#eavesdropping is no way to get a full picture | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dilemmaontwolegs · 2 months

Text

Not A Verstappen: Lights Out {7}

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x fem!driver!reader x Lando Norris Summary: A short skip over the winter break and into 2024 season.. Warnings: 18+ only, fluffies WC: 2k F1 Masterlist NAV: Sibling Rivalry One || Two || Three NAV: Gridlocked One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine NAV: A New World One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten NAV: Lights Out One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || 6.5 || Seven || SMAU || Eight

Christmas Eve 2023 - French Alps The air was still when you woke to a fresh dumping of snow on the mountain. The window provided a picture of tranquillity and the embers in the fire gave a peaceful glow to the dark wood walls. Charles had disappeared at dawn for a morning ski with Arthur and you squinted against the white glare to try and find them on the mountainside.

You probably could have gone back to sleep if it wasn’t for the door crashing open and the sudden weight of a child on your legs. Penelope crawled up to the headboard with a squeal and jumped into your arms as Max just reached the bedroom door.

“P, watch out for auntie’s tummy,” Max reminded. She now had to watch out for yours and Aunt Vicky’s tummy, since your sister had announced her pregnancy a few weeks ago. “Sorry, she slept the whole flight so she’s full of energy. I tried to get her to play with Luka but she wanted you.”

“That’s okay,” you said as she burrowed under the blankets and put her cold feet on Lando’s back. “Are you excited for Christmas?”

Penelope nodded eagerly while Lando slowly woke and you were grateful he was wearing a hideous pair of santa-themed pyjama pants. With even more children around for Christmas this year, everyone had taken to wearing pyjamas. It was good for moments like these, but bad for quick access when you were spooning in the night.

“Papa let me open some presents early!”

Max disappeared out of the room with a wave, heading back to his suite with Kelly down the hall. The small mountain retreat had been completely rented out for another combined family holiday and at the rate the Norris’, Leclerc’s and Verstappen’s were procreating, an entire resort would be needed to host you all next year. Your bet was on Max and Lorenzo becoming fathers next.

“How exciting! And what did you get?”

Penelope held out her arm to show a mermaid inspired charm bracelet. “That’s beautiful!”

“It’s got Ariel!” she exclaimed, pointing to a red haired mermaid as she bounced excitedly.

“Is that an earthquake?” Lando asked as he scooped the little girl up into a hug. “No, it’s little P. Why are you waking your favourite uncle up so early?”

“You’re not my favourite,” she said with a fit of giggles.

Lando hung his head and shook it with fake sadness. “Kids are brutal.”

“Kids are honest,” you corrected before kissing his pout away.

“Gross,” P said as she screwed up her face and started to climb off the bed to find ‘Maxie’. She did a sudden u-turn and scrambled across the bed to gently touch your stomach before leaning closer and whispering, “Bye-bye, baby. Love you.”

She was gone again, this time the door swinging shut as she left with no farewell for you or Lando. He let out a little chuckle as he pushed you back into the pillows and drifted down the bed, taking the blankets with him.

“Hello, baby,” he murmured softly to the bump. At just more than half way along your bump could no longer be mistaken for overindulgence or bloating. “You are looking lovely and round this morning.”

“Wow, you really know how to sweet talk a lady,” you chuckled as you combed your fingers through his hair.

“Shh, I’m having a conversation with my daughter, no eavesdropping,” he warned with a smirk before brushing your shirt up and pressing a kiss to your skin before continuing his conversation. The moustache and shaped beard he was slowly but surely growing thicker tickled with each whispered word, the movement of his lips dragging the coarse hairs over your sensitive skin until goosebumps prickled.

“I can’t wait to meet you,” he said with a smile as the door creaked open and Charles walked in with wind-kissed cheeks. “I just want to hurry up and hold you.”

“Patience, mon cher,” Charles said with a grin, depositing the second layer of cashmere he had worn under his ski jacket on the coat hook. “It’s only four more months.”

Lando groaned at the reminder before shifting on the bed to make space for Charles.

“Anything you want to add this morning?” you asked.

You reached for the hem of the shirt, ready to pull it down if it was a no when a knock had you freeze. No, it wasn’t a knock. The thud hadn’t come from outside, but inside. You dropped the shirt and stared at the jut of your hip, right where the skin went soft as it stretched up to your ribs. That soft tissue bulged ever so slightly as you felt the strange sensation of pressure and it drew a gasp that shocked your boyfriends.

“What? What is it?” Lando asked, his voice thick with concern.

“Give me your hand,” you ordered, already reaching for one of each as you placed them on the spot. “Shhh, just shhh.”

You felt it again and Charles exhaled a shaky breath that ended in a joyous laugh before grabbing Lando’s hand and shifting it slightly.

“Wha-”

“Shh,” you urged as Charles pressed a finger to his lips. The silence grew and everyone held their breath, waiting.

The air wooshed from Lando with an exclamation, “No fucking way!” His eyes grew wide and he stared at his palm as if the imprint of his daughter’s foot was permanently held on his skin. “Holy shit! She…she…kicked.”

Charles wrapped an arm around Lando as their shimmering eyes met yours. Pure happiness saturated the room, spilling out into the hall as the door opened and Oliver appeared a little worried. “Everything okay? I thought I heard Lando screeching.”

“Everything’s perfect,” Lando grinned, ignoring the joke he had heard since hitting puberty.

“She just started kicking,” Charles explained with an equally bright grin, while you danced your fingers along your side, trying to tickle her foot.

“Core memory unlocked, huh?” Oliver laughed at his brother’s eagerness, remembering the first kicks with his own daughters. “Breakfast is ready when you are.”

“Thanks, we’ll be there soon,” Charles said as Oliver closed the door again.

“Do we have to?” Lando asked as he curled back down and stared at your stomach intently. “I could watch this all day.”

“You can stay but I am hungry, and she is now shy,” you teased as you pulled your shirt back into place and climbed out of bed. With a groan he followed you to the walk-in wardrobe, just like you knew he would.

“Is the powder good?” Lando asked Charles while they changed into some casual day clothes perfect for the warm interior of the retreat.

“It’s perfect,” Charles all but moaned, it was hard to believe they were talking about snow but both of them loved to ski. “Arthur wants to head back out after lunch.”

Lando looked at you and you waved a hand. “Sheesh, babe, I’m not your keeper. You can go if you want.”

Lando hated being away the most, not that Charles enjoyed it, but there wasn’t the same level of separation anxiety that Lando had. “I don’t want to leave you here on your own.”

“On my own?” you laughed and slipped your feet into some simple flats before heading to the door. As soon as it opened the cacophony of everyone congregating in the great room down the hall spilled into your room. “I couldn’t be on my own if I tried.”

yourusername

liked by pierregasly, maxvertappen1, maxfewtrell and 1,382,589 others yourusername This kid scored the gene pool the lottery. Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Round One - Bahrain 2024 Fuel fumes drifted up from the pitlane to the balcony you stood upon as the start of the season's first race grew closer. It was strange to look down the entire length of billboards and see no new faces among the driver line up. Fernando still filled the garage beside Lance, but you held no resentment for your replacement. He was making the most out of an opportunity and it almost gave you hope that even after leaving Formula 1, maybe - just maybe - there was a way to get back in.

Next year would be interesting with so many contracts up for renewal. It was a chance to see new faces on the grid, or perhaps some old faces returning if rumours were to be believed. You wouldn’t mind seeing Sebastian make a return. For the moment, everyone was still too busy talking about Lewis and his move to Ferrari to give much thought to the other shocks that might come with the disruption. The open seat at Mercedes was going to be sought after by every driver stuck in a midfield car.

“You look deep in thought.”

You broke away from staring at the starting lights to accept a cup of herbal tea from your mother. “Just thinking about how the grid will look next year.”

“Gotta get through this one first,” she reminded. “Speaking of…it’s going to be hard having a newborn at home with those two away so much.”

“I know,” you sighed, resting your arms on the balcony rail as you blew the steam from the mug. The wall calendar at home was already marked with the first half of the season, all the nights Lando and Charles would be away circled in red ink. It had been collectively agreed that flying with a newborn wasn’t a great idea so you would only attend the races you could drive to until she was at least three months old. “This year’s calendar is fucking intense.”

“I want you to know you can call me day or night, sweetie, and I’ll be on the next plane.” She reached for your chin and turned you to face her as your throat clogged with emotion. “I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to do on your own, you saw it firsthand.”

“You’ve got your own life, I don’t want you to drop it all for me.”

She laughed softly and wrapped you in a careful hug. “You’re my daughter, you are my life, my granddaughter is too.”

“Thank you,” you sniffled and wiped your eyes, seeing the cameras in the pitlane pointed your way. “Gah, you made me cry. Now I’ll be on fucking Drive to Survive. I can already see the subtitles ‘Y/N crying as the season starts without her’. Wankers.”

Your mother narrowed her eyes at the camera and flipped them off, making you choke on a laugh. “So much maturity for a grandmother.”

“Yeah well I have been wanting to do that for a while, and I figure I can’t get you fired since you’re unemployed.”

You shared a grin and thought maybe you had more in common than you realised. You thought your fight came from Jos but now you saw a flash of it in her protectiveness and your chest warmed.

“I’m not unemployed, I’m a Lady of Leisure.” You laughed at the roll of her eyes before adding. “I might even get a Birkin for a push present to complete the initiation.”

“What the hell is a push present?”

“It’s a present a new mother gets for destroying her vagina pushing a baby out.”

It was her turn to choke on a laugh. “That’s a thing?”

“Apparently so.”

“Does the baby not count as a gift?”

“Hmm, maybe you should go ask them?” you said as you jutted your head to the plethora of influencers walking around the grid taking selfies with everyone. She wrinkled her nose at the idea, quite content to stay out of the fray like you.

“No, thank you. Oh, there they are.”

You scanned the crowd and saw Max, Charles, and Lando walking out to the grid together, their heads huddled close as they tried to hear each other over the crowd. They made a beeline to the strips of red carpet and Max stood between the other two as they took their places for the national anthem.

“Looks like the podium lineup to me,” your mother whispered.

You chewed your lip and hoped the data from testing was as promising as it looked for McLaren and Ferrari. But you could never tell quite how much of it was real with the strategies and sandbagging. “I hope so, my boy’s need a good start this year.”

Click here for the next part.

#lando norris fanfic #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc imagine #lando norris imagine #lando norris x reader #charles leclerc x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #formula 1 fanfic #formula one imagine #f1 x reader #f1 x y/n #f1 x you

625 notes · View notes

strawberryspence · 1 year

Text

happy birthday, @stevesbipanic! i am glad you were born, you amazing human being. I hope you get to drink the coldest, most delicious, bougiest milo you can have. ILY broccoli! 💛

Steve has never had a birthday cake. He doesn't count the first six cakes his parents had for him, because he's pretty sure it was only for appearances.

He remembers his seventh birthday. How badly he wanted to have a Flintstones themed birthday party, and how his parents called it tacky. Instead, Steve had a lavish tea party with all of their investor friends. He remembers hating it.

After that, there's— nothing. There were Nannies or Babysitters that tried to make him feel better by bringing him to Benny's and he's thankful for that. But there's always that heart wrenching rip in his system when he sees a child. Surrounded by family, singing happy birthday as they wait to blow on a cake.

And the thing is if Steve never gets to have that, it’s okay. It’s really, really, really, okay. That also means he’ll do his best to give all the kids the best birthdays they can have, so they can never feel what he felt. If El wants a day just full of craft making? Sure. Dustin wants to visit this damn planetarium in Indianapolis? Okay. Mike wants to dress him like him for an entire day? Alright.

Steve is happy that way, until Eddie Munson comes crashing into his life with a broken bottle. And okay, maybe it’s not a great idea to lie in the biggest and probably the most important relationship he has right now, but he’s not going to tell Eddie his little sad secret.

What he forgot to account for is the fact that his boyfriend is the biggest snoop to ever exist.

“Wha— What’s this?” Steve stammers as he enters his house. It’s almost always dark when he comes home, the house dull and empty.

Tonight, it’s different. After having his birthday dinner with Robin, Steve drives them back to his house so they can have movie night. Supposedly.

Instead, Eddie’s standing behind the long wooden dining table that never gets used, with 20 different cupcakes, all lit with a candle. There’s food and banners and balloons with streamers.

Robin pushes him forward with a smile, “So…” Eddie walks towards him, “I found some of your childhood pictures.”

“Oh.” Steve breathes out.

“Look, maybe I am wrong. Maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe your parents just weren’t the kind of people that liked taking pictures and having to develop them. Maybe someday, you’ll tell me why you only have one childhood photo album or why there’s no pictures of your birthday parties past the age of six.”

Eddie says, hands nervously twisting around his hair, “But, on the off chance that I am right,” He shakes his head in disbelief, “On the off chance that you haven’t had a birthday cake or a birthday wish in 14 years, I got you 20 birthday cupcakes.”

Steve can barely hold himself anymore, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, “Why 20?”

Eddie smiles at him, and his eyes sparkle at Steve like he hung the damn moon and stars, like he fucking created the whole universe, “One for every year my favorite person has been alive.”

Steve chokes down a half sob, half whine as he slaps a hand on his mouth.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Eddie whispers as he wraps Steve in a comforting hug. They stay like that for a minute before Eddie says, “I am so happy you were born. There’s a few more people that are happy, they’re all hiding in the kitchen right now.”

“What?” Steve pulls back, hastily wiping his tears.

“The kids are all here. Nance, Jonathan, and Argyle.” Eddie tenderly wipes a stray tear off his cheek, “Even Wayne, Hop, Joyce, and Mrs. Henderson is here.”

Steve’s not sure if he wants to know, but he still asks, “Why?”

Eddie visibly softens, but before he can answer Robin answers for him, “Because we all love you, Dingus.”

“So, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to sit behind the cupcakes and they’re going to come out from where they’ve been eavesdropping.” Steve laughs when Eddie emphasizes the word, and there’s a clatter in the kitchen followed by whispering, “They’re going to act normal. And we’re going to sing you a song. Okay?”

Steve smiles, nodding, “Okay.”

“Okay.” Eddie says as he runs to the kitchen and as Robin ushers him to sit in front of the cupcakes. She forces a birthday hat on his hair, and he doesn’t even argue.

They all come out from the kitchen, all smiling and wearing ridiculous birthday hats. Even Hop and Wayne are wearing them and it might actually be the funniest thing he’s ever seen. The kids have blow horns that fill the silent house with joyous sounds.

They sing him a birthday song. It’s loud and it doesn’t exactly sound good. Dustin’s trying a new other pitch and Lucas has never been a good singer. Max is drumming on the table and El has a small tambourine. Mike and Will are trying to do some kind of duet in their own little bubble. But it’s the most beautiful, harmonious sound to Steve.

And as they all urged him to make a wish, Steve is struck with awe and disbelief, a feeling of realization sparking in his veins. Steve’s got everything he’s ever wanted right in front of him. He just wants all of them to be safe and sound.

He smiles at his family, as he lets his eyelid flutter shut.

And for the first time, Steve makes a birthday wish.

Edit:

Steve smiles, happy and content, as everyone chitchats around him.

"Hey, Eds?" Steve calls out for his boyfriend who's busy stuffing his face with bread rolls.

"Yeam?" Eddie replies, still chewing on the bread.

"Can I have a Flintstone themed birthday next year?"

Eddie swallows his bread with water, before turning to Steve with a smile so bright it could blind him. He moves closer to give his temple a light kiss.

"You got it, sweetheart. I'll be Fred, you'll be Wilma. It will be perfect."

#tw child trauma #tw child neglect #happy birthday b! ofc i got you angst for your birthday. are you even surprised??????#i hate the harringtons sorry #hope you enjoyed this #steve goes on and has 70 more wonderful birthdays #with his husband and family #steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson angst #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie headcanons #steddie ficlet #dae writes #daeheadcanons

2K notes · View notes

buckyarchives · 1 year

Text

Day After Tomorrow

pairing: bucky barnes x sick!neighbor!reader

summary: enhanced hearing is both a blessing and a curse. eavesdropping, loud music, footsteps and when your sweet neighbor has been coughing her pretty head off all day.

author note: i’m sick and binging twilight so blame that for this being created.

w.c: 3.6k

The last time Bucky remembers living on his own was – well never. Romanian doesn't really count in his mind because he definitely was not mentally aware then, not himself, on autopilot, whatever you want to say. Even before hydra and before the army, it was him living under his mom's roof and then a small apartment with Steve before he got shipped off to sleep like sardines in camps.

Then we all know what happened next. Pretty much getting coddled by Captain America, on a leash by the government, or asleep in a cryo chamber in princess Shuri’s lab.

So when Bucky finally got snapped back, a pardon on behalf of Steve Rogers – before he quite literally abandoned him. Sam was there at least, Sam didn't make him feel shitty for not being the old Bucky because Sam first met him when he was literally trying to shoot him in the head. So you can only go up from here.

Sam helped him find an apartment, Brooklyn was the only requirement, and he delivered. They went to IKEA, which is amazing by the way. Bucky thinks it's the best thing to come from the continent of Europe. They bought the necessities, a couch, a bed (it's been 6 months and bucky still hasn't touched it but doesn’t matter), a coffee pot, and one plant. It was a succulent and apparently impossible to kill, Sam said it would liven up his apartment. But it was hard to do that when his curtains were always shut.

The best thing about the apartment complex was it was mostly filled with old people, Bucky got along with old people well. And they were all pretty quiet and nice. There were a few other college students that lived there. Bucky heard they were all medical students and probably picked the cheapest place to live close enough to campus. Their music was loud sometimes and they stayed up late but minded their business for the most part.

Then there was the girl across the hall. He only saw you a few times, the first time he thought you were one of those beautiful girls he'd see in the magazines they smuggled on camp. You left your apartment at the same time as Bucky did, you had a bag slung over your shoulder like you were going to work or school. Bucky watches you intently, Sam would probably call him creepy for staring, but Bucky couldn't shake the fact you were the most beautiful woman he's seen.

And as you turned and gave him a small pursed smile, Bucky tugged his sleeve down. A habit from his anxieties, also the paranoia that everyone knew. “You just moved in?” you asked him, Bucky wasn't expecting a conversation now. But that was part of being a functioning human, so he gulped down the lump in his throat and curled into himself. Making him as small and less intimidating as possible.

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded, god this was awkward but he couldn’t even fathom anything else to say to you. He was horrible at this.

But you were a godsend of a human and gave him the warmest smile, “I'm surprised more people haven't moved in since everyone came back. We’re you– uh, blipped? Is that what people are calling it?”

Bucky wanted to smile, but it just didn’t translate from his brain to his body and he was scared it would look creepy. “Yeah, I was blipped. Were you?”

“No, I wasn't. But I’m sorry that happened to you, if you need any help re-adjusting I’m right here.” you offered, gesturing to your door. Bucky sucked in a hard breath, it was weird being offered help. Weirder for a total stranger to pity him for what happened, if only you knew the full picture. It didn’t stop from pulling at his heartstrings as he stood absolutely dumbfounded in front of you.

You weren't scared off though, despite how utterly awkward and creepy Bucky felt standing in there, shifting on his feet and not responding. He had to rack his brain for the words of gratitude.

“Thank you.” he choked out, and you just fucking smiled again and Bucky felt like he was going to cry. “And I'm uh- I’m James, by the way.”

“Y/N, Don't be a stranger,” you said, before bidding him goodbye and waving him off as you disappeared down the stairs.

Bucky probably stood there for another minute or two just kicking himself for how horrible he was at talking to girls.

Bucky only saw you a few more times after that, some stuck out for than others.

It was way too late to be up, but Bucky was practically nocturnal at this point, a fucking vampire that winced when Sam barged into his apartment to pull back the blinds so he’d get an ounce of vitamin D.

Bucky had a basket of all blacks on his hip, the complex has a laundry room since none of the apartments had one. You would put money in a little machine and it would give coins you could only use on another machine, not to mention they got jammed half the time and stole your money. Bucky thought it was stupid.

He stopped dead in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs. The familiar head of hair threw clothes into the dryer and slotted the coins into the machine, they didn’t get jammed. Bucky tried to ignore your presence, maybe it would have been more polite to greet you.

Throwing his clothes in the machine and followed the usual routine, except Bucky heard the coins trickle down and get stuck. Fuck. Bucky pressed the button with his gloved hand, mostly out of frustration. Nothing happened.

“Hey, let me.” a soft voice spoke from behind him, a light pressure on his shoulder as you touched him. Bucky tensed at the touch, you didn't notice but Bucky moved away from you. “These old things barely work anymore, you just got to give them some tough love.”

Bucky just watched as you banged on the machine, if Bucky did this he might have broken it. He heard the metal clink down and you pushed the start cycle and it began to work just fine.

“That's easy, huh? Lost probably a total of 10 dollars and I just needed to punch it.”

You laughed and it felt like heaven in his chest, “you just have to outsmart the machine.” you snarked, lifting yourself onto one of the vacant machines and waiting for your cycle to be done. You wore a small shirt and a small pair of sleep shorts. Bucky felt hot by the amount of skin you were showing. Fuck, what was he? 16 again?

“I’ve had a lot of doing that recently.” Bucky said, almost murmuring to himself but you listened.

“I bet, catching up on what? 90 years of technology – must be hard,” you said so plainly like it didn't make Bucky’s head stop. Popping his head up with a panicked face.

You did know… and you didn't run. Weird.

“You know me?”

You swung your feet innocently, a small grin on your face as you pushed your hair away from your face. Cute. “James, I had to do a paper on the howling commandos in middle school.”

“Really?” he asked, genuinely surprised. He sometimes forgets he’s famous for other reasons than being a world-renowned assassin.

“Yeah, and I keep hearing the two girls that live down on floor 2 gossiping about you.”

Bucky’s face dropped. “Gossip, huh? Bad or good.”

Probably bad, it’s always bad.

You bit your cheek, wondering if you should lie and spare him the horrid memories. “Mostly they were devising a plan to get the falcon– caps number from you. They also think you look like James Dean.”

Bucky knew James Dean. Pop culture wise he started in the 50s, so he knew him enough.

“I think that's the best compliment I've ever gotten,” Bucky said, a slight quirk on his lips. You hadn't realized how blue his eyes were until you started to get trapped in them, only being ripped away when the ding of the machine made you flinch.

“Well, I’ll make sure to relay your gratitude,” you said, throwing the rest of your clothes into the hamper.

Bucky wanted so painfully for you to linger and wait till his cycle was done, to talk to him about your day so he could know more about the mysterious, beautiful girl across the hall. Maybe you could walk back together, Bucky would offer to carry your basket because he does still remember to be a gentleman.

Maybe Bucky was just grasping onto the thought of not being alone.

but you smiled at him so warmly, waved, and turned your back but god- he just wanted to keep you in place. to stay. He wasn’t sure what came over him but he felt empty when you left. so weird.

Bucky finished his laundry in silence and made sure to lightly (light for him) bang on the dryer after he put the coins in.

it surprisingly didn’t take long for you to run into him again, in the lobby. laundry room, again. the halls and weirdly, he saw you ordering an iced americano at the coffee shop across the street.

you two became… acquaintances. That's how Bucky would describe it.

Bucky was not a creep, or a stalker. He was just caring and very curious. it was also kinda unavoidable with his super soldier hearing, but he heard everything. He's pretty much got a pretty good idea of your music taste, always some indie or punk rock playing during the day, softer music during the night. He heard 40s music once and almost went feral trying to hold himself back from knocking on your door.

He heard the television when you watch shows, or when you get into heated conversations with people over the phone (those get very interesting at times). Bucky had heard you having a life crisis as you shoved all your furniture around at 2 am and decorated the walls. He also hears when you have people over, oh how shitty he felt with himself when he realized you had a boy - a date over. jealousy was a newer emotion, maybe it was even envy.

and now as the winter season rolls around and the city gets colder, Bucky sometimes forgot about people getting colds or head flu. serum and all. Recently, Bucky's heard nothing but sneezing and coughing from his next-door neighbor. He was worried, is that creepy?

So much so that he ran down to the local Thai place, and he went there often. They had really good food. Bucky passed the bright red and green lights for Christmas, the snow coated the ground and he gained a few odd looks from passersby at the little amount of clothing he wore.

Bucky Barnes had a plan, you knew he was… enhanced. So the whole hearing you thing wouldn’t be that creepy? maybe. Either way, he was going to “coincidentally bring home leftover food that he will oh-so-graciously let you have while he makes sure you're not dying of a head cold.” because he worries

his hand hovered over the wooden door, a moment contemplating if this was a bad idea. but before he knew it the echoed sound of knocking filled his ears and he heard you padding your feet toward him.

Yeah, you looked horrible. red nose, bedhead, and dark eyes m. you looked incredibly pale too, there looked to be no life in you.

“hey, James!” your voice was raspy but you tried to sound cheery and happy despite how much you felt like dying as you stood up. “what are you doing?”

“I’ve been hearing you cough your head off for the past day, and I brought home some leftovers for you. Can I come in?”

you looked utterly astonished. your eyes glanced up and down and back at the bag of food. Bucky noticed the way you were swaying on your feet and grasping at the door frame. you needed to sit down.

“uh, yeah. I just- I don't want to get you sick.” you worried, but still moved out of the way slightly for Bucky.

“Don’t worry, doll. perks of that serum.” Bucky chuckled, your face relaxed and you showed him to your kitchen.

“Oh, right.”

Bucky followed and set the plastic bag on the counter, going through and grabbing the two containers of soup. He noticed the photos stuck to the fridge, pictures of you with friends and smiling wildly. his heart warmed. Bucky also didn’t miss the messy couch, from the fleece blankets, stray tissues and glass of sprite. you’d been officially camping out there for the last few days.

“Do you want something? tea, water, alcohol if you're in the mood.” Bucky turned around to see you reaching on your tippy toes for the cups. He jumped to grab it out of your hands and push you away.

“Hey, you’re sick. go sit down.” Bucky said, you frowned slightly.

“I don't want to be rude,” you whine.

“you’re not rude, you're sick.” Bucky pressed his hands to your shoulder and sat you down on the island's barstool.

“The lady at the Thai place said this could help with a head cold.” Bucky explained, pushing the soup towards you. He found the silverware drawer on his third guess. “supposably it’s jacked up on chili peppers and ginger, so it’s spicy.”

your hand shakes slightly as you bring it to your lips, “mhmm, good. you try.”

“no, it’s for you.”

“James, grab a spoon and try it,” you state, sliding the bowl over to the brunette.

Reluctantly, Bucky takes another spoon and brings the liquid to his lips. you laugh loudly at his reaction, he winced as the soup goes down his throat. coughing wildly at the spice.

“It’s not that bad!”

Bucky speaks through coughs, “I don't like spice.”

“more like can’t handle it obviously.” you snark, snatching the bowl back from him.

“poor kids in the 40s didn’t have much more than salt and pepper, doll.” Bucky says as if it's the most obvious thing ever. but it was hard to remember when he still looked like an attractive 30-something-year-old. You chuckle under your breath.

“Well, it’s time to build up to your tolerance, Barnes.” you bring the spoon up to his lips, and Bucky flushes a light pink. he hopes - prays that you think it’s just from the chili pepper.

Bucky shakes his head, “I'm not a masochist, eat your food. I spend the army’s good money on that.”

you smile at the light jab, letting the liquid run down your throat. a satisfied hum leaves you, Bucky makes a mental note to get you the dish again.

Bucky let you eat in peace, finding his way around your kitchen after having to reject your offer second to host him, again. he found the tea bags and kettle and started boiling water, as his hand grasped around the handle to pour the water into a “Ohio is for lovers” cup Bucky was hit with a weird distant yet familiar feeling. the feeling of normalcy and comfort he’s so avoided for decades.

it was the closest thing to how he felt in Wakanda, but better. because he was a charity case in Wakanda, this was normal. in a small New York apartment, caring for a sick girl by feeding her Thai food.

Bucky had to snap himself out of it before you started to get creeped by him staring daggers into your tea. his eyes shot up to you, your hand massaging your shoulder with a twisted face.

“Are you okay?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. just a knot in my shoulder from playing dead on the couch.” you laugh and wave it off, but bucky’s already rounding the island towards you. He motions to your right shoulder, tapping at your fingers where they dig into your skin. “oh no, it’s okay.”

“Just let me. I used to have to get the knots out of a young pre-serum Captain America once." Bucky says, digging his thumb into your shoulder. you instantly tense, Bucky lets off the pressure as you relax into him. slowly building it up. “Little punk had horrible posture, he’d sit on this bench in bridge park and just draw for hours while I did laps.”

Bucky laughs to himself in reference to the distant memory, he left out the part where he hid the fact he was exercising for the army — and hiding it from Steve. you smile warmly with him, “I can't imagine the shock of seeing your 5 '4 childhood best friends look like — like, uhh.”

“like Captain America?”

“yeah, like Captain America.”

Bucky hums, “well, I first saw him like that when he rescued me from the POW camp. was jacked up on hydra drugs and thought I was hallucinating,”

a soft mewl comes from your lips as Bucky gets his thumb around the knot in your shoulder, your head falls down onto his chest lightly and another moan leaves you. Bucky tugged at his bottom lip as he glanced down at you, gulping down his nerves and having to physically tear his eyes from you before he started to get the wrong idea.

too late though. you made a soft noise again and Bucky thought about what it would feel like to have you make more of these noises, but with Bucky's hands elsewhere. anywhere else.

“There, you got it. thank you.” you breathed a harsh breath and push away the half-empty soup.

“done?” Bucky pushed himself away from you.

“mhm.”

Bucky feels a weird sense of deja vu while taking care of you, it’s nice - deja vu - it means he remembers. remembers taking care of Steve like this. Bucky puts the dishes away, he’ll offer to clean them later. you're sipping at the tea he made, bucky's eyes glance to the living room. the television was paused in the middle of a movie, and your shoulder began to sag again.

“What movie were you watching?” Bucky asks.

“uhh,” you smile shyly, glancing from the screen to Bucky. “Twilight.”

Bucky furrows his eyebrows, showing no recognition of the name. Once again you forget you’re technically talking to a 100-year-old man that probably was too busy being brainwashed to watch Twilight at the peak of its fame.

“oh! it’s some stupid vampire-werewolf movie, it was really popular like 10-15 years ago. kind of iconic.” you laugh quietly.

“perfect. you need rest and I need to catch up on the 20th century, yeah?”

“Where the hell have you been, loca?” you whisper under your breath, laughing to yourself at the stupid line.

Your head lay comfortably on the armrest of your couch, Bucky sat across from you and was currently being used as a footrest. He took the position proudly and traced circles into your calves, you tried to ignore the blush and goosebumps on your skin when he did.

“do you know every line?”

“My niece was obsessed with these movies when she was little, every weekend we had to rewatch one of them.” you scoff, “so yeah, kind of.”

Bucky snorts, scrunching his face up when Jacob shrugs off his t-shirt. “Also, why doesn't Bella just get over Edward and get with Jacob?”

The only women Bucky has genuinely feared in his life were his mother, Steve’s mother, and Natasha. you were suddenly added to the list when your gaze turned to him, mouth gaped open lightly as you looked at Bucky as if you were going to kill him.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asks innocently.

“Please don’t tell me you’re team Jacob.”

“Team Jacob?” Bucky wears his confused face again.

“Team Jacob and Team Edward. Which one are you on?” your eyes shoot daggers at him as he scrambles for an answer.

“I think Jacob.”

you open your mouth wide to argue, explain that their entire relationship dynamic and why Bucky is wrong. but you don’t, you just give him a death glare and slowly gaze back to the television. “you’ll change your mind.”

Bucky smiles. He thinks you’re cute, too cute. “Okay, who would you date?”

without skipping a beat. “easy. Carlisle.”

“Really?”

“mhm, but Jacob with the long hair is really hot.” you smile, “shame he cut it.”

“So you like a guy with long hair?” Bucky teases, ready to exaggeratedly brush his hair behind his ears to tease you more. then remembering he cut it. shame.

“Maybe,” you smile. “didn’t you have long hair?”

“used to.”

you look at him intently, like you were imagining him with the grown-out brunette hair. other than the fleet pictures and videos you saw of him on the news back in 2014, when he wore a dark mask and even darker eye makeup.

you hum contently, like the image pleased you. “You should grow it out again.”

Bucky felt dizzy when his eyes met yours, he couldn’t pull away even if he tried. “maybe.”

nodding, you were content with that answer and gazed back to the screen. by the end of the movie you were dead and passed out and those plans to get him caught up on Twilight would have to resume later.

Bucky thought for a moment. If the first person he grows a normal, non-superhero, 21st-century relationship with was you. He'd be happy ending up here, not grief and trauma filled with Steve leaving and what hydra did. no — maybe, grateful even if it was just moments like this with you.

Gently, Bucky laid another fleece blanket over you and did your dishes, put away the leftovers, and turned the screen off. it was weirdly domestic, it warmed his chest.

if Bucky wanted to be hopeful for once, maybe he would try for something more than just neighbors or acquaintances.

feedback and notes make the world go round, thank you for reading <3

tag list: @ivywasmaroon @ozwriterchick @slytherinambitious @wintermischief @silverfire475

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky x reader #marvel #marvel fanfiction #bucky fic #sebastian stan #bucky fluff #bucky x female reader

1K notes · View notes

mncein · 9 months

Note

Could you do NewJeans jealous hcs?

yes of course, will be doing hcs with scenarios !! i was kinda expecting this kind of ask so thank you for this request anon, i hope you enjoy !! this took longer than i expected... i was really busy this past few days :( sorry for the wait !!

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

— MINJI

is experiencing a massive waves of jealousy while you talk about an online friend you met. she loves how friendly you are to a lot of people, but hearing you talk so nicely about this friend makes her feel that you don't talk about her in that way :( but baby is receiving more than just nice words, but a lot of flattering words. will probably scowl at you so cutely and trying to get your attention across the room while you're on your phone or doing some else :(

— "hey, is there something wrong?" you ask, tapping her shoulder. you just finished talking to your friend whom you told you had to go because you wanted to give your girlfriend your affection. she looks back with, obviously a fake frown, you could tell she was jealous, you quickly trapped her in your embrace.

"i hate you." she mumbles on your shoulder. you chuckled softly and kissed her forehead. you never really expected her to be jealous over a friend of yours, she's your girlfriend and she deserves all of your attention, right? yes.

"you know how much i love you more than my friends and anything else." you speak with a lovely tone that is soothing her mind, her jealousy slowly moves out of her head as her pout was replaced by a soft smile.

"more than food?" minji asks, you backed your head a bit and chuckled nervously.

"could that be an exception? my love for you is different from my love for food. forgive me, please?"

"okay well, make sure you always get our new jeans meal " she giggles and finally kisses you so sweetly.

— HANNI

is a pouty baby, gets jealous over small things :( for example, she gets so jealous over you talking to your plant and she had a whole discussion about it 😭 girly be ignoring you the whole time when you're both back at home. earlier, you joined hanni and the members to a small hangout on the park, taking silly pictures of hanni and you. she calls your name but notices you're not by her side anymore, she spots you with danielle, and the two of you admiring the sunset.

— hanni's stare narrows at you and danielle, she stopped talking to minji and left her alone with haerin and hyein. walking towards the both of you a bit, she eavesdrop on you and danielle's conversation.

"i love the sunset today." danielle smiled and put her hands behind ber back. the reason why you joined danielle on watching the sunset is because you noticed she was alone and you like people who has interest for sunsets, you always believed that this girl was a walking sun that brings joy to everyone.

"i do to, it just blends in with the trees in the park." you chuckled, hanni's gaze softened at your statement. she takes a mental note to take you on a sunset gazing date once in a week.

then danielle scoots over to you a bit and lays her head on your shoulder, enjoying the friendly moment. you let her, she's probably tired from all of their shoots. but you silently wished hanni is not behind you...

and, quite the contrary, she's actually right behind you. witnessing all the happenings. she clears her throat to get the attention of the both of you. the sound making minji and haerin walk towards the scenery, while hyein is busy taking new pictures.

"oh- we're just talking about sunsets." you speak after you and danielle turn around.

"yeah, i know. did i ruin the moment?" hanni crosses her arms and eyes you up and down, getting a small giggle from danielle as she backs away from the situation.

"uh oh, y/n unnie is in big trouble." hyein interrupts with a small laugh.

— DANIELLE

it's very rare to see this sunshine get jealous 😭 but if you did something that somehow made her a bit jealous, she'll forgive you if you explain and MUST explain in full details. and i mean it, it's really easy for her to tell if you're lying. and one time you did, it felt like the sun disappeared and nothing lights the whole world up. she just left without telling you and she headed straight to haerin or hanni's room :( you'll probably be so worried that you had to raid everyone else's room to find sweet dani and then you find her on the dorms living room, watching their behind the scenes or their reaction videos on mvs :(

— knock, knock...

"minji-unnie? is dani in there?" you knock on minji's door. she opens the door and smiled apologetically at you.

"she's not, but i'm sure she went by hanni or haerin." minji stepped out of her room and followed you to haerin's room.

"haerin? is dani in there?"

"she's not." haerin shakes her head as she steps out of her room as well.

after knocking on hanni and hyein's room, they all said danielle never went by their rooms. and you're practically sobbing, the girls said comforting words, saying that danielle probably left to go to the park to watch the sunset or get coffee. and you're desperate to find her, thanking the girls and putting your jacket back on, they all gasped, making you turn your head to them.

"dani-unnie!" hyein exclaims as she plops on the sofa next to the girl you've been finding for hours. minji, haerin and hanni joins in, asking danielle why she's been awfully quiet. the girl simply points at you and the girls look at you and shakes their head.

"i didn't mean to..." you weakly said, walking to danielle.

"i'm sorry dani." you say at her, the sunshine is back when she smiled.

— HAERIN

like dani, she's rarely seen jealous. or she does a great job hiding it. either way, you notice that she's, quieter than quiet. and the silence was killing you slowly. she's been on her phone all day, and hardly ever glance at you, and it's making you go crazy! she acts like this when you did something wrong, and you just realized it now! quickly taking action, you act more clingy around her, she's usually the one to but she just looks at you and blinks when your talking. saying sorry for the hundredth time now but she still doesn't speak! there should be a way.

— "haerin, baby, please. i said i'm sorry." you plead, almost kneeling in front of her. she just stares at you as she puts her phone down.

your eyes lit up when she puts her phone down, thinking you're gonna be forgiven soon. but she abruptly stood up and left to get some cookies from the kitchen!

you hurriedly followed her, wrapping your arms around her waist and peppering her face with kisses. repeatedly saying sorry for whatever you did that you don't even know what you did. saying a lot of 'i love you's', she finally budged and turns around and hugs you tight.

"you didn't feed your cat." she quietly says. nuzzling into your chest. what does she mean? oh, right, she was asking to be baby-ied. during lunch earlier, she was asking if she could take a bite of what you're eating, but you didn't answer because you had your earphones on, playing new jeans music repeatedly. after asking for a while now, she stops and pouts at you for not giving her your attention.

"i'm sorry my baby, i was streaming super shy earlier at lunch." you said with a pout while you scratch her head like a cat. and since you're helping new jeans get more streams, she decided to forgive you. feeling a little embarrassed of her silly actions. :(

— HYEIN

she makes sure you know she's jealous 😭 completely different from the other members, she's so loud when she's jealous! yet she doesn't even look sad or angry, but she's tapping furiously on her phone (im cryinggg😭). probably finding someone to talk for the rest of the hour while she's ignoring you. and girly had been talking for hours to herself, but making sure you're hearing all of the things she saying.

— "i've been really hungry this past few minutes, but this one doesn't seem to care." she rolls her eyes over nothing, casually tapping on her phone endlessly.

"i'm ordering something, but no one is gonna get it for me." hyein crosses her arms and tossed her phone on the side, eyeing you.

"is everything okay here?" minji asks as she enters the living room with hanni.

"no, i'm hungry!" hyein whines like a child, so desperate to get your attention, she stands up and stood in front of you.

"get my food. i'm hungry." she orders. you knew what was wrong and why was she acting like that. following, you rush outside the dorm and get the food she ordered.

"here, i'm sorry for what i did, please forgive me hyein." you plead as you hand the food to her, she nodded and patted your head.

"after i eat." hyein disappeared to the kitchen. and that is what will happen if she's jealous for a day. it felt like it was a normal occurrence for now on.

#kpop #new jeans #new jeans x reader #new jeans imagines #minji x reader #hanni x reader #danielle x reader #haerin x reader #hyein x reader #cein's anon requests #cein's new jeans

525 notes · View notes

maleyanderecafe · 7 months

Text

Sweet Dreams (Visual Novel)

Created by: C2PHOS

Genre: Horror

Sweet Dreams is a spin off? Sequel? To Missing. This game pulls the breaking the forth wall when you remove the Key, which angers Cro. If you do interfere, he will kick you out of the game for good so be careful when you play. Still, I think this game is a big improvement to the first in terms of story telling as we get to learn a bit more about Cro and the person that he fell in love with.

The story starts out with Lee on a train. She seems tired, constantly checking on her phone until her mother calls her. Lee's mother seems cold and wants her to get to Bolder Springs(her birth place), with this train being the only way to get there. As much as Lee wants to sleep, she can't due to the loud and love dovey couple just sitting a couple of seats away. Upon trying to leave her seat, she ends up bumping into Cro, who seems familiar. Cro will offer her a drink as an apology for bumping into him, which later extends to the couple as well when they butt in. Cro comes back to offer Lee the drink, and the two start talking. The two talk about why Lee is heading to this city. The couple seems to have disappeared and Lee starts to fall asleep, with Cro coming back to let her sleep on his shoulder. He talks about how different she looks as she's passed out, but how he could still remember what she looks like, promising to never let her go.

Cro can also come close to Lee later, when she nearly passes out, after they have a conversation about why Cro never seems to have left Border Springs despite working on the train. Before leaving, Lee calls out to Cro stating that she'd love to be friends with him while she hangs out in Border Springs, leading to a very flustered Cro. The two pinky promise before he leaves to do something in another section of the car.

The last ending (which is hard to undo) requires going into the game and deleting the "Safety Key" inside of the game files. Upon doing this, Lee will have the option to look around the train and not drinking the drink Cro gives her. Going into the empty car, Cro finds the girl from the couple crying. Eavesdropping, she sees Cro looming over the girl, stating that they had come in at a bad time, and that the girl had seen powder being put into Lee's drink. Cro makes a drink, asking the girl about her opinions on love. Cro talks about how he used to see love as strange, even pointless until he saw someone that he cared for, and how much he was willing to do for them. Cro hands the girl the drink, with hair and her lover's eyeball floating inside of it. He forces her to drink it as Lee runs back in an attempt to call someone. Cro immediately appears next to her calming her down. He turns to the player (you) about how he doesn't appreciate people messing with his story before the game quits out.

Going back to the game, you are greeted with a dark screen and a conversation with Cro. Cro is unhappy that you've changed his story, stating that you decided to make this decision to delete the key. Cro allows you to ask him various questions before kicking the player out again. Attempting to go back in will simply leave you with an empty screen.

I think that it's very nice that we see an expansion of Missing thanks to Sweet Dreams. In Missing, we didn't get a lot of reason to why Cro was so obsessed with the MC's friend much less really any information on him besides that he is a yandere. It's really nice that we were able to get more information on the two. Still, while it is the second game there isn't a whole lot of information on the two (especially Cro)'s past. Of course, this is the second installment out of hopefully more, so it's understandable that we don't have the full picture as of yet.

I was surprised to see that Lee is actually (essentially) a rich kid, considering that her mother seems to be pretty high ranking. I'm not sure if those holographic phones are a style choice or if it's just to show that Lee's family is just that rich. I guess based on her appearance, she doesn't really seem like anything too special considering that she dresses in pretty plain clothing. That being said, besides that and the fact that she isn't the best at conversing with people, there's not too much character for her, so hopefully we get to see more in the future about that.

Cro on the other hand gets a lot more development, especially during the endings where you remove the "Key" that allows Lee to walk around the train. We learn that Cro actually views love in a lot more of a shallow way, believing that it's fruitless, until he actually grows into infatuation himself. From what I can tell, Cro basically never had a crush until he met Lee, which then grew to the yandere levels that it is now. Before, at least from what I remember, Missing doesn't really talk about how he views his love for Lee, only that he is rather calculating and willing to eliminate others for his love. We also know that he does have some awareness over us as the player, as he talks directly to us when we mess with the files, leading us to be kicked out the game permanently, or at least unable to access the original game until it is properly reset. How or if it's relevant that he was able to gain this kind of awareness has yet to be stated, so it's hard to say if this is a skill that Cro has or if it's something that's specific to this game and while it wasn't present in Missing, it's unknown if it will change during the next game that features Cro. Cro, besides his ideals of love, also continues to showcase how he will get rid of anyone who interferes with his love with Lee-even to the extent of kicking the player out.

Overall though, I think it's a fun use of breaking the fourth wall with a yandere. Although the concept has been done a lot, I always find it fun to see how people incorporate it into their games and it's now fun to figure out how to do it via code. If you liked Missing, please try out this game if you are curious about Cro's story.

#Sweet Dreams #male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations #completed #visual novel

149 notes · View notes

peanutpinet · 11 months

Text

Safe with Me - CEO Jung Jaehyun x worker fem reader

A/N: this is basically a journal story of me trying to let out my own anger and frustration that has been happening at work; specifically towards a certain human being :))

To those who are facing a similar struggle, I hope that you are still taking care of yourself first and foremost. And it's okay to be angry because it's just a part of your emotions and who you are

To the quiet ones who feel they don't have a voice, this one is for you

Warnings: toxic working environment, toxic higher-up/supervisor, cursing, strong language, illegal activities, degrading (not in a sexual content)

Summary: you were just a fresh graduate that has finally gotten their first full-time job but as time went on, you slowly realised how toxic the working environment and supervisor are that you started to apply elsewhere but the universe heard your cry and brought you to your personal place of comfort and safety.

[08:14 am] - “Shit, I completely forgot to bring my wallet. Is it possible to just send it to my office?” you heard a man that sounded in his late 20s asked

Looking back at the line that you were just in, you saw a man that looked the way he sounded. Like he was in his mid to late 20s, wearing a white sweater with black suit pants and a coat. His hair was styled down, bangs were framing his face, accenting the strong features of his face like his high cheekbones, sharp jawline and eyebrows.

You didn’t mean to eavesdrop but when the worker said that their system was currently down and not accepting any kind of online purchasement, you somehow headed back and handed some of your remaining cash to the cashier.

“How much for the coffee? I have some spare. Let me pay” you stated, shocking the man that was just about to turn away

“W-wait, you don’t have to pay for my coffee” the man spoke, about to stop you but you handed the cash anyways, paying for the man’s coffee

Now up close, you finally got a closer look at the man’s features. How he was much taller than you were despite he wasn’t wearing any shoes that heightened his height that much and how his features were sharp yet soft at the same time. His eyes were rather filled with uncertainty but you smiled at him and told him that it was fine.

“It’s fine, really. Don’t worry about it. I know some people need their caffeine to get through the day” you smiled back, bowing as you heard your name being called out

“Oh, that’s my order, I’ll be going now. Enjoy your coffee, sir” you replied again and headed to get your own order before sitting down at the cafe, starting your day of job hunting

Though he didn’t get to say his thanks, a smile pop up on Jaehyun’s face when you offered to pay for him. Jaehyun was surprised but pleased to see that there were still people who were genuinely nice and helpful. Though he thought that you must’ve recognized him as one of the top CEO’s in the country, he was shocked at your polite but genuine behaviour.

Smiling, Jaehyun took his coffee but as he did, he managed to catch a glance of you sitting by the corner and on your laptop. Though he isn’t the stalker type of person, Jaehyun wanted to repay you in some way. Jaehyun asked the barista if you were a regular here and they mentioned that you would always come by every morning at around 7.30 am.

Shocked at how you were already at a cafe this early in the morning, Jaehyun asked if the barista knew your name and if you were working or not. Another barista came by and mentioned your name to him whilst telling him that you were working in a beauty company. Thanking the barista, Jaehyun took a candid picture of you before sending it to his trusted IT (ehem, hacker, ehem), Jungwoo to find out more about you.

As for you, after your short encounter with Jaehyun, you went to the small corner of the room to start your day off by applying for jobs. The truth was that even though you currently work a 9-6 and have a somewhat stable income, the workload was getting too much and the pay just doesn’t add up with the workload you have on your plate.

You weren’t one to be snobby and ask for more because you know the privilege of having a job and stable income amidst of the highly competitive industry. But let’s be real, you need money to survive while still being able to save up for the future. So, that’s how you started to apply for new jobs in your 10th month of working for the company.

Once you saw that the clock was reaching 8.30, you knew that it was time for you to head out and go to your office. You went through your day like usual up until around 3 pm when one of your workmates pointed out to check your email. When you all opened each of your work emails, the room was instantly filled with sighs as your ‘useless’ supervisor set a sudden meeting for Friday morning regarding a potential business collaboration with the number one e-commerce of the country, Neo Commerce Tech.

Sighing, you immediately put that meeting in your planners so you wouldn’t forget and start drafting the presentation of the brand that you were managing so that you won’t have to worry later on.

Lucky enough, time passed by faster and it was finally time for you to head back. You bid your workmates goodbye as you went down and into your car. You stopped by at the mall nearby to meet up with your friends and have dinner after not seeing them in several months.

Arriving at the mall, you and your friends promised to meet for some Korean dinner which you went to the restaurant to book a seat first. Whilst waiting for your friends, you decided to scroll through your phone and apply for other potential jobs that interest you. As you were doing so, a familiar deep voice soothes your eardrums.

“Looks like we meet again” the deep voice was welcomed in your ear, making you look up from your phone and met those soft dark brown eyes that you saw this morning

“H-hi. Yes, looks like we meet again” you replied, putting your phone down and was about to stand up to bow at the man but he took his hand out, signalling you that you didn’t have to, making you sit back down

“Job hunting?” the man asked. “Huh? Oh, well, sort of. Was thinking that I need a change of environment” you replied as you motioned the man to sit which he did

“What kind of job are you looking for?” the man asked

“Oh, me? Well, I’m more of a writer kind of person but my current job somewhat forced me to get into marketing so I guess somewhere around there. But honestly, for me, I just want a job where I enjoy, have a decent pay that can provide me more than enough to live for the month whilst still having more to save up but also have a work-life balance because honestly, I don’t feel that with my current job. Even if it was in an industry that I’m quite passionate about” you rambled on

“Is it alright if I ask further on why you don’t have that work-life balance? Or are you waiting for someone?” the man asked, catching you off guard

“W-well, I’m just waiting for my friends but it appears that they’re running late. H-how about you, sir? Are you waiting for someone as well?” you asked

“Jaehyun. You can just call me Jae. You don’t look like you’re that far in age compared to me. And yes, I too am waiting for my colleagues but it looks like they’re running late as well” Jaehyun stated, making your cheeks flush a bit

Right then, you told Jaehyun about your current situation in your company. About how you and your workmates are all currently suffering because of the messed up system at the company that made all of you have to do like 5 people’s jobs but under 1 contract and only 1 person’s payment (#storyofmylife). Hearing your story, Jaehyun was rather pissed at your company for not creating a concrete system first and foremost before moving forward and how they have basically useless supervisors that the juniors had to be independent and have this much of a burden for their level.

“How long is your notice period?” Jaehyun asked, catching you off-guard once more. “S-sorry?! My notice period?” you asked back, making Jaehyun chuckle

“Yes. Your notice period. I might know a job for you that’s more than willing to pay you more” Jaehyun stated, definitely getting your interest

“Well, I’d say 2 months. 1 month for the company and another for myself because in all honesty, my current job really took a toll on my mental health” you admitted, making Jaehyun smile because he adored your honesty

“Alright, give me your number and I’ll let my friend know to hit you up” Jaehyun stated, handing you his phone

Though you were reluctant at first, Jaehyun nudged you. “Trust me, I’m not here to take you into some dark company or anything illegal. I promise. Plus, you don’t have to accept directly. I just want to help you. I mean, I haven’t gotten to repay you from this morning” Jaehyun reassured you

“Oh, you really don’t have to. Anyone with a decent understanding would do the same thing” you replied as you key in your number in Jaehyun’s phone, returning it to him

“Trust me. Not everyone is as kind or caring as you are, peach” Jaehyun complimented as he stood up from his seat. “My colleagues are here. I’ll have my friend contact you again. Have a great dinner” Jaehyun stated, giving you a slight wink before taking is leave right at the same time when your friends finally came

Throughout dinner, you just tried to get your mind off of work and had a catch-up with your friends which was very well-needed. But as it was getting late, you and your friends decided to head back; it didn’t help that you were still living under your parents and still had curfew. You and your friends made your way to the cashier and was about to pay but the staff told you that your table was already paid by the man that was in the VIP room.

Right when you were about to ask who was the man, you saw the staff pointing towards the VIP room and saw Jaehyun coming out with 2 of his colleagues. Jaehyun too saw you and gave you a soft smile that showcased his dimples wide and clear before giving you a slight wave, bidding your stunned self goodbye.

A few days since that day has passed and just as Jaehyun told you, a friend of his called Doyoung had interviewed you the day after you first met Jaehyun. The day after the interview, Doyoung sent you an offer letter regarding the position for the new job along with the contract for you to review first and ask if there was anything that you were unsure of. Along with the documents, Doyoung stated that you don’t have to rush to fill the position so you can have your 2-month notice.

Ecstatic, you texted Jaehyun about the offer from his friend which he congratulated you and reassured you that he only provide some recommendations and he didn’t force his friend to choose you or anything. Jaehyun also suggested that you write and hand in your resignation letter as soon as possible so that you can confirm with Doyoung.

That night, Jaehyun decided to call you to reassure you about the job and answer any questions that he could answer. Plus, Jaehyun was the one to help you write your resignation letter since this is your first time resigning from a full-time job. After much back and forth, you were finally finished with your resignation letter. Seeing the time, you apologised to Jaehyun for keeping him up late.

“No worries, peach. I don’t typically sleep early either. I normally sleep quite late anyways. But I figure that you would want to sleep early since you have work tomorrow” Jaehyun replied, his voice somehow getting deeper after each sentence, calming your nerves since you were going to hand in your resignation letter

“You should still sleep earlier, Jae. But thank you, for helping me find a new job and even write this resignation letter. I’m nervous about tomorrow. Especially since there’s an important meeting and later on I’ll have to hand in my resignation but I dunno, I’m also excited to go on this new journey. Thank you, Jaehyun. Really. I don’t know how to repay you” you replied, laying down, slowly getting sleepy

“You getting out of that shithole is rewarding enough. And knowing that you’ll be working with my friend means I know that you’re in good hands. Also, I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. Until then, take care of yourself. That’s all I ask of you. Good night, peach” Jaehyun replied back softly, ending the call

Eventually, Friday finally rolled around. You were nervous to hand in your resignation but you eventually did it right during lunch so that everyone won’t pay that much attention. When you hand in your resignation, to say your supervisors were surprised was an understatement. Their reactions appeared as if they did not expect you to resign when nearing your 1st year in the company.

Despite handing in your resignation and even telling them about getting an offer letter, your supervisors were not willing to proceed with it and insist that you stay for another 6 months at the very least. Not wanting to debate any further, your supervisors mentioned about the meeting that you all had and said that they’ll talk about this situation further after the meeting is over.

Sighing, you have no other choice but to agree. You and your workmates then grabbed your things and headed for the meeting room. Seating down, you all talked amongst yourselves; some of your friends asked you how handing your resignation went. Before you could answer your friends, the door to the meeting room opened and well, shock might as well be the most overused word in your dictionary because the man that walked through the door was Jaehyun along with 2 of his friends.

The 3 of them then sat down with Jaehyun literally right across from where you were seated. Nervous, you decided to avoid Jaehyun’s gaze since you could feel him watching your every movement. Luckily enough, your supervisors saved you from any sort of embarrassment and started the meeting.

Your supervisors started the meeting by opening up about the company as a whole before letting each of you and your workmates continue presenting the brands that each of you was managing. As you were all done presenting, Jaehyun and his two friends just sigh; indicating that they were either bored or fairly not interested. The atmosphere was tense until Jaehyun was the one that speak up.

“Thank you for the presentation. If you may, send my team your presentation and I’ll personally review it before making my final decision” Jaehyun spoke up

“Of course. I’ll share the file with you as soon as…” your male supervisor spoke up but Jaehyun cuts him off

“I meant the brand managers. I’d like to review each of their presentations. You can just send me the key points that you presented” Jaehyun stated, making the rest of us snicker but we did as we were told; especially when one of Jaehyun’s colleagues, Jungwoo, told us the email we should send our presentations to

After you’ve all sent your presentations, Jaehyun concluded that the meeting was over but he had to talk with the higher-ups so he allowed the rest of us to be excused. One by one, my workmates tidied their things and excused themselves; not forgetting to thank Jaehyun and the others for coming.

As you were about to leave, Jaehyun called your name. Shocking you but more so your supervisors because they were wondering why Jaehyun called you specifically but not your other workmates as well.

“Y-yes?” you stuttered, turning around and finally meeting Jaehyun’s own gaze that was softer compared to during the entirety of the meeting

“Sit down. I think there are things we need to discuss, don’t we?” Jaehyun stated, patting the seat next to him as you compiled and sat back down, this time next to him

“Have you handed in your resignation?” Jaehyun asked bluntly, making your eyeballs bulge while your supervisors look between you and Jaehyun

“J-jaehyun, w-what are you doing? Why are you asking this now and here of all places?” you whispered to him while Jaehyun just smiled and look at your supervisors, his stern gaze was back

“Did you receive her resignation?” Jaehyun asked your supervisors, neglecting what you just whispered to him

“H-how did you know? Since did you both know each other?” your supervisor questioned back, avoiding the question Jaehyun pointed out

“I know because it was me that helped her write that letter since she had already been accepted under my company” Jaehyun pointed out bluntly, making your heart just drop down to your stomach

“J-jaehyun!” you exclaimed, grabbing Jaehyun’s arm that diverted everyone’s attention

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about it, peach. But I assure you that you got the job with your own skills and abilities” Jaehyun reassured you, taking your hand and holding it in his

“She got the job with her skill or charmed her way with you that she got the job?” one of your supervisors’ pointed out

“I think I should be the one questioning you about that since judging from your presentation, you barely could present it. Not to mention that I’m willing to bet that you don’t even know the brands that well. Also, the fact that your brand managers are doing 5 other people’s job but you only pay them the bare minimum? Not even the bare minimum. You pay them slightly under the minimum wage because their wage is still gross and you cut it to pay their taxes when they should receive a net wage” Jaehyun scoffed, his tone was mocking your supervisor

“If anything, you’re the one that should be questioned on how you got your position considering that you have no background nor interest in the beauty industry. Your English is very much rubbish for someone who claims that they've worked in Australia. You don’t even have any background in retail at all. You graduated with a design degree which doesn’t really justify your lack of design taste or how you layout your presentation. So, how is it that someone with those sets of skills becomes a manager for a beauty company?” Jaehyun stated, shocking you with all the information he found regarding your supervisor

“At least I have the experience. What about her? You’ve never worked with her so how are you able to recommend her for your company? The only thing possible is her charming you or even…” your supervisor scoffed but Jaehyun stopped him from talking any further

“If you dare to continue your sentence, I might actually do something that might cause you more than just your career” Jaehyun threatened

“Jae…He’s still technically my supervisor” you whispered again

“Some shitty supervisor he is, that’s for sure. Sorry, I got lost track. As I was saying. You’ve all received her resignation letter, right? If you haven’t, then you’re pretending to not know” Jaehyun stated. Hearing his statement, you instantly tugged his hand, somewhat pulling his senses back

“What I’m trying to say is. Regardless of your rule that she has to provide you with a one-month notice so that you would have time to find a new replacement. I, however, am not fond of the idea that you now know that I know her during her last month. So, I’m here to give you some options. Option number 1, she still does her final month with you but completely online. Meaning, she is not obligated to go into the office and if you were to need to meet her, I’d suggest you to meet her outside of the office. Or, option number 2, you let her go immediately and I’ll gladly pay the compensation for her sudden departure” Jaehyun mentioned casually, surprising both you and your supervisors

“Hey, (Y/N). Do you really think that his company will be better compared to us? Why don’t you think about it for a second? Don’t you like this industry? And didn’t you learn so much in a short period of time?” your supervisor taunted, annoying you for the nth time throughout your almost first year

“For the first time in my almost one year here, I’d have to agree. Sure, companies out there might not be better or some might be just the same. But one thing for sure, at least when I jump companies, they’re willing to pay me more rather than being ‘loyal’ to this company that doesn’t even compensate when we work overtime on a workday” you started, your tone clearly annoyed. “Oh, and yes, I did learn quite a lot. I learn that having a skillless, cheap, highly ego supervisor is the same as not having a supervisor at all. But hey, at least I learn so many more skills, right?” you taunted back, making Jaehyun and his friends chuckle

“To answer your question, Mr Jeong, we’ll go with the first option. Her sudden departure will create sudden chaos so we will need her to complete one more month while we find her replacement” your boss replied

“B-but, sir?!” your supervisor was going to argue. “Enough. What Mr Jeong said wasn’t entirely wrong. You weren’t so much of a supervisor to the juniors that they had to be independent to do their job. Even your job, I wouldn’t consider it reaching my expectations” your boss replied back

“Good. I’m glad to know that you’re more considerate than your subordinate. Oh and, the least you could do is pay her fully for the next month. Consider it compensation for all that she has done by managing 2-3 of your brands. Then I might consider the proposal” Jaehyun replied back, nudging you to stand

“If there is nothing more that you would want to discuss with me or (y/n), I’ll be borrowing (y/n) for the rest of the day” Jaehyun added on and your boss allowed Jaehyun to take you with him

Because Jaehyun was waiting for you, you had to pack up quickly without being able to update your workmates much about your sudden departure during the midday of work. As you were heading out, you accidentally bumped into your salty supervisor who was moreover still salty about what just happened.

“And here I thought that you were the quiet and reserved kind of person that just moves on with your own life. Who knew that you turned out to be such a whore when you’re outside of the office. Charming handsome rich men into helping you with whatever it is you want or need” your supervisor commented, triggering you with the harsh comment

“You know, I pity you. You think so highly of yourself when in fact you’re nothing but just a highly egocentric person that takes credit from everyone that did the work. You can say whatever you want about me or someone else but it doesn’t change the fact on who you are as a person. How sad and pathetic you’re living your life always degrading others. Maybe that’s why you’re so short” you commented back, letting out the frustration and anger that have been building up for a long time

Before your supervisor could say or do anything, Jaehyun came up to see what was taking you long and when he saw your supervisor again, Jaehyun made a mental note to himself to ask Johnny to find your supervisor later on. “I thought there wasn’t anything else that you were going to discuss with (y/n)?” Jaehyun asked, raising his eyebrow as he got closer to the two of you

“Just some last discussion about her final month and what should she prioritize more” your supervisor countered but Jaehyun was much taller and hovering over him

“You can email her about that. (Y/N), we should be going soon. I have another meeting with another beauty company and I’d like you to be there with me and let me in on your thoughts since you’ll be our brand executive” Jaehyun stated, lacing your fingers with him, softly pulling you away from your supervisor

“Yes, of course. We should hurry and go now. Goodbye, sir. Do email me regarding your concerns for my final month. If you have any, that is” you replied, not even batting an eye at your supervisor as both you and Jaehyun left your supervisor and the office into his car

In front of his car, Jaehyun being the gentleman he is, opened the door and ensured you go into the room first which you did and Jaehyun quickly followed in and sat right next to you. Neither of you spoke a word until the car was out of your office’s area.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about my job or even my position. Or the fact that I was the CEO that you and your team would be meeting today. I wanted to know more about you and your work by myself. I also wanted to know if your supervisor was truly what you told me about. I did my own research about him and that’s why I was even more frustrated with the way he presented. As if he was the one that know it all when in fact, he can’t speak to save that presentation or himself. But I’m not sorry that I say all those things about him cause he fucking deserved to be put in his place” Jaehyun stated, letting out a big sigh

“I feel a bit betrayed that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me more about you but I can get your perspective and I respect it. But I was more so scared about how my supervisors will perceive me when they know that you and I know each other. But hey, at least because of this, I managed to speak up. But still, a heads up would be nice, you know” you argued, puffing up your cheeks, making Jaehyun chuckle

“I’m sorry, alright? I’ll make sure to give you a heads-up next time. But then again, you’ll be working under me very soon and I trust that you’ll be able to do your job well so I don’t think I need to give you a heads-up anymore. You’ll be stuck with me 24/7 anyways” Jaehyun replied, grabbing your hands in his

“Bold of you to assume that I would want to work 24/7” you scoffed, wanting to pull away but Jaehyun gripped your hand tighter

“Unlike those heartless higher-ups, I pay my staff whenever they work overtime. Of course, if they need to work overtime. Otherwise, I would make sure that everyone goes home exactly on time. Everyone has a life outside of work. You including. But I would also pay you more just to spend time with me” Jaehyun bluntly stated, making your cheeks heat up

“Do you do this with all your staff because if so, I’m not interested. I’m not a money digger” you scoffed, pulling away with much more force but instead, Jaehyun yanked you so that you nearly fell but he instantly caught you and made you sit on his lap

“What I meant to say was if you would do me the honour of going out on a date with me because you’re a special girl, peach. I won’t lie. You intrigue me so much that I want to get to know you so much more because if I don’t then someone else will do it first and I don’t want that. You’re too precious and deserve so much more. Deserve to be treated with the utmost respect. I promise you that even though I make mistakes as well, you’re safe with me and that I will treat you with the respect and love you deserve. Give me a chance, peach?” Jaehyun pleaded, almost begging since his eyes were much softer

“Alright. Stop with those soft eyes. You look like you’re going to cry at any moment. Just promise me that you would communicate with me for anything. Work, family or even your feelings. And just respect my space whenever I need it” you requested, making Jaehyun smile again, his dimples also giving the illusion that its smiling

“I will. As long as you communicate with me too. And while you’re working under my company, you’re not working directly under me so we won’t really clash with each other. But if there’s anything, just let me know alright? Also, we’re going on that date right now. I was just joking about having a sudden meeting just as an excuse for your useless supervisor which reminds me. What did he do or say to you?” Jaehyun asked, his hand finding their way on your waist

“Nothing that important. Don’t worry, he didn’t do anything. Promise. Don’t waste your time on someone that is a nuisance and only becoming a burden for others” you reassured him, rubbing his shoulders to lose some tension

“If you say so, peach. I’ll try not to think about it. But I’m serious. If any of your supervisors or higher-ups text, email, communicate or threaten you in any sort of way, let me know. I don’t want you to have to think about them anymore” Jaehyun reminded, making you smile and pecked his cheek

“I will. Don’t worry about it. Thank you, Jae. Really” you replied and for the first time in your life, you finally found comfort and safety

Bonus Part - Jaehyun’s POV

After that day, (y/n) has been finishing her work at her previous company before taking a one-month break then working at my company. Ever since that day, I’ve also been keeping a close eye on her supervisors and higher-up to make sure that they wouldn’t cross the line that we’ve already agreed.

But of course, that idiotic, useless supervisor had to test my patience again because he has been nothing but a toxic root in that company. Still pestering (y/n) regarding her job and always so persistent but all his talks make no sense and he’s just making an embarrassment for himself.

Well, no matter. After I’m done with him, there might be more sense in him. And if he still hasn’t gotten any sense then might as well just sell his organs to others that need it more compared to him because for sure all he does is talk pointless things with no call to action.

“Jeong Jaehyun. Care to explain why you rented a wholeass abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere?” Taeyong exclaimed, barging into my office

“Relax. I just need a quiet place to let out my anger and frustration” I bluntly stated, signing the last of the documents that I needed to sign

“Yo, Jae, I got the guy already. He’s right by the waiting room and getting some snacks” Yuta stated bluntly

“Guy? What guy? Jaehyun…what did you do?” Taeyong questioned

“Nothing much. Like I said. Just wanted to let out my anger and frustration. The documents for the collaboration with NCT are already done on my table. Let me know if there is anything else. Now, if you excuse me, I have other business to attend” I stated, patting Taeyong’s shoulder as I walked past him

“Mr. Jeong. Hello. I guess you want collaborate? We discuss further?” (y/n)’s supervisor stated

“Yes, I’d like to discuss further but elsewhere. You wouldn’t want your boss to know that you’re going behind his back and coming here on your own, now would you?” I replied, showcasing my annoyed smile as I directed him outside and into the car

Throughout the car ride, (y/n)’s supervisor just babbled all the way, making everyone’s head hurts throughout the entire ride that Yuta eventually had to shut him up by headlocking his head, cutting the airflow and eventually making him pass out.

“Well, that’s one way to shut him up” Johnny snickered while eye-roll

Arriving at the abandoned factory, Yuta immediately took the idiotic supervisor and chained him on the chair while Johnny prepared all the toys we were going to play with while I took off my suit and changed into my leather jacket right as that useless man finally woke up and of course, he just started to complain.

“W-what the hell?! You can’t do this?! I call the police” the brainless man stated while the rest of us just chuckled

“I’d like to see you try. Let’s be real. You’re nothing if you didn’t have connections to your current boss. You’re just a walking highly egocentric man. No wonder you’re so short since you have a very high ego. Oh well. Even if you were gone from that company, I doubt anyone would miss you” I stated, contemplating between using a scalpel to skin him alive or a bat to beat some senses into him

“She’s probably just using you. She always seems like a seeking attention whore” he mentioned, making me stab the scalpel right on his thigh. “I thought I’ve warned you before. If you finished your sentence, I’d do something that would cause more than your career” I threatened, leaving the blade in his thigh and I went to grab another one

Circling around like a prey towards their predator, a smirk formed on my lips as I saw how his body was starting to shake whenever I asked him any information regarding the brands his juniors were handling. Because, with every wrong answer, I would lightly scar any parts of his body with the new clean blade as if my blade was the canvas while his body and blood were the paint. Clearly, his body was trembling at this point since he had all the wrong answers. Well, it wasn’t until I placed the blade under his chin while yanking his hair back did I stop the scaring.

“Had enough?” I asked but all that came out of his mouth is just whimpers. Music to my ears.

“Well. Don’t worry. I only have one more thing that I want to carve. And once I’m finished. Maybe then we’ll finally have some progress. Let’s see how well you’ll behave without that big pointless mouth of yours” I smirked, scoring my blade from the end of his side jaw, over his mouth and towards the other end

A/N: again, to those who are struggling, please take care of yourself first because your health (be it physical or mental) are more important than any work. And if you feel you're being pushed to work OT, don't (unless they pay you). Remember that you have a life outside of your work and also, loyalty to a company gets you nowhere :)) stay safe and happy xoxo vinet

254 notes · View notes

the-badger-mole · 1 year

Text

If It's Not Too Late

"I don't want to be pressured into this." Katara paused outside of Zuko's office when she heard her friend's frustrated tone.

"Don't be silly, Nephew," Iroh chided. "There's no pressure. It's just one evening."

"Right," Zuko scoffed. "One evening to start with. And then the other advisors and nobles hears about it, and then soon they all want just one evening."

"And why should that be a bad thing?" Iroh chortled. "If I was a younger man, I'd be thrilled to be in your position."

"No one's stopping you now. You take my place."

"I would be disappointing a lot of lovely young ladies if I did that." Katara scrunched her nose at that. Young ladies?

"I don't care!" Katara could almost picture Zuko throwing his hands up in frustration. "I'm not going to be paraded around like some...some side of bison-cow."

"Don't think of it that way," Iroh said, trying to calm his nephew. "After all, it's healthy for a young man to have a robust dating life. And if none of these young women turn out to be your future Fire Lady, well...at least you'll have a few pleasant evenings." Katara raised her hand to knock on the door, and the conversation on the other side came to a halt.

"Come in," Zuko called. Katara poked her head in, smiling brightly and pretending she hadn't been eavesdropping.

"Hey, I'm done cataloging for today," she told the two men. "I spoke to Kuoromi about getting some of the bigger items loaded into crates."

"That's wonderful!" Iroh said. "I'm so glad to see so many recovered Southern Tribe artifacts being returned to their rightful home."

"There's so much more than I thought," Katara said. She crossed the room and sat down in Zuko's abandoned chair. She was one of very few people who would have dared claim the Fire Lord's seat, and she threw her legs over the

armrest and leaned her head against the back. "I'm sending back a whole ship-full of stuff, but there's still so much more to sort and catalogue. I may need a few more weeks."

"Take as long as you need," Zuko said waving carelessly. "I like having you around."

"Yeah, well.." Katara cleared her throat and fiddled with the end of her hair. "I like being around. Also," she perked up excitedly. "I found a scroll of Southern style bending!"

"Congratulations!" Zuko said with genuine happiness for her. "I think this calls for a sparring session."

"Give me a couple of days to work out the new stances and you're on," Katara grinned at Zuko.

"I look forward to seeing what you've learned," Iroh said, encouragingly. "Also, I'm glad you're here. I was just trying to talk the Fire Lord into accepting an invitation from a lovely young lady who's interested in him." Katara froze with a smile still on her face.

"O-oh!" she managed to squeak out. "Um...I'm not sure what I can add here. No one's ever accused me of being a wing-woman." She managed to force out an odd, stilted laugh. "I-is there a reason you don't want to go?"

"I don't know her," Zuko said with a huff. "I've seen her maybe twice. I'm pretty sure her parents put her up to it in the first place. I'm not interested in going out with these women who only see me as a way to elevate their family's social standing."

"But, Nephew, if you refuse every girl who asks you on a date, how will you ever get to know any of them?" Iroh countered. "Perhaps you are right, and her parents did encourage her to invite you do dinner, but does it necessarily mean that there is no chance of a deeper connection between you? Master Katara, please, tell him that dating is just a natural part of finding your life partner." Katara could feel her cheeks heat up and she sputtered a bit.

"Well...well...if he doesn't want to go," she said hesitantly. "Maybe he shouldn't. After all, Zuko has the social inclination of recluse spider crab."

"Thanks," Zuko said drily.

"I'm just saying that maybe this isn't the best approach to dating for you," Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm agreeing with you!"

"By making me sound like some anti-social hermit!"

"You said that," Katara sniffed primly. "Not me. Besides, didn't you just break up with Mai? It's not the best idea to jump from relationship to relationship." Iroh cleared his throat to cut in.

"Actually, it's been just over a year since Zuko and Mai broke up," he reminded Katara. "I know one can't rush the healing process, but that seems like a respectable length of time to wait to start dating again. Don't you agree?"

"I-I guess," Katara said hesitantly. After all, it had been almost two years since she'd come to her senses and broke up with Aang, and she had dated casually since. Still, casual dating didn't suit her as much as she thought it would, and it would suit Zuko even less in her opinion. Iroh and Zuko were looking at her expectantly, though. Finally, she shrugged and gave the weak offering of, "It's always good to try new things?"

"Whatever." Zuko rolled his eyes and left the office in a huff.

"Please think about it, at least!" Iroh managed to call after Zuko before the door was unceremoniously shut.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It took Katara a couple of days between sorting an cataloging Water Tribe artifacts to learn the firsts few Southern style waterbending stances well enough to feel comfortable sparring. Zuko won that session, but Katara had already figured out how to improve her stances.

"Next time, I'm going to wipe the floor with you," she promised Zuko.

"You're on," Zuko said, shooting her a cocky smirk. Katara inhaled sharply and looked away.

"Um...yeah," she said, trying to cover up how awkward she suddenly felt. "Well, how about two days from now? I have meetings all morning tomorrow, and all afternoon is going to be more cataloging."

"I can't." Zuko glanced at her apologetically, and Katara thought she saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks. "I-I have date."

"...what?" Katara felt as if she'd just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped over her head. She plastered a wide smile on as Zuko shifted nervously on his feet.

"Uncle talked me into accepting that invite Lord Ueto's daughter gave me," he explained. "And, well, I guess you two. It's always good to try new things, right?"

"I-I sure did say that, didn't I?" Katara busied herself with a towel and turned her focus to cleaning the sweat off of her arms and shoulders. "Do I know the lucky girl?"

"Lucky," Zuko scoffed. "Sure. And I think you might have met her briefly at the midsummer banquet, but there were a lot of people there. You might not remember. Her name is Sayaka." The name didn't ring any bells with Katara, but she had met a lot of nobles that evening. Each of them prettier than the last. Katara hadn't missed the way everyone in court seemed to eager to introduce Zuko to a daughter, or a niece, or a younger sister that night. It had taken claiming him for a couple of dances for Katara to even have a chance to talk to her friend. He hadn't seemed very interested in any particular girl that evening, but Sayaka, it seemed, hadn't been discouraged by that.

"So, when are you seeing her?" Katara asked.

"In two days," Zuko said almost laughing. "Remember? That's why I have to postpone our rematch."

"Right," Katara ducked her head, hoping Zuko would mistake the sudden redness in her cheeks for exertion. "What's the plan?"

"I thought since she asked me, I'd let her decide," Zuko said. "I think the basic plan is dinner and a play, though. Her family has a box at the Taira Theater."

"That's a little basic, isn't it?" Katara laughed a little.

"I like the theater," Zuko said with a shrug. "Why? What do you like to do on a first date?"

"Something where we can talk," Katara told him. Then she hurried to add, "Me and my date, that is. I like dinner, maybe dancing, if the music isn't too loud. This guy I saw for a bit back home took me on a picnic to see the spirit lights."

"A picnic on ice?" Zuko raised his brow skeptically.

"It was fun!" Katara insisted. Then she paused for a moment. "Well...it would have been fun if he had talked about literally anything but himself and his hunting skills." Zuko let out a bark of laughter.

"That's something I'll keep in mind," he promised. "I hate talking about myself anyway. Any other tips?"

"Tips?"

"It's my first date since Mai," Zuko admitted sheepishly. "I haven't been on a first date in at least five years. Got any advice?" Katara's mind went blank. She was the go to for nearly all of her friends for advice, and she was rarely at a loss for words, but now her mind was blank.

"I-I don't know," she said. "Just...just be your self, I guess?"

"Myself?" Zuko groaned. "No one wants that."

"Why not? She asked you out, didn't she? She must have liked you."

"Or maybe she just liked my crown."

"Zuko," Katara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course she asked you out because she likes you." Zuko snorted. "Okay, maybe the fact that you're the Fire Lord had a bit to do with it, but..."

"But?" Zuko prompted.

"Ugh!" Katara threw her head back in exasperation. "There's a lot to like about you! You're smart, you're compassionate, you're a great dancer. Sometimes you're funny. On purpose, even! Just because she might also like that you're the Fire Lord doesn't mean she only likes that you're the Fire Lord." When Katara finished her speech, she found Zuko gaping at her, and immediately the blush was back on her cheeks.

"Sometimes I'm funny?" he repeated after a moment. Katara grinned at him cheekily and sauntered off, leaving Zuko protesting after her.

There was no protocol for taking the Fire Lord on a date. Katara realized after the fact that that must be the reason no one else had dared to ask Zuko out. And as he didn't seem very inclined to approach any woman for a date, it was no wonder that he'd had such a long dry spell after ending things with Mai for good. Still, Sayaka had done what no other had dared to do and made a move on Fire Lord Zuko. Now Katara sat and watched his last minute preparations as he waited for Sayaka to arrive. He was nervous, she could tell.

"The cologne is too much," he muttered mostly to his reflection. Katara thought he smelled nice. In her mind she could see Sayaka leaning into whisper something to Zuko, and lingering to get a whiff of it.

"Maybe you could've gone a bit lighter," she said. Zuko hadn't heard her.

"What did you say?"

"It's fine," Katara said in a louder voice. "It smells good on you. And you look fine. Your hair is fine, your clothes are fine..." And they were. The gold embroidery in the dark red linen shirt played up Zuko's sunkissed skin. He'd let his ear-length dark hair fall messily into his eyes in a way that seemed calculated to invite anyone to push it away from his honey brown eyes. Overall he looked both casual and appropriate for an evening at the theater.

"Just fine?" Zuko frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

"Absolutely fine," Katara repeated with a wistful smile. "Sayaka won't know what hit her." For the next few minutes, Katara did her best to keep Zuko from fussing at his appearance, until she was relieved of duty by the arrival of Iroh to announce that Sayaka had arrived and Zuko's carriage and guard were ready to carry them off on their date. Iroh made himself scarce after the announcement, but Katara decided to walk Zuko down to the main hall.

Sayaka was gorgeous. She was tall and willowy with the same kind of delicate features that had made Mai so attractive, but Sayaka was much more effervescent than Zuko's ex had been. She smiled, bright and friendly, when she saw Zuko. Katara's steps faltered and she let Zuko go on the rest of the way without her.

"Hi, Sayaka," Zuko greeted her. "It's nice to see you."

"Same!" Sayaka said with an enthusiasm that Katara couldn't find any hint of artifice in. She even flashed a friendly smile at Katara, though it was just now occurring to the young waterbender how weird it was for her to walk Zuko out to meet his date.

"I'm just heading to the garden," Katara said by way of explaining her presence to Zuko's date. Zuko shot her a quick questioning glance (Katara rarely went to the public garden), but Sayaka didn't seem to notice.

"I'm glad I got the chance to meet you!" Sayaka said with charming sincerity. "I know how close you and the Fire Lord are, and I was hoping to meet at least one of his friends."

"You can call me Zuko," he said. "It might be awkward to call me Fire Lord all evening." Sayaka agreed with a musical laugh. Katara bit down hard on the inside of her lips. Zuko offered Sayaka his arm and escorted her out to the waiting carriage. Katara watched them leave with her fists clenched at her sides. As they left, Katara took several deep breaths and tried to convince herself that the twisting in her stomach was normal.

Katara didn't go to the garden. After Zuko and Sayaka were gone, she headed back upstairs to Zuko's office. No one stopped her, having been warned that she was to have access to any room in the palace she pleased. Normally Katara wouldn't have gone into Zuko's office without his permission, regardless, but tonight she felt drawn there. His seat smelled like him. There was a hint of the same scent he was wearing that evening, and something that was a bit more...him.

There was no reason for Katara to be so bothered about him going out with Sayaka that evening. After all, she knew that part of his job as Fire Lord was to find a wife and have a family to lead the next generation of the Fire Nation. Still, he was only 21 years old. What was the hurry to marry him off? At the very least, Katara hoped that Zuko wouldn't feel pressured to make a choice about Sayaka after one date. She seemed nice enough, but she wasn't a good fit Zuko. That much was clear to Katara almost immediately. Sayaka seemed like someone who liked obvious jokes. She wouldn't understand Zuko's dry wit and sarcastic, sometimes dark humor. Katara could see Zuko trying to make a joke and it landing poorly. Sayaka seemed kind enough to force a chuckle, but Zuko would inevitably notice, and would feel self-conscious about it for the rest of the night. Katara would have to sooth his anxiety later. In the privacy of his chambers, of course, to keep away from prying eyes and ears eager to know all about the Fire Lord's love life. They would talk over tea...or maybe wine. Wine made Katara feel bolder.

She sat up and shook her head. There was no reason for Katara to need to feel bold. There was no reason for her to even believe that the date would go poorly. Zuko could just as well impress Sayaka. It was clear she was very open to being impressed. She might laugh just hard enough at his jokes. Make just enough compliments to his looks, his intelligence, his unique wit to make Zuko open up to the possibility of finding her every bit as attractive as she found him. And then what would that mean for...well...for his friends? Sayaka wouldn't want her...wouldn't want them around much, would she? And even if Sayaka didn't mind Katara's presence, between family planning and running a country, Zuko wouldn't have much time for her...for his friends anymore.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The sound of low voices brought Katara out of her sleep. It took her a few moments to realize that she was still sitting in Zuko's office. A quick glance at the clock told her it was late. Very late. Too late to still be hanging around in Zuko's office. Katara crept to the door and pressed her ear to it. Zuko was just outside, back from his date. Katara glanced at the clock again and frowned. How long did dinner and a show take, anyway? The sound of Iroh's voice pulled Katara back.

"I'm glad you had a good time," Iroh said. "Will there be a second date?" There was a long pause and Katara held her breath as she waited for Zuko's reply.

"I don't know," he said at last. "Maybe. She was really nice. I didn't end up eating much at dinner, though. I was too nervous. And I'm kind of tired."

"Then by all means don't let me keep you up," Iroh chuckled. "You can tell me all the details tomorrow. Perhaps you should send to the kitchen for a snack."

"I may," Zuko said. "I have to decide if I'm more tired or hungry."

"Good night, then, my nephew."

"Good night, Uncle."

Katara waited several more minutes until she was certain that both men were far enough away that she could slip out of the office unnoticed. She hurried towards her room before she halted abruptly, and glanced towards Zuko's rooms. Then she went back in the direction she'd come from, and hurried downstairs.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Zuko was not a night person. The chances were not low that he was already in bed when Katara crept up to his door, fifteen minutes later. Still, she took a deep breath and knocked lightly at his door. Then she waited.

After a few nerve wracking moments, the door swung open to reveal Zuko in his pajamas, looking unsurprisingly ready for bed. His eyes widened when he saw Katara . He glanced up and down the hall, instinctively looking for a threat. Then his eyes landed back on her, his brow drawn in concern.

"I couldn't sleep," Katara explained. "It's a nice night, and I thought I'd go to the roof and look at the stars for a while. You....you want to join me?" Zuko stared at her in stunned silence. Katara knew she must be blushing fiercely, but she managed a welcoming smile as she held up a small basket of snacks she'd gotten from the kitchen. Her heart hammered in her chest as she waited for Zuko to tell her he was too tired, to offer to tell her all about his date when he told his uncle. But then Zuko's mouth tilted up into a lopsided smile.

"Alright," he said, at last. He stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him, and when Katara slid her hand into his, he said nothing, but wrapped his hand around hers. Despite hinting to Iroh that he was tired, Zuko found enough energy to sit on the roof with Katara until the sun began to rise.

Part 2

#atla #zutara #fanfic #i've done jealous zuko #i figured it was katara's turn #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

276 notes · View notes

next-autopsy · 5 months

Text

A/N: Well, hi there! I hope you like the confession twist in this chapter! Please lmk what you think!

Based on the actors portrayal/hbo show and written with no disrespect to the real life veterans. Also all images found on Pinterest.

TW: None? Dm me if I need to add anything here...

Tags: @malarkgirlypop, @panzershrike-pretz

Made of Glass

Chapter sixteen: A Hangover and a Confession

The building Easy company was celebrating in, roared to life with chatter and music. Light seeped out from every window, illuminating Joe’s surroundings enough that he could see a few feet in front of him.

After walking back from the women's barracks alone and in silence, Joe looked up to the stars once more. He usually didn’t stop and take the time to stare so intently at something so trivial but Bernadette’s amazement in the inky black sky filled with twinkling lights had ignited something in him.

As he gazed upwards trying to recall where she had pointed out that belt, he found himself distracted, only able to picture her face, the sweet smile she sent him, her round eyes and the musical lilt of her laugh.

A particularly loud bout of cheers broke Joe from his stargazing. He didn’t want to go back into the party, but what else was he going to do? Return to his barracks and sleep? No way, not while beer was flowing and cigarettes needed smoking. Sobel very rarely allowed merriment and fun so Joe would take the chance to do so while he could. The idea of walking back and finding Birdie for some conversation or another stargazing lesson popped into his head, instead Joe swung open the door and walked into the celebration.

Immediately his attention was pulled to a boisterous group of men he called friends, they each had a drink in their hands and were enthralled by the gripping chit-chats they exchanged. He smiled and grabbed a drink for himself before joining them, pushing aside his thoughts of the girl from Mississippi.

Not even a full minute later and he had heard her name.

Across the table, Malark had spoken of her and Joe’s ears instinctively perked up. The redhead was talking to Sergeant Lipton worriedly, he was sharing his concern for the girl. Apparently she had promised to ask Lipton for an escort to her barracks and now the man thought she was missing, as Lipton said he hadn’t seen her for at least an hour.

Before Don could panic too much, Joe butted in, “I walked her back.” He spoke the words so casually that both Don and Carwood second guessed themselves. Had they heard him correctly?

“You?” Donald pointed at Liebgott, double checking the meaning of his shocking words. Joe nodded as he sipped his beer, suspiciously nonchalant. Lip and Malarkey shared a look, eyes widening at the implication.

“And she’s….” Carwood began, fading out as he couldn’t find the words to finish his thought.

“Alive?” Don called out brashly, shrugging when Lipton threw him a disapproving look. That wasn’t exactly what he meant but it was close enough. Both men turned to Liebgott, curious about his response.

“She’s fine.” The San Fran man shot them both a strange look, tilting his head slightly. Did they really think he would hurt her? “She was drunk.” Don laughed and Lipton rolled his eyes and muttered, “She only had one drink.”

Now it was Don and Joe’s turn to give each other knowing looks, they had both seen her sneaking alcoholic beverages all night, unbeknownst to Carwood. He caught on quick to the unspoken insinuation and gave an exasperated sigh, of course she had more than one drink.

Carwood strolled away, leaving Liebgott to chug the remains of his drink in an attempt to keep the woman out of his mind, which was easier said than done. The entire rest of the night he kept tuning in to any conversation that mentioned her. Every time he caught himself eavesdropping he skulled whatever was left in his glass immediately and stomped off to get another drink.That night was, without a doubt, the drunkest Joe had ever been in his life.

The next morning was a nightmare. Joe was so used to waking up at the crack of dawn, that his body did this for him automatically. He wanted to pull the blankets over his head and curl into a ball but that wouldn’t help now that Joe was awake and he highly doubted he’d be able to get back to sleep. He lay on his cot listening to the men in his shared barracks snoring away, peacefully unaware of his torture. Every snort felt like it was getting louder, splitting Lieb’s skull, so eventually he got up, unable to endure it any longer.

Luckily, Easy was given the day off to recover from the previous night, which meant no early morning exercises or dull lectures to sit through. Liebgott changed into his OD’s and made his way to the mess hall, some coffee would do him good and knowing what shenanigans his friends got up to the previous night, he suspected not many would be there, that equalled silence.

He was right, of course. Most of the easy company men were sleeping off the night of drinking and the ones who were here, sat quietly most likely nursing throbbing heads and queasy stomachs.

Joe headed straight for the caffeinated drink, poured himself straight black coffee, no sugar and sat down to sip away at it. As he sat there, inhaling the strands of steam rising out of his cup, a melodic voice infiltrated his ears.

Bernadette’s tawny brown hair came into his view, followed by Bull’s large frame, the two walking side by side looked funny. Birdie seemed shorter than usual and Bull looked like a giant next to her.

The pair of southerners found seating next to each other and chatted happily, at one point Birdie playfully slapped a hand onto Bull’s shoulder while laughing. Joe narrowed his eyes, what could Bull being saying this early in the morning that warranted that reaction from her. Surely he wasn’t that funny at 0600.

Liebgott turned his attention away from them, trying to ignore their endless communication. Every time they shared giggles, he shrunk closer to his cup of coffee, glowering at their joyful mood.

After what felt like hours to Joe, but was really only ten minutes, Bull excused himself and left the mess hall. Birdie glanced around at the other inhabitants of the room and her eyes fell on Joe, hunched over his drink, sulking. She imagined he’d enjoyed himself at the party and was more than a little hungover. She honestly hadn’t expected to see him up this early, so she just about skipped over to the table he occupied.

“Morin’ ” Bernadette sang, sitting across from him with her own cup of coffee, hers was almost entirely milky white and loaded with sugar. Joe glared up at her, unimpressed, he hummed at her gloomily.

“You drink a lot last night?” She was enjoying this too much, smiling at him with that bright cheery look. Ugh, he couldn’t stand that delighted expression on her face. He didn’t even know why he was so mad about it, it was probably the hangover. Definitely not the fact that he had been listening to her all but flirt with another man for the past twenty minutes. Not that he cared who she flirted with.

“I’ll take that as a-”

“Jesus! What do you want, Coldwell?” He spat the words out quickly, cutting her off and stunning her into silence. She didn’t answer him, she just sat there blinking at him. Studying his features, trying to understand his attitude change from the night before. She had hoped they could start being more friendly with one another but obviously she was mistaken.

George Luz walked in and she decided to make conversation elsewhere, somewhere she knew she was wanted. Birdie stood and left without another word; Joe, quite plainly didn't want her to speak to him so why should she put the effort in?

“Hey, Luz.” The woman chirped.

“Birdie.” He greeted in return. She went with him as he collected his breakfast and sat at an empty table. George filled her in on the highlights of the party after her departure, he let her know that Malarkey had freaked out when she left without telling anyone and gone to Lipton. So she expected someone to tell her off later today, most likely the Sergeant.

She pretended not to notice when Joe glared daggers her way, she brushed it off with a joke to George who laughed heartily. For some unknown reason, the happiness coming from the pair pissed Joe off to the point that he stomped out of the mess hall, huffing and growling words under his breath.

“So, what are your plans for today?” Birdie asked her friend, choosing to ignore Liebgott’s temper tantrum. She was confused about him On the two occasions they had been alone together, he was surprisingly nice to her. He had told her she’d belonged in Easy just as much as everyone else and even complimented her, and then last night he took interest in her stories of the stars.

Birdie had noticed his way of thinking was similar to her own about the tiny scorpion, even her own brothers thought she was weird for siding with an arachnid. She assumed that maybe they could drop the animosity act and start forming a friendship but the way he snapped at her made her rethink that.

Then again, he could be really hungover and she was being loud very early in the morning so perhaps she should let that one slide?

It registered that George had been talking to her while she zoned out thinking about a certain Californian man. She caught the tail end of what he was saying and pieced together that his plans were to lounge around and enjoy the time off.

“You have any time for me today? I wanted to talk to you about something.” Bernadette and George were close, not as close as her and Toye or Guarnere but still very good friends. She liked spending time with him, he was funny and they got along easily. He agreed to hang out with her for a bit after breakfast as some basketball games were penciled in for the afternoon.

The pair walked around camp for a bit trading stories of their hometowns. Birdie spoke about life on a ranch while George countered with his suburban childhood. They had a fair amount in common, coming from large families with almost twenty siblings between them, so both Birdie and George had countless memories to share.

Eventually, they found themselves settling in the shade of an oak tree at the edge of the training fields.

“I have something I wanted to ask you.” Bernadette suddenly went serious. She adored George and wanted to let him know that she would always adore him, no matter what.

“Ah, is this your ulterior motive? Get me out here by myself and take advantage?” He gave a nervous laugh, trying to ease the tension that built between them. Birdie noticed his somewhat shaky laugh and lack of eye contact and her hand shot out to his bicep, soothing her friend as she squeezed his arm reassuringly.

“We’re friends, right?”

“You're being weird, Birdie.” He was smiling but his hands began busying themselves, plucking strands of grass and twirling them round. Bernadette kept her voice quiet and calm, hoping this might ease him.

She had a suspicion about the man in front of her and how he was hiding his infatuation for a certain someone. Birdie may have been way off base confronting him, it wasn’t really her place to bring this up, she knew that. But she cared about George and needed him to know she was understanding of his repressed feelings and would be on his side at any cost.

She had been through a similar situation before and missed her chance to show her support to someone important to her. Maybe this was her way of rectifying the lost opportunity.

“I just want you to know… you can tell me stuff. And I would never think of you any different…” The woman didn’t want to say the word, in case she was wrong and he got offended, the last thing she wanted was to upset the ray of sunshine.

His face dropped. “You know, don’t you?” It was whispered, like a shameful secret he didn't want to speak any louder, just in case.

“I think I do… you don’t have to say it.” He had all but confirmed what she thought she knew, but she recognized he wasn't exactly jumping to discuss it. “I just want you to know, I’m on your side. Always.”

“You can’t say anything.” He paused, “To anyone. Ever.” Seeing the jokester so serious and solemn was spine chilling.

Bernadette saw a flurry of emotions in his eyes, fear, nerves and a small twinkle of appreciation. He hadn’t ever said it aloud and he was glad that he wouldn’t have to, George could go on being George and he knew if he did want to share things with someone, Bernadette would be right there, waiting for him.

“I won’t. I wouldn’t do that to you, Georgie. Not ever.”

A/N: Birdie and Georgie friendship is everything to me! How do y'all feel about it?

~ next-autopsy ~

Chapter seventeen

#band of brothers #easy company #hbo war #band of brothers fanfic #made of glass #fem oc #oc #next autopsy #joe liebgott #don malarkey #carwood lipton #bull randleman #george luz #made of glass chapter sixteen

38 notes · View notes

gorgeys · 2 years

Text

So Naive (Carla Roson x Reader)

Carla overhears Guzman talking about you and has to remind him of his place…

Gif Imagine

Carla Roson x Fem!reader

Part 2

1470 words

Carla walked into class, heading for a seat in the back when she overheard Guzman talking to Ander.

“You’re not gonna believe who I was with last night,” Guzman said, wearing a cocky smile and confidently leaning back in his chair.

“Who?” Ander asked, clearly a bit distracted by his phone.

“Y/N,” he bragged, crossing his arms over his chest and putting his feet up on the desk. Ander immediately stopped scrolling, turning his head toward Guzman. He searched his face for any sign of a lie, but could only find an immense pride.

Carla also paused mid stride beside Guzman’s desk. His eyes had an arrogant glow, a medal of honor he now possessed for cracking Y/N’s vain and snobby shell.

Y/N was known to be lusted after by everyone, but rejected every advance. Everytime someone approached her she always led them on, made them believe they had a chance, before embarrassing them with a snarky act or remark. She took pride in feeling bigger and better than those she surrounded herself with. Carla had seen it many times.

Y/N knew how expensive she was so she wasn’t going to let anyone handle her carelessly.

“Did you guys…” Ander trailed off. Guzman quickly understood what he was implying.

“3 times,” he gloated, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible as he held up his last three fingers.

“No fucking way,” Ander exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yes fucking way,” Guzman laughed a conceited laugh, his mind replaying the images of the previous night. Carla didn’t realize the sound could irritate her so much. But she didn’t show it. She simply chuckled along with him.

Upon her laughter, both Guzman and Ander snapped their heads toward her. Neither had noticed her before and didn’t know how long she had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

“3 times?” she questioned with a mocking grin. Ander stared at her blankly while Guzman’s pride faltered for a moment. He knew Carla and Y/N were casual friends.

Carla stepped toward the desk, planting her hands on the cool surface as she leaned uncomfortably close to Guzman. Her hair hung around her face, shielding her patronizing expression from onlookers.

“That’s it?” she asked, her minty breath taunting him.

When he was at a loss for words, Carla snickered once more at his dumb expression. He had never seen the blonde’s eyes look so possessive and dark.

“Yeah, you’re full of shit,” Carla spat, beginning to turn away and take the seat behind him. But she didn’t get far before he called her back

“I have proof,” he said, grabbing her by the arm. His tight grip and locked jaw showed how offended he truly was by Carla’s comments. She stopped, skeptically looking down at him. “She sent me pictures.”

“What? Nudes?” Carla chuckled under her breath. It was so unrealistic that it was laughable. Why would Y/N even think about entertaining him?

“Almost,” he said. Carla would have instantly called his bluff but his look seemed a bit too stern. This didn’t seem like a joke to him. She was somewhat inclined to believe him.

“Almost?” Carla furrowed her eyebrows while displaying a sardonic smile. “What does that even mean?” she asked, shaking Guzman’s hand off of her.

Without a word, Guzman pulled his phone out of his pocket. Carla leaned over his shoulder as he opened up his text conversation with Y/N. Ander couldn’t restrain himself and leaned over to get a peek as well.

Sure enough, there were two pictures Y/N had sent, back to back. Guzman clicked on the first one and Carla couldn’t hold back a small smirk. Even if they were in Guzman’s hands, the sight of Y/N was too good not to enjoy.

There was that familiar shiny skin under the glow of red LED lights, only covered by a red lace lingerie set that perfectly complimented her skin tone. She had taken a mirror selfie, her top half facing the camera while her bottom half was slightly turned, showing off just a little bit of her ass.

The shot ended around her shins, showing off her gorgeously long legs and cut off at her neck as to ensure she was unidentifiable in case the photo fell into the wrong hands. But Carla would’ve recognized that body anywhere, not to mention the silky hair that fell past her shoulders. Just looking at it, Carla felt as if she could smell coconut conditioner that made her hair so lush.

Even though Carla had memorized every single sculpted curve, the raw beauty of Y/N always stole the breath from her lungs.

Guzman swiped to the next picture and Carla’s eyebrows instantly shot up in surprise, her smirk growing into a shit-eating grin. That pose was probably her favorite. Y/N was lying on her stomach over her cream bedsheets, the same red lace barely covering her. She held the phone a little over her shoulder, allowing her to get some sideboob action, but mostly her arched back and ass. The lack of face left Carla to imagine her puffy lips and sinful look in her eyes. It felt like an addictive high every time she even imagined Y/N in such a state.

“So she sent you that one?” Carla said, nodding at the picture, obviously unimpressed.

“What?” Guzman asked, clearly confused by Carla’s knowing smile.

“It’s old. She sent me that one ages ago,” she said, pulling her phone out of the waistband of her skirt.

“No, but she was-”

“It’s cute that you think she’d do that just for you,” Carla giggled. “So naive,” she said shaking her head. Her finger scrolled through her photo gallery until she found the folder titled Y/N.

“Don’t be jealous, Carla,” Guzman lamented, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest once more. “Like hell she’d send them to y-”

“Holy shit,” Ander mumbled under his breath as Carla showed the boys one of the more recent photos Y/N had sent her. Watching both pairs of eyes pop out of their heads like cartoon characters was the best feeling Carla could ask for.

It was a mirror selfie of Y/N topless. Although her free arm was draped over her chest, covering her nipples and pushing her breasts up, it didn’t leave much up for imagination. Her face was painted in reds and pinks as she had taken the photo before she left to attend an elegant fundraiser her parents were hosting. Her hair was still slightly wet from her shower, making it slightly curlier than usual as it covered her ears and the corners of her eyes. She enchantingly stared into her own reflection, lips slightly parted.

It was taken in an effort to tease Carla, who she would see at the fundraiser, and ended with the two of them pushed up against a wall in the bathroom. Y/N knew the curves of her bare shoulders leading to her breasts and her hips drove Carla crazy. That’s why most of the photos of Y/N in Carla’s phone were quite indecent and couldn’t be exposed, especially not to Guzman and Ander.

Guzman was simply speechless. He looked up at Carla before reverting his eyes to the last time he’d ever get see Y/N even close to naked.

Carla felt the boys had enough time to ogle once Y/N made her entrance just before the bell rang. She stuffed her phone back into her waistband as Y/N spotted her, instantly making a beeline for. Y/N walked past Guzman without a glance, even though she could feel his pressing stare.

“Hey, baby,” Carla greeted her, using the nickname since they were being watched so intently, although it was usually reserved for when they were alone.

“Hey, Carla,” Y/N replied. Carla wrapped her arm comfortably around Y/N’s waist while Y/N leaned into Carla. Y/N brushed the blonde’s hair behind her ear to leave a chaste kiss in the spot where her jaw met her ear lobe.

The two walked to their seats behind Guzman and Ander as the teacher began her lecture. Guzman peered back at Carla, his shock morphing into anger. All he received was an insultingly cold smile that made his blood turn to ice.

Carla wasn’t concerned with him for much longer as she had already deemed herself superior. She had enough time to gloat and now it was time to get down to business.

Carla leaned over to Y/N. She violently tugged her closer by the collar of her blazer, allowing her lips to barely graze against Y/N’s ear. A shallow breath escaped Y/N’s lips.

“Guzman told me about last night. You’re gonna pay for it tonight.”

Kinda tempted to make a pt. 2…

420 notes · View notes

exhuastedpigeon · 2 years

Text

Nancy convinces Robin and Eddie they should go to their 30 year high school reunion in 2016 because “the point of going to reunions is to show off how far you’ve come”.

People are surprised to see them, they all left Hawkins in ‘87 after taking a gap year and no one had seen them since. Sure, they’d heard about Nancy Wheeler’s career, she’s made it her business to expose government corruption and has won a couple Pulitzers for it.

In fact, basically no one from their graduating class has them on social media outside of Nancy’s verified account.

So when Nancy, Robin, and Eddie all walk in together and Steve Harrington is with them, people are a little surprised and confused. They all assume they would have heard through the rumor mill that Nancy Wheeler married Steve Harrington.

Except they quickly realize that Nancy isn’t married to Steve, she’s married to Robin Buckley. Robin who apparently works for the U.N. as a translator. They got married they day it was legalized in 2015. Nancy proudly shows some of her old school paper club members the picture of them outside city hall in New York the day they got married.

Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington are also in the photo and when Becca from the paper asks if they were Robin and Nancy’s witnesses Robin jumps on and says that yeah they were and Nancy and Robin were Steve and Eddie’s witnesses.

The news that Steve Harrington married Eddie Munson spreads around the reunion like wildfire. Jeff from Hellfire gets the full story from them while other attendees eavesdrop.

The whole gang moved to New York in ‘87. Nancy and Robin both went to Columbia, Steve went to nursing school, and Eddie worked at a comic shop and played in whatever bands he could. Nancy and Robin graduated in in ‘91 and started working their way up in their respective fields, Steve started working as a RN in ‘92, Eddie kept working at the comic shop and found a band that played regular shows around the city and even got paid for it.

Steve and Eddie bought a house in Hoboken in 2008, they took advantage of the housing bubble bursting. Eddie opened a game shop in Hoboken in 2006. They had been living their since 2002 since it was way cheaper and Steve could commute in easily.

Nancy and Robin stayed in the city, they ended up with an great (rent controlled) 2 bedroom in the Village in 1999 and Robin insists she will live there until she dies.

They all get together at least once a week. It’s a wonderful life and by the end of the reunion everyone knows and only a few people are homophobic about it.

Eddie leaves satisfied and tells the group he never needs to come back to Hawkins. The other three agree.

#stranger things #steddie #ronance #Nancy wheeler #Robin Buckley #Eddie Munson #Steve Harrington

380 notes · View notes

em-dash-press · 2 years

Text

Find Your Next Plot Idea: 12 Tricks to Try

Waiting for inspiration to strike can take too long. It's also not the best way to improve your writing, since you may not write very often in-between ideas.

I've been there before. When you're getting impatient, find your next idea for a short story or potential novel by trying these simple tricks.

1. Try a Plot Generator

Generators will throw ideas at you that you might not think about otherwise. They don't always make sense, but it's fun sifting through their options!

Check out more than one to find a site you like. You could try:

Plot-Generator

Reedsy's Plot Generator

Big Huge Thesaurus' Story Generator

Cool Generator's Random Plot Points

ServiceScape's Plot Generator

2. Find Random Facts

There are other sites that pull up random facts that could inspire a creative streak. They may also help you with singular plot points your story might be missing or more details while fleshing out characters.

See if you prefer:

Mental Floss' Fact Generator

Fact Republic's Generator

This Random Fact Generator

This Other Random Fact Generator

This Other Fact Generator

3. Check the Current News Headlines

Look up the current news in another city, state, or country. Without reading the stories, see if you can imagine a plot for each headline. It can be a fun creative exercise if you stay away from heavy topics.

You could find the latest news at places like:

NPR (I like their Strange News section too!)

The New York Times

The BBC

Reuters

Global Issues

4. Think About Your Recent Dreams

Dreams don't always make sense, but they can make you think outside of the box. Maybe you recently dreamed about escaping a haunted house or running into your old crush while on a vacation across the world. It could inspire your next story or even just a small part of one.

5. Try Free Writing

Your writing may have come to a halt because you get too caught up in the process. Free writing is an excellent exercise to break out of routines and old habits.

It first started in 1973 and hasn't changed much since. All you need to do is set a timer and open a new Google doc or grab a piece of paper. When the timer begins, start writing your stream of consciousness down and don't stop writing until the timer ends.

Whatever comes to mind should end up on your paper. Don't worry about sentence structure, grammar, or spelling. The exercise will loosen your creative flow and help you think through the writer's block keeping you from your next story.

6. Do Some Digital Eavesdropping

You can always sit yourself down in a public area (like a coffee shop) and eavesdrop on other people's conversations to hear about experiences you've never thought about before. But something about that always creeped me out, so sometimes I go digital.

Scroll through social media sites like Instagram or Twitter. Look for posts with pictures or a quick caption that doesn't explain the full picture. See what's trending, what the latest celebrity gossip is. Make up stories behind it, like with the newspaper headline trick. You'll get much different ideas than you'd find on news sites without carving time into your schedule for stopping by a place in town.

7. Map Your Mind

If you've never tried mind mapping, it could be a great place to start your next brainstorming session. All you need is a central idea or theme.

Imagine picking a theme like self-love. You'd traditionally write it in the middle of a piece of paper and draw a circle or box around it. Arrows then branch off of that theme to whatever idea pops into your head when you think about it.

There's no order to the branching thought bubbles and you can branch off of those as long as you want. Eventually your words could add up into a story idea, scene, or character.

The University of Adelaide has a great example diagram if you're having a hard time picturing your mind map.

8. Write a Re-Telling

There are re-tellings of classic stories all the time. Think of Hamlet turning into The Lion King. Or the folklore that morphed into Disney princesses, who morphed into the gripping series The Lunar Chronicles.

When re-tellings are done well, they give a new perspective on a well-known theme, legend, superstition, or moral.

Many writers feel like they have to avoid re-tellings in their short stories or as future novels, but they can be powerful ways to convey meaningful storylines and themes if done well. They're also a great way to jumpstart your writing after a dry period.

9. Listen to Music

Trying to write something in a quiet room might not help your creative flow. The silence can make your critical thoughts louder than anything else or make it more tempting to set your writing aside.

It's always a good idea to try listening to music while you write. Specifically, you should select a few songs or a playlist that makes you happy. Research shows that creativity greatly improves when people listen to music that generates happiness.

There's also evidence that it's easier to focus while listening to lyric-less music.

Not sure where to start? I've got some recommended background noise apps, websites, and free playlists over on my resource list. It's got everything from rain sounds to my favorite lyric-less low-fi YouTube playlist.

10. Write Fan Fiction

The blank page is even more intimidating when you're not very familiar with your characters or setting. Fan fiction can be a balm for that. Try writing a short story about people in your latest favorite TV show, movie, or book series. You're already very familiar with those worlds, so practicing your writing skills by freestyling new arcs or scenes can be a lot of fun.

11. Analyze a Book's Plot

We all have a favorite book. Think of the one that last dazzled you or made you fall in love with reading. How did it do that?

Sometimes it helps to study an existing book you've already read. You can map it out on paper by writing down character names, inciting events, the plot points that built to the story's finale, and everything in between. Note how each point made you feel and why it mattered. You can reflect those strategies in your own work, which may solve your writer's block.

12. Watch a Documentary

There are some wild documentaries out there that will blow your mind. Pick one and enjoy it, then ask yourself what if things had gone differently? Tweaking part of an event could make it branch off into an entirely new story. It's basically writing fan fiction, but it may interest people who are more into instructional media.

---

When you find something that works, enjoy it! Then try something else the next time you want to create a plot. Writing is a craft that changes with time. It's better to have a well-tried bag of inspirational tricks than sit around and wait for a story to pop up in your mind.

#writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing plot #writing prompts #writeblr #writers of tumblr #creative writing #writing help #writing community #writers #writing inspiration #plot ideas #writers block #writer problems

1K notes · View notes