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parkerslatte · 3 years

Text

A Little Convincing

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: Derek tries to convince Spencer to propose to Y/N but Spencer isn't sure she wants to get married.

MASTERLIST

***

“She’s not going to say yes.” Spencer said as he collected his things to go home. Y/N had left a while ago since she had finished all of her work so Hotch allowed her to leave early. Spencer, however, still had paperwork to get through so he was one of the last people leaving. Y/N said she would wait for Spencer to finish so they could go back to their apartment together but he refused, not knowing how long he was going to be.

“Of course she is,” Derek reassured Spencer, “Why wouldn't she?”

“She’s never even talked about getting married. What if she doesn’t want to marry me? What if when I ask, she leaves me?” Spencer said.

“Kid, you’ve been together five years, she’s not gonna leave you.” Derek tried to calm Spencer down again.

“You don’t know that,” Spencer said, slinging his bag over his shoulder, “I should get going.” Without another word, Spencer left.

Over the course of the next couple of days, Y/N had noticed a shift in Spencer’s behaviour. She found it strange since he wasn’t normally like that but she guessed that it was down to stress. Even if it wasn’t that, Y/N wasn’t going to push him, she would let him tell her in his own time.

Obviously Derek had also noticed the shift in Spencer’s behaviour and he knew the exact reason why, unlike Y/N. He tried to question him about it multiple times but every time Spencer would either change the subject or drop the conversation entirely. Derek was sick of his friend feeling the way he was so he tasked Penelope to bring up the topic of marriage around Y/N.

After a few days of Spencer acting strangely and Y/N giving him space, Penelope decided that now was the perfect time to bring up the topic around Y/N. She sat with Penelope while she ate her lunch, keeping the blonde woman company. Penelope had searched up wedding rings online and began scrolling through them hoping it would catch Y/N’s eye.

Y/N looked up from her lunch to Penelope’s screen and her eyebrows furrowed, “Why are you looking at wedding rings?”

“Oh they’re all just pretty and shiny. It distracts me from the dead bodies I see on the screen everyday.” Penelope stated.

Y/N’s eyes narrowed slightly, she knew Penelope wasn’t telling her the full truth but she decided not to ask. She only took a seat next to Penelope and looked at them with her.

“Oh, that one’s nice!” Y/N exclaimed, pointing to one of the rings on the screen, “I bet it would look great on my finger as well.” Y/N held her hand up and looked at her finger and the screen, imagining what the ring would look like on her finger.

“I thought you didn’t want to get married?” Penelope asked.

“Oh no, of course I do one hundred percent,” Y/N said before sighing, “I just don’t think Spencer wants to get married. He hasn’t brought the topic up in conversation at all. I couldn’t imagine marrying anyone else other than Spencer. I want to start a family with him too, I know he wants kids and I want them as well, but I’m just not sure he wants them with me. ”

“Of course he wants to marry you, who wouldn’t?” Penelope said, causing Y/N to smile, “And he wants to start a family with you, he loves you so much.”

Y/N gave Penelope a small smile, “Thanks. Anyway, I should get back to work, see you later, Pen.” After Y/N left the room, Penelope sent a picture of the ring that Y/N liked straight to Derek.

Derek heard his phone buzz. He looked down at it and saw a picture of a ring with a message. She likes this one. Derek looked over at Spencer who was completely engrossed in his work. He messaged Penelope that he would take Spencer to get the ring after work.

Later that day, Hotch allowed everyone to go home early due to most of the work being complete. Spencer shot up ready to leave as quickly as possible but Derek approached him.

“Pretty boy, you and I are going out.” Derek said, placing a hand on Spencer’s shoulder guiding him away.

“Why? I was going to leave with Y/N.” Spencer said, looking around for his girlfriend.

“She’s leaving with Penelope, JJ and Emily, they’re having a girl’s night. I overheard them talking about it.” Derek hadn’t heard them talk about having a girls night, all he knew was that Penelope was going to do something with Y/N while he and Spencer went to buy the ring.

“But-” Spencer tried to walk away from Derek once again, but Derek had a firm hand on his shoulder.

“No, no, we’re going out.” Derek said and before Spencer knew it, Derek was driving him to a jewelry store.

“What are we doing here?” Spencer asked, a confused expression gracing his features.

“Getting this. You brought money right?” Derek said, holding up his phone to show the picture of the ring Penelope sent him earlier that day.

“What? No, no. We’re not getting that. Derek I told you, she probably doesn’t want to marry me.” Spencer said, and began to walk away from Derek, slightly annoyed that he had brought him here.

“I can assure you she wants to marry you, Reid.” Derek said, looking at his friend who had stopped in his tracks.

“And how do you know that? Did she tell you? Because why wouldn’t she tell me.” Spencer said.

“I just know okay, but she does want to get married. I can promise you that.” Derek said.

Spencer was silent for a moment. He looked at the photo on Derek’s phone and looked at the jewelry store they were standing in front of. Spencer sighed before taking the phone from Derek and walking into the store. Before her could change his mind, he bought the ring right away and threw away the receipt.

When Spencer exited the store with the small velvet box in his hand, he couldn’t help but smile. If Derek was right about Y/N wanting to get married, he was going to marry the love of his life. However, if he was wrong, then Spencer would just be left with the constant reminder that Y/N didn’t want to marry him.

Derek clapped Spencer on the back, a smile on his face as well, “Now there’s only one thing left to do.”

***

Y/N was sitting on her desk, she had left with Penelope but they had quickly returned when Penelope said that she had forgotten something. Y/N fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist. It was the bracelet Spencer got her for their one year anniversary. Since it had been placed on her wrist, she hadn’t taken it off much. It was one of her most prized possessions.

Y/N’s mind drifted to Spencer. She was confused as to why Derek was so eager to leave with him since Y/N and Spencer planned on leaving and going out for dinner. He had been acting strange for the last couple of days so Y/N had made dinner reservations. She thought it would help him relax. Penelope reassured her that Derek only needed Spencer’s help with something.

Somebody cleared their throat causing Y/N’s to snap her head up. Spencer stood there clutching his bag strap. Y/N smiled as she approached him. She pecked his lips before taking his hands in hers.

“I thought you needed to help Derek with something?” Y/N asked.

Spencer cleared his throat again, “It’s all sorted out.”

“Oh well, if it’s all sorted out do you still want to go out for our dinner, I’m sure Penelope won’t mind.” Y/N said, lacing her fingers with his.

“Of course, I’d love to,” Spencer said, suddenly feeling nervous, “But there’s something I need to do first.”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed at Spencer’s sudden change in demeanor, “Are you okay? You seem nervous.”

“I’m fine, it’s just that I, um, I want to ask you-” Spencer cut himself off, suddenly at a loss for words, which didn’t happen often.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Y/N placed her hand on Spencer’s forehead, “You’re not coming down with anything, are you?”

“No, I’m fine, don’t worry,” Spencer sighed, “I just wanted to ask you if you would marry me?”

Y/N slowly removed her hand from Spencer’s forehead, “What?”

“I asked if you want to marry me?” Spencer said, with some more confidence.

A smile broke out across Y/N’s face, “You’re asking me to marry you?” She said happily.

Spencer smiled slightly, “Yeah.”

“Of course I’ll marry you!” Y/N exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Spencer’s neck and pulling him in for a hug, pressing a kiss to the side of his neck.

Spencer wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close to his body, breathing out a sigh of relief. The two stood there for a while before someone cleared their throat. The two broke away from each other and found their entire team standing there with smiles on their faces. No one said anything for a moment before Derek spoke up.

“The ring?”

Spencer’s eyes widened before he reached into his bag and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it to show Y/N the ring and she gasped before looking at Penelope, “You!” Penelope only smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. She was beyond happy for her friends.

Spencer took the ring out of the box and slid the ring onto Y/N’s finger. He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. Y/N placed her hands on either side of Spencer’s face before bringing him closer, connecting their lips. Their team cheered for them but all Y/N and Spencer could focus on was each other.

They pulled away after a moment and smiled at each other, “I know it wasn’t the perfect proposal-” Spencer started but he was cut off.

“It was perfect to me.” Y/N said before she pressed her lips to his once again.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #matthew gray gubler

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archies-litterbox · 3 years

Text

Whumptober No. 1: All Trussed Up And Still Nowhere To Go

“You have to let go” | barbed wire | bound

Summary: Douxie and Nari escape a containment facility, but it goes wrong. Painfully wrong.

Words: 2.9k

A/N: This is my first whumptober piece ever! I’m so excited to share. I Hope you like it! I’ve tagged Zouxie, but they’re not the main relationship of the story - that’s Douxie and Nari. He loves his baby sister. :)

[CW: Blood, Hand Injury, Captivity, Swearing, Escape, Mutilation]

It hadn’t been more than a week or two, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t miserable.

What started out as a normal day with Nari, which Douxie had been spending trying to get the forest demigod further away from the ever-encroaching Arcane Order, ended with black-suited goons throwing them in some underground cell in a facility in the ever-so-specific middle of nowhere.

But not before cuffing a magic inhibitor around his wrist. It would’ve made for a nice addition to the ensemble of bracelets that hung around his forearm, matching nicely to the temporarily-obselete gauntlet on his other arm, had it not been for the awful shock he got every time he tried to bring magic forth to his fingertips. And as much as he was used to electrifying sparks with Zoe, it was quite the inconvenience now.

But for Nari… the most powerful suppressant was her environment itself. With the cement walls around her, disconnecting her from nature and not allowing so much as a potted plant in their containment area did plenty to weaken her, whether these captors knew it or not.

Douxie tried to smile, “At least the Order won’t find us here.”

Nari shook her head.

“No one will…”

Douxie shrugged, “I wouldn’t put it past our friends. Zoe would make a firecracker out of anyone who’d hurt us, and Archie can track down anyone’s scent, with that dragon-y nose of his…”

He booped her nose, but she wasn’t very responsive to it.

“...I do not belong here, Douxie.”

Douxie sighed, “I know. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

“I mean… I am disconnected, and I feel… sick.” she said, “I’m getting weaker with every day I am not in contact with nature.”

She looked up to meet his eyes.

“I cannot stay detached, Douxie.”

And he knew that. It was an awareness that made both his heart sink and his mind think that much harder about a plan of escape.

“...Well,” Douxie looked up as he considered, “I can ask veeery nicely for a little plant to keep in here. Maybe catch a guard in a nice mood. Think that would work?”

Nari giggled, a frail thing.

“That would be nice.”

Douxie stretched his legs out to make a little pillow for the little forest goddess that had become a little sister to him. There wasn’t even a mattress to speak of here - most inhospitable captors, he thought.

Nari got on her side and rested her head on Douxie’s lap. Her antlers sort of poked into the wizard’s torso, but he didn’t mind as he ran his fingers through her hair, between the criss-crosses of green that went down into her braid. She hummed a little in contentment, and it was enough to make his heart swell.

He loved his little sister so much… and as he lolled his head against the wall to get some rest himself, he only thought about how, if - no, once he got the chance to get her out of here, there’s nothing that would stop him from taking it.

He just hoped that chance would come soon, for who knew how much longer she could go on like this, out of her element…

Well, it wouldn’t be long.

Douxie was pulled from a light slumber by the sound of electricity surging. Fuelled by panic that his nullifier cuff was going off, his eyes snapped open only to be met with darkness. The flickering, glaring light that shone from the fluorescent bulbs into the room that had been Douxie and Nari’s somewhat home as of late had gone out.

An outage? A blackout?

Immediately, his mind started firing on all cylinders trying to think of how to seize this chance. The first thing he did was try to use his magic, but -

Bzzzzt!

Douxie hissed and grit his teeth as his wrist stung from the shock.

Oh, of COURSE that still works!

Alright, no magic then. What could he, what could he-

Electricity thrummed near him again, and he feared the power was already back on, and his chance for escape was gone as soon as it arrived, but it was only by the doors, kept shut by an automatic mechanism. The new power that seemed to only stick around that area made the cell doors pull open, and in the surging electricity, Douxie could distinctly see a certain hue.

A pink hue.

Zoe!

Finally, thank fuzzbuckets. Zoe, Archie, his friends - they must have tracked this place down. And before the order, too!

Despite his nerves that fuelled a sense of urgency, Douxie made sure to be gentle when he nudged Nari awake.

“Mmh…” she rose her head, “Douxie?”

“Look!” he said, pointing to the doors, “All the lights went out, but the doors opened up! And the power’s pink! Zoe caused a black out!”

She rubbed her eyes and stood, instantly livening up (as much as she could, weakened as she was) when she saw the chance to escape.

“Then what are we waiting for?” She asked, but Douxie was already getting up to take her hand and show her the answer: nothing.

Douxie took Nari’s hand in hers - so small, so… tiny - and took her running out the door. They could hear the commotion of the personnel that made up… wherever this place was (seriously, he thought area 49B had left behind their whole “imprisoning the out of the ordinary” thing after the Tarrons, so what was this? Did it matter?), and he needed to know where to move. If someone got the idea to activate that damn wristband of his remotely-

He looked up and saw one of the fluorescent lights flicker on again, just to his left. Like with the doors, he saw the pink hue. He took off to his left, and as that light flickered off behind him, the one ahead of him lit up. The same thing happened again when he and Nari ran forward, and again, and again. Not only was Zoe lighting the way, but she was turning off the other lights as soon as they weren’t needed, so they’d be harder to spot.

My darling’s a bloody genius!

Nari, winded by the sudden sprinting in her weakened state, started to stumble. Douxie swept up the little goddess and carried her bridal-style as he kept moving, kept moving moving moving -

Finally, he burst through an exit and the cool night air hit his face. Taking in a breathful, he saw the open yard of some hundred feet or so, cut off by a barbed-wire fence (with a high-voltage sign on it, although Douxie knew that Zoe had likely shut it off when she caused the blackout, standing between the facility and open forest.

On the other side of that fence, he could make out his pink-haired, married-some-fifty-times-over-in-the-past-millennium wife and his familiar next to her.

But he also saw what was possibly a more relieving sight; grass. Nature. Real nature. Exactly what Nari needed.

As if reading his mind, Nari’s energy returned within only a few of Douxie’s strides.

“I can run! I can run!” she squeaked. In a fluid motion, he put her down but kept hold of her hand so he wouldn’t lose her. It was a simple precaution, for his legs were gangly, and she was rather short for a demigoddess.

“Took you long enough!” Douxie shouted when Zoe was in earshot.

“You try tracking down a knockoff 49B like this, Casperan!” she shouted back.

“The fence is off!” Archie called, “Just avoid the barbed wire!”

Well, he’d try his best.

When Douxie heard the sound of guards and personnel pouring out the doors on their heels, it only fuelled his adrenaline further. But it also fuelled his drive to protect Nari, so he guided her in front of him, so any attempts to slow or stop the two of them would affect him first, and hopefully, affect him only.

The more he ran with Nari, the shorter, shorter, achingly shorter the distance got between them and the fence - between Douxie and his family.

But he could also hear the guards getting dreadfully closer.

Finally, Nari was close enough to get over the fence.

“Go!” he said before she could try to make him go first, “Go, GO!”

Reaching out to a nearby tree, she lengthened its branch, grabbed onto it, and used it to get over the fence. Once she’d crossed, she let go, and Zoe caught her and set her on the ground.

Nothing felt like more of a relief in that moment than seeing her on the other side of that fence.

But something else would overwhelm him and drown out that relief soon enough.

Since he’d already had a well enough running start, Douxie crouched down and leaped up once he got close enough to the fence. He could see the mesh blur in his vision as he got higher in the air. His outstretched hands went over the curls of barbed wire, and he could feel the freedom at his fingertips, and-

Something wrapped around his ankle.

The air got ripped from his lungs as he felt it stop his jump.

No.

And it pulled him down.

No!

And his hands, his hands, his hands, they went right into -

“AAAAAAUUUUGH!”

The scream ripped from Douxie’s throat easily could’ve rang out for miles.

He could barely hear it past his own scream, his own agony, but he could hear Archie gasp; he could hear Nari cry out; he could hear Zoe swear as she conjured her lightning (his eyes were still squeezed shut as tears streamed down his cheeks, but he could hear the power surging) and sent it down the line around his ankle, electrocuting the guard.

He started to fall back to the ground, but his hands - oh, sweet heart of Avalon, his hands - were still stuck in the mesh of metal, and the added weight made them burn. He dug his feet into two of the chicken-wire holes in the fence to keep himself up. Finally, he opened his eyes, blurred with tears.

Not to look at his hands - no he couldn’t bear to, not yet - but to look at his family. Zoe looked furious - not with him, but for him as the residue of her lightning sparked from her fingertips. Archie was saucer-eyed behind his glasses.

And Nari…

The poor little goddess trembled in the grass, where she should have been thriving, as she shook her head, her hands clamped over her mouth as her eyebrows upturned.

He could feel - Gods, he could feel the dripping down his wrists, uncomfortable but the most comfortable sensation in his arms right now. And he knew why they were dripping.

He drew his eyes up, and the sight nearly made him vomit.

His hands looked almost as bad as they felt; with his fingers curled and straightened in-between merciless barbs, there was more deep, deep crimson on his hands than the normal, pale hue of his skin.

Oh, sweet heart of Avalon, they were a mess.

But he couldn’t worry about them - not when he could hear the sounds of more guards from behind him.

“There’s more coming! You have to go!”

“No way, Casperan!” Zoe said. Archie shook his head fervently. Oh, curse them and their loyalty!

He looked right to Nari - to his poor, poor little sister that looked at her with tears already streaming down her cheeks.

“Nari, you have to run!” he screamed, “You must keep moving! Don’t stop running!”

Nari looked at his hands, and her face changed, adapted, accommodated for a rare look of resolve.

“...Forgive me, Douxie.”

She raised her arms. Vines sprung up from the ground by her feet.

No.

He felt them wrap around his wrists.

He felt them tighten.

He felt-

“AAAUGH!” he screamed again.

-He felt his hands rip out of the metal.

The wind snatched his cry from his throat as he was pulled into the air and over the fence, just barely landing on his feet to stumble forward.

Before he could register how much it hurt when his flesh tore away from the barbs, both vines were replaced by one of Zoe’s hands around one of his wrists and Nari’s holding onto his hoodie sleeve that lay around the other, pulling him along until he fell in stride and kept running, just like he’d been doing with Zoe this whole time.

And he didn’t stop.

Despite the agony dripping from his hands, he didn’t stop.

He couldn’t.

Not until the shouts of those agents were far behind him and those he loved.

Zoe and Nari slowed, and Douxie naturally followed suit.

“We’ve lost them.” Archie said, more grave than relieved. And it wasn’t hard to understand why - not when the adrenaline dissipated from Douxie’s body, and the pain he couldn’t register before wracked him now.

He fell to his knees, not even letting himself put his hands to the ground to steady himself. No, he could only bring his hands to his face so he could rightly see the mess.

He’d been left with two large, jagged slashes on both his palms, making blood pool in his hands, and his fingers were sliced into generously - but really, was that the right word? Generously? Was any of this truly generous?

Well, perhaps, but only in the fact that there was obviously a lot of pain to spare, and Douxie’s hands were the agonized recipients.

Shakily, he stood up.

Zoe stood in front of him and held out her hand, “Let me see.”

Douxie was reluctant, of course.

“I wont touch the cuts.” she said, “I just wanna get that cuff off.”

With that goal in mind, Douxie nodded and held out his shaking arm.

About thirty seconds and a lot of grunting and swearing from Zoe later, and the cuff snapped off. Douxie welcomed the feeling of unrepressed magic in his veins, so much so that it almost overpowered the awful stinging sensation that came with the fact blood was still trickling out of his veins right now, soaking his agonized palms.

Almost, though. Not enough.

He started to try to use his magic to improve the condition of his injuries, but using his hands to try to heal his hands was as painful as it was counterproductive; it only made his hands feel that much more like they were on fire, and after a few seconds, he stopped and shook his head.

“No, no, I can’t do it.” he said through gritted teeth, “Not yet.”

“That’s alright.” Zoe said, though Douxie wasn’t so sure, “I figured they might’ve roughed you up, so I brought supplies. Should work well enough.”

And so, Zoe got to work sanitizing and bandaging Douxie's hands while Archie circled around his feet and Nari stood a few feet away, watching on as if she were hesitant to approach her big brother.

Douxie looked at Zoe while she wrapped his fingers. After a few minutes, she’d had both his hands wrapped, finger by finger, from nail to wrist.

“‘S been a minute since we held hands, eh?” Douxie said.

“And it’ll be another minute yet, you know.” Zoe rolled her eyes, but Douxie could hear the fondness in her voice, “They’re pretty mangled, but those bandages should work fine until we get to a doctor.”

“Perhaps we’re still close enough to Arcadia that we could see Dr. Lake?” Archie suggested, however unfeasible. It was probably a joke.

But Douxie ignored the pressing issue of where to go for the moment, and instead, he walked over to Nari.

“I know being down there was starting to do a number on you…” he crouched down so he was at eye level with his baby sister, “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes… and no.” Nari said.

She brought her gaze down to his hands.

“...I am sorry, Douxie.” she said, “I know you said to run, but I could not bear to leave you. I could never keep running without you. If there had been a gentler way…”

But there wasn’t. There were never enough gentler ways to do things in this world.

“I know you would have done it.” he said.

He started to bring out one of his wrapped hands to put on top of her head, but pulled it back with reluctance.

He couldn’t touch her. It… it would hurt his hand too much to try to touch his baby sister.

And Nari knew it. That must’ve been why she hugged his waist without hesitation. Finding the least painful spot on his hand, he trailed the back of his index knuckle down the criss-crosses in her hair.

Douxie sighed.

He thought he’d be more relieved when they got out of there - exhausted, but nonetheless extremely relieved. And to an extent, he was.

But now that the dust was settling, all Douxie could think about was something he never thought he’d ever have to miss.

He thought about only minutes before, when he’d been running his fingers through Nari’s hair, in the spaces in-between the criss-crosses that went down to her braid…

And before his guitar, his hand spells, or anything else crossed his mind…

He only thought about when he’d be able to do that again, and if this sting in his hands would ever completely leave if he did.

“Please,” he smiled a pained smile as he looked down to Nari, unable to even return her hug, “Don’t blame yourself…”

But he knew that, just like when he told her to run and leave him there, she would not listen to him.

And that was the only thing that hurt worse than his hands.

#whumptober2021 #no.1 #barbed wire #tales of arcadia #fanfic #blood #injury #captivity #douxie #hisirdoux casperan #nari #nari of the eternal forest #toa archie #toa zoe #zouxie

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glimmerglanger · 3 years

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in the woods, somewhere

So, I’ve been spit-balling an obikin idea over on Discord (so if this sounds very, very familiar to anyone, that’s why). I’ve just been thinking a lot about a knights-n-magic fantasy au that would feature crown prince Anakin and trapped fae/elf Obi-Wan, political intrigue, fae contracts, and so on.

The general idea is that King Qui-Gon rules the land of...hm, let’s go with Coruscant He had two older sons, but no one really talks about what happened to them. They’re just… no longer around. He won’t talk about them, and certainly no one else will break the silence.

The family is just him and his youngest - and sole remaining - son, Anakin, for as long as Anakin can remember. There are servants and guards, of course. And there's... Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan isn't a servant or a guard or a royal. Qui-Gon says he's a guest, every time Anakin asks, and he just rolls with that explanation. He doesn't look strictly human. Sometimes, in the right light, the shadows fall very strangely on his face, and there’s something wrong about the shape of his ears. No other person has eyes the same color as his.

But Anakin grows up used to him and doesn't think very much about his oddness. Certainly he doesn’t notice at first how deeply sad Obi-Wan seems, hanging out in the palace gardens and staring yearningly at the horizon, and always wearing these strange, thin, iron bracelets. Qui-Gon does tell Anakin he's never to take the bracelets off.

The one time Anakin brings them up, he gets in a lot of trouble, and doesn’t understand why. It’s one of the few times he recalls his father being legitimately angry with him.

At nine years old (thereabouts), Anakin starts telling people, including Obi-Wan, that he’s going to marry Obi-Wan someday. It made sense to him. Obi-Wan is preternaturally lovely and kind to him and seems very sad and surely he'll be happier if Anakin marries him. Obi-Wan treats the childish promise very seriously, due to the way Anakin made it, taking the bundle of wild flowers and rowan leaves that Anakin offers him with severity that makes Anakin feel good.

A tutor immediately tells him he can’t do such a foolish thing, and Anakin replies that he'll be king someday and can do as he wishes, then. The tutor gives a scowl and goes to tell Qui-Gon.

...and things go very unhappily for a bit. Anakin is told never to say such foolish things again and forbidden from even seeing Obi-Wan for a time. When he does catch glimpses of Obi-Wan he seems unwell and sadder than usual, and Anakin thinks its his fault, so he stops bringing it up, eventually all but forgetting he ever even went through such phase, though, of course, his interest in Obi-Wan’s strange and unchanging beauty changed as he grew into a man.

He has a pretty alright childhood, as these things go, aside from these few bumps. Things go badly wrong, though, at some point. There's an attack on the neighboring country of Naboo. Qui-Gon heads off to help, they've got treaties, after all. Anakin's chomping at the bit to do some fighting, too, so he goes along.

Qui-Gon doesn't make it back.

Anakin comes home - Naboo successfully defended - as King. He's lowkey - highkey - freaking out about it. Mourning his father. Trying to weather all these sudden changes. It's a comfort to find a single piece of normalcy when he gets back and Obi-Wan is the same as he ever was, the same as he's been since Anakin was old enough to remember, he never changes.

Anakin feels like none of his advisors are taking him seriously. They still treat him like a child. He's maybe projecting how worried he is about screwing things up onto them. Palpatine is around, giving him bad advice as grand vizier.

But Obi-Wan listens to him. Obi-Wan has always listened to him. Even when it was Anakin showing him bugs or a bird’s nest or whatever! And he's got a lot of experience. And no real position in court, so Anakin can talk to him about his worries and stress without worrying about it being used against him later.

And he's so pretty.

Court intrigue ensues. There are odd happenings, here and there. Things that have recurred occasionally through Anakin's childhood. Incursions from strange things from the great forest to the north.

Obi-Wan always has cryptic things to say about these incursions. Some of the older people in court give him sharp looks when they happen. A few murmur curses under their breath or make signs to ward off evil when Obi-Wan passes.

But no one is willing to tell Anakin what Obi-Wan’s deal is, even after he's King. They tell him that it doesn't matter, or lie and say they don't know. They just insist that Anakin MUST keep the iron bands in place.

....Anakin doesn't particularly like being ordered to do things

Still, maybe he would have, if Obi-Wan ever asked him to outright remove the bands. But he doesn't. Just gets wistful and sad when Anakin asks about them. And after someone tells Anakin what to do again, he snaps and decides they're coming off.

Anakin takes them off and drops them onto the floor, one after the other, and Obi-Wan...just stands there for a moment, breathing unsteadily, arms outstretched, trembling a little, staring at his freed skin -- burned black beneath the iron. Anakin stares at the damage and wonders how it could have come about.

He's a little distracted from asking about it, because there is a sudden.... odd silence stealing through the palace. Like the world is holding its breath. He looks around, trying to figure out what's going on, and there's a sensation of movement, a brush of touch across his mouth, and when he looks back, Obi-Wan is just gone.

And people are screaming something about the forest, panic in their voices.

By the time Anakin reaches the battlement, he can see that the trees are...moving? Shifting? As though many things are moving under them.

Someone demands to know where Obi-Wan is, grabs Anakin when he doesn't answer right away, asks if he took the damn bands off. Anakin shrugs, because he doesn't understand what's happening, and there is despairing cursing. Someone tells him he doesn't know what he's done.

He finally gets a council pulled together. And someone finally, haltingly, explains that Obi-Wan has been in the castle since Qui-Gon was much younger. Only recently King, stepping into his father’s position, a man with two sons and a growing kingdom.

There'd been...problems. With the folk of the forest. What folk, Anakin wants to know, because he's never heard of any folk living in the trees. They're empty. Barren.

No, one of his advisors tells him, they've just been waiting. Held back. Because Qui-Gon managed to find a way to protect them all, to keep them safe. The folk of the forest left them be while they held Obi-Wan. Left them alone for decades.

Anakin has to process that his oldest companion was, apparently, either a hostage or a prisoner or....something, while his advisors bemoan the fact that Anakin freed Obi-Wan and doomed them all, no doubt.

Anakin doesn't understand why they were fighting in the first place. They tell him stories about the folk of the forest being murderous and soulless, thieves of children, vicious, bloodthirsty.

He points out that Obi-Wan didn't really seem like any of those things and they claim it was the iron, the touch of it tamed him. There are a few men who remember when Qui-Gon dragged Obi-Wan back from the woods.

He was a wild thing, they say, all tangled hair and gnashing teeth, biting and scratching as they held him down, arms and legs pinned to cold stone, and closed the bands around his wrists. Civilizing him.

Anakin has nothing but their word to go on, though he's confused as to why the folk of the forest would leave them alone just over one person. No one gives him a straight answer about that. They're like who knows why they do anything? We have other things to worry about! Like the fact that they're probably going to attack us!

There are some very concerning sounds coming from the forest. Storm clouds building on the horizon and whispers stealing in through the wind.

Anakin decides he's going to go find out what's going on, over many, many protests. He does, eventually, agree to take a small army with him. His most trusted knights and warriors.

And they ride into the woods, which seem....unwelcoming in a way that Anakin has never known them to be. He sees moving things, always out of the corners of his eyes, hears noises, feels the branches scraping along his helm and his shoulders.

They're very deep in the woods when someone notices that the trail behind them is gone.

They try to find their way back, to no avail. Try to find water and have no luck. Someone climbs a tree to get a look and the forest seems....much much bigger than it should be. There's no sign of a border.

Anakin listens to the news with the hair rising on the back of his neck, turns around at the cool prickling of it, and barely gets his sword up in time to block a blow.

He doesn't recognize the warriors closing around them. They almost blend into the trees, all in greens and browns and creams, fast and silent, a blade an inch away from one of his knight's throats when someone - a familiar voice - orders it to stop.

And Anakin almost doesn't recognize Obi-Wan when he turns to look.

He's shed the robes and linens he wore in the city, revealing his skin and the whorls painted - maybe tattooed, Anakin can't tell - across it. The tips of his ears look different, his eyes look brighter. His teeth, do, perhaps, look sharper.

There are still bands of black around his wrists.

And he wants to know what, exactly, Anakin is doing in the woods.

Anakin says he just wants to know what's going on, why Obi-Wan left. Why he was....really there in the first place.

And Obi-Wan considers him. He's known Anakin for so long, known him since he was a giggling child who loved petting the castle's cats, a youth frustrated when he didn't learn things as quickly as he wanted, a new and unsure king.

Obi-Wan tilts his head to the side and tells him he won't like the story.

Anakin rolls his eyes, ignoring the very real threat in the air all around them, and reminds Obi-Wan that he's always liked Obi-Wan's stories.

Obi-Wan stares a moment longer - he doesn't seem to blink anymore - and finally agrees to talk to Anakin. Alone. The rest of them are to throw down their weapons. Anakin agrees over the protests of his knights and warriors, who are vehemently opposed to him going over with one of the fair folk.

Anakin really hates being told what to do. He throws down his sword and follows Obi-Wan down a path through the trees, aware that people are watching them from the edges of the path, from the branches of the trees.

Obi-Wan eventually climbs up onto a tree stump to look at him, and asks what he's been told about why Obi-Wan was in the city. Anakin lays it out, far too impatient to think about lying, and Obi-Wan snorts out a laugh.

And tells a very different story, built on the same general bones. There was conflict between their people. Many years of it, as Anakin's predecessors slowly moved into the area. The disagreements worsened when one of Qui-Gon's sons fell in with a practitioner in the dark arts, and engaged in open aggression against them.

Things boiled over. Both sides took losses. The son died, on a battlefield, dark magics failing him.

And perhaps it would have ended there, but it didn't. Qui-Gon grew furious about the death of his son. The battles grew more serious. Anakin's people had not expected the force of the fair folk. They wanted to end things.

Qui-Gon ended them by dragging Obi-Wan off a battlefield. Stealing him away. Not content merely to grant him an honorable death. Binding him with iron. Keeping him from home and hearth for decades.

And when Anakin still can't understand why they'd care so much about Obi-Wan, he shrugs and says that perhaps Qui-Gon wanted a prince for a prince.

Anakin asks what Obi-Wan is going to do now, then, and Obi-Wan says that will depend on their conversation. At which point he stiffens and demands to know if this was all a ploy, then, to distract him, before pointing out the smoke on the horizon.

It turns out that the kingdom has started trying to burn the woods, attacking without Anakin’s orders.Anakin tries to convince Obi-Wan that he wasn't involved in the sudden attack. But even if Obi-Wan believes him, the rest of Obi-Wan's people are not going to be as trusting....

In fact, they don’t believe him at all. He’s King, and a King answers for the actions of their people. The guards with Obi-Wan get very intense about potentially executing Anakin, and Obi-Wan asks if they are truly suggesting causing any harm to his betrothed?

If they are, he says, he’ll be forced to take steps to...resolve the issue.

Anakin thinks he's bluffing, at first. So do the other fae folk in the area. But a small ritual reveals that there is a betrothal pledge in place, a contract between them. Obi-Wan’s folk subside, grips easing off of weapons, leaving Anakin unharmed.

And, later, when they're alone and people are reluctantly offering Anakin the treatment he should get as Obi-Wan's betrothed, he asks how Obi-Wan did that, why he did that.

Obi-Wan smiles at him, eyes sparkling, and tells Anakin that he did it, does he not remember? The offer of flowers and the leaves from a certain tree? Obi-Wan only accepted them. Anakin made the offer.

Anakin, shocked and trying to process this all, blurts something about how it can't be true, they haven't even so much as kissed. And gets an amused look for his trouble, before Obi-Wan puts a hand on Anakin's cheek, rocks up onto his toes, and kisses him, shifting back a moment later while Anakin is just staring at him, heart racing.

Obi-Wan says they have not the time to discuss it, at the moment, but he would not be opposed to a wedding on the winter solstice. Anakin can only ask why, still dazed, and Obi-Wan winks at him, tells him it is, after all, the longest night of the year.

Anakin sets that thought aside. There is a lot of other stuff happening. He needs to process the fact that the fair folk exist, that Obi-Wan is one of them, that he was kept a captive by Qui-Gon, that his own people are staging an attack without his permission….

He sends scouts to find out what is happening and eventually finds out that Palaptine has taken steps to convince everyone that Anakin is ensorcelled.

So they've got to fight, and it probably takes some time, there's lots of worries about betrayal. Discussions of what it felt like for Obi-Wan to live so long among humans. Discussions of what he actually is like. Anakin already had...feelings, and they’re getting increasingly more complicated by the day.

Anakin eventually asks about the iron bands and what the hell they did. Obi-Wan explains that they...cut him off. Made him feel as though he'd lost a sense or a limb. And hurt, always. Left him feeling like ants were crawling under his skin, like his bones were afire inside, for decades.

Anakin brushes his thumb across one of the dark lines that will - apparently - not go away. Asks how Obi-Wan didn't go mad, in such a situation. Obi-Wan says maybe he did - certainly, some of his people say he's gone mad, standing up for Anakin, trusting him - and Anakin shakes his head. Dares to curl his shoulders down while drawing Obi-Wan's wrist up, pressing the softest of kisses to the inside of his wrist, over the mark, with an apology on his lips for the sins of his father.

The first time they’ve kissed since Obi-Wan spoke of their betrothal.

Obi-Wan makes no protests, when Anakin trails kisses down his forearm. His breath hitches, instead. And perhaps Anakin would have continued, certainly he wanted to, were they not interrupted by more news of the fighting.

They are drawn apart. The fighting wages on. Eventually they find out Palpatine was the one who gave Qui-Gon the idea to bind Obi-Wan in such a way, had his own plans, and is trying to seize power. There are some battles. Obi-Wan makes it clear that he never wants to be contained by iron again. But does something incredibly reckless, anyway, probably to save Anakin, and ends up captured.

Everything comes to a head in a final brawl, probably in Anakin's castle, where he corners Palpatine, who orders Obi-Wan dragged in and he's... limp but not unconscious, unable even to pass out, because Palpatine put him in a shirt and pants of iron chainmail.

His eyes are huge and full of agony, his cheeks streaked with tears, but his jaw is clenched shut, holding in any screams that try to escape, as he refuses to give Palpatine the satisfaction.

Anakin snaps and manages to win the fight. He pulls the iron off, whispering words of comfort as he does. Obi-Wan is alive but fading quickly, passing out in Anakin’s arms. His people take him back, hoping they can treat him, and Anakin is left to pick up the pieces of everything broken while he was away, not even knowing if Obi-Wan survived.

Weeks pass.

They turn into months.

There are no further attacks from the fair folk. The harvest comes in. Anakin looks to the side, often, expecting to see Obi-Wan there, as ever he has been, and he is missing. He feels as though he is in mourning, and receives, eventually, an offer of marriage from the ruler of Naboo…

He sets it aside, though all his advisors tell him he should accept it, though he was very fond of Queen Amidala. He promises to consider it after the turning of the year, haunting the halls of his own palace as the days get shorter and colder.

It is nearly the darkest part of the year, when word comes of a delegation arriving from the forest. Anakin rushes out to meet them, finds them riding the strange, horned horses they favor. Finds Obi-Wan, sliding from his mount, looking wan and tired but alive and warm when Anakin grabs him and pulls him close, asking what he is doing, why he’s come

And Obi-Wan says that he could not very well miss his own wedding, could he?

#obikin #my writing #swords and magic and elves oh my #no major warnings #mentions of canon typical violence #less than wonderful qui-gon #some kissing #happy ending

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can-youimagine · 4 years

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Bracelet (Diego Hargreeves x Reader)

Requested by @irenne-stans: I’d like to request a Diego Hargreeves x reader Set in season 2 the reader is close friends w/ the academy (especially Diego) and gets sucked into 1963.when the reader first sees Lila very close w/ Diego her first instinct is to fight and Lila would say like “he’s clearly over you is even made me a bracelet” the reader responds w/ “shitty bracelet he made me his girlfriend” or something like that oh and the reader wins the fight or Diego pulls the reader off Lila. while the others just watch

TW: season 2 spoilers (but you read the request), feminine reader, swearing, hella canon-divergence, poorly written fight scene, wound description

Word Count: 2,333

A/N: I started writing and realized I changed the request a bit (I have horrible reading comprehension), sorry!

Masterlist

It wasn’t like Diego to be this clingy. Ever since his father’s death, he started spending every moment he could with you. You chalked it up to be some sort of existential crisis, especially when he asked, “What would you do if you knew the world was ending in less than a week?”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “I don’t know. I guess I wouldn’t do anything differently.”

“The whole world is ending, and you aren’t going to do anything different,” he asked in disbelief.

“Fine, I’ll play your game. I’d spend more time with you.” You punctuated your sentence with a quick kiss. ”Now, shh. This is my favorite part.” You settled back into his chest and turned your attention back to the screen.

“I’ll spend more time with you, too,” he whispered into your hair.

He kept to his promise, going so far as to drag you with him into a portal to God knows where with much protest from his siblings. The last thing you remember before crashing to the ground was Diego telling you he loved you.

Now, you sit on a rather stiff couch, while the man who graciously let you live with him. He goes on and on about a secret alien race, ‘just like you’. You nod. It was easier to tell him what he wanted to hear than to try to do anything about it.

Luckily, Five showed up not too long after you. He explained everything, from the last apocalypse to this one. While he went off to find his siblings, he left you to listen to one of Elliott’s crazy rants.

“I got an update on another one of them. Escaped from the mental hospital,” Elliott says, as he tosses the newspaper in your direction. “Know him?”

You gasp when you see the picture. “Diego.” Your voice is barely more than a whisper.

“You know him,” Elliott presses. “He’s like you.”

You ignore him. Diego is here. He’s alive, and he’s here. His hair is much longer than it was, but he still looked exactly the same. “Oh, God. I have to find him.” You threw the paper back to Elliott before grabbing your shoes. “How far away should he be?”

He doesn’t have time to answer before you are out the door. “My God, Diego. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” you wonder, heading down the street. You don’t have much time to wonder before you see him sitting in a definitely stolen car. You shout his name, causing him to turn to you. As soon as he sees you, he clambers out of the car.

“(Y/N)!” The joy on his face is unmistakable. Though, you don’t get to see it for long, as he immediately wraps his arms around you, pulling you as close to you as he can, before kissing you. When he pulls away, he holds your face in his hands. “You’re here.”

That’s all it takes for you to start crying. Every emotion the two of you have felt since arriving comes pouring out of you. He gently brushes away your tears, ignoring his own. You almost forgot how good it feels to be in his arms, to just be with him.

Unfortunately, you don’t get to stay there for long. A woman, who you hadn’t noticed in the car earlier, clears her throat. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Fuck off,” Diego groans.

“You’re no fun,” she pouts.

Diego rolls his eyes. “Killed the mood, didn’t she?”

You chuckle. “A little, but God, is it good to see you again.” You look passed him to the girl in the car. “I’m (Y/N).”

“Oh, so you’re (Y/N). I was starting to think he truly was insane.”

You give Diego an inquisitive look, which he dismisses. “I was in there for a while. I could only think about you. Where were you?”

You explain where you were and everything that Five had told you, to which Diego can only respond with, “Again?”

“Looks like you gotta be a hero again.”

“So you’re where he gets it from?” the woman interjects.

Diego closes his eyes. It takes all of his self-control not to snap. “Lila-” Luckily for her, Five manages to find you before he has a chance to finish his sentence.

“See you’re pulling your weight around here, (Y/N).” He turns his attention to his brother, “And you are making my life incredibly difficult. Now let’s get you inside before someone sees you.” He turns on his heel and heads back toward Elliott’s.

“Ooh! I’m coming, too!” Lila says, hopping out of the car. Before anyone has a chance to stop her, she bounds up the steps. “Well, you comin’?”

You shrug and lead Diego into the building, but not before stealing another kiss. By the time you get in, Elliott is screaming at Five about the film he asked him to about earlier. Five, rather uninterested in the whole conversation, allows Lila to knock Elliott out before instructing you to tie him up while Five sets up the projector to watch the “Frankel Footage”.

You and Diego are too wrapped up in, well, each other to pay attention to the film. However, when you hear the gunshot, you both turn your attention to the screen.

“Is the guy with the umbrella…” you trail off, uncertain of if you really want to accuse your boyfriend’s father of murder.

“Dad,” Five and Diego say in unison.

“What the hell was that?” Lila asks, backing away. “What the hell was that?”

None of you know how to explain what happened. When you don’t answer immediately, she rushes off to hide in the makeshift darkroom.

“I’ll go calm her down,” Diego says.

“(Y/N), help me find Dad,” Five commands.

“We’re just gonna leave him?” You point to Elliot.

“We’ll just be in the next room.”

You nod and grab the phonebook. You flip through the ‘H’s. “No Hargreeves. Any other suggestions?”

“D.S. Manufacturing.” He moves to look over your shoulder. “There it is! Diego and I are going to see if we can get anything out of him. You need to stay here either to calm down Elliott or Lila. I’m not sure who needs your help more.”

You nod. “Be careful.”

“I will be. You may want to tell your boyfriend that.”

“I will.” You walk over to the closet. “D, we found him.”

“I’ve got to go, Lila. Family thing,” he explains to her before turning his attention back to you. “She’s starting to get some of it. Just keep her sane.”

“I will. You be careful.”

He rolls his eyes. “I always am.”

“Yeah. It’s not like I’ve ever had to stitch you back together right before I go to work.”

He kisses the top of your head. “I’ll be careful. Promise.” He holds his pinkie out, something the two of you started doing early in your relationship.

You lock yours with his. “I can’t lose you again.”

“You won’t. You’re stuck with me.”

“Good. Now, go, be a hero.”

He kisses you again before heading out the door.

Once he leaves, you tell Lila that you are going to make something to eat since she probably hasn’t had anything. She just nods, obviously uncomfortable with you. Eventually, hunger wins, and she comes into the kitchen with you.

“Y’know,” she says between mouthfuls of pancakes, “I thought that that man was insane -- daddy issues and all that -- but now,” the rest of her sentence is drowned out by the food. “So, what’ the deal with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“He just kept telling anyone who would listen about how great you are, how much he missed you, all that shit. So, what’s so great about you?”

You grip your glass a little tighter and plaster a smile onto your face. “I-”

“Not that it matters. You never bothered to look for him.” You try not to let her get to you. You try to be the bigger person, but as soon as she says, “Besides, we were basically a thing at the hospital. Why else would he take me with him? He even made me this bracelet.” She waves her wrist adorned with a string of beads in front of your face.

“Quite a shitty bracelet,” you respond, taking her empty plate from her. Once you turn around, you mutter, “He made me his girlfriend.”

“Oh yeah. Seems to be working well for you. You couldn’t even be bothered to-” Something takes control over you. You slap her as if on instinct. Surprisingly, she seems rather unphased, coming back at you twice as hard. You try everything Diego taught you, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. It’s almost like she grew up in a bootcamp.

Just as she moves to hit you again, the door opens, and Five whistles. “As wonderful as it is to see you two bonding, your boyfriend needs some help.”

She hits you one last time before running down the stairs. You follow her to a horribly wounded, but conscious, Diego.

“Fuck,” you both say.

“I’m fine,” Diego says.

You roll your eyes. “Stand straight.”

He tries but fails. “Fine. Patch me up, Doc.”

You take his shirt off and lead him to the couch. You inspect the wound, which doesn’t seem to be too serious.

“I need disinfectant, bandages, some clean cloths, water, and some sort of painkiller,” you instruct. Lila and Five get to work gathering what you need, while you stay with Diego.

“Seems like I should have warned you to be careful,” he jests.

“I’m not the one bleeding out on a stranger’s couch,” you counter.

“You were the one almost pushed over a banister.”

You keep your eyes trained on his stomach, looking for any other scratches.

“You gonna tell me what happened?”

“It was nothing. I was being stupid.”

“No shit.” He laughs bitterly. “You can either tell me now, or I’ll ask her.”

“All out of painkillers,” Five interrupts, “but I’ve got everything else. Lila is untying Elliott.”

You thank him before telling him to go supervise her. Once he leaves, you get to work and hope that Diego has forgotten about the fight.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” he finally asks once you’ve cleaned most of the blood.

“You’re going to laugh.” You put some rubbing alcohol on the wound, causing him to hiss.

“I’m not much of a laugher.”

You roll your eyes. “Fine. I was jealous.”

As if to prove you right, he laughs. After an unamused look from you, he stops. “Sorry, but why? You know I love you.”

“I know.” You throw the cloth onto the couch. “I know. She was just talking about being with you and the bracelet and-”

“(Y/N), that bracelet is shit!”

“I know! I just -- I guess I just thought -- I thought I lost you, and the thought of you having this life that I couldn’t be a part of killed me. I know it’s stupid and selfish, but I just didn’t want you to have moved on so fast.” You didn’t realize you were crying until you feel Diego wipe away a tear.

“I will never move on from you. I love you, (Y/N), and I will make you a million bracelets to show you that. You have nothing to worry about.” He kisses you gently, ignoring the pain in his side. “I love you, and if we were back home, at our home, I’d show you.” You smile slightly. “Thatta girl. I told you, you’re stuck with me.”

“Good.”

You finish patching him up in silence. He has quite a few bruises that will still be there for a while, but there’s not much you can do about them. Since he doesn’t feel up to walking upstairs, the two of you stay on the couch. With Diego next to you, you sleep soundly for the first time since you came here, but he can’t stop his mind from reeling.

He feels horrible about everything that happened. He just wishes that he could have been there as soon as you first became jealous to hold you and tell you that you had absolutely nothing to worry about. He can’t stop thinking about the bracelet. You both know that the bracelet is the least of your worries, but something about it keeps eating at him. He suddenly gets an idea.

He climbs off of the couch, careful not to wake you, and moves over to the pile of cloth. He digs through the pile, looking for some sliver of white fabric in the pile, but he comes up empty. Instead, he grabs one and washes it until the water runs clear. He rips it into three small strips and begins braiding it the way he’s seen you and his sisters do a million times. When it somewhat resembles a bracelet, he ties it around your wrist, cutting it so that it fits perfectly.

When he tries to lay back down next to you, his elbow knocks against you, causing you to wake up. “Diego?”

“Yes, doll?”

“What’re you doing up?”

“I wanted to make up for earlier.”

“Diego-” You move your hand up to rest on his cheek, but you stop when you see the cloth. “What’s this?”

“I thought you deserved your own bracelet. This one is a bit more personal, though, not some mandatory arts and crafts project.”

You examine it. It’s lumpy and poorly braided and a rather ugly bronze color. “Where did you get this?”

“Before you freak out, I cleaned it.”

“You got it from that pile, didn’t you?”

He nods sheepishly, feeling rather foolish for thinking that you would like a blood-colored bracelet. “I’m sor-”

“I love it, and I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

You curl back into him, laying the arm with the bracelet on his chest where you can both see it.

#diego hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves imagine #tua imagine #tua x reader #tua spoilers #the umbrella academy imagine #the umbrella academy x reader #umbrella academy x reader #umbrella academy imagine

903 notes · View notes

59writes · 3 years

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SEVENTEEN- SCENARIO: HAVING AN ALT PARTNER (PERFORMANCE UNIT)

VOCAL • HIP HOP • PERFORMANCE

Last but most definitely not least, the boys with the moves 🙌🙌

again! don’t be shy, feel free to reach out or request!! I’d love to have some anon buddies lol. I promise I’m nice haha!!

also hi Jun’s is about kandi I had to self indulge a little lol (which is why it’s so long omg) I make kandi and it’s literally the best pastime and the culture around it is super cool too so I had to add it in haha!!

🌈🌈🌈!!!PLUR!!! 🌈🌈🌈

tw: food maybe (?)

JUN

• you guys met on complete accident

• he was walking to the company, you on your way home

• and he bumps into you and one of your bracelets hooks onto his bag and it snaps

• you’re both shocked by the sound, watching the beads bounce into the street while people shoved past you both, glaring at you both for blocking the way

• and even though Junhui is late he stoops down to pick up the beads

• you stop him quickly

• “don’t worry, I have more beads at home”

• and he’s like “wait woah you made this” because it’s intricate and pretty and a little pixel art cat that he accidentally ruined ):

• but he feels so bad, and wants to pay you back somehow cuz the bracelets are so cute and he broke one!!! he cannot get over it!!!

• even when you assure him it’s fine he looks so concerned you have to give in

• so you give him your number, telling him to text you when he can and you can work something out

• and at the company he considers it all day

• he, an idol, just got a number from someone on the street. all because he messed up and then insisted to be in your life

• was this a good idea?

• Seungcheol hears about it eventually, and says to give it a chance

• “your friends are in another country, Jun. make some here too. plus you’re stressed, and it’s probably best to get any weight off your shoulders you can.”

• and so he texts you

• and plan to go to a cat cafe (his treat) on his next day off

• when he walks into the cafe you greet him with a beaming smile

• “I have a gift for you.” You grin, pulling something out of your bag

• and like, Jun almost disagrees, like “no I’m supposed to be apologizing to you” but then be sees what you’re offering

• a little cat bracelet just like the one he broke the other day

• he reaches out for it but you shake your head

• “there’s a special way to do it, here.”

• you give him a rundown on the style of bracelet, called kandi

• and you explain they’re meant to be traded

• “and there’s a secret handshake to trade with, ok? just do what I do.”

• peace, love, unity…

• and he’s suddenly holding your hand

• you slip the bracelet onto his wrist before letting go, grinning as he examines his new accessory

• “I’m y/n, by the way.”

• “Junhui.”

• you chat and play with the cats that come to visit your table

• you take off one of your kandi rings at one point and gently loop it around one of the kittens’ paws

• Jun hasn’t had this much fun in a while, much less been in such a positive environment

• as you were bright and cheery as you made kissy noises at the cats to offer them snacks

• always had something new to say or observe

• and when it was time to leave he really didn’t want to go

• you don’t either, but you have an appointment you can’t miss

• so you promise to do it again soon, giving Jun a quick hug and a wave before dashing off

• Jun can’t keep his eyes off the bracelet as he goes back to the company, running his fingers along the peyote weave

• he spends the rest of the night reading about kandi and kandi kid culture

• and everyone involved is so happy, and their bracelets?? like holy shit.

• he thought yours was good but some of these people had massive and intricate kandi

• the next time you meet, he asks if you can teach him how to make kandi

• and your face lights up!!

• the next few meetups he learns, little by little

• passing the bracelet to you if he can’t get part of it right

• and he just keeps getting surprised by your patience when you have to undo rows, your bubbly spirit calming a bit as you focus on a pattern

• and one day you invite him to a rave

• and yo he’s so nervous ??? but he wants to go so bad ???

• you promise him you guys can leave it early, because eventually you get overwhelmed too

• so he agrees

• you meet at your apartment, Jun shy as you flit around and drape him with more kandi

• you ask him to sit still as you paint a tiny design on his face in UV paint, hand resting on his jaw to keep him still

• and when you gleefully spin him around to look at himself in the mirror he’s just. wow.

• a line of heart stickers on his cheek, a necklace made from kid toys draped around his neck, and of course, endless bracelets

• this was so cool.

• the rave was even better.

• Jun got used to the flashing lights and eccentric music very quickly, mostly following behind as you greeted people and traded bracelets

• and then you turn and pull him out to the dance floor

• and that shit is like a fever dream.

• adrenaline, glitter, and neon lights fill your veins as you both dance for hours

• eventually too tired to keep up, you fall into Jun’s arms, laughing

• and he’s grinning too (:

• you leave shortly after that, walking home in the dark

• you stop to sit at a park bench, and Jun says he has a surprise

• he holds out his hand

• peace, love, unity, respect

• and slips a bracelet onto your arm

• he did it completely himself, as you’d never seen the design before

• it’s of a cat with a rainbow tail, along with his name spelled out in pixels

• and you look up at Jun, whose eyes are filled with anticipation

• and you give him a huge hug

• and he thanks you for showing him this diverse underground world full of color in the night; a way to break out of his shell a little

• and damn I guess you can’t help but hold back an “I love you”

• and he feels the glitter surge back into his veins

• and the feeling never leaves again (:

HOSHI

• Soonyoung always thought photographers were more likely to stay out of the lens’ view, but you proved him wrong

• when you introduced yourself as his photographer for the magazine shoot you were working on, he couldn’t help but feel like you should be in front of the camera, not him

• like holy shit. the beads and chains that engulfed your arm and shimmered in the dim lights. the clips nestled in your hair that were shaped like cartoon spiders. the patches for bands he’d never heard of on every square inch of your camera bag.

• he’s polite and energetic the whole shoot, and to be honest maybe you take a little longer than usual to line up closeups of his face

• after all he deserves the best photos (:

• once you’re finished you agree to meet again at Pledis the next day, just to review the photos

• and Soonyoung spends the whole night hyping himself up lol

• you look just as cool as the day before, if not better, and he manages to compliment you without a problem (practice pays off!!)

• he wants to see more of your photos, and you offer him a ticket to a portfolio viewing you’re having

• he shows up without telling you, taking his time to walk through the gallery and examine each photo

• and they’re so dynamic, perfectly balanced, mysterious. he can’t help but get lost in each one, not even noticing you staring at him

• you, heart warm from his wonder and genuine interest

• he was soon a common subject and reviewer of your photography

• and you were soon a common staple of his, Soonyoung trying to be with you at every opportunity

• he invites you over for movie nights with the other guys

• if you show up in your usual outfits he whines about how you’re all pokey and he can’t lay on your arm without getting stabbed ):<

• luckily you own soft sweatshirts that still look super cool so it’s a win/win

• he’s so adoring of everything you do omg

• every interest of yours is now his interest too

• and he’ll always be by your side, curious and wide-eyed, always ready for the next adventure with you

• whether it be through clothes, or photos, or even just the park

• you’re what makes it special (:

MINGHAO

• dude. he’d lose his shit in the best way possible.

• have you seen this man??? his sense of style??? he’d be drooling in seconds lol

• you’d catch him watching you as you intern at Pledis, sketching up scenes in the corner

• finishing your degree required film to turn in, and you managed to snag an internship with the production crew for Seventeen

• a successful music video for a major group would definitely save your grade lol

• every dance practice, you’d be in the corner, wedged against the mirrors, huddled over your sketchbook as you designed

• and of course you watched them dance, you had to encapsulate the emotion somehow

• during a water break, one of the members plops down next to you and introduces himself as Minghao

• his hair is damp with sweat, sleeveless shirt clinging to his chest

• and he asks to see your ideas

• the concept is focused on the ideas of identity, and your current plan was sketches of each member as the background

• you could animate them slowly turning into each member, and you explain the idea to Minghao as he very gently flips through the pages, fingers hardly touching the pages

• he lingers on his own page

• “you didn’t sketch anyone else’s face this detailed.”

• “you’re pretty.” You say simply, reaching for the book back

• he grins at his lap.

• he sits next to you every day now, always eager to see your designs

• but more often he wants to see your other works

• and when you tell him you and your friends made most of your clothes he’s dumbstruck

• “can you make some for me?”

• you laugh and he apologizes for being so straightforward

• but the next day you bring in a trench coat you’ve been illustrating

• cutting diamonds into the sleeves and lining them with neon thread

• the half-finished painting on the back your friend started working on

• and as you proudly explain the coat’s background Minghao can’t help but want to join in too

• the way your face lights up when you speak about it, how gently you fold the fabric, how you adjust the collar on him so it looks just right

• eventually you begin to hang out outside of the company

• and you take him to craft stores when you need supplies or new clothes to ruin

• and he has such a good eye oh my god

• and his long fingers pick up sewing so easily

• and many hours are spent on your apartment floor quietly snipping, painting, lacing

• minghao wears his clothes with pride, especially the ones you make for him

• you go out one day, both of you completely dressed in your own designs

• and Minghao has never felt this beautiful before

• and when he sees your outfit he can’t help but wrap you in a huge hug

• he’s proud: of himself, of you, of the creativity and passion and hours put into these clothes

• and he admits he’d like to keep that feeling around a lot more

• and so your time in the city becomes a date

• and behind the music video sets becomes a spot to hide and snuggle

• you still sketch him sometimes

• when he doesn’t notice

• when he’s too focused on choreo, or reading a book, or laughing at the other boys goofing around

• because you’re proud of him, too

• and when he sheepishly admits he’s been doing the same, pushing over his own sketchbooks filled with endless drawings, improving page by page

• you know he’s your other half.

DINO

• Dude he’d be so flustered

• he straight up would just. not know what to say and would probably be defensive whenever you talk to him so he might come off as rude ):

• it would take time for him to warm up to you

• but when he does it’s clear he can’t get you out of his head

• as a choreographer, you had to spend a lot of time with the performance line

• and in this case, specifically Chan, as he has a solo

• and just seeing you look so damn rad even when you’re slowly walking him through potential choreo,,,, homeboy is gonna break down and try and defend himself

• the first few days are awkward because he’s drawn back and a little hostile

• but you force him to get lunch with you after a particularly rough morning, just to try to have a better relationship

• you guys didn’t finish the choreo that afternoon, choosing to sit on the studio floor and talk

• the next day he’s still quiet, but shyly rather than defensively

• and he can’t seem to get his arms right, and you have to go over there and straighten his arms for him, rings digging into his biceps

• and even though he tries to hide his grin you know it’s what he wanted

• eventually your job is done and you’re ready to head to the next performer, or go plan choreo for another group

• and Chan shuffles up and even though his cheeks are red he manages to ask you out

• and how could you say no?

#svt #svt fic #svt scenarios #svt reactions #performance unit #jun #Junhui #hoshi #soonyoung #minghao #myungho #dino #lee Chan #svt x reader #x reader #kpop x reader #alt reader

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topazy · 3 years

Text

Silent bloom

Pairings: Bellamy Blake/reader Finn Collins/reader

Warnings: Mentions of blood, and vomiting

Chapter: 1.12 (Bellamy’s pov)

1.02

"Cut it out!" Y/N snapped, which took me by surprise. She seemed so quiet. "The only thing that matters right now is finding Jasper! Bellamy, stop moaning. You’re coming with us and that’s the end of it."

"Excuse me?" I was irritated by her tone.

Y/N walked closer to me, with a look of disbelief on her face. "You want to lead? Then lead. You’re the only person here with a gun, and those kids out there won’t follow you unless you give them a reason to."

"She’s right." Clarke chimed in. "Because you want them to follow you and right now they’re thinking only one of us is scared."

"Fine."

I watched as the bossy girl froze just before she reached the camp gates. It seemed like she was telling Finn to get lost. The last thing I needed was any more drama in camp. I had a feeling the girl with the scarred eye would cause it.

—

"So how did you earn the nickname angel eyes?"

My ears perked up when I heard Murphy shamelessly trying to flirt with the girl walking beside him. It was hard to figure out if she was enjoying his attention or not. "The only person who calls me that is you, Murphy."

"How did you get the scar?" I listened in, as I was curious myself about how she got it.

"Fist fight in a bar. You should have seen the other guy." She had a dry sense of humor, "I fell and cut it."

"Can you see clearly out of it?" He asked, standing closer to her.

"Yes, and I know what you are doing!" She snatched her wrist back, laughing. Murphy just shrugged. "I’m not giving it to you, so you and your little king can stop trying."

I glared at Y/N when she turned around to face me. I had nothing to do with Murphy trying to take her bracelet off. It wasn’t my fault if he wanted to try and show off.

"Did you hear that?" Wells asked, "It sounds like a moaning pain."

"Jasper!" Y/N gasped before running off in the direction of the noise. "He’s over here!"

"Y/N wait!"

She didn’t listen to Wells. What a stupid girl. She was going to get herself killed. I watched as she suddenly disappeared. I lunged forward to see what happened to her. Y/N was hanging onto the grass to stop herself from being killed, "Help me up!"

"Y/N? Bellamy pull her up!" Finn yelled just as I grabbed hold of her wrist. Clarke and Murphy helped us pull her up.

Y/N landed on top of Finn before quickly rolling off him, and glared at me. "What the fuck was that about?! You almost got me killed!"

Clarke shook her head and stepped forward before she could reply. "This isn’t going to help. The grounders are setting traps to catch us. We all need to be more careful."

The ‘princess’ was right. Y/N continued to glare at me. Was it my fault? Did she think I was going to let her die? I didn’t care about her, but we needed all the bodies on earth we could get.

—

"Stay here, I'll be back shortly." I watched the girl curiously as she walked towards the fire pit.

"Hey, John?"

I was expecting Murphy to kick off at being called his first name, but he looked amused. "What?"

She held up her wrist, "fancy freeing me?"

"Anything for angel eyes," Murphy said, grinning.

I watched her pick up a stick of meat and head towards her previous spot, but Finn and Clarke stopped her. I couldn’t hear the full conversation, just bits of it. I didn’t get Finn’s obsession with her. I wondered if they knew each other on the ark. "Yes, I am aware of that. Now if you don’t mind, can you move out of my way?"

"Then tell me, why did you take it off?" Finn demanded, not moving out of her way.

"Some of us don’t want to get punched in the face...Plus, It was hurting my cut wrist."

Her comment didn’t bother me, but Finn bothering her did. Also, I felt slightly bad that she cut her wrist while we pulled her up. I was getting ready to intervene when she walked away from Finn and sat back down beside a young girl, and handed her food. She had taken off her own wristband to feed someone else. Not many people would have done that, not even me.

1.03

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Finn storming towards Y/N, or whatever her name was. "Is it true?" She ignored him, "Well! Is it?"

She shrugged, "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a little busy here, Finn, so if you don’t mind."

"Please tell me you didn’t spend the night with Murphy." I noticed how offended she looked by his accusation. "You are so much better than that Daze. Why would you do that? Don’t you have any self-respect?"

"At least Murphy is flying solo."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Clarke asked from behind him.

"Nothing... it means nothing." She turned to walk away when she caught me staring. It didn’t seem to phase her much as she turned back to throwing knives.

I waited until Clarke and Finn were gone before approaching her. Even if she had screwed Murphy, neither of them had a right to judge her. "Y/N right?"

"Yeah," she answered without taking her eyes off the target. "But I go by Daze or Daisy."

That made sense. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the same girl that my sister wouldn’t shut up about. Somebody with her aim would be good at hunting. I wondered if she would be interested in joining us. "Useful to know. You have a good aim. Any interest in killing?"

"I’m not leaving the camp until Jasper is better," she replied, "maybe next time."

"Do you hear that?" I asked. "He’s dying. Don’t get your hopes up."

She scoffed at my comment, "enjoy the hunting trip."

I left her alone to practice. I wasn’t pointing out the obvious to be cruel, I just needed people to be prepared for the worst. When Jasper dies, the rest of us will still need to go on living.

—

I noticed Daisy walking out of the drop-ship, which surprised me. I thought she would have been celebrating her friend surviving. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I just needed a moment... I’m sorry about Atom."

I stared down at the ground to avoid eye contact with her. The last thing I wanted was anybody to see me get upset over Atom. He was my friend who trusted me, and I had let him down. "I don’t think Octavia is feeling sorry for me."

"She’ll come around. She’s just upset. Give her time," Daisy said with a smile.

"I’m glad you never came hunting with us." I confessed out loud, "Like I said, you have a good aim. It would have been a shame to lose someone with such skills."

I could see a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "Yeah, yeah. Goodnight Bellamy."

—

"Finn move aside," I snapped.

"I can’t do that."

I pushed him out of my way as I walked into Daisy’s tent. I had to see for myself if she was still alive. When she never came back with Wells, I decided to look for her and saw her laying on the ground with a knife in her stomach. I thought she was dead.

Kneeling down beside her bed, I noticed how fragile she looked. Clarke had worked a miracle by saving her.

"Bellamy, you need to leave now!" I stood up again, and faced Finn. I found it ironic that he only cared about Daisy after she almost died. "If Daze gets an infection, she will die. The more people she comes in contact with, the higher the risk."

"Whatever," I shoved past him. "When Octavia comes, you will let her in."

1.05

I had just disposed of the god-damn radio when I felt something bang into me. I was surprised to see a slightly confused Daisy standing behind me.

"Y/N, what are you doing out here?"

"Me and Clarke came looking for you."

Was she joking? Nobody had seen her in hours. If she wasn’t back by the time I returned, I was going to go look for her myself. If anything, it was to stop Octavia from going off on her own. "Looking for me? Octavia was worried sick when she couldn’t find you last night. Where the hell did you go?"

"Bellamy Blake? They’re looking everywhere for you."

Fuck. The brunette had survived. I should have made sure she was dead before I stole from her. As Clarke, Finn, and the new girl lectured me, I noticed how unusually quiet Daisy was. She didn’t seem interested.

—

"It’s no use, it’s gone."

Daisy rolled her eyes at me, "That’s not a good leader’s attitude."

"Guess I’m not a good leader then. You’re really not going to ask why I did it?" I was curious.

"It’s not my business." She shrugged. When Daisy removed her jacket, I noticed how badly her stomach was bleeding. She must have burst her stitches open.

"Hey," Raven said, stepping closer to her. "Your bleeding is pretty bad."

I stood awkwardly trying not to listen to the two girls' interactions. It was clear they didn’t like each other. I just wanted Daisy out of the water before she passed out.

—

"Hey, have any of you seen Octavia?"

Clarke shook her head. "No, I mean...it’s Octavia. She’s probably chasing butterflies."

Daisy frowned at the comment. I imagined she didn’t like Clarke’s attitude either. I thought back to the conversation I overheard with Daisy and Finn earlier, and wondered if she was looking for my sister because she needed a shoulder to cry on. It wouldn’t have surprised me. I couldn’t believe she was sleeping with Finn while leaving the rest of us to worry about her.

1.07

"What the hell, Bellamy? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Your aim is off."

"Thanks." She rolled her eyes and turned back to face the tree. "Don’t you have anything better to do than sneak up on me?"

I probably shouldn’t have walked up to someone holding a deadly weapon without making my presence known beforehand. I couldn’t tell by her tone if she was mad at me as well. "Who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things."

"Seriously Blake?" She scrunched up her nose, "A line like that might work on others, but not on me."

Daisy walked over to the tree and let out a whine when she pulled the knife out. I rushed over to her and grabbed her hand, concerned she’d cut herself on the knife's edge. I was relieved to see it was just a small splinter in her hand, "It’ll push itself out."

"I know that...I just can’t quit thinking about how painful it must have been for Finn."

I stared blankly at her. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that she cared for the spacewalker so much, especially when he took her for granted. It was obvious that she cared about him more than herself. Hell, she even burst her own stitches while having sex with him.

"You got stabbed in the stomach," I pointed out. She shrugged. Daisy hadn’t been able to look at me since we brought the grounder back to camp. "I’m not sorry we saved Finn, but I am sorry for what you saw me do."

"Are you ready to go?" Clarke asked, walking towards me. I nodded in response. She turned to face Daisy. "Daze, Finn was asking for you."

Of course he was. I was going to ask Daisy if she wanted to join us while looking for weapons, but I knew she’d never come with Finn wanting her attention. "You better go run off and find him then."

She smiled at us, "be safe out there."

As she walked away, Clarke stood beside me, saying, "You didn’t ask her, did you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Good question. "We are better off with just us two. She would have slowed us down."

Clarke leaned into me, "you know, that was a very fake smile she just gave us."

1.09

As we walked towards the gates, I noticed movement outside camp. We slowed down until we got a better look. Clarke suddenly ran over to the couple, "Daisy!"

On closer inspection I could see why she ran over to them. Daisy was violently throwing up. Clarke held her hair back while she continued to vomit. "What’s wrong with her? Is she the only one sick in camp?"

Finn shook his head, "She was just high for the first time."

"What?" I snapped.

Finn shrugged, "Yeah, most of the camp is high. They ate some bad nuts, I guess."

Clarke continued to rub Daisy’s back, saying, "Bellamy, I'm going to take Daze back to her tent, then I'll meet you in the drop-ship."

I frowned at Finn, who seemed to find the situation amusing. "Grounders are out here," his smile faded. "You’re just lucky you didn’t get her or yourself killed."

—

I noticed Daisy finally emerging from her tent. She looked slightly better than the night before, but still hellish. "Hey, you good?"

"Yeah, I’m good. Enjoying unity day?"

I pointed towards the rest of camp, "somebody needs to be sober while the rest have fun."

She chuckled, "Everyone deserves to have some fun, even you Blake."

She had a point, but my idea of fun would be different from hers. Although I found myself tired of sleeping with a different girl every night, they all bored me once the sex was over. "I’ll have fun when the grounders come."

"Dark as always," she laughed.

I smiled, "you look a lot better than when I last saw you."

The moment the words left my mouth, Daisy’s face turned red. I had accidentally embarrassed her. I gulped down before changing the subject, "What did you get arrested for anyway?"

I noticed she wasn’t listening to me by the way she was watching something else, "It’s Finn."

I tried my best not to groan. I honestly didn’t understand what was so special about bloody Finn. He had Raven, Daisy, and Clarke wrapped around his finger. I doubt he cared that much about any of them. Lost in my thoughts, I almost missed Daisy going to leave camp. "Where do you think you’re going?"

"To get Finn, he’ll get killed out there on his own."

"So could you." I paused for a moment before letting out a sigh of defeat. I could tell by the look on her face that she was going after him regardless of what I said. "I’ll come with you."

"No...Somebody needs to stay here in case the grounders do turn up. If I can’t see where he went past the tree-lines, I’ll come back."

I clenched my jaw with frustration. I didn’t like this one bit. "Fine. But if you are gone too long, I’m sending out a search party."

—

"Bellamy?"

"So much for staying in the tree lines," I frowned.

Daisy rolled her eyes as she pulled me into my tent. Was this really happening? Was she trying... "Whatever, look, Finn set up a meeting with the grounders to call a truce."

"He did what?" Finn had quickly gone from being a little annoying to a real pain in my ass. He was going to get himself killed. I just hoped when that happened he didn’t drag anybody else down with him.

"We spoke to Lincoln... the grounder who stabbed him. He’s going to set up a meeting between our people and his. Finn and Clarke are getting ready to leave."

I stepped closer to her so I could speak in a lower voice, "Why are you looking for me then?"

She seemed nervous the closer I got to her. Her lips parted slightly as she looked up at me. "I’m going to follow them, and you’re coming with me."

"Anyone ever told you that you have a bossy side?" I preferred the bossier side of her.

"We should wait five minutes," she answered, ignoring what I said. "Finn doesn’t know that we are following them."

"Why not?"

She knotted her fingers together, and looked down at the ground. I made a mental note to remember she did that when she was lying. "Because Lincoln told us not to take any weapons, and I don’t agree with him. But Finn does. We are going to be their backup."

I didn’t see the point in arguing with her when it was already happening. "Okay, I think we need one more person to come with us."

1.10

"Not now Finn, we don’t have time for this. The grounders are coming and arguing among ourselves is exactly what they want. " I watched Finn’s face twist with anger when Daisy butted in. I just hoped he was smart enough not to say anything back to her. "I’m going for a walk. You guys are giving me a headache. Murphy better be alive when I get back."

"Seems I’ve got a fan club starting in camp Bellamy. Who knows, maybe she likes me more than you." Murphy said before spitting out blood.

"Go float yourself."

"Happily," he scoffed. "But I don’t imagine angel eyes being too happy when she finds out you’ve killed me." Finn stormed out of the drop-ship, mostly likely to go look for Daisy. "Looks like I’ve upset her boyfriend. My bad."

"They aren’t together," I snapped.

A look of amusement spread across his face. Being covered in blood only made him look more sinister. "Ohh... I see what it is."

"What are you talking about?" I mentally slapped myself for even entertaining Murphy. I should just kill him before he hurts anybody else.

"You care for her... and she’s in love with spacewalker."

I glared at him, "Shut the fuck up."

"Don’t worry Bellamy, I’ll keep it our little secret. For now."

—

"Bellamy, you're sick, okay? I'm just trying to help. Here."

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was so weak, I would have flung Murphy across the room by now. "When I get better, if you're still here--" I frowned when I saw Daisy walking towards us. The last time I saw her, she was throwing up blood. "Why are you up? You should be resting."

"I’ve got this one Murphy," she smiled and took the cup from his hand. "Thanks for saving my life and all that."

When she sat down next to me, I noticed the way Murphy looked at her before leaving. "What are you now? His best friend? After-"

“Murphy is an ass," she cut me off. "But he never hurt me, and I believe in second chances."

I took a drink of water before she started wiping some of the blood off my face. Daisy suddenly stopped and squinted at me, "something you want to talk about?"

"You and Finn-" I was cut off by a loud noise from outside the ship. I sat up as Clarke ran into the room, "They did it."

"I became death, a destroyer of worlds. It's Oppenheimer, the man who built the first-"

"I know who Oppenheimer is."

"Who cares about him?" Daisy shrugged. "I want to know what the hell caused the explosion."

"Raven..." I glanced down at her. "I thought O told you? Raven and Finn went to blow up the bridge to slow the grounders down."

It was worrying that Daisy couldn’t remember. I was honestly surprised she was still alive by this point. Between being stabbed and catching the virus, I’d say she was very lucky to be with us. Daisy must have noticed me staring because she was frowning, "I’m sure they are fine."

Looking back out of the drop-ship, I sighed. We would need to wait to see if the grounders got scared off or not.

1.11

"Like that star of the waning summer who, beyond all stars, rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance." I saw Daisy sitting on her own again and thought I’d give her some company. "I thought your post finished hours ago?"

"It did," she shrugged. "I like being out here at night. The sky looks beautiful from down here."

I never would have guessed she would have enjoyed stargazing, this girl was full of surprises. "I suppose it does."

"You suppose? It’s the most amazing sight in the world. I honestly have no idea why people used to use drugs to live in a distorted reality, when the earth is just-" I could not help but smile at the way she talked about the sky. It was the first real conversation we had that didn’t involve anybody else. "What?"

"Nothing," I shook my head, smiling. "I’ve just never heard you talk so passionately about something that wasn’t to do with your friends."

"You don’t know me very well, Blake."

I knew much more than she thought. The girl with the scarred face was much more interesting than I first thought. "You're a good shot. We have the same taste in books, and you don’t know who Oppenheimer is."

"Touché, I’m guessing you’ve read the Iliad a few times then?" I nodded, "How do you know we have the same taste in books?"

"Octavia has mentioned it,” I lied. I had heard Monty and Daisy talking one night about books they liked to read on the ark, but I wasn’t going to admit I listened in on their conversation.

I noticed her shaking slightly. She was cold. I removed my jacket and placed it on her back. "Thanks..."

"No problem."

Sitting with Daisy was nice. It didn’t feel awkward when there was silence between us, although I wouldn’t have minded talking a little more. But I didn’t want to force her to spend time with me.

"So this Oppenheimer, who is he?"

—

"Bellamy!" I heard Daisy call out. Before I had a chance to finish getting dressed, she barged into my tent. "Bellamy I-"

"Daisy, what the hell happened?" I asked her. I stepped out in front of her when she tried to walk away. She was covered in blood and had an arrow sticking out of her leg. "Daisy, what happened out there?"

"Grounders attacked us."

Raven stepped out of my tent, "Finn... is..."

“Myles got hit with a few arrows. I don’t know if he’s dead or not. They took Clarke and Finn.I have no idea where they went."

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I didn’t miss the look of disgust on Daisy’s face or the way she pulled away from me when I reached out to her. I had no reason to feel guilty, but I did.

—

"I never told him."

I stopped when I reached the outside of Daisy’s tent. "Told who what?"

"I lied to Finn. I told him I tripped and fell, I’m only telling you so you don’t mention it later on."

I stepped back. We wouldn’t be ready to leave for a couple of minutes, so I didn’t need to interrupt them just yet. My opinion of Daisy was always changing. I thought she would have been a spoiled brat when I met her, and assumed she got her scar in a pointless fight, but now... now I know she was a good person. She lied for Raven even when it caused her so much pain. She would do anything for her friends, including Octavia. Maybe Murphy was right, maybe I was starting to care for her.

1.13

"Bellamy!" I looked up to see my sister barging into my tent. She looked worried. "I haven’t seen Daisy!"

"Okay," I shrugged. "She’s probably in her tent or the drop-ship. You know she can’t go far until her leg heals."

"She’s not there! I’ve checked with Jasper and Finn. Neither of them have seen her all day. I’ve checked everywhere bell!"

Shit. This was bad. People didn’t just disappear from camp. Unless the grounders take them, or worse. "When did you last see her?"

"She was going to Wells' grave. She had found some flowers to put down."

"Octavia, go get Clarke and meet me at the drop-ship in two minutes."

We didn’t have time for a search and rescue with the grounders closing in on us, but I was sure as hell not leaving Daisy out there to die.

#the 100 #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #slow romance #slow burn #bellamy blake/reader #the 100 fanfiction #the 100 fandom #bellamy the 100 #bellamy blake/you #Bellamy Blake x oc #Bellamy Blake/oc #finn collins #clarke griffin #Raven Reyes #the 100 x oc #the 100 x reader #grounders #Bellamy Blake pov

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countrymusiclover · 2 years

Text

Ch 2 - Prisoner 318 (part 1)

Ch 2 (part 2)

The walls of this prison cell blur in front of me - I sketch in my pocket sketchbook, tossing my hair out of my eyes every time it falls in my eye. My story starts out as this my name is Kristin Kane - I'm not sure if I'm legally a Kane or a Griffin. My mother is doctor Abigail Griffin or Abby for short, my father is the backup chancellor for Jaha - Marcus Kane - he's strict on the Ark laws but in small moments he shows his love for me. I'm eighteen years old and on the ark I'm soon to be floated- in space means death. I just turned this age yesterday. Kane and Abby were at a party one night with her husband Jake Griffin. He had to run off to fix a problem and these two had a one night stand - having me. My hair is mostly brown but there are a lot of blonde highlights in it. You might be wondering how I ended up in jail - to anyone who truly knows my secret a.k.a Bellamy and his little sister Octavia Blake. They would mark me as a second illegal child. But I'm in lockup to keep that a secret by my parents.

The buzz sound meets my ears and I whip my head around to see two guards - unfortunately not the one I want to see. Bellamy.

A guard ordered "Prisoner 318. On your feet!" Jumping up I press my back against the wall, choking out in fear. "What's going on - you can't kill me!" The other steps forward with his baton and I spin around kicking him hard when the first comes over with a metal bracelet. I burst through the cell door slamming it closed - my back hits the railing seeing everyone else being taken out.

"Clarke stop!" My mother's voice shouts, seeing Clarke freeze and grips her tightly in fear. She glances my way and I feel guards cuff me, hands spin me around to face my dad. He hugs me as I let tears fall "Dad! What's happening- why's mom comforting clarke?"

My heart beats fast, I knew that they most likely wouldn't let the 100 of us come back to society. At age 15 I learned who my dad appeared to be to everyone else. Mom told me once that he always used 'making sure the human race stays alive at any cost' to defend his actions. So I've learned never to fully trust my own father. He's locked me my whole life - his way of protecting me I suppose.

We break apart and he puts a hand on my cheek answering "Kristin it's ok - you're going to the ground. All 100 of you..." he takes something from a guard and it snaps on my right wrist. Wincing I call out "ow - dad what is this!"

He kisses my forehead saying "it tracks your vitals. You're mother and I love you."

I feel a prick in my neck and I slowly collapse into his arms. He brushes my hair out of my face and I muttered "I love you guys too." before passing all the way out.

2 years ago

My boots bang against the metal floor as I try to get back to my place before my dad finds out. Since I'm an illegal child he doesn't let me leave unless I'm with him. My mom Abby comes over late at night to hang out with me.

Curfew is almost here and I trip on one of my boot places causing me to crash into someone.

I went out to see the Moon Rise, when I was really little dad would always take me. And no matter how many times I see it, it never gets old. Now a days he's too busy working as a counselor.

His eyes catch mine and they memorized me, brown and plain maybe, but his..they were deep and full of something. Like something meant for more in this world.

"Ow!" We both exclaimed. My eyes lock onto a boy with black curly hair in a guard jacket. Oh crap of course it has to be a guard.

"I'm so so sorry sir - I didn't---- didn't mean too!" I stammered out. He helps me to my feet saying "it's fine I'm only a cadet - so no worries. Oh by the way I'm Bellamy Blake." We shake hands and I blush a little once he moves a strand of hair behind my ear, a chuckle escapes his lips, dimples being revealed along with it. I say "Kristin, Kristin Kane."

Bellamy and I strolled the halls quickly to my quarters. He laughs when I tell him why I was out "I love seeing the Moon Rise."

He smirked with a blush suggesting "well maybe we can go together sometime- before curfew of course."

I smiled, opening the door "agreed it's a date Bellamy Blake."

His foot stops me from closing my door "please just call me Bell.:

I nod my head, answering "okay, call me just Kristin."

After that he leaves and I close our door giggling at my first day out alone. I found a cute guy. Score!

My eyes open slowly and my vision is foggy as I notice four guards carrying me on a cot. We're heading towards a air lock, a familiar hand grips mine and I force myself to look up, looking at my mom and dad. She weakly smiles at me leaning down she whispered "Honey I'm so sorry that you're father is making me do this but ---- I love you and hold onto this for me ok." She puts a ring on a necklace in my hand and I grip it tight. Tears go in my eyes when she kisses my forehead and hears we vow "I will and I love you too." After that I'm seated in a dropship next to Octavia. Her eyes glow and she squeals "Kristin!" I squeeze her hand and I giggle "yes O, it's me"

The dropship breaks through the earth's atmosphere and I hold onto O for dear life. The Chancellor's face comes over multiple tv screens explaining to our prisoner group. "Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance, and as your chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not as a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."

A boy cursed to the chancellor's son who sits by Clarke. "Your dad is a sick, Wells." People laugh as I kept my eyes on the screen. "Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean." I've been labeled a criminal for just being born, what crap!

I fixed my gaze to my sister who pays close attention to the man's instructions. "The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough nonperishables to sustain 300 people for up to two years. "

"Spacewalk bandit strikes again."Octavia threw a fist in the air to someone's announcement. Someone started flying in the dropship after removing his seatbelts. "Check it out, you're dad floated me after all." The boy mocks to Wells.

He replied back to the kid." You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Two kids start to follow the floating kid to make my sister demand back over her shoulder. "Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live!"

"Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately."

The chancellor's voice kept playing beside me as I watched the three. "Hey, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year." The spacewalker said to Clarke.

She rolls her eyes at his words. "You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk." The boy smiles at her. "But it was fun. I'm Finn."

Chancellor Jaha rings in my ear when the ship thrashed around. Finn went flying along with two unstrapped boys. "You have one job. One responsibility is stay alive. Finally I must tell you about those wristbsnds-" But he gets cut off over Clarke screaming. "Stay in your seats!"

My heart races when everyone is jilted around screaming when the parachutes deployed. I force my eyes closed trying to figure out why my parents would do this. Why would they send us down here. Finally everything goes silent and Octavia shakes me from my daze, opening my eyes I see two kids on the floor dead, my sister and that guy learning over them. A random kid yells "The outer doors on the lower level- lets go!"

My sister jumps into action firing back as she races for the ladder, I nearly followed her but O pulls me in for a hug before we go down.

"The air could be toxic!" My sister fires at this guy in a guard jacket with his hands on the lever.

"If the airs toxic, we're all dead anyway." His voice meets my ears and I gasped. He can't possibly be here, not for real. Octavia calls out in confusion "Bellamy."

He turns and I cringe at his slicked back hair. I always hated that. She slowly walks to him still dragging me with her. "Those are the girls that were hid under the floor" some random kid states to the crowd.

"My god, look how big you are." Bellamy says with a proud brother smile. They hug and he breaks away and I embrace him in a bear hug.

"Why in the wide world are you wearing this!" I ask in disgust, pulling at the guard jacket. He leans close whispering in my ear "I borrowed it to get on the dropship." I lightly scoff "Borrowed come on bell, I know you all two well - you're way over 18."

Clarke snipes in ruining our moment. "Where's your wristband?" Octavia whipped her head around snapping. "Do you mind. I haven't seen my brother in a year, plus she's his girlfriend!"

Another random prisoner called out. "No one has a brother!" A girl prisoner chimes in with the group who complain. "That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor."

Octavia nearly attacked right behind me but Bellamy and I each grabbed her by her forearms. "Octavia, Octavia, no!"

A girl prisoner who I remember is named Harper aims her index finger directly at me. "Oh look Kristin Kane! Daddy's girl couldn't live in the floor either. She's Abby Griff-!"

I launched forward punching her in her nose, causing her to stumble backwards into two other prisoners. I flicked my burning wrist snarling in her face. "Don't ever call me that again. You know nothing of my life and how hard it was!" The girl gets to her feet coming close drawing back my fist again I almost swung. Yet a rough hand grabs my wrist my gaze shot up to meet Bellamy's brown eyes. "Kristin babe stand down, you don't have to prove anything to them. . ."

He pauses whispering low in my right ear sending shivers down my spine. "You're already a badass to me." He looks at me and I blush when he takes my hand telling O. "I've got an idea, let's make them remember you girls..."

I cut in raising my brows. "Yeah like what?" Running my hand through his hair I try to get it back to its natural curls. But my plan failed so I huff, letting him keep talking.

"Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years." He pulls the lever and we slowly step down the ramp, hand in hand we jump off the end and scream at the same time. Closing my eyes I take in a huge breath, taking it all in at the bottom of the ramp.

"We're back bitches!" And saying that is the best feeling in the world. O pulls me closer to her and we keep screaming out "Freedom!" I came up with it and it makes sense for the both of us.

Down here my dad can't hurt me.....I don't have to hide anything anymore.

Bellamy lifts me up in the air and I squeal as he spins me around. Setting me on the ground I kiss him and kisses back before he runs off to find O. The Finn guy stands next to my sister. Princess he calls her. Clarke turns her head to me and curses "They dropped us on the wrong dam mountain" Finn glanced my way. I butt in once Clarke and I are alone "Hey I'm Kristin and I'm a --- you're sis-" She gives me a weird look and I don't finish my sentence. We head over to the others and she fights with Bellamy and Octavia.

Clarke, Finn, Octavia and two other boys left to find food. Bellamy keeps his arm firmly around me. I keep messing with this wristband thing, he's been convincing people take them off. We sit down by the fire now as people are around us partying in the distance. He spins pieces of my hair between his fingers and I ruffle his hair making it a mess again. "Kristin, why haven't you got rid of that thing....I mean you're dad was always locking you away like O....you're not a prisoner anymore." He explains and I playfully roll my eyes answering "Bell, it may seem crazy but I still love my dad and plus....my mom is still up there." He butts in "The princess won't take off hers so..." I stand up and groan out "Bellamy enough - you may be able to convince everyone else but not me" After that I walk off leaving him sitting alone by the flames of the fire.

It's been three days since we landed and learned we aren't alone down here. Laying on my back in my makeshift tent- or should I say Bellamy's. He's been letting me sleep here of course he's had to kick out other girls - he's been sleeping around with since we'd landed. The tent flap opened causing me to slightly turn my head, seeing only Bell's head poking in. With a chuckle towards him I move to lay on my side.

"Do my eyes deseve me, is Bellamy Blake checking me out?" He fully slips through the tent flap chuckling while sitting down on the bed, making it dip at his weight.

"Kristin you're such a dork." Pulling him down onto of me I laugh against our kisses "Maybe but I'm your dork." We keep Kissing as his hands move over me with mine in his curls.

"Kristin, Bellamy!" Clarke yells outside the tent making us break apart.

"I guess queen Clarke is calling for us." Bell kisses me quickly pulling us both to our feet, sighing with an arm wrapped around my waist as we walk out.

"Don't fret queen Kristin, she doesn't control us."

The 100 crowd around us as Clarke goes off on Murphy. Bellamy stands arms crossed over his chests. I stand next to him, hands shoved in my pockets. O stands behind me.

"Plenty of people hated wells his father was the chancellor and Kristin's father locked us up.!" Murphy argued pointing out to me as I gringe at the mention of people not liking me because of my dad.

"Come on this is ridiculous. I don't have to answer to you. I don't have to answer to anyone!" Bellamy cuts Murphy off, "Come again?"

He's taking this leader role seriously. It's kinda hot. Wait what did I just say.

Clarke declared "Is this the kind of society that we want? You say there should be no rules. Does that mean we can kill each other without - without punishment!" She points a finger at me and Bell.

People call out to float him. Tears go in my eyes at the haunting memory of watching someone get floated by my dad's command. The crowd grabs him and starts hanging him, fighting against them I shout "You can't do this - this isn't the Ark!" but they don't listen. Connor throws me backwards into Bell's chest. He huffs because of the sudden impact, helping me stand quickly as we watch in shock and horror.

Clarke slams her hands against our chests breaking us from our trances "you and Kristin can stop this. They'll listen to you!"

Connor calls out with a wicked smile "Bellamy you should do it!" My eyes go big as the crowd starts chanting his name. Looking over to Octavia she has a terrific look with the little girl Charlotte. "I saw you in the woods with atom. I know you're not a killer." Clarke tried getting through to Bellamy.

He looks down to me terror in his eyes for only me to see. Gripping his jacket in my shacky hands I begged - knowing Bellamy better than anyone else could never kill someone. "Bell - Bellamy please. I know you better than anyone - you don't want to do this!" He lowers his head to my ear, his hot breath on my neck and tears fall down my face "I'm sorry Kristin. But there's no way out. Forgive me, babe."

He kicked the crate from under Murphy causing Clarke to cry as I stand stunned "How could you!" Clarke sobbed in anger at my boyfriend.

Bellamy pushed her back shouting "This is on you, princess. You should've kept your mouth shut!"

Charlotte screams breaking through the crowd. "Murphy didn't kill wells. I did!"

My knees go weak and I drop, sobbing in the dirt. Bellamy races to me once Clarke cut him down removing the axe from his belt loop. He holds me to his chest as I let it all out. My dad hates me - that's he sent me down here.

Murphy hunts to kill her now. Bellamy, me and her are trapped near the edge of a cliff. I cursed clutching Bell's forearm "Damn it. Bellamy what do we do!" He glanced at me scared before Murphy charges.

"Bellamy, Kristin come on give her up!" I reach my pocket knife I took from a guard on the ark, Clarke states "Just calm down let's talk about this." Murphy starts to grab her but I push her out of the way, getting held instead. My knife drops from my clumsy hands as he threatened Bellamy. "Ah I see, Bellamy's queen attempting to save the princess...what do you say Bellamy, should I slit her throat!" Bellamy eyes me with fear, wanting to RIP me from his hold.

Charlotte begs "Please don't hurt her." Murphy nearly gets her but she ends up jumping and dying off the cliff. Murphy released me as I watch my sis and Bell reach for her and both sob. I try crying but nothing happens all I feel is anger and a slight smirk meets my lips when Bell starts pumiling Murphy. What's happening to me.

Clarke's voice breaks in tears. "Bellamy, stop. You'll kill him!"

Bellamy gets forced off shouting to Clarke. "Get off me, uh! He deserves to die!"

Clarke points an angry finger at his chest, getting up in his face. "No! We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here!"

"So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide I'll-" She cuts him off. "No, I was wrong before, ok. You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules."

Bellamy runs a hand over his face, looking at me with regard. "And who makes those rules, huh you?" Forcing myself to my feet, I entered the fight pushing myself in between the pair, ordering in my dad's tone "For now, we make the rules. Ok. You, me and Clarke."

Murphy was banished and Bellamy picks me up bridal style, tired I lay my head against his chest. His eyes dance across me checking for injuries, I can hear his heart racing. Once back at camp he lays me down in his tent while him and Clarke explains the laws of the camp. My eyes shortly fall closed as I attempt to catch my breath. The flap opens and the bed dips, Bell's fingers run through my hair as he sighs tirelessly.

"Things will get better you know, Bellamy." I croke as he lays down next to me. His breathing slows as we grip the other tight, but I jump away as I feel a sting on my right wrist. "Ow, what the-"

My wristband fell off as others outside lose theirs. Glancing up to bell I chuckled with tears "I guess you got what you wanted." Bellamy gives me a weak smile mouthing the words 'you're mom and dad'

Realizing they think I'm dead and that they'll die up there I throw myself into his chest sobbing for hours. He grips me whispering sweet things in my ear before we finally go to sleep.

Abby's POV - Ark

I was sleeping peacefully with my head rested on the table as Jackson and I were monitoring the wristbands signals of The 100. Clarke's went out earlier this morning so now I've been hoping and praying that Kristin's doesn't do the same. The automatic doors slide open making me start to wake from my nap, to see Marcus stride in. His face appears tired and overwhelmed dealing with the Ark running out of oxygen - technically we only had 4 months to live if we didn't reduce population. That's the whole reason why we sent The 100.

Anything new?" He asks Jackson who stood by the monitors controlling table. His gaze falls my way, he holds a straight face trying to not show emotions. But I can read him all too well. Jackson sighed glancing to the screens. "No sir. Nothing new after Clarke Griffin's band went out." I tensed up at the mention of the memory. I was asleep in this same room before the loud warning sound filled the room.

Marcus nods his head turning to leave but that same ear shrieking sound consumes the room. The remaining lit up screens of The 100 flash dark with the words 'Transmission Lost' I jumped to my feet gasping at the sight. This is insane, this shouldn't be happening! They were all fine just minutes ago and there have been barely any changes. My heart races as I try to put the pieces together until Marcus's voice breaks my train of thought.

"Abby!" His tone is concerned as he points with his index finger to Kristin's screen. Her hair is completely loose, brown hair with some blonde highlights as she wore a long sleeved black tea shirt, brown jeans and black boots. I don't dare blink as her screen goes dark with those red words flashing across her face. My legs turn to jelly as I slowly walk to stand beside Marcus who hangs his mouth open as tears slip. I collapse into his arms heavy sobbing and he grunts at having to catch me so suddenly.

"Kristin's - gone! What kind of father am I, Abby!" He sobs against my chest as I try to wipe my tears away, clutching the fabric of his jacket. I have faith in Clarke - Kristin and her are both strong kids. I tilt his chin up to look me in the eye, seeing we are on the same level. "Marcus, look at me. Hope is everything.... our girl is so strong as the two of us - she'll survive." He sniffs resting his forehead against my own as I hug him closer to my chest.

What kind of parents are we to send our daughter to the ground to die

Comments really appreciated

#kane and griffin blood #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #bellamy blake x reader fanfiction #the 100 #the 100 x reader #the 100 bellamy blake #marcus kane #clarke griffin #abby griffin #kabby #wattpad fanfiction #ask box is open for anything #comments really appreciated

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skybiome · 3 years

Text

My life, freely given.

tw: panic attack, narration that implies suicidal thinking

---

Techno rubs at the bracelet on his right wrist. Everyone on the server has one. It's a plain, black metal band with three green gems set into it. Well, they start with three gems. Not everyone has three any more.

Death is common on the server. Hell, Techno’s communicator has been alerting him of Quackity dying about once every couple of hours to creepers for the last few days. But normal dying and respawning wasn’t enough for this server. No. In Dream’s own words, if someone died in a ‘plot important fashion’, it sticks. And if they die three times, they might not come back.

That’s what had happened to Wilbur. The black band is still on Ghostbur's wrist every time Techno sees him, but the gems are cracked and grayed out. The same goes for two of the stones on Tommy’s bracelet.

Techno reaches into his inventory and pulls out an iron dagger. It’s edge is dulled, mostly because he uses it to make cuts in planks of wood when bored, but he found something interesting a few days ago. Carefully, he sticks the tip of the dagger under the edge of his leftmost gemstone. A little wiggle and it pops out of its setting.

A shiver runs down his spine, despite his heavy winter gear. Techno holds the life in his hand. It’s warm and fragile. He closes his fist around the gem as Tommy’s yelling echos up from his space below Techno’s house.

The older sibling closes his eyes, sighs, and lets his head thump against the wall behind him. He’s glad that his little brother couldn’t hear the war that his logic and emotions were fighting between his ears. Only the stragglers of the war fought now, with the leading ideals already having come to an agreement and made peace.

Allies are always good, especially if it meant that his family stayed safe. Techno rubs his thumb over the green gem once more. He stood up from where he was sitting on the crafting table and climbed down the ladders to Tommy’s room.

“Heyyyyy, Big T!”

Techno feels a smile slide onto his face. He let it. Tommy is now wearing an antarctic empire uniform. He didn’t need to know that Techno had stayed up for 3 days straight to finish it after he’d first realized that Tommy was staying with him. It was much better suited for the cold weather than the scraps of clothing that his little brother had shown up wearing.

“Hey, Tommy.” His boots land heavy on the concrete. Tommy didn’t like it when he was silent around the house, so Techno has been putting an effort to go against his instinct and start making noise while traversing the cottage.

Tommy sits up from where he’d been reclining on his bed. “What’re we doing today?”

“You aren’t doing much.” Techno raises his hand to cut off Tommy’s protests. “I’m going to go to L’manberg later, but you can stay here and take care of the turtles and bees. Can I see your arm?”

Tommy frowns, but holds his arm out to Techno.

“Other one.”

Tommy swaps arms, and Techno rolls up his brother’s sleeve, revealing the band on his wrist. The elder reaches into his inventory and pulls out the knife. He stops when Tommy yanks his arm out of his gentle grip. His little brother slams into the cobblestone with enough force to make Techno flinch.

Techno’s eyes widen to match the dinner plates of his brother’s. Carefully, he sets the knife down on the floor, and shows Tommy that his hands are empty. Techno can see tremors running through Tommy’s form, even through his layers of clothing. His breath is coming in short, raspy gasps

Techno purposely softens his voice and face, apologizing and saying, “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you what I was doing. It won’t happen again.”

Tommy blinks a few times. He blinks again and actually sees his brother instead of someone else. The tension syphons out of his shoulders and Tommy averts his gaze from Techno, shrinking into himself even more. His breathing is still shaky and uneven.

“I’m sorry.”

Techno shook his head and lowered his hands, but keeping them in Tommy’s view. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Tommy. I promise.” He ignored the dampness around his brother’s eyes.

Tommy doesn’t say anything, but he does swallow and unclench his jaw.

“Can I see your arm again? I won’t hurt you.”

Again, Tommy says nothing. He holds his arm out to Techno, eyes closed, and lets a harsh breath out through his nose, like he’s bracing for something to hurt him.

Techno retrieves the dagger from the floor. Carefully, he turns Tommy’s arm over so that the lives on his bracelet are visible. Two of the gemstones are cracked and gray, stark in contrast to the one green gem, the boy’s one remaining life. Pressing the tip of the blade one of the lost lives’ edges, Techno removes it. He slips the life he took from himself into the notch on Tommy’s wrist.

The older brother knows it’s worked when the younger inhales sharply, eyes snapping open. Techno lets go as Tommy withdraws his arm. He stares at the gem with wide eyes.

Tommy’s breath grows unsteady, and he starts shaking again. He’s clutching his right wrist with his left hand. There are tears in his eyes, but a grin is splitting his face. Before Techno can even open his mouth, Tommy’s arms are wrapped around him.

With a flick of the wrist, the dagger is out of Techno’s hand and in his hotbar. Techno doesn’t register what Tommy is doing, but he knows he shouldn’t have the weapon that close to him. A second later, he feels that Tommy is shuttering against his chest. Techno hesitates, and then returns the hug. They stay there for a minute, Tommy rattling in Techno’s arm’s, face buried in the fur of brother’s cape.

Tommy breaks the embrace first. He shoots upright, one hand on Techno’s shoulder and the other wiping tears off his cheeks. He’s so ecstatic that he’s tripping over his words.

“Techno Techno Techno where did you- how did you- how did you get this?” Tommy’s gaze is bouncing between his brother and the new life he’s been given. He grips his wrist and pushes the gemstone into Techno’s face, like he wasn’t just the one who'd given it to him. “Where did you get this?”

Techno lifts his wrist, showing Tommy his bracelet. “I gave you one of mine.”

Something in his chest grows cold as Tommy’s expression falls. Tommy freezes, and then starts clawing at his wrist. Techno lunges forward, grabbing Tommy by the wrist. He cringes as Tommy freezes in his grasp. A moment later, Tommy shakes it off, and fights against Techno.

“I can’t take this, Techno.” Tommy’s eyes are frantic and his breathing is picking up again.

“You aren’t taking it, Tommy. I’m giving it to you.”

Tommy stops fighting his brother’s hold. Techno can still see his hands twitching, wanting to pull the live out of himself.

“Tommy, look at me.”

After a moment of staring at the band on his wrist, Tommy turns his head towards Techno. He’s looking at his brother’s face, but won’t look him in the eyes.

“You’re not taking anything from me.” Techno removes a hand from Tommy’s wrist and sets it under his brother’s chin. Gently, Techno lifted Tommy’s gaze until their eyes met. “This is my life, freely given to you. I expect nothing in return, except for you to use it to its fullest. Do you understand?”

Tommy blinks, with tears in his eyes. “Yeah,” he croaked.

“Good.” Techno nods and releases Tommy’s other wrist. He hesitates, and then rustles his hand through his brother’s hair. Tommy jumps at the contact. He blinks twice. A smile breaks onto his face, and he lets out the most infectious laughter that Techno knows. Techno joins in. Next thing he knows, Tommy is moving past him and already halfway up the ladder, yelling, “Now we’re on even playing fields!”

Techno barks a laugh and follows after his brother into their home. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Tommy.”

“Yes it is!”

Techno can hear his chests opening and closing, and let himself indulge in the warm feeling in his chest. Tommy’s starting to recover, and he’s going to help his brother however he can. He thumbs the empty spot on his band, and then moves onto one of his two remaining lives. Phil’s band only had space for one life, but there was someone Tommy cared about who was in danger. But that could wait a few days. Right now, he wants to spend time with his brother.

Even if it involves a lot of cobblestone towers on his front lawn.

#tommyinnit #technoblade #my writing #science is fucking killing me and i am trying to work on when the sun #once my break starts i can work on it more #so please enjoy #i have more thoughts about this #so send asks if youre curious

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foxghost · 3 years

Text

Joyful Reunion, Chapter 95

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang Masterpost | Characters, Maps & Other Reference Index

Book 3, Chapter 21 (Part 5)

If Duan Ling is to think about it, Mu Qing is the one person to whom he’s done the most disservice. With every friend he’s ever made before, both he and the other party had given a part of himself, treated their friendship with sincerity, while Mu Qing is the only one he’s constantly guarded against. If they’d met when they were ten years old, they’d definitely have become the best of friends.

“Master Chang Pin said that Wu Du wants to keep you by his side, and that’s why he said your fortune made you unsuitable for marriage. He doesn’t want you to be taken away by someone else. You’re fully aware that there’s no such thing, don’t you?”

Chang Pin’s eyes are too sharp by far, Duan Ling thinks; when Wu Du said those words that night, Duan Ling truly did not expect them, and therefore Chang Pin had caught his momentary surprise. After that, Duan Ling had carefully dissected it in his head and realised that it’s something he had to declare — otherwise, if the Mus decide they want to form a marriage alliance with him, it would certainly complicate things. Who could guarantee that Mu Kuangda doesn’t have an illegitimate daughter hidden away somewhere out there?

This is only what Mu Qing is voicing aloud, so there must be more information that hasn’t been passed on. Chang Pin wouldn’t have brought up the matter of Duan Ling’s marriageability without cause, so he must have had something to talk about with Mu Kuangda that involved asking Mu Qing questions that he managed to hear him say that.

“Even if that’s true.” Duan Ling gives him a faint smile. “What’s wrong with being with Wu Du?”

That really is what Duan Ling truly believes; no matter what his future path may lead, he’s only going to walk it at Wu Du’s side. He wouldn’t keep to himself, the way his dad did. When he thinks of his father, Duan Ling would go so far as to say that he was already inconceivably strong.

At times, he could relate to Cai Yan. Though they haven’t met face to face after he returned to Jiangzhou, he knows Cai Yan’s fear and trepidation is even more severe than his own, and the only person he could hold on to, the only straw he’s holding onto at the edge of a precipice, is Lang Junxia.

But Mu Qing is feeling quite indignant on Duan Ling’s behalf, believing that Wu Du has tied Duan Ling to himself with a debt of gratitude. But since Duan Ling has put it that way, Mu Qing will stop talking badly about him behind his back. He can but nod and say, “Well, as long as you’re happy.”

Duan Ling smiles, but what surfaces in his mind is another scene altogether — when Mu Qing overheard the conversation between Chang Pin and his father, and filled with indignation, said he’s going to remind Duan Ling, Mu Kuangda must have told him not to say anything as it’d be of no use. Mu Qing didn’t believe him, said it anyway, and this is the predictable result.

I’m a tactful man — Mu Kuangda is always saying that. Duan Ling understands him very well, but alas his son is always quite blunt. Sometimes Duan Ling feels as though he’s far more like Mu Kuangda’s son than Mu Qing, and Mu Qing’s mindset is more like his own father Li Jianhong. Perhaps if they swap their dads around, everything would seem to be a more normal fit.

“What are you smiling at?”

“You’ve grown,” Duan Ling says.

“You make yourself sound so old or something.”

“When I was in Tongguan, I missed you very much.”

Mu Qing says smilingly, “Dad was so busy with the capital relocation that I was about bored to death. I was waiting for you to come back every single day.”

Duan Ling almost didn’t think of Mu Qing at all, he’s only telling him this now in an attempt to make him happy. Wu Du is someone who’d treat him well without knowing who he is, and so is Mu Qing. There’s a world of difference between these two people, however.

Outside, soft powdery snow is falling, and they huddle around a fire pan, not wanting to study at all. Duan Ling thinks he may as well give up, and tosses his books aside. He says to Mu Qing, “Let me take you out somewhere. Where do you want to go?”

Mu Qing would never imagine that the studious Duan Ling would be the one to ask to take him out somewhere. His eyes brighten at once. “Let’s go! I’ll take you somewhere!”

One must stop to smell the flowers every once in a while, and it just so happens that the estate is empty at the moment. Duan Ling quickly puts away their things and goes back to his courtyard house to change his clothes. When he comes out behind Mu Qing, the carriage is stopped right in front of the alley. Duan Ling asks, “Where’re we going?”

“You’ll find out once we get there,” Mu Qing replies and digs around in his waist purse until he finds a plaque. He holds on to the plaque and takes Duan Ling’s hand, giving his own hand warming stove to Duan Ling.

“Who’s there?”

The carriage travels for a while before they’re stopped at a guarded checkpoint. Duan Ling is about to answer, but Mu Qing gestures for quiet and reaches through the curtain to show the guards his plaque. “Me. I’m from the Mu family.”

“Young master of the Mu family.” The guard outside says, “Is it just you?”

“I’m here to see my dad,” Mu Qing says.

The guard hands his plaque back to him and lets the carriage pass. Are we going to the Secretariat? Where Mu Kuangda works? He’s always wanted to see the Office of the Grand Secretariat, and yet Mu Qing still won’t let him talk. It’s not until they pass through several checkpoints, after their carriage has taken many twists and turns, and has come to a stop before Mu Qing tells him, “Alright then, let’s go!”

A light snow is falling, and it is just past noon; everything is a bit damp. When Duan Ling puts his foot on the ground, he realises that he’s in a courtyard, and the walls are as tall as two people stacked on top of each other. It seems to be a rear courtyard.

“What is this place?” Duan Ling asks curiously.

Mu Qing doesn’t say anything. He takes Duan Ling’s hand and starts walking towards the other gate in the courtyard. Duan Ling is asking himself if this is what the Secretariat Office looks like, but that seems less likely with every step. It’s only after they get through a covered gallery and a flower garden that he suddenly realises they’re in the palace!

“The palace?” Duan Ling says, flabbergasted.

“Heheh.” Mu Qing has clearly taken Duan Ling here to stretch his horizons, so of course Duan Ling’s astonishment has made him quite pleased with himself. But he has no idea that to Duan Ling, this novel place he’s never been in, is his actual home.

Duan Ling’s head snaps through a dozen calculations, thinking he’d better not run into Cai Yan right now, but even if he does run into Cai Yan, so what? There’s no way he’d dare commit murder in the palace, would he? The idea makes him both nervous and excited.

Mu Qing looks like he’s lost. “Damn, I forgot we aren’t in Xichuan. How come the Jianzhou palace is so huge? I don’t even know where the path is.”

Duan Ling says, “Don’t panic. We’ll ask someone.”

They spy several guards standing in the winding corridor, and a warrior who seems like a captain of sorts, who’s giving the others instructions, so Duan Ling walks up to them to ask for directions. Yet as soon as the warrior turns around, Mu Qing goes pale with fear and hurriedly waves at Duan Ling while whispering, “Don’t go!”

Alas, though he wonders at Mu Qing’s reaction, Duan Ling is already within the warrior’s line of sight. The man has finished giving his instructions and has noticed Duan Ling.

He’s eight feet tall2 with straight black eyebrows and bright eyes, clad head to toe in black armour, carrying a plain black iron dragon flail.3

Wrapped up in a fur cape, Duan Ling has just come out of his classroom in the chancellor’s estate without having spent any time on his appearance. His hair is casually draping over his shoulders, running down his back, and he has the coral bracelet Mu Qing gave him wrapped around his wrist. As soon as the man sees him, he stops in his tracks, staring at Duan Ling incredulously as though he’s fallen into a dream.

Duan Ling isn’t sure what to make of that, and for a moment remains silent.

The warrior seems lost in thought. Duan Ling raises a hand and waves it in front of his face rather apprehensively.

“You’re …” The warrior says with a frown.

Blowing snow sweeps by them, Duan Ling smiles, straightening his back before he puts one fist in his palm to bow square and properly at the warrior.

In an instant, time turns backwards around them; the snow that covers the earth and sky is drawn away in a flash towards the horizon.

Time flows against the current. The yellow leaves beneath the trees in the palace gardens fly back onto their branches; flowers wither and bloom again, leaves turn yellow then green. Time fluctuates around him and countless images flash by in a blink as though he’s returned to the border, south of the Yellow River.

I live by the north sea and you the south; not even the great goose can carry my letters.

Peach and plum trees in spring breeze, a single cup of wine, sojourns, night rain, ten years beneath a solitary lantern.4

“My name is Wang Shan, Could you tell me in which palace hall the empress resides, please?”

Xie You finally awakens from his memories, and by now Mu Qing has jogged his way over to Duan Ling. He stands behind Duan Ling, and gives Xie You a shy smile. “General Xie, I’m here to … see my aunt.”

“Greetings, General Xie,” Duan Ling hastily adds.

Xie You comes back to the present in a heartbeat, but it’s to fall into an even more prolonged bout of distraction, until a single snowflake lands on Duan Ling’s eyebrow. Duan Ling seems a little lost, and a shallow furrow appears between his brows.

And then Xie You slowly raises a hand to point at the end of the corridor.

Mu Qing and Duan Ling salute immediately to thank him.

Mu Qing says, “Thank you, General Xie.”

“Thank you, General Xie,” Duan Ling repeats.

Mu Qing takes Duan Ling’s hand and runs off as quickly as he can. Still standing in the covered gallery, Xie You is surprised to find he’s momentarily dazzled, overcome with a feeling of vertigo, and his heart feels like it’s been given a dull thump with a hammer.

“That was Xie You,” Mu Qing says to Duan Ling. “Commander of a major army division. The best fighter of Jiangzhou, Defender General of Great Chen.”

Duan Ling is astonished beyond words. Did he recognise me? He probably shouldn’t have been able to recognise me. Even Wu Du and Mu Kuangda didn’t manage to recognise him, so let alone Xie You? He resembles his mother and doesn’t share his father’s features, but that’s somehow become a layer of protection for him.

“He gives off such a killing aura,” Duan Ling says. “The way he was looking at me earlier feels like he was going to kill me.”

“He’s like that with everyone.” Clearly, Mu Qing still remembers the impression he had of Xie You from a year ago. During that summer storm, Mu Kuangda had taken him to Li Jianhong in an attempt to give his son to him as a disciple. Xie You’s might has truly left a deep impression on him.

They make their way to the Palace of Eternal Autumn, only to find that Empress Mu Jinzhi isn’t there. A palace maid staying behind knows Mu Qing though, and smiles at him. “Aiya, what are you doing coming all the way here on your own?”

“Where’s my aunt?”

“She’s in the garden with His Majesty right now.”

Mu Qing asks the maid to find the clothes he keeps in the Autumn Palace, then he and Duan Ling change into them. Duan Ling recalls how Mu Qing’s aunt is Mu Jinzhi — the current empress. That is to say, if he goes over there just like this he’s going to run into Li Yanqiu. As this thought occurs to him, his heart starts beating out of his chest. He’s not even sure how things will turn out if Cai Yan and Lang Junxia also happen to be there.

Wu Du has also come to the palace. Is he here?

“I’d better …” Duan Ling hesitates, “not show my face. I’ll just watch from a distance. You brought me here secretly, and that’s not proper after all.”

“That’s fine. The empress is my aunt, and His Majesty is my uncle. What’s there to be scared of?”

“No no. I’m a bit scared.”

Duan Ling is far more than just a bit scared — to rashly rush his way to Li Yanqiu will create a situation out of his control. As he’s insisting over and over, Mu Qing says, “Well alright, we’ll just watch from a distance, that way I wouldn’t get interrogated either.”

By the time they get to the Imperial Gardens, the snow has stopped. The carved balustrades and flying eaves of the palace are outlined in an even gauze of bright white. When Duan Ling sees what’s happening in the garden, his heart does a little flip. Inside the pavilion are several tables, one person sitting behind a table facing the garden, while the crowd has left a clearing in the garden itself, with quite a few people standing at its edge.

“The one in the middle is His Majesty,” Mu Qing explains, holding Duan Ling by the sleeve, keeping them behind a pillar.

The woman next to Li Yanqiu is of course Mu Jinzhi, and to the left of the seat of the emperor is a young man with an underling behind him, while farther down the line are Mu Kuangda and two more officials.

An envoy dressed in Mongolian clothing is seated in the guest seat to the right.

“The Mongolians are here?” Duan Ling thinks of the coral beads he’s wearing — ah, that fits now.

“Today is the sixth of the twelfth month — the crown prince’s birthday.” The palace maid in charge explains to them, “The Mongolians have sent an envoy with gifts to congratulate him.”

Duan Ling nods, and sees four people standing in the clearing outside the pavilion that are not speaking to one another. They are precisely Chang Liujun, Lang Junxia, Zheng Yan, and Wu Du. Duan Ling spots Wu Du with a single glance, and Wu Du is looking extremely impatient as he stares at the scene with crossed arms.

Two Mongolians are performing a wrestling match for the crown prince. Duan Ling cannot help but remember the wrestling moves Batu taught him when they were at the Illustrious Hall. From what he’s seeing, this isn’t the first time the Mongolians have come to call on Southern Chen’s imperial family.

I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

The “eight feet tall” was a common description for “tall”. Probably about 185cm. ↩︎

The precursor to the nunchucks. They look like nunchucks, except one of the sticks is about 4x the size of the other one, with a short chain in the middle. It’s an anti-cavalry weapon. ↩︎

Poem by Huang Tingjian, Song dynasty. It was called “To Huang Jifu”, a friend of Huang Tingjian in his youth. What’s implied here is “since we met in spring beneath fruit trees and drank from a single cup, it’s been ten years of wandering alone, moving from place to place, and missing you.” ↩︎

#相見歡 #fei tian ye xiang #joyful reunion #xiang jian huan #fox translates things

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lirbrarycrows · 4 years

Text

Various Fake Dating HCs

Various situations that require fake dating from there’s a creep, to a school play, and how it becomes real

AN/Yall know the drill. Caffeine, sugar, no sleep, binge writing session with no edits. That said if anyone catches a mistake please let me know Todoroki’s got a little away from me (def. was not 2 pages worth of google docs nope not me wrong writer) Enjoy!

Characters: Deku, Bakugou, Kaminari, Shinsou, Todoroki

Word Count: 2520

Requests Open

Warnings: Mentions harassment

Deku

Mineta wasn’t the only creep on campus and you were Class 1-E’s lucky lady as he called you thinking he was God’s gift to women

After 2 weeks of annoying you everyday after class was enough

You’d complained to Deku and Uraka about it before so he was well aware of the jerk

When he approached you at lunch you couldn’t take it anymore

The moment he left you’d plopped your forehead onto Deku’s shoulder and asked Deku to help you out offering to buy him lunch for the week in return

He wasn’t sure how he could - he knew he couldn’t intimidate the guy like Kirishima or Bakugou so he wasn’t sure what you wanted

When you explained he’d gone pink but agreed

Since then he’d held your hand, helped you study, and called you honey and sweets when the creep was in earshot

It took the jerk a while to realize you weren’t interested for some reason when he did though Deku kept up all the sweet gestures

You told him a week after the last encounter with the creep that he could stop

He’d just murmured (thinking you couldn’t here) “I don’t want to”

You’d given him a kiss on the check and realizing you’d heard he’d launched into one of his patented spiels saying of course if you weren’t interested, and he still was focused on becoming the number 1 hero, and and and

You’d wait for him to finish and look up at from the floor before giving him a smile and asking where he wanted to go on your first official date

Bakugou

It was his idea believe it or not. You both were good friends and after his internship he had several dedicates “fans” They’d gone so far as to track him down and asked him out incessantly

The first time he’d scoffed and told them to get loss with his usual tact, that is to say none

After that when they’d followed him everyday from the gates of UA he’d blown up at them, literally

Most of them were properly scared off by this or at least more reserved 1 girl just couldn’t take a hint

You and Bakugou had been sent to get snacks for movie night later and SHE was as always waiting on Bakugou

He’d groaned seeing her and whispered in you ear to play along

Snaked his arms dangerously low around your waist, pulled you close

He purposefully didn’t look at her pretending he hadn’t already seen her

When you were out of the gates he spun you around and trapped you against the wall leaning in to whisper to you thanking you for playing along he asked if he could kiss you

You grabbed his face and pulled it towards your own

When you broke apart he smirked then pretended to take notice of the girl telling her off for spying on him and his girlfriend

You walked up behind him as he yelled at the girl and glared daggers at her

She wasn’t happy about it but between both your threats she finally backed off (though she would occasionally pop up at public UA events)

You were always with the Bakusquad so it was an easy matter to plant a kiss on his check and motion you were watching her in case she felt like trying anything

Neither of you were ready for or wanted a real relationship so that was as far as it went in high school but you keep in contact and who knows what the future holds

It did become a running joke how you two were such a lovey dovey couple in between the cursing each other out and harder than necessary slugs to the shoulder

Kaminari

You two flirted like there was no tomorrow

Eventually everyone assumed you were dating bc who else flirts with every breath

One night you were running late and Kirishima had asked Denki “Where’s your girlfriend”

It took him a second bc as much as you both flirted it was never serious

You’d popped in not a minute later and Kaminari had thrown his arm around you dramatically declaring “MY BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND IS HERE” for everyone to here

You looked at him quizzically and snorted

He managed to pull you away from the group and convince you it'd be a great joke to see how long you could convince the gang you were dating and how much drama you could create in your fake “relationship”

You were plotting soap opera level storylines by the end of the night

After a week of scheming and late night writing session you started your personal drama with a dramatic monologue to the girls before class on how Kaminari had forgotten your so important 1 week-aversy

-They’d consoled you and told you guys care about stuff but if you did you should talk to Kaminari

By lunch everyone had heard and Bakugou had a betting pool on how long the happy couple would last - Kaminari tried to join but was banned

Week 3 had the suspected cheating scandal - that had earned you a lecture from Kirishima on how it wasn’t manly to cheat and you assuring him nothing had actually happened

By week 5 the two of you had a regular date scheming night

During week 6 when Kirishima was “buzzed” after overusing his quirk he confessed to loving your (nonexistent) identical twin who conveniently went to another school and you had never spoken of bc she had stolen you last boyfriend

Towards the end of the term during date night Denki dropped to one knee proposing a proposal story line you’d burst out laughing when he grabbed a slap bracelet (He’d gotten from goodness knows where) and slapped it onto your wrist

At least take me on a real date first you’d joked - then frozen hoping he hadn’t heard

He had. He took the slap bracelet off, still on one knee and said (Y/N) will you take this slap bracelet and go out with me for realizes I mean

You’d ceremoniously take the slap bracelet and try to carefully put it on your wrist, treasuring it - slap bracelets can’t be gently moved though so it snapped up immediately as you said “I do”

Shinsou

It wasn’t planned by either of you

You didn’t even know people though you were dating until a picture of the two of you showed up in the schools gossip column and someone pointed it out to you at lunch

Shinsou just nodded his head and sighed saying “that makes sense”

You had no idea what he was going on about - you found out that people had been kinder to him this morning some. Guys approached him about his “game” and some girl had talked to him saying if he was with you he couldn’t be as scary as he seemed

You to were close and you knew how much it hurt him that people were scared of him bc of his quirk

You were sitting so you leaned over and gave him a side hug promising him it would be okay

That hug went down the grapevine and “confirmed” your relationship

By the time someone directly asked you about Shinsou the two of you had talked and agreed to let slide neither of you liked anyone and it was helping Shinsou so where was the harm

You didn’t go out of your way to appear as a couple but you were friendly and people were prone to misinterpretation

Shinsou certainly wasn’t a social butterfly but he certainly wasn’t seen as scary and his friend group grew

2 months into your “relationship” Shinsou had a girl confess to him she liked him

He was taken aback she hadn’t talked to him the entirety of last term and suddenly she liked him

She had been scared of him unlike you. Unlike you, something clicked for Shinsou and the rest of the week he found himself comparing other girls to you and realized he may truly be in love with you

By the time he came round to that realization you had made your own. Maybe people had thought you two were a couple bc you hung out with him more, hugged him more, smiled at him more, and liked him more and differently than your other friends. You maybe even loved him

At lunch he was the one who reached out and touched you, lightly settling his hand on yours and asking if you wanted to be more than a rumor

Todoroki

Can we say emotional trauma

In literature class there’d been a project to perform a Kyogen as a part of their classic lit unit - you’d loved it even if you’d been graded more on the accompanying essay of the evolution of language and classism than the performance part

When you saw there was a school play you hasn’t hesitated to audition bc the kyogen performance had been so fun

You hadn’t gotten the lead role you wanted but you were more than fine playing a the female lead’s best friend who got swept off her feet by the quiet tortured poet

As soon as you saw who you’d been cast as you immediately checked who your love interest was. It was none other than Shoto Todoroki

You were really nervous the first rehearsal that focused on your sections

You knew Todoroki only by reputation, as a aloof and focused student

You had no clue what he was doing in the play so you asked. He didn’t tell you the first day instead just did a read through

The entire time the drama teacher kept saying “More Emotion” and “You’re in love so SMILE” you were pretty sure it was directed at Todoroki who was barely beyond monotone

The director requested Todoroki stay after rehearsal for extra practice. As his scene partner you stayed too

During on of these he explained during the kyogen project he’d felt different in his everyday life when he was pretending to be happy or angry compared to when he tried to show no emotion

The director had called that moment a breakthrough. You smiled at him and asked whatever made him think that showing no emotion was in any way a good idea. He didn’t answer you

You made it your mission from then on to get him to show emotion. Of course that was the director’s job on stage. You made it your mission everyday though.

You would have friends pass him notes for you in between classes, eat lunch with him, and had a bad joke of the day hoping to catch him roll his eyes rather than just stare ahead eating robotically

Eventually he started to show cracks in the armour, he would smile when you made funny faces backstage, or say he was upset which wasn’t much but baby steps

There were days he reverted to mono-emotionalism (that emotion being bored) on those days you eventually decided your best course was just to annoy him to death or even better till he said he was annoyed this came in the form of you lightly hitting you arm on his head, singing the 100 digits of pi song on loop, or running and jumping at him (he would always catch you knowing his choices were that or be bowled over)

Those days became fewer and further between as you got closer to the play. There was one particular bad day though. You’d been trying all day to get a reaction, good or bad, out of him with nothing working.

He was sitting on the floor during practice. You dropped beside him and leaned back till your head was in his lap and started asking “What’s up with you?”

You didn’t finish your question bc he shoved you out of his lap and stormed off

Your scenes that day weren’t great to say the least

By the end of practice you were just drained, you really were trying to help, and instead you’d hurt him and that hurt as much as him pushing you away and saying he didn’t need you

The next day you had Deku hand him a note saying you were sorry

You didn’t try to reach out to him the rest of the day, sat with your own friends at lunch, and didn’t bother him between scenes during practice

It was a week before you two spoke and that was only on the blocking of the last scene the leads ran to each other as you two cheered and hugged

Tech week was hell week for 2 reasons 1. The general tiredness and overwhelmingness that always come with tech and 2 you were practically glued to Todoroki’s hip the entire play for 3 run throughs a day and you still weren’t really speaking

Opening night you saw Todoroki pacing half an hour before curtain call. You were headed back to the dressing room to help some of the other girls with their makeup but he looked stressed.

You waved not wanting to startle him. He looked up from his pacing feet and just stared at you

“I’m not here to annoy you. You just look stressed and I wanted to say it’ll be fine and um break a leg. Anyway I’ll leave you to your pacing.” You said before starting to leave

He doesn’t move to stop you from leaving but he stares you down and starts talking, spewing all the feelings that have been building up (that he doesn’t understand) He’s nervous around you. Why is he nervous around you? He’s mad at himself for making you sad that day. You didn’t talk to him. He didn’t know what to do so he let you not talk to him. His miserable and he misses you he thinks. He tried talking to Deku but Deku just told him that he needed to talk to you about these feelings so he didn’t say anything more to Deku. He has all these feeling and doesn’t know why?

You walk towards him and ask if it’s okay to hug him

He gives the smallest nod

You wrap him in the tightest hug you possibly can and lean your head into his chest. He eventually rests his head on top of yours and awkwardly wraps his hands around your back

When you pull away he looks at you for a moment before telling you your makeup looks nice

You have to run to help the girls with their makeup you remember but make him promise to talk after the show

You two talk and by the final curtain call your on stage hug has somehow become a chaste peck on the cheek.

He pays for your post set strike theater crew Denny’s meal with Endeavour's stolen credit card and asks if it counts as a date if there are 20 other people with you

#mha #bnha #mha x reader #Todoroki #todoroki x reader #shinsou #shinsou x reader #denki #denki x reader #kaminari #kaminari x reader #deku #deku x reader #bakugou #bakugou x reader #fake dating #hcs #fanfic #LibraryCrow

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anna-justice · 3 years

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Lost or Found - 24

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

24 - Evermore ...

“Your dad should have killed you when he had the chance…”

Hailey whimpered, her eyes clenched shut and beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“So you want to play hero one more time?”

She flinched in her sleep, her heart beating out of her chest, so fast that she thought it was going to explode.

“That works for me.”

Hailey shot up, screaming. The last thing she saw was the barrel of a gun. She clawed at her chest, trying to get a good breath. “Hailey?” Someone yelled, and then right after, her Aunt appeared in front of her. “Hailey, it’s okay.” Trudy reached out to grab her hand, but Hailey pulled it back, looking at her with scared eyes.

It had been a month since she had heard those words muttered aloud, but they plagued her dreams frequently.

The two weeks following that day, all five of them took turns rotating through the police station. Everyday there were new questions, more people to explain things to, more statements to clarify, it was never ending. Then, it just stopped. There was nothing else they could do, they had to wait for trial. And in the meantime, Erin was placed in a psychiatric hold facility, and her lawyers were defending her actions as a symptom as psychosis.

It bothered them all, that technically she was free, all because they could blame her attempted murder on a psychotic break. Especially when Kelly Severide was looking at time. A few days after, two detectives showed up at Hailey’s house, wanting a full recount of the last five months, and that included the night that she was attacked. When Severide was questioned, he had no alibi and he confessed to strangling Hailey. His excuse was that he was threatened the same way that the rest of them were, only in person. He claimed that he knew Erin was alive the whole time, but she threatened to kill his mom and sister if he didn’t cooperate.

Unfortunately, the only way to corroborate the story for a jury is to prove Erin mentally competent, meaning she was capable of carrying out her threats. To all involved, even Kelly, it was clear that she knew what she was doing, she was a mastermind, but to everyone on the outside, they were just a bunch of teenagers wrapped up in a murder.

The girl that everyone thought was Erin still hadn’t been identified, they had to dig up the casket for the second time. The only way they were able to ID it the first time was by the previous fracture and bracelet, but there are a lot of people in the Chicago area that have broken their left wrist.

So, with no new information and the date for the trial to begin still months away, they all lived life normally. Well, as normal as it could be after everything they went through. And normal for Hailey meant waking up every night screaming.

Trudy looked at her husband, who was standing in the doorway. They shared a look, a very familiar one. They repeated the same steps every night, like some cruel rehearsed dance. Trudy waited patiently for Hailey to calm down, just seated on the floor next to her. “Hailey, sweetie, you’re safe.” She repeated.

Every night it was the same, Hailey would snap out of whatever daze she was in and apologize profusely. “I’m sorry, I got scared…” She started.

“Shhh,” Trudy said, placing a hand on her leg, “It’s okay.”

Hailey nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m good, you all can go back to sleep.” She said, glancing at her uncle.

Trudy just nodded, she learned many nights ago not to fight her on it, “Alright. Goodnight Hailey, we love you.” She said, squeezing her shoulder.

“Love you too.” Hailey said, watching them retreat back to their room. They left the door open like they always did, Hailey sighed rolling over and grabbing her phone. She sent a quick text to her boyfriend.

Hailey: :(

It was a system that they started a few weeks ago. The first few nights Jay would stay up with her on the phone, or she would call him after Trudy and Randy finally left, but the lack of sleep began to play a part in their relationship. So, they decided that every time Hailey had a nightmare (or Jay, he wasn’t clean of them) they would text the other a frowny face, so that in the morning they would know what the other had gone through the night before without having to talk about it. It has proved to be useful.

Hailey laid down again, willing herself to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. Sleep was too vulnerable, so she laid there awake, just waiting for the sun to rise on (hopefully) a better day.

…

“What do you mean you haven’t picked out a costume?” Kim asked, as Jay slammed his door shut. Like every morning, they were all crowded around his truck, waiting until the last minute to head to class. The gossip still hadn’t died down, they were still the topic of every conversation, so they avoided it as much as they could.

Hailey shrugged. “I thought we weren’t dressing up.” She said, looking up at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement. Halloween was tomorrow, and of course Kim had plans for all of them.

“No, I said we weren’t dressing up as the characters from scooby doo…” Kim said, giving Adam a pointed look.

Adam held up his hands in surrender, “Like I said, I’m sorry, it’s too soon.” He said, stifling a laugh.

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you all know I’d have to be scooby. And I’m not dressing up like a dog.” He snapped.

“But Kev,” Adam said, faking a frown. “I thought you were my dawg.” Kevin glared at him, faking a punch as Adam jumped back.

“Anyway,” Kim started, looking back at Hailey and Jay, and ignoring the antics behind her. “I promised Stella we would all be at her party tomorrow night, you guys will be the only people without a costume.”

Hailey sighed, “Kim, we will get costumes, I promise.” Kim opened her mouth, but the warning bell cut her off. Hailey smiled, grabbing Jay’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.” She said, before pulling him away.

“Please tell me you have costume ideas,” Jay said quietly.

“Nope.” They rounded the corner, Jay leaning down and stealing a kiss before they entered their classroom. Criminal justice was a little harder to sit through than it was before, but somehow Jay had managed to get his grade up.

They took their normal seats in the back of the class, waiting for the teacher to begin. “I have an idea,” Jay said, leaning on his hand.

“Okay?” Hailey said cautiously.

“I’ll be a firefighter, and you be a Dalmatian.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hailey scoffed, “No.”

“Okay. You be the firefighter and I’ll be the Dalmatian.” He said, smirking.

Hailey shook her head, “Try again.” Jay fake pouted, retreating back to his half of the shared desk.

Finally, their teacher decided to start class, cutting their conversation off for the time being. After about 30 minutes of notes, he passed out an assignment, leaving them to work on their own. Jay turned to face her, smiling. “I’ve got another idea.” He said, Hailey gave him a pointed look. “Squints and the lifeguard from the sandlot.”

“Why? So every time someone asks us who we are you get to lay on the ground and make me kiss you?” She questioned.

“Exactly.” He deadpanned.

“Jay-”

“Okay, okay.” He said, laughing. He loved it when she got all riled up. “Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, cause you’re so short-”

“Jay!” She said, smacking his bicep.

He laughed harder, “Okay, in all seriousness...we can be Jack and Rose from the titanic…” He watched Hailey’s face slowly morph into slight agreeance, “And Kev could be the iceberg.”

“I’m done with you.” Hailey said shortly, stifling her own laugh.

Jay laughed at his own joke, watching his girlfriend pretend to be aggravated with him. “You love me, you know it.”

“Unfortunately…” Hailey said under her breath. She took a deep breath, “What about Danny and Sandy from Grease?”

Jay smirked, “You in leather pants? Perfect.”

“You’re hopeless.”

…

The next day, Hailey sat in Kim’s bedroom getting ready. They had about an hour before the boys were supposed to come pick them up. Kim and Adam were going as Romeo and Juliet, while Hailey and Jay had finally settled on Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Kevin had grouped up with some of the boys from his team, they were going as zombie football players, very original…

“Kim, you’re going to have to do this.” Hailey said, laughing in defeat.

Kim smiled, taking over for her. She was waiting for her to ask for help, she’d been struggling to french braid her hair for almost twenty minutes. “I got it.” They sat there for a while in silence, Kim carefully laying pieces of blonde hair over the others, she glanced at Hailey in the mirror, noticing the blank look on her face. “How are you doing?”

Hailey’s head snapped up to meet her eyes, she caught her off guard. “Uh,” She shrugged, “I’m okay, I guess…”

Kim scoffed, shaking her head. “I’ve said that word so many times recently that I’m not even sure it’s a word anymore.”

“Yeah…” Hailey said, letting her thoughts wander. “I get that.” And she did, it was like she used the word as a shield. It was her response to everything, and she wasn’t okay, not that it was really a secret. None of them were okay, but saying it made it feel like they were. And deception was something worth clinging onto.

“You know, we never talked about-”

“We don’t need to.” Hailey said, cutting her off.

Kim eyed her cautiously, “Okay.” She wanted to talk, but she didn’t feel like she had any right to push Hailey to. Not after what happened. “Done.” She said, a few minutes later, taking a step back to admire her work.

“Thanks,” Hailey said with a genuine smile, picking up the jar of flower clips they had bought that morning. “You think I should just put these everywhere?”

Kim nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” She reached down, clicking shuffle on a playlist, a random Taylor Swift song playing. They were both done talking.

An hour later, the two of them were sitting in Kim’s kitchen talking to her mom when Jay and Adam arrived. Adam just let himself in the front door, Jay choked on a laugh as he waltzed in like he owned the place.

The boys appeared in the kitchen, “Honey, I’m home.” He said, passing Kim and hugging her mom. Kim rolled her eyes as they all laughed, Jay’s hand finding Hailey’s back like it always did. He was so happy, even though life was still crazy, he was ridiculously happy. Watching Hailey smile and Adam joke around like he used to (before they used it as a distraction) was so nice, and familiar and just so damn good.

Hailey peered up at him, grinning as he pecked her lips. “Alright, let’s get a picture so you all can get out of here.” Claire said, ushering them together. Jay stood next to Adam, both of them holding their girlfriends securely against their waists. They all smiled brightly, relaxing after the click.

They quickly bid their goodbyes, making their way out to Jay’s truck. Hailey slid easily into the passenger seat, despite her nude heels (that she was already regretting), while Adam and Kim got in the back. They pulled out of the driveway, and somehow Adam ended up with aux cord. Somewhere in between an old Maroon 5 song and the Weekend, Jay’s hand found hers on the center console.

Hailey looked down at it and smiled. It was a simple thing that they did every single time they rode together, but it really symbolized how much things had changed. Hailey thought back to the day that he kept his eyes trained on the road, back when she cut him off when he tried to apologize. It was only two months ago, but they were different, everything was different, everything was better.

Jay followed her gaze to their conjoined hands, mimicking her smile. She didn’t have to say anything, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Part of him wishes he could go back and stay with her then, he felt like they had wasted so much time, but the other part of him knew that they were better for it. Neither of them were ready for what they have now, then. And what they have was worth the wait.

Finally they reached their destination, Jay having the park pretty far away due to how many people were already there. They got out, Jay rounding the truck to help Hailey down, even though she hadn’t needed it in a long time. The four of them headed towards the decent sized house, they could hear the music thumping from outside. Hailey slipped her hand in Jay’s, gripping his forearm.

Jay noticed the look of discomfort on her face, leaning down. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, eying her.

Hailey nodded, holding on a little tighter. “Yeah, just don’t want to get lost in the crowd.” Jay nodded, believing her lie. She couldn’t really explain it, but she had a terrible feeling in her stomach and the thought of being lost in a sea of people made her want to throw up. Even though it was over, Hailey still found herself looking over her shoulder and watching out for her. And even though all of that meant she was nowhere near being in a party mood, she wasn’t going to bring everyone else down, they all needed a fun night.

They made their way through the crowded makeshift dance floor, and found Kevin in a living area near the back of the house where he was sitting with Stella, Conner, Matt and Sylvie. “Hey guys,” He called, jumping up and clapping Adam’s back.

Stella stood, hugging Kim tightly, “I’m glad you guys could make it.”

Kim squeezed her, “Me too.”

Stella backed away, touching Hailey’s arm affectionately and giving her a kind smile that she returned. “I know it’s kind of crazy,” Stella laughed, “If you need something or just a break, the keys to the upstairs doors are hidden right under the doors, just inside the rooms.” She glanced at the obvious couples, winking. “I trust you guys.”

They all nodded, Kim blushing, a chorus of “great” and “thanks” sounding. The group dispersed, the five of them huddling up. “Obviously Hailey and I are gonna stick together, if we get lost, meet back here at midnight and we’ll head out?” Jay suggested.

“Sounds good,” Kev said, nodding.

Adam agreed too. “That works for me.”

That works for me…

Hailey flinched at those words, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut. Her breath caught in her throat. The image of a pulled gun flashing through her brain. She grimaced, trying to push the thoughts away. “Hailes…” She took another deep breath, doing everything in her power to keep her fear at bay. “Hailes.” Someone said, harsher, snapping her out of her daze.

“Yeah?” She asked quickly.

Kim eyed her cautiously, “I asked if you wanted a water…”

“Oh,” Hailey shook her head, “No, I’m good, thanks though.” She watched as Kim and Adam slowly disappeared into the crowd, her eyebrowed cinched together.

Jay stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the rest of the room, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, concern clear in his bright green eyes.

Hailey nodded vigorously, “I’m good, I promise.” She said, his face didn’t change. He didn’t believe her. Hailey reached up, pulling him to her level and attaching their lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened it, pulling him even closer. Jay did his best not to get lost in the kiss, but with her it was so hard. She pulled away slowly, peering up at him. “Jay, I’m okay.” Kim was right, it didn’t sound like a word anymore.

Jay sighed, admitting defeat. “Okay.” He laced their hands together, leaning down and kissing her slowly before guiding her to the dance floor. They stood near the edge, Jay’s hand sitting on her hips as they swayed in sync to the fast music. They danced for a while before some of Jay’s teammates interrupted them.

Hailey stood securely at his side as they spoke, absently listening to the trashy rap music that was playing loudly throughout the room. “Fuck, shit, bitch…” The sound of a gun being cocked rang through the speakers and Hailey screamed. Suddenly the eyes of everyone around her staring at her. She was frozen in place, forcing the terrible memories away, but she couldn’t.

“Hailey.” Jay said, but her feet had a mind of their own and she was running towards the staircase, her lungs burning, she couldn’t get in a good breath. “Hailey!” Jay called after her, not even bothering to say goodbye to his team before taking off.

Hailey booked it up the stairs, dropping to the ground in front of the first door she saw, grasping aimlessly for the key. She slumped against the door, tears streaming down her face as she fought to breathe. Jay booked it towards her, crouching down and finding the key easily. He unlocked the door, then swept his hysterical girlfriend off the floor, carrying her into the room and setting her on the bed. She was still heaving in front of him, and Jay placed two hands on either side of her face. “Hailey, Hailey look at me.” He said, but her eyes stayed trained on his chest. “Baby, you’re safe, look at me, please.” She clenched her eyes shut, more tears falling down her face. When she opened them again, they met his and she launched herself into his arms.

Jay held her to him, rocking them gently as she cried into his neck. “I-I thought-” She stuttered, sobs wracking her body.

“I know, I know.” He said, trying to calm her.

“I thought it was over…” She said, and Jay felt his heart clench in his chest.

He ran his hand through her braided hair, no doubt destroying it. “It is, it’s all over, you’re safe. We’re safe.” For some reason that made her cry harder, maybe because she hadn’t for the past month, she had been bottling up her feelings to protect herself and everyone else. Because even though she was, she hadn’t felt safe in a long time.

Hailey pulled away after a long time, utterly exhausted. Jay couldn’t take the look of defeat on her safe, she looked so tired, so broken, that it scared him. How could he not have known how much pain she was in?

She couldn’t bear to look at him, so she kept her gaze fixed on her lap. He placed his hand on her thigh, and Hailey laid one on top of it. She sniffled, using her free hand to wipe the never ending tears from her eyes. “I’m okay.”

…

The following Monday, Hailey sat in the passenger seat of Jay’s truck. After the events of Saturday night, Jay had no choice but to loop in Trudy and Randall, he had to after he had failed to do so before. They spent the rest of the weekend convincing Hailey to see someone, to talk about everything they had been through.

It was probably the trauma left over from her parents, but the stigma that therapy made you weak was ingrained in Hailey’s mind, and convincing her to make an appointment was no easy task.

That’s how they ended up sitting in the parking lot of a private practice right after school, Hailey’s leg bouncing nervously up and down. Jay lifted their intertwined hands off the center console, kissing the back of hers. “I’m going to be here waiting, all I ask is that you go in there and try.” He said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.

Hailey smiled softly, nodding. She leaned across the console and kissed him slowly, hoping that she was able to portray just how much love she had for him and trust she had in him through it. Jay pulled away, taking her in. “I love you, Hailey Upton.”

“I love you, Jay Halstead.” She said.

“Now, go kick some ass.” He said and she laughed, opening the truck door. She shut it, giving him one last look before walking inside the doors.

She sat down in one of the waiting room chairs after signing in, a few minutes later an older man with big glasses popped his head out of the back. “Hailey?”

She stood, “Yes sir.”

The man smiled, “Come with me.” He led her back to an office, gesturing for her to sit on the couch while he sat in the chair across from her. “I’m Dr. Charles, but you can call me Daniel or Dan, or really whatever makes you comfortable.” He explained.

Hailey nodded, shifting nervously. “So, how does this work?” She asked.

“However you want it to, we can talk or not talk about anything you want.” He said, leaning back in his chair.

“Okay,” Hailey glanced at the ground, “The-There’s a lot…”

“That’s okay.”

Hailey grimaced, finally looking at him. “Where do I start?” She asked.

Dr. Charles smiled. “How about the beginning?”

Hailey sighed, taking a few deep breaths, ready to start confronting all the demons that she had been fighting for so long.

“Tell me everything.”

...

A/N: This is long but please, please, please read it!!

First, this is the end of this story, but it is not THE end! There will be a sequel and if you want to see a sneak peak, you can find it HERE. I am so so excited to continue exploring this version of these characters, and don’t worry, the next installment will be just as exciting as this one!

Second, thank you so so so so much to everyone who has shown love to and supported this story. It really means the world to me, you have no idea. This has been such an amazing experience and I have learned so much from writing this, so thank you so much for reading. You guys are truly incredible, and writing has helped me through a tough time in my life. I’m going to say thank you a million time, but thank you, thank you, thank you <3

This story evolved so much lol: in the beginning I had no plan, and then it changed like five times, and we ended up here, so here’s a few things that didn’t make it in.

Nadia was supposed to die in chapter 19, but I decided against it…

I debated Kevin and Stella getting together, don’t hate me for this ahaha

I almost made Kim lose her hearing, but I wasn’t sure I could do the storyline justice with everything else going on

I debated killing Adam (I’M SORRY, i’m sorry…)

And finally (cause you don’t need to know all of my secrets) I ALMOST broke up Upstead at the end

Anyway, there’s some behind the scenes action if you’re interested.

Back to the point: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING ME AND THIS STORY, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, and i cannot wait to embark on this next journey together!!

So much love,

Anna

@lissethsrojas @puckluck28 @fuckyeahkillianemma @chilly7188 @thebigapocalypsewolf @karihighman @ruzek-halstead @anotheronechicagobog @snowwhite013 @tracysupton @angelsjedi @carissalizz

#jay halstead #hailey upton #upstead #upstead au #kim burgess #adam ruzek #burzek au #burzek #kevin atwater #erin lindsay #stella kidd #trudy platt #chicago pd #kelly severide #one chicago #chicago pd au

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fandomficsnstuff · 3 years

Text

Guardian Angel - Part 11

Daryl Dixon x Reader

(Warnings: Reunion!! And smut... and fluff… it’s a smutty, fluffy reunion!:D)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You groaned as you accidentally stepped in some slippery mud, almost making you fall, your gaze moving down to your now destroyed boots, sighing annoyed “great, just perfect” you mumbled as you continued onward. The tire tracks led nowhere, and so far you hadn’t seen any sign of Daryl, but you stayed near the prison, circling around it in an attempt to find any trace of him, you refused to believe that Daryl actually left with Merle… he couldn’t... he wouldn’t, right? You had been looking for him for a week now.

Not long after the gas station you had gone further into the woods, finding an old hunting cabin that hadn’t been touched since before the world went to hell and back, hell even the roof was dusty, and surprisingly, no walkers inside, not even a corpse. In the cabin you found a hunting rifle, some ammo and a hunting knife. You stayed there for almost about six days, give or take, it was loaded with all kinds of supplies, untouched, you could hardly believe it, that

You sighed as you saw a marker you had set up, it let you know that you had gone a full circle around the prison, you weren’t close to it by any means, but you weren’t that far out, if you kept walking in a straight line from the prison, you’d reach your location in about two hours. You bit your lower lip in thought as you stared at the marker, you could turn back, go back to the cabin, rest a day or so, maybe even get to know the new hunting rifle a bit better. Making up your mind you turned around, walking back towards the cabin with determination, and in a day or so, you’d try to broaden your searching area.

You saw the cabin in the distance through the woods, a relieved smile on your lips as you made your way towards it. Daryl would have loved it, being secluded, surrounded by game, he would have absolutely loved it, maybe after you found him and got back to the prison, you could show him this place? It could be a small getaway for the two of you. If you ever found him, that is, said a nagging voice in the back of your mind, doubt starting to take over the small amount of joy that thought gave you, snuffing it out like a lit candle, surrounding you in darkness once again, reminding you that you were looking for a man who knew how to not leave tracks, who couldn’t be followed if he didn’t want to. And maybe he didn’t… maybe he would rather be off with his brother than with you, or with Rick… and Glenn… and Maggie and Beth and Carol and Carl and little Judith and-No, no you couldn’t think like that, not your Daryl, besides, he must have known you were going to go after him, perhaps he was just camping somewhere, with or without Merle, waiting for you to find him? But then again, Daryl was never the being-rescued kind, but maybe he was waiting for you, just maybe, a girl can dream, right?...

You sighed as you were almost near the door when you heard a branch snap, and in an instant you had your rifle out, pointing it towards the source of the noise, only to find someone making their way through the bushes, head down until he finally stepped into view. Your eyes grew wide, tears forming in them as you stared at the man you had been looking for, the rifle slowly lowering as he stared at you, a mix of emotions in his eyes, relief, sorrow, joy, anger? You couldn't decide which one was more prominent. As he slowly approached, you, for some reason, still held the rifle, frozen in place as you stared in disbelief at him.

“You gonna lower that or what?” he asked, half joking, half serious, an almost embarrassed look on his face, knowing you were only out here because of him, because he chose someone else over you, even though he regretted it. He were about halfway towards you when you practically threw the gun down, making him halt his movements, slight fear on his face as he saw you stomping your way over there and he half expected you to slap him, but when you pulled him in for a kiss he was more than happy to oblige, hands gripping your hips in a crushing way, but you didn’t mind, you loved it, even if left bruises. You moaned into the kiss and held onto him for dear life, one hand gripping his shirt in a death grip, a silent warning for him to NOT let go of you, and the other hand was buried in his hair as your tongues fought for dominance, and surprisingly, he let you take over, probably out of guilt.

“Damn, ya’ll swappin’ spit now too? Come on now (Y/N), you can do better than him, how ‘bout me?” you broke away from Daryl at the annoying raspy voice, Daryl about to tell him off when you approached him, and seeing as you walked towards him as you did with Daryl, he expected you to full on kiss him as well, but what he got instead was a fist to the face, and when he was down, you almost killed him, hunting knife at the ready as Daryl lifted you up in the air with no effort. “I’m going to kill you, you sad sack of shit!!” you spat as Daryl still held you up, your legs flailing about like a child not getting their way, and oddly enough, Daryl was smiling at you, Merle wiped his bloody nose, staring at you in disbelief, then laughed, which only pissed you off more. As you finally had seemed to calm down Daryl let your feet touch the ground, but he still held you back, watching with a smirk as your chest heaved, knife in hand and eyes glaring at Merle who just cackled amused “damn gurl, I always knew ya had a little fight in ya, but shit” Merle laughed and you almost flew at him, but once again, the party pooper Daryl stopped you, apparently he wasn't too keen on seeing his brother with countless stab wounds, how odd.

You scoffed as Merle pulled himself up, your eyes catching the make-shift weapon he had instead of a hand, and he smirked as he saw your eyes on it “oh yeah? Like this? Made it myself, that turns you on?” he asked creepily and you spat at his feet “only if you fell on it” you growled and glanced up at Daryl, taking his hand and leading him to the front door of the hunting cabin, grabbing your rifle and leading him inside, slamming the door on Merle as he tried to get in as well, only to walk straight into the now closed door. “Careful, don’t break it” you mumbled annoyed at Merle, who glared at you as he opened the door and went inside, your eyes going straight to him “no, you’re not allowed here, fuck off” you spat, pushing him towards the door, a very shocked Merle looking to his brother “ay! Control your bitch!” he spat, Daryl approaching Merle with a pissed off look “don’t ever call her that” Daryl growled, and you couldn’t help but feel proud as you had a shit-eating grin on your face, staring at Merle. Merle scoffed “alright, alright relax, didn’t know she was ya lady” Merle scoffed annoyed, moving around you and Daryl and all but sitting down on the old and dusty sofa, dust flying up around him, making him cough.

“Oh by the way, be careful on the couch, it’s a bit dusty” you yelled halfway down the hall to the bedroom, dragging Daryl with you after you threw your backpack and weapons in another room, which looked to be an old bathroom. Daryl barely had time to take in the small cabin before you all but pushed him into a room, slamming the door and smirking at him. “So, how long ago did you go back?” you asked as you took off the jacket you were wearing, throwing it on a chair as you moved in front of Daryl, gently pushing him so he sat down at the edge of the bed, you in front of him, in between his legs, his hands reaching for your hips out of instinct but you slapped them away, seeing him glare at you confused before relaxing again, “same day, realized I left someone behind that I couldn’t live without… looked for ya too, been out here every day, today Merle came with me, didn’t force him… I told him that I’d rather die than live without ya, I think he finally realized how much ya mean to me” he mumbled in a low voice, and if he was any other person, you’d ask him to speak up, but you didn’t, you knew he wasn’t always good with words, so in small moments like this, you let him be quiet, and you treasured them above all.

You kneeled down in front of him and gently cupped his cheek, his cheeks bright red, not being used to talking about such sensitive things, such as his love for you. You leaned up and gently kissed his lips, pulling away before he could kiss you back, which he wasn’t all that fond of. “Daryl… I’m so sorry…” you whispered and you heard him scoff “for what? Ya weren’t the one leavin’ with your asshole of a brother” he mumbled and you couldn’t help but chuckle a bit “true, so, how are you gonna make it up to me?” you asked in a teasing manner, expecting all sorts of things, but what you didn’t expect was for him to lift his wrist, showing you the bracelet you had made for him. Your eyes watered as you watched the bracelet on his arm, your hands coming up and gently touching it, fiddling with your initials gently before looking back at Daryl, a bright smile on your lips, leaning up and kissing him, feeling him kiss you back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~smut starts here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the kiss got heavier, you felt his hands cup your face, gently pulling you up from the floor as he got up as well, his hands gripping your hips tightly as you both stood up fully, his hands then moving around your body, feeling every inch until he got bored of the fabric that separated him from your skin. Daryl broke away from you to practically rip your shirt off, your bra following quickly as he leaned in to kiss you again, but you pulled his shirt over his head first, then allowed your lips to touch. You felt him wrap his arms around you, pressing your chest against his as he continued to kiss you, this time it was his tongue that fought and won dominance, not that you complained, not at all.

You moaned as he moved his lips down your throat, placing sloppy kissed along the skin, desperate and needy in nature, and you loved every single minute of it, except- “Daryl I’m really dirty and sweaty maybe I-” he cut you off by roughly groping your breasts, hearing him scoff “think I care? I love you, (Y/N), don’t give a shit ‘bout no dirt” he mumbled the last part and you felt tears form in your eyes again, a bright smile on your lips. “Is this a proposal?” you asked teasingly, hearing him scoff again as he moved his lips up to yours “shut up” he pressed his lips to yours, his hands hastily pushing your pants down as he turned the two of you around and all but pushed you onto the bed, hearing you giggle as you landed, a smirk on his hip as he practically ripped your jeans and underwear off in one quick motion after pulling off your boots and throwing them somewhere “besides,” he mumbled as he kneeled down in front of you, a smug look on his face “ain’t got a ring yet baby” he said before diving in between your legs, your eyes wide, about to say something when you felt his tongue on your clit.

You moaned loudly, not giving a single shit about Merle nearby as Daryl continued to stimulate your clit, occasionally leaving broad, long strokes with his tongue over your hole, it was enough to make your whole body shake. Daryl gently nipped at your clit with his teeth before moving away, giving a kiss to your inner thighs as he stood up, kicking off his shoes and unzipping his pants, his eyes on you the whole time. You watched him crawl over you on the bed, his lips brushing against yours in a way that felt so intimate, so sensual, it was enough to drive you crazy. You felt the tip of his cock gently teasing your entrance, and in the blink of an eye you wrapped your legs around him, hands coming up and gently cupping his face, waiting a second before leaning up and closing the distance, however small it may have been, that was between you.

You moaned into the kiss as he pushed into you, groaning as he pushed all the way in, breaking the kiss to not only breathe but let out a tiny moan, one that sent chills down your spine. “Damn girl, almost forgot how tight you are-” You cut him off by tightening your legs that were wrapped around your hips, a groan escaping his lips as he looked at you, seeing the smirk on your lips made him scoff “careful now, wouldn’t want to hurt ya” he teased and you chuckled “maybe I want you to” you teased back and in his eyes you saw something just *snap*. Without a second thought he leaned down and kissed you with desperation and need and he began to roughly thrust into you, his lips catching you moans, one of his hands gripping your hair tightly, another holding your hips down as he continued to practically drill into you, hearing you whimper and moan made him only go rougher, your eyes rolling to the back of your head at the pleasure. “Fuck, Daryl” you moaned into his lips, hearing him groan in response as he parted from you, eyes staring into yours, and despite the rough movements of his hips, his grip on your hip and your hair, it felt gentle, sensual and meaningful.

“Fuck Daryl I’m gonna cum” you whimpered, still holding eye contact as he continued to drill into you, that cord in your stomach that you missed whenever he wasn’t around, wasn’t inside of you, it began to tighten, so close to snapping, you just needed that little push, that tiny little-oh my god yes. Daryl’s hand that had previously been in your hair moved between your bodies, pressing on your clit as he moved his hand in rough, short circles, your eyes rolling to the back of your head and closing, Daryl’s lips meeting yours in a heated kiss as your coil snapped, waves of warmth and electricity rolled over you, your legs spasming and locking around his hips, forcing him in deeper, which in turn pushed him over the edge, his grip on your hip tightened and he continued his ministrations on your clit, pushing you through your high as you felt his cock pulse inside of you, his cum painting you from inside, and even after it was all over, even after you had gone through his high, he still continued to empty himself inside of you.

You gasped for breath as your lips finally parted, staring into his eyes with a love none of you had ever felt before, until now. You gently cupped his cheek and gave his lips a quick peck, your thumb stroking his cheek “don’t ever leave me again, deal?” you whispered, feeling him nod as he rested his head in the crook of your neck, your hands going to his hair, gently playing with it. You closed your eyes, thankful to feel his heart beat against yours in his chest, sighing heavily in a content manner, tightening your legs around him as your arms wrapped around him, almost like a hug, before letting go, feeling him pull out of you. You frowned at the empty feeling he left behind, and Daryl noticed, kissing your cheek in a small manner of comfort, which did help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~smut ends here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You moved to get up when a hand on your stomach stopped you, you turned your head and saw Daryl on his back, eyes on his hand which rested above your stomach, and a frown formed on your face as you laid down again, feeling his thumb gently stroke your skin, as if absentmindedly, but you knew it wasn’t that, not with the way he stared at your stomach. Finally, his eyes reached yours, and he looked almost doubtful, scared even, his mouth opening as if he were about to say something, but decided against it. “Tell me” you said in a low voice and you heard him sigh, glancing away from you before facing you again “would it be… I mean-... what I said before-... what if… you, you know… what if I got a-... a ring?” he mumbled embarrassed, and your eyes grew a tad bit wider, but soon a smile formed on your lips “depends on what you intend to do with it” you half joked, seeing him scoff as he looked up at the dusty ceiling in thought, moving his hand up and biting the nail on his thumb, only to have you smacking his arm, making him stop “it’s a bad habit” you explained and he scoffed amused, resting the hand on his stomach as he looked back up at the ceiling, his other hand behind his head.

“Already sound like my old lady” he mumbled with a small smile and you smirked at him “so, what would you plan to do with that ring?” you asked as you moved to lay on your stomach besides him, still smirking at him. Daryl turned his head and looked at you, studying every single one of your features as if it would be the last time he ever saw you again if he were to speak his mind. “Give it to ya… I’d make it real pretty, take ya out somewhere… maybe get down on one knee…” he said in a low voice, almost hesitantly, but seeing how your grin grew he felt confidence fill him, watching the way you looked away, heat flooding your cheeks as you couldn’t stop grinning at the thought.

“Well, sounds like a good thing to do with that ring” you said after a while, looking back at him, holding eye contact before giggling and getting up, beginning to put your clothes back on “come on, I think I’ve worried Rick long enough” you joked, feeling him sit behind you and gently kiss your shoulder, and when you turned to look at him he kissed your lips, briefly, you barely had time to respond, as you had done to him before, you watched him get up and get dressed as well. You liked the idea of him making something really romantic… yeah, yeah, you could do that, you thought with a smile on your lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags:

@graniairish

@jaycee374

#Daryl Dixon #Daryl x Reader #TWD FanFic #The Walking Dead

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heyitssmiller · 4 years

Text

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 2: Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire

@lumosinlove Thank you for your lovely characters! This has been so fun to write. :)

Hope you guys enjoy!

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

Leo took one look one look at his co-star slumped at a table in the break room and changed his trajection to include a stop at the coffee machine. “Morning, Dorcas.”

“You’re not allowed to talk right now.”

He laughed under his breath, pressing the espresso button and opening the fridge to look for any non-expired milk products. “Talking is a big part of our job, you know.”

“Does it look like I’m on the clock right now?”

Leo hummed noncommittally, stirring some whole milk into the coffee before sliding it across the table to Dorcas. “Rough night?”

She grabbed the mug and took a tentative sip. Her shoulders relaxed fractionally and she let out a relieved sigh. “I forgot that you actually know how to make office coffee taste good.”

“I’m offended that you doubted me.” Leo took the empty seat next to her. “Now what happened?”

Dorcas looked down at her hands wrapped tightly around her mug, expression carefully neutral. “I broke up with her.” She laughed humorlessly. “I knew it wasn’t working for a while now, so I don’t understand why I’m so upset about it. Our schedules never lined up and we never really saw each other anymore. So I figured it was best to do it now instead of dragging it out.”

Leo knew she wasn’t one for physical affection, so he just sat by her side. “Still hurts, though. She was a big part of your life for a while now; it’s ok to be upset about it, no matter what the circumstances of the breakup are.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re going to be ok. Might not feel like it right now, but you’re as tough as they come.”

“Relationships are shit.”

“Breakups are shit.” Leo corrected gently.

“You know, sometimes people just want to feel like shit for a while. You don’t have to try and fix everything all the time.” She said, but her voice was teasing instead of accusatory. “How are you not emotionally exhausted all the time?”

“A lifetime of practice and sheer force of will.”

Dorcas laughed and shoved him away. “You suck.”

“If you want someone to just rant to, I can definitely make room for that tonight. You can experiment with your cocktail recipes, then get unbelievably drunk off them and trash talk all night.”

“You just want free drinks.”

“Consider it payment for the coffee and pep talk.” He said, rising to his feet. “Come on, we should get to the studio.”

She smiled and followed Leo out the door. “If there’s one thing guaranteed to cheer me up, it’s watching other people fail spectacularly at cooking.”

Dorcas got the cue from the director and started their cooking segment. “Recruits, today I’ll be showing you how to make perfectly-done mashed potatoes, and chef Leo will be teaching you how to make bone-in ribeye. Make sure you’re taking notes – you can use those when you attempt to recreate this dish later today.” There was a frantic flurry of movement as everyone took their notepads out and tried to find their pens.

“All right,” Leo grabbed a large slab of ribeye from the ingredients counter with both hands and heaved it onto the front table. Several recruits flinched back while others looked sick at the sight of their meat actually resembling the animal it came from. He bit back a smile and picked up a butcher’s knife.

God, he loved this job.

“So we’re just going to cut these and then you’re going to take a towel and just basically tear this portion of the meat off in one big piece. You see that? Then we’re going to add oil to a hot pan and drop the steak in.” The sizzling sound of the Maillard reaction filled the room. “We’re going to be basting this with thyme and half a stick of butter once the meat is cooked.”

A frantic whisper of “What the hell is basting?” rose up as Dorcas took over the lead, starting by bringing water to a boil and then waiting for it to reduce to a simmer. Leo watched as several of the recruits’ eyes glazed over, completely lost as Dorcas peeled potatoes in quick, practiced movements.

Leo recognized Logan’s voice as it carried from his spot in the crowd. “Do they have a medic on this show?”

“I hope so.” Finn murmured back.

“Our steak is done now. See the color on that?” Leo grabbed the steak with a pair of tongs and held it up for the recruits to see. “Now for our sauce. Have you guys ever flambéed anything before?”

“Lo, is that French?”

Logan’s microphone just barely picked up his little chuckle. “Yes.”

“Its literal translation means ‘flamed.’” Leo supplied, watching fear develop on their faces and trying his hardest not to laugh, biting his lower lip in the process.

This was only going to end badly, in a glorious blaze of fire.

“We’ve never had a disaster happen on the show flambéing something. Let’s try to keep it that way.” He grabbed the bottle of cognac at his station. “I’m going to take all of this cognac, add it to our pan with the sauce, and light it.”

He grabbed a lighter, flicked it on, and lightly touched it to the surface of the alcohol. Pink-red flames sprung from the pan, causing several of the recruits to shout and step back in alarm. “We’re just going to let it sit and burn off that alcohol.”

Dorcas grabbed her pan and added shallots to it. “I’m going to start getting my shallots sautéed, and –“

“Shallots?” A recruit asked, confusion etched on her face.

“Yes.”

“What are those?”

Dorcas turned and grabbed a shallot from the counter behind her. “This is a shallot.”

“Oh, so an onion.”

“No.” Dorcas said plainly, grabbing a hand mixer to blend her potatoes, butter, and cream. “Once the shallots are cooked, I add them to the potatoes and mix it all together. Then all you have to do is plate all this and you’re done.”

Leo grabbed his saucepan and spooned some out. “Don’t forget to add your sauce on top of the ribeye.”

“Now it’s your job to recreate this dish on your own. You have an hour to complete this challenge. And your time starts… now!”

Chaos ensued. Knives were waved around haphazardly, chopping skills were slim to none. One recruit was still trying to turn the stove on, while another had grabbed a pan that definitely wasn’t going to be big enough for a ribeye steak.

Leo shot Dorcas a horrified look. “Did we go too fast? I thought we explained everything pretty well, but now I’m not sure.”

“That’s just the way of this show.” Dorcas said with a shrug. “We need to see what level they’re on and what their strengths and weaknesses are before we can really start teaching. It gets better when we’re allowed to get out there and help them.”

Finn and Logan had cut off their own ribeyes first and were headed back to their stations. “Oh god I don’t remember anything they showed us.” Finn stressed, putting his ribeye directly onto the pan without any oil.

Logan looked down at his thyme and butter, seemingly at a loss. “Just look at your notes.”

“I can’t read it. You know I have terrible handwriting. Look,” he flipped his notepad around to show Logan. “That’s all I wrote down.”

“Does that say goat?” Logan asked, not bothering to strip the leaves of thyme off the stems and just throwing the entire sprig of herb into his pan.

Finn turned it back around squinted. “Maybe?”

“I like your smiley faces, though.” Logan said, pressing a quick kiss to Finn’s cheek. The redhead smiled broadly.

“Thanks, baby.”

Dorcas hummed by Leo’s side. “I forgot they’re together.”

“Yeah,” Leo absentmindedly fiddled with the bracelet around his wrist. “Must be hard. Hockey’s not known for being accepting.” He tried not to think too much about his memories of locker rooms, judgmental eyes, and the slurs of his own teammates from years ago.

A shout from one of the recruits snapped him back to attention. The recruit was halfway across the room from her on-fire sauce and refusing to go back to her station. Leo sighed. “Flambéing was a horrible first lesson.”

“Maybe. But it sure is entertaining.” Dorcas raised her voice to be heard by the contestants. “Don’t leave pans on a stove unattended, please!”

“Let it rain!” Finn shouted, throwing salt into his pot of cooking potatoes. Dorcas cackled joyously as she watched.

“How much salt are you going to put in there?” Leo called, eyes wide.

Finn repeated, “Let it rain!” as if it were an actual answer.

“I think he just put a cup of salt in those potatoes.”

Dorcas was wheezing now, hunched over as she laughed.

“Laugh now, but we’re the ones who have to taste that.”

She instantly stopped laughing. “Oh shit.”

“We’re definitely going to need those drinks tonight.”

***

Logan’s dish was up first. Leo looked down at his steak and fished out a thyme stem, holding it up for him to see. “When you’re working with thyme, you really need to just use the leaves. When the stems are cooked they get really tough and can be like swallowing fish bones when they’re like this.” He cut into the ribeye and took a bite. “But your steak tastes really good. It’s perfectly cooked and not too dry.”

Logan flashed them a blinding smile (that might have left Leo a little speechless, but he wasn’t planning on admitting that anytime soon).

“The potatoes have a good consistency, too.” Dorcas added when Leo didn’t say anything else. “Good job, Logan.”

After several raw steaks, burned steaks, and soupy mashed potatoes were tasted, the dish both of the chefs were dreading the most appeared in front of them.

Finn’s potatoes.

Dorcas looked to Leo, then met Finn’s eyes. “Now, I haven’t come across many things I’m genuinely afraid to eat. But these potatoes…”

Finn laughed good-naturedly. “Yikes.”

Leo’s eyes bulged as he tried the potatoes. “I think I’m dehydrated now.”

“I think I have a water bottle somewhere, if you want it.”

“I’m tempted to take you up on that.” Dorcas said, voice strained. “In the future, go light on the salt.”

In the end, they had to eliminate the contestant who gave them burned steak and didn’t serve mashed potatoes at all. The directors called cut shortly after that and people visibly relaxed, chatting with friends while the cleaning crew came through and started dealing with the mess. Leo felt like he should probably help with that; there sure was a lot to clean. The crew would be here until midnight at this rate. So he grabbed a disinfectant spray and a rag, turning to start wiping things down and almost running right into Logan as he did so.

“Hey, chef!” Finn said from his spot next to the brunet. “Have your taste buds recovered yet?”

He laughed with a shrug. “I have a feeling they’ll be messed up from now until a month after this show ends. That might be for the best, anyways.”

“Why in the hell did you sign up for this?” Logan asked, head tilted in confusion. “You’re forced to eat awful food and watch a bunch of amateurs destroy this kitchen. Seems more stressful than anything.”

“I mean, watching you wave around that knife today just about gave me a heart attack-“ Finn interrupted him with a loud burst of laughter, causing Leo to smile as he continued, “But it’s fun teaching y’all. It’s a good change of pace. Doing just competitions gets old after a while.”

“Yeah, especially if you win all of them.”

Leo felt his cheeks heat up. “Not all of them.”

“Most of them, then.” Logan amended. “Don’t sell yourself short; you’re really good.”

“So are you guys.” Leo stammered a little, trying to think of the right words. “I – I just wanted to say it’s really cool that you’re both raising so much awareness for the need for diversity in hockey. It’s going to make a world of difference to a lot of people.”

I wish I’d had someone like the two of you to look up to when I was growing up.

He played with his bracelet again. It wasn’t a secret that he was gay – he’d talked about it a few times on various shows and competitions he’d participated in. That was one of the best things about the cooking industry. It didn’t matter who you were or what your secrets were; as long as you were a good cook, most people didn’t really care. Leo had realized at a young age that, no matter what he ended up doing with his life, he wasn’t going to hide any part of himself. He’d done that dance before, and he didn’t care to relive it any time soon.

Finn smiled, throwing an arm around Logan’s shoulders. “Well, thanks. It hasn’t always been the easiest, but we’re happy.”

Leo resolutely ignored the strange pang in his chest at those words. It wasn’t fair of him to be jealous. “I’m glad.” He glanced around and noticed the progress the crew had made. “I should probably go. We’ve still got a lot to do before we head out.”

“Do you guys need any help?”

Leo couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. “Seeing that you made most of this mess, maybe we should have you clean up,” he teased Finn, who pouted. “But no, we’re fine. Thanks for the offer, though. Y’all have a good night.”

“You too!” Logan called over his shoulder. He leaned over to whisper something to Finn, who threw his head back and laughed.

Leo turned away and started wiping down the nearest counter.

***

Post-Episode Interview

Leo: *gives the camera a pained look* Is cooking really this hard for people? I want to get out there and help them so badly, but I can’t. We’re supposed to just observe for this challenge.

The video switches from Leo talking to footage from the earlier challenge: Leo grimacing and taking an aborted step towards a recruit getting his face way too close to the fire. Leo looking on in horror as another recruit wields a knife incorrectly and nearly loses a finger. Dorcas laughing as a recruit tries to grab her potatoes out of a pot of hot water with her bare hands while Leo reaches out and grabs onto the edge of the table with a white-knuckled grip. “Oh god, this isn’t safe at all.” Dorcas ruffles his hair, standing on her tiptoes to do so. “Poor rookie. You get used to it.”

*Back to Leo in the interview room, pinching the bridge of his nose*

Leo: My hair will be completely gray by the end of this show.

#lumosinlove #Sweater Weather #Coast To Coast #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #o'knutzy #chop it like it's hot

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echoes-of-the-clockwork · 3 years

Text

Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter IX

Safely driving out of Aracheole Stronghold, the group head in the direction of Lestallum. As they drew closer to their destination, Prompto turned on the radio just as a newscaster broadcasted the latest news. "At long last imperial blockades of Duscaen roadways have been removed. The imperial army has also demolished all related facilities erected around the region. The provisional government of Insomnia anticipates increased traffic congestion along most local highways, and encourages all citizens to refrain from any unnecessary travel for the time being."

At that moment, Prompto remembered what Ignis told him about Ravus. "So help me figure this out-that was Luna's brother?"

"The high commander himself-wartime makes for quick promotions," Ignis answered.

"Even a son of Tenebrae can rise to the top," Gladio added.

"But why would he want to lead their army?" The sharpshooter questioned.

"Who cares?" Noctis sighed.

"Certainly formidable enough on his own. We are fortunate (Y/n) intervened when she did," the tactician said.

"With that cool sword!" Prompto pops out of his seat and propped himself up on his knees, turning to face the backseat. "I had no idea you carried a sword with you, (Y/n)."

She curled her hands up in her lap, staring down at the middle console. "I haven't had it for long."

Ignis, who's eyes were still glued to the road, chimed in. "The Creator's Blade, if I recall what the high commander uttered."

She was hoping they hadn't heard Ravus use the sword's true name. "Yes. It's, well...um..."

Prompto noticed her distress as she clasped her hands tightly together and shifted uncomfortably in the seat. He leaned over the side of the seat and placed one of his hands over hers, squeezing them tightly. "You don't have to say anything if you're uncomfortable."

She looked up and stared into his eyes. "Thank you, Prom."

Eventually, the royal retinue and the guardian arrived back in Lestallum. Once parked, they headed to the Leville. As they walked into the lobby, they found Iris waiting for them. She had a devastated look on her face as she did her best to hold her tears at bay. "Oh, Gladdy."

Gladio was taken aback at his sister's forlorn expression and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I let you down. I never made it to Caem," she confessed melancholically. "The empire came while you were gone."

Deciding to speak somewhere more private, they headed upstairs to their hotel room. Everyone gathered around the distraught Iris as she explained the situation to them. "None of us said a word about Noct. They just showed up and then...poor Jared."

"What do you mean? What happened to Jared?!" Gladio demanded.

"There was nothing we could do!" Iris wailed back. "H-He...He tried protecting us and another woman. B-But the empire killed him and her!"

"They killed an obscure civilian?" Ignis asked.

She nodded, a single tear trailing down her cheek. "Th-They cut her down without even blinking and dragged her body away..."

Just then, the door to the room slowly opens. All eyes fall onto Talcott as he walks into the room, crying. Noctis gets down on one knee to speak with the weeping boy. His voice was full of sorrow as he spoke. "It's...not right. We should've been here."

"I... I couldn't stop them," Talcott mumbled between sniffles.

"But I won't let the empire get away with it. They'll pay for what they've done. I promise."

The little boy nodded. "I believe in you, Prince Noctis." He then walks away followed by (Y/n).

She followed him out into the hallway. She listened to him sniffle a few more times before squatting down in front of him. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Talcott."

"I-I miss him..." He wiped his tears away, but they were promptly replaced with even more tears. Through his blurry vision, he saw the golden gemstone in her arm. "Grandpa tried protecting a lady who was really nice to us when we first arrived here. Her name was Cynthia and she helped us with so much. You have a gem just like she did."

(Y/n) blinked in surprise. Now she knew the empire wasn't just here for Noctis, but to kill any spirits dwelling within Lestallum. "Really? Was it pretty?"

He nodded with a faint smile. "Mhm. It was blue just like the sky. And yours is yellow like the sun."

The spirit smiled back at him, taking his small hands in both of hers. "How about we get outta this stuffy hotel and have some fun?"

Talcott's smile widened, his tears vanishing. "Yeah!"

While (Y/n) escorted Talcott out of the Leville, the conversation inside the hotel room changed. Iris noticed the spirit when she walked out of the room to check on Talcott and couldn't help but admire her beauty and somewhat strange features. Prompto noticed the girl's perplexed expression and decided to clear the air. "Oh, right! You've never met (Y/n) before."

"I didn't know you guys had someone else traveling with you," Iris said.

"Neither did we until a month ago," Noctis commented.

The young Amicitia wasn't sure what he meant, but pushed it aside. "(Y/n)... She has a gem just like Cynthia. And her eyes are weird, too."

"Cynthia?" Gladio inquired.

"She's the woman Jared tried to protect. She helped us when we first arrived in Lestallum. We were shopping together when the empire showed up."

"Wait, y'mean this Cynthia person was a spirit?" Prompto questioned.

Iris' brows furrowed together, showing her puzzlement. "Spirit? I don't know anything about that."

"By the way you described her, she sounded like one."

"If that indeed is the case, we know for a fact Noct wasn't the empire's only target," Ignis chimed in.

Iris glanced between her brother and the other boys. "What're you talking about?"

"Guess an explanation is in order." Noctis turned to Prompto. "You probably better take this one. You would know more about guardians since you have one."

The blonde nodded and took the lead. He explained to Iris who (Y/n) was and what spirits were, remembering what the golden-eyed girl told him earlier during their journey. He even used pictures to help explain. Concluding his explanation, he examined Iris' expression and saw disbelief in her eyes. "You...don't believe me..."

Iris shook her head. "It's not that I don't believe you. It's just...hard to wrap my head around it. Geralt didn't even say anything about Cynthia being a guardian."

"Who's Geralt?" Gladio asked.

"Cynthia's husband. He sells vegetables in the marketplace."

Prompto blinked in surprise, his heart racing. "Her...husband? C-Can I go talk to him?"

"Don't you think the man needs time to mourn?" The shield sighed.

"Actually, I think he'd enjoy your company, Prompto. His stall is located near Tostwell Grill," Iris said. "Just try to keep talking about Cynthia to a minimum."

"Thanks, Iris!" Prompto dashes out of the room, leaving the others behind.

Noctis crosses his arms, leaning back against the wall with a smirk. "Wanna bet it's about (Y/n)?"

Ignis adjusted his glasses. "He is quite smitten with her."

"At least he's found someone who likes him," Gladio chortled.

Meanwhile in the marketplace, Prompto searches for Geralt's stall. He asked each stall owner their name until stumbling across the man he'd been searching for. He swallowed nervously as he grabbed the merchant's attention. "Sorry to bother you, but are you Geralt?"

The crimson-haired man nodded. "That I am. What can I do for you?"

Prompto held out his wrist and showed him the bracelet with the golden gemstone. "I was hoping to talk to you."

Geralt examines the gemstone, eyes widening when realizing what it was. "So you've got yourself a guardian. By the state of the gemstone, they're still alive."

"Huh?" The merchant held out his hand to show the boy the ring on his finger. Prompto gasped when seeing the gemstone adorning it was black and cracked. "Is that...?"

"The gemstone of my lovely Cynthia. After she was killed by those imperial bastards and dragged away, it turned black and cracked. Not only that, I could feel our connection shatter. It was as if someone had stabbed me in the chest."

The marksman frowned melancholically. "I'm...sorry you had to go through that. I-I don't know what I'd do if I lost (Y/n). She means so much to me..."

Geralt leant forward against the wooden table, staring into the blonde's cerulean eyes. "Listen, she may be your guardian and has sworn to protect you, but you've gotta protect her too. I failed to protect my Cynthia. Don't make the same mistake I did."

Prompto nodded with a determined gleam in his eyes. "I will protect (Y/n), I promise."

A smile appeared on the man's face. "I can tell there's not only determination in your eyes. You love her, don't ya?"

He lowered his head. "I do."

Geralt chortled. "You remind me of myself when I was younger. I fell in love with Cynthia and before I knew it, we were married."

The boy lifted his head. "Did you ever question your relationship? Y'know, since she was your guardian?"

"A buncha times. I don't know how many times I heard my sweet Cynthia worry about her status as my guardian. She feared how she wasn't human and wouldn't be able to satisfy me. But after we got married, all her fears vanished. We were living happily until..."

"The empire attacked," Prompto muttered.

"If I could get revenge for Cynthia, I would." Geralt leant over the table and patted the boy on the shoulder. "I wish you luck with (Y/n)."

"Thanks."

The marksman left the marketplace and searched for (Y/n). He wandered the streets of Lestallum until he found her at the outlook with Talcott. They were sitting on a bench, laughing with one another. The little boy was no longer feeling down thanks to the guardian cheering him up. Prompto froze for a second before snapping a picture of the scene. Checking the photo, he saw it was perfect. Lowering his camera, he walked up to the two with a brilliant smile. "Heyaz!"

"Hey, Prom," (Y/n) greeted him with her usual smile. "Talcott and I were just sharing some funny stories. And while we were out, we happened to overhear hunters talking about spotting a royal tomb atop the Rock of Ravatogh."

"We better tell Noct the good news, then!"

Talcott crosses his arms with a pout. "Man, I wish I could go with you guys. Your adventures sound so fun!"

The spirit patted the top of his head. "Trust me, you'll have your own fun adventures someday. Just keep enjoying being a kid for now." She stood up, stretching her arms into the air before lowering them. "Anyway, we should head back and tell the others what we learned. Right, Talcott?"

"Yeah!" Talcott hopped off the bench and dashed off towards the Leville.

Prompto chuckled at the sight. "Little guy sure has spirit."

"I'm glad he's feeling better," (Y/n) commented. Taking a closer look at the blonde, she noticed his joyous expression was replaced with melancholia. "What's wrong?"

Unconsciously, he'd been fiddling with the bracelet around his wrist. "I, um...I talked to Cynthia's husband, Geralt."

"Oh, Talcott told me about Cynthia. She was the spirit who Jared was trying to protect. He didn't say she was married, though. What made you want to visit Geralt?"

"Just wanted to ask him some things. That's all." Prompto glanced away from the girl, fiddling even more with the bracelet.

(Y/n) placed a hand on her hip, a single eyebrow raised. "Like what?"

"W-Well..."

She closed the distance between them, grabbing his chin between her thumb and index finger. She turned his head so he had no other choice but to look down at her. "You asked him about their relationship, didn't you?"

Prompto's eyes widen as they were still locked hers. "How'd you know?"

"If I had known earlier about Geralt, I would've sought him out myself to ask about his relationship with Cynthia. They're the first human/spirit couple I've heard of." She released his chin. "What did he have to say?"

"He said Cynthia had the same doubts about herself like you do. She was afraid she couldn't make him happy because she wasn't human, but all that fear went away when they got married. They were happy until the empire came to town and killed her." Prompto took her hands in his, entwining their fingers together. "I know you're supposed to be the one protecting me, but I want to protect you too. I-I can't bear the thought of losing you."

She smiled gently at him. "You won't lose me, Prom. I'll always be by your side, even when you don't want me to be."

Prompto laughed, leaning his forehead against hers. "There's no way that'll ever happen." He placed his lips over hers, kissing her gently. He squeezed her hands when the kiss deepened, drowning in the blissful moment. His heartbeat and hers picked up in speed as the kiss became heated. Before it could turn into a full make-out session in broad daylight, they pulled apart. The boy glanced down at their connected hands before quickly looking back up at (Y/n). "Guess we better head back."

"Then let's go." She released one of his hands, but continued to hold the other one. They held hands all the way to the hotel and weren't even ashamed when they walked into the lobby, grabbing everyone's attention.

Iris was the first to react, flying to her feet. She was aware of the couple holding hands, but she was more invested in introducing herself to (Y/n). "We haven't formally met. I'm Iris."

"I'm (Y/n). A pleasure to meet you, Iris," the guardian smiled.

The young Amicitia glances at the gemstone in the girl's upper arm. "Prompto told me everything about spirits earlier. I'm...still trying to wrap my head around it, especially since Cynthia was one too." She them looked over towards Talcott with a smile before meeting the spirit's gaze again. "Thank you for cheering Talcott up. He told me how much fun he had with you today."

"I'm glad I could bring his smile back."

"Oh!" Talcott suddenly shouted. He looked over at Noctis. "(Y/n) and I overheard some hunters talking about another tomb."

The raven-haired boy blinked in surprise. "Really? Where?"

"At the top of the Rock of Ravatogh."

"Well, looks like we know where we're heading next," Gladio commented. "Best head out now if we wanna beat the daemons."

"It is in our best interest to restock our supply of curatives before departing," Ignis said.

Iris and Talcott remained behind as the others left the Leville. They restocked their diminishing supply of curatives before heading to the parking lot. Before they climbed into the Regalia, they could hear the frustrated yells of someone nearby. They all exchanged glances with each other, deciding to check on the frustrated person. They came across the President and CEO of Meteor Publishing, Vyv. He was complaining about the heat, which is what caught the group's attention.

After calming down, Vyv explained to them how he wanted pictures of a cave located at the Rock of Ravatogh. Prompto gasped in excitement at the request. "We'll do it!"

"We will?" Noctis asked.

"I am not passing up this opportunity. Besides, we're already heading that way!"

"Prompto and his pictures..." (Y/n) mumbled.

"Indeed," Ignis said after overhearing the girl.

"Get a good shot and I'll pay you," Vyv said.

"We do need the money," Gladio stated. "And it's only a picture. Blondie'll handle it."

"Aw, yeah!" Prompto cheered. "You can count on me!"

With that, the group headed back to the parking lot and climbed into the Regalia. They left Lestallum and headed towards the Rock of Ravatogh. Ignis pulled the car over to the side of the road when they got as close to the pathway leading up the volcano as they possibly could. Hopping out of the vehicle, they trek up the path until they reached jagged, uneven ground. (Y/n) watched where she stepped to avoid tripping. "So, we're really going to trek up the side of a volcano for a picture and a royal arm."

"Why do you sound excited?" Gladio asked.

She grinned from ear to ear. "I thrive in environments of extreme heat. Makes my magic more powerful."

"You wanna take the lead then?" Noctis asked. "I wouldn't mind, especially if you burn all the monsters we come across. It'd make this whole trip easier."

"And let you guys miss all the fun?" She gasped in feign shock. "Never. Lead the way, Noctis."

Noctis groaned at her answer. "Ugh..."

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist

#ffxv #ffxv x reader #final fantasy xv #final fantasy xv x reader #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #prompto argentum x reader

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chaseatinydream · 3 years

Text

sly san who sacrifices (v) || c.s (atz)

➳ pairing: reader x choi san (ateez)

➳ word count: 3849

➳ genre: badboy au; fluff; angst

➳ synopsis: to the school, he may be a bad boy, the worst of the worst, but to you, he’s choi san, father of three cats, your best friend and ultimately, the boy you’re in love with.

>>>

Phone in hand, you run for the club as fast as you can.

Your feet slap against the wet pavement, little ripples in the puddles of rain left in your wake as you rush towards your destination, eyes glued to the glowing screen of your phone, fixed firmly on that tiny blinking red dot. Your legs are burning from the expected strain of them, but you don’t let up till you’re at the main entrance of the building that San is at.

Neon strobe lights hurt your eyes and you can already hear the raucous timbre of the disco music being blasted inside, the sound reverberating out onto the street outside. You spot the to be party goers mingling behind the red rope, chattering excitedly and dressed to the nines in killer outfits that shine brighter than your future and probably cost more than your college education.

This is definitely not your scene.

Swallowing, you glance down at yourself… you hadn’t really been thinking straight when you’d left the house, you’re dressed in a simple pair of shorts and a tee, nothing too scrappy but definitely not anything suitable for a night out at a club. A groan leaves you and you stare at the daunting sight before you once again, chewing nervously at your bottom lip as you contemplate turning back… and maybe just confronting San another day…

But then you snap back to your senses and give yourself a little slap, because what if this is your last chance? What if after tonight, San tells you he doesn’t want to speak or see you anymore? As unrealistic as it sounds, as irrational as your fears are, if there’s even the slightest chance it could happen, you’re not taking it – Choi San is worth more than your pride.

So you gather your courage, square your shoulders, and march to the main entrance at very front of the line.

Instantly, the mindless chattering all around you falls silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop on the wet asphalt. Panic and just sheer awkwardness crawls over your introverted skin, you weren’t made for places like this! But you force your unease down and meet the bouncer in the eye, he’s a hulking mass of steely muscle with a glint in his eye that almost scares the shit out of you literally (and probably would have if you hadn’t remembered that you had a mission to accomplish here).

He looks you up and down with a dismissive eye, barely needing to incline his head, he’s so tall. Then he leans down the slightest bit to look you directly in the eye with a near frightening stare, muscles in his neck rippling. “The end of the queue is over there, little girl.”

You swallow involuntarily, a bead of sweat running down the back or your neck and sliding down your clothes, the weight of everyone’s gazes on your back is highly uncomfortable but you ignore it in favour of keeping your gaze even and your voice steady. “I’m here to find a friend.”

“I don’t care what your reason is, in case you didn’t hear me the first time, the back of the queue is there.” The bouncer enunciates more slowly for you this time, as if you’re the one who’s drunk. “I can’t let you in unless the queue is gone, kid. There are plenty of people who want to get into this club who’ve been out here waiting since dusk.”

Your fingers twist in the hem of your shirt from nerves as you desperately try to think of a way out, unsure of what else you could do to make the man let you in. Glancing back at the queue, you’re horrified to see that it stretches around three blocks and disappears down a street, further than your eye can see. Waiting isn’t a viable option, but you don’t really have another choice unless it’s…

You force a polite smile on your face to mask the sheer panic you feel and meet the bouncer in the eye; he does not look the least bit amused. “I’m looking for Choi San.” You manage to say without bumbling like a complete fool, but using San’s name does seem to have its intended effect.

The bouncer’s eyes widen imperceptibly in surprise, just enough for you to notice up close. Then his eyebrows pinch together and his mouth pulls downwards in an unamused scowl. “It’s impossible for a person like you to know Choi San. Don’t lie to me, kid.”

You dig the bracelet out of your pocket and shove it in his face, from the way his lips part with a little intake of breath you know he must have seen it before and part of you is… happy... that he recognises it, for some strange reason. “I’m here to return his bracelet to him and then I’ll get out of your hair. Now, are you going to let me in or not?”

You’re not used to being so confident and out there, but there’s a rush of adrenaline flowing through your veins right now from the anticipation. The bouncer’s eyes narrow and for a long moment, you hold his sharp gaze evenly, unwilling to back down till he lets you in.

He backs down first with a sigh, moving towards to the rope that holds the door closed, unhooking it and ushering you inside. Behind you, you can hear angry protests of the people standing in the line, but you ignore them in favour of stepping into the club, eager to get to where San is.

The bouncer grabs your wrist with a warning glare and you whirl around to stare at him in confusion. “If something happens to you in there, missy, it’s not on me. Don’t get into any trouble and get out as fast as you can.”

You grin at him. “Thanks.”

Then you duck inside before he can say anything else.

Immediately, all five of your senses are assaulted by loud noises and bright lights coming from every direction. Bright purple neon juxtaposed against cool black leaves your eyes reeling from the colour contrast, the smell of smoke, sweat and even more alcohol so heavy and thick in the air you can taste it on your tongue. Biting on your lower lip in an attempt to remain calm in the midst of a mass of sweaty, gyrating human bodies, you stand on tip toes and try to search the dark, flickering room for San.

It proves to be a near inhuman feat. Groaning, you pull out your phone and search the map once again, sure enough, your little blue dot has overlapped with San’s red one to form a blinking purple circle, indicating that he is indeed here at this club… but where is he?

“Hey, little missy. This doesn’t look like your scene.” A voice comes from behind you and you jerk in surprise, whirling around to see someone standing there against the wall, exuding such an air of casual confidence that you can’t help but be blown away by it. His hair is blond and tousled into waves, held away from his forehead by a black bandanna to show off beautiful, dark eyes that remind you of sweet, sweet danger. Every instinct goes on high alert instantly and you actually find yourself taking a step back to take him in, he’s dressed in an all black ensemble that’s simple and stylish at the same time.

He meets your eyes with a smirk that you, for some reason, don’t find sleazy and cocks his head to the side playfully, teasingly. “What are you doing here dressed like that, darling?”

You’re on guard around him, tense, and he can see it, he enjoys it. He hasn’t moved an inch but you feel like you’re the one who’s been backed into a corner like a trapped animal, dangerous tension sparking between the two of you as you meet each other’s eyes.

“I’m here for a friend.” You spit out, suddenly desperate to get away from this man that practically oozes danger and appeal all at once. There’s a look in his eye that makes unease bubble in the pit of your stomach and when he takes a step forward, you actually flinch, every muscle in your body getting ready to run.

“Oh? Where is he then?” The man continues stepping closer and closer, and you practically freeze on the spot when he comes within an arm’s length of you. You can feel his hot breath against your cheeks, smell the slight scent of cologne and smoke clinging to his warm skin, feel the heat radiating off him. You don’t even realise you’re moving backwards till you’re backed into the wall, so completely taken by the sheer intensity of his gaze.

He leans in close but never quite touches you, only letting his words brush your bare skin as one hand comes up beside your head, he’s too close for your liking, too seductive than what you can deal with. “Why don’t we leave this place, darling, just you and me– ”

You’re about to cut him off mid-sentence politely, saying that you really need to look for your friend, but he never gets a chance to finish his sentence.

“Get the hell away from her, Wooyoung!”

Your eyes fly open in surprise at the sound of that voice and in the next second, the man is ripped away from you violently and thrown against the wall to your side. Your hands fly over your mouth to prevent the shout of horror from escaping you, but the blond doesn’t seem the least bit fazed at the sight of your best friend pinning him to the wall by the neck.

“What the hell were you doing to her?” San snarls venomously, digging his forearm into the blond’s throat. The blond simply looks down at him with a cocky grin, completely unrepentant as he shrugs. “What does it matter to you?”

San’s face twists in fury at those words frighteningly quick, you feel every drop of blood drain from your face when he raises a fist–

“San!” You cry out, running to his side and yanking on his arm as hard as you can. You’ve never seen San like this, so dark and filled with rage that it almost scares you. “He wasn’t doing anything to me! Stop it!”

San hesitates, fingers clenching and unclenching as he considers your words, the impulsive white hot rage burning behind his eyes simmering ever so slightly. Then he rips his hand from the blond and storms out of the club, leaving the blond rubbing the bruises on his throat with an exaggerated sigh.

“I’m sorry!” You bow once quickly and turn around to chase after San before he can disappear before your eyes again.

The blond sighs at the mess around him and gestures for all the onlookers to get back to their business, making his way over to the bar counter and seating himself on one of the seats there. “Some ice please, Mr Bartender.” He fingers the bruise at his adam’s apple with curiosity, an amused smile tugging on his lips. “I haven’t seen San-ie this worked up since we got expelled from our old school. It’s rather fun to watch him, isn’t he?”

“You shouldn’t have provoked him like that, Wooyoung-ah.” A smooth baritone tells him dryly as he slides a mojito over to him with a disapproving frown. Wooyoung merely grins as he scoops out two ice cubes and holds them to his throat, feeling the cold numbing the ache there, but the adrenaline he feels rushing through his body right now makes it so worth it. “You knew who she was to San, don’t lie to me. It’s like you’re trying to get yourself killed.”

“If I hadn’t done that, that coward would have tried to escape the club. I saw him moving towards the back doors when she came, so I just put on a little show for him to watch. It worked.” Wooyoung shrugs, raising the glass to his lips and taking a mouthful of his drink. Then he yelps and spits it into the potted plant next to him as fast as he can, mouth puckering uncontrollably. “That was the sourest thing I’ve tasted my entire life! What the hell, Yeosang? We’ve been friends for four years and this is how you treat me?”

Yeosang snorts as he wipes his glasses down with a clean cloth, shaking his head. “It’s precisely because we’ve been friends for four years that I’m doing this. You need to stop living so on the edge, it’s going to get you dead in a ditch one day.”

Wooyoung simply shrugs. “I’ll be fine.” Then he winces and presses the ice cubes a little more firmly against his skin, muttering under his breath. “If that little shit doesn’t get back together with her by tomorrow morning, I’m going to wring his neck for him, the fool.”

Yeosang looks over at his friend from behind the counter and rolls his eyes, but there’s a good-natured smile on his lips.

“San!”

Outside, you chase after San into a dark alleyway behind the club, before he can take another step you grab his wrist firmly with both hands and yank him backwards. He nearly stumbles at the force of your insistence, unbalanced from drink and alcohol, but finally turns around to face you, head hanged and not quite meeting your eye, clearly uncomfortable.

“What were you doing here?” San mumbles, words slightly slurred and barely loud enough for you to hear. “Weren’t you supposed to be studying at home with…” He falters for a moment and you frown in confusion, how has he forgotten the name of his own friend?

“Seonghwa and I were studying, but you were acting weird this morning so I went over to your house to ask you what was going on! Claude told me you weren’t at home so I came over to find you myself, only for you to almost get into a fight with someone else–”

San snorts, slumping against the wall with his eyes closed as he rubs his temples. “Wooyoung will be fine. That little bastard knew what he was doing the whole time, edging me on… it was a smart move, I’ll concede…”

You pause for a second. Wooyoung, Wooyoung, Wooyoung… the name sounds familiar… then it hits you. Your eyes widen and you stare at San in shock. “Isn’t Wooyoung that best friend of yours? Are you drunk? You nearly killed him! He didn’t even do anything to me!”

San’s face darken at your words, rising to his feet and lurching forward to stand dangerously close to you. But unlike with Wooyoung, you don’t feel the least bit of fear – San would never allow himself to hurt you, drunk or otherwise. “What the hell were you doing in a place like this, you idiot? What would you have done if Wooyoung wasn’t just playing around and if I weren’t there? Don’t you know you could get hurt?”

“But you were there.” You fire back, insistent. “That’s why I went there. I want to be where you are, is that so wrong?”

San groans, dragging a hand down his face. “The kind of places I go to are the places you shouldn’t be going to! Stay away from me, alright?”

But you’ve had enough of his nonsense and yank the bracelet from your pocket, shoving it in his face. His own eyes widen at the sight and he tries to snatch it from you, but you jerk it out of his reach and shove it back in your own pocket fiercely. “Is that why you took it off, San? I thought we had a promise! Best friends forever, remember?”

You’re furious, but every trace of anger evaporates in the next second, you’re completely stunned when you see a tear escape San, one at first, than two, then more and more, until San’s head is hung and you can’t see his eyes anymore, tears streaking down his cheeks and dripping to the ground. Horror overtakes you and you step forward, gripping his arm tightly. “San! San, what happened–”

Before you can say anything else, San yanks you into his chest and buries his face into your shoulder, trying to stifle his sobs. You’re still upset with him, but for now you just wrap your arms around him, the charms on your own wrist jingling. It’s not like San to be this emotional, you think worriedly… he must have had a lot more to drink than what you had thought. Then he speaks.

“I can’t belong to you anymore.” He mumbles into the crook of your neck brokenly, warm trails running down your shoulder. You utterly confused at his strange words, but then he continues and then you finally get it. “Seonghwa’s so much better for you, such a better person, he’s nice, he’s sweet, he’s kind… I want the best for you, I really do, but why can’t I stop selfishly loving you and just give you to him instead?”

Oh.

You don’t know what to feel for a second, every thought has fled your mind and you don’t know what to say, left wordless. San likes you. Choi San actually likes you. And he thinks you like Seonghwa.

This fool.

Your lips work to form words that you’re not even sure of, but before you can, you feel San slump against you, his weight resting on your shoulder and it’s all you can do to keep him upright, you can feel his snores against your skin. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, instead you settle on doing both, a happy, weak chuckle escaping you as a single tear rolls down your cheek.

“Tell me that again when you’re sober, pabo.” You press a kiss to his temple and turn towards the mouth of the alleyway, pulling San along with you, his warm body pressed against yours. You hear San mumble drunkenly “morning?” under his breath, half asleep and completely knocked out, but you take another step forward, heart overflowing with emotions in this dark night.

Just until next morning.

You can wait that long.

The next morning, San’s eyes blink open, only to be pummeled in the face by a massive headache.

“Ow...” He groans, hunching over on the bed as he presses his fingertips against his forehead, it’s throbbing, alright. Just exactly how much did he drink last night? He clearly had one too many... had Claude driven him back?

Squeezing his eyes shut, he tries to remember the events of the night before... he recalls drinking at the bar with Wooyoung and Yeosang, his shock at seeing you enter the club, searching for someone who could only be him... He remembers trying to run away, seeing Wooyoung brazenly flirting with you and making you feel uncomfortable, red filling his vision and then...

What?

What had happened?

You.

Where were you?

Panic crashes into him and he jumps out of bed as fast as he physically can, bare feet touching the wooden floorboards of your room... your room... San’s brain stops working altogether as he gapes at his surroundings... a vase of spring daffodils he had given you a few days ago at the desk... framed photographs of him, you and Seonghwa on the walls... your biology textbooks on the shelves...

A jingling noise catches his attention and he raises a hand to stare at his wrist in complete and utter shock. It’s his charm bracelet, the one with a bell, around his wrist.

How did that get there? He clearly remembers leaving that with Claude before he left the house... unwilling to look at it again...

He looks down, and he’s shirtless. He looks around. It’s your room. He looks down at himself again.

He’s still shirtless.

San screams.

“What happened?” You burst into the room, holding a spatula menacingly and wearing a worried expression on your face. San only screams louder, yanks the blanket up to his chest and wags a shaking finger at you, looking positively horrified. “I... We... Room... Bed-”

“No, we didn’t sleep together, idiot, I took the sofa.” You roll your eyes and step over with three quick steps to gently press a kiss to his cheek. San immediately halts all movement altogether, becoming as still as a statue with comically wide eyes and a mouth hanging wide open. He doesn’t even move when you step out of the room, and a little part of you feels satisfied that you’ve finally managed to get him back for all those times he’s teased you before.

When you finally return with a tray of warm soup, a glass of warm water and some Advil, San is still standing there, blankly staring into space with one hand pressed to his cheek. You tell him to sit and he does, staring at you in shock the whole time.

“Here.” You pass him the cup and the pills and he swallows them with a gulp of water, shaking his head to regain his bearings. When he looks at you once more, you smile warmly at him with a little, knowing glint in your eye that honestly frightens him a bit.

“How did I get here?” San manages to croak out, his throat raw from the alcohol the night before. You grin a little cockily at him and his heart stutters in his chest, you seat yourself opposite him and take his hand in yours.

San’s eyes widen slightly, you’re behaving uncharacteristically forward with him today. It takes him by surprise but you don’t seem the least bit fazed, instead leaning even closer to meet his eyes with the biggest, brightest grin on your face.

Everything is going into overdrive, he thinks, slightly dazed.

“Someone confessed to me last night.” You whisper confidentially into his ear, eyes so bright and smile so positively radiant that he can’t help but feel happy for you, even though he absolutely despises what this means: Seonghwa must have confessed to you yesterday while the two of you were studying... and he... and he...

You continue rambling with a grin and San allows himself to wallow in his own grief for a moment while you’re distracted. “I’m so happy, you know! Because I’ve liked him secretly for such a long time, but I thought he didn’t like me back... Hey, San! Are you happy for me?”

San snaps back into reality, forcing a smile on his face that he hopes passes for genuine as he nods slowly, eyes downcast. “Yeah...” He can’t meet your gaze right now.

Then, all of a sudden, you smile at him, intertwining your fingers with him and raising your interlocked hands for him to see, your bracelets touching. Your eyes find him, determined and burning with intensity, and his breath leaves him for a moment at the latent fire in your gaze.

“San, would you be mine?”

San chokes.

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez san #ateez fanfiction #san fanfic #choi san #w; san #w; fanfiction

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