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#its ok they find her but yeah she did have a bit of a breakdown

livelaughlaios · 18 days

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I think one of the things Dungeon Meshi is definitely about is how different people deal with being an outsider/marginalised/neurodivergent/what have you and basically what im getting at is that Kabru is TEXTBOOK "high functioning [insert diagnosis here]". Its that how they say it still? Don't care.

Basically. This man shows up and you listens to him talk and see how his party treats him and you think. Oh this is a cool guy who has his shit together. And then after like two pages you find out that he has constant flashbacks to Utaya that make him completely freeze, anxiety attacks, thought spirals, is incapable of analyzing his own feelings, is a stuttering mess when the stakes are high, has never done a chore in his life, keeps putting himself in triggering situations and re-traumatising himself, and the icing on the cake is when you read the extra material and it turns out he regularly forgets to eat and lives in a depression nest of dirty clothes and self-medicates insomnia with alcohol and also is 22. Which also kind of puts Misilril not wanting to let him go in another light - yeah for sure she's controlling and infantilising and also its not like she was really helping his issues but also she was not entirely wrong in her judgement. This man does NOT know how to take care of himself. He knows how to do the bare minimum so when he shows up at work the next day he can fool his coworkers into thinking hes got it together enough. For a bit.

He is DEEPLY unwell and he knows it but he is carried by the desperate wish to avoid another catastrophe. If he stops for a moment he KNOWS he'll collapse so he doesn't.

I also think this is why him acting nurse to Mithrun is such an important part of his arc. Its like. This person who has spent all of his adult life focused on a single objective disregarding everything else is faced with what happens when you do that for too long. And the result is a wet tissue of a creature who looks like he doesn't know where he is most of the time.

He is a man on the brink. I have no doubt he felt relieved when he decided he could trust Laios - not even in a Labru way, straight up because he knew he could not keep going like this.

But also like. Of all the characters in the manga, I think Senshi and Kabru are the most lonely ones. Except Senshi seems to be OK with solitude - for sure it's not entirely healthy to be alone for as long as he was but he definitely did well enough. He is very good at taking care of himself. Meanwhile Kabru *knows* a lot of people but can you really say he has friends? Rin, maybe, arguably, but even she does not seem to truly know him, you know? He keeps himself hidden from everyone. I think the only time we see him entirely honest is when he says to Laios that he wanted to be his friend, and hes so shocked when it comes out, you can tell he did not mean to say it. And differently from Senshi, he does NOT fare well alone. He likes people, he needs people. Again compare with Mithrun - he has like a squad of people taking care of him. If Kabru had a breakdown of that size can you say his party would go out of its way to help? Im not sure. Not because they're bad people, but because he's simply not that intimate with any of them.

Idk man it just struck me all of a sudden. Laios is weird and offputting and doesn't care about other humans the way Kabru does and YET he is infinitely more successful at building deep, meaningful relationships and taking care of himself as well. I think this is part of why Kabru is so fascinated with him as well. He can tell Laios has something he doesn't have. Wait this is turning into a whole another post I'll write this next time.

#kabru #dungeon meshi spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #meta #meowing to myself #this is why ive grown so attached to him i realised. i mean who said that. now if youll excuse me i have to go wash a week worth of dishes

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boyakishantriage · 10 months

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The ship shook violently, as I suddenly became aware of the searing pain across my chest, a headache soon filled my mind as it went into overdrive and then. Calm. As I always did, I checked my body. Nothing broken, just a couple of ribs. Blood streamed down my ears, as I quickly figured what happened.

We'd been hit, a laser striking the side of the vessel causing it to crash... The sound of wind whistling its way down the halls, we had 32 crew. 9 humans including myself in that 32...

A hand reached for a needle, with pins coursing through her body as it began to freeze up. Pushing past the function, she stabbed herself with the EpiPen.

Blood flushed through her system, as everything ran into overdrive. Heart pounding, she forced herself to slow down as she staggered her way down the hall. Gripping her diaphragm as she leaned into a door with her bag of drugs.

Sam lay on the bed, frozen as he processed what just happened. Then pain in his leg, as a bag was thrown into him.

"oi. Dick sucker, go wake up the others. I'm gonna. Fucking. I'm gonna go close the fucking hole." He barely managed to mumble his thanks as she walked out.

BZZT. BZZZT. BZZT.

Her sister called her stupid. Bringing a bag of EpiPens, a small fusion reactor and some bits and bobs of tech. Wearing a face mask, she fused the metal together, every so often swearing as she walked up and down covering the holes with spare doors, plates, panels. Anything that wouldn't let out oxygen when they got off the ground. Which would probably take weeks, then something caught her ear.

Something coughed, tall and lanky with a dark deer complexion, the engineer of the ship swore as he dragged himself towards the engine room.

"Uhh. What?"

"engine. Explode. Gotta. Off."

The man thing lost his strength, legs probably broken I shrugged and opened the door.

I dragged the deer man into the med bay, dragging the delirious doctor with me as I threw him into a pod. Bacta tanks, suspend the person and healing liquid helps relax the body speeding up healing. Shoving a strawberry into his mouth, the girl woke up. Spitting the strawberry like a pepper, because that's what it was in her biology.

"GAH. WHAT?" She turned to look at me, as I burped.

"I'm going into a tank. You need to turn it on before the adrenaline wears off. Ok?" I helped myself into the tank, as everything went dark.

The shadow realm. A place of darkness and evil, a well of black magic. Figures move around me as I stand over Tartarus. The deepest part of the pit, linked up to here and comes to what can only be described as a pit of tar. Tying my hair back, slitting my wrists I dive down.

"MOTHER FUCKER." I shouted in reflex, spitting out phlegm as the captain looks at me.

"... What?"

"we crashed."

"I mean. Yeah."

"but we're not dead."

"That can happen."

"... And our communicators are out."

The orc like woman took a seat. Probably having a breakdown. The slime nurse woman looked at me.

"she's uh. Been doing that for a while now."

"how many people injured right now?"

"like lethal? Uhhh. 1, but they're. Well."

He closed the tube, turning the machine on.

BOOM

I flinched, reaching for my knife as he paused.

"oh right. We need the engine for power but we. Uh. Couldn't do it without breaking it, so..."

"... I get it. But damn."

I turned to the captain, her head in hands as she appeared to be breaking down.

"so. I'm just gonna..."

I reached forward, taking her card.

I wandered the ship, soon finding a group appearing unsure what to do.

"Good morning."

"... Ah. Human Eleanor..."

He trailed off, the goblin like alien losing his train of thought as I looked around.

"Alright. Fuck this. Warg. Hey. WARG."

The goblin snapped to attention.

"yes?"

"Can you clean up the halls?"

"i- the ship."

"WARG. Stop thinking, clean the halls. We can't have more accidents, so make sure we can walk through the halls without getting hurt."

The goblin hesitated, pausing as he nodded.

"clean the halls."

"RI-RI HEY. YO. YOU AWAKE?"

I jostled the chef awake, the squid cousin to Dina the doctor snapping awake.

"uh- what?"

"how much food we got?"

"I- err."

"how long can we last with the food and water we have?"

"umm. Eight months? But-"

"ok. And if we ration it?"

"... Half a year?"

"great. Can you preserve what we have, make it last longer and organise the kitchen?"

"but-"

"Stop thinking about it, your job now is preserve and organise ok?"

I met Sam and John, the pair arguing as they always did.

"OI. DICK SUCKERS. GET OUT THE SHIP, RUN ANALYSIS AND FORM A PERIMETER AROUND US. BUILD A CAMPSITE!"

The gays looked at me, each other before shrugging and moving off.

It took three hours, three hours of organising and sending people to do things, at some point I'd handed out radios for people to call where they where, who they were and whatever they wanted to say. Most of the aliens were in a daze, with the other seven humans either trying to figure something out or arguing on what to do.

"Anthony. Find Wargo and figure out how to fix this ship. Liam, quit your bitching and go make a farm or something. Pashi, go with Tina and get everyone in the right headspace. Here's a radio, get them into the cafeteria. Saw, go out and help John and Sam. Onion, come with me to the cafeteria."

The others broke off, as the captain began gaining her senses.

"the ship-

"Shut up. We're going to the cafeteria."

#tag #Triage #Ee #humans are space orcs

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anna-neko · 1 year

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Scary Marlowe - cosplay breakdown post

how did the original post get 200+ O_o' ... wow ok... did say a long post would happen if it did, so here we go!

The ultimate joke: this Seeker of Darkness was supposed to be a "closet cosplay" Spoiler alert: no, it wasn't

rest of photos frm prev posts: [ post 1 ] [ post 2 ] [ post 3 ] [ post 4 ] [ post 5 ]

PS: hopefully this outfit ramble will be useful for anyone's attempts? ✺◟(＾∇＾)◞✺ yeah, everyone else plz cosplay these dorks too!! This nerd is desperate for others to photos with

Original plan: buy the Scorpion Slut shirt from the DnDaddies site, pair with whatever own, ??, Profit! oh right… Unisex sizes are a lie, not with my build. Not buying legit merch to have to disassemble & destroy (unless someone wants to buy it for me ... j/k)

No big deal, there's another still-easy-enuff second option. Lets look at the podcast official art*nods* right.. shirt with words on it, can manage this Went and bought a rando t-shirt size too big, cut off the long sleeves, started figuring out the words placement. Absolutely took too long getting the letters Exactly Right - in both duplicating the font AND spacing out the words (busty girls, ya know the pain of prints on tshirts)

Then had a minute when forgot how to letters, while trying to draw a nice "S" (resisted the urge to make the meme-S. My girl would not be that mainstream)

The "stencil" is on freezer paper, any white markings is just soap fun sewing trick: if don't wanna go buy specialty pencils or chalk - sliver from an old bar of soap works just as good!! Been doin this all my life.

Leave t-shirt for 24hr for paint to set (then its safe to wash)

Here's where things happen: personal headcanons for this chara start bleeding in Fanart exists and is frellin AWESOME

Headcanons bit first: Scary absolutely had to have PURPLE somewhere on her (because Warlock, patron 'pact' is a Purple Robe ..etc etc etc…) The t-shirt wasn't to be too badly damaged yet because wasn't sure if would find a full fishnet shirt to wear under it OR only like.. those cheap elbow-ish length arm-warmers. If a skirt was to be involved it hadda be plaid and match other shit in the outfit* She's also a former sports kid, which somehow overlapped in my head with her still owning like 'sport branded' clothes, and either cutting off or just like badly ripping out logos, this is why holes in a specific spot *Shut up brain, we aren't literally tryin to recreate what wore back in ancient days of 2003 with the shortest-sleeves tops and long-sleeved fishnet shirts under, it paired with plaid mini-skirts

blah blah saw a bunch of cool fanart, and it sat in the back of my mind, fermenting for a few days, adding to the mental image

Oh hey, my tshirt is dry now! Don't own a good skirt to use with this, lets go to the mall real quick This is where HT completely fails me by havin anythin plaid be themed with HarryPotter, and the only other skirts (that would fit me!) are tacky as fuck or in wrong print (am all about some cute Kuromi... but not today), also comeon… not spending 40bucks for something would literally wear once. Also apparently fishnet shirts aren't a thing right now???

Bought a skirt size 3X (aka too big) for $9.50 at some random place, purely because it happened to be the closest color/print was looking for.

this is where pause for a second to blast whatever factory made it Their own site photo is already bad, but damn accurate. Didn't bother matching the print at the sides? You bet! Not even pretending to care with the waistband match seam! That model is also like 20feet tall, i promise on me skirt was knee-length

but why not just go buy some fabric and the conglomerate monoculture has made sure no small local fabric stores exist! the only thing left is Amazon (aka buy online, fabric dot com is them) or go drive like an hour to closest Joanns for some quilting cotton and pray for the best....

So anyway! now i have "fabric", can arrange a skirt

At first was gonna slap some elastic inside the waistband nope, it bulks up too much, plus the skirt is too damn long on me!

K, imma just rip off the waistband and keep the zipper in side-seam and refold.... why are the pleats 'drifting' off so badly???

OH RIGHT THEY CUT THE PRINT WRONG, and here I was tryin for the easy way of eyeballing it: folding fabric by orienting to the vertical stripes printed on it

Now this is gettin personal! It is 2 in the freakin morning, and it's seam-ripper time. Everyone plz visualize this gremlin sittin on the floor, balancing an iron on her lap, ironing out the fabric to start over

Took apart everything, cut off a portion at the top (didn't wanna deal with rehemming entire bottom later, so shortening skirt goin up instead), do some damn MATH and start folding pleats with a ruler Not trusting fabric to drift yet again, baste every thing down, press everything remember kids, hips to waist difference exist! if you're doing pleats Do fold at slight angle, pin both top and bottom of pleat "closed" and try on. If your math is right it will fit both at waist and hips w/out twisting outta shape Also, if you're gonna do any sort of temporary stitching, use obnoxiously contrasting-color thread! You want it Very Visible for easier later removal

blah blah, trim the length off the waistband piece, sew everything together. Have a skirt now! Plain long-sleeved shirt goes under the black one. Now that shirt situation all sorted - took scissors to sleeves and whatnot. Fistful of safety pins to keep them together. Looks like my clothes are very red and black, so the PURPLE will need to be in hair

at this point we remember fanart exists... or more specifically @midnigtartist because I saw those space-buns and was like ... yes... fuck yes that's whats happening with my hair for the thing!

Also since she drew that check-pattern belt, and im here like hmmm, wasn't gonna have a belt but do have one in that exact colorway... Why not!

Was planning on wearing bike-shorts under the skirt - but this fanart does bring a good point - leggings! Dug up some tights didn't really care for, stuck a safety-pin on one side (to mark where front is, and it just kinda lives there now), cut them shorter (again, just drawing lines on 'em with soap while wearing them) and then (as per that silly holes headcanon) carefully sliced in some tears

Now its just down to lil bits and ends ... and HT failing me yet again because apparently ridiculous bracelets with studs is no longer a thing, they all about cutesy mushrooms, charms and... wannabe bondage garterbelts and chokers? dunno ... is this what kids r into now?

Dug around my room yet again for things to use. The braided-looking bracelets were a gift from a friend just weeks prior. He bought a bunch of those online & they didn't fit him. Plastic "tat" bracelet & choker set have owned for ...ahem... that 2003 mentioned earlier The wide leather cuff came from a RenFaire visit over a decade+ ago. The strip with the studs is a broken headband (wrapped around my wrist, held by safety-pin pilfered from friend's wallet)

cheap purple hairspray from SpiritHalloween (is a damn biohazard! holds up tho), and instead of buying black lipstick just smudged eyeshadow on lips

too many steps for an image wanted to get outta my system because of ONE EPISODE but there ya go. Cosplay just be like that! (getting Scary & Terry jr picture, worth it!)

if you've made it this far: THANX FOR READING! HAVE FEW SNAPS

#disclaimer: contains me #scare marlowe #SCARY (gasp)#cosplay #dungeons and daddies #dndads s2 #dndads quest #goth punk seeker of darkness #totals not like other warlocks you gaiz #terry jr #cosplay rambles #hyperfixation my beloved #no braincells just podcasts

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puppetboysx3 · 1 year

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Matilda the Musical is my less favorite movie ever // ranting

if any of this is hard to understand , english isnt my main and i am not sober

I am a big musical fan , my started learning english because i fell in love with musical and because of my love for the Matilda (1996) movie , i had the vhs for it and it was one of the first movies i ever saw . I love this movie with all of my heart and i love the book its based off , so when i found out they had remade it i wanted to watch it . so i found it online and watched it one night well i was really tired , hoping that i would love this moive just as much as i did for the Matilda 1996 movie . th movie fucking sucked and i hated it so much that i have breakdowns every other week because i rememmber its real . they made to many changes to from one to the other , cut out a bunch of inportant stuff , changed and added characters, and thw worse thing of all they fucking removed Micheal (the brother) . micheal didnt add alot to the plot but added alot of motive to the characters , being the oldest and getting more care from his parents helps show that Matilda is neglected by her parents , showing the child that the parents love vs the one they hate shows alot of what Matilda doesnt want to be , which give a easy goal to think about until the plot picks up . they cut out the scene of the dad and Agatha with the car , where he learns about the school and gives Agatha a reason to dislike matilda straight away unlike in the 2022 movie where she just doesnt like matild . Agatha is given way to much forces , yes shes the villain but the 2022 movie makes her less of a villian and more just a poor out of luck soul , shes a good villian in the first moive because you dont feel bad for her and shes easy to hate , but in the 2022 version you start to feel bad for her story. i think the 2022 movie would work well if it wasnt a remake of the first moive, if you put the 2022 movie alone without putting it next to the 1996 one , its a decent movie , but the second you put it next to something like the 1996 verison its upsetting because it didnt need a remake , it was good , its a good movie , not a prefect one but a good movie nonetheless . the remake adds this traveling library instead of the the large public libary like in the 1996 one , the idea is ok but its not played off the greatest and generally i find it annoying , adding this character matilda could go to for help makes me not want her to win as much because they is lying when she could just ask something to this lady and have the chance of getting help but she doesnt , the world feels brighter and happyer in the 2022 version where in the 1996 it feels dark and isolated , as a child i could sympathize with matilda and see how she was struggling and i wanted her to win and be able to find a better life and the pay off was good , she got a better life . but with the 2022 movie she isnt really struggle , yeah its a bit sad but she seems mostly content with her life and not as resentful to her family , which just makes her happy ending bittersweet to me , cause it doesnt really feel all that earned . i migyht rant more about this today if i think of it again -OM

#rant post #movie ramblings #movie rant #matilda 1996 #i fucking hate matida 2022 #songs are decent ill rant about my feels on those later

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kamotoshi · 3 years

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worrying their baby hates them [hcs]

anon said: Can you please write a hc for jjk (including nanami please)guys as DADS!!!!!! The idea I have in mind is like you just had a new born baby & the baby keeps crying at like 3am and so they get up to check on the baby but it won’t stop crying so they frustrated/confused as to why their own child doesn’t like them! So then y/n comes catches them being so cute and fluffy and they are like ok bby chill no need to be frustrated the baby loves you 🥺🥺 and its just cute and fluffy 🥲🥲 thank you 💜

fran says: omg pls this is so soft and ofc we love nanami for this 🥺 since I narrow my hc reqs down to two characters, I'm choosing naoya as the second jjk dad for this req hehe. thanks for sending :) and I hope I understood the prompt correctly! I might’ve run away with it as I tend to do lol

pairings: dad! nanami kento, dad! zen’in naoya; fem mom! reader

genre: fluff, reverse comfort

warnings: if you’re not a fan of lil babes (particularly newborns) n lil babe stuff in general, this work may not be for you!

notes: nanami has a son and naoya has a daughter bc it’s what the heart wanted. also. this is v soft

✧ nanami is a v responsible and doting dad who does whatever he can to support you n the lil babe. so when he hears your newborn cryin in the middle of the night, he’s up and ready to handle the situation

✧ naturally, he runs through the potential situations in his head of what could be bothering his lil baby as he goes to lift him out of the crib so he can figure out how to help. but there’s nothing clearly wrong and the crying just does not subside, even after nanami walks around the room for a lil bit with him in his arms and tries his best to calm him down

✧ the longer the baby cries, the more worried he becomes that a) you’ll have to wake up and come into the nursery to sort things out, and that b) his baby just doesn’t even like his dear dad that much. either way, he’s v tired n stressed

✧ when you wander into the room, rubbing your weary eyes, you can see the look of disappointment and failure clearly present on his face and sit down beside him to help him out

✧ as soon as you hold your son in your arms, the tears start to subside, but nanami’s worries only deepen since he’s now entirely convinced that his own child hates his guts. and for what? he’d taken care of him and was helping raise him! he wants answers!!

✧ you know how frustrated he must be with himself, so, after the baby’s calmed down again, you place him back in nanami’s arms n start cooing sweetly to him in the hopes he chills out

✧ there’s this long moment of tension during which nanami waits for the baby to start crying again since he’s got this look of uncertainty in his lil eyes like he’s just as confused as nanami is

✧ but thankfully, he reaches up to place his lil hand on nanami’s nose and open his mouth in awe (nanami’s wondering what’s so curious abt his nose). In response, he presses a couple kisses against his son’s cheek that make him smile, and suddenly all is well. baby is content and no longer crying, nanami is happy, mission accomplished!!

✧ “see? you have nothing to worry about, baby,” you reassure him and peck his cheek, “he was just being a bit picky. he loves you very much, I’m sure.”

✧ he pulls you closer for a kiss and gently places your newborn back in his crib when he finally drifts back off to sleep before crawling back into bed with you, wrapping his arms around you, and goin on a lil rant abt how much he loves you and your son until you tell him he needs sleep bc he’s borderline delirious

✧ fatherhood is definitely a bit of an alien concept to him, that’s for sure. but, since you gave birth, the two of you have been learning a lot together

✧ at first, he was a bit slow to get up and tend to your child in the middle of the night since he wasn’t sure what to do, but he learned to figure it out bc he absolutely did not want his sweet lil wife to be overworked. now, he’s up rather quickly to make sure one of his fav gals is taken care of

✧ he does what he’s been taught to do and checks for any obvious reasons as to why his newborn is so disgruntled that she’s wailing after he lifts her out of the crib. however, when he can’t find an apparent reason, that’s when he starts gettin a lil frustrated with himself. he’s a dad!! he should be able to figure out what’s upsetting his lil girl!! he thinks

✧ the lack of sleep isn’t really helping his thought process either, so he resorts to holding the baby in his arms and cooing and singing to try to calm her down. but ends up mumbling little complaints like, “I know my singing’s not great but really, baby girl?” or trying to reassure her (but more himself) by saying, “don’t worry, your dad’s got this. he’s gonna figure it out. right? right?”

✧ by the time you enter the room, he’s damn near had a breakdown bc he absolutely does not want his sweet lil girl to grow up hating his guts and he wants to be the best dad ever (so he can brag about his family goals to everyone n be like yeah suckers I really do have it all haha)

✧ but you come with his saving grace and the one thing he’d forgotten in his exhaustion: a bottle of milk. he tries to hand the baby over to you, but you give him the bottle instead and drape a burp cloth over his shoulder so he can do it on his own in the name of bonding

✧ once he starts feeding your newborn, the crying comes to an end, and she instead gazes up at naoya with wide, delighted eyes while she sips. he breathes out a deep sigh of relief when he moves her to his shoulder and rubs her back for a bit

✧ since you know he was definitely stressing before you intervened, you give him some comforting words n kisses. “she was just a little hungry, babe. you’re doing a great job and I’m sure she appreciates it. I know I do”

✧ to this he gives you a peck on the forehead before doing the same with your baby once she’s all content and ready to doze off again, and the two of you snuggle while waiting for her to settle

✧ during this time, he ends up falling asleep too and you admire the sight of both of them snoozin together before putting your daughter back in her crib and leading naoya back to bed, where he murmurs sweet nothings into the crown of your head until both of you knock out for what you hope is the rest of the night

#jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk headcanons #nanami kento x reader #zenin naoya x reader #fran's hc reqs

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chxrrysangel · 3 years

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I Need a Favor

Part One | Masterlist | Part Three

Summary || A talk with Wanda and Vision at the ice cream parlor gives you a grand idea. Now only to convince your partner to go along with it.

pairing || fakeboyfriend!bucky x black!ofc

word count || 1,730 words

Notes || Diana uses she/they pronouns

Warnings || brief mention of disordered eating, language

"I ruined everything Wanda. She's never gonna talk to me again, " I say while salty tear drops from my cheek into the soft serve below me.

I don't think I've cried this much since Nat and I got into the same university. At least that was a happy memory. Wanda wraps her arms around my body, trying her best to console me.

"Vision! Another cup of Cotton Candy over here!"

Vision, Wanda's boyfriend, pops up from behind the counter, blond hair sticking up in all directions. That's what happens when he's in distress, that man never stops touching his hair.

"But Wanda--". He attempts to argue with her. But when he sees the glare her features are sporting, the words quickly die in his throat.

"Alright."

Not a minute later, Vision wanders over to our table carrying a medium sized bowl on Cotton Candy ice cream, my favorite. The shop is closed now, the last customers leaving about 10 minutes ago. I probably shouldn't be eating my feelings considering I haven't always had the best relationship with food, but I'll cry about that later. Right now, I just need to wallow in the guilt of the mess I've made.

"So, what's the problem exactly Diana? Why are you so distraught right now?" I sigh and will the tears to subside enough for me to give the breakdown. Seeing me struggle to keep my composure, Wanda steps in and I thank the universe for her.

"They kissed Steve at a party a few weeks ago and now he thinks she has a crush on him. Whether she does or doesn't isn't important because he cornered her in the library earlier and now she has to figure out what to do ASAP. They don't want Nat to find out about Steve's "revelation". "

"Shit, Di. So there's nothing you can do? You have no dirt on 'im? Threaten him to keep the secret? Maybe call in a favor or something?"

Favor. Call in a favor.

"Oh my god, Vision you're a genius! I could literally kiss you right now! I mean, obviously I wouldn't. But, you get what I mean." I scramble to gather my things and throw a ten dollar bill on the tabletop.

"I'll see you guys later! I have to go do something!" I don't wait for their response before I'm hurdling out the door and running towards Jones Apartments.

~~~

I kind of forgot the distance between Jones Apartments and Wanda's Creamery. That is why by the time I reach them, I feel like someone could peel me off the sidewalk. I don't think I've ever been this out of breath in my entire life. Jesus Christ, how is Nat on the track team? I remind myself to ask her about her running routine while I sit on the curb, trying my best not to burst a lung.

"Diana?" My head perks up at the sound of my name, surprised to see the exact person I was looking for.

"James!"

"Diana, I told you not to call me that." I get up from the curb so we're more or less eye level. I don't exactly like being talked down to.

"Anyways James, I need to talk to you."

"No." James sidesteps around me, heading towards the swivel door entrance."

"And why not?" I chase after him, hoping that by following him, he'll get annoyed and let me speak so I can go home. It is a Friday after all, I'm sure he has something to do. Probably partying at the frat house. Let's be real here.

"Because, I don't want to." He doesn't wait for my response before he's walking down the corridor to the elevator. I don't know why he thinks he'll be able to escape me, it's not like I don't know his apartment number or anything.

"James--", he looks at me with an irritated expression,"Okay, okay. Bucky. I have a proposition for you.”

"And what about that exactly?"

"That's for a space with privacy. You never know who's listening." He sighs and rolls his eyes before motioning for me to follow. Gotcha. Hook, line, and sinker.

~~~~

"Absolutely fucking not."

"What do you mean?! I've barely said a thing!"

"It's Steve Rogers, that's enough for me to say no."

"C'mon Buck! Please! I will literally get on my hands and knees, and beg for you to say yes." He smirks at my words and I proceed to punch him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You know exactly what that was for. Anyways, I really, really need your help."

"I already said no. Now get out." I'm starting to get annoyed with him. He's so stubborn.

"James, will you cool it with the bad boy, angry man act! I know you, you fucking moron. You can't fool me with that one. " He stares at me from his seat on the kitchen counter.

"It's not an act."

"Right, because it's not like just 6 months ago you were laying in bed with me at my apartment crying to A Walk to Remember. You're a total baby."

His jaw ticks at my reminder. Ha, gotcha. During the spring of Sophomore year, I tutored James for a semester because he was in trouble of losing his spot on the baseball team. And as they're most valuable and skilled player, coach couldn't let that happen. He'd also lose his scholarship. At first he hated me, but over time we developed a pretty decent friendship. He's actually a really cool guy, and a total softie at that.

"Shut up."

"Ah, so you do remember us being friends at one point. Well, at least before you stopped returning my calls and unfollowed me on Instagram and Twitter."

"Sorry 'bout that." He smiles sheepishly, seemingly apologetic.

"You should be. Anyways, weren't you and Steve friends freshman year? I'd only know him for like a year and a half, but I distinctly remember that you two used to hang out."

"Yeah, we did. But that's in the past." He hops off the counter, opening the fridge to grab a beer. I watch him as he pops the top with his metal arm, the depth of its capabilities continuing to amaze me.

"Why, what happened? Did you guys fall out over a girl or something?," I ask with a laugh. He stays silent.

"Oh my god. You guys did break up over a girl. So, who's the lucky lady?" Again, he doesn't respond.

"Do I know her?" Ok, now I'm intrigued. Maybe a little bit nosy as well, but more intrigued. Inquisitive, if you will.

Again, my words are met with silence.

"Oo, so I do know her. Is it Nat?" He pause for just a millisecond, the same way I did at the party.

"Di, will you just drop it?"

"Oh my god!--" I jump out of my chair, squealing with excitement. "--So, it is Nat!" Wait, shit. It's Nat. Oh, this is bad.

"You think?" Did I say that out loud?

"Yes, you did. Now will you get out of my apartment please?"

"Nope, we have much to discuss"

~~~

"So, what exactly do I get out of this besides a headache?"

"Ouch, James. I'm not that bad. So basically, I keep your secret that you ever liked Nat. You get to rub it in Steve's that your crush is a thing of the past. I get him off my back, and finally I figure out how to get you a date with Daisy when we fake break up."

"Ok, I can deal with this. We're gonna need a contract though."

"Oo, look at you using your brain. I guess my tutoring paid off." He pushes me, nearly sending me off the chair to my death.

"Hey, watch it cyborg! What good is a fake girlfriend if you kill them?" Bucky simply rolls his eyes, before pulling out a pen and paper from a side drawer.

"Okay, rule number one : don't tell a single soul. Not one. Got it?"

"Yes, dad," I respond whilst rolling my eyes. He stares at me for a second longer than necessary and I look at him questioningly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Rule two?"

"Um...we have to act decently couple-y. So that means kissing, you walk me to my classes, I go to your games, stuff like that."

"Okay, good point. Rule three, you have to indulge in some of the things I like. Especially my motorcycle."

"Uh uh. No fucking way am I willingly getting on that death trap."

He laughs at me. He fucking laughs at me. "y/n, it's not that bad I promise. I won't let you die."

"You don't know that."

"I promise, I won't let you die. " He smiles wide at me, enough for his dimples to poke out. He knows how much I love dimples. Well played, Barnes. Well played.

"Okay, put it as a conditional clause. While we're on that note, you have to indulge in my interests too. You have to let me braid your hair once in a while." His face drops in horror.

"Uh uh. Don't even try it Barnes. If I'm willing to put my life in your hands, I'm sure you'll survive some french braids and cornrows." He looks at me for a second before sighing in defeat, realizing I'm not gonna budge any time soon.

"Okay fine, anything else?"

"When are we gonna break up? Or, like what's our condition if it keeps going? We've gotta be believable here." The two of us sit in silence for a few moments, thinking of a time that would suit the earth-shattering demise of our passionate love story.

"Got it! You know that holiday banquet/fundraiser thing the dean throws just after New Years'? You know the one where everyone dresses up like it's the goddamn Met Gala? Well, that banquet has the most hookups of any public event this school has all year. You'd be an absolute moron to let your partner go without you. If we're still doing this by then, you have to go with me."

The banquet is four months from now, so there's absolutely no way in hell we'll still be doing this by that time. With that thought in mind, we shake hands and sign our names at the bottom.

"You've got yourself a deal Barnes."

#fakeboyfriend!bucky #fake relationship #steve rogers #romanogers #natasha romanov #bucky barnes x black!ofc #bucky barnes x original female character #black!oc #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky x reader

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bestworstcase · 3 years

Note

I like your thoughts on how Rapunzel was handling things wrong in “Rapunzel: Day One.” The episode tries to imply that Cassandra is wrong for not sharing her feelings with Rapunzel, but is a Rapunzel really the person Cassandra should be opening up to? Rapunzel never respects Cassandra’s boundaries. Cassandra’s a private person. Rapunzel doesn’t respect that. And just because Cassandra doesn’t want to open up to everyone doesn’t mean that she’s bottling things up.

ok so this is gonna be a long one bc tbh i like. fundamentally disagree that RDO, the narrative of RDO, in any way positions cassandra as the one at fault for the emotional conflict between her and raps.

to digress a bit - while tts is not immune to Aesop Episodes (e.g. rapunzel's enemy or you're kidding me) wherein the characters close out the story by talking about What They've Learned, ultimately i don't think tts can or should be read as a morality play. it's a story where sometimes characters just... fuck up and the narrative doesn't waste its time on hand-holding or spoon-feeding us the moral.

anyway, i submit that RDO is what i'll call a False Aesop Episode. it follows the basic structure of an Aesop Episode (protagonist acts badly -> protagonist learns a lesson) but the lesson rapunzel learns is a bad one. it's like if you took... say, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" as an aesop, the False Aesop here is rapunzel confidently eating a rotten apple and then being blindsided a few months later when the doctor who kept begging her not to eat food with maggots in it steals the moonstone from under her nose and runs off into the night with her new demon pal--

and that metaphor got away from me a little bit but you get the idea.

#1: constructing the conflict

the episode opens with cassandra. she's training; we see the sword fly out of her injured hand; lance suggests she take a break, and she answers, "thanks to rapunzel's little trick at the great tree, i have to relearn everything using this hand, so breaks aren't really an option."

she isn't harsh about it. her demeanor isn't all that different from her normal self—she even segues into a very typical concern (that the woods are dangerous and they should all be on their guard) and banters with lance a bit.

what this communicates, immediately and succinctly, is that:

1. cassandra's injury is severe. it's disabling. she's either in immense pain or she's lost all the strength in that hand or both.

2. cass is really upset about this, and not happy with rapunzel.

3. nevertheless cass is keeping her feelings more or less in check; the worst anyone could say about her is she's being a bit more curt than normal.

which is to say, she's acting quite reasonable. she's not taking out her hurt feelings on anyone else or being mean or lashing out, and she's not hiding her injury either. the most concerning thing about her behavior here is actually that she's focused on training so she can do her job instead of on healing or resting or taking care of herself.

then there's a pan over to rapunzel, who is angrily watching this play out while venting to pascal. "i get why cass is mad at me," she says. "she told me—" huge disdainful rolling of eyes here "—not to use the decay spell back and the tree, and i did, and she hurt her hand. but if she had just listened to me and stayed out of it, this all could have been avoided! and i feel like we could work things out, but she refuses to talk about it!!"

line this up against cassandra's behavior and spot the differences.

cass is focused on her injured hand. cass is upset because rapunzel accidentally mutilated her in the great tree. that's what this conflict is about for cass; her injury, and how she feels about being injured.

by contrast, rapunzel thinks the conflict is about them not listening to each other. she does acknowledge that cass was injured, but 1. she puts the blame on cass, and 2. has shoved the fact of the injury to the periphery of the conflict. it's not important, it's just a natural consequence of the real conflict, which is cass being mad and petty and refusing to talk to her about how she's unfairly blaming rapunzel for something that wasn't rapunzel's fault.

[i will add here that this behavior from rapunzel is 100% not knowing how to handle guilt and externalizing it as anger, and this thread of rapunzel burying her guilt gets picked up again in rapunzeltopia; it isn't that rapunzel doesn't care that cass is hurt, so much as she's just not emotionally equipped to process these feelings in a healthy way so it mutates into...this.]

and where cass handles her feelings in a pretty reasonable way, rapunzel rants and raves and draws cass as a literal monster with fangs and claws—she's stewing in her out of control emotions and concludes that she just has to find a way to force cass talk to her, which she does shortly thereafter by ordering—not asking—cass to come with her to search for parts to fix the caravan.

#2: the breakdown of communication

i've said it before but it bears repeating: cassandra might not be perfect, but she's a good communicator. in s1 and the front half of s2, she shares her feelings with rapunzel readily and frequently. when she tries to set boundaries with rapunzel, she's able to be clear and specific about what she needs. when she expresses frustration with eugene or her dad or rapunzel, she's very articulate about exactly what she's frustrated about. she can recognize when politer, softer refusals are being ignored and become blunter and more specific to ensure the message is getting across.

the moments when cass struggles to communicate are noteworthy because they're not normal. they signal that she's in acute crisis. think of how her unhinged rant about adira in RATGT heralded a complete emotional breakdown. she clams up in RDO because it's the only thing she can do to protect herself. because rapunzel is an inexperienced nineteen year old who learned all her social "skills" from a manipulative, egotistical abuser and nowhere in the series does that show more than in RDO.

rapunzel knows cass doesn't want to talk about the great tree, so she isolates cass from the rest of the group with the intention of forcing her to talk about it anyway. she's passive aggressive at first: chattering about inanities and trying to bait cass into 'opening up,' and acting vexed and guilt-trippy when she finds out cass brought owl along. she broaches the subject by going "too bad there's not an open-up-to-your-best-friend-about-the-thing-you-guys-are-fighting-about wand, huh?"

then she leads with "i know you're mad at me, but i did the right thing. i didn't have a choice," which... what can cass even say to that? she acknowledged cassandra's anger in one breath and followed up with "but you're wrong tho" in the next. that statement makes cassandra's feelings about her debilitating injury into an argument about Who Was Right.

this is a game that cass tries very hard not to play. "look, if you feel that way, then it's fine. we're good," she says, which is a statement that is not true at all on its face but - what it means is that if rapunzel wants to turn this into a debate about Who Was Right, cass will concede because that's not an argument she's invested in. cass does not want to put her feelings on trial so rapunzel can pick them apart and decide whether she deserves to have them or not.

so she disengages. the sun sets. they camp. rapunzel pokes her again, this time with a more direct approach: "cass, i need to talk about what we both know is going on between us."

and that's when cass throws up a WALL. prior to RDO, when cass is pressed on her feelings, she either: 1. opens up and explains to the extent that she's able (e.g. under raps or RATGT), or 2. flatly shuts the conversation down (e.g. cassandra vs eugene). but in RDO?

"there's nothing to talk about."

"i never said i was upset."

"what makes you so sure that you know how i'm feeling?"

this is cass falling off the end of her rope. this is a cass who spent the last year and a half with rapunzel running roughshod over every boundary cass exhausted herself trying to set. this is cass maybe a few weeks out from rapunzel screaming at her in front of all their mutual friends and then telling her "i am going to make decisions you don't agree with and i need you to be okay with that" when cass tried to open up about her deepest insecurities. this is cass spiraling into despair because she's seen that her best friend cares more about assuaging her own guilt and exerting her authority as a princess than she does about cassandra's feelings.

this is the moment when the friendship dies.

#3: the memory wipe, cassandra's apology, and the false aesop

the details of the tangled-but-cass shenanigans are not super important for the purposes of this discussion. suffice it to say that cassandra lashes out in the heat of the moment, seriously harms rapunzel by mistake, and spends the rest of the episode trying to repair the damage, then apologizes to rapunzel for hurting her. this is, obviously, the correct thing to do when you hurt someone, even if it was an accident.

you see the parallel here, yeah?

rapunzel hurt cass with magic by accident, and then made cass's hurt feelings all about her, blamed cass for the injury, twisted the facts to justify her own indignation, picked a fight about Who Was Right and invalidated cassandra's feelings, and pushed and pushed and pushed until cass blew up and lashed out at her.

cassandra also hurt rapunzel with magic by accident, and then she set aside her own hurt feelings from the argument they were having before to focus one hundred percent of her energy on brewing a cure and keeping amnesiac rapunzel safe, readily admitted her fault, and offered an earnest apology for losing her temper as soon as she could reasonably do so.

if RDO were a true Aesop Episode, this would be the lesson, and rapunzel would of course learn from cassandra's good example and reciprocate by apologizing for the accident in the great tree and her abysmal behavior afterwards—and in a reflection of how cass shared how bottling up her anger allowed it to erupt in a catastrophic way, rapunzel would probably confess that her demanding, selfish behavior came from a place of feeling awful about what happened and terrified that it would ruin their friendship.

but RDO is a False Aesop Episode. rapunzel isn't emotionally equipped to handle the intensity of her guilt, and she lacks the social insight and empathy to draw comparisons between what she did to cass and what cass did to her, so she can't connect the two situations in her head to understand what she's doing wrong. the true aesop flies right over her head, and instead what she learns is this:

1. she was right about cass being upset

2. backing cass into a corner fixed the problem

3. friends really do "just know"

4. being pushy and forceful was the right thing to do.

because the thing is, when cass apologizes for the accidental memory wipe, she truthfully explains why she acted the way she did—she's furious and she didn't want to talk about it, so she held it in as long as she could and then exploded when the pressure became too much—and for rapunzel, i think the explanation and the actual apology get conflated. meaning, cass says "i'm sorry for what i did out of anger" and what rapunzel hears is "i'm sorry for being angry."

and because of that misunderstanding, from rapunzel's perspective her own indignation has been validated and her behavior justified, because she was right all along and cass shouldn't have been angry with her in the first place and now everything is fine--

but it's not fine.

we're not supposed to share rapunzel's perspective here, because she's flat out wrong. nothing is really better and nothing has really changed, except that rapunzel got the talk she wanted and stops putting this intense pressure on cass. so as we enter the house of yesterday's tomorrow, rapunzel is taking it for granted that things are fine with cass, and meanwhile cass is still injured, still angry, still as aloof as she can be without getting rapunzel breathing down her neck again... and then she meets zhan tiri, who gives her everything she needed and couldn't get from rapunzel.

like, to my mind, this is the entire point of RDO, that rapunzel makes this catastrophic mess of trying to patch things up after RATGT and comes out of that mess wrongly thinking she succeeded. the episode is presented through the lens of rapunzel's perspective, but the lines are very wide and i absolutely think the intention is for the audience to read between them and understand the reality that rapunzel has sort of blinded herself to.

#tts #rta #interpersonal conflict......good #theres also a whole separate layer of stuff going on in RDO w the class dynamic #this fight coming on the heels of raps pulling rank in RATGT and all but ordering cass to shut up and deal. like -#in RDO cass is Literally Doing What Rapunzel Ordered Her To Do #being okay with the decisions rapunzel made that hurt her #except that's not what rapunzel wants really. rapunzel wants cass to be her friend #but cass learnt in RATGT that her friendship can't transcend her servitude #she knows now that when push comes to shove rapunzel will treat her like a servant so... she acts accordingly #er #long post

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satoruvt · 3 years

Text

for now; forever

pairing → kwon soonyoung x reader

word count → 9015

genre → mostly fluff, angst ↳ tags: ooh boy. firewatch au, banter, like a little bit (a lot) of pining, strangers to friends to… something, FLIRTING, reader’s kinda fucked up but its ok, hoshi’s weird and endearing (as always), a tiny bit of hurt/comfort, minghao best boy, soonyoung is very sweet it makes me want to cry

synopsis → after an unfortunate burnout that lands you in every critic’s negative and all-seeing eye, you decide to take a break from the one thing you know. you’re not sure if you’ll find what you’re looking for out in the middle of the woods - if you’re looking for anything at all - but at the very least, soonyoung will make the hunt a little less lonely.

warnings → there’s eventually a forest fire (starts on day 64 and is mentioned throughout the rest of the fic) that leads to an evacuation but it’s not super detailed, mentions and descriptions of creative burnout/breakdown

a/n → IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! i made a fancy banner nd everything <3 i know 9k isn’t a lot to some people but this is probably the longest one shot i’ve ever written LMAOO so i hope it’s paced ok and everything <33 PLEASE let me know what yall thought about this i am insanely proud of it. ok thats it hehe. hope you enjoy!!! see u on the other side!!!!

btw here’s a fun playlist of songs i listened to while writing mixed with some songs i think reflect the fic super well <33

DAY ONE.

So. You’re… out here, now.

Save for the bugs you have to swat at every fifteen seconds, the outdoors doesn’t seem that bad. The weather isn’t too hot (yet, your mind reminds you) and there’s something about the color of the sky that makes your heart constrict in your chest. You can’t tell if it’s good or bad, but given your luck recently, you’re hoping it’s not a warning for the coming months - God knows you need a break. The weight of the journal in your bag feels heavier than any of the camping gear you brought with you.

You debate texting Minghao that you’ve made it to the park safely, but when you check your phone after deciding yes, you see the words no service instead of the familiar lines of a signal. It’s not that big of a deal - you’d told him when you left that you probably wouldn’t have service at all - but a little part of you feels the tender shake of anxiety at the thought of not being able to contact your best friend.

He was the most worried out of everyone when you told him you were leaving for the summer. You can’t really blame him - it was abrupt, you saw the flyer at the grocery store and took it - but after what happened… doing something felt, feels, better than sitting around and waiting for nothing to happen. Waiting for a healing you aren’t sure will ever come, at least not completely.

“Is this really…” Minghao had started upon first entering your apartment after getting your text. Clothes were thrown all over your bedroom floor in an attempt to pack. “Do you need to do this?”

The tone of his voice told you he wasn’t going to try to stop you, that he just wanted to make sure this was what you needed. You had only nodded, sitting down on the edge of your bed to fold clothes and pack them into your suitcase.

“I just don’t want you to run away from it all,” Minghao said softly, sitting next to you. “You’ll need to face it eventually.”

“Is escaping really such a bad thing?” You asked, looking at Minghao. He gave you the look he did when you said something stupid, and if you weren’t still so wired from everything, you might have laughed. Instead, you sighed, placing a pair of pants into your suitcase. “I just need some time.”

Before you can face it, before you can come back, before you can write again… you still don’t know. Minghao had placed a kind hand on your shoulder to tell you there was no rush.

It’d taken no more than two days for you to get everything ready - including buying some apparently necessary survival equipment from Target. In a matter of a few hours you had gathered everything up, texted some other friends and your family that you might not be available the next few months and then… you left.

(Your manager was pretty pissed off that you left so suddenly, but she was also pissed off at you when you told her you needed a break for at least a few weeks, so you’re not really offended.)

You take one last longing look at your car before locking it, pocketing the keys, and starting on your hike.

The hike takes almost the whole day.

You think you almost cry when you finally see the watch tower you’re supposed to be staying in, your legs barely able to hold the rest of your body up. The hike wasn’t hard, really - long, though, and for someone who usually spends a work day sitting at a desk, you’re surprised you’re still alive. You find the little lock that holds the keys to the tower at the bottom of the stairs, fastened onto the railing. It takes a few seconds for you to enter the code you’d been given earlier, relishing in the soft breeze the cools the sweat on your face and neck. The sun is just barely starting to set beyond the mountains, a beautiful sight that you can’t properly focus on because all you want to do is pass out. You’re pretty sure you almost do on your way up the stairs.

The cabin at the top of the tower is pretty scarcely furnished, save for a few basic necessities (a gas stove rests on one wall, a small desk opposite to it by the door, a mini-fridge, and a bed in the corner plus what looks like a map table in the center of the room). It’s a little weird, a feeling caught between the nostalgia of moving into a new place and something you can’t quite name, but you figure you have a few months to make it all a little more comfortable.

For now, though, you feel like you’re on the last leg of your energy. Your mind is saying eat, sleep, eat, sleep on repeat and you have to agree with it, so you change the sheets on the bed, take down the boards over the windows while you wait for the macaroni from the Kraft box to cook. You end up eating a few forkfuls of poorly-made mac and cheese before crashing.

When you wake up, it’s to gentle static and a semi-clear, unfamiliar voice. It takes you a minute to remember where you are and what you’re doing, too disoriented to even think about the voice, but then - oh. Forest. Watch tower. Escape. Okay.

“Yo, Cottonwood! Am I coming through okay? Pick up your radio!”

Right. The voice. Radio?

“Come on, I saw you get in yesterday, I know you’re there. Unless,” a gasp, “you died! Oh my God, this is like a horror movie… and I’m next!”

You manage to wake up enough to locate your radio (a walkie-talkie resting on a charger on the desk) and, after a few seconds of gentle struggle, work it. “Not dead,” you say, then clear your throat because your voice does not sound good right after waking up. “I mean… almost. But not dead.”

There’s barely a moment of hesitation before the person on the other end hoots, apparently excited. “Arisen from the dead! Brought back to life by none other than the legendary Hoshi!”

A brief thought crosses your mind about having to listen to this guy all summer, but you quickly shoo it away. You won’t have to deal with it for the whole three months, right? “Who… who is Hoshi?”

“Me!” The voice answers, sounding a little too smug. “But it’s really just an alias. You can call me Soonyoung. I’m at Twin Peaks tower, west of yours!”

You spin around your cabin, looking through the windows cluelessly - how long have you been asleep, it’s practically afternoon - until you see a very small silhouette of another tower in the distance. You nod, then realize Soonyoung can’t see you. “Oh. Cool.”

“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?” Soonyoung asks, but his tone is light, breezy. You blink, reciting your name to him in a daze. “Pretty! So, what brings you out here?”

You weren’t expecting that question. “What?”

Soonyoung giggles into the radio. “Everyone comes out here for some reason. Like… Jihoon says it’s ‘cause it helps him write music. And Joshua loves the outdoors, so… what’s your reason?”

“You…” you start, not exactly wanting to tell a stranger the reason you ran away from everything you know. “Do you normally ask this many questions?”

“Yeah!”

You feel yourself sigh, already tired again.

“I… just wanted to get away for a while,” you end up saying. A half-truth. “I live in the city.”

“No way,” Soonyoung gasps excitedly. “Me too! I wonder if both of us have ever been walking and, like, passed each other without knowing…”

This isn’t exactly what you had in mind when you thought of escaping.

DAY TWO.

The next morning, you dedicate time to getting a little more settled into your home for the next few months. You didn’t bring a lot of decor - you didn’t think you needed any - but even seeing your blanket on the bed and a few books you need to catch up on reading stacked on the desk makes the place feel a little bit more like you. You eventually reach the journal you packed (that Minghao made you pack) and stare at it like it might do something. Like it might tell you to write again, or like it might tell you to leave everything behind. You don’t really know what you want from it.

A sing-songed version of your name comes from your radio and you blink away from the journal, set it down on the desk. “Good morning!” Soonyoung says from the other end, and you feel yourself take a deep breath as you pick up your radio and press down the button so he can hear you.

“Morning, Soonyoung,” you respond, calm compared to his excitement.

“So… what are your plans for today?”

“Um,” you pause, brows furrowed, looking towards the direction of his tower even though you know he can’t see you. “Looking out for fires?”

“That’s boring,” is Soonyoung’s immediate response, and you laugh a little.

“Kinda my job for a while.”

And listen, you’ve known Soonyoung for less than a full 24 hours, but even before your brain really comprehends what he’s saying you know you’re not going to like it. “Wait, that reminds me,” he says, tone of his voice a little less overexcited puppy. “What did you do before this? Or, like, what’s your career? I mean, you don’t have to answer, I just thought it could be a way for us to get to know each other…”

His voice fades away for the split second you remember a little too much all at once, but somehow your voice still sounds put together when you speak. “Nothing special,” you say. There’s a pause when you don’t elaborate any further, but instead of asking about it, Soonyoung changes the subject.

“Okay!” he says, back to a more playful tone. “Anyways, I asked about your plans ‘cause I kind of need you to do something for me.”

“Already asking favors?” you tease. “We just met, Soonyoung.”

You hear him laugh, loud and hearty, and it’s contagious even through a radio line so you feel your own smile pull at your lips. “One of the other lookouts found some teenagers with fireworks,” he informs you. “I need you to meet him and get the fireworks from him.”

Your feet are already in your shoes, one halfway tied. “You can’t do this?”

Soonyoung’s voice is strangely thoughtful, but you catch a hint of mischief at the end of his sentence. “I would, but Jihoonie said he’d eat me if I tried to see him again and I think he’s serious this time.”

He tells you where the other lookout - Jihoon - should be and gives you a quick lesson on how to properly use your map to get there. You’re not really excited for another hike this early on (you’re still sore from even getting up here) but by the time you meet the halfway mark you’re convinced it’s not that bad. It’s neither long nor challenging, and… well, Soonyoung’s insistent on keeping you company the whole time.

When you see what looks like a guy at the edge of a now-abandoned camp, you tell Soonyoung you’ll radio him when you’re on your way back to your tower. “Hey,” you call out as you get closer. The man looks up at you, his eyes sharp but not unkind. “Jihoon?”

“Yeah,” he replies. Under his cap you notice that his hair is a gentle silver, almost purple. He’s dressed casually, like you, and you suppose it’s a given since there’s no exact dress code for this job. “You’re the newbie?”

You didn’t know people knew about you. “I.. I guess,” you say, then tell him your name.

“Cool,” Jihoon says, voice flat like he’s distracted. He picks up the bag next to his feet and hands it to you. “Take these. Thanks.”

He starts to walk away, down a trail opposite the direction you came, but you think of earlier, when Soonyoung asked about your job (or when he didn’t). You call after Jihoon, hesitate, but then opt to make this quick since he looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. “Have you and Soonyoung… known each other for long?”

Jihoon turns around. He shrugs, then nods. “We met in college, a few years ago.”

“What kind of person is he?”

You watch in vague amusement as Jihoon’s nose scrunches up, but the small smile on his face refuses to hide and it makes you giggle. “Really annyoing,” he tells you, then pauses for a second like he’s looking for the right words, “kind of overwhelming sometimes. But he’s good. He’s someone you want around.”

Someone you want around, your brain repeats to you. You nod with a friendly smile as you haphazardly stuff the fireworks in your hiking bag. “Okay. Thank you.”

Jihoon offers an acknowledging nod of his own before continuing on his way back to his tower. You’re about five minutes into your hike back to yours when your radio sounds from your pocket with a now-familiar voice.

“Are you on your way back?” Soonyoung asks. “You forgot to tell me!”

“Sorry, yeah, I am now. I was talkin’ to Jihoon for a second.”

“Really? That’s weird. He rarely talks to anyone, especially strangers. What’d you talk about?”

You can’t help the small smile that lands on your face as you speak. “Stuff to blackmail you with.”

You think you hear Soonyoung’s groan all the way from his tower, and your smile only grows when it turns into a laugh.

DAY FIVE.

The clouds look dark today.

They haven’t covered the sun completely yet, but they’re closing in fast. You hope that it rains, already sick and tired of the disgusting heat, but also. Something else.

Rainy days always used to be the best to write, your brain supplies to you. You brave a glance at the still-unopened journal on the desk, thinking that maybe…

Your radio turning on drags you away from the crack in metaphorical door, coming at the perfect time as if to tell you that you’re not ready yet. You listen to it, grab the radio, murmur a greeting to Soonyoung.

“It’s getting pretty dark out, huh?” He says. He must be looking at the sky, too.

“Yeah,” you hum. “Hopefully the storm isn’t too bad.”

The line goes quiet, but you know that Soonyoung’s still there even if he isn’t saying anything. The knowledge comforts you, just a little.

“Well... got any rainy day stories?”

DAY SEVENTEEN.

“So, Soonyoung,” you call into your radio as you step outside. You’ve taken advantage of the small balcony around the entire cabin, setting up a few chairs you found in the storage unit at the bottom of the tower (just in case someone stops by, you tell yourself) and a small table you weren’t using inside. The nights are hot but still relaxing, and you find yourself sitting outside often, catching up on reading or taking in the stars.

“I can’t believe you radioed me first,” Soonyoung responds, and you hear the smugness in his voice. “I’m so happy!”

Soonyoung somehow almost always manages to be with you in the nights, too, even if not physically. Being away from the urban civilization you’re used to has been a little difficult to adjust to, but you feel significantly less alone whenever you hear him calling you. You tell him to be quiet even though both of you are laughing. The distant crickets make your chest warm.

“What do you do? You didn’t tell me before,” You ask him after a second. There’s a small wave of anxiety that rushes over you at the idea that he might call you out about when he asked you the same thing. That was two weeks ago, though, you think, and Soonyoung wouldn’t. You’re sure he’s been able to tell that it’s a touchy subject. You’re not as discreet as you think you are, even if (and you’ve learned this the past few weeks) Soonyoung’s a bit more on the oblivious side sometimes.

“I dance!”

Somehow, despite having not even seen what he looks like, it’s fitting. “Like… teach, or choreograph, or…”

“A little of everything,” Soonyoung tells you, and then starts elaborating. His voice echoes through your radio and you look up at the stars as you listen to him, trying to map out constellations from memory. He sounds so excited to simply talk about it, you can’t imagine what he must look like when he’s actually on stage. You hope you get to see it one day.

“You’ll have to teach me something sometime,” you say once he’s finished, voicing your thoughts. With a giggle that sounds like the stars above you, he tells you he’d love to.

A moment of quiet passes, spent focusing on the tiny specks of fireflies you see in the field around your tower and feeling the summer breeze as it passes. The words slip out of your mouth with much less resistance than you thought they would.

“I used to write,” you murmur into your radio. It takes you a moment to register the heavy beat of your heart, like you just got back from a run.

“Used to?” Soonyoung asks, curious but soft.

“For now,” you answer. The ache you’ve become familiar with throbs in your chest. “Hopefully not forever.”

It’s not the whole story - not even close - but you figure you might be able to tell him with time. The thought stresses you out even when you have nothing to stress about, and you think Soonyoung is psychic because he says, next, “the stars are really pretty tonight.”

You’re not looking at the sky when you answer. Your head is tilted in the direction of his tower.

“They really are,” you say.

DAY THIRTY-THREE.

You’ve fallen into a bit of a routine with Soonyoung.

Not a day goes by where you don’t talk to him - the one day you radioed and he didn’t pick up you genuinely thought something happened to him, seconds away from calling a park ranger. Right before you actually did it, though, he picked up his radio and said he had been taking a nap.

(His voice was a little groggy from sleep, sounded like he was pouting whether he meant to or not and you’d be lying if you said the thought didn’t make your heart skip a few beats - but if anyone asked, you’d definitely lie about it.)

One of you calls the other around the same time every morning and you don’t put down your radio until the sun is well behind the mountains. You’ve grown used to his presence, in a way, even if you can’t really feel him with you (though sometimes you swear you can). It’s comforting to have him out there with you, and it’s been so long since you’ve talked to someone the way you do with Soonyoung… you find yourself looking forward to every morning, waiting for when you hear him over your radio.

Today is no different.

Well, in an unrelated way, it is - you have to hike to a supply box to get your surplus of food for the next month and a half you have left. But even as you’re doing inventory of what you have left in your cabin on a piece of paper, you’re waiting for Soonyoung’s usual good morning. It comes as always, makes you smile when you hear it.

“Good morning!”

You leave your scratch paper on your desk and reach for your radio. “Morning,” you say after you’ve pressed the button down.

“So…” Soonyoung trails off. “Supply drop day.”

“Yeah,” you reply, sitting on your bed.

“Both of us are getting crates of food today…”

What is he getting at? “Uh-huh…?”

“Both of us… getting supplies… from the same place.”

A confused laugh leaves your lips. “Soonyoung, what is your point?”

Even for as often as you talk to him, you’re still always surprised when he starts yelling. “Let’s meet up!” he exclaims, obviously excited, and it clicks in your head.

“Oh my God, can we do that?”

“Yeah!” Soonyoung sounds like he’s grinning, smile palpable in his voice. “If we pull some strings with the other lookouts and get hiking at the right time, it’s totally possible.”

Holy shit. Your heart is beating wildly, butterflies swarming around it at the thought of meeting Soonyoung in person. “Okay,” you tell him, noting that you sound a little breathless. “Okay, yeah, let’s do it.”

It takes a few minutes to work everything out - the supply boxes should be dropped off by midday, so you can leave your tower around then and get to the drop location in a little over an hour. Soonyoung has to leave earlier than you since he’s farther away, but if everything goes well the two of you should get to the drop location close to the same time, margin of error small. You radio Jihoon to cover for you while you’re out, and he agrees, although he sounds a bit miffed.

When you finally leave for your hike, you’re not expecting how quiet it is. Soonyoung’s usually there to cover it up with his voice - you don’t hike often (you’ve not had to, given your job for the summer is to watch for fires) but whenever you have he’s been there to keep you company. You plug in your earphones about halfway through your trip just to drown out the quiet, something more to listen to than just trees and the sound of your own footsteps.

Eventually you make it to the supply box, and, well. There’s a guy. Standing in front of a long, green box - you think you see lookout tower names engraved ever few inches: Thorofare, Cottonwood, Twin Peaks. Packing some ready-to-eat meals into his backpack.

Holy shit, Soonyoung? your brain automatically asks, and it sends your heart spiraling up and down. You’re not sure what you thought he looked like, but it wasn’t this. Tall, lean - wait, you don’t even know if this is actually him yet.

Before you can think too much about it, you call out, voice tentative. “Are you… Soonyoung?”

The man turns around, shakes his head with a kind smile. “No,” he says. “I’m Joshua.”

You think about throwing yourself into the river by your tower when you get back for absolutely no reason. Somehow you manage a polite smile and a gentle sorry.

“No, don’t apologize, you’re fine!” Joshua chirps, adjusting the cap on his head. “You’re looking for him?”

You pause. Those aren’t the exact words you would use, but they’re not technically wrong, so you nod. After all, you don’t know what he looks like (you probably should have asked him before both of you left, but you weren’t expecting another person to be here).

“Please don’t tell me he got lost again,” Joshua says, suddenly looking tired, and you look back at him wide-eyed because... again? Has this happened before?

“No,” you tell him. “No, I mean, I don’t think so. I don’t know. Since we both have to pick up supplies he thought it’d be cool if we met up in person.”

Joshua sighs, seemingly relieved, then continues packing what’s left of his supplies into his backpack as he hums. “That’s weird.”

“What is?”

He shrugs. “Soonyoung likes the outdoors, yeah, but the supply box is a pretty far hike from his tower. I think the last few summers he’s had them delivered.”

Oh, you think, and maybe say out loud, because then Joshua’s looking back at you, a mischievous smile on his face.

“He must really like you to come all the way out here,” he tells you, and you laugh like it might get rid of all the thoughts popping up in your mind that you keep telling yourself to stop thinking about.

“And yet,” you say wistfully, looking towards the horizon. “I still come second to Jihoon.”

This time Joshua laughs, a friendly sound, and the two of you fall into a playful conversation. He’s somewhat a superior of yours, though not by a far gap - as the lookout who’s been on the job the longest, he oversees the rest of you (which is you, Soonyoung, Jihoon, and a few others you have yet to come across). You get along with him easily and it’s weird to think that if you hadn’t gone through what you did a few months ago you wouldn’t be here talking to him, establishing what could be a new friendship. You wonder if that’s a new step towards healing, finding a way to be grateful even if it was horrible.

You talk to Joshua for a while until he says he should get back to his tower. You nod, tell him goodbye (and thanks for his company) and he starts to walk away -

“Shua!”

A burst of platinum blonde hair rushes past you from the opposite direction you came from, heading for Joshua. The new guy drops a bag at his feet and almost softly crashes into Joshua, who has this look on his face you can’t really decipher.

“Hey, Soonyoung,” he says, and you blink.

Soonyoung, like… your Soonyoung? The Soonyoung you’ve been talking to for weeks?

You watch as the two hug, Soonyoung excited to see Joshua and completely ignoring you (though you’re not sure he’s doing it intentionally). All you can do is stand there. This is him, your brain keeps telling you. This is the guy.

“I haven’t seen you in forever!” Soonyoung exclaims, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. “How are you? How have things been?”

Joshua shrugs, a small smile on his face as he puts a gentle hand on Soonyoung’s head and starts… petting. “I’ve been good, same old deal. I know that you’ve been doing good too, though, as far as I’ve seen from your reports.”

Soonyoung beams at the praise and you take note of it in the back of your mind (you also note the way Joshua’s treating him like a toddler and how it’s working). He opens his mouth to say something else but looks around and meets your eyes - for a second there’s nothing at all, but then you think you see an exclamation mark actually pop above his head.

The yell of your name is so loud it makes you jump. “Oh my God,” Soonyoung whines, falling to his knees dramatically. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you!”

“This is the first time you’ve seen me,” you say. You can’t seem to hold back your smile.

Joshua excuses himself (again) and finally moves on his way, says he’s in Thorofare lookout if anything happens. The sun is mellow on your skin as you look at Soonyoung, take him in - light hair, warm eyes, tan skin. His smile matches your own. A breeze shifts by, slow and sweet.

“Hi,” you say.

Soonyoung grins.

“Hey.”

So the bag you saw Soonyoung drop on the ground before was, in fact, for a picnic.

He didn’t bring a lot of food (the whole point of the hike was to get supply boxes anyways) aside from a few candy bars he’d saved for today. He did bring a blanket, however, and the two of you set everything up on the edge of a rock not too far away from the drop location, under some trees. It looks over a small ravine, a stream cutting through at the bottom.

The time goes by like it was never there in the first place, spent talking and laughing. Soonyoung is just as animated in person as you thought he’d be, telling stories wildly as the two of you snack away a portion of your supplies. You know the two of you don’t have much time together, given how late it already was when Soonyoung arrived and both of your hikes back to your respective towers, but it’s still… refreshing, almost, to be with him like this, to finally get a piece of him you didn’t before. To hear him without the crackle of the radio and to see him.

To see him.

Something stirs in your chest when you look at him lying back on the blanket, arms supporting his head with his eyes closed. The sun lights up his skin in a golden glow, like honey, and the dark roots growing into his blonde hair are somehow endearing. The breath leaves your lungs when you finally label him as pretty. You hope you can blame the heat in your cheeks on the sun.

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Soonyoung sighs, still not opening his eyes. You almost reach out to brush the hair away from his face, but a breeze comes by and does it for you. You hope it’s not a sign.

“It would be nice, huh,” you murmur in response. You finally break your gaze from Soonyoung and lean back on your hands, soaking up the feeling of the blue sky.

It’s now that you remember what Joshua had said earlier about Soonyoung usually getting his supplies delivered, and you turn back to him. “Hey, before you got to the supply box, Joshua and I were talking.” Soonyoung hums in acknowledgement. “Is the hike from your tower to here really that bad?”

His voice strains as he stretches, opening his eyes to look at you. “I mean, yeah, it’s a bitch of a hike to take sometimes. But it’s not really hard except for a few spots, just long.”

You furrow your brows. When you agreed to meet him, you didn’t think it’d be this much trouble for him. “And you came all this way so we could… what, sit here and eat? Like we do most of the time anyways? Just separately?”

Soonyoung pouts at you and you feel personally attacked. “Food tastes good when you’re with other people.”

You give him a soft, semi-playful glare, and Soonyoung offers a small giggle. You turn back towards the view in front of you.

“Did you not want me to come down?” He asks, and he doesn’t sound… sad, really, more observant. Like he wants to know where you’re at.

“No,” you answer almost immediately (Jesus, your brain says). “I just… it’s a long trip. It doesn’t really seem like it’s worth the effort.”

Like I’m worth the effort, you think to yourself.

You hear Soonyoung shuffle behind you and turn around to look at him again, finding him sitting up straight. “It is to me,” he tells you, and there’s something in his eyes that holds you in your spot. The tips of his fingers brush against yours on the blanket. You’d look down if you didn’t think you’d miss something. “I wanted to.”

In a second, it clicks.

It’s not much longer until Soonyoung needs to start heading back. The two of you get your things together, and you help him pack up the picnic supplies he brought. When everything’s said and done and the two of you are back by the supply box, there’s a second of uncharacteristic quiet that falls over you.

“Let me know when you get back,” you say after a moment. Soonyoung grins.

“You’re worried about me!” he swoons, and you hit him on the shoulder playfully, but don’t deny it. It can be dangerous out there, and even if Soonyoung has been out here longer than you, anything can happen.

“Just radio me, okay?”

Soonyoung smiles, something a little softer from before. He nods. “I will. You be safe too.”

You nod in return, taking a few steps back towards the trail that leads back to your tower. “Talk to you later, Hoshi.”

The last you see of him before you turn around is the grin on his face.

DAY THIRTY-FOUR.

It feels like forever since you’ve been here.

A window is open and welcomes a distant ambiance of the forest around you, trees and birds and animals. The journal you brought with you is open to the first page, but remains untouched - nothing on the pages. At least, not yet.

(The not yet you always tell yourself seems closer, this time, not so far away. Within reach, or at least within reason.)

Soonyoung had called in that the hike from yesterday had worn him out and he needed a nap. You had laughed fondly at how tired he sounded, told him to sleep well and that you’d be waiting for him. And you feel the words, right at your fingertips, the way the rest and wait to be written. Their presence is both terrifying and reassuring.

You don’t think they’ll be able to bleed out correctly, not the way they used to since it’s been so long. But they’re there, in your mind, in your heart.

You pick up the pen you got out, feel the weight of it as you click it a few times. You tap it on the desk once, twice, and then.

You take a deep breath and start to write.

DAY SIXTY-FOUR.

“Are you lookin’ at the fire?”

Your eyes leave the page of your book at Soonyoung’s voice crackling from the radio, looking around your cabin windows to see that, oh, there is a fire. You’d kind of forgotten that it’s… literally your job. At least there are multiple lookouts.

You fold the corner of the page you’re on as a makeshift bookmark before closing the book and setting it down on your bed as you stand to get your radio. You grab a can of soda from the mini-fridge you’ve started to utilize (as best you can, given it does a mediocre job at keeping things cool) before walking out onto the deck, sitting in one of the chairs you set up. “Now I am,” you tell Soonyoung as you adjust the chair so it faces the direction of the fire. You think you’re the closest lookout to it - which makes the fact that you didn’t notice it even worse - but not in any danger. The smoke paints the evening sky red-orange, washing over the purples and blues the sun used earlier as it set. “You’ve called it in?”

“Yeah, told Josh, who told the higher-ups,” Soonyoung responds, voice strangely… solemn? He sighs his next words. “They’ll probably send a crew in for suppression by morning.”

“Is there a reason you sound sad about putting a potentially dangerous forest fire out?” You tease, cracking open your soda and taking a sip. The carbonation feels good in your mouth, pops on your tongue.

“I’m not!” Soonyoung denies after some sputtering, and you laugh. “Just… ugh, looking at it - I’ve worked here every summer for the past, like, five years, and I’ve only ever seen two fires. Three, counting this one.” His voice gains a certain softness, like he’s lost in thought. “I don’t want the place to burn down or anything, but… don’t you think it’s kind of beautiful?”

It’s a little morally ambiguous, but as you look at the distant, licking flames you have to agree. In the dark, it’s vibrant, more than just ashy smoke and the smell of burning - it glows red, flushes out silhouettes of the trees in between it and you.

“I guess it is,” you hum into your radio as you stare at it.

“So. What should we name it?”

“The fire?”

“Yes,” Soonyoung says, dramatic as always. “She needs a name! I’ve always given them names, but I’ll let you do the honor this time.”

There’s something sweet in the way he offers you the chance to name it, and you try not to dwell on it too much. “Ah,” you start, thinking for a moment. “Barbara. The Barbara Fire.”

Soonyoung howls out a laugh and it’s infectious; you feel the tugging of your lips into a grin. “That is the worst thing that has ever come out of your mouth,” he says, and you roll your eyes. “We are not naming it the Barbara Fire.”

You huff out a fake whine. “Come on, it’s just Barb! She’s beautiful.”

“But deadly,” Soonyoung adds in a voice that sounds like it came straight out of a crime documentary. It makes you giggle, the two of you throwing around silly, stupid names.

“Okay, okay,” you say after a few minutes. “Then… hmm, the Hoshi Fire.”

There’s a long, long pause, and you hold down the button to your radio again. “Uh oh, is he broken?”

Soonyoung’s voice comes through, joking, but you sense a pinch of sincerity. “You want to name a raging forest fire after me… I feel like I shouldn’t be happy but I kind of am.”

You remember to push the button as you laugh, looking directly at the fire and shouting, “I hereby dub thee… the Hoshi Fire!” as loud as you can.

After the laughter dies down, for a second, there’s quiet - not awkward or for the sake of a bit, just quiet. Soonyoung’s not telling a story, you’re not giving witty comebacks. It’s just the two of you and the fire, alone in the forest.

It breaks eventually. Soft, gentle. “I’m glad you’re out here, you know,” Soonyoung says.

His words make you stiffen and relax all at once, and almost on instinct you look in the direction of his tower. You can’t really see the silhouette - the sun too far gone, taking the last of its light with it - but you know it’s there, can pinpoint exactly where it should be. You hope Soonyoung’s looking over at you, too.

And even if the reason you’re here in the first place is still a tender bruise to be pressed, you find yourself recovering a little more every day. “I am, too,” you respond. “I… I wish you were over here.”

It’s a roundabout way to say I miss you, but a part of you thinks neither of you are ready for something that explicit. You reach a hand out in the direction of Soonyoung’s tower, grasping at it like it might bring him to you. It’s not as if you can’t meet up with him again, but… between the distance and the fact that there’s an actual fire to keep your eye on, it certainly wouldn’t be easy. This is the closest you can get for now.

“I wish I was too,” Soonyoung says. You close your eyes to picture him, pretty smile and fond eyes. “We could hang out, like last time.”

“Without the radios,” you add.

“We could, um… you know.”

His words make you giggle, and you feel a little lucky that you’re not holding down the button. Your heart is pounding in your chest, nervous but stable, secure, as you reply. A welcomed beat, even if startling.

“No, I don’t,” you tell him. Your soda sits forgotten, half-empty, on the floor of the deck by your feet. You don’t bother paying attention to the fire. “What could we do?”

Soonyoung groans and this time you laugh pushing the button so he can hear you, warm and affectionate. “Don’t tease me! You know what I’m talking about.”

You do. “What could we do, Soonyoung?”

There’s a pause, but you know he’s still there.

“Well,” he says eventually. “Let me tell you.”

DAY SEVENTY-SIX.

The fire’s gotten big.

You feel like you shouldn’t be surprised by it - it’s a wildfire, they’re not exactly easy to contain, but seeing it up close like this is vastly different from being in a city and barely even noticing the smoke. It is larger than life out here, consuming more and more of the forest each day. The last few days you’ve spent inside due to the low visibility (though it’s not as if you take a hike every day anyways). It makes you wonder if it’s safe to stay out here.

“...Hey,” Soonyoung radios in. “I have a question for you.”

Rationally, you know whatever it is, it can’t be that serious. But your heart picks up pace anyways, beats a little harder as you pick up your radio to respond. “Look, it was Jihoon’s idea to use the fireworks, I promise neither of us knew it would start the fire.”

Soonyoung sputters out a laugh and you match him, feeling yourself calm down. “I’ll… I’ll ask Jihoon about that later, but - I really do have something to ask you.”

You lay down in your bed, unmade and messy. “Is it… bad?”

“I don’t think so,” Soonyoung responds. “Maybe?”

“Okay…” you say, timid. “Shoot.”

“When you first got here, I asked why you took the job,” he says, and you nod to yourself, remembering the first call you got from him. “You just… never really responded. I get it if it’s, like, a touchy subject, I don’t want to pressure you at all…”

“No,” you interrupt before you realize what you’re saying. You take a deep breath, Soonyoung waits. “No, it’s probably… it might be good to talk about it. I’ll tell you.”

He murmurs an okay, tells you to take your time and you do. It’s not like you’re scared to tell him - you’ve come to trust him, you know he won’t judge you for anything that happened or think any differently of you. You’re not even sure that’s why it’s hard for you to talk about - rather than any sort of outside force that might affect you, it’s more… more of a part of you that you felt you lost. It’s more coming to terms - even after these months - and going through the motions. It’s scary to talk about disconnection, especially from the one thing you loved (love?) more than anything.

“I… write,” is how you start, looking at the ceiling of your cabin as you speak. “Or wrote, maybe? I’m an author. I have a few books published. Writing is something I’ve loved since I was so young, it’s… a part of me, really. It’s special to me.

“When I finally got a manager and a publishing company and all that official stuff, I was so excited. It was like I was finally living my dream. I wrote my first book and got it published and it did really well, so my management asked me to do another, and I did. Then they asked for one after that, and I didn’t… it felt too soon, in a way. Rushed. But I guess I did it because I had to, because I figured this just came with being a writer and not everything is what you want it to be - and I didn’t want to risk losing what I had wanted almost my entire life.”

You take a moment to steady yourself, note the tremble of your fingers and take a few deep breaths. Soonyoung waits for you, patient and kind. “It went like that for a while, and I lost touch with writing. I stopped loving the only thing I knew how to love. I was so detached from it. A few months before I took this job my manager set up a press conference for me, and I… kind of… had a breakdown. At the conference. So I’m out here to run away for a second. Be away from it all.”

The quiet that follows doesn’t make you nervous, really, but you’re still waiting for a reply of any sort. Even if it’s the common oh or it’ll be okay that you got from distant friends and relatives who didn’t know what was really going on. But Soonyoung was patient with you, so you can be patient with him.

“Have you written since?” He asks after a minute, and your eyes flash over to the journal on your desk. One page has the familiar strokes and loops of your handwriting, written after you met Soonyoung in person.

“Only once,” you respond, truthful.

“When you start to write again… will you show me?”

And for some reason the question is so tender, filled to the brim with something you want to name. It makes tears spring to your eyes as you look out over the rising fire, trying not to let your voice shake too much as you reply.

(Maybe it’s because he said when and not if, maybe it’s because he didn’t tell you it’ll be okay, maybe it’s because it’s him and not someone else telling you the same thing.)

“Yeah,” you say, letting go of the button to sniff. “Yeah, I will. If you let me see one of your dances.”

You hear Soonyoung’s smile through the radio as he tells you it’s a deal.

DAY SEVENTY-EIGHT.

For the first time since you started working, someone who isn’t Soonyoung calls you through the radio (not counting the time you radioed Jihoon to make sure he was still alive, because you only saw him once and hadn’t heard from him since then). You hear the familiar click that tells you someone’s on the station, and you’re fully expecting Soonyoung’s voice to light up your cabin the way it always does. Instead, Joshua’s voice rings through.

“You there?” He asks after a comfortable call of your name, and you pick up your radio.

“Yeah, I’m here. It’s been a while,” you respond, and Joshua hums. “How’ve you been?”

“I’ve… been,” he tells you, which earns a small laugh. “Anyways, I called in to let you know that they’re having trouble controlling the fire -”

You take a look at the giant flume of smoke north of your tower, nodding to yourself. “I can see that.”

Joshua tells you to be quiet. You hear the friendly smile in his voice.

“There’ll be an evacuation team here within the next two days,” he says. “Maybe less, shouldn’t be more. They’re gonna get all the lookouts evacuated.”

Oh. Evacuation? That means… the city. Your apartment, back to your family and friends. You’d forgotten an entire world exists outside of the bubble you created for yourself.

“Okay,” you say slowly, still looking at the fire. “I assume you’ve told the other lookouts?”

“I’ve got a few more to call, but other than that, yeah, everyone’s covered. I told Soonyoung and Jihoon first,” Joshua tells you, and you blink at the fact that you didn’t even have to ask. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

“Yeah. Stay safe, Josh.”

You sit for a while after that, trying to cope with the feeling in your chest. You… you feel better about everything, about writing, for sure, but. But. It’s cut short, even if only by a little over a week. You haven’t even started packing anything up - so much of you is strewn around the cabin, in the field around your tower, in the trees of the forest you hiked through. You don’t think you’re ready to say goodbye to the place you’ve made your home and the people (person, your heart whispers) with it.

The sun starts to set and the fire grows. You sit on your bed and look at the things you’ve made your own, a sunken, unfinished emotion spreading through you. Eventually it is Soonyoung’s voice that comes from your radio, low and humorous.

“The Hoshi Fire can’t be stopped…” he murmurs, and you laugh despite the loss you feel.

“Please,” you groan into your radio after you’ve grabbed it. “We’re getting evacuated!”

Soonyoung giggles, something mischievous that makes your heart warm with slow appreciation. “I can’t believe it’s ending so soon,” you say, standing up to walk around aimlessly.

“Yeah, the summer went by super fast, huh?” Soonyoung replies. “I’m kind of excited, though. I’ve missed a proper dance studio.”

That’s… oh.

A current of mild surprise rolls through you and you think you physically feel your jaw drop, just a little. That - that hurt. More than you want it to, more than you think it should - but it’s... fine. You’ve only known Soonyoung for a few months, it’s not like…

You realize you haven’t responded and open your mouth on purpose this time. “I wish we could share the sentiment, Hoshi,” you joke, hoping it doesn’t sound too stiff.

If Soonyoung notices anything, he doesn’t say it. Only laughs, sweet and genuine. “I’m sure you’ll find something to yearn for just as I yearn for dance,” he says dramatically. You laugh, forced, because yeah, you will. Maybe you already have.

DAY EIGHTY.

Evacuation day.

Last day in your tower. Last day in the forest. Last day of the job you took to escape, to heal. It’s spent packing up the things you brought with you, throwing away everything else. Joshua said helicopters would be touching down at two points - Twin Peaks lookout and Mule Point lookout. Twin Peaks is Soonyoung’s tower, and if you planned it out right, you could probably get there and leave with him.

You tell yourself that the reason you can’t is because Mule Point is closer. Safer. They’re evacuating you for a reason.

“Hey.”

Speak of the devil, you think, grabbing your radio from its charging port. “Hi.”

“So,” Soonyoung says. For the first time since you’ve known him, he seems awkward. “Evacuation day.”

“Yessir…”

“What evacuation point are you hiking to?”

You pause, hesitate like you’re about to say something you shouldn’t. “Mule Point,” you manage to get out. “It’s closer,” you say after, your brain telling you to justify it, explain.

“What did the Hoshi Fire ever do to you?” Soonyoung huffs out through a laugh, and it sounds so unaffected that you feel that ache from before again. After a second, he adds, “so… this’ll be the last we talk. At least for a while.”

That realization hits you like a brick and the sting behind your eyes seems normal - regardless of whatever was built between you and Soonyoung or what lead you out here in the first place, it’s so sad that it’s ending. “Yeah,” you say quietly. Everything is packed, you just need to get hiking. “I, um. Is it cheesy to say thank you?”

“Maybe,” Soonyoung chuckles. “But it’ll also make me feel really good, so…”

You feel yourself calm down and let out your own small giggle. Maybe it was always meant to end this way, a little too soon, a little too sad. “Really… thanks, Soonyoung. I think it would’ve been worse for me if I got the silence I came out here for. I’m glad I had you to talk to.”

“Thank you, too,” Soonyoung says back. “I hope… you write again. I’ll talk to you later.”

The mention of it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to, and you feel the smallest of smiles on your lips. “Yeah. Later.”

The radio clicks off and that’s the last you hear from Soonyoung.

EPILOGUE.

It’s hard to come back.

From nature, from Soonyoung - everything, really. To go from trees and fires and talking every night back to car horns, busy sidewalks and your own apartment. It’s weird to wake up and not see the immediate shine of the sun through your windows. But you come back, slowly get used to the life you had before.

And you start writing.

Given - you get back in August only start writing again in October, but you write. Little by little, page after page. Maybe not every day, like you used to, but the words are back and they are eager to get out, leave their mark as your work. You stand up to your management (with Minghao’s support) and take control of your own writing schedule. The pressure from before leaves. Writing becomes special more than ever, returns as the one thing you never get truly tired of.

Minghao asks about the job, your summer. You tell him it was easy and peaceful, and that you’re thankful for the time. You mention the other lookouts. You mention Soonyoung. Only in passing, though.

(Minghao definitely suspects something, but even if he asked, you wouldn’t tell him much.)

Sometimes you allow yourself to think of him - when you got back, you looked for a Soonyoung in the multiple dance studios in the city, but since you didn’t have a last name or any proper title, nothing came up. After that, you gave up, but he still shows up in your thoughts from time to time, bright blonde hair (the roots growing in) and glowing smile. It’s cold out, now, so you hope he isn’t getting sick and that he’s staying warm.

You’re reminded of just how cold it is when you have to brace the outside world to get your mail. There’s not even any wind, just an undeniable cold, and it makes your nose burn and eyes water as you walk the short trek to your mailbox. You find your slot and push your key in, unlocking it and gathering your mail. Most of it is junk, but you could have sworn something you ordered was supposed to come today -

“Excuse me?”

You turn your head to the voice and find a man walking towards you, his head turned down towards a small piece of paper. His voice sounds familiar, but you figure it must just be a neighbor you haven’t spoken to in a while. You turn your body to him, waiting for him to look up from the note so you can place a name on him. “Do you know where I can find an author…”

He looks up.

It’s Soonyoung.

He looks a little different - his hair is shorter, dyed black instead of the platinum you remember from last July. But it’s definitely him. The longer you stare at each other the wider his smile gets, and you stand, speechless. He’s looking at you like you’re the only thing in the world. Your heart starts to race, warms you up beneath your jacket.

“Found you,” Soonyoung grins. You can’t take your eyes off of him.

“Yeah,” you breathe. “You did.”

#caratwritersclub #kdiner #CRIES I'M SO EXCITED #THIS FIC IS MY BABY I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT!!!!#seventeen x reader #seventeen imagine #svt x reader #svt imagine #kwon soonyoung x reader #kwon soonyoung imagine #svt hoshi x reader #svt hoshi imagine #seventeen hoshi x reader #seventeen hoshi imagine #hoshi x reader #hoshi imagine

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ms-indifferwnt · 3 years

Text

Clouds pt 1

Taeil

Boyfriend!Taeil x genderneutral!Reader

"Its your choice, pretend you don't know or go inside and confront them about this"

Warning: Cursing, Suggestive, Yelling, Angst, mention of mental harm

Word Count: 5.4k

Note: Yayyy!!! 100 followers

Taeil and you probably take the cake for the most Clichè love story. The Best friends to lovers trope. Like seriously, you and Taeil have been friends since birth, technically, Your mom and his mom has been friends since college you see, met and gotten married to the love of their lives a year apart, gotten pregnant almost the same time and have birth a couple of months apart, so in reality, you and Taeil have been fated to be bestfriends

When you were born six months apart after Moon Taeil, he and his family visited you and your mother in the Hospital while your dad was busy running around the hospital telling everyone he was a dad

Ofcourse you and Taeil had no memory of this but your mom’s were more than happy to introduce their children. Shipping the two of you since you were born

You were six years old, that was your first memory of Taeil, maybe because you always thought of him as the annoying kid that lives a block away who loves to pester you, you were playing with other kids when, your neighbor, Doyoungie (who you had affectionally nicknamed, bunnie at the time) had kicked the ball to your face you remembered that you cried as he said sorry. You were angry and hurt and Taeil was the only one who laughed at the scene but upon seeing your crying face he hugs you and holds your hand “Aww don’t cry, Y/n” he says happily “Lets go play more ok?”

Taeil’s first time thinking of you as someone more than the snotty brat he was forced to take care of was when you got lost, he didn’t have to take care of you then, but he thought he’d bring you along, he was five and you were turning four and he wanted to buy ice-cream, you wanted ice-cream, so he took you along to that ice-cream shop by the corner. It wasn’t dangerous his mom was with you

He bought ice cream, two of them, knowing that you won’t be able to finish it so he can eat two ice-creams but the moment he turned he doesn’t see you. He panicked and started looking for you all over the shop, trying not to alert his mom but when all hope seemed lost, he started sobbing, where are they? are they hurt? They’re mom is gonna be so sad-

“Mooooom!” He cries and runs to his mother who holds the boy in her arms

“Why are you crying what happened?”

“Y/n” He looks around “I cant find”

His mom smiles fondly at the boy “Are you worried?”

He nods “I’m supposed to protect them!” He cries and his mom coos gently carrying him and taking him out of the shop, placing him down

“ok, my strong boy” His mom says and kisses the top of his head, “look there” He obeys, with teary eyes only to spot you walking towards them with cotton candy in her hands and he pulled away from his mom to run to you

“Where were you?” He asked and held your face

“Clouds” You claimed happily showing the cotton candy proudly to him

“You should’ve waited” He sniffled and you reached over to wipe his cheeks, he smiles, but didn’t stop you

“Sorry” You whisper and he nods opening his mouth so he can taste the clouds and you happily letting him take a bite

He looks up to see his mom and your dad grinning at the sight “Hi, Y/n’s dad” he waves and looks at you who was playing with the cloud on your hand “No, Y/n.” He takes it and bonks your head making you wince “you’ll get sticky-”

You and Taeil literally grew up side by side, He was there for you back in middle school when this girl bullied you because you and Taeil would always be together.

Taeil wasn’t happy the way that girl treated you but you always ignored her, she was just jealous that you were bestfriends with him, so you had a habit of holding him back whenever he was about to say something to her, or you try to anyway

“Taeil” you hissed and tugged on his shirt again once he stared down at her, of course you know Taeil is a big softie who cries over Hachiko, The dog that waited for his master by the train station despite his master dying, and that dog from I am Legend, so you know he really means no harm, its just, its his big brother instincts that make him fight anyone who attempts to harm you cause as he quotes “You’re an annoying little snot rag I had to take care of, So if anyone has the right to mentally harm you its me” and rewarded him with a kick to the shin “Lets just go, leave her be”

He looks at you and you smiled softly “We can go get clouds before we go home” you offered once he allows you to take him away, he raises an eyebrow at your words

“You’re fourteen and you still call them clouds?”

You roll your eyes “Cotton candy” you said in distaste “That is the most disgusting word I have ever heard of, Clouds on the other hand, sounds more magical”

He laughs “What about I start calling dumplings as meat pockets again?”

You made a face “What are you five?”

“I’m as cute as one”

“I hate Toddlers”

“No you don’t” He says and leads you to his bike, getting on it after handig you his backpack “You love kids”

You sat by the back, sitting on it with your legs to the side while you held on to his waist, pinching his side “No, I don’t”

He flinches and moves to swat your hands “Yes, you do, you love kids, you would play with them at the park whenever their parents are busy,” he points out and starts biking

“I have no idea what you’re taking about-”

“Look its Baby Yuri” he says saying the name of that child you were always so fond of

You perked “Where?” only to see that its an empty road and a laughter coming from him as a reminder that Baby Yuri’s house is far from here “Jerk” you glared at him and pinched him again, he swats your hand away “now hurry up and teach me how to read Morse codes” you said and held on to the back of his shirt

The time Taeil stopped thinking like you were his little sister was when you dated on your second year of high school. Yes, cliché, but, at first he didn't care, he congratulated you and helped look stunning, he wasn't bitter that you were trying to show off for someone else, or that you were nervous to go on a date with someone else (not true, he did care, he was bitter, he hated every minute of it)

Three months into your relationship, you were crying in Taeil's arms, cause, apparently you had a fight, cause you were to close to Taeil and your fight resorted to yelling and you attempting to kick them

So when you called him, but you didn’t speak, he just heard your heavy breathing he knows you were upset, he knows that you’re trying every thing to not cry, he knows that if you speak you just might, so, he spoke first “Yours or mine?” he stops about three seconds after the first choice so you can hum or grunt (whichever you had the energy to do), then he’ll know what your answer is

You grunted at his second offer, and he stands up from his bed to start cleaning up around the house, “Sure, come over, you want me to pick-” He looks at his phone and you declined the call, so you’ll be coming over yourself.

He moves to get to work, cleaning up the mess and getting the snacks you like before you arrive, and when he was finished, there you were, on his porch, looking like you were about to kick his door in

He reaches out to hold your hand which you pulled it away and walked inside. He wasn’t offended, he knows why you don’t like the affection, he knows that you breakdown easily. The fact that you haven’t even teared up yet was amazing, but you aren’t outside, you aren’t alone, It’s Taeil, your bestfriend the boy that has been by your side all your life so he knows, you need a hug

He grabbed you by the arm to pull you into his chest, you gasped and attempted to push him away but he shushes you with a small affectionate kiss on your forehead, “its ok,” he whispers “I know you wanna be strong, so its ok, its just me, you did well, you’ve been so strong up until now” he holds you close that you tightened your grip on his shirt “Its just me, Let me be strong for you”

You cried into his chest that day, after his words. You would never admit it, but Taeil is probably the only one who has seen you cry, he doesn’t mind, he’s your Strength, he knows that, you know that, so when it gets too much Taeil lets you cry on him lets you take it out, he makes you feel taken care off And he wouldn’t have it any other way

He managed to calm you down, petting your hair and then he bonks you, making you look at him, tear stained cheeks, eyes bloodshot, he laughs as you rub your head “Feel better?”

“A bit, yeah”

He hums and pulls away “Go take a shower,” he moved to his cupboards and taking out a fresh towel, handing it to you, well actually he didn’t hand it, he fucking threw it to your face, and yeah it hurt, but it made you laugh and he smiles back “Go clean up, I’ll lend you some of my clothes” he sighs “again. Snotty,” He teases “You gotta return my clothes sometime today, the near future”

You smile “No, I like them, go buy new ones instead”

He laughs “Brat, I need my clothes”

You pout and crossed your arms "You're gonna make me cry again, big brother" you called him that only when you want something, and yeah, it usually works, but something about being referred to as big brother

He rolls his eyes and threw one of his sweatshirts to you making you yelp, “Shut up and go”

You obeyed, smiling softly at him. He stares at his hands, You haven’t called him Big Brother for a very long time and something about that made his blood boil

He just wishes he knows why. He’s been feeling like this for quite sometime, whenever you get to friendly or to close to someone, he has no idea if he should be angry at you or that person your talking to.

He settled on the sofa with a sigh and looked at the tv, where the opening scene of your favorite show was paused, your favorite snacks on the coffee table. His ears perked when he heard the familiar sound of his bathroom door opening, you were done, he turned to see your figure disappear somewhere behind his house, he knows what you’re doing you were gonna hang the towel you borrowed, then you reemerged, hair still obviously wet (you didn’t bother to properly dry it, he guesses, again), leaving wet splotches on his sweatshirt. You went up the stairs, he smiles, he has a feeling you’ll get pillows from his room, he can hear the door of his room open, yup he is right.

He stood up to get the towel you hanged and walked back to the living room to see you eating the snacks while cuddling his pillow, He really does know you now. He throws the towel at you “Dry your hair properly, or shave your head” he points out and you sigh, doing as your told with a playful kick to his thighs

Once you were done he leaves to hang it again, when he returns and sees you, he smiles excitedly sitting beside you, and you play the movie

It was just a random movie that you accidentally started liking (he was ninety-nine percent sure you only like it cause Ewan McGregor, who you think is “surprisingly charismatic”, is in it). He wasn’t watching though, the movie wasn’t interesting, he was watching you, reading you body language and facial expression, checking if you really are feeling better

He didn’t realize how hard he was staring at you, ‘till both of your eyes met, he froze, you were so close, his heart skipped a beat, was it just him? or was your eyes always that sparkly?

You lift your hand and placed the snack against his lips, feeding him “take a bite so you’ll stop looking at me like a lost puppy”

He blushes and nods, taking a bite. Looking away, he held his hands. He is fucking screwed

You on the other hand found out you liked him around college. Unfortunately, you and Taeil have drifted apart over time. You don’t hang out as usual, he is studying a different major than you after all, it was only natural you both have other friends

You didn’t like it

Over time you and Taeil have been going through your own time, like getting your own apartments and campus that we want to be on, It doesn’t change, you and Taeil go to and from the Campus and Your houses around the same time since you are neighbors but when the two of you get to the Campus its like neither of you know each other

Growing up with Taeil means, he was with you every waking moment and all of a sudden its gone, who will get used to that? He has been the person you grew with, who held yo while you were in pain and made you laugh when you were sad

“I miss you” You whispered one time as you sat on to the passengers seat of his car when you both were heading home for the holidays “A lot” you whispered quiet enough so that he won’t hear but you were wrong

Ever since Taeil accepted the fact that he likes you he has become more insightful in things that upset you, and he can see (he doesn’t know why) but he can see how upset you were and hearing you say that, he didn’t mean it, but it gave him hope that you liked him too

That week Taeil climbed your window to wake you up, knocking on your window 'till you eventually woke up

You weren't exactly asleep, you were to busy looking at your hands, thinking about your Christmas dinner at the Moon Household, you and you're family was there except you and Taeil haven't even attempted to try and speak or approach each other and it only hurt you more when neither of you tried. You sat up and froze, seeing a shadowy figure by your window and your instincts went to overdrive and you opened your mouth to scream for your father

Taeil noticed your on guard position and he shakes his head, knocking against your window in a pattern that he wishes to every one holy that you remember

“Da-” you stopped midway once you hear the knocking looking at the figure, you realized it was Morse code, you listened as the figure tapped the glass, long tap, pause, That’s a ‘T’ tap, long tap, pause, And that’s an ‘A’ tap, pause, what is that one again? Tap, Tap, pause, I remember this one its an ‘I’ tap, long tap, tap, tap

You looked at the figure “Taeil?” you asked and opened the window, Taeil climbing in letting out a sigh of relief “What the hell are you doing here?”

He laughs “I was bored,” You frowned and sat on your bed, glaring at the boy making him raise both his hands in defense “I’m kidding, don’t hit me”

You rolled your eyes and lied sown on the bed “Yeah well, leave, I was sleeping” facing away from him

“We both know you weren’t”

“shut up”

He smiles and taps your thigh over the blanket “Scoot over, I had a nightmare, don’t wanna sleep alone”

You turned to look at him “What are you five?”

“Is that a no?” He asks with a sly smile, holding the blanket up so he can join you when you agree

You sighed, scooting to the side and he slides in beside you “Big baby”

He laughs, but covered his mouth to not wake your parents “I didn’t really have a nightmare” he whispered and moves to tuck an arm underneath his head as you copy his movements, the two of you facing each other “You were avoiding the at the party”

You scoffed “No, you were avoiding me” you huffed

“Are you ok?” He asked reaching up to swipe the hair that covers your face “You’ve been extremely quiet”

You yawned, you felt safe I his presence to even fall asleep to it, you couldn’t help but smile softly at the action “I’m ok” you lied, closing your eyes

“Don’t lie to me” he says, he has known you long enough to know when you lie and he won’t let it pass “I wanna help you”

“There’s nothing you can do”

“There will be if you tell me”

“Taeil”

“Y/n”

You opened your eyes only to see him staring at you, with worry and care “I hate you”

He smiles, and you felt your cheeks warm up at the sight “No you don’t” You rolled your eyes and he nods “Tell me when you’re ready, but for now” he takes her free hand in a promise “I won’t leave your side, and don’t leave mine”

You looked at him, the at your hands, before nodding “Promise?”

He nods “Promise” He smiles as he watches you yawn “Get some sleep, ok?”

“Ok” you whisper and start to doze off “That’s all I ever wanted,” you whisper “I miss you” you whisper and fall asleep

Taeil’s heart was beating rapidly against his chest, miss him? what is that supposed to mean? was that even supposed to mean anything? And he was aware that your hands are still intertwined, he blushes, and holds it tighter, afraid of letting go. He watches you sleep this time, glad to see you peaceful, seeing you always made him happy, but sometimes knowing that you will never return these feelings, made him so weak that he wants to do nothing but lie in bed, he closes his eyes, his finger tapping mindlessly on your pillow

L-O-V-E Y-O-U

You and Taeil are still very much a bestfriends. And you two hang out majority of the time since Lee Taeyong, someone from Taeil's group of friends, and Suh Johnny, the American exchange student you became friends with started dating

So bam! You and Taeil were automatically the third wheel, which was fun since you two were already friends, everyone was talking and playing around while you and Taeil were speaking to other people. Taeil looks at you as you fed Jungwoo the tart you ordered and Taeil had to bite his tongue from saying something to the innocent boy

He starts tapping against the table as he looks through his phone, hoping you could understand the Morse code despite how loud the surroundings were

You did. And you couldn’t stop smiling, Fid me 2, He spelled, Feed you? and you understood, you must tease the boy “Ew” you said aloud so he’ll hear and he huffs making you laugh

“Aww I didn’t know you guys can read each other minds” Yuta teases and kicks Taeil under the table

Taeil shrugs “We’re that close”

You roll your eyes, feigning annoyance but you smiled at Taeil as he focuses on other people, joking and playing with them

“I’m hungry” Taeyong says making everybody listen to him, and Johnny nodding

“What do you wanna eat my love?” He asks and you gagged, making him elbow you

Taeyong chuckled and nodded “something sweet” he starts and hums

Johnny looks at everyone as they start suggesting food, Johnny and Taeyong turn down some till Taeil spoke “What about clouds?”

The whole room turned quiet and you stared at the boy in front of you, wide eyed while the room started to rumble with questions

“What the fuck is a cloud?”

“We’re talking about food Taeil”

“Taeil, are you stoned?”

“Since when can you eat clouds?”

You bursted out laughing once he starts to redden from your friends words before glaring at you “Y/n help me” You shake your head still too busy laughing, he growls “Its nothing, its an inside joke, you guys wouldn’t understand!” he huffs and lean against his chair, crossing his arms

Your laughter died sown as you stared at him, his eyes meeting yours and you blushed, taking a bite of your tart, Why are you blushing? you asked yourself, Why is your heart beating so fast? you might pass out if it continues, surely you don't like Taeil, TAEIL of all people, not him

“Y/n did you hear me?” Jungwoo says making you look at him and apologetically shake your head making him chuckle “I asked when you started liking him”

“I don’t”

He raises his eyebrow “Oh really? cool, cause I have this friend who wants me to set them up with Taeil”

You glared at him “Do you wanna die?” you asked annoyed

He laughs and winks “I will once you admit of your feelings”

You kicked him, then you hear the table buzz, looking up to see someone approach Taeil, shyly offering him a box, “I,” They smiles, cheeks painted red and you couldn’t help but glare at the new comer “I got you some chocolates, I hope you like them”

Taeil bows and takes the chocolates, and you look away, while Jungwoo looks at you, with a sly grin, and you point a threatening finger at him “Not a word”

Taeil and you confessed in the least romantic way possible, but you loved it all the same, granted you both fought, but it was cute and emotional all the same

He mindlessly played with the flashlight, switching it on and off against his wall, you were asleep on his bed cause you had a fight with your dad about a boy and you decided that sleeping over at Taeil's for the night wouldn't be that bad, so while you slept you lent hi your phone cause his was broken, why? easy, you threw it against the wall cause he wouldn't turn off his alarm "You dance to this shit Y/n" "I don't mind breaking your arm too"

So there he was switching your phone's flashlight on and off after he got bored spamming your gallery with his face. He was a little out of it, but he knows you're awake "You'll drain my battery" you murmured

"It'll charge" He mutters "My phone on the other hand" he says a bit snappy

You pout "I said I'm sorry, and I'm repairing it ok?"

He shrugs and continued going though your phone

You sat up and leaned your forehead against his back "I'm tired I wanna nap again"

"And I wanna date you, we don't get what we want"

You looked up at him so fast that you thought you'd have whiplash "What?" you’re heart beating against your chest

He smiled slyly, trying his best to not blush and moving away from you “End scene” He laughs and playfully winks at you, he chickened out, he hates how angry he has been these past couple of weeks, he hates seeing other people approach and flirt with you, he hates being the subject when you call someone your bestfriend or your older brother, he hates how he can’t push people who wanna keep you away cause he has no right. He hates that it was starting to hurt to look at you, to think about you, its not fair that he likes you and you’ll never be in his arms the way he wants you to. He hates how you’re seeing someone, and it isn’t him. He hates the fact that he loves you, why out of all people, he could love, why you?

“Taeil!” You raised your eyebrow and your voice “What the heck was that supposed to mean “You were kidding?” you didn’t mean it, but sounded so offended and sad, does Taeil really like you? your heart thumped at a quick pace when he looks at you, searching your face for answer

He gulps “why?” he asks facing you “What if I wasn’t?

You stared at him processing “Well-” He moves to tilt his head waiting for you to answer him, you retaliated by hitting him on the shoulder “You didn’t answer me asshole”

He looks at your phone not answering, not fiddling with anything except the morse code app you had in there, turning the sound and you can hear the message

-.-- . ... / -.-- . ... /-.-- . ...

“What the heck is ‘yes’ supposed to mean?” You started as he starts pressing the app to send you another message and you groaned “just tell me”

.. -- / -.- .. -.. -.. .. -. --. / .. -- / -.- .. -.. -.. -- -. --.

“I’m Kidding?” You read aloud and scrunched your nose “What the heck is that supposed to be? Tell me Taeil!” you yelled and moved slap your phone away from him when he tries to type a new code “Tell me, do you like me or not?” he stares at you “Was it a joke or were you serious?”

He looks at you in shock as you angrily told him those words, why were the you taking this seriously? you don’t like him, right? then why are you so angry? why is it affecting you? “What’s it have to do with you?”

“Taeil just tell me”

“Why do you need to know if its a joke or not?”

“Just tell me”

“Why? You’re dating someone right now right? why do you need to know?”

“Taeil I’m not..”

“No, tell me why” You opened your mouth when your phone on the floor of Taeil’s room started buzzing, speak of the devil, your phone flashed with his name and it mad Taeil’s blood boil even more when you stood up to take your phone, he grabbed it from your hands before you could answer and threw it to the side, grabbing your wrist and pulling you back on the bed, keeping you there, a hand on your wrist and the other on your waist “Tell me”

You glared at him gripping his collar “What the hell is wrong with you?” You asked angrily “You’ve been salty ever since I asked if I could stay over! You don’t want me here? That’s fine, tell me, you don’t need to let me stay when you clearly don’t want me here!” You’re chest heaved and he could tell you’re just starting “you wanna know why I want to know the truth from you? Cause I care for you more then what a friend, a sibling should do. I hate seeing you with Kim Kochan or Lee Robin those two flirt with you on a basis, you know that right? they cling and keep you all for themselves and I hate it! I hate how fast my heart beats when you smile or when you buy me snacks cause they’re my-”

He cuts you off with a swift kiss to your lips. How could he not, you just confessed you liked him albeit angrily, you still confessed. His lips moved slowly against yours and you froze, your mind on hyperdrive, ‘till he pulled away “I like you too but you’re really loud when you’re upset, we shou-”

You rolled your eyes and pulled his collar, making him crash into you, kissing him again, this time you slowly moved your lips against his, his hands snaking around your waist, to pull you closer, your arms wrapping around his neck

He licks your bottom lip, you groaned softly and he happily sticks his tongue in, gently brushing over your tongue, making you slightly whine and he grins, keeping hold of your as you both play tongue-sies

He pulls away, a string of saliva being the only thing connecting you both before he groans softly at the sight “I love you” he breathes before leaning to trail kisses down your jaw and neck making you tilt your head upward giving him more room. He smiles at the shudder before gripping your waist and pulling on it to make you go up and straddle him “Taeil” you gasped at how bold he was being and he chuckles

“Say it” he whispers against your ear licking a stripe on it while a hand travels under your shirt making you gasp at the coldness of his hand and the heat of your body, and he smiles “Please? Need to hear you say it”

“Really at a situation like this?” You huff and he only grins at you making you whine “I’ll tell you later, ok?” You tugged on his shirt, in a silent way to command him to do something, and only met with a shake of his head “Taeil” You whined again “fine, I love you too you big dork”

He smiles and happily kissed you again, holding you close before taking your shirt off and giving you everything you asked, encouraging him with every tug of his hair, a gasp and a moan of his name. He was addicted, he never wanted to stop to make you so whiny and needy and putty in his arms

He was happy that night, well dawn, finally having you in his arms, your neck covered in nothing but his marks, and he can see from his position your bruised waist. Oh and his hair, it was in pain, from the way you would pull and tug on it but he loved it, only reminding him that it was all real, his arms and shoulders were bruised but he just smiles at the slight sting before tightening his hold on your waist and kissing the shell of your ear

“No more” you whined and pouted “Please? I am so tired” you begged cupping his cheeks and he couldn’t help it he kissed your palms

“Stop” he bit his lip and looked at you all wide eyed, seeing your expression, your marks and looking absolutely fucked that he swung his legs over and kissed your nose “Just, just one more, ok? one more round”

“Dad!” Taeil grumbled “Are you serious right now?”

His dad nods “Yes” He points a finger at his chest “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care if you are sleeping around, as long as you don’t get STD’s or have a failing grade” He reminds “But any other than that, you’re free to do anything you want. You’re mother and I back in college, we had out share of fun”

Taeil covers his ears “no! no no, I don’t need to know, I don’t need to know my birth story, I don't need to know how sexy mom was, I am seriously going to run away screaming”

“Stop being a baby” His dad says and hits him upside the head, “I’m just saying, when you would sleep with someone, you stay over their place not the other way around, so I was wondering who is that? My son’s special someone? and also, I heard everything lastnight so I’m pretty sure it is a special person, and I wanted to ask if they’ll stay the morning cause, It’s my turn to make breakfast and I wanna know if I should add one more serving”

All of a sudden an excited squeal leaves his mother’s lips as she excitedly ran down the stairs and tackled Taeil “I am so proud of you” She praises and kisses him on the forehead “So so Proud”

“What happened?” His dad asks and She spins to look at her husband

“It’s Y/n”

He blinks and looks at his son then his wife, around the same time the mom clinged once again to Taeil, “I have been shipping you both since you two were in the womb, I waited twenty one years for the two of you to get together” she squeals and hugs him “Even better you both slept with each other, Honey, cook an extra serving for Y/n. And Taeil good job, satisfying your partners needs in bed is much more important, I approve”

“Mom!” Taeil groans

“Do you think Their parent’s know? we should invite them , lets go invite them!”

Part 2

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prettyyoungandbored · 4 years

Text

Both Sides Now [’Second Place’ Sequel]

Pairing: Bale!Bruce Wayne x Reader

Summary: 8 years after Rachel’s death and taking place before the events of “The Dark Knight Rises”, Bruce and Y/N meet and relive a painful memory.

Tagged: @kittenlittle24 @fzzziiiieee

Read ‘Second Place’ before you read this.

Author’s Note: Y’all ain’t ready for this.

It wasn’t clear how he found her, but she wasn’t upset. She’d secretly hoped the day would come.

Eight years had passed since she walked out of the Wayne penthouse, since she and Bruce broke it off, and since Rachel had passed. Sometimes, when the memories come back to her it feels like they happened the month before.

She smoothed her jeans as she made her way up the stairs to Wayne Manor, the pitter-patter of rain surrounding her as she attempted to keep dry with the umbrella over her head. When they were together, he was living at the penthouse in the middle of the city, she had dreamt of living in the Wayne Manor and raising a family of their own, but life had other plans as it always does.

She exhaled quickly and adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder. She knocked on the door and closed the umbrella.

Butterflies flew in her stomach as anticipation and anxiety ran throughout her body. She wondered how he looked. He had disappeared from the public not too long after the Dent memorial, as did Batman. In the wee small hours of the morning, she used to lie in bed and look outside the window, waiting for him to stand outside like he used to. He used to spend so many nights at her place at the end of his Batman shift. But eventually just like their relationship, her silly hopes came to an end and she stopped waiting.

The door opened and Alfred greeted her. His eyes lit up at the sight of her.

“Miss Y/L/N.”

“Alfred!”

He opened the door, letting her in. He closed the door behind her, taking her umbrella. She slid off her raincoat, placing it on the rack beside the door. Her smile widened as she wrapped her old friend into an embrace.

“You haven’t changed a bit,” she marveled.

“I could say the same for you,” he responded warmly.

“How are you doing?”

“Well enough. Yourself?”

“I’ve been quite alright. Busy, but alright.”

She eyed the manor, noticing the white sheets over the furniture and home decor. She heard Bruce lost money in a bad investment, but didn’t know what to believe considering he was one of the most the smartest men she’d ever met. It was strange seeing the proof with her own eyes, but she didn’t care. Her reason for coming was bigger than him losing his fortune.

“So this is the famous Wayne manor,” she sighed. “Bigger than I expected.”

Alfred chuckled. “It’s certainly something else. I’ll take you into the living room. Master Wayne will join you shortly.”

She followed the older man into the packed up living room. The only piece of furniture that was unpacked was an emerald velvet. While the windows were covered, slim rays of sunlight peaked through, adding tiny bits of sunlight into the dreary room. She took a seat on it and smiling at Alfred as he left.

She set her purse down and rested her hands on her lap. She eyed the room, imaging what it must’ve have looked like prior to it’s current state. Bruce was insistent on making the place exactly how it was prior to the fire. She remembered teasing him about how specific he was with the interior decorator about having certain, specific colors in certain, specific rooms.

Then from the corner of her eye, she spotted a painting that had yet to be covered. Her eyebrows furrowed, curiosity taking its course. She got up and knelt down in front of it to find it a was oil painting of Bruce and his parents, Thomas and Martha. Bruce looked like he was at least 10 years and had a stern expression on his face. Y/N chuckled at the thought that knowing how impatient the man tended to be, how dreadful posing for the picture must’ve been for young Bruce.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

She turned her head, her body springing up. A heaviness weighed over her chest, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Her breath hitched.

Age had been incredibly kind to Bruce, minus the grey stripe in the side of his hair. He played it casual with a plain grey tee, jeans. His playful, mischievous eyes stayed on her as he flashed the smile that still made her weak in the knees.

Her lips curved into a small, slightly embarrassed smile. “You always did like to make an entrance.”

Bruce stared at her in wonderment, amazed at how she’d managed to look the same after all these years. The way she smiled at him brought him the comfort he once felt when being in presence and it reminded him of a home he’d missed.

He chuckled. “I can’t help it.”

He started walking toward her when she noticed the limp in his walk. Her smile fell a bit.

“Shattered knee,” he explained casually. “Years of Batman injuries caught up with me.”

“Here, let me-.”

“It’s quite alright.” He laughed it off much to Y/N’s surprise. He limped his way to the sofa, taking a seat. Y/N followed close behind, taking a seat beside him and turning to face him.

“So how have you been?” he asked.

“I’ve been well,” she answered. “Still doing event plannings and whatnot. How about you?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been better but, it’s all good.”

“I heard,” she agreed, nodding her head. The heaviness of the subject of him losing everything lingered in the silence that followed. Feeling somewhat comfortable, Y/N took a deep breath. “Are you going to be ok?”

He nodded reassuringly, almost too confidently. “I have some thing I’m working on.”

“Well that’s good to know. You know, if you ever need anything-.”

He waved his hand. “I’m alright. I appreciate it though.”

“Bruce, you know I’m being serious.”

“I know and I appreciate it, but I’m ok for now.”

She gave him a small smile, silently agreeing to drop the subject. She shifted in her seat, clearing her throat.

“I have a daughter,” she admitted, pursing her lips back.

Bruce’s eyes peaked up, his face lightening up in interest. “You’re kidding.”

“Her name is Mallory,” she beamed. She pulled out her wallet, pulling up a photo.

Bruce took it from her, studying it. The child had Y/N’s smile and eyes as she smiled photogenically at the camera. His heart melted at the sight of her. “She’s beautiful. How old?”

“Just turned three.”

“So you’re married?” he asked, looking up from the photo.

She chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I, uhm...I used a sperm donor.”

Bruce nodded and she cleared her throat. “I’ve always wanted to be a mom-.”

“I remember that.”

In the time they were together, he couldn’t help but notice how Y/N looked at children and babies she passed by on the street. When things became more serious between them, she told Bruce her dreams of becoming a mom. Bruce, secretly having wanted kids himself, was in for it and the two spent time talking about a future with a child.

“Anyway, I just decided to go for it,” she went on.

“Were you ok?” he asked. “You know, with the delivery and everything?”

His mind wandered to the what if once again, imaging himself in the room with her, holding her hand as she had a mini-breakdown. He’d remind her she could do it, while pressing multiple kisses on her forehead and hands.

“My parents and friends supported me. I also had a great doctor and team of nurses to help me.”

The dream in his mind died. Nevertheless, there was some comfort in knowing she wasn’t totally alone.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

She shook her head. “I was for a while but that didn’t work out. It ended amicably though.” She paused. “What about you?”

He shook his head. “You’ll be happy to know you were the last.”

Her cheeks filled with color. “Wow, you’re kidding me.”

“I’m not.”

“You didn’t even sneak anyone in while you hung in here all these years?”

He shook his head as Y/N cocked her head back in astonishment. “Holy shit. That’s a long time for you.”

He laughed. “Yeah, yeah it is.”

Y/N cleared her throat and she fiddled with her fingers. While the small talk was great, she knew just why he called her here and she was ready to get to it. “I’m glad you called me.”

“I am too. It’s good to see you.”

She pursed her lips back, exhaling through her nose. “After...uhm...her voice trailed off as she sat up.

Bruce’s head lifted a bit, his body leaning toward her, waiting eagerly.

She sighed, realizing she had to rip the bandaid. “After what happened with us and to Rachel, I went to therapy and...while for the most part I was able to come to terms with most of it, there’s still...I still...” She stopped, chuckling. “God, this is fucking embarrassing.”

“It’s not,” he assured her. “Whatever is you want to say or ask, please. Go for it.”

She swallowed hard, pursing her lips. “Something Rachel brought up with me was that the night I went back to the apartment, you were going to propose to me.”

Bruce lowered his head, the memory coming alive in his mind.

“Was that true?” she asked.

He shifted his head up. “It was.” He reached into his jean pocket and pulled it out.

Y/N’s heart leapt at the sight of it. He handed it to her as she brought the ring closer to her eyes. It was a simple silver band with a .75 carat round diamond, with two little diamonds on each side of it, like the leaves of a flower. It was like watching her wildest dream come true in the palm of her hand.

Tears sprung from her eyes and she quickly wiped them, sniffling her nose.

“Y/N, what happened between Rachel and I...” his voice faltered. “We couldn’t be together because of Batman. Then she moved on with Harvey and I moved on with you.”

“But you didn’t fully move on,” she pointed out.

He nodded. “There was a lot between Rachel and I that we didn’t exactly come to terms with. When it became clear to me that I wanted to spend my life with you, I told Rachel. She told me she felt the same and wanted to be with Harvey. The kiss...neither one of us meant for it to happen, but it did.”

“You don’t regret it though?”

He shook his head. Much to his and her own surprise, Y/N gave him a small smile. “I understand.” She paused. “Would you ever have told me about it?”

“Truthfully?”

“Honestly.”

“No.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” she sighed. “This leads me to a follow up question, why was she the first person you told that you were giving up Batman?”

“Because a long time ago, she said that when I ended Batman we could be together. I wanted her to know that I was ending Batman but that I chose to be with you.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Of course.”

She leaned forward. “It took me a long time to come to terms with everything and if I’m being honest, it took me a long time to really forgive you.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have to ask you something that’s been bothering me for years.”

“By all means.”

“Did you ever actually plan to have a future with me?”

A small smile crept on his lips. “I did.”

“But you said Rachel-.”

“A part of me loved her still, but a larger part of me loved you more.”

She felt her heart shatter once again, just as it did almost eight years ago. “There are so many times I wondered if I had made a mistake walking out that door.”

“You were rightfully angry, Y/N-.”

“Not then. That morning after I woke up and you were on the couch and you...and I...” She exhaled. “I wish I never walked out the door that morning.”

He nodded his head. “And I wish I had stopped you. After all these years, I still wish I did.”

There was a sense of peace in his words. She still mattered to him, a conformation that she selfishly wondered about all these years.

“Do you wonder what we could’ve been?” Bruce asked, breaking the silence.

“Do you?”

“All time.”

She tilted her head, smiling. “Me too.” She sighed. “I sometimes live in the past too, Bruce.”

She sighed. “I better go. I have to pick up Mallory.”

His heart broke, realizing their meeting had come to an end. “I’ll walk you out the door.”

She swung her purse over her shoulder as the two walked together to the entrance of the house.

Stopping at the front door, Bruce scratched back of his head. “Would you ever try again? With me?”

Just as he began to regret his words, he felt her hand caress his cheek. She smiled. “When you’re ready, give me a call.”

As she walked away, Bruce watched her, a hopeful smile played on his lips.

“I take it the meeting went well?” Alfred inquired.

“Very much so.”

“She showed you pics of the child?”

“Her name is Mallory. She’s beautiful.”

“Did you tell her?”

Bruce turned to Alfred. “Not yet. Soon though.”

#bruce wayne x reader #bale!batman #bruce wayne imagine #Christian Bale #christian bale x reader #batman x reader #batman imagine #batman #the dark knight

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pluviophile-bookworm · 3 years

Text

HSMTMTS 2x10: New and a bit alarming... ok, very alarming

I don't even know at this point if I'm more nervous or excited for this episode. I've done my waiting and, well, whatever lies ahead, good or bad, or a little bit of both, I just can't wait anymore, even though I haven't been so scared to press play since... well, since last week. Guess I should just go for it, then:

Ooh, shady Seb doing the recap! We love to see it. Like, seriously, I'm anxious about the Seblos fight, but shady Seb is kind of my new favourite Seb.

I just... Ashlyn's acting is top tier. Emotional connection to the material? Superb! Chemistry with her co-lead... well, he'd have to be co-leading for any chemistry to be possible. I love Ricky, and I feel for him with all he's been through, but he's just not lead material right now. And it shows. Especially next to Ashlyn, who is killing it!

Miss Jenn is on the verge of a bloody mental breakdown and I just... wish I could do something to make things better. She reminds me of my mum when a deadline approaches for her to submit an article, and I just feel for her right now. Gosh, I'm feeling for everybody today. My empathy seems to be at its peak and I might just burst from all these emotions this episode is making me feel even before the 5-minute mark.

Ok, but Miss Jenn being stressed means Carlos is stressed for two, which means... this is a really bad time for him and Seb to have personal problems. My heart just can't handle it.

Wow... I never thought I'd see the day! The two leads are actually talking to each other! This is a mid-July miracle!

Why does everyone keep pretending their HSM was good? It was a flaming hot mess! A child could see that.

Miss Jenn needs a lot of work on her 'gracious face'. I, like Carlos, have quite some notes. Only mine aren't exactly, how do you say... verbally formulated quite yet.

Did Carlos just refer to Miss Jenn as 'mother'? Because yes.

I've been in a couple of local theatre productions in my day, but none of them had actual physical sets — we relied on the audience's imagination quite a lot — so I wouldn't know what a good set is made of... but even I can tell that plywood and Elmer's glue = not good.

Kourtney is a multi-tasking icon and we love her. I feel like I don't say this enough, but she deserves all the love.

Ooh, shady Seb is... well, shady! 'Quit school and get a job at the pizza shop?' — I mean, you don't see Reddy or Kourtney (or Howie, for that matter) quitting school in order to work at the Slices! Those kids juggle it all and, as someone who's never had to balance school and a job all at once, they have my deepest admiration.

Still, I think they should have thought about 'inventing' something re: transformation earlier than this point. The personal drama has taken up too much of their time.

Why does everyone keep inviting people over to Ashlyn's? I mean, it's not like I've ever heard her complain, but the girl needs some rest! And her house is not a public space.

Oh, so they're making this into a contest? I mean, I have never been a fan of competition, but to each their own. And Redlyn are hosting! This is going to be so beautiful! (You know, unless the boys try to sleep — see my post from yesterday about Reddy's background noise machine)

'I'm not worried. But North High should be!' Ooh, I love this look on Ashlyn! See, there's a lead to take notes from! And Ricky should be the first to do so. Take notes about what a lead acts like, I mean.

Oooooh, Big Red claps back! We love to see it. Although, you know, it stems from the fact that he's nervous about coming up with a solution to the transformation problem. 'I get bossy around the power tools' — Yes, sweetie, and I love that look on you. Maybe you should be around power tools more often, if that helps.

Ughhh, look what the cat brought in! Lily (I wish I knew her last name so I could refer to her by it exclusively, but we'll have to make do). I hate that girl. She reminds me quite exactly of the girl who bullied me in seventh grade to the point where I wished I'd die before having to deal with her at school again. She and Lily both bring out my aggressive side, and I hate that about them.

Ricky — 'so good at being a leading man'? I don't know what Lily is playing at here, but Ricky has not shown himself to be a very good leading man this season. He has the potential to be, but he has not fulfilled it by this point. Sure, he supports his friends and they support him, but that's basic decency. Not yet good leadership. No hate on Ricky, just the truth.

'I vaguely remember him' — please tell me this is setup for Ricky leading Lily on and then slamming the door in her face with the truth. The way I see it, he's been given a chance here. A chance to be the supportive, protective best friend Big Red deserves. I just... have a lot of ideas about this and I don't want it to end badly instead.

'I'm just not well-liked here, and I don't know what to do' — well, of course you aren't well-liked, you little— (ok, ok, calm down, breathe, 10, 9, 8...) whatever. I mean, she hasn't even considered basic decency, as it seems. Must be a new concept to her.

'Don't start with me, Carlos!' Wow. As much as I hate it that my two faves' only interaction in so long is so hostile, I kind of like this side of Big Red. I wonder what other sides of himself he's been hiding.

Listen, I don't like Seb being patronised and babied, but... 'Chip, this is your mother speaking: go call your mother!' made me laugh so hard. They're leaning into the on-stage family dynamic and I live for it.

EJ's idea of using old skateboards for the spinning contraption is... a brilliant callback to the fact that Ricky and Big Red were first characterised as skateboarders... you know, before diving headfirst into the theatre thing. And it feels like it might actually work.

Miss Jenn's excitement at seeing Mr Mazzara ('Benjamin!!!') is perhaps only topped by the fact that he was halfway home, got a text from her and instantly went back to the school. I mean, these two have something that's really big.

Miss Jenn referring to the kids as 'my children', combined with Carlos calling her 'mother' earlier just warms my heart so much! Those guys really are family. I live for it.

Ok, but... as clear as it is that the Wildcats are very far behind NH in terms of budget, rehearsal time and who knows what else, I hate seeing Miss Jenn resigned to them losing. I want to see her have faith in them, talk about how they will win, and, in her own words, 'trust the process'. I mean, I guess it's good that, as a teacher, she wants to prepare her kids for a possible defeat (and I mean really possible if they don't step up their game immediately, especially some of them * cough* Ricky *cough *), but a team that goes out to the field expecting to lose has a very minimal chance of winning.

Despite everything I've been saying again and again about Nini lately, the fact that she just delivered a very different 'No, Seb' has just redeemed her. See, this one wasn't dismissive or patronising — this was like, 'no, Seb, don't put yourself down' and I love that spin on the catchphrase I'd grown to hate. See, many things can be redeemed. And some simply cannot. * cough* Devil's spawn Lily *cough *. Also, Seb being self-conscious about the fact that Carlos 'doesn't have many options' at East Hight is the perfect setup for In a Heartbeat — meaning they will either have a chance to talk about their issue, or they have a telepathic connection, in which case, what kind of soulmate stuff is that?

'You're my sister; he's my cousin' — yeah, Ash, putting it like that makes it sound a lot weirder than it should, but I do get what you're trying to say. This is not a drill! Ashlyn is a Portwell shipper (heck, maybe even the captain of that ship) — but I feel like we already knew that.

'Why'd I never hear about this?' — and there it goes. Within the same scene, Nini was redeemed and then made aggravating again. What does she care if Gina thought Ricky sent her chocolates? He didn't. Because he and Gina can't be anything but very good friends. And I feel like good friends is what Gina needs. Maybe that's why I wanted EJ to be that for her initially (or it was because I'm aroace and don't tend to notice romantic attraction between fictional characters — or real people for that matter — unless it's explicitly stated to be there). But I've been on board of the majestic S.S. Portwell for a few weeks now and it's finally about to set sail.

Yeah, Nini, get a root beer, calm the heck down and get over it!

'Your other clockwise!' — Why does this even need to be said? How many 'clockwise's are there? I absolutely understand why Big Red gets the way he gets around power tools. I'd be on edge too, if the people I was trying to work with didn't know what way clockwise is. Still, I feel like by the time I'm 30, nobody younger than me would have a reason to know what way clockwise is, and I don't know if I feel bad or neutral about it.

Oh, so there's no telepathy involved in Seblos' problem resolution — it's been Redlyn's good communication all along. I might have known.

Ooh, Portwell is being discussed on both sides! PORTWELL NATION HOW WE FEELING

Nini? Why is everything about Nini? There's no way everything is about Nini. In all seriousness, though, EJ's worries about letting the next girl go seem valid in regards to Gina, given that she explicitly stated (though not within earshot of EJ or anyone who could have tipped him off) that she needs someone who will show up and stay. But they'll figure it out. They'll find a way. I know it. They will, or I will riot, and I know I won't be alone in that.

Ooh, Howie is giving Kourtney the original blueprints! Looks like Reddy isn't the only one who has a spy on the inside.

Ahhh, Ricky! Not 'Let You Go' again. I haven't cried to it in three days and I was not ready to break that streak. But... wait, this is where Carlos approaches Ricky to ask him for help with writing a song for Seb, isn't it? I am definitely ready for this.

Oh, is it... is it Ricky who suggests Carlos write a song for Seb? Now that is what a good leading man looks like.

'I'm adjusting to being called bro' — me too, Carlito, me too. But... this scene must have been so emotional for Josh, given that he hadn't come out yet. I remember him crying during The Climb and... all I'm saying is I want Ricky to come out at some point, too.

Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh... they were just talking about love languages and that's when Carlos shows up? Cinematic. Wait, there's Portwell too? This is what dreams are made of.

My oh my oh my! Risotto! For real this time. I might have just teared up. (Full disclosure: I did.) I've only had Portwell for about three weeks, but if anything happens to them, I will... you know how the meme goes. [side note: Wait, when I said 'for real this time', I was not expecting EJ would say it, much less word for word. Am I... writing this show now? It's usually my dad who predicts people's lines in TV shows]

'Not that I know of'... excuse me while I hyperventilate! These two are literal soulmates. They might share a brain, too, for all that I know. Portwell nation you ok guys?

I love that Ricky helped Carlos out with this song and is supporting him through it, but... I just might have preferred for him not to be there. I kind of need Seblos to have this moment to themselves. But, you know, with the way they feel about each other it might as well be like they're alone in the universe, let alone the room.

Ok, but Frankie's voice... brings out feelings in me that I didn't know I was capable of. Make of that what you will. Also, I'm not sobbing my eyes out, you are.

Ahhh Reddy my sunshine my sweet boy I love you but why did you have to cut Seblos' moment short? They were going to kiss, I know it. Oh well, they probably will, later on. Off-screen probably, but who cares? Not everything is for us to see. At least Carlos and Ricky had a moment there... Carlos calling Ricky 'bro' made me more emotional than I expected. It's like Miss Jenn says in s1: 'They're best bros, and that's a sacred thing... for reasons I will never understand'.

Ricky's acting sounds like a cat about to spit up a hairball, and it's so funny... in a scene that is supposed to be arguably the most dramatic of the entire play, that is not a good thing.

Oh my, oh my... you did not! You did not just end the episode with Ricky taking a fall from who knows how high. I was not ready. This episode was entirely too much for me. I will need 10 to 15 business days to recover from this, and we all know there aren't that many. But in the meantime you'll find me obsessively listening to In a Heartbeat for hours on end. Seriously, this episode is too much.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #ricky bowen #nini salazar-roberts #gina porter #ej caswell #ashlyn caswell #ashlyn moon caswell #big red redonovich #carlos rodriguez #seb matthew-smith #kourtney greene #hsmtmts miss jenn #hsmtmts mr mazzara #jnk #seblos #portwell #redlyn #jenzara

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disneygirl626 · 3 years

Text

Peter Parker x Reader :Journey: (2/2)

(Y/n) stood sideways in front of the mirror, a frown etched deep in her features.

“If you keep frowning like that your face is going to get stuck.”

She jumped and turned, watching her husband walk over to her. “Haha, very funny.”

“What’re you doing anyway?” Peter asked with a chuckle.

“Pete, look, the baby bump is already showing! They’re going to see right through me!” (Y/n) said, looking back at the mirror and placing her hands on her stomach.

While she was right, there was a bump, that’s also all it was. A bump. Barely even that, to be honest.

“Honey, I don’t think they’ll notice it,” Peter said, wrapping his arms around his wife from behind. His hands landed on her stomach and she smiled.

“What time is dinner again?” (Y/n) asked.

“Pepper said to be there at 6, but Tony said 7 so I have no idea,” Peter said, earning a laugh from (Y/n).

“May and Happy are coming too, right?” (Y/n) asked.

“Yep. How do you think we should tell everyone about the baby?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know. There’s so many options!” (Y/n) had been watching YouTube videos all day in preparation. She figured this is something they should’ve planned beforehand, but time had gotten away from her and before she knew it it was the day of the dinner and they still had no plan.

“We could do the picture thing,” Peter suggested.

“But who would take it?” (Y/n) asked as she went back to getting ready.

Peter plopped down on their bed with a bounce. “Oh yeah… Why don’t we do the onesie thing? Where it says ‘coming soon’ or something like that.”

“I think you have to have those custom made,” (Y/n) said.

The couple sat in silence, each racking their brains to think of something.

“What do you think of the ultrasound idea?” (Y/n) asked.

“Nah, it needs to be more creative,” Peter said, making his wife smirk.

“What’s that look for?” Peter asked, grinning.

“You’re just adorable,” (Y/n) said.

Peter’s grin widened before it slowly started to fade. “Have you.. have you thought anymore about telling your parents?”

His wife’s smile faded as well. After (Y/n) had gotten engaged to Peter, she and her family had gotten into a huge argument with her family. Her parents highly disapproved of Peter and wanted (Y/n) to go back to school instead of settling down so quickly.

They’d been invited to the wedding but no one had shown up. When Tony found out about that, he had offered to walk (Y/n) down the aisle and give her away. To say that she had started crying was an understatement.

Anyway, she hadn’t heard from her family since before the wedding so she hadn’t planned on telling them about the baby.

“I’ve thought about it. I just don’t know, Peter. There’s only two ways this could go and neither of them are good.”

“It’s completely up to you, (N/n). I’ll support whatever you choose,” Peter said. (Y/n) gave him a small smile.

She finished getting ready, but couldn’t shake that thought out of her head. If she did try to call them they could either ignore her or answer and give her a lecture about how she’s too young to be a mom and yada yada yada.

Her and Peter discussed how to surprise the rest of the family during the whole ride to the compound and came up with the perfect plan.

(Y/n) began shaking with nervous excitement as they pulled up to the compound.

“You ok?” Peter asked, frowning a little bit.

“Mhm,” she replied, climbing out of the car as May came to greet them.

“Hi guys!” she said happily. She ran over to (Y/n) and squeezed her in a hug. “I’ve missed you both!”

(Y/n) laughed as she hugged May. “We’ve missed you too!”

“Are you ok? You look… different. Not bad different, just different. Like you’re… glowing almost.”

(Y/n) froze for a split second. Peter saved her from having to answer as he walked over and squeezed his aunt in a hug.

May eyed (Y/n) suspiciously as the trio headed inside, but she didn’t say anything else about it.

“Hey, lovebirds,” Tony said with a grin.

Peter rolled his eyes but (Y/n) just smirked. The night continued on with (Y/n) on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She was sure they saw right through her. What if they weren’t happy about it? What if they thought they were too young to be parents? Her mom had been in her life, but she wasn’t exactly the best mom in the world. What if she wasn’t a good mom? What if-

“Hey.”

(Y/n) pulled herself out of her spiral of worry and looked up to find her husband watching her with a frown. “You ok?” he whispered, giving her hand a squeeze.

She forced a smile and nodded. “I’m ok. Just… tired I guess.”

Peter didn’t look like he believed her, but they didn’t have the chance to talk about it before FRIDAY announced the takeout they ordered had arrived.

As they sat around the living room and munched on the food, (Y/n) caught her husband’s eye and nodded, biting her lip in a smile. Her hands trembled as she handed May and Happy and Tony and Pepper a small gift as the conversation died down.

“What’s this?” May asked suspiciously, eyeing the small rectangle box with a little smile.

“A present,” (Y/n) replied, sitting next to Peter and taking his hand.

The couple’s opened their respective boxes, pulling out a sandwich baggie with ‘Spider-baby coming soon!’ written on it and a positive pregnancy stick in it.

Pepper was the first to catch on. She let out a happy little scream and jumped up, throwing the baggie at Tony in the process.

(Y/n) stood as Pepper practically bounced over and threw her arms around her and Peter. (Y/n) laughed as May caught on next, having about the same reaction as Pepper. Happy and Tony caught on shortly after that. They were excited but their reaction was a bit calmer than the women.

The months seemed to fly by after that. The first trimester had been rough. Morning sickness had hit (Y/n) like a brick wall. Most of the time she could only eat a couple saltines and drink some chicken broth.

There had been one point where they’d almost had to go see Helen, but thankfully everything worked itself out. They did call Dr. Cho a couple times, but without being able to actually see (Y/n), she had to guess it was from the radiation that changed Peter’s DNA.

“But-but he or she isn’t going to be an actual spider-baby, right?” (Y/n) had asked, having gone pale.

“No, I don't think so, (Y/n). He or she might have some powers, but I highly doubt it,” Helen had replied.

During the second trimester, the morning sickness gradually left and (Y/n) was hit with a whole bunch of cravings. The second trimester became (Y/n)’s favorite part of the pregnancy. She was able to actually eat normal food without puking her guts out ten minutes later and she felt great!

“(Y/n), are you sure you should be up there?”

“Ned, relax, it’s just a ladder.”

“Exactly, it’s a ladder! It could topple over at any second!”

“It won’t if you’re holding it.”

Ned tightened his grip on the metal ladder as he watched one of his best friends attempt to paint the wall in front of her. They were keeping the baby’s gender a surprise until he or she was born, so they had been a pretty sage green for the walls.

Peter was returning tomorrow night from a business trip with Stark Industries, so (Y/n) had called Ned and MJ to come help her decorate the nursery to surprise Peter.

The puking from the first trimester had taken its toll on (Y/n). She was a lot thinner now, except for the growing bump, and got dizzy pretty easily.

(Y/n) inched closer to the wall, much to Ned’s dismay. “(Y/n), do I need to call MJ?”

“No, I’m perfectly capable of doing this,” (Y/n) said, tongue poking out the side of her mouth as she concentrated on not hitting the ceiling.

“Capable of doing what?” MJ asked as she walked in. She carried bags from various baby stores, which she set in a pile in the middle of the room.

“(Y/n)’s trying to give me a heart attack,” Ned replied.

Said woman glared at him. “Am not.”

“(Y/n), do you really think you should be up there? What if you have a dizzy spell?” MJ asked, crossing her arms.

“I’ll be fine. Just let me get this last part then I’ll - oh!”

MJ and Ned raced over, but (Y/n) didn’t fall. Instead, she dropped the roller as her hand flew to her bump.

“What? What’s wrong?” Ned asked.

“He or she kicked!” (Y/n) said, grinning. She got down from the ladder and grabbed her friend’s hands, placing them on her belly. The baby kicked again, making grins pull at Ned and MJ’s lips.

“I wish Peter was here!” (Y/n) said, smiling bigger than she had in a while.

“(Y/n)?” someone called, making all three heads turn to the living room.

“Peter!” (Y/n) said happily, running to the doorway. She planted a kiss on his lips before grabbing his hand and putting it on her belly.

“(Y/n), what-?”

“Shh! Just watch!”

Sure enough, the baby kicked Peter’s hand. “Whoa!”

He grinned and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

The third trimester brought cramps, swollen feet, and weekly checkups. As the baby grew bigger, (Y/n)’s body began having a hard time adjusting. She became iron deficient and was confined to bed rest within the last couple weeks of her pregnancy due to other complications.

“Peter, I swear, I’ll be ok. Go be Spider-man for a little bit. I’ll call you if anything happens,” (Y/n) said, giving her husband’s hand a squeeze.

“But-”

“No buts. Baby and I will be ok, I promise.”

“What if you have to go to the bathroom? Or what if you get hungry?” Peter asked.

“I called MJ. We’re going to have a girls night,” (Y/n) said, one hand rubbing her large stomach while the other held her husband’s hand tightly.

Peter hesitated. “You swear you’ll call me if anything happens?”

“Yes,” (Y/n) said with a loving smile.

“Fine. I’ll only be gone for a few hours though, ok?”

“Ok. Stay safe, love,” (Y/n) said, pecking his lips before he got up.

“You too,” Peter said. He gave her belly a kiss before suiting up and jumping out the window.

“I will never get used to that,” (Y/n) sighed.

MJ showed up half an hour later and the girls filled up with junk food and cheesy rom-coms.

“So when are you due?” MJ asked as she left to refill the popcorn bucket.

“Two more weeks. But we don’t even know if it’ll actually happen on that day,” (Y/n) said, resting her head on the pillow behind her as she scrolled through Instagram.

A sharp pain shot through her body, making her wince. She didn’t think much of it, it’s been happening a lot lately. Then water began pooling under her thighs. She paled and muttered a curse.

“Uh.. Michelle?”

“I’m coming! Don’t play the movie yet!” MJ called back.

“MJ, my water broke!”

A crash came from the kitchen as MJ ran back into the bedroom. “Are you ok? Does anything hurt?”

“No-no, I’m ok. What-what should I do?” (Y/n) said as the situation began to set in.

“Call Peter. I’ll get your bag and your shoes,” MJ said.

(Y/n) had never been more thankful for her friend’s calmness before now. She tried her husband five times before giving up and leaving a message. She then tried Tony, who answered on the third ring.

“Hey, (Y/n), what’s up?”

“Tony, my water just broke and I can’t get a hold of my husband. I sent him out to be Spider-man for a little bit, but now he’s not answering!”

“OK, stay calm, (N/n). I’ll go look for him and make sure everything’s ok. Are you by yourself?”

“No, MJ is here with me. Call me when you find him!” (Y/n) said as MJ ran back in with (Y/n)’s sandals and hospital bag.

“Will do, kid.”

They hung up and called the hospital. Due to all of her complications so far, they told her to come in right away.

So MJ hailed a cab and helped her very pregnant friend down the stairs and into said cab. ON the way, they call Ned who met them at the hospital.

(Y/n) was called back into a room almost immediately with her friends by her side.

“Anything from Tony?” (Y/n) asked MJ.

As if on cue, her phone began ringing. MJ put it on speaker and said, “Tony? Did you find him?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. We’re on our way now. How’s she doing?”

“I’m fine, just get here quickly please!” (Y/n) said.

“We’re almost there!” Tony said before they hung up.

Well, after that phone call things rapidly went downhill. They gave her an epidural, and shortly after that (Y/n)’s blood pressure began dropping drastically, resulting in some panicked nurses and doctors.

(Y/n) began having trouble staying awake and the epidural wasn’t even working, which meant she was still in pain.

“MJ!”

MJ and Ned looked up from the seat they’d claimed as Peter and Tony ran in. Peter had a black eye and a cut on his cheek, but other than that he looked ok.

“Where is she? Is she ok?” Peter asked.

“Her blood pressure is dropping. They kicked us out,” Ned said.

“She’s in that room,” MJ said, pointing discreetly to the room across from them.

Peter raced in to find his pregnant wife pale and asleep while a doctor and nurse talked next to her. They both looked up when Peter walked in.

“I’m Peter, I’m her husband. What’s going on?” he said quickly.

“We’re going to have to do an emergency c-section, it’s not healthy for your wife or your baby if we try to wait,” the doctor said.

So that’s what happened. Almost three hours later, the Spider-baby was brought into the world and (Y/n)’s blood pressure started rising back to normal. She woke up almost thirty minutes after the baby was born to find Peter sitting next to her bed and holding her hand.

“Is the baby ok? Where-what happened?” she asked weakly.

“The baby is great. They have her in the NICU just to be safe for a couple days, but they said as soon as you feel like it we can go visit her,” Peter said, a soft smile on his face.

“Her? It’s a girl?” (Y/n) asked, smiling.

“We have a daughter, (N/n),” Peter said.

They found (Y/n) a wheelchair then went straight to the NICU.

“You must be Baby Parker’s parents. She’s doing great, she should be able to leave in a few days,” a nurse said with a kind smile.

“Thank you,” Peter said.

“Pete, she’s so beautiful,” (Y/n) said with tears in her eyes.

“What should we name her?” Peter asked.

“You pick the first name and I’ll pick the middle name,” (Y/n) said.

“Clara,” Peter said almost instantly.

“May,” (Y/n) said, just as quickly.

They smiled. “Clara May Parker.”

——

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! I know I brought up the parent thing, then never did anything with it so I was thinking of doing a little spinoff oneshot of this later on. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these twoshots!

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #reader inserts #x readers #pregnant reader #peter parker x pregnant!reader #tom holland #zendaya #jacob batalon #tony stark #may parker #robert downey jr #michelle jones #ned leeds #fanfiction #fanfic #marvel #spiderman #marvel movies

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underoosweb · 3 years

Text

Salvation ch.13

Peter Parker x Fem!reader

5.8k words

Happy smiled at the teens in front of him,

“Alright, now we just got to find out where your friends are.”

Y/N rolled her eyes

“I know how, give me your phone.” Happy handed his phone over

“What’s your password?” Y/N asked

“Password.”

“Exactly, what’s your pass-“

“No..I’m.. my password is password.” Y/N stared blankly at her uncle

“Happy, you’re the head of security and your password is password?” Peter said with an amusing tone in his voice

“Yeah, I don't feel good about it either.” Happy said hastily, Y/N snickered

“If dad was here, he would roll his eyes and sigh in disappointment.” Happy laughed

Y/N pulled up Flash’s Instagram

“Oh thank god, Flash never disappoints”

Ello, governor! Cup of tea for you? I'mma be in London soon. Flash’s voice came through the phone.

“They're in London.” Peter confirmed

“London? Okay.” Happy clapped his hands together, making his way to the front of the jet. Peter stood looking around

“You alright?” Y/N asked

“Yeah. I need a suit.” Peter looked over at Happy

Happy turns, with a bit of a grin on his face.

“Suit?” Happy turns again and walks forward, pressing buttons on the ceiling. One of Tony’s secret compartments opens behind Peter. The two turn and make eye contact, Peter smiling, then he turns back toward the compartment and moves toward it. Another small compartment opens as Peter stares at it. A small metal pad descends from a part of the ceiling, and Peter puts his hand on it. Blue lights appear, and he steps back. Y/N stares at Peter.

“Okay, um... bring up everything you have on Spider-Man.”

Y/N smiles. He reminds her of him

“What should I do?” She asks, turning to look at Happy.

“You’re gonna be with me this time.” Happy told Y/N

“But..”

“We gotta help your friends get to safety.”

Peter scrolls through the holograms that pop up as Happy and Y/N watch.

“Yeah, open that. Okay. No, no, no…”

Peter turns around with a holographic web shooter and notices Happy and Y/N watching him

“What?” Peter asked, smiling

Y/N shakes her head

“Nothing. You take care of the suit, I'll take care of the music.” Happy smiled and made his way back to the front of the jet

Happy presses a few more buttons and her dad’s favorite song ‘Back in Black’ plays through the speakers.

“Oh, I love Led Zeppelin!” Peter said confidentiality, while flipping his wrench in the air

Y/N’s eyes widened and she muffled her laugh

“Umm.. Peter?” Peter turned to her with doe eyes

“Yeah?” She smiled and shook her head

“Never mind.”

The plane takes off from the field and Peter expands a hologram of the Spider-Man suit

“Okay, can you pull up my web-shooters?”

A hologram of the web-shooter appears, and Peter pulls out a small part.

“Isolate the taser webs and reconfigure and boost the voltage to a factor of... 25 percent, and give me complete manual control over detonation.”

Y/N sat next to Happy,

“You know..” Happy looked over at the young teen

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to blame yourself.”

“What?” Y/N asked

“For your dad, you don’t have to blame yourself. Tony made his choice. There was nothing you could do.”

“I could’ve done it. I should have..”

“He wouldn’t have let you, when you disappeared, he was devastated, wouldn’t eat, sleep, he was just a living corpse, he worked day in and day out to figure out how to get you back. I don’t think he could go through with losing you again.” Y/Ns eyes filled with tears

“He really did try to love and raise the best he could.”

“I know.” Y/N met Happy’s eyes

“I feel like Peter feels the same way, he blames himself too.”

“I know.”

“Uncle Happy..”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll get better right?”

“Eventually.” Happy gave a small reassuring smile. Y/N nodded and changed the subject

“You know..”

“What?” Happy asked

“Eventually, you’re going to have to talk to Peter about you and May right?” Happy choked

“Can’t keep hiding Uncle Happy.” Y/N laughed

“I’m glad you found someone though.” Y/N looked down at her hands twiddling with her thumbs. Happy's hand covered hers

“I’m glad you have someone as well, your dad would be happy and a bit dramatic to see you, his first baby, dating.” Y/N laughed

“Yeah, I could see it now. Hands off my daughter, OK new rules, no touching, no kissing, you know what just stay about 20 no 50 feet apart.” Y/N said mimicking her dad, Happy laughed.

“He also definitely wouldn’t allow sleepovers anymore, not only that he would probably send Morgan with us on every date as a spy. He’d bribe her with cheeseburgers and ice cream.”

“Yeah, he would.” Peter looked over at the two

“We should call Fury and give me a head ups” Peter said

“Right, a coded message.” Happy begins to call Fury.

“What?” Nick answers annoyed

“Uh... Happy here. Happy Hogan here.”

“I know. What do you want?”

“Over at Mr. Stark’s, going through his belongings. Apparently, there was a surfboard that you left behind.”

“What?”

“People over there said they didn’t think Nick Fury was a surfer, but I said: “Appearances can be deceiving.”

“It’s not mine. And don’t ever call this number again.” Fury hangs up

“Is he ever happy?”

“Nope.” Y/N shrugs and pulls up Flash’s live again.

“They look like they’re having fun. After this we definitely need an actual vacation.” Y/N mumbled as Happy made his way towards Peter

“Okay. Fury’s got the coded message. Your friends are at the Tower Bridge.”

“Okay.”

“Your boy called it the London Bridge, but I figured it out. We’re going to scoop them up, okay?”

“Yeah.” Peter nodded

“We’re close.” Happy said

“We’re close.” Peter and Y/N confirmed

“How’s the suit comin’?” Y/N asked

“Almost done.”

“Good.” Y/N turned her attention back to the phone

“Wait, wait, whoa, whoa. Before you go…” Peter whispered to Happy

Peter looked over at Y/N to make sure she wasn’t paying attention to them and pulled out her necklace

“If something happens to me, could you please give this to her?” Peter hands the necklace to Happy but Happy refuses it

“You’re gonna make it back. You’ll give it to her yourself. ‘Kay? You got this.”

“I got this.” Peter nodded, putting the necklace back in his suit, Y/N stood and made her way towards them.

“Now walk us through it.”

Peter takes a deep breath “Ok, we know it’s illusion tech, right?”

“Mhm.” Y/N and Happy nod

“All I have to do is get on the inside of the illusion, then I can take it down, find him, and he’s just a guy, so I can take E.D.I.T.H. right back.”

“Right, but last time, we got hit by a train. And we sort of had a mental breakdown” Y/N said

“True, but this time… how do I explain this? Uh… I have like a sixth sense.”

Happy snapped his finger “The Peter-tingle. That’s what you’re talking about, right?”

Y/N choked back a laugh

“I thought it was called spidey sense, but Peter- tingle is cute”

Peter looked visibly annoyed by the mention of it . It’s clear that Aunt May told Happy about the Peter-tingle.

“May…” Peter whispered annoyed

“It’s not working, though. I heard it wasn’t working right now. Is it?” Happy asked

“It is working. Well, I don’t… I don’t know if it’s working…”

“Good, so you got the Peter-tingle. That’s the plan. I’m gonna go get your friends. You get that Peter-tingle back online.”

Happy runs back to the front of the ship

“You have to believe in yourself, if you want your Peter-tingle to work.” Peter groaned as Y/N smiled.

“I got this. I got this.” Peter mumbled, Y/N grabbed Peter’s face, her hands on his warm cheeks, she smiled reassuringly

“You got this, spider boy.” Y/N placed a kiss on his cheek. Peter nodded and blushed, Happy watched the whole thing happen, he wanted nothing more than to embarrass them and say he caught them in the act but he just shook his head and smiled. Peter headed towards the jet door

“Hey Peter,”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure you come back to me.” Peter smiled

“I promise.” Y/N nodded, walking back to the front of the jet.

“All right, comms check. Can you hear me, kid?”

Peter was on the outside plane

“Can you hear me? Y/N asked as well

“Yeah, I can. It’s just a little loud out here.”

“I like the new suit.”

“He look-“

“I don’t need to hear this.” Happy cut her off, Y/N rolled her eyes

“Thanks.” Peter chuckled

Y/N and Happy noticed the Elemental from a distance

“ Whoa, Peter, you sure that’s not real?”

Large storm clouds start to surround the Tower Bridge.

“Yeah, it’s just a hundred times bigger than I expected.”

“He really went all out using E.D.I.T.H. Didn’t he?

“Still the play?”

“Uh-huh. We need to get high enough so Beck doesn’t see me coming.”

“Copy. Stay sticky.”

The Jet rises right next to the Elemental.

“Hey, Happy.”

“Yeah, kid. What is it?”

“We need to have a serious conversation about you and my aunt!”

Before Peter could finish his sentence he lets go of the plane, falling toward the Elemental from above.Peter is flipping through air and falling from the sky. He opens his parachute and dives toward the Elemental

Happy looked outside the window and back at Y/N who was currently laughing her ass off.

“Told you.”

“I really gotta work on keeping things private.”

“Again as head of security, you would think you would be better at keeping things private.” Happy rolled his eyes. F.R.I.D.A.Y scanned the crowd for Y/N friends and classmates through the thousands of people running for their lives.

“Should I tell her?”

“Nope, trust me I’m pretty sure he’s already told her at some point in the trip.”

Flashes voice echoes through the jet, Y/N looks out the window to see half of the elemental slowly fade. Drones appear in its place.

“The monster was full of drones. It's crazy!” Flash yelled

“Found them.” F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice came through the com

“There you are.” Happy said, pulling up next to the river, the jet jolted, Y/N almost fell, clutching on the seats to catch herself

“Easy!” Her voice irritated

The Quinjet slowly lands to the ground. Happy looked back her

“Sorry, still a little rusty.” Y/N shook her head

“Let’s go.” Y/N and Happy run out of the jet, drones flying above them, Y/N looked over to the bridge, Beck stood there smirking, he waved at her and Y/N scoffed and flipped him off.

“Ned!” Happy and Y/N yelled with glee and in a slightly panicked voice

“Y/N! Happy!” Ned looked over at them with relief

“I got to get you guys out of here! Get on the jet!” Happy pointed back to the jet

“Who are you?” MJ asked

“MJ, now is not the time for questions and introductions. I’m with him, trust me he’s a friend” Y/N said

“I work with Spider-Man, okay? You got to get on that jet.” Happy introduced himself quickly

“You work for Spider-Man?” Flash asked excited

“Oh my god.” Y/N looked over at him frustrated.

“I work with Spider-Man, not for Spider-Man!” Happy yelled back annoyed at the comment

“NOW IS NOT THE TIME, WE GOTTA GO, BEFORE BECK KILLS US ALL.” Y/N yelled, everyone nodded, turning to run towards the Jet when the Jet exploded after getting hit from drone's missiles.

“Oh shit!” Y/N yelled

“Language!” Y/N looked over at Happy

“Yes, Uncle Steve.” Happy rolled his eyes

“FRIDAY? We need to find a new place to take them to.”

“New plan. Into the tower!” Happy turned around and headed towards the tower, Y/N looked over at them

“Wai-“ Y/N

“Miss? I suggest you follow them, it’s the safest place for your friends right now.”

Y/N sighed, running to catch up to them

Peter in the middle of all the chaos, sees the jet explode. The eyes on his suit widen

“Y/N! Y/N! Are you okay?” Panic and fear filled his voice when she’s didn’t respond right away

“I’m okay, we’re all okay ” he sighed in relief when he heard her come through the com

“Yeah. I’m okay too. We're okay.” Happy responded in a teasing manner.

“Happy, thank god you’re okay too.” Y/N laughed

“Just go get Beck.” Y/N said

“Yes ma’am” Peter smiled under his mask.

Y/N, Ned, Betty, MJ, Flash and Happy kept running towards the towers

“You have a tail.” FRIDAYs voice came through the com, Y/N looked back and saw two drones following closely behind them.

“Shit.” Y/N turned back and ran faster towards the towers

“Into the Crown Jewels vault.” Happy yelled, Y/N turned back, two Queen’s Guards firing at the incoming drones.

“Yeah, go, go, go!”

“Come on.” Y/N Yelled

The guards managed to destroy one, but the other slips by and follows the group into the vault.

“Go!” Ned yelled

“Into the vault. The walls are 8 feet thick. Go into the vault.” FRIDAYs voice came through the comm

“What now?” MJ asked

“Into the vault. Go!” Y/N yelled

The drone begins firing and breaks through glass walls. Everyone starts screaming, the glass shatters onto the ground. Everyone ducks and continues running toward the vault. The drone fires and shatters some of the glass cases.

“Take cover!” Happy yelled

Everyone scattered

Ned, Betty and Y/N take cover on one side of the room next to a window. MJ, Flash, and Happy take cover on the opposite side of the room. The drone enters the room and scans the area, slowly the drone moves forward. The drone continues to look around for the kids. Y/N looked over at MJ, MJ met her gaze and slowly looked over to a weapon with spikes on it. Y/N gives her the “are you insane” look.

“Okay.” MJ whispered to herself

Happy gestures to stay quiet. MJ reaches for the morning star.

“Yeah?” MJ whispered to Y/N

“No. No.” Happy mouthed

MJ ignores their protests and lifts the morning star from the armor. Underestimating the weight of it once she grabs it, her arms drop and the weapon almost hits the ground. Happy and Flash are both wince, anticipating the large noise that would’ve been produced had the weapon slammed into the ground. Flash covers his mouth and he gasps in shock.

The drone’s gating gun cycles around and advances. Flash has his phone out as he tries to capture the drone on camera. Happy gets him to stop.

“Get that thing out.” Happy whispered irritation in his voice

Betty and Ned push over armor with a halberd. The drone begins firing at the armor on the ground. MJ takes this opportunity while the drone is preoccupied and bashes it the morning star

“Go!” MJ yelled

Everyone ran towards the vault. Happy grabs a metal shield. Y/N looks at Happy.

“THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO TRY AND PRETEND TO BE UNCLE STEVE!”

“I’M TRYING TO HELP.”

The drone is disoriented and begins firing upward in a circle. The group gets inside the vault. One door closes and Happy throws the shield while closing the other, but it misses.

“How does Cap do that?” Happy asked to himself. Everyone was panting, trying to catch their breathe.

“Why exactly don’t you have your suit?” MJ asked

“This was a simple search and rescue, I didn’t think about the fact Beck was going to blow up the jet and try to kill us, makes more sense since he knew that we knew what he was doing.” Everyone jumped once the drone starts firing at the vault doors, Beck frowns from this setback. He activates a laser beam and decides to begin cutting open the thick vault door.

“Beck is controlling the drones, if he doesn’t stop him in time we might die.”

“Way to be optimistic, MJ.” Panic filled Becky’s voice

“I’m just stating the facts.”

“MJ really now is not the time.”

“Can’t FRIDAY help?” Happy asked

“It’s not like she can hack into EDITH, Happy,”

“Wait, can you?”

“Y/N, Happy, say something, to let me know you’re alive!” Peter asked, stress in his voice

“I’m here. I’m here.”

“Oh Happy, thank God.”

“I bought us some time.”

The drone continues to use it’s laser to cut through the doors

“But not much.”

“I’m trying to get to Beck....but I can’t shake these drones!”

“Are we gonna die?” fear and panic filled Ned’s voice

“Nobody dies on my watch.” Happy said sternly, Y/N look at him

Beck sends new drones to send sonic waves toward the door in order to weaken the structure. Dust and debris fall from the ceiling. Everyone became even more worried

“I wasted my life playing video games, and we’re gonna die.” Ned said with a snarky tone

“I have a fake ID, and I’ve never even used it.” Betty confessed out of nowhere, everyone turned and looked at her

“I post stupid videos daily for people to like me.” Flash confessed

“Hey, if it wasn't for those stupid videos, Spider-Man would have never found you.” Happy said, looking at Flash

“Spider-Man…? Spider-Man follows me? I saved us, guys!”

“If you saved us, then why are we about to die?!”

“MJ!” Betty yelled

“Stop it!” Happy stared at the scared teens. Y/N stood there, processing everyone’s confessions, trying not to laugh

“I’m sorry, okay? It’s just, I’m obsessed with telling the truth even if it hurts other people’s feelings.” She said semi unapologetic.

“Well, this is going well.” Y/N sighed

“I’m in love with Spider-Man’s aunt.” Happy admitted embarrassingly. Y/N’s eyes widened, covering her mouth trying to cover her laugh

Everyone else looks at him puzzled.

“We’re sharing, right?” Everyone nodded, then looked over at Y/N

“How are you not terrified or confessing anything?”

“I’ve been through worse and have almost died multiple times, my dad is Iron Man and I grew up with the avengers. This is nothing, but if you want me confess something..” Y/N can feel everyone’s eyes on her

“I’m the one who let Loki out of the cage.”

“Wait.. What?” Happy asked

“I let Loki out of his cage, back in 2012.”

“You were 11? Why?”

2012

Loki recognized the sound of her feet walking towards him, her pace always seemed to quicken and yet become lighter at the same time when she went to see him. He smiled at her as soon as she appeared, she returned the same smile. They weren’t joking when they said her smile radiated sunshine. She quietly sat in front of the cage.

“Isn’t your father going to be angry with you when he finds out, little one?”

“He hasn’t caught onto me yet, you know he isn’t the only one who can hack into shield’s security system.” Loki tilted his head, eyebrow raised

“It’s not like it’s hard.” Y/N whispered to herself and smiled at Loki

“You didn’t bring the little creature with you today.”

“He’s getting a bath.” Loki nodded

“What are you going to show me today?”

“Am I just a storyteller to you?”

“I was thinking more like friends?” Y/N shrugged

“Friends?” Y/N nodded

“I don’t have any. Dad doesn’t let me out of the house because he doesn’t really want people to know I exist.”

“Why is that?”

“What? Why doesn’t he want anyone to know about me?” Y/N sighed

“I don’t know, maybe he doesn’t want anyone to know about him having a kid with someone no one knows about? Maybe I’m an embarrassment.”

Loki sighed and sat in front of the young girl

“Are you ready little one?” Y/N nodded, Loki hid a smile as he began to tell another tale. Loki could see her eyes become heavy.

“You should head to bed, little one” Y/N nodded

“I’ll see you tomorrow, your majesty.” Loki smirked

“Off you go.” Y/N stood and made her way back to her father. She fell asleep in the little cot he had in the corner for her. 4 hours later she jumped at the sound of banging and yelling. Y/N looked around confused and groggy

“Lower it, she’s asleep.”

“We have to hear his plan.” Y/N laid back down, her eyes adjusting to look at the screen everyone was watching. She noticed someone was missing.. Nat. She stared at the screen, Natasha had her back turned to Loki, she could see a smirk forming on her face. She saw Loki’s face fall and Natasha walking away. Loki turned around and shook his head. Y/N slowly rose from her cot and walked towards the group, everyone fell silent.

“Where is he?”

“Who?” Steve asked

“He’s drying.” Y/N looked at her father and nodded. Y/N walked towards the doors of the lab

“Where are you going?”

“Restroom.”

“I’ll go with you.” Maria said

“No, thank you.” Y/N smiled and walked out of the lab. It had been 4 days since she had seen Loki, she had been watching over him through the security cameras. Loki on the other hand had actually missed the child, she was the only one who made him feel himself again, not a tortured soul. Y/Ns eyes widened when she saw the little stitch being formed of his magic, she smiled and ran towards his cage. She didn’t realize that she forgot to change the camera’s screen. Loki smiled, once again recognizing her footsteps running towards him.

“Stitch.” Loki nodded, Y/N looked over at the control panel, she walked towards it, looking at the buttons, she sat there debating. He never asked her to open the door, he sighed when he heard the air pressure from the door opening release. Y/N walked towards Loki and curtsied

“Your majesty.”

“Little one.” Loki replied, Y/N looked down, he had given her an emerald and gold dress, a tiara with the same color scheme, emeralds and gold, placed on the top of her head. She smiled, then the sirens went off. She jumped, Loki reached his hand out, she placed hers in his.

“Let her go Loki!” Thor’s voice boomed through the ship's prison, Y/N turned to see everyone staring, her father’s eyes, she had never seen that look or expression. Puzzled, upset, anger and fear. Y/N cocked her head, confused.

“Loki’s nice.” She said, turning back to look at him

“Y/N Stark.” She flinched, turning back to look at her father

“Come here.” Y/N felt her hand slip out of Loki’s, turning back to him. He smiled at her,

“Off you go, little one.”

“But..”

“Y/N!” She flinched again, she turned and walked towards her father. She looked back once more, her eyes felt heavy, what? She wasn’t tired, he was making her sleep, the last thing she remembered was him smiling at her before passing out in her fathers arms.

“He was my friend…” Y/N looked down, everyone stared at her not saying a single word.

A portion of the vault door falls out. Ned, Betty, MJ, Y/N and Flash duck in an attempt to shield themselves from the drone. Happy picks up another shield and gets ready to protect them.

Peter breaks through the glass under the upper walkway of the towers and sticks the ceiling of the hallway, grabbing hold of Beck by Beck's motion-capture suit and punching a hole through his glass helmet. The group sighs in relief when the drones fall to the floor. Peter holds Beck by his suit

“Your lies are over, Beck.’

“This certainly isn't ideal, but... I have contingencies. E.D.I.T.H.?” Beck says unbothered

A drone shoots Peter to the other end of the corridor. Peter lets go of Beck and Beck lands on his feet

“Just give me the glasses.” Peter groans out as he stands

Beck pulls out the glasses from his suit

“You want these? Come and get them.”

The drones activated their cloaking mechanism and the projection system. The corridor turns dark and green mist flows over the floor

Peter took a deep breath “Come on, Peter-tingle.”

He closes his eyes and takes another deep breath. He jumps all across the corridor, destroying drone after drone and coming closer and closer to Beck. Beck stares at Peter, panicking he presses the buttons on his suit.

“Why aren't these drones firing?”

“You're in the strike zone. The chance of getting hit…” E.D.I.T.H replied

“No, FIRE... ALL THE DRONES... NOW!” Beck yells

The drones behind him fly forward and activate their weapons. Peter knocks his way through them. During the fight, one of the drones is spun around and Beck is hit in the chest by a rogue bullet. After all the drones are destroyed, Peter steps towards him, taking off his mask

“Beck! Beck... You lied to me. I trusted you.” His voice coarse

“I know. That's the most... disappointing part. You're a good person, Peter. Such a weakness…”

Beck takes the glasses and hands them to Peter.

“Stark was right. You do deserve that.”

Peter senses something and grabs something to his right. The gun shot rang loud in his ears. He turns his head as the Beck he'd been talking to vanishes. The real Beck drops his gun, lightly spasming

“You can't trick me anymore.” Peter said bitterly

Peter grabs the glasses off of Beck’s head as he falls to the ground

“E.D.I.T.H., turn off the drones.”

“Bio-metric scan complete. Welcome back, Peter. Shall I execute all cancellation protocols?”

“Do it. Execute them all.” Peter says, looking around

“Confirmed.”

“Give me the spear.” Happy grabs the spear from Betty

“That's a halberd.” Ned says

“Thank you.” Peter thanks E.D.I.T.H

His face hardens as he turns to Beck, dying on the ground

“How could you do all of this?”

“You'll see, Peter. People need to believe... And nowadays... they'll believe anything.” Beck smiles, he stops moving.

“Is he... Is this real?” Peter asked unsure

“All illusions are down, Peter.”

Peter takes off his glasses and stares at Beck's body.

The group cautiously opens the vault’s doors, holding their breath, looking around she could hear everyone start to breath again.

“Whoo! Yeah!” Flash cheered

Everyone hugged each other and Y/N ran towards the doors

“Hey, where’re you going?” MJ asked

“She’s going to check on him.” Happy said, looking over at MJ. MJ smiled and nodded.

Y/N heard the sound of heart pounding and her breathing labored in her ears, she didn’t even hear the sirens around her. Y/N comes to a stop and walks on the Bridge. She sees Peter and begins running to him. Peter is limping and grunting in pain, looking up he sees her and opens his arms. Y/N jumps into his arms, Peter almost falls over, he tries to hide his groans of pain, but one slips out of his mouth. Y/N jumps off

“Sorry.” Y/N looks down at her feet

“Hey.” Peter, placed his fingers under her chin.

“Are you okay?” Y/N asked

“I’m okay. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Is everybody else okay?”

“Yeah, everyone’s okay.”

“I’m glad..” Peter smiled

“Did you get him?”

“Yeah…” Peter nods

“Umm, so Happy gave me this, while we were in the vault..”

Y/N pulls out her necklace, a little leg missing from the turtle

“No. No. Oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry. I had this plan, this stupid plan.” Peter groaned

“Peter…”

“And I wrote it all down, I was gonna buy you this and give it to you in Paris at the top-”

Y/N pecks his lips, mid sentence. Peter smiled

“And you kissed me. What? What?”

“Peter, I have something to confess.” Peter looked curious

“I.. kinda already knew about your plan..”

“What? How?”

“May doesn’t really know how to keep secrets.” Y/N laughed, Peter groaned

“May..”

“Well more like Morgan can’t keep secrets.”

“What?”

“Seems that May told Morgan and Morgan told me. The only way to bribe her to keep quiet is ice cream.” Peter laughed.

“I’m sorry it’s broken.” Y/N shook her head

“It’s alright, I’ll love it either way.”

Peter leaned in, he nearly missed, his lips a tad too far left and his nose bumping against hers, they giggled. Her lips brushed his, their heart beat faster and faster. Y/N pulled away, staring at his face, his eyes closed, cheeks and ears red, chest heaving. She watched him slowly open his eyes. He smiled back at her.

“Let’s go, spidey.” Y/N held out her hand, Peter took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers. Y/N smiled when she met with Happy, Ned and MJ.

“You’re alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright you guys.”

“We gotta get him out of here before people find out who he is.”

“I already called Fury and he’s sending us a jet.” Y/N nodded

“We should get you out of your suit..but the jet with your clothes is gone..”

“Oh, here Peter.” Ned shrugged off his plaid over shirt

“Thanks Ned.” Peter took the shirt from his grasp

“Pants Peter? I mean unless you plan on walking around in your underwear.”

“If he even wears any under there..” MJ whispered

“MJ!” Peter blushed, Y/N choked back a laugh

“I mean she’s not wrong, the suit is skin tight..” Peter blushed even harder when Y/N chimed in, Peter quickly put on Ned’s shirt and buttoned it up. Y/N’s hands found the top of her sweatpants and slowly started to shimmy her way out of them, everyone’s eyes widened, arms flying and words of protest came from everyone.

“Don’t worry, I have leggings underneath.” Y/N shook their hands off and gave Peter the sweatpants

“I don’t know if they’ll fit though..” Peter smiled and put the sweatpants on

“Thanks, Y/N” Happy looked behind the teens and pointed

“There’s our ride.” Y/N and Peter turned, the jet landing softly on the grassy area, they turned back to Ned and MJ

“We’ll see you later?” MJ and Ned pulled them in for a group hug, smiling they pulled away and went back to where the rest of the class was

“Happy, is it possible for us to land around the same time as them?”

“I’m pretty sure we can arrange it.” The group walked into the jet and breathed a sigh of relief, Peter rested his head on her shoulder and she rested hers on his head, their eyelids slowly became heavy and they soon greeted by darkness. Peter felt himself being shaken awake, he tried not to move when he noticed Y/N’s arms around his waist and head on his chest. He looked over to Happy.

“We’re almost home, I thought I should wake you guys up.” Happy reached over to wake her up but Peter stopped him

“I’ll wake her, thanks Happy.” Happy nodded and went back to reading his book. Peter looked down at her, taking in every inch of her face, the sun hitting her face making her skin glow, she scrunched her nose, nuzzling in deeper into his chest. Peter moved the small strand of hair that was hitting her face, her eyes fluttered open. He froze when her Y/E/C eyes met with his brown ones, she smiled small.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” She sat up halfway

“Happy said we’re about to land.”

“Mmmm..” She hummed, turning her body to see the city coming into view. She felt his fingers intertwine with hers, resting her head on his shoulder, sighing.

“We’re here.” Peter looked out the window

“Huh, he landed so gently, I didn’t feel it unlike someone.”

“Hey, but did you die?”

“I mean maybe who knows.”

Happy scoffed and smiled, her and Happy walked out while Peter stayed behind to change out of his suit comfortably. Happy placed his arm around her shoulder and pointed at the car pulling in, before she realized what was going on she felt the wind get knocked out of her; arms wrapped around her legs, light brown hair put into a ponytail, Morgan. She smiled, reaching down to carry her younger sister, Morgan’s eyes sparkled with happiness.

“DID YOU AND PETER KISS!?” She yelled just as Peter walked out the Jet

“Morgan.” She jumped a bit hearing Pepper’s stern voice, she smiled sheepishly. Y/N could hear Peter laughing in the background, she turned to face him

“It’s not funny.” She playfully glared, Peter returned the playful glare and ruffled Morgan’s hair, they smiled at each other.

“So..Did you?” Morgan asked with excitement in her voice, Peter hummed, turning his head slightly, his lips brushed against hers, she saw his eyes flicker to her lips and back to meet hers. Peter smirked. Wait? Smirked? Oh, he’s getting bold all of a sudden. Y/N felt the blood rush to her cheeks and her eyes widened when she felt his lips pressed onto hers.

“Oops.” Morgan said, her hand on the back of Peter’s head, they could hear Happy and Pepper trying to hold back their laughter.

“Well, if you didn’t you did now.” Morgan smiled and shimmied her way out of her sister's arms, running back to Pepper. The two teens smiled and shook their heads, fingers intertwined. Pepper gave them each a hug.

“Let’s go home.”

“Oh, my aunt May is actually here to pick me up..” Pepper smiled and nodded, Morgan ran up and grabbed Y/N’s other hand

“Let’s go home Y/N, Mommy said she’ll buy us food.” Y/N laughed, looking over at Peter

“I’ll see you later?” Y/N nodded

“See you later, Peter.” Morgan dragged her to the car, Peter stood there and watched as they got in and drove off, waving out the window, he waved back. Peter walked through the airport, he heard May’s slightly panicked voice

“They are coming out right now..oh there he is. Don’t give me a ticket.” Peter smiled and sighed when May pulled him into a tight hug

“So glad you’re okay.”

“No. For real, I'm good. I'm actually really... fine.”

“Let’s go. Where are your bags? Oh, right. they got blown up.”

“Yeah.”

Peter and May start walking toward their car. May handed a brown paper bag to Peter

“I got you some hot buttered bagels.”

“Thank you so much.”

“I know my boy.” May ruffled Peter’s hair and they drove off.

#peter parker #peter parkerxreader #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker x stark!reader

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

Text

HASO, “A Better Man.”

Just tying up some things after yesterday. Since it is a holiday this weekend we are very busy at my job so it is kind of short, but I hope it works, and I hope you all like it :)

Adam sat on a rock, watching as a long line of Drev snaked back into the distance and over the horizon, all here to see their new saint: to see sunny in all her martial glory. He watched from a distance admiring her as she glimmered like a shining beacon over the land before her: A fallen star come to rest on earth.

Even from here, he could hear her voice, and leaned back against the mossy stone as he listened to her words.

The scroll she had been carrying was being feverishly copied by volunteer Drev scribes as they murmured and spoke about their new doctrine. He was surprised how eager the Drev seemed, and how nonviolent sunny’s exaltation unto sainthood had been. Even the traditionalist seemed to be falling in line, staunchly eager to accept a new saint. He had sort of expected a riot to come out of all this, with he traditionalists rising up against a radical new doctrine, but…. Oddly enough compared to biblical humans, when Drev said traditional they meant it. And it was traditionally accepted to accept the word of the saints as fact.

And damn how he admired her.

The first Drev in 500 years, and of course it was going to be Sunny.

She was amazing after all, the most determined badass he had ever known. Of course she was going to change the world. He wanted to be more like her. She changed the world, while he struggled to change himself.

The thought didn’t make him bitter, or jealous, not in any way at all, which only marginally surprised him. In fact he felt a glowing of immense pride for her, a smugness towards the others because he knew her and they didn’t. He was acquainted with the saint of the burning sun, who else could really say that? But then, there was also in him a slight welling of sadness, bitter sweet.

Sunny was everything he knew she had been all along. The most amazing person he had ever met, and now….. Now he doubted he would ever have a chance to try again. She was surely going t obe too busy being the Moses for her people to ever bother even interacting with him ever again. As a Sentinel he knew enough to know that he was now below her in rank, so it would probably be unbecoming for her to remain as a crewman aboard his ship.

But as he sat on his rock, taking long deep breaths of the dewey morning air he was….. Able to accept that. Actions had consequences, he had had his chance, and she had moved on to greater and better things.

He was happy for her.

He was proud of her.

And deep down he was surprised to find that he wasn’t even lying to himself.

He leaned back against his rock and closed his eyes allowing the golden sun to warm his body.

He drifted in and out for a little while, listening to her voice, listening the words of the new Drev doctrine.

And at some point was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic cadence of her voice.

“Is that any way to treat your saint.”

He jolted awake bolt upright on his rock, immediately lifting his hands as he was blinded by a sparking array of colors thrown off of pearlescent white armor.”

He held up a hand squinting past the rays of light and up to the face which stared down at him with some measure of amusement. His palms grew immediately clammy with sweat, and his heart skipped a few beats inside his chest.

He stood quickly, and then knelt as he had seen the other Drev do, head bowed low.

“WHat are you doing?”

He kept his head bowed, “As a sentinel to my clan, it is only proper of me to show the same respect to you as they.”

“Is this how things are going to be….. Formal and stiff from now on?”

He lifted his head to look up at her still being forced to squint, hand raised gain, “I mean…. It can be if that’s how you want… Or I’m just being an idiot…. Again.”

“Hmmm so I see nothing has changed on that front…. You can stand up.”

He stood keeping one hand over his eye and adjusting the light filter on his mechanical eye so he coil finally look her in the face. He lifted his chin, and shuffled his feet into a better stance,”You can do it if you want.”

She tilted her head, a look of confusion on her face, “Do what?”

“Hit me.”

“Hit you!”

“Yeah, as payback. I mean yo-”

She paused just then head tilted, reaching out a hand to the side of his face, gently tilting his head to the side. Where her fingers touched his skin, his body erupted into tingling tongues of fire.

He swallowed, “Who did this.” he wondered, examining the bruises along his jaw and neck.”

“I uh…. Its not important. Just a…”

“I did.”

Sunny and Adam both looked up to see Cannon marching across the moss towards them, his armor glinting, a spear held in one hand. Sunny took her hand back and Adam’s skin bubbled lightly with the memory of her hand.

“You Did this?”

“Yeah, I did.” Cannon held his head high.

“Why?”

“Because he hurt my little sister, did you expect me to just be ok with that?”

“To the contrary, I think Adam has inadvertently ushered the Drev into a new age of enlightenment, so cut him some slack.”

Cannon Glowered at him and Adam stepped nervously to the side, “So you…. Don’t want to kick my ass.”

“Only in a fair duel.”

Adam sighed, “Well I can tell you that is a fight I would definitely lose.”

Cannon just stared at her, “Seriously, you…. Don’t want to kick his ass? Not even a little?”

“No Cannon, I don’t want to hurt him unless it's fair. Would you both stop looking at me like I should be mad. I spent months on the top of the mountain in spiritual meditation. Its very, very difficult to hold onto any sort of anger when you are a bit busy trying to realign doctrine that has been slowly degrading for the past five centuries.”

Cannon stayed quiet, but Adam drew himself up setting his jaw and gripping a hand firmly around the spear he held against the stone.

“Either way, that doesn’t change the fact that I still owe you an apology. No, I owe you far more than that in ways that words cannot express. WHat I did was wrong, and it hurt you unfairly, so I find it's only fair if there is some way I can pay you back.” Cannon went to open his mouth and Adam held up a hand glowering at the Drev who, surprisingly took a step back, “Furthermore, I wanted to take the time to tell you how proud I am, and how proud we all are of you. You are everything I knew you were and more, and It was an honor to know you.”

She tilted her head a little, “Was an honor? You’re talking about me like I’m dead.”

“Oh, no, no no, that's not what I meant. I’m sorry, I just meant to serve with you on the ship.”

“I am still not following you.”

“I was…. Assuming that you were going to be staying here? To lead the Drev into a new age of enlightenment…. Thought you wouldn’t really have time to go galavanting across the galaxy with the rest of us hoodlums.”

Sunny laughed, and he stood there a bit nonplussed.

“I did not just become Queen of Anin, Adam. A saint is simply a conduit for the word of the spirits. I served my purpose as that conduit. Yes I might take a month or two to teach what I know to the Drev Sentinels, but beyond that the decementation of the word will be through Clan Magnates. If someone doesn't like the change in doctrine, than they can fight it out among themselves. That job is not mine.”

Adam blinked in surprise, “I…. so your saying…”

“I am saying that I will be returning to my post aboard your ship.”

He stood up a bit straighter a little more Surprised now, “You will…. I… Well I admit I didn’t expect that, but your position is certainly open for whenever you return.”

She lifted her chin and ten reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, “Adam, relax, it’s ok.”

“I am glad you have forgiven me, but it isn’t ok, and I am not going to pretend it is.” He rested a hand over hers, “You're Always welcome aboard my ship Sunny. IF there is anything I can do to help your efforts here, then just say the word, I am at your disposal.”

“Thank you for your support. Expect my return in two months time, at which time I expect you to be kidnapped. Krill to be having a nervous breakdown, and a new alien species to be aboard the ship.”

He smiled, “Count on it. Now get going, these people need to be enlightened.”

He watched her go leaning on his spea, one eye still covered over from her brilliance.

Now she had gone and proven to be even better than all that. She wasn’t even mad at him, she had…. Forgiven him, or so it seemed. It was such an act of….. Such extreme…. He didn’t even know what.

But whatever it was he admired it.

He stood a bit straighter head held high.

That was it, if Sunny was going to go and be a better person, to really live up to whatever potential she was meant to, then he was going to do the same. With her as an example he was going to follow in her footsteps.

Maybe then he could be a better man.

The kind of man that could even halfway live up to the expectations of someone like her. To be someone she deserved even if he had lost his chance. He would leave it up to her, and in the meantime he would turn himself into someone it would be worthwhile to know.

He smiled, feeling as if he had been filled with a glowing warmth from her very presence.

“That’s our Sunny.” He said softly nodding his head.

“That’s OUR saint.”

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ijustreallylovethem · 4 years

Text

Day One, Done

Another fic? Who am I? This was requested as a blurb by @oh-annaa but it was very detailed so I turned it into a fic! I hope you like it!

Words: 1.7k

Your ears perked up as you heard a vehicle approach your driveway. You looked out the window above the sink and saw the bus, your heart fluttering as you saw Nellie bounding down the steps with a huge smile on her face. You put the strawberry you were cutting into the bowl with the others and sat down the knife, wiping off your hands as you made your way to the door. Nellie pushed it open and smiled up at you.

“Hi, mommy!”

“Hi, baby.” You helped her take off her too-big bookbag and hung it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs that she climbed up and sat on.

“Is daddy home?” You shook your head

“Not yet, he should be soon though.” You grabbed the bowl of strawberries and moved them from next to the sink to in front Nellie. She immediately grabbed one and shoved it into her mouth. You ate one as well before the front door slammed open.

“Is she home yet?” JJ yelled before noticing you and Nellie in the kitchen. You rolled your eyes while Nellie laughed at her father’s antics.

“I’m right here daddy!” JJ smiled and made his way over to her, kissing her forehead and popping a strawberry into his mouth. You smiled as he made his way around the counter and kissed you.

“How was work?” you asked him but he shook his head.

“Not important. How was your first day of school? I want to hear all about it.” Nellie laughed again, loving the attention that she was getting. JJ was still smiley as he made his way back over to the little girl, picking her up off the chair and into your bedroom. You followed the two and watched as JJ laid on the bed, Nellie positioning herself to cuddle into his side. His eyes caught yours and he motioned for you to join them so you did. You crawled over so you were on the other side of Nellie and wrapped your arm around her, laying your hand on JJ’s stomach.

“I didn’t really like the bus this morning because I didn’ know who to sit with but then there was a seat no one was in that I sat in. On my way back home though I sat with May, she’s in my class so I knew her this afternoon.”

“What did you do at school?” JJ asked.

“Its a lot. Are you sure you want to hear everything daddy?”

“Of course baby girl, I want to hear all of it!”

“Ok, daddy.” Nellie paused and took a deep breath as if she was ready to spew.

“Not all of it at once, sweetie” you laughed, knowing Nellie had a tendency to talk fast and lose her breath.

“Well, this morning I was kinda scared because I didn’t know anybody else at school but my teacher came over and told me where my seat was and where to put my bookbag and then we all sat on the carpet and told each other our names and if we had a pet. Some people have cats and dogs and one person even had a fish as a pet! I really want a dog though.”

“See babe, a dog wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world,” JJ spoke and you shook your head.

“What’s your teacher’s name?”

“Ms. Tooler. She’s really nice. I’m glad she’s my teacher.” Nellie went on to tell you every little thing that had happened while she was away from you for the day and you smiled as you listened to all of with a smile on your face. She told you about what she did at recess, how she had spaghetti for lunch (even though she wanted macaroni and cheese), and how she made a few new friends.

“I sat next to Holly at lunch and she kept dropping her noodles which made me laugh because she would laugh. Then after lunch, we went to recess and Holly asked me to jump rope with her so I did!” You kissed Nellie’s head and lightly scratched JJ’s stomach before getting up off the bed. “Where are you going, mommy?”

“I think I’m gonna go make some macaroni and cheese. How does that sound?” Nellie’s smile stretched from ear to ear as she nodded rapidly, making you smiley widely in return. You made your way towards the kitchen, hearing Nellie continue to talk about her day. You grabbed a pot from the cabinet and filled it halfway with water before setting it on the stove and turning the burner on. You grabbed noodles from the pantry and the Velveeta from the fridge, putting them on the counter before making your way back to your room. It would be a few minutes before the water boiled and you would rather spend that time listening to Nellie instead of standing alone in the kitchen. You were still in the hallway when you could hear what the two were saying again and stopped to listen.

“So school was good? You like it?”

“Yeah, I like it. But I wish you or mommy could go. I really missed you.”

“Awe, I missed you too honey.” You smiled to yourself before going back into the kitchen to check on the water. You weren’t sure what you had done to manage to be blessed with such a sweet little girl but you definitely weren’t complaining. You were joined a few seconds later by the other two members of your little family and JJ grabbed a spoon while you poured what looked like the right amount of noodles into the boiling water. Nellie made her way into the living room after making sure it was ok to watch some tv until the food was ready. You and JJ worked around each other as he finished the macaroni and you cut up some more fruit and got out plates and forks.

“Nellie! Come eat!” You heard to tv go silent and small, quick footsteps approaching. JJ handed her a plate and she concentrated on holding it still while he spooned some macaroni onto it.

“Strawberries or grapes?” you asked as she carefully made her way to you.

“Both!” You smiled as you put some of each fruit on her plate and watched her carefully as she walked toward the table. She wasn’t the best at holding her plate flat yet and you didn’t want to find a stray grape tomorrow. Luckily, she made it to the table without a problem. When you finally turned away from her, JJ was in front of you, holding two plates of mac and cheese and wearing a smirk.

“What about you? Grapes or strawberries?”

“Just you will do just fine,” he said before leaning in and placing a kiss on your lips. You rolled your eyes when he pulled away.

“That was terrible, take some grapes.” You placed some grapes on his plate before putting some fruit on the other he was holding and taking it from him. Both of you made your way to the table to join Nellie and continued talking about random things as you all ate. “Nellie, not with your mouth full,” you reminded her and she finished chewing before continuing on with what she was saying, something about dinosaurs.

JJ offered to clean up dinner while you gave Nellie a bath (she still needed some help with getting all of the soap out of her hair) and then you all settled down to watch a movie before bedtime. Nellie chose The Land Before Time and you put it into the DVD player before making your way to the couch to snuggle up with her and JJ once again. She only made it about halfway through the movie before she was asleep and JJ lifted her carefully and brought her to her room, tucking her in. You folded the blanket you all had been cuddled under and put it back where it belonged before making your way to your own bedroom. You wanted a shower and were pulling out a shirt from JJ’s side of the dresser when he entered the room and sat at the end of the bed.

“She’s already so big, Y/N. She’s in school now,” he whispered. You could hear the strain in his voice and knew he was trying not to cry. You had wondered when this was going to happen if it even happened at all. Nellie had always been a little bit closer to JJ. You didn’t hold it against her, you knew she loved both of you the same. She was just her daddy’s little girl. Considering that and the fact that JJ was always trying to be the best dad he could, trying to never go down the road that his dad did, you wondered if a breakdown was in the works.

“Pretty soon she’s gonna be driving, oh god she’s gonna be hanging out with boys” You giggled as you made your way over to him. You stood between his legs, throwing the shirt on the bed as you let one hand rest on his shoulder, and the other play with the hair on the back of his neck. His came to rest subconsciously on the back of your thighs.

“Don’t be so dramatic, J. She’s five.” He sighed and let his head rest on your stomach, relishing in the feeling on your fingers playing with his hair. “Besides, we’ll get to do it all over again soon anyway.” It took everything in you to hold back your smile as he looked up at you with confusion. You could see the gears turning in his head before his jaw finally dropped.

“Wait, you’re pregnant?” You finally nodded, smiling at his reaction. “Oh my god, we’re having another baby?” He leaned up to kiss you and you met him halfway, although it didn’t last as long as you would’ve liked as JJ was already pulling away to speak to your stomach.

“Hey, little baby. It’s me, your daddy. I just found out about you but I’m super excited to meet you.” You watched him talk with a wide smile on your face, identical to the one that was covering JJ’s as he looked back up to you. “How long have you known?”

“I found out today. I’m three weeks.” JJ stood and pulled you into another kiss, this one longer than the last.

“God, I love you so much,” JJ whispered as he pulled away from your lips. You smiled and whispered back.

“I love you too, J.”

#outer banks #outer banks imagine #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank imagine

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