tsked quietly.
"Who?"
"Naruto-baka. He thinks he can live this way forever. Life'll stop being so funny when he's working behind a convenience store register."
"Cashiers serve an important purpose."
"So you agree he's going to end up a cashier," Ino smirked with a wink.
Hinata opened her mouth to complain, but her will instantly deflated inside of her. Ino laughed at the sequence of emotions that played out across Hinata's face, and the latter simply resumed being exhausted human jello that needed more time to restore her shape.
"A cashier baby daddy with five children, each from a different mom," Ino added.
Hinata tried to blink away the haze steadily overtaking her. "No."
Her chest twisted at the thought.
If that really came to pass, he would take responsibility. He would never leave his own children behind, even if he had to go it alone.
Hinata pressed her free palm against her eyes, her lips trembled even as they tightly pressed into a thin line.
"Hinata?" Came Ino's panicked voice.
"It's just a headache," she lied.
"When was the last time you ate?" Ino barely waited for a response. "I'll go grab some food from the cafeteria and be right back with pain relievers. Just stay right there. And no more shouting. You're done for the day!"
Ino ran off to complete her mission and Hinata couldn't be sure if she was grateful for her absence or even more afraid of it.
Just thinking about Naruto...
She doesn't understand how she still feels about him.
His entire existence hurts her, and she can't name all the ways that he does.
She wants to go back to work.
_______________________________
Hinata never thought her world could turn upside a third time. She never thought her structures could be kicked out from under her.
But then on the opening day of the School Festival, when the school gates are only open for family members, an elementary-aged girl with long, dark brown hair and sharp, lavender eyes came along by herself. A single strand dangled between those discerning eyes as they swept around her surroundings.
Hinata was managing the line outside the maid café, greeting customers in a lilac outfit, when the girl showed up.
Their eyes met.
Hers widened. With surprise. With recognition. With curiosity.
Hinata's eyes were only horrified.
The little girl bounced up to meet her.
Hinata's heart hammered in her ears, it swell to the point of choking. Her vision doubled and smeared. She tried to catch her breath, but nothing, nothing was going in. She tried to breathe faster. They call this air hunger. Her body was cold, prickly.
No. She didn't want to hear it. Didn't want to know.
The little girl eyed her from head to toe, then smirked.
"You really do like mom. But you're a little chubbier than I expected."
AN: Apologies if the third scene's timeline is written in an unclear way. It's supposed to be stuff that happened in sequence prior to the second scene.
Hm! I totally forgot how good it feels to write fanfiction. I literally had a head high the whole time. 😂
I hope you like this chapter! And let me know if I'm doing better at hooks and/or cliffhangers! I haven't looked at any of my activity since the last chapter, so I'm going to respond now if there is anything to respond to, that is.
#naruhina#naruhina fanfiction#modern au#foster sibling au#asynchronous with you fanfiction#chapter 3
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adj.: 1. Modern, unfamiliar, or different
2. Not based on or conforming to what is generally done or believed
pairing: reader x ot7
genre: college au; angst, fluff, smut, poly, ot7
Summary: You begin your first year at a prestigious university, set out on achieving your academic goals when a series of men step into your life that change the way you view the definition of love.
A/N: Small s/o to Fae from sope-and-shine for giving me great inspiration for this chapter!
Part Three
Warnings: none in this chapter
Word count: 1.8k
You continue down the street, noticing yourself hold a faint smile from your time with Jimin. You have a feeling Intro to Comp will be more fun than you anticipated with him to keep you company. You really appreciated his easy-going nature that allowed playful digs to seem second nature between you two, even if you had just met.
You glance up at the sun, now starting to feel more intense as it approaches midday. Noticing, you slip your sunglasses out of your backpack and look at your phone to double check directions --- you weren’t too confident getting around campus quite yet. As you are looking at your GPS app, you see a text pop up from an unknown number.
*Hi y/nnnnn it’s your favorite seat partner from intro to comp!! Hehe*
You roll your eyes at Jimin’s text, and save his number.
*You are my only seat partner from intro to comp, Jimin. It’s been one day.*
*:( Don’t be a meanie, y/n. You know I’d be your favorite no matter what :DD*
*Who's to say? Maybe next time I’ll sit closer to Yoongi*
*GASP. You wouldn’t dare*
*Are you willing to put money on that?*
As you text Jimin, you follow the directions on your phone and end up at a cute little grocery store, with a built in cafe off to the side. When you notice it, you get some spring in your step. After seeing the coffee that the other students had in class you were yearning for a cup of your own, especially after your hectic morning.
The barista sent you a smile as you read the menu. Deciding on a nice warm cappuccino, you tell her your order and walk over to the side to receive your drink when she finishes.
She rings you out, and as you wait for your drink you begin running though your mental grocery list. Thankfully your apartment had a decent kitchen, which you knew you’d get good use of as you enjoyed cooking when you had a chance. Not to mention, your parents owned a small bakery in your hometown which meant you were well versed in the art of baking, and often found yourself baking during stressful moments in your life as a distraction. Maybe while you were here you’d pick up some basic supplies for baking… sugar, flour, baking soda, vanilla extract….
Your train of thought was quickly cut off by the barista, sliding your drink across the counter with a smile. You give her one back as you thank her, and stroll over to where you think the baking aisle would be. You take your time, checking out the products in each section to make sure you got everything you needed, beyond just your baking supplies.
As you near the paper goods aisle, you barely see a figure swing around the corner and run smack-dab into a paper towel display, which happened to be less than a meter from you. Unfortunately, the collision caused several of the rolls to go flying --- and one flying hard enough to knock the fresh coffee right out of your hand.
The chaos of the moment causes you to stand a little open mouthed while you stare at the now half-empty cardboard coffee cup rolling on it’s side away from you.
Toward the top of your field of vision you see a pair of men’s sneakers, which causes you to scan up towards his face. He is looking at you with the widest doe-eyed shocked expression you have possibly ever seen. His arms are half reached out, as if he wants to help, but can’t as he already caused the damage. One of the arms reaching out at you has a patchwork of black ink, trailing down over his toned muscles to his knuckles. His oversized grey t-shirt and loose jeans seem to swallow him a bit, which only adds to the almost child-like innocence of his wide eyes. Wavy brown hair frames his face, accentuating his masculine jawline.
Once your eyes connect for a few seconds, surely both wide in shock, he makes a squeaking noise and bends down to collect the scattered rolls.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going and I took the turn too fast, I’ll go buy you another coffee as soon as I pick these up---” His voice, while speaking rapidly, remained soft and delicate, obviously embarrassed at his mistake. When you bend down to join him in collecting the runaway towels, he cuts himself off to again look at you with a wide-eyed expression.
You smile at him, the surprise from the situation fading as you stretch your upper body as far as you can to grab one that rolled particularly far. “It’s okay, we all can be clumsy sometimes. I promise it’s not that big of a deal, it was just a coffee.” You give him a warm smile in reassurance, wanting to ease his obvious anxiety.
You both stand up, having collected the spilled display and him grabbing your abandoned coffee cup. “Um, what were you drinking? I’ll get you a new one, it’s the least I could do.” His blush deepens with his question, and he nervously glances off to the side as he grabs his elbow of the hand holding the empty cup to make himself smaller.
“It was a cappuccino… but honestly, you really don’t need to, it’s okay.” Sending him another warm smile, you hope to convey your ease at the situation.
“No, I want to. I’ll be right back, okay?” He holds your gaze for a second, seeming to double check that you weren’t going to run away on him.
“Okay.” Once you let out your reply, he sends you a quick smile as he turns around and lightly jogs away from you, back the direction you came from.
You can't help but notice the subtle ripple of his muscles across his shoulder blades as he does so. For being so meek, he sure had quite the muscular build under those baggy clothes. He definitely was “yummy” to use the word Jimin so aptly applied to Yoongi earlier. At the memory, you couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle under your breath.
You scan the area quickly, making sure your run in with the boy didn’t leave a mess anywhere in the store. After seeing it clear, you glance back over your shoulder to watch him talking to the same barista. You could tell, even from this distance, that he seemed slightly embarrassed and had a pink tinge to his cheeks. The duality of this guy honestly is blowing your mind… his tattoos and muscular physique would give the impression that he would be super intimidating and confident, but by the way he blushed at attention so easily and was so timid when he apologized to you showed that he was was really a big sweetheart.
As he was now waiting for the barista to remake your drink, standing in the same spot you occupied a few minutes ago, you felt awkward hovering in the spot of the incident. After a quick glance back at him, you thought he would be able to find you pretty easily if you ventured down the aisle further. An aisle down from the paper goods, you found yourself in the exact aisle you were looking for.
Your mind quickly abandoned any prior thought as you took stock of the baking supplies the store had to offer. It looks like you’d be spending more on groceries today than you had anticipated.
“Um, here’s your coffee…” The boy from earlier had returned before you realized any time had passed. Caught, you looked at him, now looking at you, with a hesitant look on his face, as he saw the almost comical amount of stuff you had balanced in your arms. Now embarrassed a tad, you realize you have no hand to take the coffee from him, and it seems like it had just occurred to him too. He looked back and forth between the coffee in his hand and your ridiculously full arms and quickly offered, “I’ll be right back. I’ll get you a basket.”
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I’m sorry, I guess I got carried away!” You sheepishly respond to his kind offer. It was above what a normal person would do. He nodded his head quickly and did his half-jog thing again to go back to the front of the store. You weren’t getting tired of the view, to be honest.
Before you even knew it, he was back and gently removing items from the tetris you created in your arms of baking supplies. “Thank you so much, you really don't have to do any of this…” you feel slightly guilty for the boy’s kindness.
“No, it’s really okay, I shouldn’t have thrown paper towels at you.” As he speaks, he catches your eye and gives you a smile you could only compare to a cute bunny or other small adorable creature. You couldn’t help but fall just a little in love with him right there in the aisle. Now comfortable enough to joke with you, you left out a surprised laugh in response. You tip your head back slightly and feel your cheeks squish up without warning.
“I suppose you got me there. Maybe try to lower the aggression levels on your next grocery store run,” you egg him on slightly, a teasing smile remaining on his face.
“What would be the fun in that?” His eyes hold contact just a millisecond longer than normal, and you swear you see a glint of mischief in them. Ah, so bunny-boy knows at least a little how much of a hunk he is.
“Do you flirt with pretty girls at the store by knocking the coffee out of their hands for fun then?” Your eyebrow is raised slightly, and your tone stays as a teasing lilt.
Apparently at his banter limit, he blushes and gapes for a second. “Just teasing you. Thank you again for the coffee,” you reassure. Full basket and fresh coffee in hand, you flash him one last grin before you make your way around him to head towards the register.
As you leave the store, re-entering the street, you can’t help but hope you run into that guy again. He seemed like a genuinely sweet person that you’d love to be friends with. Starting towards the direction of your apartment, you ponder the chances.
You also ponder what baked treat you were going to throw the rest of your afternoon into. After some mental deliberation, you settled on muffins. Easy to take with you for that pesky morning calculus class. Ugh, at the thought of calculus you groaned inside a little. Not only did you have to grapple with the boring math, but you now have to grapple with the decidedly not so boring boys in your class.
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Huh.
Well, this is not the next episode reaction you were expecting, but a while back, in the middle of the night, while I was ready to cry from working on a pharmacology paper, out of nowhere, Youtube threw up Street Dance of China S3 Ep1 at me. And yeah. I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show. (There are enough SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal that I feel there’s no point denying this.)
So – no, actually, wait. FIRST of all, I do NOT believe the “towel vote” we ended up being given for the opening routines from the four captains. That was the most blatant bit of bullshit chicanery I’ve seen in my LIFE, and I say this as a person with a ton of SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal, and I also say this not because Wang Yibo ended up last (well, not entirely), but because I saw Wallace Chung’s routine. As someone closer in age to him than to the other three captains, I have to give him props for trying, but come on, man. The critique that Yibo got from random contestants – if the subtitles are to be believed, so I realize this needs a grain of salt - basically boiled down to “it was too good for the stage lighting.” :hands: Also, I saw your face at the reveal, Wallace, and you were as shocked as I was. No way you got more towels/votes than Wang Yibo. Not unless there’s some super wild undercurrent of nostalgia propping you up, which, I guess could happen, because literally all I know about pop culture in China, current or otherwise, is filtered through Tumblr and Youtube, both notoriously suspect, but … anyway. There’s got to be a TON of behind-the-scenes manipulation going on for Yibo to be rock-bottom with last pick of teams but then also to end up with THAT pool of possibles. Are you kidding me with this?
ANYWAY, what I wanted to say is that I actually really like Wang Yibo here, and it’s not just because he’s the only captain I have even a sliver of familiarity with, and it’s not just because Lan Wangji was banging Wei Wuxian. I do realize all of this is influenced by whatever edit they’ve decided to give a particular captain or contestant, but I’m impressed with the way Yibo immediately starts team building by getting his group into a warmup, getting them dancing together, getting them dancing with him before they have to worry about dancing for him. (I mean, come on, Jackson Wang. The way to get people to stop being nervous is not to say “Stop being nervous! It will make you fuck up!”) The way Yibo immediately recognized and responded to his group’s concerns about that one dude copying someone else’s routine probably also bought him a lot of return investment. He’s dressed to work it, in his sweats and his flannel (what IS that fake-leather TAC vest and random leg holster-looking thing, Jackson Wang?). He’s convincing me he really loves to dance, he can’t hold still while he watches the contestants, he’s wandering over into other captains’ turf when it sounds like there’s a dancer performing who he might like to see, he’s being the best Yibo he can be, and I’m grooving along, wind in my hair, totally down for this ride. He’s also adorable at the beginning when all the other captains are like, my goal for this season is to slaughter the competition and dance on their graves! And he’s like, well, I’d like to … make some friends? And learn some new stuff? I don’t know if the perpetual Humble Student schtick is natural or persona, or whether it’s general or specific to dancing, but it’s working for you, my dude. This is also made better (read: ironic), by the fact that it’s immediately before the towel reveal, when he flips over to utter disbelief and gets all sulky for a while over the “fact” that his dance routine got the least votes.
Also, OH WAIT. This is where that clip of Yibo dancing with his crew ALL OVER HIM came from that I saw floating around a few months ago, isn’t it? You’re telling me those guys had never danced together before and had like, three minutes to throw together that routine? I’m even more impressed than before. Meanwhile, the towels symbolize courage and challenge, Mr. Emcee? OK, fine, cheesy reality show blah blah whatever. Can we get to the dancing now?
I’m going to put the rest of this behind a cut, because it got super long, because it turns out, when you watch in 5-minute increments, it takes two and a half weeks to get through a single episode, but you actually can see and have opinions on all 5,328 contestants, plus every single one of the captains’ battles. Meanwhile, I’m trying to convince myself this is not going to be another series of episode reactions, but 1) I do have the benefit of not having a ton of hometown media giving me a next-day play-by-play, so even though this is six months old, everything’s a surprise; 2) I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show; and 3) it’s easy to watch in 5-minute increments between researching drug interactions in hypothetical hypertensive patients with stable ischemic heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and seasonal allergies. So, I guess we’ll see. It’ll be slow going, though, because I don’t ever have two and half hours to sit down and watch an ep cover-to-cover – if it happens, it will likely keep happening in 5-minute increments. Meanwhile, there is a metric shit-ton of nattering below the cut, so caveat lector. No, seriously, I kept adding to this little by little until it became a monster. Hashtag long post (remorseful).
OK, I am generally out of my depth here, as this is not at all my area of dance not-really-expertise, but some reactions:
Team Wang Yibo: I can see why he didn’t want to choose between Colin and Dian Men – Colin might have been a touch better technically and a better showman, but Dian Men didn’t seem to have a single wasted move – but, also, my dude. Yibo. You maybe should look a little bit less stunned and overwhelmed by the mere presence of Colin, it’s giving me ideas about your taste in men. Continuing with the powerhouses, I probably shouldn’t even attempt to critique Klash, but I did feel like he was a bit stiff in some of his footwork; that final V kick, though, shit, that’s what having that kind of upper-body strength is for. Bouboo … I mean, excellent flexibility and control, of course, but mainly I’m just terribly amused that Yibo got last pick of teams but somehow ended up with the guy who’s literal world champion, and who’s just as useful for getting into the other captains’ heads – without even trying – as he is for his talent. And then there’s a montage of Yibo giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you cannot keep up this pace. There are still too many dancers to see, and you don’t have that many towels. AAANNNND Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).
Team Jackson Wang: I do like Gai Gai, although that may be influenced by the fact she’s working in the twilight area between hip-hop and contemporary that I have more familiarity with - but also, I suspect she’s pretty good in her genre. I thought Xiao Jie was inconsistent and didn’t stick the landing on his initial attempt, so I have to give you that hesitation, Jackson, even though you’ve somehow ended up the villain in my inner narrative for this show, for no particular reason I can yet discern. Maybe it’s that you’re the direct competition for Yibo’s team in the towel battles. Good enough. Anyway, Xiao Jie definitely stepped up his game for the battle with Bingo, so I can kind of see why both of them got a towel, but we’re not even halfway through this, and most of y’all are giving away towels like you have an endless supply. Yang Kai is a fucking menace with fantastic musicality, and I’m just gonna say it and take the fallout - I think he gave a better performance first time out of the gate than any of Yibo’s powerhouses did. Whatever power Klash has got, whatever skill Bouboo has got, Yang Kai feels more explosive and engaging, at least in these initial showings. He’s going to be one to beat, I’d hug him too, if he was on my team and was going to help me WIN. Yibo’s probably lucky that happened during his little stroll over to check out the competition, so that he can see they’re definitely competitive and be prepared for it. Also, Jackson, I have to admit - that face you made when Chao really kicked in? That was the same face I made, because wt actual f, you have a literal secret weapon – secret because he CAME FROM NOWHERE and NO ONE EVEN KNOWS him, how is that even possible, how did he get that good – fluid, creative, controlled, incredible musicality - without anyone having any idea who he even is? And then there’s a montage of Jackson just giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you need to slow down. You can’t just be like, “THEY LOVE DANCE WITH ALL OF THEIR WHOLE HEARTS!!!!1111!!!!11!” I get it, but everyone there loves dance with all of their whole hearts, and there are not enough towels to send all of them on to the next round. ANNNND, Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).
Team Lay Zhang: lol at how diplomatic you’re being, Lay Zhang – your team’s fierce roar startled you, OK. At this point, I suspect you’re the street most likely to have a knife fight break out before this is all over. I do like Alex, I think he’s got a lot of interesting, super-clean details in his moves, and he’s engaging - I cannot BELIEVE you made him battle that dude whose moves were so mushy, Lay Zhang, it leaves me doubting your ability to judge this thing. At first I thought maybe you were just looking for an excuse because you wanted to see Alex freestyle, but then you actually said something about both dancers being equal, and my estimation of you plummeted, and also sadly, my sound dropped out for the actual battle, including the part where the clearly inferior dancer fell over and then accidentally POPPED ALEX ONE IN THE EYE, and I TOLD YOU SO. I do agree it’s a good idea to make dancers in the same genre do some battling, so you can kind of plan out your towels and put together a team with broad strengths, instead of giving out towels like you’re making it rain for the first 20 contestants, and then you have 1,375 more people to get through, with 3 towels left, as EVERYONE ELSE seems to be doing, so it’s nice that at least one of you guys is thinking – if not actually acting - strategically. That was clearly not even a contest, though, GIVE ALEX HIS TOWEL and send him to the next round. Xiao Bao is hilarious, with his concern that his team captain, who’s into krump, which is “beating,” isn’t going to appreciate his waacking, which is “slapping.” I also don’t know a whole lot about waacking, so thanks for the primer, Xiao Bao, and don’t worry, your performance is just as engaging for those of us who don’t know what we’re watching as you are generally. You deserve that towel for your ability to interact with and engage your audience, alone. Lingo is a good solid performance, although he’s got his team captain strategizing edited over some of it, and here’s the thing: we are 1:56:00 into this, at this point, with another half hour to go, and all of you are starting to disappear into the sea of dancers who are very good at what you do, but at generally the same level? Anyway, Lingo, I approve of your ability to interact with your audience (read: your captain) to ensure engagement, too, so keep that up. Annnd, we actually haven’t seen that much of you guys, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).
Team Wallace Chung: I’m glad Su Lian Ya insisted on performing, I thought she started off slow but warmed up, and that ending was creepily fantastic and had me spontaneously grinning at the screen in delight. Then we lose sight of this group for a really long time, actually. We go back to find Wallace putting through a couple of urban dancers who we barely see, but who apparently claim to have some choreography experience, and he really likes that. TI shows up, and they’re solid, but honestly, not as good in this performance as they were in some of the stock footage the show threw up to introduce them, but Wallace remains super-excited about the idea of choreography and sends at least choreographer Zhang Jiang Peng through to the next round. And then, we really haven’t seen that much of you guys, either, which maybe doesn’t bode well, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).
FOOTNOTE 1, aka TOWEL BATTLE ONE, Team Yibo vs. Team Jackson, 3V3 freestyle: First of all, I have to say, I love Yibo - Mr. I Just Wanna Make Some Friends And Have Some Fun - being all, “I have three crappy white towels I’m stuck with for coming in last place that I can’t use to send dancers to the next round and that I DO NOT DESERVE, and I am getting BACK the colorful towels that ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE. I am coming for whoever is in my way.” Team Yibo is Bouboo, Klash, Dian Men, and OK, given what we’ve seen so far, that’s the safe choice, but honestly, I think we’re just taking some things for granted right now, and I’m not sure they actually have given the best performances so far. Yeah, I said it. Team Jackson is Yang Kai, Chao, and Xiao Jie, and … ok, on that last one, I think you probably could have substituted Bingo, but all right. Yang Kai is a definite yes. Chao will be great if he can stay out of his own head and not psych himself out, but given what we’ve seen so far, he’s an obvious pick. First round, Yang Kai vs. Klash, and Yang Kai is still a fucking menace, with super lines. Klash definitely stepped up his game for the battle, and I can’t get over the upper body strength he’s got, to get that kind of airy bounce in his moves, but to be honest, I can’t even be mad the first round went to Yang Kai and Team Jackson. Second round, Yang Kai is still … y’all, the beautiful lines from this guy in his poses, I can’t get over them, but I think he doesn’t have the stamina, his footwork is getting sloppy. Bouboo also steps up his game for an actual battle, his fluidity and control is amazing, and yeah, round to Team Yibo. Round three, Xiao Jie gives it a decent effort, but the polish isn’t there; meanwhile Bouboo is still in champion mode, and I was kind of surprised this was a split vote and went to another round. Xiao Jie absolutely surprised me, coming back stronger on his second try, although I suppose a more familiar genre helped, but Bouboo continues in champion mode. Round four, Chao looks like he’s going to throw up right before he steps out there, and then as soon as the music starts, it’s like, he doesn’t even think. The music just moves him. I feel like his dance vocabulary is more limited than Bouboo’s, though, and Bouboo’s flow is amazing at this point, so I feel like the judges just want to drag this out and see more dancing when we go to one more round. Strong effort all around, but yeah, round four and two towels to Team Yibo. I can’t really complain about that. I do feel like Yibo’s powerhouses have been holding back until now, though, and I’m not sure how I feel about THAT.
FOOTNOTE 2, aka TOWEL BATTLE TWO, Team Zhang vs. Team Wallace, 3V3 w/ captain: lol, Team Zhang really wants someone to pick the Sailor Moon song because they know Xiao Bao and his waacking will tear it up. Anyway, Team Zhang includes Lingo and Xiao Bao, who does not get his Sailor Moon song and continues to be hilarious in his disbelief about being chosen to participate in this battle, when he’s not looking almost as sick as Chao from Team Jackson before HIS performance. Team Wallace includes Su Lian Ya – and honestly, despite how I’m getting ready to bag on him for the entire rest of this battle recap, I like that Wallace put one of his female dancers up there for the battle - and some dude named Ba that they haven’t given us any footage of, up ‘til now, at least that I can remember and who I … don’t even know has been formally given a towel and sent on to the next round, yet? Oh wait, he must have, because there’s talk in the pause for choreography about somehow using the towels during the battle. Wallace relies on Su Lian Ya and Zhang Jiang Peng to choose Ba, and then Ba ends up choreographing a lot of the performance, at least from the edit we see. I continue to feel you may be in over your head, Wallace. This feeling … is not assuaged by your performance in the first round, which is fine, but not really up to the level of almost anyone whose name I’ve bolded so far in this entire recap. Also, using the towels was a cute idea, but it doesn’t translate well, and Team Wallace has a lot of wasted time throwing the towels around instead of actually. You know. Dancing. Lingo gets a credible solo during Team Zhang’s performance, and even though Xiao Bao is clearly lost during a good bit of his backup dancer duties, he manages not to throw up, which – given this team’s general skill level – should be enough to give them the first round, EXCEPT SOMEHOW Team Wallace gets the point from the judges, who then try to justify this inexplicable decision by saying Team Wallace had better interaction, I guess because of the hot mess with throwing the towels around, but adding that Team Zhang was more scattered, which what? More scattered than the hot mess with the towels? I’m not buying this. I can’t tell if they’re propping up Wallace or fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, but I’m having bad acid flashbacks to the many and varied ways dance show judges will try to gaslight you, telling you that things you just saw with your very own eyes did not actually happen when it’s right there! On camera! Visible, despite whatever edit bs you’re pulling! ANYWAY, they’re definitely managing to fuck with not only Lay Zhang’s head, but Xiao Bao’s, and Xiao Bao still doesn’t seem to have his choreography down, but they manage to pull it together enough to take the second round, which to be honest is kind of a muddled mess on everyone’s part. The only one who really stands out to me on this go’round is Su Lian Ya, but OK, Team Zhang might have had it slightly more together as a unit. And then, yeah, OK, I think they were fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, because we then find out that, holy shit, the song the show powers-that-be chose for the tie-breaking third round is that gd Sailor Moon song, and we can all see the writing on the wall. Poor Team Wallace is no match for Xiao Bao, who frankly, carries this entire round on his shoulders without breaking a sweat and barely needs any backup dancers to do it. There’s some ridiculously dramatic reveal of scoring, with the judges dragging out their decisions like this was any actual contest - I’m beginning to suspect that some of them grew up with Wallace Chung posters on their bedroom walls - but finally, round and towel to Team Zhang.
Cut to a little bit of Next Time On, and wow, the first two-and-a-half-hour episode is over, and we aren’t finished with the initial round yet. It’s gonna be Christmas before I make it halfway through this season.
#street dance of china#sdoc episode reax#should i put yibo in the tags for this?#sure#i guess#wang yibo#anyone else?
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Dean Winchester One Shots
Happy Birthday Dean pt. 1
It’s Dean’s birthday, and you realize something about yourself you never knew before… Until now…
30 Minutes til Midnight (Happy Birthday Dean pt. 2!)
Sequel ot Happy Birthday Dean, will you finally tell him how you feel?
Middle of the road
Can you keep pretending your just friends, or will it all come out in the middle of the road.
Lonely as the grave
Dean struggles with his reality visiting the graveyard in his hometown of Lawrance, Kansas
The Fool
The reader comfronts Lisa, based on the song The Fool by Leanne Walmack
The Meeting
A secret releationship getts heated during a meet up
Waiting…
Waiting on your hero hunter to come home can be one of the harderst things you ever do.
Finally Yours
Alpha!Dean is in Rut, and only one Omega can help him through it!
Home
Six years ago Christmas Eve Dean made the biggest mistake of his life under influence of the Mark of Cane.
It Was Fifteen Years Ago Today
Haunted by the past tramas even Dean needs a little comfort sometimes.
I Did It Because I Love You
Dean’s been a complete and total asshole, what happenes when the reader finally has all she can take.
Happy Valenties Day Sweetheart
Dean shows the reader a little bit of his softer side….
I Kinda Like The Disease…
Your search for your demon boyfriend takes you to New Orleans during mardi grag…
Challenge Accepted..
Requested: ok so here is a request(idk if you do these)(also it’s smut) so dean talks about how good he is in the bedroom and the reader says something along the lines like “i bet you can’t make me come” Dean challenges this. In the bedroom and you know they doing the dirty or whatever. Dean edges her and edges her and just when the reader had enough of the teasing Dean finally takes her over her edge and the reader is left with the most hot shaking orgasm ever. I hope this makes sense! ❤️ur stories!!
Your Perfect
Request: the reader is always willing to go down on Dean but when Dean goes to return the favor the reader stops him and always finds an excuse. No one has ever offered to go down on her before so she’s insecure about it and doesn’t want to look weird in from of dean. i Hope this makes sense!
Curves
Requested: Can I request a Dean Winchester x plus size reader, where she really shy and dorky but believes that she really bad at sex because she is bigger? And dean shows her that she not 😊💕 I hope this make sense haha! I know this sound awkward turtle 🐢
You Deserve Better Than Me
Requested: Dean winchester x pregnant Reader. Dean feels the reader deserves better than what he can give her in his life, what will he do when he finds out that she’s expecting his baby?
Quarantine
Summery: Everyone is stuck in quarantine right now everywhere, and your stuck alone with Dean, who really needs to blow off steam… Oh what has your big mouth gotten you into now…
My Best Friend
Request: hiii i have dean x reader request! the reader and dean are friends with benefits but recently she’s just been down in the dumps and just wants some platonic affection and not sex. as the writer you can do what u want but could you add Dean playing with the readers hair? i have a weakness for it lol thanks!
Just A Dream…
Part 1
Part 2
Winchesters Fantasies 1000 follower Challenge…
Daddy’s Home
Request: Hey I know this is odd, but I really enjoy your writing and I was wondering if you could possibly do a little smutty Dean thing? Maybe using the name Lyn, and really anything is on the table, I mean, it’s Dean Winchester. (Or if you want, some daddy kink and maybe just rough stuff :o) Thank you dear!! You don’t have to if ya don’t want to, no pressure 💕💕
Like Pulling Teeth
Request: Okay, so I was just watching few recent spn episode and saw Garth episode. Which gave me an curious idea, can you write dentist reader x dean? They’re in a relationship, one day when dean eats something, it pains and reader has to look into it? and then reader says wisdom tooth extraction? Also the fear of dentist which dean already has (shown in the episode, I found it very funny) I know it’s a weird request but I also think it would be very funny🙈
Little Details…
Request: Could I maybe request a Chubby!Reader x Dean story? She’s super sweet and kind of laid back, just going along with the boys as a research partner, but she’s also super artsy and loves to draw Dean while she researches. Maybe some sweet and soft smut, oh! And maybe he plays with her hair? :) Thanks dear!! 🌻💛
Age Is Just A Number…
Request Hello :) How do feel about an age difference, post sex one-shot? Alternate universe (no hunting), consensual, not underage but quite a big age difference (like at least 10years) where Dean is like freaking out because he’s Dean and doesn’t want to destroy the girl’s life?
Mine…
Request: Could you do a one shot where the reader lives with Sam and dean they are best friends. The reader and dean have a secret relationship and dean gets jealous of the reader and Sam hanging out all day. So dean shows the reader who she belongs too in the bedroom.
Right In Front Of You…
Request: Dean x Reader. Reader is hunting with Sam and Dean, and she is constantly getting annoyed at every single thing that Dean does. And she always acts very bad with Dean with this making dean think that she hates him. And that makes mr very sad because he has feelings for her but when Dean save her sacrificing himself from a hunting gone wrong. She stars to develop feelings for him.
Jealous Of My Demons...
Requested: Dean get’s jealous of the reader’s former boyfriend Brady, who is now posses by a demon and working as a stable boy for the horseman pestilence. Who will they work this out?
Princess...
Request: Thank you for answering my question love!💕 can I request a Dean x plus size reader where she is super shy and it drives dean crazy? Fluff, smut? I’m sorry to bother you hahah and that this sounds awkward turtle 🐢 🖤😻
My Girl...
Requested: Hola! request for dean x reader: the readers current boyfriend always puts her down and one day threatens to breakup with her if she doesn’t lose weight, even though she’s not even plus sized or anything. She constantly pushes her body to the limit to lose the weight and dean notices. it ends all fluffy and protective!dean comes out and has a “talk” with the boyfriend. side note for anyone reader this: YOUR BODY IS BEAUTIFUL MAMA 💗🥺
Your Dean...
Request: Heyy! I'm sorry to be a bother. I was wondering if you can do a one shot where the reader is prone to severe panic attacks and her husband Dean is the only one who knows how to calm her down? She gets a really bad attack but Dean for some reason ain't there, and no one is able to help her but eventually he comes back and takes care of her. Sorry if this is a lot haha.
Safe. Warm. His...
Request: Are you taking requests? If so would you possibly write a one shot with Dean where the reader is in little space and just wants to cuddle and nuzzle her head in his neck and give him lots of little kisses and play with his hands? It’s just superrrr fluffy 🥺🥺🖤
One Hell Of A Thank You...
Request: Can I request a Dean Winchester x plus size reader, where the reader is really quirky and dorky and goes on a date but turns out her date is a vampire and kidnapped her and dean saves her and falls in love with her, maybe some angst, fluff and smut 💕
Voices..
Request: Can I request? Dean x reader were she has an Eating Disorder and she’s recovering but today was an off day for her and starts to go back to her old habits and Dean notices and helps her through it.
His Girl...
Request: May I request a Dean Winchester x plus size reader where the reader is very shy and she at a bar and some dirt bags are picking on her about her shortness and weight and dean stands up for her? Some smut and fluff ?? Also want to say you are a bop of a writer my love! ✨💕🥰❤️
Happily Ever After...
Request: Hey beautiful! May I request a Dean Winchester x plus size reader where the reader does all the research for the boys and she is very shy,she a huge Disney fan, one day demons get in the bunker and make fun of her and dean stand up for her and confess his love for her (smut)? And after they cuddle and watch lady and tramp? Fluff and smut you are a gem my dear! 💕
His New Toy...
Request: Hai can I request dean x reader smut with breast bondage and nipple play?? plot (if there is any) is up to you ;)
His Heaven...
Request: Heyy I love your ABO fics and I have a request for you. You can always say no to this if you’re uncomfortable. I’ll completely understand and I’m very sorry. Can you do one with Alpha!Dean x Omega!reader. Where the reader is on a supply run and she gets assaulted and tortured by a monster and when she gets back to the bunker somehow, she only allows her Alpha anywhere near her and refuses help from anyone else. Dean takes care of her and helps her heal.
Something Worth Fighting For
Request: Hi love! Your writing is amazing and I was wondering if you could do a Dean x depressed!reader? Like dean finds the reader about to jump off the roof of the bunker after reading the note she left him and sam saying goodbye. He had never suspected anything cause she hid it so well. Dean saves her and tells her his feelings for her? You can also add any details you want or anything like that! There is no rush! Thank you!
Unlikely Places
Trigger Warning: Non-Con
Request: Hi! I love your work! Can you do a ABO? One where the reader is Beta, and Dean Alpha, and she’s his true mate/soulmate, but they don’t know it, and he gets possessive and goes into almost a feral rut where he tries to claim, and it almost kills her but Sam and Rowena save her and give Dean his Omega back? You come up with the plot because you’re amazing at that!! Please! I’d be forever in your debt!
I Hurt Too
Request: hi there! I have seen loads of fics and one shots where Dean is sleeping around/having a one night stand and the reader gets jealous and upset, but I was wondering if I could request one with the other way around? or maybe one where they sleep around equally? as smutty, fluffy, or angst as you want!!
What’s Left Of Me
Summary: Who know one little woman could have turned his whole world upside down? He had done so good alone for so long. Then here you come along, and ruin everything
Elf
Summary: Maybe being stuck at home alone with Dean for Christmas isn’t so bad after all.
Save Me
Summary: It’s not always easy being the hero, especially when no one is ever there to save you.
Saving Grace
Summary: Some things are worth fighting for, even when they think they’re not. You can either roll over and die, or you can pick yourself up off the ground and go get what you want. That’s the place Y/N now finds herself in.
Living With Regret
Summary: Death can be hard to deal with in any aspect, but when you’re in the life, it's something you deal with all to often, and carry with you until it's your turn to burn.
Happy Halloween
Summary: It’s Daddy’s favorite holiday. So what’s a good girl gonna do, but let him blow off some steam after a successful hunt?
I’ll Wait For You
Summary: Sometimes when we’re angry, hurt, or scared we say things wrong. Say things that hurt the ones we love. When Dean takes things a step to far can you find it in your heart to forgive him?
An Alpha And His Omega
Summary: Sometimes Alpha’s aren’t the assholes, sometimes words Omegas say things that can hurt too.
No, Screw You Sweetheart
Summary: You HATE Dean Winchester, I mean you really, REALLY hate Dean Winchester.
30 Minutes In Heaven
Summary: Your life, like many hunters before you, was cut short. You had no idea at the time the Fates that were at play in the universe were really those of dick angles and egotistical assholes with massive god complexes. And you also had no idea that they were really the reason you lost your life, and you had no idea why… Until around 30 minutes after you made it to Heaven.
The Devil And I
Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3
Summary: What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? You survived after you thought your mate had died, but how will you survive finding out he's alive, only different.
Don’t Let It Show...
Summary: She’s had enough of him, just like every other woman always seems to, and normally, he doesn’t care, but this time...this time it hurts.
Don’t Fear The Reaper
Summary: They took him from her, her knit, her king, her Dean, “cured” him, and now she’s going to get him back, she’s going to set him free.
Scars And All
Summary: You and Dean have a strange, mutual relationship, but that’s all it is, physical. Until an almost bar fight brings some things to light that you thought you’d never hear.
I Almost Lost You
Summary: Sometimes, monsters aren't always monsters...sometimes they're people.
Touch Starved
Summary: Sometimes when the hunt is hard, and his mind is loud, Dean just wants to be close to someone he loves, but is to scared to say it out loud. Thankfully, she knows him better than he knows himself.
I Wanna Be Your Everything
Summary: After a huge fight, and a week away from Dean, he’s finally decided it was okay to have the ending he’d always wanted.
One More Sunset
Summary: Dean just wants the pain to go away...
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clean up on aisle seven!
word count: 3.3k
genre: casual fluff :)
summary: you really didn’t want to go on this grocery trip. and now you’re stuck trying to track down that last thing your mom needs while the clock is ticking before she checks out. but something (or someone) might just make you lose track of time.
This is your worst nightmare. Your heart was pounding in your chest, your breaths were shallow and staggered, and you could feel droplets of sweat quickly accumulating on your forehead. You’d just suffered finals week and you could definitely say this was the most stressful situation you’d experienced in your life.
This might be where you die.
Actually, if you died now, your mother would drag you back from the grave and kill you again for being so dramatic.
You were standing helpless in the middle of the produce section of your hometown’s grocery store, desperately looking for the red potatoes. And while you frantically scanned for the vegetable- Are potatoes vegetables? Maybe they’re starches. Or a root. It isn’t important. What is important is that you have no clue where they are and your mom is currently in the checkout line, wondering what’s taking so long.
Onions, leeks, asparagus, radishes, cabbage. . .
Maybe you were looking in the wrong place. You circle the aisle, hoping you don’t look like a madwoman as you wring your hands and tug at your hair.
You were a STEM major, for god’s sake! You just crushed your sophomore finals (maybe. probably. you completed them, it’s all that matters), you were not going to let some stupid red potatoes and a fear of abandonment you’ve harbored since childhood distress you in this way.
Spinach, lettuce, carrots, celery. . .
You know, you never should have agreed to go on this grocery trip. Just an hour before now, you’d been comfortable in bed, sleeping in to your heart’s content. But it’s the holidays and you know your mom likes to run her errands with someone and the guilt was just too much. So you let her drag you out of bed and you barely got to brush your teeth before she was dragging you out of the house, too. You probably looked like a wreck. You sure felt like one.
Tomatoes, avocadoes, peppers. . .
Normally by now you’d suck it up and ask an employee for help like the adult you were supposed to be, but, just your luck, the entire section is void of any workers. Honestly, good for them. You’re sure they’re tired of dealing with hopeless idiots like you, anyway.
Garlic, strawberries, blueberries. . .
Who puts garlic next to strawberries? And how did you end up in the fruit section? Even you could do a better job organizing this place. Or maybe you have poor observational skills. You decide not to dwell on which thought is more correct.
You rush back to where you started, begging your eyes to actually work and help you with this one task.
And then: a miracle. Yellow potatoes! You scan the vicinity and...
No red potatoes to be found. Maybe there’s no such thing as red potatoes. Maybe your mom just wanted you to go away for a while. Well, no, that can’t be it. You’re certain you’ve had red potatoes before.
The stress was getting to you. By now, your mom was probably loading her groceries onto the conveyor belt, annoyed at your slow pace and mind.
You know, in many other situations you’d actually consider yourself good under pressure. Put you in a lab coat and in front of a titration and you were a goddamn genius, if you did say so yourself. But once you weren’t poring over textbooks or analyzing data, you felt completely useless. Ask you to cook and you’ll set the kitchen ablaze. Anything more athletic than a casual jog is off the table. Your friends often joke that you can’t even be trusted with a microwave. For good reason. How were you supposed to know those chicken sandwich bags can’t go in the microwave? They’re made of paper.
Other shoppers bristle past you to grab their own groceries, but all you can do is reply with a few murmured “sorries” and stand in the middle of the place looking like a lost puppy. To them, you look utterly distressed. A few shoppers consider asking if you’re okay, but little do they know there’s only one question plaguing your mind.
“Where are the motherfucking red potatoes?!”
You didn’t mean for it to slip out, but at least there’s no one close enough to hear-
A giggle rings from the other side of the waist-high aisle you’ve been staring at. Your eyes slide up to meet the gaze of a boy not too much taller than you- kind of cute too- but the important thing is that he’s staring right at you. Very obviously trying (and failing) to fight an uncontrollable grin on his face.
Your cheeks heat like a furnace. All you can do is stand and stare, caught red-handed cursing over produce at the corner grocery store.
The boy with full, boyish cheeks, twinkling eyes, and a very cute smile that you might consider infectious in any other scenario leans forward on the tips of his toes and peers at the side the aisle you’ve been intently gazing at for the past several minutes. To your horror, he lifts his finger and points just inches from where you were just looking.
“Maybe right there?” It isn’t said sarcastically or with even a hint of ridicule, but despite his genuine nature you only grow more sheepish. You wish you could shrink into your sweatshirt and never come back out.
You lower your eyes to the direction he’s pointing and lo and behold, there are several bags of red potatoes just under your nose.
“Oh. . uh. . Thanks.” You tentatively reach and grab a bag, your eyes not leaving the boy’s face. You can’t help but notice the line forming between his eyebrows and the way he cocks his head to the side. Now, that you think about it, there’s something distinctly familiar about him.
“Wait, Y/N?” Your eyebrows raise, and that seems to be all the confirmation he needs to know that you somewhat recognize him too. “I’m Jimin!” He continues when you don’t respond. “We were best friends when we were, what, six or seven?”
The memories immediately begin rushing back. Though many of your memories from back then have faded, you can remember very distinctly the elementary days full of you and a younger version of the boy across from you causing mischief. More specifically, the two of you thought up increasingly risky pranks to play on your parents and friends until one or both of you got the scolding of a lifetime. You’d nearly completely forgotten about him.
“Yeah, it’s me,” you finally manage. “It’s been a while.” Jimin circles to your side of the aisle.
“Oh my god! When was the last time I saw you?” Jimin thinks for a moment. “Wasn’t it your birthday party? When we hid in the bathroom cabinet and it took them hours to find us!” The memory has the both of you giggling.
“Yeah! My mom would have grounded me for scaring her so badly if it wasn’t my birthday.” The atmosphere is comfortable. Almost as if it had been no time at all.
“I think if anyone was scared, it was you. Weren’t you terrified of the dark?” You blush despite the ridiculousness of his teasing.
“Hey! I talk to you for two minutes after all this time and you’re already back to making fun of me?” Despite their legitimacy, the words carry no malice and you’re grinning from ear to ear. A smirk plays on Jimin’s cheeks and you catch yourself studying his features. It should seem normal, but you’re slightly struck by how much he’s grown up. His baby fat is long gone, replaced with a striking and defined look despite his sweet and boyish features. His brunette locks are neatly cut, his bangs complimenting his cheeks and forming a slight heart shape on his forehead. He’s cute.
If you weren’t so caught up in your own embarrassment, you might have noticed the endeared look he’s giving you as he studies your face at the same time.
“What can I say?” he replies with a shrug. “You’ve always been easy to tease.” You scoff, shifting the bag of potatoes in your arms.
“Speak for yourself, crayon-eater.” Jimin’s giggle is infectious, drawing a snort or two out of you, though you desperately try to play it off as just a cough.
“Where did you end up going? I never saw you after that.”
“Ahh, we moved to the other side of the city. It was pretty sudden.” Jimin nods in understanding.
“I guess you moved again for college, too?” he asks tentatively, gesturing to your sweatshirt. You glance down at the university logo before meeting his eyes again.
“Yeah, I’m just back for the holidays. You?”
“I go to university in the city. Just picking up some groceries for my family. I tend to do our grocery shopping on weekday mornings anyway, since most of my classes are in the afternoon.” You learn that Jimin is a communications major, which you think suits his personality spectacularly. Jimin is not even close to surprised to find out you’ve dedicated yourself in chemistry.
“And to think, just yesterday we were making potions from mud in your backyard. You’re practically a prodigy. Can I get your autograph? You know, for when you become a famous scientist saving the world and all that?” You shake your head, noting that Jimin is just as ridiculous as you remember him.
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” you muse. “But I’m leaning more towards education. I’d like to teach high schoolers one day, maybe college students too.” Now that strikes Jimin as a surprise, evident by his shocked expression. You can’t help staring at the way his lips puff out in an unintentional pout.
“Really? You want to deal with those brats? We just left high school and you already want back?” If your mom thought you were a drama queen, Jimin had you beat tenfold. He’d always been a bit of a class clown, always supplying exaggerated expressions and stupid jokes to garner as many laughs as possible. You roll your eyes.
“They’re not that bad.” You pause. “Well, they are pretty bad but I think I could get through it if I knew I could make at least one kid excited about science, you know?” You inwardly cringe at your mini-spiel. Normally once you get talking about your love for chemistry, your friends zone out or casually change the subject to avoid massive boredom. But to your surprise, Jimin doesn’t seem the least bit annoyed at your sappy, nerd-ish outlook on your career. Instead, he’s nodding with you, attentive and interested.
“That’s. . . really nice.” You blush, stopping yourself from going on a further tangent, sure he has much better things to be doing than listening to you go on and on.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” You twiddle your thumbs and Jimin tugs on the sleeves of his oversized sweater. “Do you still have that cat? What did you name him... Snuggles?”
“Chubbles!” he nearly shouts with a massive smile. “And yeah, I do. He’s still overweight as ever. And old as hell. But I love the grumpy thing to pieces.”
“He was so cute! I remember cuddling with him while watching cartoons together.”
“Oh my god, yeah! That was the only time my mom would let me eat in the living room. I swear those waffles tasted better in front of the tv screen.” The story sparks a memory in your mind.
“Hey, wanna know a secret?” Jimin leans in slightly, confused but definitely interested. You pause for effect. “My mom didn’t let us eat in the living room either. I only said that because you wanted to and I thought it’d convince your mom.” Jimin feigns a gasp, putting a hand on his chest.
“Are you serious? I was jealous of you for years after that and it wasn’t even true? You said your family always ate in the living room.”
“I may have exaggerated a lot of things back then in order to impress you.”
“No way. Then do I really know you at all? Was everything a lie?” You find yourself laughing again. Talking with him is easy, like being kids again.
You shrug. “I like to maintain an aura of mystery.” Now Jimin’s the one rolling his eyes at your antics.
“Hey, speaking of Chubbles, do you want to see a picture of him? My mom posted the best picture of him on Facebook the other day.” Jimin whips out his phone. While others might find a college student doting on his cat and his mom’s Facebook a bit dorky, you find it all too endearing.
“Um, of course!” You step towards him to peer at his phone. But instead of cat pictures, all the two of you see is an endless loading screen.
“Shit. My service sucks out here. I’m sorry.” He gives an apologetic look, but you’re quick to brush it off.
“No, it’s okay. You can just send it to me later.” The connotation of your words hit you like a freight train and you’re about to not-so-eloquently take them back, but Jimin beats you, a smile is plastered across his face. A part of you wants to reach up and squish his cheeks together, but you don’t need to create any more reason for the other shoppers to think you’re unhinged. Also, personal space.
“Oh, great. I’ll just get your number-”
“Y/N.” You freeze, your head whipping around behind you to where your mother stands. She glares at you with her hands set on her hips, no groceries in sight.
“Oh, um, oops.” You muster the best smile you can but your mother is anything but amused. “I found the red potatoes!” You hold up the bag that’s been making your arms ache, as if that would magically fix the situation. She scoffs.
“And while you did, I checked out, paid, put the groceries in the car, and realized that we’d already gotten red potatoes. They were just piled under all that sugary cereal you insist on-” Her eyes flicker to the boy standing awkwardly behind you when she lets out a scream of joy. “Park Jimin!” She nearly shoves you aside to wrap him in a hug, instantly recognizing him despite years of not seeing him. Though if Jimin’s mom is active on Facebook, you guess your mom has seen plenty of Jimin via social media. While you stare incredulously at your mother, Jimin is staring at you, internally laughing at your expression.
“How’s your mother? Is she well? Healthy?” Jimin nods with a charming smile.
“Yes, she’s great.” Your mom is clutching Jimin’s hands as if she’s in her seventies and not her forties. Jimin awkwardly shifts his grocery basket to his elbow, but your mom pays no mind to the uncomfortable position he’s in.
“Oh, you’ve grown so much! I can still remember the days when you two were taking baths together!” Your face blanches while Jimin chokes. Knowing the volume of your mom’s voice, you’re sure the entire grocery store knows your and Jimin’s history now. “You know, I was just thinking about your mother the other day. When we were pregnant with the two of you, we-”
“Hey, Mom.” You place a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you think we should get going? The groceries are in the car...”
“Oh! You’re right, sweetie,” she smiles. It seems that all it took was Jimin’s charm (and by charm, you mean standing there with that grin of his) for her to completely forget about your previous transgression. She turns back to Jimin. “It was lovely to see you, dear. Please tell your mother I said hello. We really should have a get-together over the holidays, don’t you think?”
“That sounds like a great idea, Mrs. L/N,” Jimin says, his eyes trailing to you. “Sorry for keeping your daughter. We were reconnecting and lost track of time.”
“You’re too sweet. I’m sure my daughter was the one babbling on about whatever popped into her head next. It’s no wonder she got lost looking for potatoes, she’s so easily distracted. You know, we had to put her on a leash as a child.” Your cheeks flush red while you get the sense that Jimin is enjoying this a little too much, despite his awkward smile.
“Oh...” You can tell he’s doing his best to spare you the mortification, but if anything his efforts to conceal his laughter only make you more eager to end the conversation.
“Uh... Mom... Groceries...”
“Fine, fine. You didn’t seem to care that much when you were flirting in the produce aisle.” Now that is the final straw.
“Mom! Oh my god, let’s just go.” You feel like a teenager again, embarrassed and at your mother’s mercy. “Bye, Jimin! It was nice seeing you!” You grab your mother by the elbow and nearly drag her out of the store, tossing the red potatoes back onto the aisle as you go. You barely catch Jimin’s weak wave as you storm out.
“He really is such a sweet boy, I’ll have to give his mother a call.” Call. That’s right. You forgot to give him your number.
On pure instinct alone, you spring around, abandoning your mother in the parking lot to sprint back inside.
“Y/N? Y/N! Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back! Start the car!” Your mother sighs and shakes her head. You imagine she’s pinching the bridge of her nose and wondering how her child still acts like a seven-year-old chasing after butterflies.
You find Jimin not far from where you left him, skimming through the juices. You do your best not to show how heavy you’re breathing or how you’ve nearly broken a sweat. And you curse yourself for not using the university gym more often. Upon seeing you reappear, Jimin’s face lights up, albeit somewhat confused.
“Oh, hey.” He holds up two jugs of orange juice. “Pulp or no pulp?” You freeze for a moment.
“Pulp. Obviously.” Jimin nods in agreement, putting the jug in his basket. He looks at you expectantly. “And I forgot to give you my number.” You quickly catch yourself. “For that Chubbles pictures.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” Jimin’s hand rises to the back of his neck nervously as you punch the digits into his phone, making a contact for yourself. If your friends saw you now, they’d think you’d been replaced by aliens or finally gone over the edge. But something in you just had to do it.
“Send me that picture, yeah?” You hand him back his phone.
“Of course.” Jimin gives you a salute, making you giggle shamelessly again. With nothing more to say, you spin on your heel and speed walk out of the store to be mercilessly interrogated by your mother.
Jimin shakes his head and smiles to himself as he watches your retreating form. He makes a mental note to go through his mom’s scrapbooks to find a childhood photo of you two to use as your profile picture.
While your mom is berating you for wasting time and questioning your intentions with Jimin, you couldn’t be happier, grinning from ear to ear. Didn’t Jimin say he did the grocery shopping on weekday mornings?
“Y/N, are you listening to me?” You nod vigorously, which is enough for her when she switches to ranting about gas prices nowadays.
But in reality, you’re not listening at all. You’re planning your next grocery trip.
At least next time you’ll know where to find the motherfucking red potatoes. Though you doubt you’ll need to remember. Something tells you Jimin will remember this for a long time too.
#bts#jimin#jimin x reader#jimin fluff#bts scenario#jimin scenario#bts fluff#kind of boring but short and sweet (i hope)
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Capture - Grayson Dolan [2/-]
summary: after an unsuccessful attempt to escape, Y/N is in for more than she bargained..
warnings: lil bit of smut, swearing, and bdsm undertones
a/n: this is part TWO of this little series! check out part one before reading this!
Your senses slowly began to settle back into you, and you finally realized just what kind of mess you were in..
Right after his bold exit, your exhaustion caught up to you and your eyes became as heavy a dumbbells. But when you awoke for the second time that evening, the situation truly hit you right in the noggin.
You were in a foreign place, that you were incredibly scared to even attempt an escape out of. The foggy memory of the stunning man that had entered the room, was becoming a false reality. Had you dreamt of him? Was he just a twisted piece of your imagination?
Surely not.
It seemed so utterly real that the nameless man had to be an actual human. And even that thought scared the absolute shit out of you. If he were to barge right through the same door, you wouldn't know how to even address him, let alone look at him. So you stayed hidden beneath the large comforter, softly shaking with fear as your eyes began to water. You were starting to miss things you never thought you could miss. Like the pumpkin-apple candle that you'd light from time to time, or your piano you love to play, to wake you up in the mornings and settle you down in the evenings. Hell, you were even beginning to miss your refrigerator that held all your favorite foods and drinks, and your spacious bathroom that you regularly took a soaking bubble bath in.
Oh god, a bathroom. Just at the mere thought, your bladder revolted and signaled it's everlasting need to be freed. But you were too scared. Though, you couldn't last much longer without accidentally pissing yourself, but that'd just make this dreadful day even worse. So with your fears in mind and the shaking of your body reminding you, you pushed back the covers and lifted yourself from the cushiony mattress, your toes curling at the frigid touch of the marble floors. You oddly looked left and right, in search of what could possibly be a hidden camera or worse— a person, but came short with nothing of the sort. You began your tip-toeing steps towards an open door that unmistakably led to the sacred toilet you were literally yearning for, and ever so softly shut the door, for at least a little privacy. It was an expensive looking bathroom with even more expensive looking appliances.
But without further examining you rush to the porcelain bowl and pull down your undergarment, quickly seating yourself and letting all the filtered tension go. A relieved sigh escaped your lips, but your asscheeks sure did feel sore.
Maybe it wasn't a dream..
You let your thoughts roam as you emptied your bladder and tore a piece of toilet paper from its roll and wiped, finishing with the click of the flushing button and directing yourself towards the sink. The women in the mirror caught your eye, though she looked oddly untouched. You thought you'd at least have a bruise or two fluttered across your arms or your face, but it appeared as though you were as good as new and unbothered. Whoever had kidnapped you didn't fully intend harm, but rather some other premeditated plan that you weren't truly sure of.
Though you felt somewhat at ease, your frightened thoughts lingered and you washed your hands quickly and tip-toed back to your aclaimed warm bed that you slightly missed the absence of. You could've gone for round three of sleeping that day, but yet again, to your dismay, the familiar sound of a door opening and closing kept your eyes open, and an unfamiliar scent glided into your nostrils and made your stomach growl profusely.
"Hungry, darling?" The same voice from your dreams questioned the air around you and just as before, you couldn't refrain from laying your eyes on him. He was undoubtably real, except this time he was fully clothed in a tucked white dress shirt and pants, a belt tightly wrapped around his waist. He was even dreamier than before with his hair all done up and his fingers clad with shiny rings that hadn't caught your eyes before. You drew your attention away and slowly nodded, bringing the large blanket up to shield yourself from his eyes. He set the platter down on the nightstand with what looked to be a sweet smile and grabbed a little portable table to set just above your thighs. He neatly settled the prepared food onto it and seated himself at the end of the bed, motioning his hand for you to begin.
You were hesitant to eat anything he could've made at first, but you were more scared of him becoming mad, so you gladly picked up your spoon and began to chew on the nice noodle soup, it's brothy flavor feeling nice on your throat. You almost whimpered at the taste when you finished your very first bite, your eyelids shutting and your head titled back in sensation. "Good?" His deep, softened voice brought you back to reality and your head was nodding before you could detest anything of it. "For how mouthy you were this morning, you sure haven't said much at all." His words struck true as you thought back to the prior events, his seething words and your snooty comments that arises the anger in him.
"Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but you had caught me in a moment of weakness and I will forever regret it. I was taken against my own free will, without the ability to even fight for my freedom, and you think it's fair to treat me like a whore who "deserves to be punished" and was in quite a drowsy state of mind. You're a sick bastard whether you've been told that or not." You seemingly growled at him, but he didn't seem to be angered, let alone offended. With all the stillness and subtleness in the world, he answered;
"Yes, it may have been a moment of weakness, Ms.
Y/L/N, but when was the last time that that pretty pussy of yours was touched, hm? How long has it been since you've came by someone else's hand, or cock perhaps? Darling, I may be a stranger to you, but you're no stranger to me." And with that, he left you stunned (and regrettably horny), all alone in the same room you've been trapped in for who knows how long? Ugh, it was so angering the way he could flip what you say into something far from being similar to anything you were trying to argue.
But he was right..
Yes, it's been a rough couple years in the dating life for you. Though, it never had to do with "supply of men" because here and there, you'd get a little flustered by a handsome man wondering if you'd like to get coffee sometime. But you'd always sweetly decline and carry on with your day. You were a focused, driven person that had their mind set on nothing else but your arising business endeavors. You simply didn't want to begin a relationship because you weren't fully ready to give so much attention to one thing while you were too focused on another.
And being honest, men are very clingy. And mysterious..
His final little statement about "You're no stranger to me" really confused you. Had you met him before? Was he from your hometown? It was truly a mystery. Who's to say he wasn't some sort of stalker whose been following you for the past five years? But that sounds absurd. Why would such a handsome, dreamy, sexy— a'hem, man want to have anything to do with you? Whatever it is, you weren't exactly mad about it. Because just like earlier, when you were hazy and half asleep, you felt the same tingling and flutters right down to your core. He was so smooth with his words, it's hard not to fall to your knees and become his beckon call. Fuck, anytime you laid eyes on him, your body begins to writhe with shudders, creating that pooling sensation where your core throbbed the worst. A large part of you couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow, throw some sly comments at him or even try escaping, anything to catch his attention.
So before drifting asleep, your mind raced with loose plans and tactics for tomorrow, when you’d awake in the same room for presumably the third or fourth time.
-
Go time.
Initially, you had planned to sneak out only to anger him, but now that you were thinking about it, why not at least try to escape the clutches of the room and run away, hopefully home if you could.
You were missing it so much already, though you’ve only been gone for approximately thirty-two hours (maybe). But you were becoming bored with the view of absolutely nothing except gray walls and the one large painting on the wall. It looked like a countryside, a barn with a red roof-top and white siding while trees decorated the entire area around it. It was an odd picture to be put in this room, it didn’t really match the minimalist vibe the entire rest of the proximity put off. But anyway, it felt weird getting out of bed and twisting the handle on the door, and to your satisfaction, it opened with a faint click and you were finally able to be freed of this room.
The even more so frigid air smacked you straight between the eyes the moment you fully opened the door, it made your eyes water slightly. Taking the very first step out of the room, you notice that the walls in the long hallway are a powder color, which brought a weird grin to your face.
Those gray walls just weren’t doing the trick.
You slowly begin to tip-toe to the right of the entryway, looking in every direction possible. You didn’t really know if he lives alone or with others, but you were banking on the possibilities that there were others in the nice, freezing home.
Why the fuck does he keep it so cold?
You continued your slow, padding steps until you came across another door-less room; the kitchen. Thankfully there was no one in the huge kitchen, and your stomach jolted to the smell of just another soup, you just couldn’t recognize it. You almost scavengered for a spoon, but the faint sound of shallow footsteps corrupted your hearing and you b-lined straight to a cabinet, that happened to be a pantry once you were enclosed inside. Before entering, the pairs of footsteps let out a few hoarse chuckles and cackles, ultimately placing them as men. From what you could see in the tiny, barely visible crack, you could for sure make out who was standing directly left to the cabinet you were stuck in; the panty-dropping hottie from earlier.
You were just praying to God that he wouldn’t find you.
You took every breath as carefully and slowly as possible, not moving a muscle as the two men conversed, though it was muffled and incomprehensible. After what seemed like hours, you swore you heard a few goodbyes and a loud door shut. You wanted to sprint out of the damn tight-knit cabinet and run for your dear life, but you slowly opened the door and breathed in a large breath once you were finally free of your slight claustrophobic fears.
“Better run, sweetheart.” His deep, distasteful voice scared the wits out of you, which made your instincts ignite the moment he took a step closer to you. Before you knew it, your feet were pacing back and forth in long strides as your arms pumped up and down, though your blanked mind came to a loss on the directions out of the house.
This was it.
There was no way you’d make it out of here. He was obviously much faster and actually knew the layout of his own house, while you, on the other hand, had no damn clue where the front door is. So your heart sank deep in your chest when you felt his warm, muscular arms wrap around the entirety of your waist before you hand could even grasp an unknown handle that you were violently reaching for.
“Think you’re fucking smart, princess?” He whispers in your ear, carrying you away, presumably to your prior settings while you helplessly let him. You didn’t even thrash against him, or even attempt a kick to his groin.
You just.. let him.
“Fuckin’ lucky I don’t tie you up and spank your ass until it’s numb again.” He murmurs to himself, dropping you off on the same bed you’ve been sleeping and awakening in whilst he shuts and locks the door too. Just his little comment to himself made your mouth water and your pussy clench. It was hard enough being in such a close proximity with him.
Once testing the door to see if it was locked properly, he turned back to look at you with a cold, lustful stare that had you aching all over yet again. For someone that you don’t even know their formal name, you sure did have the ‘hots’ for him. In a flash, his shirt was off and his pants were unbuckled, the heat arising in your cheeks as he strode over to you in his nakedness. “Knees. Now.” He points to the floor below him, watching with demanding eyes. You, of course, reacted before thinking. You were on your knees in seconds and had your hands wrapped around his increasingly large girth. You really hadn’t looked at it before, you were honestly terrified to. But now that it was right in front of you and your fist was slowly pumping it, you craved it.
“Since you haven’t been very nice to Daddy, you’re gonna have to give him a little sweet treat..” He caressed the top of your head, looking down upon the sight of you stroking him made his cock jump slightly. With your own eyes in him, you ran your tongue along the protruding, red vein of his cock, suctioning off his tip like it was a straw. He threw his head back with a pleasured sigh as your warm and thick muscle made his erection grow. With a few internal encouragements in your head, you let your mouth intake more, slowly edging its way to his public bone. What you hardly couldn’t fit, you let your fingers glide over. His sharp intakes of breaths and groans had your own self a mess, and you almost wanted to creep your own two ‘flimsy’ fingers down there and relieve it.
You let your hands travel to his constricting balls, fondling them with the slightest of touches. He squinted his eyes and held himself back from coming right then, but it was too late. For his thick, hot ribbons of cum released all the way down your throat and to your chin.
He didn’t last long..
It unusually tasted sweet, compared to others who seemed to be sour and gummy. Though he was done and physically drained, you continued slow motions, only quickening them by the second. Overstimulating has and will always be one of your favorite kinks. To see someone shaking and aching from their own sensitivity made you all the more horny and sexually-frustrated. But the overstrung man put an end to the real quick, pulling you to your feet and shoving you back onto the cushiony bed where your comfy gown rose and his intense stare darkened.
“Don’t you make one fucking sound..”
(masterlist)
#dolan twins#dolan twins smut#dt#grayson dolan#dtfan10m#read#grayson#grayson bailey dolan#grayson smut#grayson dolan smut#smut#grayson dolan fanfic#ily#dolan twin fandom#love u#dick grayson#stalker#kidnapping#capture#grayson x reader#graysonbailey#graysondolan#graysonbaileydolan
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The Bet | Chapter Three
Day 5
Today was the day Feyre moved into her new studio. Over the weekend she had spoken with the proprietor and settled the offer. It was now Monday morning.
Feyre was currently lugging her suitcases down the sidewalk. The studio was only a few blocks away, not to mention she didn’t have a car. She had bought new art supplies recently, too excited to wait until she got the studio. And she had packed everything into her suitcases, which were much easier to transport than boxes.
She finally reached the building. Feyre had already visited after renting out the place, both today and the day before, so she was familiar with it already. She left one suitcase at the bottom of the metal stairs. Why did it have to be on the second floor? At least that lowered the price; it was hard to find an affordable studio space in Greenwich Village.
Feyre carried one suitcase up, came back down, and carried up the other. She then pulled out her key... which she dropped, and of course felt through one of the slits in the walkway. Great. Another trudge down the stairs. Feyre turned and made it down all of two steps before coming face to face with, woe and behold, Rhys. Why does this keep happening to me? At least he hadn’t texted her yet.
Rhys grinned. “Looking for this, I take it?” He held up her key.
Feyre frowned. “Thanks.” She grabbed the key from his hand. “Um, do I really have to ask why you’re here?”
Rhysand smirked. Of course he did. “Mor mentioned you were moving things to your new studio.”
“And she also mentioned the address?” Feyre asked. She was going to kill Mor.
“I asked her for it. I want to help. What do you need me to do, darling?”
Feyre frowned. “It’s Monday. Don’t you have a job?”
Another damned smirked flitted over Rhys’ face. She was going to kill him too, she decided. “I’m a flight instructor at the university. Tuesday through Thursday only.”
Of all the things he could have said, Feyre had expected that one the least. She had pictured Rhys as more of a... well, something involving smooth-talking clients and wearing expensive suits. Perhaps Feyre had been making too many assumptions about Rhys.
As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I know, I look like a skeezy businessman.” He didn’t seem upset, though, just endlessly amused. Did he have any other emotions? “I like to fly, though. It makes me feel free. Teaching it is almost as good.”
Feyre blinked. She was surprised to hear such an honest comment from him. And feeling free... just like when Feyre picked up a paintbrush. She scowled. “You can help me unpack stuff.” Without another word, she turned and unlocked the door.
-
They spent the rest of the morning and the better part of the afternoon setting up the area. And they talked. About Feyre’s hometown of Detroit and her dream to be an artist. Of Rhys’ joy of flying and his experiences in New York.
Despite the sharing, Feyre’s animosity remained. She refused to smile at him, even once. And when he invited her to go to the cafe and see Mor, she hesitated. She was hungry and couldn’t cook for the life of her, and after all that Rhys had done, she owed him food. But the bet specified that...
“This is not a date,” Feyre said, frowning.
Rhysand grinned. “If I were taking you on a date, darling, it wouldn’t be where my cousin works.”
Feyre scowled. “You are never taking me on a date.”
“I said ‘if.’” Rhys smiled seductively and learned forward. “I don’t think never is accurate, though. In fact, I’m hoping to convince you to come on a date with me before long. I’ll charm you eventually.” Bloody hell.
“You’re a fucking prick, you know that? And you haven’t even asked me on a date yet. How do you know I’d turn you down?”
“Would you like to go on a date with me?” Rhys asked with an amused expression on his face.
“Well, no.”
His smile widened. “And that’s why I didn’t ask. But I’ll crack that aggressive exterior in no time, don’t worry.”
Feyre hadn’t realized how close they had gotten. “I’m seriously about to punch you right now.”
Rhys chuckled. “I would expect nothing less, darling. Let’s head out.” To the cafe. Where Feyre was having a not-even-close-to-an-actual-date and... sitting with him? Eating with him? This was going to be great. Maybe they could get separate tables.
-
“Feyre! Rhys! Here on a date?” Mor was behind the counter, grinning, attempting to suppress the eagerness at winning the bet already - and failing miserably.
Feyre gave her most vicious frown and I-will-hunt-you-down-and-skin-you-alive stare. Rhysand was the one who replied. “Feyre darling insists this is not a date. I’m not so sure, though.”
Feyre turned to him. “It is not a date. I do not like you. I just want to eat lunch.” She was perhaps a little too snappy, but Rhys seemed to have thick skin. He could handle it.
Mor frowned. “Well I think you two should go on a date. You’d be so cute together.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Feyre ignored this comment and ordered a grilled cheese and a coffee.
Mor refused to be satisfied. “How did you two come to be strolling down the sidewalk together?”
“I think you know, having given him the address of my studio. Thank you for that, by the way.” Feyre’s voice couldn’t have been drier.
Mor, however, smiled graciously. “Of course, Feyre. I know how much you like to spend time with my cousin.” Her voice was sincere, but from the mischievous glint in her eye, Feyre could tell she didn’t mean a word of that statement. Feyre really was starting to fantasize of how she could murder her friend.
Rhys snorted and ordered his food, smirking all the while. He and Feyre sat a small table by the window. After a minute he said, “You’re staring at my mouth.” Which was technically true. Shit.
Feyre frowned. “I was wondering if that smirk is permanent. Plastic surgery, maybe?”
Rhys barked a laugh. He was probably about to give some witty comeback when Feyre’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and check the screen before turning it off and putting it back.
“Not important, darling?” Rhys asked.
“No.” Which wasn’t technically true. But there was no way in hell Feyre was going to answer her phone when the caller ID read Tamlin.
-
“I’m home,” Mor called, hours later.
“In here,” was Feyre’s reply. She was in the dining room looking over the documents of her contract with the studio. Everything seemed to be in order.
Mor dropped onto the seat next to Feyre. “Have fun with my cousin?”
“Sending him to my studio? I’m going to murder you for that.” Feyre didn’t bother to look up from what she was doing.
“You could have turned him away.” Feyre didn’t dignify this with a response. “Hon, you look so sad. I didn’t mean to-”
“No, Mor.” Feyre looked up from the papers. “It’s not because of what you did. As annoying as he is, Rhys did help. It’s... I got a call from Tamlin today.”
Mor’s eyes widened. “I thought he was calling less now.”
A sigh came out of Feyre. “Less, but not never. If only because he knows I won’t answer. He’s still looking for me though. I thought once he realized I left Detroit he would stop looking. I don’t even know why. I should have known better.”
Mor took Feyre’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Feyre. I wish there was something I could do. Surely there must be-”
Feyre interrupted her again. “No. He is rich. He is powerful. The best I can do is hide.”
“That doesn’t sound like a pleasant way to live.”
“What else can I do? Besides, it can be. I’m here with you. I’m painting. That all I’ve ever wanted.”
Mor sighed. “And yet you live with a shadow over your head, always scared he’ll find you. You look so cheerful that I think that you’re doing better after everything he did, but then you look so sad sometimes and I know that isn’t true. You’ve been through serious trauma. Have you considered therapy?”
Feyre frowned and looked down. “I think that’s a good idea. I might as well give it a try.”
“Good. And whatever you need, Feyre, I am always here for you.”
Feyre looked up at her friend. “Stop that, Mor. You’re making me cry.” Tears were indeed slipping down her cheeks.
Mor smiled. “I’m your bestie. I’m supposed to make you cry sometimes.”
Feyre sniffled. “You’ve been so supportive. Thank you for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’re so much more resilient than you give yourself credit for. I’m always going to help you, but I think you’d be fine if I didn’t.”
“I don’t know how true that is. But thank you.” Feyre gazed fondly at her best friend. Her support system. And she smiled.
-
Mor sat with Feyre for a few more minutes. As soon as she left to take a shower, Feyre looked online for a therapist nearby. She wasn’t going to say she’d try it and conveniently “forget” for a while. No more putting off help. Mor was right about Feyre going through trauma, and it was time to heal.
She clicked a website detailing the closest therapist’s practice, not too far away, probably not long on the subway. Perfect. Feyre found the number and dialed on her phone. “Hello? Yes, I’d like to make an appointment.” The receptionist, with a deep male voice, asked if 3:30 Friday would be okay. Feyre accepted and listed her credit card number. Her voice was shaky and her heart was thumping. It’s just a phone call, calm down. Everything was verified and then she said, “Thank you. Bye.”
Feyre set her phone down on the table. Her palms were sweating. She was already nervous for Friday. Working through this would obviously require talking about it. How would she manage telling someone about everything that had happened in that mansion...?
Feyre supposed if she had one of the nervous breakdowns she was prone to, a therapist’s office was the place to do it. Yes, she would be fine. Stop worrying, Feyre. Also, stop talking to yourself. It’s weird.
Feyre stood and walking into the kitchen. She had already had dinner, but in all honesty, she could do to gain a few pounds. All that time hurling her guts into the toilet, because of nightmares of-
No. No more thinking about that. It would all come out on Friday, no need to work herself up about it now. Feyre grabbed a can of beer out of the fridge, opting for alcohol rather than food. She could gain weight later; now was the time to get drunk. Only mildly, though, since Feyre was painting in her studio tomorrow. It would be hard to focus with a hangover.
Feyre spent the next few minutes trying not to think about Tamlin. Which led her to thinking of Rhysand. What a smartass. What a beautiful smartass. This wasn’t mooning, Feyre told herself. Rhys was handsome - that wasn’t wrong to think, it was mere fact. She was allowed to appreciate his looks without actually being attracted to him. Which she wasn’t. Obviously.
Feyre didn’t feel anything when she looked at his muscular frame. Or his sparkling violet eyes, full of mirth. His structured cheekbones, his delicious lips. Delicious? Okay, perhaps that was a little over the top. The point: Feyre totally didn’t like Rhysand. Or want to admire his features endlessly. Needless to say.
Feyre thanked the gods when Mor left the bathroom and came back into the dining room. Anything to prevent her from her own traitorous thoughts.
The two women chatted for the rest of the night, Mor wanting to be there with Feyre after the call from Tamlin. They discussed paintings, a waiter Mor had had to fire, and anything that didn’t involve Tamlin. Or Rhysand. For once, Mor wasn’t hounding Feyre about that topic, which was a major relief for her. Because it was getting hard to think about him without desiring him. A thought which seemed absolutely ridiculous to Feyre, seeing as he genuinely annoyed her endlessly. Rhys was such a fucking prick, so why couldn’t Feyre hate him? Life is such a bitch.
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Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 1
Through a misunderstanding and a poorly read application, Ichigo Kurosaki gets a chance internship at the Chaldeas Security Organization. It changes everything.
It felt good to stand in the sunlight.
Ichigo had spent so long in Chaldea it felt good to have the sun on his skin, warming him from the outside in.
He had gotten so used to having the solid presence of his Shielder at his side that standing alone on the platform from the train felt more like standing naked in the streets of his hometown. Not a pleasant feeling. His family wouldn’t be there to see him, and they weren’t. He wasn’t supposed to be home for a few more days at least. How could it be that everything that happened to him, all of the fighting and all of the bloodshed and all of the war would have happened in the span of just a few days? How could his years have been spent and yet nothing but him had changed?
It was enough to make his head spin.
He needed to get home.He didn’t think he could ever really finish explaining everything that had happened to him, but he would tell his family the truth. There had been an accident at the facility, and he was home early.
Even though it had never been an accident.
*
There was smoke. Smoke and the scent of blood and spilling gas lines and raw metal twisted beyond recognition.
He barely heard Dr. Roman yelling at his back, telling him to come back. Ichigo had never shied from danger and he wasn’t going to start now. He dove into the smoke, choking him and clinging to his clothes. Pods of people were disarrayed around him, their bodies still and blood leaking out like creusom caskets. He couldn’t get their doors open, no matter that he tried, but there was one person who was not there. One person who wasn’t him, blocked from the first mission for his bad attitude towards the Director. Nevermind that the director was just a kid herself.
“Bulkhead closing in 180 seconds. All Devision 2 personal, evacuate immidiately-”
Ichigo didn’t understand what that meant. He didn’t know what most of what had happened today meant, just that his little summer internship wasn’t even remotely what was on the flyer. But he didn’t pause as he scrambled over and massive chunk of rock, stuck through with wires that cut his hands like an oversized porcupine.
A flash of white out of the corner of his eyes gives her away.
There, lying under the debris, her small body crushed an broken and leaking blood, was Mash.
It was Mash but all he could see was Yuzu, her wide eyes huge and terrified and filled with tears. Not a girl he’d met an hour before, after passing out on the floor. Not the best meeting.
The ground was slick with blood and water, turning Ichigo’s white shirt a pale pink where it splashed on it when he dropped to his knees next to her. She was trapped, and the rock was too big for him to even be able to budge it.
That didn’t stop Ichigo from trying.
The overhead voice was still talking, and Mash was muttering at him, her voice too weak to make much sound. She was dying. Dying, her tiny body crushed until she coughed and more than just blood came out.
Ichigo howled with rage and denial and shoved harder, harder. It was hot and smouldering and his hands blistered and blackened with burns. The light above them changed from blue to red and it burned into his retina until he couldn’t see anything else. Just red. Red blood, red light, and his body gave out. Too much smoke, he couldn't breath, he couldn’t see. He was helpless. He couldn’t do a single thing and its burned more than fire.
Mash’s small hand found his. Her grip was weak, but she was alive. She was still alive and he couldn't just let her die-
He grabbed her hand with both of his. Holding tight.
The overhead was still talking, her voice robotically calm and detached. Small paws from the ferret, or whatever it was that had brought him to Mash landed on top of their joined hands.
“Sen-pai,” her voice was a whisper, and wet with blood. The smell was making him sick. “Please… r-run.”
“No way,” he denied firmly, gripping her hands tighter. “Not without you.”
“Senpai…”
Someone else is yelling at him. A ripple in the air. White hair and panicked eyes. The director, the one Ichigo had pissed off. He reaches for her without thinking, and his hand grasps hers.
And then he didn’t see red. He saw blue, light that poured across his skin and came from beneath it, rushing like water across the burning room. A circle in the sky, a hollow moon of blue and Mash’s hand in his.
* *
He knocks on the door, feeling more stranger than family. His key is long gone, he’d dropped it somewhere in Rome, he thinks, but its hard to keep track of trivial things like that when emperors are trying to gut you like a fish.
It’s Yuzu that answers and he can’t help it.
The second she’d within his sights he drags her into the fiercest hug he can manage. He’s gotten taller, he realizes. It’s not a surprise. He spent three years in less than a week, and even if he hadn’t…
“Ichigo?” Yuzu doesn’t fight him, and he’s grateful for it. She must be confused, because as much as Ichigo loves his sisters he’s not the most physically affectionate person in the world.
“Hey,” Ichigo doesn’t let go for a long time. “Sorry I was gone so long.”
“Huh? But you’re home early…”
Ichigo doesn’t say anything. He’s loath to let her go, but eventually he has to. Karin is at soccer practice, of course she is.
Ichigo feels his dad coming at him from a mile away, trying to sneak up on him from the clinic next door. He’d seen Isshin through the window, a glance in the corner of his eye and the flying kick thrown at him isn’t stopped with violence for the first time in ten (thirteen) years.
Ichigo catching him around his middle, holding him off the ground, and Isshin has little choice but to hand there, his arms around Ichigo’s head.
“Son?” there’s a question or two or a thousand, but Ichigo doesn’t know how to answer all of them. He doesn’t put Isshin down until they’re in the living room and even then he sits right next to him. Knee to knee. Yuzu brings in a can of tea for him.
“There was an accident,” he tells them. “Chaldea, there was an explosion. So everyones been sent home.” Everyone who survived. Everyone who made it through the initial explosion and wars that followed.
“Huh? I thought it was supposed to be a security organization, and there was an explosion?” Isshin scowled.
It was sabotage. It was death. It was the world turning red and the future being stripped away from human hands.
“It’s fine,” he says, even though it wasn’t even remotely. There were a million things wrong with what has happened. “I’m not hurt.” Which is true enough. He can see his dad sizing him up, trying to read between the lines. He had to look older. He’s taller, his cheeks are sharper and he’s lost baby fat. He’s always been fit, but now he's stronger, built for endurance and running for weeks on end. Tempered by wars and helplessness and a desperate bid to save the world.
“I’m fine,” he said again, and Isshin let it go. Ichigo didn’t exactly know how to feel about that.
He spends the rest of the day flitting from family member to family member. School starts again in four days and he heavily considers skipping it to hang around his dad of all people.
He can’t help thinking about Mash. She didn’t have anything like this.
* * *
They move from one fire to another.
Ichigo knows if he stays among all this smoke he’s going to end up with permanent damage. Because you know. Fuck him. He has no idea what happening, just that he thinks he’s teleported and apparently magic is as real as ghosts are. And he’s not dead, Fou sits on his shoulder.
He doesn’t know where Mash went but he doesn’t have time to worry about it. Some kind of skeleton gang, at least five of them are approaching. Skeletons, living, breath - well, moving in any case, skeletons. Half of them have swords. One has a spear.
Ichigo thinks he’s broken his hand when he throws the first punch, but the skeleton crumble into a strange yellow powder that tastes like what Ichigo assumes a graveyard would. Death an d decay and strangely damp.
He can’t stop with one but by the time he’s kicked the absolute shit out of the last of them the sky lights up with another shade of red. Like a handful stars falling from the sky, and he realizes belatedly that there’s no way for him to block whatever the fuck is flying at him.
So he tries to run, but there’s a flash of purple and pink and Mash is in front of him. Only she’s taller now, older, and she’s holding a shield bigger than her body is. She’s not alone. White hair, snake-yellow eyes. Olga Marie, the director that had been pissed at a ‘commoner’ like Ichigo was with her too. Only, she wasn’t really there.
It had been years since Ichigo hadn’t been able to tell the dead from the living, but this time it takes him a few minutes to realize that Mash is very much alive, if not apparently a magical girl, and Olga Marie is anything but alive.
They don’t have time to worry about it, because they’re under seige and Ichigo is apparently a wizard .
He should seriously be more surprised.
But he’s not. It explains a few things. Like how he can see ghosts on the regular, and why his punching skeletons actually works.
They pick up another stray on their way, a wizard named Cu Chulainn. He and Mash swear themselves to Ichigo as his ‘servents’, familiars who he supplies with energy and they fight on his behalf. It almost reminds him of Chad, except here he’s entirely outclassed.
The helplessness tastes bitter and vile.
A third servent appears, a woman this time who likes to turn people to stone.
“You’ll all join my garden,” she tells them, hanging off a petrified man. Ichigo can vaguely remember reading something about a person like this. The eyes, he thinks. It’s her eyes.
He meets them squarely and bonks her harmlessly on the head. He’d have more luck punching the statues than her.
“Hey,” his voice is gruff. “Stop being a lunatic. We’re all getting out of here. So either come with us or let us go.”
“You- what?” Everyone is staring at him. Bewildered, but Ichigo had never done what he was supposed to. He does what he wants, and even though she’s threatened them somehow he can feel her. Like the rush of scales across his skin, cool and potentially threatening but if she really wanted to kill them-
Well, they’d just been hanging out by the river. If nothing else should have taken his head off with her curved spear.
“Am I gonna have to repeat myself? Damn, I said we’ve got bigger things to do than fight you, lady. So just come with us, or let us go!”
“Master!” Mash takes a startled step towards him. “Please step away from her! She could kill you!”
“Why would she do that?” Ichigo demanded, turning towards them, “We haven’t even done anything!” It’s not like he’s against fighting. He fights all the time. But they need to get out of here. He needs to get back to his family, to his own damn time .
Besides that, he can see her power. He isn’t sure how, but he can see her strength and that of the two other Servants. Not see, maybe, but he can feel it. Like he can feel ghosts even with his eyes closed. Either way, she’s not strong enough to beat both of the others at once, even if Mash is a novice.
“This is a war…”
“Look,” he spun to face her, staring fearlessly into her eyes. “Just say yes or no already!”
She blinks. Once, twice, thrice.
“Yes?”
So with three servants in toe, he sets out to fight the ones who holds the holy grail. All of this destruction, a city of fire devoid of the living and ghosts both... Only servants and masters remained, all because of a cup.
All for the sake of a wish.
Was it really worth it?
* * * *
Ichigo’s bed is equal points familiar and foreign.
He ends up going to sleep on the floor, the bed too soft and too warm and he feels like he’s going to suffocate.
All he can think of are late nights spent in Chaldea with Mash, with Roman, and Di Vinci, and countless others. He misses the solid presence of Mash and her near encyclopedic knowledge of history. Everywhere , everywhen they went. He misses the sharp bite of Mordreds tongue betrayed by her sea-dark eyes. He missed the quiet, hulking form of Asterios, always well within reach. He missed the sharp bite of his guard dogs tongue and the quiet prayers of the saints at sunset. Even Kiyohime, her claws digging into his arm, afraid she’ll be abandoned again-
He’s up before dawn.
Ichigo puts together enough breakfast for twenty people. Rolled omelette and rice and foreign things. Shakshuka and fried green tomatoes.
His family stares when they come down for breakfast.
Ichigo stands, in his dads ‘kiss the cook’ apron, with a bowl of matcha stirring swiftly in his hands.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Karin asks, looking him up and down, trying to find something. Isshin’s stare is particularly disconcerting. Like a scientist trying to understand something new, he’s never seen his father look that way, especially not at his own son.
Ichigo has to turn away from their staring.
“The time is different there,” is the understatement of the century. “I wanted to make breakfast.”
“There’s enough here for an army!” Yuzu cries, gesturing to the spread out in front of them.
Or enough for two Berserkers.
“We can have leftovers for lunch?” is about the only explanation he has. How does he explain that he used to cooking with EMIYA enough for an actual army?
“Yeah… I guess so,” Karin is still staring.
Isshin pitches himself at the portrait of their mother, sobbing grossly.
“Masaki! Our son is growing up so fast!”
* * * * *
Lev Lainur has an ugly smile. Everything about him is slimy and distrustful and Ichigo has seen enough ghosts to know, just by looking at him, that he is not human.
So when Olga Marie tries to go running to him, Ichigo wraps a firm arm around her middle and holds her back.
“Let go!” she shrieked, clawing towards the slimy man, “It’s Lev! Lev will fix everything he’ll-”
“He’ll kill you.”
Olga Marie freezes in his arms, looking towards Medusa. Rider. Her eyes are narrowed and her hair writhes with snakes, hissing a spitting venom.
“Kill her?” Lev laughs, a sound like metal grating and children screaming. There’s nothing pleasant about it. “I already have! I planted that bomb directly under her feet, I have no idea how she’s even here!”
Ichigo knows.
It’s because of him. Because of his interference in the explosion. The other hand he’d grabbed, it must have been Marie’s. And they’re all here together.
“W-wait, no. I’m not dead! I can’t be!” But the fight goes out of her. She lets Ichigo hold her, and when Lev beacons gravity shifts and the world tries to pull Olga Marie from his arms. He tightens his hold and barks at Medusa. Chain snake out, lashing them together and to the ground and holding them there, even as Lev pulls until it feels like his skin will come off. Ichigo can feel it again, the drain on his energy. Mana, magic energy, pulled when the servants fought. He has no idea how much he has but it must be just enough for Lev to scoff.
He shows them the red earth again. The world, the future. Humanity, all gone. Destroyed in an instant, and they the only survivors. All of the past, all of the future.
There is nothing left of it, save him, Mash, and the ghost in his arms.
Something inside him writhes and snarls, thirsting for vengeance and at the same time is keens a wailing cry of anguish.
It’s his mother all over again. Laying on the riverbank, bleeding out and Ichigo helpless in her arms.
It’s Mash in the command room, crushed under burning stone and Ichigo only able to hold her hand.
No, no, no, no!
He won’t allow it. He will not let himself be so useless .
There’s a flare of energy and Medusa gasps. Mash and Cu straighten up like dogs that heard a whistle and their fight turn on a dime. The archer falls, and his king a second later until all five of them stand before Lev. United.
* * * * * *
School starts.
The world turns on.
Everything is the same, and nothing is at all.
* * * * * * * *
#shattered chains of fate#ao3 cross post#lore55#bleach#bleach fanfiction#bleach/fate grand order#Ichigo Kurosaki#mash kyrielight#olga marie animusphere#cu chulainn#BAMF!Ichigo Kurosaki#Ichigo Kurosaki is Ritsuka Fujimaru#sorta
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Sugar with a Side of Coffee Ch. 9
Series Masterlist
Chapter 9: Crossed Lines
Spencer was not sure what overcame to do something like that. He did not drive straight home, instead he chose to drive aimlessly through the city. His palms were still sweating, even though Cate was long gone from his car. He was worried he had seriously messed up; she hadn’t even kissed him back. He left so fast he didn’t even want to see the look of disappointment on her face. Before he knew it, he found himself outside of JJ’s house.
It was late, just past eleven. He knew she’d be sleeping, and also that her kids would be put to bed. He couldn’t help himself. He pulled his phone out and called her to see if she was awake. She picked up on the third ring.
“Spence? Is everything okay?” JJ tried her best to sound awake. He tried to ignore the lack of butterflies when JJ called him by the nickname.
“Would it be okay if I came over? I think I ruined my friendship with Cate.” He chewed on his lip and drummed the fingers of his left hand over his steering wheel.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll get a pot of coffee started.” He could hear JJ get out of bed and the ruffle of what he could assume was her putting on a house coat over her pajamas.
“Good because I’m already here.” He hung up and went to her front door, which opened as he got closer. He could see JJ’s tired figure.
“Of course you are.” She said, letting him inside. They made their way to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible due to JJ’s family sleeping. Will had walked through the hallway to the bathroom, mumbling a greeting to Spencer.
JJ had to listen carefully as Spencer recalled the events of the night. He had chugged the mug of coffee. His fingers jittered and his hands flew about as he rushed through his admittance of feelings for Cate and how good she was. Just an all around good person. Too good for him, too good to be brought down by his job.
“Then tell her, Spence.” JJ said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Spencer’s mouth opened and shut without making any words. “Tell her how you feel; you’re getting in your head.” JJ reached a hand out to Spencer’s shoulder. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face.
Cate paced back and forth in Marta’s small bedroom, not taking more than a few steps in either direction. She could still feel the buzz on her lips, but she wanted to blame the blur of thoughts on her tiredness from the late night.
“I’m sorry, why is this a bad thing?” Marta asked sarcastically. “I thought you were into him?” Cate pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes.
“I do! But I don’t know, I think I was misreading things.” Cate started to bite her nails. “Why would he just, like, run away like that?” Cate laid back on Marta’s bed and covered her head with a pillow. “Maybe it was a mistake.” Cate convinced herself. Marta placed a hand on Cate’s arm.
“Here’s a thought: how about you talk to him?” Marta was the logic to Cate’s unreasonable doubt. When Marta pulled the pillow off of Cate’s face, she was met with a glare from the brunette. “He always stops by for coffee. Why not just ask him about it when he comes?” Marta swept Cate’s stray hairs from her face.
Spencer’s three day absence had not gone unnoticed by Cate when she was working the cart. Something in her told her he wasn’t away on a case, like the usual reason. Even though Cate had wanted to address their friendship-relationship limbo, she was glad she hadn’t seen him because it gave her time to mull things over and think of exactly what she wanted to say to him.
Spencer had taken a short leave of absence from the bureau to visit his mother in his hometown of Las Vegas. He hadn’t been to see her in a few months, so he was due for a visit. He wrote her weekly and sometimes daily when he had time. The days he had seen her were good days. Seeing her, helped Spencer forget about the situation he left behind in D.C.
Cate would be lying if she said she didn’t miss seeing Spencer most mornings. They had grown close in their friendship and not to mention he still had her books. She missed laughing with him and fixing his coffee for him. She remembered their chess game and seeing him at the bar with a drunk Marta. Mostly, she just missed him.
Coming back from his getaway, he was met with relentless questions from Garcia about his trip to the Smithsonian with Cate. He tried very hard to dodge her questions and dance around them. He channelled many every tactic from his training to give as little information as possible.
“I know you’re hiding something from me, Doctor.” Penelope pointed a fuzzy-capped pen at the lanky agent. “And I will find out.” Her heels clacked against the tile of the hallway as she walked away. But, the questioning did not stop there. Spencer had entered the bullpen. After placing his bag down on his desk he made his way to the coffee corner they had. Even though they had started getting their supply from The Empty Mug, his coffee wasn’t the same as when he ordered from Cate. Next to him, Derek was making himself a coffee.
“So,” he stirred milk into his coffee. “How was your museum date?” Derek raised an eyebrow at Spencer.
“Pleasant.” he said curtly, heading to his desk.
“Really? That’s all you got for me, Pretty Boy?” Derek sat at his desk, next to Spencer’s and leaned towards Spencer with intent. “You take little miss coffee out on a full fledged date and you’re not going to spill the details?” Derek teased Spencer, but it was apparent that that was the last straw.
“I kissed her and I haven’t seen her since, okay? Is that what you would like to hear?” Spencer spoke a little too loudly, earning stares from other agents around them. He leaned toward Derek and spoke more in a hush, not needing any more prompting. “I ruined our perfectly good friendship and managed to scare off the only girl who even showed remote interest in me. Thanks for making me relive that.” Spencer opened a drawer in his desk to search for a file. Derek took the hint and let the topic go.
Spencer tried not to think of the stack of books on the table in his study that belonged to Cate. He tried not to think of her smile when they discussed theories or the first time he saw her in her glasses. He tried to push her to the back of his mind, but his memory wouldn’t allow that. He found himself seated at the round table with his team.
His mind looked to their latest case: a stalker who had been taking pictures of the team. Pictures of Hotch coaching one of Jack’s soccer games, Emily looking out her window with Sergio- her cat, Derek exiting the building, and the last one was of Spencer, walking down the road that The Empty Mug was on. He was pictured walking next to Cate. It was the night he had walked her home. He remembered their chess game.
The picture made Spencer hate his job. He tried so hard to keep Cate out of the mess of criminals and serial killers. It made him never want to talk to her again, even if it broke his heart. He wanted her to stay safe, and it was clear to him how to make that happen.
This stalker became sloppy and the team managed to catch him after a week and a half. It was a bootcamp drop-out. He failed the test to make it through to the FBI agent training and he wanted revenge for being overlooked. He wanted to show the team how easy it was to follow them and how vulnerable they could be to him.
Cate tried hard not to let thoughts of Spencer distract her from her work. It had been a few weeks since she had last seen him. Her life seemed to go back to normal: She was able to move back into her apartment, which helped ease her mind of the million thoughts running through it. The cart’s shifts seemed mundane without her chat’s with Spencer.
This particular rainy day she had swapped with Marta and was working the shop. Marta was in a stand-off with her parents and wanted to use the cart as an excuse to steer clear of them. Their fight was something about Marta’s monthly rent payment to her parents.
Cate had her back turned, cleaning their brewing machine before closing when she heard the bell of the door ring, signalling a new customer had entered the shop. Cate turned around, her face wearing her best customer service smile, when she had come face to face with the man she had least expected.
Her smile dropped when she saw Spencer, standing before her, wet hair stuck to his face and his dress shirt clung to his body. She tried to not look so surprised, and entered his usual order into the register.
“The usual?” she didn’t even cover his coffee like she used to. She extended a hand for his payment.
“Yes, and. Uh, can I talk to you?” Spencer wore his pleading eyes with a lopsided smile. Cate tried to stifle a sigh.
“About?” Cate hoped he was referring to what she assumed, because she had a lot to say to him on the matter.
“About the last time I saw you. I have some explaining to do.” Spencer admitted. Cate was ready to admit that she wanted to admit her feelings before she felt like he had abandoned her. She opened her mouth, ready to speak, but Spencer continued:
“I know that I was the first to make the move, but I thought about it a lot, and I think we should stay just friends.”
#spencer reid#spencer reid x oc#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid fluff#criminal minds#criminal minds fanfiction#derek morgan#david rossi#penelope garcia#aaron hotchner#jennifer jareau#emily prentiss
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Peach (one shot)
Reddie
Inspired by “Peach” by The Front Bottoms and that one textpost that said “when someone writes Reddie shotgunning they’re not the only ones getting high” or something like that
3.4k words
E / fluff / drug and alcohol use (weed)
It’s the end of everyone’s first semester of college, and the Loser’s congregate at Mike’s to celebrate.
It was common for Eddie Kaspbrak to fall asleep on his friends shoulders during long car rides. And with his head on someone’s lap, legs sprawled out on a loser’s couch. And, on rare occasions, cuddled up to Richie in his bed after a long night. He’d wake up to tangled limbs and Richie’s warm breath tickling the back of his neck, an arm draped lazily around Eddie’s mid section. And if he were to be completely honest, Eddie was the happiest to feel the warmth radiating off of his best friend upon waking up.
On this particular night, the two boys had been at the Hanlon residence, partying with their friends to celebrate the end of their collective first semester of college (they had all decided to get general ed out of the way at Bangor CC, not ready to move away from their hometown just yet). Beverly and Bill supplied alcohol, Stan and Mike prepared dinner and snacks, and Ben, Richie, and Eddie himself were in charge of baking and dressing a cake for the celebration (Ben and Richie were great at eating baked goods, but needed Eddie’s guidance and direction for creating something edible). The night pulled on like any other of their parties, full of shrill shrieks and laughter, the sounds only amplifying with the added effects of rum and beer.
By ten PM, Ben had fallen asleep at the kitchen table, moments after the cake had been cut and served with seconds and thirds. Bill, Stan and Mike helped Ben to Mike’s room to sleep off the IPA’s Bill supplied (he’d only had four, but he was always a lightweight). Eddie poked at the crumbs of remaining cake on his and Richie’s shared plate.
“I tried to tell him to take it easy tonight,” Bev began to speak, eyes following Stan keeping Ben balanced out of the kitchen.
“But the boy just wants to party hard.” She smiled, turning her attention to Eddie.
“The cake was amazing, by the way. I’ve never had a peach pound cake,” Eddie blushed, dropping his fork on the plate. “I could eat that for the rest of my life.”
“Hey, I made the cake, too!” Richie chimed in, feigning hurt that Bev ignored his help in the production. Eddie gave him a poke in the ribs with his elbow, Bev chuckling at the interaction.
“Thank you, Bev. I can give you the recipe if you’d like. I made a few tweaks, but I can write those down, too.” Eddie smiled at Bev, pushing his chair back to stand up in search of a pen and paper. Richie followed suit behind him, the chairs legs scraping on the linoleum.
“Speaking of peaches,” Richie pointed to Eddie’s ass, smirking, earning a cheap snort from Bev. “This plum’s gonna have a smoke.” He announced, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.
“If anyone cares to join their dear friend, I’ll be in the back.” Mike reappeared with Bill hot on his heels. Bev stood up to follow the boys, nudging Eddie as she passed behind him as a way of saying “join us”. He finished scribbling ingredients down and grabbed a bottle of water before rejoining with his friends outside.
The aroma of shitty weed made Eddie scrunch up his nose upon first contact, his lungs feeling a little heavy, too. He watch Bev hand Bill a lighter as he made his way over to stand next to Richie. He smiled up at his best friend, earning a smile and a wink back in return. Eddie was grateful that the backyard was dark and wouldn’t expose his flushed face and ears. He heard the click of the lighter and watched Bill take a long hit from the joint in between his lips. Bill smiled as he exhaled, passing it to Mike. Then Mike to Bev, then Stan came outside to join them and took two hits before passing it to Richie. Feeling like time was going by oddly fast, Eddie took a step back, watching as Richie held the blunt between his long, nimble fingers, taking the longest drag yet. However, as soon as Richie pulled it away from his lips, Eddie felt everything go in slow motion.
The cloud of smoke coming out from Richie’s nose, only to be sucked back in through pursed lips shouldn’t have made him appear more attractive to Eddie, but somehow it did. Butterflies wrestled through Eddie’s stomach and up to his chest, swarming around his heart before settling in his throat.
“Is today the day, Ed’s?” Richie asked, holding the damn thing out to Eddie. He shook his head and pushed it back towards Richie.
“Sorry, I don’t want your cooties.” Richie snorted at Eddie’s retort, passing it back to Bev. She took one last hit, motioning to Bill to come over to her. He obliged, and Eddie tried to look away as he parted his lips, close enougb to kiss Bev, as she blew the smoke into his mouth. The interaction made Eddie feel anxious but curious, having seen them do this a million times but still coming as a shock every time.
The night had winded down from there. Bill fell asleep on Mike’s couch as soon as his high kicked in, which was Mike’s cue to call it a night. Stan stayed up a while longer, chatting with Bev and Eddie (and ignoring Richie, who kept trying to get Stan to moon Ben and Mike, who were both asleep in Mike’s room, for a keepsake photo opportunity), before falling asleep himself on the couch next to Bill.
“Ready to make like a banana and split, my dear friend?” Richie asked Eddie as soon as Bev had joined Stan and Bill to make a trio of couch sleepers. Eddie had started to yawn, and nodded to Richie who was shaking Bill awake to let him know they were heading out. Bill planted a kiss on Richie’s cheek before erupting infinity quite giggles. He waved as they left the front door of the Hanlon residence.
Eddie wasn’t even close to being tipsy, a stark contrast to Richie who was crossfaded and giggly, and took on the role of navigator for their walk home. Eddie walked behind Richie, watching from the sidewalk as his friend tried and failed to walk a straight line in the gutter. The back of Richie’s head was bobbing up and down with his steps, curls bouncing with his body. It amazed Eddie that he hadn’t fallen down yet. He smiled as Richie tried to walk the line again, feeling grounded and warm that they got to share these moments together.
The walk wasn’t particularly long or far, but Eddie had lead them on the scenic route, trying to milk the amount of time he could have with Richie before they’d pass out from exhaustion. He was back to feeling like time was passing too quickly, although this time was due to being deep in thought about how much he cared about Richie, how much he loved him in every sense of the word.
The butterflies in his chest were gone, now replaced with angry wasps making a nest in his heart. He thought about college, how he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to try and attend a university because community college was pretty decent. But the loudest thought (pun intended) bubbling in his brain was that maybe he did want to get high tonight, and maybe he did want Richie’s cooties. But he also didn’t want to say this to Richie and make him think that Eddie only felt this way because of their friendship, that his feelings were a buffer to hold him over until he met someone who deserved him. Before he could expand the idea mentally, Richie spoke up, breaking Eddie’s train of thought.
“Hey, Ed’s,” Richie pulled Eddie’s sleeve, turning to face the smaller boy.
“Are you scared of vampires?” Richie asked, his tone so serious that Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. He kept walking, but Richie, anchored in the asphalt, held him back.
“I’m serious, are you?” He asked again, Eddie’s expression dropping from content to cross.
“No, Rich. I’m not scared of vampires. Why are you even thinking of th- OUCH!” Eddie cried out, confused because Richie had just lunged at him, sinking his teeth into Eddie’s neck. “What the fuck, Richie?!” Eddie shoved Richie’s hold on his arm off, staring at him in a jaded disbelief.
“You said you weren’t scared of vampires, and I may be a lil drunk, but I wanned to see if you were scared of me ’cause I’m a vampire now.” Richie’s words were slightly slurred, and his logic was flawed, but Eddie could see something in Richie’s eyes, an emotion that he couldn’t make out. They seemed to say “don’t be mad at me”, with a hint of “I need you to give me attention”, which in turn kick started the anxious feeling inside Eddie once again.
“Oh shit, you’re bleeding, oh shit,” Richie launched back at his friend, gently pressing two fingers to the small pool of blood above Eddie’s collarbone.
“WHAT?!?” Eddie panicked, pushing Richie away again, feeling his neck for himself to discover the tiniest wet spot. There couldn’t have been more than a pinhead of blood actually coming from the world's smallest cut. Relieved that he wasn’t bleeding bleeding, he picked up his pace, walking with a little more urgency, Richie following.
“I’m sorry, Ed’s. I’m really sorry, I was just trying to be funny,” Richie apologized from behind Eddie. Normally, when apologizing for “being funny”, Richie was not truly sorry. But his tone this time around sounded sincere. If Eddie could compare it to anything, it would be the tone a guilty dog would use if he could apologize to his owners for knocking over the fish tank if said dog could talk. It made his stomach tighten up.
“Rich, it’s okay. It’s a tiny cut, and I’m not really bleeding at all.” Eddie tried to sound soft, to show that he wasn’t angry, but his words came out more sad than anything. “I’m not mad at you, I think I’m just kind of… in shock, I guess, that you did that.” He sounded even more uncertain. He reached out to touch Richie’s shoulder as an act of forgiveness.
“Once I get it cleaned up I’ll be fine. I promise.” His smile matched his eyes, and Richie lit up a bit. Eddie beamed, earning a giggle from his friend, and in that moment Richie looked absolutely angelic to him. The street light illuminated the taller boys face, highlighting every imperfection that Eddie secretly loved looking at, and bringing a sparkle to Richie’s eyes. Eddie looked away when he felt blood rush to his cheeks, guiding them up the block silently.
Originally, Richie had planned on staying at Mike’s with the rest of the guys, but changed his mind after hearing Eddie mention that his mother didn’t want him to sleep over if there were going to be girls at the party. Somehow, he had convinced Eddie to come and stay at his house because there wouldn’t be girls and Sonia somehow agreed. It wasn’t until the two had made it to Richie’s house that it came up.
“I just realized, you could’ve lied all along and said that you were gonna stay at my place from the beginning. She’d be none the wiser.” Richie whispered as the two of them made their way up to his room. His parents were in bed and the lights were off. Eddie followed him up the stairs, not speaking until they were in his room.
“I guess.” Came Eddie’s response, quiet and soft.
“Here, let me get an alcohol wipe or something to clean your neck with.” Richie rushed to get the words out. Not waiting for a response from Eddie, he turned on his heel, back out the door and into the bathroom. Eddie had left an emergency first aid kit under the sink years ago, insisting that it was for Richie’s own good, that he’d be prepared if he fell off his bike.
Richie flipped the light switch on, glancing at himself in the mirror above the sink, taking in his appearance. Bags under his eyes, shaggy unkempt hair with a touch of fizz. He looked haggard from partying. He shook his head and opened the cabinet to get the first aid kit concluding that it didn’t matter if he looked like shit because Eddie was there to sleep, like he had time and time again in the past. This was no different. He flipped the light off before rounding the door and practically sprinting back to his room.
Eddie was standing in the same spot, still as a statue. Richie cleared his throat before closing the bedroom door behind him. Eddie jumped, startled, turning to face Richie.
“Rich, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt, it stopped bleeding forever ago.” Eddie reached for the first aid kid despite his words. Richie opened it himself, grabbing an alcohol wipe and packet of hydrocortisone, holding them between his teeth as he set the small box down on his bedside table, out of the way.
“C’mon. I got it, it’s fine.” Eddie nodded at his friend, stepping closer to him, hoping that Richie wouldn’t notice his rapid heartbeat and breathing pattern.
Richie took the packages out from his teeth. Opening the wipe first, he lightly tugged Eddie closer to him, giving it a quick rub (a wince from Eddie at how cold the cloth felt on his skin) before doing the same with the cortisone. He swallowed hard, as did Eddie as he pulled his hand away from his neck, dropping the packets into a trashcan opposite his nightstand.
“All better.” Richie’s voice cracked. “Doctor Tozier completes another successful surgery!” His voice doesn’t recover, shame tugging at his tongue. Eddie cracked a toothless smile, more present in his eyes than lips.
“Thank you.” Eddie took a step back, cold air rushing around Richie as he moved. His voice was soft and silky and continued to ring in Richie’s ears as he walked to the far end of the room.
It made Richie’s stomach do weird things, his voice. The voice Eddie used when it was just the two of them wasn’t something new, he’d been using it forever. And it had tied Richie’s stomach in knots just as long.
Richie changed into pajamas after taking everything out of his pants pockets, back to Eddie as he did the same. They’d sit in Richie’s bed and talk about random shit, classes and stupid people they’ve met. It was routine. It all was, down to them laying down next to each other, back to back, waiting for alcohol tainted sleep to take over. He’d fall asleep after Eddie, feeling safe only when soft snores and deep breaths were the only sounds he could hear. He prides himself on this routine, keeping him safe from doing anything regrettable. They’d been in this situation time and time before, and every morning they’d wake up the same. Richie was on the brink of sleep when he felt Eddie roll over to face him. This isn’t routine.
“Rich, are you still awake?” Eddie’s voice was like silk, a little deeper than usual. Richie’s eyes shot open, while the rest of his body was frozen.
“I… I think I did want tonight to be the night.” Eddie whispered, lack of context making Richie shoot up.
“W-what?!” Was all he could muster out, blood rushing from his hands and legs, going tingly.
“The night I got high for the first time.” Eddie was even quieter, and Richie slid back down onto his pillows in relief (it was secretly disappointment). Ah.
“Oh. Okay.” Richie responded, a pregnant pause causing his nerves to act up again. He tried to level out his breathing as sly as possible.
“Richie,” Eddie spoke, breaking the silence. He shifted his position, leaning on his left arm and looking into Richie’s eyes. “Will you get me high?” The question sent shivers down Richie’s spine, and he couldn’t sit up fast enough (whether it be fear or excitement he couldn’t tell).
“How do you want to do this?” Richie croaked out, voice rough with sleep he hadn’t gotten. He pulled the shared blanket over his lap, bunching it up just in case his hormones betrayed him. There was another pause as Eddie thought it over.
“Do you want a bowl? A rip from the bong? A baby joint?” Richie offered what he had to Eddie, waiting for him to make a decision.
“Can you do what Bev did to Bill that one time?” Eddie asked meekly, his eyes traveling to a loose thread on the blanket. Richie blinked. And blinked again.
“You… you wanna shotgun?” He asked, not quite meek but not quite hopeful. Eddie kept his gaze down, nodding.
“Yeah, I guess. Bev said it’s not as bad.” Shyly, Eddie looked up at Richie, cheeks flushed and eyes dewy. Richie modded a few times to himself.
“Yeah. Okay. Yeah.” Richie leaned over to his nightstand, one foot on the floor for balance, opening the drawer and pulling out his rolling tray, papers, flower, and grinder neatly sitting on top of it. He could feel Eddie watch his every move, nose scrunching up at the smell as soon as Richie opened the dimebag of pot. Mindlessly, he put a little in the grinder, getting a paper when he was ready, and rolled (in Eddie’s mind) a perfect joint. He put everything back in its place on the tray before putting it back in the drawer, pulling out a lighter and old dirty ashtray. He looked at Eddie again, catching his eyes to ask “are you sure?”. Eddie nodded, and watched as Richie lit up with shaky hands taking the first hit for himself.
Eddie watched patiently as Richie inhaled deeply, shifting himself to lean against the backboard before exhaling, smoke drifting out his nose up into the room. He held the joint over the ashtray on his nightstand, ashing it. Eddie watched Richie’s Adam's Apple bob and he pulled the joint back to his lips, before inhaling whispering:
“Come here.”
Eddie scooted closer to Richie, heart racing not only because Eddie Kaspbrak was about do a drug (besides that placebo shit his mother had forced on him since his youth), but because he was going to have his lips mere millimeters away from Richie Tozier’s.
Richie took a long drag, holding the joint in between the fingers of his left hand, his right reaching to cup Eddie’s cheek. He rubbed Eddie’s bottom lip with his thumb and leaned in, blowing the smoke between Eddie’s partially opened lips. If I lean any closer, I’d be kissing him, Richie thought.
And as if Eddie was some sort of fucking mind reader, he leaned into Richie’s lips, kissing him. It felt natural, like he was meant to. He wrapped one arm around Richie’s neck, the other feeling around and grabbing hold in his hair. He could feel Richie smile into the kiss as he leaned over to put the joint out in the ashtray, pulling Eddie down with him, and back up. Richie pulled away for a moment smirking at Eddie.
“You’re not supposed to blow it back into my mouth, dumbass.” Richie joked, hooking his left arm around Eddie’s waist. He smiled, Eddie smiled back, and before they could get back to their previous position, Eddie laughed.
“Well maybe if you gave me instructions in the first place,” he started to poke, no malice behind his words. Richie laughed, leaning in to plant a kiss on his cheek, eyes heavy.
“Honey, I’m a little stoned, I’m not trying to start an argument with you. Shut up and kiss me.”
The next morning, Eddie woke up tangled in Richie's limbs, as he had numerous times before, but this was intentional. He felt lips on the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry that you’re a little…uh… y'know.” Richie struggled to say bruised, but Eddie already knew, and he didn’t care. He turned over to face him, planting a lazy kiss on his best friends lips to shut him up.
Richie rested his forehead against Eddie’s, reaching for a hand to intertwine his fingers with. Eddie opened his mouth to speak.
“As long as it’s you, I couldn’t be happier.”
#fanfic#fic#ficlet#oneshot#reddie#it (2017)#it (2019)#it#it (am)#it (film)#richie tozier#eddie kasprak#losers club#ship#richie x eddie#reddiecore#richie tozier x eddie kaspbrak
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Making Art
Fandom: The Librarians
Rating: General/sfw
Relationship: Flynnstone
Word count: 7274
Summary: Instead of never leaving his hometown, Jacob goes off to college under the guise of getting the only degree his dad values, petroleum engineering, but of course also majoring in art history. In “Survey of Native American Art,” he meets someone who he only knew before as “guy who basically lives in the library stacks.” Of course, Fate decides he needs to suffer through a group project with him.
Alternative summary: What would happen if Jacob Stone went to my alma mater and met Flynn there?
Also posted on my Ao3.
-----
Jacob thought well and hard about how he was going to convince Issac to let him go to the University of Tulsa. There were several hurdles he had to overcome: Pa was a University of Oklahoma man, and here he was wanting to go to the nerdiest school in the state; he already knew more than enough to run the oil business, why would he need to waste his father’s money on a useless degree; if Jacob went to Tulsa for four years, he couldn’t keep cleaning up his father’s messes, and there was a real risk of Isaac running the company into the very ground it drilled.
He had solutions to all of these things. The University of Tulsa had the best petroleum engineering degree in the Plains, and he’d always be a boomer sooner fan. And, while his high school grades weren’t too spectacular, his test scores and essay application for the Presidential Scholar program at TU got him a full ride. All he needed was Isaac to let him go and then not kill his company, and he’d be set.
Isaac didn’t need to know about Jacob’s ulterior motives. Tulsa was over 100 miles further from home than Norman was, for one, and Tulsa had a budding humanities program that Jacob really wanted to get invested in. He’d suffer through the engineering degree, but what was going to get him through it were the other courses he had in mind to take out of the humanities, languages, and arts departments. If he was lucky, he’d weasel himself a position of some sort at Gilcrease Museum just so he could learn even more from their displays and get into their archives.
When his acceptance letter came in the mail, Isaac read it with disdain. “When’d ya apply to that place? OU not good enough for you hm?”
Jacob kept the kitchen counter between himself and his father. “No I, well, I wanna do good for the business, and TU’s got the best oil program in the state, you know.”
“I didn’t need no fancy engineerin’ degree to make money,” Isaac countered, eyeing Jacob.
He kept himself from flinching from his father’s glare. “No, but now days you gotta have one to get started. Besides, couldn’t hurt to have one to spread our reach.”
Isaac tossed the nice letterhead on the counter. “Hmph. Well, how’re you gonna pay for that? I can’t just shill out that money.”
“I’ll, I’ll figure it out,” Jacob supplied. He’d already sent off his extra application for a full ride scholarship, which he hoped his more than qualifying exam scores and a 15 page, single-spaced analysis on Choctaw artwork and mythology would be convincing enough to award him.
“Fine, but I’m not co-signin’ any loans.” Isaac fished around in their refrigerator for a beer. “John’s off takin’ care of Sylvia, I need you on the rig Saturday.”
“Alright,” Jacob said. He had planned to spend the evening reading some books he had picked up from the town library, but that’d have to wait. After his dad wandered over to his worn recliner and he heard the click and buzz of the TV, Jacob sighed and set about making them dinner.
---
That August couldn’t get there quick enough. There were many, many times he thought about not going. He’d miss all his friends, his home town, and his pa. But, by the time he loaded up his truck and drove two hours northeast, there wasn’t any backing out now.
When he arrived on campus, he felt very out of place, but that feeling quickly faded once orientation week started. By the time classes started, he didn’t ever want to leave. His experience from oil rigging he already had carried him through his engineering classes, so he could devote himself to his other pursuits. Language courses, literature, history, art, those were the subjects he spent near all his time on. This also meant he spent a fair time in the library.
During his second year, a new student seemed to be competing with how many hours they could clock in the library. He was a nerdy sort, Jacob thought, which meant he was going above and beyond the above-average level of studiousness the student body already had. They quickly established a routine around each other. Jacob would go to his study carol he’d staked the previous year, the leftmost one in a set of three in a forgotten corner of the stacks no one except this new person seemed to want to go to. The newcomer took the study carol two down from him, rarely acknowledging Jacob’s presence.
Their schedule he figured out within the first two weeks of class. Mondays and Wednesdays Jacob would get there first, the new guy coming about an hour later and staying while Jacob left for class. Tuesdays and Thursdays the newcomer was there before him, and would leave around two hours into Jacob’s studying. Fridays the guy wasn’t there at all, at least not when Jacob was, but he practically lived there Saturday, no doubt not going to the football home games.
The beauty of studying in the stacks was that no one talked like they did in the study areas. The hum of the air vents, the scratch of his and the other guy’s pencils, the flip of books, and occasional footsteps of a seeker of knowledge comprised his sound track. He and the guy even alternated who stood and waved their arm to reactivate the lights when they timed out.
Without realizing, he had learned a fair amount about the guy from just studying near him. He was either dressed like a stereotypical professor, or a bedraggled grad student, which predicted how late he had stayed up the night before (confirmed by how prominent the circles under his eyes were). He had notebooks for every subject, and he studied near every subject, though a good amount of the books he hoarded were Native American ones. When he was frustrated, he might mumble under his breath, but most certainly made his hair even more wild by running his fingers through it. When he was hyperfocused, he'd sit on one foot, scratching furiously in a notebook.
Jacob never learned the guy’s name until the next semester when he had a class with him. Jacob had gotten himself into an upper-level Native American history course, filled mostly with history majors finishing their degrees and grad students. Not wanting to seem too eager, he chose a desk one row back from the front row. People he knew from previous history courses meandered in as it neared time to start the class, and some he chatted with, asking how their breaks were and such. The professor walked in right on time, a stack of syllabi on top of a binder in one arm, an insulated travel mug in her other hand.
Dr. Mashunkashey had begun going over the syllabus when the door to the classroom opened, revealing the guy from the stacks. He looked a bit disheveled, running late from somewhere it seemed. “That’s a two for two for not showing up on time to the first day of my class, Flynn,” the professor said, but she didn’t seem that annoyed by it.
“Sorry, I stayed up too late reading,” Flynn replied. “I got a bit carried away following sources referenced in Reclaiming Diné History.”
“Of course you did,” Dr. Mashunkashey said with a laugh, handing him the last syllabus. “Go on and have a seat.”
It turned out the easiest seat for him to take was the one right in front of Jacob. Jacob gave him a nod, which Flynn returned quickly, and then sat down. Jacob focused himself back on the syllabus on his desk, but his mind kept drifting to the man in front of him. He’d caught glimpses of the books Flynn read in the study carrel, and they were quite all over the place in subject matter; any given day he might have had a botany book, or a German biography, or something on Egypt. And now here he was, sitting right in front of him, apparently having spent the previous night doing the same thing Jacob did, though at least Jacob’s morning gym sessions meant he was never late to class like Flynn was.
The sound of a bunch of pages flipping snapped Jacob back into reality. The professor was explaining the main project of the class. “You’ll each focus on a particular tribe’s art, and an era within that. The paper requirements are in the syllabus, standard format. Images are welcome, but don’t shirk on your words because of them. Then, for the second part of this grade, you’ll work with a partner to make some form of art, combining the styles of both of your papers.”
Flynn raised his hand, but Dr. Mashunkashey shook her head. “Yes, Flynn, you’ll have to work with a partner.” Jacob stifled a laugh when Flynn’s shoulders slumped, but apparently not enough as she glanced at him before looking back at the syllabus. “The art component can be anything. Music, painting, writing, whatever, so long as you both incorporate themes from what you highlight in your paper. Since art can take time, and you might want to coordinate what art styles you’ll be using, go ahead and pick your partner.”
Jacob started thinking through the people he already knew in the class, but Flynn startled him out of his thoughts by turning around. “Do you want to be partners?”
“I, uh, sure,” Jacob stuttered. The professor had apparently been watching Flynn to see who he’d pick, and Jacob saying yes surprised her, based on her raised eyebrows. "Do you know what you're gonna do your paper on?"
Flynn didn't hesitate to respond. "Hohokam culture."
"I'd been thinking of doing Pueblo myself, so that should work well," Jacob said.
Dr. Mashunkashey cleared her throat, getting the class to quiet down. “Okay, now that you all have partners picked, we’re gonna get started.” She moved behind the computer and proceeded to give her introductory lecture on Native American art.
---
When the class came to an end, Jacob packed up his notebook and walked around the side of Flynn’s desk. “Hey, since we’re doing a project, we should exchange numbers.”
Flynn had been still scribbling something down, so it took a beat before he looked up at Jacob. “Phone number, yes, that’s a good idea.” He fished out his phone from a worn messenger bag stuffed with books and notebooks, handed it to Jacob, and then went back to writing.
Jacob waited for him to say more, but he didn’t speak, so he opened the phone and texted this is flynn’s number from Flynn’s phone to himself. Flynn was still writing, so he cleared his throat to get his attention. “Uh, here’s your phone.”
Flynn looked up a bit faster this time and took the phone. “Great.” He looked as if whatever was in the notebook was reaching out and trying to drag his head back to it, but he was now trying to fight it, looking at Jacob like he was trying to memorize Jacob. “Um, I’ll...see you around, in the stacks.”
He hadn’t imagined Flynn would be so awkward. “Sure, probably will.” Taking it as a cue, Flynn gave in to the pull of his notebook. Jacob wandered up to the professor; he had a habit of chatting up his professors after the first class, and today was no exception. Dr. Mashunkashey had just finished talking to another student when he walked up.
“I’ve heard good things about you, Mr. Stone.”
“And I’ve heard good things about you, too,” Jacob replied. “I wanted to take your class on Osage history last semester, but it conflicted with a class I needed to take.”
“I’ll be teaching it again in two years, so you’ve got some time,” she replied. Mumbling came from where Flynn was, making them both glance at him. “So you’ve got Flynn as your partner...that should be interesting. Do you know him from somewhere?”
“Yeah, I met ‘em in the library,” Jacob replied.
Dr. Mashunkashey laughed a little. “That sounds like the place to find him. Well, I look forward to your paper. Daniel, Dr. Griffith, liked your final paper so much he couldn’t quit talking about it.”
Jacob’s ears reddened a little. “Oh, well, I’m glad he enjoyed it.”
“Are you considering grad school?”
“Well, I’d uh, been thinkin’ about it, yeah.” He wasn’t about to tell her that he was also doing an engineering degree to take back home.
“If you want to talk about it, stop by my office anytime. There’s definitely fellowships out there for students like you, if finances are a concern.”
Jacob couldn’t help but perk up at that. “I’ll take you up on that. See you during office hours.”
---
Flynn, it turned out, was kind of the worst. Jacob wasn’t in a rush to get the project going, considering it wasn’t due until April anyway, but Flynn wanted to get started right away...at 3am apparently. Jacob hadn’t seen the string of texts until the next morning.
Flynn 3:04 AM: Can you do pottery? There’s a ceramics studio in Phillips Hall, I think I can get access to it.
Flynn 3:05 AM: There’s a few designs that would work for my time, depending on what works with your era.
Flynn 3:07 AM: You could decorate half and I’ll do the other.
Flynn 3:15 AM: Are there specific techniques your people used in their pottery making? We should use a traditional method.
Jacob didn’t reply right away. He went about his morning routine, and was on his way to the gym when his phone buzzed again.
Flynn 8:07 AM: What do you think about woodworking for our project?
Jacob groaned out loud, no one close enough to hear him. No wonder the professor was shocked he said yes to Flynn.
Jacob 8:08 AM: We have months to do this project. There’s no need to start so early.
Jacob shoved his phone in his pocket on do-not-disturb, intending to ignore any messages for the duration of his workout, but now that Flynn got him thinking about it, he sent off one more text.
Jacob 8:09 AM: I think pottery would probably work best. I’m sure we can manage it between the two of us.
Flynn responded almost instantaneously.
Flynn 8:10 AM: That’s what I was thinking. Though if we really wanted to incorporate both, we could also include the woodworking.
“Lord,” Jacob hissed, earning a confused look from the bleary-eyed student working the desk at the gym. He took his student ID and apologized. “Sorry, thanks.” It wouldn’t be that bad, so long as he didn’t let Flynn get under his skin.
Despite his efforts, Jacob’s workout was overshadowed by his loud thoughts. It wasn’t that he hoped Flynn would be cool, but, well, from months studying silently next to each other, Jacob had wondered what he would be like as a friend. He wanted to know what went on in Flynn's brain, what made him tick, what he did outside of class and studying. But now, he realized, Flynn was a brilliant mess of an academic who breathed school 24/7.
---
Flynn hadn’t been in the library Monday afternoon, and Jacob hadn’t gone to the library Tuesday. He hadn’t gotten any texts from him either, so by their second class on Wednesday, Jacob was curious what Flynn had been up to. That curiosity grew when Flynn showed up with a new notebook he hadn't had on Monday, already a quarter of the way filled with notes. "Jacob! So I talked to Kelly, er, Dr. Mashunkashey, and she talked to the art department, who then talked to the main ceramics professor, and he emailed me back saying we could do our project in his studio."
Jacob was kind of shocked at how fast he’d contacted people. “Well, that’s good.”
“I think we could start working on it, hm, next week?” Flynn looked down at Jacob expectantly, as he’d yet to take his seat.
For whatever reason, Jacob got an odd feeling in his stomach, but he ignored it. “I wasn’t plannin’ on gettin’ goin’ so soon, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I’ve only read about their pottery techniques, not done them, so extra time might be a good idea.” Flynn was practically vibrating with excitement at his response, which made Jacob laugh before he could stop himself.
Flynn thankfully didn’t think he was mocking him. “Great! The studio is open for us Friday afternoons.”
“I can do that,” Jacob replied. Flynn somehow smiled at him even more than he was, and well, Jacob couldn’t deny it felt nice to have that joy aimed at him. It didn’t last long though, as Flynn sat down when Dr. Mashunkashey walked into class. Flynn turned around in his seat and started going through his notes on the techniques he wanted to try until the professor had her powerpoint up and running.
Flynn wasn’t as insufferable as he thought, his excitement contagious, but Jacob realized this project was gonna be tough for another reason: he was falling for Flynn.
---
Jacob hadn't done any ceramics since art in high school. Flynn said he could, as apparently he minored in art to add to his many degrees, Jacob found out. It unnerved him a bit, to know that Flynn already had 2 Ph.D.'s and 3 masters in Egyptology, two ancient languages, Chinese history and physics, and that Flynn had no plans on stopping from acquiring more. All Jacob had was a high school diploma, though he had a lot in his head from the books he devoured and the time he spent out on the oil rigs.
The ceramics studio was thankfully empty when they arrived. The room was open, old windows hinting at a time when the space used to be an engineering workshop when the art building used to be the engineering building, which the engraved stone above one entrance still said. Shelving with a variety of in-progress and complete works lined most of the walls, with tables in the center of one half of the room, and space for throwing wheels in the other. It smelled like wet earth, and for a moment, Jacob imagined he was out on a new rig after a rain.
The professor who taught ceramics classes gave a basic rundown of the room, clearly with the dual purpose of informing them of where things were and sussing out just how skilled they were. Flynn's rambling at various points about technique and clay types seemed to satisfy the professor, who left them to their devices.
Flynn took a hunk of clay out of the plastic bag and started rolling out coils on top of a drywall square. "Okay, were there specific techniques you need to incorporate from your time period?"
"Well, it was coil-based, like yours, though the clay they used had a different composition ‘cause of where they sourced it," Jacob replied. Flynn had set him on making the base, so he was rolling out a slab to index finger thickness with a rolling pin.
It was clear Flynn had worked with clay before. He already had several coils made and covered to prevent drying out while Jacob hadn't even gotten to the right thickness yet. "Dr. Kanhg couldn't get clay with the mineral composition we needed, but he does have matte glazes we can use to make the clay look the right color, give it the more reddish hue," Flynn said. His eyes then flicked to Jacob's work, brow furrowing. "You're rolling it too thin."
Jacob had been paying attention to his clay, but then he had gotten distracted by Flynn working, how delicate yet firm he rolled out the coils under his palms, the way his hair flopped a bit with his head bent down. Jacob had rolled his clay out all right, to about an ⅛ inch thick divot in the middle with over an inch thick edges from not flipping his slab. If he was making a mini half-pipe, he would've done a fine job. "Uh, sorry, I'll start over." He went to smush it together when Flynn yanked the clay out from under his hands.
"If you do that you'll dry it out with the oil from your hands," Flynn snapped like Jacob was supposed to know that. Flynn folded it twice and then started slamming it on the drywall slab to combine it.
"I've only done ceramics once in high school, man," Jacob retorted, puffing himself up a bit on the stool he was sitting on.
"Clearly it shows," Flynn replied, salt in Jacob's wounded ego. Flynn, not very gently, shoved the drywall square with the now condensed clay over to Jacob. "Pay attention this time."
Jacob grunted at him, not trusting himself to say anything good, and rolled out his slab again. This time he kept his eyes glued to his work, ignoring the pinprick sensation of Flynn's judgemental gaze on him. He rolled it out well enough, and used a large yogurt container to trace out a circle and cut it out.
No sooner than he finished sliding the knife around the trace he made and started to pull the excess clay away, Flynn snatched the circle and started working it to attach the coils. "I was gonna do that," Jacob growled, watching Flynn flip the edges up with more speed and evenness than Jacob would have.
Flynn didn't look up at him. "And I'm sure you'd have to do it twice too."
"You don't know that," Jacob muttered, watching Flynn. He looked around the studio, feeling useless, so he said, "Is there something I can do? It's half my project too."
Flynn stopped working, glaring at him for a moment before softening his expression. "Have you made a coil pot before?"
"No...but I think I can do it from watching you," Jacob said.
Flynn narrowed his eyes a bit, but gently slid the partially done pot across the table to him. "Pinch and smooth down on the inside to connect the clay, but don't push too hard or you'll warp the coil below."
Jacob got halfway done with the coil before he punched through accidentally with his finger, making a hole. "Well fuck," he said as Flynn let out a frustrated sigh. It was going to take forever if he kept working, so he passed it back to Flynn. "Sorry."
"Since you're just going to mess it up, let me make it," Flynn said with exasperation. "You can decorate, if you won't mess that up too."
"Just ‘cause I'm not some genius like you and I mess up sometimes doesn't mean I can't do it," Jacob barked. For an instant he reminded himself of his father, and he cringed a little. He’d startled Flynn too; where Flynn had been repairing the hole Jacob made, there was now a rip again. “Sorry, I, uh, look. It took a lot for me to get here, and I wanna learn just as much as you do, but if you’re gonna treat me like I’m an idiot, I’m just gonna leave.”
Flynn didn’t respond at first, so Jacob started packing up his things and leaving. “No, wait!” Flynn grabbed his forearm; thankfully Jacob hadn’t rolled down his shirt sleeve yet. “I’m not good with people.”
Jacob huffed. “You don’t say.” He glanced at Flynn’s clay-dusted hand, still holding him, which made Flynn release him.
“I mean, school, learning, it’s everything to me. I don’t want to mess this project up. It has to be perfect, everything does, because that means I understand it.” Flynn went to rake a hand through his hair, but at the last second realized his hands were not clean, and stopped himself. “I just want one group project to go right. I hate group projects, but I need you to prove to Dr. Mashunkashey that I can work with people. She says I need to be able to do that if I want to be a professor.”
Jacob was not expecting Flynn to open up to him like that. Nor was he expecting the warmth in his chest when Flynn said he needed him, but he pushed that aside before he did anything reckless. “I’m willing to put in the effort if you are, but you have to let me do some of the work. I’m not gonna flake out.” Jacob hadn’t realized just how spooked Flynn was until he relaxed, tension released from his shoulders.
“Okay.” Flynn looked at the in-progress pot for a moment, then said, “I’m going to finish fixing the hole, then you can try again. You have to be gentle with it.”
“I know.” Jacob sat patiently, waiting for Flynn finish the repair. Once he did, he pushed the pot to Jacob. He started adding a new coil, but after a couple pinches, Flynn stopped him.
“You’ve got to be gentler than that,” Flynn said. “Can’t you feel when the clay is giving too much?” Without warning, Flynn took Jacob’s hand, looking at his fingers. “Oh, of course you can’t, you’ve got calloused fingertips.” He glanced up at Jacob. “Guitar, I assume?”
Jacob was doing all he could to contain himself. “Uh, yeah, and probably from years of working on an oil rig too.”
Flynn nodded thoughtfully at the addition, clearly filing it away wherever he was storing facts about Jacob. He hadn’t let go of Jacob’s hand, and this time Jacob wasn’t going to do anything to make him. “You’re pushing too hard, and thus thinning the clay too much at the join, that’s why you punched through,” Flynn explained. He then moved Jacob’s hand back into position, but this time, keeping his hand on top of Jacob’s. Their hands together almost didn’t fit into the pot, but Flynn made it work. “I’m going to press down so you can feel how hard you can go without breaking it, okay?”
Jacob nodded, not trusting words at the moment. Flynn proceeded to work the clay through Jacob’s hand, somehow just as good as he was before. Part of Jacob’s brain noticed that he didn’t push near as hard as Jacob had been when trying to be gentle, and filed it away, but most of his brain was focused on how intently Flynn was watching their hands work, and then how intently he was looking back at Jacob when he stopped. “Did you feel the difference?”
“Uh,” Jacob cleared his throat when it came out husky, “yeah, I did. Thanks. You really know your stuff.”
He noticed Flynn blush a little at the compliment. “Good. Uh,” Flynn realized he was still holding Jacob’s hand and released him, “now you try on your own.” After Jacob satisfactorily did a whole coil, they alternated until they reached a stopping point a third of the way through. “We need to let it dry to leather-hard before we add any more, otherwise it will collapse.”
Jacob vaguely remembered that leather-hard was a term to describe the texture of somewhat dried clay. “Alright. How long is that gonna take?”
Flynn considered the room a bit, thinking. “Today’s a humid day, so it would probably be best to wrap it with a paper towel and leave it in a plastic bag, then check it tomorrow.”
“Alright.” Jacob went and gathered the plastic and paper towels while Flynn fiddled with a coil. “I guess we can come back Monday afternoon?”
“That should be good, yes,” Flynn replied, swaddling the base of the pot with paper towels. He took a strip of plastic and wrapped the rim, and apparently noticed Jacob watching him. “This will keep the top fresh so when we come back, we can continue working it.”
Jacob nodded. He helped Flynn clean their area, replacing tools and wiping down the table. Done with their tasks, they awkwardly stared at each other across the table for a few moments before Jacob said, “Well, guess I’ll see ya Monday then?”
“Yes...see you then,” Flynn said, and then without warning, he rather hastily left the studio.
Jacob watched him go, then sat back down on the stool he’d been sitting on. “Oh Lord.”
---
He felt kind of guilty when he pulled up Clayton’s contact on his phone. He’d not been great about calling like he’d promised when he left Lawton, but Clayton always told him he knew college was hectic and to not worry about it. Still, as the phone rang, Jacob felt bad about calling just to talk about his personal life.
“Hey, long time no call, eh?” Clayton said as he answered.
“Yeah, sorry man. Some of these engineerin’ classes I should’ve tested out of, but they don’t really do that here,” Jacob replied. He was in his apartment, laying on his bed.
“I bet you could test out of half of that degree,” Clayton said with a laugh. “So what’s new with you?”
“I was gonna ask you that first,” Jacob said, feeling his face heat up already.
“You know I’d tell you the same as a few weeks ago, ‘cuz nothing new’s happened,” Clayton replied. “Plus,” Jacob could hear the smile in his voice, “I got a feelin’ you’re gonna ask for advice about somethin’.”
“How’d you, ugh, never mind,” Jacob scoffed, really blushing when Clayton laughed at him again. “Yeah, I got a...situation.”
Clayton sighed. “And who is he?”
Jacob sighed. “He’s in my Native American art history class, we’re partners on the group project, but I actually knew him before it.”
“...Wait, is this the same guy who you studied with in the library?”
Jacob shook his head, yet again surprised by how well Clayton could read him, even over the phone. “Studied near, but yeah. Turns out he’s doin’ a Ph.D. in Native history.”
"So he’s closer to your age?”
“I think so, though he might honestly be younger than me. The man’s got like five degrees already,” Jacob said, not bothering to keep the contempt out of his voice.
“So you went and fell for a genius, huh?”
“He’s a smartass,” Jacob said, but after a moment he added, “yeah, I have.” He was super fortunate to have such a good guy as Clayton he could call his best friend. He’d fallen for him too, briefly, but Clayton didn’t feel the same, and then Clayton decided it was his job to be Jacob’s wingman.
“And does he feel the same?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think so at first, but now…”
Clayton chuckled. “Then tell me what happened.” Jacob explained the happenings in the ceramics studio. “Well, he sounds awkward, but I think it’d be best to ask him directly.”
Jacob knew Clayton was going to say that, but he still felt shocked. “I can’t just ask him!”
“Why not?” was all Clayton said.
“‘Cause, well, if he doesn’t, this whole project is gonna be awkward.”
“Isn’t it already though?”
Jacob thought a moment. “Well, I guess, yeah. But I also don’t wanna get distracted before we finish this project. It’s worth half our grade.”
“So you’re just gonna pine away in silence for three months?”
“It might not be three months...Flynn’s too focused on doing this project as quick as we can.” Jacob hadn’t really considered that until now. “If we get the project done quick, then there’s nothin’ stoppin’ me from askin’ him after.”
“That’s the spirit. Let me know how it goes, you know I wouldn’t mind drivin’ up if you needed it.”
“Thanks, Clayton.”
"Anytime, Jacob."
---
Jacob decided that getting the project mostly done was the priority. This meant he had to suffer through two more equally awkward handbuilding sessions before their pot was ready for the first firing. At least in class, Flynn’s back was to him, except when they had class discussions. By the time they started glazing their pot, Jacob swore Flynn knew exactly how he was making him feel.
Glazing was just as messy as he remembered in high school. Flynn didn’t care about the state of the table, or himself, so long as his strips on the pot were perfect replicas of various designs he picked. Compared to the pot making, Jacob turned out to be the better painter. The hardest part for him was picking the designs he wanted to use.
Jacob was halfway through a strip when Flynn asked, “Where did you learn how to paint?”
Jacob snickered a little. “Same as most everything else, self-taught.” He glanced at Flynn, who currently had smears of blue underglaze where he’d wiped his forehead. “Are ya goin’ for war paint too?”
Flynn narrowed his eyes, confused. “What?”
“You got underglaze on your face,” Jacob said, pointing at Flynn’s forehead with the brush.
Flynn swiped at his forehead, making the smear worse, which just made Jacob laugh harder. “Oh yeah? Well-” Flynn decided to go for direct retaliation and swiped at Jacob’s face with his orange-covered brush across the table “-Now we match!”
Jacob tried to dodge, about fell off his stool, and Flynn’s brush ended up tapping the end of his nose. He knew better, he really did, but Flynn had worn him down the past week, so Jacob got off his stool, holding his brush out like a rapier. “You’ll regret that,” he growled.
Taking the challenge, Flynn got into a much more trained en-garde stance. “I rather think you will!” Then, without warning, Flynn jumped around the edge of the table at him.
Jacob realized that he was outclassed, but gave a valiant effort anyway. Quickly, Flynn had him giving up ground, forcing him to the sink that sat in the middle of the room between the tables and throwing wheels. “You’ve taken a class on fencing, haven’t you?”
“Lessons, when I was a kid, but yes, I’ve been trained,” Flynn replied, spying for an opening to tag Jacob. Just as Flynn lunged, Jacob dodged left, letting Flynn catch himself on the sink. Flynn shook his head, a mischievous grin on his face. “You, you’ve got some fight experience too.” He took a swipe, forcing Jacob closer to the finished projects shelf. “But not formal, no...brawls, that’s what you get into.”
Jacob took a jab at Flynn, gaining a foot of ground, but Flynn quickly forced him back two. “Not been in a scrap in a while,” Jacob said, trying again to swipe himself some room.
Seeing Jacob essentially pinned, his left blocked by the stoneware clay reclaim bin and a table, Flynn went for the killing blow. Jacob knew how to read people in fights, and Flynn had gotten to the “confident of a win” stage, so Jacob ducked at the last possible second. This meant he was out of range of the brush, but Flynn was now barreling straight for the shelving. Without thinking, Jacob jumped back up, wrapping his arms around Flynn’s waist as he did and pushing him back away from the shelf.
“I was going to stop myself,” Flynn quipped as Jacob released him.
“I know overshooting when I see it,” Jacob retorted. He hadn’t stepped away from Flynn, nor had Flynn stepped away from him. They were less than a foot apart. Flynn’s eyes were dark, no doubt from the adrenaline of the fight; Jacob assumed he looked a similar state of riled up. He caught himself glancing at Flynn’s mouth without thinking, and was about to step away, until Flynn mimicked him, glancing at his lips.
Jacob closed the distance between them before he could think of reasons why he shouldn’t.
Flynn kissing him back made him forget any of those reasons.
An odd wetness on his forearm made him pull away. Flynn’s paintbrush had made an orange stripe on his arm. He looked back to Flynn, eyes even darker than they had been. “Guess we should finish the pot.”
“Uh, y...yeah,” Flynn said eloquently. “I didn’t know you…”
Jacob laughed under his breath. “You’ve been driving me crazy the past three weeks.”
Flynn’s eyes went wide. “I thought you were angry at me.”
Jacob closed his eyes, a smile on his face. “You really weren’t kiddin’ when you said you’re bad with people.” He opened his eyes when he felt Flynn shaking his head, nose brushing against Jacob’s. “Well, maybe I can teach you a thing or two,” he murmured, giving Flynn a tease of a kiss before pulling away again. “But we really should finish the pot.”
Flynn took a moment to adjust his focus. “Right, yes.” He stepped away, smoothing out his shirt in an effort to make himself look less flustered. He walked over to the pot, but turned back to Jacob following him. “So, we’re doing this?”
The fact that Jacob was now finding Flynn’s awkwardness really endearing was a testament to just how hard he’d fallen for the genius. “I am if you want to.”
Flynn nodded...and nodded some more before he responded, “Okay, good, yes, I very much want to do that again.”
Jacob laughed. “Well, we can make out as much as we want after we finish this pot, ‘cause the next firing is two days from now and it needs to dry before then.”
The motivation of more set a fire in Flynn’s belly; he attacked the pot with his brush, clearly caring less about perfect replication and more about finishing in the same general design so he could go do better things. Jacob put a little more effort into his, and thus was still painting when Flynn finished his underglaze design and cleaned his materials up. Flynn managed to sit there for 30 seconds before he interrupted Jacob. “How much longer will you take?”
Jacob glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised. “Why, you got somewhere you gotta be?” Flynn squirmed on his stool, making Jacob feel the heat of satisfaction in his chest. “I’ll be done when I’m done. I might just reward ya for your patience,” Jacob said with a smirk.
Flynn practically melted under his gaze, ears going red. “Okay...fine.”
It was just too fun seeing the effect of his words on Flynn. “Can you wait a little more for me?” Jacob rumbled, letting his voice get low and gravelly. “I’ll make it worth your while.” Flynn shuddered, making Jacob smile.
After Jacob slightly more hastily finished his strips, Flynn practically threw himself at him. Jacob had to make himself shove Flynn off him. “Hey, I didn’t say you could do that,” Jacob growled more than he had meant to; Flynn shuddered a bit. “We need to clean up, and not make out in a public classroom.” Flynn looked like he was enjoying getting told what to do too much, red flush on his face and neck, but eyes definitely staring Jacob down. “Look, once we clean up, we can go to my apartment, alright?”
Flynn, also very aware of how he was affecting Jacob, moved back into Jacob’s space. “You took entirely too long to say that,” he said, voice low and a bit breathy. Flynn leaned–not to kiss Jacob again, but to grab the dirty paint brushes on the workbench, making Jacob lean into empty air. Flynn looked at him expectantly. “Well? We better clean up then.”
“You little…” Jacob shook his head, smiling deviously. Flynn preened as he dramatically walked to the sink, knowing full well Jacob’s eyes were on him.
They could’ve been perhaps more thorough in their cleaning, if they weren’t both busy imagining what they were going to do to each other once they got to Jacob’s apartment.
---
The next class, Jacob had intended to play it cool, meaning acting like nothing unusual happened between him and Flynn. That fell flat when Flynn, arriving just barely on time as usual, strode over to Jacob with a dopey grin on his face. For a moment Jacob was terrified Flynn was going to kiss him in front of the whole class. Thankfully, Flynn just patted Jacob’s hand, purposely drawing his fingers away sensually, and then sat in his seat.
Once his brain restarted, Jacob looked around as discreetly as he could manage. No one seemed to have noticed, expect Dr. Mashunkashey, who was watching him with curiosity. Thankfully, she started class, and Jacob did his best to take notes and not reach out and pet the back of Flynn’s head.
On the way out of class, Dr. Mashunkashey stopped Jacob. “Jacob, can you talk for a moment?”
Jacob looked to Flynn, who was all but dragging him out of class to “work on the paper” which Jacob knew wasn’t what he was planning. Flynn didn’t seem to think anything amiss, so he said, “I’ll meet you outside,” and left the classroom.
“Everything okay with your project?” she asked, glancing at the door. “I know Flynn can be a bit...much, so if you need me to talk to him, I can.”
Jacob went a bit red, but tried to power through. “Oh, uh, nah, everything’s good. We’ve even started making our art piece.”
Dr. Mashunkashey seemed a bit surprised with his response. “Well, that’s certainly a change. I look forward to seeing what you two make together.”
Jacob’s brain of course heard “seeing you two together” and had to blink a few times to refocus himself. “I, uh, think it’ll be pretty good. It’s been a long while since I worked with clay, though that’s apparently one of Flynn’s many damn talents.” Jacob kicked himself internally, cursing in front of a professor like that.
Dr. Mashunkashey, to Jacob’s surprise, gave a hearty laugh. “I wouldn’t say it’s often I teach students who have more degrees than I do children. Though I think you could put Flynn in his paces from your papers so far.”
“Oh, I don’t think I could be as good as him,” Jacob retorted, pausing as he briefly considered what that would entail, “I’d have to quadruple major or something.”
“Well, I don’t want to keep you. Flynn seemed pretty eager to get to work.”
“Yeah...he really likes to work on things when he’s focused on them,” Jacob replied, pointedly making his way towards the door so he didn’t have to directly look at the professor. “Have a good day, Professor.”
“You too, Jacob,” she said with a wave.
Flynn was apparently waiting to pounce on him in the hallway, which Jacob had briefly pondered if he would, so he braced his arm to keep Flynn off him. While it did keep Flynn from macking on him, Flynn also took his arm and entwined his own, and started walking down the hall. “What did she have to talk about?”
“Oh, uh, she asked if we were doing okay–I mean, our project,” Jacob stammered, glancing down at their arms.
Flynn didn’t seem to care and just kept walking towards the stairs. “Oh, well I bet she was surprised to hear I’m not procrastinating on a project for once. Speaking of projects,” Flynn leaned to speak lowly into Jacob’s ear, “I was thinking we could move our research to your place, or mine.”
“Uh huh,” Jacob chuckled. “Well, I suppose we could do that.”
They did not, in fact, work on their project that morning.
---
In the end, they got an A on their papers, project, and presentation of said project. And Dr. Mashunkashey won her bet against her colleagues that Jacob and Flynn would get together by the end of her class.
-----
Post Notes: Sorry for the quick ending, I’ve been sitting on this fic since February and never finished it, so I figured making an ending and getting it out was better than it sitting in my google drive forever. Also, when it comes to ages, I saw them both as a bit older than your usual 18-22 college students; for both they’re at least 23 or so, Jacob from working with his father, and Flynn from doing other degrees.
The University of Tulsa doesn’t have a Native American studies program (they really should though given location and history of the school), but they do have a well-known petroleum engineering program, which is what gave me the idea of how to get Stone to school. Considering Flynn’s all about ancient history studies, surely the ancient American people he knows about too. And I’m assuming Jacob grew up somewhere out near Lawton, OK, based on the mileage he gave in “And What Lies Beneath the Stones” since the actual town Wagoner (Wagner was what they used in the episode) is about 45 minutes southeast from Tulsa.
#the librarians#the librarians fic#flynnstone#flynn carsen#jacob stone#librarians fanfic#fanfic#a. l. writes
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The Heartless: Chapter 6
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Chapter VI: in which a goodbye is too final
“What do you mean I can’t come?!”
With a weary sigh, I straightened up and cracked my back. Petra was staring at me incredulously, shovel held slack at her side.
“What?” I asked, wincing at the tension in my muscles as I wiped sweat from my brow. Summer had gone, but the noon sun was still blazing hot.
Petra gaped. “You’re being serious, aren’t you? You’re really not going to let me come!”
I dug my shovel back into the soil. “Don’t take it personally.”
“How can I not take it personally? I thought we were a duo now!” A despondent tone snuck its way into Petra’s voice. “You’re just going to go away and leave me here?”
Stunned, I turned my head to look at her. She hadn’t moved, and there was a pained look in her eyes. Betrayal.
“This is something I have to do for myself. And besides,” I went back to work, “I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get there, what might happen if the wrong people recognize me. You don’t need to be put at risk like that; I couldn’t justify it.”
Petra threw her shovel at the ground. “Stop treating me like a baby! You always do this, dancing around all these stories about your hometown as if I can’t handle the truth!”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Petra, I just—Look, can we just drop it? We have work to be doing.”
“Fine.” Petra picked her shovel back up and stomped away to the other side of the field.
* * *
I spent the next two weeks preparing for my journey, gathering supplies and settling final debts with the neighbors—there was no telling when I’d be back, or if I would be back, for that matter. Late one afternoon, Marley beckoned me into her shop from down the road.
“Ace, would you come here for a minute?” she called. “I need help with something.”
When I stepped inside, the memory of seven years washed comfortably over me like the warm scent of fresh wood. Every time I came back to the shop, I was wistfully reminded of those early days when Marley would patiently teach me how to shoot, never wavering even when I wasn’t very good at it, and even when I almost broke her window with my still-unsteady aim. Back then, I only came up to Marley’s shoulder; now, I stood nearly a whole head taller than her, her dark hair having begun to fade to grey and crinkles forming at the corners of her still-steadfast eyes.
“Wait here,” Marley ordered, jarring me out of my nostalgic stupor. She disappeared into the back room and returned a moment later holding a brand new bow. “I initially started drawing up designs for this when I heard you were training Petra in archery. I was going to wait to give it to you until later, but when I found out you were leaving on your big trip, I knew I couldn’t wait.” Marley smiled wistfully, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening, and held the bow out for me.
I gaped at her, my hands hovering over the smooth surface. “Wait, this is—It’s for me?”
She chuckled. “Yes, Ace, it’s for you.”
Carefully, I took the bow into my hands and gently ran my hands along its limbs. It was supple under my fingers, but sturdy, likely made of— “Is this white oak?”
Marley nodded. “I know it’s not the fanciest on the market, but I cut some limbs from that oak tree by the gates that you’re always sitting in. You’ve always seemed like the sentimental type.”
“No, yeah— Thank you, this is an incredible gift. I don’t know how I can repay you for all you’ve taught me.”
Marley leaned in, a resolute glimmer in her eye.
“How about you come back alive?”
* * *
Strangely, no nightmares plagued me the before I was set to depart for my hometown. I dreamt only of the far-away taste of warm apple pies fresh out of the oven in the fall, the wild berries Basil and I used to pick off the bushes at the edge of the woods behind our houses in the summer. It had been seven years, but I could still taste the crisp, sweet juices as if it had only been yesterday. I wondered if that was what nostalgia tasted like, or if nostalgia was more like the metallic taste of when I used to chew my lip until it bled, a nervous tic I had developed while on the run, constantly afraid of meeting the same fate as Basil.
The morning I chose to leave, I instructed Petra to meet me by the gates at sunrise. As I packed my things to go, Bertrand stood planted firmly in the middle of the room, watching me with that conflicted look on his face, like a small part of him wanted to stop me. That day and those leading up to it had been a different kind of tense than I was used to, like instead of dancing around each other out of anger we were dancing around the heart-to-heart people like us weren’t made to have, even if we wanted or needed to.
“Well,” I announced with an unwelcome uncertainty, tucking my old bow under my arm and straightening up in front of the door, “that’s everything.”
Bertrand opened his mouth and closed it again several times before he finally admitted, “I think this is a bad idea.”
Ah, there it is, I thought. “I disagree,” I replied. “I have to do this, for me.”
“I think you’re going to only end up getting hurt in the end.” Bertrand’s mouth twitched with a distant sort of sadness, almost imperceptibly beneath his mustache. “But I cannot stop you, and I will not try. I am only warning you.”
I nodded. “If that’s the case, then it seems there’s nothing left to be said,” I said curtly, swallowing the thousand apologies that threatened to bubble up out of my chest, and turned to go.
Bertrand took a hasty step forward. “Ace, I need to apologize—”
“Save it,” I shot back. I looked over my shoulder at him one last time, my hand resting on the doorknob. Against my wishes, I felt the hard edges of my expression soften into a sad smile. “If we apologize to each other now, then I won’t have any reason to come back.”
Before Bertrand could say anything more, I walked out the door and did not look back.
Petra was waiting under the oak tree when I arrived, hands shoved deep into the pockets of her too-short trousers and a dismal expression on her face.
“Are you sure I can’t come with you?” she asked hopefully as I approached.
I shook my head. “This has to be a solo mission, Petra. Besides, someone needs to stay behind and look after everyone for me.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“I can’t say. But, here, I want you to have this.” I pulled my old bow out of the crook of my arm and held it out to Petra.
Petra sniffled, wiping her sleeve across her eyes.
“For me?” she whispered in disbelief. “You really mean it?”
I nodded firmly and bent down so we were at eye level. “I’m entrusting you to keep everyone out of trouble, okay, Petra? That means you, too.”
“Right,” Petra managed to choke out before the tears started to flow.
“Come on, now, don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” I murmured. “I’m coming back, yeah? You just need to hold down the fort until then. We’re a team, got it?”
Petra nodded and stifled a sob before throwing her arms around my torso. She pressed her face into my chest, and her hands clenching into fists in the back of my shirt underneath my cloak.
“You know you’re the closest thing to family I have, right?”
“I know,” I whispered, returning the embrace. We stayed like that for a minute, until Petra’s tears dried up and she finally released her vice grip on my shirt. I straightened up and headed toward the gate, willing myself not to get emotional. With one leg over the side of the fence, I turned back and said, “I’m counting on you to stay out of trouble, okay?”
Though her eyes were still red and puffy, Petra grinned with determination and threw a hand to her forehead in mock salute.
“And I’m counting on you to come back in one piece. We’ll be waiting,” she resolved.
“I know you will.” I swung my other leg over the fence and began marching resolutely eastward. I did not look back at the Village, not once, not even when the last lofty branches of the oak tree had disappeared from view, for fear that I’d be unable to stop myself from running back.
#The Heartless#aro#aromantic#aro writing#aro writers#writing#writeblr#aspec writing#aspec writers#op
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