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ask-rp-devra · 3 years

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The night was short, the pair were able to sleep a good 8 hours before getting ready the next morning to set off towards the train station. The pair decided to come back through to pick up the Pokemon to bring back to the island before heading home, but for now they could stay behind with Devra’s mom, just for a little while longer. The only team members that went with them were coal, the little hybrid houndoomxarcanine pup, and Aliza, who had taken a shine to the ponyta gifted to Peach, they seemed to play well together, even Dreepy liked her. With bags gathered, goodbyes said, and tickets bought, the pair stepped onto the train, waving off Olivia who came to see her daughter go, and off they went, towards the new Galarian island, the Crown Tundra.

Devra settled into her seat, waving goodbye to her mom as Coal jumped up in the seat next to her. He was small enough to be on the train, but Aliza had to stay in her pokeball for the time being. She looked over at her friend and smiled. “I hope you slept alright. I always thought the guest room bed was too hard.”

“‘you saw me right? I was asleep in an aeroplane chair sitting up right, the bed was just fine. Much better than most of the places I sleep while away from the lab.” She recalled a few occasions being able to just about catch an hours rest while being trapped in a tree by aggressive Pokemon. “it was a warm, dry bed, with actual sheets and a roof over me haha. It was great.” She mindlessly petted Val, ordering a good coffee off the trolley that passed by, a sweet little wigglytuff in the train companies uniform asking for payment. She got her wallet out...or so she thought? Her hand reached into her bag, and hit something very cold and very smooth, reeling from the weird texture. Val sniggered to herself, shifting to the empty seat the bag sat on, to peer inside.

“I think we have a stow away.” Peach murmured, carefully opening the bag much wider than needed to get a good look. “‘Dreepy?” Inside was the little ghost type, she swore while waving to Devra’s mother at the station when they left, she had also spotted this Pokemon amongst others that had come to see the trainers off. He was wrapped up in one of Peach’s shirts, and seemed a little nervous about being caught in her stuff.

Devra looked over at Peach from her camera, having been looking th right some pictures. “Dreepy? He’s here? But I saw him with my mom. Here, I took a picture of the group when we left.” She held the camera so they could both look. “Oh....well. I thought he was in the picture.” She looked at the little Pokémon and sighed. “I guess he really wanted to come with you.”

“well, it’s fine with me, if he wants to come then I guess we’ve got a new team member.” She smiled a little at the Pokemon and let him and Val go and pick some snacks off the trolley before paying. She gave eyes at her steadfast fire type while Dreepy’s back was turned, asking without words for her to tone her usual disinterest down by like 20%, and she began chattering to the ghost Pokemon as she selected a strawberry filled dumpling thing in a wrapper. With the stern silence broken between the two, peach could relax a little, perhaps they two would be fine together for the trip.

“You’re right though, I swear I saw him on the platform too.” She glanced at the screen on the camera, seeing no signs of him. “‘how strange. You’re faster than you look hey bud?” Dreepy seemed quite proud of the compliment, and finally chose a chocolate-orange flavoured pastry twist before returning to the open bag to snack. “I’m buying, you and your team want anything?”

Devra nodded to Coal, who bounced over and happily started sniffing around until he found a pumpkin muffin. She then grabbed an apple cake and raspberry pastry for her other two team members before sitting back down. “I don’t need anything. Mom made sure I left full.” She laughed and opened Coal’s treat for him. “Tell Peach thank you young man.” The little pup barked happily as me bounced over to her for pets.

“she’s a good mom that one, I bet she’d enjoy a little holiday in johto, lots to see, I can hook you both up with some fun things to do for sure.” There was plenty of art galleries, heritage sites, and excellent restaurants throughout the region, not to mention live music, public gardens of great beauty, and a butt load of areas to sightsee in. Peach paid up and petted Coal, she was very glad to see him in capable hands, he took to Devra like a Ducklett to water, and she was confident he’d grow fast now he was out exploring with her. The Dreepy seemed to peep its eyes out at the hybrid Pokemon, still nibbling away on its snack.

Coal bounced back up next to Devra and started to munch on his treat. “I’m sure she’ll love the trip.” She looked out the window, watching the countryside roll by. “What’s the first thing you want to do once we get to the tundra?”

The professor sipped her hot drink, also enjoying the windows view. “hm, that’s a good question. I suppose I’d really like to find a place to stay, I’d normally not mind camping but I see the name ‘Crown TUNDRA’ and feel like I wouldn’t want to stay over night outside as much. What about you? You’ll be knees deep in herd Pokemon in no time I bet, anything else you’d want to check out?” The little Dreepy had snuck closer to the window to look out, still nibbling.

“Well, there is this big ruin building with a massive old dead tree that’s I’d love to see. But it’s at the top of one of the mountains here. So it might be tricky getting to.” She mindlessly pet Coal as she slowly started seeing snow. “And I think there’s a small town that we could ask about lodging at. Day trips to the tundra and back by dark?”

“‘oh I do love a tree, that sounds interesting, you could always try to find a Pokemon who could get you up that mountain a bit easier?” Peach had planned to do just that, the cold sneaking in, she could feel her bad knee aching ever so slightly already, and almost exactly after that thought crossed her mind, Val crept over to radiate heat, sitting in her lap, easing the dull pain.

“perhaps we can camp out some of the time, it’d be nice to see what happens at night, what Pokemon come out, just perhaps not in any heavy weather if it can be avoided. I did take a look online, the village there is usually pretty open to travellers, think I noticed a B&B or two with vacancies posted, I’m sure we’ll find somewhere to stay.” By this point, the views had turned pure white, in the fields you could see grazing Pokemon, a herd of wooloo who almost blending in with the surroundings.

Devra spotter the wooloo right away, fawning over one of her favorite Pokémon. Coal picked up on his trainer’s excitement, his tail wagging happily as she told him what snow was like. “Oh I can’t wait to see Aliza’s face when she sees her first snow!”

“thats right, she’s not even seen a December yet, or a snowy route. Good thing you got your camera then isn’t it, I’m sure mom and pop would like to see her first experience with it, you know Cole hasn’t seen snow either before. Bet he’s real excited about now.” The pup must have felt something, seeing all this white for the first time. “‘what about you Dreepy, you seen snow before?” The little ghost type looked back, didn’t turn its body at all, but bent it’s neck fully back to look at the Professor upside down, giving no clear answer, which to her seemed like a big fat no, but perhaps he was a little shy about answering right away. “no matter, we’ll soon be in the thick of it.”

She giggled at the sight of the little dreepy. “He’s seen some light snow before. I caught him in the wild area. The weather there is always so weird. But he hasn’t seen this much before. This is going to be a big busy day.” She snapped a quiet picture of dreepy being cute, then one of Coal barking at the snow through the window.

The train began to turn a final corner, the tannoy alerting passengers to the upcoming station, the only stop on the journey coming up very soon.

“looks like we’re nearly there, ready to get going?” The trip had been only short, but outside it looked like a completely different region, so much snow and ice everywhere, nothing but pine trees. The woman grabbed her bags, not before waiting for the little Dreepy to return to the inside where it wrapped up in the spare clothes to keep warm. Val took to her shoulder as she usually did.

Devra nodded, standing up to gather her things. She then picked up Coal, holding his stout body in her arms to keep him from running of into the snow. “We’re ready. I’m so excited to see this area. I’ve read about it but they took forever to get it safe enough for more visitors.”

Safe enough wasn’t always entirely foolproof, and Peach was quietly happy she packed a first aid kit. She had heard some murmurs it was a little risky here, a lot of tough Pokemon roamed about.

“I hope you’re right, I’m sure the locals wouldn’t put people at risk.” The pair stepped off the train once the doors pinged open, the brisk cold air swept past, pulling them all out onto the platform. People came and went, and before long they became aware of the exits and where to head to next.

Devra took a slight lead of the two, following signs towards the little town. “Well, they did give all of us coming here a safety talk too. I just hope trainers actually listen. You gotta be smart about this place.” She then set Coal down and let the little guy run circles around the two humans. “I think I’ll wait to let Aliza our until we’re settled.”

With the pup thoroughly enjoying the snow, the trainers paused to check their phones, a map was needed for a moment, before they began to hear some loud ruckus just outside to the right of the station, sounded like a man and a young woman, peach didn’t even register it much, turning her back to the noise almost instinctually, trying to figure out which way to go. Val however was being nosey and sat on her shoulder judging the people making all the noise pretty hard from the look on her face.

“I think you’re right, we should find somewhere to stay before we really go out on a wild adventure.”

She nodded, looking at her own map on her Rotom phone, thanking the Pokémon inside for his help. “It looks like we head on that way.” She pointed to the road as it took a slight left turn. “Shouldn’t be more than a 20 minute walk.”

“‘sounds good to me, wonder what Pokemon we might see on the way?” Pocketing the phone and hoisting her bag up a bit, Peach began to take a few steps, noticing the pair who were making such noise earlier, avoiding them entirely, they seemed to be having a dad-daughter tiff that was no ones business. Onward, to the first route of the Crown Tundra!

Devra took a glance at the arguing people and sighed, hoping the wouldn’t bother her or the Professor. Coal bounded ahead as they walked, but kept in his trainer’s sight. “It’s really pretty here. Just look at all the ice on these pine needles!” She crunched her way to a tree and found an angle to catch light in the ice.

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duskholland · 6 years

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The Rooftop Party - Tom Holland

Summary: Your heart aches to belong to your co-star Tom, who you’re sure only sees you as a friend. Things come to a boil during a particularly eventful party ;)

Word count: 2.1k

A/N: I watched Crazy Stupid Love the other week and I can’t stop thinking about that Dirty Dancing lift scene, so… Here we go. Full inspo came from there, but I put a spin on the relationship and scenario. Hope you enjoy!

His arms are around your waist and his chin’s pressing over your shoulder, and the gentle warming heat of his body slowly drifts over yours. You shiver a little as Tom hugs you, pulling your back into his firm front, the loose tips of his hair tickling the side of your face as you try your best to pretend your heart isn’t beating out of your chest at the contact.

“What ya doing?” He asks, words drifting directly into your ear. You sigh contentedly as he sways the two of you together, and though you aren’t able to see his face, you can almost picture the lazy grin plastered to his lips.

“Jus’ looking at the view,” you say, eyes moving from where you’re watching his hands on your hips and up, over the edge of the building. You’re at Zendaya’s birthday party and it happens to be on the roof of a tall building, meaning you’re able to peer over the edge of the walls and look out across the twilight of the city sprawled beneath you. It’s incredibly peaceful, to be standing at the edge of the party with Tom’s arms wrapped around you and his chin on your shoulder. There’s just one thing wrong…

You aren’t together, and you know the arms around your waist are his idea of being close to a friend.

“You’re the view,” he teases, finally pulling away. You try not to pout as he drops his hold and steps beside you, your arms brushing in the slight evening breeze as he looks out across the city. From the corner of your eyes, you make out a few things that cause your heart to beat just a little faster; the soft wavy brown strands of his hair arranged in curls atop his head, the way his eyes are wide with admiration as they scan the horizon, the happily lopsided grin fixed to his pink lips. And you sigh, because, not for the first time, you find yourself aching to throw yourself into his arms and make home in his lips.

“Are you having a good time?” You ask, finally breaking the silence. Tom turns to you, leaning one arm on the railing that tops the walls as he hums agreeingly, meeting your gaze with a grin.

“I’m having a great time,” he corrects. “I feel like I never see you around set these days, ‘n I miss you.” His voice is soft, crawling with care and comfort and you feel a part of your heart melt.

“Yeah,” you mutter, sadness creeping into your tone. You’re starring alongside him in the second Spider-Man film, but with your role as villain and the scattered shooting schedule, it’s been forever since you’ve shared any scenes with Tom. You thought the distance from your co-star would help you get over him, but really, the distance has only caused your heart to grow fonder. “I miss seeing your face every morning.”

Tom hesitates, his expression briefly twisting into something more nervous as he straightens up, running his hands down the front of his t-shirt. You try not to watch his biceps ripple as he does, but it’s awfully hard to bring your eyes away from them. “Listen, Y/N, I- I had something I wanted to say to you.”

An eyebrow creeps up your forehead. “That’s pretty ominous, Tom,” you tease, trying to bite back the nerves suddenly churning in your stomach. You reach up, your hand wrapping around his on the railing and linking your fingers together, trying not to focus on how right it feels.

“It’s not anything bad, I don’t think,” he carries on, teeth grazing his lower lip. “It could just change how things are between us, and I don’t want to upset what we have going on.” He pauses to squeeze your hand, something in his eyes glinting charmingly.

“Tom,” you say, voice firmer, “you’re worrying me. Just tell me!”

As his lips are going to form the next, secretive words, Harrison suddenly appears, barrelling into the both of you with red cheeks and glazed eyes.

“Tom! Y/N!” He exclaims, words only a little slurred. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, effectively breaking your connection with Tom’s hand. “You guys are so annoying. Come back to the party!” He insists. He turns, spinning around, and throws his arm back around your shoulder, hand thumping against the top of your arm as you groan softly.

“Haz,” you mutter, tilting your head to meet his inebriated gaze. “Someone having a good time?”

“Oh yeah,” he agrees, already leading you back towards the party. You look past him to see Tom’s being dragged along by Harrison’s other arm. “The tequila is so good tonight. You guys have to try it, I’m being serious.” His gaze goes to Tom and he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “You especially, Tom. You know, it might help a lot with that thing you need to say to Y/N.”

Your eyebrows shoot up as you crane your neck forwards to see Tom’s reaction, meeting embarrassed eyes and rosy cheeks.

“Shut up, Harrison,” Tom mutters. He forces Harrison to a halt by a chair, and with your help, you manage to get your drunk friend down into it. “We’ll go get you some water. Stay here.” He wags a finger at his best friend, rolling his eyes when Harrison shrugs cheekily.

“Where else would I go?” Harrison mutters. “The entertainment is anywhere you guys are.” He dissolves into a fit of giggles that you don’t quite understand, but before you can ask, Tom’s hand is back on yours, bringing you away from Harrison.

“I’m sorry about him,” he groans, embarrassment clearly in his voice. He meets your eyes with apology in his gaze. “Harrison’s a monster after a few drinks.”

You shrug, laughing lightly. “It’s alright, Tom. I’ve seen him like this before. And anyway, he’s not your responsibility.”

Tom shrugs, squeezing your fingers with his. “Either way, darling, I’m still sorry.” He pauses, coughing suddenly. “Let’s, uh, go get some water, yeah?”

Cheeks flaming from the pet name, you nod quickly. “Alright.”

--------

The rest of the evening passes by in a blur of Tom.

He’s everywhere. Constantly either with his hand in yours or his arm around your waist or his eyes watching you intently. And you don’t mind - of course you don’t, a part of you wishes he’d never leave your side - but it does act to confuse you and your thumping heart. Each touch is torture. Having him so close to you, his breath falling over your neck as he nuzzles your shoulder, or his words brushing up against your ear or his fingers tracing patterns over the back of your palm… It all just acts to twist your heart in knots.

But it isn’t until a little later that things really escalate.

“‘Ey, Tom!” Harrison hollers, now a little more sober but still with his brain soaked in a shot too many. He moves over on wobbly legs, grinning widely when he sees your position: settled on a couch together, your legs thrown over Tom’s lap, his arms wrapped around you. “You remember that film we watched the other night? About those dancing people?” Tom grins. “Dirty Dancing?”

Harrison beams. “That’s the one. And that lift, with the aeroplane thing?” Tom falters ever so slightly. “Yeah, the Dirty Dancing lift.”

“Do it! With Y/N! Right now!”

You snort, quickly swallowing down the remnants of your drink as you turn to Tom. “You want to?” You ask, not completely opposed to the idea. If you’re being honest, part of you has always wanted to attempt the move, and what better excuse to get a little closer to the man you’re fairly sure you’ve fallen in love with.

He meets your eyes, question resting in his stare. “If you want to, I guess I’m down?”

You grin, quickly climbing off his lap and offering him a hand up. As soon as you’re both on your feet, you discard the various cocktails and shots you’ve been slowly devouring and find an open space, Harrison trailing after you slowly.

“You’re not going to drop me, are you?” You check quickly, stretching out your arms as you stare at Tom sceptically.

“Of course not, love,” he replies, sounding just a bit offended at your lack of trust. “I’ll catch you. Don’t worry about it.”

You nod before carefully moving back, thanking your previous self for wearing flats. With the influence of steadying alcohol steeling your veins, you’re able to execute the entire manoeuvre without chickening out. Tom gives you a soft nod, his arms up in the air, and you release a deep breath before running at him. A loud squeal slips past your lips as you jump up, his strong hands catching your waist and moving you up into the air, your feet dangling behind you as you straighten up.

“Oh my god!” You screech, your heartbeat pounding through your ears as you look around, eyes bulging as you realise you’re very far off the ground. “Holy shit, Tom, put me down.”

He laughs loudly as Harrison applauds, and before you know it, your feet are back on the ground and you’re burying your head in his chest, giggling along with him.

“Told you I’d catch you,” he quips, mouth resting against your head. A shiver passes down your spine as you feel him deposit a soft kiss on your forehead, and you peel back from his chest to look at him carefully.

“What were you going to say earlier?” You ask quietly, and it’s as if the background noise from the party slips away as he talks.

“I, uh, I really like you, Y/N,” he admits, a pink blush rounding his cheeks as he stammers through the confession. “It’s okay if you don’t feel like I do, but I- I really like you, and I’d love to take you on a date sometime.”

And it’s as if the weight of the world rolls off your shoulders.

“You like me?” You squeak, tightening your grip on his waist.

Tom chuckles, hesitance on his face. “Yeah? But if you don’t feel like that, we can just pretend this never happened.”

You roll your eyes, one of your hands going to fist his curls as you bring him closer. “That’s never gonna happen,” you murmur. Your eyes drop down to his mouth, and suddenly, you realise kissing him should be your next move.

You slip forward, his hands dropping down to caress your waist, and for a moment, the world stops spinning. You’re leaning up and he’s leaning down, and his eyes are wide and encouraging, and just as your lips are about to touch-

“Yes! Kiss!” Harrison hollers, causing you to break away and huff embarrassingly.

“Harrison!” Tom scolds, laughing a little despite it all. He allows you to grab his hand and tug him away. You shoot Harrison a reproachful look as you pass, but you’re too excited to be truly angry.

You find a new spot on the other side of the party, and press Tom against the side of the building before stepping in. Without words, you mould to his body, your hands finding his figure as you lean up and, finally, after a thousand years of waiting, your lips meet.

The kiss is explosive. The fire in your chest mixes with the months of lust, confusion and heartache, and as your lips slide together, you feel heat press across your veins, drowning your heart in a hazy bliss. Tom moans quietly as he tugs you closer, one of his hands going to cradle your cheek as the other curls around your hair, and he’s pulling you in, kissing you deeper, and it’s like your heart has finally slotted into place.

“I like you too,” you admit, resting your forehead against his.

“You know what, I think I might have had an inkling,” he teases. But then his lips are back on yours, kissing sweetly, savouring the moment. “Let me take you on a date,” he pleads, eyes swimming in an excited happiness, “Tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at 7.”

You grin happily, body floating in a suspended state of bliss. “Yes,” you agree. Your mouth nudges against his and you kiss him again, quickly growing intoxicated by the feeling of his lips on yours. “I would love that.”

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any feedback? I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this!

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#tom holland #tom holland oneshot #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland imagine #let's be real. we all have a drunk friend exactly like harrison lmao #i know i do lol #my writing #y/n #y/n use #self insert #self-insert #<3 #pls read!!#have been in a writing slump recently so knowing that ppl liked this would mean a lothfdjhfjdfhd #famous!reader #costar!reader

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amymel86 · 7 years

Note

"Puppy," "kindergarten," "stripes," "coffee," and "stegosaurus"

Thank you for the prompt luv! (Send me 5 random words and I’ll try to include them all into a one shot.)

So I was going to do the whole ‘SingleDad!Jon’ thing - but this sprang to mind instead….(I really hope that you like it!)

“Come on kiddos! We’re gonna be late if we don’t go now!” Jon hollered from his place at the front door of his flat, scruffy jogging pants, a shirt with a coffee stain on it and a piece of half eaten toast hanging out of his mouth.

“Uncle Jon, I am not a ‘kiddo’, I’m almost 10 years old!” Rosie grumbled as she made it to his side, folding her arms across her chest. Jon couldn’t help but grin and ruffle her hair, messing up the terrible braid that he had attempted for her.

“Right you are, kiddo” he teased. Rosie scowled, pulling a smirk from him as he nodded back at her. “Double digits soon huh?” Jon gave an appreciative whistle “all grown up then.” This seemed to placate her well enough, so she turned to the mirror in the hall to undo Jon’s hard work on her hair and make a better job of it.

“Come on Sammy!” Jon called.

Sammy (3yrs old) and Rosie (almost 10yrs old) were great kids. Jon was looking after them for a week whilst their parents, Sam and Gilly were taking a well earned break in the form of a week away at a luxury spa in The Reach. Luckily for them, Jon’s career as a writer meant that more often than not, he was able to dictate his working hours - and the majority of those were spent in his Wintertown flat anyway.

Today however, was Jon’s very first experience with ‘the morning school run’. So far he had cursed under his breath a total of five times. Firstly, when his alarm went off at an ungodly hour. Secondly, when he’d fallen back asleep, only to be woken up rather abruptly by little Sammy bursting into his bedroom and dive-bombing heavily onto his chest. The third curse was forced from his lips when he had sleepily made his way to the bathroom and trod on a toy stegosaurus that was casually strewn across the hall floor, along with a few lego bricks and a bit of ‘Hot Wheels’ racing track. The fourth time had been when Rosie pointed out that he had not unpacked and hung up her school uniform the previous night, meaning that her shirt had more creases than an elephant’s arse. And finally, when Sammy refused to eat the only cereal he had to offer, forcing him to cave and feed him a chocolate bar for breakfast instead.

“Can I take Ghostie to show Miss Sansa, Uncle Jon?” came the voice from the living room.

“Maybe tomorrow buddy. But if we don’t leave right now, then we’ll be late for kindergarten and I don’t want this ‘Miss Sansa’ to whoop my asssss-teroid…asteroid” Jon winced, hoping neither of the kids had noticed his slip - Gilly would kill him if her precious babies learnt any colourful language from ‘Uncle Jon’. Rosie furrowed her brows at him as she tied off her now perfectly smooth braid.

“Miss Sansa wouldn’t hurt you Uncle Jon” Sammy mumbled as he came out to the hall, dragging his little Paw Patrol backpack behind him. “She’s the kindest-ist and the most beautiful-est! She gives me Micky Mouse band-aids when I falled and banged my knee, and she makes sure I drink up all my milk.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure she’s great Sammy, but we really need to go” Jon urged as he ushered both children out of the door and into his car.

Oh Shit. She really is ‘the most beautiful-est’! Jon thought as he gaped at the redhead that welcomed them at ‘Lemontree Kindergarten’ with a dazzling smile and a smudge of purple finger paint on her cheek.

“Good morning Sammy!” she said, patting the little boy on the head “so you must be this ‘Uncle Jon’ I’ve heard so much about” Miss Sansa says, sticking her hand out in greeting.

“Uhh…yeah.”

“Don’t worry - all good things” Miss Sansa smirks. Jon is suddenly aware of that coffee stain on his shirt and shifts his arm awkwardly in a way that he hopes obscures it from her view.

“Uncle Jon let me have chocolate for breakfast” Sammy declared before dashing off with both arms stuck out as he ran full pelt, making a droning aeroplane noise as he went. Miss Sansa watched him go before smirking back at Jon.

“He didn’t seem too keen on raisin bran” he shrugged pitifully. Miss Sansa laughed and Jon felt the sound tingle throughout his body from his scalp to his toes.

“Uh…” he started, feeling like he’d been hit in the head with some unexpected heavy object “…we’d better be..umm…going…ahh..” Jon stuttered, not unlike he had when he was teenager faced with a pretty girl.

Not just pretty - the most beautiful-est!

“Ok then, well it was nice to meet you ‘Uncle Jon’“

Jon only manages to respond with a shaky laugh before calling out his goodbye to Sammy who was on his third aeroplane lap of the room by now. He stepped outside of the double doors but glance back through the pane of glass to see Miss Sansa start to join Sammy by chasing after him, making aeroplane noises of her own, her ‘arm-wings’ bending this way and that as she weaved about the other children.

“Your face looks weird” Rosie commented, bring Jon out of his hazy stupor. He clears his throat before they make their way back to his car so that Jon can drop her off at school.

The next morning Jon had gotten through a lot less curse words muttered under his breath and a lot more agonising over what he was going to wear. He also managed to iron Rosie’s shirt and coax Sammy into eating some toast.

It was all going so well - Jon had even hoped that he might not sound like a complete idiot this time. Then his phone rang on their morning journey.

“Whaddup Mother f-” came the loud voice of Theon.

“KIDS! THERE’S KIDS IN THE CAR! You’re on speakerphone!” Jon yelled, near enough having a heart attack.

“Kids?”

“Hi Uncle Theon!” Sammy and Rosie sang in unison.

“Oh heeeey guys! Is this the week that you’re staying with Lord Grump?”

Sammy giggles from the backseat. Jon lets out a sigh.

“What did you actually want Theon?”

“To get you some action…err…”

Jon clenches his jaw as he hopes neither of the kids ask any probing questions about that particular turn of phrase. It seems his prayers have been answered as no immediate queries are forthcoming so he lets out a long breath.

“I don’t need your help, thanks.”

“Why’s that? You gettin’ some and not tellin’ me Snow?”

Jon contemplates hanging up on his friend to save any further slips for young, delicate ears.

“Getting what?” Rosie asks.

“Can I get some?” Sammy squeaks. Jon glances at him in the rear-view mirror and smiles.

“Maybe when you’re older buddy.”

“Don’t you have any better music?” Rosie gripes as she’s skipping through the tracks of his White Stripes CD. Ever thankful for the change of subject, Jon leans over and opens the glove compartment, gesturing for her to peruse his little horde of CDs that live inside, along with about a million old receipts and a parking ticket or two.

“No THEON” Jon says, returning to his phone call, trying to convey that his friend was on thin ice and needed to watch his tongue. “It’s just that I….well, I….there’s someone…I met her recently…like, really recently and-”

“Is it Miss Sansa?” Rosie asks all of a sudden, her hands still busy within the chaos of his glove compartment.

“Wha…why-why would you ask that?”

“You were looking at her funny yesterday” the little girl shrugged.

“She hot?” Theon’s question fills the car and as Jon applies the brakes to come to a slow stop in traffic, his forehead lowers to kiss the steering wheel in sheer frustration.

He’s not quite sure what possesses him to carry on the conversation and not just hang up now and be done with it, but it has been a long time since Jon attempted to be anything but friends with someone, so he throws caution to the wind and (probably unwisely) continues along with Theon’s line of questioning.

“Yeah, she’s hot….like, really, really hot” he groans into the steering wheel, his eyes screwed shut as he remembers her milky skin, her copper hair and her sky blue eyes.

The most beautiful-est.

“Uncle Jon” Rosie starts as she sits up straight, pulling something small and shiny with her from deep within the glove compartment. “What does ‘ribbed for her pleasure’ mean?”

There’s a few seconds of silence that fills the car before Jon sucks in a breath and snatches the little square foil packet from her fingers and tosses it out of the window. Theon’s hooting and cackling erupts from the speakers as Sammy calls out from the back seat.

“Uncle Jon! Littering is bad! Miss Sansa told me - we mustn’t litter!”

“Yeah Uncle Jon” Theon teases “you won’t be able to rib anything for her pleasure if she knows you’re a litterbug!”

“Shut up Theon!” Jon yells as he honks his horn at the dithering car in front, making both kids jump in their seats.

“Ribbed for whose pleasure?” Rosie presses on as Jon actively contemplates opening the car door and jumping out.

“Miss Sansa - he hopes” Theon not-so-helpfully remarks, his voice still laden with laughter.

“But what is it?”

“I’ll…errr…I’ll tell you when you’re older Rosie…it’s…umm….it’s an adult thing.” Jon supplies as he feels his cheeks burn red. Rosie rolls her eyes, crosses her arms and lets out a huff.

“Do you know what you need Snow?” Theon asks.

“Enlighten me Greyjoy” Jon growls through gritted teeth.

“That new cologne from Highgarden - ‘Knight’ I think it’s called, and it’s a real pussy magnet, I’ve only worn-” Jon cuts off the call before any more irreversible damage could be done, like Theon casually mentioning blow jobs or porn.

Thankfully, neither of the kids throw any more questions at him and no more condoms are unearthed for the remainder of the car journey with the world’s worst ‘uncle’.

“Good Morning Sammy!” Miss Sansa beams as she welcomes them. “And hello Rosie and ‘Uncle Jon’“ Jon tries not to dwell on how her eyes almost twinkle as she says his name - but it’s very difficult not to when she’s looking at him like that.

“Miss Sansa?” Sammy interrupts, tugging on her pale lemon yellow shirt “you should sit down and drink some water!”

“Oh…I should? Why’s that Sammy?” she asks, crouching down to be on the same level as the young lad before shooting Jon another smile.

“Because Uncle Jon says that you’re really, really hot and when I’m hot, my Mummy makes me sit down and drink a whole glass of water.” he says matter-of-factly. Jon wants the ground to open up and swallow him as he nervously rubs at the back of his neck.

“Well that sounds like great advice!” Sansa laughs as she stands back up and glances at Jon.

“Uncle Jon is going to get a cat magnet” the little boy blurts and Jon very nearly decides to cut his losses and leg it out of there. “But I don’t like cats that much, I think he should get a puppy magnet instead. He’s already got a dog and Ghost would love some friends!”

“Ah puppy magnet huh?” Miss Sansa smirks at Jon, who tries to convey an apology using his facial features only.

“Miss Sansa” Sammy says as Jon wonders what else the kid is going to use to royally embarrass him. “Are you ‘getting some’?”

Yep. there it is.

“Getting what sweetie?” she asks.

“I don’t know, but Uncle Jon says I can’t ‘get some’ until I’m older but I don’t think he’s ‘getting some’ either so that’s ok.”

Miss Sansa hides her smile behind her hand but it’s quite clear that laughter is threatening to escape. Little Sammy shrugs and runs off towards a a little table that has been set up with some brightly coloured playdough.

“I am so sorry” Jon breathes as he shakes his head, his cheeks hot from awkwardness.

“That’s alright” she laughs, waving away his concern. “Oh, I do need something from you though ‘Uncle Jon’“

Anything.

“As Sammy’s temporary guardian, I need you to take this permission slip away, read it, and sign it, and bring it back to me” she smiles as she shuffles a bit of paperwork, pens something on the piece of paper before folding it up three times and hands it over to Jon.

“Ok. Yes. Will do. Definitely.”

Jon backs out of the room nodding profusely and waving the folded piece of paper. As he and Rosie are walking back to the car, Jon opens it up to see what exactly it is that he will be signing.

It seems like a standard permission slip - something about a petting zoo outing - but in the corner, in red pen is some elegant scrawl.

I think you might need to sit down and drink a glass of water too, Jon. Sansa xoxo - followed by a phone number.

#jonsa #jon x sansa #prompt fill #one shot #jonsa fanfic

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years

Text

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 39

me: I should update some of the fics I haven’t updated for ages, not this one

also me: SCREW YOU, VIVE LÊ CHIẾN

Also on AO3, as usual

Kim couldn’t help but be frustrated that he wasn’t good at lacrosse from the beginning. Of course he knew that all sports took practice and effort to get good at, but still! He was supposed to be sporty! That was what he was known for! But when he dropped the ball for about the twentieth time, hearing the servants on the sidelines of the pitch giggling at his incompetence, it was the worst feeling in the world.

“This game sucks!” He threw his lacrosse stick on the ground and crossed his arms.

“More like our team sucks,” Alya added, which didn’t make him feel much better.

“It’s okay guys, we can do it!” Nino called from the other end of the pitch. “Look at the crowd that’s here supporting us!”

Said “crowd” was a group of very unimpressed servants who had gathered to watch, finding this ridiculousness much more entertaining than their daily chores. Nino waved at them and they waved back, giggling some more.

“We’re gonna lose,” Kim muttered, kicking the lacrosse stick further away from him. Then he heard a voice that made him freeze up.

“That’s right, you certainly are!”

He turned to see that Adam was walking onto the pitch with a lacrosse stick in hand, a team of other equipment-wielding servants following him, brandishing their sticks like weapons.

Oh great… there was no way he could let Adam see their practice session. He would know they sucked.

“Why did you pick lacrosse in the first place?” Kim asked him.

“Oh, it’s simple,” Adam drawled. “I’m good at lacrosse. You’re not. And I want to win. How amazing would it feel to have beaten the infamous Prince Kim at one of his own challenges?”

Kim clenched his fists, very much wanting to grab the lacrosse stick out of Adam’s hand and hit him with it. “Well you’re not going to win, so there. My lacrosse team is amazing.”

“Ah yes. One over-competitive prince, a nerd for a goalie, some princess with fluffy hair that’s going to get in the way, a prince who’s too overenthusiastic for his own good, and a pharaoh who’s violent enough to turn the match into a brawl. Oh yes, and that snake. Wonderful choice of teammates, Emperor Palpatine.”

How could this servant be so open in dismissing royalty? Most servants didn’t even dare, usually just cowering away behind graces and manners. And even the ones who did speak their mind were at least respectful about it. Adam was something else entirely. Kim was surprised to find himself fighting off a smile.

He picked his lacrosse stick up off the floor and dusted it off. “Don’t underestimate my teammates. They’re amazing.”

“At ruling countries, maybe. Or maybe not. The pharaoh’s brother is running around in a rage because his little sister – quite literally little, judging by her height – is going to be late for today’s peace conference, which she seems to have forgotten about. So perhaps not as good at ruling countries as they seem.”

“That was TODAY?!” he heard Alix call from the other side of the pitch. “No no no no no I can’t be late! I’ll be in so much trouble – oh come on Max, let’s get going – sorry Kim, we’ll be back later–”

“What? I’m not going!” Max’s voice sounded muffled through his protective goalie gear.

“Why not? Aren’t you the crown prince of this kingdom?”

“Well yes, but I’m not a reigning monarch yet. I don’t have to be there and for now I would prefer not to be. Lacrosse sounds more fun, no offence.”

“What?! You like this kind of monarchy stuff though! I’m not going on my own, it’s gonna be so boring!”

“I can’t go,” Alya said, shrugging. “My country isn’t in the International Alliance.”

“I can’t either, not a reigning monarch,” Nino said. “Sorry dude.”

Alix turned to Kim. “Yo. I know you’re not a reigning monarch, you’re not even in the International Alliance, whatever. But you’re technically a refugee, right? You need all the support and alliances you can get. So if you come to this peace conference and tell everyone what’s happening, they might be more inclined to help your kingdom if war does break out…”

She hadn’t even needed to persuade him, really. He just wanted to get away from Adam for at least a little while. Even death would be preferable to letting that guy see his atrocious lacrosse skills. And plus, beneath it all, he really was worried about his kingdom. War with Agreste was seeming more and more inevitable, and as the future monarch, he felt like he ought to start pulling his weight and actually doing something about it. Not just challenging people to silly sports matches or moping over some guy he had a crush on.

“Sure, I’ll go with you,” he said.

“Yay! Thanks! Now come on, let’s hurry before we’re late and I get told off by the king of Ceylon or something…”

As they ran off Kim could hear Adam calling after him, “Very wise of you, Emperor Palpatine of Narnia! Run while you can!”

Ugh. That guy, honestly.

They made it to the base of the Peace Tower with just enough time to spare, luckily. Unluckily, the peace conference was being held in the hall right at the top of it, with a large spiral staircase being the most efficient way of getting up there.

“Stairs are fine when there’s not this many,” Alix sighed, looking up at them.

“Why don’t we take the lift?” Kim asked, pointing at the lift doors in the central column.

“That rickety old thing? It’s awful. The last time I was in there it stopped working halfway through, and me and Max were stuck in there for two hours. I ended up breaking my wrist because I was doing handstands out of boredom.”

“But I’ve never been in a lift before, we don’t have those in my kingdom! Please?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Being stuck in a lift with nothing to do is even worse than being stuck in a peace conference.”

They entered the lift. Kim had only read about these, or seen them from a distance, never having actually been inside one before. It was like being in a little metal box. There was a mirror on one of the walls too, and he couldn’t help taking a quick look at his reflection. Yep – he looked perfect, as always.

Alix pressed one of the little buttons on the side panel and the doors closed. The lift suddenly felt a lot smaller – he could now see why being stuck inside one of these probably wasn’t much fun. There was a jolt and a creaking noise, and then the unnerving feeling of going upwards, without anything visible suggesting movement.

“This is so weird but cool,” Kim said. “Sorta like that feeling when aeroplanes take off, except like… less cool.”

Within a few more seconds the lift stopped and the doors opened. It seemed that this time it didn’t get stuck halfway after all, thank goodness. And they had made it to the peace conference in time.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” said the servant standing at the ornate doors to the hall, bowing as they exited the lift. “And… friend?”

“This is Prince Kim, a guest to this country,” Alix explained. “He’s unable to go home because of the trouble the Agreste Empire is causing, so I said he could come along to this meeting to bring his own experiences to the discussion.”

“Excellent idea, Your Majesty. Please enter.”

The servant opened the doors to reveal a large square table inside that many famous figures of royalty were seated around. There were also plates of food to eat from various different countries, and many of the members of royalty had large files of paper in front of them, clearly very prepared for this meeting. Kim couldn’t help noticing that most of them were adults and looked like they actually knew what they were doing. He was starting to have second thoughts about coming here. This was way out of his depth.

They sat down at two of the free seats and scrawled their names and country onto the name cards that had been provided for them. Looking around, Kim could see monarchs from countries he had never even heard of before. And he thought he had been improving at his geography studies! Clearly he wasn’t doing well enough.

He’d have to get Max to help him with that…

Platonically, of course. Tutoring was something else entirely. Max had tutored Kim plenty before, and it worked well. And it would continue to work well. Kim would make sure of it. Of course, yes, Max was really cute, and listening to him drone on about nerdy things was just so dreamy, but it wasn’t like Kim was going to let that get in the way of him studying or anything…

Ugh, this wasn’t the time to be daydreaming about Max. That could wait for later. For now, the peace conference was starting. The head of the International Alliance had stood up and was beginning her welcome speech. Right. Time to pay attention.

Over in Bourgeois, Imperial Princess Chloé was sitting in on a meeting herself. Rather than paying attention, she had mostly been doodling on the piece of paper in front of her. All her father ever talked about was money! Money, money, money. But he was so bad at keeping it. Very good at spending it, and even better at squeezing every last drop of it out of the working people. That was for sure.

Oh, this empire was such a mess. And yet her father had already started construction on a new wing for the school! How was he funding that? By raising taxes again? The people were not going to like that. They were discontent, and Chloé knew it. She had seen them glaring at her through the windows when she passed their fields in her gold-plated carriage. She had seen the maids whispering to each other in darkened palace corners, stopping when she came near.

She knew of the consequences of unhappy citizens, too. Sabrina’s kingdom was in a worse state than this empire, and the effects were beginning to show. The army had already been sent to put down local rebellions here and there, farmers with pitchforks setting fires and causing mayhem. Nothing too serious, but still. The common people were unhappy, and raising taxes and continuing an unnecessarily lavish lifestyle would only cause that to escalate.

Chloé had never even cared about these things before. She used to only focus on herself, pride herself on how proper and beautiful she was. But ever since going to that school and starting to see things from a different perspective… well, being back home was stifling. No one here understood. And what was with all these formalities? So unnecessary. Such a waste of time. People outside were starving, and all anyone in here cared about was whether or not you curtseyed properly, or if your wig was tall enough.

No wonder the commoners were growing so discontent…

“…and so the money for the renovations will be provided by the Agreste Empire, so long as you help us with a little important matter of ours.”

“Is the important matter the young Imperial Prince Adrien?”

“We still need to know his whereabouts, and your assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

“We can direct our forces to search for him, if you would like. There’s also the option of posters with a reward, and stricter border controls, and of course keeping a closer eye on the school in case he does return.”

“Yes, that would be ideal. As long as you put your best efforts into the search for the prince, we will fully cover the costs of the new wing at the school.”

“So it’s a deal then! I believe this is another step towards a formal alliance between our empires.”

“If you manage to find Adrien and return him to us, then an alliance is guaranteed.”

“We will find him, I promise you.”

Chloé froze, not moving a muscle. Had she really just heard what she thought she had heard?

Slowly lifting her head, she watched as her father shook hands with the diplomat from Agreste. Now they were both signing a piece of paper. Now exchanging money.

No. This couldn’t be happening. Her father couldn’t be starting a manhunt for Adrien. No way. She had thought that now the guards from Agreste were gone from the school, Adrien would be safe there!

But now, if he came back, even if he tried to enter the empire, that would be it. The Bourgeois guards would hand him over to Agreste, and his freedom would be over. After everything he had gone through, after everything everyone had done for him…!

“Excuse me,” she said loudly, standing up and trying to ignore how stiff her dress was. “I would like to leave.”

“Sit down,” her father said, looking embarrassed. “We are in the middle of a meeting. You are not permitted to leave until it is over.”

“I need to leave, now,” she snapped. “I would like to use the latrine. It’s… that time of month.”

Her father’s eyes widened, and he quickly cleared his throat and said, “Very well then, you may go.”

“Thank you.”

She whipped round and strode towards the door, her outfit feeling so constraining and excessive compared to things she had been wearing at school recently.

She didn’t really need to use the toilet, and certainly wasn’t on her period right now. That had just been an excuse. Instead she made her way towards her room, where she opened her drawer and took out a pen, piece of paper, and some ink. Oh, how useful it would be to have one of those plastic pens from the techy countries right now, the ones that didn’t require a messy inkpot…

About to dip her pen into the ink, she stopped. No… writing a letter would be too risky. Letters could be intercepted. Heck, they probably would be intercepted, if this manhunt for Adrien really was going ahead. She couldn’t put him in danger by being careless when she was only trying to help. She had to find another way to warn him. But how?

Oh, of course – the telephone!

Every kingdom had at least one telephone, that was a widely quoted fact. Chloé just hoped that it was true. Her own empire had one, she knew that, it was in her father’s office. But did Cheng have one? Hopefully it did. That was the only way she could think of to safely get the message to Adrien.

Or at least… it would be safe for Adrien, but not for her. She wasn’t allowed in her father’s office. If she was caught in there, she would be in so much trouble.

But she had to try, didn’t she? A bit of trouble for her was nothing compared with what would befall poor Adrien if he tried to come back to school. And anyway, this really couldn’t wait. Her father was in a meeting right now, this was the perfect time for it. Cheng was far away and she didn’t even know when Adrien and Marinette would be leaving to return to school. There was no time to waste.

Putting her writing equipment away, she dashed down the corridor and towards her father’s room. There were guards outside, of course. How was she supposed to get past them? She had always heard Alix boasting about her escapades getting past guards, or persuading them not to stop her, or whatever else. But what could Chloé do? This empire was a very different place, and things simply didn’t work the same way.

What if she seduced them? Pfff, no, that would never work. What about distracting them? But how to do that?

Or what about a Lila tactic… just bluffing her way in…

“Good day to you,” she said as she walked towards them, nodding at them politely.

“Good day, Your Imperial Highness,” they replied in unison, bowing at her.

She walked right up to the door and simply opened it, smiling sweetly at the guards as she did so. They didn’t even make a move whatsoever. She entered the room and closed the door behind her. The guards still hadn’t done anything. Maybe they just expected her to be allowed inside, or assumed she must have had a valid reason for doing so.

Wow… they needed to be fired.

Right, anyway, she was in here now and needed to get on with the job before anyone found her. Hopefully her father’s meeting would still run for a bit longer. Now, where was that telephone? Ah yes, there on the corner of the desk. But wait… what was Cheng’s phone number?

Chloé quickly rifled through the drawers, having a look, feeling like such a spy. A part of her was almost excited about breaking the rules so badly like this. She couldn’t wait to tell Lila!

Papers, files, medals, stationery…

A phonebook!

Or at least, it said “phonebook” on the front of it, and it was a little book, so it was probably what she was looking for. Chloé carefully pulled it out of the drawer and put it onto the desk. Flipping through it, she saw phone numbers for various countries, ones that she had never been to and only seen on maps, ones that she knew didn’t even have monarchies, ones that she was forbidden from talking about. Vespuchia, Australis, Aotearoa… what must it be like to live in a country where there was no monarch in charge?

Oh, there it was – Cheng. Chloé picked up the phone receiver, dialled the number in, then pressed the call button and waited.

Please let this work, oh please, Adrien deserves better than being locked up by his own family–

“Greetings, Your Imperial Majesty, you have reached the kingdom of Cheng. What can we do for you today?”

Thank goodness! Chloé gripped the receiver tightly and said, “This is Imperial Princess Chloé of Bourgeois, and I would like to speak to Princess Marinette and the guest that she brought from school.”

“I’m sorry, Your Imperial Highness, they are asleep right now. It is late night here.”

No! How could she have forgotten that Cheng was in a different time zone, far to the east? Of course they’d be asleep now! But this really couldn’t wait.

“Is it possible to wake them up? Tell them it is extremely urgent. They’ll understand. If it causes any trouble, I will take the responsibility for that.”

“Very well. Please hold while we see what we can do.”

Phew, hopefully they wouldn’t be too grumpy at being woken up for a phone call. Well, Adrien probably wouldn’t. But as for Marinette? Chloé got the feeling Marinette still didn’t like her very much. That was fair enough – a lot of people did not like Chloé. The important thing was that she was trying to change that.

“Chloé, ‘s that you? It’s so late…”

Marinette’s voice! She’d never felt so happy to hear it.

“Yes, Marinette, it’s me! Is Adrien there with you?”

“Yep, I’m here,” came the sound of Adrien’s voice. “I’m called Felix, by the way.”

Right. Felix. A codename. She should probably use that, just to be on the safe side.

“I have very important, disturbing news,” she said. “My father is building a new wing of the school but didn’t have the funds for it, so he’s made a deal with Agreste. They provide the money, and in return, he’s starting a manhunt to find you. They know you’ll probably come back to school, so they’re upping the guards, upping the border patrols, the police, the military – everything! You can’t come back!”

There was a pause for a few seconds before Adrien spoke.

“You mean… I have to stay here?”

“Yes, for your safety. I don’t have any proof or anything, I’m sorry, it’s too dangerous – I’m not even supposed to be in here, on the phone, telling you this, anything like that. But I don’t want you to be found! And trust me, I know my father. He’ll put all his efforts into this. He’s always trying to get on Agreste’s good side, and they said that if he manages to hunt you down, they’ll officially ally with Bourgeois. That’s a dream come true for my father, and a nightmare for you.”

Adrien sighed. “Well… I guess if it’s for the best, then…”

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, “I’ll stay here with you.”

“Is that really a good idea?” Chloé asked, knowing Marinette would hate her for it. “That will be so suspicious. They’ll know you’re hiding him then. And like I said, my father would do anything to get an official alliance with Agreste. The Bourgeois Empire is currently running on fumes alone and on the verge of economic collapse, especially with colonies seceding from us everywhere, and he needs the support. He would absolutely send his lackeys to Cheng to drag you away. And then the only choice for you would be to escape into exile.”

“But I can’t just leave Adrien all alone!”

“He’ll have your family, won’t he? And he’ll be safe! That’s the most important thing!”

“But how long will he have to stay hidden in Cheng?”

“I have no idea, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, honestly I am. But this is all I can do to help. I’m sorry I can’t offer much more than a warning or advice.”

When Adrien spoke again, it sounded like his voice was cracking. “Thank you, Chlo. Thank you so much for warning me.”

She just wanted to hug him through the phone, she really did. Her best friend. Her first friend. “You mean so much to me, I will always do my utmost to protect you! I promise.”

“You’re the best. I’ll stay here, then, until it’s safer for me.”

“I suppose I’ll have to go back to school without you then,” Marinette said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears too. “As long as you’re safe, that’s what matters.”

“I’ll stay safe. I’ve managed it this far, right?”

“Yes… you have…”

“Anyway, I really ought to go,” Chloé said. “I’m not supposed to be here and I don’t know how much time I have. Take care, both of you.”

“You too, Chloé!”

“Goodbye.”

She hung up and put the receiver back down, wiping it with her sleeve to get rid of the greasy powder smudges from her makeup. (Ugh, why did she have to cover her whole body in the stuff here? At school she only ever bothered making up her face!) Then she hastily put the phonebook back in the drawer.

Okay, she had managed that phone call without being caught. Now whatever happened, even if she did get into trouble, at least Adrien would be safe. She had done her duty.

Heading for the door, she was just about to go through when someone opened it from the other side. There was no time for her to hide. She just stood there in complete dread as she watched her father walk into the room.

He looked down at her for a few seconds, his expression slowly changing to one she wished she didn’t have to see. When she had been a little girl, her father never got angry at her. He’d give her all the gifts she ever wanted, always making sure she was happy, spoiling her rotten. But these past few years he really had been starting to take his parenting job more seriously. And especially since she had been at school.

For a few awful moments he simply glared at her coldly. Then he said, rather slowly, “What do you think you’re doing in my office?”

Her throat felt dry. She hadn’t really thought of an excuse. Why couldn’t she be as good at Lila was at coming up with lies on the spot?

Wait… Lila!

“I was using the telephone,” Chloé said, standing up tall and trying not to let her voice tremble.

“And why would you be doing that?”

“I was phoning up Lila. My… friend.”

Best to leave it at that for now, no need to get into more trouble than was necessary.

“Why were you phoning up Marchesa Lila, may I ask?”

“Because she is my close friend and I miss her, so I wanted to speak to her. Since telephones exist, I decided to make use of this convenient piece of modern technology.”

Emperor André sighed, looking more disappointed than anything else. “Lila is not proper royalty, so really, you have no reason to be associating with her enough to call her a close friend, and you especially should not need to be telephoning her.”

A surge of anger ran through her. “Does it matter if she’s not ‘proper’ royalty? She’s a human being, just like any other, and so deserving of basic respect!”

“But her blood status–”

“O+, maybe, AB, who knows, it doesn’t matter! It’s just blood! It doesn’t mean a thing, father, and you would do well to learn that.”

“Now young lady,” he said, more sternly all of a sudden, “don’t talk to me in that tone of voice. You are not to call Lila again, do you hear me?”

“Fine!”

“And stop with all this nonsense. I don’t know where you’ve got all these ideas into your head, but you can get rid of them. Lila is a marquise, whether in your class at school or not, and you will treat her as such. Is that clear?”

As much as it hurt her to say it, Chloé nodded and said, “Yes father.”

“Good. And the next time I find you trespassing in my office, you’ll get a much harsher punishment than just a telling-off. I’m only letting you go now because I would rather you not make a scene. Alright? You’d better run along now and get back to whatever duties you ought to be doing.”

Chloé stormed past him without another word. She didn’t want to get into trouble but she knew if she stayed, she would end up arguing, and that would not turn out well. Why were the upper class of her empire so backwards all the time? And how could she ever have been one of them?

Three hours into the peace conference, Kim had long given up paying attention. He really had no clue what was going on. Instead he was fiddling about with the piece of paper in front of him, folding it into a boat, now a plane, now a frog, now Max… His thoughts always went back to Max in the end, didn’t they?

Oh, he had tried to concentrate. Something about some humanitarian crisis in Haprèle which they needed funds to send aid to (and why did that name sound so familiar to him?), a new rail line construction from Persia to Baluchistan being prevented by activities from the Agreste Empire, Iberia wanting to join the International Alliance now that it had successfully seceded from the Bourgeois Empire…

“…and now we feel it would be a good opportunity to hear from Prince Kim, who is here not just as a guest, but as someone who has been prevented from returning home due to the Agreste Empire’s violence. Lê Chiến may not be officially part of the International Alliance, but we are always ready to hear you speak. So if you would say a few words…?”

Queen Sol of Nubia was gesturing at him. Oh right, did he have to speak now? Maybe he should have been using this time to prepare something rather than just… ugh… daydreaming about Max again… He really was too sappy for his own good.

Everyone was looking at him expectantly. He stood up, acutely realizing he was still wearing rather sporty clothes as opposed to something formal, and cleared his throat.

“Good afternoon everyone,” he began. “I am Prince Kim from the kingdom of Lê Chiến. Unfortunately I cannot return home, as the Agreste Empire has been trying to take more land from my kingdom and their troops have been making the borders unsafe, even for trade. There were plans for a peace offering, but Agreste’s idea of a peace gift was to give us back land that they had totally stripped, leaving it worthless and barren. There are also suspicions that my grandfather’s recent death may not have been an accident, though we don’t know who was behind it.”

Okay, that speech hadn’t been too bad. He hadn’t really ended it so much as just stopped talking, so everyone stared at him in a few seconds of confused silence before Sol stood up again to speak.

“Thank you for your words, Your Highness. Your input is very valuable, and I am sorry that you are unable to return to your home. That must be very difficult for you.”

He nodded, not really sure whether or not to say something.

“Just know that the Agreste Empire is not allied with us in any way at all, and we thoroughly despise of many of their violent actions, so you will always be welcome in any of our countries here. I also offer my consolations for your grandfather’s death, that cannot have been easy for you. As you will be ascending the throne soon yourself at this young age, if you ever would like any assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask the International Alliance. Perhaps you will be part of it too one day.”

Kim was surprised to find himself tearing up a little. Why was Queen Sol so nice? So… motherly? He just wanted her to hug him and tell him everything would be okay. He would believe it if she was the one saying it.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, then sat down again. The other royals were all looking at him with expressions of soft concern, like they too wanted to help him in some way. It was just too much – they were so nice! Why? How?

Queen Sol continued talking, sounding like she was finishing off the conference now. There were going to be more in the next few weeks as everything could not be discussed in just one meeting. Wow, ruling a country did seem like a lot of work, didn’t it?

“Good job, Emperor Palpatine,” Alix whispered next to him.

“I’m throwing you off the top of this tower,” he whispered back, trying not to laugh. That nickname was never going to leave, was it?

The conference finished shortly afterwards and everyone was let out of the hall. The monarchs all seemed to be giving Kim encouraging smiles as they passed, like they felt sorry for him or something. Well, to be fair, practically all of these countries were very well-off and very tech-advanced. The same couldn’t be said for Lê Chiến.

“Let’s go down in the lift again,” he said to Alix, not admitting out loud that he would rather run down all these stairs as fast as he could but didn’t want to in front of all these royals. “It didn’t break on the way up here, right? It’s probably permanently fixed or something.”

“I wouldn’t use that lift if I were you,” the passing Queen of Hindustan muttered. “A servant told me it gets stuck a lot.”

“See Kim?” Alix said, as the queen passed them and went for the stairs instead. “It’s gonna get stuck.”

“No it won’t!” he said. “And the lift is way cooler than the stairs! Lifts are like, electric and stuff! You literally stand in a box and it takes you down on its own and you can’t even see it from the inside, how cool is that?”

She smiled. “You really love tech, don’t you?”

“Yeah, who doesn’t?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. But fine, we’ll go in the lift. If it gets stuck then I’m blaming you.”

“That’s fine. It won’t get stuck.”

They went into the lift and pressed the button to send it downwards. The door closed, and off the lift went.

“See?” Kim said. “It’s moving just fine. Did you know, Max said that in Atlantica, lifts are called elevators? Isn’t that weird?”

At that exact moment, there was a crunching sound and the lift stopped moving. The doors did not open. Alix pressed the open button a few times, but it did nothing. She gave the doors a kick, too, and they still didn’t budge. She turned to Kim, looking more unimpressed than he had ever seen her.

“You imbecile, you – you – Kimbecile! Didn’t I tell you it was gonna get stuck?!”

Kim scratched the back of his head nervously. “Um… yeah… whoops…”

“We should have taken the stairs. Now I’m gonna ending up breaking another wrist and it’ll be your fault.” She sat down on the floor. The snake looked at Kim and hissed angrily. Did that snake understand French or something? It always seemed to react to whatever Alix was saying.

“I’ve got my phone,” Kim said. “I can just call Max, and then…”

Unexpectedly, she started laughing.

“What?”

“Don’t count on it,” she said.

“Why not?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tried calling Max. For some reason the call wouldn’t go through. He tried sending a message, and that wouldn’t work either. “Why isn’t this working?”

“No signal in here, that’s why. Same thing happened with me and Max last time. We’ve just gotta wait it out until someone checks this stupid lift.”

“So like… we’re stuck in here for a few hours?”

“Yep.”

“But then what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Start brainstorming.”

He tried to think of ideas, but nothing was coming to mind. Play lacrosse? Pffff, not in a lift, where they didn’t even have lacrosse sticks. Read a book? Watch a movie? Not possible. Call Max? Super not possible! What had he done last time he was bored that didn’t require any equipment or anything? Well… there was always…

At the same time as Alix suggested, “We should have a fist fight!” Kim suggested, “We should make out!”

For a few seconds they just stared at each other in disbelief.

“Those are… both very bad ideas, actually,” Alix said finally.

“Then I guess we just sit here bored?”

“Well… a little fist fight maybe? Come on, remember that one time in that one Monopoly game where we both wanted the last dark blue card, and it got a bit… violent…”

“That wasn’t exactly fun though,” Kim said. “Okay, how about a compromise – we have a fist fight, then make out. And that way any hickeys will be mistaken for bruises. Oh wait – what did you call them at the winter party? Hockeys…”

She rolled her eyes. “I know they’re not called that, I just couldn’t remember the word.”

“Hey – if my nickname is Emperor Palpatine, yours should be Hockey! Yeah!”

“Don’t even think about it or I will start that fist fight right now.”

“You really wanna fight me, don’t you, Hockey?”

She grinned and hit him in the arm. “Well, Emperor Palpatine, I very much want to, but I also know that would be a bad idea, and I’ve been trying to get my recklessness under control lately, so you should probably do the same.”

“Yeah… I wish Max was here with us. N-not because I like him! I mean, because I don’t act so stupid when he’s around. And maybe then I would be able to think of something sensible to do.”

“True. Us two being stuck indefinitely in a lift without Max is probably the worst thing that could happen.”

“Hmm… another compromise. We can make it less stupid. You punch me, and then I get to kiss you.”

She just sighed. “Only one punch? Just one?”

“Look, why do you even want to fight me so bad? Aren’t I your best friend?”

“Well I could ask you the same – why are you so hell-bent on kissing me? You said you were long over me! You’re head over heels for Max!”

“Hey, I asked you first. You answer first.”

“Fine.” Alix put down her snake and let it wander around the lift on its own accord. “I hate being short. There, I said it! I’m short and I hate it. I’m small and scrawny and people don’t take me seriously. And it’s not that I want people to be scared of me, because I don’t! But no one looks at me and thinks I’m strong. That I’m sporty, or can win arm wrestles, or whatever. So I wanna fight, because it makes me think I can actually do stuff. All short people wanna fight. It’s a thing.”

“So… you want to fight because you’re short.”

“Yes.”

“Okay…”

“Now your turn.”

“Oh, well…”

He hadn’t really thought about it. He was just bored, and it was the first thing that came to mind that was fun. It had been fun at the winter party, anyway.

“I know you won’t agree,” he started off, feeling kind of awkward, “but like… kissing’s pretty fun, okay? Sometimes I just want to, it doesn’t matter who with, it just… I don’t know how to describe it. I’m not the only one, I know that! Marinette says it happens to her too. Maybe it’s a teenagery thing. Well, some teenagers. So yeah. I’m bored and maybe a bit horny and I wanna make out.”

She winced. “That stupid timeline twin is yelling at me a lot right now. I thought she had stopped talking to me after running off with Adrien, but apparently not. She’s telling me not to be reckless.”

“Oh… so does your timeline twin count as our ‘Max’ then? Our impulse control?”

“Heck no, I’m not listening to her! She’s annoying. Maybe right sometimes about some things, but mostly annoying. So I’m just gonna ignore her.”

“So uh, anyway... we still need to decide what to do…”

“Whatever happens, I get to punch you at least twice. And for the record, what happens in the lift stays in the lift. No telling anyone I beat you up. Or kissed you, if that happens, which I am still considering because honestly it’s kinda gross, no offence.”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone,” he said. “And I’m still considering the ‘getting beaten up’ part, because like… it’s kinda painful, so…”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

“How long have we been stuck in here anyway?”

Alix checked the watch on her sceptre. “Like four minutes.”

“Only?! And how long were you stuck in here with Max last time?”

“Two hours.”

Kim put his head in his hands. “Oh man, this is gonna be so long…”

#why this chapter gotta be so looooooong #it's almost 2am and i can't stop laughing at myself #'i too would like to beat up my best friend in a lift' is not actually Relatable for once #royalty au #miraculous ladybug #le chien kim #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alix kubdel #random stuff #the misadventures of prince kim #aish writes

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jacobmellor · 7 years

Text

Chapter 4

What was once seen as a bit of a challenge, an opportunity to show that there may be a different way of thinking or doing had recently been getting me down. I spoke to mum about it and her response was perfect, “most stuff is pointless really”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lib7w9AdDMY

9 months ago I left my bicycle in Da Nang, central Vietnam. That was me leaving my normal. I was stagnant, progressing through places but not really progressing personally.

Stepping out into the unknown was a really amazing step. Me, Jethro and Felipe rode our shitbox motorbikes costing a maximum of $200 across the country together. Each one a Chinese fake, bald tyres, oil leaks, broken lights, broken fuel gauges, dodgy speedos. They were constantly falling over, breaking down, making strange noises, running out of petrol. Locals gesturing they were going to explode any minute, laughing at us as they pulled out of the service station on their real Honda Waves. Well these shitboxes carried us all the way through that amazing country. Through the scorching heat, the torrential rain, over mountains, along bone shaking roads and survived an actual fucking tornado. Every second was priceless.

And upon arriving in Hanoi I quickly stumbled across a group of crazy awesome likeminded people and rented a big mad house together. A family of travellers. We hosted other travellers, ran a free community English class from the living room and taught English in kindergartens for a bit of money. Together we enjoyed everything that wonderful city has to offer.

With the cost of living so cheap and the wage for teaching English so good, we had time to do or not do. Anything, everything and nothing was possible. Sampling tasty food, playing music, painting, busking, yoga, going to festivals, trips to the islands, finding skyscrapers to climb, joining a football team, taking photos, going to circus, we did it all and more. But the centre of our world which we always enjoyed returning home to was our roof terrace. THE ROOF. Coming in from those manic streets you were instantly transported to a tranquil ish bubble surrounded by air cleaning plants and the smell of drying clothes and marijuana. The walls, tables, doors, and hanging clothes were all covered in our art and any space in between was filled with Jerome’s chilled music. Freedom. The little cherry on top of it all was Hien, our incredible Vietnamese housemate full of traditional culture and fire. At first it was a struggle to cope with our western ways but soon she blossomed into this inquisitive lover of life, opening a business teaching Vietnamese to expats, telling her parents she didn’t want to get married, yet, and trying simple things we take for granted like drawing or watching and dancing to live music for the first time. She lived in the room beneath, always keeping us in check. Check Check!

Around Christmas time everybody had made plans for something else, it’s not something to do forever, that Hanoi life, the city as I said is manic. And polluted. I was seeing family in Australia, Stef was hitching and busking back to Italy, Askar was going to Thailand to carry on his amazing journey of travelling without money. Vika and Yura back to Russia to make music, Xsenia and Pavel would carry on busking and travelling around Asia. Nick to Ukraine to meet a girl he’d met in Hanoi, Daniel to Perth to see family, leaving just Jerome and Hien in the house. But before leaving we all spent Christmas Day in Hiens home town, met her family and enjoyed a big dinner together. It was a perfect way to finish.

On the plane to Australia I cried knowing that I would see my family for the first time in 3 years, but also because I was leaving my newly found family and Masha, the woman I’d fallen in love with behind.

My mum and dad, are older, greyer but still the same people at heart, it was surreal to see them after so long. A few weeks spent relaxing, eating and just hanging out with the folks like normal. I’m very lucky. I’m also so thankful that they are happy knowing I’m happy, I couldn’t ask for anything more. It wasn’t so sad leaving them again, just sad to leave those avocado, poached egg, smoked salmon on toast breakies in the cafe.

I hitched from Sydney to Melbourne and back again and then up to Newcastle for a tree planting job. All the time planning on returning to Vietnam and Masha. I asked Daniel to come and help with the job seeing how he was in Oz, he needed money and it would be nice for him to learn how to plant. Just like that, we were planting 15,000+ native grasses by hand, the perfect job for one of the most inspiring families I’ve ever met. I’d been introduced to Paul, Tanya and sons over a year earlier when with Russ. We stayed at their house a couple of nights but never had the chance to fully get to know each other. Paul is working in construction, but has always challenged himself with amazing/insane adventures, living on the edge, sometimes even falling over the edge, but it doesn’t matter, he smashes through everything with his can do attitude and refusal to fail. After his wife died of cancer, he rode his bike to the very northerly point of Australia and kayaked, fucking kayaked to Papa New Guinea. Aaaaaand raised a shit ton of money for charity in the process. Wow, and then there is Tanya. Like us she is definitely a traveller at heart, hitching Europe and Turkey in the, I think 80’s, maybe 90’s. She’s not old old! One of the most open minded easy to talk to people in the world, she fuelled a love for horses by working in stables in different countries. After realising professional riding wasn’t for her and just going with the flow she now sculpts for a living and has life size bronze works on display across Australia. Being creative and doing what she is passionate about! If these guys aren’t an example of following what you love and achieving everything you put your mind to, I don’t know what is.

I’d booked my flight back to Hanoi from New Zealand, because first I wanted to hitch on a boat and do a bit of cycling in real nature before returning to Masha and Hanoi. And I guess this is where that feeling of pointlessness has come from. I couldn’t find a boat and things haven’t worked out with Masha. I’m not really used to things going against me, I’m used to things being hard, I can deal with that, but all of a sudden my dream of sustainable travel seemed up in a big fossil fuel guzzling cloud of aeroplane smoke as I bailed and flew to NZ. The fact the relationship ended multiplied this feeling ten fold, I felt lost. Instead of doing what I’d done previously, enjoying the journey for what it was, riding the waves, embracing the challenge, learning from the mistakes, going with the flow, smiling at the punctures or the breakdowns, or the bad weather, shitty road, lack of food. I got down.

I was riding but not riding, my head was stuck up in that cloud. But New Zealand is so bllllllloody beautiful that it’s actually difficult not to live in the moment when your surrounded by so much breathtaking scenery. And then I met cyclists Ryan and Dee, an awesome friendly couple from England, with the positive vibe returning I’m starting to find apples everywhere, and people are giving away the best tastiest pinkest peaches you can imagine. I stayed a few nights with a girl who loved to bake. Scones, banana bread, apple + blackberry pie, a loaf of bread and then leaving and discovering a home made quiche she’d woken up early to bake and put with my lunch. Last night I stayed with a family of 6, the dad Chris had cycled from the top of the north island to the bottom of the South Island. 3000km along rough trails in 22 days. Their 3 teenage daughters outwitting me in every conversation and then waking up this morning to watch their 11 year old average sized son devour 8 weetabix, his response, “I do a lot”. Needless to say, I feel good, I feel high on life. I already thought I should write a post whilst I was riding into town this morning. And then waiting for me was a message from a profile I’d made on a boating website months ago, I have just received an email asking if I want to crew a marine biology sailing yacht to Fiji and back.

I’m not saying that being positive or living in the moment had anything to do with the boat, it didn’t. The thing on the boat may never even materialise. I’m just saying that everything is always alright in the end, so no point getting down and worrying about it. You are doing what feels right, that’s all that matters.

So yes most stuff is pointless, my pointless thing is to challenge misconceptions and push boundaries, what’s yours?

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