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sup-hoes-its-me · 3 years

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To Be So Lonely (Gaara x Reader)

A/N: my first ever attempt at a gaara one shot. Essentially, you are permanently disabled due to an accident involving evil jinchuriki gaara, but you never gave up on him. friends to lovers. dramatic confessions. gaara is just so pure and sweet, he deserves all the love and more. perfect baby boy. precious.

ps. this was a very quick write. there may be mistakes, idk. just hopefully someone enjoys.

Word count: 3600 (soo short lmao)

The pair of them walked the aisles of the bakery. He adored how her eyes grew wide when they landed on a particularly shiny loaf of bread or a decadent chocolate cake that she couldn’t help but gush over. Today, after work since it seemed he had a break, he decided he would go with her to the dessert shop she’d been begging him to go visit.

He watched as she hobbled forward on her crutches, leaning some of her weight on walls or tables when she got the chance. He felt genuinely awful. It was his fault she was in that position after all. Nearly ten years ago when she enveloped her in his sand and crushed her leg brutally. He was so lost and hopeless back then, and a mere sparring match was enough to set him off and permanently injure the woman.

He felt like the worst man alive as he watched her walk around, and he followed on soft feet behind her. They were friends. It seemed that even after all he had done, she still cared about him. She walked up to his office the day he became Kazekage, and asked to be his assistant. He couldn’t say no, not with the way she smiled so beautifully at him with those soft lips and sparkling eyes.

Admittedly, he wanted her to be at his side.

She often sat with him in his office when there wasn’t anything too urgent going on, her legs tucked under her and her crutches leant against his desk. She would tell him stories about her day or things that she found funny, and he would listen intently to each word. He adored her voice. It was perfect, the perfect pitch and tone, just enough enthusiasm to blow him away. How she could be so positive when so many things had gone wrong, he wasn’t sure.

He knew that if he asked Naruto, the boy would have the answer for sure. He was so wise with people in that way. After all, Naruto was the reason Gaara was able to change into the man he was today, the man that had Y/N laughing and giggling in the evenings before she went home.

Y/N’s smile was so bright. It practically glowed when she entered the room. He wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever, that is how much he admired her enthusiasm. He couldn’t imagine the pain she went through, and the struggle she goes through daily. He couldn’t imagine the strength she must have to work for him and maintain that attitude that he admired so deeply.

She was so beautiful. He found himself waking up multiple times in the morning with her still on his mind, her eyes and her smile and the way her hair fell around her face. He found himself so lost in the mere thought of the woman, he thought he might be going crazy.

He’d asked his siblings about the situation, on separate occasions, just gauging what two more adjusted people thought of the situation. Each time, they laughed, and told him he simply had a crush on his closest assistant. His sister told him to act on his feelings before she was swept away by some other man from the village. His brother told him she was quite a catch, and he would be lucky if she liked him back. He thought she was only kind to him because he was her boss, essentially. Needless to say, that was a bit rough for Gaara to hear.

He wasn’t sure what he would do if Y/N shared his feelings. She certainly was kind, and the woman he wanted to be with, but he just couldn’t be with her, not after everything he had done. He couldn’t imagine her ever caring for him like that after he took away a huge portion of her mobility. He stole away from her the ability to become a shinobi like she always wanted. He felt like a monster.

There was no way in good conscience, he could accept her affections and burden her with his own. She was too perfect. He wouldn’t ruin her in that way. He couldn’t.

And so he was content just following her around, buying her little goodies here and there to make her happy just one more time before he had to see her off for the night. No doubt, he would dream about her once again tonight, after spending so much time staring into her eyes and hearing her melodic laugh. Sometimes, he found himself looking forward to those nights where she would plague his mind. He could truly be himself in those dreams without any constraint, without an ounce of guilt. He could love her during those nights, and he found himself longing for more and more each day.

She spun around in front of the final glass case in the near empty bakery, and she pointed to some fruit tarts in a little box.

“You want those?”

“Yes, please.”

He pointed them out to the staff, and they bagged them up and slid them across the counter. He got a discount as the Kazekage, and he was more than willing to buy a few things for her. It was the least he could do. Even though he paid her a decent amount for her work, he still felt generous. He liked seeing the way her eyes lit up and her ears perked up with happiness each time he bought her a simple cake or tart. It was so cheap and simple, he felt like he was robbing her. He got so much enjoyment out of seeing her beauty over and over again and all she got was a little dollar dessert.

They walked out of the store, and she sighed, reaching into the bag and taking out the little box. She pulled out the cake and took a quick bite, sighing loudly at the flavor. “Wow, Gaara, this is one of the best ones yet. Try it,” she held out the other side to him.

“No, I’m okay. I’m sure it’s great.”

“Oh, come on.”

He sighed, and took the tart from her hands, taking the tiniest bite from the side opposite of hers. She was right. It was really good. He nodded, his lips curving into a tiny smile as she grinned, giving him a thumbs up. “See, I told you it was really good. I don’t go around picking out crappy sweets.”

“Here, eat the rest. You haven’t had a chance to eat today, have you?” he asked, urging her to take the tart back. She did, and nodded. “You really can’t be doing that, Y/N. It’s not healthy to skip meals like that.”

“I know. I normally don’t but during my lunch break today, I was busy talking to your brother and I lost track of time.”

“So it was Kankuro’s doing? Of course.”

“Oh, jeez. It’s not a big deal. My parents are going to the market today so they’ll no doubt be home with some food for me to eat for dinner. Plus, you got me these awesome tarts for dessert.”

He nodded, a hum leaving his lips. “Still, I’d like if maybe you started eating lunch with me, just so I can make sure you’re getting proper nutrition.”

Her eyes widened, and she began to smile once again. She felt her cheeks begin to heat up from his offer. How could he so casually say something like that? He was never one to really think through the things he said, just saying exactly what was on his mind. “Are you asking me on a lunch date?”

“What?! No-that’s not what I meant,” he blurted out, his own cheeks turning red under her stare. “I just meant it as a friend thing.”

She averted her eyes back down to her dessert, and she took another bite. After giving him a moment of time to cool down, and after she’d swallowed, she replied giddily, knowing it would stir him up once again, “Alright, well, I wouldn’t mind if it was a date thing, just saying.”

He was now nearly as red as his hair, and she burst out laughing. “What?! Y/N, don’t laugh at me!”

“Okay, Kazekage-sama.”

He huffed as he tried to calm down, following as she started off once again to her home. On days like this one, he would walk her home from wherever they had gone, and in turn, he said it was a way for him to see the village. In reality, he had seen the village more than enough time to count, he really just wanted to walk with her home, to feel like he was doing something for her by providing company on the short journey through the streets.

As they approached her home, he knew that this was going to be the end of their outing and he would have to leave her once again. He really enjoyed their time together. It was the only part of the day he looked forward to most of the time, and to see her go always filled his heart with a bit of sadness. It was unreasonable to want anymore time out of her day to himself, but he couldn’t help but want it.

She opened her front door and stepped inside, holding the door open so she could see him standing at the edge of the walkway to her family home. He shifted awkwardly under her stare, one that was absent of a smile and that familiar glimmer in her eye. Things felt serious all the sudden, and it made him nervous.

What had changed all of the sudden? He never expected her next words. They hit him in the chest like a stone, and knocked the air from his chest.

“Gaara, I think I’m in love with you,” Y/N called to the boy standing in her doorway. One outing after another, she found it harder and harder to maintain a neutral guise around him. Y/N really liked him. He was strong. He was a hero. He was a beautifully kind creature whom everyone came to adore.

He stood there in shock, his eyes wide and lips just agape. He wanted her to take back what she’d just proclaimed. He couldn’t accept it. Not when her crutches were right in his view, and her leg was missing right below the knee. He couldn’t handle that confession. Not now, not ever.

It was all his fault.

He turned his head away to the street and sighed, shutting his eyes tightly. “Y/N, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” she asked, fiddling with the bag of groceries in her hands. It took a lot of nerve to confess to him. It takes a lot to go out and profess your love to the Kazekage and the famous Gaara of the sand. He was a celebrity, practically. He wasn’t simply a childhood friend. She was rightfully nervous.

“I’m sorry you feel that way about someone like me.”

“Gaara, stop. Please. What happened, it’s over now. You’ll never be that same person again.”

He grit his teeth, another sigh coming from behind his teeth. “I cannot accept your confession. I’m sorry, but I have to go now. Please, keep this between us, alright?”

It seemed that the end of their rope was near. He had said what he wanted to say, or what he felt needed to be said. He cared for her, he’d cared for her since he could really remember. She was always kind to him, so beautiful and sweet and generous. Y/N was forever forgiving, and he knew that. He was fully aware that she’d forgiven him for what he’d done to her when he was lost in violence all those years ago. He just couldn’t forgive himself. He was forgiving of those who had wronged him, but to give mercy to the person who brutalized the one woman who’d shown him kindness from the beginning, he just couldn’t bear it.

Gaara was a lonely man. He would always be a lonely man, surrounded by people but always just far enough to protect them. He couldn’t let someone like her become close again and risk something else happening. Even if he was non violent now, what’s to say someone else wouldn’t have a grudge against him and target her?

It was all too overwhelming.

“You can’t deny it, Gaara, you love me too,” she called back to him, quiet enough not to disturb the neighbors but loud enough that it rang out in his chest like a gong, echoing there for a minute. She continued softly, “You can’t just pretend there’s nothing between us just because something happened almost a decade ago. You can’t abandon me, not after everything we’ve been through.”

“Y/N, it’s not that easy.”

“It really is that easy. If you care about me, and I care about you, then that’s all that matters. Forget about my leg, please. I’m over it. I’ve grown used to it, so much it’s not a problem,” she explained, “In fact, you treating me like I’m some injured lamb is the real problem. I’m a strong woman. This injury is nothing when it comes to my sheer force of will.”

He felt terrible, really, he felt like every move he made was the wrong one. He felt like he’d travelled down all the wrong paths with this woman, and she still loved him. Despite everything, she loved him without fault. He was her best friend. The friend who stole her leg from her so young. He was beyond conflicted.

His eyes flickered around the street, and she could feel his paranoia. It would be quite scandalous if someone caught them out here talking about something as personal as this. He was the Kazekage after all, whether he was experiencing normal 22 year old emotions or not.

Y/N grabbed his hand and tugged him quickly into her home. Her parents were gone for the day to the shops, so they weren’t there to intervene, not that they would be too pleased to see their daughter with the red haired boy. Yes, they were proud to have him as their Kazekage, standing strong and tall for the nation. But the injuries he had inflicted on their daughter were a bit too severe to ever completely forgive him. They could never give Gaara their blessing, nor did they truly approve of their friendship. Y/N and Gaara knew this. It only caused his guilt to hang heavier in his chest.

She shut the door behind him, and sighed as she leant her shoulder against the wall, a bit of pressure taken off her sole leg and her arms propped up on the sticks.

“Gaara, how do you feel about me? Really?” she asked.

He wanted to say nothing, to just turn away and pretend he hadn’t heard the question. But he knew that wasn’t an option. He would tell her everything. “I enjoy your company, more than I care to admit. You are so beautiful and kind, I always want you around, especially when work gets rough.”

Y/n stood silent as she let him keep going, to get what he was feeling off his chest. There wasn’t really an outlet in his life to get out all these pent up emotions. He could use a shoulder to lean on sometimes, just as much as anyone else.

“You’re right,” he groaned, “I love you.”

A soft breath caught in her chest at his words. It was true that she had a feeling he felt that way for her, but it was a different thing to hear his words reach her ears. His breathy, raspy voice and the exasperation carried in his tone. The way his eyes refused to meet hers he was so afraid. She felt a shiver run up her spine, and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. “Then what’s the point in fighting it?”

“It’s wrong. What I did to you, you’ll never be the same again and it’s all my fault. I don’t know if I could bring myself to look at you everyday knowing that I hurt you so badly. Back then, I didn’t even have remorse. I-I…”

“It’s okay! You’ve changed, time and time again, you’ve shown me that you’re not the same man you used to be. You are so brave and caring and considerate. You care about me and all the other villagers. You changed, and I love the man you’ve become.”

“Does that mean you can forgive me for what I’ve done?”

“I would forgive you a thousand times over.”

“Y/N…”

“You’re the man of my dreams. Please, don’t deprive me of that.”

When his eyes met hers, he wanted to melt away in her arms. She really didn’t care about what he had done, she just wanted him for who he worked so hard to become, the man that Naruto pushed him to be. She raised his arms, and found himself walking right into them. Her head hit his shoulder, and he let out a long shaky breath. “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too, Gaara. I truly do.”

And when she pressed her lips to his, he found himself falling deeper in love with her. She was so soft and gentle in his arms, against his skin, flush and warm like he’d always imagined. He never really expected himself to find someone, not after all he’d done and the man he made himself out to be. He never imagined the kiss of a person on his lips, or the feeling of someone’s arms wound around his body. He only imagined pain.

Yet, here she was. The most forgiving angel in the entire world.

“Y/N L/N, what the hell is this? Dammit, can’t you do this somewhere else, you foolish girl?” a voice called through the door, and when they peered between the curtains, the sight of her mother and father walking up the path to the front door, grocery bags piled in their arms. Her mother’s face was quite red, a small smile gracing her mouth, while her father was another story. Completely exhausted with everything.

Gaara pulled away quickly, his head ducking down so his eyes only met the floorboards. He was Kazekage, why was he so afraid of some old man and his paper sack full of rice? He wasn’t completely sure. All he knew was that Y/N stood there with that beautiful smile, her cheeks puffing out from embarrassment. “It’s okay. They aren’t angry. You might want to head on back home, though.”

The elderly couple opened the door, and he found himself face to face with her mother who smiled, corners of her eyes crinkling. “It’s about time, you sweet boy.”

Her father roared, feeling himself growing hotter with every second that passed. “About time for what, Rise? This man to come in here and violate our daughter-”

“Shush, dad. It was all me this time,” Y/N piped up from the back, which only fueled the fire.

“Of course! You’ve always been so promiscuous, Y/N. How could I expect any less?” he rolled his eyes. “And about you, Kazekage boy.”

“Be gentle, Tanaka.”

“Instead of hurting my daughter, I expect you to protect her as if your life depended on it, you hear me? I won’t have someone coming into my house and hurting my children,” he demanded, and Gaara could only nod. He had never been in a situation quite as terrifying as this one, he had to admit. He felt like he had been caught in the middle of some heinous act, even if it was only kissing the object of his affections. He was more than embarrassed, he thought he might crumble into a million tiny pieces.

He replied, “Of course. I’d never let anything hurt Y/N, sir.”

“That’s what I thought. Now get out of here. You can see your little girlfriend some other time, she has chores.”

“Dad!”

“Enough.”

Gaara nodded to the family of three before opening the door and walking through the threshold. “Goodbye, Gaara!” As he peered back over his shoulder, he was once again stunned by her smiling face, her small hand waving to him as he shut the door behind him. He felt his heart beating faster as he walked down the street back to the Kazekage’s mansion.

Has life always felt this good? He wasn’t too sure. He felt high, like he was floating above the ground with each footstep. Maybe giving the good life, giving Y/N, a chance, was going to work out in his favor. He could feel happiness creeping up his chest and rumbling through his stomach. His cheeks turned red at the thought of his now girlfriend in her home getting scolded by her father, and he couldn’t help but imagine the next day when she would report to his office to pick up paperwork and maybe he could swipe another kiss.

When he walked into his home, he brushed by his brother whose brows perked up upon seeing his expression. “What’s got you looking so whipped, Gaara?”

“It’s nothing, Kankuro.”

“Y/N, right?”

“Maybe.”

His brother's loud laughter rung out in the empty hall. He patted his brother's back with a firm hand, practically congratulating him for getting a girlfriend. It was strange in that way, thinking about it like that. He now had a girlfriend to hug and hold, to keep tightly clasped in his heart for as long as she would allow.

Life was too good. He slept better that night than he had in a long while. All because of this one person who’d wormed their way so easily into his heart.

#gaara x reader #gaara fluff #gaara of the sand #naruto x reader #naruto imagine #gaara imagine #gaara one shot #naruto oneshot #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto fanfic #gaara fanfic #fanfiction #x reader

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thedumpsterqueen · 4 years

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Standards of Performance, Chapter 8: Heartbreak and Lattes

From the Beginning, Previous Chapter

AO3 Link

Only announcement for this week: I've started a new job, and my schedule is such that a weekly update is unlikely without the quality being verrrry questionable. Therefore, I've decided to move off a set schedule, but I PROMISE I will update at least twice a month. Thank you for your patience and understanding; I know a set schedule is preferable but I wanna make sure this doesn't go to shit. Also... apparently this isn’t showing up in the tags I use, which sucks - so reblogs help a lot if you’re able. I love you guys <3

Summary: You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter Summary: In which decisions are made and overturned and many cups of coffee are drunk.

Words: 2666

Rating: Explicit, 18+. Warnings on AO3.

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

You were sulking.

Not enough to affect your work - you’d have to go through something much worse than heartbreak before you risked your internship. But your home life was beginning to resemble a timelapse straight out of an overdramatic teen movie wherein the protagonist’s crush asks someone else to prom. Your apartment was a pile of half-done laundry, takeout containers, and case files; your evenings filled with sad Spotify playlists and too much red wine.

And work? Not much better. Seeing him stride into the office every morning, filled with power and purpose and completely oblivious to the fact that he had shoved your heart into a metaphorical blender with a simple response to a seemingly innocuous question was really starting to wear you down. You had been so sure, that was the thing - so convinced by the team’s reaction to your story that it had all meant something. And maybe it had. But he had looked you in the face and told you it didn’t, so that was the answer that mattered.

So maybe sulking was the wrong word. ‘Spiraling’ was more accurate. A controlled spiral, mitigated only by the fact that 1. you had appearances and responsibilities to maintain and 2. Aaron Hotchner wasn’t actually the reason you showed up to work every morning, despite what it had seemed lately.

And it had seemed like that. You remembered getting the phone call that you had been accepted for an interview for the BAU internship, and the phone call that you made it to the final round, and finally the phone call that you had gotten the position - each more exciting than the last. You remembered meeting him, shaking his hand, completely oblivious to how much he was about to fuck up your life. Even when you first started to feel something for him, you convinced yourself it was nothing - a harmless crush wrought from your veneration and respect for one of the best in the field. Someone you admired. Someone you wanted to be one day. But then he’d made the unfortunate move of revealing bits and pieces of himself to you, exposing tiny slivers of humanity and emotion you were convinced didn’t exist, until you realized he was a person, an incredible one, and it wasn’t just admiration you felt anymore. It took all of a few months and a handful of genuine conversations until you were this far gone, and after he made it clear that your pining was one-sided, you knew you had to stop your fall there.

So you tried.

You kept your conversations strictly professional. Avoided driving with him or sitting next to him on flights whenever possible. Disallowed yourself lingering glances. But it was still too goddamn much. He was still too goddamn much.

The next case pushed you over the edge. It was bad (not just normal bad, BAU bad), and it was no one’s fault, not really. You got called in late, the evidence was shoddy at best, and when all was said and done, you caught the unsub, but only after he’d killed 4 women. The last one died moments before you arrived and apprehended the killer, and despite the delay of those few minutes being, again, no one’s fault, the team was at each other’s throats the whole trip home.

You were slouched in the corner of the plane trying to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Morgan and Reid were sniping viciously about something completely unrelated to the case, because despite everything they’d just endured, they would never outright blame each other for what went wrong. Hotch, deciding he’d heard enough, raised his head slightly and said quietly,

“They’re not always going to end the way we want. We did all we could.”

And you were just done. You couldn’t stand to be around this pillar of strength and compassion and resolve. You needed to hate him for rejecting you, and you couldn’t. So you marched over to his seat, and, steeling yourself, you said what you’d been wanting to say since he broke your heart:

“I need a day off.”

It had sounded more dramatic in your head.

“A day off?”

You nodded. Hotch gathered himself, seeming to realize that such a request wasn’t unheard of (though perhaps in his department it essentially was) and nodded.

“This case was difficult. I wish I could say exceptionally so. Get me your paperwork by tonight and take tomorrow off.”

You went back to your seat, relief overshadowed by disgust that it wasn’t, in fact, the 4 deaths you’d just been privy to that had broken you - it was the crush on your boss. You’d handled this case like a champ, in fact, because you were so absorbed in self-pity that you couldn’t feel anything else.

You needed to fucking recalibrate.

***

You were determined to make the next 24 hours the most self-indulgent, healing 24 hours you’d ever experienced. Quiet breakfast at a cafe? Planned. Self-improvement books? Downloaded. Vibrator? Fully charged.

No man was going to keep you from focusing on the internship you’d been gunning for for years. No man was worth that. You were going to cry, you were going to journal, you were going to masturbate, and you were going to get him out of your head.

You were going to march into the quaint little coffeeshop two blocks away that you’d Googled last night, you were going to order the cinnamon spice latte that an indie food blog had called “the epitome of fall,” and you were going to go for a nice, early morning walk.

Except you weren’t.

Because the next morning, when you turned to leave after grabbing your drink from the barista, you saw Hotch sitting at the table by the window. And Hotch saw you. And you weren’t equipped to handle this situation, because you were only 4 pages into your self-help book so far and honestly, the smile that lit up his face when you made eye contact would’ve broken you even if you’d read all the ‘how to move on’ manuals the literary world had ever produced.

So you obeyed his beckoning hand and sat down.

“Thought you’d be up to something much more exciting on your one day off.”

You smiled wryly. “This is exciting. I haven’t had coffee that wasn’t made out of an ancient breakroom pot or a hotel carafe in months.”

Hotch chuckled. “I’m afraid you’ve made a mistake by coming here. Breakroom coffee is going to be impossible to tolerate now.”

“That good, huh?”

“Better. Try it.”

His eyes on you, you took a sip of your latte, and swallowed the most delicious concoction you’ve ever tasted in your life.

“Holy shit.”

“Indeed,” Hotch confirmed, ignoring your vulgarity. “I’ve been coming here before work for years.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I impose on your hangout,” you laughed. “I haven’t tried many coffee shops around here, but I imagine this is hard to beat.”

“Not at all. But just know - this is my table.”

You grinned. “Understood.”

You still went on that walk. Still read that book. Still spent the day trying to think about anything else but the softness of that moment - you and Hotch sipping lattes, bathed in the light of the early morning sun.

But on Thursday, the next day, bright and early, you found yourself at that coffee shop again. This time, you took a seat at the table adjacent to his. He looked up and smiled.

“Glad you heeded my advice.”

You smiled back and gestured to the heaping pile of files in front of him. “Not like there’d be much room for me anyways.”

You finished your coffees in relative silence and left at the same time for the office.

Friday, you learned Hotch’s coffee order: flat white with an extra shot of espresso.

Saturday, you happened to arrive before he did, so you ordered his drink and set it on his table. Ten minutes passed and you thought he wasn’t going to show up, but he soon bustled in looking frantic. You waved him over, and he smiled when he saw the coffee waiting for him.

“Sorry, got stuck on a phone call,” he apologized. Like you were expecting him. Like this was something you guys did now.

You supposed it was.

Sunday, you got called for a case before you even made it to the coffee shop. You sat down in the conference room at 6 am, groggy as all hell. Hotch entered after you and handed you a mug, saying nothing before moving to address the team.

There was a small sticky note attached to the mug that read, “It’s no cinnamon spice latte, but it’s caffeine just the same.”

You fought to keep a grin from splitting your face, and ignored the team’s knowing smirks.

The case was in a small town in Colorado. The motel the team was staying in was less than ideal because of the location - bare bones, broken heaters, probably had the same bedsheets since its opening over 50 years ago. There was a small coffee pot in your room, and after you arrived Sunday evening, you walked down the street to the small convenience store and bought a bag of ground coffee.

When you handed him the cup Monday morning, he looked at it like it was salvation itself. Which, judging by the dark circles under his eyes, it may well have been.

“Long night?” you asked, loading into the back of the SUV.

“Always,” he responded from the front seat. He took a sip of the coffee. “I don’t mean to offend, but this is terrible.”

You gasped in mock indignation. “I’ll have you know that is genuine Folgers pre-ground gas station coffee.”

“It tastes like it was made in a toilet,” he grumbled. He took another sip and smirked at you in the rearview mirror.

You’d long stopped trying to get over him.

After the case in Colorado, the team was given a merciful break from the rapid-fire calls they’d been caught up in the last few months.

You and Hotch continued your pre-work ritual, showing up to the coffee shop earlier and earlier each day. For you, it was a conscious attempt to spend more time with him. He didn’t acknowledge the extra 20 minutes that had worked its way into the morning routine, but you could only hope his intentions were the same.

One particularly chilly fall day, you burst in the door 10 minutes later than your unofficial meeting time. Hotch shot you a patented raised eyebrow as you unwrapped your scarf and took your seat.

“Overslept?”

“No,” you retorted, “I was trying to make breakfast and my stove stopped working. Again. Maintenance can’t come fix it for two days.”

“Did you eat?” he asked.

“No, I was just gonna grab a muffin or something here.”

He nodded and went back to his laptop.

The next day, you sat down to a metal thermos on your table.

“What’s this?” you asked him.

“Oatmeal,” he responded without looking up. “You said your stove was broken.”

You opened the thermos to a puff of brown sugar-scented steam and the feeling that your heart was going to burst out of your chest.

“Thank you,” you whispered, afraid your voice would crack if you spoke any louder.

He looked over at you with an expression softer than you’d ever seen him wear. “You’re welcome.”

A week later, you’d miraculously worked your way through the backed-up deluge of paperwork from the last few cases, and after clicking through the morning’s emails, you slammed your laptop shut.

“We should go for a walk,” you said to Hotch, who somehow still had a stack of files in front of him that was threatening to surpass the table’s weight capacity.

“A walk?” Hotch asked, looking at the aforementioned files as if he were afraid they’d hear him considering the idea of a break.

“Yeah,” you responded. “Come on. It’s so pretty outside, and it’s gonna be too cold soon. Besides, we’re more caught up with work than we have been in months.”

“Speak for yourself,” he quipped, but he packed his briefcase just the same.

It really was beautiful outside. As soon as you stepped out the door, a gust of wind sent red and orange leaves skittering across the sidewalk at your feet. You wrapped your scarf tighter around your neck and motioned to the park across the street.

“Want to walk through the park?”

Hotch shrugged, a noncommittal ‘yes’, and followed you.

The park was sprawling, packed with massive trees in the midst of displaying their autumnal colors. Despite the early hour, there were joggers and dog-walkers populating the dirt path that meandered through. You strolled side by side, making idle chat about the weather and the holidays coming up, until you came to a bench set beside a pond in a small grove. Hotch took a seat and you followed his lead.

Reclining your head against the back of the bench, you exhaled. “This is the closest I’ve come to being out in nature in forever. I need to do this more often.”

Hotch murmured his agreement. “I’d apologize for the lack of free time, but I’m afraid it only gets worse.”

“When you officially join the team, you mean?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Assuming that’s something you’re interested in.”

“Of course I am,” you said, “but I didn’t think it was really up to me.”

“It’s not - I give the final recommendation.”

“Better start buying you more coffees then,” you teased, looking over at him.

“Unfortunately, as Unit Chief, I have a responsibility not to accept bribery.” He smiled back.

For a moment, neither of you spoke. You studied his face - the stern curve of his brow, the carved structure of his jaw, the stress lines set in from decades of sleepless nights and unspeakable losses. Despite the increasing time you’d been spending in close proximity, you were mesmerized, as always, by the stormy intensity of his eyes meeting yours. You were close enough to smell his cologne, and you were reminded of the night in his apartment when he told you about his family. If you thought you’d fallen for him then, it was nothing compared to how you felt now, after starting each morning sitting beside him in the quiet peace of that downtown coffee shop.

“We should get going,” he murmured, not checking his watch, not shifting his gaze from yours. You nodded, not fully comprehending his words, feeling dazed at his nearness.

It was impossible to tell who made the first, imperceptible shift. All you knew is you scarcely had time to think before his hand was on your jaw, cradling the back of your head, bringing you to him. His mouth met yours and you closed your eyes instinctively, melting into his warm body beside you, fisting the front of his jacket in your hands.

You couldn’t remember ever having been kissed so decisively before. His fingers gripped into the base of your skull, his forehead nearly pressed against yours, and despite the chastity of your closed mouths, you whimpered into his. He stiffened at the sound and pulled back, still holding you, inches away.

You saw the shift in his eyes before he moved. It was as if he consciously closed some gate, walling himself off. His pupils, blown, started to retract to their normal size, frown returned, hand drew back. You watched, heart still racing, unable to speak as he turned to grab the briefcase sitting at his feet. Only then did he look back at you.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and if his low voice was meant to betray any hint of emotion, you didn’t hear it.

He stood, walked around the back of the bench towards the path, and paused.

“I’ll see you at the office.”

You were too shell-shocked to reply.

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

next chapter of the fic with Grumbot and Jrumbot. looks like it’s going to maybe have 3 or 4 chapters, so be on the lookout for more.

Grian was the first to wake up, though not naturally, having had a bit of a nightmare. He looked around in the early morning light towards the closet, glad he had broken it before going to sleep. He then looked down to his side where Grumbot seemed to still be in sleep mode. Grian carefully Pat his son’s head before getting out of bed. He made sure neither Grum nor Mumbo woke up before heading outside and stretching his wings.

They had long since been sore from dodging Grumbot attacking him, so he flew a bit, looking around and the nearby landscapes. It looked lovely with the rising sun lighting it all up, but he was distracted as he pulled his communicator out.

Grian landed on a tree as he began to scroll through all his old chat logs before landing on one he had abandoned years ago. It was labeled with the symbol of a broken portal. Grian selected it and then started scrolling up quickly, keeping a close eye on the dates before finally stopping.

<MiniMuka> he wasn’t even in the list of people around, but he was there!

<Grian> he’s technically not a person. You said he was in the nether?

<MiniMuka> yeah, just standing there not doing much.

<Grian> I would be surprised if he was planning a rustic house to build there.

<MiniMuka> in the nether?!

<Grian> yeah, he REALLY likes rustic houses. I sort of try to keep him in my closet because otherwise he might turn everything into a rustic house. Once he’s done, I’ll put him back.

Grian sighed. That was the last time anyone had seen that creation of his. He wasn’t sure if NPG had been destroyed or just didn’t make it through a portal, but that world was gone now, and so was NPG.

“It’s not going to happen again. I can’t do that. And Mumbo will make sure I don’t.” Grian spoke to no one in particular, wiping away a few tears that formed as he put away his communicator. He then glided back home, finding the other two were still asleep. Having little else to do, he started making breakfast.

Mumbo was quick to get up when the smell of breakfast reached his nose. It also made him jolt awake enough that Grumbot also woke up. “Morning you two. How did you sleep Grum?”

“I’m not sure. It was very odd and I’m not sure how to best explain it in terms you would understand. It wasn’t quite watching a false reality, but it also wasn’t just nothing at all.”

Grian nodded, putting a plate of food in front of Mumbo and a diamond in front of Grumbot. “A diamond?”

“Well I don’t want to leave him out, and it’s not like he’ll eat real food. At least I don’t think. I can make more if you’re really so upset about it.”

Beside them, Grumbot picked up the diamond and seemed to eat it, leaving Mumbo and Grian stunned. It hadn’t gone through any slot, it just seemed to phase through the monitor screen. “I guess that answers that.” Mumbo spoke in as level a tone as he could manage. He was about to start eating his own breakfast when Grumbot spoke again.

“You lost.”

“What do you mean Grum?” Grian asked, ready to get something else for his robot son.

“You… you didn’t even vote for yourself.” The words hit Grian like a brick and he dropped what he was preparing. “You didn’t even get a single vote a-and Scar… he was the one who won. I didn’t do anything right. You trapped me in a box. None of it was real and I was just sitting there.”

Mumbo looked between Grumbot and Grian. One seemed to be having an existential crisis while the other was starting to have a panic attack. Mumbo wanted to help Grian first, but realized it would probably work better to help Grum since his crisis seemed to be what was affecting Grian in the first place. “Grum, calm down. Look at me.” He did his best to seem calm for the robot as he looked back up at him. “You did wonderfully. We were the ones who couldn’t do it right. People loved your songs and the things you made and the other hermits liked you. We never wanted you to be locked away, but at the time we didn’t know what else to do. We could have told you the truth and helped you through it, but then what? We couldn’t easily move you around so it would just end with you sad or disappointed and all alone. So we faked it.

“But now we’ve changed it. You’ll be able to stay with us and move around and you don’t have to stay focused on election stuff. Maybe you can do redstone like me, or build like your dad or something else entirely. Just because we messed up doesn’t mean that you can’t do something extraordinary now. Alright?”

Grumbot slowly nodded before tackling Mumbo with a hug. The mustached man smiled down at his son before looking over at Grian, glad to see he calmed down a little. “Now, how about instead of diamonds we get you a nice plate of quartz to munch on?”

It seemed to be a good idea and Grumbot seemed to calm down with something new in front of him. Mumbo excused himself and Grian for a few minutes before going into the next room over. “How’s you get so good with words?” Grian asked, making Mumbo shrug.

“Mumbo the chat therapist helps people who are lost internally.”

“Mumbo, this wasn’t the chat.”

“Well I was able to help, wasn’t I?”

“Okay yeah. But I still want to know, how did he suddenly know?”

Mumbo sighed. “We gave him a diamond. We built him to take question diamonds and look into mayoral databases and what not, so when we gave him that one for breakfast it must have triggered all that.”

“Why didn’t you remove it when remaking him?”

“I tried Grian, I got rid of what I knew I could, but that wasn’t much. I was scared if I changed too much, it would have done us better to build him from scratch. What would you do then? If he looked up at us with blank eyes not knowing who we were?”

Grian froze. “I…”

Immediately Mumbo was regretting his words. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I just. Oh I’m such a spoon. Let’s just… do you want me to watch Grum while you build Jrumbot’s body?”

The builder smiled at the idea. “Yeah, that sounds nice. Then when I’m done we can switch off.”

With that, the two of them left the room to be with Grumbot again.

Grian bounced his foot as he waited. Building Jrumbot had gone much faster than building Grum. He already had all the materials, knew how big to make everything, even making the body a bit smaller since he was supposed to be Grum’s little brother. But that meant he was now just sitting on the sidelines while Mumbo worked.

Since Jrumbot didn’t have as complex circuitry as Grumbot did, Mumbo had to do more work instead of just rebuilding what had been there. It even got to the point where Grum powered down so the redstoner could go back and forth between the two bots for reference.

Because of that, it ended up with Grian sitting by himself. He wanted to try and do something to ease his boredom, but if anything went wrong and he wasn’t there, he would never forgive himself. Instead, Grian pulled his communicator out and started messaging Xisuma.

<Grian> Hey X, sorry we’re not back yet. Everything’s fine and Grum is up and running, but remember that shop that looked like Grumbot?

<Xisuma> wasn’t that supposed to be his sibling or something?

<Xisuma> oh

<Xisuma> I now understand why it’s taking so long.

<Grian> yeah, Mumbo’s currently doing all his circuits and stuff. Grum’s helping and I’m on emergency standby

<Grian> I don’t want anyone getting hurt but I’m so booooored

<Xisuma> well you’ve been so busy you haven’t said much. So more updates?

<Grian> yeah, sure. We got Grum functioning just last night.

<Xisuma> that went well?

<Grian> he was a bit confused, but I was so tired I just went to bed. I think only problem at the time was he didn’t, still doesn’t, know how to walk.

<Xisuma> Really?

<Grian> not like we originally built him with legs.

<Xisuma> that’s true. Anything else?

<Grian> he finally found out everything that happened after his initial breakdown.

<Grian> it was rough at first but it’s fine now

<Xisuma> he did? How bad did he take it.

<Xisuma> Oh okay that’s good.

<Grian> yeah, we found out he can just eat diamonds and quartz and whatnot.

<Grian> Diamonds still activate his searching of the mayoral reservoirs so that’s fun.

<Xisuma> I see

<Grian> oh thats an idea!

<Xisuma> what is?

<Grian> :3

<Xisuma> oh dear

Grian looked up from his communicator, managing to spot Mumbo climbing between the bots. It probably hadn’t been that long since he last checked on things, but he didn’t have much else to do. The builder walked over and tapped on Jrumbot’s body, snickering slightly at the yelp from inside before Mumbo climbed out. “What do you need Grian?”

“Just, hoping for some updates. Like, more than just ‘going well’ or something like that. I can’t get in there to see and even then I wouldn’t be able to tell how it’s going by looking at it.”

Mumbo ran his fingers through his hair. “Well you see, it is at the very least going well.” Grian glared at him a little. “What I mean is I’m very glad I did the past redstone circuitry for him instead of just leaving it blank. I never fully implemented it, yes, but the fact that I did it saved plenty of time.”

Mumbo sat down to get comfortable before explaining further. “See, with Grumbot, we’d already put in all the circuits save for moving about. Because of that it was just replicating everything already done. Jrumbot on the other hand doesn’t have much. For the most part I’m trying to replicate what Grum has, but I can’t entirely. If it were a perfect copy, we would just have two Grumbots, just in different bodies. The biggest roadblock would have been replacing the function that allows the connection with the mayoral reservoirs. If I didn’t have anything before, I would have been stumped on what to do. He wouldn’t have any need for that so theoretically it could be removed, but at the same time, it could damage the rest of the circuits.”

Grian spoke up to check if he was understanding this all right. “So, what you’re saying is the political stuff is essential and you needed something new and essential to replace it?”

“Exactly!” Mumbo nodded before continuing. “The redstone I already did for Jrum was functions for helping sales. I never fully implemented it since people did buy from the shop, but it was still there.”

“And so Grum’s thing is politics and Jrum’s is capitalism?”

“Yes I suppose you could-” Mumbo stopped and Grian was able to recognise he had come up with an idea. “That’s it!” Before the avian could ask for clarification, Mumbo was already climbing back into Jrumbot’s body. Not wanting to ruin whatever train of thought was happening, Grian instead sat down on the nearby grass to just listen to the sounds of Mumbo working.

Mumbo and Grian stood next to each other, looking at Jrumbot. This was their third test. The first two had gone okay, but there were still some issues. “Which of us should do the honors this time?” Grian looked over at the redstoner. “I say you since you’ve done most of the work.”

“But I did last attempt. It’s your turn.”

“The only reason I did it the first time is because I knew we would have a problem. When it works, you should be the one turning everything on.”

“Oh alright fine.” Mumbo sighed and then stepped closer to Jrumbot and pressed the power button near the base of his neck. Immediately he jumped back and the two watched as Jrumbot turned on and started looking around. “Jrumbot?” Jrum looked over at Mumbo and Grian. His motions looked like he was trying to speak, but it wasn’t working. “What? It was fine the last test? What did I do wrong?”

Jrumbot tried some gestures for communicating and slowly it worked. After some charades they decided to test if giving Jrum a diamond would help him out since some of the circuits were similar to Grum and he needed diamonds for certain functions. Indeed, when they gave him a diamond, it helped for a bit. By the time they had given him four with not much more permanent success, Grian asked if they should consider turning him off to fix things. When the question was asked, Jrumbot immediately started running off. “No! No turning me off!”

Mumbo and Grian were both left shocked. “What? But we didn’t give him another diamond? How is his voice working again?” Mumbo asked the avian, who seemed to realize just what was going on.

“Mumbo, his voice was fine the entire time.” Grian answered between some giggles. “He was just pretending to get our diamonds.” Mumbo looked between Grian and Jrum, who was currently admiring the diamonds he had gotten off of his dads.

“Well!” Mumbo huffed before walking over to Grumbot’s body. “I suppose that means we can turn Grum back on too.”

He didn’t even need Grian’s confirmation with how the avian lit up at the statement. Soon Grum was back on and was quickly moved closer to Jrumbot. “Hello. I assume you are Jrumbot, my younger brother.”

Jrum looked up from his diamonds to look at Grum. “Uh… yeah that sounds right! Look what I got!” And he held out the gemstones for Grumbot to look at.

“Impressive. Does anything happen when you consume them?” Grumbot asked with a slight tilt of his head. Jrum looked back down and his diamonds as if contemplating the question before he pulled them close to his chest.

“I don’t want to eat them! Then I would lose them!” A small hatch opened up on Jrumbot’s chest which surprised both Grian and Mumbo, not having built anything there. The smaller robot then placed his diamonds in the hatch before closing it, making sure he wouldn’t lose the items. “There! Now they’re all safe!” Jrum said proudly, placing his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out.”

Mumbo cleared his throat a little to get the attention of both of the bots, who thankfully both looked over at him. “I’m glad you two are getting along, but now that Grian and I know you’re both working, how about we take you home?”

Jrumbot was the first to answer, jumping at Mumbo and attaching himself to the redstoner’s arm. “Yeah! Let’s go there! Wait where is it?”

Grumbot simply walked over to his dads and looked at Jrum. “It was where we were initially built. You may recall existing in the shopping district as a shop.”

Jrumbot’s screen eyes lit up with animated sparkles. “Oh yeah! People got mustaches and shirts! I hated it!” And the final sentence was said in the same cheery tone as the first two sentences. Grian immediately reacted poorly and Mumbo was left stuttering out an ask for clarification. “Cause they got cool stuff but also took the diamonds I had!”

“Well, as your dads, Grian and I will make sure people don’t steal diamonds from you again.” Mumbo assured Jrum, prying the bot off his arm so he could carry him normally. “How about you two come with me and help pack things up while Grian helps make the way home?”

“Yeah! That sounds fun!” Jrum replied, making Mumbo chuckle. The smaller robot jumped out of Mumbo’s arms and ran towards the nearby house, attempting to pick it up. Grumbot followed behind to help his younger brother and lead him inside.

Mumbo looked back to Grian and gave him a hug. “See? It all worked out fine. And even if something does go wrong, it’s not like either of us are doing it along.”

Grian smiled back at Mumbo before letting the redstoner head off to the house and pack things up with the bots. The builder then looked to an open area and started using his Watcher magic to make them a portal home. It wasn’t too difficult to summon, so everything wasn’t quite prepared for the trip home, So Grian ended up just leaning against the portal and messaging X.

<Grian> The boys are both working. We’re packing things up and should be back within the hour.

<Xisuma> Where are you likely coming in? I’d like to be there when you arrive.

<Grian> Probably where we left. The roof of Grum’s old box. That or it’ll just be spawn. I can’t be completely sure without using more power than I’d like to.

<Xisuma> That’s understandable. I’ll be at the box and can fly over if you four end up at spawn.

The avian put his comm away and then watched the house, seeing the movement coming from inside through the windows. Some laughter, mainly from Mumbo and Jrum, was loud enough to make it to Grian’s ears, making him smile even more. Mumbo was right. It was going to be fine.

The portal did indeed end up sending them to the top of the box and Xisuma was already there waiting. Before the four of them went through, Grian gave the bots, more specifically Jrumbot, an explanation of what was going to happen. It took a little longer than anticipated as Jrum asked plenty of questions. His dads were happy to answer at first, but soon they had to try and get the robot to save his questions for later.

The second they were all through, Jrumbot zoomed at Xisuma and nearly pushed the admin of the building with his momentum. “Hi! Are you Xisuma?” Mumbo was quickly running over to help save X from the energetic robot while Grian worked on closing the portal. But before the redstoner could reach them, Xisuma answered affirmatively and was tackled to the ground with a hug. “My dads said you’re sort of like their dad so you’re my grandpaaa!”

As Mumbo helped Xisuma up, the admin just chuckled a little. “You certainly are an energetic little one. Here, I have a gift for you.” Jrumbot started bouncing a little when X said this, only to stop when the admin pulled out a communicator.

“What’s that?” Jrum asked. He wasn’t happy about the gift not being diamonds, but at the same time he wasn’t going to refuse a gift, so he took it anyway.

“It’s a communicator. Everyone on this server gets one when they join. Your brother already has one because I knew he was going to be joining, but you were a little bit of a surprise, though a welcome one at that.”

“Oh, okay!” Jrumbot chirped a little, making Grian look up at the noise. He looked up just in time to see Jrum running over towards him and Grum, showing off his new comm to the latter of them. “Look what I got from our grandpa!”

As Jrum continued to chat with his brother, Grian made eye contact with Mumbo. “Did he just…?”

“Well, they were both meant to be a mix of us. I guess when putting everything in, Jrum got a bit more of you.”

Xisuma brushed himself off a little before looking over at the bots. “Well, I certainly see the resemblance to Grian. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had another sort of war with the two of them around.”

Grian feigned offense at the statement. “How dare you ever think I would do such a thing. Especially around my children. Why I would never do such a thing. Only a pesky bird would and I am not at all a pesky bird.” And to drive home his sarcasm, he fluttered his wings slightly.

“Of course, no pesky birds here.” Mumbo crossed his arms, though he also smiled.

“Well, I’m sure you two want to settle in, so I’ll give them a quick rundown of what they need to know.” Xisuma spoke up, clasping his hands together in a clap. “I’m sure I won’t need to go over as much since they haven’t been on many other servers so telling them rules that may differ shouldn’t be a problem. How about tomorrow we see if we can’t gather everyone else to officially meet them.”

“That sounds great X.” Mumbo nodded before letting the admin walk over to the bots. He and Grian had to pull Jrum off of X more than once before the admin was done and flew off.

Getting everything over to the jungle was a bit more of a hassle since that involved more work then just walking through a portal and carrying everything a few meters. For the most part they were able to just carry the shulker boxes in their inventories, but they didn’t exactly have a good way to move the bulky chargers they had created for the bots. The two also had some mobility issues from being new to their bodies, so giving them elytra and giving them a crash course in flying didn’t seem like a good idea. Boats were also out of the question for right now since they didn’t know how well the bots would take to water.

The last option was the nether, and fortunately Mumbo still had extra obsidian to make a portal with. Grian stayed behind to break the portal once the other three were through since he could easily fly home along with the fact that using Mumbo’s home portal was better than trying to use the mess of obsidian that was his own portal.

The avian beat them back, though mostly due to the fact that the bots had never been to the nether and also didn’t have much gear to their names right now so it took longer to get them through, even with how the area was built up. Grian giggled a little at the obviously singed mustache of Mumbo while the bots looked non-plussed and snacking on some quartz. “There’s two of them. There’s only two of them. But it was like herding cats. Worse actually.” Mumbo rambled as Grian just continued to laugh, giving the redstoner a water bottle to pour over his mustache, a tiny bit of smoke coming from it as it was completely put out.

“Do we want to set up two of the chargers now?” Grian asked, trying to distract Mumbo. “Or should I work on building them rooms at my place?”

“Set up the chargers!” Mumbo answered a little too quickly. “Or, well. If it’s just the three of you, you could go to your base and I can set the chargers up here while you do that!”

“You just want me to deal with them by myself now since you had to, right?”

“Of course.”

Grian smiled and walked over to the bots. “Alright, who wants to try out a minecart and go over to Dad’s mansion?”

“Me! I do! I do!”

#hermitcraft #grian #mumbo jumbo #grumbot #jrumbot #xisuma #npc grian #avian!Grian #watcher!grian

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craniumhurricane · 3 years

Text

call me, baby, if you need a friend

Cleaning up some old WIPs. This has been in my drafts since end of season 2/around season 3.

Basically 4 times Clarke calls Bellamy and 1 time that Bellamy calls Clarke.

Thank you @casleyislove and @sushigirlali for always reading things before I post them!

[ On AO3! ]

___

(i)

It's a quiet night in at the Blake apartment. Or, at least, for Bellamy it is. He's having a nice Friday night by himself after surviving a truly grueling week of finals. Octavia tried to convince him to go out and celebrate the end of the semester the "right way," but he turned her down… he's still not quite sure how he managed to do that.

His feet are currently propped up on the coffee table with a large bowl of store brand cocoa puffs in his lap. Bellamy may be an adult but damn if he isn’t going to celebrate the end of the term with sugary cereal… nevermind that he didn’t actually make time to grocery shop this week. The TV was queued and ready for the marathon of Ancient Aliens episodes he’d missed due to studying, and he was just about to press play when he hears a short but insistent buzzing sound.

Glancing around, his eyes land on Octavia’s phone sitting on the corner of the coffee table. She must have left it in her hurry to leave since she was running late to meet up with her boyfriend.

Bellamy keeps his eyes on it for a second before deciding to ignore it, and once again his finger hovers over the play button on the remote. Then the phone lights up again, this time with a phone call; a picture of Octavia and a curly haired blonde that he recognizes, the name CLARKE THE GRIFFIN flashing across the screen. He considers ignoring it for a second time but... if she’s resorting to actually calling instead of texting again then something could be seriously wrong.

Bellamy swipes his thumb across the screen to answer and brings the phone to his ear but before he can even say anything a voice on the other side interjects immediately.

“Men are dicks,” the woman says without preamble. “No! Worse than that. They're weird tumors that grow on dicks," she pauses, seems to think about it, and then adds, "Preferably life threatening.”

Bellamy blinks a few times before he answers, “I'm sure you're right, but don't you think that's a bit harsh?”

The line is quiet. He can hear her shifting the phone, no doubt checking the screen to make sure she called the right person.

“Octavia?”

“Bellamy.”

Clarke huffs. “Where's Octavia?” she snaps. He can hear the annoyance seeping into her tone, which in turn just makes him feel his own frustrations start to rise.

He tamps it down though. “On a date,” he answers.

She deflates at that, “Oh right. One month anniversary with Lincoln.”

He hums a confirmation and then they’re silent for a few minutes. So long that it’s Bellamy’s turn to look at the phone and make sure she’s still there. “Did you need something?” he asks once he sees that the call is still, in fact, in progress.

She takes a deep breath before answering, “I ended things with Finn tonight.”

Bellamy had only met Finn Collins a handful of times; the guy was fine except for a little cocky… and he always seemed to want to show off in front of pretty girls. His hair was too long and always styled like he was some kind of frat boy that came from big money even though Bellamy's 100% sure he never so much as pledged.

And then there was that one time he flirted with Octavia.

Ok, so Bellamy didn’t like the guy. But a break up is still a shitty thing to go through which is why he says, “I’m sorry,” and finds that he means it.

“Not your fault,” Clarke says immediately, “But I was kind of looking for someone to watch me binge drink and listen to me vent.”

He understands that, having gone through the same thing when he broke up with Roma at the start of the term. If you could really call them “hooking up occasionally” the same thing as dating, but still, getting drunk with Miller had been essential in the whole moving on process.

“You want to come over here anyway?” he offers carefully, casually. He doesn’t mind Clarke. She’s younger than him, around Octavia’s age. They aren’t exactly friends, but he would consider them a little more than acquaintances. Enough that it shouldn’t be too weird for him to invite her over even without his sister present. Plus, her getting drunk here is a better alternative than her getting drunk by herself in some bar.

“You don’t mind?” she asks and he thinks he hears relief in her voice, “I was kind of already on my way over to your guy’s place... I don’t really feel like going out and I really don't feel like being depressed and alone in my dorm right now.”

“Nah,” he says and then tries a joke to brighten her spirits, “Sounds like something fun to watch. I’ll order food.”

“Chinese would be great,” and he swears he can hear a smile in her voice so he’ll count his dumb joke as a victory. “Thanks, Bellamy, see you soon.”

He's not even a little bit mad about dumping out his now soggy cereal.

(ii)

“So, you’ve been in school for basically forever. Is it normal for a person to experience this amount of stress?”

Bellamy’s lips twitch as he holds his phone to his ear. After Clarke crashed his Friday night in, and spilled on the whole cheating Finn debacle while they did shots, Bellamy figured he should give her his own cell phone number. As much as he hated to admit it, and honestly he never will, his sister and her boyfriend were getting serious, so who knows how much Octavia would be available for late night bitchfests about significant others, fellow students, and the human population in general. Which were just a few of the topics they discussed that night. Hanging out with Clarke ended up being kind of fun, a better night than he originally planned. She even let him watch a little of his marathon and offered her own commentary. Bellamy would do it again… which is something else he would never admit.

It's not like they suddenly talk every day, but it’s a near thing. They would send each other the occasional text when one of them sees something that the other absolutely has to know about. Mostly, he gets pictures of old dogs she sees at the park, asking if this will be him in 20 years. Bellamy responds in kind with memes about college life and rubbing it in her face that they no longer apply to him since he graduated last semester.

But sometimes she reaches out to him if there is something particularly bothering her. Such as dealing with egotistical dickwads that consider themselves professors and shutting down female students in a male dominated class.

Clarke’s probably the only person that ever calls him and can never start the conversation with a simple ‘Hello’. Actually, she’s probably the only person that actually still calls him.

“I just got a job teaching so that insult isn't going to work anymore since I literally will be in a school as part of my job,” is his first response before he turns to one of concern, “Midterms got ya down?”

“It’s just,” she gives an exasperated sigh before continuing, “I want to do something that helps people, I know I want to help people… But maybe I don't want to help people the way my mom wants me to help people...ya know?”

“You’re going to have to give me more to go on here, Princess-”

“I’m thinking about switching my major,” she says abruptly, like she’s ripping off a band aid.

He’s silent, waiting to see if she’s going to say anything else. When it becomes clear she’s waiting for him to say something he responds honestly, “If being a doctor isn’t something you want to do, then you shouldn’t do it.”

“But-”

“What your mom wants you to do shouldn’t overrule what you want to do, Clarke,” he interrupts her. Due to the increasing amount of time he’s been spending with Clarke, he’s learned that the Griffins have always had a capital “P” Plan and he knows that Clarke has a hard time knowing when she can push the boundaries of said Plan.

She’s silent again and Bellamy’s starting to think he’s going to have to prod her a second time. He’s got the beginnings of his big speech all prepared when finally she speaks up. “I’m thinking about going into Art Therapy,” She says thoughtfully, “Or maybe teaching? Helping out underprivileged kids...or hell, even underprivileged adults. Or maybe something for the community?”

His lips twitch on another smile at hearing the beginnings of a hint of passion in her voice. “Teaching can be very rewarding,” he says magnanimously.

She snorts and it turns into a full laugh, “You haven't even started yet! It could be the worst thing you’ve ever done and a total waste of your degree.”

“Your confidence in me really is touching,” he deadpans and then adds simply, “You’re an amazing artist, Clarke. I think doing something with that could be something you'd enjoy and be really really good at.”

She’s quiet when she asks, “You think I’m amazing? You’ve never told me that.” And Bellamy swears he can hear that smile in her voice again. The one he always looks forward to. The one he tries to coax out of her without realizing he’s doing it.

He feels his cheeks start to heat up and even though she can't see him, he feels the need to brush it off. “Yeah, well, I generally try to be as dickish as possible so…”

She snorts again and damn if he didn’t feel a slight flutter in his chest.

“For the record, I think you’re going to be an amazing teacher,” she says it so matter-of-factly but he’ll have to dwell on it later because she sobers and then asks softly, “So, you think I should do it?”

It’s not hard for him to build her up. She spends so much time being there for the rest of their slowly merging friend groups that she rarely takes time to see the greatness in herself. He doesn’t mind helping.

“I think you should do whatever the hell you want.”

(iii)

“Women are worse than men.”

Bellamy rubs the sleep from his eyes and glances at the clock; it was almost 3 in the morning. “I thought men were tumors?” he asks around a yawn.

“Yeah, well, women can be tumors too,” Clarke huffs, but she just sounds tired, “Comparing people to tumors is equal opportunity. Strides in feminism are being made, didn’t you know?”

Bellamy pushes himself into a sitting position, suddenly more alert as he picks up the trace of tears in her voice. “You ok?” he asks.

Clarke is silent at first, but he waits her out, he knows that she’ll tell him. “Lexa broke up with me,” she says quietly and then adds in confusion, “Or we broke up with each other? I’m a little unsure. We spent the whole night arguing and then suddenly she was packing up her stuff.” She pauses before taking a shaky breath, “It’s over. We’re over.”

“I’m so sorry, Clarke.”

“She was leaving anyway,” she continues, bitterly, “Some new job. She was leaving in a few weeks and didn’t even bother to tell me. I told her we could make it work long distance, I was willing to try and make it work. That’s when the arguing started. Not just about that but about-,” Clarke abruptly cuts herself off and hesitates, “about... other things. Things I didn’t even know were an issue.” She’s quiet again before she adds, “She didn’t say it but I think she was disappointed that I never suggested going with her...”

The thought makes a quick flash of irritation run through him. “She wanted you to uproot your entire life and go with her,” he summarizes as he tries to adjust the pillows on his bed by beating them, maybe a little too roughly at the thought of her doing just that, before leaning back against them.

“Which is completely crazy, I know,” she hurries to say, “but I wish we could have talked about it.”

“I am sorry, Clarke,” he says again, “I know Lexa seemed like she was it for you.”

“But maybe she wasn’t?” Clarke counters as if trying to reason with herself. “I don’t know. We were both committed to each other, but maybe this was a sign that we weren’t going to be able to make it work long term?” She pauses and Bellamy can hear the gears in her head turning as she processes a way for her to handle this, too explain it to herself. “When we were together,” she hesitates before continuing, and he can imagine her biting her lip, “I was happy... but I felt like a separate version of myself, ya know? Still me, but not completely me?”

Bellamy chews on the words he wants to say and goes with, “Sometimes the person you're with can change you; it's not always a bad thing.” He gets quiet as he adds thoughtfully, “I like to think Gina made me a better person...and she probably did,” he pauses, this time unsure if he should keep going, but Clarke hasn't said anything, so she must be waiting for him to continue, “We tried, tried really hard, to make it work, but eventually you just realize that maybe the relationship isn't going anywhere and what’s best for everyone is just to call it.”

“Wait, you and Gina broke up?” Clarke asks in surprise, “When did that happen!?”

“That's what you got from that?” He rubs a hand over his face as he thinks about it, “About two weeks ago?”

“Shit,” she says and is quiet before asking in a small voice, “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Honestly, I haven't seen a whole lot of you these last few months,” he hears what he said and corrects himself, “We haven’t seen a whole lot of you.” He’s surprised at his ability to keep the bite out of his voice; because the truth was this last year has sucked since Clarke started dating Lexa.

They met at one of Clarke's art gigs. Lexa was cool; fun when she wanted to be, but also a little hard to be around. Most of the time, she seemed to prefer doing things without any of Clarke’s friends.

“I’m sorry,” Clarke says.

“It’s fine,” he answers her and means it. “Gina and I are still good friends.”

“I wasn’t talking about you and Gina,” she says, voice soft.

He realizes what she’s actually apologizing for and he doesn’t know what to say. Because of course he forgives her, he will always forgive her.

The silence lasts too long so he clears his throat and prompts, “Want to come over and get drunk?”

Her laugh through the phone breaks the tension, “It’s like 3 o'clock in the morning.”

“My bar is always open.”

She chuckles. “I really want to hit something,” she says with a determined edge to her voice, “Then maybe get drunk.”

“How about this, we get a few more hours of sleep, wake up at a normal time, and go hit something,” he offers and then adds as if it's an afterthought, “And then get drunk, of course.”

She laughs again, “Oh, of course.” There’s that smile. “I forgot what being single with you was like.”

Bellamy sobers at the thought. It has been awhile since the two of them were single at the same time. “Always here to help, Princess.”

(iv)

“Why did I agree to this trip again?”

He’s packing up the essays that are scattered across his desk when she calls, 4 o’clock on the dot. Bellamy tries to suppress a laugh but he’s pretty sure she can at least hear the teasing smile in his voice.

“Just getting back to the hotel?” he asks in lieu of his own greeting.

“Yes!” she exclaims in exasperation. “And if it were up to Josephine, we probably would have walked all of damn Paris tonight,” her voice gets muffled at the end and he can only assume she’s thrown herself face first onto the nearest bed. “I cannot wait for a shower- No! A bath, definitely taking a long, hot bath.”

And now the image of Clarke Griffin in the bath, with just enough bubbles to cover up to her chest, has entered his mind. He shoves it away before anymore thoughts can accompany it.

This used to never be a problem. Sure, he’s always known that Clarke is attractive, but he has never been attracted to her. But ever since he broke up with Gina and she broke up with Lexa, Bellamy has been exceedingly aware of the fact that they have both remained single.

The last time this happened was right after Finn.

Bellamy shakes his head for good measure before responding. “You’re going to fall asleep in the tub and your roommate will find your prune-y, wrinkled body in the morning.” He cringes. Apparently he wasn’t able to get the image of her completely out of his head.

Clarke scoffs, but he can tell that it’s in an exasperated but fond kind of way. “How is it that you manage to be a buzzkill from over 4,000 miles away?” she asks drily and then pauses before adding, “Actually, Josie would probably just leave me in there for the entire trip and never let on that something was up.”

He turns the key to lock his office behind him and heads for the staff lot. “Don’t worry, if you don’t call to check in, I’ll call the National Guard,” he teases.

“I know you would,” she says simply, like it’s a known fact.

Things have been a little weird after he became aware that they were both single. Mostly because, he’s pretty sure that Clarke has also come to realize it. When he turns to look at her, he often finds her already looking. Their innocent touches are now more frequent and linger just a bit longer.

Bellamy has come to realize that he doesn’t want to be single and the reason he doesn’t want to be single is because he wants his best friend to not be single with him.

There’s just never a right time to tell her.

“So, what did you do today?” he asks.

Despite the exhaustion and jetlag that’s surly setting in, Clarke jumps into an animated retelling of the flight and arriving at their hotel room just in time to change clothes and head back out to walk the streets of Paris to get their bearings before their tours officially start tomorrow.

“I’m a little disappointed that we’re doing the Louvre first thing tomorrow. I was hoping to be a little more alert for that.”

“Your coffee addiction hasn’t stopped just because you’re in another country,” he points out as he gets in his car.

She laughs, “Jeez, you are such an ass.”

He starts the car but doesn’t leave just yet; afraid the long distance call will drop out.

“What are you doing now?” he asks into the comfortable silence.

“Admiring the view,” she admits softly. “It really is gorgeous all lit up. Makes me want to dig out my sketchbook.”

“You have a week, Princess,” he chuckles. “Don’t screw up your jetlag even more by losing track of time in your drawings on the first night.”

She’s quiet again before confessing softer somehow, “It also makes me wish you were here.”

His heart clenches in his chest and he wills himself to sound normal. “Maybe next time,” he tries for teasing but it comes out almost wistful.

“Next time, hmmm?” Clarke hums. “You’d come to Paris with me?” And he’s sure she’s flirting with him.

“Well, maybe not for our first date,” he says, “But maybe, like, our fifth or something.”

Clarke’s quiet for a long time and he’s afraid he’s overstepped, misread the room. He’s about to take it back, play it off as a joke when she finally speaks.

“And what would a first date look like?” she asks with what he thinks is hope in her voice.

He swallows a couple of times. “Well,” he starts, “Since you’re already getting some of the best museum experiences, I’d probably settle for dinner and a movie. Something cheesy that’s playing at the dollar theater; where we’re the only ones there and can yell at the screen.”

She chuckles and his heart flutters, “We already do that, Bell. Quite frequently, actually.”

“Yeah, but if it’s a date then I’d get to kiss you at the end of it.”

“What? No making out during the movie?” she asks and he can picture how cute her face gets when she pouts.

A grin spreads across his face and he’s grateful no one can see how goofy he must look.

“We’ll have to make sure it’s a really bad movie.”

(+i)

Clarke rubs some moisturizer on her face before capping the tube and tossing it into her bag on the bed. After ensuring that everything she’s going to need for tomorrow is packed, she zips it up and grabs one of Bellamy’s hoodies to slip on over her clothes.

Ever since he picked her up from the airport when she got back from her trip to Paris, and she ran directly into his arms, giving the other people waiting quite a show, there always seems to be one laying around, waiting for her to find it. She assumes that he gets as much of a thrill out of her wearing them as she does.

She heads down the stairs of their townhouse, passing various pictures and artwork, and shoots Raven one more text not to forget to bring her dress to the venue tomorrow. She’s supposed to help her get ready in the morning along with her mother. In the meantime, Abby has sent a car to pick her up and take her to the hotel. Easier to get ready if she’s already there for the stylist… something else her mother insisted on paying for. No matter how many times Clarke told her she didn’t care what her hair looked like because she was marrying the love of her life.

Clarke locks up the house and greets the driver, slipping into the backseat. She intends to spend the ride lost in thought, going through the checklists that were running through her head.

Their engagement had been on the short side but she didn’t mind. They were both ready to get on with this next chapter in their lives.

Her phone is resting loosely in her hand, face down on her knee, when it starts to vibrate with an incoming call. She holds her breath for a second, praying it isn’t the florist or the caterers. But when she sees the photo of her and Bellamy from New Year’s flash on the screen, she can’t help but smile.

She taps the button and greets him with a sultry, “Hi, handsome.”

“Hey,” he says and she can tell he has a soft smile on his face, the one just for her. “You just leave the house?”

“Yep. On my way to the hotel now, so hopefully you haven’t forgotten anything because it’s too late now.”

“The most important thing is already on its way,” he responds with a teasing lilt.

Clarke can’t help the sharp laugh that escapes her lips, “Oh my god! You are such a sap!”

“I was referring to the ring, obviously, Princess.”

“Oh, obviously,” she says, mock serious.

They chuckle to themselves for a few minutes and she honestly can’t tell if the driver is rolling his eyes or thinks they’re being cute from hearing one side of the conversation.

Bellamy sobers up first only to let out a groan. “I hate whose ever idea this is,” he whines.

“Aren’t you the history professor? Shouldn’t you know where common traditions and such come from?”

He scoffs, “No, I mean I hate whichever of our friends is making us do this.”

The two of them haven’t seen each other since yesterday morning, him having been spirited off by his groomsmen while she was left to spend last night alone in their bed. And now they’re meant to go one more night without seeing each other.

To Bellamy’s point, Clarke isn’t altogether sure why this is a tradition anymore, nor why they are choosing to follow this particular one. She and Bellamy aren’t even that superstitious! And yet somehow they were talked into spending the days leading up to their wedding apart.

“Ah,” she answers him now, “That would be Raven and Miller. Although, I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with marriage traditions and has everything to do with getting back at us for making out in front of them so much.”

Bellamy scoffs again, “Well, jokes on them, because after tomorrow, I don’t ever have to stop kissing you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, “We’ll have to come up to eat at some point.”

The driver pulls up under the awning of the hotel and Clarke gets out and grabs her bag before he’s able to get out and grab it for her. She gives him a wave and a simple thank you before heading through the sliding doors.

“How’s your room?” she asks into the phone as she bypasses the check in desk, her mother having already checked her in and given her the key card to her room this morning when they were getting their nails done.

He heaves a deep sigh. “Lonely,” he answers as she steps into the elevator. From what Clarke knows from his texts, Miller dropped him off here last night and left him to his own devices. Apparently, the best man gets to sleep next to his husband but Bellamy wasn’t allowed to sleep next to his soon-to-be wife.

She makes a split second decision and presses a different button, jolting the elevator to stop sooner than intended. When she steps off she casually offers, “I could help with that.”

“Oh yeah?” He chuckles. “You going to describe for me what you’re wearing?”

“Hmm,” she hums as if she’s considering it. “I could do that… but I was more thinking that I could show you.”

Clarke stops in front of a door and gives it a nice rhythmic knock.

She doesn’t have to wait long before it’s opening and Bellamy is standing in front of her with his phone against his ear and a huge grin on his face.

She lowers her own phone from her ear, pressing the end button without looking.

“Hi, handsome,” she manages before he’s pulling her into his room.

#no one cares ashleigh #bellarke fanfiction #bellamy blake x clarke griffin #my fanfiction #i'm going to post this and run away because omg #i feel like this is long and i rambled #and i had some unresolved issues regarding clarke's relationships #anyway #enjoy!

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girls-scenarios · 4 years

Text

Drowned In Countless Thoughts

Idol: Siyeon (Dreamcatcher)

Prompt: WASSUP! Its me again! ✌️ Could u do a Siyeon OR Kim Lip scenario where their s.o has locked themselves in their room for a long periodically time and them thinking they were mad at them but their s.o actually has been streaming to get the money to buy the ring so they can propose to them?????? Srr if it confusing!!

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: This title is from Dreamcatcher’s song “Daybreak” because I really suck at titles. Also, I’m sorry if there’s any mistakes, I edited this at midnight after I took my medicine so I probably missed some things. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!

♡ Tip Jar♡

Siyeon wasn’t sure what she’d done wrong. It had been days since you’d holed up inside your recording room, only coming out for meals and hardly talking to her at all. Usually, she would ask you what was going on directly, but you seemed to want to get back into your room as quickly as possible. Weirdly enough, you took ages to respond to her texts and seemed deep in thought whenever you came out of the room. When she checked into your stream, it was just the normal content and you seemed happy enough, but as soon as she saw you come outside of your room, you were back to being rushed and quiet.

When she sent you a text asking if everything was okay, you responded that you were just working hard and not to worry, but she couldn’t help worrying a bit. It seemed like you were only clamming up when you saw her, and you had never streamed back to back like this. Had she said something that upset you? Was she annoying you somehow? Even when you came to bed, you just passed out, only pausing long enough to give her a quick kiss goodnight, and when she woke up you were already streaming again.

Something was off. And because you weren’t giving her any answers, she just worried more, going over each and every one of her actions the past week just in case she’d accidentally done something wrong. But she couldn’t think of a single thing that might have made you mad. And the biggest issue was that she couldn’t stop thinking and wondering, deep into the night, what she’d done.

Her frustration led her to seek out the advice of her friends, meeting them at a nearby cafe to tell them everything.

“Maybe (Y/N) is worried about finances? Since they’re a streamer, they make less money than you do,” Jiu said after hearing about how long you were streaming, her lips pursed in thought. “That could have them worried.”

“But we’re doing fine financially. I don’t know why they would suddenly start worrying. They’ve been making more recently anyway.” Siyeon sighed and looked down at her drink, absentmindedly stirring her straw. She hated this. The two of you rarely fought and on top of that, you always shared your thoughts with each other. She wasn’t the type to worry over things like this, because she trusted you more than anyone. Yet now.... “I’m just worried that I did something without noticing it.”

“If you can’t remember doing anything different, then it makes no sense for them to be angry,” Yoohyeon pointed out. “Maybe they’re just stressed? Or they could be doing some sort of daily content for the summer months, or participating in some sort of challenge. Have you asked them?”

“I’ve tried, but I haven’t seem them much since this started! I tried asking what was going on and they just said they were working harder and that everything was fine. They texted me not to worry, but how can I not worry when I’m hardly seeing them? Even if they aren’t mad at me, I’m still worried about them working so much. It can’t be good for them.”

“That is weird.” Jiu shook her head. “I don’t know, Siyeon. It sounds like you need to talk to them. Tell them to set aside some time because you want to talk.”

“That sounds so.... I don’t know, bad,” Siyeon said, hardly resisting the urge to rub at her face. She’d spent too long on it that morning to smudge it up. Instead, she took out her frustration on her drink, stirring the straw harder.

“It’s better than worrying yourself to death trying to figure out what’s going on.”

“True.” She smiled wryly at Yoohyeon and Jiu. “Thanks for hearing me out, girls. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?”

By the time she got home after spending some time shopping to get her mind of things, it was already nearing dinnertime. There was no sign in the kitchen that you’d come out of your filming room, and she let out a deep sigh, shaking her head. You couldn’t just throw away your health, no matter how angry or stressed you were. Rolling up her sleeves, she marched over to your room only to open the door to find... no one. You weren’t there. Her eyebrows shot up as she looked around the dark room. When had you left?

“Huh, that’s weird,” she muttered to herself, “they stay in there when I’m home but leave when I’m gone. Are they leaving when I’m at work too?” It just didn’t make sense. Where would you go after holing yourself up for days? Just as she pulled out her phone, about to call and ask where you were, she heard the front door open and her eyebrows raised. “(Y/N)?” She called down the hall, and the noises at the door stopped.

“Yes?” You called back after a moment.

“Where did you go? And did you eat? I was worried because it didn’t look like you ate any lunch,” she said as she walked towards the door, her hands on her hips. She had a bit of a frown on her lips as she approached you and you cleared your throat, slipping out of your shoes and stepping fully inside.

“I needed to stretch my legs after working, so I went out on a walk and then stopped by the store to buy some essentials. I was out of toothpaste.” You gestured to the reusable bag in your arms. “And yes, I ate. I got some lunch at the market. But that was hours ago. Are you hungry?”

After a days of holing yourself up, you were just going to come back out and go to the grocery store like nothing happened? She was annoyed, but you were talking to her more than you had in a while, so she held back her complaints for later. “I am. Why?”

“Good, because I made us reservations at that new Italian restaurant downtown that you wanted to go to.”

The surprises just didn’t stop coming. Her eyes widened and she tilted her head, now totally confused. “What? Really?”

“Yeah, the reservation is for seven, so that gives you a little over an hour to get ready, right?”

“Yeah, I’m just....” She shook her head, deciding not to argue. This was the first chance she’d actually get to talk to you in days. Plus, she wasn’t about to say no to a romantic dinner, especially since she’d been wanting to go out with you for a while now. “Never mind. Give me a little while, I’ll dress up for the occasion.”

She didn’t usually wear dresses, but tonight she put on the black button down dress that she knew you liked and paired it with the sandals she found in the back of her closet. Even if she didn’t really want to admit it, she wanted you to pay attention to her tonight: so many days of being pretty much ignored made her a bit needy. After putting a bit of a wave in her hair and touching up her makeup, she walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, where you were waiting, also more dressed up than you usually were. When you looked up and saw her, you raised your eyebrows, a smile coming to your lips as you looked her up and down.

“You look nice tonight,” you said, getting up from the couch to greet her, and she smiled despite her earlier annoyance at you, just happy to have your attention again. “I love that dress on you.”

“Thank you,” she said, taking her purse from the table and checking the clock. “Should we go now? We don’t want to be late.”

“Oh yeah, we definitely don’t want to be late. Let’s go.”

The restaurant was just as beautiful inside as it was outside, with a tall ceiling, modern circular hanging lights, an exposed brick wall, table candles, and plush seating. As a foodie at heart, she couldn’t help but be impressed as she took in the interior decoration and the incredible smell that wafted from the kitchen.

“I have a reservation for (Y/N),” you told the hostess, who looked down at her tablet for a moment, then smiled and nodded her head.

“I have you down for the private table, is that correct?”

“That’s correct,” you said, and well, there was another surprise. Private room? What in the world was going on?

“Right this way please,” the hostess said, gesturing with her hand before she started to walk, guiding the two of you to the back of the restaurant, where multiple small, private booths with their own lights were set up, wrapped in curtains that cut them off from the rest of the restaurants.

“Thank you,” she said as she sat down and accepted the menu from the hostess, giving her a smile. Then, when the curtains were closed, she glanced at you, but you were already pouring through the menu, asking if there was anything she wanted to drink. Oh well, she thought, opening her own menu. The talk could wait until they orders.

Finally, after drinks were delivered to the table and the food order was placed, the two of you started to chat.

“How was your day?” You asked, and she decided that this was as good a time as any to bring up her frustrations. Swirling the wine in her glass, she shrugged her shoulders.

“It was okay. I went out with Yoohyeon and Jiu because I wanted to talk to them about something.”

“Really? About what?”

“You.” Her direct answer froze you in place, your eyes widening.

“Huh?”

“I wanted to talk about them because I was worried because you were locked in your filming room streaming all day. I felt like I must have done something wrong to make you angry since you seemed to be avoiding talking to me, but they said it might have something to do with stress or finances.” She placed her wine glass down and sighed, locking eyes with you. “I can’t help worrying about the long hours you were working too. Please just tell me what’s going on because I can’t tell anymore.”

“I’m so sorry,” you said immediately after she finished, your face falling. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I....” You trailed off, obviously struggling with something. “I was trying to make money for something. But don’t worry. I’m not mad at you or anything. Really! I just got so focused that I wasn’t thinking about anything but reaching my goal.”

“Oh.” Well, at least you weren’t mad at her. She wasn’t sure what you were hiding, but she didn’t feel like digging too much further. “Just tell me that in the future, please? I was really worried.”

“I will, I swear. I’m really sorry that I didn’t notice how you were feeling. I feel really bad now....”

“Ah, don’t be like that. You apologized and I forgive you. Plus, I’m happy that you’ve snapped out of it now, and I can’t be angry when you brought me here for dinner.” She smiled softly and held up her glass. “Let’s just focus on enjoying our time here. We can’t come all the time, after all.”

You looked relieved that she wasn’t still upset, raising your glass and meeting her smile with your own. “To making up?”

This made her laugh and she clinked her glass to yours. “To making up.”

As the night wore on, the stress from the week began to wash away, and Siyeon was happy that she’d agreed to come. The food and drinks were amazing and so was the atmosphere, the booth small and romantic and lit by candlelight that flickered across your features. It was slightly awkward for a short moment, but like always, soon enough to two of you were talking casually. It never took long for the two of you to make up. That was something she was thankful for.

By the time the plates were cleared away and the two of you were ordering dessert, Siyeon was happy and satisfied, basking in your attention once again and slightly sleepy from the wine. So when you got up to go to the restroom after dessert was ordered, she didn’t think anything of it. Instead, she pulled out her phone to text her friends that she was just overreacting and that the two of you had talked things out, as well as sending them a quick photo of the private booth. When she heard steps heading towards the booth, she put her phone away, expecting to see either you or the dessert.

She certainly wasn’t expecting the curtain to pull back and reveal both. Once again, her eyebrows shot up as she looked from the dessert in your hands to your face.

“What’s this?” She asked, a joking lilt to her voice. “Did they need help in the kitchen?”

“No, nothing like that.” You laughed, sounding a bit nervous, and placed the cake down in front of her, then closed the curtain behind you. When her eyes landed on the icing, her mouth dropped open and her hands came up to cover her mouth. On top of the chocolate, written in a thin, decorative icing, was a question.

Siyeon, will you marry me?

For a moment, she sat still in disbelief, her breath caught in her throat, reading and rereading the question until you cleared your throat and she turned to see you getting down on one knee in the small space behind the curtain. Suddenly, it all became real and, although she wasn’t usually a crier, her eyes started to well up with tears.

“Siyeon, we’ve been dating for a long time now. Ever since we first started dating, I’ve wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I know we don’t need a ring and a title to make our love real, but since we talked about marriage last year, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I want to marry you and build a future with you. I love you so much and I don’t know what my life would be like without you. I know I’ve made mistakes, like I did just this week, but I promise that I’ll always work to be a person who can stand proudly by your side. I’ll do my best to support you in everything you do and I will always love you. So, love of my life, will you marry me?” Your cheeks were flushed slightly, but your eyes were earnest as you pulled a ring from your pocket, causing the tears she was holding back to flood over.

Still, she tried her best to be quiet, wiping quickly at her face before reaching out to grab your hands, nodding her head. “Oh my god, why am I crying? Yes I’ll marry you, (Y/N)! I love you so much, I’m so happy you decided to ask me.”

Your shoulders sagged in relief and you beamed, jumping up to wrap her in a tight hug that she quickly reciprocated, burying her head in your shoulder. “Thank goodness,” you said after you pulled away, laughing softly and shaking your head. “When I realized I accidentally hurt you, I thought you might say no.”

“Oh no,” she said, realization finally dawning on her. “This is what you were saving up money to buy when you were streaming?”

“Yeah,” you admitted, looking down at the ring as you slid it onto her finger. “I found the one I knew was perfect for you, but it was over budget. I knew I had to get it anyway, so I did some extra streams to save up the money. It fits you perfectly though, doesn’t it?”

She looked down at the ring gleaming on her finger, then burst into tears all over again. “I’m sorry I was so upset with you! You were actually doing it for me and I was being stupid about it!”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. I should have at least said something, but I was nervous about accidentally spoiling the surprise.” You quickly handed her a napkin and wiped away her tears, smiling at her with so much affection that she felt like she might burst. So she pulled you into another tight hug before pulling away to kiss you, pouring all the feelings bubbling up inside her into the kiss, relieved that the booth was private. This would have been embarrassing to do in front of any cameras.

When she pulled away, she wiped at her eyes and smiled at you, letting out a small laugh. “What a way to end this week,” she said, giggles bursting out. “I’m still a bit shocked. I was not expecting this week to end with a proposal.”

You laughed and slid into the seat beside her, reaching down to hold her hand and beaming when you saw the ring again. “At least it’s a good ending, right?”

“Yeah.” She smiled and leaned in to kiss you one last time. “I’m happy with the ending.”

#femifics #dreamcatcher #siyeon #dreamcatcher scenarios #siyeon scenarios #girl group scenarios #kpop scenario #girl groups #kpop girl groups

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scandeniall · 4 years

Text

good & the bad [11/12]

| song 11: the good & the bad | good & bad masterlist | prev | next

pairing: osamu x reader

summary/warnings: Hang on to the moments when you're flying, he moments when you're crying. Hang on to the ones that hold you down./ straight up manga spoilers lol

wc: 1868

“Samu,” his name comes out barely above a whisper as you enter the dimly lit room shutting the door behind you. “Atsumu let me in. He said you haven’t come out at all today.” You softly say as you make your way deeper into his room, until you're standing at the space next to his desk where he’d been hunched over for the majority of the day. He still hadn’t said anything as you eye the content covering the surface. Lots of numbers. You notice the way he relaxes just the tiniest bit as you rest your hand on his shoulder. “You ok?”

“No.” The shortness of the answer doesn’t come as a surprise given, what’d he’d most likely been working on. You only nod, noticing the way he slides his chair back enough so that you could seat yourself sideways on his lap. “More shop plans?” Your question is only met with a nod.

You remember when you met the twin. It had been during his second and your first year of university. The two of you crossing paths by mere chance. Essentially being in the right place at the right time. You met at an obscure cafe that you both tended to frequent, just never at the same time. It had been a place that had such few customers, that everyone wondered how it was still in business. However, it’d had the best damn yakitori you’d ever had. It had actually been one of the waitresses who introduced you two. Saying you were the only two people who ever ordered it from there, and that if it wasn’t for you two they’d considered taking it off the menu.

From there the friendship and eventual relationship blossomed. You found out he was in school for culinary arts, with a minor in business in hopes of opening his own food shop, eventually settling on Onigiri. That had been two years ago, and as a recent graduate he was ready to get it up and running. A process that proved to be a difficult one, causing his current stress.

“I’ve been running these numbers and looking for suppliers all day. Kita said he can help with rice, but there's still fillings, and seaweed, and packaging. And now theres a problem with my location and actually pay for workers if I’m struggling now—fuck. Maybe I should have gone pro with Tsumu.”

He let out more than he’d initially intended and he blames the feel of your fingers massaging his scalp for the word vomit. It feels much better than the tugging he’d done at his scalp as he eyed the dizzying numbers for the millionth time. “Hey. Don’t say that. You know you wouldn’t have been happy doing that.” His gaze shifts from you to the papers covering his desk as you continue talking. “Besides, who the hell said opening a business was easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it-”

“Well it's obviously not,” your hand goes to clamp around his mouth so he wouldn’t interrupt again. “As I was saying. It's not easy, but you’re doing it. And in 80 years when you end up as the happier twin it’ll all be worth it. I know it’s stressful now, but that’s where your superhero volleyball strength should kick in. The same mental strength I’m sure it takes to get through games, physically pushing yourself past your limits is what you need now. It’s The mental strength to see this through Samu. You’ve got it, so just hang in there through the good and the bad.” The quietest of sniffles causes you to let out a laugh. “Wait are you actually crying right now at my stupid speech.”

Your boyfriend’s hands go to try and fail to push you off as you continue laughing. “It’s the hunger. I haven't eaten in hours,” Osamu counters as you roll your eyes. “Yeah, Alright. Come on let’s go get something. My treat tonight.” Hands tighten around your waist as you lean down to press your lips to meet his. The kiss is soft, lips ghosting against one another as you fight yourself smiling. Before you could push it further he pulls away a lazy smile on his face. “You said you were gonna treat me to dinner.”

Your annoyed groan does nothing but amuse him, but as you go to get up you find that his hands don’t loosen. “For someone who wants food you don’t seem to be making the effort to let me go.” Osamu only shrugs. “Thank you. For having my back.”

“Just remember, hang through the good and the bad. And stop being afraid to ask for my help. I’m here, always.”

——

‘I’m outside,’ your eyes gloss over the text before you start packing your backpack. Bidding your friends goodbye you quickly make your way down the steps of your school’s library before slipping into Osamu’s passenger seat. You eagerly accept the quick kiss he offers in greeting.

“So you think this is the place?”

“Hopefully. I’m ready to sign a lease already.” You nod humming along to the radio. Right now he was going to take a last look at the potential shop location before hopefully signing for it. You’d offered to go with him since you didn’t have any late classes for the day. Ever since your conversation a month ago he’d been just the slightest bit more accepting of help from others.

“Oh, my friend gave me some of the logo drafts today. They look pretty good, you might have a winner there.” His hand goes to gently squeeze the skin of your thigh in appreciation. You had a friend majoring in graphic design who was more than willing to gain experience designing a logo for a business. Osamu was grateful for it. That was one last thing he had to worry about.

“When i decided to do this, I thought i'd be on my own. According to so many people I was letting my talent go to waste going into food instead of sports.” This time your hand goes to offer him a comforting squeeze. “But— I’m thankful. For you, shitty Tsumu, Kita and everyone else helping me. But don’t ever mention that to my brother.”

You can’t help but laugh, swearing to secrecy. You remember how Osamu half told you that him and his twin got into a nasty fight about him quitting sports back in high school. It ended in them betting who would end up the happiest at the end of their life. Thankfully the two got over it as they grew into men, and now Atsumu acted as his brothers ‘official and professional taste tester.’ He’d even gotten some of his teammates to do taste tests for more opinions.

—-

6 years later

“Thank you for all being here. I wanted to give a special thank you to the person who has held me down and kept me sane from the beginning. At least for the most part, sometimes they’re annoying.” Your jaw drops in a mix of amusement and shock at Osamu’s words. The mid size crowd around you laughs, even more as you go to push the man who doesn’t even falter.

“The first Onigiri Miya shop opened 6 years ago. And today we’re here to celebrate the grand opening of the largest branch yet here in Tokyo. Thank you for being here, and enjoy.” Osamu quickly bows before cutting the ribbon open to the new shop and allowing people inside.

As the last person trickles inside your left outside with your boyfriend and his twin, who was looking at you weirdly. He had a stupid smile in his face that seemed unusually genuine. “Would you stop looking at me like a weirdo. Let’s go inside” your walk is stopped by a hand grabbing yours. Your confusion is just marked by Osamu grabbing both of your hands. “Samu— what’s up?”

“This is weird. But not really,” You notice the twin starting to break his usual deadpan persona, even glancing at the blonde counterpart for a moment before taking a deep breath. A thought of what's about to go down briefly crosses your mind, but only for a point of a second, because there's no way.

“A few years ago you told me to hang on through the good and the bad. To this day, I don’t even think you knew what you were really saying. But you said it, and I did it. I stuck through the long nights where I wanted nothing more than to pull my hair out and give up. At the beginning when everything was going to shit. When I was spending more to run the shop than I was making. When my first shop caught fire and nearly burned to the ground-”

“All about you huh. Way to be self centered Samu,” both of you shot a glare at the blonde. Osamu for the interruption, and you for- well you didn’t even know. You only bit back that maybe he was learning from him, causing a smile to tug at Osamu’s face.

“Anyways- but I also stuck through with the good. From getting enough money saved to open a shop, getting approved for the starter loan, to finding the best vendors and having the chance to sell and grow at professional games. Then I opened up my second, and third and now fifth branch.” You can’t help but smile at the memory as you nod.

“I couldn’t have done it without you. Your love, kindness, and everything that makes you, you. You hung in there with me as you went through your own life. You graduated, started working at your dream company, and started working your way up. All this while supporting me endlessly. You even went as far as putting money down for me, and working at the shop for free. You were there through every step of the way.

You always told me to feel and don’t be afraid to ask for help, but the help you gave and continue to give is more than anyone could have ever asked for. During one of our midnight talks, you told me to hang on and love the ones who continue to keep me ground. You’re one of those people. The name of the shop. Onigiri Miya always had a nice ring to it.” Your eyes went through several emotions: confusion, realization, and now shock, as your boyfriend took a step back now getting onto 1 knee. You almost feel like you’re going to pass out as your mind runs blank.

“I love you a whole lot. So, (Y/N) will you make the name on the shop yours as well and marry me.” You don’t even remember the words yes coming out of your mouth or even nodding. Apparently you did because you're met with metal sliding on your finger and obnoxious hollering from a twin who you didn’t even notice was recording the entire time. Arms that circle around your waist and a failure figure hugging yours breaks you out of your state of shock.

“Here's to handling the future together. And sticking through the good and the bad.”

a/n: this series is NOT written in song order which is why the prev/next buttons dont work and wont until its applicable. This is the 3rd installment and my first time writing osamu so this shit seems mad OOC but i also dont know his character that well, but this song made me go to this idea so?????? Also reread and take a shot every time i reference the fucking title god i hate myself

#haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #hq imagines #osamu x reader #haikyuuwritersnet #osamu imagine #good and the bad #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu imagines

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halequeenjas · 4 years

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You’d Be Surprised || Alain & Jasmine

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @carbrakes-and-stakes & @halequeenjas SUMMARY: Jasmine follows through with her offer to help Alain clear up some packing clutter before grabbing some photos of his home.

Upon pulling into the driveway of Alain’s home, Jasmine had no doubt she’d be able to market this well and get it sold at a good price. Even though she didn’t like the idea of being remote in White Crest of all places, she could actually see the place as being cozy. In a like, flannel pajamas and pancakes kind of way. It appeared Alain had done a nice job restoring it as well. She could spot shoddy repair work from a mile away and this wasn’t it. All in all, this was looking like it would be a pretty good commission. The fact she didn’t feel the chilling presence of ghosts was also good. She’d still have to sneakily place wards up before having any sort of open house so Larry Bob didn’t try anything funny. Though she was a bit regretful of the fact she signed herself up for somewhat physical labor, Jasmine had decided to look on the bright side. This meant she’d be more easily to rearrange things how she’d like for staging the home. All in all, it could be worse. On the way up to his front door, she took a moment to appreciate the garden. Even as the things were starting to day away with the fall weather, there were still some vibrant shades of reds and oranges to be seen. It must have been stunning in the spring. Still looking up at the house, she gave a firm knock with her hand that wasn’t trapped by a cast and waited for indication she could come in. “Hey, Mr. Babineaux,” she greeted as the door opened, “Hope you don’t mind, but I brought along some coffee and pastries.”

“...” Alain greeted her with a tight-lipped smile as she told him she’d brought pastries and coffee. He had just made a fresh pot, and the place smelled of the pain au chocolat he had been baking earlier in the morning. Perks of being a slayer who could not go out, baking at 3 am was actually not a problem. And he liked being busy, as it stopped him from having too many thoughts crossing his mind. “Well, I always felt like there never was such a thing as too much food,” he pushed himself away from the doorway with the crutches, and led the way to the living room, where he had started to pack a few things while the dough rose in his kitchen last night. He had tried to be thorough with putting away all of his questionable belongings were they : books, weapons, or, even more questionable, a tooth or a bone he’d kept from a creature he’d killed, in case he would need it later. Even now, as he knew that he would most likely never fight again, he could not bring himself to get rid of those things. They might be of use to someone else, he told himself. Those things were just too valuable for him to throw. “You can put it down on the dinner table…” He eyed over at the cluttered table and frowned, “I mean, if you manage to find a spot,” he looked around the room to find a more suitable spot and sighed. He had never been a tidy person, but this was something else. “I suppose the kitchen might actually be your best chance. You can grab a viennoiserie there if you want,” once again, he led the way. And well, this was another room he wouldn’t have to visit on the tour of the house. “It’s not the biggest kitchen, but as you can see, it’s been put to use,” he picked one of his chocolate croissant for himself and gladly accepted one of her coffee cups. Slayer or not, he would need this much to get through this day.

The quiet greeting and the smell of baked goods throughout the home indicated that maybe bringing something had been a bad idea. As he said there was no such thing as too much food, Jasmine shook her head. “Oh no, whatever you made smells way better than what I brought. I can just bring these to the office and we can enjoy the good pastries,” she said with an ever bright and reassuring smile. In truth, she hadn’t expected someone who just lost a leg to be quite so mobile. There was definitely evidence he had been packing and clearly baking. It really did smell amazing in here. With a laugh, she blurted out, “If this is what your baking smells like, I don’t even need to bring candles. What’d you make?” She’d looked over the table and didn’t see a solid spot to set the box down. She briefly thought over how she could rearrange some of the boxes before he directed her to the kitchen. Much better. She set the box of pastries and cups of coffee down on the countertop. When she saw the pastries he made, her jaw dropped as she turned to face Alain. “You made those?” Her voice conveyed her shock. She hadn’t seen pastries that looked that good anywhere outside of France. She took one of the chocolate croissants and as she took a bite out of it, was immediately transported back to her last trip to France. “Oh my god,” she exclaimed, “These taste like I’m on vacation.” As much as she loved French pastries, she never gave them a go. Cooking and baking weren’t her thing. Her luxurious kitchen would have gone almost entirely to waste if it wasn’t for Bea. She laughed a bit and added, “Clearly it’s been put to good use if you can make pastries this good. I have this super nice kitchen in my house that my best friend uses entirely more than I ever have.” She paused to look around at the clutter that she had advised against her better judgment that she’d help clean. “So any place you’d like to start first here?”

“It does cover the smell of dogs,” he agreed. Alain had a look through the kitchen window. Speaking of them, they were messing around outside in the garden. He never asked whether she liked or were afraid of dogs. “You don’t mind dogs, do you?” Now might as well be a good time to worry about it, “I made pain au chocolat,” he said it in French, because clearly something that did not have the shape of a croissant should not have been called a croissant. “Too much time on my hands these days,” he forced himself to smile. This could not be as suspicious as spilling iron rods and salt, could it? Certainly not. And obviously he would not tell her either that his injury was far from as old as it seemed. “I’m glad you appreciate them. It’s the least I can do for someone who is willing to help me do that one thing everyone hates doing,” unpacking seemed like an even worse moment, but he was not there yet. Sure he had already seen a few houses, and he would have to pick one, but he was not there yet.

“It’s not for everyone,” he gave her a shrug. “But if you ever want to use your kitchen and need some tips, well just let me know,” cooking could get frustrating and people being discouraged was always what ended up stopping them.

Either way, she did not come here to discuss food or cooking, as much as he appreciated compliments on his baked goods. “Well, I’m done with most kitchen utensils. Only kept the essentials,” he rubbed at the back of his head, putting down the cup of coffee to lead the way back to the living room. “I’ll start emptying my closets I think. Not like I’ll need much since I barely go out,” he observed. “If you wish, you can empty the bookcases? Or if you are brave, you can wrap the things I put on the table with newspaper or bubble wrap.”

“That it does,” Jasmine agreed with a smile and a slight head tilt as she pondered how best to sum up her feelings on dogs. “I’ve never had one personally, but I don’t mind them. Always figured I’d get one once I have kids. You know, American Dream and all.” That also meant there’d be kids and likely a husband to help with said dog. As it stood, she worked far too much to reasonably have any sort of pet. She took another bite of her pastry and said, “Seriously, these are amazing. I haven’t had pain au chocolat this good since my last trip to France.” She could practically envision her favorite little pâtisserie in Paris that she’d stop at before a day of shopping. “This is definitely a good use of free time.” She finished up her pastry and opted to go for another. As much as she hated the idea of packing, she brushed it off like it was no big deal. If she wanted a nice review on her website, she’d have to remain polite and professional. Plus, the pastries did bring mentally back to vacation mode. “If favors are followed by baked goods this delicious, I may be inclined to offer more of them.” She smiled easily and grabbed some coffee to bring out to the living area with her.

“You offer that now, but you haven’t seen just how hopeless I am in the kitchen,” she said with an amused grin on her face, “But if you’re really offering, I would for once like to make something nice for our brunch days.” In part, because she knew it would annoy Bea, but that was hardly the point. It could be nice to make something for herself on a night where she wasn’t feeling like company.

When given an option for where to start with packing help, she immediately knew she’d go for the bookcase. A person’s taste in books said a lot about them and Jasmine was nothing if not nosy. “I’ll go for the bookcase, I’m a pretty big reader so that sounds like the most fun.” Given her book taste ranged from trashy romance novels to books on exorcisms, ghosts, and other spectral creatures. But hey, a girl was allowed to have layers. She began grabbing books off the shelf and started placing them in a box. For the most part, they all seemed to be older books with a focus on mythology. Interesting. It raised her suspicions, but not enough to call it out. That was until she saw a book in Latin that appeared to be about the undead that caught her attention. “You know Latin. too,” she called out with the question evident in her tone. Was he an exorcist, too? Or perhaps a spellcaster? Not too many bothered with learning the language these days. “You don’t meet too many other people who know a dead language.”

“Ah, yes, the American dream,” Alain had yet to meet someone who actually had experienced it. Perhaps if he had been born a generation sooner… “Well, as you can see, you don’t actually need to have children to get a dog, or two…” If he said it with a smile, he had a hint of nostalgia in his eyes as he thought about why he had gotten them. As a child, he never had pets, and living with Audrey, they ended up getting a dog, not even a hunting dog, just an aging one they had found at the pound. And when Frida had died, a few years after Audrey, Alain couldn’t handle staying alone and decided that he did not have to be. First came Orion, and a couple years later, Procyon. He chose them sturdy, hoping that they would be here for a while, that they wouldn’t abandon him.

Her compliments brought a red tint to his cheeks and he turned to look away, telling himself that she might not notice this way. He had never known how one was supposed to react to these. Saying thank you meant that he agreed, brushing it off would come off as falsely humble. Far from confident, the hunter prefered to look away. “I would agree. Although these days, time seems to stretch a lot. I read a lot, I used to never have time for it,” he took a long sip of coffee, and left his cup on the counter. With his crutches, it was probably the best option. As agile as he was, now was not the time to try things. “Well, I have to admit to promising pastries in exchange for help quite often,” or offering pastries in general. There were worse habits to have.

“Look, I’m sure it cannot be that bad. There’s hope in everyone, right?” Smiling back at her, Alain was headed toward his wardrobe when she asked if he could help her with brunch recipes. “Can’t have brunch without eggs benedict and some proper avocado toasts, can we? I could help with that,” he promised, sitting down on a stool as he started transferring clothes from shelves to boxes.

“Really? Well like I said, I don’t usually have time for reading, but most of those I’ve read,” documentaries for the most part, comics from France and Belgium, and a handful of classics, both French and American. “What do you like reading?” Perhaps they had books in common, who knew. Her question brought a frown to his face. Too. So whatever it was she held in her hands, she could understand the subject. Oh well, it was totally normal to have books on undead creatures, just like it was normal to carry around salt and iron. “You don’t, do you? My parents always said that it was important to know where” things “words came from.” And of course this book was an essential of latin literature. Not. Always a shitty liar. He grimaced, and looked through the bedroom doorway to see if she had moved from her spot.

As nice as company on a quiet night at home sounded, Jasmine figured she could do without the added responsibility of a dog at this moment. Between her paid job and all the ghost related research she’d been doing as of late, she didn’t quite have the time to dedicate to a pet. She opted to not explain herself any further on that front and shifted focus to how well he took a compliment. The way his cheeks turned a rosy tint was not lost on her and she had an amused grin on her face as he agreed with her. That was a good sign. If you were good at something, you had to own it. “Well, I think they’re well worth helping for. Seems like you have some pretty productive hobbies to say the least.” She supposed hers had become more so productive than fun as of late. One of these nights, her bubble baths would include Pinot Noir and a romance novel and not coffee and books on poltergeists. Reading ancient texts was hardly what one would consider light and leisurely reading.

“You say that now,” Jasmine responded with a laugh, “You haven’t tried my attempts at cooking.” Though maybe with a lesson or two, she could actually pick something useful up out of it. She did love avocado toast after all there was just that delicate stage of not overcooking or undercooking the eggs she’d yet to master. She found she enjoyed their easy conversation as well, so she added, “But if you’re offering, I’ll be taking you up on that. Avocado toast is one of my favorites. If you partake, I’ve been told I make a great mimosa.”

“Well, I love Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurtson, so anything they’ve written is something I’ll always enjoy. I’m not above admitting I love romance novels so of course I enjoy Nicholas Sparks… everything else I read is a bit obscure. What about you,” Jasmine answered and opted to let Alain decide what obscure meant for himself. She wasn’t about to come out and say she read books on ghosts, poltergeists, exorcisms, and spectral beings. In this moment, he probably was under the impression she had her sanity intact, no need to ruin that. At least, not until curiosity took over. “Right,” she said looking at him as he peeked over to see her, “I’m sure a recount of the undead is how most people learn the basis of words.” Her emphasis on the word dead was hard to miss and she had a feeling her hunch was correct by the tone in his voice. “If this is the kind of reading you like to do, I think I actually have a few books in my collection you’d enjoy.” Maybe her own little hint that her book collection shared some similarities would put him at ease.

“I mean, I also used to do rock climbing and running, there’s nothing productive about the latter, unless you consider staying in shape someth-. Okay fine, there’s always something productive about my hobbies,” Alain corrected himself before she could. He was starting to notice that she was quite witty and quick with her remarks, and he doubted that she would appreciate not being able to be witty about this too. And now that he was stuck at home, he did have time for less productive hobbies, hobbies that he had dropped out of over the years. Tidying up his attic, he had found old puzzles in their boxes, and while it was tempting to open them to start those 1000 pieces puzzles over, he was meant to move out of here soon, and he had decided against it. He still gardened a little too. Even if he was leaving, the next person would appreciate it. He also had re-potted the plants Nell and Evelyn had given to him, as well as some others he wished to bring over to his new home. Either way, knowing that he would not go back to the cemetery unless it was to bury someone came as a relief, it was quite an odd thought to have, as he really did not want to bury anyone he knew, and yet, to him, this did not feel like an exaggeration. His level of exhaustion had just gone up over the past few years.

Alain shook his head, not willing to believe that she could be so bad. In his eyes, no one was. But if you had never been taught things, of course there were things you just could not guess. “You’re right, I haven’t, and yet I can assure you that you can get good at it. Yes, good,” just like him, she’d never be a chef, but she could definitely cook nice things. Alain, who had never been a talkative man, seemed to enjoy their conversations enough to be willing to spend more time with Jasmine. That did not happen often, but he did not regret his offer. “Avocado toasts, deal. See, you can teach me about cocktails, because I know absolutely nothing about those,” wine, he knew quite a lot about, but cocktails were not something he knew a lot about, aside from their names.

“Alice Walker… Oh I think I have her book in there, somewhere,” he almost corrected himself to add well, one of her books, but stayed quiet instead. Alain guessed that Jasmine would know which one he meant. “Oh, well you probably would love Maupassant then. Not my favourite but I read a few of his books…” His voice trailed off as she mentioned liking more obscure literature. She did not summon demons, did she? His eyebrows raised a little as she looked back at him. Clearly he had not been convincing with his interest in etymology. How surprising. “Is that so, well if you wish, I have a whole collection of books like those already in a box.” Some might have not been in latin, some others were his journals, but the choice of words was too careful for this to be completely innocent. “Alright fine, what are your favourites then? Or least favourites?” He cleared his throat. He fell silent for a few, picking up the tape to close his box and catching a new one. “I’ll start if you want, I particularly dislike vampires. Can’t trust a species that hates garlic, can we?” He scoffed, shaking his head. Well, if he was wrong, this was going to be awkward.

“I was going to say, those all sound productive. The primary reason I run is to stay in shape. Actually, no, that’s definitely the only reason I run,” Jasmine joked with a playful grin on her face. It dawned on her that having such active hobbies had to be a bummer with the whole losing a leg thing, but she wasn’t about to ruin the good mood that was going on here. Somehow the easy conversation seemed to make the fact she was packing not as annoying as it should have been. She’d almost daresay she was enjoying herself, especially as she picked one of the more interesting things to pack. As much was evident by the book on the undead in Latin of all things.

Realistically, Jasmine knew she could probably cook decently if she put some actual effort into it and didn’t hate touching anything raw, but alas, she did and always got distracted somehow. Any time they had any sort of gathering, Bea always wanted to cook anyway so she just rolled with it. Cooking lessons didn’t sound so bad though. She laughed and joked, “You must be really confident in your abilities as a teacher then. I’ll do my best to be a good student.” She had to admit, the thought of not having to order takeout or leave the house to get avocado toast was appealing. Not as appealing as having an attractive man cook her breakfast every morning, but hey, she was nothing if not independent first. “Perfect,” she said brightly, “I am pretty good with cocktails though I do generally prefer wine for myself. I do make really good margaritas. They’re a personal favorite for pool days. Different varieties of mimosas are fun and go better with brunch though.”

“The Color Purple?” Jasmine asked even though she knew that was likely the book he was talking about. It was one everyone knew, especially since the movie had come out which was fair. It was iconic. “Maupassant,” she mused, “I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him. If you have a recommendation you’d like to let me borrow, I could do for some more leisurely reading. I promise I’m not an animal who rabbit ears the pages instead of using a bookmark.” Now she watched carefully as she questioned the subject matter of the Latin text at hand. An eyebrow raised at the mention of having more books like this one already packed up. That definitely only furthered her suspicion that he was somehow more involved in the supernatural aspects of this town. Hopefully, in a good way given she was alone in his home with him. Nothing about him screamed axe murderer so she tried to withhold any reservations. “You do? May have to check your collection once you unpack at your new home.” His next question left her unsure of how to answer until he mentioned disliking vampires. Okay, maybe they were on the same page here. Her head tilted slightly with a hint of grin on her lips. “Hmm,” she started, “I’m not very well acquainted with vampires. I’m not a big fan of ghosts though. Poltergeists in particular are a real pain in the butt. Plus, the movie was so cheesy.” It was becoming pretty damn obvious they both knew what was going on here so she blurted out, “So, I guess we both know what’s up in town then.” He could probably put together why all the salt and iron bars fell out of her purse now.

“No one is that bad,” he rolled his eyes, and with a smile, shook his head. Alain had always been enthusiastic about cooking, and while her enthusiasm about it was not his, she still seemed interested in learning. “Ah? Well if you like wine, there’s the cellar to pack later,” he offered. His collection was nothing amazing, far from it, but he had quite a few old bottles that had acquired an excellent taste over the years, and a few others that would have to wait another decade. “I had no idea there were multiple kinds of varieties for one cocktail, really not knowledgeable about those,” he admitted with a small shrug. To each their strength. “Do you think I should learn those when my new house won’t even have a pool?” His smile brightened up, and he looked back to his boxes. It took him a moment to recall what it was that he wanted to do. Ah yes, the sock drawers. Putting only one sock in the washing machine was new to him, and not something he wanted to do in the long term. As ridiculous as it may have been, he’d probably put one on his prosthetic leg.

“...Yes, that’s the one. The movie is quite nice too,” literature had been taught to him and his sister at about the same time they started to tackle more difficult vampires. Alain was thankful for the education he had received, even if his childhood had only very few fond memories. “He wrote a lot of romance, but he wrote horror too. I believe The Horla inspired the myth of Cthulhu,” he commented, as he neatly arranged socks in the cardboard box. “I think you would like Une Vie more, though.” He put the box down and moved to the livingroom to get his hands on his copy. “You don’t read French, do you?” He looked over at her, leaning against the shelf to reach over and hand her the book. If she didn’t read French, she could always have a look at the cover, he told himself, and he would be happy to read the back cover to her. Her remark about how evil it was to fold pages brought another smile to him, and another shake of his head. “I usually settle for a slice of cheese. Makes a perfect bookmark,” he nodded, as if he approved of this.

“You are welcome to stop by,” he was curious about the kind of books she might have been reading in Latin herself. Clearly they shared an interest for the undead, but the subject was broad, although the salt and iron rods made more sense now, not that he ever suspected that those were for staging a house. “That is a cheesy movie, although you never had to suffer through a decade of vampire craze,” Twilight, Vampire diaries and God knows what else. He often pretended having never heard of them because they were just unbearable. Not that he liked Dracula a lot more, but nothing could reach the level of abomination modern vampire stories did. “I suppose so. Glad to meet a ghostbuster at last,” he held out his hand as if he was meeting her another time.

Jasmine simply waved off the remark about her not being able to be that bad. Surely, with some proper effort she could make something halfway decent with his guidance. At the mention of a wine cellar, she perked up. Not only was that marketable, but that meant he had a decent wine collection. Two totally amazing things in her book. “A wine cellar,” she asked somewhat incredulously, “I definitely want to help pack that up. And you know, peep that wine collection. I’ve got a fair number of bottles myself that I’m letting age.” One was actually due to open in a few months. She had every intention of saving it for her birthday. “Oh yeah, most cocktails have different flavor variations. I’m a big fan of adding rosemary to things.” She smiled to herself as she pulled more books off the shelf and placed them into the box on the table beside her. She noted there were a lot of books on astronomy. “Pools are not necessary for margaritas. They also pair perfectly with a good number of dishes… primarily Mexican dishes, but I stand by my statement.”

“It is,” she agreed with a smile as she pulled more books from the shelf. There were quite a few nonfiction ones that seemed educational. Even though Jasmine found her body to still be a bit sore, she did like the insight she was getting on her new client here. She could admit she liked him more than most of her clients though she’d remain perfectly professional. A sale and a new purchase was entirely too good to miss out on. “Definitely prefer the romance to the horror. This town has enough horror. But I’ll have to check out Une Vie.” He’d come over to pull his copy up and she looked over the cover. Seemingly romantic appearing book in French. “Actually,” she said brightly, “Je parle et lis le français.” She took the book from him and looked over the back cover. “I make a point of going to France at least once every couple of years. Used to go regularly with my family when I was younger, too.” She laughed as he joked about his bookmark habits, “I gotta say, that’s pretty cheesy, Mr. Babineaux.”

“Thanks,” Jasmine responded and figured she may have to do just that. She shook her head over the vampire craze, “You mean, you weren’t into the sparkly stalker vampires?” She feigned shock and started clearing out the last of his books. “I never got the appeal personally. Edward? Total stalker. I don’t get how women weren’t creeped out by the whole showing up in the middle of the night and watching her sleep thing.” She shuddered a bit and added, “But yes, I’m your resident ghostbuster. Though I’d venture to say I’m much better looking than any of the original cast.” The next book she pulled down had an intriguing cover filled with stars. Cosmos. She peered over the cover and noted, “You really like astronomy, huh?” She’d open the cover to reveal a note from whoever had gifted the book. Her eyes fell on the name signing it. Evelyn. Was this the ex she’d been all sad over before? She quickly closed it despite the urge to be nosy and read the note. “I didn’t realize you know Evelyn,” she blurted out without quite meaning too. Tact outside of basic business professionalism had never been something she had much interest in. What was the point in not saying what you meant? He’d seen her glance at the note. There was little reason to hide her curiosity.

“It’s nothing special, the house was a farm in the past,” Alain explained. And the cellar possibly had other uses then. His carrots and potatoes seemed to also live forever in the darkness of that room, and that was something he would miss. He would have to purchase a wine cave for his new house as he doubted his new basement would have the same quality as his cellar. “Really? That’s nice ! There are not a lot of people around here who seem to care about wine. I would have to say that being raised in a French household where they serve wine to kids did not preserve me from becoming interested in this,” it did not happen at each meal, but he remembered that he and his sister had always had a bit of wine or champagne to have a taste, as apparently, any self respecting French had to develop a palate for wine tasting early on. “Rosemary? I have a bush or two in the garden if you want to take some home,” he offered with a raise of his shoulder. He was really going to miss this place, he thought to himself, nostalgia drawing his eyes toward the doors that led to the garden. He stared in the distance for a moment. “Mexican food? Not my speciality. Tex-mex I’ve done a bit, but nothing authentic,” he scratched at his cheek as he thought of more recipes he might have tried, but he mostly cooked French, American or South Asian cuisine.

“Ca m’apprendra à juger un livre à sa couverture,” quite proud of his pun, he gave her a bright smile, letting her have a closer look at the book. Alain listened to her speak of her travels to France, and told himself that she truly was a woman who was full of surprises. Of course, he wondered, curious as ever, how many other secrets she hid up her sleeves, and while he was eager to know more, he did not want to appear as odd or rude, and so, he remained quiet. “I have not gone in a few years,” he wondered when he would ever go back. With his new expenses, travelling would have to wait a little, and he really did not see the point of doing so until he was completely mobile. Hiking was always part of his trips and he could not quite do that now. “I’ve been told I can be quite cheesy, yes, I know,” he had a small smile.

“No problem, we should trade information, although I might not be able to physically help in a little while,” he glanced down at the missing limb and could not help but frown. He just could not get used to it, and he felt less for it too. After spending his whole life trying to look and seem normal, there was this relique of his past that would always remind him of who he really was. “I’m afraid so, never been too fond of glittery things. Excuse me,” he left the room for a moment to go get some coffee in the kitchen, from there, he spoke louder, “I think some people like the idea of having someone watching over them, but this is a bit too literal if you ask me,” he had not read those books, and from what he had heard about them, from her and others, it was not like he was missing much. Moving back into the living room, he stopped by the dinner table to start sorting the mess, watching her take his astronomy books out one by one. “Oh, yeah, I have always liked that. Been part of the astronomy club for over two decades,” he admitted with a smile, that faded as he noticed which book she was holding. “I did not realize you knew Evelyn either,” he replied, perhaps a bit too fast, and wishing he had said something else instead. There could not be only one Evelyn in town, right? He could have said something like that. And yet the blank look on his face told a lot.

“The fact you’d even think to have a wine cellar is special in itself,” Jasmine responded with a hint of awe in her tone. At first glance, she wouldn’t have thought him the type of man to have a wine cellar though maybe the last name should have been a giveaway. Paired with the baking and book collection it all tied together nicely. He was a man with good taste and she could appreciate that. “Oh yeah, typical small town that way. We’re not exactly in a wine region. Growing up in a French household, it’s be like sacreligious if you didn’t have good taste in wine. I just travelled a lot from a young age so I had a chance to develop a proper appreciation for good wine.” She’d gone to a lot of wine tastings as an adult as well. Maybe in part it was a pride thing, but she enjoyed the wine and learning about it all the same. At the mention of fresh rosemary to take home, she perked up a bit. “Really? If you don’t mind, I’d love some.” She found herself genuinely smiling and remarked, “There’s some decent Tex Mex here, nothing particularly noteworthy, but they have a good Taco Tuesday. All of those sound delicious though.”

“Oh yeah, I’m full of surprises,” Jasmine said with a bit of a laugh. Clearly so was he.

They were all pleasant so far at least. It did leave her wanting to learn more about him though she supposed they’d have plenty of time for that if he held to his word on the whole cooking lesson thing. It already surprised her that she found she was looking forward to it. Cooking of all things though she could be honest with herself and admit the company played into it. She could pick up on a bit of wistfulness in his voice. It was evident he was going to miss his home and she could hardly blame him. Though a bit small, it did have a welcoming feeling to it. His leg injury must have been fairly recent, but she hoped he’d be well enough for travel soon. “I went this past spring,” she mentioned without thinking, “I did bring home some wine I may feel inclined to share during that cooking lesson.”

“Well, you do have my card. Though you’re not the only one out of commission for a bit,” Jasmine answered calmly, barely biting back the urge to ask how he’d lost a leg. Knowing his distaste for the undead, she could almost piece it together anyway. No need to make him relive a bad and likely still fresh memory. “I prefer only my clothes or shoes to be sparkly. Not my men,” she joked as he excused himself to the kitchen for more coffee. Her eyes glanced over the note again. What were the odds it was the same Evelyn? The handwriting seemed vaguely familiar which only led her to believe her hunch was correct. She called out as he spoke, “Okay, I get being watched over can make someone feel safe… but not when the person doing the watching literally let themselves in through a window. That’s just stalking. Nothing romantic about it.” God knows she’d whack the hell out of someone who came into her bedroom or home uninvited. The astronomy was much more interesting though she hardly knew much about it. Alain really had some interesting hobbies. “Hm,” she started, “I like looking at the night sky, but couldn’t tell anyone much about it.” She watched the smile fade from his face and mentally cursed blurting out her question about Evelyn. “Small world,” she said coolly as she tried to brush the whole thing off. “I helped her find her house, too.”

Jasmine had no desire to linger on the clearly awkward topic, so she piped up, “Why don’t you show me that wine cellar of yours? The books are pretty much good to go.”

“Oh, well,” his brows furrowed as he tried to reflect on how many people he knew who happened to own a cellar or a cave for wine. There weren’t many. Alain’s eyes shone a bit brighter, the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes another hint of him being pleased with her company. Things were rarely so easy, and he wondered when things would turn sour, as things always did. But for now he had decided that he enjoyed her company and if she enjoyed his as well, even though knowing of him being a hunter, then perhaps things would not go sour, as they always do. Still, she was pretty spot on about the French and why this place didn’t have many people who cared for wine, and he nodded in agreement. “That’s pretty lucky indeed, I look forward to sharing thoughts on the subject,” he agreed with another smile, reaching out to grab the bubble wrap and start cutting pieces to wrap plates and other items. “Please, I just hope whoever buys my house will not tear it out,” he had a frown at the thought, as he saw himself, many years ago, getting started on that damn garden. The whole parcel was abandoned then, covered in what seemed like the remnants of a potato field. The hours spent clearing it all up, and the first flowers, the first fruits and vegetables, brought a smile to his face. In his nostalgia, there was happiness too, and there he was beaming like an idiot as he reflected on this episode of his life. It was not much, but it was his and that was all that mattered. Having made the recent choice of putting himself first at last, Alain was learning slowly, that it was those little moments that had made him truly happy, those when he was himself.

Her laughter drew him out of this stream of consciousness, softly. “Never been fond of surprises, but some are actually nicer than others,” his hand reached for his cheek again, scratching at it as he thought about it some more. He just could not wait to get to start new things at his new house too. The place did not need much work, but he probably would still bother with a fresh coat of paint here and there. Unpacking, installing, settling in, those were things he was excited for. Perhaps he just wanted to think about anything that did not concern his leg, or perhaps it was something else, but he did look forward to it, as much as he was already counting the time he had left in his beloved home. “Oh, that’s quite recent,” he considered her offer with a raise of his eyebrow, which he followed with a grin. “I think I can agree to that, although making the teacher drink is not very conventional of you.” Amused, he looked back at his bubble wrap and noticed that he had not gotten much done. Talking and working at the same time, when you were not used to it, was one hell of an exercise.

“I suppose that’s one way to put it,” he did not ask how she actually hurt her arm. As far as he was concerned, those injuries were so common for people like them, that how did not matter as much as why. You could not afford making the same mistake twice. Besides, he could guess what had happened easily, as there must have been a hint of truth in what she had told him, back at her agency. “And I prefer no sparkle in my life,” he did not mind it that much, although he had never had to use any in his life. Otherwise, he would have been aware of how terribly hard it was to get rid of, much like the mara who haunted him for weeks, if not months. The image of someone climbing through the window to watch him sleep just drew him back to those fearful days, and he was thankful when she changed the subject. “Astronomy is something I’ve enjoyed ever since I was a kid, so I’m afraid impressing me with your knowledge on this is… going to be a challenge,” the conversation once so light had gotten more tense with her question, and he was relieved to see her change the subject. “This way please,” he agreed, trading his bubble wrap for his crutches once again, and leading the way.

#wickedswriting #alain #you'd be surprised

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

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Survey #330

“and i don't want ya / and i don't need ya / don't bother to resist, or i'll beat ya / it's not your fault that you're always wrong / the weak ones are there to justify the strong”

If you have a job, do you like it? I'm unemployed. Do you like any kinds of fruit? Well of course. Are you waiting for something right now? Covid and this headache to fuck off, May for my tattoo, to be paid to take some pictures again... What is your favorite kind of animal? Kind, not the actual animal itself? In that case, social species, usually mammals. What kind of Dippin' Dots do you like? Holy shit, I haven't had that in like a damn decade or something. I don't know, I barely remember the taste. Who is the most badass woman that you can think of? My mom. My mother is a fucking warrior. Do you have a Pinterest account? Yeah. I get a lot of photography ideas from there, as well as base pictures to make Mark icons, haha. If you were to write a book, what would it be about? The stories I and my friends have weaved in RP. Have you ever seen the television show The Munsters? AHHHHH YES!!!!! Mom loves that show, so I used to watch it with her growing up. Have you ever written one of those 'Roses are red...' valentines? I don't think so. Would you/have you spent more than $200 on any one person for a holiday? I haven't, but I would for certain people. Do you have a favorite Robin Williams movie? Probably Night at the Museum. Thoughts on Slender Man? Have you even heard of him? I think it's a cool creepypasta; he does look pretty unnerving with his height and especially lack of a face. The movie was good too, btw. Do you know what the Tardis is? I think almost everyone does in this generation, haha. Doctor Who ain't no joke to a whole lot of people. Are there any children's shows that you'd watch today if they were on? Sure, like Pokemon or Avatar: The Last Airbender, among others. I wouldn't at all be opposed to watching The Lion Guard, either. I actually want to, with my whole TLK love. I'm not embarrassed to watch "kids" shows or movies at all. What would you call yourself the King or Queen of? Having not an ounce of knowledge on how to love things in moderation/avoid total obsession with things, haha. If I paid for you to take karate lessons, would you? No, especially not now with my legs. Do you read more fiction or non-fiction? Almost solely fiction. What modern technology are you especially grateful for? Laptops, ig. Do you have a favorite science topic? Genetics. Very fascinating stuff. Have you ever read any Sherlock Holmes stories? No. What is the saddest movie that you've ever seen? Either Johnny Got His Gun or Boy in the Striped Pajamas. What's your most popular post? On what? If Facebook, I don't really know. Possibly my "coming out" one or a lovey-dovey essay when Sara and I were together. On Tumblr, it's definitely the gif I made of Mark and Chica (his dog) with I think over 10k notes. Manga or anime? Anime. I don't read manga, though I've been tempted with Deadman Wonderland since the show only had one season and ends on a ginormous cliffhanger, but there's more story to be had. A card game that you're good at? None, really. A popular book you haven't read yet? To Kill a Mockingbird. I feel like every school student has read it at some point. Favorite Mean Girls quote? I don't know any. It's a fine movie, but I've never understood the hype. Name your top 3 albums from your favorite band/artist. Black Rain, Ozzmosis, and... then I can't choose. I love so, so many very dearly. Name your top 5 music videos. I don't really watch music videos, so I definitely can't name five. My #1 favorite is probably "Wrong Side of Heaven" by Five Finger Death Punch; I absolutely cannot watch it without crying. What are you most passionate about? How did this passion develop? Animals. I was born simply adoring animals and have always wanted to protect them and their environment. Do you like monkeys? Do you believe in evolution? Yes and yes. We've literally watched it in action. What embarrasses you the most in front of other people? Discussing RP if you're not involved in it. I'm terrified of people thinking I'm weird. Have you considered running for president? Absolutely not. Which famous person would you like to be BFFs with? I'd say Mark, but I'd be way too interested in dating him instead of being just friends, haha... So with that said, maybe Bindi Irwin? Would you ever go skinny dipping with the last person who commented you? Lyndsey would be that person, so no. She's a great friend of mine, but realistically I'd probably only ever - if ever - do that with the company of my s/o. Are you still friends with the last person who broke your trust? No. How long did your last relationship last? Around two years. Have you ever been banned from anywhere? Online, yes, as a little kid on the Animal Planet forum, haha... Has anyone kissed you when you weren't expecting it? Yeah, Juan. Did you like it? It was a sweet moment, but I didn't want it. Does your dad smoke? Like a chimney. Is your mom over 50? Yeah. Are you currently listening to anything? Yeah, kinda hooked on "The Horrible People" by Manson. I've found a lot of great music lately. Would you ever consider getting breast implants? No, but once (if...) I lose all the weight I want, it's going to be a moderate priority to get a breast lift. I've hated my body way too fucking long and am dying to be satisfied with it again, and with how much weight I need to lose, I would essentially have grandma tits. :x Do you know anyone who is bisexual? Me, haha. Among some friends. Who would you tell, or who did you tell when you lost your virginity? That's not something I'd just go to tell someone afterwards for no reason... I'd only ever mention having lost my virginity if I was actually asked or if it was relevant to a conversation. Is there something you have been trying to learn lately? I'm really trying to practice opposite action and behavioral activation, among other things I've learned in group therapy. When you think about your future career, do you envision yourself becoming the head honcho or CEO? If not, why not? Well, I want to be my own boss as a freelance photographer. In any other job, I definitely wouldn't want that. Too much responsibility and leadership skills. Can you think of a time when you seriously misjudged a music artist based on their name? I don't think so? Have you ever kissed someone that you didn’t really want to kiss (not assault, just indifference)? Why did you go along with it and how did you feel after? Yes, Tyler. I felt like I was "supposed to." I felt really uncomfortable afterwards. If you have to wake up early for something, what time is just TOO early for you to be there and be presentable and sentient? Have you ever had to be somewhere that early? Probably like, 5:00. No. Have the majority of your romantic relationships started with a physical attraction or a deeper connection? Always an emotional connection. Did you ever write a fan letter to a celebrity? How about submit something to a magazine? No to both. What hair color is the most attractive on the opposite sex? Of natural colors, black, but I like unnaturally dyed hair most. Where do you like to go to when you are stressed? On a carride, so long as I'm controlling the music nice and loud and not talking. Where do you go to get your hair cut/dyed? To a family friend's little salon/small business. Why do you want the career that you want? Because I adore art and think it's pretty darn magical that you can freeze a moment forever to not just remember in your head, but actually see. Have you ever watched iCarly? Yeah, I enjoyed it when I was younger. What was your favorite class during your sophomore year of high school? Art. Do you wear bandanas in your hair? No. Have you ever been on a blind date? No, not interested. How many living grandparents do you still have? None. Have you ever worked in an office? No. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Mom. Have you ever stayed in a hotel without your parents or older relatives? No. Did you have an Easy-Bake oven when you were little? Sure did. Have you ever seen a donkey? Yeah. Have you ever made out in a hot tub? Pretty sure no. Do you always flush the toilet after you use it? Yes. What were the last words you said to your dad? Probably "bye, love you." Have you cuddled with someone you weren’t dating? Nah. Who has the ability to hurt you the most emotionally? JASON. Are you a really understanding person? Yeah, very. Are you the type of person that enjoys getting hugs? Yes. When’s the last time you wore a wig? For a witch costume many years ago. Why were you last hospitalized? Suicide attempt. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without food? At least 12 hours, but I think I almost went a day once back when recovery started and my appetite was non-existent. What was the last name of your third grade teacher? Mrs. Britt. How was the last chicken you ate cooked? They were chicken tenders. What is your favorite kind of chip? Hot crunchy Cheetos. What grade did you have your first boyfriend? 7th. Have you ever been told that you’ve lost weight? Yeah, back when I actually WAS losing loads of weight. >> Do you have the same political views as your parents? Some things, but definitely not all. Does anyone call you babe/baby? No. Have you ever made a significant other cry? Sadly. If you could make your lips bigger, would you? Maybe just a teeeeny bit. Are you one to sneak food into movie theaters? Yep. Fuck them prices. Are you prone to illness? Definitely not. What races do you usually date? History says Caucasian, but I have no actual preference. I'll date any race. What’s your cup size? C. Ever flirted with a teacher? Yikes, no thanks. Who was the main cook of your Thanksgiving meal last year? My older sister made the most stuff. Have you ever been dumped really harshly? Well, considering it literally traumatized me... Do you have any ex’s you can’t stand anymore? No. Are you more of a phone or a computer person? Computer, definitely. When was the last time you made a sandwich? What did you put on it? Yesterday for lunch. Ham, American cheese, and mustard. Have you ever made friends with someone that you didn’t expect to get along with? Yeah. Do you own any accessories with your name on? No. What brand of eyeliner do you use? I pay no attention to this. Have you ever been sexually harassed? No. Have you ever sent a naughty text message? Suggestive ones, yes. How long have you had your pets? Roman, around two years. Venus, around three or four years. Who was the last person to tell you that they love you, other than family? Sara. Has one of your friends ever tried to hook you up with someone? Colleen tried obnoxiously hard to push Girt and me together. We all went out to eat pizza once just as friends hanging out, and this bitch prefaced an uncomfortable and nosy question to him with an even more uncomfortable "because I'm trying to get you in her pants...", and that, my friends, was the closest occasion I've ever come to slapping someone right across the face. I looked at her in absolute disgust, and Girt was clearly thinking "what the actual fuck" as well. I do not miss her feral mouth. Are you good at staring contests? No. Eye contact is very difficult for me to maintain. Do you like peanut butter? I love peanut butter. When was the last time you had to present something to your class? In this mandatory but entirely pointless entry class at my last college, we all had to do like this PowerPoint introducing ourselves. I hated it. Who was the last person that told you they missed you? I think my friend Chelsea. What store is your favorite shirt from? It's not a real store, but rather an online brand: Cloak. Mark is one of the owners/creators so I obviously support them intensely. Have you ever fell off your bed while you were sleeping? No, thankfully. Do you have something you’re supposed to tell someone, but you haven’t yet? No. What type of food do you never really eat? Vegetables, oops. Have you ever cut someone else’s hair? No. Do you like going to weddings? Not really, if I'm being honest. I'm only interested in photographing weddings for the only the couple pictures and pay, really. I'm not big on formal events. What’s your favorite flavor squash? I don’t like squash. Do you or anyone in your house have a severe allergy? No. Who was the last guest in your house and what were they staying for? Our landlord/family friend, just to hang out for a little bit and chat with Mom. What fad were you actually into? Hm. What was the last spontaneous thing you did? I'm not a very spontaneous person, so I really don't know.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''the beautiful people'' by marilyn manson

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thedoctornumber11 · 4 years

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Munday post

I figured maybe this week I’d do a different type of Munday. Most of my long time roleplay partners already know me quite a bit and I also try to introduce myself to newer partners as well, however I figured this could be a good chance for everyone to really get to know me. I’m including everything under a read more not because long post and also because I know not everyone likes seeing this type of thing. It’s just a bunch of random facts about me and my favorite things along with a munday pic under the cut. I didn’t want to just throw out a munday picture like most would do. I’ve done that plenty of times before and there’s nothing wrong with it, I just felt like doing something a bit more unique and different this time that might really give people a chance to get to know me :D

So long post under the cut.

So, first off, my name is Derek. I’m the mun. I just recently turned 30 and I’m from Indiana. I work in a preschool, essentially as a glorified baby sitter. I help the teachers get their breaks.

I’ve been interacting on here since November of 2013 and I’ve had this exact blog with this exact URL the entire time. I wanted something really generic and not just a quote or something like that. I first tried TheEleventhDoctor, but obviously that was taken so this ended up being what I went with. As for the theme, it too was made a VERY long time ago. The TARDIS theme with the opening doors on the TARDIS actually used to be quite popular when I first started interacting on here, particularly with the Doctor Who RP fandom. Although I’m the only one I see with it these days, if you go looking for older Doctor Who blogs that have gone inactive you are actually likely to find a few other blogs with it. As for the background picture, I found that one myself except for the part with Matt Smith/The Eleventh Doctor edited on. That part was done by someone I used to interact with who just surprised me with it one day and unfortunately isn’t on Tumblr anymore :( Having been on this platform for so long I’ve obviously seen a lot of blogs come and go and I miss every single last one of them :( However I also enjoy everyone I currently interact with and would recommend almost any of them. Seriously, if anyone is looking for new people to interact with, let me know you are looking for people and what fandoms you enjoy and I can probably recommend a few blogs!

Outside of Tumblr RP, I enjoy video games, yugioh, reading comics, general super hero related stuff, watching movies, playing Pokemon Go (I help run the local PoGo community) general board games, watching my shows, figure collecting, and cosplay, most of which I’m sure is stuff many of you also enjoy. My fandoms include Doctor Who (obviously), DC, Star Wars, The Legend of Korra/ATLA (I’m one of the few that likes LoK more than ATLA), Marvel, Star Trek, Firefly, Power Rangers, The Walking Dead, Yugioh, Pokemon, Sherlock, general Nintendo fandom, Digimon and Harry Potter.

Here’s a few things about me in list form.

My favorite musician is Weird Al Yankovic.

My favorite book is Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robbison. As someone who’s been diagnosed with aspergers syndrome myself, this book really spoke to me in my original read through and since then I’ve purchased it multiple times. I own at least three or four different copies of this book, partially because I kept loaning it out to people.

My favorite book series is the Harry Potter series. Don’t ask me for a favorite book in the series, I love them all about equally.

As for comics, right now my favorite thing I’m reading is the Power Rangers series that Boom is putting out. Some of my favorites of all time include Power Ranger Soul of the Dragon, the Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who crossover, the Power Rangers/Justice League Crossover, the original Spider-Gwen series, Poison Ivy Cycle of Life and Death, The Dark Knight Returns (I know anything Frank Miller related is a bit controversial but I enjoy it for what it is) and Batman: Hush.

Favorite movies include UHF, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Captain America the First Avenger, Avengers End Game, the Justice League movie, anything and everything DC animated, anything and everything Spider-Man related (yes, I even like Spider-Man 3 although it wasn’t as good as the others), anything Star Wars related although I’d say Force Awakens is my favorite one, the 2017 Power Rangers movie, Serenity, The Lego movie and it’s sequel, Yugioh Bonds Beyond Time, Mystery Men, Galaxy Quest, all the Star Trek movies, the corny 90′s Mario movie, the Doctor Who movie, and Detective Pikachu. Really, any of the Marvel and DC movies could probably make this list as well, I’m not super picky when it comes to movies.

Favorite TV shows is something I am a bit pickier about. Doctor Who is obviously on the list, and I’ve watched and enjoyed most of the Marvel and DC live action stuff although I have a huge preference for the arrowverse and 70′s Wonder Woman. Animated stuff tends to vary but a lot of the older stuff from the early and mid 90′s seems to be best for that. Power Rangers is obviously on the list as well, along with The Walking Dead, Digimon, Avatar the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Sherlock, Yugioh, Firefly, and off the top of my head that’s about it. Everyone always assumes I’m huge into anime as well, but I’m not actually that into it. Just not my thing.

Now video games has potential to be my longest list as it’s easily my favorite medium of story telling due to the interactivity. First off, Nintendo and Playstation are my general consoles of choice. Nothing against Xbox, I have a lot of respect for the brand but I can’t really afford to have three consoles (even though I wish I could) and Nintendo and Sony have more offerings for me personally. I also do dabble on PC a bit, but I don’t really have a high end PC and it’s mostly just for Sims. That being said, my favorite games and game series include Watch_Dogs, The Sims, Mario (mostly the “main series,” 3D games and 2D platformers but I do enjoy some of the off series stuff like Mario Kart and Mario Party as well) , Pokemon, Super Smash Brothers, The Force Unleashed series, Injustice, most of the Spider-Man games, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, most of the Batman games, Wario Ware, The Last of Us (still haven’t played the sequel yet. Waiting to get it for cheap after seeing reviews), Days Gone, Control, Horizon Zero Dawn, No Man’s Sky, 51 Worldwide Classics for Switch, No Man’s Sky, the Tony Hawk Games (still haven’t played the new one yet), Time Splitters, The Movies, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Zombies Ate My Neighbhors, Kirby, The Legend of Korra game (the 3d one, not the really bad one for 3DS), Donkey Kong, Street Fighter 2, Punch Out, Metal Gear Solid 5 the Phantom Pain, Sonic Heroes, and the list could go on and on.

My favorite drink is root beer or chocolate milkshakes if that counts

My favorite alcoholic drink is probably just a basic screwdriver tbh

My favorite food is Cheeseburgers, although Chicken Pot Pie is also a top contender tbh

My favorite color is green

My favorite Doctor is Eleventh obviously, but Thirteen, Two and Twelve are tied for second

Favorite companions are Amy, River (if she counts), and Donna

Favorite New Who episode is The Eleventh Hour

Favorite Classic Who story is Genesis of the Daleks

Since I’ve mentioned super heroes a lot, my favorites are Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, although Supergirl, Batgirl, Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow are also pretty high on the list.

Favorite game in the Pokemon series is X and Y

Dragonite is my favorite Pokemon

Favorite 3D Mario game is Odyssey although Sunshine would be next up on the list.

This is my only Tumblr RP blog. I also have an ask meme blog and I used to have a personal but I haven’t logged onto it in years.

I’m on discord and I do add people from Tumblr on there, but I mostly only use it for Pokemon Go tbh

I spend every Wednesday and Sunday at the local comic book shop playing Yugioh

For anyone wondering in relation to that last fact, my current competitive deck Barrier Stun. Some of my favorite casual decks that I play or have played in the past are Lightsworn, Blue-Eyes, E-Heroes, Greed, Sacred Beasts, Penguins and Six Samurai.

In the last decade I’ve moved about 3 times

I own pets! I have one dog and one cat currently, but a few years back when we lived in a more country like setting, we owned 7 cats and 2 dogs at maximum. Most of them died of old age over the last few years.

Before my current job I used to work at Walmart. Long time followers of the blog may remember that I hated it there.

I don’t have a whole lot of writing experience outside of Tumblr tbh. While I do enjoy writing on here, it’s the interactions itself that makes it fun for me and while I’ve tried to write a few things myself, it’s just not the same as roleplay.

Anyway, I just sort of wanted to do something different for munday besides just posting pictures of myself so I hope anyone who read this enjoyed it. Here’s a pic of the mun to go with it.

#munday #ooc #long post #Honestly I just felt like writing this all out for some reason

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rohad93 · 4 years

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Authority Online: chapter 8

Tuesday evening Blanche sat in her living room with Jaune, who had made another surprise visit on her way home from work.

She was quite glad for the company. Until recently her only child had been rather scarce, burying herself in her work and the office.

“I hope you realize I am not happy with the stunt you pulled last weekend.” Jaune said out of the blue.

Blanche looked up from her glass of wine to look at her daughter who was giving her an agitated look, but really, when did Jaune not look agitated?

She took a long sip from the glass before and setting it aside she turned her full attention to the frowning blonde.

The way she was sitting, straight backed in the wing chair across from herself, arms crossed and brow sitting heavy over her eyes, Blanch was immediately reminded of another blonde who once occupied that chair on a nightly basis, always looking just as serious.

She ignored the pang in her chest that often accompanied such thoughts and smiled at Jaune.

“How did you know?” There was no sense denying what Jaune already knew.

“She saw my pin and was reminded of yours.”

“Ahh, I should have known. She was very sweet and complimented it.” She smiled, reaching up to touch the piece of jewelry pinned to her blouse. Jaune sighed.

“What exactly were you trying to accomplish?” she demanded, sharp amber eyes narrowed in clear anger

“Oh, I was just curious, Jaune. I can’t remember the last time you were so head over heels for someone…” The blonde flushed. “...and so quickly. I had to see her for myself.” She held a hand up to her chest.

Then a thought occurred to Blanche.

“Was she upset?” she asked, carefully. She hadn’t intended for the younger woman to learn who she was and hadn’t taken into account that she may not be thrilled with essentially being, ‘scoped out’ as they say.

“No, thankfully she wasn’t. She didn’t even seem to consider that she should be upset. I had lunch with her yesterday and we made plans to see each other again this weekend.” Jaune continued to frown and for all her bluster Blanche was well enough aware that she could have very much ruined her daughter’s tentative new relationship with her curiosity.

“I’m sorry, Jaune. I shouldn’t have gone,” she admitted. Jaune seemed surprised by the seemingly genuine apology.

“I appreciate that mother, though I’m hardly the one you should be apologizing to,” she grumbled.

“You’re right.” She nodded. “I’ll make my apologies to the young woman herself.”

“Wait, what?” Jaune sat up in the chair.

“I’m having a little outdoor party Sunday, some friends and acquaintances. Bring her, she might like to see where you grew up and I can make my apologies in person.”

“I realize we’ve only known each other about a month, but I’m not sure Celeste would be interested in one of your garden parties.” She hunched over, elbows on her knees as she regarded her mother.

“Do sit up, dear. Watching you makes my back hurt, and it couldn’t hurt to ask, as you said, you haven’t been seeing each other very long. You never know.”

Jaune sighed heavily through her nose as she straightened up.

“I’ll ask,” she relented with a grunt.

“Wonderful” Her mother smiled, clapping her hands together.

~ ~ ~

Once she got home she pulled out her phone and typed out a quick message as she slipped out of her shoes, she walked into her bedroom.

“Are you free to talk?”

A few minutes later her phone began to ring.

Seeing the expected caller she hit the little green button and put it on speaker.

“Hi” She smiled to herself as she slid off her suit jacket.

“Well, hello yourself.” that lilting accent came through the phone with a hint of laughter and in the privacy of her bedroom, Jaune grinned stupidly at the sound.

“About this weekend…,” she started.

“Hmm?”

“Please, feel free to say no, but my mother wanted me to invite you to a little party she’s throwing Sunday afternoon. She also wanted to apologize to you for showing up at the bakery last weekend.” Jaune rolled her eyes at the last part as she popped the buttons on her shirt open.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, she didn’t do anything except buy candy and make small talk,” she said and Jaune could hear some quiet shuffling sounds.

“Yes, but she went to spy,” she sniffed, dropping the shirt into her hamper and pulled at the buckle of her belt.

“I feel like it would be rude to turn down her invitation… what kind of party is it?”

She could hear the curiosity in Celeste’s voice.

“Her version of a garden party, outside, food, and the like.” She shrugged to herself, forgetting Celeste couldn’t see the gesture.

“It doesn’t sound like it interests you much.” the voice sounded knowing. Jaune hummed.

“She’s been doing them since I was a child and they were incredibly dull, being the only child around a bunch of adults with their heads shoved up their…,” she stopped, catching herself and suddenly Celeste’s laughter was wafting out of the phone and it made Jaune stop what she was doing just to enjoy the sound.

“I see…,” she giggled. ‘Well, maybe they would be less dull if you weren’t all by yourself?” The suggestion was clear and a smile pulled at the lawyer’s lips.

“Maybe.”

“So, we’re going?” Celeste asked.

“If that’s what you’d like to do. I’ll let her know tomorrow.”

They talked for two more hours. It was just so easy for them to fall into comfortable conversation. Eventually Celeste took note of the time and had to get to bed.

“Good night, Jaune.”

The soft way she bid the lawyer goodnight made something in her turn into a puddle of hot goo.

“Good night, Celeste.” she echoed back and the line went dead.

She sighed, flopping unceremoniously onto her bed.

Her mother was right. It had barely been a month, but she was absolutely infatuated with the Celestine Carrick.

She dragged a hand down her face, sighing.

She might be in trouble if it went on at this rate.

Yet she couldn't stop the smile pulling at her lips.

~ ~ ~

"Saturday is generally our busiest day, and we're closed on Sundays." Celeste explained as she walked around the kitchen with her newest hire.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but Pearl White hadn't been it.

The woman was tall and rail thin with short, upward swept hair and a prominent nose.

Celeste couldn't help but notice that she moved around with a light gracefulness, making little sound as she moved about.

"When I'm not around Sky can answer any questions you have, she's been here almost as long as I have." She gestured to her assistant at the tables, kneading balls of dough. She looked up and smiled.

It was impossible to see where she was looking, her eyes always hidden by the dark brown hair in front of her face.

"She's going to show you how to make a few of our most popular recipes while I work the front today.

"Oh, perfect." She clapped her hands together and trotted over to the other baker.

Once they were engrossed with the logistics of measuring flours and sugar she walked out to the front. It was still fairly early on Saturday morning but the farmers market a few streets over had opened for the first time this year, so it was a little slower than usual. Letting her man the front while Sky taught Pearl the basics. True, they were her recipes, but it might be a little more relaxed if Sky taught her. Someone who wasn’t technically her boss.

She checked out the one older woman who had been perusing the cases and when she left the store stood empty.

She pulled out her phone to see a message from Jaune. She must have sent it while she was walking Pearl through the shop

"I'll pick you up at 3pm tomorrow."

She smiled and began typing out a response.

"Sounds good. What does one wear to a garden party?"

Since it was Saturday and Jaune was off work, a response came only about 30 seconds later.

"In my experience, something excessive and pretentious," was the reply. Celeste chuckled.

"I'm not sure I have anything that meets that criteria."

She leaned over the counter resting her chin in her palm, waiting for a reply

After a few seconds the dots that indicated the blonde was typing appeared.

"Dressy casual will have to suffice then."

Celeste rolled her eyes and moved to start her own message, but the bubbles quickly reappeared.

"I'm sure you'll look nice in anything though."

"Flatterer" she quickly tapped back.

“It’s hardly flattery if it’s true.” Came the quick response.

"Are you talking to Jaune?"

Celeste jumped, looking up. Her sister had silently walked out of the back and around to the front counter without her noticing.

"What makes you say that?" She stood up, sliding the phone into her apron pocket.

"Because you're staring at your phone with the dopiest lovestruck smile I've ever seen." She grinned wickedly and Celeste turned bright red.

“We were just confirming our plans for tomorrow afternoon,” she mumbled, looking anywhere but her sister.

She was so busy trying not to look at the teacher she didn’t notice her creeping closer till a lightning quick hand was lifting her phone out of her apron pocket.

“Rose!” She scowled as the younger woman ducked around the counter, phone held out in front of her, looking at the last couple of texts.

“Looks to me like you’re flirting,” she laughed as Celeste snatched at the device. Rose let her have it.

She knew when and how far she could push it before even her rather patient sister reached the end of that patience.

“Never imagined I’d see you go all ga-ga over someone…I mean, your last few relationships weren’t like this.” Rose looked at her curiously, leaning against the counter as she slid the phone back into her pocket. “What is so special about Jaune Roche?” she finally asked.

Celest’s lips pressed into a thin line as she thought about the question. She has been wondering that herself.

“I don’t know.” she finally admitted. “It’s… just so easy with her. We can talk for hours without hardly noticing, I can even just be comfortably silent in her company.” She turned to her sister. “RIght now, I just know that I like being with her.”

“Those are as good a reasons as any.” She smiled almost knowingly.

And she did know. She knew her sister was falling head over heels for the tall blonde. Quickly, too.

“How’s Pearl doing?” She changed the subject.

“Fine, Sky is teaching her a few things right now.”

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure what I expected. She's different," she answered honestly and Rose chuckled, nodding.

"Yeah… ya know, now that I'm thinking about it. That could have gone really sideways for me."

"What could have?" Celeste blinked, confused.

"Taking your phone. Based on that look you had, you two could have been sexting for all I know," She called out the last part as she ran back into the kitchen laughing hysterically.

"Rose!" The baker's face couldn't have possibly been redder.

~ ~ ~

Celeste was waiting inside at the counter when Jaune pulled up in the street outside Sunday afternoon. She carefully brushed her hair over her shoulder and walked quickly out to the car.

Jaune would never admit to the immediate jump in her heart rate at the sight of the baker in the knee length, white sundress speckled with blue flowers and the strappy, roman style, white sandals.

"Hey" she greeted the blonde with a smile as she climbed into the car. The subtle smell of leather and coffee, just as prevalent as it had been last time.

"Hey, you look very nice."

"Well I'd hate to disappoint after you were so sure the other day." She grinned and Jaune smirked back, amber eyes narrowed, the amusement was clear.

"I never had any doubt," was the quick retort.

"I see that you can be a little more casual.” She observed, settling into the seat and looking over the blonde. “I like it.”

Dark gray chinos and a jacket the same shade over a black v-neck shirt. It was simple but Celeste suspected the lawyer could wear sweat pants and still look more professional than most people she knew.

“My mother dresses extravagantly enough for the both of us at these things,”she assured with a roll of her eyes behind her sunglasses as she pulled out onto the road. “But thank you…”

They didn’t talk much on the drive, but Celeste didn’t mind. It was a comfortable silence, it was one of things she very much liked about Jaune. She didn’t feel the need to fill every quiet moment.

She watched the city slowly thin out to rolling fields, some with grazing horses and cows.

It was probably twenty minutes out of the city when Jaune finally turned off the main road into a drive with a large iron gate with a large ‘R’ cut out in the middle. What really caught her attention was the absolutely massive house a couple hundred yards drive down the way.

“I’m assuming we're here…” She mumbled, looking over at Jaune as she reached up to hit a small device clipped to her sun visor and the gates opened.

“It’s obscenely large… I know…” she grumbled.

“Just based on her car and the way she was dressed I figured your mother had money but…” She peered up at the house with wide eyes, not noticing the sudden tenseness in her date.

“My father was a successful lawyer in his own right, but he came from old money. My mother is a retired cabaret dancer,” she was stiffly informed, as they stopped in the driveway full of cars, all of foriegn make.

Jaune made no move to get out of the car though and Celeste watched her with a curious stare.

“This… my family’s financial status… isn’t a problem for you, is it?” she finally asked after a few tense seconds.

“A problem?” she questioned, eyebrows shooting up and Jaune no doubt read her confusion as offense.

“I don’t mean that to say anything about you, Celeste…,” she quickly said, her grip on the leather steering wheel tightening till it squeaked. “It’s just… it has caused issues in my relationships before…” She didn’t elaborate and looked so tense, as though she were made of stone. Her voice held a tone that Celeste couldn’t read.

Slowly, as though she might frighten, she reached out and laid a hand over the white knuckled stranglehold, Jaune had on the steering wheel.

“I don’t care about money. I like you, Jaune,” she assured gently.

Before Jaune could say anything there was a tapping on her window, making both women jump.

A woman in a maid outfit and her hair in a pair of buns stood outside the passenger side door, looking contrite. Jaune rolled down the window with a frown.

“Yes...?” she ground out.

“I’m sorry, Jaune,” the woman said quietly. “She sent me out to see what was taking you so long and to hurry you along.” The woman looked very apologetic and Jaune sighed.

“It’s alright, Penny. We’ll be in shortly.”

The woman nodded and hurried back inside the house as Jaune rolled up the window.

“My mother’s maid… she’s impatient today.” Jaune grumbled, running a hand through her hair.

“Then we shouldn’t keep her waiting.” She smiled and was quite pleased with herself when the corners of the lawyer's lips began to draw upwards.

“Right…” They finally climbed out and started for the door.

“I imagine she’s had Penny on lookout for us. She did the same thing when I was a teenager because my father wouldn’t let her stand in the window,” she mumbled and Celeste smiled.

They walked in and Celeste couldn’t help but admire the lavish house. It was, ss Jaune put it. ‘obscenely large’ but it was very beautiful on the inside.

The house seemed to be done in a black and white theme with natural wood floors.

“The backyard is this way.” Jaune pointed down a hall and she followed her. They ended up in what looked to Celeste like a solarium, the ceiling and an entire wall made of glass, looked out into the garden and backyard where she could see about fifty people milling about with drinks and food.

But something else happened to catch her eye. A wooden shelf against the wall filled with framed phones and trophies. She stopped to look and the first photo her eyes landed on was a very familiar looking blonde.

“Is this you?” She turned to ask, making Jaune stop to look at whatever she was looking at.

“Oh god…” She frowned, seeing what had caught Celeste’s attention. “No…”

“Of course it is!” A new voice sounded and both women looked up as Blanche walked in through the glass doors that lead out into the garden. Her bright red painted lips pulled into a smile as she glided across the room to them.

Jaune was right. The older woman was dressed up enough for two. Her white, sparkling dress was similar to Celeste’s in style but that was where the similarities ended. The Roche matriarch wore tall black heels with a deadly looking point to them that clicked loudly on the wooden floors. The black fur shawl she was wearing draped elegantly off her shoulders, perfectly framing the diamond necklace laying at her throat.

Jaune rolled her eyes.

“Mother…,” she greeted, doing her best to make her annoyance at having Penny sent out to the car clear.

“Hello, dear.” It was completely ignored and she turned to Celeste with a smile. Jaune huffed.

“Celeste, this is my mother, Blanche Roche. Mother, Celeste Carrick.”

“We didn’t really properly meet before and I’d like to start by apologizing for that. I was just so curious about what kind of woman had Sunshine all in a twist.” She smiled brightly, eyes closing.

“Sunshine?”

Jaune flushed, scowling at her mother. Celeste couldn’t help but grin and when amber met blue the lawyer turned an even darker shade of red.

“I see you found her trophy shelf.” Blanche directed the baker's attention back to the wooden shelves, much to Jaune’s ire.

She picked up the photo Celeste had been looking at.

A teen Jaune, about 15 or so, holding a plaque and smiling at the camera, braces on full display.

“She had a horrible overbite.” her mother informed Celeste. The blonde only frowned, pursing her lips.

“Are these all yours?” She looked at her frowning date.

“They are,” she sighed.

“Jaune was in quite a few groups in school. Speech and debate, mock trial… oh and I believe chess club for a time.” Her mother helpfully listed.

She glanced at the awards and ribbons, naming Jaune for a variety of the activities Blanche had listed.

“Oh, you were…,” she paused, looking for the right word.

“A nerd…” Jaune helpfully supplied.

“No…” Celeste turned to her, hesitating as she thought. “Academically inclined...,” she finally said with a certain little grin.

Jaune smiled at her ruefully. Not believing her for a second.

“Why don’t we head out to the party now?” Blanche suggested, holding a hand out toward the garden. Just like that, the blonde was frowning again. More so at her mother’s interjection in their moment then the looming social interactions, though she wasn’t thrilled about that either.

“If you’re ready.” She turned to Celeste who smiled.

~ ~ ~

An hour and a half later and Jaune had had enough.

Somehow the parties hadn’t really changed since she was a child. They were still dull affairs with a bunch of clueless, wealthy aristocrats who for the most part didn’t have a clue.

The only difference now was she could drink and put in only the barest amount of effort to avoid offending anyone.

Unfortunately though, since she had driven and had Celeste with her, drinking wasn’t an option. So instead she had to grin and bear it, stone cold sober.

Celeste didn’t seem to be having a much better time as she interacted with some of her mother’s friends and acquaintances. Many of whom were older and the way they looked down on Celeste was apparent. To be fair they looked down on everyone though, but it still made Jaune’s blood boil.

Her mother would appear every so often and introduce the baker to some old family friend or another as her girlfriend and they certainly didn’t look impressed.

“How do you do this?” Celeste mumbled to her when they found themselves alone, partially hidden by a large rose bush in the corner of the party.

“Usually I drink.” She shrugged. “As a child, I would hide.”

“Maybe we should hide…,” she laughed.

That gave the lawyer a brilliant idea.

“I know the perfect place.” She smiled and held out her hand. “Trust me?”

Celeste blinked, surprised, and looked at the offered hand, taking it almost without thinking.

“Of course.”

They quietly left the garden, heading down the hill, away from the house toward the woods on the edge of the property.

“Where are we going?” Celeste couldn’t help but ask at seeing the smile on Jaune's face.

“Patience” Was all Jaune said, looking over her shoulder. Partially hidden by the grass was a worn dirt path, weaving between the trees, they followed it, weaving through the thick foliage until even the giant house was obscured by leaves and tree trunks. The chirping of birds and the low hum of various insects filled the air around them.

After a few minutes of walking a new sound began to tease at the edges of her hearing.

“What is that?” she mumbled more to herself but the way Jaune smiled told her that she also heard it and knew exactly what it was.

Finally she realized what she was hearing just as they rounded a bend in the path.

“A river?” Celeste gasped, looking at the gently rolling water that cut through the woods and traveled well out of sight.

The water flowed at a gentle pace, creating a small, relaxing sound.

Celeste wasted no time moving toward the banks with Jaune right behind her.

“It’s so beautiful,” the baker mumbled over the gurgling of the water as it flowed past them.

Jaune hummed in agreement with a soft smile, watching Celeste.

“I often came here after school or when I grew tired of those parties.. .or when my mother was just being too much, as you saw” She glanced at Celeste and smirked.

“Your mother is lovely.” Celeste playfully slapped her arm.

“In small doses,” she grunted and Celeste laughed. They carefully sat themselves on a large rock at the water’s edge.

The sun filtered through the trees, reflecting stray shafts of light off the water’s surface, creating a brilliant sparkling effect that bounced across their skin from where they sat in comfortable silence. Celeste finally spoke up after several long moments of peaceful quiet.

It was so beautiful and peaceful and she found her affection for the blonde at her side bubbling up, but she was still incredibly curious about something.

“Can I ask something I suspect is personal?” she asked after a long quiet moment. Jaune hummed an affirmative.

“You said before that your family's wealth caused problems in previous relationships…?”

Jaune sighed, leaning back on her hands and glanced at Celeste out of the corner of her eye.

“When I was in college I briefly dated a woman who was… very uncomfortable with my family's wealth when she found out, and accused me of leading her on. That I was…’slumming it’ for fun,” she grimaced at the memory. “We broke up and she spread it around campus, it was actually a secondary but no less valid reason for why I transferred out in my last semester. It caused… problems,” she grumbled.

“That’s awful!” Celeste leaned forward. “I’m sorry that happened, Jaune.”

“It's hardly your fault,” Jaune grunted. “Disclosing my family’s wealth always feels so precarious ever since…,” she admitted, turning back to look at the quiet bubbling water.

“Well…, you don’t need to worry about me. As I said...,” She scooted closer to the blonde, their knees now brushing against each other. Jaune looked at her curiously. “ I just really like you…” It was a quiet statement that sent a tingle up Jaune’s spine and her heart into a double beat.

She swallowed thickly and leaned over, Celeste meeting her half way, their lips meeting in a soft kiss.

Fingers slowly slid through soft, blonde locks, making Jaune hum against her lips and suddenly her hands were resting gently on the baker’s hips.

Finally they seperated just enough that amber and blue met wordlessly.

Neither one was really sure who moved back in first, but it didn’t matter as they were locked together again, this one, rougher, more frantic then the first, interrupted only when Celeste gasped, as she was suddenly nearly dragged onto the blonde’s lap.

Jaune looked up at her in silent question, breathing heavily through her mouth and with her now mussed hair, Celeste couldn’t help herself from dipping back down, capturing the lawyers lips again and slanting her head to deepen the kiss, tugging at short blonde hair. The fingers digging into her hips slid upward to her back and to tangle in the hair at her neck, pulling her closer.

She moaned when a tongue slid across her bottom lip, startling them both apart, gasping.

They stared at each other for several long seconds, catching their breath.

“I really like you too…” Jaune finally breathed against her lips.

Celeste blinked before bursting into giggles while the lawyer just grinned.

~ ~ ~

“Do you think she noticed we were gone?” Celeste asked as they walked back toward the house, her arm threaded around Jaune’s.

“I guarantee it,” she said. “She always did when I was a kid. She could just never find me.” She grinned.

The party seemed to have thinned while they were gone.

“There you two are!” They both looked to Blanche as she approached them. “Where have you been?” She looked between the two of them.

“I was just showing Celeste the grounds, but I really need to be getting her home now.” Jaune informed her mother.

“Oh, so soon?” Blanche pouted, turning the silver haired woman.

“My days start at three a.m. I'm afraid.” Celeste explained.

“My, that is much too early my dear. I understand, it was lovely of you to come.” She smiled.

“Thank you for having me.” She nodded graciously to her host.

“Call me when you get home, Sunshine.” Were the older woman’s parting words as she and Jaune rolled her eyes but nodded.

“Of course mother.”

Celeste chuckled quietly at her side, making the blonde grin at her.

The drive home went by much too quickly for both of them and before they knew it Jaune was parked in front of the bakery and Celeste found herself wishing she didn’t need to get up so early. She wasn’t ready to part ways yet.

Jaune seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

“I wish you didn’t have to go yet,” she admitted. “Rather than my mother’s house I would have liked to take you to my place…” she said unthinkingly.

“Oh?” Celeste grinned as the suggestive statement. Jaune caught on quickly and turned beet red.

“That’s not what I meant!” she quickly defended.

Celeste laughed at the flustered face she was making.

“Maybe next time you’ll show me your place...” Celeste said, but it hung in the air like a question.

“Maybe next weekend you could come over for dinner… though, as a fair warning, my cooking is only just passable,” she admitted, looking sheepish. Celeste grinned at the adorable face.

“Perhaps I could come over and we could cook together?” she suggested.

“I’d like that.” Jaune smiled.

“I’ll call you,” Celeste promised, leaning over the console. Jaune met her halfway in a chaste kiss before she climbed out of the car and waved as the goldenrod Mercedes drove off.

Maybe her sister was right.

Maybe she really was lovestruck.

She’d never felt so strongly for someone, nor so quickly. They just fit together so effortlessly, it was almost scary.

She sighed as she walked into the shop. She had only just driven away but already she found herself longing for Jaune’s company. How silly.

“Was that a good sigh or a bad sigh?” a sudden voice made her jump with a shriek.

Rose was sitting in the kitchen, a butterscotch bite held between two fingers.

“Sorry” her sister frowned. “Didn’t mean to scare you. How was your afternoon?” she asked before popping the food in her mouth.

“The party was… dull to be polite,” she mumbled, sitting at the butcher block table with her sister. “Time with Jaune though, was wonderful.” she smiled wistfully.

“Oh yea? Why, did you make out with your girlfriend at her mother’s house?” she laughed, teasing, but Celeste only pursed her lips. “Oh my god, did you?!”

“It wasn’t at the house...,” she trailed off, decidedly not looking at Rose.

“Oh my god!” Rose slapped her hands to her face. “Tell me everything!” She grinned, leaning forward.

Celeste just smiled, exasperated, but she retold the tale of her afternoon in the woods.

#bellow diamond #yellow diamond #blue diamond #white diamond #pink diamond'#steven universe #AU #fic #Authority online

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ak47stylegirl · 4 years

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Sick Days - Chapter 5

Okay, chapter 5 is here! Virgil and Gordon are getting the spotlight this time 😄 But don’t worry, I will be getting back to Alan in the next chapter, I’m not done with him yet... 😈😁😅 (Someone needs to hide him from me, lol..)

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4 of fic.

————

Gordon pov

Three o’clock, it was his favourite time of day, he thought with a grin as he waited at the school’s pick-up zone with his school bag. It was the crazy rush hour, the pickup zone filled with kids, young and old.

Younger kids were running about and playing with each other, some kids were getting picked up, others were taking on their phones or waiting for a bus. Teachers were trying to keep everyone under control, making sure no one ran onto the road and in front of a moving car.

He usually would have Allie waiting with him, they would talk about anything and everything. Share a funny joke, plan a prank, anything...but today he didn’t have his little partner in crime with him because the kid had gone home sick.

They had pulled him out of class to tell him that Virgil was only picking him up today, that his brother had gone home sick. But they didn’t tell him how sick the kid was, just that he went home sick with some kind of cold.

It couldn’t be that bad, surely? Alan didn’t seem that sick this morning. Though he’ll admit, the kid had been acting a bit weird this morning…

He grinned as he spotted his brother’s bright green pickup truck drives into the school’s entrance. That car was probably one of the most well-looked after cars there was, his brother taking great pride in his car. He swears his brother is in love with that green machine...

“Heya Virg!” He grinned up at Virgil as he threw his school bag into the back of the truck, opening the front passenger side door. “What took you so long?” He asked with a grin as he jumped into his seat. “I was dying of old age over there..”

Virgil shook his head with a slight chuckle, “Hello to you too, Gordon…”

There was a smudge of car oil on Virgil’s cheek, unnoticed by the Apprentice mechanic and volunteer firefighter, which was hilarious, he thought with smicker as he closed his door, doing his seat belt up.

Virgil looked at him suspiciously, not liking the look on his face. He gave Virgil an innocent smile, which admittedly just made Virgil more suspicious. “Well...did you have a good day, Gordo?” Virgil asked as he indicated into the main school traffic, away from the pick-up zone.

“Meh, it was okay, I guess..” he shrugged as he leaned back into his seat, his uniform getting all wrinkled. Not that he really cared, he hated the thing. It was so bland and boring, plus uncomfortable at times. “Would have been better if swimming practice wasn’t cancelled..”

“Why was it cancelled?” Virgil questioned as he tapped the steering wheel, waiting for the car in front of them to move. School time traffic was always the worst, and they haven’t even gotten out of the school’s grounds yet!

“The swim teacher called in sick, and the substitute teacher was sick as well, so no swimming for me..” He pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. “Like how am I going to win the Olympics if I don’t practice my swimming?”

Virgil sighed softly with a small smile, “You got plenty of time to practice kiddo, you’re not even sixteen yet..” and would not be for at least a couple more years, and the age limit for entering the Olympics was sixteen and older... “But I'll take you to the local pool on the weekend if you want?”

“You would?!” he grinned, bouncing up like an excited puppy. “You’re the best Virg! When I win gold, I’ll pay for you to go to the best art college there is! Or whatever college you want to go to really…”

“You don’t need to do that Gordy..” Virgil smiled at him, looking pretty touched. Virgil turned his attention back on the road, traffic starting to move again and before long they were on the main road. “I’m fine with just being an apprentice mechanic, it's enjoyable work, and it brings money in..”

“But I thought you wanted to study art or something?” He asked, looking at his brother in confusion. “But went with the apprenticeship instead because we needed the money?”

“Well, that's not the only reason, but yes, money was a factor, unfortunately..” Virgil sighed softly as he drove the car around a corner, “I would love to study art or even engineering, but as you said, we don’t have the money to spend on that…”

Virgil’s grip on the steering wheel tightened momentarily before loosening again. “And honestly? It’s not that big of a deal Gordy, I’m fine with it..” Virgil smiled at him, “I'd rather you guys get your education unhindered by expenses and stuff...”

“Yeah well...the offer still stands,” he said as he shifted in his seat, looking out the car window. “I win gold, you go to art school or engineering school or whatever..” He waved his hand lazily in Virgil’s direction, trying to seem like he didn’t really care about it, but when in truth, he did.

“I’ll hold you to that then..” Virgil chuckled, only half-joking.

It was quiet in the car for a bit after that, Virgil concentrating on driving while he just zoned out into his own little world where there was no school or homework, Just swimming, the wonderful sea and heaps of fun…

He snaps out of his daydream as Virgil turned down a street, in the opposite direction to their house. Huh? What’s going on? He thought as he straightened up, his curiosity peaked.

“Um, where are we going? Home is that way…” He points in the direction they should have gone, looking at Virgil in confusion. “Did I miss something?”

“I gotta pick up some groceries, we’re pretty much out…” Virgil explained as they stopped a red traffic light. “And with Alan sick, it would be a good idea to stock up on food anyway...”

He grimaced at the reminder that his little brother was sick in bed right now, “Is he okay? I mean...do you know how sick he is?” He asked softly, concerned tinting his voice as he looked over at Virgil. “I know there’s this nasty cold that is going around the school, I really hope he didn’t catch that…”

One of his friends had caught it, and they had looked so terribly sick, face pale as can be, nose irritated red and raw as they would constantly be wiping or blowing it. Last he heard, they had been forced to stay home as they had gotten too sick to even leave their bed, let alone go to school.

That was a week ago, he hasn’t seen them since… so he really, really hoped Alan did not have that cold...

“From what Scott had told me, it seems to be a pretty bad cold..” Virgil sighed heavily as the light flashed green, the car starting to move again. “Other than that, I’m pretty much in the dark as well…”

He sighed leaning against the window, watching the buildings fly by them. Sometimes he would imagine Virgil’s green hunk of a pickup truck was a giant plane, taking him somewhere filled with adventure.

He had no idea where that idea had come from, but he found it very fun to imagine all the awesome scenarios. Sometimes there would be a little submarine, it would be yellow as that was his favourite colour, and it would take him to the bottom of the ocean floor, letting him explore the sea to his heart's content.

He shared this little daydream fantasy with Alan, who would come up with all sorts of crazy ideas. One of them being that he has his own ship, a spaceship that could explode all the space and still be home for dinnertime. A bright red spaceship to be exact…

They could spend hours playing pretend in Alan’s or his room, imagining that they were daring explorers heroes, out in the unknown, saving lives like their heroes and having lots and lots of fun…

He often joked that it would make an awesome tv show, people would go nuts for five dashing young heroes… Alan would just look at him weirdly like he grew another head…

They turned into the local supermarket car park, Virgil having to drive around a bit before finding a park as it was busy at this time of day.

“So...can we get more celery crunch bars?” He grinned at Virgil as they made their way inside the store. “I’m almost out of them…”

“We’re just getting the essentials, Gordon…” Virgil gave a long-suffering sigh as he grabbed a shopping trolley, “not junk food…”

“You wound me, brother!” He gasped in horror, holding his hand over his heart dramatically. “Celery crunch bars are not junk food, they are an essential part of a growing boy’s diet!”

“Why didn’t I just leave you in the car?” Virgil muttered softly to himself as they walked down a shopping aisle. “Fine, you can get them-“ He fist bumps the air in victory, “-but only a couple! I swear those things are full of super…”

He deliberately ignored that last part, running down the aisle to get his precious treats…

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #Gordon Tracy #Virgil Tracy #alan tracy #Scott Tracy #sickfic #normal au

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i-write-and-therefore-i-am · 5 years

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One Monstrous Miracle (Part Two)

Ugh! It’s been 3 whole months since I updated this story! This one is a bit long, so maybe it will make up for that? Anywho, in addition to this being a bit of a doozy, it’s kind of a filler chapter, which I hate to do but there ya go. I’m feeling a bit wonky about this part, but make sure to let me know how you feel about it. I hope you enjoy! (P.S.--Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list!)

Previous--Next--First

Pairing: Aziraphale/Human!Reader

Warnings: I don’t see any here!

Word Count: 2076 (!!For WhY?? Why can’t I write this much for my courses??)

It had been a few months since that first meeting, and it had become second nature for you to stop by his bookshop on the way home from work. You were grateful that Aziraphale didn’t actually want to part with any of his precious volumes, or else your poor bank account would definitely suffer. Because the shop was essentially the best sort of library you could imagine, it was incredibly easy to find a book to read. And because Aziraphale was the nicest man you had ever met, he was more than happy to let you find a comfy old chair to park yourself in whilst you read said book. This was how most of your days went recently, and it was, in fact, how this particular day had begun.

The door clicked shut behind you with the pleasant sound of bells that you had grown so fond of. You were in a good mood—you’d gotten a major promotion at work, which meant that although you’d have to work a few more hours, you’d be doing things that you enjoyed and getting paid more for them. Aziraphale had, for some reason unbeknownst to you, planned to cook dinner for the both of you today. You’d objected, not wanting him to go through all of the trouble of having to close his shop early to get dinner ready by the time you got out of work, but he’d persisted.

“It’s a special occasion, Y/N!”

“What is?”

“Being alive, of course!”

You’d known that there was something more, but you ignored it in favor of relishing in the cozy affection that washed over you at how adorable this man could be. He could find wonder in the most trivial thing, which never failed to put a smile on your face. Even recalling moments like that, as you were doing now, could lift your spirits.

You wandered around the shop, browsing the shelves for any new additions. Aziraphale’s shop had quickly become your safe haven—a place that you could go and just relax with a good book and not have to worry about anything else. Soon, you had come to associate that feeling with the man himself. You hadn’t felt this way about anyone in a very long time, and it was refreshing, in an odd way, to feel like a teenager again. This was something new and unexpected, and perhaps it was just what you needed. Your inner monologue was cut off by Aziraphale calling your name from across the room.

“Y/N! You’re here! Just in time, everything is ready.” You turn and smile at him but frowned when you caught sight of the old grandfather clock standing by the sales counter.

“Already? I only got here a few minutes ago,”

“Oh, I wanted it to be ready for when you got here, so I started early—”

“But I got here almost an hour before I normally do! How are you finished already?” A flash of something unidentifiable crossed over his face, but it was quickly replaced with a charming smile.

“I must’ve forgotten to set the clock upstairs and started earlier than I had thought. A happy accident, no?” Again, the doubts in your mind vanished, and you found yourself grinning back at him. Ever the gentleman, he gestured for you to walk up the stairs in front of him. The smells coming from the second floor had drifted down slowly and were weaving themselves around you, making your mouth water in anticipation. When you got to the top of the staircase, Aziraphale darted around you to open the door to his flat.

Despite all the time that you had spent in his building over the past couple of months, you had never ventured up here. You doubted that you would even notice if you had—the flat had the same eccentric-yet-cozy feel to it that the bookshop did, except in the place of books there were hundreds of different knick-knacks. Some looked rather new, and others looked as though they had jumped straight out of a history book.

“This is where I live. Pardon the mess, I haven’t been able to find a good system of storing yet.” He started fiddling with a set of Russian dolls that were sitting on a side table but gave up as quickly as he started and turned back to you. You realized that he was waiting for you to say something.

“I love it. It’s…homey.” You smiled genuinely at him. In some ways, it felt more like home to you than anywhere else, but that was a revelation for another day. After a few seconds of slightly awkward standing, your stomach chose that exact moment to growl. Loudly.

“Where are my manners? You must be starving! Here, let’s get some food in you, alright?” He led you to his dining room, where you were immediately greeted with the most delicious-looking meal of your life.

“You made all of this for me?” You asked incredulously, not believing your eyes. The table in the center of the room was positively groaning under the weight of all the food Aziraphale had cooked. Somehow, every single one of your favorites had made it onto tonight’s menu, making your heart grow warm with the knowledge that Aziraphale listened to and remembered the things you told him. You looked up at his expectant face, feeling silly for getting so emotional over dinner.

“It’s wonderful, Aziraphale. Thank you.”

“Of course, my dear. Anything for you.” He moved to pull out the chair closest to you, indicating that you should sit down. “Shall we?”

Dinner was divine. The food you ate on that day was the best food you had ever, or would ever, eat, period. You insisted that Aziraphale was secretly a world-famous chef, an idea that he quickly shot down— “How on Earth could I be a world-famous chef in secret? Wouldn’t everyone know? It wouldn’t be much of a secret, Y/N.”—but you weren’t too sure. You ate more than your fill, but when Aziraphale suggested that the two of you end the night with a cup of cocoa by the fireplace, you couldn’t refuse.

And so, you found yourself sitting on Aziraphale’s worn tartan sofa, sipping the rich chocolate and staring into the flames. Aziraphale sat beside you, his cup resting nicely on his knee. Together you sat in comfortable silence for quite a while, giving you time to reminisce over the evening and, more importantly, your thoughts about the man who had orchestrated the whole thing.

You knew that you had developed a sort of crush on him, and it had become increasingly apparent in recent weeks. Your heart would pound harder the closer you got to his shop, and the second he would look up from his work and focus his attention on you, you could feel your cheeks start to burn. It was highly unlikely that he hadn’t noticed anything different about the way you acted around him, but you knew he was too kind to say something about it. The trouble was that the friendship you had built with him, the easy companionship that you found in each other, was too precious for you to risk losing it by telling him what you truly felt. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if he only wanted you to be his friend, nothing more? Oh God, what if he was gay? You glanced at him out of the corner of your eye, but quickly looked away. Your anxiety was spiking, and you had to do something about it before—

“AZIRAPHALE!!” Both of you jumped, but thankfully most of your cocoa was gone so none of it spilled. Aziraphale was not so lucky, and he cursed as he looked down at his chocolate-covered lap.

“Damn!” You looked around for something to wipe it off with, but you couldn’t find anything. When you refocused on him, your brain short-circuited for a second. Aziraphale’s pants were now completely dry, with no chocolate on them whatsoever. He seemed to have gotten some on his hand though, because he had part of his pointer finger in his mouth, trying to suck the pain away. Loud footsteps were coming from the stairway outside the door of the flat, and you stared at each other in confusion.

The door was kicked off its hinges in the singular most dramatic entrance you could imagine. The strange man at the door seemed to be other worldly, like his very presence upended the balance of the Universe. Space rippled around him, giving one the impression that he was swaying back and forth, almost snakelike. He had the air of someone who was much much older than they appeared, which clashed atrociously with his spiked, modern haircut and his skintight jeans. It hurt your eyes just to look at him, but, like a car wreck on the M-25, you couldn’t look away. Somehow, even though he was wearing glasses the color of a black hole, you could tell that he was ignoring you entirely. You watched as he made his way to stand angrily in front of your friend. Aziraphale opened his mouth, but he was cut off.

“I’ve been calling you for day, you useless blob! I thought something had happened to you, Aziraphale! In case you’ve forgotten, we are in this together. If we fuck up, it will be the actual end of the world. I—who the Heaven is this?” The man turned to peer at you through his sunglasses, frowning as if you were a spot on the sofa, and not a living, breathing person sitting there instead. Suddenly he turned back to Aziraphale, so you could no longer see his face, but his body language changed drastically—he looked dangerous, like an animal ready to pounce. When he spoke his voice was mocking, dripping with derision.

“Really? You mean to tell me that this pathetic waste of space is what has you tied up? Didn’t you learn anything from the last time you tried it on with a mortal? I knew you were dense, Angel, but not stupid—” Aziraphale was up before your brain could process that he had moved at all. He was now standing toe-to-toe with the stranger, which would have looked unimpressive if Aziraphale had not been so obviously full of rage that it practically radiated off of him. The taller man looked down his nose at Aziraphale but said nothing.

“Don’t you ever speak about her in that filthy way again.” Where the tall man’s voice had been unsettling, Aziraphale’s was downright terrifying. You had never heard him sound so threatening, and you’d seen someone try to buy his first edition of Gutenburg’s Bible. It sent shivers down your spine, and your instincts kicked in. You rose from your seat, backing away from the escalating argument in front of you. The two men fought back and forth, and your heart sank further and further into the pit of your stomach. The night had started out so well, you had no idea when things had gone so wrong. You located your purse on the coffee table and picked it up, clutching it to your body.

“I’m going to leave now,” you tried, but to no avail. You cleared your throat, feeling like you were on the brink of tears. “I said, I’m going to leave now!”

That got their attention. Aziraphale’s eyes went wide when he saw you holding your purse, not to mention the way you seemed to be unconsciously cowering away from them. He reached out to you but you stepped back, shaking your head.

“Th-thanks for dinner. I have an early day tomorrow and I should really head home.” You turned to leave. Your hand was on the doorknob when you heard Aziraphale’s voice from behind you.

“Will I see you tomorrow, then?” Your shoulders tensed, and you had to bite your lip against the—completely ridiculous—tears that spring up at the careful hope you could hear. You took a deep breath, and without answering, opened the door and left the little shop.

From the street, you could hear a tremendous noise coming from the second story window, like something quite large and heavy being thrown against the ground. You shuddered because deep down, you didn’t know if the stranger had done it, or if Aziraphale, sweet, loving Aziraphale had. You walked faster.

Tag List:

@chelsdub, @a-hoe-for-vanya, @lordbeezyprinceofhell, @ohfortheloveofchuck

#aziraphale x reader #good omens #crowley #One Monstrous Miracle #Aziraphale #michael sheen #mine

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purplesurveys · 4 years

Text

781

Another quarantine survey for y’alls.

How are you coping? I enjoyed the lockdown in its first few weeks because back then it really felt like a nice break from how hectic January and February were. By now it just feels like it has overstayed its welcome and my anxiety is back to growing by the day, except this time it’s worse because I can’t actually go anywhere or do anything to get rid of it temporarily. Tl;dr I’m doing less and less well. How have things changed for you? School, mostly. The situation in the Philippines isn’t conducive to online learning, so we’ve had to cancel schooling altogether because it was the most humane option to make sure no student gets left behind. Some schools opted to mass-promote (read: pass) all their students, while the schools that selfishly chose to continue holding online classes face online backlash everyday.

On that note, my graduation ceremony is indefinitely postponed and Andrew and I have had to give up a lot of the usual procedures for thesis, like doing fieldwork or having a required number of respondents for our questionnaire. What are three positives to being Isolated or in Quarantine? I get to stay with Kimi all day, my dad cooks amazing food for us daily, and I have so much free time on my hands which I use to watch videos or movies. What are three negatives? I haven’t seen my friends in months, being ordered to stay at home still feels different than voluntarily staying at home, and I have so much free time on my hands which leaves me to overthink and be paranoid.

Have you taken on a new hobby? Not really. I wanted to get into cooking/baking, but my dad always wants to be in control of his kitchen so I’ve barely had any chance to help out. Have you kicked any bad habits? Drinking coffee everyday. I stopped when I noticed I was getting a headache every night, which was my original schedule for making a cup. Have you watched a lot more television or movies? I’ve watched more YouTube but I generally find it hard to start on new shows or movies so no, not really. I’ve always preferred rewatching my favorites. I did revisit Descendants of the Sun starting the other night though; I hadn’t gone back to it since December but I’m glad I did now because it’s such a good show(!!!!!) Have you been separated from someone you love? Tons of people that I love, from orgmates to close friends to best friends to my girlfriend. Discovered any new bands? Nah, I’ve stuck to my faves. With Hayley hyping up her first album for the last five months and finally releasing it a week ago, my eyes and ears were only on her lol Have you shopped more online? Nope, no money these days ha. Have you cooked more? I’ve tried helping my dad more like I mentioned but ugh, he’s so possessive in the kitchen. Have you baked more? Same thing. Have you learned to knit or sew? Nope. Did you end up in Isolation or Quarantine? Just quarantine. I never showed any symptoms and neither did my family, so we’ve all bee in quarantine from the very beginning. Did the stores all close? Save for groceries, they were all closed in the first few days/weeks. But through April, more and more businesses (mostly restaurants) started to come back and offer delivery or pickup services.

In the Philippines where the government has been hugely incompetent, they lifted the lockdown for nearly the entire country yesterday despite the number of cases not showing any signs of slowing down and DESPITE NO MASS TESTING BEING PUT IN PLACE SINCE MARCH. That means this whole quarantine has been fucking useless. And now that people have been crowding highways and malls again, a second wave is just waiting around the corner.

What kind of restrictions did your government put into place? It’s different per province but in my case, we had a ban on liquors, mass gatherings, and non-essential travel; an 8 PM-5 AM curfew; and checkpoints everywhere. For a brief time, homeowners in our village couldn’t even jog outside but I think they’ve loosened up on that rule now. Has this affected any travel, events or plans for you? Hasn’t it, for all of us? An year-end college party that my orgmates and I usually go to was obviously cancelled; I still don’t know what’s happening to our graduation; and plans to volunteer for an animal welfare NGO have been cut off. I was also supposed to go to Thailand and Vietnam this year, but I’ve had to forget about those plans. What is the first thing you will do when you get the chance? Drive up to Gabie, for sure. With all the crazy in the world, we forget how much we take for granted. Is there anything you feel you had taken for granted? Time with my loved ones. I’ve definitely thought about the times I declined on Angela’s offers to go out, or flaked on my blockmates, or opted to skip out on dinner with my orgmates so I could go home. Let's finish off with some nicer things! What is your favourite thing about life? I dunno if I’ve found a favorite thing about it yet. I find it pretty unfair for the most part. What is your favourite thing about nature? How peaceful it can be. Nature has always served me well when I’m in distress, and I will never forget the time I was in Sagada, and I had just gotten out of a breakup and was still reeling over my lolo’s death, and when I reached the top of a hill, I allowed myself to cry while in front of this view.

Favourite place in the world? Sagada, Baguio, and Palawan. Favourite animal? Dogs, if you don’t know me well enough already. Favourite Colour? I personally like pastel pink, and ~aesthetically~ I like black or white. Favourite Foods? My favorite food ever is burgers, but I also like sushi, chicken wings, and steak. Favourite Holiday destination? We don’t have an established destination. My family likes going to new places every time we have the chance to travel. Have you been on a cruise ship? Yes. Have you flown to a travel destination? Sure, several. Have you ever been on a bus or train to a holiday destination? I don’t remember anymore but we probably were. Ever been on a helicopter? I have not. Ever been in a submarine? Smaller chance of that happening cause there’s little opportunity for it, but it sounds like an awesome experience. Thoughts on Theme Parks? I will go there for the theme park food, but I’m fine with not going on any rides. Thoughts on Carnivals? Like a fair? They’re great fun, and I prefer them more than theme parks because they’re more lowkey. I also just go for the food hahahaha I don’t go on rides. Thoughts on Island Life? I’m technically living one because I live in a giant group of islands... but I wouldn’t want to live my whole life in just an island per se. I like being in the city, and I like living in a noisy environment where everyone and everything is busy. Ever taken a ferry to a destination? Eh, not really. We’ve taken smaller boats to get to certain island provinces, but not a ferry. What is the best thing about travelling? Learning new things, seeing new sights, meeting new people, getting to know new cultures.

Who would you like to travel with next time you go on a trip? I’d love to travel with Gabie. I’ve never done it with her before. Randoms.. Favourite television series on Stan? I’ve never heard of that. Favourite television series on Netflix? I don’t watch any shows produced by Netflix. My current favorite show to watch there is Descendants of the Sun, but my other favorites are there too, like Friends, Breaking Bad, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. What movie are you keen to see? Right now, none of the upcoming ones, or at least the upcoming ones that were meant to be released by the summer. None of them seem appealing to me. Do you study or work or both? I study, but I’m so fucking close to the finish line. If you could have any career, what would it be? I’d love to be in PR. I’d still be in media which is my strong suit, but none of the journalism bullshit I’ve grown sick of in the last four years. Do you play Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch? No, I’ve never really been a fan of the series so I’ve never felt the need to get the game. I’m happy with Mario Kart 8 haha. What gaming console do you like best? Either the Wii or PS2 as I had a lot of memories with them. Speaking of gaming, name your top 5 games? Pass. Have you ever been to a convention like Comic Con? Nope. Life gets tough, how do you cope? I take a nap, I go to a café somewhere for a few hours to be alone, I take a survey, or I drown myself in work to keep me preoccupied. Do you like housework? If I’m not forced to do it. Are you afraid of the dark? If the dark was meant to be scary, like if I was in a haunted house or if I’m in the woods in the middle of nowhere at midnight. Otherwise it doesn’t bother me. Do you have pets? Yeah, I have the best dog.

#survey #surveys

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ginasneesby · 4 years

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September - Viv and Andy part 1

2 years late but in enforced lockdown seems the best time to complete these blogs if I am able to remember to any degree what I actually did.

My first visitors were my sister Viv and her husband Andy, they had planned to come to me for 10 days, sandwiched between short trips to see friends in Australia; meaning I didn’t get the jet lag portion or the sad our trip is almost over portion! Viv had also done a lot of research and even booking in advance so most of the activities were sorted and paid for. This made it easier for me having only been nursing since coming back in July and then having taken more trips than I should have done really given how much money I had saved, spreading the cost meant we could all do everything and any extra costs were paid for with those weeks’ wages!

Their flight got in around 4pm on Thursday 6th, the day after I got back from Queenstown and a few weeks after Rarotonga so sort of felt like I was living at the airport; my carbon footprint this year was pretty shocking. They had booked a posh flat in central Auckland just round the corner from the Sky Tower which I drove directly to, luckily arriving late enough to miss parking restrictions so I could come in and see the place too. Having this flat the whole trip meant they could pack small bags for our planned trips and leave all the rest behind, also there was a gym in the complex which apparently is important ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It did however mean their self-catering kitchen was empty, so first job was to head to a supermarket to grab some essentials, the next day we hadn’t planned anything out of town so coffee and milk were a must. We decided however to go out for dinner rather than cook so I took them for a short walk down to the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter to see the harbour bridge, marina and view across to Devonport. We ate burgers or something similar at a bar and had a couple of cheap cocktails making it to well gone 9 o’clock before all the travelling (and I’m sure some jetlag) kicked in and we all headed home.

The next day I left the pair to figure out Auckland transport and met them at the Devonport ferry terminal, from here we took a gentle hike up Mount Victoria behind my flat (also known as the windiest hill in Auckland) with great views of the harbour, bridge and skyline. There is also an old gun turret type thing that was positioned here because it’s near the opening to the Hauraki Gulf and, I guess, the Pacific Ocean. Obviously we had to take the ‘there’s a giant gun between my legs’ photos but the classic NZ weather of blue sky, crazy wind and blazing sun directly in your eyes led to some interesting facial expressions. We had a late start to the day so after a few hours and a quick stop to see my flat, we were ready to head back over to the city and go for a drink. I took them to an Irish bar which I know seems so wrong but actually there isn’t really what you’d call a typical New Zealand pub (unlike the outdoor bars in Europe) so any pub was good; this one I knew did some classic NZ beers which was good enough for a local feel. We didn’t stay long as we were booked in for a full itinerary of activities on the Saturday but it was nice to end our first full day with a couple of beers, that’s what holidays are all about isn’t it.

Saturday saw an early start to catch the ferry to Waiheke Island, we tried to stay outside on the boat initially but all that wind that’s blow on Mount Victoria, also blows through the Hauraki Gulf and across the bow of the ship, so it was a bit too chilly to remain for the whole journey. There were lots of people on the boat, including a whole host of local primary/middle school football teams who were heading to Waiheke for a tournament; there was a lot of excitement so must have been a big deal! On arrival we were picked up with only about 6 others to head to the Ecozip HQ for the first of our ‘zip, wine and dine’ plans. The sun was blazing as we started out safety briefing for the 3 large zip lines we were about to throw ourselves down, all of which flew over a working vineyard and beautiful patch of NZ bush which we would then walk back through after getting to the bottom. The views from the top were amazing; I love the Auckland skyline anyway but seeing it across the water with the sun shining added an extra splash of magic; always makes a special holiday activity particularly memorable. The zip lines were set up in 2 so Viv and Andy went down together, of course trying to race each other, how else do you zip line, I went down by myself which meant I could 1) take in my surroundings and 2) film the others trying to beat each other. Not sure there’s anything you could actually do to increase your speed but I know they were trying. Each zip faced in a slightly different direction and was positioned high above the bush so each journey down was a new view; I highly recommend doing it as it was great fun. Once we got to the bottom, we were able to loosen our harnesses for the return climb, the guides walked us back up through the bush, pointing out the native plants, trees and animals which the company is helping to preserve and restore.

We were taken back to the ferry port to continue our day which for us meant being picked up by a different coach and taken to the first of 4 wine stops, Stonyridge Vineyard. We had a brief tour of the vines and the cork trees that they grew on site plus a taster of 3 different wines which we were then able to buy a large discounted glass of to have with lunch. Our tables were set up outside on a deck near the cork and olive trees and overlooking rolling green hills, if there’s a better spot to start an afternoon of drinking I haven’t found it. Also a good shout to sell a large glass for cheap at the start, as I found out on a later trip without this option, the tasters as not enough to keep you going for the whole afternoon (and I’m really against paying $15 for a small glass.) The next stop was Rangihoua estate in the centre of the island for some olive oil tasting and some different wine. By this point in typical Auckland fashion the sun had come out in force and wearing jumper, jeggings and boots I was overheating a bit but also determined to catch some sun following a long grey winter. Casita Miro was an amazing vineyard up in the hills towards the north coast of the island, ran by a family with decoration inspired by the Park Guell in Barcelona and Gaudi’s style of mosaic. The vines also grew on a pretty vertical hill, the dad (who was also a Dr) clearly put all his time and effort into the place and it really showed; what free time he could possibly have i don’t know. They gave us a tasting of 5 different wines, red/white and rose, each with a small complimentary snack balanced on a plate on top of the glass; some bruschetta, some cheese and some fruit, classy. Our last spot was Mudbrick Vineyard, with views back towards the city and Rangitoto island across the glittering green water of the Gulf, their vines went up the hill behind the vineyard which must have been near the highest point of the island? The whole place was obviously well established as a venue and even had extra buildings for wedding parties to use a bridal suites etc. We were able to buy more wine and stay longer if we wanted as our return ticket was valid until the last ferry, probably around 9pm. But we decided to head back with the coach and catch the planned ferry, totally in the mood to jump into another bar around the terminal and continue drinking. But in usual fashion the 40 minute ferry journey zapped us of this will and by the time we got back an early start and the best part of a couple of bottles of wine each caught up with us so we decided not to carry on but to crawl into bed probably grabbing something tasty and unhealthy on the way home.

Sunday, after a slow start, we decided to drive up the coast to Muriwai beach where there is a large colony of Gannets living on the rocks, I had been earlier in the year and there were barely any birds there, I guess September being the start of Spring they had all come back to nest. The west shore of Auckland is famous for high winds and crazy waves (they set a whole beach rescue programme at Piha just down the road) so there are some quite dramatic rock formations along the coast. Muriwai has a designated walkway up through the colony and when crowded with birds they literally nest everywhere, right up to the edge of the path so you can get a really close look at them. There was a bit of shagging going up close too which made some of the parents walking around move their brood on swiftly. Down the hill from the birds you can walk along the rock when the tide is out and people come here to fish and look in the rock pools, there’s probably some fresh shellfish being pulled out here and taken straight home for dinner. I had recently discovered a Sunday night market under one of the shopping centres near me which had fresh homemade Asian foods which were all pretty amazing. You could get a pile of dumplings or bao for not many dollars which we did and shared them between us plus some added satay chicken and other deep fried goodies. Not to mention the desserts on offer, ice cream/crepes/waffles all with fruit and chocolate bits and sauces in case the main course wasn’t enough calories. Stomachs filled and plans finalised for our flight the next day, I drove my guests back to their apartment and took myself home to pack for the next adventure down to the south island.

#newzealand #holiday #travelling #auckland #waiheke #zip wine and dine #zipline #ecozip #taste of waiheke #wine #devonport #ferry #muriwai #gannetcolony #2018memories

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