#for the reasons listed above. and others. stares directly into the camera | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mizunetzu · 3 years

Note

Atsumu + Alcohol

If you make him drunk, I will hug you. Also, glad to see you’re back! :>

He’s drunk. Hug me. Now. But ehehe it makes me happy that you’re glad I’m back :,) NOW HERES DRUNK ATSUMU!

Also only @shiny-bun wanted to be tagged sobs reeeeeaaaal confidence booster I know :,)

——————

Atsumu x reader - Sweet, Sweet Lies Called Drunk Miya Atsumu

⚠️warnings - mentions of alcohol through the fic. reader records videos of atsumu drunk whenever he sees him. It isn’t in a sexual way at all; and reader doesn’t touch atsumu unconsentually at all. Just likes to watch him drunk bc he loves him still :,)

Also: FUCKING ANGST. you know it’s fuckign angsty when I got emotional writing it. Also, grammarly proof read it don’t trust it.

Pronouns - male, he/him

——————

“I think we should break up.”

(Y/n) blinked, before down casting his head. He said nothing for a while, before opening his mouth again bluntly.

“...ok.”

Atsumu furrowed his brows. He gripped the coffee mug resting on the cafe table just a bit harder. He certainly wasn’t expecting that answer. “...Ya aren’t gonna ask why? Yer just ok with it?”

“Well,” (Y/n) emotionlessly bit into a small biscuit. His expression was unreadable, blank like a piece of paper. “It’s not like I can change your mind, ‘Tsumu.”

“But...can I at least know why?”

The two went silent. Atsumu pursed his lips, trying to find the words to say while (Y/n) sat there expectantly. Eventually, Atsumu looked back up from his coffee mug.

“S’a lot of reasons, I think. ‘M busy with volleyball, ‘specially since it’s my job now,” Atsumu chuckled awkwardly. It was true, with the Black Jackals, he was being paid to do something he loved. “And...I...”

“I think I found a girl I really like.”

(Y/n) looked down at his lap numbly. He already knew it was coming, he wasn’t blind to the faint lipstick marks Atsumu tried to wipe away when he came home, or the smell of expensive perfume that stained him when he would come back from ‘practice’. He knew, he knew yet...

“Ah.”

Was all he could say.

——

Atsumu downed his third can of cheap beer, hissing loudly and slamming it down on the bar.

“I hate life! M’gonna fuckin’...! Run away and shit!”

Sakusa hummed. “Oh no. What happened now.”

Loud, irritating club music blared through the bar’s speakers. Atsumu slumped over the counter, making Sakusa and Bokuto lean back.

“Oi! ‘Tsum-Tsum! What’s wrong buddy?” Bokuto poked repeatedly at Atsumu’s head, making him groan and pathetically try and flick his hand away.

“M’...M’so sad...” Atsumu whimpered. Sakusa rolled his eyes while Bokuto frowned. Atsumu continued to mumble sadly into his arms until he slowly became more agitated, and whipped his drunken head up.

“Shoyo’s got a nice boyfriend! That fuckin’...Kodzuken youtuber dude! Why can’t I! If I were Shoyo, I’d be laying on my boyfriend’s lap and bein’ all cute and shit —but here I am! Fuckin’ drinkin’ and bitchin’ and fuckin’...fuck! Fuckin’ Shoyo! Fuckin’ Kodzuken! Fuckin’—”

“But didn’t you just break up with that girl you were seeing for like, months now? Thought you were straight, man!” Bokuto said, playing with the little garnish on his drink. Atsumu deadpanned, swallowing thickly before letting his head thump down onto the table.

“Thought I was. M’gayer than if unicorns shat me out.”

Sakusa sipped on his fancy, green drink. “Is this about (L/n)-san, again-“

“‘Course it’s about (Y/n)!”

Atsumu waved at the bartender to grab him another drink. The bartender looked him up and down, before shrugging and leaving off to grab another beer. Sakusa looked at Atsumu with a disappointed expression.

“You do realize that every time we drink, you get shit-faced drunk, complain about (L/n)-san, call (L/n)-san, then he picks you up and you wake up in his house because he’s too nice to refuse to pick you up. And you regret and bitch to me every single time.” Sakusa closed his eyes and took a long sip from his drink. “Honestly I don’t know why I still come with you guys if I know it’s gonna end up like this.”

“Hey! ‘Tsum-Tsum has his problems and he’s just letting them out!” Bokuto defensively waved his arms around, gesturing to Atsumu on the table, laying down his head in his arms. Both Sakusa and Bokuto were pretty sure he was ugly sobbing. Or at least babbling nonsense that sounded like sobs.

“He can’t even sit up straight. And Miya-san was the one who broke up with (L/n)-san for another girl. He has no right to be complaining.”

“S-Still! ‘Tsumu’s the homie! Let him rant!” Bokuto chugged down his drink.

Sakusa fished his phone out of his pocket. He scrolled down his list of contacts, before clicking on one that read ‘(L/n)-san. (Atsumu’s pick-me-up)’. The phone’s screen turned black, displaying (Y/n’s) profile pic with a ‘contacting...�� right under it in fine print.

“Sure, Bokuto-san. Whatever you want.”

——

“Fuckin’...let go of me, Omi!” Atsumu slurred. He, however, made no attempt to push Sakusa off as he dragged him outside the bar. Bokuto had long gone, and Atsumu was a few drinks overdue for his trip home.

Sakusa sighed, standing out in the cold with his mask pulled up to his face. Atsumu lolled his head onto Sakusa’s shoulder, either in an attempt to push him off or just pure drunkenness. “Don’t drool on me, Miya-san.” Sakusa cringed.

Atsumu was about to retort back, until both his and Sakusa’s attention was drawn to a home-y, black car that pulled up right in front of them. The driver’s door clicked open, and someone in a baggy sweater and sweatpants emerged from the car.

“Please take him, (L/n)-san. I’m sorry for always calling you to-”

“It’s fine!” (Y/n) chuckled, opening the passenger’s side door for Sakusa to throw Atsumu’s body in. “‘Tsumu’s been drinking a lot, huh? Isn’t this the third time this month I had to pick him up?”

Atsumu groaned when Sakusa clipped in his seatbelt. He sighed when Atsumu began tugging at it like a child, not knowing how to unbuckle it himself. “Actually, it’s the fourth time. But he has a reason today, I think.”

“He finally broke up with Yumena-san.”

Breath hitched in (Y/n’s) throat. He covered his shock up with a smile, however, and closed the car door with Atsumu in it. “Aw. Well, I better uh, drive him home, now. Bye-bye, Sakusa-kun.”

Sakusa nodded. (Y/n) stepped into his car tentatively. Ignoring the way Atsumu was still tugging at his seatbelt, he started up the car, and drove.

“I’m...sure you won’t mind sleeping over at my place again...right, ‘Tsumu?” (Y/n) mumbled, more to himself than to the drunktard sprawled out onto his car seat. He silently unlocked his phone, tapping on the camera app and propping his phone up on his dash. He hit record, and withdrew his hand back to the steering wheel. Atsumu eyed it suspiciously, before shrugging it off sleepily.

“Naaaah…” Atsumu slurred. He threw his head haphazardly onto the armrests separating his seat from (Y/n’s), trying to get as close to his ex as possible. “Yer apartment smells good...I miss it...I miss you…”

Shifting so he was still laying on the armrest, Atsumu tucked his arm under his head like a pillow. “Yer so...pretty…love you so much...”

(Y/n) pursed his lips. Atsumu smiled dumbly, pointing a finger gun at (Y/n). “We should-you and I should like, totally get back together n’ shit…” Atsumu stopped, letting out a hiccup, before continuing. “I miss you...n’ I love you…”

Stopping at a red light, (Y/n) looked down at Atsumu, who was staring back at him with half-lidded eyes. (Y/n) averted his gaze, chuckling awkwardly. “...You don’t mean that. You’re just drunk.”

Atsumu shot up. “But I do! M’so sad without you!” Atsumu loosened his seatbelt enough so he could rest his face on (Y/n’s) forearm. “You were the best thing in my life, n’ I need you back! I love you so muuuuuuch!”

(Y/n) stayed quiet for a second, glancing at his camera pointed directly at Atsumu nuzzling his face into his arm. He slowed the car to a stop, taking out his keys and pressing the ‘Stop’ button on his phone. He slipped both of them into his pockets.

“We’re here. C’mon, get up.” (Y/n’s) voice was barely above a whisper. After sitting in his car for a while, he finally got up, and walked over to the other side to haul Atsumu’s corpse-of-a-body out of his seat. “Fuck...sometimes I wish my apartment wasn’t on the third floor-’Tsumu! You can walk if I support you, right? I’m not carrying you.”

Atsumu pressed all his weight against (Y/n). “What if I want my boyfriend to carry me like a princess n’ shit…”

“I’m-” (Y/n) swallowed. His voice was quiet and shaky again. “I’m not your boyfriend. You say stupid things when you’re drunk...”

Atsumu was about to protest, when (Y/n) looped his arm under his own arm.

“Let’s go. You need rest.”

The walk to (Y/n’s) apartment was silent.

——

Atsumu pouted, eyeing down the way Kenma was showing a video on his phone to Hinata and smiling. Hinata grinned widely, his eyes glued to Kenma’s phone screen until an obnoxious sigh drew his eyes away.

“Why’d ya even invite me here...M’just third wheelin’ on yer guys's little date time.” Atsumu frowned, dramatically slumping in his seat. Kenma hunched his shoulders down, suddenly becoming very aware of the way Atsumu not-so-subtly stared him down. He brought his coffee cup to his lips, trying to hide behind the cup itself.

Hinata defensively wrapped his arms around Kenma. “Oiiiii! We invited you over because you always get super-duper depressed after waking up hungover at (L/n’s)!”

“I’m more depressed now that yer all cuddly-wuddly with yer frickin’ boyfriend while m’sitting here with my single ass!”

“Miya wakes up hungover at (Y/n’s)?” Kenma quietly asked Hinata. He nodded. Atsumu started flailing his arms around, trying to get Hinata to stop talking, but he didn’t seem to take the hint.

“Every time he goes drinking, he ends up crying about how much he still loves (L/n)—and ends up either calling him or someone else calls him to go pick him up. Either way, he wakes up super embarrassed and awkward in (L/n’s) bed and sulks the rest of the time at practice.”

Atsumu sat there, feeling like he’d been shoved to the front of a volleyball court completely naked. Kenma blinked, before looking down again.

“Oh.”

“That’s all yer gonna say-!?”

“I guess it kind of makes sense, now.”

Atsumu stopped mid-sentence, looking at Kenma with a confused expression. Kenma tried to dodge Atsumu’s eyes again, this time tugging on Hinata’s sleeve.

“...What makes sense now?”

Kenma had the look of ‘I said too much.’, trying to change the topic or hoping Hinata would swoop in and change it for him. But alas, no such thing happened. “I don’t think (Y/n) would…”

Hinata suddenly tugged back at Kenma’s sweatshirt, gesturing to turn around with him for a private conversation. They both turned their heads, mumbling out little ‘video-!’, ‘(Y/n)-!’ and ‘Atsumu-!’s here and there. Atsumu glanced from Hinata, to Kenma, before pouting that he’d been left out of the conversation.

Eventually, both Kenma and Hinata turned around again, looking directly at Atsumu. He stared back at them with doe-like confused eyes, when Kenma fished out his phone.

“If we show you, you promise to act like you never knew at all?” Hinata childishly extended his pinky finger out to Atsumu, to which he nodded vigorously and hooked his own pinky with his. Kenma piped up.

“The reason I said it made sense was because I found a folder in (Y/n’s) phone titled, and I quote: ‘Sweet, Sweet, Lies called Drunk Miya Atsumu (watch when sad)’. They’re filled with video’s of you, drunk, blabbing about how much you love him.”

Atsumu stared at Kenma.

“Yer fuckin’ lyin’.”

“I’m...really not.” Kenma turned his phone screen around, displaying a video filmed in what seemed to be (Y/n’s) car. Atsumu leaned down and peered at the video, seeing his head frozen in place in the corner of the screen. Kenma felt around for the play button, tapping until it started playing.

Atsumu watched the video in horror, his face going milk white as he watched himself cry and sob about how much he wanted to get back with (Y/n). Right in front of him. The video ended, and Atsumu looked up with the hope of getting hit with a bus.

“How...did you get-”

“I airdropped this one to myself when (Y/n) was in the bathroom one day because I found this one funny.” Kenma mumbled, turning his phone around and inspecting the screen. “There’s millions of them on his phone, this one isn’t even the worst. Some of them are in his apartment when he’s trying to get you into bed, and I think there’s one where you beg him to cuddle with yo-”

“Stop! Stop! No more!” Atsumu covered his face, embarrassed. Kenma let his mouth fall shut, while Hinata snickered into his drink. Atsumu let his head smack onto the table. “What did I do to deserve this…”

“Hey!” Hinata quipped, his positive voice making Atsumu’s brain hurt. “You know what that means, right?”

“That (Y/n) probably wants blackmail or revenge on me for breaking up with him?” Atsumu grumbled into his hands.

“Wh-no, what,” Kenma said. “He means-”

“(L/n) still loves you! I mean-he saves videos of you saying you love him to watch when he is sad or lonely or whatever, that means he loves you still! It was even in the title!”

Atsumu glared at Hinata like he was squinting at the sun. Kenma shrugged.

“S’true. He told me himself he watches them when he goes to sleep n’stuff.”

“Yer lyin’.”

“Was he lying when he showed you the video?” Hinata raised his eyebrow.

Atsumu opened his mouth, before letting it clamp shut and shaking his head ‘no’.

——

Clinging to his side like a kicked puppy, (Y/n) found himself nursing a drunk, sobbing Atsumu at his apartment once more.

“Tsum-” (Y/n) struggled to stick his key in his door’s keyhole with the way Atsumu was quite literally hanging off him. It was like he was trying to pull (Y/n) to the ground with him. “Atsumu! I’m trying to-”

“Don’t leaaaaave meeee! I love you!” Atsumu sobbed. He wiped his messy face onto (Y/n’s) jacket.

Finally sticking the key inside and turning it, (Y/n) pushed open the door and patted at Atsumu’s ruffled hair. “I’m not leaving, ‘Tsumu. Just taking you to bed, is all. We’re still...friends...I think.”

“Don’t wanna be your friend.” Atsumu sniffled, as he staggered into (Y/n’s) room with the support of his body. He was thrown on the bed with a loud groan, as (Y/n) went to grab his phone. “We were meant to be together...boyfriends...soulmates…!”

“I wish you meant that,” (Y/n) chuckled, setting up his phone, pointing it at his bed and pressing record. “Gave it up after the fifth time you came here sloppy drunk, though. It really is just you talking out of your ass.”

The hint of bitterness in (Y/n’s) voice increased unsteadily, wavering like a candlelight. “I-I mean, you say all these nice things-then the next morning you either deny everything you said, or leave before I can even say goodbye! Or you don’t even remember most of the time!”

(Y/n’s) disgruntled laugh made Atsumu blink. He eventually simmered down, looking down at the floor and busying himself with searching through his desk.

“That’s okay though. I have these little videos of your lies to keep me company. I can live with that just fine.” (Y/n) turned to Atsumu, holding up painkillers and setting them atop the desk. “...Sorry for problem-dumping on you, ‘Tsumu. I know you want sleep.”

“Don’t take these yet. They’re for tomorrow.” (Y/n) rattled the painkillers in their box, before producing a water bottle and extending it to Atsumu. He looked at the bottle like it was some foreign object. The water sloshed around when (Y/n) swirled it around Atsumu’s face. “It’s for your hangover tomorrow. Drink up, ‘Tsum-Tsum.”

“Only if you cuddle with me.”

(Y/n) pursed his lips. “No.”

“Then m’not drinkin’ the fuggin’ water!”

“Atsum-!” (Y/n) sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He set down the bottle of water on his nightstand, and rested his hands on his hips. “...If I give you a tiny hug, will you drink all the water and go to sleep?”

Atsumu nodded vigorously.

(Y/n) expected him to stand up and give him a hug, but instead, he opened his arms and sat expectantly, waiting for something to crawl between them. He was so far back on the bed, (Y/n) would probably have to lay awkwardly in his chest until he was satisfied.

So that's what (Y/n) did, after what felt like hours of contemplating and clenched jaws. He bit his lip, climbing slowly towards Atsumu on the bed. Atsumu smiled dumbly, and scooped him up in his arms like a claw machine.

What Atsumu didn’t expect, was (Y/n) to stiffen up, surprised, before melting into his arms pathetically. He clumsily wrapped his arms around Atsumu’s torso, his body curling into the shape of his own like dough. He let his head slump in the crook of Atsumu’s neck, taking in a shaky, deep breath and sighing heavier than he meant to.

(Y/n) figured he must’ve forgotten how much he relished being wrapped up in Atsumu’s arms, because he found himself not wanting to let go of Atsumu’s shirt that reeked of alcohol.

Still, after what was probably only a few candid seconds, (Y/n) pushed himself away from Atsumu, who slumped back on the bed confused, and wobbled his way back onto his feet.

“There…” (Y/n) breathed. He had the most unreadable expression, and his voice was quiet and raspy. “Now-now drink th-the water...you promised.”

Atsumu shrugged, swiping the water from the nightstand, and chugging it sloppily. (Y/n) went to work removing Atsumu’s socks, pants, and other things uncomfy to sleep in, until he was left in his boxers and t-shirt. Atsumu stared at (Y/n) sleepily, as he grabbed a spare pillow and blanket, and threw them on the swivel chair near his desk.

“...Y-Yer not gonna sleep here with me?”

(Y/n) furrowed his eyebrows, reaching over to stop his phone from recording, and curled up on the chair with his pillow. His voice was meek under the thin blanket he wrapped himself in. “You always ask, and i’ll always say no. Honestly I don’t know why you keep asking.”

“You look cold.”

“I’m...really not.”

“S’comfier on the bed.”

“...I like this chair.”

“I can scoot over-”

“Miya, if I give in and cuddle with you, everythings gonna be sunshine and rainbows ‘til the next morning—where you wake up next to me and regret everything! I’m-i’m trying to save your dignity here so stop asking!” (Y/n) croaked. He clutched his blanket tighter. “You’re drunk! You aren’t thinking! I already gave your-your stupid hug so stop it! How do you think I feel!?”

Atsumu rubbed at his head. (Y/n’s) hot face immediately flushed out, his voice quieting down back into his normal voice.

“Ah...I’m...sorry. You’re...tired and I probably shocked you with my-by being loud n’stuff.” (Y/n) bowed his head slightly, before shifting away from Atsumu in his little swivel chair. “Sorry. Go to sleep now. Night, ‘Tsumu.”

When he heard shifting on the bed, (Y/n) grabbed his earphones and turned out the light. Plugging in his earphones hurriedly, he switched on his phone, clicking on the photos app and on today's video of Atsumu to cheer him up. He even caught the hug on camera, so he was looking forward to that.

Dimming his phone's brightness to not disturb Atsumu, (Y/n) scrolled through the video, everything moving in fast-motion until (Y/n) saw himself climb into Atsumu’s arms. He paused the video there, smiling numbly, and taking a screenshot.

Before he could add the video to the rest of his collection of drunk-sumu videos, he was suddenly hauled up and hanging upside down. He was tossed over Atsumu’s shoulder, not even having time to protest before he was thrown carefully onto his own bed.

“Hey-Tsu-” Atsumu said nothing, climbing into the bed gracefully after (Y/n) and pulling the covers over the both of them. “Listen to me-! Let me go-!”

“If yer gonna keep sayin’ shit like...like i’ll regret it in the mornin’...fuckin’... let me,” Atsumu slurred. (Y/n) opened his mouth to speak, but Atsumu beat him to it. “S’my fault…’n...m’gonna deal with it in the mornin’. S-so lemme hold you.”

(Y/n) knitted together his eyebrows, looking conflicted on what he should do. He’d been so, so good at restraining himself from stealing hugs and kisses from Atsumu when he was drunk, and his reward was the videos. If he messed it up now, would Atsumu be too embarrassed to let himself get picked up by (Y/n) when he was drunk? Was he really willing to potentially give up future lovey-dovey drunk videos, and seeing Atsumu tell him he loved him for one night in his arms again?

He was.

(Y/n) relaxed, a numb expression on his face. He was just about done. One last time of drunk Atsumu holding him for a whole night, then it was time to move on. Hell, maybe after tonight, and after explaining to a very-embarassed hungover Atsumu in the morning that “No, we did not have sex,” maybe, just maybe, he would finally delete the videos. The video’s of his ex who didn’t love him anymore, feeding him drunk lies of ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you’, and finally moving on with his life.

(Y/n) ran his fingers through his hair, and let out a tuckered-out sigh. Maybe after he stopped clinging to the past, he could be normal friends with Atsumu Miya again.

(Y/n) looked at Atsumu with dry eyes. He let himself succumb to Atsumu’s warm chest, breathing in his scent for what could possibly be the last time. Atsumu purred happily, adjusting so he could wrap both arms around (Y/n), using one as a pillow for him and another to wrap around his body. (Y/n) hummed dryly.

Atsumu giggled. “...Love you...so much.”

(Y/n), for once out of all the time’s he’d always respond with ‘No, you don’t.’ or ‘You’re just drunk.’, said:

“I love you too.”

“...hehe...he…” Atsumu kissed the crown of (Y/n’s) forehead, before nuzzling it with his nose. “I love you sososo much.”

(Y/n) was quick to respond, even though his throat began closing up and making it hard to speak. You could probably tell he was on the verge of tears. “Me too, ‘Tsumu. I love you most.”

“I love you so much…” Atsumu began, this time his voice way more clearer and sober than what he’d been speaking with this whole night.

“...That i’d pretend m’drunk just to see you again.”

“...”

(Y/n) blinked, not quite processing his words. He shrunk inside Atsumu’s cage-like arms, before timidly meeting Atsumu’s eyes. They seemed much clearer, less hazy from ‘alcohol’, and they stared back at him with it’s usual ‘Atsumu’ look.

“...huh…?”

Atsumu patted (Y/n’s) head. “Yer so cute. I love you so much.”

“Wh-wait-” (Y/n) tried to wriggle his way out of Atsumu’s arms. “You-you’re not-”

“Nope. All I did at the bar tonight was watch Bokkun and Shoyo-kun drink so i’d smell like alcohol. Then I told—well, paid Omi-Omi to call you sayin’ I was drunk again, so I could see what stupid shit I did at your place when I was drunk.”

“Though,” Atsumu nodded at the discarded phone on the ground, next to (Y/n’s) makeshift swivel chair-bed. “I could've just asked to see that video of me. Or the rest of them, ‘coordin’ to Kozume-kun.”

(Y/n) sputtered, trying to find the words to speak, but finding himself too embarrassed to. He’d, finally, been caught red-handed.

He sighed, casting his head down, before crawling out of his bed and taking the walk of shame to his phone. “...You caught me,’Tsu...Atsumu. Caught me real good, Atsumu.”

(Y/n) scrolled through his phone, searching for the album full of his drunk video’s of Atsumu. He clicked on it, then waved his phone around guiltily. He turned the phone around, peering down at it sheepishly. “Don’t worry, I’ll delete all of these...and I...I can drive you home if you want.”

“Nah. M’pretty comfy here.” Atsumu laid back down. “I’d be comfier if you were in my arms again, though.”

Atsumu made grabby arms towards (Y/n). (Y/n) blinked, searching Atsumu for any sort of satire. He found none, and nervously inched toward Atsumu until he was pulled back into his chest. The phone was, once again, forgotten on the floor.

“Wheeeeeey, there we go~” Atsumu nestled down onto the bed, crooning (Y/n) in his arms and stroking his head. “Ain’t that comfy.”

He pressed a small kiss to (Y/n’s) forehead. “Love you. Goodnight~”

“...Wait, n-no you-”

Atsumu pressed another kiss onto (Y/n’s) face, promptly shutting him up. He tried speaking again, just to have another kiss placed onto his face. This cycle went on, (Y/n) trying to voice out his protests just to be hushed with kisses all over his face, until he reduced into a pile of hot tears, melting his face off raw.

Atsumu kissed (Y/n’s) tears away. When more kept coming, Atsumu pulled back, stroking (Y/n’s) hair as gently as he could. Gentle was not a word to describe Miya Atsumu, but he sure as hell would try.

“Stop cryin’...” Atsumu whispered, kissing another falling tear away. “I came here to win ya back, not make you cry…”

“I-I’m sorry-” (Y/n) sobbed out between hics. “I just- I missed you so-”

“I did too.”

They sat there, small hics coming from (Y/n) as Atsumu quietly stroked his hair, and in all honesty, they would have laid there forever. But (Y/n) finally wriggled his way out Atsumu’s grasp, timpering his way to his phone.

He picked it up, fiddling with it, before turning his phone screen around. Atsumu leaned closer.

‘Sweet, Sweet, Lies called Drunk Miya Atsumu (watch when sad) - 0 videos’

“Deleted them all.” (Y/n) murmured. “Figured I wouldn’t need them anymore now that I got you here…”

Atsumu blinked before erupting into a wide smile. He sprang off the bed and attacked (Y/n) with a big, bear hug. “You bet yer ass you won’t!”

He peppered kisses around (Y/n’s) face, and instead of crying, (Y/n) began to smile.

“Stop it-that tickles! ‘Tsumu-!” The red tear stains on (Y/n’s) face were barely noticeable under the flurry of kisses he was under. Atsumu grinned stupidly into (Y/n’s) skin.

“Ya know full well you don’t want me to.”

And he didn’t.

Atsumu pressed one final kiss to (Y/n’s) face, this time, and for the first time in a long time: on his lips.

——————

I’m really proud of this 👉👈 I’d like it if I could get a lil,,,reblog,,,with thoughts,,,or comments,,,aha ha ha,,,

Lil thing I found funny

#hq x y/n #hq x you #hq x male reader #hq sakusa #msby 4 #haikyuu x male reader #haikyuu male reader #hq atsumu #atsumu x male reader #atsumu imagines #atsumu angst #atsumu miya x male reader #miya atsumu x male reader #miya atsumu

1K notes · View notes

wherethewordsare · 3 years

Text

Birds of a Feather

For @notsafeformurphy who was having a day of it the other day and we got to talking and.... oops this happened. This honestly started out as a nature docu au and ended up a coffee shop au? Idk man.... Anyway, Shay I hope you enjoy this!

Also tagging @herostag since it was requested. and @jaskierswolf cause I think they’re gonna start yelling at me if i keep forgetting. Going to try to get my tag list back together if anyone is interested. <3 <3 <3 Hope yall enjoy Jaskier huffed as he flopped over again, his body refusing to just relax down into his mattress and let him sleep. It had been a stressful day and to make matters worse, it had been the third night in a row where he was simply unable to sleep.

Giving up, he reached for his phone, scrolling through youtube for a moment, looking for something that he could just zone out to for a little while. Usually he would put on music or white noise but even that didn’t seem like it would be helpful. He had to find something extremely dull and maybe a bit pretty.

He scrolled past a thumbnail of three large men in park uniforms. Two of them looked like they were at least somewhat interested in being there while one tall man with near white hair simply scowled at the camera.

Wild Wednesdays with the Rivia Nature Reserve the title read.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Jaskier huffed as he rolled onto his stomach. He pulled the kickstand of his phone case out and set it up before pressing play and curling his arms around his pillow.

“This week, we’ll be talking to Geralt Rivia, our resident raptor specialist about what goes into rehabilitation efforts when it comes to conservation,” someone said off camera, cheerily. When the camera panned to Geralt Rivia however, he did not seem to share the narrator’s same upbeat tone.

For a few minutes, the narrator off camera seemed to try to ask Geralt about himself, only getting stilted answers and that same scowl that had been in the thumbnail. Jaskier snorted with a smirk.

“You’re not having any of this, are you? You’re gorgeous though,” he chuckled. He felt his back relax as he yawned, snuggling closer into his pillow.

And then it happened. From off camera, someone handed Geralt a leather glove that he put on easily before taking a cord. He clicked a bit and the scowl he had moments ago melted into a fond smile.

“And who is this?” the narrator asked. They clearly had picked up on the shift in Geralt’s demeanor as a small falcon took up perch on his forearm.

He actually cooed at the bird for a moment before holding it up for the camera. “This is Roach. She’s one of our recent rescues.” He smiled, a barely there tilt of his lips and his honey colored eyes softened. Jaskier got the impression on anyone else, it would have been a full grin.

“Oh, I like that look,” Jaskier murmured, feeling his cheeks heat up.

“And what is Roach?” the person asked off camera.

Geralt took a step back, turning his arm slightly, causing the bird to flap agitatedly at him as she kept her balance. “Yes, I know, but I have to show off how pretty you are,” he said to the bird, fond and warm.

“Oh no,” Jaskier whispered into his pillow. “He’s soft and hot.”

“Roach here is a red-tailed hawk. They’re pretty common through North America,” he explained, pointing out the red-brown of her tail. The hawk nipped at him as he got her to open her wings for the camera and he only chuckled. “She’s about six, the same age as my daughter actually. And,” he leaned in conspiratorially, “I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure which one is less well behaved.”

Roach must have understood a bit of that because she gave a cry before nipping at Geralt’s hair, clearly annoyed.

“Listen, if you weren’t so hornery, I wouldn’t say it,” he said to Roach, pulling another scowl but there was clearly no heat in it.

This was not the same man from the thumbnail or the same man that barely gave answers about himself at the beginning of the clip. When that bird sat on his arm, he lit up and Jaskier was weak.

Geralt answered a few other questions about hawks and about the reserves program for rehabbing hawks, his voice deep and gravely. He would have sounded gruff if not for how much he clearly loved what he did.

Geralt looked at Roach a little sadly. “Unfortunately for our little lady here, she won’t be able to return to the wild. Due to her injuries when she came to us, she won’t be able to hunt on her own,” he gave her a soft smile before he petted down her neck gently.

Jaskier’s eyes were starting to feel heavy. He had turned into the pillow, letting Geralt’s voice wash over him with simple facts about red-tail hawks as he drifted off to sleep. It hadn’t been dull at all but there was something about the way Geralt spoke that just melted him into his mattress.

When he woke, his phone was dead, probably from being set to autoplay. As it charged, he looked at the videos that had played while he was asleep, most of them from the Rivia Nature Reserve. There were a few specials with other team members but Jaskier picked out the ones that mentioned Geralt Rivia directly.

It had become a near routine and soon, Jaskier found that he just slept better after watching those nature clips. Sometimes, Geralt wasn’t even on camera, simply walking through the process of population counting for the reserve as the camera panned around to different birds up in the trees. There were other videos featuring Roach the red-tailed hawk as well and it was clear that she was a favorite, not only of Geralt’s but the viewers as well.

Within three weeks, Jaskier had made his way through nearly the whole catalog of the reserve’s videos. He knew he would move on from tall, silver and brooding and find his next sleep fix but for now he simply enjoyed it.

He should have said no, he should have mentioned that he simply did not do morning shifts, and there was a reason for that, but Essi had been persistent, almost feral about him taking her shift.

“Please, Jask. I promise, you won’t regret it!” She grinned at him and there was something in her eyes that sent up a dozen red flags.

“What are you plotting?” He asked flatly, squinting at her over his glass of wine.

“Not a thing, darling, just trust me on this,” she giggled, sipping her own wine neatly.

It hadn’t been a terrible morning, though Jaskier was barely managing to stay upright by the the coffee grinder. He was used to staying up long nights and it hadn’t changed anything when he knew he would have to open.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

I know you mentioned he had a kid, but he’s single. You’re gonna want to put a blueberry muffin in right now.

He blinked at his phone, squinting as he tried to decode just what the fuck Essi was saying.

What?

But he put in the blueberry muffin, his phone on the counter as he watched the three little dots dance where Essi was texting back.

You still owe me a no questions.

“What the fuck is she even-” Jaskier heard the bell above the door just as he set the timer for the oven.

“-and so I tell him that if he isn’t going to at least make an attempt to clear out the back trails, we’re going to find a new contractor.” Came a voice behind him.

Jaskier froze, his hand on his phone. He nearly threw it in a panic. He recognized that voice. He’d recognize that voice in the dark, though to be fair, he usually listened to it in the dark.

He glanced over his shoulder and sure enough, Geralt Rivia was standing at his counter with two others from the nature reserve.

“Be with you in just a minute!” he tried for cheery and landed firmly in panicked. He ducked behind the large coffee machine and shot a text back to Essi.

I haven’t decided on whether or not I love you more than anything or if I’m ever going to

speak to you again!

Have fun! ;)

That bitch. It had been a setup! He adored her, the meddling little sneak. He schooled his face the best he could, knowing full well that his ears were still the color of the strawberry frap they served.

“Morning, what can I get you guys?” He asked as he wet his lips, trying not to stare right into Geralt’s gorgeous face.

“Three coffees, a blueberry muffin warmed up and a plain bagel, untoasted,” Geralt said offhandedly as he looked around. “No Essi today?”

“Uh, no. I’m filing in this morning. Jaskier, at your service.” As he dipped his head in a mock bow he internally cursed himself. One day, one normal day, that was all he asked for. “Hope the bagel isn’t for Roach. I’m not sure she’d like it. How is she? We haven’t seen her much recently?” He shot off without thinking as he started to pour the coffees. He froze again as his brain caught up with his mouth.

Behind Geralt, both of the men snorted. “Looks like you’ve got a fan, pretty boy,” the darker haired one jostled Geralt’s shoulder with a smirk.

Geralt only stood there, tilting his head slightly as though he wasn’t sure what had just happened.

“Ah, I mean…” Jaskier fumbled, nearly spilling one of the coffees down his own front.

“She’s doing fine actually,” there was a soft smile on his face, the same he wore when he got to handle the birds directly and Jaskier could feel himself melt on the spot. “Naughty as ever. Learned a new trick to take a swipe at Lambert here if he’s holding the feed bucket,” there was a low rumble of a chuckle.

The dark haired one behind Geralt stopped laughing abruptly. “She’s a menace.” He growled, picking up his own coffee from the counter.

Behind Jaskier, the oven dinged. “Oh and your muffin!” He turned, letting himself have the moment his back was to them to silently scream. He had been tricked! He had been set up! He was going to try to get this man’s number and he would never hear the end of it.

“You already had it in?” Geralt asked, that smile still in place.

“What can I say, we make sure to take care of our favorite customers.” He was almost proud of himself at how smoothly that had come out as he turned to look back at Geralt. He should have been paying attention to the muffin as it dropped, missing the bag completely and splatting on the floor.

“Fuck,” Jaskier nearly cried. “I am so sorry. Give me, just a moment, I’ll get another one in for you.”

He watched as Geralt ducked his head, smirking. “Would you like to meet her?” He gave another tilt of his head, his eyes clearly looking Jaskier up and down.

He was sure he had died. This wasn’t real. This was the good place. Or the bad place. Either way, this place was the place his soul had clearly left his body. He stood there, cold muffin in hand as he gaped at Geralt.

“Uh-”

“You don’t,” Geralt cleared his throat, “I was just wondering since you seemed… to be a… fan.” His face slipped into a scowl and no. No that wouldn’t do at all.

“I would love to, yeah. I’m off at three?”

“Oh! Jaskier! Thank you for coming in to open. I can take it from here,” Essi slipped in beside him, taking the muffin from his hand. “Morning, Dr. Rivia,” she nearly sang, her face smug.

“Dead. You’re very very dead when I see you again,” Jaskier whispered to her though he couldn’t stop grinning.

“So you were saying?” Geralt asked, leaning against the counter.

“Turns out, I’m free as a bird, you’d say.” Jaskier chuckled as he slipped his apron off and made his way around the counter.

Geralt snorted and rolled his eyes but took his coffee and muffin from Essi. “You know that phrase ‘eat like a bird’ is really not that good of a way of saying that someone doesn’t eat much?”

Behind them, Lambert scoffed. “Here we fucking go again. I said I was sorry for bringing it up!”

Later that afternoon he found himself wearing a glove similar to the one he had first seen Geralt in, a small tawny owl bobbing on his arm as he looked on in wonder. He had met Roach and she had nipped at his hair and shirt, screeching when food wasn’t produced.

“Hmm, let’s get Scorpion. He won’t tear you to shreds,” Geralt gave Roach a fond little tap on her wing with the back of his fingers.

By the end of the day he left with a few knicks in his fingers and a phone number. He had never slept better.

#geraskier #modern #ecologist geralt #cause always #roach is a hawk #meet cute #jaskier is a disaster #but we love him anyways #witcher fanfiction #this is... a mess #and i am so sorry

169 notes · View notes

liquid-luck-00 · 4 years

Text

Overprotection

Bio!Dad Bruce

Day 5: Overprotection

@biodad-bruce-month

Ao3 ~~~ First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

~~~~~~~~~~

About a week before her term began again,

Bruce pulled Mari into his office. After her telling them about the situation in Paris and him and Tim looking into it he was worried.

Seriously he found out the two heroes had contacted the Justice League but Lantern, Hal, had laughed at them stating it was a joke. After that they sent another video stating that all heroes affiliated with the Justice League, its members, their sidekicks, and even anyone that the above has worked with were banned from setting foot in Paris. Or else they would be treated as criminals. After that information was scarce. So he was rightfully worried about sending his daughter to a country he could do nothing in as a hero.

"Mari, your break is ending and I wanted to ask, do you want to go back to Paris to finish the term?" he waited for her answer watching her reaction.

---

Do I want to go back to Paris? Yes, no, maybe. She was confused and rightfully so. "Who wants to go back to a place to be held emotionally captive."

"So is that a no?" Bruce asked, making her realize she said that out loud.

"Well I... I want to stay in Paris it's my home, but this is my home too. I, I, I can't leave my... friends" she hoped she was convincing but even she knew she wasn't. Hell she stumbled on the word friends, yes she will miss her best friends but Chloe, Kagami, and Luka always call. They've been calling her once a day minimum, excluding patrols and fights, luckily no one has dropped in on their conversations or else... well she didn't know what her family would do with that information .

"Mari" Bruce was on her level, when did he get there, "Is something other than the akuma attacks bothering you?" This was the first time since arriving at the manor that she heard him speak that softly.

"N..." she bit her lip and closed her eyes making firm her resolve. "Yes there is something else"

"I'm here to listen. Even if you want to go back you still have your family behind you."

"Well there is a girl in my class who turned everyone and I mean everyone but one person in the class against me" she looked at him and she saw the same pensive expression when she was figuring out a lucky charm. "she lies with every breath and..." she started to cry.

---

As soon as she started to cry he hugged her. everyone who knows him knows he is not the person to go to with feelings, that would be

Dick, but here he is.

"You don't have to go back you can go to Gotham Academy with Damian. You never have to see them again." he whispered, but she shook her head against him.

"I have to go back" she whispered barely audibly. A frown began to appear on his features. All he wanted was to keep her safe but she refused everytime.

"Then Damian is going with you" he began, but he really should have seen her facial reaction. She had stiffened in his embrace, he thought it was because she would now have an ally so he had continued his rambling. "Damian has the most reign on his emotional state. Jason's not the most stable emotionally so that's out. Tim is helping run WE, but maybe I could get him into the Paris branch so you both have someone else to lean on. Dick is busy with his daughter not to mention the station so no. Cass..."

"NO!!!" Mari yelled pushing out of his arms, and

he was shocked and hurt and it must have shown. "Sorry, but no" her tone was firm, much

firmer than he had ever heard before.

"Why?"

She huffed before seeming to come to a conclusion "The Bats aren't allowed in Paris" she spoke quietly and then everything went silent and his brain functioning stopped.

When he was finally able to speak again, but still not think straight asked "Can you repeat that I don't think I heard you correctly."

She seemed to speak slowly and delibertly" The Bats are not allowed in Paris."

the had heard correctly but "How did you find out?" now he was concerned if she figured it out could others, they had always been careful about their identities. Steering clear of the topic with her.

"It was a few things, one the manor is much too quiet at night, two the thin excuses and sudden disappearances were all too familiar, and three Tikki."

Too quiet at night fine, can't do anything about that. Thin excuses and sudden disappearances, okay we can work on that.

"What is a Tikki?" He looked at her as if to elaborate but she remained silent as it waiting for him, oh, oh, "familiar, you're Ladybug" he looked at her and she gave him a knowing smirk. If he were Jason he would have cursed. Well that explains things. "Mini let us help you please" he watched her she passed through so many emotions fear, hesitance, regret, and ended on worry.

"I don't want to need to fight you Dad, I don't want to need to fight any of you." she was on the verge of tears.

"let us protect you, Mini, let us help."

"But"

"You're a Bat whether you like it or not and Bats stick together"

"How are we going to put an end to Hawkmoth"

"Do those butterflies show up on camera"

"Not until they are about to corrupt someone"

"That's out, how about..." the two stratigiod until Alfred said lunch was soon ready. "You know you never told me what a Tikki was and that was your third reason." she giggled.

"Come out Tikki. Dad this is Tikki the Kwamii of creation. She is the reason I can transform into Ladybug."

"Hello there Tikki. So how is it you were able to figure out our family's secret" he gave the little creature a small smile.

Tikki giggled and said in a chirpy voice "It's easy when you can phase through solid objects and end up in a cave with extremely recognizeable suits in it."

"Wait if you were in the cave why didn't the cameras catch anything?"

At this Mari held up her phone with the camera pointed it at Tikki and nothing was on the screen.

"How?"

"Kwamii and technology don't exactly mix. That's why you guys could look at a photo of me next to Ladybug and never realize we are the same person. That is until now since you have been told."

"Let's head over for lunch before chaos breaks loose and the boys come looking for us"

"Okay, wait! How are we going to tell everyone?"

"I might have an idea" Tikki's eyes shone with mischief.

---

Plagg may be the Kwamii of chaos but never, and I mean never get on the bad side of creation.

The plan was simple in the middle of the meal Tikki would phase out of Mari's pocket, under the table and then through it. Specifically next to Damian. Tikki was determined to get some sort of reaction from him.

She succeeded.

He was going to get his cap when she popped out. He jumped throwing his water all over him and falling backwards still on his chair.

No matter what happened Mari and Bruce were not supposed to react. Granted Mari recorded the whole thing. One thing she learned about the boys, have blackmail material it may end up saving you.

Damian, Dick, and Jason freaked out there was a lot, but I mean a lot of yelling.

Tikki had flown over and sat at the table between Marinette and Bruce where a plate of cookies were waiting for her.

Dick was the first to snap out of the trance of screaming, "Why is there a bug-mouse eating cookies on the table?" he still yelled and that was when Mari and Bruce looked up at them.

Damian was staring daggers at her reaching under the table, probably to get the katana hidden underneath, but he won't find it. Ah he figured out it was missing and is now, ohh he is pouting he really is a little kitten.

Tim, Dick, and Jason were staring yes, but they were staring at Mari and Bruce for an

explination.

"He is definately your brother little bug" she giggled still munching on a cookie.

"Really why is that Tikki?" Bruce had gone back to eating sparing a glance at Tikki.

"I called her a bug-mouse when I first met her too." Mari stated also going back to her meal.

Now all four boys were pouting. This continued until the meal was almost finished.

"sigh, I guess were going to have to tell them directly, non" Mari said over dramatically getting the boy's attention.

"That seems like the case" Bruce answered with a frown trying to cover the amusement in his voice. "In a family of the world's best detectives and they still can't figure it out with everything in front of them." Mari was begining to laugh.

"Perhaps it should have been in another location" Bruce responded.

"I still stand that transporting them to Paris would have been too much" Tikki replied to the conversation.

"The cave would have been overkill, but I still think their reactions would have been

just as funny" Mari countered. This got everyone's attention.

"Cave,what cave there's no cave" Jason surprisingly tried to do damage control.

"What do you mean by transporting to Paris"

Tim had asked looking between the three suspiciously. Then finally both Damian and Dick shared a look then looked at Mari and her and shouted "Ladybug!"

"Took you guys long enough" Mari smiled, Bruce was on the verge of laughter.

---

They then explained further the situation in Paris and in the end the boys seemed ready to fight the class as well as Hawkmoth for their little sister.

Damian and Tim would be joining her in Paris. Tim at WE Paris and Damian at her school and hopefully her class as well but there is still a week before she has to see those harpies she calls classmates.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list:

@mochinek0 @justafanwarrior @abrx2002 @ranger-gothamite @fantasiame @moonystars14 @mochegato @bigbeautifulandfullofsugar @maribat-is-lifeblood @iglowinggemma28 @miraculous-ninja @talutah0 @vixen-uchiha @danielslilangel @witchsblackfox @pawsitivelymiraculous @lizziejay @marinettepotterandplagg @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @dast218 @sassakitty @miyla-lokidottir @lilkymilky @tazanna-blythe @tired-butterfly @lozzybowe @smolplantmum @queencommonsense @loopingtangent @chez-pezeater @paintedhope7 @technicallyburninggarden @meme991001 @wannajointhecrabcult @melicmusicmagic @trippingovermyfeet @greatcatblaze

#bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #bio!dad bruce wayne #b ! dbwm2020 #bruce wayne #maribat #marinette dupen chang #miraculus ladybug #dc x miraculous #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #miraculous x dc

462 notes · View notes

lexosaurus · 3 years

Text

Everything Was White: Part 12

[see all chapters]

Read on: [ffn] / [ao3]

---

The alarm was blaring.

Danny recognized the noise immediately. But his eyes were still slow to open, his arms were slow to turn off the offending sound, and his brain was slow to recognize that the white ceiling above him was just his bedroom ceiling.

His body was numb. Nothing felt real.

He grabbed his phone off his nightstand and unlocked it. The screen was too bright, but he didn’t care. He’d been through worse. What was a little eye strain to him, really?

There were text messages, but Danny ignored them. The government likely already read them first, so if they were important, Danny would probably have woken up back in his cell rather than his cozy bed.

Ghosts like Danny didn’t get to have comfort. He was unpredictable. Dangerous.

“You’re a feral beast.” Operative O’s deep voice rained down on him. “You need to be trained.”

Danny opened the Twitter app only to be faced with a crushing amount of notifications and his name on the top of the trending list.

He should have felt nervous. Anxiety should have gripped his stomach. But...it didn’t.

He felt nothing.

Numb.

He clicked on his name and scrolled through the tweets. As he suspected, that damn video of him at the PHP littered his screen.

Protests have begun to break out near the health clinic Phantom is attending. [image]

I don’t understand, why doesn’t he just fly into the building or something? Can he not fly?

Is phantom over?

It’s so gross how people feel the need to harass a teenager trying to recover from trauma.

imagine being a teen trying to get emergency mental help and then THAT walks into ur class

What the fuck did the government do to him?

He was numb.

Nobody knew what really happened in there, and Danny wanted so badly to keep it that way. And the worst part was, he thought that if he just forgot about it, tried to move past it, then it would all go away. And no one would ever know.

Except Vlad did find out. Somehow, Vlad had managed to get a hold of classified government files about Danny, and if what he had implied was true, then he had learned everything.

And if Vlad knew, then…

No. He wasn’t going to think about it.

Danny knew from the moment he’d stupidly revealed himself that his life was not his own anymore. He knew that he was going to be nothing but a government possession from that moment till the day he died.

He didn’t deserve to get upset over this.

He pulled up a blank tweet and started typing. His movements were robotic. Stilted. But one slip-up, just one reason for the public to get suspicious, and Danny knew that some seedy corner of the internet would pounce on the opportunity to dig deeper into Danny’s life than he was comfortable with.

Danny Phantom @dannyphantom Thank you everyone for the support. I’m back home with my family and am healing.

Before he could question what he was doing, his finger was already pressing send on the tweet. He watched as almost immediately, notifications popped up in his inbox.

But he didn’t open his notifications, he didn’t look at the replies. Instead, he closed the app and shut his phone off.

He didn’t care anymore.

Maddie knocked on the door and asked him a question, and he responded with the right answer for her to leave. He got up and started his new morning routine of sitting in the shower for ten minutes, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, and heading downstairs for breakfast before leaving for six hours of mandatory therapy.

He stared out the window, watching the morning traffic pass by him. He couldn’t remember if he shampooed his hair or if he just sat under the scalding water. But it was fine. He was just a government-issued robot now. Whatever.

There were people lining the highway when Danny pulled into the PHP center. They were shouting different things, holding different signs, their cameras armed and ready as soon as the GAV came into view. The police were there, making sure no one escaped into the parking lot, and there were therapists waiting outside.

They didn’t know. They had no idea what Danny had gone through, why he was there.

And it didn’t matter. Not to them, not to Danny, not to the police or the news stations filming the scene or to the government or Vlad or anyone else.

Danny wasn’t in charge of his life anymore.

He was only here because the government had decided he could stay free.

For now.

The therapists escorted him into the building. Danny felt hollow. Sick.

No, he was fine.

Maddie hugged him, told him to have a good day, that she’d be back to bring him to more therapy after, and Danny nodded. At least, he thought he remembered to nod. He might not have, though.

There was a window in the lobby. A white van was parked along the street.

The APC news van.

Jazz was right. Danny was just being paranoid about the white van outside of their house before. He was so stupid.

Even if it wasn’t a news van, what would it matter? He didn’t control his life, what would he care if they finished him off in some back alley? What would it matter if they snuck him into their van and held him captive for the rest of his life in some damp containment cell?

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Danny spaced out for the morning meeting. He couldn’t remember if he managed to read off his paper for the other teens. His voice wasn’t working today. His head hurt. His chest hurt. Everything was numb.

They had art therapy today, run by a tall, lanky man with sandy hair and a clean-shaven face. He told the group to paint what they were feeling today, to channel their emotions onto their blank sheets of paper.

But Danny felt nothing. He had nothing to give.

He must have stared at his paper for too long, because the therapist tried to talk to him, ask him if he was alright, if he was having trouble with the exercise.

Danny didn’t respond, instead choosing to pick up the green paint and squeeze some of it directly onto his paper, rules be damned. It was too dark, so he grabbed the white paint and smeared it into the green. The color still wasn’t right, but Danny didn’t know enough about art to make it right, so he just kept spreading green across his paper. A dash of yellow, then some white, more green.

Time was up. His paper was green.

“Good job, Danny. What do you think?” the therapist asked.

Danny stared at the paper, studying the streaks of yellow within the brush strokes. “It’s not the right shade of ectoplasm.”

The day continued with more emotion-managing lessons and group activities but Danny didn’t care and nobody could understand that. He was done with this, he was tired, it didn’t matter.

It was lunchtime, and Danny had no appetite. It felt like he had just eaten breakfast. His stomach was still full, but he had a sandwich sitting in front of him that he needed to eat or else they would tell his parents.

Danny held the sandwich between his fingers. It looked like sandpaper.

He didn’t want to eat it.

The therapist was looking at him. She was probably talking to him too, asking him questions about his day. But Danny ignored her. After all, didn’t he need to eat this lunch? How could he possibly eat and talk at the same time?

The teens were talking around him, but Danny blocked them all out too.

They were noisy.

It was like they weren’t even there.

Danny wasn’t human. He didn’t care.

But you do care.

He didn’t.

He was numb.

Eat up like a good little dog.

I’m not a dog.

Something inside him snapped, and he yanked on his cold core, channeling all his energy to his fingertips. His fingers tingled out of the tangible field, and the sandwich fell to the table.

“Whoa!” The blonde girl jumped, her eyes trained on Danny’s transparent skin.

“Danny?”

There was an audience. Danny had forgotten about them. His core faltered, and the power faded from his fingertips.

He should have felt embarrassed by this emotional display. He should have felt horrified that he’d allowed himself to act so inhuman and disgusting in front of these innocent bystanders.

But he was still numb.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was bored.”

“That was sick!” the brunette boy chimed in. “You can do that on command?”

“Usually.” Danny’s gaze flickered over to the therapist, who was giving him a strange look. He turned his attention back to the fallen sandwich.

Maybe he would get kicked out of the program for this. For being too dangerous. That would probably be for the better. Then he could go free into the world. No more schedule, no more therapy, no more dissecting his emotions or talking about his trauma.

Who cared about his trauma, anyway? Certainly not him.

“So you still have your ghost powers, then?” the blonde girl asked. “People were saying online that you lost them. The government took them or whatever.”

Danny brought his hand up to his face, willing his fingers to fade to invisibility. “They’re locked. But...I...they’re there. I’ll get them back.”

He would get them back. He needed them.

Especially now.

Which was how he found himself sitting quietly outside his mother’s door. Waiting. He should have knocked probably, but he didn’t. Couldn’t. He didn’t know why, he knew he should just go back to his room, go to sleep, stop bothering his parents about this, but he needed his core back.

His mom would understand. She was a ghost biology expert, right? She would get why he needed his core back now.

He raised his fist to knock, but he must have already knocked before because the door opened, revealing his mother dressed in teal pajamas on the other side.

“Danny?” She frowned, her brows pulling cautiously above her eyes. “What are you doing up, sweetie? Everything alright?”

“I, uh—” His voice was scratchy. He broke eye contact, staring down at his lap. “My—my core.”

“Something wrong?”

He licked his lips, his mouth dry. “I need it back.”

“Sweetheart,” she said in a patient tone. “We talked about this.”

“No. you talked.”

She sighed. “Danny, it’s nearly eleven. Can’t this wait till morning?”

“No. No. I need it.”

“I told you, hun, your core and body need time to heal properly first before we make any drastic changes to your physiology. Just give it a few more weeks, alright?”

“Weeks?” Danny’s voice rose in alarm.

“I promise it’ll be all worth it.”

Static rang in his ears, and a steel claw clutched at his stomach.

His mom didn’t understand. Why would she? She was human. Humans would never get it. She didn’t understand.

“No, I can’t…”

“Danny, you need to trust me. Your body needs to rest.”

“You don’t understand.”

She regarded him for a moment before opening her door fully. “Why don’t you come in and we can talk, then. You can tell me why this is so important to you.”

Danny peered inside the door, at the surprisingly average-looking bedroom before him. He could go in, tell his mother just how wrong he felt cut off from his core, how he was being blackmailed by Vlad, how there was a distinct record of every detail of what the Guys in White had done to him, how he had never felt so defenseless, so vulnerable in his life.

But he wouldn’t, and he knew he couldn’t. There was no way he could put it all into words. He was a ghost, she was a human. He couldn’t explain this to her.

Skulker and Vlad may have forced his revelation, but they gave him more secrets than he could ever have dreamt of handling.

Danny turned away. “It’s fine. Good night.”

“Hun…”

“Night, Mom.”

There was a tense silence before Maddie finally relented. “I love you, Danny.”

“You too,” he said reflexively. The words tasted sour on his tongue.

She didn’t understand. If she truly loved him, she would give him his core back right now, but she didn’t.

No, he was just being paranoid. This was just his Obsession talking. He didn’t need his core, he was just as much human as he was ghost. So what if he had to be a little more human for the next few weeks? Isn’t that what he’d always wanted?

To just be a regular human?

Maybe that was what his mother wanted. Maybe that was why she was postponing removing the chip. Maybe she was too afraid to see her son as a monster. A ghost.

But that was crazy. She loved him.

She was telling the truth.

His parents accepted him.

---

“You seem quiet today.”

Danny leaned back against the sofa, his arms crossed and his eyes looking anywhere but at the blonde figure sitting before him. The stress ball sat untouched on the table next to him.

He didn’t feel like doing therapy today. He didn’t want to talk.

His mom was human, his therapist was human. No one was going to get it.

“What’s on your mind, Danny?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

He was fine. There was nothing to talk about. Even if there were things to talk about—and there weren’t, this was all just his Obsession going haywire—it wouldn’t matter anyway because he was defenseless and the government was going to kidnap him again. It was only a matter of time.

“You finished your first week with the PHP group today, right? How has that been going?”

“Fine.”

“Can you tell me about some of the activities you’ve been doing?”

“I don’t know.”

She sat there for a moment, as if giving him time to elaborate. But Danny wasn’t going to elaborate. He didn’t feel like talking today.

He looked out the window. The leaves had changed color, the ripe greens fading to yellows, oranges, and reds. In another few weeks, the ground would be littered with fallen leaves.

Summer had barely just begun when he was dragged from his house, drugged, and locked away. And yet, even though his entire world had come to a halt, time still moved on.

The clatter of the therapist’s clipboard falling on a side table jolted Danny out of his musing. He flinched, his eyes snapping over to see the therapist rising from her chair.

She stretched her arms behind her back and walked over to the closet. “You know what? It’s been a long day. Wanna play a game?”

“Um...are we allowed to do that?”

“I don’t see why not.” She grabbed a box out of the closet and placed it down in the center of the room.

Danny peered at it in confusion. “Jenga? Of—of all the games out there, you’re really gonna make me...make me get on the floor for Jenga?”

“Oh, come on, it’s fun.”

“You must throw some wild parties,” he remarked, rolling his eyes. Nonetheless, he slid off the couch and slowly scooched himself towards the middle of the room. As long as he didn’t have to explain why he was two seconds away from ripping his own core out of his chest, he would go along with whatever game she threw at him.

The therapist carefully tipped the box upside down, sliding the lid up to reveal a tower of multi-colored wooden tiles jigsawed together.

“So here’s our marvelous tower,” she said. “You can reach that alright?”

“Yeah.”

“So normal Jenga rules. We switch off trying to remove a piece without causing the tower to collapse. Except, for this game, after you remove a piece, you’re going to pick a card from this stack—” She pointed to a deck of large cards set up next to the Jenga tower. “—and then answer the question on the card that’s the same color. So if I take a purple tile out, I’ll answer the purple question on the card. Got it?”

Danny glanced between the cards and his therapist’s eager face. He was fairly certain Jenga never involved a set of cards before.

Maybe he’d forgotten the rules. It wouldn’t have been the first time his brain had betrayed him. “Am I being quizzed?”

“Don’t worry.” She pushed up the sleeves of her blue cardigan. “They’re just basic therapy questions. Nothing too bad.”

No. This was a trick, wasn’t it? To get him to talk?

He wasn’t going to fall for it. “I thought we weren’t—weren’t doing that...today.”

“The questions aren’t too deep. Honestly, I mostly just use this game as an icebreaker for new clients. But Jenga’s pretty fun all the same.”

He must have still looked too suspicious, because she threw him an easy smile and went, “Here, I’ll go first.” She carefully nudged a green tile out of the stack and drew a card. “Okay, so the green question on here says, ‘Describe yourself in three words.’ Well, I’d say I’m kind, I think I’m rather nerdy, and I’m a bit of a cat lady.”

That...wasn’t so bad. Maybe this would be an easy game.

He doubted any of the questions asked him about his core. Maybe he could loosen up a bit, go along with this icebreaker game, if only for an hour before sinking back into his internal panic.

“Cat lady?” he tried.

She chuckled. “I’m surprised that’s never come up! I have two at home.”

Right, his therapist had a life outside of therapy. Outside of his problems.

But it wasn’t like he knew her name. At this point, it was just too embarrassing to ask. Maybe she had told him that she had cats, and he just couldn’t remember. Maybe he would forget it again tomorrow.

Whatever. It was fine. He couldn’t care about things he didn’t remember. “Uh…” Danny pushed a purple tile out of the tower. “So I just pick up a—um, a card?”

“Yup, and read the purple question.”

Danny looked down at his card and rolled his eyes. “Oh, figures. ‘If you had superpowers, what would they be?’ Well, I’m dead. Does being dead count?”

She laughed, her voice light and airy. “Of all the questions, huh? Okay, let’s modify this a bit. If you could only keep one of your powers, which would you take?”

“Probably intangibility,” Danny said, his lack of hesitation surprising him.

“Oh? Why?”

“Well…” He rubbed the back of his neck. Where the chip was. “It’s the most useful, isn’t it? I can just...you know...I have no physical stuff in my way. I can just phase through any—anything I need. Or—no. Almost anything.”

Not shields. Those could still trap him.

Thankfully, she didn’t try to pry further, just offering him a kind nod and a “that makes sense” before pushing out another Jenga tile. “Blue! Alright, my question is, ‘What is your favorite feature about yourself?’ Hmm...that’s a bit tough, isn’t it? But I think my favorite thing about myself is my hair. When I was a teen, I used to straighten my hair, but then when I got to college, I stopped doing that and just let it be. Now I quite like my curly hair. Okay, your turn!”

“Okay.” Danny leaned over and pushed a red tile out of the tower. “Okay...my quest—question is…‘What is your biggest hope for your future?’ Oh...”

He did want to be an astronaut. But that was before, when he was still human. And then he was caught between thousands of volts of ecto-electricity and that future vanished right before his eyes.

What did he want to do with his life? What did he hope would happen?

He wanted his core back. He couldn’t let himself be so vulnerable for much longer. His chest felt like it was tearing itself apart, he needed to—

Breathe. And answer the question.

What did he hope for his future?

“I don’t know. My future’s kinda...ruined, isn’t it?”

“Try to think on a smaller scale.”

“I…” Danny ran a hand through his hair. He wanted his core back, he wanted to be Phantom, he wanted to protect Amity Park. But he couldn’t say that. It made him sound too ghostly. Too inhuman.

Humans didn’t have these kinds of otherworldly desires. She would think he was a freak if he told her. She wouldn’t know how to react.

“I want to finish PT.”

“That’s a good goal to have.”

“Your turn.”

Humming, she nudged a tile out of the Jenga tower and flipped over a card. “Okay, my question is, ‘What is something you were worried about when you were younger?’ Let me think…oh, here’s one. When I was young, my older sister moved out to live with her boyfriend. It was really scary because I had never lived without her, but we kept in touch and everything turned out okay.”

“I haven’t either. Lived away from Jazz I mean. Like—like for real. But she’s going to college next—next semester. I think she, uh...deferred a semester.”

“And you know, it’s common to feel worried about a sibling moving out. Periods of transition in life can be the most stressful for us, but it’s important to recognize that things will be okay.”

Danny looked down at the carpet. “I guess.”

Some days it felt like Jazz was the only one truly on his side. He was a lab rat, too well known and too hated to ever have a future, forever condemned to a vicious cycle of evading people like the Guys in White and Vlad for the rest of his life. Jazz was leaving him in a few months, his friends would follow in a few years, and in the end, Danny would be alone.

But he was fine with that. He’d accepted it. It was just his life now, there was nothing to say about it.

“It’s my turn, isn’t it?”

“Yup! Go right ahead.”

Danny removed another tile. “‘How do you think others view you and why?’” He paused, throwing the therapist a bitter look. “This is rigged.”

“Not rigged, that’s just a very lucky pick.”

“Lucky to who?” Danny groaned.

What was with the universe finding new ways to torment him?

“Humor me,” the therapist said patiently.

Danny glared at his card, tapping his fingers against the edge. It wasn’t like the public opinion of him was exactly a secret, but it still hurt. Constantly. Like some scab he kept telling himself to ignore, but ignoring it was impossible because the public would never leave him alone.

“Not good,” Danny muttered. “People hate me.”

“Being in the public eye is very stressful for anyone, but to be unique in your way adds on an entirely different layer. People are afraid of the things they don’t understand, and that makes them forget that at the end of the day, you’re still a person.”

“Yeah.” Danny’s eyes were trained on the colorful tower before him, which was starting to blur as the prickling behind his eyes increased. He ducked his head and blinked, hoping to save face before it was too late.

“That doesn’t mean everyone feels this way, though. But sometimes it can feel that way to you because the ones who are the most afraid, the most hateful, are the loudest voices in the crowd. But remember, Danny, you won that court case for a reason. You have more people on your side than you think.”

“I won it for now, you mean. I don’t...I don’t think…” His voice failed, and he pressed his fingernails into his palms. He took a few shaky breaths. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Danny. Why don’t we talk about the case for a minute?”

Tucker’s words echoed in his head, how it was televised. How millions of people all around the globe probably tuned in for it, or watched streams online, each person with their own opinion of him.

But he didn’t want to think about that right now.

“No,” he said. “Can we—can we just continue the game?”

“If you’re not ready to talk about it, then that’s okay. Thank you for letting me know.”

“It’s your turn.”

“Alright.” She pushed a block out of the tower. “So...alright, my question is, ‘What memory do you treasure the most?’ To that, I think fishing with my dad as a child. He was a big support for me when I was growing up, and I really valued our times fishing together as important bonding moments for us.”

Danny nodded politely, trying his best to not appear like he was counting down the seconds until therapy was over.

He could feel his emotions building inside him, threatening to topple the carefully constructed dam guarding his secrets. This was such a simple game, these were such simple questions, so why did he feel like he was failing?

He pushed out a Jenga tile—a red tile—from the tower and grabbed a card, scanning the questions until he found the red one.

What are you afraid of?

The words echoed back to him, and he pushed the card away. He didn’t want to look at it, he didn’t want to read those words or hear her voice because saying the question would mean he would have to talk and he only agreed to this stupid game to get out of talking.

There was so much he was afraid of that he had no right to be afraid of. Because he deserved this. Getting revealed was his fault, he was being reckless. He deserved all of it.

The experiments with the Guys in White. The pain, the way his skin was torn apart. How they threw him in a vat of ectoplasm the next day to heal, and how the ectoplasm entering his lungs made him feel like he was drowning because even though ghosts didn’t need to breathe, he still used those organs reflexively as Phantom. But he was in too much pain and his brain was too hazy to fight back. He could only sink into the darkness.

The red bag. The way it tasted, smelled, how it haunted him every day and how he revisited those moments every night in his dreams. How he would wake up each day and the drawer on his nightstand would be shimmering in the morning sun, as if tempting him to open it up, grab the bottle inside, let it help just for one day. It can take the edge off, he can be functional. Who cares if he’s cheating? It’s just for a day...

The public. The people. Their judgments, their words. How he was, on a molecular level, so vastly different from them. How he could never be the same. He would never have a normal life, he could never have a normal job, a normal family, normal friendships, ever again. There would always be something there, something alien between them.

Even between him and his best friends. There was just something... different ever since the portal accident. It had brought them closer together, sure, but in other ways it had also driven an invisible wedge between them. Because Danny would always have his powers, he would always be a half ghost, and there would always be things now that Sam and Tucker would never understand.

How much would change now? Now that he was in the public eye, now that he’d gone through government torture? Now that his brain didn’t work the same?

And his core. His humanity. Why were his parents so apprehensive about it?

What are you afraid of?

Why wouldn’t his parents let him down into the lab? What were they hiding? They said his core was damaged, but it had been months since he was ripped open. His surgical damage had healed, his broken bones were back to normal, and even though his nerve endings in his chest and spine were still fried, they had been slowly mending themselves too.

Ectoplasm healed faster than human physiology. His core should have been fine by now.

What was the truth?

“They accept me,” Danny said automatically.

“Who does?”

Who accepted him?

Sam and Tucker did.

His family…

Did they?

“I don’t know.”

“You have people in your corner, Danny. Your parents, your sister, your close friends. They all care about you. We’re all here for you, even if those loud voices in the public tell you otherwise.”

But if they cared...

“Then why won’t they let me have my core back?”

“Your core?”

“My powers. My ghostliness. Ectoplasm.” Danny let his eyes flair to emphasize his point.

If his therapist was scared of his otherworldly display, she didn’t show it. Instead, she continued to look at him with her neutral expression, free of the judgment he’d come to expect from people since the accident.

And for some reason he couldn’t explain, that irritated him.

“You mean the inhibitor chip?” she asked.

“Yes. They told me it was because my core...it was damaged but—but it doesn’t make sense! It doesn’t...”

“Have you talked to them about this?”

Of course he had. They kept repeating that his core was damaged. And they were probably right—for a time, at the very least. But that was months ago.

Why hadn’t they scanned his core recently? Shouldn’t they be happy to learn it was healed? Shouldn’t that make them relieved?

What were they afraid of?

What are you afraid of?

“Do you think it would be helpful if I talked to your mother about this?” asked the therapist. “As a way to introduce the topic? She likely doesn’t know how much it’s bothering you.”

But that didn’t make sense either because Danny brought his core up every day. His parents knew how much it was bothering him. They had to have known, right?

So why were they doing this to him?

What were they hiding?

What are you afraid of?

---

Danny tried to remember a time where walking from his living room to his kitchen didn’t require a list of steps to be taken beforehand—a time where he could just get up and walk. But those memories were far too distant now.

And besides, this was his reality now. A reality where something as simple as walking made his head spin.

He shouldn’t dwell on the memories of how easy it used to be for him, he shouldn’t have snapped at Jazz for getting a cup of water for him because he knew the glasses were too high to reach from his wheelchair, he shouldn’t allow this irrational anger to overtake him every time the creeping anxiety of his future as Amity Park’s ghost hero came into question.

He just needed to focus on where he was now. Curled up on his couch avoiding his parents.

Everything felt wrong this morning when he woke up. For a moment, he had managed to convince himself that he was just being paranoid. That it was just his damaged nerve endings freaking out as normal. That once he took his medication, his problems would go away.

But they didn’t. He still felt wrong. His chest still felt wrong.

It was manifesting in other ways too. He couldn’t walk as long today at PT. His physical therapist told him it was just a bad day and that his body was probably just tired from his busy week. But Danny knew that wasn’t right.

It had nothing to do with him being tired. He wasn’t sick. He wasn’t anxious.

His core was the problem. His parents were the problem.

He tried asking about his core again on the way home from PT, using conversation techniques he went over with his therapist at the end of their last appointment, but Maddie just brushed him off. Said they would talk about it later.

But then later came and...she didn’t.

Danny tried asking his father, but he brushed Danny off too. Said Danny needed to focus on healing first.

But how was he supposed to heal when he was missing half of himself?

He felt wrong. So wrong. His body was too bound by gravity, it was too empty, it wasn’t listening to him.

He pressed his palms into his forehead. His hands were clammy. Shaking. Speckles of cold touched them—or was that his tears? Was he crying?

No.

He pressed the heel of his hands into his eyes. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting this way?

The government had him in a cage. They tormented him in ways he would rather die than live through again. But then it ended, and he was freed. He was allowed to go home, he could live his life as a legal person again.

Except, he wasn’t free. Not at all. He was still trapped here in Amity, in his house, in his body. He had no control. Not over what he ate, when he slept, where he went, what he could say, what he could think.

Half of him was still locked up tight with no hope of escape.

His water glass was empty. It would have been too embarrassing to ask someone to help him, but he was so thirsty and dehydrated and he just really needed this to work. He needed his body to respond to him. For one moment, please, just let his body respond.

Gripping the water cup in one hand and his walker in the other, he tried to stand, to walk over to the kitchen sink. But balancing everything was so difficult, his body was still fatigued from PT, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to do it but he just needed to try.

But he couldn’t do it in the end. The cup slipped out of his hand and tumbled onto the carpet, thankfully saved from shattering on impact by some last shred of luck the universe decided to pity him with.

And now Danny too was on the floor because he couldn’t bend down to pick the cup back up like a normal person, and he didn’t want to call for help, and he couldn’t use any of his powers, and he felt so trapped. So helpless. So vulnerable.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it was too stubborn and he was too useless.

A tear splattered against his hand, and he gripped the floor, his body trembling.

“Stop crying. Stop it.” he hissed.

He was weak.

Plasmius, once nearly his equal, had so severely overpowered him the other night. It was embarrassing. On the hierarchy of ghosts, where was he now? At the bottom with the blob ghosts?

But those ghosts could still fly. They could still turn intangible. Things that Danny couldn’t even do.

Hell, he was so weak that even the Box Ghost could defeat him now.

“Stop crying.”

He crawled back to the couch, the thought of getting water abandoned on the floor along with the last semblance of his dignity. Another tear fell from his cheek, and he desperately tried to ignore it, ignore his dry throat, ignore the pain in his chest, ignore his core and the Y-scar on his body and his new place in the ghost hierarchy as lower than dirt, ignore everything. Just focus on getting back to the couch. Shut down, go numb.

He was fine, he was okay.

He just needed to push through this. Just toughen up, quit whining. Life wasn’t fair. So what if he was now just a regular human? Hadn’t he been human for the first fourteen years of his life? He needed to suck it up.

Dragging himself back onto the safety of the couch cushions, he pulled one of Jazz’s throw blankets around his body and pressed a pillow into his face.

Never in his life had he been so tempted to scream, to curse, to finally let the last brick fall and allow hell to break loose. But his parents were in the basement, Jazz was upstairs, and he was fine.

He was fine.

---

Huge thank you to tumblr user and writer @imekitty for proofreading this chapter. She’s amazing and I owe her my life.

And as always, thanks for reading!

---

#danny phantom #everything was white #chapter 12 #my writing #fanfiction #phiccs #danny has A Bad Time

70 notes · View notes

char-lotta · 3 years

Text

Forget me not (Part 2/3)

Pairing: Jake x MC

Words: 2,8 k

Summary: Forgetting is hard, but forgiving is harder.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

A/N: See the ending (spoilers)

Forget me not, part two

It had been two days since you had figured out her plan of going to Duskwood. You had tried to follow up on her, spying on her friend’s phones, but oh boy, she was smart. There was absolutely nothing suspicious on the message and call logs and they wouldn’t give away her location. You had logged on the traffic camera near Jessy’s, but it showed only her getting out of her apartment and going in, and occasionally Richy with her. Cleo’s door could be seen partly on CCTV of bakery shop near her, and you could confirm yourself that she wasn’t there either. One by one, you ruled out everyone she knew in Duskwood, even that disgusting fuckboy Phil, who seemed to have two girlfriends at the time. You couldn’t resist and sent an image of Phil and the blonde girl to the third wheel via anonymous text and entertain yourself looking the rage-filled texts for a while. MC’s phone was still turned off and hadn’t been on since her departure. She wasn’t on motel’s guest lists, but you had your doubts about using aliases, so you checked on the CCTV on motel’s parking lot. Nothing. Like the earth had swallowed her.

You stared numb on your screen. You had turned every stone to find her and now you had to just admit it, you had no idea where she was and why she had left. That was actually none of your business, you had to remind yourself, but how could you keep her safe in the future if you didn’t know her whereabouts?There was only one option and you knew it. Few clicks later and you received a now familiar message:

Thank you for booking your trip to Duskwood from us!

You decided early on that you would avoid meeting her directly with all costs. You just had to see her in your own eyes that she was alright and figure out some data so you could keep track on her later. You packed lightly, just your laptop and some clothes and left your safehouse with a doubt in your mind. You had this terrible feeling that something bad was about to happen and you didn’t have a clue, what it could be.

The train left on time and you looked out of the window in the darkness. It would be middle of the night when you arrived, and you hoped that the night would cover you for unwanted attention that your arrival could rise. You checked on your phone once again and saw that she was still offline. You scrolled your ridiculous short lists of conversations; MC, Lilly and Hannah and all of them were from months ago. You wondered if you should send a text to Lilly and Hannah but terminated it quickly. This mess didn’t need any more participants that it already had.“The Duskwood Express will arrive on platform 2 – “

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

You tossed your backpack on the comfy looking bed and looked around you. This motel room was too familiar from the time you had searched Hannah and it brought some painful memories to you. You remembered all those texts with MC in this room, how it had brightened your mood instantly when you had opened the messaging app and saw MC’s enthusiastic texts about the investigation. She had teased and pushed your buttons many times with those cheeky messages of hers, and you would do anything to get back of those times, where it was almost carefree. She, or anyone else had had no idea, that you had stayed in Duskwood all that time, monitoring closely everything that happened.

You allowed your mind return of that one night, when you met MC first time after Hannah had been found and you had instantly clicked with her, to the point where you completed each other’s sentences at first night so easily, that you thought that you had knew her long time. When she laughed and it had sounded like little birds in the spring, and it reminded you of a small, happy river with easy flow. When she made you laugh with her and it was the easiest thing you had ever done, felt like a different life now and was a fade memory now. You had touched her gently and her skin was so soft that your fingers slide like a good dream on the back of hers. When she kissed you and you forgot everything else in the world and drowned in those lips like a leaf in the open sea. Your sweaty bodies together naked on the bed, exploring all places and surfaces on your bodies. Sound of her moaning and calling your name, over and over again and it was the sweetest thing what your ears had heard. You inside of her.

You couldn’t breathe and opening a window felt the most logical thing to do. Spring breeze welcomed your face and you tried to calm down from the emotional rollercoaster you had spent your last 15 minutes on. You suddenly felt very tired, like you hadn’t slept on months, which were kind of true. Exhaustion overtook you, and you turned off the light, drifting to a world with full of nightmares.When you woke up, it was still dark and you had to think for a while, where the hell you were. Recalls from last night came like a car accident – quickly and violent, and you had to close your eyes again to get rid of the absolute horror what flooded you.

It took few minutes until you calmed down and turned the light on. Still groggy from the sleep, you brushed your teeth and made coffee in the small kitchenette. You had a feeling that you would need a lot of coffee to survive for the day.

You made logical assumptions that she would be with her friends, why else she would had come here? Jessy was her best friend, but she was close to Lilly and Hannah too, so you divided your screen with three tracking programs and one by one, the CCTV near them opened in the screen.

Now you waited them to woke up and start their day.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The GPS tracker on Lilly’s phone showed her to be heading to downtown. You followed her steps via your monitor and pulled every single camera on that route to see what she was up to. She was alone and clearly in a good mood. Small smile crept up on your lips when you watched her, you were glad that she was doing okay.

She arrived on the local Tesco and after a while, she came out with a bag of groceries. You waited her return to her apartment, but she took a left turn from the road, which was new. Interested, you zoomed in with the camera and saw her going in a building near the town square. You waited for several minutes, but she didn’t come out and then you knew it.

You had found her.

You had your confirmation in hour later when they both came out from the building. They were laughing together, and you could see from afar, that MC was teasing Lilly about something, since she looked joyful and Lilly rather morbid. You recognized her mood quite well. You looked MC like you were enchanted, forget to breath and all you could see was her. She had cut her hair shorter; it was above her shoulders now and all slightly curly, and you actually liked it. She could also shave her whole head, and you would still like it. She was wearing a loose cardigan and jeans and those red shoes, which you had teased her as belonging to Dorothy from Oz. She looked happy and safe.

And that was all that mattered.

You allowed yourself to look at her for a minute and then you turned the screen off. Your work here was done; now you knew where she lived and could see her on street cameras, and you would find her new phone number based on address easily. You packed your things and booked a ticket for evening train, so you could leave Duskwood for good. When all the errands were done and train was leaving in a few hours, you laid on your back on the bed and looked your phone. One thought had invaded your head and you couldn’t get rid of it.

But why had she moved to Duskwood?

You tried to be reasonable, she had friends here. But she had had friends too in the city she previously lived and a decent job, why would she leave those? Her parents were long gone but she had said that her friend had been her family for years now. Her actions didn’t make any sense now, like they often didn’t. Like you had said to her in the early beginning, that she was so mysterious and intriguing, and she was proving your point efficiently here. There must be a reason, why she would leave her previous life behind. You took your phone in your hands and looked it suspiciously. You checked that Lilly was now alone in her home. After a few minutes’ serious consideration, you opened the messages and typed.

Jake: Hello, Lilly.

She answered quickly, like she always did.

Lilly: Oh no, no, no

You weren’t surprised for her answer, since you knew that they probably had talked about you a lot with MC. And she was the one, who didn’t have great things to say about your actions, so you doubted that she anything positive to say about you.

Jake: I need to ask you a favor.

Lilly: No.

Jake: Tell me, why did MC move to Duskwood?

You decided to get straight to the point, since circling the matter wasn’t going to get you anywhere. You saw her typing instantly and then erasing it. You had to wait a quite long time that she composed a whole message, and it wasn’t enjoyable to read.

Lilly: Why on earth do you think you had right to know? Why are you so intrusive about this, since you dumped her? She’s trying to manage that you left her and honestly Jake, I thought you were better.

You read those lines and felt offended, she was being unreasonable. She didn’t even know why you had left MC, but people broke up every day and usually their families were supportive.

Jake: I am sorry to hear that. But she does have friends, and you all have shown me your friendliness towards her many times before. She will overcome this.

Lilly: How do you overcome something that she will never be able to forget?

Jake: She will forget me.

You saw her writing again and composing a message for a long time. You felt frustrated and started to regret approaching Lilly, since this was going nowhere.

Lilly: I can not say anything else to you or tell the reasons why she is here, but you should have listened her when she said she needed to talk. All I am saying that you need to talk to her yourself if you want answers. And trust me, you definitely want to hear them.

Now you were just confused, why Lilly couldn’t tell you what you were asking for? You tried to ask her again, but she just stayed offline and that was probably intentional. You looked the time and noticed your train would leave in half an hour and the next train would leave tomorrow.

You knew that you couldn’t go without an answer and you wouldn’t get them at the safehouse from her. Frustrated, you threw your backpack on the floor and left the motel room.

It was raining so much that you had trouble at seeing in front of you. You arrived her buildings door quicker than you had thought, and half of the trip were forgotten in your mess of thoughts. You had absolutely no plan how to deal with this situation since you didn’t want to be seen but she lived on the second floor. There was light coming from the window, which means she was still awake. You wondered could you climb up to her balcony, when you heard way too familiar noise behind your back.

“If you are thinking about spying me without my consent, think again”, she said coldly. You turned around and saw her standing right in front of you. “Lilly told me that you might pay me a visit”, she continued.

There was nothing coming out of your mouth, not even a simple “hello”. You realized that you had made a terrible mistake and nothing, absolutely nothing, had gone according to your lousy plan. All you could do, was to stare her.

“Yeah, I didn’t think that you would had anything to say either”, she sneered, and you felt a sting in your heart when she talked like that to you. “You’re satisfied when everyone plays by your rules, but tables have turned, my love.”

My love. Not ever those two words had said so bitter tone and never would you thought that you wouldn’t want to hear her say them to you. You stared her plainly and tried to figure a way out of this situation. Talking to her would be a great mistake, and you didn’t know if you two were being watched.

“What makes you think I would like you to play by my rules?” You rudely asked. You hated to talk to her like this, but you couldn’t allow her to get hopes up in vain. This situation was so bizarre and this hostile character of hers felt as stranger to you. The next thing you were going to say, would be just plain evil.

“As I recall, I didn’t want you to be part of my life anymore.”

She looked hurt and tears had filled her eyes. You felt guilt instantly rushing in on you and felt ashamed. Your purpose here wasn’t to hurt her more, but everything you did and said just made things worse.

“I am sorry, MC” you said in a raspy voice. “I will go now, and we will never meet again. I should have not come.” The rain poured harder than ever, and you started to get cold and could see that she was shivering too. Somewhere afar you could hear thunderstorm approaching and you wanted her to get in before she would catch a cold.

“Go home, MC”, you said and felt exhausted again. She looked so fragile when looking at you and all you wanted was to pull her close to you and keep her warm. She only had her cardigan as protecting her from the rain and the wind. You let your eyes wander on her; she was so vivid when you saw her in your own eyes without the screen in between. The new haircut was now wet, and you followed the raindrops on her skin to her neck and cleavage. Her hands were crossed tightly on her front and you remembered those long fingers caressing your back, writing letters while you were guessing what she was trying to type.

Then you saw it; first you thought the lightning had done it tricks to you and you squinted your eyes, trying to see it again. She moved her right hand to tuck hair strand behind her ear and then you just knew that you had fucked up. Fucked up really good this time.

Everything stopped; you couldn’t see the darkness anymore or feel cold, clock didn’t move, and sense of rush flooded in your veins, tingling all your fingers and toes. Adrenalin came like a shockwave and almost knocked you over. You tried to say something, but the words got lost in the way. You opened your mouth, trying to form questions but nothing came out. With quick steps you walked to her and got a tight grip from her cardigan and tried to pull it open.

“What the fuck, Jake” she flinched and tried to take a few steps back while pushing you away, but your hands didn’t ease on her, keeping her on place. “Let go of me!”

In normal situation you would had let go on her instantly when she asked. But now you didn’t care, you had to see it thoroughly in your own eyes. You ripped her cardigans buttons open and there it was. Something heavy sank in your stomach and you felt panic arising inside of you; your sight begun to look a place to escape, and you wanted so badly this to be dream. But no matter how hard you tried to wake up, it was still there, under the ridiculous looking flowery shirt.

A bump.

You looked her bewildered. I swear to you God, if you ever have existed, it is a great time to do some favors. But nothing happened, the rain, the wind and she were still there, just a few inches away from you. You could feel her hot breath in your skin, and it felt like a getting third-degree burn. She saw from your face that you knew and sighted heavily.

“Well, I tried to tell you. I really did.”

And the world went black in your eyes.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I'm usually very reserved towards the pregnancies in fanfiction, I don't know why. But this idea came to me and I couldn't get rid of it so here we are. I'm trying to keep Jake and MC on character still, let me know what do you think. :)

#duskwood jake x mc #duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood fanfiction #everbyte duskwood #jake x mc #jake x player #jake x reader

118 notes · View notes

duelistkingdom · 3 years

Text

you’d come back to me

chapter fifteen: romance

[first chapter] [previous chapter] [master list] [next chapter] [read on ao3]

Summary: Seto Kaiba has been presumed dead for four years after the events of Dark Side of Dimensions. His return causes both unresolved feelings of grief to be brought to the surface and the past to be dragged right back up. In hopes of helping Seto move on and reintegrate back into society at large, Mokuba asks Yugi to work on Spherium II with Seto. Never one to leave a friend hanging, Yugi agrees. Over the course of the project, Seto and Yugi both come to terms with their mutual grief and grow towards a better understanding of each other.

Rating: T

Ships: Yugi Mutou/Seto Kaiba, Mokuba Kaiba/Rebecca Hopkins, Katusya Jonouchi/Mai Kujaku

Warnings: aged up characters, grief, references to suicide

consider supporting me on kofi / battle city tiers & above get first access to chapters!

Seto had never really had time for romance before. He’d always had some sort of project and some reason to put it off. It had been easier to avoid dating when no one ever really appealed as someone to have around Mokuba. Between his duty to Kaiba Corp and Mokuba, Seto had dozens of reasons to not date. Now he had none of those reasons. He was starting to find that he actually liked going on dates with Yugi. Most of the time Yugi would take him to dinner. This time, Yugi had asked him to go to a concert with him. Seto had been tempted to turn down the offer simply because the idea of being near people in a standing only capacity gave him hives. Yugi, however, had predicted this and said they had seats.

On the day of the concert, however, Yugi had abruptly said that he needed to get his camera from his childhood bedroom. “Why didn’t you get it before?”

“Forgot about it til now,” Yugi said with a shrug as they entered the Kame Game Shop. Instead of Suguroko, a woman was there with an apron on. “Hi, mom. This is my boyfriend, Seto. Seto, my mom, Yui Mutou. Mom, I thought grandpa was supposed to be working today?”

Seto would have expected that this was a ruse to introduce him to his mother if it wasn’t for that last sentence. Regardless, Seto stiffened as Yui’s eyes went wide. “He was,” she said as she stepped out from behind the counter. It struck Seto how almost everyone in the Mutou family was short. This woman could not have been more than 5’5”. “I wish I’d known you boys were coming over! I would’ve had snacks!”

“There’s no need,” Seto said as Yugi bound up the stairs, leaving Seto behind to fumble with Yui on his own. “We are merely here to pick up a camera from Yugi’s room.”

“Oh,” Yui exclaimed, looking a little embarrassed. “You should probably go tell Yugi that his grandfather took it for repairs. I’ll find another camera for him to use. Oh, also, you two absolutely have to come over again tomorrow. I’ll make dinner and we can get to know each other! I’ll make sure Shogi is here so he can meet you as well.”

Seo was grateful for the excuse to follow Yugi up the stairs, not bothering to wonder who Shogi might be. He supposed in addition to telling Yugi about the camera, he should tell Yugi that his mother wanted the two of them over for dinner. Following Yugi up the stairs of the Kame Game shop felt strange. Partly because he’d never been this far in the shop and partly because it was so much smaller than he’d expected. His head almost grazed the top of the staircase. It was as if he was unwelcome in this home.

It was hitting Kaiba that he’d never actually been in this room. He was too tall for this room designed for someone who was under six foot. The bed looked as if it could barely contain Yugi now that he’d gotten taller than 5’5” and it was neatly made. Yugi turned to him, a raised brow and a look that Kaiba could finally read: vulnerability. “Sorry it’s not much,” Yugi said as he shrugged. “We only need to be here for a moment, anyway. I just… needed to get my camera before we go to the concert.”

Kaiba noted the photos of his friends on the pinboard. Anzu was the most prominent featured across all the photos and the second most prominent was Jonouchi. He noted that the youngest photo of Yugi featured Anzu and Yugi at some sort of playground that Kaiba was certain no longer existed. The photos where Anzu appeared to be about thirteen had Yugi starting to blush around her and Kaiba felt a stab of jealousy. He knew that Yugi had a crush on Anzu at one point but it was strange to see the proof in the photos. Jonouchi did not show up until Anzu appeared to be sixteen while Yugi still looked rather young.

In fact, the only way to date the photos was by how old Anzu was until the year the Pharaoh had left. “I didn’t realize you’d have so many photos in your room.”

Yugi shrugged as he looked around. “I guess I do have a lot of photos,” Yugi remarked, frowning as he stared at one that was clearly taken before the Pharaoh left. “It’s nice to hold memories to your chest, I guess.”

A stabbing ache entered his chest as he thought of the memories he had. Very few of them he’d considered worth preserving on a bedroom wall like this. “Interesting.” Then he remembered what he was here for. “Your mother said your grandfather took your camera for repairs. She’s getting you another camera to borrow.”

Yugi stopped looking through the draw and slammed it shut. “Wish she’d told me that before I started looking for that,” Yugi remarked. “Alright, then let’s go downstairs. Anything else I should know?”

Seto shifted awkwardly. “She also wants us to come over for dinner tomorrow.”

Yugi had explained that Shogi was the name of his father. Seto supposed he should have known that. Yugi had scoffed when Seto showed up to his apartment in pressed slacks and a button down shirt, remarking that he looked like a dork. Seto would have been more annoyed if it hadn’t led to Yugi reaching out to unbutton his shirt. “You’re just meeting my parents, not pitching a new Duel Disk,” Yugi said and it took everything Seto had to focus on what Yugi was saying. “You don’t need to dress for a board meeting.”

The shirt came off and Yugi handed Seto one of his black turtlenecks that he’d left here. “Isn’t this dirty?”

“Don’t worry, I made sure the clothes you left here got dry cleaned,” Yugi said as he tossed Seto a pair of pants that he’d left behind. “The ones that survived, anyway.”

A blush crept across his cheeks at the mere mention of what tended to happen to his clothes whenever he came over to Yugi’s place. Rather than comment, he instead shuffled off to change as Yugi called out that Seto could’ve changed in the living room. Absolutely not. It gave Seto a chance to think over what he was going to say and do when he met Yugi’s parents. How much of their past did they know? What did they know of the Millennium Puzzle and who had occupied it? He supposed the only way to know those answers would be to ask Yugi directly about it. He exited the bedroom, feeling rather dressed down to meet his boyfriend’s parents. “What do they know about the Puzzle, anyway?”

“Not much,” Yugi said with a shrug as he grabbed his wallet and keys. “They know that you’re why grandpa doesn’t have his Blue Eyes card anymore and they know that I did tournament circuits in high school. They also know grandpa and I went to Cairo in my senior year but they never asked why. I think they think that grandpa was just sharing his love of Egypt with me.”

“They don’t know anything about the Pharaoh?”

Yugi shook his head. “Never bothered to tell them,” he admitted as he led Seto back to his car. Despite everything, Yugi still insisted on driving himself instead of letting Isono drive. “I think they suspected that something was up… after Atem left but they’re under the impression it was simply a break up.”

A break up. Seto supposed it made sense that on top of what little he knew about Yugi that of course his relationship with the Pharaoh had been different from what he thought. He’d assumed Yugi had been irrelevant in the equation, that Yugi had merely been a vessel for the Pharaoh. The more Yugi talked about the Pharaoh, the more Seto realized that Yugi had been more involved than he’d previously thought. “I see.”

“I doubt it’ll come up,” Yugi said with a shrug as the car started. “You don’t have to worry about anything with my parents, I promise.”

Regardless, Seto remained nervous as they arrived at the Kame Game Shop. Instead of going in through the game shop part of the home, Yugi led him through a backdoor that opened into a tiled entryway. The two of them took off their shoes and Seto noted that none of the house slippers would fit him. The pair that apparently were used by Jonouchi was still just a bit too small, leaving his feet still hanging off. Once again, the home’s size was rather small and felt like it was trying to reject him.

The walls were constantly too close and he found himself bumping his elbows against a lot of things. It shouldn’t have been surprising to discover that Shogi Mutou was also short. In fact, Yugi was taller than his father. Shogi, for his part, seemed surprised to see Seto standing in front of him. “I see,” Shogi remarked. “When you said Seto, Yui, I wasn’t expecting it to be Seto Kaiba.”

Yui nudged Shogi with a roll of her eyes as the group sat down at the table. Seto didn’t bother to comment that he wasn’t bothered by Shogi’s reaction. It was entirely possible that most people did not expect a formerly dead CEO to be their son’s date. “Dad, please,” Yugi said and it struck Seto how much Yugi sounded as if he was still a teenager whenever he was around his parents. Was this the impact of parents? Did they make someone act younger? “Don’t embarrass me in front of my boyfriend.”

“Fine,” Shogi said with a grin and Seto saw exactly where Yugi got his smile from. “So you’re still working for Kaiba Corp, right? I heard your brother wouldn’t give you back the CEO position when you came back.”

Seto wasn’t expecting an immediate question on his line of work. “Mokuba felt that I was not yet prepared to return to work at full capacity,” Seto responded, figuring it would be better to not lie to Yugi’s parents. “Instead, he asked me to work with Yugi on Spherium II. I suppose it was to see how I could handle any level of workload.”

“You say that as if you didn’t attempt to stay late several days to work on Spherium II,” Yugi remarked and Seto noted the food in front of them. As Yui promised, it was clearly home cooked and Seto realized that Yugi must have learned to cook from her. He took an experimental bite. It was delicious. “And before you ask, dad, it’s in the beta phase. We’re hoping it’ll be ready for general public release next year. Mokuba and I have been talking about making sure that the Kame Game Shop gets exclusive first launch rights.”

“I’m sure our franchisers will be grateful to have access to such an exclusive launch,” Shogi remarked. “Have you talked to your grandfather about the display?”

“How many times do I have to tell you and Yugi no shop talk at dinner,” Yui said, sounding rather fond instead of truly angry. “Where’s Mokuba, by the way? I was hoping to see him again.”

“He’s having a date night with Rebecca,” Yugi remarked. “I’ll invite him and Rebbeca next time.”

Next time? As in, Yugi expected Seto to come to dinner with his parents again at some point in the future? Seto didn’t understand why Yugi would just assume that this was going to end well. Seto still wasn’t sure that this dinner wouldn’t go south. “Oh, good,” Yui said, looking rather pleased. “I’m glad Rebecca and Mokuba are still together. How is Rebecca’s studies going?”

“She’s hit a wall in her dissertation and has been talking it over with her postgrad supervisor,” Seto answered before Yugi could. “I don’t know why she’s so concerned about the contents of it, however. She’s concerned that the discussion of the AI that Duel Links runs might have been a topic someone else sniped. As if anyone else could understand it the way Rebecca and I do. Aside from that, she’s doing fine.”

If this was news to Yugi, he didn’t show it. “You’ve been helping her, then,” Yui asked. “That’s nice.”

Yugi rolled his eyes in response to that. “Well, Seto did build the entire AI for Duel Links,” Yugi remarked and for a minute, Seto thought he might bring up the AI version of the Pharaoh. Instead, Yugi had a grin on his face. “Makes sense that he’d be able to help Rebecca write a paper on the subject.”

It was strange how this conversation seemed on surface level to be rather low stakes. Nothing either Shogi nor Yui asked ever felt like it was out to get him. Despite this, Seto felt like he was being tested on something he had not prepared for. If Yugi’s parents didn’t like him, would Yugi break up with him? He had to impress Yugi’s parents, if not for the sake of his relationship with Yugi. His entire future with Yugi was at stake. Everything seemed to be going well until Suguroku showed up halfway through. “Sorry about being late,” he remarked, looking rather jovial. “You know how I get caught up with the slots at the casino.”

“Dad, you know how I feel about that joke,” Yui responded, her exasperated sounding voice not pairing right with the fond expression in her wide, soft eyes. “You should know better than to go to the casino.”

“Ah, it’s not gambling if I win,” Suguroku said, eyeing Seto with a twinkle in his eyes. Seto instantly thought back to how Suguroku had wiped the floor with Seto when playing poker. If there was anyone that could win at a casino, Seto would imagine it would have to be Suguroku. “Isn’t that right, Seto?”

Yugi looked embarrassed. “Grandpa, don’t tell me you swindled Seto out of his money.”

“Dad,” Yui said, looking shocked. “Did you play poker with Seto?”

“He’s a fantastic poker player,” Seto said, figuring that there was no point in hiding that Suguroku had indeed pulled one over on him. “I wasn’t expecting him to be that much of a challenge.”

“If you want another challenge, you know where to find me,” Suguroku said, looking rather gleeful. Seto was surprised to find that he did, in fact, want to try to beat Sugoroku again at his own game. “Don’t worry, Yui. I won’t ruin dinner by schooling Seto in the art of poker.”

“And yet no one seems to ever learn,” Shogi remarked. “You know, Seto, when I first met Suguroku, he immediately took all the money I was planning on using for my date with Yui in a game of poker. Instead of taking her to the movies as I planned, I wound up taking her to the park for a walk.”

Suguroku laughed as if this was a funny story. “Well, at least it proves you were good at thinking on your feet,” he added on. “Besides, Yui thought it was sweet!”

“I thought it was charming and unique,” Yui said, a fond look in her eyes. “I wouldn’t trade that first date for anything. Besides, you made up for it with the next date. He took me to this wonderful restaurant that served the best crab legs you’ll ever have.”

“See,” Suguroku said with a wink at Seto. “Always a second chance to make a better impression.”

There was something buried in that and Seto couldn’t understand it. Was Suguroku still angry with him for what had happened? No, that couldn’t be it. It was very clear that Suguroku was well past everything that had happened all those years ago. “This is true,” Shogi said. “Not only that, you might find that it’s for the best that things happened the way they did.”

“Though I do have to ask,” Suguroku said, looking mischievous. “When are you planning on making an honest man out of my grandson?”

“Dad,” Yui exclaimed, looking mortified. “Sorry, he did that to Shogi too,” she said, sounding as if she was trying to smooth things over. Despite Yui and Yugi’s mortified expression, Seto couldn’t relax. The concept was overwhelming and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Yugi said in a rush, a bright red flush appearing across his cheeks. “Seriously, grandpa, there’s no need to pressure anyone here.”

Despite the assurances from Yugi and his parents, Seto started to wonder when that would be expected of him. Was he ready for that? Seto did want a future with Yugi. That was all he knew. He didn’t know what marriage would mean here, nor did he know what that would feel like. What he knew as of right now was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Yugi. What was marriage if not a promise of that? Still, it was not something he wanted to discuss with Yugi’s parents as of yet. Not until he knew for sure that he was ready.

In fact, he was certain that if he wanted to be worthy of marrying Yugi, there were still a few more things he needed to do before he could reach that point. Seto could only hope that Yugi would be willing to wait for Seto to be certain that he could provide a stable future for the two of them. And as the night went on, Seto started to realize that perhaps he could settle into having a family again. It was strange to feel so welcome.

At the end of the night, Yui grabbed him by the cheeks, pulling him down so she could press a kiss to his forehead. She shoved leftovers in his hands, fretting about how he was simply too skinny. No matter how much he stammered that he was fine, she insisted on trying to take care of him. Was this what a mother was? She told him that he could come over any time if he needed more food. For some reason, he thought that he might actually take her up on the offer if only because dinner had been fantastic.

Shogi had given Seto a polite bow, telling him that he was often out of the city for work and gave Seto his cell phone number. This came with a demand that Seto use it if he needed to talk to anyone. Seto wasn’t sure what use that would be to him. Shogi had pulled Seto aside after Yui finished fretting over Seto. “I know that you don’t have a father in your life,” Shogi said, sounding concerned. Seto had no idea what this had to do with anything. He hadn’t had a father for years. It was the one thing that he knew for sure about this new world he’d come back to. “But if you’re dating my son, that makes you my son too. That means I’m going to be here for you, Seto.”

Despite the temptation to state that he had no need for a father, he couldn’t bring himself to say that. It was strange how it felt like he wanted to both shove Shogi away and start crying in gratitude for the approval. Instead of doing either of those things, he merely nodded. “I’m glad to have your approval of my relationship with your son,” Seto said softly. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home.”

#rivalshipping #rivalshipping fanfic #myfanfic #fanfic: you'd come back to me #fic: you'd come back to me

12 notes · View notes

merakiaes · 4 years

Text

A New Beginning - James Conrad

Pairing: James Conrad x reader

Requested: @jessiejunebug

Prompts: None.

Warnings/notes: This is waaay too long to be proofread so apologies in advance for any possible mistakes, I also don’t remember what I’ve written so I don’t know if it’s any good😭 Hope you like it though.

Wordcount: 11217 (Yup, it’s a long boi)

Summary: When you board a ship to go on a geological research trip, you’re on your own. When James Conrad boards the same ship for the same reason, he’s on his own, too. But when the two of you walk down that very same ramp after having been through literal hell together, neither of you are alone anymore.

“Can you explain to me, again, in small words, why I’m being assigned to this mission?” You asked for the second time in the past five minutes, staring flatly at the two men sitting in front of you.

The younger of the two cleared his throat, folding his hands in front of him on the table. “From what we’ve read in your files-“

“My files?” You interrupted, raising an eyebrow, leaning back in your seat and crossing your arms over your chest. “What files would those be?”

He sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment in clear annoyance, before opening them again. “That doesn’t matter.” He said. “You’re exemplary intelligent and we need someone in your area of work to accompany us on this trip.”

You had to force yourself to keep back the laughter bubbling up in your throat, their growing frustration as you played with them all too amusing to you.

“A trip to an unexplored island in the Pacific Ocean, for geological research.” You replied in an amused tone, and they both nodded.

“That’s right.” The older one was the one to speak this time, confirming your unofficial question.

You let out an amused sound, leaning forward in your seat and clasping your hands in front of you on the table. “Okay.” You said, looking between them. “Let me walk you through all of the ways you could die-“

“No need.” The younger of the two interrupted you. “We’ve been lectured on the risks once already.”

You chuckled, leaning back into the chair. “Is that right?” You questioned, raising an eyebrow. “What did you say your names were again?”

“Bill Randa and Houston Brooks.” The older one, Randa, replied, and Brooks wasn’t far behind, obviously the more annoyed out of the two.

“Look, we’ve stalled long enough.” He stated, motioning for the stacks of money laying on the table. “Will you take the job or not?”

Your eyes flickered down at the green bills for a moment, but you quickly looked back up, giving them a deadpan look. “You know, I’d like to help you.” You said. “But I’m a little over-committed right now, I’m afraid.”

Your mood had switched from playful to, well, the opposite, in just a second, and Brooks wasted no time in pushing his chair back and standing up.

“Right. This was a waste of time.” He said, turning to his colleague. “Come on, Randa. Let’s go.”

Randa stood up, grabbing the money and putting it all back into his bag, and without another word, you watched them turn around and walk away from you, heading directly for the exit of the pub you were in.

You instantly turned your attention back to the drink in front of you, grabbing the glass and bringing it up to your lips to take a gulp.

When you put it back to the table, your friend slid into the seat next to you, giving you an unimpressed look. “Really, (Y/N)? You’re over-committed? To what? Being broke?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. “That was a pretty hefty stack of money they were offering you.”

Barely even sparing her a glance, you moved the tip of your finger along the rim of your glass casually. “It’s dangerous.” You replied simply, and listened as she scoffed beside you.

“Since when are you afraid of a little danger?” She asked. “You dive in unexplored caves and swim with sharks, for crying out loud. And you heard the man. They need you. They’ll probably die there if they go on their own.”

You turned your head to look at her slowly, watching her face grow serious.

“You need the money, (Y/N). You know no one will hire you.” She continued softly, reaching out to grab your hand in hers. “This could be your chance to get back on track.”

You could only sigh, bringing your hand up to pull it over your face in frustration. You didn’t like to admit it, but you knew she was right, so a few seconds later, you were up on your feet and rushing after Brooks and Randa, catching them just as they were about to get into their car outside.

“Wait!” You called out for them, watching as they both turned around to look at you.

You jogged up to them, nodding your head once you came to a stop in front of them. “I’ll take the job, if you throw in an extra five grand.”

Randa and Brooks exchanged a glance, before nodding. “Consider it done.” Randa said, turning to his partner. “Brooks, give her the paper.”

Brooks didn’t look the happiest that you had suddenly changed your mind, clearly annoyed with the way you had played their time away. But nonetheless, he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it out for you.

“Be here tomorrow, at this time.” He said simply and you nodded, grabbing the paper from him and letting your eyes flicker over the address and time before moving them back up to look at him.

“I’ll be there.” You said, and shook their hands.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Randa smiled, and then they left, leaving you to go home and pack a bag in a hurry to be ready first thing in the morning.

Come nighttime the next day, you had been called to a briefing pretty much the same minute you stepped onto the ship, during which the scientists presented you with the purpose of the trip and the soldiers let you know how everything was going to go down.

When it came to the scientists, you immediately got the feeling that they weren’t giving you the entire story, but you didn’t get much time to sneak around and get any answers, as you were barely able to keep your eyes open when the meeting was done.

And the next morning, you didn’t get the chance either, as you were joined on deck by the soldiers of the Sky Devils the same second you set foot on deck, all of whom were very interested in your background; most so of all Reg Slivko who you had overheard making a bet with his fellow soldiers that he could woo you.

In any other case, you for sure would’ve had your fun, but right now, you weren’t there to play around.

“Where are you from?”

“Here and there.”

“What do you do?”

“This and that.”

“You ever-?”

“Now and then.”

Most of your answers were short, and for every reply the young soldier grew more and more discouraged, but he didn’t give up, and as you didn’t have the time nor patience to deal with him, your annoyance was growing by the second.

“Why are you here?” He attempted to ask again, and this time, you looked up from the geology book you were reading to look at him with a sigh.

“Because I can do things they can’t.” You replied simply, and he gave you a goofy smile, one that made the corner of your lips twitch upward slightly.

“Like what?” He questioned, and you raised your eyebrows at him playfully.

“Mind my own business, for one.”

He chuckled. “Boy, you’re just full of information, aren’t you?” He asked and you chuckled along, closing the book and standing up from where you were sitting at the edge of the ship, walking up to him and patting his cheek.

“Or maybe I’m just not interested.” You said, watching in amusement as his smile fell and his fellow soldiers broke into laughter behind him.

You left him at that, turning around and heading in the opposite direction. Luckily, he didn’t follow or bother you any further, instead getting distracted by Mason as she came over and began taking pictures of them.

Above you, you could just barely make out the tracker that had been hired to come along on the expedition, leaning against the railing and looking out over the platform of the ship.

Feeling your stare, his eyes flickered down to meet yours, and he adjusted his stance at that, grabbing a hold of the railing in front of him and straightening his back.

Without looking away from him, you moved toward the metal stairs to the side, only breaking your gaze when the wall came in the way of your line of sight.

You reached the top where he was standing in no time, the winds significantly harsher up there, pulling at your hair and shirt.

The tracker’s eyes were already on you when you appeared at the top of the stairs, looking at you sideways with his forearms still leaned on the metal rail.

You had seen him briefly during the briefing the night before but only now that you got a real look at him in the afternoon sun did you realize how incredibly good-looking he was. Almost inhumanly so, with cheekbones so sharp they could cut you and eyes as green as emeralds.

While you looked him over, he did the same to you, and once your eyes met each other’s again, you nodded to where he was standing, raising an eyebrow.

“Mind if I join you?” You asked, and watched as he simply took a step to the side, making room for you next to him.

As you joined his side, you looked down to the platform where you had just been, to find that they were now fooling around to music, passing beers around and posing in front of Mason’s camera, all but one soldier who was getting his hair cut.

But the man next to you wasn’t watching the soldiers, but rather the scientists standing on the other side of the platform looking over a giant map and talking among themselves.

“You don’t trust them either, do you?” You asked, taking note of his hard eyes and the tense muscles in his jaw.

When hearing you speak, his eyebrows shot up, but his eyes didn’t move away from the scientists below.

“Doesn’t matter if I do.” He replied. “They wouldn’t stand a chance if they went against me. And the list of hazards that could kill them out there without me there to guide them is too long for them to ignore.”

You raised an eyebrow, your eyes flickering away from the scientists to look at the profile of his face instead, a playful expression crossing over your face. “Awfully confident, aren’t you?” You asked, and watched as the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly.

“I can kill every person on this ship before most of them have a chance to get to their feet. Skills like that do wonders for a person’s self-confidence.” He replied simply, and you chuckled.

“Fair point.” You said, pushing your underarms off the rail and turning your body completely in his direction, sticking your hand out in front of you. “I’m (Y/N). (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

His gaze left the scientist in just a second, flickering over to meet yours with a smile on his lips. “James Conrad. Pleasure.” He answered, taking your hand in his and giving it a firm, but at the same time soft, handshake.

“Likewise.” You returned the smile.

“So what is it you do?” He asked. “Other than mind your own business, that is.”

“You heard that?” You chuckled, raising a teasing eyebrow and playfully narrowing your eyes. “Were you spying on me, Mr. Conrad?”

He chuckled right back, leaning against the rail. “I wouldn’t call it spying.” He said. “Just listening in.”

“You must have pretty good hearing if you were able to hear us all the way from up here.” You gave him another playful look, one that he returned with an identical one.

“Or maybe you’re all just really loud.”

Another chuckle left your lips, and your eyes flickered away from him to look down at the platform again. “Maybe.” You replied softly, completely oblivious to his eyes still watching you.

“So, are you going to tell me what it is you do, or are you going to make me guess?” He asked again, and you hummed.

“Biologist, geomorphologist, geologist, physicist, ecologist, speleologist, sonar technologist. Take your pick.”

“How old did you say you were again?” He asked, and at that, you turned to look at him again, smiling.

“Twenty-eight.” You shrugged. “I learn quickly.”

“Clearly.” He replied, his eyebrows raising in an impressed manner. “So which one of those are you here for?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. They won’t tell me smack, just that they’re in need of my expertise. They won’t specify in which branch.”

“No, they’re not giving us an awful lot of information to go on, are they?”

“You can say that again.” You scoffed, letting your eyes flicker over to the scientists again. “You’re not buying their story about this being a geological research trip either, are you?”

The smile fell from his lips, his face turning serious again. “If it were true, they wouldn’t be dropping bombs.” He replied lowly, following your line of gaze. “They’re hiding something. I just haven’t figured out what yet.”

Humming, you watched with him as Randa finally felt your stares and turned around, looking caught off guard to a start and then raising his hand in a wave.

You waved back, plastering on fake smiles.

“I have a feeling we will.” You replied simply through your teeth as to not drop the smile, not being able to shake the suspicion that they were trying to wake something up.

Randa and Brooks were both way too adamant in making the mission happen for it to just be a trip to map out an unexplored island.

And you got your suspicions proven right when, come the next day, the bombs were dropped and did, in fact, wake something up; more specifically a giant fucking monkey, something you would’ve been very excited to discover in any other case, but not so much when said monkey was attacking the choppers.

One after one, they went crashing into the trees and to the ground at the giant hand of the monkey.

You didn’t blame him for reacting like he did. Anyone would get defensive if strangers just appeared and started dropping bombs in your territory, but you weren’t able to think of that at that moment; all you could think about was that your chopper was going to go down just like the rest of them sooner than later, and you weren’t the only one realizing that.

“Pull out now! Pull out!” James was screaming at Slivko over the loud wind and even louder sounds of the propellers above you, struggling to hold on just like the rest of you.

But Slivko was being his hardheaded self, looking back at the tracker with a stubborn glare. “I don’t take orders from you!”

You weren’t sure if it was his stubbornness in general or the fact that you were about to die that made you snap, but the second those words passed his lips, you whipped around in your seat next to James to glare at him.

“No? Well, I wonder which will get you killed faster, your loyalty or your stubbornness?!” You yelled back, your glare only hardening when he barely even spared you a glance.

Instead, he simply turned back around, and your anger quickly malted off, being replaced by panic.

Squeezing your eyes shut as tightly as you possibly could, you held on to your seatbelt, your chest rising and falling rapidly. “Oh my God, we’re gonna die.” You whispered to yourself. “We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die.”

“Hey, hey! Look at me!” The voice of James suddenly came from beside you, followed by a pair of hands on your cheeks.

Your eyes shot open, wide with stress and fear, to look into his warm, comforting ones.

“Now is not the right time to panic!” He told you, his voice rising to be able to overpower the loud noises. “You’re going to be just fine, alright? You’re going to be fine!”

“I’m going to be fine…” You whispered back and he nodded, agreeing with you.

For a moment, just for a moment, you began calming down, the sounds around you drowning away as you got lost in his stare of distraction, but the momentary calm was gone just as quickly as it got there, when James’ head suddenly whipped away from yours and his hands leaving your face to lean into the front.

“Watch out!” He called, and before you even had the time to process anything else, you could hear something crashing into the windshield, the chopper jerking violently as a result.

“Oh, God! Prepare to crash!”

The sound of Slivko’s words was enough to send you into a full panic again, your throat thickening and your chest tightening up, your heart feeling about ready to beat out of your chest. “Oh, shit, shit, shit.”

Mason was screaming from across of you, trying her hardest to hold on as your chopper lost altitude, but it was clear she wasn’t the one truly panicking.

James hurried to strap himself in beside you, before once again twisting his body in your direction to take your face in his hands. “Hey, hey!” He called out for a second time, gently slapping your cheek to get your attention when you didn’t respond.

When you looked up at him and into his eyes once again, he gave you a questioning gaze. “Do you trust me?” He asked, and your face instantly pulled into a confused and semi-annoyed expression.

“What? I- I don’t know.” You stuttered out.

“Do you trust me?” He asked again and you closed your eyes for a moment, processing the feeling of his warm hands on your wind-chilled cheeks.

After a few seconds, you opened them again. “Yes. Yes.” You corrected yourself, and he nodded.

“Okay, then just hold on to me.” He instructed, and only then, when he looked away from you again, did you come back to reality, just as he called out from beside you.

“Brace!”

He pulled you into his arms and you squeezed your eyes shut, holding onto him with all your might and pressing your face into his sturdy chest.

A few seconds passed of the chopper violently jerking from side to side, from left to right and then back again, with big leaves slapping into the open side of the flying vessel as you crashed through the tops of the trees.

Your head was safely tucked in under James’ chin and his arms were squeezing you so hard you would’ve lost your breath if you’d had one in the first place, but you found yourself unable to breathe, the panic swelling in your chest blocking your airways.

Luckily, it was all over quickly. Not so luckily, however, was the fashion of your landing, the chopper meeting with the ground roughly and causing everything to go dark.

But you weren’t out for a long time, coming back to your senses around the same time as everyone else by the looks of it.

When you tried to stretch your body, a groan left your lips as you realized you were uncomfortably stuck under a heavy piece of metal that had come loose as a result of the crash.

In turn, James heard your sound of discomfort and wasted no time in crawling over to you, leaving the others to get themselves out of the chopper as they weren’t stuck.

“Are you alright?” He asked, crouching down beside you and searching for your gaze.

Your eyes met for the briefest of moments, but you quickly averted them and moved them back to the metal rod when a sharp pain shot through your ankle, an aggressive jab in your head not being far behind.

You hissed, at the feeling, bringing your hand up to your head. “Apart from being trapped under here, and maybe suffering from broken bones, and a headache beyond what I’m capable of handling… I’m dandy.”

Glancing to the side to steal a glance of his face, you watched as it lit up in a small but sincere smile. “Good to see that almost dying haven’t killed your sense of humor.” He replied.

“Never.” You fired back quickly, offering him a sarcastic and very strained smile.

You brought your hand back down from your head when feeling the sudden stickiness on your fingers, realizing when they came into your field of view that they were now covered in bright red blood.

Momentarily distracted both by the sight of the blood and the feeling of your pulsating head, you barely even noticed James moving away from your side and positioning himself down by your foot, until you felt him gingerly place his hand on your knee.

Your eyes flickered over to him where he was now standing below you, his hands resting on the piece of metal. “I’m going to lift this up now, are you ready?” He asked, and you wasted no time in nodding.

“Alright.” He mumbled, moving his eyes away from yours to focus on his hands. “One, two, three.” He counted, and on three, used all of his strength to lift the heavy piece of metal, just enough for you to be able to pull your leg out.

Once he saw you were out, he dropped it back down and wasted no time in coming up to you to help you up, holding you steady while you tried balancing on your hurt foot.

“Can you walk?” He asked from above you, and after a few failed attempts, you finally managed to stand on your foot, nodding your head, looking up at him.

“Yeah.” You breathed out. “Thanks.”

He met you with a worried frown as his eyes flickered up to your head, keeping his hold on you with one of his hands and reaching the other into the pocket of his pants to pull out a handkerchief.

You stood there quietly, letting him press the soft fabric to the line of your hair, barely even wincing at the stinging sensation.

You didn’t know if it was just the lightheadedness ridding you of your common sense and playing a trick on you, or if the increase of your heartbeat when he touched you in a way so soft, like no one had done before him, was actually genuine, but whatever it was, you pulled yourself out of your daze rather quickly, suddenly getting defensive.

He was, no doubt, surprised by your sudden movements when you quickly reached up to take the handkerchief from his hand to press it to your head by yourself, then proceeding to step away from him and avert your gaze to the forest floor.

But he said nothing about it, knowing that you were all probably shook up right now.

“It’s nothing too severe but put pressure on it for a while. Just to be safe. I’m gonna go scope the area out. I’ll be right back.” He told you lowly, and you simply nodded, keeping your eyes on anything but him.

As he walked away, you moved back over to the crashed chopper, crawling into it on your knees in search of your backpack.

Rather coincidentally, you found it laying right in the middle, looking to be completely untouched, as if it hadn’t just been in a life-threatening crash.

When you came back out of the chopper, the strap of your bag now hanging from your hand, you found Slivko pacing back and forth in a frantic manner, a phone held to his ear and a radio held in his arms while Mason and Nieves kept to themselves, the former looking through her bag and checking over her camera while the latter was simply trying to regain his composure.

“Calling all units. Is anybody airborne? I repeat, is anybody airborne?” Slivko spoke into the phone, but you paid him no mind, going over to the small stream of water in the middle of the clearing and crouching down.

You instantly flinched when doing so, pressure being put on your foot and causing the pain to radiate all the way up your leg.

To relieve the pain, you sat down fully, putting your bag down to the side and dipping your hand into the cold water to clean it free from blood, doing the same to the handkerchief to give it some moisture.

The fabric was already soft like it was, but even then the dry material was rough against the open wound on your head, and the cold moisture would without a doubt make it better; something you got confirmed when you put it back to your forehead.

You stayed there on the ground, catching your breath and trying to get your head to stop spinning, until James appeared from the treeline and walked back into the clearing.

“They're all down. Every one of them.” He said the second he got close enough.

Your eyes had found his form the second he had appeared from the forest, but the others didn’t turn to look at him until they heard his voice.

When seeing he had everyone’s attention, he stopped, turning his body and pointing into the forest. “We're on the south side of the island. There's a river a couple of klicks from here. If we stick to its banks, we'll make it to the exfil site on the north shore.”

“And then what?” Nieves asked, throwing his arms out in exasperation. “All our choppers are down.”

James turned to him and gave him a look. “We'll find a way to signal the ship. They'll send a search party.” He said. “We just have to make it by the exit window.”

Nieves could only sigh and turn back around, plopping down on a tree trunk and looking out into the distance. “I should be sitting at a desk.” He whispered, and you would’ve found the look on his face awfully amusing, had you been in any other situation.

“So, wait, are we just not gonna talk about this?” Slivko suddenly joined in on the conversation, striding back into the clearing with his radio still in his arms.

Again, just like he had done Nieves, James did nothing but meet him with a stare. “My best guess is we're scattered over a four to five-mile radius. We should head north and join anyone we find.”

Slivko pulled a hand over his head, looking around, and James turned to Mason who was standing still in her spot, asking her: “Are you all right?”

Mason let out a dry, nervous laugh, shaking her head. “I don't know how to answer that question right now.”

“I don't know what that was either.” James answered, and Mason raised her eyebrows at him.

“All that money that they paid the two of you?” She said, her head peeking around his form to look at you to where you were sitting, before turning back to James with a tense smile. “I hope you're both worth it.”

She grabbed her bag and walked around him without another word, and again, James wasted no time in coming over to you where you sat.

Your eyes followed his every move, until he was standing right above you.

“Need a hand?” He asked, offering his hand, and you wordlessly took it, allowing him to help you back up to your feet.

You stumbled for a small moment, but you managed to stay on your feet, letting go of his hand and turning around to pick up your bag.

James, however, was quicker than you, coming around you and picking it up before you got the chance to do so yourself.

“I got it.” He said, and you wasted no time in shaking your head.

“No, it’s okay.”

“Please, I insist.” He fought back, already bringing the strap over his shoulder to carry and giving you a sincere look. “The last thing you need is extra weight to carry.”

You held his stare for a moment, but found no reason to fight back as you knew he was right, simply letting out a small breath and nodding your head. “Thanks.”

He flashed you a tight-lipped smile, before walking back to the others, leaving you to follow. Without another word, he began walking in the direction he had pointed earlier, and none of you were far behind.

Nieves went first, Mason and yourself side by side after him, and Slivko trailed behind you, still carrying the radio. “We're really not gonna talk about it? You know this is not normal, right? Stuff like that doesn't just happen!”

All of you ignored him, until eventually, Mason got annoyed and told him to be quiet when he had been complaining for ten minutes straight.

Thirty minutes into walking, you stumbled across a giant water buffalo hiding in a lake, which, if James hadn’t been there to stop him, Slivko would’ve shot dead on the spot in his momentary state of shock-madness.

After that, you kind of lost track of time, the four of you just following James as he led you through the thick and humid rain forest.

Eventually, you ended up in the front beside him, but neither of you said anything for a long time, James simply keeping an eye and ear out for possible dangers while you focused on your feet, not wanting to stumble and hurt your ankle even more.

It was only when you reached a downhill that James finally came to a stop, turning to you while the others walked ahead, now with Slivko in the lead.

“Careful. The ground is uneven.” He warned you, offering you his hand.

Annoyed by the heat, humidity and the entire situation in general, you ignored his hand, beginning to walk down on your own. “I’m fine.” You muttered, and as if on cue, your foot got caught in a tree root, causing your knees to give out under you.

A surprised yelp left your lips and your eyes widened, but luckily, James was right there by your side to catch you, his hand winding around your waist to hold you upright.

Your chest heaved up and down in a rapid motion and you clung to his side, feeling the rumble of his chest under your hand as he chuckled. “What did I tell you?” He said, and you grumbled, this time allowing him to help you.

“Are you okay?” He asked, turning serious and again, you grumbled in response.

“Yeah.” You answered simply, still clinging to his side and more or less being carried down the uneven hill.

“Good. Let me know if you need a break, and stay close to me.” He instructed, and you raised an eyebrow at the irony of his words; as if you could do anything else than that with the way his hand never left your waist.

But he didn’t even seem to notice, and at this point you couldn’t keep denying the fact that you needed the extra support in order to be able to stand on your hurt foot, so you let it slide, eventually getting so used to it you didn’t even think about it.

Not a long time later, you met up with Brooks and San, and only a while after that, you found yourself at spear-point of a dozen island natives.

For some reason, having a spear pointed at your head wasn’t half as scary as being in a helicopter crash, so you managed to keep your cool, unlike the scientists who were all whipping their guns back and forth in panic the entire time.

Luckily, “Lieutenant Hank Marlow of the 45th Pursuit Squadron of the 15th” to quote the man in question, showed up before anyone could get hurt, introducing himself with such enthusiasm you couldn’t help but feel second-hand happiness.

That was around five minutes ago, and you were currently on your way back to their village.

James had left your side to walk alongside Marlow, leaving you in the back with Slivko, Mason and, after a lot of protests from James who had insisted to keep carrying it, your bag, through which you were currently looking for something to eat.

Mason quickly claimed a granola bar when you presented it to her, and after that, you also brought out an apple and a banana.

Biting into the apple to free your hand, you closed the bag up and heaved it back up on your shoulder.

You then took a bite out of the apple and lowered it from your mouth. “Slivko.” You called out, holding up the banana when he turned to look at you.

“Uh, no thank you. I don’t eat bananas.” His face instantly turned into a semi-disgusted scowl, and you raised an eyebrow at the strong reaction.

Before you could question it, however, Mason beat you to it. “Are you allergic?” She asked, and both of you watched as he gave you a deadpan look.

“No, they’re radioactive.” He replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

In front of you, Marlow let out a loud laugh, now having tuned in on your conversation. “What? That’s ridiculous. Are you stupid?” He asked, and a deeply offended look instantly crossed over Slivko’s face.

You had to refrain from laughing, taking another bite of your apple to hide your smile and swallowing it before speaking.

“He’s not wrong. Bananas contain potassium and since potassium decays, that makes them slightly radioactive.”

“See?” Slivko raised his eyebrows at the old, stranded soldier, whose smile fell while a smug grin stretched out over the younger soldier’s lips.

You chuckled at the pair, shaking your head. “But to die from radiation poisoning you’d have to eat about ten million bananas at once.” You continued, and this time it was Slivko’s turn to lose his smile.

He turned to you, giving you a doubtful look. “Are you sure?” He asked. “Because-“

“How many cases in which someone has died of banana radiation poisoning have you heard of?” You interrupted him, raising an eyebrow. When receiving no answer, you gave him a nod and a small smirk. “Exactly.”

His eye narrowed and for a moment, he stilled in his walk, before marching up to your side and snatching the still outstretched banana from your hand.

“Fine. Give me that.” He said as he did so, unpeeling it and taking a bite before turning back to look at you again. “You’re a Know-It-All, you know.” He accused, and you simply raised your eyebrows.

“Is that meant to insult me?” You asked. “How do you think I got all of my degrees? By sitting silently at the back of the classroom and not participating?”

You gave him one last playful look, before speeding up to join the front of the group, ending up talking to Marlow the entire rest of the way.

He was very talkative, at least in comparison to the people you were used to, but right now, that’s exactly what you needed; first of all to distract you from the pain that was only getting worse the more you walked, but also from the flutter of butterflies that would erupt in your stomach and chest every time James would slow down to ask how you were doing, which was a lot.

You reached your destination after a long while of walking, when the sun was just beginning to set, and Marlow wasted no time in telling you about Kong and the Skull Crawlers, along with presenting you with his late friend’s plane that they had re-built into a boat back when he had still been alive.

Slivko followed him without a second thought, wasting no time in beginning to brag about his mechanical skills, but Mason and yourself lingered by the Iwi in the distance.

You were inspecting them in a discrete manner, wondering how in the hell they were able to stand so still, and that’s when you saw it; something that instantly sparked your interest and caused the kind of excitement only a scientist could feel to fill your entire body.

“No, it can’t be.” You mumbled to yourself, taking a small step closer and squinting your eyes to better be able to see the particular Iwi you had set your eyes on.

When seeing it wasn’t just a trick of the light, you turned to Marlow who was now walking back past you. “Can I go up to them?” You asked, motioning to the Iwi. “Or will they feel threatened?”

“Oh, sure. Go ahead.” He casually waved his hand. “They’re a peaceful people. They won’t hurt you unless you hurt them first.”

Your lips lit up in a smile. “Great, thanks.” You hurried out, before turning to the other woman beside you and holding your hand out. “Mason, can I borrow your camera?”

She gave you a strange look. “Uh, sure.” She said, removing the strap from around her neck and dropping the camera in your open hand.

You wasted no time in setting the right settings in, all while walking in the direction of your targeted Iwi, Mason trailing behind you to count for her camera’s safety.

When you stopped in front of the Iwi and raised the camera into her face, Mason squinted her eyes just like you had a few moments before. “What is that?” She wondered, coming closer.

The Iwi didn’t even bat an eye when you more or less shoved the camera into her face, zooming in on her left eye.

“Pupula Duplex, or Polycoria.” You answered. “It’s an extremely rare condition in which the victim has two irises and two pupils. It's so rare, in fact, that some believe that it is just a myth. Fascinating.”

Mason hummed beside you and you briefly lowered the camera down to be able to inspect the picture you had just taken that.

When doing so, you noticed James coming up behind you, and wasted no time in holding the camera up for him to see. “James. Come look at this.” You said, just as he joined your side.

You didn’t even notice you had called him by his first name, and either he didn’t either, or he just didn’t care, looking down at the camera and then up at the Iwi without even mentioning it.

“That is fascinating.” He agreed, having heard your earlier words, and you zoomed in on the picture.

“Isn’t it?” You replied, raising the camera again, motioning for the Iwi to open her eyes wide and she did as told, allowing you to take another, cleared picture.

“Oh, yeah. It’s cool, isn’t it?” Marlow joined in on the conversation, walking up to you and pointing to his own eye. “She’s had it since she was born. There are a few others who have it too.”

“Really?” You whipped around to face him. “Can you show me? I need to document this.”

He flashed you a big smile, nodding his head. “Sure thing, come on.” He said, and you wasted no time in following him, Mason, again, trailing after you, not wanting to leave her camera alone.

Slivko called James back to the boat a second later and he didn’t waste any time, keeping a watchful eye in your direction where you were enthusiastically talking about something, without a doubt about the condition you were currently so excited to discover.

Night fell and all of the Iwi returned inside, along with you, one by one, and soon enough, all but James was in the room Marlow and his late friend had made to be their own during their stay there.

Nieves was sitting by himself and so was Mason, the former just staring into a wall and the latter flicking through a book.

San and Brooks were talking quietly among themselves and Slivko was touching everything he could get his hands on, this currently being a spear that he was walking around the room with.

He was conversing with Marlow, but you couldn’t be bothered to listen in, too distracted by the beautiful Northern Lights swirling around in the night sky, lighting up the landscape outside the window.

In your hand, you were fiddling with an unlit, slightly crooked cigarette, and your other hand was tucked in under your arm, your back leaning against the edge of the opening you were currently standing in front of.

“How’s your foot?” A voice suddenly spoke from beside you, and only then did you notice that James had now joined you in the room.

You had been so lost in thought that you hadn’t even noticed him walk right up to you, hence your eyes widening in surprise at the sound of his voice.

But you quickly regained your composure, lifting your foot slightly, for him to see that it was now wrapped up.

“It’s all good.” You answered with a small smile. “The Iwi gave me some kind of root for the pain and swelling. I couldn’t identify it and neither them nor Marlow was to any help so I took a sample with me to test when we get back to the ship.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He returned your smile, and you nodded, widening your smile just a little bit.

Silence fell over you for a short moment, neither of you knowing what to say, but then he stepped up to the window, pointing towards the sky and by doing so causing you to look back outside, too.

“Isn’t it odd the most dangerous places are always the most beautiful?” He asked and you hummed, again finding yourself unable to look away.

“I was going to have a cigarette but I’m all out of matches.” You chuckled, looking away only briefly to show him the defected stick of tobacco between your fingers.

“Oh.” He said, his eyebrows creasing together as he reached into his pocket. “Try this.” He continued, holding out a small metal lighter and flicking the lid up to expose a flame.

You wasted no time in reaching out and taking it from him once he had let the lid fall back shut, your smile now wider than ever. “Thank you.”

After putting the cigarette between your lips, you brought the lighter up and lit the end, making sure it got lit before closing the lighter again.

You were about to hand it back, but stopped yourself to inspect the worn-out letters printed at the side, your eye flickering up to meet his.

“Royal Air Force?” You asked once you had brought the cigarette down from your lips, tilting your head with interest.

You watched as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants, his eyes stuck to the lighter that was still clutched in your hand.

“It was my father’s.” He told you quietly, a slight crease being created between his eyebrows. “He threw it to me from the train as he rolled off to fight the Nazis. He was like John Wayne to me. Some kind of mythic hero.”

Your face grew serious, your head nodding as you blew out the smoke of the drag you had just taken. “Did he come back?” You asked, meeting his eyes when he looked back up.

“His plane went down near Hamburg. They searched for him for months but…” He paused, turning away from you to look up at the sky. “I suppose no man comes home from war. Not really.”

You watched the profile of his face sadly, taking in the way the Northern Lights reflected in his green eyes. “He would’ve been proud of you. I hope you know that.”

You had barely even been able to process the words you were going to say before they slipped past your lips, but still wasn’t fazed, as they seemed to have done more good than harm like you’d hoped, judging by the soft look overtaking his face when he turned to look at you again.

“Thank you.” He told you, to which you smiled. “What about you?” He continued then, and you raised an eyebrow.

“What about me?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on the edge of the opening and turning his body in your direction. “Do you have any family? Or is it just you?” He clarified his question.

You turned your head away from him, taking a final drag of your cigarette and holding your breath while you dropped it to the floor and stomped it out.

“I have a brother.” You answered as you released your breath and the smoke with it, turning your head back to look at him.

“Younger or older?”

“Six years older.” You replied, crossing your arms over your chest to match his stance, once again turning to look up into the sky when seeing the expecting look on his face, asking you to go on.

“Our mom got pregnant with my brother at fifteen and she kept him. When she gave birth to me, however, she suddenly decided she wasn’t ready to have children, dropped us both off at the stairs of a catholic orphanage. We got tossed around the system our entire lives, but not together. My brother only found me again when he turned eighteen and could go off and make a living on his own. I’d been placed in a total of eleven family homes at that point, but I just landed right back in the orphanage every time. I was a bit of an ass as a child, so no one wanted to keep me.” You chuckled to yourself. “But my brother wanted me back, even though I didn’t even remember him. And the nuns wanted me out of their hair so they signed the papers quicker than I’ve ever seen anyone sign anything before.”

You took a pause, reminiscing in the memories of your life, before turning to look at him with a small smile. “He raised me on his own, worked his ass off every day to provide for me, all while studying and chasing his dream of becoming a cave explorer.” You continued. “When I reached my later teenage years, I started working too, and when I eventually picked my studies back up, we realized that I was quite a Brainiac. I had several degrees by the time I was twenty and with the job offers pouring in on me, my brother could finally stop providing for me, take a break and go after his dreams. And I tagged along with him too, when I wasn’t working or studying.”

James matched your smile with one of his own, nodding his head once you were finished. “Sounds like you’ve had quite adventurous life.” He commented. “And he sounds like a good man. Your brother.”

“He is. Better than others, at least.” You shrugged. “Neither of us ever knew our fathers. Deadbeats. Both of them.”

“So you’re only half-siblings.”

“On paper? Yes.” You confirmed, then shaking your head. “But in heart? No.”

“That must be nice.” He smiled, and you leaned your head back against the wall behind you.

“Yeah, it is.”

He inspected you softly. “Do you have anyone else waiting for you back home? Other than your brother, I mean.”

“Are you asking if I’m romantically involved with anyone?” You asked playfully, raising an eyebrow.

In return, he chuckled, but not once did his gaze waver from yours. “Yes, I guess I am.”

You chuckled with him, shaking your head again. “No, it’s just us now. But-“ You paused, raising your eyebrows and holding up a finger. “I used to be engaged.”

“Used to?” His eyebrows shot up, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Mm. It didn’t work out.” You mused.

His interest was clearly piqued now, his body turning just slightly more your way to signify that he was completely involved in the conversation at hand.

“What happened?” He asked, crossing his feet and getting comfortable against the hard stone wall.

“My knight in shining armor turned out to be a loser in aluminum foil. A criminal, more specifically.” You replied, plastering on a sarcastic smile. “He was a dealer, in the art business. I’d never done as much as shoplift a piece of gum before I met him, but the more attached I got to him, the more I was willing to risk.”

You paused, wrapping your arms around yourself to provide your bare arms with some heat in contrast to the chilly air surrounding you.

“When someone got interested in a piece, I’d pose as another buyer and drive up the price. But one day, he asked me to pose as the seller, not the buyer. One signature, half a million dollars. He said it was simple. I’d hand them the documents and they’d slide me a check.” You continued. “The whole thing would take a couple of minutes tops. And he was right, it all happened very quickly. The buyers turned out to be undercover cops and with my signature being the one signed on the documents, I was the one to go down. He made sure of it.”

You were still smiling at the end of your story, at this point completely over the pain and suffering said engagement had caused you, even if it had ended you up in prison for several years and completely ruined your chance to a successful career.

And unbeknownst to you, James was more fascinated by you than ever, only wanting to know more about you the more you spoke.

“How much time did you get?” He asked, captivated by the fact that you could just keep smiling through it all.

“Originally five years, but I got out after two and a half on good behavior.” You replied casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

He raised his head slightly at that, realizing. “So that’s why you’re here.”

You hummed. “Scientists are very stuck-up and quick to judge, if you hadn’t already gathered that.” You spared Nieves, Brooks and San a glance, raising an eyebrow at the way they were squeezed together in the corner while Slivko and Marlow sang along to some music, staring at them with expressions all resembling distaste and annoyance.

James nodded as he watched them, getting your point, and only when your eyes met again did you continue. “Getting a job in this profession when you have a criminal record, and a pretty severe one at that, is just as hard as it sounds.”

“I can imagine.” He agreed.

A short moment of silence fell over the two of you again, but it was everything but uncomfortable or tense, as both of you knew, judging by the looks in your eyes, that it was going to be broken again.

“What about you?” You were the one to break the ice this time, your words causing his eyebrows to shoot up in a playful manner.

“What about me?” He repeated your earlier comeback, and you chuckled, glancing to the side before returning your gaze to his.

“Do you have anyone waiting for you? Have you ever been in love?” Your tone turned teasing at the second question, your eyes squinting as you smiled.

James snickered at your antics, his head shaking. “No, I’m on my own, and I can’t say that I have.” He replied, his chuckling fading into a simple smile as he continued. “But there’s still time.”

At that, your playful demeanor faded into a more serious one too, but your smile remained, the two of you holding each other’s eyes for a moment longer before simultaneously turning to look at the sky once more, staying there until it was time for everyone to go to sleep.

Come next morning, James, Marlow and Slivko were already up and at it when the rest of you woke up, the spots in which they had slept now empty.

The scientists kept keeping to themselves as they had the entire time you had been there, leaving you and Mason to spend some time with the Iwi and each other.

While she busied herself with taking pictures of the native people, you brought the woman you had spotted the day before, with the Pupula Duplex condition, to the side to take notes, something she didn’t seem to mind much with the way she was doing everything you told her.

Seeing as they didn’t speak, however, it was hard to get any more information than the one provided to you by the visuals, so you left sooner than you would’ve liked, heading out to where the others were crowded on the boat.

Even Nieves, San and Brooks had made it outside by then, but by the looks of it, they weren’t doing much to help.

You guessed they wouldn’t have been able to even if they wanted, though; scientists weren’t exactly known to be handy in the mechanical area. You were a good enough example of that.

So you stayed clear of the boat, only glancing over once in a while to meet James’ gaze when feeling his stare, but other than that distracting yourself with analyzing a carnivorous plant you had just happened to sit down next to.

You were so engrossed in studying it and drawing it in your sketchbook, in which you had already made countless of drawings during your time on the island, that you barely even noticed everyone else heading inside.

Only when they were coming back outside, James heading straight in your direction and by doing so blocking the sun, did you snap out of your little bubble, looking up at him just as he stopped.

“I brought you some food.” He said, holding out a plate looking to be made out of clay, like promised holding some kind of meat.

Your eyes squinted at the sight. “What is it?” You asked suspiciously, but nonetheless accepted the plate.

With his hands now free, he slowly bent down and sat down beside you. “Some kind of bird. It tastes just like chicken.” He informed you, and you hummed, starting to pick at it.

“What are you doing?” He asked, reaching his hand out toward your notebook and grazing his fingers over the drawing.

“Just… inspecting.” You replied, bringing a small piece of the bird-meat to your lips, the suspicion melting off once you realized that it did, in fact, taste just like chicken.

“You’re inspecting a flower?” He raised an eyebrow at you. “That hardly seems interesting.”

“Not just any flower.” You corrected him, putting the plate down in front of you and picking up a piece of the meat. “Watch.”

Slowly, you brought it out in front of the flower, and for a moment, you thought it wasn’t going to take it, but then its frog-like tongue slapped out and wrapped around your fingers, causing you to jump.

You quickly let go of the meat, letting the carnivorous plant bring it back into its mouth, and hurrying to bring you hand back, smiling and raising your eyebrows at James who was now looking at the plant with a disturbed look on his face.

“That’s… mildly terrifying.” He commented, bringing a chuckle from your lips.

“Yeah, nature has a tendency to be terrifying in the ways you least expect it.”

“So I’ve noticed.” He agreed with a chuckle of his own, averting his gaze from you to the boat.

When he did so, you did too, watching as Marlow and Slivko pulled at chains and other pieces of metal that you couldn’t identify to save your life; mechanics had always been your brother’s thing, you didn’t know shit about it.

“How’s it going with the boat? Any luck?” You asked after a moment of silence, sparing him a sideways glance.

“So far, not so much. But Slivko insists he’ll be able to fix it.” He answered without looking away from said boy.

You hummed. “Do you believe him?” You asked, turning to look at him again when catching him shrugging in the corner of your eye.

“It shouldn’t be impossible. We just have to work together.” He replied and, again, you hummed thoughtfully, pulling at a few strands of grass absentmindedly.

“I hope you’re right.” You mumbled. “I would very much like to get back home.”

His head turned in your direction, his eyes meeting yours when your head did the same.

“You will. I promise.” He told you, and you gave him a gentle smile.

“You should be careful with what you promise, Mr. Conrad.”

“James, please.” He corrected you, smiling softly at the memory of how good his name had sounded coming from your lips the day before.

“Alright, James.” You repeated, smiling and squinting against the sun.

You didn’t get the time to exchange any more words, Slivko yelling at James to come help him only a second later and cutting your moment short.

James stood up and headed off, leaving you to finish the meat you had completely forgotten up until then, having become so engrossed in the conversation.

Later that afternoon, when you were mindlessly walking around, trying to make time pass by quicker, you were fetched by Mason, who told you to grab your things and come to the boat, letting you know that it was time to go.

The boys had to give it a few tries but soon enough, the boat’s engine roared to life, and after that, everything happened so quickly.

Slivko had finally made contact with Packard and you had met up with him and the other survivors after they had fired a flare to give away their position; not before watching Nieves get ripped to shreds by some kind of carnivorous bird.

You barely made it out with your lives intact after stumbling upon the graveyard of Kong’s family, in which the Skull Crawlers also resided.

Even after that experience, Packard still insisted that Kong was the enemy, and it became apparent pretty quickly to you in that moment that he had completely lost it, something he came to pay for when he tried to blow Kong up and, in return, got stomped to death.

The next thing you knew, you were running for your lives with the Skull Crawlers hot on your trail, and as you reached the edge of the island, James came to a stop, turning to Mason and bringing a flare gun out of the hem of his pants.

“Weaver, get up on those rocks and fire a flare. With any luck, Brooks will see it.” He instructed her, and her eyes instantly widened.

“I- Wha-“

You rolled your eyes, marching forward. “I’ll do it. Give it here.” You stated, snatching the gun out of his hands and tucking it into your pants.

“No.” He wasted no time in shaking his head. “Not with your foot.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “I just ran all the way here, my foot is fine. And even if it hadn’t been, it’s not your decision to make. I wasn’t asking for your permission.” You said, holding his gaze while you removed your bag from your back and shoved it into Slivko’s arms, only then turning to look at the younger boy. “Take my bag. Do not let my notebook get wet. I need my notes.”

He stared at you with disbelief, shaking his head. “Man, you have your priorities fucked up.” He said, but nonetheless slung it over his shoulder and ran off.

The others followed his example and you turned around to head to the rocks.

“Wait.” James' voice spoke from behind you, his hand coming out to catch your wrist, causing you to turn around to look at him with a questioning expression.

He was quiet for a moment, both of your chests heaving up and down from the intense running, but then his face softened, his head nodding slightly. “We'll buy you time.” He promised, and although you were confused about the unreadable expression on his face, you knew he was telling the truth.

“I know you will.” You replied with a nod, and after you had shared one final look, he took off after the others while you started climbing the rocks.

In retrospect, all of them were happy you had been the one to go and not Mason, remembering after the moment had passed that you were, in fact, a professional rock climber; something that came with the speleology.

You reached the top in no time and didn’t waste another second, raising the gun as high into the air that your arm would allow and firing the red flare, all while Kong and the Skull Crawler were fighting below you.

Before you knew it, Brooks and San turned up on the boat, firing at the Skull Crawler. But the guns on the boat were old and rusty, and jammed, with Kong momentarily knocked out, giving the Skull Crawler free passage to the boat.

So you did the only thing you could do from on top of the mountain, loading another bullet into the flare gun with shaking hands, pulling back the safety, and firing it, watching as it lodged itself into the big lizard’s ear.

This gave Kong enough time to get back up to his feet and swing a chain with a heavy propeller stuck to the end into the head of the Skull Crawler, and you watched with wide eyes as he then proceeded to wrap the chain around its neck and swing its entire body to the side.

It wasn’t until you felt the rough tremble under your feet that you realized he had thrown it right into the base of the mountain you were standing on, and you barely got the time to progress this realization in your brain before you were thrown off the rock.

You fell and for a moment, everything felt as if it was moving in slow motion around you, but then it all sped up again, the last thing you heard being a mighty roar, followed by the sound of your own named being yelled, before your back hit the cold water and everything turned black.

Everyone watched with horror as your body disappeared into the water, James more so than anyone, and as you slowly sank further and further away from the surface, he wasted no time in sprinting in your direction, not caring in the slightest if he would get hurt in the process.

Kong was distracted, changing his agenda and moving over to the water, lowering his fist into it and picking up your body.

This gave the Skull Crawler an open window to attack, but in the end, Kong persevered, ripping the entire spinal cord out of its body and at the same time, managing to do so without harming you.

James slid into a halt on the wet grass when Kong lowered you back onto the ground, wasting no time in cradling you into his arms.

“Come on.” He breathed out, panic tightening his chest and his hands frantically brushing the wet strands of hair out of your equally as wet face. “Come on.” He whispered again, and let out a sigh of relief when your face suddenly pulled into a frown, water spluttering out of your mouth a second later.

“Oh, thank God.” He breathed out, turning you over to your side in his arms to help you get all of the water out.

Once you stopped coughing, he turned you back into his chest, and slowly, you came back to your senses, your eyes fluttering open.

“James?” You mumbled, having to blink to get the water out of your eyes, squeezing them shut when he brought his thumbs up to wipe your eyelashes.

“I’m here.” He said, and finally, you were able to see him clearly, his green eyes staring down at you with worry unlike no other. “I thought I lost you.”

His hands were cradling your face, thumbs still gently stroking the hair away.

Your lip twitched slightly at the pain that suddenly became very apparent in the back of your head, but still, you couldn’t help but ask. “What? You in love with me or something?”

A moment passed, and then you watched as his face pulled into a large smile. “Or something.” He chuckled out in a relieved breath, and you only got the time to smile back before you were being hugged tightly against his chest.

Your eyes closed briefly at the feeling, your arms wrapping around his neck.

His hand held the back of your head protectively, his face buried in your neck, and as you opened your eyes again, you met the ones of Kong, who stayed to look at you just one last time, before turning around and walking away.

Some minutes later, you were all safely packed onto the boat, the wind drying your hair as you went. A blanket was wrapped around your shoulders, having been provided to you by Slivko and Marlow the second you had come aboard.

You were watching the scenery of the island go by in a flurry, your head heavy against James’ upper arm where he stood beside you, just lost in thought like everyone else.

“What are you going to do when we get back?” His voice reached your ears just then, and you looked up, finding him to already be looking at you.

“I have a job lined up in Papua New Guinea.” You said, smiling tiredly. “My brother and his team found an unexplored cavern and they believe it could contain an undiscovered ecosystem.”

“Sound interesting, right down your lane.” He replied, the corners of his lips tugging up, but the smile not quite reaching his eyes.

“It is.” You nodded, wrapping the blanket tighter around your body to shield your wet clothes from the winds. “What are you going to do?” You asked, watching as his shoulders shrugged.

“I don’t know. Just lay low for a while.” He replied, averting his gaze and adjusting his stance, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Sounds like a good idea. An experience like this would make anyone want to retire.” You chuckled, moving your gaze forward too. “Have you ever tried it? Cave diving, I mean.”

“No.” He answered with a chuckle. “I’ve managed to stick to work on the surface this far.”

“You could come with me, if you’d like. Try something new.” You offered without as much of a doubt in your mind, turning your head to look back up at him.

At the feeling of your stare and the sound of your words, he turned his head back to you, too. And just like you, he didn’t hesitate for a second to answer, with a smile to match your own. “I don’t see why not.”

Your smile widened and you held his gaze for a moment, before slowly moving your hand on top of his, causing him to look down.

You watched him, awaiting his reaction, admittedly a bit anxiously so. But the stress and uncertainty melted right off at the feeling of his fingers intertwining with yours, his other arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you closer into his side.

His lips met your temple and you shared a glance, before leaning in and meeting each other in the middle for a kiss, only pulling apart with smiles on your faces when the sound of propellers reached your ears, three choppers coming to take you back to the ship.

You had started the mission off a lone soul, and so had he. But now... now you had been through hell together, and you knew that no matter how far away from each other you ended up, you’d never be alone again.

Luckily for you, however, it didn’t end up being very far because come the next night, you stepped off the ship together, side by side and hand in hand, like agreed heading off to Papa New Guinea where your brother and his crew resided, both of you ready for a new beginning.

Like you had said, after an experience like this… anyone would be.

(Let me know in a comment, ask or private message if you want to be added to the Kong: Skull Island taglist)

#james conrad #james conrad x reader #james conrad imagine #kong skull island #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston x reader

344 notes · View notes

shini--chan · 4 years

Note

Hello, can i please get England and Germany(separately of course ^_^") x reader, who's pretty paranoid, but tries to act reasonable ? Like she's afraid that something might happen to him and that someone might be watching them. And also she's really scared that he will leave her for someone better. But at the same time she tries her best not to bother him. (P. S .Thank you for writing all these wonderful things. I hope my language is not too bad and you can understand me)

Alright this is quite an interesting ask. I’ll just take the opportunity to remind you all that this is a yandere blog, so I’ll be taking this ask as per usual in dark places. Always the pleasure, dear. Your langauge is just on fleek.

Yandere Hetalia England

You would know who irritable he is. Often, his harsh and condescending words would crawl under your skin and infest and spread there like scrabbies. They would be just as irritable and hurtful with his patronizing sneers and haughty tone making you feel so meaningless. Therefore, you would be walking on eggshells most of the time, constantly on the alert that something would set his temper off. You’d find yourself constantly looking over your shoulder when you’re doing something that he doesn’t view very fondly, knowing that it could give him another reason to deliver a round of verbal abuse.

Inwardly you were sweating. You knew that you shouldn’t be doing this. You knew that if Arthur found out there would be snarls of disapproval and pity that was downright sickening, because it would cause him to view you as somebody beneath him. Still, you carried on indulging yourself in a comic that you had picked up in a hotel lobby when he had taken you on holiday to Canada.

“What do you have there, love”, your personal devil gruffly inquired. Already you could tell that he was in a foul mood today. That you had visibly jumped up in your seat wouldn’t help to make your case. Shaking with fear, you quietly squeaked:

“Nothing. Just a magazine.”

Cautiously, you glanced over your shoulder. Arthur had one hand placed on his hip in an authoritative position. It made your mind go blank due to the stress.

“What did we say about lying?”, he hissed in that silk-soft candance that the static before a lightning storm. Eyes narrowed, and arms behind his back as he approached you, you struggled to cough up an answer:

“To not do it.”

“Then why are you lying to me right now?”

You swallowed hardly, as he hovered above you, his stare unwaveringly directed at you. You didn’t answer because you couldn’t – every time you tried to grasp for them your sentences would unravel, like cotton cloth stuck on barbed wire and the words would run away, screaming and laughing, all little children in their own right. Then those too green eyes flicker to the comic held in your shaking hands.

“Give that to me!”, he snapped but didn’t wait for you to quaveringly hand it over, he instead opted for crudely ripping it out of your hands. You could only watch as he regarded it with utter disgust as if it were contaminated with nuclear waste – and then proceed to tear it apart.

“You never fail to astound me, (y/n)”, he jeered as his hands worked fast, papers filled with flashy superheros and just as dramatic villains performing a ballet as they descended to the floor in flurries.

“Just when I think you’re improving you have to prove that the opposite is true. What is it that you find about these printed pieces of rubbish attractive? They have flat story lines, everyone similar to the other. The characters are one dimensional, their costumes are vulgar, and their speech patterns consist of the vocabulary of an eight-year-old.

“I guess that this could be considered appropriate reading material, for a dimwit. But I won’t stand for such a thing in my lover!”

Other than that, you would fear for him. Not you could genuinely love and care for him perse – except if you’ve developed Stockholm Syndrome or his yandere behaviour started long after you established a relationship. Rather, it would be you caring for yourself – how bad his day was would correlate directly with Arthur’s mood. That’s why it would always be in your best interest to ensure that nothing bad would happen to him, least you want to bear the brunt of his anger and irritation.

Arthur would have threatened you multiple time to drive out in the countryside and dump you there. You would know that only the twisted love he harboured for you would prevent him from following through with that threat, so you would do your best to ensure that he would never tire of you. Without a doubt Arthur would have other plans of what to do with you should his feelings for you turn bitter and they are all not pretty.

Germany

Ludwig would have his own set of rules that he expects you to follow. Unlike Arthur, who would expect you to abide to a certain lifestyle and not deviate from it, all without laying out the parameters, Germany would determine a list of concrete rules that you would have to follow. He would make these very clear to you going as far as to make you recite them all before you would get breakfast.

This way he would drill them into you, to the point that you would find yourself mentally policing yourself for even thinking thoughts that involve breaking one of the rules. You would grow to be paranoid of yourself and would start to view yourself as this sinful little cretin that needs guidance.

Resulting from this, you would also be scared that somebody may be watching you. You would procced to put black tape over any camera that belongs to a digital device. The shame that would stem from view yourself as an unworthy human being would scare you away from the public as well. Not that Ludwig would mind; it would simply mean that you wouldn’t have to worry about you escaping.

Deep down, you would also loathe yourself for being so vulnerable and absolutely hate for other to see you in such a weak state. During the rare times when you would have to deal with another person other than Ludwig, you would find yourself overanalysing the situation and before 5 minutes could be over you would be convinced that the other person hates you and views you as a disgusting, spineless little worm.

All of the aforementioned would cause you to become co-dependent on Ludwig. The thought that he could find somebody better than you would give you restless night. Because who would you be without Ludwig?

#yandere england #yandere germany #yandere hetalia #yandere hetalia x reader #x reader #yandere x reader #yandere

103 notes · View notes

keelywolfe · 3 years

Text

FIC: Welcome to Backwater ch.17 (spicyhoney)

Summary: Look, getting into the woods wasn't the difficult part and neither was getting out. Dealing with the aftermath? Yeah, let's do that.

~~*~~

Read ‘Law and Order’ on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

When Stretch woke up the next day, he hardly felt like he’d slept at all, every bone in his body aching and the inside of his skull felt like a dull and muzzy gray.

No surprise there, not really, he hadn’t exactly snoozed peacefully. Probably would’ve been more concerned if he’d had; somehow, having troublesome nightmares after almost getting eaten by horrifying eldritch beings seemed like the healthier option than sleeping like a baby. A few mental scars after something like that seemed more than reasonable.

Wasn’t time for a trip to a head shrinker right now, though, he had a job to do and he was gonna do it. So he put the mental brakes on dealing with everything that happened the day before--

(and holy shit, so much happened, how did he even start processing all this shit, how--)

--and crawled out of bed. He pulled on his last pair of clean clothes, made a mental note to beg Red for the use of his washing machine, and stumbled downstairs to open the shop with the dog at his heels.

Stretch winced away from the bright morning sunshine that streamed in when he pulled the cord to raise the shades, wishing deeply for a cup of coffee, even one of his brother’s that always managed to taste sort of like dirt and rancid tree bark had a coffee bean baby.

Red had a coffee maker in the kitchen, but he didn’t want to risk waking him up sneaking into his apartment. He told himself it wasn’t because of last night’s unintentional adventure, nope, he definitely wasn’t trying to keep from talking about it with Red as long as possible. A long, furious chat about meeting Miss Bone Cruncher U.S.A. and Smaug's undead cousin were the last thing he wanted right now.

Maybe he could head back over to Miss Maggie’s this afternoon and see if she had a cheap coffee maker he could keep behind the counter. Had to be at least one old Mr. Coffee buried in all that junk. But something about going back into the thrift shop made him uneasy and he shook it away, focusing on getting the store opened up.

Mutt was underfoot the entire time, nearly tripping him more than once, and maybe Stretch should have rethought taking in this dog because it was starting to look like it brought a daily murder attempt along with him like a special toy surprise. Snagging a can of dog food from the shelf and dumping it into the plastic bowl Red scrounged from somewhere was less about providing a nutritious meal and more self-defense. Once Mutt was fed and snoozing, though, it was easier to get into the swing of things.

Stretch was buried in the inventory book, contemplating whether to merge the ‘monthly crotch rags’ and ‘cooter plugs’ into one listing to make them slightly easier to find, when the bell ringing over the door made him look up. His greeting faltered when he saw the Sheriff stalk in. Hat nearly brushing the top of the door, still wearing those mirrored aviator sunglasses, and his heavy cowboy boots clomping on the wooden floor as he came directly to the front counter and propped both ham-sized fists on his broad hips.

“Morning!” Buford boomed out cheerfully. A greeting that bright didn’t make it seem like he was here in an official capacity, hey, guess even the fuzz needed to buy toilet paper. It still took a minute for the knee-jerk dread at the sight of that uniform that settled in Stretch’s non-existent stomach to fade.

Buford wasn’t like the cops back in Ebott, Stretch told himself, this was Backwater. If the town was a little weird and had ghosts and sentient scarecrows, plus kept horrible creatures out in the woods with plagues dripping from the needle-sharp teeth they used to eat the souls of the unwary, then at least the Humans here were generally very nice.

Besides, if Buford were meanspirited today, he could always tattle to Granny Collemore when she came in for her next toilet paper run.

Stretch swallowed hard and tried a couple words before finally managing a simple, “morning.”

From Buford’s broad grin, a person would have thought Stretch offered some philosophizing to rival Socrates. “Morning, yes, it is at that.”

Stretch nodded. His relief at that smile made him weak, his skull bobbling unsteadily on his cervical vertebrae like a dashboard ornament. “can i help you find something?

“Naw, came by to see how you were doing.” Buford hitched his pants up, settling his saucer-sized belt buckle under the soft push of his belly. Reflected in the mirror of his sunglasses was the space behind the counter, Stretch and the register and the small row of cleaning supplies, distorted like the other side of the looking glass and he did not want to be thinking about other Universes right now. "Saw ya had a little trouble out in the woods.”

Stretch faltered, briefly speechless. His tongue felt stuck to the roof of his mouth, too dry as he fumbled out, “wha…how did you…?”

"Eh, a lawman’s gotta know what's going on in his town,” Buford leaned down and poked through one of the little wooden half-barrels filled with penny candy that lined the front of the counter. He picked one of the sour balls, unwrapping the shiny green foil and popping the small candy into his mouth to tuck into the round of his cheek. “Sent a little help your way when I saw what was going on, glad to see he got there in time." Buford shook his head sadly, “Nasty things out there in the woods this time of year and that’s the truth.”

“he…he did,” Stretch said, helplessly. No point in lying about it, but how could Buford possibly know? And he’d sent that strange bone dragon creature to help him, but how could he have sent a warning? The idea of that skeletal creature fumbling with a cell phone in its claws was nearly ridiculous enough to pry a hysterical giggle from Stretch’s clotted throat. Were there cameras in the woods, was the creature summoned from a portal in Buford’s basement? So many hows and wheres and whys, there were questions piling on top of questions, cluttering up Stretch’s already overstuffed mind, but only one managed to bubble through to the tarry surface. More demanding than he’d meant, Stretch asked, “how did you know?”

Buford stood up straight, broad shoulders squaring. The change in posture seemed to bring on a transformation, from a Rosco P. Coltrane to a more of a Rick Grimes. From the top of his hat to the golden star on his chest, and his perfectly ironed uniform leant him an aura of competence. It still put him as shorter than Stretch, but somehow made him bigger than life. There was no bumbling, jovial small-town sheriff here, this was a lawman, and there wasn’t so much as a hint of a smile as he said, "I see everything, son." And tipped down those mirrored sunglasses.

In the eyes that lay beneath them were pupil-less, the sockets filled with orbs that were the milky-white of severe cataracts, crisscrossed with thin, fleshy threads like cobwebs.

Stretch barely had time to register what he was seeing before Buford settled his sunglasses back in place. He swallowed hard against the dryness in his throat, strange thoughts of demons and bargains with the devil like their own trash tornado in the back of his mind. "are you…here for something, then?"

Buford only chuckled and the sour ball clacked against his teeth as he rolled it to the other side of his mouth. "Just to check on ya. You might be a city boy, but I’ve taken a liking to you, son, and I ain’t the only one. People in Backwater take care of our own.” There was a strange solemnness to those words, almost a pact, then Buford’s mouth quirked up on one side beneath his bushy mustache. “Though I might as well help myself to a Pepsi-Cola while I'm here." He leaned in, conspiratorially, and it was easier than Stretch thought it might be to keep himself from leaning away. Buford smelled faintly of cherries and tobacco, and his teeth were a clean, even white. "Don't tell the missus, she don't like me having too much caffeine."

Stretch nodded and said in his own whisper, "tell her what?"

Buford roared a laugh and grabbed his hat to slap it against his knee, hooting out, "That's the spirit!” He settled his hat back on his mussed hair and took a soda from the cooler, tossing a buck on the counter as he called back, “Take care, son."

“i will,” Stretch said, softly, but it was only for the tinkling bell above the door as Buford strolled back out.

He was still standing at the counter, the dog snoozing at his feet, fidgeting with the pen on the counter and not writing a single damn thing when the door opened again. Stretch could only stare back at the intense crimson eye lights that latched onto his own as Edge walked through the front door and for once, those gorgeous hips were the furthest thing from his mind.

tbc

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #welcome to backwater

38 notes · View notes

arandompostarchive · 3 years

Text

Inure - Ch. 1

SAVED WORK

Summary: To some, The Specter is a serial killer. To some, a hero. But to everyone, you were entirely a mystery. You had no history, just a list of victims a mile long. No matter how many people searched your name, they could find anything. If only they had the spelling right. Now, you’ve come across some unfortunate information that drives you out of your usual shadows and into the path of the Avengers. Including two of the more reclusive members of the team. And it’s hard to pick only one of them.

***

The man ran through the hall, his footsteps echoing throughout his house. He tried to navigate the dark halls, too scared to turn on lights or stop and think. He turned every so often, hoping your figure wasn’t behind him anymore. But it always was. He was panicking, you could tell. He could feel sweat stick to the inside of his white button down and the creases of the dress pants he had yet to take off.

He tried to avoid the small side tables and expensive foreign vases that lined his hall. He had managed to trip over a few tables though, knocking the glass onto his floor, shattering it. Each time he’d whisper a soft curse. There was glass beneath your shoes that probably cost millions of dollars. You found it funny. Even now, running for his life, money was still at the back of his mind.

He ran into the next room he saw, his office. A closed off space with nowhere to run. He turned around, looking at each wall. You could hear a string of curses fall from his mouth before he turned to you.

His small study still had a lamp on, the room dimly lit with the yellow-tinted light.

“Please, what do you want? Money? I can do that. Hell, I can get you your own house! I’ve got connections. I can find people for you! Other people! Please, don’t.”

Now, most people would feel bad about this. Chasing a man through his own home with certain ill intention. But you had seen his life. You’d seen what he does to people. He’d tear apart families, kidnapping people and selling any drug he could find. His hands were soaked in blood, something you could understand. But while you had killed, you picked your victims well. They were the most guilty people you could find. Murderers, kidnappers, kingpins, anyone who managed to escape justice.

Some called you a serial killer, a term that wasn’t exactly incorrect. Some thought you were a vigilante, which also wasn’t wrong. But no matter what, everyone was silently grateful for everything you did.

You always found a new target. From whispers on the street, other criminals, cops who needed a break, sometimes Nick Fury himself would send you a case file or two. You had seen it all, people with souls blacker than night. And this man was no different.

“I don’t want money, Laurence. You’ve killed innocents. You’ve let people die. You’ve heard them beg for mercy and have granted none. Why would I give you a luxury you haven’t given any of your victims?”

The man stuttered. His eyes darted around, frantically trying to find something. Maybe a weapon or just an idea of how to get out of this mess. He suddenly spoke, his voice shaking and cracking. “Because I have information! There’s this man who’s building some huge weapon. Probably wants to take New York out. He could start wars with this thing, yeah? It’ll kill millions in a heartbeat. I know what he’s got! I know what he’s doing, I’ve met the guy! I’ll tell you everything.” He spoke quickly, hoping to finish before you decided to end him. “But not if I’m dead.”

You scoffed. “Tell me, why on Earth would I accept the pleas of a dead man?” You asked. It was a real question, despite your sarcastic tone.

“I’ve got the info! He was chatting with some friends of mine, gave ‘em a whole file about it.” He reached toward the desk and pulled a file off of it, showing it to you. It read “SPECTR2” on the front in small, black script. Your eyes widened and you grabbed the file from him.

He watched as you read over it and confirmed his theory. He was right. Whoever this man was, he had the real thing.

“Alright, fine.” You said, accepting his offer.

“Oh thank god! I knew you’d be reasonable, you’re all about ‘the greater good’, yeah? I’ll tell you whatever you want, lady.” He said, relief washing over his features.

You smiled. “Yeah.” You held the file at your side. “Thing is, I know all about this project already. I don’t need you.”

The panic quickly spread across his face again and he racked his brain for something else. “C’mon, don’t I get something here?” He said, glancing at the walls to find some kind of weapon.

You sighed. “Fine. I’ll make your death quick.” You said, taking out one of your swords. He only had a minute to react before he was already dead. You had gotten used to the sight of death, though it wasn’t your favorite thing, there was something satisfying about knowing you had avenged people in some way.

His blood had already stained the carpet he had surrounding his desk and leaked along the cracks of the wooden floor. You groaned at the thought of cleaning your shoes after this and sat down at his desk chair, looking for any other info on the man starting up Project SPECTR again.

***

“So you want us to team up with some psycho killer?” Tony said, leaning back in his usual chair. The meeting room was packed, each member of the team, and some newer additions, crowded together at one table with Steve stationed at the front.

“She has information, Tony. She says lives are in danger.” Tony looked at him ridiculously.

“I’ve got my share of psycho’s on this team and now we’re working with another?” Tony gestured to Bucky and Loki’s side of the table. He got a glare from Nat and he only shrugged his shoulders in response. “Her terms are insane! She wants immunity for every crime she’s done or ever will do. That doesn’t sound insane to you? What if she’s got some master plan and we won’t be able to arrest her for it?”

Nat looked between Steve and Tony. It was obvious they weren’t getting anywhere.

“She’s got info we need. If she wanted to enact some ‘master plan’ she’d just use whatever death machine she’s got, not tell us about it. If she’s serious, we’ll hold up our end. If she’s messing with us, we won’t and we’ll lock her up on site. But if she’s really found plans for what could be the world’s next terrorist attack, we at least need to see her proof.”

Tony looked to Nat, “She’s basically holding the world hostage! Either she gets to do whatever the fuck she wants or everyone dies. We’re really letting that slide?”

This time Steve spoke, though he glared at Tony a bit for his cursing. “I didn’t say I liked it. She’s put us in a tough situation. And Nat’s right. If she’s lying in any way, we’ll lock her up. We’ve got to living lie detectors at this table.” He gestured to Loki on one side of the table and Wanda on the other. Tony only rolled his eyes, silently accepting the argument.

“Are we sure about this? I mean, if she’s telling the truth, then we’ve got some sociopath with a death ray somewhere. But what if she’s lying? She’ll be in the compound. Even if we can lock her up, what if we aren’t able to before she accomplishes whatever task she’s trying to?” Sam said as soon as the room had quieted a bit. A few team members nodded along, considering the possibility.

“We have to take that risk.” Steve said.

***

You strode into the Avengers’ compound, appreciating the space. It was larger than what you were used to. You had jumped from house to house, staying away from law enforcement. If all went well though, you wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.

There were a few Avengers there to greet you. You had recognized them from the news and you were interested in seeing Natasha here. Among them, you saw Tony Stark. You’d recognize him a mile away. He looked different from his father, though he had the same sarcastic look on his face. You considered punching him now, maybe giving him a serious injury. But, sadly, there really were lives at stake.

Captain America stepped closer to you, holding out his hand. You took it hesitantly, the gloves of your suit meeting his hands. You appreciated the hood of your outfit now with the light reflecting off of windows and into your eyes. It was at least a little bit of protection.

“Specter. Good to meet you. I’m Captain Rogers, just call me Steve.” The other Avengers stepped to his side, making you slightly uncomfortable with how close they were. You couldn’t show it though. You had to be steeled, show no fear. Especially since you were in the lion’s den.

“This is Natasha, Tony, and Thor. We’ve got a meeting room just this way.” He got straight to business and began leading you away. You were careful to let the four Avengers go in front of you, and you were certain at least Natasha had noticed this action. Tony kept glancing back to you, slightly nervous. You could accept that. You felt nervous too, though you had gotten good at concealing your nerves, even before you had ‘died’.

You entered the room which had all of the other Avengers in it as well as five empty chairs. You were seated at the end, directly next to Natasha. Steve settled himself in the end chair right next to you. You looked at the rest of the group who were all doing a terrible job of pretending not to stare at you.

“Alright, Specter. Should we call you Specter?” You nodded, letting Steve continue. “Your conditions are questionable to say the least. We need to figure out if you’re actually telling the truth about this weapon first.”

“That’s fine,” you began, “I’d do the same.” You opened up your file, noting how there was a small camera above you, casting a picture of the file onto a board at the front of the room. You smiled at the innovation, curious about how exactly it worked. It had been a while since you’d gotten to appreciate technology, and where better than the home of a Stark.

“This is a real file. I worked on this project years ago. It was meant to help heal people. Stitch them back together, even when they were on the brink of death. But it malfunctioned. I can tell you this is real. Check any references you like, though it’ll be hard to get your hands on. We never made digital copies, this is our original paper.”

Tony squinted at the paper, seeming confused by it.

“And by we, you mean…?” Another man trailed off. You recognized him as Hawkeye, though you hadn’t memorized their actual names.

“Me and Howard Stark. We worked on it back during the war, it was like our pet project.” Tony seemed less confused now.

“That was over half a century ago. How exactly are you standing here?” You sighed at Hawkeye’s question.

“It’s a rather long and annoying story. Let’s keep it simple and say I’ve effectively scared off death.”

“Guys,” Tony said, still looking at the projection of the file. The room turned to him and you were thankful for whatever subject change he had to offer. “I’d love to say she’s full of it, but I know my father’s handwriting. That’s his signature too at the bottom.” As he pointed the small camera zoomed in. You’d have to ask him about the technology’s design later. Assuming this actually went well. You slightly cringed at the thought of speaking to a Stark again, but you’d manage for the sake of a new discovery. “Hey, Friday?”

“Yes Boss?”

You heard a woman’s voice in the room that didn’t belong to anyone present. You quickly figured out it was an AI system Stark had made.

“How well does that match Howard’s handwriting?”

There was a beat of silence before the AI, Friday, spoke again.

“It’s a perfect match.”

The team didn’t seem to know if that was good or bad.

“So there’s really someone set on ending humanity?” A man said across the table. You remembered his moniker being something bird themed, like Hawkeye’s, but it wasn’t coming to you.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t be anywhere near this place unless absolutely necessary,” You said. The Captain glanced around the table and the group seemed to silently make their decision.

“Alright. We’ll meet your terms, but understand that you must stay here through his whole process. No ‘missions’ of your own.” You thought over his offer. It was slightly tempting. Though you’d miss your little hunt for criminals, it would be nice to have a house for longer than a week.

“Fine. But you can’t bind my powers or spy on me or some bullshit.” The Captain nodded, agreeing.

Suddenly, you were a temporary Avenger.

***

“I don’t like her. She’s too calm. We’re facing a giant death machine and she’s completely stone faced.” You could overhear the conversation from where you stood outside the Avengers common area. Natasha had offered to show you around and you had denied, instead accepting a map and list of locations you’d be interested in.

They were sitting around in a circle of couches, all facing each other. Some of the members seemed distracted. Like one with long hair who was slowly stroking the spine of a book he carried in his hands and another with a striking metal arm. You had to admit, the team was certainly good-looking.

You continued to listen to the conversation, though you had lost a bit of the argument when you retreated into your thoughts.

“What can we do? I’m hardly happy about this, but she’s holding the world hostage, like you said. Millions might die if he didn’t have that info.”

“And what, we’re trusting a serial killer? She’s murdered who know’s how many people and we’re supposed to just sit here and fucking sing Kumbaya?!” Tony said. You could see his point. You wouldn’t trust you either.

“Many of us have killed.” Loki said, offering some perspective and hoping someone else would continue his point. He was still on ‘house-arrest’ and was hardly considered trustworthy. Stark wouldn’t listen no matter how silver his tongue was. But the others seemed to at least consider his words with the exception of Hawkeye who seemed upset that he even had to hear Loki’s voice.

“He’s right Stark. I’d hardly say my hands are clear, but here I am.” Natasha added, taking up Loki’s silent offer to continue his argument.

“I’m not okay with this. She’s absolutely mental. I can’t find anything on her besides media speculation. SHIELD didn’t have anything on her, despite the fact that she’s a well-known criminal and she’s got no history. No names attached, nothing. Just media speculation which is all made up. I checked.”

You took this time to walk out from the hall, the click of your shoes making the group look up. “It’s because you have the spelling wrong.” The entire team looked nervous at being caught. “Don’t feel bad. Of course you’d talk about me, I’m a stranger in your midst.” That seemed to calm some of them down, though they still looked wary of you. Stark was the first to speak.

“We’ve got the spelling wrong?” He asked.

“I’d expect so. You’re spelling my name as ‘Specter’, a ghost, like the media does. Try S-P-E-C-T-R, you’ll find a little more.” You before turning and walking out of the room. While you weren’t excited about opening up your backstory, it’d make this whole ‘trust’ thing a lot quicker. And if you were going to get anywhere, there’d need to be some sort of trust.

***

Project SPECTR - August, 1940

Howard Stark and Dr. Y/n L/n began SPECTR in August of 1940 and have been working on it for three years now.

It’s expected to help Allies win the war, though Dr. L/n believes it could— and should— be used for other purposes. There have been several malfunctions so far and I am unsure how they will continue. Stark has been promoting the idea among generals and strategists, despite the lack of finished product. Dr. L/n suspects it will not be finished by the time Stark suggests, in two weeks. She has told various generals not to expect anything in two weeks, though all generals seem to unfortunately favor Stark’s estimates. They plan to run a test run in one week and fully activate the machine. Both Stark and Dr. L/n hope it will be completely stable for at least ten minutes.

There was a messy signature at the bottom, though Steve identified it quickly as ‘Margaret Carter’.

They read through a few other files, and learned more about the original project. Reportedly, there was a severe malfunction, resulting in Dr. L/n’s death. Peggy had shut down the project immediately after, despite Howard’s begging that it would still work. There had apparently been a rift in their friendship over Dr. L/n’s death.

It also said that the Doctor’s body had disappeared in 1992, only weeks after Howard’s death, which had sparked a few conspiracy theories for those aware of her connection to Stark and Carter, two famous names. She was a leading scientist and was making seriously impressive strides. Stark was disappointed she had died so soon. He couldn’t help but wonder what she would’ve done.

“Is that Specter?” Sam asked about the Doctor working on the project. Though the team seemed unsure of the answer, Steve responded.

“It must be. Why else would she draw our attention to this. She’s got personal experience with whoever is trying to restart the project, though I’m not entirely certain why a machine to heal people will be turned into a new weapon.”

The team tossed theories back and forth and you listened in, smiling when a few of them guessed right. You slipped away soon after though, heading down the hall to the training room.

#loki x reader #loki #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #loki x reader x bucky #inure #saved work #fanfic

30 notes · View notes

myblueeyedbuggers · 3 years

Text

My Boys

Chapter 10

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Pairings: Reader x Steve Rogers (best friend) Reader x Bucky Barnes

Word Count:1843

Warnings: Slow Start, Language.

Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.

Annnddd I’m back! so I know it’s been a while since the last update and I just wanna thank you all for having patience with me while I finished up with college, just a warning this chapter may feel a little awkward to read due to me just getting back into my writing mind so apologises in advance for this one. Anyways I’ll quit blabbering, Enjoy everyone! :)

This was my day of reckoning, my punishment for all the bad deeds I’d done over the past couple of years…I was finally being sent to school. Okay maybe that was a tad dramatic, but can you blame me? I mean who wants to be trapped in a building against their will for 7 hours straight learning about dead guys?! No sane person would willingly agree to that crap!

I’ve tried just about everything to avoid my approaching doom, hell I even went as far as hiding in the basement surrounded by cobwebs to try and get out of this, but as per usual neither Steve or Bucky took mercy on me, hence why in currently trapped between the two. “You are aware I’m perfectly capable of walkin’ by myself aren’t ya? The looping of the arms is not needed boys” I swear down these two are being more annoying than usual, and I didn’t think that was humanly possible cause these two are basically the living embodiment of annoyance. Steve turned and raised his eyebrows at me, shaking his head as he let out a small laugh, “Yeah there’s absolutely no way I’m fallin’ for that again, last time that happened it look me and Buck an hour to get you outta that tree”. Ah crap there goes that plan.

I’m pretty sure the noise I made wasn’t even human, it was a mix between a seal and a possessed monkey “I’m not gonna get outta this am I?” “Nope” and que another frustrated groan. “Is this payback for the time I placed that bucket of flour above your bedroom door and watched the both of you turn into ghosts? If it is then I want you to know I regret nothin’” both of them stopped and glared at me, for some reason they didn’t find that as funny as I did, and I have no idea why. Okay whatever you do y/n don’t laugh, even if Steve’s face looks like a slapped arse don’t laugh! A snicker slipped past my lips and a few seconds later I was full on laughin’. Goddamn it.

Both of em just let out a bunch of sighs and started draggin’ my butt along the street, wait there’s somethin’ I haven’t tried yet…in hindsight this is completely stupid but screw it. “OH MY GOD LOOK A SPACESHIP!” I’m pretty sure poor Bucky jumped outta his skin, Steve ended up trippin’ up and falling down, I’ll admit that I felt bad about but hey may plan worked! So why am I still standin’ there?… maybe we try this thing called running y/n! I quickly pulled my arm away from Bucky and used my new-found freedom to run in the opposite direction of them, I could hear the shouts of protest from the both of them, so I decided to kindly ignore them and absolutely leg it. “GODAMMN IT Y/N! THIS IS THE FIFTH TIME THIS MORNIN’!” when were the boys gonna catch on that I didn’t wanna go? Do I need to prepare a firework show and blast it in their faces or somethin’…probably.

I know I probably shouldn’t be smiling, but the feeling of the wind flowing through my hair as my feet hit the ground made me feel free, after so many years I could finally begin acting my age and enjoy my childhood. I finally felt content with my life, which is probably the opposite of what I should be feeling at this moment in time, considering I was currently making my grand escape. And to completely honest I’ve got no bloody clue as to where I am. I glanced behind me to see where the hell those idiots were, to my surprise Steve was directly behind me, Buck was somewhere in the back holdin’ his knee and I’m guessing the daft sod decked it. Why am I not surprised? Okay maybe I should of kept my mouth shut cause literally a second later my foot tripped over a rock and, you guessed correctly, I landed on my ass for the thousandth time!

“Sh*t! Cr*p! B*lls! That f**king hurt!” and that ladies and gentlemen is my fine command of the queens English, a groan of pain made me loose my train of thought as I turned my head to Steve, to put it simply he was laid flat on his back with his eye closed. Well there’s the rush of guilt I’ve been waiting for, “Sh*t Steve I’m sorry, you okay down there tough guy?” I quickly offered him my hand to help him up, I mean it’s the least I could do. Steve’s hand grabbed mine, a not so quiet grunt of pain made me feel even worse, quick question why am I such an assh*le at times? “Yeah, I’m fine y/n, don’t worry about it you know for a fact I’ve had worse” a quiet sigh left my lips as I brought him in for a hug, which was a tiny bit awkward due to the height difference. Once we pulled away from each other, I couldn’t supress the need to check him for anymore injuries, much to Steve’s embarrassment and Bucky’s amusement, “Jesus I’m gonna have to start wrapping ya up in blankets and pillows, Steve how the hell did you manage to get a bruise on your ear?!”

The sudden gasp behind me pretty much answered the question for me, it’s safe to say barney boy is in trouble…for the first in my life Bucky looks pretty f**king terrified of me, perfect. Slowly I started inching towards him, the glare I was sending him would probably make a demon cry for his mum…so yeah imma go kill the boy. I didn’t even have to say anything, he just started runnin’, “IT’S NOT MY FAULT HE STOLE MY FR**KING PUDDIN’ AND THE PUNK KNOWS I LOVE MY PUDDIN!’” YEP DEFINITELY KILLIN’ HIM “HE IS A SMALL AND GENTLE BOY HOW IN THE NAME OF HELL CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF LAYIN’ A HAND ON ‘IM?!” god this sounds like a bleeding soap opera.

At this point I wouldn’t be surprised of someone called the cops on us, all everyone woulda seen was a big lad runnin’ for his life as a small lass tried to murder him while a smaller lad ran after the pair yellin’ for em to quit it. Now that I think about, that’s actually hilarious. Wait, where was I? ah yes the murdering of one James Barnes…okay that is not a normal sentence I am aware. “HE.STOLE.MY.PUDDIN’! THAT A CRIME WORTHY OF DEATH!” oh for f**ksake “HOW THE HELL DO YA KNOW IT WAS HIM?! DID YOU NOT THINK IT COULDA BE BECCA?!” I think he made a sudden realisation, cause the dumbass stopped running and BOOM I was on the freakin’ floor. Again. We both groaned, mine was mostly in annoyance more than anything, but seriously the bloody floor is quickly becoming me best mate! “…. It just dawned on me that that could be a possibility…” if my neck twisted any quicker I’m 100% sure that I’d end up doin’ that weird owl thing “Oh now you realise?! Ya gonna say sorry to Steve or not?” a few seconds of silence gave me my answer. “Don’t give me that look y/n! I ain’t doing s**t till I’ve got some evidence so he’s still under my list of suspects!” oh my Jesus Christ this is gonna be the day I get arrested for murder isn’t it?

“Barnaby…you have exactly five seconds to run for your life so I highly recommend you get your affairs in order and kiss ya ass goodbye” oh hey look at that I didn’t yell at him! Well done me I’m so proud! “could you two quit trying to kill each other for 5 minutes?! We’re already late enough as is it and I ain’t explainin’ to the teacher why Buck’s outta it on the floor!” my f**kin god Steve just yelled! At me! why do I never have a camera when this s**t happens? “Jeez, alright I’ll murder him later, calm your damn t*ts Rogers” and cue the sound of barely contained frustration in 3,2,1….

“I’m beginning to get the feelin’ that you don’t like me y/n” oh really? I wonder what gave that away “wow you catch on quickly don’t ya Barnaby?” by the looks of things I’m really doing wonders for his ego, buck’s head looks like it’s gotten smaller so the risk of him turning into a hot air balloon’s gone down. The feeling of a pair of eyes glaring at the back of my head once again reminded me that the blonde boy was quickly getting tired of our crap, my worst fears were confirmed once I met Steve’s surprisingly intimidating glare…how he manages to be both adorable and beyond f**king terrifying is a mystery to me. “Okay I’m comin’ just stop staring at me like I just murdered your kitten!” and the little s**t has the nerve to smirk and look pleased with himself, ugh he’s been hanging ‘round me and Bucky too long that’s for sure.

“Ya know Buck and you are gonna be the death of me” right do I be offended or pleased with that statement? “actually, if anything it’s gonna be the pair of you that send me to an early grave cause god knows the both of ya don’t know how to stay outta trouble” two muffled sounds of protest came from my left and from behind me, “what’s that supposed to mean?!” once again the point has been missed “do you really wanna know the answer to that? I’ve got my report and presentation ready on how you two are a pair of numpties”.

Maybe that was a tad harsh…okay wait never mind it seems I’ve learned how to fly again with the assistance of one James Buchannan Barnes. “this is coming from the girl who can’t walk five feet without fallin’ over somethin’?” as much as I hate to admit it the walking embodiment of frustration and annoyance has a point “what you call fallin’ I call floor hugs, now how about you pUT ME DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” wait when did Steve walk off? See this is what happens when an overgrown ape demands attention. I don’t even have to look at Buck to know he’s givin’ me that look that says, “what the hell?” and “I’m not surprised by this” at the same time, “Nah I don’t think that’s gonna happen doll” the temptation to kick ‘im where the sun doesn’t shine is too much to bare for me at this point. “And you wonder why I love Steve more that you” Buck’s face kinda looked like someone just shoved a whole lemon in his mouth, I’m almost certain that he woulda dropped me on my ass if it wasn’t for the fact that Steve came over and dragged us both through the gates of hell.

This is gonna be so much fun!……said no-one ever.

Okay…maybe it didn’t suck as much a thought it did, hopefully my skills as a writer will come back for the next couple of chapters XD Thanks for reading ! :)

Rose xxx

#winter soldier x reader #winter soldier #captain america x reader #captain america #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #mcu #fanfic #reader #reader insert #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader

12 notes · View notes

anthonyed · 5 years

Text

reasons why i like sebastian stan

humble

chaotic energy

hardworking

gives great advice

camera presence *yes i'm talking about his confused potato persona

tendency to be a wildcard *drops on floor and pretends dead out of sudden

doesn't know what's happening half of the time #relatable

dedicated

disciplined *he worksout and to have a body like that requires complete discipline and dedication as mentioned above

respectful

never talks over people

idgaf energy he projects on someday

idk where i am energy he projects on other days

tall but hunches when he sits down which immediately makes him look smaller and appear like he's trying to blend into the wall and disappear

he adores and appreciates his fans as much as they do, him

survival 101 *moving between countries and tryna blend in

loves his grandma so much that he couldn't go back to romania for sometime after she passed because he'd be reminded of her

walked into the airport once and bought a plane ticket on a whim and flew to that place

a troll

his friends love him

accepts he's an unstable person and doesn't shy about bringing it up or about his therapies or talking about mental illness in general

loves his friends

always give the other person to talk before him unless addressed directly

have i mentioned chaotic? add in anxious

follow that with brave *for every single time he steps over that nerves and up front

shy

admits he's shy

flirts boldly but melts into a puddle of pink fluffy mess when flirted back

doesn't get bothered about being related to anything lgbtqa+ representing *is in fact proud of it

accepted to play buck barnes because he wanted to be that guy who did the dirty work for pure golden captain america *aka murder

has fans who have served in military approach him to thank him for playing bucky and bringing light to the ptsd and he truly, genuinely appreciates that *is thankful he got an oppurtunity to even do that

jeff gillooly, charles blackwood, tj hammonds; to name the few but memorable and yet under appreciated characters that he played so well but got swept beneath the carpet over other performances

never gave up

is funny

sometimes hilarious

most times a confused blob of potato

refuses to shy away from life just because he'll get recognized where he goes *says that's not a good reason to stop enjoying life

like i mentioned earlier; gives great advices

witty

kind

makes relatable faces and statements

funky

went through his "chelsea days" and came out alive

a soft floof who vocally/unabashedly admits to enjoying rom com/drama

gets scared shitless by pennywise it it haunted house #why

uses terms like oh god another day, just tryna stay alive, idk a thing. ever, nothing like starting a live video against a tree in manhattan

once again, utter chaos *breaks things *apologizes* misunderstands things *apologizes* doesn't follow the question *apologizes* zones out jpeg jpeg *murder stare* "i'm sorry, can you repeat that? I didn't catch it the first time" *anthony mackie laughing in the bg*

at this rate i bet he'd already apologized for existing

pretty sure i'll find more and update this list when i do

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #i'm wondering why i like him so much so i'm making a list #let's see if this grows #if anyone wants to add to it pls do #jeff gillooly #charles blackwood #tj hammonds #political animals #avengers #the winter soldier #i tonya #we always lived in a castle #james buchanan barnes

2K notes · View notes

florenceandthemachine · 4 years

Text

BROKEN TUMBLR ASKS PART ??: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

@boys-love-or-bust-19507 asked: I LOVE your buddie fics! Can yo write a fic where Buck has a really tough day and Eddie and Chris take care of him?

“Alright, Special Agent Christopher, target is almost in sight. Are you ready for action?”

“Yeah!”

Eddie grinned down to his son, basking in the childlike excitement mirrored back at him for a hot second, knowing that very few things would ever compare to these moments again. He had never seen Chris click as well with anyone as he had Buck—even Carla was a close second to that, not that Eddie was about to tell her that—and honestly, there should have never been any question in his mind as to what Chris would say when Eddie told him Buck needed some help.

His smile only softened as he looked around the house—there was dinner in the oven (courtesy of Carla) and Chris had taken the initiative to pull out some of his favorite board games, stacking them neatly on the counter. Eddie had asked Bobby to rearrange their schedules for the week, and they were both going to be off the next two days, to give Buck plenty of time to recover; Chris had pulled nearly every pillow and blanket they owned into the living room, creating a huge nest with surprising skill.

The past few months had been… rough on the 118, between the bomb, the lawsuit, the accidental robbery, the list just kind of went on and on. As bad as things were for the house, though, they all weighed ten times heavier on Bucks shoulders—not for no reason, but fuck if it felt like the poor boy couldn’t catch a break.

The most recent issue had resurfaced about a month ago. They had just been wrapping up a 24 hour shift, idly shooting the shit, and Chim had mentioned that he and Maddie had a group therapy appointment. The 118 were no stranger to therapy as a whole—Eddie had gone through it, Bobby was still in it, Hen and her old life coach still met once a month after they re-connected.

“Eh, therapy doesn’t really work for me.” Buck had said, kicking his feet up and over Eddie’s lap, a move that Eddie secretly loved even if he wasn’t about to mention it. “But then again, the one session that I actually had wound up with the both of us on her couch before she would clear me to return to service, so…”

You could have heard a pin drop in the moments that followed, and Buck’s easy grin was quickly tightened into something more serious, more nervous, like he wasn’t aware of what he had said.

“Buck…” Hen spoke first, her voice low and slow, like she were talking to an animal about to flee—and if the sudden tightness of Buck’s legs beneath Eddies hands meant anything, it showed how close to the truth that analogy was. “Buck, are you saying that your therapist made you sleep with her before she cleared you?”

Buck looked honest to god confused, and Eddie just wanted to shake him.

“I mean, she didn’t force me, it just kind of… happened. That was during my Buck 1.0 days, though. You guys know I’m better than that now, Buck 2.0 is here to stay. Right? You… You guys know I’m better now, right?”

“Buck, he, no.” Eddie spoke now, his hand gently squeezing Buck’s good leg, shaking his head slowly. “If I’m understanding this, that is not on you. She took advantage of you like that, that’s… that ain’t right.” he said simply, shrugging his shoulders. Before he could speak again, offer some reassuring words, Bobby spoke up, his face tight with concern.

“Buck, why didn’t you tell any of us about that?”

Which, apparently, was the wrong thing to say.

Eddie felt Buck tense up like a snapped rubber band before he pulled himself back into an upright position, and though he missed the warmth across his lap, he was far more concerned with bracing for whatever was about to happen. Buck snorted, shaking his head, his voice clipped as he stood up, a sure sign he was in defensive mode. “Bobby, you had fired me the week before for… my indiscretions while in uniform. Forgive me if I didn’t feel like I wanted to risk my job again.”

“Buck, hang on, I didn’t mean—Buck, come back! Eddie!”

Buck had turned on his heel and almost ran out of the loft, and Eddie was quick on his tail, keeping a safe distance until they were both in the locker room. Buck whirled on him when the door closed, the anger drained out of his face, leaving a shell of panic in its place.

“Eddie, cmon, you know that I’m not like that anymore, right? I don’t do that! I’m good, I promise, I—“

Any other words were drowned out when Eddie pulled him into a hug—a risky move in and of itself, but he knew that Buck was one of the most tactile (and touch starved) people on the planet. His gamble paid off, thankfully; he immediately felt Buck’s arms encircle him, body going lax against his chest. “Buck, no one is blaming you. I’m sorry that it might seem that way. I wasn’t even here for Buck 1.0 but I still know that was not your fault, okay?”

Eddie paused, waiting until he got a muffled sound out of Buck to pull back from the hug, looking at him dead in the eye.

“Listen… Buck, I really think you should report this. She’s a doctor, she can’t just continue on like that. What she did to you wasn’t just bad, or wrong, it was illegal.”

In the end, five other men and two women had stepped forward after Buck made his complaint. Two cops, four firefighters, and one paramedic, all with similar stories and similar outcomes.

The only good thing about it was because they were all state employees, they were able to opt for a closed door hearing, investigation, and trial.

Buck had spent the day behind closed doors, giving his statement to a camera, then to the prosecutor, then in a closed courtroom, in front of a jury, a judge, and a very unhappy looking Dr Wells… well, Ms. Wells, now that she had her license revoked.

Eddie knew that a lot had happened, but he also knew Buck and knew that the last thing Buck would want to do all day would be continue to talk about it; so between he and Special Agent Christopher, Eddie felt sure they had a way to keep Buck’s mind far from the past all night long.

“Target inbound!”

Eddie shook away his thoughts as he heard Chris’ little voice wavering with excitement—sure enough, Buck’s Jeep had parked out front, and while they were both fully obvious from the curtains, Eddie still turned his head and made a big shushing gesture to Chris, who started to giggle.

Once they heard Buck’s key turning in the lock (yeah, Eddie had given him a key, so what?) they both pulled back, and Eddie almost burst out laughing at the faux look of shock on Buck’s face when he and Chris both yelled “surprise!”

The shock may have been fake, but there was no pretending when Buck smiled at them, the sheer joy on his face making Eddie’s shoulders sag in relief. He looked a little tired around the eyes, maybe, but he was glad that Buck was still Buck, and that this hopefully wouldn’t be weighing on him for much longer.

Chris was off, immediately, talking a mile a minute while he started to set up one of his favorite board games, and Eddie had to smiles he took Buck’s coat, resolutely ignoring how good the other male really looked in a suit. “Sorry. The only way I could really get him on board without telling him the full details was telling him you needed a surprise party to make you feel better.”

Buck put his hand up on Eddie’s shoulder, and while Eddie could have basked happily in the glow from his smile for an age and a half, he lit up like the Fourth of July when Buck leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

Fully aware he looked like a love struck teenager, Eddie rose a hand to his cheek when Buck pulled away, the smile on his lips shocked but pleased all at once. “What was that for?”

“For this. This is perfect, Eddie. Thank you for… well, just thanks.”

They had made it a few rounds into whatever the card game that Chris had picked out—Eddie still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it, but Chris and Buck seemed to be having a good time—when the oven chirped, signaling the start of dinner; and just like that, the game was forgotten. Chris basically launched out of his chair and into the living room, announcing that it was Movie Time, and far be it for Buck or Eddie to disagree with him.

Eddie scooped out some of the baked pasta in to three different bowls while Buck raided the pantry for movie snacks, and by the time that they made it to the living room, Chris was 90% buried in blankets and pillows on the floor.

It wasn’t easy to get settled in behind him, but by the opening credits to The Incredibles were rolling, Eddie and Buck were wedged in behind Christopher in the blanket pile, relaxing against the couch, snacks disbursed between them. Chris was lost to the world outside of the movie, but Eddie could almost feel Buck tensing up beside him, winding himself back up like a spring, and well... that wouldn’t do at all.

It was amazing how much they could say without saying anything at all. Eddie raised one of his arms and gave Buck an expectant look, to which Buck shook his head, looking at Eddie like he was crazy (and blushing too, and wow, that was a treat). Eddie only rose a brow, gesturing to his now open side, and Buck stared at him, before giving up with a sigh, slowly rearranging himself as to not disturb Chris.

He slotted himself in against Eddie’s side like he fit there, and Eddie felt more than just a smug sense of victory as he put his arm around Buck, tugging him closer, gently leaning their heads together. Once Buck started to relax, he leaned in—knowing full well that Buck’s attention was anywhere but the movie—and kissed his temple, right above his birthmark.

“You did a really hard thing today, and it brought a lot of good into the world. I’m really, really proud of you, Buck.”

Buck didn’t respond—not verbally, anyway, but Eddie could feel the thousand degree stare Buck gave him when he turned his head, like he was going to stare directly into Eddies soul, search for any sign he was being sarcastic, or patronizing, not that Eddie cared. He was being completely honest, and he could see Buck’s expression falter as he realized that.

Eddie’s smile only grew as Buck scanned over his face again, though it was his turn to look surprised when Buck pulled a hand up to rest against Eddie’s cheek. Eddie leaned into it instinctively as he felt his eyes half lid, because Buck was moving again, pulling himself closer, and it was all Eddie could do to remain perfectly still, give Buck the chance to move closer or pull away, even if he wanted to flip them over right now and kiss Buck within an inch of his life.

As it was, their first kiss was perfect—Buck in his arms, Chris buried in blankets, and Edna Mode in the background. And even if the road to get there was rough, Eddie wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

#911 #evan buckley #edmundo diaz #buddie #fic #buddiefic #911fic #christopher diaz #flospeaks #fluff fic #I love two (2) dumb firefighters and their son

85 notes · View notes

katsukis-sad-angel · 4 years

Text

Hari Kurono as a Boyfriend

Pairing: Hari Kurono (Chronostasis) x Reader

Summary: t i t l e

Warnings: fluff overload, Chrono being hot

BF Scenarios Tag LIst:

@thedreadthreadanomaly

A/N: Hello, this is what my brain vomited during quarantine-themed writers block. I hope anyone who reads this enjoys!!

I want to giVE HIM A KISS. KISSES FOR CHrONO *shakes can* KISSES

You and Hari have been together since you were children, abandoned by your parents and taken in by the Yakuza boss, raised to be crafty, heartless killers

As we’ve seen, Hari is basically Kai’s babysitter so empathy still resides in his heart

Hari is a little older if not the same age as Kai, but they’re both cute. Change my mind

At first, he is dedicated to Kai and only Kai and his goals, but little by little your sweetness gets him to soften up

When he realized he was in love with his childhood best friend, Hari pushed his feelings away and tried to focus

It didn’t work

You were just so cute and sweet when you played with Eri!

Plus, you were very very lovely

Kai notices first

You walked into Overhaul’s office to drop off several files he had requested. After being dismissed by a curt nod, Kai Chisaki turned to his colleague; at the moment, Hari was entranced by the way your round behind moved as you exited the room and shut the door behind you.

“Chrono, what the hell are you looking at?”

The hooded man blinked, rousing from his trance and looking around. “E-Excuse me? Did you say something Overhaul?”

“Why were you staring at Y/n’s ass?”

Hari choked, “I-I wasn’t! Where did you get that from? I don’t like her!” He crossed his arms in a pout, turning away.

Kai smirked at his friend, “You think she’s cute?”

“... Maybe.”

For awhile he denies it, telling himself that you’re not the prettiest thing he’s ever seen

But when you smile at him sweetly when you cross paths in the hallways, all resolve he’d built up immediately disappears

Then, Rappa noticed

He and Hari were talking for some reason when you happened to walk by

You gave them a little wave and continued walking

“Oi… Oi, Stacey! Wake up!” A loud voice pulled Hari from his trance once again.

Hari cleared his throat, blinked a few times and turned his attention from your receding form to the huge figure in front of him.

“Oooh, I know what’s goin’ on. You like Y/n!” Rappa grinned, looking behind him to see what had his higher-ups attention.

“No, I-I don’t! She’s just an old friend, that’s all!”

“Well if ya don’t like her, ya sure do like dat ass-”

“Rappa!”

Rappa gave a bark of laughter while an embarrassed Hari tried to push your addictive smile and scent out of his mind. It was near impossible, despite his efforts.

Were they right?

Rappa and Kai (separately) tease him about it until he finally musters up the courage to tell you his feelings

Honestly, you had never heard sweeter words come out of his mouth:

“Y/n, I, uh…” *clears throat*

“Chrono? Is something wrong?”

“Ah, no I just… um wanted to tell you something.”

You nodded gently, folding your hands behind your back as you waited for him to speak. When he pulled the mask from his face and looked you directly in the eye, his breathtaking features took you by surprise.

When his hood pooled around his shoulders, revealing long silvery locks of pointed hair, he finally spoke; “Y/n, we’ve been together since we were children. I remember, that same day we sat outside and watched the orphanage burn down and you cried into my chest for hours, I made a promise. A promise that I would protect you no matter the risk to my own life. You’re like a sister to me, but as of late, I’ve been wishing we were more. This job doesn’t exactly allow us what would be called ‘a normal relationship,’ but I will do everything in my power to make you happy.”

You stood there for several long moments waiting for the cameras and confetti and someone shouting “YOU GOT PUNKED”

But they never came

You couldn’t believe your long-time crush was confessing to you when all you could do was give a wave and a smile

“Chrono, I-”

“I-I’m not trying to force you into anything, I had to get that off my chest or Overhaul and Rappa would never shut up. If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry, I-”

You took a step forward and placed a hand on his flushed cheek, brushing your thumb across the expanse of heated skin. “Hari, I feel the same… I have for a long time actually.”

“Really?”

You nod, a goofy grin threatening to spread your lips. “Since forever now that I think about it.” The smile breaks past your defences and Hari finally feels at ease, gently resting gloved hands on your hips and bringing you close.

“Can I do something?” He breathes, nose gently brushing against your own.

“How… how long did you practice that confession?” You whisper as he closes the painful gap and steals your breath with a kiss. After a few blissful seconds, the kiss breaks and you look up at him from under your lashes. “Well?”

“Too long,” He murmurs, diving in for another.

Some poor Hisaikai member probably walks by a few minutes later and catches the second-in-command kissing Overhaul’s secretary

Poor Hari was teased so much by the the rest of the Yakuza for the rest of the week for “snagging” one of the few female members

They’re not above teasing you either, but they don’t wanna mess with Chrono

As a boyfriend, Hari would be more on the quiet side

You can talk his ear off and he wouldn’t care, his philosophy is “you have two ears and one mouth for a reason”

If you had a bad day, there’s a new anime you’re really into, you need a strong, warm shoulder to cry on, or just a simple hug, Hari is there to lend an ear and/or hold you close

He’s got to deal with Chisaki’s tantrums so he’s got god-level patience

That being said, he doesn’t particularly enjoy being disobeyed or teased. You can get away with it most of the time, but sometimes you go a little too far and punishment is fair game

Your relationship is far from being normal

You can’t exactly go on dates

The only time you have together are on your breaks and late, late evenings

Being part of a gang, there is a male around every corner of every corridor and on every side in a lecture hall

Hari is aware of this

Thanks to gossip, the whole gang knows to keep their hands and eyes off unless they want to be dealt with by Chronostasis himself

He’s a very cuddly boi and craves your attention and affection

Hari is a muscular man (if you couldn’t tell) and a great masseur when he has time

Hari is very ticklish

He and Kai trade memes like baseball cards

He’s one of those guys who draws on his skin when he’s bored. Hari is actually pretty embarrassed about this habit, but you think it’s pretty cute

He is not a germaphobe, Hari wears the mask, gloves, and coat to please his nut-job of a boss

His favorite thing about you is your laugh

Laughter isn’t common in the Yakuza hideout and drunken guffaws at the bar don’t exactly count

Real, genuine laughter

That’s what Hari heard when he showed you the image on his phone his boss had just sent

He had to sit up and make sure you were still breathing; you were dying, tears rolling down your cheeks, hands clutching your cramping stomach, and peals of hearty laughter rolling from your chest as you struggled to breathe

He didn’t get what was so funny, but he couldn’t help but crack a smile when you choked on the water he’d brought to help you calm down

In other words, when you’re happy, so is he. And he doesn’t regret the day he confessed one bit

140 notes · View notes

phantomofthepairofdice · 3 years

Text

The Rosscars 2020

Wow. It’s that time of year again, only this time it’s different because it’s on a blog that no one will read! (hold for applause) Welcome to the first annual online publication for the Rosscars (hold for applause while the reader acknowledges how positively droll it is that I combined my name with “Oscars”). Who can forget such indelible Rosscar memories like when Steven Soderbergh surprised us all and won Best Director for Out of Sight or Bill Irwin’s beautiful speech upon winning Best Supporting Actor for Rachel Getting Married?! The Rosscars mean something different to everyone, but we all know that they mean quality choices made by a committee of one schmuck. This year’s Rosscars are bizarre because in an effort to be more like the Academy guidelines, film’s nominated have been released between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. As usual, theatrical windows be damned, streamers are welcome. Of course, I have my gripes. I like categorizing movies by release year – specifically, when they become available to the plain old public like yours truly – not at festivals, limited runs in NYC and LA. Well, the Oscars are still weeks away and I feel like everybody wants to forget about last year and move onto this one that we’re already three months into - So here are my awards for the films, performers, and craftspeople that stood out in a pretty exceptional year for movies even though distribution was stranger than ever.

**A few caveats and guidelines to Rosscar newcomers (which I imagine is just a formality since we all know the Rosscars so well)**

The rules and categories are a little different around here. First, not every category is honored directly. That’s for a few reasons, chiefly that I don’t feel qualified to reward the technical categories properly – I suppose I should say that I feel less qualified to do so than the “above the line” categories. In keeping with the Academy standard, there are five nominees in each category, except for Best Picture, Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature, and Best Ensemble Cast which allow up to ten. Every category, save those three, will have the possibility of honorable mentions, because I want to highlight some things that just barely missed the cut. The narrowing down of a lot of these categories was awfully tough.

Nominees are listed alphabetically, and the winners are in bold and italics.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that I couldn’t see everything (this isn’t a job and it’s still $20 to rent The Father, y’all) and that these are just the opinions of one (self-described) “bozo on the internet.” If you’re a reader and have different picks, feel free to share!

Special Commendations for some things that I want to recognize: • Ludwig Goransson for his Tenet score which is an absolute banger • The costumes of Emma. (Alexandra Byrne), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth), and Small Axe (Jaqueline Durran, Sinéad Kidao, and Lisa Duncan) all struck me as exceptional • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with their scores for both Soul and Mank. Crazy that Pixar is working with the guy who made “Closer” • The cinematography of Da 5 Bloods (Newton Thomas Sigel), First Cow (Christopher Blauvelt), Beanpole (Kseniya Sereda), and A White, White Day (Maria von Hausswolff)

The Rosscars red carpet was, as usual, a bizarre affair. People filed into the theater and it seemed like the only encounters were awkward ones. Vin Diesel showed up in character as Bloodshot, Aaron Sorkin started getting really verbose about what a lovely night it was, and it became clear that most of the celebrities in attendance didn’t read their invitations closely enough to realize that this was not, in fact, the Academy Awards.

Everyone’s seated, and the show is under way. After a medley about the nominees this year by Common and Seth McFarlane that was more corny but clever than it was funny, the first official category is here, and the presenter is none other than... Ross!

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods

2. Matthew Macfadyen for The Assistant

3. Jesse Plemmons for Judas and the Black Messiah

4. Paul Raci for Sound of Metal

5. Glynn Turman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucas Hedges for Let Them All Talk

• Orion Lee for First Cow

• Bill Murray for On the Rocks

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Vanessa Bayer for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

2. Candice Bergen for Let Them All Talk

3. Gina Rodriguez for Kajillionaire

4. Amanda Seyfried for Mank

5. Yuon Yuh-jung for Minari

Honorable Mentions:

• Jane Adams for She Dies Tomorrow

• Charin Alvarez for Saint Frances

• Talia Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Debra Winger for Kajillionaire

Everyone loves a montage. The audience gets comfortable in their seats as the video screens start to show a montage of some of the most famous moments from Hollywood’s most magical movies. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers waltz, gliding across a dance floor like two hovering angels. There’s a clip of Leo declaring himself king of the world in Titanic, the flying bicycles in ET, Bogart stares longingly into Bacall’s eyes, and then there’s some scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle from 2010′s Knight and Day. The audience all seems confused how that last one got in there. The John Williams music swells as little Kevin McAllister screams when puts on aftershave. We see clips of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia embrace Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Bruce Lee smoothly declares that boards don’t hit back and... wait... was that a clip from Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet with Seth Rogen? And that’s a clip from What Happens in Vegas... Bad Teacher... Vanilla Sky... Shrek 2... Any Given Sunday... Everyone is flummoxed. The last clip fades out and a sole editing credit appears: Cameron Diaz. The lights come up and there’s some applause, but mostly confused murmurs.

The ceremony has had a bit of a misstep, but nothing it can’t recover from, especially as the next category is announced over the PA, and it looks like the presenter is... Ross!

Best Ensemble Cast:

1. Bacurau

2. Da 5 Bloods

3. Kajillionaire

4. Let Them All Talk

5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

6. Minari

7. Nomadland

8. Pieces of a Woman

9. Small Axe

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Danny Bilson and Paul Dameo & Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott for Da 5 Bloods

2. Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

3. Brandon Cronenberg for Possessor

4. Sean Durkin for The Nest

5. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau

Honorable Mentions – a very difficult task to weed this down to five.

• Shaka King and Will Berson for Judas and the Black Messiah, from a story by Kenny and Keith Lucas

• Steve McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland for Small Axe

• Kelly O'Sullivan for Saint Frances

• Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm for Another Round

Best Actor:

1. Ben Affleck for The Way Back

2. Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods

4. John Magaro for First Cow

5. Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round

Honorable Mentions:

• Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal

• John Boyega for Small Axe

• Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

• Hugh Jackman for Bad Education

• Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson for A White, White Day

We have a break in the action and it looks like Darius Rucker has showed up to perform what he would have nominated for Best Original Song. The crowd is absolutely furious as he starts playing a song that apparently was in Trial of the Chicago Seven. An ocean of sonorous boos and curses overtakes the the once docile crowd. The Rock just ripped his chair from out of the ground. Jane Lynch somehow smuggled in a civil war era flintlock pistol that she’s now pointing at the stage! Suddenly, the crowd unifies around what started as a confident chant of one lone audience member - John C Reilly. It’s growing... Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong - it’s like the macabre circus performers from Tod Browning’s Freaks, but instead of chanting “Gooble Gobble” they’re clearly pining for Darius to change his tune to the silly and delightful jam from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Darius, scared for his life, leaves the stage, but here come Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams to deliver the goods. Busy Philips and Michelle Williams burst into tears. Tom Hanks nods in approval. A segment saved by brave artists placating a toxic group of fans... we’ve just witnessed a live version of the Snyder Cut, folks.

Jack Nicholson seems completely unfazed, giving a thumbs up to the camera and blowing a kiss to the next presenter. Coming to the stage is... Ross... again...

Best Actress:

1. Jessie Buckley for i’m thinking of ending things

2. Carrie Coon for The Nest

3. Han Ye-ri for Minari

4. Sidney Flanagan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

5. Vasilisa Perelygina for Beanpole

Honorable Mentions – these cuts were especially painful

• Haley Bennet for Swallow

• Morfydd Clark for Saint Maud

• Frances McDormand for Nomadland

• Christin Milioti for Palm Springs

• Geraldine Viswanathan for Bad Education

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things from Iain Reed's novel

2. Sarah Gubbins for Shirley from Susan Scarf Merrell's novel

3. Kelly Reichardt and John Raymond for First Cow

4. Simon Rich for American Pickle from his short story "Sell Out"

5. Mike Makowsky for Bad Education from Robert Kolker's "The Bad Superintendent"

Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature:

1. Boys State

2. Collective

3. David Byrne’s American Utopia

4. Dick Johnson is Dead

5. Feels Good Man

6. In & Of Itself

7. The Painter and the Thief

8. Time

Jimmy Fallon has come out on stage to do a bit about the pandemic and watching movies at home. People are just absolutely not having it. He tries not to laugh at his own jokes while doing what I guess is technically a pretty good impression of Dr. Fauci interviewing James Corden as Martin Scorsese (the less said of this impression, the better) on what is or isn’t cinema. The bit doesn’t track and Fallon is absolutely tanking. The producers cut away from the stage to spare the viewers at home from this monstrosity. We see crowd shots of Millie Bobby Brown shaking her head in dismay, Colin Firth is simultaneously grimacing and trying to stave off laughter, Cynthia Erivo is texting, and director Tom Hooper is taking notes for his next film. Corden yells, “Carpool Karaoke! Remember?!” Ron Howard has fainted. This thing is almost completely off the rails.

Coming back to the stage is the next presenter, a clearly embarrassed... Ross! He’s in a total flop sweat, but stumbles his way through a joke about how Fallon should try co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco sometime. There are scant chuckles throughout a crowd that mostly just wants to see who won and go home.

Best Director:

1. Christopher Nolan for Tenet

2. Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

3. Steve McQueen for Small Axe

4. Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

5. Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Honorable Mentions:

• Kitty Green for The Assistant

• Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things

• Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round

Best Picture

1. Bacurau

2. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

3. Da 5 Bloods

4. First Cow

5. i'm thinking of ending things

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

8. Nomadland

9. Small Axe

10. Tenet

Accepting the award for best picture is none other than Eve, the cow actor who played the titular First Cow! The audience is enamored with how graceful she looks in her cow gown, and her speech, though indecipherable, is likely simple, observational, and deeply profound for those who speak cow.

Wow, what a ceremony! Hearts were broken, property was damaged, dreams were fulfilled... blood was shed? Damn it, Meryl Streep came in and mugged Charlie Kaufman before absconding with the trophy. Oddly, she’s a previous winner, so the attack isn’t out of need for hardware. People are reading through articles about production on Adaptation for potential motives. Streep made time for a photo opportunity, but remains at large.

I could go on ad infinitum about all of these nominees and winners themselves and why they did or didn’t make the cut, but that’d be better served in a different piece. For now, my thoughts on most of these can be found on the Best of 2020 write-up and over on my Letterboxd. And, as always, these awards can be revoked and redistributed at will, so don’t get too cozy with that statue, Danny Bilson!

On behalf of the RAOGL (Rosscars Association of One Guy at a Laptop), thanks for reading, and stay tuned as we’re establishing a tip line for anyone has seen Ms. Streep or her stolen valor Rosscar. We’ll see you next year. Keep watching movies, and keep arbitrarily quantifying them in terms of subjective quality!

#awards #movies #film #Rosscars

4 notes · View notes