#worth it every time. especially when she's being all administrative at him
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does wilson ever put bows on catboyhouse's ears while he is unsuspecting because that would be funny
also does catboyhouse have cat claws to shred wilson's clothes with
no, but he did once frame house as sleeping with a little rat toy (not even one marketed to catpeople, one marketed to actual cats), complete with photographic evidence that he has saved on a memory card that house has yet to find.
and yes, he does have claws. nothing is safe from his scratchies. tearing up wilson's ties he finds IMMENSELY pleasing, and if he's sitting in wilson's office with him and starts to pick at a chair or the couch, wilson makes a noise not unlike a negative buzzer and throws a cardboard emery board at him -- he bought them JUST for house to pick at but house is a menace and never just asks for it.
#asks#anon#one corner of cuddy's desk is all clawed up too because of him#âwhat is this? walnut? cherry wood? feels nice!â and cuddy unloads the spray bottle on him#worth it every time. especially when she's being all administrative at him#the handle of his cane is all scratched up too bc he claws at it unconsciously when his leg acts up
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Bullseye
summary: after four weeks of being away, thereâs nothing better than coming home to a horny girlfriend.
a/n: part two of this ! It was the anticipation for meâŠ
warnings: smut 18+, fingering, clit sucking, nipple worship? Two desperate people whoâve missed each other so much they can barely make it two feet in the house before jumping in each other, language obvs, too many mentions of Tony
word count: 1.4k
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âJesus Christ, Iâve missed youâ Wanda breathed as you pressed her firmly against the solid surface hallway wall. Her breath catching in her throat when your mouth attached itself to her neck. Your hand slipping under her hoodie so your fingertips could graze hungrily over the warm skin of her stomach.
âTonyâs an assholeâ you mumble hotly against her lips. âNext time-â
âThere wonât ever be a next timeâ Wanda cuts you off suddenly, then using trembling hands to grasp and tug at the bottom of your t-shirt. âIâll personally request Maria to go insteadâ
Your chuckle was muffled as she pulled back away from you and peeled your clothing over your head impatiently. Her mouth finding yours again once sheâd thrown the fabric somewhere into the belly of the house behind you.
âIâm not too sure how Tony would feel about thatâ
âCan you stop talking about Tony when youâre about to fuck meâ
The tight coil in your lower abdomen was just about ready to snap at her words. It had been that way for the past four weeks. Dirty texts and calls will do that to a person. But thereâs only so much your imagination and fingers can do. Especially when Tony ended up crashing in your hotel room most nights, making even the easiest job of getting yourself off a military operation.
âI thought about you every dayâ you say as you start removing her clothes now. Hoodie first, then t-shirt. Grinning to yourself as you find yourself looking down at her bare chest. âThought about how much I want to taste you. How I shouldâve before I leftâ
You dipped your head down and sucked one of her nipples into your mouth. You felt it pebble instantly as you swirled your tongue around it.
âFuckâ Wanda chocked out, her hands flying up to card her fingers through your hair. âNow youâre just adding to the list of reasons I hate Tonyâ
âWhat happened to not talking about him?â You teased whilst you moved onto her other nipple, giving it the same treatment as the one before. Sucking and licking, causing your girlfriend to writhe beneath you.
âGet these offâ you instructed once her nipples were nice and hard. Your swollen mouth leaving a trail of saliva, connecting you to her salaciously.
Wanda huffed in slight annoyance at you stopping your administrations on her chest. But gratefully helped your determined hands pull at the waistband of her sweats and panties in a very ungraceful attempt to get her naked.
Her head fell back suddenly, thudding against the wood of the door in anticipation of what was to come. Your fingers danced across the skin of her now bare legs. Creating patterns with goosebumps and risen hairs as you toyed with her unfairly.
She watched you fascinated from under hooded eyes as you kissed up her leg. From ankle to calf to knee. Your hair tickling the inside of her leg when you finally made it to the crease in her leg. Kissing it softly, making her shiver.
âAre you ready? Please say youâre readyâ. It was pathetic really, how much you needed her. Craved her. Though you didnât care. If being on your knees, begging for approval to ravish your girlfriend's neglected cunt was pathetic, then so be it.
Your heart pounded as you waited for a response. The smell of her making your mouth water. Your palms started to sweat as they rested agitatedly long on the backs of her legs.
It was all worth the wait when her answer didnât come in the form of words, but with her raising her right leg so her knee rested over your shoulder. Opening herself up to you and showing you what youâd been missing out on for the last four damn weeks.
Fuck you Tony.
You were on her like a dog with a bone then. Instantly licking a stripe along the length of her, making sure you caught every last drop of escaped arousal. Nectar so sweet, it would be a crime to waste.
A guttural moan sounded above you. It made you tingle. Cause your body to vibrate with desire. Her noises were making you more determined to get your fill of her. You sucked on her clit like it was the last thing youâd ever do.
âOh my godâ Wanda whimpered. Hands removing themselves from where they found themselves resting on your shoulders and slammed against the wall behind her. Grounding herself no less as you relentlessly worked at her core.
âSuch a pretty pussyâ you say before fully diving in and breaching her with your tongue. The taste of her addicting. Hooking you in. You canât help but take handfuls of her ass and squeeze the flesh hard enough to leave nail marks in the shape of crescent moons, bringing her ever closer to you.
Wanda revels in it. Revels in the attention youâre giving her in the most sensitive places. Attention sheâs needed for twenty-eight days, and then some.
Her skin prickles deliciously as you easily press two fingers into her. The pressure building there dampened slightly as you waited for her to adjust to the feeling of you finally being inside her. Youâre being agonisingly slow. You want her to savour it. You want to take your time with her.
But the âFuuuckâ she draws out is making it very hard for you to be patient. And the way she tells you to âmove, please babyâ and to âstop teasingâ her is making it even harder to keep the burning sensation of arousal at bay.
Your body was feeling akin to a stoked fire, or a volcano on the edge of an eruption. Something you needed to keep dormant, for now. Wandaâs pleasure was paramount, whereas sorting yourself out would be a super special added bonus.
âIâm cummingâ she announced when you curled your fingers. Her voice rough and gravelly from mumbles and moans. Her body stiffening further as your fingers found the spongy spot you learnt made her keen. And bringing your mouth back to her clit, sucking it with determination seemed to seal the deal.
Solid then shaking. The natural progression of Wanda Maximoff having an orgasm. It was a sight, truly. To watch her from under your lashes at the way her mouth opened and the chords in her neck revealed themselves at the strain she was using to keep herself upright. Your strong arms aided her with that one. Pushing your hands into her to stop her from falling down due to her weak knees.
You wanted to carry on, deeming that because she was now still, and her heartbeat had gone from a rapid thrum to a rhythmic bump, she could handle more. But her hand came out to press against your forehead, pushing your head away from her when she noticed you honing in on her again.
âJust-, just give me a secâ she says. Exhaling heavily while she tried to recover. You chuckled into the skin on her thigh. Using the downtime to just sit and feel her fingers play with the hairs behind your ear. âI need a minuteâ
âBy all means, take your timeâ you reply, smugly. Kissing your way up her body as you rose slowly to your feet. You found her flushed. Pink cheeked and tacky skinned. Eyes darkened and pupils wide.
âHiâ
âHi backâ you respond. Giving her hips a gentle squeeze. Taking note of her still rising and falling chest.
âThat was-â
âYeahâ
âNow I know you can do that, Iâm definitely not letting you out of my sight againâ she laughs, and itâs the only sound you ever want to hear.
You blush uncharacteristically at the compliment. Hiding your face where her neck meets her shoulder, smiling into her damp skin.
If someone asked how long you were stood like that. With your cheek pressed to your girlfriend's shoulder. Her hands scratching softly at the nape of your neck, you wouldnât be able to tell them. Though time managed to move once more when she said, âI think Iâm ready to go againâ
âYeah?â You ask. Wanting to be certain. Having to make sure she was okay enough to go for round two.
She nods, as bashful as you like with her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
What did they say? absence makes the desire grow stronger? So maybe youâd thank Tony, in time. Though not before youâd caught up on all the hours of being between your girlfriends legs heâd selfishly made you miss out on.
#one too many#wanda maximoff#wanda maximoff x reader#wanda maximoff smut#smut#wanda maximoff fluff#fluff
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Warmth
Gepard LandauĂgn!Reader
Word count: 650
Summary: based off on @flufftober 2023 prompt listâ Day 16: singing each other to sleep
Genre:fluff
Warnings/notes: this story is suitable for gn readers. Also, fluff overload too much fluff I melted while writing this it's too soft okay.
Reblogs appreciated
a/n: I am very proud of this fic pls treat it with love <3
Please do not copy my work or translate them to any other languages. Do not repost on any platforms.
Masterlist Hoyoverse Masterlist
It's a rare occasionâ to feel the warmth of your lover at night, his arms wrapped around you as you both rest after a long week. On most nights, Gepard decides to sleep at his quarters in the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone. Afterall, it's tedious work; protecting all of Belebog from the fragmentum monsters.
He makes a point to visit you whenever he's summoned to Qlipoth Fortâ but you being an administrative official means it leaves little to no time for you both to enjoy each other's company. Especially after the bridge between the overworld and underworld has been restored.
Yet in the late hours of the night, when both of you made sure to be able to spend time together over the weekend, it's hard to fall asleep. It's the warmth you both radiateâ the comfort that feels so familiar. It's the way his arm is wrapped around under you, his free hand gently tracing circles into your shoulder. Maybe it's his breath, the way it's synchronized with yours, warm in your hair as he kisses your forehead.
Gepard sighs contentedly, and you melt into him. You're both tired, and yet too lost in each other's presence to fall asleep.
"Serval wanted to meet you tomorrowâŠ", you whisper quietly,"she misses her little Geppie."
He hums, adjusting himself a little as he now simply drapes his arm around you.
"I was going to ask you if you wanted to go see her tomorrowâŠ" He smiles. You chuckle softly. Serval has become family to you at this point. From performing with her from time to time, and your boyfriend being her brother, you've both become very close. And one thing about the Landau's is their love for their family.
"We'll drop by at the workshop then"
Conversations continue on. It's been a while since you've been laying in bed, yet neither of you seem to fall asleep. Not that you want to sleepâ you'd much rather spend the night talking. But you both need it.
You start humming quietly, a new melody the band has been working on. It's been a while since you've performed, so Serval and you have had quite a few song writing sessions instead.
Gepard smiles, trying to hum along with you. But having never heard the song, he keeps messing up the beat. You let out a small laugh.
"GepardâŠ!" you complain playfully. He doesn't stop, now purposefully changing the melodies as he smiles, his eyes closed.
You lightly punch his shoulder, a difficult feat in your current position and his strength. He finally breaks, laughing. You laugh too. Not being able to spend much time together means you've come to cherish every moment with him.
He settles a little, letting out a yawn. "Was that a new song? I've never heard it before", he asks.
"Yeah, we'reâŠ", a yawn interrupts your sentence, "...still working on it"
"... Can I hear more of it?"
You sing softly, Gepard nuzzling his face into your neck, bodies pressed together. You tap your fingers against his forearm, so that he can follow the beat.
Eventually you switch to songs you both know. Gepard joins you, his voice hoarse as he hums the familiar tune of his sister's songs.
It's easy, the way you both fit together, even when you have to spend so much time apart. The way you crave his love and he craves you. For you both, even a glimpse of the other; simple moments spent together are worth waiting a lifetime.
His humming is soon replaced by soft snores, his breathing slow and even. You sing him to sleep, kissing his forehead softly as your eyes start to grow heavy. You feel him hold you closer, soft 'good night's and' I love you's mumbled into your skin.
The landscapes of Jarilio-VI may be frozen, yet anytime you're with him, the world feels just a little warmer.
#Honkai star rail#Hsr#Gepard#Gepard Landau#GepardĂReader#Ăreader#Fluff#Flufftober 2023#Flufftober#Day 16- singing each other to sleep#Day 16#asoulsreverie
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Salem Horror Fest 2024 Week 1, Day 3: Cat People (1942), Burned at the Stake (1981), Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered (2024), and Faceless After Dark (2023)
The third night of the Salem Horror Fest had another theme to it, especially once I got past the retro films they showed earlier in the day. If the second night was Found Footage Night, then this was Hollywood Night, with both of the evening's films revolving around fame, especially that of actresses.
First up, though, comes the older films...
<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/04/salem-horror-fest-2024-week-1-day-3-cat.html>
Cat People (1942)
Approved by the Production Code Administration of the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America
Score: 4 out of 5
Cat People is one of the most famous horror movies of the Golden Age of Hollywood to not have come from Universal Pictures, instead being produced by Val Lewton at RKO Radio Pictures. RKO's horror unit, which Lewton spearheaded, was an extremely low-budget affair, and that unfortunately shows through when it comes time to actually show the monster in this movie, in scenes that often sucked all the tension out of the room thanks to the dodgy, primitive special effects on display. It speaks to everything else about it that this movie manages to overcome its extremely low-budget effects work and emerge as a near-masterpiece of classic horror, one that feels like a prototype for a lot of more modern "tortured vampire" stories (only with a woman who transforms into a killer cat) that was notably made back when Universal's Dracula was still a "modern" horror movie. Director Jacques Tourneur was a master at building tension out of very little, and the subtext in the story, ranging from immigrant experiences to lesbianism to proto-feminism, feels like it's pushing against the boundaries of the Hays Code in every way it can. There's a good reason this movie still gets talked about more than eighty years later as one of the unsung classics of its era, and it's still worth a watch today.
Irena Dubrovna is a Serbian immigrant and fashion illustrator who meets a handsome man named Oliver Reed at the zoo while she's sketching some of the big cats they have there. They hit it off and eventually marry... but Irena is afraid that, if they consummate their marriage, her dark secret will come out. You see, back in Serbia, legend tells of people in her former village who, in response to their oppression by the Mameluks, turned to witchcraft and gained the ability to transform into cats, one that has been passed down to her. Oliver dismisses this as superstitious nonsense and sends her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd, who tries to convince her as much, but before long, Oliver and his assistant (and potential romantic foil) Alice Moore start to notice strange things happening around them that line up with what Irena told him.
Tourneur knew he didn't have the budget to actually shoot a monster for very long, so for much of this film's runtime, he keeps the cat person in the shadows and lets those shadows do the talking. A lot is mined out of those shadows, too, perhaps best illustrated in a scene where Alice is being stalked by Irena in which we never actually see a monster, but we know full well that there's something lurking in the darkness just outside the reach of the streetlamps, Irena's transformation into a cat depicted by simply having the sound of her footsteps go dead silent -- and ending on what's still one of the all-time great jump scares. Irena herself makes for a great anti-villain, one who's clearly troubled over what she is and fears that she might get the man she loves killed because of it, but still ultimately gives in to what is in her nature. At a time when the original Universal monster movies were still being made, Irena's portrayal feels downright subversive, predicting all the more anti-heroic and morally cloudy takes on vampires and other monsters that have become the standard for urban fantasy stories in modern times, especially with this film's rejection of the period settings characteristic of Universal horror in favor of a contemporary time and themes.
This film has its problems, to be sure. Some of the dialogue is stilted, with a scene of Oliver telling Irena that she's safe now in America getting some outright laughs out of the audience I was with, even if it did do the job of highlighting how clueless Oliver actually was. French actress Simone Simon makes for a very compelling presence, but at the same time, it's clear that English is not her first language, which does lend to the feeling of Irena as an outsider but also means that, when she's speaking, her English-language performance is pretty flat. Most importantly, when the film does have to finally show the monster at the end, it's clear that they just filmed a black housecat and hid it in enough shadows and perspective shots to try to make it look like a big, scary panther, and didn't quite pull it off. Team America: World Police spoiled me years ago on that by doing something very similar as part of a gag, and it took me right out of it towards the end. The film ended on a high note, but there are still a lot of rough spots here.
The Bottom Line
All that said, Cat People remains a very interesting movie, one where even some of its flaws (barring its bad special effects) lend to its appeal. If you're a fan of classic horror from the Universal days and wanna see something from outside the Universal wheelhouse, I'd say give it a go.
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Afterwards, I caught a "secret screening" that turned out to be a long-forgotten bit of '80s schlock filmed in Salem, presented by James Branscome of the podcast Cinematic Void in a manner evocative of late-night basic cable from the '90s, complete with ad breaks thrown in where they showed period commercials from that time. That experience was undoubtedly the most interesting thing about the film and did a lot to liven up the affair, because otherwise...
Burned at the Stake (aka The Coming) (1981)
Not rated
Score: 1 out of 5 (the movie itself), 3 out of 5 (the broader experience at the screening)
Yeah, this wasn't good. Cinematic Void perhaps recaptured the '90s late night cable experience a little too well, complete with the fact that it looks like the screener they used was burned from an old, worn-out VHS copy of the film, because, as the host explained at the start of the show, this is a film that was only ever released on VHS and hasn't come out in newer formats. Specifically, it was one of the later films of Bert I. Gordon, a filmmaker best known for cheesy giant monster movies that have often been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and in this one, he didn't have the trademark special effects that earned him the nickname "Mr. B.I.G." It's a film that's only watchable today as a cheesy relic of a bygone era of bad movies, which helped with the experience that Branscome put together but did little to help the film itself. I wouldn't bother seeking it out.
Opening in 1692 with a brief history of the Salem witch trials (butchered, of course), the film then fast-forwards to modern-day Salem in 1981, where a young girl who's descended from Ann Putnam, one of the primary accusers in the trials, winds up possessed by the spirit of her ancestor, who it turns out was influenced by the Devil himself to corrupt the town in a wave of paranoia and false accusations of witchcraft. At the same time, the father of one of the accused in 1692 finds himself mysteriously transported to the present day, and must work to stop the evil that has reemerged. It was all very dumb, put together with the production values of an afterschool special and only really notable because they shot it on location in Salem, Massachusetts (perhaps the reason why the Salem Horror Fest and Cinematic Void picked it for the program). It was an interesting historical artifact of '80s Salem, watching the film and seeing what had changed or remained the same compared to the city I saw outside the Peabody Essex Museum's auditorium, but beyond that, I had to put up with a lot of terrible production values, awful lighting, bad acting, and everything else you could imagine showing up in a bottom-of-the-barrel straight-to-video VHS quickie from the early '80s. There were apparently some bits that were based on real-life folklore concerning witchcraft, including working with actual witches who lived in Salem as consultants, but it barely came through in the film itself, especially when it was tough to even make out what was happening on screen. One kill that was supposed to involve a giant spider coming out of somebody's back instead looked like he was being mauled to death by a possessed dog, to the point of creating plot holes.
The Bottom Line
Burned at the Stake is an extremely deep cut that I'm not surprised hasn't gotten rereleased since, even with Gordon's schlockmeister legacy. Cinematic Void's presentation was honestly the big reason it was watchable at all, not unlike how many of Gordon's other movies have been immortalized by MST3K, and that's not what I'm reviewing here (though do give them a listen). This one was rough.
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The evening was when this turned into Hollywood Night, with the first of two very good slasher-adjacent horror movies about being a film actress.
Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered (2024)
Not rated
Score: 4 out of 5
Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is a film that's very, very good at both building tension to a head and then denying you any sort of payoff. It's a slasher movie without the slashing, one in which the real terror comes in the paranoia as we watch a young woman navigate a world where, off in the background, there's a serial killer operating and it's increasingly clear that he's set his sights on her. It ended on a note that at once felt both anticlimatic and entirely appropriate, one that took the undercurrent of Hollywood satire running through the film and drove it home by indicating that our protagonist's failure to "make it" in the industry may have very well saved her life. This is one for horror fans who are interested in a film that may not have a lot of big thrills and frights, but instead serves up a ceaseless parade of little ones that slowly build up and never let up.
Our protagonist is a twentysomething woman named Stacy who's moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles to become an actress, and is struggling to get parts even as her friends in the city, all fellow actresses themselves, are finding ways to get parts and succeed in the industry. What's more, some of them are turning up dead, slaughtered by a serial killer who films it and then posts the deeds online. Initially, the murder is something that happens in the background, alluded to in the opening scene but something that we're mostly encountering through Stacy's eyes, hearing from her friends "hey, did you know that Chloe, that girl from our acting class, was found brutally murdered?" or something like that, as just one of many things that's on her mind. It's a slasher movie that, by taking a perspective that's initially far away from the killing, puts us in the shoes of somebody who doesn't initially seem like she's in danger. We know she is, of course, because this is a horror movie and she's the main character, but it's easy to see how she could miss the warning signs, especially because the film never actually shows the kills, only the impact they have on Stacy and her circle of friends. Not showing the kills denies you the instant fright, but instead feeds the slow burn of the film's drama, keeping the viewer squarely in Stacy's mindset as she starts to slowly, but not entirely, realize that something's wrong. It's honestly a pretty creative way of explaining how a character in a horror movie keeps making dumb decisions -- because she doesn't know she's in one, even if we do.
Samantha Carroll has to carry the entire movie as Stacy, and she does a very capable job. Her life is not the glamorous one she wanted -- she may be beautiful, but she's living in a dingy apartment, she's struggling to make ends meet, and she's increasingly wondering if this is worth it. It's easy to understand how somebody in her position brushes off all the growing warning signs around her as her friends drop dead one by one, especially as their deaths give her hope that she might have a shot at their roles. It's clear that she's the kind of self-centered person who often comes to Hollywood with stars in their eyes, but she's still somebody we sympathize with. The film is beautifully shot, at once making Hollywood feel both gorgeous and bleak while also hiding a dark side that increasingly starts to weigh down on both the viewer and Stacy as it goes on. The killer's identity is never explicitly stated but is otherwise very heavily implied, and when Stacy and the killer meet, it is one of the scariest scenes in the film as alarm bells started going off in my head telling her to get out of there. That scene in particular marks something of a turning point in the film where what had once been lurking in the background increasingly comes out in the open to the point that even Stacy is starting to feel it, even if it feels to her like just one more thing weighing on her mind.
The Bottom Line
An offbeat, minimalist take on the slasher genre that's powered by creeping dread, Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered isn't for everyone, but if you're keyed into its style, it's an extremely effective slow-burn chiller.
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And finally, we end the night with a film that feels as though its star and co-writer Jenna Kanell was working out some stuff -- but fortunately, it produced a very solid closer.
Faceless After Dark (2023)
Not rated
Score: 4 out of 5
In Faceless After Dark, Jenna Kanell, the film's co-writer who's best known as one of the stars of the 2016 slasher Terrifier, plays a scream queen who's best known for a movie about a killer clown in which she played the final girl. It's not hard to figure out that at least some of this film may be autobiographical. If it were entirely so, I might have some thoughts about Kanell's mental state, but fortunately, this is otherwise a very fun, darkly comic film that reminded me in no small part of American Psycho and Falling Down, a story about somebody pushed to the edge by work, the internet, society, and mental illness who goes off the deep end. It was a highlight of the third night of the Salem Horror Fest, and one I'd love to see succeed.
Our protagonist Bowie is an actress who's recently shot to fame as the heroine of a bloody slasher flick, which on one hand has made her rich but on the other has made her a public figure under constant scrutiny by her fans, some of whom can get downright obsessive. One night, with her girlfriend away shooting a movie, one particularly deranged fan breaks into her home while dressed as the killer clown villain of her most famous film in an attempt to scare her. Already withering under the pressure, Bowie finally snaps as a result of this encounter, and starts to head down a very dark path as she fights back.
I really don't want to say much more than that. This movie has a lot of surprises up its sleeve that the trailer did a good job of hiding, and which only really come out during the second act. Kanell is the star of the show here, playing a character who's pretty obviously based on herself and doing it well, with Bowie initially serving as somebody who plays a kick-ass horror heroine on screen being pushed into that role for real but her cool demeanor slowly but surely warping as the film goes on into a sick, deranged parody thereof. There's a lot of style on display here, especially with a series of gory kills inflicted on some very loathsome people written in such a way as to make you wonder whether or not they deserve what happens to them. And through it all, there's a sense of sick righteousness as the victims increasingly start to resemble the people you normally find online if you read the comments for more than five seconds -- gross fetishists, moral scolds, pedophiles, and everybody in between, all against the backdrop of a world that feels like it's getting worse with every passing day.
The Bottom Line
Faceless After Dark is a damn good movie filled with gory kills, a mean streak a mile wide, and a great performance by Kanell, and one that I'm looking forward to seeing again when it hits video, even if I can't really say much more without giving away all the best parts.
#cat people#1942#1942 movies#burned at the stake#1981#1981 movies#young blondes stalked and murdered#2024#2024 movies#faceless after dark#2023#2023 movies#horror#horror movies#slasher#slasher movies#monster#monster movies#supernatural horror#bert i. gordon#jenna kanell#simone simon#val lewton#salem horror fest
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I have no idea if you'd do this but I need a nega ben x reader. He's my favorite out of the alternates. A softer one shot would be nice but whatever you're feeling is good too! I'll take any content I can get!
*Emo Boy by Ayesha Erotica begins to play* Yeah me too.
Nega Ben x Reader | reader uses they/them pronouns, but dresses femininely.
Spill
Heâd been waiting all day, and I mean, all day. Classes always seemed to drag on and on longer when he wanted something, and sure, he could have skipped. But that would have taken too much effort not to get caught. He isnât afraid of the cops or the school administration⊠But dealing with his parents? Yeah, no. Not worth it. Heâd b-lined it across Bellwood, all the way to the âcafĂ©â he frequented. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a cafĂ© seeing as how they specialize in more smoothie like drinks, but whatever. It has been rather crowded, too crowded, and everyone just wanted to get in then out.
He should have expected to bump or get bumped into someone, but it didnât dawn on him until his espresso smoothie was all over your bright pink, fuzzy sweater. Both of you stood there with slack jaws and wide eyes as the brown liquid dripped from your chest and down onto an equally as pink lolita-esque skirt. It looked expensive, not in a daddy's money way, in a âI saved up to buy thisâ way. And so, he was prepared for hell.
âOh my god! I am so sorry!â
When it left you, Ben was confused. âGosh, I should have been looking where I was going⊠But I was too distracted. Ugh, I-â You were flustered , more than actually, embarrassed is the correct word. âUm⊠Give me a second and I'll buy you a new oneâŠâ
âWhat?â
Watching as you tried to pat away the coffee with one of the recycled paper napkins the cafĂ© gives out, a million thoughts passed through him. Of course he took the offer, he wanted that coffee. The line was a lot shorter this time around, and got by a lot quicker too. You ordered for him as he zoned out suddenly looking over your shoulder at him. âWhat?â He asks, watching you get even more flustered. âI just asked if you wanted anything else. Do you?â âOh, uh, yeah.â he clears his throat, raising his voice. âThe kale chips.â
You both walked out together, your head was down and you watched your shoes as you walked. âAgain, Iâm really sorry.â He glances at you with a slight side eye as he sips on the coffee, this was the gazillionth time youâve apologized in just the last few minutes. âItâs⊠whatever.â He lets out a quick and breathy chuckle. âYou apologize to me, but I ruined your sweater.â All of the sudden, your embarrassment seemed non-existent. A light and bubbly laugh leaving you. âRuined? Oh, trust me, Iâll be just fine. I've dealt with worse.â
âAnyways! I have to get home and change, It was nice meeting you!â
-
The lunch room was beyond packed, packed like the reunion tour of a popular punk band from the 2000's. The doors and tables overflow with hungry and impatient mouths. You had managed to get in before the rush and snag a serving of less than okay school food, but by the time you got out of line, they had all flooded in. People had no concern for others around them, pushing and shoving like toddlers over toys, and you were getting the brunt of it. Not actually, but it sure felt like it.
You were halfway across the room and were looking around the tables for a free space- but it was too late for that already. A body slams into yours hard, you hit the ground as your food falls and splatters all of the chest of the sweater you had just gotten the coffee stain out of. Feet come down around you as you struggle to get up, the other person now looming over you. âCould you have watched where you were going!?â This whole situation was not intentional, but they had no right to get angry at you for that.
You felt the tips of your ears heat, unable to answer. Her eyes bore down on you as she sways with every passing body bumping into her. Suddenly, you feel a hand grab the back of your sweater and pull you from the ground, as if they were scruffing a cat. âOr, maybe you could stop play fighting with your friends in the cafeteria, like a bitch.â Her jaw drops and her freckled face goes red with embarrassment, obviously on the fact that she can't pawn her mistake off on someone else this time. The voice was rather monotone- in a way- compared to the words spoken. And rather familiar.
When you look up itâs the guy from the cafĂ©, his neutral expression was a thin vale to hide his irritation- at least to you. His hand still had a grip on the back of your shirt, it was a firm hold, and it made you just a tad bit nervous. You swallow as the person swallows her embarrassment, rolling her eyes desperately to try and hide. âWhatever freak, sorryâŠâ she turns and disappears into the crowd. You watch her do so, completely shocked at the situation at hand. Your lips part to say something, but his grip on your sweater releases, being replaced by an arm around your shoulder. Suddenly, youâre being dragged through the crowd and towards the cafeteria door.
He walks you out into the hallway, which is mostly empty at this point. âThank you.â you choke out through the lump in your throat. He doesnât say anything, just keeps walking with you- and you arenât in any position to object.
Eventually you reach the stairs. Under it is a mostly empty black backpack, and thereâs a light reflection of gold from inside. The weight of his arm leaves your shoulders and he walks ahead, sliding under the stairs and sitting with his back to an old AC unit. You hesitate for a moment, youâve only met this guy one other time⊠maybe you should just waitâŠâŠ nah.
Sliding under the stairs right after him, you sit straight across from the guy. Heâs already looked away. âI think we have third period together. Your name is Ben, right?â His phone is already out, and heâs scrolling through it. âWell I'mâŠâ you give him your name, and all he does is look up at you with a nod before going back to his phone. The volume is low, but there are noises coming from it, ones you recognize. âIs that the Sumo Slammers mobile game?â There was no judgement in your voice at all, and suddenly the losing end sound plays.
The corners of his mouth twitch. âYeah?â âMy little brother is obsessed with that series. He says that the mobile game isnât that good, but he still played it to the end.â He let out a little huff like laugh through his nose, pressing the power button and finally giving you his full attention. âYeah, maybe the old one wasn't that good, but this one is a new release- Doesnât even have dubbed lines yet.â He clears his throat, slouching a bit as his hands slide into his pockets. âActually, itâs not fully released in the states yet. I got pre access to the game.â He watches you smile, and suddenly there's a slight tense feeling in his chest.
âThatâs really cool, are you a beta tester or something?â He shrugs. âNo, and itâs whatever.â He glances away, gaze holding on the wall. âWell I think itâs really cool, especially since it's a series you like.â âHow do you know that?â His gaze snaps back to you, suddenly defensive. âYour backpack is open and the sun is reflecting off of the cold backing of the trading cards.â You lazily point to the stairs above you, and there is the reflected image of the symbol on the cards. âThose are the collectors additions, from japan. I know because Iâve been looking for that exact deck for my brother.â
You watch as his cheeks dust a light pink color, lightly nudging his bag so it falls over. He starts avoiding eye contact, leaning back fully against the old AC unit. âWhy are you still here? Shouldn't you be cleaning up your sweater?â You lean back against the stairs. âYeah, maybe. But I think youâre kinda cool, and Iâd like to stay.â
It was rather silent the rest of lunch, when you tried to hold a conversation- he would end it with short answers that gave you nothing to build off of. The bell rings above you like the screech of an angered bird. You both get up, him raising from the floor before you. You brush the dirt off of the back of your thighs, the light sound of unzipping catching your attention. You watch as the zipper of his hoodie comes down as he pulls it. Yanking it off of his shoulders, revealing the greenish-grey long sleeve he had under it.
âHere. Even if you get the food off, itâll still stain.â He hands you the coat, slinging his backpack over one shoulder, the already open flap lolling open even more. âOh, thank you, I donât know what to sa-â âDonât. Donât say anything. This never happened.â He walks past you and into the crowd of students, with his head down.
You watch as he does so, eventually looking back down at the hoodie in hand. You feel your face just slightly twinge with heat. âYeah⊠Alright.â You say under your breath as you rush off to the nearest bathroom to scrub the food scum from your sweater.
-
It was a game day.
Not that he kept track of that, he had never been into football. Once upon a time he played soccer, but after he got the Negatrix any hopes of that former love returning was gone. Ben knew it was game day because his cousin was in her cheerleading outfit- and it was no were near time for cheer competitions. Her makeup was done and her strawberry blonde hair was pulled up, and she sat in the front seat of her boyfriend's car chatting to said boyfriend about the routines she had to do.
Ben sat in the back, as he always did, waiting for the drive to be over. It came soon enough as the car pulled into the drop off area in front of the school, slowing to a stop. Neither Tennyson waited for it to fully stop before opening their doors. He got out, closing it with a slam and without a thank you. Gwen still leaning in and talking. The chatter of the hoard of tired teenagers flocking into the building almost drowned out the shouting of his name.
Almost.
He groans, looking over his shoulder, spotting the mass of pastels jogging towards him with something in their arms. âIâm so glad I got here on time! They were packed this morning- and I thought I'd be late- but I made it.â In your arms is his hoodie and an espresso smoothie. You hand him your gifts with a large smile. âI um, washed the jacket for you. Thanks again.â The bell rings and you give a quick wave before pushing into the school building yourself.
His jaw hangs slack, looking down at his freshly cleaned jacket- lint free, folded, and still warm- and the smoothie. When he moves there's a light cracking from inside the jacket, like the sound of a chip bag. He pulls back one of the folds and there is a bag of kale chips, stuck to it is a yellow sticky note written on with a pink gel pen. A phone number with âSee you at lunch.â
âWho was that?â Ben looks over at his cousin, an impressed smirk on her lips.
âYouâre getting mileage out of this, huh?â âSoooo much.â
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Do you have any thoughts on the use of AAVE for Nile (or lack thereof) in TOG fanfiction? I've been reading some Book of Nile fic and some writers seem to write her as a Millennialâą (using words like "fave" and "woke") but never acknowledge her Blackness in her patterns of speech. I know we don't see her use as much AAVE in the films, but I would argue she's in situations where code-switching would be valued (first in a "professional" environment in the army, then around a group of non-Black strangers).
Hi anon! I have many thoughts on this and I'm honored you asked me! But I should start by saying I'm white and any thoughts Black fans and especially Black American fans have on this that they want to share would be beyond lovely. (I'm not gonna tag anybody bc that feels rude but please add onto this post if any of y'all see this and want to!)
The main reason I personally avoid AAVE for Nile in my own fics is because I'm not Black. But Nile-centric fics by Black writers tend to avoid using much of it too, at least from what I've noticed/understood, and my guess is it's largely for the reason you mention, that she's in situations that encourage code-switching.
In movie canon Nile is highly competent at tailoring her language to each situation she finds herself in. This fantastic linguistics analysis meta shows how skillfully Nile chooses her vocabulary and grammar to meet her goals with different conversation partners in different contexts. In comics canon Nile had a bunch of different civilian jobs before joining the Marines, so she would've had experience code-switching in the ways that made sense for all those different contexts as well as the Marines and her family and high school and wherever else she spent her time before we met her. And now she's spending her time with a handful of immortals none of whom are native English speakers and a fellow Black American but one with a Queen's English UK accent whose professional experience is in the CIA where high-status code-switching is often an absolute must for success or even survival.
Fics featuring Nile are charged with extrapolating from that to how it might show up in her use of language that she's coping with a traumatic separation from her family and her career and pretty much everything she's ever known and now she needs to be able to make herself understood to people who seem to care about her and each other but are super duper in crisis, three (soon to be four) of whom predate Modern English entirely and the only one who's anywhere near her contemporary she's not supposed to talk to for a century. All of these people are telling her that pretty much any contact with any mortals poses an existential threat to her and the rest of the group. How the FUCK is she supposed to cope with that, like, generally? And would it be a more effective way for her to cope if she talked to Andy Joe and Nicky using the speech patterns that she used to use with her mom and brother, to at least retain that part of her identity even if it means having to do a lot of explaining, or would it meet her needs better to prioritize Andy Joe and Nicky understanding what she means with her words over using the particular words and grammar forms she used with her family?
I've seen several fics, both Nile-centric / BoN and otherwise, explore this a little bit in how/whether Nile uses Millennialâą speak. It's often a theme in Nile texting Booker despite the exile because of the popular headcanon that he as The Tech Guy is the only other immortal who understands memes. But Nile's much-younger-than-Booker mom probably uses Boomer and/or Gen X memes and Andy has been adapting to new communication styles for forever as evidenced by her canon high level of fluency with standard-American-accented English.
Which brings us back to people avoiding AAVE because they're not Black and they don't want to make mistakes (or they're not Black and they don't want to get yelled at for making mistakes, though I think many people overestimate how much they'll get yelled at while underestimating how much these mistakes can hurt). I can imagine some Black fans hold back from using much AAVE in fic because they don't want to share in-group stuff with white people who are likely to then adopt and ruin it, as white people so often do with Black cultural stuff. Some links about this including a great Khadija Mbowe video. I'm saying this gently, anon, because you might not know: woke, an example you cited as Millennialâą speak, is AAVE, and that's gotten erased by so many white people appropriating it and using it incorrectly online.
And also there's the part where fandom is a hobby and you never know when you're reading a fic that's the very first thing someone's ever written outside of a school assignment. This cultural considerations of language shit takes a level of effort and skill that not everybody puts into every fic, or even could if they wanted to because they haven't had time to build their skills yet. It's definitely easier for non-Black fans to project our millennial feels onto Nile than to do the layers of research and self-reflection it requires to depict what Blackness might mean to Nile, and it's not surprising that often people sharing their hobby creations on the internet have gone the easier route. There's not even necessarily shame in doing what's easier. It's just frustrating and often hurtful when structural white supremacy means that 3-dimensional Black characters are rare in media and thoughtful explorations of them in fandom are seen by the majority of fans as not-easy to make and therefore Nile Freeman, the main character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, has the least fic and meta and art made about her of our 5 main immortals.
I've been active in different fandoms off and on for twenty years and I barely managed to write 5,000 words about Sam Wilson across multiple different fics in the 7 years since I fell in love with him. There's an alchemy to which characters we connect with, and on top of that which characters we connect with in a way that causes us to create stuff about them. Something about Nile Freeman finally tipped me over the edge from a voracious reader to a voracious writer. It's not for me to judge which characters speak to other individuals to the level of creating content about them, but I do think it's important for us to notice, and then work to fight, the pattern where across this fandom as a whole Nile gets way less content, and way less depth in so much of the content that's in theory about her, than any of these other characters.
Anyway, back to language. My two long fics feature Nile with several Black friends â Copley and OCs and cameos from other media â but all of those characters except Alec Hardison from Leverage aren't American. It's very possible I'm guilty of stereotyping Black British speech patterns in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore. I watched hours and hours of Black haircare YouTube videos in the research for that fic and I modeled my OCs' speech patterns on what I heard from some of those YouTubers as well as what I've heard people like John Boyega and Idris Elba saying in interviews, but the thing about doing your best is you still might fuck up.
I'm slowly making progress on my WIP where Nile and Sam Wilson are cousins, and what ways of talking with a family member might be authentic for Nile is a major question I need to figure out. For that, I'm largely modeling my writing choices on how I hear my Black friends and colleagues talking to each other. I haven't overheard colleagues talking in an office in a long-ass time, but back when that was a thing, I remember seeing a ton of nuance in the different ways many of my Black colleagues would talk to each other. Different people have different personalities! And backgrounds! And priorities! A few jobs ago my department was about 1/3 Black and we worked closely with Obama administration staff many of whom were Black and there was SO MUCH VARIETY in how Black people talked to each other, about work and workplace-appropriate personal stuff, where I and other white coworkers could hear. There are a few work friends in particular who I have in my head when I'm trying to imagine how Sam and Nile might talk to each other. From the outside looking in, God DAMN is shit complicated, intellectually and interpersonally and spiritually, for Black people who are devoting their professional lives to public service in the United States.
One more aspect of this that I have big thoughts on but I need to take extra care in talking about is the idea of acknowledging Nile's Blackness in her patterns of speech. There's no one right way to be Black, and Nile's a fictional character created by a white dude but there are plenty of real-life Black Americans who don't use much or even any AAVE, for reasons that are complicated because of white supremacy. (Highly highly recommend this video by Shanspeare on the harms of the Oreo stereotype.)
Something that's not the same but has enough similarity that I think it's worth talking about is my personal experience with authenticity and American Jewish speech patterns. My Jewish family members don't talk like they're in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I've known lots of people who do talk that way (or the millennial version of it), some of whom have questioned my Jewishness because I don't talk that way. That hurts me. Sometimes when another Jew tells me some shit like "I've never heard a Jew say y'all'd've," I can respond with "well now you have asshole, bless your Yankee-ass heart," because the myth of Dixie is a racist lie but I will totally call white Northerners Yankees when they're being shitty to me for being Southern, and this particular Jew fucking revels in using "bless your heart" with maximum polite aggression, especially with said Yankees. But sometimes I don't have it in me to say anything and it just quietly hurts having an important part of me disbelieved by someone who shares that important part of me. The sting isn't quite the same when non-Jews disbelieve or discount my Jewishness, but that hurts too.
Who counts as authentically Jewish is a messy in-group conversation and it doesn't really make sense to explain it all here. Who counts as authentically Jewish is a matter of legal status for immigration, citizenship, and civil rights in Israel, and it's my number 2 reason after horrific treatment of Palestinians that I'm antizionist. But outside that extremely high-stakes legal situation, it can just feel really shitty to not be recognized as One Of Us, especially by your own people.
It can also feel really shitty to be The Only One of Your Kind in a group, even if that group is an immortal chosen family who all loves each other dearly. Sometimes especially in a situation like that where you know those people love you but there are certain things they don't get about you and will never quite be able to. I'm definitely projecting at least a little bit of my "lonely Jew who will be alone again for yet another Jewish holiday" stuff onto Nile when at the end of I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore she's thinking about being the only Black immortal and moving away from the community she'd built with a mostly-Black group of mortals in that fic. Maybe that tracks, or maybe that's fucked up of me.
Basically, this got very long but it's complicated, writing about experiences that aren't your own takes skill which in turn takes time and practice to build, writing about experiences not your own that our society maligns can cause a lot of harm if done badly, it can also cause a lot of harm when a large enough portion of a fandom just decides to nope out of something that's difficult and risky because then there's just not much content about a character who deserves just a shit ton of loving and nuanced content, people are individuals and two people who come from the exact same cultural context might show that influence in all kinds of different ways, identity is complicated, language is complicated, writing is hard, and empathy and humility and doing our best aren't a guarantee of avoiding harm but they do go a long way in helping people create thoughtful content about a character as awesome and powerful and kind and messy and scared and curious and WORTHY as Nile Freeman.
#nile freeman#linguistics#TOG POC Love Fest#nileweek2021#tog meta#tog#long post#mine#antiblackness#jewish things#hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it
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An unpleasant surprise
I should definitely do my coursework instead of writing this fic, however the idea just came into my head and I couldnât focus until I wrote this down. Writing this took waaaay longer than I anticpiated and it was way more spontanious... so itâs not proof read or anything, still hope youâll enjoy it.
The idea/prompt: character is secretly in love with you, but wonât tell you because you are already in a relationship with someone else. Character however finds out that your partner is cheating on you â this is how they would react/act upon finding it out
Word count: 3637 Words (Iâm sorry)
Character: Kaeya x gn!reader (in this itâs still very platonic and one sided love) Genre: Angst (?), Hurt, Comfort, even a bit of humour but maybe not, idk haha
Content warnings: cheating, threats, mention of blood and a major injury, mentioning of Dilucs and Kaeyas past, but nothing to explicit (tried to avoid the major spoilers)
Format: The first part / backstory is written in bullet points, but at the end youâll find a fic written in the normal text formatÂ
He just wanted to drown his sorrows in peace at the Angelâs Share, but no. He had to be witness to that disgusting display of infidelity of your (hopefully soon to be ex-) boyfriend
Kaeya has known you for several years now, both of you started around the same time in the Knights of Favonius. The early years of your training were some of the most fun times Kaeya had- thinking about it always made him smile. Both of you were known from the beginning as rule benders, mostly breakers, within the Knights and if it werenât for the influence of Kaeyas adoptive family none of you both wouldâve gotten that many chances to stay until each of you proved their own worth without familiar ties.
However, in the last few years you both grew a bit more distant. Kaeya blamed himself entirely for it, after Crepus death he knew he should not have any emotional ties to anyone in Mondstadt, at first he ruined the relationship with his brother by telling him the truth. He then just tried to avoid you more and more, which wasnât easy, because after Diluc quit his position as a Cavalry Captain Kaeya rose up to his position â only to have you as his subordinate. Â
It was not until you were on a mission with Kaeya that went horribly wrong, that Kaeya realised his feelings for you never were platonic, he was in love with you since the early days of training.You are his first love.
That mission was more of a secretive one, a few months after Diluc had left Mond and Crepus died, and one of the first bigger outings Kaeya had to lead as a Cavalry Captain. And the first mission without his brother by his side. The dragon Ursa resurfaced and continued to cause harm to the people of Mond, so Grand Master Varka gave Kaeya the responsibility to find that Dragons lair.
Instead of finding the hiding spot of Ursa, Kaeyas troop stumbled into a hiding spot of the, at that point not known as, Abyss order. That was the last time Kaeya went into a mission without information he himself collected and checked, because looking back it was so obviously a trap. How did he not notice it back then?
The fight was brutal and exhausting â somehow it was a miracle that the only Knight dangerously wounded was you. At least that is what the other Knights who were on that mission too would say, thankful that the worst they had to suffer from back then were a few scars at most. Hearing anyone talk about it enraged Kaeya, though he would never show it. It was because you were the most skilled fighter in that troop, even without a Vision Kaeya was sure that at your peak back then you couldâve bested him even now. But because of one of his mistakes, he did not care to watch his own back, maybe because he knew you would protect him, it was you who was injured and not him.
In that moment, seeing you unconscious on the floor laying in your own blood because you protected him, Kaeya understood his feelings for you.
After bringing you back safely to Mondstadt, and you thankfully not dying because of the injuries, Kaeya became even more distant. At first he wished to be able to tell you his true feelings after youâve woken up, but he just couldnât. When the healers and doctors gave the news that the injury was so severe that you would never be able to fight again, or even walk down the streets of Mond without being in pain â Kaeya thought the guilt of keeping that secret from Diluc and Crepus for years was unbearable, but the guilt he felt from being responsible for this? It pained him even more.
You stayed in the Knights, taking over administrative tasks and helping every other department of the Knights in the best ways you possibly could.
What surprised Kaeya is that you were never bitter about it. You never said it was Kaeyas fault, even went out of your way to constantly reassure him after you got the news that he shouldnât blame himself for it (until this day he refuses to listen to you). Your smile and laughter didnât stop after it, which he never could understand.
How were you able to be so happy and kind when your dream of leading your own troop just â vanished. To travel around Teyvat, see the world. When you werenât able to do the things, you loved on your own, like going to Windrise to pick some of your favourite flowers.
Somehow, Kaeya thought, it was because of that guy. He never liked your boyfriend to begin with, but Kaeya thought maybe it was his jealousy that clouded his judgement.
He came into your life shortly after the incident and Kaeya remembered the first time he saw you two together â holding hands, you looked so smitten and the way you laughed when he leaned down to whisper something into your ear. After seeing that Kaeya knew he could never have something like this in his life. Not if its not with you.
Kaeya didnât spend much time with you outside of the Knights anymore, though he would always have a conversation with you when you came up to him or he had to visit your office. Whenever he saw you outside of the Knights, you were always with your boyfriend, sometimes stopping and having a quick chat with Kaeya. Sometimes he wished you would stop being so nice to him.
Now seeing that disgusting piece of shit of a boyfriend sit in the corner of the Angelâs Share, with his hands all over some young thing made Kaeyas blood boil.
How dared he, the man who should be so lucky to have you, have his eyes and hands on another woman.
Also itâs a good thing that Diluc is not at Angelâs Share today, he was also a close friend of you back in the day and even though the friendship with Diluc didnât survive his three years absence, Diluc would definitely throw that bastard out
Kaeya was astounded by the audacity your boyfriend had. He never had a high opinion of him but seeing that man openly flirt and make out with a woman that was not you, so obvious for everyone to see⊠in a bar that was frequently visited by your colleagues and friends. If it werenât for the fact that he was cheating on you Kaeya could maybe muster up some respect for a man who had so clearly a death wish. Eyeing him from the corner of his eye, Kaeya kept observing that situation. How the hands that always held yours in public were touching all over the body of that unknown woman. How the mouth that told you sweet nothings over and over, told you that he loved you, was occupied with kissing the neck of another woman. That whole display just filled Kaeya with disgust. The loud giggles of that woman in his lap filled the Tavern and that was the moment Kaeya decided he had enough. Calmy, he finished his drink, stood up from the bar and made his way over to the table. âYou surely donât mind if I join you twoâ, Kaeya said in a nonchalant manner, sitting down opposite to the couple. âOh, Sir Kaeya!â, the young woman giggled, clearly intoxicated, and embarrassed by the way Kaeya eyed the two. Quickly they both shifted, so the woman sat now besides your boyfriend. The way the cheater looked at Kaeya, it was quite amusing. A mix of fear, shock and uneasiness filled the eyes of him. It filled Kaeya with a weird sense of pride, knowing that being caught by him was something that scared him. âSeemed like you two had quite some fun back hereâ, Kaeya smugly started his interrogation. It was not unusual for Kaeya to use the Angelâs Share as his interrogation room â the casual setting and the alcohol made it so much easier sometimes for people to spill all their secrets. Especially when Kaeya could just be so charming. What Kaeya interested the most was if this was the first offense of the cheater or if that behaviour was a more⊠regular occurrence. It was at least for him the first time he caught that man red handed. Getting some information out of the girl was quite easy, she was so eager to tell the Cavalry Captain all about the two. Though from what Kaeya gathered the whole thing between her and your boyfriend was quite fresh. âYou two really seem like a fitting pairâ, Kaeya replied after a long ramble of that woman on how she was just so in love with your boyfriend. His voice sweet and smooth as silk, not showing how the anger inside him grew. It was just not fair, not fair to you. âHey,â Kaeya began and eyed the empty glasses on the table, looking then back at the woman. âHow about another round of drinks, itâs on me. Would you be so kind and go to Charles and order a few?â, again his voice was charming as ever.  âNo, no, Sir Kaeya, thatâs too kind, but another drink wonât be necessary. It is quite late; donât you think flower? We should get goingâ, the cheater chimed in and Kaeya nearly lost his cool when he heard him call the woman âflowerâ. Whenever Kaeya met you and him on his patrols around Mondstadt he always heard him call you âflowerâ. Fucking bastard, is all Kaeya could think before the voice of the woman protested the cheaters concerns. âNooo, just one more round. How can you turn down Sir Kaeya, love? Just one more, pleaseâ, she looked at him with pleading eyes and he just sighted. âFineâ, he said and with that the woman was on her way to the bar. Kaeya now hoped that Charles would keep her occupied long enough so he could find out everything he wants to know from that cheater. His eye shifted from the woman who made her way to the bar to your boyfriend who sat directly across Kaeya. Now completely alone and vulnerable, for his shield left his side. The tension in the air seemed to be unbearable, Kaeya could see how uncomfortable the silence and his curious glance made the cheater. But Kaeya knew â sometimes saying nothing says it all. Helplessly your boyfriend looked over to the bar only to see that the woman he was with was now totally engrossed in a conversation with Charles. After a few minutes, that might have felt like hours to that cheater, he broke the silence. âSo,â he tried to start a conversation, clearly not knowing that he fell right into Kaeyas trap. âWhat gives us the honour to be invited by the Cavalry Captain?â. âOh, I think you might be smart enough to come up with an answer yourself,â Kaeya replied, keeping up a smile. Though the look in Kaeyas eye was just as cold as the top of Dragonspine, causing the other man to shiver. âAs much as it honours me that you think of me this highly, I sadly have no idea what would make the renowned Sir Kaeya sit down at my table tonight.â âOh, so this is how you want have this conversationâ, now his voice was just as cold as his look. âI donât understand what you mean.â âBullshitâ, Kaeya thought. âIâve been just curious about that woman that just sat so prominently on your lap earlier this evening, she seems to be not the same I saw you hold hands with earlier this day.â âAs nice at it is that the Cavalry Captain seems concerned for me, it isnât one of the Knights duties to pry into the lives of citizens, now, is it?â Oh, how confident the cheater now sounded, thinking he was winning that conversation. Kaeya couldnât deny that the entire situation made him furious and that he handled it a bit differently than he usually would if he were to talk with drunk treasure hoarders. âOh, weâre awfully bold now, are we? Believe me the Knights donât care about your infidelity, though I guess a certain one might find it awfully interesting to know how you spend your nights.â There was a short moment of silences between the two men, the tension just rising. âWell, they wouldnât believe you. But if you want to go and be a telltale go, I wonât stop youâ, the man gave as an answer. His words did not fit his body language â bold words, but his body was tense and Kaeya could see the fear behind the eyes of the man. But it was not fear of losing you, no he seemed to be quite confident that this would not happen. Kaeya said nothing, he just looked at that man, piercing him with his ice cold look. âYou seeâ, he continued, âI wouldnât be sitting here in Angleâs Share with that lovely company if I thought they might believe the words of any low-rank Knight coming in their office, believing their lies. Quite sad what pranks some people want to play on them, donât you think?â Slowly, but surely, Kaeya understood that this tonight was definitely not the first offense of that man. And he now understood why most of the Knights here tonight just looked away from the scene, not batting an eye at what was going on. Kaeya could kick himself in the ass, how did he not notice the behaviour of that rodent before him earlier? If he was so open about cheating on you that even most of the other Knights knew, how come that he did not? âAnd I think its just so sad, that one of the people they hold in such high regards would join in on those baseless accusations, donât you think Sir Kaeya? I mean it would be so disappointing for them to find out that you tell them such a lie, only because you just donât like me.â If Kaeya wasnât a Knight, if he werenât Kaeya right now, if he hadnât to uphold a certain image⊠the floor of the Tavern would be painted with the blood of this absolute bastard. Oh, how Kaeya wished he could lose his cool. âIf you say it like that, then I guess I wonât tell them a word,â Kaeya replied. âIâm glad you understandâ, the cheater smiled, the fear in his eyes now subsided and he seemed to relax a bit. At that Kaeya just leaned forward, his look cold and his voice even colder. âYou are telling them.â The man just scoffed, looking confused at Kaeya. âWhy should I?â Kaeya now coming closer, his voice more threatening than before. âDo you really want to find out, if you donât?â. Kaeya leaned back, smiling and at that moment the woman came back with the drinks. The face of the man was just pale as snow, the fear back in his eyes. âOh, thank you dearâ, Kaeya said when she places his drink before him, and he took a sip. If your boyfriend is smarter than he seemed to be after fooling around with that woman in public, it would do him good to do as Kaeya said.
                               -
Dealing with the pain in your leg was something you were used to now for a few years, but the pain in your heart today⊠you somehow would prefer a broken leg over your shattered heart. Your eyes were fixated on the documents before you, though trough the tears in your eyes you could barley make out what they said. What they were even for. How could you ignore it for so long, that he cheated. That he fooled around with any woman in Mondstadt willing to be with him. This sleezy asshole. The tears fell down on the paper, you couldnât care right now what important piece of documents you ruined with your tears. How, how, how??? Why were you so stupid to believe him when he always said that all the people that came to you with their concerns must have been mistaken. Why did you believe him over and over again. You couldnât stop thinking about how the first person coming to you was Outrider Amber, so nervous to even say anything. How you just laughed her worries away, saying she definitely was mistaken. How after Amber again and again told you how sure she was. Had you just listened to her. Then maybe you wouldnât feel so humiliated. If you just hadnât listened to that damn liar. In that moment you heard a knock on the door. Quickly you wiped your tears away with your sleeves, clearing your throat. âCome in,â you said, though you were shocked at how hoarse you sounded. Stepping into your office was Kaeya, but when he saw your red eyes and tear stained face, he quickly closed the door behind him. âAre you alright?â, he asked in such a soft and kind voice. Since you woke up in the infirmary all those years ago you hadnât heard him talk in that voice. You couldnât help it, it made you immediately tear up again. Throwing your head into your hands you just couldnât stop the uncontrollably sobs that took over you. You didnât even notice that Kaeya was kneeling beside your chair until he felt his hand on your back. âHey,â you heard him say, again in this soft voice. âItâs alright, let it out.â And you did. For a while you just sat there, crying and sobbing until you ran empty. The whole time Kaeya was on your side, saying nothing. He was just there and somehow, even after you two grew apart in the past years, after all that happened â Crepus death, Dilucs disappearance and return, your injury. Even after all it did not feel awkward to just cry and look for comfort at his side. After all, you still were friends. Slowly you calmed down, looking up to him. âI was so stupid, Kaeya. So many people came to me, told me what they saw, who he was and I- I just ignored it. I ignored it all, my feelings and-â, you felt the lump in your throat, making you stop speaking. It was just too much. âYouâre not stupid,â he said, taking you in his arms. It felt so good to just melt into the hug. Just trying to forget the pain for a few seconds, slipping back into the familiarity of Kaeya you havenât felt in such a long time.
Kaeya on the other hand couldnât stop asking himself if what heâs doing here was alright. Was it okay to comfort you, he asked. If he hadnât basically threatened your, obviously now, ex-boyfriend last night to tell you the truth, he might have been met with your bright smile today and not that painful expression. But it was the right thing to do, you deserved to know. You deserved for that guy to tell you, although he should have told you the truth out of his own free will. Not because Kaeya got involved. âThank youâ, he heard you mumble into his chest. âFor what?â he asked, both of you now parting from the hug. âFor just⊠for being here. And for being a friendâ, you answered, again wiping tears away. Kaeya couldnât help himself and chuckled at that statement. A friend, yeah. That is what he was and what he must be fine with. However, he didnât really expect you to view him as one, after all that happened and how much he tried to avoid you in the past. âWell, I have been an awful friend the last years, havenât I?â. Your eyes shot up, looking directly into his eye. âNo, what makes you think that?â. You genuinely looked surprised at his statement. âWell,â he gestured towards your leg. Before he could even say anything, he felt your hands cup his face and looking at him sternly. âKaeya Alberich, how often do I have to tell you this. What happened to my leg is not your fault, please stop taking blame for it. It was my choice to join you on that mission.â For a short while you both just looked into each otherâs eyes until Kaeya couldnât stand it anymore, a sigh leaving him, and he looked away. âHow come that I want to comfort you and you just end up telling me something I just canât seem to learn.â He stood up and then he saw it. You smiled at him. A sad smile, but a smile, nonetheless. âOne day youâll hopefully learn itâ, you said. âNow, to make up for thisâ, pointing at your leg, trying to joke, âand for threatening a Mondstadt citizen, I think you should get me something from Good Hunter.â Kaeya was surprised. How did you know? He couldnât even ask you, you already gave him the answer to the question that was so clearly written all over his face. âHe literally begged me, after telling me the truth and breaking up with me, that I made sure you wouldnât hurt him.â Now Kaeya gave out a small laugh, partially because he felt a bit embarrassed by you knowing, but also the thought of that arrogant asshole being so afraid of him amused Kaeya. âAnd, what did you tell himâ, he asked, now back with his more playful tone. âMmmmmh, I told him Iâll think about it.â
#genshin impact fan fiction#genshin#genshin fan fiction#kaeya x reader#kaeya fanfiction#genshin angst#kaeya angst#genshin hurt#genshin comfort#how do you tag fan fiction help#reader insert#gender-neutral reader#genshin impact x reader#genshin impact#genshin x reader#angst#hurt#comfort#kaeya alberich
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Like Old Times (Father-Son Bonding AU)
A direct sequel to the âExpiration Dateâ fic, which Iâll link in a reblog. Iâve also posted all my fics in this AU to AO3!! Thanks again to @thetriggeredhappy for their help and just generally being a cool dude, and the Scoutsune Discord server for indulging my brainrot
No warnings beyond family schmoop!
Less than an hour after the bread monster incident, the Administrator called for a ceasefire. âOnly while your base is repaired,â she said over the TV screen. âBLU is quite disappointed in this negligence- as am I. Regardless, you may use these three days as you see fit. Go home, stay here- whatever you do, no more bread monsters.â The screen turned off with a click.Â
Scout exhaled through his nose. He was thankful there was no mention of him or Miss Paulingâs woodchipper.Â
Spy decloaked behind him. âLess time than I wanted, but câest la vie.â Scout looked at him over his shoulder. âIâm meeting with an old contact during our break,â Spy said in Italian. âWould you like to come along? Itâll be like old times.âÂ
Scoutâs brow furrowed, but he nodded. At least this way, heâd get out of helping Engie and Heavy with repairs. And possibly meeting Miss Paulingâs woodchipper.Â
âExcellent. Our flight is at 7 AM tomorrow.âÂ
âWeâre flying commercial?â Scout asked, also in (more hesitant) Italian.Â
âOur destination is continental. Weâll leave the base by 5:30.â Scout groaned as Spy started to leave. But- wait, he hadnât-Â
âOi, where are we going, anyway?â he called back in English.Â
Spy paused to look at him and smile. âBoston.âÂ
âWhy do we always get the ass-crack-of-dawn flights?â Jeremy asked groggily, reclining his seat.
âThey are the ones with first-class seats available,â Raphael replied. He took a sip from his mimosa.Â
âYeah, cuz God forbid you fly coach for once.â Jeremy shifted, trying to get comfortable. âHey. Have I ever been to Boston before?â
Raphael didnât answer immediately. His lip sucked in, as if in thought. âYes. When you were very, very young. You wouldnât remember.âÂ
Jeremy nodded. He wanted to ask more, there was something Raphael wasnât saying but⊠well, he was never a morning person. He fell asleep before the plane even took off.Â
. . .
It was mid-afternoon by the time they landed in Boston. Jeremy was never fond of long flights; having his legs cramped like that for extended periods of time was murder. He was half tempted to take a jog around Logan International. Raphael, on the other hand, was ushering them both to the car rental. âCanât even get a stretch in, huh?â
âUnfortunately, we are expected by 4, and I would hate to keep my contact waiting,â Raphael explained in French, accepting the keys from the girl at the counter. âSheâs not a very patient woman, in some regards.âÂ
Jeremy huffed but didnât argue. He just followed his father to the rental, tossing his suitcase in the backseat. âYâknow, the girl at the counter-âÂ
âWe will not have time for you to go out on a date, Jeremy.âÂ
âNo! No, it was- her accentâs kinda like mine, itâs weird,â Jeremy said. Raphael started the car. âCuz Iâve only been here as a baby, and I got mine from TV and shit. Itâs just⊠really strange, is all.âÂ
Raphael made a quiet noise of agreement. âSome of the shows you watched as a child were filmed here. Itâs not as complex as you think it is.âÂ
âYeah, probably notâŠâÂ
The pair lapsed into silence as Raphael drove. Storefronts and high rises morphed into houses. It had been a while since they were in a residential area. RED, for understandable reasons, kept away from civilians.Â
Raphael took the roads with practiced experience. Sure, it had been implied he knew the area. If he had a contact here- one with a house, presumably- he mustâve spent time here. But this- this was far too familiar. A bit suspicious, actually.Â
Eventually, Raphael slowed in front of a more rundown Brownstone. Still quite nice, just needed a little work. It felt⊠welcoming, in a way Jeremy couldnât name.
âLotta cars,â he observed as Raphael parallel parked. âMust be a party going on somewhere.âÂ
âHmm, perhaps,â Raphael said, turning the car off. âWould you mind ringing the doorbell for me? I need to grab something from the trunk. Ask for Sara Jane.âÂ
OK, now Jeremy knew something was up. He was never the one to make the first contact, that was always Dadâs job. Jeremy might be a full-grown adult, but there were some things that didnât change. This was one of them.Â
Still, he nodded. He climbed up the front steps and ringed the doorbell. He heard- multiple voices from inside, predominantly male, but they quickly silenced themselves. A TV, perhaps? They really ought to get that flower box on the second story window fixed-Â
The woman who opened the door was a bit shorter than him, though not by much. She was wearing a simple dress, hoop earrings, and flats. Her hair was dark, curved to her chin. But her nose and earlobes felt⊠achingly familiar. Like Jeremy saw them all the time.Â
âUm, hi, Iâm looking for Sara Jane? My nameâs-â The rest of his speech was knocked out of him as the woman launched herself at him. Jeremy braced for an attack, but quickly realized she was⊠hugging him.Â
She was hugging him, sobbing, and choked out the word âJeremy.âÂ
Wait. He knew that voice. He had only heard it a few times in his life, few enough he could count them on one hand, but he knew it. âM-Ma?â he whispered.Â
The woman- Sara Jane- Ma looked up at him, still crying. Her hands found his face as she observed him. âY-yeah, sweetie, itâs me, itâs-itâs your ma,â she said.Â
âMa!â he laughed, tears of his own dancing down his cheeks. He hugged her back, practically lifting her off her feet. âOh my God, Ma! I-I never thought Iâd-âÂ
âOh Jeremy, sweetie, look how tall youâve gotten! Last I saw you, you fit in my arms! My baby, my handsome baby,â she spoke over him. She rubbed circles into his back as they embraced. It felt so, so right.Â
Jeremy laughed even harder. âAre you kiddinâ? I got it from you, youâre beautiful, Ma!â He stared at her, trying to commit every mole and wrinkle and perfect flaw to memory. âI canât believe- oh my God, Iâm actually meeting you!âÂ
âIt was long overdue,â another voice said, as Raphael joined them on the front stoop. âI had put it off for safety reasons, but considering our current, ah, situation⊠I felt it was worth the risk.âÂ
Sara Jane squealed, pulling Raphael into the hug as well. âYouâve been taking good care of my boy, you promise me, Raphael?âÂ
âDonât worry Ma, heâs the best dad I could ask for, considering,â Jeremy teased.Â
âOh, donât I know it. Called me up last night and told me to get the whole motley crew together. Even managed to get Melvin to bring his twin daughters, bless his wifeâs heart,â she explained.Â
Jeremy blinked. âUh- Melvin? Daughters?â
Sara Jane laughed. It sounded so much like Jeremyâs it practically hurt. This was his mother. Lord, heâs finally seeing her. âMelvinâs your older brother, sweetie. Eh, sixth oldest. Bobbyâs the oldest.âÂ
âI have a brother?â
âOh honey, youâre the youngest of eight,â Sara Jane said plainly.Â
â...fuck,â Jeremy whispered.Â
. . .
He didnât just have seven brothers. He had seven brothers, four of which brought their wives, one who brought his boyfriend, and three who brought their kids. And the kids totaled to an additional six, counting the babies.Â
It was⊠an admittedly tight squeeze in the living room.Â
Sara Jane introduced Jeremy. Jeremy had been expecting to be treated like a stranger. He had vanished when he was a baby, after all, and his younger-older brothers probably wouldnât remember him at all.Â
And yet, it was like he knew them all his life.Â
They teased him and punched him playfully and acted so friendly, so familial it nearly made Jeremy break down. He was still crying from meeting Ma, but being dogpiled with so much affection was suffocating. In a good way. He had seen on sitcoms the intrinsic bond between family, and while he felt it with Dad, they also risked their lives nearly daily. But it was real, it was here, and it was wrapping him in a warm blanket.Â
Despite the chaos and the sheer number of people, Jeremy didnât feel overwhelmed. He laughed and played along with their jokes, cracking some back when he could get a word in. Scott ragged on his dog tags, he countered by pointing out the hole in his pants. Michael told him he was still a shortass, he replied with âit takes one to know one.â Elliot and Ricky were the closest to actually getting hurt, and that was only because Jeremy elbowed them both so hard they nearly fell over.Â
For the first time in 25 years, Jeremy understood what âhomeâ meant.Â
The kids were especially curious, eager to meet their uncle and step-grandfather. Within seconds, young Rebecca- only four years old- was challenging Jeremy to a race around the house. âIâm the fastest kid in the world,â she bragged, puffing out her chest.Â
âOh yeah?â Jeremy asked. âThat a fact?â
âYou wanna test me? I beat Johnny Three-Legs at running, and heâs got three legs!â Jeremy laughed and stood from the couch, letting her lead him outside. âOn the count of three, OK?â
âYouâre on, pipsqueak,â Jeremy teased.
âOnetwothree GO!â Rebecca yelled, taking off in a sprint. Jeremy knew that, by all accounts, he should beat her. His legs were longer, she didnât have the proper running stance, and it was his job to be fast. Thatâs what he got paid to do. But some small voice was telling him to let her win, so he did. âHa! I told ya!âÂ
âYa sure did,â he replied, mock panting. âLook at you, a freaking blur on the green. Youâre goinâ to the Olympics, kid.âÂ
Rebecca beamed and hugged his leg. âPromise, Uncle Jeremy?â He nodded because, after that display, there was no way he could speak without squeaking like a chew toy.Â
Rebecca skipped back inside, past Raphael, who was watching on the stoop. âYouâre a natural with children,â he observed. âI used to do the same thing when you were that age.âÂ
âWait- wait, really? You sure fooled me,â Jeremy said.Â
Raphael rolled his eyes. âWhatâs my job again, mon lapin?â
âYeah, yeahâŠâ Jeremy leaned against the railing, watching Raphaelâs cigarette smoke in the wind. âHey. Uh⊠thanks for arranging all of this. You really didnât need to.â
âBut I did. I meant it when I said this was overdue. Iâve been wanting to introduce you to the rest of the family for a while, but have been unable. Then that whole ordeal with the supposed tumors, and-â Raphael exhaled slowly. âIt wouldnât have been fair to you if you died without knowing them. I wouldâve never forgiven myself.âÂ
Jeremy punched his shoulder lightly. âDonât be so hard on yourself, pops. It all worked out, weâre still kicking, and that roast chicken Maâs making smells incredible. Everythingâs perfect.âÂ
Raphael finished his cigarette and smiled. âOui. It is.âÂ
. . .
While Sara Jane had been able to get the rest of the family here, it was a school night. Kids needed to be tucked in by 9:30, so most of Jeremyâs brothers were gone by 8. Elliot was staying overnight, as was his boyfriend. Otherwise, the house quickly went from bustling to barren.Â
It gave Jeremy a chance to explore his would-be childhood home.
He made his way upstairs, pushing open one of the doors. It led- to little surprise- to a bedroom. It was set up like a nursery, with a crib in one corner and a toddler bed in the other. Toys were scattered about across the floor.Â
He heard Sara Jane sigh behind him. âThis was your room, you know.â Jeremy turned to look at her as she flipped the light switch. âThat crib⊠I had put you to bed the night your father planned to fake his death. I was in on the whole plan, naturally. He wanted to hold you one last time, so I said OK. When I woke up the next morning⊠you were both gone.â She exhaled slowly, grabbing onto his shoulder. âI wrote both of you off as dead, but I knew what had happened. Honestly, shouldâve figured it out before then. You hadnât woken me up crying,â she joked. Her eyes were watering.Â
Jeremy hugged her, pulling her close. âYou never took the crib down?âÂ
âBy the time I was ready, Bobbyâs wife was pregnant, so I kept it up for my grandbabies. I knew- I knew you were out there, sweetie. Both of you.â She kissed his cheek, squeezing him.
âI-I never got to be a normal kid, really,â he confessed. âI mean, Dad did his best, gave me comic books and board games and stuff, but-but I never went to school or made friends or anything like that. I-I didnât even know I had a family. It took me forever to even realize I had a Ma. An-and everything I did-â The tears were flowing again, more freely than earlier. âYa missed me losing my first tooth, and potty traininâ, and all that stuff parents should know about. I-Iâm sorry,â he whispered.Â
Sara Jane wiped his cheek dry. âDonât apologize for what your father did, Jeremy. And definitely donât apologize for me not potty training another kid. Besides⊠hold on, Iâll be right back.â She made her way down the hallway. Jeremy didnât follow, instead deciding to examine the crib. This was where he grew up. It was a simple crib, obviously well-used. Not worn-down, mind, just⊠used. It had a history. A history that Jeremy wanted to decode, but unlike his dadâs ciphers, he didnât have the key.Â
âTook me a second to find it,â Sara Jane said. She handed him what appeared to be a scrapbook. âRaphael- he wrote when he can. Taught me some basic codes, would send out letters whenever youâd leave a town. Never left a return address, butâŠâ Jeremy flipped through the pages, moving to sit on the small bed. The letters were all coded but appeared to be about how much Raphael missed Sara Jane. Updates on Jeremyâs growth. Letters from a father to his lover and sonâs mother.Â
One page jumped out to him, though. âI remember this,â he said, running his fingers against the paper. It was a simple drawing of a young boy, holding a catcherâs mitt, and a taller man next to him. âI drew this after Dad took me to my first baseball game, for my eighth birthday. I thought I lost the drawing after we skipped town, but- he sent them to you?â
Sara Jane nodded. âAnd I kept them all. Oh, honey, the day I first heard your voice on the phone- Mikey can tell you, I damn near fell over. You sounded so happy, and even if I couldnât see you, thatâs all a mother wants.â Jeremy leaned against her and she shut the book. âThatâs all a mother wants, sweetie. To see her kids be safe and happy.âÂ
âI am, Ma,â he assured her. âI promise.âÂ
They sat like that for a while, with Sara Jane commenting on various letters and drawings in the scrapbook. Apparently, Raphael sent her money when he could- more frequently now that Mann Co. paid so well. She also had a rough idea of their current occupations. âI figure, if you and your father are working for the same company- with his skills, thereâs gotta be a whole lot of nonsense going on out in that desert.â Jeremy laughed at that because she wasnât wrong. âBut I also figure since he raised you right, heâll keep the both of you safe.âÂ
âI keep him safe too, donât worry,â Jeremy added. âUh- listen, itâs touching and all you kept the crib, but I donât have to sleep in it, right?âÂ
They both had a good chuckle over that. Their laughs were in perfect harmony.Â
. . .
The next two days were a mix of learning the family history and exploring Boston. It was the offseason, so there werenât any games going on at Fenway, but Jeremy still got a picture in front of the park. Sara Jane took the pair to a restaurant that served âthe best damn clam chowder in the contiguous United States.â Which, incidentally, led them to discover Jeremy was allergic to clams. Thankfully they didnât have to go to the hospital- he just sort of immediately got sick before it passed- but it did suck.
It was damn good chowder, though.Â
They went down to the harbor where the Boston Tea Party happened. It was crowded with people, resulting in them not staying long. Jeremy was a bit better with crowds than Raphael, but neither was great with them. Came with the job. Getting overpriced memorabilia from a nearby gift shop, though, went over much more smoothly.Â
When not out on the town, Sara Jane dug out more scrapbooks and photo albums, catching Raphael up on what his stepsons had been up to. She showed Jeremy pictures from Rickyâs first school play to Scott opening up his butcher shop. Graduation pictures, wedding pictures, baby pictures- it was all there, and Jeremy devoured it. He wanted to know these people. He wanted to know his family. And he did. He learned about Michaelâs stint in the Navy, Melvin meeting his wife, how Bobbyâs son could dribble a basketball for twenty minutes straight. He learned about how his parents met. How Raphael loved each of Sara Janeâs children, even if they werenât biologically his. How Jeremy wasnât planned- few of the kids were - but they were both so, so happy to realize he was coming.Â
He also learned that, while diner food would remain the undisputed king, homemade meatloaf came pretty close.Â
. . .
The only problem came when it was time to leave. It wasnât that Jeremy didnât want to return to work, or leave his Ma behind. Sara Jane wasnât even torn up over losing her son and lover again. It just felt like there was so much left to say, to do. There was uncertainty as to when theyâd be able to return. âWe get time off for Smissmas, I know thatâs months away but Iâll be here, I promise,â Jeremy swore, hugging Sara Jane for the eighth time.Â
âYou better,â she said, squeezing him tightly. âYou have 25 years worth of gifts to catch up on, not to mention birthday gifts-â
âMa, you donât have to go that far,â he whined. He was touched, sure, but the thought of that much luggage was truly frightening. Oh God, he was going to have to get gifts for everybody, wasnât he? What do kids even want for Smissmas?Â
âHush, let me spoil my baby,â Sara Jane told him, kissing his cheek. âOh, JeremyâŠâÂ
Jeremy nodded. âI know, but Iâll call. Iâll write, too. Send pictures if I can.âÂ
âIâll make sure he does,â Raphael assured her. Sara Jane stood to kiss his lips, with Jeremy looking away pointedly. âYou have my word, ma petite chou-fleur.âÂ
âAlright, alright- now get going, I donât want you two missing your flight. That boss of yours sounds like sheâll tear you both a new one if youâre late,â Sara Jane said, shooing them away. âLove you boys!âÂ
âI love you too, Ma!â Jeremy shouted back, for the very first time.Â
The drive back to the airport was quiet. Jeremy stared out the window, watching his hometown- he had a hometown- pass by. âHey, dad?â he asked, still looking outside. Raphael grunted to acknowledge he was listening. âOne of these days, our contracts with Mann Co. are gonna expire. Weâre gonna have to find new jobs.âÂ
âYes, thatâs correct,ïżœïżœïżœ Raphael said. He tapped a rhythm against the steering wheel.Â
âAnd-and I was thinking when that time comes⊠maybe we could come back to Boston. Find some gigs out here,â Jeremy suggested.Â
Raphael sighed. âUnfortunately, being a spy means that you donât have the option of retiring, Jeremy. Not until youâre unable to complete your job. At that point, though, youâve probably died a dozen times over,â he explained. âEven if I could retire, settling down somewhere so close to people I care about- I would still have enemies.âÂ
âRight. âCourse,â Jeremy said. âItâs OK.âÂ
âThat being said,â Raphael continued, âyou have the luxury of youth and not being tied down to such a career. If you want to find a job in Boston after we finish with RED, thereâs nothing stopping you.âÂ
âBut people will still be after me, since Iâm your son. And you wouldnât be around.â
âEvery child leaves their parents someday. And youâre strong, Jeremy. You can protect yourself and your family.â Raphael smiled. âI donât believe Sara Jane needs much protecting, but I do worry.âÂ
Jeremy laughed. âI mean, did ya see the muscles on Scott and Michael? Guys can probably bench press a tractor!âÂ
They both chuckled before settling into quietude. Eventually, though, Jeremy had to break the silence. His voice was barely above a whisper. âI love you.âÂ
âI love you too, mon lapin.â
â...so your nickname for Ma is fucking âlittle cauliflower?â What the hell, Dad?âÂ
#father-son bonding au#Team Fortress 2#team fortress 2 au#tf2#tf2 fanfiction#tf2 scout#tf2 spy#tf2 scout's mom#dad spy#thetriggeredhappy#spy x scout's ma#noodle writes
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Summoning the Wind: The Finale
Part One: The Meeting, Part Two: Together
Venti x GN!Reader
1.8k Words
Warnings: Kissing at the end, tournament fighting, Demon Summoningâą
Despite the surprising, sudden revelation and reveal, Venti and you continue working towards your goal. Demon tournaments are not things to be taken lightly. They are difficult and it takes a lot of preparation to be ready. And while there is no permanent harm done to the demon, if youâre not careful it can hurt you.
Strengthening your bond, sparring endlessly against whatever demons your teachers and classmates summon, and running through strategy after strategy are just a few of the things the two of you do to prepare. You practice dual battles, and strike up some contracts with some other demons as well. Soon all of you are working together as a team, efficient and effective. If youâre doing this, youâre going all in.
Your first fight is terrifying, especially with you being unable to use Venti as a failsafe. He was strictly around for emotional support, hidden under your hat. The two of you had agreed that he would only be fighting in the higher tournaments. It just wouldnât be fair for you to use him to blast your way through the competition. Everyone deserves a fair fight. And you werenât holding back, per say, just only using the amount of force that was needed.
Appraising opponents becomes second nature and you develop the ability to calculate the right amount of force to use fairly easily. But you always err on the side of extra force. You are in this to win it, after all. So despite your fear and nervousness, your first tournament goes very well and you are the undisputed winner.
You continue your rise to the top, taking things one tournament at a time. School wide, area wide, national, and area international tournaments all come and go with you winning all of them. The fights became easy, instinctive almost, but you continued training. Resting on your laurels leads to losing after all, and thatâs not what youâre here to do.
Suddenly the time comes. Itâs time for the ultimate demon tournament to take place. This is what youâve been working towards all this time. And your contracted demons are just as excited as you are, Venti most of all.
Venti hasnât gotten many opportunities to fight himself, though he has helped in one or two in his human form recently. So far, you and those at your school are the only ones that know of his true identity. Your school administration had effectively put a gag order on the information to protect your privacy, and you are very grateful for it. But the time is coming for you to reveal yourselves to the world, here at the World Ultimate Demon Cup tournament.
The fights are hard, even the beginning ones. From the very beginning you are given a run for your money. If you hadnât spent so long training and preparing for this day you would not have survived past the first match. You were forced to use so much mana that it would have knocked you out if you hadnât steadily increased your reserves as time went on.
But in the end, you won the match. Then the next one. Then the next. And suddenly you are at the semi-finals. Itâs just you, two tier two demons, and Venti left to finish it. Thankfully, your tier two demons and Ventiâs human form were enough to get you to the final match. This is it. This is your moment.
Your opponent laughs as you step your way onto the field. âHaha, really,â they crow. âYou made it this far with your two-bit tier two demons? Iâm surprised! You must certainly be something. But do not doubt, I will crush you under the heel of my foot!â You roll your eyes at their arrogance.
âWeâll see about that,â you reply. He snorts and both of you summon your demon partners onto the field. His is obviously a tier one demon. It is a geo-type sphinx, three times your height and probably weighing more than you could possibly imagine. In comparison, Venti in his little sprite form is completely dwarfed.
âIs that a wind sprite?â Your opponent asks, anger creeping into their voice and onto their face. âAre you kidding me? You think you can take out my summoning partner with a wind sprite! Rude! Brikelda, get rid of it and force them to summon a real opponent.â You smirk as Venti agily dodges the sphinxâs every attempt.
It takes a while, but the sphinx, Brikelda, eventually lands a hit. A hit that almost hit Venti out of bounds. But just before he crosses the line he changes into his Archon form in a flash. Using his wings he easily changes his trajectory to keep himself within bounds. The audience gasps as the announcers proclaim their awe. âAnd here, folks, you have the honor of seeing an Archon in action!â âItâs sure something, isnât it, Dave?â âIt sure is, Jose! It looks like this will be a lot more interesting than it first seemed!â
Your opponent lets loose with a wild cackle. âThis will be more interesting than I thought! But donât underestimate us! Weâve worked too hard to lose here!â Even with Ventiâs archon form, Brikelda the sphinx gave you a hard battle. She fought until the bitter end. But, in the end, Venti is an Archon for a reason. And his strong partnership with you has made him even stronger. Heâs in top form and it shows.
The battle is long, but with one last Windâs Grande Ode, Venti successfully launches her out of bounds. Bouncing off the magical shield guarding the audience, she crumples to the ground and unsummons herself. After a moment of silence, the crowd bursts into cheers and applause. You startle at first at the loud noise, but smile and wave in victory.
Venti soars down from the sky to high five you. Hearing footsteps, you turn around to see your opponent. They are sombre and calmer than youâve ever seen them. Extending their hand, they hold it toward you. âGood fight,â they say. âYou are an opponent worth losing to. Iâm glad that it was you. I wish you luck for the future.â You reach out, take their hand, and shake it.
âThank you for such a great fight,â you thank them in return. âYou really made me earn my win. You and Brikelda are a great team.â With a final smile the three of you leave the stage, them one way and Venti and you the other. Thankfully your prep room isnât too far away, you donât think you can keep holding your peace for long.
As soon as the door to your prep room is closed you let out something between a cheer and a shriek of victory. âWe did it!â You proclaim at Venti. âI canât believe we did it!â You run over to him and pull him into a tight hug. âThank you, Venti,â you whisper. âI couldnât have done it without you.â
You feel him smile with amusement, excitement, fondness, and⊠something else you canât quite place, as he pulls you closer. Heâs been feeling that emotion more and more recently, but youâre not sure what it is. The few times heâs let it bleed over the bond itâs been a warm, soft feeling in your heart. If you had to put a name to it, objectively, you would call it love.
But that couldnât be it. Heâs a demon, an Archon even, and youâre just a human. It isnât possible that he could love you like that. Yet the thought never really left your mind. And your own feelings that youâve been careful to keep to yourself all this time, refused to let it go. Because oh how much you love his laugh. You love his songs. You love his eyes. You love him, despite all his flaws.
So you canât help but relish in the moment. Heâs larger in this form, tall enough that your head rests over his heart and his arms wrap around you comfortingly, strong and firm in their grip. His heart is beating quickly, and picks up even more after he presses a quick kiss to the top of your head. Your own heartbeat picks up, and seems to beat in time with his.
You can feel your face and ears go warm as you let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a squeak. He loosens his arms to let you pull away some to look at him. His soft gaze rests on you as he takes in the sight of you in his arms. The earlier fights had drained your mana enough that it showed in your disheveled appearance, but you still looked just as wonderful to him as ever.
âI have something I need to tell you,â he admits. âIâve tried to keep it to myself, but itâs slipped through our bond a couple of times so you probably know what Iâm talking about. Iâm going to say it anyway, just to get it out in the open. Over all this time weâve come to know each other, Iâve become very fond of you. And not just as a friend.
âIt started out as just a close friendship but my feelings for you never stayed there. They grew every time I saw you working to improve yourself, to 'become more worthy of having him as a summoning partner' as you would say when you thought I couldnât hear. They grew every time you didnât treat me and the others as any less than you or other humans. And now theyâve grown too much for me to stay silent about them.
âI love you, romantically, not platonically. Youâve come to mean the world to me. Iâve never felt so close to anyone before and have never felt more understood than when Iâve been around you. And I-â He pauses for a moment to swallow. âCan I kiss you?â
The question is quiet, vulnerable almost. His hand comes to cup your face, thumb tracing your lower lip as he looks into your eyes pleadingly. Your heart melts, and you smile. âYes, please,â You practically beg as you reach up to cup his cheeks too, guiding them down towards yours.
Your first kiss is soft and slow as the two of you get comfortable kissing each other. The next is a little firmer, and the next even more so. You find yourself pinned against the wall with him having pulled away for a moment to let you catch your breath. Heâs about to lean in for another kiss when youâre interrupted by a knock on the door.
âWe need you at the podium in two minutes,â the person on the other side tells you before hurrying off to other places. The two of you stare at each other for a moment before bursting into action. He helps you freshen up and the two of you race to the award ceremony. As the two of you run he winks and adds one more comment to make you blush. âI guess weâll just have to finish later~â
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For his birthday, I thought Iâd re-post my one-shot in which James Potter punches wizard n@z!s. Happy birthday, Prongs :) Read on AO3
"It is our punches, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -James Potter, probably
Tensions ran high around the halls of Hogwarts once the Head Boy and Girl appointments became known that September.
James Potter hadnât noticed anything out of the ordinary at first. Sure, it took a little getting used to all the new responsibilities, having never been a Prefect, but the busywork wasnât so different from that of being a Quidditch Captain. Nobody treated him abnormally, save for Padfoot of course, whoâs endless barrage of teasing hadnât let up since James received his Head Boy badge earlier that Summer. But everyone else, his friends, acquaintances, and especially his Professors, were taking him more seriously than ever. Which he actually liked.
No, he hadnât noticed the jeering, the shifts in attitude, or threatening whispers until his Head Boy duties required him to spend more time with the Head Girl, Lily Evans.
Sometimes James wished he could go back in time and take a picture of Evansâ face that day on the Hogwarts Express. When she walked in to see him sitting comfortably in the Headâs compartment, her red hair blazed as fiery as those bright green eyes he had admired for so many years. He always knew she would be selected as Head Girl. There wasnât a single student at Hogwarts with half of her compassion, determination, or heart.Â
Once sheâd picked her jaw off the floor, Lily spent half an hour searching for âthe real Head Boyâ before crawling back to their compartment to shake Jamesâ hand, the shock still evident on her face. It was that kind of tenacity that made him so fond of her. Even if he was on the opposing end of it.
Having an excuse to spend so much time with Evans was a dream come true, but it also opened James up to a world he had never seen as a Pureblood wizard. A world where glares and whispered slurs followed you through the hallways. A world where catching a Slytherin in the corridors at night could lead to threats that werenât quite as empty as the ones James was used to.
James wasnât thick. Heâd known for years that Voldemort had been stoking the flames of hate and division in the wizarding world, but heâd never seen the burns they left behind until now.
Barely a week had gone by before the first petition was sent around. A ballsy Ravenclaw had the nerve to ask James if he would sign the piece of parchment calling for Lilyâs resignation from her Head Girl position. Anger wasnât a strong enough description for the white hot electricity that coursed through his veins. He could feel the rage in his knuckles as he clenched his fists and then unclenched them.
He calmly gave the Ravenclaw detention, then transfigured the parchment to glass before throwing it to the ground, shattering the petition into a million little shards.
Of course, that little demonstration landed James in detention, too. But it was worth it. Especially when Evans heard what happened and attempted to reprimand him despite the impressed smile playing on her lips. His heart skipped every time he thought about it.
After the petition incident, the Slytherins became louder, claiming their rights were at risk if James Potter was allowed to single-handedly destroy official student body documents. It was rumored a group of seventh year snakes even managed to get an appointment with Dumbledore, though nothing came from it. Still, those whispered insults grew louder every day, as did Jamesâ admiration for Lily as he watched her deflect the hate with her chin up and head held high.
He thought she was the definition of grace. She claimed it was just learned from years of practice growing up Muggleborn. The electric current inside him gathered into an exasperated ball at the thought of an eleven year old Lily faced with such hatred. At anyone faced with that kind of prejudice. He couldnât see the color green anymore without turning red.
So when the two Heads walked back late from Herbology one afternoon to discover a crowd of Slytherins waiting for them at the castleâs door, Jamesâ fury was already quite close to the surface.
âOh,â sneered a bulky sixth year, âdid you think you were going back inside?â
âMove aside,â said James, as evenly as his temper allowed.
âI donât think we will,â taunted Mulciber, a seventh year James had plenty of experience dueling with in the past. He smirked, knowing he could take the slimy git in combat if thatâs what it came to. âYou see, the schoolâs administration refuses to address our little Mudblood problem, so we reckon itâs time we take things into our own hands.â
The electricity bolted through Jamesâ chest and he reached for his wand, but Lily was quicker.
âAnd will you be using those same hands I covered in warts last week?â she responded, so casually she could have been asking about the weather. James glanced at her (ignoring the butterflies now mingling with his protective anger) in awe, unaware that she had been behind Mulciberâs recent trip to Madam Pomfreyâs. He beamed. She still managed to surprise him over and over again.
Mulciber fumed and turned to send a look at Severus Snape, who had originally hidden himself towards the back of the crowd. James watched Lily falter for the first time at the sight of that greasy twat. The lightning grew hotter.
âI think weâve had enough of this,â said James, putting a hand on Lilyâs shoulder to lead them both back into the castle. He felt his fingertips spark at the contact, connecting them like a united front. She regained her composure and confidently followed his lead, but the agitators held their ranks. A fourth year girl James recognized as the Slytherin teamâs beater even had the nerve to unwrap a green and silver banner and wave it in Lilyâs face.
âYour magic will never be real like ours is,â called Mulciber as he took a step closer, blocking them from the entrance. This is our school, for our magic, and you will never belong here.â
The lightning in Jamesâ chest struck and ignited every cell in his body with unbridled rage. He caught Lilyâs eye and she nodded, giving him all the permission he needed to release the thunder. Without dropping her gaze, he let the electricity pulse through his arms and gather in his knuckles.
With a quick rustle of his hair and a chancy wink in Evansâ direction, James cocked back his fist and let it soar, making sweet contact on Mulciberâs jaw with a CRACK.
The sharp pain on his knuckles felt like victory and a rush of adrenaline begged him to continue. James threw his punches with pleasure, reveling in each blow. Next to him, Evans shot off hexes and charms in every direction, bounding up and petrifying every lousy bigot in her path. Her wandwork was unmatched and the beauty of it energized Jamesâ fight more than attention or popularity ever had.
For years he had fought out of spite, out of traditional rivalries, and boyhood grudges. But as he watched Lily Evans brush hair out of her face to shoot him a blinding grin before sending a devastating hex in Snapeâs direction, he knew now he was fighting out of love.
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what we do
the royal masquerade | kayden vescovi x mc (juliet rosario)
queen juliet rosario and former crown shield kayden vescovi meet up somewhere no one knows who either of them are. for @trmawâ â€ïž
~2.2k words | T
the sun was high in the sky when juliet stepped out of her carriage, though the light fabric of the casual dress she was wearing helped keep her cool as her feet hit the pavement.
there was no one with her to aid with her skirt as she moved about, no guards or security tending to the horses in an attempt to act casual while they continued to observe her.
it was just her and the driver, out in town, but soon enough, thereâd be someone else meeting them, too.
soon enough sheâd see kayden again.
theyâd parked on the outskirts of a market, and as she made her way through the stalls no one spared her a glance -- there wasnât a single flicker of recognition in any passing townspersonâs gaze for the queen of cordonia.Â
that made the long journey sheâd endured worth it all on its own.
wandering deeper into the market, she allowed herself to be swallowed up by the crowd, reveling in the simple freedom of walking around unattended, something she was never permitted to do at home.
life had become almost unbearably structured, as of late. she hardly had a moment to herself to breathe, let alone an entire afternoon to disappear. so she planned on taking advantage of every last second sheâd have masquerading as a commoner, and that started with exploring the wares around her while she waited for kayden.
âmiss?â her pulse stuttered as a vendor called out to her, certain sheâd been caught. juliet turned slowly and relaxed as she saw it was only a young man at a flower stall, surrounded by dozens of brilliant blooms. he waved her over, and she went to him with a smile, happy to give him a sale.
but when she stopped in front of the stall, he didnât try to sell her on any of the bouquets he had available. instead, he presented her with one wrapped set of roses and daisies and the deepest grin sheâd seen in a long time. âa gentleman was here earlier,â the vendor explained, as she carefully took the flowers from his hands, âhe said to give these to the most beautiful woman at the market, and that iâd know when she arrived.â
juliet scoffed, staring down at the bouquet she was holding in disbelief. she could feel her face grow hot as she looked up to glance around the market.
kayden was already here, then. somewhere.
âthank you,â she said, trying not to sound too flustered as she dipped her head to breathe in the sweet scent of the flowers. âtheyâre gorgeous, but are you sure theyâre for me?â
âquite sure.â juliet stilled, realizing the boy at the stallâs mouth hadnât moved. no, the deep voice whoâd said the words was one sheâd recognize anytime, anywhere.Â
she turned slowly and met kaydenâs eyes, feeling her rapidly beating heart jerk to an abrupt stop.Â
kayden smiled softly at her as their eyes locked. âi knew he wouldnât fail me,â he said, stepping closer. âitâs hardly a competition.â
the bustle of the market around them faded into the background as she moved forward, too, to meet kayden, shifting the flowers she was holding into one arm so her free hand could reach for his. âitâs good to see you,â juliet said quietly, biting back a sigh as kaydenâs fingers twined with hers, the simple and innocent brush of skin on skin immensely comforting. âthank you for the gift.â
kayden lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the ridge of her fingers before gently leading her away from the flower stall. âit was nothing,â he said, âiâm glad it worked out.â
there was a pause as they paced back towards the outskirts of the town square. she knew they were both thinking the same thing -- how impossible itâd be for kayden to do anything as lovely for her, back home. how relegated heâd been to a private life, how they were barely even able to look at each other, anymore.
juliet shook her head, determined to cast the dark thoughts from her mind. this was not the time nor the place for such a discussion. their outings were few and far between; there should be nothing to taint them.
they reached a stone fountain out of view from most of the market. she glanced up and saw that the driver whoâd accompanied her for security was nearby but doing his best to give her privacy, and relaxed as they both sat on the ledge. kayden moved to take the flowers from her and set them aside, then grasped her other hand, too.Â
âit is a gift, to see you,â he murmured, seeming to realize heâd failed to say as much, earlier. âiâve missed you terribly since we were last together.â
it had been quite some time. fabian had left the kingdom for foreign relations with a neighboring province and sheâd been able to spend the night at hunterâs without drawing raised eyebrows. fortunately, hunter had remained a good and loyal friend in addition to his standing as her policy advisor, allowing she and kayden to meet in secret and revel in the luxury of privacy.
but that was nearly an entire month ago. her heart ached as she studied the weary lines of kaydenâs face, his expression set with longing. how unfair, that a soul as vibrant as his should be forced to wait around for the half-romance she could afford him.
it seemed even being queen could not solve all injustices in the world.
âiâve missed you far more than you know,â she agreed, her voice tight with emotion. juliet blinked, leaving her eyes shut momentarily to try to dispel some of the thick sadness shrouding her voice. the last thing they needed now was for kayden to be stuck comforting her on their one afternoon alone.Â
but when she fluttered her lashes back open she saw him still smiling patiently, fondness in his eyes, and that just made her heart ache worse.Â
âtell me youâve been well,â he prompted, drawing a chuckle from her despite herself. only kayden could worry about whether she was eating or sleeping enough in the palace.
âas well as expected, without you.â his hands squeezed hers tightly, the rough pad of his calloused thumb dragging across the backs of her knuckles. part of him seemed almost pleased to hear she was unwell without him, though she knew she could hardly blame him for that. in her more selfish moments, she felt the same way. âand yourself?â
âthe same,â kayden said quietly. though his lips were only slightly turned up at the corners, she could read the smile in his eyes perfectly, and marveled at how intuitive his once-stoic face now felt to her. after so long spent studying kayden, it seemed she could read him now with just a glance. so there was no missing the slight nervousness on his expression when he said, âi have some news.â
âoh?â juliet tried to keep her voice light even as her mind raced with possibilities. she couldnât help but to assume the worst -- that kayden was leaving cordonia, that he was no longer interested in a secret relationship, that he was sick...
seemingly sensing her hesitation, kayden squeezed her hand comfortingly. âhunter is reinstating me as his head of security.â
she blinked. âhe is?â
kaydenâs lips spread into a real smile, then. he nodded. âhe feels the decision will be well supported after some of the recent attention.â
hunter was probably right. over the last year, kayden had been working tirelessly with the local orphanage, relocating many of the children and providing resources for the rest. heâd spent hours doing work her administration barely took an interest in, despite her pushing. heâd very nearly singlehandedly led the effort to fix the problems from the inside out.
juliet was quiet momentarily as her head spun with the news. kaydenâs return to his former role meant heâd be around more, certainly, and in an approved context. it would no longer seem suspicious to be seen with him; there would be a reason for him to be at the palace.
but it also meant heâd return, more prominently, to the public eye. the people would have a chance to get used to him again, to come around after theyâd once turned their backs.
and that opened up a variety of possibilities.
she had to actively work not to get carried away by the news. she knew she couldnât allow herself to be too excited just yet; possibilities always came with challenges and this new development was sure to bring problems along for the ride, too.
but the spark of hope she felt was thrilling regardless. her own face split with a grin, and juliet moved to clasp both of kaydenâs hands together in hers. âheâs absolutely right. thatâs wonderful news. for both of us, of course, but... for you especially. i canât think of anyone more deserving.â
her nagging guilt flared up again. for so long, sheâd stewed over the fact that she was in the palace while kayden faced derision, when all heâd ever done was protect her in an effort to help cordonia. the public that despised him had no idea how much heâd sacrificed for their benefit, so that she could lead them to a brighter future.Â
thoughts of what more she could do to help him kept her up at night. sheâd spent many hours planning ways to both steal time with kayden and work to help him without drawing attention, and finally felt a small step towards justice had been taken.
âit will be nice to get back to what i am familiar with,â kayden said humbly, but the bashful look on his face said he was pleased by her recognition. âand of course thereâs the added benefit of getting to spend more time with you.â
one of his hands lifted to gently brush a lock of hair off her forehead. he leaned in closer, his eyes intense. âjust being able to see you will put my heart at ease, juliet. finally iâll have a break from wondering about you with my every thought.â
without pausing to spare a glance around the square, she leaned in and kissed him, pressing in close. the overwhelming affection within her swelled and burst as the familiar scrape of kaydenâs stubble scratched her skin, the passion in his kiss so comforting she let herself drown in it greedily.
his hands tangled in her hair, pulling the careful curls out of shape. carelessly, juliet wound her arms around him, too, drawing closer and closer until there was nowhere else to go. she only realized sheâd groaned into his mouth when kaydenâs teeth caught her bottom lip in answer, clutching her body tighter to his.
she was suddenly desperate to be somewhere more private, and as kayden made it his mission to steal every last breath from her lungs she wondered if it would be inappropriate to drag him back to the carriage sheâd taken into town so they could be alone. but her decision was made for her as kayden pulled back, eyes as bright as the smile that was still fixed on his face.
âi came here to hear your voice,â he said, laughing shortly, âi shouldnât waste all our time together this way.â
âoh, but itâs very welcome,â juliet assured him with a grin, catching his mouth in one last soft kiss before drawing back with a content sigh. âhardly a waste at all. i know what you mean, though.â many of her dreams at the palace simply revolved around just spending time with kayden as they used to. who knew how long it would be before they would have some time alone together again?
she knew it would be slow going -- that it would take time for the public to get used to kayden again, that it might never be possible for her to establish what she had always wanted, from the very moment she made her first bid at queen...
...but it was hard to care when the here and now was so alluring, the man seated before her appearing so effortlessly as everything sheâd ever wanted.
her teeth bit at her sore bottom lip as she observed kayden from beneath her lashes. he was looking back at her fondly, in a way that made her pulse gallop. âwell, we do have the whole day,â she mused, humming as he took her hands gently in his again.
the sunny smile he was sporting boosted her own mood significantly. âletâs make the most of it, then,â kayden suggested, standing to pull her up, too.
julietâs gaze swept the town square and the market beyond it, alive with food and strangers and opportunity, a rare luxury for two people who lived with secrets such as they did.
there was much to take advantage of, and the sun was high in the sky. she couldnât think of a more advantageous situation to be in.
âletâs,â she agreed, gathering herself and her flowers to follow kayden back to life beyond their hiding place, her hope renewed.Â
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The Splash Zone - Tsukishima x Reader (Oneshot)
Jurassic World! AUPairing:Â Son of Park CEO!Tsukishima Kei x Mosasaur Trainer!Reader
- Word Count: ~9,000
- Genres: Fluff, angst
- CW: Mentions of death, objectification of main character, sexual harassment-
Mangoâs Introduction: Tsukishima the younger is a bit⊠prickly. Donât say that to his face, obviously, because heâs technically your boss, but for all his personality flaws, heâs definitely excellent at his job and he cares more about the people around him than he lets on. Heâs snarky with that mosasaur trainer more than anyone else, but you can tell heâs sweet on her. I guess you could call it the adult equivalent of pulling a girlâs pigtails on the playground. Uh, donât tell him I said that, heâs my boss too.
(A/N: For all of you who were interested in this series, y'all waited nearly a year for less than 10,000 words, and I apologize, haha. It's been sitting 95% finished all that time, but I moved onto some other projects because I wasn't confident in my writing abilities. After a year's worth of writing exercises via different projects, I'm now okay with putting this out for all of you. I hope my next few projects (AoT and KnY) knock your socks off, but for now, here's a little journey about following your own convictions, featuring our favorite salty blonde.)
Tsukishima had it all. Money, looks, brains, and sure, his personality could use a little work, but he wasnât completely insufferable. Most of the time. But if you asked him, his sour attitude was hardly his fault. After all, he was the heir to a multi-trillion dollar theme park, so itâs not like there were any consequences for him talking to people the way he does. For all he cared, he could be as snarky as he liked, considering he didnât work with many people that were willing to speak their mind to him.
âBite me, Tsukki.â
Well, except for a certain mosasaur trainer that was really grating on his nerves. Said trainer sat across from him from her seat in his office, arms crossed and jaw tense. Tsukishima tapped his fingers on his desk.
âAre you done throwing a tantrum like a six-year-old?â he asked. (Y/N)âs hands balled in her lap. She kept her mouth shut, glowering at the desk in front of her to keep her temper under wraps.
The blonde rolled his eyes. About fifteen minutes ago, he watched her kick in the door to the employee lounge and make her way over to the mosasaur staff supervisor. All eyes were on her as she moved towards him with murderous intent rolling off of her in waves. While (Y/N) was the one with the most control over the aquatic dinosaur itself, the supervisor was the one who hired staff, had them trained, made their schedules, and completed the other overall administrative duties. Their position was a catch-all and they were meant to do the primary inspections that made the mosasaur shows run properly.
Company policy encouraged open communication between colleagues, of course. Jurassic World Theme Park prided itself on proficient employee cooperation, as per the employee handbook and what the marketing team insists they say. Tsukishima just wished (Y/N) had opened her statement with something a smidge more polite than, âAre there any grooves in your fucking brain or is it all just smooth in there?â
After that hell of a conversation starter, she and the supervisor verbally ripped into each other. If Kei hadnât grabbed (Y/N) by the windbreaker and dragged her into his office, he wouldnât have been surprised if they ended up ripping into each other physically, too. To her credit, (Y/N) most definitely won, but that would have been a bigger pain in his ass.
â(Y/N), you canât speak like that to people you work with. I heard what you said about him keeping an eye on his interns, and thatâs his business, not yours,â he sighed. It was too early for this crap, especially since his assistant called in sick and hadnât made him his morning coffee, and there were a million things to do in preparation for the board meeting today. He had better things to do than settle this stupid argument.
(Y/N) looked at him with disbelief, âYou think I went in there to yell at him for fun? You have no idea what happened, Kei, how are you already taking his side?â
Tsukishima looked into her fiery gaze for a moment. He leaned back, brushing down the front of his navy blue button-down.
âYou know thatâs not what I meant.â
âBut itâs what you said,â she shot back.
He pursed his lips. âAlright, Iâm sorry,â he muttered.
(Y/N)âs mouth dropped for a moment, then the corner quirked up ever-so-slightly, âWhat was that, Tsukki?â
âJust explain before I lose my patience,â he snapped. His ears felt hot.
She laughed, âBecause youâre the picture of patience right now.â
â(Y/N).â
Although the anger in her posture returned, she was able to remain more composed than she had earlier.
âOne of the interns came up to me about an hour ago to ask me about the coding for the hydraulic lift.â (Y/N) threw her hands up and leaned back in her chair, as if that was the answer to everything.
âIâll need some more details than that.â
She groaned in frustration, âThereâs the mosasaur tank and the stadium
surrounding it, yeah? And partway through the show, the hydraulic lift lowers the stadium to the underground viewing area, right? Well, for all that to happen, the codes on the control panel have to be specific,â her hands moved fervently as she got deeper into her explanation. âThe codes never change, but every morning, the supervisor makes sure theyâre correct and I double check before the show. If the codes are incorrect, the stadium might lift too fast, too slow, too much, or not at all.â
Kei nodded for her to continue, to which she gave a grateful nod before going back into rant mode.
âInterns donât have clearance into that area. He gave her his fucking badge so she could go in and do the checks without him. She shouldnât have been down there and she definitely shouldnât have been checking the control panel. Look,â she ran a hand through her hair, âI donât want to tell the guy how to do his job. If he wants to train the interns how to run the control panel, then fine, itâs not in my job description to police that. But that brand-new, inexperienced, fresh-out-of-college kid was all by herself down there doing that idiotâs job. She could have gotten hurt. She could have gotten other people hurt. It was her supervisorâs job to train her better and to take better care of his interns and if I donât raise hell about this kind of stuff now, then who will? So fuck that guy, he deserved to get yelled at.â
(Y/N) heaved herself out of her chair, âAnd now that everyone thinks Iâm a raving lunatic, Iâm going back to my office to change. Try not to need me.â
~~
As the son of the owner of Jurassic World Theme Park, Tsukishima Kei was raised to do two things: work with dinosaurs and obey his father. When he was younger, he thought he would get to work with the dinosaurs as a trainer, regulate their feeding schedules, train them, and educate the masses about the wonders of science. But he was wrong. The future his father had in store for him involved dinosaurs, yes, but more along the lines of determining the cost of developing a new dinosaur or what characteristics are interesting to the general public so that the park can turn a profit.
Several years ago, when his father originally had her brought to the island, Kei had been skeptical. Out of all the candidates for the mosasaur trainer, (Y/N) had been particularly young, but for some reason, his father was insistent that the new mosasaur trainer be her. (Y/N) later proved and continued to prove that she wasnât just qualified, but born to work with the mosasaur, Dolly, she called her. She cared for her with a deep passion that transcended interspecies boundaries.
(Y/N) was amazing at her job, and it was unfair of Tsukishima not to hear her out initially. There was a fine line between teasing as a result of mutual pining and just being a dick, and it seemed like Kei had crossed that line.
(Y/N) knew he was coming. That was one of the things she really appreciated about Tsukishima. He was a snarky asshole who liked to rile her up, and in the beginning, he was garbage at apologies, but over time, theyâd apologized to each other so often that he no longer dragged ass over it. Once he realized he was in the wrong, he would find her immediately.
Tsukishima let himself into (Y/N)âs office, where he found her and the raptor trainer in deep conversation.
âKei! Seriously, I couldâve been changing!â she yelled. Sheâd told him a million times to knock before coming in, but he rarely listened.
âDonât worry, even if you were, thereâs nothing to see,â he said teasingly.
(Y/N) scowled, âYou wouldnât know.â
Tsukishima scoffed.
âAnyway, Hajime, what else did that guy say?â (Y/N) said.
Kei frowned at the two cups from Tiki Smoothie in front of them. He wondered if Iwaizumi had brought her one as a surprise or if sheâd asked him to bring her one. Both possibilities put him in a bad mood. Supposedly, they were just close friends, but (Y/N) forced him to watch enough Hallmark movies for him to know the friends-to-lovers trope quite well. It ranked just below childhood friends-to-lovers and just above enemies-to-lovers. He must have been staring at those cups for some time, because by the time he zoned back in, Iwaizumi had already finished his explanation.
â--train the raptors for the battlefield,â Iwaizumi finished.
(Y/N) raised an irritated brow, âLike dogs?â
The raptor trainer shrugged, âApparently.â
âDid you tell him thatâs not how raptors work?â she asked.
âI didnât bother. He-- Sorry,â Iwaizumi fished his ringing flip phone from his vest pocket. âI gotta go, (Y/N), Iâll tell you more at dinner later,â he said on his way out the door.
âOkay, but I wanna hear about your thing with that pretty P.O. Manager later!â
The taller man stopped and gripped the door frame in surprise.
âWha-- Thereâs no âthingâ!â Iwaizumi sputtered.
âWhatever keeps your blood pressure normal."
As (Y/N) waved her friend off, Tsukishima rested his weight on the back of the vacated chair.
âWhat was that all about?â
(Y/N) sighed, making her way over to the wardrobe next to the door.
âSome military guy had a talk with Hajime about using the raptors for war. He said theyâre better than drones because theyâre not hackable and blah blah blah.â
âDoes he realize that-- what are you doing?!â Tsukishima choked when (Y/N) dropped her loose gym shorts. Underneath, she wore plain navy blue bikini bottoms.
âRelax, Kei, youâre the one who invited yourself into my office. Besides, itâs not like you havenât seen a girlâs bare legs, right?â she teased as she stepped into her dive skin. The tall young man moved to sit behind the desk. Forcing down his blush, he took on a snarky tone once again.
âObviously. I didnât think you had time for that kind of thing, since youâve been cooped up with Darby for the last few years.â
(Y/N) shook her wetsuit at him, âHer name is Dolly! Itâs always been Dolly and you know it, you little shit!â
âLanguage, (Y/N),â he smirked. What would my father say if he knew you spoke to me like that?â
âOh, trust me, Malfoy, your father knows exactly how I speak to you, and he couldn't care less,â she snarked, looking pleased with herself..
The teasing glint in Tsukishimaâs eyes wavered at the comment, though he knew they shouldnât have. âDonât dish it if you canât take itâ he always said. He knew his father loved him the way any man loves his son, but Keiâs rank in his fatherâs heart in relation to money had always been questionable.
âSorry. Too much,â (Y/N) said quietly. She pulled up her dive skin and removed her windbreaker, revealing a matching bikini top.
âItâs not your fault,â the blonde mumbled back. (Y/N) made her way around the desk. Leaning her weight on the edge facing him, she said, âReally, Iâm sorry. That was in bad taste.â
Tsukishima waved dismissively, âItâs fine, you didnât mean it. Just caught me off guard⊠Actually, I came to apologize to you for earlier.â
She grimaced, âIâm sorry for freaking out so hard. I didnât mean to make trouble for you the same day as a shareholdersâ meeting.â
âYouâd be okay with making trouble for me normally?â
âThat a serious question?â
With a light chuckle he said, âRight, right. Itâs fine... Iâm sorry for not
hearing you out. For what itâs worth, that guy is as good as fired.â
âFired!?â she yelped, making him jump. âWait, you canât fire him!â
âActually, I can--â
âFine. As his boss, you legally could fire him, but Iâm saying donât. One, we can easily get him to clean up his act. Two, his wife is preggers. Gregnant. Pregante.â
âI got it the first time.â
âJust making sure.â
Tsukishima huffed, holding back a smile, âWorrying about someone whose head you were about to bite off two hours ago. Thatâs just like you.â
There was a gentle knock at the door and Yamaguchi, a paleo-veterinary intern, poked his head through the doorway.
â(Y/N), are you ready for the show? We have 20 minutes until start time,â he informed her with a sweet smile.
âYup!â She stuffed her arms through the tight neoprene sleeves, âAre you the specialist on standby this time, Yama?â
The shorter girl turned around and moved her hair to the side in a silent request. Standing to his full height, Tsukishima pinched the sides of her zipper with one hand and pulled the tab up with.
Yamaguchi couldnât help but laugh. His two friends stopped, (Y/N) with her hands holding up her hair, Tsukishima with his hands tugging on her suit zipper.
âWhatâs so funny?â his childhood friend asked. Yamaguchi just shook his head and confirmed that, yes, he would be on medical standby for the upcoming show.
âClose the door when you leave, okay, Tsukki?â (Y/N) shot over her shoulder on the way out.
âGood luck with your show,â he said simply. She frowned in confusion. Before she could comment, Yamaguchi rushed her out the door.
~~
â--near the surface of the water, where it preyed on anything it could sink its teeth into, including turtles, small fish, even smaller mosasaurs, but donât worry, thatâs not why Dolly here doesnât have any siblings.â
The crowd chuckled. Tsukishima always enjoyed when (Y/N) did the demonstrations herself. The guides did the jobs they were contracted to do, and maybe it was that he already knew how much she loved Dolly, but whenever (Y/N) did it, it always felt less like a show and more like the introduction of a close friend of hers. That was the truth, after all.
âYou see, when Dolly was born, I was the first thing she saw. This caused something called imprinting, and if I just made you think about that freaky Twilight baby, Iâm so sorry.â
Another wave of laughter rippled through the crowd. âAnd what that means is, Dolly and I share a special bond. She feels a special connection to me that she doesnât feel for any other creature on this planet. When she was growing up, we communicated with this,â she held up a silver whistle.
âYou canât hear these sounds, but Dolly can. She knows the sound of the whistle, and that makes her think, âOh, thatâs my handler! Yay, sheâs gonna feed me!â Which is something I thought whenever my mom called my name during my teenage years.â
âSheâs entertaining, isnât she?â one of his fatherâs associates commented. Rather than sitting in the wide open arena seats under the beating sun, Keiâs father, the elder Tsukishima, sat up in an air-conditioned glass box high above the regular seats. Today, a group of shareholders and potential investors were performing their monthly assessment of the parkâs assets. After going to every single one of these meetings since he was twelve, Tsukishima was more or less used to these meetings, but he was getting irked by the way a particularly sweaty, sleazy-looking businessman two and a half times his age was staring not at the tank itself, but at the trainer on the platform above it. If it werenât for his father, he would have nastily told all of them to never take even a single breath in her direction.
âThe girlâs gotten real grown up since we first saw her,â the man said, rubbing his chin.
âDonât look at her like that,â Kei growled internally.
âGood eye, Yamada-san. She just turned twenty-one,â his father replied.
âBut that doesnât concern you,â Kei thought.
âReally? She looks young, but she seems so mature for her age,â another dirty businessman observed.
âYou always did like the young-looking ones, you creepy old man!â laughed Yamada. Tsukishima bit down on his tongue so hard he had to remind himself not to bite it off.
âAh, yes, I took her age into account from the get-go,â Tsukishima-san said. âBy nature, the mosasaurus would only accept one trainer, and I brought her to the island at such a young and impressionable age that she would only listen to me.â
âAnd then you have a safe way to control the dinosaur,â one of the shareholders concluded.
âExactly. And youâre right, Yamada-san, sheâs grown up to be quite attractive. Shame she ended up so strong-willed, else she might have made a quality match for my son. Perhaps if Kei here can reel her in, heâll make a wife out of her yet, right, son?â
The younger Tsukishimaâs skin crawled as every pair of eyes in the room landed on him. He could just imagine opening his mouth and ripping them all a new one. What would Yamada say if he called him out on his predatory behavior? Or he could say, âAh, Mr. Kawasaki, howâs that custody battle with your wife going? I hear sheâs winning because the kids would rather live with her. Oh, Chairman Yang, I didnât see you there! Have you beaten that nasty gambling addiction of yours? Goodness, from the looks of those eye bags and how badly your âdesignerâ suit is frayed, my guess is no.â
But Kei canât say any of those things. He has too much to lose, should he compromise his position as his fatherâs heir and future CEO. The blonde glanced briefly out the window at the smiling girl talking animatedly about her most treasured friend. He mentally sends her an apology for being unable to defend her yet again.
Kei grit his teeth and finally replies.
âYes, father.â
If he were born as anyone else, he could romance her properly, instead of passing glances, not-so-subtle flirting, and raging sexual tension. They wouldnât have had to play the whole âwill we or wonât we?â schtick. But he was still Tsukishima Kei. He was destined to take over his fatherâs company, and by design, his partner would have to attend board meetings and brunches and wine and cheese parties. Kei had no desire to drag (Y/N) into that kind of life, but whatâs more, (Y/N) would never agree to it. At one time, he considered asking her about it. Ask her to consider making that sacrifice for him. But at the end of the day, he never did bring it up to her because he was scared of the answer heâd receive.
Her enthusiastic voice faded back into his consciousness, âEnough of me talking. Is everyone ready to meet Dolly?â
They all turned back to the window at the sound of (Y/N)âs voice.
The crowd cheered in affirmation.
âWhat was that? I canât hear you?â
The cheers transitioned into a deafening roar.
âAlright, for those of you in the splash zone, expect to get soaked in about ten seconds and counting.â
(Y/N) pressed a button, and the feeder crane slowly moved to dangle a heavy shark over the mosasaurus tank. The trainer leaned against her platformâs railing. She put the whistle to her lips, but no one heard any sound.
âYou hungry, girl?â she asked the tank. There was no prior indication of any movement before the leviathan reptilian dinosaur leapt out of the water and easily snatched up its prey with its rows of hundreds of teeth. Its great mass seemed to linger midair for what felt like forever before sliding back into the water with a giant splash that had the crowd squealing with delight.
âHold on tight,â (Y/N) spoke up as the stands started lowering under the stadium, âWeâre gonna get to take a little closer look at our girl, Dolly the Mosasaurus.â
~~
âHow was your meeting?â (Y/N) asked upon her arrival in Tsukishimaâs own office, finally free of her restricting wetsuit and hair still wet from her shower. Not looking up from his paperwork, the blonde grunted, âFine.â
(Y/N) smiled and sat on the edge of the desk beside him. Both hands came up to zip her windbreaker.
âThat bad, huh?â
âYou sit in a glass box for 45 minutes with a group of men over fifty, and tell me you had fun,â he grumbled. Giving him a sympathetic look, she slid off the desk to place her hands on his shoulders. She gently massaged the tension from them. Lately, Tsukishima Senior had been giving his son more responsibility to âprepare him to take over the company,â which would have been a more believable excuse if the older man wasnât relaxing by the pool and golfing with his friends 4 days a week. Kei leaned into her touch.
âYou are nothing like your father, though, Kei,â she internally mused. Dragging her hands down from his shoulders to clasp in front of him, she hugged him from behind. Soothed by her presence, he wondered if he even needed to tell her how he felt about her. It seemed like she already suspected. Though, if she already knew and wasnât saying anything, what exactly were her feelings on the matter?
âToday was so tiring, Tsukki,â she rested her chin on top of his blonde head. âThis family was asking me questions, but their two irritating ass kids kept climbing on the primary railings, and the mom got mad at me when I told them to knock it off! Like, do you want your kids to get chomped by a genetically engineered dinosaur, Brenda? Then, she asked for my manager, and Iâm like, âBitch, I will literally throw you in the damn tank! There, thatâs my manager, you entitled piece of-- ughhh!!â (Y/N) buried her face in Tsukishimaâs shoulder in frustration. âI hate customer service! Fuck her! Fuck them kids!â
âYou said that to her?â he teased. Secretly, he was happy that she was tired today. A Tired (Y/N) meant a Sweet (Y/N), and after those creeps were leering at her in the box today, he was just glad she was somewhere he could keep an eye on her.
âSuck my dick, Kei, you know I wouldnât actually say that. I still enjoy getting paychecks,â her words were muffled by his shoulder. âSweetâ is a relative term for her.
âIâd pay good money to see you cuss someone out.â
âYou would, wouldnât you,â she replied.
Tsukishima desperately wanted to tell her how he felt. It was getting really irritating that they could do stuff like this, but he couldnât tell those sweaty old men in the box today to keep their perverted stares off of her.
Tentatively, he turned his head towards her, lips ghosting along her jawline. His heart sped up as her fingers tightened into his dress shirt.
When his arm slid around her waist, she was like putty in his hands.
âYou-- Youâre kinda giving me mixed signals here, Kei,â she said breathlessly. The taller male placed his forehead against hers. His eyes stared down at her lips as he debated the long-term consequences of giving into his desires.
âI know,â he murmured. âIâm sorry.â
(Y/N) brought her hand up to cup his face. They both leaned in slowly, as if moving any faster would ruin the tension.
âDonât beâŠâ she whispered.
The office door slammed open with a bang.
âSir?â (Y/N) jumped back from him like sheâd been burned.
âWhat?â he snapped at the intruder.
âYour father wants you and Miss (L/N) in a meeting right away.â
~~
âTsukishima-san, I donât see why--â
âOf course you donât, (Y/N),â Keiâs father cut her off, âYou have a personal connection with the animal. That was the one oversight I made when I brought you to the island as a trainer.â
They sat in a boardroom, surrounding a large table with Tsukishima senior at one end, (Y/N) at the other, and the board members on either side. The blazing sunlight of Isla Nublar that shone in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the room contrasted heavily with the dark tension permeating throughout the room. Kei tapped his fingers against the table from his spot on his fatherâs right side.
Of all the âstrategic investmentsâ his father made, this was definitely not one Kei could have predicted.
The girl took a deep breath, âWith all due respect, sir, it canât be a good idea to reinvent a new species of mosasaur. I think--â
âSee, thatâs the problem, sweetheart,â the sweaty man from before chimed in. âYouâre not here to think, youâre here to look pretty, and to tell the dinosaur what to do.â
âI donât appreciate your tone, Yamada.â
âI donât appreciate your attitude, little girl,â he shot back.
Tsukishima Senior cut in, âTry to understand, (Y/N). The Indominus Rex has been a huge hit. The numbers say that these new hybrid dinosaurs are the next big thing. We canât pass up an astronomical amount of money just so you can keep your pet.â
âMy pet?â (Y/N) spat.
âNow, (Y/N), thereâs no need to get hysterical.â
âHysterical? My reaction is perfectly reasonable considering you want to euthanize the creature Iâve raised since birth, which, may I remind you, is something you people wanted me to do.â
âDoctor Wu and the rest of the genetics team is already engineering the genetics for a new mosasaur. Bigger, more teeth--â
âBut they couldnât engineer any more brain cells for all of you?!â she interjected.
âThatâs enough!â CEO Tsukishima slammed his hand on the meeting table. âYouâre like a daughter to me, (Y/N), but I wonât take this level of disrespect from you.â
(Y/N) rested her hands atop the table and leaned in, meeting his glare head-on.
âIf you want to do anything to Dolly, youâll need my help, and I will not do anything that can compromise her.â
âWhat a mouthy little thing,â one of the shareholders muttered.
âGive her to me, Iâll shut her up,â another said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Tsukishima took a deep, stabilizing breath from beside his father.
âI chose you because I saw something in you. I never expected you to be this selfish,â the elder snapped, âYouâre being unreasonable. Kei is barely older than you, and he understands that thereâs profit to be made by replacing the damn dinosaur. Tell her, Kei.â
The room went silent. (Y/N) stared deeply into her friendâs golden brown eyes.
âDonât do this, Kei. They want you to become your father, but you are not your father. You are so much more.â
The younger Tsukishima felt like he was being crushed by an incredible weight. Whatever he did now, it would be nearly impossible to take back. If he chose her, his father may never forgive him. The problem was: If he chose his place as his fatherâs heir, would he ruin his relationship with (Y/N) forever? Which one of them could he live without? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. His steady gaze met with (Y/N)âs intense stare. He hoped he sounded more sure than he felt.
âYes, (Y/N). My fatherâs right.â
(Y/N) first looked surprised, then immensely disappointed. Realizing there was no one on her side, she sighed.
âI came to this island because I thought this company might be different. When you asked me to train the mosasaurus from birth, I was overjoyed at how much you cared for her development,â she made sure to stare into the soul of each and every dirty scoundrel in the room. âBut I made a mistake, too. All of you are cowards. Selfish, soulless, money-grubbing cowards.â Blazing eyes finally landed on Keiâs wide golden brown ones. She aimed her final statement at him.
âEvery last one of you.â
Keiâs heart squeezed so hard he thought his chest would collapse.
âTsukishima-san!â a mousey-looking secretary burst into the boardroom. CEO Tsukishima clicked his tongue in annoyance.
âWhat is it now?â he snapped.
âItâs the Indominus! Sheâs escaped!â
Deafening alarms and flashing red lights resounded throughout the control room. Kei could barely hear his father barking orders to the security team. One of the technicians pulled up a giant map of the park on the main screen.
âSheâs still on the outer edges of the park, but sheâs moving fast, sir,â they said.
âHave the Asset Containment Unit get this thing under control. Make sure they use non-lethals.â
âNon-lethals!â (Y/N) yelled, outraged.
âWe have 26 million dollars invested in that asset,â the elder Tsukishima growled.
Exasperated, (Y/N) threw her hands in the air. She avoided Keiâs eyes as she
turned and sprinted out of the control room.
Kei hesitated. Before he could chase after her, his father ordered him to stay put to help in the control room. Though it made him feel like he wanted to vomit, he obeyed.
Several hours passed and Tsukishimaâs mind felt like it was at its breaking point. The monitors flashing red in the dimly lit control room strained his eyes to the point where he was convinced heâd need a stronger prescription after this. The beeping of the ACU teamâs EKG monitors flatlining rang in his ears so loud he wished he would just go deaf. The Indominus was picking off their security team with ease, sometimes several members at a time. The young man rubbed at his temples.
âTsukishima, weâre evacuating the rides on the outer edges at the park,â the lead Park Operations Assistant slid a map over to him. Taking a red marker, she circled a few attractions directly in the escaped dinosaurâs projected path.
âBut I think these preparations insufficient,â she said, nervously twisting
the pen in her grip.
âWeâd evacuate the whole park if it were up to me,â Tsukishima said under
his breath.
The assistant pursed her lips, âItâs a shame weâll definitely be shut down
after this. You would have made a great CEO.â
âAre you flirting with me?â the blonde joked.
âPlease, youâre so whipped for (Y/N) it hurts to look at you,â the assistant snorted in reply.
Before Tsukishima could make a snarky retort, both of their attentions were drawn to CEO Tsukishima, who had a large, middle aged man at his side.
âKei, come over here!â the older man called.
Tsukishima handed the map back over to the assistant, âThis is fine for now. If the situation escalates or if it doesnât improve in an hour or so, close all the attractions on the west side of the park. Iâll be right back.â
The assistant grabbed his arm, âTsukishima, thatâs Vic Hoskins, the head of the private security force.â
âMy father introduced us not long ago. What about him?â
âCommander Hoskins isnât just a brute, heâs an ignorant one, and that makes him dangerous. If your father is listening to him, be careful.â
Tsukishima nodded gratefully.
âI will. Iâll be right back.â
He didnât wait for the assistantâs reply before making his way to his fatherâs side, who pulled him off to the side. Hoskins had apparently taken his leave.
âThe helicopter will be here in 10 minutes, make sure youâre at the helipad by then,â he told his son.
The younger Tsukishimaâs eyes widened.
âWhat? Where are we going?â he asked.
His father turned to him, âCommander Hoskins has strongly advised us to get off the island. We can do our part in containing this crisis remotely.â
The younger man blanched, âWeâre just going to leave? We still have people to evacuate, not to mention medical teams to coordinate, personnel to--â
CEO Tsukishima placed a hand on his sonâs shoulder, âWe can do all of these things remotely. Our first priority is maintaining our safety, and besides, the situation is in good hands with our employees here. Itâs as good as contained.â
The CEO smiled and turned to leave. Kei didnât move.
âCome on, Kei,â the older man urged.
Tsukishima took a deep breath.
âIf the situation is âas good as contained,â then why are we leaving the island?â he asked.
His father sighed, âI understand your concern, Kei, this is a safety issue--â
âSo, you agree? You do think that evacuation is the correct safety measure?â Kei looked his father directly in his familiar amber eyes.
The elder shifted, âWhat are you implying, Kei?â
âIâm saying as long as we choose not to actively evacuate the island, we have a responsibility to our employees and to our guests to stay and control the situation the best we can.â
The flatlining EKG monitors were still ringing in his ears. If he left the island now, heâd never stop hearing the beeping of those monitors. Theyâd exist in his nightmares forever.
âStay here, then, Kei,â his fatherâs voice broke him out of his thoughts.
He raised a brow, âJust me?â
âThereâs no point to being in power if you refuse to reap the benefits of it. The helicopter is leaving soon. Join me, Kei. Donât try to play hero when youâre not.â
(Y/N)âs face flashed in his mind. He couldnât be sure where she ran off to after she left, but if he had to guess, it would have been to the main hall or to the infirmary to care for guests. Either way, sheâd never dream of leaving the island with so much at stake. Neither could he, and the thought of leaving her behind made his answer clear.
âNo, Iâm not going. Have a safe flight.â He turned on his heel and marched back to the central console. To his horror, Asset Containment Unit Alpha had been almost entirely wiped out. Only 4 members of a 12-person team remained.
âTheyâre not gonna make it, Tsukishima, we need to tell them to pull back,â the P.O. Assistant insisted.
He nodded, âDo it.â
The woman quickly gave the order. âHas your father finally--â
âMy father is vacating the island with the board members and other investors as we speak,â Tsukishima said.
âWhy am I not--â the assistantâs phone went off. âHello? ...You what?â
âWhat happened?â
She snapped her phone shut, âItâs--itâs Takeru, my nephew. He was visiting the park today, but my assistant says he got separated from her, and-- and--â
âHey,â he grabbed her shoulders. âDonât freak out. Itâs not like you, and it wonât help.â
âYouâre right,â she said shakily, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. âI know I have work to do here, but I have to go find him, Tsukishima. I canât--â
âI get it. Just go.â
The assistant nodded gratefully, sprinting out of the board room. As she
left, yet another assistant came for his attention and he was plunged back into the thick of things.
Meanwhile, (Y/N) stood at the doors of the underground lab. Her eyes were wild and her face flushed from exertion. The pristine, white lab was a stark contrast to the sweaty, panicked mob she passed by on her way here. It was as if the panic of the Indominusâs escape had no effect, save for the swarm of people in lab coats quickly packing up their equipment into thick armored suitcases. With the move in full swing, the lab doors were set wide open. In the chaos, she managed to slip into one of the adjoining storage rooms, where she found a large computer monitor. The bright blue screen was blinding in the dimly lit room. A profile displayed on the screen read âIndominus Rex.â
The young woman scrolled down the profile. She had to find out what the dinosaur was made of. The ACU would never survive without that information. They may not even survive with it. Finally, under the section titled âGenetic Makeupâ, she found what sheâs looking for. Before she could react to her findings, there was a sharp pain in the skill and she dropped to the ground unconscious.
Back in the control room, Kei gripped his cell phone tightly. Eighteen missed calls and (Y/N) still wouldnât pick up. He couldnât fight it anymore. He had a tech trace her cellphone and he hastily exited the room.
Once he left the building, Kei was greeted with what he expected hell looked like. There was a swarm of panicked park guests, sweaty and fearful. Several were injured from the sudden panic. Some had a haunted look in their eye that suggested theyâd seen something that would haunt their nightmares for years to come. And where was his father? Safe on a helicopter, leaving all these people to fend for themselves simply because he could.
Kei was disgusted with himself. The Indominus had escaped hours ago. All this chaos could have been avoided by simply evacuating the park. But who cared about peopleâs lives when there was still profit to be made? Sure, he hadnât actively supported his fatherâs selfishness, but he definitely didnât object to it either. In all his indecision, ultimately, he was siding with his father. He was equally to blame for all this.
As Kei entered the underground tunnels, the screaming and cries of the panicked went silent. He realized he could hide away in the tunnels until the situation had blown over. Instead, Kei chose to press forward, knowing it wasnât fair that he had that luxury.
The Mosasaur Stadium sat in the middle of the underground tunnels. From his view from the glass, Dolly, like her trainer, was nowhere to be found.
By the time Kei made it to the lab, it had been picked clean of equipment and personnel. All that remained were sterilized lab benches and pristine white walls. He found (Y/N) on the floor of an empty storage room. There was a nasty gash in the back of her head.
Kei kneeled and gently put two fingers to her pulse.
âWake up!â he snapped at her. To his relief, her eyelids fluttered open. âThank god. What the hell were you doing down here?â
âOuch, my head,â she moaned. âI thought⊠the ACU⊠If they knew what the Indominus was made ofâŠâ
Kei nodded in understanding. He removed his tie to apply pressure to her wound.
âAnd? What is it?â
(Y/N) shook her head.
âI dunno. I think they hit me right as I saw.â
(Y/N) sat up, slowly regaining her strength.
âHow much of the park has been evacuated?â she asked.
Kei checked his messages, âAlmost everyone has been moved to secure locations or off the island completely.â
âWhatâs left?â
âThe control room.â
She looked at him meaningfully and he nodded in agreement. Quickly dialing a number, he raised the phone to his ear.
âEvacuate the control room,â he said.
âSir, are you sure?â the voice on the other end replied.
âPositive. Iâll take care of everything when I get there,â Kei reassured.
â...take care, sir,â the voice said reluctantly.
âYou too.â Tsukishima ended the call and looked at (Y/N), who was already standing. She steadied herself against a wall, her balance wavered slightly, but her eyes were resolute.
âLetâs see what we can do.â
The underground tunnels were expansive. As the mosasaur trainer stalked down the hall ahead of him, Kei forced himself to speak up.
âI couldnât, you know,â Tsukishima said.
âIf you have to talk to me, say shit that makes sense,â (Y/N) snapped.
âMy father. He wanted me to evacuate with him, but--â
âWhat? You couldâve gotten out of here! Do you have any idea how hard shitâs hit the fan?â
âI needed to know you were okay.â
(Y/N)âs expression softened for just a moment, then she ripped her gaze from his face. She retorted, âWhy? You donât seem to have a problem with hanging me out to dry.â
â(Y/N), I was--â
âWould you have left if not for me?â she demanded, stopping and facing him with her arms crossed.
It took Kei a minute to find an honest answer.
âNo. I wouldnât have. Iâm rich, Iâm an asshole, but I wouldnât have left all these people. Not when I have the kind of clearance to help them, and especially not since all this is my fault.â
(Y/N) looked at him, bewildered.
âYour fault? How on Earth is this your fault?â
Kei shrugged, âI knew evacuation was the only safe bet, but I was too much of a coward to tell my father so. At least my father is blinded by money. Me, I donât have an excuse.â
(Y/N) walked on silently for a while, opening her mouth a few times to speak, but shutting it each time. Eventually, she gave into the silence.
They came to the underground stadium, where the massive fiberglass panes housed the parkâs biggest attraction.
(Y/N) placed her hand on the glass.
âDolly⊠You okay, girl?â
Something enormous splashed into the water. When the bubbles cleared, there was Dolly, swimming around the bitten carcass of a pterosaur, as if she was celebrating her catch. The reptileâs handler smiled weakly.
âGood girl.â
â(Y/N).â
Tsukishima took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. His tired eyes met hers. The blonde watched as the only person who really mattered to him glared back with a look of sadness, frustration, and betrayal.
âYou would have supported them?â she asked sharply.â
âLook, Iâve been trained to follow orders my whole life--â
âAnd Iâm sorry for that. But you can unlearn what youâve been taught, Kei. You know how much I love Dolly! You knew, and-- and,â she gripped his shirt. The trainer hung her head in defeat.
âI thought you werenât like your father.â
âIâm not, I promise. Iâm sorry,â he whispered. This was it. He had to tell her. If he didnât do it now, he never would.
â(Y/N), I lo--â
âNo!â
Kei looked stunned, âNo?â
âNo! Dammit, Kei, I canât do this with you right now. First, this is not the time. Second, you stabbed me in the back, like, two hours ago!
âI said I was sorry!â
âI get that, Kei, but for important shit like this, sorry just isnât good enough, okay? Now, letâs get to the control room and get this dinosaur under wraps, then maybe we can have this conversation.â
Tsukishima pursed his lips, âOkay. Okay, Iâm sorry for bringing it up.â
(Y/N) kept walking down the corridor, âDonât be. Letâs just deal with the situation at hand.â The trainer produced a flip phone from her pocket. The person she was calling picked up on the third ring and she put the call on speaker.
â(Y/N)!â the familiar voice called in relief.
âYama! Youâre still doing okay?â she asked. The line went quiet for a while,
âYams?â Another pause before the intern responded, âYeah, Iâm fine.â
She and Tsukishima looked at each other, âYama, what happened? Are you hurt?â
âNo, Iâm not hurt, I just⊠Oh god, (Y/N), itâs Hinata,â Yamaguchiâs voice
cracked at the end.
(Y/N)âs breath caught in her throat, âWhat happened to Hinata?â
On the other end, she could hear Yamaguchi choking back a sob.
âHe went to the aviary to check for survivors and I saw his vitals monitor. Heâs flatlined, (Y/N), heâs dead.â
Tsukishima closed his eyes. The whole situation was snowballing so damn fast and there was so little anyone could do about it.
âNoâŠâ (Y/N) whispered, âJesus, Iâm sorry, Yama.â
âMe too,â he replied. Yamaguchi sniffled, then his voice stabilized, âAnyway, keep making your way to the control room. Iâll get into the database somehow and weâll figure out how to stop this thing.â
âGot it. Please be-- ...careful,â she said softly.
â(Y/N)?â
She clutched her head, âItâs coming back to me now⊠Yamaguchi! The Indominus! I saw it on the database, could it be part raptor?â
On the other side, Yamagichi gasped, âThey never let me see the file, but now that I think about it, itâs highly likely! Iâll contact Iwaizumi and see if thereâs anything he can help with! Let me know if anything changes!â
âI will. Please be careful,â she begged.
âI will, and you, too, (Y/N). Tell Tsukki I love him.â
âI love you, too, Yamaguchi,â Kei replied. With that, the call clicked off.
(Y/N) inhaled deeply, âHinataâs dead.â
âI heard.â
She shook her head, âLetâs just keep moving. I--â
Her eyes fixed on the tank where Dolly had just leapt out of the water for prey again. Bubbles flooded their view as the massive dinosaur crashed back down into her tank. (Y/N)âs mouth dropped open.
âHoly shit.â
âWhat is it?â
(Y/N) started sprinting down the corridor towards the control room, âI have an idea!â
~~
âYou better know what youâre doing, (Y/N),â Tsukishima thought. He paced the floor of the control room nervously as he waited for the signal.
Their plan was well underway, and it had gone surprisingly well, which was all the more reason for him to feel like something was going to go horribly wrong.
When (Y/N) originally told him what the plan was, his response was, âFuck no,â but after Yamaguchi and Iwaizumi both agreed that it was their best bet, Kei relented, though not without voicing his displeasure extensively.
That girl was really lucky he L-worded her. Through the security monitors, he could see the T-Rex and the Raptors were tag-teaming the Indominus. They seemed to be making progress, but the whole group looked like they were losing steam.
The radio beside him crackled to life, making him jump.
âKei? Can you hear me?â (Y/N)âs voice came through the machine.
âLoud and clear.â
âOkay, on my signal, cut the power to Security Fence 4.â
The button was red, marked with bold black letters, and had a plexiglass case over it. Kei pressed the âdisableâ button, making the screen read, âUNAUTHORIZED COMMAND: Please enter credentials.â He typed, âTsukishima Kei,â placing his hand on the biometric scanner when prompted.
âMANUAL OVERRIDE: Accepted
All the previously red buttons turned green.
âOkay. Ready when you are.â
âGood. Now, listen to me, Kei,â she said grimly, âYou have to cut the power the moment I tell you to. The system has a backup generator that will kick in within 30 seconds. If it's electrified when we hit it, the jeep will explode and our whole plan is shot. That fence can NOT, I repeat, CAN NOT be electrified when I get there, do you understand?â
The male nodded weakly, then, realizing she couldnât see him, said his affirmation aloud. The radio went quiet. On the screens, the Indominus dug itâs rows of razor sharp teeth into the T-Rexâs neck, throwing the creature as far as it would go. The T-Rex lay there and did not move.
The Indominus Rex roared in victory and went in for the kill. There was a bright flash of red further away as someone offscreen lit a flare. The light became brighter as the person neared (Y/N) and they tossed it into the jeep, catching the Indominusâs attention.
Turning away from itâs prize, the hybrid screeched in rage and took off towards the light. (Y/N) hopped out of the driverâs seat, placing something on the gas pedal and diving away from the vehicle.
âIt might be better if I stay in the jeep and drive it myself,â he remembered her saying back in the control room.
âBetter for you dying. If the impact with the fence doesnât kill you, youâll either drown or Dolly will eat you,â heâd snapped.
âBut what if--â
He cut her off, âBut nothing. Put a brick on the gas and move out of the way. Thereâs no reason to put you in any further danger.â
Amazingly, Kei was the one who won that debate and thatâs what brought them to the present moment, with (Y/N) scrambling up off the floor and sprinting out of the Indominusâs path.
The hybrid dinosaur sprinted after the jeep that was speeding towards the mosasaur tank. The distance between the two was closing at an alarming rate.
Just before the vehicle made contact with the security fence, the radio crackled to life, âNow, Kei!â
Tsukishima slammed the button.
âSECURITY FENCE 4: Disabledâ
Just before it made contact with the fence, the jeepâs metal frame crunched under the Indominusâs powerful jaws.
âFuck!â Kei yelled at the sight. A few seconds later, the buttons turned back to red and the screen read, âSECURITY FENCE 4: Enabled.â
âWell, what now?â he yelled into the radio.
âUh, I donât--! Fuck-- I donât know, Iâm out of ideas!â she cried in response.
Having been given a break, one of the raptors jumped in, ready to finish the fight. The creature leapt into action to subdue the murderous hybrid, but with that size difference, she wouldnât last long.
On the verge of panic, (Y/N) said, âIf the jeep broke through the fence, Dolly would have noticed the prey, but the Indominus by itself hasnât gotten her attention! She must be too deep!â
âWell, then, get her attention!â he shot back.
(Y/N) gasped, yanking her whistle out from inside her windbreaker, âHold me up to the main PA.â
He reached over and jabbed the button.
(Y/N) looked up when she heard his voice over the speakers spread throughout the park, âWhenever youâre ready.â
As Kei keld the radio up to the PA, (Y/N) put her whistle to her lips and blew as hard as she could, the sound undetectable by human ears. They waited with baited breath as the Indominus flung the raptor aside, where the smaller reptile did not get up. The Indominus stopped and let out another bloodcurdling roar.
When nothing more happened, all Kei could think was, âWe failed.â
Just then, quicker than Kei could comprehend, an incredible volume of water overtook his field of view. Water droplets obscured the CCTV cameras giving him a view of the action, and when they cleared, it took him a moment to register the massive aquatic dinosaur protruding halfway out of its paddock. It held the silver, spiny-backed hybrid in its ginormous maw of thousands of teeth. Crushed by a predator honed by millions of years of evolution, the Indominus writhed in pain and panic, but its struggle only opened more wounds in its flank. It screeched in pain or terror or frustration, Kei wasnât sure. The only thing that mattered was the slick sound of Dolly sliding backwards into her enclosure, taking her prey with her. All that was left was dark purple blood, soaked pavement, a broken fence still sparking, and a crushed jeep.
âHoly shit,â Tsukishima whispered.
âHoly shit,â (Y/N) murmured in agreement before her knees gave out and she fell to the floor unconscious.
~~
With the Indominus gone and the pterosaurs having been hunted down by the military, park guests were being reunited with their friends and family. Rescue teams were sent to canvas the park for survivors, though they were advised not to get too close to the mosasaur tank. Tsukishima shuddered, knowing that the mosasaurus was always fully capable of leaping halfway out of its tank, she simply chose not to, perhaps out of respect for (Y/N). If, by some miracle, the park survived, heâd have to enforce some serious regulations.
âTsukishima-san?â one of the surviving guards came to collect him. Conveniently, Keiâs general demeanor kept him from flinching at being addressed the way he heard everyone address his father. The guard led him to a private section of the infirmary, where he saw (Y/N) sitting on a cot looking like sheâd spent the last 10 hours in a ditch, though her injuries otherwise looked far from anything life threatening.
âOh, relax, Iâm fine,â she said when she saw the look on his face. âI just got myself all scratched up jumping out of the jeep. Iâm not even that hurt.â
Kei scooped her up in his arms in relief.
âOkay, owie, owie, Iâm not completely unharmed, stop, stop, stop,â she whined.
The tall male pulled back and stared down at her. The left side of her face has several cuts and she held an ice pack to her ribs on the same side. She had heavy bags under her eyes, but those same eyes shone with relief and delight now that the whole ordeal was over.
âIâd ask if you had brain damage, but you mustâve already had some to come up with such a reckless plan,â he scolded.
(Y/N) gaped at him, âReckless? It worked! Donât be mean, Kei, I did good today.â
âYou would have done great today if you hadnât come back to me injured.â
âAgain, it worked, didnât it?â
âI suppose,â he rolled his eyes. âBut it would really do wonders for my blood pressure if the person I care about most didnât have such self-destructive tendencies.â
She grinned at his choice of words, âWhat was that you called me just now?â
âSelf-destructive.â Chuckling, he took her hand in his, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of it. âAre we gonna be okay?â he asked, not making eye contact with her.
Content, the girl smiled and nestled against her pillows. Her eyes slowly drifted shut.
âWeâre gonna be just fine, Kei,â she replied. For a moment he thought she didnât quite understand what he meant until she squeezed his hand gently. Tsukishima smiled in relief, squeezing her hand back.
âKei?â
âHmm?â
âI feel the same way.â
@delicious-peaches-blog
@unusproomnibusomnesprouno
@mac-the-oregonian
#tsukishima x reader#tsukishima kei#haikyuu imagines#haikyuu scenarios#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu x you
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Comfort pt 4: Decisions
ITâS HERE. Iâve been working on this chapter for months. Hopefully it was worth the struggle ahaha. Partially took so long because Iâve been feeling better! I have a great support system in place, and so getting to this point was really just a matter of putting myself back into the exhaustive mindset. That said, Iâm able to work myself back out of it (thank you therapy)! Working on part 5 as yâall are reading this, letâs see if it takes me another two months to pump it out lmaoooo. But seriously, thank you guys for your kind words and support, love yâall!!!
No warnings apply, aside from general sadness and self-doubt. Also pining. Rex x Reader, reader is a woman, questions and comments always welcome. Also I need to write Ahsoka more.
Tagging: @pro-fangirls-unsocial-life @000ayfh @pinkiemme @midnightredemption @simping-for-fives @danger-xylophones @iscream4clones @jyvorakal @leias-left-hair-bun @vesperstalksclones
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~
âSo youâll be seeing him today?âÂ
Rex walked straight to you after the briefing, squeezing his hands behind his back. You were going to be separating for the day, him with Cody to go greet some new troopers and introduce them to their assigned battalions, yourself accompanying Admiral Yularen as he was invited to surprise inspect some nat born recruits. Sergeant Aurinâs recruits. You sighed, rolling your eyes, âNot by choice, Captain.â
âI know,â he grumbled, modulator muffling his voice even more, âBe careful, alright? I donât trust this guy.â
âWeâll be at a work function, I donât think heâll try anything. Especially since Iâll be with the Admiral this time instead of his âcompetitionâ,â you stood as tall as you could, chin high as you tried to gather your courage, masking your clear anxiousness with a sly grin. Besides, teasing the Captain always made you feel better. No one has corrected your ex about you and Rex yet, and frankly you wanted to keep it that way.
Rex chuckled low, the sound a little hollow, looking off to the side as he shifted on his feet, âI just want you to be alright.â
âIf Iâm not, I will be,â you gave him an all too wide smile, one you knew he saw right through as he cocked his head to the side, âPromise, Captain.â
You bid Rex goodbye with a salute, one he returned before turning on his heel to meet the Marshal Commander. You gathered your datapad before following the Admiral through the halls. He was a stoic and serious man, one that cared about the men assigned to him, and was able to use his wit calmly even in the most dire of situations. His level-headedness made him a good offset for the very action oriented General Skywalker, and typically you were thankful to be lucky enough getting assigned to him. But not today.
âAre you feeling alright, Miss Y/N?â he looked back to see you trailing behind him as opposed to being on his left as usual. He stood just as straight as Rex, not quite as tall, looking at you with eyes that reminded you vaguely of your fatherâs, and suddenly you couldnât even begin to think about lying to him.
âNot especially, Admiral,â you chuckled sheepishly, âBut Iâm fine to continue with you, sir. I just have to gather myself is all.â
He stood in place, letting you catch up, only speaking when he fell into step with you again, âI donât suppose you consider me close enough to tell me the issue? I can perhaps assist in finding a way to resolve it?â
âItâs not like that, sir,â you shook your head, picking up the pace as if to run away from the conversation, âI can handle it just fine. We should hurry, the Sergeant is waiting for us.â
He didnât say anything after that, just raised a brow at your averted gaze before turning his head forward again. You knew he didnât believe you, but gracious that he respected your request to drop the subject. You bit your tongue, an attempt to keep you focused on something other than the burrowing feeling of your stomach, or the quickly restricting muscle in your throat. The closer you got to the nat born barracks, the harder you bit down. Still, you moved forward, thinking about any way you could deflect an attempt to talk.
If he said hello, youâd just nod and say just the one word back.
If he asked how you were, youâd say fine.
If he pries, youâd ask him calmly to leave you alone.
You will not lose your cool. You will not break your wall. Your mask will not crack; youâll be ice.
But then the strangest thing happened. He ignored you. He barely looked you in the eye when you walked up, talking only to the Admiral. You only stammered out a single hi when the Admiral introduced you to the other officers standing with Aurin. You were there, frozen and eyes wide as you clenched your jaw, steeling yourself for the offence to come- but it never did. The Admiral entered the barracks with one of Aurinâs officers, while the Sergeant stood outside next to you. The tension was thick, causing you to unconsciously shuffle on the balls of your feet. You continued to bite your tongue, trying to keep your thoughts occupied as he stood stock straight next to you.
You thought about that huge stack of reports to go through when you got back, courtesy of the Generalâs leadership tactics and the general 501st chaos.
You thought about how you promised Commander Tano that youâd pick up the special tea blend she liked before heading back to the flagship.
You thought about how you were going to run to Rex as soon as you both had a free moment, and you thought about how you had no idea that silence could be so blaringly loud.
You had switched from biting your tongue to chewing your lip, twisting a stray lock of hair between your fingertips as the silent moment dragged on, your anxiety digging deeper and deeper into your gut. You stole a glance at him out of the corner of your eye, seeing as he gulped down a breath. But that was all you saw- the inspection was over, the Admiral was shaking hands and saluting goodbye to the Sergeant and his men. You barely got a nodding glance.
This is what you wanted, right?
This is what you told him you needed, he was listening to you- thatâs good, itâs a step in the right direction. Right?
You had asked for this.
So then why did it hurt so much.
You were silent the entire way back to the flagship, saying a minimal amount of words to be polite to anyone who came up to you. The interaction (or lack thereof) consumed your thoughts wholly afterwards while you ran a few routine errands before making your way back to the flagship, causing you to just barely remember to pick up and give the Commander her tea. The kind, knowledgeable Padawan immediately noticed something was the matter in your thousand yard stare, clasping her hands over yours in concern, the tea now just an afterthought, âY/N, whatâs the matter? Do you need something?â
You gave the young Jedi a dull, thoughtful look, corners of your mouth barely turning up, âI canât seem to lie to anyone today. No, Commander, I donât need anything right now, but thank you for your consideration. Iâll be at the desk in the Admiralâs office should anyone need me.â
You bid Ahsoka goodbye with a small nod, walking down the corridor without an ounce of your usual spirit. Ahsoka looked down at the tin in her hand, weighing the tea blend absentmindedly. She was young, but certainly not stupid, she knew exactly who you needed to see. Gripping the present tight, she ran through the flagship until she got to the office she was looking for, not even bothering to knock.
âRex!â she burst through the door, the Captain she was looking for dropped his head as his fingers came up to rub at the bridge of his nose.
âVodâika,â he grumbled, laying down his stylus, âI canât entertain you every time you get bored-â
âIâm not here for that, itâs Y/N,â Ahsoka cut him off, taking three purposeful steps and slamming her hands on the desk, prompting Rex to look up into her sky blue eyes, shining with worry. His own widened as he stood up from his desk, not even bothering to grab his helmet as he followed Ahsoka out into the echoing hall.
âWhatâs wrong? Is she injured?â
âNo, physically she seems fine,â Ahsoka explained, stepping quickly and talking quicker as she led Rex to Yularenâs office, âBut she seems really sad, and she didnât want to talk to me about it. I know you and her are pretty close, so I thought-â
âWe need to stop by the kitchen.â
Ahsoka paused, looking back to see Rex already walking down the turn toward the mess. She jogged to catch up to him, breathing out a snort of laughter, âI mean, I didnât think now was the time to think about food, Rexster.â
âItâs not,â Rex rolled his eyes at the nickname gesturing an arm out as if the explanation lay right in front of her, âItâs for Y/N. She likes to talk over caf, if I bring her some, chances are sheâll let me stay and whateverâs happening in her little head we can discuss. And if she doesnât feel like talking still, the caf will act as a reminder she has people to talk to whenever sheâs ready.â
Ahsoka blinked at him. She didnât expect this amount of thoughtfulness from her oriâvod, and the gears in her mind started turning. An impish grin took over her face, canines flashing as she slunk up beside the soldier, âYou know, Y/N is really niceâŠâ
Rex raised an eyebrow, immediately suspicious as he held the mess door open for the Padawan, âYes...she isâŠâ
âSheâs awfully lucky to have someone like you looking out for her, getting her caf, talking over administrative work, visiting each otherâs offices during hyperspace jumpsâŠâ Ahsoka took a bit of a pause, stopping just inside the eating area, waiting for Rex to walk right by her to whisper just to him, â...giving each other really long hugs when you think no oneâs around.â
Rex paused in his step, unable to stop a ruddy blush from heating over his face. Kriff. He cleared his throat, straightening up, âHowâd you find that out, Commander?â
Ahsoka shrugged, giving him a wiggle of her brows, âSecurity cams, Rex olâboy. Did you really not think about those?â
Rex groaned, squeezing his eyes shut, âI didnât think anyone looked at the recordingsâŠâ
âNot many clones do,â Ahsoka explained, âWeâve got a lot of nat born officers in the surveillance offices. And boy, sir- do they love their gossip.â
Rex continued his trek to the instant caf machine, exhaling heavily as he surrendered to the teasing he was being subjected to. He rolled his eyes, getting two insulated tumblers to fill, as he started the machine, âWhere are you even going with this, Commander?â
âI thought youâd never ask,â she giggled, latching onto Rexâs arm excitedly, bobbing on her toes as she jabbed a finger into his pauldron, âYou like her!â
âAnd?â Rex deadpanned, switching a full cup for an empty one at the dispensing nozzle, âIâm not gonna deny whatâs obvious, and I get plenty of osik from the rest of torrent about it anyways, who donât know about the...the, uh, hugging-â
âSo why donât you do anything about it, dummy?â
Ahsoka was about to give him a headache.
âWhen she and I first started actually talking, she had gone through a really emotional break up,â Rex treaded carefully, this wasnât his story to tell, but it was the bare-bones basic of how his friendship with you had grown, so it seemed like a good place to start, âI offered her my support, and Iâve kind of become her confidant since then. Iâm not going to âmake a moveâ or anything, not until she says something. Sheâs still healing, Ahsoka.â
Ahsoka had stopped bouncing, mulling over Rexâs words. Rex was pouring in your preferred cream and sugar ratio, having memorized just how you like it, almost meticulous in the act. He picked up the cafs, walking steady, careful not to spill, âWhere is she, her desk?â
Ahsoka nodded, mind still turning as she followed Rex out of the mess, âSo youâre just gonna be there and listen to her problems until she decides that she likes you too?â
âYup.â
âDoes she listen to your problems too?â
âIf I feel the need to talk about them, yes.â
Ahsoka stops in front of him, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised, âAnd what if she decides that she likes someone else instead?â
Rexâs shoulders slump for a moment, looking a little crestfallen, lips downturned and eyes shifting off to the side as a sad shine comes over them, âIâm not naive, I understand how big of a possibility that is. If she makes that decision, then thatâs her decision. I canât force someone to like me-â
âBut does she know youâre even an option?â
That made Rex stop mid-stride. Surely you knew he was, right? He thinks back on the past few months, the things youâve both confided, the tears youâve shed, the countless moments youâve both spent in each otherâs comforting embraces. Your laughter. Your quiet moments. Surely⊠you knew, right?
The silence stretched, and Ahsoka looked too smug for her own good as she crossed her arms, chin up with full confidence, âI think you should tell her.â
Rex shook his head, taking himself out of his trance before he began walking again, âI donât know-â
âIt doesnât have to be today,â Ahsoka clarified, falling into step beside him, âBut you should. It doesnât have to be dramatic, or one of your attempts at flirting-â
âHey, I can flirt-â
â-just a brief confession.â Ahsoka pitched her voice low, what she thought would be a mimic of his voice, âY/N, I need you to know I have enjoyed getting to know you, and that I find you extremely attractive, so much so that just holding you distracts me from thinking about the simplest of things, like the surveillance crew thatâs always watching-â
âHush up,â Rex hissed out, now just a couple of feet away from Yularenâs office. He wasnât nervous, he couldnât be nervous about talking with you, the both of you talked all the time, about everything. But actually dwelling on his feelings for you out loud with Ahsoka, acknowledging his emotions outright to another sentient did make him more, um, aware of the situation. Suddenly he was transported back in time, on the landing pad, leaning on the shipâs hull and waiting for you to board with your tear glazed eyes and trembling lips. He froze for a beat, staring at the closed doors, swallowing a breath. When did his throat get so dry? He let out a slow exhale through his mouth, almost whispering to himself, âIâve been in this position so many times already⊠why does this time feel like the first again?â
âMaybe youâre getting tired of waiting,â Ahsoka offered, looking up to him and giving him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, âMaybe youâve made a decision.â
She walked away in that moment, leaving Rex to fend for himself from his own thoughts. Damn Jedi and their cryptic messages. He rolled his neck and shoulders, letting his eyes fall shut as he breathed through his nose, trying to calm himself back down. After he felt himself loosen up a little bit, he pressed the call button by the entrance door.
âAdmiral Yularen is on the bridge. If you have something for him to sign, leave it in the-â
âY/N, itâs me,â Rex interrupted your rehearsed response, already feeling his posture tense back up, âI brought you caf.â
It was just static for the moment, your finger still on the speaker button. After a couple of seconds it clicked off, and the doors hissed open. Rex took a last steadying breath, and took the final steps inside.
#captain rex#the clone wars#star wars the clone wars#star wars#clone wars#star wars fic#captain rex x reader#captain rex x female!reader#captain rex imagine#pining#comfort#my writing#fics are valid forms of therapy#ct 7567#swtcw fanfic#commander rex#501st#clone troopers#sir thats my emotional support fictional character#sir thats my emotional support hyperfixation#i love him your honor#i forgot how much i loved spilling my soul into this fic#i love my boo
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Chapter 7 - Student Council President Sakura
SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER
Sakura went to her shift a little bit giddier than usual for a variety of reasons despite the busy holiday season; it was nearing Christmas after all. The first one â having finally tied with Sasuke in their recent exams, and the second â the approval of her personal project. There was also a third reason, but she was unresolved of what to feel.
Kakashi met with her alone after their monthly council meeting. It was the usual talk, the heavy administrative concerns they do not bother other council members with, reminders about problematic behaviors among the student body or personal problems that faculty or students were plagued with that needed intervention. He said an apology just as she reached the door.
âSakura?â Kakashi asked, turning in his chair.
She looked back at him with a neutral expression. While she knew she wasnât overtly passive aggressive in her actions, he might have noticed a change in her cheerful disposition towards him. Her clumped fingers anxiously fidgeted with the rubber band on her wrist, his rubber band that she didnât use anymore to tie her hair. âYes, sensei?â
âWere you offended with what I said during the school trip?â he asked, but his expression already seemed to know the answer.
Her eyes downcast, she turned the knob of the door, knowing that she was free to leave without replying, but as the door stayed ajar, she decided to come clean. âYes.â
âI thought as much. Iâm aware that I belittled you like a child. Your money is yours to spend however you want. Please know that I only have good intentions with what Iâve done,â her sensei told her. âBut isnât it also unfair for you to shoulder that much problem? Iâm a paid employee and before that, I am your adviser. I have a responsibility just as much as you do. Next time you are presented with that, learn to ask for help.â
Sakura didnât see the expression he had on his face. She was too flustered to compose a comeback and she can only settle for a meek nod before shooting out of the room like her tail was on fire.
âGirlie!â Her coworkerâs voice brought her back to reality â a reality of a long queue of customers waiting for their to-go coffees, mini-cakes, and boxes of pastries to share with loved ones in this cold night while sheâll be likely stuck in shift well past beyond midnight, tolerating the cafĂ© uniform, the itch of her black weave on her scalp, and the heavy makeup she wore for tonight. She flashed an apologetic (yet charming) smile to the other person, and they gave her a thumbs up.
The queue has thinned out by eleven, to be replaced soon by stragglers hoping to catch a last dose of caffeine pump. She stretched her neck and stifled a yawn, forgetting to say Welcome to a customer that walked through their doors.
âYour sweetest drink please and a half dozen of hazelnut cookies,â the customer said. âThanks, Sakura.â
She almost broke her already strained neck when she raised it up quickly to meet the owner of the voice. No gel blonde hair Naruto with black circles under his eyes. Rookie MVP looked shit as hell.
She barely formed an excuse in her head when he waved his hand in front of her. âYou can drop the act with me. I already knew the week you got discharged from the hospital. I just passed by after dinner with the team when I saw a girl manning the cashier with the same band-aid on her nose which I gave you a day before.â Naruto grinned at her in the off chance that it would reassure her.
âWill this be to-go?â Sakura asked as she busied herself with Narutoâs order, unsettled with her carelessness. At the back of her mind, she was yet to answer herself why she was adamant to use a disguise while working.
âFor here. Apartmentâs kinda bare during these times.â
As what she expected, Naruto was still seated when they were about to close, and ironically, he chose the corner table with no windows, contrary to what his other friend would have chosen. Like those usual nights with Sasuke, she slid in front of him, her disguise gone.
âLetâs go see the amusement park tomorrow?â It was as if she saw sadness being lifted from his shoulders the way they transitioned from slouching to an alert stance.
She found then that Naruto was always that person that found happiness at the simplest things.
--------------------------------
âA horror house!â Naruto pointed at the very moment they stepped inside the park. He somehow absorbed his captainâs fashion persona, undercut prominent with his baseball cap, loose plain black shirt, and gray cargo pants.
âAll right. Treat me if we reach the other end with you clinging to my arm,â Sakura teased. She was dressed in a mauve smocked crop top with high rise flared jeans and platform white sneakers that allowed her to reach Narutoâs shoulders. She wondered if her getup was too much what with the number of heads that turned her way as she littered in the entrance earlier.
Sasuke begged off through their group chat, saying he was unavailable. He was yet to explain that group hug last time, but he was evasive every time Naruto brought it up while she simply cannot find the right timing.
She guessed she was still taken aback by how warm his hold felt like. If she was right, whatever defenses he had around them were toppled down by himself that day. But what triggered it â sheâd probably never know.
Naruto placed a fist on his chest. âThis is one bet Iâll never lose.â
And he lost â spectacularly. His baseball cap was long gone thanks to a zombie who panicked when he almost punched it. He was also hyperventilating and sweating out of his wits, his throat may have gone hoarse by now with all his screaming inside.
Sakura cannot get rid of the long string of laughter that bubbled. âCome on, letâs cool off for a while.â
To help calm Naruto down, they had to line up with all the other kids in the merry-go-round, then off to paddle a swan boat on a manmade lake. She went all out in the shooting range and won Naruto a frog plushie while he blitzed through the basketball hoops, sneering at the kids beside him who were waiting for their turns.
They capped off the afternoon with a ride on the ferris wheel. They sat opposite each other, and Sakura suddenly felt queasy. She remembered she was apparently acrophobic, and so she focused instead on Naruto who was still in awe of the scenery. The park had a busy crowd today â it was the holiday season after all and families, friends, and lovers were up and about. She just hoped Naruto didnât catch on yet.
âSo why are you stuck with me instead of your family, Sakura?â
Ah he caught on. âTheyâre busy,â she simply replied. âBesides Iâll see them later in the evening.â
Naruto smiled at her, a smile that knew she was hiding more but he chose not to prod further. Sakura silently conveyed her thanks.
âI donât know how to thank you. I was really in a slump when we lost, but this day made me recharge my drive and gave me a newfound resolve. You, Pres, is the first to hear it!â
Sakura can only grin, urging him to go on.
âI will bring our school team to the nationals and we will win.â
Sakura clapped her hands and gave him a thumbs up. âOf course, you will. I know youâll do it.â
âI just wish I told Captain Haru before he left town for vacation.â Naruto slid lower in his seat. âApparently, he and Hinata broke up. Youâre friends with both of them, right?â
Sakura shook her head, shock at the news. She had an inkling from her previous conversation with Haru, but she didnât expect it would come this early. âI am, but I havenât really heard from both parties lately.â
âWell, Hinataâs father offered an athletic scholarship to Cap, but he turned it down, saying he was undeserving, and it might just be because of Hinataâs prodding.â
If she recalled correctly, Hiashi Hyuuga was the chair of the Sports Council that spanned all districts of their state. She could see why Haru was angry and disappointed enough to break it off with Hinata. âBut they were so good together. Did he ever tell you how they first met?â
Naruto rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. âDo tell please!â
âThere was a student exchange of some sort and Hinata ended up in our class for a month. Of course, she was the takane no hana and this immediately gathered a bandwagon group of shallow admirers. Haru, oh Haru, he found pretty people depth-less, but he was the class representative that time â â
âAnd you were?â
âOf course, a student council president. But wait pay attention Naruto!â
âOkay I am paying attention! But you really are an overachiever!â
âYeah and what about it!â Sakura almost chuckled in exasperation. âSo anyway, he had to escort Hinata back and forth at the school gates because of the unreasonable crowd. He would ask her random things, but most especially on archery since he was so bad at it. And they found a common ground and the topics expanded beyond the arrow and bow. The guy had the nerve to cover it up from me at first, saying theyâre fake dating and it was just an arrangement to keep creeps at bay.â She sighed, suddenly saddened by the breakup. âI thought it would last forever.â
âBut Hinata never introduced him to her family, did she?â Naruto asked. âBecause Cap also told me that when Hiashi called him up for the offer, he didnât know he was the boyfriend, he was simply a person her friend referred.â
Oh Haru. You must have known what family you were entering when you loved her.
âHey? Time to get down,â the operator said. Their turn was already finished.
As they walked to the gates, Naruto asked her. âLove is too scary. Youâll never know if youâll end up hurt or happy despite everything. Besides, can you even say itâll be worth fighting for?â
Sakuraâs fingers immediately went to the rubber band on her wrist, âItâs always a mix of everything, all the good and the bad, and somehow itâs all convoluted into one hodgepodge of memories that will be a part of you forever. Itâs your decision what you want to do with it, and in between all of those, youâll know. Like one big realization in your head that lights up like fireworks and splayed in big capital letters.â
Her eyes met Narutoâs gaze and his eyes slightly widened at her response.
âI talk vague, donât I?â
âNot at all,â he replied.
--------------------------------
January couldnât come fast enough, and Itachi was out of the country just as quickly as he entered his apartment unannounced on Christmas Eve. A holiday break, he said, but if he wasnât annoyingly checking up on him in the evenings, he was otherwise holed up in his hotel. The truth was, he had a conference and a simultaneous workshop with the state hospital. Sasuke was just a side trip, an obligation that his brother didnât want to take care of.
He could have told him about Naruto and Sakura and how he now knew all the technicalities of baseball because of the former and that he can consider calling them as friends, but their brotherly bond was too frayed to bridge all of those thoughts.
It was a week before the start of the spring term, and he found himself re-reading Narutoâs texts over and over again.
Grumpy.
So how was your date?
AHHHHH SO IT WAS A DATE. I NOW FEEL SO SHY.
Idiot.
SHE LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL IN HER GETUP.
Yeah as if you two didnât already spam the group chat with your pictures.
HEY AT LEAST WE EDITED YOU IN.
Why are you typing in all caps? Your phone broken?
GRUMPPPPPPYYYYY. Grumpy, I have something to tell you. I think I like Sakura â not the âlikeâ like others have for her. It just came to me, like fireworks in big capital letters. I LIKE HER.
Sasuke wasnât able to reply. He didnât know what to reply or what to feel, really. These recent nights, his mind only brought him to the first moment he saw her in the cafĂ©, and there was an unfamiliar pang he couldnât name.
Then, suddenly he was in front of her in the café itself, ordering an iced americano and bruschetta with tomato and basil. Her eyes lit up in recognition; today she wore her black hair in low pigtails and a light dab of tint on her cheeks and lips.
She sat across him when it was her break time, cheery and still in disguise, the winter cold making the blush even more prominent. âIâm gonna bounce some ideas to you.â
Sasuke kept mum, relishing the sacred combination of tomato and basil in his mouth, but let his stare level with hers.
âThe school board approved my personal project. I proposed to set up a mental health committee since our infirmary â get this â and guidance office donât actually have a psychiatrist. The school will be asking a medical professional to come in for monthly guidance counseling and will be an official partner for outpatient concerns.â With her face on her palm, she leaned forward, seemingly surveying Sasukeâs minute expressions.
âThatâs tricky,â he remarked. âHow will you encourage them though?â
âI think just the mere availability and accessibility of it is enough to encourage students.â
âHmm.â He took a sip of his coffee.
âArenât you gonna ask me why I did it?â
Sasuke knew that he already broke his resolve to remain uninvolved in the remaining years of his life here in this town. He knew that sometime ago, the walls he built up since the accident broke down in the constant presence of her and the blonde idiot. But in spite of, he knew that there was another layer of wall that withstood the recent onslaught. Unfortunately, something has started to leak from its crevices. Something that made him understand the overwhelming emotions that raged behind such walls.
He missed having her all to himself, like a little secret, a safe abode he could always retreat to â her with her black hair and makeup, her with her bouts of vulnerabilities laid out in front of him in rare moments, her with her emerald eyes and tufts of rose hair that peak from the weave, her in this table in front of him and the world outside divided by a glass window.
If he could name it, it was a feeling of loss, a loss he stole and a loss he never had the privilege of feeling in the first place.
âBecause youâre a good person and you always think of others,â Sasuke started, still holding her gaze. âAnd I think you want it because you might need it more.â
Sakura was the first to break off. She soon excused herself and resumed her shift. By the time Sasuke finished his coffee and bread, it was almost closing time. His words may have struck a chord so he decided not to wait for her. Maybe heâll talk it through with her next time, if she allowed him to. He was almost out of the doors when the new pair of customers passed by.
A glint of silver hair.
âOh, hello there Sakura.â
And a brunette on his arm.
Sasuke never saw color drain as quickly as the blush did from Sakuraâs face.
AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 8
#SCPS#student council president sakura#sasusaku#narusaku#kakasaku#uchiha sasuke#haruno sakura#uzumaki naruto#hatake kakashi#team 7#lots of narusaku in this one hihi
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Worst of You - JJK 01
You meet him under horrible circumstances but that doesnât stop you from developing a very abnormal and completely unsolicited crush on your local hot police officerâą. Too bad you have a bitch of a best friend, anxiety and an inability to learn from your mistakes which cripples your chances to be with the man of your literal dreams. Oh, and he has a lifetimeâs worth of baggage at 23. Or âIâm not leaving until you tell me whatâs wrong.â âCool, Iâll let everyone know that youâre moving in then.â
Genre: fluff, angst, comedyÂ
Pairing: officer!jungkook X collegestudent!reader
Word count: 2.2k
Warnings: Mentions of violence (stab wound), mentions of anxiety, swearing
Note: I was watching B99 and I was like âWoah, Jungkook would be a hot cop,â and now weâre here.Â
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11Â |
If someone had asked you to write a novel about the adventures of your life, it would be extremely thin. Not from your lack of experiences (although it is a pressing factor) but more so from your inability to think about yourself for longer than 3 minutes without feeling sick. You were not a particularly hateful person, especially not towards yourself, but you were an active and anxious thinker and your mind was often boggled with thoughts about what you couldâve or have done wrong and it was exasperating.
For example, occasionally, your professors would allow students to spectate professional research experiments and that month, you were selected (out of pity because Alex was selected and the Professor knew she was your only friend). You knew this was supposed to be an âinteresting learning experienceâ but it was a complete and utter bore. At first youâd convinced yourself it was only boring because you were hungry, then you began to realise it was boring because your singular braincell could not comprehend such complex material on an empty stomach.
So, you left the room to go to McDonaldâs, for educational purposes of course. That was where you went wrong because instead of peacefully enjoying your McChicken you were dealing with your phone which was blowing up with messages from Alex about how you were missing ever so much from the research lab. However, it seemed to you that perfectly cut fries were more interesting than watching microscopic cells bounce around in a microscope for an hour.
It turned out that watching microscopic cells bounce around in a microscope for an hour was worth a lot of credits and you wallowed in self-pity for the mere 24-hours that followed that realisation.
You had fucked up once again, only three days after witnessing all 3 minutes of the splendid research experiment. It was a Saturday and you were standing outside your dorm building watching a student yell at a stray cat. It was around 2 in the morning and you were sneaking back from your late shift at the convenience store. Usually, you would have been terrified and confused but you were so tired that you violently pinched your arm and blinked rapidly, hoping it was just an illusion. When the peculiar scene didnât disappear, you realised this was real but it was too late since the man was now sprinting after you across your quiet and empty campus.
Four years ago, if someone had told your 16-year-old self to participate in your P.E classes because you would later be chased by a crazy man at 2am then you surely wouldâve listened. But unfortunately, no one had done such a thing and you were beginning to realise just how regrettable that was. Your running performance was mediocre at best, definitely not fast enough to out run this man across an extremely large campus and you were beginning to lose your breath.
Your only option was to quit while you were ahead and either find somewhere to hide or use your very non-existent combat skills to karate kick the man into the other dimension. Naturally, you hid behind the giant administrator building. As you were finally behind the safe confines of the old brick wall you moved to reach for your phone when you heard an alarming scream. As much as your brain wanted to relish in the relief that the scream wasnât coming from you, you couldnât shake the instant guilt. You called the police and tried to sound as reliable as possible but your voice was dripping with fear and you stuttered over your words like a toddler.
Once you were able to clearly see the student, lying on the lawn in pain with what appeared to be a stab wound the guilt completely consumed you but part of you couldnât even believe this was real. Students woke up from the deafening sounds of sirens and it wasnât long before this would become a commotion so the officers made quick work of the scene, the ambulance moving him to their van and the police officers continuing their reports. You were asked to go to the station where you would be further questioned by another officer and you didnât quite understand the need for that escalation but you compiled nonetheless. You didnât need the police and your conscience to think you were guilty.
You were seated in the backseat of a police car, behind two male officers. Their conversation fell numbly to your ears, your mind already submerged deeply in thought. You didnât snap out of your trance until the officers repeatedly called for you. âDid you know the boy? The one who was, uh, attacked?â The officer was trying to find the right terms and you commend him for that much, but the last part felt more like an unsure question than a statement and that didnât sit well with you. âNo.â Your answer deadpanned the chance of a conversation, the silence after being the proof. The drive continued for about 3 minutes before you stood at the information desk where you were asked to join the secretary on a walk to the interrogation room. âThe officer will be with you shortly. Would you like anything to drink?â She spoke curtly, the annoyed look on her face told you sheâd already done this too many times. âNo thanks, Iâm fine.â
You were confused and guilty and scared. None of this made any sense, you - who never, ever, experienced anything outside your boring routine - was now being questioned for an attack? You were convinced you were borderline insane and that this was just a horrible dream. But, with every tic of the annoying clock on the plain wall behind you, you grew less convinced that this was anything but reality.
âHello.â The officer walked in, and suddenly you felt like you were in some sick, twisted rom-com because that man might have been the most beautiful man youâd ever seen. You didnât mean to become distracted but he looked like heâd just walked out of a magic mike production and you were frankly astonished because this had to be a dream. His eyes were dark but they shined in the light beautifully, however the furrow in his eyebrows scared you enough to stop staring at his eyes. His build was clearly very developed, he looked like you could bench press you 40 times over and not even break a sweat. Or maybe he was just really fucking hot.
âMy name is Officer Jeon and Iâm here to ask you a couple of questions, I donât want you to feel afraid or pressured, just answer me honestly and youâll be fine.â Although heâd meant to sound soft and reassuring his words sounded more like an indirect threat. A threat that you heard loud and clear. You gulped quietly, the dryness in your throat mocking you as you recalled rejected the offer for a drink. You nodded when you realised he was expecting an answer but it clearly wasnât enough. âI need you to use your voice at all times in here, this could be used in court and we need you to be very clear so nothing is misinterpreted. Do you understand?â You wanted to cry. All youâd had in plan for the night was to get to your dorm, eat some 99 cent ramen and go to sleep yet here you were at 3 in the morning in an interrogation room for an attack you werenât even sure you âwitnessedâ. âYup.â
âGreat, then letâs begin. Can you start by stating your name and age?â âY/N, L/N. 20.â You nearly stuttered which would have been beyond embarrassing. You seriously couldnât even manage your own name? âAlright, Miss L/N. Why were you out so late?â You paused for a moment to rehearse your answer but you couldnât quite get it all out. âI work at a convenience store.â You gestured to your name tag for effect and he nodded, writing something down in his notepad.
âHow often do you work there?â The question was irrelevant, unrelated and the first tell-tale sign that you were not a witness; you were a suspect. However, you were too tired to notice. âTwice a week. 4pm-2am.â âYou live in the dormitories, correct?â You nodded but he gave you a pointed look that reminded you to use words. âYes.â â2 shifts a week canât possibly sustain you. How do you pay your dorm fees?â This was when your tired brain began picking up on the fact that you werenât just a witness. âI tutor high school kids. It pays enough.â He didnât reply, just wrote something down in his notepad again - an action which was beginning to make you anxious.
âWhen you were interrogated by the field officer you told him that you were hiding behind the administration building when youâd heard the victim scream, why were you hiding there?â âI was hiding from the uh, a-attacker.â âHow did you encounter him before that?â âI already answered thisâŠâ You were visibly nervous which couldnât have looked very promising. âThen you wonât mind answering again.â His tone was menacing and if you werenât already very intimidated by his role and demeanour then his strikingly good looks would have done the job. Youâve always been very intimidated by attractive people which proved to an insane burden.
âI was returning to my dorm block when I saw him yelling at a cat, he saw me and began to lunge my way so I started to run but Iâm not very good at running so I hid behind the building instead. I was in the process of calling the police when I heard the scream and I didnât move until the police came.â He seemed unsatisfied with your answer but that was understandable. Your monologue wasnât confidentially given, you stuttered and stumbled over your words consistently out of anxiety, but he didnât know that and probably thought you were the very thing you had been running from.
âHow did you know that the man chasing you was a student? You said he was in the initial questioning.â âI wasnât sure. It was 2am and he was standing on a student campus, outside a student dormitory. So, I assumed he was a student.â Your tone was a little vindictive, possibly from the frustration of being labeled as a suspect for a crime you were positive you didnât commit. âDid you know the student who was attacked?â âNo. When can I leave?â The question came out rushed and on impulse but you didnât care. You were far too tired to. âWhen I ask all my questions.â You nodded absentmindedly, focusing on the plain table instead.
âYou think I did it, donât you?â Tears were welling up in your eyes but you were too dehydrated to cry. Â âRight now youâre only a minor suspect, these are routine questions we have to ask and I really donât see the issue with them if youâre truly innocent.â That surely shut you up, and made you feel a little stupid. Normally a question like that would never come from you but your exhaustion was taking a toll on your patience, and it was a heavy toll at that. âIâm sorry.â His angry features softened at your shaky voice. âHow about we continue this tomorrow. Is 2pm okay for you?â You spaced out again, which was probably why he wanted to continue the interrogation the next day. âIs that okay?â He repeated, this time more pressing, you nodded but were quick to once again correct yourself and mutter a quick âyesâ before you grabbed your backpack and suppressed the urge to Naruto run out of the room.
You walked out of the double doors only to be met with the dark night sky and a creeping fear that there was someone following you. You walked home from your shift every Friday and Saturday night and until that day nothing extremely bad had happened. Yet here you were cowardly glancing over your shoulder with every chance you got. You hated walking at night because your paranoia constantly slowed you down and what shouldâve been a 10- minute walk turned into a 23-minute walk. It didnât help that your recent encounter kept replaying in your head, the image of the poor victim on the floor vividly appearing every time you blinked.
As you rolled yourself up in a blanket burrito to escape the dark amiss of the night (more or less your own thoughts), you began to lull yourself into a soft sleep before your roommate, Alex, rudely barged into your room with little concern for your sleep.. âWhat happened? Why did you leave with the officers? Everyoneâs talking about it you know, youâre on everyoneâs snapchat story and your clothes really arenât that flattering.â âA student got attacked and I was the only kind-of witness. The officers wanted to do some further questioning and how many times must I tell you its the uniform.â She sighed in relief before crushing you with a hug. âIâm glad youâre okay.â You suffocated under her grasp but you knew better than to try to fight Alex. She left the room to allow you to sleep but not before rambling about how she assumed you had turned into a rogue murderer.
#jungkook#jungkook imagine#bts imagines#bts scenarios#bts reactions#jungkook fic#jungkook smut#jungkook x you#jungkook x reader#bts#bts fic#this is my first time writing pls be nice
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Chapter One: A Second Chance to Live A Life Worth Living
Author: ambiguoslyambitious (me!)
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 2,402
Summary: Getting a job at Joja Corporation was supposed to be Bela Rivers' big break in the business world. Anyone who wanted to be successful in Stardew Valley dreamed at working in one of their corporate offices. However, life inside a cubicle is not what it's all cracked up to be, and the company that she is working for is harboring some deep secrets. A mysterious envelope gifted to Bela by her recently deceased grandfather might hold the key to a second chance to live a life worth living.
âM-Ms. Rivers? Hello?â a desperately cheery voice called out, a twinge of annoyance hiding just below the surface.
Bela pulled her eyes away from the harsh white light of the computer monitor in front of her to meet the even harsher glare of her supervisor, Mary Boerhen. Mary was a miserable woman cloaked in grey, both in personality and attire.
âApologies, Ms. Boerhen,â Bela forced a smile to hide her hatred for pleasantries. âWhat can I do for you?â
Bela had just spent the past three hours aimlessly staring at her monitor, dreading spending yet another day updating spreadsheets. Every once in a while she glanced up at the menacing green light signaling that she was unfortunately still on the clock. The words, Join us. Thrive, seemed to be mocking her every day she was forced to sit in her corporate-issued personal hell. Bela had once held excitement for her job inputting data for Joja Corporation, the nationâs leading industry in just about everything. Everyone knew that if you wanted to make a solid living in Zuzu City, you just had to get a job with Joja.
However, that excitement soon faded once she had been squeezed into a tiny cubicle, condemned to spend her entire nine-to-five repeatedly going over numbers, day in and day out. She had thought that her recent degree in business administration, paired with her relation to the governor of Stardew Valley, wouldâve given her the upper hand amongst her peers for a more âhands onâ job opportunity within the company.
Unfortunately, she was still stuck crunching numbers like the rest of them, an insignificant cog in the corporate machine.
âWell, Ms. Rivers,â the woman sneered, âyou could actually do the job you were hired to do.â Ms. Boerhen pursed her lips and turned away sharply, presumably to bark at anyone else who appeared to be slacking off.
Bela let out a small sigh, her fingers gravitating towards her desk drawer where a letter from her grandfather was resting. Once again, Bela felt her thoughts wander as she sadly remembered her last visit to him.
It had been ten years since Bela had last been to Pelican Town, a quaint little farming community located in the heart of Stardew Valley. As a child, Bela remembered spending each summer frolicking in the fields of Riverland Farm, a massive expanse of farmland spread out on a vast variety of small islands. However, her last visit wasn't so happy.
Bela remembered being thirteen years old watching from the train window, the city fading into the countryside. Harsh lights were replaced with the glow of fireflies and cement gave way to worn-down dirt paths. Her parents were tense the entire train ride, her father especially. She remembered the way his jaw was clenched and the tight grip he maintained with her mother's hand. Unbeknownst to Bela, this was going to be the last time that she was going to see her grandfather alive.
Walking into the farmhouse, Bela remembered how frail her grandfather looked in his cot. He lifted his head and offered her a weak smile.
"My dear, Bela," his voice was barely above a whisper. Bela desperately tried to prevent any tears from escaping, but seeing the ghost of a man she remembered as being vibrant broke her young heart. Before she could break down, her father's voice boomed angrily.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?!" Her father's voice shook slightly, though Bela could not tell if it was from rage or sadness.
"What difference," the old man responded coolly, "would that have made?"
Bela's mother placed a hand on her father's shoulder, a desperate attempt to calm him down.
"I do not wish to argue, Jacob," Bela's grandfather said, meeting his son's furious gaze. "I know that I've made mistakes. I just wanted to tell you goodbye and give you the chance to say the same." Suddenly, he bent over in a violent fit of coughing, forcing Bela's father's gaze to cool into concern.
â...and for you, my special granddaughter, I want you to have this,â he managed to choke out, handing Bela an envelope enclosed by a vibrant purple seal, bearing the Rivers family crest, a pair of swans facing each other with the phrase, a flumine perduraverit, written between them.
Before she had a chance to open it, Belaâs grandfather blurted out, âNo, no, donât open it yet...Have patience, my dear.â
Her grandfather smiled weakly before continuing on, âNow, listen close...There will come a day where you feel crushed by the burden of modern life, and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness. When that happens, my child, then you will be ready for this gift. Now, let grandpa rest...â
A few weeks went by before her grandfather finally passed. Bela's father quietly had him buried on the property without a funeral and refused to go back. Or at least, until now.
While Bela sat at her desk bored, her parents were currently boarding a train to Pelican Town in order to find the proper documents to sell Riverland Farms. They planned to use the money to fund their retirement and help Bela get her own apartment.
I wonder whatâs in the letter that Grandpa left me, Bela mused, swirling a pencil between her fingers. She let out an exasperated sigh and decided that it was finally time to begin her work. Not even five minutes into crunching numbers the phone on her desk began to ring.
âGood afternoon from Joja Corporations, this is Bela. How can I be of assistance?â Bela answered perkily, rolling her eyes at the spiel she was taught to spit.
âBela Rivers,â a serious voice responded, âyou are wanted in Mr. Jamesonâs office.â
Bela immediately straightened up in her seat and her heart rate quickened as she realized that she was being summoned to her superiorâs office.
Damn it, she cursed to herself. Ms. Boerhen ratted me out to the big boss.
Bela took a quick breath before replying calmly, âOf course, Iâll be right there.â
She quickly placed the phone back on the receiver and stood up, mentally preparing herself for a scolding for her less than desirable performance. As she walked down the hallway to Mr. Jameson's office, she silently began to berate herself for wasting such a golden opportunity. Her heels clicked loudly like the hands of a clock, counting down the seconds until she was out of a job.
As she stood outside of Mr. Jamesonâs door, Bela closed her eyes briefly and knocked raptly.
âMs. Rivers, you may come in.â
Bela pushed the door gently, surprised to see the amount of people in the office. At the giant desk made entirely of glass, sat Mr. Jameson, a stocky man dressed in a sharp, yet dull grey suit that matched his seemingly lifeless expression. Next to him, sat a meek looking woman in a similarly bland pantsuit who avoided looking in Belaâs direction. Across from them sat two men wearing long black coats over simple business casual wear. When she entered the room, the older of the two gentlemen stood up, clutching a gold badge in his right hand.
âHello Ms. Rivers, my name is Detective Hanlon,â the man then gestured to his more youthful companion, âand my partner Detective Gaumond.â
âDetectives?â Bela questioned, wondering why the hell the police were getting involved with her lack of productivity. You canât be arrested for being lazy, right?
âYes, unfortunately Ms. Rivers, there seems to have been an accident on the tracks near The Mountain.â
Belaâs heart skipped a beat. She couldnât believe what the detective was saying. âW-what? What happened?â
The younger detective briefly made eye contact with Bela, a genuine sadness in his eyes before he ducked his head.
âIâm afraid that your parents, Mr. Jacob and Mrs. Kiera Rivers, were both killed in the rockslide on their way to Pelican Town.â
The young detective stood up and gave her a pitying look, âIâm deeply sorry for your loss, Ms. Rivers. This has been an unfortunate accident. These types of natural disasters are completely unpredictable.â
It was as if Bela had been sucker punched right in the chest. She stood there in complete disbelief until a faint whisper of a memory tickled the back of her mind.
âWait,â Bela said coldly, moving her eyes over to the two behind the desk who refused to meet her gaze, âhasnât Joja been mining in The Mountain?â
Mr. Jameson quickly looked over at the woman to his side, a bead of sweat trailing down his temple. The woman sheepishly looked up, desperately trying to avoid Belaâs cool glare.
âYes, they have,â she admitted, glancing over at the two detectives, âHowever, it is too early to say whether Jojaâs mining directly contributed to the rockslide, seeing as that is a natural disa-â
âBullshit!â Bela interrupted, her voice steadily raising in anger. âYou KNOW that you killed my parents!â
âSettle down, Bela,â Mr. Jameson snapped, âThis was just an unfortunate accident. You can take the week off to settle your affairs.â
âTake a week off?â Belaâs eyes widened in disbelief. âIs that all my parentsâ lives were worth? Thatâs all I get? Not even an apology?â
âMs. Rivers,â the woman quipped, âJoja Corporation is not liable for natural disasters. And as a Joja employee, you should remember that your contract states that you are not allowed to speak negatively about the company in any way.â
âI-Is that a threat?â Bela retorted, in shock at the audacity of this woman. âAre you threatening to sue me for telling the truth? That YOU killed my parents?!â
She shook her head angrily, not able to process the barrage of emotions hitting through her at that moment.
âYou know what?â Bela spat, âI quit.â Bela turned on her heel, storming back to her cubicle.
Once there, she began grabbing all her personal items and shoved them into a cardboard box. When she finally got to the desk drawer that held her grandfatherâs letter, she hesitated for a second before tearing the envelope open. Inside were two pieces of paper, the top one decorated with her late grandfatherâs handwriting, saying:
Dear Bela,
If you are reading this, you must be in dire need of a change.
The same thing happened to my grandfather, long ago. He had lost sight of what mattered most in life; real connections with other people and nature. So, he decided to drop everything and move to the place where he felt like he truly belonged.
Iâve enclosed the deed to that place, my pride and joy: Riverland Farm. Itâs located on the southern coast of Stardew Valley, between Ridgeside Village and Pelican Town. Itâs the perfect place to start your new life.
This was my most precious gift of all, and now it is yours. I know that you will honor the family name, my child.
Good luck.
Love, Grandpa
P.S. If Lewis is still alive, say hi to the old guy for me, will ya?
Belaâs eyes welled up with tears as she glanced at the second paper, the deed of Riverland Farm. She rushed to gather the rest of her belongings and walked out of the corporate office for the last time.
Before Bela knew it, she was gazing out the window of the bus she was on, heading to her new home. The trees blurred together in a sea of green as Bela allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts.
Maybe, Bela sighed, this fresh start is just what I need.
The bus slowed down to a stop at a small crossroads. Once Bela exited the bus, she was approached by a cheerful redhead.
âHello! You must be Bela,â she smiled warmly. âIâm Robin, the local carpenter. I don't know if you remember me, since it's been a few years since you've last visited, but I'm Sebastian and Maru's mom.â
Bela smiled back hesitantly, before memories of an awkward, spiky-haired emo wannabe flittered into her head. âHi, Robin, itâs nice to see you again, though I was expecting Mr. Meyer.â
âOh, Mayor Lewis sent me here to fetch you and show you the way to your new home. Heâs tidying things up for your arrival.â Robin turned, and began walking down the dirt path, gesturing for Bela to follow. âThe farmâs right over here, if youâll follow me.â
Bela listened intently as Robin began to relay different stories of some of her most difficult jobs. After a few moments they approached the dilapidated Riverland Farm. Bela was astounded at how unkempt the land was, littered with overgrown patches of grass and rotting crops.
âYeah,â Robin shyly rubbed the back of head, âthis farm has definitely seen better days. However, there is still good soil underneath.â
Suddenly, the farmhouse door opened, and a kind older man stepped out with a head full of grey hair and a matching moustache.
âAh, our newest farmer!â he chuckled lightly, âWelcome back, Bela! In case you've forgotten, Iâm Lewis, the mayor of Pelican Town.â
His eyes twinkled mischievously, âYou know, everyoneâs been asking about you. Itâs not every day that someone new moves in. And it's even rarer when someone comes back. Itâs quite a big deal!â
Robin nodded in agreement. âWith the increased taxes, more people have been leaving Pelican Town than staying.â
Mayor Lewis shot Robin a warning glance before continuing his welcome speech, âSo, youâre moving into your grandfatherâs old cottage.â He sighed deeply; eyes lost in thought as he remembered his old friend.
Bela offered him a gentle smile, âHe mentioned that the two of you were old friends.â
Lewis returned the smile, âYes, we were. Well, you've inherited a good house...very ârusticâ.â
Robin chuckled, âWell, thatâs one way to put it.â
âOh, donât be rude,â Lewis shook his head, âDonât listen to her, Bela. Robin just wants you to hire her for upgrades.â Robin rolled her eyes playfully in response.
âWell,â Lewis directed his attention back to Bela. âYou must be tired from your long journey. You should get some rest. Tomorrow, you ought to explore the Town Square and reintroduce yourself to some folks. The townspeople would appreciate that.â
With that, both Robin and Lewis took their leave of Riverland Farm.
Now, Bela thought, gazing at the acres of overgrown land. What the FUCK am I going to with all of this?
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