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omnitf · 3 years

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Soulless

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I used to be different than the man you see today. They say the industry changes you, and I suppose they’re right, whoever they are. I’ve been a model for ... I don’t even know how many years now. Like I said, things used to be different.

It was just one photo shoot. I didn’t expect to be such a hit. It was a million in a million in a million chance. Audition, smile to the cameras, wear the gear, sell the product, get paid in royalties. It was a straightforward business arrangement. Folks say they like to have models with a lot of heart and soul. Now that I think about it, that’s what the company said when they hired me.

My agent got the call, and then he called me. He barely kept himself from shouting as he told me the details. Daemonique was and still is one of the premier modeling brands out there. It costs a bundle and a half to even have them consider lending you their talent. Runways, photo ops, fashion articles, the works. If they looked at you, if they chose you, then you were in. You were set for life.

I was floored. Naturally, I said yes. I signed the contract and joined my fellow models in the spotlight, and my agent was offered a hefty sum for snatching me. He still lives very well, from what I understand. Daemonique poached him from his firm, something about being a, “devil of a recruiter.” We still talk sometimes, but usually it’s just when he offers me my new assignment. Sometimes, he brings new talent with him to meet me. People worship me, idolize me.

That used to impress me. Now I feel ... indifferent, I suppose. It’s ... difficult to describe. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the attention, more that ... I suppose I slide into whatever they want me to be. That’s my purpose as a model.

I remember when I was introduced to my hero in the modeling community, Nathan Bolaterro. My smile was radiant, my handshake firm and only slightly exaggerated. His smile was reserved, his bearing shifting to accommodate me.

“There are many models here,” he told me, “with many masks, many faces. It’s ... difficult to keep track of what brought you here sometimes, the ‘you’ that you put into your shoots. Make sure that you don’t lose track of it. That’s the best advice I can give you.” He looked almost sadly at a playbill with a beaming teenager wrapping either arm around another two other teens’ shoulders on stage. There were four of them, identically dressed in the traditional garb of the barber shop quartet from The Music Man. I could just barely see the resemblance between the middle left boy and the man that stood before me now.

One of the many agents that runs this place strode through the door then. “Nate, it’s time for your sports segment.”

The model swallowed heavily, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as a result. “Coming,” he said in a low-pitched tone. His gaze darted back toward that photo almost desperately. Then he turned his back and followed his handler out. I followed them into the hall, since it would be rude to remain in his dressing room.

“Do well on this one, and you’ll be a shoe-in for Soulless.” The agent grinned and thumped Nathan on the back. My breath caught at the mention of that great fashion line. Only the best of the best of the best in the agency could make it into that exalted circle.

I was confused when I saw, not a joyful smile, but a frown of unease cross over the model’s face.

The next time I saw him, he was getting out of a session for some sports magazine spread or some other campaign. His body was huge, his voice deep and dull. The familiar brand name Soulless stretched down one meaty thigh in big capital letters over the compression pants and widely across his left pectoral as he scratched the material of his compression shirt with his free hand. “You talking to me, bro?” He didn’t seem to recognize me. His eyes were glassy and unfocused. They seemed almost dead as he stared at me through the open visor of a football helmet. The angular shape of the opening gave his head an almost block-like appearance. The rich hair that had once been so carefully styled was little more than sculpted stubble now. His pupils vibrated, like they didn’t know whether to dilate or contract. Or ... maybe they were trying to, but couldn’t? “The name’s Jock....”

I still remember how freaked out I was after that encounter. My agent had to explain it to me, about Nathan’s “methods.” A lot of the models follow it, apparently. I guess ... I guess I do, too, now that I stop to think about it. There’s a sort of role that we’re asked to fill for each of our shoots. Whatever we model, the photographer wants us to fit certain ... characters, tropes, if you will. These tropes have names, and we don them as easily as we do makeup or an outfit for the cameras. Jock, Brat, Badboy, Greaser, Guido, Father, Hipster, Businessman, and so on.

It’s ... easy to forget your name when you’re in this community. You become almost numb to it. You have to, if you want to survive the media storms that follow you around. Let go of the power that name has over you, and you can usually ignore most of the reporters or rabid fans trying to get your attention. It’s a trick you learn fast in the business, once you make it big. And all Daemonique models make it big. Sometimes, when I have to sign a waiver or some other legal document, I pause and stare at the line, and I have to grope in the dark to try to find the name I cast away. Sometimes, it’s suggested that I just sign with an X, like a lot of the other models do, but I don’t want to yet. I still want to be able to keep that power of the name with me. If I stop using it there, it’ll be harder to ... to ... what? I’m not sure. Remember? Pull back? Be myself?

What even is “myself” anymore? I’m ... I’m not sure.

I’ve taken to carrying the photo that brought me to Daemonique’s attention with me. I find it ... grounding to stare at. Almost comforting, really. I talk to it sometimes, greet it with my name, almost like it’s another person. I guess ... in a way, it is. It’s sort of like a lifeline to me, a connection to the me that was before all the lights and the cameras and the flashes and masks I’ve had to don for the sake of the shoot, the product, the image that Daemonique wants me to fit.

I feel less and less like a person and more and more like some ... glorified prop, a life-sized doll that my handlers change, dress, shift, and adapt to their whims. And the scary part is, ... I’m okay with that. I ... almost relish slipping into those characters and roles now, because they fill that emptiness that I return to when I take them off. The face I see in the mirror of my dressing room is so ... alien to me now. It’s nothing like the face I see when I look at this photo. And that emptiness is reinforced whenever I get in line with the other models for our weekly assessments. There’s no real talking, just standing, waiting, moving in time as the camera shutter clicks, snaps, clacks. The model turns, the process repeats, until all the sides are captured. Then we move forward, and the next one follows. The young bloods toward the back of the line whisper and talk among themselves. I used to do that, too, to be that. Now, ... now it feels so ... unnecessary. I stand among my peers, where quiet is the norm and blank the ideal. A canvas waiting to be painted. A whiteboard waiting to be drawn up, then cleared.

...

A walking, talking mannequin.

Is that all I am now?

Is that all my purpose is?

Is this ... really what I want?

...

Does it really even matter anymore?

I feel so strange, so stripped, so ... empty, even as I stand on that line now, waiting for that photo set. I pull out my photo for comfort. That tiny spark is only so much against the yawning void that’s eaten away inside of me. A wry smile curves my lips, one of the first sincere ones I’ve had in who knows how long.

Did you know that some cultures believed that to capture yourself in a photo was to capture a piece of your soul? By that logic, every human who’s ever consumed media or pictures is a demon, or at least part demon. They consume those fragments, those pieces. And the models and actors and actresses let them. And they fill up with other things and ideas, just like I do when I’m in a shoot. They’re just as empty, just as desperate for fulfillment, a role, even a piece, a taste of the soul they used to be.

I barely even recognize the feel of the textured mat when I step in front of the camera. I stare into the lens, still holding the photo. The shutter clacks. The light flashes. My shadow is thrown up in sharp relief behind me on the backdrop. I blink. For a moment, I could almost swear that I see sharpened teeth bared in a hungry, anticipatory grin. Clack goes the shutter. Flash goes the light. Around I turn. I feel no sense of fear or worry at the sight of the horns. I feel ... nothing. I turn again and watch my shadow flash in front of me, then fade into the nothingness of the backdrop. Just a 2-D silhouette. No substance, no form, just here and gone in a flash of light and the click of a shutter.

I feel no anxiety at the sound of clopping hooves echoing in my ears as I turn again. I’m just going through the motions, following the formula. They want a blank slate. They want the empty. They want a foundation they can build and mold like clay in their hands. Malleable. Easy to shape and control. No complaints. No thoughts or discomforts. Just ... being. Just existing.

...

Empty.

I look down at my photo. There is no more thrill at it. No spark. No joy. No connection. Whatever power it held has been stripped by the camera. It is a person I do not know, a blank face in a crowd. I see no light in those eyes, no life, no ... soul, to use the company term. I see only a picture, a pointless picture.

Flash. Clatter. Flutter. Smack. The photo is no longer in my hand as I turn to face the camera again. The creature before me leers behind the camera as one final shutter goes off, one last flash. He licks his lips as his tail lashes behind him.

I turn and march as the other models before me on the line have done. Another paper is shoved at me. I do not bother with the name this time. An X will suffice.

My agent is there next to me suddenly. The soles of his shoes clunk with a rhythmic clopping, almost like hooves. He adjusts the waistband of his pants uncomfortably, then rubs at the nubs that I see growing from his forehead. He seems to be sweating for some reason. I’m not sure why as he breaths heavily. I can just see the hints of longer pointed canines protruding from his lips. He raises his phone and snaps a picture of me. I don’t blink.

“I think he’s ready, Sir.”

This time, I do blink. When I open my eyes, there is a bigger agent hovering over his shoulder. This one is like the photographer. The air smells of aftershave with a hint of sulfur as he leans down to peer into my eyes. I don’t care. I stare into an abyss like my own. This one has lights, but it it is different than mine was. It is not so much an absence of substance as a consumer of it. For the briefest of moments, I feel what could almost be considered a suction, a vacuous force seeking to draw something out of me, only there’s nothing to take. Nothing moves, nothing comes, because whatever that vacuum consumes is not there.

The grin that spreads across that face is savage and predatory. “Well done.” He lays a heavy clawed hand on my agent’s shoulder.

My agent shudders as his eyes flicker briefly and corrugated black horns slowly begin to emerge from the nubs. He licks his lips, and as he does so, flashes of his sharpening teeth appear in my gaze. He swallows and gulps, and as the pressure from what I can only assume is his supervisor increases, he hunches forward precariously on the balls of his feet as the beginnings of a tail bursts out behind him, having broken free of the confines of the seat of his pants.

“Th-thank you, Sir,” he repeats breathlessly as he stands up again. His cheeks are flushed from the sudden changes that have overtaken his body.

“Keep it up, and you’ll fit right in in no time.”

“Y-yes, Sir.” He smiles almost timidly, but there’s a hint of bite to it as his sharper teeth peek over the edges of his lips.

They motion for me to follow, and I do so without question.

“What will he, uh, it, become, Sir?”

The supervisor grins as we approach a large black door with red gilded lettering on its front in an angular archaic font that reads, SOULLESS. “Whatever we want it to be.”

The door opens, and I step forward, ready to take on whatever role my owners require. I am ready to be filled. I am blank.

“Welcome to Soulless, slate.”

My response is as numb and empty as I feel. “Thank you, Sir.”

I am nothing more than a dummy shuffled from caricature to caricature. That is my purpose and my role. When my work is complete, I am wiped clean, a blank slate again, to be molded and shaped as my handlers please. This is the fate of the soulless, and the soulless do not care.

I am Jock. I am Bear. I am Thug. I am Guido. I am Officer. I am Soldier. I am Father. I am Son. I am King. I am Peasant. I am Extra. I am everything and nothing. I am one of a legion of slates waiting to be wiped clean or filled according to our handlers’ whims.

We are legion.

We are the empty.

We are Soulless.

#transformation #jock #Model #conditioning #muscle #blank #Soulless #slate #no identity #fiction #demons #tf

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lostsoulaltair · 3 years

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OnS Chapter 99. Shinoa Hiragi - Deep Analysis

Hello everyone good evening, I hope you’re doing well, stay safe and healthy!

Before starting, this analysis will be focused on Shinoa’s feelings due to how chapter 99 ended up giving the readers quite the surprise due to how events turned, therefore, let’s begin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKVJi-FLvak Felt like it fit

P.S: ANALYSIS OR THEORIES EXCLUDE SHIPS, THEY’RE HELD WITHIN A NEUTRAL VIEW

With the latest chapter, we were able to see Shinoa finally accepting something that came within her heart which was her having feelings for Yu; but within this, it is common to hear that her feelings were manipulated or forced, therefore, let’s talk about it since it’s actually quite the opposite. How can I state such thing?

To begin with, it is well known that Shinoa’s emotions and desires were locked or rather, they never developed thanks to Mahiru; of course, the method wasn’t the best nor was the most joyful method to see but nevertheless, Mahiru kept Shinoa in a state of purity, what do I mean?

It means that, as a child, Shinoa’s desires could have been simple but strong, and this is visible by something she states and of course, within said panel it’s visible the type of love she holds within her heart:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 97

Correct. Shinoa’s form of love was a pure love, and this is visible by how she wants to fight by her sister’s side; she didn’t want her sister to face the world alone to the path of destruction.

But now, you might wonder if Mahiru manipulated Shinoa’s emotions; the answer is no. How can I state such thing?

Despite the crude actions Mahiru took to halt the intentions of the First Progenitor; Mahiru wanted to preserve the purity of Shinoa’s emotions and feelings; she didn’t want her sister to go to the same path as her since she fell in love at 5 and her desires might have been simple wishes but those were strong enough to let her demon start taking over her; hence why, Mahiru didn’t want Shinoa to go through the same issue.

Therefore, what does this imply with the latest chapter?

It means that despite Shinoa acceptIng she loved Yu, her emotions weren’t under obssession and love, but rather, it was a pure love; a love that is selfless but nevertheless caring towards the character mentioned; but, how can I state such thing?

The reason goes from a long path of how Shinoa started to develop feelings not stricktly focused on Yu, but rather, the warmness within her heart that started to grow despite being labeled as an Ice Queen, therefore, let’s proceed:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 07

Back in early chapters, Shinoa was tasked to keep watch on Yoichi, Yu and Kimizuki; she was a character only focused on her work and follow up orders; she had no interest on forming human interactions or the sort; but the fact that she started to spend time with those 3, it only made her develop a sense of care despite being only fulfilling her job; hence why Guren wonders about her being an Ice Queen she started developing “human empathy”

As time went on, such lingering feeling of human empathy started to grown; she was aware that once the squad was created, she had the biggest responsibility despite her sassy nature; she was aware she had to give orders in order to preserve the lives of her comrades and of course, after seeing what happened with Yu after he awoke his seraph; she went ahead to face Guren only to hear one of the most common things that the fandom noticed on its time; what do I mean?

Correct. Within observations I’ve seen that the fandom states that Mahiru, Guren and Shikama manipulated Shinoa’s emotions but for the meantime, let’s focus on Guren.

To answer that, Guren teased her but nevertheless he never ordered to fall in love with Yu; this was mostly due to her trying to understand what exactly happened with Yu back in chapter 14:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 14

Shinoa being the squad leader, was aware that the members of her squad were nature kind hearted beings despite the hardships they’ve had to endure; she was aware she wouldn’t understand the pain they carried away but nevertheless her mission was to protect them; hence why, back in chapter 14 she faced Guren to understand why Yu turned into a creature that aimed to kill humans.

And of course, Guren to dismiss the topic he asked her if answering her questions would be of any help along the fact that he noticed Shinoa started to develop feelings not of a crush or love but rather, a caring nature; but, did that mean she was in love?

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 14

No. She wasn’t, but the fact she saw a person somewhat close to her along the fact said person belonged to her squad and was affected due to a human experiment was a trigger for that caring side to appear.

After such events, the squad started to recover after the events of Shinjuku; and that’s where the main most common motto Yu started to use came over.

"Family”.

Despite being only a soft word or void within the world of Owari no Seraph, it gradually started to carry an important meaning within the squad; and such term was strickily heavy for Shinoa since she never had something to call “Family”.

And so, such term started to be applied on its early days when the squad decided when to tell Yu about the inident of Shinjuku; but within such; there was still some sort of hesitation or doubt within Shinoa; what do I mean?

Such event is visible when Nagoya arc began; after they were called; Shinoa and Mitsuba played along to leave Yu on the road to the point they ended up arriving late; and of course, a punishment came over by Guren; but what does this have to do with the events of the latest chapter?

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 25

After such events, Narumi’s squad and her squad started to work together; and within this, there was something simple and basic but it can be seen that a small and lingering flow of a small desire popped within Shinoa:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 28

After such events, this eventually leads to the fight between Crowley Eusford and the capture of Guren Ichinose leaving the squads with no other option than leaving; of course, within said process, things start to complicate since Yu was willing to throw his life away to save Guren but that only delivered to him getting possesed and lastly the escape from the Vampire Progenitors; and of course, one of the events that would cause an impact within the fandom is the fact that Mikaela appeared to take Yu and within this, the squad did what they learnt thanks to Yu, what may that be?

Correct. They aimed to protect him. They knew right away he was Yu’s family, hence why, within this; Shinoa rescued him first, leading to the squad take the same iniciative thus leaving the protection of Mikaela and give him an escape road

But what exactly does this play with Shinoa’s feelings?

Shinoa started to appreciate more life and the life of her family; she learnt that they were all left in the crude word she lived, hence why they made the Motto of “Family takes care of family”.

After further chapters, we are able to see the squad being close, making sure to keep food and giving their service to protect few citizens from the Horsemen of the Apocalypse; and of course, within this, they decided what they should do next. Until Crowley Eusford came in along Ferid; and of course, events happened and ultimately they got a cure for Yu’s rampage demon curse and an unknown trip that would lead them to learn why the World became a messed up World.

Within those chapters, it is visible that the squad (including Mika and Narumi) started to work better as a team, they even started to forge bonds and have trust with each other despite being humans or vampires.

Within this, further events lead to the eventual return of Guren and his squad; thus leading to another issue that perhaps to the fandom feels like a trigger of manipulation of feelings due to this:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 56

Mahiru states that Shinoa has now the opportunity to start releasing her desires since she was a far greater test subject from the experiments Tenri Hiragi performed, but, does this mean Mahiru manipulated her to eventually release her desires?

The answer is no. And the reason is rather simple; at that time, Shinoa couldn’t see her sister since Mahiru wasn’t strictly a demon compared to Noya or Asuramaru; she had the ability to percieve the stability between demon and wielder but she wasn’t able to see them completely due to her still locking the doors of her heart.

Within this, it is to be noticed that Shinoa started to warm up or rather to place some trust on the vampires since they were technically helping them out and working with Guren; thus leading to respet since vampires were formally humans as well and within the process, they lost treasured ones as well.

Furthermore, Shinoa of course would end up feeling the release of her demon in the World after Kureto Hiragi stabbed him in chapter 57; and of course, the next issue within doubt comes when Shikama goes to visit her in chapter 66:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 66

Within said chapter, Shikama started to taunt her and make her remember what lead to Mahiru’s destruction which was love and obssession in his eyes; thus event lead Shinoa to fear emotions, she decided that she’d keep those emotions at bay to keep internal peace. But, does this mean Shikama was right about Shinoa lusting about Yu?

The answer is no. Shikama was only waiting for the time she’d lower the walls of heart not due to her having lust or obssession, and how can I state such thing?

The reason is simple. Shikama never viewed “love” as something strong, but rather mundane or as something to replace the crude word of “lust”.

But what Shinoa really wanted to learn the most at that time was a reason to live; she was aware she had to keep her emotions at bay, to not let desires run wild to not end like her sister; but at the same time, she wanted to understand what gave Yu a reason to live; how he could keep going despite everything:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 67

After that, the events the fandom knows more are Shikama’s plan to possess Shinoa which lead her to sacrifice herself so Yu and Ashera wouldn’t get killed by him; and such sacrifice was made after she lowered the walls of her heart in order to save them; but why did she do that? Was it because she was obssessed with Yu or she was madly in love?

The answer is no. Shinoa, with time, started to see Yu as an important friend but as her family as well; but among that it’s because she also didn’t see herself worthy; she didn’t see as someone worth saving, she didn’t acknowledge herself as important; she always considered herself guilty of what happened to her sister, along the fact that the happiness of her sister and Guren was never fulfilled. The fact that her sister sacrificed herself so she wouldn’t be a guinea pig was also a triggering factor that made weight under her heart as well.

She didn’t want to see her family die due to the curse she carried, due to the fact she carried a powerful demon tied to her from birth; hence why after she goes saving Yu and Asuramaru, she tells Yu it’s no big deal; which only lead to crude events such her turning into a vampire.

Of course, this meant to take action by Guren, Mahiru and Ferid Bathory who was tasked to check up on the First Progenitor and stop him from turning Shinoa into a vampire; of course this made the First possess her with a delay which allowed Guren with not so favorable ways along with Rigr’s sinful keys to eventually seal Shikama for the time being.

And lastly, after such events, the battle that would seal Mikaela’s fate of becoming a demon began; the squad later on went to pick Yu along the Queen Krul Tepes and of course, the comedy relief which wasn’t very funny for the fandom came; afterwards they started to learn from the Queen what exactly happened that lead the plan to face down the rotten world that would turn thanks to the main enemy they had in common; along who were their alies stating that Guren Ichinose and Mahiru Hiragi had a lot to do with that.

Such event made Shinoa recall deep memories about her sister and this made Shinoa wonder more about her, about her struggles; but before such message was delivered, the First Progenitor managed to possess Shinoa again and now; the latest chapter that perhaps for some is joyful due to a character development, for others a disappointment due to how the Female MC is written (which I’ll explain in a theory as to why this happened) along disapproval due to ship preferences.

Being respectful towards such issues, the biggest lines that Shinoa could ever state were that she acknowledged she loved Yu among this:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 99

Shinoa wasn’t letting lust or obsession run wild but rather, her will to fight against the First Progenitor, her demon, the one who ruined her life from the very beginning she was born.

But how can I state such thing?

This is due to the fact Shinoa is tired. Shinoa is displayed at first as a careless girl that eventually warms up with the people she was tasked to take care of and eventually said people became her family; friends that would watch her back just like she would with them.

She was tired of always losing what was dear to her; and thus, she decided for once to stop running away from what she really is, a selfless girl who loves those important to her without wishing anything back for exchange.

And so, her ordeal began.

This is the end of the analysis dear readers, it took me a good time; I understand it’s really long, and of course, as I always stated, such things are held within neutral view along ship exclusion.

The fact that Shinoa stated she loved Yu doesn’t mean the ship will be concluded or anything; it only means she accepted something her heart felt along a resolution that will be later explained in a theory.

What do you think dear readers?

Let me know!

GIF belongs to hopeymchope

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depressedhatakekakashi · 3 years

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My Entry for the @konoblog-simps College Au event. I had to write this after moving to my new place with little to no actual wifi and most of it was done on my phone so...ya, that was fun lol.

Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Anko, Maito Gai, Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin, Genma.

AO3

Tags: College au

Word count: 2791

Summary: Hatake Kakashi is a genius. Top of his class in every subject, he rarely ever has to put effort into his assignments, and as a rule he doesn't. Except when it comes to Photography.

Special thanks: @saudade-mayari and @punk-pandame for help me out by Betaing the fic i had to write on my phone mostly.

Biology had never been one of Kakashi’s favourite subjects. It was tedious, boring and had little to offer that challenged him in a meaningful way. Of course, that could be said about most of the classes that he took, but today’s problem was biology.

He’d deal with the other classes when he had to sit in them listening to the professor drone on about a boring lab that involved little to no actual skill and could just as easily be done on a computer. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing with this time.

Things he could be learning without having to cut open a frog just to get a good look at its insides.

“Alright!” Hearing Anko’s cheerful voice, Kakashi directed his gaze towards her. The only thing that could be expected when Anko was happy about something, was danger. It was what Anko lived for. The thing that gave her life, and today was no exception judging by the gleeful look in her eyes. “Let’s see what’s hidden inside of you.”

How she could have so much fun with something as simple as a dissection, Kakashi would never know. Though, at least she could find some enjoyment in a class that offered nothing but boredom for him and many others. So much fun that even when she started to cut into the poor frog’s exposed belly, there was still a giant grin on her face. An expression that made her look a little mad, in his opinion.

One that he couldn’t help but feel the urge to photograph.

Forgetting about the task at hand, he reached down to grab the messenger bag that he had set down beside his stool upon taking his seat and quickly dug out his digital camera. A small, simple camera that he had bought specifically for his photography class. Not a purchase that he had been expecting to make when he decided what subjects he wanted to take this semester, but easily the best purchase he had made. No 30,000 Yen textbook could ever hope to compare to the beauty of this camera.

Switching the camera on, he peered through the viewfinder and waited for the lens to come into focus. Just as he pressed the shutter button, successfully capturing a photo, Anko threw her head back and cackled. Even without looking at the LCD Display to see the picture that he had captured, Kakashi could already tell that it was perfect. With a look of maniacal glee on her face, Anko painted a delightful picture of the perfect Biology student. Someone who could find excitement in even the most mundane task set in front of them.

If anyone ever asked Kakashi to choose one picture to show people what a mad scientist would look like in real life, he would have to choose this one. There wasn’t a soul in the world who had ‘mad scientist’ down quite as perfectly as Anko, and if Biology class was good for anything it was showing just how much joy the woman got from things that would disgust or bore any other human.

“Mr. Hatake,” dragging his eyes off of his camera, Kakashi cringed when he saw Professor Orochimaru standing there glaring at him with that same unimpressed look he always had when he was speaking to Kakashi. “I think it would be best if you paid attention to the task at hand, rather than sneaking photographs of your classmates. Don’t you?”

Biting his tongue, Kakashi tucked the camera away in his bag and set it down beside his chair once more. It was best not to get into an argument that he was unlikely to win, even if returning his gaze to the poor frog laying on the table in front of him did drain all of the excitement he had been feeling just a second ago while holding his camera.

“Hey,” lifting his eyes, he watched as Anko leaned over the desk. That same joyful smile that she had been wearing while dissecting her frog was still plastered on her face. “You’ll show me the picture after class, right? I want to make sure I look perfectly terrifying in whatever picture you’re about to print off of me.”

Terrifying. That was certainly one way to describe her.

“I’ll show you after class,” he promised, giving her a playful wink. “Just try not to make a mess while you’re having fun.”

His comment was met with a laugh. “No promises.”

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After a long day of classes, it was always nice to head out to his favorite café and get a nice cup of hot chocolate. An hour to relax before he started working on assignments, or headed to his part-time job at the university's campus bar.

Just some time to recharge after a long day of being bored out of his mind from monotone professors and lessons they always swore would require everyone's full attention to be understood, but never really did.

Today, he was not getting that time alone he usually needed so badly. Instead, he was sitting at a table with his three best friends, and the three loudest people in all of Konoha University.

Nohara Rin, beautiful and kind but with a voice that could not be missed by anyone. A trait she had picked up from spending so much time with Obito, no doubt.

Speaking of whom: Uchiha Obito. The second loudest student in all of Konoha University and possibly the world. Brash, knuckle-headed and dumber than a sack of rocks some days.

Ok, most days but Kakashi liked to give him the benefit of the doubt sometimes.

And then there was Maito Gai. Sweet, handsome, and always bursting with energy. The only person who was louder than Obito, and he made sure to leave no questions about that fact whenever he spoke.

How Kakashi had ended up with these three as friends he would never know, but he also wouldn't change it for the world. Even if his ears were ringing after five minutes with all three of them.

"How can you even say that?" Obito threw a hand over his heart in one of the most dramatic displays of horror Kakashi had ever seen. "Nutritional science? Better than theatre? Lies! Utter lies!"

"Maybe in your mind," Rin responded with a roll of her eyes. “Not everyone thinks Theater is the best thing ever invented since Dango.”

Gai wasn't so calm about Obito's response though. Not one to be outdone, he threw his hands down on the table and stood up in his spot so that he was staring Obito down. "At least Nutritional sciences can be used to help people," he defended his class with the same fiery passion that he showed with everything he did. “You're just learning to put on a show, which I'm convinced is a blood trait already for the Uchiha."

Kakashi couldn't find it in him to argue with that. Obito may be one of the most dramatic people he knew, but when it came to the Uchiha he was hardly the only one. Most days Shisui could give Obito a run for his money when it came to dramatic flare.

A fact Obito always got upset with him for pointing out.

"Kakashi, back me up here," Gai turned to look at him with soft black eyes that Kakashi would happily get lost in for the rest of the day. "His major is just...it doesn't serve a purpose."

"Someone has to be entertaining in this world, beast face," Obito protested. "And what's Kakashi going to say? His major is so boring he looks like he's going to fall asleep in class all the time."

"That's not wrong," glancing towards Rin, Kakashi jutted out his bottom lip to form the most pathetic pout that he could. "What? It's true! Today in biology you took a picture of Anko instead of doing the assignment."

Sometimes he forgot that he shared classes with Rin, but she always found a way to remind him, which wouldn't be nearly as bad if she didn't call him out on being a lazy shit like that in front of Gai.

"Kakashi, are you ignoring class again for photography?"

There was a disappointment in Gai's voice that he couldn’t stand hearing. As if he was about to be scolded for his life choices when he would much rather listen to Gai talk about how amazing he was.

But since he was now clearly upset with him thanks to Rin, there was only one option left to get him off of his back.

“I believe you were talking about how Obito's major isn't nearly as useful as yours," he offered, sticking his tongue out towards Obito when he immediately started to scold Kakashi for turning the conversation away from his own inability to focus in class.

"Well, yes-" watching as Gai turned his attention back to the conversation, immediately picking up where he had left off as if there had been no interruption, Kakashi couldn't help but reach into his backpack and pull out his camera.

Did he really need a picture of the moment that Obito stuck a finger out and poked Gai in the nose while desperately defending his major?

Yes. He did. Not only would it go well with the project, but the look of annoyance on Gai's face was priceless.

Definitely a picture worth putting in his personal photo album.

"I told you," turning his camera towards Rin, Kakashi snapped another picture just as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Tell me I look pretty in it."

Peering down at the image display, Kakashi smiled softly. "Absolutely stunning."

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

There was a process that Kakashi had when it came to choosing the perfect pictures for his project. First, he would go through his camera roll and make a mental note of all of the best pictures he could find. Next, he would transfer everything onto his laptop and then move the pictures he wanted into a folder for printing.

After getting the selected pictures printed, he would sit down at the small desk in his dorm room and organize them into the perfect design for his project. Whatever pictures ended up not fitting, would ultimately go into the small photo album that he kept under his desk. A book of personal favorites that he would look at on those really bad mental health days where he just needed something to make him smile. Even just for a moment.

It was a long process, but there was a reason he had never gotten anything less than a ninety on any of his photography projects.

Not that he really ever did poorly on any of his assignments. He actually did quite well on all of his lab assignments for biology and chemistry, even if he had a bad habit of not paying attention. It was probably the main reason his professors didn’t like him all that much.

“Still working on that, huh?” Glaring over at his roommate’s bed, he watched as the brunette stared back at him from over top his business textbook. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you put even half of this amount of effort into any of your other assignments, and I’m pretty sure those ones actually matter for your major.”

It was a true fact, just not one he wanted to hear.

He caught enough shit from Rin and Gai about his less than enthusiastic approach to his major.

“Don’t you have a small business to start up?” He huffed, turning his attention back down to the assignment in front of him. “Or did it go bankrupt already?”

“My business going bankrupt is as likely to happen as you actually telling Gai you have a crush on him,” Turning in his spot once again, Kakashi opened his mouth to argue against Genma’s frankly insulting assumption, only to find himself facing down a glare that could rival Rin’s angry look. “Don’t you dare try to lie to me, Hatake. Anyone can tell you have a crush on Gai.”

It wasn’t fair.

He wasn’t that obvious about it, was he?

“But that’s not what we’re talking about here, is it?” Genma continued. “We’re talking about your work ethic when it comes to assignments, and the fact that you’d rather put all of your efforts into the assignments for the one class that holds no value to your major.”

It was rather rude, Kakashi thought. First Genma called him out on his little crush, and then he turned around and scolded him for wanting to work on his photography assignment. Just because it didn’t hold any weight for his degree didn’t mean he shouldn’t put effort into it.

“Science is…” ‘Boring’ lingered on the tip of his tongue, but it wasn’t quite the word he was looking for. He actually loved Science, and had chosen the major hoping to explore a few different options after getting his degree. “Well, I love Science. Biology is interesting, Chemistry is a blast,” sometimes literally, if Anko was in the class with him. “And don’t get me started on Environmental sciences. I love it to bits. It’s just…the professors.”

There it was. The explanation he had been searching for.

The classes weren’t boring if they were being taught by the right people. Professor Uzumaki always made Astronomy interesting with her grand explanations and detailed outlines that drew his attention in. She never had any complaints about Kakashi not being focused in class. In fact, she had told him on multiple occasions that he was one of her most engaged students.

“Professor Orochimaru make’s biology seem like a chore, and the only thing interesting about Chemistry is watching Anko test the limits of just what can be mixed together without blowing the classroom up.” He was actually surprised she had managed to avoid doing that to date, given just how often she liked to experiment with chemicals. “But Photography is interesting. Professor Namekaze lets us explore things that we like, and the only restriction we have is the assignments due date and the basic premise of what the assignment is.”

This assignment for example.

His professor's words had been on repeat in his mind since monday when they received the assignment, and every picture he had taken since then had been carefully thought out to fit the assignment.

Though, now that he thought a bit more about it, he was missing one picture. Something that would tie the project together perfectly.

“Hey! Are you listening to me, Kakashi?” Picking his camera up off of the desk, he turned in his spot to face Gemma and brought the camera up so that he could peer through the viewfinder just as Genma tossed his book off to the side and started to crawl out of his bed. “Don’t you date-”

It was too late though. As soon as Genma started to reach out towards him in a poor attempt to snatch the camera away, he snapped the picture. The final piece to make the perfect assignment.

There was no way he would get anything less than a ninety-five on this one. The pictures were too perfect.

“Maybe I'll print you out a copy,” he teased, lowering his camera so that he could smile at Gemma. “You could use it for your tinder profile picture. Then at least all the people you bring over would know what they’re getting themselves into.”

The look on Genma’s face spelled trouble. As if Kakashi had just opened Pandora's box and released all of the worst plaques onto the world.

“You know, I have plans to hang out with Gai tomorrow,” Yep, that was definitely the worst punishment for his transgressions. There was no way this could possibly- “I think I’ll tell him about your little crush. How you can never shut up about him, and that dorky smile you get on your face whenever someone mentions him.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled a lecture from his father when he was young. A long explanation for why murder was wrong, and not a solution to all of lifes worst problems.

Surely this was an exception.

No one could possibly prosecute him for Genma’s murder when they found out what a cruel, horrible man he was.

And even if they could, they’d have to find the body first.

#Hatake Kakashi #Maito Gai #anko mitarashi #genma shiranui #Nohara Rin #College Au #Collab #sorry XD

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lightofthetrees · 3 years

Text

Tolkien Secret Santa Advent Calendar Day 8: Dancing

@officialtolkiensecretsanta

Rating: Gen Word Count: 1311 A/N: Thank you to an anon ask for the idea that Aredhel taught Maeglin how to dance! <3 I...kinda turned it into a fic. Also thank you to Jamcake from the SWG Discord for beta-reading! Summary: Glorfindel helps Maeglin practice for the upcoming Midwinter Feast. Guest appearance by Ecthelion.

Read on Ao3

“You are my dance instructor?”

Glorfindel smiled, his bright blue eyes sparkling with merriment. “Does that surprise you, Lómion?”

“Yes,” the dark-haired youth said, crossing his arms over his chest. He regarded the Lord of the Golden Flower with startling intensity as he reconsidered his answer. “And…no. My mother told me you are a great warrior, and I suppose that fighting and dancing are not so different.”

The grin on Glorfindel’s face grew brighter than Maeglin thought possible. “Oh, you already know something of dancing?”

“A little.” Maeglin glanced towards the window of the great hall of the palace, which looked out onto a multi-leveled courtyard currently blanketed in a gentle dusting of snow. He knew more than a little. His mother had taught him several dances of Tirion and Gondolin – a secret ritual they shared, practicing when Eöl was away.

“Then you will not find this difficult,” Glorfindel said. His voice was even, not demanding. “Why don’t we go through the foot positions first? Do you know them?”

Maeglin nodded. “Enquea,” he said, standing with his feet together and his arms at his sides. “Minya.” He leaned back on his heels and moved his toes outward. “Attea.” He shifted his weight onto his left foot, extended his right, and then placed it down again to stand with his feet apart, toes still facing out.

He could hear each word in his mother’s voice, in that secret language of magic and music that was only for the two of them. It still felt strange to let Quenya pass his lips in front of anyone who was not her.

A confused glance from Glorfindel let Maeglin know that he’d paused for too long, and he shook his head to clear it. Then, he placed his right foot in front of his left, the right heel aligned with the middle of the left foot. “Neldea.” He brought his right foot forward and just past the center line of his body. “Cantea.” Lastly, he brought his right foot back in towards his left, aligning them toe to heel. “Lempea.”

Maeglin looked up. “Am I dismissed, now?” he asked, voice flat. He knew he would not be, but he could feel the sparking sensation of tears at the corners of his eyes and he had a sudden and very intense wish to be alone. “It must be evident to you, Lord Glorfindel, that I can practice for the Midwinter Feast on my own.”

The radiance of Glorfindel’s face dimmed. “But we are just getting started, Lómion! We have not even begun to practice with the music.”

“Music?”

Imagine yourself at court in Ondolindë, his mother had said on a summer day in Nan Elmoth so many years ago, hands resting on his shoulders. Close your eyes and you will hear the music – chords plucked out on the harp, the melody of a flute floating above like birdsong, and a drum like a heartbeat. Here, I’ll help you.

He could almost feel her tapping on his shoulders again – one and-TWO three, one and-TWO three – and his chest tightened.

“Of course!” Glorfindel’s warm voice pulled Maeglin from the depths of his memory. “I hope you do not mind that I have invited Ecthelion to join us. He should be here any minute, in fact. He is Gondolin’s most talented flautist, and dancing is always more fun with some accompaniment!”

“You know best,” Maeglin said. He did not want to remember how there was no music in his father’s house.

In a rustle of dark blue silk, Ecthelion of the Fountain swept into the hall, carrying a wooden flute in one hand and waving in greeting to Glorfindel and Maeglin with the other.

“Talking about me, were you?” Ecthelion asked once he reached them. His voice was naturally soft and lyrical, in contrast to Glorfindel’s jubilant confidence. The two lords reminded Maeglin of the sun and the moon, or perhaps even the Trees of Valinor – one gold and bright like a summer’s morning, and one silver and tranquil like the still water of a lake.

“Indeed we were. Your timing is impeccable,” Glorfindel said. “Which is good, since your music will be helping us keep time.” Ecthelion rolled his eyes, but Glorfindel’s smile made it clear that he had been expecting such a response from his friend. “We will be ready to begin whenever you are.”

“Any requests?” Ecthelion asked, making himself comfortable on one of the benches that lined the hall. He lifted the flute to his lips and played some scales and snatches of melody to warm up.

Glorfindel pondered a moment. “Something dignified and stately, I think. In four. Lómion, why don’t we begin with a bow, and you can follow me through something simple from there.”

Imagine yourself at court in Ondolindë, his mother had said on a spring evening in Nan Elmoth, as the sun set and the moss glowed in ethereal blues and greens. Close your eyes and you will see the others around you.

Maeglin let his eyes drift closed, recalling the vivid images his mother had painted for him with her words. Everyone bows before they begin – to your Uncle Turukáno, who stands tall and regal on the dais, his crown studded with glittering diamonds, and to their partners. Perhaps Glorfindel and Ecthelion are there – the Lord of the Golden Flower is arrayed in gold and green, and you can hear his laughter echoing through the hall. Ecthelion is robed in midnight blue as always, and his hair is adorned with a silver net that makes him look like he has captured the light of the stars. And Itarillë stands with the other young gentlefolk of the court, watching the dancers and whispering behind her fan as she considers who she might ask to join her when the next song begins.

And where are you? he asked.

Dancing, of course! Right beside you, so you can follow me if you forget any of the steps.

“Lómion, are you all right?”

Maeglin opened his eyes and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Yes,” he snapped, and then regretted the harshness in his tone.

Here he was, in the very room his mother had described to him, with the characters from her stories who had been his imaginary playmates as a child, and all he could do was reject the friendship they offered. But without her, how could this be the Ondolindë he had dreamed of?

“I am ready,” he said, careful to sound more polite this time.

Glorfindel nodded, and Ecthelion began to play.

The Lord of the Golden Flower stood facing Maeglin, and moved his arms in time with the music – from his sides to a rounded position in front of himself, then out to the either side with the palms facing up, generous and joyful, like a master bard about to tell a tale.

Maeglin followed along easily. A tiny spark of remembered joy flashed through his heart like a shooting star as his arms reached their version of attea, spread wide, and his chest puffed out ever so slightly with pride.

As the next phrase of the music began, Glorfindel brought his arms back in, turning his palms down as he moved his hands to his waist. He shot Maeglin an approving smile and they both returned their arms to their sides.

Maeglin knew what to do next without watching his tutor – he brought his right hand to touch his chest, a gesture of gratitude, and then he reached his arm up above his head before sweeping it down and bending his head and body forward in a bow.

As he raised his head, he thought for a moment that, just out of the corner of his eye, he could see the hem of a white dress over bare feet.

#tss2020advent8 #my writing #fics!#silmarillion fic #maeglin #glorfindel #ecthelion #aredhel #gondolin

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flxwinghair · 3 years

Text

Cornered - A Harry Potter Fanfiction - [CHAPTER 1]

Summary: Post-Deathly Hallows. After the War, Lucius Malfoy has to learn to pick up the pieces and push forward to a better tomorrow. ...Hopefully. But he might not like it.

Rating: T [PG-13]

Characters: Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, OCs

[Read underneath the READ MORE to see the fic]

A/N: Welp, here comes a VERY weird idea that sprung forth within my mind. I've been enjoying roleplaying Lucius lately, so I figured why not come up with a weird story too? First time trying this stuff!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Finally.

Things were settling down in the Wizarding World; a couple months after the nightmare that was the huge battle at Hogwarts. Voldemort was dead. It left many wizards very cheerful and thankful to be alive, finally being able to laugh and smile once again. At least most, anyways.

A vast majority of Death Eaters had managed to find themselves locked up in Azkaban—

Only a few select ones were left free to roam due to loopholes, or evading capture.

Lucius Malfoy happened to be one of them, but…. It was too silent hearing about anything from the Ministry of Magic, deciding his fate. He shivered, thinking they might just ship him back to Azkaban. He already knew they had a sharp eye on him; they had even told him before they let him go to properly heal from the Second Wizarding War.

He had almost felt self-hatred about how the Ministry took pity on him-

He did look downright awful for those last few months.

The last couple months he at least got to put some weight again, getting better sleep, and hell even the state of his hair was trucktons better.

It was the day.

Lucius nervously gulped, as he picked up the letter he had received the day before, re-reading it once more.

Dear Lucius Malfoy,

A representative will be visiting you today to observe your physical and mental state to determine whether or not the Ministry of Magic can proceed with specific details to you about further proceedings.

Sincerely, Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt

Sudden anger surged forth, and he tossed it across the room in a fury. Of course, it simply hit right back into his body, and he grumbled.

If it hadn't been for the Ministry tracking him wherever he went, he probably would have gone into hiding for some time until things would have cooled down. Of course, after telling his family.

…At least Voldemort was gone.

A shudder involuntarily went down his spine.

''My Lord!"

Lucius's voice penetrated the thick atmosphere within the crowd of Death Eaters, as Voldemort called to him. His heart jumped up into his throat. Now he could properly thank the Dark Lord for breaking them out—

He took careful steps forward, hopeful, but dreading what Voldemort could possibly want from him. Nevertheless, he still had his cold exterior covering himself as he stopped in front of the strange looking wizard.

"I—"

"Lucius.'' Voldemort's voice sounded full of disgust.

All his excitement from being free of that DREADFUL prison suddenly left him. He frowned. "Yes, my Lord?"

Voldemort didn't respond. He simply flicked his wand, and Lucius instantly knew something bad was going to happen-

"CRUCIO!"

What felt like pure, white, hot fire scorched underneath his skin. He could feel like his body twitch on the ground—by sheer pride he didn't start screaming in pain until a couple minutes into the intense experience. Some of the Death Eaters managed to be impressed—some were uncomfortable as well.

But it hammered the message home as always: Never disappoint the Dark Lord.

Voldemort finally lifted the Curse, laughing for a bit, then just settled for a smile. "Lucius! You've dared to hold on for a little while, didn't you?"

No answer, as Lucius felt shallow breathing going back to normal. Bloody hell... He couldn't even move.

"CRUCIO!"

This time, Lucius did immediately yell.

Voldemort looked triumphant, before cutting it out again. "Now, Lucius, why don't you speak this time?"

It took him a moment. "Y-Yes… my L-Lord…I… did…"

"Always so proud…" The joyful tone soon though shifted south. "Lucius, why did you fail me? You knew how important that mission had been."

"I-I…" He really didn't have a proper answer. "…don't know, my Lord…"

"That's not an answer, Lucius." Once again, Voldemort shot the Cruciatus Curse towards the other.

Once again, what felt like white, hot flame enveloped his body.

Voldemort flicked his wand again, after a longer period of time, casting it off.

Lucius struggled to come to, gasping for air. A few moments went by, and he forced himself to least sit up a bit. Bloody hell…

"Lucius… my Dear Lucius… I think you need more.. This will not do enough." He leaned down towards his follower, megalomania dancing in his eyes. The blonde unfortunately caught his eyes—a shiver went through him. "I think it's time to send you to the Carrows."

Present day, Lucius nearly jumped when he felt Narcissa gentle hand land on his left forearm; she was looking at him with deep concern in her eyes.

"Are you okay, honey?" She quietly asked.

"Y-Yeah…" The blonde said nervously, trying to pull himself together.

"You're sweating dear… The representative is here."

A dark chuckle erupted from him, as he tried to steady his form from shaking. SHIT. "R-Right…Tell them I'll…. I'll be right down." He struggled to say it.

She frowned, giving him a kiss on the cheek, though quickly retracted. Her husband didn't look so good. "Will you be okay to meet them?"

Lucius simply nodded, then brushed past her to get into the master bathroom in their bedroom. Once there, he made sure there was light, before he looked into the mirror.

Jeez.

Not as haunted as before, but… Average, at best.

He slid his eyes shut and let out a sigh. He WILL get through this. With that resolve in mind, the blonde quickly turned on some cold water. Splashing some onto his face, he felt relief.

He… really didn't feel the same way, still, even if Voldemort was dead.

He splashed more onto his face, keeping his hands there longer, before reaching for a fluffy towel off to his right. He wiped his face, feeling much better, just taking some time alone. Taking time to process.

Fucking Ministry.

They were only doing this because he had donated to the Wizarding World several times. That was it. Giving him time to heal, before sentencing him to something potentially worse. They didn't care, truly.

What was he going to do without his family?

What would he do without Narcissa?

The thought brought forth a brief sob—Ugh, he was NOT going to cry, especially right before a Ministry of Magic type of meeting!

He huffed, looking in the mirror, making sure his hair was alright. He smoothed down his robes, making sure they looked okay. He practiced a few smiles, cold looks in the mirror before feeling satisfied enough.

Hopefully his lawyer managed to pull something out of their ass.

He was ready as he ever could be.

With that, he set off to downstairs. His heart started to beat underneath his cool exterior, as his steps came further and further down, closer to his end. He blinked, stopping. Narcissa had been talking to the Representative, and they seemed to stop and look over to Lucius when they heard him nearing them.

The representative split a smile onto her face, looking crisply up towards Lucius. ''Ah… Hello Mr. Malfoy, won't you join us?"

This is it, dreadful thought playing in his mind.

{NEXT CHAPTER] [INDEX]

#my fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #fantasy fanfiction #dark fanfic

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rogue-durin-16 · 4 years

Text

THE BARD'S CHARMS

Request: How about some of Dwalin pining over a bard (performer) visiting Erebor?

Pairing: Dwalin x reader

Genre: fluff

Tags:

Requested by: @finnofamerica

Permanent taglist: @queenofmankind @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog

Warnings: none I think

A/N: I feel like I did not write Dwalin, like, at all 😕. At least I tried lmao, hope you enjoy even if I completely changed the character xdd

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

"Mister Dwalin!" the blond prince called my name just as I approached him. "How are the party's preparations?"

"Everything is set up, except from the music." I informed, joining him in his walk. "Balin will send a raven to The Shire with an invitation tomorrow, I told him to include a request for a bard on it."

"My uncle will kill me, but send a raven to Mirkwood too." I couldn't help but snort at the thought of an elf performing for Thorin. "We must require the services of the best bard we can find." Fíli ruled his eyes begging me for support as we moved through the halls of Erebor with a trail of servants behind us. "Spare no expense on it, Thorin's first birthday under The Mountain has to be perfect."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning of the party, I was summoned by the princes at the mountain's entrance. I attended as soon as I could, and when I got there, the two brothers were whispering. Kíli seemed nervous, and Fíli, distressed.

"What you both plotting, lads?" They both looked at me with that look. I stopped dead in my trucks. "What did you do."

"I told Kíli we needed a bard and-" Fíli started.

"I spoke to Tauriel," the brunet continued, immediately exclaiming, "and she found the best bard!"

"She's an elf."

"In Durin's beard—" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Thorin will kill you himself."

"No-" Kíli stalked towards me. "but that's why you need your help!"

"You ought to hear her sing," Fíli spoke, "her voice is the most beautiful sound I've heard."

"Hold on- she's here?" I whispered, peeking over my shoulders in case someone might have heard us. "You brought an elf-maid here?"

"I walked in by myself, sir." a fourth, silky voice made me look over the brothers' shoulders. "No one brought me."

I, myself, noticed how my jaw fell at the sight of her. She was a vision of loveliness; the beauty she possessed was not from this earth.

"Mister Dwalin?" Kíli's chuckle snapped me out of my astonishment and sent me back to reality. "This is Y/n, from Mirkwood. The bard." my orbs went from the brothers to the elf and vice versa. "Y/n is really pretty isn't she?"

"I..." with a smile she captured my eyes again. "Must you complicate things all the time?"

"It's worth it!" Kíli defended their idea.

"Is it?"

"I can assure you it is." she spoke with a confident half smile. "Must I sing to you to prove it, master dwarf?" there was some kind of daring undertone in her voice.

"Nae." I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to look as stoic as possible with my heart pounding against my chest. "Won't expose myself to any kind of elvish witchery."

"I believe I do not need witchery to gain your favor, do I?" the knowing grin twisting up the corner of her perfect lips made my blood boil for some reason.

I grunted, fighting to pull my gaze away from Y/n, which earned an amused laugh from her. "I'll try to speak on behalf of the lass." I declared, already walking past the princes. "Only because she's already here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were only starting the celebration when the blond prince approached me and took me away from the rest, supposedly to ask for updates on the bard's topic.

"Did you convince Thorin?" Fíli whispered peeking over my shoulder to check on our king.

"Nae, had no time to do it." I looked over my shoulder to see Thorin. "Since Bilbo arrived, I wasn't able to separate your uncle from him." I turned around with crossed arms and a sigh escaped me as I contemplated the hobbit. "For the sake of the lass, I hope the master burglar can placate whatever reaction Thorin has."

"Don't stress about it. Once she starts performing," I felt his blue eyes on me, "everything will be alright, you'll see."

"Where is that famous bard?!" Thorin's joyful yell triggered a grimace in Fíli's face. I clenched my jaw and my shoulders involuntarily tensed as the servants guide a fancy-dressed Y/n into the hall, along with the instrument she would be playing.

There was an uncomfortable silence, in which Thorin’s eyes searched for answers in the rest of us whilst Y/n prepared herself without any kind of distress.

Just as Thorin was about to complain, Bilbo gripped his arm and pulled him to whisper something in his ear. After a moment, Thorin, still with a weary look on his face, nodded, which gave Y/n the cue to start.

She sang, and as the performance progressed, I wondered if she had put us under some kind of spell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The celebration went on an on for an entirety of three days, so, despite Y/n's endurance, she had to take breaks between performances to rest, drink and eat.

No matter where I was, nor with whom I was, my eyes would periodically search for her. I would lose my train of thought, and even become self-conscious of my actions if her eyes laid on me.

The youngest ones noticed that, so did my brother, and they didn't pass a chance to tease me about it as loud as they could, attempting to draw the lass' attention to us.

Thank Mahal, Bilbo kept hogging Thorin’s attention for the most part of the celebration. I wouldn't be able to take whatever opinion my king had on the topic; a dwarf like me, smitten over an elf-maid of Mirkwood.

"Well, master dwarf," her voice startled me, for her steps had been stealthy before she had plopped down in the bench besides me. "was it worth it?"

"Aye, it surely was, lass." I replied, wiping the beer from my beard with the back of my forearm. "Though I have the impression that you know that already."

"Maybe I do." I contemplated her as she grabbed a jar of beer herself. "Did you enjoy it?"

"How could I not?" I stared at the jar in front of me as I spoke. "no words known to me can describe what that voice of yours made a dwarf feel." I grabbed the beer and quaffed what was left of my beverage, hoping the alcohol would somehow mitigate the blush that was already reddening my neck, ears and cheeks.

"Maybe words are not what you need to express what I made you feel." Fíli, who was sitting near us, spit the beer he had been drinking and I had to stop myself from doing the same.

"I see no other way to express it." I lied, not wanting to meet her gaze.

"may I suggest something?" I looked up from my jar and turned to meet her gaze.

Just when I was about to prompt her to do it, she closed the space between us and let her lips place a feather kiss on mine.

Her eyes were now casted down, just like mine had been a moment ago. It took me a minute to realize I wasn't breathing, so I took a deep breath before guiding one hand to grab hers, while the other one held her cheek and brought her lips back to mine.

She let out a chuckle shortly after pulling away from the kiss. "See, mister Dwalin?" her eyes went from mine to our interlaced fingers. "Sometimes words are not needed."

"This may be a stupid thing to ask," I began, trying to keep my voice steady and confident. "But will you let this brute dwarf court you?"

There was a pause in which I feared I would receive a negative for an answer. Dwarven costumes were not the same as elvish costumes after all.

"I would love to say yes," she sighed. "but I'm afraid I will have to leave soon."

"No you won't." Thorin's voice startled us both and my hand would have left hers if she hadn't gripped on it. "I would like to request your services as a bard." he spoke with a half smile on his lips, sharing a knowing look with Bilbo, who had taken a seat in front of us.

"For how long?"

"Depends on how much time Dwalin may need to gain your favor." the dwarves near us let out muffled laughs and I felt my cheeks burning.

"Then it won't be for long." she squeezed my hand and smiled fondly at me. "for he already has it."

157 notes · View notes

kanene-yaaay-o-retorno · 3 years

Text

How To Catch a Friend

Kanene’s note: Heyaaa! Well, this is a very late fanfic written due @kieraelieson‘s Make This In Your Only Style Contest. I choose prompt one because it was the one that most inspired me, and I really like the result!

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* That is an Alternative Universe with Fairy!Patton, Magic!Logan, Witch!Virgil and Magic!Roman

* This characters do not belongs to me. They all belongs to Thomas Sanders in his series of Sanders Sides.

* Warning for Angst (but only a bit), cursing, fighting, mention of explosions, slightly hurt/comfort and brief shouting. This has about 7.000 words because I got hella inspired due this very good prompt. Kiera, I am looking directly at you XDDD <333. Thankys for the inspiration!

* I didn’t proof read it very well, so I am sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any advice is very very welcome!

* Want to know more about this AU? Here is a post for ya! They’re precious and I will fight for them. Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Stay calm, take a time to yourself, remember to eat today, hug asoft thing, make a wish, drink water and sleep well! Byeioo!~

[~*~]

“I can’t do anything right!” The tiny fairy cried, crumpling forlornly onto the stump.

Logan realized then that the dare to keep walking had not been intended to be possible. He frowned slightly, wondering if it was even possible to comfort the little thing when he was the one to upset him.

“Please don’t cry. I can step back and you can try again to trap me.”

The fairy sniffed, wiping his eyes. “You would do that?”

“Certainly. I’ve tried enough difficult things to know that it sometimes it takes several attempts to get it right.”

“Ohh, okay!” His tiny head nodded thoughtfully, the hair strands bouncing a bit with the movements, which made Logan wonder how the gravity influenced the little being and if he could bring up this discussion in his school.

Definitely not during class, the other kids didn’t like when he talked a lot, especially about things that weren’t in the book and ‘therefore’ - Logan didn’t grasp the logic in this. Books are great, however can’t contain all the knowledge that existed about the subject and most of the time their approach wasn't nearly as interesting as it should be. - weren’t important to say.

Logan couldn’t understand how could exist something that wasn’t worth being said or asked.

“How do gravity work on you?” He blurted out, looking behind, the tip of his tongue out matching with the frown on his face as the boy tried to step on his exact footsteps previously left on the dry dirt.

The fairy hummed, the movements of his wings making him to go slowly up and down, up and down, up and down. Like a seesaw, Logan would point, if he wasn’t so concentrated on the task of retreating and re-doing his previous steps very carefully. A funny image of himself and the fairy playing on the toy would also pop on his mind, perhaps making a giggle bubble on his chest.

The small magical being, in other hand, would think it was more like a leaf swinging back and forth on their branch before falling, the actual image of him and a very small human swinging and holding a branch as they smiled shining among his thoughts for three pieces of time, leading a giggle to escape and shake the tip of his wings. But he quickly tapped his temple a few times, attempting to poke that thought away.

The other fairies said he got attached too much easily.

“I don’t know.” The human seemed flatter his shoulders with a ‘oh’ and the winged being couldn’t help but continue his sentence, hurried “But I know how to sing in bee! Ah, please stop right there!”

The boy did as requested, his left hand running on the spine of his book back and forth, making the other wonder if the letters inside it were bigger than his – comparatively – tiny hands. His gaze fled until it met with the bigger being sparkled eyes. “Do you? Really? Why do I need to stop here?”

“Because it’s the closest where my trap is, kiddo! I’m going to redo the magic really quick. Then I can show you a bit of the dance!!” His tune bathed itself in joy, his hair strands looking as if they were floating in the air with how fast he flicked his wings, coming down to grab a brown pot, a silver liquid gleaming inside it. He stepped on the ground, spilling the potion on ten green leaves before going up, the liquid following him on absurdly thin strings that the magic fairy used to tie on the lower branches from the tree shading their forms, intelligible words coming out his mouth during the whole process.

The strings then spiraled before turning invisible.

“There! You can try to pass again, please, please, please!”

“Thank you,” the boy replied, remembering it was polite to reply with a good word when someone used a good word with you.

But it didn’t work. Again. The one who spent hours and hours preparing the potion - not only the simplest spell, but the simplest magic human trap - felt a painful tug on his stomach. The mean thoughts came back one more time, but he was too much distracted looking at the unfazed silver strings to poke them out.

“A-are you really a human?” He sniffed.

“Yes. I believe I am.”

“I can’t even catch the easier prey in the world!”

The young human noticed the distress on the other, this making an unpleasant feeling scratch his chest. He thought about what he could do to help. Usually talking about things he understood helped him. Yes, he really liked to talk. It felt good and very, very warm. Not hot. Hot made him stink and gave a really disgusting feeling on his skin. Talking was warm, different and good. Especially when people paid attention to him.

He could pay attention to the fairy. He also liked to listen.

“Why wouldn’t it work if I was not a human?”

“Humans are too much curio-ous to feel the magic or run away from it. This was the simplest potion to catch you! I spent an entire day preparing it, the ingredients aren’t hard to find, b-but I get very distracted.”

“Do you want me to come back tomorrow so you can try again?”

The tiny fairy blinked, looking at him with awe. “Would you do that?”

“Yes, of course. That is why I offered.”

“Oh, my stars. You’re the best human ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you, kiddo!!”

However, then he remembered a thing about humans. Humans are liars. They’re always busy, full of things to do and words empty of meaning to share. His bright smile fell a bit.

Well, at least they had the good luck of spending some time together having fun, right? Something deep down which wasn’t prepared to say goodbye grabbed the first excuse which appeared on his mind, didn’t want it to end just yet. “Do you still wanna see the dance?”

“Yes!” His wide eyes followed as the winged creature danced in loops and shaking his body, a soft buzzing filling the wind along with giggling.

“It can tickle.” It’s the explanation after he is done. Logan nods, making notes on the book he is carrying around, the tip of his tongue showing out again. He suddenly stops.

“What does it mean?”

“What?” The other asks, sitting on the pages and discovering with a joyful couple of clicks that his hands are actually bigger than the letters!

“The dance. Mom says that not everything has a meaning, which is weird but I remember seeing on TV that bee’s dance is commonly used to communicate, share localizations and therefore all their dances mean something. What does it say?”

“Oh,” he traced a letter with his finger, feeling the texture and avoiding the taller one gaze, “goodbye.”

“Thank you.” Logan nodded, circling some symbols and adding more symbols above it “Can you move, please? The Sun is beginning to set, I need to go home.” Both were momentarily embraced by the silence as the fairy moved to sit on a near branch, swinging his legs distractedly as a bird sang near, their attention captured by the melody.

The boy was the first to get out of the trance when the song stopped. “I’m going to be back by the same time tomorrow.” He wondered if fairies had clocks, however something on his mind said ‘no’, probably because the small being wasn’t always looking at his pulse and clicked for an entirely different reason. “Two hours before the sunset.” He provided, his chest for some reason scratching again when he didn’t see the excited flutter of the tip of the other’s wings, or the floating hair, just a smile.

“Okay.” Humans were busy, full of things to do, full of important tasks to attend.

They don’t come back.

“I will wait for you.” Patton - but Logan didn’t know this yet (and would him ever?) - answered with the most truthful sentence he could gather.

“Ok.”

Both waved as the distance between them increased, smiling their own small smiles.

The other fairies said he got attached too easily.

[~*~]

“Good afternoon, fairy.”

“You came back.” Patton’s mouth was wide open, the small pot shaking precariously on his hold, his utensil falling and being forgotten beside the rock where he sat. This couldn’t be true. Was it true? Was the damsels of wind and light pranking him with illusions?

Humans didn’t come back.

They didn’t care enough to come back.

But not this human.

“You came back!! You really came back!” Suddenly it was like the Sun had set on his stomach, filling his entire body with warmth and rays and sparkles and energy and warmth, warmth, warmth!

“Clearly. Just as I said I would.” The human’s voice sounded a lot more near now, since Patton bust in his direction, flying around the other in a paint of loops, twirls and giddy giggling that didn’t take long before being accompanied by the taller own huffed giggles. “Is it a bee dance again? What does it say?”

“No! It’s a Patton dance and it means ‘Welcome Back’!!”

“Patton?”

“Yes! That is me!” The tiny fairy landed on his hair, gasping a bit, unaware of his wings messing with some hair strands with their incessant, uncontrollable flapping.

“You’re not a specie.”

“Nope! But I’m as special as one! Just like you’re also the only one of your kind!”

“I’m not the only human that exists.”

“Yup! But you're the only one that thinks, feels and lives just like you.” Patton could feel the human frown in confusion. Clicks filled the air as he tried to think in how to explain his thoughts. “Everyone is... special. The Universe will never be able to make another Patton again, that is why I exist and that is why it’s a Patton Dance!”

“Hm.” Logan didn’t actually understand everything, but his mom told him every opinion is important, even if sometimes you think they’re wrong... or weird. The little magical being was a bit weird. Other people said Logan was also weird, usually when he talks a lot about a lot of things.

The boy decided it was a cozy feeling, being weird with Patton.

“My name is Logan.”

[~*~]

Virgil was not worried.

He was a witch. He studied every single spell put in front of him in the most complete way possible. All the weakness, all the dangers, all the consequences, all the afterwards effects, all the ingredients, the necessary rituals... Everything. His full nickname on the academy used to be Thunderstorm of Stormclouds due his habit of knowing all the details, all the books, as if he devoured every bit of information in front of him. His dorm was often full of sounds and explosions of his incessant attempts of replicating all the magic learned.

That is the why of ‘Thunderstorm’.

But never, ever, any accident happened in the classes he one day attended. Because he was careful. He understood the dangers of magic and its instability. He mastered protection spells and charms and it wasn’t before him to wait for all of his classmates to go to sleep to sneak out of the dorms and shove on a big part of the building a bunch of security magic.

The thought of that, even years later, if the professors searched carefully, they would still find some of his amulets between the walls’ small holes and webs on the ceiling still made a toothless smile cripple on his face.

So, back then, even if people were wary of him most of time, they still felt safe enough around him - and honestly, to Virgil that more than enough - that is why of ‘Stormcloud’.

It wasn’t that Virgil didn’t trust his professors or classmates. He was just prudent.

TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE TWO KIDS!

Virgil huffed from the shadow he was sat, camouflaging his form as his gaze traveled to the watch on his pulse, confirming that one hour had already passed and the tiny fairy - Patton, as it seems - didn’t come back looking for any forgotten belongings. His form sunk in the darkness, submerging on every tree’s shadow in a ray of thirty meters to check the strong points on the protection spell he casted there on the last week. The tight knot on his stomach loosening with the acknowledgement that his entomagic triggered in the afternoon didn’t affect it, even if the guilt kept the knot firmly where it was.

The witch didn’t expect such a bigger reaction from them, when he first set the spell. It was something simple, really, only a few groups of spiders, ants and caterpillars appearing from a dull thud around the two unsupervised kids playing with magic and trying to crawl on them. A quick, unharmful and scary enough act to make them flee and hopefully go to get an adult next time they desired to practice their spell abilities.

But Virgil should’ve known how much terrifying an army of insects would be to a fairy, who immediately screamed as the scene before him settled and attached himself onto his friend – Logan, I think? – the fear apparently taking over his body, leading him to half fly and half stumble around the human, confusing and startled him enough to fall and kick in despair to get the most away as possible from the animals.

The adult immediately undid the spell, realizing how spectacularly it failed – like most of the things he tried to do, ha – however, he couldn’t just make the small whimpers and tears from the other’s two disappear in a ‘puff’ as well, his heart being squeezed with the scene of Logan trying to clumsily hug an obviously shaken Patton as him himself tried to stop his trembling limbs. And, even if Virgil deposited in a near, visible rock a small chocolate bar with curative properties and whispered soothing, soft words on the wind and made them fly to the others until they both were calm again, he couldn’t bring himself to go away back to his cottage like any other day.

He quietly accompanied the two as they ate his treat (not after Logan’s analyze and final word that it was safe, of course) and forgot the trap in order to play and have fun a few feet from its original location and then talk about stars and planets, a subject which seemed to interest both parts.

Virgil wasn’t good with social etiquettes, so it took some great days of searching to discover how to apologize in Fairies Language and to find the exact gift he was looking for.

He put the star map and the small pot of cider inside a trunk, visible enough to be seen only for the younglings when they arrived in the same spot they always met.

The witch took a deep breath, shaking his head. No. Nope. His work here was done. He put charms and spells around the place. They would be fine. They would be okay and even better as the adult stopped to put his nose on their business. There was absolutely no reason for him to keep extending it. He would go back to his cottage and to his normal life, just like it was and always had been.

Just like it was supposed to be. It had been fun to remember those times from the academy, when people trusted him and actually got a gleam on their eyes when he entered the place.

But this wasn’t his academy. Virgil had nothing to do with Patton and Logan. He should go.

And that was what he did.

[~*~]

To their and his own credit, it took about one month in its entirety before things came crashing down in an avalanche.

He was quite impressed, when he stopped to think about it. But on the day the events occurred? He was terrified.

And he knew, believe me, Virgil knew very well when the wind got a tad stronger than it usually was, causing the fairy to lose his balance and slightly hit the boy’s hands, not even hard enough to hurt any of them, but enough to cause a distraction and to let an extra drop of Waterfalls Tears – secure, easy to find, easy to lose. Extremely volatile when used together with Aqua Flower’s petals; Used on the Old Era due its beautiful pyrotechnics – on the mix. More specifically, the mix of Dandelions Roars, Rainbow Feathers and Aqua Flowers, that none of them, except for him, would notice the mistake before it was too late.

Before their eyes got wide as the mix started to spark, air full-filling in clicking sounds as the pot heated on the point its own porcelain almost melted, too much scared and distracted by the louds sounds that grew louder, louder, louder to acknowledge the trepidation of quick, desperate footsteps getting closer and closer of them.

Aqua Flowers and Waterfall Tears.

Virgil knew the dangers of magic. He knew that he spent hours planting and sneaking protective spells and amulets as well as charms, the exact ones he was trespassing right now, enough to keep them safe especially to moments like that without his help or interference.

Aqua Flowers and Waterfall Tears.

This is not safe. Run. They need to run.

He knew about explosions and scars and the consequences. He knew about despair, the paralyzing fear taking over their bodies, and yet the witch found himself wishing they would just run, go away, to be safe.

Why was he back?

Aqua Flowers Waterfall Tears.

Not safe. Not safe. They need to run, run,

RUN

They were just kids playing with things that they don’t entirely understand. They had nothing to do with him. They would survive. They would be okay, eventually. Things like that took some time, but they eventually heal. Everyone eventually heals. He has nothing to prove, nothing to owe to them.

Why the fuck was him back?

Patton screamed something he couldn’t understand with his heart beating pulsing on his ears, Logan firmly closed his eyes – so fearful, so wide – and covered his ears, curling on his own form as the sparkles and bolts shouted from the bowl. Virgil got faster, stronger.

He got close enough to involve both with his arms, hugging them close to his chest as his body turned in a dangerous slip, creating a physical barrier between the younglings and the explosion, which hit him more like a hot wave than something actually dangerous. Good. It had worked. He felt trembling forms under his touch, except the witch couldn’t really tell if it was Patton, Logan or his own wobbly hands.

“Shh, shhh. It’s okay. You’re okay.” His gaze, sharp, wary, darted to the ground behind him, looking for any hints of other danger lurking near, signing in relief when found nothing, altered breathing.

Oh stars, he was getting too old for this shit. “The explosion is over. It can’t hurt you anymore. You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.” Only then, after being sure nothing really represented danger anymore, Virgil turned his attention to the kids in his embrace.

He first noticed the boy inside a brown shield, a coat of arms on the necklace hanging on his neck shining brighter or duller as Logan seemed to mumble something to it, small words and nods as he kept his hands firmly pressed on his ears. So the youngling kept an own protective amulet with him? Smart boy.

It was only when the witch stared the fairy glaring at him with gleaming, warm eyes, mouth slightly open that the gears on his mind looked to start functioning again.

‘…the kids on his embrace’

Oh no. No, no, no. He had just jumped on act, taken over by his instincts again and then screwed everything blowing his cover up during the process, hadn’t he?

Fuck.

The realization seemed to just got stronger as Patton open and closed his mouth a bunch of times, the tip of his wings fluttering in a way that probably was terror, leading the fairy to go up and down, up and down in maybe a despair to run away, but too much afraid to actively leave his friend alone with that scary random guy who jumped out a damn shadow and grabbed them out from nowhere.

Well done, Virgil. Well hecking done. Now you terrified those kids out of their mind. They can’t even speak properly anymore. You don’t even know how fairies or kids work! Now look at this, you broke them!

“It’s you!” To the one dressed with the long vestments typical of witches blinked astonished when the first thing to come out from the small being lips wasn’t a scream. Patton only beamed more, his smile increasing as he closed his eyes and concentrated. “It’s really you!!”

“Why did you do that?” Logan, who previously dissolved the magic shield asked, his tune free of discomfort, blank and curious.

“I…”

“Logan, Logan, it’s him!!” and, before any of them could add anything else, Patton continued amidst his clicks “It’s the kind witch!!”

[~*~]

“No.” He said firmly, internally wishing he seemed a whole lot sterner than he sounded.

Virgil was a skilled witch. He knew things enough to be a requested warrior at the beginning of his career, quickly turning on the most feared opponent due his tactics. He was the Stormcloud: fast, wary, unpredictable, soundless, using the environment in his favor with hidden traps and shadows for locomotion. His attacks were restless and never unfair. He was strong, resolute…

And he was NOT going to lose because of Puppy Eyes.

“No,” he repeated, trying to keep his composure when even Logan pouted, “give up, I’m not going to throw Patton in the air, especially just to see how the gravity works on a fairy.”

“But it’s an experiment!” Logan quickly pointed, frustration painting his tune as if Virgil couldn’t understand the importance of this statement. “This is what science is for!” Virgil sensed a small wave of deja vu, feeling like he had already heard this somewhere else.

“He can fall and injure himself and I’m not going to spend my ingredients to make a heal potion when I could avoid the injury in the first place.”

“But, but, but! I’m not going to fall, you're going to catch me. I know it! I trust you!” And then, in a totally unfair move Patton held Virgil’s index finger between his palms, somewhat increasing his pleading eyes, “If something goes wrong, I can fly!! Please, please, kind witch.”

Virgil growled, deviating his eyes to Logan.

“He is correct. This is what science is for. Please.” The boy adjusted his glasses, looking pointedly to him. “Science.”

Virgil growled louder, however extending his hand to the tiny fairy, who excitedly flied around his head a few times before changing his way to hug his left cheek, clicks and fluttering wings materializing his delight while Logan swung back and forth on his feet, fists shaking and a toothy smile painting his expression.

How Virgil was supposed to say no to that joy? The adult internally signed. These kids were going to be the end of his existence.

“Quick, before I change my mind.” He lied to cover his soft spot for them – not that would ever admit it – snorting as Patton quickly shoved himself on his palm and Logan hurriedly ran to get his notebook and pen from the blue, looking slightly old, backpack.

And, as Patton was thrown, his squeals of excitement along with the fast scribbles of Logan’s pen filled the air Virgil allowed a small grin to wander on his face.

[~*~]

“Mom is in the yard today.” Logan announced as he arrived, accepting the sandwich offered for Virgil, looking at its content and giving a happy hum as he found it had onions on it, picking one ring and eating it apart.

“Oh, that is fantastic, Lo!” Patton said, had already finished his snack and now taken a few Colorless Petals from his purse. “Will she stay there today?”

“Yes, I think. She will be waiting for me when I come back.”

“Great! Look, I finally found everything we need! We can start my trap again!”

“Does she like gardening?” Logan hummed in agreement, his eyes fixed on the new ingredients, probably memorizing them to write later. Logan’s mom is still a mystery to Virgil, the most near of a responsible adult in this boy’s life being Remy, a guy who his magic almost danced from his body - leading cold chills to run the witch’s spine - when they first met right after the Aqua and Waterfall accident. The coat of arms Logan used was definitely from him, and by the way Remy’s questions about the accident were precise, it was definitely much more than just an ordinary and simple protection advice.

The witch would be much more defensive and wary on that day if he hadn't previous Magic checked the amulet and found only protection and kind, lovely feelings involving it. Patton, as a fairy, one of the most sensitive magic beings of the world, also seemed to trust the object, so he did his best to not attack or hiss at the stranger (even though both looked to have come to a silent agreement they didn’t like each other) when he showed up other times.

“We could search for some seed flowers to give her later, then. You think she would like it?” Logan nodded, humming contentedly a ballad about flowers and peaches. Virgil turned to Patton’s direction, frowning as he noticed the purse’s content. “Where are the Dandelions Roars? I thought they were the crucial part of the trap.”

Patton froze for a second, his breathing failing, but he quickly forced himself to act naturally, wishing the perceptive human hadn’t got his mood’s drop, “I, uhh, I found a new receipt of a new trap that I think will work better!” He wasn’t lying, “it’s a harder potion, so I will have to practice a bit more, but I’m sure this time I will succeed!”

“Oh, ok.”

[~*~]

The drop of Wind’s Whispers hit the pot and suddenly Virgil’s soul froze. After weeks of frowning and strange twitches on the pit of his stomach, he recognized the potion, no, the summoning they were doing.

“Patton!!” Loud, harsh tune. The fairy froze in the same place.

He knew it. He knew it he knew it knewitknewitknewit.

Virgil discovered everything.

He would try to stop Patton.

The tiny magic being held the porcelain and, in a flash, hid it in one of the thousands branches above them. “Please, please, don’t!” Virgil’s eyes were traveling from tree to tree, trying to find the object, his heart pounding, his head spinning and the fairy had plenty of knowledge of why.

It was risky, much riskier than anything anyone could ever try. But it was worth it. It was so worth it. Virgil would have to understand. “V, please, listen to me.”

“No, Patton!! You lied! You lied to me to do… that!” Virgil attempted to even his breathing, he would have to concentrate if he wanted to end this as quickly as possible. Unfinished potions were extremely hard to localize, but being a forbidden magic made it a tad easier. Patton got closer but he refused to deviate his attention. The adult gritted his teeth. He did not understand. “You’re not stupid, Patton. You KNOW what happened to everyone who tried to do that! You know about the rumors, about the marks and especially WHY this is a forbidden trap! You know all of this and don’t you dare to try to fool me again.”

That sentence hurt. It bruised almost as much as the hurt the witch tried to suppress from his glare. The fairy didn’t know he was clicking until this moment but the desperate sound was almost impossible to ignore now. “No, no, Virgil. I didn’t want to… The fairies, we have a new idea, a new way to make it and now it can work, Virgil! It can work and I can finally do something right and I have-”

“You HAVE? Patton? You have what? Put yourself, put me and Logan in danger just because of a dumb bunch of fairies that don’t even care about who you really are? Is it because of that you were trying to kill us all?”

There was a sound banging on the background. It was banging and pleading for attention but Virgil pushed it away.

“It’s not because of them! I don’t want to catch a star for any of them! I just want to-”

STOOOOOOP!

The sound harshly hit them as a strong wave of magic passed all of Virgil’s protection spells, breaking them as if they were made of glass and shoving the other two on the ground, both attention being deviated from the discussion and captured by Logan. A Logan involved by a thundering, navy waves of magic which fled and hit everything on its way. Virgil felt his voice disappear.

Logan wasn’t a human.

“Lo.” Patton was the first to speak, trying to crawl to his friend’s position even being clued on the ground with the waves’ force. “Lo, dear, please, look at me, okay, kiddo? I am sorry we were screaming. Look at me, look at me.”

SHUUUUUT UUUUP!

“Everything is okay.” The pressure on his body made his voice hoarse, however the witch pushed forward, getting on his knees, arms in front of him in a calming gesture, “we’re okay. You’re okay. I need you to take deep breaths, okay? You can do it, I know you can.”

Logan shook his head, gasping. With the corner of his eye the adult realized the pot floating from the second tree on the left, its content starting to gleam in a strong red color, and sudden dizziness took over his body.

The trap had been activated.

“Of course, you can! You’re so, so strong and brave and really smart and cool. I believe in you, Logan. You can control it.”

The porcelain object slowly floated in Logan’s direction, looking as if it was devouring every bit of magic being thrown at it together with all the remnants of the environment. Virgil got up on his wobbly legs, gathering on his vestments all his attack potions and throwing at it from all the directions, activating on his run his protections charms and directing them to the trap with despair, the feeling only increasing as his efforts were broken by the force without even managing to touch the container.

The color started to grow brighter and brighter, a portal opening above it, consuming more and more of the uncontrollable magic. If Patton was sensing it, he resolved to ignore, using the opportunity to get closer from his friend, his voice in a constant tune, talking and calming, soothing and warm.

But all the three of them couldn’t ignore the moment everything stopped.

The harsh strong waves ceased its explosion and came back to Logan, who laid with a silent thud on Virgil’s arms. The leaves on the tree stilled, soundless, birds were nowhere to be seen, wind frozen midair, Patton’s voice was muted and even their beating hearts were paralyzed during this piece of time. An horrible ringing exploding in their ears.

The light turned white, stealing their breath.

And then everyone and everything was engulfed by it.

…

“Hello?”

Patton was the first to feel his senses come back. His eyelids trembled before opening and he had exactly a second to realize he was laid on Virgil’s coat.

Because on the other tick of the clock, his gaze was captured by the tall, smiling, magic – so, so, so magic. In every atom, every blink, every cosmic dust around him, they all screamed magic, magic, magic! - creature looking down at him. “What a hello, little fairy!”

And then Patton screamed. Because the last minutes of his life were the most horrible, nerve wrecking moments he ever imagined to feel. Because his friends were unconscious. Because he was scared, and more important than everything else…

Because his trap had worked.

“No, no, no, little nebula, calm down, calm down” The being began to move his hands without any idea of what to do with them, “I’m not going to hurt you, okay? AAAH!”

The star screamed because that sinister thing under the fairy moved, launching to a sitting position while it also screamed, and, on his turn, Virgil screamed because he got up to a big shadow hovering above him and moving closer to the fairy, that is also why his arm shooted to be around Patton, his chest vibrating as he hissed to the other being, eyes sharp and yet trying to focus on its human looking like features.

“Don’t you dare to touch him!”

“No, no, Virgil!” Patton finally saw the one who was captured by the trap, - by their trap – absorbing the way colorful dots shined on the other’s skin, how the eyes staring back at him were deep and antique and yet so joyful. He noticed how the hair floated playfully, as if the being had a kind of its own gravity, reminding the winged fairy of himself when he got really excited. Actually, Patton could feel some light brushes on his neck from his hair moving around. “Virgil, Virgil! It worked!! We did it!! We really did it!! We trapped a shooting star!” Then, his voice came out lower, as if he really acknowledged what this truly meant. “Now I can give Logan a wish.”

“A wish?”

“A wish, indeed! It’s a pleasure, the bestest of the pleasure, to finally get to know you earthlings! You’re really so cute, makes me want to squeeze your poor soft materialized face! By the way, everything is so soft and light here! No wonders such little gravity is enough to keep everything down. I bet I could carry your all, no, explode that, I can carry you and all the Earth’s content all together! That sounds fun. What is the most heavy thing you have here? I’m going to lift it. Ah, right, I almost forgot” He lightly hit the side of his head, his words coming out non stop, as if he didn’t need to breathe, what, looking at the situation, was much more likely it, “Star Roman Prince, at your service for one wish and one wish only! Even though I was captured by three of you, my power is too much, well,” he laughed, loud and boisterous, “powerful to interfere more than necessary on the planets. So, choose well, little ones.”

“Are you really a star?” and the young bipedal who had just woken up was so full of reverence that Roman felt the magic dance inside him as a lovely breeze. Yes, that was it! That was exactly it he was imagining, – for ages and ages wandering in space. Able to watch and graze at any planet he could ever imagine and desire, but never visit them without being invited – truly dreamed for the moment when he would finally be caught, no, be claimed for a terraqueous.

He was glad he didn’t need oxygen to survive, because the view would absolutely have his breath taken away. There were so much green and vivid colors and things to touch and life! So, so, so much life and companies and being who he could actually talk to.

Oh, my gracious Universe. Roman could talk with them. He could talk, sing, ramble, explain, complain, discuss and be answered.

It made him kind of want they never wished anything in the first place. This way he could stay more.

“Yes, I,” and then he jumped holding the sing-sang word as he took the form of a fairy in mid air, holding the other’s fairy hand and spinning him a few times – smiling wider as the other squealed excitedly – before turning into the height of the second shortest of the group, conjuring a small vision of a particular cozy Universe’s corner before growing to a perfect replicata of the adult there, booping his face and taking steps away as the taller hissed, finally stopping his melody, “am!”

The tiny fairy clapped happily, flying closer, “I am Patton!”

“A pleasure.”

“Stars are loud.” Logan pointed with his usual blank voice, then hummed, a toothless smile painting his features as he went to get his loyal notebook.

“Well, stars got to shine. ~”

“And we are going to have a conversation. A private conversation.” The second sentence came sharp, cutting any remark the cosmic magic being was about to say. Virgil’s eyes seemed to stare deep into his core before gently shoving the younglings aside.

“A star?” It was the first thing that came out from his mouth, directed especially to Patton, since the other boy seemed occupied taking new notes on his book. “You were trying to catch a shooting star for Logan?”

“He is… my first best friend. Ever. And he loves stars a big lot! And, and, and I thought… I’m not very good or powerful to give him a really great thing like a star, but… If I could catch a shooting star then he could have a wish and ask to see a constellation! Or to have one! Or to visit any planet! I just… wanted to give him something cool.”

“Patton, come here.” The witch extended his palm, carefully ruffling Patton’s hair when he sat there, his voice was soft. “You are a pretty cool guy, okay? Logan thinks that too.”

“Of course I do.” Logan said, yet writing even when a yawn escaped from his lips. Something about how nonchalant and sure he sounded, as if it was silly to doubt about it in the first place made Patton feel like his tiny form was full of Suns, again.

“And I hope you both use your wish wistfully.” The two kids brightened up right away, the fear hidden deep in their minds that the adult would somewhat forbid them to interact with the new person – kind of – dissolving in pure bouncing excitement. “But never ever again you two dare to ever think about trying to do something dangerous like that without warning me first!”

They nodded eagerly, bouncing up and down, making Virgil sign loudly, questioning all his life choices and shaking his hands to dismiss them “Go think about what you two want or whatever, your little demons.”

They didn’t take long before losing themselves in a joyful ramble with each other. Virgil took the opportunity to deviate his attention to the older one, who was trying to coach a very suspicious bird to come closer to him, narrowing his eyes. The guy reminded him those geniuses belonged to those old, with yellowish corners, tales where thousands of humans, monsters and magic beings were disgraced as their wishes were evilly twisted to go against them.

Well, he got closer from the other, who turned to him with a charming smile, this guy was about to have a big storm coming if he thought they would be so easily tricked.

“What.” said Roman.

“You…” Virgil started, warningly.

‘Got it.’ Roman thought, smugly and immediately expanding his brightness to an astonishing level.

“Done!” He announced, happily “Since you requested so eagerly for my company then that shall be!” He ignored the human irritated shout. “Oh, what an honor! That, of course, means I will stay together with you through your whole journey in this human form and therefore be free from my duty until your wish is fully granted! It will certainly be an awesome experience!”

“Awww, you asked for a new friend, V!” Patton didn’t seem sad for losing his chance, smiling wide and patting one of the human’s red cheeks.

“It was an accident!”

Logan made a low small upset sound on the back of his throat. “I desire to know how to properly set and activate the trap… We did it wrong. We messed up the steps and nearly didn’t put all the ingredients as asked, but it still worked, how?” He turned his head to Roman, who lowered his body a little in order to read the step-to-step spell written on the boy’s calligraph, he tsked in disapproval, taking the object and summoning a feather pen, starting to scratch a bunch of lines from the receipt.

“No, no, that is definitely wrong. That is the magic you were trying to use to get a shooting star? Damn, just don’t. You do this and you’ll definitely get a Supernova.” Then he stopped, his mouth slightly open, a lamp popping above his head, gleaming. “Oooh, that explains why Remus was always being claimed. I just thought earthlings didn’t like me.” For lonely and long thousands of years, “heh, silly me. Aaaand, there you go, kid! A brand new magic to get a brilliant Shooting Star as well as, of course, the wish.”

“Do you know a Supernova? Roman, that is so cool!!” Patton gasped.

“Of course I do, he is my brother.”

“The astros can be related? I didn’t expect it to be possible. How?”

Patton’s laughter and Logan’s questions made him smile, not that the witch would ever admit it. Well, maybe... maybe there was nothing more he could do now except keep an eye on them, right? Just because the star- no, Roman, - could turn out being dangerous too, sure. It has nothing to do he got utterly attached to the young ones. No, get off his thoughts, damn!

And, yes, things weren’t fully resolved. They haven’t thought about what to do about Logan’s outburst or how Patton’s managed to get the forbidden trap or to even fully understand what Roman was. However, as questions, answers and warm – that good warmth, which embraces your heart - feelings fled all around them, Virgil felt the anxious knot on stomach to ease a bit, relaxing before the scene of the rays of sunshine dancing with the Damsels of the Wind in between the leaves and trunks from the forest. A calm breeze attempted to carry all the smiles and grand gestures to a faraway land as the reminiscent magic began to disappear, and, along with all of this…

They were okay.

…

The entire ground trembled when Remy suddenly appeared between them, even if his clothes were a mess, hair uneven and face marked by brown drops which could be just dirt on the best scenario his crossed arms sent shivers down almost everyone's spine – Roman’s ‘nice’ fell on deaf ears – and his voice wasn’t boisterous or even loud, but echoed, cutting the thick silence skillfully.

“What the HECK happened here?”

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the-magic-lava-lamp · 3 years

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Caught Up In You

Chapter 3 - A Very Loki Chapter

Summary: A story revolving around a group of teenage friends, their mishaps, their relationships and their coming of age.

Watch as they navigate through the highs & lows of high school relationships and learn to grow up as most of them are approaching the end of their Senior year.

Ships: SamBucky, ThorBruce, Stony, ValJane…(More ships & characters to come)

Word Count: 6,497

{Wednesday Night}

The thick rim of sweat which wrapped around Loki’s ankle was finally given fresh air as he kicked off one of his old sneakers.

The night was over; Thor had gone to his room with a joyful grin and ice-cream dotting the corner of his mouth and Wanda had been dropped off at home. Which was an event all on it’s own. While waiting in line at the happy little Frosty’s store-front, Wanda’s Mother called and asked her home to see her Grandparents who’d dropped by as a surprise.

Loki was irritated with the abrupt change of plans and Wanda’s angst about it only fueled him on. But Thor managed to make the little time they had left kinda fun. Paying for their treats and scrolling through the multiple snapchats he had of Loki doing weird shit to compete with Wanda’s captured moments.

And Loki was never one to shy away from being the center of attention, so he was absolutely delighted.

But now, his face was overcast with that tiny sheen of moisture which made his makeup heavy. Really hammering it in that he’d gone out & done all he could for the day with nothing left but to do but try and sleep.

He swiped remover down his face with a cotton pad and revealed in the euphoric sense of relief instead of focusing on the slight disappointment which always came.

Half his face was clean, one shiny green eye gone while the other still glittered under the flickering bathroom light, when Odin knocked on the bathroom door in his special way. One thump.

“In here.” He called out, filled with a little teenage venom.

Odin huffed a bit before speaking. “Can I just pee really quick?”

Loki turned to scrunch his face at the wooden door, where an eight year old Thor had once proclaimed he saw an image of a turtle between the lines. He rolled his lips together and popped out his leg before reaching out and unlocking the door. “Fine.”

He’d try to avoid the bickering match by giving him what he wanted & tried to speed past his father before he got a good look at him. But Odin managed a quick peek. “Interesting.” He hummed in that condescending tone that he always argued was just his regular voice.

Loki frowned and remembering that if he quipped back, fighting would escalate and Odin would just say shit he didn’t understand was offensive.

But the flickering light and sense of suburban ‘comfort’ was driving him insane all of the sudden. He blinked and spun to grab the door with his special grace. “You like it, father?” He smirked in a way that he’d once seen one Tony Stark do to his father in the school parking lot last year. It’d been an expression which stuck with him. The perfect mixture of innocent and bitchy. That had really bubbled Loki’s old crush on the arrogant guy.

Odin shifted, either from the fact that he hadn’t pissed yet or the nerves he always got when talking to his younger son. They both pretended that didn’t exist for a few years now.

“Lovely.” He tried to mutter out without sounding annoyed but he really wasn’t good at that. “Did you go out like..that?”

Loki smirked slightly, as if that didn’t bother him, and tore his gaze to the stupid framed painting of a bathtub which hung on the wall. “I’m sorry to have embarrassed you.”

“Don’t be snotty with me, Loki. I didn’t mean it like that and you should know that.” Odin shook his head which only served to truly piss his son off further.

“Oh of course, you’ve been rather happy with my behavior lately. Just admit that you can’t accept it-”

“Well, I’m not exactly ecstatic, son. I never have understood you." Odin burst, for the first time voicing some kind of confession to the feelings Loki basically already knew of...But it still hurt him. Loki stepped back a little, losing some of his confidence.

Odin frowned but took the opportunity to shut the bathroom door to escape.

Loki stared at the door, a little winded and suddenly overwhelmed with bitterness.

There was a full length mirror in his bedroom which Loki used to remove the rest of his makeup. It worked out very poorly considering all he had to clean it off with was a dish towel and some water he poured into Thor’s lame childhood baseball team trophy. He’d stolen it a few weeks ago from his older brother's room and he’d yet to notice it’s disappearance, sadly.

There was a tiny knock on his door which couldn't possibly be Odin, so Loki gave them permission to enter as he scrubbed his left eye. He’d sort of expected his Mother but was greeted with the gentle looking giant called Thor. Of course.

Loki turned his chin to look at him over his shoulder. “These kinds of moments are a little too ‘sitcom trying to tackle serious subjects’ for me, Thor. So, I’d rather not have a heart-to-heart, ok?” He smirked and turned back to the mirror, watching his brother’s reflection as he sat on his bed.

Thor rolled his eyes but looked somewhat amused. “I think we’re quite better at the ‘heart-to-heart’s than those dumb shows.” He glanced down at Loki’s reflection and smirked right back.

“I don’t know about better. But, we are far more entertaining.” Loki chuckled, remembering a few times where their nice talks ended with fun playful punching. “This is between father and I, Thor. You couldn’t possibly get it.” He frowned and finally turned his whole body. “The man thinks the world of you.”

Thor stiffened slightly.

“Anyone can see you're his favorite.” Loki shook his head with sudden anger. “Hela moved as far as she did because of him. And he can barely stand to look at me. I can see it in the way he looks at me. Complete and utter...embarrassment.”

“Father has a complicated way of showing his love-”

Loki felt his chest burn with the sudden urge to argue until he couldn’t breathe. “Not with you. Never with you.” He spat and threw his crappy towel onto the carpet. “He has some kind of personal issue against me, brother. Don’t act like it’s not there cause that just...drives me crazy.” His voice grew more tiresome than he would’ve liked and he deflated a bit.

“He likes to pretend Wanda’s my little girlfriend because he doesn’t like the fact that I’m so obviously attracted to men too! And it’s not even because he’s against the idea of having a queer son-” Loki stumbled on his words because he was barely sure how he identified, himself. “If you were to bring home Banner, he’d be waving the flag! I’d bet my life on it.”

He stood and started pacing his floor while Thor watched him go.

“But because I didn’t turn out to be someone who could pass as a straight, manly jock to family and friends, he despises me.” Loki looked up to the ceiling in frustration.

Thor was stunned to silence, not used to seeing his brother so distraught. Green glitter was still smudged and wet over Loki’s eye and he was doing his best to never make eye contact. “I know it’ll probably frustrate you and mother but...” Loki paused and rolled his lips together “I’m not going to fight for a relationship with him if he won’t even meet me halfway.”

“Brother...” Thor stood from the bed and took the way Loki moved back with embarrassment to notice. “I am always going to be in your corner, you know that right?” He asked.

Loki looked as if he didn’t know how to respond which absolutely crushed his older brother. “I haven’t always made it easy for you so...why should I think that?” He shrugged.

Thor swallowed, feeling as if he’d just gulped burning tea. “I think the world of you, Loki.” He shrugged because that answer was just so simple. No matter how many times they fought, Thor loved his brother.

Loki looked down at the carpet before letting out a long sigh. “Ok. I’m uncomfortable and would like to get the rest of this shit off my face and maybe watch a film.” He rubbed hard into his left eye and glanced at Thor. “You can watch too but you have to stop talking.”

Thor smiled and did a mock salute.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Thursday Morning}

Loki rested his head on Wanda’s shoulder; her chin resting on the tufts of his hair. Her glance was desperately pointed downwards, eyes strained as she still couldn’t help but try and look at her friend as he spoke. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” She frowned and Loki softly smiled. “If it helps, my Grandma spent the whole evening asking me about boys and trying to give me tips on how to ‘Snag the best kind of fellow’.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “I doubt she was that...nineteen-fifties about it, Wanda.” He pursed his lips, taking in her most subdued outfit of the week. He’d been pretending not to notice her ‘subtle’ evolution from complete ‘middle school witch’ to a ‘maybe hippie girl’?

Wanda hummed. “I don’t like her, Loki.” She shook her head a little (best as she could). “All she does is talk about Neil Sedaka and say offensive things that we’re just supposed to ignore.”

Loki giggled in a way that not most people could get him to.

She chuckled into his hair. “She did ask about you though. My little friend from school, very condescending about it by the way.” Wanda momentarily raised her head and twisted down to look at him. “I told her you died but I kept a vial of your blood on a necklace.” Her voice seamlessly fell into a casual tone.

Loki hummed in a sinister little chuckle. “You’re such a freak.”

Wanda pinched him.

“So...” Loki got up from the bench. “How do you snag the fellow?” He teased.

Wanda popped up after him and started to reluctantly follow his motions to get to class. “Just the usual steps. Y’know pass him by in the hallway, let him carry your books...” She delicately tapped each of her fingers as she walked.

“Stand in the corner of the room & cry so he asks what’s wrong, sit on a park bench & feed pigeons, take a piece of his hair to put in a traditional love-bringing fire-”

Loki pushed her arm and laughed when she stumbled.

“Don’t knock it till you try it.” She bumped him back and hugged her books to her chest. “Why do you think I’m constantly pushing away attention?” She sarcastically put her hand to her chest and smirked.

“They make me nervous.” Wanda complained as she took the familiar steps up to the Odinson’s door. Loki rolled his eyes and dug around for his key.

Thor was inviting his old buddies over for a little after-school hang-out which Loki was 100% sure was just an attempt for Thor to distract himself from agonizing over Bruce. Loki’s brother was not subtle about hiding his feelings, even if he thought so. “They’re idiots, Wanda. Nothing to stress over. All you have to do is walk past them and go to the kitchen. They won’t bother you.”

Wanda crossed her arms and took off for the other room as soon as the door opened, neglecting to greet Thor or his friends in the living room. Though Loki moved a bit more slowly as he shut the entry & observed the group of jocks. He saved his most annoyed look for Sif, who’d always seemed annoyed with him.

Even with the strange time without seeing that company in their home, Loki was a master at ignoring them.

“Loki! Look who’s here!” Thor was quite joyous with the mini reunion But. Loki just rolled his eyes and went for the kitchen where Wanda was setting up their books to study. Hogun, Volstagg, Fandral and Sif gave the little brother tiny nods before he’d managed to escape but weren’t given a response.

Sif pursed her lips. “He hasn’t changed much.” She scooted closer to the table from her seat on the carpet. They surrounded the furniture like a group of poker players, bits of schoolwork littered it and circled the fake-fruit bowl. “Nor his little friend.” She smiled softly.

“I suppose the ice is part of his charm though.” Fandral added, throwing a plastic apple up-and-down with his trademark smirk. “Wouldn’t very well be Loki without it, Don’t you think?”

Thor observed his old friend's conversation with warm nostalgia in his chest. While it was endearing to see them all laughing & talking in his living room like they’d used to, Thor’s mind still drifted nervously to his plans with Bruce the next day.

While Thor was overthinking and the others chatted, Sif managed to get up and slip into the kitchen without much notice. Fandral’s apple now hanging loosely in her grip while she walked to the fridge.

Loki didn’t so much as look up at the presence he knew was there but that little friend of his did. Her expression was hard to read.

In her head, Wanda was agonizing over the idea of whether she was supposed to say ‘hi’ or not. Sure, she knew of Sif but she didn’t really know her. They’d just cross paths sometimes in the Odinson household when they were younger. But she was standing in the kitchen now-...though Loki wasn’t even moving and surely if she should greet the girl then so would she.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” She absolutely despised that she announced that to the room but at least she could then leave. Which she did.

Wanda darted off which finally pulled Loki’s attention from his books with a twitch of his brow.

“Guess I made her nervous, huh?” Sif’s charmed voice came from behind Loki. She moved around the table to stand awkwardly in front of him, hands oddly resting on her hips. There was an intense feeling of effort in the interaction which made Loki even more annoyed. Sif was a freaking jock. She’d been one all her life and the only reason she felt the need to be nice to him was because of Thor’s begging.

“She’s not attracted to you, bonehead. Your presence just gave her such social anxiety that she then had to use the bathroom as an excuse to leave. She’ll be hiding there until you’re gone.” The dark haired man spoke smoothly as he flipped through pages.

“Which-” He finally glanced up at Sif and made a show of folding his hands together “I hope it will be soon. Now that you’ve gotten the...coffee creamer you needed so badly?” His thin brow jumped up.

Sif really hadn’t been paying attention to what she was grabbing. She simply missed the days of annoying Thor’s little brother by mere existence plus hell if Wanda wasn’t adorable. She smirked and tossed the creamer from palm to palm while obnoxiously observing Loki’s work. She came closer and rested against the counter. “Still as kind as ever, Loki.”

The younger boy looked up and met his eye in an oddly amused way. “Still as back-handed as ever, Sif.” He scrunched up his nose and shut the Chemistry book he’d been pretending to read.

The girl just grinned as she straightened his back, finding the bite to be sentimental. All the times she’d teased the quiet boy whenever she passed Loki in her best friend's home, sitting on the ottoman by himself, to get Kool-Aid (or whatever the hell they were drinking in middle-school) popped back into her mind. “You do possess the ability to be nice, y’know that?”

Loki hummed, flipping his pen around in his hand. Those fingers moving quickly yet gracefully was somehow mesmerizing. “Yeah but you’re not worth the effort.” He flicked his tongue and went back to writing.

Sif nodded, as if the reaction was expected and went back to her friends because maybe Loki wasn’t worth her effort.

Once she was gone, Loki shoved himself out of the chair and trudged over to the bathroom door with a bit of an amused smile. His knuckles burned slightly as he tapped insistently against the white wood currently keeping him from his absurd friend. “Wanda, dear? You’re free to come out.” He hummed happily.

There was a quiet thrush of water from the sink and some shuffling but the door remained closed for another minute or two. It gave Loki the time to pause...and maybe think about the other night. He’d come to expect that disgusting attitude from Odin but that didn’t take away the sharp pain it put in his chest everytime he put another back-handed comment on the table. Damn if Loki didn’t keep a tiny bit of hope for change. “Did you decide to take a nap on the linoleum, Wanda?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly it.” She finally answered, voice thick and unamused.

So much so that Loki whistled, putting his hands up in a mock surrender as he backed away from the door. Just in time for his friend to pop out with that smug little nose-scrunch smile of hers. However Loki didn’t miss the slick way she shoved her phone into her back-pocket. He cocked an eyebrow, arms crossing elegantly over his chest. “Who were you talking to?”

“Nobody. I was peeing and hiding from Thor’s friends.”

“Then let me see your call history.”

Wanda scowled. “No, Loki.” She shook her head and stomped past him, beginning a dance of irritation. She’d lead into a step only to have Loki block and counter it, pretending to be doing something of importance that just so happened to be in her way. It only lasted so long.

When Loki reached over her body to get the cookie jar, that conniving little smile on his face, Wanda couldn’t help it. She pushed his arm back with a bit more force than intended and watched him stumble with heat in her stomach. “Are you so arrogant that you can't understand you’re annoying me so much right now?” Venom in her tone for sure but Wanda was a master remaining unsettlingly pleasant even when angry.

“Oh please, spare the dramatics.” Loki rolled his eyes. “It did seem like you were growing tired of me.” He spat a little too bitterly. Wanda turned, leaning back on the counter. Her outfit annoyingly consisted of flare jeans which dragged against the floor.

“Loki.” She frowned, moving towards the table. “We’re soul-siblings-” She gently poked his shoulder with one finger. “Just because I’m dressing a little differently doesn’t mean I’m becoming someone else.”

Exceedingly embarrassed, Loki looked off to the side. “So tell me who you were talking to.” It was pitifully childish but something about his best friend, who often openly gushed and giggled over boys, being so suddenly secretive about a phone-call was bothering him. It had to be someone she liked. He knew her tell-tale signs...that and he swore he’d heard a muffled giggle from behind the damn bathroom door.

“Fine.” Wanda shook her head once more and handed over the phone.

#i found this in my drafts lol!#so i finished it!#:)#loki odinson #loki and wanda #wanda maximoff #caught up in you #marvel #MCU #my fanfiction #Loki Laufeyson #Scarlet Witch #The Avengers #Marvel Comics

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yegarts · 3 years

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Meet Your Makers: Gloria Ho

Presented by TIX on the Square

Sometimes, when you work really hard, you fall in with the right people, community, and — bears? Watercolour illustrator Gloria Ho has that kind of a story. What began as a series of whimsical bear-themed cards, grew into a signature collection of prints, depicting the sartorial wild side of nature. From hipster house cats to owls in Starfleet uniform, Gloria’s delightfully furry fashionistas have become her trademark. In this interview, we had the great pleasure of chatting with her about the unpredictability of watercolours, the certainty of a handwritten message, and the joy of seeing people smile. Meet this week’s maker, Gloria Ho.

TIX: Out of all the mediums, how did you land on watercolour? What is it about the medium that suits your style of storytelling so well?

G.H.: I found watercolours very tricky and a bit frustrating at first. But after some time, I fell in love with how unpredictable it was. I loved learning ways to control it and ways to let it go wild! I love to paint people and animals – living things. Watercolour almost feels alive because it blends and bleeds and moves. It’s as animated as my subjects!

TIX: Does showing in a gallery allow for your ideas to become bigger?

G.H.: I think so. I’ve shown my work in a few gallery settings, and it’s such a different experience than displaying my work at markets or online. There’s no pressure for it to be about sales and being marketable. It’s more about communicating my ideas and telling a story. It’s been a long time since I’ve made work for a gallery setting, and I definitely look forward to doing it again in the future.

TIX: In your animal series, your characters depict so much emotion and story through their body language and fashion. Do you build the characters first in your head, or do their personalities reveal themselves as you work?

G.H.: It happens both ways! Sometimes I see an image of an animal that I really want to paint, and then I will do research and gather reference photos to get a sense of its personality. Other times, I have a clear character in my head. I also love people-watching, and very often I will see people that I want to capture in animal form. I’ll take inspiration from their fashion, their body language, and their personalities to create animal characters.

TIX: With correspondence becoming much more digital, what do you think the charm of receiving a physical card still holds?

G.H.: Absolutely! It is such a wonderful feeling to receive a physical card in the mail or from someone’s hands. Touching the paper and seeing someone’s handwriting brings a special warmth that’s different from a digital message. Also, taking the time to pick out a card, write a personal message, and deliver it to a loved one is such an act of care! I’m quite old-fashioned, and I still write letters and cards to friends. I’ve also recently started writing letters to seniors living in care facilities.

TIX: What is the best advice you’ve received, and how have you applied that advice to your work?

G.H.: I started selling my artwork in February 2014, which was coincidentally the same time that I started my current job as an English teacher to newcomers to Canada. It felt great that I was able to juggle both of my passions. At that time, a former university professor was incredibly encouraging of me, and he advised me to continue to strike that balance for my whole life. I’ve always kept that in mind. However, I’ve felt overwhelmed at times trying to manage both jobs. Sometimes I can’t paint as much as I like. At times, I’ve felt like quitting one or the other. But I often think about my university professor, and now I don’t pressure myself to take on every project that comes my way. I try to focus on that balance and just do what I can.

TIX: What from your everyday life fuels your creativity?

G.H.: Before the pandemic, it was definitely being out in public and people-watching! Travel was also a big part of my life, and I loved seeing design and aesthetics in other countries and cities. Now, it’s probably watching movies, having conversations with friends, and trying to be aware of what’s going on in the world.

TIX: What’s coming up for you?

G.H.: I am slowly making my way through custom portraits. My clients are incredibly patient and understanding of my limited painting hours, which I’m so grateful for. I am also in the process of designing a more diverse collection of greeting cards. A friend asked me a few years ago if I had an adoption card and, regrettably, I didn’t make one until last year. I’m trying to think of cards that will be meaningful to more people.

Want more? Visit gloriaho.ca and tixonthesquare.ca for the latest from Gloria and other great artists.

Artist Bio

Gloria Ho is a watercolour illustrator based in Edmonton, AB. Gloria paints animals, people, and other random things. She aims to make illustrations that are joyful, inviting, and bring a smile to people’s faces. Gloria started her business in 2014 but has been painting for most of her life. In addition to painting, Gloria teaches English to newcomers to Canada. Both jobs fuel her creativity and desire to make the world a more beautiful place.

The blog series “Meet Your Makers” first appears on the TIX on the Square blog. You can read more posts on the TIX blog here.

#yeg #yegarts #yegmakers #edmonton #tixonthesquare

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loonyginger · 4 years

Text

» the devil within.

genre: angst

pairing: park seonghwa x reader

word count: 1.4k

warnings: murder, character death – don’t read if you’re uncomfortable with any of these!

a/n: Hello, after a long break I’m back with a short drabble. It’s the first time writing something like this so please have mercy. Also, I wrote this in the middle of the night so I apologise for any grammar mistakes, whatsoever. Anyhow, I hope some of you like it. :) – V.

❧

You had no idea how you ended up here. How you ended up in this situation which didn’t offer you an option to escape. Captured in a large, dark unfamiliar bedroom which didn’t allow you to see properly. The light of the moon that shone through the window which was tightly locked was the only source of light you got. But what has happened? The last thing you remembered was when you left the convenience store with a small bag filled with various versions of ramen. After that, your mind went completely blank.

Fear flew through each vein of your body which came close to panic due to the fact you had no clue where you were and more importantly, who brought you here. You had never seen this place before and when you let your gaze slide to the window you could see nothing but trees. No city lights, no other houses, absolutely nothing.

Before you could even continue to think about your current situation, you could hear how someone opened the wooden door which lead to the room you were locked in. Within a second, you swirled around only to take a few steps back towards the farthest spot away from the door. Adrenaline rushed through your body, eyes widened in fear but also curiosity as a dark figure appeared. You couldn’t make out who it was due to the lack of light, however, the silhouette of the person appeared to be oddly familiar.

Upon the sudden familiarity, you stopped within your tracks in an instant. Brows furrowed in utter confusion as your eyes tried to identify the tall figure. Why did it seem so oddly familiar? Your question got answered as soon as said figure took its final step into your direction, stopping right at the spot where the moonlight brightened the room and revealed the features you’d recognise everywhere.

“S-Seonghwa?”, you choked out, not being able to hold back your tears any longer. Within a second, you left your safe spot only to rush across the room, right into his arms without even taking a closer look at him. You didn’t question why he was here. For you, it only mattered that he was here. Hot tears streamed down your cold cheeks, burying your face into the crook of his warm neck as comfort.

“How did you find me?”, your body still trembled just like your voice did, his arms snaking around your waist in order to keep you close to the warmth of his body. Nothing but silence followed. Your boyfriend simply held you tightly in his embrace without the intention of letting you go anytime soon. As you still haven’t received any sort of response after several seconds, you allowed your head to move just a little backwards in order to gaze into the eyes you’ve fallen for three years ago.

But as you let your own eyes lock with his, you could immediately sense something was off. Instead of the lovingly gaze he used to watch you with, a now cold glare laid within those dark eyes. And it sent down a shudder down your spine in an instant. You had never seen him giving you a glare like that. Actually, you’ve never seen him shooting anyone a look like that.

Your mind was a whole mess. Despite not knowing how you ended up here you also wondered how your boyfriend was able to find you here, giving you the coldest and most emotionless look, you’ve ever received. Your chest tightened as you inspected each detail of his features which brought you to the horrific conclusion that this person might look like the love of your life, however, this was not the man you’ve fallen in love with. What happened to him?

“Seongwha? What the hell is going on?” You demanded to know, trying to keep your voice steady which didn’t really work out. One could still hear the fear lingering in it, especially a person who knew you best, like the male who still had your arms wrapped around your frame.

“I brought you here”, he finally spoke up. But those words which left his mouth were as cold as the eyes that inspected your facial features closely. Your forehead wrinkled upon the sudden confession of your boyfriend which left you somewhat speechless. It made no sense. With each second that passed, you felt more uncomfortable being close to him which sounded ridiculous to you considering he was basically the person you enjoyed to be around the most.

“What– why?” You shifted your body in an uncomfortable manner, trying to escape his grasp but the raven-haired did not loosen his grip, in fact, he tightened it even more. Suddenly, a small smile crept on Seonghwa’s lips, but not that kind of smile you expected. It looked far from the smiles you’ve seen on him … it was malicious.

“The less you know, the better”, he muttered, his voice was being surprisingly soothing which honestly scared you. What happened that he was acting all weird in front of you? What was this all about?

Despite the fear which spread through your body, you couldn’t bring yourself to tear your eyes off the devilish, yet angelical features of the man in front of you. The man you’ve called your boyfriend for nearly a year and the man you trusted the most.

Only seconds later, you felt a sharp pain near your abdomen which soon subsided and got taken over by numbness. Your eyes widened in both, disbelief and shock due to the sudden impact something sharp made with your flesh. The time seemed to stop instantly and yet everything happened so fast. As your eyes travelled down your body, you could see the long blade of a katana being buried in your abdomen. Your mouth fell agape and you weren’t sure if it was the fact that your boyfriend just stabbed you or the fact that you knew your time has come far sooner than you expected it to be.

You’ve trusted Seonghwa. You gave him all of you which turned out to be a fatal mistake. A mistake which would cost your life. Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him – no matter how hard you tried. He could hurt you in the most unforgiving way and you’d forgive him nonetheless. You just couldn’t bring yourself to despise him. You could never.

“H-Hwa?” Too deep sat the shock by the sudden change of the person you trusted with everything you had. His dark eyes lingered upon your trembling figure, reflecting not a single emotion as his large hand put more pressure on the handle of the katana without any regret.

Instead of backing away, however, you didn’t even move an inch away from the spot you stood the past few minutes. Not that you could have moved away. Compared to Seonghwa, your features clearly revealed the emotions you currently experienced. Sadness, confusion, betrayal and even more which you couldn’t name properly. Too much was going on in your head. Did you not matter to him? No, that couldn’t be. All those wonderful memories you shared. They couldn’t have been fake, could they? All the joyful days, lovely evenings and sinful nights – there’s no way he was able to fake all of that, right?

“I’m sorry it had to end like this, y/n. I actually really liked you. But a job’s a job”, he whispered close to your ear, his hot breath sending shivers down your spine one last time right before he pulled the sharp blade out of your body, removing it completely which eventually caused you to collapse down on the ground right in front of him. Your eyes desperately searched for his for any kind comfort. Comfort you wouldn’t find in his eyes. That couldn’t be it. No. You were young, you still had lots of things planned. You wanted to marry, have kids, travel the world. You wanted all of that with Seonghwa and all those dreams ended within five minutes. Despite your current state, you could clearly feel how your heart shattered into thousands of pieces but soon, you wouldn’t be feeling anything anymore. It was the shortest, yet most devastating heartbreak you ever experienced.

#ateez imagines #ateez x reader #ateez angst #ateez scenarios #seonghwa x reader #park seonghwa #kim hongjoong #jeong yunho #kang yeosang #choi san #song mingi #jung wooyoung #choi jongho

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anotheronechicagobog · 5 years

Note

Can you do one with Severide where he cheats and then tries to win the reader back? Lots of angst

Kelly Severide x Reader Liar Liar Pants on Fire

written by @anotheronechicagobog

warnings: cheating, swearing, mature themes, angst

A/N I hope that you like it! Sorry it took me so long, I’m just always nervous about the stuff I write not being long and/or good enough.

You were finally arriving home after a long, and fucking hard, day. You’d known when you chose to enter STEM in college that you’d be dealing with a ton of sexism, but right now you were exhausted. After graduating with a double major in computer programming and biochemistry, you accepted a job at Chicago PD in the crime lab. And today was awful because your lovely co-worker Manon was on vacation for the week and substitute, Jimmy, was incredibly sexist. He couldn’t go thirty seconds without making a remark, mansplaining, undressing you with his eyes, and belittling you. It took all your strength to not cave in his skull. You just wanted to eat something to fill the hole in your stomach, and curl up in bed with your boyfriend Kelly. When you entered the apartment you shared with him and Shay something felt off. You heard loud moans of pleasure coming from upstairs, you assumed they were coming from Shay and her new lover Andrea. Even though you were slightly annoyed at the fact that you’d have a harder time falling asleep with those sounds surrounding the apartment. Your feeling of apprehension remained but you had no idea why. You decided to reheat some leftovers, once you finished the front door opened to reveal one Leslie Shay. You looked at her in shock as that feeling in your gut hardened. “Les? I thought that you were upstairs, with Andrea...”

“... No, I just came back from a movie night with Gabby and Casey, Kelly was supposed to come too, but he bailed at the last minute. I thought he was with you. Who’s upstairs? They’re really going at it.”

“I don’t know. As I said, I thought it was you and Andrea...”

“Did you just get back?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think someone broke in just to have sex?”

“Honestly, I’ve seen crazier things come through my lab. Let’s go deal with this.” You and Leslie marched up the spiral staircase and burst through the door to your and Kelly’s room armed with a rolling pin and frying pan. What you were met with was not two strangers taking advantage of someone else’s bed, but Kelly naked on top and inside of a brunette you didn’t recognize. They were too... wrapped up in each other to notice you two at first. You and Leslie were too much in shock to react either once the both of you realized who was doing who. It was after they both came that they noticed you. Kelly rolled off of her and noticed you and Leslie standing armed at the door. “Ah! Shit! Fuck! Y/N, I can explain!” He was hurrying to separate himself and making sure he was covered up. You lowered your rolling pin and placed it on the dresser. YOUR dresser. That you shared with Kelly. “Alright,” you said slowly and restrained, letting a quiet and calculated anger flow through you “explain.” Kelly sat there blinking, opening and closing his mouth. “Well, you said you can explain so explain.”

“I uh... Don’t really... I didn’t think you’d actually let me- I didn’t think I’d get this far...”

“UNBELIEVABLE YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! HOW DARE YOU TREAT Y/N THIS WAY!” Then Leslie turned to the girl still lying on your bed’ wrapped in your sheets, making eyes at your boyfriend. “WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING FUCK ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?! DO YOU NOT REALIZE YOU SLEPT WITH SOMEONE’S BOYFRIEND?! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!” Leslie screaming with steam coming out of her ears made the woman jump in gear, forgoing her bra and underwear and just grabbing her dress from the floor, throwing it on, and trying to grab her stuff and catch her things that Leslie was throwing at her. When Leslie and the severely underdressed woman were out of the room you turned to Kelly with tears streaming down your face. “It’s over, Kelly. I’m going to go stay at my mom’s, I’ll come to get my stuff tomorrow, please don’t be here.”

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

Your mom had been sympathetic, she welcomed you with open arms and tubs of your favourite ice cream. She’d wrapped her arms around you and cooed promises to string Kelly up by his toes.

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FOUR AND A HALF YEARS LATER

“Honey, I’m home.” Your boyfriend sang out in a joking manner, you two had an Iron Man marathon last night since Tony Stark is Connor’s favourite Marvel character. “Haha, how was dinner with your sister?”

“Good. It went really well, I don’t think I can thank you enough Y/N, for convincing me to try to work on my relationship with her, I didn’t realize how much I missed her. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“How was your day?” Connor poured two glasses of wine knowing full well that you would be ranting and raving about being ignored, underappreciated, and underpaid. You loved your job, you really did, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t have its cons. Once you finished your long rant and took the last sip of wine, you noticed Connor looking at you with a gentle intensity. “Connor?”

“Y/N, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you... I have tried writing a speech so many times and... I just haven’t been able to capture all of the right words. I’ve been wanting to ask you for months and I don’t think I can bear to put it off any longer. Y/N I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have kids, cats, grandkids and grow old together. So Y/N will you marry me?” Connor had moved off the couch and was kneeling in front of you, a modest ring being held in between his nervous fingers. You looked him deep in the eyes and set your glass down, you put your hands on both sides of his face. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes! I love you so much and I can’t with to grow old with you too.” While both of you were smiling like fools he gently slid the ring onto your finger before leaning in to kiss you and you could feel the love and joy beaming out of your hearts.

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

It took less than ten minutes for the entire station to find out you got engaged. You didn’t mind, really, you just didn’t want anyone upset that all the work wasn’t done because people kept coming by to congratulate you. Hailey walked into your office for the second time that day, the first time being to see if Platt was right and that you had a ring on your finger, this time however you could tell something was wrong. She had a dark look on her face and didn’t have any evidence with her for you to test. “Hailey? What’s up?” She sighed and gave you an annoyed smile. “There was a fire at the scene, so Truck 81 and Squad 3 were there, while waiting on the sidelines Adam and Jay were gossiping about your engagement pretty loudly, Severide overheard. He didn’t react well. Sorry.”

“Don’t be, Hailey, we all work and hang out in pretty close circles, he was bound to find out.” You shrugged and continued typing up your report for the evidence from a case Intelligence solved the other day. “He still loves you Y/N, I think you should be prepared for him to-”

“Profess his love, tell me I’m making a mistake, beg me to take me back? Yeah, he’s done all that already. He cheated on me, I left him, but he couldn’t let me go.” You sighed and stopped typing on your computer for a moment and saw Hailey smile sympathetically at you. She reached for your hands and squeezed.”Want to go get lunch?”

“Sorry, Hailey, I’m getting lunch with Claire and Connor. We want to be the ones to tell her rather than her finding out from someone else. After I’m meeting with Leslie quickly to ask her to be my maid of honour.”

“Good idea.”

“I was wondering, though, Hailey, if would you be a bridesmaid?”

“Yes! Y/N you are going to have the best bachelorette party ever!” The mood in the room suddenly became joyful, filled with sounds of excitement and happiness.

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

THREE MONTHS LATER

You were buried up to your shoulders in wedding plans. Neither you nor Connor realized how much planning had to go into a wedding. Currently, you, Connor, Leslie, Hailey, Will, Claire, and Ethan were sitting in your living room with wedding plans strewn around the room. Connor and Claire were working on the guest list. “Do we really have to invite Aunt Tiffany? We haven’t seen her since before mom died and if I remember correctly, she’s a horrible person and we both hate her.”

“I know Connor, but she’s our aunt, and ALL relatives must be invited to your wedding. You will never hear the end of it if some fifth cousin three times removed is not invited.”

“C’mon, Claire, Y/N and I aren’t going to know who most of these people are!”

“Alright then, let’s take a break from our family and work on Y/N’s.”

“You aren’t going to invite all of my relatives, are you? I’m not speaking to half of them because they’re selfish and rude. I really don’t want my dad’s side at my wedding.”

“Sorry Y/N, but we have to invite everyone, but don’t worry, if they’re selfish and rude they’ll fit in well with our family.” Claire smiled at you as you groaned in frustration. You threw the papers from the catering companies on the coffee table and collapsed on the couch. You could feel a headache coming on and just wanted to close your eyes for a minute. A kiss was dropped to your forehead, you knew the feeling of those lips well and didn’t have to open your eyes. “Thanks, Connor.”

“You know I was thinking, what if we had two weddings? One small one that’s just us and the people we love, and a second one that’s large and thrown for the benefit of people we don’t like.” You opened your eyes and sat up. “That’s a good idea.”

“Y/N, Connor, you’re really considering having two weddings? That’s... Actually, yeah that sounds like a good idea. I mean it’s more work, but dad left us a ton of money.”

“How would you handle planning two weddings if you can’t handle planning one?”

“Well, Ethan, since we don’t really care about the second one we could just hire a wedding planner for that one.”

“Well since that’s settled, I’ll order dinner for all of us. Is Lebanese okay?” With a chorus of ‘yes’ from everyone, Connor went to order dinner while everyone shoved the papers into a pile in the middle of the table. When Connor returned Claire sighed. “We still have to plan one wedding, though.”

“Don’t worry about it, Claire. Connor and I can handle it. We just had trouble dealing with how big the wedding had to be, we were changing all of our plans because of it. Now that we’ve decided to have one where we actually get to make the choices we want, it’ll be a lot easier.” You felt Connor hmm an agreement from his spot curled around you. You spent the rest of the evening with your friends who you considered family, talking and laughing, eating good food and feeling loved. Without the stress of a ‘rich people wedding’, as Will had dubbed it, you and Connor felt much more relaxed and happy.

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

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

You were tired but happy. The wedding planner you and Connor hired did her job well. She understood completely when you explained that you were going to have two weddings and why. She arranged everything for the big posh events that were expected from Connor and managed to keep your first wedding a secret from those you didn’t want to know. The small wedding that you planned with your fiance was going exactly as you wanted, so far at least. You were finishing getting ready to walk down the aisle. Leslie, Hailey, Claire, along with your mom and grandmother were tearing up. Claire wrapped her arms around you. “You look so beautiful, Y/N, my brother is so lucky.”

“Don’t let Leslie hear you say that, I’ve seen what Les does when she’s jealous.” Claire laughed and took deep breaths to try and stop the happy tears. As you and Claire untangled yourselves and Hailey checked your make-up to make sure it hadn’t been ruined there was a knock at the door. Leslie answered it and let out what could only be described as a feral hiss. Everyone whipped their heads to the doorway to see one Kelly Severide. “I just want to talk to Y/N.”

“How dare you, if you think-”

“Don’t bite his head off Les. Connor invited him. Let him say what he came to, it’s probably just well wishes, right Kelly?” His breathing was rapid, his eyes looked panicked, and you felt every woman in the room including yourself sigh in annoyance. “Y/N I love you, please just-”

“No. Kelly stop. It’s been years since we were together, let me go. I am happy with and I love Connor. Please don’t interfere with my happiness.” Kelly nodded with tears running down his face. “I’ll always love you, and I know that you’ll always love me too.” Kelly stumbled away, causing you to sigh. “Hey, Les? Would you mind telling Will to keep an eye on Kelly? I mean, we told the minister to not do the whole ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ bit, so we don’t have to worry about that, I just don’t want him to disturb anything.”

“Got it.”

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Hailey had just walked down the aisle, which meant that in a moment, it would be your turn. You took a deep breath and let your excitement explode on your face. You saw the heavenly way Connor was looking at you and felt the aisle was too long, keeping you from him. When you finally got to the end you handed off your bouquet to Leslie and stood facing Connor. “Hi.”

“Hey.” There was a small round of chuckles from the bridesmaids and groomsmen. “Friends, family we have all come together today to watch Connor Rhodes and Y/N Y/L/N in marriage.” You focused on Connor’s face, the minister’s words became a blur, only bringing you back to reality when they said “The bride and groom have written their own vows, so let us hear their words of love” They gestured for Connor to go first, he smiled softly and began to speak. “Y/N, when we first met, you knocked me on my ass. Literally. You were rushing to get out of our favourite cafe and while trying to dodge other people, barrelled straight into me. You ended up spilling your coffee all over the floor, right next to where I was sitting on the ground. I remember looking at you and just being in awe of you. Of the way you carried yourself, how you handled the situation, and how you knocked me down without a fight, which is something that I like to think is particularly hard to do. When I asked for your number and you actually gave it to me, I felt like I’d been handed a meddle, and while it was a bit confusing at the time, it makes so much sense now. You are the most intelligent, kind, loving, strong, terrifying person I know. You fit with me in a way no one ever has and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Suddenly you both saw commotion coming from the groom’s side, everyone turned to see Jay and Voight subtly restraining and silencing Kelly Severide. He struggled against them and looked at you with desperate, pleading eyes. You repressed the urge to march over there and slap him. You and Connor turned back to each other, your observations having taken place in three seconds. “And now for Y/N’s vows.”

“Connor, you make me so happy. I don’t want to consider a life that doesn’t have you by my side. I remember our first date, and I am so grateful that Leslie was able to talk to you at the hospital and intercept your original plans. I don’t think we would have gotten where we are now if you had actually taken me to the frufru restaurant in a limo and then renting out an art gallery. And so instead you took me to a family-owned Lebanese place and then to a board game bar. We started with Operation, because it’s one of my favourites, and you were terrible at it which is ironic because you’re, you know, a surgeon.” everyone in the room laughed. “That night was the best I’d had in a while. You made me smile and laugh and you’ve kept doing that since. I love you with every fibre of my being and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Beautiful, without further ado, I with the power vested in me by the state of Illinois, pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss!” A loud cheer came from all your friends and family as Connor swept you into a grand, loving kiss.

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At the reception, you felt like you were walking on clouds. Your first dance with Connor had been slow and warm with the sound of John Legend mixed with Connor’s heartbeat encompassing you. It had been three hours and you still couldn’t stop smiling. Connor was dancing with your mom while you chatted with Claire. “Y/N you and my brother look so happy. It’s just so heartwarming to see.”

“That means so much Claire. I know-”

“Atnmentition evey- everyone! I ha- have somating to sa- aaaay” A completely wasted Kelly Severide was standing on stage with the DJ drunkenly slurring into the mic. “Oh hell.” Everyone had stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the spectacle he was making. “I lo- lobe lobe-” He turned and threw up on the stage just as you made your way over to Connor. Antonio and Voight made their way over to Kelly and started to carry him off the stage and out of the reception hall, Kelly was crying and making reaching motions for you. You just shook your head and sighed. “Well, at least that happened at the end and not the beginning of the night.” Connor was trying to cheer you up and it worked. “You’re right, besides I think it’s time for us to leave for our honeymoon anyway.”

“Definitely.” After thanking everyone for coming you got changed into a more comfortable and travel-friendly dress you met with a beaming Connor in the middle of the dance floor. You were both smiling like fools as you made the way through the crowd of people you loved most in the world and into the car that was going to take you to the airport. As you were driving away you caught sight of Kelly lying on the curb while some of the guys were trying to coax him into the back of a car. You just turned away and kissed Connor, smiling into him. Even when you heard Kelly screaming your name, you didn’t look back. Just continued to cuddle gaze into the eyes of the love of your life.

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