#fun fact I finished this right as the movie ended AHA | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

duskamethyst · 4 years

Text

only mine.

a/n: my first bnha fic! im in love with the anime and i simp for so many characters aha

word count: 1.6k

genre: mature, implied nsfw (characters are aged up)

warnings: kidnapping, drugging, yandere behavior

pairing: yan!kaminari x gn!reader

summary: you and kaminari are fuck buddies.

“man, can’t you just sleep over?” kaminari groans as he rolls onto his side, his elbow props himself up to watch you get off the bed to collect your clothes that were stripped and thrown onto the floor.

“denki, no.” you say sternly while putting on your hoodie, missing the pouty look on the male’s face.

“not even for one night?” he pleads.

“nope!” you stick out your tongue teasingly before walking towards the door and turning the knob. “not ever.”

“sheesh, you’re such a hardass.”

“call me whatever you want,” you roll your eyes as you step out and slowly close the door before peeking your head in again, “see ya.”

it has been months since you and kaminari been fucking on each other’s bed. it started with small talks before he (quickly-- after just a couple of times seeing each other) began to openly flirt with you. kaminari was a fun a guy to be around with, kind of dumb and he looked like he meant no harm. you decided to entertain the fellow, shamelessly retaliate his flirtatious behavior (which was so much better than his game that it made him flustered often) until the both of you found yourselves together, bare and dripping with sweat in bed.

you and kaminari formed a “pact” that it should remain as is, no strings attached and leaving the only label on it as fwb. being each others’ booty call is hell lot of fun, the sex is bomb and you don’t have to commit and have feelings for each other. you made it clear that this should remain a secret and that you both are free to fuck around with other people too but as much you’d like to believe that he understood it, kaminari never failed to constantly spam your phone with unnecessary texts about your well being, how your day went or asking if you wanted to go to shopping with him. it was a bit suffocating but if he was lucky enough, he’d get a short reply if not left on read.

you stick to your own belief that is to leave as soon as you’re done wrecking each other. no cuddles, no pillow talks or whatever those cheesy things couples normally do because the more time you spend together, there would be no doubt that one of you would start to catch feelings and it’s the last thing you want to have right now. the longest that you would stay at his place was only to take a quick shower after doing the deed, but not before having him almost begging to come in with you.

still, that doesn’t stop the male to often ask you to hang out and stay with him after a couple of hours together. you had to constantly remind him how this whole thing works but sometimes you could still see how he was burning holes behind other people who he thought was looking at you for too long or making you laugh too much and you couldn’t help but to wonder if he was taking this differently from you. whenever you confronted him about it, he’d get extremely defensive about his behavior and said you were just imagining it or that he was joking. not wanting to argue any further, you’d often leave it at that.

hanging around with the guys is when his little antics gets worse. kirishima often invites the crew to his place to play video games and he always manages to find a way to lay a finger on you or openly flirts with you. he’d usually make sure that he is the one that gets to sit next to you or purposely hangs an arm protectively around your shoulders as he casually speaks to the others-- which earns the both of you some weird looks. kaminari notices it and he lives for it. it makes him even prouder to be able to claim you in some sort of way.

“been kinda wondering-- you guys are fucking each other or something?” sero suddenly questions while his eyes are glued to the screen in desperation of beating bakugou in the racing game.

“hell ye- OUCH!” you yank your elbow on kaminari’s side to cut him off.

“who the hell would?” you quickly reply, earning some laughs from the other males present.

“then, you’re free after this?” he turns his head to wink at you, giving a small room of opportunity for bakugou to slip through sero’s car and eventually finish the whole two laps.

the blonde male grunts and hits sero’s head with his controller, “fucking idiot! you didn’t even take this seriously! kirishima! you’re next!”

“well, someone’s bound to take care of that bump on your head now, huh?” you tease, and sero is one to quickly catch on to that as a wide grin spreads across his face.

“dude, i owe you one!” he chuckles and lightly taps on bakugou’s shoulder.

“i should’ve kicked you in the balls.” he grumbles, finger expertly pushing one of the joysticks as he chooses his preferred sports car for the next race.

the night goes on as usual, each of you taking turns on the racing game that bakugou insists on only playing for the rest of the night which none of you dared to say otherwise. everyone has their shares of laughs, you think-- missing the scowl on kaminari’s face whenever you choose to only spare him your half-assed attention while sero shows you his collection of memes on his phone. it’s probably mean of him to think how sero looks like a fucking simp that has to impress you in order to woo you for the night but he couldn’t care less. he knows you best-- knows how you do things your way and seeing you “subtly” being flirtatious right in front of his face angers him to no end.

you’re acting like it, like a... what was it again? a whore? it has been at the tip of his tongue but he doesn’t dare to say it. he feels bad enough to even think about you that way and know that he shouldn’t since you both are in this stupid “relationship” that people use as an excuse just to hop from one dick or pussy to another because they’re too “afraid” of or don’t want any commitments or whatever. kaminari gets the idea, he’s not that dense but it’s unfair how he can’t bring himself to do things like you-- not when he’s already catching feelings this quick.

for the sake of not wanting to ruin the night nor the only thing that binds you to him, he chooses to keep his cool until you guys part ways. he doesn’t even realize how hard he’s clenching his fists when he finds out that you left with sero while he’s gone for a bathroom break.

— come over tonight? ;-)

a week has passed since that night. you notice that kaminari haven’t been constantly flooding your inbox like he used to and it has been the least of your worries. in fact, you enjoyed it. you had your time being around other people more without having them to think that he’s a threat to them and he was less touchy than he used to be. you have no clue about the reason for his change in attitude and you couldn’t find the reason to ponder about it anyways.

he comes over as asked, an activity that is far from foreign for the both of you. kaminari happily shows you the bottle of booze from his bag as he enters your home-- neither of you has to say it, you both know that you’re going to have mindless, drunk sex tonight.

“don’t worry, i’ll make sure to sleep on the couch.” he reassures, pouring the liquor into two glasses in your kitchen as you sit down lazily on the couch.

“you better be,” you reply, going through the movies available on netflix from the tv screen. “you can choose what you wanna watch.”

kaminari walks over and offers you one of the glasses before sitting down next to you. he goes through the movies before choosing one, sipping on his drink and glancing towards you through the corner of his eyes once in a while. he can’t help but to suppress a smile through his glass when he catches you take a gulp and your face squirm at the bitter taste.

“it’s so strong.” you mumble after a few more sips and a few minutes into the movie that you are trying to pay attention to. you believe that your alcohol tolerance isn’t that bad but the way those few sips are already making your head spin instead of the familiar high that should succumb your mind by now.

“for real? i think you’re just imagining it.” he replies coyly as his eyes bore through the screen.

“i’m not--” the spinning starts to become unbearable and your eyelids are getting heavy so you quickly lay your head down and close your eyes on the couch in an attempt to soothe it down before kaminari reaches to rub smooth circles on your head.

“shh, do you wanna puke?” his voice is too calm despite the situation. knowing him, he’d be absolutely frantic when things go wrong. you try to open your eyes, but the lights do nothing but cruelly inflict the pain even more.

“no.. i just-- carry me to bed..?” you whine as you welcome the comfort he’s offering.

kaminari just watches you as you slowly drift into a deep slumber, your chest heaving up and down as you breathe. he calls your name a few times to test the waters before he finally lets out a sinister chuckle and hovers over your body to kiss your cheek.

“poor baby. don’t worry, i’ll bring you somewhere nicer.” he whispers as he gazes adoringly at your unlively state. so vulnerable.

“then i can have you all to myself.”

194 notes · View notes

hanaasbananas · 3 years

Text

100 Ways to say I Love You Chapter 26

Stay over (Marichat)

AO3

It was funny, Marinette thought, how quickly she had begun to schedule her time around Chat’s visits to her balcony. Before, he’d show up unexpectedly, sometimes several days in a row, sometimes once every two weeks. It wasn’t until a year after his first visit that Marinette realised how they had become so regular that without her notice, Friday evenings had unofficially become ‘Chat evenings’.

Not that she minded. In fact, she rather looked forward to the end of the week when she would see him; purely because she enjoyed getting to know her partner when he wasn’t posturing to impress Ladybug, and not at all because of any feelings that Tikki enjoyed teasing her about.

Most weeks, they just hung out together, watching movies or making their way through a large plate of rejected pastries from the bakery. Tonight though, they sat in companionable silence, with Chat bouncing a ball against the wall while she finished up some homework, music playing softly in the background. It was the most relaxed she’d felt all week, so she was surprised when Chat sat up straight with a loud exclamation.

“What is it, Chat?”

“I didn’t realise how late it was”— he scrambled to his feet “I should-I should go.”

Despite his words, he seemed reluctant to leave and before she could think too much about it, Marinette blurted out “or, you could stay.”

“Huh?” Chat stared at her, green eyes wide and she fought to hide the blush blooming on her cheeks.

“Stay over,” Marinette repeated. She knew—from her conversations with him as Ladybug and as Marinette—that Chat didn’t particularly enjoy going home, and tried to stay out as much as he could, and it wasn’t as if she had anywhere to go, so really what was the harm?

He was still staring at her when she continued, his head tilted to the side curiously. “Well...it’s Saturday tomorrow right? No school or anything, so you could stay…” Marinette shut her notebook “I’m done with my work so we can just play video games or watch some movies or something. Don’t feel obligated to just because I’m asking though, I just thought it could be fun and”— her eyes alighted on the empty plate on her chaise “—oh yeah and I really wanted to get you to test out this new recipe I tried. Maman and papa aren’t exactly impartial you know?.”

At this, Chat grinned, finally relaxing and sitting back down. “Aha! So that’s your ulterior motive!”

“Yep,” Marinette snickered “you’ve found me out! It’s been my plan all along to fatten you up with pastries, what are you gonna do about it?”

He scoffed. “I’ll take them! You think I’m gonna turn down free pastries? Think again!”

“So you’ll stay?”

Chat shrugged nonchalantly, though Marinette could tell he was pleased. “Sure, why not?”

#miraculous ladybug #marichat #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #100 ways to say i love you

25 notes · View notes

weasleypogues · 4 years

Text

the new carrera (j.m.)

request: could you do one where y/n is kie’s adopted sister&hangs around the pogues? She takes a liking to jj. One day, they’re swimming at John b’s, she watches jj get out of the water. Kie says that she isn’t being discreet. He catches her gaze. Later, she goes down to the dock to help clean up. He says that he saw her watching him earlier&he asks why. She says that she likes him&he says that he likes her too. They share their first kiss&become a couple. Then it leads to something more.

i hope u enjoy this!! i actually had a lot of fun giving kie a sister but i really hope i got the timeline and everything correct! if not than we’ll just use our imagination aha

i also got very carried away so im sorry for the length of it lol

masterlist.

mike and anna carrera welcomed you into their family with open arms. after neglection from your birth parents and being taken in by the state, foster care was the only option. half way through freshman year and into sophomore year was when your foster parents mike and anna took care of you. their daughter kiara was away at something they called “kook academy”? it took you a while to figure out the slang in the outer banks but soon realized that it was almost like a boarding school for rich kids. even though she was there, you still headed to the local public high school to continue your education but you didn’t really care. all you knew was that you kept your head down and tried to blend in as much as possible.

a part of you longed for kiara’s company to help guide the way through the social standards in the outer banks and get a first hand experience from someone your own age, but alas, you were alone.

it didn’t take long for the state to come to the terms that mike and anna were your safest bet to a happier and fulfilling life out of foster care. this lead to your final adoption into the carrera family and you were ecstatic to say the least.

the day kiara came home was the day that the papers were signed and the only thing racking your brain was the approval of you into her family, being as she was an only child. as you walked downstairs from your bedroom to see mike and anna holding a cake with candles, you spotted kiara next to them with a wide smile and you were filled with happiness. this is all you ever wanted.

you and kiara clicked immediately. after late night talks getting to know each other intricately, it seemed meant to be.

“why do i feel like we were meant to sisters? like obviously we aren’t blood but there has to be a reason that this happened.” kiara exclaimed one night at 3:46 am as you both laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. your heart bursted inside of your chest and tears welled in your eyes.

“it’s gotta be fate, kie.” you answered shortly, because if you spent any more of your breath speaking longer you were sure that a small happy sob would erupt from your mouth. you felt kie’s hand next to yours and simultaneously linked your pinky’s together as a light breeze came through her open window. the stars and moon lightly illuminated the room and this felt like an actual movie.

you didn’t realize you would get this lucky.

the next morning kiara explained to you that she really really wanted to introduce you to the rest of the pogues. summers with them was always the best time of her life and she wanted to include you in those memories. you agreed without hesitation.

“so pack a bag and they’ll pick us up at the dock in 30!” kiara said, placing her dishes in the dishwasher and taking the last sip from her water.

“wait, do they know i’m coming?” you asked, scared that maybe you were barging in on their plans or maybe they didn’t want you coming in the first place.

“yes, (y/n)! don’t worry! you’re gonna love them.” she replied with a smile and with that, you both went to pack bags and coolers for the day on the marsh.

you rubbed your nervously sweaty hands on the side of your shorts as you waited by the front door for kie. she walked down in a tie-dye shirt and shorts, picking up her backpack and cooler that she left packed at the bottom of the stairs.

“do you think i should be fine with wearing this?” you asked kiara nervously, comparing your outfit to hers.

“yes, (y/n/n)! don’t stress, we’re practically wearing the same thing!” she responded with a chuckle before opening up the front door. you glanced down at your white graphic tee and jean shorts with birkenstocks and let out a breath you had been holding in. you weren’t sure why you were stressing so much. was it because you were about to be faced with three random guys? or maybe they would recognize you from school and associate their thought of you with the weird quiet girl? or maybe they’re the type of people that doesn’t like a person until said person gives them a reason to like them? you blinked hard, trying to clear your thoughts of any anxious feelings and just had to prepare yourself for a good day on a boat.

“hey boys!” kiara called out as you two walked down the wooden ramp to the boat that wasn’t stopping for you and kiara to board. if i slip and fall trying to get onto the moving boat i might just ask mike and anna to unadopt me and runaway to avoid embarrassment.

“you got my kind of juice boxes kie?” the blonde one asked. you associated this as jj as kiara gave you a quick rundown last night of everyone’s names and personalities. she laughed and rolled her eyes at his question.

“as a matter of fact, yes i do.” kiara said as she took the blondes hand to help her onto the boat. process of elimination you knew that pope wasn’t the white guy driving the boat and you gave him a small smile and thank you as he held out a hand for you to board.

“boys, this is my new sister, (y/n)! (y/n), these are my boys.” kiara introduced you guys, with a proud tone. before they could say anything you put your hands up to stop them.

“kie tried quizzing me last night so let me try to get this before you guys say anything. so john b, pope, and jj?” you inquired, pointing to them in the correct order as you announced their name.

“impressive.” pope said with a smile and with his eyebrows raised.

“taught her well, i see.” john b followed up, his eyes staying on the marsh.

“sooo, (y/n). what shit did kiara warn you about us?” jj asked playfully as he caught a beer bottle kiara threw towards his direction.

“uhh, you sure you guys wanna know?” you asked in a tone that would definitely put them on edge because you were messing with them. all of their faces were a mixture of being intrigued, shocked, and slightly offended at the thought that kiara only told you bad things.

“i’m joking, all the good stuff. don’t worry.” you responded, leaning back as you took a sip from your water bottle.

“so (y/n), think you can get used to our pogue life quickly?” john b asked, glancing over to you quickly and than back to the marcsh in front of him.

“fingers crossed.” you said as you lifted your eyebrows and chuckled. your eyes followed jj’s body as he made his way to the front of the boat. groans all escaped the groups mouth besides yours as they realized what he was doing.

pope made his way to move to the back to use john b as a shield. kiara watched from her seat, almost accepting her fate.

“here we go again....” john b somewhat yelled out as the engine became louder. your eyebrows furrowed together as you watched jj lift his beer in front of his face at an angle without it touching his lips. the beer spewed out of the bottle, as he tried to aim in his mouth. this however, didn’t end well because you felt beer spill all over you and into your eyes, a slight yell coming from your mouth.

you and kiara exchanged a glace as your eeyes were wide but you couldn’t help the smile forming on your face. both of you simultaneously looked back to john b who mouthed ‘hold on’ and you didn’t hesitate to grab onto the nearest thing that would stop you from being launched anywhere further.

john b brought the boat to a sudden halt and jj went flying into the air, a loud spalsh following, soaking you more than the beer did. the four of you laughed as you, kie and pope ran to the front of the boat to watch him emerge from the water.

“fuck you john b.” jj seemed to mutter out as he groaned. kiara made her way to john b to help him anchor the boat as pope put out his hand for jj to take. as he took his sweet time swimming back to the boat, you quickly took off your shirt and shorts, revealing your bathing suit and jumped right into the semi-cold water. the water was almost a shock to you and you quickly swam up to catch your breath. when jj hopped back on the boat was when john b and pope jumped in with excited faces right after you.

“kie, come on! the water feels great.” you called out to your new sister. as kiara took off her shirt and shorts, ready to jump in after you, you watched jj walk right in front of her, stopping her in her path. he was saying something to her that you couldn’t make out because of john b and pope speaking right next to you and splashing, but also because you were too focused on him.

you admired the way little droplets of water rolled down his toned back or dropped from the tips of his blonde hair. you watched the way he reached into the cooler and pulled out two cans of beer and handed one to kie, and how the bracelets covering his wrists would slide slightly up and down depending on how his hand was moving. he quickly turned back around but you still didn’t feel the need to pull your eyes away from his body, subtly checking him out.

the only thing that snapped you out of it was when jj hollered out to you three in the water. “i said that kie can only go in the water under the circumstance that she shotguns this beer with me beforehand.” and with that he caught your eyes and gave you a smirk and a wink. your face would feel hot if it wasn’t for the cold water you had submerged yourself in. you smiled and kept yourself afloat to watch them shotgun. it only took 6 seconds for them to finish the beers and the threw the cans on the floor of the boat, jumping in immediately.

the rest of the day was filled with swimming and messing around. they made you feel welcomed immediately. you didn’t feel the need to censor anything you say around them to fit in, really because they didn’t censor themselves in the first place in front of a stranger. kiara had the best friends ever and you were excited for what this would bring in the future. the next couple of hours seemed to fly by and it wasn’t long until you all sat silently, taking in the sunset as john b drove the boat back to his house. your skin felt warm although the breeze cooled you down. all the guys seemed almost eager to get off the boat to settle on steady land in john b’s house and you stayed back to walk with kiara.

“i don’t care if you are into jj or not. but if you want this to be a little secret, i would suggest not being so obvious next time.” kiara teased you as you took her hand to hop off the boat onto the dock.

“fuck, really? thats kinda embarrassing...” you replied, feeling your face get warm as you tugged at your hair at the root in deep thought.

“just be careful with him. he’s kinda into hookup culture.” kiara responded, and you felt your heart sink slightly. you were never the one to be into just hooking up and that’s it. and if you were, you didn’t want that to happen with jj. you liked the idea of jj and thought he was fun, loyal, and spontaneous to and with his friends. you joked here and there as you and kie made your way into john b’s house, placing down your bags to relax yourselves on the couch.

although, you quickly patted down your shorts pockets and looked through your backpack. “fuck, i think i left my phone on the boat. cool if i go back to look for it?” you asked, your question really being targeted towards john b as it was his boat. john b nodded and quickly swallowed his water before waving his hand for you to go.

“here, i’ll help you go look for it.” jj said as he stood up, leaving his spot next to pope on the couch. you gave him a small smile before you both made your way out of the house and down the front stairs. your heart raced as the walk down to the boat was silent. should i say something? does he hate the silence? if he hated to the silence he could say something if we wanted to. maybe i should say something....

jj hopped onto the boat with ease and held out a hand to help you on and steady yourself which you gladly took. “what does it look like?”

“it has a clear case and it’s a white phone.” you responded, searching the back of the boat while he searched the front.

“you know....i saw you looking at me earlier after i hopped back on the boat.” jj stated, walking towards you as he waved your phone in his hands. you, maybe too quickly, shot up and looked at him before grabbing it out of his hands.

“ohh, uh, aha. you did?” you responded, feeling awkward. kie was right, you weren’t really being discreet. “it’s just that-”

“i kinda liked it.” jj spoke confidently, giving you a small smirk. you let out a deep breath and couldn’t fight back the smile you were holding back. “i think you’re really cute, y’know.”

“i gotta say the same to you, maybank.” you said, feeling this new found confidence come out of nowhere. jj didn’t hesitate leaning in and placing his lips on yours. you felt your heart flutter but kissed right back immediately. you left your left hand make it’s way to the nape of his neck while your right one rested on his chest. he held your waist and slightly pulled you closer to him, making you smile slightly into the kiss.

it felt instant but also an eternity when you two pulled away. “is this what you pogues do often? because i could get used to it.” you joked and smiled, as he rolled his eyes playfully and laughed in response.

you really could get used to him doing that.

so i didn’t wanna make them end up together bc it was so soon but im happy with that ending lol, i hope u liked it <3

202 notes · View notes

rigelmejo · 3 years

Text

I don’t know if this extensive reading has helped but I FEEL like it has helped lol. When I started 小王子 how long was it taking a chapter? Just under 5 minutes per page right?

Well I know I got faster than that. Today my Internet was down so while waiting for things to restart and load and stuff I read like 5 chapters of the book. I read them out loud (just a handful of words I didn’t know how to say out loud). I was reading at slow but steady speaking speed so that’s still faster than 5 minutes a page. Ok I just timed myself to test it and I am taking 2 minutes to read a page, and I would guess 3 minutes if I slowed down to consider a bit more on the sayings/less familiar hanzi. That’s better then the 4.5-5 minutes I started at! So I must’ve picked up some words from this book. So I would say... yes a little extensive reading seems to be helping reading speed. Also! I have 16 pages to go! This story is so short. It is sweet and odd and so human though maybe that is why it’s remained loved like Alice in wonderland. (Fun fact I also read 2 chapters of Alice in wonderland in French this week and it is just as bizarre to me as when I watched the movie as a kid, But I do think in book form if I were 6-9 I would’ve related more since Alice’s POV in the story is pretty relatable... and when I was a kid and watched the movie I just did Not relate aha).

Anyway from 4.5 minutes to 2-3 is great!

What I did with graded readers/extensive reading this month, that I am hoping is why this helped:

Read graded reader (butterfly lovers, Pleco, 500 unique characters) - not hard but very satisfying to finish it and read it quickly when it used to take me 40 minutes to read a few Pleco pages of it). So that was a few thousand words comprehensible extensive reading.

Read another graded reader, chinese short stories. While I think it’s good as a study companion, a lot of very specific words which I tripped on (antique coins, being scammed). Which was fine I just think it was not the funnest reading material? It was mostly graded reader though I had to look up a couple handfuls of words.

Read a little of my 500 character Sinolingua reader (2 stories). Also read through the back of it which has all the words in the book, and the HSK 3 words included in the book - I knew all those words but it was a nice refresher. Mostly it was just nice to see how much easier these stories were to read compared to when I first got the book. (I would recommend these books as readers if you want something for adults and in short segments, the short stories are simplified prose from established authors, and the quality of storytelling can therefore be felt a bit. They feel more meaningful as short stories and therefore enjoyable if a bit basic (since they’ve been simplified). You can tell though compared to the Chinese Short Stories book above, which was probably written by a teacher/language textbook maker and not necessarily a literary writer.

Read mandarin companion journey to the center of the earth. 450 unique characters. Another easy read that felt really nice, compared to when I first read a mandarin companion book.

Started reading 小王子 on paper, so extensive reading with little word look up (I’ve looked up less than 10 words so far when reading on paper - notable words I looked up because it frustrated me I didn’t know them: 悲伤，惊奇，惊讶，匆匆，逐渐，观察，测试 a lot of these because I know I’ve seen these Hanzi before I just never remember specifically like 惊讶惊奇 what the difference is or guan pronunciation 观察 or 测 I tend to forget when it’s not in 测试). I started reading it because it’s supposed to have around 2000 unique words (so not too many), and be pretty easy reading level (so a bit easier than 活着 which is the novel Chinese learners often get recommended). Basically, this was the extensive reading book choice step up from graded readers - it’s got a bit over 1000 unique hanzi, not an overwhelming amount of unique words, but it is not a graded reader so if it goes well I could jump to other stuff of similar or slightly less “ease” while still having it feel this “easy” to read (and hopefully take days to read instead of months).

Started reading 笑猫日记之会唱歌的猫 in Pleco, so clicking words I didn’t know (though this one only had a word or two a page unknown). I saw it recommended on a Chinese learners form as easy reading material after graded readers, and I agree! It’s very easy to read! I could understand it without clicking words but it is nice to understand fully since it’s convenient, and look up the pronunciation etc. I read 8 chapters so far. I also listened to a few chapters after reading, but idk if it helped at all.

15 ish chapters into 小王子 I found it online and reread 4 chapters with a click dictionary for unknown words. It was nice just clarifying the word pronunciations and fuzzy bits, also the online translation was different so seeing the difference on how they decided to word it (mostly just seeing synonyms used instead or different sayings for certain parts). I listened to a couple chapters audio afterwards, idk if it helped.

Unrelated, but I did listen read to 5 chapters of 默读 mainly following the Chinese text so, idk if that would’ve helped my overall reading at all (I want to say no but I did notice in general much more general gist comprehension of lines in MoDu then last time I read a couple months ago - although listening to the audio and being able to glance at the English for unknown words of course also makes things much more comprehensible that’s why listen reading method is the structure it is ahh).

Listened to some audio for 小王子 during work because I happened to find it, for chapters 1-4. Just playing in the background. I looked at the text while listening to one to match pronunciation to some words, since the chapter was like 5 minutes long in listening. Again interesting to see their word choice since It was yet another translation (I think I like my print books translation best).

Back to reading print 小王子 today and I think the audio beforehand did help me with being able to pronounce more of what I’m reading. Read like 4 chapters in one short break, another 3 chapters just now. While I don’t know how well the reading speed will translate to reading harder stuff like guardian (which was oddly also taking me 5 minutes a page? Why is that my default speed?), my reading speed doing extensive reading on “stuff mostly easy” to me has increased noticeably. (Fun fact when I read English technical text like psychology and physics books and educational etc I think my reading speed is it’s like 10-20 pages an hour... I do not read non fiction very fast).

So anyway, my goal with extensive reading easy material this month was to see if I could push UP what my starting base level “easy” material is.

What I used to do is practice with an “easier text” (which was still pretty hard for me tbh) and then once it got bearable (took 30-40 minutes to read instead of an hour), I’d switch to a harder material that took me 1-1.5 hours to read. Then when I’d burn out, I’d go back to that “easier” text until it got easier at 20-30 minutes to read. Then I might pick a harder base reading text (usually what used to be the hard one that would now take 30-40 minutes to read), and find something even harder. Lately that has been 寒舍 as my “easier” text, taking 20-30 minutes a full chapter (2 mini chapters), and 天涯客 as my harder text at 30-40ish minutes a chapter. And yes, at this point I could pick something harder but they’re both hard enough I was just sticking to them. You might notice none of these were actually easy for me though, my actual base easy materials were still graded readers, and manhua. So I want to push that upward until there’s some “easier” material below 寒舍 that I can be built up to and read easily Without a dictionary aid. So I can have a solid base that’s reliable. Hanshe is an “easier” practice material but it’s not necessarily something I can read extensively with ease. But if I keep pushing up the difficulty of what I can extensively read, bit by bit, I will eventually Get it to hanshe (or a little below it realistically but still firmly in regular-webnovel-exist at the reading level). I will not get faster at reading these hard things unless my base level of reading is both higher and already a reasonable speed. (I’m guessing anyway??).

Well happy to say this plan is working. I guess the advice articles I read were right somewhat. I knew graded readers could drag you from 0 beginner to some reading ability, since It’s what I originally did with Chinese (and even French sort of). But I was very quick about it because I’m impatient and easily bored by too-easy things apparently lol. I read 1 mandarin companion graded reader (the 300 word Sherlock Holmes one), a couple chapters of 2 other graded readers, then started on a random webnovel (the bl 他们的故事 which somehow thankfully is on the easier end for novels) and looked a lot of words up to get through. But I did not think to try to “match my reading level and increase gradually” in regular novels, even tho if it works for graded readers it probably works for regular stuff!

And in school in our native languages, that’s why our elementary schools had libraries, and we read books for our age group and the chapter books we read were much easier than what we read as teens or what adults read! I remember bunnicula and cat wings those were not hard but they were chapter stories. Then I remember Dracula and hg wells and mark Twain in high school and how they felt a bit Hard despite me being one of those kids rated at college reading level in 3rd grade. Now as a kid? I had the same tendencies I do now, so I’m not surprised I always jump in the deep end and Try to read hard stuff (and it must help since it’s part of why I got good at reading my native language, and definitely has helped my chinese and french). I would be like 7 and pick up a mitchner novel of My dad’s (is that the author of stuff like Alaska etc?) and I’d read a couple pages and feel drained trying to follow it and give up. Or the huge The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, or HG Wells History of the world, or the biography of benjamin Franklin, I never finished any of these or had any idea what they were about I just got curious and opened up a couple pages every now and then. Yet somehow that must’ve been part of why my reading level so early on was considered “good”? I’m guessing.

But I wasn’t actually good at reading in the sense of doing it often or fast until my dad started reading to me at like age 8-9 I think it was Harry Potter which at the time worked out since the books got harder each time, and also my dad reads out loud slow just like he tutors slow lol so eventually I read myself so he’d stop boring me (I love him and loved the bonding time I’m sure but truly i just apparently always liked jumping in the deep end). Eventually his strategy Im guessing to get me to read slightly harder stuff each time worked, because by books 4-5 I read each in 2 days. He was so impressed because before that I couldn’t read long books and not fast, and that’s when he thought I got good at reading. Looking back lol it’s actually so funny? How much work he had to do to get me to read and how what ended up working I still sort of do now. He started me on Hop on Pop as a kid as my first book cause One Fish Two Fish bored me and I thought jumping on a dad was funny, and he did that just to do something to get me to pick up a book lol. Then he got me that digital book toy they had back then where you had a real book but it was in a digital holder and if you clicked words with the pen it read them out loud. Literally how I learn Chinese now... he really got me digital equivalent to graded readers back then ToT. And just like as a kid I still pick up stuff way beyond my level and just read a couple pages at random. It’s just. Kind of funny to me how much I didn’t really change that much after all ToT

BACK ON THE TOPIC OF APRIL PROGRESS lol ok. I listened to Guardian ep 1 today just in the background so no subs etc and I was Floored by how much I completely understood. I’ve been listening to SpoonFed chinese again (15 audios listened to this month), but I’m floored if it made a difference?! Since I was mostly listening in the background not focusing and missing some stuff. Idk if it made a difference, or listening reading method just that 1.5 hours I did this month or what. Or if my listening skills have been this decent I just don’t test them since I usually watch shows with hard Chinese subs (and read the subs), or watch shows with English subs. So like. Anyway mejo back in what was it august 2019 when I started studying? Would be so happy. Back when I started watching guardian and only knew ni hao and xie xie and zai jian.

Also I can’t even remember now if I did extensive reading guardian (after reading the English translation), this month too or just last month. But I’m sure that helped and I should test general reading sometime of a priest novel. Like.. literally what kicked off the “I should extensive read more” this month is me Desperately wanting to kick up my reading speed after the horrific 25 page guardian chapter I read that took like 1.5 hours.

#rant #april #april progress #reading progress #to be honest tho truly I’m really happy with my chinese progress so far #it has yeah sooooo much farther to go #and communication wise I’m ahhhh not not anywhere much yet #but listening and reading are already significantly further than Japanese was at 2.5 years #and honestly ‘as slow progress as Japanese’ was my assumption and goal when I started #so I figured I would not read this good for 4 years at least #so just under 2 years? I’m pretty amazed

4 notes · View notes

strangest-loser · 4 years

Text

Twilight Rewrite

Fire in my Blood ~ Jasper Hale x OC ~ Book One: Chapter Five

Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four

The radio sitting on Alessia's desk was set to low volume and the local all night news channel was ignored in favour of the history paper she was attempting to finish on the civil war. The computer keys tapping was giving the girl a headache and her alarm clock read 05:47 in bright red letters, it's too early for this but she has to finish this essay this morning if she wants to get any semblance of a Sunday. Her mind was fried from trying to write up all of the information contained in her APUSH textbook and she was a fraction of a second away from throwing her laptop out of her open window. Her concentration drifted for the third time that morning and while sighing she saved her word document and shut her screen off to give her brain a rest. Her eyes wandered across her room once again and she scanned the things that covered the walls, photos and memorabilia from throughout her life, at 17 she had collected a decent amount of stuff that lay tucked away in cubby holes or displayed on shelves on the walls, things were nestled in corners and they filled the drawers of the room. Her closet drew her attention and she walked towards it almost without thinking. Sliding open the door she let herself push her shoes off to one side while moving the shoeboxes that housed postcards and newspapers and tickets to football games and movies, one of them held her ribbons and certificates for cheerleading and a tiny statue gifted to her by Jacob, she quickly shoved that box aside.

It was the wooden floorboards beneath the boxes that she was interested in. The boards were discoloured and squeaked when she moved them, a minute of putting pressure on the furthest piece let it wedge free and it allowed her to pull up a second floorboard and pull an ornate box from the hole in the floor. This box had never been seen by anyone other than her and her mother, who gave it to her when she left her father. It normally hurt her to look at the box but she was tired and her emotions weren't ruling her head.

The box was oak wood coloured a deep burgundy and it was carved in the shape of a ballerina, the edges of the lid were lined with metal in a lace pattern and it met in the front to form a lock, Alessia needed the key.

Standing from her position kneeling on the floor she set down the box on her bed before walking to her desk and opening the top drawer of a small jewelry box and she let her eyes fall on a small emerald green ribbon that encircled a small black key, grabbing the tiny key she sat cross-legged on her bed and turned the key hearing a tiny click and slowly lifted the lid hearing the tiny tune of 'The Rose Adagio' from the Sleeping Beauty ballet chime throughout the room in its twinkling music box sound, and the tiny figure sitting at the top of the box spun around to the music played for her, pale glass skin with a brunette hair and a pink tutu with roses in her extended arm. This was a tiny Aurora dancing her way through her song.

The contents of the box is what Alessia was looking for, sitting at the top of the box was the only photograph Alessia had of her mother. It was taken when Alessia was four, her brown hair was held in curly pigtails and she sat with a big smile, next to her was a toddler Bella, looking up at her big sister smiling at her, Bella was sitting in their mothers lap and Renée was smiling down at their youngest, that was common in almost every instance of their lives, Renée's attention was almost always on Bella. It was something that caused Alessia a lot of pain when she was growing up and for a long time she told herself her mommy didn't love her because she did something wrong. Setting the photograph aside she continued to go through the box, a small necklace belonging to her grandmother was taken out too, it was a Tiffany necklace from the fifties and it was priceless to Alessia, she slipped the necklace around her neck and the added weight it put over her heart comforted her. More sentimental objects came out of the box including the first dollar she earned at the diner and a dried daisy she got in a meadow in the forest. At the bottom of the box sat a pair of black satin pointe shoes, beautiful black ballet slippers with their box in tact and their black ribbons freshly sewn in. She carefully took them out of the box and held them in her hands, turning them in her palms and observing the undamaged fabric, they haven't been used yet, they were still brand new after her accident.

A single photograph laid underneath those inky slippers. A 15 year old Alessia in a white leotard and a beautiful romantic length tutu standing in front of a wall at a competition in Seattle, she was holding a beautiful pique arabesque and she looked so regal and happy, happier than she has in a long time.

Ballet was never Bella's thing, she was chronically clumsy and she always tried to find any possible reason to skip her lessons at her school in Arizona, but to Alessia dancing was as easy as breathing. After a lot of begging at the age of 4 Alessia was enrolled in the tiny dance school that was in the middle of town just above the town newspaper and for the next 10 years Alessia worked with her teacher Madam Olivia and she grew up to dance beautifully, that Christmas she played Clara and the Sugarplum Princess in the Nutcracker, but not three months later at the end of March she was running through the woods when Sam Uley tried to rip her chest open. She hasn't danced since.

Letting her mind come away from the photograph in her hand she looked towards the window seeing it was just beginning to get light outside and she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and sent a message to Alice.

°Hey what are you doing right now?°

>Nothing at the moment, why?<

°Can you meet me outside the paper, I have something fun we can do, wear leggings!°

>I'm on my way<

Putting her phone in her bag she changed her pajamas out for leggings and a black t-shirt and put her shoe bag into the backpack she was packing, taking the photograph and the point shoes and leaving them on her bed before locking the box back up and returning it to it's spot beneath the floorboards and turning to slide on her trainers and grab the contents of her bag and her pointe shoes, setting the photograph on her dresser next to the one of her and the Cullens and sliding out of the door and beginning to run to the studio.

Alessia would have expected to see her friend extremely angry for dragging her out of the house at 6 am if she knew that Alice actually needed to sleep, instead she saw the beautiful girl stood with her kind smile in a jacket and leggings outside of the building that housed the Forks Forum and as she sped up her run to meet her Alice gave Alessia an awkward stare, "I don't think I've ever seen you run."

Her quip was met with a half hearted punch in the shoulder as Alessia led her around the side of the building to a set of stairs and began to ascend them, most stores in town were only opening in 30 minutes so the street was dead and her and Alice seemed to be the only ones around. Alessia reached a single door that had a ballet shoe on the window glass and began to wrack her mind for the location of the school's spare key, Madame Olivia told her to use it to let herself in if she ever needed extra practice time and the memory of constantly being in that studio lead her to look at a loose brick in the side of the building, pulling it away from the wall revealed the silver key needed to unlock the door and showing it to Alice with a vocal "aha!" gained a laugh from the petite vampire.

Pushing the door open into the small reception area felt like opening a door to her childhood and she couldn't help the smile that fell on her lips, she was too busy looking around the room she didn't notice Alice standing at the small trophy case in the corner and pointing at a photograph, "Is this you?"

When Alessia came close enough to see the photo in question she laughed a really genuine laugh before nodding and smiling "Yes, I was 14 and we were doing a showcase with all of the dance schools in Washington, each school got assigned a ballet to perform a piece from and our school got Giselle, that's me in the front."

Moving away from the case she pulled Alice in past another set of doors and switched on the lights to show a familiar room full of mirrored walls and ballet barres. The next hour of their morning was spent with Alessia and Alice goofing off working through different warm up excercises and technique work. Alice, displaying that she was in fact not human anymore, had amazing strength and flexibility and with Alessia only running through everything once she was soon dancing like she had been all her life. Alessia was a little out of practice but cheer kept her fit and healthy so she soon got right back into the swing of things and their hour was some of the most fun she'd had in a long time. After their hour long session Alice began to beg her to teach her an actual routine, and Alessia caved because she knew she couldn't say no to those golden eyes. Travelling to the back storage room she saw rows upon rows of pink satin shoes, brand new, not even out of their bags yet. Grabbing a few sizes and makes she backed out of the room to size them for her friend, and while she knew realistically that Alice couldn't injure herself if her shoes fit wrong she still would want them to look right. After finding her size and showing her how to put them on, she began to sew in the ribbons while telling Alice to grab the MP3 player out of her bag. Putting the other shoes away she had Alice put of the pointe shoes and do a few more barre excercises to get used to going on pointe and trying to keep her technique correct, naturally Alice didn't need too much help before she could do it perfectly and the tiny girl moved into the centre of the floor to practice some more while Alessia lifted the beautiful black shoes out of her bag and slipped them on her feet. She still remembers when she got them, shopping in Port Angeles with her father she saw them in the window of a dance shop and with her left over money from Christmas she bought them with every intention of wearing them to class the next day, she never got the chance. Rising onto pointe was like coming home for Alessia and without realising she shed a tear before letting herself go through a few movements that she wanted to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself on, with everything in place she took the MP3 from Alice and scrolled to something familiar, walking Alice through the 'Waltz of the Snowflakes' wasn't too dificult and once Alice got the basics down they ran it twice more before Alice asked to see something Alessia could do. Her eyes fell onto the name of a familiar ballet and she pressed play letting herself fall into a series of movements that felt like second nature as the sweet flutes guided her into dancing 'Juliet's Variation' from Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet. It was always easy for Alessia to get lost in the moment of her dancing, she remembered each and every step and pirouette and pas de bouree that Madame Olivia taught her and even though she made a few mistakes being out of practice and all she still knew her musical cues and to Alice she danced ethereally. To Alice and the shadow watching from the door.

The music signalled her to pause and in her minds eye she could see the partner that wasn't there, Romeo entering the party and meeting Juliet in his disguise, before she was swept away to continue.

Coming to a halt in the centre of the room Alessia was no longer in a ballroom being caught by Paris and Tibult, she was looking at Alice and smiling widely, and she was shocked out of her thoughts by a voice at the door. "Your arms weren't strong and you were off your foot, the turns weren't perfect and you were sloppy on your leaps."

Alessia snapped around to see a familiar lithe frame wrapped up in her black dress standing in the doorway, her grey hair tucked away in a french twist. A moment passed and Madame Olivia walked towards her and let her stern face pull into a happy, kind one, "But you dance beautifully Ma Cherie I'm so glad that you are back."

Alessia returned the warm hug and let herself sag in relief, she felt good, she hasn't felt this good since she bought these shoes. Olivia turned to Alice then and continued speaking, "and what is your name child?" Alice responded in her sweet fashion and Olivia complimented her on her technique and began to make corrections again, pulling the pixi girl aside to teach her correct positions and help her with her turns, Alessia watched until Olivia snapped at her in her 'Madame voice' to get back to running the variation again, Alessia smiled and hit replay letting herself get lost once more.

Walking out of the studio and down the stairs at 11 am was like stepping back into her life for Alessia, she chatted with Alice, the two laughing and joking about the fact that Olivia was obsessed with Alice's "Natural talent" and when they turned the corner to walk back onto Main Street they were greeted with the sight of Jasper waiting by the car for them. Alessia managed to claim shotgun to sit next to the guy who was quickly becoming her favourite person while Alice sat in the middle of the back seat declaring that she at least got to choose that was playing on the radio. The idle chatter was broken by Jasper asking if Alessia wanted to play baseball with them this afternoon. "I mean sure but there is gonna be a thunderstorm you know, but hey, lead me to my doom why don't you." The laughter she pulled out of both siblings made her own smile widen, she was having such a good day today.

With the car pulling into her driveway she got out and let Jasper know she would catch a ride with Bella and Edward as much as she really didn't want to be stuck in a car with all of that sexual tension, she hadn't spent much time with her sister recently and she wanted to at least check in with her.

The click of the front door closing and the sound of her bag hitting the floor is what prompted Charlie Swan to race into the living room to see his oldest daughter watching South Park reruns while eating rice cakes and he almost had a heart attack for the second time today. "You can't just show up out of no where after disappearing all morning and give me no warning Alessia, I thought something happened!" His voice cracked under the stress, "Where even were you?!"

Alessia muted the TV before walking up to him and patting his shoulder before pointing to the kitchen table where her pointe shoes sat, worn with the mornings activities. Charlie didn't give off too much of a reaction but she could see the worry in his eyes dissolve into pride and joy. After the accident Alessia's depression and grief over what had happened caused her to completely abandon ballet. When she moved on to her freshman year of highschool she joined the cheer team to keep herself busy and hopefully keep her mind occupied. It was so bad that Alessia made Charlie take down every ballet photograph of Alessia he had. The fact that she was dancing again made his relieved and happy. Alessia smiled at her dad's happy face while he pulled her into a tight hug, the type of dad hug that couldn't help but make you feel safe and cared for, whatever Renée had against her father Alessia has been getting these hugs all her life, and she couldn't remember the last time her mother called to talk to her.

A shower was well deserved after her active morning, she hasn't used the muscles she used today in over two years and she knew that if she didn't ice her body she was going to be seriously crippled in the morning, after a hot shower to wash away the sweat and clean her hair she filled the bath her with freezing cold water and sat in it for 30 minutes, she definitely didn't miss this.

Her earlier clothes were swapped out for a Washington State Cougars t-shirt, leggings and her addidas superstars and she braided her hair to keep it out of her eyes, hearing a beep from outside bad her meeting Bella on the stairs and grabbing her hand as she passed Charlie with a kiss on his cheek and the two sisters sat in the car of Edward Cullen as he drove them off to the field where the rest of the Cullens were waiting.

The clouds were rolling dark as they pulled up to a clearing and by the time the car stopped Alessia was already out of the car and sprinting towards the Cullen's who stood on their DIY baseball court. Jasper caught the girl by her legs when she jumped on his back and him preteding to fall over caused Alessia to scream and start laughing, he eventually put her down after swinging her around a bit until she leaned over his back and whispered in his ear "Please put me down sugar." He pushed her shoulder and she stuck her tongue out before walking over to Esme to get her scheduled 'momma hug'. Esme pulled away slightly before wrapping her arm around her shoulder and walking a ways away from the group with her.

"You make him happy you know, you bring this whole family joy but Jasper especially. You know the day they met you in school he came home and pulled me aside and told me about the pretty girl in his history class. They might be hundreds of years old but all of my boys are the same, they go to Carlisle for advice about important decisions and morality, but anything to do with love, or feelings or anything like that they all know to talk to their mother." Esme told Alessia with a smile that only a mother could have. "If you don't mind me asking Esme, how did you all come to be a family?" Alessia asked looking into the amber eyes of the kind woman before her, who took her by the hand as the baseball game began and lead her to a fallen tree branch to the left of the field. Esme sat down on the branch fully expecting Alessia to sit down beside her but she was surprised when the brunette sat on the ground with her eyes looking up expectantly, like a child waiting to be told a story. The thought made Esme smile because she knew all too well what had happened to the girl. She remembered the night her husband came home after an excruciating surgery talking about how he had to stitch a little girl back together after their warewolf rivals ripped through her. Vampires couldn't cry, because they were not alive anymore, but Esme had never seen Carlisle more broken than the night he sat down and told her about the tiny little human they almost lost, but who despite all odds decided to survive and who would go on to make a full recovery. They decided as a pair to watch over the child and placed her under the covens protection because they knew she was special, her blood had no scent and Alice could see her future, and it was one the Cullens would be involved in. The fact that all of the pain Alessia suffered wasn't enough to break her and that she was still able to hold some of her childish nature made Esme happy to see.

Esme launched into the tale of the basics of their covens formation while Alessia listened intently. "Carlisle was the first one turned, in 1663. He knew he couldn't stay in London so he moved around perfecting his self control around human blood and his compassion for human life is the reason we drink animal blood instead of human. He turned almost every single person in this family, first was Edward." Esme felt a head lean against her leg and she looked down to see Alessia staring up at her with absolute fascination and her undivided attention, Esme continued. "After a while Edward left Carlisle to travel and be alone, that's when I met him, back in 1911, I was 16." She smiled fondly at the memory, "he changed me in 1921 when I was dying in the hospital, he remembered me and decided he couldn't let me die, so he changed me. We married some time later.

The next one changed was Rosalie, Carlisle found her beaten and bleeding in the streets and saved her life in 1933 and she found Emmet and Carlisle saved his life two years later.

The only ones Carlisle didn't change himself were Alice and Jasper, they found each other, then joined us in 1950, and now we live in Forks Washington, where we met you and now we are playing baseball." Esme finished with a smile looking down at the girl who was processing all of that information with her brow creased and a small smile on her face. Esme started to run her fingers through the brown locks when Alessia spoke up in a quiet laugh, "Wow, you guys are like, super old." The two began to laugh when suddenly the atmosphere changed and Alice calls for the game to be over, clearly sensing something was wrong by the look on her face. Esme grabbed Alessia and moved her back to the group at a speed that quite frankly gave her a headache and the first person to greet her was Jasper who held onto her protectively while the others fussed over Bella trying to mask her scent. Jasper could feel Alessia's sudden confusion and panic before he whispered in her ear. "There are other vampires trespassing on our lands, you don't have any scent so just stay calm and act normal, you'll be fine," he lifted her eyes to meet his honeyed ones before leaning his forehead on her own, "Gotta be brave darlin' I'll protect you till the end of time."

The nod than Alessia gave was only enough to let her stand wrapped in Jasper's hold and she began to feel like she could pull this off, slowing her heartbeat with deep breaths long enough to walk into a better formation with the vampires hiding Bella, she could fake their confidence if it was her life on the line.

The clearing they were in was quickly occupied by three strangers, two men and a woman who began talking to the Cullens before Carlisle announced that they could play because three of their players were leaving. This cue prompted Alessia to look up at the trio in front of her and find out just what exactly has everyone so spooked.

The three strangers had approached the group, two men and a woman, all of them had that inhuman beauty that the Cullens possessed but there was something different that Alessia couldn't put her finger on. The air was tense and it made her feel a fear she wasn't used to. Jasper seemed to joke with the female of the group while giving Alessia a look to say 'move over to where Edward and your sister are'. She remembered what he had said about staying calm so while trying to keep from shaking she looked towards the three intruders who she found were now looking directly at her, she greeted their stares with a confident smile and reached up to wrap her arms around Jasper's neck. She would absolutely not remember what was about to happen in the next thirty seconds but she panicked and this was how she thought to make it seem plausible that she was in fact with the Cullens not just an afternoon snack.

She really wasn't thinking anymore but ice cold lips on her own wasn't nearly as bad as she had thought, and she could only thank the stars that Jasper wasn't as much of an idiot as some other boys are because a possessive arm slid around her waist and the kiss deepened letting her fall into the feeling and relax enough to actually let her mind register that she was kissing Jasper...

HOLY SHIT SHE WAS KISSING JASPER.

At least one of the two of them was still keeping their head in the situation because Jasper pulled himself away and made a clear sign of lightly bumping his nose with her own affectionately, "go" he whispered to her before she looked back at her audience to see the darker skinned man had lost interest and the pale one was now staring at Edward, but the girl, with her firey hair and crimson eyes, her gaze was locked on Alessia as the girl walked to her sister. Chaos erupted as Alessia's back was turned and before she knew it the three strangers were speaking about the Cullens keeping human pets. We so much for being stealthy.

It wasn't until after Carlisle managed to get the intruders to leave that Alessia's legs seemed to be replaced with jello and she fell to the ground hitting her palm on a sharp stone. Emmet was the one who lifted her up and put her her in the car with Bella and Edward before the three of them sped off back towards town, the look on Edwards face was enough to tell Alessia that there genuinely was a reason to panic now as there were absolutely three vampires chasing them but the adrenaline in her bloodstream and the thought in the fore front of her mind telling her that she was the big sister and that she needed to be brave to protect Bella didn't let her lose her cool. She was brought back to reality by Bella shaking her and pointing down at her hand. "Is that blood!?"

Alessia looked down to see that sharp rock had in fact sliced into her hand and now rich streams of blood were streaming down her fingers, but apparently Alessia left all her smart ideas back in Jasper's mouth because the only answer that came to her mind was "No?"

Bella exploded at her dumbass answer "That's not something you can answer with another question!"

"Bells listen it's fine my blood doesn't affect boy toy in the front seat okay so chill out."

Edward took the chance to pipe in at that point "Maybe so but I can still hear you talking about it so focus, you both are in danger, James is a hunter so he will be after you both and he won't stop until he gets you, we have to get you are far away from forks as possible."

Alessia hated this plan but quite frankly she didn't have much of a choice. The idea of leaving her dad was heartbreaking to her but she would do anything to keep him safe. She ran into the house after Bella and while her younger sister ran up the stairs to pack ranting and raving about needing to leave, Alessia looked at her dad's confused and distraught face and told him that she would follow Bella and talk some sense into her, that she was taking Alice's car and that she would be back with Bella soon. She grabbed some bandages from the kitchen and sloppily wrapped up her hand and ran back out the door giving her father a kiss and telling him she loved him, she didn't know when she would get to see him again. Edward and Bella sat in his car when she jumped in just in time to see Charlie run out after them through the rearview mirror as they drove away to the Cullen's house. Thoroughly heartbroken she glared at Edward through the mirror and asked him "Was that really necessary?" He only nodded and said that if Alessia wanted to keep Charlie safe that she had to leave because not only was James after Alessia, the woman Victoria was too.

Pulling up to the Cullen's house the first person to greet Alessia was Jasper who grabbed her arms before looking her over for any injuries, his eyes narrowing when they landed on her wrapped hand. She promised him she was fine and before any more words could be exchanged between them she was handing Rosalie her clothes and being bundled into the back of Alice's car with her sister as it pulled away from the house and set off towards Phoenix Arizona. As much as Alessia loved road trips she had never been on one that caused her to look over her shoulder every 5 minutes because there were homicidal vampires trying to drain her like their own personal bloodbag. The ride was quiet and feeling the same comforting feeling she looked towards the driver's seat to see Jasper focusing on the road ahead of him, but she knew he was trying to help, to look after her. His calm settled over her and Bella like a weighted blanket and Alessia fell asleep for most of the trip.

She dreamed about the blonde boy she had come to care about, and it was a wonderful dream. A dream that was interrupted by scratching of a pencil on paper and Alice having what looked like some sort of fit, fully awake now and kind of scared she realised that they were in their Phoenix hotel room and Alice was drawing something. Once the fit ceased the drawing was of the incredibly familiar ballet school that was home to Alessia on the summers that she visited her mom. After Alice, Jasper and Bella left the room for a reason Alessia wasn't paying attention to the hotel room phone rang and in true horror movie fashion the only remaining member of the group answered it...

Incredibly familiar music filled her ears as Juliet's Variation played through the speaker, which was weird but when her mother's voice called over it, calling for Alessia her blood ran cold and she dropped the phone on the floor. Without thinking about this situation she flew through the door and booked it down the service stairwell in the back of the building, the Arizona heat was melting her brain but she kept running, the studio wasn't far and if she ran she could save her mother.

The lights weren't on but she could still hear the happy tune floating through the building. Walking into the main ballroom she looked around to try and find her mother, but seeing no one there she switched her attention to where the music was coming from.

It didn't take long.

But by then it was too late.

Hearing the piece draw to a close her memory told her mind that when the last note hit she should see Romeo standing before her.

But all she saw was an empty room.

And as the music came to its abrupt end...

The burning in her arm caused her to let out a gut wrenching scream. The fire in her lungs and her head and her veins called her legs to give out, and her head to hit the floor,

And her heart to stop.

~ A/N ~

Oh my god that was long 😂

Anyway here's a link to Juliet's Variation so you can see the dance for yourself.

https://youtu.be/6awUwiWAtnI

youtube

And I hope you enjoyed!

TAGLIST

@treestarrrrrrrr

@whattheheckisevengoingon

@fangirl1029

@iliveforthefandom04

@frozenhuntress67

@mikariell95

@jessabellaswan

@geekysimmerthings

@payourdebts

#alice cullen #edward cullen #jasper hale #jasper hale x reader #original character #rosalie hale #rosalie twilight #twilight rewrite #twilight #twilight x reader #x oc #fire in my blood #Alessia Swan OC

57 notes · View notes

innuendostudios · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on The Witness

[no spoilers... this game would be nearly impossible to spoil in text]

Where do I even start?

I guess one thing to know about The Witness is that you can watch the famous 9-minute tracking shot from Nostalghia - where Oleg Yankovsky tries to walk a candle from one end of a drained pool to the other without extinguishing it - in its entirety. (I think it’s the entirety, I left before the clip was over; yeah, Jon, I get it.)

How do we interpret this? I haven’t watched Nostalghia, but I know that scene. Every film major knows that scene. Tony Zhou cited it in discussing lateral tracking shots, how they emphasize environment and create emotional distance from humans in the frame, and how Tarkovsky uses this to make the sequence lonely and arduous. Kyle Kallgren cited it in discussing how YouTube makes critique of certain types of art difficult, and Content ID essentially decides for us what film as a medium is even for.

Jon Blow plays the clip in full with no commentary - or, rather, the game itself is the commentary. There’s a sequence in Indie Game: The Movie where Jon Blow expresses some pain about how his game Braid was received, how he felt no one who played it ever really understood everything he was trying to say with it. That feeling might be ameliorated if he weren’t such a constituionally obtuse motherfucker.

Perhaps the scene is meant to draw parallels between Yankovsky’s dedication to a task that is simple yet difficult and the game’s puzzles, built, as they are, around complexity-through-simplicity. Except, Yankovsky’s Andrei has a personal investment carrying this candle, one Tarkovsky has spent the entire film setting up. I was about five hours into The Witness when I found this clip - more than twice the duration of Nostalghia - and I still didn’t know why I was solving the game’s puzzles or what they were trying to communicate.

Perhaps the scene is meant to draw parallels between the patience it encourages in its audience and the calm, meditative mode all The Witness’ allusions to Buddhism are seemingly on about, to give yourself over to the time investment the game demands of you. Except, Nostalghia asks you to spend nine minutes thinking about one thing; zen Buddhism encourages you to think of nothing; The Witness asks you to spend between fifteen and forty hours thinking about a zillion things. It is not a game about clearing your mind, it’s about filling your mind up. There is little continuity between the thoughtless peace of meditation or Yankovsky’s emotional collapse and the game’s intended “aha” moments.

But the ambiguity, the contextlessness of the scene’s inclusion, means you can’t be sure whether it’s contradictory. If we assume it’s about dedication, and we find a flaw in that worldview, maybe the problem is that we didn’t assume it was about meditation. And vice versa. If it fails to communicate, maybe the problem is us.

The only thing this scene communicates for sure is that Jon Blow wants me to know he watches Tarkovsky.

Jon Blow wants you to trust he knows what he’s doing. That the game is saying something. He also never, ever wants to tell you what it is. (If he could just tell you, he wouldn’t have spent eight years making it into a game, I suppose.) But this operates on completely opposite rules to the puzzles. Puzzles in The Witness are maze-drawing panels with increasing numbers of rules, all conveying their rules nonverbally, through gameplay. You see a symbol you don’t recognize, or a shape you don’t know how to draw, and you try things out, you make assumptions, you fail repeatedly, and then something works, the panel lights up, and you know you got it right. Now you understand what the symbol means.

The theming doesn’t work that way. Whatever theory you have as to what the game’s about, there will be no moment of clarification. Blow has an incredible talent, in fact, for constructing imagery that is hilariously blunt yet still ambiguous. As with Braid, where he crammed a straightforward narrative about memory and regret with allusions to quantum physics and the atomic bomb, The Witness references Einstein, the Buddha, Richard Feynman, romantic poetry, tech culture, game design, and - most of all - itself.

I realize I’m dancing around the subject here, because what the gameplay is (or isn’t) in service of is far easier to talk about than the gameplay itself. The Witness is a big island full of touch screens where you draw lines on grids. That’s it. The island is dense with structures and biomes, impossibly having a desert, a swamp, and three different kinds of forest which appear to be in four different seasons. What it doesn’t have is any reason why you’re there or a justification for solving ~600 line-drawing puzzles other than because Jon Blow wants you to. I was wrong in my video from 2015 to call The Witness narrative-based; the game contains narrative but it is not a narrative game. The island is very pretty, meticulously crafted, and not trying in the slightest to look like a real place. It is Myst minus everything people like about Myst.

Absent a reason for my character - if I’m even playing a “character” - to solve the puzzles, why am I, the player, solving them? The short answer is, “Because they’re there. You knew what you were buying. You solve the puzzles because it’s a puzzle game, do I gotta draw you a diagram?” (No, you need me to draw 600 diagrams.) That is unsatisfactory because the island is clearly more than an elaborate menu system.

Do I solve them because they’re interesting? I mean, they’re not bad, if you’re into Sudoku or, like... cereal boxes. In and of themselves, they’re not my cuppa. People told me about a repeated sense of epiphany the game provoked for them, but that’s not the way I experienced it. Every puzzle is so carefully tutorialized that I never felt I was making an intuitive leap. There is no lateral thinking in The Witness, it is strictly longitudinal. You get a row of puzzle panels, and you take them one by one (you are, in fact, prevented from jumping ahead), each one building on what it taught you. And they get hard, certainly, but each is the logical progression of the one before. And each is a marvel of nonverbal communication, but that’s more Jon being clever than it is me. This is not to judge people who did get a feeling of discovery; one person’s “aha” moment is another’s “yeah, Jon, I get it.”

(Aside: I did get a proper “aha” moment when I came to a panel that could be solved two ways. It controlled a moving platform; draw one line, the platform moves right, draw the other and it moves left. And I thought, “Huh, I guess I get it, but those shapes seem kind of arbitrary.” But then, while it was moving, I realized the platform itself mirrored what I had drawn; the two designs were what shape the platform would take when connected with each endpoint! And I went “oh fuck, oh fuck, that’s clever, that‘s really clever.” My first epiphany. It was the most Myst-like the game got, it was clearly not the kind of experience Jon Blow was interested in recreating much, and it took place 7 hours in.)

Do I solve them because I’m compelled? In the first play sessions, I asked myself several times, “Do I even like this?” The game is often tedious and frustrating and I regularly muttered “fuck off, Jon.” But I kept playing. I got annoyed when people interrupted me. I got a hideous case of Tetris effect. They’re not the kind of puzzles you can spend the day thinking through, like you would with Myst or Riven; they’re too abstract to visualize without them right in front of you. And the world is pretty but it’s not a place I wish I could visit, like I would with, again, Myst or Riven. But I kept going back. I solved puzzles less because I found pleasure in finishing them than I found displeasure in them being unfinished. Jon Blow has given talks on how game design focused on being “addictive” is basically evil - his word, not mine. And yet... it felt more like I was playing his game because I was hooked than because I was enjoying myself.

Do I solve them because I trust Jon Blow? Because I believe this will all amount to something? Jon certainly expects me to trust him. The game blares PROFUNDITY AHEAD constantly. (I remind you it quotes the Buddha.) But, in the years since Braid, I have grown less impressed with Jon Blow’s “art game genius” shtick. One fun bit about playing The Witness so late is finally reading all the discourse, and, well before finishing the game, I had read the thoughts of Andrew Plotkin, and Liz Ryerson, and Andi McClure - all of whom are brilliant - so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. What’s surprised me is, having gotten to the first ending - not the secret ending - what the game is up to still isn’t clear. There are enough allusions to heady ideas that you can infer some stuff, but the default ending - while pretty enough - adds nothing and reveals nothing. And getting the True Ending means completing the In the Hall of the Mountain King section, something many will never find and precious few will ever complete. (Debating whether I’m going to even try.) If Jon Blow wants you to trust that he’s going somewhere with this, he makes you wait a long time before finding out if it’s worth it. [EDIT: turns out the secret ending comes after a different set of obscure puzzles than Hall of the Mountain King.]

Which leads me back to my original conclusion: I am solving the puzzles because Jon Blow told me to.

I suspect the arc Jon wants is for me to begin solving puzzles because I want to know what they’re in service of, what point Jon is trying to make, and then spend so long on them that I forget about the destination and just wrap myself up in the work, and, after dozens of hours on the hardest of the hard puzzles, Jon will finally reveal that the point he was making was about the labor I have just done. That he couldn’t tell me what it was for until I’d already done it. That the labor was its own reward. And how much you like The Witness is going to depend on whether or not you feel ripped off.

The overall impression The Witness left me with was less of meditation than discipline. (I have joked that playing The Witness feels like being in a D/s relationship with Jon Blow and not knowing the safe word.) Jon presents a simple concept and then expects you to solve every. single. permutation. of that concept. You do the work to find out what it’s about, and then what it’s about is the work. That game is about itself. The subject of The Witness is solving The Witness. It’s about purity of design, about simplicity, about slowly mastering a set of skills. (That these skills are neither inherently pleasurable to perform nor applicable in any other context seems not to matter; the point is, you learned them.) It’s hard not to read a game fixated on the beauty of its own design as all kinds of smug.

I allowed myself to be spoiled on the True Ending, and it seems, in the eleventh hour, if you draw lines til your fingers bleed, the game makes room for self-critique, questioning whether all this dedication to design actually is, in any way, meaningful or useful to us. Which, just a little bit, smacks of an artist spending two years making a sculpture of himself, chiseled to make him look a perfect Olympian beauty, only to label it “EGOISM.” Ooo. Make you think.

I suspect, in the end, I played it to (partial) completion because I was curious. I didn’t necessarily buy Jon Blow’s hype, but his hype is intriguing. As a portrait of a certain mindset, a monomaniacal obsession with design for design’s sake, the folk-religion of salvation through technology, and the critique of same, it is fascinating. I know people - smart people - who genuinely love this game, and, if the above is any indication, I clearly love talking about it. I have no regrets.

But, word of advice: if you don’t a) love the puzzles, or b) love the discourse, just walk away. Everything will be fine.

#capsule review #Adventure Games #the witness

65 notes · View notes

queenlokibeth · 5 years

Text

Shall we talk about the songs on louis’ “28 songs” playlist?

(Massive observation of all 28 songs ahead. Yes it took me 2 hours to make this. Skip to the end after the keep reading if you want the TL;DR)

You’re not the only one - Sam Fender

“The song is in fact about his best mate and himself “coming out on the other end of a bad place” and going out to party. He told Virgin Radio that “It’s a celebratory song about loving your mate, really”. “ - Genius lyrics

“ The fabricated smiles so wide, they're of hope Your composure is so brittle, and you hold yourself so well Inside, you cling to pieces of a broken carousel “ well yes i am crying

“We'll have this place on lockdown, it's here for you to taste“

Call me out - Sea Girls (Nautical theme, anyone?)

“And I've changed a lot since then, ask my friends The crying stopped, on top of that, my eyes forgot An old flame who got her hips on a bucket list And times missed every night since we first kissed”

“ And I've changed a lot since then, ask my friends My clothes, my frame, I've spent enough but feel the same”

“And I'll be waiting when you come and call”

“ I can burn that bridge when we get to it “

The Runner - Foals

“... The narrator is done lamenting his fate now and Part 2 sees him picking himself up, dusting himself off, and moving forward... [A] call to find a sense of purpose and perseverance despite the odds and despite the troubles we may find inside or outside ourselves.” - Genius lyrics

Nightmares - Easy Life

“...topics of insomnia, anxiety, and peer pressure.... The major chords acting to cover up the emotions professed in the lyrics, turning the song itself into a perfect metaphor...” - About the song, Genius lyrics.

“ It's all a bit of fun until somebody gets hurt I’ll take it with a pinch of salt, another bridge is burned” Burning bridges, again, you say?

“ It's all a bit of fun until somebody gets hurt I'll take it with a pinch of salt, another lesson learned But I don't need to know what's real or not no more I don't need to know what's real or not no more “

My honest face - Inhaler (pretty self explanatory title there)

“ [The vocalist] fears being met with nitpicking or criticism of the lesser parts of his performance. He thinks of himself as skilled, but not perfect. “ - About the song, Genius lyrics.

“And honey, I could play the Joker My made up smile broke your heart last night No, no, no, I didn't want to hurt ya But there's just a certain culture when you're young When you're young “

“ And honey, I could play the hater Acting like I hated her last night No, no no, I didn't want to hurt you “

“ I'll take you to an honest place Darling, I just can't find my honest face It's all over the place, it's all over the place “ So he wants to show his audience who he really is, but he can’t.

Your girlfriend - Blossoms (oh? oH?)

This one is interesting. There are many pronoun changes through the song. It’s hard to figure out at which point the girl goes from being “a friend who is a girl” to “girlfriend” and who is the speaker, who is the friend, and who is the girl.

“ I'm a boy And she's a girl With more charm than most movie stars So we met Through a friend We rent a place and she comes round to stay “ The first ‘we’ is the speaker and the girl, the second we is the speaker and his friend. This is when the song starts sounding like a dialogue to me: one person sings everything until before the last line, and the last line is a reply from the friend.

“ And now your girlfriend is ringing in my ears again “ There is a change here from “we met through a friend” (telling the story to someone else) vs this line, where the speaker is talking TO said friend, or perhaps following up on the dialogue theory, this is the friend replying to the speaker.

“ What am I supposed to do? I can tell, they get along so well” Is this the speaker talking about his friend and the girl, no longer talking TO the friend? I feel like this is the (mutual)friend wondering about his girl friend and the speaker.

“Is it possible, she likes me too?

I'm not sure if I should read between those lines “ This could be the speaker wondering.

“I should be moving out but can't 'cause we've just signed a lease “ (Again with the renting? Princess park? Hmm?)

“Thought maybe we'd go out for a movie And we can forget friends who'll be fuming Then I could walk you home in the evening And that's just being friendly “ This can be analysed in so many different ways depending on who’s speakig and to whom.

“And now your girlfriend is ringing in my ears again And when she smiles, I can't hide my jealousy Oh I can't take it, boy I hope she's faking it I heard he bought a ring today

I heard they got engaged today “ This one is interesting, because she might have ended up together with either the friend or the speaker, and whichever one she did not end up with is referring FIRST to their buddy and then moving on to address someone else, telling the story. Also, it almost sounds as if whoever is saying this is jealous OF THE GIRL, not of the guy who is with her.

Overall there is a lot to unpack with this song, mainly because of the change in pronouns and who the singer has as their audience for each line.

Empty hands - Tors

“Too late to call I've been away left you alone”

“I didn't notice you're feeling hopeless So blue-ou-ou again”

“And I'm nothing more than just a man And it breaks my heart When I break your heart”

“And I promised more than I could give And it's not the life you thought you'd live”

“Saturday nights up on the roof Sundays in bed Coffee and sleep Head for a walk Down by the sea with you-ou-ou” (Again nautical theme? Eroda anyone? Lou’s MV? Harry’s MV?)

“When I come back home I see the lights That you left on for me every night When I see you standing at the door Everything i want for evermore “ (Lights up? met you at your doorstep?)

Restrospect - Vistas

“See you find comfort in small things Which she considers the wrong things And you find comfort in hellos Not goodbyes, not goodbye And you try not to have issues With the hate you, love you, and miss yous That all come out when she kissed you Goodbye, goodbye” This is basically saying “hey i know about the stuff you like and don’t, she doesn’t! also you were feeling great until she ruined it!”

“Singing Sweet Caroline with diamonds in her eyes” (diamonds will make sense with the next song)

“Throw my arms to the skies”

“ Let me go and I'll forget Happiness in retrospect” Letting go has been a big theme y’all.

“See you find comfort in tall things Which he considers the wrong things And you find comfort in things he can't Recognise, recognise” OH HO HO HO WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT PRONOUN CHANGE? Now there’s a MAN who isn’t right for this person according to the singer.

“ And you want nothing but all this While he's stuck trying to solve it Nevertheless acquiesce till you feel those Butterflies, butterflies “

Lucy - Ten Tonnes (aHA! Lucy as in Lucy in the sky with diamonds, aka ANOTHER Beatles reference up in this bitch.)

“ Where you left your face “

“ Come away, from the window Haven't you learnt? That in dreams you can't get burned And I will meet you there Under purest skies It's where I'll be When they're finished with me” This gives me some SOTT vibes.

My Cheating Heart - Love Fame Tragedy (Pretty self explanatory song title, pretty self explanatory band name)

“Money, women, cars Leave my head among the stars 'Cause I want it all, yeah, yeah I want it all Puppet on a string is it such an evil thing”

“ So do I sink or do I float now?” The water scenes in the MVs????

Tears dry on their own - Amy Winehouse (ouch)

About the song: “She describes how a tarnished relationship has made her feel, and how she cries often. [Song] Samples Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” Interesting sampling there, since ANMHE literally goes “ain’t no mountain high enough... to keep me from getting to you babe. Remember the day I set you free...” and just great song overall i cannot copy the whole thing here but YO.

“Once it was so right When we were at our height Waiting for you in the hotel at night I knew I hadn't met my match But every moment we could snatch I don't know why I got so attached It's my responsibility And you don't owe nothing to me But to walk away I have no capacity “ Well i am crying this isn’t it THIS AINT IT

“He walks away The sun goes down He takes the day but I'm grown And in your way, in this blue shade My tears dry on their own” Letting go, your partner leaving you for someone else... there’s a lot to unpack here.

“We could a never had it all We had to hit a wall So this is inevitable withdrawal Even if I stop wanting you A perspective pushes through I'll be some next man's other woman soon” So, Walls? Hardship in the relationship? Not being the formal girlfriend/partner but the side-chick?

“ I wish I could say no regrets And no emotional debts Cause as we kiss goodbye the sun sets So we are history”

2all - Catfish and the Bottlemen

“Life got led By people who Just wanna flood your head

... But it fits you at the time To fall for every line “ As stated by Genius: “...life is often “led” or heavily influenced by those who can rally people to follow their thoughts and ideas, e.g. friends, employers... The “fall for every line” is referring to the ones who let the people that try to influence their lives into their head and let them take over. “

Also, About: “ The song has a heavy emphasis on how you should hold the best people closest to your heart – the ones who are always there for you when you need them and the people you can count on all the time.”

“ Oh, they convinced me every time That I needed fooling So that I'd go and get it right Yeah, somewhere, they convinced me down the line When I needed fooling So that I'd go and get it right”

Reptilia - The Strokes

About the first lines: “ A shot at journalists; The Strokes, especially Julian, have never been open with the press and want their music to do their talking.”

“"You sound so sleepy, just take this, now leave me" From Genius: “Julian’s girl is talking to him, telling him that he looks “sleepy” but he probably is bored... his girl gets frustrated with him and eggs him on to ditch her.”

Honestly the whole analysis on Genius is pretty on point:

“He’s using sarcasm, the girl is trying as hard as she can to keep the relationship together, she’s thirsty as fuck and the night is barely over.... At this point Casablancas just wants to get out of the relationship. he sees this desperate need to leave, but she remains behind.... He’s waited long enough and it’s finally over between whom ever the girl is. She’s not having fun anymore and her happiness becomes sorrow, he just wants this night to be over....[About the title] Reptiles are cold blooded creatures (and the girl in the song just doesn’t care about the guy.)”

Harmony Hall - Vampire Weekend

This song sort of refers to hate groups, keep that in mind.

“ We took a vow in summertime Now we find ourselves in late December”

“ I thought that I was free from all that questionin'”

“ I don't wanna live like this, but I don't wanna die “

Runaway - KAWALA

“ Run away from the words unspoken Coast to coast going through the motions of Who'll be a better man, who'll do it better”

“ And I'll help you follow the line “

“ We're miles apart, closing up the distance I'm reaching out if you need assistance Who'll be a better man, who'll do it better”

“Today is the day I'll get on Awaiting the storm to move on I lie naked in wait to reform Let's try make it right this time now” I’m-- Bitch i’m---

“ Oh, it's all so emotional Oh, I hope that you're coping Oh, I won't let you lose it all “

Mr. Brightside - The Killers (Ah well we all know this one who are we even kidding)

Honestly this is where shit starts aligning.

About the song: “the song deals with issues of infidelity, paranoia, and jealousy”

“ Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine Gotta gotta be down because I want it all It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this?” Iconic, we all know it, wild.

More About: “ The song is about the THOUGHT that one’s significant other is cheating”

And anyway, more paranoia and jealousy and fear of getting cheated on.

For now - DMA’S

“ All I need to know, she's dead to me” Well that is... harsh.

“ Quite like what I need to be, I'll send your bones to the sea “ You know the drill.

“ No, I won't be anymore, no, we won't be anymore “

“ Lately, we've lost control of everything you're biddin' for You keep me down, you set the score I've been impossible, only words are drowning out Take your head out of the clouds” There’s like 80 different meanings here.

Belter - Gerry Cinnamon

About the title: “ “belter” which is Scottish slang for an exceptional or outstanding example of something”

“ Diamonds oan' her finger and she always looks her best “ Diamonds again. Also allusion to rings ehem.

“ No happy endings, unless fairy-tales come true But she looks like a princess and there’s not much else to do I think I love her “ :(

“Is happiness an option, or has love just turned me blind?” Double :(

Dry your eyes - The Streets

The whole thing is about a breakup.

“In one single moment your whole life can turn around“

“ Please let me show you how we could only just be for us I can change and I can grow, or we could adjust The wicked thing about us is we always have trust”

“We can even have an open relationship if you must”

“Dry your eyes, mate I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up There's plenty more fish in the sea Dry your eyes, mate I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts But you've got to walk away now, it's over” It’s like he’s talking to his buddy who just went through a painful breakup telling him to n o t l e t i t b r e a k h i s h e a r t.

“ 'Cause I can't imagine my life without you and me There's things I can't imagine doing, things I can't imagine seeing “

“ 'Cause you said it'd be forever and that was your vow And you're gonna let our things simply crash and fall down? “ I didn’t include it before, but a few other songs also mention vows.

“ I know in the past I've found it hard to say Telling you things but not telling straight But the more I pull on your hand and say The more you pull away”

Confidence - Ocean Alley

(Random fact: I just noticed that this song is from an album called Chiarobscuro, and i didn’t include it but one of the previous songs also used that word)

“ Well, I should've said this, and I should've said that All that I know now”

Modern Love - Courteeners (quite the title)

“We got style and we got grace, we run wild and never dance alone In this town, she’s fucking famous But this town will never be her home” LA anyone?

“ But I don’t need this modern love This modern love Oh, it always lets me down”

“The popularity trap strikes again You don’t need these fools cause you’re incroyable“ Yeah not to be that larrie but the TPWK website has been telling people that they’re “incroyable” (incredible)

“ We found solace at The Star and Garter “ Oh, what is The Star and Garter? Oh you know, just “... a cult club located in their home town of, Manchester.” Anyways moving on

I am slowly losing my shit here:

“ A bare mattress, a lockless door Two Withington hearts on a pique assiette floor Give me back those awkward exchanges The fumbles In bathtubs When we were just strangers We talk about your graduation And the realisation that we might not be together forever and ever “ Withington is an area of south Manchester.

“ Wide-eyed and up all night This could be good” ANYWAYS...

Laurel Wreath - Bear’s Den

About the title: “refers to the Ancient Greek tradition of awarding Olympic victors laurel wreaths. The laurel wreath is also used in academia and as an architectural accent, for good luck.In this song the wreath is withering, and Andrew Davie uses this idea of athletic defeat as a symbol for his failures and relationship issues.”

“ Or the collapsing of a history “

“ But you found me in the morning, December in my eyes” December was mentioned in other songs, too.

“ Got your call, I needed it more than I could let on to you” WELL

Riot Van - Arctic Monkeys

About the song: “[The people in the song] As long as they had some good laughs, they don’t care if they are rich or have a job or are poor or anything. They just want to exist. “

“ Got a chase last night From men with truncheons dressed in hats We didn't do that much wrong Still ran away though, for the laugh Just for the laugh“

“ Well, they won't catch me and you”

“ Is there a certain age you're supposed to be? 'Cause nobody told me"

“ They get their address and their names took But they couldn't care less” Genius says: “ This is the police’s main deterrent for underage offenders, but the parents of these boys have obviously had so many calls from them that the boys don’t care anymore.”

Ahhh but the fun comes with painful consequences:

“Thrown in the riot van And all the coppers kicked him in And there was no way he could win Just had to take it on the chin” Also from Genius: “ Throughout society, whatever he does is never good or acceptable enough. He always gets pushed further down and down, to the point where he’s given up. He’s never going to win, there are too many people with much more power going against him. He just has to ‘take it on the chin’, ie. he has to accept that this is his life, there’s not point fighting against it because nothing will ever change.”

Please, please, please let me get what I want - The Smiths (it doesn’t get more literal that this tbh)

About the song: “ This song is about the desperation to fulfill personal desires... He has lived a life full of disappointment and maybe despair... For once he is having a good time, which is a wonderful surprise...” Also, sidenote, in live shows the title lyric apparently gets changed to “let me get who i want”.

The Less I Know the Better - Tame Impala (buddy let me tell you, the amount of gay fics i’ve seen from different fandoms using part of this song as a title...)

About the song: “...describes the pain of a man feeling left out in a love triangle”

“ She was holding hands with Trevor Not the greatest feeling ever” Y’all remember the Trevor concert incident with Harry? also the singer’s name is Kevin... who’s feuding with Trevor in the song... maybe that doesn’t mean shit.

“ Then I heard they slept together Oh, the less I know the better The less I know the better” Oh perhaps you broke up with your love and now he’s with someone else and it hurts?

“ Oh my love, can't you see that you're on my mind”

“ She said, "It's not now or never Wait ten years, we'll be together" I said, "Better late than never Just don't make me wait forever" Don't make me wait forever Don't make me wait forever” Oh shit bruuuuuh oh SHIT.

“I was doing fine without ya Till I saw your face, now I can't erase Giving in to all his bullshit Is this what you want? Is this who you are?” BULLSHIT? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?

“Oh, sweet darling, where he wants you Said, "Come on Superman, say your stupid line" “

Tomorrow never knows - The Beatles (AHHH WE LOVE A BEATLES REFERENCE)

Song is from the Revolver album (gunshot anyone?)

“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream It is not dying, it is not dying “

“Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void It is shining, it is shining”

Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You) - Bombay Bicycle Club

“ Eat, sleep, wake Nothing but you” Habit? I don’t know if I could ever go without?

“ I can see where you are, dream where you are Will the song never end? Us on the bed half a meter apart”

“ I may not say it outwardly So all I have are memories Those looks at the start, the words in the dark But never a flame, we just wanted the spark”

ANYWAYS CONCLUSION TIME, or TL;DR: There is A LOT to unpack here. All of these songs vaguely follow the same theme. There’s a lot of breaking up going on, as well as moving on and third parties being involved. There’s stuff about being controlled, not being enough, wanting to be yourself, There’s references to Louis’ songs, to Harry’s songs, to 1D tracks, to Larry, to Elounor, you name it. This playlist is definitely giving us a taste of what Walls will deal with and boy is it A LOT.

#louis tomlinson #larry stylinson #larry #harry styles #mine

46 notes · View notes

wylanvenk · 4 years

Text

Alright, here we gooooo

Thanks to @uberimmortal for tagging me, I had a lot of fun coming up with answers for these 😄 Also sorry it’s been forever but I was in the middle of exam season hooray ahaha

1. Bazam! You just invented a new language! What is this language called and what is one unique aspect of this language?

My new language is called Marvaryan and its unique aspect is that only people fated to save someone’s life can speak it/ understand it. Does that make sense? Probably not.

2. What is something you like to snack on in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep and you’re five chapters away from the end of that damned story?

Alright so here’s the thing. I don´t leave my room during the night EVER, unless I’m literally dying to go to the bathroom. I’m not venturing out there in pitch dark honey, no way. And no, I´m not in fact 5 years old, shut up. So technically, no snack. If I wasn’t a chicken however, cashews :)

3. What show did you project on as an insecure youth and now fills you with shame and anxiety every time you hear it now?

Oh god that´s a hard question ahahah there’s nothing really coming to mind to be honest. Well actually probably star vs the forces of evil lmaooooo I never finished it but I was weirdly into it once upon a time and now I.....just can’t think about it.

4. Wowza! You’re such a cool person you’ve become a new deity! What are you the supreme being of?

Alright so I feel like I could give several different answers to this one ahaha but I’m going with goddess of found families. Imagine, for example, a group of people lost, alone, not fitting anywhere or just down on their luck and one of my powers would be to like twist the strings of fate a little bit to make sure all these people’s paths would cross and bam! found family. Finding the best people to “guide” together, depending on their needs and such. See what I’m getting at? Yeah. Another one that comes to mind would be something related to sleep/dreams.

5. What are some books/shows/music that you’re currently hyperfixating on so I can join you in your strange source of serotonin?

Love this question, perfect for me. Alright so I’m basically hyperfixating on the an for the game series at any given time, recently I had a nostalgic resurgence of my younger self love for the power of five by Anthony Horowitz (which literally nobody knows about). And also I’ve been getting more and more curious about the podcast The Magnus Archives, but I’m slightly reluctant to get into it because of the horror, as you may have deduced from the second question.

6. Football’s out, golf is out, every single sport is out. What new pastime takes over mundane society?

Fuck man, have you seen what’s mainly on my tumblr? Reading.

7. If you have any fic outlets (ao3, ff.net, etc) feel free to drop them bc i’m going to support the shit out of you. This is not a question. (but really only drop this if you’re comfortable ajsksk i’m not gonna twist your arm lmao)

I got nothing sorry. Although I love writing, I’m more on the reader’s side.

8. You dream of silver and gold. The silver and gold love you. You love the silver and gold. But the silver and gold are liars and they want to take everything away from you, the dirty bastards. Now, what does the silver and gold represent?

..... damn. Getting real here uh? My high expectations in friendship or any other types of relationships really :)

9. You are a strong, independent bad ass individual who loves no man! Then that stupid fairy godperson whacks you with their magical pool noodle. Now you love ONE man. Who is this man?

Ethan Nestor. A youtuber I found out thanks to quarentine and honestly all I have to say is: “not all men” you’re right, Ethan Nestor would never do this.

10. In a show of great prowess, you stole the magic pool noodle and have cured yourself of the plague of love! Mystery man is no longer a threat! What is your first use of the magic pool noodle (world peace and world domination are not! options!)

Omg did you hear? Apparently Donald Trump and all other world leaders who share his ideology have suddenly given up power and confess to all the crimes they’ve actually comitted throughout the years... They were asked why the sudden change of heart but none of them was really able to explain what caused it. How odd.

11. Some would argue memories are all that we are. These people are full of shit :) If you lost all your memories, no strings attached to anything, what do you think your instincts would have you do with your life?

Well...find out what the fuck had happened and why my head was suddenly an empty void I guess. Not gonna lie I get pretty attatched to people so this would be quite the event™ and I have no idea how I would act tbh ahahah

12. But memories are still pretty cool so thank goddess we still have ours! Read the following words: honey, dusk, cosmos. What memory does each provoke in you?

Honey: Instantly reminded of when I was little and saw The Secret Life of Bees. I remember not quite catching all of it because again, I was pretty young, but the movie really stuck with me. Dusk: dusk reminds me of one particular car trip with my parents when we were returning from my grandparent’s house, the sun was setting through the middle of the trees, even though it still wasn’t quite dusk. Cosmos: going to the planetarium when I was young and just any night outside when I stretched my neck back and fell in love with the stars all over again.

13. The last photo of a physical object (people are not objects! heh) in your camera roll is what you have to eat for the rest of your life. What is your eternal dish?

Looks like my new diet is exclusively made of dental floss. Lovely.

14. Aha! You have discovered a rare breed of snails! You have two options: become one with the snails, or destroy their evil kind forever! What do you do? And why?

I’m not sure I can handle all that slime. Bye snails.

15. Thanks to your disgustingly superb actions, you are now a famous celebrity that everyone loves! What are some things you would like your following to know about you? (make it real, lads)

I’d make a terrible celebrity first of all. But this: I love my friends with my entire heart, it takes me a while to feel confident enough to share some things about me, hate feeling like I’m annoying people or that people are angry at me, and if I’m sleep deprived I became a not very nice human being.

I tag @idnis, @fahey, @mavencalore, @ronanlyneh and @ravenclairee. Have fun!

#tagged #tag games #text #some of these questions were hardddd

3 notes · View notes

artificialqueens · 5 years

Text

nobody knows where we might end up, chapter seventeen (branjie) - holtzmanns

(read on ao3) | (tumblr: plastiquetiaras) | word count: 5317

AN: thank you so, so much for all the continued love on this fic. it makes me so happy and my heart so full. writ is a wonderful beta <3

(then)

“We’re thinking of staying late tomorrow after Respirology to practice for the bellringers. You in?”

Brooke shrugs at Steve’s question. “Sure.” It’s not like there’s anywhere else that she has to be, anyway.

“Sweet. We need your genius brain.”

“I’m not a genius-”

“Yeah Steve, she’s not a genius. She tried to push a ‘pull’ door like, half an hour ago.” Jon snorts.

“Hey.” Brooke swats Jon’s side, sticking her tongue out at both Steve and John when they start snickering. “Sometimes doors are hard.”

It only makes sense that Brooke’s naturally gravitated towards the other gays in her class. It’s nice, not having to hide anything around them. Not that she really has much to hide in the first place.

“Bring Vanessa this time. You never shut up about her, I wanna meet her.”

Steve’s question makes Brooke bite her lip. She’s been telling the two of them that Vanessa’s been too busy to actually come to any of their sessions, to ever double date. Except the truth is that she hasn’t even asked Vanessa in the first place.

Brooke doesn’t know what’s stopping her, really. It would be nice for her girlfriend to meet some of her med school friends.

Except her and Vanessa have been…weird. Brooke doesn’t want to bring up med school things because she can see the light dim behind Vanessa’s eyes every time that she does, a reminder that Vanessa didn’t get in while she did.

So maybe, it’s just better to ignore everything. Not talk about it. Walk on eggshells.

How hard will it be to do until the end of med school, anyway? At least until Vanessa gets in somewhere next year.

God, Brooke hopes that Vanessa gets in somewhere next year. For her own sanity, more than anything else.

“She’s real busy with fourth year. They’re having midterms right now.” Brooke’s not sure if Vanessa actually has midterms at the moment, but the timing lines up from when she herself was in undergrad. It’s not like she’s going to ask Vanessa, either.

“Okay, after then. Are the two of you the type of nauseatingly gay couple that can’t keep their hands off each other?” Steve punctuates his question by wrapping an arm around Jon and pulling him close by his neck, making him scowl.

“Get off me-“

“Never.” Steve leans over to ruffle Jon’s hair, making him immediately protest, muttering under his breath.

Brooke has to hold back a laugh. Jon and Steve are the boy equivalent of watching two Detoxes interact with each other. She loves the sight.

“Nah, we’re not like that. No overt sappiness.” It’s not a lie, not really. Her and Vanessa aren’t overly nauseating anymore.

So what if they used to be the couple that would make all of their friends pretend to fake barf from how soft they were with each other? They’re not the Brooke and Vanessa that they used to be. Brooke’s not quite sure who she has to blame for that.

Maybe herself, a little bit. For snapping at Vanessa the other day for being so bitchy and short with her when she hadn’t even done anything, for treating her like shit. But then she had also brushed off Vanessa’s worries about one of her fourth year courses, forgetting to help her with the assignment she was stuck on because someone in her class had thrown a party to celebrate finishing their first set of assignments. So what if Vanessa had already been asleep by the time she had come back?

Maybe they’re both to blame.

But it’s fine, they’ll be fine. They’ve been fine for three years and counting, and they’ll continue to be so.

Right?

“And here I thought lesbians moved in and got married after knowing each other for like, 48 hours. Breaking stereotypes and all that, huh?” Steve raises an eyebrow as he flips through the textbook in front of him, ignoring the way that Jon is poking his side for the fun of it.

Brooke snorts. “To be fair, we did move in together after first year of undergrad, but that’s only because we were both moving out of dorms.”

Steve gives her a look. “And?”

“And maybe we wanted to live together. God.” Brooke rolls her eyes when Steve points a finger towards her.

“Aha! Do you two have a hoard of cats, too?”

“Yeah, we have two-”

“So you two really are stereotypical lesbians. How wholesome.” Jon pretends to place a hand over his heart.

“Insufferable, the both of you.” Brooke can’t help her grin, though. Her friends may be stupid, but she loves them.

Brooke almost doesn’t want to go home when they finish off their study session in the library, the setting sun mirroring the feeling of dread that’s beginning to take over her chest.

Riley lets out happy yips when she unlocks the door, nearly falling over from how hard his tail is wagging. She rubs his belly, giggling as he rolls over.

“Hey.” Brooke calls out to their apartment. She’s not sure if Vanessa’s home or not. Truth be told, she hasn’t really looked at Vanessa’s schedule enough for this semester to know it well.

“Hey.” Vanessa’s voice is distracted as she types away on her computer while sitting at the kitchen table.

Brooke walks over to her, placing a kiss onto the top of her head out of habit and ignoring the way that Vanessa doesn’t turn around to face her and grin, the way that she always used to. It doesn’t matter, really.

“How was class?”

“Okay.” Brooke pulls out a plate from the cupboard, intent on pulling out leftovers. “Had a guest speaker. Some guy talking about patient safety.”

Brooke doesn’t elaborate much. It’s not like Vanessa’s going to care, anyway.

“You?” Brooke keeps it light, as light as she can, as if it’ll keep the delicate glass that’s built up between them from shattering and slicing them both.

“Still working on applications. Finished all my essays.”

“I thought you’d finished them all last week.” Brooke tilts her head, and can feel her brows furrowing because she remembers Vanessa’s whoop of delight and the way she had closed Microsoft Word with a flourish.

“I, uh. Applied to some more.” Vanessa doesn’t look up, keeps her eyes on her screen, though Brooke can see how she’s fidgeting.

“But there’s only a few in Ontario-”

“Outside of Ontario. Outside of Canada, actually.” Vanessa looks up at Brooke then, her expression one almost of challenge, of asking Brooke to protest what she’s said.

Brooke doesn’t want to take the bait, but she can’t help it. “Where outside of Canada?”

Outside of Canada would mean that Vanessa wouldn’t be nearby. But maybe Vanessa’s applied to schools near the border, ones that are driving distance and so they really wouldn’t be too long distance-

“California. LA.” Vanessa fiddles with her watch. “Got a cousin that lives there, finished school there. Big doc there. So I have an in.”

“Oh.” Brooke doesn’t know what else to say. California? Would Vanessa really go all the way to California?

“It’s just a backup.” Vanessa turns back towards her computer. “In case the schools here don’t work out. I’m not sitting out for another year again and falling even more behind.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Brooke can’t even deny it, because it does. Hell, if she hadn’t gotten in on the first try, she’d be exhausting all of her own resources, too.

But California.

Not only on the opposite coast, but in an entirely different country.

Vanessa wouldn’t go there unless she absolutely had to, would she?

Though what would really change? Things have been so off between them, Brooke doesn’t even feel like she can properly look Vanessa in the eye. Or hug her. Or kiss her or pull her close.

Hell, the last time they had sex was weeks ago and even that was after a particularly big argument.

Steve and Jon had teased her about the hickeys on her neck for weeks.

But Brooke doesn’t want that kind of sex, not right now. She wants things to just feel normal again.

Except that she can’t help the way that she heads off to bed without even waiting for Vanessa, tucking in early because she has a class the next morning.

Brooke doesn’t want to deal with all of the unsaid words that have built up between them. It’s gotten too fucking messy.

Maybe things will just fix themselves up on their own if she waits long enough.

Brooke’s tentatively excited when Vanessa suggests a movie night one breakfast over waffles.

“Maybe we can both take a break from our work?”

“I’d like that.” Brooke can’t help the smile on her face that builds, no matter how hard she tries to temper it down.

Maybe just spending some time together will make things okay again.

Except then later in the day her Endocrinology professor holds extra office hours to prepare them for the midterm, for which the line ends up being incredibly long, and then of course she strikes up a conversation while waiting with one of her classmates about the recent readings because the subject’s just so interesting, a conversation that continues once they leave the office. And then she’s forgotten about everything else, really, when Steve texts her and asks if she wants to join him and some of their classmates for a bite at the new burrito place, the one she’s been excited about trying. And by the time she gets home it’s nearly 10:00, and she’s forgotten all about the movie night that she and Vanessa had planned - a fact that hits her with horror as she opens the door to their apartment, the realization washing over her.

“Shit.” Brooke whispers it under her breath because there’s a pile of blankets by the couch, an untouched bowl of popcorn and she’s stupid, real stupid, because how on earth did she forget?

Vanessa’s not on the couch, either. Nor is she in the kitchen, or in any of the open spaces of their apartment. The door to their bedroom is closed and the sight makes Brooke wince.

Brooke drops her jacket and backpack on the floor without a second thought, pushing their bedroom door open and Vanessa’s there, leaning against the headboard of the bed and her eyes are wide.

“Where have you been?” Vanessa’s voice quivers and Brooke can hear the hurt in it and it makes her heart feel ever so slightly heavier, pulling her down.

“Sorry Ness, I-” Brooke pauses. “I got distracted. Things were happening with office hours and people in class and I lost track of time.”

It feels flimsy, despite being the truth.

“I got class in the morning, so it’s too late to watch anything now. Not that you probably even want to.” Vanessa’s face is buried in her book again and suddenly they’re back to their avoidance of eye contact and it makes Brooke grit her teeth.

“I said sorry, okay?” It’s not Brooke’s fault that things got busy. That’s just how med school is, something that Vanessa wouldn’t know.

“Real fucking sincere.” Vanessa huffs. “Look, if you don’t wanna spend time together, at least have the decency to not stand me up. I cancelled plans for this.”

Brooke pauses at that. “What plans?”

“Why do you even care?” Vanessa spits out the words and Brooke can see the fire in her eyes and somehow it doesn’t have the effect of lighting her up, but rather, cools down her insides instead. “You clearly have more important shit to worry about.”

“Next time I’ll put a reminder in my phone, okay? I promise I won’t miss it.”

“Fuck that.” Vanessa’s arms are crossed, as if she’s steeling herself, protecting her heart from anything and everyone. From Brooke. “If something ain’t important enough for you to remember on your own? There won’t be a next time.”

Brooke rubs at her temples because she doesn’t want to do this, not now, and so what if she’d forgotten? “Listen, med school is fucking busy. All I do is study and work and revise and my brain can’t remember anything.”

Vanessa leans forward, putting her book down and it nearly makes Brooke take a step back. “All you do is-you think I don’t work my ass off, either?”

“I didn’t say that-”

“You have no idea, do you?” Vanessa’s eyes narrow. “Just ‘cause I’m still in fourth year doesn’t mean that I’m not doing shit. I’m taking five and a half credits and still volunteering, still working in the lab, and on top of that applying again for all these stupid med school programs that probably won’t even accept me, anyway. So, yeah. Miss me with that bullshit. If I can at least still try to make an effort, so can you.”

Brooke can feel tendrils wrapped in anxiety and stress worm their way around her heart, because this isn’t what tonight was supposed to be like at all. “I-”

“Fuck it. I don’t care.” Vanessa puts her book on her bedside table, scoots down in their bed until she’s lying down and under the covers. “Go study with your friends, I don’t care.”

The hollowness in Brooke’s chest as she tries to fall asleep that night is only amplified by the hurt that she had heard in Vanessa’s voice, the sound still lingering in her mind hours and hours later.

(now)

Brooke misses Vanessa.

It isn’t either of their faults, really. Both the neuro and cardiac surgical units are starting to pick up, the surgeons working overtime to balance all of the regular scheduled procedures with the influx of emergency ones.

Brooke feels like she’s been run ragged, to say the least. She’s been on call for most of the hours that she hasn’t been working this week, catching hours of sleep wherever she can while still attempting to get all of her documentation done.

Weeks like these make Brooke feel like a firefighter, one who tries to put out flames only for three more to rise in their place. Brooke normally thrives in such environments - having to think on her feet, having to triage her cases so that the most urgent ones are dealt with first, functioning and doing brain surgery on approximately two hours of sleep.

No one’s ever said that the lifestyle of surgeon is easy. Though the paycheck does make it better.

VM: got scheduled for 2 ablations, 2 valve replacements, and 1 ventricle repair. Never done so many procedures in one shift in my LIFE

Brooke looks at the text and smiles, the way her face always has a tendency to do so whenever Vanessa’s name pops up. She’s glad, in a way; that it’s not just her. That Vanessa is equally busy over on her unit.

Brooke’s found that it’s difficult for those who aren’t in the medical field to understand the crazy hours, the topsy turvy schedules, where it’s possible to have long stretches of free time followed immediately by a slammed schedule with procedure after procedure and multiple on call shifts in a row. It makes it hard to plan, sometimes, to commit. She’s used it as an excuse more than once when breaking off flings in the past.

But it’s not like that with Vanessa. It’s doesn’t have to be, when Vanessa gets it, when Vanessa is going through the same thing as her.

Plus, she doesn’t actually want to break things off with Vanessa.

Not that they’re a thing.

Are they a thing?

Brooke doesn’t know.

All she knows is that she’s missing her throughout this busy period.

BLH: So many in one day! You superstar.

VM: fully taking a bow rn

VM: how’s ur day been??

BLH: Equally slammed. I’m about to fall asleep at my desk lol.

VM: nap on the clock, I support it

VM: I miss you :((

The text makes Brooke suck in a breath. She hasn’t wanted to be the clingy one, the pushy one, the one to scare Vanessa away with how much she still cares. But the text feels like an anchor, one that helps to hold her heart in place and calm it down and keep it in reach of her favourite person.

BLH: Fuck, Ness. I miss you too.

VVM: gay

BLH: I’ve literally had my face in between your legs more times than either of us can count.

VVM: g a y

VVM: but same. our schedules need to calm tf down so I can see ur cute face before I forget what u look like completely

VVM: that’s a lie I could never forget u

BLH: Gay.

VVM: HEY

Brooke lets out a little laugh, glad that she’s alone in her office. She needs to focus on her documentation, get all of her surgical reports dictated and out of the way but trying to focus feels absolutely impossible. Especially when talking to Vanessa is so much more fun.

It’s a couple more days before Brooke has the chance to see Vanessa in person again, before their schedules calm down enough to let either of them think about something other than work for a change.

Brooke is the one who suggests it when Vanessa drops by her office at the end of their shifts, pressing a kiss on her lips.

“You busy this evening?”

“No. Why?” Vanessa tilts her head with the most adorably curious expression, and it takes everything in Brooke to not pull her close and kiss her again.

“We’ve been working hard-”

“Working our asses off-”

“-and we deserve a break, that’s all.” Brooke grins.

“What are you suggesting?” Vanessa takes a step closer, wrapping her arms around Brooke’s waist, and Brooke can already feel the heat that’s emanating between them.

“Come over?”

“Ooh, Dr. Hytes, what a proposition-”

“Shush.” Brooke shoves her lightly, but can’t help but laugh when Vanessa lets out a cackle. “Not like that. Well, maybe like that, but also just to chill out, y’know? We both deserve it.”

“I’d be down for that.” Vanessa’s beginning to look excited by the idea. “We could order in and just watch some shit and veg out.”

“Exactly. Especially because our surgery is tomorrow. We can rest up.” Their joint surgery has creeped up on the two of them faster than Brooke’s expected. She’s excited to get the chance to properly work with Vanessa, after such a long period of planning and preparation. To get the chance to see how they function together in an operating room setting.

“Would this be considered a team bonding activity?” Vanessa asks the question as they tug on their coats, picking up their bags.

Brooke raises an eyebrow. “We’re the only two members from our surgical team that are taking part.”

“Good. That’s how I like it.” Vanessa leans up to press a kiss to Brooke’s cheek. “Now come on, are you gonna take me home or not?”

Brooke falls into step with Vanessa as they leave the neuro offices, walking towards the exit when Vanessa pauses. “Shit, my wallet’s still in my office. I’d taken it out to buy lunch. Mind if we loop back before leaving?”

Brooke can’t help her curiosity as they walk through the section of cardiac offices. “I never really noticed that the cardiac offices have red accent walls.”

Vanessa snorts. “Feels a little on the nose, huh? I guess they wanted to keep up with the heart and blood theme. Kinda nasty.”

“Makes for a cool look, though. Better than our boring grey walls in neuro.” Brooke runs her hand along the wall as Vanessa unlocks her office, grabbing her wallet from the desk.

“They should have given you pink accent walls for the colour of the brain.” Vanessa locks her office up again, and Brooke can’t help but interject.

“Actually, the brain isn’t really pink, it looks like that with the blood but it’s actually an off white colour-”

Vanessa gives her a look. “Really?”

Brooke smiles sheepishly. “You knew that, didn’t you?”

“We both went to medical school, you dolt.” Vanessa links her arm through Brooke’s as they head back down the hallway, before they’re interrupted by an excited noise in an adjoining office.

“Aha!”

“What in the hell-”

Vanessa’s words are cut off when Asia slides over from her office to the hallway while still in her desk chair, pointing between the two of them.

“Now what’s going on here? ” Asia’s smile on her face is absolutely delighted as she glances at their linked arms.

“What, two people can’t walk arm in arm?” Vanessa wastes no time in responding, and Brooke’s glad for it, really, because she doesn’t exactly know what to say to Asia on the subject.

“Not when the two of you have personally caused me inner ear damage from how much you used to yell at each other. So this is quite a change.” Asia leans back on her chair, crossing her legs.

Vanessa snorts. “You look absolutely ridiculous sitting on that chair in the hallway.”

“Don’t deflect. All I’m saying is that you two seem real close.”

“It’s nice, ain’t it?” Vanessa doesn’t give Asia a chance to respond, grabbing Brooke’s hand and tugging on it before breaking out into a run and yelling down the hallway. “We’re out, bye!”

They run towards the parking lot in a fit of giggles, neither of them able to contain their laughter.

“Asia’s so gonna be on my ass about that tomorrow. Worth it.” Vanessa bends over to catch her breath, grinning up at Brooke. “So, your place?”

Brooke’s struck by the ease at which Vanessa snuggles into her side after she puts their empty takeout containers on the coffee table. As if it’s the most natural action in the world, as if they never went through years and years apart from one another.

They still haven’t talked about it, about what they are, what they’re doing, but Brooke doesn’t want to be the one to ruin the spell that’s been cast between them. She likes spending time with Vanessa, and what if Vanessa has second thoughts if they talk about it and says that she doesn’t want to do…whatever it is that they’re doing anymore?

So, she’ll take Vanessa snuggling into her side, especially if she gets to wrap an arm around her, hear her let out a content little noise, one that Brooke’s sure she’d never tire of even if she heard it a hundred times.

An episode of Schitt’s Creek is playing on the TV, one that Brooke’s seen before and she’s not paying attention, preferring to focus on Vanessa’s reactions and giggles as she watches for the first time.

“I’m gonna start saying ‘ew, Asia’ to Asia the way Alexis always says ‘ew, David’. Imagine her reaction.” Vanessa lets out a snicker. “She’d beat my ass for sure.”

Brooke snorts. “I swear, your cardiac team looks like it’s all mayhem, all the time. You included.”

“Oh, completely. Though is the neuro team any better?”

Brooke pauses. “Not in the least, actually. They’re all insane. Seems like chaos is a prerequisite to ever be able to make it to a hospital job.”

“You got that right. Speaking of,” Vanessa sits up a little so she can face Brooke, “how are you feeling about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Brooke’s been trying not to think about it much, really. Surgeries don’t usually intimidate her. She can handle when complications arise, because she manages to keep complete control of the operating room and of the patient in front of her. Most of the time, anyway.

There’s something about doing a surgery with Vanessa, though, that’s making her more nervous. Biting her lip, fiddling with her hands all evening kind of nervous.

Brooke thinks that Vanessa might have noticed.

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

“It’s going to be fine.” Brooke shrugs. “It’s going to be fine, right?”

At least, that’s what Brooke’s trying to convince herself of. She’s had complex patients before, ones where she’s had to work with surgeons from other disciplines, but something about working with Vanessa, working as a team, makes her nervous.

What if she lets Vanessa down?

“I see your head already zooming at a million miles an hour. It’s going to be absolutely fine, and you know that. I know you do.” Vanessa’s looking at Brooke like she believes the words coming out of her mouth, and Brooke desperately wants to believe them too. “Remember when I shadowed one of your surgeries when I first moved back here?”

Brooke’s not sure where she’s going with it. “Yeah?”

“Didn’t want to tell you back then, ‘cause you were acting like one cocky son of a bitch, but you were good. Real good. As in textbook good, even better than good type of good. You had everyone on your team working under you like a machine, you handled shit happening in the surgery like a goddamn champ.” Vanessa grabs her hand, squeezes it, and the pressure is grounding, somehow. “You got this. Take it from someone who’s already seen you in action. And you know my ass can’t lie to save my life, so I ain’t making this shit up, either. I don’t want you to start spiralling about shit that may not even happen tomorrow.”

“How did you know I was-”

“I know you, babe.” Vanessa smiles softly. “I know when you start overthinking. Also ‘cause your grip around me suddenly got all rigid.”

Brooke snorts. “That’s more of an obvious cue, huh?”

“Maybe.” Vanessa smiles and leans over, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Now let’s just think about how great we’ll be tomorrow.”

Brooke deepens the kiss because she can’t help herself and sure, they’ve both been tired and overworked but she hasn’t properly kissed Vanessa since that day in her office, and now that she has the chance, she’s going to take it. Brooke hadn’t been the one to initiate another, not wanting to overstep. But now that Vanessa’s here, in her arms, in her apartment? She’s going to take it.

Vanessa gasps into the kiss though follows suit, wrapping her arms around Brooke’s neck, and she feels like a ball of energy, a ball of light in Brooke’s arms. One that’s so responsive, one that wastes no time in straddling Brooke, trying to close the already miniscule distance that exists between them.

It’s too much all at once but Brooke just wants more and more, more of Vanessa because there’s no way she can ever get enough. It doesn’t matter that they’ve been sleeping together the last few months because right now it feels different - every touch just a little bit more electric, every kiss making her heart beat just a little bit faster.

It’s urgent, but not like their kisses in their offices, where they had been running out of time and were afraid of getting caught. No, this feels different. As if they have all the time they would ever need, and the urgency is to make sure that they make the most of every second, every moment, to make up for everything that they’ve missed. It’s a homecoming and a reckoning all at once.

Brooke grips underneath Vanessa’s thighs, standing them up and letting Vanessa wrap her legs around her waist tightly before walking them over to her bedroom. If they’re going to do this, then they’re going to do this right, because it’s not the same anymore. They’re not the same.

Brooke lays Vanessa down on the bed and the sight of her hair splayed around her head, eyes wide as her chest rises and falls with near gasps almost takes Brooke’s breath away. She leans down, presses kisses along Vanessa’s ribcage, feeling the way her breath hitches and it’s intoxicating, making her wish that she could just make Vanessa fall apart underneath her for a living.

Brooke brings her kisses up past Vanessa’s cleavage, her neck, along the curve of her jaw but then Vanessa pushes on her shoulder, flipping them over and suddenly Brooke’s the one flat on her back. Vanessa’s waves fall in front of her face, tickling Brooke’s shoulders and cheeks, little dots of starlight that light her up like the night sky. Vanessa takes a second to tie her hair back with the elastic on her wrist, before grabbing Brooke’s face with both of her hands and kissing her again and again and again, and it makes Brooke understand what it means to have the all the stars in the universe finally within her grasp.

Brooke almost wishes that she could pause this moment, right here. Commit it to a safe part of her brain to pull out when she’s feeling empty, alone, when there’s nothing left to push her to keep moving forward. Because this? Vanessa right here, right now, making her feel like she’s glowing from the inside out? Brooke feels like it could power her for days.

Vanessa presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth, pulling back to look at her and Brooke can see the softness, the adoration in her eyes, the slight shine that matches the way Brooke feels her own heart ready to burst.

There’s a part of Brooke that still nags, still plants a seed of doubt within her, thorns that fester within her bloodstream that tell her that this isn’t forever, that Vanessa’s going to leave. That this doesn’t matter the way that Brooke so desperately wants it to. But then Vanessa’s hands are soft on Brooke’s skin, unbuttoning her pants and helping her slide them off along with her panties, before crawling in between her legs and kissing up her thighs, the gentlest of touches that make Brooke cant into her for more, more, more.

Brooke’s already a mess, already coming undone because there’s something about Vanessa that always keeps her on the cusp of tipping over. Of jumping off of the cliff that Vanessa’s already gone over, because Brooke would follow her down if it meant that she could stay with her, spend more time with her. Not worrying about having to leave.

Vanessa’s kisses turn harder, deeper, making Brooke squirm and she knows she’s going to have marks on her thighs, ones left by Vanessa that only she’ll be able to see, ones that remind her of this. That Vanessa’s been here.

Brooke’s hands tighten their grip in Vanessa’s hair nonetheless, because the teasing is too much and she needs more, she needs her. Vanessa takes the hint because she’s in a giving mood, all pretenses of taking her time beginning to fade and Brooke’s nearly gone when Vanessa licks up her slit.

It amazes her still, how well Vanessa knows her body. Exactly how to get her to the edge because she still remembers, and it’s a strange sense of deja vu, though one that is heightened, everything just a little bit sharper than it used to be. Because Brooke feels everything so much more, and it scares her that she never, ever wants to lose it.

Vanessa tips Brooke over the edge when she sucks at her clit, curling her fingers upward deep inside her and it’s a marvel, really, that Brooke had ever thought that she could get over her. Could ever forget her. Vanessa presses a gentle kiss to the inside of Brooke’s thigh after she comes, pulling her fingers back, and Brooke can feel the way that the action holds so much more, tugs more on her heart than any other girl she’s been with, the way it makes it clear in her head.

Vanessa’s it, for her.

And the way that Vanessa’s looking at her, eyes full of adoration and an emotion that Brooke can’t quite decipher as she crawls back up the bed, makes Brooke think that maybe, just maybe, Vanessa gets it, too.

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #hospital au #lesbian au #holtzmanns #nobody knows where we might end up

31 notes · View notes

choupichoups · 5 years

Photo

Blue [1/2]

Prompt: soulmate au

Eliott’s world has always been black and white.

He’s not even being dramatic— he’s already seven years old, he’s too old to be dramatic.

“That’s not the green marker!” He hears the teacher hiss out, exchanging quick whispers with the poor assistant who’d come running inside the room only minutes earlier. Looking up at the commotion, Eliott stares at the assistant’s bewildered expression and immediately determines that the girl is one of the lucky ones with the syndrome.

The fancy adults call it the Soul Syndrome. Eliott likes to call it the Annoying Syndrome.

“Can I borrow your red?” One of the few students still remaining in school taps him on the shoulder and Eliott shrugs, pushing his bucket of paint tubes forward. He can’t tell which one’s red and he’s too lazy to read the labels.

You see, about forty percent of the world’s population are born with the Syndrome— the condition has them seeing in complete black and white until their one true love comes along, pokes them in the face, and suddenly the world bursts into colour. So basically Eliott has to put in the extra effort to make contact with everyone he meets just in case one of them happens to be his soulmate.

Eliott just wants to paint pretty pictures. It’s honestly very inconvenient.

And what if his soulmate doesn’t show up until he’s like, ninety years old? How is he supposed to differentiate between a broccoli and a cauliflower meanwhile, huh? It makes eating his mama’s disgusting vegetables all the more stressful than it already is.

He stands from his seat, looking out the window to check if his parents have already arrived, having to squint at the plate numbers on the parked cars because he obviously doesn’t know what colour their car is. He has to repeatedly memorize new plate numbers, especially when his dad is the weirdo with a strange obsession with exchanging cars every so often. Again, very stressful.

The after school program only runs until a certain time, because teachers apparently don’t live in their classrooms (they eat and live lives outside of torturing students with big numbers and words with too many letters) and Eliott always ends up being one of the last students left in school. His parents work for the same company very far away from where they live and Eliott understands that they try their best to come early but he gets really bored of staying in one place all the time.

No one can blame him for sneaking out of the classroom while the supervising teacher freaks out over her markers.

He takes his bucket of paint tubes and the half finished artwork with him so he can finish up without the distracting screeches from the adults. He’s peacefully walking along the quiet hallway when one of the classroom doors slams open and a small child rams right into Eliott, careless like a spooked puppy.

The impact has him losing grip of everything in his hold and Eliott falls on his bum on top of that. Honestly, can he just live one day without stress? The tubes are probably scattered all over the hallway and he can hear his bucket still clanging obnoxiously against the floor as it rolls and rolls and rolls.

Eliott huffs, opens his eyes-- and almost screams immediately after.

The wide eyed boy huddled in front of him is not in black and white.

In fact, nothing is in black and white.

Eliott doesn’t know exactly what he’s seeing, but he’s certain that this is what colour looks like.

The other boy’s eyes are swimming with tears but Eliott decides that no other colour can be as pretty as it is.

“That’s ugly,” the other boy says, sniffing into his sleeves, pretty eyes trained on Eliott’s unfinished painting.

Eliott looks down at it and, well, yes it’s a little ugly now but hey, it was really nice in black and white. He frowns, defensive over his ugly painting. “It’s called abstract.” He enunciates carefully, saying it exactly how his papa describes the other ugly paintings in their house. It’s the biggest word he knows so he’s hoping it might impress his soulmate.

His soulmate doesn’t look impressed.

“I don’t care, I don’t know what that means.”

Eliott pouts. Great, even his soulmate is stressful. The other boy looks around in wonder, eyes eventually catching and lingering on Eliott’s shoelaces. His mama’s the one who fixes his shoelaces for him, Eliott only now sees how very bright the colours on them are.

“What colour are those?” The little boy points at his shoes.

“I don’t know,” Eliott answers truthfully. “I just saw them now too.”

“Oh.”

The big double doors of the front entrance slides open and Eliott immediately recognizes his mama as one of the two adults approaching. The other lady has very long hair and eyes almost as pretty as his soulmate’s.

Eliott looks at the boy and asks frantically, “What’s your name?”

The boy blinks back at him. “Lucas.”

Eliott’s lips spread into a big, toothy smile, standing up and dusting off his hands to make sure they’re clean enough before taking Lucas’ hand to pull him off the floor as well. Now that they’re standing upright, Eliott notices how teeny tiny his soulmate actually is. He giggles in delight.

“Eliott!” His mama calls out, and Eliott gapes at the very bright colour tinting the bottom part of his mama’s hair. “What are you doing outside the classroom?”

“But mama—”

“Lucas, what’s wrong baby?” The other lady asks, kneeling down to coo at her son. Eliott looks over to see the tears back in Lucas’ eyes.

It’s official— seeing his soulmate cry is the worst thing in the world. Even worse than brussel sprouts.

“I was napping and then I woke up alone in the classroom!” Lucas blubbers out, sniffing as tears pour down his face. “I thought you forgot about me,” he finishes off, looking miserable.

Lucas’ mom reaches out but Eliott is closer so he takes it upon himself to wrap the smaller boy into his arms, copying the way his parents hug him every time he feels sad. It’s always the best feeling in the world so he wants to share it with his Lucas.

“Don’t cry, Lulu, even if they forget you, I won’t!”

“I don’t even know you,” Lucas muffles into his shoulder and goodness gracious it’s just Eliott’s luck to have a soulmate so rude. No manners, this one.

“I’m Eliott!” He pulls away to place a big kiss on Lucas’ forehead. “I’ll be here from now on, so don’t ever cry again, okay?”

Lucas just looks at him with his big, shiny eyes and slowly shuffles away, hiding behind his mother’s skirt. Eliott pouts.

His mama is laughing at him. Both of their mamas are laughing actually.

“Did you make a friend, Lucas?” Lucas’ mom asks, running a hand through her son’s hair.

“I’m not just his friend, he’s gonna marry me,” Eliott says as he walks around collecting all the paint back inside his bucket. He hears a strange sound behind him and sees the two women bent over in laughter. Adults are so weird. His eyes move down to Lucas but he can only see little hands gripping tightly onto the long haired lady’s skirt.

“Come on, Eliott, let’s go home.” His mama holds out a hand for him but Eliott frowns— he knows that voice. She doesn’t believe what he’s saying. Eliott will show them.

Peeking around the other lady’s skirt, Eliott mumbles a polite, “Excuse me,” as he goes to search for Lucas’ pretty eyes again. “I’ll give this to you,” he says, all firm and serious like his papa pretends to be during work parties.

Lucas looks down at the painting. “No, thank you.”

“What, why?”

“It’s still ugly.”

“I said it’s abstract.” Eliott stomps his foot. He hears a snort from above them but his eyes are glued on Lucas. He frowns, feeling himself tear up out of frustration— how does he convince Lucas to accept his token of love?

The painting gets taken from him so quickly that Eliott thinks he’s accidentally dropped it, but when he looks up, Lucas’s hugging it in his arms, eyebrows all scrunched up in concern.

“Don’t cry,” Lucas says. “It’s not that ugly, I guess.”

Aha. Eliott knew it. He’s going to be a world-renowned painter one day.

“Okay, Eliott, we really have to go, your dad’s waiting.” His mama takes the bucket of paint with one hand and drags Eliott away with the other.

“Wait!”

“You’ll see Lucas again on Monday.”

“Wait, I have to do something!” Eliott wiggles out of her hold and runs back to Lucas, who’s studying Eliott’s painting with his mama.

“Lucas!”

The little boy looks up, confused that Eliott’s back again. Eliott runs straight at him, knowing that his mama really wants to go home now so he’s got to hurry.

He stops in front of his soulmate, grinning big and bright, before leaning in to smack a quick kiss on his lips, just like he’s seen in those Disney movies.

Lucas promptly bursts out crying.

Eliott plays with his paintbrushes on the way home. They’re all dried now so it doesn’t stain when he runs his fingers over the bristles.

Noticing that one of them looks almost the same (not as bright, not as sparkly) as Lucas’ eyes, he bounces up in his seat to ask, “Mama, what colour is this?” He shoves the paintbrush in between the two front seats, wiggling the tinted brush around.

His papa takes a deep breath and his mama smiles. They do their weird eye contact juju where they don’t speak but somehow smile and nod at each other anyway. Adults are weird.

“That’s blue.”

“You like that colour, Eliott?” His papa asks, looking like he’s about to cry for some reason. Eliott hopes he’s not sad cause then Eliott will be sad and it just won’t be a fun Friday night for anyone.

“Yes!” He answers, giddy as he thinks about his cute soulmate. “It’s my favourite.”

“Do we have a name?” Papa whispers towards Mama.

“Lucas,” Mama responds and Eliott perks up at the mention of the name.

“I’m gonna marry him!” He declares to no one in particular, running his eyes over his paintbrush. Blue blue blue.

“When are you planning to do that?” Papa chuckles.

“On Monday.”

The chuckles turn to choking. Papa must have breathed wrong, it happens to Eliott sometimes too. “How ‘bout we slow down a bit, huh, little man?”

“But I already kissed him, we can marry now.”

“What?”

“Long story,” Mama says, rolling her eyes as she smiles. “Maybe wait a little before marrying him, hm baby?”

“Why?”

“Because he’s too young.”

“Why?”

“He’s not a big boy yet, not like you.”

“Oh, ok. I’ll just keep kissing him then!”

Papa makes a weird, squeaky noise. “Maybe wait for that too.”

“Why?”

“Remember, Eliott, too young.”

“When should I kiss him?”

There’s a short silence, with Eliott watching his parents make tight lips and wide eyes at each other, shaking their heads and nodding at odd intervals. He’d be concerned if this didn’t happen on a regular basis.

“Wait until he’s... fifteen.” Papa flounders. Mama rolls her eyes, knocking her head back into the seat while Papa shrugs helplessly.

Eliott frowns, that’s so long. But for Lucas, he’ll wait. He has manners and such.

Then maybe Lucas won’t cry next time since he’ll be a big boy like Eliott.

#skam france #elu #fictag #lol i introduce to u #elu fluff week #crawls on the ground laughing #this isn't the thing i was talking about either #that i was already planning to post #there's more #but i wanted to write kid elu #elu soulmate au

635 notes · View notes

mcwriting · 5 years

Text

starstruck (4)

Here it is... finally! It’s ~angsty~ but it was really fun to write.

I will say, I realized while writing this that the timeline of this fic is sooooo short but hey, its fiction, so I guess anything can happen lol. I tried to resolve it in later chapters but it’s definitely quick moving in these initial chapters.

There’s a lot of italics in this one lol

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Fandom: Thomas Stanley Holland

Ship: Tom Holland x Reader (eventual)

Setting: LA in general

Word Count: 2240 yeet

Warnings: angst, some mild language

Rating: still k+ right now

Last time on starstruck...

“Hey what’s going on? Uh huh. No, we actually have it handled. I might or might not be with her right now… no it’s fine. Seriously, we are laying low! We’re on the way to the hotel right now. Alright, alright I’ll see what I can do. See you in a few.”

And with that, he hung up, turned to you, and said, “That was my manager. Apparently we’ve got a problem.”

__________________________________

You pulled underneath the awning of the posh hotel Tom was boarding at, the kind of place you only dreamed of staying.

Sure, your family wasn’t poor, but your parents definitely weren’t the type of people to spend a lot of money on hotels. They claimed to enjoy spending more money on the “fun” parts of vacations than where you slept at night.

To each their own, you supposed.

Tom wanted you to come inside, per request of his manager, so you figured you would drop him off and park so you wouldn’t be seen together.

The valet had other plans, however, pulling you out of the car and exchanging your keys with a numbered slip of paper.

It all happened so fast that for a moment you just stood there, stunned. You snapped out of it when the man began to drive off and Tom grabbed you to lead you inside.

The lobby was massive and covered with marble flooring. A large, plush rug covered many of the tiles and on top of it sat some luxurious couches and armchairs, framing a huge TV on the wall.

On the other side was a long marble counter that seated hotel staff, who stood at the ready upon seeing Tom.

You also couldn’t help but note the smell, a light, sweet floral scent wafting through the air pleasantly.

This must be rich people scent you thought to yourself.

Due to the nature of it being midday, very few people were seen in the lobby, and Tom led you straight through to a hallway and past the main elevators, his hand resting on your lower back the entire time.

“I have access to a service lift so less people will see,” he explained, as if he’d just read your confused mind.

You walked briskly with Tom through the winding hall, finally ending up at the alternate elevator, where he swiped his key card and the doors slid open with a few creaks.

You tapped your foot nervously as you passed floor by floor, letting go of a breath you didn’t realize you were holding upon reaching the top.

Once again, you followed behind Tom through the hall and to his room. You stood awkwardly in the doorway, clenching onto the straps of your beach bag, as he entered to find more suitable clothing.

After disappearing for a moment, he popped his head back out.

“You can come in, you know. This might take a few minutes.”

You stepped further into his suite, making your way to the sliding doors attached to a balcony. Looking out you could see Los Angeles in full light, the people and cars below feeling so out of reach, like nothing you had ever experienced in your city.

You seemed so out of place in the heavily decorated room still in beach clothing and legs covered in sand.

You could hear Tom rummaging through the drawers and walked over, giving a gentle knock on the open door.

“Having trouble, twinkle toes?” you joked at the way he pillaged through his clothes. He smiled at your commentary.

“Maybe a bit. Do you need anything? A drink, snack? The fridge is stocked so take anything you like.”

You were surprised at his generosity and at how little he cared about paying for that stuff. In your family, everything in the hotel room was off limits if it wasn’t free.

“I think I’m good but do you mind if I use your restroom? I really need to rinse this sand off and put on some real clothes.”

“Go right ahead,” he gestured to the bathroom door.

The bathroom was also massive, especially for a hotel. The shower thankfully had a handheld spray head so you were able to just target and rinse your legs. You tugged on some athletic shorts and a loose tank top to replace your former garments.

You quickly used the toilet too and went to wash your hands, not believing how many fancy soaps and lotions covered the counter.

As you lathered, a small bottle caught the corner of your eye. It was a light yellowish color and read “OBSESSION for men.”

Of course he would wear Calvin Klein cologne. Now I know.

You finished up and made a final once over in the mirror, fixing some stray hairs in your ponytail and opening up the door.

You stopped in your tracks as your eyes laid upon Tom, who was shirtless with his back to you, the elastic of his underwear poking out of his pants’ waistline.

“You’re a pretty big fan of Calvin Klein, huh?” you asked, referring to both the cologne and his boxers. He turned around, giving you a view of his bare chest, which didn’t disappoint, a fact that you pretended was annoying.

“Hah, yeah. I really want to do an ad campaign with them if you couldn’t tell,” he bent over to pick up a shirt from the bed and toss it on.

“Well with the cologne and underwear you’re pretty much a walking billboard.”

“You like the cologne?” he asked, causing your face to heat up. You knew a blush was present and probably obvious, so you decided not to lie.

“Yeah, actually I do. It’s a nice scent. It also happens to be all over my bed right now thanks to a certain someone,” you tipped down your chin and raised an eyebrow accusingly.

“You want it? The company actually sent me like… eight bottles and a bunch of clothes not too long ago after I posted on Instagram about them. I can’t get rid of them fast enough,” he offered, walking towards you.

“What? No! I couldn’t just take that from you. What would I tell my friends when they see men’s cologne bottle in my room? I can’t say ‘oh yeah Tom Holland gave it to me’ and it would be majorly out of character to tell everyone that it’s what you wear.”

He went past you into the bathroom and rummaged through a toiletry bag, muttering an “aha!” when he pulled out another bottle identical to the one on the counter, except this was sealed and full.

“Seriously Tom I can’t just tak-” you started when he dropped the bottle into your bag.

“Whoops,” he quipped, “no take backs. Now your bed can forever smell like me”

You were ready to argue again (with an undeniable smile on your face) when there was a loud rapping on the main door.

Tom grimaced at you to wordlessly send a message of ‘prepare yourself’ as he took a deep breath in and headed out of his bedroom. You silently followed into the living room and watched Tom open the door, where a well dressed man and woman pair stood talking.

__________________________________

At first you and Tom together discussed the plan you had made at the beach with his manager and publicist, neither of whom seemed to like the idea very much.

They asked to speak with Tom privately, so you relocated back into the bedroom and sat on the side of his bed, reminiscing on how the roles were almost reversed compared to only two evenings prior.

You were only in there for about ten minutes, but it seemed like hours. You were too anxious to mess with your phone and instead looked out his window.

There was a quiet knock on the door before Tom opened it. You recognized the steely look in his eyes and the way his jaw was clenched.

He motioned for you to come out, and almost immediately after stepping into the living room his manager started talking to you.

“So, y/n, right? I’m gonna have to give this to you straight. You cannot be seen with my client ever again,” she stated bluntly, “it’s nothing against you, of course, but Tom here needs to maintain a ‘single’ rep until this movie is no longer in theatres and frankly you’re jeopardizing the whole thing.”

Your eyebrows shot up and you weren’t happy to hear this woman’s feigned criticisms.

“I’m sorry, but Tom is the one who sought me out. I never liked him, you could ask any person who knows me and they would tell you the same. I’m only here because Tom asked me to meet him about getting rid of this whole ‘scandal’ or whatever you want to call it. So if anyone is jeopardizing Tom, it’s himself.”

The publicist took a step forward.

“Look, miss y/n, it’s really nothing against you, we just want to maintain his image, and the best way to do so would be for us to go online and tell everyone he helped you get medical attention for an injury, which we all know is true, and end it at that. It makes Tom look like a hero, and you’ll be popular for weeks with your peers I’m sure,” he explained, angering you further.

“I never asked for this. I don’t want attention. I don’t want the world, or more importantly my best friend, to find out I’ve been lying about the guy I used to hate. Do you realize how many rumors this will fuel? This is ridiculous and I can’t allow you to put out my information like this.”

“Oh, well. Too bad. I just sent the tip to TMZ and they’re posting the story tonight,” he replied, “and Tom is going live on Instagram at 4:00 to address it the way we told him to and you two can’t be seen together again. Text all you want like you have been, but no public contact. Unless of course we want to do a ‘girl saved by hero reunites with him’ thing. Oh man would that look so good-”

“I’m done. This is so sick. Tom,” you looked directly into his eyes, “never contact me again, you disgusting cheap sellout bastard,” you spat, a fire in your own eyes like nothing anyone had ever seen from you.

“Y/n I-“ he began, but you were already heading to the door. You could hear footsteps behind you and the door slam shut but you kept power walking towards the main elevators, hoping they were the opposite direction from which you and Tom initially came.

“Wait!” he cried out, finally catching up and grabbing your elbow.

You threw his hand off but stopped moving forward and instead spun around to face him. Tears had made their way down your cheeks by now and you weren’t any happier to be so vulnerable in front of Tom.

Never in your life did or expect the next (or even last) guy you’d cry over would be Tom Holland.

“Y/n, please listen,” he pleaded, his face was also red, as if he were going to cry himself. You stood firm and gave him an expectant glare, so he continued.

“I don’t want to do this, I really don’t. Please understand that I have to, though, no matter how much this hurts. We can still talk. I was so drawn to you the second I saw you in that crowd just last week and I could’ve never imagined how close you could become in the short amount of time we’ve known each other. Please, babe, I don’t want to lose you.”

Anger flashed inside of you again and you felt your chest tighten at the bomb he’d just dropped..

“Do you really, Tom? Do you really care? Because to me it sounds like you actually have a choice here, but you’re too much of a pushover to do what’s right. If you really cared, you wouldn’t do this to me. I was serious back there. Don’t talk to me again, and definitely don’t call me babe if you do.”

“I’m so, so sorry, y/n,” Tom’s voice finally broke, and you could see the way his lip quivered as he continued, “I’m sorry I ever got you into this mess.”

“Me too,” you whispered.

You wiped more stray tears and turned, looking back one last time into the face of the broken-hearted celebrity, hoping it was the last time you would ever see his face, but knowing it wouldn’t be the end of it.

__________________________________

You exited the elevator, which you were glad was empty. More tears had fallen on the journey down and you mustered up everything you could to stop them, at least until you were off the premises of the hotel.

Though knowing you looked like a wreck, you walked through the hotel lobby with head held high, looking straight forward at the large front doors.

Your numbered ticket was in hand and you gladly gave it to the valet so he could pull up your car.

It was getting harder to hold it together as you waited. Finally, he appeared and parked the car in front of you.

He held out the keys and then stood directly in front of you, silently pleading for a tip, even though he could probably see the obvious anguish on your face.

Finally, you gave in, rolling your eyes as you dug through your bag for a spare $5 bill and slapped it into his hand with disdain.

“How kind. Have a nice day, ma’am!” he voiced cheerily.

You fought the urge to flip him off as you sat down in the driver’s seat and began the journey back home, dread filling your stomach the closer home became.

__________________________________

A/N: yeehaw that was a fun time. Next chapter is angsty too sorry I don’t make the rules... :)

Tag List: @marvel-lously, @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl

#starstruck #tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland dancing #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #spider-man #spiderman #spider man #Spider Man: Homecoming #tom holland spider man #SPIDER MAN: FAR FROM HOME #SPIDER MAN FAR FROM HOME #sm:ffh #MARVEL FANDOM #marvel

81 notes · View notes

theworldinclines · 4 years

Note

yo! i've been following your tumblr mostly just for cql because aha :^) you know how it is :^) but it's left a void in my chest. i know you rb a lot of content for other shows, so i figured i'd ask you for some recs (and the best places to watch them uwu)!! thanks so much i'd die for u

Hello anon!! I totally get you 💀 I’m gonna assume that you want me to rec BLs, so I’ll tell you only the ones that I’ve liked best and why, where I watched them, and possible trigger warnings as well for you :)

So first up is my favorite: Theory of Love

Who stars in it: Off Jumpol (as Kai) and Gun Atthaphan (as Third), aka OffGun, aka icons and best friends who we stan to this very day

Why I recommend: I adore this show for so many reasons but overall the vibe is just so good dfhkhkhj It references like a trillion rom-coms and I won’t spoil it but there is a literal montage of some classic rom-com scenes done by the main characters that is just so fucking hysterical, I cry every time. There’s also a compilation here of movie posters that they recreated to imitate some classic rom-coms as well, which made me DIE from emotions I tell you what. This show is just so funny and makes fun of itself with characters that you genuinely grow to adore. Kai is a chaotic dumb of ass bisexual and we love him in this house (as infuriating as he can be lmfao). It’s so rewatchable GOD 10/10 would recommend.

Warnings: There is no sexual abuse in the show of any kind, except for one scene that is just a kiss and very mild, so I think you’d be all good there. :)

Where to watch: I watched it on YouTube! Here’s the link to episode one part one

History3: Trapped

Who stars in it: Jake Hsu (plays Shao Fei) and Chris Wu (plays Tang Yi), aka weirdos who can’t stop laughing while filming and being dumb in general and I love that for them and me

Why I recommend: I loved it. The main couple is adorable with so much chemistry and I will be totally honest, they remind me SO MUCH of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. Like on the rewatch I just did of this show, I couldn’t believe the similarities the character Shao Fei has to Wei Wuxian and his counterpart Tang Yi has to Lan Wangji. Like. When I tell you I was shook the house, I mean it. But the side couple is ALSO iconic the house and the CUTEST like if you don’t want to adopt Zhao Zi and also officiate his wedding by the show’s end, I’d be shocked dfhhkghdjkl All in all, it’s such a funny show with very tender, heartfelt moments that are to die for. This show has it all: plot twists, cops falling in love with mobsters and vice versa, a character whose goal in life is to just eat as much good food as possible… amazing.

Warnings: The show has fighting and violence but seeing as you watched The Untamed, I’m assuming you’re okay with it lol There is an instance where one character tries to rape one of the leads by drugging him, so keep an eye out for that, but I think it will be obvious because he starts to pass out and you will know whether you feel you have to skip the scene or not. He isn’t undressed, it isn’t anything remotely graphic, but he is groped by the asshole I won’t name man fuck that guy but that’s all!

Where to watch: I watched it on newasiantv, link to ep1 here

Dark Blue Kiss

Who stars in it: Fluke Gawin Caskey (Mork) and Podd Suphakorn (Sun) aka two of the most gorgeous and sweet dudes alive fdhgldfhgdk AND BL vets, New Thitipoom (Kao) and Tay Tawan (Pete)

First off: dshhgdksj If you haven’t seen Kiss Me Again or Kiss the Series you might be a little confused. Dark Blue Kiss is sort-of-a-continuation-but-not-really of those other two series, and it sort of adds to the experience if you have seen them. If you want to, just watch Kiss Me Again and I think you’ll be okay honestly; it’s just because you might want context of the characters (Pete and Kao, their friends etc.) and their relationships to one another going into Dark Blue Kiss.

Why I recommend: NOW two of the leads, Sun and Mork, have one of The Best relationships in any BL I’ve ever seen because they have real conversations and have real conflict and issues that they work to get through. Rain (Sun’s younger bro and Mork’s bestie) is an absolute delight and their story arc throughout the show is so iconic we just have to stan. I won’t get into Kao and Pete fhhkhdj because I just have Opinions on fucking w characters/relationships for the sake of drama and that’s what I think this series did to them, unnecessarily ahem But otherwise it’s funny and real and again if you dont literally love Mork and Rain and Sun by the end of it did you even watch the same show???

Warnings: There is a brief scene where one character tries to get w another who is like get tf AWAY weirdo lmfao but there is no actual abuse bc they are stopped well in time to avoid it

Where to watch: I watched Dark Blue Kiss on newasiantv as well because the episodes on YouTube tended to not get subbed as quickly as I wanted which you will understand if you watch this lmao. Here is the link to episode one of Kiss Me Again as well as a link to episode one of Kiss the Series if you feel like watchin those two beforehand

Tharntype the Series

Who stars in it: Gulf Kanawut (Type) and Mew Suppasit (Tharn) aka those two guys who you might see do a shit ton of fanservice that I diligently ignore because I hate fanservice lol This show exists in the same universe as another BL that I am reluctant to put on here lol but will get into later on.

Why I recommend: BEFORE YALL FLAY ME ALIVE djkhgldhgfdjhhkjd OKAY LISTEN genuinely, on a very real level, I FULLY understand why a lot of people here refused to watch this show or couldn’t finish it. You’re totally valid and legit I almost stopped after ten minutes because I was like here we go AGAIN. However! I was so drawn in by the acting that I wanted to give it a chance, and I’m SO GLAD that I did. Gulf and Mew, as well as Mild (who plays Techno) and Kaownah (who plays Lhong) and everyone else who acts in this show, is incredible and their chemistry is insane. I would say it’s some of the best chemistry and acting I’ve seen, BL or otherwise. You get angry at the two main characters interchangeably and I truly feel that that makes it real, you know what I mean? There is no oh he’s in the right, fuck that other guy 100% for either of them. They are both real, flawed men who grow so immensely throughout this series where by the end you’re so proud of their development and the love they find for themselves and in each other??? Because it doesn’t feel like we’ll get there, but they DO. And it’s BEAUTIFUL. We’re getting a second season, which to me is always a tad worrisome because I do think it ended very well and if they fuck with everything (cough KaoPete) just to fuck with it and stir the pot I’m gonna be Upset. But for now, it’s amazing and speaks on topics that aren’t ever addressed. It’s an unfortunate reality in BL that the way so many relationships begin is through sketchy-consensual (drunk, coerced) or flat out like non consensual sexual shit, and this show dives into the aftermath of sexual abuse, the mental impact that has on a person, and how damaging it can be if left unattended. I would give it a chance. I really do think it’s a well done series. Oh and Techno is so relatable and the only one with a brain cell in this show half the time jkdfhhdlkj

Warnings: Like I said, this show is not an easy watch at times. Very often, in fact, it can be difficult. There is homophobic language, two of the characters (I dont want to spoil everything) have been raped in the past, one as a child (which is NOT GRAPHICALLY SHOWN, don’t worry) and the other as a teenager/young adult, which is sort of shown but not in too much detail. Another character in present day “does stuff” to another that isn’t totally consensual, more than once (which is probably my biggest problem with the show and the one thing I really can’t excuse because like bro I don’t care how big your crush is, don’t be an asshole, point blank), but every other sexual thing in the show is consensual and very much wanted

Where to watch: Here is episode one on newasiantv if you want to give this a shot :)

He’s Coming to Me

Who stars in it: Singto Prachaya (Mes) and Ohm Pawat (Thun) aka just two adorable boys

Why I recommend: This show definitely has one of the more unique plots among BLs. I won’t spoil it, and as with all of these I recommend going in without looking up plots because like I know for me movie trailers etc just tell me everything and there doesn’t seem to be a point in watching the movie if I know so much beforehand. The main characters are cute together, there are funny moments and moments that make you cry. And it’s a happy ending, which we love to see :)

Warnings: There is a major character death, no blood though, and you will understand in context that it isn’t as bad as it seems right now lol Nothing that isn’t consensual, which is a miracle in these shows. Overall wholesome content. There is like a weird storyline with one of the character’s moms which was Different to say the least dfjhdflhgkjf but it didn’t ruin the show for me or anything

Where to watch: newasiantv seems to be my go-to lmao

3 Will Be Free

Who stars in it: Joss Way-Ar (Neo), Mild Lapassalan (Miw), and Tay Tawan (Shin). If you watch Dark Blue Kiss or any of those before this, you will recognize Tay and Mild as Pete and Sandee (just friends in those shows). Joss is just such a funny, sweet guy and so is Tay Lowkey biased for them and I honestly often favor TayJoss’ chemistry over TayNew, which I think is controversial lmfaoo but it has to be said lol and obviously Mild is a badass actress and talent so having her here is amazing

Why I recommend: So this is the only BL thus far to feature a polyamorous relationship, which is sort of crazy but I’m so happy it’s been done at least once now. The three have such amazing chemistry and you really grow to care for each of them as individuals as well. They’re just really awesome and I adore them and miss them every day fdjghfdglhkjd There’s also a trans actress!! :D

Warnings: There is quite a bit of gun violence bc one of the character’s father’s is a mob boss. Two side characters are killed, one much further into the show so it hurts even MORE, and one of the other side characters therefore to me doesn’t receive the ending they deserve; it was very messy and I think they deserved better. A woman is in an abusive marriage to a man, which sucked and I skipped a lot of it even though it wasn’t necessarily super violent. I just don’t like that stuff ://

Where to watch: Surprise surprise, newasiantv

Until We Meet Again

Who stars in it: Fluke Natouch (Pharm) and Ohm Thitiwat (Dean), Earth Katsamonnat (Intouch) and Nine Noppakao (Korn). Fluke and Earth invented being friends like……they are so fucking cute and they are both actually queer (have been in public relationships with men) which is always so rare to see and really great :)

Why I recommend: Side couple TeamWin is absolutely iconic. I adore them with my whole body so if for nothing else, watch it for them LMAO But for real InKorn is such a cute couple and PharmDean has a very nice relationship too; they talk about consent and have healthy communication which is so refreshing lmao

Warnings: The show does open with a double suicide by gunshot. I won’t say who, but it is in there. The two main characters have flashbacks/PTSD/nightmares (one worse than the other) which you will understand in context if you watch, but it’s definitely worth the watch

Where to watch: This show is currently airing and I watch it on YouTube; here’s the link to episode one part one

Love By Chance

Who stars in it: Perth Tanapon (Ae) and Saint Suppapong (Pete), Mean Phiravich (Tin) and Plan Rathavit (Can). This is the show that is in the same universe as Tharntype, but the actors who play Techno, Tharn, and Type are different actors in this show than from Tharntype. It’s confusing and messy lol

Warning: I’m putting this before the why I like it because I think it’s necessary for this one. I hesitate to even put LBC on here because there is so much of this show that just makes me uncomfortable. When I first watched this show, the second BL I had ever watched, I had no knowledge of BLs, the actors, or really anything to do with any of this world. So, having grown up with film/tv life where every actor is 27 playing 17, it didn’t occur to me that the actor playing 18 would in fact be 17 instead. Perth was I think 17 or possibly 18 while filming (I don’t know exact dates), which includes sexual scenes that I didn’t even feel comfortable watching BEFORE I knew his age, let alone trying to rewatch the series while knowing about it. I am 20, and was 19 last year when I watched this, so it really skeeves me out to watch those kinds of scenes (BL or otherwise) if actors or actresses aren’t at least 18 or 19. It seems weird because I’m 20 and a queer girl, not like a 50 year old pedophile or something like that, but for my own comfort I tend to skip the more explicit stuff. On my first watch, I skipped the Tharntype, TumTar, and Techno storyline because frankly I didn’t care. Going on to watch Tharntype the Series, I was even happier to have skipped so that I didn’t have to go in with a preconceived idea of the characters from having watched LBC. One of the characters in this version of events is raped or coerced into sex; I don’t even know the details because I just couldn’t be bothered to give it a chance. I firmly believe you can watch this show without watching any of their storylines (and skipping over the more sexual stuff, if you feel you have to), which I know sucks to say bc the actors are all good and I like their other work and them as people, but I just couldn’t do it. It is of course up to you.

Why I recommend: Basically I recommend this just for TinCan lmao and on the chance that you do decide to watch Tharntype, it pays at the end to have a knowledge of the LBC characters because again they are in the same universe and it won’t be as cool if you don’t get it right away like WHAT!!! You know haha so yeah There is going to be a season two dropped sometime this year, focused I believe on TinCan, so I’m literally so fucking excited. Dreams are coming true

Where to watch: I found this show on both Dailymotion and newasiantv

Hey again anon it’s been a minute dfhlhghjd I’m sure this is way longer than you thought and probably don’t want HA but I wanted to be as thorough as possible for you and anyone else who might be new here you feel So some shows I didn’t get into that I watched include Great Men Academy, Together With Me, 2Moons and 2Moons2, Love Sick, ’Cause You’re My Boy (aka My Tee), History3: Make Our Days Count, SOTUS the Series, History2: Crossing the Line, (currently airing) Why R U?, and 2gether.

If you get through the ones I talked about above and want me to talk about these other ones, I’ll do that too!! I hope this helps you and others :D ✌️ ✌️

#answered #bl recs #recs

8 notes · View notes

free-pool-trash · 5 years

Text

Surprise - Rin Matsuoka x Reader

Requested by @felceelisa: Can I request for a Free! Scenario where Rin’s girlfriend flies to Australia to see him after a long time they don’t see each other? Thank you😘

Of course you can. This is such a cute idea <3

Y’all better not sleep on this istg there might be mistakes I’m sorry I’m tired

Word count: 2,503

Masterlist

“What’s your plan for the day, babe?” Rin asked his girlfriend through the phone line, they’d been chatting for the past while and Rin was completely unaware of the surprise that you had in store for him.

“Not much, I’m feeling a little under the weather so I think I’ll just sleep it off…” You lied as you quietly threw your favourite dress into your suitcase. You held your phone between your ear and your shoulder as you strolled into your bathroom and began packing up your make-up, listening to Rin’s worried voice.

“Under the weather how?” He asked and you giggled at the image of him trying to coddle you long distance style, something he often tried but rarely worked out.

“It’s alright Rin-Rin, I think I’m just catching the flu, it’s been really cold in Japan so far this winter.” You told him, still packing quietly having made your way out of the bathroom and back to your case. It was now entirely packed and all you needed was to finish up talking to Rin and close it up, you'd do it over the phone but you didn't want the sound of the zip to blow your story.

“Hm… Alright baby, just make sure you drink plenty of water, and don't sleep for too long, it's still really early and you'll feel even worse if you can't sleep tonight, you hear me?” Rin lectured you softly but firmly to which you couldn't help but smile.

“Yeah I hear you, love. You better get going your morning session starts soon right?” You inquired as you looked at the clock on your bedside table, you'd need to leave your apartment fairly soon if you didn't want to be in a rush.

“I guess so, get something to drink and keep warm, okay? I love you.” He told you again softly while you smiled and fiddled with the zip of your open case.

“Will do, now get off of the phone and go to practice. I'll call you when I wake up. I looooove you~” You chirped out, living for the chuckle that sounded from the other end of the line.

“Will do, chief. Catch you later, babe.” With that the call ended and you hurriedly zipped up your case and grabbed your purse, making sure you had everything you needed you headed for your front door.

Quickly you left your apartment, locked the door behind you, loaded your case in the trunk of your car, got yourself in and started driving.

You'd been planning this surprise for months, you'd spent countless hours making sure that your timing would be absolutely perfect, calling people up, making sure everyone you needed for the plan to be a success knew what they needed to do. It was going to be perfectly perfect, you've made sure of it.

Rin was gonna have no idea what hit him.

Soon enough your car pulled up to the airport car park and the butterflies in your stomach awoke along with your excitement.

It was hard to believe that it had been a year since you'd seen Rin, a year since you've hugged him, kissed him, heard his voice with your own ears rather than through a crackling phone line, but, soon enough your wait would be over and you'd finally be able to see the absolute love of your life again.

Your flight was a direct one to Sydney and it wasn't due to take off for another three hours as you made sure you'd gotten to the airport with plenty of time to spare, there was no way in hell you were going to miss this flight. In all honesty another day without Rin would surely kill you at this stage.

One thing you didn't enjoy was the nerves that were building up in your stomach, slowly but surely. In reality there wasn't much for you to be nervous about but you couldn't help it.

Taking a deep breath, you reassured yourself. Rin would be over the moon when he sees you, he'll probably cry he'll be that happy. You know exactly where he keeps his spare key to his apartment and how to get there so that wouldn't be a problem and the fact that you had perfect English would make sure you stayed golden until you had Rin as your guide again. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.

“Passengers traveling on Flight 483 to Sydney please make your way to gate 103, boarding will begin shortly, thank you.”

Lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t realized how much time you’d spent over-thinking and reassuring but you began to make your way to your gate anyway and before you knew it you were seated by a window on a plane that in around 9 hours would have you in the place where you needed to be.

The flight was long and boring and it took what felt like forever to actually get to Sydney, but you kept yourself busy with your thoughts that were running wild in your head. Unsurprisingly it was Rin that was causing havoc inside your head, you’d been thinking about your guys’ entire relationship throughout the duration of your flight and you couldn’t help but wonder about the future for you two.

You’d been dating Rin for the past 3 years but you’d known each other for about 5. You’d started going out in your third year of highschool and stayed strong since, when you first met you’d been managing the Iwatobi swim club with his little sister Gou and you weren’t sure what to think of him, he seemed to be a dick to your friends but Gou told you that he was actually a pretty good guy, you tended to leave each other alone so you didn’t really have anything to say about him until Iwatobi went on their training camp and you’d ran into him jogging during the night. You both got to talking and for whatever reason you had given him your number and he’d actually texted you not long after you parted ways that night.

After that you both started to build up a friendship that, according to the members of both swim teams, “painfully slowly” turned into a relationship.

In all honesty in the space of 5 years there was nobody that could make you feel the way he did, nobody who could piss you off as much, nobody who could show you so much raw passion and most definitely nobody who could show you was much love and compassion. He was one in a million and what made it so much better was the fact that you knew that’s how he thinks of you too.

Even though you were both still so young you really couldn’t see yourself ever being as happy with someone else as you are with Rin Matsuoka and as you made your way through the arrivals gate of Sydney airport with a small smile on your face you hoped you’d stay together for a very, very, very long time.

Rin’s apartment wasn’t too far from the airport, luckily, it was only around a 20 minute cab ride and you spent the 20 minutes texting excitedly in the group chat you’d made with the members of Rin’s former swim team and your own, a group chat you made to ensure everyone knew of and wouldn’t blow your plan.

You: I just landed in Sydney! I’m on my way to Rin’s apartment now… 😅

Gou: This is so exciting! You might wanna text him soon tho he keeps asking the guys to go to your apartment and check on you 🙄

Haru: I told him you were still sleeping not too long ago and he freaked out

You: What why?

Makoto: Don’t worry I was with Haru and I told him that we woke you up so you could eat before going back to sleep ☺️👍

You: Thanks you guys 🙏🙏

Rei: Aha Rin really has people doing the rounds for (Y/n) today, huh? 😂

Nagisa: Because he loooooooooooooooves her~~~ 😍😍😍😍😍

Gou: Tell us something we don’t know

You: Alright you guys, I should be pulling up to his apartment block soon, you’re sure he wasn’t onto me?

Sousuke: Nope, he thinks you’re sick and if we milk it any longer he’ll probably fly over here to nurse you back to health 😑😂

Nitori: And Mikhail just texted me to say Rin’s just finished his training for today and should be leaving in around 15 minutes which leaves you with 30 minutes until he’s back 👍😀

You: Nitori you're a star thank you so much! 😭💞

Momo: Good luck, (Y/n)! This is like something out of a romance movie 😭😭

Nagisa: A romance movie that would make Rin-Rin cry 😅

Sousuke: He's gonna do more than cry when he sees (Y/n) I can tell you that much 😏

You: Alright you guys let's keep this romance movie PG-13 😳

Haru: Stay safe…

You: Will do, dad 🙄

Sousuke: … There's a joke here 😏😂

Gou: Gross 🤮

You: Oh would you look at that I'm conveniently here 😅😅 I'll tell you all how it goes thanks for all the help! 🙏❤️

Makoto: Good luck! 💚

Nagisa: Have fun! 💛💛💛

Haru: Tell him I said hi

Rei: Have fun, I hope everything goes beautifully 💜🙏

Gou: GOOD LUCK!!!! 💞💞

Sousuke: Use protection 😏😏

Momo: ^^ also good luck ☺️

You: Who even are you two? 😂

Nitori: He just left practice, good luck (Y/n)!

Laughing you tucked your phone into your pocket, you wouldn't lie to yourself and completely disagree with what Sousuke was insinuating, but to be completely fair it had been over a year and even if it hadn't been…

Thanking the cab driver you paid him and stepped out of the car, making your way towards the entrance of Rin's apartment building dragging your suitcase behind you with a skip in your step.

Once you got in you excitedly and as quickly as your legs could lug you and your heavy suitcase up the stairs, you made it to Rin's floor and took a deep inhale once you were stood in front of his door. This was it.

Stretching up to the top of his door frame you swiped your fingers across the wood and grabbed the key, wasting no time you slipped the key into the lock and opened the door with a shaky hand.

After letting yourself in and shutting the door behind you, it finally hit you.

You were in Australia and in about 7 minutes your boyfriend of three years would walk through the door and you’d see him in the flesh for the first time in a year, exhaling a shaky breath you sat down on the edge of his bed, fiddling with the ends of the blue duvet gently. In an attempt to calm yourself down you scanned the fairly small apartment, spotting a brown framed picture on his bedside locker you couldn’t help the smile on your face as you reached over and grabbed it.

It was a group picture with Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Gou, Momo, Nitori,, Sousuke, Rin and you that you’d all taken together the last time Rin had been home as a kind of reunion thing before he left again, everyone was smiling, even Haru. In all honesty it was an amazing photo but it’s structure resembled some sort of class photo, the realization made you giggle lightly and as soon as the sound left your mouth the noise of Rin’s door rattling began.

Quickly you set the frame back in it’s spot and stood up, patting yourself down and fixing your hair slightly as the door opened wide and he stood there in the doorway, his head down and looking at his phone, yet to notice your presence.

It seemed so surreal, he was right in front of you, you’d almost ran to him the second you saw him standing there but the fact he hadn’t noticed you standing right in front of him yet was too good, you wanted to see how long it’d take him.

Eyes still locked on his phone, he threw his duffel bag down on the floor and walked into his bathroom, you almost laughed as your phone began to buzz in your pocket, taking it out you couldn’t hold in your laughter anymore when you saw that it was Rin who was calling you, sliding your thumb across the screen to answer you help the phone up to your ear and let out a laugh, “Why hello there.”

Your laughter came out in full force as Rin backed out of his bathroom, the phone still held against his ear and his eyes wide with shock.

“I was wondering how long it’d take you to notice…” You said doubled over slightly, your hand on your stomach and small tears forming in the corners of your eyes, Rin still didn’t move, just stared in confusion and slowly lowered his phone from his ear.

When your laughter subsided you looked up to meet his gaze that was already filling with tears and you couldn’t help but want to cry yourself.

Rin’s legs seemed to move on their own accord as his phone was now abandoned and his arms had you pulled against his chest, you could hear the way his heart was beating out of his chest as you wrapped your arms around his middle tightly, closing your eyes and inhaling his scent you ran your hands up and down his back all while pushing him closer to you.

“When did you- what?” He stuttered out pulling away and bringing his hands up to cup your face, tears falling down his cheeks. Giving him a shaky smile you leaned into his touch, “Surprise.”

He only shook his head at you in disbelief, a smile forming on his face as he leaned down, pressing his lips to yours with all the passion you’d missed in the last 12 months, his lips moved in sync with yours and your hands slid up to tangle in his soft hair, tugging softly as his own hands slid down to your hips, pulling you closer and the smirk on his face breaking the kiss.

You’d never seen a boy who could have a face full of tear stains, glossy eyes and a smirk at the same time and still be able to make your knees weak but Rin Matsuoka was something else.

“Don’t seem under the weather to me.” He pointed out, his smirk turning into a soft smile as he watched you giggle up at him, “I slept it off on the plane…”

Shaking his head again he gave you a shark toothed smile, “You know you’re not leaving my side ever again, right?” He joked his face coming close to yours as you messed and tugged gently at his hair giving him a cheeky smile, “That’s what I was hoping for.”

#rin matsuoka #rin matsuoka x reader #free! iwatobi swim club #free! dive to the future #free! x reader

990 notes · View notes

feferipeixes · 5 years

Text

Innocence Is Not Knowing That You’re Innocent (4/5)

Belle knows her brother pretty well. He likes comic books, he cheats at board games, and he wants more than anything to be human again. So, when he wakes up one morning with no memory of the fact that he’s a demon, she figures there’s no reason to remind him just yet. He deserves some time to just enjoy being Dipper, and not have to be Alcor.

Unfortunately, she can’t hide Dipper from the demon forever.

Chapter 4: Night of the Living Dead (link to chapter 1) (2) (3)

Shout out to @toothpastecanyon for being a super helpful beta reader!

(See the most updated version on AO3!)

===

“Come on out, you look great!”

Dipper groaned. “This is humiliating! How again did you get me to agree to this?”

“You’re getting my ice cream for a week,” Belle answered gleefully. Was it a bribe? Sure was, but making deals with a demon so often had taught her that a good bribe can solve almost anything. It had also taught her how to craft a loophole, and since Dipper didn’t have his demon powers right now, he hadn’t noticed that if their dad bought popsicles for dessert that week instead of ice cream, she wouldn’t have to share any of it. “Now come out!”

Dipper made a noise that was clearly intended to convey just how displeased he was with the entire situation, but mostly sounded to Belle like an adorable, yowling cat. He shuffled out of the closet looking sullen. “Happy?”

“Yes!” Belle squealed and jumped around, the bangles on her arms jangling loudly as she did so. “That costume looks really good on you!”

He turned around, and flinched when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He was wearing a long, sky blue poncho with pictures of birds flying across. He had grass-green pants and shoes, and a plush headdress that looked like the sun. It covered most of his head, leaving only a very nonplussed Dipper face sticking out. “I look ridiculous.”

Belle clapped giddily. “Nonsense, you look great, and it works because we match!” Her poncho was black, and studded with white little LED lights that looked like twinkling stars. Her long skirt and shoes were also black, and her headdress was shaped like a crescent moon. “It’s great, because we’re so different, we’re like... day and night!”

“Why do you get to be night?” he humphed. “At least you’ll blend in when it’s dark out.”

“I get to be night because I’m dark and brooding, and you’re sunny and delightful!”

“Belle, that’s the opposite of -”

“Well, you’ll be bright and sunny when we go out! You’ll have to be -- it’s Halloween!”

Dipper facepalmed. “Aren’t we a bit old to go trick-or-treating?”

“Yeah, we are. And it saddens me greatly! But we won’t be going trick-or-treating. We’re going to be going…” (she imitated doing a drumroll) “to a haunted house!”

He gaped at her. “What?”

“Onika told me there’s this old apartment building her family owns that no one lives in anymore because it’s full of ghosts and stuff! That’ll be fun, right? Ghost hunting, looking for mysteries, and all that?”

“That does sound fun…” He seemed to think it over for a bit, and then nodded. “Alright, sure. I’m in. But I’m not going outside in this outfit unless you make it two weeks of ice cream.”

“Deal!” She raised her hand for a high five, but Dipper had already turned around and was walking out of the room.

Oh yeah. This was just normal bribery -- no demon magic involved.

---

Belle was pretty pleased with her plan. A haunted house was the perfect thing for Dipper on Halloween. His powers were locked up, so he wouldn’t get summoned away in the middle of their fun. He always loved mysteries and exploring when they were younger, and since he didn’t know he was a demon, he could fear for his life just like everyone else! Yes, she thought, this was the perfect thing for him to get to enjoy while his Alcor memories were gone.

As for her? She honestly wished she could be going trick-or-treating. It wasn’t really true that they were too old, because she knew Alistair was taking his younger brother trick-or-treating, and that’s still technically getting to go trick-or-treating because adults usually give out sympathy candy to the teenagers who have to chaperone little sugared-up kids around town at night! But she knew Dipper wouldn’t enjoy it correctly -- sure, he had a sweet tooth like no other ancient demon she’d ever heard of, but scaring strangers into giving him candy was something he didn’t need to be human to do.

Besides, he was starting to figure things out. She was going to have to tell him soon enough. Might as well make sure he had some extra special fun before she does.

“Are we almost there?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s just at the top of this hill.” She stuck her tongue out. “What, is Mr. Sunshine getting scared out here in the dark?”

“No!” he replied indignantly. “I’m just excited. Why again does Onika’s family own a haunted apartment block?”

“Oh! It’s a good story!” She pulled out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and held it under her chin. “Legends say that Onika’s family promised a group of construction workers that if they built a building for them, they’d get invited to fancy apartment dinner parties all the time. But when the building was finished and Onika’s family sent out the first invitations, the workers were left out! Then, a big piano hanging from a girder 15 stories up suddenly fell down and squished them! They swore to haunt the apartments and get their revenge on rich people forever!”

Dipper scoffed. “Come on, you just stole that from the legend of the haunted Northwest Mansion in Gravity Falls.”

“Who knows? It could be true!”

They came over the crest of the hill, and there it was: an old apartment building.

“...is this it?” Dipper asked, nonplussed. “Seems a little underwhelming.”

“Yeah! Come on, Onika gave me the keys.” She skipped up to the front door, and pulled out a jangly keyring. “I think some of these are to public pools, country clubs, celebrity houses… aha! Creepy apartment block key!” She unlocked the door, and the two of them were hit with a wave of stale air. Belle sniffed in enthusiastically, and then coughed. “You smell that, Brolock Holmes? That’s the smell of mystery!”

“More like the smell of mildew,” he responded, also coughing. Still, he edged past Belle and into the building. Smiling, she skipped after him.

“I think I found a light switch,” he said. There was a click, and the room lit up. The hallway looked positively from another era -- carpeted floors, wooden doors, a chandelier with incandescent light bulbs in it. There was a layer of dust over just about everything.

“Hallway seems pretty not-haunted,” he remarked after a minute. “You wanna take a look in some of these rooms?”

“Sure, but there’s no chance on earth that we’re splitting up! You’ve seen horror movies!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He went over to the nearest door, and activated the opening mechanism. It was unlocked, and swung open with a loud creak. “Belle, can I have your flashlight?”

She hugged her phone to her chest. “Use your own, goober!”

“Sheesh, fine.” He pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and shined it into the room. Not much of note immediately jumped out at them -- a dusty sofa, dusty coffee table, dusty chairs, dusty TV. He signaled for Belle to follow him, and they tiptoed together into the room. Once inside, they both shined their lights around in a wider arc, trying to get a better look at the room.

“Huh,” Dipper said. “Kind of a letdo-”

There was a loud noise, and the door to the apartment slammed shut. The twins both yelped and jumped about a foot into the air.

“Dipper? What’s going on?” Belle asked, voice shaking.

“Dunno, but the door’s not opening. Lights aren’t turning on either. Let’s, uh… let’s take a look around.”

“Alright…”

He set off toward an old bookshelf, looking more excited than anything else. Belle settled for poking at the kitchen table. It had some weird old cables clamped to the underside of it, but nothing else so strange as to call haunted. Which was just as well -- at this point, she wasn’t sure whether she really wanted the apartment to be haunted or not.

And then she felt a tap on her shoulder, which she hoped against all hope was just Dipper pranking her, but she knew her brother was awful at pranks, and furthermore she could see out of the corner of her eye that he was on the other side of the room, looking at books on a shelf. She gulped, resigned herself to whatever fate would befall her, and turned around.

There was nothing there. She didn’t know whether that made things better or worse.

“You were a fool to come here.”

Belle’s heart sank. “Aren’t you having fun, bro-bro?”

He looked up from the dusty tome he was nose-deep in. “It’s alright. Kind of eerie, but I was hoping to see a ghost.”

“Oh. Why did you say I was a fool to come here, then?”

“What are you talking about?” He dropped the book and rushed over to her, his noodle-y arms flailing everywhere. “I didn’t say anything. Maybe it was a ghost? What exactly did they say?”

She opened her mouth, and then a voice that Belle could now tell definitely wasn’t Dipper’s hissed “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

“You heard that, right?” she asked.

He nodded, and pulled his notebook out of his costume. Of course he’d brought his notebook -- he’d spent a lot of time researching ghosts and would want to have that research on him in a potentially haunted situation. “Let me see what we’re dealing with here. There’s the disembodied voice saying foreboding stuff -- that puts us at at least Category 3. Has anything else happened?”

“I felt a tap on my shoulder, but when I turned around, there was nothing there.”

He started to chew on the end of his pen. “Hmm, partial corporeality. Doesn’t really tell us much.”

“D-do you think it’s a ghost?”

“Definitely,” he replied, without a hint of nervousness in his voice. “I wonder if it’ll do anything else.”

“Do you want me to put on a show for you? Is that what you want?” came a voice from behind them.

Dipper and Belle swiveled around instantly, and found themselves face-to-face with an old man, which ordinarily wouldn’t have been too frightening, because it was Halloween and he might’ve given them candy, but this old man was pale white, glowing, and almost definitely a -

“GHOST!” they both screamed, and the old man started to cackle. They turned around and raced for the door, but the ghost got in their way.

“I’ve waited too long for you to show up! You’re not getting away that easy!”

The twins skidded on their heels and changed course, heading for the window.

“Nope! That won’t work, Sterlings! You’re mine now, and I’m never going to let you go!”

Belle’s heart was racing at the speed of light, and she felt like she was going to be sick. Beside her, Dipper was vibrating, and she couldn’t tell if it was from fear or excitement. He opened his mouth and the voice that came out was high-pitched and squeaky. “Wh-what did we do? Why have you been waiting for us?”

The ghost cackled again. “You don’t even know what you’ve done! That’s so rich. Here, why don’t I give you a reminder?” He started to float toward them, and Belle’s mind short-circuited.

“Simia arcu impetum ignis!” she cried, thrusting her palm forward.

“No, Belle -” Dipper started to yell, but it was too late -- a pulsating fireball shot from her hand and exploded halfway between Dipper and the ghost. Searing pain stretched over Belle’s arms, and the room was filled with screaming. Then, everything went black.

---

Belle’s eyes sprang open. It took her a moment to remember where she was and what was going on, and then she scrambled to her feet.

“Dipper?” she asked cautiously, although it came out as much more of a yell. She couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in her ears, though she wasn’t sure whether that was because he wasn’t moving or because of the explosion that had just happened. She tried to look around, but the room was too thick with smoke. She pulled out her phone, which was thankfully still in her back pocket, to see if the flashlight would help her see, and then she heard it.

A moan, low and warbling, coming from somewhere near her feet. She yelped and jumped up, readying herself to launch another fireball if she needed to. “Whoever’s there, show yourself!”

“Belle…” came Dipper’s voice.

Belle shined her phone toward the ground, and waved away some of the smoke. Dipper was lying on his back, face contorted in pain. “Dipper!” she yelled, kneeling down next to him. He didn’t look good, but she couldn’t immediately see any wounds so she figured he was probably at least okay for now. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Belle… Ugh, you’ve gotta watch out next time. That… that spell was right next to my head, owww…”

His words were a little slurred, and she panicked for a moment that he was more hurt than he seemed. His body falling apart would be the absolute worst way for him to remember that he’s really a demon.

“What hurts, what can I do to help?”

“It’ll be fine, it’s just a headache,” he said, words interspersed with winces as he attempted to lift himself to his feet. “You know I’m sensitive to magic.”

She rushed to help him while mentally yelling at herself because actually she had forgotten that he was sensitive to magic because it had been a while since it had been relevant.

“I think we’re in the basement,” he said once he was steady on his feet.

“Let’s get out of here. This was a disaster.”

“No, this was awesome!” He bounced in place despite his obvious pain. “That was a real ghost! I can’t believe he has a vendetta against us -- we should find out what’s going on!”

“Are you serious? He was threatening to hurt us! We should go home!”

He looked at her up and down, and then at their surroundings. “Okay. Maybe a little recon would be good.” He didn’t sound particularly scared, but his hand mysteriously reached down to hold hers.

They made their way over fallen wooden beams and around broken furniture to a rickety staircase, which led directly outdoors. Belle let out a sigh of relief. They were out of there. They were going to go home, and she was going to call Onika and babble about the ghost that tried to kill them, and then Dipper would get his pinboard out and start drawing lines and conspiracies everywhere, and everything would be okay.

Then a familiar voice broke into her thoughts. “You stupid kids! Where do you think you’re going?”

They both swiveled around. The ghost was standing in a large hole in the side of the building -- apparently Belle’s fireball had a greater range than she thought. However, the ghost seemed a bit… different. He wasn’t glowing anymore, and was coughing through the still-settling dust, which seemed like a weird thing for a ghost to have to do.

Dipper’s eyes boggled. “You’re taking human form! How is that possible? Not even the strongest ghosts can do that without outside help! Are you working with a demon?” The last word felt like a kick to the stomach to Belle, but she clenched her teeth and said nothing.

“I’m not a real ghost, idiot!” The man broke into another coughing fit, and stepped out of the building. In the moonlight, Belle could see a sickly substance dripping off of him. “Haven’t you ever been to an arranged haunting before? You weren’t in any danger, you didn’t have to destroy the apartment!”

Belle’s jaw dropped. “An arranged haunting? Y-you’re not a real ghost?”

“No! This is just stage ectoplasm, and the door and furniture were all hooked up to a remote control! Did you even read the contract when you hired me?”

“Belle?” Dipper hissed. “What is he talking about? Did you know about this?”

“No, I swear I have no idea what he’s talking about! It… it must’ve been Onika! She’s the one who told me this place was haunted!”

Dipper facepalmed. “Stars above, why?” He took a deep breath, and turned to the not-ghost. “Sir? We’re sorry for uhh blowing up your apartment! We weren’t told that this was an arranged haunting, and also we’re only 14 so please don’t sue us!”

“Are you serious? You’re going to pay for what you did to me!”

“Okay. Plan B. Run for it!” Dipper hollered. Belle didn’t need telling twice -- they both started sprinting toward the hill.

“Stop, you hooligans!” The old man ran after them, surprisingly quickly for someone that old.

Belle glanced behind them. “He’s going to catch us!”

“No!” Dipper replied. “We can do this!”

“I can’t run that fast -- my costume is too long!”

“Gotcha!” came the man’s voice. He grabbed Belle’s wrist in a weird, twisting motion, and she shrieked in pain. She almost fell over, but the man held her upright.

Dipper skidded to a halt up ahead. “Belle!”

“Why’d you do that, you big meanie, that really hurt!” she gibbered at the old man.

He glared down at her. Standing directly beneath a streetlight, and still dripping with stage ectoplasm, he lit up with an ominous aura. “That’s what criminals like you get for destroying my business!”

“Let go of her, you… you monster!” Dipper yelled. Belle could barely see him in the dark, but something was making his eyes glow. She really hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was.

“Monster? Watch your tongue, young man! It’s you who’s the monster here! You’ve got no respect! I’ve seen your type before -- one minute you’re vandalizing private property, next you’re out there spilling blood and running from the law! You’re coming with me down to the police station. Some time in a holding cell will do you good -- knock some sense into you so you can be a decent human being!”

Belle gaped at the man’s ridiculous spiel. “Please stop, we’re sorry, please just let us go!”

“You should’ve thought of that earlier! You’re coming with me, princess!”

He jerked her forward by the wrist, and the pain made her vision go blurry.

“Stop right there!!” Dipper yelled, and his wobbling voice reverberated through the area. “Let her go now… or else!”

“You’re nothing but a miserable hoodlum, kid, and you’ve got some nerve threatening me after what you did!”

Belle managed to focus her eyes, and peered over toward her brother. He was definitely glowing at this point -- light flooding from his sun-shaped headdress, though whether he was aware of this she didn’t know. He pointed a finger at them, and Belle fell to the ground, released from the man’s grip. She scrambled away from him -- less because she was worried about what the man would do, and more because she was worried about what Dipper was about to do.

“Dipper, I’m okay -” she started.

“Why, you little gremlin! I’ll get you!”

“T͎̹͓̝͈̬̟͔̅͂͑ͩ̑͜h͎͕͎̮͍͙͍͔̎͊͑́̕͟ǎ͖̄̋ͧ̅ͬ̄ţ̛̼̤̖̙͎͖̦̬̽̆̃́̑ͅ'̶̢̨͚͚̮̐͊̾͊ͪͦ̃s͕͚̮̫̺ͪ̉̃͝ ̢ͭ̂̈̅͢͏͇̭̻͇̬̦Ė̦͓̥̹̠͎̈͊̇͗̍̕͟͞ͅN̶̳̮̜̫̭̣̝̣ͭ͌̉̈̃ͫ͌̚͞O̬͖͙̝͕̦̟͍̅̾̌͢U̷̞̰͕̞̗ͩͬ͑͊̄ͪ̈́͘͘G̛̫̞̱̍Ĥ͖͔̥͇̠̬͇̾ͩ!̛̗̥͆̆̋͐ͩ͊̽” Dipper screeched.

For a moment, the world seemed still but for the sound of Dipper’s voice echoing through the air. Belle heard a creak behind her, and rolled over to see the man almost over her. Then she heard the creak again, and looked up just in time to see the streetlight above them swing, once... twice… and then snap.

Belle screamed. The man paused, his expression twisting from anger to confusion, and he looked up to see what had frightened her. He barely had time to jump out of the way before the streetlight hit the ground and exploded, right where he’d been standing not a moment ago.

There was a blinding light and a wave of heat that seared Belle’s skin. She braced herself and squeezed her eyes shut in pain, but she couldn’t block out the image burned into her retinas. Through the ringing in her ears, she could dimly hear the man swear and stumble back, but she could barely concentrate on that, not with her heart beating so fast and her senses completely overloaded.

What felt like minutes passed as the heat of the fire and the ringing in her ears gradually lessened. When she opened her eyes, the man was a good twenty feet away. His arm was raised to point at her -- no, at someone behind her -- and he had a look of pure terror on his face.

He saw her move and jumped back. “Call off your demon!” he yelled. “I’ll leave you alone! Please just stop!” Then he turned around and ran away as fast as he could.

Belle’s heart sank. She didn’t want to know what was going on behind her, but she knew she’d have to get up eventually. She rolled onto her stomach, and finally dared to peer into the night.

Dipper was lying on the ground up ahead -- the glow was gone but she could see him easily because of his costume. She struggled to her feet and wobbled her way over. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. Whatever happened -- whatever he did must’ve taken a lot out of him. She planted her butt on the ground and buried her face in her hands. This wasn’t meant to happen -- it was just supposed to be a fun treat that Dipper would enjoy in a human capacity. And now…

There was a choking noise, and she picked her head up. Dipper, eyes still closed, spluttered for a bit, and then went back to slow, steady breathing. He looked so peaceful -- she tried to imagine he was just resting on the grass after a long day. He looked so harmless, too -- just a regular human boy wearing a silly costume and claws -

She felt something inside of her snap. Claws. Stupid claws! What was she doing wrong? Why did something have to blow up in her face at every turn? She balled her hands into fists and punched the ground, trying to hold back the tears. Why couldn’t her dumb brother stop being a demon for a single second and just be happy?!

She took a deep breath, in and out, and unclenched her fists. She reached a hand toward his, but before she could make contact, the air twisted weirdly, and then his nails matched hers. Dull and human.

Something hitched in Belle’s throat. She laid back on the grass, and let the tears fall.

(AO3 link)

#gravity falls #transcendence au #dipper pines #alcor the dreambender #belle sterling #dipper sterling #rrr #fic #long post #getting close to the end! ^_^#my stuff

17 notes · View notes