#anyways i should do some captioning work in hopes of getting some money but you only get about 50 cents a minute | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

duhragonball · 1 year

Text

Dragon Ball GT 50

✨GT Stands For Galvanic Twerp✨

Ugh, okay. Rage Shenron. Here we go.

This episode has very little to do and it takes a long time to do it.

We open on Pan and Goku at lakeside, admiring how the sky and environment seem to have dramatically improved since they defeated Haze Shenron. Goku reasons that if they defeat the other six Shadow Dragons, then it should restore the rest of the world the same way. Which... I think was made abundantly clear in the previous episode, which was recapped very thoroughly at the beginning of this episode. I’d ask why we’re going over it again, but I already know. Rage Shenron.

Then we cut to the womenfolk back at Capsule Corp? I guess? Videl’s sore about Pan running off on her own, so I’m not sure if she knows that Pan went with Goku. Everyone just sort of restates the situation and hopes Goku’s doing okay out there.

Then we slowly meander into the plot, as Goku’s team arrives in a town where a Dragon Ball is located. Pan wants juice, so she stops at a vending machine and really takes her time with it. They show her putting the money in, and she lingers over the buttons while she makes her selection... just milking this moment for all it’s worth. Then purple goop comes out of the machine instead of juice, which gives her a scare.

Coincidentally, the only two people left in the town happen to walk by and explain to our heroes what’s going on around here. This purple slime has been appearing all over the city, “stealing all the electricity.” Everyone fled the city to get away from it, and this couple is the last to leave. They give Pan some juice before they go, so I’m glad GT made sure to resolve the “Pan’s Thirsty” subplot.

✨Positivity Page✨

Oh, hey, it’s the Dragon Ball Building. So this is kind of a cool place. If you’ve ever been to this town, you should check it out. I guess it’s open to the public? I mean, the doors aren’t locked and there’s no one inside, so I’m not really sure. Anyway, there’s this big statue of Piccolo in it. It’s like ten feet tall, and it looks really old and ratty but you can tell it looked really awesome when it was first made.

And there’s a bunch of plastic bins full of loose action figure parts. Like you just walk around and there’s a box with nothing but Perfect Cell arms or Vegeta heads or whatever.

There’s also a concession stand, like in a movie theater, so maybe they used to show movies there? I don’t know. It looks like it hasn’t been used in years, and all the candy in the display case is like fifty years old. You can just walk around to where the employees would go and check out the popcorn machine and stuff. The weird thing is, you’d think it’s been abandoned, but they have one of those modern soda dispensers, with the touchscreen and you can get like Coke Zero with orange or lime flavor shots. And there’s a standee of Goku next to it and it looks well-done, but it’s clearly just some fan-made deal. Anyway, he’s got a real apron and paper hat on him, and a word balloon that says “Have some soda!” And it looks like someone’s taking care of that part of the building at the very least. I mean, the power’s on in the building. Restrooms are nice and clean.

Oh, and on the top floor, there’s this really neat wall mural. All these little tiles on the wall are arranged to make this cool diorama of Gohan through the series. His first appearance, his Namek look, SSJ2 Gohan, Great Saiyaman, etc. The last one is a skeleton, and someone wrote a little caption next to him with a sharpie: “Momento mori.” Which is Latin for “Remember that you have to die.” That’s a weird thing to put on there, but I don’t know, the aesthetic kind of works for me. Also there’s a big water fountain in the middle of the room that looks like it hasn’t had water in it for decades.

So yeah, it’s kind of neat that they put the building in this episode. I should go back sometime, see if anything’s different.

✨"Good" "Ideas", Poorly Executed✨

Okay, Rage Shenron. Tell you what, I should explain the naming system first.

So far we’ve seen Haze Shenron and now Rage Shenron. That’s not what they’re actually called. “Haze” and “Rage” are dub-isms. Apparently Funimation decided these characters should have their own names, and I’m pretty sure “Shadow Dragon” is a dub-ism as well. This is my first time watching it in Japanese, and so far Goku just refers to them as “those guys”. The narrator calls the Dragons by the Dragon Ball they have embedded in their bodies. Rage is known as the “Five-Star Dragon” or “Five Star Shenron”. Whatever.

Funimation went a different way with it, probably to make the brand easier to market. The cute part is that if you order the dragons by their star number, their names make an acrostic:

Syn, the 1-star Dragon

Haze, the 2-star Dragon

Eis, the 3-star Dragon

Nuova, the 4-star Dragon

Rage, the 5-star Dragon

Oceanus, the 6-star Dragon

Naturon, the 7-star Dragon.

See? They spell “Shenron”. You might not ever notice this because in the anime, the Shadow Dragons are introduced in no particular order. I only found out once when I looked them up on the Dragon Ball fan wiki.

Here’s the thing: It probably doesn’t matter much, because these characters are so stupid and boring, but I appreciate Funimation for making it easier for me to remember which one is which. Some of the names are a little out-there, but at least I know “Nuova” is the fire guy, even if I don’t understand why he has a ‘u’ in his name. “Eis” is spelled like that because they needed it to start with “E”, and I’m assuming “Rage” got his name because they couldn’t think of any good “R” names that had anything to do with electric slime.

And people always crap on the dub. “Oh, the Funimation dub is the worst!” I’ve seen people say that the GT dub is the worst example of Funimation’s dub problems, which is pretty rich considering Dragon Ball GT sucks so hard. What difference does it make if the dub sucks or not? Chris Sabat could have made fart noises for the whole recording session, and it still wouldn’t make this show worse than it actually is. All I know is I’m watching it in Japanese, and I feel like I hate GT now more than I ever did before. It’s not that the Japanese version is worse, but it’s just that I’ve peeled back the last possible curtain. This is the original version that aired on Japanese television in 1996-7, and they didn’t even bother to name these stupid evil dragons, because even Toei knew it didn’t matter. At least Funimation was like “Hey, if they make an action figure of the little purple chicken dude, it’d be nice if they had a name to put on the blister pack.”

All right, so Rage Shenron. He’s even smaller and crappier looking than Haze was. He’s the one controlling the electric slime, so he sics it on Pan and Goku and gives them an electric shock. It hurts them, but it doesn’t stop them, so he summons all of the electric slime to surround his crappy little body with a giant simulation of himself.

Then he tells Goku that he was created from the minus energy produced when the Dragon Balls were used to resurrect Goku at the climax of the Saiyans Saga.

Rage then uses his signature only attack, Dragon Thunder. And he uses it a lot. I only got four stills of him saying “Dragon Thunder!” but it felt like he said it about 100 times.

Goku turns Super Saiyan 4 to counter this, and you know, if he had just done this at the start, the fight would have already been over with. You know, the same way he should have taken out Haze in the last episode? That whole debacle was supposed to be a life lesson for Goku, and he and Pan even said as much when they beat Haze, but it’s like ten minutes later and they’ve already forgotten. So Goku tries a 10x Kamehameha, and it doesn’t work because the electric slime surrounding Rage’s body just absorbs the blast and bounces it back on Goku. For some reason, this forces Goku back into his base form. I don’t know if he just wore himself out blocking the effects of his own attack, or what.

So Rage starts making himself even bigger, and Goku tries to get some distance. But Rage sends out tendrils of electric slime in all directions to pull even more electrical power from the local infrastructure. He claims to have taken all the electricity in the world, but that sounds a bit hard to swallow. Anyway, he has more than enough to kill Goku and Pan, so he catches them in slime tentacles and starts electrocuting them.

This is sort of like the last episode, where Haze had Goku and Pan dead to rights, but Giru rescued them because he was immune to the pollution. Well, this time Giru can’t make the save, because he’s more vulnerable to electricity than Pan and Goku are. So Giru bugged out pretty early into the fight.

So how does Goku beat Rage Shenron? He doesn’t. It just happens to start raining while all this is going on, and it shorts out Rage’s powers. He tries to disperse all of his electric slime, but there’s too much of it in one place to separate in time, and he’s too big to seek shelter.

Let this sink in. Rage Shenron defeated himself. This is the final arc of GT, and the big villain gang is supposed to include seven world-ending dragons. So far we’ve seen two of them, and they both absolutely suck.

But wait, it’s not over yet. Pan tries to recover the Dragon Ball, and Rage appears to surrender it peacefully, but it’s just a trick to zap her with slime again, so Goku blows him away with a regular base-form Kamehameha... which he could have just used from the start to save himself a lot of trouble.

See, the big problem with this Shadow Dragons nonsense isn’t just that the Shadow Dragons suck. The big problem is that they also make Goku look incredibly weak as well. Rage defeated himself, so what was Goku supposed to do while this was happening? That’s right, Goku defeated himself too. He forgot the moral of the Haze Shenron fight, and made the exact same mistake all over again. Then he tried to overwhelm Rage using Super Saiyan 4 and it backfired, so the worst hit Goku took in this whole encounter was his own finisher.

We already saw Super Saiyan 4′s reputation take a beating in the Super 17 arc, but this arc takes it to a whole new level. When Goku resolved to defeat the Shadow Dragons, he insisted on going alone, because he was confident that his SSJ4 form would see him through. But he didn’t even need it against Haze, and it actually made things worse when he used it against Rage!

And Super Saiyan 4 ended up being GT’s greatest legacy! But it’s like this show was desperately trying to make it was weak and unappealing as possible. This whole episode is a farce. Goku had so much trouble beating Rage that Rage took himself out before Goku could get his shit together.

✨Is This Episode Worse than "The Roaming Lake"?✨

Yes. Oh my gosh yes, this is so terrible.

I’m not sure if there’s any point in doing a “Ten Worst GT Episodes” list, because they’re all so bad, but Rage Shenron has got to be somewhere in that field. He’s like the bad guys in the Imecka arc back when the show first started, just a complete joke of a threat. Except Imecka was the first real adventure of the series. This is Episode Fifty and we’re still doing this idiot-versus-idiot combat.

This is what’s wrong with GT. It never figured out what it wanted to be, and now the series is almost over, and it shows. There was never any build to anything, because it keeps starting over with a new dumb premise. The Rage Shenron right feels like Episode 3 of a whole new anime.

✨The Blade Braxton Memorial Haiku*✨

Now! Dragon Thunder!

Dragon Thunder! Dragon Thun-

der! Dragon Thunder!

#dragon ball #dragon ball gt #really sucks #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #*haiku does not come with crown as illustrated #rage shenron #goku #pan #giru #fuck this episode forever #the dragon ball building

11 notes · View notes

idontblushsrry · 3 years

Note

Uhh may I make a request for Ouran High School Host club? Just a headcanon for how the host would react to meeting someone how is a big time animal lover. (Like they pretty much live there life like the Irwin family)

A/N: I was thinking about how I’d write this and my brain just went ‘they lost their shit at the sight of instant coffee’, so uhh I hope this is to your liking. I tried to get as much animal variety as I could even though I didn’t really touch on marine animals that much)

Warnings: Like 2 swear words (pinky promise), slight drug mention(literally so small you might not even notice it), spoilers (minor) for Tamaki’s mom

Word Count: 1292

General

So this is under the assumption that like the Irwin family, Reader (or their family) has access to a wide variety of animals (from domestic to wild)

All of them respect the passion you have for animals

While they all might have various feelings on animals (see below), they can’t deny that you truly do love animals

Your family’s sanctuary focuses on healing injured animals and rehabilitating them so they can go back into the wild

Of course, your family has many sanctuaries around the world and some focus more on conservation while others focus on research

The one closest to the school focuses mainly on conservation and as such, is massive and functions like a zoo ( in terms of having people come in and see the animals)

Anyways, the host club is very supportive and often helps you with organizing donation events

Oftentimes, your family will collaborate with them and allow them to rent out parts of the conservation center for events

Aside from the conservation center though, your family owns a few ranches and farms (not for commercial profit, although yall have sold a few animals)

The farms and ranches are relatively small scale but they make great venues for the host club and a great place for getaways/vacations

Your main house is where you keep most of your favorite animals

You have an aviary attached to your room (connected through a hallway that connects to your room) as well as a butterfly garden in the backyard

You also have an aquarium tank, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 snake, and a hamster that visits on weekends

You had to be stopped at some point

Tamaki

Tamaki loves animals

He was never really around animals growing up because of how sensitive his mom’s immune system is

So when he sees that you’re an animal person, he’s super excited

Like this man is already planning playdates between Antoinette and your pets/animals

You love his enthusiasm, just one small problem

It’s a little too much enthusiasm

Yes the animals are well trained, but how would you react if a 6′0 giant with long arms came barreling towards you screaming showing its teeth?

So yeah, Tamaki tends to set the animals off/ make them nervous

Because of that he’s only allowed around certain animals (ex. certain monkeys, certain birds, etc.)

He’s happy that he’s allowed around some animals but he still pouts every time there’s an animal he can’t be around

Kyoya

This man

Kyoya does not fuck with animals. Like at all

The first time the host club went to your house, you were holding a hamster and Kyoya moved back about 10 feet

When you asked him what was wrong, he just said “Rats are carriers of many of the most deadly diseases”

You told him that you were holding a hamster and that while hamsters were rodents, the worst he’d get sick with would be salmonella

He doesn’t believe you, but yeah sure whatever

For Kyoya it just gets worse after that

The first time he sees you holding a tarantula, he loses his shit

“Look how cute it is Kyoya!”

“Get that vermin away from me!”

I could go on and on about how much Kyoya doesn’t like animals (even domestic ones like cats and dogs)

He hates going to your house, but he often has to go there in order to set up events for the host club, what a nightmare

While he doesn’t care for animals, the business side of his brain can’t help but think of a marketing opportunity

Mori

Is one of two hosts that are going to be chill about it

He doesn’t feel one way or the other about animals and thinks it’s cool that you’re interested in them

Only thing is; if Honey’s afraid of your animals, he will have to ask you to leave he won’t hesitate to step in “harm’s” way

Surprisingly though, that actually makes him the chillest with your animals

Much to your surprise (and Tamaki’s sorrow), the animals love him

He just has this calming vibe that sets the animals at ease

It also helps that he smells nice and is super tall

For most of them it’s like sitting on a giant tree

He’s not really complaining though, it makes his job of protecting Honey that much easier

Honey

Oh boy

He might actually be the worst with animals

It’s not even an issue of being unable to defend against aggressive animals (Honey could probably solo a grizzly bear)

It’s just he has a very strict “cute” animal policy that changes wildly depending on his mood, the temperature, the angle of the wind, the humidity, etc.

He’s very bougie when it comes to what animals he will tolerate and what animals he will refuse to see

The general safe choices are rabbits (especially bunnies), kittens, cows, tits (the bird species), and baby animals of almost every domestic mammal species)

Him and the hamster you see on weekends are best friends

Also, you have had issues with him trying to feed the animals sweets

Explaining to Honey why rabbits can’t have carrot cake was not an easy conversation, nor was it one you thought you’d need to have

Because of how specific he is about what animals he finds cute, you likened him to a crocodile (because of how sensitive they are to temp. changes in egg)

Needless to say...he was not pleased

Hikaru

So him and Kaoru don’t really care for animals but they try to relate to you in somewhat similar but different ways

Hikaru is always trying to get you to do/recreate stunts with the animals

“Hey Y/N, we should-”

“No Hikaru”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say”

“No you cannot use the dolphins for hoop tricks, no you cannot teach the gorillas how to roll blunts, no you cannot “bribe” the koalas with eucalyptus...”

Yeah he’s a menace

It’s mostly all in good fun though

Hikaru doesn’t really care for animals but he does find it hilarious that the animals like him more than Tamaki

Also, completely random but Hikaru definitely send you those “horse-sized duck vs duck sized horses” memes

Kaoru

Kaoru also tries to use animals on the internet to relate to you, but he’s a lot tamer than Kaoru

Kaoru is kind of like the parent who learns one thing you like and is like “that’s your entire personality right?”

Poor bby is trying his best

Anyways, whereas Hikaru tries to recreate memes, Kaoru sends you them

They range in quality and format; from top text, bottom text to “is this a ____”

At least once a day, Kaoru will send you a meme or picture of an animal with a caption that says ‘this reminded me of u :)’

It’s so endearing that you can’t even be mad about it

Haruhi

Is the only other one who’s kind of cool about the whole thing

She’s really only been around animals in the park or the occasional pet store

Growing up, she didn’t really have the time (or money) to go to the zoo, that and the fact that Ranka doesn’t care at all for animals (she thinks they’re weird and gross)

When Tamaki hears this, he works himself up into a frenzy, torn that his “daughter” has never been to a zoo (even tho he hasn’t either)

But she likes the fact that you’re so passionate about animals

At heart, she’s a scholar, so she loves learning new things she didn’t know before, she could spend all day just listening to you talk about animals

Not to mention the fact that you’re basically giving her a free informational tour every time you see an animal

#ohshc imagines #ohshc x reader #ohshc headcanons #tamaki suoh #kyoya ootori #hikaru hitachiin #kaoru hitachiin #honey senpai #mori senpai #haruhi fujioka

214 notes · View notes

dramatical · 3 years

Photo

Hi! So a few days ago an anon asked me to make a guide to help them to start making gifs so here we are. I’m so sorry anon it took me this long, I swear i need to be reminded every day of things these days smh

Anyways, this isn’t going to be a tutorial in itself. Just a guide to where to look up things and all that, but if you need a tutorial from me from any of these do send a message and I’ll try to do it if I don’t get too caught up.

With that said, I’m putting things under the cut so it doesn’t hoard space in the dash.

So for starters, where do I get photoshop?

If you have the money to spare, in the adobe.com page you can buy it

If you don’t have the money like me, who likes photoshop but can’t spend that much money on it, here’s the versions of photoshop CS5 and CS6 that I downloaded and I trust and are the friendliest for begginers. I have them in my google drive so it’s safe to download. LINK HERE. Both are for WINDOWS only (I’m sorry for Mac users, i don’t have downloads for y’all) and have instructions on how to crack them to get the full versions.

If I don’t wanna learn on photoshop, where I can make gifs?

Well, if you wanna make high quality stuff, you’ll have to learn to use photoshop some time, but if just making gifs is what you want no matter the quality:

kapwing

photopea (pretty similar to photoshop and very easy to use!)

Now on to the important part of this, how do I actually get the gifs done? A lot of it is trial and error tbh, I’ve learned through tutorials myself and just y’know clicking on things lol I’ve tried all methods I’m listing here too so I know they all work and are easy to get the hang of once you start:

Video Frames to Layers method

Screencap and then uploading to PS method

Uploading the video and trimming on photoshop method (I’m currently using a variation of this method myself, if you want me to teach you how just lmk)

I haven’t tried this as I don’t use photopea myself but I’m linking it anyways

Gif making on photopea

Coloring is also pretty much messing around with the settings, your friends should be curves & levels, since they help to brighten and darken scenes. Then there’s other settings that you’ll find are the best for you to help you color better.

Here are some tutorials on how to color and fix colors too

Basic coloring tutorial

Fixing orange washing on POC

Getting rid of orange filters on scenes and not die in the process

Color correcting and fixing dark scenes

Adding subtitles to gifs is also pretty simple, in the link of the GD folder where I shared the PS downloads is a psd with my text setting which you just can open and drag in your gif and be done with it. But here are some tutorials on how to do the caption yourself:

Everything about gif subtitles

Centering subtitles and duplicating them on another gif

Other fun tutorials for when you’re confident enough in your skills at making gifs and want to try to do more complicated sets:

Blending tutorial

Multiple gifs in one canvas

Masking gifs for blendings

Putting gifs inside shapes/text

Gifs on gifs

Font pairing for typhography sets

Textures & Gifs

Cool gif headers

Gradients on a gif

Fading scenes in one gif

Rotating text

Hope this was helpful, remember that if you need me to do a version of any of these tutorials i linked just lmk and i’ll try to do it as soon as i can.

thank you for reading!!

#gif tutorial #gif making #photoshop tutorial #gif making for begginers #uuuh what else to tag

122 notes · View notes

imonthinice · 3 years

Text

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 7/?

Word Count: 3.5k

Author’s Note: Y/N - Your Name, A/N Any Name (your best friend’s name), (Name) - your ex’s name !genderneutral (Don’t use a DC character! Y/N hasn’t dated any other DC character!) :)

3.5k words, my god. And they’ve still only known each other for 4 days and we’re on part 7. I do not know how to finish this.

Lol, Enjoy!

Warnings: Swearing, Heated moments, There is French in this one, No beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Falling asleep in Jason’s arms after that escapade the two of them pulled the night before was something magical to say the least. Of course, they only got like 5 hours of sleep before they had to wake up and get out, at risk of Y/N being caught in the building, although the thrill of it excited the both of them deeply, but that’s obvious. They liked breaking the rules already.

Riding back home seemed a lot less like a journey to her this time, she just wanted to spend more time with Jason, but he had work and she didn’t want to hang out at Wayne Enterprises. She’d probably go to the library today, she didn’t know exactly what she’d do today, but she always thought that was the most exciting thing ever. “I don’t know what I’m even going to do tomorrow,” one of her friends asked when she moved to Gotham, ‘How exciting!’ she answered.

That friend said the next day she ran through the streets of Metropolis with her arms outstretched like a kid, and she did it in Y/N’s honor. “I told you!” she said, “How exciting that sometimes you never know what you’re going to do tomorrow!”.

These thoughts swirled in her head as Jason drove her back home when, like clockwork, like it was out of a movie, he said,

“I have no idea what I’m even going to do today.”

She laughed, “I always say ‘How exciting!’ when someone says that to me.”

“Really?”

“One of my friends back home, when I gave her that advice, she then spent the next day running around the city with her arms outstretched in my honor, it was apparently one of the more fun things she’s ever done, so” she paused, “I really mean it. how exciting! The possibilities are endless, are they not?”

“Well, not really, I have work to do,” he frowned.

“So own it. Make the office your bitch. Take charge, take lead.”

“Why not?” he said in agreement.

“Why the fuck not.”

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

Jason walked her to her door, “Won’t you be late?” she asked,

“Dad knows where I am, I don’t think I’ll have my ass handed to me.”

“You never know,” she laughed.

He laughed too and slightly pecked her lips. He wanted more, he was hungry for more out of that kiss, but work and life gets in the way of their relationship, and he really whined when he had to break away, but she laughed at it.

“Slow your roll Tiger, one day,” she mused.

“You say that like you don’t want more.”

“This isn’t about me,” she retorted, “So, shut up, respectfully.”

He laughed and kissed the back of her hand, “You have a thing for doing that, huh?” she joked.

“I literally don’t know how to answer that, I think I’m losing my touch with flirting,” he joked back.

“Okay, okay, you need to get going now.”

“Fine! You want to get rid of me so badly, I get it,” he joked and walked back to the car and she waved him off. She hated that time he left, a lot. She knew it was healthy to take a day’s break if they’ve been on 3 back-to-back dates, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

She opened her door and walked in, thinking A/N was asleep so she wouldn’t be barraged for her hair being a mess, but, boy oh boy, was this girl waiting for her to get home.

“What happened? Why’s your hair a mess? Oh my god, did you have sex?” she asked.

“No, but we kissed, will you take that as information while I shower or do you want all the details now?”

“You can shower, you can shower. I’m not that needy.”

“Yes you are,” Y/N joked and went to go shower.

And like she always did, she opened her phone and looked at the news before answering her friends,

Millionaire’s Son, Jason Todd's Girlfriend’s Name Revealed!

She laughed, cause it wasn’t her name. She didn’t think he was seeing anyone else, and they used her picture, so she knew they just fucked it. She forwarded the article to Jason with the caption ‘ Fuckin’ idiots’ .

She then answered Artemis, who asked Did you two kiss? Dick’s up my ass about it ‘cause he knows we’re friends.

I want to take that out of context so badly. She joked with Artemis.

I knew this man had a terrible name that would come to haunt me, but did ‘ya kiss?

Yeah we did. Get Dick out of your ass, though, that’s weird, you have a boyfriend and he has a girlfriend.

Shut up, you’re not funny.

I’m pretty funny.

You are but I’m not going to admit that, girl.

And one of her old friends had texted her, it was someone who Y/N had seen off and on the past few years, they were polite, but she didn’t exactly want to speak to her ex.

Hey.

(Name)? What do you want?

Saw you in the news with the rich boy, guess we’re over?

We have been over for like 5 months, my guy.

Bitch.

Okay!

People from her hometown were noticing her in the articles and recognizing her. Some would think this is the coolest thing that someone they loved met a nice boy, the money a bonus, some would give her the reaction her ex did, but she knew she was days, hours, maybe minutes away from her parents finding out about her love affair with Jason.

She shuddered at the thought, she loved her parents, a lot, but something told her that maybe they wouldn’t did Jason to be like she found him. She also knew she could be overthinking it entirely and they’d like the Criminal Psych Major that she knew all-too-well.

But overthinking was fun, apparently. And she couldn’t stop thinking the worst of so much.

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

When she got changed and just threw on whatever the fuck she saw, she went out to go talk to A/N.

“Hey, nerd. I’m done,” Y/N said.

“Nerd? You’re the one dating the bookworm and you’re in criminal psychology,” she joked.

“Ha, ha. So, how are things with your lover? Have you secured him yet or are you just doing your own thing still?”

“Still just doing our own thing, don’t really have the time to date while getting my degree and working.”

“I mean, if it works for you I can’t throw judgment.”

“What about Jason? How’re things with you two?”

“You ever seen the Wayne Enterprises Ballroom before?”

“In pictures, why- Don’t tell me he took you there you lucky bitch?!”

“Then I just wont tell you,” she laughed.

“The Ballroom? Oh my god, that’s crazy, he's really pulling out all the stops to make you smile, huh?”

“I would do the same if I had more to offer, but I have barely anything since I bought that place in the dance competition across the country,” she said.

Y/N had bought a place in this competition before she met Jason, and she was heading to it on Saturday, in two days, and she actually had practiced the routine during downtime between her and Jason. She hadn’t exactly told Jason about this, and Jason had asked why she looked strained and like her muscles hurt, but that just never seemed like something you share with your casual partner, to her. She never seemed like her casual competitions were worth anything. A/N had begged to differ since Y/N had met her.

A/N said that Y/N had talent, that she could go somewhere, Y/N saw it as an extra circular that didn’t affect her much. She wasn’t the type of brag, and all her trophies were back home with her parents, anyway.

“Have you told him about your,” insert A/N’s heavy sarcasm, “’Casual’ competitions, yet?”

Idk what the hell happened with that line ya love to see it

“I’ll send him a quick text about it, I guess,” she sighed and sent just a quick, Hey, can’t have a date on Saturday-Sunday, forgot to tell you but I’m going to Cali for a quick dance competition, lol. My bad, shoulda said something.

“Why are you like this, be proud of your accomplishments, dammnit!”

“It’s a casual competition!”

“And you’re talented! I’m this close to just showing him videos of you going at it,” she said, exasperated.

“He already knows, we danced in the Ballroom.”

“Oh my lord,” she laughed, “You’re an enigma, if I had your amount of trophies I wouldn’t be hiding it.”

“Im’ not hiding it! It just kind of never came up.”

And he texted back, Oh damn, are you at least going to kill it? You better, I want to show the live broadcast to my family and brag.

She laughed, “See!”, she exclaimed, showing A/N the texts, “He doesn’t care like you do, nerd.”

A/N laughed, “Sure he doesn’t. Do you want to go to lunch, by the way? I’m bored off of my ass.”

“Sure, why the fuck not.”

“Go get dressed then, and I’ll do the same.”

“Okay okay, meet up in 10?”

“Yes ma’am.”

And off they went.

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

Y/N texted back Jason for a quick minute before getting dressed, Of course I’m going to kill it, my notes aren’t a representation of my dancing skills.

Well, I hope you win something. And text me. But mainly win something.

Of course I’ll text you, Jay. It gets boring at competitions.

You should go to a Wayne Gala then, god damn, those fuckin bastards are the most boring events this side of America.

Well maybe you’ll invite me one day.

I’ll probably have to if you show up on National TV. The press will finally know your name.

I hope I’m not on National TV then. Fuck the press.

Fuck the press indeed.

Since Y/N didn’t feel the need or want to dress up, she didn’t. Quick shirt and jeans and she was out the door. Sometimes she would dress up for lunch dates with her friends, just because she was bored as fuck and dressing up was fun, but she just didn’t want to do it today. Combat boots, jeans and a shirt were enough most days. You don’t have to be a model just because the press knows your face, she thought, you don’t.

“Who’s driving?” A/N asked.

“I can if you want. I don’t mind,” Y/N said as they walked to the beat up car they loved so much. It was nothing compared to the Porsche she had been in the night before, but it was still running, and you don’t fix something that ain’t broke.

“Maybe your boyfriend will buy you a new car,” A/N joked.

“If anything, he’d buy me a new computer, since mine is getting mailed to me and you’re going to love hearing the sounds that bitch makes,” she retorted.

“Is it bad?”

“Terrible. My sister called it a screaming electronic goat once,” she laughed, “I hate that fucking thing. But if it ain’t broke-”

“Don’t fix it, I know.”

“Exactly.”

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

For some reason, they decided in the car to go to McDonald's, because hey, it’s not like Y/N is on a dance diet or anything. She wasn’t, because she didn’t want to starve herself for the sake of winning a competition. That was even her thought process as she was younger and more vulnerable to her teachers, she always told them she’d never do that. Years later, she still stuck to that mindset.

They got out of the car and like fucking clockwork, the press was in her face.

“You! The girl with no name, Jason Todd’s girlfriend!”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” she whispered under her breath, “How do they always find me!”

“Tell us about yourself! Are you serious with Jason? How do you feel about his family? How-”

But then she had an idea,

“Quoi? Je parle pas l’Anglais? Qu’est-ce-que vous voulez?” she said, using her bilingual skills to her advantage.

“What? No I mean-”

“Pas de l’Anglais! Désolé mes amis!” and she ran off into the McDonald's with A/N.

“Did you just speak French to get them off your ass, you genius?”

“Spoke very broken French because I wasn’t thinking, but yeah, I did that.”

“I forget you’re multi-talented sometimes, you have a lot hidden under your belt and I try to treat you like a normal person but you’re far from it.”

“I appreciate you for trying, but I think with my new love affair, you aren’t going to get far with those attempts anymore, sorry,” she joked.

Jason texted her, Did you just speak French to avoid the press?

How do you know about that?

We were watching the news during a meeting and they said that you spoke French.

You got to do what you got to do to get by.

That is literally the most genius thing I’ve heard of anyone doing in so long. I think you’ve truly bamboozled them for a while and they might hop off of your back for a while.

You think so? ‘Cause I really hope that’s the case.

My siblings think it’s hilarious, and no one’s leaked that you are just joking with the press, so yeah, they might actually leave you alone.

Let’s fucking go. That is the news of the 21st century.

4 days of knowing each other and you’ve flipped off the press twice, outran them with me once, hid in the Wayne Enterprises Building with me and you’ve spoken French to bamboozle the press. That is impressive.

I feel like the press is going to hate me one day.

Probably. But they also hate most of us most days.

You should probably get back to work.

Yeah, talk to you soon.

She put her phone away and went to stand with A/N, who was waiting for their food.

“Talking to your lover?” she joked.

“When am I not doing that?”

“That’s valid.”

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

Going on a lunch date with A/N made a little bit of the harassment just better. They both bonded over how they hated the press before her love affair with Jason, and how their opinions wouldn’t change much unless, knock on wood, one of them went missing. Y/N told her about all the cases where the press and the internet did so much to solve cases around the world, love or hate the press, they did do a lot for solving crime.

She also told A/N that Jason was related to Dr. Barry Allen and Clark Kent, two people the two of them knew well because of the news and the fact that A/N knew Y/N when she wanted to go into forensics and was reading Dr. Barry Allen’s work.

When her mother texted her.

Y/N? Is that you in the press running around with Jason Todd?

Yeah mum, why?

Are you two in a serious relationship?

No mum.

Then why are the vultures so obsessed with you, says your dad.

‘ Cause you two made a pretty girl and he’s high up in the world, I guess, I don’t know. I don’t really like the press.

I can tell. We’re not mad at you honey, but be careful. And your dad says when you two get serious he needs to take Jason fishing.

He doesn’t speak French, mum.

Dad says he’ll work on his English for you.

Well tell everyone I love them, mum.

She panicked a little bit, her parents were nice when they wanted to be, but they were strict, why wouldn’t they be. So this, while being a welcomed surprise. was still a little panicky.

“Your parents find out?”

“Yeah, they seem chill with it though.”

“Bing in the press sucks when you’re trying to keep your love life out of your parents' eyes, huh?”

“You could say that again,” she joked.

“Being in the press sucks when you’re-”

“I didn’t mean literally!” they laughed.

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

Back at Wayne Enterprises, Jason was betting bombarded by his colleges, friends and family about Y/N and how she was able to get around the press’ constant harassment without flaw. And also because Bruce had seen the two enter the building at around 12am the night before. So Jason was called into Bruce’s office that day.

“1, I know everyone is bombarding you, so you can hide out here, son, 2, you and Y/N didn’t have sex in your office right?”

“God no, dad. We just hid here because security is tight as fuck and unable to get past.”

“I saw you two kissing on the cams and heading into your office, Jay.”

“Okay, okay, but we didn't have sex and the intentions were there, dad!”

“Uh huh, pretty girl in your, my, car.”

“Dad, stop it,” he joked.

“Well, her little shenanigans with the press are very amusing, have you told her that?”

“I have.”

“She’s basically not afraid to tell them what we all think.”

“That’s what I said, dad.”

“Well, hold onto that one and don’t let her go.”

“Do you regret doing that with Talia?” Jason asked.

“God no, she’s insane. The son I got out of her antics is literally her spitting image, so if I need to be reminded of her I can just go talk to Damien for a couple minutes.”

“Dami’s a lot like you too, don’t act like his personality is just Talia, he acts like his dad in every aspect and you know that.”

“Lord help any woman or man that kid goes on to date, my god,” the two of them laughed. It was the small things with Bruce that made Jason happy to be a Wayne, even if he didn’t share the last name. Jason grew up on the streets and even before that, his mum and dad didn’t have a lot of money, so the amounts of money that Bruce could shower on him was a lot, but he was okay with just working for his money. And Bruce knew that.

He spent a lot of his workday in Bruce’s office, hiding from the rest of the office, and texting Will.

She knows about your kid.

Well, she’s a good kid. I’m glad you’re bragging about her, means I raised her right.

Shut up. I love that little girl and I’ve helped raise her, Will.

You’re used to my new name?

I changed your contact to Will when you changed your name, so I could remember that that’s your name now and not Roy. I’m hoping I remember it in person though. It would be awkward if I forgot my best friend’s name.

It would be funny to look back on, though.

Like how your relationship with Jade is funny now?

Never stick your dick in crazy.

I wish you would have listened to that sometimes, but then I remember Lian is amazing.

I’m a cliché of dumb choices, what can I say Jaybird.

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

In Y/N’s house, she would always play loud and sad music when she had the chance, some people thought her mental state was fucked, which sometimes it was, but most of the time the sad music went harder than the happy tunes you would catch from the other side of the house.

But even if music was blasting the loudest it could ever be, somehow she would still find herself lost in her thoughts, whether it was new dance routines or a story she would scribble down in her dream journal. there was something about those little fits of artistic passion she would experience from time-to-time.

It’s hard to put into words how those moments reminded her of the simplier times before sh was thrust into stardom, but also how they reminded her of Jason, and untouched mind she longed to know further. She knew there was so much more to the boy she had gone on dates with.

She would end up ignoring her phone for most of the rest of that day, just because she wanted peace and quiet, when A/N’s lover came over and she had to turn the music up louder so she wouldn’t be disrupted by the obvious.

I just got off of work, how are you? How’s your day been? Jason had texted Y/N while she ws turning up the music.

Well, I just had to turn up my music because my roommate’s lover is over, but other than that I’ve been enjoying peace and quiet in my room, waiting for something to do.

Is texting me something to do?

Yes.

That’s sweet of you. Work was boring though so I hope you don’t expect a story.

I don’t, don’t worry. You don’t always need a story for something to do.

Well, I’m going home with my brothers and dad, and we’re probably going to play office chair racing because I’m a bad boy.

You’re a bad boy?

Was that not funny?

It was pretty funny, isn’t that dangerous though?

Yeah actually, my brother broke his leg playing it and another time my little sister broke her leg playing it.

It seems fun but like, damn, two people have gotten injured playing that game, y’know.

Well if I die it’ll be a fun story!

55 notes · View notes

1ddotdhq · 3 years

Text

🎹Mon 14 Dec ‘20🎤

Zayn is back! Possibly for real this time! Yolanda Hadid posted a picture of him and Gigi from a year ago at their gender reveal party (spoiler: it’s a girl!!!), and following that Zayn uploaded a picture of himself in a studio with some lovely R&B synth style music floating around. This came on the two year anniversary of the Icarus Falls release, and it set twitter ablaze, immediately trending “Z3isComing” and “Zayn is Coming”. Alex Oriet (of #pizza and Saltwives fame) posted a snippet of Zayn’s new song and said, “What kind of Christmas Present do you want to get?”. Uh, if you’re taking recommendations, I would like to see THE NEW ALBUM - preferably before the end of the year! Anyways, here’s hoping this comeback sticks because OH MY GOD I need that album!

Louis has spent the day raking in the compliments (as he should!), including an piece in the Independent! He's quoted from a pre show press release, saying, “performing for a live crowd is the most important thing to me, this live stream is a step back into that world and is something I can’t wait to film,” and “I want to put on a real show for the fans, with scale and production, creating something special to end 2020 on a positive, upbeat note and raise money for charities that are especially close to my heart. I also want to give my touring crew work, and raise some vital money for them, as without my crew the show literally couldn’t go on”. ThePulpConversation, CelebMix, and IHeart had similar praises, including calling Walls his “chart topping debut album” (*cough*) and calling ‘Copy’ “one of the highlights”of the show, saying, “If this signals the way [he’s] moving forward musically for his second album then we think he’s gonna make one heck of an impact”. THANK YOU!! THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN SAYING!! Notably silent about the whole affair: Arista, who we last heard from in October when Walls jumped all those charts, raising the question of whether he's still with them. As they were his label for the US only due to him being tied to Syco in the UK, and with Syco out of the picture, it is plausible that he is choosing to move forward with a single deal rather than one fragmented by region. That’s fine though, the rest of us are celebrating enough as it is, and whoever gets him for that deal (or already did) sure will be too! Charlie Lightening, Krystal, and Helene all put up BTS pictures, as did the camera team, who were the same ones who shot Niall's RAH show, and Helene added a heartfelt congratulations, saying, “The voice needs time to build strength, flexibility, and all things magical..Great Singers start way in advance before hitting the mic...I am happy to say we managed on Zoom...to prepare a big ass show vocally.. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and that… *mic emoji* *heart emoji*”. Welsh production company Krupa welcomed their new followers and also confirmed the MASSIVE amount of money that Louis had raised! Charlie Lightning's pictures are, well, lightning in a bottle and I look forward to seeing them in moodboards here for years to come, and Krystal (Louis’ makeup artist) gave us a fun close up of Louis laughing backstage while she tries to fix his (recently trimmed?) hair. God, he’s beautiful. Alex Oriet is EVERYWHERE these days, because he took a break from hanging with Zayn to ask us all what we thought of ‘Copy’ - uh, AMAZING!

Liam is back(ish)! He did a few promos for Naughty List and went on Roman Kemp’s show to talk about his upcoming Capital Up Close show, joking that he might be dressing up as the Grinch. Roman, of course, took that as his cue to do the voice (“eight o’clock, wallow in self pity, can’t cancel that again”), to which Liam burst out laughing and said, “I’ve been on the phone with about 12 people, I just can’t handle it”. ‘Tis the season, huh? And their advent alarm today included...more terrible jokes! “What do you get when you eat Christmas decorations? Tinselitis!”.Also Maya posted a pic taken at Liam's place showing the framed pic of Liam and Louis from gogglebox in the background, still in its place of pride on the mantle. Quite right, I would do the same with a pic of me and Louis! For some belated Fine Line celebrations, Mitch Rowland posted some behind the scenes content, (and WHERE’S THE REST OF IT?), and Fine Line has officially been on Billboards Top 200 for A FULL YEAR NOW, AND it’s been in the top 25 THE WHOLE TIME! Iconic! Harry had a late night on Instagram, which could totally be due to the fact that he was celebrating yesterday, but he followed another artist that’s signed to FullStop (Roddy Rich) and liked King Princess’ new music video announcement, who’s caption read (among other things), “working with your partner on a video is like having a best friend on set who you KNOW WILL MAKE U LOOK GOOD lmao”. #relatable. Not to me, but probably to him! Meanwhile, Niall promoted an Irish livestream taking place at the Guinness Storehouse. Find me a more Irish event, I DARE you.

#zayn #louis tomlinson #liam payne #harry styles #niall horan #and my fav part about the louis press is that its ALL been ONLY about his career! FUCK YEAH!#anyways!#song of the day!#Sounds of Someday by Radio Company #which was a rec from a friend today that I ended up LOVING so s/o to her

200 notes · View notes

fool-of-second-breakfast · 3 years

Text

Connor Murphy wasn't a bad person.

He was misunderstood by everyone, including his own family. When people say that he wouldn't have regretted his death because the Connor project did so much good, and his sister got a kind and caring boyfriend, in my eyes are wrong. Because in the book he has clearly stated that he just doesn't care, he didn't see the point. He was dead, anything that happened after just didn't matter.

He didn't understand why Evan was making up lies about being his friend, he thought it was weird but ultimately didn't care. Yes he did get annoyed at his mother for believing what Evan said about him, but never openly got mad at him for doing it. He got mad at his mom for believing it because she never took the time to actually know her son.

His own parents refused to understand and listen to him, opting to just treat him like a project, hoping that if they just threw money at the issue that it would get better. In reality, Connor only wanted someone that would listen to him, who could understand him, he never really got that. Granted his parents did love him, but they didn't treat him right. They didn't want to deal and actually talk out his problems, they just wanted him fixed.

Connor just didn’t want to be alone, but he was.

When people say that Connor is a terrible person for the way that he treated Zoe, they don't understand that Zoe also treated him horribly. Yes Zoe was neglected by her parents because they were concerned with Connor, but does that give her the right to treat Connor horribly? I don't think so. In reality she should have been mad at her parents and not Connor. It was her parents that put Connor above her, not Connor putting himself above her. Connor wanted help, he wanted someone to just listen and understand him. He never got that. He never got to be himself either, he tried. But it didn't work out.

"But see, anytime my mother got a glimpse of the raw me, she couldn't take it. There'd be so much fear in her eyes. There was love, too- I saw it. But the fear... that's what stuck with me. You catch that look, and it's not like you're itching to open yourself up. No, you shut down pretty quickly."

Another line.

"I suppose this is what I get for building my walls so high. My family never got to know about my life."

He didn't let his family get to know him, because he scared his family. He loved them, and he knew that they loved him, but he scared them. He knew that he was ultimately alone, he had nobody and nobody wanted him. So he made his exit, and you can't blame him for doing so.

Another thing that people don't mention nearly enough. Connor was an avid reader. He constantly quotes/brings up famous writers or people (Shakespeare, Nietzsche, etc) Evan also goes on to mention books that he notices that Connor owns. And points it out as a similarity that they had.

"Also, like me, Connor has shelves crammed with books. I see The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Catcher In The Rye, The Great Gatsby, and The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh. Some of the stuff I've never heard of, some I have... He's got at least a half a dozen Kurt Vonnegut novels. A few have Dewey decimal numbers on the spines."

He goes on to point out one book that they have both read. "Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer." He goes on to say that it's a weird feeling, knowing that they've both read the same book. That he could've had more in common with him. That they could've had a conversation about the books they've read, that maybe they could've been friends. Evan then goes on to open Connors sketch book, landing on a page of a man being rained on by rats and spiders. The caption of the drawing reading, "Crittercism." Evan finds it clever and funny.

So yeah, Evan could've been Connor's friend. Main word being "Could've". They were both socially awkward, and anxiety ridden, so in reality, no they probably wouldn't have become friends. Neither of them would've sucked up the courage to try.

Not to mention, Connor did have a friend, Miguel. Who is not talked about enough. Because Connor did have feelings for Miguel, but he was scared. Scared whenever Miguel would get too close, and whenever Miguel did get too close he would jump away, only allowing Miguel to get tiny glimpses of his raw self. And as mentioned earlier, his family was scared of his raw self, he didn't want to lose Miguel over that, didn't want to lose Miguel because he finally decided to open up and show him his raw self. He didn't want Miguel to become scared of him like his family had.

That is one of the reasons why I hate when people say that Connor was a terrible and heartless person, because he wasn't. He was just scared.

Another reason why I hate it when people say that is because once Evan comes clean to the Murphys, he leaves, wandering out onto the street. Connor follows. Not angry with him, but actually relates to what Evan is saying and going through. He watches as Evan breaks, coming to sit in the middle of the street. Connor begins to get almost worried for Evan, checking the street for cars before feeling compelled to try and reason with Evan. He knows that Evan can't actually hear him, but try anyways.

"Get up, I say. He shakes his head, keeps shaking it. He can try to wish the pain away. Not going to make it stop. Trust me, I tried." A distant headlight appears. He knows that Evan sees it, but Evan still doesn't move.

Connor keeps trying to get Evan to move. Eventually getting right in his face.

"Own it, I say. I wasn't able to. You hear me? Evan? That's what you do. You get up. And you own it."

You can't tell me that Connor was a horrible person, when he tried to help Evan knowing that Evan couldn't hear him. Tried to help the boy that made up lies about his life.

Connor never blamed Evan for anything, because he understood Evan more than anyone would ever understand himself. He understood Evan the same way he wanted someone to understand himself.

Ultimately I don't think Connor did anything wrong, or that he was a bad person. In my eyes, he's an amazing character. As a person, and a character. He is so misunderstood, it's sad seeing a character that was already misunderstood, continue to be misunderstood.

Connor was alone. He loved jokes. He was sensitive. He didn’t blame anyone for what happened, “It’s no one’s fault. And it’s everyone’s.”

Connor made his exit.

#dear evan hansen #dear evan hansen the book #connor murphy #deh #connor deh #deh connor #wasnt a bad guy #misunderstood #misunderstood character #character insight #understanding #understanding a character #deh connor murphy

67 notes · View notes

goodlucktkachuk · 4 years

Text

Frantic -- Matthew Tkachuk (Pt.2)

a/n: And by popular demand we have part two. Hope you guys enjoy!

Part One

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

Instantly a smile covered your face as you pressed confirm. Your instagram was nothing of scandal, mainly paintings or doodles, a few pictures of you and Emily, and some vacation photos from last summer in Muskoka that you knew Matthew will enjoy. When Mitch reentered the room he shot you a puzzled look.

“What’s got you so chipper mini?” He teased, using the nickname your mom affectionately gave you when you were four and in a phase where you followed Mitch everywhere.

Chuckling, you shrugged your shoulders, “Emily sent me a really funny video of Nick in a facemask.” He laughed at the thought and the topic was dropped.

Around 1am, Mitch was blacked out on the couch next to you so you took the blanket you had wrapped around you and you tried to place it as softly as possible on your sleeping brother. After turning off the TV, you headed into their bathroom to borrow Steph’s makeup wipes. As you stared at yourself in the mirror for the first time that day and you could really see how tired you were. The all nighters of homework and the rush and fall of going to games had started to catch up with you. You quickly slipped into Mitches closet and grabbed one of his old London hoodies and a pair of boxers. Once you found yourself in your pajamas and the warm embrace of the guest bed you flicked your eyes on your phone once again.

*Matthew_Tkachuk has sent you a message*

Intrigued by what the boy has to say you slid over the notification and unlocked your phone.

Matthew: first of all, what the fuck? Had I know it was you I wouldn’t have said what I said

Y/N: what?

Matthew: You didn’t think to mention that you're a mini marnie princess?

Y/N: why does it matter matty? Not like I live with him anymore. I’m an adult now Matty

Matthew: You’re still Mitches kid sister Y/N! I can’t just brush that off

Your chest ran tight after hearing him call you a kid. You knew you were younger but didn’t see the big deal about it.

Y/N: Oh give me a break, I’m 19, I’m all grown up now Tkachuk

Matthew: prove it, move this to snap and put your money where your mouth is ;)

Your heart fluttered in your chest but before you could enjoy it you found yourself mentally scorning yourself. This was your brother's old teammate and a family friend. Hell, you and Tayrn were attached at the hip everytime you two were together. There was too much history. Even though everything in your mind screamed no you found yourself accepting his proposal anyway before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning you woke up to find there was a sticky note placed firmly on your forehead. Pulling it off slowly, you flipped it over and it read ‘Went out for lunch with some of the team. Text me when you wake up’ The fact he couldn’t have just texted you that made you roll your eyes. You slowly lifted yourself out of the bed and started your staggered walk to the guest bathroom.

The sight in the mirror this morning was actually pretty cute. Your braids were slightly a mess from the night before but it went nicely with how Mitches sweater fit you and how his boxers hung off your hips. You snapped a picture of you throwing up a peace sign and posted it on your story with some witty caption about stealing Mitch’s clothes and looking better in them before hopping in the shower.

After departing from the warmth of the shower you changed back into your jeans from the night before and kept the sweater on. You ordered yourself some food and pulled out your laptop to get some school work done. Before you dove into art history and marketing techniques you opened a snapchat from Matt.

It wasn’t anything groundbreaking. He was sitting in a restaurant somewhere in a nice polo shirt. You could see half his face and his curls were pushed up with a red bandana. You stared at it for so long that you almost forgot to read what it said. ‘Snazzy hoodie you got there mini marnie, too bad it has the wrong name on the back’

You followed suit with your response, only sending half your face with a smirk plastered to your lips. ‘See Marner suits me so much better than Tkachuk so I think I’ll stick with this one!’

Matthew smiles at his phone. He was at a team lunch with the Flames and a few Leafs to catch up before they had to head back to Calgary. It was nice to see all the boys again, especially Mitch even though he had a different Marner on his mind. The lunch was overall pleasant even with all the dirty looks he had got from Auston any time anyone mentioned Y/N. As hard as it was for him not to spew endless chirps, he knew if he ever wanted a shot with you he knew he had to bite his tongue.

Deciding taking photos wasn’t the smartest way to hide what he was doing he texted you back instead. “Ouch Y/N that one hurt a bit. Hopefully in a few years you’ll change your mind ;)”

Y/N: In your dreams, Tkachuk. The team already has me destined to be with Aus so you gotta get in line.

Seeing those words made a fire erupt in his body. He knew you were probably just joking around but the idea of Auston getting to hold you made his blood run cold. Maybe that friendly warning wasn’t in the best interest of Y/N but Auston being selfish.

Matty: Auston has nothing on me sweetheart.

His words stopped you in your tracks. You never thought the juvenile feelings you had for Matthew would ever be reciprocated but here he was playing the game right back.

Y/N: I don’t know Matty, I’ve seen what Austons packing

As soon as Matthew read your text he slammed his phone down with a ‘Fuck’ that was a bit too loud making all the guys look at him.

“What’s your deal?” Johnny asks, confused at his sudden outburst.

“Nothing.” Matthew says before he picks his phone backup and answers his text.

Matthew: I’m sorry what?

Before you answered, your mind drifted back to the previous summer. Mitch had invited the team and their girlfriends up to your cottage for one of the long weekends. It was a really fun weekend filled with drinking, boating, bonfires and even more drinking. On the last night there, Auston had a bit too much and proceeded to take off his swim trunks and run full force into the lake. Thinking it was hilarious, a few of the other boys followed suit. Unfortunately, because of where you were sitting when this happened, you saw a bit more of your brother's teammate than you would like to.

Snapping back to realted you messaged him back.

Y/N: you read what I sent

Matthew: tell me how good he was and then let me show you something better princess.

A mad blush crossed your face at the thought of Matthew showing you what he could do. You pushed those thoughts out of your head and began work on the lecture notes you were avoiding. Trying your best to push the thought of him having his way with you out of your head.

A few hours passed and the boys all crashed into Mitches apartment. Mo, Jake, and Zach set up shop on the bar stools across from you as Auston draped himself over your shoulders. Mitch leaned over the edge of the counter, all of them talking over each other. You missed having a house full of players all having fun. Matthew texted you again and you quickly turned your phone over before anyone could see it but you weren’t fast enough. Hearing your phone go off and seeing Auston look over your shoulder, Jake shot him a look to which Auston just shook his head and they both frowned knowing it was Tkachuk. Still typing away on your computer, Aus reached down putting his hands on yours and the pressure alone messed you up. As you went to scold him Jake interrupted you.

“So Y/N did you hear the Sandman and his girlfriend broke up?”

“I didn’t actually, I thought they were gonna get engaged?” Not looking up from your screen you tried speaking with as little interest as possible.

He shrugged his shoulders then continued “Guess it didn’t work out” He took a slight pause while Auston nodded at him “Maybe you two should go out. Mitch mentioned at lunch you aren't seeing anyone.”

“I’m not sure dating another leaf is a good idea.” You responded still trying to feign interest.

“I think that would be a great idea.” Aus chimed in from behind you.

“I don’t remember asking what you thought, Auston.” You bite back.

You could cut the tension between you and Auston with a knife. After about a minute of no one saying anything, Mitch clapped loudly to catch the group's attention before he spoke.

“Alright boys I think it's time for some Modern Warfare” The boys all nodded and headed towards the living room.

Auston leaned in close, whispering in your ear before going to meet the others, “It’s cause he’s young right? I know guys my age are more your speed these days.”

You flinched slightly, “I don’t know what you're talking about” You tried to say as smoothly as possible.

“If you say so, pest.” The last word basically being spat at you with a hostility you had never felt from him before. He finally let go of you and headed for the living room.

With that comment you had had enough and excused yourself to head back to your apartment. On your way down to the lobby knowing you were safe from the watchful eye of Auston and Jake you decided to answer Matthew.

Matthew: Y/N? Did I say something that's going to get me in trouble?

Y/N: Sorry, got distracted by some homework. Since when is Matty Tkachuk afraid of causing a little trouble ?

Part Three

#matthew tkachuk #matty tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #nhl imagine #nhl #hockey #calgary flames #flames imagine #auston matthews #mitch marner #toronto maple leafs

165 notes · View notes

calypsoff · 3 years

Text

Sixty Eight. Part 2

Watching Chris walk off in a huff and go to bed sad is actually making me smile, I should not feel like this but it’s just funny that he assumes I would do nothing for him, but he is basing it off what happened with Drake but I do forgive him for it but it makes me smile that he’s upset, it sounds so evil “he’s really upset” Mel said in a whisper “he is very hurt, close the door” I pointed, Mel is walking over to sit next to me “you nasty, like you being so cold with him” Mel closed the door “he’s not there anyways, he has gone upstairs” Mel made her way over to sit with me “the thing is I have said to him, I do forgive you but in his mind he doesn’t think it. I haven’t mentioned anything to him about his birthday, I’ve been very formal and just kept it neutral, but it will be bigger the surprise. Shall we start doing the house up? I am excited to see his face though, I have spoilt him a lot. Like when I found out what happened in Canada I wanted to say fuck it no, but he’s a good guy, he didn’t mean it but I also got him something big too” I have spoilt him too much I think “what else did you get him?” Rorrey asked “a Rolex, I got him a Rolex because I feel like he’s with people that have money and I want him to keep with appearances and I want him to have all these chains and stuff, I got him a Rolex on top of the party and cars so he’s getting very spoilt. This is why I said for nobody to give him anything, he has a lot already and he doesn’t need it. Just being there is nice enough so yeah” I breathed out smiling “that’s sweet you know, he’s going to appreciate that so much, Chris is a very thankful man. Humble too, he seems to me like he never cares for the riches and things. He goes out pretty simple and I have seen the man wear that Gucci jacket every time we out. Humble, I like him so I got him a gift because I wanted too. Just a little something for the man” I cooed out “hope you wrote that love letter in his birthday card” Rorrey laughed “you’re annoying, I see why he went to sleep” rolling my eyes at my brother.

We have done the house up; well I say that. Half of the balloons popped because they are being stupid but it’s twelve and I feel bad he went to sleep so I am just here going through pictures of him, I wanted to do a throwback but no, I am going to post one from our honeymoon I took of him at the bar, just the way he looked at me in that moment and he knew I was taking a picture of him. Just that smile, wow I love him “you smiling hard but not help us?” Looking up from my phone “I am making a heartfelt post about my husband, now hush” they can wait for whatever they are doing because I need to finish this, looking back down at my phone, I sighed out heavily because where do I start with this post, I don’t want to do too much either. Let me keep it cute ‘I just want to wish my husband the best birthday. My best friend, a father. I could write so much but I will save you all the sick show lol. I love you’ I didn’t want to overdo it so this will be the shortest but I wrote what I wanted in his birthday card, looking up from my phone “you emotional” Noella said, nodding my head “just weird, I’m not alone like I always thought I would be. Just makes me emotional. A man can love me” I chuckled “I’m fine, let’s get this done” pressing send on the post, I just think to myself how lonely I really could have been because men saw me as nothing. I can’t see myself without Chris and that is really scary for me, I have always been scared of men in general because of my father being the man he is so I get scared when I actually think how deep in love I am.

This is cute, we have decorated the stairs, the hallway. The living room, we have a cardboard cutout of Chris in his high school jersey, it’s so cute. Just how I remember him, poking my lips out to the side of the cardboard cutout as Mel took the picture “done” I laughed moving back “I mean he was skinny but boy he was very skinny then, imagine a young me crooning over him” Mel snorted laughing “if I was there I would be like sister no, let’s go for the bigger men” taking my phone from Mel, walking off laughing at the picture. He was a little short here too, look at me leaning down to him with my bump in the way. Adding a caption ‘How I met your father ;)’ pressing send “aye! Come on now” these bitches out here twerking on it “we playing” waving them off “y’all have fun, I’m going to bed. Night y’all and see y’all in the morning” waving them off, I need to sleep, or I will be miserable thoughtout the day and night because of the party. Walking up the steps, I am very proud of the handy work. We all put in the effort to do it up, all we need now is Chris wakes up or he just randomly comes down, but I hope not. I have some more teasing to do with him, reaching the top of the steps. I am so tired actually, I was tired of watching girls lusting over Chris, like they keep on saying do all country niggas look like you, oh you fine. Like leave my husband alone, it was annoying, but Chris didn’t care for it. Pushing open the bedroom door, as expected he is asleep. My poor husband fell asleep in annoyance of me, well I did need to get him back for the pain I went through, but he really needs to catch up on when I am trolling him and when I’m not, if like I would do that to him unless he did cheat then I would divorce him. Peaking over at Chris asleep, pouty baby is so cute asleep. I want to ride him.

I am more excited about his birthday, I think it’s more to do with the fact I know but I woke him up before him, this is how much Chris is depressed about his birthday, he is such a drama queen for nothing “done sulking?” He slumped onto the bed “you’re so miserable, honestly. Open my card, get up and read it” he groaned out getting up from the bed “breastfeed me or something, this is wack” side eyeing him as he got up “don’t be so negative, it’s not nice so appreciate what you get” he sat up on the bed “mhmmm ok” he took the card from my lap “thank you Robyn” he sighed out, he is so miserable. My smile grew, he is going to be so shocked tonight because I have invited so many people, I have gone above and beyond for him and I wish I could tell him, but he will find out eventually “aye! It’s me” he turned the card to me, a picture of Chris and I together “I look so slim there” I complimented myself “yeah, you have added some pounds” rolling my eyes, watching him open the card as I reached over my side table and grabbed the Rolex box “no money in this either, Rihanna broke already” he laughed “To Poppa, oh wow. This is a story” he cleared his throat “to Poppa, I want to wish you a happy birthday. The day you were born I know our stars aligned and our path would have crossed no matter when or how, it would have happened. You have been the light of my life, and I mean that because the fame isn’t anything to me because I was lonely. You love me when I was unloved and never once questioned me on why I felt that way and waited until I opened up to you, you never said to me the word love when we were just silly teenagers, but you sure did show it, now you’re never shy to show me that or say it to me. Thank you for loving me Chris, this your first birthday as my husband and I couldn’t be happier, love twin” Chris looked up from the card “don’t say that you’re always loved Robyn” biting on my top lip, I am so emotional “but a man, a male to love me just for me” Chris moved from his position and over to me “don’t think that, men are fickle like that. Thank you, you got me choked up though” he kissed my cheek “thank you, love you twin. Stop the emotions, damn” he moved back “that was sweet, thank you” he said it again “I come with a gift too, this is from me and your daughter” holding out the box and card “really? Oh wow” he took the box and card “this holds weight, damn” Chris grinned, he knows I don’t play when it comes to him.

Watching him with my phone in hand open the card “awww what!” He turned the card to me and I quickly took a picture of his reaction “you like?” I smiled wide “Happy Birthday from the bump, man. Look at the scan picture, she is so beautiful. Thank you” cropping the picture because ain’t no way any bitch is seeing my man in his boxers, they can see chest but his excited smiley face when he saw the card, just shock. Adding a caption ‘Happy Birthday from the bump!’ Pressing send “Happy Birthday dad, I can’t wait to meet you and for you to share your love with me, I know I will be safe in your arms. Love Baby Fenty-Brown” Chris sniffled “that’s amazing, emotional here. Wow, my daughter already got me choked up. Thank you to my beautiful ladies’ wow” I am proud of myself, I got him good “you happy baby? It’s ok, you can cry” he is trying to hold it back” he wiped his eyes “I am good “thank you, I really appreciate it” I cooed out “I know you do Chris, it’s ok” he picked up the Rolex box, I got him an eighteen carat gold Rolex, Diamond bezel and shoulders, ruby dot hours. Diamond dials. It was never cheap that, but it’s from his daughter and me so he better appreciate it “it’s big” he started ripping the wrapping paper from it, I love watching people open gifts. He stopped opening the paper and gasped looking up at me, he is excited. His eyes have lit up “no way” it reminds me of when I got him that Gucci jacket “for me!?” he placed it on the bed and he rolled off the bed “what you doing?” watching him run around the room, giggling at him as he went into the walk in closet and back out. I yelped out as I thought he was going to tackle me, but he jumped over me and back onto the bed “no way! Are you serious!?” I laughed nodding my head “open it poppa” he plopped down onto the bed “I can’t even, Robyn oh my god” he ripped it all open “Rolex!? This is a legit Rolex; I don’t deserve you Robyn. Oh my god, this is too much. What” he is so overjoyed, I am happy “this is from me and baby” he opened the box “oh my god, no way” he shook his head staring at it “Robyn this is crazy, wow. I can’t even, thank you. Oh my god. This is amazing” he crawled over to me “thank you so much, oh my god” hugging him back.

Chris is very excited, like to see him like this is so cute “Rorrey really got me this!? Like this is crazy, now I look like the man of the house, look at me” he came out in the Versace robe “I will let you think that, are you done playing in your robe?” he is here twirling and shit “I am so amazed, oh my god. Wait till I show my mom and dad, they are going to be extra amazed” he is like an excited child and it’s cute “thank you” Chris wrapped his arms around me once again and pressed a kiss to my cheek “it’s ok, come. Let’s go downstairs now, damn. You can show Rorrey the robe, I am sure he will be proud” Chris not moving out of the room, he finally moved. Walking behind him out of the bedroom “I feel so much better, like I really do. I went to bed all sad and shit, like I felt nobody cared” I cooed out, wait till he has his party, and he can see how much people do care “wait?” Chris pointed at the stairs “go down” I laughed “you lied to me all this time, you just tortured me for what” I shrugged “go down then, you know I am slow” Chris went rushing down while I of course made my way down slowly, Rorrey is awake he did text me asking. Also my mother is awake because she mentioned she will make breakfast for him; she is so sweet. I can hear both Rorrey and Chris, they are both kids “you flexing! See when we go on holiday, cigar and robes, we going to be living! I got you, you’re coming with me!” I would say yes to that, it’s with Rorrey too so I don’t mind that “what you think?” I grinned making my way to Chris “dope, thank you. Everyone, like this is amazing, and Monica’ food too!” I can smell that food strong.

“Morning Melissa, you came extra late. We ate whore” Mel side eyed me “who’s fault is that, last minute thing my ass but happy birthday Chris has Noella not gave you our gift yet?” Chris shook his head “I don’t want anything now, I am good. Honestly Robyn got me a Rolex, that is enough for me” Mel cooed out “that is cute, you sure it’s real” I snorted laughing “I am joking, honestly” she is such a bitch “Chris, don’t listen to her. It’s real, very real” Mel sat down at the table with us “we are going for a meal tonight actually so you need to look cute, not so much birthday meal but I can’t be bothered to cook” my mother doesn’t approve of my ways of saying things, she says I am being mean but I’m not “that’s cool, I can find an outfit. I can wear my Rolex too, that is amazing. It’s my birthday so I will pay for the meal” I grinned “how sweet of you, but I have an outfit for you to wear so just wear that” Chris is so happy, here I am trying to make out we ain’t doing anything else “I think Robyn should stay home, mommy you hear what she did, she made him go bed early on the eve of his birthday because she just acted like it meant nothing” Rorrey is a snitch “that is your husband Robyn, stop it. Jokes can hurt feelings” I sighed out “Rorrey shut up, honestly. I didn’t do anything, look how happy he is, I know how to make him happy” I don’t know why Rorrey has to set my mom off for nothing.

#chrianna fanfiction #fanfiction #chriannaff #chrianna #chrianna ff #fanfic

8 notes · View notes

what-big-teeth · 4 years

Text

Admire (Male Naga ; Fic Raffle)

And done! @glugenash requested a meet-cute between a male reader and a naga of any gender. I decided to go with a male naga and let my imagination take hold to make this wonderful idea even cuter. I hope you all enjoy this fic! Male Reader (POV) x Male Monster If there’s one place you can truly relax while curling up with a good book, it’s the library.

Ever since you moved into town for a better job opportunity, you attempted to combat the new stressors that turned up as a result. Exercise, meditation, doing the bare minimum on the weekends. Nothing could compare to the public library and its innate charm. This is why you’re seated at your favorite table.

Tucked into one of the historical building’s many corners beside a large window, there’s always just enough sunlight to happily bask in and use while reading. These simple reasons—and the woodsy, vanillin scent of the surrounding book collection—are why you’ve decided to revisit an old series. Something about embracing a nostalgic memory at your table alleviates your pent-up stress like nothing else.

Which is why the sensation of being watched feels so foreign.

You’ve attempted to look around as discreetly as possible. But your eyes haven’t encountered anything out of the ordinary. Just the usual, book-lined shelves and wooden lectern holding an old, massive dictionary.

Still, you can’t fully shake the feeling. Your gut has rarely led you astray, which is why you keep glancing around. After a fleeting moment, you think you see a dark shape shrink away behind a nearby shelf. You stand up, intent on finding out who your odd observer is. But an insistent buzzing from your jeans pocket breaks your focus. Knowing that your library hasn’t made the full transition to a ‘loud facility’ yet, you step away from your spot, leaving your book behind to take the call outside.

Unsurprisingly, it’s work. Or rather, your boss. One of your co-workers has taken ill suddenly, and he needs you to fill in for her shift until he recovers. There’ll be extra pay as compensation, which helps to sweeten the deal. But when your boss mentions the project your co-worker has been toiling over for the last few weeks, you silently wince. You honestly would rather not take on the extra work, but the extra money would really help.

Your boss says your name in a questioning manner. Looks like you accidentally zoned out.

“Sure thing,” you say with a forced, cheerful tone. You can already feel the mounting stress that’ll have you on edge. With a final, merry “thanks!” and farewell, the call ends. This new development calls for some extra self-care.

You head back inside the library, making your way over to the built-in cafe. It’s a welcomed new addition, especially since they make some of the best, homebrew tea and pastries you’ve ever had. With your cup of honeyed chamomile and warmed confection in hand, you return to your sunshine laden table.

Your book is in its usual spot, but it’s been closed with a tasseled bookmark keeping track of your place. You didn’t pick up one while greeting Jason at the circulation desk. After mentally marking which page you left off on, you untuck it from between the pages. The design is, well, it’s amazing. Hand drawn swirls of complimentary colors balance each other out while being lined with careful, fine-tipped black lines. And the tassel is uniquely soft to the touch, the threads feeling similar to silk. You’re so drawn to the workmanship of the bookmark that you almost overlook the neatly folded piece of paper on the table.

The Farandale Chronicles is one of my favorite series. If you’d like to read something similar, I’d like to suggest the Crystal of Might series, written by Malkus Morak. — D

You re-read the note a few times. But no matter how much you attempt to place the neat handwriting, you can’t. There isn’t anything untoward about the suggestion, honestly. And the bookmark is an unexpected, if creative gift. Decision made, you replace the bookmark and head over to the Science Fiction section.

It doesn’t take long to find the suggested book and read the blurb on the jacket’s interior. You can’t deny that it sounds like something right up your alley. Even better, there are three more books in the series.

“Think I will try this out,” you mutter to yourself. “Thanks for the suggestion, D.”

You bundle the new book together with your old favorite, being cautious of your food, and fall in line before the circulation desk. It doesn’t take long for you to reach the front and greet the tawny, curly-haired minotaur behind the counter with a smile.

“How are things going, Jason?” He nods in reply, stalwart as ever as he carefully checks both books for possible damage before checking them out to you.

“Three weeks, as usual,” he murmurs with a deep voice. He gestures to the new book you’ve decided to read. “Should I put the sequel on hold for you?”

“That’d be great!”

After nimbly using the keyboard to complete your request, he hands both books to you with a gentle puff of air.

“Anything else I can help you with?”

Wetting your lips, you tug the handwritten note from between the cover and first page of Morak’s book.

“Would you happen to know whose handwriting this is?”

Jason gently takes the note from you, his warm brown eyes scanning the contents. With a small cough, he hands it back to you.

“Sorry, I don’t. But I’m glad they wrote on a slip of paper instead of damaging the book.”

You can’t help but chuckle. Ever since you met him, Jason’s always been a stickler for the rules when it comes to the library. Quiet yet firm. You pocket the note, being careful to not crease it any further.

“That’s fine,” you say. “It was worth a shot, anyway.”

“Be sure to finish your food while on site,” he says. “The Director is still leery about folks taking off with the cafe’s food.”

“Don’t worry,” you say, smiling. “There’s a bench outside that called to me when I stepped out earlier. Take care.”

As you leave with your new reading materials and food, you can’t stop the thrill of excitement that wells up inside you. Besides being a place of reprieve, you beloved library has provided an interesting mystery as well. And it’s one you intend to solve.

_______________________________________________

Like clockwork, you return the same day next week. Thankfully, your boss was kind enough to give you the weekend off after you took on your duties and that of your sick co-worker. It gives you just enough time to destress at the library. This time, you make a beeline for the cafe, ordering some calming tea and a new, but delectable looking pastry. Jason greets you at the circulation desk and checks out Molak’s second book to you. Once you’ve checked that your usual spot hasn’t been taken, you swiftly lay claim with your purchased items and settle in your seat.

After drinking your tea and eating your pastry, you find yourself feeling better. You open the hardback’s cover, highly interested in seeing what’ll happen to the protagonists next. But two slips of paper flutter out from the book, like before. The material is thicker this time around, similar to reinforced sketchbook paper. Your eyes widen as you realize why.

The subject of the drawing is someone you know too well. It’s you. The sketch depicts a past you sitting where you are now, looking content with a soft smile on your face as you read. Little details jump out as you take in the entirety of the work. The slight dents on the side of the old table you graze your hand over time and time again. The way you hold a book that you find immensely but surprisingly pleasing. The almost starstruck expression lighting up your features as you leave this world for another while reading…

Underneath, in familiar elegant writing, the caption reads ‘Entranced Beauty’. Heat wells up within your cheeks as you read the words over and over again. Your fingertip glides against the lettering as you pick up the other slip of paper from the carpeted floor.

There have been many times I’ve wanted to tell you how wonderful you look when you’re lost in your own world. But I’m afraid that, verbally, words fail me. At least this skill of mine can say more than what I could ever hope. For a while now, I’ve hoped I could be invited to come along with you as another book takes hold of your imagination. But I refuse to think that such lofty hopes can be achieved, considering what I am. I’m merely glad that my suggestion was pleasing to you, and I hope I can continue to provide doors for you to walk through when you need a break from this world. — D

Your heart pounds loudly inside your chest and head as the heat in your cheeks spread throughout your whole body. All you can think about is discovering who your admirer is and meeting them face to face. After all, someone who can write and such sweet thoughts and draw so beautifully can’t be as bad as they think. With this thought as encouragement, you find Molak’s collection and take the third book of his series from the shelf. You wait in line behind a couple, a gorgon and gargoyle, as Jason helps them with their items. Once they’re taken care of, you step up to the circulation desk and set the book down.

“Find everything you were looking for?” he asks.

You’re tempted to say ‘yes’, but stop short.

“No,” you say. “I...I need your help.”

You show Jason the sketch and note, asking once again if he happens to know anything. After all, the note and sketch had to be put in place before you checked out the second book. And all holds are reserved behind the circulation desk for all patrons.

A strange silence falls between the two of you. It’s broken by Jason coughing into his closed fist as he averts his gaze.

“You do know something, don’t you?” you murmur.Jason glances your way before letting his eyes drop to the computer screen in front of him.

“I get it.” You pause to reign in your voice, surprised at the sudden loudness of it. “I understand you’re trying to protect D, especially because they feel like they can’t face me. But you know me, Jason. I won’t hurt them. I just want to meet them and tell them my appreciation.”

Once more, you bring out the sketch and place it on the circulation desk before you. “Please, help me.”

Jason’s gaze finds the sketch and settles on it. He finally lets out a soft huff of air then rubs the back of his neck with his hand.

“I didn’t realize how deeply D fell for you,” he says. “I thought it was just a crush. Alright. I’ll help you out. Not only do you deserve a happy ending, but so does D. Just...be gentle with him, alright? He’s been through a lot.”

“I will,” you say, letting your words carry your promise. “Thank you, Jason.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” he mutters. “Gonna have to see how this goes, first. Alright, D always comes like clockwork on Wednesday evenings...”

You take Jason at his word and return to the library at the time and day he suggested. Sure, it involved rearranging your work schedule somewhat, but your now-well co-worker was more than happy to return the favor you showed her. Probably helps that she’s somewhat of a romantic and readily agreed after you explained the situation to her.With careful steps, you make your way towards your usual spot. The last few rays of the setting sun fall onto the table and the naga sitting at it.

The quiet breath you’re taking in stalls at the sight.

With rich, golden brown skin, you can’t help but wonder why D would think himself unattractive. More so thanks to his jet black hair, which is pulled back into a bun, and his matching scales. Even the slight creme of his underbelly, which you can barely make out due to his button-down shirt, is charming. Remembering Jason’s advice, you carefully approach the table as he remains lost in a book held in his clawed hands. It’s the third book in Molak’s fantasy series. You can’t help but smile at the realization.

“Excuse me,” you say.

D startles, tensing at your soft voice. His pupils dilate somewhat in reply as he looks at you. With him looking head on at you, you notice the scaled skin on the sides of his neck. A hood, like that of a cobra. He looks close to bolting right then and there, but you gently press on.

“By chance, are you D?”

D gulps down a few breaths of air.

“N-no, I’m…”

Your body intuitively moves, laying a gentle hand on his upper arm in what you hope is a soothing gesture.

“I want the same thing,” you say. “I want to let you into my world so that we can make one of our own. Together.”

The scaled hood at his neck flares somewhat, but you don’t feel any fear. If anything, you’re entranced. How can such a charming, handsome naga think he’s anything less? After a few tense moments, D finally relaxes then nods.

“I...I am D.”

He meets your gaze, and you almost feel yourself fall into the molten gold of his eyes.

“I didn’t want you to know because not too many people want anything to do with me. My lineage is from a King Cobra clan, which makes me venomous. And that tends to make others uncomfortable. I-I didn’t want you to feel the same, but I couldn’t hide how I felt about you after I first saw you a few months ago. Jason thought...he suggested I could let you know anonymously and I agreed. I thought that would be best. I’m just surprised you’d want to seek me out.”

You can’t help but smile while gently gripping D’s upper arm.

“You left me with an amazing mystery to solve. And as much as you want to know me, I found myself wanting to know the person behind the ‘D’ moniker. I still do, if that’s alright with you.”

D gives you a soft smile in return, which reveals a hint of his sharp fangs. They’re rather cute, just like the rest of him. He stands up and extends a hand towards you.

“Then, let me officially introduce myself. I’m Danilo.”

You take his hand and shake it while giving him your name. When he attempts to pull his hand away, you gently squeeze it. Danilo’s breath catches as you maneuver your fingers so they twine with his.

“B-by chance,” he nearly squeaks out, “do you like Filipino food? I know a place that serves dishes similar to what I grew up with back home.”

“I haven’t had it before,” you say, “but I’m excited to try it out. I hope you don’t mind acting as my culinary tour guide.”

Danilo gives you another soft smile as he huffs out a laugh.

“Not at all.”

You both head towards the circulation desk, where you see Jason positively beaming at the two of you. As Danilo tells you about his work as a graphic designer and animator, you find yourself hanging on his every word. As he hands Jason the third and final book of the trilogy, you smile.

You can’t wait to see what else you both have in common.

#monster boyfriend #monster/human #monster romance #exophilia #naga boyfriend #terato #300 Follower Raffle #I hope you all enjoy!

158 notes · View notes

rhiezus · 4 years

Text

Special Q&A with Moon Nayoung.

now that you’re not an actress anymore, the world is dying to know: what is moon nayoung doing?

what a pesky devil of you. it’s not like i’m very busy but it’s not i want to be busy, so eating well, sleeping well, travelling, picking different hobbies, spending a lot of time on youtube. i’m unemployed, but gladly.

do you ever plan on acting again?

noo, i loved acting but that phase of my life is over. i am ready to be myself and no else for quite some time. i encourage acting though, it’s an exercise and it was an experience.

we saw your cat a lot on your social media, what’s is their name?

oh, when we started this i was crossing my fingers thinking: please talk about my cats. in all forms expect physical, i’m a cat. so i found manwol in a shelter, she looked me in the eye suspiciously and i thought “she is testing me”, so i took her home to complete her task. she is always watching me, i don’t know if like a affectionate way, however she is very jealous of the people around me and for that reason i think we identify with each other. i don’t remember my boyfriend’s cat names though, he has many and they just keep adding, i just call them what i feel like calling them and they always answer, it’s like an unspoken connection.

when are you and keun getting married though?

it’s that a thing you’d like to see? think we should live it for the world and charge a few to enter the livestream?

what’s the most used app on your phone?

it’s between my yoga app, subway surfaces and piano tiles. people often underestimate how good i am with phone games, not that i am bragging but i’ve had years of boredom and that adds to the experience.

we heard you like cooking, what’s your favorite dish to cook right now?

my favorite thing to cook... is spaghetti, there is like a hundred ways to do them differently and i love noodles. garlicky spaghetti, vegetable spaghetti, crock-pot spaghetti, the famous carbonara... there is baked spaghetti, it’s one of my favorites, chicken spaghetti, there is even a million dollar spaghetti that’s great and super easy. but last week i aced the tagine, it’s from maroccos. fun fact is most people think the word tagine is the meal itself but tagine is actually the cookware used to cook the meal. the reason for using a tagine is to make a dish tender and bring out its natural flavors.

what’s the place you want to travel the most?

i would love to go somewhere on the american continent, because their food is rich and it’s very different from asia but at the same time i don’t like travelling for long periods and spending too much time on a plane. i would like to see mexico or argentina, maybe even cuba too.

which of your friends are you most proud of? and why?

i don’t have that many friends, it’s not that hard to choose between them. the one that most accomplished things this year was bonghu, but that’s mainly because she got pregnant and i admire her nerve. she is a great friend, mom, person, woman and all in general so that makes me proud.

what’s the song you sing along when you hear it?

ring ring.

who is the last person you texted? and what as the text about?

it was my friend group, i send a bear emoji with a blinking heart. i can’t recall what was the conversation about, it just called for a cute bear emoji.

how is your morning routine?

i wake up, look into my phone for like fifteen minutes to an hour (there is no in-between), i go pee and take a shower, do my skincare, feed the cats, cook breakfast, eat breakfast, go jogging or hit the gym. now in quarantine i would do yoga at home, but since it’s better now i just go jogging again. and that takes about my whole morning.

who was your first celebrity crush?

i think it was patrick swayze, but also harrison ford.

what’s on your mind like right now?

this. i mean? what else? i don’t know.

what do you spent way too much money on?

masterclass online classes! i find it so interesting even though i know i don’t have the vocation of being a professional in that area, i mean... it’s just so great. i started paying for gordon ramsey’s classes, because i love that man but now i think i’ve even seen natalie portamn, anna wintour and even usher’s classes.

what’s the most cringy worthy thing you’ve seen someone post on social media?

i’m not one to judge cause all i have are cats and food, and that’s the most cringy worthy you can ever get on social media but i hate when people do this long captions like, no one is gonna read it and they know it but they just do that too sound smart and meaningful. i mean there’s nothing you can really say that can’t be said in private, right? i don’t know.

what was the last show you binge-watched?

finished you a few days ago, don’t know if it was worth it, but i did it anyways. there was stranger too, season two was very well done.

what is your favorite item of clothing?

my favorite item of clothing? hm, i think is black high waist pants because one) it’s comfy. two) it’s cheap. 3) it goes with anything in your wardrobe. 4) and with any weather or mood.

what are you passionate about?

i think... i’m passionate about just living, i mean. focusing on the present feeling and go from there, you know?! no need to be anxious about things you can’t see, while being responsible about the things you do right now and just work with that, like, make your lemonades.

what’s the best part of your 20′s? what are you taking from this age?

hm. there is a lot of figuring out, from yourself and from others, nothing is certain and everything is fragile but also soothing and exciting. like there is many things i wanna do but also i don’t feel like doing, it’s a contradictory age that’s just hard to understand. i was not one to feel nostalgic or regret things, but as you get older you start to do that and you have to remind yourself that is a way to learn and be better. so for me, the best part is truly looking at yourself differently everyday, changing is inevitable so you have to keep remembering who you are and what you stand for in order to keep going. i hope that i am taking a better person from this. also make good friends, that’s probably the best advice and best part of your 20′s.

who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

i don’t have many deep conversations, i am more the type that listens. but when i do it’s just thoughts, like now in this interview. so probably my last deep conversation is this, because you’re asking me things that are hard not to be deep about.

best advice you received from someone.

advice’s can be fragile and change from time to time, so the only one i think is right is about being kind to others, that sounds basic but that’s because it’s suppose to be.

what’s the one food you can’t bring yourself to eat?

funny enough, i don’t like egg. like fried egg, i mean if it’s in the food and as an ingredient, i don’t really mind but as a meal itself... i don’t really like it. i don’t care for tofu either, i can eat it though.

if you were in a band, what kind of music would you play?

i would go for r&b but it would become popular quick so i’d have to make it pop but with still a little r&b vibe, know what i mean? but i can’t really sing, or play any instrument.

if it would have a movie about your life, what would be the title?

did you listen to folklore, the taylor swift album? i came across mad woman, and i really like that song, i think something like that... it doesn’t need to be something big and meaningful, just moon nayoung it’s fine. but i don’t want a movie about my life, there is many other important stories to tell.

do you believe in astrology?

i don’t really have an opinion. i’m a sagittarius, who are suppose to be really free spirits, curious and idealistic, which i don’t know if it’s me or not. so i think is funny but i don’t really care.

do you consider yourself romantic? what’s the most romantic gesture you have done?

me? i don’t know. i don’t think i do things in name of romance, i do them because i want to. that sounds sooo bitter, but i swear it’s not! i may be a romantic though, but i am not hopeless, at least not anymore. cooking for your partner counts as big romantic gesture? cause i’ve done that a lot.

what was your favorite book as a child?

peter pan and little women. i probably didn’t wanna grew up, right?!

do you prefer baths or showers?

i like both, but i prefer showers because it takes less time and it’s more practical. cold showers in the summer all the way.

tell something you learn that you wish more people would too.

pay your bills before due date, mark them on your calendar or something and try to pay them before it’s due. even if it leave you broke for a few days, if you take your time it will only make you more lazy and it will become a habit.

now leave us with a secret that no one knows about you.

there is not much people don’t know about me anymore and if there is, that’s the reason why it’s a secret, am i right? but maybe i call tell you that i already cheated on a text or something, cause that’s all i have for you. sorry.

#haaa #happy birthday moon nayoung!!#isso estava nos meus drafts ha um tempo #é besta e simples mas #é um presente #de mim pra ela #e dela pra voce #parabens minha aposentada <3 #eu nao sei como vc é meu char #but i am just happy you are #you taught me a lot #so thank u #nayoung.

30 notes · View notes

mulletcal · 4 years

Text

flowers, maybe daisies, might relieve the gloom. - an a.i blurb

a/n: i lowkey blame @sexgodashton for starting this whole mini series of boomer!ash things, but i also adore this because boomer!ash is soft as hell. and also a lil d*ddy but we don’t need to talk about that. title is from wait by sweeney todd bc i love it. alternative title was gonna be from L.G. FUAD by motion city soundtrack

word count:

warnings: ashton irwin being a thirst trapping, lemon stealing whore. i’m kidding it’s just a solo ash fic w no smut but some mild ash thirst trapping.

-----

‘ashtonirwin started a live video.’

Ashton didn’t often go live on Instagram, but this shelter in place order had left him ultimately bored - writing a song every day before noon, sure, but anything after that was a blur. Occasionally he would have interviews or live-streams with the band, but on days without that he was left alone with his thoughts, and his thoughts weren’t always the safest place to be; so talking to fans it was.

It was going well so far, simply asking fans how their quarantine was going - bringing some of them into the livestream so he could talk to some face to face. One girl in particular had caught his attention when they began to discuss hobbies she had picked up during the time she’d spent at home.

“Yeah, I’m learning to garden. I have a tomato plant that is just starting to sprout actual tomatoes, so that’s kind of exciting,” She had said, a nervous laugh escaping.

“Well, I would hope that your tomato plant is sprouting tomatoes, it would be a little concerning if it was growing something else,” Ashton replied with a chuckle, the girl giving a small shrug but still laughing along with him.

“You should look into it if you’ve got the room at your house, I bet it would feel rather rewarding to be able to cook something with your own fresh vegetables.”

“Would save me quite a bit of money too. Can I grow yeast? I’d like to learn how to make my own bread but here in L.A. you can’t find yeast anywhere.”

The conversation continued like that for a few minutes more, Ashton taking only a couple more fans into the livestream after that to talk to before he decided he should probably do something else productive with his day. Something like learning to garden.

It surprised Ashton the things you were able to order online during this time - soil being the main thing. He also read that saving coffee grounds would help, and he was excited at the idea of his insane coffee habit wouldn’t be completely useless. He ended up buying seeds for tomatoes, mint, sunflowers, lemongrass, and zucchini. The lemongrass and mint was specifically for Calum, realizing he would be able to dry the plants out once he had harvested them so he could make the man his very own tea.

When his package finally arrived, Ashton spread the packages out, sliding them across the table as though he was some card dealer in Las Vegas. Thinking the fans would find it amusing, he took a picture of the spread and added it to his story with the caption of ‘pick a card, any card…’. Maybe it would only be funny to him, but it did prompt a fire reaction from Michael.

It seemed as though the reaction from fans were positive though, them taking to Twitter to let him know their excitement about his new endeavour. That’s where his weekly livestreams began. He would show everyone the progress he was making with his plants, and just in general him chatting with fans. Ashton never really thought of how refreshing it could be to just talk to the fans, without the worry of time restrictions or anyone’s personal safety in the way; in fact, it left him rather inspired, loving their fans even more if it were at all possible.

A particularly warm day in L.A. left Ashton wondering if he should go out to the garden that day - but it was the day he would normally livestream, and he was excited to show what he was up to that day. Ashton wanted to plant another tomato plant, and also the lemons on his infamous tree had enough for him to make some lemonade so he was going to go through that as well.

Clad in some cut off jeans, or as Calum so affectionately called them his jorts, and a white tank top, he pulled up the live option on Instagram and waited for the people to begin to filter in before he started to speak.

“Hey guys! Just gonna wait for more of you to filter in before I actually head outside, but I thought that since you guys love my lemon tree so much, I’d make some lemonade. Fuck, I sound like a YouTuber. Is that gonna be my next career, is just YouTube tutorials on how to make shitty lemonade?” Ashton laughed to himself, slicing the lemon so he could juice it, ignoring the comments he saw about murdering his lemon children.

It didn’t take him long to make the lemonade, making mild conversation with the fans while he stirred in a little bit of sugar and some cheat mint he had ordered while waiting for his own to grow.

“Alright, now that I’m waiting for that to cool, probably best we go outside and check on those tomatoes, hm?”

It had been weird at first, talking to himself; but he quickly realized that he talked to himself anyways, even without the phone in front of him, so it couldn’t have been too weird for anyone who could overhear him.

“So I wanted to plant another tomato plant today, because everyone can use a friend right now, you know?” He looked into the camera, a smile spreading across his face when he saw the flood of cute little emojis that followed. “M’gonna be like the Bob Ross of gardening. No mistakes, only happy accidents or whatever it was he said.”

Ashton began to work away at his garden, building up a sweat in the process. It wasn’t until he leaned back, glancing at his phone did he see a text from Michael flash across the top.

‘Mate, Crystal said stop thirst trapping the fans.’

Ashton’s brow furrowed, unsure of what the text was saying, “Okay so I just got a text from Michael - what’s thirst trapping? And am I currently doing it?”

Of all the comments that followed, he noticed one that said ‘I mean… I’m not gonna say either way but take a look at yourself and get back to us’. Another one told him that it was when someone wears something in order to provoke risque texts, or gain attention from someone.

Ashton pouted, looking down at his appearance. He was kind of sweaty, but he didn’t think that the fans would mind him being covered in dirt and sweat, it’s not as though they had to smell him. Though, he would admit that he needed a shower.

“Well, since my tomato plant has been… planted next to its’ friend, and I’m apparently thirst trapping you all, I should probably go shower and clean up. Is me mentioning a shower thirst trapping as well?” Ashton rubbed his face over his hands, a small huff leaving his lips, “I don’t know… Fellow youths, tweet me and lemme know. Also, may hold a poll later on what to name these guys.” He flipped the camera around, struggling for a moment, to show the sunflowers that were starting to sprout, “M’thinking of naming one Denise. Just seems like a Denise.”

After his small speech was over, he ended the stream, grinning to himself. He hadn’t meant to show off his body in such a way, but it was funny to know that even with him hardly doing anything but be himself they still lost their shit.

Glancing around at his garden, he felt himself swell with a mild sense of pride. He was still a ways off from seeing any fruits of his labour (literally), but it made him feel good knowing he did something with his time at home, instead of slipping further into his mind which wasn’t always the kindest to him.

Ashton realized that when he was gardening, it was similar to songwriting in a way where all of his self doubts and fears went away and he could just pour himself into it - the reward being well worth the risk in the end.

Once his shower was done, he sat outside in his backyard, sipping his lemonade and enjoying the sunshine - realizing that having to stay home wasn’t all too bad, if it meant he could reset his mind, and do some small part to help how he could during that time.

tag list: @haikucal @talkfastromance4 @softbabiestan @boyfriend-cal @calum-uncrowned @wildflowerirwin @irwindoll @gosh-im-short @thesubtweeter @heavenisapeach @ridingcthood @loveroflrh @mantlereid @inlovehoodx @irwinkitten @n-ctarinenga @g-l-pierce @thecurlsofgod

#ashton irwin #ashton irwin blurb #ashton irwin fluff #ashton irwin fanfiction #5 seconds of summer fanfiction #boomer!ash

170 notes · View notes

inspired-by-the-music · 4 years

Text

For You: Stand By Me

Taglist: @jineunwootrash

If you would like to be added to the taglist of any of this blog’s works, please ask!

Recommended Reading: For You: 4 O’Clock; these works have separate, independent, but deeply interwoven timelines.

Chapter 3: The Girl Who Wouldn’t Let Go

Sehun’s POV

In pre-debut days, before we were even grouped together, Junmyeon was determined that trainees should bond, so he wrote these little schedules of nearby events and sent them out in group messages. Owing to his busy university schedule, Junmyeon rarely went anywhere with us himself. He was absent that night in the drive-in too.

Although I was sixteen, I wasn’t especially eager to drive, so I didn’t mind when Minseok claimed the driver’s seat. Because I respected Luhan too much to complain when he bounced into the passenger seat, I quietly squeezed into the backseat where— as the youngest— I was sandwiched between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

Objectively, it was unfair that I was forced into the smallest seat because of my age. I get that Kyungsoo was older, and that was why I didn’t demand to trade seats. Still, I think that it only would have been right for him to take the middle seat because he was the shortest. I wasn’t really one to argue against rules, traditions, and societal roles, though, so I just folded my hands in my lap and decided that if ever I were the oldest person in the room, I wouldn’t get a big head. I wouldn’t abuse my power. I would be fair.

My members like to joke that I’m disobedient and border on disrespectful, but that’s not true. To tell you the truth, spending my Friday night in the drive-in with Chanyeol talking loudly in my ear wasn’t my idea of a good time, so my presence alone testified to my respect for Junmyeon before he was even the leader.

I wasn’t trying to be rude or disrespectful when I pushed Chanyeol out of the car as soon as Minseok parked. My legs were just aching from being cramped in the back seat, so I was eager to stretch and climb into the bed of the truck, where I could massage the knots that formed in my muscles. My eyes instinctively rolled at Chanyeol’s dramatized howls of pain as he tripped over gravel; he shouldn’t have taken offense.

As I eased my back against the cool metal wall of the truck, stretching my legs before me, Minseok smiled. His smile was always timid in those days. His voice was so quiet that my ears had to strain to make out his words. “Sehun, do you want something from the concession stand?”

Groaning at the thought of standing, I asked, “Are you going to pay for me?”

Having recovered from his trip, Chanyeol laughed as he sat next to me. “What a cheapskate!”

I didn’t think anything about what I said until I heard Kyungsoo’s faint snort of a laugh while he pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. Look— I firmly believe that seniors should pay for all expenses, and I still abide by that rule whenever I’m a senior— but I didn’t really know Minseok well enough to expect anything from him. All we had in common was that we knew Junmyeon.

Tugging my wallet out of my pocket, I prepared to hand it over with the explanation that I was too tired to walk with him after the full week of training, but Minseok wouldn’t accept my money. “Of course I’ll pay for you!” He was almost too nice. Sometimes, I don’t trust people like that, or I worry that someone will take advantage of them, but I was never worried about Minseok. “Just tell me what you want.”

I fit my wallet back into my pocket and shrugged. “I’m not picky.” Chanyeol laughed again— roaring right in my ear— and I cut my eyes at him. We were always friends, I guess, but we were very different people, and that’s why he was always on my nerves. “Just get me something sweet, please.”

Minseok nodded and, after listening to requests from Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, he took off with Luhan toward the concession stand.

Although too many hours had passed since the sunset for it to be bright enough to read, Kyungsoo held a book up to his face. He always liked to look smart, even when nobody was paying attention to him. Dropping the book to glance at me over the pages, he remarked, “You don’t seem like you would have a sweet tooth.

I blinked at him, never really caring much for people who speak in metaphors. A part of me wanted to tell him to speak plainly, but he probably wouldn’t have humored me anyway, so I bit my tongue. Besides, it didn’t matter what he meant.

Kyungsoo blinked back at me. It was obvious that he was sizing me up. That didn’t bother me so much; I just didn’t know what he thought he could discover about my character from my vague snack preferences. It’s foolish for people to attach meanings to insignificant things, but that’s something people do best.

I probably wouldn’t have responded to Kyungsoo even if Chanyeol hadn’t interrupted my thoughts to ask, “So, what movie are they playing?”

It wasn’t such a bad question. Because I only went to please Junmyeon, I didn’t know any specifics. Noticing that Chanyeol and I were looking to him, Kyungsoo answered, “Beauty and the Beast,” with a smile. He liked getting to share his knowledge.

“Like, the Disney movie?” I asked.

Kyungsoo nodded sagely, and Chanyeol lowered his head, whining, “I didn’t realize we were here to watch a little girl movie!” He was a little too obsessed with being macho those days. If you ask me, a hyperfixation on manliness is pretty lame.

Kyungsoo glared at Chanyeol. “Animation is not exclusively for children.”

“Dude.” Chanyeol returned his glare— sharpened it. “It’s a princess movie! It’s marketed to little girls!”

“Don’t you think you’re being narrow-minded?” Kyungsoo phrased his criticism as a question, maybe, because Chanyeol was technically his senior. “Beauty and the Beast explores significant themes about sacrifice, superficiality, the nature of love—”

Regretting that I hadn’t pushed through my fatigue to walk with Minseok and Luhan, I tore my eyes away from Kyungsoo and tried to will myself deaf to his monologue as I tinkered with our portable speaker. Upon finding the station broadcasting the audio accompanying the images projected on the towering screen at the front to the lot, I frowned at an obvious problem.

I interrupted the debate to announce, “This is in English.” Even when I squinted, trying to distinguish the finer details on the screen, there were no captions to be found. When nobody responded, I added, “I don’t understand English.”

Chanyeol nudged my ribs and joked, “Does anybody?”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Just appreciate the art of animation, Sehun.”

I huffed at Kyungsoo’s pretentious attitude, “How am I supposed to appreciate something I don’t understand?”

“Well—” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows knit together, and I knew that he was considering my words too deeply again— “you’ve seen the movie before, right?”

Before I could respond flatly that (obviously) I had, Minseok returned, carrying armfuls of snacks that he dropped in the center of the truck bed along with the bright announcement, “Look who I found!”

I don’t know who I expected to find when I glanced over at him, but judging from the drop of my jaw, I hadn’t expected to find Lei clinging onto Luhan’s arm. I hadn’t expected to see her beaming up at him as if he hung the moon.

When Luhan gestured for her to climb into the truck before him, she gasped, “Where did Heechul go? One second, he was standing next to me, and the next—” Her head turned from side to side as if she couldn’t imagine how she wound up at our truck.

As stupid and irresponsible as it was, I could have forgiven her for losing Heechul in her starry-eyed pursuit of Luhan. After all, she was just a kid. But I couldn’t forgive Heechul for losing her. Who knows what could have happened if Minseok and Luhan hadn’t been there to lead her through the dark? All I knew was that after that night, I wouldn’t be able to look at Heechul without confronting the urge to roll my eyes at his carelessness.

While Chanyeol, who never liked Lei for whatever stupid reason, stiffened at my side, Kyungsoo dropped his book to wave at her. “Hey, Lei!”

My eyebrows twitched. How did Kyungsoo know her? Glancing from Kyungsoo’s joyful wave to Chanyeol’s scowl to Minseok’s small grin to Luhan’s dimpled smile, I realized that Lei wasn’t a stranger to anybody. Except for Chanyeol, she had managed to charm everyone into being her friend despite the age difference.

It would have been weird to be jealous or possessive of a kid’s attention— even Lei’s— but there was something weird about recognizing that I wasn’t the only trainee she knew well enough to greet outside of the agency. It shouldn’t have been such an epiphany. I knew I wasn’t the center of the universe or anything. I knew that before we ever met, she was well acquainted with real idols. She was loved by real idols.

She just always had this way of looking at me that made me feel— I don’t know. I don’t like talking about this kind of thing. I guess that moment was humbling. I guess Lei continued to humble me when she settled into the space next to me only to excitedly chatter to Luhan in rapid-fire Mandarin. Despite my basic understanding of the language, I couldn’t quite keep up with what they said between giggles.

I guess I had always known that Lei wouldn’t cling to her crush on me forever. I guess I knew that I had been hoping for that day to come quickly, but now that I thought it had arrived, I felt weird. It wasn’t that I wanted her to like me or anything. I guess the issue was that if she had outgrown me, time really was passing, and it had done so without my permission. Nobody is ever that comfortable with time.

When Lei and Luhan fell silent just long enough to glance at me before laughing again, it was obvious that they were talking about me. The tips of my ears probably burned.

“Yeah,” I understood Luhan as he nodded at Lei, “he is pretty handsome.”

Oh. So that’s still what she thought of me. Weirdly, I was relieved. Some things would probably never change. Maybe Lei would always think I was handsome. Maybe no matter how many times I told her not to flirt, she would do what she wanted. Maybe people should learn to find comfort in constants.

Probably because she seemed so happy, chewing through a chocolate bar as she talked to Luhan, probably because I was kind of (just a little) flattered, I swallowed the fading urge to lecture her. I instead listened to Chanyeol growl, “Look, Minseok, I don’t care where you found her. I just know that she can’t stay here.”

Although Chanyeol hadn’t said her name, Lei was sensitive to his criticism. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she said in a small voice, “I should probably go. My mom is probably worried about me.”

Kyungsoo was only trying to be helpful when he offered, “We’ll help you find your parents.” He wasn’t trying to knock all the air out of Lei’s chest.

She ceased her efforts to climb down the side of the truck, collapsed at my side, and wheezed. I had seen Lei upset before, but never in my life had I seen somebody look so wounded by mere words— words that weren’t even harsh. Blinking at her, I understood: Lei didn’t have parents.

We never talked about her family. I would never know how to approach that topic— and I didn’t know yet that her mom was the idol who never debuted. I could just tell from her labored breathing that she didn’t have a father. That’s why she followed her mom everywhere. That’s why she sat alone at that table by the vending machine every day. That’s why she claimed Super Junior as her family, and that’s why they protected her: they were filling a void.

Had I believed that an embrace could mend that kind of deep wound, I would have wasted no time in slinging an arm around her shoulders to brace her against everyone’s stares. I didn’t believe that, though, even if I wanted to, so I just laid my arm over the edge of the car, cutting my eyes at Chanyeol (because he was on my nerves, and we were only in this situation because he couldn’t be nice to Lei for five seconds) and Kyungsoo (because, despite his good intentions, he prodded at Lei’s wound and made it impossible for me to ever overlook the scar again).

I said, “I don’t think we should rush to return Lei to whoever abandoned her at the concession stand.” I think I was angry. My hands were balled into fists, and my jaw was so tense that my words were almost unintelligible. I’m not sure, though; I’m not that experienced with anger.

Even before her breathing hitched at the word ‘abandoned,’ I should have known that I said the wrong thing. I wasn’t trying to make matters worse. I didn’t know what to say. I could only grimace at my mistake after the fact— after I couldn’t snatch the words back out of the air.

Luhan playfully tugged on one of Lei’s twin braids and, after earning the faintest grin, he said, “I think we should keep Lei! At least until the movie ends.”

Well. If you put me at that awkward stage— no, even me on my best night— next to Luhan, I guess it’s clear who any kid (or maybe any girl at any age) would prefer. We weren’t even in competition, and I felt like Luhan was winning. How stupid.

Nodding enthusiastically, Minseok agreed with Luhan, Chanyeol groaned, and Kyungsoo insisted (despite the fact that the entire drive-in was a dead zone) that we should call Lei’s parents, but Lei didn’t respond to any of them. She didn’t even seem to hear them. She only looked at me with big eyes.

Did she want me to tell her what to do? I guess that was something I did often enough without being asked, but— for the first time in a while— I didn’t know what to say.

Unsure of what to do with the authority she always entrusted to me, I cast my eyes toward the screen and fidgeted with the speaker. “Hey, Lei.” I didn’t glance at her, but I could still feel her eyes watching me. I know she wasn’t looking for fault. I know that she was just admiring me the way only a kid can. Still, I squirmed. “Can you translate this movie for me?”

Once I looked at her, and she understood that I was encouraging her to stay— resolving within myself to help her find her mom and Heechul once the street lights turned on at the end of the movie— she smiled. Her gap was now replaced by the metallic glint of braces. I guess I was just glad that she could breathe again.

Lei had just started to nod her head when a shriek broke through the quiet night. “Why don’t you shut the hell up? If you’re so invested in how this fairytale ends, I’ll tell you— the girl falls in love with the beast! He falls in love with her! And it’s beautiful! Now, get out of my way! I’m looking for my kid!”

In the moments before I realized that the shriek belonged to her mom, while the guys and I spun our heads in search of the conflict, I clutched Lei’s arm and pulled her behind me so I could shield her. In the event of a real emergency, I don’t know how effective my body would have been as a shield, but I wasn’t really thinking too deeply. At some moments in life, you act purely on instinct. That was one of those moments. My instinct was to protect Lei from the screaming woman.

In hindsight, even now that I know that there was no real threat to our safety, I am proud of my instincts.

Heechul’s voice preceded him. “Kimberly, you have to calm down.”

Recognizing Heechul’s voice, I figured that Kimberly must have been Lei’s mom’s name. My forehead wrinkled as I tried to fit the name with her face. It was weird, I guess, because I had never heard it before, just like I had never heard her yell.

“Calm down?” She laughed one of those hollow laughs. The scary kind. “You leave my child all alone at the concession stand, and you have the nerve to tell me to calm down?”

Heechul must have been stupid to argue with a panicked mother. “I told you, she wasn’t alone! She was with two handsome young men—” Minseok and Luhan, I assumed— “and from how she lit up while talking to them, I assumed that they were friends!”

“So you just left her there?”

“I didn’t mean to!” I don’t know how Lei’s mom resisted the urge to punch Heechul’s face that must have coursed through both of us with comparable intensity. “Besides,” he added, “Lei is, like, a black belt in taekwondo, so if she was in trouble—”

“She is a little girl!” Lei’s mom screamed to drill the rather obvious reminder into Heechul’s thick skull. Some kind of desperation ripped through her voice and caused Lei to tense under my grip.

Something about the frown I found on Lei’s face when I glanced back at her and the fear in her mom’s voice spurred me to action. “Come on, Lei.” I ushered her out of the bed of the truck, offering both of my hands so she wouldn’t trip. “Let’s go find your mom.”

Her small, cold hands trembled in mine, and as I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, it dawned on me: she was afraid of the dark. She tripped once or twice because her eyes were fixed up on the sky, probably searching for the moon and stars.

Once we found her mom and Heechul after a few minutes that felt like eternities because of the silence and her palpable fear, I thought they would never stop thanking me for being, as Heechul said, a knight in shining armor.

“You’re welcome,” was the only thing to say. I guess I meant it because something like pride spread through my chest and pulled my lips into a smile even though it was dark and nobody could see it.

When I released her hand, Lei mumbled, “Well, I guess you’re leaving now, right?” Although I couldn’t quite make out the features on her face, I imagined from her tone that she must have been pouting. Without even waiting for my reply, she said, “Goodnight, Sehun. Thank you for helping me find Mom and Heechul.”

Mostly because I wanted Lei to be happy— and I realized that somehow, just by being around, I made her happy— I raised an eyebrow at her. “What are you talking about? I told you— I need a translator, and nobody back in that truck knows English. Where you go, I go.”

Hearing my excuse for tagging along, neither her mom nor Heechul objected. Breathing another sigh of relief because Lei was safe and sound, they led us back to their car. As Heechul finally started to apologize for losing Lei in the first place, nobody noticed that Lei was bold enough to reach for my hand again with the whispered excuse, “I don’t want to get lost again, Sehun.”

I gave her a stern stare— the one I tried to reserve for the lectures about acting appropriately around boys— and I know she must have felt it. I know she must have been able to see it even in the darkness when she looked up at me, but she wouldn’t let me go.

I guess because I started it by holding her hand first, I guess because I didn’t want her to get lost again either, I guess because I wanted to be some comfort even if I couldn’t cure her fear of the dark, I guess because I didn’t want to risk driving the smile from her face, I just let her do what she wanted that one time.

That one time would become two times and then three and then a hundred and then a thousand and then a million until I didn’t know how to tell her no anymore, until I didn’t want to tell her no anymore, until I didn’t know what to do when she wasn’t bold anymore, until I didn’t quite know what to feel when she didn’t look at me first anymore. When I walked with her through the night that was too dark to find any stars or even the moon, I swear I never imagined that she would grow into somebody that I love in the heart-fluttering, gut-wrenching, world-changing kind of way.

Then, Lei was just a kid who deserved a protector, and I was just one of many who tried to overfill the place of a father who never should have left her.

As I walked with her, deciding what I would say to Chanyeol when he would inevitably curse me for ditching him (again) for Lei, I told myself that I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back to the truck anyway. And it wasn’t a lie, I swore as Lei’s translation of the movie— complete with unique voices for each character— captivated everyone in her mother’s car.

17 notes · View notes

capaldifiction · 4 years

Text

Behind The Lens - Lewis Capaldi x Reader

Well the length of this one got a bit out of hand because once I got started on it, it suddenly got really long and I just decided to go with it lol

Paring: Lewis Capaldi x Photographer Reader

Word Count: 5,039

Description: Based on the request: “Reader is Lewis photographer and after a while Lewis wants to know her more because they are so often together.” Hope you like it 💙

Requested by: @penelope-potter

Warnings: Some swearing.

Italics are inner thoughts. The breaks are jumps in time.

Lewis exhales loudly and shakes his head before pulling open the door to the set he’d be on today. Having someone style him, fuss over his hair, and throw makeup on his face was still a weird reality, and he wasn’t looking forward to this first big shoot.

He’d had some headshots and quick promo pictures taken before, but none of them required a full set, staff, and all this fuss. He knew this was a big opportunity, for the magazine to even want to put him in their up and coming artists, and that made it all the more agonizing. The interview itself had gone well he thought, though he’d held himself back a lot more than he normally would have, but well enough. But he wasn’t looking forward to the shoot itself.

“First time?” a voice asks, pulling him out of his anxious thoughts. Glancing over he sees a girl with a camera around her neck, and a similar apprehensive look as he’s sure he has on his own face.

“I- yeah, basically,” he admits with a nervous laugh. “I’ve not done a full shoot, with all this… fuss.”

“I get it,” she nods in agreement. “I’ve been a photographer awhile, but this is my first big contract shoot.”

“So neither of us know what we’re doing, this is going to go great,” he says with a laugh.

“Hey I know how to work my equipment,”she insists. “I’m just not used to it being for this big of a company or there being a whole team involved.”

“Well at least that means you have very low expectations for me,” he concludes with a shrug.

“We’ll learn together,” she says confidently, reaching out to gently pat his arm. “I’m going to finish getting the equipment ready if you want to go get comfortable on the set.”

He nods, but shouts out as she starts to walk away, “Hey! What’s your name?”

“Y/N,” she answers with a smile.

“I’m Lewis,” he responds immediately.

“I know,” she says with a wink before walking away.

His nerves now a little more relaxed, he heads over to the set where assistants immediately have him sit down, and situate his pose and smooth out his shirt. As they continue to fuss over him, he quietly watches his photographer talk with a group of people and set up all the equipment.

Something about her confidence when he knows she’s in a similar boat to him, helps calm his nerves.

“Ready to be a model Lewis?” She asks as she pops the lens cap off and adjusts the camera.

“Born ready,” he jokes as the camera flashes twice.

“Look over to the right… perfect,” Y/N calls out, the constant sound of clicks coming from the camera as Lewis adjusts his pose.

Stepping back from the camera briefly, Y/N looks over analyzing him carefully. “Could someone- actually I got it,” she says before just heading over to him.

Lewis turns to look at her as she reaches him and kneels down, “Problem?”

“Just fixing a few things, if it’s cool if I touch you?” she asks.

“As if anyone else asked,” he jokes but nods at her.

“Well I'm the photographer, making you look extra pretty isn’t my job description,” she chuckles and reaches out to fix the chain around his neck.

“I could see the clasp in the shots,” she explains as he looks at her questioningly. “Face back the way you were please.”

He listens and she adjusts where the necklace is sitting on his chest, then smooths down a stray hair before leaning back to assess him with an approving nod.

“Do I look acceptable now?” he teases, still staring in the direction she’d instructed him to.

“Absolutely perfect, like the star you were born to be,” she gives his knee a pat before climbing back to her feet and heading back over to the camera.

“And that’s a wrap everyone,” the set manager announces as people start swooping in to take care of the equipment. “Lewis you can keep the clothes, and your manager is waiting for you back by the dressing room you were in earlier. John will walk you back,” he says motioning toward an intern holding a clipboard to the side.

Lewis nods and falls into step with the intern, sending one last look over his shoulder at Y/N.

“Did you leave something on set?” John asks, noticing his glance back.

“I- no I’m good,” he says quickly. “Actually, do you know Y/N’s last name?”

“The photographer? No I don’t, this is her first time working with us,” he answers. “Do you need her information?”

“No, I was just thinking, uh, I should add her on Instagram for the pictures,” he explains half-heartedly.

“Oh!” John nods understandingly as they reach the dressing room. “I’m not sure what it is, but I can ask that she tags you in any she may post. Though the best will be on our site and all social media platforms. What is your Instagram handle so I can provide her with it?”

“Just @LewisCapaldi,” he says, watching the man quickly jot it down on the paper on his clipboard. “I’ll go and inform her, have a good evening Lewis,” he assures before walking back the way they came.

“You like that photographer huh?” his agent asks, leaning against the door frame of the dressing room.

“I mean, well I think we worked well together, she was cool,” he explains with a shrug, his manager nodding back.

“Seemed like a good match, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lewis finds himself once again sitting in the makeup chair as people fuss over his hair and face. Another magazine shoot, he’s done enough now that they’ve become more automatic. The more his fame grew, the more he found himself in front of a camera. And oddly enough the more he found himself in front of Y/N’s camera.

She seemed to pop up as the photographer of so many of his shoots, that he was disappointed when he walked onto set and it wasn’t her. He still didn’t like his picture being taken that much, but she always put him at ease, and her pictures always turned out great.

After their first time working together, she had tagged him in the photos she put up as he’d asked.

He’d spent some time scrolling through her photos, looking for more about her. There wasn’t much beyond her work, her dog, and some friends. No sign of a partner or mentions of other hobbies. And as time passed he watched her updates turn from random models and people just starting out, to bigger and bigger names. From just great shots of the artists and actors, to selfies she’d taken with all the stars she was working with.

Every time they worked together she posted the new pictures, tagging him to it with a nice caption about loving his music and working with him. But a part of him wished she’d ask to take a picture with him. He didn’t know why it irked him, or why he felt too awkward to ask. But with each new selfie with a star posted to her page, the more he wanted a picture with her.

“Guess who,” Y/N says poking her head into the open door of his dressing room pulling him from his thoughts.

“Ah fuck, you again?” he jokes. “How many places do you work for anyway, you’re everywhere.”

“Contract work Lewis,” she says with a grin, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. “Whoever contracts me to do the shoot.”

“And you just always end up at the same places I do huh?” he asks questioningly.

“Actually, from what I’ve heard higher ups like the previous photos I’ve taken of you, and your management keeps choosing me when they’re offered a list to choose from. So it’s less me following you around, and more you pulling me back in.”

“You could turn it down,” he says as the hair stylist turns his head.

“Hey the more of these I do, and the more famous you get, the more money I make,” she laughs. “Plus I’m sure you’d miss me if you didn’t get to see me show up every so often and tell you what to do.”

“Fair play,” he agrees as he tries to not make a face at the hairstyle he was just given.

Y/N notices the look and smirks, “I’ll let you finish up in here and get to the set. See you soon.”

“Chin up a bit,” Y/N calls out as Lewis adjusts, clicks of the camera sound off several times, followed by silence. She stares through the lens for a moment before looking up and staring at him contemplating.

“This isn’t working, I’m making an executive decision on it,” she says walking over to him and running her hands through his hair to free it up. “Sorry hairstylist,” she says softly as he chuckles.

“You just felt the need to play with my hair right?” he jokes. “Always have to be touching me.”

“As soft as it is,” she replies leaning back to see her work. “Your hair just doesn’t look right the way they had it. It just looked weirdly flat. The way you usually have it looks better for you.”

“So looking like I didn’t bother with it?”

“Exactly, you rock the ‘I woke up and ran my hand through my hair’ look,” she agrees. “I think that should work.”

“You know most photographers let the stylists fix the hair, makeup, and clothes,” he adds. “I’ve worked with a bunch of them now and you’re the only one doing this.”

“Easier for me to fix it myself than try to explain it to someone, then have them do it,” she explains.

“Good point, telling them to make my hair messy isn’t exactly specific.”

Backing up she looks him over once more, “Perfect. Can we get some shots with you against the wall now?”

“I don’t know can we?” he responds as he gets up and goes to the wall.

“You give me sass, yet do exactly what I say,” she grins. “Exactly why I like working with you. Even though you got rid of the long beautiful hair.”

“You liked my long hair huh?” he asks as she walks back over to the camera.

She holds a hand up and he poses as the camera clicks several times. “Some people pull it off well, you’re one of those people. Look up please.”

Click.

“Look down.”

Click.

“Toward the camera, peace sign.”

Click.

The rest of the shoot goes as planned, and Lewis finally leaves the set as Y/N calls an end to the session.

Walking over to her, he leans against the column in the room and watches as she flicks through the photos on her camera, “What are you doing?”

“Having a quick look at some of the shots we got,” she answers without looking up. “Need something?”

“Well,” he clears his throat and attempts to look casual. “I was wondering if you’d want to get some lunch together?”

Y/N looks up quickly with a surprised expression but gives him a gentle smile, “Yeah that sounds great. Right now?”

“Yeah I was thinking right after we wrap all this up?” he asks.

“Y/N!” a well-dressed woman from across the room yells. Approaching them quickly with her heels clicking the floor. “What’s our time frame on getting these photos?”

“Well I was going to take a lunch then-” she begins before being cut off by the woman.

“No time, we can have lunch brought to you, we need them by 1:30 latest, we need you on there pulling and editing them now.”

“I- alright,” she nods dejectedly. “I’ll grab my laptop and be in the office.”

“Perfect, thank you,” she says before turning to Lewis. “You did great! We’re so happy to have you here, I already read the interview and it’s fantastic. We’ll be putting the piece into print tomorrow.”

“Thanks, and thanks for inviting me,” he replies with a forced smile. Disappointment obvious in his voice.

“Y/N I’ll send my assistant to the office to get your order for food, he’ll take care of that for you. Send the files directly to our art department when you’ve finished,” she orders and turns to walk away.

“I’m sorry,” Y/N says as she looks back at Lewis. “Maybe next time?”

“And now you’ll never be my photographer again so you never have to go to lunch with me, I see this devious plan,” he replies trying to cheer her up.

“Damn, figured out already,” she snaps. “See you around Lewis.”

And with that she grabs her laptop and camera card and disappears once again.

“What kind of shoot is this?” Lewis asks as he’s walking with his manager.

“Just some new headshots and pictures we can throw on some merch or send in as your official pictures. No magazine, interview, radio station, or YouTube channel,” he says leading them through the rental space.

“Ah, so these are the ones I’m going to be seeing every day for the next year,” he says unhappily.

“Exactly, so make ‘em good,” he says before opening the door to the studio portion of the building.

A smile immediately takes over Lewis’ face as a familiar face looks up from the camera she’d been tinkering with, a similar smile across her own.

“Well lookie who it is,” he calls out as they get closer to her.

“Told you I’d see you again, you don’t get rid of me that easily,” she teases and hugs him with her free arm.

“And with no magazine publisher to blame for you being here,” he adds.

“Ask him, he hired me,” she laughs nodding at his manager who’s shaking his head.

“I’ll leave you two to it, you have the list of what we need Y/N?”

“Yep, got it under control,” she says with a thumbs up as he walks away.

“Can I have you go sit backwards on that chair?” she asks nodding towards a chair in front of a gray backdrop.

“Your wish is my command,” he says dramatically as he heads over to the set.

As he sits, she brings her camera in closer than most of the shoots they’d done together.

“Need a few real good up close ones,” she explains as she adjusts the lens. “Just act natural, try a few different faces and poses. Maybe a hand under the chin, hand on the jaw, things like that. I’m just going to keep taking them as we go.”

Adjusting his pose after every few clicks, he finds himself more focused on Y/N’s face in front of him. There was something endearing about the seriousness on her face, how completely focused she looked.

She was clearly in her element. A smile spreads across his face as he remembers the day they met, and the nerves she had then. She’d faked confidence that day to make it. Now it was obviously genuine. She knew what she was doing, and she was good at it.

“Cute smile there Lewis,” she teases as she clicks the camera again. “Thinking about something in particular?”

“Just how intense you look now compared to the day we met,” he admits, turning his head slightly. “Look at you being a professional photographer.”

“And look at you modeling like a fucking icon, not even needing my direction,” she chuckles.

“We’ve come a long way haven’t we?” he agrees as he leans on one hand.

“From ‘what the fuck did I get myself into’ to ‘I got this shit’ in a few years is a pretty good progression.”

“Speaking of progression,” he starts as he leans down to rest his hands and chin on the top of the chair. “You still owe me on going to lunch.”

“You got it,” she responds simply. “After this?”

“Works for me.”

After another half hour of shots, they call it a day as the crew comes in to take care of the equipment.

“So there’s a small place a few blocks from here,” Lewis says walking up to Y/N.

“Works for me, walking over?”

“Yeah,” he answers as they leave the building, squinting at the sunlight after being in the dark studio.

They made it to the cafe rather quickly, small jokes passing between the two of them on the way and as they slide into the booth.

As the menus are tossed on the table, Y/N grabs one and looks up at Lewis, “I suppose I should have ask if they have good food here?”

He shrugs and flips through the menu, “I just saw it on the way here.”

“Guess that works,” she chuckles as she looks as well.

After ordering they talk about some of the things they’d recently been doing for work, and she shows him various photos on her phone from her most recent shoots.

Within no time the food arrives at their table, and they settle into a comfortable conversation as they eat, asking various questions here and there. Listening to her talk, about contracts, hobbies, family, and friends made him want to know more. And the more questions she asked him, the more he realized how easy it was to tell her about his own life.

After the plates had been removed from their table, one question was still burning in his mind. He felt stupid to ask it. Maybe it was ridiculous. But he had to try.

“Do you think we could maybe uh..” he starts out before letting the request die in his throat. No, asking for that would be too stupid.

“Could we what?” she pushes, her gaze holding his.

“Just, I don’t know. Take a picture together?” He tries simply, scolding himself internally for asking.

She looks confused for a moment before smiling and pulling out her phone, “Yeah definitely! I’d wanted one with you, but when we first worked together I didn’t know if I should ask, then after that we’d worked together so much it felt weird to ask.”

“And here I was just thinking you didn’t like me enough,” he jokes as she gets up and slides into his side of the booth to sit beside him.

“Nah, you’re my favorite,” she admits as she hits the camera app and lifts it above them.

He slings an arm over her shoulders, carefully pulling her a little closer for the photo, and she presses her cheek against his as they both look up at the camera making cheesy smiles.

After clicking it a few times, she lowers the phone to look at them in the gallery, “Oh those are cute ones, look at you modeling without any direction again.”

“It’s cute because I’m not the focus of the pictures,” he says surprising himself. He sheepishly lifts his arm off her shoulders and clears his throat. “Could you send me them?”

“Yeah of course,” she responds, either having not heard his comment or registered it how he meant it. She swipes over to her contacts and hands him her phone, “Just add your contact so I can send it. I think we’ve known each other long enough that you should have my number.”

“You think that,” he chuckles as he puts his number in her phone. “But now you’ve opened the flood gates to me sending you stupid shit.”

She rolls her eyes and accepts her phone back from him to send him the pictures, “I’ll live. Stupid pictures make the stress of the world a bit better sometimes anyway.”

“A lot of stress in the freelance photography business?”

She sighs and fidgets her phone in her hands as his goes off signaling he’d received the pictures. “It’s a fickle business,” she admits quietly. “Everything can be going great and fantastic right now, but you mess up one shoot, and the following ones will be harder and harder to book. There’s not a lack of photographers as you can imagine. We’re both in fickle businesses.”

He nods understandingly and reaches up to squeeze her hand on the table.

“Honestly you and your team are like god sent to me,” she says. “I get anxious over having chose this type of career sometimes, everything riding on the next shoot, always knowing there’s a chance I might not get another contract. But your team always seems to pick me out from the list then invite me here for this. Your manager said you liked working with me, and I really enjoy working with you. It’s some stability in a career that’s not always stable. So yeah, thank you for continuing to go with me. It’s been a wild ride the last few years, but I’ve loved growing my career right alongside yours and meeting back up seeing where we each are every now and again.”

He smiles at her before pulling her into a hug the best he can in the booth. They both stay silent, and maybe hold on a bit longer than they should. But he doesn’t want to let go. Something about it just felt… right.

After a few moments he can tell she’s fidgeting, so he pulls back to look at her questioningly.

“Sorry,” she says with a sheepish grin. “Your hair was tickling my nose, it’s starting to get long again.”

“Sorry,” he says with a laugh, reaching up to fix a flyaway hair on her from their hug. “You fix my hair all the time, I should return the favor sometime.”

“The star fixing the photographer’s hair huh?”

“Well… fixing a friend’s hair?” he asks tentatively.

“That works for me,” she nods and leans back against the booth. “I’m enjoyed this by the way, spending time with you outside the studio.”

“Same,” he responds, reaching out for his drink, his throat suddenly very dry.

They sit in silence another few moments as he traces the pattern on the table, “I’m disappointed when it’s not you.”

“Huh?” She asks, obviously confused at his statement.

“I-I mean, when I go in for a shoot. When the photographer isn’t you,” he hastily explains. “I look forward to working with you.”

“You know I’m going to have to tease you for this next time right?” she says with a grin, reaching up to squeeze his cheek.

“I’d be more disappointed if you didn’t,” he adds.

Sitting in the booth awhile longer, they ask a variety of questions and joke around until she notices the sun starting to set outside the window.

“Shit,” she mumbles, pulling her phone out and looking at the time. “Didn’t realize we’d been here for hours, I should probably get going.”

“Fuck, it’s that late?” he frowns as he looks at his own phone, several unread messages sitting on his lockscreen. “Yeah we should head back.”

“Bunch of messages for you too?” she asks as they slide out of the booth and head toward the door.

“Ay,” he nods unhappily. “Someone waiting for you?”

“Yeah,” she replies. “I have a friend staying with me right now.”

“Oh,” his shoulders relax at her explanation. “Thought we’ve worked together this long and you were about to suddenly mention now about a husband and kid at home.”

“Nah none of those,” she kicks at the rocks on the path in front of her. “Most guys aren’t too happy with the long hours and traveling that my job needs sometimes. And I can’t be with someone that’s either going to be upset all the time or want me to quit my career. It’s stressful at times, but I love what I do.”

“I get that, traveling makes dating hard,” he agrees. “But I think it can work if both the people want it to.”

“Yeah that’s probably true, good outlook to have on it.”

As they continue to walk back to the studio, he doesn’t know what to say. She happily chatters about other things that he nods to with a smile. But he wants to tell her he wants to talk more. To know her more. That he wants to do this again. But all the words are lost on him as he turns to look at her smiling at him, the setting sun shining off her hair.

Once they reach her car, she wraps her arms around him to give him a hug before slipping into the front seat, “So see you the next time you need some photos huh?”

No. I want to see you sooner. “Yeah that sounds about right,” he says instead, trying to hide his disappointment as her door closes and she pulls out of the parking lot.

He was sure he’d see her again sometime. And he didn’t know exactly what he was feeling. But he knew he wanted to get to know her even better.

Later that night his phone pings with an Instagram notification. Grabbing his phone from the table next to his bed he clicks the notification to see Y/N had posted one of the photos they’d taken together earlier. “Another great shoot with the one and only @LewisCapaldi. Easily one of the best singers and people I’ve had the privilege of meeting, working with, and getting to know <3 Thanks for being so easy to work with, and so fun to spend time with Lewis, here’s to several more years of working together.”

He smiles down at it, and quickly double taps the image then leaves a heart in the comments before setting his phone back down on the nightstand. He’d planned on going to sleep, but the smile on his face and his racing heart in his chest tell him what he’d been trying to figure out earlier.

With a grunt he flips his light back on and pulls his notebook from his drawer to write out the lyrics in his head.

“So that’s the gist of the plans,” Lewis’ manager concludes as Lewis nods along to the tour plans he was going over. Partially distracted by Y/N’s name showing up on his lock screen with a meme. They’d been texting back and forth every so often since they last saw each other. Mainly memes and sarcastic comments about things going on in their lives, but every time her name popped up on his screen he could feel the unmistakable happiness in him.

“Lewis?” his manager asks expectantly, drawing his attention back to the meeting.

“I- uh, yeah what’d you ask?” he asks sheepishly.

“Are you ok with that arrangement?”

“What arrangement?”

Sighing, his manager sits back down, “I said one of our usual photographers for the tour is unavailable, we were discussing checking with Y/N to see if she’d be available.”

“I’m fine with that,” he answers immediately, almost too fast.

“Good, because we already started drafting the contract,” he smirks knowingly at Lewis. “I’ll give her a call tomorrow.”

“Class, let me know what she says?” he asks as his eyes are drawn to his phone again as it lights up with another notification from the girl in question.

“I’m guessing she’s going to tell you before I even have the chance,” he laughs as Lewis swipes his phone off the table, his cheeks turning red.

“Are we done here?”

“Yeah, go ahead and get out of here.”

Sitting at his desk the next morning writing, Lewis’, phone starts ringing. Seeing the photo of him and Y/N, he swipes to answer, “Hello?”

“A whole fucking tour Lewis!” she shouts into the phone, causing him to pull it away from his ear with a laugh.

“Is that a bad thing…?” he questions.

“No! I just can’t believe it, I’ve done a few concerts for a few people before, but a whole tour,” she says in amazement. “I just can’t believe it.”

“Well you’re a great photographer you should believe it,” he states.

“Thanks,” she replies sounding a lot calmer. “For everything.”

“Hey I didn’t pull strings,” he insists. “You did this on your own, all they did was ask me if I was cool with it.”

“Well, thanks for being cool with me following you around for three months,” she adds.

“As I see it,” he starts, “Might as well just invite you to be there for a solid block of time since you always seem to show up anyways.”

“Now you’re making me sound like a creep.”

“Says the person that just took a contract to follow me around taking pictures for three months,” he teases.”

“You know what,” she replies, “You’ve got a point. I should get going though, I’m supposed to head over to the office to sign the contact in an hour.”

“Sounds good,” he answers as he traces the lines on the paper in his notebook. “See you in a few weeks?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“I still can’t fucking believe this,” Y/N says as she meets up with Lewis and the rest of the crew after they’ve made it through airport security.

“You’ll get used to it,” he says simply, gently bumping his arm against hers. “Sit by me on the flight?”

“You don’t have to sit with someone else?”

“Nah, we choose right before we get on usually,” he says as they stop in front of a window overlooking the tarmac. “And I’d… like to get to know you better.”

Tearing her gaze away from the planes in front of them, she looks up at him, “Get to know me better how?”

“In a friendly way,” he explains, forcing himself to hold her gaze and not back down. “And maybe.. more if that’s something you’d want?”

Instead of an immediate answer, she simply smiles and reaches out to take ahold of his hand as they both turn to look back outside. “I’d like that.”

Letting out the breath he’d unknowingly been holding, he squeezes her hand gently in his own, “Looks like we’re going to have an interesting few months figuring this all out huh?”

“We’ll learn together,” she states happily. “Just like we always have.”

-----

Masterlist

Request List

#lewis capaldi #lewiscapaldi #lewis capaldi x reader #lewis capaldi imagines #divinely uninspired to a hellish extent #celebrity imagines #fanfiction

81 notes · View notes

stillebesat · 4 years

Text

Meeting Romeo

Sanders Sides: Virgil, Roman. A Prequel to: A Work of Art Blurb: It was unfortunate really, but someone had to tell the Romeo standing on the street that his Juliet he’d come to listen to day after day no longer lived in the apartment complex. It might as well be Virgil. Inspired by: An Anon who asked: okay, I ADORE "A Work of Art" but I have questions. Like... how did Ro and V meet? What was the start of their relationship like? Fic Type: General, Human!AU Overall Fic Warnings: None.

In a smooth, well practiced movement as he approached his apartment, Virgil perfectly framed the familiar handsome figure standing on the sidewalk in front of the building on his phone’s camera screen and snapped a quick picture.

Romeo’s back and about to be heartbroken. He captioned the image with a quirk of his lips, posting it online before he’d taken two steps.

It would be unfortunate really. The poor fool had been standing outside his complex for the past month and a half like many other love-struck simpletons had over the years, his heart obviously captivated by the demonic angelic voice of Virgil’s neighbor, famous Broadway Singer, Mary Lee Foster.

Well. He supposed her last name wouldn’t be Foster anymore since the singer had gotten married last week and moved out to some mansion with her new husband, Lee.

Mary Lee and Lee. That wouldn’t be confusing at all to people.

Virgil slipped his phone into his pocket, pulling his hood further over his head, exhaling.

It was unfortunate she’d chosen to move out now. Romeo had been a great source for his Cryptids in the Big City vlog because the dude never showed up in the same outfit twice, even if he did keep that same dreamy-eyed love struck look on his face every time Virgil caught him staring up at the complex while Mary Lee’s constant singing wafted down to the street below.

Because of her marriage, this would probably be the last time he’d see Romeo and Virgil would have to find another source to keep his followers entertained since he’d had to put his My Roommate is a Cryptid posts on hiatus with Steve, the now Master Chef, moving out four months earlier.

Well, it wasn’t like Virgil couldn’t easily find another roommate. With the constant inflow of people moving into the city to follow their dreams there was a never ending flow of applications coming his way whenever he posted the Room for Rent sign in one his windows facing the street.

But so far...none of them had had that IT factor that Virgil was looking for. The right combination of characteristics that would keep his followers online entertained...without stressing Virgil out sharing his living space with them. It was a tricky balancing act.

“She’s gone you know.” Virgil remarked as he approached, fighting to keep from laughing at how Romeo, dressed today in a prince’s uniform of all things, jumped at his voice.

He had that effect on people.

“By Odin’s Eyepatch.” Romeo swore, his ears turning pink as he placed a hand over his red sash. “Where in the blazes did you come from?!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, shooting a thumb over his shoulder. “From up the street, Princey. You so captivated by her that you forget other people exist?”

Romeo blinked. “Her?”

It was his turn to frown. Surely the dude wasn’t that dense. “Mary Lee? Famous singer. Girl you’ve been listening to? She moved out a week ago, Romeo. Got married.”

“Oh. Uh.” Romeo raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, ears growing nearly as red as his sash. Which judging by how the color was creeping over his eyebrows meant that this guy was wearing some sort of foundation to hide his full on blush.

There was a good reason to be embarrassed, Virgil supposed. It probably wasn’t everyday Princey here got called out for staring.

Romeo shook his head, looking back up at apartment complex. “The girl who misses her High C half the time? I--I wasn’t here...for her.”

Virgil scoffed, shoving his hands deeper into his hoodie pockets. “Mhmmm and I’m Batman.”

Romeo made a face. “Did your batcave burn down then, Bruce Wyane? I didn’t think your hideout was in the middle of a city.”

Oooh. Virgil smirked. Getting touchy. “No need to be embarrassed, Princey. Lots of guys have stood where you’re standing--”

“I said I wasn’t here for her, Dr. Gloom! I was---” Romeo gritted his teeth, shaking his head as he turned away, loudly exhaling. “Forget it. It’s stupid.”

Oh, no way was this guy leaving now without giving him an answer. If it wasn’t for the girl then why-- Virgil moved in front of him holding out a hand. “Can’t be stupider than what I thought you were doing before, Romeo. Come on. Tell me.”

Princey scoffed, trying to step around him. “Why does a gremlin like you want to know?”

“This gremlin, which thank you for the compliment by the way, lives here and is very curious. So you can’t blame me for wanting to know after seeing you pining away day after day after day after day--”

Romeo groaned, throwing up his hands. “Stop. Geez! It was the the sign, alright? I was staring at that.”

Huh? Virgil pushed his hood off his head in case the fabric had distorted the Prince’s voice. “Come again? A sign?”

Romeo let out a defeated sigh, gesturing towards the complex. “The For Rent sign up there. I was staring at that, okay? Just--” He shook his head, lowering his voice. “Daydreaming about living there. It’s just a--a perfect location. Close to school, my job, most auditions--” He trailed off, struggling a shoulder. “I told you it was stupid.” He muttered.

Of all the things he expected, Virgil would never have thought that Romeo was staring at his For Rent sign this entire time. “Well…have you applied at all?” He asked, still trying to wrap his mind around the concept. Surely he would have noticed--he couldn’t have missed an application submitted by this guy--had he?

Romeo gave a bitter laugh, shaking his head. “Like I can afford to live here on a waiter’s paycheck, Bats. The landlord would kick me out faster than I could move in.”

A waiter? He’d been to dozens of restaurants in the city and none of them had the variety of costumes Virgil had seen this guy wearing. “And your job requires all these--” He gestured to the Prince costume. “Outfits?”

Romeo shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. “No--auditions. I’m an actor. I just got done with one.”

Actor. Virgil fought the urge to roll his eyes. He should have known. He’d had his fair share of applicants say they were aspiring actors. It never turned out well. “Ah.”

Princey gave a polite smile that didn’t suit his face at all. “Mhmm. Hope to make it big one day, get my name in the lights.” He waved a hand vaguely around. “Yadda yadda, it’s not an uncommon dream here, so you’ve probably heard that before.”

Virgil gave a low chuckle, nodding. “Oh, only a thousand times or so.” Yet he found himself intrigued anyways. Here he’d been lamenting that Romeo would no longer be coming around...only to find out that the guy was more interested in his For Rent sign than in Mary Lee. “Is that what’s stopping you? Just the rent?”

Romeo raised an eyebrow. “I just told you I’m a waiter, Count Woe-laf. Of course it’s the rent. What person in their right mind would feel comfortable living with a guy who may or may not have the money ready by the first of the month when most of my paycheck is dependent on tips? They’d have to be-”

“Crazy?”

Princey nodded, looking up to the sign. “...Yes.”

It was crazy. Virgil could feel his heart rate increasing at the mere thought of the guy missing a payment.

And yet.

His posts about Romeo had been some of his more popular ones with his followers. To have this guy as his roommate...it had some potential. A lot of potential actually. It would mean he could finally resurrect his cryptid roommate series.

But seeing Princey on the street was one thing, living with him would be a completely different monster to tackle. Virgil tugged at the strings of his hoodie. “What if money wasn’t an issue? Like...the landlord wouldn’t mind it being...late, so long as you paid by the end of the month or something? What else would stop you from applying to be this guy’s roommate?”

Romeo frowned, raising an eyebrow as he turned to Virgil. “Stop me?”

“Like...things you think would annoy him? What do you do that you think others would hate?”

Romeo ran a hand through his hair, giving a half shrug. “I don’t know, man. I would--” He shook his head. “I would have said singing as I do have to practice for auditions and roles that I get, but if they’ve lived next to--”

“Mary Lee.” Virgil supplied.

“Yah her. I doubt they’d have a problem with me doing the same. Especially since I’m barely home as it is, what with my classes and my job and all my auditions.” He ticked the points off his fingers. “I’d be more of a ghost roommate than anything honestly.”

Well...that upped his cryptid status for sure. Only seeing this guy at odd hours would make it interesting, especially since Virgil didn’t keep normal hours himself. Plus if the dude was barely ever home...there would be less of a chance of him getting annoyed by Princey’s...antics.

“I see. So you’d be the leaving an empty jug of milk in the fridge, rotting dishes in the sink, and dirty towels on the bathroom floor sort of ghost roommate?”

Romeo wrinkled his nose. “What?! No!--okay the milk one maybe, but I’m working on that! But it’s not like I...I---” His eyes narrowed and he pointed a finger to Virgil. “Why do you even care, Bats? I answered your question about why I was staring, why would you--”

Took him long enough. Virgil drew in a breath. Time to bite the bullet. “Well…it’s my For Rent sign.”

If only he could pull out his phone and take a picture at how big Princey’s eyes got. Because he was sure no human’s eyes were supposed to grow that large. Virgil’s fingers twitched in his pocket, tempted to snap a picture anyways. The guy would find out soon enough how often he used his phone...if he still wanted to apply that is.

Romeo licked his lips, chocolate colored eyes darting between Virgil, the apartment, and back to Virgil again giving him a quick once over. “...oh.”

Virgil smirked, fighting to keep his own uncertainty hidden from Princey. He knew he wasn’t much to look at compared to this guy. But their conversation had gone well enough up to this point. He didn’t dislike the dude...yet. Was intrigued with--well what living with Romeo would be like. “Still interested in joining the batcave, Robin?”

Roman ran a hand along his sash, biting his lip. “You...wouldn’t say no?”

Virgil tilted his hand back and forth. “I mean, you still have to pass a background check.” He wasn’t naive enough to trust the guy flat out just because he put on a Prince costume. “Sign a contract. You’ll probably want to first see the inside of the place and your potential room. Oh. And--” He gestured to himself. “Not mind having a gremlin as your roommate.”

Princey’s ears went dark red at that comment. “I didn’t mean--”

Virgil tugged his hoodie back over his head, hoping that he wasn’t making a mistake in giving this guy a chance. “I said I was cool with the nickname, Romeo.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t been nicknaming the guy right back without Princey throwing a fuss. He turned for the front doors, pulling his keys out and jangling them as he moved away. “So you wanna come inside and check out the place or are you content to keep this dream of living here just a dream?”

He jumped, barely stopping himself from hissing as Princey suddenly appeared right beside him, bumping his shoulder. “Well if you’re offering, Batsy.” He winked, a bounce in his step as he raced up the stairs to the main doors. “I wouldn’t mind checking out this secret hideout of yours.”

Taglist in Reblog.

#Meeting Romeo #stillebesat #Sanders Sides #Virgil #Roman #A Work of Art #Anxiety #Creativity

159 notes · View notes