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couldbebetterforsure · 1 year

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Hey there guys, long time no post!!! But I finally had time to make a bit more progress in Engage (yay!!!!) so now I have a new update for you! Oh and I added my reaction to Tiki’s paralogue, which I forgot to mention last time!

Tiki’s Paralogue: I completely forgot to write down my thoughts on Tiki’s paralogue in my last update!!! I did it I think a short bit after I did Jean’s paralogue? Which is funny considering I’ve basically glued Jean and Tiki together for this playthrough! The paralogue itself was lots of fun despite the fact it took me FOREVER to finish it! I had poor Chloe slowly making her way around the perimeter to get that Silver Card from that random spot in the back (which bless because I am dirt poor in this playthrough so getting shit for half off is beautiful 🙏) And then there were those healers who are completely blocked off so I HAD to have Chloe take them out otherwise anyone else in my army would get trapped. The white dragons and Tiki herself were the most threatening ones of the enemies on this map. Especially Tiki, my sweet girl hit like a fucking TRUCK! Her conversation with Marth was super cute! I’m glad Alear now has a fellow divine dragon to speak to after Lumera’s death.

Chapter 10: Veyle honey thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction! Excuse me as I ignore that really unsettling moment you had before you disappeared. Yup I knew it ripperoni in pepperoni Morion 🫡 Jokes aside I did like the guy enough that his death was sad, especially with how upset poor Diamant and Alcryst were over it. The music for this map was SO good, especially the chanting that starts up once you break into the room in the center! Of COURSE I went and had Diamant and Alcryst take on Morion I need that juicy dialogue! And WOW that was depressing. Honestly that was some of the saddest battle dialogue I’ve seen to date. Diamant wondering if he was a good son and Alcryst telling his dad he loves him all while Morion can only growl and groan as a Corrupted. Alear’s own dialogue was also sad as well. Hyacinth was a pain in the ass between Lyn’s super fat reaching arrows and that cloning thing! But once I finally got to him POW he went down! Ha ha getting snacked on by the very evil demon snake dragon you summoned is a perfect end for you Hyacinth. Wow Veyle was the evil girl? I’m sooooo shocked…In all seriousness though, the VA does a good job of making Veyle sound distinct enough in both versions that by voice alone I wouldn’t say they were the same. And I get the feeling the nice Veyle is not so fake. WHAT? The fuck do you mean you’re taking my Emblems?????? Marth, Sigurd, Celica, Micaiah, Leif, Roy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 Give me my babies back you piece of shit snake!!! WTF the time crystal too???? I can’t rewind turns anymore? Do you have ANY idea how shit my luck is?! Seriously what an interesting turn! Giving you several chapters of using the Emblems and then taking them away! How evil!

Chapter 11: Ooh right into the next map huh? With more really lovely map music! An escape chapter? That’s a new one! ……Hold it no time rewind and no Emblems with MY garbage luck??? AND random enemies will have the evil red versions of my Emblem buddies? Yeah long story short I had to restart this map A BUNCH. At least they didn’t take away the DLC Emblems so Jean (with Tiki) and Celine (with the 3H lords) weren’t nerfed. I’ve heard that some people ended up with some pretty shitty Alears who were only holding on thanks to the Emblems. I wasn’t one of those people but yeah my Alear still was not as good as she was when she had an Emblem attached! And wow I was so used to my Yunaka doubling as another healer since she and Micaiah had been glued together until now…..Oh Ivy? And Kagetsu and Zelkov as well? Zelkov my man!!!!! Yoinking back the time crystal I love you!!!!! And Ivy giving us two Emblems in Lyn and MY BABY GIRL LUCINA 🥳🥳🥳🥳 My sweetest daughter you’re safe at last!!!! And Ivy, Kagetsu and Zelkov join! Heck yeah more fire power, I can rewind time again AND I got a couple Emblems! The rest of the map was a lot more straightforward after that. Lucina was so fun to use especially with her “everyone dog pile on this sucker” ability! And Lyn was great with her long reaching arrows. And now I have Kagetsu that demon man on my side now! The after battle dialogue was pretty good too, from Alcryst being angry at Ivy to basically everyone blaming themselves for the disaster to Alear’s growth and determination to be better to both Lyn and Lucina giving their own advice and support. But my other Emblem babies 🥺🥺🥺 I’ll save you guys!!!!!

Chapter 12: I got to promote both my Alear and Alfred and I am so glad! Alfred’s flower crown got even more flowery~! And Alear can punch shit now HELL YEAH!!!! When do we get access to unlimited Master Seals because the few I have can only take me so far….Anyways, it’s on to Solm! Sun, sad, desert….I would die I am not good with heat. And welp we’ve all gotten our asses lost. Beautiful….Oh but here comes Fogado to save us from dying of heatstroke! A Sentinel huh? Sure buddy I’ll help you out if you lead us to the palace! I like Fogado he’s friendly and charming, even if he’s another now user I need to test my luck on. And what a duo he has with him! Bunet seems to talk in nothing but good metaphors. And Pandreo, a howling party priest I love that!!!! Oh fuck we gotta protect ally villagers? *sigh* Alright bring on the garbage…*sees the villagers are not in enemy range and don’t otherwise move themselves into danger* Oh fucking bless! A very easygoing mission even with the quicksand, probably as an apology for the last couple maps. I really love Solm’s battle music it’s so 💃💃💃💃💃 you know? Anyways battle is over and Fogado leads us to the palace and what!!!! He’s the prince!!!!! I’m shocked I tell you shocked! Not like preview info didn’t already tell us that!!!

Lucina’s Paralogue: After the last chapter the final DLC Emblems were released so I took a mini break to do a couple. I know the DLC Emblems have special conversations with some other Emblems so I only did the ones I have Emblems who comment on for. But that doesn’t have to do with Lucina’s paralogue I just decided to explain it here. Ahhh Arena Ferox my old friend! I think I mentioned it before but as I’m playing this game I’m also casually doing a Hard mode run of Awakening, my actual very first Hard mode playthrough of ANY Fire Emblem game I’ve played! With all the hundreds of hours I’ve devoted to Awakening already as well my nostalgia was cranked to the max especially with that great remix track! The map itself was incredibly straightforward, like I think I actually had a harder time during my Hard mode playthrough of this map in Awakening 😂 Luci baby c’mon I know you can be more challenging than that! But it’s done and heck yeah Lucina can now reach bond level 20!

Chrom and Robin’s Paralogue: Of course I had to do the wonder duo’s paralogue as well! And of course I brought Lucina along for the ride! Lady Robin is my girl so I’m sad she’s not here but I still love male Robin too! And Chrom!!!! My husband!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍 My original and forever top blueberry husband I am so happy to see you again! Their opening dialogue was both sweet and funny! The map itself was something alright! Especially once they brought out all those puddles. Also just from reading the descriptions Chrom and Robin’s skills seem super busted!!! But it was fun figuring out how to do things and I adored Lucina’s dialogue with both Chrom and Robin (she was so happy to see her dad again). But another map down and another Emblem bracelet obtained! Thank goodness because my squad needs some more Emblems, we only have the 3H lords, Tiki, Lucina, Lyn, and now the Chrom and Robin duo.

Hector’s Paralogue: I decided I would do one more Emblem Paralogue before I would head back to the main story and I decided to go for Hector since I heard he only has a convo with Lyn among the Emblems. I only know of Hector from FEH and watching other people’s lets plays of the Elibe games but I really enjoy his personality! This fucking map though…..Fucking poison hell….Every time I think I’m safe I realize I accidentally put one of my poor units in the direct line of fire from one of those poison sprays. And the number of times I had to use the time crystal because I brought Citrinne along for this map in order to level her up since I promoted her to a Sage but the girl’s made of tissue paper 😞 Citrinne, honey, please….Aw well I got that nice Hector-Lyn dialogue and Citrinne finally kept her ass alive long enough to KO Hector for me. That’s another Emblem bracelet for me!

And that’s where I’m currently at, just level grinding and bond grinding and otherwise preparing to continue the main story of the game! Still having tons of fun with Engage and can’t wait to see where things go from here! Also can’t wait to get back my original Emblems too, I miss them…

#story time with me #fire emblem engage #the divine one engages across elyos #fire emblem engage spoilers #finally got to make a little more progress in engage!#now who knows when I’ll be able to make some more #I truly am having a good time and I like the challenge these maps provide even as someone playing on normal mode as usual #now if only I wasn’t also dirt poor…#usually I begging game dirt poor but by around the half way mark I’ll be rich as heck #no signs of such wealth so far though

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because-of-a-friend · 2 years

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Scared!Woozi

MASTERLIST

Thank you for the request anon! Thanks to everyone who sent in stuff for spooky season! I’m a little late for last Halloween so let’s just say I’m super early for the upcoming holiday lol. This will just be a basic bulletpoint scenario so I hope everyone has a fun and easy time reading it!Anon I hope I live up to your expectations!

Warnings: Mild scary elements, food, tell me if I missed any!

(Remember that gifs are never mine and OPs are always linked right below so if you like them, go give their creators love!!!)

Usually your sweet boyfriend is the type to have no reaction at all during horror movies

Not that he’s trying to look brave in front of you or anything

He just genuinely isn’t affected

The type to make comments like

“Well yeah, obviously they died, they ran into a room with no exits”

Often enough that you’re like “Bro, shut up”

Sometimes you have to act more scared than you actually are of a movie to get him to quiet up and concentrate lol

Jihoon is always the cavalier, not so bothered, “this isn’t even scary” type

This random mood he’s in must have started a week or so ago

The other boys had been hanging up fake cobwebs and skeletons around the dorm to get ready for Halloween

It wasn’t unsettling

Just a bit of an annoyance that sat in the back of his head

All he could think of is how hard it would be for them to clean up later

But he was going to let the kids have their fun

Then they started watching scary movies every night

Jihoon could deal with just Mingyu’s whining and Seokmin’s occasional screams followed by the aggressive shushing from other members

But Seungkwan

It was always Seungkwan that managed to make his skin crawl

Whenever Seungkwan got scared and inevitably ran to one of the hyungs to cry about it

It was like he didn’t want to be comforted

He just wanted the other person to be as scared as he was

The whole week he’s walking up to Jihoon with that look on his face and saying things like “Hyung, doesn’t something seem... strange about our dorm?”

Before Jihoon is quickly swatting him away and sending Seungkwan off to complain to one of the other older members

Jihoon keeps telling himself he’s just stressed and tired

But the sound of Seungkwan’s voice as he insists the dorm is haunted starts making it harder for Jihoon to get to sleep at night

He starts using ambience sounds from YouTube and practicing the breathing exercises that Wonwoo taught him

Sleep comes a little easier

But then the night of the thunderstorm happens

It’s the truly scary kind

The one where the thunder is so loud you’re convinced the lightning must be striking right outside your window, waiting for an opportunity to come in

Some of the younger boys are suddenly coming into his room to spend the night, the rest of the members undoubtedly crowded into each other’s rooms as well, seeking comfort in company

But the lightning stays loud and present throughout the whole night

Between that and Seokmin’s snoring, Jihoon doesn’t sleep

So by the time he reaches your place on the actual day of Halloween, he is stressed and tired and pulled taught like a rubber band about to snap

But he’s hoping just being able to spend time with you will make him feel better

You also have a nicer mattress than him so he’s looking forward to fully crashing on it at the end of the evening

He’s greeted by the sight of you in a cute costume when you open your front door

Your neighborhood had lots of families so you got dressed up for Halloween and always had candy to pass out to kids in a big bowl by the door

Jihoon snags some as he walks in

“I already picked out a movie for us to watch tonight, or did you have other plans?” you say, setting out more substantial food for Jihoon to eat on the table

“No that sounds good,” he shrugs, biting back a million remarks about your cutesy costume

You can see his sly smile, though, and make sure to stick out your tongue at him when he’s looking at you again, “Quit it with the weird looks, you pervert”

“I’m not thinking anything like that, I promise I was only going to bully you for how ridiculous you look”

He’s distracted by the food as he speaks, already starting to sit down at the table

You noticed he seemed a bit stressed as he positively wolfs down his food

“Babe, we don’t have to do anything tonight. If you just want to go ahead and get some sleep-”

“No, I wanna watch the movie with you. You love Halloween” he insists

He literally jolts in his seat when your doorbell rings

“Baby,” you can’t help but laugh a bit, “it’s just trick-or-treaters”

He blushes a little as he nods

You get up to give them candy

Jihoon finishes off his food

You clear up the table yourself, feeling a little sorry towards your obviously tired boyfriend

“You can fall asleep during the movie, don’t try to stay awake” you say to him when he settles down on your shoulder instead of pulling you to lay on his chest like he usually does

He simply hums back

Jihoon is significantly more quiet during this movie than he usually is

Plenty of scenes pass where you were sure he was going to make fun of the characters for their foolish decisions

But he’s completely silent

You take that to mean that he must be asleep

But then the first big jump scare happens and Jihoon is practically leaping into your lap

“What’s going on with you, Mr. Tough Guy?” you tease lightly, trying to ease the tension

“Sorry, I think it surprised me since I wasn’t paying close enough attention”

“That’s ok” you say gently and take note that his tone seems a little off

And the way he’s gripping your arm

It goes on like this throughout most of the movie, Jihoon jumping a little here and there and you trying to comfort him

Finally you pause it

“I think we should just stop,” you say

And the power goes out

Jihoon actually curses out loud

You’re mostly confused

You hadn’t heard the storm start outside, too invested in the movie

It was a moment of shock and then annoyance

Jihoon is still gripping your arm as you get up and walk around the house to make sure everything seems ok

“Can I admit something to you?” you whisper in the dark

“What?”

“I was going to stop the movie earlier, but you’re kind of cute when you’re scared”

Jihoon flicks your forehead

But when you move too far from him he grabs your shirt and buries his face in the back of your neck as you move around

You grab extra blankets from your hall closet and gather as many flashlights as you can find laying around

Jihoon hovers near you as you set up the lights in your room

But you force him to change into more comfortable clothes

You eventually do the same once you get everything set up the way you want it

“C’mon you big baby, let’s get some rest”

You open up your arms big and wide for Jihoon to fit into

At first you just lay with him

He had seemed so wound up so you take your time running your hand through his hair and massaging his tense shoulders

“I wasn’t that scared” he mumbles into your neck

“So you’re ok if I leave you in the room alone to go use the bathroom?”

...

“That’s what I thought”

He pinches your side

Eventually you pull out your phone that had thankfully been fully charged before the power went out

You play a funny movie that you know Jihoon favors

Soon he’s relaxing into your side, the tension leaving his body

“Was I too mean?”

“No, are you kidding? The boys would be having the time of their lives making fun of me if this had happened at the dorm”

“I know, but still”

“You really weren’t babe”

It’s silent for a second

“Thank you for taking care of me”

He adds quietly

“Anytime,” you say lovingly, burying your hands into his hair, “but we will be finishing that movie someday”

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angelz-dust · 4 years

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cheaters always win (jason todd x reader)

summary: uh... you fuck red hood. that’s it. happy kinktober.

warnings: 18+ content (minors dni) - smut, unprotected sex (no condom, no pulling out), clothed sex, masks, mild roleplaying. bad writing. terrible, actually. enjoy tho.

minors/ageless blogs who interact will be blocked - read rules before interacting

you laid in bed, comfortable underneath your soft blankets, head rested against a fluffy pillow. you had just taken a nice shower and took your time getting ready for bed. it was starting to get colder, the crisp october wind not being very forgiving, but you managed to maintain a decent temperature that goldilocks would approve of. this was a perfect recipe for slumber and you plan on indulging in that. it didn't take long for your tired state and environment to lull you to sleep.

unfortunately, though, nothing could ever be that perfect.

after getting about an hour and a half of sleep, you suddenly were brought out of dreamworld and back to reality. you wanted to close your eyes and continue your dream where you and your old friends from high school were international super spies, so you did just that. you let out a deep exhale, trying to find that sweet spot of unconsciousness again but something was tingling in your mind. you felt like something was off.

you kept your eyes firmly shut as you tried to feel for anything, the paranoia starting to settle in. was it the boogeyman coming to get you out in some inception like dream sequence or was someone in your apartment? you kept your breathing quiet as you tried to listen in for anything. you couldn't see it, as your eyes were still closed, but you could feel the that the door to your bedroom was now ajar. you were afraid to look, unsure of what you'd see.

you slowly opened your eyes, turning your head and sitting up to see someone sitting in the chair next to your dresser. they were illuminated by the moonlight shining in through the blinds of the window next to you. you let out a gasp, flinching and gripping your sheets and you felt your back press into the headboard. the person just stared at you while you panicked.

your eyes were blurry and filled with sleep. it took you a moment in your now petrified fear to realize that you knew who was sitting in the chair, unflinching at your scared noises.

"jesus fucking christ," you breathed out, pressing your hand on your chest as you felt your heart hammering back against it. "oh my god, you scared me."

silence. no response. not even a nonverbal one.

as you attempted to regulate your breathing, you stared at jason. well... not jason. you were staring at red hood. he must have just gotten back from patrol. sometimes he would stop by to spend the night with you. he must have broke in, as he always did, while you were asleep.

"goodnight, asshole," you pouted, laying back down in your little cocoon. you expected to hear a response or at least the sound of his boots hitting the floor while he shuffled around to get ready for bed. you didn't, though, which prompted you to open your heavy eyes once again.

"jason," you called out cutely, turning over to look at him. your pout returned after a yawn fell from your lips, glistening your eyes with sleepy tears. "hurry up and come to bed."

you weren't sure if there was something wrong with him or not. was he upset? hurt, maybe? these scary thoughts were starting to bring you out of your sleepy stupor. you sat up, deciding to try to throw some humor his way to get a reaction. you wanted to try and see where his head was at without having to ask specifically.

"excuse me, red hood?" you started, rubbing your eyes softly. "have you seen my boyfriend, jason?"

you watched as he shifted in his seat, his elbow propped up on the arm of the chair. he went and placed his chin in his palm, looking at you.

"i don't think i have," he responded, his voice distorted because of his voice modulator.

you smiled, glad that he was talking now. you hoped this meant that nothing was wrong. "he's very tall and solid. silky black hair, pretty green eyes, ruggedly handsome. very hard to miss."

red hood drummed his fingers on his lap with his free hand, pretending to think. "it's not ringing any bells."

"oh no," you sighed jokingly. "do you think something bad happened to him?"

"he's probably dead."

your face fell into a blank stare at his stupid joke. thank god you couldn't see his smug face under the helmet. was he giving you his signature smirk? were his eyes sparkling, overshadowing the sadness that always seemed to linger behind them or had their beauty been plagued by it, along with the rest of his handsome face? it was incredibly hard to tell. you hoped for the former.

"my boyfriend is too strong to die," you told him with a small smile. "i bet he could take you. he taught me everything he knows so... i bet i could take you, too."

"i seriously doubt that," you heard him retort, sitting up straight in the chair now. he viewed your claim as a challenge he was going to accept.

"then try and fight me, red hood," you said, sticking out your tongue at him.

you watched him stand up and walk towards you, not realizing how menacing he actually was. not seeing his face was unsettling enough but his stature made him even more intimidating. you knew he wouldn't hurt you so fear was replaced with confused arousal. it definitely was not the goal of the interaction, so you quickly pushed the thoughts away.

you stood up on the bed, wanting to have height advantage. he looked up at you for a moment before reaching out to start tickling you. laughter pearled out of your mouth as you were brought back down to your knees out of shock. “cheater!” you called out through your laughter.

you tried fending him off, pushing his hands away and weakly punching his chest and arms. it was obvious he was trying to possibly let you win. even in his state of not trying, you'd still lose.

the two of you went back and forth for awhile, taking jabs at each other while you laughed along the way. at one point, jason hooked his finger under the waistband of your panties, pulling it back as far as he could before letting it snap back against your skin. you let out a little yelp, promptly giving him a very careful punch to the crotch. it was a fake fight, after all. you didn't want to actually hurt him.

he instinctively flinched back, quickly breaking your guard by smacking your hands away and reaching out and pulling his sweater up over your head, just enough to cover your face while he softly jabbed at your soft skin. you sputtered as you tried to pull it back down but not before he used both of his hands to give your breasts a squeeze. he must have gotten bored with play fighting because as soon as you pulled his sweater back down, he quickly pinned you to the bed by your wrists. you stared up at him, eyes wide as he hovered over you.

"oh," you breathed out, blinking up at him. "o-oh! ouch!"

"what?"

"i think i've been injured," you said with a little smile as he loosened his grip on your wrists, letting you free. "do you think you could take a look at it? i mean, it's the least you can do considering it's you're fault."

you could feel him rolling his eyes and it only made your smile grow. you sat up and pressed your back into his firm chest. you could feel his steady breathing starting to sync up with yours.

"show me where it hurts," he told you and you took one of his hands, slowly guiding it up your stomach underneath his sweater. you stopped when the side of his thumb was pressed against the underside of your breast.

"it's somewhere over here. i'm not exactly sure where," you explained coyly as he began massaging your breast, looping his other arm around your waist as he started rubbing himself on your ass. you pushed back against him, letting out a mewl of satisfaction.

the two of you stayed like that for awhile, slowly but surely getting each other worked up. you hadn't expected him to be so receptive. you were just going to tease him a little in hopes of getting him to drop the red hood act so you could get some sleep. you assumed he'd want to finish what you started as jason but the fact that it appeared you'd be getting it on with red hood felt much sexier and a lot more fun.

"i'm not feeling any problems, sweetheart," his distorted voice rang in your ears as his movements stopped.

"oh, well, that's good," you said softly, placing your hand over his and pulling it away from your chest. "but i have another problem now."

"yeah?" he questioned as he watched you take his glove off, carefully stuffing it into his jacket pocket. "what's that?"

you silently led his hand down to your soaked panties and he let out a chuckle. "oh, i see. that is a problem."

"can you fix it?" you asked, letting out a moan as his fingers had already gone to work.

"i can certainly try."

while his fingers worked at rubbing you over your panties, his gloved hand made its way to the breast he had neglected earlier. you whined softly as you rubbed back against him while rutting against his fingers. eventually, your panties were so wet to the point where he might as well have been touching you directly, which prompted him to get them off of you. it took some maneuvering but he eventually got them off and he kindly tossed them into the hamper before continuing.

he teased you first, ghosting his fingers over your outer lips and slit before spreading you open. he repeated this motion a few times, making you whine in frustration. once he was satisfied he slipped his middle finger between your folds, softly rubbing you. you took matters into your hands and started rubbing yourself against his finger, desperately wanting more. the more you moved, the less pressure he applied.

"stop it," he finally said, his voice firm. you pouted, complying with his request and quickly being rewarded. he teased your clit right before gently dipping two fingers inside of you, making you moan out in surprise. he began pumping them in and out of you, bringing your juices back up to your swollen clit.

your back arched, surprised at how sensitive you were. it was a little embarrassing, actually. jason clearly didn't care, continuing to exploit your sensitivity and get more pretty moans to fall from your lips. not being able to sit still any longer. your hips began bucking again. jason let you move for a little while before removing his hand completely.

"i think i might be making your problem worse," he teased, palming himself over his pants. "and causing one for myself."

you heard the clanking of him fiddling with his belt buckle and you turned around to help. you quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, giving him the space he needed to pull out his hard cock through the opening. you dipped your fingers into your wetness, using it to help slick his cock, focusing on the head. you started stroking him with both hands, one firmly gripping the base while the other was teasing the head.

jason's moans encouraged you to move faster. he moved his fingers to your lips, making you taste yourself while you stroked him. you sucked on his fingers, closing your eyes as you moved both hands to the tip of his cock. he pulled his fingers away and you let them go with a pop, making him sigh deeply.

"i have to fuck you now. right now," he said seriously, stroking himself in front of you. "i hope your boyfriend doesn't mind."

"i'm sure he will," you said honestly, giving jason a lazy smile. you turned around on all fours, bending to with your chest pressed against the mattress and your ass in the air. you felt him lining himself up with your entrance and you braced yourself for the initial stretch. you gripped the sheets tightly as he pushed gently himself in. he slipped in easily, thanks to your seemingly infinite wetness.

you felt him press his fingertips on lower back, making you sink down so your hips were against the bed. that was when he tightly gripped them and began fucking you from behind. he rolled his hips into you, his movements slow and deep initially before he picked up the pace.

"you're so tight around me," he praised you, moving his hands to grip your ass.

each thrust was met with a moan from you. you were still very sensitive and it was starting to effect your entire body. jason's shameless fucking wasn't helping. he took a moment to remove his other glove, putting it in his pocket before dragging his hands up your sides, thumbs pressed into your back for better balance and access.

eventually he flipped you over, watching your now exposed breasts bounce while he rolled his hips into yours. you wrapped your legs around his waist, wanting to feel him deeper inside of you. he obliged, snapping his hips faster and pushing himself deeper.

"you like being fucked by me?" he asked between thrusts.

you nodded sloppily, gasping softly each time his hips slammed back into you. "y-yes. i love being fucked by you, red hood."

the room was filled with a symphony of your shared moans, along with other lewd noises. you weren't sure how much longer you would last with jason's nonstop thrusting. you felt your leg starting to cramp up and give out, the sensations of pain and pleasure starting to blend together to the point where it almost felt good.

"i'm getting close, baby," jason panted, finally slowing down. he rubbed circles into your hips, looking at your blissed out form below him. "so fucking close."

"please, keep going," you begged him, rolling your hips with his slow movements. "i'm almost there."

jason picked you up, taking you back to the chair. he sat down and wrapped his arms around your waist before harshly bucking his hips upward, hitting your sweet spot. you let out a loud string of moans and whines, using the arms of the chair as support as you tried to match jason's wild hip movements. you could feel your release coming, the pressure that had built up inside of you ready to dissipate.

"i'm gonna cum," you choked out, prompting jason to hit you with deep and deliberate thrusts, finally pushing you over the edge. you clenched tightly around him, feeling his cum spill inside of you while you both rode out your highs.

the both of you took a moment to catch your breath, bodies tingling in the afterglow. you felt like you were gonna pass out at any second, but not before you saw jason's face. you refused to lose consciousness before then. you reached out, hands caressing his helmet. you heard a click and sharp hiss, talking it off of jason's head.

"there he is," you said sleepily, setting the helmet on the dresser beside you. you carefully peeled off his domino mask next, tossing it next to the helmet. "my jason."

jason's cheeks were flushed and his sweaty hair was stuck to his forehead. his eyes were shining, just like you had hoped they would. he gave you a lopsided grin, leaning in to finally give you a soft kiss. "i can't believe you cheated on me with red hood."

“the real cheating was when you tickled me,” you laughed against his lips, stealing another kiss as you held his face in your hands. "can you blame me, though? he's really sexy."

"given the opportunity, i would fuck red hood, too," he admitted jokingly, peppering kisses on your cheeks and down your neck. "sorry for scaring you. i didn't mean to."

you looked at him with a worried expression, recalling the events that got you to this place to begin with. you pushed his hair back from his forehead, carding your fingers through his locks. "are you alright? did you have a rough night?"

jason sighed before nodding softly. "yeah, kinda. but i'm alright now."

"we can talk about it. only if you want to," you offered and he shook his head, giving you another kiss.

"tomorrow," he compromised, slowly standing up with you attached to him like a koala. "we need to get cleaned up and go to sleep."

"i had that handled until you came along," you teased him as he headed for the bathroom. "but alright. sounds good to me."

#jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #jason todd smut #dc x reader #kinktober

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wooyunhwa · 4 years

Text

kingdom of welcome addiction | three

view pinned post for masterlist / links to the rest of the parts!

Genre: smut

Pairing: demon!san x fem!reader

Word Count: 5.5k

Warnings: graphic violence, blood drinking, overstimulation, orgasm denial, crying kink, corruption kink, praise kink? idk, alcohol drinking, virgin mc

Synopsis: When you accidentally summon a bloodthirsty demon boy to your bedroom, you form an unexpected contract with him.

A/N: I’m a little too whipped for this san tbh,,, Thank you for reading and comments are super appreciated as always!

“Go talk to him!”

“Yuri, he’s way out of my—”

“C’mon, you look hot! You haven’t been out with us in like, over a month. Have some fun for once.”

“The worst he could do is reject you,” Chaeyeon piped in at your side.

Easy for them to say. Your friends were practically models, of course they would think getting a guy's number was easy.

But either way, you couldn’t take your eyes off him all night. Tall, perfectly proportioned, entirely graceful. His jet-black undercut hair was styled up neatly in such a way that one side fell gracefully over his eyes. Admittedly, he was no San, but he was gorgeous. There was no way you’d be able to get his number, but your friends were right about one thing. You could really use some fun.

You knocked back the rest of your drink, and it stung the back of your throat just enough to give you the confidence you needed to approach him.

Your friends watched, mouths agape as you somehow managed to score his number—he typed it into your phone with graceful fingers, caching in into your contacts under the name Seonghwa. A fittingly pretty name for such a gorgeous man. When you walked back to the table, your friends' eyes were wide in both jealousy and shock, and you felt incredibly powerful for just a moment.

“The way you’re looking at me, it seems like you didn’t think I’d actually get it,” you joked, leaning against the table to stir the ice in your empty glass mindlessly.

“Well, uh... we kind of didn’t. Not that you’re not pretty or anything, but that guy is out of all our leagues. Like pretty much everyone in this bar’s league, actually.”

“No guarantee he’ll actually call me. It could be a fake number,” you shrugged.

You kind of couldn’t believe you were able to get his number either, but it did give you a much needed confidence boost. You didn’t need your demon boy anymore, you could actually get a human. A gorgeous one at that. Of course, this human boy probably wouldn’t clean your bathroom for you. Or look so goddamn hot doing it.

You glanced around the bar confidently, making eye contact with Seonghwa and giving him a flirtatious wink.

You weren’t usually big into going to bars, even with your friends. Rather, you preferred a chill night in watching movies or playing Cards Against Humanity. But your friends had been nagging you for nearly a month to go out with them, their constant invites finally coming to a head when you accepted out of the blue. You’d been so focused on your secret nightly rendezvous with the hot demon boy in your bedroom that you’d rejected them over and over, blaming a “mountain of school work” and “midterm stress”. While both of those things were true, you had basically discarded your social life to lust over a pretty demon boy. You knew now that he was a bad idea, and you needed to move on.

For the last week, you’d been agonizing over him. You hadn’t re-summoned him since you saw him last—the night he choked you until you passed out with his dick inside you. There were two big reasons for this.

First, you were a bit embarrassed for passing out on him, although you knew that was nowhere near your fault. Your first time with a guy, and you pass out? Of course, his demonic hands were around your throat literally asphyxiating you, but you still felt slightly ashamed at the idea of him seeing you like that, and even taking the time to re-clothe you afterwards. You didn’t know if you could even look him in the eyes after that.

Secondly, and this was admittedly the biggest reason: you knew that you were no longer desirable to him. Your appeal to him was undoubtedly your virgin tears, blood, aura, whatever. You were a virgin, your very presence was like crack to him. But you’d fucked him. Well, started anyway, but it definitely counted. You weren’t a virgin anymore, not by his instinctual demon standards at least—not in the way he needed you to be. And what were you without your virginity other than some insignificant human soul in an endless sea of human souls? He didn’t need you anymore.

But there was also the issue of the fact that he wasn’t human, and never would be. If all you did was contract him into sex, wouldn’t that just make him your demon prostitute who cleans your house sometimes? You didn’t have a contract last time, but it wouldn’t matter now anyway. There was no way he’d risk going contract-less again, especially if you weren’t a virgin anymore.

So you decided to move on. He was bad for you in every way, a bad habit you needed to break. An addiction you needed to give up on.

But it was certainly easier said than done.

He haunted you, in your dreams, and even while you were awake. His post-it on your wall, taunting you, although you didn’t have the heart to rip it off. It wouldn’t matter if you did, anyway, you’d memorized his summoning phrase by heart. It was practically burned into you like a brand—a constant reminder of his hold on you. Even the inhuman taste of his lips lingered on yours for far longer than they should have.

You shook your thoughts of San from your head the best you could, refocusing on just having a good time tonight. You almost forgot the outside world existed with how much you’d been isolated with San in your apartment. It felt nice.

You finished your night with a few more drinks, waving bye to your friends as they hopped in their ride-share. The bar wasn’t far from your apartment, and you lived in a relatively safe neighborhood, so you weren’t exactly worried about walking home by yourself at night.

You had been drinking, but you didn’t necessarily feel drunk, perhaps just a little wobbly as you made your way through the neighborhood. A sign reading “road construction” blocked your path, and you noticed the sidewalk was completely cut off for the next few blocks. Walking all the way around would have taken forever, so you chose to cut through an alleyway to access the back entrance of your building. It was one you were familiar with—you’d taken it several times when you wanted to cut down your trip, but never at night. You walked through, keeping close to the wall lining the side because it offered the most visibility. It was quite dim, only the dull flickering of a rusty street light overhead giving any sense of light.

Then you saw it.

To your left, you caught a glimpse of crimson red shining almost like neon in the dim, flickering light of the alley, and then a glimpse of a fang sparkling bright white. You stumbled back, hitting the brick wall behind you.

“Where ya goin’?” he taunted, taking another step forward. You couldn’t make out the features, but they were distinctly demonic. Your fight or flight instinct kicked in, except you somehow skipped right past those and straight to “freeze”. You were entirely frozen in place, your limbs scrambling to decide the best path of action. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be out here all alone.”

You darted to the right just as he closed in, immediately tripping over your own feet into the closest object, a dumpster. You turned on your heels to see his fangs bared fully, pearly and bright in the dark alley.

You opened your mouth to scream, but the sound was suddenly dampened. A hand clamped over your mouth with a suffocating force. Before you could realize what was happening, you were shoved to your knees, skin scraping against the cold pavement.

“Don’t move,” a voice hissed in your ear. San. You’d know that deep voice anywhere. You tried to choke out a few useless words, but your voice was helplessly muffled beneath the hand viced against your mouth. “Be quiet. I’m saving your life.”

He shoved you by the shoulders behind a stack of large wooden crates next to the dumpster. You kept your head down, but you could make out their silhouettes in the dim light, although San’s figure blocked your eye line from getting a good view of the aggressor.

"Low life," San growled, his words spitting out venomously. "What, you have nothing better to do than hunt humans? Pathetic."

You heard the harsh, gritty tone of the figure speak, still veiled in the shadows. "San?" The figure laughed jovially. Something about it was incredibly unsettling. "What are you, some sort of human patrol? Or do you just want her for yourself?"

"She's mine," he hissed. You couldn't see his face, but you could picture it twisting in anger from how maliciously he spat out his words.

"Yours, huh? I know you like ‘em pure, but not enough to take another demon's prey."

Was he implying you were still a virgin? But that wasn't—

"Leave," San snarled. "Before you make me do something we'll both regret."

The figure took a step forward, unveiling himself in the light, though you could still barely make it out from behind the crates and with San’s figure blocking your view.

“Fuck off. I was here first,” the demon spat.

“I said… she’s mine.”

San lunged forward, but the demon dodged easily, throwing his fist forward to land a blow on San’s cheek. San shook his head furiously before moving to throw his own punch.

The demon ducked to evade, but San anticipated it. His figure whipped around to the back of the demon, his body moving like a flash, almost as if he had phased out of reality. He swung his leg up with a fierce kick, sending the aggressor flying back into the alley wall, cracking the bricks in a cartoonish circle around him. You had no idea he could fight like that.

The demon faltered to his feet, shaking his limbs out casually like it was nothing. These demons were no joke—you wouldn’t have stood a chance running from him if San hadn’t been there. You’d be dead.

The demon's mouth curled up into a snarl, baring his fangs ferociously as he lunged in San’s direction. San evaded easily, flashing around to his opponent’s side.

“You’re clearly not very bright,” San taunted, delivering another kick to his core. The demon fell back again, lurching forward over his stomach with a pained gasp. He staggered against the wall, lifting his gaze to San closing in.

San had him entirely cornered. His hand viced around the other demon’s throat, holding him in the air with a surprising display of strength. The demon’s feet scrambled hopelessly to find the concrete, dangling inches above the ground. Is that the kind of strength he was capable of? Holding up an entire body in the air as effortlessly as he would toasting a champagne glass?

San shot a glance over his shoulder, black eyes glistening villainously under the dim lights. "Close your eyes, lamb. You're not gonna want to see this one. Trust me."

Your eyes squeezed together just in time for you to hear a sickening crack of bones snapping. Then complete, deafening silence for a moment.

You cracked one eye open as you heard his footsteps approaching you slowly. Your vision adjusted to see him knelt in front of you, seemingly surveying you for injury.

"What the fuck was that?" you choked out. “Why was he—”

"He’s a rogue demon," he explained, shooting a deathly glare at the decapitated corpse. The sight was grisly, but somehow, the fact that the body wasn’t entirely human gave you some degree of solace. "Patrolling for souls. You’re an easy target. They can smell your pretty scent from a mile away."

You took another glance at the fresh corpse, stomach churning at the gruesome sight. His head was ripped cleanly off. Did San just do that with his bare hands?

San gripped on to your forearm, squeezing hard. You noticed his hand shaking, just slightly. "C'mon. We need to go. Where there's one rogue, there's bound to be more. You smell like a walking piece of meat right now to them. If there's more, they know you're here." He tugged you to your feet. “Lead me to your apartment, okay darling? It’s close, hmm? Until then, you need to stay quiet. You talking—well, let’s just say it makes you easier to detect.”

You walked hesitantly but briskly the rest of the way to your apartment, legs shaking beneath you with every step. San kept a protective arm wrapped tightly around the small of your waist the whole way, but you couldn’t help but feel shaky.

The minute you got home, all the questions you wanted to ask him flooded your brain. He guided you by the shoulders to the bedroom first, shutting the door behind you as if you had something to hide, despite being alone in the apartment.

He opened his mouth to speak, but you wouldn’t give him the chance.

“How did you find me?” you barked. “I haven’t summoned you in over a week. How did you know where I was?”

“I know,” he grumbled under his breath. Was he keeping track of the days like you were? You didn’t think he cared. “I’ve been, uh... I’ve been keeping an eye on you,” he responded, shifting his eyes to the side for a minute. Breaking eye contact wasn’t like him.

“You’ve been doing what? Like spying on me? I didn’t know demons could watch over humans like that. I thought you just came when you were called.”

“We can’t. We’re not like angels.”

“Angels? Ugh, never mind, not the point. So how did you—”

“I have some connections. It doesn’t really matter. The point is, I saved you back there. And you need to be more careful.”

You sighed. “What, so you care now?”

San nodded hesitantly. “I—I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I care a bit more than I should. About you.” His eyes drew up to yours, reeling you in like a magnetic pull. Except his gaze was less fierce than usual, just intense. Serious.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I try to stay objective. About humans. It’s my job. Write contacts, steal souls. I’m not supposed to feel anything. And I’m certainly not supposed to alter fate to save one.”

Alter fate? Were you supposed to die tonight?

You paused. You were suddenly incredibly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, despite the implications of what he was saying. You were falling head first for him, but you couldn’t afford to have your heart broken. You were trying to move on.

“Can you get me some water? My head is killing me,” you asked quickly, hoping you could change the subject when he came back.

He nodded, hoisting himself up from the edge of the bed, and came back with the glass, setting it on the night table gingerly. He was being uncomfortably gentle, and you weren’t exactly sure what to do with him.

“I have a question,” you started hesitantly, using the lull in the conversation to move it elsewhere. “The demon. In the alley. He said I was pure. What did he mean? Because we—”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m not sure either. We certainly did do that, but I can smell it too, unmistakably. I’d know that scent anywhere. It’s driving me insane.”

“So I’m...”

“Still a virgin,” he finished. His tongue drew over his lip between the slight part of his teeth in thought. “I can only guess it’s because I’m not human. My body is, but only technically.” His eyes trained on you again, this time glimmering with a hint of desire. “Speaking of. Your smell is entirely distracting to me right now.”

He wasn’t the only one distracted. You hadn’t entirely forgotten what he looked like, of course, but you were still surprised every time you saw him. He looked hellishly attractive, glistening lightly with sweat, shirt clinging to his muscles tightly. You weren’t being subtle as you glanced at him up and down, practically drooling. You saw a familiar smirk twitch up on his lips, flashing and a brief display of fangs. “What’s that look for, lamb? Hmm? You look cute when you’re drooling over me.”

You shook your head, embarrassed. “Don’t you need to be going anyway?”

He leaned forward slightly, just enough to be able to reach you with his hand, brushing it along the cut of your jaw. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving you here tonight. Alone. If the rogues caught on to your scent, they’d be able to track you here.”

“But won’t you get in trouble without a contract?”

“Who says we can’t make one now?” he asked, fixing his gaze directly with yours. He was right. You hadn’t really thought of that.

“Alright, let’s say I asked you to guard me tonight. What do I give you in return?”

“Your body.” You paused, breath hitching in your throat as he dragged his fingernail along the skin of your neck again. “You’re free to decline but… I’m hoping you’d want to finish what we started as much as I do.” You glanced at your phone on the nightstand for a moment in thought, breaking eye contact, but he tipped your chin up to meet yours immediately. “What are you thinking about, darling, hm? That boy who gave you his number?”

“How did you—”

“I told you. I’ve been watching,” he explained with a charming smile.

“Asshole. That’s creepy,” you grumbled through your teeth. It was creepy, but another part of you couldn’t help but be flattered.

“So, what do you say?” he asked eagerly, leaning in until you could feel the warmth of his breath against your skin.

You couldn’t deny, his body had been on your mind pretty much constantly since you’d seen him last. You craved the feeling of him inside of you again, the warm closeness of his skin pressed against yours, his hands exploring every inch of you. Most of all, you craved the hungry, insatiable way he looked at you, that made you feel desired in a way you’d never felt before.

“You’re not gonna choke me out again?” you teased, but you already knew your answer, pretty much either way.

“No promises.” He winked charmingly, brushing his lips against yours. A tingle rocketed through your spine, the single fleeting taste of his lips the only incentive you needed for your next words.

“It’s a deal,” you confirmed, leaning into the feeling of his lips against yours. He pulled away with a teasing smirk.

“Such a needy little human. Don’t get too eager, now. I like to have a little fun with my prey first.” He winked, flashing his fangs. You imagined them sinking into your skin, the sensation of his tongue dragging along your wound. You couldn’t believe how addicted you were to being a glorified blood donor for a sadistic house-demon.

You whined a bit as he pulled away, breaking all contact with you.

“San—”

He clicked his tongue against his teeth mockingly. “Needy little thing. Don’t worry, we’ll have our fun tonight. On my terms, of course.”

He teased you mercilessly as you went about your night, brushing himself up against you in the kitchen, lingering his lips just over your skin as he spoke to you and pulling away right when you tried to make a move. The restraint he was exercising just to get a rise out of you was impressive, and you pretty much fell right in his trap. You were squirming at the mere idea of his touch, knees nearly buckling under you every time he brushed against you. You were going mad.

You were washing dishes in the kitchen after eating a quick midnight snack with him. Your drinking in the bar earlier had you hungry for whatever was around, and due to the quickly growing pain of arousal, you wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon.

You felt his hands around your waist first, pulling your back into him from behind, his lips littering feather-light kisses on the back of your neck. Your hair stood on end, goosebumps pilling up on your arms as he kissed so very lightly. He nipped lightly a few times at the surface of your skin, fangs grazing sharply against the nape of your neck, then moving down to your shoulders, pulling down the collar of your shirt to get better access.

You felt him growing hard against you from behind, his rock hard bulge pressing into your ass. You wiggled against it, and he delivered a harsh bite to the skin of your shoulder blades, not daring to break skin yet.

“Don’t tease me, lamb,” he purred against your skin, administering a harsh slap to the side of your ass. You hissed at the sting, but you couldn’t help but tease him again to see his next move. You pushed your hips back with a stronger force now, rocking your ass up against the form of his dick through his pants. A low growl rolled through his throat. “Testing me, hmm? Someone’s getting brave.”

You felt his teeth sink into the flesh of the back of your neck, and you whimpered at the sudden pain. He lapped at it slowly, softly, seemingly savoring every taste. You whined as he drew his tongue across your skin. “So… how do I punish you? I told you we were on my terms,” he sang sweetly in your skin, almost menacingly.

His hand traveled from your waist to the waistband of your small pajama shorts, pushing his fingers down to tease you through the fabric of your panties. You couldn’t help but let out small pants and moans as he finally gave attention to the dripping wet neediness between your legs, but you still needed more. He circled his index finger around your clit excruciatingly slowly. The sensation of his tongue on your skin and his touch through your underwear was almost more painful than none at all. You squirmed and writhed under the touch you’d been craving all night, letting out breathy moans as all your arousal from the night compounded.

He flipped you around suddenly, your back making contact with the cold counter. He lifted your shirt off, and you fumbled with the hem of his shirt, grasping desperately as you tried to remove it from his head. He smirked against your lips as he picked you up by the hips, hoisting you up like you weighed nothing. You clawed at him desperately to keep your balance as he led you to the bedroom, tossing you back on your bed like a toy. He stripped himself fully, his dick springing out from his pants excitedly.

His eyes trained on your body hungrily as he crawled over you. “We’re playing by my rules today. Be a good girl, okay?”

You nodded, eagerly accepting whatever terms he had in order to feel him against you. You weren’t quite expecting his next words, though.

“You don’t cum unless I tell you to. And trust me, darling. You don’t want to know what happens if you disobey.” His lips twitched into a sadistic smile, marveling at your body as he kissed down torturously slow. He ripped your shorts, then your underwear, teasing his tongue and lips over your thighs for a while as you squirmed. Then, finally, giving you what you desired most. His tongue against your clit, warm and wet, washing you over with immediate pleasure like you’d never felt before.

The sensation of his tongue against you was almost more than you could handle, and you were practically writhing and thrashing at the sensitivity. Heat rose in your core, flooding through your whole body. Your every nerve felt like it was on fire. He worked his tongue devilishly, leaving no part of your pussy untouched, dancing it along your clit like it was his only reason for existing. His tongue practically worshipped you, and you ate up the soft moans and growls that escaped him. His eyes were darker, but not fully consumed with black yet, as he glanced up from between your legs for only a moment, before going back in hungrily.

It was getting harder, nearly impossible actually, to keep your body from rocking itself into orgasm. It built inside you, a knot twisting at the base of your stomach, ready to burst at any moment. “San, please can I—”

“Cute. Begging. It won’t get you anywhere, darling,” he sang mockingly, his hot breaths washing over you.

“Please—” Tears spilled over in your eyes, pouring down your cheeks as the sensations intensified seemingly exponentially. “Please please please,” you pleaded, not caring how desperate you sounded. You couldn’t take it.

“There are those pretty, pretty tears,” he cooed. “Keep crying for me baby, then maybe I’ll consider letting you cum.”

Not that you had a choice, but you obeyed. The tears came and came as you thrashed under him, holding yourself back so much that you ached. You’d never been so restrained, for a moment you even wondered if this is what San felt like every day when holding back his urges.

He came up from between your legs for a moment to lick the salty tears from your face, dragging a fingernail under your chin. You squirmed needily under him, and although you knew begging wouldn’t get you anywhere, you felt you had no choice.

“San—”

“Yes, lamb?” He met your eyes, and you could barely keep them open with the overwhelming sensations.

“Please, I need you to… please. I can’t take it anymore.”

His wet tongue slid over your cheek, lingering his fangs over for a moment, then came up to meet your gaze. “Fine. I’ve had my fun for now, I suppose. But keep crying for me, mmkay? You’re cute when you’re helpless.”

He made his way back down, torturing his lips over every inch of your shoulders, breasts, stomach, hips, until finally settling between your legs again. The first brush of his tongue was nearly enough to send you over the edge, but you held out for a few moments, letting him get your completely riled up again.

His fingers found their way inside you, only pumping a few times before you were completely putty in his hands. You shook as the orgasm rocked through you violently. San gripped your hips tightly as you thrashed, keeping you steady. You’d never cum so hard in your life, even when picturing San while you worked your vibrator. Somehow, he was ten times better. A million times, even.

“Good girl,” he praised, stroking your stomach for a few moments before going back in with his tongue. You couldn’t control your hips from bucking violently as he lapped at your folds, completely drenched from your orgasm. You cried out—the sensitivity was almost too much to bear. “Now be a good girl for me and cum again.”

“Ah—sensitive—” you whined, thrashing against his hands holding you down. You felt him smirk against you, indicating he knew exactly what he was doing. It took him barely even a few minutes to work you into your second orgasm, whimpering and shaking as you came down. Tears leaked from your eyes, some left over from your original bout, some fresh from the overstimulation. He came back up to lick them off your cheeks with a satisfied grin.

“Good little lamb,” he purred. You loved his praise, even if it had a condescending sting to it, it felt so amazing dripping like honey in your ears.

You were surprised how well he was keeping himself together, unlike your previous sexual encounter with him, where he’d completely lost control to his demon instincts. His eyes were darker than usual, a deep, sinister blood red, but not black. Nowhere near. That was a part of him you wished you didn’t have to see again.

You writhed under his touch as he swiped a finger between your folds, testing your wetness. “I’ll try to be gentle for this one,” he growled. “No promises.”

“Fuck me, please,” you breathed against his lips, bringing your hand down to guide the tip of his dick right between your legs.

He thrust in slowly at first, taking his time adjusting to every small movement. He shook as you watched his eyes flicker to black for a moment, then back to red, again to black, then red, as if he was fighting with himself. He pushed all the way in this time, bottoming out inside of you. You cried out, experiencing such complete fullness for the first time. He wasn’t enormous, in fact you’d say his cock was just the perfect size, but he was much bigger than any toy you’d ever used.

“Fuck, those pretty little noises are gonna drive me crazy,” he growled lustfully, thrusting out and then in again fully. You threw your head back in pleasure, taking in every sensation of him stretching you out, his dick hitting exactly the right curves inside you, places you didn’t even realize he could reach.

He fisted his hands in the sheets beside your head as he thrust in and out, alternating slow and fast in a way that made your head spin completely. He kept eye contact with you the entire time, the same hungry and magnetic gaze he always had, except there was something beneath the surface this time. Something softer, almost loving. You didn’t have a mind for romance now, though.

Your mind could only process the feeling of him inside you. His fingernails dug into the sheets with so much force you swore they were going to rip to shreds in his grip. He latched his teeth onto your neck forcefully, drawing blood. At the same time, you felt him lurch inside of you, shaking and growling as he spilled out inside you. Warm cum dripped around his dick as he slid out slowly, and there was another warm sensation you could make out—blood spilling from your neck.

“San—San—towel, now,” you demanded anxiously, the two dripping fluids making you feel a bit uneasy. He took care of the cum first, wiping it off the blanket, then lapped his tongue on your wound a few times before sticking a bandage on it. Where did he get that, anyway?

“You’re a mess,” he commented teasingly, a cheeky flash of fangs dancing up on his lips.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” you grumbled, running your palm over the bandages securing your bite marks. “I can’t believe you didn’t… y’know.”

“Lose it?”

“Yeah. That.”

“Trust me darling, it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Your taste is especially intoxicating. Your pussy tastes even better than your blood, somehow.”

You laughed at the unexpected compliment. It felt weird for such a hot guy to be talking to you about the taste of your pussy at 2am. A demon, no less. You almost felt embarrassed in his gaze, despite just fucking so intensely. You were suddenly incredibly self-conscious about your naked body as he watched you. You wrapped yourself in your hands, shrinking down slightly as you concealed your body from his gaze.

“Hey, stop that,” he said firmly. “Why are you hiding? Your body is incredible. I’d say you look like an angel, but we kinda hate those where I’m from.” He smiled gently. “But you do look divine.”

Heat rose through your cheeks, staining them red. He’d always complimented your smell, your taste—he’d never praised your body before. You motioned towards the closet, and he tossed you a shirt reluctantly. You threw it quickly over your head, still feeling bashful despite his nice comment.

You fell asleep shortly after getting cleaned up, tucked neatly into your bed by your sweet house-demon.

Demons, you learned, didn’t need sleep, despite their human need for practically everything else—food, massages, sex. You had forgotten for a moment why he was even there in the first place, the sex having completely over-ridden the events of the day beforehand. You forgot all about being potentially in danger, your mind only filled with thoughts of San.

He sat by your side all night, or so you knew from what he told you the next morning. He said you were cute when you sleep. His lamb. The idea of him watching over you protectively all night made your heart ache, in a way both good and bad. You weren’t sure if you could say it for sure yet, but you were falling in love with him.

But it could never work between you. It was too good to be true. It had to be.

#san smut #choi san smut #yunho smut #ateez smut #choi san #wooyoung smut #hongjoong smut #ateez fic #mingi smut #yeosang smut

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stories-by-rie · 3 years

Text

Chapter 3 - Heart of Silver

Back in the present, Evelyn and Ariel search the house of the dead granny in order to find clues on how to stop the heart of silver curse.

words: 3614 || masterlist

Evelyn pulled in on the house’s driveway. Now that she knew that no one was living there anymore, she couldn’t deny the ghostly aura that hung on it. The windows were dirty, the geraniums in the windows dead and brown. The driveway was growing weeds all over, so unlike the tidy places of most older people. Even the magnolia tree looked glum now.

“The whole house feels like death,” Ariel mumbled as they walked closer. “Must have been a pretty rich lady, though. Didn’t you say she didn’t have any money?”

“It’s an old woman. She owned the house and couldn’t bear to separate from it. Believe me, she told me for nearly a whole hour how she wouldn’t move out because she couldn’t see it in someone else’s hands. The pension was just enough to cover for house and food, so she didn’t have much extra.”

They came to a halt before the door that was cordoned off by the police, but Evelyn swiftly cut through the sticker.

“You’ve become unscrupulous, huh,” Ariel said and stepped in behind her.

“It’s your terrible influence,” Evelyn replied and turned on the lights.

“This was probably a nice house once,” Ariel noted as they looked around. The ceiling was dark brown mahogany, the floor white marble tiles that looked quite expensive, but were covered with a great Persian carpet. Overall it seemed to have been a very grandiose house judging by its interior alone. There were shadows on the walls, where paintings or photos must have hung -- which perhaps had been sold in time. This was an impression that wasn’t new to Evelyn, as weren’t the spiderwebs in the corners and the dust on the decoration.

“They probably used to have a lot of money back in the day. Judging from the silverware alone,” Evelyn agreed and pointed towards the dining room, the door still open from the day before. Ariel nodded along and they walked over the echoing tiles, over the old dusty rugs, quieter. There was a simple chandelier over the dinner table, dipping the small room in yellow light, spider webs between its bulbs.

Evelyn walked over to the sideboard, opened the drawer where the silverware was neatly stashed on red velvet.

“Fancy,” Ariel mumbled and looked at the spoons and knives and forks. “So which of these is the culprit?”

Evelyn looked down, face blank. “I don’t remember.”

“Didn’t you say that there was some kind of evil aura?”

“Very much so. It only missed evil green sparkles or something. But it just looked like a fork. Maybe too much like a fork? It definitely stood out somehow.” Evelyn looked down at the forks. None of it was missing, the cutlery was still neatly put in its satin cushion, but she still couldn’t make out the one that had been the medium to curse her. She still remembered the unsettling feeling that had overcome her at the sight of the whole drawer the last time around, shivers running down her spine. All of that was missing now.

“Maybe it is because I sent the granny off? Or because the curse got activated?” she mused. Ariel crossed their arms before their chest.

“That’s both possible. Curses work in a whole lot of different ways, there are dozens of various classifications for how they are transmitted alone. If the medium isn’t working once the curse gets activated, and doesn’t even show signs of the curse, then it means that either the curse gets transmitted through the victim, or that the curse medium is randomised. Any kind of object could be the medium now if it’s not you.”

Evelyn felt her limbs get heavier at those words. It was not the silver – not yet. It was the hope that left her in that moment. Somehow, it had been so easy in her mind. Ariel knew their curses. They knew how to break them.

“So, what do we do no-”

Evelyn didn’t even get to finish her question before Ariel took the first fork and poked their finger on it.

“What are you doing?” her voice jumped an octave higher as Ariel tried the next one.

“These aren’t exactly sharp, did it bleed when you poked your finger?”

“No. Sort of? There was liquid silver when I pressed it. But- Why are you-”

“Maybe it is just a hidden medium. Sometimes, when curses are especially deadly, to make sure the whole power goes into just that one victim, the medium hides its potential so that it won’t curse two people at the same time.”

“Ah.” Evelyn stared at Ariel as they kept poking themselves with the forks. “So can it still curse you then?”

“Depends. Potentially.”

It was late and Evelyn was exhausted, so it took a while for her to understand those words’ meaning. Once she did, however, she quickly grabbed the fork out of Ariel’s hand and put it back.

“Are you mad? What if you get cursed too?” With horror she looked at a reasonably startled Ariel who just shrugged.

“Would definitely keep me motivated.” Their gaze dropped to Evelyn’s neck, then wrists where the dark silver veins were well hidden by her hoodie.

“No. If you get sick you won’t be able to cure me anymore. You stay alive, preferably.” Evelyn closed the drawer and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Then how do you think I am going to find the right fork if it is just hiding?” At this point Ariel sounded a little exasperated, a fake smile on their dark purple lips.

“Don’t you have some strange curse detector of sorts?”

Ariel just shook their head. “Only nolly-powder and that’s really just for our last resort, okay? There are really, drastically awful side-effects, and we should not lose time because of them.”

It was quiet in the dining room, only the platter of the rain against the windows -- it sounded spitefully soft now. The quiet of a house not lived in. Consequently, it was easy to hear the door fall shut.

Both Evelyn and Ariel whipped around toward the back of the room, where the door was still wide open as they had left it.

“Maybe above us?” Evelyn wondered with a toneless voice.

“Did you not say you sent the granny off?” Ariel asked instead. They glanced at each other with the same uncertain look in their eyes.

“I am really tired. I would honestly be happier if this was a burglar, and not a ghost. Or a Mare. Seriously, I couldn’t even handle an Elwetritsch today.”

“Isn’t that last one just some super shy chicken with antlers?” Ariel had turned back to the forks and continued poking their finger.

“Please don’t underestimate chicken nor antlers. But yes. They also can’t shut doors,” Evelyn said and sighed deeply. Maybe, if she ignored any kind of noises for long enough they would eventually disappear by themselves.

Certainly, getting cursed didn’t seem bad enough for one day, though. So she flinched when there followed the sound of something heavy falling over – really heavy – somewhere in the house, even if it was not close by.

“At this point, it would make more sense if it was a burglar,” Ariel said and walked back towards the hallway. Stairs lead up to the next floor on one side, a door right underneath that had to lead into the cellar.“Hey, let’s take bets. I say it’s a burglar, you say it’s a horned chicken. Winner gets ten Euros, deal?”

“It’s called an Elwetritsch, and also I wouldn’t make deals with dying people if I were you, Ariel.”

“That just sounds like you have no faith in my abilities at all.” They said it like a joke, but Evelyn knew them long enough now to understand what they actually meant. The way they weren’t looking up at her when they said it was telling enough.

“I do trust you, Ariel. You know that right?” Evelyn looked at them, and when their eyes finally met, Ariel’s crinkled. “Just, the situation is driving me a bit on edge, that’s all,” she added.

“Mh,” Ariel hummed, not in a way that indicated that they believed her. For now she ignored it, as she did the feeling of doubt in the pit of her stomach, and focused on Ariel instead when they pointed upstairs. “Let’s check in on the Elwetritsch?”

Evelyn nodded and followed them up the stairs. Last time she had not gone that far deep into the house, and it seemed like the old woman who had lived here didn’t either. The dust laid heavily on the old furniture, even on the ground in a way that was easy to see in the dim light.

“Doesn’t seem like she went here often.” Ariel wiped a finger over the dust and pulled a face. “This is going to make my allergies so bad.”

“Maybe she was too old to walk many steps. Old people have bad joints, no?” Evelyn opened the door to her side, revealing a small bathroom that looked like it was ripped straight out of a 70s decoration advert. It smelled like old water and too much soap, the tiles a shade of orange that should be banned.

“It would be a good place for a burglar now that the house is officially empty, just that there are no signs of a living person anywhere. Not even chicken feet in the dust.” Ariel had kneeled on the ground staring at the floor from close up and squinted at the tiles. They sneezed.

“Maybe the noise came from the cellar then,” Evelyn wondered and walked over to the next door. Behind it, there was a children’s room. Posters of pop bands from the eighties still hung on the walls, the bookshelves empty but the bed still made ready. It poked at Evelyn, uncurled something inside her heart at the view.

“She had her kid’s room ready for whenever they would come back home, it seems. That’s very nice.” And still no one had noticed the old woman’s death in such a long time. She must have been truly lonely. She walked over to the next room that was mostly empty.

“Any chickens inside?” Ariel asked into the space – nothing answered. There were still curtains and a closet on the wall. A fainter colour in the shape of a bed on another wall.

“This probably was the old bedroom. Maybe she had the bed brought downstairs at some point.” Evelyn walked over where there was still an impression of the bedposts in the old rug.

“Okay, one more room, I am having the hunch that I will be disappointed regarding my expectations to see horned chicken today.”

“Wait.” Evelyn turned back to Ariel who was just about to walk over to the next room. “Don’t you think this room feels weird?” she asked and Ariel just shrugged. But there was an undeniable shadow hiding in the corners, behind the curtains, inside the closet.

“Feels like it does in your apartment. Like ghosts are trapped in here.”

“There are no ghosts trapped inside my apartment,” Ariel refuted but walked closer to Evelyn as she went to open the closet door.

“Are you good with ghosts?” they mumbled behind her back as she put her hand on the door knob.

“Most of them. As long as I recognize them, yes.”

Ariel chuckled a bit at her words, which gave her the courage to open the door. Behind, there was nothing. Nothing but shadows. Evelyn crunched down and now it was her turn to wipe with her finger through the dust.

“And?”

“Looks like there were ghosts here at least. Maybe it was the granny. There is residue mixed here. See? The grey ash?” She held her finger up for Ariel to see and they nodded.

“Knew that dust looked funky.”

“It’s when ghosts dissolve. They lose what could be considered their body. To the human eye it looks ashen. It also tends to darken shadows.”

“Fascinating.”

Evelyn looked up at Ariel with a raised eyebrow. “You had a class about this. You studied the same subjects as me at uni.”

“That really is no reason for me to actually know this stuff.”

Evelyn supposed that they had made a fair point and let the matter be, even if the confusion would not leave her.

“The granny was still very lifelike when I saw her. She couldn’t have dissolved that much so quickly for us to find so much residue.”

“So, more ghosts?”, Ariel suggested and Evelyn gave a nod. There was only one more room on the floor, and she could not deny the rising anticipation. Before the door, they both hesitated, though.

“If there is no burglar in there, we should check the cellar next,” Evelyn mused and Ariel nodded and stepped back a bit, as if asking Evelyn to open the door first.

“We should check the cellar either way, really. No matter what we find behind this door” she said and took a step back too. Ariel just sent their hand through their hair and pointed at the door.

“You feel that there’s something behind this, too. Don’t you? It might be important, so we should really check this out. You go first.”

Evelyn shook her head. “There is no reason I should go first. This is about curses, so you’re the go-to person. You should go first.”

“It’s likelier that there’s a burglar behind this, or a horned chicken. That’s your area of expertise, so you should go first. I am far too fragile to be put in such a danger.”

“Ariel, you were the one who went to attack a Mare back when we met, do you remember?”

“Yes, and I have learnt and changed myself through that experience. More specifically, I have learnt that it should be you who deals with these kinds of matters. So after you.”

Evelyn sighed deeply and then shrugged. “You know what? Fine. There’s no reason not to check out this room too. I can ignore some cold shudders down my spine, I am not that easily frightened.” Just as she put her hand on the door knob, though, the knob dissipated to dust right in front of her. Evelyn and Ariel exchanged a glance. “I feel like something doesn’t actually want us to enter this room.”

“No shit.” Ariel stepped back even farther and then waved for her to move out of the way. Evelyn just managed to get far away enough before they tried to kick the door open.

A loud yelp, a loud bang when the door flew open, but nothing else happened, no monster jumping at them, no screaming ghost, and no attacking burglar either. In front of them was a simple study, filled with bookshelves and a big desk full of papers and letters.

“I am slightly disappointed. That’s what I hurt my ankle for?” Ariel said as they stepped inside. Evelyn followed right after and couldn’t hide her slight awe. For a few seconds, the sight of the study overwhelmed her, a space that was clearly well cared for, a space that must have been so precious a long time ago. It was as obvious as it could be, small decorative figures on the shelf, a few letters framed on the wall. The only sign of neglect was the thick layer of dust on the books, even inside there. It was the few seconds in which Evelyn’s heart beat a bit lighter, forgetting about the fact that it pumped liquid silver through her body.

The spell was broken as Ariel’s words settled in a bit late. “You hurt your ankle? Should we go and check with a doctor?”

“No, it’ll be fine. This is how devoted I am to curing you. Let’s check out these open letters and books, maybe we will find a clue about the curse,” Ariel whispered. They had a good point though, so they both started to work through what they could get in their hands.

It didn’t take long until they realized what the old lady had used the study for.

“She was looking into curses,” Evelyn said as she flipped through A Beginners Guide to Curses And How to Break Them.

“Yeah. I found a conversation with a famous curse-broker from the sixties here. Apparently they were discussing some new phenomena that they thought were linked to curses.”

“But she was not a curse-broker herself?” Evelyn wondered and Ariel shook their head.

“If she had been, I would have known. Not a professional one, at least. Maybe she just was fascinated by them. Or maybe she had a victim in her family. A lot of people get into curses after one of their loved ones succumbs to one.”

Evelyn continued to flip through the book before her until her fingers traced the photo of a boy in silver, shackled to a barn wall. A cold shudder ran through her then, made her recoil a bit before she flipped to the next page, where an equally familiar photo was printed.

“Ariel, I am certain that this woman knew about the Heart of Silver curse. This book looks well read.”

“You have it,” Ariel mumbled from behind her, their voice a bit thin. It nearly sounded as if they would start crying, which was a slightly unsettling thought.

When Evelyn turned around, it was not Ariel who stood behind her. Instead, she stared right at the very dead eyes of a young boy. He was maybe fifteen years old, still already nearly as big as Evelyn herself. The startle nearly made her scream, but she could control herself just in time. Carefully, she tried to look around and find Ariel, but the boy just came closer, losing his body more and more.

“Yes, I have. I have it,” Evelyn stuttered and held out the book to him.

“No. You have it,” the boy repeated, in the same manner, but he still sounded more powerful. His eyes dropped to her neck, where the black lines of her silver veins were visible the best.

“I do,” she agreed and pulled up her sleeves as well to bare her wrists.

“You should find what you really want,” the boy said with a sad tone in his voice, it sounded farther away than he was. So hollow.

“I will. Thank you.”

The boy still looked like there was more that he wanted to say, but when he opened his mouth next, there was no sound coming from him. Instead he just disappeared into thin air once more. Evelyn felt her whole body shake.

“Oh! Look at what I found! That old granny won second place in a cooking show once!” Ariel yelled from across the room. Evelyn turned to them and the framed certificate in their hands.

“Wow, you look as if you have seen a ghost.”

Evelyn just stared at them from afar and pointed towards the dusty footprints before her.

“There is a ghost in here.”

The ash-like dust was still falling slowly like soft snow and landed before her feet -- the thought alone that the ghost was standing so close made her skin crawl. Ariel took off their glasses for a moment to narrow their eyes at where Evelyn was pointing.

“I can’t see anything.”

“The ghost is currently not showing his corporal form.”

Ariel nodded and pushed the glasses back up their nose. “So it was a ghost, not a burglar or an Elwetritsch. At least as long as there isn’t anything weird in the cellar. What happens when neither of us win a bet? Do we both pay? You give me 10 euros and I give you 10 euros?”

Evelyn decided to ignore the question and instead held up the book that was still in her hands.

“The old lady knew about the curse. The ghost materialized for a moment when I talked about it. He said ‘You should find what you really want’, and then disappeared.”

Finally, Ariel got a bit more serious and walked over.

“That’s the same book as I have at home,” they mumbled and took it out of her hands. “So the old granny really knew some of those curses. I wonder if it’s just a coincidence, or if she was somehow tied to that curse especially.” They flipped through the pages not unlike Evelyn had done before, until they looked up again. “What is it that you really want, Evelyn?”

“I want to get rid of this curse, of course, what do you think?”

“What do you really want, must be the focus here, then. So, some kind of personal revelation might be the key to fulfilling the curse.”

“Believe me, my thoughts and emotions are all set on staying alive. Maybe what he said was not related to the curse, though. It could be that he was just talking nonsense. Some ghosts lose control over their words with time,” Evelyn pointed out and with another glance at the ashen dust before her, she added, “This one has been dissolving for a long time now, from what it looks like. I bet he is the one leaving all the residue in the other rooms.”

Ariel put down the book onto the desk and stared at the ashen footprints in front of Evelyn. “Better search the cellar then? Let’s find out a bit more about this granny that taught herself about curses, hid ghosts in her house, and cursed innocent ghost hunters after her death with her silverware, shall we?”

In lieu of nothing better to say, Evelyn agreed and carefully stepped around the ghost, out of the study.

____

previous chapter || WIP intro || masterlist || next chapter

#writeblr #novella #my writing #original fiction #fantasy #urban fantasy #ghosts #curses #wip; heart of silver #heart of silver chapter 3 #tw body horror #(very very light not really spooky though)#tw depression #tw death mention #because of ghosts

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Lilo and Stitch Crossover Arc: “Rufus” (Kim Possible) Better and Worse (Paid for by WeirdKev27)

Aloha all you happy people! It’s back to Kauai for the third of my look at LIlo and Stitch’s crossover episodes! This retrospective was made possible by WeirdKev27, who had the idea for it and paid for me to review these episodes. You too can buy reviews for only 5 bucks a pop. Just go to my ask, Direct Messages or discord.

Now with my plugging out of the way, this one, out of all four is the one I looked forward to the most, and out of the four shows in this crossoverathon to make the trip to the Kauai, this one is hands down my faviorite.

Kim Possible was just damn good and having rewatched a handful of episodes and the movie (Easily one of my faviorite Disney movies and the best DCOM, I will not back down on either), I can say it holds up every bit as good as it did in the early 2000′s. Frankly like Danny Phantom i’m surprised I never thought to get to it till now. But no time like the present: The show proper is a fun super spy sendup, but still feels unique: Instead of i’ts Teen Superspy working for some knockoff of MI6 or S.H.I.E.L.D., Kim is self employed, simply helping people because it’s the right thign to do and not for any reward with the help of her bumbling but loveable sidekick and future boyfriend Ron, though the romance angle wasn’t overplayed with the two, just hinted at here and there, enough to make it plausable for Ron to realize he has feelings in the movie and for Kim to return them and frankly it’s probably the best handled “Friends to lovers’ plot i’ve seen in a children’s cartoon. I”ll get more into that if I hit my stretch goal for it on patreon, more on that at the end of the review, but while it has no baring on this review I still felt it worth noting as that trope is NOT easy to pull off.

Point is, the show was smart, funny, engaging and had two great characters, a tremendously talented voice cast, and more anchoring it. It was a treasured part of my adolsence. It also had one of the only succesful “Save our show” campagins from fans i’ve ever seen. Despite So The Drama having been written as a finale and having reached Disney’s episode count, fan demand for a fourth season was so incredibly high we got one and it’s to this day one of the very few Disney shows to live past three seasons as a result. The show is in full on Disney Plus, along with the movie, which I HIGHLY recommend and hope I get to talk about, and the recent live action remake movie which .. is not bad. Not GREAT but the leads do make a good kim and ron, paticuarlly my boy Sean Gambone as Ron, and for a live action remake it really does get the spirit of the show.

But obviously we’re not here to talk about the show proper, though I REALLY want to now, but instead it’s crossover. So far the crossovers for Lilo and Stitch have been, much like said live action remake, OKAY, but nothing amazing, often shoving in sideplots related to Lilo and Stitch proper we didn’t need, forced morals and not really having a good amount of character intraction. The good news is this crossover DOES fix a lot of that.. the bad is that it also has some new problems, and still falls into some of the same traps the other episodes have. See what I mean with the full review under the cut!

We open at night, with Lilo and Stitch playing hide and seek. Adorably though Sttich dosen’t quite get the hang of it and proudly announces where he is. However things are quickly interupted when he’s kidnaped by a mystery ship out of the blue. It’s a good hook to start with, leaving us wondering who it could be...

And thus, if you hadn’t gone into this episode knwoing it was a crossover, giving us a hell of a reveal with a cut to Dr. Drakken being the one to kidnap stitch!

Look I love this Doofus. He’s easily one of John DiMaggio’s best roles, up there with Jake and Bender, and the one along with Bender that cemented his career. as one of voice acting’s finest. He’s just so loveably incompetent, over the top and quick to bicker with Sheego, which leads to some of the funneist moments in his home series as she’d either skewer him good or he’d shove his boot in his mouth and help her point instead of his own. He’s just such a great character and he not only fits neatly into Lilo and Stitch’s world, but the writers clearly get him perfectly. We get a hilarious bit where, fed up with Hamsterviel, who he’s teamed up with, he simply fakes the radio going out, adjusting the dials purposfully to make it come in buggy something I GUARANTEE he put in for SHeego and I gurantee she saw right through. His plan is to create a clone army of Stiches.. meaning Hamsterviel’s big evil plan.. is a copy of someone else’s.

Lilo goes to Jumb and Pleakly, the latter of whom has been collecting magazines adorably. Lilo plans to go after Stitch but Jumba says she can’t go on dangerous missions without him and to get a professional and this part.. does not work for me. Most of the time Jumba ENABLES Lilo’s behaviors and while not wanting an 8 year old to run out into the night is a good call, he also suggests getting help.. instead of you know GOING WITH HER WHEN IT’S LIGHT. It sounds more like Nani’s idea... it fits her more to not want Lilo to run out and to want to get help versus Jumba whose admant about keeping secrecy yet very lax on things, and you know would BE concerned that his prized creation was suddenly stolen and actually think about it. He’s just so horribly out of character it hurts.

And Nani’s absence really hurts the episode. See the last two, as much as I missed the lovely and talented Tia Carrere’s presence, didn’t really need her, though still could’ve included her: she could’ve made a cameo at the start since Lilo was there to visit her and she woul’dve made a better target for Spats than trudy, with Oscar fighting Jumba instead, allowing us some crossover interactions instead of having Jumba argue with a random asshole the episode wrote in. But it’s minor stuff. Here though? Her being the one to tell Lilo not to go would’ve made more sense: She’s protective by nature, and while she’s let go more since the movie, it’d make sense for her NOT to want Lilo to blindly chase after someone who beat stitch of all beings, as well as for her ot be the one to later tell Kim not to let lilo be involved. It’d be stronger coming from her sister and surrogate mother than Pleakly and it would’ve been a better arc to have Nani let Lilo off the leash so to speak and accept she needed to save kim. Instead she’s just gone for no reason and Jumba is grosly out of character and i’m disapointed.

That said the setup is the best and most intergrated so far: Pleakly sees an article about kim so he reaches out to her via a message on her site, while Lilo is stubborn about not being help.. obnoxiously so to the point it hurts the episode. While her being inscure about someone else saving Sttich would be fine, the episode never adresses that and instead just has her say she can because shut pu instead of accepting help. The episode would’ve flowed better if instead she accepted kim but Nani had Kim push her away, and thus create more problems. More on that in a bit.

But as I said this setup is great: it uses BOTH shows for once isntead of feeling like the first two, and honestly the next one judging by the blurb on the wiki, where its just “Hey x character visits Kauai”, here it blends both: The two main villians team up, and Kim is logically called for help since that’s what she does and they don’t want to risk lilo’s saftey. It’s good stuff.

So our other heroes enter the episode, on a ritzy jet as Kim’s dad had an old college friend with an airline. I admit the episode weirdly downplays Kim’s penchant for getting rides, getting a helicopter that appears to be a touring one and getting this one via her dad instead of the usual person who owes her a favor. IT was a neat part of her character: that she got help from people she already helped on adventure’s we hadn’t seen to establish she can’t drive herself yet and to show she’s an experinced heroine with a lot of history before the show started. I also like how a handful of episodes after season 1 had returns from people we HAD seen before or linked to them, a clever way of having callbacks.

It’s simple stuff Kim is ready for the wrold saving mision and ron hopes to get a vacation in. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

So the next day Lilo tries to go it solo but is spotted before she can leave, while Pleakly has built a.. photo colloage of Kim’s face on the wall...

... no wait i’m getting paid for this. Nevermind.

It is funny as it is unsettling though and Kim arrives and Pleakly faints.. Ron also arrives doing fake kung fu moves. This episode gets ron about half right... they overdo it a bit on the shenanigans, but Will Freidle’s natural charm and talent mean that even standard ron bits coughed up by a cat onto a page and used for this script still work simply because he’s that good at delivery.

We also get the who’s on first bit you all knew was coming as Kim asking what’s the Sitch confuses lilo and i’ts .. pretty funny. Again you could see it coming from a mile away, but Daveigh Chase and Christy Carlson Ramano really sell the hell out of it and we get a nice runner after of Kim misprouncing his name and trying NOT to say her usual catchphrase.

She also gets filled in on the alien thing... and while she admits i’ts a lot to swallow, she also admits she’s seen weirder. And given this episode would, by airdate (ignoring the one for So the Drama as that aired before the last batch of season 3 episodes but continuity wise takes place between seasons 3 and 4), take place around the same time as the season 3 intended finale “Team Impossible”, by this point she’s seen vengeful fishteens mutated by a horrifying summer camp, a rogue gentecist who basis her crimes against nature on a beanie baby knockoff, magical monkey based kung fu, a magican egyptian amulet, killer robot’s resembling teenage girls, a body swap episode, a plan using a barcode to destroy the internet, an attack on canada, a giant poodle, a complicated time travel plot, a trucker with a mullet, her sidekick getting turned into a surprisingly competent supervillian, and draken’s plan to use his rap career to promote brainwashing shampoo. And that’s just a handful of the things I was reminded of on the episode list. So yeah, this isn’t THAT much of a stretch. Oh and lest you think Kim never encountered aliens the series finale was an alien invasion by aliens Draken had pissed off earlier in the season. Suprised Lilo didn’t you know have Stitch and the family army pitch in. Maybe Leory and Stitch was going on at the same time?

Point is she’s in but goes with Pleakly in trying to keep Lilo out of it. And here’s yet another place the episode missteps: Kim’s REALLY patronizing to Lilo, treating her like she can’t do anything and later ignoring her advice when she brings up the current later, something that ends up getting Kim caught. The latter part especially bugs me since Kim normally listens to her clients pretty well, and had she doubted him could’ve at least asked Waid since she contacts him in the same scene. Speaking of which THAT’S why I feel her patronizing “not now kiddo” atittude dosen’t work: her spy master IS a child, her brothers have helped out multiple times, and the incident I mentioned from where she met her younger cousin who idolized her at an old west town was understandable: Her cousin was getting into dangerous stuff and throwing herself out there recklessly with no regards to her own saftey and impeding the mission with her well meant antics. Lilo.. knows who their looking for, knows the island well, and knows stitch’s weaknesses. And she goes from being annoyingly hostlile to kim to helpful, so it makes kim even more obnoxious for not accepting said help. It’s just.. draining as when this part of the plot ISN’T in play, Kim is fine. She’s her usual self.. not AS well written as the parent show, a bit too reliant on her catchphrases, but still not half bad and Christy Carlson Romanao, like Fredle helps paper over the weaker bits of the script. She’s not even out of character in her actions, as she does have a tendency to think she knows everything or undereistmate people.. the problem is it’s written poorly enough she comes across as insufferable, and unlike the show, where she actually learned something here.. she just learns to work as a team? When she does on a regular basis with Wade and Ron?

It’s just so frustrating because they almost had it just right, but instead just had to try and put some half assed moral about teamwork in there. They broke from the formula of having an experiment of the week but they still just HAD to keep to their own formula. And look Kim Possible has it’s own formula.. but it used that to great effect, often using the episode’s plot to shake it up in fun ways, and the plots were still diffrent enough and the villians bold and intrestin genough that it didn’t grate. This is starting to grate. And I do remember good and intresting episodes of the show.. but i’m starting tor ealize why I don’t remember NEARLY as much of Lilo and Stitch as I do the other shows it’s crossing over with: it’s so bolted to the formula they all just sorta blend together. It’s really fucking disheartning to realize something you loved so damn much as a kid just.. isn’t as good as you remember. And with these other shows.. I don’t have that as much. I accept proud family’s fault, Jake Long actually seems MORE intresting than it was at the time, and rewatching kim possible it’s excellent, same with recess coming up. I really need to watch more Recess. The most disheartining thing about this arc is the crossover just shows how BETTER the other shows were. Lilo and Stitch wasn’t a BAD show, and it isn’t here.. but it’s a mediroce one. it has a good premise. but it feels like they just don’t break away from the premise enough. This just... hurts a lot to type and realize. I really loved this show and movie as a kid and while the movie likely still holds up this.. this just dosen’t.

I need a moment... i’m breaking open the glass case containing my emergency patrick stewart clip excuse me...

youtube

That.. I needed that.

So before the bicker sisters can head off, we get our goofy comedy subplot: Jumba thinks Rufus is one of his experiments, one that could destroy the universe if not cancel and is highly unstable. As for why this one wouldn’t of worked out, I get why: it’s TOO powerful. Stitch is a weapon of mass distruction in a cuddly package, but he’s also easily deployable, kind of like Wolverine if he was in the body of a cartoon mascot. Having the THREAT of destroying ap lanet is fine and good for the long term but it does you no good if you can’t control it and i’td just destroy you too.

So he and Pleakly try to steal rufus without telling Ron why after Ron naturlaly refuses to sel land a chase insues. So while the boys and gender fluid person have their comedy plot, the girls head to where stitch was taken and find Draken’s glove.... they know it’s his because he put a note saying “return to dr. draken, his mother gave it to him”. That’s just.. fucking precious. And entirely in character. So kim aranges a ride, and dives into the ocean, but finds lilo in her parachute, and tries to send her back despite LIlo offering valuable advice both about the area , the current I mentioned earlier, and about stitch, i.e. Draken’s base is underwater (something Kim didn’t realize which feels odd for her), because Stitch can’t swim, something I genuinely forgot.

So while Kim sends Lilo back, or rather intercut with that but I choose to compress plots for my own convinence we cut back to Drakken and Shego. And I WAS worried that Shego wouldn’t show up, she wasn’t in the synopsis or anything and was delighted to find that nope she’s here. Drakken just isn’t the same without her.. I mean I liked the recurring subplot in season 4 where other villians would break her out, that was great, but in the end the two need each other. I may not ship them romantically but as a comedy team one just needs the other: Drakken needs Shego to cut down his ego and Shego needs someone to snark at and complain about. Sullivan and DiMaggio just had perfect chemistry and it’s easy to see why Drakken and Shego went from just another part of the Rogue’s Gallery to Kim’s arch enemies.

Which is why I am sad Gantu and 625 don’t show up for this one. I mean I can buy it: Hamsterviel likely is doing this on the sly to see if he can find a better minon, but the two sets of villians have similar dynamics and i’d love to see Shego and 625 dunk on their bosses together. It’s a really big missed opportunity but I do get it as they may of just nto been able to fit the two together or it may of been hard to block a lot of scenes iwth the human sized drakken and the giant sized gantu. So unlike a lot of missed opportunites in the other episodes, this one I at least can understand.

We get some GREAT banter with the two though. Out of the four guest characters in this one the crew really got Drakken and Shego down and the two bicker like any episode of Kim Possible, with Shego pointing out the massive bill on Stitch’s cage and how Drakken’s tried cloning about five times now and it’s never worked, and of course how he’s 50 50 splitting with a hamster bellow his station. Seriously why get rid of Gantu and 625 but keep the annoying rodent, I don’t get you episode.

Of course while they quack quack bicker bicker Stitch escapes and Shego gives chase. Sadly we don’t get a fight between the two like we did with Jake, another missed opprotunity but Stitch getting out of her grasp by licking her is objectively funny. Stitch finds he’s underwater though and gets recaptured.

Kim gets captured for the first time shortly after as the current caught her, but luckily she has kimunicator gloves and calls waid to call ron. Meanwhile Ron finally catches rufus back and Jumba explains the situation.. but Ron understandably dosen’t want to give up his buddy especially since Rufus has shown no signs of being a planet killer before. He’s not mooncake... althought i do think those two could hang. God now I just want a final space kim possible crossover to wash this out of my mouth.

So it’s down to Lilo, the really not all that ambigiously gay their pretty darn gay duo, and Ron to save the day. Lilo finally gets to do what she kept asking kim to do: use jumbas hot rod car spaceship thing to go down under the sea, and they send Lilo and Rufus in since hteir small enough to get in and suriive the pressures. Our heroes arrive and Drakken is nonplussed.. only for Lilo to prove WHY she can keep an alien in line by freeing stitch from teh leash drakken has him on using kim’s grapple gun, and then frees kim. The good guys win and the bad guys loose and the base starts to self destruct.. eh they’ll be fine. They still have the movie to get to.

So time for the wrap up: Stitch sniffs Rufus and confirms what the audience knew... that he’s a naked mole rat not an experiment. Which didn’t make sense to begin with for either show: Jumba’s archive should’ve been able to scan him or something (And if not he could build something to do that), and Kim Possible not only implied from day one Ron had Rufus a while, long before the rain of the pods, but A Stitch in Time outright confirms Ron bought him years ago in middle school. It just makes no sense and while it thankfully dosen’t take up a ton of the episode it still takes up too much.

But with that our heroes prepare to part on good terms but Pleakly decides to celebrate with Luau. Kim’s repsonse “Well I can do anything...”

And we get a gratuitous luau sequence! I do love a job that allows me to type the phrase “Gratuitous Luau Sequence’ They clearly ran short and we just get a good minute of everyone doing hula dances for no reason. I mean.. you could’ve done a quick gag with the experiment who was mistaken for Rufus... who I now realize given the finale was befriended by someone. I’m headcanoning now Kim and Ron came back for that one and Kim had him sent to space as part of one her dad’s projects where he and earth would be safer and he could help with space missions or something.

Final Thoughts: As you could tell I had mixed thoughts. As a crossover this melded things better, had a more original plot and the actors from Kim Possible brought their a-game.. but once again some disapointing characteteriztion and downright stupid decisions really let the episode down. These episodes just depress me every time and I’m looking forward to being done.. which given how excited I was going into this.. yeah. Like all of these despite their flaws I recommend checking it out if you like Kim Possible, if nothing else than for some extra drakken shego banter but.. keep your expectations low.

Next Time on Kim Possible: A team of spiteful assholes who are in a way repsonsible for Kim’s Career try to shut her down. It’s the intended finale episode outisde of hte movie people buckle up.. or you would if I was doing any of these. Though I should do “Team IMpossible” at some point.

On the finale of these crossovers: The Recess Gang are the final visitors to Kuai as Lilo must find and stop a lazy monster... no i’m not guest starring too.

Tommorow: Another kev one this time by patreon as I put two similar episodes of a show or franchise against each other and ask “Who Did It Better?” This time it’s two episodes of Celebrity Death Match, original versus revivial may the original.. probably win.

If you liked this review, please consider supporting my patreon, YOU CAN FIND THE LINK TO IT HERE. For just 2 bucks a month you get access to my discord, to pick a short each time I do one of my shortstravaganzas, and acess to my Patreon exclusive reviews! Next month I intend to do one for the show whose crossover gets the most likes within a week of it’s relase. Proud Family has already passed American Dragon so you have a week to get it ahed. And if you like Kim Possible, help me reach my 25 dollar stretch goal! At that i’ll review So The Drama, along with the Recess and Proud Family Movies. So check it out and i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#lilo and stitch the series #lilo and stitch #kim possible #ron stoppable #doctor drakken #shego #Lilo Pelekai #Stitch #experment 626 #jumba jookiba

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the-starset-system · 3 years

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Do you got any ideas for increasing communication? I really wanna talk to my system but it's so hard :(

I could just give you the common advice but you can find all of that with a quick Google search. Lemme give you some stuff that's personally helped us:

GET OUTTA mY RoOm IM PLAyiNG MINECRAF

Lmao I couldn't resist, but yee, Minecraft has actually helped us communicate more than anything. It gives everyone creative freedom and with mechanics like signs and books it's easy to leave notes within the game. The littles adore it too :D

I actually have a lot to say about playing as a system on Minecraft, so I might make a separate post if any of you want to hear. I'll probably be discussing how it helps and how to set all that stuff up, since figuring out how everything would work with inventory and stuff rattled our brain at first (;ŏ﹏ŏ)

Art!

Creating things is a great way to learn more about your system and maybe uncover trauma details in a more gentle fashion! We personally draw and write, but music, dance, videos, etc. all work!

It doesn't even have to be about your system, it could be feelings or thoughts. Just something to pick your brain, to learn more about yourself since it's easy to fall down a pit when you don't know who you are, let alone your system.

That's one of the most important things in my opinion, having a grounded sense of self before really jumping into everything. When we jumped in not really knowing who we are ourselves it was hard to understand one another and I do believe that carelessness still affects us to this day, so just try to understand your own self as well

Don't laugh, but dress up games

Yeah yeah I know the kinda reputation some of them hold, but when we first discovered we were a system and started trying to work together that was the first thing we done. We knew we didn't identify with this body, but at the same time a majority of us were particularly unsure of what we did look like. Having little avatars to dress up was so helpful cause we would ask ourselves "does this feature have any significance?" or "Why am I attached to this certain feature?". Slowly after sifting through different options we could say "that's me". It was really reassuring and helped us recognize each other. It even helped with figuring out who was fronting because someone would feel unsettled about a certain feature being missing.

We still use little apps sometimes for fun or if someone new split / came out of dormancy :]

Making time

This is gonna sound silly, but think of communicating with your system the same way you would in a relationship. This is something you're likely gonna be dealing with for a good while so it's good to have close bonds with everyone. Bonds are the key to communicating cause I mean, would you wanna talk to someone you dislike?? If you're having trouble with system conflict I'd recommend checking out my other post I made about it.

But where does making time come into this? Aha sorry I actually got off topic but I feel like it's important regardless so I ain't erasing it-

What I mean by making time is well, making time. It's harder to communicate when there's so much going on around you cause you'll get distracted. What we do is set out however much free time we have that day to bundle up in our room and pretend we're sleeping, when in reality the low amount of sensory stimuli makes it easy to focus on talking to everyone. This doesn't always goes as planned, sometimes we just have bad days and can't communicate. If that's the case we'll keep trying for a few minutes before going off to do something else.

That's one thing to always remember, everyone has bad day and that's okay!

So, those are some ideas, but I also wanted to go over some things you should avoid too, kinda like do's and dont's!

Forcing communication

There's often a reason someone in the system avoids communicating, as well as a reason you may not be able to communicate with anyone. At the end of the day you gotta remember this was formed out of survival, needing to not be able to communicate, to forget, in order to properly function.

If things aren't helping then maybe give it some time, you might just not be at a good point in your life right now and your brain knows, saying "hey, we still don't feel too good, I wanna be prepared for any other tough situations we might go through" and that's okay. The mass media loves to portray ppl with DID having flawless communication and that's just not the truth. People understand it's a hard battle and I can assure you many in the community have your back :]

Fake claiming

-One of my worst habits, it's easy to say "no that's not real". Sometimes it might not be but I know from my own mistakes that more than likely it is. It can hurt a lot of system members, making them feel like their voice doesn't matter or even make them go on a spiral if they really are real.

I don't really have much more to say, it's pretty self explanatory. Just keep an open mind

You don't have to be differentiated

Another thing we're all guilty of, we thought we had to all act super different to be valid. Spoiler alert: you're valid no matter what

Once again, I feel like it's pretty self explanatory, but forcing yourself to be different from x, y, and z person sucks cause you never get to be yourself. You don't need to be differentiated, your perfect the way you are, regardless of who may share those same traits

That's all I can think of right now, but knowing me I'll come up with a million more things after I post this

I did come up with a really good explanation of what building communication is like though and I wanted to share:

Think of it as leveling up in a video game. All these tasks may seem useless but slowly your collecting XP and getting closer to your goal. That's why you gotta keep at it!

So, keep going on those seemingly useless quests and fighting that boss monster no matter how many times you get thrown to the ground, cause every last bit is worth it (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

I hope this helps! Sorry if I got a bit off topic! I have a habit of that (• ▽ •;) I was writing on and off so things may be a bit choppy. Aaaa sorryyyy but thank you for the askkkk! And remember, I am not a professional and my words should not replace / overwrite seeking professional help if possible! Regardless, I hope you have a good week! 💫

#roar.exe #👾#ask response #advice #long post

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repmet · 4 years

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Fic: Iris

For FowlFest2020: Obscure Character Appreciation Day. Iris is actually an OC, but her family is mentioned so... that counts right? Shoutout to @ms-nothingspecial for betaing and listening to me stress about word choice for far too long.

The fairy shuttle port at Tara was an impressive operation. Ten thousand cubic metres of terminal concealed beneath an overgrown hillock in the middle of the McGraney farm. For centuries, the McGraneys had respected the fairy fort's boundaries and, for centuries, they had enjoyed exceptional good luck.

- Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Iris McGraney is born at midnight on a full moon, which for a McGraney is the very best of luck.

The birth goes smoothly and without complications, and Iris is born quietly, wailing briefly to let the world know she’s arrived, before settling on her mother’s chest, quietly basking in the comfort of her family around her.

Iris McGraney is born lucky. Then again, her family always has been.

When Iris is 7 she gets sick, as children do.

Plans are made to see the doctor in the morning, but McGraneys have a certain way of treating illnesses first that most others don’t.

Iris is well enough to listen to her Dad tell her to keep the bedroom window open all night, even as he bundles her up in blankets and turns the heater on.

He puts a note on the sill along with a single gold nugget, just in case.

“We’ve invited them in before, but it’s better safe than sorry, isn’t it? And you should never ask without offering something in return. It’s rare they take it but it’s only polite.”

The McGraney’s were always digging up gold, especially near the fairy fort. Iris knew it was a secret though, or else everyone would want to come dig on their farm which would make the cows sad.

“Now, go to sleep,” her Dad tells her, tucking her in tight. “You’ll feel better in the morning.”

Iris doesn’t wake all night, and in the morning, the note is gone, the small piece of gold now sitting on her night stand.

Iris picks it up and runs to the kitchen.

“It moved, Daddy!” she announces proudly, the picture of a healthy child. “They didn’t take it but it moved.”

Her father laughs and hugs her.

“That’s how they let us know they were here.”

When Iris is 14 a severe looking boy in a suit sits down across from her at a cafe she’s in, and puts a phone on the table.

Iris recognises the model, it’s seven months away from being released and the hype is already intense.

“For a moment of your time.”

Iris stares at him.

“My parents are gonna think I fucking stole this.”

The boy sets a letter down on the table as well. Iris has a brother so she ignores the letter at first and continues staring at the boy, hoping to unnerve him. He seems unbothered, maybe he has siblings too. She picks up the paper and reads a very official looking letter from the phone manufacturer congratulating her on being selected to test an early release prototype.

It’s fake of course. Iris isn’t an idiot, she is however a teenager in a tiny village with not much going for it. In short, she’s bored and whatever the hell this is, it’s interesting. Also her parents don’t know shit about technology or how major releases work.

She shoves the phone in her backpack.

“What do you want?”

“The fairy fort on your property, I want to know about it.”

Iris raises her eyebrows, that’s hardly top-secret information.

“I don’t know, man, it’s been there for ages. We take care of it, respect the boundaries, and we get lucky.”

“In just the past fifty years your family has uncovered a lost work of Holbein the Younger, a sword owned by Íriel Fáid and seven seperate stores of gold. You’ve also never lost an animal to bovine spongiform encephalopathy in all the history I could find of your farm.”

Well it was more gold than that at last count but they’d stopped being so vocal about it and also-

“Yeah... what’s that last one?”

The kid gives her a disdainful and patronising look. “Mad cow disease.”

“Right.” This dude is a dick. “Like I said. Lucky.”

“It seems a bit more than lucky.”

Iris shrugs. “Look man, you don’t need to believe in the People if you don’t want but you’re in the wrong town. We eat that shit up here, the Hill of Tara borders our farm, there’s three fairy-dedicated gift shops in this village alone.”

He looks interested now though, leaning forward in his seat.

“The People?”

His eyes are weirdly intense, Iris can’t wait to tell her friends about this. Orla is super into vampires right now, she’s going to love it.

“Fairies, the fae, the fair folk, aos sí, whatever you want to call them. Maybe it is just luck, I’ve never seen one-” She frowns, a memory bubbling up then she shakes her head, brushing off a dream of a small winged figure on her windowsill one night. “The People is what my grandparents called them though. Capital P.”

“What else did your grandparents tell you about them? Did they have any superstitions specific to your family?”

Iris doesn't even need to think on that one.

“Grandpa Rob had this thing where he would make everyone wash their hands after we came back from church. Said it was not to harm the People with the holy water, but no one else I know does that, even the Creideamh Sí families.That means -”

“The Fairy Faith,” he interrupts. “Yes, I’m aware. I’ll need to know anything else your family knows about them.”

He pulls a laptop out of his bag which looks like nothing Iris has ever seen and her family is pretty well-off (selling lost works or art tends to help).

“This is getting to be more than a moment, dude.”

“I can take the phone back.”

Iris laughs, he’s not wrong that the phone is worth more than a short conversation, but the threat is just plain funny coming from a pre-teen who looks like he’d never seen the sun in his life and a stiff breeze would knock him over.

The man standing behind him, who Iris initially assumed was his dad but now isn’t so sure, clears his throat and there’s something in the way he does it, or maybe the way he glances down at her, that makes it very clear this tiny undertaker looking child would be leaving with either his answers, or the phone.

If Iris were older or wiser, she would be suitably unsettled but today she just waves a hand at the mountain of a man.

“Chill, I don’t mind, just weird to be honest.”

“You’re welcome to whatever opinion you please so long as you answer all of my questions with as much detail as possible. Now, tell me more about the holy water.”

This phone better be worth it. (It is.)

When Iris is 19 the world ends.

Kinda.

Her PlayStation is ruined at least which is annoying as shit.

More importantly, the fairy fort is gone and there’s an actual fucking fort there.

“I always thought it would be a bit less… concrete.”

She’s not sure who she’s talking to, her brother’s moved to London and her parents are out at lunch with friends. But it’s rather the sort of day where Iris thinks she might not believe anything at all if she keeps it just in her head.

The door gives a loud bang and Iris yells and leaps backwards. The banging continues and she realises there’s someone on the other side.

“Are you okay?’ she calls, trying to keep the sudden nervousness in her chest from coming through the words.

“There’s a fire in here, and the suppression systems aren’t working.”

Iris takes several long breaths, processing several things. One, her family is not mad, fairies do exist. Two, they do in fact have a fort on their farm. Three, she might be about to meet them for real. Four, it’s kinda ugly and dull, she expected a bit more… magical?

She looks up to try and centre herself and catches sight of a plane, trailing smoke and flying disturbingly low before it disappears over a hill. In the distance there’s the sound of thunder.

Right, the world is possibly ending, perhaps that should be higher on the list. That part is plain not registering in her head.

She tells herself she imagined the plane, there’s no room in her head to process the alternative right now.

“Who are you anyway?”

Iris’ head snaps back up at the question. Right, fairies trapped in a burning building. Focus.

“Iris McGraney! Stand back, I’ll kick the door in.”

“This door is built to withstand more than you, human.”

Iris frowns, annoyed. “You prefer to suffocate?”

There’s a long pause then, from what sounds like a distance, the voice calls back, “Alright, give it a go.”

Iris is a farmgirl through and through. She’s been stacking hay and climbing fences and eating well her entire life, she wouldn’t be carrying the Dinnie Stones any time soon but she could best all the local boys in an arm wrestle and carry a small calf several fields if she had too.

Her first kick connects with a satisfying crack. The second gives more of a crunch and on the third the door snaps and slams inwards. It’s a pretty cool moment, Iris wishes the day wasn’t so surreal so she could bask in it more.

Smoke starts to billow out as soon as it meets the outside air and there’s a lot of yelling and organised panic as thirty-odd fairies of differing colours and various sizes of small come pouring out, most coughing.

One, in an official looking uniform, makes a line for Iris.

“You’re a fairy,” she tells him.

“Yes, a gnome if we’re getting technical.” He pulls out a handkerchief and starts dabbing at his forehead. “Thanks for that, by the way, Frond only knows what’s going on. One moment we’re getting the call that Haven’s locking down the next the electronics start sparking and melting off the walls.”

“The same thing happened in the house.” Iris tells him, rapidly compartmentalising, there was far too much to take in today. Fairies sure, but gnomes? She pushes it in a box for later. “My phone melted, and the TV almost started a fire.”

The gnome shakes his head worriedly. “This is not good, not good. No contact with Haven and all our tech going bust. I bet it’s that Koboi pixie somehow, right crazy one she is.”

Iris nods for a moment, then shakes her head. “No, I don’t know what that means.”

“Not good, is what it means.”

Iris looks across the fields to several columns of smoke rising in the distance, the further she looks in every direction the more there are.

Not good at all.

When Iris is 32 her parents die.

It’s sudden and so plain, after a life of quiet magic and unrelenting luck. Her mother took a turn too fast and hit a patch of ice.

They didn’t suffer at least.

She blames the People at first, but even as the anger bubbles inside her she knows it’s only grief behind it. She’s learnt over the years they’re just people themselves, no capital letter. They can do extraordinary things but miracles are miracles for a reason.

After the wake is passed and the friends gone home, her brother reluctantly back across the channel, promising to call that same night, Iris is at a loss.

She had expected to be but still.

The knocks at the door are so frequent she doesn’t even startle when another comes. She’s not sure she’s in a mood for more well-wishers but she’s not doing well alone either so- she sighs and goes to open the door.

On the other side is a black-haired man in a three-piece suit, still pale but Iris felt less concern now that he might combust if the sun ever does manage to find him.

“Artemis Fowl, I didn’t expect us to meet again.”

“You remember me.” He doesn’t seem surprised.

“Being interrogated by a ten year old tends to stick in a girl’s mind.”

He smiles. “I was 12.”

Iris invites him in and makes tea.

It’s a welcome distraction right now because you have to be living under rock in Ireland not to know how just very extraordinary Artemis Fowl the Second is. Three doctorates, Time Man of the Year at 22, already one Nobel Prize and smart money’s on a second soon.

If anyone could have done it at 12… well.

For a moment she almost hesitates, but Artemis gives her a real smile, as if he already knows what’s on her mind.

(In the years ahead she will come to know him well enough to realise that’s exactly the case.)

She hands him a cup and sits down.

“Tell me, Dr. Fowl, did you ever find the People?”

#artemis fowl #fowlfest2020 #artemis fowl fanfic #prompt: suggests named characters #me: but what if that one family briefly mentioned just that one time and never referred to again #fanfic #fanfiction #do you know how long it's been since i posted a fic #like damn

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pagankingfinn · 4 years

Text

Catdoriya Story Snippets - Part I.

Thanks to @ebony-wolf for helping me with the reactions.

Class 1-A, besides Bakugou, didn't know anything about how Izuku's home life was or how he was raised.

Nobody knew anything about Izuku Midoriya, they didn't know that he worked two jobs and took up more when he could, they didn't know that his mother had been involved in an accident that left her disabled, they didn't know about him being super hyper, they didn't know about his ADHD symptoms, in reality the class knew Izuku less than they thought.

The first major slip up happened during their second year at UA, Izuku being stressed out beyond normal, had meant to bring a bird home for his mother but forgot where he was going after he caught the bird. He ended up walking all the way back to UA with the dead bird, and went back into human form to open the class 1-A dorm doors.

From there everything went to shit, his classmates were staring at him, before he was bombarded with shouting that made his sensitive ears fold flat against his head and puff up. Immediately Iida and Momo were upon Izuku, who backed up to the closest wall with his tail puffed up.

"Midoriya, that is quite unsanitary to be carrying a dead bird in your mouth, not to mention taking it with you into the dorms. Are you trying to spread disease? You should be ashamed of yourself for even bringing that on school grounds, you're being disrespectful to the future students of UA, your upper class men, and the students that look to the second and third years for guidance!" Iida lectured him, his hand chopping motions intensified as he did so. Now those who had been unaware or heard the commotion had come to investigate.

Izuku watched as Tokoyami inched out of the room, glaring at him like he was trying to decide if Izuku was friend or foe. Izuku swallowed harshly around a mouth full of feathers and decaying bird. Koda ran out of the room looking utterly disgusted and afraid of Izuku. Izuku thought he could hear a faint thump that sounded a couple minutes later.

"You're with the villains aren't you Midoriya! Was everything you did just a lie?! I bet you're the reason the villains keep finding us, you must be the UA traitor!" Mineta yelled as he pointed at Midoriya, this spurring on the rest of his classmates.

"You've been lying to us all this time, haven't you Deku-kun! Did you save me and befriend us just so that you could toy with us!? You're a fake and a sociopath Deku! Bakugou was right in calling you a Deku!" Ochako yelled, she looked like she was about to throw up. Aoyama was already ahead of her as he nearly threw up on the floor, only to run to the bathroom.

"That's way unmanly bro! Lying to your classmates and killing animals isn't heroic at all, maybe if you're going to be like that you shouldn't be here." Kirishima piped in, crowding around him with the rest of the class. Izuku could hear the familar footsteps of Aizawa approaching, the scent of Shinsou was also detectable.

He could feel their disappointed gazes dissecting him all over again, it make his skin crawl and his hair stand on end. Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to make himself as small as possible, giving off a fear stench that would've had Mama Inko snarling and clawing at anyone who had hurt her only kit.

"I have to agree with Kirishima. The fact that you would even think about bringing dead animals back to the dorm is detestable, you're utterly sick Midoriya." That was Jirou's voice. Though he couldn't see her through the tears that blurred his vision, he knew she was practically breathing down his neck.

"Midoriya." Izuku's stomach leapt into his throat, the impassive tones in Todoroki's voice made him shiver. At this point the green haired boy was curled up against the wall, his knees to his chest as he actively fought to squish himself farther into the concrete structure.

"What you did is quite disgusting, but do normal people actually do stuff like this? Is carrying dead animals around in your mouth something normal people do?" Todoroki asked with genuine curiosity and confusion.

"Todoroki, step away from Midoriya. Nobody remotely sane does anything like that. Obviously he has other motives to his actions. The snapped neck of the bird and the blood that has welled up and dried on his teeth and lips clearly points to him killing the thing." Momo chided the dual haired teen as she pulled him away.

"You wouldn't just do something like this without a good reason, right Midoriya?" Those words that had been offered up by Shoji struck him harder than anything else. Izuku's throat tightened up, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He had been so careful to not let anyone know about the hunting he did for his mother.

"What's going on?" A voice sounded, Izuku was too far gone to recognize it, but it belonged to Kaminari.

"Midoriya brought back a dead bird, man this is better than any drama I've seen on TV!" The resident alien queen responded, her magic tea cup ready as the pink skinned girl excitedly hung on every word that was spoken.

"Maybe Midoriya brought back the bird to eat it, I understand being influenced by a quirk, kero. Though the fact that it's a dead bird is still unsettling, kero kero."

Izuku could barely process anything else that was being spoken after that, he was vaguely aware of his classmates yelling at him. The glares and looks he got made him feel vulnerable and unprotected as he instinctually shifted into his cat form without realizing. This just caused more uproar.

"Look! He's trying to hide his crimes from us!"

"Maybe he thinks that if he's like that then we'll just let him go!"

"Good luck with that!"

Finally, salvation came in the all too familiar scent of nitroglycerin and the sound of popping.

"OI! BACK UP FROM HIM YOU EXTRAS, MAYBE TRY TO RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU'RE CAUSING A CLASSMATE TO BREAK DOWN! NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ACCUSE HIM, MAYBE TRY TO UNDERSTAND HIM!" Katsuki yelled, before shoving everyone aside and rushing in to hold the clearly panicked Midoriya.

"Deku, look at me. You were trying to catch something for Auntie Inko, weren't you. Here, why don't we go cook that for her." Katsuki spoke as he let Izuku turn to his human form, the greenettes visibly deflated as he nodded. The two left their classmates in shock while they went to go use the kitchen.

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harrys-reverie · 4 years

Text

Dog Years // Harry Styles O.U.

Part 3: The Bookstore

a/n: hey everyone! welcome to part 3 of dog years. sorry it took so long on the update -- i just got back to college. i hope you enjoy this chapter!!! i personally consider it harry’s very subtle way of opening up to people (how i’d imagine it) as always like, SHARE, COMMENTS, feedback, all appreciated!!! xoo

STORY PAGE I PART ONE I PART TWO

To be fair I didn’t hear from Jeff or Harry for two whole days. I was starting to feel like they lowkey didn’t want me to be part of their ‘team’ anymore. I couldn’t be bothered even if they didn’t, because at the end of the day I worked for Eve, not them. But at the same time all I could do was sit and recollect about my night with all of them. Everything seemed to go so well, and i really thought they liked me. I liked them.

So since Eve figured my pay was now around the clock, if I wasn’t doing anything that I needed to do be doing something. It was just a bunch of menial tasks like picking up garbage around the premises, scooping up vile dog shit and what not. Honestly, it kind of sucked. I rather be fetching candles and dropping them off to Harry.

But finally it was Sunday and it was my day off. A part of me wanted to go back to my nans house, stop in and say hi. Then I remembered Sunday’s were her brunch and bingo days and she went out with all her cute old lady friends. I was starting to feel extremely lonely.

So I was left to myself in my little cottage. It was pretty relaxing, but all the time cooped up in here was becoming boring and repetitive. And to think I had 4 months left of this. Just sitting in my bed scrolling through shopping sites putting tons of clothes in a cart I’d never get around to purchasing. Even being payed around the clock wasn’t enough to buy a whole new wardrobe.

So yes, I was starting to get a little antsy that I heard nothing from Harry or Jeff. I sneakily biked by Harry’s cottage multiple times to see if he was still there throughout the two days, and his car was still parked in the driveway each time. I hadn’t seen him even around the premises at all doing anything. Or anyone from his group for that matter. I tried to tell myself by the end of the first day that they were all just super hungover. I knew that was a stretch but it eased my mind. Then yesterday rolled around and I had no comforting excuses for why I hadn’t heard from them.

I expressed my worry to Eve and she insisted that they were probably just getting settled. Okay, I’ll take that. That’s got to be it, right?

As I continued to worry in my head about what may have gone wrong I reached for my phone. Nope, no messages. Fuck. This was quickly becoming a bad habit, constantly checking my phone. Bravely I pressed Jeff’s contact, hovering my thumb over the call option. Should I try to reach out? Eh. Sighing, I locked the phone and tossed it to my side. If they needed me, they would act on it. I didn’t want to be a nuisance and bother any of them.

Focusing my attention back on my laptop I popped open a new tab on my Safari browser. I began typing his name, enter and then search.

Instantly an endless amount of brand new and just days old articles displayed across my screen. Harry Styles this, Harry Styles that. There was one recurring theme throughout all of these article titles though, a girls name - Camille.

“Camille Rowe, ex lover of musician Harry Styles states that he’s ‘overly jealous and begged her to stay when they broke up!’ Oh no, poor H. Read more here.”

“Apparently Harry Styles is a Freak in the Sheets! Ex Girlfriend Camille Rowe recollects on her sex life with the pop star in her new book ’Truth Be Told.’”

“Feeling bad about getting cheated on? Don’t feel bad,Harry Styles has been in your shoes too...his ex girlfriend opens up about the mistakes she made that ultimately led to the lyrics of Harry’s sophomore album, Fine Line.”

I couldn’t help but let out a gasp, all this couldn’t be true, could it? I exited out of the tab quickly, afraid to go on and read more of those terrible headlines. I honestly felt bad if all that was true, and if Harry’s ex girlfriend really did that, then I could only imagine how he might be feeling.

I could tell Harry really valued his privacy, why else would he be out here in the middle of nowhere in complete hiding? I thought back to him telling me how he had a disdain for California, I was now beginning to think she had some sort of connection to it. Poor Harry. Almost instantly I was feeling guilty, like I invaded Harry’s privacy by seeing all of those headlines. Imagining what the whole world most think and know of him right now is extremely unsettling. To bring up how he has sex and his most vulnerable moments and just like everyone know about it, it’s beyond fucked up.

Ting.

The world has a funny way of working making connections sometimes. Deep down in my gut I had a feeling it’d be Harry or Jeff who left me a text, it just had to be. Before I even reached my phone I saw the capital H, I knew it was Harry. Of course, he was texting me now, after I saw all that and felt so fucking bad. If he was any other person I’d ask if he wanted to have a nice chat, bring over some ice cream and wine and help him relax.

I wasn’t slow to swipe up on the message and see what he wrote.

‘Hiiiii Colette. Hope you’re well, it’s Harry. Have a huge favor to ask you whenever you get the chance. X”

Hah, he’s acting me for a favor as if I’m not getting paid to help him with whatever he needs. He’s too nice. I didn’t hesitate to start typing back.

‘Hi, Harry! How are you? I’ve been just well! As for the favor...sure anything :)”

Not even five seconds later my phone was vibrating and ringing at the same time, Harry’s name flashing across the screen. Ah, so he’s one of those people who have to make phone calls for everything. My hands felt like jelly as I went to accept the call. Even though we had a great night, him not talking to me for a couple days made me rethink how great that night might’ve actually been. Maybe I was just super tipsy and thought it was amazing when it was just subpar.

“Hello?” I chimed, placing the phone to my ear.

His deep Americanized-British accent greeted me, “Morning Colette!” He sounded extra chirpy this morning.

“Harry! Haven’t heard from you in a while..” I replied nervously.

There was a small pause. “Sorry ‘bout that just keeping busy and what not. I meant to text but, I was so preoccupied I forgot. ‘M sorry, won’t pull something like that again.”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed, my intention was never to make him feel bad but I could sense that I did. I wondered how stressful it was on him always being so kind to everyone, literally everyone. At all times of the day. I had a feeling that most of the time he was putting on an act when deep down he was just having real human problems that he had to keep tucked away.

“Don’t apologize,” I rushed. “It’s fine, seriously. What’s up?”

“A little bit of this, a little bit of that,” He joked. I could hear his soft chuckle from the other line. “Sunday’s.”

“The most relaxing day,” I noted, it was true.

“Relaxing enough where I feel like I should take some time and start a book.”

Oh, fuck. There wasn’t much enthusiasm in his voice anymore. I had a feeling I knew where all of this was heading, and I didn’t like it.

“Any day is a great day to start a book,” I suggested trying to hide my nerves. The universe really was one giant head fuck.

“Actually the favor I was going to ask you,” Harry drawled, a slight tinge of hesitation is his voice. “I really want this specific book.”

Yep, this was his heading right where I thought it would.

“Ooo which one?” I questioned excitedly, like I didn’t know. I was really hoping he’d take me by surprise and say that new Twilight book or something.

“It’s called Truth Be Told. Actually, bet it’s sold out everywhere. Can’t even Amazon fuckin’ Prime it.” He laughed. Maybe he was taking this a lot lighter than I thought...?

“Y’ know what. I don’t need it. Um, do you have any book recs?” Harry rushed.

“If you want that book I’ll go out in town and look for it, but if not I do have some recommendations,” I offered.

“Okay, how ‘bout this? I’ll lend you my car and could you get me that uh, Truth book or whatever and also, get me a book you recommend for me and I have one I recommend for you.”

“You trust me in your car? I just only started to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road,” I admitted with a smile, not like he could see it.

“If ya crash my car, I wouldn’t even try coming back...avoid the wrath of Harry Styles at all costs,” He countered.

“Uh-oh I’m scared,” I fake gasped.

“Hm, should be. I’m not like the papers say, ‘m actually a real diva.”

I was starting to really like this conversation.

“A lot of work, huh?”

“You think you can handle it?”

It’s like I could hear his smirk through the phone. This conversation went really, might I say flirtatious, really fast. I knew it was just his personality and I shouldn’t over think it. But if there is one thing I loved in life, it was a good flirt. And Harry, he was good at it.

I must have been zoned out for a moment because I heard Harry awkwardly clear his throat when I didn’t reply back to his flirtatious line.

“So ‘m gonna pick you up actually. We’ll go back to mine and then you can head off to get those books? Sound good?” He spoke into the line.

“Oh yeah, sure.”

“See ya soon.”

With a click, the call was finished. As much as I wanted to sit back and recollect on what the fuck went down in that call I knew I needed to get out of bed and make myself presentable. He didn’t give me an ETA so I assumed I didn’t have much time on the clock.

I ran to my overflowing duffle, with all the time on my hands I really needed to get around to unpacking it. Was it bad that I wanted to try to look a little more dressed up than just jeans and a tee?

Yep, it was probably bad because I shouldn’t care how I look in front of him.

“Ugh!” I exclaimed, rummaging through all the wrinkled clothing. I settled on black jeans and a black blouse. It looked a bit funeral-esque, I’m hoping it came off as chic. I’d look like a rag doll next to him anyway, the least I could do was try.

He really wanted to go and get his ex girlfriend’s book, huh? I don’t know why he’d want to do that to himself, either way I was going to play dumb as rocks when he gave me the list of the name and author of the book. It’s not entirely an act though, I just read a few headlines. Correction, I just google searched his name and scrolled throw a bunch of headlines about how you have sex and cry — how terrible that would sound if he knew it was true. I will be taking that one to the grave with me.

I swore not even 5 minutes had passed by and the purring of Harry’s engine was already echoing through my house. He was only up the hill after all, but he gave me absolutely zero time to fix myself up. I just had to suck it up and go out there with my frizzy hair and oily skin and tough it out.

But that wasn’t even my biggest concern, my biggest concern was the fact I, a shit driver in the first place, was now being trusted to drive Harry’s extremely fancy Range Rover to a book store of some sorts somewhere. As soon as we traded off the car my plan was to start Google mapping a place and praying that it was close. The quicker I’m in and out of that vehicle, the better.

My phone pinged.

Harry.

“Should’ve gone to the bathroom before I left. Can I come in for a quick wee? X”

I just couldn’t get a break, my bathroom was cluttered with skincare products and dirty clothes piling on the side. I ran to the bathroom swiping up the dirty clothes and tossing them in an empty drawer in the dresser. He’ll just have to excuse all my beauty products, I didn’t want to keep him waiting too long.

“Come in!!!” I texted him back.

The sound of a car door slam was almost instantly followed by a polite knock at my door. Although the cottages were spread far apart I rushed over to the door, not wanting him to stay outside too long, afraid he might get noticed.

I peered through the peephole and was blessed by the handsome looks of Harry. He was tapping his foot against the cobblestone, the hood of his Nike rain jacket pulled over his head completely, while his hair was covered by a black beanie. Even being so covered up he was still so good looking. I opened the door for him, allowing him inside.

“Hi there,” He grinned as I welcomed him in. I’d love to chat but ‘m actually bout to wee my pants. Give me a moment please.”

Harry then fast walked his way over to the bathroom, obviously familiar with the floor plan. He must’ve stayed in one of the smaller cottages before. The smell of his heavenly cologne suffocated the room instantly. I knew I’d still be smelling it lingering in the air even later on tonight.

All the rushing to get ready and let him in, I wasn’t even focused on my stomach which was knotting like crazy. It felt like it could explode from nerves at just any minute. I don’t remember ever feeling this nervous when I had to see him. Granted I’ve only seen him those two times, but I played it off so cool then. I think I was just working myself up over nothing right now.

I heard the sound of running water and momentarily the steps of his shoes making their way back over to me.

“Can we redo the greeting?” He questioned with a big smile.

“Ok..”

“No, ‘m actually just going to pop outside, knock again and everything,” Harry insisted seriously.

“I’ll pretend like you didn’t just rush to the bathroom like a toddler who hasn’t gone to the bathroom all day,” I agreed, going along with his little act.

“Great.”

Harry popped open the front door, shutting it behind him and going back into the hazy morning air, doing a quick spin before making contact with the door once again.

Knock.

I couldn’t help but giggle as I opened up the door for him the second time.

“Morning Colette, how are ya doing on this fine September morning?” Harry asked me extra cheerily, creeping in for a hug. I embraced him back, the scent of his cologne engulfing my senses once again.

“Doing just fine Mr. Styles. Could I offer you some tea?” I asked in a proper tone, putting on my best imitation of a British accent.

Harry rolled his eyes, breaking the act...”That’s the best you got? You’ve only bloody been staying in England for a whole month.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked appalled.

“Terrible.”

“Better luck next time.” I sighed jokingly.

“Don’t even try. I like your voice just how it is naturally, anyway,” He spoke honestly. The second it left his mouth he too looked taken aback at the compliment he had just thrown at me.

“Want to go get those books?” I suggested awkwardly, dismissing his compliment and changing the topic. Back to business.

Harry seemed surprised by how I brushed it off and maybe even a little embarrassed, his finger began fiddling with his bottom lip. I was starting to pick up that was a little thing he did when he was nervous.

“The books. How could I forget,” He replied dully.

“If i’m being honest I don’t even know where a book store is around here,” I huffed.

“I do,” He smirked.

“Well that’s no help considering I’m going by myself,” I rolled my eyes back at him playfully.

Harry was leaning his body weight on the wooden table by the entrance, a huge smirk painted on his face.

“Guess you’re outta luck then.”

“Would it be bad if I asked for you to come with and guide me?” I asked bravely. I was taking myself by surprise with how upfront I was being towards him. It was just so hard not to be when he was just so normal.

His face dropped a little. I couldn’t tell what sort of reaction he was feeling towards my question but he looked upset. I instantly regretted it because I know my request was about to be rejected.

“As much as I’d love to...” Harry began. “I can’t.”

“Stupid of me to ask,” I replied casually brushing it off. I wanted to change the topic.

“No, it’s not. Maybe I’m better off ordering books online, anyways.”

“I mean, I could still, go get it for you. Something to do.”

Harry brushed it off, shoving his hands in his sweat pockets. “Nope, don’t want you to anymore..the ratings weren’t even that good.”

Oh wow, Harry has some pettiness in him. I couldn’t blame him though. I think anybody else would feel the same way. I wanted to just reach out and tell him I knew why he wanted that book, and that it’s not even worth a bother. I really felt for him. I too had a bad ex, as we typically all do. I can’t say it was as bad as Harry’s past relationship, but mine was bad in it’s own unique way.

“Fuck it.” He mumbled before turning his gaze back towards me. “Let’s go get them books.”

I was surprised, “Really?”

“I hate to do this and act like a macho pop star but ‘m really gonna have to go incognito. Can’t even step out the car with ya unfortunately, but I’ll drive us.”

My heart warmed at his offer, I knew he was probably going against what his strict hiding rules were in order to go through with this. If he was just driving a heavily tinted car though, was there still a way for paparazzi to notice him? I was excited, I think he could tell because he let out a small giggle, shaking his head.

“Let’s hit the road then!” I exclaimed.

“After you,” He grinned, holding the door open in front of me and leading me to his car.

_________________

The ride with Harry was going well. He had a incognito get up of sunglasses, a beanie and his hood up, making sure there was no way someone could detect it was him. His car smelled like fresh leather and mint, there was an abundance of chewing gum packets stashed in the front compartment of his car along with miscellaneous receipts. Lucky for the both of us, the roads were almost completely clear and there was no traffic heading into town.

Harry was just as attractive looking while driving as I thought he would be. To be fair there was something so enticing about having any guy drive all manly and taking control. But especially Harry driving was a beautiful sight to see. The background music of the radio was humming in the background as the two of us chatted along casually.

“How are you going to recommend me a book if you can’t even come in?” I questioned him.

He turned to me, “Who said I’m not coming in?”

“You did!”

“Might just be your lucky day then,” He smirked. “Do you have a good recommendation in mind for me? Shall we surprise one another?”

I nodded my head, “Sounds like a plan.”

“No soppy romantic books, please,” He scoffed.

“But those are my favorites!”

“Don’t care. I’ve probably read all the best of them anyways,” Harry argued back, a huge smirk painted on his face.

Deep down I knew already which book I was going to pick out for him if it was there. I didn’t care if it was a romantic one or not because I had a feeling he hadn’t read it yet and I had an ever greater feeling that he’d fall in love with it.

The two of us went back and forth chatting to each other another until we began to reach a cobblestone path that led to a small selection of shops. The plaza was secluded and had just a few small buildings overgrown with ivy unevenly placed amongst one another. I’d say there was a max of 5 or 6 cars in the whole parking lot. To be fair, we were pretty far out of town I’d say we had been driving for at least 20 minutes.

“You ready?” He questioned. I could tell there was a hint of nerves in his voice. He was awkwardly fiddling with his wallet and pushing his hood down. He was now just left with his oversized black beanies and sunglasses as his ‘disguise.’

“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to,” I insisted earnestly. I didn’t want to push him to be in a situation that could get messy really quick.

“I’ll be fine here,” Harry reasoned, turning his gaze to the entrance of a little shop by the name of ‘Greg’s Books and More.’

“If anything goes bad, it wasn’t my fault!”

I didn’t want to be responsible for anything that might ensue, after all Harry was the one who insisted to walk in the shop with me. I had a good feeling that we’d be set though, there was literally nobody around and we were far from any major city with large amounts of people.

The two of us hopped out simultaneously shutting the car doors together. Walking side by side with him in the bright daylight made me more aware of the height difference between us, one I had barely ever noticed before. His single strides were equivalent to almost double mine and his shoulders were just a slight amount higher than my eye level.

“Good morning!” A sweet old man, short and stout greeted us from behind a counter of the shop. Harry and I both waved back.

“Morning sir, how are ya doing today?” Harry asked kindly, stopping short to stand and talk to the man.

“Just having a cuppa, enjoying the Sunday,” The man replied. “Let me know if you two kids have any questions.”

I shot the man another small smile before turning to Harry. “May the best book picker win?” I joked.

“You’ve got 10 minutes.”

“1...2..” I began counting down, but before I could even reach the number three, Harry was already rushing to the rows of books, an agenda already on his mind. He seemed so confident in what he was going to pick that I soon began to re think what I was going to choose for his book.

I hurriedly rushed to the other side of the bookstore, scanning the shelves with my eyes. The shop was small and I could hear Harry rummaging through shelves on the opppsite side. I had 10 minutes to find the book I had in mind, something I loved that I wanted to pass on to Harry.

The thought of trading off books to someone who a very intimate gesture, an invitation to be apart of another’s brain. I still couldn’t believe I was here right now with Harry Styles, a now friend, spending my Sunday out and about the town. I knew it was my day off but I knew when I arrived back to my cottage I’d want to inform Eve.

As my eyes panned over the endless covers and names of authors and titles a familiar bright blue and green cover popped up. Ah, I knew what this was. Before I had even fully removed it from the shelf, the yellow cursive script was already showing.

Love is a Mix Tape.

Given his career in music I knew right away this would be the perfect book for him. I had read it months ago, but the impact it left on me remained the same. A story not specifically circled around romance, but hints at the struggles of love and loss. It was funny and a joy to read.

I looked over the book making sure there were no imperfections, torn pages or bent covers. Luckily there was none, I angled it to my side hiding it just in case he’d pop out of of nowhere.

Walking up to the cash register there was no sign of him, he was probably still amongst the jungle of books so I took this as my invitation to check out.

“Hi,” I chirped to the old man who sat behind the desk, his glasses almost falling off his face as he read through the book in front of him.

“Hello there love, you all set?” He asked, walking over to the vintage-like cash register.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I put the book down between us already beginning to reach in my purse for my wallet. I really hoped Harry hasn’t read this one yet.

“Can I just give you money to cover both my book and the other customers? Like, pass it on..” I spoke handing the man almost triple the amount of my single book. He looked at me inquisitively and then began to smile.

“I’m sure that young man will appreciate it,” He smiles, a glimmer of knowingness in his eyes. I knew the gesture was small and i knew money was not a problem for him but I had such an urge to just do it anyways.

I thanked the man as he wrapped up the book and placed it in a brown paper bag, graciously taking it from him. Harry was still amongst the jungle of shelves and I didn’t want to prowl or cause attention so I decided to wait outside the store. The air was fresh and crisp, the sound of chirping birds and whistling trees engulfed my senses. I’m almost sure Harry had reached his 10 minute mark, but I wasn’t going to rush him. I had a feeling it was a rare occurrence for him to be able to aimlessly shop around, crowd free.

“Ya ready?” His voice erupted behind me, the bell of the door pinging in the quiet air. I turned to face him, his paper bag tucked underneath his arm.

“Not really,” I joked, it wasn’t a complete lie though. I wouldn’t mind shopping around with him in little hideaways all day. Harry caught up to me and we began the short walk back to his car in quiet. As my hand began to reach the handle he quickly swooped in front of me, opening it himself. I looked at him with a stupid look on my face, in awe of a gentleman.

“Oh thanks,” I spoke sheepishly.

“My pleasure.”

I hopped in and moments later Harry was back in the drivers seat beside me pressing the car on and pumping up the heat.

“Thanks, by the way.” He gestured to the paper bag.

“Oh, not a problem at all! Random acts of kindness or whatever,” I brushed it off.

“Not used to someone covering the bill,” He admitted. “Not like that type of stuff matters to me.”

“Well don’t even worry about it.”

“I’ll get you back next time,” He noted.

Next time. So there’s going to be a next time? A next time of us going to the book store? A next time of us hanging out? A next time of what?

“Should we swap these books or what?” I questioned, changing the topic once again.

“So eager, huh?” Harry laughed.

“Well we’re just sitting here in a empty parking lot, you have any other suggestions?”

“You’re right,” He quipped. “Here you are then.”

The two of us exchanged the bags. He lifted it to his ear, shaking it as if it was a surprise gift and he was trying to guess what it could be.

“Just get on with it!” I exclaimed.

“Hush, hush.” He began opening it, very carefully, soon revealing the book I had chosen for him.

“Lucky for you, I’ve never read this. Thank you,” He seemed very grateful as he looked over the front cover, going back and forth between the pages quickly. “I’m excited.”

“Thank God,” I huffed. “I was nervous you’d have read it before.”

“Nope, never. You did good,” Harry compliments, his eyes falling back to my unopened bag in my hands. “Now it’s your turn.”

Oh, yeah.

“I hate when people watch me open stuff,” I admitted. My hand was toying with the bag as I looked at him nervously. I didn’t like people watching me because I was afraid that I wouldn’t give off the right reaction to whatever they may have given me. It was too much pressure, and especially Harry watching me so intently it made me nervous.

“Want me to turn away?” He offered earnestly. “I know people like that, my sister.”

“Maybe just like causally look out the car or whatever.”

Immediately he began fiddling with his windshield wipers, intently focusing on them as if they were some sort of puzzle. I wanted to tell him not to use them when it wasn’t raining and it’d damage the car, but I’m sure he knew that. I took that as my queue to quickly unpack-age the book, afraid he might cause damage.

When I opened it up it revealed not one but two books. The one on top made my heart sink, I recognized the title right away. It was his ex girlfriends book. Why would he give this one to me? Should I act like I know what it is and what it’s about? No. Play dumb. Underneath it though, was a book by the name of ‘Betting On The Muse’ by Charles Bakowski. Ah, poetry.

“You done yet slowpoke?” Harry interrupted my thoughts, the two books sat between my lap.

“You can look,” I complied. “Are they both for me?”

“Yes,” He replied simply. “But, I have some stipulations.”

“This wasn’t a part of the deal.”

“I would like if you read the Bukowski book first. It’s poems, I want you to read them and guess which one is my favorite when you’re finished,” He instructed sweetly. Although there was direction in his tone, it came off so kind. “As for the other one..” He paused and then let out a huff.

“I don’t even want you to touch it,” He continued. “Don’t look it up, reviews, synopsis...anything.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I was confused but I didn’t want to let that on.

“One day, if I give you the ‘ok’ I want you to read it. If you want. You don’t have to listen to me by any means, but yeah,” He finished awkwardly.

“So just hold onto it?” I asked, holding up the Truth Be Told book. His eyes glimpsed down to it before quickly shooting back up to meet my gaze. The cover was what I was assuming to be her, his ex. Her hair was messy, lips full, topless with her arms covering her breasts in shades of black and white.

“Yeah, just hold on to it,” He stated.

“You’ve got my word,” I smiled. I could feel the tension in the car and I didn’t want it anymore. This was supposed to be a lighthearted excursion and I wanted to keep it that way.

“Great, well thank you for the books. I’ll start mine right away,” Harry began as he started the car once again. “You ready to take back off?”

I nodded watching him look over the book I had gotten him one last time. He smiled at it before turning to smile towards me. I smiled back. He then brought his hand to the radio, clicked a few things on his iPhone and then turned the notch up loudly. As he began to pull out of the cobblestone parking lot, the beautiful sound of his voice filled the car. This time it was in song.

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razorblade180 · 4 years

Text

Twin Snowflakes pt15:Foreign Princess

“Hmmm no….” Veronica said, looking at the architecture. “That’s not it either. Where could it be?” Veronica’s search for inspiration wasn’t off to the best start. The girl casually hopped from rooftop to rooftop while clutching her journal, jotting down all she found interesting around her. However, the time limit before school was cramping her style. At least Mantle was far warmer than Atlas. Veronica had decided on exploring this city over Atlas since she would no doubt be seeing plenty of it later.

Veronica finally stopped moving when she reached the rooftops of an apartment building. The girl sat on the edge in crisscross fashion and looked out at the one of the several heating factories. This one in particular was angled perfectly the kingdom above. Giving off an interesting duality as the warm red and orange glow of it clashed with the cold icy blue.

‘This place might not have good weather or even interesting people, but there’s a charm to it I suppose. Manufactured warmth feels different from Menagerie’s heat; I dig it.’ Veronica began sketching.

About half an hour passed like it was nothing before the sound of her alarm buzzed and vibrated. Unfortunately Veronica didn’t get as far along as she wanted to “Just when I was getting into the swing of things” she grumbled. “Next time.” Veronica packed up her belongings and stood up, getting one more good look at it. It really was beautiful in its own strange way.

A cool breeze a wind passed by her nose right as she was about to leave, making her linger a bit longer by a curious smell. “What the?” She took a deeper sniff to double check. ‘Did that brat follow me all the way from her house?’ Veronica looked all around her but didn’t see Summer. She didn’t hear her either, so what on Remnant smelled like her but wasn’t? Veronica closed her eyes then took one more deep inhale, opening her eyes and looking down the side of the building to spot what looked to be a child in an oversized coat staring back at Veronica. The girl silently watched Veronica with wide eyes before remembering her manors and waving. “H-Hello.”

Veronica stepped off the roof and onto the fire escape. She could’ve used the stairs but thought it more flashy for her spectator to watch her go through each platform as if she was descending down an elevator until Veronica’s feet finally hit the ground. The little girl definitely seemed amazed while Veronica got a better look at that fancy dust jacket that was clearly unaffordable by that girl.

Veronica:Hey kid. Got a name?

Ruth:Yes…

Veronica:......And it is…..?

Ruth:You haven’t given me your name yet. Stranger danger!

Veronica:What!? You’re the one who was watching- sigh, my name is Veronica.

Ruth:Ruth, that’s my name.

Veronica:Well then Ruth, mind telling me why a kid your age is watching people from an alleyway?

Ruth:I was staring out the window of the orphanage when I saw you flipping on the buildings from across the street. You were all like whoosh! Speeeew! Twirl! And then you stuck the landing! I wanted to keep watching, so I snuck out. You’re talented.

Veronica:It’s all in the tail. That and I’m pretty awesome to begin with.

Ruth:Wow, I don’t ever think I’ve seen a faunus like you before.

Veronica:Yeah, well-

Ruth:You’re so clean!

Veronica:W-What? Did you say clean?

Ruth:Yeah, I’ve only seen ones that were covered in oil or whatever. You’re also wearing a school uniform. Almanac? Wait, that’s in Atlas! You’re from Atlas!?

Veronica:No, just visiting. Tell me, how often do you see these faunus?

Ruth:Usually during lunch, or after a big emergency. Like a fire or something. Actually, it’s always a fire.

Veronica:Do they happen to wear a bunch of yellow and be in a red truck?

Ruth:All the time!

A breath of relief slipped out of Veronica. She bent down to meet the girl at eye level.

Veronica:Those people are called firefighters ya know?

Ruth:Really? I feel like I should’ve known that.

Veronica:(Got me worked up for nothing.) since we’re learning things Ruth, can you tell me where you got such an intriguing jacket? It even glows like my scarf.

Ruth:I got it from a super cool pop singer! She’s going to help raise money for the orphanage so I have a nice place to stay until my parents come back to get me! She gave me a super cool pinky promise that she wouldn’t let me down.

Veronica:Is that so? Would this singer happen to be Summer Schnee? Really light blonde hair and deep blue eyes?

Ruth:You know her!?

Veronica:In a way.

Ruth:WOW! You’re so lucky. She’s so gentle and kind, sings like an angel!

Veronica:....Eh

Ruth:Huh? “Eh?” What’s that mean?

Veronica:I’ll let you in on a little secret. Pop Stars are like spoiled princesses. She might actually be the queen of them all. That girl has hissy fits and greedy moments.

Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose and made herself sound higher pitched. “Do this! Do that! Leave me be! Why are you even here! Bring me my water!” Veronica made a fake laugh that eventually turned into a real one, amused by her own impression. Ruth seemed shocked.

Ruth:Is she really like that?

Veronica:Oh yeah. A bit of a crier too. As fragile as fresh ice that one, you would think with fans like you she’d never be upset.

Ruth:If she’s all those things…does that mean she won’t-

Veronica:But I’ll admit, that spoiled little princess reigns like a princess should do with her subjects. I mean she is looking after little girls like you. I bet she’s thinking about what song to sing for your orphanage every day.

Ruth:*wide eyed* You think so?

Veronica:I know so! And between the two of us… I’m hoping for something from her second album.

Ruth:That one is my favorite!!!

Veronica:Get out of town! Mine too. That princess isn’t perfect by any means, but that voice just might be. It is part of the reason people adore her so much.

Ruth:You know a lot about her.

Veronica:I know a lot about a lot of things, I’m super smart.

Ruth:And pretty!

Veronica:Awwww!

Ruth:Also you’re athletic.

Veronica:This is also very true.

This girl was a sweet talker. She had Veronica’s ears practically dancing. The subtle wiggles back and forth mesmerized Ruth. She couldn’t help but slowly reach for them when suddenly the quick movement of Veronica’s hand grabbed her wrist; making Ruth jump. The happy look on Veronica’s face was replaced with a blank stare that was a little unsettling. Veronica didn’t even realize she was doing it until she saw Ruth start to look frightened. ‘Shit…’ Veronica let go immediately and tried easing the girl with a soft smile.

Veronica:So sorry about that! I don’t know what came over me; it was a reflex.

Ruth:It...It’s okay…

Veronica:Let me teach you something else Ruth, more important than the word firefighter. This will be something very important so remember it well.

Ruth:What is it?

Veronica:It’s very rude to touch faunus traits without permission. You wouldn’t just start touching a human without asking right?

Ruth:Oh, that makes sense. I’m sorry, your ears are just super pretty.

Veronica:*red* Well...thank you. Traits like these are super sensitive, especially mine. That’s why it’s impolite to grab them. Even my tail would be in a lot of pain if I wasn’t expecting someone to grab it.

Ruth:I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kitty like you.

Veronica:I guess you can say...I’m a very special breed. Rare and super cool. If you wanna touch a faunus’s trait then you should ask first. Or in a situation that involves ears…

Veronica held her own hand out palm up for Ruth to follow her lead. Veronica slowly turned her palm down and back up consecutively, watching Ruth mimic the motion. She tilted her head lower and guided the girls' hand ears for Ruth began gliding her fingers across them. Ruth couldn’t help but gasp.

Ruth:Soft….

Veronica:It’s a gesture. If the faunus is okay with you touching their ears then they’ll tilt their head down for you to feel them. For a tail you keep your palm facing down and slowly move your hand side to side, then they’ll raise their tail to meet it. Always let a faunus make the choice; it’s rude otherwise.

Ruth:Okay! I’ll remember! You really do know a lot. Why is that? School here wouldn’t teach something like this at all.

Veronica:I’m not surprised. Do me a favor and teach all your friends this okay? It would be a big help. Sharing things like this is more or less what someone like me should spread around as much as possible. After all, I’m considered something like a princess myself.

Ruth:Seriously! I’ve met two princesses!?

“And a prince too.” A voice called out from behind Veronica. She turned around to see Nick staring at the two of them and getting closer.

Ruth:(Oh my gosh, he’s so handsome! He looks like Summer.)

Veronica:I thought you didn’t like to be called prince?

Nick:Well in this circumstance I was forced to use my authority more than my skills as a knight. Aren’t you at all a little bit curious on how I found you?

Veronica:Now that you mention it, how did you find me so fast? No way you looked all over Atlas before coming here.

Nick:Like I said, authority. I just told the captain of the guard on watch to tell the other soldiers to let me know if they spot a blonde faunus girl in a school uniform. Pretty easy since you were traveling by rooftop.

Veronica:Any reason you said faunus girl instead of my name?

Nick:Now, now, you know how these things go when it comes to getting results around her. Not to mention people don’t exactly know you by name since it’s been awhile since you were here. A description did better than a name. Not like I gave them time to run you through some database? If they even have you in one since you don’t go to a combat school and Menagerie is so independent.

Ruth:(She’s...from Menagerie? What’s that?)

Veronica:Fine, I get it. Not that I like it but I get it. It does send my heart racing though to think my dear knight would put on his heavy crown just to find his princess. Oh it’s like a fairy tale!

Nick:You spun this into a good situation real fast.

Ruth:Is this guy your boyfriend or something? He’s really pretty.

Veronica:Isn’t he? That’s the princesses twin brother, Nicholas Schnee. He’s crazy about me.

Nick:Stop spreading rumors!

Veronica:You know I’m right.

Ruth:I’ve heard that name before, even heard that voice. This is my first time seeing your face before. It’s a nice face.

Nick:Thank you. Judging by that coat I guess you’re the sweet little girl my sister made a promise to. A little dangerous for you to be roaming around by yourself like this, don’t you think?

Ruth:Maybe a tiny bit. But Veronica has taught me a lot so it’s been pretty worth it!

Nick:I bet, sadly I gotta take her somewhere now though that she has to be real soon. Why don’t we walk you back and-

Veronica:Not so fast there. Ruth, don’t you think a girl brave enough to sneak out is smart enough to go back as well before anything happens.

Ruth:Duh, who wouldn’t be?

Veronica:Then I guess that means you better hightail it outta her. This time though, stick to the sidewalks near the main streets. Alleyways are dangerous you know? And don’t make this habit, can’t have annoying grownups calling off the fundraiser because you’re being naughty.

Ruth:I haven’t even thought of that! I should probably get back fast!

Veronica:Clever girls make sure not to run near the road. Speed walking works fine though.

She bent down and gave Ruth her scarf that Summer loaned her. Veronica gave the girl a thumbs up and watched her speed walk away, which was more like a jog honestly. Oh well, as long as Ruth remembered the safety aspect.

Nick:What was that all about?

Veronica:Dummy, we’re on a time limit right? Knowing you it would take too long to walk her home because you would’ve gotten caught up in some conversation that would’ve slowed you down. Seriously, can’t you worry about putting yourself first for once?

Nick:Hahaha! You know me, always trying to help. We’ll probably still be a little late, so why don’t we grab some brea-Ah!

Veronica:*pulling him* I might hate school but I refuse to drag you down because of it.

Nick:....(Well that didn’t work.)

Nick willingly let the girl grab his arm and go towards the closet airship going back up to Atlas. He watched the girl sway back and forth calmly, she seemed happy enough. Maybe Yang was worried for nothing?

xxxx

The trip up to Atlas was faster than expected. They actually had plenty of time to spare. Nick knew the quickest route but he hadn’t gotten the chance to catch up with his friend yet. Not to mention Valerie would probably show up a few minutes late to their meetup spot like always; might as well kill a little time. Who knows, Veronica could get hungry.

Nick:Hey, why don’t we slow down a little? No reason to get there early at this rate we might reach the school before they let anyone in.

Veronica:Okay, don’t mind dragging my feet a little.

Nick:Cool. (Yes!) So, it’s been awhile huh? Around a year maybe?

Veronica:Something like that. Last time we saw each other was...a concert?

Nick:Yacht party.

Veronica:Oof, can we pretend it was the concert?

Nick:What!? Problem with the yacht party?

Veronica:Yeah, a hangover and embarrassment. Those memories can stay on that boat.

Nick:Whatever you say Vee.

Veronica:Still with nicknames. What are we, twelve?

Nick:I could make us eight again and call you Vee Vee, or KitKat.

Veronica:*red*Ugh, put those in a time capsule and bury it. I’ll take Vee over any of those.

Nick:Good to know I can still get a reaction out of ya. Looks like the only thing that’s changed is your hair length.

Veronica:We can’t all be like you. I didn’t notice it last night but, you’ve gotten taller.

Nick:Pfft, no need to pick on me.

Veronica:I’m serious! Stand still and I’ll show you.

He stopped walking to humor her. Veronica grabbed him by the shoulders to line him up with herself and then got really close, a couple of inches away in fact.

It took a minute to register but Nick’s eyes widened when he realized he was staring directly into Veronica’s eyes without tilting his head up at all.

Nick:Woah…

Veronica:See? We’re the same height now from the looks of it.I have to admit that this is a little weird, not being taller than you. At this rate I’ll be the one looking up in no time. Can’t believe you didn’t notice.

Nick:Well, being 5’6 is still pretty short for a dude so…

Veronica:Oh boy. Height isn’t everything you dork. You have prizes and awards to prove this. Besides, *red* I like seeing you just like this.

Nick:*red* Oh! Well uh…. let’s keep walking okay!? *starts moving*

Veronica:Was that cold wind or blush I spotted? *moves*

Nick:No idea what you’re talking about.

Veronica:I guess there’s many things about you that haven't changed either hehehe. Mentally anyways, your shoulders are also a little broader,

Nick:Training will do that to a person. Speaking of which, still in gymnastics?

Veronica:Nah, no point since I can’t compete. Cheerleading at my school is incredibly stupid at my school too so I didn’t even bother trying out this year.

Nick:How exactly is school going over there?

Veronica:.....

Nick:....Vee!

Veronica:Huh? I’m sorry, what?

Nick:School?

Veronica:Oh, that… stupid people like always, talking out their own ass like usual and finding a way to piss me off; less fights though. Overall all that is. No fights at all this year.

Nick:None…?

Veronica:Well…there was a tiny scuffle. Not my fault in any way..

Nick:We are dangerously close to my school Veronica.

Veronica:I promise you, things will be fine. I don’t even have actual classes to take so it’s mandatory after school for me. I don’t need to talk to more people than necessary. This might actually be a paradise.

Nick:It astounds me that someone as popular and multi talented as you just has zero patience for people. I bet your friend group would at least triple in size.

Veronica:*rubs head* Eh, debatable. I’m drowning in enough popularity as it is. Anymore would be a complete nightmare. I wouldn’t get any work done. Then who would make your tournament gear?

Nick:Penny.

Veronica:Ouch, I should make you pay for yours just for that.

Nick:You know I would if you let me.

Veronica:I’m aware. Keep your money until I’m famous and you gotta make an appointment.

Nick:Damn, you gonna put me on a waiting list, that’s cold.

Veronica:Invest in my company and I might bend some rules for you. That’s just good business.

Nick:Whitley would be proud to hear that.

Veronica:Oooo since you’re bringing him up, have you told him yet? Or anyone for that matter?

The playful conversation quickly turned into a semi sensitive one. Nick sighed like he was trying to knock the air out of his lungs before looking back at Veronica with a look of defeat.

Veronica:So that’s a no. You should really do something about that.

Nick:Like what? Just say “Hey Uncle, I know you’ve been teaching me how to run the company for years but I don’t wanna be heir. Sorry for wasting your time.”

Veronica:Perfect. Ten out of ten.

Nick:Please be serious.

Veronica:I am! I’m positive your family wouldn’t want to throw the title of heir to burden someone who doesn’t want it, given their family history.

Nick:There’s nobody else to give it to! Summer is happily doing her own thing. Whitley and Ruby don’t have kids. I’m all that’s left.

Veronica:Sparrow-

Nick:Enjoys the open sea. I’m the first born, they’ve been preparing for years now. Can’t waste that knowledge right?

Veronica:Hmph, all I’m saying is everyone else seems to be flying in whatever direction they please. So why are you in a cage that doesn’t have to exist?

Nick:I’m...not in a cage. Besides, I like representing my family the way I can. It’s no different from you learning culture from both sides of your family and attending so many support rallies. You’re gonna be a symbol of union your whole life.

Veronica:No one really cares about that stuff unless I do bad. I’m still free to do whatever I want by choice. I still have my old gymnastics gear if I decide to put in the work. I can surf to my heart's content and no one makes a big deal about it. If you stop ice skating or pick another hobby then people will ask why.

Nick:You...You aren’t wrong. Still, it’s not like I plan to stop skating. Even if I did, plenty of people would eventually understand and support whatever I do. Not that I really care. Frankly, I never did.

His tone was a bit colder, and less energetic. Nick put his hands on top of his head and started walking like he had nowhere to be. A smile crept on to Veronica’s face as she reached to move his hair away from his face.

Veronica:There he is.

Nick:Huh?

Veronica:Your face and demeanor, you’re finally not using that preppy attitude. Not that it isn’t cute but I like seeing the true face that matches your words.

Nick:I haven’t been doing that with you?

Veronica:Nope. Not that I can blame you though. It takes awhile to warm back up to people.

Nick:Is that why you were ruder than usual to Summer?

Veronica:No, her face just irritates me.

Nick:Not what I wanted to hear…

Veronica:I know, but it’s better than a lie. Don’t worry though, I’ll try to be less...confrontational. I refuse to blamed for you two losing the tournament because of some stupid argument.

Nick:Not the greatest reason to be nice but I’ll take it. Both of you getting along would be pretty nice to see.

Veronica:Gross. That’s almost as bad as dealing with Valerie. Still a bit pissed about that black eye she gave me.

Nick:And I’m positive she’s upset about the broken nose. Where the heck is she anyways? She usually bumps into a few blocks back.

Veronica:Maybe she saw me and turned tail like a wuss.

Nick:.....

Veronica:You’re right, she would’ve kicked me.

Nick:Can you hear her by any chance?

Veronica:You make it seem like I could tell her footsteps from anybody else. It’s all people walking in the snow to me, rather loudly at that.

Nick:Hmmm… odd, Valerie doesn’t miss school.

Veronica:I would if Igot caught in several explosions yesterday. Might even sleep for the rest of week if I was her.

Nick:Yeah you’re probably right. I’m pretty sore myself. It’s also possible she took a different way to school. Hopefully the second option, Eliza has been in a bit of mood recently. Anyways, we should probably pick up the pace. We’ve dragged our feet enough.

Veronica:Fine by me. The cold is starting to get to my legs. Who designs school uniforms like this in a frigid climate!?

Nick:You’ll get used to it. Oh and before I forget, I’m more a fan on Summer’s third album.

Veronica:*red* I….you….eavesdropping isn’t nice Nicholas!

Nick:My hearing might be average but at least I know how to whisper properly.

He gave a smile before taking off down the street, Veronica only a few steps behind him. It had been awhile since she saw him, even longer since she’s seen that smile. It was a funny thing, being around him. She was the one with Xiao Long blood and yet to her, Nicholas was the one who shined bright like the sun. Even if he didn’t try to want to, he made things better. A tinge of red came over Veronica’s face as she thought about it. Distance is a funny thing. Her feelings never wavered and yet, her heart felt like it was falling in love all over again. Veronica was determined to make the most of her time here.

xxxx

The day might’ve been getting started for most people but for Whitley, who had been diligently going through paperwork at the SDC headquarters for at least five hours. Since Ruby was away on a mission, Summer’s request, the arrival of Veronica, and the tournament steadily approaching, now seemed like a good time to make sure all the boring legal stuff was going smoothly. He loved all of his Sister’s friends, he married one after all. However, both him and Blake always shared a mutual groan of agony whenever they had to visit each other’s respective base of operations. If it wasn’t the kids, then it was the press. If it wasn’t the press, then it was some protest group or plans fall apart. The only saving grace was the kids at least knew how to act in public around each other. Building bridges for others to cross would be nearly impossible otherwise.

Though he was working diligently, it didn’t stop the fatigue from gnawing at him. Poor guy was running on autopilot. He might’ve passed out right then and there if it hadn’t been for the buzz of his personal intercom.

Whitley:Yes Ciel?

Ciel:You have a visitor.

Whitley:Please tell them to make a proper appointment. I’m very busy right now.

Ciel:You heard him Mrs. Rose.

Ruby:Darn, I only wanted to bring my sleep deprived life partner a delicious breakfast from home. Oooohhhh weeelllll.

Whitley:Ciel, please let my wife in, even though she has a key to the door.

Ciel:Right away.

She buzzed the cheeky redhead in and left them, locking the door as well.

Ruby:You only call me your wife when you miss me. I’m touched.

Whitley:I always miss you.

Ruby:And I’m always touched, funny how life works that way. *shaking tupperware* Want some bacon, fried eggs, and hash browns?

Whitley:That’s not a question worth asking. It’s always yes and you know this.

Ruby:Then here you go, you workaholic.

Whitley:I don’t wanna hear that from you. Aren’t you supposed to be on a mission still.

Ruby:I wrapped it up as quick as possible. Promises to keep and all that. I’m on training duty from now until the end of the tournament for Summer. Which means you better be ready for a delicious breakfast all the time now.

Whitley:If I knew it took our niece to get you to stay still, then I’d invite her over more often.

Ruby:Well if someone had a normal sleep schedule then I would’ve gladly been in our bed for as long as you like. I was looking forward to seeing those sleepy eyes of yours wake up to see me. Instead I get tired.

Whitley:Tired, but not drained. I’d gladly keep you still on this desk.

Ruby:*red* Honestly, at this point this desk has seen more action than our bed. Not that I’m complaining.

Whitley:Your sister and niece are in town by the way. It’ll probably be smart to say hello before Yang hunts you down.

Ruby:You’re probably right about that. So, little kitty Veronica has once again broken free from Menagerie? Good for her, I wonder if she’s doing any better? Probably as anxious as ever.

Whitley:Apparently she is helping the school with the tournament. Weiss said she stormed out immediately at the news.

Ruby:As expected. *frowns* You think she’s gonna be okay, overall?

Whitley:I’m not a faunus, let alone one with a mutation. Or would it be better to call it a disorder?

Ruby:Kinda splitting hairs at that point. You do know what being alone feels like though. Alone, cut off from others and not even fully understanding yourself. Frankly….I wish she saw Oscar like Summer does. Both of them worry me to no end. It doesn’t help they have stubbornness in their blood that refuses to ask for actual help.

Whitley:I hope you know that one of those kids actually has some of your DNA while the other watches you every chance she gets.

Ruby:Like I said, splitting hairs. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if those two decided to hate each other or even do things the hard way for the rest of their lives, as long they’re comfortable with themselves that is.

Whitley:Since when do you promote mentalities like that.

Ruby:I’m not promoting it, just trying to aim a little low so I’ll be excited if things turnout even better than my wish. Atlas wasn’t built in a day though. I might be old and gray before I see it at this rate. Perhaps I could-

Whitley:You’ll only stress Summer out and make Veronica do something she’ll regret.

Ruby:Ugh, I don’t remember adolescence being this crazy. Maybe it’s the magic in the air…

Whitley:Or we’re finally out of touch with the youth. Good thing Nick bridges that gap. Kid needs a nap though or else he’s gonna drop.

Ruby:Gee that sounds familiar.

Whitley can’t help but chuckle a little. Ruby takes the time to walk behind him and drapes her body over his while he continues to write. Most of the papers were finished and looked uninteresting. All, except for the one labeled Saint Harold’s. Suddenly, her blood went a little cold.

Ruby:Orphanage papers?

Whitley:....Yeah, Summer wants to raise money. She promised a girl that was sent there by her parents that had fallen on hard times.

Ruby:I see.Saint Harold’s, the same orphanage that uncle Qrow and Winter got Sparrow.

Whitley:Yeah. I haven’t told anyone but I took liberty of looking up Ruth’s parents, the girl Summer made the promise to.

Ruby:What made you do that?

Whitley:Not sure, sixth sense? A looming thought I couldn’t get rid of. That girl’s parents….skipped town. I doubt they’ll be coming back.

.....

Ruby:Are we gonna pretend you aren’t bringing all this up for a specific reason?

Whitley:Ruby, I know this isn’t easy for you. I know I can never truly understand how you must feel about not having a kid of your own, but that doesn’t change the reality that there are still kids who will love you if you’ll open your arms to them. Kids that I want to take care of with you, instead of constantly looking over other people’s children. So, I’m just asking if-

Ruby:I will, I’ll think about it. For real this time. S-

She wasn’t allowed to apologize. Not while he was around anyways. Whitley shutdown all of her words in favor of occupying Ruby’s lips with his own, kissing her gently before breaking it.

Her face went a little red and she remained quiet. Whitley slowly swiveled the chair in her direction and took Ruby’s hand. He tugged on her lightly, not enough to move her but to prompt Ruby to get closer until she decided to straddle his lap. Not the smartest idea since now she was forced to look into her calm eyes.

Whitley:I’ll always be patient with you, and I’ll love you, no matter your choice.

Ruby:You’d be sad though if it is a no though.

Whitley:I would be, I can admit that. Doesn’t change my feelings for you, or perception. Yes, being a parent would be nice but as long as I have you my life will always be filled with happiness. I love you Ms. Rose.

Ruby:I love you too, Mr.Schnee.

She dove back in for another kiss that was eagerly accepted. Ruby almost got lost in it until she heard the sound of a glyph forming, making her turn her head around and seeing all of his papers carefully being moved off the desk before Whitley picked her up. The reaper let out a surprised yelp and giggle while he sat her down and pressed the intercom button.

Whitley:Ciel-

Ciel:Door is locked and all calls are being put on hold.

Whitley:Thank you, feel free to go out for breakfast or rest in the break room.

Ruby:At this point I wonder if she has a routine for this. Here we are yet again, isn’t this unprofessional in the workplace? *winks*

Whitley:It is. As CEO it’s my job to let all in this building no what is and isn’t tolerated.

Ruby:I think I need a hands on demonstration sir.

Glyphs formed around Ruby’s wrists that kept her in place. She couldn’t help but smile mischievously, as well. This is always better than the bed.

Part 14

#rwby #rwby twin snowflakes #nicholas schnee #rwby wild rose #veronica belladonna #whitley schnee #ruby rose #rwby au #ciel soleil

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akp-1327 · 4 years

Text

dear diary // chapter two

Hello again! Thank you all for the support on the first chapter! 💖 I am super happy that you all liked it and hope that you enjoy this one, too! 🤗

Find the series masterlist here to catch up on the previous chapter!

Word Count: 6.5k

(*) Warnings: mentions of divorce and a little swearing throughout.

(*) August 4th, 2020

Dear Diary...

Can't believe I came crawling back to this old thing. It sure has been a while, hasn't it? I haven't written in here since my parents (finally) got a divorce.

Yep, they decided that it was time to put an end to whatever sliver of a marriage they had left. Mohit (my little brother) and I were split up; he stayed with my mom in Brooklyn while I moved with my dad to Manhattan. He told me that it’d be "closer to school" and "more convenient" than driving all the way there from Brooklyn. And so, without starting yet another argument between them, I just went with it. I still see my mom, of course, but I can always sense the tension in the air whenever I pass through the threshold of my childhood home.

My life has been non-stop since graduation...and not in a good way. Sure, getting accepted into NYU was great, but then there was the post-divorce debris and rejection (Kelly…) and all of these god forsaken emotions that I had to sort through. It really, really messed me up. I almost failed my production class in that first semester because I was too busy focusing on Kelly’s rejection (about how she fell in love with her co-star and left me in the dark? About how she broke my heart? Yep, that whole spectacle.).

So, in conclusion, my life is nothing short of chaotic. Erin would say that I need to relax, but what is that when you work yourself to the bone?

...Yeah, I really don't know either. Obviously.

Alright. Into my bag you go. Let's see if I can find riveting stuff to write about this year...

Ajay

(*) I hastily unzipped my backpack and shoved the leather book I found moments ago inside, somehow managing to zip it closed. Right as I finish, though, I hear my dad’s deep voice from down the hall.

“Ajay, are you almost ready?” Dad shouted, his voice ringing through the empty room I sat in. It wasn’t necessarily my room, per se, but a guest room that I rented out for the summer. It’s the only way Dad would let me stay here - to be honest, I don’t understand why I just didn’t live with Amma for the whole two and a half months in an actual house where I could stay for free. Maybe I’ll do that next summer.

“I’ll be out in a second, Dad.”

Why was he rushing me out? Seriously, I’m driving myself. There’s no need to clamber me out the door like I’m some sort of animal. There was also the fact that it was August and how class didn’t start for another month; maybe Dad just was getting tired of me.

The floors of the downtrodden apartment squeaked beneath my feet as I walked out to the main living area, my packed bags already waiting for me on the carpeted floor. Dad stood in the kitchen, his nose in a newspaper, when he heard me approach. My hand instinctively tightened on my backpack strap as his eyes bore into mine.

“Well? Let’s get this going, Ajay. I have a meeting at seven and I’d rather not be late.” Dad huffed, walking to shoulder my light bags. All they had in them were my clothes, books, and dorm necessities.

It took him all of three seconds to walk to the patio door and slide it open (Dad lucked out and found a complex in the “suburbs” of Manhattan, so there was some grass and walking areas all around). I heaved a sigh and took one last look at the apartment, then headed out the door and into the hot and humid Manhattan air. Still, when we were only a few blocks away from the bulk of the city, you could smell the familiar scent of car exhaust waft on the wind.

Dad had already popped my car’s trunk open and set my stuff inside before I could even get over. He stood next to the driver’s door as I finally reached him.

“Thanks for letting me stay for the summer,” I said, rather cynically, “and for carrying my bags out.”

Because, you know, I can’t do that myself.

Dad gave me this weird smile; it was almost the one that he gave me when I first asked about him seeing another woman. The thought of him being with someone besides my mom still makes me angry, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Three years of divorce and he'd already found another.

Anyway, the smile he gave me was straight-lipped and had no hint of any genuine happiness. Just a fake smile that he hoped would convey some sort of message, like ‘congrats’ or some other stereotypical phrase that you’d say.

“Of course, Ajay. You’re my son,” Dad said, his tone feigning sincerity, “I’d do anything for you.”

Hmm, that’s what you told Amma. Now look where we are.

I held back an eye roll and stepped closer to my door, moving to open it, before Dad pulled me to him and gave me a bone crushing hug.

“I’m going to miss you, Ajay. Stay safe, okay?”

Huh; that response actually had some emotion. I could sense the probity in that one. If he were one of my actors I’d tell him to bring it out a bit more and really demonstrate the feeling in his body language. But, no, this is Dad and I can’t direct him around.

“I’ll miss you too, Dad. Remember to lock your door, seeing as I can’t do it for you anymore.” I said, pulling away to both catch my breath and to open my car door. With a quick glance at Dad, though, that wasn’t happening yet.

“When you get the chance, you should go visit your mom and Mohit. I can tell that you miss them, too.”

Something must’ve been in his coffee this morning. He never talks about Amma so domestically, but when he does (which is seldom at most) he keeps his tone even, almost somber. Mohit is a different story, but he still gets a little tense over the fact that he was his youngest son's second choice.. I believe that he lost a piece of himself when he divorced Amma; a vital piece that would make him act like the father I remember. Maybe that’s why he was so discombobulated.

“I’ll probably visit them this weekend. We’ll see, though,” I said, now getting into my car. Dad handed me the keys and clapped his hand on my shoulder.

My door, however, wasn’t closing due to Dad’s leg being in the way.

“Well, whatever you decide to do, just be smart about it.” Dad said, now laughing a little bit. (Jeez, I’m making a mental note to examine his coffee grounds when I come visit if this odd behavior keeps up.)

“Okay, Dad. Remember how you have a meeting at two?” I said, trying to ‘get this going’. If he was so hesitant on letting me go, why was he shoving my ass out the door?

“Oh! Crap. You’re right. Get going, kid,” Dad stammered, “I love you.”

Wow, color me surprised! Definitely going to sift through that coffee next time I’m here.

“Love you too, Dad. Bye.” I said, closing my door with a small wave. Dad waved in return and retreated back into his apartment, closing the door without looking back. Not surprising, of course, but definitely a little disappointing.

My car, a grey 2010 Ford Taurus, revved to life without hesitation when I turned the key in the ignition. Shifting into drive and pulling away from "home" for the final time that summer should’ve felt bittersweet like all the summers before...but I couldn’t find it in myself to miss this life anymore. The freedom of summer, no matter how much I had with my jobs, would never compare to the school life I cherished; mainly to escape my messy reality.

The forty minute drive to NYU whizzed by all thanks to my favorite musical soundtrack, Les Misérables, and a couple packages of rainbow goldfish that I bought specifically for the occasion. I avoided most of the traffic by taking the long way (the closest thing to “back roads” in the city), which tacked on a good twenty more minutes, but I could care less. All I had to do was track down Rory and Erin and knowing them...that wouldn’t be hard.

Sure enough, right as I’m an intersection away from the familiar campus grounds, my phone vibrates with a call on my passenger seat. With a quick glance, it was from Rory. I would get it, but then the damn light turned green after about two minutes; perfect timing.

After I pulled into the office parking lot to get my keys and dorm, I saw Rory’s familiar face light up and run towards my car from a nearby bench. He’s absolutely insatiable.

Rory beamed as he ran toward my car, Erin on his tail with a neutral, almost unhappy expression.

“Director man! You finally decided to show up!” Rory shouted as I opened my door. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide the grateful grin that grew across my features.

“I would’ve waited another month if I knew that you’d greet me like this,” I laughed, accepting Rory’s uncharacteristic fist bump with an arched eyebrow, “what was that for?”

Rory looked like he was about to combust from excitement. He kept bouncing on the balls of his feet and wringing his hands around.

Erin, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at his excitement. Ever the oddly unenthused one of us three, and that’s coming from me.

“Erin got a new roommate!” Rory shouted, his hands shooting into the air. I laughed as Erin sighed, though I was still quite confused. Erin wanted a singles dorm, though, because we’re still on campus, I guess she didn’t have control over that.

“I haven’t met them yet, but I think it’s a freshman,” Erin said, crossing her arms, “and we got our keys already. Go check in quick and we’ll go find our dorms.”

Erin was always bossy, but there was something different about her sternness in that moment that just made an unsettling weight settle in my gut. So, without pushing the situation further, I nodded.

“Sounds good,” I said, tossing my keys to Erin, “put your stuff in the trunk while you wait on me.”

The campus registration office was way too familiar for my liking. The past two years were alright, but this time around it just felt awkward. I could tell that I was surrounded by freshmen because of the bright lights in their eyes and their wondrous expressions as they looked around.

I pushed my glasses up my nose and let my eyes wander around as I waited for my turn. Ahead of me stood a girl with flaming red hair. Just by her stance I could tell she was someone that you shouldn’t cross; intimidating, but also carefree. She had a backpack on her shoulders and a black duffel bag sitting at her feet. From here, I could read the name on the tag: Leila Maciel, in dainty handwriting. I also looked at another thing that she was holding - a computer bag - and saw the name ‘Skye’ written in a font that you’d see printed in green on the cover of a Goosebumps book.

Maybe it was just an aesthetic to have different names in different styles on your things? Or one of the bags belonged to a relative? Maybe she had a fake ID and is currently failing to conceal her real identity?

I was snapped out of my thoughts as the girl picked up her bag and walked forward. I had to know more. My curiosity has been piqued.

“Welcome to New York University! Name, please?” Danielle, the student that I disliked behind the counter asked, her familiar soprano sending chills down my spine. I’ve always found Danielle to be a little creepy ever since I witnessed her ogle Rory all the time last year at rehearsal. She was completely smitten with him. Of course, Rory felt the exact opposite.

“Um, Skye Crandall.” The girl said, almost disdainfully. I didn’t even need to see her face to know that she cringed at the sound of her own name.

“Awesome, awesome...” Danielle trained off, scrolling through her computer, “Aha! Skye Crandall, you’re in dorm 332 in Lafayette Hall. Your roommate’s name is Erin Ward! She is a super cool junior.”

Danielle was even more of a blabbermouth than I remember her being.

“Here are your keys! Enjoy!”

“Uh, thanks.” Skye said, taking the keys from Danielle. I debated whether or not to tell the redhead about Erin, but decided to let the meeting happen on its own. This Skye girl also looked exhausted but also ready to kick someone’s ass at any moment...so...let’s just let that one slide.

“Ne--” Danielle started, though stopped and brightened when she saw me, “Oh my gosh, it’s Ajay! Hey, stranger!”

“Hi, Danielle.” I sighed, trying to not let my discomfort show.

I was probably failing.

She was already typing in my information before I could ask.

“How was your summer? Don’t you live in Manhattan?” Danielle asked, still typing away with her eyes focused on the screen.

“My dad does, yeah,” I said, maintaining her divided attention much to my displeasure, “and I had an alright summer. You?”

“Oh, it was great! I did so many things. Golfing, surfing, snorkeling, swimming with dolphins...all the things I usually do back home in Florida.”

That explains...some. She has always seemed to have a Florida-esque persona in that way. Not to give in to a stereotype, but Floridians tend to be on the “crazy” side of the behavioral spectrum. Danielle fits into that like a glove.

I was about to continue the conversation before she beat me to it. “Ajay Bhandari, you are in dorm 413 in Lafayette Hall and are rooming with Rory Silva. I’m guessing you know the rest?” Danielle said, passing me my keys. Internally, I rolled my eyes. Externally, though, I forced a nod.

“Yes, Danielle. Thank you.” I said, holding my breath as I walked away. She shouted something back at me, but I was too focused on getting the hell out of there to care.

Back at my car, I saw Rory leaning up against the passenger door and Erin sitting on the hood.

“Jeez, Erin, the hood of my poor car isn’t a bench!” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Though, instead, she just looked burned out.

“I’m not sorry, director man,” Erin smirked, her smile not showing the happiness that it usually had. She stood up anyway to hand me my lanyard with my keys.

As Erin clambered into the backseat, I turned to Rory.

“You packed your entire house, right? Because I didn’t bring much this year for our dorm.” I said, attaching my new keys to my lanyard. Rory groaned and nodded.

“You’re lucky I basically bought Target out of their stuff. I even bought you those nice bed sheets you wanted so that you’d actually shut up about them. Oh, and a comforter to match at my mom’s insistence.” Rory said, sighing. I smirked and gestured for him to get in.

“I’ll pay you back for them later. For now, we gotta get to Lafayette Hall.”

The whole ride, because it was quiet, I tuned out. And then, without warning Guns and Ships from Hamilton played over and over in my head.

...This is going to be a long year.

The sun was almost hidden under the horizon once we arrived at Lafayette Hall. It wasn’t packed at all. It was actually pretty nice.

“Okay, guys, let’s go. We’ve already burned daylight, so we’re burning nightlight!” Rory laughed. Erin groaned from the backseat.

“Not how that works, Rory, but alright. I’m letting it slide for now.” Erin said, getting out. She sounded a bit happier, but still not like her usual self.

We all gathered our things and started to head inside. Rory was lugging countless bags with him, per usual, and Erin had three.

The lobby was like any other dorm building; familiar purple and white furnishings, same set-up. The front desk’s clerk looked like they were about to fall asleep.

Yep, this is definitely the NYU I remember.

“Okay, this is where we part. Come find me in room 332 when you guys finish up getting your room ready.” Erin said, heading in the direction of the stairs.

“Too cool to take the elevator?” Rory asked, earning a glare from Erin.

“I need to keep my legs toned for volleyball, genius,” Erin snarked in her (somewhat) usual tone, “now go take the elevator like a wimp.”

She turned and disappeared onto the staircase, leading Rory and I to look at each other.

“What happened with her over summer?” I asked nonchalantly, pressing the elevator button with my free hand. Rory heaved another sigh next to me.

“She didn’t tell me much, but,” Rory said, his voice dropping to a whisper, “I heard that something bad happened to her grandpa. I don’t know what, exactly, but you know how she gets with that kind of stuff.”

I should’ve known; this was the same Erin that I met two years ago when we were both freshmen at NYU; her grandma had just passed away that summer and she was a wreck. It was what allowed us to bond, both being damaged in our first year at NYU, and what led to us being so close. We had that pitiful connection and would always talk to each other about our painful experiences.

“Oh, um,” I said, unable to think of the right words to say in the moment, “that’s concerning.”

“Very. I left it alone, obviously, but I think you should talk to her about it. You guys have that kind of friendship, you know?” Rory said, nudging me with his elbow as the elevator doors opened (thank goodness it was empty).

“You have that kind of friendship with her, too. I’m not the only one here with good advice.” I said, remembering the moment last year when Rory had single-handedly pulled me out of a bad mood. It was right after I heard about my mom’s boyfriend, Jim, proposing to her and how she said yes; let’s just say that I wasn’t taking the news well.

Rory was silent for a second, and I could tell he was processing my words.

“I mean, I guess you’re right, but I really don’t...” Rory trailed off when we arrived on the fourth floor, pausing to walk off, “I don’t have the right kind of advice that Erin needs.”

Like I said, Rory is insatiable.

“Dear lord, Rory,” I laughed, hopefully walking in the direction of our dorm, “you seriously need to learn how to take a compliment and run. Especially from me.”

“Oh, shut up, director man,” Rory huffed, “I’m just saying that my advice isn’t as good as yours.”

Oh. My. God. And people always wonder why I never compliment my actors. Well, here’s example A.

“That’s controversial, but I’m too busy trying to find our dorm to argue with you,” I said, squinting at the dorm numbers; all of which weren’t ours.

“These are all going up. Let’s turn around.” Rory said, looking back at the empty hallway behind us. Jesus, why is this building so confusing?

“Good idea. Reroute.”

Over the next two minutes, we found dorm 413. It was right next to the elevator...but the opposite way. I fished my lanyard out of my pocket and unlocked the door.

The dorm was quaint, like any other, but with two tall and slender windows as opposed to one. It was also pretty big in comparison to what Rory and I had last year.

“So, are we doing the same set-up as last year?” Rory asked. I nodded and sighed, setting my lightly packed bags on the left bed.

“The right side is always seemingly larger and we both know who needs the extra space.” I joked, earning a tired laugh from Rory.

“How about we take Erin and we go shopping this week? Then you won’t complain so much.” Rory said, making me roll my eyes.

“If you insist.”

Unpacking didn’t take long. I just needed to organize my still-empty closet and set up all my personal items; a few pictures, a few of Mohit’s drawings, and a plain calendar that Jim got me. I really, really didn’t want to use it because of his relationship with Amma but I didn’t want to buy another one, either. I also ended up making the rock-hard mattress with the sheets and comforter set that Rory got me as I waited for him to finish setting up.

As Rory hung his dress shirts, I took a look at my phone. It was already ten past nine and Erin texted me about twenty minutes ago.

Erin: are you and rory alive? jeez, hurry up.

Ajay: Yep. We’ll be on our way in a second.

“Okay, that's enough unpacking for now,” Rory said, moving to store his suitcases. I loudly sighed and got up.

“Are you ready to go now? Erin’s waiting.” I asked loudly.

“Yes! Can you hear me?” Rory yelled, dissolving into laughter a second later. I rolled my eyes and started to walk towards the door.

Jesus, I feel bad for the RA this year.

“Knock knock, Erin! Your two favorites are here!” Rory said, knocking on Erin’s door. Only a second later, the door opened to reveal her dorm. Surprise, surprise, it was almost the exact same as ours.

“Took you guys long enough. Come on in.” Erin said. She already had everything unpacked on her side. Posters, pictures, and there were even fairy lights on her headboard.

“Nice place,” Rory starts, looking around, “almost looks like mine.”

A small snort came from the other side of the room and I looked over to see the familiar redhead from the registration office sitting on her bed. The only oddity...it was bare; no sheets, no blankets. Just a mattress.

“You guys must be Rory and Ajay?” Skye asked, her eyes leaving her laptop and flitting over to Erin for confirmation.

“In all their glory. Guys, this is Skye.”

Rory was the first to wave and stick his hand out for her to shake. “I’m Rory! Nice meeting you, Skye.”

Skye hesitated a bit before shaking Rory’s hand, and even then, she rolled her eyes.

“Same here, I guess,” Skye said, looking at me, “then you’re Ajay?”

“Yeah. I’m not going to shake your hand, though.” I said, trying to ease the gloom that weighed the room down. Instead, it just made things a bit awkward. Skye gave me a tight-lipped smile and nodded, brushing loose auburn hair that fell out of her ponytail away from her eyes.

“So, Skye, what’s up with your...decoration?” Rory asked. Her entire side of the room was bare.

“Well, I got the wrong bag from the airport, for starters,” Skye exasperated, closing her eyes, “and then I realized I forgot my computer charger and my phone charger at home just before you guys came.”

Yeesh, that’s rough.

“Speaking of, Skye, did you take the bag--” Erin started, though there was another knock at the door. Erin furrowed her brows and looked at me before she moved to answer it. On the other side stood two girls; one with blonde hair and about six inches shorter than me, the other with black hair and about the same height as me. They both looked nervous.

“Um, hello! Sorry to disturb you guys. Is this Skye Crandall’s dorm?” The one with blonde hair asked. She looked calmer and more composed than the other and she held an identical bag to the one at the end of Skye’s bed in her hands.

“Yeah, come on in.” Erin said, her familiar, welcoming smile appearing for the first time since I arrived.

Skye perked up from her bed, her eyes lighting up. The two girls clambered into the room awkwardly, making a beeline for the redhead.

“Skye, right?” The girl with black hair asked softly, taking the bag from her friend with a blush. Skye nodded and gave her the smallest smile.

“That’s me. Are you Leila, then?” Skye asked, getting up to retrieve the other bag. The girl with black hair sighed with relief.

“Yep. Leila is definitely my name.” Leila said. Her friend elbowed her in the side with a small giggle. Skye nodded and held out Leila’s bag.

Wow...this is really painful to watch.

“Sorry for the mix-up, um...” Skye blushed, blinking rapidly, “I was not paying attention. To anything at the time.”

Leila was about to speak before the other girl cut in. “That’s okay! I’m glad we found you. I’m Charlotte, by the way.”

“Charlotte,” Leila said between gritted teeth, taking her bag and putting Skye’s on her bed. In an even lower voice, she added, “Thank you, now butt out.”

Rory nudged my arm to get my attention. When I looked at him, his eyes were wide and looking between Charlotte’s back and my eyes.

“What?” I whispered, though Rory shook his head. Confusion blanketed my mind...all up until I saw that she was wearing a purple drama program shirt.

Drama. Program. She had to be in the drama program. She just might be a part of the show! Of course, because that’s just my luck. A girl that I could actually have a chance of getting to know in a non-theatrical way--

“Ajay?” Erin asked, waving a hand in front of my face. I stammered, feeling my cheeks involuntarily heat up. I could tell it was visible because Rory’s smirk grew by at least ten sizes.

“What?” I shouted, frustrated with my own thoughts.

“Want to go explore the building with us?” Erin asked, holding in a giggle. Glad to see she’s doing better.

“Oh, uh, sure? Why?” I said, looking between everyone’s humored looks.

“You would know if you weren’t so distracted, Ajay.” Rory teased, elbowing me again. I almost let out my retort but was interrupted by someone - probably the girls that were now snickering - clearing their throat on the other side of the room.

“To get to know the area, obviously. Why else would we?” Erin said, making me heave a somewhat dramatic sigh. Maybe she just needed to pick on me to raise her spirits.

“Is that okay with you two?” Rory asked, looking between Leila and Charlotte. They both gave a quick nod, though Leila frowned at the bag in her arms.

“Can we make a pit stop first?” Leila asked, eyeing Erin who gave her quite possibly the warmest smile I’ve seen her give over the past three years.

“Yeah, of course! Let’s get going, though. We need to be fully functional tomorrow to go shopping for the first big party of the year!” Erin squealed, making her way towards the door.

“I...you want me to go to a college party? With...but I’ve--” Charlotte gasped, her eyes going wide with panic. This immediately made Leila roll her eyes and nudge her friend hard in the shoulder with her own. A genuine laugh escaped Leila as she turned to everyone.

“Charlotte here isn’t much of a party animal, but she’ll definitely loosen up with time.” Leila teased, causing Charlotte’s cheeks to darken with embarrassment.

Nice to know that I’m not the only one in this friend group who isn’t too fond of parties. And it’s also nice to know that I may get along with her better than I thought.

“Well, sweetie, you’re going with us. We’re friends now, and no friend of mine will sit idle on the sidelines.” Erin grinned, opening her door.

After everyone exited the room, Leila and Charlotte walked a little ways down the hall before stopping in front of a door.

“We’ll be right out!” Leila said before dragging Charlotte into the room behind her. Not even ten seconds later, they appeared again.

“Okay, c’mon. We gotta explore this maze!” Rory encouraged, coaxing everyone to follow him. I caught his eye and he gave me a teasing wink. What the hell? With a glance around, I saw Charlotte walking next to me, her head immediately swiveling forward. Another blush covered her cheeks.

It turns out that Lafayette Hall isn’t exactly confusing, but it’s definitely something to get used to. It was just a big square with a lot of twists and turns.

Another thing to get used to was the fact that it had a nice game room, and with Rory and Leila’s insistence (I’m starting to think that they’re a deadly duo), we got the key.

“Oh my God, Ajay! They have a pool table! I call a rematch from that stupid party last year.” Rory gasped, taking a cue stick from the wall. I groaned and shook my head.

“I’d rather not hear you complain about your loss all night. Face off against Erin instead.” I laughed, earning a nudge from Erin.

“Thanks. Now I’ll be the one complaining all night - sorry, Skye.”

Skye gave a halfhearted smile, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Anywhere but this game room.

“Skye, can I challenge you to a game of ping pong?” Leila asked hesitantly, taking two paddles in her hands and holding one out to Skye. With both a sheepish glance and a gingerly-moving hand, Skye took it and spun it around a few times.

“Don’t go easy on me. We may have just met, but I’m not made of glass.” Skye smirked, taking her place at the table and serving the ball to Leila. Over at the pool table, I watched Rory narrow his eyes at Erin; it looked like she currently had the upper hand.

“So, Ajay, right?” Charlotte said from beside me, startling me a bit. I turned to see her leaning up against the wall, looking at me.

“That’s me,” I answered awkwardly, relaxing onto the wall to match her stance. Her eyes, which I realized were a cerulean blue, left my figure to watch the ping pong match that slowly intensified.

“Where’re you from, Ajay?”

“I was born in Maryland, but my parents moved to New York shortly after that.” I said. “You?”

“Cedar Cove. It’s a tiny town in Oregon a few miles east of Portland. I bet you’ve never heard of it?” Charlotte said. I nodded, still keeping my eyes moving between the two games despite my lackluster concentration on them.

“Nope,” I chuckled, “but that’s alright. What’s so unique about Cedar Cove?”

Charlotte fell silent for a second, though quickly replaced it with a humored sigh.

“That’s like asking a little kid why they want to go into a candy store, dude. I don’t have a single answer! Give me a different question.” Charlotte giggled, shaking her head.

“Fair enough,” I smiled, “what brings you to The Big Apple, then?”

She let out another small giggle, and in that moment, I noted that she had a very laid back personality and a contagious laugh.

“Besides college?”

“Well, yeah. Obviously.”

Deafening silence fell between us again until she piped up once more.

“I’m planning to take over the world, of course,” Charlotte whispered, “but, shh, you don’t know that. So don’t blow my cover, okay?”

Okay, she is officially someone I’d like to get to know better.

“I’ll try my best.” I responded, looking over at her. I didn’t realize this before, but she had light freckles scattered around her face, too. “What are you majoring in?”

“Drama, and then minoring in production. I’m trying to make it as a Broadway star or an actress.” Charlotte said, her voice louder than a whisper but still quite hushed. Something immediately clicked in my mind.

“Wait, you’re from the Cedar Cove that won the Spotlite competition in London like two years ago? Berry High, I think it was?” I gaped, making her gasp. She turned to face me with a bright and surprised smile.

“No way, you saw our show?” Charlotte beamed, her expression softening with (what I could only assume to be) nostalgia.

“Not in person but I did see clips. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen! Every aspect of it was spectacular and I was blown away by the improv skills of the leads during that blackout.” I rambled, my director’s side slowly finding its way out. Another thing clicked in my mind when she smirked. “Wait, you were a lead, weren’t you?”

Charlotte eagerly nodded. She looked so happy to be talking about this, for some odd reason.

“I was! And, for the record, that improv was terrifying!” Charlotte babbled. “But enough about me. What’re you doing here, Ajay?”

Should I blow my cover already? Tell her that, ‘yeah, I might be your director and will probably be someone that you'll learn to resent.’? I barely got to know her before she heard the truth.

“I’m majoring in drama, too. Minoring in both cinema studies and theater. All for the purpose of becoming a director.” I said, keeping my tone composed.

“Are you going to strictly direct theatrically or are you going to branch out to the silver screen?” Charlotte asked, examining my eyes. It was both flattering and a little embarrassing at the same time; she’d look at one eye for only a second before moving onto the other, and back again. It was like a workout for my eyes.

Oh no, I’m rambling.

Before I could give her my response, Erin yelled a cacophony of slurs, swears, and phrases mashed into one.

“Ajay, please knock some sense into this guy!” Erin huffed, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I lost to...to Rory!”

I gave Charlotte a sorrowful expression before looking back at Erin. “Another time, Erin. Can’t you--”

Leila yelled out, too. “Jesus, how’re you so good at ping pong?”

Skye simply gave her a smile. “Many, many hours practicing.”

I sighed, turning back to Charlotte. She was grinning, her arms folded across her chest; still looking like she was waiting for my answer.

“To answer your question, I think I’ll stick to the stage. I’m taking cinema classes this year if that thought changes, though.” I rambled. A hum escaped her as she nodded.

“Then you’re going to be a part of the show, right?” Charlotte asked, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear. Her eyes, a deep cerulean blue, swirled with uncertainty. An anxiety, almost.

“Yeah,” I said softly, noticing her change in demeanor; her once carefree posture had coiled into a tense inverse of itself. “Are you planning on auditioning?”

Charlotte bit her lip and looked down at her shoes.

“Do you think I should?”

I hesitated for a second, running a hand through my unkempt hair, and lowered my voice down to a whisper. “Well, not to sound creepy or anything, but I’ve seen you act. And from what I saw on that stage two years ago, you’d be a great addition to any cast.”

A massive blush exploded across Charlotte’s face, turning her cheeks a bright red. “That’s...high praise coming from a director. Thank you.”

I gave her arm a small nudge with my elbow in response, causing her to break into a fit of laughter. All the sudden, though, the door to the game room slammed open, revealing a group of ambitious freshmen.

“Oh, we’re done in here, guys!” Erin said hurriedly, hastily gesturing our group out the door. For a split second, I saw surprise pass through her features; the kind that made it seem like she was remembering something. Dear God, what is wrong with this day?

“The room is all yours!” Rory blurted before closing the door behind him. In the hallway, everyone looked confused.

“I still want to know all your secrets to being a ping pong goddess.” Leila laughed, making Skye crack a laugh for the first time since Rory’s grand entrance about an hour ago.

“My secrets are extremely guarded, so good luck.” Skye challenged, narrowing her eyes the slightest bit at a clueless Leila.

“Oh, wow, what time is it?” Charlotte gasped, whipping out her phone. Her expression turned into panic. “Oh my God, I have six missed calls from my parents and a few from my brother! I need to go!”

“Wait, wait! Let’s exchange numbers!” Rory said, not letting Charlotte leave. Hurriedly, she shoved her phone into everyone’s hands. Once she reached me, I fumbled over the numbers. Dear God, Ajay, get yourself together.

“Quickly, please!”

Leila laughed for a minute before she pulled her own phone from her pocket, her happiness crumbling into annoyance.

“Jeez, ten missed calls from mine!” Leila huffed. Erin was about to speak before Charlotte chided in with a farewell.

“It was super awesome meeting you guys,” Charlotte said hurriedly, taking Leila’s arm, “I will text you all later! See you!”

Without another word, the two took off down the hallway and to the elevator.

“Well, um, we met three new people today!” Rory cheered, elbowing Skye’s arm. She didn’t look too pleased.

“Awesome, but I’m ready to go relax. Skye, need help setting a few things up?” Erin said, turning to her roommate that gave her a shrug.

“You don’t really need to help me, but, sure.” Skye sighed, looking down at her feet. Again, why were everyone’s feelings so sensitive today?

“Alright, then. This is where we split up.” I added, walking towards the elevators. Rory started to follow when Erin led Skye towards the stairs.

“Good night, guys.” Erin called, waving, and then turning a corner.

After tossing and turning for a good two hours, I pulled out my phone and decided to text Erin. She’d be up at the late hour (she rarely sleeps) and I wanted to check in with this odd behavior.

Ajay: Hey. Is everything okay? You’ve been acting weird ever since I arrived.

A response came not even a minute later. Figures.

Erin: i don’t want to talk about it, ajay. thanks tho.

Ajay: I wasn’t asking to talk. I was asking if you were okay.

I knew something was wrong, but Erin was usually the type to ramble on and on about anything she faced. It was strange to see her bottling up all of her emotions.

Erin: i am. don’t worry about me.

Erin: i just had a really rough summer.

Wow. How do you even respond to that?

Ajay: If you need to talk or anything, you know where to find me. Okay?

That’ll have to do for now. No pressure, just assurance. Hopefully that’s enough.

Erin: yep. night.

Because either of us will actually end up sleeping tonight...

Ajay: Night, Erin.

#high school story class act #hssca #ajay bhandari #skye crandall #rory silva #erin ward #mc: charlotte parker #oc: leila maciel #choices stories you play #warnings: mentions of divorce and some swearing #chapter two! 🥳

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imamotherfuckingstar-lord · 5 years

Text

The BBC

Quentin Beck x Reader, Deadpool x Platonic! Reader

Warning: bad language.

A/N: This was just pure fun to write.

Summary: Wade invites you to a super-secret bar, where you meet someone new.

You stood in front of an apartment building, the entire complex was dark and clearly no one had been living in it for years. Pulling out the small white business card that magically appeared under door of your room at the Avengers’ facility, you made sure you had the correct address. Call you curious or an idiot, you decided it was something you needed to investigate, because obviously someone wanted to see you. You walked over to the front doors, but they were locked, and you figured there had to another entrance. So, you went around the building – checking for another way in. Finding one in the form of a back-door, which was not chained up, you walked into the apartment building. It was gross, a whole lot of dusty and dark. Tapping on your watch that a certain genius billionaire had made you, a bright light flashed from it, letting you see where the hell you were going.

“Jesus, I’m in a freaking horror movie.”

“More like a B-horror movie,” a voice echoed behind you.

You jumped, because let’s admit it, someone sneaking behind you in a dark place was scary as hell – no matter how badass you were. Flashing the light to where the voice came from, you were confronted with a familiar face, well, mask.

“For fucksake, Wade.”

“Hello to you too, hot pants,” he said, holding a hand up to avoid the light. “Turn that shit off! The good guys might find us.”

“I am the good guy,” you insisted, turning off the watch; squinting to see Wade in front of you.

“Technically, you aren’t…remember the whole pissing contest your beloved 100 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and Iron-Douche had? If I recall you were on The Virgin’s side, so you’re technically a bad guy.”

“I beg to differ,” you argued, flicking the white business card at the merc. “Why was this under my door?”

Wade bent down to retrieve the card and leaned forward to place it in the front pocket of your jean jacket. “Because my sweet tart, you are part of the club now.”

“I don’t want to be part of any club…”

“Too bad, so fucking sad,” he remarked, motioning for you to follow him. “Come on, the others are drinking all the good beer.”

Others?

A part of you wanted to turn around and go back home, but the part of you that liked rebelling – the part of you that rebelled with Steve and the others, sighed and followed Wade down to the basement of the apartment building. Contrary to the rest of the joint, the basement hallway was lit up and looked decent, a heavy metal door stood at the end of it. Wade pulled off his mask and smiled at you, winking like a perv and holding out his hand to you.

“Do you trust me?”

“Fuck off, Aladdin. Just open the door and let’s get this over with.”

He did, and boy, were you surprised.

It was like a high-class bar, outshined the one Tony had, for sure, and it was packed. You weren’t sure where the hell you were, but as you followed Wade to the back bar, you started to notice certain faces. Loki was sitting in a corner with two ladies, his body leaned into theirs as he talked to them. His eyes met yours and he grinned, giving you a curt nod before going back to his conversation. Then there was the fucking Punisher himself, sulking in a booth alone – you didn’t even want to make eye contact with him, that man was unsettling. You spotted Cable playing pool with some man in a getup that looked like something Thor would wear, you had never seen him, but he looked over at you when Cable flipped off Wade when he shouted out his name. The mystery man stared at you for a moment, as if he was studying you before turning to Cable.

“Oh, shit, he’s hot,” you whispered as Wade and you pulled up to the bar.

Wade glanced back in the direction of the pool table and snorted. “I mean, I would not not fuck that Winter Solider wannabe.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t talking about Cable,” you laughed, deciding the place wasn’t so bad, even though it had an interesting clientele. “Whose that guy with him? Thor’s cousin?”

“He fucking wishes; I fucking wish…”

“Wade.”

“Right, right. That’s Mysterio – I know what you’re thinking; FINALLY THEY GAVE JAKE GYLLENHAAL A ROLE IN THE MCU. I mean, I would Brokeback Mountain his ass any day.”

You thanked the bartender when he placed a beer in front of you before looking at Wade in pure wonderment. “I have no clue what you are talking about or who this Jake guy is, but you dragged me here and I need to know why.”

Tossing his mask on the counter, Wade lifted his beer and held it up. “Let’s cheer to you becoming a new member of the Gray Area Regime. GAY for short.”

“That doesn’t make sense – you know what, who cares,” you declared, clinking your beer against Wade’s. The two of you smiled at each other and proceeded to down the beer in seconds flat, the merc slapped his hand on the counter and asking for another round.

“So what does being in the GAY mean? Do I get a discount at Costco or something?”

“Yes! And access to this shithole.”

Sighing, because you had never thought when you joined the Avengers that you’d be in some secret lair bar with other people who have done some questionable shit in their line of work. Yeah, you were for the most part a hero, but you had to admit, there had been more than a few gray areas on your ledger.

Fuck, you probably should tell Nat about this place…

“Well, good sir,” you chimed, accepting your place in this fucked up society of misfits who probably killed hundreds of people. “How about you go introduce me to that Trouble with Cable.”

Wade stood straight, bringing a hand to his forehead, giving you a salute. “It would be your pleasure.”

Grabbing your second beer, you followed Wade to the pool table. Cable groaned as the merc skipped over to him, throwing an arm him to bring him closer. “So, me and little Miss Avenger want to play next game.”

“Hey Nathan,” you said, giving him a wave as you stopped in front of the pool table.

“Hey Y/N. What are you doing here? You’re too good to be in this filthy place.”

You laughed at Nathan’s honestly and glanced at Thor’s fake cousin, who gave you a slight smile as he held onto his pool cue. “Wade apparently thought I’d fit right in.”

“Yeah, she’s killed enough people now,” Wade beamed, hanging onto Cable. “So, FISHBOWL this is Y/N. Y/N this is FISHBOWL.”

“Fishbowl…” you questioned, looking at Mysterio for answers.

He smirked then, leaning his cue against the table to reach out a hand to you. “I’m Quentin.”

Taking his hand, which was nice and warm, you examined him closely – he was fine as fuck, plain and simple. The hair, the weird getup that did things to you, the smile, the big sad ass eyes, and the beard; holy shit the beard.

“I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet –“

You introduction was immediately interrupted by a song blasting over your voice; it was familiar and you looked over to Wade, who was holding out his cell in your direction.

“I knew you were trouble when you walked in…”

“Is that Taylor Swift?”

“It is indeed TayTay,” Wade nodded, pointing to your hand, which was still holding onto Quentin’s.

Embarrassed, you pulled back and smiled at the man. “I would apologize for Wade, but I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Quentin laughed, looking to the bar behind you. “Maybe I can get you a beer?”

“She already has one,” Wade pointed out, huffing when Cable nudged him in the ribs. “I mean… that beer is tainted!”

The mercenary stormed over to you and snatched the beer, tossing it over his shoulder. The glass shattered behind him and Wade fetched a few dollar bills from his pocket, nodding to Quentin. “Bad beer. Here’s some money, go get her a new one, Thor’s less attractive fake cousin.”

Ignoring the burning rage to tear Wade a new one, you smiled at Quentin and agreed that you could use a new beer. He said for you to lead the way, so you did, the two of you leaving the pool area for the bar counter. As you sat down and he ordered the drinks, you gave him another once over but he caught you mid look and laughed.

“You were just checking me out, weren’t you?”

“The lighting is really bad by the pool table, so I was just getting another look.”

“Everything good?”

“100%.”

The two of you chuckled, and when the beers arrived, Quentin looked down at the money Wade gave him. “These are Canadian dollars.”

“He’s such a prick,” you sighed, attempting to pull out money from your pocket until Quentin objected.

“I got you,” he insisted, turning his body to you. He paid and took a sip of the beer, asking if you minded him asking you a personal question.

“Go ahead.”

“Why are you really here?”

You stared at Quentin, his eyes on you with this intense fire that matched the way you felt when you were doing what you loved; fighting. “Long story; I’m an Avenger or was, honestly I don’t know what’s going on there. My whole team is all sorts of fucked up at the moment, and I guess I have to admit in my line of work things can get morally complicated. We do things to save people but at what cost? We destroy things to fix them, we save people but there is always collateral damage.”

“You sound like gray area material.”

“I guess, what about you?”

Quentin’s face fell and he glanced down at his drink before meeting your glance. “Truthfully, I’m severely treading the line of gray and black. I want the glory, the fame, and I’d do anything to get it.”

His admission should have scared you, you’d be lying if it didn’t for a fleeting moment, but damn you couldn’t help but feel for him. Maybe you were in the right place; maybe Wade was right to invite you to be a part of the GAY.

Again, the acronym made no sense, but maybe this place did.

Was Frank Castle truly a bad guy? And Loki – wasn’t he just misunderstood? You had known Wade for years, and yes he killed people, but he killed bad people – like you did.

Right?

“Did I lose you?”

“No,” you said quietly, brushing away all thoughts. “I get you, Quentin. So how about we cheer to being morally complicated?”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t morally complicated, he might be just a downright bad guy, but for some reason you just didn’t care.

He smiled down at his beer, before lifting it against yours. The two of you cheered and drank, keeping your eyes on each other until you couldn’t contain it anymore and asked if he wanted to leave.

“I would invite you to my house, but…”

“No, I get it,” he said, placing the empty mug down. “My place isn’t far from here.”

You watched as he got off the stool, looking handsome in his probably villain suit, and you smiled at him, asking if he’d give you a moment to say bye to Wade. He nodded and said he’d be waiting outside, and you waited for him to be out of sight before beelining it to your friend.

“Alright. I’m taking off, Wade.”

He did a double take to were Quentin and you were seated, clapping his hands obnoxiously when he realized what went down. “You getting the BBC!”

“Isn’t that a British channel?”

“It means BIG BAD COCK.”

Nathan looked at you. “You have to make him stop.”

“If I could I would,” you declared, reaching over to give Wade a smack on the face. “Thanks for the invite, I’ll see you later. Nathan, make sure Wadey gets home safe.”

The two men said goodbye and proceeded to argue over whose turn it was as you walked away. You started moving through the bar, waving at Loki as you made it to the door, but an act of bravely had you glancing over to were Frank was sitting. The man was staring down at his beer until he looked up, his eyes locking onto yours. He gave you a slight nod and went back to his sulking, and suddenly you felt like you were at home.

Laughing mostly to yourself, you left the bar and walked out to the basement hall, up the stairs and right to the back entrance – where Quentin stood under the moonlight.

He was physically attractive, that much was true, but there was something about Quentin – there was more to him than he was showing and you wanted to know it all, badly.

He asked if you were ready, reaching out his hand to you.

It felt different then when Wade had done it, it felt dangerous; exciting.

Taking it, the two of you started walking off until you announced you had something to ask.

“Yeah?”

“What was Wade talking about when he called you FISHBOWL?”

Quentin laughed heartily, squeezing your hand. “Yeah, I can’t really explain it, I’ll just have to show you.”

Oh, yeah – you were so getting the BBC.

Forever tags

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@theweirdlunatic @supernaturallymarvellous @dancewaterdance02 @yeahbutmarvel @infinity1321

@my-amazing-nerdyness @naih-reedus @maciiiofficial @casownsmyass @jade-taillia @fangirlextraordinaire @indominusregina @feelmyroarrrr @my-rainbow-wonderland @myhopeisinfinite @girl-next-door-writes @melonberri @superisatomboyuniverse @dracsgirl @moonlight53 @makemyownwonderland @dreamwhisper87 @trekken81 @barely-emily @milkywaybarnes @goodnightwife @mishaissocoollike @foreverybodythatunderstands23 @gallifreyansass @flirtswithdanger

@myplaceofthingsilove @jchona @alyssaj23 @blackhoneybucky @urbanspacedecay @castieltrash1 @hannahsakorax3 @imagine-all-the-imagines @motleymoose @distinguishedqueenofbooks @kitkatgaming @fizzylollipop12 @iamwarrenspeace @darkmystress00 @lunarwolfrose @kapolisradomthoughts @sisinia13 @swiggityswagness @lianasparklezstuff

@takemetoneverland91 @to-pick-ourselves-up-7 @sarah-mos @rubynationwins @padfootorionblack @kaywolves @wonderlace19 @courtneychicken @rayleyanns @whatmakesmebeme-tblr @thewinterwitch @avengersgirllorianna @tatortot2701@brewsthespirit-blog @seabasschino @ex-bookjunky @travelwithwords @supernaturaldean67 @thehuntchback @shoytai @besamiculo-puto @ign-is @zuni21798 @multipleuniversesinwriting @lauxeyson

@pleasantdreamqueen @damalseer @10kindsofderp @hennessy0274-blog @jodoethr @s-t-r-i-k-e-us @seeing-but-not-observing @happyskywhale@peekingsunshine @sebstanchrisevanchickforever19 @cinema212 @geeksareunique @thilbob @hercrazyfandomobsession @wildefire @sashavis @nosleeptillbucky @grace-for-sale @someonekindalikeyou @space-helen @sorenmarie87 @wickedsingularity @steve-rogers-personal-hell @wintersire @whatshernamemaria @theheadcanonsawakens

@iminlovewithasuperboy @loverbug1123 @sugerquill @starmission @pineapplebooboo @justanotherfangirl272 @battlebunnyteardropsinthesun @liamssmiler @ludwigs-a-monster @mad-girl-without-a-box @k8tie-a-934 @dr-pepper-only @allltheships @showtimeaholess @thxsoldixrrolxplay @esoltis280 @bass-clarinette @sebastianstanslefteyebrow @dsakita @cwar1864 @theonlyparadox @faithtrustandpixiedust95 @theweirdlunatic

@marvhellove @kjs-s @aredlily @sami-raye @lucifersnipnips @feelmyroarrrr @darkshadow3492 @lianasparklezstuff @ajduurikscjsja @morgan-atr @theflowerswillbloom @coffee-stained-tongue @lowkeyxloki @cannonindeez @astro-sim-dog @fireboltrose7559 @iridescent-gxmora

#quentin beck x reader #quentin beck #mysterio x reader #mysterio #deadpool #marvel imagine

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metalchick19-blog · 5 years

Text

The Bowers Gang: How Patrick Would Feel About/Interact with an Extremely Shy Reader (Anonymous Request - Imagine)

* Request: The reader is super shy and only talks when talked to. She never says more than five words and hates being confronted and talking in public. I would love to see how Patrick would feel. Thank you so so much!! ♥️

* Any and all credit for this idea goes to the requestor.

For the past few weeks, you had been working on a school project with Patrick Hockstetter - you shared biology together, and, although you’d never spoken to him before, you’d always known him as the guy who was way too amped up on dissection days

In fact, you’d literally seen him stuff a fetal pig into his backpack once, but you hadn’t dared to say anything to your teacher about it

Because, really, who wants to mess with a guy who steals fetal pigs under any circumstance?

Regardless though (and regardless of the countless other things you’d heard about the guy), you two had been paired together to give a presentation on the plant of your choosing - what function it served in the ecosystem, and what internal mechanisms it used to stay alive

True to his normal character, Patrick had wanted to do your report on the venus fly trap since day one

And, even though you had wanted to do it on literally anything else, you went along with it, because you were never one to argue

… Which Patrick would come to notice over the course of your time together

From the moment he met you, Patrick knew you were shy (and loved it), but he didn’t realize just how shy until you officially started working together

Every time he would focus on the project long enough to suggest an idea (which wasn’t often, seeing as he usually seemed to be focused on invading your personal space and giving you nightmare fuel), you gave him nothing in the way of resistance - just a nod of your head

Every time he would ask you a question, you would simply answer yes or no - anything to avoid coming out with a full sentence

And, most noticeably, every time he’d meet your eyes and say something vulgar (“Cat got your tongue, princess? Maybe you could let me borrow it for a while once he’s done with it.” *Shudder-inducing Hockstetter smirk*), you’d do nothing but collapse into yourself, instantly a blushing mess

Essentially, Patrick came to realize that you were so shy, you’d let basically anything happen to you

You went along with everything he said, wouldn’t respond to sarcasm, insults, or come-ons (regardless of how strongly he came at you with them), and, in a lot of ways, seemed almost incapable of speaking

… Which drove him insane with lust from the second he registered it

Patrick had never met a girl so deeply ingrained in submission, and decided he wanted you from that point on

But, what he also realized…

… was that he wasn’t entirely sure what your voice sounded like

In all the time you two had been working together (which was approximately two weeks, at that point), you’d never said more than a few words to him at once - and Patrick decided that it was time to force you out of that comfort zone

Partly for the sake of hearing you speak, but mostly for the sake of watching you panic

… And he decided this the day before your presentation was due

You walked into biology the next day, note-cards in hand, ready to present your half of the presentation - you were nervous, as always, but felt a little better than usual because you knew you’d have a partner… even if it was Patrick friggin’ Hockstetter

You sat down at your desk, looked around the room, and noticed one thing right away - Patrick wasn’t there

Which was fine, because he usually snuck in just before the final bell, but you had been hoping to go over the presentation together before class started (which never would’ve happened anyway, but it was optimistic of you nonetheless)

You read over your note-cards, eyeing the clock as the minutes ticked down

Class would be starting in 4 minutes - totally fine. Patrick would come

Class would be starting in 3 minutes - cool, cool. Patrick would make it

Class would be starting in 2 minutes - It was seriously fine. It was literally great. Patrick was on his way

Class would be starting in 1 minute - OH MY GOD, NO. PLEASE NO. SERIOUSLY, OKAY, THIS CAN’T HAPPEN. DEATH IS IMMINENT, AND THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO TO STOP IT.

Finally (just as your freak-out was reaching its peak), Patrick ducked into the room, his arrival punctuated, as always, by the last bell

You’d truly never been so happy to see those piercing green eyes, and that long-legged stride coming towards you

… But, suddenly, the stride changed directions

Patrick’s eyes remained on yours, a spark of something like sick, amused intent flashing through them; the edges of his lips curled into a small smirk, and you finally registered that he was making his way over to your teacher

Standing in front of Mr. Anderson, Patrick did what he always did - reverted to his “normal boy” act. He smiled politely, if not a little bit tiredly, and placed a note on Mr. Anderson’s desk

… At which point a knot began to form in your stomach

Mr. Anderson read the note briefly, nodded in understanding, and called you over to the table - not at all noticing Patrick’s seriously un-subtle giddiness

Sighing, you walked over...

... and heard the worst news of your life:

“Hey, y/n. So, unfortunately Patrick here has step throat, so he won’t be able to help you present today - but he did bring his note-cards with him, so you can just read his half of the presentation from those. Okay?”

Right away, you could tell it was one of those questions that wasn’t a question; Mr. Anderson stared at you kindly, but expectantly.

… So, you mustered a smile from the deepest depths of your soul, nodded, and took Patrick’s note-cards.

Just as you turned to go back to your desk though, Patrick fixed you with one of the fakest (but, frighteningly enough, also one of the most believable) apologetic faces you’d ever seen - he knitted his eyebrows together in what, to you, was obviously feigned remorse, and looked down as if to say he was sorry for abandoning you

The look earned a “good boy” smile from Mr. Anderson, but you’d never wanted to choke someone so much in your life

You decided you’d hate that face forever - smirk, grin, or fake lip-pout. It was the terrible, awful face of a boy that was forcing you into public speaking. And that was fucking unforgivable

For the next few minutes, as other people presented, you died inside over and over again

All you could think about was having to present information you hadn’t prepared for, and your hands trembled even as you sat

Finally, it was time to be publicly executed - Mr. Anderson called “the venus fly trap group,” and you slid out of your seat, moving unsteadily to the front of the room

Venus fucking fly trap. You hadn’t even wanted to do the report on the damn thing, and that seemed all the more insulting now

You stood tall (or as tall as you could, given you were in a state of stage 3 panic), and faced the class, deciding to start out as strong as you could

… But one face made your voice catch in your throat

Seated at the very back of the class, right in the middle of the room, so he could stare at you dead-on, was Patrick - grinning like a maniac, and already on the verge of laughter

Though his face overall was a picture of joy, Patrick’s eyes were filled with nothing but cruelty; it reminded you of a butcher, smiling heinously (and meaning that smile with all his heart) just before chopping the head off a piece of meat

Needless to say, it threw you, and you started reading your note-cards already in the middle of a stutter

From there on, things went nowhere but downhill

So downhill that it felt like you were falling from Mt. Everest

After struggling to read through your own note-cards adequately (and failing miserably), you finally got to Patrick’s

… Which had nothing on them (except the top one, which had a picture of a badly drawn smiley face) and required you to improvise the rest

Which you did - visibly trembling, and with your voice shaking the entire time

By the end of the presentation, you were a sweaty mess

You hadn’t even looked up more than twice, because every time you did, you met Patrick’s shit-eating smirk

Despite everything though, you managed to get a good grade (though you suspected Mr. Anderson only gave it to you out of pity)

At the end of class, as everyone made their way out of the room, you felt a tap on your shoulder just as Mr. Anderson walked into the hallway

...You almost didn’t want to turn around.

But you did, and you saw just what you expected to see: Patrick - his lips so curled as to look “Grinchy,” with a look of bemused approval on his face

“I knew you had it in ya’, sweetheart.”

You knew it.

You fucking knew it.

Strep-throat?

Yeah.

Bullshit.

You opened your mouth to protest, but no sound came out

Grinning, his eyes fiery with excitement, Patrick leaned in close to you

His hand came up to move a strand of hair from your cheek, and he brought his leering face ever closer to yours. Your eyes shot down to the ground as he craned over you; his cold breath cascaded down your forehead and chin

“Don’t be mad, princess - I just had to know what that sweet little voice sounded like.”

There was no air between you. All there was, was Patrick’s voice - nasally, like a snarky teenager’s… but predatory, like an animal’s

“And, you gotta’ know… you look so fucking delicious when you shake.”

The both of you stood for a moment - you drowning in the silence that filled the room, and Patrick basking in it. His nearness alone unsettled you, he knew, and you could swear you felt him lick his stretched, leathery lips before tucking your hair behind your ear

With that, the tension was gone. Patrick was suddenly across the room from you, just about to make his way out the door. You stood frozen in place by your desk, stunned by the recent turn of events. Did Patrick Hockstetter… like you? Was that what all this had been about?

Patrick turned to you a final time, still backing towards the door. You could tell he was picturing you naked, his mouth open, but his lips still turned up in a smirk. His eyes traced down your body excitedly, seeming to search every nook and cranny before settling once more on your face.

He smiled a final smile; it was like he’d gathered all the mischief in the world into that one expression

“See you tomorrow, sweetie.” He winked. He licked his lips again

It was much more pronounced this time though, for your viewing pleasure

“Y’know, you can try to be quiet all you want - one day you’re gonna scream my name until your fuckin’ throat’s raw.”

Finally, Patrick disappeared into the throng of kids outside the classroom door

You stood alone, collecting your thoughts.

Patrick Hockstetter had embarrassed you.

Patrick Hockstetter had fucking scared you.

… But… Patrick Hockstetter... liked you.

And, for some reason, you weren’t so sure you hated that

#henry bowers #patrick hockstetter #belch huggins #victor criss #The Bowers Gang #the bowers gang headcanons #it

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wordsturnintostories · 4 years

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show me your rosettes, baby (g)

summary: The world tour is over and the Bangtan Boys finally get their well-deserved break. When Namjoon suddenly can’t find Jimin anywhere, things take an unexpected and pretty unbelievable turn. “Kim Namjoon!” “Hyung. How common is it for people to turn into cats?” word count: 4.2k note: super long and hopefully super good. ✨

masterlist | moodboard masterlist

Namjoon can’t say that he dislikes being a cat owner. He dislikes Jimin attacking his nose at five am. He dislikes not being able to fall asleep again for half an hour because the little one has a spurt of energy and apparently needs to let it out on Namjoon, who is not the only hyung available (cause Yoongi is still sleeping down the hall) but the more alive candidate. He doesn’t dislike the little paws hitting his cheeks when he groans, trying to bury his face in the pillow because it’s still dark outside, Jimin, please let me sleep, just for a bit. He likes the softness when Jimin yawns, turning around and plopping down to snuggle into Namjoon’s throat. The little paws bunch up Namjoon’s shirt and finally, there’s peace, just peace until the cycle starts again and everything is wet thanks to the tongue roaming his face.

It’s not easy to live with a cat that doesn’t let you use the bathroom alone and that cries outside the door until you let it in (he swears Jimin usually only has abandonment issues when Hoseok is away). Namjoon can’t dislike it, because even if he can’t see Jimin in the kitchen just after receiving a phone call about the confirmation for his request to meet Bang Sihyuk today, finding the little one mewling back in the dry bathtub, surrounded by shampoo bottles, is pretty hilarious. At least he didn’t get stuck in the space between the wardrobe and the wall again, Namjoon thinks and shakes his head at Jimin’s need to be held and coddled and touched from several sides at the same time.

“How did you even get there, baby?”

Namjoon hears the endearment slipping out before he can stop it and waves himself off. Jimin won’t remember (hopefully). On second thought, Jimin probably won’t even mind being called baby, so the weirdness of it all doesn’t even matter.

“Strap yourself in for a ride, hyung,” Jackson’s voicemail warns (a little late for that, Namjoon huffs to himself), and by the way that the other rapper lists helpful tips and advice with a husky voice he makes it sound he’s been ripped out of sleep very suddenly. Like an unforeseen realization of all the things he’d missed to say while he was over at Namjoon's had disturbed his sleep and like he was afraid he’d forget them if he went back to sleep. Namjoon snorts but continues listening. “Jimin is going to be a lot more honest now, and I’m not talking about simple stuff. As a leopard, he's just a baby, so everything he really needs, he’ll ask for it. No holding back. Don’t be shocked when you discover a totally different Jimin. The raw Jimin.” It sounds menacing, but Namjoon looks to the cub, scarfing down a whole can of tuna without a second thought. He can live with that. If this is the raw Jimin, then it’s fine. Namjoon believes that the members are already so close that they know almost everything there is about each other.

He takes that thought back after five minutes of trying to coax a shaking Jimin into Tannie’s old transport box that’s been sitting and collecting dust on Taehyung’s wardrobe for a while now. One would think that all the time the dog hadn’t been in there would have been long enough to make the scent disappear but according to Jimin, that’s not true (if the scent even is the issue here, who knows). When the doorbell rings (this time Namjoon knows it’s Sejin because the manager insisted on not letting Namjoon take public transportation to the agency building), Namjoon panics, stuffs one of Hoseok’s pillows into the plastic box and watches Jimin do a complete 180 and snuggle into the fuzzy fluff with a warm purr. Crisis averted. The rapper still isn’t sure whether (or rather, what) to tell their manager and wills himself to refer to the leopard cub as a stray cat he found, hoping that the invented backstory will stick with Sejin (it does somehow, but Namjoon suspects it’s thanks to the missing collar on Jimin’s neck, not the rambled story Namjoon’s pulling out of his ass). He wants to talk to Sihyuk about it all first. Just to be safe. Sejin, proving over and over what a blessing he is, just nods, and hugs Namjoon like they always do after not seeing each other for a long time. (Namjoon knows it’s only been a couple of days, but with all the stuff that’s happened, he really feels like a month has passed in the meantime, and holds on so long that Sejin gives him a suspicious look. Not his fault. Namjoon needs some love and all the hyungs are gone, Yoongi included because he’s in the studio and that’s almost as good as gone.)

The former dog box turned cat box finds a safe place on the backseat of the silver car, right behind Namjoon. The rapper throws a look through the slits in the side before putting a Koya blanket over it. Jimin’s eyes are closed, he’s peacefully kneading the pillow. Reassured, Namjoon takes a place in the passenger seat, relieved to find that one of his two worries of the day has been put on hold.

The ride in Sejin’s car is nice and Namjoon’s anxiety slips away before he notices, drowned in the soft humming of the motor and the vivid images of Seoul’s passing cityscape outside of the passenger seat’s window. t’s easy to start a conversation and Namjoon comes across a genuine smile on his own lips.

“Did you already take time off, hyung? Our break isn’t very long this time. Did you get to do what you had planned out for your wife and kids?”

The conversation goes here and there, like the streets Namjoon knows Sejin has to take to get to his family and friends outside of Seoul. It has a calming effect to think about things so far away, removes the rapper from the moment. He appreciates the sensation of distance. Distance from music, distance from himself, distance from his own circling thoughts. The sweat on his hands dries off, his vibrating leg comes to rest. Talking to Sejin and hearing his stories feels normal, like kind of honest and connection-inducing conversation he often wishes he could have with fans. He feels impressed by what a good father Sejin manages to be despite his demanding job and tells him so. There are many people that Namjoon finds inspiring, but no many of them get so personal with him like this. Namjoon almost forgets about all the stress of the morning.

Sejin doesn’t prod during the car ride either, despite checking out the cat box through the rearview mirror, probably accepting that he’d find out what was going on soon enough. After all, Namjoon had explicitly requested that their manager be present for a part of the meeting as well.

Completely lost in thought and the soft lofi hiphop playlist Sejin enjoys listening to (what a cool guy, honestly), Namjoon slides his hands into his coat’s pockets. Just to be ripped out of the serenity of his daydream by the sharp, cold slide of a foreign object in there. He pulls his hand away immediately and stiffens, eyes wide. Sejin looks but returns his focus to the streets when Namjoon shrugs it off. After the initial reaction of shock, Namjoon tries to think back of all the things he’s put in his pockets today. His phone. Left pocket. Keys, also left pocket. A tiny bag with dried shrimp, for Jimin in case he gets hungry. Left pocket. Then what the hell is inside his right pocket?

Clueless but curious, he lets his fingers slide back in, with the same caution Hoseok uses when doing the laundry and emptying the member’s jeans pockets (he’s been wary ever since someone had left a fake spider in there, as if no one would know it’s you Jungkook, you dumbass, it’s your pants, really great prank). Like before, the cold object presses against Namjoon’s skin, sending an icy shiver across his back like a vicious warning. He understands that it’s paper from the flat surface and feels over it when suddenly, warmth pulses where he’s touching as if he’s been accepted to touch. Not knowing what he’s dealing with here, he carefully pulls out the paper, coming face-to-face with the grey business card from the day before. How did it get in here!? I didn’t even touch it this morning. It’s true, Namjoon had left the card in his jeans yesterday, and had left the jeans in the laundry basket at home, so how did the card get into his coat? Has Jimin maybe-? No. As unsettling as it sounds, he is convinced Jimin didn’t have the capacity to do something like that yet. Once again Namjoon is reminded of the sheer weirdness of the situation and how he seems to not have any say in how this scenario will unfold. Magic. It’s disappointing how his mind-voice seems more stressed than excited over the fact that magic is real, and active in his life. He really hopes Bang Sihyuk will know what to do.

Namjoon still stares at the card, surprised when he can’t see any of the letters on it. He turns it around. Nothing. How will I convince Sihyuk what’s going on when I don’t even have proof? And how will I remember what was written on there before? Just before his inner annoyance has a chance to evolve into something greater, the light catches on the grey paper, covering it with a holographic sheen. Against the rapper’s hopes, no letters appear. However, Namjoon watches a trail of paw prints appear as if an invisible miniature cat was walking over it. It’s cute. But it doesn’t help, not really, so Namjoon decides to just deal with it when it’s time, and puts the card back into his pocket.

“What was that?”

“Jackson gave me the card.”

“For that massage place again?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t check it out yet.”

“He’s been really desperate to get a massage with you ever since Taehyung went with Minjae on Celeb Bros. Maybe I should book one for you guys?”

“Do you think I need one?”

“I think you need a lot of things.”

“That’s fair. But I actually think I might really need a massage after this is all done.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah. I have no idea what Bang PDnim can do this time, but I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t worry. We’re with you guys. We’ll take care of it together.”

“Thank you, Sejin-hyung. I appreciate your help a lot, really.”

The manager nods, slowly rolling into the underground garage at the BigHit staff parking area. Together, they get out, grab Jimin who stays quiet, probably placated by the darkness and Hoseok’s scent, and ride the elevator before they get to the hallway with the expensive black leather couch. Namjoon checks his phone for the time, wincing when the group chat still revolves around the cat photo Namjoon had sent before realizing that the little leopard was Jimin. Granted, they hadn’t texted much since then, everyone off to enjoy their days off without the other members, but eventually, they all gravitated back to each other. Namjoon had figured that it would look suspicious if he deleted the picture post-posting and cursed Yoongi for not bothering to help come up with a good excuse as to why a little cat was sleeping on Jimin’s bed during the member’s absence. “No, Jimin didn’t adopt a cat”, he’d typed on the first night responding to Taehyung’s curious inquiries. Since then, Namjoon had stayed away from the topic, seeing how it only inspires a fountain of fresh questions. Taehyung would surely pout about not receiving an answer, but at least he isn’t Jimin. Jimin’s pout is deadly. Someone steps out of the office and gives Namjoon and Sejin a respectful nod before leaving.

“Do you want me to come in with you right away?”

Namjoon shakes his head, “Please give us a few minutes. I’m sorry for making you wait, hyung.”

“It’s fine, Namjoon-ah. Should I keep an eye on the cat then?”

“Uh, no. I need it. Sorry.”

“Good luck then.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

It’s nice in Sihyuk’s office. Always has been (except for the beginning, when it was filled with stacked boxed of copy paper and ink refill cartilages because the storage room had to have its ceiling and power lines renewed) and always will be. The carpet is soft despite being a typical office carpet with three dozen pairs of feet walking over it every day. It swallows both the disruptive booming of heeled business shoes and the accompanying sense of anxiety about entering a CEO’s office. Both those things seem more than misplaced with a human being like Bang Sihyuk. For all the ten years Namjoon has known him, he’s never been less than caring, never called Namjoon in for a scolding with malevolent intent as other company leaders do. Instead, he almost acts like a substitute father, waiting in his office chair with a bright smile as he sees the rapper enter. Namjoon appreciates it.

The large but elegant floor-to-ceiling fish tank on the one side of the room throws shimmering reflexes of light onto the room. (The fish tank is the jewel of BigHit’s office building and stressed staff is encouraged to take a breather in the lounge room on the other side of the tank.) The water reflexes also fall on a familiar sweater and Namjoon chuckles when he recognizes it as Jimin’s Christmas gift to Sihyuk from last year.

“It’s been a while,” Sihyuk says with half a scolding-eomma face and half a cheeky grin as he wraps his arms around Namjoon and pats him on the back. With all the other company bosses Namjoon has seen, he knows he would feel cornered in an embrace like this. Here, however, in this place of warm mutual vulnerability, the doubts and failures of the past week bubble up slowly (but still faster than he appreciates) and he chooses to swallow them down again lest they fall out in a chaotic, tear-ridden shudder. It would not be frowned upon if he were to cry, but the tears would certainly worry Sihyuk and Namjoon came to seek support and guidance, not sow worries.

“Thanks for making time for me,” Namjoon says quickly, choosing to express not only his gratitude but also his reverence for the man who’s made everything possible, who pulled through despite the odds, despite the forces working against their success and when no one else would. The rows of photos of all the agency's artists and staff and self-drawn sketches and paintings (also by them) on the wall the other side of the room illustrate that incredible story.

“Sure. You know I will always listen to you. It’s important to me.”

“I know.”

“By the way, did you hear that Sana delivered yesterday?”

“No, really?”

It is a surprise to hear that since Namjoon has seen the stylist work during their last tour and she hasn’t given the impression that her baby bump had already been so close to the final showdown. Maybe she was one of those women with a tiny baby belly. All members had taken care of her to the best of their abilities, asking about her wellbeing at regular intervals and sneaking her whatever food her weird cravings made her desire. The perks of being a celebrity with enough touring staff to send someone on a quick grocery run right before a concert. The sweet stylist had always laughed and joked around with them, displaying health and giddiness over the prospect of becoming a mother. Only the gender had not been revealed back then, even despite the constant cute begging. Sana was a precious woman, a good noona, a worthy addition to their team and a cheeky jokester on par with Seokjin and Yoongi.

“How is she?”

“Healthy and happy. She sent photos in the staff chat. It’s a girl. Pretty and precious like her mother.”

Emotions evident on Sihyuk’s face, Namjoon once again smiles at just how close-knit BigHit’s community is - a big, loose family of sorts that had learned to rely on each other.

“I’m happy for her,” Namjoon replies, genuinely feeling fuzzy things in his chest as he taps on the different images on Sihyuk’s phone. “She’s lovely.”

Somewhere in the back, next to a potted plant, a scratch and a mewl disrupt the tender peace between the two men. Namjoon looks up, cheeks almost reddening as he remembers what he’s come for and what’s gonna happen now that Jimin becomes restless in the transport box.

“Did you bring Tannie? Are you looking over him today?”

“Uh,” Namjoon scratches his head, the rehearsed lines of conversation escaping his mind shamelessly, “no. I’ll uh, I’ll- can I let him out?”

“Will he pee on my carpet?”

“Possibly?”

“If you keep an eye on him, it should be fine.”

Namjoon walks over to the box immediately, heart racing with every scratch of Jimin’s claws against the plastic. He opens the door and reaches in carefully until a tiny wet snout presses against his fingers.

“Come on, you baby,” he whispers and grabs the little cub. Jimin doesn’t resist, only shuffles around in Namjoon’s grip until he’s comfortable and able to push down Namjoon’s collar enough to rub his cheeks against the collarbone there. It tickles.

“Who is your little friend over there?”

It’s the one question Namjoon dreads and the only question that truly matters now. He feels himself taking a deep breath.

“I don’t- I don’t know how this happened, but this is Jimin. I’m sorry.”

Sihyuk pauses and places the pen in his hand down with a surprised expression.

“Come again?”

“Our Park Jimin has somehow turned into a cat. Into a baby leopard actually, to be precise, and I don’t know-”

Sihyuk stands up from where he’s been sitting and comes around the desk. Namjoon nervously eyes the other from where he’s standing, not sure what reaction can be expected after throwing such a wild claim in the room. He can feel the blood rushing in his ears and as if Jimin feels his stress, he whimpers a little, short tail shivering against Namjoon’s hand.

“Hi Jimin,” Sihyuk says softly, offering his hand to the cat so it can smell him. But the cub growls, sounding a bit like an electric eraser that’s refusing to run smoothly and his nose bumps into Namjoon’s chest. As if the betrayal doesn’t mean anything (it really doesn’t, not when Jimin looks adorable with his bared fangs), Sihyuk holds a hand before his mouth in surprise. Namjoon doesn’t miss the amused crinkles around his eyes. It triggers liters of hormones to flow through Namjoon’s body, proclaiming relief. He’s relieved that Sihyuk is not mad, no matter how weird this is.

“Maybe he doesn’t like me?”

“Maybe he’s just confused,” Namjoon defends Jimin and as if the thought doesn’t sit right with him, also Sihyuk. As much as everyone is allowed and encouraged to express themselves casually with the CEO, Namjoon feels a little thrown off by Jimin’s sudden behavior.

“No,” Sihyuk scratches his chin, making it difficult to tell whether he’s honestly disappointed or cleverly hiding his amusement until he points at Namjoon, “I think he’s playing favorites. Rude.”

They both laugh then and when Jimin wiggles around again, obviously disinterested in their conversation, Namjoon has mercy (and fear of getting his shirt ripped) and sets the younger down by his feet. The leopard immediately rubs itself against his shins like a normal cat would and Namjoon can’t deny the warmth in his chest. Then, they watch as Jimin hops away, drawn by the fish sashaying through the water.

“How long has he been-“ there’s a soft bump as Jimin runs into the glass and the two men laugh as he complains profusely. “Does he not recognize things?”

“Yoongi-hyung and I don’t think so. We’ve observed him the past days but Jiminie doesn’t even respond to his own name.”

“Really? Jimin, Park Jimin,” Sihyuk tries for himself but all he gets is an excited vocalization, a clicking chatter as Jimin observes the fish with this tony paws pressed against the tank glass. His tail sways, completely rapt with the little animals so close and yet so unreachable. It doesn’t help that they all swim around his figure in a curious but almost teasing manner. Over and over, Jimin yips and comes to discover that the glass won’t let him through, won’t let him enjoy the pleasure of a little chase. Eventually, he tires and begs to be lifted into Namjoon’s lap again, where big hands lavish luxurious scratches on his fur. He curls up with a purr.

Namjoon feels himself calm down considerably, and he returns to his original worries and thoughts.

“Wait, why are you not shocked at all?”

He’s mustering the CEO, who has been relatively calm and rational the whole time and who hadn’t even questioned anything.

“Well, I may or may not know more than you. As I should, leading a company like this.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I can’t tell you much, but that I will take care of Jimin to the best of my abilities and with all resources available.”

Namjoon sits back, relaxes, fingers scratching the tender skin behind Jimin’s ears and he nods. That’s all that matters. That Jimin will be protected and supported no matter what. Even if mystery remains, Namjoon trusts that things will be communicated with him as soon as he needs to know.

“I think someone’s calling you,” Sihyuk says, pointing at Namjoon’s right pocket. Immediately, the younger sticks his hand into it to see who it is - hopefully not one of the members in some sort of emergency situation - only to grasp not his phone but the ominous business card.

“Oh,” his eyes widen. “My phone is not in here. How did you-“

“But I saw something bright in your pocket, like a screen lighting up. What is it, then?”

In Namjoon’s hand, the card looks innocent. Grey but plain, like nothing special. Just an empty piece of paper. Not even the cat paws are on there anymore. Suddenly, a shimmer sent by the water falls on the card and as if it had been a drop, the card’s surface ripples, drawing circles like it’s made of water itself. Like its sole purpose is to give Namjoon a headache. It’s pretty, the prettiest business card he’s ever seen, no question, but it’s scary. Like it wants something from him. Ready to give it away, Namjoon offers the card to his boss.

“Here,” he gestures for him to take it, “Jackson gave me this when he came over yesterday.”

Sihyuk doesn’t seem to be confused by the emptiness of the card, doesn’t seem impressed with the rippling surface, doesn’t seem to become annoyed by the card like Namjoon is. He simply nods.

“And have you called the number yet?”

“Number?”

Namjoon frowns. Which number is Sihyuk referring to?

“The number on the card.”

He holds up the card for Namjoon to look at but all he can see is nothing. Nothing but the taunting blank surface. What is this? Why is this card playing with my mind? And why exactly did Jackson think giving this card to me was a good idea? Am I going crazy? Jimin complains with a squeak when Namjoon grips his fur too much and Namjoon returns to caressing the cub apologetically before looking back to Sihyuk.

“I’m sorry but I don’t see a number on the card.”

“But it’s a business card, right? So it has to have a number. And there is one, clearly.”

When the CEO places the card back on the table, Namjoon allows himself to touch it again. This is so weird. The rapper isn’t sure if the same rules that apply to ordinary business cards also apply to magical business cards, but he guesses that there should be a number on it from a rational point of view. There’s a distinct feeling of absurdness, however, that he can’t get past - as if what he sees and feels are two different things and as if the sensory feedback in his brain cannot merge the two impressions. Although he’s convinced he’s looking at the real card. The strange feeling lingers until he remembers how the first time, the Chinese characters on the card had changed shape right in front of his eyes to make sense in Korean. Maybe they changed for Sihyuk too? Maybe every person sees something else on the card?

“This is so weird.”

“Let’s call them.”

Should we really? I guess there’s no other way to find out who is responsible for this.

The room is stunningly quiet apart from Jimin’s sleepy hiccups, the soft buzzing of the fish tank and the beeps that signal that the call is not yet connected. Unsure about what to expect, Sihyuk and Namjoon hold eye contact. Then, suddenly, a woman’s voice appears on the other side of the phone.

“Welcome, Bang Sihyuk, Kim Namjoon. I am your automated call agent today. We apologize for not being personally available to take your call at the moment. To continue, please choose an option from the menu. Press 1 to access all gathered data about Park Jimin, press 3 to-“

They both look at each other.

“What the hell.”

masterlist | moodboard masterlist

#park jimin #shifter jimin #bts fanfic #leopard!jimin #bts #dec5 #yay!#wordsturnintostories #show me your rosettes baby (g)#smyrbg #part 6

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