#bug said he looks indian and yeah | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

not-wholly-unheroic · 9 months

Text

Thoughts on Off to Neverland: 70 Years of Disney’s Peter Pan by Jim Korkis

Now that I have finished reading Off to Neverland, I’d like to share some thoughts on it—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s start with the negatives and get that out of the way, shall we?

As mentioned in a previous post, the book starts out sounding rather clunky and more like a list of facts than an actual book. However, once we move past the original history of Peter Pan as imagined by J.M. Barrie and start getting into the history of Disney Peter Pan material specifically, it starts to improve. Korkis was, after all, considered a Disney historian, so I guess it’s no real surprise that he writes more excitedly about that side of things. That said, there are still some things that bugged me and made me feel like the book was slapped together in a hurry. I noticed several spelling errors, missing words, and/or weird punctuation throughout the book and while that doesn’t take away from the info itself, it’s rather distracting and unprofessional for a published book. It’s also troubling that Korkis has neither a bibliography nor footnotes in his book to indicate exactly where he got his information from. Some of it was, undoubtedly, from interviews he conducted himself, but even then, there is a way that you are supposed to write up interviews as source material for professional writing…and Korkis just…doesn’t for some reason. So if I want to look up more info on, say, a specific fact…I can’t really do that because I have no proof of an original source. Lastly, some of the “facts” he includes—and I’m being nitpicky here but the guy is supposed to be a Disney historian so I think I’m allowed to be—are straight-up WRONG. For example, in the Disney film, Hook is said to have a harpsichord in his cabin (it’s not; it’s a piano—listen to a harpsichord…it doesn’t sound like that) and a cutlass as his weapon of choice (cutlasses are curved on one side; his blade is definitely more akin to a rapier or a fencing sword). Smee is also said to be the first mate in the original film, and while it’s true that in some later Disney media like Jake and the Neverland Pirates has portrayed Smee as a first mate, the original film does not. Heck, the man has a bosun’s whistle that he uses to pipe up the crew and specifically mentions the first mate as one of the people spreading rumors about Pan having banished Tink during the scene where he’s pouring hot water on Hook’s feet. So clearly he isn’t the first mate, and you don’t have to be a Disney expert to know that. You just have to actually watch the film. The author also says that Cubby is referred to as Curly in the sequel, Return to Neverland…which, again, just listen to the film for yourself and you’ll quickly learn that isn’t true. Oh, and did I mention that he essentially defends the racist portrayal of the “Indians” in the original film? Yeah, so…there’s that.

On a more positive note, I did learn some interesting new things about Peter Pan in the Disneyverse (though, of course, since there is no bibliography, I can’t prove any of them…). So, here are a few fun facts for you fellow Peter Pan nerds, as promised.

(1) There were a LOT of changes made to the original script and storyline between its initial inception and the final version of the film we have today. A few things that were considered but ultimately not used include the following:

Wendy was originally going to be the one who wanted to go to Skull Rock while Peter warned it was too dangerous to go there, only giving in when she finally dared him to take them there.

In one version, Nana came with the kids to Neverland while John stayed home, being “too grown up” for Neverland.

There were several different suggested starting points for the film. One would have had an adult Wendy as narrator reading the story to her daughter, Jane. Another started with Peter’s backstory similar to his origins in The Little White Bird. In either this or another version with a backstory for Pan, we would have seen Tink as the queen of the fairies who, on being presented with the foundling baby Peter, decided that he should be raised by the fairies to protect them against the pirates and other threats and, in exchange, gave him the power of flight.

One version of the story that would have followed much more closely to Barrie’s storyline had Hook creeping down part of the way into Hangman’s Tree to poison Peter but getting stuck and weeping frustrated tears that land in Peter’s “medicine.” These tears, of course, turned out to be poison from the red of his eye as in the 2003 film. This version also would have featured Hook voluntarily jumping ship and being nabbed by a silent crocodile whose clock had run down.

Disney debated for a long time whether to make Peter Pan a live-action film, an animated film, or a hybrid of the two. In the case of the latter, Wendy and her brothers would have been live-action characters with Hook, Peter, and the other residents of Neverland as animated characters who sprung to life from Wendy’s storybook.

There was gonna be a fairy ball. And a scene with the fairies feeding the kids at a kind of banquet. Also a fairy jazz band. Yes, you read that right. Fairy. jazz. band.

(2) The very first Tink to fly over one of the Disney parks to head off the fireworks was a 70 year-old Hungarian woman of Jewish descent and former burlesque dancer. This lady, known as “Tiny” Kline, slid down a 784 ft long cable nearly 150 ft off the ground at speeds up to 30 mph nearly every night for three years…while fighting cancer.

(3) There was an earlier version of Return to Neverland titled Peter and Jane featuring Kathryn Beaumont reprising her role as Wendy and Corey Burton in both the roles of Hook and Smee. Most of the voice recording for this version was already complete when the directors decided to go a different direction with the film. Beaumont was ultimately replaced by Kath Soucie, and the role of Smee went to Jeff Bennett.

(4) Somewhere out there, a live-action reference model version of Return to Neverland exists, and I need it. I have no idea if any of the voice actors were used as models as in the original film, but either way, I really wish we had some way to access the recording, or at least stills.

(5) Apparently, the filmmakers’ reasoning for replacing the crocodile with the octopus was that they thought a toothy crocodile would be “too threatening” for younger members of the audience. That, and they wanted to come up with a new, creative way to torture Hook. (For some reason, Korkis seems to think that the octopus can’t see well because he views Hook and the crew as fish. This is another “fact” which I’m pretty sure is wrong. I always assumed the vision of the characters as fish was just to show that the octopus considered them all potential food, not an actual indication of the creature’s sight…but whatever.)

(6) And last but not least, I have to include Hans and Corey’s takes on Hook as a character because my thoughts on the book wouldn’t be complete without them. I’ve shared some of this before but it bears repeating.

Hans Conried:

“He is a much maligned character. If you read the lines with any sensibility at all, you must have an animus against Peter Pan who could fly, and took outrageous advantage of this one-armed man. Hook was a gentleman. Pan was not. His behavior was bad form.”

Corey Burton:

“He’s the nastiest of Disney’s comical villains. He’s conceited and bombastic and takes great relish in his evil and that makes him really fun to play. Captain Hook is so theatrical, like an old ham actor of the vaudeville and music hall days. It’s not that he really scares anyone because you can see right through all of his bluster. He’s really just scrambling for the recognition afforded Blackbeard and the other great pirates.”

I find it interesting that Burton, though his take on the character is more comedic than Conried’s, still has a rather sympathetic view of Hook—that his attempts at villainy are, in fact, so over-the-top precisely because they are meant to cover up a deep insecurity that he isn’t living up to what everyone expects him to be.

Overall, the book had some fun and interesting bits but wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I’d love to send Korkis an email and ask him about some of the issues I had with the book and pick his brain. Unfortunately, he just passed away in July of 2023, so that’s no longer an option.

#Jim Korkis #captain hook disney #disney peter pan #captain hook #disney #disney villains #peter pan #Disney parks #return to neverland #corey burton #hans conried #tinkerbell #tinkerbelle #peter pan 1953 #disney history #disney facts #wendy darling

53 notes · View notes

stuffedeggplants · 2 years

Text

Far Cry 4 WIP: Ajay & Bhadra friendship + cute animals

Ajay knelt at the edge of the deer trail, gloved hands carefully negotiating plucking leaves from a weedy plant peeking out of the undergrowth. Somewhere behind him, a truck nearly as old as he was sped down the main road, bouncing on worn shock absorbers and belting snatches of an energetic Punjabi song into the air as it shot past. The wiry plant stalks shook in the breeze, their thorns batting Ajay’s arms as they jostled about to the music of Radio Free Kyrat, but Ajay pushed them back and continued snapping off the tips of stems, tossing bundles of leaves into the basket that Bhadra had set down between them.

“Ajay?” Bhadra rested her hands on her knees as she leaned back to look at him. Or not at him, but at the thing that had just placed two little hooves on his lower back. “I wouldn’t let Kalu do that if I were you…”

He turned and bumped his cheek directly into the soft, wet nose of a goat.

Kalu was standing on his hind legs and, undeterred by the collision, was now tugging at the collar of Ajay’s parka, chewing experimentally.

“Kalu’s lucky he’s so cute,” Ajay said gently, maneuvering to lift the goat off him. “Can you tell him that he should be eating Anjan’s crops or something, not my jacket?”

It wasn’t that he was upset about it, but he did only have one jacket.

“Oh you can’t tell Kalu anything,” Bhadra smiled, tossing a pebble in the goat’s direction. “He does whatever he wants.”

Ajay grabbed the basket of greens they were collecting and held it up to Kalu, but Kalu ignored it, preferring to investigate the edibility of Ajay’s shoelaces instead.

“Okay then, here–” Ajay tugged some leaves off the spiny plant and held them under Kalu’s snout. “Maybe you’ll like fresh stuff better.”

The goat bent his head to nudge Ajay’s knees for reasons that Ajay would never understand, ignoring the greens and wandering off as far as his rope leash would carry him.

Yeah, it’s not my clothes so of course that’s a no-go, Ajay thought, his shoulders twitching in a silent chuckle.

“Goats won’t eat bicchu buti,” Bhadra said, gesturing to the plant with a pair of tongs. “I’ve tried, but they don’t like the needles— the spines,” she finished, revising her word choice. “The plant is named after a stinging bug. Humans are the only ones who will eat it, I think.”

“Well I think this goat seems to prefer clothes to plants anyway,” Ajay said, returning to collecting and wincing as the underside of a leaf brushed a stinging sensation across his wrist. “Though maybe Kalu’s smarter than people, if we’re really the only ones crazy enough to eat stuff like this.”

“He’s exploring!”

“Eating polyester and nylon counts as exploring?” Ajay arched an eyebrow in doubt, mouth twisting in a half-smile.

“If you’re a goat, yes.”

---

Notes!

Kalu is a nickname from the Nepali and Hindi words for “black,” “kalo” and “kala” respectively. The words are slightly different but I think the nickname works in both. Kalu is a black goat. :)

Bicchu buti is “stinging nettle” in English, with “bicchu” meaning “scorpion.” This name is used in parts of the Indian Himalayas (like Uttarakhand state bordering Nepal,) though I don’t know if it has other names in other parts of the north.

#far cry 4 #far cry 4 fanfiction #far cry fanfiction #ajay ghale #bhadra #goats #my stuff #my writing

20 notes · View notes

flawedamythyst · 1 year

Text

Fandom Deep Cuts

Tagged by @drgrlfriend : okay apropos of this post —

tag a writer if you’d like them to share a never-before-seen playlist/moodboard/bit of background lore from one of their fics!

So, I'm going to be talking about Cluster Got Your Back, Bro, which is my Sense8 Avenger's AU. I'll ramble about it for a bit, and then I've got a scene that got cut.

So, when I look back the thing that frustrates me most about this fic is the failure to live up to the diversity of Sense8 itself. Everyone is white, I managed 2 women out of 8, and despite Bruce being in India and Bucky starting out in Afghanistan, everyone is from the USA/Europe/Australia. Given the state of the MCU at the time I wrote it (which was pre-Black Panther or I would definitely have dropped Bruce for T'Challa) I don't know that I could have done much better but it still bugs me. I tried to get a bit more global by making Tony Italian and dumping Thor in Australia rather than Norway, which might have felt more obvious but would have meant I had 3 Americans, 4 Europeans and Bruce, hanging out in India but clearly not Indian. Not that Australia isn't another Western country, but at least it spread out the dots on the map a bit.

And I did really enjoy writing Australian!Thor. He was so much more fun than Norwegian!Thor would have been, imho.

The hardest part of writing it was the timezones. I had a tab open on Time Zone Converter the whole time I was writing it, and kept having to move scenes around so it wasn't weird that various people were awake at the same time. Thank God for Thor's dawn surfing habit and Tony's erratic sleep patterns, but the hardest one was definitely Bruce. He was just never awake when the others are.

He's also the only one who didn't get his own plotline and yes, that is a bit related, but also, I was juggling a lot already and I didn't have anything for him to do. I hinted at him being on the run or whatever, but I never gave him any real backstory. I think it would have all been too much. So, bless him, he's just the guy who sleeps through the plot, occasionally meditates and is only useful when someone gets injured.

Originally, there was going to be an extra epilogue bit set a couple of years later, to show everyone settled into the lives they ended up with, which is what the snippet below the cut is. I accidentally introduced an antagonist though, and it suddenly started feeling like a sequel with a whole new plot arc, so I cut it. I kinda meant to go back at some point, but that never happened (if it had, possibly Bruce would have got some plot of his very own. Possibly not.)

It's a bit long and stops mid-scene, as a warning.

Clint actually really loved being a Stark Industries bodyguard. It meant he got to wear sunglasses and loom behind Tony, looking menacing - which was easy, given their respective heights. He got to carry a weapon everywhere with him which, okay, so it wasn’t his bow, but a gun was okay too, and got him less weird looks, and mostly his job was just watching people, which was easy as shit.

Mostly, though, he liked that it meant he got to work with Bucky.

“All clear here,” said Bucky through the comms that Tony had insisted on buying them, even though they could speak to each other’s minds. Clint glanced over the crowd of assembling reporters to where Bucky was standing by the door, looking hot as hell in his fancy suit as he glared around at the crowd.

“Here too,” said Clint, tearing his eyes away to glance around from his vantage point on the stage. “Tony, are you ready?”

Tony was in the back room, flicking through notecards that Clint knew he’d ignore as soon as he came out in front of the crowd. “Sure, yeah,” he said distractedly. “Hey, is the guy from The New Yorker here?”

Clint had no idea what he looked like, so he just scanned over the crowd as Tony appeared beside him, following his gaze.

“Aha! There he is,” said Tony, pointing at an old guy in the second row. “He wrote an article when I moved to New York about how Stark Industries was overextending itself. I’m going to make him eat his words.”

“Not literally, please,” said Steve. He wasn’t at the press conference, because despite Tony's best wheedling, he’d declined every single job offer from Stark Industries and stayed working for the NYPD. Clint thought he was nuts, because the benefits he and Bucky got were insane. The dental alone was worth turning up every day to hang around with one of his closest friends and his boyfriend, while looking hot in a suit.

And Clint did look hot. Bucky had made sure that he knew that.

“Sure, sure,” said Tony. “All the words eating will be hypothetical.” He straightened his tie, then took a step closer to the door. “Okay, I’m ready. Wish me luck, guys.”

Everyone who was currently awake wished him luck, glancing in on the press conference from wherever they were. Thor was in board shorts, clutching his surfboard as he ran down to meet the first wave of the day, Wanda was curled up on a sofa reading a briefing document and drinking a glass of wine in preparation for the next day’s political mindgames in the Sokovian parliament. Natasha didn’t let them see where she was, which was pretty much standard these days, now she was rising through the ranks of SHIELD.

Bruce was asleep. Tony had tried to persuade him that he needed to stay up for the conference, for moral support, but Bruce had just rolled his eyes and started his usual evening meditation.

Steve was on patrol with Sam, but Clint could see him sitting in an unoccupied chair in the front row, waiting for Tony’s big announcement.

Tony strolled out as if onto a runway, waving both hands at the crowd. “Hey guys!” he said. “Good to see you again. Well, most of you.” He sent the guy from The New Yorker a pointed look. “Now, I know most of you are hoping this is going to be about some awesome new Stark Industries product, because everything we create is incredible, but this is actually going to be even more fun than that.”

His hand went into the pocket his notecards were in for a moment, but when he took it out, it was empty.

This was going to be fun.

“Okay, so it’s probably pretty clear now that I’ll be living in New York semi-permanently for a bit,” said Tony. “Not that I don’t love Roma, of course not, the weather is so much better, not to mention the coffee, although the tourists are about the same. Just, New York has a couple of things in it that I’m enjoying having easy access to.” He gave Steve a wink that made Steve roll his eyes, and then disappear to go back to his patrol.

Tony just turned his grin on the rest of the crowd, unfazed. “Which means I need to start acting like a good neighbour, right? I don’t want to be one of those asshole-type billionaires who don’t pay taxes and pretend a couple of thousand to charity is a big deal. Not that I’m talking about anyone in particular of course, except, wait, yes I totally am, and of course I’m going to name and shame them. Page four of your briefing pack has a full list of billionaires who aren’t pulling their weight when it comes to helping out the rest of the community.”

Clint wondered who had signed off on the briefing pack, and how long it would take Pepper to fire them.

“So, in addition to paying all my taxes like a good boy -my returns are available on request from the PR department- I figure it’s time to get into the philanthropy business properly. So, I’m announcing that I’m setting up the Maria Stark Charitable Foundation, who will be starting off with a fund of a couple of billion, to be divided between projects in New York, for my neighbours, and throughout the world because let’s face it, this is a global community now, we’re all each other’s neighbours.”

Clint scanned over the crowd again, trying to pretend he couldn’t see Bucky rolling his eyes at that one. There was a movement near the back and he zoned in on it, then froze dead.

Trick was standing there, staring straight at him with a malicious smirk on his face.

The cluster were now so close to each other that he didn’t need to say anything, didn’t even need to think it. Just the sudden change in his emotions was enough to make Bucky, Steve, Thor, Natasha and Wanda appear next to him while Bruce startled awake in Mumbai.

“What is it?” asked Bucky.

“That’s Trick,” said Clint, stepping out of his body so he could point.

Bucky’s eyes narrowed. “Right,” he said, and disappeared.

“What the hell is he doing here?” asked Wanda. Clint didn’t have any answers. As far as he was concerned, Trick had disappeared into the night and was never coming back.

Bucky stalked over to Trick and put a heavy hand on his shoulder, doing the sexy badboy glower that usually made Clint melt, but was just making him feel reassured now. It didn’t matter what Trick wanted, he had a kickass boyfriend and the rest of the cluster on his side.

Trick tried to throw Bucky off, but he just tightened his grip and marched him off. Clint wondered if it was possible to love the guy any more than he did right now.

“So, enough about me,” said Tony, wrapping up the speech that he’d somehow managed to continue with despite the drama. “And I know I don’t usually say that, but I figure there’s only so much of the glory I can take right now. Let me introduce you to the person who’ll actually be running the show.”

He was finishing up a lot quicker than he’d been intending to, which Clint had a feeling was because of him, but he was more than okay with that. Tony handed over the podium, gave one last wave, then glanced at Clint and headed backstage.

Clint followed him, and the minute they were out of sight of the crowd, Tony put an arm on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Clint nodded. “Just really want to know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing here.”

“Let’s find out,” said Tony.

Bucky had Trick in the security room, handcuffed to a chair with another security guard outside while Bucky stood against the wall with his arms crossed and just glared at him. In the time it took Clint and Tony to walk down there, Trick went from trying to play the whole thing off as a mistake to trying to threaten him with a lawsuit. Bucky didn’t so much as twitch.

“How are we going to play this?” asked Steve, walking around Trick. “You know I’m not actually going to let you hurt him, right?”

“No hurting,” said Clint. “I’m just going to ask a couple of questions.”

“If I don’t like his answers, there may be some hurting,” said Bucky. Steve just sighed.

Clint paused outside the room to take a breath, and Tony slapped a hand to his shoulder again. “Hey, any time you want, just say the word and I’ll throw the full weight of an outraged billionaire at him,” said Tony.

Clint snorted and shook his head. “Nah, let’s do this the old-fashioned, carnie way.”

“Oh god, please don’t kneecap him,” muttered Steve.

Clint ignored him as he opened the door and went inside.

“...can’t treat me like this,” Trick was saying. “I’ve done nothing wr-” He shut up when he saw Clint, then glanced over his shoulder at Tony and raised an eyebrow.

“You really are playing with the big boys now, huh?” said Trick. “Look, I-”

“Shut up,” said Clint. “What are you doing here?”

Trick shrugged as well as he could in the handcuffs. “Hey, a guy can’t drop in to see an old friend?"

“We’ve never been friends,” said Clint.

Trick faked a heartbroken look, and Clint just rolled his eyes, glancing at Bucky, who was still glowering. “Maybe we should just kneecap him,” he said, mostly to hear Steve’s protest.

“Oh, come on,” said Trick. “It’s not that bad. I’m just here to talk to you.” His eyes flicked to Bucky, then across to Tony. “In private,” he added.

“Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of them,” said Clint.

Trick’s eyes raised. “Seriously? You want all your dirty secrets out in the open?”

“He wants to blackmail you,” said Natasha.

The idea of Bucky and Tony not knowing everything there was to know about Clint was ridiculous. Clint grinned at Trick, feeling the vicious edge to it. “Nothing secret about it,” he said. “Sorry if you were hoping to have any kind of leverage.”

Trick snarled at him. “Fuck you, Barton,” he said. “Maybe I’ll tell all the press out there that Tony Stark is hiring a guy with a murder conviction, then.”

“He’s not,” said Tony, leaning back against the wall. “Tony Stark is hiring the very best guy for the job, and his past, which may involve some criminal charges, none of which are actually murder, isn’t Tony Stark’s business.”

“Tony Stark is talking about himself in the third person,” noted Wanda, and earned herself a glare.

“Fuck,” muttered Trick, and glared at Clint. “Didn’t think you’d be the type to let some rich dude fuck you in exchange for being pampered, Barton.”

Bucky suddenly moved at that, making Trick as he uncrossed his arms and stepped forward. “Say that again,” he said. “Go on. I dare you.”

Trick stared at him, not nearly scared enough. “Okay, so apparently it’s not just Stark you’re getting on your knees for. I wouldn’t have thought a billionaire was big on sharing.”

Tony let out a long sigh, “Okay, two things. First of all, were you not listening to my speech out there at all? Sharing is exactly what I’m about. And secondly, I don’t know why you think Clint would need to sleep with someone for them to think he’s worth employing and being friends with. He’s incredibly talented, you know.”

Clint felt his ears blush red at the compliment, but he did his best to keep glaring at Trick.

“We need to scare him badly enough to never come back,” said Natasha. She crouched down to stare at Trick. “You should leave Bucky alone with him.”

#marvel #winterhawk #my writing #writing meme

4 notes · View notes

marcholasmoth · 1 year

Text

OSRR: 3139

an actual picture of me that i did today at work:

my last brain cell is trying his best to keep the office together while all of his coworkers are on vacation in aruba. they have unlimited vacation time, but at least one person has to be in the office at any given time. this poor little guy hasn't gotten a day off in at least a month.

time to give it a rest, yknow?

anyway, today was another long day. i didn't have to stay until 7, thankfully, but it was appointment after appointment after appointment, and i still didn't get myself lunch because i couldn't figure out what i wanted. but thankfully dad thought ahead and we went for indian food directly after work, so i was happy to eat my food.

while at dinner with my dad, i was telling him about my day and how i told some jokes and how i talked to a student about my strengths and stuff and how those aren't exactly things you can put in a résumé. and i pulled up my phone and i pulled up a website to tell my dad about the position that i would probably ultimately have, as an interagency liaison or something, and i did some searches to find a position like that, but something else came up.

the thing that came up was the perfect job description.

i was so excited. i even managed to do what i said i was gonna in my excitement, and i pulled up the posting, went through the duties and highlighted important basics of the tasks, edited my résumé to reflect it, wrote a cover letter, and sent them all off to my brother to look at so i can submit it tomorrow. it's the perfect position. it's not too far and i'm happy to drive the hour to get there, and the pay scale is good and im honestly really excited about it.

yeah.

i'm in bed now though. i'm tired. i didn't get to talk to joel today, but i know he's busy until april at this point, so i don't wanna bug him too much, although once i'm able to drive i'm gonna exist in his space again because i miss him and existing in each other's space is something we do well. so that's good.

and i think i made another friend. she's the student i worked with yesterday evening and i worked with her again and she's really cool. we get along really well and i'm really happy about it. she's about my age and im happy to have people around me who are also in their 30s and it's kinda cool to be an adult.

i also bought shoes today that would be work appropriate. gotta get those insoles first.

#molly rambles #operation srr #osrr #3000s #3100s #sunshine boy

2 notes · View notes

animereviewsbykyranskye · 1 year

Text

Reviews while I watch Trigun Stampede: Episode 6-9

I am so far behind on all of these. I just burnt myself out on anime, hopefully we can slowly catch up on everything. Let’s start with a show I’ve really been enjoying.

This man is going to die. Oh the mystery dude got shot a bunch. And drank something. Why are his eyes red???

The site I watch on now has a section to show where the opening is, nice! I missed this opening. They really went all out with these sand physics.

We still don’t know about Vash’s arm from what I remember.

They really said fuck it, Make him hella pretty and give off extreme amounts of gender envy.

Actually, why does he look the same after 20 years?

THIS IS SET ON EARTH??? How is everything covered in sand? Actually it might not be. The land masses just seriously resemble earth and the voyage is reminiscent of the trip taken for the Dutch East Indian Spice trades.

New villain. Why is Wolfwood helping Vash again? Isn’t he with his brother?

Epic fight scene is short and epic.

Wolfwood knows the villain.

Backstory time! Pretty characters. I love this art style. How the hell did he land like that. They make friends with the birbs.

OH GOD THAT TRANSITION GAVE ME A FRIGHT.

Here they come!

They surf the sand, sick.

More backstory! Livio didn’t even come to say goodbye.

By god he was experimented on. This is a terrifying sequence.

So the liquid helps him heal?

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH FUUUUCK. WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING THIS EPISODE????

WHOS THIS NEW GUY?

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

This man has trauma! And yet him and Vash are still protecting each other.

Man, this new guy is hellishly powerful.

----in between episode thoughts----

I did not expect this much character development one episode after introducing him, da heck. This episode was so dark. I can’t wait to do a full rewatch of this show when it’s all released. If it continues like this then this will hurt so damn much.

----Episode 7----

More stakes with less than a minute in.

Oh no. He must kill his brother!

XD The news reporters were kidnapped to be news reporters. Best. Aw, she’s crying.

Somber music incoming.

I wonder how much medicine he still has.

AAAAAAnd Vash is stopping him from killing his brother. Classic. And the bug is dead. New bug.

This man takes the time to light a cigarette. Aw. He remembers the smell.

Yeah, he’s dead. Shame, poor Wolfwood.

This man just kicked down a metal door.

All the people on this ship must be seriously panicking right now.

What does wolfwood think he’s going to do?

Roberto is so done with all of this.

HEH? How the fuck did they push that?

New plot point. Vash’s arm is damaged.

He is going to mess with the plant. Time for the space knowledge. Oooo. The plant is opening. There is something in the plant!

That is a really big sandstorm.

WHAT DID HE DO?? IS VASH A PLANT? AHHHHHHHH??????

----between episode thoughts----

I have nothing to say. I want to immediately go to the next episode but I need snacks.

I has snacks. Let’s do this.

----Episode 8----

Backstory! And they have weird markings from the neck down. Immediately confirmed. The twins are plants. So why is the brother destroying/taking the plants?

What happened? They were so happy...

Trauma.

This poor child. Imagine being a reason all your people are dead.

So Vash is as human as plants can get.

Awwwww.

Is he tallying days? And he can feel the plant’s emotions and thoughts.

He ate! And he’s making friends and helping. Things are going to go to shit aren’t they?

The jacket!!

Yeah things are going to go to shit.

Nooooo. Things are going to shit. Don’t run away Vash! He took the photo of his twin!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, do we not get to see more??? We need to know what happened. And how he lost his arm! Ahhhh. Don’t stop it there.

Yay!

Oh god. Dead plants. And the brother.

Not yay.

----between episode thoughts----

Well that was a rollercoaster, that’s for sure. First wolfwood backstory and now Vash’s. So much is happening. Do we know how many episodes this show is meant to have yet?

----Episode 9----

Not the piano again. Why does Nai also give Gender envy, this isn’t fair.

Aww, they’re playing together. But Nai doesn’t want to play together. Damn good music though.

Oh god, they’re killing them.

Question, how does Nai look human? Like nothing is covering the other parts of him like Vash does? Wait no, Vash looks the same. Confused now. When did they manage to not have all the other parts, or were those just clothes.

OH god. Nai is cool but also terrifying. Origin story of the villain.

And that’s where the gun comes from.

Wait does Vash actually kill her? Nevermind. Nai will.

I mean Nai technically still cares about him.

HEH????

A gate?? There goes the arm.

AND THE GUN!

Okay. He’s not destroying them. But trying to eliminate humans to build a world of only plants.

So Bard made the arm for him.

This man is over 150 years old??

So the people of this world don’t know about flora?

Has Meryl and Roberto been captured?

Okay, so different planet. Just looks like earth.

That’s a lot of plants.

----after thoughts----

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

#anime #review #Trigun Stampede #chaos #so much backstory #the writing is so damn good #wolfwood cares for vash #but just won't admit it #ahhhhhhh #gender envy #still #actually more #reviews while I watch #kyranskye #long ass post

4 notes · View notes

the-firebird69 · 1 month

Text

ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR Pyramid Scene (2004) Sci Fi Horror - video Dailymotion

dailymotion

If this is a pyramid doesn't make sense unless Dan released the xenomorph onto the group of jaujta

Zues Hera

It's true too it makes a lot of sense and how can you figure it out you don't know it looks like some of the group disappeared and one of them blew the whole place up and he's forced to know that he looks like he killed off a lot of these xenomorph so the Indian has revenge in his heart for it looks like the group that he tried to kill and maybe he wasn't even there and it's his own family but that means it goes back before that. It might be because they tried to have the bugs attack his forces during their experiment with the East Coast so yeah that would push it out further than within the next few days but it makes sense because the clothes of John ramillard turn on the kids all the time

Thor Freya

We do that occasionally but not much only when they do and they understand it but this guy has these clones that do it all the time and we think you're right that JC and Mary made them and release them of the max don't really do that kind of thing you like to control stuff and it's true and it is awful they're poor this guy steppingopolis called 50 times today asking why he's saying his name and we said what do you think you're talking about his stuff and someone's getting back to you he doesn't know who it is so you checked and it wasn't her and it was some guy who wants revenge on him for sitting there bothering him about something you couldn't help with and it was one of us but really they're horrible and there's a whole bunch of them and they sound like Trump does now and it was David audette

Terry c

0 notes

that-one-weeb-but-starwars · 3 years

Text

If Star Wars Characters went to Disneyland| 501st style

Part one? Idk might make a part 2

-FIVES IS GOD DAMN EXITED THE WHOLE PLANE RIDE

-Rexs had twenty coffees and they barely left the airport

-Ashoka's asleep on everyones carry ons

-Dogma aint happy even being in the air port

-Tup records all the crackhead moments

-"Im runnin on four seconds of sleep man" "oh seriously" "yeah...Wanna oreo?" "....yeah sure."

-Anakin went before with Pademe, so he's wearing his disney ears already.

-Echo's reading outlander as they wait

-"When Im done with flight school I'll be flying everyone instead." "Redeye I dont trust you to make a sandwhich. None the less with a plane"

-Kix's wears his Red Cross Tee on the flight because its comfortable

-Jesse's also taken a nap with Ashoka on everyones luggage

-when they've finally got on the plane Rex's had four more coffees

-Anakin took charge so Rex could sleep and Rex happily did.

-the flight was the calm before the storm

-Dont even ask how they all got from the air port to the hotel-

-they stayed at the hotel across from the park and Fives has never been so excited

-Ashoka wants to keep sleeping and does so in the lobby as Anakin checked them all in.

-"Oooo Rex and Tano are in the same room" "Good I cant deal with you mfs for another mintue" "I-"

-Rex and Ashoka shared a room which ment peace and quiet for them.

-It was odd for them only two to a room, but luckily they all some how connected so chaos

-After everyones settled in, they basically all crashed aftwerwords

-Echo and Fives ended up sleeping on the same bed even though there was two of them.

-When moring Came Ashoka and Rex were the first ones up, they were gonna go eat downtown but knew they should wake everyone up.

-"Get up" "five more hours..." "sure- wait-"

-its a struggle but everyone gets up, Anakin out of everyone was the hardest to get up.

-they all go and eat at the buffet they have at the hotel, surprisingly everyone actually wakes up.

-Kix is the only one with a healthy breakfast of fruits and yogurt

-Dogma got out of his sour mood now that he has Cheerios

-So when they finally made there way over to the park

-Echo and Fives got matching ears, the day of the dead themed ones

-Rex said he wasnt getting Ears, but they convinced him to get ears, so the boys picked out the sparklest ears and Rex cant believe it, but he still ends up wearing them

-Kix got nemo themed ears

-Spend atleast an hour taking pictures just on main street, one consisting of Anakin laying across the group of clones and ashoka who held him in the air

-they dropped him by accident

-They take up the whole back of the disney railroad, you know the one that goes just around the park

-like five year olds there first ride is Dumbo and Peter Pan

-There's alot of laughing on the kiddy rides

-Splash Mountain- dont even start them on that- because they had to go in quiet a few logs, when the first one went over with Anakin, Ashoka, Rex, Tup, Dogma, and Echo everyone heard they screaming and now the clones are shakin in there boots

-churros for life

-When Rex and Anakin went on a ride together and then vanished the whole team was singing "there she goes"

-"BRO LOOK ITS DOGMA" "that's the abominable snowman Fives" "oh I know"

- expect a race between everyone on the autotopia ride, they place bets on each racer,

-Redeye loves Sorin over California, or the world. Idk things have changed, its also the reason why he has piolt themed disney ears and aviators.

-god imagine them in galaxies edge- I-

Fives: You were the satly one! I loved you!

Dogma: what?

Rex: its over my friend! I have the high ground!

Ashoka: you underestimate my power!

Rex: Don't try it!

Ashoka: -eats the churro they were suppose to share-

Rex: -offended-

-Redeye crashin the millennium Flacon- and there goes his hopes and dreams

-Dogma hates the small world, so they got stuck on it

-Jungle cruise adventures

-the bugs on the indian jones ride spray;

Fives: BRO WTF

Echo: Aw hell naw

Tup: I dont run but I might just sprint out this ride

Rex: guys its water

Kix: well techinally its pressurized air

Ashoka: bugs?! Where! It'll be added to my collection

Anakin: I dont know them

-Mary Poppins asked them to dance? Kix is all over that with Hardcase

-pirates of the Caribbean ride, they love it, its so relaxing

-Dogma: i aint scared of nothin

Dead man tell no tale

Dogma: Im scared of one thing

Ko ho: Boo!

Dogma: you mf

-accidently runs into Obi-wans Battalion

Obi-wan: heres there mom and all our kids

-dinners at a fast food place outside the park and all sitting on the curb eating and talking about there day

-"LETS DO IT AGAIN!" "Fives we have three more days in the park." "OH HELL YEAH!"

#star wars #sw: tcw #the clone wars headcanons #tcw 501st #star wars: the clone wars fic #the clone wars x reader #starwars headcannons #sw #Star Wars: The Clone wars

101 notes · View notes

metaphor-cheese · 3 years

Text

Anyway after that convo abt buford protecting baljeet i was reminded of one of the first things i wrote when i got back into pnf

———

Bill glanced around the mall outside wedgies, searching desperately.

“Come on dude, you came unprepared, just admit it.” A bored voice commented next to him. “No nerd, no entry.”

“I can prove myself!” The boy angrily defended, poking the unimpressed bouncer in the chest in an attempt to intimidate him. “Just let me find someone-“

“What do you think’s gonna happen?” Another bully mocked from inside. “A nerd’s just gonna materialise because the almighty william needs one?”

“IT’S BILL!” The boy roared. He didn’t have to put up with this kind of slander! He was top dog at his school back in Seattle.

He turned back to scanning the available area with his eyes as the bouncer turned around and began shutting the doors to the gym. “Come on, come on...” he mumbled to himself, frantically. “I just gotta find one ner-“ his voice cut off in an instant and his eyes bugged out.

There, across the way, a small indian boy was exiting a bookshop. He was dressed in overalls, his arms were piled high with textbooks (despite summer just having started) and he was talking to a boy with a triangle head about what sounded like science.

He had to be the biggest nerd Bill had ever seen.

His mouth twitched into an evil grin.

“Hey!” He called back to the bouncer, just before he closed the door.

“Ugh, what?!” The taller child whined. “Don’t make me hang you from the flagpole, new kid!”

Ignoring the threat, Bill pointed to the boy with a smug grin. “You were saying about how I couldn’t find a nerd?”

Instead of shocked like he’d expected, or horrified and defeated like he’d hoped, the bouncer instead looked serious. “Yeah, man. Not happening. That’s Buford’s nerd.”

Bill scoffed. ‘Buford’s nerd? You couldn’t claim nerds! It was a free country! And even if it wasn’t, Bully Billy took what he wanted.

“I’m serious, bro.” The bouncer stressed, beginning to white knuckle the door handle. The bullies who had gathered around the window to laugh at him being kicked out also looked anxious. “That one’s off limits.”

“We’ll see about that.” With a roll of his eyes, Bill strolled over to the younger kids.

“I cannot believe I got such a discount on these textbooks!” The indian boy was squeaking excitedly as he struggled with his heavy stack. “You do not know what college kids are paying for these nowadays.”

“Hey poindexter!” Billy interrupted, pointing at him. Despite making it clear who he was referring to, the boy and his small entourage still looked around curiously as if it was unclear. “Ugh. Overalls!” The boy shifted his stack of books to balance precariously at his hip and pointed to himself in with a questioning look. “Yes you! Drop the books.” Bill sneered.

With a confused blink, the boy replied simply. “No.”

“What? You’re talkin’ back to me, runt?!”

“Well, yes.” He said matter of factly. He narrowed his eyes. “What reason do i have to listen t-“

Bill didn’t let him finish. He wasn’t about to lallygag around when he had his dominance as a bully to assert. With one swift move, he reached down and yanked the child up by his underpants. The little shrimp let out a high pitched yelp as he did so, and his friends gaped in shock.

“Well...” the boy chuckled, nervously. “That was unpleasant.”

“Put him down!” One of his friends- a girl with a pink ribbon- demanded, angrily.

“Yeah, he didn’t do anything to you!” The triangle-headed nerd from before chimed in. Bill decided to make him his next victim, after he made an example of the kid in his grasp.

“Or else what?” He mocked, beginning to absentmindedly stroke the boys curly hair for a few seconds before harshly yanking with no warning. The three’s glares intensified as their friend yelped in pain again. “Hmm?” Bill continued. “What’re you gonna do? Go cry to mommy?”

“No.” The boy in his grasp said with sudden calmness, catching Bill’s attention. When he looked back at him, he saw the kid had his arms crossed and was shooting him a confident (and slightly condescending) look. “I will do this.” As he finished speaking, the indian boy took a large, dramatic intake of breath. Bill noticed the other kids giving each other similar, knowing looks of confidence as the tall, green-haired one handed out ear plugs to the others. Before he could question what was about to happen, however...

“BUUUUUUUFOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!”

Bill swore his eardrums burst at the sound, and he was honestly surprised the high pitch didn’t make all the glass in the mall shatter. As he stumbled backwards from shock, he barely managed to make out a dark grey shape skid around a nearby corner. A split second after the sound stopped, he noticed the shape was a chubby kid in a black shirt holding a half-eaten soft pretzel.

“What- what’s happ’nin, where’s the fire?!” The kid exclaimed in frantic alarm, hurriedly looking this way and that. When his eyes settled on Bill and the boy he was holding, however, it instantly steeled into something murderous.

The whole area seemed to go quiet as, who he presumed was, ‘Buford’ slowly stomped his way over to Bill and the overalls kid. Despite his young age and stout physique, even grown adults around Bill covered their mouths in silent horror and hid behind display signs as he passed.

Once he got in front of the two of them, the boy in Bill’s clutches brightened up. “Buford!” He greeted, happily- but the other ignored him.

“Drop the nerd.” Was all he said to him, raspy voice going as deep as an 11 year olds could. When Bill paused, he pointed to the ground and screamed “NOW!”

Bill glanced around him at the terror on everyone’s faces. At the quivering salespeople and the cowering bullies behind wedgies big fancy windows. He raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the horrified masses and the slightly-larger-than-average preteen in front of him.

With a quiet scoff, he rolled his eyes. Clearly becoming top dog in this town was gonna be easy.

Giving the kid a smug look, he asked “Or else what, shorty?”

One moment he was looking down into a pale, chubby kid’s furious gaze. The next, his vision was fuzzy black and stars as his back hit the ground. A tight pain erupted from his stomach a moment later, and he rolled over and began wheezing as he huddled in the foetal position.

Baljeet shrieked only for a split second as he fell, before he landed in a familiar palm with an underwhelming ‘plop’. He glanced at the person holding him up and smiled. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Y’welcome, ‘Jeet.” Buford said casually as he lowered his arm so his friend could hop off his hand.

Phineas, Ferb and Isabella wandered over to the two of them to look upon the devastated boy.

“Wow.” Phineas said simply, noticing that the older kid still hadn’t stopped wheezing. “That was some sucker punch.”

“You’ve learnt well.” Isabella praised, patting him on the arm. Ferb nodded.

Unable to not brag at least a little, Buford leant back and pretended to inspect his nails. “Yeah. It was a pretty good hit, wasn’t it?”

“Though I certainly hope you did not do any lasting damage...” Baljeet fretted, looking with concern at how long it was taking the bully to recover.

As if in response to his pity, the kid struggled to his feet. “That was a cheap shot.” He spat, cheeks red with embarrassment. He brushed himself off and pointed intimidatingly at Buford. “Let’s settle this the real-“

“Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.” Buford calmly said, waving his hands in a ‘stop’ gesture as he walked up to him. If only from confusion, Bill did quiet, letting him get close. “Do you really wanna do that?” Buford asked. Bill glared at him.

“Yes.” He said seriously.

He vaguely registered a series of shocked gasps from all around him.

Buford looked surprised for a moment, before shrugging. “Alright.”

Just like before, it all happened so quickly.

One moment Bill had his feet planted firmly on the ground. The next, he was being yanked into the air by his shirt (how was that even possible when this kid was smaller than him?!) and then the next, landing roughly into something hard just as he tried to fight back. It took him a moment to regain his bearings, but when he did, he tried to clamber out of the tiny bin- only to see Buford’s face blocking his view of the light.

“Listen up here, dillweed, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once.” Buford snarled. “This is MY turf. Those,” he pointed to the rest of the kids. “are MY friends.” Leaning in close, and lowering his scratchy voice again, the kid growled. “And if you wanna survive in this town another day, you’ll leave us the hell alone and never touch one’ ‘em again.” With a harsh poke in the chest, he added “Got that?”

Before Bill could even consider responding, Buford continued. “Good. Sayonara.” Something harsh hit the side of the bin and then bill was rolling, rolling, rolling until-

“AAAAAHHHHHH!”

The five kids gathered around the escalator to watch the bin speed down it and then straight out the front door, all to the tune of the bully’s screams.

“Goodbye!” Baljeet called after him, with a satisfied giggle.

“Yup.” Buford added.

For a few moments, they watching in silence.

“...Man, he’s really going far.” Isabella commented.

“I’ll say.” Phineas added. “Hey Ferb, pass me those binoculars.” The green haired boy did just that and his step-brother laughed good-naturally at whatever he saw through them.

“Hey, cool, he made it to the skatepark!”

“Ooo, let me see!” Baljeet cheered, reaching for them.

Buford looked on with a fond smile at his friends laughing over the view. When his ear twitched at the sound of a solitary ‘aww’, however, he turned and glared at the cause. The instigator- a teenage girl- proved not to be the only one staring at him, as huge swabs of the mall were still warily watching him. One quick glare in each direction quickly solved that problem, however, and Buford nodded to himself in satisfaction.

“Alright, this is gettin’ old.” He interrupted Isabella and Baljeet’s arguing by physically easing himself between them. “Who wants corndogs?” He offered.

Instantly, Ferb’s hand went up, and Phineas and Isabella responded rather quickly with ‘me!’s. He nodded and turned to lead the way.

“Were you not just at the food court?” Baljeet commented, wryly, as he followed.

“Hey, I didn’t get to finish my pretzel!” Buford defended.

And thus the group of kids’ normal banter started up again, and the regular background noise of the mall resumed.

Meanwhile, across town, a dazed pharmacist rolling down the skating rink strapped to a buggy passed a child in a bin rolling the other way.

“You too, huh?”

#long post #my writing #phineas and ferb #:p

42 notes · View notes

justasparkwritings · 3 years

Text

Codename Cupid: Chapter 21

Previous: Codename Black Panther

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x OFC

Genre: Secret AgentAU, Government AgentAU, Smut Lite

Rating: PG17

Word Count: 2.9K

Warnings: Swearing, Grinding, Making Out

Summary: Lee Euna receives a startling message and goes to the one person she assumes will have the answers, or at least, an explanation.

(uhhh didn’t know it was going to be this long)

The Final Notice

Present Day

The note said they’d be meeting me face to face, but months have passed, and I am sitting here, waiting. Waiting for a sign, for another note, for someone to be sitting in my living room when I return home, for a dead rabbit to appear in my pasta pot, Jungkook to be taken for ransom, literally anything. And yet, nothing has happened. No note or call.

I’ve increased surveillance on Taehyung, the only one who seems to connect some of these men, and by a stroke of pure genius, put a tracker on his car and Namjoon’s, as well as a few bugs in their apartment. There’s only so many times you can send flowers with a vague card, and a listening device embedded within the glass. Who gets rid of vases? Hopefully not these men.

I’ve learned few things in my listening, namely that I am correct. The men are connected. Taehyung and Jimin are best friends and spend an innumerable number of hours together. They also spend time with Namjoon, who I think, if I’m correct, knows Hoseok. Hobi is a nickname for Hoseok, right? And if not, I’m fucked. They’ve added a new person to their discussion, someone they call Black Panther, who sounds like a right pain in the ass. All they do is bitch about how they’re constantly on call to deal with Black Panther’s mess, that Black Panther is getting in their way and in turn, ruining all plans. They speak in some code I don’t know, and I don’t know how to crack it. What I’m more startled by, is the fact that they continue to call this mystery person black panther, who calls a friend Black Panther? That’s like, cultural appropriation lite?

It’s not, I’m kidding. It’s totally not.

When I put it all the information together, Black Panther out of the equation because I have no idea who it is, it doesn’t amount to much. Names and addresses, a few yelp reviews, and nothing more. My gut is telling me there’s something here, something more than what Euna believes. Hoseok showing up in Genevieve’s photos, the trio going out to dinner, the mysterious note with the water mark, it has to add up to something. That and they keep mentioning the 7 of them, when the 7 of them are together, they’ll make sense of it, when the 7 of them are all clued in, they can handle Black Panther. Is Black Panther not their seventh member?

The door to my office slams open, and a disgruntled Euna stomps in, lily white, tears cascading through her foundation.

“Euna, what a sur-

“Did you know about this?” She demands, shoving a picture in my face.

“What?”

“They know each other!” She yells.

The photo, a polaroid, of Min Yoongi, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung and Kim Namjoon. I’ve never seen them all together, Euna was right, they are despicably pretty.

“How in your world did you not figure out that they know each other?”

“I-

“They look pretty fucking chummy to me!”

“Euna, please, sit, let’s chat,” I stand to get her a water, which she yanks out of my hand and tosses down her throat.

“Have you been withholding information?” Her voice has simmered, the bubbles of discontent slowly rising to the surface but never popping.

All I can do is sigh and shrug my shoulders. Lying is not going to work, she’s paying me enough to give her one of my unused eggs, the least I can do is be honest with her.

“That’s unfair, I could demand money back for your deception,” Euna says.

“I have withheld information on the basis that I need more time to connect the dots,” I start. “This is season 1 of The Wire and I’m fucking McNulty asking for more time to put the wire up. These men, Euna,” I exhale again, “It’s not linear, I can’t just plot them and see the whole picture. It’s much more complicated than that.”

“Explain,”

“All of it?”

“Yes, all of it, you think I want to fucking understand parts of it?” Valid question.

“Fine. It starts sometime when Kim Namjoon was sixteen, I’m not sure what that something is, but that’s the beginning of it. He was a prodigy, renowned in mathematics and rhetoric, short listed for a Nobel Prize by fifteen. After Namjoon, it moves to you and Seokjin, which leads to you and Yoongi, Jun-Seo and Jimin. Finally, it all ends up at Taehyung and whatever happened there,” I glance at her, hoping she’ll tell me if the supposed abortion was from him or someone else. “Somehow Jung Hoseok winds up at Lee Enterprise’s Masquerade, and Kim Namjoon comes back into the picture as a friend of Jimin and Taehyung’s.”

“Jung Hoseok has taken Kwan on a few dates,”

“Are they still seeing each other?”

“No. That’s all you’ve got?”

“I’ve got more, but I’m not sure it’s going to help you understand this anymore than you already do.” I don’t move to open any files on my computer or pull up any surveillance, Euna doesn’t need that, that information won’t help her in any way understand what these men have in common.

“Does this make sense to you?” She asks.

“It’s all,” I sigh, “fits and starts.”

“Why am I paying you?”

“Euna, you have given me an already impossible job, and then added more impossible tasks on top of that. I have found all of these men, I have addresses, I have occupations and locations of current employment for five out of seven. I’ve done a fucking good job on something that should truly be solved by a governing body, not a P.I. who bought thirty dollar’s worth of Indian food and ate it over five days because I couldn’t afford to buy more. I’ve used all my resources, called in favors, spied, tiptoed on the brink of impropriety in order to get you results. I’ve done a damn good job.”

Glowering, her voice is impenetrable, “Then why can’t you find Min Yoongi?”

“That man has erased himself from the internet, completely, from every website, every search, he’s just gone.” Exasperatedly, I throw my hands in the air as my voice rises. How many times can I explain this to her?

“He’s alive though,” She counters.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can pinpoint him,” I grit my teeth and stand, pacing slowly around my office, her voice trailing behind me as I move.

“He’s really,” She pauses, “Out of any of them, Y/N, he’s the one.”

I run my hand through my hair before pulling at the strands and aggressively knotting it in a ponytail, the anger feeding into the heat of my body and I shed my sweatshirt. A sweatshirt, with a line drawing of a uterus, that my mother refused to buy me for my birthday so I spent $90 on it myself. I know Euna hates it, but it’s my office and I didn’t know she’d be popping in today in her Dior terrycloth jumpsuit. If I did, I would’ve at least put on a J.Crew sweatshirt and leggings that don’t have wax on them from making crayon art with the kids I used to nanny.

“I know, Euna. I know he’s important, I know he’s the one that got away, I know he’s the white whale of this whole investigation. But Euna, he-

In the middle of my breath, the door opens again creating a space for Jungkook to saunter in. He’s parted his hair, a little off center, and hasn’t put in any product leaving the tendrils to fall softly framing his face. His locks are still long adjacent, and his left hand is using his sweater paw to hold a scalding beverage. His eyebrows are sloped, a genuine look of concern reflecting into my irises. The relief I feel cascading over me, of familiarity, of home, nearly bulldozes me into him.

“Cricket, I brought you some,” His voice trails as he takes in my client. “Coffee.”

“Oh thank god,” I whisper. Taking the cup from him, my eyes apologetic as I fall gracelessly into his open arms. The scent of his shampoo and cologne swirl in my nose, relaxing my senses. Nothing smells as sexy as Jungkook. No one looks as sexy as Jungkook does, no matter what he’s wearing, no matter the time of day or night. NSYNC put it best when they sang “god must’ve spent a little more time on you”, because whoever arranged the chromosomes and bone structure within Jungkook truly made a masterpiece. As the kids would say, he’s a whole ass meal. Jungkook keeps a hand splayed on my back while he turns back to Euna. He scans her up and down, no doubt assessing the level of danger she’s presenting.

“Who are you?” Euna snaps.

“This is my boyfriend, he was just dropping off some coffee,” I answer. The arm around his waist squeezes a little tighter, my head still resting against his chest.

“Do I know you?” She wonders.

“Me?” Jungkook asks.

“Yes, you, who else?”

He looks from me to her and back again, “Uh.” He shakes his head.

“You look so familiar,” She eyes him cautiously, “You’re Korean?”

“Uh, yeah,” His affirmation causes a twinkle in her eye, a recognition that if she wanted, she could use the powers at her fingertips to find his life story, overturn any

“Hmm,” She scans him again. “Are you leaving?”

“Oh, yeah sorry to interrupt,” Jungkook quickly glances at me, mouth moving to form SORRY as he scurries out the door. I hate when he leaves.

“Don’t fall in love with Korean men, they’ll ruin your life,” Euna sits back down, tossing back some of her water before looking back at the photo.

“Was something else left? A note maybe?” I hope this will move her back to the topic at hand, the photo in question and whomever left it, not my relationship.

“Yes, there was,” She reaches into her purse and oh how I wish she had gloves on. The note reads like the last one I received, rhyming and all.

“You’re looking too hard / We’ve been in plain sight / Stop looking for us / Or we’ll turn out your light,” I read. “Wow, premeditated violence.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Euna’s gone back to panic, eyes wild and cheeks red.

“It means they’ve been in front of us this whole time, as in, we’ve overlooked them,” I clarify.

“How could you have overlooked them?”

“I’m not the only one, Euna, you have maybe overlooked them too. Maybe it’s a larger commentary on your persona in a relationship.”

“My persona in a relationship? What would you know of that?”

“I know what you’ve told me, and I know what I’ve seen through our interactions. No one is perfect,” I’m trying to soften this, but she’s truly living up to Dae-Seong in her blind rage.

“Don’t try and compare your relationship to the heartache I have endured!”

“Euna, I’m not,” The exasperation cannot be more pronounced as I roll my eyes and sigh heavily.

“Your boyfriend, does what? How do you know he isn’t involved with these bastards?”

“I don’t,” My honesty cuts her off, eyes widening slightly at my levelheaded response. Her pause gives me worry, what is she thinking?

“Well, what do we do with these?” She shifts in the tension I’m brewing, I’m unsure what the solution is.

“I can spend the afternoon trying to trace it, I can fingerprint the note and see what comes up, if anything,” I offer.

“Will something?” A glimmer of hope, the worst emotion to ever contain or blossom in the human mind.

“Probably not, whoever these men are, they are far too good to be caught doing whatever it is they’re doing.”

“We need them all, all six,” Euna demands.

“What do you want from them?” The thousandth time it leaves my lips, it’s complete insanity. This will never change.

“What every woman wants,” She broods.

“Euna, I don’t know what that is,” I’m sinking lower into my chair with every syllable.

“Those who ask don’t get to know,” Abruptly she’s standing and leaving, belongings gathered in one hand, feet stomping heavily into the aged hardwood.

Ah, another hint at her upbringing.

I’m moving slowly through my apartment, Jungkook already sitting on the couch looking deeply cozy in his favorite grey sweats and a sweatshirt with a famous swoosh emblezaned across his chest. Dinner, pizza, is on its way, and a very large glass of prosecco sits waiting for me. I in turn am tossing off my bra, a sight Jungkook is audibly upset by, and coming to sit on the couch, in his embrace.

“I couldn’t leave, she was mad, I was worried about you,” He tells me, his lips pressing to my forehead repeatedly. “I didn’t know if she was going to hurt you.”

“About me? Bunny I’m okay, she doesn’t scare me, at least not physically,” I reply, my lips pressing against his neck in recognition of his vulnerability.

“I didn’t know if she was going to hurt you,”

“Bunny,” I sit up, turning my head to his.

“Cricket,” His eyes move from mine to my lip, his thumb coming to swipe over the bitten cherry of my lower lip.

“I love you, thank you for worrying about me,” I tell him, leaning in to kiss him, his soft, well moisturized lips making up for the bruised state of mine.

“I love you too,” He hesitates, his lips starting to say something but stopping.

“Jungkook?”

“I also found, this,” He pulls out a note, the watermark distinguishable against the light.

In black ink, a date and time is printed, and underneath:

Roses are red / Violets are blue / It’s time for us to meet / We’re ready, are you?

“What does this mean?” Jungkook asks.

“It means that, that I’m meeting with someone who may or may not want something from me, or maybe will hurt me. So just, be prepared.”

“What’s the one promise you made me make when we first started dating?” He pulls me back into his embrace, but I catch the sadness in his eyes.

“Aren’t we still in that honeymoon phase?” I want to lighten the mood and not focus on the way my heart is hurting. I never thought I would be the one concerned about not coming home, having Jungkook panicking over my safety.

I don’t like it, like at all.

“Absolutely, I think we’ll always be in that phase, but Y/N, please answer the question,” His arms tighten around my waist, another kiss to my temple, replaced by his soft cheek.

“If you’re not coming home, tell me. If something is going to jeopardize you coming back to me, you have to let me know,” I quote myself.

“So, if you are going to jeopardize your safety, Y/N, Cricket, my beloved, you gotta tell me. Let me follow you or drop a pin, or use Find My Friends so I can check up on you,” Jungkook rattles off all the apps with ease, a feat I find slightly concerning.

“I don’t want you to –

“No, no arguing.” His voice is curt, his words definite.

“Okay,”

“I love you, Cricks, and I don’t ever want to imagine anything happening to you.”

“I know Bunny,” If I could burrow into him, I would. His embrace is my safe place, my weighted blanket after a panic attack, fuck during a panic attack.

I have to come home to him. Whatever this note entails, it doesn’t matter. Torture me, harm me, beat me up, put me in the hospital, it doesn’t matter so long as when I wake up, or am lucky enough to walk away, I can come through that fucking front door to Jungkook.

“You didn’t say it back,” He teases.

Rolling my eyes dramatically, squirming intentionally in his grasp so that I can lock eyes again, I sigh. “I love you too.”

“Don’t act like that when you’d do the same to me!” He begins tickling me, and I feel beyond grateful for his duality.

“Stop it! Stop it! You’re right, okay!”

Giggling, his “I know,” is coupled with a kiss. He moves swiftly through my laughter to take my bottom lip between his teeth, tongue swiping over the indentations of his teeth before meeting mine. His hands, under my top and massaging my overheating flesh, pull me closer to him. I tug his locks as a moan escapes my lips, swallowed by his own groan as I reach my hand to palm him over his pants.

“Cricket,” He groans.

“Bunny,” I reply.

He pulls away, pushing my torso down onto him, where my hips happily grind against him.

“Lock and key?” He whispers, eyes refusing to close as he attempts to restrain himself from giving into the feeling of my heated core over his.

“God we’re that couple now?” I stop my ministrations, staring at his features. How did I get so lucky?

“Haven’t we always been?” He cocks an eyebrow, and I’m surprised he hasn’t mustered a ‘what’ to accompany the gesture.

“I guess,” I roll my eyes, which he greets with a thrust of his hips.

“Lock and key,” He repeats, hand behind my head, holding my gaze to his.

“You and me,” I answer, the smile on my lips finding his again.

Next: Cricket & OT7

6 notes · View notes

pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles · 4 years

Text

Wicked Game (Part 2)

Word Count: 20K+ total Team Long Winded Bitch strikes again, this will be posted in multiple parts over the next couple of days. The first part is about 5K, part 2 is 7K

Rating: 18+ Slash fic Strong language, alcohol and drug use, and a misogynistic and racist comment. Sexual scenes including masturbation, toys, voyeurism, oral, and anal sex.

Summary: Ashton is ready to move on with his life after his painful divorce from Luke and the demise of the restaurant they’d built together. With the help of his protegee and sous chef Hima Singh, Ashton is ready to take on opening weekend of his new restaurant Anne-Marie’s. Calum is a reporter filling in on an assignment and is surprised when his past comes back to haunt him. Hima arranges an interview that takes an unexpected turn between the two men.

Ashton grabbed his bag and shut off the lights in the bar. Hima was waiting impatiently by the door, keys in hand. Following the disaster of an afternoon, they'd been packed until closing. He'd been too busy cooking to think about it, something he loved about his job. The rush and the heat combined with the complete focus on his work. You had to keep your eyes on your fingers or you got hurt. The satisfaction of plating an order and sending it out until the next order came in, starting the process over again.

"Will you come on?" Hima tapped her foot, making her keys jangle. "My brother is waiting for us." Her twin brother had passed the bar exam a month ago, but everything had been so crazy with the opening they hadn't properly celebrated yet.

The bouncer recognized Hima and let them in immediately. Tirana was a sleek, neon-lit bar favoring overpriced cocktails, elaborately garnished and meant to be as much of a showpiece as a beverage. Ashton eyed the crowd full of men sporting off the rack Italian suits with egos as inflated as their dates' chests. Kabir was waiting in VIP with his friends and waved them up. Ashton congratulated him and ordered a spiked seltzer, passing on the bottle service Kabir offered. Hima was taking shots with the guys and he joined them in a toast. As he was taking a drink he spotted Calum Hood leaning against the wall, looking bored and maybe a little drunk. Hima must've seen his expression because she whipped around just as Calum looked up and noticed them. Ashton tried to look away and act as if he hadn't noticed the other man. Hima had other ideas and made a beeline for the reporter.

"Hey Calum, fancy meeting you here," she said relieved when he seemed happy to see her. "Come have a drink with us, or am I interrupting something?"

"If you're buying," Calum replied. "A friend brought me here and then fucked off on a phone call." He laughed, but it died out when he saw Ashton.

"Listen," Hima cut him off before he could speak. "I know this afternoon didn't go well, but what you don't know is just before you came in, my boss had to sit through an interview with Kevin Mackie. It did not go well "

"Oh God, that insufferable bastard," Calum snorted.

"Exactly, and you know Mackie brought up all that old shit from Lune Rouge," Hima told him "That's in addition to insulting every woman who works there, of course."

Calum cringed, and his eyes flickered back towards Ashton talking to Kabir and his lawyer friends. He couldn't help but notice the contrast between the intense scowling man he'd encountered this afternoon and the smiling bubbly ray of sunshine he was looking at now. Was that an actual giggle? Calum blamed the tequila for agreeing to join Hima for a quick drink since his date still hadn't come back. He'd allowed his editor, Shamara, to set him up twice now, but there wouldn't be a third time.

Ashton wiped his sweaty palms on his black jeans as he watched Calum following Hima over towards them. He'd found the reporter attractive this afternoon, but he'd been wearing a long sleeve button up for the interview. Tonight Calum was in all black, and the tank top he wore under the leather jacket showed the ink etched into his skin above his collarbones. Ashton gripped the drink in his hands a bit tighter, trying to keep his nerves steady. He slowly edged his way over to where they were talking just as Calum launched into a story about his magazine sending him on a tour of small mom and pop restaurants up the California coast.

"The owner's husband was sick that day, so she was doing most of the work herself," Calum was saying as Ashton listened in on the conversation. "Beulah was amazing, but they were getting slammed. I asked if she needed any help, and I spent the next three hours manning a fryer. I cooked the chicken, and she'd toss it in the hot oil and spices before slapping it on a bun with the sauce. You'd get the sandwich, pickle, and fries in a little brown sack. We sold hundreds of them, but I knew why when it slowed down enough that I finally got to eat. It's the best chicken sandwich you'll ever have! Tossing it in that spicy oil gives it a flavor that punches you in the mouth. She taught me most of her secrets over the two days I ended up staying until her husband got over the flu.."

I could listen to this man talk all day, Ashton thought watching Calum's expressions and hands as he told the story. The way his chest rumbled when he laughed, which was often throughout the tale. He seemed like a genuinely warm person, and Hima seemed to like him. Maybe I was wrong, five years is a long time

"That's so sweet," Hima smiled up at Calum as he finished.. She was smitten despite hearing rumors he played for the other team.

"Ended up extending my trip for an extra five days which caused all sorts of headaches when I got back. My boss was pissed I'd gone over my expense account," Calum said, shaking his head at the memory, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol now loosening his tongue. He was relieved his date was still MIA. Ashton was standing close enough for Calum to smell his cologne, and it was proving distracting.

"Is that the same magazine you work for now?" Hima asked.

"Yeah, but I was damn near fired. I paid back the money by throwing cash onto my boss's desk when I turned in my story, and he was not amused. The editor-in-chief, who also owns the publisher, loved my story, and after that, I was sent on more in-depth character profiles. I wanna get to know the people behind the food." Calum looked directly at Ashton, meeting his eyes as he spoke. His breath caught in his throat at the intensity in Ashton's hazel eyes as he listened. How is he this handsome? Calum thought. This man has no right to be this good looking. That chest hair peeking out from under that pink shirt is teasing me. Wonder what's underneath? Wait, no I don’t. Stop thinking about that or you're gonna get hard.

"So what exactly were you sent to find?" Ashton asked, his tone still guarded but more friendly than before.

Calum took a deep breath and thought quickly. After the interview bombed this afternoon, he came up with a backup plan if Ashton didn't come through. He made a decision to float both his ideas.

"Look, I know a lot of people are bugging you for gossip about your personal life, but that's not what I'm here for. You opened your first restaurant at 25, and the food at Lune Rouge was fantastic. I know I didn't give you a good review then, but I was trying to be edgy and cool," Calum admitted.

Ashton exhaled and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry about this afternoon. Mackie brought up Luke, and when you mentioned Finn I snapped. I'd like to try again, but I know Hima is more interesting. So what did you have in mind?" Ashton smiled and Calum had butterflies in his stomach.

"I'd like to watch you cook, and see how you are in the kitchen. Tell me how your philosophy on cooking has evolved and what stayed the same," Calum replied. I hope that didn't sound as cringe to him as it did to me. Turning to Hima, he continued talking, "I'd like to do an extra little feature on you if that's ok. It'll give the article a nice balance I think, what do you say?"

Ashton saw Hima's face light up and knew he'd have to say yes. He had to admit, the pitch sounded great, even if the idea of Calum watching him work made him nervous. They turned towards him to see what he thought, and Ashton's gaze landed on Calum's mouth just as he licked his lips. Please don't do that, he thought to himself. Don't make me think about how you taste, and how those lips would feel against mine.

"I definitely think Hima deserves her own feature. I'll go along with whatever you want," Ashton told them.

"You know Calum," Hima turned on the charm. "I'm off tomorrow. I could take you to the best Indian restaurant you've never heard of for lunch." Her eyes got huge and she grabbed Calum's arm. "I'm a genius you guys, listen, the restaurant is hella busy, and the boss man," she nodded towards Ashton, "won't be much fun to interview if there are customers waiting. He just redid the kitchen in his condo, so why don't you do the interview there? That way he's not around us idiots at the restaurant."

Both men stared at her, and Hima panicked thinking she'd overstepped somehow until Ashton nodded. "Sounds like it could work, what do you think?" He asked looking at Calum who nodded, his smile getting broader.

“Sure, um, that sounds great. Really just um, great," he fished his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it before handing it over. "Go ahead and put your number in, and I'll text you tomorrow."

"Is that your little sister?" Hima asked, spotting the picture on his lock screen.

"That's my daughter, Vanessa Joy. Absolute light of my life," Calum beamed, pulling up another pic.

"Daughter?" Hima and Ashton exchanged shocked looks before quickly regaining their composure.

"We were kids. I hadn't figured things out yet," Calum gave his standard explanation.

He started to say more, but he spotted his now-forgotten date headed back towards them. Hima saw his grimace and followed his gaze to the approaching man. She guessed he must be a lawyer who wanted everyone to know it, wearing a double-breasted British tailored suit and gold Submariner watch.

"Sorry about that Cal, that was a client who's a real pain in the ass," the newcomer joined their little group, peering at Ashton with suspicion. "I'm Nick Callahan, a junior partner at Fish, Filbeck, and Greene " Hima almost laughed out loud at this skinny little dude in a fancy suit trying to puff out his chest and put some bass in his voice as he went to shake her boss's hand. Ashton looked amused but Calum not so much.

"Calum, if you don't mind, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Nick waved at a group who'd just come in. He tried to pull Calum away, but he shook Nick's hand off his arm.

"Give me a second, and I'll be over," Calum said, nodding at someone he recognized in the group. "Tell Teddy to order a round of drinks, I'm buying." When Nick still didn't budge, Calum turned his body towards his date and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I'm interviewing this young lady tomorrow, and I want to get it set up before I get drunk, ok?"

Nick swallowed at the warning in Calum's voice and scurried off to meet his friends.

"Sorry about that," Calum turned back, smiling again. He had them each put their number in and saved the info with a smile. "I'm so glad I ran into y'all. Hima, I will text you in the morning, and Ashton just let me know when and where." He gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek which made her blush furiously. He shook Ashton's hand and everything seemed to pause as they locked eyes, exchanging smiles. The handshake lingered a beat too long before they both pulled back completely flustered.

"See you guys then," Calum made a hasty retreat towards Nick and his friends.

"What did you do?" Ashton hissed, feeling dizzy, excited, terrified, and nauseous all at once.

"We'll just have to see, won't we? You two are obviously into each other," Hima tossed her hair over her shoulder, giving Ashton a pointed look.

"I'm not trying to start anything, you know that. Since the divorce it's been too hard and-" Ashton stopped when she put her finger to his lips.

"It's an interview. With a very attractive reporter. You'll be in your element, you can hide behind your food and your knives, but you can get through this. I want my feature." She glared at him and stood on her tiptoes trying to go eye to eye with him.

He had to laugh. Hima was impossible to stay cross with. As he glanced back over towards Calum, he couldn't deny he was intrigued. Don't get your hopes up, Irwin.

Kabir came over to drag them back to his friends. Ashton spent the next hour dancing with Kabir's girlfriend and watching his friends try to hit on Hima without getting caught. Hima's family was overprotective, and her mother was constantly pressuring Kabir to find his sister a good match. As a result, she kept her private life closely guarded, even Ashton didn't know much, although he suspected she had a thing going with one of the servers at Anne-Marie's.

As the song ended, he realized he had to pee. Ashton excused himself and followed the neon arrows to a dimly lit hallway decorated with glow in the dark graffiti. He made his way past the line for the women's room and around two people noisily making out next to the emergency exit. He reached the men's room door just as it swung open towards him. He stumbled back to avoid being hit and collided with the couple behind him. An arm shot out from the tangled bodies, shoving him forward chest first into the man who'd just come out of the bathroom. Ashton put his hands up to steady himself, inhaling the scent of leather and whiskey with a faint whiff of stale tobacco as he looked at Calum's face inches from his own.

"Sorry, uh, I was pushed," Ashton apologized, unable to stop staring at the other man's lips.

"It's ok," Calum's heart was pounding, and he was sure Ashton could feel it through his jacket. He was tempted to make a move and go in for a kiss. He paused long enough to remember the interview, and not wanting to have another misstep, he let the moment pass. "It's all yours," he said squeezing over so Ashton could pass.

Ashton paused, confused, but remembered he was headed to the bathroom. "Thanks, uh, see ya," he replied trying not to stammer. Yeah, that was smooth, he thought. Before he closed the door, he looked back and caught Calum looking back at him.hey both smiled before the crowd closed in and he lost eye contact. He had to stand and splash cold water on his face to get his pulse back to normal. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that his face was still very pink and he was grinning like a fool. I didn't just imagine that did I? What am I doing? What am I going to cook for him?

*********

Ashton jumped at the sound of the buzzer even though he was expecting her. He quickly let her up, and within seconds Hima was at his door.

"How did it go?" He hadn't even fully opened the door before the question was past his lips.

"Eager much? Why don't you get me a drink, and I'll decide what I want to tell you," she said, taking off her jacket and hanging it up.

"You impertinent bitch," Ashton cracked up and headed to the kitchen to put on the kettle.

"You sound like my mother," Hima settled at the bar facing him.

Ashton had expanded his kitchen so he could install a six top gas range and a convection oven while giving himself extra counter space with a small sink directly across and a small island in between. Instead of a dining room, he had an L-shaped bar where he could serve guests directly from the kitchen. He pulled a pitcher of cold brew out of the fridge and poured himself a glass with a splash of cashew milk adding a splash to her cup of hot chai.

"It's such a shame you're gay. We'd have such a great marriage," she joked blowing on her tea.

"I love you too much to marry you, darling," Ashton replied as always.

"Good thing I like my new stepdaddy," she told him, and he choked on his coffee.

"So what did you guys talk about?" He asked when he'd recovered.

"Mostly me, but also you. What do you want first, the details about him or what he asked about you?" Hima smirked at him, almost laughing when he glared at her.

"I'll let you decide, how about that?" Ashton rummaged through the refrigerator before pulling out a loaf of bread.

"Ooh snack time. When did you go to the market? I thought you opened for Rafi today. What are you gonna make for him?" She fired off, trying to crane her neck to see what he bought.

"Nope, you're gonna talk or you're not getting fed. I went before I went in at ten and I stayed till eight. I've barely got home, and I don't need your attitude, young lady. Now spill it," he told her as he pulled out a couple of onions and some gruyere cheese.

"I love it when you're pissy. It looks so good on you. So I took him to Parvati's and ordered chana masala on roasted sweet potatoes. It was so good, I wish you liked Indian food more. We talked about my family, and how they're mostly engineers and lawyers but food was my passion. Confessed that when we first met, I had the biggest crush on you because you were so handsome." She giggled and made a show of fluttering her eyelashes at him. Ashton blushed and threw a caper at her. Hima swatted it back at him and kept talking. "Calum agreed you were handsome by the way. So I told him how you'd mentored me, and when you left the Hilton to open Anne-Marie's, you brought me with you. It was very heartwarming, and I promise I made you look good. He asked a few questions about you, but it was mostly professional stuff. What was it like working for you? What kind of collaborative effort went into the menu? Stuff like that," she shrugged watching Ashton heat up some soup as the sandwiches cooked.

"Well, that's a lot of nothing. I thought you were better than that," Ashton said, pouting his lips at her.

"I know he asked if you were single, but he was hella smooth about it. He asked what kind of gift he should bring tomorrow, whether it should be a bottle of wine or something you could share if you had a roommate. Don't worry, I let him know you were single, but I was cool about it," Hima grinned at her boss's discomfort. He cut the sandwich in half and poured a cup of soup to go with it. He cut some fresh chives to top off the soup along with some crème Fraiche and fresh cracked pepper.

She stopped talking to enjoy the food. Ashton introduced her to cream of celery soup and it quickly became a favorite. The sandwich was beyond good yet incredibly simple: sauteed onions on a grilled cheese sandwich made with Ashton's homemade compound shallot-butter.

"I'm disappointed, I thought you were better than that," Ashton raised his eyebrows at her.

"I'm not done, I'm just enjoying the food. My compliments to the chef." Hima ripped a piece of crust off her sandwich and dipped it in her soup. "I found out some things about Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome," she told him before running her tongue along the edge of the bread and then taking a bite.

Ashton laughed and flipped her off. He had pastry cream cooking in a double boiler, so he was continuously stirring between bites.

Watching him work, she never knew if she was completely in awe of him or a little in love with him, but probably both if she was honest with herself. She'd told Calum as much, off the record of course. It always amazed her how his large hands could be so nimble and quick with a knife, yet so delicate and careful when he was garnishing and plating. She'd told Calum how grateful she was that Ashton had given her such a huge opportunity without being patronizing or expecting her to touch his cock.

People might think cooking would be a natural fit for a woman but professional kitchens were very much a man's world. You had to be physically and mentally tough. She was lucky that she'd gotten out the hotels before she'd been subjected to sexual harassment, but she'd seen enough. Ashton didn't tolerate any kind of physical or verbal harassment, but every cook could curse a blue streak and work through an injury. Most cooks wore their scars like battle wounds. Hima had a jagged thin white line trailing down her left forearm from a staple on a lettuce box that ripped her flesh open while putting away a truck. Ashton had a couple of red welts from the panini grill decorating his arms and a gnarly pink, puckered scar on his left wrist from an accident with molten sugar years ago.

"Ok so, he's a year and a half younger than you, turns 28 in January actually. Aquarius, so that should be fun. Never married, but he's got the kid," Hima informed him.

"That really came out of nowhere the other night. I never would've guessed that," Ashton said over his shoulder, turning his back on her to keep stirring.

"It happened when he was in high school. His first girlfriend, their senior year of high school. They'd already been broken up for two months when they got the news, just when he'd started to figure out his sexuality. They tried to get back together for the sake of their daughter but quickly realized it wouldn't work in a traditional way. Now they're best friends and co-parents to Vanessa Joy. In fact, when Nicole married her boyfriend, Michael, two years ago Calum walked her down the aisle," Hima told him.

Ashton's jaw dropped. "What the hell, Hima? You guys had lunch one time and you know his life story."

"My mother's interrogation skills rubbed off I guess. His daughter also happened to call while he was with me. It was so cute; she made the honor roll and he was so proud. He apologized for taking the call during lunch but said he always has to answer if it's his daughter or his mom."

Ashton turned towards Hima, smiling and blushing, "I can respect that."

"I'm sure you can, Mama's boy," she replied. "Honestly the two of you are adorable. A pair of smitten kittens. He kept asking questions about what it's like to work with you. What are you like as a boss? And every question he got this funny little smile and couldn't look at me. I really hate that you get the best looking guys. It's bad enough you look like that," Hima gestured at him as she looked him up and down. "First Luke, and now Calum, I'm so jealous. That being said I really hope you hook up with him. You could stand to get laid."

"Watch it," he cautioned, not wanting to kill the mood.

"Sorry, but the other night y'all had some serious chemistry. You should go for it. Speaking of, I gotta go. Kabir is having a date night so I actually don't have to go home," she checked her phone, and Ashton didn't recognize the gaudy pink glitter case.

She caught his puzzled expression and laughed, "My mom checks my location, so my iPhone and my car stay at Maisie's. Everything gets forwarded here, and I don't have to answer a million questions."

"You're 24, how are you still dealing with this? When is your mother going to treat you like an adult?" Ashton shook his head, he never understood how she dealt with her family.

She sighed, "It's impossible to explain unless you have Asian parents. My mom grew up here, but my grandparents were still very much rooted in India. If you think my mom is difficult, you should've met grandma." A text came in, and she wrinkled her nose in annoyance reading it. "Why am I the only person who's punctual?" She muttered to herself before looking back at Ashton. "So what are you making tomorrow for the big date, I mean, interview? Mind if I smoke?"

He shook his head and followed her onto the balcony. "Stop saying that, I'm nervous enough as it is. I'm starting with a wilted chard salad with figs and goat cheese, and maybe a soup. I haven't decided, but for the main, I'm making mushroom Wellington with my specialty Mac and cheese and whatever vegetables I pick up at the market tomorrow morning. I'm making a sorbet for dessert. I was going to make a pavlova, but I don't have the patience for merengue right now."

"Calum doesn't stand a chance, he'll be thoroughly seduced. Then I'll get my magazine story and be a star. People will start asking me for photos on the street, they'll learn how to pronounce my name, and I'm only going by Hima. I think I can get away with just one name, like Madonna, Beyonce, and Cher. Don't you? I promise the fame won't go to my head. I'll still be Hima from the block."

Ashton cracked up. "Ok there, Roxy Hart," he teased. "You are so extra, it's too much for an old gay like myself."

"You're not even thirty," she protested. Another text came in and her eyes lit up. She stubbed her cigarette out on the bottom of her shoe before wiping it clean with a napkin and stuffed both in her purse to throw away outside. "You've just gotta get back on the horse, and Calum seems like the type who'd be into chaps and spurs."

"Don't you have places to go, people to do?" He asked, walking her to the door.

"Sure do, good luck tomorrow," she kissed his cheek and was gone.

*********

Calum finished the dishes and popped another antacid in his mouth. Spicy food didn't used to give him heartburn. Getting old I guess. His dog, Brutus, danced around his feet begging for a treat.

"Not gonna happen, old man," he bent down to scratch the pooch behind his ears, but Brutus immediately flipped over for a belly rub. "Greedy bastard," Calum chuckled but obliged with a ton down and chin scratches. He found a chew stick on the couch and tossed it over by the dog's bed, and soon Brutus was curled up contentedly gnawing himself to sleep.

Calum watched his little guy for a bit before heading to his desk to type out a rough draft. Hima was a firecracker, full of energy and ideas, and hard to keep up with. She talked a mile a minute, often switching topics mid-thought as she spoke. He'd had his voice recorder on, but he liked to write his first draft from memory. He admired her passion for her work, and her determination to follow her own path. She was fiercely loyal to Ashton and grateful for the opportunity he'd given her. Calum would've suspected she was a bit smitten with her boss, but she openly admitted her crush. She was quick to insist Ashton had never encouraged or entertained the idea, but she didn't need to tell him that.

Calum knew all about Ashton's history, the cheating, the fights, the messy breakup that brought the restaurant down. He exhaled, nervous about having that conversation. He shut his laptop, now too distracted to write. It's just an interview, calm down. He tried to be rational, but his thoughts kept drifting back to bumping into Ashton at the bar. The pink shirt, the star tattoo begging to be traced with his tongue, those hazel eyes that made his heart jump into his stomach. He tried to focus on his laptop. This article wasn't going to write itself.

****

Ashton laid on his back, concentrating on his breathing as he pressed his knees to the floor in reclining bound angle pose. He'd had too much coffee, and although his body was tired, his mind was racing. His phone was vibrating on the dresser, but Ashton ignored it, moving into a butterfly pose and touching his forehead to the floor. He exhaled, trying to clear his mind. But all he could think about was Calum Hood. He had a brand new restaurant to run. Now was not a good time to become infatuated with a handsome reporter. So why haven't you stopped smiling all day?

He breathed deeply, in, out, in, out. But he couldn't concentrate, couldn't calm down. He pushed himself off the floor and grabbed his water off the table. He opened his phone and was surprised to see a notification from the restaurant security system.

Alarm deactivated at 12:02 AM

Alarm Panel 2

Code: 4452

Ashton realized Hima was at the restaurant. He knew she usually went there after her accounting class but that definitely wasn't the case tonight. Probably popped in for a bottle of wine, which doesn't sound like a bad idea.

The kitchen tiles were chilly beneath his bare feet as he headed towards the small wine fridge on his counter. Craving something sweet, he found a Shiraz he'd been saving and poured a small glass. He scrolled through Spotify, picking a playlist at random, and Robyn's "Dancing on my Own" came over the speakers following him through the apartment back into his bedroom. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and paused.

He pulled his shirt off and turned around examining the freshly-healed Phoenix tattoo decorating his left side from his hip to the top of his ribs, covering up the tattoo of Luke's name, birth date, and their wedding date. He trusted his tattoo artist and let him have creative freedom on the brightly-colored feathers and flames. It turned out beautifully. He turned sideways, rubbing his stomach and flexing in the mirror. He was in the best shape he'd been in since he was a teenager. Yoga kept him toned and lean so he was muscled without being bulky.

I'm giving it my all

But I'm not the girl you're taking home

He let the Swedish synth-pop beat take over, his hips swaying as he listened to lyrics about loneliness and feeling left out.

I keep dancing on my own

The irony wasn't lost on him as he kept dancing, moving away from the mirror. The next song was too slow so he quickly scrolled looking for something better. He clicked on Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know," and began to sing along. He saw that Hima hadn't left the restaurant and opened up the security camera feed on his phone to make sure she was ok.

****

The more Calum stared at the screen the more his concentration drifted. He wondered if Ashton had a type. Cal knew he was decent looking, but he wasn't Luke Hemmings. He snorted at the thought of that simpering pretty boy. Luke was a spoiled child, soft and weak, thinking only of himself. I bet he's selfish in bed, probably a bossy bottom He was surprised at the surge of jealousy he felt. Don't bring Finn into this. He rubbed his temples at the memory of finding out his then-boyfriend was cheating with Luke.

Finn was always looking for an opportunity, whatever would take him to the next level. His relationship of almost a year with Calum failed to get him noticed in the food press. Finn felt Ashton didn't give him enough credit at Lune Rouge and whined constantly about it. Cal was having his own career struggles at the time and personally thought Finn was acting like a spoiled brat instead of being grateful for the opportunity. They began to spend less time together after Calum's snarky review caused a huge blow up. So when Ashton and Luke's relationship began to fray, Finn had time to lend a sympathetic ear. Calum suspected Finn was cheating, but he bought into the “golden couple” bullshit so Luke never crossed his mind. Calum was shocked and gutted when he walked in on the two of them one afternoon. Finn was supposed to be out of town, and Calum popped by to check on his dogs. The sound of sex greeted him when he opened the door and he should have left right then. His curiosity got the better of him, and he walked towards the bedroom. Their moans masked the sound of his boots as someone had a very loud orgasm. Calum opened the door as they were falling away from each other. He walked in to find them panting for breath, sweaty and beautiful with the afterglow. Luke panicked and tried to hide himself, but Finn didn't flinch.

"Well, I guess you know now," he said, smirking as his green eyes met Calum's. "If you're down for it, we've been talking about trying a third. You can top us both if you want." He shrugged and Calum physically felt the spell break. Looking back, he knew Finn broke his ego more than his heart. He'd been humiliated when it all came out, but he knew the affair had been worse for Ashton. He could tell Ashton was still damaged but definitely not broken. Wouldn't mind letting him break me, Calum thought, his mind wandering back to that unbuttoned pink shirt, Ashton's chest and neck begging to be marked up. I bet he likes it rough.

Calum caught himself daydreaming again and blinked the half-filled word document back into focus. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a crush on someone, and he felt ridiculous. How am I gonna get through this interview? It didn't help that Hima kept teasing him about it being a date. Calum's last date, with Nick the lawyer, had been a disaster. He'd ended up leaving after Nick disappeared on another phone call.

The truth was, he was excited about this interview and wished it really was a date. He'd scheduled a quick haircut and shave in the morning and carefully picked out an outfit. He figured his short-sleeve, red button-up paired with a black tank underneath would show off his arms while helping to hide his tummy pudge. He rubbed his stomach, still poking out from the leftover Indian food he'd finished off an hour ago, before letting his hand wander down and brushing his fingers across his cock and feeling it twitch in his basketball shorts. He wondered what Ashton would be wearing tomorrow. He pictured Ashton at the club, the ripped black jeans and the pink shirt unbuttoned enough to tease him. His dick twitched in his hand, waking up and demanding attention.

****

Ashton gasped and almost dropped his phone at the sight of Hima standing in the break room in nothing but her bra and panties. He hadn't recovered from that shock when a male figure crawled into the frame. It took Ashton several seconds to realize the man was nude and covered in tattoos. The tattoos rang a bell, and he realized he was looking at Dakota, model/actor, Maisie's nephew, and a server at Anne Marie's. Dakota was a dark, brooding pretty boy with a perfect pink pout and tousled dark curls that he was always brushing out of his eyes. He was great at his job, but other than that he'd made no impression on Ashton, until now. Ashton watched the younger man on his knees in front of Hima as he sucked on her bright pink cock. What the fuck is happening?

Ashton blinked at his screen, still processing everything when Dakota stood up and bent over the table. Hima lined up behind him and thrust her hips against his ass. Ashton gulped for air and felt beads of sweat break out on his upper lip. He watched for a minute, hypnotized by Dakota writhing in pleasure, his black curls bouncing with every stroke, shoulders hunching over as he gripped the table. Ashton's mind flashed to Calum and what it would look like to have him bent over like that. He realized his dick was getting hard and quickly closed the app, feeling embarrassed for invading her privacy. He fumbled getting his phone into his pocket and accidentally skipped to the next song. "Anytime, Any Place," by Janet Jackson filled the room. He laughed to himself at the sexy song and took another sip of wine.

****

Calum squeezed himself through his clothes. He vaguely remembered Finn telling him Ashton was rumored to have a massive cock. He groaned at the thought of Ashton's hazel eyes looking down at him while he was on his knees. He imagined Ashton's cock brushing against his lips, teasing both of them. Calum groaned and gave up any pretense of trying to work. He stood up too quickly and knocked his chair over causing Brutus to wake from a dead sleep and start barking his head off.

"It's ok, boy," Calum assured him, making sure he laid back down before going into his bedroom and shutting the door. Moments later he was stripped down to his boxers and shirt digging through his top dresser drawer until he found the small bag hiding under his socks. He pulled a bottle of lube and a small silicone sleeve out of the bag and walked back to the bed. He peeled off his shirt, kicked off his underwear and laid on his back on the bed. His cock was flat against his stomach, and as Calum reached for it he wondered what Ashton was doing right now.

****

Ashton felt the plug slip into his ass and shivered at the chill of the stainless steel. He wiped his hands off on a towel and walked out of the bathroom into his bedroom. The music was still playing. Janet's silky smooth voice gave way to Beyonce’s sultry vocals

Baby put your arms around me

Tell me I'm a problem

He walked back into his bedroom, feeling delicious shivers from the pressure on his prostate as he moved. The city lights illuminated the room from the open blinds on the balcony.

Stop acting so scared, just do what I tell

First go through my legs, go back on your head

And whatever you want, yeah baby I'll bet it comes true

He reached down and squeezed his dick, rubbing his thumb over the tip down to the sensitive underside of the ridge. Pulling the shaft down and away from his body, pushing almost to the point of pain before easing up and giving it a nice slow stroke. He repeated the motion, each time pulling a little harder, edging a little closer to making it hurt, each time when he pulled back the relief was more intense. His fantasies were new visions: dark eyes and black curls still coming into focus in his mind's eye. He squeezed his muscles around the plug as he tapped the remote on the table next to him. The plug began to vibrate on the lowest speed and Ashton hissed at the sensation. He wondered if he'd let Calum fuck him. Ashton didn't bottom very often. Luke didn't like to do the work, rarely agreed to switch up and whined whenever he did. Calum looked like he could give as well as he got.

***

Calum grunted as he pushed his cock, slick and shiny with lube, into the sleeve. His hips jerked upwards into the air as the countless smooth nubby fingers lining the inside of the toy closed around his swollen shaft, gripping and massaging the taut skin with every stroke. He screwed his eyes shut picturing Ashton on his back with his knees pulled up to his chest as he begged for him. Calum bit his lip to stifle a moan, slowing down his speed, not wanting to cum too fast. Hima told him Ashton called himself a “bendy boy” and had a strict yoga routine which just sent Calum's mind spinning, picturing trying different positions until Ashton was screaming for him. Calum moved his hand away, leaving the toy. The scenario in his mind began to switch up. The only thing Calum could think of hotter than fucking Ashton was getting railed by his massive cock.

****

The combed cotton, high-thread-count pillowcase felt velvety soft and air-conditioned chilled when he bunched the pillow in his fists as he thrust his hips, burying his shaft in the soft folds. It felt amazing but was cold comfort when he was craving Calum's body heat. He turned the remote up a notch and adjusted the settings; a pulse pattern began throbbing against his core. He squeezed down on his dick even harder. He could feel the delicate feathers snapping under his fingers, but he didn't care. Ashton ached for release, longing to have Calum in his bed tonight. Every nerve in his body seemed to come alive as his orgasm began to build. His hips pumped faster trying to match the pulsing rhythm inside him. He wanted Calum, with a craving he’d never felt before. Something in those dark eyes challenged Ashton. There was something about this mysterious reporter that he needed to discover. He was getting closer with every stroke, the fantasy switching to pounding Calum into the mattress, seeing how well he could throw it back. The image was too much and he shuddered, cursing out loud as his climax hit. His hips stuttered and his legs wobbled, forcing him to his knees. The vibrator extended his orgasm, milking him drop by drop as he whimpered and fumbled for the remote. When he finally turned it off, he rolled onto his back and tried to catch his breath, thankful he'd bought a nice fluffy rug to put next to his bed. .

****

Calum flipped over onto his stomach, grinding down with his hips, the sleeve moving with the friction. He wondered if Ashton was vanilla or if he could get into Calum's slight pain kink. He'd looked for Ashton on FetLife to no avail, but he was fairly sure he'd found Hima so that was a surprise. Calum reached up and tugged his nipple hard as his hips rocked slowly. There was a power to Ashton. He had a dominant side which Calum had clearly seen in his dynamic with Luke, despite Ashton being smaller in size. Calum wanted to see how he'd take charge because he wasn't soft like Luke, but he had no doubt Ashton could handle him. Calum raised himself up on his forearms, pumping his hips furiously. He thought about those arms wrapped around his neck, his teeth grazing Ashton's blood moon tattoos as he bent Cal over and took him hard and fast. He whimpered, biting the pillow, his rhythm starting to stutter as he thought about Ashton looking up at him, eyes wide with Calum's hand at his throat as they reached their high together. Calum was just at the edge when he quickly rolled over, removing the toy and ruining his orgasm. He gasped, his whole body shaking as his release spilled onto his belly. After a moment he reached down, using the sleeve to tease the tip through the aftershocks until it became too sensitive to touch. He was hungry again, so he grabbed a Kleenex and wiped himself off as best he could before walking, still naked, back through his house to turn on the oven. Pizza was always a good snack after sex, and he had an article to work on.

@sublimehood @tea4sykes @be-ready-when-i-say-go @scribblesos @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @wildmichaelflower @castaway-cashton @damselindistressanu @notinthesameguey @cashtonasfuck @irwinkitten @mermaidcashton @malumsmermaid

#calum hood #ashton irwin #cashton #cashton smut #calum hood imagine #calum hood smut #ashton irwin smut #cashton slash #5sos #5sos smut

43 notes · View notes

kaz11283 · 4 years

Text

Your 5, Sam is 6, and Dean is 10.

~~~

My first real attempt at this whole this so feed back is appreciated most definitely just dont be to mean. And I'm trying to do this all on mobile / learn everything so I dont have all the fancy bells and whistles like some other fics have.

~~~

Best Friends

Chapter 1

"Now listen here girl, I dont know how long your gonna have to be staying with me this time but I promise your dad will be back soon." Your Uncle Bobby was a little rough around the edges but deep down he had a soft spot for you. "I'm keepin two other brothers also so please try to stay in line." He looked down at you with a look like he knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Boys, gross!" You scrunched up your nose. Boys had cooties, and didn't like the same stuff you did. You hugged your stuffed sloth closer to you. "Can I go inside uncle Bobby?"

"Yeah, the other two knuckle heads are probably in the living room watchin TV. Go on in and I'll be in there in a bit to fix somethin for yall to eat." He watched as you (y/c/h) pigtails bounced as you ran up the stairs. "How did o get myself into this mess? Never in my whole huntin life did I think I would wind up being a babysitter." He said to himself pinching the bridge of his nose.

~~~

"Hi." You squeaked peaking from around the couch to the two boys sitting in front of the TV. "My name is (y/n), what's yours?" The boys both turned to each other and back to you.

"My name is Sam." The shaggy brown haired boy replied. "That's Dean." He said pointing his thumb back at the blonde haired boy.

"Great, another kid, and on top of it a girl." The boy named dean rolled his eyes and went back to watching the cowboy movie that was on.

"Well I dont wanna be stuck here with a bunch of boys either." You said sticking your tongue out at him and running upstairs to your room that you always stayed in while at Bobby's.

"Alright, who's hungry?" Bobby asked walking through the front door. He notice Sam glaring at Dean and no (y/n) in sight. "Ok, who did what?" This was gonna be a long few days.

~~~

A few days turned into a week before Bobby heard anything from the two hunters that left him watching 3 wild Indians. Another week before they were suppose to arrive back home to pick them up.

Sam and (y/n) had clicked almost instantly spending their days exploring the old junk yard looking for bugs and other things to examine. Dean on the other hand stayed up Bobby's rear helping him work on cars and around the garage not wanting anything to do with a 'cootie infested girl'.

"Sam! Look at me I'm queen of the world!" You had climbed on top of one of the old beat up cars over looking the junk yard.

"If your queen I get to be the king." Sam laughed from beside the car.

"Ew no way! I don't need a boy ruling the world with me. I can do it myself." You giggled as Sam tried climbing up there with you. Before you knew it you lost your footing and slipped knocking Sam off too and landing on of him. Dean came running around the corner to see what the commotion was about and seen Sam looking at your knee where there was blood and looked up to see you was crying.

"De it was an accident! She slipped and cur herself pretty bad." Sam all but yelled. Dean grabbed you up and carried you to Bobby. That was the first time the old man had yelled at you and you felt like your heart was completely broken.

After Bobby had bandaged you up and lectured you about climbing on the car you sat on the porch the rest of the day watching the boys help Bobby.

"Hey (y/n) come help out." Dean said walking over to you and grabbing your hand. "I know it sucks getting yelled at by Bobby but, stick around, and I'm sure it won't be the last." He said smiling.

~~~~

I literally have like a thousand ideas bouncing around in my heard right now over this. Help me out. This is just an idea that kept flowing for me. I want there to be more to it. Give me tips and any advice, I'm free to anything at this point starting out.

#dean winchester #supernatural #spn imagine #dean winchester imagines #reader x sam winchester #sam and dean #sam winchester #dean winchester x reader #best friends

38 notes · View notes

thetravelerwrites · 4 years

Text

Monster Match #21: Astomi

The Traveler's Masterlist

For @moonlightreetops: Appearance: Mortal Woman, Pfp is me(straight brown hair, almond hazel eyes), short, scared, with sevral tattoos. Personality: INFJ, Cancer, loud, protective, generous, and I have a snort laugh; definitely a hugger. Therapist friend and proud. I believe I was born cursed to always be polite and kind to everyone. I'm not naive to the trouble I can get into this way but I still cant help myself. Oh! And I cry with every movie and sad commercial. It's annoying.

Hobbies: Hosting D&D, Collecting macabre things, Responsible Social Distancing. Likes: Roadtrips, Pretending I'm more fond of the outdoors than I actually am, Forest Paintings, My Nerd Family, Opposoms. Dislikes: Heights, Bugs, Cooking, Cockroaches (listed separately from bugs because I will panic cry)

Ideal Partner: Someone whose more grounded than I am but at the same time is understanding of my struggles and won't berate me for them. And preferably a monster who wont leer in my windows. (Still have fears of that from my childhood monsters) NSFW & SFW welcomed. My orientation is Pan. So you are free to throw whatever you like at me.

You’ve been matched with an Astomi!

Originating in Greek and Roman mythology, Astomies, also known as the Gangines, are an ancient legendary race of people who had no need to eat or drink anything at all. They survived by smelling apples and flowers. Megasthenes, a historian and Asian Indian ethnographer, located them at the mouth of the river Ganges. They are described as being hairy and having no mouth. When traveling, they would carry roots, flowers and apples to smell. They could die by smelling a strong, unpleasant smell.

There was a forest reserve near your home that you frequented to draw and paint. There was a section of it that was strangely green all year round, and you weren’t sure why. None of the trees were evergreens, so the hidden grove should have lost leaves and turned grey like all the greenery around it in the winter, but it never did. You never went into it, and you never saw anyone near it. It was just an oddity no one knew anything about. Lots of people said it was haunted.

The more logical minded people claimed there was a hot spring somewhere in the grove that kept the trees green, but that it was toxic to people, which is why no one ever went there. Though, that didn’t make sense to you. If it was toxic, why were there flowers and birds? The wildlife seemed unaffected by whatever odd supposed toxin existed in the grove.

It had struck your interest more than once, but you never went in. You loved ghost stories, but you weren’t necessarily keen on being in one. And the threat of a toxin was enough to keep you from venturing in.

Though, one day, as you were wandering close, you heard a mournful whimpering, as if someone were in pain. Your worry about ghosts and toxins flew out of your mind as you ran into the grove, looking for whatever was making the sound.

“Hello?” You called. “Is someone there? Are you okay?”

“Please!” They called. “Can you help me?”

“Yes,” You said, pushing past the thick foliage. “Just hold on, I’m coming. Keep talking to me so I can find you! What’s your name? How old are you?”

“Geras!” They said, coughing. “I’m ninety-eight seasons!”

“Seasons?” What was ninety-eight divided by four? “So you’re twenty-four?”

“I suppose,” They said. “But we don’t measure time that way.”

“We?”

“The people of the grove,” They said. “My family and I.”

“Wait,” You said, untangling yourself from a tree. “People live in here? I thought there was a toxin in the air that killed people.”

“What?” They actually laughed, which turned into a hacking cough. “No, of course not.”

“What about the ghosts, then? Are they real?” You asked with a laugh, but you were met with silence. “Geras? Geras! Keep talking.”

“Hurry, please,” Geras said, their voice hoarse. “Please.”

“Almost there,” You said. You finally managed to fight your way through heavy branches and dense underbrush and into what looked like an apple orchard. There were all sorts of apple trees there, and in between a copse of heritage apples was a person laid between the rows, unmoving.

“Geras?” You called. You couldn’t see much of them beyond the long brown hair all over. You could only tell that they were tall and gangly.

Next to them was a bag that stank to high heaven. At first you thought it could be poisons, but you looked inside and found a litany of gross hunting sprays: skunk essence, liquid ass, insect repellents, deer musk, and the like. The odor was so strong that it made you gag.

“Is this the problem?” You asked, breathing through your shirt. They nodded weakly. You weren’t surprised. It made you feel woozy, too. “I’ll get rid of it and come back to check on you, okay?”

“Yes, please,” They gasped.

You fought your way back out of the grove into the dead winter forest, back to the hiking trail to find a trash receptacle. It took nearly thirty minutes to find one, and another twenty to return to the grove. By the time you got back, Geras was not there. Worried, you followed the row up to a house.

The house was… old. Very old. So old that you couldn’t even determine what style or era it was from. It was tall and square, made of rough brick and thatched roof. There seemed to be no windows, but the entire front wall was open and had a rolled up flap that closed that side from the elements.

From the open side, you could see people moving around, hurried, almost frenzied, and you called out to them.

“Hey!” You said. “I’m looking for Geras! He… or she.. or they passed out from some garbage that got thrown in here. Are they okay?”

They all stopped and turned to stare at you from the shadow, and it was then you realized that there was no lights or electricity. There wasn’t even a power pole or lines anywhere nearby.

“Are you the one who helped Geras?” One of them asked. They had a feminine sounding voice.

“Yes,” You said. “Are they okay?”

“She’s not well,” The speaker said. “I am her mother, Foteini.” The woman came down and out of the shadows, and you took a step backward.

She was covered from head to toe in fur, except for her face, which was hairless, but possessed no mouth. Her eyes and nose were very large, however, and her silvering hair was long behind her.

“What are you?” You asked, your voice a little shaky.

“The people of the grove,” She said, her voice not coming from any sort of mouth, but rather from all around her. It wasn’t like telepathy; you could actually hear a voice in your ears, but it seemed to emanate from all over her. “Do not be frightened. We are gentle people.”

There were three other people there in that stepped out of the darkened interior, a black haired creature like Foteini and two much smaller ones the same color as the mother, likely children. They clung to the legs of the taller, black furred creature, seemingly frightened of you.

“Will Geras be okay?” You asked haltingly.

“I don’t know,” The mother said. “She inhaled much of the fumes from those poisons.”

“Is there something I can do to help?” You asked.

“You’ve already done her a great service,” Foteini said. “We would not have been able to help her, if we had found her, and if she had laid there longer, she’d likely have died.”

“Why?” You asked. “That stuff stank, sure, but it wasn’t technically poisonous. Not inhaling it, anyway.”

“We live on the aromas of nature,” Foteini explained. “Flowers, trees, fruit. Those sustain us. Pungent, unpleasant smells, like that poison you disposed of, are toxic and potentially fatal to us.”

“Oh,” You said, daunted. “Is there something that could help speed her recovery?”

Foteini thought. “Roses. They are among the most fragrant things that exist in nature, but we haven’t been able to grow them here in many years. Could you find some?”

“Yeah. Yeah! I… I’ll be back!” You said, and dashed back out of the grove before they could stop you.

You got out of the forest, dropped off your painting stuff at home, and went to a plant nursery.

“Do you have any rose plants?” You asked the clerk.

“Well, yes,” The clerk said. “But it’s too late in the year to plant them. If you want to grow from seeds, though, you can plant those now. I can sell you some seeds and give you a guide.”

That’s too long, you thought to yourself. Geras needed the roses now. “You know, I’ll take it, but I’m in a hurry.”

“Uh… alright.”

The clerk packed up the seeds of several types of roses and a guide for each, and as soon as you had them, you sprinted to a flower shop. You purchased a large bouquet of the finest, freshest, most aromatic red roses, and while it took a chunk out of your bank account, you didn’t want to run the risk of buying some that were less than perfect in fear that they wouldn’t work.

It was nearing sundown when you returned to the grove, and Foteini seemed surprised to see you.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d return,” She said. “Humans tend to stay away from this place.”

“I brought the roses,” You said, gasping for breath. “And some seeds to plant.”

“This is… most generous of you,” Foteini said. “Please, come inside. Night is approaching and you don’t want to be in the forest after dark. There are far less benign creatures out there than us.”

You shivered and followed her inside.

Geras was lying on a pallet in a far room, her breathing labored and raspy. Foteini began to lay out the flowers around Geras’s head, arranging the flowers around Geras’s head in a circle.

“Breathe deep,” Foteini said soothingly, rubbing Geras’s chest like a mother would for a sick child.

Geras made an effort to take a deep breath, but it sounded pained. However, after two or three tries, her breathing eased and eventually, after about an hour of tense waiting, she was able to breath without struggle. Foteini relaxed, and so did you.

“You should sleep here tonight,” Foteini said. “And eat as many apples as you want. We owe you a great debt.”

“I’m just glad I could help,” You said.

You fell asleep almost immediately after eating, having been exhausted by all the running. When you awoke, there was a new bushel of apples sitting next to you, and next to that was Geras, watching you sleep.

“Oh,” You said, sitting up and rubbing your eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m much better now,” She said, smiling with her large green eyes. “Thank you for everything.”

“Of course,” You said with a self-conscious laugh. “You gave me a scare.”

“I’m sorry,” She said. “I know humans aren’t used to us.”

“No, I mean almost dying like that,” You corrected her. “I mean, I was a little startled, I’ll admit, but you guys seem nice.”

“You’re nice, too,” She said, continuing to smile.

“Thanks,” You said, starting to blush under the weight of her stare. “I, uh… I should get back, I have to go to work later today.”

“Of course,” Geras said, standing in a fluid movement and holding out a hand to help you to your feet. “Though… I hope… you’ll come back to visit?” She held out one of the roses for you to take.

You smiled at her, your hands still clasped. “I would like that very much.”

To get your own Monster Match, buy me a Kofi!

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience! To help me continue creating, please consider becoming a Patron or donating directly to my PayPal.

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

#Exophilia #Monster Match #Reader Insert #Astomi #Greek Mythology

37 notes · View notes

savedbystyle · 4 years

Text

cruel summer (b.b)

pairing: highschool!bucky barnes x reader

warning: angst, death of major character

summary: falling in love was scary, but thrilling especially when it was with bucky barnes

a/n: this is the second part to the lover series!!! i have received such positive feedback about i forgot that you existed and OMG it makes me incredibly happy:) also i know that during the times bucky went to high school it was all white students BUT that would suggest a white reader, and my aim is to make the reader as fitting to YOU as possible. I get it i’m indian and the pain, but yeah so were just gonna pretend were in those times but with todays diversity:)

song: cruel summer by taylor swift

gif credits to original creator

****

Fever dream high In the quiet of the night You know that I caught it

You were walking through the halls with your friends June and Sara, careful not to bump into anyone. “I can’t believe that you and Connor are going out Sara” June said with a big smile on her face. “Oh for lord’s sake June, calm down its not that big of a deal” “Oh Sara darling, it IS! I mean Connor is one of the most well known boys in school plus he’s as cute as a bug’s ear”

You laugh at the banter between June and Sara when you accidentally bump into someone.You bend down to pick up your books, but not before someone does it for you. You stand up and look at the attractive man standing in front of you. Your eyes meet the steel blue eyes in front of you. “I’m sorry doll, didn’t mean to hurt ya there. I’m Bucky” you smiled at him “I know, Bucky. My name is y/n, thanks for helping me” You smiled at the attractive man in front of you and made your way back to your gaping friends. “That was-” June paused “Bucky Barnes” Sara completed for her friend. “Oh stop it you’re gonna get flies in your mouth. He’s just a boy, now come on we gotta get to our class” What you didn’t notice was Bucky staring at you and your friends, a small smile etched onto his face.

Bad, bad boys Shiny toy with a price You know that I bought it

Throughout the week, you never saw Bucky again. It didn’t bother you, but you didn’t mind seeing that gorgeous face of his. Your class had just ended and it was time to go home. You were walking home when you heard someone shout behind you. You turned around to see Bucky, running towards you with a smile on his face. “Hey there doll” he said panting, trying to catch his breath. “Hello James, what is it?” He raised his eyebrow when you called him James, but excused it. “You’re such a pretty dame you know that” He said, smiling even bigger when he saw the blush take over your face.

“Thank you James, but you’re not here to tell me that are you?” “No doll, uh, I was wondering if you’d let me take you out sometime?” Your heart skipped a beat, but you doubted the words considering you’ve never talked to him before. “This ain’t a joke, is it James cause that wouldn’t be very nice” “No, I promise doll. Let me take you out” You looked up at his face and noticed the genuine look “Fine. This Friday after class, alright? I got Miss Jamie last” You left him on the side of the road, continuing your walk home, smiling and excited about your date.

Killing me slow, out the window I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below

It was Friday, and you were tapping your foot anxiously, waiting for the bell to ring out. “Remember, you all have to read Act 3 Scene 1 of the Great Gatsby by Monday’s class!” Miss Jamie told your class as the bell rang. Your heart was racing as you got your books in your arms and waited to get out the door. When you got out you could see Bucky’s head perk up, noticing you. He smiled, and you returned it with a shy one. “Hey doll, you ready?” He asked, holding out his hand for you to take. “Yeah James, lets go”

The two of you walked to the diner all the couples in high school went to, and sat down at a booth. The waiter approached your table and asked what the two of you would like “Can we have an all the way please” “Sure, that’ll be right out” You smiled at Bucky, but hesitating to ask the questions you’ve been dying to know. “James, can I ask why me? I mean you’ve never talked to me before” “Y/n, you’re the first person who didn’t go out of their way to talk to me. It gets tiring you know? But I can tell you’re a special one” You smiled at him and you two talked the day into the night, and the waiter could tell that the twi of you were already in love.

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes What doesn't kill me makes me want you more

After that date, you and Bucky went on many more. Even during school Bucky would hold you by your waist, or when you’re going to your next class he’d sneak up on you and sneak a kiss leaving you blushing. You even met Bucky’s best friend, Steve Rogers, who was one of the most honest and kindhearted men you ever met. You met Steve’s dame as well, Peggy Carter, and the four of you quickly became a close knit group, doing everything together. Of course, you would ask to bring your best friends along, who quickly approved of Bucky seeing as he made you happy.

You went home that day and decided to tell your parents about your new partner. You opened the door and saw your mother sitting on the couch watching some television and your father who had come home early reading the day’s newspaper. “Hi darling, how was your day?” your mother asked approaching you and kissing your forehead. “It was great ma, hi papa” Your father said hi and smiled at you, patting the now empty seat besides him signaling for you to come sit. “Uh, ma, papa? I’ve been meaning to tell y’all something. I’m going out with James Barnes now” Your mom had a smile on her face, while your dad’s expression didn’t change. “Papa?” You asked, your voice quiet “I will not allow it, you’re still too young y/n” “Nonsense y/f/n, we met each other at the same time” Your mother butted in “I said I won’t allow it” He met your eyes, and you rushed out the door trying to get to Bucky’s as fast as you can. When you found him, you started crying and pulled him close to your chest. “Doll, hey, what’s wrong?” He asked, comforting you “My papa, he doesn’t want me seeing you. Say’s i’m too young to see people” you say in between tears. “I just wanted him to like you, James” “Hey doll, it gonna be alright. We’ll make it work, alright? I’d do anything for ya” You looked up at him, and pulled him down to meet your lips.

And it's new The shape of your body, it's blue The feeling I've got And it's ooh, whoa oh It's a cruel summer

Your school year had ended, meaning that the both of you were about to go to university now. You had gotten into Columbia considering both your parents were alumni, but Bucky on the other hand decided to enlist in the army. “Bucky, I swear you’re nuts” you walked across his room back and forth “Why would you do that? Why would you enlist in the army James?” Bucky winced. You had stopped calling him James, but rather Bucky so when you called him James he knew he was in trouble. “Doll, I thought you’d be more supportive of me” He said, dropping his head.

You fell silent, and went to sit beside him “I am proud of you Bucky, honest” “Then what is it, doll?” he asked voice breaking. You replied eyes full of tears for the unknown “I’m scared that one day, someone is gonna come knockin on my door and tell me that the last time I saw you was truly the last time. I’m scared that you’re gonna get shot and hurt, and you will spend the rest of your life upset over it. I’m scared that when I kiss you goodbye at the train station, its the last time i’ll ever kiss you and see you Buck. I’m just scared of loosin you” you admitted, tears streaming down your face. Bucky was crying as well know. He lifted your face to meet your eyes, and kissed you with as much vigor as he could. “Doll, no matter what, I will always come back home to you” You kissed him, not letting him go. And that night ended up with you two sleeping in each other’s arms.

It's cool That's what I tell 'em, no rules In breakable Heaven but Ooh, whoa oh It's a cruel summer With you

That entire summer, the both of you spent almost all of it together. Day after day, Bucky would take you out on a date sometimes with Steve and Peggy, but most times just the two of you. You enjoyed every moment you had with the love of your life, refusing to thing about when he get’s deployed. You enjoyed strawberry sundaes, and ferris wheels at the fair. You even went to the Stark Expo, where the both of you had the time of your lives. You had later found out from Steve that he had secretly enlisted in the army as well and got in. That night, you and Bucky yelled at Steve but later pulled him into a hug. “I swear to god punk if you hurt yourself” “I will personally come over and kill you Steve” you said jokingly. Steve chuckled “I promise I will be alright”

When Steve went home, Bucky and you went to the roof of his apartment and laid down watching the stars. “Darling, i’m leaving next week for the army” You got up and looked at Bucky “Buck, I thought it was the end of the summer?” “They needed us to do some extra training for the war darlin. I promise I will write to you everyday, not a chance i’d miss it” You scooted closer to him and put your head on his chest. “I’m countin on it James”

I'm drunk in the back of the car And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh) Said, "I'm fine", but it wasn't true I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you And I, snuck in through the garden gate Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh) And I screamed, "For whatever it's worth" "I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"

It was the week after you dropped Bucky off at the train station, and you missed him so much. He sent his first letter two days back, sending his dog tag along with it. He wrote,

Hi Doll,

Every night I lie awake thinkin of you darlin. There isn’t a day that goes by where you don’t cross my mind. I remember the first time we met, and I now know that that was the first day I fell in love with you. I fell in love with the strong, independent woman you are. I fell in love with kindhearted woman you are. I fell in love with you. I love you y/n y/l/n and I hope you love me too. I am giving you one of my dog tags so you always have something of mine to wear. I promise you when I come back, i’m marrying you doll. I know I should be telling you this in person but I feel the need to tell you know. I hope you have a great day doll. I miss you a lot.

Yours truly,

James (Bucky) Barnes

You felt a tear trail down your cheek as you held the dog tag close to your heart. It felt as if he was still there with you, and you murmured “I love you, Bucky Barnes” The two of you wrote for months on end, until one day an officer knocks on your door telling you that him and his regiment were captured by the opposing side. They called it Hydra. But you didn’t care for the name, you cried for Bucky and his safety. You missed him. You had also found out that Steve was injected with the serum and became plenty rugged. Meanwhile, you were at school continuing your studies like you know Bucky would’ve wanted you to do.

It's cool That's what I tell 'em, no rules In breakable Heaven but Ooh, whoa oh It's a cruel summer With you

You heard a knock on your door and went to open it. Standing in all his glory was the love of your life. You flung your arms around Bucky, smelling his cologne you grew to love. “Bucky, oh lord, I thought you died” you sobbed into his shoulder and pulled away to see his face. He smiled, caressing your face pulling you into a kiss. “Steve saved us, doll. I’m alright” “I love you Bucky, and whenever you choose to I will marry you” He smiled kissing you again as if it was the last time he could. The two of you spent the entire night surrounded by the others naked body, memorizing each and every curve and scar. When Bucky left again, you had a little more hope this time that he would come back to you. The letters never ended, until they did one day.

You heard a knock on your door, letting the person know you were coming. You opened the door to see a shattered looking Steve holding Bucky’s uniform. “Bucky, uh, fell off a train during a mission. Y/n, I tried to catch him but I couldn’t” Steve was sobbing, and you put a hand on your mouth not believing this cruel joke the universe played on you. “Oh Steve” The both of you held on to each other, the last piece of Bucky both of you had. Both of you mourned for the loss of a best friend, the loss of the love of your life.

A couple of weeks later, you went to the place Steve was at to surprise him. You saw Peggy and went over to her. “Hey Pegs, have you seen Steve” Her eyes started watering and she sighed before gaining her composure. “Captain Steve Rogers went down in the Arctic last week. I had assumed you had found out, but i’m sorry y/n. Steve’s gone” You were numb, you felt no pain. First the love of your life, and now your best friend. You went home that day and cried for the loss of America’s heroes. You mumbled to yourself, “It’s been a cruel summer with you, Bucky Barnes”.

slang used:

all the way: chocolate or fudge cake with ice cream

cute as a bug’s ear: very cute

doll and dame: a woman

nuts: crazy

#Bucky Barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky x y/n #Steve Rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #avengers fanfiction

20 notes · View notes