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#safe haven fan fic
cutesyscreenname · 9 months
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A lil something I made for @darkroastjoel and her fic A Safe Haven.
I was sitting on my couch staring into the abyss thinking about Joel and Peach and Ivy by Taylor Swift and I had to do something about it :3
Drawn in ink and pencil
Text added in Canva
Lyrics from Ivy by Taylor Swift
Vee I love you and I love Joel and Peach 🥹🥹
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joelsgreys · 9 months
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I know she’s reader insert but also we all call her Peach™️. In my mind, her name is Georgia (not my name lol) because Georgia Peaches 🍑
💕I love this story so much! 💕
That most recent Drabble with her and the horse had me crying in the club (my cubicle) 🥹
sometimes I’ll call her reader and it feels weird to me haha because I know I always call her Peach, but lately most people do too 🧡 omg that’s too cute! she’s Joel’s lil Georgia Peach 🥹
also I found a really sweet way to add in peaches again into the story, can’t wait to reveal it because let’s just say Joel did something super sweet for her…small but sweet!
thank you so much for reading sweet non!
(I too have cried at work thanks to fics, I’m not in a cubicle but ya know same difference)
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☆.*・。 The Perfect Girl ☆゚.*・。
{Ellie Williams x Reader}
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Summary: The amount of tension between you and your guitarist is fucking ridiculous.
an: You read that right babe, I’m giving rockstar!Ellie this time. I literally cannot get over her in a fucking leather jacket just tearing it up on stage for her adoring fans. You know it’s not a fic of mine if there isn’t some mutual pining between you and our fave girl. I don’t wanna give too much away tho! I hope you enjoy angel 🖤.
Warnings: 18+!!, ANGST, eventual smut just not in this chapter, mentions of sex, mutual pining, Ellie is sort of a dick but she isn’t necessarily mean (don’t worry you’ll see), lead singer!reader, use of alcohol and marijuana, rock star life style so lots of partying, reader is a badass I’m sorry but I had to, let me know if I missed anything! (not proofread)
Part 2 can be read here!
You always thought the city looked the prettiest from rooftops.
Ever since you were little, your safe haven would be on the tops of houses or buildings, giving you time to gather yourself and your mind.
You couldn’t really remember the last time you were fully alone.
Being on tour with your band was…hard. You missed home, and your throat was sore from all the singing, and you hated the dingy little venues that your manager had gotten for you…
But this was your dream, and you remembered that regardless of all of the things you hated, it would never outweigh the joy you felt when you were on stage, and the people in the crowd were singing with you, singing your bands songs.
It made it all worth it somehow.
You brought your cigarette up to your lips, perched between your middle and pointer finger, and inhaled deeply. The contrast of the warmth you felt in your lungs from the smoke, and the cold air that blew onto your skin somehow took the edge off the chilly wind.
It was cold, and you had to downtown at the venue you were performing at within the next 20 minutes, but you felt like if you didn’t get 5 minutes alone, away from your band members, you’d lose your mind.
Only, that was half the truth. You weren’t entirely running from your band…not all of them at least.
You were running from Ellie.
After you and your best friend Dylan had started up your band, he was quick to bring Ellie in to audition for your lead guitarist. He told you that he’d known Ellie for almost forever, and that he was positive you two would get along.
And he was write, you did get along.
Once your band had been established with all positions filled, you and Ellie were always together. You’d write songs together, search for venues that would give a group of kids the time of day to perform a handful of their songs, sleep overs almost every night. If Ellie was there, so were you.
It started to change when your band released a demo, and your lives changed overnight.
The amount of attention that came with it was almost overwhelming, and before you knew it you had a manager and a tour was being organized. It happened so quickly that you didn’t even have time to adjust to it all, to all of the attention that you were getting from people that you didn’t even know.
Ellie quickly became a fan favorite.
You first realized it during one of your first shows, and after your set was finished and you were all packing your equipment up into your tour bus, and Ellie wasn’t helping. She was leaned up the brick wall of the club you’d just performed at, surrounded but a handful of pretty girls.
And although you felt a twinge of jealousy set off like a small wildfire in the pit of your stomach, you carried on. Because it was never out of the ordinary for Ellie to flirt with a pretty girl. She’d always been pretty, and she always attracted the attention of those around her. It was just on a greater scale now.
One that would grow to be greater and greater the more popular you guys got.
So no, the groupies didn’t bother you, not entirely at least. Sure, you had to sleep with your headphones on whenever you’d hear Ellie fucking them after a show and your hotel room just had to be next to hers, and you’d make sure that you weren’t around every time Ellie was stood outside of a venue getting their numbers, but you didn’t let it affect your friendship with her, because Ellie was your friend, your good friend and she didn’t owe you anything.
What did bother you though, was what you caught her saying to Dylan one day after a show.
It was one of the rare occasions that Ellie actually spent time with you guys after a show, and not running off with a groupie. You were all sat around in Ellie’s hotel room, drunk and high out of your minds. Your head was resting against Ellie’s knee while you sat on the floor and her on the couch, her long fingers combing through your hair and massaging your scalp as you both lazily laughed at something your drummer said. It was moments like this that you felt at peace, and you realized that your job was to travel with your best friends, make music and just enjoy one another.
You hummed softly as you took a long drag of Ellie’s blunt before passing it back to her and standing up.
“Where you goin’ babe?” Ellie rasped out, her hand resting on your waist for a moment before she took the blunt from you. You smiled lazily, eyes hazy before you nodded your head towards the door. “M’cold…gonna get my sweater and my phone” you hummed. Ellie whined softly, letting her head fall back as she took a drag of her joint, her other hand reaching out for you.
“Just use one of mine…you’re warm” she mumbles out lazily, and you roll your eyes as you shoo her hand away, already walking over the various articles of clothing, music sheets and empty bottles that were on the floor, scrunching your nose at the mess as you focused on not falling over.
“Need my phone anyways Els…I’ll be right back” you called out before you opened the door to leave.
It was things like that. When she’d whine and moan for you for being too far or for leaving her when she was enjoying your warm embrace that made your heart tug. You’d always remind yourself that if she wanted to, she would. Ellie had been your friend for many years at this point, and the fact alone that she’d known you as long as she did and never tried to take things further was enough for you to push down any feelings that you had for her. You’d watch Ellie date girls that she’d only known for a few weeks, and you knew that being with her would never be written in the stars for you.
You left the hotel room door cracked open since you knew you didn’t have your room key, and you’d just be going to your room that was right next door.
Once you got your phone and a hoodie, you left your room and went back to Ellie’s. When you entered, it was easy for you to silently get in since you had left the door open for yourself when you got back. The only thing is, none of your band mates heard you come back to the room.
That was your first mistake.
The long hallway that lead to the room door kept you hidden, so they couldn’t hear you nor see you. But you were able to hear everything that they were saying.
“Come on Ellie, we know you’re into her…the way she’s always touching you? Why don’t you just ask her out?” You could distinguish the voice to be Charlie, your drummer. He chuckled softly as he tossed something at Ellie, and you heard her groan once it hit her.
“I am not into her, okay? Jesus never…I’d never go for her. She’s just…not really my type, you know? Plus…she’s kinda clingy” she chuckled softly, you could hear s small thump, followed by Ellie groaning in pain. Dylan probably hit her.
“Hey, don’t fuckin’ talk about her that way man. She’s our friend…even if you feel that way…no need to say it” he huffs out. Dylan had always had your back, acting as the big brother you had never had.
Ellie scoffs softly, and you swear you can almost fucking hear her roll her eyes. You hear the soft crackling of her blunt, and you know she’s taking another hit. “It’s the truth, okay? You see the way she looks like a kicked puppy every time I’m hooking up with a girl…it’s just sad..” she sighs out, and she sounds like she feels bad for you, like she’s been treating you this way the entire time because Ellie pities you.
And you suddenly can't breathe, because one of the people you trusted the most is saying such mean things about you, and you feel like you can't handle it. You don't even realize it, but there are fat tears rolling down your cheeks, pooling at your chin and dripping onto your shirt. You have to leave, because you know that if you see her face, you'll lose it.
You ended up crying in your hotel room on your bed until you passed out, waking up to your eyes being sore and swollen and your cheeks wet with the tears that you cried the night prior. You also wake up to a few messages and phone calls from Dylan, Charlie..
and Ellie.
Each of them asking you where you'd run off to, and if you would be coming back. It almost makes you laugh because Ellie is whining to you in your messages saying that she misses you and that you were having so much fun, saying that she hopes you didn't fall asleep because she'll just follow you into your room to sleep with you.
It's extremely fucking ironic that this is all coming from someone who called you clingy not even thirty minutes before texting you all of these messages.
And it's how you ended up here, on the rooftop of the hotel you were staying at, hiding from her.
The entire conversation that you had overheard had happened almost a week ago now, and you hadn't spoken a single word to Ellie.
None of it went without attempts from her end though.
She was constantly trying to talk to you, touch you, hold you, all of which been ignored by you. At first she assumed you were just going through a bad hangover from the night before, however it went on for days, and soon enough Ellie was finding it hard to remember when the last time it was that you had even looked at her.
Your brooding thoughts were interrupted by the door to the roof opening up, and the sound of heavy boots already told you who it was without having to look.
Dylan sighed softly as he stood behind you, eyebrows furrowed as his eyes burned holes into the back of your head.
"What the fuck is going on with you dude?" He sighed out. He had long since lost his patience with you, with your sulking, and the constant silent treatment you had been giving everyone, most specifically Ellie.
You sighed softly, taking another long drag of your cigarette before you stood up, flicking it onto the floor and using your boot to smoosh it into the ground. You gave a shrug, the zippers on your leather jacket jingling a bit.
"Nothin'....just been tired man...tour is kicking my ass" You sighed out, wishing internally that he would for once buy your bullshit excuse and not pry any further. Your feelings were pissing you off, and Ellie was pissing you off even more. You just...would rather not talk about it.
Dylan's eyebrows raised before he scoffed in disbelief. "And am I supposed to believe that? Do you think im fucking stupid?" He huffed out, and his own shoulders were crossing over his chest as he stared down at you much like a father staring down at their child.
"We aren't going anywhere until you tell me why the hell you've been pouting like a child. So, either you talk, or the show tonight isn't happening."
His threat made you frown, because as much as tour was exhausting, it was what you loved the most. Even the thought of letting down anyone who was getting ready in that very moment to come out and see you and your band, the excitement they felt whenever they waited for you guys to walk out on stage, made you sick to your stomach.
You sighed, staring down at your black boots, unable to even look the man in the eyes before you inhaled deeply.
"I heard what Ellie said about me.." You mumbled out, so softly the wind was almost loud enough to muffle what you had said, your confession getting lost in the air, never to be heard again.
The second you said it, Dylan's features softened. In that moment, he had realized just how young you were...You were barely an adult, still in your 20s, and this entire life had swept you up and taken you away in the blink of an eye, and never once had you complained about it. He realized, that he still had to protect you.
He sighed, his arms dropping down to his side. He suddenly felt guilty, like he hadn't done enough to defend you, because he was sure that if you had heard what Ellie said, you heard what he had said.
He grabbed your arm and pulled you into his own, wrapping you up in a big bear hug like all big brothers did. You let out a sigh of relief the second your face pressed against his chest, realizing that, that was the first time you were hugging someone in a week.
"Im sorry kid...I....I dunno why Ellie says the things that she says..." He sighed out. Dylan saw the way you looked at Ellie, the way your face dropped the second she was running off with another girl.
Dylan could see the way you felt about Ellie long before you could.
You shrugged as you let out a shaky breath, staying in his embrace for a moment longer before you pulled away. "Its whatever man...I just...I don't really wanna talk to her anymore.." You sighed out, and Dylan was nodding in agreement. "I understand...just...this will all pass, im sure" He mumbled.
He hoped it would pass.
You sighed before you looked up at him for the first time since he came outside to get you. Your eyes were pleading, like you were begging for something without even saying anything.
"Promise you won't say anything..I can't...I don't want to deal with this shit right now" You mumbled, and Dylan nodded. His arm went to sling around your shoulder, pulling you into the side of his body as he began walking you back to the door that lead into the building.
"Its safe with me kid...now come on...we've got fans to perform for" He hummed.
The thought of seeing them alone was enough to make you crack a smile.
☆゚.*・。
Ellie on the other hand, was losing her fucking mind.
She was wracking her brain to try and figure out what the hell she had done this time to receive the silent treatment from you. She had tried everything to remember, she retraced all of her steps within the last two weeks, read through your messages with her to see if she had made fun of something you liked, she even went as far as to listen back to a few of your tracks to see if she had messed up or something.
But each thing she tried, always came up with nothing.
You were ignoring her and it was pissing her the fuck off.
She missed talking to you, and falling asleep in your hotel room when she couldn't sleep, and she missed when she would sit between your legs on the floor and you would play with her hair before a show.
Ellie missed you, and she didn't know what the hell got here in this position to begin with.
It was frustrating her so much, that she had been fucking up at your last few shows. Her fingers would slip when she was playing because she was too focused on looking at you, praying that you would turn your head and smile at her while you sang, like you always did. Or she would almost trip over the wires that came out of her electric guitar, ruining the entire set.
Ellie had known you a long fucking time, and never once had you ignored her for this long.
She sighed softly as she tuned up her guitar, furrowing her eyebrows every time a particularly sharp note would come out when she tried strumming. She had drove down to the venue with Charlie, leaving Dylan to find you and come down after.
She was determined to finally get answers tonight.
Ellie was far too deep in thought to realize that you had finally walked in with Dylan. The second she heard your voice talking to your manager, her head shot up in your direction, and her eyes were nearly bulging out of her head.
You always looked hot when you performed, and Ellie always stared when you weren't looking. However, the clothes you had on tonight made the silent treatment that you had been giving Ellie all the more worse.
The black top you have on has the prettiest thin straps that are tied into bows at the top of your shoulders, your tits pushed up perfectly, the black mini skirt you wore leaving so much of your pretty plus thighs exposed, and your favorite leather jacket and black boots.
And Ellie can't even walk up to you to tell you how gorgeous you look.
☆゚.*・。
The show went down as one of your favorites.
You felt so confident, so loud, so pretty. It was rare that you put a ton of effort into your performance these days, especially with how upset the entire Ellie situation had you. But this show changed your mind about all of that.
The energy that the crowd gave was so intense, so vibrant, so colorful, and you felt so in tune with your bandmates.
Even Ellie
It felt like she was trying her hardest to stay with you, to stay in the same lane as you as you gave your performance your all. There were moments where the noises that came out of you were unbelievable to you, let alone everyone else.
After the show, you and the others decided to keep the party going at a nearby club. You usually opted to going back to the hotel and hanging out in a more intimate setting, always wanting to be closer with your friends..with Ellie.
But the energy that you had was too high to push down, and you weren't going to let it go to waste.
You giggled softly at something Charlie said, nodding as you took another sip of your drink. You groaned softly once you saw yet another round of shots coming towards your private table that your manager had gotten you before you arrived. You took one off the tray, throwing it back with a wince.
When you put it down, you forgot for a moment who it was that was sitting across from you, and you locked eyes with piercing green ones that had been staring longingly into yours the entire night.
Her stare made your stomach do flips, and it was almost as if she had you under a spell for a moment because it was hard to look away.
You cleared your throat, blinking your eyes for a moment as you looked away from her.
And it was as if an angel came to your rescue, because when you looked away you caught eye of a different pair of eyes staring at you from across the club. The flashing lights made it hard to see, however it was no secret that the girl that was staring at you wanted you.
Suddenly, you were doing something you rarely did.
You got up from the table, quickly mumbling an excuse of needing to go to the bar, and you left, your eyes never leaving the girls.
She caught on quickly, because as soon as you were pressed up against the bar, she was scooting in next to you, her hip bumping gently against yours as she smirked down at you.
She tells you her name is Ash, and when she's whispering in your ear about how pretty you are, her voice dripping with lust, you realize that you think Ash is pretty too.
It doesn't take long for her to have her hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to her body. You giggle softly as she pulls you in, because she's warm and inviting and..
she reminds you of Ellie.
Who is of course, staring at you from across the club.
Ellie has always noticed the attention you got, and she's always thanked her lucky stars that you always shot down any advances that were made your way whenever you guys were all out.
But right now you weren't. You were pressed up against another girl, her lips dangerously close to your neck as she whispers in your ear, her hands toying with the bottom of your skirt..
And it made Ellie fucking seethe with anger.
She's praying that you'll come to your senses and leave that idiot that has you pressed into her chest, but you don't. You're giggling and batting your eyelashes and you're acting like a stupid fucking groupie.
Just like the ones she fucks almost every night.
All of a sudden, your hand is interlocked with the girls and she's pulling you out of the club, and Ellie doesn't think she's ever gotten through a crowd of people faster in her entire fucking life. Because in seconds, she's caught up with you and the girl, and she's standing in front of you so that you both can't pass.
You don't even realize it at first, you think you might have gone the wrong way and hit a wall or something.
But once your eyes trail up the tall frame that is standing in front of you, and you're locking eyes with Ellie, you feel like you're dreaming.
"Ellie? What...what are you doing? Come on, get out of the way" You huff softly, far too annoyed to keep up with the silent treatment that you had for her. You press your hand to her side so you can push her out the way, but she doesn't budge.
She's staring at the girl that was taking you out of the club, and you're sure that if looks could kill, Ash would be on the floor dead right now.
"She's drunk, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Ellie barks out, her voice is stern and protective and she has her strong arms crossed over her chest.
Ash chuckles softly as she raises her eyebrows in disbelief, looking at Ellie before looking down at you. "This your fuckin girl or something?" She says to you, and you're quickly shaking your head, denying her question.
"No! No she's...we're in a band-" You try to explain, but Ellie is cutting you off.
"Doesn't fuckin matter, man. I said she's drunk, so you need to leave her alone" She yells over the music, and Ash looks down at you in disbelief before she stares at Ellie once again, taking your hand and pulling you closer to Ellie before letting you go.
"Whatever, last time I pick up some chick at the club" She chuckles softly.
You feel like a fucking joke.
Because for the first time, you're being spontaneous and doing things that normal girls your age do, and you finally feel fucking normal..
And Ellie has to come in and ruin it.
You stare up at her in disbelief, because she has a stupid look of triumph written all over her face, and she's smirking like she's fucking won something, and all you want to do is scream at her.
So you do.
You push her chest back forcefully, and it's her turn to stare at you like you're crazy. "Are you fucking serious?? Im barely fucking drunk!! What makes you think you can...can reprimand me like that?" You scream at her, and Ellie isn't sure she's happy you're finally speaking to her, or if this was all a mistake to begin with.
Ellie frowns as she grabs your wrists, trying to stop you from pushing her back any further. But she doesn't, and before she knows it, you're both outside of the club, the cold air hitting her face.
"She was..she was trying to take advantage of you! Can't you see that?" She pleads. You roll your eyes, giving her a scoff.
"Funny that your moral high ground has suddenly kicked in, because I have seen you stumble into practice countless times drunk off your ass with a girl just as drunk as you are! What makes you fucking think that you have any say in what I do? If I want to hookup with someone at a bar, I can do that! Im a fucking grown up Ellie" You're screaming at her, and she winces at your words because the mere thought of you doing it, hurts her.
But you aren't done.
"Do you know how hard it is for me Ellie? How hard it is for me to...to feel like im doing this shit right? To feel fucking wanted by someone? Especially when my bandmates talk about how undesirable I am? How fucking clingy I am?" You sob, because at this point all of your feelings are bubbling to the surface, and you can't hold it in anymore. Months of feeling like something was wrong with you, followed by an entire week of feeling like you're the most unwanted person by the words of your bandmate finally weigh in on you.
And for once, you don't stop it.
Ellie's eyes are wide, because she finally realizes what she's done to deserve everything you've given her..or a lack thereof.
She opens her mouth to speak, to tell you that none of that is true, that you are the most desired person on the entire fucking planet, that she's wanted you from the moment she set eyes on you.
But nothing comes out.
You scoff, roughly wiping the tears from your cheeks as you shake your head. "Typical...you know what? Fuck you Ellie..." You mumble out, turning around and walking back to your hotel room.
And all Ellie can do is watch, because her years of being a coward have finally caught up to her. And because of it..
She's lost you.
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updownlately · 7 months
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if you’re gonna waste my time (let’s waste it right)
| leah williamson x reader | hurt/comfort | 3.3k | disclaimer: mentions of anxiety, self loathing, negative thoughts, and depression -this delves into some slightly heavy topics so please read at your own discretion! | a/n: got this ask a while back and an idea struck to me while driving! first fic in a while that i've written in one sitting so let's see how this goes! honestly started off really strong but then idk where we went. anyways, not proofread as usual, but happy reading! take care amigos! and just know that each of you are loved, cared for, and cherished by those around you, even if you don't know it! 🫶
~~~
Fight, flight, or freeze.
They say that every human has these three survival instincts built in.
Instincts meant to protect, to escape, but most importantly, to survive. 
Responses meant to make sure that one would make it out of harm’s way, preferably unscathed. 
Fight, the mechanism that evoked adrenaline. That helped you battle your way through the toughest of encounters. 
That did its best to make sure you were well equipped to tackle any scuffle, minor or major, to the best of your ability.
Flight, the mechanism that helped you run- escape before you couldn’t anymore. 
The one that ensured that you got out before you could be attacked- before you could be hurt.
And then of course, freeze. 
Rooted to your spot, immobile as harm directed itself towards you, one only praying that you could be so still that harm skipped right past you, practically avoiding you as you let it pass. 
Freeze, that left you with a pounding heart, blood rushing in your ears.
Freeze that meant you couldn’t move, body rigid, feet planted, mind stopped in time.
Freeze that kept you stuck. stuck in an endless loop of agony, of shaky breaths, of paralyzing fear.
Freeze, considered the weakest of the three. 
So as you stood there, eyes wide, muscles tense, body frozen, you cursed your mind and body with all that you could, wondering why of the three instincts, freeze was what you had done in order to try and survive.
~~~
There’s something terrifying about the voices that ring in your head.
How they so scarily sound similar to the people in your life, past and present.
Voices reminding you how you aren’t good enough. How you’ve let them down. How maybe if you weren’t there, the world would be okay. That it would move on without a hitch, without a second thought, because when it came to it, at the end of the day, maybe, just maybe, you didn’t really matter anyways.
Voices that sounded like your mother, reminding you of dark nights of you hidden in your room, the harsh words ringing in the four walls of your bedroom, what was supposed to be your safe haven, now tainted with feelings of regret, of disappointment, of outright disgust.
It’d be better if you didn’t exist.
Voices that sounded like your father, angry yells late into the night, enough smashed dishes that left your hands littered with scars that’d never cease to remind you, enough nights spent under your covers silently wiping tears as you prayed that you were quiet enough.
What a waste of air.
Voices that sounded like past coaches and management that knocked you back with each word spoken, each push forward sending you feet yards back, support that felt like hindrance more than anything.
You’d be lucky if you got to play past the little leagues. It’d be a miracle that’s for sure.
Voices that sounded like fans- people that were meant to support you- but you couldn’t force them to. Hundreds if not thousands of comments left, each asking for you to be traded. Hell, they’d take a sack of potatoes if nothing else. 
I can’t believe that we wasted our money on this. Can’t we just, I don’t know, get rid of her? She’s the reason we suck. Maybe if she was half a decent player we’d actually be somewhere in the league.
Comments that repeated your worth. Ingrained it into your mind. Over and over and over again. 
You weren’t good enough.
Sentences that etched themselves into the forefront of your thoughts, always ready to haunt you at the slightest notice. 
You weren’t good enough.
Not now, not ever. 
Not for your own mother or father, never mind your siblings. 
Not for your teammates, nor the fans.
It was a miracle you were even playing professionally in the first place.
God if they took one good look at you maybe they realized how poorly they fucked up by signing you. 
You weren’t a good footballer, barely even a decent one. How you managed to play for this long was a miracle.
They’d notice soon enough though. They had to. They always did.
They’d notice soon enough that you weren’t good enough.
And then?
Then you’d be left with nothing, as you always were.
~~~
You didn’t know when you were led inside to the locker rooms- when that absolutely terrifying moment of being in front of the opposing team’s stands had gone from you taking a corner to being absolutely pelted by random junk. 
From empty bottles (plastic thankfully), to empty food containers, balled-up programs, signs, merch, all being hurled your way, never mind the onslaught of assaults- the stands only repeating everything your mind ever told you, every, single, day. 
You didn’t hear when the ref blew their whistle, nor when the rest of the girls dressed in red crowded you, some chastising the fans along with the away team, others wrapping around you protectively, quickly leading you towards the benches. 
You weren’t there as you were subbed off, your mind still frozen, much like the rest of your body. 
All you knew right now was that you could smell the familiar scent of your girlfriend’s perfume as the heel of your palms pressed harshly into your eyes in an attempt to cease the uproar in your head. 
Breaths getting heavy, you tried your best to calm yourself down.
You weren’t a stranger to panic attacks, and even in your hazed state, you could very well recognize the oncoming situation.
Bringing your arms to wrap around your own stomach in a futile attempt to bring yourself some sort of comfort, you felt your breathing pick up as the sharp lights of the room seemed to get darker. 
Room spinning, the voices in your head louder, you could only bring your knees up to your head, body now practically in fetal position as you rode out the attack.
Even with the hundreds you’d had by now, you hadn’t been able to come up with an effective method to deal with them. 
So you sat there, huddled into a ball, body shaking, mind louder than ever as Leah stood above and watched helplessly.
The blonde had been there in the stands to watch you get abused, immediately making her way down to the pitch because ACL and league rules be damned, that was her girlfriend for fuck’s sake. 
She stood by the sidelines, ready to receive you as the obvious substitution occurred, an arm coming to wrap around you as she led your ghost of a body to the locker rooms.
She watched as you mindlessly sat in front of your locker, not a single word uttered from you, not a single response to the quiet comforting words the blonde had whispered to you gently in an attempt to rouse you from your clearly distressed state. 
She itched to reach out and touch you as she saw you slowly curl into a ball, you getting ever so smaller as she could only helplessly watch, you unknowingly  flinching the second she touched your shoulders in an attempt to comfort you.
It was only when your heavy breathing died down every so slightly, nearly fifteen minutes later if the blonde’s perception was right, that she tried again, slowly coming to sit beside you as she gauged your reaction. 
Seeing your shaking start to slow as well, she slowly wrapped an arm around your shoulder, her own body tense as she watched you stiffen up before you relaxed slightly, letting her pull you into her side as her other hand came to hold your left one.
And long after you had buried yourself into her side, body defeated with the rollercoaster of emotions you’d just experienced, too tired to think of any of the consequences of your actions, you let Leah led you- helping your pull on a hoodie and your jacket and change out of your cleats as she gathered the rest of your gear.
Helpless except able to nod in agreement as the blonde suggested you leave early from the game, you followed her quietly, not a word said from you, as she led you out of the ground and to her car, where you fell asleep within seconds.
It was only when the car pulled up to her house, a place you’d been to many times, your relationship long past new to the both of you, did you rouse, mind still not present and following the blonde.
Leah was good. You trusted Leah. Leah was safe.
The words repeating in your head, you believing they were true like all the other words that crossed your mind, you let yourself sleepily be led up the stairs and up to the ensuite. 
Standing there awkwardly as you slowly came to the situation, the lights in the washroom waking you up, your shoulders sunk as the embarrassment from earlier set in. 
God you were an embarrassment. First a panic attack in front of the English skipper, and now this- you stood helplessly in her bathroom like you were broken, waiting to be fixed.
You watched in dread as the blonde flitted around the joint closet, quickly gathering a change of clothes for you before she stacked them neatly on the countertop, handing you a towel and starting the shower, not meeting your eyes.
What you didn’t know was that she didn’t want to scare you off, intimidate you as her heart ached at the shameful look in your eyes.
“Take a warm shower, yeah? We’ll get you some food after, and then how about a nap?”
Unable to do anything but nod in response, your fear of upsetting the blonde, of anyone really, making itself known, you followed her instructions, locking the door as she left and starting to remove your sweat covered kit. 
~~~
It’s nearly twenty minutes later when you emerge from the shower, your dirty clothes held precariously in your hands, your eyes wide as you see Leah sprawled across her bed, scrolling aimlessly on her phone. 
A small smile unknowingly escapes you as you watch her nearly throw her phone, very much caught off-guard at your appearance.
Smile tightening quickly as you realized it rested on your face, your eyes met the ground, ears sharp as you noted the footsteps headed towards you.
Before you knew it, the mess of dirty clothes was swiftly taken from your hands, your gaze snapping up as you watched Leah take your dirty kit and toss it into her own hamper before turning to you. 
“Alright. I’d rather you eat, but I’m not going to force you to, yeah? We can take a nap, maybe just reset, or if you wanna sit down and watch a movie or a show we can do that too…how’s that sound?”
Feeling your eyes water at the blonde’s gentle tone, feelings still overwhelming from earlier, your sights met the ground again as you meekly nodded. 
Blood rushing in your ears, you felt the vibrations as Leah stepped towards you again, her hands gently taking yours. 
“Nap?”
Taking her chances at guessing which you preferred, the tender tone in her voice had you easily nodding again, tears you’d been trying to hold back now escaping. 
And as the blonde led you to her bed, you winced as the voices in your head picked up once again, mind baffled at why someone was treating you with this much kindness, this much care.
Choosing to ignore them for now, you smiled shyly at the sight in front of you, Leah having rounded the bed to go on ‘her’ side, the skipper tucked into the sheets, arms wide open as she shot you a soft grin, eyes sparkling with glee as she waited for you to join her. 
Gingerly approaching the bed, you hesitantly pulled back the covers, eyes meeting Leah’s every few seconds to make sure you were okay, before entering, unsure of whether you were allowed to hug the blonde (even if a part of you so desperately wanted to do so). 
Your question was answered for you, however, Leah was unable to see you lying down in such a stiff manner, taking matters into her own hands and hooking an arms around your waist and pulling you into her.
And as you slowly got comfortable, moving millimetres every minute until you finally found yourself resting with your head on her chest, arm wrapped around her midsection as her hand came to wrap around your waist, one running through your hair, you let yourself sink into her hold, brain quietening every so slightly as the familiar presence and scent had you relaxing.
It was only when you were on the verge of sleep, minutes later, did you hear Leah’s voice whisper into the air between you two, her lips pressing a tender kiss to your forehead as an apology as she realized her mistake of rousing you from your sleepy state.
“There’s a lot that goes on up there,” with a small nod towards the top of your head, she continued, “but it doesn’t have to stay there y’know?”
Holding her breath as she felt you shift slightly, you turning your body to listen better, she spoke again.
“I’d be more than happy to stay here and listen to you when you need it. Really, any of us would. All of the girls love you and care for you, and despite whatever people might say, you add to the team, yeah?”
Feeling you nod hesitantly at the words, Leah waited as she sensed your jaw move, anticipation killing her as you sounded out the words silently before they left your mouth- and even then, you winced slightly.
“I don’t want to be a burden…don’t wanna waste your time…”
There was something in the way the words quietly rolled off your tongue, no doubt said many times before, the sincerity behind them proving you meant them wholeheartedly- that you believed you were an inconvenience, that broke Leah’s heart.
You weren’t a burden. You weren’t.
She wondered if you’d ever seen yourself the way other’s saw you. If that coloured glass that you saw yourself through was tainted any other colour than black. Whether it was ever yellow so you’d see just how much of a ray of sunshine you were on the stormiest of days, often cheering up your shared teammates with just a single smile as you’d skip into the change rooms.
Or if you ever looked at yourself through the rose coloured glass, the same hue that would coat your cheeks as you’d interact with fans post-game, giving each and every one your undivided attention, making them feel special, and loved, and cared for.
Or whether you ever saw yourself through green, breathing life to even the dullest moments, standing tall, unwavering, as players would try to take you down on the pitch over and over again, you getting back up each time, a force to be reckoned with, one that not even the rainiest of days nor Mother nature could defy.
You weren’t a burden, and the blonde needed you to believe it, because it was the truth and nothing but the wholehearted, honest-to-god truth.
It’s why her honest admission just tumbles out, the words spilling before the defender could stop them.
“If I could hold you all night and all day, I would, without a single doubt or any hesitation.”
Her grip tightening on you as the words are spoken clearly and strongly, her placing a gentle kiss to your temple before continuing.
“If you think you’re gonna waste my time by talking to me when you aren’t doing well, then just know, that listening to you as I try and comfort you and get the chance to hold you in my arms? It’s the best waste of time I’ll ever have in my life. It’s one I’ll cherish till the end of time, because it’s never, and I mean never, a waste.”
Taking a deep breath in, the blonde felt you nod at her words, your own grip tightening around the blonde as you pulled yourself closer into her, closing your eyes in an attempt to believe her the best you could.
Leah could sense your struggle though, not ignorant to the way a small, trembling breath escaped you, frustration clear.
“You don’t have to believe me now, or any time soon really, but just know, it’s the wholehearted truth- and I’ll spend as long as you need reminding you, because you’re good enough. You’re more than good enough, and worthy of love, and a good life, and good things. You deserve love, even though your brain tries to tell you otherwise, yeah?”
When you didn’t say anything, it clear to the blonde that you were silently taking in her words, contemplating them, doing your best to believe them, she let you be, revelling in the silence as took in the feel of you being in her arms, one of her favourite feelings in the world.
The blonde could almost feel you turning her words over in your head, examining them from top to bottom as you inspected them for any indication of a lie, surprised when there wasn’t one.
Content with the way you hadn’t spoken out yet in disagreement, Leah decided to take her chances and bite the bullet.
Proposing her next idea, the blonde held her breath in anticipation, heartbeat slowing dramatically as she hoped you’d agree to her words.
“I’ll always be here to hold you, but I think it might just help if we see a professional, yeah? You and me, both of us, we’ll go, and just give it a crack?”
Feeling your hesitancy this time, the blonde pulled you closer to her gently, turning onto her side as her eyes met yours. 
One hand now carefully resting on your cheek, she placed a loving kiss on your forehead, then your nose before continuing. 
“Three sessions is all I ask. If you don’t want to go after that, then I won’t ask again, ever. But, just give me three sessions, and I’ll be there for each one if you want, and if nothing changes, then you’re off the hook, deal?”
There was an audible sigh of relief that escaped Leah’s lips as you hesitantly nodded in agreement.
Deciding that that was good enough for the time being, Leah smiled softly to herself, more than happy with any baby steps of progress being made.
“Just want you to love yourself the way the rest of us love you. The way I love you…”
The words were punctuated with another gentle kiss on your head, this time her lips lingering as you both basked in the touch, the blonde well aware that physical touch was your love language. 
Nodding to yourself as your girlfriend’s arms wrapped around you at the end of her sentence, heart feeling just a tad bit lighter as her embrace sucked you in, you let out a sigh of relief at the quiet in your mind and warmth in your chest.
Snuggling further into Leah’s hold, you let out a shaky breath as the emotions of the day filtered out of you, you weren’t going to lie, you were terrified for the future- absolutely scared shitless for what it held. But, with Leah by your side, on your team, cheering you on, a spark of hope nestled quietly inside you, filling you with a refreshing breath, a new goal to work towards.
Not now, not soon, but slowly and surely, you’d work your way through this. You wanted to. for your sake and hers.
After all, with your girlfriend to remind you that you were human, someone that could live and not just survive, maybe you could finally teach yourself it too.
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togrowoldinv · 9 months
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Farmhouse
Natasha Romanoff x Female Reader
Natasha brings you home to Clint’s farm and you share a soft day with the family
Note: I love love love auntie Nat and those kids deserved Nat to stay alive, so in this fic she did. Enjoy the softness!
Natasha Romanoff Masterlist 1, Natasha Romanoff Masterlist 2, Main Masterlist
One of Natasha’s favorite places in the world is Clint’s farm. When he first helped her defect to Shield, the farm was her safe haven. Laura and Clint were so nice to her. It was the first time in years that she felt anywhere was a home.
Natasha has continued visiting over the years, so she knew when she fell in love with you that she would bring you home to the farm. After much kissing, she convinced you to get up at the crack of dawn to fly to the farm. The kids would want to see her when they wake up.
“Are you ready, detka?” Natasha asks you as you stand on the front porch of the farmhouse. You’ve seen pictures of it before but being here you can really feel the sense of home Nat gets from it.
Nat takes your hand in her strong one and opens the door. The house is quiet, only the soft hum of fans can be heard. Natasha walks with practiced direction and leads you into the kitchen.
“Nat,” a woman, Laura you recognize from photos, greets her. “Come here, honey.”
She stands up from the table and hugs Natasha. You’re surprised by Nat’s easiness to fall into the woman’s arms. The only other people you’ve seen her hug so casually are you and Steve.
“Laura, this is my girlfriend y/n,” Natasha says.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Barton,” you greet her.
“Oh please, call me Laura!” She says and pulls you in for a hug. Nat watches on with a smile.
Laura tells you that the kids will be up soon, so you better prepare for the quiet house to become chaotic. Nat takes you upstairs to drop your bags in her bedroom. While you’re up there, little feet patter across the floor.
Natasha steps into the hallway and looks towards the bedrooms.
“Nate?” She asks.
“Auntie Nat?” The little boy matches her questioning tone.
“Yeah buddy, it’s me.”
“Auntie Nat!” He yells and steps out of his room completely. He runs to Natasha, who picks him up and holds him tight.
“Good morning, Nate,” Natasha says. “This is y/n. Can you say hi?”
The boy rubs his eyes and leans further into her, clearly enjoying her warmth. You understand.
“He’s still sleepy,” a voice comes from behind you. The prodigal daughter stands there with a sleepy grin.
“Lila,” Natasha says softly.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Lila says as she practically jogs to reach Nat for a hug.
“I missed you, malyshka,” Natasha says.
She hugs Lila while still holding Nate in her arms. He’s drifting off to sleep.
“Y/n,” Nat addresses you. “This is Lila, aka my favorite kid.”
You all three chuckle.
“Nice to meet you, Lila,” you say. She feels a warmth in your greeting.
“You too,” she says. “Coop will be sleeping for a while, so we should probably go downstairs.”
Lila leads the way and you follow her with Nat and Nate trailing behind. The little boy is completely asleep, but Nat doesn’t mind. If anything, it warms her heart that he is comfortable enough to drift off in her arms.
Downstairs Laura begins to cook breakfast. You try to help but she tells you that company shouldn’t cook. You sit next to Nat at the table and converse with the family as the day begins.
Breakfast is delicious. And you already feel like a part of the family. Nate even lets you cut up his pancakes so you take that as a win.
You move to the living room afterwards to sit with Nat. Nate runs around and plays while Lila and Cooper play on their phones.
Natasha seems lighter after just a couple of hours of being at the farm. You lean against her shoulder and she kisses your cheek. You sigh contentedly.
“You okay?” Nat asks.
“I’m great,” you tell her.
You shift to look into her eyes and see her smiling at you. Natasha lifts your chin up with her hand and kisses your lips softly.
“Gross,” comes a remark from Clint of all people.
“Shut it, Clinton Francis!” You tell him.
His mouth opens in shock. Natasha, Laura, and the teenagers die laughing.
“Natasha, how dare you tell her about my name!” Clint yells.
“Sorry,” she says unseriously. “She got it out of me.”
“It’s clear who wears the pants in this relationship,” Clint jokes.
Natasha pulls you closer as the conversations continue. You really feel at home with these people in this place.
You think one day you’ll get a farmhouse of your own and live out your days with Natasha there.
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brooooswriting · 1 year
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Hello I wanted to request a Tara fic and basically it’s like the reader being kind of like the lame friend and she’s just hangs out alone all the time playing with her legos or Mario on her Nintendo and she’s basically a big child or she’s healing her inner child and she’s the type of person that’s only friends with the old lady from the bakery and tara falls in love with her and can you make it like at first when she tells sam or the whole friend group that she’s falling for the reader they don’t approve because the friend group doesn’t like reader that much because they think she’s childish and immature and maybe they think she’s ghostface because she’s alone most of the time you could choose how it ends but yeah
(Reader is not their friend perhaps she could be a roommate or an acquaintance but she hangs out with them sometimes because she doesn’t have other friends)
Stray dog
Tara Carpenter x reader
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You were a bit of a loner, you didn’t like big groups of people which was obvious as you never really showed up to any parties or other big events. In fact you barely showed up to anything except the lectures which was why barely anyone really knew you. You preferred being alone, maybe playing some games. The only thing you went to was a small cafe not far from the campus, you always studied there when you were still in high school and by now it was your safe haven of some sort. Claudia, the elderly lady who owned the cafe was a sweetheart and took you in whenever you needed. She let you stay there for hours on hours playing games, eating or learning.
You went there even more since you became Mindys roommate. Don’t get it wrong, she was a nice girl but you get a feeling that she wasn’t the biggest fan of you, constantly mumbling something about you tricking the dorm lottery and she always had her girlfriend over which made you feel weird when you were there. Not that Anika wasn’t incredibly nice to you but you felt like the third wheel. The only time you stayed, even if it was just for a bit, was when Tara was there. Not that you talked a lot but she was nice to you, always flashed you a smile, made Mindy shut up about ‘your weirdness’ and even outside of the dorm she sometimes waved at you.
Most people think that you were irresponsible and a big child, Mindy and her twin brother were definitely two of those people. But that was incorrect, at least for the most part, sure you liked video games and legos and stuff but that didn’t mean that you were irresponsible. Tara was also one of the people who believed that you weren’t the most responsible person, she thought you were nice and sweet nonetheless, but responsible? No!
At least until she went to Claudia’s cafe one day and behind the counter wasn’t the sweet elderly lady or Nancy, her only employee, no. You stood behind the counter, an apron wrapped around you and a smile on your face as you greeted the costumers. “Good morning, what can I get ya?” You asked her as you looked at a notepad in front of you, scribbling something down. “Can I get a latte and” that was the moment you looked up for the first time since she entered the cafe and your heart skipped a beat. She ordered the rest and decided to stay in the cafe, she wanted to figure out why you were here.
“Your coffee and your cinnamon roll” you said as you placed both items in front of her, ready to turn around and leave. “Wait” she grabbed your wrist which caused you to turn around, “since when are you working here” She asked you carefully, scared that she’d sound rude in any way. “Claudia isn’t feeling well, so I told her to go home and I’d look out for the cafe” you answered right as a customer came inside. “I gotta” you just pointed to the counter before walking off.
When the customer left you noticed that Tara’s drink was empty and decided to make her another one. “Here’s a refill” you told her as you placed the cup in front of her which made her look up from her notes. “Thanks. Do you maybe wanna sit with me for a while? At least until somebody comes back you know” you checked the door before awkwardly sitting down, it was weird.
The mood quickly lifted when she started joking about one of your professors. You then just talked about random stuff, she showed interest in your games and you showed interest in her friend group and her studies. “Oh, I gotta go. You here tomorrow too?” She asked as her phone started ringing constantly, “I guess, depends on how Claudia is feeling. Plus, I’m here 90% of the time, don’t have a lot of other things ya know” you smiled as you whipped the table where you just ate. “Well, you could eat with us tomorrow” Tara said which made you furrow your brows. “Uhm, yeah, I might think about it” you clearly weren’t, her friends hated you and you’ve only seen her sister once but you were in fact rather sure that she hated you too.
The next day there was a knock on your door, which confused you as Mindy was already gone and there was nobody who would come for you. But you opened the door to find Tara. “What you doing here?” You asked her, “we are having lunch” she said and pulled you out without waiting for an answer. The second you saw her friends your hands turned sweaty and you started playing with the bands of your hoodie. “I’m not sure about this, they don’t like me” you mumbled to her shortly before arriving. “It will be fine, please” she smiled at you which made you just accept the fact that you were going to eat with them.
From then on it was like you were a stray puppy adopted by Tara Carpenter, she came to the cafe nearly every time you were there and she often smuggled you into her apartment. It went like that for about 4 weeks. These 4 weeks made Tara fall for you head over heels, the way you were so caring and childish at the same time, she loved the way you were so pure when you talked about the new Lego set and how you would always take over shifts at the cafe when Claudia needed someone. So she decided to talk to Mindy and Anika about it. “Guys, I need your help” she stated as she sat down in front of them, “uhh what’s up?” Mindy asked as her arm wrapped around Anika’s shoulder. “I think I fell in love” Anika smiled softly while Mindy gasped, “omg who is it? Is it Chad? Omg is it him?” She was grinning from ear to ear just gushing about how cute that’d be. “No it’s not Chad” there was a small moment of silence before she gathered all her courage, “it’s y/n” she mumbled. Mindy grunted and Anika giggled, “she’s a big child Tara, I’m sorry but is there even anything you can talk about with her? I mean except for I don’t know Mario kart or some shit” the way Mindy talked about you made her heart clench, yeah you were a bit childish but you were actually really nice and you always talked kindly about Mindy and that she was a great roommate and that you were sad that she hated you. “Mindy, come on” her girlfriend mumbled while nudging her side, “you’re an ass” was all Tara said before storming off into her room, immediately looking her door.
“Great Job” Anika mumbled to her girlfriend who looked at her in disbelief, “oh come on, Tara barely knows her” the brunette said which caused the other one to roll her eyes. “But she does, they’ve been meeting up in the bakery down the street nearly everyday, so go and apologize to Tara. She really likes that girl and you were very unfair” Mindy sighed but went to Tara’s room nonetheless. “Tara, can you please open the door so we can talk?” She called out but only got a ‘no’ as an answer which caused her to go back to the living room.
4 hours later and Tara still didn’t leave her room, she texted you but didn’t get an answer. You were still working at the cafe which explained your lack of interaction. “What’s up with her?” Sam asked when she had been home for over an hour and still didn’t see her sister, “Mindy was an ass to one of her friends and now she’s mad” Anika explained causing Sam to nod, “the one from the bakery?” She asked, Mindy and Anika’s jaws dropping. “You know about her?” They asked completely shocked. “Yeah, I was them together a couple of times and Tara sucks at sneaking people in” the explanation made sense to them causing them to drop the topic for a moment. “You should get her here” the older Carpenter suddenly said causing the twin to look up, “huh?” “Well, I think she’s the only one who could get Tara out of there right now, we all know how stubborn she can be and you have a chance to apologize” the plan was good, the others had to agree. So Mindy stood up and made her way to their dorm room which was empty.
“Sam? How am I supposed to find her? She isn’t at our dorm” Mindy said as she called the brunette. “Look for her at the bakery” so she made her way there to find you sitting at one of the chairs drinking a coffee, it was your time off. “Y/n?” She called out causing you to turn in surprise, “hey, how can I help you?” You asked still confused why the girl was talking to you. “Look, I said some stupid shit and now Tara is mad at me and won’t come out of her room” she told you which immediately made you worry, “oh, I’m sorry” you tried to play it cool as you tried to check your phone for the first time in 6 hours without her noticing. “I’m asking you to come with me so she finally leaves her room” you nodded before telling Claudia that you had to go because of Tara, the elderly woman loved Tara. “Of course honey, here take a cinnamon roll for her. Maybe use it to confess your love” she grinned as she gave you the bag while you blushed, Mindy just stared at you. “thanks C, I’ll see you tomorrow”
You quietly followed Mindy as if you didn’t know where the younger Carpenter lived. When you entered all eyes immediately landed on you, which made you so uncomfortable that you blushed. “Im gonna, you know… get Tara” you mumbled and quickly walked away, knocking on the door you knew so well. “Go the fuck away Mindy, I told you I don’t wanna talk to you” came the most beautiful voice from the other side. “Uhm, want me to go tell her that?” You asked awkwardly standing in front of the door. Suddenly the door was ripped open and you were pulled inside causing you to yelp. “What are you doing here?” She asked as she fell into your arms, “well Mindy told me to come, something about you not leaving your room” you answered with your arms wrapped around her shoulder to pull her even closer. You hugged in silence for a bit until she unwrapped her arm and threw herself onto the bed behind you. You decided to sit next to her, your hand rubbing her back carefully, “wanna tell me what made you that mad?” The question could make her flip so you had to be careful. Her face was squished into the pillows making it impossible to understand the words that left her mouth.
“Tara, honey, I can’t understand a single thing if you don’t turn towards me” you mumbled lifting your hand from her back, “Mindy said some stupid shit” this time you got it and chuckled at her answer. “How is that new?” Your answer made her chuckle too which you counted as a win. “She said rude things about you when I” she stopped abruptly chairing you to raise your eyebrows, “when you what?” You pressed, interested in what she could have said that made her mad when Mindy talked bad about you, because let’s be honest, it was nothing new.
“T, come on. You know you can tell me anything” this seemed to make her break, she suddenly sat up and placed herself onto your lap, hugging you close, “I told her that I was in love with you and she called you childish and a big child and shit” you chuckled lightly as you hugged her even closer. “She’s right, let’s be true but even as a big child I can love you like the adult women I’m supposed to be. Just not on Tuesdays, I play Mario kart online” you smirked while she giggled into your neck, you then pulled her back a bit so you could look at her. “But for real, I do love you and I want to take you on a date, a real one” she immediately nodded and pressed several kisses to your lips.
“Well, that was actually cute” Mindys voice broke you two apart, Tara nearly falling of your lap. “Get the fuck out” she called out and threw a pillow at the other girl. Mindy just ignored her and sat down next to you “I gotta say sorry I guess, you do look after Tara, but you’re still a big child” you laughed and nodded before mumbling a thank you while Tara just hid in your neck. “Now, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone” she grinned and left, closing the door behind her.
“So about that day” She smiled and kissed you again.
Gosh you were so in love
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alexawynters · 6 months
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Scarlet Whispers pt. 1
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Gif not mine
A/N: Title subject to change, not sure how I feel about it. This is my first published fic here so pls be gentle. Also I'm terrible at summaries.
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Female!Reader
Trigger warnings (let me know if I forgot to tag anything): Mentions of past child abuse, ongoing adult child abuse, stalking, horror, dubcon, kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, gaslighting, angst, smut. There will be bits of fluff tho.
Rating: M. Minors DNI
Summary: For the most part swap Vision with mutant Y/N whose powers were enhanced by the Mind stone embedded in her forehead courtesy of Hydra. Takes place post Multiverse of Madness, only instead of trying to kill America Chavez, Wanda taught the teen how to control her powers and in doing so, learned how said powers worked herself, becoming able to copy them.
With her newfound powers, Wanda searches the multiverse for her lost spouse and children. She discovers a universe where Y/N exists but she and their sons do not. This aligns with her plans, allowing her to avoid dealing with another version of herself. Using her powers, Wanda intends to make Y/N love her in an attempt to rebuild their family. Whether she does so willingly, or the Scarlet Witch makes her, both are acceptable to Wanda.
Masterlist here
Chapter One
A silent scream escapes your lips as you gasp for breath. Another nightmare. Damn, that's the third one this week, and it's only Monday. Weary, you wipe the sweat from your forehead and head to the bathroom to splash water on your face. It's finals week, and you have an exam in a few hours. A quick glance at the clock shows that it's already 3AM and you groan. Maybe you can manage to get a couple more hours of sleep before the rest of the night slips away.
Lately, for some unknown reason, your troubled mind has been subjecting you to night terrors that make you question your entire reality. These nightmares have been unusually realistic, and you frequently experience more than one per night. At times, you are haunted by so many consecutive nightmares, causing your friends to wonder if you are getting any sleep at all.
The sound of your footsteps padding across the floor is the only thing you hear as you walk from your bedroom to the adjoining bathroom to wash your face. You don't bother turning on the lights since you have a nightlight in the bathroom. You've never been a fan of the pitch black darkness in the bathroom, but the bright overhead lights give you a migraine at the best of times. As a result, your bathroom is mostly covered in shadows, usually just enough for you to do what you need to do and then go back to bed. However, tonight is different. As you accidentally glance up at your reflection, your eyes nearly pop out of your head as you see a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at you from behind, causing your heart to race.
As you spin around, you raise a fist to defend yourself against the intruder, only to realize that you are alone in your bathroom. You turn back to your mirror and find yourself alone once again. It must have been remnants of the nightmare. In a hurry, you turn on the faucet's cold water tap, run your hands under it, and splash your face. Although hesitant to fully look away from your reflection for fear of the 'intruder' returning, you still want to wipe the sweat from your clammy face.
It was just a bad dream. However realistic, it wasn’t actually real. Shaking it off, you quickly close the bathroom door and head back to bed, intent on getting as much of your remaining night’s sleep as you can before your exam tomorrow. Or rather, later today. 
A few hours later, you find yourself in your usual study spot at the university. The library is your safe haven, and it's definitely your favorite place to be. Even if you didn't have to study (which you absolutely did - you were so far behind if you had any hope of graduating with honors, you needed to spend every available moment here), you would often be found here simply reading a book. Your friends and professors are well aware of your voracious appetite for reading, so if anyone ever wonders where to find you, the answer is likely to be here.
Your first exam was in an hour, and you were cramming every last bit of knowledge you could before taking said exam. You needed the highest grade possible. Your future, your escape, depended on it. It could be argued that this desperation was why you initially didn't notice the sound of children's voices reverberating through the library. While the library was usually empty, it was not uncommon for adult students to bring their children with them to study when their own childcare plans fell through. It was inconvenient, but you tried to be considerate and simply tuning it out. Another day, another distraction, and you didn't have time for it.
Eventually, the disruptive sound became impossible to ignore, and despite your desire to not be rude, you needed to focus and get your work done. With more force than strictly necessary, you slammed your book shut, preparing to find a quieter place to study. However, just as you were about to stand up, two twin boys, around ten years old, came running down the library hall, filled with laughter and giggles, heading straight towards you. Your eyes widened as you realized they had no intention of changing their course - they were definitely going to collide with you.
Opening your arms to catch them, and hopefully prevent all of you from careening onto the ground, you found yourself asking “Hey what’s all this? Where’s your mother, you guys?”
The boys looked at you, confused. “What are you talking about, Momma?”
Your eyes turned the size of saucers. “Momma”? That was new. Someone must be playing a trick on you. How ~delightful~ you thought, annoyed. As if you weren’t already stressed out enough, someone had roped in a couple of kids to play a game of fuck around and find out. Well, whomever had put them up to this, when you found them, they were about to find out. 
The library's main door swung open, revealing the presence of an incredibly beautiful woman you estimated to be in her mid thirties, with fiery red hair and the most mesmerizing emerald eyes you had ever seen. Her appearance headed straight towards you left you speechless, immediately taking all the wind out of your sails. Oh well, you were always more bark than bite, you supposed. If you thought her looks were stunning, though, they paled in comparison to the melodic sound of her angelic voice.
“Billy, Tommy, come here boys!”
"Mommy!" the twins shouted at the same time before running into her arms. Part of you wanted to scold them for clearly breaking the library's code of conduct, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it when all three of them just looked so happy. You couldn't explain why your heart clenched at the sight of them either, but for some reason, now that the initial surprise had faded, you were soothed by their presence.
You observe their interaction, not wanting to interrupt their intimate moment. Your heart ached at how comfortable the family appeared to be with one another. Once the stunning woman appears reassured about her children’s well-being, she instructs them to go play and shooing them away before redirecting her attention towards you. You feel a pleasant tightening in your chest as her warm gaze focuses on you.
Even though the children have clearly disrupted your valuable study time, you find yourself dismissing it as if it were insignificant. "Oh, it's no problem, I understand how children can be." You don't, you have never had a sibling nor a child of your own, and you have never babysat a day in your life. 
"It's just that they missed you so much, darling," she whispered, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness.
“Huh?”
She takes a step closer, invading your personal space, and begins adjusting your shirt. One of the buttons had come undone at some point, and she seems determined to fix it. Part of you wants to point out that she, a complete stranger, should not be in your personal space, let alone touching your clothing. And what did she mean by saying that her children "missed" you? You didn't know them. You didn't even know her. Warning bells start ringing in your head, as you are pretty sure this is the plot of some horror movie. You should leave. This is not a level of crazy you can deal with right now. 
"The boys missed you, Detka. It's been a long time since you've been home, so we decided to come see you!" The woman finally finishes fixing your shirt and looks up at you. Though there is warmth in her expression, there's also a hint of madness, her once green eyes tinged with red.
“I-ah… that’s great, and all but I uhh.. I have an exam coming up, I need to get going.”
“Going?”
The warmth in the woman's voice is gone, replaced by a raspy iciness that sends a chill down your spine.
"My love, the only place you need to go is home, with us, your family."
You turn to face the woman and immediately regret it. Standing before you is no longer the woman in mom jeans and a plaid shirt. Instead, she appears to be dressed in some expensive sorceress cosplay that you estimate would cost thousands of dollars to create or purchase. When... when could she have possibly changed? Just a second ago she was dressed like a normal person, right?
Slowly, you take in the sight of her. Not only has her outfit changed, but her overall appearance as well. Her cheeks hollowed, the sockets of her eyes are sunken as if she hasn't slept in weeks, and her eyes are a glowing crimson. The same shade from your nightmares.
This isn’t real. This is another nightmare. One you need to wake up from. 
“Oh absolutely fucking not.” You whisper, as you turn and run.
Unbeknownst to you, the Scarlet Witch allows you to flee. With a flick of her wrist, she could have immobilized you, could have compelled you to accompany her, whether willingly or not, but she chooses not to. The pursuit begins, and she intends to enjoy herself. You will succumb to her, and do so quite prettily. She starts walking down the hallway after you, taking her time. After all, now that she has found you, she has all the time in the world to play with you.
Grace has never been a quality that you possess. In fact, you remember a song your mother made up when you were a child specifically to remind you just how graceless you were. Not that it helps you now, as your brain never finds the appropriate time to recall useless facts. Cursing your ineptitude, you rush out of the library as fast as your legs can carry you.
 Moments later, you’re throwing yourself into every door along the hall, however, none of them open. What is wrong with this place? Why is everything locked? You don't remember the university being so fond of locking everything, but then again, you only go to about the same four places. Variety might be the spice of life, but your stomach (anxiety) prefers a milder taste.
As you run, you hear the clicking of the woman's heels, hot on your trail. Or is she really hot on your trail? It sounds as if... you tilt your head, listening. She's walking? You think to yourself that surely you can outrun a woman walking in heels. Surely. (Your asthma would suggest otherwise). Abandoning yet another locked door, you rush further down the hallway. Maybe you don't need to outrun her or find a room to hide in; after all, barricading yourself would only delay the inevitable. Your goal is to reach civilization, to find other people. Speaking of which, where is everyone? Usually, this wing of the university is bustling with activity at this hour.
Exhausted, you pause to catch your breath, hands resting on your knees, hoping that you have managed to buy yourself some time. Unfortunately, your hopes are dashed as her low, raspy voice fills the corridors, humming what sounds like a lullaby in an unfamiliar language. The eerie sound sends chills down your spine, making it painfully clear that luck is not on your side. Where could she be? She is not next to you, nor ahead, yet her voice continues to echo, sounding almost...
Almost the same moment you realize the source of the danger, a hand reaches through the mirror from behind you and grabs your shirt with an unnatural strength. You scream loudly, hoping to alert someone in the building for help, but no one comes to your aid. "What the- LET GO OF ME!" You forcefully pull your shirt from her grip, tearing it in the process, and hastily retreat down the hallway.
To your horror, you see the woman's arm brace against the wall and begin to pull herself out through the mirror. You scramble to your feet, desperate to flee once again, with only one thought repeating in your mind: "What the fuck?!" None of this could be real.
"Y/N," a low voice said in a saccharine tone. "Where do you think you're going? Don't you know that I will always find you? I have crossed thousands of universes to find you, and now that I have you, I will never let you go." In any other context, this would probably be incredibly sweet. Currently however, it only fuels your fear, sending you into a blind panic. You have to escape whatever the hell this is.
Navigating through corridor after corridor you eventually  spot one of your classmates at the end, entering the exact exam room you needed to be in that morning. It's a desperate situation, but maybe they can buy you some time while you make your escape through a window or something. It’s not a brave thought, you’re not proud of it, but survival instincts have already kicked in. 
You quickly catch up to your classmate, despite initially being so much farther behind, managing to slide into the room just after them. The proctor promptly closes the door behind you. You're breathing heavily, and in your haste, you embarrassingly just slid into the backside of your classmate, with your shirt heavily torn. You must look ridiculous, but unsurprisingly no one questions you about it, your classmate simply looking miffed and whispering an insult as they move out of your personal space. The situation would be comical if you hadn't just been running for your life.
It’s fine. This is fine. Everything’s fine. 
Steadying your breathing, you make your way to the back of the classroom, nearest the window and stare apprehensively at the door. You’re expecting any second now for that woman to come barging in, but she doesn’t, and now here you are ready for your exam. Wow you must really be losing it. Stress induced hallucinations, that has to be it.
Although you were hesitant to simply continue with your day, the world doesn't wait for anyone. Whether you actively participated or not, your proctor would still grade your exam, which your future still depended on. You made an effort to push the hallucination from your mind and concentrate on the information you had retained for the exam, aiming to achieve the highest score possible.
Once you have completed the exam, you hand it in and cautiously enter the hallway. The grades wouldn't be posted until the end of the term, but you were confident enough in your answers to believe that you had earned at least an A. Whether it was an A+ or A- was still uncertain, but you were hoping for the former. So focused were you on your test that you had almost forgotten about the incident earlier that morning. For a moment, you wondered if you should visit the university's nurse. Although she was not an actual doctor, it was a free service, and perhaps she could recommend something. On the other hand, at worst, she would suggest getting more sleep, and at best, she would advise you to see a doctor, which you couldn't afford. Not to mention the argument your parents would start regarding the doctor’s bill (as if they were above opening your mail). Perhaps not. 
You had no more exams for the day, so it was time to go home. There were chores to do for your parents, and then you had to study for tomorrow's exam. If you were lucky, you could finish everything early and get a few extra hours of sleep, hopefully avoiding another hallucination like today. Rubbing the exhaustion from your face, you head towards the bus stop. It was early enough that the bus should arrive within the next fifteen minutes, and you would be home in about an hour. Everything was going according to plan. Tomorrow was going to be a great day, you just had a feeling.
Once on the bus, your exhaustion started to overwhelm you, your headphones doing little to drown out the ambient noise. Before long, you were fast asleep. Even if you were awake, you probably wouldn't have noticed the viridian eyes in the reflection of the bus window watching over you. Unlike before, these eyes didn't appear to be of malicious intent. If anything, they seemed to observe you with care and empathy. If the volume of your headphones spontaneously happened to outweigh that of the alarm you had set for yourself to awaken you for your stop, that was just a coincidence.
A/N 2: sorry but the writers of the M.o.M. butchered her character just to have her shoehorned into a villain role so Strange would have an adversary already established in the MCU as a powerful magic user - I'm still salty about it. However Ms. Olsen's performance was phenomenal. Anyway lmk if this is absolutely trash or if you wanna maybe read more? I have a couple of chapters pre-written but not the entire thing.
Many thanks to my editors @flowers-shouldnt-die, and Brooke for helping me through this and providing valuable feedback! Especially @flowers-shouldnt-die for her assistance with translations in helping me learn both Hungarian and Russian for this. Wouldn't have made it this far in the story without you :3
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ellecdc · 10 days
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While I don't like to spend time feeding into negativity on my page, I received a rude/aggressive comment which, though it had been sent to me anonymously, I have reason to suspect who it might have been from; so while I'm not going to broadcast it, it prompted something that I would like to remind anyone who might need it [which is truly maybe only 0.02% of you]
I have been on this app for 4 months; I have gotten hundreds [if not thousands] of asks sent to me during that time and I have always made a solid effort to respond to anyone and everyone who has taken time out of their day to reach out to me or even leave comments on my fics because it truly means the world to me
Over the past 4 months and throughout the hundred [or thousands] of asks and just as many comments and messages, I have only ever received 2 negative/rude/insulting asks - both were sent anonymously, one I had responded to and one I have blocked
And while this blog has grown bigger than I have ever imagined possible for myself and I now receive the most number of asks and requests than I ever had before, I continue to try to stay active, diligent in my responses, and enthusiastic in my chats and conversations with you all
I will admit that I have many unanswered asks in my inbox right now from a large number of my mutuals, listed anons, and many more requests that I have been saving for when the inspiration hits - I cannot respond to everyone and everything all of the time and for the most part, people have been very understanding about that
Sometimes I save chats for later when I have the headspace for it, sometimes I'll answer on the whim, and sometimes I save simple chats that I actually think would make for a good fic idea!
But it's important to note that I don't owe anyone the explanation I just gave to you all
The people that you interact with on this app are just that - people
People who have good days and bad days, people who have jobs and lives and loved ones who take precedence, and people who don't actually owe you anything
This is true whether you're a mutual, whether you're a dutiful fan, whether you're a listed anon, or otherwise - blogs don't owe you anything
They don't owe you a response, they don't owe you their time or energy, and they don't owe you their 110% every time you interact with them
I give my best to every single person I have spoken to on here, and some days my best is better than other days. Sometimes I get so excited when I'm out with friends or at work when I notice an ask from someone - mutual, anon, or otherwise - that I reply immediately because I just cannot wait to chat. This means I'm not always sitting down at my computer and able to give every single response the same amount of time or effort because I am a) busy, b) perhaps a little distracted and c) human
But I don't owe anyone that explanation either
This blog has always felt like a super niche book club filled with likeminded people who loved the same things I do, loved the same characters that I do, and who enjoyed chatting about it. It has also felt like a fun and wholesome community that I am happy to be apart of
And while I like to think that my blog is a safe space for everyone and anyone who might want to visit it; it's a safe space for me first
This blog is my space and my safe haven; you are welcome to it - but that welcome is a privilege, not a right - and I am not obligated to cater it to you
Like I said, I have only ever received two rude asks, but even though 99.98% of my messages are positive, the negative ones feel the loudest
Please think before you send criticizing asks to any blog; the 'saddest' thing of all is being both cowardly and cruel to people you don't know
& again, as always, thank you all for being here with me 🫶
-L
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effloradox · 9 months
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I love Taylor swift and twilight! Ur blog is perfection 💜! Do you mind doing more jasper fan fics!
thank you so much, you're so sweet 🥺
Jasper doesn't like to talk about his past. Conversions about his history are reserved for late night whispers, when it's just the two of you in the safe haven of your room. It's not something you hold against him, you can't judge him for something he did over a hundred years ago in bad faith, but you know he feels resentment for the person he used to be. You know how much he struggles with controlling his thirst, and it’s still not the easiest thing for you to deal with.
The problem with introducing a human into a house full of vampires is that it had the potentially to go fatally wrong. Control is something that all your coven take very seriously, it's the only way you can continue to exist amongst humans after all. Everyone knows that it's you and Jasper that have the hardest time controlling yourselves around blood, it’s not exactly a secret. It never fails to astound you the sheer amount of control that Carlisle exhibits on a daily basis in his job. You're getting better with controlling your urges, and you haven't relapsed for a while but introducing a clumsy human into the house felt like a disaster waiting to happen.
In a way you blame Edward. Your emotions towards your adoptive brother are complicated even on a good day, but the idea of him bringing his human girlfriend into the house for her birthday felt like a terrible idea from the offset. Part of you had hoped Alice would have some dramatic vision that would mean you could call the whole thing off but all she'd seen was an admittedly nice vision of Bella blowing out the candles on her birthday cake surrounded by all of you.
It seemed Edward had forgotten how unbelievably accident prone his new girlfriend was though. An unforgivable oversight on his part, one you'll definitely be calling him out on later. You'd turned your back on the birthday girl for a second, just to look over to where Alice and Esme were putting the finishing touches on the cake when you'd smelt it. The acrid coppery smell of blood hit your nose instantly and every fibre of your being is drawn towards it like a forbidden siren call. Your sisters had moved to your side in an instant, only partially caging you against the kitchen counter you'd been leaning on. It's hard trying to centre yourself and not give into the urges, and it's only what's taking place on the other side of the kitchen that really brings you back to yourself.
Jasper is looking much worse for wear. His senses have honed in on Bella and all of you can tell he's only seconds away from pouncing. Emmett and Edward have their arms around him in an instant, stopping him from beelining towards the injured human but it's clear he's putting up enough of a fight that they'll struggle to restrain him for a long time. You're in front of him in the time it takes Bella to blink, your hands cupping his face gently to keep his eyes on you. Edward had pushed her towards the wall as soon as he'd heard Jasper's thoughts so she's not as close as she was, meaning she only hears fragments of what you're saying to him.
"Hey, hey, Jas it's okay. It's okay. It's just a little blood. Look at me, it's okay yeah?" Your words seem to be having some effect but Bella notes that Emmett and Edward still haven't let Jasper out of their grip. Carlisle appears by her side and she's vaguely aware that he's speaking to her but her eyes are still trained on you and Jasper. Your words seem to be having some kind of effect on him and it sends a small pang through her chest that you have the ability to calm Jasper down even in the face of the strongest temptation when Edward sometime can’t even look at her as a result of his urges.
Her eyes are still trained on the two of you as Esme leads her out of the room to go and find the first aid kit. The last thing she sees is Edward and Emmett letting Jasper go as he collapses in your arms almost bonelessly. His arms wrap around your waist as his head rests on your shoulder, giving you ample chance to press a chaste kiss to the crown of his head.
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hheleleoll!! i wanna request a changbin x male reader fluff where changbin has a crush on the reader!! myb changbin gets a little clingy w the reader too,,, have a nice day <333
safe haven | seo changbin x male reader
Changbin struggled with his lack of privacy in public as an idol, and asked Chan in desperation. He received a new friend, and more.
requested
word count: 2.7k
reblogs and comments are always appreciated^^
a/n: hey:) i normally dont take this long to get a fic out, but lifes been kicking me in the ass. it's not my best work, but hope you still enjoy!
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It wasn’t often that Changbin was able to escape the idol lifestyle. Everybody assumes that it’s a blast, that he pumps out songs like it's nothing, and that every interview and performance is always a joy — but there are downsides to any job. Being an idol was no exception.
For Changbin, the worst downside was the lack of privacy. He felt like he couldn’t go anywhere other than the dorm, the studio, or the company without being watched, interviewed, approached, or photographed. Every time he was at a restaurant for a quick bite, or walking along the Han river for some fresh air, he would end up stopped by a fan who wanted his signature, or journalists looking for a new scoop, which ruined his illusion of being a normal person who’s able to enjoy normal things, normally. As much as he loved his fans and his job, he hated it.
He wanted a safe place where he could be himself, without worrying about the side effects of fame catching up to him like the immortal snail that’s a million times faster and more persistent.
Changbin thought he’d never find it. He’d gone to practically every restaurant, cafe, and library that he could find tucked away in a corner. All of them had a fan, a person who recognized him, a journalist, or sometimes even his coworkers who knew he wasn’t supposed to be wandering around. He was just about to give up. Resign to the inescapable consumption of his privacy.
He thanks every god in existence and non-existence that he didn’t.
________
“A flower shop?”
Changbin went to Chan with his problem in the middle of production when they were both stuck, hoping for some advice or at least for someone to listen, and received the former.
“Yeah, behind that cafe next to the gym. I go there sometimes to grab flowers for my parents when they visit, and the florist is great. He knows about…” he trails off and gestures vaguely to their surroundings, “but treats me like a close friend instead of a celebrity” he finished with a wide grin.
After a moment of silence and thought, Changbin came to a conclusion.
“We’re done for the day, yeah?” He didn’t bother waiting for Chan’s response as he started packing up his stuff, and Chan simply snorted at his eagerness.
“Tell him I said hi.” Chan tossed his hand in the air as a half-assed wave while Changbin nodded, already halfway out the door.
________
It was a fairly slow day, unsurprising as it wasn’t a particularly busy season, so you were taking it easy in the flower shop by reorganizing some out of place pots and cleaning up in little nooks and crannies you usually had no time for. You were even considering closing up early, as nobody had stopped by for a few hours, when the quiet jingle of your front door opening resonated throughout the small area.
“One moment, please!” You called out to the visitor and got up from your cleaning spot on the floor, dusting the soil off the front of your apron, before making your way to the visitor.
“Hey, welcome in! Looking for anything in particular?” You started your usual spiel, when you noticed exactly who it was in your shop.
Seo Changbin.
You didn’t show any signs of recognition and treated him as you would any other customer. You’d heard enough times from Chan to know that any special treatment was rarely welcome for celebrities, after all.
“H-hi, um–hello! No, there’s nothing, really. I’m just, uh… Just browsing.”
How eloquent.
Changbin mentally slapped himself at the stumble, but in his defense, he hadn’t expected to be caught so off guard by how cute you were. The dirt on your face and stray roots in your hair, the apron with your shop’s (also adorable) logo on the front, and even the little nametag with a chibi version of yourself next to it — oh what a gorgeous name it was.
More importantly, though, you seemed friendly. Not obsessed, nor faking in order to pry information out of him, but genuinely friendly. The rapper could cry at how wonderful it felt.
Maybe he was exaggerating a little, but the quaint little shop felt straight out of a fairy tale, and he couldn’t help but blow the goodness of it a bit out of proportion.
“Alright, then! Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be just over here.” You resumed your work, although you opted for cleaning a few shelves rather than the floor, just to maintain your image. Changbin nodded in response and stood in the middle of your shop, rather dumbly, realizing he didn’t have a particular reason to be in a flower shop of all places.
He looked around and spotted a section for small household plants.
I guess we could do with some greenery in the dorm.
He knew it was a flimsy excuse, but he took it and made his way over to the plants, pretending he knew what he was looking for. It took longer than it should’ve to pick one out, as his eyes were often occupied with observing you humming to yourself while dusting off the shelves. Some of the tunes sounded suspiciously similar to the ones he’d heard hundreds of times in his studio, and he found it endearing.
He thought he was being rather discreet about his observations. Unfortunately for him, he was anything but. You felt a gaze on you and looked up at the rapper, only to be met with his eyes already on you more than once. His most common reaction was to look away guiltily with a newfound flush on his cheeks and ears. Sometimes, he’d try to play it off by looking at signs above your head or flowers on the shelf you were cleaning.
It was cute.
The next time you looked up, it was to Changbin inching his way towards the counter with a plant in his hands. You took that as your cue to make your way to the counter as well.
“A heartleaf philodendron, huh?” You commented on the plant in his hands, ringing him up.
“Sorry?” He responded, once again rather dumbly, making you chuckle.
“This lil guy,” you pat one of the leaves, “is called a heartleaf philodendron. Fun fact, they represent love of nature and growth in some folklore.”
“I totally knew that! Because I picked this plant intentionally, because that's why I came here, to buy a heartleaf phil.. um….” he trailed off with a weak embarrassed chuckle, and his shoulders tensed up the slightest bit.
“You didn’t come here to buy something, did you?” You stated more than asked, though not unkindly. His sheepish smile was everything you needed to know the answer.
“Yeah, I don’t know anything about plants. I just came here because Chan told me how cool you were, and I wanted a place to be able to hang out without… well, you know.” He expected you to be mad at him, or at least irritated, but he was mistaken.
“You could’ve just said so! I’m more than fine with you hanging out in the shop, even if you don’t buy anything.” You invited him with a wide grin and a wink, and Changbin visibly relaxed at your words.
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
You waved him off.
“I’d enjoy the company. Beats sitting around waiting for customers all day alone.”
Changbin left the store with a new number in his phone, a new plant for the dorm, a new friend, and a new crush.
________
You became a common topic of conversation in the dorm, very quickly. Many rooms in the dorm were slowly filling up with various plants and flowers, and each Stray Kids member’s brains were quickly filling up with information about you that Changbin learned and couldn’t wait to share, or things you did that had Changbin weak in the knees.
Meanwhile, in the shop, Changbin became a commonly found sight at the little desk behind the counter. When he wasn’t on tour, working out, or practicing, he was in the flower shop doing his own work or helping you with yours. It got to the point that, more often than not, he would help you close up and the two of you would talk for hours afterward over drinks (that you went out to buy).
At a certain point, it became undeniably true.
Changbin had a crush on you.
He stayed in denial for a few weeks, brushing off his excitement as simply enjoying having a new friend and place to hang out, but quickly learned that spending time with friends doesn’t typically make his chest ache, hands shake, and mind stay awake during ungodly hours of the night while thinking about them.
He wasn’t sure what to do with his feelings. As much as he was a part of the production of romantic songs, the next moves weren’t as clear as a sweet confession and happily ever after.
This is what brought him to once again go to Chan for help. As little romantic experience as the man had, he was wise, and Changbin trusted in his judgment.
Similarly to the last time Changbin went to Chan for advice, they were in the studio, in the middle of a lyric rut. Unlike last time, Jisung was there too, and both friends were quickly informed of Changbin’s dilemma.
“Have you tried asking him out?” Jisung suggested from his position upside down on the couch, tossing a candy wrapper at the lovesick producer, which Changbin threw back with practiced ease. It hit Jisung’s forehead and he sat upright.
“Yes, and it went so well that we got married and bought a house in the suburbs and– no, of course I didn’t ask him out, why do you think I’m here?” Jisung rolled his eyes at the sarcastic response, and Chan rolled his eyes at the two’s antics.
“In all seriousness, it’s not a bad idea, Bin.”
Changbin’s head nearly fell off with how quickly he turned it to face Chan.
“How is it not a bad idea? What if he hates me? What if he thinks it’s creepy? What if he thinks I was using him and his kindness for my-”
“You know he’d never do that.”
It was as though the entire room fell into a void of silence. Chan’s words cut through Changbin’s seemingly endless stream of self-deprecating thoughts, and it was silent. For the first time since Changbin started debating what to do with his feelings, it was silent.
He felt it deep in his soul: that Chan was right.
You would never judge him.
Chan was soon met with the familiar sight of Changbin leaving the studio in a hurry, and he and Jisung kept working without a word, silently coming to the agreement that they would tease him relentlessly later.
_______
"Bin!" You called out when you saw the familiar figure slip into your shop. Almost immediately, he was by your side and helping you lift up a flower pot onto a shelf. You didn’t really need it, but you allowed it because he was cute.
It was nearly closing time. The evening sun shone through the large windows of the shop, making the entire room appear to shine various shades of orange and yellow. You shone with it, Changbin thought. He felt breathless looking at you, who smiled at him even though he felt like he did nothing to deserve it. Had he been in one of his cheesier moods, he’d say your smile was brighter than the sun.
“H-hey! Um… I actually wanted to talk to you about something. If you have time, that is.” Changbin managed to spit out while reaching out for your hand, just to fidget with your fingers. It was a habit you, once again, found cute. When you weren’t busy around the shop or tending to customers, you often sat next to him at his desk, and (after some initial awkwardness) he wasn’t shy about touching. The producer often played with your hands, placed his head on your shoulder, or tapped your foot with his. Sometimes, after you guys close up together and have (alcoholic or nonalcoholic) drinks on the little couch in the back, he would place your head on his lap and run his fingers through your hair.
You swung your hand between yours and Changbin’s bodies, making him sway a little with the force as you responded.
“I’ll always have time for you, Bin.”
The two of you quickly closed up, a little earlier than usual, and Changbin tried to ignore the heat gathering at the tips of his ears the entire time.
After you double checked all the locks and the inventory, you plopped down next to Changbin on the little couch with two cans of his favorite drink, nearly crushing his thigh with how closely you sat.
“So, what did you wanna talk about?” You questioned, handing him his drink.
Changbin didn’t respond right away. Rather, he took a moment to do a quick breathing exercise, which worried you. Was it that serious?
He eventually looked back up at your face, and you could see a not-so-subtle blush on his cheeks.
“I… I guess it’s better to just get it out. I really like you.”
He shut his eyes as though he were afraid, then reopened them as though he regretted the decision. His hands were endlessly fiddling with your fingers and the hem of your shirt. He was nervous.
“I-it’s okay if you don’t feel the same. These feelings were just… too much. I wanted to let you know.”
You didn’t know how to respond. Of course you liked him as well, who wouldn’t? But your next words were some of the most important that you’d say in your life, and you didn’t want to mess them up.
Changbin was beginning to mistake the silence as rejection, and you mentally punched yourself for letting the silence stretch out that long.
“W-we can still be friends, right?” He asked hopefully, and you were still on pause.
“Wait–Changbin, I like you too,” you finally got out. The change on his face from utter defeatedness to confusion to blush was almost worth the silence.
“Really?” His face lit up. Like a puppy seeing his owner walk through the door. You could only chuckle at his excitement.
“Then– do you wanna go on a date? With me?"
You just managed a nod before you were pulled into a bone-crushing hug. You couldn’t breathe very well, but humored Changbin and antics. He was too cute to bring his infectious happiness down, after all.
Once he let you go, Changbin cupped your face with his hands, squishing your cheeks together just a little bit. You’re sure your smile was crooked, and you probably didn’t look your best in that moment — covered in dirt and messy hair from having run your hands through it all day — but he didn’t mind. Oh, how could he? This moment is easily contested with his first performance as an official member of Stray Kids as one of the happiest in his life.
After a little more squealing and smiling and hugging and holding, Changbin managed to tear himself off of you to go back to the dorms. It was a little earlier than he usually left, which nearly irritated him, but reminding himself that it was in order to get ready for tomorrow's date was enough to bring back the giddy feelings.
Tomorrow's date.
With you.
He nearly squealed out loud again, but your hand grabbing his stopped him. The sound he made in response to the touch was akin to what a question mark would sound like in webtoons.
"Oh--hey! Is something wr-" his breath left him before he could finish.
You leaned in quicker than he could react and left the softest of kisses on his cheek. It could hardly be considered a kiss — maybe a brush of skin would be a better term — but it was more than enough to get Changbin's face red once more.
"I– that— you— wha–"
"Bye, Binnie~" you nudged him the rest of the way out the door and closed it once he was out, making sure to send a wink his way first.
With all the teasing Changbin received once he went back to the dorm, he should've regretted asking you out, but nothing could've taken away the pure joy he felt at even the mere thought of going on a date with you.
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type1diabetesinfandom · 10 months
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Hello all!
Many, manymanymany apologies for the unannounced hiatus. (Still ongoing. Not enough spoons. D: ) I will be back at some point, I promise.
I've been thinking of this blog a lot, what it means to me, and what I want it to be, especially when I don't have the energy to maintain it. Obviously, collecting all the t1d rep I can find in one place is a huge goal! And I think I've made a pretty good start on that. There's over one thousand posts on this blog and several hundred fics in the AO3 collection. That's a lot of search and save.
That's not all I want to do, though. Fandom, to me, is about the things we love. Reading them, writing them, gushing about them in the middle of the night. Throwing your pencil at the wall because you can't get the angle of that epically-sexy jawline just right. And most of all, sharing it all.
I don't think I'm alone when I say community is HUGE for both people with type one diabetes and folks in fandom.
I think we all know exactly how niche the concept of a character with T1D is. Sure, we can make (and have made!) fics and fan art with T1D rep, but then what? Is there somewhere we can talk about it with fandom friends and have them really get it, or do they just nod mutely and change the subject? Where can you headcanon a character as diabetic without it turning into an educational post?
Or, if you're interested in learning more about life with T1D, whether you don't have it at all or maybe you do but you're on MDI and don't know how to write pumps, who can you ask about it?
And on the flipside: have you ever tried talking fandom at diabetes camp? Because I have.
If any of this feels familiar to you, I've got something awesome to tell you!
Introducing...the Type 1 Diabetes in Fandom Discord Server—a virtual haven where diabetes doesn't define us, but our love for fandoms and creativity certainly does! Whether you're crafting intricate AUs or just can't get the next chapter fast enough, this is YOUR community to thrive, connect, and share ideas or experiences.
What's in it for You?
A safe and supportive space to chat about your fave fics, share recs, and maybe even create some epic friendships
A chance to join discussions on realistic representation and the magical realm of diabetic fan theories
Swap prompts to spark your imagination and fuel your creative prowess
A place to discuss the highs and lows (literally!) of managing Type 1 Diabetes while pursuing your passion for everything fannish
...and all without worry that people won't understand why it's so frustrating when a character fixes their low BG with a timely insulin bolus!
*tip for writers: please google how insulin works before hitting post, please. I beg you.
So if you're up for mingling with like-minded fans or gaining a better understanding of diabetes, this is your opportunity!
Whether you're making a Hogwarts AU or need to cry about your Dexcom readings, we're ready and waiting to meet you. Excited to embark on this epic adventure and make some new friends? Click that join button, and come join the party!
*The Join Button*
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joelsgreys · 11 months
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a safe haven l chapter eight sneak peek
A/N: it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted an official sneak peek for this series. I was kind of surprised that most people voted for a snippet of this one, I really thought it would be the PD fic. But I’m glad that this lil series of mine is still one people want to read. There’s a few people out there rooting for these babies and to those few people: thank you for motivating me to see this one through to the end. Few more chapters to go!
*this is from the beginning of the chapter before shit starts to hit the fan so let’s enjoy the good while it lasts! also, I made sure to post a hefty snippet because this chapter is going for 9k 👀
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“The water isn’t too hot, is it?” You asked, running the wet washcloth over his chest and neck, careful not to take it near his bandaged shoulder. Leaning over the side of the tub, a lock of hair fell loose out of your ponytail and Joel was quick to lift his hand out of the water, tucking it behind your ear.
“It’s perfect,” he murmured, his hand grazing your cheek, the water dripping off of his arm landing on your blouse, soaking through the material. “Looks like you’re gonna have to take that shirt off, Peach. I got you wet,” Joel couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at his own terrible innuendo.
“Unbelievable! I just pulled a bullet out of you, and you’re already thinking of getting me naked?” You teased him with a little giggle. “Oh and by the way I hope you know that there will be none of that for a while, not until you’re all healed up. Got it?”
His face fell. “You serious? But you said it could be four to six weeks until my shoulder heals—how am I supposed to go that long without touchin’ you?”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to survive, Miller.”
Joel grumbled incoherently under his breath.
Chuckling, you leaned over and pressed a delicate kiss to his right temple. Your lips lingered over the small jagged scar, causing him to shudder slightly.
“You were right about Ellie,” You murmured softly against his skin. “You were right to warn me about her.”
He frowned. “She confronted you ‘bout us?”
Pulling away from him, you nodded.
“Earlier at the stables, before Tommy showed up.”
Joel grimaced.
“Might regret askin’ this, but what did she say?”
You chewed nervously on your bottom lip.
“She wants me to leave Luke.”
He raised an eyebrow. “She did? What else did she say?”
“That the three of us could be a family. She said it wasn’t that complicated—all I had to do was pack up my things, take off the ring and leave him. Said I could move in here with you two.” You paused to let out a small, breathless laugh. “I told her I would love that more than anything in the world, but that it’s not possible. I can’t leave him.”
His jaw clenched. “Because he won’t let you.”
You couldn’t help but laugh again.
Like father, like daughter.
Joel and Ellie were cut from the same damn cloth.
“Joel, I love you. And I love Ellie, too. You two have made me so, so happy,” You told him, softly. “Ever since I met you both, something in me changed. It was like I had forgotten what it felt like to love, and to be loved. That part of me, I thought it was dead and buried, but you two brought it back to life.”
“You belong with us, Peach. Your place is with us. Your home is with us, not with Luke.”
“I know,” You whispered. “I know that, Joel.”
Joel sat up straight in the tub, wincing slightly. He was really starting to feel the pain in his shoulder.
“Joel, stop. Come on, you need to take it easy.”
Placing your hands on his chest, you tried to push him back, but Joel’s hand reached up and caught one of your wrists, his fingers curling around it.
“Whatever you’re afraid of—”
“Joel, please,” You whispered, thickly. “Don’t.”
“You ain’t gotta be afraid, baby. I can protect you. I can keep you safe.” His thumb lightly caressed the thin, delicate skin on the inside of your wrist as his eyes met yours. “I can keep you safe. I wouldn’t let anythin’ bad happen to you. Neither would the kid. She loves you too damn much.”
You swallowed back the lump in your throat.
Lifting your wrist, Joel planted a gentle kiss on the inside of it, your pulse strong under his lips.
“Me and Ellie, you’ll be alright with us.”
A long, heavy sigh escaped you. “I know that.”
“Then? What’s stoppin’ you?”
You sighed again.
“Just—just give me time so I can figure things out, okay? If I have it my way, I’ll be living here with you and Ellie before winter comes around.”
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hwanchaesong · 14 days
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☞🍹Fifth Drink: Nursing his old fashion all night isn't something that he usually does, but he's willing to go through it to observe your beauty. 🍸
🎧: The Weeknd - Too Late
wc: 582
genre & warnings: angst, fluff if you squint, flashbacks, wedding, no happy ending you have been warned, etc etc
a/n: this is a part of The After Hours Bar series. if y'all want, you can read the other album inspired fics of other groups here.
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Jaemin gulped, watching the wooden door open to reveal your stunning mien.
Clad in a white, sparkly gown, holding a bouquet of white roses, the tulle veil covers your face but he doesn't need to remove it because he knows that you are gorgeous under it.
The live ensemble plays a tune that you have meticulously chosen for the wedding march.
A love song that you and your lover listen to, sharing earphones together while on a bus ride and giggling like teenagers whenever a cheesy line comes out.
The violin and piano mix together to create a beautiful harmony, and you take a deep breath before walking down the aisle covered with a red carpet.
Jaemin's heart is about to burst as you walk towards the altar, his eyes getting glossy and he thinks he needs to steal the fan that your bitchy cousin is using so he could utilize it for himself.
He thinks he needs some air because his lungs are begging for oxygen, his pharynx closing up and it feels like choking.
Every second is like waiting for a lifetime. Every step you take is like an earthquake that sends tremors down to his very core.
Oh, how he wishes he could stop time right then and there so he could stare at you more. So he could engrave your elegance and diaphanous countenance in the back of his head. Something that he can return to whenever he needs something to ground him back on earth.
He remembers when he first saw you in a fast food restaurant.
You entered like a gentle breeze, a smile so radiant that the sun should be embarrassed by your presence. You literally lit up the environment, well, at least in his point of view.
Then you came into his life like a storm. Causing chaos in his heart that it beats a tad bit faster when you're near him. His brain turns into mush when you speak to him.
You run in his mind all day, all night. You are his greatest daydream and most exquisite night dream.
Near, you are so near him and you stopped in front of him. He can now see you clearly under your veil, and he sees you mouth some words that he barely made out because of how teary he is.
'Thank you.'
Then you proceed to walk again, your father turning you in to your future husband.
Is Jaemin allowed to cry?
Is he allowed to regret the things that he should have done but never did at the end of the day?
The chances that he gave up because his wimpy ass couldn't confess to you.
He knows that you expected him to tell you his feelings, your hopeful eyes that turn into disappointment whenever he pulls back haunt him to no end.
You, his safe haven, has now been swept off by a guy who can show you what a true lion looks like.
He is happy that you have found the person that you want to spend your life with, but in turn, he is burning in hell for being in denial about the reality that he wasted.
When all he wanted was to drown in your arms, but what he got was him descending through his sorrows.
He watches you marry the man of your dreams. He sees the way you lovingly smile at your groom, eyes speaking so much louder than your vows.
Truly, he was too late.
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taglist:
@sunghoonsgfreal @yeosayang @mystverse @shakalakaboomboo
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antianakin · 9 months
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So to start with, if you don't like this blog and the things I post on it, nobody's putting a gun to your head asking you to look at it. Feel free to block me, blacklist my username, block the anti and critical tags I try to use VERY frequently, etc. Nobody's asking you to look at the things I post and, quite honestly, the fact that you felt the need to leave me this message tells me that between the two of us, you're the one being unhealthy because you felt the need to tell someone innocently staying in their own lane that they're participating in fandom wrong rather than just... moving on and doing fandom in a way you enjoy more. If you want to see something else, go look at a different blog or make your own posts. Nobody's stopping you, least of all me.
But to actually answer the question you didn't ask, I made this blog because I wanted a place to make the kind of posts I wanted to see. Yes, it's a venting blog. That means sometimes I vent about the same thing more than once. Breaking news: people in fandom talk about the same hyperfixation more than once sometimes!
My best friend in the Star Wars fandom happens to be someone who really likes Anakin. So whenever I disliked something about Anakin, she was not the person I could go to in order to discuss it. Well, not always anyway. Not when I got particularly bitter about it. And at the time that I made this blog over a year ago, I didn't have anywhere else to go to vent those feelings, so I made one for myself. I made myself a tiny safe haven where I could simply write those feelings out that I never really saw anybody else making or discussing. This wasn't intended to be a popular blog. I expected it to get about two followers total maybe and a LOT of haters.
Instead, I've actually heard from a number of people that this blog let them feel seen. That the things I've written have felt really relatable to people who just can't connect to all of the Anakin love that tends to exist in the fandom. Because yes, Anakin's been the villain since the 1970s, but you must not have spent a lot of time in this fandom because that is NOT a thing that a lot of his fans tend to remember or even believe anymore. According to a good number of Anakin fans, the Jedi are the real villains and Anakin is just a tragic victim who didn't really do anything wrong. And even a lot of the people who DO recognize that Anakin is the villain of the story often still tend to like Anakin as this tragic character and will primarily post positive things about him. So for those of us who just... don't LIKE Anakin very much, there isn't as much content out there for us. You either accept all of the Anakin love along with the content for the other characters you like or you just... don't consume very much content within the fandom. Or you find a very specific niche to try to stay in that you like better, I guess. But Anakin's the main character of the main saga, he's hard to avoid entirely.
So this blog helps provide one little safe haven for others who just... don't like this character much.
And that's not even the entirety of this blog anyway. If you had scrolled through it much, you might've noticed the fic rec lists that have nothing to do with Anakin at all and are actually a lot more aimed at being Pro Jedi. Because this blog is just as much about loving the Jedi as it is about disliking Anakin. You might've also noticed the extensive AU concepts I've written a few times, one of the most recent of which actually ended up leading to Anakin surviving ROTJ and figuring out how to stop being a Sith and getting mentally healthy. And Anakin's not even the only character who's GOTTEN criticism on this blog, the pinned post on this blog lists a good 10 characters I've had to add to it because there IS going to be criticism for them here, too, from Satine and Bo-Katan Kryze, to Aleksander Kallus, to Crosshair and TBB as a show in general, to Padme Amidala herself. Not to mention some criticism of Ahsoka, as well, sometimes. I'm an all access kind of hater I guess, I like to have a varied diet of characters I complain about.
So yes, it's a blog named antianakin because the url wasn't taken, I thought it was funny, and it works as a WARNING for anybody who sees my posts or decides to come onto my blog. Obviously it doesn't keep EVERYBODY out who shouldn't be looking at them, look at yourself for a good example of that. But I like to think it's helpful. Yes, this is a venting blog where I allow myself to be negative and complain about characters I don't like in a space I have created for me to do that in. This does not mean that I am not EVER positive about Star Wars, it doesn't even mean that I'm never positive about Star Wars ON THIS BLOG. It just means that this is a place that I am allowed to be salty in, it is a place where I put my most bitter thoughts and feelings and throw them into the void that is Tumblr just to get them out of me.
This is MY safe space, MY little fandom haven. Nobody asked you to be here, so if it doesn't feel safe or even just entertaining for you, you're more than welcome to leave and go find somewhere else you like better or create your own little fandom space where you can create the kind of things YOU want to see. I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
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victimsofyaoipoll · 10 months
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Round 2
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Propaganda Under Cut
Mel Medarda
she is the richest woman in piltover who left her family because she didn't agree with the way they did things (conquering and murdering). she sponsors jayce and viktor, and courts jayce, which makes people upset because, you know, jayvik. she and viktor are CANONICALLY parallels with much of their imagery mirroring the other's and they are literally the same height. and people are so weird and misogynist and racist about her. they argue she is manipulating jayce and doesn't actually love him. i am cognitively disabled and cannot explain things well, but, she is so fucking shouldered
Black woman who has a romantic arc with one of the main characters Jayce. Jayce has a best friend called Viktor and their relationship is pretty important plot wise, shown as a direct contrast to his relationship with Mel even though only one is canonically sexual/romantic. So naturally fandom as the transformative safe haven it is villainized Mel horribly coming up with theories about how instead of being a complex morally grey character she's actually evil and just wants to seduce Jayce for Evil Reasons. Since they couldn't use her as a supportive female friend with no personality, others just ignored her existence entirely or acted like Jayce would ditch her for Viktor. Majority of m/m shippers will reduce her down to her relationship with Jayce and an obstacle in the way of JayVik, ironically writing her as a far worse and less complex version of the character we get on screen. The misogyny reeks and combined with the racism? It's a pretty bad case. Only slightly mitigated due to the fact that the main characters of the show are women (and the lead is a lesbian) so thankfully the male focus of fandom is lessened as opposed to filling almost every inch. Still awful to try and search for good Mel content, godspeed girlies with taste.
She's one of the most interesting characters on the show, a rich politician, smart and beautiful and has a really complicated and intriguing relationship with the city's golden boy inventor. unfortunately golden boy has a sickly twink science partner so she gets sidetracked SO BAD
Nyota Uhura
She's Spock's canon partner in AOS, and I get it because they're not a great couple, but she gets villianized in fic so much. They constantly make her an asshole (which totally has nothing to do with her being black /sarcasm) and abusive just for the crime of dating a man headcanoned as gay. And I mean, I think Spock is gay and her being a love interest was unnecessary but still! She's cool!
Oh my god so in the Star Trek reboot she’s Spock’s girlfriend and the fandom has no idea what to do with her??? Like she is ALWAYS either such a bitch or like the mom friend? And there is so much more to her character than that? But they always break down her character AND find a quick and easy way to break up her and Spock. I’m not even mad at that but at least treat their relationship with some weight instead of just being like ‘it never mattered’. People can love multiple people throughout the course of their lives. You know that right? Just because you loved someone before doesn’t make your new love any less special. And even headcanoning Spock as gay… you realize he doesn’t need to be attracted to Uhura for their relationship to have mattered, right? Even if he confused friendship for romantic attraction, him feeling such strong friendship and openly expressing it is so monumental for him!!! 
she's dating Spock, who people ship with Kirk, so fans have decided that it's horrible writing and "really, they're just defending her, the movies turned her into just a love interests," which is not at all true. The movies do so much more for her to the point that the fans who have only seen the movies think that the main characters are Kirk, Spock, and Uhura instead of the Kirk, Spock, McCoy of the original series. Also having a black women being shown as being desired and loved in mainstream media, particularly by one of the most popular characters of all time, is a good thing, not making her "just a love interest"
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sinon36 · 2 months
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Echoes of Salvation: The Deal (Part I). Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x afab reader  (Zombie AU)
Part II
The story starts after the dash.
Warnings: some gore, some mistakes, some bad writing (eh… we all have to start somewhere), not proof read, some independent woman surviving on her own without the need of help from men (cause I like self reliant women and people in general, they are a great inspiration to us all, really).
Disclaimer:
Dear readers,
Please be kind. This is my first fanfiction ever that I wrote and posted, so please be kind and overlook any potential inaccuracies, mistakes, grammatical errors as I’m not a professional writer and also English isn’t my native tongue. Though I have studied British English I am sure I haven’t really managed to accurately portray the British way of speaking, so please, feel free to point out anything that might poke you in the eye while reading this.
Also, I would like to tell you that this fan-fic is the love child of my obsession with our favourite masked man Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley, and my love for anything zombie apocalypse or world-ending alternate universe or actual universe. Tbh If I wasn’t a poor student I would probably be a prepper, just like Frank from HBO’s TLoU. Most likely will be. I’m a little weird like that, you’ll see more in the future.
To close this little rant, I hope you’ll enjoy it, even if it’s short, I would really like to continue this if you deem it worth it enough. This will probably be a slow-burn kind of romance: 1. because I’m a sucker for the kind of slow-burn strangers/enemies to lovers fanfics, and 2. because it’s more realistic, let’s calm the whore-y instincts and be reasonable people that don’t climb masked 6-feet-tall strangers like trees.
With everything said I do not own the Call of Duty character Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley (*whispers*Though I wish I did*) BUT I do own this piece of fanfic. Please don’t steal it. Repost it but please do give credit to other people’s work. You may notice some similarities to other fanfics, cause duh, I also read a lot of that, (isn’t that one of the incipient stages to becoming a fanfic writer?), but I would really like to give a shout out to the fanfic author that really inspired me to put fingers to keyboard and a fanfic into Tumblr, please, *drum rolls* a round of applause for @nsharks with her lovely fanfic ‘Bleeding Blue’. She’s really wonderful and you should really check her out.
Have fun reading and don’t forget to leave a comment or a heart. I wouldn’t mind suggestions of what to name Simons’ daughter. That would really make my day 😊
P.S. Sorry to all the fishing loving people out there, what I said was based on my impression of the fishing experience and should be taken with a grain of salt.
            Yours truly <3
Synopsis:
It’s been five years since the outbreak happened. Five years ago, in London, a terrorist group released a virus in the city center. 24 hours later, people start developing flu-like symptoms. 48 hours later the infected turn into mindless ghouls biting healthy people and spreading the infection. Everything happened so fast. The army came in and tried to contain the outbreak but soon chaos engulfed the whole country. You learn that similar attacks happened all over the world: New York, Beijing, Moscow, Athens, and Tokyo. City by city, the whole world is ending.
You survived thanks to your mid-twenties life crisis that made you move into a cottage house by the lake in Lake District. The land you own is surrounded by thick lush forest that offers perfect cover for the tiny brick house that is your safe haven. With a water source close, off-the-grid energy, and a garden full of plants, fruit trees chickens, and whatnot, you live a comfortable life tucked away, far from the dangers of the cities. You are so far out of reach that in the past years you only saw a handful of infected, survivors that traveled far to escape and distant neighbours that got infected in the towns nearby. You can’t remember the last time you saw another person. But you are used to your loneliness. The end of the world brought only a mild inconvenience, now that you can no longer order things online and watch movies on Netflix or HBO. But with a library full of books, a homestead to keep you active and your Border Collie companion, Bellamy, life is good. Life is peaceful.
One day, while you are out fishing, a masked man, armed to the teeth and carrying a young girl in his arms threatens to kill you if you don’t provide him with medicine for his sick daughter.                     
-
The sky is cloudy above but some sunbeams break through to warm the crisp air this fine early spring morning. It’s a good time for fishing now that the water is warmer, they come closer to the bank in search of food. It’s a boring task after you arrange all your tools and launch the line in the water. It’s a game of waiting and watching for any small tugs or movement of the neon-coloured fishing line. You picked up fishing after a couple of months into moving here, when everything was a mess and so many repairs and renovations had to be made around the house. The guy from the tutorials you used to watch on YouTube talked about the calmness and relaxation fishing brought to him. Maybe you weren’t cut out to stand all day on shore and gawk like an idiot for hours at the thin plastic line submerged in the lake water. But you cannot deny the proud feeling catching a fish brought to you when the line finally went taught.
You try and ward off the boredom and instead try to focus on the warmth that spring brings after months of endless cold. The birds are singing in trees, preparing nests for future offspring, and the lake is calm, with bubbles on the surface indicating the abundance of fish. Life is good. Bellamy enjoys sunbathing next to you rolling in a patch of grass. Everything is peaceful. Nothing really happens here anyway. You close your eyes basking in the good feeling that overtakes you.
A branch snapping behind you wakes you from the meditation you have fallen into. You raise and turn from where you are crouched over your equipment. You come face to face with a strange figure.         
‘Show me yer hands’ he tells you in a thick British accent, eyes focused on you and handgun aimed at your chest. He wears all black and a haunting white skull mask. He is tall, at least 6 feet tall, body poised to kill. In his other arm, you can see a little girl hugging his neck.
You slowly raise your hands. At your foot, Bellamy growls baring her teeth at the stranger sensing danger. You shush her grabbing her by the caller to keep her from attacking the armed man. You stand still watching in apprehension as the man studies you. You look at the ground where you left your backpack and your hatchet.
‘Don’t even think about it’ comes the gruff order. You nod trying to convey that you understand the situation. ‘There’s nothing in that bag worth a bullet’ you tell him in an even tone despite fear creeping down your spine. He hums in agreement. ‘And if you wanted to kill me you would’ve done it by now.’ He watches you like a hawk its prey. ‘So…’ you pause carefully measuring your words, ‘what it is that you want from me?’ he gestures you to take a few steps back and you drag Bellamy by her collar.
He kicks at the backpack spilling the contents. A bottle of water and a half-eaten sandwich, a hunting knife, and a rectangular box in which you keep the hooks, lures, fishing lines, and other small fishing equipment. He turns his gaze back at you and nods toward your dog. ‘Put a muzzle on it or I’ll shoot it’. your blood runs cold at the thought of losing your sole companion. You scramble to untie the scarf you keep tied around your wrist that you use to wipe away sweat from your forehead. You wrap the piece of cloth around the dog’s snout tight enough to not slip away. Next, the dark-clad man tells you to pack your fishing gear and collect your backpack, with one hand keeping it outstretched to the side and the other one grabbing at Bellamy’s collar guiding her forward. ‘Move. Eyes forward. Any sudden moves and I drop you.’
He walks a couple paces behind you. For how big he is you can barely hear him walk on the path. You can feel his gaze burning in the back of your head and the gun pointed at your back. As you start down the path you can make out the roof of your small house. Once you get at the gate you stop. ‘open it’ he instructs. ‘The key is in my right pocket’ you say slowly gesturing to said pocket. ‘Mhm,’ you hear him grunt. You slowly release Bellamy and fish for the key in your jacket’s pocket. You slowly take it out and put it in the keyhole turning it and opening the gate.
The familiar sight of your front garden does nothing to appease you in this situation. Bushes full of colourful flowers hug the narrow path toward the house. The wind catcher hung above your porch clinks melodically as a gust of warm wind catches on it. you take a few more steps on the stone path before you and you hear the gate closing behind you. What once was your safe space now traps you in with a stranger ready to shoot you or worse.
‘Tie the dog to that pole’ he orders you again. On your right, there is a small pole stuck in the ground. He throws a roll of paracord next to you. You don’t move at first. You had never tied Bellamy down before. You can’t even remember when you last put a leash on her. She likes to roam free and run around. The click of the gun behind you tells you that you have no choice. You drop the backpack and start to drag her to the pole. She tries to resist but you shush her and urge her to move. Once you finish tying her you turn towards the stranger. He nods towards the house and you start walking hands raised on either side of your head. Once you open the door he urges you inside.
‘Where do you keep the medicine?’ he grumbles urgently. ’Bathroom.’ you nod to the right of your living room. ‘Go get it!’ you don’t wait around you spring toward the white door. After a couple of minutes grabbing most of what you keep in the over-sink cabinet you emerge hands filled with gauze of all sizes and different bottled pills. You return to find the man placing the girl on the couch. She appears to be asleep. You almost forgot about her. She looks about 8-years-old. Brown hair is chopped short in a pixie cut. She’s wearing blue-washed jeans and a dark green hoodie that’s too big on her.
You watch as he peels the hoodie from her limp body. Underneath she wears a striped t-shirt, but what catches your attention is her left upper arm. Red stained gauze is wrapped around. You are still in your approach keeping a safe distance. ‘Was she bit?’ the words rush out in apprehension. From where he kneels next to her his eyes snap at you. ‘No’ he denies the implication of your words. ‘Put that on the table and go sit by the door’ You do as you're told eyes darting between the girl and the man. You drop everything on the coffee table and go sit by the entrance door hugging your knees. You watch as he works on bandaging the kid. Your eyes are glued to the girl’s arm.
Even though you lived so far out into the wilderness you saw pictures on the internet of bites from the infected. You read the posts of the survivors and heard the news broadcast on all channels. Then everything went quiet. The cable didn’t work and your phone had no signal. You knew shit hit the fan and that it was serious. Then, a few weeks later you saw your closest neighbour, Neil, an elderly farmer who lived about half a mile further up the river’s bank, growling and stumbling trying to catch Bellamy who was running scared towards you. You tried to talk him out of the trance-like state but to no avail. He kept stalking towards you, ready to take a bite out of you. You tried to tell him to keep his distance and warned him that you would protect yourself. The rest was a blur. You faintly remember grabbing the hatchet that you used to cut down logs for your stove. And then the struggle with the man, Bellamy barking, you crying out pleas for him to stop. In the cacophony of noises, you hit him with the blade right in the neck. The next thing you knew, your neighbour lay in a pool of dark blood hatchet still. It took you a while to register what you have done. You just killed a man. You couldn’t forget the way he lay there, on the gravel, hands stretched outwards bloodshot eyes staring emptily at the sky. That was the first time you encountered an infected. You distinctly remember the fear and adrenaline that took hold of you. The feelings that gripped your heart so tight and that made you take a life take over you as you watch the little girl, possibly infected, unconscious but on her way to the same madness that turned Neil into a savage monster all those years ago.                                                 
'She's feverish. You got meds or something to bring the fever down?' his question brings down from your rising panic at the thought of being stuck inside with a possible infected. ‘There should be some anti-inflammatory pills and some antibiotics. They are out of date but they could still work.' He grabs hold of the med kit you brought. He sorts through the drugs checking the expiration dates. When he comes across the antibiotics, he studies the pack carefully, his eyes darting back and forth from the label to the girl. 'How much can I give her?' he asks with a hint of concern his stern facade crumbling slightly.
You look at him unsure what to say. Those pills have been bought before the start of the outbreak. You doubt expired drugs have any effect anymore. You refrain from saying that though. He is stressed, he might take his anger on you. ‘She’s a kid, you mumble, so, about half of each.’ He carefully considers his next action. ‘She’ll need water to take them, you add from down the floor. And some food…’ He nods in understanding. ‘May I?’ you don’t know why you offer this stranger help. First, he disturbs you from catching dinner, next, he threatens to kill you and your dog, now he takes over your house and medicine. But you can recognize the desperation in his look, the way he fumbles with the packaging. He is a parent trying to save his kid. Even though you don’t have any of your own you recognize the parental instincts, the same ones you exert on Bellamy.
He looks at you unsure of what to do. He surrenders in defeat and nods at you to go on. You rise to your full height, which doesn’t add up to much compared to him. You walk past them all the way to the back of the living room where you disappear behind a white door. After a couple minutes, you reemerge from the kitchen with a glass of water in one hand and a bowl of steaming vegetable soup you made this morning. You slowly approach the couch watching him for any sign that you might cross a line. Instead of any aggression he takes a step back and allows you to go closer to the girl. You place the bowl and the glass on the coffee table and kneel next to the couch.
The girl opens her eyes and looks at you with distrust. Like father like daughter… you think to yourself. But you try to smile at her try to reassure her. ‘I brought you some soup, love’ you say in your most sincere and kind voice. ‘You must eat a little and then take some pills that will make you feel better’. You try to persuade her. She stares at you for a minute then at the man. They are suspicious of you and they have all the reason to be. You are a stranger to them as much as they are to you. Funny you are in the position to try and win their trust in your own home. You take the spoon you brought for her and dip it in the bowl. You take a spoonful and hover it close to your face blowing a little over it and then you swallow it. You can’t help the little moan of appreciation for your own cooking skills. ‘See? It’s good.’ You look at her with a small smile.
You don’t know where this came from; you blame it on the 6-foot-tall armored stranger whose stare drives daggers at the back of your head and your desire to keep your head on your shoulders and all your blood in your body. You don’t outright hate kids but you were never good around them. With a sigh, she sits upright and takes the spoon from you. She eats slowly. You keep watching her. She is a pretty kid. She has blue eyes and freckles on her small button nose. You wonder if she looks anything like the man behind you. She is pale and sweat collects on her little forehead most likely from her fever. She eats half of the soup you brought her and then turns her gaze towards the man. He hands her the two halves of the pills. She takes them in her small hand and grabs the glass. She hesitates. ‘It’s okay’ you reassure her and with a nod, she puts the half tablets on her tongue following up with large gulps from the glass. She scrunches her little nose in disgust at the chalky taste. ‘Atta girl’ you hear him utter from behind you. ‘Now lay down and rest.' he says to the girl in a stern yet gentle voice. He watches her nod and lie back on the couch her eyes half-lidded. He sighs, 'Good for now. ' he mutters under his breath. His eyes are fixed on her as he gestures to you. 'Come with me.' You rise from the floor and follow him outside the front door.
He leads you outside. When you cross the threshold, he takes a deep breath and a look of relief washes over his stern features. He gestures for you to sit on the front porch with him. 'We need to talk...' 'Yeah' you say crossing your arms defensively over your chest and standing as far away as the length of your porch allows. you take a moment to study him as he fixes you with a cold stare. You notice the many pockets on his vest and belt. A patch on his chest reads S.A.S. He's ex-military, you muse. His uniform makes much more sense now. But the mask still unnerves you.
He leans against one of the wooden porch support beams right hand hovering on the pistol holster. You think it's an act to intimidate you, to remind you that he is still armed and ready to strike you down in your own home.  You stare at him a little defiantly. You’ll be damned before you let this weirdo intimidate you on your turf. He studies you from head to boots and back up. You sigh and square your shoulders showing him you are not afraid of him. ‘I’ve been watching you.’ He tells you in a matter-of-fact tone. You try to suppress the surprise on your face. You look down at his boots avoiding his icy gaze.
He’s been stalking you, and the realization dawns on you. You didn’t even notice his presence around the house. Stupid, you think to yourself, I’m growing complacent. But not even Bellamy caught his smell and she usually barks when someone or something comes close to the house. But earlier at the lake, he took you both by surprise. He’s good at keeping his presence concealed, you have to give it to him. You nod to yourself in understanding. He probably knows the layout of your house by now, he knows you are alone, and he waited for you to be outside and ambush you. You start imagining all the horrible things he could have done to you. But no, he instead approached you, gun pointed at you, nevertheless, when he could have already killed you and taken over your house by now. You hum and make eye contact with him.
‘Why keep me alive then?’ you ask him without beating around the bush. You study his mannerisms trying to catch something, anything to prove you he’s human. But he’s as unreadable as a statue. His gaze remains fixed on you, unblinking and stoic. You feel him studying you, taking in every detail of your person. He seems intent on reading into your every move.
In an even tone, he answers, 'Because you’re not a threat.’ His response catches you off guard, ego a little bruised at that, but you can’t argue with his logic. If he wanted to, he could have killed you by now, that’s for sure. You remain silent for a moment, processing his response. ‘But that doesn’t mean I trust you.’ He adds kicking off the beam and taking a step closer to you. He looks down at you tilting his head a little like a bird of prey watching a mouse, waiting for it to give chase and make the hunt more fun. You don’t give in to the urge to run inside and hide in your bedroom. Instead, you take a step towards him and look up at him ‘Because you need me’ you speak quietly. You can imagine a raised brow under that mask. You smile in triumph; even though he acts tough he needs help and all the intimidating façade was in a desperate attempt to get it.
‘I get it’ you continue having him figured out. ‘Your kid is sick and out there dangers are lurking at every turn. You need a place to stay until she gets better.’ You finish voicing your theory on why he’s really here having this conversation with you. His eyes closed in defeat. Gotcha, you smile even more widely at your deduction. ‘You can stay, you say as you turn and walk down the three steps of your porch heading towards the gate. ‘On one condition, you add stopping in your track. You turn fully towards him and he watches you curiously as if you’d have any power to demand him anything. ‘No harm comes to me or my dog’ you say remembering his earlier threats of him offing you both. ‘Do we have a deal?’ it’s not unreasonable, though it irks you that you have to bargain for your safety with a stranger. ‘Deal.’ He says in his usual gruff voice nodding to you in sign of respect for your demand.
‘Good’ you say as you stalk off towards where Bellamy lays muzzled and tied like a prisoner of war. You free her and she jumps at you happy to be in your proximity. She must have been worried sick here all alone. Poor thing. You then go to the gate and slide the too-large bolts meant to keep any unwanted guests outside. Or inside in your case. ‘And to think nothing interesting ever happens around her, right, Bell?’ your rhetorical question is met with a bark of agreement.
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