#it's crazy..... like painkillers but for your brain..... like it's striking how i do have a lot of these thoughts/feelings | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ladykissingfish · 3 years

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A Date with an Angel // Part Two // Hidan and Obito

Hidan

“Order whatever you want; I swiped the old fuck’s credit card so dinner’s on him!” Konan panics at this, and refuses to pick up her menu until Hidan takes out his wallet and proves that he was just kidding. Today was Hidan’s turn at entertaining the lovely little lady, and he had originally intended to take her to a heavy metal performance at bar downtown (he was friends with the lead guitarist so they would have gotten in free). However, after he informed Nagato of his plans, he was met with a disappointing “Konan hates heavy metal.”, so he decided to take her to dinner instead. She seemed entirely suspicious when he approached her earlier (wearing a dress shirt and tie instead of his usual dirty muscle tank and ripped sweatpants), but nonetheless agreed to go with him to a quiet little cafe a few blocks down from the house. Konan has never really known what to make of Hidan. He was just slightly older than Deidara, but (in Konan’s opinion) ranking much higher on the “immaturity” wheel. He’s been nicknamed by the rest of the group as “Mr. Never-Dies”, because no matter what happens, what job he takes on, how badly he’s hurt ... he just keeps getting back up. One time he came home with blood running from the crown of his head and flowing into his boots, but rather than let anyone take him to a hospital, Hidan took out a needle and made Kakuzu stitch the gash on his forehead. No painkillers, no alcohol, not even any flinching. Anyone else would have been substantially messed up after such a heavy blood loss ... but Hidan was just fine, in fact laughing and talking like nothing was amiss. He’s extremely foul-mouthed and has a thing for telling dirty jokes, but today, on his date with Konan, he’s making a great effort to restrain himself. Hidan wants very badly to put his arm around her waist as he walks along beside her, but resists as he knows Nagato will tear him a new asshole if he makes her in anyway uncomfortable. He’s at a loss for what to talk to her about, so he simply asks her how she’s feeling. There’s a pause, and she goes “I’m not really sure. I lost my mood ring yesterday.” He bursts out laughing, so hard that she blushes. “That’s pretty damn funny, lady.”Konan tilts her head in surprise; nobody had ever complimented her humor before. In fact she’s usually told that the few jokes she does make are very flat, or somewhat dark. Fast forward to the cafe, where Konan is surprised again that Hidan asks for a table that’s “quiet”, and pulls out her chair for her. The waiter comes back and Konan is amused by the amount of food that Hidan is ordering. When it’s her turn, her mind is a blank, so she just orders the last thing he said (which was spaghetti and meatballs). “That’s all?” he asks, as the waiter collects their menus and leaves. “No wonder you’re so slender.” She asks him how in the world HE’S so skinny when he eats so much, and he explains he has a fast metabolism, like his mother. Konan is interested; she’s never heard him mention his family before. As if reading her mind, he says, “Me and those guys just don’t get along. They wrote me off as a brain-dead bastard when I said I wasn’t goin’ to college.” “College isn’t everything, you know. People have to do what’s right for them.” Hidan agrees, and begins telling her his much he enjoys working for Nagato, and the type of jobs they do. It’s interesting; when you got him away from the others and in a calm, quiet setting, Hidan was ... normal. Normal and actually very charming. And although he never says it out-loud, Konan gets the strong impression that Hidan has come to consider the rest of the group as being a surrogate family. Then the food comes out and Hidan turns into a different creature altogether. He eats much like an animal, viciously and indiscriminately. But instead of being disgusted by this, Konan ... feels relaxed. There’s an unspoken feeling here, that with Hidan, she can let go and be herself. She doesn’t have to worry about looking pretty, or eating daintily, or acting “like a lady”. In fact Hidan orders them ice cream sundaes for dessert,

then challenges her to see who can eat theirs the fastest. Hidan ends up winning, but they end up with a horrible case of brain-freeze that leaves them both paralyzed for several moments ... yet laughing pretty hard. Even though Konan ate far less than Hidan, she feels quite stuffed nonetheless and mentions this to Hidan, who immediately offers to give her a piggy back ride home. She hesitates to accept; it’s a ways home and Konan feels she’s not the lightest woman in the world (especially after a big meal). But he insists, and she lets him hoist her into his back and trot back to the house with her. They laugh and joke the entire way, with Hidan making numerous comments about how light she is and how good she smells. “That’s one thing about living in a house full of guys for so long; I got so used to the smell of ass and dirty socks and Doritos that I forgot there’s people in the world who know what the fuck deodorant and shampoo are!” Konan laughs so hard at this that she slips off Hidan’s back and lands on her knees in the grass, holding her stomach and howling. Seeing that she likely won’t calm down anytime soon to grab onto his back again, Hidan picks her up and carries her in his arms the last two blocks home. He sets her down gently outside the front door, telling her how much fun she is to be with, when she throws her arms around his shoulders, squeezing him. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard,” she says as she lets him go, wiping tears from her eyes. “Thank you.” He hesitates, then leans down and very gently kisses her cheek, before telling her that she’s welcome to hang out with him anytime, because “I’ve got a million more jokes, doll, and I’ll gladly tell ‘em all to you.” He walks her to her room and chances giving her another kiss, this one on the forehead, before bidding her Goodnight.

Obito

“Can I ask you a question?” “Yeah?” “When we’re at home, when we’re around the others, why do you wear that thing?” It’s the next day, and Konan is at a bar (ironically, the same one that Hidan wanted to take her to the previous day) with Obito. Out of everyone in the house, Obito is the one that strikes Konan as being the most mysterious. To begin with, the day she met him he was wearing a unique orange half-mask over his face ... and never took it off. She questioned Nagato about it but he seemed reluctant to speak on Obito’s unique fashion choice, and none of the others acted as though there was anything strange about it. He joined he others for dinner each night but seemed to prefer sweets to actual food, and he was quiet. Nagato told Konan that Obito was more or less his right hand man within the organization, and had helped him recruit the other members. Obito never spoke to her unless she spoke first ... so naturally she had been surprised when he approached her as she was coming out of her room, and asked if she minded joining him for “a quick drink”. The bar, like everything else, was in walking distance of the house; but Obito took her on the back of his motorcycle. It was a short ride but an exhilarating one ... and it got even more exciting when, upon entering the bar, Obito glanced around, saw there weren’t many people, and took off his mask. He found them a seat at a table near the back, and ordered them both a glass of wine. Konan had tried her hardest not to stare at his face ((which was difficult; aside from a few jagged scars on the left side and what looked like a damaged eye, he was quite handsome)) but eventually he caught her looking, hence giving her the bravery to pose her question. Obito paused for several moments, as if contemplating what to say. “Why do women wear makeup? Why do people dye their hair or get piercings or tattoos or wear crazy clothes? It’s because they have something about themselves that they don’t like, so they try to cover it up. I don’t like my face. I haven’t since my accident.” Konan blinks, genuinely surprised at Obito’s answer. She chances it to ask “Accident?” He gave her a wry smile and ordered himself a shot of whiskey (and her an ice tea) saying he needed something stronger to tell her about it. “When I was a kid, my parents liked to go rock climbing. Took me with to National parks every summer. One year my dad got drunk and took me and my mom up a dangerous path. He pulled on a rock the wrong way, and it came out of the mountain, along with a bunch more, and crashed down on us. Really long fall; mom and dad killed right away. But me ... I guess the devil decided he wasn’t done with me. A boulder crushed this entire side of my body, and my face got fucked ... but I lived. Had to go to a lot of physical therapy. Also had to go live with my uncle Madara — that guy’s a piece of work. But anyway I lived and here we are, right?” Konan is quiet for a long while, watching the ice cubes float around in her glass. “I like you like this,” she finally says, and this time she’s looking him directly in the face. “I understand if you want to be someone different, or like, if you feel like your mask makes you different, but, if you ever want to be THIS Obito ... please come to my room. We can talk, we can listen to music and eat junk and watch movies and talk about books and —“ Obito interrupts her by putting both arms around her, squeezing her warmly. “Thank you, Konan.” They stay for another few hours, and Konan is pleasantly surprised to find that Obito without the mask, Obito away from the house ... is fantastic. He teaches her how to play pool, he keeps her laughing with countless stories about growing up with his “crazy uncle”. At one point in the night he convinces her to join him at the karaoke machine on the stage, and the two sing duets of Disney songs (to the thunderous applause of the few people at the bar).The ride back home is mostly quiet, him driving slower this time and her holding on to him, each filled with their own thoughts. Before they get to the front

door, Konan lifts Obito’s mask just the slightest bit, and kisses his cheek. “This is the best night I’ve had in a long, long time. I appreciate you letting me get to know you.” He smiles and blushes, then slides the mask back into place before opening the front door. Some of the others are in the living room, and Obito quietly greets them before heading to his room. Konan was awed by how effortless the switch from animated and somewhat goofy to reserved and calm seemed to be for him ... and found herself wondering if any of the others were putting on a facade as well. She takes her shower and goes to her room, intending to go to sleep early, but after about an hour of restlessly tossing back and forth, she gives it up. She turns her light back on and picks up the remote to her tv, thinking that maybe a good, boring show will put her to sleep. But before she can find anything, a knock comes on the door. She goes to open it, and is surprised to find Obito standing there. “I saw the light underneath your door. Can I come in?” She takes him by the arm and pulls him inside. Once inside, he slides off his mask and, looking around, finds a seat for himself on one of Konan’s chairs. He opens up his jacket to reveal a small book, worn and obviously read many times. “I saw you reading this last week. I remember you telling Sasori that you finished it. I was wondering; what did you think in Chapter seven, when —“

#the akatsuki #a date with an angel #first date #konan #konan akatsuki #hidan #tobi #hidakona #tobikona

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puckinghell · 5 years

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New Year’s Day | Gabriel Landeskog

Requested: no Word count: 2246 Note: Based on the song New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift. Happy new year! Also, why are there so few fics about Gabe? Give me some good recs please.

The sun peeked through the gap in the curtains, its warm glow soft on your face as you blinked a few times. For a second, your surroundings confused you, the only thing you were really aware of being the pounding in your head, like a million little hammers banging in your brain. Then, your other senses started to come back; the feeling of the cotton pillow case under your cheek, the soft fabric of the Avalanche hoodie you were wearing against your skin, the familiar scent of Gabe’s cologne.

Gabe’s cologne?

You groaned, your hand automatically shooting to your head as you sat up. Was there a worse way to start the first day of the New Year than with a massive hangover? Something wet pressed against your hand and you smiled at Zoey.

“You’re definitely not supposed to be on the bed, baby,” you hummed, scratching the dog’s ear. “Gabe is gonna freak if he finds out.” But you were the only person currently in Gabe’s bed, your best friend nowhere to be seen, and you didn’t mind the canine company. It did, however, raise the question as to why you were in Gabe’s bed with Gabe’s dog, wearing Gabe’s hoodie and underwear only. You fell back into the pillows, Zoey letting out a sigh of content as she understood you weren’t going to kick her off the bed, as slowly, the memories of last night started to come back to you.

You remembered being in a bar with Gabe and Tyson and Josty and JT and Mikko, and then EJ had shown up and so had Nate, and there had been beer first and then tequila, and then someone had come up with the idea to take the party to Gabe’s apartment. You remembered more alcohol, and loud music, and candles and glitter and counting down from 10 and…

Oh God.

You groaned again, and just as you were thinking about all the appropriate ways to sneak out of your best friend’s bed after kissing him when the clock struck midnight to ring in the new year, you heard a noise from the apartment. Figuring Gabe must be awake, or some of the boys might’ve stayed over, you crawled out of bed, put your jeans from the night before back on, and made your way into the hallway.

Your feet tapped lightly against the hardwood floors as you made your way to the living room. The floor was covered in glitter and when you got to the coffee table, you saw one of the candles had leaked candle wax onto the floor. Polaroids were scattered across the couch. You hadn’t even known Gabe had a Polaroid camera.

You picked up one of the photos. In it, Gabe was smiling, having tied his tie around his head like a bandana, and you were next to him laughing, your arm wrapped securely around his neck. You couldn’t help but smile at your own happiness beaming off the picture, and put it on the coffee table. That one was for you.

“Oh, hey,” a voice said. Behind you stood a girl you were pretty sure you’d never seen before, wearing a tight red dress, carrying her heels in her hands. She looked a lot prettier than you assumed you looked right now, the taste of last night’s tequila still in your mouth and last night’s mascara beneath your eyes. At least, that’s where you assumed it was; you hadn’t been brave enough to look in the mirror yet.

“Uhm, hello?” It came out more as a question.

“I’m going to go home. Thanks for a fun night. I left my phone number on the counter, in case EJ asks for it.” The girl smiled and you nodded to her. As soon as Gabe’s front door shut behind her, another voice sounded, this one a lot more familiar.

“Who was that?” Gabe stood leaned against the wall, in the door opening to the kitchen. His blonde hair colored a mix between strawberry and gold in the sunlight and he looked annoyingly handsome. Nobody, you decided, should look that good after a night like last night.

“I honestly have no idea,” you giggled, and Gabe simply shrugged as he walked over to you to hand you a glass of water and some painkillers.

“Guess it got a bit out of hand,” he said sheepishly, and you wondered if he even remembered your kiss. “It’s Advil or nothing, this morning.” You gratefully took the painkillers from him and muttered a thank you before downing the glass of water.

“I think your floors are ruined.” You leaned down and picked at the candlewax, but it wasn’t really coming off.

“I’ll worry about that when I’ve gotten rid of all the bottles,” Gabe grinned. He seemed awfully chipper, for someone who surely must have a hangover just as bad as yours. He returned to the kitchen and, at a loss for what else to do, you followed him there. He’d already had a trash bag set up against the cabinets.

You nearly gasped as you saw the sheer amount of glass there was scattered across the kitchen. Bottles were not only on the counters, but also in the sink and on the floor.

“You don’t have to do that,” Gabe said softly, and a memory from last night flashed behind your eyes.

“I’m glad we’re taking a taxi,” you told Gabe. You were sitting in the back of the taxi, squeezed in next to Gabe, as somehow both Tyson and Mikko had managed to also folded themselves into the backseat. “I’m too sleepy to walk.”

“It’s not even 11 yet, Y/N,” Gabe laughed. “You can’t go to sleep yet. You have to stay awake for 2019 to start.”

His hand was wrapped tightly around yours, and the warmth and comfort of it made you feel even more sleepy. Well, that, and you’d had too much to drink. Maybe. A bit.

“Remember when we first met?” you hummed softly. “You were still dreaming of being an NHL player. And now you’re the captain of an NHL team. How crazy is that?”

You felt, more than saw, Gabe smile, as his face was basically pressed into your hair. You were always an emotional drunk; normally, you played it cool, being one of the boys, but when you got tipsy, you could turn a bit clingy, and as usual, Gabe was the victim of your love.

You couldn’t help it that your tiny crush on your best friend usually crawled out of the box you’d locked it up in, when alcohol entered your veins.

“And you were there for all of it.” Usually, Gabe just smiled and listened to your declarations of love for whatever or whoever was close by, but it was rare for him to participate. When he got drunk, he just got a bit more outgoing and crazy than he already was - which wasn’t an easy thing to do - and he would dance and sing and sometimes, switch to Swedish without realizing. “You didn’t have to do that. But you stayed.”

“I’ll always stay, Landy.” You rested your head against his shoulder and closed your eyes. “Even if you do something stupid one day and they’ll kick you off the Avs and you’ll be the toast of the town. Or if we can’t get a taxi next time and have to crawl home.”

“Why are we kicking Landy off the Avs?” Mikko asked. You hadn’t meant for him to hear and didn’t necessarily want him to get involved, and you conveyed that feeling by flipping him off. Gabe’s chest rumbled beside you as he laughed.

“I like your laugh, I could recognize it anywhere” you whispered, not even sure if Gabe could hear you. After all, Mikko and Tyson were in a pretty loud discussion about whether or not pasta was better with beef or chicken. You sighed, contently. “Can you wake me up when we’re there?”

“We’re there in like five minutes.”

“So? That’s five minutes of sleep.”

Again, Gabe laughed, and you weren’t sure if you were already dreaming when you heard his voice softly in your ear: “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.”

You blinked a few times rapidly as Zoey padded into the kitchen and Gabe shot into dad mode, trying to usher her out without her risking hurting her paws on the glass on the floor. A few of the bottles had fallen over and broken, and you sunk to your knees as you started picking up the pieces. Your head pounded dangerously as you bend forward and it took every ounce of willpower you had to not just collapse onto the floor.

But you couldn’t make Gabe clean all of this up on his own.

Gabe came back into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. “Did Zoey sneak into bed with you this morning?” he asked, and when you nodded, he shook his head disapprovingly, although he couldn’t stop the corners of his lips from turning into a smile.

It was silent as you two cleaned up the kitchen methodically, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. You’d known Gabe for years, knew him better than you maybe knew even yourself, and you didn’t think any situation with him could be uncomfortable. Not even the one where you still weren’t really sure if he remembered kissing you.

You remembered, though. You remembered the countdown ending, the clock striking midnight, fireworks exploding over Denver and then Gabe’s hands on your lower back. When his lips touched yours, it was simultaneously as comfortable as coming home and as exhilarating as walking into a place you’d never been before, and the only fireworks you were really aware of were those in the pit of your stomach. You remembered his golden hair between your fingers and his blue eyes staring into yours when he smiled at you, and then suddenly Josty was hugging you and Nate was hugging Gabe and you both got pulled in different directions and, well, you didn’t remember much of the rest of the night.

“I don’t remember how I even ended up in your bed,” you frowned, only now becoming aware of the gap in your memory. “Or in your clothes.”

Gabe chuckled. “You’d decided you had enough around 3am and went to sleep on my couch. I figured my bed was more comfortable.”

“You're saying you wanted to get me out of my clothes and into your bed,” you teased your best friend, although the notion of Gabe, even in his drunk state, taking care of you and carrying you off to bed warmed your heart more than you were willing to admit to him.

“Took you long enough to figure that out,” Gabe snorted, but there was something in his eyes you couldn’t quite read, something about the lack of twinkle that was usually present in his eyes as he teased you, and because this was Gabe, the only person in the world you could talk to about literally anything, you reached out and put your hand on his arm.

“What’s wrong?” you asked softly, and instantly the grin disappeared from his face. He sighed, a hint of frustration behind it, then stood up abruptly and pulled you up with him.

“I kissed you yesterday,” he blurted out, and you couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping your lips.

“Yeah, I’m aware, Gabe. I was there.”

He smiled but it was cautious, didn’t reach his eyes, and his serious expression returned too quickly. “You said, you said you’d always stay with me, in the taxi yesterday.” The sentence came out in a single breath. Was he nervous?

“Yes… So?”

“So what if I didn’t want it to end with that kiss? What if I wanted more of that? Would you stay through that?”

It took a few seconds for your brain to process what he was saying, but when it did, a smile broke out onto your face. You could’ve just answered him, sure, could’ve had a normal conversation to fit what was probably expected of two adults like you, but where was the fun in that? And so instead you didn’t think about the way you looked or, to be fair, probably smelled, and you stepped forward and pressed your lips against his.

Gabe almost stumbled back but quickly regained his balance, his hands finding your cheeks and fingers waving into your hair, and your hands rested on his chest. He smelled like beer and cologne and hockey tape and it was all so oddly familiar, so oddly comfortable. Like this was always exactly where you were meant to be.

He stepped back then, a soft look in his blue eyes as they found yours. “Happy new year to us, huh?”

You giggled. “Happy new year to us.”

Gabe pressed a quick kiss to your cheek and you watched him as he moved back, diligently picking up bottles and putting them in the trash bag again, and you grabbed a spoon from his cutlery drawer to attack the candle wax on his hardwood living room floors. The Polaroid picture was still where you’d left it, on the coffee table, and you couldn’t help but smile at it as Gabe started whistling a song behind you in the kitchen.

You knew, in that moment, that for a long time to come, you wanted to spend your midnights with Gabe, and every next morning, you would clean up the bottles with him. You two, together, forevermore.

#hockey imagine #hockey imagines #hockey one shot #hockey one shots #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl one shot #nhl one shots #colorado avalanche #gabriel landeskog #gabriel landeskog imagine #gabriel landeskog one shot #colorado avalanche imagine

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solangelover · 5 years

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Fight Me

@solangeloweek‘s Nico di Angelo Birthday Event: January 26 – “AU / Canon Divergence”

A/N: AU where Will is a nurse at the hospital Nico is currently at for some sickness, based on a Tumblr story.

Read on AO3 or FF.Net or Wattpad

Nico felt awful.

He was currently in the hospital for some illness he didn’t care to get the name of. It wasn’t life threatening or anything, he only had to stay for three days, two nights. But his head hurt, his bones ached, his nose was sniffly, and he would randomly spike a fever. Honestly, he’d never felt more physically miserable in his life. He guessed that, going most of his life without sickness, the gods felt the need to pack it all into one hellish affliction.

He had a nurse that was constantly monitoring him. Hazel offhandedly said he was cute, but Nico really didn’t care at the moment. He wasn’t present enough to check out his nurse, nor did he really think he looked like much of a catch in his hospital gown.

When the nurse came in a little later and Nico’s headache had calmed down, he caught the nurse’s nametag: Will Solace. There was a little sun sticker next to it, which Nico instinctively scowled at. It was mocking him – being all sunny and happy while he was stuck inside, suffering.

Yeah, sick Nico was not a very happy one.

“Hey there, Nico!” The nurse – Will – said all peppy-like, matching his sticker. “How are you feeling?”

Nico buried himself further under his mound of pillows – he had requested more – and grumbled. It came out all muffled, but Will got the message.

“Well, not to worry, you’ll be out of here before you know it!” Will smiled brightly, practically lighting up the room more than the sunlight streaming in through the blinds did. “I’m just going to check your vitals, okay?”

He moved around some of Nico’s pillows so he could actually find his patient. Nico clearly did not like this, as he basically hissed at Will. “Fight me,” he said as he pulled a pillow back over himself.

Will only laughed, apparently not taking Nico’s threat too seriously. “Maybe later,” was all he said, and then he proceeded to take Nico’s vitals.

Nico glared at his nurse, then found himself just flat out staring. Will was cute. Actually, more like hot. He had a solid build, his muscular arms right in front of Nico’s face as he did his job. His mop of blonde hair glistened in the sun, swaying as Will flipped his hair out of his eyes. His tan skin was covered in freckles, like he spent his days out on the beach instead of cooped up in a hospital. Nico felt like he should fundamentally dislike this guy, but instead, he felt oddly drawn to him. It must’ve been the painkillers.

Then, Nico noticed his eyes. They were a bright blue, not as shocking as his friend Jason’s, but more like the sky on a clear day, the darker edges like the rest of the universe hiding right behind the sky. They sparkled, especially so in the light, but just on their own as well, like the sun glinting off the ocean. Nico felt like he could drown in those eyes.

It was definitely the painkillers.

At that moment, Nico realized that those eyes were staring back at him.

He blinked a few times, pulling himself out of the ocean of Will’s eyes and noticing the small smirk on his lips. Nico instinctively scowled and burrowed back into his pillows, a light blush on his cheeks.

He heard Will chuckle and say, “I’ll be back later,” the door closing seconds later.

Nico let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He glared at his blankets, “I hate being sick.”

Sometime later (Nico had no concept of time here), Will came back to check on Nico. He was sitting up in bed, head tipped back and eyes closed as he tried to push back on the hammer pounding on his skull.

“Hi,” Nico winced at the greeting, the sound reverberating in his brain. He picked his head up and glared out at Will, who had pulled up a chair and picked up his clipboard.

Before Will could say anything, Nico bit out, “fight me.” Or he tried to. But then he was choking on spit and coughing, and then the mucus in his chest decided it was a good time to clog his airways and attempt to crawl up his throat, causing worse coughs that wracked his aching body. He vaguely registered Will patting his back and saying something, but Nico couldn’t hear it over his own coughing. When he finally stopped, he had tears in his eyes and his chest was heaving. He probably also had drool around his mouth. Ugh, Nico was grossed out by himself.

He didn’t really want to look at Will, but he was forced to as Will gently grabbed his chin to face him and wiped his mouth with a towel. Nico was too tired to protest. His eyes fell closed, only to be opened in surprise when Will pressed a glass of water into his hands.

“Here, this’ll help.” He smiled, as he always did, and this time, Nico gave the tiniest smile back. He drank the water gratefully, then handed the empty cup back to Will.

Will gazed at him for a moment, making Nico fidget and self-consciously pull at his hair in some attempt to smooth it out. “So…”

Will blinked and straightened up, obviously caught up in his thoughts. “Right, right. Vitals.” Since Nico was actually attentive this time, Will decided to strike up a little conversation. “So, are you a student?”

Nico was almost going to ask how he could tell, but then he remembered that he was Will’s patient and he had all of Nico’s records. “Yeah, about to graduate.”

Will nodded as he scribbled on his clipboard. “Cool, I just graduated last year. Now it’s full time at the hospital.” He glanced up Nico and smiled for the millionth time, though this one felt more personal, if that was a thing a smile could be.

“Do you like it here?” Nico inquired. He normally wasn’t one for conversations with strangers, or in general, but he had nothing better to do. Also, hey, if he wanted to talk to his hot nurse, who would really fault him.

Will’s eyebrow quirked at the question. “Well, it is what I want to do. I like helping people, even in the small things like temporary illnesses.” He glanced up at Nico through his bangs, which Nico definitely did not find attractive. “And I get to meet interesting people.”

“Oh, ‘interesting,’” hm?” Nico smirked. “Well don’t I feel special.” Was he flirting with Will? Nico had no idea what he was trying to do, but he found that he was too sick to care. It was a good excuse to let himself say whatever his brain came up with.

Will seemed to take it well, because he leaned back in his chair and gave Nico his full attention. “Interesting covers the array of people I’ve seen. Crazy people, funny people, rude people, even cute ones.” Did he just wink at Nico?

He didn’t have time to react to that as Will stood up and set the clipboard back on its hook by Nico’s bed. “I’ll be back in the morning. Get some sleep, okay?” It was nighttime? “Oh, and also,” Will paused at the door, “I wouldn’t fight you because I know you’d win.” Nico had no idea what was going on anymore, but then Will was out the door and Nico was alone.

The end finally came.

Nico had several more baby conversations with Will, and he probably did some baby flirts here and there, but ultimately, he didn’t think anything would come of it. After all, he was all sick and nasty about 90% of the time. Nico didn’t even like himself.

Nico came back to his room after changing and using the bathroom to grab the rest of his stuff. Hazel had brought him flowers and he had several cards on his bedside table from his friends that visited. When Nico went to gather them up, he noticed a small cup waiting there for him. He could smell the coffee and practically melted. He hadn’t had any for three days, and his body craved it so much. It was warm when he picked it up, so someone had just dropped it off. He wondered who it was for a moment before he noticed something scribbled on the sleeve.

“Fight Me?” was written in slightly sloppy handwriting with a series of numbers underneath it.

It took a second, but when Nico realized what it was, he snorted and laughed into his free hand, careful not to spill the precious coffee.

Apparently, Nico successfully seduced Will Solace with his glares and drool. Must’ve been a nurse thing.

He texted Will immediately upon exiting the building.

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subnova-scion · 5 years

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🟊⟅⸉ IM GONNA TALK ABOUT NOVAVERSE CYM AND WHAT HAPPENS AFTER CAUSE I HAVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS LETS GO ⸊⟆🟊

During the final confrontation with White Diamond, not only were the CG’s unable to help Steven, they were turned against him. If the B-team had come in at that moment, they would’ve been turned against him, too. Can you fucking imagine? Seeing your family and friends slowly being possessed? Screaming, howling in agony as they’re turned against you? And you can’t do anything to stop it? And all you’ve got to back you up is your human friend who the person controlling everyone else thinks is disposable? And will not hesitate to try and kill her?

And you’re just a child?

Yeah!!! Steven doesn’t just end up having nightmares about being ripped apart from his gem once this is all over! He also has nightmares about the White Puppets. He had to see them turned! Every adult figure he’s ever trusted and loved had been turned against him by a villain who LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL HIM NOT EVEN MINUTES LATER. LIKE. WHITE DIAMOND DID THAT, KNOWING THAT THE ‘HUMAN CHILD’ PINK WAS ‘HIDING IN’ WOULD PROBABLY, IF NOT UNDOUBTEDLY, DIE.

“I’m tired of this shit, Pink. Time to end it and kill the organic parasite so you can’t run from your problems anymore.”

This is why Steven’s relationship with White Diamond in NOVAverse will be far from canon. He will always be scared of her!! AND THAT’S THE TEA!

As for the attempted murder, Steven barely remembers what happened when it comes to getting his gem removed and seeing his other half. Because when his gem was taken out it was, uh, very bad. Like,, from a gore standpoint. He only remembers vague feelings and images. Both halves experienced the same event, but from their own separate perspectives. One half was bleeding out, though, and your memory kind of takes a back seat when you’re LITERALLY DYING. So Like? He remembers it? But it’s mostly one sided, through his gem half. And that’s why it feels so bizarre when he tries to remember what happened. It feels like an extreme case of out of body dissociation.

Meanwhile, Yellow and Blue and the CG 3 couldn’t remember anything. They didn’t know what was happening, just what they were feeling as White was controlling them. It was severely emotionally and physically painful, and that’s all they knew! So they had no idea what happened, and the crystal gems freaked out when they were freed from White’s control and saw the state of their kid. Because there was still blood!! Everywhere! All over him! And Connie! Since she had to carry Steven over to his other half while he was BLEEDING OUT WITH A HOLE THE SIZE OF HIS FIST IN HIS GUTS.

And these two kids were too relieved and in shock and generally traumatized to answer their questions! They couldn’t even begin to process what exactly had nearly happened to him. Nova had already started to dissociate as soon as he was whole again? Cause his brain was like: ‘Haha gonna just black most of that out and go numb to protect you and keep you functioning through this hellish experience lmao.’

Considering he was almost killed for like the 12th time in his 14 years of life, there are VERY obvious reasons as to why he began falling into a state of dissociation, but what he started dissociating from first is deeply rooted in what happened to him. The first thing he dissociated from was his feelings. See, after his human half sustained serious damage, guess which half has to kick into higher gear to keep him alive and functioning after going through awful trauma?

The gem half. Which is well… Numb. We see that PINK!Steven literally cannot process emotion other than the intense, overwhelmingly negative ones. That sudden outburst, the literal grief and rage of a young god that is sick and tired of everyone wanting his mother to be alive over him. Quartz (That’s what I call Nova’s gem half) didn’t hesitate to strike at all of Nova’s loved ones. He had no attachment. He was doing what he needed to do to protect himself and his other half so they could be whole again. Everyone else was an afterthought.

And that’s how you know Quartz is different. Because the human half, and even as a whole, Steven puts everyone else first. Human Nova (who I call Universe) is literally bleeding out and he’s crying out for his other half to stop because he’s hurting them. But that half is a part of him. And it’s a part he’s been needing to get in touch with for a long time. Considering Steven puts others before himself even to his own detriment, and the reactions of his human half only solidify this fact, if his gem half was anything like that, Steven could have died. He couldn’t afford to strain or distract himself trying to help or protect others. He needed to help himself. Save Steven. That was the objective.

And even as two halves are united again, the gem half is still more or less handling the reigns because of how straight wrecked the human half is at the time. It’s still working to protect himself as a whole. And the first sign of this emotional change is shown in the first thing he says to white after she tried to murder him.

“I am a child. What’s your excuse?”

See, now that he’s been reunited with his other half, he has all the emotions and feelings his human half provides, too. So he’s able to actually lay down some sick burns and common sense without going absolutely apeshit and creating craters with his screams. And this boy didn’t leave quietly with ‘If you let everyone else be whoever they are, maybe you can let yourself be whoever you are, too.’ No. That didn’t quite happen in NOVAverse. Yanno what happened? Yellow and Blue confronted White first, and since she had yet to regain her composure, she was shaken and defensive.

They almost started fighting all over again. They were all terrified and scrambling in fear of the unknown. Until White’s attention was on Steven again. Because, who is this little creature supposed to be if they aren’t Pink??? What the fresh fuck is going on?! Now, we all know PINK!Steven is Mcfuckin Pissed. The gem is back-loaded with thousands of years of emotional turmoil and trauma, most of which isn’t even his own. And this is related to WHY he initially goes off on the diamonds, too.

Because he goes off on them defending Pink Pearl.

Steven had to relieve through so many of his mother’s memories of abuse, and her painful memories of regret regarding what happened to her best friend??? So to actually see Pink Pearl okay and looking like herself again was so important to him. He didn’t just go 'welcome back’ and pat her on the shoulder, HE HUGGED HER AND HELPED HER TO HER FEET. HE WAS IN TEARS. He walked her over to the CGs and said, “ You’re coming with us. ”

LIKE. SHES BEEN SUBJECTED TO MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TORTURE FOR +8,000 YEARS??? GET HER AWAY FROM WHITE. And when White managed to regain her composure and what he was doing caught her attention, she asked him what he could possibly be doing taking her pearl? That’s when Nova went off.

“ She was never yours. She was my mother’s best friend and you took her away and turned her into a puppet and used her as an emotional manipulation tactic to keep my mother under your thumb.

You have kept her like this for thousands of years. It’s time she comes home with us so she can finally start to be herself again. Far away from you.

Die Mad About It.”

Boy put his foot down not just on that, but about his mom and why she left, and why he came here in the first place, that he needed White’s help. And everyone was in such shock and was so overwhelmed and lost because of what just happened that they listened to what he had to say and they did what he told them to! They didn’t know what else to do or how to move forward now that their worlds have been turned upside down!

The night they got back to Earth, the diamonds had to hang around for a while because Steven and Connie are a mess and the CG’s have to take care of them before anything else happens. They have to get them checked out (thanks Dr.Maheswaran.) It was determined they were both in shock, but Connie wasn’t too badly injured. Steven, however, spent the night in the hospital due to blood-loss. He was in enough pain that he had to take it easy and mostly stick to staying in bed. It was fine, as he was majorly exhausted and slept like a rock.

His nature as a demi-gem allowed him to heal faster, but the human half was still seriously damaged. He has to take painkillers and not be too physical for a while. He also has a sicknasty scar around his gem because it was ripped out so that’s Neat. When he uses his powers and his gem glows, you can really see the scarring. It looks something similar to what it looks like when his body comes into contact with destablizers. (He decides to wear bigger t-shirts from now on. He doesn’t want it to be exposed, and he doesn’t want his family to see it)

Then, the next day was the big Bubble Bath. They were all up late, so the healing party happened the following afternoon. Once he was cleared, they checked him out of the hospital, and went straight to the fountain to meet up with the diamonds and finally cure corruption. The water from the fountain helped him heal more, too, so he was feeling better already. He loved meeting all these new friends and was so relieved it was all over. But after a few hours, as it usually is at parties, he just kept talking to so many people and getting distracted and, god, he just couldn’t leave.

Yanno? You just keep trying to leave a party but someone or something keeps sucking you back in. All the people there. How loud they all are. Using his voice becomes exhausting. Thinking becomes exhausting. People talking to him becomes like nails on the chalkboard? Suddenly, everything is so irritating and blurry and painful and so, so loud he feels like he’s going crazy. And when he finally has a quiet moment to himself to be mindful of his own state he’s like, “Oh. I’m having an anxiety attack in slow motion and probably experiencing sensory overload. Cool.”

He’s so mentally overwhelmed and burnt out that he just felt himself having a meltdown at ¼th the speed and knew it would speed up or blow up if he didn’t leave. They had to take him home and he just went to bed. From that day on, for another week or two, Steven is under the constant watch of the Crystal Gems and doted on. He didn’t particularly mind some affection, because he was just so relieved to be home. To be safe. To be alive. Understandably, his family and friends were worried, of course they were. How could they not be, with the state he was in after that fight?

He looked like a dead boy walking, clothes and limbs absolutely bloody. They hadn’t the slightest clue what happened after White Diamond took control of them, and they could only look to Steven for answers. Steven always told them he doesn’t really remember what happened, which is only partially true, and they say that since then, he hasn’t seemed like himself. They say that in the aftermath, that he acted strange and cold, that now he seems ‘far away’ and is too quiet.

While that was true, it was only the case at a certain point because Steven found it harder and harder to be around them when they looked at him like he could die at any second and talked to him like they want to scrape the inside of his skull with a spoon.

See, Nova is struggling with his emotions a lot more now, in terms of emotional detachment and his literal demi-god power showing through in his personality a bit more? He was BORN a fusion, but reflected his human half more than the gem half for so long because he wasn’t in touch with gem stuff for the first 10 years of this life.

This is why he couldn’t use his powers for a long time. But NOW that he’s come so far and has seen his gem half for what it really is, seen himself for who he really is, it’s changed the cognition of the human half. So now that they're whole, the gem half and all the Diamond Powers are like, ‘Hello, I am here now. I am also you.’

And both halves are struggling to balance the whole self out again. This is why his Pink Power™ is more obvious from this point onward. It’s the “Light of his gem shining through”, as White Diamond put it. Now, Steven himself doesn’t know this, so he can’t put his finger on why it’s so hard to talk, why he feels distant, not only from his family, but his own feelings.

He needs time alone to work through them, to try and understand what exactly happened, and why he’s feeling so odd. At times, he feels simply… indifferent to everything, some kind of numb. But there is another uncommon feeling that frightens him more; Anger, it rises within him frequently, so much so that he almost feels bad about it when it does. He was never one to feel this way so easily before.

Not to say he doesn’t have things to be angry about, to be emotional about. He’s angry because wasn’t even allowed to leave the house by himself for a whole week. He hadn’t seen Connie since they got back, and it seems that he could never get enough time with his father, the only other person who being around would make it easier to breathe. Every conversation with the gems eventually leads to being about what’s wrong, the questions Steven couldn’t answer, that he doesn’t want to answer. It’s hard to express this when they’re each being their own ways of overbearing about his well-being, and his anxiety is off the charts.

The question of the Diamonds and what they were going to do, how they were going to continue, looms over him. It’s such a source of his stress that he has as much trouble falling asleep as he does staying asleep the whole night through. He has to know what’s happening. What they’re doing. He couldn’t just leave them be and expect things to not go back to how they were before. At times, he feels like he has to go back to Homeworld, but how could he?

Especially if he told his family what happened to him? Steven knew that if he did, that they wouldn’t let him, and who knows what else would happen. Truthfully, he’s afraid they wouldn’t see or treat him the same anymore. He feels like he has to be okay as soon as possible so he can do what he feels needs to be done, but the longer this goes on the more he feels like he’s having a meltdown in slow motion.

The peace he was hoping to have after going through such a harrowing time is yet again out of his reach… and it’s getting harder and harder to swallow his slowly boiling frustrations.

#🟊⟅⸉ᴏᴏᴄ⸊⟆🟊

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seenashwrite · 6 years

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I am considering getting an anti-possession tattoo, but I am afraid of needles. Do you have any advice?

Do I?!

I won’t ask what it is, exactly, that is trying to possess you. This is a personal matter, and I’ll assume you’ve chosen the correct design for your needs.

I shall also assume you’ll take in as finely-rendered design as possible, in black-and-white, no shading or such (unless another copy, just for their reference) so that they may clearly see what you want and make any transfers to a guide easier. I’ll ALSO-also assume you’ve vetted the shop appropriately via word of mouth and health department rating.

Having said that, what’s below is actually legit advice coming out of NashHole, Inc. for once, and I’ll shoot you straight, a bit from personal experience but mostly factoids body/anatomy-wise. Let us begin.

Sounds like this is your first one, yeah? Going off of that…

Keep it small. I don’t mean size-of-a-pencil-eraser small, I mean more in the range of fits-into-the-palm-of-your-hand dimensions at a maximum, in that ballpark.

Since you’ve got a needle worry, advise don’t go fancy - tons of colors (just one, maybe two) and shading and twisty-curlies and stuff that would make Escher tingly. Basic, basic, basic. Make this an in-and-out to the degree it’s possible.

No aspirin or ibuprofen ahead of time - the former thins blood, the latter can potentiate bleeding in some folks. Tattoos bleed, but shouldn’t go on and on and on, y’know? Think more like a moderately skinned knee - that kind’ve scattered action - no gushing or anything. Many tattoo parlors - the good ones - will refuse service if you come in and are clearly under the influence of something, be it painkiller pills or Xanax or alcohol or weed. You need to be able to give informed consent. Plus, does nobody any good if you’re puking or rambling or can’t focus on staying still. They’ll also stop cold (or should be) if you pass out.

On the subject of pre-medicating, don’t do any topical creams for numbing, if you know someone who’d write a prescription. They’re not meant for stuff like this, EMLA and others in that vein don’t penetrate to the layer where tattoos go, and are meant for one-stick jams (epidurals, port access, lumbar punctures, gums pre-Novocaine injection, quick piercings, etc.). Could it get you over the initial hump? Maybe. I’ve heard tale of it being helpful in things like the start of electrolysis in sensitive (read: genital) areas, and the quick boop! boop! boop!-s for radiation tattooing, and the start of more advanced things like wound debridement, but as for the latter, there’s very likely more pain stuff on board, as can be quite painful. I legit think it’s a waste of time and money, and that’s primarily because…

…about a third or so of the way through, you’ll notice that your body will stop going WHAT THE HELL, and it’s not that you won’t still feel it happening, but the pain receptors have gotten a handle on the sensation. The sharpness of it, for lack of better word, isn’t as striking to your brain anymore. And, of course, you’ve entered the situation by choice, vs. a situation that’s a surprise and starts setting off the whole flight-fight-freeze cascade.

Having said that? The part about your body getting used to it? Location, location, location. Choose a place that’s between bony and smushy. Those areas are gonna hurt more. You want dense, firm. Places where it has some “give” when you push in. Like, feel around your neck. Notice how in front, you can press in a lot, then as you go behind, it gets firmer. Also notice the skin - more delicate, right? Steer away from delicate. So - top of feet, top of hands, inner arms, inner thighs. And for heaven’s sake, don’t go genitalia ballpark or ass or boobs/nips for your first time.

Some will say inner wrist or inner arm is ideal, but I’m telling you: with your needle thing, it’s gonna hurt like crazy. Other areas that will hurt like crazy are the bony parts - the ones you can’t mash very far in with your fingertips. So - ankle area, to be sure (unless you’re pitching it a decent distance above, more on your lower leg, inner or outer), clavicle area (collarbone), and - again - top of hands/top of feet/fingers/toes. I cannot emphasize how vascular the inner wrist and tops of hands/feet are; there will be more blood, there just will be, and methinks that’ll ramp your anxiety unnecessarily, just choose somewhere else. “But Nash, I’m not some skinny bird bones person!” ::sighs:: This is punching deeper than you may realize, it has to in order for it to be “permanent” (they fade, as you know), so it’s gotta be a decent amount below the epidermis or else tattoos would slough away in a heartbeat. It ain’t gonna hit bone, but it sure as shit could seem like it to you, so just dodge that bullet for now, huh? Til you know how your body reacts to tattooing, pain-and-anxiety wise. You can always add to or get more.

In terms of location as related to time, and regardless of your personal body type/weight, go for as flat a surface as possible. That’s easier on the tattoo artist as well. And will help you stay still. So what are some good places that are firm but not bony or smushy?Biceps/shoulder, top of arms, top of thighs, calves, high pectoral (boobs), sternum (smack in middle of chest), possibly belly depending on your body/your weight, back of neck, and honestly, essentially the entirety of your back. Mine’s in the center of a scapula (shoulder blade), he just leaned me over a chair I sat in backwards, and my upper body was against the tilted headrest, folded my right onto a padded table he pulled over, rested my head on it, dropped the left (it’s on L scapula) to make it even surface. Piece of cake. Flat areas are also easier even if you’ve got pudge on a given place, because it’ll flatten in kind, whereas pudgy ass and big boobage just, like, spreads everywhere, it’s hard to keep it stable, so it’s gonna - naturally - take more time. Talking about your back, though, remember: if mid-back, the more it creeps around the sides, you’re getting into rib town, which - weight/amount of pudge aside - is a curved surface.

RE: the position I was in? Here’s my last tip in terms of location in the context of the needle anxiety: consider places where you won’t be able to see them doing it. This kinda goes with my “keep it small and simple” stance, you’re not gonna feel the need to watch them like a hawk to make sure they aren’t screwing up (plus, you should’ve already perused their portfolio of work to gauge their talent/style) and can concentrate on relaxing. Don’t bring a friend or family member who is giddy or hyper or chatty. Mellow. Mellllllllow.

Needle-wise, this is not like a vaccine or an IV or a blood draw, because we’re talking tiiiiiiiiny diameter and it’s sooooo fast. I mean, a stick’s a stick - it’s sharp. Different broad sensation, though, because of the rapid-fire and it’s a spread vs. concentrated in a single spot, and it’s not like a vaccine (deep into muscle) or Novocaine/Lidocaine for root canal/suturing (moderately deep/not into muscle) or an IV/blood draw (miiiildly deep, into vein) because those leave a bruise or lasting ache once all’s said and done. This’ll be sore and have some puffy inflammation when it’s over but more in the dermatology sense. You don’t feel like there’s this hole bored into you that’s trying to heal up, in other words. May get itchy later, too. (don’t scratch!)

Last, wear clothes that can slip off the area, or just one part can be taken off. RE: mine on the scapula - I wore a tank top and just took off my outer button-down, then slipped the strap and my bra strap off my arm. So think ahead depending on location - for instance, loose athletic pants with drawstring (scoots easy for lower back, rolls up easy for lower leg).

And remember: you can always stop. I know, I know, it might mean you’ve got, like, a line in bright purple on your lower back, but like I said, you can always add to it once you re-group, try again later.

#Dear Nash #NONNERS #Not Tyler Durden #I swear #Queueby Dooby Doo #Dad's on a blog post and #he hasn't been queued in a few days

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twinkletoes-rp · 4 years

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Naruto AU “Surface Breaker” Ch. 4 - From the Root

(Can also be read on FFN | AO3 | Previous | Next )

---

Sakura finally stops running about halfway through town, lungs on fire and fit to burst. She doesn’t pause to catch her breath, though, just keeps walking. She needs to cool off somehow. Besides…

Her fists, tightly-balled at her sides, are still shaking, but not out of blind rage anymore. It’s out of shame, fear, and anger at herself now. One of the shop’s lights brings attention to something bright red on the back of one, and she slowly uncurls it to get a better look.

There’s blood on her hand. Naruto’s blood.

Her hand shakes even more, and she’s not surprised when a few tears fall on it. She feels sick.

She still can’t believe she did that… She broke her teammate, her friend’s, nose…! What the hell was she thinking? No matter how pissed she was, he didn’t deserve that! She…she’s a bitch and a total disgrace to the role of medical ninja…! She’s a total disgrace to Lady Tsunade…! She pales when she thinks about what her teacher’s going to do to her when she finds out. She totally deserves it, though…

What did Naruto even say that upset her enough to make her snap like that? It’s not like he wasn’t telling the truth, not…really... The Sasuke they grew up with and the one they saw weeks ago…they weren’t the same person. Sasuke’s always been dark and goal-oriented, yes, but…not like that. That was…he was talking crazy, and that’s…not even counting that he…he tried to…—!

“Hey, Sakura!”

Sakura freezes mid-step and snaps up to see Ino waving at her from her clan’s flower shop across the street, dressed in her shop apron with a few pots scooped in her arm. She must be on shift right now. She’s grinning widely, and something about that and the flower shop’s calming aura draw Sakura in.

“You sure are a sight for sore eyes!” Ino reaches up to wipe some sweat from her brow, her gardening gloves leaving a streak of dirt across her forehead. Sakura can’t help but snort a bit and point, and Ino reaches up a little farther to get it with her sleeve, thanking her before getting back on task, hand on her hip and beam in place. “I haven’t seen you out and about in almost two weeks!”

Sakura breathes a laugh and gives a small returning smile, but they’re shadows of her usual. “Yeah…” she replies, barely above a whisper. Her gaze falls to the wayside. Maybe…coming over wasn’t the best idea… Ino’s bright and boisterous…reminds her almost too much of Naruto right now…

A lightly-calloused hand closes around her wrist, and she hears a tsk as she’s pulled forward. “You look like something the cat dragged in, you know that?” Before she can protest, Ino cuts in, “And don’t you try to deny it! You know it’s true!”

Puffing out her cheeks, she pouts. “Maybe, but you don’t have to say it…”

Ino chuckles, stopping once they get to the cash counter so she can put the ‘Closed’ sign out. Gently pushing Sakura down onto a stool, she reaches under again to pull out some makeup and hair accessories with a grin. “If you’re not gonna take care of yourself, someone has to!”

Half an hour later, Sakura snaps is slowly polishing off a plate of fruit and cookies Ino put out while waiting for her friend to finish her work. It’s more than she’s eaten in a while, and she’s grateful. She already feels a little better, like she can think a little clearer. Blotting one more spot under her eye, Ino finally draws back with a triumphant “And…done!” Flipping open a compact, she holds it out so Sakura can look at herself. “Here! What do you think? I think you look great!”

Sakura takes it and blinks wide eyes. “Wow, Ino…!” She turns her head from side to side to get a better look. Ino’s worked hard to give her skin back some of its natural color and added the tiniest bit of blush to her cheeks, covered up the red puffiness around her eyes and the dark shadows under them. The red hairclip taming her most unruly fringe is a nice touch. “You’re right! I look better than I have in days! Thank you so much!”

Ino laughs delightedly, sticking her tongue out. “See? I know what I’m doing!”

Taking the compact back, she packs up the rest of the supplies and puts it away, grabbing more food before sitting back down. Don’t think she hasn’t noticed how malnourished Sakura is, her cheekbones more prominent than she can ever remember seeing. She knows all about what’s been going on with her, too, or at least as much as Sakura’s parents have been able to tell her in short bursts. Besides Kakashi-sensei, she was the first one to try to visit her when this whole mess started.

Leaning on her arms, she fixes her childhood best friend with a gentle, but serious stare. “So, now that we have you looking better, how about we get you feeling better, too?”

Sakura pales, and her heart sinks in her chest. She drops her gaze again. She’s not sure she wants to get into it so soon. She’s still…so ashamed…

A poke to her forehead. She looks up. “Should’ve known you couldn’t fool me, billboard brow,” Ino admonishes with a wink, a proud, yet still gentle, smirk on her face. “I saw that look before you came over, you know. You’re miserable, and I want to know why.” Sakura winces and wilts in one, and Ino knows to keep going or she’ll clam up entirely. “As your best girl friend, it’s my job to notice these things! Then, of course, hear you out and cheer you up,” she waves dismissively, “maybe chew you out if need be. So, spill.” She points at her, narrowing her eyes. “I mean it. I’m not letting you leave here without getting it off your chest.”

Sakura gulps. Hell, she wouldn’t put it past Ino to use her novice-but-still-promising Psycho Mind Transmission jutsu on her if it came to that…which just reminds her of how pissed and protective Shikamaru was when he used his Shadow Paralysis jutsu earlier… Sheesh… Talk about a couple of watchdogs. She hasn’t seen that kind of behavior from Choji herself, but she’s heard he can be protective as hell when he wants to be, too. She supposes that’s just another reason the three of them make such a good team.

Taking a deep breath, she sighs heavily. There’s obviously no way she’s getting out of this, and she knows from Inoichi’s work that the easy way is much more preferable. It’s now or never.

“Well…I don’t know if you know yet, but…Naruto’s awake…”

Ino gasps and leans forward, an ecstatic grin on her face. “Wait, he is? Are you serious?” Sitting back, she puts a hand over her heart as she sighs in relief. “Oh, finally! Thank goodness! He’s never been out this long after a fight! I was really starting to worry he’d never wake up!”

Unable to help smiling a little, Sakura nods. Ino’s always cared a lot about other people, especially her friends, and she finds it really sweet that she was so worried about Naruto. She feels a little bad about not being around to comfort her.

“Yeah, he’s…he was awake and seemed totally coherent, so…that’s good, I guess …”

Ino brightens even more. “What? You mean you already got to see him?” Then, she laughs at herself, waving a hand. “Oh, wait, what I am saying? Of course you did! You’re teammates, and you know how worried he must have been when he remembered what happened! I’m sure he asked for you and Kakashi-sensei first thing!”

Despite herself, Sakura smiles some and softens. “Yeah, he…he did…”

The blonde snaps her fingers. “Ha! Knew it!” Sobering, she leans forward again, fingers fidgeting the way they do when she’s thinking about having to perform medical ninjutsu. “And he really looked okay? You mean it?”

Sakura blinks. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Ino this earnest about a recovery before. Then again, this is one of the only times they’ve ever had one of their own so close to death. Her eyes fall back to Ino’s hands, and she softens further. The fidgeting… She really wants to help Naruto, doesn’t she?

She nods, smile growing a bit and even breathing more of a laugh, spurred on by Ino’s kind heart. She waves her hands in her own defense. “Yeah, he really did, I promise! He’s still pretty banged up since his healing, advanced or otherwise, is mostly at a crawl, but he doesn’t seem to be in that much pain. Lady Tsunade and I are keeping him on some pretty high painkillers, and she’s making him sleep as much as possible.” Her gaze drifts, smile slipping a smidgen. “It…looked like Shikamaru’s been taking really good care of him, too.” Unlike her…

At the reminder that her teammate’s been camping out at Naruto’s side these past weeks, Ino can’t help but giggle, shaking her head fondly. Really, that boy… “Oh, that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Sakura raises an eyebrow and tilts her head. Is…she missing something? “What do you mean?” She knows they’re friends, but she didn’t realize they were so close…

Ino mirrors her head tilt and shrugs. “You know, with how much Shikamaru admires him and all.” Suddenly, that thought in mind, an idea strikes, and she gasps and springs to her feet, giggling excitedly. Looking around at her huge selection of flowers, she waves at her friend to get her to continue, mind whirring a mile a minute. “Keep talking, keep talking! I just had an awesome idea!” She rubs her hands together, unable to contain her joyful relief. “I’m so happy he’s doing well!”

Sakura’s still confused about this apparent connection between Naruto and Shikamaru, but she can ask about that later. She knows if she doesn’t get to the heart of her funny mood soon, florist-brain switched on or not, Ino will get impatient, and an impatient Ino is never fun.

“Yeah, so, anyway, when I went to see him earlier, he was quieter than usual,” she smiles a little and laughs a bit more, “but I think that was for my benefit. He could probably tell I wasn’t feeling my best. He was…” she softens, “…really sweet, though, held me so gently and let me cry as much as I needed to.”

Ino snorts a bit. “Don’t tell me you’re surprised! He’s your teammate and one of your closest friends, and he’s always been pretty sweet when he wasn’t yelling about being Hokage.” She chuckles. “His long-standing crush on you aside, he really loves you, Sakura. Of course he’d be that way with you when he finds out you’ve been hurting, too. I’m sure all he was thinking about was how much he wanted to be there for you.”

Ino’s facing away from her, so she can’t see the way Sakura is visibly feeling worse and worse the longer Ino goes on about how good a friend Naruto is. She’s right… She’s totally right… Which just reinforces the fact that she’s really gonna get it when Ino hears what she did…

“Y-yeah…I know…” Ino’s not an idiot. She can hear the unease and apprehension in Sakura’s voice. But she doesn’t stop or turn around, just lets her go. She wants to know what’s going on, and she knows the fastest way to do that is to let her get it out. “Anyway, then I remembered Pakkun saying Naruto needed to tell Kakashi-sensei and me something, so I asked about it. He…got really nervous and scared all of a sudden, and then after Shikamaru calmed him down…he said…”

She falters here, biting her lip. Ino was her rival for Sasuke’s affections when they were younger, sure, but she’s moved on since then, and she was also one of the ones who wanted to go after Sasuke and take him out herself. So…maybe she shouldn’t say…? But then again, if she doesn’t tell her herself, she’s going to find out on her own terms, so… Geez…

Ino, for her part, just keeps gathering what she needs, trusting her to talk when she’s ready. Finally, there’s a shallow, shaky breath.

“He said…he wants…” she can barely breathe past the weight of these words; no wonder Naruto had so much trouble getting them out, “…to give up on Sasuke…”

Ino freezes, nearly dropping the flowers in her hands in shock. Oh…! Well, that’s…not at all what she was expecting… “Okay…so…what’d you do?” She’s careful to keep her voice even and low. She doesn’t want to freak her out or make her think she’s judging. She won’t pass judgment until she knows all the facts. That’s something her Dad taught her a long time ago.

“I…I…”

Sakura mumbles something, but Ino doesn’t hear what. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. What’d you say?”

“I…I hit him…” Ino goes still again, but for a very different reason this time, her protective instincts buzzing at light speed under her skin. Sakura’s voice shakes as she clenches her fists tightly, digging her nails into her palms. “I…I broke his nose, Ino…”

It’s silent for a long few furious-flower-picking seconds, and Sakura doesn’t dare break it, doesn’t even dare to breathe.

“You did what?!” Ino finally shrieks. Sakura flinches. She was expecting it, but still.

BAM!

“Ow!” Sakura clutches her head. “Hey, Ino!”

Ino glares down at her, chest heaving. “How’s that feel? Not good, huh?” Sakura blinks. “And you deserved it! Naruto didn’t!”

Sakura reels back, hurt, yet also effectively chagrined. She doesn’t say anything, though, at least not yet. She can tell Ino’s not done, and she knows better than to interrupt.

“The rest of us gave up on Sasuke a long time ago! Are you going to hit us, too?”

Sakura’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head quickly. “N-no, I—of course not!”

Ino turns on her heel in a huff, fists clenched tightly. She brings out an orange vase and starts putting the flowers in, arranging them just so. Besides her sense of purpose feeling renewed in this endeavor for her injured friend, she also needs something to do with her hands so she doesn’t wring her best friend’s neck. “Honestly? I'm relieved as hell, and I know the others will be, too! It always scared the crap out of us, what might happen to him one day, you know?”

This time when Sakura doesn’t respond, it’s more out of not knowing what to say. It’s always scared her, too, but…she always thought he’d succeed and being Sasuke back one day, so… Was she…was that selfish of her? Naïve? She looks down at her now-clean hands, remembers the way the blood, Naruto’s blood, turned the water red as it washed down the sink. Her stomach churns, and she has to bite her lip hard to keep it from trembling.

The blonde’s own hands slow in their work as she thinks back over the years, glancing over at Sakura as she makes her next points. She doesn’t miss her guilty fixation on where Naruto’s blood stained her skin. “When Sasuke first left the village, I thought it was temporary, you know? That once Naruto got to him, he’d use his Emotional Intelligence jutsu and get him to come back.” Ino chuckles, even more so once Sakura’s incredulous look comes into play. “Sorry, that’s just something the others and I’ve nicknamed his thing where he talks to our enemies and makes them realize they’re wrong. It was actually Shikamaru’s idea of a joke that just…kinda stuck.”

Clearing her throat, she sobers. “I’m serious, though. I really thought that would be the end of it. I think we all did. But then, when Naruto came back beaten to hell with a huge hole through his chest, on the verge of death, and we found out Sasuke was the one who did it to him…” she frowns deeply, brow wrinkling, and she has to actively remind herself not to crush the innocent flowers in her hand in her protective rage, “…that’s when we decided that was it. Sasuke wasn’t one of us anymore. We were done.”

A heartbeat. Her voice lowers, a light, warm, almost reverent quality to it Sakura’s seldom heard. The smile on her face matches. “Shikamaru was the first. It was like a knee-jerk reaction for him, instinct or in his bones or something. I’ve known him my whole life, and I’d seen him angry before, of course, but never like that… It was actually pretty scary. He was like a demon out for blood or something. The only other time I can remember him being that scary since was…” her voice dips some more, “…after Asuma-sensei was killed…”

Sakura sits back, taking it all in as best she can. “I…I never knew about that…” It all makes so much more sense now, why the others would be so ready to go after Sasuke and put him down themselves, why Shikamaru, of all people, would be the one to resolutely stay by Naruto’s side.

Ino shrugs. “We didn’t exactly want you to know. We knew how you and Naruto still felt about Sasuke, so…we didn’t want to upset you. Honestly?” She sighs a bit. “We thought you guys would’ve given up on him way before now…”

Sakura looks away again, shoulders slumping. It feels like everyone’s against them – or just her now, it seems… “I see…”

It’s silent for a few long moments while Ino gathers her thoughts. Then, quietly, gently, but also sternly because she knows this is something her friend needs to hear, “Chasing Sasuke like this…it’s not healthy. It never has been. You know that, right?” Sakura curls into herself a little more. She…on some level, she does, but…she can’t… How can she just…? “Especially for someone like Naruto.”

Sakura snaps up at that, eyes wide, and instead of seeing Ino and her little flower shop, she sees her memories of Naruto replaying in her mind’s eye. Naruto, who’s always been alone, who’s so touch-starved it actually hurts to see, who’s always yearned for even the tiniest shred of attention and affection and love, who’s always been the kind to all-too-willingly drag himself through the fires of Hell and back if it means he can save someone he loves.

“It was always going to lead here. It was always going to end up this way,” Ino goes on. “Look at the signs, really think about it. Remember how Sasuke was growing up, what you saw in him that day he and Naruto fought right in front of you. There wasn’t a single thing that was ever healthy about any of this.” A heartbeat, blue eyes bearing into green. Just like with Naruto… “Even you have to know that.”

Turning back to her flowers to give her friend time to reflect, Ino takes them out to cut the stems, and then puts them back in the now-watered vase. She fluffs them a bit, wanting to make sure her babies look their best for their intended person.

Sakura…isn’t sure how to feel, what to do. Ino has a point. A few of them, actually. Really good ones. It’s hard enough admitting that. So…what does that mean…? Is she as wrong as all this makes her sound? Has she…her promise really put that much horrible pressure on Naruto? She knows that’s not the only reason he’s kept going after him, it was for himself, too, but...she’s at least halfway responsible. Does this…make her love for Sasuke wrong, too…?

“Personally,” Ino pipes up after a few minutes, nothing but adoration and relief in her voice, “I'm really glad Naruto finally understands the way things are, even if it did take him nearly dying again to see it."

Sakura stiffens at that, heart beating faster. She clutches the small table between them till her knuckles turn white, yet she’s still careful to be mindful of her strength. No matter how pissed she is, she doesn’t want to add property damage to her list of mistakes tonight. “‘The way things are?!’” she repeats, tone sharp and biting. She glares fiercely, denial flashing white-hot through her veins. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Ino turns to her, but doesn’t answer right away. She studies her expression and body language and purses her lips. She’s guessing this is how she was with Naruto, too. Leaning back against the counter, elbows cradled in her palms, she says, “Can I ask you something?” Momentarily thrown out of her ire by the sudden question, Sakura raises an eyebrow, but nods. “What made you fall for Sasuke anyway? What did you like about him?”

Sakura’s eyebrow just climbs higher, even more confused now. “What do you mean? He was super smart and hot and the coolest boy at the Academy. You remember, don’t you?”

Ino nods a few times, waving a hand. “Well, yeah, of course! But those are givens!” She flips her hair. “What else?”

Sakura opens her mouth to respond, but then has to close it. She opens and closes it several times for a good thirty seconds, wracking her brain for something, anything, she can say, but…she ends up not saying anything. She can’t. No matter how hard she tries, she finds she doesn’t…have an answer…

Thinking back to when she was a kid, even when she was on a team with Sasuke, there’s…nothing but what she just named. Sure, she was infatuated with him, but…in the Academy, she hardly ever talked to him out of shyness for the first few years, and once she finally started, all she did was fawn over him. She was no better than those other fangirls of his, really. And even then, it’s not like he ever gave her or anyone else the time of day. Even back then, he was focused entirely on getting his revenge.

Even when they were both assigned to Team 7, she still fangirled and wanted to be around him all the time because she thought he was so cool. But…he still never really paid attention to her in return, not the way she wanted him to, at least. All he ever did, even on missions, was call her annoying and stay as far away from her as he could.

Looking back on it, on her side…she never took the time to get to know him for him. She never asked how he was feeling, never thought about the pain he must be feeling, never made an effort to try to help him with his grief. Of course, she highly doubts he would have told her anything or let her get close anyway. He probably would have bitten her head off for even attempting. She remembers the one time she was stupid and ignorant enough to say Naruto was only a brat because he didn’t have his parents around, Sasuke blew up at her and stormed off. He was right that time, but still… She thinks…that might be the longest, most meaningful conversation they’d ever had…

So…what was she ‘in love with,’ then, if it wasn’t his personality or his heart, his soul? Was it all talk? Was she? With no basis for it that she can see…

“I…I don’t know…!” she admits softly, semi-tremulously. She feels like her whole world’s been turned on its head. First with Naruto, and now all this… “I don’t think it was so much him as…what I thought he was, how…cool he was in my head. I thought…I thought…” she rests her head on her knees, draws them closer to her chest, feeling her heart sink lower with every (true) word, “…if I could show him how much I cared about him, I…I could change him…make him forget about his revenge… I thought…he’d become what I…who I thought he could be, who I…wanted him to be…” God, she sounds so selfish and deluded…but at least she knows better now… Damn it, what is wrong with her…?! “But…” she swallows thickly, not even realizing she was about to cry until a few tears make their way down her cheeks, “…I was wrong…!”

Ino finishes picking the last of her flowers and, after tying a bright blue ribbon around the orange vase and a pink ribbon around the new bunch, comes over to sit down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Sakura takes the offer of comfort gladly, resting her head on her best friend’s shoulder as the tears keep coming. And here she thought she’d already dealt with the trauma… “He…h-he tried to kill me, Ino…! Y-you should have seen the look in his eyes… I-it was like he—he didn’t even care that we were teammates… He just—he wanted to take out the Leaf and everyone in it… It didn’t matter to him…w-who or why… A-all he could see was his goal, and he…” a harsh sob leaves her as this last realization hits her, what Naruto said to her echoing in her head, “…he let revenge taint his soul… H-he chose revenge…o-over the Leaf…over us…a-all those years ago…a-and this is the result…!”

With all this weighing on her mind, it’s only natural that she’d also look back at the other end of the spectrum. Naruto…

Sure, he was an obnoxious idiot back in the Academy, but she knows now that that was mostly just for the attention. He’d take any attention he could get, even if all it did was make Iruka-sensei yell at him and the other kids groan. He just…wanted to be acknowledged, remind anyone who would listen that he was more than just the Nine Tails’ vessel, that he was a person with a heart and dreams and feelings. When he wasn’t doing that or (hilariously badly, now that she thinks about it) flirting with her, though, and especially once they were put on Team 7 together, he was…always nice and supportive, there for her. Saving her.

Even now, years beyond all that, he’s stayed, never left her side, and that’s…something Sasuke’s never done. Throughout all their years together, Sasuke’s really…never stood by her at all, never mind at her back. That was always Naruto…

Ino lets her cry it out for as long as she needs to, not caring that her shirt and apron are getting wet. They’ll dry, and helping Sakura is more important. This realization has been a long, long time coming, and frankly, she’s relieved it’s finally happening. She’s sure Naruto broke down similarly, not that Shikamaru would ever tell her for fear of betraying his trust. In the end, she’s sure the two of them will come back stronger and better than before, together and apart.

Forty-five minutes later, Sakura finally starts calming down. Ino hands her a few more tissues and rubs her shoulder, but she can’t stop herself from quietly advising, “You don't meet a great guy like Naruto every day, you know. Maybe you should try not taking him for granted for once, billboard brow.” She pokes her forehead once more, gentler this time, to drive the point home.

Sakura sniffs and isn’t surprised when a few extra tears fall. Combined with what she was thinking about before…she really has…taken Naruto completely for granted all this time, hasn’t she…? The one person who’s never left her side, never left her hanging, has always done everything in his power to be there and keep every promise he’s ever made to her, even when they’ve almost gotten him killed… The truest friend she’s ever had…

She’s the worst…

Letting Sakura think on that, Ino gets up, grabs both bunches of flowers she picked out, and comes back to carefully balance the orange vase of flowers in her friend’s lap. “You go back there and apologize and give him these. Shikamaru will know what they mean.” Ino crosses her arms and points at her, eyeing her seriously. “You’d better get down on your knees and beg for his forgiveness, or so help me!”

Sakura breathes a laugh despite herself and waves her hands in front of her. She knows Ino’s not kidding, but… “I-I will! I was already planning on it!” She really was, too, she’s not just saying that. Remembering the way he flinched away from her, though, she frowns, arms tightening around her knees. “But…even if I do apologize…” She looks down at her hands. “Ino, after what I did…” She glares, closing a tight fist around the tear that lands in her palm. “All I’ve ever done with these hands is hurt him… Sure, I saved his life this time, but today…you should have seen how scared he was of me, of what I did, at least... I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t accept my apology...if…” her voice drops, and a few more tears fall, “…if he never wants to see me again…”

Ino tilts her chin up with gentle fingers, an encouraging smile lighting her face. “Hey, don’t look so sad. Just start with ‘I’m sorry,’ and I’m sure the rest will fall into place. If you really work hard to show him how sorry you are and how much he means to you, I’m sure you guys can patch things up!” She wipes away her tears with careful thumbs. “Besides, this is Naruto we’re talking about. He loves you, Sakura. You’re one of his best friends, one of the most important people in his life. There’s no way in hell he’d ever turn you away like that. Just have some faith in him, okay?”

A heartbeat, two, and Sakura breathes a cheered-up laugh, a small, warm smile coming as she picks up the orange vase and holds it close. “I really hope you’re right… Thanks, Ino…”

Ino walks her to the shop’s edge and makes sure to hand her the bouquet with the pink ribbon, too. “These are for you.” She hugs her best friend tightly, and Sakura returns it as best she can with her hands full. She’s missed her more than she thought. “Feel better, okay? It’ll be fine with Naruto, I promise. Just don’t be a stranger from now on, you hear me? We miss having you with us.”

Sakura softens. Ino really is so kind… She nods dutifully, a brighter smile than she’s given in recent memory lifting her lips. It feels good. “Right! Thanks, Ino. I will. I’ll let you know how it turns out, I promise.”

“You’d better!” Ino play-shoves her in the direction of the hospital. “Now get outta here! Visiting hours are just about over!”

Hurrying down the street, Sakura half-turns to wave over her shoulder. “Have a good night! Thanks for everything!”

#Naruto #Naruto AU #Naruto fanfiction #Sakura Haruno #Ino Yamanaka #Any feedback is much appreciated #Feel free to reblog #(This was originally supposed to include the Kakashi part and the resolution to Sakura's 'arc' here too but it was fit to turn into #a 9-12k monster and I didn't want to murder anyone with that so I figured I'd cut the chapter apart AGAIN lol #Next chapter will have rest!)

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