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#so its nice to give back for that part at least hahah
lilowoof · 28 days
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Was at the store with mom, and she was eyeing this purse that was a bit out of her price range. I had some extra cash so I decided to get it for her for mother's day, instead of the thing I was originally gonna do.
And it's so nice seeing her face light up at having it! It's a nice purse, and I'm happy that she is happy!
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blindedguilt · 8 months
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Apparently the dialogue in Japanese during the "Leonard's lament/hunger" is a lot more explicit about his inclinations, would you know anything about this? I've heard that the fairy explicitly tells him to do the nasty to the fallen child soldiers but I've seen no confirmation of this
What WAS Changed from Leonard's Hunger to Leonard's Regret - Drakengard Analysis
//Hey anon! I assume you're talking about the game, right? Because I actually DID translate the full script from the World Inside 10th Anni box for the Leonard's Regret/Hunger chapter a while back (It was the only translated part of an unfinished project to do the WHOLE script that likely won't be finished), but that has in-game comparisons between the NTSC-J and NTSC versions as well! I'll link it here if you're interested. Note: This covers only the EVENTS in the game, and not actual in-game dialogue, as I haven't translated that. Sorry! For ease of access, I'll also provide a hopefully adequate summary below the cut detailing the differences between the original script (Later edited into what would be the NTSC-J version of the game), the Japanese version of the game, and the English localisation! Believe it or not, there was actually more cut content between the script and the Japanese version of the game than the Japanese and the English (Which certainly does have it's blunders, but nowhere near as steep.) And of course, if you have any other questions about this, feel free to reach out to my Discord at barnabism or just send another ask! :) Here's the info, strap in for a LONG post ahead:
So to start with the first scene in Leonard's Hunger, there's a couple points of interest right off the bat, actually!
Pointing Out Leonard's Survival
While it was toned down in the Japanese and toned down even further in English, when the Faerie points out the conscripts in the script it was actually an intended jab towards Leonard's absence "Hiding under the trees" which led to his unintentional survival!
(NTSC) "Hark you, hark! Look in the shadows of the trees. The ones hiding away are probably fine." "......" (NTSC-J) "Hey, hey, look carefully through the shadows of the trees. The ones who hide beneath them might be alive and well! Ahahaha!" "...Kgh!" (SCRIPT) "Hey, hey! Look carefully through the shadows of the trees. The one who does that might survive alive and well! Ahahaha!" "...Kgh!"
I wouldn't chalk this up to "censorship", however (At least not in the case of the English), it honestly kinda reads like a bad game of Telephone which is something you'll see a LOT with the English translation. Where the Japanese seemed deliberately toned down to give more "Insinuations" at best or just to outright write around it at worst, the English seems like its trying its best to pick up on that nuance without... Actually knowing where it's coming from? Without that base point of reference (The script), it seems like there was a lot of grappling around in the dark for those poor English localisers to do. :( *That said, there are some instances where things are explicitly written in Japanese but unable to be fluently translated, like Furiae's confession scene, or sometimes... They ARE just outright changed, like the infamous "You smell very nice" line from Ending D. The Drakengard fanbase DOES commonly assume that the latter is the case all-around, but there's a lot more to it than that! Moving on, here's an example of something that was VERY intentionally taken out from the NTSC-J release to the NTSC release.
"Something Else" - Deleted Snippets From Changed Lines
(NTSC) "Oh, it smells fishy. What will you do? Doesn’t it feel dangerous? Are you shaking? Over here! Here! Here!" (NTSC-J) "It smells fishy. What will you do? Can’t you sense it? Isn’t it dangerous? Hahah! Oh? Are you trembling because you’re scared? Or is it something else…? Ahahahahaha! Here! Here! Look here!" (SCRIPT) Faerie (Maliciously): "You can’t see them, but you can smell them, can’t you? Can’t you? That lively scent is your favouriiite~! Right? A large army of smooth, pallid, soft legs is here!"
So as you can see here, the bit from the Japanese - "Oh? Are you trembling because you're scared? Or is it something else...?" was taken out in the English release, but this original Japanese line that appears in the game is COMPLETELY different from what was written in the script!
And if that edited line in the NTSC-J edition of DOD wasn't clear enough as to what the Faerie was hinting at, here's something that's DEFINITELY more explicit. But unlike the English completely removing it over concerns to content, here it seems toned down as a result of differences in writing systems.
"Inexperience" - Pay Attention to the NTSC-J Line
(NTSC) "Right, right! Young soldiers right out of training, gutted like fish!" (NTSC-J) "Right right, ahaha! Still just sweet little things, lacking and inexperienced!" (SCRIPT) "Right, right, ahaha! Boys, boys, beautiful boys! How appetising~!"
Putting aside the Script's description of the young conscripts as "Beautiful" and "Appetising" (Hard, I know lmao), the edited NTSC-J version VERY cleverly used Katakana to it's advantage to make a point that... Honestly, if you ask me, is even more direct than the Script counterpart. Here's a look at what I'm talking about:
(NTSC-J Original) 「そっ、そっ、ウキャキャ! まだまだケツの青い甘チャンばかりだぜ! 」
I've bolded and coloured the Katakana referenced here with the whole article bolded itself, "Ketsu no Aoi", which as a whole can mean "Inexperienced" or "Lacking in x" (Skill, in this case). The interesting thing here is the use of Katakana on "ケツ" here, which, typically when written like that, is used to refer to someone's bottom. So it CAN be taken as "young and inexperienced" or quite literally, "Their ass is inexperienced" which... *Cough* Yeah. This, of course, is a VERY particular use of Katakana, so I honestly can't blame the English localisers just going "Fuck it" and making it their own.
Scrapped Ideas
An added note before we go onto the next scene, which I believe isn't EXACTLY what you're looking for but something I thought you or anyone else reading this would be interested in. There's also something interesting to mention about the "Garrison" that was brought up here ("If the garrison is here, then the prisoners should be, too."), and that's three things:
This WAS originally going to be a type of "Side-quest" where you go save your Union allies from the garrison and defeating the "Monsters" (I believe subhumans) guarding them, and THEN the conscripts begin to attack you in desperation. Unfortunately, it looks like this sidequest was scrapped, though I question what circumstances led to such a specific line pertaining to the quest still remaining.
At one point, it actually WAS thought that items could be used and included - Particularly "Crystals" and "Smokebombs", though looking back, I wonder if these "Crystals" mentioned here were later saved for the crystals you use to find your path in Drakengard 2....
Remember that one conscript that summoned a ghost at the end of the chapter? All conscripts were originally planned to do that. For better or for worse, it didn't go through.
Necrophilia Jokes
As the title suggests, when you mentioned the faerie explicitly goading him on to do it with the dying/dead conscripts, there actually IS something like that not in the NTSC and certainly not the NTSC-J games, but in the script! You'll find a pretty clear example in the very first line!
(NTSC) "Hey, hey! What’ll you do about the bodies? Stab them again?" (NTSC-J) "Hey, hey! What will you do with the bodies? Hahah! Is your torment growing?" (SCRIPT) "Hey, hey! Are you even lusting after corpses? Ahahah! Aren’t you pent up!"
Which of course is it's own can of worms, but shines MUCH more brightly paired with the Faerie's next line, after Leonard states his commitment to give the fallen conscripts a proper bruial:
(NTSC) "You have time for such luxuries? Well, do you? Do you? Do you?" (NTSC-J) "Hahahah! Is this the time for such a deliberate process? Hey, are you listening to me-? Hey, hey!" (SCRIPT) "Ahahaha! This isn’t the time to be toying with corpses. Hey, are you listening to me-? Hey, hey!"
Of course, the Faerie teasing Leonard about necrophilia can and WILL go even worse into the active goading of "Do it, buddy, I dare you" it will give later on, but I want to intercept that with something the Conscript here does in the scripts that really caught my attention - The Conscript, under the influence of Red-Eye, using the weakness of his inclinations to their own advantage.
The Conscripts "Manipulation"
I'm not gonna lie, when I first detail it really brought me back to this fucked up little fanfiction I saw on Pixiv where this conscript ends up seducing and subsequently disemboweling poor Leonard. As you might be able to tell by my mentioning, it's kinda stuck with me. Pixiv is a fascinating place.
(NTSC) "I’m afraid." (NTSC-J) "I’m… I’m afraid…" (SCRIPT) CONSCRIPT (Alluringly): I’m… I’m afraid…
Through the script, there are different dialogue tags to denote the tone in which that particular line is spoken. While this tidbit in itself isn't much, I figured it very worth mentioning just for its role in the general topic of "More controversial things that were snipped out of either the NTSC-J or NTSC versions of Leonard's Regret/Hunger", not to mention the implications it has on the wider nature of Red Eye Disease as a whole! Think about it - Taking into consideration that the script implies the Conscript "Knew" about his inclinations enough to use them to his advantage, Leonard mentioning that this conscript share's his brother's voice is a detail that definitely catches my attention now. I wonder if it was just tragic coincidence, Leonard being unable to judge correctly in his grief, or perhaps RED allowing the conscript to mimic his brothers? Which is an actually TERRIFYING thought, but hey, I absolutely adore it. There is a plethora of writing material and silly thoughts to have from that alone, which, as an RPer, is probably among the best things I can have. XD
The Faerie's Goading
Back to the faerie, there's a final detail in its teasing for this scene:
(NTSC) "Oh? Oh-oh-oh-oh? Feeling pity? For the enemy? Can’t start wavering now!" (NTSC-J) "Oh? Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh? Are you just happening to feel sympathy right now? For the enemy? Now’s no time to tremble. Hey!" (SCRIPT) "Oh? Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh? Are you getting ideas already? For the enemy? I wonder if you’ll go all the way? Just as I thought! Ahah!"
As is the recurring theme here, the script is MUCH more explicit than either, where the NTSC opts for snipping out a couple more details, which in this case is the line "Now's no time to tremble". There's nothing special I have to say about this outside of jesus fuck, of course so we'll wrap it up with the final event scene in Leonard's Regret/Hunger real quick!
Another Note
Just to add, Beholders and Gargoyles were among some of the enemies planned to be put into this level, along with... Treants! It's a popular bit of folklore across Germany, particularly in regard to the Black Forest (Though it came from France) that scared the crap out of me as a kid, so I was pleased to see them here and VERY upset they didn't make the final cut :(
The Final Scene - Leonard's Botched Confession
GOD, from the first time I saw this scene, I was so disappointed. All that tension, all those hints and build-up for Leonard to finally break and be asked "What's going on here? Why are you acting like this?" You'd think you'd get something better than "It's a secret." You just know that this was a scene that got rewritten last second, and it turns out that in the NTSC-J version, it's the same exact case - but in the script? We finally get to see what was intended to be put there (And my years long grudge against that scene was finally, kinda, put to rest.)
So, when Leonard falls to his knees and asks for forgiveness, and Angelus asks (Or perhaps Caim) asks "Why this wasted pity?", the faerie responds for him (Which, keep in mind, Leonard responds to this by immediately begging for Caim to kill him right then and there):
(NTSC) "He won’t say! He’ll never say the truth! It’s a SECRET!" (NTSC-J) "He won’t say! Haha! He’ll never talk about that. It’s! A! Secret! Heehee. Ahahahaha!" (SCRIPT) "He won't say! Haha! That boy was too cute for him to say. He wanted to hold him, among other such things. Heehee. Ahahahaha!"
To add to the bit "He wanted to hold him", the exact word used is "抱きたい", and while it DOES typically mean "To hold, to embrace" among other things in certain ~contexts~ (Like Furiae's confession scene, where the same word is used) it can also mean "To have sex with". The rest of the scene actually doesn't have next to anything changed outside of a tiny added "...You can't." when the Faerie addresses his wish for death that got trimmed from the script, though I will add for context an interesting thing in the same quote a detail added that wasn't originally in the script, similar to a couple other things we've seen so far, is a distinction that can only be seen in Japanese:
(NTSC) "Huh? What did you say? Helloo! You couldn’t die, could you? Just gave yourself a little nick. So sad. Didn’t you make a promise to live with me, big brother? I can’t survive alone anymore, you know. A pact. We made a pact. Don’t forget." (NTSC-J) "Haah-? What are you saying? Helloo? You couldn’t die then, could you? Just gave yourself a small little scar! …You can’t. Didn’t you make a promise to live with me, big brother? I can’t live alone by myself anymore, you know. The pact, the pact! Ahahaha! Take care to remember!" (SCRIPT) "Haah-? What are you saying? Helloo? You couldn’t die then, could you? Just gave yourself a small little scar! …You can’t. Didn’t you make a promise to live with me, big brother? I can’t live alone by myself anymore, you know. The pact, the pact! Ahahaha! Take care to remember!"
It's actually indistinguishable in either translation, so I'll highlight the Japanese text here:
(NTSC-J Original) 「はあ? 何言ってんのお? もしもーし? アナタ死ねなかったんですよねー? ためらい傷バリバリ! ……やだなぁ。俺といっしょに生きてくれるって約束したじゃないですか、お兄さん。俺、もうひとりじゃ生きられない身体なんですよ。契約ね、契約。フヒャヒャヒャ。 おねがいしマッス。」 (SCRIPT Original) 「はあ? 何言ってんのお? もしもし? アナタ死ねなかったんですよねー? ためらいバリバリ! ……やだなぁ。俺といっしょに生きてくれるって約束したじゃないですか、お兄さん。俺、もうひとりじゃ生きられない身体なんですよ。契約ね、契約。フヒャヒャヒャ。 おねがいしマッス。」
Again, it'll be hard to find a difference through all that, but you'll see the game actually added a term to the script's "ためらいバリバリ" - "A hesitant nick", with "ためらい" meaning hesitant and "バリバリ" standing for a small little cut or scar! Together it really is it's own term meaning "A shallow (hesitant) scar" The game, however, added a character - 傷 - which on the surface, doesn't seem to add much, as by itself the character quite literally just means "Wound". HOWEVER, put together with ためらい this creates a very specific term, ためらい傷 (Tameraikizu) which quick literally means "Hesitation wound", and stands as an exact term for the wounds left over when someone who attempts suicide fails and is left with lasting (Usually permanent) scars because of it. And recalling Leonard's failed attempt to slit his throat in his introductory scene... You know, I honestly wondered how permanent that scar was. Either way, I hope this post has the answers you're looking for! I really enjoyed writing it, and of course, if you have any questions, feel free to message me (Via asks, DMs, or Discord!) and I'll be happy to get back to you! Thanks so much for sending this in, just being able to talk about our boy is a treat, so again, I really enjoyed it~ :3> Again, thank you, and I hope you enjoy! :)
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1970sgothfreak · 1 year
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Their unofficial daughter
It was a normal day in London, Layla and Marc were relaxing in their front room of the apartment, until they heard a crash outside of their door not knowing they were about to meet someone who would change their life.
**CRASH**
No one’s pov:
The couple quickly sit up off their couch, looking at each other wondering what that crash sound was, Marc walked up to the front door and he could hear someone muttering curses under their breath.
“Ah…shit…stupid boxes and stupid apartment…and stupid heels”
It sounded like…a teenager?. Marc would look back at Layla confused and a little annoyed that someone had hopefully unintentionally ruined their day off, he opens the door but freezes seeing a teenage picking up boxes and putting the back on-top of each other while mumbling aggressively.
“Uhh…hello?”
“AHHH” the teenager would turn around smacking another box onto the floor and groans annoyed
“Damn it…I’m sorry did I disturb you both..?”
“Yea you kinda did…”
“Shit I’m so sorry, this tiny ass hallway is not helping especially when the movers aren’t helping you”
Marc would notice her 1970s curly blow air hair, it was kinda wild and free and then noticed her very 1970s style of fashion minus the fact she had a few chains on the belt she wore.
She would move her hair out of her face showing a few old and faded scars on the side of her face, some looked like they were from knifes others…were hard to pinpoint what exactly caused them.
Layla pushes past Marc and smiles at the girl, holding her hand out for the girl to shake after placing the fallen box back onto the pile of other boxes.
“You must be the new neighbour I heard about! I’m Layla and this is my Husband Marc”
He would give one of those awkward waves and the girl would shake Layla’s hand and smile a little embarrassed especially because of the scene she caused.
“Hahah yea…that’s me, you two must be my Neighbours once again sorry about the noise…those stupid fucking movers….” She would look annoyed but would take a deep breath and calm down.
“I’m Rosemary, it’s nice to meet you both”
And that…was the start of the new adventure for Marc and Layla.
A/n: WOO FIRST PART IDC IF ITS SHORT now allow me to give some backstory of Rosemary.
She was raised by her Alcoholic mother who would spend her welfare check on booze or male prostitutes, her mother has countless charges for alcohol related crimes but rosemary always bailed out because of her job at a bakery, her dad isn’t in the picture he bailed when finding out her mom was pregnant and she hasn’t seen him since. She raised herself and decided to move out at 16 after a massive argument with her mother and her toxic boyfriend.
She knows archery and was on the streets for a while, mainly getting money by pickpocketing people and also getting into fights with gangs which is why she has the scars, she has trouble opening up about her past and has major trust issues along with some psychological trauma due to her mother constantly betraying her for never being the best and being the reason her dad left
She had a shit home life, raising herself and never having a proper childhood or knowing what it’s like to be an actual child so yea… Give me ideas for this pls :D
Oh also I’m deciding on wether she should be the Avatar of Seth or Horus
( also kinda tempted to give her a bf or at least create a love story for her)
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grippingbeskar · 2 years
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The Element of Surprise | Chapter 11
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Chapter Eleven: The Fight and Flight
mando x fem!reader
series masterlist here
warnings: ADULT CONTENT MINORS DNI (fingering, sexual intercourse mxf, general sexual content, swearing, canon typical violence, death)
word count: 6.6k
a/n: okay i change my mind this is my favourite chapter, this is way longer than i planned but i just couldn't find the right point to stop so sorry for the kind of abrupt ending but i literally had to force myself to stop HAHAH hope you guys enjoyyyyyyy i need to take a cold shower... 
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
“But its hot”
“No.”
“Ill clean the whole ship.”
“You do that already.”
“Ill clean up Grogus’ puke for a week.”
“No.”
You’ve been trying to bargain staying on the ship while the Mand- Din goes for the next bounty, but he isn’t budging no matter what you offer.
“Why not? If anything, Ill just get in the way. If I stay here, me and the baby can train and stay nice and cold and sand-less.”
“I am not leaving you alone on this ship on Jakku. When I said this is the worst place I’ve been, I meant it.”
“I can protect the kid.” You say, suddenly feeling a little defensive of your skills. Sure, you might be a little (okay, a lot) less prepared to defend yourself than he is, but you know you could protect Grogu, and spending as much time as you have with him you would give everything if it meant keeping him safe.
“Its not just him I’m worried about.” He says, and not a single word makes you doubt his meaning.
“I can protect myself, too.” You say, gentler than before.
“I know. But I don’t take chances. Your coming with me.” He steps closer to you, coming back up the ramp to meet you at the ships entrance. The last thing you want him to be doing is worrying about you – that must be why he brings the kid in that bag everywhere. Anyways, the safest you’ve felt in your life has been whenever your next to him. Swinging your already-packed bag over your shoulder, you knew you were probably going to do whatever he asked anyway.
“Fine. If I get even a grain of sand anywhere, I will shoot you with your own blaster.”
“Because that worked out so good for you last time.” If you could see his face, you would be able to see the smirk you hear in his tone. You shove him on the shoulder, and a small ‘oof’ comes out of him as you walk past, hearing his boots clanking on the ramp close behind you. The hot air seems ten times worse as soon as the ramp closes and your option taken away, and you take a deep breath. You know this isn’t Tatooine, but its eerie resemblance brings back all those memories you have been trying to leave behind. You feel a little bit queasy, your head getting fuzzy under the beating sun. You take a step, then another, trying to just walk. You are being ridiculous, you know you are, but you can’t help the feelings that come up just thinking about being back there – constantly on edge and completely alone.
A hand comes to the small of your back, your shirt lifting slightly so that he is touching your skin. He rubs small circles on your back, pulling your mind back to this morning when his hand was grazing your side, and you relax instantly.
“You’re okay. Im with you.” He soothes, and you know you are safe. You open your eyes, and focusing on his hand on your back, you take a step, then another, and before you know it you are walking on your own, but never alone.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
You do not miss Tatooine. You do not miss Tatooine.
The smell, though.
Its like nothing you’ve ever smelt before, and you are for once jealous that Din gets to walk around in a big metal box because at least he doesn’t have to experience this. Its loud, but not in a good way, like on Coruscant. People are yelling prices, glass breaks in a house to your right and you have to switch sides on the street every five steps to avoid a huge chunk of abandoned trash or a broken engine part discarded carelessly.
“I told you s-“
“Don’t even finish that sentence, tin man.” You are hot, sweaty, and probably about to hurl.
“Tin man? That’s new.” He says over the shouting of a woman trying to get you to buy some weird orange liquid in a syringe.
“Well, this planet is bringing out the best in me.”
“Clearly.” His sarcasm is evident, but his hand brushes against yours as you walk. You notice that even on a planet like this, people still move out of his way, and although its too loud to discern a real conversation, you don’t miss the side eye stares they give you and him as you pass.
“How far away are we now?” You know he said the bounty was pretty far into the ‘city’, and the occasional beeps of the fob don’t sound entirely promising.
“Still about an hour or so. You okay?” The way he checks in on you makes your heart flutter even in the indescribable heat.
“Yeah, just hot.”
“Yeah, you are.” The sound that leaves your mouth is halfway between a gasp and a laugh.
“Tin man, are you hitting on me?” You bring a hand to your chest, trying to act shocked.
“Is it working?” he says, his pace slowing so he’s right next to you, lowering his voice so only you can hear.
“Definitely.” You breath, that specific tone of voice always making you shudder. 
A small gurgle comes from the bag in between you both, and you quickly shove the tiny green hand that pokes out the side back in, sighing as you remember where you are.
“Look out for any speeder bikes we can use. I want to finish this quickly.” He says, you can tell he’s just as frustrated as you are by the way he wraps his hand around your wrist, pulling you along as if it will somehow make the next hour go any faster.
His hand over your pulse is the only thing you concentrate on, anytime he touches you everything else shuts out and its just you and him. You zone in on that, any chance to block out the constant buzz of noise around you, and you feel a familiar pull drifting through you, and you decide to follow it. 
You try to go as slow as you can, not wanting to make it obvious what your doing. Not only are you on a dangerous planet where they probably sell Force-sensitive heads on a pike for three credits, you also dont want to disturb him, feeling him weave you through the crowd, clearly concentrating on finding the quarry as soon as possible. 
Allowing your mind to clear of anything but him, you suddenly feel it. His energy is purely masculine, all hard and strong, edges tough against your own. His pulse is steady, and you feel his heart beating in his chest, its sound a song to your ears.
Is this okay? You don’t even know what ‘this’ is – you know when you reach out through the Force you can feel certain parts of a person, you do it with the kid when you train him, but this feels different. When you’ve done this before, its less personal – your aim more to connect through the energy of two people, meeting outside yourselves and moulding into the world around you.
When you focus on him, though, you don’t want to feel anything but him. With his hand guiding you through the busy street, your legs on autopilot, you close your eyes. You can feel him everywhere, his breath on your cheek, how his heart beats against you, caressing your reach. The smell of the planet around you vanishes, and the familiar musky-vanilla of his hair fills your nose. You can feel your energy intertwining with his, and you know this is something you’ve never felt before. 
It feels – good. 
Its almost like he’s touching you, he’s everywhere. You have no idea how long you’ve been doing this, but you never want to stop. You aren’t looking for anything in particular – no memories or feelings flow into your head, you wouldn’t violate his privacy like that, but this energy is tangible. You can feel it skimming over your arm, brushing your cheek. Its almost as good as him actually touching you, and you wonder if you can return the favour. You allow your mind to drive from his chest down his abdomen, feeling every ridge and bump of raw skin he conceals under there. You cant see anything, but you can feel it, and he feels so fucking manly and rough and good. You drift lower, unsure of where your going, you forget anything else but him.
Suddenly, you are snapped out of your concentration, your eyes go wide as you have come to a complete stop. Din looks down at you, his breath rapid and uneven compared to the steady beat you felt just moments ago. You tilt your head up at him, confused.
“Wh-what are you – fuck. What are you doing?” he asks between breaths, and your cheeks go three shades darker in embarrassment as you realise what’s happened. You weren’t the only one feeling your little exploration adventure, and you swallow – hard.
“I-I’m so sorry – I didn’t think-I wasn’t thinking that- “you can’t believe what you were doing. How insensitive could you be? This guy barely told you his name five seconds ago and now you’re using the Force – which he seems completely freaked by to begin with – to basically grope him?! You are going to stay on this planet and die of shame and –
“What? Don’t apologise. I just -shit. Give me a minute.” He still has a hold of your wrist as he pulls you to the side of the street, just as loud and bustling as it was before. “Maker. How did you do that?” you look up at him through your lashes, still embarrassed and slightly ashamed.
“I was just – thinking about you. I guess. When you were holding my wrist it just made me think of stuff – um. So I just went with it. Im really sorry, I swear I didn’t see anything. I just felt. Felt you.” You bite your lip and his helmet bangs slightly as it hits the brick wall behind him. You let him take his time, hand still holding you in position as he takes a few breaths before responding.
“I said don’t apologise.” He shakes his head, his breathing slowing to normal.
“No? I just-“
“Fuck. Why are we so far from the ship?” he says and his helmet bangs against the brick again. You look down, and look back up again straight away when you see why he needed to stop. The giant bulge is visible even through the armoured pants, and you have to bring a hand over your mouth to stop the gasp it erupts from you. You’ve held him in your hand before, but seeing the pure size of him in the light is completely different. 
Was that you?
It was you. Holy shit. You just gave Din a boner on a foreign planet in front of a thousand people. Thank the Maker your hand is over your mouth to stifle the choked sound that comes out of your throat. Dins attention snaps down to you, his hand on your wrist tightening slightly.
“I didn’t mean-“
“Don’t apologise. It felt good.” You didn’t think you could be more turned on than you already were, but hearing him say that proved you wrong as a whole other wave of heat took over you.
“Really?”
“Fuck yes. Just -” he looks around and you follow his gaze, people crowding your vision in every direction. His head bangs against the brick a third time and you pull him toward you off the wall. “This isn't helping.” He whispers, and you already know because you can feel every inch of him pressed against your stomach. You let out a breath far bigger than you thought you were holding. You look up at him, the rise and fall of his chest so big a movement it pushes him closer into you.
“What do you want to do, then?” you ask, and it comes out way more confident than you feel, your hands start to shake slightly in anticipation. He groans, both of his hands resting on your hips, and his helmet comes down to rest on your shoulders. 
“Your killing me, cyar’ika.” Hearing him speaking his own language makes your head swim, even though you don’t know what he’s saying. Sucking in a breath, he takes you by the hand and in one motion you are walking again, slightly slower than before, and you dont miss the occasional shake of his leg to re adjust his pants, using your free hand to cover your mouth hoping he doesn't hear you laughing. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
“Its up here.” The tracking fob has been beeping steadily for 20 minutes, and you are in awe of the way he can just tell where to go, expertly navigating the complicated building you were currently casing the back entrance of. 
“How do you do that?” you ask as he breaks a lock on the back door of the building.
“I just pulled it off. Rusty. See?” he holds up the snapped lock and you shake your head and smile.
“No, I mean how do you just, like know where to go? It took me a year to figure out how to get home from the market on Tatooine.” He just taps his helmet.
“Its built in. Scans for body heat.”
“Even in buildings?” You say as he shoves into the back door, rearing back for a second go of it.
“Through pretty much anything. It tracks footprints, too. Sonic detector picks up anything out of earshot, after that its just left up to instinct.” He tenses and runs sideways into the door, it coming down with a loud bang, the kid currently slung over your shoulder poking his head out at the noise. 
“So you can see up there?” you say, coming through the doorway and pointing up, the sand coloured roof of the floor above flaking slightly on your head. He nods, moving through the ground level of the building, pulling out the tracking fob again. 
You decide to just let him work, watching his head scan left to right, with your new information probably figuring out how many people lie ahead. He takes a few more steps in and the fob lights up like a Christmas tree, beeping rapidly in the direction of the door he stands in front of. Switching the fob off, he turns to you and holds up a finger, indicating your silence. You move behind the doorway, staying far enough to be out of site of anyone entering.
He moves so fast you nearly miss it. This is the first time you’ve really seen him in action, and you immediately understand why people are so terrified of him. More people than you can count rush into the room, and he cuts them down one by one. Grabbing the first by the throat, he throws him across the room, landing three expert punches on the next two guys, both dropping instantly. As more people come in, he ducks behind a pushed over table, unholstering his blaster and firing - never missing a shot. The faster they come the quicker he is, creating a pile of bodies so tall they eventually have to jump over them.
Maybe he got bored with shooting them or theres a reason you cant decipher, but he rolls out from behind the table and starts taking them on again, only two or three remain as he knocks one out cold with the handle of his blaster, and punches the other square in the face.
One left.
He stands there, his breath only slightly faster than usual. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the fob, and it suddenly starts beeping again, so fast its almost continuous. He looks down at it, and then up at the one remaining guy.
For a minute you think he will be smart, surrender and go with Din, face the music of whatever he’s done. At least he would be alive. Suddenly you get a bad taste in your mouth, and its the same feeling you got when you first landed on Tatooine. You blink and miss the moment he reaches for something in his pocket, and its too late because his body hits the floor with a loud ‘thunk’. 
You dont dare speak first, just watch as Din slings the dead body over his shoulder and walks over to the corner you are tucked into, the baby nestled safely behind you.
“You okay?” he looks down at you both, not even a scratch on him, no evidence of the dozen men he just left for dust. You nod at him, unable to form words. You know its not right, you should be scared, right?
Maybe even terrified. He’s lethal, theres no two ways about it. Deathly efficient. You should be shitting your pants right now, but the only thing thats happening in your pants is the slight dampening at your core. 
That was super fucking hot.
Even now, as he stands in front of you extending his free hand out, helping you up while balancing the mans lifeless body on one shoulder, you have to dig your nails into your palm to control yourself. This is totally inappropriate, but you’ve been worked up all day and seeing him in his element, totally controlling, even dominating, is really doing something to you. 
You both start walking, you fall behind him trying to calm down, your heart beating so fast he can probably hear it in his super-hearing helmet. You eventually reach a tall building, its cylindrical exterior lined with windows evenly all the way up. Its probably the nicest building you’ve seen whilst you’ve been here, and when you enter what you think is the lobby, it has actual flooring. You turn around to see Din flopping the body onto the counter, the girl behind the counter not even looking up as she extends her hand out to him, dropping a handful of credits on top of the body. He snatches it, and without another word his hand is on your back guiding you out.
He must come here often, then. You look back at the building slowly fading behind you, a wave of unease flowing over you and you shudder. Dins hand comes off your back, making you look up at him.
“Is everything okay?” you ask him, the way he stands in front of you clearly hinting a lack of confidence, not his usual leaned position.
“I understand if you dont want to stay.” Your face screws up in complete confusion. What? “It puts most people off.” Oh. Does he think your quiet reaction and shudders were from him? You did just watch him murder a whole (literal) pile of people, and maybe that should disturb you a little, but death is something you’ve become accustomed to, and violence comes with the territory. You’ve been around it your whole life, and sure, no one you know cuts people down with the same precision he does, but he could never scare you.
“No!” Is all that comes out of your mouth, and his head tilts slightly. “I mean, no, I- I want to stay. You dont put me off.” you shake your head, grabbing his arm and stepping closer. He sighs, and the way his shoulders drop in what you think is relief.
“You didn't say anything, and just then when you flinched at me I- I thought you were afraid.”
“No! Maker, no that wasn't because of you. I just got a bad feeling from that place. It wasn't you. I swear.” Your eyes are wide and focused on him, and even as people brush past you in the street you dont break contact. 
“Its a bad place. Makes sense.” you nod quickly and a little smile warms your cheeks. “Why were you so quiet, then?”
“When?” You know exactly when.
“The walk back.” This is so humiliating.
“I dont know what your talking about.” You look down, but his hand shoots up and catches your chin, pushing your face back up to him. His head tilts further to the right.
“Answer me.” That fucking voice could make you do anything.
“I needed to calm down, okay?”
“Why?” your cheeks flame up, and the butterflies in your stomach are multiplying by the second. He will wait you out if you dont answer. You have no patience and he has eons of it.
“Because! It-” 
“Tell me.” you let out a huff as his and comes to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. The familiar movement makes your lashes flutter and you stand on your toes to savour the moment as long as you can. His helmet bends down to come next to your ear. “Come on, cyare.” 
“What do those words mean?”
“Your deflecting.” he stands back up, hand still under your chin.
“Yup.” you nod once and stand back on your feet flat. You cant believe he gave it up that easily as he swings the baby back over his own shoulder and reaches behind him, adjusting something on his back.
“Fine. I’ll wait. You can tell me after the ride home.” He says. Your smug smile has a second to show on your face before you register his words. 
Ride? 
“Do you trust me?” He pulls you against him, and you squeak a small ‘yes’ before his arm comes up under you, sweeping you off the floor. Your stomach drops as you launch into the air, and your arms fly around his helmet, face burying into his neck.
“Look, cyar’ika.” You shake your head and he laughs, the sound filling you with calm. You slowly lift your head, looking straight down. You are so high up, taller than the building you were just in front of, and you have no idea how you got so high so quick. The heat from the jetpack warms the back of your arms grasping his back, but when you really look down, you cant believe a planet like Jakku could actually look pretty.
Its sunset, and the pink of the sky drowns out the heat, the lights of the markets just twinkles in the swimming surface below. You cant make out any people in particular, but you can see the crowd move as one mass under you, high enough that the only thing you can smell is the jet fuel burning from the pack and the musky smell of him. 
“This is...” the words are lost in the wind, and the hour long walk is hardly even a five minute flight, the Razor crest already coming in to view. As you begin your descent, each time you drop altitude Dins arms wrap you tighter to him, his hands spreading across your back and under your thighs trying to hold as much of you as possible. 
You aren't afraid of heights, but being so high with no safety net is sure to make the average person nervous, but you dont think you are. Having Din as your safety net is the surest thing you can imagine, and even though he makes you so nervous you cant think, he always makes you feel protected.
The ground comes into clear view, and Din slowly slides his hand out from under you and your feet meet the ground with a soft thud.
“Where the hell have you been hiding that!” You say, the rush of adrenaline still buzzing in your veins. He laughs as you spin him around to take another look at the jet pack, blending seamlessly into his armour. You always did think it was a funny looking pack. 
The ramp comes down and you jump onto it, a rush of energy from your flight home giving you a second wind from your long day. The baby jumps out of the bag he has been encased in all day, running past you straight into the bag of food left on the floor from this morning. The Crest gets darker as you step in, and you hear the small babbles of the baby as he chews happily. You walk over to him and bend down, getting as low as you can to his level.
“You and me tomorrow, kid. Lesson two, okay?” he smiles at you through fruit covered teeth, and yawns, clearly being trapped in a bag all day is tiring work. You feel bad for him and slightly guilty you haven’t made the time to train, but with everything thats happened in the past two days hopefully he will forgive you. You pick him up and bring him over to his crib, and as you lay him in it shutters closed automatically.
As soon as he is out of sight, you feel a gloved hand come around your waist and pull you against hard armour.
“Im done waiting.” His voice is so low it barely breaks, and he pulls you toward the ladder, pressing you to go first. “Up.” he commands, and you go.
The corridor is nearly pitch black, and at first you aren't sure which room to go to, but he comes behind you and forces you straight passed the cockpit into your room. You hear the door slide shut and his hands leave you, only momentarily as they return bare and rough against your skin and slide under your shirt. 
* * * * *
“Din.” you moan and he returns the sound. His hand stops at the waistline of your pants and you arch your back off him, silently desperate.
“Tell me what you were thinking about today.”
“When?” You are completely under his spell as soon as his skin touches yours. His hands ghost the sensitive skin just above your pants and you shiver. 
“When you stayed behind me. After I got the bounty.” His head switches sides, coming from your left instead, your mind disoriented in the dull light of the setting sun.
“Din.” 
“Please, tell me. I need to know you weren’t afraid.” You dont think you have ever heard him say please before, and if you have it was never like that. This isn’t just a sexual thing - of course it isn’t, he doesn't know your fucked up brain made it into one. He still doesn't believe that you dont find him scary, just incredibly skilled and sexy, and the vulnerability in his voice stirs the courage to admit it to him. 
“Im not afraid of you. It- Maker, it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.” His hand stills, spreading against your tummy, and then in one fluid motion he slips it under your waistband and slides one finger inside of you, his thumb drawing a slow, wide circle right where you are most sensitive. You cry out, the thing you’ve been desperate for all day finally sparking through you, shocks making your body jolt slightly in his hold. 
One of his hands leaves you, and your head turns on instinct, but as you see the reflection of the beskar slowly rising and his hand following suit, your neck snaps back to the front facing the window. How close you were to seeing his face hasn't really registered, you cant focus on anything besides his thumb circling lazily on your clit, and now his lips peppering soft, sweet kisses on the back of your neck. 
Without removing his finger from you, he spins you around and kisses you. His mouth tastes as perfect as you remember, and the way his tongue explores your mouth pushes your closer and closer. You can feel your orgasm building, you feel like you’ve been edged all day and you will finally get your release. That is, until, he pulls his finger out of you, drawing his hand up along your thigh and then removing it completely.   
You are pouting, but keep your eyes shut.
“Din, please.” you whine, simply saying his name enough indication of your frustration. His mouth continues to trail kisses along your throat, and he pushes you back a few steps before the ground comes out underneath you. Both of Dins hands control your decent onto the bed, and you can feel him hovering over you. “Din.” you plead again.
“Shh, I got you.” he kisses your open mouth, and begins to tug your pants down, discarding them somewhere in the room. You pull your shirt off, hoping to speed up the process. “Impatient.” he grumbles against your skin, his tongue now dragging across your collarbone, your denied orgasm still teetering on the edge, making you writhe beneath him. You reach your hands up, only to meet beskar.
“Wanna feel you.” you plead, and you dont care how desperate you sound as long as he obliges. 
“Wait here.” Suddenly his weight is off you, and the warmth he provided dissipated. You dont need to open your eyes to know the sun has set, and the soft clatters of metal against metal send your imagination wild. You felt him through the Force today, but that was just a taste. Will he feel as soft as he did when you held him in your hand, or are other parts of him rougher, more worn and scarred? You want to explore every part of him, map it and travel it every day. The longer you sit in the dark the more anxious you get, and when you feel him drop beside you, your hands lead you to him.
He’s so big is your first thought, the armour adding no enhancement to the pure size of him. He is broad, your arms stretching to touch both of his shoulders at once. You use the leverage to swing your leg over him, and when you do you realise he’s taken everything off except for his underpants. Briefs. You can tell because the skin of your inner thigh meets his, and the sensation makes you dizzy. You focus back to your hands, dragging them down over his abs, as hard and rough as you imagined, but nothing could prepare you for the sensation of feeling him underneath you. What you felt before was like a trailer to the best movie you’ve ever seen, or not seen. You are still hovering slightly above him, knowing as soon as that part of you connects with that part of him all self control will be out the window, and you want to explore as much of him as you can, not knowing when you’ll get the chance again.
You are greedy and desperate, trailing your hands down to the waistline of his briefs, and he chokes back a whine when you go back up and over his shoulders, sliding down his arms in an achingly slow pace, feeling the hair on his arms raise at the sensation. When you reach his hands he slides them into yours and pulls them above his head, sliding both of your hands under one of his. You have no idea how, but even with you on top of him, he still has control. 
He kisses your nose as your face dangles in front of him, eyes still shut despite the darkness. His free hand journeys down your side, over your bra strap and coming down on your hip, slowly pushing you down onto him.
You both gasp in unison when you meet each other, him rock hard underneath you, you soaking him immediately. 
“Fucking p-perfect, cyar’ika.” You dont know what that means but you dont fucking care, it sounds so incredible when he says it, unmodulated and gasping underneath you. “Need to feel you. Okay?”
“Fuck. Yes, please. Please, Din.” he lets out a moan as you grind against him, speeding up and chasing your own release. He flips you just as it begins to build again, and you cry out but he kisses you over and over, settling you in a way only he can. “Din, Din pl-”
“M’gonna take care of you. Do you trust me?” he whispers in your ear, his hair tickling your forehead and you nod against him. “Good girl.” he kisses your cheek and you writhe under his praise. He dips his head, taking your underwear between his teeth, the only tell is his breath that heats your lower stomach and the gentle scratch of his front teeth over your hip bone as he drags them down your legs. Two hands run up your shins, then your thighs, opening you up ever so slightly. His hair tickles your inner thigh, and when his tongue sides over your clit, you are instantly on the edge.
“Cant get your fucking taste out of my head, pretty girl.” You can literally feel his words on you as he dives into you again, back arching off the cot and he slides both hands under your thighs, hands covering your hip bones and controlling your movement. Your own hands find his hair, pulling slightly and he moans against you.
His movements are as precise and perfect as his fighting, the only difference being the pace. He fights faster than you can process, but here, with his head between your legs, he works slow. He takes his time, and you all but combust under his rigidity. 
“Maker, Din. Im so fucki-” you cut yourself off with a gasp as he speeds up, a small ‘hmm’ leaving his mouth, vibrating into your core. That small effect sends you into overdrive and your orgasm overwhelms you. Its like nothing you’ve ever felt before, you can feel it from your toes and the way through up to the top of your head, mind-numbing pleasure extracting pornographic moans from the back of your throat, sounding foreign to you. 
You’ve never been particularly loud in bed, but this wasn’t even a choice, the aftershocks just as strong as the initial assault, Dins mouth never leaving you through it all, taking everything you give him. He keeps you perfectly in place even as you fight against his steady hand, his strength evident in his grip and you hope it leaves a mark for days to come, just to remind you this wasn't a dream. 
Din eventually slows, his intentional movements turning to slow, lazy licks against you, seemingly for his own enjoyment. He kisses your inner thighs, before returning to kiss you right on your clit, your hips spasming underneath the light touch. Your mind starts to become clear, and you flutter your eyes open just for a moment before closing them again. Din begins to work his way up your body, planting a long, sensual kiss to your lips, breathing unevenly. 
“So good, baby. Did so good for me.” he praises in your ear, your hands still lost in his hair. As sensitive as you are, you are greedy.
“Din.” he acknowledges you with a small ‘mm’ and you dont know if its your post orgasm high or the fact that you want him so bad that the next sentence leaves your lips. “I want you to fuck me, Din.” He lets out a long, low breath.
“You want me to fuck you, cyar’ika? Thats what you want?” You can feel him bare against you, his dick suddenly sliding against your core, making you moan, loud and lengthy. “Such dirty words for such a pretty girl.”
He continues to drag the head of his cock against you, and your already close just by the feel of him. You begin to think that he’s so perfectly under control, but you remember how quickly he crumbles when you wrapped your hand around him last time, so you reach down and guide the head of his cock, keeping the pace he set, just in your hand. He stutters your name as soon as you touch him, and you bite your lip to hide the smile.
“Say my name again.” he whispers into your ear.
“Din. Din.” you repeat it over and over like a prayer, and he takes control again, sliding into you and finally filling you. 
He whimpers when he enters you, and you screw your eyes shut at the pain and pleasure mixing in your lower body. He stills his movement once he slides all the way in, rasping.
“Tell me how you feel, baby.” All you let out is a sigh, and he doesn't move. You cant form a coherent word, but you know he will wait for you to tell him, forever patient with you.
“Your so big - fuck. I just need a second, I-’“ he kisses your nose and places one forearm next to your head.
“Relax. Take your time.” he whispers, and your heart flutters at his sweet words. “You feel so fucking good, pretty girl.” You moan, and the pain slowly starts to melt away. 
You haven’t done anything like this in a very long time, besides with him, so you slowly adjust to the size of him, shifting your hips slightly to test the pain. The longer he’s inside you, though, the more desperate you become, and with each grunt and gasp he makes in your ear your worried you will finish just to the sound of him.
“Din, move. Please.” He kisses your temple and slowly slides out of you, before filling you again. The pain is still there, but the pleasure is so much more overwhelming you dont care. He sets an excruciatingly slow pace, fitting inside of you so perfectly you feel like you were made for this and only this. 
“Faster, fuck please! Din!” you are practically shouting, your release so close you start seeing stars behind your eyelids, and the way Din moans your name in your ear is something that will be etched in your memory for the rest of your days.
“Fuck - baby where sh-”
“Inside me. Its okay, please. Dont stop.” In hindsite you really should have discussed it before, but you’ve had an implant ever since landing on Tatooine, not because you were getting any action, just for the simplicity.
“You want me to cum inside you? Fuck - fuck okay. M’so close. You feel so tight. Perfect.” The praises tumble from his mouth as he says your name, and you fall into your next orgasm without warning. 
“F-fuck yes, baby. There you go. Cum for me.” He moans in your ear as he cums in time with you, both your bodies crashing together in a wave of pleasure and exhaustion as he curses his way through his high. 
You cant tell how long it lasts, time and space melting away and only feeling him, him, him. You shout his name in the darkness as white blasts your vision, his body collapsing on top of yours stopping you body from convulsing in pleasure.  
You can feel his hot breath on your neck, and its the only sensation that brings you back to reality, that and the fact that his cock is still inside of you, twitching slightly as he comes down.
Your hand drifts from his hair to find his face, letting your hands guide him to your lips. His head is heavy and you have to hold it up for him, allowing him to rest his full weight on your forehead as he kisses you, lazy but caring. Slowly, he slides himself out of you, and you hate how desperate you sound when he leaves you. 
He bends down to pick up your shirt you wore today to clean you both up, gently sliding the fabric between your thighs and over your tummy. He tosses it somewhere in the dark, and as he slides in behind you, your eyes relax. 
As his hand comes around your waist and pulls you into his chest, he presses a soft kiss to your forehead. Its something he’s done a few times now, and it makes you feel so safe and warm every time. 
Every ache and pain from todays journey has disappeared, the feeling of Din so close the only sensation worth focusing on.
“Din.” you mumble, so soft you aren't sure if he hears you, but he murmurs an incoherent response, so you assume he’s listen. “What does that mean?”
“Huh?” The casual response makes you smile in the dark. You dont think you’ve ever heard him so... off-guard, and your heart swells with the knowledge that he can feel that way with you.
“That word. Sharkee- something.” he vibrates something against your shoulder blade. Maybe its a laugh, or a groan but your too tired to tell.
“Its Mando’a.”
“I figured. What does it mean, though?” You move your hips against him slightly, making him gasp with the friction you create. His hand locks onto your hip, the pressure setting you straight against the cot. You sit in silence, waiting for him to answer, but instead he just presses a kiss to the back of your neck and buries his head almost underneath you. You want to press him, but his soft breathing from below you makes you blow out a breath and give up for now.
“Sleep. I’ll teach you tomorrow.” You nod even though he cant see.
“Goodnight, Din.” 
“Goodnight, cyar’ika.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
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stopeatingwhales · 3 years
Text
the 1995 brits x damon albarn & liam gallagher
hhhiiii I'm here with a very cute little fic about the brits!! the idea of writing something with Damon and liam fighting over someone was requested quite a long time ago (sorry it’s taken so long omg) but I loved the idea!! I do hope you all enjoy it as I enjoyed writing it a lot hahah xx
Pairing: 90s damon albarn & 90s liam gallagher x reader
Warnings: nothing, just a little bit of bickering n dat
Word count: 3.057
Requested by anon x
༉‧₊˚✧
Being a part of the madness that adapted the name ‘Britpop’ was truly an experience. Paparazzi at every corner you turn, equipped with the brightest, flashiest cameras, also having the most annoying click noises to the point that after one image you’ve earned yourself a migraine that would last the entirety of the day; parties that would last entire nights, bearing millions of different kinds of drugs - some that hadn’t even been given a name yet, but you’d still give a try anyways, since you’re so high and drunk that you simply lose the intellectual capability to construct decisions, you say fuck it, and get so high to the point that you’ve blacked out in a booth in a bar, with the owner asking you to get out since you’ve been inside for one too many hours after closing time; as well as constant press coverage. With your name plastered over literally every newspaper and music magazine known to man, as well as having your entire life consistently dictated for the entire nation to read about every Sunday morning and indulge themselves into as a form of entertainment, it was what being famous delivered, right on your doorstep at 7 in the morning. Any earlier and you’d feel rude not to give them a cup of tea as a form of dignity and respect towards their sublime dedication to the job. Although it was fun being associated with it all, my band in particular gaining a different form of calidity due to it being a female fronted band, by the time that the entire nation was hooked on this ‘Blur vs. Oasis’ rivalry, it was as if every other britpop band had been washed away from existence, due to eight boys arguing as to whom had the better music. And the better looks, according to Liam Gallagher.
Tonight was the night of the Brit awards, perhaps the most prestigious awards ceremony for music. To be awarded a Brit was probably the largest achievement possible in British music in the form of an award, and it was definitely either going tonight to either Blur or Oasis. The chances that another band, say Pulp, were to get the award, would not only be extremely amusing to see the reactions of the two biggest names in the Britpop game, but would also cause the largest uproar in the nation. It’s either Blur or Oasis. “Their drama is so silly,” laughed Emily, the guitarist in our band whilst flicking through the latest edition of the Sun, the cover of the newspaper being, of course, Liam Gallagher. “They’re literally bickering about who looks the best. How do people find this interesting?”
“Because of how silly it is, people never leave their secondary-school-like selves. Just a bit of fun I guess.” I replied, fixing up my hair in the mirror in front of me. We were currently getting ready to go to the award show, and needing to look your best was an expectation. Though I wasn’t dressed in anything that would result in jaw’s dropping, it was important that I at least appeared somewhat admirable - the entire nation always had their eyes on us, but tonight they were going to see us all, live. Perhaps the reason why bands like Oasis and Blur are so obsessed over nowadays, since all they’ll do is turn up in some flimsy Adidas t-shirt and call that fashion. I suppose scruffy was the new elegant.
“Who do you think they’ll give the award to?” she questioned, still aimlessly flicking through the recycled pages of the magazine. “I think Oasis. Their music is so much better than Blurs.”
“Really? I’d say Blur. They won on top of the pops, so the likelihood of them winning the Brit award is highly likely,” I answered, shuffling away from the strong reflection of myself towards Emily, my eyes quickly scanning the page that she had her eye on currently. “Gosh Liam’s so full of himself.”
“He’s got his eye on you, you know,” She said, shoving the paragraph she had just read in my face of Liam boasting about his little crush he had supposedly gained from watching our latest performance on top of the pops. “Thinks you’re ‘well fit’.”
Scoffing in response, I mumbled back to Emily. “If he thinks that he’s sleeping with me, he’s very deluded.”
By the time we had arrived at the venue, you weren’t able to walk into the entrance without at least 50 cameras blinding your eyes and the shouts of so many begging for you to quickly turn your head and grin - the price for the photo would reach the many thousands. Once walking in, it was less crowded, only having select people by the ground floor, dedicated for musicians and bands, with the occasional interviewer walking past to every circled table, adorned with white cloth and champagne glasses, asking questions about how they’re feeling, who they think may win, and what they thought of the music throughout the past year. What was nice was that people didn’t have that much interaction with one another, just with their groups. It created a sense of formality in the space, which made me feel a bit at ease from the idea of some random row happening in the middle of the floor, most likely between Liam and Damon. The past year in music was truly something. Britpop was at its peak the entirety of the year, with songs like Parklife and Supersonic pouring out of every radio station in Britain that by the end of the year, you had ditched casual radio music and began blasting the classical station. It was a nightmare. Since the fall of grunge subsequent to Cobain’s death the previous year, the talk of any other genre in Britain apart from Britpop didn’t occur. It was as if we were living on this mystical island, miles away from any other music and culture, whilst adorning and obsessing over our own. What was nice about Britpop was that it was a pure celebration of English culture, whether it be a simple Sunday roast, or going to school, they all carried the same ambience of nostalgia and pride - also disregarding whichever band wrote what song.
“Free champagne… Yes please,” said Madeline, the secondary guitarist of the band, whilst heading to the first seat she could sit on, then quickly indulging herself with the first taste of the rich drink. “Oh my gosh it’s heavenly!”
Laughing at her reaction, the rest of the band took a seat around the table and took their first sips of the champagne, which we would all come to find to be indeed heavenly. Small talk was shared here and there with the rest of the group, but overall I stayed silent. In all honesty I found attending award shows was quite boring because if you didn’t end up getting an award, you would essentially be sitting there for two hours doing nothing. Even if you did win an award, it’s simply a minute of glory with the speakers blasting your music, and another minute of all eyes piercing into your soul as you make sentences about your gratitude towards those who had helped you along the way to earn such an achievement. I doubt anybody genuinely liked attending shows like these.
“The champagne is good, yet we don’t get enough for our table,” I complained, grasping my now empty champagne glass and waving it around in the air. “I’m gonna head to the bar to get a refill, anybody want anything?”
After receiving a handful of nos from the rest of the band, I took myself out of my seat and wandered over to the bar, which was empty, perhaps due to the venue not yet being completely filled with all the artists that were set to attend the night. “Just a refill of the champagne, please.” I asked politely, handing the bartender the used glass I had kept in my hand. Whilst waiting, I noticed that Damon was on the other side of the bar, who also didn’t notice me there, until he caught eyes with me.
A grin broke out on his face as I walked over to him. “You alright?” He asked me, quickly thanking the bartender for his drink and turning back to look at me. The height difference between us was evident, but it wasn’t the case of something so dramatic that he was the height of the empire state building and me, just a measly common tower in the city. He looked quite content, his hair scruffy yet neat, along with his outfit being just as I had assumed: a white shirt with jeans, a used pair of Adidas for shoes.
I smiled back at him and nodded. “Suppose you have high hopes for the award tonight.” I said, simultaneously receiving my refill of the beverage I had ordered, followed by my thanks. We stood adjacent, although there was enough distance between us to establish our relationship - mutual acquaintances whom had met every now and again, since they’ve both been dragged into this wormhole of madness. He was quite the opposite in comparison to his rivals, though he himself could be quite bothersome occasionally, he still had a grasp to what those may call sensibility.
“Oh well we’re better than them, aren’t we love?'' He chirped, his head now cocked to the side in a teasing manner. “I’ve heard that you’re rooting for us this year.” He added, a little smirk pasted on his face.
“Do you read every paper you see?” I questioned, my face turning away from him in slight embarrassment. Between us, there was no shared intention for a relationship to stem, though there was definitely a flirtatious tension that followed between us wherever we had met. Whether it be a random photoshoot for a magazine double-spread, or backstage at top of the pops, we always managed to share a chat with one another, and nothing else followed on from then. It was quite sad, because once you’ve established a connection between something you either both disagree or agree with in terms of societal views, something in the press, or life in general, you’re instantaneously cut off and asked to hop onto stage to record a meaningless three-minute performance with fake, plastic instruments which practically mean nothing.
“Well it was nice seeing someone else's face on the papers for once.” He replied, downing his drink, then ushering at the bartender for another. A thing that we both realised was that, between our conversations, we indirectly indicated that we were both there for each other, because we both had a complete understanding towards what may be happening to the other person. It was stressful being in the limelight constantly, and for someone who was the frontman of a band so large, with his face plastered on every magazine cover imaginable, things were bound to be stressful.
Sighing, I turned to face him again. Despite the fact that before I had the ability to respond, our conversation was cut short from a voice shouting my name from behind. “Well if it isn’t bloody Y/N.” the voice said, and from then I instantly knew it was Liam’s. Turning my face away from Damon’s, I locked eyes with Liam. As always, he was dressed in the usual: a parka, with casual jeans. Oh, and don’t forget the Adidas shoes. Even though he and Damon practically hated each other’s guts, they always seemed to have similar fashion senses, but I could never picture Damon in a parka. And I don’t think I even want to.
“How’ve you been love?” He asked, swinging his arm around my shoulder in a warm, but nonchalant manner. Me and Liam had a similar relationship to that of mine and Damons, simply just minusing the sentimentality of it. We were friends, and had come across each other at random parties, which opened the gateway for us to drink and get high together many a time. While he was quite the idiot, he was also a very fun guy to be around, but I knew Damon would never understand that. “And why’re you letting this twat chat to you?”
A laugh escaped Damon’s throat. “I think you’re the only twat here, Liam,” he began, a sigh leaving my mouth as I was trapped in a situation that I could only pray didn’t gain much traction from the rest of the attendees. “Me and Y/N are friends, don’t suppose we’re getting jealous are we?”
Liam’s grip on my shoulder tightened as I stared at his reaction to Damon. I felt quite small in this situation, due to me needing to tilt my head a good amount to properly look at Liam, and knowing if I left it would just erupt chaos and make it worse. “No need for me to be jealous when I know that she wouldn’t want to spend a minute with you in bed you bastard.”
“And you’re so sure about that are you?” Damon replied, amusement laced in his words. “Because you’ve totally spent a minute with her haven’t you?”
“Well I’ve got my arm around her haven’t I? And she’s not stopping me,” Liam argued back, a smirk entwined on his lips. Reaching for my hand, Liam grasped it lightly, then then brought it to his lips, kissing it, before holding it gently. Method of intimidation, perhaps, and though it was sweet, there was a time and place. And this was definitely neither the time, or place. “Who’s the jealous one now, eh?”
“The last I recall, she had hoped that we were winning this year, not you,” He boasted, moving the contents of his drink around whilst grasping it firmly. Whilst it would be something that would offend Liam, he was simply the type of person to not take criticism regardless of whomever it was coming from. I respected him for that. “So much so for a healthy relationship.” Damon mocked, staring into my eyes as a small laugh escaped my lips.
Granted that I had found the argument shared between the pair of them to be extremely silly, it was good entertainment as the time passed before the award show would begin. Watching them both, attempting to throw insults at one another, each one trying to cut a little deeper than the one previous, made me almost laugh at the both of them right there. “You know, it’s so silly that you both think you know me so well to think which one I’d pick from the both of you,” I said, detaching myself from Liam’s embrace and snatching my half-empty glass of champagne. “At this point, it’s neither of you.”
Walking back to my band’s designated table, I quietly took my seat as the show began. “Saw you chatting to Damon,” Emily whispered, raising her eyebrows. “Also saw you grinning like a madwoman.”
“Oh shut up you,” I replied, looking back at the bar to notice that both parties had left, assuming back to their places. “There’s nothing going on between me and Damon- Liam too in fact.”
~~~
As the ceremony went on, the boredom got to us. Even the amount of drinks I had didn’t entertain me, but what could we do, we were stuck in the middle of an award show celebrating music, even though I had largely doubted that the majority of those attending were enjoying themselves. I had no clue who the awards were going to be handed out to, and whether that somebody may be us in a category, but we all knew Blur were going to win something. Yes, Oasis had gained a lot of fame and had become one of the most famous bands in the music scene at the minute, but by the way things had gone for Blur after the release of Parklife, things only seemed to go further up from there. And that was only proven to be truthful, after Blur had left with four different awards.
After Blur had received their fourth award for best British group, we all knew that there was nothing left for Oasis. “They’ll get it all next year, they only debuted this year you know.” I said to the table, who were staring at the four smiley boys on stage as they trotted up to receive their award. I admired Damon as he said his speech, then also turning to look over at Liam, who looked quite evidently pissed off. He was practically drooling in anger from the sight brought to him at that particular moment, and I couldn’t blame him - their band hadn't gone home with one award that night, but neither had ours. “They’ve taken four awards home, isn’t that like, the most anybody has ever taken?”
“Indeed it is,” Madeline replied, taking a sip from her drink. “Must be a good year for them then, eh?”
As I watched the band leave the stage in absolute glee, I stared at Damon as he walked back to his designated seat for the short remainder of the evening. Despite the fact that my band had been sat in our seats the entire evening in complete boredom, just like Oasis and so many other acts that had been nominated for pointless awards, it would be a lie to say that I wasn’t proud of how far Blur as a whole had come and evolved through their music, and especially Damon. From beginning as young, bowl-cut boys only charting so far on top of the pops, to creating songs and melodies that could unite our entire nation, it was impressive.
Damon was the face of Britain at this very moment, and a very good looking one. Once I watched him sit down, he scanned the room for a while until he was able to find where I was sitting, which was parallel to his seat, merely a couple metres away. He connected eyes with me as soon as he found me, also accompanied with a small smirk painted on his expression as he raised his eyebrows and sent me a wink. I simply smiled back at him in response before turning away abruptly, disrupting the little moment we seemingly shared, and though I felt my heart flutter a little, he’s definitely not winning me that easily.
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bastillewolf · 3 years
Note
Hey I know you probably have like a billion requests already but maybe you could do something where the reader is good friends with corpse (maybe with some unspoken feelings) and they ask him to visit their country side home lmao-
I'm really embarrassed about asking this and I know it sounds strange but being out in the country side can be really good for mental health and I just want this boi to heal--
I'm so sorry hahah
Thanks
That’s not strange at all, darling!! I love this ask! I’m so sorry it took me so long to answer this, my mental health hasn’t been very good lately. I suppose I found this ask rather appropriate and I guess that’s why I liked writing it so much. Hope you enjoy!
Sunrise, Sunset - Oneshot
Pairings: Corpse Husband / Reader.
“Yo,” is the first thing you hear as you open your Discord. It’s not his regular greeting, and he sounds more tired than usual.
“What’s up?” you asked curiously. “Everything okay? Haven’t talked to you in a while.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I got really busy.”
“I can tell from your voice,” you chuckled. It had more of a rasp to it- if that was even possible.
“Yea, I can’t do too much for too long. I love that I’m able to work on music now, but it exhausts my voice so much that I can’t even stream sometimes.”
“Maybe you should take a break,” you comment.
“Probably. It’s almost done, so then I can stream more,” he replies.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Hm?”
“I’m talking about an actual break, from everything.”
You hear him exhale deeply as if he’d already been considering it himself. “That does sound very nice.”
“I know, I always have the best ideas.”
“You do, except you forgot about the fact that I can’t really go anywhere. I mean, I’d love to take a break, but if I just sit here at home, I’m gonna either end up doing nothing or start working anyways. I don’t see me relaxing that way.”
“I didn’t forget about anything; I just hadn’t gotten to that part yet.”
“Oh?”
You’d be lying if you said that noise didn’t make you blush. “Remember how I said I live in the countryside? You know, it’s quite cosy here, and I have a guest bedroom to spare. If you want, but only if you’re comfortable with it, you could come over.”
It was quiet for a moment and your poor nerves were wondering if you’d said something completely wrong. You knew how he was about his privacy, but you’d figured that having known each other for a more than a few months now, you’d be at a point where you’d become actual friends, especially considering you always talked over Discord. At least, when he wasn’t busy.
“I... You wouldn’t mind?” he asked softly.
“Of course not!” You immediately replied, trying your best to make him feel as welcome as possible. “It’ll be so much fun! I was just worried you wouldn’t feel comfortable with it, otherwise, I would’ve invited you over a lot sooner.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes! I’m always looking for people to take care of my chickens.”
“You have chickens?” he sputtered.
“Sure do. And that was a joke, by the way.”
He didn’t really give you much time to prepare. He’d instantly asked if he could come over in two days, which meant you had to clean, do the groceries, and have another mental breakdown within that short time.
When he did arrive at your relatively small but homely cottage, you knew that even if you’d had more time, you still wouldn’t have felt like you’d prepared enough. You were incredibly nervous, especially as the cab slowed to a nerve-wracking speed until it finally stopped in front of your little wooden fence that really couldn’t keep anyone out of your garden because it was so ramshackle.
You nod your head to the driver politely, who got out of the car to unload a bag from the trunk. Then, the door opened, ringed fingers sliding across the yellow polish on the metal framing. He pulled himself up and out, finally allowing you to take a good look at his face.
His hair was dark and curly, as to be expected from what you’d seen in the pictures, though you could barely see it underneath the hood he’d pulled up. His dark brown eyes immediately found yours, and a shy smile graced his lips, which you bashfully returned with a small wave. It made you want to hit yourself multiple times. He paid the cabby and thanked him, allowing you to take a good look at his attire, at his frame, at his whole being. He was wearing a black hoodie with some chains around it, along with dark baggy trousers and, go figure, black sneakers. He was slightly slouching, probably so the driver wouldn’t be able to make out his face in its entirety, but overall he looked lean, even while his face was more pale and tired, with dark circles surrounding his eyes.
He locked the creaky wooden fence behind him, quickly closing the distance between you two with only a few strides. He dropped his backpack on the floor, saying, “hi.” “Hey,” you replied with that stupid smile still on your face and now quite possibly a hint of red dusting your cheeks. He just chuckled at the slight awkwardness of the situation, before wrapping his arms around you in a warm hug. He smelled like nice cologne, and he gave really good hugs. It said a lot that you could tell that from just the one. “Thanks for letting me come over,” he muttered, finally allowing himself to sound as exhausted as he looked.
“I told you, it’s nothing.”
When you met his eyes again as he pulled back, you knew he was quietly telling you that it meant more to him than that. Feeling shy under his dark gaze, you shook your head, saying, “Come on, let me show you around.”
It wasn’t that big of a tour, but it was home and it was comfortable, so you never felt embarrassed about it. You made enough money, to be fair, from your career through YouTube, but you’d never really had the heart to leave the house. At least you had a guest bedroom, and the garden was something to dream of. To trade that in for a bit more storage space would be such a pity.
“-and this is going to be your room, for however long you wish to stay,” you finish with a flourish of your hand. He set his suitcase down on the freshly made bed and nodded, glancing around for a bit before his eyes landed back on you. “Did I tell you how much I appreciate you doing this for me?”
You huff, “Once or twice now.”
“I’ll be off your back in a few days, don’t worry. I think I just needed to get out of my stuffy apartment for a bit.”
“Stay as long as you’d like,” you told him assuredly, “I know how stressful it can be and I haven’t even been through what you have. I can’t imagine what it must be like.”
He shrugs, “I have my ups and downs. It’s mostly my health issues and anxiety holding me back.”
“Well, I hope you can relax a bit here, then. People seem to feel more at ease without a bustling city around them,” you said.
He glanced out the window and nodded. “Yeah, I immediately noticed it as I got out of the car. It’s so... quiet here. And the air, of course. It’s so much nicer.”
“I usually take walks in the early mornings. You should come along sometime if you’d like. The sunrise is always really pretty when you get up on the hill.”
The corners of his lips quirked up. “I’d like that.”
“Great,” you replied, clapping your hands together, “I’ll let you get settled and start dinner. The uh- the bathroom is shared, I left a stack of towels on the rack so you can use those.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
You nodded shyly, silently closing the door behind you as you stepped into the hall. You let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the wall, pressing the backs of your hands against your cheek in a vain attempt to cool down the heat and tone down the redness. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d reacted this way but the times you’d spend talking about everything and nothing with Corpse through Discord calls that lasted until the early mornings. You knew you shouldn’t be feeling this way. You didn’t want to risk the friendship you had with him, but the tingling that had sprouted in your gut the moment he’d gotten out of that car told you that this was going to be hard.
 You knocked on his door quietly, afraid you were accidentally going to wake him when he didn’t want to be awoken. You didn’t know what kind of morning person he’d be, but he told you yesterday that he wanted to join you for your walk today. And while you were going to leave half an hour later than usual because it took you that long to work up the courage to knock on his door, meaning you were going to have to hurry a bit to catch the sun rising, you were still scared he was going to react grouchily. But when he opened the door, already dressed and ready to go, you realized you’d foolishly forgotten that this wasn’t just anyone, but that this was one of your friends; someone you already knew, even if it hadn’t been physically. Of course, he’d open the door with a smile, even though he looked more tired than the day before, which worried you.
“How did you sleep?” You made it evident in your tone that you were rather scared to ask the question, but it made him chuckle.
“I think you already know the answer to that. I don’t sleep well in general, so don’t worry. It has nothing to do with the bed or your hospitality.”
“Well, if there’s anything I can do for you, I don’t mind being woken up.”
He shook his head as he followed you downstairs and out the front door. “To be fair, I slept more than I usually would, but your rooster woke me up.”
You laughed, “Yea, I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything about that.” You held the wooden fence gate open for him, following him to the grass field until you were walking next to him. You silently picked up your pace a bit, worrying that you might miss the sunrise when you had promised it to him.
“I know, I know,” he replied amusedly, “Can we go see them later? The chickens?”
“Sure,” you smiled, “I also have a few ducks. You’ll love them, they’ll try to rip the shoelaces from your feet.”
“Sounds great.”
The walk to the hill wasn’t too far, but the hill was quite steep, which was always an exercise for people who walked with you for the first time, so you’d figured he’d start trailing behind you after some time. Thing is, he started trailing behind relatively earlier than you had expected him to.
Glancing back over your shoulder, you called out, “you good? We’re almost there.”
He nodded, though you could see him slightly panting, and you turned around to jog up the last bit until you reached the top. You could see a sliver of light start to peek over the horizon, making you glance back to see how far away he was.
But instead of having moved forward, he was now sort of slouched over, holding his stomach as he panted loudly. “Shit,” you cursed yourself as you sprinted back down until you skidded to a stop in front of him. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I should have slowed down-“
“It’s fine,” he waved you off, slowly catching his breath. “I can do it, I just take a bit longer.”
“I’ll carry you if I have to. I got us into this mess.”
He chuckled, but it sounded a bit hoarse.
“Come on,” you said. He furrowed his brow in confusion but followed you anyway. Walking along the side of the hill was tricky, but you made it around without any issues. He was able to keep up this time and gratefully plopped down on the grass beside you, just in time to watch the sun fully appear from behind the horizon.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
“Yea, it never really gets old.” You laid down, feeling twigs of grass tickle the bareback of your neck.
He joined you, scooting a bit closer until your arms were brushing against each other. You couldn’t tell if he’d done it on purpose, so you acted like it hadn’t affected you, keeping your eyes fixed on the sky above you. At least, you tried. They flickered when you felt fingertips graze across your lower arm until they reached your palm, where his nails slowly dragged along your skin until his warm digits intertwined with yours. His rings felt cool against the heat and tingling you were suddenly feeling in your hand. He didn’t let go of you, not as you laid there for what seemed like hours, nor during the entire walk back.
‘Is this what friends do?’ you were silently asking yourself, watching the ducks try to free his shoes from its laces, ‘is this what friends do when they need support? Is this his way of coping, or is it-‘ You quickly shook the thought away. Of course, he wouldn’t think of you that way. He probably did stuff like this with all his friends. You knew how playful he could get, his guy friends included.
Yeah, it was just that. It had to be.
You were both laid back on the couch that night, stuffed to the brink with the famous lasagne you’d put together. The TV was on, but it sounded more like static noise in the background. “I think I can just fall asleep right here,” you hummed. The glass of red wine you’d shared – because neither of you could handle liquor – had created a pleasant buzz between the two of you.
“That seems a lot less comfortable than your bed.”
“You don’t know a thing about my bed,” you huffed indignantly.
It was quiet for a moment then, a sliver of tension seeping through the warmth of your home. “I think it’s probably about as comfortable as mine, otherwise you’re treating your guests too much,” he replied.
“I don’t know,” you admitted, “I’ve actually never slept in the guest bedroom. I might just be treating my guests too much and I’d never even know about it.”
He suddenly sat up and turned the TV off. “Come on,” he said and was already up the stairs by the time you’d made an attempt to move.
When finally reached the upstairs and were about to round the corner, you were suddenly picked up and slung over his shoulder, causing you to let out a loud shriek. “Corpse!” you laughed, “Please put me down!”
“You were taking too long,” he grumbled, dropping you down on the bed unceremoniously. He shuffled over until he was laying down next to you and lifted the covers up until it reached your neck.
“So?” he asked.
You had your eyes closed. “I might be treating my guests too much.”
He snorted. “Fucking knew it,” which made you laugh.
You laid there for quite a while, not really caring if either of you fell asleep with your regular clothes still on. “Hey Corpse?”
He hummed.
“I’m really glad you came. It gets lonely over here sometimes.”
He shifted, but because it was so dark you couldn’t really see what he was doing. Suddenly though, you felt him hovering over you, his elbows resting on either side of your face as his hand reached across to move a strand of hair to the side. He leaned down and hesitantly, his lips barely touched yours, a silent question if this was okay. You moved back against him, your hand finding his cheek in the darkness. His kisses were gentle, but passionate, which made your breaths heavier and deeper. When you pulled apart, you were both breathing heavily, mostly from the tension that had arisen.
“I really like you,” you admitted.
“Good,” he replied, wrapping his arms around you until you were tucked against his chest. You hit his arm playfully, “Cocky bastard.”
You hear the smirk in his voice as he said goodnight.
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dykefoosh · 3 years
Text
Unhealthy Competition Transcript: 8/4/21
Heres the transcript on a google doc if thats easier!
W: What do we want?
R: Burgers!
W: When- When, when do we want the burgers?
R: When they're cooked because if we get them now wait they are actually cooked right now but it would be raw if we immediately gave them out to the customers which is why we DO cook our food.
W: Wh-a what are you on there! They are cooked! Look! Does that not look cooked?
R: I- I mean.. Ah it looks fine it looks fine
W: I’ve never tried one of our own burgers before
R: Oh yeah we should've done that before- a while ago
W: Leme do it lemme do it lemme do it lemme do it lemme do it leme do it right, I need to get hungry first
R: mhm
W: Let me just quickly slap a Wilburger in there, leme leme just
R: there we go
W: I’m gonna get hungry
R: Alright let's get hungry
W: Wooh wooh wooh, how’ve you been Ranboo?!
R: I’ve been doing good!
W: Have you been vibing?
R: I’ve been doing alright! Yeah! I had a good rest, I’ve had a good day
W: Mhm, mhm
R: So far you know i'm excited to get to working the nine to five, it's a dream.
W: Wait, I don’t make you work nine to five- you just have to work when we run out of burgers man. You’re free to do what you want, this is your- you’re working part time for wilburger- oh it's the horse! We need that
R: OH yeah we should probably, we should probably,
W: I want that horse, aye! Do you know what quackity’s horse is called? Okay I’m hungry now, I’m hungry now, are you ready for this?
R: okay, alright
W: Bread first, burger, mmmm Ranboo… we gotta to better than that
R: Oh, okay
W: Ranboo that's the best burger I’ve ever had
R: Nice!
W: But we gotta do better than that
R: Okay, then to volume two.
W: WE are taking down an entire nation with this burger van- oh sorry competing peacefully outside of this burger van, we can't have just the best burgers I've ever had- they have to be the best burgers anyones ever eaten in their entire lives
R: In any universe!
W: In any universe in any universe at all, at all. You’ve done a really good job of this I know I’ve already said that but yeah
R: Thank you thank you, yeah
W: this is fun, I like this little toy you’ve made, I like this, i'm a big fan
R: I like it too, thank you.
W: I’m a big fan of a lot of things we have done Ranboo. Do you remember they um, boom boy?
R: yeah.. I do remember that.
W: Yeah?
R: Yeah.. I hope it didn't I hope it didn't, it wasn't, hopefully it wasn't too much, I don’t think it was too much
W: Oh I thought it was great I thought it was great man, when you smashed the window and blew up the wall- I’d be pissed
R: Mhmm
W: And I bet that was the right stick it to the man that he needed
R: But, butm you, you wanted that for competition, for business and all that, right?
W:... yeah
R: Yeahhhh
W: Yeahh, hmm, Ranboo I think you’ve taken a side here which feels like a change for you. I’m not used to this, you’re mister not choosing a side you know?
R: Yeah, yeah, because when I looked back especially when- especially after, your talks about Lmanburg and everything I realised
W: Look back on what?
R: You know, when you looked back on like Lmanburg and everything
W: Oh like life and all that
R: Yeah I decided to take a look back on my life and everything and I realised that I mean I’ve been involved in things, but, I haven't really done anything, I haven't really done anything
W: What do you mean?
R: I haven't made anything like, I haven't really, I haven't really done much to alter history, now if you were to write a history book, I wouldn't really be that much you know…
W: Whatttt
R: Involved in it
W: I don’t think, I don’t know what you’ve done, I don't..
R: Exactly, that proves my point
W: But you don’t need to have an impact on the world Ranboo to matter you know? You don’t need to go out, you don’t need to build a fucking effile tower just to be, just to mean something.
R: Yeahh
W: Ranboo, Ranboo don’t get me wrong
R: Yeah
W: You’re talking to me here I think it could be that you, you know, are going out and doing stuff. Look at this bozo
R: What he's doing here?
W: I think it could be that you decided to go out and change you know change this, I think change things for the better.
R: You know it's -
W: Don’t don’t start go out and breaking windows and blowing up walls just because you,
R: Oh no I won’t probably not too much
W: Just because you want to make something
R: This is why I like our little, little burger shop, you know it's small but at least it's something, you know I’ve always I’ve always wanted to go and make something that's gonna outlive me a little bit so I think this, I think this is a good start to something.
W: Mhm mhm
R: It’s a nice little burger shop you know?
W: And man? Honestly, I’m proud of you bro. I know, I know I don't know you very well man and I haven't known you for very long but you’ve done a really good job here and tell you what tell you what?
R: Thank you
W: Have you ever seen the phrase “fruits of your labor”?
R: Yeees, I- I think! I think so
W: Shall we see the fruits of our labour? Cause Quackity, quackitys online
R: I mean
W: Quackitys online, Quackitys here man
R: Oh!
W: We can go, we can go and see and chat with him about what we did. By the way after you blew it up I know you didn't see but I gave him back all the materials because
R: That's good
W: I gave him back all the materials for the wall and I also, I also left him a diamond or two just to say like you know no hard feelings you know?
R: Mhm
W: That it was just for, just you know, to prove a point but um yeah Quackitys here, and I wanna see. Do you want to ride a horse? Here, get on the horse.
R: You want me to uh?
W: Yeah yeah, it's Quackity’s its quackitys horse just a disclaimer
R: It’s quackitys? Oh oh okay,
W: Normally when I come to the las nevadas sign as im not allowed in las nevadas, normally when I come to the las nevadas sign Quackity is the first one to come and tell me to fuck off so lets see, lets go up to the las nevadas sign.
R: Alright
W: Yeah man its half the fun of making something and doing cool things is that moment where um, where you get to see what everyone feels about it now that we are here I promise wait here, I promise you
R: Wait.. wait here? Okay
W: Just you wait… Ready?
R: Alright, i'm ready
W: Um um “boy las nevadas sure is big from up here” just hold on
R: Okay um okay
W: Just give it a second, maybe from this level, hmmm maybe if I take another step, ooh what's that?
R: Oh yeah OH do you remember the cookie outpost thing?
W: Yeah yeah the little thing you built with tubbo
R: Yeah so basically right he got really upset so then I- I tried to apologise and everything because we- there was a little bit of dispute with it but we honestly just decided to really just give up.
W: I mean he hasn't accepted it… look its all in there
R: He hasn't accepted it?
W: Yeah, it's all in there….
R: Oh he said he liked it at least…
W: Is- did I just lie? This guy, Ranboo I swear to god I feel like I understand him, how his brain works, how he how his mind go and then he just, just proves that he doesn't give a shit.
R: Yeahh
W: Which is why I can’t wait to show off what I’ve done, but he's just nowhere to be seen. So this cookie shop thing? What was your intention of it? How would how you don’t pick sides usually but what was your intention with it? When you built this?
R: To give out cookies to people
W: And that was it? And that was your be all and end all hah?
R: Yep
W: Right, well how did you feel about Tubbo doing what he did then?
R: Doing what he did… What do you mean?
W: Well he.. He I heard the stories man I heard about how it turned into more than what it was supposed to be you know?
R: Well I mean that's- he kind of goes above and beyond on a lot of things, you can’t really blame him into make it a castle. That's, that's just you know, you can’t be TOO careful. Especially when you know, he has all the right to be nervous about something going wrong, so no wonder he put all those defenses and everything.
W: Why would he have the right to be nervous?
R: I mean just a lot of things, a lot of bad things have happened to him that haven't really come from his actions
W: Oh so youre talking about.. oHHHH LOOK WHO'S HERE!
Q: Hellloooooo
W: Quackity!! It's lovely to see you man, it's been awhile. How have you been?
Q: How- how long have you guys been here for?
W: I-I just arrived you know I just- Quackity you think I would wait for you? You know you know I’m just a
R: Yeahh
Q: Well I didn't even notice you guys were here. I um have been busy with uh much more important things… so, but hey I mean it's great to see you guys it's really great to see you guys, Wilbur and Ranboo together this is uh
W: It’s good to see you man
Q: What's this?
W: Oh uh Ranboo was just looking after your horse that I um
R: Mhm!
W: That I took a little bit of a joyride, it's a good horse look at it, look how high it jumps man! You got a good horse man
Q: Yeahhh who told you that's my horse?
W: Well it was tied up in your nation
Q: haha no no that's not my horse you just got someones random horse, i think you should probably put it back, I have no idea whose it is That- this is really awkward Wilbur, you should, you should probably put it back
W: Let's go! Let's go dude. I wanted- I wanted to come and ask you a question.
Q: Yeah, yeah what's up?
W: So I don’t know if you saw this? Uh you can’t actually see it, but behind this we built a burger van quackity!
Q: Really???
W: Competition, competition
Q: You built a burger van? Is that what you’ve been up to wilbur?
W: Yeah yeah!
Q: You know all this time you’ve been settled next to me and this- this is uh your big ceration? A burger van?
W: Hey man
Q: Hahah,
W: Rome wasn't built in a day. Small steps
Q: That's true, that's true. Leme take a look. Can you order anything yet?
W: No no, wait lemme- actually let me cook you up something real quick
R: Oh yeah oh yeah, you'll love this
Q: I don’t know if i trust anything coming from you Wilbur, but I’ll I’ll, give it a shot i'll give it a shot
W: Doo doot doo quackity you are so nice to me doot doo doot you never bring up my past doot doo doot Here you go, one volume one wilburger. Take a bite of that!
Q: Volume one?
W: Take a bite! It’s like an NFT Quackity
Q: An NFT?
W: Yeah no one, no ones gonna be copying that!
Q: Why would I bite it if its an NFT, then if it goes away it wouldn’t be worth anything,
W: Exactly Quackity, you can keep hold of it OR you get a bit peckish, eat the bread anyway! The bread is not bad
Q: I’m not hungry, I’m not that hungry right now but hey, I’ll keep it with me
W: At least keep it to appreciate the value, it's my NFT, but Quackity anyway I did want to ask, you have a little restaurant in your town I saw, from a distance obviously.
Q: Do you guys want to take a look? I didn’t want to mention it as I felt like it would have been awkward given that you have your own restaurant- I have my own restaurant, that's the only thing that would make it a little awkward but, you know you brought me to your restaurant and I want to bring you to mine. Can, can I do that?
W: Yeah, yeah man I just want, I just wanted to say sorry if you notice if you notice a bit of superficial damage, I left you a little gift as well, afterwards I sure that's okay. It was Ranboo and I that did that to your restaurant actually.
Q: Yeah yeah I saw it in the signs you, you guys
W: Yeah Ranboo and I did it
Q: Yeah the signs no no
W: I just thought- it it was a little bit of a you could say a misclick
Q: It doesn't seem to be like a misclick. You said MY restaurant was wank
W: I did I did I forgot about the signs, I was talking more about the window- oh
Q: But its fine its fine actually and I actually want to take this moment to thank you guys actually because uh that little destruction you did made me realise that the non tinted glass it just wasn't a good fit for the restaurant so I went with the kind of you know neon look and oh oh yeah the explosion! Right, I uh thank you guys again I was just finishing up this fish tank.
(The fish tank has salmon in it)
This nice little fish tank in the restaurant I think it gives a nice little look, a nice touch you know a nice family touch so thank you guys- this made me realise this needed a little bit of work haha so I appreciate it. I appreciate it a lot um actually you know what?
W: what?
Q: You know what Wilbur? Your little game here whatever you did, it made me realise another thing, that my country needs a source of passive income, so I decided to assign a workforce to this restaurant, I decided to hire an employee…
W: YOU'RE FUCKING ME?? YOU'RE PISSING ME
T: Hello!!
Q: Haha! Hey Tubbo!
T: Hey
Q: Tubbo look who came to visit look who came to visit
W: Tubbo!! Man it's good to see you!
T: Hey man this is my new job!
W: Tubbo aww it's nice to see you here man, I thought you were with your, your little snowy town
T: Oh I decided that you know I needed you know a job somewhere to work
W: Tubbo… what the fuck?
Q: Ha ha yep!
W: Fuck tubbo! Why are you, why? Why? Why did you get employed at the restaurant?
T: Why well eh I mean you know? Job?
Q: Tubbo is an excellent employee
T: I- I didn’t know you guys did burgers! I didn't know…
W: I mean, I mean it's - I just dude I offered for you to come and work at my burger van, it was uh hh hh hhhh hugh I told you yesterday- I told you yesterday in the Lmanburg crater and said you should come and hang out and make burgers at my burger van and now your at another burger restaurant after turning down my burger restaurant. Quackity… What did you tell him? Quackity what did you tell him? What did you say man?
Q: Listen listen, I’m gonna tell you this right now, tubbo is one of the best employees I’ve ever had. Me and tubbo had a little talk and we realised he has really great aspirations in life, and he really wants to do a lot
W: mhm
Q: and I told tubbo I would offer him maybe one of the best jobs anyone can have
W: best job
Q: one of the only jobs in las nevadas- tubbo is actually not only an employee but he is managing this place
W: mhm mhmm
T: This is my establishment
Q: Yeah, yeah and tubbo, tubbo now owns it
(note ranboo now has a grass block and is holding it along with placing and picking it up and it pacing during all of this)
Q: Tubbo tubbo now manages this place and he cooks here and makes a great deal of economic prosperity as well for las nevadas uh you should try his food, you NEED to try his food he makes these burgers kind of NFTS wait what a coincidence, it's NTFS as well and he makes burgers, and I like to call it the tubburger
T: The tubburger joint.
Q: The funny thing is we called it the tubburger volume one as well! It's really weird haha our plates are the exact same
W: Shh shh shh, quackity… tubbo, are you? Are you aware we are in competition now? Like this, this, tubbo we have always been on the same side man, we have always been together… your head to head with me now
T: Well I don’t look at it like that, it's not like complicated competition.. .Competition is good for the consumers, it helps everyone!
Q: W- Wilbur you’re taking this a little too far man, I feel like
W: Wai-twait no no I am perfectly
Q: I think you’re taking it too far man!
W: I am perfectly happy with mr tubbo
Q: At the end of the day we are all friends
W: Where did you get the NFT idea from??! Where did ya get that idea from?
T: Fazeclan?
Q: Fazeclan
T: Fazeclan
Q: Fazeclan, wilbur listen I told you this once and I am gonna tell it to you again, thank you. Thank you for opening my eyes that whole renovation came to do because I’m assuming it was a kind of renovation it really made me realise it has more potential then I thought
W: MHmm
Q: And at the end of the day that's what we all need. That's what we need, we thrive, we thrive through competition…. Healthy competition you're gonna make your burgers better and i'm gonna make my whole restaurant better and with the help of seriously one of the greatest people I’ve met in a business like this
T: Aww thank you man
Q: of course, of course tubbo
W: So,
Q: Wilbur, don’t take it the wrong way
W: I- I’m not does it look like im-
Q: to be mad about it, it's good for us it's gonna be happy for everyone
W: I’m happy, I’m really happy for tubbo, I’m happy tubbo’s got a job
Q: Really?
W: Yeah, I’m happy for him. Tubbo you were telling me yesterday how you were, how you felt like you lacked direction, you lacked purpose
T: Yeah I finally have a goal
W: Bro!
Q: That's true
W: How could I be angry about that man?
R: Yeah… that's good
W: Just you know I was just wondering why you chose that over the burger van but I get it Quackity, Quackity is a hard man to refuse.
Q: Mhmm
W: And
Q: And tubbo, tubbo is just constantly looking for whats next whats gonna happen now, and me and tubbo we think alike, very much alike actually, and I don’t know if you remember this but me and tubbo, you remember lmanburg?
T: Yeah
Q: Me and Tubbo, Tubbo was president and I was vice president, this is like lmanburg all over again isn't it?
T: Well- I mean-
Q: This is all a working- work in progress
W: It’s giving me lmanburg vibes
Q: Mhm- sorry?
W: I said yes I agree its giving me Lmanburg vibes
Q: Yeahh. Well listen uh all i'm gonna say is wilbur we are doing our own thing, you guys are doing your own thing and be healthy competition and you know….
T: Well the best burgers win!
Q: Haha- there you go there you go tubbo I agree with that yes!
W: we- yeah Ranboo you agree with that may the best burgers- say it say it
R: yeah yeah, may the best burgers win… yep
W: Wilburger vs tuburger… match match partners against crime
T: Together!
R: No-t not crime we hate crime
Q: Tubbo tubbo you gotta try their burgers sometime
W: Well, well we gotta go we gotta go
T: oh?
R: Yeahh yeah
W: It was lovely, it was lovely hanging out with you guys I - I am just thrilled with the renovations. What should we do next time we hang out?
Q: Yeah yeah
W: Do you wanna we- like
Q: I think I think we should yeah let's set some time apart and talk you and me
W: Yeah let's have a little run through a little run through
Q: Yeah yeah absolutely, and ranboo wilbur, you guys are welcome in the restaurant, las nevadas anytime
W: Wait-
Q: Anytime you guys like
W: Wait, I'm allowed in Las nevadas?
Q: Wilbur, you’re not, you’re taking this the wrong way
W: You told me I couldn't come in
Q: What kind of person would I be to tell you to leave my country. What kind of person would I be to not allow you in my premises? I wouldmt be a good person would I? Wilbur, you are my friend … I would never do that to you. I’m very welcoming, Ranboo come ahead, come inside as well ah this is all this is all healthy competition alright?
W: You’re a good man, you’re a good man Quackity, I’ll I’ll give you that. We got some burgers to flip so we will
Q: We do too we do too
T: Bye guys!
W: thanks for coming, thanks for coming down
Q: Cya guys
W: Cya guys
Q: Bye!
W:Ranboo.. Ranboo lets go
R: Yeah…. Let's go….
W: ooooOOOHHHHH boy ha- ha… ha ahhh ohhh this is good, this is what I want dude dude Ranboo did you see he was trying to act like I didn’t get to him?
R: Mhmm mhmm
W: You see the WHOLE time ohh it's not my horse
R: Geeh I mean yeah I mean he did I’m pretty sure
W: Dude he made an NFT burgers
R: He made an NFT burger- that is true
W: He cares so much he cares so much
R: That was your idea yeah
W: He cares aww man- How did you feel about this Ranboo? I mean dude!
R: I mean it's just burgers and everything so I think it's okay.
W: Eh it's “just burgers”
R: Its okay you know
W: I feel alive Ranboo, I feel alive! Someone is looking at me and talking to me!
R: Yeah yeah!
W: I’m alive I’m alive this is great!
R: Yeah, yeah I mean yeah, I again don’t I have to get used to competition and everything and be out there more with it all
W: I feel you Ranboo I feel you its scary its scary man, especially when we have a long way to go, bridges to cross and one day grab it by the horns and ride it
R: Yeah yeah,
W: And not it's just, it's just you and me against the world. The world being tubbo and quackity.
R: mhm mhmm
W: I mean why would you be against being against tubbo and quackity anywhere? I mean how well do you know Quackity?
R: I- I mean I don’t really know Quackity- Quackity all too well
W: Yeah yeah and I mean what do you and tubbo have you know going on that would block this?
R: I mean…
W: Sounds great to me
R: I mean… yeah yeah I - we kind of had like that cookie outpost we did together and everything it's fine I don’t have to get to it too much I dont um really wanna
W: You’re both businessmen
R: I don’t really ah want to get into it all too much
W: And that's fine. Ranboo I wanted to ask you man
R: Mhm?
W: You’ve had this cookie outpost right?
R: Yeahh
W: Did you like to get up to anything at the cookie outpost? Is there anything…?
R: Ahh, not at the cookie outpost but I do have something else actually… follow me I do- I do have something else…
W: Is it a secret?
R: It's a secret , yes.
W: Should we sneak?
R: Yeah um I think we can just get far enough away I think we'll be fine
W: Where are we going?
R: Into the strip club
W: heh-sh haha haha
R: Comeon, come on let's go
W: ahhaa sorry say that again
R: Into the strip club- we are going in!
W: Lets go
R: I have- I have my little hole in the strip club
W: You got a strip hole?
R: Yes!
W: I’ve never been in here before
R: Well I mean for logs, I mean look at those spruce logs over there, those are stripped. Alright ah perfect it's still, it's still here
W: This doesn't look very hidden
R: Oh its hidden trust me
W: it's very cozy
R: Oh it's very cozy and well if you need to use this for something we can definitely expand a little bit, but probably not too much though because we don’t want to infringe on everything
W: I like this, I mean we can do a little bit now! How about what we do? I like this. I like the wherewithal, maybe we can build a tunnel from here to the burger van. It can be our way in sneaking in from the burger van. aH okay okay you got your finger in a few espionage spies, I appreciate that and no one knows about this?
R: Yeah no one knows about it, yeah I think- to the best of my memory no one knows about it.. There's like a 85% chance that's right
W: That's cool that's cool because at the end of the day we’re- going right now we are the good guys Ranboo, we are the good guys, we-
R: You sure?
W: We-.... yeah! I mean we haven't done anything wrong you know?
R: Yeah
W: we haven't done anything wrong and quackity, quackity done a few things wrong…
R: Yeah yeah
W: hmm hmm is tubbo working full time? What's tubbos deal you know with the burger place?
R: I don’t know I have no idea actually
W: We don’t know we just don't know
R: I Don't know anything about that.
W: It's like how good of an employer is quackity? So I wanted to make sure before I go knowing you have already done a little act of espionage with the strip hole and other things I just
R: Mmmhmm
W: I just wanna, I just wanna say in any case of an emergency right?
R: mhm
W: When we are head to head, you know when- not head to head with each other uh when we are head to head with tubbo and big q and stuff
R: mhm
W: and maybe shits ya know hitting the fan and stuff- I need to know, that we have a saviour card to save the innocent people in this city like tubbo
R: mhm
W: Like fundy and these innocent people
R: So yeah.. So like a plan B just in case anything goes wrong we can save them?
W: Yeah, plan B
R:Okay I'm down for that. What is this- (Wilbur gives Ranboo thirteen TNT)
W: I want you to make yourself useful and..
R: oh
W:Set that up somewhere in las nevadas. I have more, I have more I have another stack if you need it but I think that should be enough to do a marketable amount of damage if you- okay so the problem essentially is that TNT as you know TNT doesnt detonate in water and as you know las nevadas is quite a large majority of water bound. However, quackity really seems to care about the inside of the casino which I’ve peaked in and there's no water in and the outsides of this restaurant section of this spire right? So what you could do is easily make a section in the casino that has a chain reaction under a button somewhere and each one of those detoniates the next consecutive one. It would take a little bit of work, I know quite a bit about TNT, I could help you.
R: Mhmm
W: So
R: o-okay
W: Look dude I’m just letting you know that's what I want you to do. PArt of working-
R: But in most cases and everything it would never see the light of day right?
W: In most cases yeah 100% most of the time maybe it won't happen, BUT if we need to protect the innocent thats what its fore
R: Yeah yeah
W: Yeah you want to protect like fundy, slimecicle, tubbo?
R: Yeah! Yeah
W: So that's, so that's what it's for and Ranboo! I shall bid you adieu, it was a pleasure, thank you for coming
R: Yeah of course!
W: and thank you for being a good co worker, you know?
R: Yeah
W: You’ve done a good job and I can’t-
R: Thank you
W: I trust you will do good work with that TNT I gave you but remember, make it safe!
R: Yeah
W: We don’t want it going off by accident we don't want it
R: Yeah I’ll maybe it very safe
W: Promise?
R: Promise, yeah
W: And you’re gonna tell me where you put the button and you’re gonna tell me where it's set up and-
R: Yep!
W: Okay. Alright, thanks Ranboo
R: Yeah, thanks, I’ll see ya, buh bye
W: I’ll see you around Ranboo. What a nice guy!
34 notes · View notes
waithyuck · 3 years
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pairing: ghost!zhong chenle x reader (f) *halloweenie special*
genre: supernatural au, fluff (with suggestive tones)
word count: like 2k cuz I suck
warnings: one lil mention of murder, themes of haunting, suggestive content (like kissin and some heavy petting, but nothing explicit y’all), non consensual touching (not in a sexual way, more like ‘omg I think a ghost touched me’ yk), explicit language, chenle is a lil lonely ghost boi, reader simps for him,,,,and forms a relationship,,,,with a ghost,,,,
a/n: FUCK IT ITS FINALLY DONE. FUCK. is this edited??? HAHAH. no
< previous
~12/17/2020~
~~~~
moving out on your own for the first time was hands down probably the scariest thing you’ve had to do in your short life. sure, finding a place that was relatively cheap had you excited at the possibility of having a sense of responsibility, and getting away from your parents was a definite plus, but the entire prospect of being alone was, well, terrifying.
you probably should have asked more questions when agreeing to move into said place; a one bedroom apartment that was big enough to fit you and you only. it was cute and clean, and it was all you needed with the minimal amount of things you had.
the cheap price didn’t raise any red flags in your admittedly stupid and naive brain, but it definitely should have. you cursed yourself looking back at not inquiring about exactly why it was affordable.
about two weeks in is when some weird shit started to go down.
you expected there to be the usual noises that occur in an apartment building, but the ones you heard in the early hours of the morning, every morning, seemed a little bit different.
it sounded like small sniffling, like crying, and sometimes the floorboards would creak softly outside your bedroom door, scaring you beyond belief. you even went as far to ask you neighbor if they had been crying every night, to which she looked at you like you had gone nuts.
the touches started not too long after that.
you felt like you were going insane, but you would swear on whatever god you needed to that there was something touching you at night.
light, feather like traces across the skin of your arms, light presses against your face and shoulders, and the occasional cold poke against your legs had you almost ready to give up on the apartment entirely.
you couldn’t leave though; if you were to break the contract you signed, you would lose an incredible amount of money just for vacating early.
you tried to convince yourself it was just your imagination; stupid childlike paranoia from watching horror movies as a kid.
however much you tried, nothing would be able to convince what was before you currently, was part of your imagination.
“woah, what the fuck?!” you screamed, your eyes widening at the sight of the extremely pale boy standing a few feet in front of you. “who the fuck are you?” you clutched what remained of the pile of laundry in your arms, the rest fallen onto the floor as your heart seemingly beat through your rib cage when he stared back at you in awe.
“wait, you can see me?” he asked quietly, his mouth agape as your face screwed up in confusion.
“what? of course I can see you, what the actual fuck?” you blurted back, subconsciously taking a small step backward, dropping the rest of the clothes as the boy seemed to float forward. his feet didn’t touch the ground and he seemed to slowly become more translucent the farther down his body you looked, shocking you even more.
“oh my god,” your breath was staggered as you became to realize what this boy actually was. “oh my god, are you dead?!”
“well that’s one way to put it, yeah.” he stayed out where he was, not moving forward any more into your space. “I’m a ghost.” he put both his hands up and gave a small sheepish smile. “ta-daaa…”
your brows furrowed in confusion, your idiotic human brain trying to process what was actually going on in your apartment right now.
“so wait a minute,” you started suddenly, bracing your hand on the wall beside you to keep yourself steady. “have you been the one touching me at night? what the hell, dude??” you weren’t sure how it was possible, but a blush rose to his ghostly cheeks.
“I didn’t mean anything creepy by it…” he softly spoke, looking down at his feet. “I just haven’t felt any human contact in a...very long time. I’m sorry.”
you wanted to be more angry at him, but then thoughts swirled into your mind of how lonely he must have been, and how long he could have possibly been here on his own.
you continued to converse with the ghost boy (crazy, you were aware) and came to find out that he was actually straight up murdered in this exact apartment about twenty years ago. the most surprising part was that the damn apartment building you were living in has been around that long, considering it’s shady history.
chenle was visibly upset talking about it, sparing the gory details but explaining enough for you to understand that he was killed in his sleep during a robbery turned hostile. it made your heart ache knowing that he died alone, and has been alone ever since.
sure, there were people living in this place before you, but no one stayed long, for obvious reasons. they either found out the history of the murder or were scared away by chenle who was just trying to fill the whole in his dead, ghostly heart.
“you’re gonna leave, aren’t you?” he finally asked, his voice somber.
you did consider it before, but now it felt wrong to do, especially after meeting and somewhat befriending the exact thing that was potentially going to drive you away.
“no,” you replied solidly, shocking him as his head shot up to look at you. “I’m not going anywhere, now that I know you’re not gonna like, try to kill me or anything.”
you tried to joke to make the atmosphere more lighthearted, and it seemed to work as a chuckle escaped him. you sat in silence for a few moments, before a realization hit you.
“wait, wait,” you put a hand out in front of you in emphasis, surprising the boy in front of you. “how are you able to touch things?” you paused for a moment, “and me?”
the boy, chenle, rolled his eyes at you before looking at you with a void expression. “jeez, everyone has the stereotypes so messed up. have you ever seen the movie ghost with patrick swayze? it came out in like 1990.”
you blinked at him a few times before nodding slowly, having an idea of where he was going with his point.
“yeah well, it’s like that,” he paused, coming closer to you and reaching his hand out tentatively, trying to gauge your reaction. “if we just practice enough,” He was close now, directly in front of you with his hand hovering over your arm. “we can touch whatever we want, whenever we want.” his hand wrapped around your wrist gently to prove his words to be true, and you softly gasped at the feeling, still trying to wrap your head around this crazy scenario you were living in.
“that’s nice,” you said, slightly nervous at your own reaction to him touching you. you couldn’t deny that it didn’t feel nice to have someone caress your skin so gently…
he stared at you silently, his face seemingly emotionless as he held you. it didn’t take a genius to decipher the look in his eyes, however. glistening with life and longing, looking at you like you were the only person in the world...and you supposed to him, you were.
“you’re so…” he started, his voice quiet as his other hand reached out to touch your face. hesitant at first, he drew his hand back a millimeter, before letting his fingers brush against your cheek as you sighed and found yourself leaning into him. “pretty. so pretty.”
it seemed crazy; this raw form of attraction at first sight that you were feeling. you had no doubt he was experiencing it too, just from his confession alone.
your lips parted to speak, but no words came forth as you brain short circuited, taking in his handsome features as you finally realized just how attractive he was.
the hand that was holding your wrist slowly slid up your arm, causing your skin to prickle at the sensation of his touch on your skin. it slid up over your shoulder and up your neck, to finally rest on your cheek like his other hand was now doing.
the moment was insanely soft and intimate, and even though his hands were slightly cold, the air around you both seemed to grow warmer and warmer with every passing second, almost suffocating you with each shaking breath you took.
without a second thought, you lunged forward into his space, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and kissing him softly, his hands dropping from your cheeks to rest on your waist as a surprised grunt came from within him.
‘this is so crazy’, you thought, leading him into your room as you kept your lips attached, ‘absolutely insane.’
you weren’t sure how this even came to happen; you’d never thought you’d be flat on your back against your mattress while a literal ghost boy ran his hands up and down your waist as he kissed you like a man starved. you were still slightly convinced that he was a figment of your imagination; he felt so real, nothing like what you assumed a ghost would feel like against your skin.
his hands weren’t as warm as a living humans would be, but you still relished in the feeling of his fingers gripping at the skin of your waist, holding you close to him as he kissed you without holding back.
you highly expected him to be shy and inexperienced; since he had died so young you figured he wouldn’t know what to do.
it was a stupid assumption, to say the least.
you gripped his hair gently and tried to sit up, only to have him keep you down as he sweetly moved his mouth against your own. his grip was becoming more needy and before it could go too far, you pulled back.
you relished in the sight of his red puffy lips, seemingly so alive and human, like blood was still coursing through his veins. his eyes showed wide, blown out pupils as he stared down at you, his eyes hooded slightly.
he licked his lips once before softly falling beside you, his shoulder brushing yours as you both laid in the middle of your mattress in a calming silence.
“well that was a strange turn of events.” you panted, curling your body beside him as you tried to catch your breath. who knew that a dead boy would be such a damn good kisser?
he smirked at you in response, not saying anything as he grabbed your hand in his.
“now you definitely can’t go anywhere. I’m attached.” he teased, looking at you longingly with a cheeky smile on his face. you rolled your eyes but still smiled nonetheless, knowing that you wouldn’t be going anywhere anyway, for a very long time.
you weren’t sure how this was all going to work out, but you’d figure it out as you went along, together.
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Hi Steph!! I was wondering if you knew of any really long fics (like 25k or more) that are only one chapter, I travel a lot sometimes and some places don't really have good enough internet for multi chapter fics. So yeah, any really long one chapter fics about John and Sherlock would be appreciated. Thank you!
Hey Nonny!!
LOL OKAY FUNNY STORY. I almost replied to this with “oof I’ll have to read EVERYTHING so I’m sorry.... and then... I remembered.......
I put chapter counts on everything 🙃😐 
I’m not the brightest crayon in the box. 🖍 
Anyway, so yes, I can definitely rec you some fics! BUT I should also offer you two suggestions you can totally do to read ANY fic!
On Ao3, you can click on the “Entire Work” button to load ALL chapters of a fic (it’s the very first button along the top) and in turn you can then just read it all there! 
And the very last button along the top, you can Download copies of the fic to your phone or computer with eBook file types (AZw3 for Kindle, ePub for iPhone’s Books app, and MOBI is for other mobile devices and e-readers), the HTML if you want to read it as-is in a web-browser, or the PDF format which is a universal file format that is supported by everything, even web browsers, so it’s a good one to download if you don’t know what format you need :) If you read on an eReader, though, I can’t recommend enough just downloading the format for your device. You get to keep a copy of the fic AND the eReader keeps it nicely formatted. It’s a BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL feature that Ao3 gave us, because I like downloading all my fics and read them later in iBooks. Once you start that, Nonny, you can’t do it any other way. AND at the VERY END of the fics, it links BACK to the original post so you can bookmark, kudos, and comment on it!! <3
So yeah, two options you can do to solve your poopy internet and still read long fics hee hee! <3
ANYWAY EXCUSE FOR A NEW LIST LOL. 
ALSO, side note, check out @silentauroriamthereal; a large chunk of her fics are both long AND one chapter, so it’s a good place to go and she’s a brilliant author so I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! <3 Plus a lot of her fics are on this list, so I am sorry hahah.
AND I wanted to make the list a bit longer than I had, so I picked fics over 20K, if that’s alright :) As always, if you wrote a 20k+ single chapter fic, let us know!
SINGLE CHAPTER FICS OVER 20K WORDS
A Life Well-Lived by Kate_Lear (E, 20,121 w., 1 Ch. || Original Male Character, Sherlock Woos John, Jealous Sherlock, Reluctant Bi-John, Past Abuse, Insecure John, Reassuring / Caring Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Understanding Sherlock) – John got scared off men by an abusive past relationship. Sherlock has to try and woo him while not scaring him off with protective possessive rage.
The White Lotuses by SilentAuror (E, 20,340 w., 1 Ch. || Slow Burn, Domestic, Romance) – One day John realises that he just isn't where he belongs, which is back at Baker Street with Sherlock. So he goes back and Sherlock, in his own way, courts him. Romance.
Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...
You're On the Air by prettysailorsoldier (M, 20,616 w., 1 Ch. || Unilock, Matchmaking, Radio, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Sherlock POV, Pining Sherlock, Flirting, Bisexual John) – The Consulting Detective and The Woman dominate the airwaves of their university radio station, doling out advice on everything from meeting the parents to sexual positions. When their ratings start to dip before the holidays, however, manager Mike thinks it's time for some fresh blood, and who better to fill in the gaps than rugby captain--and notorious flirt--John Watson? Part 1 of 25 Days of Johnlock
whiskies neat by Ellipsical (E, 20,660 w., 15 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, POV Second Person Sherlock, Slow Burn, One Night Stand, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Anal, Soldier John, Crying, Emotional Lovemaking, Switchlock) – Home and hearth and whiskies neat, or, alternatively, Sherlock Holmes falls in love.
Achieving the Together-Coloured Instant by teahigh (E, 20,776 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel, PTSD, Codependency, Fluff & Angst, H/C, Smut, Demisexual Sherlock, Experiments) – John wonders if this is how it’s going to be: A life speaking in code, because they’re both too stupid to figure out how to say, “I love you.”
Winter's Delights by Kate_Lear (E, 21,173 w., 1 Ch. || Holmes Family, Christmas, Fake Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Bed Sharing, Domestics) – Sherlock takes John home for Christmas to meet the extended Holmes family. Part 1 of Winter's Delights
Love Is by SilentAuror (E, 21,508 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, UST / URT, Post HLV, Romance) – At Mrs Hudson’s urging, Sherlock finally decides to tell John how he feels about him. Part 1 of Love Is
echoes through time by chellefic (E, 21,619 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Romance, ACD & BBC, Epistolary) – Mummy sends a trunk from the Holmes cottage in Sussex to 221B. Its contents alter the way John and Sherlock see themselves and one another.
Ghost Stories by SwissMiss (M, 22,256 w., 1 Ch. || Pining, Holmes Family, Christmas, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, First Time) – Sherlock's parents think he and John are a couple. They might be onto something.
Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w., 1 Ch. || Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Post-S3, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn't understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John's request.
The Kepler Problem by kinklock (E, 24,270 w., 1 Ch. || Sci-Fi AU, Alien Sherlock, Space Repairman John, Alien Biology, Horny John) – Working in uncharted space exploration was not as exciting as John had hoped, especially when it turned out to be mostly bot maintenance on uninhabited planets. However, the mystery of the repeated, unexplained malfunctions on planet BAK 2212 might turn out to be exactly the kind of adventure he'd been craving.
26 Pieces by Lanning (E, 28,236 w., 1 Ch. || H/C, Torture, First Time, Happy Ending, Schmoop, Past Abuse) – Mycroft gives Sherlock the apparently simple task of solving a puzzle box containing a stolen microchip. It isn't simple.
The Wisteria Tree by SilentAuror (E, 29,773 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Emotional Love Making, Amnesia/Memory Loss, Sherlock Loves John So Much, Sherlock POV, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending, First Times, Hurt/Comfort, Est. Rel., Retirement) – Sherlock wakes up from a month-long coma only to discover that he has no memory of the previous six years to his own shock as well as John's...
Shallow Grave by SilentAuror (E, 31,672 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Angst, HLV Fix It, Infidelity, Pining Sherlock, First Person POV Sherlock) – Starts as Sherlock's plane is taking off at the end of His Last Vow. When he finds out that Moriarty is alive and that he's being recalled from his mission, Sherlock decides that he should have told John how he felt before he left. So he walks off the plane and kisses him.
The Midas Touch by flawedamythyst (E, 32,231 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Magical Realism || John has a Magical Cock, Dub Con, Healer John) – John Watson has a medical condition that means everyone he sleeps with is instantly healed of all illness and injury. This causes complications when Sherlock breaks his arm, and even more complications when Sherlock falls in love with him. Yes, this is a story where John has a literal magic healing cock. It's a lot less cracky than you're probably imagining. Warning: Contains complex issues of sexual consent, although not between Sherlock and John.
The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl by out_there (E, 32,897 w., 1 Ch. || Past Drug Use, Blowjobs, Toplock, Mentions of Switching, Rough Sex, Background Cases, Sherlock’s Past, Sherlock’s Sexual History, Experienced Sherlock, Past One Night Stands, Fingering, Cuddling, Possessive Sherlock, Paris Holiday, Bed Sharing, Naked Lie-Ins, Bathing Together, Confessions, Worried Sherlock, Laying in Bed All Day, Meddling Mycroft, Naked Lazy Day) – Sherlock walks into a room and takes all the space right out of it. He does the same inside John's head.
Our Enthusiasms Which Cannot Always Be Explained by withoutawish (M, 32,961 w., 1 Ch. || Christmas, Fluff and Angst, H/C, Post-TRF, Case Fic, Mild Gore, Sherlock Whump) – The list that is tacked haphazardly on the refrigerator of 221B reads, ‘Kidney(s), and/or a full cadaver (preferably male, late 30s, under six feet tall), bag of fresh toes, sixteen cow’s eyes (corneas retained), dual exhaust hand –held flame thrower, an unopened first edition copy of Joseph Conrad’s 'Heart of Darkness', and no less than ten abhorrently gruesome murders in the upcoming month.” The one neatly hanging next to it simply reads, “Sex.” One of these lists is not John Watson’s. If John Watson were to put what he really wanted in list form, to live in a land somewhere beyond ‘almosts' now that Sherlock Holmes has indeed returned to him, he would never be able to look his flatmate in the eye ever again.
Bedtime Stories by Liketheriver (M, 34,388 w., 1 Ch. || Emotional H/C, Romance, Angst & Humour, Bed Sharing, John First Person, TRF, John Whump) – John's POV during Season 2 and beyond when Sherlock takes up semi-permanent residence in his bed. A collection of codas and missing scenes wrapped up into one long fic and topped with a bow that takes the story beyond Reichenbach and into happy territory once more. Part 1 of Bedtime Universe
The Yellow Poppies by SilentAuror (E, 34,952 w., 1 Ch. || H/C, Nightmares, HLV Fix-It, PTSD, Trauma, POV Sherlock, Doctor John) – Sherlock is threatened and assaulted in the hospital immediately after having been shot in the heart, first by Mary, then by Magnussen. As he recovers at Baker Street with John and plans the attack on Appledore with Mycroft, he fights to work through the trauma caused by these two visits. Set during His Last Vow.
The Unfinished Letters by SilentAuror (E, 37,391 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3 / S3 / HLV Fix it, Angst with Happy Ending, Romance, Infidelity, Depression, Case Fic, POV Third Person Sherlock, Love Confessions, Pining Sherlock, Letters) – A fire at Baker Street leads John to read something he was never intended to see: a notebook of half-written, unfinished letters Sherlock wrote during his time away...
Set in Stone by SilentAuror (E, 39,309 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Wedding, Therapy, Fluff and Angst) – Sherlock and John are back from Ravine Valley and planning their wedding. However, as they move past the trial of the human traffickers, Sherlock can't help but wonder if he's imagining that John is becoming a little distant. Surely he isn't getting cold feet about the wedding... Part 2 of The Ravine Valley series
Act IV by SilentAuror (E, 39,707 w., 1 Ch. || First Person POV Sherlock, HLV Fix-It, Infidelity, Angst, Drama) – After Sherlock is shot, John moves back into Baker Street. They spend the autumn together as John tries to make sense of his life and make some important decisions about both Mary and Sherlock. Canon-compliant, excerpts from His Last Vow.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...
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haliyam · 3 years
Text
interim (i)
zeke x reader/oc (warning: slow burn with some plot)
summary: You return to Liberio not long after the Warriors arrive home from their failed mission in Paradis and discover that things have changed. (Or they will, and maybe a little more with Zeke than you expect.) [Season 4 and manga spoilers ahead]
AO3 link | Ch 2
Hi everyone! This is part of the series I mentioned on my oneshot Asset, but it's a prequel. I'd love to continue the season 4 stuff, but I want to see how the manga ends first so I can plot out Reader's part in it all. (Also edit post-139, I've completely fallen in love with Zeke who deserves so much better and while I always intended to take my time with the Asset prequels, I'm in no rush to get to the Asset sequel. I do want to update as regularly as possible though, rl willing!)
The Reader/OC will be a cis-female Eldian character with a set background, as you'll find at the end of this chapter. Reader’s default name is Lucy, just because I personally don’t like writing ‘Y/N,’ but please feel free to set the substitution for Lucy to you or your character’s First Name using the InteractiveFics browser extension! So on the browser extension that would be: Lucy = Your or your character's First Name. Because reader will have a set background, you'll have a set surname as well.
I will say that Zeke may seem a little OOC/angsty in the beginning of this story, if only because Reader and Zeke were good friends before he became the shitstain we know and love today and Reader is fairly familiar with his true moods even when he is being annoying as hell. (And Zeke is annoying. I swear I do like this guy hahah...)
I hope you enjoy!
--
Chapter 1
It’s strange how easily you fall into step with the soldier ahead of you. 
You don’t march, and your eyes wander stern walls and imposing doors that have long left your dreams, but your footfalls follow only one beat that echoes throughout the hallway as he leads you through it. There’s an almost comforting order to the sound that belies the way your heart tries to hammer its way through your ears or right out of your chest. 
It feels like forever and far too soon when you arrive at a familiar waiting room. Motioning to the chairs around a small round table, the soldier knocks twice on the door opposite where you entered. When no one responds, he simply stands there, and you have no recourse but to take that seat. 
Voices filter in, muffled, from the other room, and you slip your hands under the desk to squeeze your fingers together. Maybe this was a terrible idea after all. You can still leave, pursue your medical degree back home…
“No,” you whisper to yourself, even if you do abruptly stand from your chair. You just need a moment to freshen up. Facing the soldier, you begin, “I would like to—”
Alarm replaces the question in his gaze when two heavy knocks cut through your words. He stares at you a little longer, a new question, and you reply with a deep exhale. 
“Never mind.”
He nods. “They’re ready for you.”
You enter the conference room, which is far too large for the four people sitting at one end of the long table there: an older man with more lapel pins and crow’s feet than you remember, and three others closer to your age—the esteemed Warrior Unit and their commander, Theo Magath.
Six long years later, they all look different enough that under other circumstances, you might hesitate to recognize them. But you know this place all too well, the lighting and their seating arrangement so familiar that you can mistake them for no other than Zeke Yeager, Pieck Finger, and Porco Galliard. 
It soon appears from their expressionless gazes that they can’t say the same for you. Not that you can blame them—they had no reason to expect your arrival, and it’s Commander Magath who huffs at their frigid reception. “Is that how you Eldians treat old friends?”
The three glance at one another. You venture a small smile, and the recognition and surprise that sink into Zeke’s features make Magath snort as Pieck leaps from her chair, shattering the chill in the room as surely as she crashes into you with an embrace.
“Lucy!” 
The joy in her voice sweeps aside your initial fears and brings your excitement bubbling out of your throat in your own laughter. “Pieck!”
She’s talking before you even part and still holding onto the back of your blouse when you do. “You look so… old,” she grins. “That is—me-old.” 
Her languid excitement makes it difficult for you to keep your composure. “I am you-old,” you say, trying not to giggle, but your toothy smile already reaches from ear to ear. 
Before you can say more, Commander Magath clears his throat. “If you two are finished…”
Both of you freeze instinctively at his tone. Stealing another squeeze, Pieck steps aside as Magath rises from his chair. “Good of you to drop by, Blanchard.”
You quickly cross the distance to shake his proffered hand. “Thank you, Sir. And congratulations on your promotion.”
He shrugs, taking a seat and gesturing that you and Pieck do the same. “Still not a far cry from playing nursemaid sometimes.”
Pieck shakes her head. “Don’t say that, Sir.”
“You’re right. I’m at least a pay grade or two above nursemaid,” Magath chuckles just a little, and to his right, Zeke continues to stare at you. 
“Is that really you?” he asks, mouth set in a line under his new beard. 
“In the flesh.” His expression remains neutral through your nervous chuckle. Shifting in your seat, you nod away toward Porco. “It’s so nice to see everyone again. Galliard.”
Though he gave you an appreciative once-over as you entered, Porco is now as uninterested as they come. “I didn’t think you’d still know our names. Thanks for taking the time to drop by, I guess.”
“Oh, come on, Pock,” Pieck teases, ignoring the air of hostility that starts to surround you. As though Porco is only an unruly child, she says in feigned apology, “A few days with the Jaw and he’s already this cocky.”
“Ah.” You can’t bring yourself to mirror her mirth. “I heard about that. I’m sorry about Marcel. And Bertholdt—and Annie…”
Pieck glances away, and because you can’t meet Zeke’s eyes at the moment, you address the commander instead. “What about Reiner? I heard he’d returned.”
“Braun is still undergoing a debriefing.”
A debriefing, you think, when they’ve been back a fortnight already? But it dawns on you easily enough that what Reiner is undergoing is an ideology test. Reindoctrination.
“I see… but…”
“It was on my recommendation,” Zeke cuts in, daring you, a civilian, to protest. His arms are crossed now. “Otherwise he’s in danger of passing on the Armor a full six years too early.”
“I only meant to say that Reiner is the most loyal Eldian I know,” you answer levelly, eyes boring into his. Your nails dig into the cloth of your skirt on your lap as you pretend not to hear Porco’s scoff. Taking the Armor from Reiner? The operation was a massive failure, but that consequence is far too severe... however expected. “After you, of course.”
Zeke tilts his head, obscuring his gaze from your view when the light above reflects off his glasses.
“It’s a good thing, in any case,” Magath explains. “Behind enemy lines for over five years, he—” 
Whatever his opinion, the commander abruptly stops himself from sharing it and clears his throat instead. You know better than to protest when an unsettling pause rests over the room—exactly what you feared would occur.
To your surprise, it’s Porco who comes to your rescue, even if his disdain is palpable. “Why are you here, anyway?” 
“Well,” you begin gratefully, “I’m—”
“I asked her to come,” says Magath, completely ignoring the tension. “But my meeting prior ran overlong, and I have another coming up. Can you come in tomorrow morning? Ten sharp?”
You sit up straight when he addresses you. “Of course, Sir.”
Magath smiles—still a novelty to you—and pushes himself up out of his chair. The rest of you do the same, following him to the door as he speaks. “Go ahead and catch up in the meantime. And Blanchard—it’s good to see you again. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“The rest of you—dismissed.”
He leaves the room with the Marleyan guard at the door. The other three let out a breath of relief once it closes. 
“Blanchard,” Porco enunciates, stretching his arms. “Are we really still doing that? Who are we supposed to be fooling here?”
Pieck sighs, but it’s Zeke who stays him with a light backhand to the stomach. “Settle down, Galliard.”
Porco pushes his hand away. “Seriously? Of all people, you—”
“Your first transformation was pretty brutal, Galliard,” Zeke casually announces. He winces for good measure, like he’s actually worried. “Why don’t you get some rest?”
The hostility on Porco’s face quickly shifts to embarrassment, and you feel for him. “You’ve transformed already?” 
“I wanted to go check on the Warriors anyway,” he says instead, eyeing you with a curled lip. “Nice seeing you again, Blanchard.”
“You too,” you call out, but he’s already stalked out of the room.
You feel Pieck’s hand loop around your arm. “Don’t take it personally,” she says gently. “Learning about Marcel was difficult for him.”
“I can only imagine.” She gives you a small smile at your words, and you understand. Casting a more pleasant gaze around the room, you ask, “How are you two? I thought it might be nice if we could get some lunch together.” You check your watch. “...Very late lunch.”
“I would love to,” Pieck says cheerfully, leading your way out of the room— “Tomorrow. I still have so much paperwork to do.”
Zeke snickers. “The joys of working with a team.”
“Life is unfair,” Pieck declares, but smiles when her hand slips down to yours. “I’ll pick you up after your meeting with Magath tomorrow. It’s a date, right?”
You squeeze her fingers in return. “Definitely.”
Her leisurely footsteps fade down the hallway, and you soon find yourself alone with Zeke. You dust at your blouse idly, but you must eventually look at him. “I suppose it’s just you and me today, then.”
He only eyes you, scratching the side of his bearded jaw. It’s even worse than him outright declining.
“Unless,” you quickly add, detesting the dead air, “are you… training the new Warrior class?”
Zeke snorts. “No. I’ve been busy with other work, but you can check in on their progress if you’re interested. Seems like the Commander wouldn’t mind, seeing as he invited you here.”
You ignore the jab: And you accepted. “What’s kept you busy?”
“Good question.” His smile is a facetious one. “But you know that’s top secret.”
You scoff, but you were braver in front of the others. Now his indifference is too much to bear. 
It’s only after you turn away that Zeke asks, “Why don’t you drop by the house? My grandparents should be happy to see you again.”
“I… actually came from there. They asked me to stay. I hope you don’t mind,” you follow, and regret the words as soon as you say it. It’s like you’re trying to piss him off. “I’ll pay for my share of everything, of course.”
He doesn’t react with anger, but you were stupid to expect him to. “Oh?” he asks instead, managing the most sarcastic one-word question in existence. His voice has gotten so much deeper in the last six years, and somehow that makes it worse. “I would have expected the distinguished Miss Blanchard to prefer better accommodations by now.”
You resist the urge to wince. “Don’t say that. The Yeager household was like home to me for several years. More than home, sometimes.”
There’s a pause where only your footsteps, still in time with one another, are all you hear as you make your way down the empty hall. The thought of Zeke’s gaze right now shames you, but it’s ahead he’s looking when he lets out a whistle. “You’re making this difficult for me,” he laughs. “How can I kick you out after such high praise?”
Your last footfall echoes as you stop, reaching for his arm. “Zeke—”
He yanks it away without even looking at you. “We should head back before the Commander decides he wants something from me after all. Come on.”
Your face burns with humiliation even though there’s no one else around to watch him walk away, his long strides too fast for you to catch up.
--
The Yeagers are pleased to have you over for dinner and beyond, and though you already dropped by before making your appearance at HQ, Mrs. Yeager does not run out of subjects to discuss with you, updating you on several of your neighbors’ lives. Who has married, who has passed away, and whose children have joined the Warrior program themselves, only to fail. Zeke doesn’t talk except to comment on something his grandparents say, or very rarely something you say so as not to arouse their suspicion. They have none. They are too busy doting on you after your long, long absence.
After dinner, when your stomachs are full and your chest is light with laughter, you stand up to collect the dishes and bring them to the sink. “Absolutely not,” Mrs. Yeager says, realizing your intention once she hears the light clatter of tableware. “You’re our guest, Lucy!”
“Please,” you call from the sink. “I miss doing this with all of you around.”
Dr. Yeager sighs in agreement with his wife. “Not on your first night. Zeke.”
Zeke is already on his feet, leaving only everyone’s glasses as he makes his way to the sink with the placemats. Dr. Yeager has brought out their good wine to celebrate your return. “I can do this myself,” he tells you, trying to wave you aside. 
You don’t budge. “But I can help. We’ll get it all done more quickly.”
He levels a look at you—one you haven’t seen since you were very young, from before you were friends. “Sit with my grandmother, Lucy,” he murmurs so that only you hear. “Don’t make her crane her neck just to talk to you.”
Shame and something completely unfamiliar fill you at his reprimand, and you surrender with a nod. You make your way back to the table and squint at Mrs. Yeager. “Only tonight, though.”
Mrs. Yeager laughs, reaching for your hands across the table. You give them to her easily. “You’ve grown into such a beautiful young woman,” she says. “Your parents must be very proud of you.” You nod with some unease, and Dr. Yeager, even as he enjoys his wine, clears his throat. Mrs. Yeager realizes her mistake. “Ah—I...I’m sorry, dear. I know they passed away several years ago. But I’m sure they would be proud of you now.” 
“That’s all right,” you reassure her. “I hope it’s not too bold to say, but… you and Dr. Yeager were mother and father to me for a time as well, when they couldn’t be. I will always be grateful for that.”
“Oh, Lucy,” Mrs. Yeager smiles, her eyes quickly shining, “That isn’t bold at all. We felt the same way. We only wish you had written more!”
A scoff makes its way from the kitchen. “Grandma,” Zeke reminds her lightly, even as he scrubs the plates with renewed vigor, “you know Lucy has been busy.”
“I know that, dear, I wasn’t trying to—”
“No, it is my fault,” you agree. “I promise I’ll be better about that the next time I go.”
“Next time?” asks Dr. Yeager, suddenly sitting up straight. “Where are you going?”
You blink, turning your attention to him, and attempt to wave the confusion away with your hands. “No, no, Dr. Yeager, I’ll be staying here for a while. I only meant that for the next time I leave Lib—”
“Next time?” Dr. Yeager repeats, his hand knocking over his wine glass as he eyes your left sleeve with intent. It trembles as he grasps at his scalp. “If you’re leaving, why aren’t you wearing your armband?”
The faucet shuts off, leaving only the sound of alcohol dripping from the dinner table to the floor, and Mrs. Yeager turns to him nervously. “Dear—”
“Don’t leave without your armband again, Faye,” he pleads, looking straight at you. He rises from his seat, voice more and more frantic as he swipes at a nearby cabinet with nothing to show for it. “Where is it? Where did you put it?”
Zeke is already wiping his hands on the hem of his shirt, and Mrs. Yeager goes to take her husband’s arm. “Darling, no, this is Lucy, remember?”
But Dr. Yeager is already heaving. It’s not long before tears are streaming down his face and he cries, “Why would you do this to me again? Why did he let you remove your armband, Faye?!”
“Dr. Yeager—I’m Lucy. Lucy,” you insist, hurrying over and tucking your hair behind your ears to show him your face, smiling as you’ve done many times in an attempt to calm him. You hold his arms, trying to jog him back to reality, but by now he is screaming and weeping, digging his fingers into your arms and repeatedly calling out his daughter’s name. 
“...Come on, grandpa.” Zeke pries Dr. Yeager’s hands from your sleeve with his grandmother’s help. Stunned by his sudden lapse, you can only watch—able to follow only when they are already struggling with him by the stairs. 
“Zeke—”
“Stay there,” he hisses with rancor that freezes you in place. Mrs. Yeager apologizes, but of course you shake your head and return to the dining room. Your hands shake as you clean the spilled alcohol from the dinner table and the floor, going over what you could have said to set off Dr. Yeager. 
This is hardly the first time you’ve seen him like this, but it used to take only very specific words to remind him of that event, and so much easier to bring him back from those memories. The memory of his weeping face seizes at your heart, tempting you to launch yourself upstairs and ask after him, but Zeke is right. You’ll only make things worse.
You’re getting started on the dishes again when you hear heavy footsteps plod down the stairs. 
Zeke. You cuff the faucet off, mouth already open when he smiles, reaching over to graze your exposed ear with his thumb and his index finger. “Did growing up damage your ears? I said I’d take care of the dishes.”
The unexpected contact sends a strange rush through you, but it’s the insult you focus on ignoring. Even if you do untuck your hair. “I’m sorry about Dr. Yeager.”
“It’s not your fault,” he shrugs. “It happens more often nowadays.”
“I didn’t know it had gotten so bad.”
“How could you? You’ve been away.”
You gnaw on your cheek at that. “I’m sorry, Zeke.”
For a moment, you finally see it—the recognition of the words you’ve been trying to say since you met earlier that afternoon, and the reason why. An eddy of hurt and confusion reflects in his eyes, pulling at the air around you. You want to rise above it, or else drown, or just beg for his forgiveness, but he knows you, or knew you as much as you knew him, and he cuts you off before you can speak. 
“You really have grown up.” His droll chuckle makes your heart sink into your stomach. “You never used to apologize for anything.”
You make a face. “That’s not true.”
“Maybe. You were pretty damn insolent when you wanted to be.”
“I guess I could be,” you murmur. Your eyes lift to his, on a tightrope’s edge. “Remember when Marras overheard me complaining about firearm maintenance?”
Zeke snorts. “Magath had you cleaning Warrior arsenal for a week.”
You can’t help but laugh. “That was awful. Only Marcel snuck out to help me at night, and that was to impress Pieck. Thank you for that, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.”
You squint at him. Zeke grins, warmly now, and hope almost finds you—but your words catch up with you first, and both of you remember when you really are. 
“Marcel,” you can’t help but say with regret.
“Yeah.” Coursing a hand through his hair, Zeke brushes past you to the sink. “Anyway, I’ll take care of this. You go to bed. You have a meeting with Magath tomorrow—that’s why you came back, right?”
“No, not just—”
The sudden burst of running water from the faucet and the wall of his back means the conversation is over. Again. Clenching your fist, you bite your tongue and slowly breathe out your growing frustration. 
“Good night, then, Zeke.”
You’ve already gone up the stairs when Zeke swallows the lump in his throat, staring at the spoon splashing water upon his palm. He’s been washing it for the last two minutes. 
“Night, Lucy.”
--
Zeke has already left for HQ by the time you come downstairs the next morning. Dr. Yeager is still in bed, exhausted as he gets whenever he remembers his children, but Mrs. Yeager has prepared breakfast. Try as you might, you cannot resist sitting with her and sharing a meal together. You make it to the Liberio military headquarters just in time to hear the new Warrior instructor barking out to the children jogging around the courtyard.
You wander a little closer, unable to help your curiosity—but a nearby guard spots you and quickly corrals you away, back to the offices. “They’re expecting you,” he says, looking you over as he hands you back your permit. “Don’t know what top brass wants with a civilian, much less an Eldian, but...”
“Top brass?” 
The soldier almost sneers at you. As if you don’t know, Eldian, it says, and you’re starting to think you actually don’t.
He’s led you not to the same conference room as yesterday afternoon, but to an office that you distinctly remember as off-limits. When the soldiers standing guard let you inside, you understand why.
Top brass is right. More than Commander Magath, there are a number of higher-ups waiting for you inside - some faces you’ve glimpsed since you were a child, and others you have seen as recently as months ago. One in particular stands out—an intelligence officer who reports directly to your brother. Three are generals at some of the highest levels in the army.
“Blanchard,” Magath calls out. You nearly stiffen at his voice again, but relax in time, to the chuckles of the men in the room. The commander ignores them, staring straight at you. You detect the slightest hint of an apology in his hardened gaze, or maybe that’s wishful thinking to keep your growing displeasure in check. “Glad you could make it.”
“Sir, I—”
A nearby general cuts you off. List. “You can dispense with that, Magath,” he says. “We’re all in the know here.”
“Yes, Sir.”
General List turns toward you. 
“Thank you for coming, Miss Tybur,” he says. There is no smile in his harsh features, but he is not unkind. Careful, maybe. “Please, sit. We have a proposition for you.”
--
So... yes! I admit, part of the reason I wanted to write something in the AoT/SnK series is because I loved and hated the addition of the Tyburs. So I wanted to write a little more about the family but also since I'm thirsty, write a Zeke fic and eventually a Levi one (whether AU or not). Obviously we'll eventually go into why the Tyburs would send one of their own into the Warrior program, among other things, but bear with me for now.
Also disclaimer: This is a Zeke/Reader story set in the AOT world, so it’s a romance with a guy who gleefully murdered a shit ton of innocent people and helped Marley level countries. Please don’t look to this story for a completely morally upright character/reader/OC who makes all the right choices. (Though expect that Reader will take them into consideration.)
Last thing! This is a slowburn with some plot, so while you can definitely expect romance (and smut) down the line, and while this fic does go heavily into Lucy's/Reader's relationship with Zeke, it also features interactions with other characters. I just wanted to give fair warning if you expect it to focus only on Zeke.
Thank you for reading! 
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argumentl · 3 years
Text
The Freedom of Expression Ep 42 - Filling up at  old style sweet shop 'Kamikawaguchiya'.
Part 1 (Part 2 here)
00:14 K: This is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Today is a little different from the usual white background.
J: Its totally different.
T: Its good isn't it? It feels nice.
J: It does.
K: Yeah, Joe san, Tasai san, Im forgetting the order of things, haha. Uh, where is this?
J: So this is in the neighborhood Zōshigaya, and this place is called Kishibojin. I think most Kantō people know of this place. Its really near Ikebukuro. By train its either the Toden-Arakawa line, or the Fukutoshin line, and about 3 mins walk from Zōshigaya station.  Kaoru, is this your first time here?
K: Yes.
T: What do you think of the atmosphere here?
K: Well, I like temples, so...
J: Oh, you like temples?
T: (*speaking off mic*)
J: Yeh, so Ikebukuro Sunshine City is quite close to here..
K: Is it that close?
J: Yeh, its close. You could walk it if you tried. Its not that far. But this area has had temples and shrines on it since long ago.
1:33 J: So, inside here is Japan's oldest sweet shop.
K: The oldest?
J: Yes.
K: Ah, we talked about this before.
J: Yes, thats right. Shall we go inside? You know, I've not eaten all day so that I will have room for sweets.
K: Really??
1:56 J: Here we are. The name of the shop is 'Kamikawaguchiya'.
T: Established in 1781?
J: Really. How many years is that? I can't work it out immediately...200....240 years ago?
T: Yeh.
2:16 J,T: Hello, sorry to disturb you.
J: This shop was founded in 1781? What generation are you?
Old lady: 13th generation.
J: 13th??
T: 1781 was in the..
Old lady: Edo era.
J: The Edo era?? Well, this place is very unique, and Im already feeling hungry. Do you remember this? *picks something up* Its plum jam. I used to put this on soft rice crackers.
K: Oh yeah!
J: We used to eat this, right? Plum jam. Its so nostalgic, I really wanna eat this. What else..
T: Should we just choose one each?
J: Once each?
T: To start with.
J: Oh, to start with, yeh. Kaoru, what about you?
3:11 K: This has a lot in..
J: Oh, it does.
K: So, I might be full after just this.
J: Haha, yeh. You chose quickly.
T: Oh this is nostalgic.
J: So nostalgic!
Old lady: Please put them in a basket.
J: Ah, ok, we'll put them in this.
T: These are 'lottery sweets'.
J: Excuse me, do you have those rice crackers to put plum jam on?  Oh, these! Its this!
Old lady: Thats a pack of them. The individual ones are down here.
J: Oh, right.
K: This is really good. (*looking at the sweets box lid *)
J: Haha, yeh.
K: I feel like Im back in my hometown.
3:58 T: Ok, im gonna pull out one of these sweets.
J: So nostalgic!
T: Look, (*points to Ginko leaf*) the Ginko tree is shedding here.
J: Remember this yogurt type thing?
K: Oh yeh yeh! I've eaten that.
J: I'll have this too.
K: Hang on, lets eat the first ones before that.
J: Right, the first ones.
K: Ok, money...
J: Our staff will pay.
K: Ok, we'll have these, and one of those please.
T: Yeh, one of the lottery sweets.
Old lady: Please pull one out.
T: This is nostalgic too!
J: Its a type of gambling.
T: Yeh, this is the moment you turned from a child to an adult. Ahhh, its small!
J: Ah, it is small.
T: Im in shock. Thank you, I'll eat it later.
K: So, this and this aswell please.
Old lady: Ok, pass it over, I'll work it out.
J: Please do.
Old lady: ¥30, ¥50....ok, thats ¥119.
J: ¥119.
T: I'll get this.
J: This is on Tokyo Sports? haha.
K: Thanks for buying us this!
J: So cool! haha.
Old lady: ¥81 change.
T: Thank you.
Old lady: Thank you very much.
J: She's so thankful just for ¥120.
T: Yeh, it makes me happy.
J: Ok, lets try these. Look at this..
T: That looks good.
J:(*opening packet, Tasai holds the the rice crackers for him while he squeezes the jam on*) Oh, im sorry, can you help me. I feel like the colour is different.
Old lady: Ah, thats because the maker is different.
J: Oh?
Old lady: The old maker closed down three years old.
J: Oh really?!
K: Are you using all of it.
J: Of course!
Old lady: The newcomers can't make it the same. ???*1 This one tastes okay.
J: Its ok?
Old lady: ???
J: Ok, I'll try it. Ah, yeh, its ok.
T, K: Hahaha.
J: Its just like you said, its ok. Ah, but its nostalgic! It tastes like old times.
K: *To Tasai* You're eating already?
J: Eat while the camera is on you!
T: Haha, it tastes good.
J: Please, we're on location!
T: I can't take it out of my mouth now.
J: We didn't come here to eat only.
6:29 J: Ok, Kaoru, you next.
K: *opening packet* Oh, it has a tooth pick.
J: So it does.
Old lady: Would you like this?
T: Oh, no Im ok, thank you.
K: *eats sweet* Mm, yeh this is how it tasted.
T: Haha
J: I've actually never tried that before.
6:55 J: What is it? Is it a hard sweet?
T: Isn't it gum?
Old lady: I think its gum.
K: It says its candy.
J:Oh, candy?
Old lady: Like a hard type candy.
J: It might be like a gum style gummi sweet. We had gummis in elementary school.
7:12 J: Ok, me next. What should I go for? Oh, this type of thing..
K: Ahh.
J: You suck it. This is nothing but food colouring.
T: Oh, look at this.
J: Ah, this. Oh, also this. *Opening box* This, this, this!
K: Ah, plum.
J: Plum! This is so sour! I might go with this. But Kaoru, you choose yours first. This is exciting.
7:44 J: So this is our second round.
T: Yeh.
J: Everyone's like, I don't care, just choose, haha.
K: I've had a sweet one, so I feel like getting a sour one this time. Maybe I'll go with this.
J: Oh, you're picking that one? Yeh, thats a good one.
T: Yoguru
J: Yeh, its Yoguru. Thats so nostalgic too. You eat it with a spoon, right?
Old lady: The spoons are in there.
8:23 J: This too, right? Kinako sticks.
*Old lady and Tasai talking in the background*
J: I think I'll go with this. The sour plum. I'll take the plum..
T: And I'll go with this old fave..*holds up bag of snacks*
J: Ah, that!
Old lady: Oh, thats delicious, isn't it.
T: Yep.
Old lady: This one (Yoguru) has a lottery. Ok, its the same as last time, ¥119 yen please.
J: ¥119? Thats great.
T: Thank you
J: *getting money out*. No, no, this feels great, haha. Paying for you two adults like this.
9:05 J: Oh, the smell of this.
K: *smells the plum* Ahh
J: The smell makes your mouth water, right?
K: Its sour! You've gone for another sour one.
J: *smells the plum* So sour!
Old lady: You drink it with the straw.
J: Oh, were you supposed to drink it??
K: You should have opened that first *points to straw*
J: I've done it in the wrong order again, I just can't get it right.
K: While you're doing that, I'll eat mine.
9:28 K: I didn't win.
J: Oh, yeh! That comes with a lottery.
Old lady: Someone won with that before and just threw it in the bin.
K: Ehh? What a waste.
Old lady: Customers just eat them and throw them away.
K: *eats* Ahh, this is nostalgic.
J: What exactly are the ingredients in this? haha. Its not yogurt, is it? At least.
K: Its best not to think about it.
J: Haha
10:06 J: *Drinking plum juice* Ah, it sour!
K: Haha.
J: Did I really drink this as a kid?? I cannot drink all of this.
K: Does it irritate your throat?
J: Mm..*drinks* Agh, sour! This makes my face   frown!
T: ???*2
J: Honestly, I've got tears in my eyes! Do I have to drink all of it?
K: Yeh, you have to.
J: Really?
10:34 J: Ok, watch this. *drinks*
K: Ahh, the straw is little..
J: Agh, so soouuuuur. Ah, its sour. But its cause its vinegar, right?
K: Its good for your health.
J: Yeah. No mistake.
K: It has artificial colours in it though.
J: It does, yeh. I'll eat the plum just as it is. *eats plum* Ah, yeh, i remember this taste. *To Tasai* You want this one? I can't eat two.
T: I've still got this sweet in my mouth from before. I've totally messed up this job.
K: Hahaha
T: Its still in my mouth.
J: And you're holding everyone's snacks. You look like the sweet shop guy /駄菓子おじさん
T: Haha, Kaoru, do you want the plum?
K: Nah, im ok.
T: Haha, you're ok?
K: It looks difficult to eat.
J: It is difficult to eat, for sure.
11:35 J: Ok, should we go for a third round?
K: Yes. I havn't brought money, Toru can pay.
J: Thank you
11:50 K:*picks up snack* A long time ago, was it my previous band? We used to eat these in the all night studio.
J: Haha, these?
T: A nostalgic taste.
K: Yeh, we had no money.  We used to eat stuff like this.
J: ???*3, its big right?
K: Yeh, I would have it if I got tired and hungry, and wanted a sweet snack.
12:19 T: Is this a stick lottery?
Old lady: If the end is red, you win.
T: Should the three of us play?
K: Yeah.
Old lady: How many do you want?
K: Three.
Old lady: Just three? ¥33yen please. *Takabayashi pays*.
T: Ok, lets try these lucky sticks.
J, T, K: *eat snack* Ahh
J: Oh, look! I won!
T: Thats a success.
J: I thought the plum food colouring had just gone on it.
K: Haha, no.
13:02 J: *getting another stick* What happens if I win again?
Old lady: You just carry on, no matter how many you win.
J: Ok, I'll try this one. *eats* Ahh, I didn't win.
13:24 K: *opens packet, eats* Ah, there's no mistaking that taste.
T, J: Hahah
T: Can I try? *takes a snack from bag, so does Joe* No mistaking?
K: Its kinda sweet.
T: Ah, tastes great!
K: This is so good.
T: It is.
13:40 J: What is this thing again?
K: This? If you look closely, they are different.
J: Oh, I used to get this one, Mochitarō.
T: It says 'sauce flavour'.
K: I used to get this one.
J: I got Mochitarō.
Old lady: Mochitarō is the strong flavour, the other one is sauce flavour.
K: I might go with this.
14:23 J: This is fun.
K: Oh, its chocolate barley.
J: Chocolate barley? Its hidden there.
K: And these. *points to snacks in basket*.  Um, near my parent's home, they would come and shoot these out. It was on the back of a truck.. (*image here*)
Old lady: Yes, thats right.
K: And you would take your rice, and there was this handle that they turned, and made it into this snack. If you helped out with turning the handle, they would give you it for free. And at the end, they would shoot it out.
Old lady: ???*4
K: Yeh yeh yeh.
J: Really?
K: You could make it with macaroni too.
Old lady: Its also nice as popcorn.
Click for Part 2
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hyuniepot · 3 years
Text
the butterfly effect. || chapter 6
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chapter word count || 5,372
genre || thriller, angst, drama
members || mark lee, na jaemin, lee jeno, huang renjun, lee donghyuck, zhong chenle, park jisung
warnings || mentions of death, implications of depression
pairing || fem!reader x jaemin || slight fem!reader x mark
synopsis || you never thought you’d be able to play with fate so easily, especially not through some shady app. but you suddenly must say goodbye to what you know and hello to a new world where everything seems perfect.
taglist || @gothboyjisung​ @jeongyoonohs @doiewonu @huanginjoon​ @wordsgodeep @colpen
previous chapter
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You woke up way later than usual. You were still in the clothes you wore yesterday. You immediately got up and showered, changing into a new pair of clothes.
You woke up way later than usual. You were still in the clothes you wore yesterday. You immediately got up and showered, changing into a new pair of clothes.
You woke up way later than usual. You were still in the clothes you wore yesterday. You immediately got up and showered, changing into a new pair of clothes.
When you were done, you checked your phone.
Mark
hey, when do u wanna hang out?
you can come over here if u want.
or whatever. its fine
oh, you probably aren’t awake yet….
lol. let me know when ur awake.
You smile.
You
hey im awake now
i can come over to ur place, is any time fine?
i just gotta get ready and stuff
You set your phone down and look at yourself in the mirror, continuing to dry your hair. You know you still had to make your final decision on whether you were going to leave or not. Your mind couldn’t make a decision. There were pros and cons to doing both.
If you were to go back, you’d return to a life with no Mark and a Jisung who isn’t happy. But you’d have Hyuck. You’d have Jaemin, and Jeno and Renjun. You’d have your old friends back. You could use what you learned here to fix your life.
But Mark. He was the only thing stopping you. You wanted to take him along with you but you knew it was impossible. You just couldn’t imagine leaving him again when you had spent so long yearning for him to be back.
You jump at the sound of your phone dinging.
Mark
yea, come on over. i’ll be here all day hahah
You
got it. i’ll be there soon
You then clicked on Hyuck’s name to text him.
You
i know this is annoying but please give me the time i need. i’ll let you know tonight what my decision is.
You turned your phone off, grabbing your camera and putting it in your new bag. Jisung was in his room so you gently knock and wait for a response.
Jisung opens the door. “Hey.”
“Hey,” you respond. “I’m gonna go to Mark’s today, are you gonna be okay here alone?”
Your mother’s workload had definitely decreased, but she still worked long hours. You only got to see her in the mornings before school.
Jisung nods. “Yep, that’s fine.”
“Okay.” you exhale. “I’ll see you later, then.”
He nods, and you turn away and head downstairs. You make your way outside and start your journey to Mark’s house. Luckily, you had gone there once since you showed up, so you knew your way.
Everything was still so familiar. Of course it was; this was the town you grew up in after all. And that’s why it was so hard to differentiate from your old life sometimes. Everything still felt right at times.
You were glad Mark didn’t live too far away. You spotted him outside, sitting on one of the concrete stairs that lead to the porch. His face lights up when he spots you, getting up and making his way to you.
“What’s up?” he smiles.
“Nothing,” you reply. “What’s the plan for today?” you both continue making your way to his house.
“I don’t have anything planned, really…” he says, scratching his head. “We just chill for a bit and then figure out something if you want.”
You nod, going up the stairs to his porch. He opens the door, letting you in. You follow him up to his room, suddenly feeling nervous. You hadn’t been alone with Mark like this. You barely even knew how to be around him without feeling awestruck.
He opens the door to his room and it hits you. It was so perfectly… him. It was just what you expected, what you always imagined it would look like. An acoustic guitar stood in the corner of his room, bed haphazardly made. A record player was set up on the left side, the records he owned displayed on a nearby shelf. Posters of all different subjects were taped on the wall, some personal photos mixed in. You spotted one of you and Mark as children, one of the photos you always looked at when you missed him.
It hurt to look at everything. But you had to force your emotions aside.
“Yeah, had to switch up the old room,” he says, putting his hands in his pockets. “I think this looks way cooler.”
You nod. “It looks great.” your voice is barely audible. You couldn’t take your eyes off the photos on the wall.
“Oh,” Mark notices you staring at the wall. He walks to where his bed is, squatting down and pulling a book out from under it. “I found a whole photo album of old photos.” he says. He motions you to come sit down next to him, and you oblige.
He opens it. The first few pages were photos of him as a baby, but it quickly changed to photos of him as a kid. It didn’t take long for you to appear. You had seen them all before, but it was still nice to look at them. There were even pictures from your trip to the butterfly enclosure, an unsure look plastered across your face. Mark was beaming.
“Do you remember this?” Mark puts his finger on an old photo of you and him at a fair — huge grins on both of your faces. He laughs. “We rode a ride and I swore I was gonna get sick after it. You were so freaked out by it that you avoided me until I convinced you I felt better.”
You laugh. You did remember it. You remembered running away from him and staying at least 10 feet away until you finally gave in.
He turns a few pages. It was time to look at photos that you had never seen, stories that you had never heard, the things that could have been. You just tried to keep your breathing steady.
There’s a picture of you and him together in somewhat formal clothing — probably your first highschool dance. Hyuck and another boy you didn’t recognize stood behind you, giving both you and Mark bunny ears.
“You remember Johnny, right?”
That must have been the other boy. You just nodded. Of course, you had no idea who he was.
“He moved here when we were like 12, right?” he looks at the photo. “I miss him. I don’t get to talk to him a lot because he travels so he’s always in a different timezone but… when I do, it’s like he never left.” he adds.
You wrack your brain — did you ever know anyone named Johnny? You were sure you didn’t. He didn’t exist in your old life. But he had somehow been a part of your life in this universe at some point. He was visibly older — not by too much, but he was definitely more mature. It didn’t help that Mark had a baby face. He had brown, medium length hair that was kind of shaggy. He seemed charming. But since there was no sign of him in your phone, you assumed you didn’t keep in touch with him.
Mark flips the pages a few more times. There’s a picture of you, Mark, and Hyuck on what seemed to be your last halloween together. You couldn’t exactly pinpoint when, but you were probably 14 or 15. You were dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Hyuck was dressed as the beast and Mark was dressed as Lumière, the candlestick.
You look at the girl in those photos. You wished you had her brain; You wished you remembered everything the way she did. Looking at yourself in the photos didn’t feel right. No matter what you did, you couldn’t convince yourself that it was you. Because technically, it wasn’t. Where was that girl now? Was she living your old life? Spending her days with Jaemin, desperately wishing for Mark?
“Are you okay?” you snap back to reality at the sound of Mark’s voice. He had closed the book and was looking at you with a concerned look on his face.
You let out an awkward chuckle. “Oh… yeah. I’m fine… I just kinda zoned out.”
“Yeah… you’ve been doing that a lot lately…” Mark stands up and slides the book back under his bed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
You don’t want to reply. Your eyes start burning with tears.
“Yeah,” you reply softly.
“That’s why I wanted to hang out with you today. You’ve seemed so… off lately… No offense,” Mark sits back down and looks at you. “I don’t mean that in a mean way, I just mean… it seems like something is bothering you and… are you crying?”
Tears finally escape your eyes, cascading down your cheeks. You stay silent as Mark wraps his arms around you, tightly hugging you.
“Oh god, oh no… I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sorry.” Mark says.
You can’t help but smile as you cry into his chest. “No… it’s not your fault…”
He pulls away from the hug. “Is something actually wrong? You know you can talk to me… I heard bottling up your emotions isn’t healthy…”
You take your time collecting yourself to try and think of an excuse. Obviously you couldn’t tell him the real reason why you seemed so out of it -- oh yeah, Mark, I’m from a universe where you died and I ended up here because I used some app to wish for you back and I have literally no idea what’s going on half the time.
“I’m just stressed,” you tell him. “I’ve never been this stressed so I don’t really know how to deal with it.”
“Ah…” Mark nods. “I get it… I mean, we’re in our last year of school. Everyone’s gonna expect us to act like adults soon. It’s… scary.”
You nod, wiping your tears. I wish that was what I was stressed about.
And that’s when it clicks. You realize you don’t belong here. You were destined to live in a world without Mark. But that thought only makes you start crying again.
Mark hugs you again. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “Just let it out, okay?”
So you do. You let everything out. Your shoulders shake as you sob. To anyone, it would seem like you’re overreacting. Sobbing in your best friend’s arms because you’re stressed. But this was the one thing you felt like could make you feel better.
For years, you laid in your bed alone, sobbing because you missed Mark. Because you felt guilty. And if you weren’t crying over him, you wished he was there to comfort you. And now it finally happened, and you were gonna relish the moment. This was all you ever wanted.
You feel guilty — Mark just wanted to hang out and here you were, making him comfort you as you cried for God knows what.
You force yourself to stop crying. Mark lets you go and levels himself with you, wiping your face with his thumb. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks. “We’re best friends… you can tell me anything, y’know?”
You nod. “I know… I just… didn’t want to bother anyone.”
Mark furrows his brows. “Hey come on, don’t say that. You wouldn’t be bothering anyone. Don’t think like that.”
You hiccup. You could feel that your face was puffy from crying.
“Okay,” Mark stands up. “I think this calls for some relaxation, right? I’m gonna get a bunch of blankets and we’re just gonna lounge.” He grabs a spare blanket and wraps it around your shoulders, helping you stand up. He leads you to his basement. There was a large couch and a TV. You sit down.
“Do you wanna watch a movie?” he asks.
You nod. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Mark turns the TV on. “Okay. I’ll find something for us to watch. Get comfortable, okay?”
You scoot around for a bit before finding a comfortable spot. The crying you did made your eyelids heavy.
Mark joins you on the couch, clicking through the TV guide, searching for something to watch. He clicks on a movie before opening his arms. “Come here.”
Maybe it wasn’t right, but you let him hold you. You listen to his heartbeat, trying to keep yourself awake until you couldn’t fight it anymore.
[4:27 p.m.]
Your eyes flutter open. You glance around, taking in your surroundings and remembering you were in Mark’s basement. You realize you were still in his arms. You quickly sit up, making Mark jolt awake.
“Oh shit,” he says, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Did we both fall asleep?” he chuckles.
You smile. “Yeah… looks like it.” You stretch your muscles. “Did you get to watch any of movie?”
“Nope.” Mark replies. “I think I fell asleep right after I realized you had,” he says softly.
You groan. “What time is it? We didn’t sleep through the day, did we?” you ask, suddenly nervous.
Mark pulls out his phone to check the time. He shakes his head. “Nope. Only about two and a half hours.”
You sigh in relief. It was still a long time, but at least it was still daytime. “Oh, good.”
“Do you wanna go get some food? We should probably get up so we don’t fall asleep again,” he laughs.
You smile. “Good idea.”
You both make your way upstairs and you retrieve your bag from Mark’s room before leaving the house. The weather, like yesterday, was nice. A light breeze blew, but it wasn’t cold thanks to the sun. You could hear children playing in a yard nearby. You and Mark made your way to a restaurant nearby. It was one that you didn’t recognize. It was a bit retro-themed and was decorated like a classic diner.
You and Mark sit down at a booth, looking at the menu. “We haven’t been to this place in forever… they got a bunch of new menu items.” Mark mumbles.
You look at the menu. It had all kinds of different types of burgers, but most importantly, milkshakes.
Mark gasped. “They got rid of the cookies ‘n cream milkshake? Are you kidding me?” he whines.
You laugh. “Really? That has to be a popular flavor.”
“Right? It’s so good too, I order it everytime. So why would they — oh, nevermind… they just rebranded it…” Mark says softly, hiding his face with the menu.
Your eyes find their way to the milkshakes; they had simply changed the name of the milkshake from Cookies ‘N Cream to Oreo. You giggle. “Dork.”
“Hey, come on! I was panicked, alright?” Mark laughs.
A waitress swings by and takes your orders — you just order a classic burger and fries with a milkshake with your favorite ice cream flavor.
You feel your phone buzz in your pocket. You pull it out to see who’s calling. It’s Hyuck. “Um,” you swallow hard. “I’m gonna go wash my hands real quick.” you tell Mark.
He nods. “Alright.”
You get up from the booth and quickly walk to the bathroom. You close the door behind you, praying that it was empty. “Hello?”
“God, took you long enough.” Hyuck mutters.
“Why’d you call?” you sigh.
“Because I think we need to actually talk about this… I mean, if you decide to leave, I need to be able to tell you when to send the message.” he replies.
You roll your eyes. “I told you I would let you know later. I’m with Mark right now.”
“Are you serious?”
You pause. It’s deathly quiet. You can feel Hyuck’s anger through the phone. “He wanted to hang out, he asked me last night when he dropped me off… did you really think I’d say no?”
“You should’ve,” he sighs. “You know you’re only making it harder on yourself.”
You knew he was right. “I just… wanted to make some final memories before possibly leaving,” you tell him.
“I… understand.” Hyuck adds quietly. You hear him sigh. “You know this is hard on me too, right? I’m sorry I keep being so pushy but… I just wanna get out of here.”
It’s silent again. For the first time, you realize you never even thought about how Hyuck felt. You knew he missed Mark just as much as you did.
“That’s why I’ve been kinda distancing myself from him. Because the first day we were here, it was hell. All I could think about was that day… it’s all I can think about.” he says. You can barely hear him.
“Hyuck…” you whisper.
“Being here… with him… it’s too much for me to handle. You don’t think I feel the same way? I know this is a universe where we could both be happy with Mark, but something keeps telling me I can’t stay here. Too much has changed. I can’t be comfortable here.” Hyuck’s voice starts trembling. “Which is why I refused to spend any time with Mark. Because he’s the only reason I want to stay. But I miss my old life. I miss my friends. I don’t know what the hell went wrong here, but my life is just so much shittier here. Everything that could’ve gone wrong feels like it went wrong.” he rants.
You feel so much guilt for not taking the time to think about why he’d want to leave. You spent so much time thinking about yourself and Mark because you knew you’d always have Hyuck.
“Not even Mark makes staying worth it.” he spits. You can’t tell if he’s angry or sad; it’s probably both. “We were so stupid for coming here,” he finally chuckles, although you can tell it isn’t from happiness. “We were so fucking stupid.”
“I know,” you reply softly.
“I’m sorry. Call me later, okay?”
He hangs up before you can say anything. You slowly put your phone down and shove it back into your pocket. You want to cry, but you’ve already spent too much time in here. You rush out of the bathroom, and instantly run into someone.
“I’m sorry,” you say, looking up at the person. Your heart almost stops.
“No worries,” Jaemin says, flashing you a polite smile.
Your heart starts pounding. You try to tell yourself to stop staring at him, but this was the first time you’ve seen him since coming here. He doesn’t look too different — hair is darker now but everything is the same. The same eyes you fell in love with. The smile that gave you butterflies in your stomach. He’s dressed in normal clothes, so that meant he was probably eating here alongside you and Mark.
You want to lunge towards him, hugging him so tightly he could never leave you again. But you finally just nodded and forced your legs to walk past him; they had started trembling and you weren’t sure how much longer you could stand there. You were glad Mark’s back was to you. You sat back down at your seat, your hands now trembling
“Everything okay?” Mark asks.
You nod. You clear your throat. “Yeah… uh, sorry I took so long. My mom called while I was in there.”
“Oh, okay.” Mark takes a sip of his milkshake that had been set on the table while you were gone. “You’re not in trouble or anything, right?” he asks, eyes widening.
You smile. “No.”
“Okay, good! I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for hanging out with me or something…” Mark says.
You stir your milkshake with your straw. You weren’t feeling very hungry anymore, but after the first sip, it was too delicious to stop.
“(y/n)!” you hear a voice calling your name. You turn your head towards the direction it’s coming from.
Naeun walks to your table. “I didn’t even see you here! What’s up?” she smiles.
“Oh… nothing.” you reply, forcing a smile in return. “Me and Mark are just hanging out and we were hungry, so here we are.” you tell her.
“Of course. Partners in crime. Hi, Mark.” Naeun responds. “Jaemin brought me here. Can you believe I’ve never been here before? This place has been up for years and I’ve never had the chance.” she pouts.
“Really?” Mark speaks up. “You gotta try their milkshakes, they’re delicious.” he tells her.
Naeun chuckles. “Will do. What flavor did you get? It looks good.” she asks.
“Oh! Cookies ‘n cream. It’s my favorite.” he replies, smiling.
“That’s a good flavor.” You hear Jaemin before you see him. Why is he talking about ice cream? He can’t even eat dairy. You think.
“How would you know?” Naeun teases, as if she was a mind reader. “You can’t have ice cream.”
Jaemin enters your line of sight, wrapping an arm around Naeun’s shoulders. It feels like a gunshot to your chest. “Well, I’m not supposed to have it. But these milkshakes make all the pain worth it.” he jokes.
Mark laughs. “He’s right though. How’s it going, Jaemin? I haven’t seen you in forever.”
Jaemin grins. “I’m doing good. School has been way harder lately, but…”
“Yeah, I would assume so. I can’t believe you got into that school, no offense…”
Jaemin chuckles. “None taken. I was surprised I got in, too. I just wish they had accepted me earlier so I wouldn’t have had to leave halfway through a school year. But, I come back here and visit almost every weekend, so…”
Watching Mark and Jaemin talk felt weird. You didn’t even know they knew each other. That also answered your question as to why you never saw Jaemin at school. You wonder what school he had been accepted to.
“Oh, how rude of me. Hey, (y/n). How are you?” Jaemin turns his attention to you. “I was gonna talk to you earlier but you ran away from me.” he laughs. “I didn’t even realize it was you until you were gone.”
“Sorry…” you say softly. “Um… I didn’t realize it was you either.”
You can feel Jaemin’s eyes piercing into you. You didn’t want to look at him. You couldn’t.
“Well, I’d love to hang out with you guys, but after we eat I have to drive Jaemin back home… maybe we could all hang out another time? Double dates, maybe?” she says, grinning.
“Date?” Mark asks, furrowing his brows. “I mean… yeah, we can hangout but…” he laughs awkwardly.
“I’m teasing,” she says, glancing at you. “Both of you get so defensive!” she jokes. “Not trying to pressure you guys, but you’d be really cute together.” she presses.
“Okay, Naeun, enough,” Jaemin chuckles. “Mark’s gonna explode if you keep going.”
You look at Mark, whose face was red from embarrassment.
“We’ll see you guys later then,” Naeun says. The couple walk away from your table, Jaemin’s arm still around her. Your throat gets tight.
“Gosh…” Mark giggles. “Sorry. Stuff like that just gets me embarrassed,” he says, shaking his head.
You smile. “It’s okay.”
A waitress comes to the table a few moments later and sets the food you ordered on the table. Your appetite had come back. Seeing the food made you realize how hungry you really were.
Mark takes a bite of his burger. “I swear this place always hits the spot,” he says.
He was right. The food was really good. You were actually kind of mad this restaurant didn’t exist in your universe. It was perfect.
“Are you okay?” Mark asks. It’s so sudden, your first response is to just stare at him with wide eyes.
You swallow your food. “Yeah, why?”
Mark shrugs. “I just wanted to check in. You kinda froze up when Naeun and Jaemin were talking to us.” he says softly.
“Oh…” you set your burger down. “I was feeling kind of awkward because I ran into Jaemin when I left the bathroom. And then I ran away from him,” you laugh.
“Ah,” Mark nods. “I see.”
“Yeah… I’m kind of good at that. Making everything awkward.” you chuckle.
“Oh, shush.” Mark laughs. “Have you ever met me?”
You giggle. “Okay, well… if you’re the most awkward person on the planet, then I’m the close second.” you tell him.
“And that’s why we make such a good pair.” he replies.
Why did you feel so guilty every time you remembered how much you loved Jaemin?
You both finished your meals; Mark, of course, offered to pay for everything. Then you both left the restaurant. The sun was beginning to set.
“Ooh, wait,” you tell Mark, pulling your camera from your bag. He stops to look at you. “Let me take a picture of you here,” you say, pointing to one of the neon signs in the window.
Mark gets in front of it and poses, and you snap the photo. You both watch as it develops. “Perfect.” you show it to Mark.
You decide to head back to Mark’s house to hang out for a few more hours. As the sun set, the city was becoming less crowded. You passed children riding their bikes back home, people arriving home from work. Everything felt so normal, once again.
“Hey,” Mark says as you reach his room. “Check this out.” he grabs his guitar. “I finally learned how to play this song,”
“Hmm?” you lounge on his bed. “What song?”
He strums his guitar. You could already tell how good he had gotten at it; you only got the chance to hear him play twice before he died.
You recognize the song instantly — I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. It brings a smile to your face. Mark sings along softly. You realize his singing voice has gotten better as well.
You listen to him sing and shift to your side, propping yourself up with your elbow and resting your head on your hand. He’s completely immersed in the music. He looks so happy. You slowly retrieve your bag and take a photo of him.
He stops. “Oh… sorry. I kinda got preoccupied there,” he laughs.
“No, it’s okay…” you reply, feeling guilty for pulling him out of his music-induced-daze. “I was enjoying it.”
“Really?” Mark taps the strings of his guitar. “Well… I’ll finish the song then.” he continues strumming, taking a few moments to find where he left off.
You watch him, a soft smile on your face. This was a moment you definitely wanted to savor. If you were going to forget your time here, you at least wanted to remember this. It was beautiful. It was Mark.
[10:45 p.m.]
Mark offered to walk you home before it got too late — he had forgotten that it was a school night for him.
“Are you sure your mom won’t be mad?” Mark asks, nervously.
You laugh. “Once again, no. If she was worried about me we’d see flyers on the telephone poles,” you joke.
Mark chuckles. “Okay… I just don’t wanna get you in trouble for keeping you out so late. I lost track of time, to be honest…”
You nod. “Me too.” You had spent hours listening to Mark play his guitar and he tried to help you learn a song, but you weren’t as musically gifted as him, so it didn’t go very well. But Mark acted as if you were the God of Guitar, cheering when you played a few chords.
“Today was really fun.” he says softly. “If you ever wanna do this to… unwind… or whatever… just let me know.”
You smile. “Of course.”
Your heart drops as your house comes into view. It was your last few moments with Mark.
He walks you to your doorstep this time; he usually just walks to your driveway. It’s almost as if he knows. “Well,” Mark says, sighing. “We’re here.”
You grin, trying to mask your sadness. “Yeah… thanks for today. It was really fun!” you say.
Mark stares at you for a moment. “Um…” his eyes dart around, not sure where to look. “I…”
You watch him as he struggles to form a sentence. “Mark?” you ask softly.
He closes his mouth before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “I just had a lot of fun today.” he says.
You nod slowly. What did he really want to say? “Hurry and go home,” you tell him. “I don’t need you being all tired tomorrow.” your voice is barely above a whisper.
Mark stares at you for a few moments more. “You’re right,” he laughs, shaking his head. “I’m tired already… I’ll probably sleep like a baby when I get home.” Whatever tension was there had disappeared. In a spur-of-a-moment decision, you wrap your arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“Text me when you get home, okay?” you tell him. Your head is against his chest; You can hear his heart beating.
“Of course,” he breathes. He finally wraps his arms around you. “Are… you okay?” he asks again.
You feel tears rushing to your eyes again. You chuckle. “I’m fine. I just… I love you.” you whisper. “You’re my best friend, okay? And… I need you to know that.”
He rubs your back. “I love you too,” he replies. “I’m so glad to know you.” he says.
You let him go. You knew you had to.
“Well… I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mark says.
You nod. “I’ll see you.”
You knew it was a lie, but only on your end. He’d see you. You wouldn’t be seeing him. But you knew what you were doing was right. Mark starts walking away, giving you one final smile before he was out of sight.
You push your front door open, going straight to your room and letting yourself cry. You let all of your emotions out. You wanted to run to Mark and hug him again and you never wanted to let go.
You finally pulled yourself together when you heard a faint knock on your door. You wipe your eyes and face quickly, although you knew your face would be puffy from crying. “Come in.”
Jisung peeks in. “Are you okay?”
You nod, although it’s unconvincing — his simple question makes you cry more. “I’m fine.”
“Why are you crying?” Jisung opens the door completely and enters, sitting next to you on your bed. “Did something happen?”
You shake your head. “No. I’m not sad,” you lie. “I’m just… feeling a lot of emotions right now.”
Jisung furrows his brows. “But… you seem sad.”
You take a deep breath. “I’m not, bud. I’m fine. Nothing happened between me and Mark, if that’s what you’re asking. I guess I’m just feeling… thankful. For Mark, and you, and all my friends.”
“Oh…” you can tell Jisung is still confused, but he shrugs it off. “Well… I guess as long as you aren’t sad, it’s okay.”
You feel him wrap and arm around you. You hug him back, feeling much more relieved now that you had cried a bit more.
“I’m going to bed now,” Jisung says, removing his arm from around your shoulders. “Are you sure you’re okay…?”
You nod. “I’m okay, really. Go to bed. Don’t stay up late because of me.” you tell him. He should’ve been in bed already… you realize.
Jisung nods. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I love you, Jisung.”
He seems taken aback by your words. You don’t blame him — no matter what, telling your sibling you love them still feels awkward.
“Love you too.”
He leaves your room. You pick up your bag from where you had placed it when you got to your room and retrieved your camera. You collect all the photos you had taken. The one of Jisung in the kitchen, him talking to Mark, Mark and his ice cream, everyone outside of the ice cream parlor, him outside of the restaurant, him playing his guitar, and finally, the photo Hyuck had taken of you. You shove them in your pocket, praying that they would return to the correct universe with you.
You lay down on your bed, completely exhausted. You just want to fall asleep, but you know you can’t. You pull out your phone, going to your messages and clicking on Hyuck’s name.
You
let me know when you’re ready.
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dalamjisung · 3 years
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foul play - chapter 4
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Felix stumbles out of the dorm building in the middle of putting one shoe on, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and you blush in anticipation. Truth is, after last night findings, you couldn’t sleep. You felt so guilty that you kept tossing and turning and somewhere in the middle, crying. Your roommate got back in the morning only to find you silently crying in your bed, mumbling to yourself. You didn’t tell her about it, you promised Hyunjin, after all, but that only made you feel even worse. She is one of Felix’s closest friends and he didn’t even tell her. What does that make you, then?
It was a very impulsive decision, to call the head nurse and ask for a day off– which she gladly gives it to you, since you work extra shifts every week. After that, you spend ten minutes contemplating in your bed– it is time to take care of yourself, you finally decide. Time to pause the constant worrying and constant studying and just have some fun. It is time to be you again, and it is time to be you with Felix, while he still can be himself for a while longer. He deserves at least that… You’ve seen how people change after a major injury, and you could only pray that you’re not wasting his precious few moments with soccer just because you decided to follow a whim.
You change in the middle of the room, and you notice that even your clothes are different today. You don’t chose the nice sweater or the white shirt you always aim for, relying on its respectful and professional look. Today you wear clothes that actually make you smile, that make you feel pretty, even if they were only a large t-shirt and ripped pants.
“You look nice,” You roommate says, shock all over her face. “You actually look like your age, Y/N. What happened?”
“I’m taking a me day.” You announce with a big smile, and she is quick to follow. Your roommate, Sweets, as everyone calls her, is your best friend, and you know how much she wants you to just have a little fun once in a while. “I’m going now. To Felix.”
And with Felix you are, now, looking into his eyes, reading confusion, happiness, and even some suspicion.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” You mumble, looking down to you guys’ feet. You couldn’t help but notice how his body favors his left foot and an uneasy shiver runs down your body.
“You’re supposed to be in the office,” He says, squinting his eyes. “But you’re here. What gives?”
“I decided to… have some fun?”
He starts laughing. “Why did that sound like it was so hard for your to say?”
You laugh with him and blush. “So you still want to get coffee?”
“Y-Yeah!” He stutters, face adorably reddening by the second. It’s cute, you think, smiling to yourself. Very cute.
“Then let’s go!” You try to pull him by his hand, but he is stronger and pulls you to him first.
“What gives, Y/N?” He asks again, suddenly serious. “I’m really excited that you want to go get coffee with me, believe me, but… I need to know that it is for the right reasons. I don’t want to be disappointed, Y/N. Please.”
“You won’t.” You mumble, frowning in confusion when you shiver once again, this time because of something else. “You won’t, Felix.”
And deep down, you know that’s a lie.
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foul play // four : don’t want to be disappointed
pairing: soccer player!felix x med student!reader
genre: college!au, fluff
description: They met through a mutual friend and that was the start of it all; Felix’s one sided crush and Y/N’s constant worry. The boy, a right forward player, was known in the field as one of the best players in the game; and also known in the hospital as one of the clumsiest. Y/N worked at the nurse office as part of her on-campus residency and believe it or not, the nurse office has its regulars, and Lee Felix was one of them. Sprained ankle, broken wrist, two concussions, and yet, he never takes a break. Until Y/N stepped in.
masterlist
chapter three // chapter five
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and chapter 4!!! II posted on schedule and that deserves a celebration hahah What do you think so far? Let me know! And don’t forget: WHEN I HIT 600 FOLLOWERS, I’M DOING A GIVEAWAY! A STORY JUST FOR YOU! I won’t post it to the blog unless you want me to, and I will write it per your exact instructions :)
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Seen ✓ - 3
Pairing: Sam x Reader Warnings: cursing, a bit of self depreciation Word Count: 2.2k Series Summary: On her way home, Y/n finds an abandoned, cracked phone on the sidewalk. Anxious about the well-being of its owner, she picks it up and texts the first contact she finds; Sam. Beta: None
Part 1  -  Part 2 Masterlist
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Chapter 3: for the love of god, explain this
Sam Winchester lies awake at three in the morning, under foreign, scratchy sheets, stubbornly not tearing his eyes from the cracked, ugly wallpaper on the ceiling. A lot of things are happening and his brain is going about a million miles an hour, spinning endlessly, Castiel, Dean returning from hell, the stress of the hunting life, the current case and… Y/n. Wonderful, smart, talented, funny Y/n.
It’s been a while since someone has made him excited. He keeps bumping into her in his mind, keeps finding thoughts of her lying around, eager to distract him. He catches himself wanting to text her about every stupid thing that happens in his day, much like she sometimes does. She’s been the only thing that makes his heart a little lighter, and it’s such a strange feeling, someone’s presence being this uplifting.
He was suspicious of her at first. A strange woman (at least she claims to be one, he forgets he’s never actually… seen her) asking about him, his profession, and then about… ghosts? A bit random, too specific, Sam recognizes he got defensive. But the way she spoke afterwards… he doesn’t know.  His instinct tells him to trust her.
Amidst his thoughts, he doesn’t remember picking up his phone, but it’s just one of those nights, he needs someone to talk to- or rather, wants Y/n specifically. A thought he chooses not to dwell on.
are you awake? I can’t sleep.
I actually am. Lucky you.
Sam smiles. Lucky me, he thinks.
isn’t it like 4 am for you?
Tell me about it. No luck sleeping either.
happen to you a lot?
Yeah.
I happen to have anxiety induced insomnia.
Working at a bar also helps fuck up your sleeping schedule as well.
You?
i’m sorry :/
i don’t get much sleep either. something always keeps me up.
Yeah, I get that.
Where in the Great Unites States of America are you today?
hahah it’s Oregon today.
it’s the ugliest motel room i’ve ever been in.
Ooh
Do I ask about your case or is it confidential?
it’s confidential but i’ll tell you that i am investigating a bunch of strange murders.
You’re investigating serial killers?? That’s so fucking dope.
something like that yeah.
how was your day?
Oh, you know. The usual.
College assignments, a shift at the bar. I went out with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while.
I need to clean my house desperately.
I also nearly burned my kitchen down trying to cook lunch. Emmy and I ended up eating some lazy-ass spaghetti, because pasta is the only thing I can cook, apparently.
hahahah what were you making?
You’re gonna laugh if I tell you.
well now you must.
Ugh, do I?
come onnn
It was eggs, okay? I was just trying to make eggs.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I TOLD YOU YOU’D LAUGH AT ME
HOW DID YOU BURN EGGS?!
LISTEN, OKAY
I NEVER SAID I WAS A GOOD COOK
HAHAHAHAH
Sam laughs over his phone, as silently as he can, so as to not wake Dean up. He turns on his other side and realizes his cheeks hurt from smiling, and it’s a feeling he’s missed.
Yeah, yeah, laugh, culinary genius. Not all of us can be perfect.
i never said i was a culinary genius
but at least i don’t go near stoves if i don’t have to.
Well, it’s not like I can afford every-day takeout (or like that shit is healthy, even if I could) and someone has to cook for my sister while she’s in school
you have siblings?
and yeah you’re right i didn’t think like that sorry.
It’s okay.
And yeah, my sister, Emily.” Emmy”
oooh i thought emmy was your friend.
Nono, it’s my sister. She’s 17.
can i ask you a personal question?
Shoot
why do you have to take care of her? are your guys’ parents not around?
you don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable with that.
Well, it’s a bit complicated.
My parents’ marriage kind of fell apart when I was around 10. They tried to fix things by adopting a kid- Emily. For a while that worked.
When I was 16 my mom took off and dad took care of us for 2 years almost. He really dedicated himself to us.
He worked his antique shop and supported us. For two years, I didn’t see him spend a penny on himself.
But I ended up having to take care of Em when he passed. I was freshly 18, so I could take care of her as a guardian.
shit i’m so sorry.
It’s okay, honestly.
I mean, it didn’t use to be, and it was hell for a while.
But we made it.
i admire your positivity.
I try :)
i also love that you put smiley faces in your text messages.
Shouldn’t have said that, now I’ll always think about it before I do it
hahah
Sam bites his lip. What the hell is happening? They’re… flirting. Sorta. And it’s nice- better than nice. Fuck.
What about you?
you mean what’s my relationship with my parents?
Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid. It wasn’t what I was asking either.
What I meant was, how’s your life right now. How’s the family business. You can pick which you wanna answer.
i don’t mind either honestly.
as for my parents my mom died when I was 6 months old. my dad passed away about a year and a half ago.
Jesus, I’m so sorry Sam
I don’t know what to say. It can’t have been easy. Losing a parent never is.
it wasn’t but as you said we’re trying to sort of find our footing with Dean. we’ve had our ups and downs.
Yeah I understand that.
Do you wanna talk about it?
right now not really. I mean there’s not much to say about it.
i kinda wanna forget about it. thanks though.
Alright.
So how’s the family business?
Does it feel good to be paid to be Sherlock Holmes?
crap. but we’re doing our best.
for the record i don’t get paid nearly enough for the shit i have to do.
Hahaha, hang in there.
Dean still refuses to come get his phone?
yeah. he says you can keep it.
Tell him to take care of his devices from now on, this one was battered beyond recognition.
duly noted.
The conversation continued until well after the sun rose. Sam had officially accepted this night to be sleepless, and Y/n was good company. Somehow she took his mind off of everything that was bugging him, made him, if momentarily, forget about it, and he truly loved that about her. The back and forth tended to flow easily between them, and he couldn’t get enough of the chemistry he had with this practical stranger.
Sleepless or not, this night was a good one, after she entered the picture.
-
The glow on her skin is blue-ish and soft, combatting the one from the fairy lights above them. Laptop absolutely not low in volume, couch dipping under two bodies, slumped together, legs leaning against one another, soft flannel pants and droopy eyes. Emily’s hair is out of its usual half-up hairstyle, exploding with volume and bright, firey color, flowing onto the back of the couch.
Jon Snow is yelling on the screen, and Y/n is completely ignoring him, constantly checking her inactive phone and the way the screen doesn’t light up with Sam’s name. Every time she feels disappointed, she tries to quell the relentless thoughts of the possibility of him being completely over her.
Damn it.
“Do you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend I’m not aware of or something?” Emily mutters dryly, half-hearted but gentle teasing. Y/n sputters.
“Huh?”
“’Cause you keep checking your phone, and as far as I know you don’t have any friends.”
“HEY,” deeply offended, Y/n places her hand over her heart, glaring at her sister. “Excuse you!” she exclaims, “Connor? Ashley? Lydia?”
“Yeah, a neighbor and two college students that you haven’t talked to in like, what, two weeks? What a social butterfly.”
“Okay first off,” Y/n ignores the screaming and fighting on the screen and shifts to look at her sister. “Stop tracking my socializing.” Em scoffs.
“C’mon, bear, spill.” Bottom lip pouted. She pauses the episode, turning to face her older sister. “Who are they and when can I meet them?” A devilish smile, teasing like only a younger sister can, curling the right corner of her lip.
“He’s not my boyf-“
“AHA! So there is someone! I knew it!”
“I’ve known him for like- what, three weeks? Nothing is going on! I barely know the guy!” Y/n fiddles with her hair and huffs, holding back a smile.
“Where’d you meet him? Is he hot? What’s he like?!” Poking her sister’s thigh continuously, she grins wide, excited. “C’mon, you’re like, no fun.”
“The thing is… I didn’t. Meet him, I mean.” Eyebrows furrow.
“Uh…” Emily purses her lips. “I’m … not following.”
It takes all of five minutes for Y/n to explain to her sister all about her crazy adventure, the lost phone, the brother, Sam. The girls munch on leftover garlic spaghetti, talking about the stranger on the other side of Y/n’s screen.
“He’s just… different? I don’t know- I just, I’m intrigued I guess. He’s mysterious and hilarious. The type of guy we’d hang out with. Why pass it up?”
“Just hang out?” Emily wiggles her eyebrows. Y/n shoves her.
“It’s really not like that.”
“I don’t know, Y/n, he doesn’t necessarily sound just friendly to me.” Y/n won’t lie and say she hasn’t thought about it. She’s a romantic after all, and what a wonderful, movie-like love story would it be for them to fall in love and march into the sunset?
But she recognizes this is the romantic side of her picking up speed on a subject that definitely isn’t for her to decide alone. There’s a second participant in all of this, and he needs to do more than half the work by liking her. She knows it’s no easy feat. A bitter dab of paint dissolves in her chest, because why would he like her? She’s nothing quite special. She’s just a bartender, a college student, a boring, normal girl, painfully mundane, painfully boring. He’s brilliant, kind and sweet, a private investigator, he travels all the time, he’s the most interesting guy she’s ever met for crying out loud. Why would he ever give her a chance?
“I doubt it, Em,” is what Y/n decides to say, because there’s no way she can explain exactly what she’s thinking.
“No, no, you’re doing that thing again.” A hum in question falls from the older Andrews’ lips. “The thing where you put yourself down for bullshit reasons. He’d be lucky to have you.” Y/n wants to roll her eyes. “Hey,” a snap of Emily’s fingers in front of Y/n’s face to catch her attention. “I will literally slap you. You’re smart, funny, kind. He’d be fucking lucky to have you, and if you don’t believe it, I’m gonna beat some sense into you. Stop putting my sister down.”  Y/n doesn’t have anything good to say to that, so instead she lets out a huffed breath of a laugh and sits back on the couch.
“Now,” Emily leans over her own crossed legs and grabs her phone from the rickety coffee table. “Did you Google him?”
“Why the heck would I Google him?”
“It’s the 21st century, Y/n, gosh. Are you at all familiar with internet stalking?” Y/n watched pebbled coffee brown eyes get illuminated by the phone screen, freckles nowhere near as bright as they can be, because she hasn’t gone out into the sunlight today. Emily is gorgeous. Y/n is sometimes jealous, but also genuinely admires her younger sister. “What’s his name?”
“Sam Winchester.”
There’s typing, and then silence.
“Y/n…” And the warning tone on the younger one’s voice completely throws her off.
“What? What is it?” A phone screen is thrust in her face.
Mail fraud, credit card fraud, grave desecration, armed robbery, kidnapping, three counts of first-degree murder, and breaking and entering, she reads. Winchester brothers Sam and Dean, disappeared, considered dead.
“What the fuck,” she mutters under her breath, completely horrified at the chance that this is real and the universe isn’t playing some comic joke on her, creating another pair of Winchester brothers called Sam and Dean who, instead of chasing murderers, are the murderers.
She scrolls lower and sure enough, there they are. Mug shots, but more specifically, the guy from the dating app, smouldering cheekily into the camera –a real blue steel-, holding a police station name on a black plaque, sitting at close to six feet and two. Then the younger one, less joyful and sassy, more serious and puppy-eyed. Sam. Close to what was described to her, it’s all there. Pointy nose, sharp jawline, curly brown hair with a growing, swoopy fringe, pulled behind his ears. It’s him. There’s no way, the coincidences are too many.
“Bear…” Emily stares at Y/n’s shocked face, gaze empty and out of it. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
Immediately, Y/n grabs her phone.
Sam
His reply is instantaneous.
hey y/n
i was just thinking about you
what’s up?
Please for the love of God.
Explain this.
She sends him the mugshot, photographed from the screen of her sister’s phone.
shit.
-
Part 4
A/N: Tell me what you thought? How the hell does he even explain this?
I realized I haven’t been tagging my forever taglist like a MORON, so just, sorry, I’ll start now. 
Forevers:   @deanxfuckingadorablexwinchester​ @deanssweetheart23​ @nostalgic-uncertainty​ @mogaruke​ @superseejay721517​ @lady-hawkguy​ @thosefeelsarereal​ @superwholockmarauder​  @justiceiswater​ @petra-arkanian-1497​ @heyitscam99​ @danijimenezv​ @aj-reuth  @unicornblood4ever @mystriee​ @sadist-fangirl23 @asguardiansoftheavengers​ @superrandomnatural​ @altosaxplayer098 @winter-moons @hunterswearingplaid​ @novaddictx​ @choosemyname​  @live-like-a-girl​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @bowtomytenderaddiction​  @elara98azalea​ @lemondropirwin​ @emmagolden4118​ @glitchcypher @calaofnoldor​ @paradoxical-sleep​ @narynechan @canwenotdothis​ @suicidepanda07​ 
Sam Taglist
@kymberlytorres​ @theboykingsamwinchester​ @depressed-moose-78 @andi-mendes-barnes​ @captainmarvelcorps​ @nerd-in-a-galaxy-far-away​ @nellachain​
 Seen Taglist  @shutupiminlooove​ @sammysgirl1997​ @kymberlytorres​ @bambi95-blog​ @demonic-meatball​ @thekarliwinchester​ @littlekay15​ @li-m-ii​  @thinspo-isuppose​ @carryonmywaywarddemigodwitch @ellen-reincarnated1967 @moonlitskinwalker​ @marichromatic​ @illuminatus42​ @lazy-author​ @mirandaaustin93​ @hauntedsiriel​ @pilaxia​ @devilgirlsarah​ @nobodys-baby-now​ @captiveties​ @calamitychaos @midiocris @wordswillscream​ @burningforsam​ @aiofheavenandhell​
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honeym4rk · 4 years
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station (jjh)
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college! jaehyun x reader word count: 3.0k summary: four times you find yourself alone with jaehyun at a bus station.
There is comfort in the silence.
With every step you take, there is a crunch of fallen, juniper leaves at your feet. Your canvas tote bag is looped around your shoulder, your fingers clinging to the straps like it would shield you from the awkwardness of the current circumstances.
He’s got his hands hidden in the cavity of his hoodie. His knuckle cracking is sporadic, and you cringe at just how many times they’ve made an encore in the past two minutes.
You really should have begged Mark to tag along and leave the shindig so that this wouldn’t have happened- but alas, the boy was still hooked by the prospect of winning the next round of Mario Kart against Donghyuck. ‘It does some good to my self-esteem,’ he’d said. 
So here you are, sauntering bashfully to the bus stop with Jaehyun.
“So, uh- what bus are you taking?” You muster up the courage to speak up after a few minutes of painful reticence. 
“I’d have to take 922 or 153 from the opposite stop to get back to hall,” he sighs. It’s clear that he reciprocates the weird, distinctive tension here.
“And you?” He faces you with his raised eyebrows and you’re baffled by the sudden eye contact made. Your eyes dart elsewhere.
“Oh, I’m taking 922 from here.” You nod your head imperceptibly at the bus stop ahead of you.
A few metres away, there’s a zebra crossing, and you thank your lucky stars that you’re finally about to part ways. Oh, you’re sure Jaehyun is a nice person and all, but that doesn’t change the fact that the unspoken, kind enmity in the air is capable of being taut so hard around your neck that you asphyxiate. 
Ten more steps. Come on.
Five steps. 
Three steps.
“I’ll see you next ti-” 
Yet he doesn’t stop at the crossing. Instead, he continues his stride in tandem with yours towards the station. You stop in your tracks, slowly gesturing towards the beaconing street light with the hand you raised to bid adieu. 
“Aren’t you going to, you know..?” Eyes hinting at the yellow streaks of light, at the bus stop across the road, anywhere away from his own. Jaehyun notices your halt and follows suit.
“Well, I mean, Mark did ask me to see that you got home safe....”
You immediately wrack your brain for an appropriate response to his chivalry. It’s unclear how you should react; he really caught you by surprise. And from the way he’s gnawing at his inner lip and raising a hand to scratch the nape of his neck, you infer that he’s abashed too. All you manage is a small, “Oh,” as more silence ensues, before you start to blabber,
“No, no, thanks, Jaehyun, but it’s really fine, you don’t have to.”
His lips are taut into a firm, straight line and he lets out a surreptitious hum.
“Let me just wait ‘til you board your bus. Is that okay? It’s getting pretty late.”
You want to vehemently object. 
And you’re about to, but you let out a consenting “Yeah, alright.”
He’s invading your desiderated solace- yet something about his offer seems so genuine and saccharine that you comply out of curiosity. You’d heard things about Jaehyun around in school before, good things, especially seeing that he was well acquainted with your friends like Mark, but you’d never really encountered him until tonight, thanks to Donghyuck’s birthday celebration. Being a Linguistics student, fate hadn’t really presented many opportunities for him to meet someone majoring in Pharmacy. 
Therefore- you think to yourself- it wouldn’t be so bad. It’s unlikely that you’ll actually talk to him again, since you’ll probably never be within a radius of at least ten metres from him again. It’s alright, it’s okay. You decide to let him be a gentleman.
So you bask in the quietude shrouding the two of you, as you sit on the metal form, awaiting the arrival of a yearned 922. 
After all, there is the slightest hint of comfort in the silence.
There is also comfort in the familiarity.
You’re sure there’s a sense of déjà vu. It’s a similar scene to what had ensued a few weeks ago, at least, and you’re definitely surprised to be here again, with him . However, you’ve both abandoned the multi-layered cake of unease. It’s almost been completely devoured now. Fortunately.
Jaehyun’s chuckling relentlessly- nearly doubled over laughing- as you recount the earlier occurrences of the Friday night. 
“Yeah, no, but I’d give anything to see the look on Donghyuck’s face again.” His eyes crinkle into small crescents as he runs a hand through his silver hair.
“He looked so confident that it was going to work and I’d already told him otherwise, but I really don’t know what he expected.” 
Tonight, there had been an effort to study in Donghyuck’s apartment; considering the looming exam season. This purpose was indeed fulfilled, to some extent. 
Then Donghyuck, feeling rather ravenous, decided that he wanted to indulge in a quick and easy two-ingredient Oreo mug cake. The video tutorial truly looked too good to be true- you’d seen multiple YouTubers debunk the content-farm produced recipes. 
The wide-eyed boy was too desperate, however, as he credulously decided to fill his mug with crushed oreos and milk to the brim. He swore that it looked and sounded promising until a loud Pop! reverberated in the kitchen 30 seconds into heating.
Everyone gathered around to watch Donghyuck cry over his spilt milk, literally, as his appliance perpetually emitted smoke, its glass door burst open. Burnt mounds of moist black and white cookies were thrown at the white, metal walls of the microwave. Donghyuck fanned the plumes of smoke hastily.
“It looks like a volcano erupted.” Mark added, coughing, as he tried to swallow the chuckle bubbling at the back of his throat.
“Dude- I don’t want to say I told you so but,” You began to implore, before Donghyuck interjected.
“Maybe I should just try again, I think the microwave setting just wasn’t right.” 
And so he did- but to no avail.
The two of you approach the tiny station side by side, and you relish the warm, fuzzy feeling establishing in your stomach. Not quite butterflies, but maybe more like a tiny sprout popping out of the ground.
“To be fair, though, it didn’t taste half as bad as it looked.”
You snort. “Sure, because it’s literally sugar and milk with a dash of hidden carcinogens.” 
He lets out a low chortle. Jaehyun nails the bellowing dad laugh right down to a T, and some part of you finds this endearing.
A flash of bright light emerges as you look up from your feet. 922 has arrived and you’re rummaging through your bag for your bus card. 
“I feel like I left my card at Donghyuck’s, shit,”
The bus halts. 
“Here, use mine, I’ve got a spare.” Jaehyun offers without a second thought, pulling his card from the pocket of his denim jeans. 
“Go on, the bus driver’s waiting.”
You would have thought this through for a little while longer, but he was right. A scowl that said ‘Stop wasting my damn time,’ is plastered on the driver’s face, and it urges you to carefully pick the card slotted between his fingers. 
“Thanks so much- I’ll return it tomorrow, or something.” Your eyebrows furrow together and you clench your teeth together in a grimace.
“Yeah! Yeah, whenever. Good night, Y/N. Get home safe,”
“You too, thanks again!”
Boarding the bus hastily, you wave at him through the glass door as the bus sets off. He doesn’t leave until you’re out of sight.
You can’t help but grin as you examine the portrait on his student pass. He’s handsome, skin clear and glossy, hair parted such that there are a bunch of strands obstructing his forehead. It’s black in this image. You wonder how many colours it's been dyed. His dimples replicate the poked slime in the myriad of videos you’ve seen, and his cheekbones are incredibly prominent. 
It dawns on you that you don’t have his number, or follow him on Instagram, or have any means to contact him at all. You guess that you’ll have to fish something from Mark, but Jaehyun seems to beat you to it.
Unknown, [2340]: hey this is jaehyun lol hope you get back safe :-)
A sudden flash of the many possible outcomes this could entail breezes past your mind. You’re quite uncertain about how this will play out, and you unlock your phone to reply.
Y/N, [2341]: hii hahah thanks again! i can return your card tomorrow, just lmk where i can drop by
Jaehyun, [2341]: yeah sure, i think i’ll be cooped up in starbucks doing work w my friends lol 
Jaehyun, [2341]: u can join if ud like :o
There is comfort in the unknown.
There is comfort in the noise.
Your whole herd of boisterous friends are walking uphill from yet another study session at Donghyuck’s- there’s been quite a number of them since the first. You’re honestly amused by how many people can fit in his apartment. The study group has expanded from a mere four to a whopping seven people in total.
Thankfully, there haven’t been any microwave oven explosions since then, but you’ve had your good share of fun and company, and more importantly, productivity. 
The pack of young adults currently divulging the extensive, latest gossip and hall horror stories, you and Jaehyun stray further behind. You’re trying to listen in and pick apart information, but you’ve joined the conversation a bit too late for context. 
“Oh my god, Lia, you’re going to hate hearing this, but…” Jungwoo begins, his voice entering a decrescendo.
“But Jeno has a girlfriend? Yeah, I figured.” Lia wails. “I saw them together in the library the other day, being all cute and shit. My heart shattered .” She emphasises this by hitting Jungwoo’s shoulder out of pure frustration. 
“How long have they been together, though?” Ryujin quips, to which she gets a reply, but you try to drown out the rest of their conversation.
You tug at the arm of Jaehyun’s sweatshirt, and he leans closer to you as you query, “Who’s Jeno, again?”
“Cute dude that she keeps bumping into at hall, I think,” he mumbles. His words are semi-intelligible, because of the commotion right in front of you.
“Sorry? I didn’t catch that.” The infinite frequencies are hard to tune out, and it gets increasingly arduous to do so when Ryujin gasps.
“Oh shit, the bus is here!” Your friends are immediately ready to break into a sprint, but Jaehyun’s feet seem heavy as he continues to meander with you. 
“Jae, aren’t you coming? The next one’s in thirty minutes!” Jungwoo shouts as they begin to dash across the road.
“It’s fine, go on! I’m just a little lazy. See you!” Jaehyun dismisses him with the wave of his extended hand, and receives an incredulous look. The lame excuse confuses you, bamboozles you, but you wave goodbye to your friends anyway.
It’s been long since you’ve been caught alone here at the bus stop with Jaehyun- you usually head home with Mark every Friday. He’s not here, though. He’s crashed at Donghyuck’s for tonight.
“Uhm, what was that ?” You chuckle nervously, the little sprout in your belly magically reappearing. Truth be told, after the many lighthearted, late-night messages exchanged over the past few weeks, and after unravelling Jaehyun bit by bit, the sprout has grown into a pocket-sized garden. It brings its own butterflies, but you don’t quite have the audacity to admit this. There’s a different kind of trickiness lingering in the air tonight.
“Well, you know- Mark…and it’s- it’s getting late, kinda.�� He’s timorous tonight. Under the luminescence of the bus station’s lamps, you see the pink tint land on the tips of his ears, something you’ve learnt happens when he’s rather shy. 
“I wanted to ask you something, too, though.”
“Okay, shoot.” You take a seat. He sits a modest distance away from you, cracking his knuckles instinctively.
“Well, I uhm, I’m not quite sure how you’ll react to this but,” he licks his lips.
“But?” You encourage him to carry on, staring as you await his continuation.
He looks as if he’s got the words at the tip of his tongue, the sea of sentences about to overflow from his mouth, and they’re spilling when he starts speaking again.
“Would you-” You listen intently, attempting to read his lips. However, he’s cut off by the booming wails of a velocious ambulance. You whip your head around to watch the vehicle pass by. 
Jaehyun breathes sharply, exhaling in frustration. The cries subside, so he tries again. 
“Y/N,” he clears his throat, and you face him once more.
“Yeah, sorry.”
“I was wondering if-” 
A fire truck zooms past the bus stop, and your attention is grabbed by the monotonous siren that raids your ears. Jaehyun notices your bus approaching, and he panics. The air-raid isn’t becoming distant; the truck’s obstructed by the imposing red-light flashing. There’s only so much time left to ask what he’s been dying to- and he can’t believe he’s getting cockblocked by the emergency services right now. 
You’re hearing Jaehyun spill a string of words but they’re incoherent- all you can seem to comprehend is the blaring repetitions that are relentless.
“What?!” You shout, fighting past the cacophony. “I can’t hear you!” You’re signing this to him, pointing to your ear and shaking your hand vigorously.
Your bus halts before you. Jaehyun’s in an absolute frenzy now. He doesn’t want to do this online. Something about hiding behind his screen sounds so ingenuine to him, and you’re already standing, shit, but he can’t win against the absolute pandemonium and doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of the small crowd that’s alighted the bus, but he’s also not sure when he’ll get to talk to you in private like this again, 
So he clamours.
“Do You! Want To Go Out! With Me!” He’s cupping his large hands around his mouth, screaming into the makeshift amplifier with all his might, as you walk towards the front doors of the bus.
You look like a deer caught in headlights, eyes wide open in disbelief as you gawk at the boy who’s sheepishly glancing at everyone and using his hand to defend himself from their stares. The butterflies that have erupted in you are merciless.
And then you burst into a fit of laughter- Jaehyun curses the sirens for piercing through such a pleasant sound- and you nod profusely, one foot already boarding the bus.
The glass doors shut close, and you’re enthusiastically gesturing to your handphone, waving at him. The bus whizzes away.
He’s shell-shocked, and he’s unable to will his hands in drawing his phone from his pocket. The sudden series of vibrations brings him back to his senses.
Y/N (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝),[2257]: WAIT ask me again
Y/N (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝), [2257]: idk if i heard u right
Jaehyun, [2258]: k
Y/N (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝), [2258]: dude come back </3
Y/N (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝), [2258]: YES lol
Y/N (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝), [2257]: yeeeeeeees
It heavily hinders Jaehyun that night, but there is comfort in the noise.
There is comfort in the isolation.
It’s only the blinding fluorescent lights and the cool breeze presenting company at the bus stop- you’re grateful that the occasional cars speeding by are helping you break down the very last walls of tension between the two of you, if there are any.
Whoosh. 
“I really enjoyed today.” He smiles and steals a quick glance at you. You’re at a different bus stop now- a month later and you’re amazed that you’ve gone out with Jaehyun at least three times now.
You catch the slight twinkle in his eyes as he scoots a whole foot nearer towards you on the cool metal bench. The distance between the two of you is closing slowly yet your heart rate is augmenting. It’s accelerating now- faster than any of the rambunctious vehicles that race down the road, their engines revving dirtily.
Whoosh. A black BMW zooms past you both and you take the opportunity to reciprocate the cheeky glimpse.
“Me too.”
There’s fumbling of fingers and twiddling of your thumbs before you notice the sudden influx of light and buzzing and realise that your bus has arrived. Pure languish rushes through every vein in your body- you don’t want this night to end.
Jaehyun begins to stand and shoots a quizzical expression when you don’t follow suit. 
“Let’s wait for the next one,” you grin, your legs swinging back and forth as you continue to glue yourself on the elevated seat.
The sound of his chuckle envelopes you into a warm hug- it’s deep, and strong, yet soft at the same time- and then you’re pulled to your feet by your wrists before he embraces you with confident hesitation too.
“Is this- it’s okay, right?” He just wants to be sure.
“Yeah- very.” You breathe, and his boyish smell fills your lungs. There is difficulty in naming what scented cologne he’s used today; but you devote no more attention. You just wallow in the tangy, mellow fragrance that has permeated your senses.
He’s got his arms coiled around your waist, his palm extended to press your back closer to him. You’re playing with the sharp, freshly cut hairs on the back of his neck. You run your fingers through them and he dives his head further into the crook of your neck. Jaehyun’s muffled voice is tickling your shoulder-
“Your hair smells really nice.” The corners of your lips edge upwards into an unrelenting grin.
“Thank God.”
There is comfort in Jaehyun.
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maybankiara · 4 years
Text
PHONE SWAP (DREW STARKEY)
04: CHOCOLATE
summary: Addie Mallory is just your average economics student when she meets Drew Starkey at her local Target in Atlanta. This is where the story is supposed to end – a short meeting and a picture to go – except Drew accidentally leaves with the wrong phone, and the story begins, instead.
w/c: 1.8k
a/n: real life, my dudes, it’s real life. (well, after a lil texting sequence.) writing drew is actually hard, believe it or not, and i edited this chapter right after finishing chapter 14 -- and the difference is huge. i’m really excited! as always, let me know if you want to be added to the taglist, and tell me what you thought!
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drewstarkey | 10:53am Hey! I’ll be running a little late, so meet you at quarter past noon?
addisonmallory | 11:07am That's okay, I would’ve been late, too lol
drewstarkey | 11:08am Okay cool so it’s not just me hahah
addisonmallory | 11:09am Nope, I’ve got a reputation ngl
drewstarkey | 11:11am Let’s see who’s the worse one, then 😂
addisonmallory | 11:14am It’s on 😎
It takes all in Addie to keep Marianne from tagging along. If the French-Brit is anything, it’s stubborn and persistent, which Addie claims to be the worst two stereotypical traits she could’ve picked up from the two cultures – and they both know she’s right.
  ‘I won’t bother you,’ says Marianne, looking at Addie through her rose-tinted sunglasses. ‘I’ll just be behind you. You won’t even know I’m there!’
  Addie sighs and leans sideways against the doorway. Marianne’s foot is blocking the door from closing, and this is all dragging out way beyond rational.
  ‘Marianne, I’m going there for literally five minutes. It’s not a big deal.’
  ‘He’s a famous actor.'
  ‘He’s not even that famous. I met him in a fucking Tesco, Marianne!’
  The look she receives for that statement is scorching – but the edge in the girl’s eyebrow relaxes, and Marianne gives way to one of her quiet sighs. ‘Fine. Whatever. Go have fun.’
  ‘Thanks,’ says Addie; a weak attempt to keep the bitter tone at bay.
  The door shuts with a bang – she waits until she hears faint footsteps disappearing into the heart of the apartment. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Marianne, but the girl usually lives in her own world and tends to disregard the common notions of what would be okay in a situation like this. Addie doesn't hold it against her. She can’t hold who Marianne is against herself.
  With this now over and done with, Addie walks down two flights of stairs and exits the building. It’s a sunny day, just like it was yesterday, and she takes some pride in the fact that she’s got her contacts in, and sunglasses, and a face that doesn’t look like somebody tortured her for a week. There’s a spring to her step even if she tries to control it, and really, Addie just feels great.
  Although, she still can’t believe she’s about to meet up with Drew Starkey to exchange phones because he got startled and gave her the wrong one.
  She doesn’t even have the damn photo they took together.
  The thought makes her laugh, and relax a little, and somehow it clicks in her head that Drew really is just a regular guy, susceptible to ridiculous shitty things happening to him just like everyone else. It calms her on her walk down to Tesco, even when it’s a few minutes after they’ve agreed on meeting up and he's still not here. 
  Expected, really. He did say he’d be late, after all.
  When he finally walks out of the car, she doesn’t realise it’s him, at first. The car he’s driving is a silver Toyota, looking a little older than she'd expect. He parks it a couple dozen feet away from her, and the only reason she even takes note of the car is because it’s similar to the one her high school friends used to drive when they were all still back in town. Her eyes land on the dark-haired figure inside the car and recognises him only when the Atlanta sun shines its light on him, making the brown strands appear almost blonde, blonde structure framed by the sun’s gentleness.
  Something in Addie flutters. It’s not butterflies, but the feeling of excitement at the prospect of an adventure, or something entirely surreal yet about to happen.
  Drew’s face breaks into a smile as warm as summer itself at the sight of her. She gives a little wave, clutching his phone in her hands. It takes him a couple of seconds to cross the distance between them, and he joins her under the shade.
  ‘Hi,’ he says.
  ‘Hi.’ Addie grins back, the sheer lack of knowing what to do bringing heat to her cheeks. ‘Nice car you got there. My friend had the same one.’
  He glances at the car with pride in his eyes, nodding. ‘Yeah, she’s a badass. Stuck with me through thick and thin.’
  ‘You got the AC?’
  ‘Yeah, I had it installed a few years back, when I moved here. Your friend didn’t?’
  ‘Nope.’ Addie shakes her head, sighing at the mere thought of the days she spent roasting in that car during midsummer roadtrips. ‘Some AC would be good right now. I walked here and honestly, I pretty much melted off. Even wearing this.’
  The girl grabs a handful of the dress below her waist, the lower part of the lightest fabric she could find in her closet. It’s an ordinary summer dress meant for beaches and walks under the Mediterranean sun, light blue with flowers scattered all over it, and reaching just to her knees when still. The day is windy, so the fabric sways on the wind, pulling itself a little higher, instead.
  Drew chuckles at her comment and makes one about misjudging the temperature and choosing to wear long jeans instead of shorts, and stops himself mid sentence. ‘Ah, fuck.’ 
  Addie recognises the sigh and the eyeroll, and figures something’s up even before he runs his fingers through his hair, saying, 'I forgot something. I'll be right back.'
  Before she manages to mutter ‘Okay’, he’s making a beeline for his car. She watches him take something out of the glove compartment and he’s back within seconds, holding one of the biggest Hershey’s chocolate bars Addie has ever seen, and her phone is on top of it. She lets out a small chuckle, feeling her eyebrows come closer.
  Drew holds the two in front of her, scratching the back of his neck with the other hand. ‘This is a little something for the inconvenience. And – and as congratulations, you know, for getting the internship.’
  ‘Oh my god, you didn’t need to buy me a chocolate,’ Addie says, voice high pitched in a combination of laughter and disbelief.
  ‘No, I did. Just – just take it, okay?’
  ‘Okay, thanks.’
  Addie’s fingers wrap around the chocolate and she slips her phone into her pocket, handing him his. It feels odd—this whole interaction does—and she has the stupidly childish need to stare at her feet, but she makes herself look up at him, and he does the same once he glances briefly at his phone, putting it into the back pocket of his jeans. He’s squinting a little, and she can’t tell if it’s because of the sun and the fact that he’s not wearing sunglasses, or because that way it's easier to mask the awkwardness she knows he’s also feeling.
  She offers him a smile, earnest as he can, and sees his shoulders drop a little.
  The smile he gives in return is so genuinely apologetic that Addie finds it sweet – contagious, too.
  ‘Look, I really am sorry about this whole thing. I know I keep apologising, but I mean it. The chocolate was the least I could’ve done.’
  ‘And it’s more than enough,’ she reassures him. ‘Honestly. You’re all good. It’s not like you tried to steal my phone.’ She squints at him, jokingly, and crosses her arms on her chest. ‘Unless...?’
  It makes him laugh, wide and bright, and his hair moves gently as his head shakes. ‘Fuck no. I’m not skilled enough for that.’
  ‘Yeah, you’re driving an old Toyota that does’'t even come with an AC. Not good enough for a thief.’
  Drew’s laughter persists, and Addie lets herself relax a little. She leans against the tree with the side of her body, a little tired of being on her feet for so long, one of her hands stuck in her pocket and the other holding onto the chocolate that's getting softer between her fingers and her palm.
  The man in front of her glances around with an edge to it, just like he did back inside the supermarket.
  ‘I should get going,’ he says. ‘It’s an interview week, so…’
  Addie smiles. ‘Yeah, it’s cool. Thanks for bringing my phone back.’
  ‘Once again, I’m really—’
  ‘Okay. It was nice seeing you again. I can’t hear you apologise one more time so I’m going to leave.’
  She considers turning on her heel and pretending to walk away, but she only takes a single step back and gives him a cheeky grin, instead. Drew is staring at her, squinting a little, probably because she’s all in the sun now and her dress is more than a little reflective.
  He raises two fingers, gives her a little salute. ‘Bye, then.’
  Addie repeats the word, mimicking his gesture.
  Drew grins at that and it’s the last she sees of his face, as he turns toward his car and walks away. He waves at her driving out of the parking lot, while Addie fumbles with her headphones and her phone, and she waves back.
  The moment he’s out of sight, she walks back under the tree, completely leaning her back against it. The breeze is enjoyable now, something between comfortable and warm, and Addie feels her heart thumping in her chest. Her eyes flutter and a shaky breath leaves her lungs, lips curling into a smile. Her hands may not be sweaty, but she feels sweaty all around, and knows she should be getting home as fast as possible because of the chocolate she’s holding, but she just... she can’t.
  It’s not like Addie Mallory to get her head spinning at the sight of a boy – far from it. In fact, she likes to think of herself as an experienced person with a level-headed, realistic perspective on life and everything that constitutes. She’s put her career and future first for years now, and this is the first time she feels like she’s taking baby steps when talking to someone new, instead of striding. 
  Except, be as it is, Drew Starkey isn’t just someone new. Even if Addie is used to meeting people of far more importance than her, it’s usually in her line of business, and it’s usually people she knows what to expect from. This is someone who she feels like she knows what to expect from except he breaks all those expectations with ease. 
  It’s far from being the same, so Addie allows herself to be okay with her heart racing, palms sweating, and just getting overall excited like a schoolgirl. This doesn’t make her any less mature or her priorities any less set in stone.
  As Addie goes into her text messages, rereads the one from Harry Martin, she realises that her life definitely took a 180 the day before. She texts him back, letting him know she’s available whenever and apologising for the late reply. Her phone rests against her chest, warm and familiar.
  She’s glad to have it back.
  But, even if she’s having a hard time admitting it, she’s not glad that her story with Drew is over.
05: TOMFOOLERY
tagging. @jjmaybanksbaby​​ @taiter-tots​​ @sacredto​​ @snkkat​​ @drewswannabegirl​​ @yeslifeofateen​​ @rudypnkw​​ @stfukie​​ @x-lulu​​ @sacredto​​ @drewstarkey​​ @butgilinsky​​ @solllaris​​ @hyperactive2411​​ @chasefreakinstokes​​  @surferkie​ @jroseron​ @k-k0129​
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