#last night I was miserable at the idea of a new year without my cat… and today I’m genuinely hopeful that it’s going to still be okay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

twstgarden · 10 months

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❀ ❝ 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 ❞

━ lilia vanrouge x fae! gn! reader ━ being a retired soldier of briar valley won't stop you from attending night raven college, but it seems the fates have decided to make you miserable by sorting you in the same dorm as a certain someone you wanted to forget, someone you have never spoken to for the past 300 or so years.

includes a few spoilers for chapter 7! f/n stands for first name.

do not steal or translate without my permission.

"just how long is this blasted ceremony going to last?"

a fae in the sea of humans, merfolks, and faes alike mumbled under their breath as they scoffed to themselves, crossing their arms as they wanted to get out of this uncomfortable yet stylish ceremonial robe.

once it was their turn to be sorted, the ex-soldier of briar valley stood before the dark mirror as it spoke to them, "state thy name."

"f/n l/n."

"...f/n l/n, the nature of your soul is... diasomnia!"

the fae merely hummed in response before softly thanking the dark mirror and lining up with the other first-year students that are sorted in diasomnia. they, of course, did not fail to notice a familiar mint green-haired fellow in the line.

'sebek zigvolt... isn't that baul's grandson and... his student?'

they shook their thoughts away and tried to focus back on the ceremony, watching as a new student ━ or so they say ━ caused a fuss because of their little cat, but the fae knew this little creature was a magical beast.

after the whole fuss, they got into their dorm and were about to head to their room, when they heard a familiar voice behind them.

"ah, you must be one of the new students... or not. i don't remember seeing a traitor in our dorm."

the voice sounded oh-so-familiar to this fae, causing them to sigh as they turned around and met with his raspberry-red eyes, one that was full of life compared to when they last met. they gulped softly to themselves but kept their indifferent expression on as they stared at the man before them.

"...not really pleased to meet you again, l/n."

to him, that was an utter lie.

to them, that sounded like another one of his painful truths.

"not so pleased to meet you either, vanrouge."

the fae then turned around and left to head to their new room, leaving the ex-general in the hallways of his dormitory as he sighed to himself and mumbled, "after 300 years, you had to show up and pretend nothing ever happened between us, huh?"

meanwhile, the fae crashed on their bed and stared upwards, trying to calm their quickened heartbeat after meeting with that certain someone after so long.

"damn it, of all dorms, it had to be one where he's the vice leader..."

tough luck for this little faerie. it seems they have to face their past once again.

the fae wanted to roam around their dorm and explore for a while, but the chances of meeting him out there again are high and may the thorn fairy forbid they ever cross paths again today.

and so, they spent most of their days roaming around and exploring the esteemed night raven college and attending their classes, all while avoiding him. they have crossed paths with silver and sebek once in a while, but those two have no idea who this faerie was to their precious instructor.

of course, f/n had come face to face with their crown prince for the first time, since he hasn't hatched yet by the time they disappeared and ran away from briar valley.

those three had no idea who f/n exactly was, and they only knew one thing.

they're an ex-soldier of the royal army in briar valley.

"father, if you don't mind me asking, is f/n a co-worker of yours?" asked the silver-haired boy in curiosity, wanting to know more about the new addition to their dormitory, just like the other two.

"i have crossed paths with them a few times and thanked them for serving the country," spoke the horned fae as he sipped on his tea while looking at the older fae seated across him.

"they spoke of my grandfather as well. are they a co-worker of yours, lilia-sama?" asked the mint-haired first-year as he looked at his instructor.

lilia sighed and had no choice but to tell them, now that they were curious. he set his teacup down and hummed to himself, thinking about where to start. however, before they could say anything else, another voice chimed in.

"you could say we are co-workers. though, comrades would be a better term."

all of their heads turned to look at the source of the voice, and there stood the ex-soldier of briar valley with an indifferent expression on their face, but one could argue that their eyes could indicate they were a little nervous.

"ah, l/n... what an unpleasant surprise..."

the other three looked at lilia as he said those words and wondered, if f/n was a comrade, why is he treating them like an enemy?

"vanrouge, i have shown myself this time to settle things with you," spoke f/n as they still stood there, not caring about the inquisitive gazes of malleus, silver, and sebek.

"after 300 years and you finally decided to patch things up?" asked lilia as he raised a brow at them, focusing his raspberry-red eyes on the faerie before them.

f/n bowed their head a little in shame as they spoke, "...i apologise for suddenly leaving you behind like that. it was not my intention to hurt you."

it was silent for a while ━ an uncomfortable silence for all five of them in the lounge. seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours to them due to how long the silence was. silver then looked at his father, noticing how his eyes remained on the faerie before him, how his lips had a thin line as he did not want to speak just yet, and how his grip on his teacup tightened then loosened a bit.

it did not take long for the other three to guess that these two had some history.

"...i know a simple apology is not enough to make up for the 300 years i've lost with you, but i did not have a choice back then," muttered the faerie as their eyes set on the floor, avoiding lilia's gaze as they felt uncomfortable to face their mistakes.

...

"l/n, i order you to spy on briar valley's royal army. gain their trust and give us their information."

"yes, sir."

the faerie found themselves enlisted in briar valley's army, working closely with the general and meeting the infamous princess often. f/n kept a fake personality on to win both of their trust, to know everything about them and the next plans of the army to defeat the opposite side. none of them ever had suspicions against f/n at first, because what faerie would work for the human army?

things were well for f/n at first, having to successfully carry out their tasks perfectly and gain the trust of two of the most powerful beings in the country.

that is until they felt their usually icy-cold heart warming up and beating faster around the general. it seems that spending more time around this general to extract information from him ended up making this little faerie fall in love.

love? how absurd. there is no time to fall in love in the middle of a war.

but the way his stern yet subtly adorable eyes meet theirs, the way his hands feel on theirs, the way he would offer them his food ━ no matter how distasteful his cooking was, no one can afford to be picky when in the front lines, as he says ━ all these little actions would make f/n's heart jump in their chest.

no matter how hard f/n denies it, they are falling for the general and soon, they would forget about their mission. instead, they have a new task this time: to establish a relationship deeper than friendship and camaraderie with general lilia vanrouge.

everything was well with the two of them. their newly formed relationship has given both of them another reason to get up in the morning and fight in battles to win the war, to protect each other and their beloved country.

however, any avid reader would know that happy endings don't last forever. an unfortunate circumstance befell the two military couple, and f/n found themselves back in their boss' lair. the damned human looked down on them as he spoke, "so, l/n, do you have any explanation for not replying back to our letters?"

the faerie in shackles glared up at the wretched man but did not say another word, refusing to even speak and address him. the man chuckled darkly as he continued looking down at the faerie with a smirk, "it seems the little faerie has fallen in love and forgotten their purpose. well, let's see how your dearest beloved will react upon discovering that the person who holds his heart is a traitor."

f/n's eyes widened for a moment as they struggled to break free from the shackles, looking up at the man as they spoke, "wait, don't...! he doesn't have to know!"

the man disregarded f/n's words and gestured to the rest of his guard to toss the faerie in the basement, locking them up in there for, what they intended to be, centuries.

f/n managed to sneak out at some point, breaking free from the chains and disappearing from the lair as they ran away, hoping to rush back to lilia, but they knew it would be difficult to find him deep in the forest.

so they did one thing: escaping from the land of briar. there was no use to run back to lilia as f/n thought their boss had probably revealed their identity as a spy to him. he'd just push them away if f/n decides to head back.

...

"let's not talk about this in front of them," spoke lilia as he sipped on his tea, but the other three glanced at him and decided these two should talk it out. malleus was the first to stand as he said, "it seems you two need to discuss something personal... we'll excuse ourselves."

the three then walked away, leaving f/n and lilia in the lounge as the ex-soldier/spy sat on the couch across lilia, still refusing to look at him in the eye. it was silent for a moment, it was uncomfortable, it was awkward.

none of them were able to look at each other for a while.

none of them were able to utter a word.

until f/n let out a sigh and decided that now was the time to face their past mistakes, ask for forgiveness from their former lover, and to explain their 300-year-long disappearance.

"...vanrouge━"

"just address me the way you used to."

"...lilia, i've been avoiding you and running away for the past 300 years because i was worried that they are still out there..." spoke f/n as their tone went low and apologetic and their eyes stayed on the male before them.

"and you never once thought that i could protect you?" asked lilia. "... i had thought you found out about my identity and would want nothing to do with me," answered f/n as they hung their head low.

"and who are you to decide that for me?"

f/n went silent for a moment, looking back at lilia as they bit the inside of their cheek in anxiousness. lilia had a serious expression on, one that f/n grew fond of in the past, but it was also one that is rarely seen from lilia nowadays in nrc.

the silence was deafening, even if it was only for a few seconds. the ex-soldier twiddled with their thumbs as their heart pounded in their chest, all the while lilia looked back at them with an indifferent expression, but it was evident from his pained tone that he was still upset at them.

"do you have any idea how much i worry for you out there when you disappeared? i had no idea if you were alive or dead, i had no idea if you were safe or locked up. i heard nothing from you for the past 300 years and i thought that maybe you died and your body was never found, but then now i see you here in the academy, alive and well, acting like there was nothing between us," responded lilia in a worried yet frustrated tone as his eyes glared at his former lover.

"i thought you'd be angry at me for betraying you," replied f/n.

"and you think i won't be angry at you for running away and not giving me an explanation?" asked lilia, letting out a heavy sigh as he grew displeased, avoiding f/n's gaze as he refused to even look at them now, "but no matter how infuriated i was, your well-being still becomes one of my priorities."

then, silence followed. f/n could not find the right words to say, and lilia could not find any other words to add to his statements. the two sat there in silence, waiting for the other to at least say something to break this pin-drop silence.

after what seemed like hours, but was actually a couple of seconds, f/n stood up and took a seat beside lilia, wanting to grab his hand but opting for just sitting beside him as they looked at the male.

"...i'm sorry."

lilia let out a sigh before giving them a small smile, ruffling their hair as he spoke, "don't fret, it has been centuries since then. i am not a being who holds grudges for too long."

f/n smiled a little and hesitantly wrapped their arms around lilia, and he did not object to their affection as he, too, wrapped his arms around his former lover. once they pulled away, sebek suddenly spoke by the staircase.

"they're your ex-lover, lilia-sama?!"

silver tried to hush sebek, but lilia and f/n had already looked up and noticed the three of them eavesdropping and peeking down at them. lilia smiled in response to sebek's words as he spoke, "hmm... i'd say remove the 'ex' and you have it right."

f/n looked at lilia in surprise as they muttered, "what...?"

lilia looked back at the fae beside him, giving them a cheeky smile as he asked, "we never officially broke up, no?" f/n blinked their eyes in surprise before shrugging their shoulders, "i mean... technically not?"

f/n then looked back up at the other three, their eyes landing on silver as they spoke, "i heard silver calls you father." lilia nodded his head as silver gave f/n a polite smile and bowed his head in respect to his father's lover, "uh... yes, i'm his son."

"is that so? then, it looks like you three earned another parental figure."

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vainateya-writes · 2 years

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A Delta, I never dealt with.

I had never seen him pampering a dog. Actually, he never allowed pets near him. Yeah, I have to agree with it, if someone tells me that he had a soft corner for cats. He used to feed a cat to keep rats and reptiles away. The cat had no name because it was never his pet. I will tell you about her and her kitten's miserable story another day and why I stopped liking cats. Besides, his only emotion, his mother had given him final advice about having a cat in their last conversation, before she passed away. He did not like dogs. To the best of my memory he used to feed a dog, Ruby, abandoned by her owner because he was no more to take care of. She used to sleep in almost every house in our lane. He never allowed her entering inside our home and he never touched her. He never entertained anyone to touch dogs or any other animals. The animals he used to pet and cuddle were Cows and Buffalos, as cows are considered to be sacred in Indian culture and he loved buffalo's milk. Ruby was never allowed inside his home. Before that he used to feed a Labor dog and I don't remember it well. Just I can tell you that it came behind him when he returned from his morning jogging on the next day of a Ganesha procession in our hood.

Let me just brief you about how the Ganesh processions used to happen those days. Maybe 2010. The last time I enjoyed that great pomp was when I was in fifth grade. After that, I had to spend most of my time in Boarding School. All young guys of the hood collected funds from the hood from the people residing in our locality to celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi. A giant clay idol of Ganesha would be placed in the hood for seven days and everyone in the hood used to worship. Nights were filled with music and fun. Sometimes young guns used to deviate the songs from devotional to filmy to get the attention of pretty bombs. On the last day, Ganesha will be submerged in Vaderahalli lake. Unlike today, Vaderahalli lake was cleaner. The send-off of Ganesha will be incomplete without a majestic procession that included Tamte Vadya (A musical instrument similar to drums) and Tamte Kunitha ( A type of RAW dance). Those were nights filled with fun for us. But, those nights haunted dogs. Many used to lose their homes. Sometimes dogs that were brought up and pampered in well-to-do homes leave their homes due to chaos and unusual sounds created by us. Some couldn't go back to their homes. Lost in the unknown hood and sometimes attacked by stray dogs, they suffer a lot. The Ganesh procession comes again this year.

Two days ago he was passing by a Kirrani Angadi. A small black pretty black dog, maybe a year old, was roaming around that shop. As he is not doing well he preferred a walk instead of a ride. He felt pity for that cute creature after knowing that it was the victim of the chaos created by us. To my surprise, he brought that little pet to his home. A small home, that was built 13 years ago. As I said earlier he was too practical and he felt there was no need for extra space in the home. Having a pet was a very far idea, as none used to be there at home during day time. But, this time, I don't know the chemistry that occurred within him. I had no clue how he would take care of the new guest as he is suffering from many health issues.

Today I had to call him, and I was stuck with wonder when I got to know that he had started spending all his day playing with his new friend ignoring his physical constraints. I was more astonished after knowing he bathed the dog and he was happy to see it sleeping in his bed. Things beyond my imagination. He is my Appa (Father). Usually, he doesn't call me home unless I have a severe job waiting for me. As he has to attend the final round of treatment tomorrow, he wants me to be there to take care of his new guest. Sorry! His new friend. A Delta I had never dealt with. Even though Amma is annoyed with his new friend, he is justifying all his acts. I hope that Appa will manage her wrath.

#dog show #change #DELTA

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sturchling · 3 years

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Hey, I was wondering if you could do a story of marinette moving to Gotham.

And going to gotham academy and having her own boutique. Damienette pairing. Cat noir salt. You dont have to if u dont want too.

Sorry for the long wait, work has been keeping me super busy lately. I hope you like this and it was worth the wait! I had a hard time trying to work in the Chat Noir salt, so its more like Adrien salt. Let me know what you think!

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Marinette was tired of Lila and her lies. She was tired of Adrien’s refusal to help defend her from the liar. And she was tired of everyone believing the liar over Marinette. Most of the school now believed that Marinette was a horrible bully that had been attacking Lila since she arrived. Marinette had been removed as class rep and was constantly given detention by Mr. Damocles. Marinette’s parents have been very supportive, and now realized that Lila was just a malicious liar. But even with their support, it had become to much for Marinette and she knew it was time to leave Paris.

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Her parents were hesitant when she brought up the idea. Marinette had found a study abroad program where she could attend Gotham academy, hosted by Bruce Wayne himself. She discussed it with her parents, really hoping to convince them. They were obviously concerned for a number of reasons. The main one being the crime rate in Gotham. They knew that Marinette needed to get away from Paris, that things had gotten bad in the city for her. But they didn’t want to send her to a dangerous city where she could be hurt or killed. But after speaking with Marinette for several hours, they started to realize how excited Marinette was for the opportunity. While they were still worried, they knew this was the right place for Marinette. And they were comforted that if she was accepted, she would be hosted by and staying with Bruce Wayne. His manor is one of the safest places in the city. So, they agreed with Marinette that she could apply the program.

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So Marinette applied to the study abroad program. She didn’t tell anyone at the school, not like anyone in the class was speaking to her anyway. She waited anxiously for news from the program, hoping to hear that she had been accepted. The longer she didn’t hear anything, the more anxious she became. She was sure that she had been rejected and they just hadn’t told her. Marinette had just got back from a particularly bad day at school, when she noticed she had a new email. An email from the study abroad program. She raced to open the email, and started cheering when she read the line We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Gotham Academy Study Abroad Program. Marinette raced downstairs and told her parents the news. The email said that she would be expected in Gotham by the end of the month. It went on to explain details of the program. That night the Dupain-Cheng family celebrated, and began preparing for Marinette’s departure.

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The last month of Marinette’s time in Paris seemed to drag on and on. Everyday she had to listen to Lila’s lie all day long and the whole class fawn over here. She had to endure Lila accusing her of bullying almost daily and almost daily detentions. But finally, it was her final day at the Dupont. She was almost giddy as she walked to Mr. Damocles’ office with her parents. When she entered the office and Mr. Damocles saw her, he just sighed. “What did you do now Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Then he saw her parents in the office and straightened up. “I didn’t do anything Mr. Damocles. I never did anything Lila accused me of, but I know you will never believe me on that. We are just here to get my academic records and inform you that I will no longer be attending this school after today.” Mr. Damocles was flustered by the sudden declaration. “What do you mean you won’t be attending anymore? Where are you going?” Mr. Dupain stepped forward, barely containing his contempt for this man who had been helping to make his daughter miserable. “Marinette will be studying abroad in America for the next year at least. Now, give us the academic records.” Mr. Damocles stuttered for a while, wondering how such a bully got accepted to such an amazing program. But soon, the Dupain-Chengs got the records from him and were on their way.

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Marinette went down to the locker room with her parents and started emptying her locker. Class hadn’t started yet so, everyone was still in the locker room. They were confused when Marinette started emptying her locker. Adrien, who was about the only person that still talked to Marinette from time to time, approached the young designer. “Marinette? What are you doing?” Marinette didn’t look at any of them, continuing to empty her locker as she responded. “I am emptying my locker. Starting Monday, I will no longer be here for school. I am transferring to Gotham Academy.” The class stood in shock, they never expected Marinette to leave. Sure they were happy that Lila would be able to come to school in peace, but it would be weird without Marinette here. They just stood in shocked silence, as Marinette finished with her locker and walked out with her parents.

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Adrien was shocked by Marinette’s decision. Why would she leave? He knew things had been tough for her lately, but he had kept telling her that it would get better soon. Soon the class would realize that Lila was a liar. That she just had to wait a little longer. But Marinette had clearly given up and was running away. That wasn’t like Marinette at all. When he had the chance, Adrien was going to go pay her a visit in Gotham and convince her to return.

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Marinette was already loving Gotham. She had been met at the airport by Alfred who brought her to the manor. Mr. Wayne was very nice and introduced her to his children as well. Marinette was the same age as Damian and would be in the same class as him as well. Damian had expected to be irritated by this girl when he was first informed of their guest. But to his surprise, he didn’t find her presence as repulsive as everyone else.

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Weeks went by and Marinette was having a wonderful time. She had made some wonderful friends in her class, though she was nervous to try and make friends after Mrs. Bustier’s class. But she was welcomed warmly by her new class. Her and Damian had also grown close over the weeks. They had started dating recently, and would often spend their time together quietly working on their different craft projects; Marinette working on her designs, and Damian working on his most recent painting. The Waynes were shocked at the change Marinette had caused in the youngest Wayne. Damian was still a very reserved person, but he was considerably warmer to Marinette and had started to act warmer to his family as well.

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While Marinette wasn’t aware of it, her departure brought about Lila’s downfall. Lila hadn’t been at school recently, on a ‘diplomatic trip to Achu’, and because of that, she didn’t know Marinette left Paris. So when she came back, she was planning on making her next attack against Marinette’s reputation. She used makeup to make fake bruises and called up her tears as she entered the classroom. The class was horrified to see their friend crying and injured. They raced forward and asked Lila what happened. “It was horrible. As soon as I returned to the city last night, Marinette was waiting for me outside my home. She was so mad that she got detention for a week when I told Mr. Damocles that she had stolen my book. She beat me up and said if I ever said anything I would regret it! I am so scared!” Lila was proud of this performance. It was probably one of her best performances yet. But when she looked up at the class, she was surprised to see that the class was staring at her doubtfully.

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Alya, feeling dread in her stomach, asked “Are you sure it was Marinette last night? No chance it was someone else?” Lila, irritated that they were questioning her, didn’t notice the tension in the room. “Of course it was Marinette. I saw her face and there is no way it was anyone else last night.” Nino, who was now realizing that this could mean that Marinette was right and that Lila was a liar, asked “What do you mean Marinette attacked you last night? Marinette moved to Gotham almost two weeks ago. She couldn’t have attacked you last night.” Now Lila was horrified. This was a major mistake. Lila was trying to back pedal, and figure a way out of this mess, but the class had realized at this point that Lila was lying and that she had probably been lying before when Marinette was still here. The class started to yell at Lila as they realized that she had been lying to them all this time. Lila raced from the room, not wanting to face the class. The class quickly tried to reach out to Marinette, to apologize and ask her to come home, but the number they had for her had been disconnected. Adrien was disappointed that Marinette hadn’t told anyone her new number, not even him. He was going to go to Gotham soon and try to convince her to come back. He was sure their Everyday Ladybug would be willing to come back.

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One day, weeks after Lila’s exposure, Damian and Marinette were sitting in the garden just relaxing. After watching Marinette work on a new design, Damian said, “Marinette, you should really try to open a boutique. Your work is terrific and you would be very successful.” Marinette seemed shocked for a moment. “You really think I should? I wouldn’t even know where to start. And how would I afford a building? I don’t think I could do it.” Marinette continued to anxiously ramble, until Damian came to stand in front of Marinette. “Marinette, Angel, breathe. I am sure you would do wonderfully. And as for the building, my father has multiple buildings in the city that he isn’t using. I am sure he would allow you to set up in one of them.” After more convincing, Marinette agreed to at least ask Bruce about it. When they approached Bruce, he was very willing to help Marinette set up her first boutique. He had seen the girl’s designs and knew that she would be a major success. Marinette felt bad about just taking one of his buildings and accepting his help with getting everything she needed for the boutique, but she accepted when Bruce told her to consider it a loan if that made her more comfortable. Then, they immediately started setting up her boutique.

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After about a month, everything was set up and Marinette’s boutique had opened under the name MDC. She was an instant success and quickly became very busy with several orders from big name clients. As time went on, Marinette began to feel like Gotham was her home. One day, after she had closed the boutique and was leaving with Damian to go on a date, they were approached by a familiar face. “Adrien?” Adrien smiled and approached her. “Hi Marinette.” Damian sensing the tension, stepped closer to Marinette. “Who is this Marinette?” Adrien looked at the boy standing next to Marinette and didn’t recognize him at all. “Damian, this is Adrien, someone I knew in Paris. Adrien, this is my boyfriend Damian.” That took Adrien by surprise, but he moved past it. He was sure that Marinette would leave this Damian and come back to Paris where she belonged.

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“So what are you doing here Adrien?” Adrien smiled again, “I am here to bring you home Marinette! Lila has been found out and she is gone. You don’t have to keep hiding here in Gotham. You can come home and back to the class. Everything can go back to normal.” Marinette just stared at him, as Damian started to get angry. Adrien didn’t pick up on the tension. “So come on. Lets go get your things. We can fly back to Paris in the morning.” Adrien tried to grab her arm, but Marinette moved back, avoiding him. “I’m sorry Adrien, but I’m not going back. I am really happy here. I still have months with the study abroad program and may stay here permanently if I can. I have friends who wouldn’t leave me for a liar. Damian is here. And my boutique is doing really well. I am not ready to go back to Paris.” Adrien just rolled his eyes. “Come on Marinette, you have friends in Paris, and you can set up a new boutique in Paris. Its no big deal. So come on, lets go.” Adrien once again tried to grab at Marinette’s arm, this time Damian got in his way and shoved him back. “Marinette said she didn’t want to go with you so that is that. You should go now, you have embarrassed yourself enough.” Adrien glared at Damian, angry that he was getting in his way. “I am not leaving. Not until Marinette tells me to, so stay out of this.” Marinette stepped out from behind Damian, looking more confident then Adrien ever remembered seeing her. “Adrien you should leave. I am happy here and I am not going back to Paris. My ‘friends’ in Paris turned their backs on me because of the liar’s pretty words. My friends here would never do that to me. Now please leave.” Adrien was shocked, and didn’t move. Damian rolled his eyes and guided Marinette around Adrien and back to the manor.

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Adrien went back to Paris, alone, the day after his conversation with Marinette. He was surprised that Marinette wouldn’t come back with him. Mrs. Bustier’s class was sad when Adrien came back without Marinette. They had hoped she would come back, but unlike Adrien, they knew the chances were slim. While they were sad that Marinette was gone and that they had chased off such a good friend, they were happy that she had found a place that she could live happily. They tried to move on, hoping that one day they may get the chance to apologize to Marinette in person.

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Marinette stayed in Gotham after her conversation with Adrien. She finished her year with the study abroad program and then decided to live in Gotham permanently, with her parents blessing. She continued to stay at the manor, living happily with the Waynes. She continued using the horse miraculous to go back and forth to Paris for the akumas and soon revealed her identity to the Waynes once she realized they were the Batfam. Her boutique continued to be a major success. Her life had improved in every way it could. She was surrounded by true friends, she had a boyfriend who truly cared for her, her fashion business had started with great success, and she didn’t have to deal with the liar anymore. She was the happiest she had been in a long time, and she intended to be this happy for the rest of her life in Gotham.

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catrasredemption-moved · 3 years

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can I ask a prompt with some ppl giving pregnant catra a hard time? (is it still okay for pregnant catra? if not then it's okay too)

Vomiting TW

Time didn’t heal all wounds.

Catra was aware of it, and she didn’t take it personally when people glared at her or made comments. She drew the line at people trying to physically hurt her, but usually at that point Adora was between her and whoever was taking a swing, and she didn’t have to worry too much.

Even ten years later, Salineas was still the worst place to go. The kingdom had recovered nicely (due in no small part to the hours of sleep Catra had sacrificed to rebuild it), but memories lasted.

Mermista’s word trumped all feelings, though, so when Catra was invited to Salineas, no one could really protest.

“I’m still not sure why we couldn’t teleport,” Glimmer grumbled. “Pretty sure the boat is worse for Catra.”

It absolutely was. Catra had spent most of the journey leaning over the edge, or resting limply against it while Melog tried to comfort her. “Are you sure she’s okay?” Bow added, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her. Adora rubbed the back of her head nervously.

“Yeah. Yeah, of course I’m sure. I’m just... going to go check on her.”

She scrambled across the deck, joining Catra, who was starting to look a little green. “Maybe we should’ve just let Glimmer teleport us,” she said uncertainly. Catra shook her head furiously.

“No. No magic around the baby. Not like that.”

“Then can we at least tell Glimmer and Bow why? They’re worried.”

Catra raised her head to look blearily at their friends, who weren’t even trying to pretend they weren’t staring. “Maybe later,” she mumbled, dropping her head back against the edge. “If I survive this trip.”

They hadn’t told anyone outside of Mystacor they were trying to have a baby, and they hadn’t told anyone when they’d found out last week that Catra was pregnant. They were going to, but she was only six weeks, and they wanted to just wait a little longer, to be absolutely sure. They didn’t need pity if anything went wrong.

“We’re almost there. Just take a deep breath.”

Catra did as she was told - then groaned when the smell of salt water hit her sensitive nose. “Bad idea,” she groaned, leaning over the edge again. Adora rubbed her back pityingly.

It was a relief to finally dock, even if it took Catra an extra few minutes to collect herself and get up. They weren’t that far from the palace, but Glimmer still offered to teleport. “Nope,” Catra said, squaring her shoulders. She was not going to spend the rest of the night locked in the bathroom.

She felt a little better by the time they arrived at the ball room. It was Mermista’s birthday, which was pretty much the event of the season in Salineas. Catra was sure she would have reluctantly accepted if Catra had played sick to stay in Bright Moon, but... who was she to turn up some of the best sea food in the kingdom?

“Yeesh, I figured you guys would get here first,” a dry voice said as they walked into the already crowded room. They looked at Mermista, who was watching them with a dry smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Happy birthday!” Bow and Glimmer hugged her tight.

“Catra insisted on not teleporting for some reason so we had to take a boat-”

“What, was two hours of being sea sick better?”

“A little fresh air never killed anyone,” Catra said dismissively. Mermista rolled her eyes.

“Sure.”

Catra went straight for the food table, dragging Adora with her. “Well at least you’re feeling better,” Adora teased, squeezing Catra’s hand.

“Oh shut up-”

“She-Ra!”

Every time, without fail. Catra rolled her eyes, sighing, as Adora was waylaid by several admirers. She wasn’t about to wait - she was starving. And the baby was demanding shrimp.

And she wasn’t alone for long. Scorpia and Perfuma were already at the table, talking and snacking. “Hey Wildcat!” Scorpia said happily, scooping Catra into a hug. She winced, but smiled, patting Scorpia’s back.

“Hi Scorpia. You mind? I’m dying.”

Scorpia set her down, letting her get to the table at last so she could eat. “How was your trip?” Perfuma asked. “Bow mentioned you were taking a boat.”

“Yeah, enjoying the sights, you know.”

“Did you develop some love for the ocean?” Scorpia asked doubtfully. She’d seen Catra on boats a couple times. It never went well.

“I mean...”

Her attention was torn between Scorpia and Perfuma and the food, not to mention the din of the party. She had almost no warning before a rough hand grabbed the back of her shirt, throwing her to the ground. She landed hard, head snapping back with a crack. The world went blurry for a minute.

“-tra? ...okay?”

Perfuma’s voice drifted in and out. Catra grimaced, blinking a few times to clear her vision. Perfuma was kneeling beside her, trying to help her sit up, while Scorpia held Adora back from punching out the chef who had decided it was a crime for Catra to be enjoying herself in the kingdom she had destroyed. She sat up, grimacing, one arm crossing her stomach. Six weeks. She wasn’t fragile by any means, not like she would be in about six months, but that didn’t mean she could just be pushed around and thrown into floors, either.

“Hey!”

Mermista’s voice reverberated in Catra’s head. The princess cut through the crowd that had gathered, furious. “Adora, stop trying to murder my chef and take care of your wife. Sea Hawk, put him in cell.” The chef started to protest. “You don’t think you get to assault someone at my party and get away with it, do you?”

Sea Hawk appeared to take the chef away; there was no further protest. Adora knelt on Catra’s other side, gently sliding an arm across her back to support her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Catra took a few deep breaths. Her head hurt, but she was fine. The baby was probably fine. It wasn’t even really a baby at this point, just a bunch of magically bound cells trying to make a baby, it would suck if something happened, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It wasn’t like Catra hadn’t already taken to talking to her stomach when she was alone, or poking it experimentally, thrilled about the little life growing inside, or-

“Catra? Catra, hey.”

She was shaking, her breath coming a bit too fast. Adora had a hand on her cheek, trying to get her attention. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Does something-”

The world turned over in a sickeningly familiar way. Catra pressed her face into Adora’s shoulder, groaning, as soon as they were settled wherever Glimmer had taken them.

“Glimmer-”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to get you both out of there.” Glimmer sounded nervous. Catra wanted to look at her, but her eyes were still squeezed shut and she had no intention of opening them. “I’ll... I’ll be right back.”

She teleported away. “There’s a bed,” Adora said quietly. “Do you feel okay moving?”

“Sure,” Catra muttered through gritted teeth. That turned out to be a lie; she forced her eyes open as she was moved, and the world was spinning. Nope. “Adora-”

A small trash bin was forced into her hands before she could finish the sentence. And of course Glimmer chose that moment to return with Bow, Scorpia, Perfuma, and Mermista.

“Should... I get a doctor or something?”

Adora rubbed Catra’s back as she heaved. “No... maybe? I’d rather take her to Mystacor-”

“For a head injury?”

Catra cracked an eye open to look at Adora, who was watching her uncertainly. She nodded miserably, returning her attention to breathing and trying not to freak out. So much for keeping it to themselves.

“Well, she’s um... she’s pregnant, actually.”

Dead silence followed the words.

“I’ll kill him,” Glimmer declared.

“I’ll help.” That was Scorpia, surprisingly.

“Okay, okay,” Bow cut in. “Maybe murder isn’t the right idea...”

“Let’s not out-rule it completely,” Mermista said darkly.

“It’s probably fine,” Catra mumbled, setting the trash bin aside. “I’ve been sick for like, two weeks, this isn’t exactly a new development.”

“Seeing a healer might still be a good idea,” Perfuma pointed out. “When you’re ready to move.”

“Is this why you didn’t want to teleport?” Glimmer asked. Catra ducked her head, refusing to answer. “Why don’t I go to Mystacor and get someone, and if they say you’re okay, I can take you home - that has to be better than suffering on the boat.”

“I didn’t think the boat would be that bad.” Catra sighed. “You guys don’t have to stand there and stare at me. Go back to the party - I mean, yes, get a healer first.” She’d feel better just confirming that everything was okay. “But it’s stupid to stand around staring at me.”

“It’s not stupid to want to make sure you’re all right,” Bow said. “And what about our future niece or nephew?”

“Why don’t you stay, Glimmer goes to Mystacor, and the rest of us can go back downstairs,” Perfuma suggested. She had spent enough time with Catra to know when she was starting to get overwhelmed. Scorpia started to protest, but stopped when Perfuma placed a hand on her claw.

“I’ll send up a staff member in case you need anything,” Mermista compromised. Catra nodded, since it didn’t seem like she had much of a choice. She knew her friends cared, though.

Everyone left, and Bow immediately joined them on the bed. “I didn’t know you guys were trying to have a baby.” He was doing a very good job at restraining his excitement and not shouting. “How far along are you? Do you have thoughts about names?” He gasped. “Will they have little cat ears?”

Catra smiled slightly, dropping her head to rest on Adora’s shoulder and letting Adora handle the questions. She knew her wife had been dying to talk about the baby with someone besides Catra, and it was nice to listen to their excited chatter fill the silence.

(Everything was in fact fine, save for the slight head injury, and the healer assured them that it was perfectly safe to teleport with Glimmer. Catra vehemently disagreed with that last part, but that was an on-going debate.)

#MAN that got long I'm sorry #anyway um #here?#pregnant catra #askbox fic #Mystery Person #Sam Answers

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hermannsthumb · 3 years

Note

Town council Hermann vs Alien Conspiracy Newt please!!!

THIS WAS FUN!!! inspired both by this tweet and conversations abt a newt/herm AU of that tweet with @k-sci-janitor (who also thought of the funniest sign newt made in this fic, aka the cheekbones one, and what his tats should look like). this is long sorry :/ gets a little spicy towards the end but nothing worse than a high pg13/light M

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The evening of the weekly town council meeting, it pours like nothing else. Which Hermann figures is really quite appropriate. Loathe as he is to soak his trouser legs, trudge through the mud that used to be his front walk, and hold his umbrella for so long his arm aches (for the community center is a mere half-mile walk away that Hermann can't justify substituting with a bus), he can't imagine council meetings happening in any other sort of weather. In fact, they rarely tend to; their dreariness seems to be a necessity, part of the preparation, as if to put everyone in as miserable a mood as possible.

Hermann hates council meetings. He supposes he'd be more sympathetic towards the plights of his constituents—if one can call one's neighbors constituents—if he'd wanted the damned job in the first place. As it is, he feels a bit like he was conned into it. Hermann had been a lowly physics professor at the local community college, passionate about public education and funding for public education and all those proper sorts of things an educator ought to be concerned about, when he suddenly found himself seized with the idea of making a difference. So he ran for a head position on the council. And he won it. Only no one told him that the council deals a lot less with public education and a lot more with noise complaints, cul-de-sac bake sales, and raccoons in dustbins, which makes why he ran completely unopposed all the more obvious.

A fat raindrop explodes against the edge of Hermann's umbrella and splashes his glasses. Hermann grits his teeth and wipes them dry with the cuff of his sweater. Bloody meeting; bloody rain; Hermann just wants to go back home, and fix up a nice pot of herbal tea, and set a blanket in the dryer for ten minutes, and...

"Dr. Gottlieb! Hey, Dr. Gottlieb, wait—!"

A blur in an oversized yellow raincoat hurdles itself at Hermann from the stairs of the community center. Hermann considers pretending he is a different Dr. Gottlieb, one who certainly has no reason to know maniacs in raincoats, or maybe high-tailing it in the other direction. This is the other reason why Hermann loathes council meetings: Newton Geiszler.

The unfortunate thing is that Newton Geiszler was, at one point, a respectable academic type, and in fact one of Hermann's own colleagues at the community college. (Hermann only found this out after the fact—he does not make a habit of intermingling much with the biology department.) And Hermann does mean was. Around a year ago, Geiszler was asked to temporarily step down from his position after he suddenly and unexpectedly went off the deep end. He has not been asked to come back yet. And not without reason. "Dr. Geiszler," Hermann sighs. "I've asked you not to lurk about here like that. It's...unsettling."

"Sorry, man, sorry," Geiszler shouts. He stomps over and makes himself at home under Hermann's umbrella. Hermann's not sure how he's been managing to see anything, let alone Hermann approaching down the sidewalk: his glasses are completely fogged-up and rain-splattered. "Do you mind if—thanks, dude."

Geiszler flips his hood down. He’s short, only coming up to Hermann's nose, with stubble nearly overgrown to a full beard and a mess of wet brown hair. He shakes that hair now, like a dog, soaking Hermann in the process. Hermann growls. "I beg your pardon,” he says.

"Oops,” Geiszler says. “Sorry. Anyway, Dr. Gottlieb, I'm really glad I caught you, there are—there are some things I wanted to tell you about. Before the meeting. They're—hold on." He rummages around in the deep pockets of his raincoat and produces a damp notebook, which he begins to flip through frantically. "It's about—"

"I know what it's about," Hermann says. Geiszler fumbles to push his glasses back up his nose. "In fact, there are some things I need to speak with you about as well."

"You've seen them?" Geiszler says in a hushed tone.

Hermann scowls. "I certainly have.”

They first started cropping up in the forest around the little cabin Geiszler calls home. Then, like dandelions or bamboo, they spread fast and far—to the town commons, in the front lawn of the coffee shop Hermann frequents, in front of his house. Whenever Hermann dashes one down with his cane or hauls one off to a rubbish bin, two more only crop up in its place. It's annoying, frankly. As if Hermann doesn't have to deal with enough already.

3 ALIEN ABDUCTIONS IN ONE WEEK - WHEN IS THE COUNCIL GOING TO DO SOMETHING?, the new one sitting in front of the community center says.

It's better than last week's sign, Hermann supposes. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE - AND HERMANN GOTTLIEB IS BLIND TO IT.

"You know you need a permit for those, Dr. Geiszler," Hermann says. "Or, at the very least, the council's permission. They're a public nuisance."

"My signs are a public nuisance?" Geiszler shouts. Hermann flinches back. Geiszler may be compact, but if he doesn't have the shrillest voice on the whole damned planet. "Open your eyes, dude! A dozen people went missing last month! The only public nuisance is whatever's coming from—" He bites his lip and jabs his finger at the sky, as if saying anything remotely akin to outer space would suddenly send fleets of UFOs pouring down from above. "And you're just letting them walk right fucking in."

“I thought they were flying in?" Hermann says. He raps Geiszler’s shin with the end of his cane. "Do get out of my way, Dr. Geiszler. The meeting starts in ten minutes, and you're welcome to air all of your grievances then."

Geiszler is silent as Hermann ducks around him and ascends the community center ramp. For a moment, Hermann thinks he may have won this small victory, and then he hears the wet slaps of Geiszler's rain boots against the pavement behind him. "Really funny," Newton says. "Real fucking funny, dude. I bet it'll be just as funny when they come for you next!"

Hermann unlocks the door. Geiszler waves a stack of black-and-white polaroids beneath his nose. "I took these last week," Geiszler says, and begins flipping through them as frantically as he had his notepad. Each one is blurry and indistinct, like Geiszler snapped them through a gauzy curtain with shaking hands. Hermann's not sure what he's meant to be looking at. "The day that waitress went missing from the bus stop. And two nights after that—your neighbor, the one who went outside to let his cat in and never came b—"

"Enough," Hermann says. He pushes the polaroids away, knocking two to the ground, and Geiszler scrambles to pick them up before they're ruined. "Dr. Geiszler, it is undoubtedly tragic that these people have—er—vanished, as they have, but continuously insisting extraterrestrials had something to do with it, and furthermore—" Geiszler opens his mouth as if to argue, but Hermann raises his voice and pushes on. "—furthermore, that I'm meant to do something about it, is completely—well, it's unhinged, frankly. I'm not law enforcement. Or the mayor. Or bloody—NASA. What do you want from me?"

Geiszler stares at him for a long time. He pockets his photographs. "They're gonna come for you," he says, ominously. "Just like they did for me."

The meeting goes off as expected, which is to say, badly. Hermann gets shouted at by nearly everyone in town, many of whom blame Hermann and his presumed negligence for the disappearances over the past year as well (blessedly, they don't also blame aliens), though many more of them blame him for more trivial things such as the broken water fountain in the commons or the library's slow wireless internet. Hermann can't decide which is worse.

As it is, when the clock strikes eight, he's more than ready to go home. "Right," he announces, standing up and making a show of tidying his meeting notes. They're already tidy: Hermann's notes are always meticulous. He continues—rather quickly, in case someone gets bold and attempts to interrupt him, "Thank you all very much for such a, er, productive meeting. I'll make sure to pass along everything you've said to the appropriate people. If there's nothing else..."

Geiszler jumps to his feet. A few people groan; Hermann has a feeling they're just about as sick of him as Hermann is. "Um, yeah, actually, I want to add something."

"No," Hermann says. “Dr. Geiszler, please, we can talk—”

"When we were outside," Geiszler continues anyway, raising his voice, "you asked me what I wanted you to do. Well, I just want you to listen to me! That's all! I have so much proof—so much I can show you—and you won't even—!"

"Proof?" Hermann says. "Your rubbish photographs?”

"It's not just the photographs! It's other stuff, too! Like—" Geiszler lets out a long, angry huff of air, and actually balls his fists up at his sides. Hermann has never seen him so incensed, not even when he accused Hermann of being an alien himself during a council meeting last summer. "Look, just come to my house and I'll fuckin' show you. Or are you that afraid of being—I don’t know, proven wrong?"

Part of Hermann is convinced that if he follows Geiszler out to his isolated cabin in the middle of the woods, it'll be the last thing he ever does. At the very least, he certainly has no desire to spend more time with Geiszler than he's already forced to. Yet—on the other hand—Hermann does not appreciate the challenge, nor does he appreciate being made to look like a fool by the man who chairs the local paranormal society. "Fine," he snaps, and Geiszler startles in obvious surprise. "Fine, you wretched little man. I’ll let you show me whatever proof you think you may have, so long as you take every single one of those signs down."

"Um," Geiszler squeaks. He clears his throat. "D—deal?"

Hermann seizes his cane and thrusts his chair back under his table roughly. "Well?" he says to the rest of the hall, none of whom have budged since Geiszler began shouting his head off. He scowls at the lot of them. "The meeting is over. You can leave."

It's Hermann's job to shut down the building each week, so he waits for the very last stragglers to toss out their paper water cups, shrug on their raincoats, and file outside before switching off the lights and locking up. He finds Geiszler lurking by a rather worse-for-wear green VW Beetle at the curb, the hood of his raincoat flipped back up over his hair. Hermann desperately hopes that the car isn't Geiszler’s. He is Hermann’s ride home tonight, after all. "I took the signs down," Geiszler says in a rush. "All of the ones around here, anyway. I'll have to do the rest tomorrow." He jerks his thumb at the backseat of the Beetle, where Hermann sees a haphazard pile of some of the 3 ALIEN ABDUCTIONS signs. His heart sinks. The X-Files bumper stickers should've been a dead giveaway, really.

"Thank you," Hermann sighs. "Well, let's get this over with."

"The heat is busted, so you might wanna leave your coat on," Geiszler says apologetically when Hermann manages to squish himself into the passenger's seat. The floor is a sea of empty Dunkin' Donuts cups, stacks of pulp science (or, if Hermann were to be less kind, pseudoscientific) magazines spanning back at least half a decade, and a pin-littered linen tote bag filled to the brim with boxed Annie's macaroni and cheese.

"Uh, sorry," Geiszler says. "I had to run some errands earlier. You can just—toss that in the back. Yeah."

The ride is short but bumpy, and though the removal of Geiszler's shopping bag offers Hermann more leg room, there is nothing that can make up for his tragically awful driving and his tragically awful CD collection. Hermann almost bolts from the car when they finally pull up at Geiszler's ivy-shrouded cabin, so relieved to have made it there in one piece that he's all but forgotten that he must now spend the rest of the evening with Geiszler, too. He remembers soon enough: another duo of aggressive signs have been pounded into Geiszler's mossy front path, TURN BACK NOW - ALIEN ABDUCTION ZONE, and a rather good sketch of Hermann beneath WHAT ARE THOSE CHEEKBONES HIDING? "That one's from the summer," Geiszler says sheepishly, kicking down the latter with the toe of his boot. "I keep forgetting to take it down. I don't still think you're an alien, by the way."

"Er, thank you," Hermann says. "I suppose?"

"They wouldn't be that obvious," Geiszler says, emphasizing the they with a meaningful glance up at the night sky.

"Of course not," Hermann says.

He's not quite sure what he expected Geiszler's house to look like. Some sort of—conspiracy nutter's den, perhaps, with aluminum foil hats and deconstructed radios and elaborate photoboards full of thumbtacks and red string. Or the interior of his car on a larger scale, with empty takeout containers and crumpled up papers on every surface. He's...sort of right. There's a noticeable lack of tinhats, but there are plenty of (modestly-sized) corkboards on the walls and multiple coffee cups peeking out of a recycling bin. The rest is merely precisely what Hermann would expect from an academic in his 30s: books, and mis-matching furniture, and a sink of dishes begging to be washed. It's...a bit disappointing, frankly. Though Hermann is rather impressed with the sleek telescope angled in front of the back slider door. Impressed, and envious. It's a very nice model.

"Make yourself at home," Geiszler says, unzipping his voluminous raincoat and tossing it, along with Hermann's, over the back of a worn armchair. He's wearing a pair of torn skinny jeans and a band t-shirt that reveals his heavily tattooed, and deceptively shapely, arms. Hermann tears his eyes away and forces himself to sit down at one end of Geiszler's couch. "I'm gonna make us some coffee. Do you want any sugar or non-dairy creamer?"

"No, thank you," Hermann says. "I don't drink coffee this late. It'll keep me up all night."

"Well, I hope so, that's kinda the plan,” Geiszler says. He rolls his eyes. “The aliens never come before at least midnight. Soy milk or almond milk?"

Hermann thinks, briefly and longingly, of his nice warm bed, the blanket he intended to toss in the dryer, and the herbal tea he won't be having after all. "Almond milk?" he hazards.

Geiszler stares at him in evident disgust. "Dude, I was kidding. You know how bad that shit is for the environment? It takes, like, a fuckin' thousand gallons of water or something like that for one carton of almond milk. It's insane. I mean, I guess it's still less water than what dairy needs, but there are plenty of better options."

"Oh," Hermann says. Hermann drinks skim milk. "I'm sorry. Er. Soy milk?"

As Geiszler fixes them mugs, Hermann begins to poke around some papers scattered across the coffee table. One is a list of names and dates, seemingly random, Hermann thinks, until he recognizes (scrawled in purple ink at the very bottom of the page) that of the gentleman who disappeared from his back porch just down Hermann's street. When he recognizes another—a teenager who worked as a barista at Hermann’s favorite coffee shop—he realizes it must be everyone who's vanished from town in the past year. Another paper has the same dates repeated, though not alongside any names—rather, bizarre little phrases like circling lights and that sound again. "You found my notes," Geiszler says cryptically, and then thrusts a mug out to Hermann.

Hermann takes the mug. A logo on the side tells Hermann it was from some academic conference in California ten years ago. "What are they supposed to mean?" he says.

Geiszler snorts. "Uh, I thought it was kind of obvious. Look—" He sits next to Hermann, far too close, and points at the column of numbers on the first page. "These are the dates when people have been reported missing," he says, and then scans his finger over to the second page, "and these are the dates when I've observed extraterrestrial—or at least, unexplainable—activity overhead. See how they match up almost perfectly?

"Mm," Hermann says. He does not. "So—if I am to understand you correctly—you believe that a, ah," he takes the page back from Geiszler, "a 'weird swoopy sound' from overhead had something to do with that poor young woman disappearing from a bus stop last week?”

"It wasn't just a weird noise!" Geiszler exclaims. "I showed you the pictures. I ran outside when I heard it, and thank fuck I had my camera, because I caught those lights just as they were leaving. And then what do I find out the next morning? There was another abduction, at almost the exact same time I saw the lights!"

"Ten miles from here," Hermann reminds him. "It would've had to have been a bloody fast ship."

"Yeah, no shit, Hermann," Geiszler says. "They're, like, fucking—mega-advanced lifeforms. They probably have the tech to vaporize the entire Earth if they wanted. Of course it was a fast ship.”

Geiszler is still sitting awfully close to Hermann. He runs very warm, unlike Hermann, warm enough to make Hermann warm too—like a scruffy, tattooed, freckled furnace. Yes, freckled, for Geiszler has the lightest dusting of freckles across his round chipmunk-like cheeks that Hermann finds inexplicably charming. He wonders if Geiszler would notice him loosen his collar a bit, perhaps take off his sweater. He really is getting quite warm. "So, I was saying," Geiszler continues, and though he speaks almost directly into Hermann's ear, he sounds as if he's a mile away from him. "Waitress at bus stop—weird lights over my cabin—waitress gone from bus stop. The proof is, like, undeniable!"

"Indeed," Hermann says.

He undoes the top button of his collar. He hasn't touched his coffee yet—he wonders if Geiszler even cares. The tattoo on Geiszler’s bicep, some sort of space tentacle monster, stares back at Hermann. "I'm telling you, man," Geiszler says, "this is no joke. They're taking people, maybe even for good."

They're gonna come for you, just like they did for me. When Geiszler began spouting nonsense about aliens last year, he was not booted from the biology department right away. Mostly everyone at the college, Hermann knows, tolerated his eccentricities on account of his admittedly brilliant mind and popularity among the students. The final straw came when Geiszler's extraterrestrial delusions (for what else could they be?) reached a new level: he showed up to campus in his pajamas one morning, raving that the aliens were not only zooming about over his house, but had actually abducted him the previous evening. "You seemed to fare alright, though, didn't you?" Hermann says. "When you were—ah—taken? They even dropped you back off in time for work. Quite courteous, I should think."

"That's—" Geiszler begins to shake his leg up and down, nervous energy radiating up his body and through Hermann's. He spills some of his coffee on the carpet. "That was—that was dumb. I got lucky. I think I was one of the first ones, you know? Because the disappearances didn't really get bad until, like, a month after that? I was in bed—and, and it wasn't like how it is in movies, I wasn't sucked up in a giant beam of light or anything like that, one minute I was there and then the next I wasn't, I was somewhere...else. And—uh. I don't really remember what they looked like. I tried to—sketch them out, but it was like trying to remember a dream, all the specific details about them just faded once it was over. But, um." He rubs the back of his neck, and Hermann is surprised to see him blushing. "Well, if I'm being honest, I think I kinda freaked them out."

Hermann can't help but snort. "You what?"

"I'm serious!" Geiszler shrieks. "I freaked them out. I was just really excited about it all. Like, dude, come on, I was abducted by aliens. How fucking cool is that? I just kept asking a bunch of questions, like, are you gonna probe me? are you gonna take me back to Mars or Jupiter or, like, I don't know, fucking Gallifrey? do you even understand what I'm saying, how do you communicate? and then the next thing I knew, I was landing on my ass in the school parking lot. They must've been observing me like I was observing them, like, they maybe knew I worked there? Anyway—" He shakes his head. "I tell you what, I'm real glad I decided to not just wear boxers like usual to bed that night. That would've been really embarrassing."

Bombarded with the sudden mental image of what Geiszler usually looks like in bed, Hermann (feeling rather warm again) tugs at his collar and clears his throat. He has certainly seen more than enough for the night, and if his mind is straying to something as prosaic as what does Dr. Geiszler look like half-naked?, it likely means it’s time for bed. "Er, right. Dr. Geiszler—"

"Just call me Newt, man," Geiszler says.

"Newton," Hermann concedes. It gives him a private little thrill. No one calls Newton Newton; it’s always either Newt or Dr. Geiszler. "Newton,” he says again, “this has been a very—illuminating—evening, but it's getting rather late, and I think you ought to drive me home before—"

And then Newton begins to take off his shirt.

Yes, a small part of Hermann's brain whispers traitorously, yes, yes, yes, even as Hermann recoils and stammers out, "Newton, what—?!"

"Oh, calm down, I'm not coming onto you," Newton says. He drops his t-shirt on the floor and jabs a thumb at his chest. His bare chest. "See, look. Proof."

Hermann's not sure what he's meant to be looking at. The giant Godzilla tattooed over Newton's pectorals? The flying saucer tattooed above Newton’s belly button? Newton’s nipple piercings? Hermann thinks he understands what an overheating computer feels like, an influx of too much information with processors unequipped to handle it. "I," he says. Newton’s belly button is not pierced. Hermann’s not sure why he thought it would be.

"Look at my chest, dude!" Newton says, tapping his skin insistently.

It takes Hermann a great deal of effort to pull his eyes away from the nipple piercings. In the dead center of Newton's chest, spaced perfectly between his pectorals and right over the nostrils of Godzilla, is a strange, almost luminescent glyph of a language Hermann can't begin to recognize. It's raised from Newton's skin, more like a brand than a tattoo. And...well, when Hermann says luminescent, he really means it. The squiggle seems to glow blue. "This was on me the next morning," Newton says. "I think they marked me. Like you'd tag a lab rat?”

Hermann can't help himself: he reaches out and touches the mark. "Strange," he murmurs. Compared to the heat of Newton’s body, the glyph is quite cool. Frigid, in fact, like metal, and yet as soft as the rest of his skin.

He's close enough to Newton to hear the hitch in his breath when they make contact, and as he traces his fingertips over the glyph, he can feel Newton's heart pounding beneath them. Strange, indeed; Newton has been such a thorn in his side for so many months, and yet all Hermann wants to do now is touch even more of him. He trails his hand lower, down to the flying saucer on Newton's soft abdomen. Newton inhales sharply. "Um," he says. "Should—should I put my shirt back on?"

"Do you want to?" Hermann says.

"Not really," Newton says.

He stares at Hermann, eyebrows knit together behind his glasses, like he can't seem to make sense of him. His confusion is very much warranted; Hermann can’t seem to make sense of himself right now, either. Then, to Hermann's supreme annoyance, the pieces seem to click into place in Newton's mind, and he grins. "Oh, duh," he says. "No wonder. You wanna fuck me, don't you? That’s why you’re so obsessed with me.”

That would certainly explain the strange warm feeling that comes over Hermann sometimes when he thinks about Newton in the dead of night that he has, up until this very moment, attributed to bouts of temporary insanity and/or a latent murderous desire. Nothing so dramatic as all that, then—just regular human biology. Urgh. How disgusting. And for Newton, of all people. “Obsessed with you?” Hermann sniffs, desperate to retain some element of propriety even while he begins to tug at Newton’s button fly. “Newton, you have spent thousands of dollars on yard signs just to invite me over for a coffee.”

“Uh, yeah, and it worked,” Newton says.

He curls his fingers in the front of Hermann's sweater, thumbing over one of the buttons.

“Even when I thought you were an alien,” Newton says, “I still kiiiiinda wanted to fuck you.”

Delusional or not, Newton looks terrifically good with a beard.

"Wait," Hermann gasps some time later. "Newton, stop a moment—"

Newton pulls away from him, frowning. He pushes his glasses back up on his nose. "What is it?" he says. "Did I hurt—?"

But Hermann pats at his shoulder frantically, pointing beyond him at the back slider and the dark of the forest beyond that. Newton cranes his neck around. "Only I'm sure I saw something. Lights, or…” Hermann feels a small twinge of embarrassment. The night is dead silent, and dead still. “Well, now I'm not sure."

“You probably imagined it," Newton says. He slips back down to press a kiss at Hermann's jaw. “It’s too early to be them.”

Not even ten yet. Newton kisses behind Hermann’s ear. It feels very nice. "Yes," Hermann agrees slowly, his eyelids flickering shut. He smooths his hand up and down Newton’s back. "Yes, I suppose you're right." Newton’s stories must have left him on edge. Which is of course ridiculous, because they’re all a load of rubbish—there may be extraterrestrials somewhere out there in the great wide universe, but they’re certainly not swooping down and plucking up hapless test subjects from Earth, let alone their small town, every other day. Hermann has much more important things to concern himself with right now, like how it feels when he threads his fingers in the soft strands of Newton’s hair, or the sound Newton makes when Hermann digs his nails into his skin, or how wonderful kissing Newton is...

And, unobserved by both of them, the three lights hovering above Newton's cabin blink away as quickly as they'd come.

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag

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happyselves · 3 years

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Drugs ( part 1 ) { Daniel Ricciardo x reader }

" I'm a fucking mess sometimes, you needed me as much as I needed you. We were a drug for each other, but we need to heal and in order to get better I need to let you go "

You watch Daniel in the opposite corner of the room, lost in your thought.He was looking at you like he knew how much it was hurting you to be here, be there for him like you are a simple friend to him. You wanted more, you needed more and you knew he couldn't give you that, not Daniel Ricciardo. You had way too many long sleepless nights talking about it, he did not want a partner before the end of his career, yet until now you were hoping that he would change his mind,until last night. You had one of those sleepless night conversations again and it was the one that made your emotion's vase overflow. You hide so well how your heart broke in millions pieces last night. After all those years of friendship you had to let him go. He was hurting you and keeping you close " as a friend " . He knew now how much you were in love with him when you were doing so well hiding it all together. The smile, the touch, the gaze, you put your best acting for so long but you couldn't anymore. I was toxic for you when all he was, was the best friend you could hope for, always supportive, always here for you, but the more he cared for you the more he made you hope.

Last night was a mess, you both got drunk, both ended up on his room balcony in that beautiful hotel in Bahrain. You laugh for hours until the alcohol hits you both really hard and makes you confess things that you would normally keep to yourself. He starts by rambling about life outside f1, then it comes to your friendship and your brain isn't functioning properly, only your heart was able to make a decision. So when he started describing how perfect your friendship was for him and how essential you were in his life, your heart spoke for you but only in whispers.

You : You have no idea what's going on in my mind.

Dan : What did you say ?

And then you feel the alcohol effect, the one that makes you brave.

You : I said you have no idea what's going on in my mind right now ...

You waited a bit, not daringly looking at him, he was waiting for you to continue, looking at you with a curious gaze in his eyes, very intrigued that he patiently waited until you took a breath and gained enough courage to say what you had in mind.

You : You have no idea how much torture it is for me.

That where you saw his face close itself, the seriousness taking place like he just hit a wall in full force. He realised something, he realised that you weren't happy and his heart broke, you didn't need to say more he got it right away by the tears forming on the corners of your eyes. He realised that the friendship he thought was perfect wasn't, he finally saw after all this year how much you were unhappy. He was so selfish that even if he knew you by heart he didn't see the suffering you were giving him every time you too spoke during a sleepless night. Now he sees it, the pain, the hurt but most important the love and all he could feel right now was his heart aching and sinking into a dark hole.

He was losing you,

killing you,

torturing you,

helding you captive...

At this instant he hated himself so much for wanting to keep you just for him, no wanted to let you go, he wanted you only for him and it was unhealthy cause he knew that he couldn't give you what you needed from him. He felt sick to his stomach, he was toxic for you but you were a drug for him, he needed you to be well, to do well, to be happy. This man was confused because he didn't know how to explain his own feeling, he didn't know if it was love, possession, friendship, ownership, the only thing he was sure of was that without you he would be nothing. His mind needed to be clear, he needed to act fast before you left him for good, he needed to make sure of what he was feeling ...

So that night, under the stars, on this balcony, both of you were drunk. On this sleepless night, he grabbed the chair you were sitting in and brought it close to him with a firm attention to put an end to this. You got so surprised by his sudden gesture that you almost fell, he caught you with his arm like he always does when you are about to strumble. His arms having a firm grip on your waist he never let go of you, he didn't intend too even for a second until he was sure of what was going on between the two of you and you felt a tension building between your bodies. You dreamed of this for so long but living it was beyond every expectation because as soon as you ended up on his legs, it was like your soul left your body admiring this moment from afar, but you never felt more alive. Your skin was burning, your head spinning as the sight of him getting his face closer to you. He hesitates for a second that lasts an eternity for you before closing the gap between your lips and pressing his onto yours. They were soft, like kissing a cloud and your eyes shut themself automatically to make this moment captured in your brain forever cause you knew it would be a one time thing. You didn't want to think of this not right now, not when the man who was kissing you softly was here doing what you've always wanted and you were determined to show him how useless words were useless in this instant.

His lips still on yours, no moving like he was waiting for something, an approbation from you to make a move, you didn't realise that you were overthinking so much that you didn't respond to the kiss but the alcohol in his system wasn't letting him pull away just yet, and you were glad for it because you could react just in time and open your mouth to catch his lips, licking the dry spot on it, making them yours and only yours for what could last some longs minutes. His whole body relaxes and he releases a sigh he didn't know he was holding, his hands finally leaving your arm to fiercely grab your neck and making your forehead touch each other, deepening the kiss, introducing his tongue to the party. It was becoming sloppy and you were so intoxicated that your head was feeling dizzy but you weren't sure if it was because of the toxicity running through your veins or the way Daniel was eating you literally alive, like you let nobody do before. Your cold hands were finding their place at the hem of his shirt, pulling the last millimeters separating you from him. You wanted to feel him everywhere on your body as much as possible, the burning sensation was addictive and you needed more, you needed more of him ... again and again, savoring the few stolen moments.

But you had to let go, you couldn't breathe anymore, and he had too but it felt like he didn't want to. Coming back to reality was brutal for both of you as it seems to appear when you both pull away from each other, not moving your hands to lean on the contact, the fire and electricity who was roaming between your two bodies. At this point you couldn't open your eyes yet, you couldn't face him, face his terror of what you had just done, face the saddest of a lost friendship ...

His hand moves to caress your cheek, and like a fool, you lean to it, purring like a cat enjoying being petted. His thumb was stroking your skin, encouraging you to finally meet his gaze and when you do so, you've met the most beautiful brown eyes like it was the first time you were really seeing them from a close side. They weren't as light as you remember and his pupil was so dilated, yet so alive, sparkling like the sky during the 4th of July. He wasn't blinking and you weren't either, to scare to miss something , it was even more deep in the meaning that the exchange you just had, so intimate to lock eyes with each others, communicating only with your eyes, wondering what's the other is thinking, quietly battling to know which of you will break the contact first.

It end up being you when you felt your lungs lacking of air, opening your mouth to gather a huge breath of air which bring you a new clarity in your brain and made you jump out of his lap, finding yourself search for the balcony ledge, regretting right away the decision because you were already missing him. He was looking at you, his arms still up in the air where you were a second ago, still shocked from your sudden change of heart. How could you look at him and be around him after that ? You wouldn't dare to meet his eyes right now, deeply ashamed of what you just did. So you didn't and you left without a word, leaving him hanging on his own, leaving the room and probably leaving his life.

You spend the remainder of the night crying in your room, grieving the loss of the friendship you had with him, hoping to disappear from this place and not meeting him in the morning.

But that was without counting on the elevator taking too much time to come to your floor and the door of Daniel's room opening. It was too late for you to run and take the stairs plus you had too much luggages with you to carry. You pull on your best act, like nothing happened last night, hiding your puffy eyes and your miserable face as much as you can in the hood of your oversized hoodie ... his oversized hoodie. That thought made your eyes water again, you were about to betray him, leaving him alone but after like night.

That was where he called your name from the back of that room, and like an idiot you lifted up your head meeting his gaze from afar. He looked at you like he knew ... and your heart broke again replacing it with dust as the elevator's doors finally opened in front of you. You entered it, looking at him one last time.

MASTERLIST

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onlyfreds · 3 years

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I Choose You | F.W.

Title: I Choose You

Requested: Yes/No

Summary: At the end of the day, Fred is always the one Y/N chooses.

A/N: Inspired by the song “I Choose” from the movie: “Willoughby”

Stuck in my ways Like old-fashioned days But all the roads led me to you

Magic. I always thought that magic just consisted of clever tricks and didn’t really exist. I always thought that magic were just illusions used to entertain little kids. That was what I always thought, until I got my Hogwarts letter. Until I learned that magic was real. Until I hopped onto the Hogwarts express, ready to begin my journey as a witch.

All roads lead to somewhere. And this one led me to a certain 6’3 ginger who had a twin named George. This road had led me to my best friend, Fred Weasley, this road had led me to the boy I fell for, hard.

“You’re gorgeous.” That was Fred’s first words to me.

“Gryffindor!” The sorting hat yelled as it was placed on my head. I happily skipped towards the scarlet and gold table, where my new friends were waiting for me. “Welcome to the best house in Hogwarts.” The twins said in unison as I took a seat next to them.

Everyday was an adventure, pulling pranks and causing mischief and trouble here and there. And every day, I continued to fall in love with the older twin.

The house that you live in don't make it a home But feeling lonely don't mean you're alone People in life, they will come and they'll leave But if I had a choice I know where I would be

Ever since I started attending Hogwarts, I would spend every holiday at the Burrow. It was like a second home to me. Molly had instantly treated me like her daughter the moment I stepped foot inside the house. It even got to the point that Fred would whine that he wanted his “partner in crime” back.

Every holiday at the Burrow was special. I never felt lonely, mostly because my own family didn’t like the idea of me being a witch. But the most special holiday I had was during our third year.

I was watching the stars as snow fell slowly onto the ground.

“Enjoying the view darling?” The butterflies appeared in my stomach as I turned and saw Fred standing by the doorway.

“What’s there not to enjoy about the view?” I asked as I patted the space next to me, inviting him to sit down.

“It’s just, the whole family’s inside and your out here.” He said as he placed his arms around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him.

“But I can bet that there’s something better than that view.” He said with a sheepish grin.

I chuckled, “And what is that?”

“Look up.” He simply stated.

I diverted my gaze up to the night sky, fireworks painting the sky. Soon, it spelled out the words: I love you Y/N; Will you be my girlfriend?

I turned to Fred, who had a hopeful look in his eyes, “Be my girlfriend?” He asked.

Without hesitation, I cupped his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss. In the background, I could hear the whole Weasley household cheering.

“How’s that for an answer?” I asked as we pulled apart.

He smirked, “Oh, sorry. I didn’t get your answer. Can we try it again?”

I giggled as he pulled me in for another kiss.

Now I found the strength To make a change And look at the magic I found No matter the name

Umbridge had come and was making everyday miserable with her foolish educational decrees that she claims is for the better future of Hogwarts. A load of dragon dung if you ask me.

Harry then formed the D.A., which for me is the highlight of the school year. We were fighting for something. We were fighting for our school; we were learning to fight and defend ourselves. We were learning to fight against Voldemort.

“Expecto Patronum!” The twins said in unison, identical magpie patronuses flying out of their wands.

I thought of the day Fred asked me to be his girlfriend, the day we attended the Yule ball together, every date, every memory. I let the happiness fill me up.

“Expecto Patronum!” I casted, watching in awe as a cat flew out of my wand, running around, chasing the magpies the twins produced.

“What did you think about?” Fred asked, wrapping his arms around me.

I smiled, “You.”

The room then started to shake, Fred his arm around me protectively, the both instinctively raising our wands. The room shook again, a small hole appearing in the wall.

“Bombarda Maxima” A familiar voice said.

“It’s Umbridge.” I said, all of us started to run as the wall exploded.

The twins and I ran to one of the secret passageways that led to the common room. We were one of the first ones back, collapsing on the couch from exhaustion.

Ron came in dragging Hermione along with him. The rest of the Gryffindors started to file in. Except for one, Harry.

I finally found where I feel I belong And I know you'll be there with wide open arms

Through the lows and the highs, I will stay by your side There's no need for goodbyes, now I'm seeing the light

When the sky turns to grey and there's nothing to say At the end of the day, I choose you

“George and I are leaving tomorrow.” Fred said as he paced the dorm.

“The big escape.” I said with a small smile.

Fred looked at me, I could see the tears forming in his eyes, “I’m breaking up with you.”

I felt like someone had just stabbed a dagger into my chest, “What?”

He tried to hold back the tears but he couldn’t, “I’m breaking up with you.” He repeated as his voice cracked.

I could feel the tears making its way from my eyes, “Why?”

He sat down on the floor, “Because I am dropping out of school to follow another one of my stupid ideas. I’m dropping out of school to start a business that I have no assurance that will succeed. And if everything goes downhill, I’ll disappoint everyone, Harry, Mum, George and most especially you. Out of all the people in the world, you are the one I’d hate to disappoint the most. Then when that happens, you’ll leave me. Then I’ll be left with nothing. So, it’s better to end things now instead of ending when the pain hurts more.” He sobbed.

I pulled him into a hug, trying to wipe his tears as mine continued to fall.

“That won’t happen Fred.” I said, gently rubbing his back, “No matter what happens, I’ll stay by your side, through the lows and the highs. If the ship sinks, then I’m going down with you. Where you go, I go. Because at the end of the day Freddie, I choose you.”

He hugged me tightly, as if scared that I would evaporate any minute. “Thank you.” He muttered.

I cupped his face in my hands, “Besides, I’m coming with you.”

“What?” He asked.

I chuckled, “George and I were supposed to surprise you tomorrow. But I guess things don’t always go as planned.”

“Really? You’d rather come with us than finish your education.” He said with a small smile.

I nodded, “Yeah. It’s not like I’m learning anything with the pink toad around. Like I said Freddie, I’ll always choose you. And if I belong anywhere, it’s with you.”

Through the lows and the highs I will stay by your side There's no need for goodbyes, now I'm seeing the light When the sky turns to grey and there's nothing to say At the end of the day, I choose you

“You okay Freddie?” George asked as the three of us watched the teachers place protective enchantments on the school.

“Yeah, how about you?” Fred asked, turning to his brother.

“I’m fine.” George answered.

Fred turned to me, “How about you princess?”

“Good.” I replied.

Fred turned me to face him, “If ever I don’t make it. You should move on, okay? Fall in love again. Have a family. I’ll always be waiting for you.”

I shook my head, kissing him, “I choose you. So, it’s either we survive this together or we don’t at all.”

“But darling- “He tried to reason before I interrupted him.

“There’s no need for goodbyes, now I’m seeing the light.” I squeezed his hand, “It doesn’t matter what happens. As long as we’re together.”

“You’re joking Perce! You’re actually joking.” But the rest of Fred’s words fell into the background as my instincts told me that something bad would happen.

I rushed to Fred, pushing him out of the way as the wall exploded. It’s like everything had gone in slow motion.

“I love you.” I whispered into his ear, if I was going to die. Then I would want that to be my last words. If he was going to die, no, I can’t think that.

I landed on top of him, my arms wrapped around his torso, “Freddie?” I immediately said.

“Yes princess?” He answered, with his signature smirk.

I hugged him as I breathed a sigh of relief and began sobbing, “You’re alive.” I said.

He hugged me tighter, running his hand through, “Thank you for saving me.” He whispered.

I looked up and crashed our lips together, “I told you either we survive together, or we don’t at all.”

At the end of the day, I choose you

“Do you, Y/N L/N, take Fred Weasley as your lawfully wedded husband?” The minister asked.

I smiled, “I do.”

“And with the power invested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Fred smiled, as he pulled me closer to him.

During the reception, I couldn’t stop glancing down at the rings on our hands, it had the words I choose you engraved.

“I love you, Mrs. Weasley.” He whispered as the festivities continued.

I smiled at him, “I love you too, Mr. Weasley.”

I choose you

#fredweasley #fredweasleyimagines #fredweasleyfanfic #fredweasleyfanfiction #fred weasly x reader #fred weasley fluff #fred weasley smut #fred weasley angst #fred weasley x y/n #fred weasley x you #i choose you #songfic #hp imagine #hp one shot #fredweasleyoneshots

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inskz · 4 years

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lucky charm - lee minho

pairing - lee minho x reader

genre - college!au, best friends to lovers, very cliche fluff (lucky girl starring lindsey lohan kinda vibes???)

words - 4k

note - this is just a cute little drabble i wrote while im still waiting for my covid test results to come back so that i can leave my room and see the sun again 🤪 pls be careful everybody take care of your health 💚 enjoy!!!

- - - - -

“You must be kidding me,” you sigh when you see Minho’s hand has turned into a fist, his rock crushing miserably your scissors. Once again, you lost at rock, paper, scissors. And once again, you’re the one that is going to wash your best friend’s dishes that have piled up in is tiny kitchen sink throughout the week.

“Fuck that. This is so unfair,” you grumble, throwing the dishtowel in Minho’s stupid yet perfectly chiseled face.

You make a beeline for his bed, which is actually only a few steps away from the kitchen. Being a broke college student definitely doesn’t allow him to rent a spacious studio, let alone a two-room apartment. You throw yourself headfirst onto his uncomfortable mattress, whose springs always poke your back at night.

“Life is so unfair,” your friend mocks you, dragging out every vowel of his sentence dramatically.

No doubt, you would be strangling him at that very moment if you weren’t so busy playing dead, hoping he would forget about your pitiful existence.

But there is no way mister Lee Minho would miss out on an opportunity to have his gross plates cleaned by someone else. Grabbing onto your ankle, he drags you out of bed until you plop down on the dirty carpeted floor (Minho has the unfortunate tendency to procrastinate vacuuming too). At this point, you are fake crying, throwing a literal tantrum, like a 6 years old child would.

“Life is unfair!” you yell, your feet kicking in the air in pure anger.

At least it is to you. You can’t remember the last time you’ve been lucky. The only instance you got remotely close to it was when you found a four-leaf clover last summer. Well, only if you disregard the fact you stepped into dog poop on your way to picking it. Oh and that you were wearing brand new white Converse.

On the other hand, it seems like the boy has the whole crew of the Olympus gods on his side. Not one day goes by without his guardian angel manifesting its presence.

Minho has always been the lucky type. The type to get an extra nugget in his box of 10. To find 20 dollars bills on the ground. To win every single Instagram giveaway he participates to (and lord knows how much he likes participating to them).

But how can you be mad at him when he always happily shares his food with you, invites you to the restaurant without you even asking, and gives you his prizes, pretending he doesn’t need them? You don’t believe him when he says he see no use in a panda onesie or a waterproof bluetooth speaker. Deep down, you know it’s his way to silently love you.

But well, you can still blame him for occasionally taking advantage of your misfortune to make you do his dreaded house chores, just like right now.

Everyone thinks you are a bizarre duo. Even you can’t fathom how in hell you two became best friends, considering how awfully your first encounter went three years ago.

On orientation day, he asked you for the time, probably because his phone was dead (or maybe because he was dying to talk to you?)

Without hesitation, you lifted and rotated your wrist so that you could see your watch. Little did you remember; you never actually owned a watch and you were holding a fancy 7 dollars iced coffee, which, of course, did not have a lid on because plastic is bad for the environment (duh).

Minho couldn’t help but burst out in hysterical laughter when the whole drink spilled on your jeans. For your defense, you didn’t sleep at all the night before since you were terrified of being alone in your new dorm room the first few days (weird stuff happens all the time in dorms, okay?). If he had asked you for your name, you probably wouldn’t even have been able to tell him.

But Minho thought you were the funniest person on campus, and he really needed a clown like you to entertain him throughout his endless college semesters. That’s what he told you anyways. Not that he thought you were the cutest human being he had ever seen.

Why would he when you are the literal definition of a mess: always having toothpaste stains on your sweater, bags under your eyes, messy hair, tripping and falling, missing buses, breaking things, losing stuff.

Most of the time, you just forget your keys and Minho lets you crash at his place since he hasn’t got any roommate and he isn’t used to sleeping alone, especially without his cats. It surely isn’t because he loves waking up next to a very groggy but adorable you every single morning, no.

Minho manages to bring you back to the countertop despite your reluctance. Positioned behind you, his arms trapping your body to make sure you can’t run away from your duties, he dips your hands into the soapy water, and you can’t help but squirm at the touch of an unknown substance sticking to a plate that has probably been soaking here for a week. You despise doing the dishes and your friend knows it.

You hear him giggle in your ear while he is playing with your arms like you are some type of marionette, making you to take the sponge and squeeze dish soap onto it.

You’ve never been the kind to like proximity nor seemed to be Minho, but for some reason, you always end up glued to each other. You hate public displays of attention and pet names a little less when it comes from him. Or maybe you don’t hate it at all and actually crave it every single minute that goes by.

Before he has the time to come up with the Machiavellian idea to soak your pajamas in dirty water (because you know he would inevitably have at some point), you yank his hands off of you and start scrubbing angrily the dirty cups.

Minho stays behind you anyways, observing your every move, his chin propped up on your shoulder like a curious little bird. To be honest, his presence is kind of getting overwhelming. But whatever, it’s not like his slightest touch makes your heart warm up in comfort or that he smells like fresh linen drying out on the porch of a cottage house on a sunny Sunday morning or anything.

“You missed a spot. Here” he murmurs teasingly, his lips almost touching your earlobe, while he points at the handle of his hideous ‘world’s greatest dad’ mug Jisung gifted him last christmas.

You know he has noticed the way you shivered violently at the feeling of his breath tickling your skin because he starts snickering loudly.

“I swear to god if you don’t shut up and go seat on the couch, I’ll slap you so hard with this spatula you’ll regret you were even born,” you say, turning around suddenly to menace him with the plastic utensil.

Of course, he isn’t afraid one bit. Right now, you really wish you could make the smug, but oh so attractive, look on his face disappear.

“Alright, ma’am” he laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’ll let you do your thing”. He lets himself fall onto his dingy couch.

You can hear him humming one of his favorite songs above the sound of the water running. It would probably be getting on your nerves if his voice wasn’t so pretty.

“Chan’s sick, so we’re not going to the gym tomorrow night. Do you wanna eat tacos? El Huero has even better deals than usual” he asks you, scrolling mindlessly through his phone.

“Aren’t the deals supposed to be on Tuesdays?” You frown and scrub a little harder the frying pan Minho has burnt the night before while trying to make chocolate chips pancakes for diner, because why eat savory food when you can have dessert for every meal, right? It is one of the few advantages of living without your parents you both truly enjoy.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Tomorrow,” he yawns, probably exhausted after what you put him through last night. You forced him to catch up on the entire season of Love Island because you desperately needed someone to bitch with, and what better partner than Lee Minho.

You take a quick glance at him and see him stretching himself across the cushions like a cat. You always thought there was something feline about his features. While you’re drying the mugs with the dishtowel, your mind wanders uncontrollably, thinking about his piercing eyes, his delicate nose, the corners of his lips that curl up a little…

All of the sudden, your hands freeze. Minho is too immersed in TikToks to notice the stupor on your face. “Wait. Today is… Monday?” you stutter.

Alarmed by the sound of your voice, his eyes finally leave his phone’s screen to look up at you. “Yeah” he repeats slowly as if you are the dumbest person he has ever encountered.

And you truly are. You are pretty sure your heart has stopped beating. Minho’s “world’s greatest dad” mug you’re holding slips between your fingers and comes crashing on the floor with a deafening sound. The pieces are now scattered all around you, making you unable to make out what’s written on it anymore. Not a big loss, if you ask.

“Y/N, you know that’s my favorite mug!” he exclaims, leaping up from the couch. “I’m sure you did it on purpose,” he mutters while he’s trying to collect the small fragments, in vain.

But you’re too shocked at this very moment to pay attention to the glare your friend is giving you. To be honest, Minho has only two moods: glaring at you or teasing you.

“My interview,” you finally manage to say, and Minho’s eyes go wide as he realizes the critical situation you’re in.

You check the time on the microwave: 10:45. In 30 minutes, you’re supposed to be on the other side of town, being interrogated by boring businessmen that are going to decide whether or not you’ll be accepted for a paid internship in one of the most reputable music label of the country. Basically, decide whether you’ll live a happy and fulfilling life, working in the sector you’ve always dreamed of or end up miserable with a boring office job and a massive college debt.

“Holy shit,” Minho whispers. You can see a wave of panic washing across his face for a split second, but, as always, he manages to find his composure back immediately.

He has never been the kind to lose his cool, except to scold you when you forget the names of his cats and their respective coats’ color (which you unfortunately often did forget).

“What are you doing? Get dressed!” He tells you when he sees you’re still standing there dumbfounded in the kitchen, like the famous Robert Pattinson meme, wearing an oversize Kermit the frog shirt with a dozen holes in it and his favorite Adidas sweatpants you always stole from him.

“No, it’s too late. I can’t make it,” you mutter, your breath short. You’re paralyzed, as if there is a 20lbs rock sitting at the bottom of your stomach, pinning you to the ground.

This isn’t bad luck, you think. This is karma. This is what you get for skipping classes to watch telereality shows in your bed with your best friend and not even realizing it isn’t the weekend anymore.

“Miss me with that bullshit.” He runs to his closet and rummages through his drawers, throwing every piece of clothing that’s on his way to find an appropriate outfit that would fit you.

“You’re gonna go do this interview even if I have to drag you all the way there.” He pushes you into his bathroom since you still haven’t moved an inch.

You manage to brush your teeth and your hair, fighting through the nauseous feeling that is building up in your tummy.

When you come back to the living room, Minho has found dress pants and a sweater that might not look utterly ridiculous on you. He lets you change in a corner, while he runs around the room collecting all your essentials.

“You’re coming?” you ask him when you see he is already wearing his puffer jacket.

“You really think I’m gonna let you go all by yourself when you’re literally not even able to put your shoes on properly”. You are, indeed, struggling with your laces, as if your fingers are suddenly made out of butter.

Minho ties them up for you and you literally feel like he’s your babysitter. You know you’re gonna hear about this for months – what are you saying- years! But all you can think about at the moment though, is the fact that sneakers are definitely not appropriate for an interview.

He throws your warmest coat at you, grab his keys, and by some type of miracle, you’re both out to the door in less than 10 minutes.

You try to call the elevator, but Minho grabs your arm and leads you to the staircase. His hand never leaving yours, he runs down the stairs and you have no choice but to follow him as fast as you can.

You can’t count how many times you missed a step and fell at this particularly slippery spot, between the 5th and the 4th floor, but weirdly enough, it doesn’t happen today.

When you finally reach the ground floor, you exit the complex and Minho hops on his old and rusty bike that he had attached to nearest tree the night before.

“There’s no way I’m riding behind you on this death machine,” you laugh nervously. The memory of that one time Minho convinced you to seat into his bicycle basket (as if you could even realistically fit in it) and you both fell seconds after he started to pedal is coming back to your mind.

Sure, it was after a long night of drinking, you were both tipsy and it was the only way to get you home since you had spent all your uber money at the bar, but still! You’re pretty sure the bruise on your butt hasn’t disappeared to this day.

“Hurry up,” Minho groans, ignoring your complaint. You unwillingly seat on his flimsy pannier rack and wrap your arms around his torso.

You haven’t even left, yet you’re already holding onto his puffer jacket for dear life. A giggle escapes your friend’s mouth (which you think is very inappropriate in such a desperate situation) before he lifts his feet off the ground and starts pedaling.

You try to ignore the loud squeaking of the bicycle drive by shutting your eyes tighter and rehearsing your introduction you have prepared over and over in your head. No matter how hard you are trying, you can’t remember what you are supposed to say just after your age (which, as you can imagine, isn’t really far into your monologue).

By the way the wind is lashing your face, you can tell Minho has picked up the speed. His breathing is getting louder, his heartbeat faster and you can’t help but think you’re probably way too heavy for him to bike you around like that. Maybe he shouldn’t skip his gym sessions with Chan so often. Or maybe you shouldn’t have eaten the leftover pancakes for breakfast after all.

You find the courage to open your eyelids and are pleased to see you’re already halfway there, probably because every single one of the traffic lights you encounter is green, and your friend is going surprisingly fast. Is luck finally starting to smile upon you?

Your mad race comes to a halt when you reach the address of your interview. You hop off the bike and so does Minho who, by the way, is a panting mess. He’s barely able to catch his breath, strands of hair sticking to his sweaty forehead, but he’s beaming at you when he realizes you’re just on time.

“Go” he gasps, pushing you in the direction of the building’s hall.

You walk up to the glass door but as your hands are about to push it, you pull a 180. Your friend sighs loudly, already knowing what’s coming next.

“Wait. No. I can’t do this. I’m not prepared” you tell him frantically. “I’m freaking out. I think I’m gonna pass out.” You are now walking in circles, mumbling incoherently.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Your heart is racing in your chest and your hands are getting clammy at the simple thought of failure. But guess what? You can’t fail if you don’t even try! One more good reason to just go back to bed and forget about your sad life for a good 8 hours, right?

“Y/N, you’re the most talented person I know, you’re gonna do just fine” Minho catches you in his arm to stop your endless pacing. You would probably think this gesture is endearing if it wasn’t just meant to make sure you couldn’t run for your life.

“No, I’m not. What if I throw up in front of everybody like that one time during the Romeo and Juliet musical?” You look up at him and his face is only inches away from yours. You’re sure you would be swooning at how beautiful he looks if you weren’t so terrified at this very moment.

“You were nine,” your best friend says, and you swear you have never heard him speak to you in such a sweet tone before. His voice is like honey and lavander but it doesn’t soothe you like it should.

You manage to break free from his embrace to crouch down, in an attempt to slow down your breathing. If only you had data left, you could be watching those short relaxing videos on your phone. They always work. But no, you had to spent it all on online games, just one week into the month. You really are beyond help.

“Y/N I know you’re scared, but if you miss out on this opportunity, you’re gonna regret it for the rest of your life.” Minho is lowering himself so that you can hear him, even though you’re curled up in a ball.

“And I’m warning you, I won’t want to hear you complain about it,” he adds, this whole situation obviously starting to get on his nerves.

If you were him, you would have probably left a long time ago. But this isn’t your best friend’s way of behaving. You know he would never abandon you no matter how annoying you could be (and you could be very annoying sometimes). After all, he is always the one holding your hair while you puke in the toilets when you had a couple too many drinks.

It takes all your willpower to stand up but there is no other way, you have to do it. You can hear the time ticking dangerously in your mind, as if your brain had turned into a clock.

“You’re right. Slap me,” you say, looking at him straight in the eyes, dead serious.

“Wha -“

“Slap some sense into me. They do that in movies when people are panicking. It’s like throwing a bucket of cold water in someone’s face. But clearly we don’t have a bucket and we don’t have cold wa- “ you start blabbering.

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not gonna slap you!” Your friend isn’t usually that horrified at the thought of beating your ass. In fact, he has felt the desire to rip your head off more than once, especially when you’d steal all the duvet at night, but at this moment he is just scared you might have actually lost your mind.

“Just fucking do it Minho!” you scream, your hands clenching the front of his grey hoodie he always looks so divine in.

Minho has never obeyed you, and this is not the day he is going to start.

He puts both of his hands on the sides of your face and crashes his lips onto yours.

You would be lying if you said you have never imagined the day your best friend would kiss you. It happens pretty much every single time you look at his cute pout a little too long. But one thing is certain, it isn’t like you pictured it to be at all.

You were convinced your heart would go so wild it would burst out of your chest and your head would spin so furiously you’d lose your balance. You thought your stomach would fill with butterflies to the brim and your whole body would be on fire.

But none of that is happening. On the contrary, every single muscle in your body relaxes under his touch. The way his soft mouth presses gently against yours makes you calmer, almost at peace amongst all this turmoil.

Minho is kissing all your tension and stress away and you catch yourself letting a sigh of relief escape your parted lips.

As if you have kissed him already hundreds of times in your past life, Minho feels like home. He’s a safe haven you can always take refuge in during troubled times. Ever since the day you met, he has never left your side.

When he breaks away from the kiss, you notice your breath isn’t so ragged and your mind isn’t so foggy anymore. You’re serene. His cold hands are still cupping your face, slightly squishing your cheeks, and you feel like an idiot sandwich for asking him to slap you seconds before.

“That can work too, I guess…” you mutter.

“You’re okay?” he asks, staring at you with the softest eyes you’ve ever seen.

You just nod, unable to say one more word, and sprint to the entrance, not wanting to make your interviewers wait any longer than they already have.

“Good luck!” You hear him yell just before the door closes behind you and you can’t help but grin from ear to ear.

- - - - -

Thirty minutes later, you finally step out of the fancy lobby to find a very bored Minho leaning against a tree, patiently waiting for you.

“You’re still here?”

“Of course, I am,” he says, his mouth full of croissant. He gives you a large iced coffee he probably went buying to kill time. Your lips unconsciously curl up into a smile when you notice it comes from the same chain that the one you spilled on your lap on the day you first met him.

“How did it go?” he asks you, sticking his buttery pastry into your mouth so that you can take a bite.

“Way better than I thought” you answer, right after you swallowed. You hate the way flakes would always get stuck between your teeth. But Minho is always there to warn you about it before anyone else notices, and even pick them for you if you can’t manage to, which, when you think about it, is kind of gross.

There are two things the boy knows about you: you’re the greatest pessimist on earth and you’d rather die than admit you were wrong (especially if it meant he was right). So for you to even say it wasn’t that bad, means it went phenomenal.

“I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’ but I told you so.” He smiles so wide you can barely see his eyes anymore. You have to look away, otherwise you know you might become instantly blinded by love.

“Maybe I could use some more of your luck” you mumble, staring at your shoes and kicking the red leaves that were surrounding your feet on this sunny autumn morning.

“Really? And what makes you think I’ll share it with you,” he teases you, leaning forward to incite you to look at him in the eyes.

“That.”

Your hand finds the back of his neck and pulls him in, in order to close the space that is still left between your mouths.

At first, Minho stiffens, taken aback by your bold move. But soon enough, he caves into your touch. He kisses you back fervently, like he means it.

His fingers entagle in your hair, his arm wraps around your waist and his chest presses against your body. You’re melting in his embrace, submerged by a wave of bliss which he alone seems to know the recipe.

It feels new, yet so familiar. Like it was supposed to happen, like it was written in the stars.

He tastes like croissant and Americano. Like fortune and fate.

And you can’t help but think you’re the luckiest person on earth.

Who cares about winning the lottery when Lee Minho is your lucky charm?

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openheart12 · 3 years

Text

Mask of Death

A/N: I’ve been working on this fic for months so I hope you all enjoy I was so nervous to post lol

Thank you as always to @rigatonireid for pre-reading!! ❤️

Summary: Reader is kidnapped and of course, Spencer is there to save the day.

Warnings: mention of blood, kidnapping, implied torture, yk normal CM stuff lol

Word Count: 2,087

You had been working at the BAU for the past four years and since starting there, you had made lifelong friends. Emily, Aaron, David, Penelope, Derek and JJ were the best friends you could’ve asked for. Then there was Spencer. Spencer Reid who had become your closest friend and who you had caught feelings for almost immediately. Always wondering if he felt the same way as you did for him, but that was wishful thinking and you knew it.

The rare freetime that the team got was mostly spent together like having dinner at Rossi’s or going to the park with Henry and Jack. You and Spencer would always be glued to each other's sides and it didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the team. They would make jokes to which you and Spencer would just blush while trying to change the topic away from you two.

When you had finally worked up enough courage to tell Spencer how you felt, you were shocked and relieved to find out he felt the same way. Your relationship could’ve been a liability so together, the two of you told Aaron who was behind ecstatic for you. You figured it had something to do with him losing his own wife, but you hadn’t been at the BAU for that.

Flash forward to the present, the team had been called to Rock Springs, Wyoming after a series of murders had taken place over the course of a month. The unsub held them captive for three days, torturing them before dumping their bodies into the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

“Wheels up in thirty,” you heard Hotch say after he finished the debriefing, bringing you out of your thoughts.

It was a pretty standard unsub, traumatic childhood, white male in his early twenties or thirties, but as the case went on, it was anything but standard.

Of course you and Spencer sat next to each other on the plane, your hands interlaced throughout the whole flight. He was reading a new book you had gotten him from Christmas while you and Emily were talking about her and JJ’s upcoming wedding plans. The two had been dating for a couple years before Emily asked the big question.

You and Spencer went to check out the last known address of Walter Williams after landing in Wyoming. It wasn’t often that the two of you were teamed up together.

Arriving at a house in the middle of nowhere, you and Spencer walked up to the front door and knocked with no answer. You checked the back door while Spencer went to check a barn in the backyard. It was only for a minute and the next thing you know you woke up in a basement with your arms tied behind your back and your legs tied to a chair. You felt liquid trickle down the side of your head and assumed it was blood. You winced from the lights and they were dim so you probably had a concussion.

Your thoughts quickly wandered over to Spencer wondering if he was okay or not because you didn’t know what had happened, but before you could think of anything else, a man with sandy blonde hair and was about average height, walking into the room, a gun in hand.

“Y/N…” he smiled wickedly at you and the fact that he knew your name, sent a shiver down your spine. Something was definitely not right. “How is Spencer doing? Your four year anniversary is coming up, isn’t it?” He smirked at seeing your fear, you tried to keep your face straight, but miserably failed. “Cat got your tongue? Oh sorry, I forgot you’re allergic to them.”

“Who are you?” You finally managed to ask.

“You don’t remember me?” You shook your head no so he continued, “you probably remember my daughter, Anna, who was murdered the year before last. You promised me you would find her killer and I’ve been following you and not once did you ever look into her case again.”

Suddenly, you remembered the little girl, the one who still haunts your dreams from the brutality of her murder. You had looked into her case afterwards, but there were other little girls out there who needed you and the team. It was a hard decision, but you had to move on at the time.

“Mr. Williams...I promise you we tried everything we could, followed up on every lead we had, but we didn’t have any evidence and those are the hardest cases to solve.” You thought maybe reasoning with him would help, but it only angered him further.

“So that’s all she was to you? Just another case to be solved?” He scoffed, “that was my baby and I lost her and you didn’t do a damn thing.” He took a step closer to you, “well, you know what this means for you, don’t you?” He gave you a smile that made goosebumps erupt across your body. You in fact, know what this meant for you. If he stuck to his patterns that was.

“Revenge isn’t going to bring Anna back.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” You watched as he put his gun in the holster on his hip and traded it for a knife. You could tell he enjoyed the fear he provoked from you and it only edged him on. He ever so lightly ran the knife down your cheek to your neck and back up. “You know, this is the exact thing my Anna went through that night.”

You thought back to the details of the recent strings of murders that had the same M.O. as his daughters and didn’t know how you couldn’t piece it together. You tried to push the images of Anna out of your head all the time, Hotch had even brought up the idea of therapy to you afterwards and you took it.

“They’re going to find me,” you said confidently to which he just laughed. “She’s better off without you,” you shot back causing him to stop laughing and then everything went black.

You awoke some time later, you had no idea how long you were out. Minutes, hours, it all felt the same. Something in front of you had caught your eye, there was a video recorder with the red light blinking meaning it was on and you had no idea who was watching.

“Spence…” you called out softly. No answer. Your head was pounding now and the lights were making it worse. You jumped after hearing the door open and Walter walking back in.

“If you say shit like that again, it’ll be the last thing you do,” he warned and you weakly nodded your head. “Now where were we?” He glanced back at the camera and grinned. “Enjoy the show, Spencer Reid.” That caught your attention and your eyes widened in horror.

“Please, don’t do this,” you pleaded, but he got his knife out and went straight to you. After he was done, he left you in a bloody mess. The amount of blood you were losing wasn’t good and you began to feel lightheaded. You hoped, prayed that they would find you soon because your body was quickly beginning to give up. Walter repeated the process every hour, making you lose more and more blood. You had to stay strong for Spencer and your friends.

“FBI!” You heard and you felt hopeful for a split second, but that quickly vanished when you felt the cool metal of a gun pressed against your temple. The agents and officers poured into the dimly lit room, your eyes immediately going to Spencer’s. His eyes were full of fear...and something more that you couldn’t decipher. You tore your eyes away from him, taking in the faces of Hotch, Prentiss, Rossi, Jareau and Morgan. A flash of pink through the door caught your eye and you couldn’t help the small smile that passed over your face. Garcia had stayed back in Quantico as usual, but the news of your kidnapping had brought her to Wyoming. It warmed your heart to know that your friends cared so much about you and if you were to die, at least you would be surrounded by the people you loved the most.

“Let her go and we can help you,” you heard Hotch’s voice, but Walter’s grip on you tightened. You tried to meet Hotch’s eyes, to try to tell him that your life wasn’t more important than the other two girls who were still missing. They had family waiting for them and Spencer would be fine without you...right?

Hotch lowered his gun, the other agents following suit. “You don’t want to do this, let her go and we can talk. We can tell them you cooperated with us or make a deal with you, but in order for that to happen, you have to let her go,” he said in a calm, unwavering voice.

“Tell them where the other girls are and you can do whatever you want to me,” you said loud enough for only him to hear you.

“I’ll take you up on that offer, Pretty Girl,” he whispered in your ear causing you to shiver at the nickname that only Spencer or Derek would call you.

Hotch took a slow, tentative step forward making Walter return his attention back to him. “Step any closer and that’s it,” he harshly pulled you back, a whimper leaving your lips at the force. You saw Spencer’s eyes that had considerably darkened and in the three years you two had dated, you had never seen him this angry. He was always able to compose himself, but when it came to you? The man lost his ability to think straight and not to mention, that this was your first time being held hostage.

“Let her go.” Spencer tried this time.

“Wouldn’t you like that, Pretty Boy?” You could tell that was when Spencer realized who he was.

“You’re Anna’s father,” he stated. Spencer knew how much her case had affected you. “She wouldn’t want you to do this, Walter. She was nine years old and what happened to her was a tragedy, but you are torturing her closest friends right now merely for the fact that they’re alive and she’s not. Y/N, she worked tirelessly on your daughter’s case day after day and I know this because I was helping her. We hadn’t given up, but we were stuck and there were other cases that needed our attention. So I’m asking, for the sake of your daughter’s memory, let Y/N go and we can talk this out.”

You felt his grip on you loosen enough that you were able to get free and ran straight into Spencer’s arms. A shot rang out and you didn’t know where it came from. Spencer grasped your face with his hands, gently, to avoid hurting you further. “Are you okay?”

“B-better now,” you gave him a small smile, but you slowly felt yourself losing consciousness.

“I need an ambulance!” Spencer shouted out, cradling your bloodied body in his arms as he gently lowered you to the ground.

The soft murmuring of the hospital machines was enough to make you stir. Your entire body ached and your head was pounding and there was a weight on your stomach. When you opened your eyes, you saw Spencer with his head on your stomach with his eyes closed. A smile made its way onto your mouth and you softly ran your fingers through his hair, ignoring the pain it caused. You were just glad to be here with him without a gun pointed to your head. The gesture was enough to wake him up and he quickly moved off of you.

“Y/N…” you saw tears pricking his eyes and you felt your own start to water.

“Spence, I’m right here,” you patted the space next to you and as carefully as he could, he got into the bed with you and wrapped an arm around you protectively.

“God, I love you. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I love you so much.” Time passed and eventually the doctor came to check on you and was letting you go home as long as you had someone to be there for you and you did, you would always have Spencer in your corner no matter what.

“Come on, let’s go home,” he smiled at you and you matched it.

“Let’s go home,” you repeated.

#criminal minds fanfic #spencer x y/n #spencer x reader #spencer reid x reader #Spencer Reid #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction

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littlestarofthewest · 3 years

Note

*chants softly* Do it - write that modern AU uno fic that the fandom doesn't realise that they desperately need 👿😏😘

Remember this? This came up between Christmas and New Year’s 2019 xD And now I finally did it.

Pairing: Arthur x gn reader | Words: 2325 | Rating: mildly nsft | Tags: strip Uno (yes, you’re reading this right), modern AU

The party is in full swing around you, but you have no desire to join in. It's been a while since a new year made you hopeful, and all the happiness and well wishes for another promising year sound forced and wrong in your ears.

It's too loud, and it smells like alcohol and too many people in a small space. You can barely breathe, so you head along the corridor to the rooms that are off-limits to the other guests. You don't feel like crashing in John's and Abigail's bedroom, so you take the next room that's part office, part storage room. In the past, you sometimes crashed here for the night.

You close the door behind you with a sigh and are about to head for the couch, but then you spot someone sitting in front of it on the ground. He's hunched over a little and looks up when you stop dead in your tracks.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know somebody was in here."

"It's alright," the guy says, offering you a kind smile.

A little lamp next to the sofa throws a soft shadow on his face, and you recognize the beard and nice features. You've seen him many times in photos around the apartment.

"You're Arthur, right?" you ask. "John's friend slash brother?"

Arthur chuckles. "Yeah, I guess you could call me that."

"I'm Y/N, Abigail's friend."

Recognition shows in Arthur's face, and he nods. "Friend slash soul mate slash the only person who understands Abigail whenever John acts like … well, John."

"So you have heard of me."

"A little, here and there," Arthur says, "mostly good."

"Mostly?"

Arthur grins a little one-sided, and something warm rises up in your stomach. You always thought that Arthur was handsome based on the pictures. It's way worse in person.

"I didn't mean to crush your party-" you start, but Arthur interrupts you.

"It's alright. I understand the urge for some peace and quiet. Please stay."

"Thanks." You move closer and sit down on the ground, putting your first and only drink down on the table next to the lamp. "What you got there?"

"Uno cards, if you believe it," Arthur says, and you both look at each other and speak at the same time. "John."

Arthur laughs, and you take a sip from your drink, enjoying the view. You definitely prefer Arthur's company to all the fake happy people outside.

"You gonna shuffle those all night, or are you ready to lose?" you ask.

"Lose?" Arthur measures you with a raised brow. "Around here, nobody takes me on."

You wave your fingers at him. "Come on then. Deal."

Arthur shuffles the cards for real now before setting up the first game, and you try to figure out if you've ever had a stranger New Year's Eve. Sitting in a friend's apartment playing Uno with a stranger is not a plan you would have made.

About two minutes later, Arthur puts his last card on the pile. "See?" he teases, but you just shrug.

"Beginner's luck."

You go back and forth with dealing the cards, and although Arthur wins the first three games, you soon catch up, making you both even again.

"So, why are you in here?" you ask, sorting your cards.

"I only came because John and Abigail wanted to set me up, but she didn't show," Arthur says with a shrug. "Didn't feel like partying after that."

"That sucks. Did her plans change?"

"More her perspective, I guess," Arthur says, something defeated in his voice. "Saw my profile picture, and suddenly she changed her mind."

"Nah, that can't be it."

"Why not?"

"Because you're gorgeous."

"I- What?" Arthur stumbles.

"I'm telling you that you're a very attractive man," you say while watching your cards. "And Uno, by the way."

"Oh, well, thank you, I guess," Arthur says. He puts another card on the pile, his cheeks now sporting a red tinge. "You're very nice."

"Just honest. And I win."

You grin at Arthur as he collects the cards to shuffle again. "You really are a worthy foe. We should make this more interesting."

"What, like strip poker?" you joke and Arthur laughs.

"We only have Uno cards." He's about to deal, but then he looks at you with a mischievous spark in his eyes. "Although it doesn't make much difference, really."

You look at each other and there's a sudden tension as if both of you wait for the other to chicken out or laugh. You wish you could, but the idea of getting Arthur naked is too tempting, even if you might lose some of your clothes yourself.

"We should probably lock the door," you say as casually as you can.

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

You get up to lock the door, and when you come back, Arthur deals, both of you acting as if nothing changed, but you feel a constant wave of heat running up and down your body. Before, you didn't really care much for your cards, but now every move counts.

Arthur's the first one to win, but the second he puts down the card, he looks like he'd rather take it back. "Look, you don't have to-"

You interrupt him by taking off one of your shoes. "You're just worried you're going to lose."

"Fine, you're asking for it."

Arthur wins again, getting your second shoe, followed by you winning for the first time. Like you, Arthur loses his shoes first, and then you agree to count both socks as one item. That's how Arthur ends up shirtless pretty soon after. You tell yourself that a naked torso is really nothing special, but for some reason, you play your worst round.

"You seem to have a hard time concentrating," Arthur teases, and you hate that he actually noticed.

"Shut up," you grunt, focusing on the cards. Still, you can't help but peek at Arthur once in a while.

"How did you end up here then tonight?" Arthur asks.

"My ex is back in town and hung around in front of my apartment, so Abigail suggested I hang out here."

"Something to be concerned about?" Arthur asks, his voice making clear how he thinks about a stalker-y ex.

"It's not that bad, really. They're not dangerous or anything, just annoying," you explain. "It's probably just a desperate 'alone on New Year's Eve' thing. Like I'd do that again."

You roll your eyes, and Arthur chuckles. "One of those, huh? Just gotta wait them out then. And this is your shirt gone."

He puts down his last card, and you get to your feet. "I'll go with the pants first if you don't mind. I'm hot anyway."

"Suit yourself," Arthur says nonchalantly, but you can feel his eyes on you as you slide the fabric down your legs.

Arthur looks away again when you sit, but your skin still prickles, and you wonder how much more of this you can take. Playing freaking Uno shouldn't be this hot.

Lucky for you, you get a good hand, and despite your lack of concentration, Arthur's the one who has to get rid of his pants next. You try your best not to stare at his junk but fail miserably. Suddenly you're very concerned about what could happen next. Arthur must think the same.

"Glad we locked the door," Arthur grunts, "I don't need strangers looking at my junk."

"I'm a stranger, too, aren't I?"

"You called me gorgeous; you can do whatever you want," Arthur says.

You know he's joking, but that doesn't stop your brain from imagining things you could do to or with him. That very pleasing but also distracting train of thought loses you your shirt in the next round. Still, Arthur's the one who has to get rid of his underwear first.

This time, you have the decency to look away until he sits down again, and the red on Arthur's cheeks is back.

"So, what now?" he asks. "Can't exactly take off more if I lose."

After what you just thought about, your brain seems to have lost all sensible ideas, and you blurt out the first thing on your mind. "Truth or dare."

Arthur chuckles. "Really? And next up is 'spin the bottle?'"

"Hey, we're playing strip Uno," you huff, "you really want to get judgemental on me now?"

"Alright, alright, 'truth or dare' it is. Just deal."

You deal the cards with butterflies taking flight in your stomach. You don't even know what to ask or dare Arthur, but the alternative is to get naked yourself. Either way, you're in trouble.

The round goes on and on, both of you putting on more cards rather than losing them, but then the game turns in Arthur's favor until he forgets to say Uno. You have better luck then, finally winning the round.

This time, it's you who tries to offer a way out. "Look, you don't have-"

"No, no, that's what we agreed on," Arthur says, waving his fingers at you. "Come on, ask."

"Alright, truth, or dare?"

Arthur studies you for a moment, his gaze so intense that a cold shiver runs down your spine. "Dare."

All kinds of stupid things run through your mind, but you don't want to make Arthur look foolish, especially in front of anybody else. You want to keep him all to yourself.

"I dare you not to move, no matter what."

Arthur raises his eyebrows in surprise but stays deliberately still. You take all your courage and crawl over to him, scattering the cards without a second thought.

When you reach Arthur, you run your cheek along his one like a cat before placing soft kisses along his neck. You hear him take in a sharp breath, but he doesn't move.

You look up to him, and he keeps still as you move closer, your lips hovering so close to his that you can feel his breath. It takes all your willpower not to kiss him, but you're still playing after all.

"Your turn," you say, looking right into Arthur's eyes. They're a nice shade of blue but with an almost golden circle in the middle.

"Truth or dare?" Arthur asks.

"Dare," you say way too fast.

Arthur's lip twitches into a smile, but he still doesn't move. "I dare you to come closer."

You crawl into Arthur's lap, very aware of the fact that only a tiny piece of fabric keeps you apart. With your arms around Arthur's neck, you make yourself comfortable, but your faces are still inches apart.

"Truth or dare?" you ask.

"The truth is that I didn't say Uno on purpose," Arthur says. You believe him, which means that he wanted for this little game to start.

"Trickery," you say, running your fingers through his hair, "how very naughty of you. I think that entitles me to dare you again."

"Sounds fair."

You move even closer, your fingers teasing Arthur's neck. "I dare you to touch me."

Arthur places his hands on your knees before running them up to your thighs. You get goosebumps all over your skin and can't help that you fidget a little. The friction takes its toll on Arthur. You can feel him pressing up against you while he runs his hands up along your body.

"Truth or dare?" he asks, his fingers dancing over your back.

"Truth. I want you to kiss me."

Arthur caresses your shoulders while he looks at you, his fingers climbing your neck in slow motion. The touch makes you shiver, but you stay right where you are, letting Arthur cup your face with his hands. Only when there's a barely-there pull, you move, finally closing the gap between you and Arthur.

You can't remember the last time someone kissed you this gently, and you melt against Arthur, promising yourself to stay in his lap for as long as you possibly can.

Arthur deepens the kiss, the taste, and warmth of him making you forget where you are until there's a harsh knock on the door.

"Hey, Y/N? You in there? It's me."

You feel like being doused with ice water, and your fingers dig harshly into Arthur's shoulders.

"Who's that?" he whispers, worry in his expression.

"My ex," you whisper back.

"Come on, let's talk," comes the voice from outside.

Arthur raises his eyebrows in question, and you immediately shake your head, so he tilts his head to face the door. "Do you mind? We're trying to hook up in here."

There's silence, and you bite your lip so you won't laugh. Sadly, your ex doesn't give up that easily. "Who is this?"

"It's Arthur; you might want to remember that name the next time you skulk around somebody's apartment."

It's silent again, then your ex clears their throat. "Just call me, okay? We can talk about this?"

You look at Arthur, slightly shaking your head, so you both stay quiet until you're sure your ex is gone. Arthur leans back with a sigh, resting his head against the couch. "That was not a turn on."

"I'm sorry," you say, running your fingers over his beard. "Like I said - annoying."

Arthur watches the ceiling for a bit before he takes your hands, threading your fingers together. "You know, I have an apartment, too. No exes hanging around that one."

You laugh. "Getting me naked here doesn't mean you can get me naked over there."

"I just borrow these cards, and we'll see what happens."

He kisses you again, and you have to admit to yourself that you'd rip your clothes off in an instant if he asked you to. You still act like you need to be persuaded. "Fine, you may take me there and try again. You might lose, though."

Arthur smiles. "I'll take that risk."

Getting dressed has never been such a thrill for you. Maybe the new year wasn't so bad after all.

#arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 fanfic #my writing #rdr2 modern au #fulfilled requests #fangirl-ramblings

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liv-laugh-die · 3 years

Text

||Admiring|| 💖Miya Osamu x Gn!reader

trope: strangers meeting in the park (ik its random bear with me😭)

warnings: its not proofread all the way through (im sorry im tired), so theres probably grammatical errors or typos but other than that none

genre: fluff pretty much just sappy stuff

pairing/s: osamu x gn!reader

wc: about 2.5k

a/n: oh my god idk where i came up with this but i think its cute so :p i hope you enjoy!!

You stared at your blank computer screen, hope of finishing your assignment before its due date at midnight slowly vanishing.

The clock on your desk read 11:27pm, the green lines wavering in your vision as your eyes slowly drooped, trying to drag you into the depths of slumber. You wanted to sleep, you really did, but you knew there was no way you could give up writing your essay, even now, knowing you weren’t going to submit it on time, because you would stress too much about it if you didn’t at least try to complete it before the due date.

Pushing yourself away from your desk, your chair squeaking against the floor ever so slightly in your dead silent dorm room, you tried to think of some excuse that your professor might believe. You doubted there was anything you could think of, but hey, your professor was better than what your roommates’ had mentioned theirs being, and you were grateful for that. Maybe you could tell him that you were exhausted from working extra hours at your job since you had had to cover your coworker’s shift and that’s why you couldn’t complete your essay on time? Or, maybe you could get away with a simple “I was lacking interest in the material, and couldn’t understand anything, and I didn’t ask for help because I knew that you are such a busy man trying to do so many things at once. Another hopeless near college drop-out wasn’t something I thought you needed on your hands.”

....Maybe not the latter.

You sighed, running a hand through your tangled hair, practically feeling it screaming at you to wash it. You barely had time in the mornings to take showers anymore, and when you took them at night, you never had the strength to wash your hair, always knowing that putting a hat on overtop or throwing on your hoodie would make it seem fine on the outside, and that was good enough for you. As long as you looked at least decent and somewhat presentable.

Your dorm room was fairly small, like every other one, but the lack of furniture made it seem larger than the rest. Nothing more than you and your roommate’s joint desk, the mini fridge in the corner, and the beds filled the space. You almost tripped over your backpack lying next to the bunk bed pushed up against the wall, falling to what would’ve been inches away from your roommate’s sleeping body.

In an attempt not to disturb them, you tiptoed through the room, stepping over the occasional heap of clothes or homework, until you reached the bathroom. You fumbled over the door knob before almost tumbling into the small space. Glancing in the mirror, you didn’t fail to notice your messy hair, the dark circles tracing beneath your eyes, or the way you looked like you were seconds away from passing out. The sound of running water rang in your ears as you turned on the sink faucet, cupping your hands together and bringing your face down to meet them, rubbing the cold water all over you in an attempt to keep you awake for just a few moments longer.

Your eyes returned back to the mirror as you sighed at your dripping wet face. There was no way possible you were going to finish your assignment on time. You knew it, your roommate knew it before they passed out, and you had noticed your professor’s wary glance this morning in class as a sign that he knew it too.

An idea sprang into your head, part of you dreading the optimism that seemed to seep through your brain slowly. You didn’t feel like being energetic right now.

---an hour later---

You weren’t exactly sure how, when, or why you decided it would be a good idea to take a shower (you did end up washing your hair, thank god), get your things together in your bag, and head to the off-campus coffee shop (since the one on-campus had already closed), but you found yourself with a warm cup of coffee in hand as you exited the shop, the cold midnight air enveloping you in an unwelcome embrace.

You shivered. The only thing your spontaneous brain had forgotten had to have been your jacket, the one thing your normal brain would’ve remembered if it weren’t already past midnight and if you weren’t majorly sleep-deprived.

You most certainly weren’t done with your essay yet, nor was there any possible way for you to finish it on time since it was now approximately thirteen minutes past the due time, but you let yourself breathe for now.

There weren’t many people out at this hour, and it made the usual busy city streets seemed like a ghost town. There were a few restaurants still open as you strolled along the sidewalk, their lights responsible for illuminating more than half the area in front of you. You passed by an onigiri shop your friend had recommended to you, but you just weren’t that hungry. Most nights, you’d kill for a midnight snack, but your single shot of espresso coffee was satisfying your needs for now.

You decided to head to the park after seeing a rabbit hop its way across the vacant street and into the bushes in that direction. The fresh air was nice and cool against your dry and croaky lungs, and your ears needed a different sound than that of you miserably attempting to touch type quickly, your fingers rapping against the keyboard with vigor.

A stream nearby flowed softly, the dripping of the water against the rocks complimenting the noise of the crickets chirping in sync just downstream. Your footsteps cut through the grass slowly, not bothering to follow the stone path. The park was a nice change of scenery. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been here by yourself in peace, it was always you and your rambunctious friends who ran through every now and then just to see the dogs running through the sprinklers, or the occasional poor cat whose owner dragged them out into the daylight for exercise. This was peaceful, though, and you appreciated that.

A few more rabbits crossed your path, giving you that wide-eyed, side glance before darting off into the darkness, outside the reach of the lampposts emitting light. The sound of the stream soon faded out as you continued to walk through the park, sipping your coffee every so often. The warmth from your cup was soon dying out, and you figured you’d have to start walking back to your university sooner or later. Maybe you could crash at your friend’s house who lived just off campus, though you had forgotten your phone back at your dorm and had no alarm, no laptop to complete your work, and no contact with anyone else who might worry where you’d be. You had really no choice but to trek back to your dorm in the darkness, cutting your peaceful visit to the park short.

You let yourself have a few more minutes of stress free relaxing as you sat down on a bench just before the ground let out into a downhill slope overlooking the rest of the city below. The trees around you swayed in the breeze, and for a moment, you thought it was the wind talking, and not an actual human being who had somehow made his way beside you without gathering your attention.

“Didn’t think anyone else would be up at this hour,” the stranger mumbled. You glanced up, almost startled that, indeed, someone else was actually awake and strolling through the park.

The boy couldn’t have been much older than you were, maybe the same age. He had his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, the wind tousled his dark hair ever so slightly, and the moonlight played along, illuminating his face just so you could actually see how gorgeous he was.

You cleared your throat, averting your eyes back to the ground as you shifted over, creating more space on the bench in case he wanted to sit down beside you. “I decided to actually take care of myself for once and give myself some time to breathe before facing the wrath of my professor tomorrow when he finds out I didn’t turn in my essay on time.” You let out a low, breathy chuckle, not exactly sure of what would happen next.

The guy sat down on the bench next to you, though he made sure to give you some personal space, which you were grateful for. He laughed along with you a bit, and you could tell just from his tone just how tired he really was.

You gave him a side glance, raising an eyebrow. “So, what the stressful thing that brought you here in the middle of the night?”

He smiled half-heartedly, eyes trained on the moon. “Work stuff. Jus’ been busy, I guess.” He shrugged.

You waited for him to continue on, but he stayed silent. You didn’t complain, though. Wasn’t your whole reason for coming out here in the dead of the night for some quiet? Plus, it wasn’t awkward either. You were comfortable sitting next to this stranger.

“What do you do for work?” You waited a little longer than necessary to ask, but he didn’t seem to mind the long pause.

“I own a restaurant a few blocks away. I love the job, it’s just tiring havin’ to deal with rude customers like my brother who won’t get the hint and get out sometimes. I got into an argument with him earlier today and he just wouldn’t shut it.” He rolled his eyes and took his hands out of his pockets, making eye contact with you as he went on about his day, and you couldn’t help but smile at his passion. “The guy thinks he can just walk in when I’m working with a new employee and just act like he runs the place! Quite stupid if you ask me. Such a jerk, he is. Thinkin’ about just banning him from the place, really.”

You snorted. “He really bugs you that much, huh?”

The guy smirked at your laugh, admiring it, though you would never had guess that was what flashed across his face in a million years. He nodded. “Yeah, ‘course I love ‘im ‘cause he’s my twin and my best friend, but he really knows how to annoy the hell outta me.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just get a sign in the window that says “no shirt, no shoes, no service” and cross it out and write my brother’s name instead,” he reasoned, and the pondering look in his eyes made you wonder if he was actually considering the idea.

You smiled. “You’re funny.”

“You say that like ya weren’t expectin’ it.”

A laugh made its way out your lips. “Well, when you’re approached by a stranger in the middle of the night you sort of expect the worst.”

The guy glanced off in the distance, away from you, furrowing his eyebrows. “Sorry, didn’t think of that comin’ off that way.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m funny then, and not some creep, eh?”

You nodded, the smile on your face not fading as he changed topics.

“So, what’s your essay on? Any way I can help ya finish it?”

You shook your head dismissively. “Oh, no. It was due thirty minutes ago.” You quickly explained the topic you were writing about in class before getting side tracked. “My professor had said he would allow it to be turned in the next morning, but I doubt he actually meant it.”

He smiled a wide grin, making butterflies flutter in your stomach. “You go to the university nearby, right?”

You nodded in confirmation, raising an eyebrow. “If I’ve got any luck, there’s a chance you go there too?”

He laughed a little, shaking his head. “Nah, I don’t, sorry. I’ve visited campus a few times because some of my friends go there, but I just usually focus on work.”

His gaze was tilted upwards towards the sky, and you couldn’t help but admire how the exhaustion still shone in his eyes, but somehow that same passion gleamed there too just mentioning what he did for a living. You wished you were that passionate about something that would actually support you financially in the future and make you happy.

When he glanced back at you, you were still taking his essence in, and he made a look of confusion. “What?”

You shook your head, chuckling. “Nothing. I just admire that you can dedicate yourself to something and make it seem so easy.” He looked at you, interested to hear what you had to say, even though you were sure you couldn’t be the first person to tell him this. “I haven’t even known you for more than ten minutes and I can already tell you’re passionate about what you do and if you’re stressed about it, it must mean you’re dedicated to seeing your work through, and that’s more than enough to admire and appreciate, especially when that can be so difficult sometimes.” You finished your short tangent, looking back up at him to see him staring intently at you, seemingly in awe of what you’d just said. You felt a blush creep onto your face as you quickly blurted out, “Sorry- I didn’t mean to be so straightforward and weird like that- I sound like some crazy secret admirer or something...”

The crickets chirped in the silence between the two of you, and it felt like it would never end.

“Y’know, I wouldn’t mind havin’ a secret admirer. I mean, wouldn’t be so secret, but...” You saw the smile creep up onto his face. “It’s nice being appreciated. Nobody really tells me that kind o’ stuff, so... thanks, I guess.”

The heat on your cheeks didn’t go away by any means, but you grew more comfortable with it as you mumbled, “Maybe I wouldn’t mind admiring you.”

Now, it was the boy’s turn to blush, and you smiled at how his cheeks grew redder with every passing second, and how his subtle grin spoke a thousand words he didn’t need to say.

“Miya Osamu.” The boy’s hand came into your view as he extended it for you to shake. “I own Onigiri Miya across from the grocery outlet.”

You smirked, grasping his hand in yours as you said, “L/N Y/N. I own an official license for being a horrible driver and an ID that proves I’m a sleep-deprived college student and that’s about it.”

He laughed, shaking your hand and standing up, letting go too soon for your liking.

Because for some weird reason, his hand felt right in yours.

Osamu said a quick goodbye, mentioning something about how he should get going and how you should get some sleep before he disappeared down the stone path back into the darkness.

You stood up not too long after he’d left, your coffee now entirely cold as you plopped the half full cup into the trash can on your walk back to your dorm, not needing the pathetic warmth anymore. Your heart was beating fast and the feeling of Osamu’s hand resting in yours lingered on your palm, and that kept you warm enough.

Maybe you’d be visiting that onigiri place your friend recommended to you a little sooner than you’d originally planned, and maybe more often than you would’ve expected.

#osamu miya x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #hq fluff #hq #miya osamu #osamu #osamu x reader #oml i actually like this #ahhhh its cute #since when have i been motivated #i hope this doesnt flop *sob*

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sturchling · 4 years

Text

Salt-Fic September Day 6: Camera

Damian had met Marinette about a year ago. He had been in Paris with his father, and had literally bumped into the clumsy girl. Despite his icy demeanor, Marinette still treated him with kindness. Her warmth thawed Damian to a degree and they spent the remainder of his trip together. By the time he left, they had decided to start a long-distance relationship. They messaged all the time, and FaceTime every night. It was during one of these nightly video chats that Damian learned about the liar.

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

Damian had thought Marinette was exaggerating when she told him how gullible her class was. She wasn’t exaggerating. He had transferred to her school for a semester as an exchange student to see what the situation was, and it was worse than he thought. Marinette had told him that the class had been pulling away from her. What she did not tell him, is that she is almost completely isolated, with only three people still talking to her.

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

Nino, Nathaniel, and Adrien all knew that the Italian was a liar and had stayed by Marinette’s side, despite the class pressuring them to abandon her. They said they should leave Marinette by herself to ‘teach her a lesson’. The thought of that infuriated Damian. How dare these imbeciles be so callous towards his angel. Damian knew it was the liar’s fault, she was the one who tricked the class into turning against Marinette. Damian was going to end this girl’s reign over the class if it was the last thing he did. Damian spent the rest of the school day, watching as the class fawned over the liar and her obviously made up stories. He could not believe how easily fooled they all were.

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

After school, Damian spoke with Marinette to see what she had already tried. Damian was shocked by how some of the attempts had gone wrong. Like how when Marinette threw a napkin to prove Lila’s wrist wasn’t sprained, and they all fell for her stupid story about how a napkin gouged someone’s eye. How could anyone believe something so stupid? Then Marinette told him about how Alya had asked her for proof that Lila was lying, without having any proof herself that she was telling the truth. That gave Damian an idea.

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

Though there was one question still on Damian’s mind. “Why has this deceiver grown to despise you?” Marinette just sighed. “I knew she was lying from day one. I-” Marinette paused before she revealed her secret and switched to a different story. “She said she saved Jagged Stone’s kitten, but I’ve worked for him before. He has never had a cat, only Fang. His crocodile. Anyway, after the napkin incident and she realized I was trying to expose her, she cornered me in the bathroom. She tried to play nice, but when I didn’t buy it, she changed. She told me she would take all my friends and leave me alone.” Damian had to force the rage he felt to the side, for one because Marinette had told him about akumas and he didn’t want to deal with that right now. But also, because now he had a plan. “You said she threatened you after you tried to expose her right? Think she would do the same if I did?”

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

Damian’s plan was simple. He would actively try to expose the liar to the class, in a way that the liar was sure to notice. When that inevitably failed, like it did for Marinette, then he would make sure he was alone for a while in the locker room. Lila would come to threaten him, just like she did with Marinette and he would try to keep the liar talking as long as possible. What Lila won’t know is that there will be a hidden camera in the locker room recording every poisonous word. He will have video evidence of the liar admitting to her deception. He also planned to share the video, live, with everyone in school, so no one can claim it was edited. If this doesn’t convince the class, then he is getting his angel out of this school.

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

The next day, Damian started his plan. First, he went into the locker room and hid a camera up near the windows. The camera is remote controlled so as soon as the liar came in to confront him, he would start recording. Then he went into the classroom to begin the next phase of the plan. When Lila started one of her stories, this time about helping Prince Ali with a new environmental charity, Damian pointed out to the class that Prince Ali is known for working with children charities, not environmental charities. Lila floundered for a moment, but quickly covered her tracks. “He may be known for the children’s charities, but he has a wide variety of philanthropic interests. He just doesn’t get as much media coverage for his other charities.” The class bought the lie and didn’t question the liar at all. But that hadn’t been Damian’s goal with that comment. And based of the glare the Italian was giving him, he had accomplished his true goal.

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

At lunch, Damian waited in the locker room like he planned. He didn’t have to wait long before he heard it. The sound of the locker room door opening. He turned to see the liar standing near the door. Damian quickly started the camera recording and broadcasting, and waited for the liar to start talking. Once she knew they were alone, the smile dropped from her face. “I can see you’re smart so I’m not going to waste our time trying to trick you with the nice girl routine. Don’t ever try to expose me again, or you will regret it.” Damian couldn’t hide the smirk on his face as the liar fell into the trap, which seemed to anger her further. “What do you mean Lila? Expose what?” Lila sneered at Damian, “You know exactly what. You tried to expose that my stories are more fiction than fact. If you don’t want to go through what I did to Marinette, then be smart and back off.”

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

Damian had succeeded with getting the liar to admit to her lies on camera. But he wanted to clear Marinette too. “What did you do to Marinette?” Lila smirked, “I made her friends abandon her. You’ve seen how she sits in the back with only a few friends. She used to be one of the most popular girls in class. Now she is a nobody in the back of the room that everyone thinks is a bully because I told them so. I even got her expelled for a while. And if you try to expose me as a liar again, I will do the exact same thing to you. I will make your time in Paris miserable.”

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

Now it was Damian’s turn to smirk. “See I won’t have to expose you, because you just revealed yourself. See that little camera up there by the window. It recorded every word you just said. It has also been streaming this live to the whole school. Now the whole school knows you are nothing but a liar.” Lila turns pale as she finally notices the camera. She flees from the locker room, hoping that Damian was lying or that some people didn’t watch the video or watched it and didn’t believe it. But when she got back to the courtyard everyone was glaring at her. Just like that Lila’s hold on the school was completely broken. She tried to reclaim her control, but no one listened to her now. Damian had also shared the video with one person outside of the school. Lila’s mother. Her mother had come quickly after the video aired and pulled her daughter out of the school, to send her back to Italy to attend a reform school. The liar was gone from his angel’s life and Marinette couldn’t be happier. And it was all thanks to Damian and his camera

Hope you guys liked it! @maribat-central-official

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peakywitch · 3 years

Text

Cold and Sweet - Sean Wallace

Helloo! So, this is my second Sean thing. It would have NEVER been possible without my wonderful and amazing friend: @prettyinpayne, who not only is super cool but is also a capricorn like me, so we worked really hard on this one on a drive document after it waqs invented during a conversation in which we imagined this whole story. And also, my editor in chief @peakascum who is there for me no matter what.

words: 3k

warnings: angst, bitchy comments, insults and yeah the average

masterlist

The pictures inside Sean’s office started to get dusty, and that’s when y/n knew everything was actually falling apart.

The pictures never stayed for more than two months without being re-arranged, because new photos were always being taken.

She stayed quiet, observing every one of them with a glass of wine against her lips, resting there as if it would stop her sadness. The last picture that had been added was one that was taken during her birthday dinner party. It showed y/n and Sean, both looking at the camera. That was the last time she saw him smile. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was honest.

It didn’t feel like the ones he was delivering randomly when she looked at him. That smile didn’t feel as plastic as the others did.

Was he not happy anymore? Was it her? Was it the way she entered his office late at night, trying to make him rest more? Was it her attempts to talk with him in the early morning, before he left? Or maybe the fact she has yet to fulfill the one thing every wife should do: have a baby.

In a second, a hundred emotions washed over her. The glass slipped out of her fingers as she started to let out her anger with the pictures.

Christmas, picnics, dates, birthdays, parties.

Every photo she had with him, was facing down or was taken down from the wall.

She opened one of the compartments in the desk that was holding a few frames and saw old photographs.

They were all from when she was still single, when Sean was only “someone she met at a party”, and not her husband.

She saw her own smile and couldn’t recognize her own past happiness, it was as if it wasn’t her. It would be a lie if she said she didn’t love Sean. She loved him more than any other man she had ever met, there was no doubt. But the thought of it not being reciprocated was nagging more and more every day, rotting every memory.

She heard the door, and left the office quickly, forgetting the glass on the carpet. She knew it was Sean, and he hated it when she was in his office without him. He was always quite private, it was his own, personal space.

She ran to the corridor, quickly grabbing a book to make him believe she was reading as she always was.

“Hey, you hungry?” she smiled, trying to establish a decent conversation and ignoring the hurtful sensation that was burning her chest.

“Hey, eat dinner without me. Got things to do.” he said, kissing her cheek rapidly.

As soon as his lips left her skin, his body was closing itself in the office.

“Yes, I didn’t do anything interesting. But I watched a movie, thank you for asking me.” she murmured, walking to the kitchen in order to cook something for herself.

She entered the kitchen and made her way to the black fridge, but something made her stop in her tracks.

The wine bottle.

Opened.

No glass on its side.

Oh no.

She soon heard Sean’s footsteps.

“Dear Lord, here we go.” she huffed silently.

He didn’t say a thing, but he placed the empty and broken glass of wine on the marble island.

“You not only get into my office, but you also take wine. And make a mess out of the shattered glass on the carpet. You see now why I don’t want you to be in there?” he asked using a tone that was almost sarcastic, but definitely superior.

“I was cleaning some...” she started to speak, but got interrupted abruptly.

“Cleaning? Clearly not.” he fought.

“I was!” she argued back, “I was cleaning the pictures!”

“Just-Just stay away from my office!” he ordered, he loved to tell her what to do.

“Yes Sir, anything else?” she asked, being sarcastically polite.

He rolled his eyes and looked at her annoyed.

“Y/N you-“ he scratched his beard, not letting his face let go of the annoyed expression.

“How do you do it?” she interrupted him, taking another glass of wine from the cupboard.

“Do what?” he asked, lost.

“How do you do to notice the things I don’t want you to, but then the things I DO want you to notice you don’t? It’s like...!” she started to serve wine “It’s like you make an extra effort to ignore me as if it was a daily task.”

“Y/N, please I’m tired, and…” he was trying to end the discussion without even trying to heal the situation.

“I AM, Sean! I am tired of not being able to do anything because it annoys you! Tell me, tell me what I should do!”

“You want me to tell you what to do? Fine!” he screamed “First of all, stop waking me up so early every morning! Why do you have to open the curtains to change your clothes at five am? You insist that I have to sleep more, well then stop waking me up so damn early!” he started to count with his fingers “Second of all if you keep playing with that fuckin’ ring everywhere we go. Not only is distracting as fuck for everyone but you will lose it, and you know it was exorbitantly expensive!” still an idea

“And third, stop nagging me all the god damn time. Sean do this, Sean I want, Sean help me, Sean come here. I can’t fucking breathe in this house without you wanting something from me” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. He let out a frustrated huff.

“Oh, god forbid I want a fraction of my husband’s time!” Y/N tried hiding the hurt in her voice.

“I didn’t realize I married such a-“ Sean paused for a second, carefully planning his next words.

“Such a what Sean? Cat got your tongue all of a sudden?” she kept pushing.

“My mother was right, I should of married Rose.”

Y/N took a step back from Sean. Her eyes were wide at his words. Time felt like it had stopped as they stood face to face. Was she really that miserable to be with? Would he be happy without her? Her inner thoughts suffocating her in an instance, “Fuck you” she finally managed to get out. Blinking back tears she slammed her glass onto the countertop before turning on her heels and walking out of the kitchen towards their bedroom.

“Y/N...” Sean called after her but was met with the sound of the door slamming shut. He knew he had crossed the line. But god, she kept pushing and pushing until everything crumbled.

That night y/n laid in bed, Sean passed out asleep next to her. Even though they shared a bed, she felt miles away from him. Maybe so did he, if not, Rose would have never appeared in Sean’s mind during the fight.

She got up five hours later, without having much sleep if any. She took her phone five minutes before the alarm went off, Sean was right. Her movements were as cautious as they could possibly be. With her clothes on her arms, she left the bedroom and changed out of her pajamas in the guest's room, thinking maybe that's where she should sleep that night.

After getting dressed, she quietly made her way to the kitchen. She carefully opened the cabinet door and grabbed a coffee cup. When she went to grab a second one she paused for a second her hand lingering on the handle. She had always made Sean a cup of coffee in the morning, it had been a routine since they moved in together. She let out a sigh and put both cups away deciding on just going to the cafe down the street instead of making it herself.

When Sean woke up, the first thing he noticed with the quietness. He rolled over expecting y/n to still be in bed asleep. Instead, he found her empty spot, and the window curtains still shut. Checking the time he groaned, he was an hour late waking up. Hurrying to get ready he rushed downstairs to grab the coffee he was sure y/n made him. He walked over to the counter and was shocked to find no cup but thought nothing of it.

the day turned into a week and then another week without y/n making his coffee in the morning. They danced around the fight. Neither one of them brought it up. Not that they had the chance to do so, the days that they did see each other it was just in passing.

But one night they were forced to sit side by side and put on a show of being the perfect couple. Y/N sat at her vanity staring at their wedding picture. She had no clue how in the two years of marriage they’ve come to this. Avoiding each other and walking around on eggshells when they did see each other. She let out a sigh as she looked away from the picture to her wedding ring. Feeling unworthy of wearing it, she slipped it off leaving it on the table. Besides, she’d hate to distract anyone.

The place was sober, the lights were low and people’s voices were accompanied by a soft violin. They were received by a man wearing a black suit, just like every other man.

“Wallace” whispered Sean to the host, who guided both to the table after he instructed them to follow him.

The table was one in the back, it was almost Sean’s table. If he was in that restaurant, that was his table. And of course, her place was by his side. He always asked her to sit by his side, so he could put his hand over hers. She hoped to sit on the other end, praying to breathe without him by her side anymore. The half-hour drive was enough tension. But of course, if you ever had a business meeting with Sean and his wife, you’d know where not to sit.

“Please for the love of God play nice tonight.” Sean whispered in her ear as she sat down. Y/N put on a smile, if anyone knew her they would know it was a fake one. “Anything for you, husband.” Her tone was just as hushed as his.

“Sean!” smiled Sam, “It’s been...what? Two months since we saw each other?” he asked.

“No,” his wife corrected him “Three months! We left for Germany and then your birthday came up. Y/N, we are so sorry we missed your birthday. But anniversary trips sometimes can´t be postponed.” Sophie smiled and kissed his husband´s cheek.

She gulped, clenching her jaw, and trying to smile as naturally as she could. She felt as if they were making fun of them. Throwing their love in their face. Y/N was jealous, unsure of the last time Sean took her on a trip. And here, Sam and his wife sat happily in love, not knowing how far away their friends felt from each other.

While talking to Sophie, Y/N kept her hands on the table, playing slightly with the napkin, trying to hold back her needs to intertwine her own fingers playfully. Even with no ring on, she felt the need to play with her fingers. It felt soothing, it gave her security. But she would hate to distract Sophie from her numbers, or Sean’s talk with Sam.

“Sophie,” started Sean, after calling the waiter “I remembered this restaurant never has your favourite wine, so I made sure they had not one but two bottles in the cellar for tonight.” for the fi

The waiter brought a black wine bottle with a red cap, “Catena Zapata” the label read. Of course he remembered, when it came to business he could remember every little detail, it was almost scary.

“Sean!” she smiled, taken back by the detailed surprise.

The waiter served everyone, leaving Sophie last. But, as the waiter was going to fill it with the wine, she covered it with her hand.

“Actually…” she started, and exchanged somewhat of a proud expression with Sam, then looked back at Y/N and Sean “We are pregnant.”

Everything stopped. The music, the silverware sound hitting against China, the world. She was being made fun of, it felt so surreal. It disoriented her, she felt like floating. How many fights...how many fights it took her to even drag Sean into the idea? How many tears? How many fucking sleepless nights did she spend praying? How many more days did the idea had left on Sean's mind? The idea departed from his mind, leaving business more space. That’s how he could remember so many, useless things. It never mattered anymore, at least to Sean.

She didn't realize she wasn't congratulating Sophie, her mind was going so fast she wasn't even breathing. Y/N felt Sean’s hands on her body for the first time in what felt forever and got taken back. She met his eyes, he was telling her... something. He was telling her that everything would be alright as if he never forgot. But she felt ordered to say something, not wanting to appear rude.

“For what’s to come.” she said with a confusing smile, slightly raising her wine glass.

The others chorused her, only to take a sip afterwards.

#gangs of london #sean wallace #sean wallace headcanon #sope dirisu #gangs of london fic

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ladycatofwinterfell · 3 years

Text

Dealing with the consequences, part 1

Here it is, the long awaited sequel to “Consequences”. It’s been a while since I was last this excited to post something and I hope you share this feeling. I usually write happy married nedlyn, so just digging into the more complicated and messy relationship that is nedlyn in this little modern AU I created last year is quite fun. And if you were with me when I was writing “Consequences” you might remember that I posted a chapter every other day, it WON’T be like that this time

Summary: One day, six months after they move into their new house, Ned and Cat wake up to an unfortunate surprise. This small and seemingly insignificant event sets things into motion, and they try their best to repair what they can despite that they have messed up before. Because maybe, just maybe, they can do things a little bit better that time around. And you know what they say, third time’s the charm.

The baby had made her an incredibly light sleeper. So she was fully awake in a second when it knocked on her door. She looked at Sansa’s crib to make sure of that she was still sleeping. Waking her before she woke on her own was just a very bad idea. She had also already been awake once that night. So Catelyn wasn’t too happy about being woken for a reason that wasn’t to feed her daughter. Whatever it was that Ned had on his mind. She knew that it was Ned, Robb wouldn’t have knocked and Jon always avoided her as best as he could on the weeks when he was with them.

She wrapped a robe around herself and tiptoed through the room. Ned definitely had something on his mind. And he didn’t look happy about it.

“Who died?” she whispered.

He did not appreciate the joke. Had someone actually died?

“The dishwasher is broken” he said. “And there is a lot water in our kitchen.”

“Seven fucking hells.”

She wished so badly that it would have been a lie. Damnit. She had to close her eyes for a moment, take three calming breaths. And then she walked down the stairs, crossed the living room and found that Ned had not been lying. It had been very much true. There was water. A lot of it. On their floor.

She heard him come up behind her. She didn’t really know what to do. What could she do? There was so much water. What were they supposed to do with all the water?

“What time is it?” she asked, because that was all she could come up with.

“Around half past three, I think” Ned replied.

Half past three in the morning. What could they do? What the hell could they do when it was the middle of the night?

“We’ll have to do this ourselves, then” she sighed. “We need to turn off the water.”

“I already did that.”

“Of course you did. Now what?”

“We need to get the water away.”

“And how do we do that?”

She had never dealt with a flooded kitchen before. She had never dealt with any kind of flooded room before. And from the look of despair on Ned’s face she guessed he hadn’t either.

Right then Sansa seemed to have woken only to notice that she was alone. And she was screaming bloody murder.

“I’ll go get her.”

She half ran back up to her room, had some small hope of that if she was quick enough maybe there was a chance of that Robb and Jon would sleep through it. They wouldn’t be of any help, it was better if they slept until their alarms rang. But of course they didn’t.

She had just picked Sansa up and was bouncing the baby in her arms when Robb poked his sleepy little head into her room.

“Has something happened?” he asked, quite loudly so that she would be able to hear him over the screaming baby.

“No” she told him. “Everything is as it should be. Go back to bed.”

She could take that with him later. When things were a bit calmer.

“Are you hungry? Is that the problem?” she mumbled to Sansa. “Robb, please, go to bed.”

He muttered something and went back to the room that he shared with Jon. They got along quite well. Well enough to share a room, at least. Jon was still a bit shy around Robb though. Ned said that it would pass, but she was unsure. He was probably confused about the weird situation, the poor child. And that she was around didn’t make anything better for him.

She walked downstairs again once Sansa was done. Tried to hold onto what remained of her sanity. It wasn’t much. She couldn’t do much either. She didn’t know what to do. It was in moments like those she wondered how anyone managed to be an adult because it was very hard.

“Just why?”

Ned sounded very miserable. And Catelyn couldn’t even be some sort of moral support because she was just as miserable.

“I bet it’s because I’m living with a divorced man” she said. “This is the gods’ punishment. That is what my father would say.”

“Can your father tell the gods that we are parents and nothing more?” Ned muttered.

Her father did absolutely not believe that they only lived together to take care of the kids. In truth, it seemed like no one believed it. Especially Edmure. He wouldn’t shut up about it. But it was true. They had lived together for almost six months, and they had done very well. They had made it work. It had been a bit strained in the beginning, but as time passed it had gotten better and better. And there had been no relapses. Not even a kiss. She was proud of herself. If they had managed to see each other every day for so long without acting on a single little thought they could probably manage it all the way through. It would be empty though, when the kids were older and they could part again.

”Could you get some towels from upstairs?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, darling.”

She stopped and turned to look at him. He looked back at her, didn’t seem to realize what he had just said.

“Darling?” she asked, chuckling.

He sighed very deeply and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m very tired, I’m sorry.”

“No need to be.”

She really didn’t mind. He could keep on slipping, she would enjoy every word. As long as it didn’t go further than that they were fine. Hopefully. She didn’t love Ned. She didn’t. She couldn’t after what had happened. But would that completely erase everything that had been before? No, it wouldn’t.

~*~

The floor was very water damaged. Gods, they had been living in that house for six months and they already had to deal with water damage in the kitchen. They would have to tear out the floor to check for further damage and replace it. And they needed a new dishwasher.

They had dried up as well as they could and carried out the table, the chairs and the carpet to the living room so that there wouldn’t be any mold. Once the time was reasonable they would have to call someone that could do the work needed in the kitchen.

But still all Ned could think of was the way she had smiled when he had accidentally called her darling. He really hadn’t meant it, it had been an honest mistake. They weren’t together, they definitely couldn’t call each other that. And still she had smiled. Damn her.

“So what are we gonna do while we can’t use the kitchen?”

Catelyn laid flat on her back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Her hair was like a fiery cloud around her head. None of them had been eager to go back to bed after that so they had just sat in the living room. There was still more than two hours until they had to get the boys up and get them ready for school. And he had to go to work. Catelyn was on maternity leave, but they would switch in two months so that she could go back to work.

“I’ll talk to Ashara, see if she can take Jon even though it’s not her week” he said. “I think being able to properly feed a kid is bare minimum and we currently can’t check that box.”

Ashara probably wouldn’t object to that. She wasn’t too happy about that Jon lived in the same house as Catelyn every other week. She was pretty pissed about it, actually. Understandably. Rightfully. Not that she really liked that Jon was with him every other week either, but that she had to agree to.

“If I ask I think Edmure could have Robb with him until we have it fixed. And if he can’t, my parents probably can. It shouldn’t take too long, should it?”

“I guess that depends on if the floor is the only damaged part.”

Catelyn closed her eyes and sighed.

“It better be. It better fucking be.”

A tired smile appeared on her lips when she opened her eyes again. Both Robb and Sansa had her eyes. A wonderful blue shade that wasn’t like anything else.

“I guess it will be just you, me and the little lady upstairs for a while then” she said as she rolled to her side so that she could look at him where he sat in his armchair.

And what exactly did she mean by that? It was a true, and maybe that was all she meant. But she could also mean something wildly different. Or maybe he was just overthinking it. That was most likely it. There was nothing.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, still smiling.

How breathtakingly beautiful you are, was what he wanted to say at first. That was not what he said. Because saying that was a bad idea. They lived together for the sake of the kids. Nothing else. But he could acknowledge that she was pretty, he wasn’t blind.

He had not forgotten what she had done. No, it still stung whenever he thought of it. And that was almost every time he looked at Robb. But a part of his mind was betraying him. And that part did backflips whenever she smiled at him. Did she feel the same? Was there some part of her mind that did the same? He couldn’t help but wonder. Wondering would do no harm to anyone.

“Nothing” was what he said in the end.

“Liar” she chuckled. “I know you, I could tell it wasn’t nothing.”

“Nothing of importance” Ned tried and he couldn’t keep himself from smiling.

Though it was important. Very important. But he couldn’t let her know what it was.

“Oh it looked to be incredibly important. And don’t tell me it was about the kitchen, I know it was not!”

“Terribly nosy today, are we?” he asked and rolled his eyes.

“Every time you leave like that I want to get into your head and see what you’re thinking of. But I can’t so you need to tell me.”

Ashara had said the same half a million times.

“Do I now?”

“It would make me happy.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

She sat up, looked deeply into his eyes. All he could do was look back at her, trying to keep his heart from beating so fast. It was the lack of sleep, he decided. He didn’t need much sleep, but he had slept even less than usual that night. That was why his body reacted the way it did. He did not love Catelyn Tully. He couldn’t. His feelings for her were dead.

“No, you’re not” she said after a moment.

“No, I’m not.”

She got up on her feet and stretched. He wasn’t supposed to watch her the way he did and still he couldn’t turn his eyes away. He didn’t love her, but denying that there was some attraction still left wouldn’t help anything. She was pretty. And he knew way too much about her to not think of it sometimes.

“I think I’ll go back to bed, if I’m lucky Sansa will let me sleep a bit more.”

He wouldn’t have complained if the moment had lasted longer, but he couldn’t keep her there.

“You do that” he said.

Maybe it was good if he went back to bed too. He did have a day of work ahead of him, being as well rested as possible would probably be good.

As Catelyn walked past him she leaned down and kissed the top of his head. It was a quick motion, over in a second. But Ned was so startled by it that he didn’t know what to do.

“Goodnight” she said with a smile and then she walked upstairs.

~*~

Had she overstepped? Maybe. But she had wanted to kiss him so badly after their conversation that the thought of not touching him in some small way had felt unbearable. Just earlier that night Catelyn had told herself that as long as it didn’t go any longer than an accidental affective term here and there it would be fine. And then she had immediately initiated physical contact that was more than platonic. What was she doing? She didn’t love him, she couldn’t love him. It wasn’t good for anyone. It would be better if she just stopped feeling so much.

He was most likely still angry with her for what she had done. They had not talked about it yet, but she knew. And she did deserve that and pressuring him wouldn’t make it better. And she had told herself that it wouldn’t end well if they slept together. But what was actually the worst case scenario? He wasn’t married anymore, she had no secrets, they already had kids together. And the chance of getting into a fight was there even without the sex. They were basically living like a married couple already, sleeping with him wouldn’t really change anything.

“Self control, Catelyn Tully” she muttered to herself. “You said you wouldn’t so you won’t.”

She had gone so long without those feelings. Everything had gone so well. And then they put their claws into her once more. But she would resist. She had not acted upon it and it would continue that way. For everyone’s best. Because they had not talked about anything. Even though they were living peacefully they had really not solved anything. And she would not do that to him, she would not take another step forward until she was sure of that he was fine and they had all cards on the table. They probably would never have. And that had to be okay. Because she had fucked up in gigantic proportions, and she could not expect him to be okay with it. One reaps what one sows. And unfortunately she had sown some bad seeds.

But it was hard seeing him. She would not say it wasn’t. Though she kept up a good expression. Like the good person that she was. Or at least half decent person. Maybe calling herself a good person after she had slept with a man she knew was married was taking it a bit too far.

Edmure of course found it incredibly funny when she explained the situation to him in the morning. She probably would have called him a number of things if not Robb and Jon had been in the same room. Their unusable kitchen really wasn’t funny at all.

“Could Robb stay with you and Roslin while we get the kitchen fixed?” she asked, using all her energy to keep calm. “It really would help a lot.”

“Of course” Edmure said

She breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief passed a second later when Edmure kept on talking.

“So what are you gonna do?”

“What do you mean? We’re gonna see if there’s more water damage and get the floor changed.”

“That was not what I meant.”

She could hear his smirk. Had he been there she would have smacked the back of his head, but she couldn’t do that.

“Then what did you mean?”

“Oh you know... if Robb is with me and Jon is with Ned’s ex-wife... the house will be almost empty except for you two.”

Catelyn was thoroughly tired of him and his remarks. But that one was at least partly on her, she had actually asked.

“If I murdered you no one would judge me” she hissed, in a voice that was low enough for Robb and Jon not to hear her.

“The law, sweet sister, would judge you.”

“I’d take twenty years in prison just to be rid of you.”

“Your man at home wouldn’t be very happy though, would he?”

“I’m going to hang up now.”

“I’ll pick Robb up after work. Love you.”

“Idiot.”

And then she got the boys ready for school. Jon accepted her help without complaining but in his grey eyes she saw how he disliked that it wasn’t his mother helping him. Robb seemed oblivious of it though, he talked just as much as he always did. About most everything. Ned just chose to not acknowledge it.

He felt bad for what he had done, she knew that. He probably regretted it as well, but she didn’t allow herself to think too much about that. It was as it was. And dwelling upon whether Ned regretted it or not wouldn’t take her anywhere. They had their baby. So at least something good had come out of it.

Once Ned and the boys were out the house was oddly quiet. Sansa cooperated perfectly that day so she wasn’t too much trouble. Catelyn spent the calm hours looking into what would be best for their water damaged kitchen. Once that was done she packed Robb’s things so that it would be done when Edmure came to pick him up. She glanced at Jon’s side of the room. Could she pack his things too? Or would that be overstepping? She wasn’t trying to replace Ashara. Not in the least, she knew her place. It would just be easier if she packed for him too so that he was ready when Ned was going to drive him to Ashara. Surely no one could be too angry at that? In the end she decided to do it. No one could blame her for her intentions, could they?

“Thank you, Catelyn” was what Jon said when she handed him his bag.

At least he had stopped with calling her Ms. Tully. That was always something. And he didn’t seem to feel much about it at all.

“You’re welcome.”

“Has Sansa been nice today?” he asked.

Catelyn was surprised by that question. Not that Jon didn’t care for Sansa, he was very sweet with her. And he sounded very proud over it whenever he talked about her. But he very rarely talked more than strictly necessary to Catelyn.

“Yes, today she’s been very nice.”

“Good.”

“Then maybe she’ll sleep better tonight” Ned said.

“Let’s hope so.”

For the sake of Catelyn’s well-being. After she had gone back to bed she had barely slept a second because Sansa had decided that sleeping was overrated. Just then the doorbell rang and Robb practically came flying down the stairs. He reacted to the doorbell like a dog. So even though Catelyn, Ned and Jon were in the hall they let Robb open the door. It was Edmure, as expected.

“Hello everyone!” he said as he stepped inside, grinning like an idiot.

“Edmure” Ned muttered for a greeting.

Just as Jon usually avoided Catelyn when it was possible, Ned avoided Edmure when it was possible. He got very uncomfortable around her brother. And it wasn’t strange considering Edmure didn’t have any limits. She had just learned to live with it.

“Edmure. No” Catelyn said when he opened his mouth to answer.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

“It’s better if you don’t say anything at all.”

“How do you stand living with her?” Edmure asked Ned.

Ned pretended not to hear that. Maybe he barely could stand living with her. It didn’t matter. As long as they were friendly for the children the rest didn’t really matter. But the thought of him disliking her felt worse than she wanted to admit.

Jon slipped past Edmure and went outside to wait for Ned while she made sure Robb had everything he needed.

“Give Uncle Edmure hell from me, will you?” she said as Robb picked up his bag.

“I promise” he smiled.

“That’s unfair!” Edmure exclaimed.

She pulled Robb into a hug.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

It wasn’t often she was separated from Robb more than a few days at a time. When she thought of it she couldn’t remember if it had ever happened. Surely it must have, but she still didn’t like it when he was with Edmure or her parents for too long. She had to keep reminding himself that he was getting big. There wouldn’t be many years until he no longer wanted to be with her. But he had been her only child for so long, it was hard.

She let go of Robb and expected him to run outside after Jon, but instead he turned to Ned.

“You take care of her” he said, serious as death. “And make sure of that she doesn’t worry so much.”

Both Catelyn and Ned stopped at that. He glanced at her for just a second, then he looked back at Robb. She wanted to say something to Robb, but nothing came out.

“I promise to do that” Ned responded, sounding just as serious as her son.

“Good.”

Then Robb walked out the door. The sweet boy.

“I shouldn’t be too long” Ned said. “And I’ll buy food on the way home.”

“Sounds good” she said. “Bye.”

And, seemingly without thinking of it, he leaned down and kissed her. It was just a peck, quick, as if it was a routine. Something they did every time one of them left the house. But it was a kiss all the same. And Catelyn didn’t know what to do.

She backed away a step, just to do something. Ned realized what he had done and she had never seen a more panicked face in her life. She didn’t really know how she felt. Mostly shocked. She had not imagined that their first kiss in over a year would be like that. She had not imagined there would be a first kiss at all. Or, well, she had imagined it more than a few times. But she hadn’t actually believed it would ever come true.

“What are you doing?” she asked, unsure of what else to say.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I don’t know what I was doing” Ned apologized.

When he had apologized for calling her “darling” he had just sounded tired. At the moment all she could hear was pure panic. And she knew that he genuinely had no idea of why he had done it. He was just as shocked as she was.

“Cat, really, I have no idea of why I just did that. And I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

“There is nothing to– oh my gods, Edmure, shut up!”

While all that had happened Edmure had been laughing hysterically in the background. But she had not really been aware of it until just then. Her attention had been directed towards Ned and the fact that he had kissed her.

“Do you really want me to believe that you two are not together?” he practically howled. “You don’t accidentally kiss someone, you do that often!

She really couldn’t deal with him at the moment.

“Get out.”

“You take good care of my sister now, Ned, give her everything you know she likes.”

“Shut your seven times damned mouth and get out!”

He actually did so, still laughing to himself, so that was a small relief.

“You know there’s nothing to forgive” she said to Ned once the door was closed. “But that was very... out of the blue. To say the least.”

She had thought of doing that about a hundred times since he came home, but she had never been even close to acting on it. And then he just kissed her out of nowhere. Was it because he wanted to kiss her?

“I know.”

~*~

He was undoubtedly the stupidest person he knew. He had not been aware of that he had done it at first. But then she had looked at him with wide eyes and asked him what he was doing. And Ned hadn’t even known what he had been doing. That was the second time that day he had done something like that. What was happening?

Despite the initial question she didn’t seem upset about it. Mostly confused. And he had to admit that he was confused as well. He had thought of kissing her before, but had never acted on it. It had only been a thought, safe deep in his mind, and never something that would be reality. Or that was what he had thought. And then he had kissed her.

“Go” Catelyn sighed. “We can talk more when you get home.”

“Are you sure it’s alright? I really didn’t mean to do that to you” he said.

He wouldn’t want her to think of him like that. And he would rather die than do something to her against her will.

That actually brought a smile to her face.

“Yes. No need to worry, it was a mistake. Let’s just pretend it never happened.”

For some reason that thought made something twist in his chest. Pretending it never happened would probably be the best. But still. It had been a mistake but he knew that he wouldn’t have objected to it happening again. But that clearly wasn’t what she wanted. And they still had not figured anything out. Building things on top of a broken base was a terrible idea. But did he really want to fix that base? He didn’t know. If they fixed it the temptation would be even bigger. And more temptation really wasn’t what they needed. They needed to move on despite that the conditions for that were bad.

“Yeah.”

“Jon is waiting for you” she said.

“And so is Edmure, most likely.”

Edmure would never let them hear the end of it. As if though the rest hadn’t been enough. He had asked Ned how he could stand living with Catelyn. Living with Catelyn was quite easy, Ned’s biggest question was how Catelyn had managed to stand out with Edmure for so long.

“No offense, but I really don’t like your brother” he said.

Catelyn laughed.

“I assure you, no one finds my brother more annoying than I do.”

“I actually might beat you on that one.”

“You definitely don’t. Now go.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She sighed and almost pushed him towards the door when he turned to leave.

“You’re such a dork, I can’t take this.”

But she was smiling. That beautiful smile that made her shine. He had been afraid that he wouldn’t see that smile for a while after that mistake. But he did. And he loved that smile.

“Bye” he said as he stepped outside.

She only shook her head and closed the door behind him. To his great relief Edmure was not waiting for him. He had never been happier about being wrong.

The ride to Ashara’s went fine. Jon talked a little bit about how school had been, what he had learned and what they were going to do on Monday. Ned treasured those moments with his son. Because he knew that once he got older he wouldn’t be as happy anymore. He would most likely hate his father for what he had done.

Ashara had stayed in their house after the divorce. And despite that he had lived there for years it felt weird when he walked up to the door with Jon. The little boy bounced forward with his bag in one hand and rang the doorbell with the other. It only took Ashara a few seconds to open.

“Hey, sweetheart!” she said and pulled Jon into a tight hug which he happily returned.

“Hi, Mom!”

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too!”

Before he would have been a part of that. Just a bit more than a year ago. But he wasn’t. Because of his own idiotic mistakes. Or could he really call it a mistake when he did not regret it? He had his daughter, Sansa. The most lovely little girl ever. He could not regret that. Even though he wished Ashara would not have been hurt. She deserved better than to be hurt in the way he had hurt her. But he had done it, he had gone to Catelyn knowing what it would do to his wife.

“Is Dad going to come inside?” Jon asked and looked up at his mother.

“No. Dad isn’t coming inside.”

That she could keep her face from going hard when she said that was a miracle. But no matter how much she wanted to kill him she would smile for their son. Just like he would smile for Robb no matter what his mother had done.

“You can go inside though, Jon” Ashara said and ran a hand through the boy’s hair. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Okay” Jon said and turned to Ned. “Bye, Dad!”

“Bye, Jon.”

Ashara waited for Jon to get inside and then she turned to him as well.

“How is your daughter?” she asked, her tone neutral, as if they were speaking about the weather.

“She’s fine. Healthy.”

“Good. And how is her mother?”

“She’s fine as well.”

Talking about it was hard. He had created all that on his own, but still talking about it was hard. He had hurt people for Cat, including Cat, and then she had hurt him as well in the process. It was so much hurt. So much pain that had been unnecessary and avoidable. But they were human, they did stupid things for all sorts of reasons. That was the only explanation he had, because it didn’t really make sense. He had tried to make sense of it all and had realized that he understood very little. He had loved Cat, he had loved Ashara, he loved his children. Had it all been for love? No, that wasn’t it. How could it have been for love if he hurt people he loved?

Ashara looked up at the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and it hadn’t rained in days.

“Catelyn” she said after a moment of silence. “I wish I could like her. She seems very likable. Maybe we could have been friends if it had not been for that she decided to go for my husband. Or maybe you’ll be her husband soon.”

He could hear the question in her words.

“No” he sighed. “And it will stay that way.”

Ashara chuckled.

“You know, that kinda pisses me off. Fine if you had left me for someone you loved more, but now you just left me.”

“I asked for a divorce because you deserve better than someone who cheats on you. I didn’t leave you, I wanted you to have better than me. Staying in the marriage would have been unfair, I couldn’t do that to you. And when my daughter came into the picture I had to do it for her as well.”

He had loved them both, and because of that he had let Ashara down. She deserved so much better. He deserved someone who wasn’t weak for some old flame, who loved her and her alone.

“Then why even sleep with her in the first place? If you couldn’t do that to me?”

He had asked himself that question a thousand times. He had known that he would ruin his relationship with Ashara, and still he had done it. Why?

“Because I’m weak” he ended up saying. “Because sometimes I’m a bad person. I have no excuses and no good reasons for doing what I did. But I’m sorry.”

He had told Catelyn that as well, even though it felt like it had been ages since then. They were weak. They had always been. But they had to put an end to it.

“As you should be.”

“I am. Truly.”

Ned wasn’t the best at expressing things, he was well aware of that flaw, but he really was sorry for putting Ashara through that. Divorce had been the only reasonable thing to do, but they had not needed to get to that point if he had not cheated in the first place. But it had been Catelyn. And Catelyn was... Catelyn. His Cat.

“That’s always something, I suppose” Ashara said. “Well, good luck with the kitchen.”

“Thank you.”

It was a relief when she followed Jon inside and closed the door. Ned had not expected to have that conversation, and it had been difficult. All of it was difficult. Oh how Ned wished it could have been different. In what way, he had no idea. Because the mess had given him his children, and he couldn’t regret that. Without Ashara he wouldn’t have had Jon, and without Cat he wouldn’t have had Sansa. And Robb.

He liked Robb. The boy was so much like his mother, there wasn’t a trace of Ned in him. And he wished he could have known Robb from the beginning, he wished he could have been a proper father to him. There probably would have been more of him in Robb if that had been the case. If Catelyn had let that happen.

He still couldn’t understand it at all. Why she had decided that keeping their son a secret was a good idea, and it made him both angry and sad. But some part of Cat had always been a mystery, some part of her he would never understand. She was human, she did illogical things all the time. And even though it was hard to accept that he had to, because what had been done had been done. Nothing could change it.

When he got back in the car he noticed that Catelyn had sent him a message.

My mom came here because Edmure told her about the kitchen

That didn’t exactly make Ned overjoyed, Cat’s family had no love for him. But her mother was probably the one he got along with best out of all of them. Her father didn’t even try to hide his dislike and her siblings either made jokes or just pursed their lips at him. Not that his family loved Catelyn particularly much, it was just Lyanna. The rest of them seemed weary.

Is she staying for dinner?

No but she’ll be here when you come home. Just thought you wanted to know

Thanks for the heads up

No problem

He sighed and leaned back in the seat, closed his eyes for a moment. It really wasn’t his day. But it couldn’t get any worse, right?

~*~

this is so much fun to write and people were so engaged in it last time, so i hope i didn’t disappoint and that i can deliver on the same level as last time this was a thing on my blog

Thanks for reading <3

#ned stark #catelyn tully #catelyn stark #ned x cat #robb stark #jon snow #edmure tully #ashara dayne #consequences #dealing with the consequences #more memes might come when I'm not insanely tired because it's the middle of the night

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catxsnow · 4 years

Text

WW III D.G.

Summary: Disbanding the Titans did more damage on you then anyone would have thought. Based on Titans

Warning: SWEARING YOU KNOW THE DRILL, angst, uh some mentions that you and Dick did the sex

A/N: This is kind of has a similar vibe to OLD WOUNDS, but like more painful if that’s possible so have fun.

GIF not mine.

Word Count: 3k

Being part of the original Titans was something that you were proud of. You were the youngest of the bunch but proved your worth the first time that you fought together as a team. The six of you were unstoppable together and for years you continued to prove that. It was upon losing Garth that the team broke apart.

Jericho too, even though he was never part of the team. He trusted the lot of you like friends and you betrayed him. You used him to get to his father. It had taken a toll on all of you. It was why you all parted ways.

Hank and Dawn left together, you were sure nothing could break them apart. They kept up the crime fighting at their own pace. Donna quit altogether, she couldn't bare to wear that suit again after losing Gar. Dick became a detective in Detroit, never to be heard from again.

You however, you stayed in San Francisco. The city had been your home your entire life and just because the team split apart in their own ways, didn't mean that you were ready to part with your home. The Titans Tower remained vacant. Though you couldn't leave the city, you couldn't go back to your home away from home either.

There were too many memories in there. Memories of spending late night hours with Dawn and Donna being just regular girls during crazy times. Memories of beating Hank and Garth in training and never letting them hear the end of it. Memories of you and Dick, balancing between lovers and haters.

Throughout all the years that you had known Dick Grayson, you couldn't tell how you spent your time with him more: at his throat fighting or between his sheets. The two of you had a fire that never went away, sometimes it left destruction in its path while others it created something beautiful.

He consumed your life. Every day, every hour you were with him. The team couldn't keep up with what kind of terms that you were on half the time. Especially when you were out fighting together, no matter what was going on between you, the two of you protected each other to a whole new level.

You and Dick were perfect together when it came to crime fighting, that was a constant between the two of you.

And then he left. Dick Grayson packed up his bags and left San Francisco, he left you. It had been years ago but you could still remember the pain from him gone. Dick left you without even a goodbye. He thought that it was best to just disappear without anyone knowing where he was gone, without a painful goodbye.

Fuck did that hurt you.

Dick had the tendency to make your life miserable. The two of you fought over everything, couldn't agree on anything, and reeked such havoc that you couldn't tell where the destruction ended and where it started. However, he also knew how to make your life a blessing. Sweet words whispered to you late at night, kisses that would make your knees weak, and affection that continuously dragged you in for more.

His disappearance changed all that. You no longer wanted to feel these things for him, looking back at it, your relationship was nothing but toxic. One minute you were getting dragged down by him and the next you were on a pedestal. Never had a relationship of yours been filled with so many ups and downs.

So, when Dick popped up on your radar in San Francisco, specifically at the one place that you used to call home, you had no choice but to see what the hell he was doing in your city. Not only had he come back, but he had brought a bunch of strangers as well. This wasn't just his building to use, it was all of yours.

Dick, along with the others who had been curious as to who was riding up the elevator, waited for your arrival in. He knew that it had been years since he had come to see you and that leaving your like this wasn't going to be a warm welcome. He didn't know what to expect when it came to you.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Dick looked at you in awe. The years apart had done you well. You looked older, more mature. It was obvious that you were still in the game, muscles were more defined than they ever had been. You hair had changed styles - it suited you better. Dick thought that you looked beautiful.

His moment of awe was abruptly ended when he felt a punch thrown right at his cheek. Dick groaned at the pain and held onto where you had hit him. Your fists were clenched at your sides and it was easy to tell you were pissed. The kids behind him simultaneously let out a noise of shock that some stranger would attack their supposed leader like that.

"What the fuck are you doing back here, Grayson," you spit out. As much as he never knew what you were going to do, he didn't expect you to be this angry. "You disappear for years, no calls, no texts and then you show your face back in my city?" you pushed him back with every statement until he was up against a wall.

Dick had never seen such a fire in your eyes. After all of your fights, you were never this angry with him.

"(Y/N), I-" he paused. The last thing that he wanted to do with you right now was fight. You had done enough of that when you were kids.

"Who's the babe?" One of the kids that Dick had with him spoke up with the sudden silence. There were two boys, both of which must have been around the same age while the girl looked a little younger. You had no idea who these people were but they must have been special to be in the tower.

"I recommend you treat me with some respect, kid. Or I'll put you on your ass before you can repeat that," you snapped. Generally, you were in a lot better mood than this, however seeing Dick again but a new kind of fire in your chest.

"This is, (Y/N) (L/N)," Dick glanced between you and the others. "We, were, uh, partners."

"Partners wouldn't leave each other," you glared. "I don’t know why I even bothered coming here. Fuck you, Dick Grayson." You shook your head in frustration and headed back to the elevator that you came up from. This was a mistake, you shouldn't have even bothered to stir up old feelings that you had buried years ago.

"(Y/N)," Dick called out for you. "I could use your help, starting the Titans back up again." He wanted to tell you that he wanted you back in his life. He would take any excuse to have you back again. Coming back to the tower was driven by wanting to see you again. it had been years, and he had no idea where to start.

You laughed, the kind of laugh that put a chill through him. "You want to start the Titans again? Are you insane? There's a reason I never came back here, Dick. You should have done the same. Leave, before someone else gets killed on your watch."

"I can't do this without you," Dick tried to stop you once more. You were already standing in the elevator, praying that these doors would close faster. He missed you, he just didn't realize how much until arriving there. Memories of the two of you rushed back to him and he couldn't get you out of his head.

"Good. Don't."

Finally, the doors closed. You could feel your chin tremble as the overwhelming desire to cry surfaced. Seeing him again reminded you of what used to be. The two of you were destined to be at your game of cat and mouse forever. He ruined that, and he knew it too. Leaving you was one of the biggest regrets he had.

You hadn't been the same without him. Your fighting became more tactile and aggressive - just as his had. You didn't have anyone to back you up anymore leaving you with more injuries than you ever had with the team. After years of having someone to watch your back, it took a long time to become accustomed to going solo.

One thing was for sure: you weren't going to let him back into your life just to fuck it all up again.

Being an original Titan meant that all your information was stuck in the database, no matter how many times you tried to delete it all. You address, you family, everything there was to know about you down to your allergies. With all that at the tip of Dick's fingers, he couldn't not go over to your home to try and fix things.

He let you cool down, gave you a few days to think about his reappearance. Not to mention that he needed to settle back into the place that he once called home again. Every room that he went in, all he could think about was the memories that he made with you in each of them. His old bedroom struck him the hardest.

Past memories consumed him. The ones of the hours that you spent with him in there - laughing, joking, fighting, the make ups and the break ups. He knew that the path that you guys took was a bumpy one but he wanted it all back. He wanted you back and he knew that it wasn't fair of him to ask you of that.

Dick broke your trust. He left you when he should have known that you were the only person that would have his back. He lost the trust of the others, not after what he did with Jericho. You were the only one who knew that this was all of your faults, not just his. You were willing to share the blame but he put it all on himself.

When Dick showed up at your doorstep, late at night with a bottle of whiskey in his hands as a peace offering, you didn't want to let him in. You didn't want to let him back into your life after he ruined you for so many years. Yet, when you met his eyes, you couldn't resist opening the door a little wider for him to step in.

You brought two glasses to your small living room and handed one over to him. With your history, you were going to need the whole bottle if either of you wanted this to end well.

"I'm sorry," Dick finally brought up the reason that he was there. "I fucked up, I know. You didn't deserve this. I shouldn't have left you, not the way that I did."

"No, you shouldn't have," you agreed. "Jericho wasn't your fault, Dick. We all agreed to the plan, I take as much responsibility as you do. You didn't kill him, Slade did. If there's anyone to blame it's him. I wish you would have understood that all those years ago, I wish the others would have too."

"Doesn't matter," Dick shook his head. "They wanted to throw the blame on me and I let them, I wanted them to."

"You've always been a glutton for punishment," You sighed, taking another sip of your drink. "You can't just come back here thinking that I'm going to waltz back into your arms, Dick. You wrecked me when you left. Do you know how hard it was for me to move on with my life without you? After all those years together I thought that I would have meant more to you."

"You do," Dick met your eyes. Glutton for punishment was right, he was kicking himself over this, over leaving you. "I was never good for you. How many times did we fight? You deserve a lot better partner than me. I always knew that, I just hoped that me leaving would make you realize that as well."

It didn't. Him leaving brought out your worst self-consciousness. You analyzed everything about the situation wondering why the fuck he would leave without telling you. The others all said their farewells, wished you the best of luck. All except him, it was as if the moment the others left that you meant nothing to him as well.

"It didn't," you shook your head, pouring yourself another glass. "I tried to forget about you. Fuck did I try. You meant a lot of things to me, Dick. I just wish that you would have been able to see that."

"If I would have meant that much to you, we wouldn't have argued so much," Dick countered.

"Fight just to fuck just to fight again," You scoffed to yourself. It was true, looking back at many of your years, that seemed to be the trend. Anyone who didn't know you would have just known this, they wouldn't have known about the emotional moments you shared, the genuine care that you had for each other.

"World War Three, huh?"

You knew that if anyone tried to hurt you, Dick would have torn them apart. He would have fought anyone that looked at you the wrong way he cared so much - at least you thought it was him caring. Years of pinning over each other, maybe it wasn't care, maybe it was obsessiveness that he had for you.

The idea of a constant battle of fighting just to make up. Knowing that he could never quite have you but also aware that you couldn't belong to anyone else. Bruce shaped Dick into many things, but his compulsiveness? That was something that you were sure that was formed from neglect of emotion.

"I loved you, Dick," you gripped the sides of the chair you were sitting on to stop you from shaking. "You left before I ever got the chance to tell you."

"We all left, (Y/N)," Dick looked at you with sadness written on his face. "Titans disbanded, we couldn't keep up this act of being a team anymore. You didn't have to stay here either, that was your choice."

You picked up on his tone. I didn't love you back. Maybe he was the self-righteous asshole that everyone put him out to be. You were just to blindsided to see it for so many years. He pulled you into a trap and even when he let you go you still hung on.

Dawn. It was always Dawn that he wanted, not you. He knew with Hank in the picture, he would never get her again. Their fling was short lasting but made an ever lasting effect on him. Dawn didn't realize that it had hurt you more than it had hurt anyone else.

"I hoped that we could be a team again," your voice was strained. You downed the rest of your drink hoping to cover it up. Your disappointment turned to frustration and anger towards him. "You're right, I should have known better than to keep my hopes up. I see you found replacements already."

"I was hoping you would come back too," Dick offered again. You shook your head, going back there would do you no good. Being back with Dick would only drag you into old habits, habits that nearly destroyed you last time. After taking years to build yourself back up again, you couldn't afford the risk.

"I was too blindsided by your cock last time, I'm not making the same mistake again," You stood up from your spot and walked over to the front door. "I think its time to do what you do best and leave."

"I'm not leaving here until I know that you're going to be okay," Dick stayed seated in his spot. He poured himself another glass and topped up your drink. The two of you were going through the bottle like it was nothing. "I always cared about you, I never stopped. Please, just think about coming back to the Titans.

"Dick, please. Just go," your voice trembled. Just because he cared about you didn't mean he ever loved you like you loved him. How much of his feelings were faked just so he could get laid? You weren't the type of person that could have casual sex, you needed that emotional tether. Dick didn't.

"I'm being serious," Dick leaned back on your couch. He wasn't going to leave, he was too stubborn for that.

"I'll come back if you can look me in the eyes and tell me that once upon a time you loved me."

Dick sighed, his eyes sealed shut at your ultimatum. God did he want you back at the tower, he wanted you there as his fighter, as a leader. He couldn't handle a bunch of kids on his own, he needed you there. You already knew the ins and outs of crime fighting, it would be so much easier for him.

He knew he needed you but he also knew that he couldn’t drag you through a roller coaster again. Dick had put you through so much already, it wouldn’t be fair to keep you close just for his own benefit. He cared about you too much to hurt you again.

"I can't do that, (Y/N)."

#IM SO SORRY THIS IS GOING TO HURT YOU #dickgrayson #dick grayson imagine #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson oneshot #titans #titans imagine #titans one shot #dc one shot #dc imagine #dc #angst #catxsnow writes

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