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statticscribbles · 3 years

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Abandoned 10

Summary: Jasper Hale/Reader

This is the tenth piece in my Abandoned Series; the continuation of this imagine can be provided by: two or more requests for it in the ask box

Jasper is much quieter than Edward about his relationship, he carefully explains to you how his family reacted last time a human had been brought around, mumbling the family drama in between kisses.

“Wait so basically you guys caught the attention of the vampire mafia and they just left you alone?” Jasper laughs a little. “Somewhat, they’ll probably try again, it’s kind of why I’m trying to keep you hidden, the more safety the better.” “And the massive pack of werewolves isn’t enough?” “It helps, but I prefer more low-key anyways.” You nod curling into his chest. “I prefer it too, wouldn’t want everyone giving me stares for taking Jasper Hale away from their daydreams.” He laughs again and shakes his head. “Edward’s heard their daydreams, being in a relationship doesn’t stop them. You should hear some of the things he hears about Bella.” You smile. He turns to the window, watching the sun dip. “Time’s up huh?” He nods kissing you and sliding out the window.

You’re shuffling through the halls trying to avoid everyone as usual. You can see the Cullen’s resting in their usual spot by the wall. You slide past them, refusing to look as you can feel their eyes on you. It lasts less than a few seconds before you’re on your way to English. You slip into your seat grimacing as the teacher starts to talk about your next project. Math is less exciting your teacher scolding you for your low score on the last test. You nod, making your way to lunch. You sit at the edge of the cafeteria, you watch the Cullen’s out of the corner of your eye as everyone does. You let your thoughts drift, already you can feel the anxiety bubbling under your chest as you think of your mother visiting this weekend. You know she’ll ask all sorts of questions and snap at you. You rub your hands over your head and sigh, dragging yourself from the cafeteria and start walking home. You can feel Jasper’s eyes lingering on you as you leave. You make it home unlocking your door and wincing as you can hear your mother moving around upstairs.

“Mom! I got off early! Uncle Evan isn’t here. He’s at work and-“ You mother appears on the stairs frowning. “Your room is a mess, and the other rooms are so dusty.” “I don’t go into any other rooms besides mine and the bathroom. Downstairs is much nicer it’s where we spend most of our time.” You mother nods settling herself on the couch and waiting expectantly. “Where’s dad?” “He couldn’t make it, work is taking up all his time as usual.” You nod. Sitting awkwardly in the armchair. “I can call Evan and see if he can come home and-“ “I already called him. He’s on his way.” “Of course. Tea?” You hold out a mug and she nods to the table where you place it, you can hear the door open and sigh gratefully as your uncle walks through. “Hey Vivian.” “Evan.” She nods and he scowls. “You weren’t supposed to be coming up for another week. Why so early?” You watch your mother frown. “I wasn’t sure how I’d find the house if you had time to prepare and clean everything.” She huffs.

“Well as I’m sure your daughter has told you we only spend time downstairs.” He rolls his eyes and your mother nods turning to you. “Don’t you have homework?” You nod using the excuse to rush upstairs and into your room. You scowl, your books and everything on your shelves having been moved. You turn when you see Jasper standing against your closet. “Your mom seems, detail orientated.” You turn frowning shifting your books from alphabetical order back to how they were organized. Jasper freezes, sliding out of the window winking as you turn your mother barging in. “You uncle assured me you’re fine here. I’m leaving now.” She pulls you into a surprisingly warm hug and holds you for a moment. “You can come home anytime you need.” “I know mom, I know. I like it here, the weather is perfect.” She laughs as the rain picks up. “Of course you love it here, it’s always raining. The forest looks incredible, don’t wander too far.” She kisses your forehead and turns to the door. “Hey mom, don’t be a stranger, but please plan your visits.”

“Of course, now I have quite a drive ahead of me.” She smiles and you follow her down hugging her at the door. You turn to your uncle as she drives away. “Wow thirty minutes, record visit.” He laughs and you nod. “How was it?” He shrugs and you nod again. “She complained how messy the house is, I told her she was welcome to stay, she refused, as usual. And said she hopes you’re keeping your grades up and that no boys are distracting you.” He laughs a little and you squirm under his gaze. “Besides that crush you have, and yes it’s totally a crush. No one’s caught your interest?” You shake your head face pinking. “You should ask him for dinner, or whatever kids do these days, actually don’t do that, be safe. Consent and all that.” You frown at him. “Sorry was that too awkward?” “I haven’t even talked to him outside school. We’re not even friends.” You shrug and he pulls you into a side hug. “Seriously kid, just another half year to go and then you can go wherever you want. I know this is tough, it’s just till you’re 18.” You nod looking nervously back up the stairs. “She mess up your room again?” You nod shrugging a little. “Hey, you going to be alright?”

“Yeah. Just sucks being reminded I have no friends or really anyone besides you here. I don’t mind, but sometimes it hurts a little.” You shrug again and your uncle pulls you into a full hug. “Well how about after school tomorrow we go up to the river spot you like so much, I have the day off anyways.” He smiles crookedly and you return his hug. “I’d love that.” “No go up and fix your room before you have a panic attack.” Jasper’s still gone when you get back up and you finish rearranging your books and shelf, before putting away your laundry and starting your homework. It’s after ten when you give up hope of him reappearing, instead curling under your covers and trying to sleep.

You wake up groggy and shower, shoving yourself into your clothes and out the door. Your uncle drives you to school and as you get out you’re surprised to see the Cullen’s absent. The rain is pelting your already wet hair and you can feel your uncle’s chiding voice digging into your ears about how you’ll get sick. You skid into class curling against the radiator that you’re thankfully sat next to. You’re walking toward your usual table in lunch when Jasper arm swings around you and pulls you to his table. You blink up at him as he stretches sitting in his usual spot gesturing to the chair he pulled over. “Sit.” You obey nervously looking to the rest of his family. “We know you know. Jasper told us everything last night.” You blink at Edward. “So is the vampire mafia going to kill me now?” Emmett laughs smiling. Rosalie rolls her eyes. “I like her. You have good taste.” Emmett smiles at you and you shift in your chair. “Really hoping that’s not a double entendre.” Emmett laughs more. And Edward grimaces. “Jasper, really? Can you please not.” Jasper blinks at him and then smirks. “Feeling it is worse.” Edward scowls and you look confused. “What happened?” Bella smiles her voice lowering.

“Edward can read minds, Jasper can sense and change emotions, Edward more than likely heard Jasper’s thoughts, which Edward has had similar, so Edward trying to call him out on it is silly, especially when feeling things is worse than just thinking them.” She high fives Jasper who smirks again at Edward. “Wait, so you can just make people happy whenever you want?” “Yes. I can also-“ “Why’s Edward so grumpy then.” Rosalie laughs this time. “Esme is going to love her.” “Oh I forgot to tell you, I’m going hiking with my uncle later today! So I’m busy. Sorry.” You frown at the last part and Jasper pulls you closer. “It’s okay, Emmett and I were going to go hiking as well, less hiking more predators.” You frown twining your hands together. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Just a couple of bears.” Emmett shrugs. “No I mean the rangers put out a new limit on hunting, they’re checking everyone that comes in and out of the forests.” You chew your lip. “We’re going past Seattle to get it.” You nod appeased for the moment they wont be in danger. Emmett walks you to your shared biology class. “You do realize we’re like the worlds top predators, and we don’t exactly use guns, this isn’t anymore dangerous than you going to a café for a coffee.” You frown at him. “I just don’t want any of you to get hurt. It wouldn’t sit well with me.” He rolls his eyes.

You’re standing outside waiting for your uncle as he finishes getting his camera ready for the hike. He appears, locking the door and you both start up into the forest. “It’s nice you’re so easy to please you know, most kids want expensive shit and you lose your shit when it rains, it’s great. I’ve never saved this much money on Christmas and birthdays before.” He laughs and you nod jogging ahead excitedly. He overtakes you easily and you can hear his startled gasp. There are two wolves across the river. One a sandy blond, and the other a light gray almost silver, you uncle looks overjoyed, and you can see his camera moving. You’re nervous, they look huge, too big to be wolves and you hope Jasper hasn’t run into them; they look like they could do serious damage. You uncle steps forward and the wolves take no notice, you creep forward with him but hover back as he leans over the edge of the river on his stomach to try to get a better angle. He pulls himself back up and you can see the wolves have noticed growling and snarling as he nervously backs up, slipping and twisting his ankle as he stumbles from the river’s edge. The sudden movement he makes startles you, the muddy edge also claiming you as victim as you slip backwards gashing your head on a rock. You hiss, feeling slightly dizzy as you stumble towards your uncle.

“Shit.” He hisses and you nervously hover, half trying to drag him towards the trail. It takes you an extra two hours but you both manage to make it back to the house where you uncle hobbles to his car and insists you’re both going to the hospital.

“I’m fine! It was just a little rock is all. Nothing. Nothing bad.” You clutch your head wincing as the lights seem to distort for a moment. You can see the nurse who’s bandaging up your uncles ankle frown and call someone over. “Hello there. While I’d prefer we meet under better circumstances, let’s have a look.” You hiss and try to jerk away as the man shines a light into your eyes, you thrust your hands out trying to shove him away. “Warn me next time, it hurts.” “The light hurts?” He sounds worried. “I have a migraine from the rock.” You think he nods, but he carefully picks you up and places you on a hospital bed. “Just to check. I don’t think anything is wrong it’s a safety measure.” You can hear him talking to your uncle and then you start to fall asleep. The man shakes you awake scowling.

“Don’t sleep.” You nod blinking more as the bright light is suddenly gone from your vision. You recongnise you’re getting a MRI and the darkness seems to help clear your head. You don’t feel tired anymore or dizzy and as you wait for the nurse to come pull you out you hope you uncle is okay. “All done sweetheart, now lets get you seated here and-“ You cringe when the light’s flicker on. “Don’t worry we’ll move you to a dark room. We just have to get there first.” You nod keeping your eyes shut as you feel the hospital bed enter a darkened area. “There.” You open your eyes smiling at your uncle who’s leg is propped up. “Broke it.” You wince. The doctor comes in. “I’m going to shine this in your eyes now, try not to slap me again.” Your uncle laughs and you bite your lip. “Sorry about her Dr. Cullen.” “Just Carlisle is fine. Well seems everything is fine, you don’t have a serious concussion, and no sign of any other damage besides that cut, which we stitched up and your wrist.”

“Wait I have stitches?” Carlisle nods. “You kept your eyes closed so I just went ahead and saved you the trouble.” He smiles holding out a needle and thread that’s packed in a little sterile pocket. “What about my wrist?” You turn noting the cast for the first time. “Shit.” You blink at him and he smiles. “Just temporary, it’s not broken, but I figured it might be better than a sprain brace, they tend to make it worse before they get better.” “Thanks.” You nod. “Can we go home now?” Carlisle nods and you stand up swaying slightly as you uncle moves forward on his crutches. “My son offered to drive you home.” You uncle nods in thanks and you make your way to the car staring at Emmett in the drivers seat. He smirks. “Your chauffer has arrived.” He swings himself out opening the doors and helping your uncle in. You slid in while he’s fussing with the crutches and Emmett smiles starting the car and driving to your house.

“My dad was saying you drove here with a broken ankle. Very dangerous.” He tuts chuckling as you uncle laughs. “It wasn’t broken when I got in the car.” “So the car broke it?” Emmett turns eyeing the cast you have. “Can I sign it?” You nod holding it out as he pulls a marker out from his pocket. He smiles at you and opens the door after he takes your uncles keys. “Do you want me to do anything else? Take out trash? Laundry?” “You’ve done more than enough thank you. We can handle it from here.” “Make sure to elevate it!” He calls out as the closes the door.

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malereader-inserts · 4 years

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Count On Us

Fandom: Twilight Pairing: Cullen family & Son!Brother!Reader Summary: When you’re on your knees, your family is quick to pull you up - because you shouldn’t face this all by yourself Word Count: 1591 Request: Could you make a cullen family x male reader where the reader goes through a tough break up so everyone decides to devise different plans on how to make him feel better

“Did you hear?” The Cullens perked their ears up, always loving drama with these mundane humans, they hadn’t been in school for a week since there was sun out but you, their human brother had been in all week.

They hadn’t seen anything abnormal from you, you didn’t seem like you were struggling about your homework or any of your subjects, nor have the teachers been giving you stick about anything so your siblings thought nothing of it.

“Oh yeah, (Y/n) Cullen?” Another giggled, trying to keep their conversation to themselves, “Heard he got into a messy breakup, they apparently-”

Just as they were about to reveal to the Cullens why your significant other, rather your ex now, had broken up with you. You had interrupted them as you slam the door shut before glaring at the group of girls huddling.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than talk about my love life?” You seethed, Jasper had to hold your shoulders from attacking because you were radiating such anger that Jasper was concerned because he didn’t know you could produce so much feeling.

“Sorry-” They muttered as they walked into the school as you rolled your eyes.

Snatching yourself away from Jasper’s hold and stomping away to your locker. Rosalie was taken aback with your attitude on how you were muttering incoherent words that your siblings cannot pick any words.

“I didn’t see anything,” Alice shrugged her shoulders as they looked over to Edward, who also looked confused before shrugging his shoulders as well.

“I can’t read anything from him.” Bella came up to them, smiling at Edward, but wasn’t expecting a question from him, “Bella, what happened to (Y/N)?”

“Oh?” Bella started, tensing up awkwardly, “He got broken up, public too, Monday’s lunch at the cafeteria. They went hysterical, they were shouting before announcing they were cheating on him.”

“That little bitch-!” Rosalie seethed, to think she had liked your ex a lot too.

“Not to mention, when he got explosive - which I don’t blame him, she threw her smoothie which she had made just for that lunch,” Bella explained, scratching the back of her neck, “I would have thought he would told you but I guess he’s taking it harder than he gives out. Then again, Mike did hear him cry a bit in the boys’ toilet.”

“Well, he’s good at hiding his thoughts and feelings,” Emmett commented as Jasper and Edward was visibly uncomfortable as they weren’t able to detect you.

They waited till lunch to come around, despite being in some of their lessons, you made no effort to talk to your siblings. Jasper could feel sadness and anger radiate from you, but it was the sadness that threw him off. He would expected you to feel anger, betrayal and perhaps even annoyance but sadness was something he did not expect. Edward was unsettled that your mind was just blank, you weren’t thinking at all, not even in your maths lesson shared with him.

As lunch came around, you hadn’t appeared. Bella was with the Cullens as Erik ran up to their table.

“Hey did you hear?” Eric asked, momentarily forgetting the Cullens were there as he talked to Bella, “Apparently, (Y/n) is getting done for slashing his ex’s car’s tires.”

“But, he’s a sweetheart, he wouldn’t ever do that, not even if he’s pissed off,” Bella says, confused.

“Yeah, I know! His ex is gone psycho against him and he’s done nothing wrong - I heard he walked back home. He packed his bag half way through third period and left, missing forth and obviously lunch.”

And so, the group of siblings decided enough was enough, they couldn’t let you suffer alone.

When the group of vampires arrive home, the house was still. Cold and very much not lived in. Nothing of the sort had seemed to be moved, as if you hadn’t returned home. The only indication of you being home that put them at ease was your shoes in the garage and your poorly put away jacket lying about before entering the house.

Rosalie went to find you, after all, she knows what it’s like to be cheated and frankly despite her horrid attitude towards Bella, she has a high emotional intelligence without powers. So, she had found you in your room, and you were under your duvet. She could hear your heart beat, she had let her shoulders relax as she sees you shifted underneath. She sits on the bed and pats you.

“(Y/n)?” She asked softly, whilst she was getting you up, Alice had informed Esme - who had returned home at the same time - of your situation, “Esme is cooking you dinner, wanna peak out for me?”

She knew you hated being treated a child, so it was the quickest way for you to emerge. You pulled the duvet down, eyes very much red and you had a little sniffle but there was a glare within your stare.

“Not a child,” You muttered.

“You alright?” Rosalie asked, placing a comforting hand upon your shoulder, “We heard about your ex and-”

“It’s stupid,” You interrupted, waving her off.

She kept a firm hand on you, “You know you’re not alone, and it’s your first relationship. I don’t expect you, I mean, we don’t expect you to be fine. It’s okay to be upset.”

You sighed, sitting up and looked at her with teary eyes, “I guess,” there was a pause to your words as you tried to not break down and cry, “Why didn’t they want me? Was I not good enough for them?”

“Aw, sweetie...” Rose knew what you felt, the cheating makes you think you were never good enough. She held you tight in her embrace as you let out small sobs.

You’ll never trust again, building trust would be hard for you and it was because of your ex. You didn’t deserve this, the family says, you don’t deserve to feel like you weren’t worthy of love and question what had gone wrong during your relationship. It was unfair and unjust.

“You’re always good enough, don’t let them dictate what you feel and what you are. You are always worthy of love, you had never done anything wrong. You were the good one,” Rosalie firmly spoke, as you look in her eyes, “Okay? You hear me?”

You nodded meekly as Esme calls you down. Rose gives you a kiss upon your temple as you rubbed your tears away before darting down the stairs to the kitchen. Esme makes your favourite food for tea, you smiled weakly as she ruffles your hair. Kisses your head, and gives you a tight hug. She doesn’t need to mention the elephant in the room, you were thankful.

Your mother talks, how brilliant her son is. How you’ve done so well in classes and your extra curriculum. She does anything to talk about you, positively, stop you from thinking you’re anything but that. As you finished your food, she sweeps away your plate and shoves you dessert, giving you eyes saying just this once.

As you eat your dessert happily, Emmett pulls you outside to play some baseball. Your brothers, Jasper and Edward laugh as you protest. But, the three of them only do it just to keep your mind busy, away from your heartbreak.

They had heard you cry, utter the words of doubt and refuse to let you feel that again. Jasper tries to teach you how he does the bat trick, but you had failed miserably and hit yourself more than you liked.

Emmett was pitching, and yet, every time you manage to hit the ball. It went either went straight to Emmett’s mitt or to Edward, who reassures you with more practice you’ll get better. The baseball game only stopped them Emmett accidentally let go off the ball too early, resulting to Alice saving you from getting smacked in the head with a concussion as she catches the ball, inches away from your shocked face.

“I think that’ll be enough, thank you!” Alice calls, throwing the ball to Emmett and pulling you indoors.

You wave away from your brothers, who snicker at Emmett. Alice brings you into your room, calling for an intervention for your wardrobe to be cleaned out. Despite your complains you help her, you throw away the clothes you didn’t want nor fitted in anymore - Alice threw some that wasn’t in your fashion sense either. You spent an hour or so, cleaning and dancing about in your room.

Carlisle came home, Esme welcomed him and told him about your unfortunate breakup. Carlisle’s heart broke but was fixed when Esme had filled in the fact that your siblings were there to pick you up. So, when you were released from Alice’s grasp, you hid in your father’s office.

He laughs as you tuck yourself in the corner, a book in your lap, just wanting a few minutes to breath ad some peace and quiet.

“How are you feeling?” Carlisle asked, ruffling your hair and kissing your head, “Feeling better I presume?”

“Yeah,” You nodded, smiling brightly up at your dad, “I really do.”

“Well, you can always count on us, you don’t have to be alone.” Carlisle reminded you as you nodded, the sincerity written all over your face.

“I know, and I’m thankful for that.”

You love your siblings, and you never have to doubt their love for you. Because when you’re at your weakest, they’re always there to pick you right back up.

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padfootagain · 3 years

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A Very Rose Mistake (IV)

Part 4: How You Became Lambkin

Here we go for a new chapter! This is cute, but also, an important chapter for many reasons! The plot is now starting to unfold!!

No warnings of any kind to apply here, really, it's just rather innocent and cute. I hope you like this new chapter! Tell me what you think about it!

Word Count: 3911

Holmes Chapel, 2007

Shakespeare was a pain.

Maybe it was still relevant if you went to the theatre and saw professionals actually perform the play, but from the point of view of two 13 years old who had to read the plays for school… it was a pain.

Besides the language being old, there was also the fact that tons of the words on the page had just been made up. Or at least, it sounded that way. Because Harry had most certainly never heard any of those being used before and he had better things to do with his time than try and guess the meaning of these words. Playing football was one of them. And there was no way his mother would let him out of the house before he would have finished his homework.

There was only one way he could get to the pitch on time to play tonight with his friends. He had to ask for the help of the brightest mind he knew.

He got up from his bed where he was lying down with his copy of Henry V covering his face. He let the book fall on his bed while he reached for the piece of red glass that rested on the side of his window. He aimed at the sun, until the reflection of the light on the glass would dance over your own window. The perks of having his best friend living in the house right next to his: it was easy to reach you.

And indeed, it took you less than a minute to appear before you would appear on the other side of your own window. He couldn't help but grin at the sight.

Harry grabbed a piece of cardboard from behind his desk, that he had already prepared. One of the messages that you often used and both had kept, ready, just in case you would need them.

Help with homework?

He saw you laughing and shaking your head, but you grabbed your own cardboard, large enough to hide you completely behind it.

My place?

He merely nodded with a big goofy grin on his face, before grabbing his bag, his book and heading to the living room.

"Mum!" he called, thumping through the hall.

"Yes, I am not deaf," Anne laughed at her son.

"Can I go over to Y/N's to do my homework with her?"

"To do your homework or play videogames?"

"I have a match tonight."

"Ha… so it's really for homework then! Sure, you can go. Bring some snacks if you want, I bought some cookies, the ones she likes."

"Thanks mum! I'll go directly to the field when I'm done…"

"No, you won't. You're going to come back here to drop off your stuff and to get changed and then you'll go to the field."

He heaved a sigh, but complied without arguing.

"Okay. Bye!"

"Love you!"

But Harry was already slamming the front door shut and sprinting towards your house. Your mother was waiting for him with her door open and an amused smile on her face.

"Hello, Harry! How are you today?"

"Great! Thank you, Mrs. Y/L/N!"

"Y/N's in her bedroom. Do you want to bring up some snacks?"

"I've brought some cookies my mum bought today."

"How nice! Well, go ahead then!"

"Thanks!"

He took off his shoes, placing them in the space that was saved for him in the hall, before sprinting up the stairs to your room.

He closed the door behind him.

"Hey! Thanks, I'm struggling with this bloody play!"

You merely chuckled, resting your back against your wall as you sat on your bed.

"It's alright, I haven't started that one yet."

"Have you done maths already?"

"Yep! Just finished."

"Me too. But that English stuff… ugh…"

He climbed on your bed by your side, dragging behind him his notebook, pencils and his Shakespearean play.

Harry gave you some time to catch up with him on the assignment, although he hadn't done much yet. You then spent some time trying to analyse the text and answer the questions on your assignment about the scene.

Harry was annoyed to say the least.

"What are these words, even…" he groaned.

"Come on… some are cute… 'lambkin', that's cute!"

"Lambkin?! You think calling your girlfriend lambkin is cute?"

"I do. It's sweet!"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Alright, then, I'll call you that from now on. We'll see for how long you find it cute."

You exploded in laughter, the sound enough to erase his grumpy frown.

"That's not fair! I would be the only one with a ridiculous nickname like that!" you protested.

"You are not calling me lambkin. Ever."

"Alright," you shook your head at his silly remark. "After we're done with this, we'll look for a nickname for you."

"I'm going to the field after, I'm playing with the guys."

"That just means I'll choose whatever I want to laugh at you!"

"Wow… scary… lambkin."

You narrowed your eyes at each other, and you considered his banter as a challenge.

"You're gonna regret that, Styles."

"Oh, am I, lambkin?"

But you could only keep up the serious act for a few more seconds, before you both let go and were lost in a fit of laughter.

You did manage to finish your homework on time for Harry to go play football with the guys. You spent the rest of your allowed time before a screen looking for old and ridiculous nicknames to use against Harry on your computer.

You eventually found the perfect one.

His phone beeped after he was back home, about to go to bed. He had changed in his pyjamas and was about to turn off the lights for the night when the sound rang through the room.

"Harry! Go to bed, you have school tomorrow," Anne ordered, as she was passing by in the corridor right at that moment.

"I am going to bed! It's Y/N!"

"If you're not in bed in five minutes…"

"I am going!"

He checked your text all the same.

Y/N: I've found your nickname. You are chuckaboo.

He snorted, answering once he was buried under his blankets.

Harry: What does that even mean?

He put his phone on silence to avoid his mother hearing your response.

Y/N: It's a term of endearment to call a friend. Fits just right. Plus, I think it suits you, chuckaboo.

Harry: You'd better not call me like that at school.

Y/N: Oh, I will :)

He laughed, despite feigning anger in his next response. You merely replied with another smiley face, and wished him good night.

He went to sleep with an amused smile on his face.

It was just a joke, it would last for a few days before you would both grow tired of it. Stupid nicknames that would make you laugh for a while. Or so he thought, at least.

Lambkin and Chuckaboo.

What a ridiculous pair…

Loch Lomond, 2020

Harry kept on holding your hand as you settled around the large table that had been set for your family. The atmosphere was more relaxed as you waited for Amy and her family to join all of you over dinner. Your mom and you sat between your father and Harry, a protection of some sort against the nasty glances that your dad kept on throwing at your fake boyfriend. Dinner was merry, and Amy's family provided a nice distraction for your own family members to focus on. Harry spent most of the evening lost in a deep conversation with Amy's grandfather about 'the music back then', and he seemed to blend in just fine, not that you had ever had any doubt that he would.

One chair though had been left empty. In the large hall decorated with flickering lights, the view upon the loch growing darker and darker as the hours passed, until there was nothing left to see but the stary sky, there was one empty spot. It was for one of Amy's cousins, who had to work late at the hospital in Glasgow, where he worked as a nurse, apparently. Patrick, was his name, and he was set to sit right opposite you. It's only when you were waiting for dessert that he appeared.

And you struggled quite a bit to hide your reaction.

Because Patrick was handsome. Patrick was very handsome. Patrick was also 1000% your type.

And Patrick was set right across from you around the long, rectangular table.

He gave a kiss to his family, was introduced properly by an Amy that was on her way to getting from tipsy to drunk, and he seemed a little embarrassed by her antiques as she praised him for his work in medicine and called all who were single around the table to 'give him a ring'. And you found it cute.

You decided it was your duty, as you were the person sitting across from him, to make some small talk. Anyway, your parents were entertaining a conversation of their own that you weren't particularly interested in, and Harry and Amy's grandfather were lost in a vivid argument about Carole King's best song on Tapestry.

"I'm Y/N!" you introduced yourself with a welcoming smile. "Cassie's cousin."

"Oh, so we're the cousins then! Nice to meet you!" he greeted you with a warm smile as well.

And he had a nice smile. Very nice smile, indeed…

"So… you're a nurse then!"

He ran a hand in his hair, embarrassed.

"Yeah, I am. Sorry about her rant, I think she's had too much to drink."

"It's her wedding, I reckon she has the right to have a little fun."

"I guess. And what do you do for a living?"

You were interrupted by the dessert arriving, and you waited for the waiters to have left to answer.

"I'm studying for a PhD in history."

"Oh, wow."

He seemed genuinely impressed, which was always nice to hear. You waited for the next question to strike what do you do with a PhD in history, but it didn't come. Instead he asked another question, seeming genuinely interested.

"What is your thesis about?"

"The influence and impact of the XIXth century international exchanges and relations on modern politics."

"Wow."

"It's a mouthful," you joked, nodding your head.

"No, no! It sounds very interesting! Where do you study."

"California. But before that I got my degree in Oxford."

"Dear God… I'm sitting in front of the next Nobel Prize."

You laughed, shying away.

"No, absolutely not. Besides, I don't even think there is one to congratulate historians."

"A shame. I would have bet on you."

You did notice the way he shot you a shy smile. And you did notice the way he didn't look away, and didn't look for another conversation to settle into. He was focused on you while you ate your dessert, and you did the same.

Your conversation went on when the coffees and teas were served. And you had to admit that you liked it that way. He was charming, with a cute Scottish accent, and eyes that glimmered in the yellowish light of the room.

It's only when your cup of coffee was empty that Harry took your hand in his again, planting your feet right back to Earth, and reminding you of what you were here for in the first place.

He gave you a smile, before guiding your hand up to his lips to place a kiss over your knuckles, surprising you with the tender gesture and making your heart rush a little more as he looked at you with the tenderest of gazes.

"Are you tired, babe? Or would you like to take a walk with me? I could use some fresh air."

Your heart stumbled a little at the pet name, and you didn't like it. You didn't like it one bit, so you forced the organ to stop its little dance.

"Sure."

You bid everyone a good night -and did notice the disappointed look Patrick gave you as you abruptly ended your conversation in order to leave with Harry - and some other people retreated to their rooms at the same time as you, while you followed Harry outside.

It was cold outside, a heavy wind sweeping skeleton leaves to gather at your feet. You could hear the shushed rumble of conversations on the other side of the windows and the wind caught in the branches and lifting the water of the loch in clapping waves. Harry offered you his arm, and as you noticed that you could still be seen from the table inside, you took it with a grateful smile.

You walked along the shore in silence for a few minutes, your gaze distracted from the dark path by the shining lights above your head, but you weren't worried about falling, not when you were holding Harry's arm. He would catch you before you could fall.

He finally heaved a sigh.

"Well, that wasn't a complete disaster. It went better later on, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I reckon that once the shock had passed, it was alright," you nodded.

"Except for you father, of course. Judging by the way he was eyeing me all night, he probably will try to cut off my balls before the end of the week."

You laughed at that, the sound clear and joyful, luminous over the dark scenery that surrounded you. But the reflexions of the stars over the water was lovely all the same. They seemed brighter to Harry as your laughter echoed a little longer around both of you.

"He's not so fond of the idea. Don't know why."

Harry shrugged.

"Must think I'm not good enough for you."

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head.

"Anyway… I think we're getting away with it."

"Getting the hang of it, babe?"

"Oh, shut up, chuckaboo."

"Ha, here you are again, back to your normal self. Will you start punching me next?"

"I've never punched you!"

"But you've threatened to do so dozens of times."

"I am very good at boxing."

His smile grew more tender, a little melancholic as well, but you attributed it to the quiet of the place that surrounded you. You were away from the lodge now, enough so for voices to have disappeared. It was only you, Harry, and the whisper of autumn leaves now.

"You're good at everything, Y/N."

There was a moment of silence, while you stared at him. But then, his expression grew a little mischievous, and he faked to be lost in thought.

"Except at cooking, and singing, and playing guitar, and most definitely climbing, and gymnastics, and…"

"Yeah, okay, I get it, you jerk!" you stopped him, punching his arm, although your gesture wasn't violent enough to hurt. Still, Harry dramatically held his arm as if you had thrown him your stronger uppercut.

"See, I knew it! Knew you would end up doing it for real, instead of only threatening me with your punches!"

"Well, you should shut up before I do it again."

"You're so cruel, lambkin," he tried to sound convincing, but the goofy smile upon his lips betrayed his thoughts.

You shook your head at him, wheezing.

You walked in silence for a little longer, before deciding to go back to the lodge. You were still holding Harry's arm, even if no one was around to see the two of you pretend. None of you acknowledge the fact, merely choosing to act as if you weren't. Maybe, a voice in your mind explained it by acting in case someone would bump into the two of you. You knew it wasn't the truth though, but you pretended that it was for the few minutes more that the gesture lasted while you walked on the edge of the water and under the tall trees.

"So… Patrick?" Harry asked after a long silence.

"He's nice!" you answered with a smile. "He's a nice chap!"

"Hmm," Harry nodded. "You did seem to have fun with him tonight. Even thought that maybe you didn't need my services anymore."

"Pfft! Don't be ridiculous! I've just talked with him for 5 minutes."

"Almost an hour, actually."

You narrowed your eyes at him.

"You counted?"

He rolled his eyes at you.

"I just noticed it was a long conversation."

"Hmm…"

"You know, we can still tell the truth to everyone, and you can take your shot with Patrick."

You didn't know how to describe the tone he used to say the man's name, but it wasn't oozing with fondness, that was for certain. You looked at him suspiciously, a smirk creeping its way to your lips.

"Are you… jealous?"

"Jealous? Me?"

"You're the jealous type, don't deny it."

"And don't flatter yourself. We're not really together, remember? Why would I be jealous."

"I don't know, but you sound like you are."

"I'm not jealous."

"Good."

"But do you like him?"

You shrugged.

"I don't know. I think he's attractive. I think he's nice. So…"

"You like him."

"He's alright so far. And he is my type."

Harry raised an eyebrow, before his features molded into a frown instead. His mind couldn't help but compare himself to Patrick, and point out everything that was different between them.

"Am I your type?" he asked after a long silence.

You laughed, taken aback.

"What kind of question is that?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know. Just wondering. I'm playing your boyfriend for a week, but… would I be your type? Had I not met you when we were five and crashed your ice-cream into your face… had you met me tonight instead of Patrick… would you have thought that I was your type?"

You looked away, finally letting go of his arm, and the lack of contact between your two bodies made Harry regret his question.

"I don't know," you lied, before finding back your composure, and shooting him a smile. "But you're my boyfriend for this week. So for the next seven days, you are most definitely my type, honey."

He laughed, shaking his head. You had walked back to the lodge, and he opened the door for you, dramatically bowing before you to let you through first.

"After you, my love."

Harry went first to take a shower, and then it was your turn. Some warm water was just what your tired muscles needed to relax after your busy day. When you walked out of the bathroom, a little bit of fog following you through the door, Harry was lying on the bed, atop the blankets, scrolling on his phone.

He had changed into a comfortable jumper and a pair or pyjama pants that seemed warmed and soft. His curls were still damped, wetting his pillow, but he didn't seem to mind it at all.

He looked up when you stepped out of the bathroom though, and you didn't fail to notice the way his eyes settled on your legs before hurrying to your face while his cheeks blushed.

Your pyjama shorts weren't that short at all, stopping right above your knees. Still, it seemed enough to make Harry's cheekbones and ears turn crimson. You wore an old Treat People With Kindness jumper too, matching his grey hoodie.

"You're alright, Harry?" you asked, rather puzzled by his reaction.

"Sure, why?"

"You're blushing."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"It's nothing. I'm just tired."

You weren't convinced, but chose to drop the subject, your own fatigue weighing on you. So you shrugged instead, finishing to get ready for bed.

You slipped under the covers and heaved a sigh as your head hit the pillow.

"Tired?" he asked, and you could only hum and nod in response.

He hesitated for a second, while you closed your eyes.

"There's an extra blanket. I can sleep on top of the covers, and you under them, if you want."

You opened your eyes again to look at him.

"Would that make you feel more comfortable?"

He considered your question, and shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"I don't really care. But… maybe for tonight, you can do that. Won't you be cold though?"

"It's quite warm in here. And the blanket looks cosy."

"Alright, but don't hesitate to get under the covers if you're too cold. I don't mind if you do."

"Okay," he nodded, before getting up to get the blanket.

He lied down by your side again, getting comfortable, before he would turn off the lamp on his nightstand, and you did the same, letting darkness take over every inch of the room, looking darker than it really was as your eyes got used to the shadows.

"Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight, Y/N."

You turned to your side, trying to get comfortable too, and your foot gently bumped into his through the layers of sheets and blankets as you moved.

"Sorry," you quipped, moving your foot away.

"'S okay," he replied, his voice lower than usual.

You let silence settle for a while, but it felt strange. Awkward. There was something unspoken hovering above the two of you, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I feel weird."

"Weird? You mean sick?" he asked with worry in his tone now.

"No, I mean… it's a little weird sleeping next to you. Why though? We've done that since we were six."

He shrugged, but couldn't deny that he was feeling the same. His heart was beating so fast, he was worried you would hear it in the silent night.

"Maybe it's because we're not children anymore," he whispered.

You hummed in response.

"And we haven't done it in a long time too," you added, and he heard you nodding, your cheek brushing against your pillow.

He took a deep breath before speaking again, his tone hesitant.

"Do you… would you feel better if I took the couch?"

You considered his offer, but shook your head.

"No, I… I don't feel uncomfortable. It's just… strange."

It was his turn to hum.

"Would you feel better on the couch?" you asked him.

"No, it's… it's a nice weird."

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm just… it makes me a little nervous."

"Nervous?"

He made a face, that you couldn't see, but you would have found it adorable if you had.

"I'm afraid I'll wake you up with my snoring. Or speak some nonsense in my sleep. Or you wake up tomorrow morning and see me drooling, with saliva all over my face."

You laughed at him, reaching in the dark to touch his arm. You patted the muscles tenderly.

"Don't worry, chuckaboo. I've seen worse! Seen you throwing up a fair amount of time. Also, I'll just punch you again to wake you up if you start snoring too much."

He laughed, and both of your laughter mingling through the room made most of the tension in the room disappear.

"You're right. Besides, maybe you'll be the one waking me up because of your snoring!" Harry went on.

"I don't snore!" you snorted.

"You do. I've heard you before."

"Well, then, you can wake me up if I do."

You moved your fingers away from his arm, but they lingered on the mattress near him all the same, in the little space between the two of you.

"Sleep well, lambkin," Harry whispered, closing his eyes, and when you answered, you had the same smile on your lips as the one that he wore.

"You too, chuckaboo."

************************************

Taglist : @emcchi @fishstick-knows @eldahae @just-damn-bored @retrouvailessx @marvelstudies2020 @boxofteenageideas@ponycake27 @horsesreign @xinyourdreamsx @jbluevelvet@notkeppeki @daynigt-dreamer-stuff @fudgeflyss @stuckupstucky@snek-shit @suchatinyinfinity@i-padfootblack-things @buckybsarmy @heyohheyitsgabi@jigsawlover10 @emyyjemyy @addictedtofictionalcharacters @staringmoony@madamrogers @cronias13 @stylesfics-xx @mellamolayla @mariaenchanted

#harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles series #series #imagine #writing #event #4700 followers #fanfiction #fanfic

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wexhappyxfew · 4 years

Text

a lil note from shannon ~

hey friends, mutuals, folks, followers, people zooming on, stressed folk, tired peeps, exhausted friends, and literally anyone who comes across this message!

i’m shannon! and if you know me, you know i’m one to give out bouts of positivity because i’ve always lived by the thought that people deserve happiness and joy and positivity in their lives. even if there’s some sadness in there as well - but you can’t have one without the other, that’s just life and it sucks sometimes!

this year will be my senior year of high school! crazy i know, i started writing as a mere 5th grader, where it was silly short stories and blurbs and stuff that i dared not show that world - ie no confidence - i thought i was garbage at it honestly.

and i published my first fic on here when i was in 10th grade! i’ve been told i seem much older than that actually LOL, but yeah Sunshine Soldier was my first ever fanfiction i published and first of a few bob fanfics i would end up creating in the fandom, which i’ve grown to become a proud member of!

and i sort of just wanted to talk about writing, writing in general, things like that. speaking from experience, i am currently on my FOURTH band of brothers book in this fandom, i thought i’d never even get past one if i’m being honest. but i just kept conjuring up ideas and characters and plots and decided why not?

there has been tears - plenty of that, emotions, doubt, stress, anxiety, but there has also been more than enough joy, positivity, love, care, welcoming arms, so many lovely people and bouts of kindness that have overpowered that. and it was never really the writings fault, i’m just someone who lets her emotions take lead on to many different scenarios at this point LOL :)

people generally say that i’m one of the kindest people they know, and i feel one of the main reasons is because i know what it’s like to feel alone at times? like you don’t have people there, or maybe you feel different from others, things like that and the feelings like that suck more than anything and i just always know what that feels like. and in the fandom, i never want to leave people just alone out there - so if you repost a lil heart meme game and its on my dash, you best bet you’ll be getting something from me.

there have been plenty of times where i felt i’ve been too kind, too overbearing, to nice in situations, and to just THERE if that makes sense? but it’s because i also want to make sure a person doesn’t just feel alone in the world, that they know that at least one person cares - and if that person is simply just me, then i hope it helps more than anything.

people tend not to say it, but humans need some sort of support - it doesn’t need to be family, or friends, or a dog or cat, it could simply be that one internet person that you chat with a bit - and it could mean loads more than anything.

i have a good home life, i will admit, so i never compare myself to others, because i don’t know what they’re going through, i just try to let them know i’ll listen and be there and everything we chat about won’t leave the chat room.

and going through things that were purely more mental than anything, helped me gain confidence and find joy in the little things and such and made me who i am today - thank you best friend, you know who you are queen :) and being with people who care!

and writing was one of those things more than anything in this world, and allowed me to finally be apart of something, and feel apart of something and express myself in ways i felt i couldn’t!! writing did that!

i’ve seen writing save lives, change lives, and even help lives in more than one way! ANY WRITING CAN DO THAT - that’s the simple power of it. and it truly saved mine more than anything especially in quarantine.

so this post is rather chaotic, but those of you who know my natural nature know that LOL, but it’s more of a post just to say if you need support i can give it to you, if you need advice i am here, someone to talk to - i got u, someone to talk about fics with or characters or even simple ideas, i’m here, or even someone to rant to, i’ll listen, always! literally anything, i’m always here, because i know what it’s like the other way around and i don’t want anyone to ever feel alone - it’s a horrible feeling.

wexhappyxfew was built upon basic principles of i hope when you enter this lil world, i can put a smile on your face with anything and make you simply HAPPY, it’s why i am wexhappyxfew LOL!!! and i hope to continue spreading happiness, love and support and advice to anyone who needs it.

writing advice to happiness advice to even a really corny joke i got u covered LOL but yeah this a chaotic post, but i just wanted to put it out there that if you’re struggling, i’m always here - and if i don’t respond i’m at a farmers market sweating like a dog, but i’ll be back in no time to answer always LOL or i’m crying over an essay or math homework i don’t understand - what else i new.

but this is for all of you out there, feeling alone, that you need advice, you have a story idea that you are too scared to tell - i’m here and i will support you forever.

i was once that little girl in the 10th grade with a fic idea that got 3 likes the first time she posted it (ie sunshine soldier LOL) and now i am on my fourth book with a smile on my face. writing changes lives and it changed mine.

so take the breaks you need, talk to who you need - you are the author of your life, remember that. make it one you want to live!!

if anyone ever feels the need to talk i’m here, day in and day out. if you have a story idea or a character, let’s chat!! it’s scary at first but i promise you so fulfilling and fun in the end. gotta rant? you tell me your rant story and i’ll rant to you about how much of a dumbass i can be! feeling anxious or nervous and need good vibes i have over 1.2k band of brothers gifs saved, i could send you ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! need help with legitimately anything i am a senior in high school, i could help you with basic math LOL just kidding :) but truly anything, i’m always here, remember that!!

#shannon is here and so is wexhappyxfew we're the same LOL :)#always here for you #just a lil post about happiness #personal post

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monabela · 4 years

Text

I'm back! well I guess on this blog it's not odd that I don't post for a while but still. I'm back! and since it's @aphrarepairweek2020 and I made best friends with a little girl on my mail round when she followed me through two streets and helped me put mail in mailboxes, this is the perfect time to indulge this ship that I'm not sure is actually a thing or I made up myself, and some kidfic (sort of)! this is for day 2, thunderstorm :0

~~~

(rain’s a part of) how life goes

pairings/characters: Poland (Feliks)/Sweden (Berwald), Sealand (Peter), Ladonia (Lars)

word count: 2419

summary:

Even if Feliks is still unsure of how he fits into the lives of Berwald’s sons, there is only one thing he can do when one of them is afraid of a thunderstorm.

~~~

Feliks is just about to put in his earbuds to listen to a podcast, when he hears a small, unfamiliar sound over the rain clattering against the windows, crashing into the sea somewhere near. He puts his phone down next to his crossed legs. Listens.

He can still hear the shower, barely, so it can’t be Berwald already. Maybe he dropped something, in there. His depth perception is awful without his glasses; Feliks wouldn’t be surprised. Hopefully, he’s almost done cleaning by now, anyway. Taking a shower during a thunderstorm isn’t the best idea, and Feliks feels a little guilty, since he was the one who dropped his drink on Berwald.

Thankfully, they’ve been dating long enough now that he doesn’t feel the terrible embarrassment he’s sure would have overwhelmed him in the beginning.

It seems to be silent now, or relatively so, given the downpour outside.

A clap of thunder, and another noise just out in the hall. Feliks half-turns to look over the back of the couch as the living room door opens, and a small, pale face peers through the gap, single blue eye wide. Ah, of course.

“Dad?” comes the usually so loud voice of Berwald’s eldest son, now just above a whisper. Feliks laces his fingers together in his lap, and takes a deep breath.

“Your dad’s taking a shower, Peter,” he says, smiling in what he hopes is a reassuring way when the boy spots him. Both Peter and his younger brother Lars know him well enough by now—he’s spent enough time around their father lately—but Feliks can’t deny that being around the boys still makes him a little nervous, if only because he knows they mean the world to Berwald and he’s terrified of somehow doing wrong by them. Having kids was never something he seriously thought about, because he just didn’t think he would be any good with them. The little Oxenstierna family is doing their best to prove him wrong.

“Oh,” Peter is saying, and he is already closing the door when the thunder rolls again, and he practically sprints into the living room instead, halting next to the couch. He’s clutching the hem of his pajama shirt with his small fingers, knuckles whitening. Feliks shakes his thin hair out of his face, meeting Peter’s eyes.

“Are you…” He tilts his head, assessing how Peter appears to be trying to control his fear. “Did you want to check on your dad, Peter?”

Peter nods vigorously, grateful, and Feliks can’t help but smile.

“Is he afraid of the thunder?”

Nodding again, Peter shuffles a little closer. His pajama shirt has a pirate ship on it, and the pants are printed with tiny rapiers and skulls, but he is no longer wearing the eyepatch and hat he had on this evening, when he insisted the trampoline in the backyard was his pirate ship and tried to get his brother to walk the plank multiple times, in increasingly loud pirate brogue. Lars kept refusing, of course, and Feliks had been tasked with distracting Peter. He could probably do so again, even if there’s no way he’ll go out and try to do tricks on the trampoline again like he’s seventeen and still dreaming of a career in gymnastics. Not in this weather.

More thunder.

Peter winces, hands wringing into his shirt. Feliks’s heart clenches. With how boisterous he is, it’s easy to forget that Peter is still just a six-year-old boy, who wants his father to comfort him during a storm even if he’s too proud to admit it.

“I’m afraid of thunder, too, you know,” Feliks tells him, which isn’t true—thunder is one of the few loud noises he actually doesn’t mind—but that doesn’t matter.

“I’m not!” Peter insists, even as he climbs on to the couch next to Feliks, who grasps his shoulder to steady him. “I’m a pirate, an’ pirates are never afraid!”

“Yeah? You must be worried about your ship, like, with all this rain, right? The waves must be huge.” Feliks holds his breath while Peter sits close to him, pulling his legs up on the couch and wrapping his arms around his knees.

“My ship is undestroyable,” he declares. “It’s called—it’s called Storm Dee-mise!”

That one’s Feliks’s fault; he inadvertently taught Peter the word demise just this afternoon as he tried to think of a name for his trampoline ship, and the boy has used it in all the names he’s come up with since then, of which there have been about twenty. He’s got a very vivid imagination.

“An’ it’s got cannons that’re louder than the thunder, an’ the sails—” He cuts himself off at a particularly loud roll of thunder that seems to shake the house and follows the lightning almost immediately. He scoots closer to Feliks, who tentatively holds out his arm at just the right height for the boy to duck underneath it. After a second, he does so, nestling himself against Feliks’s side.

God, if his twenty-year-old self could see him now, Feliks thinks. Or even his thirty-four-year-old self of two years ago, when he’d first been introduced to Berwald through mutual friends, most of whom had been as surprised as Feliks himself when they started dating. Partly because Berwald had children, and Feliks supposes he’s never been known for his great social skills, whether with children or adults, and partly because everyone still remembered that he had been very intimidated by the tall man when they’d first met. And Feliks says strange things when he’s intimidated.

There’s only so much time you can spend awkwardly standing next to each other not knowing what to say while your friends blather on, though. And once they started, it proved difficult to stop.

“Hey, Pete,” he says, softly, and he thinks it’s the first time he’s called the boy that, the first time it’s felt appropriate.

Peter looks up at him from underneath his arm, blue eyes mirroring his father’s. Feliks has no idea where those dark eyebrows he’s currently drawn into a frown have come from, though.

“Are you still scared?” Peter asks manfully.

“A little.” Feliks shakes his hair away again. “Do you think I could come onto the Storm’s Demise?”

“’Course.” He burrows further into his side and the couch cushions at another clap of thunder, following the lightning flashes ever closer now.

“I bet you can’t even, like, hear the thunder belowdecks, right?”

Peter nods against his ribs. Still cautious, Feliks reaches for the mop of blond hair hiding his face, and cards his fingers through it. It’s all sticking up even more than usual. He must have spent some time tossing and turning in bed before this. For a young boy, it’s far too late to be up, especially after all that trampoline excitement. It’s not something Feliks thinks he would have even known a year ago, but he’s concerned about it now.

“Your dad would like to be on the ship too, I bet.”

“Lars can come too,” Peter mumbles through a yawn, and he glances up with half-lidded eyes when Feliks can’t help but chuckle at that.

“Good! That’s good, Pete. You look after your little brother.”

“He’s only five. He’s a baby.” The words are mumbled into his hoodie. Well, Berwald’s hoodie. Maybe Peter finds the fact that it smells like laundry and wood as comforting as Feliks does. “I’m six years old.”

“Yeah, you are. Do you know how many years old I am?”

Peter looks up appraisingly, silent for a long moment save for the rain pounding against the glass like an unwanted stranger. The sound of the shower has stopped, but Feliks couldn’t say how long ago that happened.

“Dad’s forty years old,” Peter eventually says, thoughtful. Berwald is thirty-nine, but it’s almost his birthday, so that’s fair. “You must also be forty.”

Fair enough.

“Almost,” Feliks replies, and Peter smiles proudly, probably glad to have worked out that puzzle, and he still winces when there’s more thunder, but is still smiling when it’s over.

“Uncle Søren is thirty-seven,” he starts recounting, “an’ Ashleigh is six also and Refik is seven an’…”

Feliks tunes him mostly out while he lists the ages of all the neighborhood children, his grandparents—which he’s pretty sure are wrong, because he’s met Berwald’s parents and doesn’t think either of them looked anywhere near a hundred-and-twenty—and then who knows who else. He just ruffles the boy’s hair every once in a while, when there’s more thunder, even though Peter barely seems to notice at this point, caught up as he is.

Not for the first time, Feliks catches himself thinking that Peter has inherited his father’s logical mind, to be so fascinated with numbers, and then, definitely for the first time, he thinks, well, there’s something I can help him with when he’s older, because Feliks likes numbers too. They’re nice and straightforward, don’t change values depending on context. He thinks about helping Peter or Lars with math homework in a house he designed, at a kitchen table Berwald has built, and it’s a bit of a terrifying thought, but not so scary that he refuses to think it. Not so scary that it can’t be a silent hope.

He would have locked it away, not so long ago. The Oxenstiernas are teaching him things in more than one way. Or maybe he’s just finally growing up as he nears forty.

“Feliks?” A heavy hand on his shoulder. Feliks startles out of his daydream. Looks down at Peter, who is silent now, and—oh, he has fallen asleep tucked against him, one hand grasping the hoodie.

Swallowing heavily, Feliks shifts his gaze up, to where Berwald is smiling down at him. His eyes are bright in that way that Feliks has realized by now suggests warmth. It’s easy to mistake it for judgment, or indifference, but he knows now that Berwald cares deeply about many things, his sons above all. You just have to know to look for it.

“Everything okay here?” he’s asking now. He reaches over to where Feliks is still absently stroking Peter’s hair and pushes it out of the boy’s closed eyes. “Pete couldn’t sleep?”

“I convinced him I was the one who was scared of the thunder,” Feliks whispers, briefly wondering if maybe that was the wrong thing to do—because surely, it’s important for Peter to learn that it’s okay to be afraid of things himself—but Berwald smiles, familiar laugh lines forming around his eyes.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure, like…” He doesn’t know what to say, so he just looks down at the boy peacefully sleeping against his side. “Of course. He’s… Of course.”

Berwald walks around the couch silently and gazes down at the two of them, seemingly similarly lost for words. He has already changed into his pajamas. Quite unexpectedly, Feliks is out of breath at how quaint this all is, and how much he wants to keep it. He blinks rapidly as Berwald crouches down. The man rests one hand on Feliks’s leg while he gently touches his son’s forehead with the other, callused thumb smoothing away a frown as it appears. Peter doesn’t wake. Berwald looks up at Feliks, who chews on his lip until he reaches up and cups his jaw.

“Okay?” Berwald asks, his voice deeper than the rolling thunder but infinitely more soothing.

In response, Feliks smiles, and untangles his fingers from Peter’s hair, careful not to jostle him, to run both hands through Berwald’s short hair instead until he’s cupping the back of his head and Berwald is leaning up with his leg as leverage to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. He smells like shampoo now. Feliks smiles, ruffling his hair this time.

“Alright,” Berwald mumbles, pushing himself to his feet, dropping a kiss on top of Feliks’s head as he goes, “let’s get him back to bed. ‘S too late to be up.”

Nodding, Feliks shifts so Berwald can gather his son into those strong arms of his. He could probably pick Feliks up with the same ease, but it’s never come up. Peter sniffles and curls into his father’s broad chest, but doesn’t wake even as thunder rolls again.

As Berwald moves towards the stairs, Feliks decides to follow, turning off the lights in the living room and carefully closing the door so it doesn’t rattle in the wind that will inevitably creep in. While Berwald tucks his son back into bed, Feliks brushes his teeth, changes into his pajamas, and uses the bathroom, and they meet again on the landing in front of Berwald’s bedroom, where Feliks smiles softly and starts to whisper something about Peter, when Berwald leans over and kisses him, grasping his face with those big hands.

Feliks hooks his fingers into the man’s old T-shirt, smiling into the closemouthed kisses pressed against his lips.

“Thank you,” Berwald mutters, again.

“It’s nothing.”

“’S not, Feliks.” His gaze is intense in the low light coming from his bedroom, blue eyes nearly transparent behind his glasses. “You know it’s not.”

Of course it’s not, but…

Not sure what to say, Feliks just presses his face into Berwald’s warm neck, standing on his tiptoes, breathing in his clean scent and listening to his steady heartbeat. The man rests his chin on top of his head, folding him into his arms. It feels secure, in a way that few things have done in Feliks’s life, and he think he might understand how Peter felt, safe from the thunderstorm. He isn’t the boy’s father and will never be, but maybe, maybe, Feliks could mean something similar to him.

Thunder rolls. Feliks swallows.

“You’re doing great,” Berwald says softly.

He wants to muffle words into the man’s neck, wants to tell him he loves him, and may very well love his sons too, but Feliks can’t bring himself to say it quite yet. It’s a truth he didn’t think he’d ever get to say, so it can wait a while longer. Just a while.

It won’t be long.

A small noise, down the hall. They both look at the wide blue eyes underneath a mop of ginger hair, peering around the bedroom door with Lars painted on it in a child’s clumsy hand, the s backwards.

“Dad?”

Berwald kisses Feliks’s forehead and trails his fingers down his arm as he walks over to his youngest son. Feliks smiles, and wanders after him.

#aphrarepairweek2020 #svepol #Hetalia #aph poland #aph sweden #aph sealand #fin #w: 2500 #u: human #I was gonna go with a different name for sweden #but i think for now i'll only do that when he's a background #character #maybe #is this named after the only vienna teng song i know?#maybe.#u: rpw

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romewritingshop · 4 years

Text

Wake up Parker! Chapter 2: The Deal

Relationship: Peter Parker x Tall Older Reader (Peter is 22 and Reader is 26/27)

Warnings: Mention of sex

Word Count Total: 2136 (This Chapter)

Summary: Peter Parker is a student in the city of Brooklyn. He’s lazy, spoilt and he procrastinates a lot. He meets a woman named (Y/N), She’s recently moved to Brooklyn for an independent life. Something Peter is fascinated by. Over the course of a few months, Peter needs to realise that he has to grow up and become responsible for his life.

Tagged: @bggerbtch

WAKE UP PARKER! MASTERLIST

After the long day of partying with friends, Peter came home six in the morning. Falling right asleep for several hours before waking up around four in the afternoon to mess around in his room. Uploading the photos of his day out and picking the best ones to save on his laptop. He changed his shirt into another print shirt with an Iron Man mask on the front. A tall woman with vibrant orange hair stepped into the room, with a resigned look on her face. Mrs Pepper Stark.

She was dressed in a simple white sweater and blue denim jeans. Taking in the jungle that is Peter's room. She stepped over the possible dirty clothes and dropped herself down beside Peter. Who was laying on his front, with his laptop in front and simply staring at the screen. Pepper cared for Peter more than she would like to admit. Sure, Morgan was her actual daughter, but her heart always went out for Peter.

Pepper smiled and gently rubbed Peter's shoulder, noticing a smiling picture of Peter and his friends. She recognised one of them "That's Ned, isn't it?"

Peter simply hummed and asked a different question "Why don't you knock?"

"It's because we have a cool open relationship."

Peter simply rolled his eyes. "What is it, Mrs. Stark?"

"I came to see you. Check how you've been because you're always busy with friends and college. It's been a while since we've sat down together."

"I'm fine."

Pepper pursed her lips and glanced around uncomfortably. She really did try to relate to Peter on his level but she couldn't seem to get through to him well enough. She decided to change the subject, remembering Peter's exam.

"How was your exam yesterday, Pete?"

"It was okay."

"Just okay?"

Peter hummed in agreement, not really paying attention to Mrs. Stark. Peter wanted to be alone right now and Mrs. Stark was just not getting the hint. Pepper stood up and started picking up the clothes off the floor, tossing most of them into the straw hamper by Peter's desk table.

"Just know Peter, Tony and I are so proud of you. Your Aunt would be proud that you're a graduate now." No response from Peter. "So I guess now is a good time to learn some organization Peter. Start folding some clothes. Clean clothes in the wardrobe and dirty ones in the hamper by your desk drawer."

She turned to see Peter hadn't moved from his place.

"Come on, Peter."

"I'll do it later, Mrs. Stark."

Pepper noticed a tray of dirty dishes on the dresser opposite his bed. She rolled her eyes and stepped to the tray, now slightly irked from Peter's habits. "Peter. Every time you bring food to your room, can you please take the tray back down to the kitchen? You could get ants if you leave dishes like this."

Peter was starting to feel irritated by Mrs. Stark's constant nagging. He was a fully grown adult and Mrs. Stark shouldn't have to keep treating him like a child. Though he remained patient, knowing that if he retaliated, the situation would unnecessarily escalate. Pepper went forward to Peter's wardrobe and slid the door open. Sighing at the many printed t-shirts that Peter had.

"Another thing Peter. I do like your t-shirts but maybe you could start wearing button shirts and cardigans. You'll look much smarter and I heard this saying from a movie: 'Clothes maketh a man.' Or was it manners?"

Peter heavily huffed and turned to face Mrs. Stark.

"It's manners! And leave my clothes alone! I said, I'd sort it out!"

Pepper's shoulders dropped slightly as she gave a dejected nod towards Peter. Walking to the straw hamper and picking up the bin to pin between her hips to take it down to the washing machine. Peter watched Mrs Stark's shoulders sag as she picked up the straw hamper beside his bedside table. Peter felt a little guilty and understood she only meant well. Peter closes his laptop and stands up. Grabbing the tray of dirty dishes.

"Mrs. Stark, I didn't mean to shout at you. It was a long day yesterday. I'll help you take this tray down."

Peter hoped that was a good enough excuse and it seemed to work. Pepper smiled and knew Peter didn't mean to be angry. Sure the excuse of yesterday was bullshit but she let it go, knowing Peter felt guilty for his actions. She rubbed his left shoulder and gave a short nod.

"Sure. I want to ask: Will you eat dinner with us? I’m making your favourites: Larb, Tom Kha Gai and Sticky Rice Pudding."

Peter gave a smile, agreeing to Mrs. Stark's invitation for dinner. Pepper held the door open for Peter, letting him walk through followed by her as they both made their way to the kitchen. After Peter dumped the dishes in the sink, he sat down at the dining table next to Morgan who was doing maths homework. Going on his phone to look at the latest car models.

"Peter, can you help me with this question?"

"In a minute."

As he swiped through the website, his eyes stopped at the one. That car. It was beautiful. A tall smooth curve roof and elongated body. A nice shade of black and it was electric. A wide front and lots of space in the boot of the car. This is the car. The Mercedes - Benz EQC. It had style and sophistication and it was totally Peter’s style.

“I’m home!”

Peter knew just who to ask as Peter turned to the direction of the voice. Mr. Tony Stark. Trim styled beard and grey pinstripe suit with a bright colourful picasso artistic tie. Peter’s adopted father. He was good friends with May and when May passed away, she handed Peter to Tony’s care when Peter was nine. Mr. Stark was awesome for the most part. Although, recently Mr. Stark has really been bugging Peter to join the business. Hopefully today’s not the day.

Pepper steps away from the kitchen and towards Tony, who was standing in the doorway between the hallway and the kitchen/dining room. Morgan jumps up and goes to hug Tony, who placed his briefcase down and engulfs Morgan into a hug. Pepper and Tony share a quick kiss and Morgan leads Tony to sit next to her at the head of the table. Pepper heads back to the kitchen to finish off dinner, watching the family converse about their day. Peter also gives a small quick greeting to Mr. Stark but Tony rolls his eyes.

“So Maguna, how was your day today?”

“Awesome! Miss. Cho loved my science project and thinks I should enter it into the Junior’s National Science Fair.”

“That’s great Maguna, I told you if you kept at it you’d have a badass project.”

“Then my day got bad because Mr. Russo gave me difficult maths homework.”

“Well, I’m sure he gave it to help you. Did you ask for help?”

“I asked Peter, but he’s too busy on his phone.”

Peter stopped swiping on his phone at the mention of his name. Leave it to Morgan to expose Peter to Mr. Stark like that but Peter glanced up and defended himself.

“I said I’d help in a minute. Was just looking at something.”

“And what was so interesting that you couldn’t spare a minute to help Morgan with her maths homework?”

Pepper called out to Tony in a warning tone. Peter showed the screen of the car to Tony.

“The new Mercedes Benz Electric car.”

“Okay. So what do you want me to do with this?”

“It looks awesome, doesn’t it?”

Pepper smiles knowingly at Peter’s sales pitch. She was starting the prep work for Larb by chopping up the veg. Even Tony knows where Peter was trying to go with this car. He and Pepper shared a glance before Tony decided to say.

“It does look awesome, Peter. That also reminds me, college is finished right?”

“Yeah?”

“So you’re a free agent and you don't have classes to skip anymore?”

“Where are you going with this, Mr. Stark?”

Tony turned to glance at Pepper, who shook her head. She was not going to help Tony with this conversation. Tony started it and he should finish it. Tony sighed. He didn’t want to have to spell it out to Parker but luckily he had one person that could help him.

“Maguna, you wanna help out Peter?”

Morgan gave a nod, having already figured out what her dad was trying to tell Peter. Morgan was a smart kid. She took after her dad and grandad.

“Dad is saying that you should join the office.”

Tony smiled and patted Morgan’s head.

“Exactly. Maguna, you just earned yourself a popsicle.”

Peter frowned at this team up. The office. Peter had a feeling that one day, Mr. Stark would ask him to join the office. Although he didn’t expect that the day would be today. Peter was not ready.

“Mr. Stark, the office?”

“You’ve finished with college right?”

“Yeah but -”

“Then till you get your exam results, you’ll be working in the office.”

“But Mr. Stark, what am I going to do there?”

“Work, what else?”

“But Mr. Stark, your company makes security alarms. 'Stark Security'. It's just - it's so not my thing!”

“Not your thing? Peter, our company ensures clients are safe and secure in their homes. Sure the name isn’t creative but I’m sure with you on board, you’ll make us relevant with the times. We are close to developing an AI security system that could keep you safe and help you with your daily chores. Law enforcement recommend having our security system. Peter, you could find your niche here.”

“Mr. Stark. No! No! No way! I'm not joining the office! I’m sure you mean well but … no!”

Peter got up and was heading upstairs when Mr. Stark upped the ante. Tony knew the best way to get Peter to agree. Sure it was a little sneaky but it would definitely be an encouraging start to get Peter to be serious about life.

“Ok then. The more I think about it, the more I realise that the car you were showing me is actually awesome. You know what would make it even better. If that car was sitting in our garage.”

Peter stopped in the doorway and slowly turned to Mr. Stark who had a smug smile on his face. Surely he wasn’t serious. Morgan and Pepper watched the conversation carefully. Pepper shook her head at Tony’s bribery and knew it wasn’t the right way. Peter slowly walked back and stood opposite to Mr. Stark.

“You're not serious? Are you?”

Mr Stark gave a nod and began the bargaining.

“Just work at the office for six months. The car is yours.”

“Six months? That's so long! Fifteen days.”

“Do I look like an idiot? Maguna, help me out here.”

Morgan gave a nod and stepped in for her dad.

“Ninety days. It’s better than working a year for that car.”

“Twenty days.”

Mr Stark rolled his eyes and reduced the amount. “Minimum sixty days.”

“No more than thirty days.”

Morgan tapped her Dad’s arm, nodding at that offer. Tony creased his eyebrows and Morgan gave a bright smile. That was the offer to take. Thirty days would definitely make/break Peter. Tony gave a nod, agreeing with his negotiating daughter.

“My legal advisor, Maguna has spoken to me and thinks thirty days is enough and no less. You can start work tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“The sooner you start work, the quicker you get the car, right?”

Peter had a smile and shook Tony’s outstretched hand. A new car. Thirty days will go by quickly and Peter will have a new car. He can do this. Hang on! Peter frowned as he watched Tony help Morgan with her homework. Pepper was stirring a big pot of food in the kitchen as Peter sat back in his chair. Something was up.

“Mr. Stark, this is a test right?”

“What do you mean, Peter?”

“A Mercedes for a month's work?”

“You’re joining my office. That's the biggest deal. That and you’ll finally get serious about what you want to do in life.”

A twinkle sound rings as Peter checks his phone, to see a text message from his friends. They were waiting for him outside. Crap! Peter forgot he had to go to Wanda’s stupid college farewell party. At that moment, Pepper called Morgan and Mr. Stark to help set the table when Peter ran up to grab his rucksack. He trudged down the stairs and was about to go through the front door when Pepper called out to him.

“Peter!”

“Mrs. Stark. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot there’s a college farewell party that my friends want to go to.”

“But Larb?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Stark. Today’s my last night of freedom before I join the office tomorrow. Please.”

Pepper’s face softened at Peter’s face. She gave a nod and Peter smiled. Rushing out the door and calling out a ‘goodbye’ to the Starks’. Pepper closes the front door and heads back to the dining table as she watches Tony and Morgan chow down on the Tom Kha Gai and Larb.

“You really think he’ll work for thirty days?”

Tony gave a nod and took a spoonful of rice and curry. Swallowing it and answering Pepper’s concern.

“I expect he’ll realise he needs to get serious about life. This is the only way he’ll realise that he needs to work hard for money.”

Pepper gave a nod and sat to the right of Tony and served herself so Tom Kha Gai and rice. Eating happily along with Morgan and Tony.

CHAPTER 3: MEETING INDEPENDENCE

#peter parker x reader #peter x reader #peter parker #peter parker tom holland #bollywood au #bollywood #indian movie au #indian author #au #alternate universe #mcu #mcu au #marvel cinematic universe #marvel cinematic au #marvel crossover #marvel au #marvel

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anistarrose · 5 years

Text

To See The Unseen - Ch. 2 (Gravity Falls)

Summary: Stan meets the mirror’s creator.

Warnings: a very brief description of a dead animal, and a character being hospitalized (no character death)

AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/20884673/chapters/49642817

Big thanks to @apathetic-revenant for betaing this chapter!

***

“I’ve never been more ready to go to bed in my life,” Wendy groaned as she led the way back to the Mystery Shack. “You think Stan will mind if I crash on your couch for a couple hours? My brothers will be awake and screaming their heads off by the time I get home.”

“Yeah, he probably won’t mind,” Dipper replied. “Just be sure to tell him we were camping. He’ll go ballistic if he found out we almost died in the Author’s doomsday bunker.”

“But only because he cares about us,” Mabel spoke up. Her sweater was still slightly damp, and she shivered in the brisk early morning breeze. “I mean, if I was him and you guys told me you fought a shapeshifter in a fallout shelter, I’d go ballistic too!”

“You WHAT?!” Stan gasped. “What did I tell you just the other day about looking for trouble with the Journal?!”

The kids kept walking, passing straight through him. Mabel shivered again, but other than that, they gave no sign of having heard his outburst.

“Even if I have been a hypocrite about it…” Stan whispered.

Wendy squinted at the Shack, raising a hand to shade her eyes from the morning sun. “Hey, am I so tired I’m hallucinating, or is that Blubs and Durland on the porch?”

“Oh, great. What did Stan do this time?” Dipper mumbled. “Hey, Soos, you should probably hide that laptop from them —”

“Pines kids!” Durland shouted. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! Something terrible has happened!”

Soos, Wendy, and the twins stared at him with glazed-over, sleep-deprived eyes.

“You need us to… help solve a mystery?” Dipper asked.

“A murder mystery?” Mabel echoed, rubbing her eyes. “We have a kind-of-okay track record with those…”

“Whatever it is, I have an alibi,” Wendy muttered.

Blubs stepped forward, gaze fixed on the floorboards. “It’s about… it’s about your uncle.”

“Shit,” Stan mumbled. “Kids, whatever they say happened, I promise it’s not actually that bad —”

His voice cut off. Was that even true? He didn’t know a single thing about what being trapped in this gray mirror world meant for him — it easily could be not just ‘that bad,’ but even worse.

“Is Mr. Pines okay?” Soos asked. “What happened?!”

“He’s in the hospital. Dan Corduroy found him in the forest this morning, and… well, I’m no doctor, but apparently he didn’t seem injured and his vitals were all A-okay. He just… won’t wake up no matter what anyone tries.”

Mabel gasped, and Soos covered his mouth.

“Do — do you know how it happened?” Dipper stammered. “Was it one of the anomalies? How long has he been unconscious?”

Blubs sighed. “I’m so sorry, Dipper, but I don’t know a single thing. You know what — here, get into the squad car. I’ll drive you to the hospital so you can see him.”

Stan drifted after his family, watching as they piled into the police car. Mabel stared out the window, quieter than Stan had ever seen her before, while Dipper buried his nose in Journal 3, frantically flipping through pages so quickly he gave himself a paper cut.

“It’ll be alright,” Mabel told him without making eye contact. “The doctors will figure something out.”

“But what if they don’t?” Dipper asked. He didn’t seem to have even noticed his finger was bleeding. “What if medicine can’t help him, because it’s supernatural?” he continued in a voice barely above a whisper. “There’s no info about anything like this in the Journal — but if only I had the other volumes, then maybe they’d have something that could help. Something about how to cure him…”

“Oh, Dipper,” Stan murmured. “It just got me into this mess in the first place…”

***

Pacifica lay in bed, half-awake, for longer than usual that morning, until the sound of a servant knocking on her door startled her, and she finally crawled out from under the satin sheets. It took a few seconds of staring at the compact mirror resting atop her dresser before the events of the past night rushed back to her, and she shuddered.

The mirror still gave her bad vibes, even in broad daylight and outside of the infamously unnerving Gravity Falls forest. It reminded her of certain taxidermy-filled rooms of the mansion, especially the allegedly haunted one — there was just a sort of chill in the air around it, just barely subtle enough for you to convince yourself it was only your imagination acting up.

Even though she hadn’t changed out of her nightgown yet and would’ve looked ridiculous had anyone been around to see her, Pacifica put on a pair of gloves before opening the mirror. She was still going against both her gut feeling and basic common sense by examining the artifact at all, but she knew that if she hid it away now, there would eventually come a day when she grew so bored, she wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation any longer.

Despite bracing herself for the worst, nothing cataclysmic happened when she opened the mirror — no swarms of insects flew out, no bolts of dark magic incinerated her, and as far as she could tell, no deadly plagues seemed to be released into the world.

But although it wasn’t quite the Pandora’s Box she’d been expecting, it was most definitely supernatural. The mirror reflected everything in grayscale, except for her own body, which glowed blue. And the picture below…

Surprisingly, it looked incomplete. A broad-shouldered silhouette dressed in dark clothing stood in front of a row of trees, that much was clear, but most of the details were missing, especially around the completely blank area where a face should’ve been.

“Well, that’s freaky…” Pacifica was about to rummage through the contents of her desk, looking for a magnifying glass to examine the portrait more closely, when her maid knocked on her door again, and she reflexively snapped the mirror closed.

“Remember, your dance tutor will be arriving at ten o’clock sharp! You’d best be eating breakfast soon, unless you want to be late!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” Pacifica called back, shoving the mirror under her pillow as she hastily selected a dress from her closet and a necklace from her jewelry box before rushing to the bathroom. “I’ll be back for you,” she whispered to the mirror.

The mirror didn’t reply, but had it still been opened, Pacifica might’ve noticed that the portrait was ever-so-slowly growing closer to completion, adding a tie to the figure’s sharp black suit.

***

After a few minutes of asking the doctors one question after another, none of which they were able to answer, Dipper threw a glass of cold water in his face, adjusted his hat, and declared that he was off to investigate the place where Stan had been found, hoping to find some evidence that would lead to a cure. Wendy quickly announced she was going with him, which didn’t surprise Stan — he knew she’d never been fond of hospitals.

Figuring it would be smart to stay close to his body in case of a breakthrough, Stan didn’t follow Dipper and Wendy as they left, but still he overheard Dipper muttering to himself:

“I need to find the other Journals. One of them must have the answer to getting him back, somehow…”

“Come on, kid,” Stan whispered. “Don’t you go down this road too. It’s no fun to live your life like this, trust me…”

Mabel pulled her chair right up next to Stan’s hospital bed, and leaned up against him, burying her head in his spare pillow. Soos sat on the other side of the room, half-heartedly flipping through hospital-provided health magazines and flinching almost every time Stan’s heart monitor beeped. Like Pacifica, neither of them had reacted to the pale blue glow that Stan could see coming from beneath his body’s half-closed eyelids.

He tried to give Mabel a reassuring pat on the back, to no avail. Her breathing slowed as his hand passed through her shoulder, and for a second he was afraid he’d hurt her somehow, but then she began to snore quietly, and he realized she’d just fallen asleep.

“What am I gonna do, Soos?” Stan asked. “I can’t get back in my body, I can’t tell you what happened, I can’t even let you know I’m okay…”

A new, terrifying realization dawned on him. “I can’t operate the portal! I was so close to getting Ford back, so goddamn close! But how am I going to save him if I’m trapped in this mirror world?!”

“You could always do what he did, and get a little help from a friend!”

The voice wasn’t spoken out loud as much as it resonated in Stan’s mind, high-pitched and echoing in a way that made his nonexistent ears ache. He was also pretty sure he’d heard it before, even if he hadn’t been in the most coherent state at the time.

“I swear,” he growled, “if I turn around and see that screaming geometry dipshit from my nightmare last week, I’m gonna puke ghost guts all over that one-eyed piss-yellow triangular ass of his.”

The being behind him began to clap. “Go ahead and turn around, then! I’d love to see it!”

Stan turned, and sure enough, found himself facing a one-eyed, piss-yellow, triangular entity.

“Well? Where’s the ghost puke you promised me?”

“Shut the fuck up, Bill. That is your name, right? I gotta be sure you know exactly how much I hate your dumb whiny voice in particular.”

“Read about me in Fordsy’s journal, did you?” Bill asked, twirling his cane.

Stan raised a hand to his ear. “Huh, what’s that noise? ‘Cause it definitely isn’t a first grader’s math homework shutting the fuck up, that’s for sure!”

Bill let his cane go flying out of his grip and through the nearest wall, disappearing from view for a moment before popping back into existence in his other hand. “Oh, Stanley, Stanley, Stanley. I’m here to help you, just like I helped Sixer! So let’s not say anything we’ll end up regretting later —”

“Too late.” The cocky grin disappeared from Stan’s face as he made a fist. “No one calls Ford ‘Sixer’ but me, and you’re really gonna regret mixing that one up if I have anything to say about it.”

“Oh, my bad!” Bill shot back, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I didn’t mean to slight your precious sibling relationship, which you both clearly value SO much! If only I could make it up to you by… I dunno, saving you from ETERNAL IMPRISONMENT?!”

“I’ve broken out of prison in three different countries, I’ll be fine on my own. Also, I know you tried to hurt my family when you all went off on your wild goose chase through my mind — and call me overprotective of those kids if you want to, but in my book, that’s a pretty good reason not to make any dark magical contracts with you.”

For the first time, Bill looked genuinely looked caught off guard by one of Stan’s comebacks. “You were conscious for that? You know what, forget it. I —”

“Well, I mean, I was asleep — but I was definitely dreaming about you getting your ass kicked.”

“I said FORGET IT!” Bill snapped.

“Touchy subject, eh?”

“It was in the past! It doesn’t matter anymore!” Bill shouted. “You need my help and my deal now, Stanley Pines, and there’s no way around it!”

Stan floated lower, until he was able to roughly approximate sitting at the foot of the bed. “Well, looks like I’ve got all day to kill and nothing better to do. I’m not gonna listen, but you might as well start making your case anyway.”

Bill’s eye narrowed with glee, and he began to chuckle to himself, then cackle louder and louder until it felt like his laughter would never stop echoing inside Stan’s head.

“Here’s the thing, Stanley — you really don’t have all day at all! In fact, you have…”

With a burst of flame, he summoned a ticking gold pocketwatch in his hand. “Exactly twelve hours and two minutes!”

“Until what? I’m not gonna fold and cut a deal with you just because of a vague threat and a time limit — that’s like, even more basic than Manipulation 101.”

Bill laughed, and his pocketwatch cooed like a cuckoo clock as an avian skeleton sprung out of the hole in the center. “Twelve hours until your body stops breathing, obviously! It’ll be real sudden, too — no time for the doctors to switch you over to life support before your brain runs out of oxygen!” One of his arms extended as he reached over to Stan, rapping him on the skull. “Then again, I’m not sure you’re getting much blood flow up there in the first place. Certainly less than old Fordsy —”

“Why should I believe you?” Stan asked. “If I was a math nerd’s demonic fever dream, I’d be making up bullshit life-or-death ultimatums left and right. Who would be be dumb enough to make a bargain with me otherwise?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. But to answer your question, just look at your own eyes, down there in your body! They’re not even glowing half as bright as when you first got flipped into the mindscape, and they’re only gonna keep getting dimmer until the connection’s gone altogether!”

Bill snapped his fingers, summoning a plume of blue flame in which an image of the mirror flickered into existence. “When that portrait in the compact is completed, exactly twenty-four hours from the moment you entered the mirror, you’ll be severed from the living world forever — and that’s not all! Your soul gets trapped inside that musty old picture to rot and fester until either someone new scries with the mirror, or eternity itself comes grinding to a halt at the end of the world! That’s the beauty of it: you get to be all-seeing — almost like me! — for exactly one day, but once that’s over, all you’ll ever see again is the inside of a closed compact!”

The image in the flames faded away as they swirled around Bill’s hand, which he extended in Stan’s direction. “But I can put you back in your body, and send the mirror’s previous prisoner back into the painting instead! I can save you, just like I saved your brother! Whaddya say?”

“Yeah, of course,” Stan answered, voice dripping with sarcasm. “All makes perfect sense to me. You just so happen to be the world’s leading expert on cursed mirror and equally cursed painting combos!”

“Well, why wouldn’t I be? I helped make the thing, after all!”

“Oh, did you? That explains why holding it instantly reminded me of my deep hatred for trigonometry.”

Bill ignored him. “You know, your brother wasn’t the only mortal I’ve been a Muse to! He was just the only one in recent memory who was actually USEFUL. I’ve appeared before countless pupils over the years, looking for someone who’d be smart, ambitious, and not to mention gullible enough to help me fulfill my vision — but before Six-Fingers, everyone fell short. And worse — some of them wouldn’t stop summoning me even after I’d given up on them! They kept asking me inane questions about the beginning of the universe and the meaning of life!”

His triangular body turned bright red and the flames surrounding him roared as he continued: “Life doesn’t HAVE a meaning! Humanity was put on the planet to reproduce, die, and make meaningless philosophical arguments in a desperate attempt to convince themselves that morality and ethics are worth anything in the callous void that is existence — what else did they want me to tell them?! Some saccharine bullshit about being born so they could make the world a better place?”

“So you got fed up, and made the mirror to trap one of your ex-pawns?” Stan asked.

The flames disappeared, and Bill seemed to calm down, turning yellow again. “You catch on faster than I thought you would! I tricked one of my most insufferable pupils into creating it, and sure enough, he hasn’t bothered me since!”

“So when Ford tried to scry with the mirror thirty something years ago, he freed that guy’s ghost — but you still thought Ford would still be useful, didn’t you?” Stan tried to keep his voice calm, but he was starting to get a good idea of just who had driven Ford to such paranoia and desperation thirty years ago, and he was fuming inside. “So you freed Ford by switching his place with the ghost of that first guy you trapped.”

“Exactly!” Bill cheered, rubbing his hands together. “And I can do the same for you — just give me the word, and you’ll be back in your body before you know it!”

“Let’s imagine a parallel universe where I was a dumbass and I did take your deal. What other conditions would you be hiding in the fine print?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be hiding it! I’d actually be rather upfront, just like I’m being right now!” Bill smacked Stan on the head with a roll of paper, which unfurled to reveal a document titled CONTRACT.

“All I’d ask is for you do owe me one tiny favor down the line — a chance for me to borrow your restored body for a few hours when the right moment rolls around! I mean, you’ve coped without it for this long — what’ll one more brief stint in the mindscape be to a pro like you?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to say FUCK NO to that. I know you’re used to dealing with my brother, the most gullible genius on the planet, but while he may have all the brains, I have some actual goddamn common sense.”

“But — but don’t you want to open the portal?” Bill asked him, a little too quickly. “I’d like to see you try and operate it without your body!”

“Well, yeah — but are you really expecting me to be able to activate it all on my own? Even with all the journals, I’ve still got no idea what I’m doing,” Stan lied. “I could just as easily flip the thing’s self-destruct switch as I could find the right settings to bring Ford back. I’ll feel guilty if I can’t at least try, but… it was a hell of a long shot in the first place. I accepted that a long time ago, even if I don’t like to admit it.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Bill shouted. “The thing doesn’t even HAVE a self-destruct switch! I — I could even sweeten the deal, if you want! I could help you turn it on! This has been thirty years in the making — you can’t just give up on it now! Also, did I forget to mention YOUR ETERNAL FUCKING IMPRISONMENT and SLOW, PAINFUL CORRUPTION INTO A REVENGE-BENT MONSTER?!”

Okay, so Bill really wants the portal activated for some reason, Stan thought to himself. Interesting.

Out loud, he told Bill: “I’ve been messing around with too much shit that I don’t understand since before you even showed up. I’m not adding a deal with a demon to that list, and that’s final. Besides, you’re forgetting that the kids will probably figure something out. They always do.”

“Well, that sure is a cute sentiment!” Bill shot back. “But you’re already as good as dead to them, Stanley. They can’t see you, they can’t hear you — and soon enough, if you don’t do something, they won’t be able to feel your heart beating in your body anymore either!”

“Oh, I do plan on doing something,” Stan replied with a straight face. “It just won’t be the something you want me to do.”

“My offer still stands!” Bill shouted as he disappeared in a burst of blue flames. “Just call my name once it sinks in how doomed you are without me, and I’ll be right there to shake your hand and seal the deal!”

Mabel, still asleep next to Stan’s body, let out a deep sigh as Bill vanished, but otherwise didn’t react to their conversation. She was hugging Stan’s arm and clutching handfuls of the bedsheet like it were the lifeline tying Stan to the world, and if only she held on tight enough, she’d be able to drag him back.

And maybe, in a roundabout way, she could.

“Bill said I’m all-seeing like him until my twelve hours are up,” Stan explained to her, even knowing it wouldn’t be heard. “So if you’ll bear with me here, Mabel…”

He placed his hand over her forehead, and closed his eyes.

“I’m gonna see if I can haunt dreams like him too.”

***

Pacifica’s dance lesson dragged on for over an hour, showing no signs of coming to an end until she claimed to be experiencing a dehydration-induced dizzy spell and her instructor reluctantly excused her, probably fearing a lawsuit. She headed back to her room right away, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her pillow — and the mirror beneath it — hadn’t been disturbed. She was going to have to find a better hiding place for it soon.

As she pulled out a map of the mansion, trying to think of nooks and crannies that no one ever checked, a thud from the hallway made her jump. She almost brushed it off, chalking it up to her imagination, when she heard it again, and then a third time, growing louder with each repetition.

It didn’t sound like footsteps — or at least, not the footsteps of any human. If anything, it sounded like solid stone was striking the hallway’s hardwood floor.

Pacifica watched, frozen in place, as a veil of smoke materialized around her doorknob, twisting it counterclockwise degree by degree as the door ever-so-slowly swung open —

And then she laughed, because what she was seeing in the hallway couldn’t have been further from the monster she’d been expecting.

“You’re a statue,” she snickered, and her visitor’s stone eyes lit up red.

Oh, but not just any statue, a voice boomed from inside the familiar face that had once watched over the town square. I’m Gravity Falls’ very own Nathaniel Northwest!

***

(End notes:)

I was very excited for this chapter since I don’t write a whole lot of Stan and Bill interacting (outside of Some Sunny Day, which was a whole different beast altogether). And sure enough, I had a ton of fun with Stan’s dialogue, which led to this chapter being about a thousand words longer than expected.

Anyways, comments/reblogs are appreciated as always!

#gravity falls #stanley pines #bill cipher #dipper pines #mabel pines #wendy corduroy #soos ramirez #pacifica northwest #fic: to see the unseen #rosalia writes fic

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ice-creamforbreakfast · 5 years

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Siblings Interview Tag: Zaid, Farrah, Farid and Khalid Al Farsi (Jasmeen is a bit young for this)

I was tagged by @treason-and-plot several centuries ago! Thank you so much, lovely! My subjects are left to right - Farrah, Farid, Zaid and Khalid. I would like to tag @titosims, @ninjaofthepurplethings, @buckleysims, @anotherplumbob, @mysimsloveaffair, @simsmidgen and anyone who wants to do this! Questions and Answers under the cut.

1. Which one of you is the older sibling?

Zaid: I am, by just over two years.

2. What do you like about your sibling?

Zaid: Farrah speaks her mind and stands up for herself, Farid smart, but doesn’t have a massive head about it and Khalid makes me laugh. Farrah: To be fair, Khalid makes all of us laugh...sometimes at him. Khalid: I heard that! Farrah: You were meant to. Zaid looks out for us all, which is great as I was a mess... Khalid: Were? Farrah: Oh haha...Farid makes me think about what I’m about to do... Farid: Sometimes... Farrah: What is this abuse? ...and he has managed to save me from doing a few stupid things and Khalid is a shit. Okay, I like that he might not be smart, but he knows what he wants and well...not many people do. Farid: Zaid really looks out for me, he’s probably my best friend... Farrah: I’m your twin you gobshite! Farid: Farrah is my evil twin. She’s confident and determined and Khalid is a lot smarter than he thinks he is. He’s growing up to be a really decent guy. Khalid: What they all said. I like Zaid for becoming a doctor so that the rest of us don’t have to. Farrah is great because she doesn’t judge when I screw up... Farrah: No, I just laugh at you and take photos. Khalid: True, you’re a total bitch, but that’s not always a bad thing. I was really shitty to Farid when you know...and he could’ve been an arse about it, but he wasn’t. He’s got balls for just being himself. Farrah: He’s neck deep in them, Khal! Khalid: Nooo!

3. What annoys you about your sibling?

Zaid: Nothing major. Farrah: Saint Zaid! Zaid: Farrah talks over me and Khalid has way too much energy. Farid and I used to put headphones on and lock them out. Farid doesn’t annoy me, but he could be more confident in himself. Farrah: Zaid is just too perfect, What Zaid said about Farid and Khalid...how long have you got? Farid: Zaid doesn’t really annoy me, but he needs to put himself first sometimes. As for the other two..well I think that Zaid summed it up pretty well. Khalid: It pisses me off that they’re all so smart...even Farrah. When she wasn’t sneaking boys up to her room, she would get good grades. I wish that Zaid would lighten up and smile more. No one died. Zaid: I work in a hospital, lots of people die. Khalid: SEE? Farrah: I wish that Khal would stop calling himself stupid. That’s my job.

4. Describe your sibling(s) with three adjectives.

Zaid: Farrah is headstrong, determined and a risk-taker Farid is smart, self-conscious and kind Khalid is active, confident and loud Farrah: Zaid is intelligent, reliable and...boring Zaid: Thanks! Farrah: Farid is quiet, book-smart and a nervous-wreck Khalid is hyper, loud and dense. Farid: Skating over that... Zaid is intelligent, considerate and a good friend Farrah is brash, caring... Farrah: Whaaaat?? Farid:...and independent Khalid is athletic, determined and positive Khalid: Zaid is reliable, smart and...well you can trust him. Farid: Trustworthy, Khalid. Khalid: Yeah, that. Farrah is outspoken, stubborn and well...a bit of a bitch. Farrah: True. Khalid: Farid is helpful, shy and forgiving.

5. What is your sibling’s/siblings’ biggest talent(s)?

Zaid: Farrah is an amazing hairstylist and she has a way of putting outfits together that no one else could do...all with two inch nails. Farrah: Aw you’re so nice! I feel bad for calling you boring! Zaid: Farid has a way with numbers and I haven’t once seen him pick up a calculator. He can also wipe the floor with all of us when it comes to video games and Khalid can destroy anyone at most sports...apart from snowboarding. Farrah: Zaid can shoot juice out of his nose...but he also has one of those crazy photographic memories...he’s such a smartarse. Farid can get away with way more than the rest of us because he looks so innocent. He also finished all of our new videogames by the end of the Snowflake Day holidays. I don’t know how! Khalid can burp the alphabet, which is amazing as he can’t spell...I was once forced against my will to go to one of his football matches and he’s a great player. Farid: Zaid can pick up most books and finish them on that day or within a couple of days. I would get distracted! Farrah was able to sneak boys into her room, past our dad. If you know him, that’s an amazing talent. Farrah: I did offer to sneak you one too... Farid: She did. She’s also an amazing stylist and can fix all sorts of hair disasters. Khalid: Like when I turned your hair blue? Farrah: You’re a little shit, but I owned that blue hair. Farid: Khalid is an amazing football player. Khalid: So Zaid is really smart, like Farid said, he can read a book in a day or two! I can hardly...well I don’t really like reading much. Farrah can drink grown men under the table, it’s crazy! She doesn’t even get hangovers most of the time and Farid can count in his head...well he can multiply and stuff too...I don’t know the names of it all.

6. What is your sibling(s) really bad at?

Zaid: Farrah can’t admit when she’s wrong! She just can’t. Farrah: I’m never wrong. Zaid: What about the time when... Farrah: Shut up. Zaid: Farid is bad at making decisions. He needs more self belief and Khalid is bad at spelling and maths...sorry, Khal! Farrah: Zaid is bad at making jokes. I mean he tries, but he’s not really that funny. Farid is bad at speaking up, so I used to speak up for him whether he wanted me to or not. Farid: You used to say “Farid wants...” to get stuff for yourself. Farrah: A small price for my services. Khalid can’t spell or count for shit. Farid: Zaid is bad at putting himself first and he’s...I mean we laugh sometimes, but his jokes are a bit...stale. Zaid: Thanks... Farid: Sorry! Farrah is bad at letting things go, whether it’s a grudge or a joke and Khalid is bad at reading situations and expressions. Khalid: Zaid just isn’t funny, Farrah is bad at...well she can’t say things in a nice way. Farid: She’s as subtle as a brick. Khalid: Yeah...and Farid is bad at controlling his emotions. He was bawling at something on Jaime’s Drag Race last week. 7. Do you have nicknames for each other?

Farrah: Not really. Khalid is sometimes Khal though.

8. What’s one thing you can do that your sibling(s) can’t?

Zaid: Prescribe medication. Farrah: So serious! I can cause an all out war on M*msnet with a few choice words. Farid: Complete Lubo the Llama 3. Khalid: Only because you hogged it. I can play football without tripping or breaking anything.

9. Did you get along when you were younger?

Zaid: Farid and I have always been really close. Farrah too, but she got really into fashion and we just...weren’t, so she made other friends a lot faster. Farrah: Sometimes they’d lock me out of their room. Farid: You were so loud and you’d ask so many questions and try to style us and dress us up! Farrah: You loved it! Farid:... Zaid: Khalid came along and Farrah hated it! She tried to sell him to our next door neighbour. She dropped him too, but luckily it was only on the sofa. Farrah: I tried my hardest. Khal and I would fight all the time, right up until I moved out, but I wouldn’t let anyone else mess with him. Zaid: Farid and I got on fine with him. Farid would always help him with his homework...they fell out for a bit, but it’s fine now. Khalid: I was a bit of a dick. Farid: It’s fine...we all get on now.

11. Are you closer now or when you were younger?

Zaid: We’re much closer now, but we’ve always been close. Farid: Definitely. Living in different houses is great.

12. Did you compete with each other?

Zaid: No, we all wanted different things. Farrah: Khalid and I would compete for attention. I went from being the only girl to being in the middle when Khalid came along. Khalid: Yeah, she was evil.

13. Which one of you is more likely to turn out like your mum or dad?

Zaid, Farid and Khalid: Farrah! Farrah: True... Zaid: Farrah is just Mum but younger, it’s scary! Khalid: Zaid is kind of like Dad though. Farrah: He is, but let’s be fair, even Zaid has more humour than dad!

14. Which one is most likely to have a big family?

Farid: Farrah. Farrah: What? Zaid has triplets and he’s adopting Lucie! I have Hadi. Farid: Come on, you have Hadi, Harry’s younger brother and sister still live with you...Lloyd and Jelena and you’ve got guardianship of Benny. You’re like Susan Kennedy with fashion sense. Farrah: I’m glad you added that last bit. Khalid: I could have lots of children that no one knows about. Farrah: You can’t get your pillow or your socks pregnant, Khal. Sorry!

15. What is one thing about your sibling(s) that has changed as you’ve gotten older?

Zaid: Farrah has become more responsible and it’s pretty scary! None of us would have guessed that she’d be a mum with a full house. Farid: Yeah, that was a shocker! Khalid has become a lot more mature and handles things a lot better without being... Farrah: A dick. Khalid: Hey...wait, that’s pretty fair. Farid: That pretty much. Farrah: Zaid is toning it down with the career stuff now that he’s a dad. It suits him a lot more and he’s happier. Khalid: Farid is a lot more...well he’s himself. He was always quiet and awkward and he still is, but we know he’s not hiding anything.

16. Who’s better at maths?

Khalid: Farid. Zaid: No competition there.

17. Who is more pessimistic and who is more optimistic?

Farrah: Farid can be a bit pessimistic, but Khalid and I are optimists. I don’t know about Zaid... Zaid: I’m a realist. Farrah: You’re something, but the label fell off.

18. Is there anything you don’t like doing together?

Zaid: Watching TV. Farrah and Khalid won’t shut up. Farrah: I’ll second that, you watch some shit on TV. Farid: Zaid is the only one who’ll really play video games with me. The other two are sore losers. Khalid: I hate playing football with Farid. Farid: I hate playing football.

19. Which one of you do you think will get married first?

Zaid: Sophie and I are engaged, but Farrah and Farid aren’t far behind! Farrah: Don’t scare me, I’ve had enough commitment to last me a lifetime recently. I wouldn’t discount Khalid, he could surprise us with Edyta...if she gets her act together. Khalid: No comment. Farrah: What’s that meant to mean? Farid: He’s already married. Farrah: WHAAAT? Khalid: I’m not...but Farid is taking Drew to Champ Les Sims to propose... Farid: Shut up. Farrah: Tell me everything.

20. Lastly, how often do you argue?

Zaid: Farid and I don’t really, but Farrah likes arguing. Farid: I’ve had a few arguments with Khalid too. Farrah: Khalid is a dick. I grew up with three brothers. It was a shitshow and they all annoyed me. Can you blame me? Khalid: Yeah, I can. Farrah: Shut up, Khalid.

#sims-for-breakfast #simsforbreakfast #ts3 #the sims 3 #ice-creamforbreakfast #khalid farsi #zaid farsi #farrah farsi #farid farsi

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365daysofsasuhina · 5 years

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[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Eight: Science ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

It’s a rainy day today. Not that it matters much to Sasuke: all of his classes are indoors, and he’s got a car to drive home from school when the time comes. But for now, he’s off to his last class of the day.

Home ec.

He’s about three weeks into the school year, and he’s actually turning out to be glad he has this class. The rest of his schedule has homework like you wouldn’t believe, tests far more often than he’d like, and projects out the wazoo. So, the last hour block of his day has turned into a saving grace.

There’s no tests. Very light homework. And most of the in-class work is actually...enjoyable. It’s just a very relaxing class. The old woman teaching it seems to know that most of them aren’t really there to be professional homemakers, so she takes the whole thing a bit lightly. Most days they just go over a chapter in the book, discuss a thing or two, maybe do a worksheet...and otherwise, they’re free to practice whatever falls under the proper category. For most, that’s either sewing or cooking.

Sasuke’s taken up the latter for the most part. Turns out he’s really not that great at sewing.

Naruto still gives him daily crap about it, but it doesn’t really bother him anymore. His mother, as it turns out, is thrilled he’s taking it. She’s had him help out in the kitchen several times since starting to make dinner. And...it’s nice. He can’t remember the last time he spent a lot of time with his mother. And she seems more than pleased to have him around giving her a hand, rather than buried in his room doing homework as he is for the rest of the night.

Itachi teased him a bit about being ahead of the game when it comes to finding a spouse: surely his new skills will give him an edge. But otherwise, he’s been asking him what he’s learned whenever he comes home on the weekends to see family.

And Sasuke’s been making a new friend.

Hinata’s always his partner. She’s the only other senior, and though he’s hardly done anything intimidating, the rest of the girls seem to be far too nervous to approach him. Which he...doesn’t mind. He’s not here to rub elbows with underclassmen. He’s just here to get his miscellaneous credit and be done with it.

...but given he doesn’t have anything squared up for next semester...maybe he’ll come back to it. It’s not like he has anything else lined up.

And he enjoys the class. And his current company.

“It really is just science, you know.”

“Huh?”

Noticing he’s been spacing out, Hinata laughs softly. “Cooking! It’s all chemistry, and knowing how to use it to get the results you w-want.”

Sasuke blinks. He’s...never really thought about it that way. “Yeah, I...guess you’re right.”

“I mean...I guess I don’t know the specifics of it,” she giggles, tucking hair behind her ear. “But I know generally what happens, and why it works. One of these days, w-we should make bread! But...it takes a while. Probably too long for class…”

“I can stay after, if you want.”

That earns a blink. “...well, I don’t have volleyball tonight - our c-coach is out of town. You want to try it…?”

“Sure.”

“Okay! We actually have a bread machine here, so...that takes a lot of the work out,” she replies, giving a small smile. “Otherwise the kneading and rising are q-quite the process. We’ll have to do the whole thing another time.”

“Kneading?”

“Mhm! Mixing the dough by hand, and g-getting the right consistency. Personally I find it rather calming, but...bread can be rather temperamental! Temperature and time and all that.”

“Oh…” Mikoto’s never made bread from scratch that he can remember, so...Sasuke has no idea. “Guess I’ll take your word for it for now.”

“Don’t worry, the machine does all the hard parts. Let’s see…” Digging into a cabinet, she fetches a book that looks to be all about bread. “Hm...here we go! This recipe here is for a machine this size.”

They split up and gather the proper ingredients, of which there aren’t many. Hinata measures them out, including yeast.

“See these?”

“Uh...yeah.”

“This is yeast. They’re what make bread what it is, really.” Dumping them in, she explains, “They sort of...feed off the flour. They break it down into s-sugar, which they then metabolize, which makes carbon dioxide and alcohol! Bubbles of it form, and inflate the bread, and that’s how it rises! It also helps form gluten, which makes the dough sort of...springy! Kneading does that too. But the little paddle in there will both mix the dough, a-and knead it.”

Hinata points a finger at the little menu of controls. “So, we did a recipe for a pound and a half loaf...and we’ll do light crust. Then we just push this button, and…!”

The machine gives a whir, and Sasuke actually leans back in surprise, earning a giggle from his partner. For about a minute, it gives little spurts of movement, Sasuke peering over and watching through the glass top. Then suddenly, it barrels into a constant pace.

“It’s got several steps to go through, and it’ll even bake it when the dough’s done!”

“...why does anyone make bread by hand when there’s something like this?”

She laughs. “Well, there’s a lot of different ways to make bread, and this only does some of them. But for something basic, yeah, it’s p-pretty handy. Actually doing it all by hand is pretty fun, though...and personally I think it’s more rewarding. It’s like the brownies we made the first day! Sure, you can b-buy a box mix, and it just takes a few ingredients and some stirring. But wasn’t it fun to do it all from scratch?”

“...I guess so.”

“Overall, cooking’s really not all that complicated. Just a little math, and reading directions. You can do fancier things as you l-learn, of course...but a lot of people seem to overestimate how hard it is.”

A while later, class ends, but the pair opt to remain. Left to their own devices, they check the machine every so often, but mostly they’ve got little else to do but idle.

Which leads to browsing the net and watching videos about yeast and baking.

“See the foam?”

“Huh...so those things are alive…?”

“Yeah! It’s how they metabolize stuff to make bread rise. I told you, it’s s-science!”

Sasuke chuckles. “Yeah...math, science...guess I don’t need to be taking calculus and chemistry, do I?”

That earns a laugh.

Then, for a while, they sit atop desks and just watch the rain slither down the classroom windows. Though it’s hardly late, the sky is dark enough to make it look like evening.

“This is going to be fun to walk home in,” Hinata eventually muses.

“You walk?”

“Yeah, I only live a few blocks away.”

“I’ve got a car - I’ll give you a lift.”

“Oh, y-you don’t have to -”

“I know. I want to.”

Observing him quietly with a slow blink, Hinata breathes a small sigh of defeat.

It’s then the machine beeps.

“Oh! It’s done!” Hopping down, Hinata scurries across the room with Sasuke on her heels. “Here, we need hot pads…”

Lifting the lid, the smell of bread fills the air. A perfectly fluffy loaf is revealed, golden brown and steaming. Carefully, Hinata lifts the pan out, and with a spatula loosens it from the sides. With a shake, it plops out onto a cutting board.

The pair lean over and observe before looking to each other.

“...taadaa!”

They let it cool for a few minutes before breaking out a serrated knife, carefully cutting a few pieces. Hinata doesn’t even dress it with anything, just peeling off a chunk and eating it with a happy hum. “Mm…!”

Sasuke does the same, chewing thoughtfully before nodding. “That...is the best bread I’ve ever had.”

“N-nothing beats bread fresh out of the oven. Er...bread machine.” Eating another piece, she asks, “So? Worth the wait?”

“Oh yeah. The power of science.”

“Yummy science!”

They split the loaf in half and each take a box, Hinata gathering up her things before they both sprint to Sasuke’s car. “Holy crap, it’s r-really coming down!”

“Which is why you’re catching a ride and not walking,” Sasuke replies from the driver’s seat. Once they’re buckled in, he makes his way out of the lot and following Hinata’s directions.

“I think I might eat the rest of this while I do my homework,” she laughs, smelling the box in her lap. “You better not l-let me make another one for a while, or I’m gonna get fat.”

“Worth it, in all honesty.”

Pulling up into her driveway, he waits for her to open her umbrella out the door. “Try not to drown.”

“I think I can make it.” Stepping out, she peers back into the car. “Hey, t-thanks for making the bread with me today. That was f-fun!”

“Yeah...we’ll do it again sometime.”

“Okay! Bye, Sasuke.”

“Later.” Staying to make sure she gets in okay, Sasuke backs out and heads for home.

His car’s gonna smell like bread for a week...and it’s going to make him hungry. And also remind him of today.

Which’ll make him happy.

Phew, it's not one am for once! xD So this is a sequel to day ninety-eight, I believe: Sasuke's introduction to Home Ec class! Turns out he's liking it better than he'd feared. I took home ec for like...a few days in high school before switching to drama. While I LOVED drama, I'm a little sad I didn't get to take Home Ec, lol - seems like it'd be a rather low-key class. I've also made bread in a bread machine, but...I've not bravened up to doing it all by hand yet, haha - we'll both get there one of these days! I will agree though: warm, fresh bread is hard to beat. Anywho, that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed - thanks for reading!

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #best years of your life [ au ]#365daysofsasuhina

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olicitysecretsanta · 6 years

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Planning

Happy Holidays Sammie @gohstfoxgoddess I hope you enjoy this. I am not very good at third person so I went with what I know. Lisa @lageniuswannabe

Rating: Fluff with angst rating is General Audience.

William was at school, Oliver was at city hall and Felicity was looking at their new home with a sense of peace surrounding her heart. She should call Curtis maybe he could help the easy part of hanging up clothes and putting away things was done. She wanted it to be homey when her boys got there. She peeked out as she heard the door open and saw standing in the doorway Raisa. Felicity was always in awe of how organized and loving she was.

“Felicity, are you okay?” Raisa smiled at her.

“ Just trying to figure out how to fit my stuff in here, I don’t want it to feel like I’m overtaking everything and I don’t want William to feel out of place, I just wish I knew the best way to merge integrate our lives. Or so I have no idea!” As her babble stopped Felicity hoped Raisa understood the explination.

“Let me help. I think I know what you mean. Oliver has no warmth in here, and I think you add the warmth. Felicity” Raisa hugged her.

Felicity smiled as they get to work. When Raisa pulled out pictures of their trip, Felicity explained reminiscing about Europe and Bali. After Felicity explained that some of those pictures Felicity still can’t look at, Raisa told her in a gentle tone, “Talk to Oliver about these things. He needs to know how you feel so you two can work this out.”

Felicity picked up the blanket Oliver bought for her telling Raisa about it. “He probably doesn’t even remember buying this. I got cold when he was gone so he bought this to keep me warm,”

“May I?” Raisa asked her pointing to the blanket. Raisa sweetly draped the blanket over the couch. “Now it is close by.”

One box remained marked Hanukkah.

Felicity lit up when she sees her Menorah. “I forgot that starts on December 12th and my mom will be here, I’ll ask all Oliver if it’s okay if I explain it to William. “

“I think any child would love a holiday they get 8 days of presents for,” both women laughed. Felicity put the box aside for now and then stored the Christmas decorations.

Raisa made some coffee and Felicity grabs her Doctor Who mug and filled it. While she was working on her laptop at the kitchen counter, Raisa starts to get things put away from laundry and clean up.

“Raisa, I will go get William from school, see you shortly,” she yelled as she headed out the door.

……

As they walk back into the apartment, Will and Felicity were talking almost at high speeds. Will told her, “My English teacher gave us an assignment to write a story about the most exciting things that happened to me at Christmas.”

William told Felicity “I cannot remember good times right now. All it’s going to do is make me sad I can barely look at her picture without crying, knowing she lied to me my whole life. I should just make something up.”

“Will, you can’t do that. I know it’s going to be hard. Here let me read what the assignment says.” William handed her the paper.

‘Write about something exciting that has or could happen to you for Winter Holidays due December 20th. Mr. Smithers.’

“Will, it says could happen here too. You could write about this year coming up or 5 years from now.” Felicity handed the note back to him.

“Yeah, sure right my dad’s in jail this Christmas and all because he cared more about saving the city than me!” Will stormed off and closed his bedroom door with such force that it rolls back a bit.

She looked around but Raisa was gone. So she picked up her cell phone and texted Oliver.

F- Be prepared. Will not in a good mood. Call me when you are not busy.

O- I will in 5 minutes.

Felicity walked over to the balcony and snow falls softly outside she can smell dinner that is already started waiting for Oliver to call her. Why do English teachers have to be such a pain in the ass? Felicity thought to herself as her phone rang.

“Hello mayor handsome.”

“Hey beautiful,” Oliver sounded so good on the phone. “What is going on?”

Felicity explained to him about the English assignment and how upset William was telling Oliver everything he said.

“I will cancel my last meeting and come home.” Oliver Explained.

“William? Hon, Dad is on his way home. Can I get you anything to drink? Will, I love you, but please talk to me or your dad or both of us, please.”

She heard him crying. “Be out in a minute,” he called.

“Okay,” Felicity’s heart breaks a little. She hated that he is hurt from all this, he never chose it. Two minutes later, the door slides open. William grabbed a water as he sat on the couch beside her.

“Why do English teachers always make life harder, math is so much easier than English.” He complained.

Felicity pulled him in for a hug and sighing “I know what you mean math is straightforward and logical. Other things involve our emotions I just hope you know we are all here whenever you want to vent, argue, or hug. That is what family does.”

William wiped his eyes and took a few more sips of water.

Felicity wished she knew the best way to get rid of his fears about Oliver being the Green Arrow. She has that same sort of fear, but she is part of the team understanding the reason Oliver is needed. Maybe William would be able to handle it better if he knew more about the team. William would grasp how the team protect each other, love each other and are part of his family, also.

Oliver walked in and sits down on the coffee table facing them both. William looked up with eyes shining as he stood to hug his dad.

“Dad, I need help to understand. I need to know more about your other world so that I know it’s safer than I imagine it to be. My imagination is probably a lot worse than what it is actually like.” He took a deep breath, “I just think it could help me to understand you more.”

Felicity looked at Oliver as she told him, “you make some good points Will. Can you give dad and me a minute to talk, first?”

“Okay, I’ll go start my math homework,” Will went to his room.

Oliver shifted to sit beside Felicity.

“I think you have a decision ahead of you,” Felicity kissed his cheek.

Oliver turned and kissing her more fully. “Tell me what you think, please.”

“Oliver, I can’t decide for you, you are his father. I just wouldn’t feel right. Felicity lowered head.

Oliver lifted her chin. “Fe-li-ci-ty, we are partners in everything. This will not only affect him, but us the team and our children, our future. I trust your opinion always. Please talk to me.”

“Okay,” she began lacing her fingers through his. “I think we should show him, I mean he hasn’t asked before just always assumed things which has got to be a lot scarier than what the actual is. He hasn’t spent any time with the team where he could really get to know just how dedicated and how much of a family we all are. Thea told me he asked her a bunch of questions already and she wasn’t sure how much to share. So she kept telling him to talk to you. He has been talking to the therapist at A.R.G.U.S., but she can only do so much. I just think it’s time, you know.”

“I know I was just hoping it wouldn’t have to be this soon Felicity. I was out and it just keeps pulling me back in, hell, you’re halfway out I don’t know.” He started playing with her wedding band, “I dragged…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there you did not drag me into this I made a very informed decision Oliver, you know that!” using her loud voice.

“I know, I know. Okay, what if we bring him down there and then he gets all inspired or decides he doesn’t want any part of it. I just got him in my life He finally calls me Dad, I can’t lose that.” Shaking his head, “what if he decides he’d rather go live with his grandparents in Central City, I don’t want that at all and this shouldn’t have to be his life. Maybe I shouldn’t have promised his Mom.”

“Look at me,” she reached for his face. “You are not going to lose him, I think you will be just fine and think about what he could actually be imagining. It has got to be worse than the actual. With the team and everything we can take steps back and have been. The world there is so much brighter than when you started your solo mission 6 years ago. Oliver, we have to do something to help him feel better. He saw the news last week Thea tried to turn the TV off, but she said he saw some of it and that is when he started asking questions,” she started stroking his beard.

“Okay, if we do this, he needs to promise to ask questions and be ready for answers and not want to run away from the answers. I also want him to know that there are always other ways to be a hero.” Oliver kissed her palm.

“Agreed” Felicity nodded.

“Oh, also I want him to go with you to see what you and Curtis are doing with Helix Dynamics maybe even spend a day with Dinah or Quentin at police headquarters,” he looked at her and she nodded her head in agreement.

‘Will come out here bud.” Oliver called and William sat on the ottoman and looked at his father.

“If we do this, there are going to be conditions.” Oliver started, “you need to understand you will not be leaving the bunker staying in Felicity’s eyesight the whole time, you will also agree to go to Felicity’s business and see what they are doing to change the world and go for a day with Quentin to see what life is like with a badge.”

“Thank you, thank you, I agree.” Will hugged his Dad and Felicity.

“Also, we don’t want you to get your hopes up or see things that are just not there so you really need to listen to Felicity in the bunker, and if you have questions ask, but know she won’t always be able to answer right away. She is a very important part of the team and is sometimes the only eyes we have,” Oliver kissed the back of her hand “Will, please understand? I know we chose this life and to live this way. I want so much for you.”

“I know that I promise I will listen to Felicity and not to be annoying and I will talk to both of you about everything,” Will crossed his heart and gave another hug.

……

In bed Felicity stares up at the ceiling thinking so very loudly she doesn’t even hear Oliver at first until he kissed her on the forehead and said, “you’re thinking so loud I can almost hear it Felicity.” She wrinkles her forehead a bit. “What is going on in that beautiful brain of yours, Felicity Smoak Queen? Talk to me.”

She looked him in the eye and replied, “just nervous. I hope everything stays quiet for days with the Holiday’s starting and Mom coming here and planning this party with Thea. Now Will coming into the bunker. Just praying, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” as he looked at his wife of one week. “I noticed the pictures and things of yours finally landed and made me smile when I saw your elephant over there.”

“Yeah, Raisa, helped me today. I hope it’s not too much. I tried to not overtake the space.”

“It’s your home Felicity. It’s our home. As a family we can sort through everything else this weekend.” Oliver started with a small chaste kiss and Felicity reached up and grabbed his face, pulling him in for a deeper kiss.

……

Waking up the next morning, Felicity stretched and glanced at her wedding ring married finally.

Crap, Mom is coming today. I got to pick her up at 9. Felicity thinks. She got ready for the day. She walked into the living room and saw Will in her green blanket, which made her smile. No one in the kitchen, she noticed.

“Morning Will.”

“Morning Lissy,” William smiled.

“Where is dad?”

“He went for a run about 10 minutes ago.” William smiled at her.

“Whatcha watching?” Felicity asked.

“Teen Titans, want to watch?”

“Yeah,” Felicity sat down and Will shared the blanket with her. After the show is over Felicity told him to get dressed. They had to go to pick her mom up at the airport.

A few minutes later, Oliver came in from his jog as he grabbed her around the waist.

“You’re all sweaty,” she squealed.

“I thought you like me all sweaty.” Oliver kissed her on the nose.

“I do, but not when I’m dressed for picking up my Mom at the airport and you need to get dressed.”

Oliver kissed her forehead and went to get ready for the day.

With Felicity’s Mom coming Raisa is making a special dinner.

“Morning, Raisa,” Williams said. Felicity smiles and straightened Williams tie.

“How many people are coming today again, Felicity?” Raisa asked.

“Let me see Mom, John, Lyla, J.J., and Thea plus us makes 7 with you.” Felicity answered.

“I’m bringing chairs from storage when we get back,” Oliver added.

Raisa hugged William, “behave William and stick close to Felicity and your father.”

“Yes Ma'am.”

“Light breakfast big meal later,”

…..

At the airport, Felicity was tapping her toe nervously. She has been distant with her Mom since she went back to Vegas only because she was so busy, but hopefully Donna won’t be too mad about her and Oliver being married. She looked at William and he looked like he wants to bolt.

Oliver approached William. “What’s wrong bud?”

“Nervous” William swallowed “What if Felicity’s Mom hates me, or I don’t know her, so what if we don’t get along.”

“Donna is an incredibly loving woman. She has forgiven me for breaking Felicity’s heart once. She knows that we are all family now, I’m sure she is just as nervous as you. Donna is really enthusiastic and loves hugs, so don’t be surprised,” Oliver rubbed his back.

“My mom will love you as much as I do Will, don’t worry…..”

“Baby, Oh my God you look so beautiful. Oliver honey, how are you? You must be William? I’m Donna, Felicity’s Mom but, if you want you can call me Bubbe.” Donna hugged all three.

Felicity grabbed her arms, “slow down ok? Show us where your bags are and lets go do this back at the apartment.”

“Okay honey, I’m just so excited my baby is married.”

“Donna it is really is good to see you,” Oliver added.

“Oliver call me Mom honey.” Donna smiled.

“Okay, Mom” Oliver grabbed her bag from the carousel.

“Let’s go home.” Felicity replied as she gave William a small hug..

They got back to the apartment and Raisa had set out a light lunch for them. Donna got the tour from William. They seem to be getting along, “what does Bubbe mean?” William asked.

“Its Hebrew for grandmother but if you don’t feel comfortable William you can call me Donna. But just so you know I am going to spoil you like a grandson, because you are a part of my family now as well. You have so many people who love you and that includes me.” Donna hugged William

“Thanks Bubbe.” William smiled. “Felicity can you help me with my project from science fair later?”

“Of course Will.”

As William goes to his room Oliver followed him. “You okay Will?”

“Yeah, I guess I am kind of missing Grandma and Grandpa a little. They weren’t around a lot, but Grandpa always made Christmas better by taking me ice skating and stuff, while Mom and Grandma argued all the time. Do Felicity and her Mom argue?” Will asked.

“No, not really, they talk and may disagree a little bit, but they don’t argue.”

William played with his tie, “Mom said Grandma was just difficult, but I heard her call me bastard a few times that is usually when Grandpa would sneak me out of the house. So I guess I don’t have good experience with Grandmas.” William tugged his tie off.

“Will I think it’s about time you got a good Bubbe experience? Donna’s great and she would never think or say anything like that.” Oliver hugged his son. How dare these people treat his son this way?

“Mom, where are you?” Felicity called.

“Looking at this view, I didn’t realize there could be a better view than your loft,” Donna said.

“Yeah, it’s great. You’re okay staying at the loft with Thea right?” Felicity asked.

“Of course, I love Thea. She’s very vibrant like me.”

“I’ve missed you Mom,” Felicity hugged her.

“Me too baby girl.”

Oliver came up from behind. “Hey do you guys want to go skating tomorrow? Will said something that makes me want to take him skating.”

“Sure we can drink cocoa and watch you skate.” Donna hugged Oliver.

“Desert girl Oliver not sure skates and I get along…”

“Come on try it for Will,” Oliver said as he kissed her on the nose.

“Alright but no laughing when I fall on my face or other body parts,” she poked him on the chest.

“No promises. Hey Will come out here, we’re going skating tomorrow Felicity needs lessons.”

“Hey, maybe Rene and Zoey could come. Zoey plays hockey for school.” Felicity said.

“That would be cool.” William smiled and ran back into his room.

“I think he likes her,” she hugged Oliver as she texted Rene then Thea, to see where she was. “Thea is in the elevator.”

“Dad. Can you come here?” William yelled.

“What’s up?” Oliver looked in the door.

“My skates pinch, I need new ones.” William mumbled.

“We can get them tomorrow morning, first thing Sportsplex opens at 9 tomorrow. Don’t worry, all good probably have to get myself some too, can’t remember where mine are?” Oliver reassured him.

“I think they’re at the loft in the storage room, Felicity, Donna it is so good to see you again,” Thea smiled hugging Donna.

“Auntie Thea!” William ran towards her.

“Hey Will.”

“Hey, so good to see you moving about the world Speedy. I’ve missed you,” Oliver hugged Thea.

“Oh my God, this party planning is going to be so fun and expect a lot because I am paying you two back for just up and getting married,” Thea laughed.

Oliver and Felicity groaned at the same time.

“Serves you both right and I am so bringing the glitter Thea,” Donna added.

“Mom no glitter, please!” Felicity face palmed herself. William and Oliver just started laughing.

Raisa walked in at that moment. “I’m so happy to see everyone so happy both your children deserve all this happiness.” Thea hugged Raisa and kissed her cheek. “Enough of that enjoy while I get dinner ready.”

The girls sat on the sofa and Will asked if they wanted to play one of his MCU games. “I’m so winning this time you and Lis can eat my dust,” Thea exclaimed.

Oliver just stood there watching it all happen, Felicity came up to him and hugged him whispering, “we both deserve this much happiness, but you, especially you, my wonderful husband deserve this much.” Oliver smiled down at her eyes, shining everything he dreamed of 4 years ago, watching her and Lyla after JJ was born. It’s finally here. Oliver kissed the top of her head and said “thank you.” Felicity smiled up at him, “you never have to thank me not ever.” He hugged her tighter and then they both grabbed controllers. “You’re going down Speedy.”

The night continued like that, with William showing JJ how to work the controls for Mario kart, Lyla and John just enjoying this time as much as Oliver and Felicity. Thea turned to Donna, “come on Mama Smoak, let’s get out of here lots to do tomorrow.” Thea and Donna rise to leave and John grabbing a very sleepy JJ head home. Oliver and Felicity hug Raisa and thank her for dinner. William went to get ready for bed.

“Felicity thank you for making my dad so happy love you, goodnight Dad and Felicity.” William closed his door and went to bed.

Felicity turned to Oliver, “he loves me Oh my God I didn’t say it back.

Oliver hugged her, “tomorrow. We have a million tomorrows, now.” they head to the room hands interlaced Oliver turned and pulled her in for a kiss that was so tender and loving. Felicity reached around his neck and made the kiss more passionate as they headed towards their bedroom. They closed the door to their room and head to the bed. The next couple of days was a fury of fun and planning and shopping.

William smiling a lot, not much had happened in the city they were just getting things repaired, prepared and sorted when Felicity got a text.

C-Dead body looks like Black Siren.

“Great? Oliver.” She showed her husband the text, “your mom and Thea are busy and Raisa is at a friend’s. So I guess we can bring him. If you think he’s ready? It’s just recon anyway.”

“I agree as long as he brings his homework.”

Felicity and Oliver knock on his door, “William pack your homework and we’ll grab Big Belly on our way to the bunker. Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” Will packed his backpack. They headed out to the bunker.

……..

“Hi Curtis” William yelled running down the stairs.

“Will, what are you doing here?” Curtis looked confused.

“We thought he should see what happens try to quell some of his fears and maybe help his understand better,” Oliver slapped Curtis on the back.

Felicity added, “he will only see what I think he should and listen to me. Right, William?”

“Yes Lissy I promised.” William set his bag on the conference table and opened it up getting his stuff out.

“Suit Up”

Everyone went to get dressed and Felicity turned to her monitors hacking into the nearby traffic cameras and Police radios. “Looks suspicious, be cautious rooftop across from the site looks clear and good vantage point.”

The team heads out. Felicity put the bunker on lock down and turned on the com’s and body cameras.

“Okay,” Felicity motioned for William to come over. He went to where Felicity pointed. “See this is Green Arrow’s Camera and Mr. Terrific’s.” William went to speak Felicity held up a finger and silenced her com. “Okay what?”

“Why did you do that?” William asked.

“Because if anyone may be listening on the com I don’t want them to hear you, Will. That would not be good. So if you want to ask me something tap my shoulder and I will give you a signal it’s okay to talk like this.” Felicity made a thumbs up symbol, “and I will go like this when you are not to speak,” she made the sh symbol on her lips, William nodded.

“So that’s Green Arrow, Dad right?” Felicity nodded her head. They arrived and Felicity gave him the quiet symbol.

“Definitely something out of sorts here Overwatch” Curtis whispered.

“Looks staged, stay low Terrific.” Oliver looked around the setting. He noticed a glint from the window in the building across from the shooting. “Focus on that window Overwatch.”

“On it. According to heat signatures there is no one in there but the Wi-Fi protection levels are definitely James type. Probably a trap of some sort. Stay out of there.” Felicity screamed, “there is definitely something off like a trap of sorts. Terrific send in a T-sphere.”

Curtis threw the sphere at the window capturing a picture of a thermo imaging camera and laptop before going dead. “I was right some sort of trap.” Felicity started chewing on her bottom lip. “I am going to send a message to the police anonymously about a possible trap above their heads using his IP from there.”

“On our way back,” Oliver told Felicity.

…….

Back at the lair they watched from a camera that was placed on the adjacent building. The camera was pointed at the scene below supposedly a trap of some sort for the hero’s.

“If I dig further into his firewall he may be able to piggyback of that to watch us through our cameras again. I think we have to let Dinah do the leg work on this as a lieutenant.” Felicity started typing a message to Dinah.

“Okay let’s go home Thea and your Mom were coming over for dinner to finalize the reception.” Oliver held out his hand for his wife.

William packed up his back pack and looked a little dejected, “kind of disappointed I didn’t really see anything.” Curtis looked at him and said, “Will about 50% of what we do is leg work and recognisance we cannot go into a situation blind and we always trust our instincts. Your Dad taught us that.”

“Good to know you were listening Curtis.” Oliver patted him on the back.

Back at the apartment Oliver showered and Felicity set the table. The lasagna smelled delicious, just then there is a knock on the door. Will ran to answer it. Felicity saw Thea, her Mom and her Father. She quickly ran to pull Will back. “What are you doing here? Mom what is he doing here? Like we don’t have enough to deal with you here.”

Oliver ran out as he pulled on his shirt. “Noah what? Thea did you know about this?”

Donna reached up and grabbed Felicity’s arm. “Baby girl your Dad and I have been talking. I called him and told him you got married. He wanted to be here for you. I promise there is no ulterior motive here other than wanting to be here for his daughter.”

“Mom, he is full of ulterior motives. How can you trust him? I can’t, No you stay on the outside of that door Noah.” She grabbed onto Oliver and collapsed onto the couch.

“Felicity, Baby I wouldn’t have brought him here if I had thought there was an ulterior motive.” Donna tried to sooth Felicity but it was definitely not working.

“Do you want me to ask him to leave?” Oliver looked at Felicity.

“No, I want to know why you think Noah after everything I forgave you 100%. The least you could have done in the last I don’t know a year would be to call me. Honestly, Noah when you left again at Mom’s request what makes you think I would want you to cut me off completely. Where have you been?” Felicity looked directly at her Father waiting for an answer.

“Felicity, I wanted to call you but right after I left your place ARGUS approached me and I have been working with them deep undercover. Lyla thought you might be alright with me being here. She said you could call her and verify everything.” Noah looked down at the floor. “I have always loved you Felicity and I am so happy that you are happy and I just want the opportunity to be a Father walking his daughter down the aisle.”

“Oliver, I don’t know what to do.” Felicity turned into his arms and started crying. Oliver looked at everyone, “give us a minute. Noah come in sit down.” He lifted Felicity and carried her into their bedroom followed by William.

“Felicity, I just want to give you a hug I have never seen you so sad.” William grabbed her around the waist and Felicity kissed the top of his head.

“Thanks buddy, can you give Felicity and I a minute okay? Go play with Aunt Thea in your room. Oh, ask her to turn the oven down will you.” Oliver rubbed his back. “Okay, Dad,” William ran out of the room to his Aunt.

“Honey look at me, this is all up to you but you know how I feel about family. No matter the mistakes my Dad made I would give anything to have him here to see how happy I am and how wonderful our life really is bumps and bruise and all.” He hugged her tight to him. “I think in this maybe call Lyla check his story and then we give him a chance. If he can convince your Mom all this and she has been dead set against him for decade’s maybe he’s telling the truth.”

“Oh God I hope so Oliver I want so bad for this to be true.” She looked up at him and kissed his cheek.

“Call Lyla,” He kissed her on the lips so gently and handed her the phone. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes, hello Lyla I guess you know why I am calling. Is what Noah is saying true has he been working with you? … really, okay. So what, okay top secret. Thanks Lyla.” Felicity hung up.

“I guess he was telling the truth from what I heard.” Felicity nodded at Oliver. “So, Felicity what do you want to do with this? All of it is up to you, Honey.”

“I want him here part of me really does want him here. I am scared so I want us to stay on alert with him. He goes no where near the business or anything else. I really want to be cautiously optimistic, you know.” She looked up at Oliver and he nodded he goes to the kitchen leaving Felicity to freshen up.

“Noah, I called Lyla and yes I do want you here but know there is no way you are going anywhere near my business and I will be observing as much as possible. So you need to get a hotel room as you are not going near the loft.” Felicity looked at him and she reached out to give him a hug. “Thank you for saving my life and I hope that this works.”

“Me too Felicity, I am so very proud of you and Oliver is good for you I can see how much he truly loves you. I will be on my best behaviour.” Noah hugged her back.

“Will can you set another place setting? Let’s eat everyone.” Oliver announced.

Dinner went well with casual conversation and stories of how they got married, leaving out the part about Earth Xer’s. After dinner Donna pulled out her wedding story board. The planning goes well with a veto on Glitter on the tables. Tomorrow should be beautiful and Felicity cannot wait to show the world how much she loves Oliver, oh and her dress. Felicity is sleeping at the loft tonight, even though they are married she liked the idea of seeing him finally waiting for her and them to start their lives in front of everyone they love. She kissed Will on the cheek and then she turned and kissed her husband fully and passionately on the lips. “Mmhmm, see you tomorrow, I love you sooooo much.”

“I love you too and I cannot wait.” Oliver hugs her to him.

Tomorrow can’t wait……

#arrow #olicity #olicity secret santa 2017 #olicity fic #olicity fanfic #submission

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ssquared2018 · 7 years

Note

Hi I was going through the Jaylos tag and saw your post, if you feel up to it would you mind writing my prompt? My prompt is : Jay and Carlos have been together for a long time and have adopted a child and now they are going back to the isle so the "grandparents" can know/meet them. I was wondering what nerves would they have? Especially Carlos with how badly his mother treated him in the past?

(THIS IS ACTUALY MY FIRST EVER ASK AND PROMPT SO THANK YOU, hopefully i can figure out how to respond [hopefully im doing it right])Writer Notes: So i decided to do a sort of prequel to this prompt. I really love it and its an interesting concept, one that ive actually thought a lot about this a lot (minus the kid). If you enjoy the way the story is going just send me an ask to continue and id be happy to. BTW im really bad at picking names so while i was writing i just wrote *insert name* when i was mentioning the kids name so i apologize if his name seems out of context. Also i suck at writing even though i love doing it so sorry in advance. But with out further a due…..

GRANDPARENTS part 1/(?)

It’s been 15 years since they were off the Isle. None of them have thought of going back, thought they finally put that place being them. The rotten four were now living together with a new addition to the family, Jaden, Jay’s and Carlos’ son. Though the four of them raised him together it was Jay’s and Carlos’ who decided they were ready to further their relationship by having a child, asking Evie to be a sergeant. Jaden loved having two moms and two dad, he always got more toy than the other kids in daycare did and because of how cool his parents where he knew things that the other kids didn’t, like how to pickpocket some. Jay taught him that on his 4th birthday, much to Carlos’ annoying not only did he have to deal with his husband sneaking things out his pocket but now he had a kid who would steal his phone to play games on. Carlos always knew he was picking his pocket but never had the heart to tell him, he hated seeing his son upset. Which is why when Jaden comes home from school one day a little less happy Carlos was the first to catch on to it. “Hey kiddo, how was school today?” Carlos said as Jaden and Jay walked through the front door and into the dining room. Before Jay went to the kitchen to grab some food after kissing Carlos on the cheek. “It..was okay.”he responded with a notable pause before sitting down at the table to start his homework. “Oh, really? Just ‘okay’? What did you do today?” Noticing something wrong Carlos got up and moved to sit next to his son at the table. There was a pause before the kid responded, noticeably trying to focus on the homework in front of him, when did first grade start sending home math problems??

“Yeah. It was okay.” Jaden finally responded not looking up from the paper in front of him, “We had to make a family tree today. Mine was smaller than the other kids, since I only have two moms and two dads. Other kids have a bunch of people in there family.”

Carlos felt a lump in his throat he new where this conversation was headed, luckily Jay had came back to join them. He knew that one of Carlos’ fears about parenting was that they would turn out to be like their parents. Mal shared the same concern, not trusting her own bad nature around young kids. Evie had soon reminded them that they were nothing like their parents, at least not any more. They all knew this but it was still a fear that haunted them.

“Well how did having a small family make you feel?” Carlos said as Jay sat down next to him at the table slowly coming to realize what they were talking about. “I like having a small family.” Jaden said with a cheerful grin, “Just.. the other kids were talking about how their grandparents would take them out and spend time with them. I just kind of wish I met my grandparents, even if they aren’t the best people. Maybe they would want to spend time with me too.” he finished starting to put his books away. Jay gripped Carlos’ thigh under the table seeing the noticeable sadness in his face. They were starting to regret having a kid who started reading at 4. It was too early for him to be able to express these kinds of emotions. Though, kids at the age of 6 often did envy the other kids around them. Especially when their family isn’t the most nuclear.

As Jaden left the dining room Jay and Carlos knew they needed to have a talk about the conversation they just had. “What are we going to do about this?” Jay was the first to speak up, attempting to prevent Carlos of reverting to his old habits of internalizing all of his emotions.

“Lets just wait for the girls to come home. We need to talk about this together.” Carlos said looking up to meet Jays eye, “I think it’s time to tell him about them. It might be time to go home.” With that Carlos got out of his chair and headed into the living room, and began to clean.

———–

A few hours later Mal and Evie walked into the house together. Carlos was curled up on the couch in Jay’s arms, they had finally gotten Lil Jay to sleep and were relaxing. “Hey losers.” Mal said before kissing both of them on the cheek and sitting down next to Carlos. Carlos sat up from his position on Jay just as Evie planted herself in the love seat that was perpendicular to the couch, not caring to ‘sit like a lady’. “We need to talk about our son.” Carlos said not wasting any time. All the faces in the room dropped immediately as they all got up and went to the dining room. They had decided early on that when it came time to make important decisions that they would all sit together at the table and talk about it this way all of them would be forced to face the problem rather than running from it like their teenage selves did.

“So is someone gonna tell us what happened?” Evie said not bothering to wait til they were seated. She knew by her friends expressions that nothing had happened to him but their looks also told her it was something to be worried about, so she was.

“He asked about our parents. He wants to meet them, or at least wishes that he could have.” Jay says knowing Carlos, while often very vocal, didn’t have it in him to talk.

Mal’s and Evie’s faces both went stern. “What do you mean he asked about them?” Mal questioned with a hint of aggression.

“In school they were doing a family tree. Which lead to some of the children telling stories about their grandparents.” Jay said not bothering to go into much detail knowing the girls were smart enough to figure the rest out. The room fell silent. None of them knew what to say. On one hand they could just reassure their son that he’s better off not knowing his grandparents, or they could actually tell their son about them and risk him wanting to know more. With many other VKs coming over from the isle it wasn’t hard telling Jaden that they too were born over there, but neither of them went into details about what happened on the isle. But with a father that has the last name DeVil and your mothering saving the kingdom from her your grandmother it wasn’t hard to figure out who exactly your parents were related to. This was often enough for him not to ask many questions, he knew his grandparents were evil and that his parents and other kids came to Auradon because they didn’t want to be. ‘Goddamn school always ruining everything.’ Jay thought to himself, waiting for someone to break the silence. “I think we should tell him about them. About what they did.” Carlos spoke up, “And if he still wants to meet them than we take him over there.” The others looked at him in shock not expecting that solution to come out of his mouth. “But C, do you really think it’s a good idea to expose him to that?” Evie said sitting up in her seat and leaning her body on the table. “He deserves to know his roots. It isn’t like he’ll have to grow up there, we’ll be there with him. None of us have went soft while being in Auridon, hell Mal works out twice a week. And the kid already knows how to sword fight.” Carlos said with agitation in his voice, “It’s the worse case scenario any way. I just wonder if we’re ready to stop running and finally face our parents.”

Another pause. They all new they weren’t but that they needed to. They were 32 years old and still found themselves waking up from nightmares and having panic attacks in the supermarket. When they first came off the isle and defeated Maleficent all they did was run after that. Even when they went to save Ben from Uma, who was now a close friend, they did whatever it took to avoid their parents, all except for Mal of course. Til this day the four of them wondered how their parents would react to seeing them again. Would Jafar still try to make Jay steal for him or would he just attack him. Does Evil Queen still care if Evie doesn’t have a prince? How would she react to knowing that instead of a prince she had a wife, and he two best friends? Would Cruella still expect Carlos to look after her furs? Would she attempt to take advantage of Jaden? Another one of Carlos’ fears, his son being subjected to Cruella’s torture. He couldn’t count how many times he woke up from a dream where he was unable to save the boy from that fate. These were the worse nights. “I agree with Carlos” Mal spoke up, reaching a reassuring hand out to the previously names boy. “It’s time. I know I no longer have to worry about my mother, since she died in lizard form a few years ago, but it still something that we need to deal with. Whether or not we decide to take Jaden to the isle we should talk to him about them, and take a visit there ourselves. You guys deserve closure. Besides we’re adults now and their old people. We have each other and could easily kick their asses.” With this the group laughed all silently agreeing. They sat there for a few hours discussing how they were going to address this to their son. They would be exposing him to years of their person torture. This both made them scared it would scar him and change his perception of them. Hopefully he wouldn’t want to meet them, but if he did they were ready for it. Or where they…

#Jaylos #Descendants #descendants 2 #malvie #mal #evie #jay #carlos de vil #carlos #parents #fanfic #prompt #other tags becuz im bad at tagging #jay descendants

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dark-s1ayer-blog · 6 years

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Tornado of Emotions (After the Storm Part 1)

SPOILER WARNING FOR LIFE IS STRANGE SEASON 1

I didn't realize a video game could impact me in the way this one has. I've been a gamer since I was in Elementary School, and it was just something to pass the time. Games back then, were like looking forward to Saturday morning cartoons, or the next big hollywood blockbuster to arrive in theatres. It was this adrenaline rush, this test of skill, hand-eye coordination, a way to get together and mess around with friends and family. But it was also an escape from a terrible situation.

My childhood was one of immense emotion, struggle and sadly, difficulty. My mother and father had divorced, I still have no memory of the actual moment, but it was something that troubled me growing up. But nothing could prepare me for the fact that my entire childhood was one of constant fear, feeling like I was stuck in some kind of suspense/thriller/horror film. A family member physically abused me. The person was dealing with their own difficulties, I can see that now, but at the time, to me, it had put me in fear for my life, constantly.

I was never safe. Or at least, I never felt safe. Even when I slept, it was in constant dread, fearing the next day. It didn't seem like I got any rest or relief, as my nightmares would indicate. School didn't make things better it seemed, due to my own difficulties with certain subjects like Math, or dealing with homework, but most of that was normal. And regretfully, so was the bullying. Yeah, I went through that too. Elementary School, Middle School and High School.

School wasn't all bad, though. With most of my family not really understanding, knowing, or seeing what was going on, school was one of my safe havens, which was an actual a surprise to me. I guess it was because of my friends. They became everything to me. An extended family of sorts. Recess was practically my favorite part of the school day, they were a light in the darkness.

I didn't leave and graduate Elementary school unscathed though. I finally cracked. I remember bits and pieces as I look back now. It was one of the first moments I had considered the unthinkable. I was in so much emotional pain, feeling like I could tell no one, fearing that my abuser would find out and either continuing the abuse or worse, kill me. I broke down and said the words in the middle of a class.

"I WANT TO DIE."

This is not something any person wants to hear. It doesn't matter, if you're a child, a teacher, a parent, whoever you are, no one should have to see it, let alone experience it. But I knew it was this one part of me finally breaking through so I could shout it out loud. It was my cry for help. And it was when I started getting professional help.

But as I got help, the problem itself still lingered. It was like we treated the symptoms but not the disease. I remember writing my first suicide note. It still pains me to think about how low I had sunk at that point. I was entering middle school, attempting to get help, but it just, didn't feel like things were getting better. People were beginning to distance themselves from me, and I felt even more isolated then.

I eventually moved out of my abuser's reach. I still remember how it affected my family when the truth came out. There was already trouble amongst them, this probably didn't make it better. But I felt like I was free for the first time in my life. I began seeing a new therapist, made it through middle school, and entered high school.

All of this came at a heavy price though. I thought that moving would mean I was free, I was safe, that I could move on. But like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, it stuck to me. My pain, the memories, the torment, it followed me. I was trying to figure out my life, school and deal with these issues, and again was being bullied in school all whilst dealing with everything else.

I had also given up a lot of friends in the process. Not by choice. I did attempt to reconnect, to hang onto them, but eventually the friends from my elementary school days were gone. But somehow, middle school all the way through high school, I made new ones. Yet again, I had that light in the darkness. I looked forward to every single moment with them, because like my other friends, it was like an extended family. No, they were indeed my family.

Now we come to where Life is Strange is connected to me. Any who read this may have already noticed the connections. To those who haven't played the game, it is about a thoughtful, empathetic teenage girl named Max who hopes to be a photographer. The story is about Max reconnecting with her best friend Chloe and solving a mystery. It also deals with numerous issues from suicide, bullying, grief, drug use, and numerous others.

I thought that all three experiences from four different schools (two different middle schools, due to moving) were difficult enough, but my past seemed it was never far behind. Whilst dealing with bullies at school, my stress, my anxiety, and my depression just grew. My friends were there, but I felt I couldn't really talk to them about this, and I afraid to lose another set of friends. I spent some of my free periods alone with my thoughts on days where those emotions were at their most troubling. In hindsight, not the best idea. On top of that, had at least two more moments where I had considered suicide yet again.

Therapy didn't seem to be helping, but then again, the only one I was talking to about any of this was my father. I could count on no one else. In truth, he was probably the real light I had needed in my darkest hours.

Chloe Price, Max's best friend in Life is Strange, is a defiant girl, one might say rebellious, who is quietly dealing with deep emotional trauma. She is different from the quiet and shy Max. I felt like I was seeing these variations, versions of myself when I experienced their story. The entire time, it was just one big trip through my own memories, my past and my bonds with others, especially my friends and family. For me, family has become one of my most important elements of my life.

Friends and family are supposed to be there for you when you need them, and vice versa. You might not always get along with them, but there is love, care, affection, and this unbreakable bond that can't really be compared with anything else. It took me some time to remember that. But they became a strength that carried me, or picked me up when I fell. It was a reminder: You are not alone.

I was fine with this game up until Episode Three. The ending, showing the consequences of our meddling with peoples' lives, their pasts, and time had an unforeseen effect. She saved Chloe's father from certain death, but at the cost of Chloe's health. Chloe was now in a wheelchair. And it was revealed she was dying a slow and painful death. As if all this wasn't enough to break me, after having gotten attached to Chloe and Max, Chloe then asks Max to end her life after an entire day of bonding.

I thought that seeing Chloe in that wheelchair was bad enough, that it had utterly shattered me, but this caused me to step back.

Saying goodbye to my friends over the years has been one thing, but I've seen more than my fair share of death and funerals in my life. On top of that, I have lost three grandparents and an uncle over the past two or so years. One my grandmothers, I saw during her final moments, it wasn't a pleasant sight. Loss isn't something I take easily, let alone lightly. And I hate to say this, but I do take it personally. It's hard not to.

Though as I write this, I realize now, why that scene with Chloe during that moment of incredible agony affected me so much. Do you let this loved one continue to suffer? Or do you take their life, even if it gives them peace? It may be a video game, but I could no longer treat this as such. It was starting to affect me deeply, emotionally and personally. Hell, you save her life countless times throughout the game! And the game is asking you to end her life!

I eventually continued with the game, and thanks to Max's special ability of rewinding time, she was able to get Chloe back. I was never so relieved to have a fictional character back in my life. But almost just as quickly as you got her back, by the end of the fourth episode, she was killed, and you are forced to watch as you are unable to stop it. For me, it was like watching some kind of car crash or tragedy in slow motion. You're in utter shock, disbelief, or this numbness as you can't believe what just happened. Much like when you're given the news of a death of a loved one.

The final episode shocked me again, as if the entire episode or the entire season of the game wasn't already an emotional roller coaster, or disorienting, they had one more blow to deliver. And it was big one. Throughout the game, you're shown visions of a Tornado coming to destroy the town in the game. It's more or less explained why at the end of the game, but it didn't make the choice at the end any easier. The choice simply put in front of you, as you and Chloe watch the Tornado about to destroy the town you spent the entire game in.

Sacrifice Chloe or Sacrifice the town.

What? I couldn't believe what I was reading and also hearing from Max and Chloe. This can't be happening. But it was. Have you ever made a mistake? Have you any regrets of doing something you shouldn't have? Who doesn't? And with the power to travel back in time, it's easy to undo that. But Max, like us, didn't think of the consequences of undoing that. Like you're unraveling something completely by pulling on a single thread. The butterfly effect at work.

Do you go back in time to stop the Tornado from ever happening, but in the process, let Chloe die? Or do you abandon an entire town full of innocent people, people you met, got to interact with and spend time with throughout the game, to save Chloe? For some gamers, it would be a simple push of a button. Each gamer is different. Gamers are people, after all, so each one reacts differently, maybe some go through the motions, play to test their skills, play to compete with others, play for the story, or any number of other reasons. For me, it used to be because it was simply fun and entertaining. But as I got older it became more about the experience, the characters and story. I became pickier about my games.

Life is Strange is no exception. In fact, it may be the first game that gave me serious pause because this wasn't a game to me anymore. It should've been, but the game had put me through my paces. It had tested my mind, my morals, my heart and my soul. I realized then, that it was the first game to affect me deeper than any game I had played before. I wasn't playing a game now, I was a decision involving peoples' lives. I hated it. Not the game, not the choices, not the developers, not the cast.

I hated having to choose. To be forced into one of the worst moments a person could ever have to be forced to deal with. It was far worse than the choice of having Chloe either hate me or die from obliging her request to let her die in peace instead of a slow death. You spent this entire game having Max and Chloe reconnect, while you're growing attached to the girls themselves. Chloe herself has numerous close calls, but you save her and your bond grows stronger. It was a constant reminder of my own bonds with friends and family.

It took me three freaking hours to make a choice. Because it wasn't an easy one. I treated it the way I would have if it was happening for real. If you were forced to choose to save someone you love (friends, family, take your pick) or save a town full of people, what would you have done? I hesitated. Again, this wasn't a game to me anymore. Part of me wish it had been, but it had taken me to somewhere I wasn't expecting. Now I had to choose. I chose to save the town.

Suffice it to say, I cried. I hated myself. Ever since episode three, the game had pushed me to places I hadn't expected, forced me to revisit good memories and bad and I was constantly being broken, put back together and broken again. It was rough. I know that's on me for taking it in a personal way, removing the fiction and putting myself in Max's shoes.

Going into that final episode of the first season, I thought the tough parts were behind me, like my past. As of almost two years ago, I forgave my abuser for what was done to me. I was moving forward in life. Sadly, had to move again, but it wasn't for like the reasons from before. Though I do try to keep in contact with my friends from high school. I still miss them.

That's why this affected me so deeply. Not just ending, but the entire game. I connected with it on such a personal level, forced to confront my own thoughts, feelings, past and memories that it was like I was right there beside Max and Chloe. Probably why I ended up caring about them so much, because I didn't want them to go through what I experienced. Yet again, I connected with Max, who was constantly trying to undo the past, the mistakes.

Sad to say, I suffered as Max did, but in a very different way. Whilst she was being physically pulled back and forth through time, I have been going through a more mental and psychological experience. Dreams and Nightmares have been putting me back in high school and for a long time I've mourned a childhood that I had wished had been different. To say that I have regret is an understatement. Same with letting go.

Saying goodbye, having to mourn, grieve, or lose someone, be they living or dead are utter agony to me. I realize now it may have been one of the lessons I needed to learn. As cool as time travel is, there's no going back. There's no fixing what happened. There's no undoing mistakes or past trauma. All you can do is move forward, make better decisions, heal (or in my case, do the damndest to try and fully heal) and live your life. I have to say goodbye to my past, to that chapter of my life, if I am to move on. If I don't, the butterfly effect will catch up with me, and I know where that goes.

Nostalgia is meant to be temporary. It's probably as close to time travel as we will ever get. We have the memories, the experiences, but we're not meant to take it any further than that. It's why time moves forward, like us. We're not going back.

It's time I did the same.

So with that I want to thank DONTNOD and their entire development team, the publishers Square Enix, Feral Interactive, and the Black Wing Foundation.

To the writers Christian Divine and Jean-Luc Cano, that is some of the best work I've ever experienced as a gamer, reader, writer and a person.

To the directors Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch, thank you for leading the story into somewhere surprising, unexpected, wonderful, terrifying, familiar, amazing, and every other word I can think of.

To the composer Jonathan Morali, although the story and characters were there, without your music to aid in the experience, it wouldn't be the same, thank you.

To the entire cast of the first season, incredible work.

Lastly, to the two leads, Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch, that was some of the best damn voice acting I've experienced. I've seen the directors' commentary, so I have seen what this project meant to you both. Definitely will be writing to you both again in the future.

To everyone I may have forgotten, to everyone involved with this game, and even to the fellow fans of this game, I love you and you are amazing. I have seen the impact this game has had on others, not just myself, and it was something I took into consideration before writing this. The subjects covered in the game might be uncomfortable and even difficult to deal with, but I hope anyone else dealing with these issues gets the help they need. It's one thing to see it in a book, film, tv show or game, it's another to experience it yourself.

The awards this game has received are more than well deserved.

I never expected this game, or any game for that matter to affect me, let alone help me, move forward in my life, but it has.

Thank you.

#life is strange #max caulfield #chloe price #video games #life #nostalgia #school #pain #love #thanks #friends #friendship #depression #suicide #emotional abuse #child abuse #physical abuse #family #ashly burch

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