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parkerslatte · 1 year

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Songbird || THREE

Eddie Roundtree x Fem!Reader

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.5k

Part Summary: Y/N moves in with The Six and finished her new song. And Billy and Graham have exciting news.

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•••

TRACK THREE;

EXACTLY WHAT I WANT

…

INTERVIEWER: How did you feel about Y/N moving in?

BILLY DUNNE: I didn’t know her well at first, but Camila enjoyed having her around.

KAREN SIRKO: Having Y/N around was a break I didn’t know I needed. There was too much testosterone in the house.

CAMILA DUNNE: I loved having Y/N move in. She became my closest friend.

…

Y/N only had one box of belongings and a couple of bags containing her clothes, she didn’t really have much. Typically when someone asks to move into their house, the instant response would be a definite no. But Y/N said yes, she had no real reason to stay where she was, the rent was too high for the small and shitty apartment she lived in and the two girls she lived with barely knew her.

Bumping into Karen and Graham while she was working her shift at the record shop had been a blessing in disguise. Living with other musicians was something Y/N had never experienced but she was excited to.

“Is this everything?” Graham asked, grabbing the box.

“Yep,” Y/N said, “I don’t own much.”

Graham nodded before taking the box down to the van. Y/N picked up her bags and took a final look around the apartment that never really felt like home. Louisa, one of the girls Y/N lived with stopped in her tracks noticing Y/N standing there with her things.

“You’re moving out?” She questioned.

“Yeah, I told you last night.” Y/N says.

“Oh,” Louisa says, “Well good luck, Penelope.”

Louisa continued her route to the kitchen without another word. Y/N rolled her eyes, glad to be moving out. With one final look around the apartment, Y/N stepped out.

***

Y/N entered the house with Graham following behind her. Looking around, everything was messy and unorganised but it felt like a home. A smile grew on her face.

“You’ll be sharing with Karen.” Graham says, leading the way through the house to the bedroom.

Y/N followed, taking in every aspect of the house as she did so. No one else seemed to be awake yet as it was quite early in the morning.

“Karen’s awake so you can put your things just through there.” Graham says.

Y/N nodded before she opened the door, Karen was sorting through her bag as she stepped into the room.

“Hi.” Y/N greeted with a smile, as soon as she met Karen the two instantly got along.

“Hey,” Karen greeted, turning to her new roommate, “You ready to share a house with all of these idiots.”

Y/N chuckled, “Well it can’t be any worse than my previous roommates so consider me excited.”

Y/N placed her things down on the floor, deciding to sort everything out later in the day. She wanted to get to know everyone first.

“Famous last words.” Karen says as the two walk back through the house and to the kitchen where Graham, Billy and Camila sat.

“Hi!” Camila stands coming over to Y/N’s side, “I’m Camila, I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She pulls Y/N into a hug.

In conversation Graham had mentioned Camila in a few passing comments but from those quick passing comments, Y/N could tell how lovely the woman was, and she was correct.

“It’s lovely to meet you too Camila.” Y/N says, hugging the woman back.

“And this is Billy.” Camila says, pulling away from the hug, gesturing to the one person Y/N hadn’t yet been introduced to.

“Nice to meet you Billy.” Y/N says.

In return Billy gives Y/N a tight lipped smile and a nod of his head in acknowledgement. Y/N didn’t continue to further pursue any conversation with Billy, she just sat down at the kitchen table.

…

Y/N L/N: I’ve never had a close bond with Billy, he was always a little standoffish with me, no idea why. But I do have to thank him in a way, because I wouldn’t be where I am now if he didn’t help me out along the way.

INTERVIEWER: Who were you closest to in the band?

Y/N L/N: Probably Warren and Karen.

INTERVIEWER: What about Eddie Roundtree? People have said how close the two of you were in the beginning.

Y/N L/N: [smiles]

…

Y/N lightly strummed her guitar, reading from her notebook open in front of her. The lyrics she had written jotted down in messy handwriting. Songwriting didn’t necessarily come naturally to Y/N. She had to try to make something remotely sound good. All of the songs in her notebook were ones she had taken her time writing.

“What are you still doing up?” Eddie questions, walking into the living room.

“I’m just working on this new song, I’m struggling to finish it,” Y/N says, bringing her notebook closer to her, “I tried to sleep but it’s the only thing on my mind currently.”

Eddie, abandoning the reason he had left his warm room to venture out into the cold night air for a glass of water, moved to sit next to Y/N on the couch.

“Play it for me.” Eddie says.

Y/N’s eyes went wide, “No! It’s not finished.”

“What happened to the girl who said that she’s fucking amazing?” Eddie questioned.

“And I still stand by that with the songs that I’ve perfected and are ready to perform, not shit songs that are only half done and I have no idea where to go from here.” Y/N says, “I’m not the best songwriter.”

“Really?” Eddie says, raising his eyebrow, “I’ve heard some of your songs Y/N, they’re amazing.”

“That’s because I’ve put my blood sweat and tears into them, literally.” Y/N says, “This one just isn’t coming together.”

“Play it for me.” Eddie says.

“But-”

“Play it.” He says softly.

Y/N sighs, knowing that Eddie wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She cleared her throat and began to play.

Whenever Y/N played, she got lost in the music, normally she felt like no one was around her. However she was fully aware of Eddie’s presence next to her. Y/N abruptly stopped playing.

“It’s going to be horrible.” Y/N says.

“Y/N,” Eddie says, “Play.”

Eddie’s eyes looked deep into hers. In the short time of knowing Eddie, she knew that he wouldn’t mock her or make fun of her so she didn’t know why she was so nervous to play a song.

Starting again, Y/N began playing her guitar. Slowly but surely everything faded away until it was just her and her guitar. She sang softly, the lyrics flowing naturally.

Eddie watched Y/N get lost in the music. He could tell that the song needed work but already it sounded amazing. He wasn’t sure if it was the lyrics or the sound of Y/N’s voice that made it sound amazing.

Y/N stopped as she ran out of lyrics, “That’s all I’ve got.”

Eddie didn’t say anything for a moment and it made Y/N cringe, “That bad?”

“No, not at all,” Eddie says quickly, “It needs work, but it’s amazing.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying,” Eddie says, “It’s good Y/N, you’re good.”

Y/N smiled, “I’m more than good, I’m fucking fantastic.”

Eddie laughed before he sunk back down on the couch, listening to Y/N play all night.

***

After that night slaving away over the song, Y/N finally finished it and she was proud of it. More proud than she had ever been over any other song she had written. The song was titled In the Morning. As soon as she finished it, she immediately ran to Eddie’s room to play him the finished song. After that she played it for everyone in the house, it was Y/N’s favourite song that she had written.

Playing it for everyone in the house was one thing, but playing it for the people at McNasties had been another thing. Everyone loved it and Y/N loved playing it for people. Nearly every night the band would perform and then Y/N would perform. Camila would always be in attendance filming the band and Y/N.

For her entire life Y/N never felt connected to many people but meeting the band and said band welcoming her with open arms made her feel connected to them in such a short amount of time. Every smile Y/N gave everyone was always genuine, in fact she could rarely keep a smile off her face.

Performing at McNasties was amazing, despite how small the bar was and how small the stage was. The only downside to it was rent, out of everyone Y/N was making the most amount of money with her taking as many shifts as she could at the record store and contributing as much of it to rent as she could, along with food and any supplies they needed. She never had any money to buy anything for herself anymore. But Y/N didn’t care, she was happy.

Y/N and the band all sat together cramped in a small booth in a cafe. Graham, Camila and Billy one side while Karen, Warren, Eddie and Y/N were squished up together on the other side. Y/N sat at the end, Eddie’s arm wrapped around her, to stop her falling off. Not that it was making much of a difference, she was already half off the seat.

Camila counted the money she had onto the table, sighing as she did so.

“What happened to that producer you went up to?” Eddie questioned, “The one with that parrot?

“Parrot guy passed on us.” Camila says

“Wow,” Eddie says, picking up a slice of his toast, “That is bleak.”

“Might want to save half that toast for tomorrow, Eddie,” Camila says, “This is barely enough to cover the rent.”

“Fuck.” Eddie muttered, picking up the two remaining slices of toast off the plate and putting them in his pocket.

“Eww,” Y/N says as he did so, “At least wrap them in a tissue first, they’re gonna have lint on them.”

“Y/N do you know any producers?” Warren questioned.

“If I did, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now with you guys,” Y/N says, “I’ve been trying for years.”

Everyone fell into silence momentarily, “Fuck it, man,” Warren spoke, “Maybe old Chuckie was right, huh? Maybe this was all just a big mistake and that we should have just stayed at home with our moms, saved money on rent, become dentists.”

“I mean, I’ve sent out hundreds of photographs and not a single fucking paper has responded,” Camila said, “I mean, should I just quit? No one said it was gonna be easy.”

“Also, while we’re talking about stuff,” Warren said, cutting in, “How come I’m the only one without a bed in the house?”

“Well, you could’ve taken Karen and Y/N’s room.” Billy said, like it was obvious.

“No I couldn’t of, that room is haunted.” Warren stated.

“It’s not haunted.” Y/N says with a roll of her eyes.

“And I’m eating pocket toast so…” Eddie cut in, raising his toast up to prove a point.

“Put it away,” Y/N says softly, lowering his hand, “And wrap it in a tissue this time.”

“Why are we still called The Dunne Brothers?” Karen questioned, completely changing the subject, “I mean, three of us aren’t Dunnes, and the last time I checked, I’m nobody’s brother.”

“So you want to change our name?” Billy asks.

“I personally think that’s a great idea.” Eddie says, taking a sip of his coffee.

Billy turns to look at Eddie, giving him a mix of a questioning glance and a glare.

Eddie sighs, “I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking.”

“Well, the name is the name, so…that’s how people know us.” Billy stated, wanting to move off the topic of conversation.

“Yeah but it’s not exactly doing much for us though.” Eddie argues.

“And at this point in time, no one really knows you by your name,” Y/N cuts in, “Most people know me by the titles of my songs not my name. I could change my name and people wouldn’t notice. That’s why I introduce myself every night even if the crowd is the same. It gets the name to stick. You still have a chance to change the name if you want to.”

Billy sends a quick glare Y/N’s way, causing her to shrink back in her seat a little.

“How about Immaculate Reception?” Warren suggests.

“No, that is awful.” Karen shuts it down.

“We’re not changing the name.” Billy says but it goes unheard by everyone.

“I mean, listen, if we’re throwing stuff out there, Hercules is still on the table.” Graham suggested but was shut down by a larger reaction than Warren’s suggestion.

“Deliverance. Espionage. Poison.” Eddie says, throwing names out.

“The six of us will never agree on a name, alright? So let’s just…”

“What about The Six?” Karen suggests.

“But there’s five of us.” Eddie says.

Karen looks over to Camila, everyone understanding what she meant.

“But what about Y/N?” Warren questions.

“Oh no,” Y/N says, “I’m not a part of the band and don’t want to be, no offence.”

“Okay, but won’t people get confused.”

“Well, we can’t be The Five.” Warren says like the answer is obvious.

“Why?” Eddie asks.

“Cause The Dave Clark Five, cause The Jackson 5, everybody’s The Five.” Warren explains.

“I like The Six.” Graham says with a nod.

“Sure as hell better than Hercules.” Warren says with a chuckle.

***

“Wait, wait so you ran off the stage.” Warren questions with a laugh.

“I was nine and forgot the lyrics to the song, of course I ran off.” Y/N says, defending herself.

Y/N, Warren, Eddie, Karen and Camila all lounged about in the living room drinking and having a good time. With her legs draped over Warren and her head resting on Eddie’s lap, Y/N was in the most comfortable position in the world.

“All I’m saying is that you could have made some lyrics up, you are a songwriter.” Warren said.

“I was nine, I wasn’t going to make up a whole song on the spot and perform like a dancing monkey,” Y/N laughed, “You know most people would be mortified to ever go on stage again after a situation like that but it just made me want to go on stage more.”

“But you, Y/N L/N, aren't like most people.” Warren said, taking a swig from his drink.

“Who would want to be like everyone else?” Y/N questions, “That’s boring. I wanna make a name for myself. Y/N L/N, I can imagine my name up in lights.” Y/N smiled at the thought.

The conversation was cut short as Billy and Graham came speeding into the living room.

“Good you’re all here.” Billy says.

“What’s going on?” Camila questions, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Y/N sits up from Eddie’s lap and swings her legs off Warren’s lap, now sitting normally on the couch between them.

“We just ran into Teddy Fucking Price and he gave me his card and the chance to perform for him!” Billy said, a wide smile on his face, Graham having a similar one.

“Shut up,” Warren says with a grin spreading across his face, “You serious?”

Billy shows the card as the band and Camila gather around it. Y/N watched them from the couch, her smile slowly fading. Of course she was happy for them, they were her friends, but something inside of her made her stop smiling. Jealousy perhaps. Y/N had been doing what she had been for years and now The Six have done what was her major goal in only a few months. She couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

Y/N smiled once more as Camila turned to her, a look of pure joy on her face. Reaching out to grab her hand, Camila pulled her up and hugged her. Y/N hugged back, however not as enthusiastically. She wished that this excitement was for her.

________________

Taglist:

@mannstarkey

#eddie roundtree #eddie roundtree x reader #eddie loving #eddie loving x reader #daisy jones and the six x reader #daisy jones and the six #josh whitehouse

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mywritingonlyfans · 1 year

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hiiii i LOVED your graham dunne x reader and i would love if you wrote one about warren rhodes!!! (i don’t see anyone writing about him yet) maybe warren sees reader hanging around after a show and he asks her out..?

i'm really glad you liked it 🥹 so it's just a blurb since the request doesn't have a lot of details, and i also changed it a bit so it doesn't look so similar to the previous ones i wrote. but guys feel free to send requests, more detailed (or not) so that i can do something more extensive if anyone would like! ☺️

...

You had been eyeing Warren from afar for months, ever since he first caught your attention at one of the bars you frequented after shows. His curly hair and wide smile had you hooked, but you never thought he would notice you. He was the explosive, larger-than-life drummer of the band, and you were just a shy show producer trying to do your job.

But as time went on, you started to notice Warren paying more attention to you. To your hair color and its waves to how your face blush around him, that was what he said to you one drunk time. He would ask about your day and how work was going every once in a while, and while you appreciated the gesture, you didn't quite know what to make of it. It wasn't until the rest of the band started ribbing him about his obvious crush on you that it clicked.

One day, you found yourself spending the whole afternoon with Warren while he recorded for the band's new album. You helped him with small tasks, passing him instruments or adjusting the mic stands, and he seemed to relish the opportunity to be close to you. You were nervous, but still loving all of it.

As the day wore on, the sexual tension between you two became palpable. He would brush your hair behind your ear or kiss the top of your head as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And the worse, or not really, was that he actually made it look like it was a normal thing to do. And when he leaned in to talk to you, his face was always just a little too close for comfort.

Finally, as the sun started to set, he took you by surprise and kissed you. It was like a lightning bolt had struck you, and you couldn't believe that this larger-than-life rockstar was holding you tightly in his arms. As you sat on his lap, exchanging affection as he was holding you close to himself, you wondered if it was just a momentary attraction, but you couldn't bring yourself to care.

"I never thought I'd get a chance with you," you confessed as Warren nuzzled into your neck. Your button-up shirt was open for him and he was making good use of it, and he knew it by the way your voice sounded.

He chuckled, his breath hot against your skin. Beard tickling you. "Why do you think I've been asking about your day all this time, huh? And always making extra talking with you but everyone else on this band's crew?"

You smiled, running your fingers through his hair. "I guess I'm just clueless when it comes to you, W."

Warren pulled back to look at you, his eyes shining. Hands firm and tight on your hips. "Well, I'm happy to teach you, puppet."

As you leaned in for another fever kiss, you knew that this was just the beginning of your wild, rock and roll romance with Warren.

#daisy jones and the six #warren rhodes #warren rhodes x reader #djats #warren rhodes smut

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pinkiedev · 4 days

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Conflicting Desires Ch. 2

G/T Will Graham in Hannibal's home continues!

Previous: Ch. 1

--------

Will’s first look at his new (temporary) home’s owner was less than a day later.

Having spent the majority of the time before that just exploring the insides of the walls for a secure place to set up base, it was already turning dusk again by the time he saw the man through the slats of the vent showing into the dining room.

A single look, a single thought:

Predator.

Will hadn’t stayed long to observe, after that.

Even so, the sight felt like it’d lodged itself into his mind. This human was nothing like Old Miss Betty with her short (for her species) stature and her frail limbs, with her weary-jointed walk and her poor eyesight.

No. This giant was able-bodied. He looked to be in his forties or so, but even the three-piece suit he wore couldn’t disguise the firm outline of muscle beneath it. He was sitting when Will saw him, but that didn’t hide his undoubtedly towering height nor his wide-set frame either.

And when he took a measured bite from the fancy-looking plate of food set out in front of him, a chunk of meat larger than Will's entire torso easily disappeared past his maw.

What really managed to chill Will to his core, though, were the man’s eyes.

Not exactly brown, not quite the color of rust. More than their unusual hue, though, was how Will couldn’t glean a single thing from behind them - like water off a smooth rock.

It wasn’t normal. Hell, it was abnormal. Will had been able to read Betty just as easily as he could any borrower. And yet he saw nothing behind this human's eyes.

And that…

That was terrifying.

So, Will had left, and he'd distracted himself by exploring some more, the rain still beating against the windows in a seemingly never-ending deluge.

He mostly stayed on the ground floor, since hiking up to the second was an undertaking in and of itself, and the rooms there were so pristinely kempt that there really wasn’t anything for him to scavenge, anyways.

He visited the basement once.

Just once.

It was cold (too cold for someone as small as he was, who couldn’t retain body heat as well as a human could and didn’t have thick enough clothes to help him do so), it looked meticulously kept, and the only things in sight were a table full of wicked looking tools, another table with thick, black straps in multiple places, a strangely out-of-place-looking plastic tarp set-up, and what looked to be a large fridge or freezer.

It also had that sense of dread that’d never really left him crawling its way back up his spine until the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

So.

Just the once.

The only thing was, after having thoroughly explored (finding a comfortable enough spot in a hollowed-out nook near what he thought was an office space) and scavenged the bare means of what he’d need for his own survival (too wary of taking more at the risk of his theft being noticed), Will found himself gravitating towards the giant.

Not fully - God no. Will wasn’t suicidal. He just meant that he’d sort of taken to watching the human whenever he came home.

It was almost a morbid fascination, in all honesty. Kind of like watching a horror movie even though you knew there was a jump scare around the corner. The other borrowers had done just that on more than one occasion when Betty’s T.V. had been left to play through whatever was on.

All this to say - Will was sure the man wasn’t normal.

He seemed more like an actor playing a part than a real person. Too perfect, too meticulous, too controlled.

Even here, in his own home where he had to think he was alone, he was behaving that way. Like the suit he wore was a costume and it covered more than just skin deep.

It had taken Hannibal just under a week - six days, to be precise - to allow his suspicions to solidify into fact:

He was being watched.

The first incident in which he had felt eyes upon him, he had been in disbelief. He had not allowed the sentiment to show, of course, instead continuing to cut into his thick, succulent slice of long pig without pause, but his guard had been raised and he had no plans to easily allow it to fall.

In that first incident, the sensation of being watched had faded quickly, and he had constrained himself to finishing his meal before he began his search.

He found nothing.

No cameras hidden within the nooks along his walls, paintings, or light fixtures; no microphones taped innocuously under his table or his chairs. His curtains had been closed too, and there was not a living soul in sight.

But Hannibal had not survived so long, especially not as a free man, by allowing himself to fall lax and wave away his own intuition.

Thus, he feigned proceeding as normal, all the while waiting. Watching and waiting.

He was not disappointed.

Less than two days later, the gaze returned upon him, and with it, a thrill of anticipation within Hannibal’s gut. This was a novel experience for him - one he had yet to discern whether he fully appreciated or not, but novel all the same. He would savor it until he brought it to its end, for which he had no doubt he would do so.

He was a patient man, after all. An endurance hunter, if you would.

It was only a matter of time before the culprit behind his feeling of being watched (however it was they were doing so) slipped up and revealed themselves to him.

And then...

Well.

His meat stores were rather in need of fresh goods.

--------

Well, the pair are off to a great start, huh? XD

#g/t #gt writing #gt community #borrower #giant tiny #sfw g/t #hannibal #will graham #fanfic

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ifiwere-idbe · 8 months

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easy one-shot of yaz/dan besties and a little post-thasmin comfort. came from the thought about yaz being dan's best man

Yaz lingered in the doorway, head tilting further to the right as she watched the two men fumble about, paying no mind to her arrival. All their attention had been tethered by the confounding bit of silk, taking the pathetic shape of a sagging pretzel, around Dan's neck.

"I thought ya said you were good at this," he huffed, glaring down as his dad flicked one end of the bowtie up into Dan's face.

"Ya said you were wearing a tie! I can do a damned good Windsor knot," his dad grumbled, "But I've never worn a bowtie in me life. I dunno what to do with this!"

“Yer making it worse!”

As his dad's thumb became lodged in an increasingly layered knot, despite her best efforts, Yaz couldn't suppress a snort.

Dan lifted his brow, color rising in his cheeks as his eyes darted to the side - caught and flustered. He eyed her through the gray mop that had dropped loose from careful combing and hairspray. That was fine. He’d looked like a minted schoolboy last time she checked in.

He looked like her mate now. Her hopeless Scouse.

"G'wed'n laugh," he quipped, squaring his shoulders to jostle off his embarrassment, "Like you could do better, there, Sheffield."

"I really could," she grinned.

"Go on, then," he gestured her over with his chin, cockiness clouding a small glimmer of hope that someone could actually remedy the situation.

Untangling Neville, Yaz straightened each end of the tie, studying the silk and willing herself back to one of the many images she ached to remember joyfully… without the pang that typically toddled along.

“Stop looking down,” she huffed, “I can’t tie it with big chin it the way.”

“My chin’s not big!” he protested.

But she wasn’t listening.

It existed, quiet and misty, in the back of Yaz's mind - an easy moment that followed everything between the Kasavaan, Daniel Barton, and The Master. Four mates hanging out in the TARDIS' wardrobe because Graham gave his grandson a hard time for not knowing how to tie a bowtie when they were going to Barton’s party. He stood behind Ryan in the mirror, showing him how. If he couldn’t teach him how to ride a bike, he could at least teach him this.

And because the Doctor thought it was a useful skill for everyone, man, woman, or alien, she sat Yaz down and did the same.

The previous days were wrecking... disorienting to say the least. The Doctor had tried explaining just exactly where Yaz had gone, assured her that she would’ve walked through a thousand Kasavaan to find her, but Yaz recognized the speed of the Doctor’s assurances. Her confidence was only available in hindsight.

Yaz was happy to sit and watch the Doctor do something so mundane, rapidfire promises quickly conceding to the steady rhythm of two heartbeats by her ear as the Doctor leaned over and checked her handiwork.

She was chuffed with herself.

Bighead.

Yaz tied Dan’s bowtie with ease as his dad ran off for his third “one last trip to the little lad’s room.” It came out slightly cock-eyed, but she didn’t fuss with it. It matched Dan’s boyish grin, and she figured Di would find that charming.

“You okay, Yaz?” Dan asked gently as she dropped her hands away and studied the slanted silk folds.

She took a breath, long and cascading as she reluctantly lifted her eyes to his.

Blue and patient.

Dan hadn’t given her that look in months - the subtle sympathy she told him she didn’t want or need. There was no need for nudges to the shoulder or brotherly encouragement. This wasn’t 1904. Life had carried on as it was meant to.

“C’mon, Scouse,” Yaz shook her head, willing a smile as she tugged Dan’s blazer straight and brushed off his lapels, “You’ve kept this poor woman waiting long enough.”

She watched as he grappled with the bricks she’d quickly laid, dropping his gaze before reluctantly cocking the corner of his mouth. Decades of sarcasm and quips, sheepish flattery and pure kindness had elongated his dimples into bookends to an incredibly endearing expression.

“Before she changes her mind, then,” he shrugged, catching one last glance at himself in the mirror.

Yaz hopped over her wall and stared up at the groom examining his reflection with a deepening incredulous squint. It was the game of fetch they played, masters, now, of pulling each other back to the present.

“She won’t,” she whispered, giving him a nudge, “No one leaves my best mate at the altar!”

“What?” Dan scoffed, eyes breaking from the mirror with a glint, “Did you just admit I’m your best friend?”

Shaking her head with a quiet smirk, Yaz turned on her heel and sauntered into the hall.

“Always so soppy,” she muttered.

“I heard that!”

#yasmin khan #yaz khan #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #mandip gill #thasmin #13th doctor #dan lewis

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kedreeva · 1 year

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Prompt: Fruity Four, last sparks of the fire

(my inbox is open for ST prompts!)(Previous prompts)

Robin watches the last log in the fire collapse in a little shower of orange sparks, smoke flaring up into the air in artful tendrils. It's been a long time since she felt comfortable being this close to a fire, but Eddie hadn't been at the mall, and he'd invited them over, and they weren't about to avoid him when he'd already picked up supplies for s'mores.

And it's... it's nice. It's quiet, controlled. Steve had set out two pails of water nearby, and after Robin explained to Eddie, he'd kept the fire small. Enough to spit some warmth into the cooling September air, but not enough to cause any raging flames, even at the peak. Normal.

"I think it's ready," Eddie says muzzily, from where he's falling asleep against the side of a large log, head resting on Steve's knee.

No one moves for a minute, and then Steve gently rakes his fingers through Eddie's hair in a bid to get him to look up. "If you let me up, I'll get the stuff."

Eddie considers this, clearly not wanting to give up his place dozing between Steve's legs. "'n toast me one?"

"Toast you as many as you want," Steve agrees warmly. He glances up to Nancy and Robin in their camp chairs. "In fact, I'll toast marshmallows for everyone. But you gotta let me get up first."

Eddie heaves a put-upon sigh, but he shifts so he isn't leaning so fully on Steve, giving him room to clamber up and fetch the s'mores supplies from the front porch. He takes a minute to set up the graham crackers, breaking little blocks of Hersey's chocolate off the bigger bar and arranging them. He'd brought his own roasting sticks after Eddie told him I'll just find a stick or something. Steve has seen the sticks around here, and does not want them in his food. Someone has to have standards around here.

He shoves marshmallows onto the ends of two of the sticks, and heads back over to the fire. Robin stretches her hands up and makes grabby motions for one of the sticks, and Steve passes it over without a fuss. She's almost certainly going to shove it as close to the coals as she can, set it on fire, and eat it right off the stick like she'd done at his house with his lighter. Eddie would have done the same, Steve's sure, but he wants to give him one perfectly golden-brown, gooey marshmallow to try.

Robin, true to form, sets hers alight almost immediately. She holds it aloft and cackles at it while Steve crouches and patiently turns and twists his stick, letting the heat brown the marshmallow until there is a golden shell around it. Right at the end, he sticks it a little closer to the flame and lets the end begin to bubble before he pulls it out and hurries it over to the graham crackers.

He smushes them off and into the crackers and then quickly loads the stick with another pair. He manages to balance the stick and two s'mores as he walks back toward Eddie, who takes his with a broad smile. Nancy takes the other with a polite thank you and a very skeptical look thrown Robin's way. Robin trades sticks with him, and Steve burns the leftover marshmallow off her stick before going to get his own.

In all, they make too many and just enough, fingers and mouths sticky with melting sugar and sweet chocolate. Eddie kisses Steve soundly in thanks, something Robin makes a good-natured retching noise to and Nancy watches in quiet contemplation. Neither of the boys notice.

When the area has been cleaned and the supplies packed away and the goodbyes lingered over long enough, Nancy douses the coals with the first bucket, and Robin with the second. Nancy offers to drive Robin home for Steve, so he can stay, and Steve thinks maybe that's not the only reason, but he doesn't call her on it. She's smart. She'll figure it out.

They watch until the girls have disappeared down the street, and then Steve checks the fire one more time for any last sparks before he slings an arm over Eddie's shoulder and they head inside together.

#stranger things #fruity four #steddie #ronance #my writing #stranger things fic #askbox prompts #asks #anon asks

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vidjausers-fable · 4 months

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Pen Pals(Veneer x OC)Chapter 5

Author’s Note: Hey guys! I hope you all had a great holiday. Mine was kinda meh, like always. Below is some more fanart. I also wanted to show off the design of Rebel Rivers! I didn’t want to base her design off an artist like how Avery is based off Avril Lavigne, however I gave her some Valley Girl aesthetics. Again, if you like my artwork, look me up on Instagram, Tumblr, or Twitter under Vidjauser! Thank you to my bestie, Tinalbion for beta reading for me. <3

Previous chapter

Veneer didn’t know why the two were together in the office anyway. If Velvet was having a session with the counselor, then why was he there?

When Veneer snuck a glance at his sister, he saw how angrily Velvet glared down at Linda as she typed away on her computer.

While Veneer wondered how Velvet could act so maliciously toward someone who was merely trying to help her, Velvet was thinking the exact opposite of him. How could her brother not want to fight back against the tyranny that was evolving around in this facility? Why did he just lie down like a dog? The guards and everyone treated them like absolute garbage! She didn’t stand for it, and there was no way she wouldn’t stand up for herself against someone like Linda.

The longer the silence persisted, the more anxious Veneer felt. He watched Linda with a blank expression that was the exact opposite of what she usually looked, her nails clicking against the keyboard.. No one dared say anything, but Velvet was on the brink of bursting.

Veneer sat up straighter as Linda finally took her eyes off the computer, turning to the two of them. He couldn’t help but feel as though the two were in trouble somehow. Did Velvet do something to get them into some kind of trouble? Did he do something? Man, please just say something Dr. Graham…He couldn’t take the anticipation.

Linda finally spoke, “Now Velvet, you know why you’re here, but I have to explain it to your brother.”

Oh here it comes… Veneer said to himself. He thought he was going to vomit.

“After Velvet’s recent outburst and attempted escape, she has been transferred to my care. Veneer, your sister here has requested that she would like you to join her in her counseling sessions. She says she feels like she can’t do it alone and would like the support of her brother.” Veneer couldn’t believe his ears. “I will be helping her with regular counseling appointments, as well as anger management. You are free to leave during the anger management, of course, if you agree to help your sister with this request. Despite the request not being something we typically do here, we have decided that it will help with Velvet’s recovery. Is this something you’re okay with, Veneer?” she asks.

So much had hit him all at once, Veneer’s jaw had dropped. His sister had asked for HIS help? He turned toward her slowly, Velvet’s expression was as blank as Linda's had been at first, but he was side-eyeing him in a way that reminded him when they were kids again and she would threaten him to get him to do what she wanted. He gulped and reluctantly agreed with a small nod.

“I suppose…If it will help her out, then I don’t see why not.” He shrugged then questioned, “But does that mean she has to be in on my appointment?” No offense to his sister, but he didn’t want her three when he was revealing his most vulnerable parts of himself. No way indeed.

Linda shook her head, “No, Veneer. She won’t be, not unless you want her to be. This morning, we’re going to start with Velvet’s session and when she leaves, we will continue with you. Is that okay, Veneer?”

Why did she keep asking?

Veneer nodded his head but it was further away from the truth. No, he didn’t want to be in the same room as his sister as she received therapy. Maybe if she had another counselor, but that was a weak maybe. What once was a safe space for himself abruptly felt chaotic. There was a spot in him, however, that wanted to help his sister through this, and this might be a good change for her. And maybe an opportunity for the two of them to repair their siblingship. Yeah, never mind his feelings. His sister needed help too, and what kind of brother would he be if he said no to something that would clearly help her?

“Yes, it’s alright.”

“Then we’ll continue. How are you feeling, Velvet?” Linda finally looked at Velvet, making strong eye contact with her. It was as though Linda’s whole personality had changed. The atmosphere in the room, which was normally bright and cheery, was now gloomy and covered in angst. Linda saved this part of herself for the worst patients of them all. Veneer wasn’t sure if he liked this side of her.

Velvet scoffed and moved her leg to try and cross it over the other one, but struggled to. Why did they have to tie her up in such a dehumanizing way? Her thumbs were aching! “I would be better first if you’d take these damn cuffs off and stop treating me like a damn animal,” she cursed and watched Linda with a challenging scowl, which Linda gladly returned. “Can you please take them off, doc?”

Linda shook her head. “I don’t have the authorization to, even if I hate to see you tied down. It’s for safety, considering your track record here.” She flipped through a file and looked at the page she turned to. She finally looked back up at Velvet, “You should know that by now.” She slammed the file shut and tapped the cover with her index finger.

“Oh come on! I asked nicely, too!” Velvet complained and rattled the chains, making Veneer flinch at the noise and movements.

“Velvet, I think it would be best to move on from this conversation and focus on something more detrimental to your recovery. Like your feel—”

Velvet interrupted, “Oh please!” she scoffed, waving her hands defensively, “I could care less to talk about how I’m feeling, and if you really did your research from what the other counselors have written about me, then you would know that. I don’t have any feelings to talk about. So get off my back.”

Veneer swore that Linda was about to blow a blood vessel in her neck. Instead, the doctor took a deep breath through her nose and released it. “I will say this only once because I will not be repeating it again. Velvet, you were told that your last chance was to do therapy with me. If you do not comply, then I will sign the approval to send you to a women's prison. Yes, a prison and not a correctional facility. You will be sentenced to those fifteen years you were promised in court and will not have an opportunity to return here at any point. When you are there, all of these resources that are meant to help you get back out into the world—” Linda pointed out her window, “--Faster and effectively will be gone. Permanently. What point do you not understand?”

Velvet’s mouth opened but it wasn’t her voice that spoke.

Veneer gasped at the news, his eyes widening. “Velvet is being sent to prison? Excuse me?” He turned to his sister. “Velvet, you didn’t tell me!”

“Yeah, so what?” Velvet raised an eyebrow. “Not like you actually care what happens to me! You spend your days with your face in your stupid sketchbooks and letters to your girlfriend or whatever. You don’t pay attention to your own sister anymore!”

“But—”

“Velvet,” Linda sounded like a mother scolding her child, “It’s not right to be attacking your brother right now. If there was something bothering you in the first place, then you should tell him and not let these feelings take over at intense times. Your brother has hobbies outside of you, and there is nothing wrong with that,” Linda defended Veneer. It made him feel heard.

Things were quickly going downhill and Veneer wanted to retreat, but his sister wanted to fight. The only thing stopping Velvet from slamming her hands down on the desk was the cuffs on her thumbs, making it hard for her to stand up at all. Veneer was secretly glad for it.

Linda sighed, feeling as though this would be getting nowhere. They were going in circles. Velvet sounded as though she would have put more effort into her treatment if her brother was there, but this wasn’t an effort at all. And it was hurting Veneer, she could tell. She didn’t want to sacrifice the mental health of one patient for another, let alone one who refused to get better. She needed to take a breath, she wasn’t going to let this one make her feel flustered.

“Let’s restart this, Velvet. Please. Tell me how you’re feeling right now,” Linda wanted to rub the bridge of her nose to mask her frustration but didn’t.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I’m ANGRY! I feel like I can’t do anything around here!” Velvet screamed, “I scream to express my emotions, but the guards think it’s me being threatening! If I express my emotions I get stuff taken away from me, and sit in my cell all day! I’M BORED AND ANGRY.”

A little lightbulb went off in Linda’s head, and she smiled. That was something she could work with.

“What’s with that stupid smile?”

“I think I know what’s wrong, and it’s something we can easily work around, especially with these anger management classes. You’re someone who expresses their anger outwardly, and that here is perceived as a threat. So you get your privileges away just as you say. So it’s making you angry, it’s making you want your freedom which leads to the escape attempts. Right?” She leaned forward, “Well Velvet, I can do something about that. I can make sure that I can get some of your privileges returned to you. Instead, time will just be added to your classes with me when you act out. How does that sound?”

Velvet frowned, and momentarily she was caught off guard. She didn’t like that this female could easily read her. Was this what it was like to feel vulnerable? “It sounds…fine. I guess. Whatever.” She rolled her eyes, but her voice significantly calmed down. That was a good sign to Linda. “If it means I can watch TV again after a few months, then I’ll do anything.” She shrugged it off but refused to look at the counselor.

Linda began to write. “Okay, I’ll pull some strings and ask them to return your rec time, though I can only promise TV time for right now. They’ll want to see your improvement before letting you go outside and do other things. But you’ll have to meet with me every Tuesday for therapy, and Thursdays for Anger Management. I think that’ll help get you back on the right track. I look forward to working with you more, Velvet.”

“Is that all?”

“For today, yes. I’ll talk with the warden and you should have TV privileges by tonight or tomorrow, I promise.” She pressed the button to call the guard, who came and began to unchain Velvet from the chair. He was hesitant as if expecting the girl to lash out, but she didn’t and getting her out of the room went smoothly.

Now, it was only Veneer and his counselor. Both sat in absolute silence. Veneer knew that she was watching him, but he didn’t want to look up. His safe space had been disrupted, and he was unsure of how to function with that disruption now. It almost felt like a betrayal.

“Veneer…I know this isn’t ideal. So if you would like to back out now that your sister is out of the room, then that’s perfectly fine. I saw how your sister looked at you and how you looked at her before you answered. Velvet isn’t in here right now. What do you really want to do?”

Veneer hesitated. “I…I don’t know, really. I want to help my sister in any way I can, but it’s also…draining. That whole conversation drained me. I’m not sure how long I can actually keep up with any of that. So I don’t know what to do…” he sunk back into the chair when he answered. His counselor gave him a sympathetic look, her expression that of guilt for the whole situation.

Linda leaned forward, making sure she caught Veneer’s expression before she spoke, “Veneer, I know that was very sudden. You’re probably feeling pretty emotionally down at the moment, and it’s my fault for that and I am very sorry. I didn’t mean for all that to go down the way it did, and to put you on the spot. It was dropped on me very suddenly, and in turn for you as well. How about you give the idea a thought for a couple of days, but then I want you to come back and be honest with how you would like to proceed? I think it’s honorable that you want to help your sister, but it’s not worth sacrificing your mental health for it.” She reached out and this time, touched his shoulder to reassure him and honor his feelings. Veneer didn’t shrug her away this time.

Veneer could barely manage a weak nod. He knew that Linda would never want to hurt him intentionally, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t hurt.

“Yeah, I can do that,” he finally responded.

Linda nodded. “Thank you, Veneer. By the way…In some other news, I wanted to let you know that Velvet will be relocated to a new cell. Because of her behavior and high risk of injury to herself and others. As part of protocol, we have to put her in our high risk hallway in her own cell. A guard will stop by later today to get her stuff.” She nods her head. “If you need another session this week, please let me know. I know this has been a lot going on. Other than this, is there anything you need to talk about?” she asked kindly, making sure she was extra soft with Veneer in this vulnerable state.

“Well…” Veneer scratched the back of his neck, “I haven’t heard from my Pen Pal Avery for a few days. I guess I’m worried about her and hoping that she’s okay.”

“It’s natural to feel that way. You guys talk nonstop from what I’ve heard. I’m surprised you haven’t brought it to her attention that she can visit you in person.”

Veneer’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, “Wait, she can come to visit me?!”

Linda blinked before she laughed, “You didn’t even know that, Veneer?” She moved away from her clipboard and jumped on her computer before she began typing. “Yeah, all Avery has to do is call and schedule, or go online, and then find your name—”

“Wait!” Veneer held his hand out.

Linda stopped the same second, her hands hovering over the keyboard. “What is it, Veneer?”

“I haven’t…told her my real name,” he confessed as she scratched the back of his neck. He avoided eye contact once again. “I’ve used a pseudonym called Samson. I don’t want her to know my real name. I’m afraid she’ll reject me if she knows who I really am.”

Linda pushed away from her keyboard. “Well, Veneer…I can understand that fear. But what if she had asked to visit you in the future? What would you tell her then?”

“I…I don’t know, really. But is there a way that maybe you can call her and set up a time? I use Samson as my pseudonym. I feel like it would be better to let her see in person rather than try to explain it over the phone.”

“It would be easier, yes. But the results can be what you’re not hoping for. Are you ready for that feeling of rejection in case it happens?”

Veneer thought deep down. There were two parts of him, both equally tearing him apart in his mind. Avery and him had a bond like no other, and she had been getting to know the real side of him, just not his real name. He would tell her that the only lie he told was that he was Samson, not Veneer. However, there was an even deeper thought that told him that Avery would hate his guts for keeping his true identity from her and subsequently his past misdeeds. He truly wasn’t sure if he was ready for that rejection. But at the same time. He wanted to hear her. He wasn’t sure if he could hold back anymore.

“Yes. I’ll be ready for it. I don’t want to lead her on any further…”

“Well, if you’ve been honest this entire time, then I don’t think you’ve misled her whatsoever. I think this will be good for you. I think she’s a friend you need. So yes. If you can have her call me, then I can set up a meeting for the two of you. Do you want your first one to be in person, or over the phone?” She asked and pulled up his file on her computer.

As Linda glanced at it, she noticed that he had a recent update in his evaluations, bringing him to the top of the list of model patients. She saw that he was eligible for more than a visit. He truly was a top patient here, and the most well-behaved because patients never received something like this.

“What’s with that face?” Veneer frowned at the wide eyes growing on his counselor’s face.

“Veneer, I just noticed. Your evaluation went up recently. If you want to, you can sign up for the possibility to go out of the correctional facility for a monitored outing.”

“What does that mean—?”

“That you’ll be able to go out of the facility with a guard! You recently were marked as the most well-behaved patient in this facility. With that honor, we trust you to be able to go out of the facility once in a while, where you’re able to do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t violate our rules!”

“So I can get out of here?” His first thought was of Avery. He wanted to go to her work and meet her. But that would be too much. He would have to ask her. He didn’t want to screw this up by scaring her off.

“Yes, but only for a couple hours.” Linda smiled at Veneer. Maybe news like this would help bring his mood up.

Sure enough, it did. Veneer’s smile stretched across his face before he spoke, “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. I think I want to use it to go out with Avery, but I want to be able to meet her in person first. I don’t want to rush things, or scare her off.”

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, Veneer. Just come talk to me whenever you’re ready to set that time. And when Avery sends a letter back, tell her she can contact me to set up a time, she just has to call my number listed at the bottom of the pen pal program on the website. Alright?”

Veneer nodded, honestly forgetting his worry about Avery’s late letter before he stood up. “Thank you for everything, Dr. Graham. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ll also consider things with my sister…I’m not sure what to do there yet.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Veneer. Just keep your chin up, okay?” she smiled warmly at him.

When Veneer returned to his cell, he sat at his sketchbook and journal he had received from Avery. She had sent a journal after explaining that sometimes she likes to draft her letters or collect thoughts that she wanted to make sure she included when writing to him. So, he decided to do that and began to write:

Avery, today has been a little hard. I never told you, but I have a sister. She’s a bit mean and manipulative. Today I almost let her get into my head, making me doubt myself and stuff. However, my counselor helped me clear some thoughts out. During that, she actually told me that you could visit in person if you really wanted. I think it would be great to meet you in person if you’re ever interested. If you are, contact my counselor. Her number should be listed on the Pen Pal website located online. Please let me know because it would be amazing to see and hear you compared to writing! I hope you’re faring well…

The entry was small, and even though he had the urge to send the letter right now, he resisted. He didn’t want to pressure her to send letters, especially if life got busy for her. He had recalled that she often took double shifts to make ends meet.

Momentarily, Veneer wished that he was a millionaire again. He wished he had that fame and money, but this time, he would have done things differently. He would have worked with Floyd rather than use him. He would have learned how to sing and how to practice rather than exploit that poor troll. He would have used his charm for good things, and not those awful things his sister had manipulated him into doing.

But maybe he wouldn’t have met Avery, and that was a scarier thought than facing his sister.

***

Ever since the aftermath at the Boom Box, Avery felt like an emotional mess. Seeing Rivers brought back memories of how she was kicked to the curb the moment she was of no use to her former friend. Before she had gotten her apartment, she had lived in a condo with Rivers. She lived in luxury before she lived in squalor. She had to turn her life around quickly and start from the beginning when Rivers evicted her with barely a hundred dollars and the clothes on her back.

Once again, she felt exactly as she did all that time ago: empty and betrayed.

During the past two days, she hadn’t written to Samson. The only one she had kept contact with was Gracie, since it was easy over the phone—plus she didn’t want Gracie to worry over her, considering how often they saw each other at work. She just didn’t want to be hounded with questions that she wasn’t emotionally prepared to answer. Gracie was too good of a person to not ask.

For what it felt like, she read over Gracie and her messages the day after the incident at the Boom Box.

Hey, where are you, are you okay? Gracie had texted.

Yes, I’m so sorry. I tried to find you but I couldn’t. I got really sick from something I drank and I threw up. I went home after I couldn’t find you.

Oh no! Are you okay? Do you need me to come over and get you anything?

I think I’ll be okay. But I left my stuff at your apartment, can I get them sometime? Absolutely, I’ll make sure they’re safe at my place. Let me know a good date and time. Please get to feeling better.

Avery had cried so much that her body felt numb. Her eyes still had a lingering burn to them and her head throbbed. She didn’t quite feel like getting up and the thought of her going over to Gracie’s home again terrified her. Honestly, everything in the world felt wrong to her right now, and she didn’t want to do anything.

Sighing, Avery curled up in her bed. She knew that she needed to get up and do something. Even a shower before work would do her well. She smelled of pizza and her skin felt slick with grease from work the night before. She barely had the energy to shower after work, like she normally did.

Get up, get up, get up… She screamed at herself.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared out the window.

Get up, do something. Do something. Eat. Shower. Do anything.

Slowly her feet came over the edge of the bed before her toes touched the ground. This almost felt like too much. Just one more step, you’ve got this. And then she was out of bed, standing up straight. Feed the Pigs, and shower. Then wash your sheets. You can’t lay in bed anymore, you’re only going to feel worse off.

Avery rubbed her face. Her fingers became slick with the grease that came off her face. That’s just great. Yeah, she really needed a long shower to take her mind off that. Then it would force herself to wash her sheets since they were dirty, and she didn’t want to feel gross right after showering. It took a lot for her to bring herself to the bathroom, where she grabbed clean clothes and a robe for after.

The shower slowly pulled her out of her own head. The heat of the water and the sensation of it sprinkling against her face brought her to a more relaxing world, which allowed her brain to calm down. It washed the burning sensation in her eyes and helped wash away some of the misery (actually, it was the grease), helping her think more clearly. Yes, Rivers upset her, but she had to remember that she was the bigger person, and she couldn’t let her ruin her life anymore.

With her head clearer than what it was when she first went into the bathroom, she stepped out and tied her robe together. She went to the kitchen and made herself some comfortably sweet pancakes. The entire time, she saw Samson’s unfinished letter. She hadn’t even thought about writing to her friend. He was probably worried about her. Two days might not seem like a lot, but it was when the two had talked as often as the two of them did. She just wished she could pick up the phone and call him, and explain to him what happened. She knew that people read their letters, and that was something she didn’t want rumors to start over.

Samson deserved a letter. So instead of going to Gracie’s apartment to pick up her stuff, she wrote out a letter to Samson, apologizing for the delay because of her long shifts. This letter was shorter than normal.

Dear Samson,

Hey, I miss you and I hope that you’re doing okay. Things at home have been busy because I picked up more shifts, and even double shifts. Yes, I know you said I should calm down, but it’s hard to want to when money is an issue for you. I really want to save up to get a better apartment. I’m about to do more roller skating classes at work rather than waitress like I normally do, at least. It’ll be more fun I think. I really love skating and miss doing it more than skating from table to table. By the way, I really love the sketches you’ve been sending me lately! I’ve bought an album to store them in so they don’t get damaged. I feel very honored when you send me stuff! The sketch you did of my Guinea Pigs in some of the costumes from the magazines are so cute! We should totally try and make the outfits real one day, they would be better than anything I could buy from the store. By the way, I’m curious…Is there a way I could call you or meet you sometime? I would love to talk to you in person. Sometimes getting a letter out on time is difficult, but I understand if that’s uncomfortable for you right now.

I hope you are faring well, and XOXO,

Your best friend, Avery.

***

When Veneer received the letter, he felt over the moon and rushed back to his cell to read it. Velvet’s stuff was gone and he truly had the room to himself now. He sat at his desk without a worry and read over the letter, his heart strumming against his chest when he read that she wanted to call him. He didn’t even need to ask her if she wanted to visit. She wanted to hear from him!

That night, he wrote a letter back to her. The sooner he could get it mailed back out, the sooner the two could meet.

His only fear would be that she would reject him the moment she saw his face. But he couldn’t let that fear ruin this moment.

Dear Avery,

I would love to meet you in person. In fact, I have been thinking about it a lot. I didn’t realize that you could set up a time with my counselor for a phone call or a meeting in person, otherwise I would have done it sooner. I’ll be honest though, I would love to see you in person the first time we talk. Is that too much to ask? If you’re okay with that, call my counselor and set up a time with her. I was worried about you for a bit, but I guess that’s because I have more time on my hands considering I don’t do much around her. I’m thinking of getting a job in laundry though, even if it doesn’t pay a lot. Sorry that this letter is so short, I just wanted to get back to you immediately so we can meet as soon as possible. I haven’t had a visitor since I’ve come here.

XOXO,

This time, Veneer didn’t write Samson and left the space blank where he usually put the name.

And the next day Veneer mailed the letter to Avery.

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desperatelyseekingcannibals · 6 months

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Secrets in the Stables (Hannigram AU) - Shortfic

Explicit // M/M // Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter // Tags: Alternate Universe, different first meeting, dark Will Graham, roleplay, sexual roleplay, master/servant, stable boy roleplay, spit as lube, rough sex, dirty talk, secrets and suspicions - but in a horny way. Patreon Prompt Fill.

Will is working in the shed when Hannibal drops by...

Latest installment on my @hannibalbingo card: Will's Shed.

Secrets in the Stables (1.6k words):

“Will?” Hannibal called out when Will didn’t answer his door. His car was there, so perhaps he’d gone for a walk.

Hannibal was about to go back and wait in his own car, when he heard the unmistakable sound of dogs roughhousing and followed the noise to the back of the house. There the back door was open and the dogs were milling around between the house and the open door of the shed.

Hannibal smiled and started to walk towards the old barn-like structure of Will’s shed, his heart already pumping at the thought of seeing Will.

No one made him feel like Will Graham did, and no one in the world could ever be quite like Will Graham. He was singular, unique in both who he was and in how much Hannibal desired him.

They had met at a Quantico event. Hannibal’s invite had been thanks to previous consultancy work he had done with the FBI, and Will was - apparently forced - to be there as one of the teachers at the academy.

Hannibal had studied him for over an hour before introducing himself. Will Graham was, without a doubt, his apparent opposite. Where Hannibal was charismatic and personable, Mr Graham seemed to be avoiding company as much as he possibly could. No small feat at a social gathering such as it had been. Where Hannibal was polite and well spoken, Mr Graham was gruff and monosyllabic, using rudeness to avoid conversation.

Perhaps Hannibal saw the challenge in it at first, but then he saw something else. Something in the way Will Graham carried himself, the way he looked around the room with the same disdain that Hannibal felt. He looked like a predator. And that did really interest Hannibal.

Making conversation at that party had been difficult. Seeking Will out later at the academy and getting him to agree to a dinner date had been even more so. But, as they made love for the first time and Hannibal enjoyed Will’s animalistic energy, he knew it had all been worth it.

He was sure he’d finally met his match.

Continue reading on AO3

#hannibal lecter #hannibal #will graham #hannirgam #historical au #hannigram au #myfic #fanfic #hannibal fanfiction #Hannibal Bingo

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aquidragon · 2 years

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The Danger that Draws Us Together [Chapter Three]

Noir! Leon S. Kennedy x Reader

Series Masterlist: Here

Rating: M (18+ Minors DNI) Content Warning(s): n/a [pls don’t hesitate to message me if I need to add anything!] Word Count: 2754

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Leon had been working silently in the living room for the past couple of hours, leaving you alone to your devices. You decided to spend most of your time in your bedroom, to give the agent his needed space, and to take some time for yourself.

Even though it had been a few days since Leon was assigned as your bodyguard, you had rarely interacted with him. You had been too shaken to leave your penthouse, the cabin fever was starting to creep up on you. You knew you could probably conversate with the blonde, but the way he set his jaw and mumbled over the evidence was enough to draw you away.

So you chose to spend most of your time, to yourself, and Pumpkin.

You sat at your vanity, mindlessly looking at your mirrored reflection, observing the slightly traumatized girl in the mirror. Memories of your previous nightmare made goosebumps pucker on your skin, and the hair on your neck stand on end. The cigarette holder pinched between your two fingers billowed with smoke, with a taunting dance of white tendrils.

Your other hand lifted to ghost your cheek, the same spot where dream Leon had touched you. Looking back at your reflection, you didn’t see yourself, but instead the corpse you had seen in your sleep.

You stared back into your cloudy eyes as if you were looking at a ghost. You blinked.

The corpse in your mirror was gone, now it was back to you, alive.

Did I see the future? You couldn’t help but wonder, recalling the black blood that seeped from your lips, and the deep slash that scarred across your neck. The nightmare that you have had almost a week ago still haunted your mind, unable to die.

Am I going to die?

You swallowed the lump that had formed in your throat, as you bring the cigarette holder to your lips. You inhaled deeply, feeling the hot nicotine fill your lungs, before exhaling the wispy smoke.

Before you could take another inhale, a small knock sounded from the door. Leon called your name from the other side, which made you stand up and answer it.

“Agent Graham wants to see you at the RPD.” The blonde explained, briefly. “I can drive you there if you want.”

You blinked curiously at him, leaning on the doorframe. “Do you know why?”

Leon shrugged, scratching his chin, “to squeeze you of any information that you have.” He answered nonchalantly.

“I don’t know much.” You responded, arms crossed.

“I know.” He gave you a sympathetic look, shooting you a small smile. “It’ll help with the case, we keep hitting walls.”

Finally, you nodded, stepping outside of your room. “Alright.” You followed him down the hall, towards the living room. Most of the papers were no longer scattered on the floor, instead, stuffed in tan files in a neat stack on the table. You grabbed your handbag, which was hanging by the front door of your apartment.

“It’s good that you’re not dressed so flashy, you’re gonna want to stay low for a while,” Leon stated, following you outside the penthouse. “At least until we catch him.”

You silently agreed as you head down the steps, towards a large automobile, a deep glossy black one, seemingly in the newest model. You were familiar with the luxury of automobiles, but you still never owned one yourself. Your traditional mother saw it was “not feminine” enough.

“Is this yours?” You asked as Leon opened the passenger door for you.

“No.” The agent responded with a quiet chuckle. “It belongs to my supervisor.”

You hummed in response as you sat down on the plush leather, as the blonde circled around to sit in the driver’s seat. The automobile rumbled to life, you watched as he started to advance the vehicle forward, towards the police department a few blocks away.

Your eyes were drawn to his hands, with long lithe fingers, and a somewhat slender palm. Veins bulged from the thin surface of his skin, as he gripped the steering wheel. As usual, his white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, which allowed you to study the curved muscles of his forearms.

Suddenly, your cheeks felt hot, as you adverted your gaze away. Your thighs clamped up tighter underneath your dress skirt, as you looked forward through the windshield. You mentally scolded yourself for ogling at your bodyguard, your life was at too much of a risk to be eyeballing men anyway.

The automobile screeched to a halt as Leon pulled up to the steps to the Raccoon City police building, it felt strange to you, even though you were there the night before.

“I’ll meet you here in a few hours.” He stated, not looking at you. “Do not leave alone, not for a second.”

You almost scoffed at his words, but you nodded. “I understand.” You go to start to open your own door, but he had already stepped out of the vehicle. Your door opened, and you’re able to step outside.

Although Leon doesn’t go up the steps with you, you can feel his burning azure gaze as you head up the marble stairs. The driver’s door remained open, so he could rush out and protect you if it was needed. However, you doubted anything would happen feet away from the police.

You stepped through the heavy doors, where Graham was already waiting. “Ah, welcome Miss L/N.” He gave you a friendly grin, gesturing you to follow me. “After me, darling, I just have some questions to ask you.”

“Alright.” You responded, ignoring the eyes of the officers on the floor. It was obvious that you had become a source of gossip amongst the police, as the woman who was threatened by the Umbrella Killer.

Fantastic.

—

Leon knew that he should’ve returned to your apartment to continue connecting the evidence. He knew that he had better things to do instead of heading to the local Speakeasy, desperate for a glass of whiskey.

He was thankful that it was October, when the sun set early in the evening, allowing the illegal bars to open earlier. Fuck his identity as a BOI agent, this afternoon, he was a thirsty man in need of a drink.

The blonde headed straight to the bar and sank on one of the uncomfortable wooden stools. Waiting for the bartender, tiredly looking down at the scratches on the counter.

“What will you be having today, sir?” The man asked, wiping down a shot glass in his hands.

“Whiskey,” Leon answered, voice cracking from exhaustion. “Thanks.”

The bartender nodded, stepping away to prepare the drink. As the blonde continued to study the carved inscriptions in the oak. He felt like his brain had been scrambled, trying to figure out the case that was lain in front of him. It was his idea to go to Raccoon City to investigate the murders, it was his idea.

He grunted other thanks as the whiskey was slid over to him, catching the glass with one hand. Now the agent was in charge of watching you, a beautiful daughter of a new money couple, with riches, he could only dream of.

Would you be disappointed if you knew he was at an underground Speakeasy, to drink his troubles away a bit? Probably.

The golden liquid burned his tongue slightly as he took a sip, feeling the liquor travel down his esophagus and into his stomach. Ambrosia fueled his veins, replacing his blood with the drink of the gods. No wonder the government wanted to ban it, it wasn’t a drink designed for men.

“Leon Scott Kennedy, what a surprise.”

A familiar, rumbly voice barreled into Leon’s thoughts, pulling him out of his misery. The blonde turned his head, shoulders relaxed as soon as he recognized the man’s face.

“Chris Redfield.” He mumbled, swirling the amber in his glass. “Why are you in Raccoon City?”

Chris sat on the stool directly to Leon’s right, pulling it closer to the bar. “Claire.” He answered with a grin. “Are you here to see her too?”

The agent snorted, shaking his head slightly. “No.”

“Then why are you here, Leon?” The brunette asked, raising two thick eyebrows. “A federal agent in a Speakeasy, can’t be good.”

“I’m on a case.” He sipped a bit more of his whiskey. “The Umbrella Killer.” The blonde paused, before shooting a glare at Chris. “Make sure Claire stays out of it, I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“There’s no stopping that woman, she’s a lot like you.” Chris laughed, giving Leon’s back a brief slap. “It’s unfortunate that she can’t be a BOI agent, she’d be a great detective.”

“You got that right,” the blonde mumbled against the rim of the glass. “Still, tell her to be careful.”

“I’ll send her your regards, Agent Kennedy.” The brunette snickered, calling the bartender with a wiggle of his finger. “I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to hear from you.”

Leon scoffed, hand brushing against his again, which he left uncombed. “I’m not going to marry your sister, Chris.”

Chris put his hands up in faux-surrender, umber-colored eyes wide. “I didn’t say that.”

“You implied it,” the blonde responded gruffly.

“That means you’re single, aren’t you? Still?” Chris asked, ordering himself a glass of whiskey as well. “What about that Wong woman? You were all over her at the Gala, I thought you were going to propose on the spot.”

The agent felt his ears flush, as he instantly regretted going to the Speakeasy. “She’s, somewhere.” His teeth gnashed;

His friend responded with a hum, crossing his muscular arms. “Vanished again, I see?”

“Yeah.”

Chris let out a deep sigh, drinking his entire glass of whiskey with a single swig. “Maybe you should start talking to other women, you’re getting older Leon, you need a wife.”

I don’t have time for women, Chris.” Leon responded briskly, finishing the last of his Ambrosia. “I have a case to solve, and a body to guard.”

If his eyebrows weren’t attached to his forehead, Chris’ thick, dark eyebrows would’ve flown off his head. “A body to guard? Who?”

“A woman who was threatened by the Umbrella Killer.” Leon waved for another pour. “She’s at the RPD right now, I have to pick her up in an hour or two.”

“Is she beautiful?” The brunette man asked, doing the same.

Leon paused, and mental images of you flashed in his mind. The way your hair looked in the moonlight, the way your eyes looked when you looked up at him… The way your thighs clenched together when he felt you staring at him.

“Y-Yeah, she is.” His words were surprisingly truthful, unable to lie to his best friend. “I can’t pursue her though, it’s not professional.”

Chris huffed, shaking his head. “So? If she’s a goddess, you have to at least try!”

The agent took a swig from his whiskey, and calloused fingers dug into the glass. “I don’t want to take advantage of her.”

“Then try after the case,” the brunette offered. “Arrest the killer, then marry her.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Listen, Leon, I’ve seen a lot of shit. From the Great War, from my youth.” Chris rested a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve seen it too, you know that there’s nothing wrong with risks.”

“There’s certain risks I don’t want to take.” The blonde retorted, standing up, finishing his drink. “I’m going to do my job to protect Y/N, that’s it.” He slammed the tip on the counter. “I swear my life on it.”

With that, he stormed out of the Speakeasy, feeling the crisp air nip at his nose as soon as he stepped outside. He wished that he had a cigarette as he walked over to his automobile, started the engine, and stared out the windshield.

“Dammit.”

Leon’s head laid back against the seat, chest rising, lack of sleep kicking his ass. His trained professionalism clashed against the masculine urges of his mind. He gripped tighter on the steering wheel, trying to compose himself before pedaling the gas.

—

“-Thank you Miss L/N for your time.” Graham shook your hand, a charming smile across his lips. “You’re an important asset to this case, we will catch him, I promise,”

You smiled at the agent, rising to your feet from the dilapidated chair, your tailbone relieved. “It’s not a problem, I trust you and the BOI.”

The office door creaks open, and Leon stepped into the minuscule room. His hair is disheveled, and his ruby tie is slightly undone. You tilted your head, curious about his appearance. His cobalt eyes met yours briefly, almost desperately, before tearing them away to report to Graham.

“It seems I arrived right on time.” The blonde stated coolly, crossing his arms.

Graham nodded, kicking his feet on the surface of his desk. “Perfect, as always Agent Kennedy. We’re done here, you can take her home.”

Your bodyguard bobbed his head, stringy hair framing his cheekbones perfectly. “Thanks.” He gestured to you, a suave smile on his face. “Let’s go, shall we?”

It’s dark by the time you arrive home, the sun dipped below the western horizon. Stars twinkled in the evening sky, with the waning gibbous high above. You yawned as you collapsed on your loveseat, allowing the cushions to consume your figure.

Leon, however, seemed incredibly stiff. His jaw was set tight, as he sat down on the couch. Leather brown dress shoes tapped repeatedly as he began to flip open the files again. Without a single word to you.

“Hey, hello?” You chimed, from your position across the room. “Are you alright, Leon?”

His name felt like hot, cinnamon whiskey on your tongue. Sending delightful waves throughout your body. The agent looked up at you, brilliant sapphire, with a ring of red around his sclera.

“Just tired.” His voice is a low rumble. “I’ve had a long afternoon.”

The atmosphere of the penthouse is thick as you watch Leon pull out a paper from the folder, looking over its contents lazily. You slid out of your seat and grabbed the page from his hands. It floated down towards the floor as you glowered down at the seated man, arms crossed. “You haven’t slept, have you?”

He scoffed, lips twitching downward. “That doesn’t matter, I have a killer to arrest.”

“You need sleep, Leon.” You insisted, not budging. “It’s been almost a week and I’ve only seen you sleep once!”

Suddenly, he rose to his feet, the papers he was holding scattered to the floor. “I’m not going to sleep until I stop him!” He shouted, cobalt eyes sharper than any knife. “It’s my duty to protect you, I cannot rest until the job is over.”

A feeling of boiling annoyance began to bubble in your gut, as you glared up at him. “I understand that Agent Kennedy, but I will be fine for a couple of hours while you take a nap.” You bit back your hiss. “I don’t need twenty-four/seven surveillance.”

“I’m afraid if I shut my eyes for a moment, you’ll be dead,” Leon mumbled, arms crossed, biceps straining against the tight shirt. “I can’t risk that.”

You huffed, his words cast a spell on your heart, barricading you from feeling any more frustrated with the blonde. Your shoulders relaxed, as you gently rested a hand on his tense shoulders. “Leon, I’ll be fine.”

His eyes softened, once blazing sapphire, into a cool sky blue. “Y/N-,” his tongue wets his lower lip. “I didn’t mean to shout at you, I’m sorry.”

You let your hand cup his cheek, and you notice a faint scar on his left cheek. Unconsciously, your thumb brushes over the slight dip in his skin. Instead of pulling away, he leaned into your palm, exhaustion evident within his irises.

“What happened?” You whispered, hardly audible over your own heartbeat.

“Agent Graham’s daughter was kidnapped, about a year ago.” Leon’s voice is equally as soft. “Her kidnapper, an old friend of mine, gave this to me.” He rasped.

You inhaled deeply, before rising on your toes, in order to press your lips against the scar. The stubble on his cheek tickles your skin as you pull away, and your feet fell flat again. Your ears burned as you felt your heart thump in your chest. “-to help you heal faster.” You stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

To your surprise, Leon smiled, the slightest hint of his lips upturned. “Thank you.”

---

Chapter Two

Chapter Three: here

Chapter Four: Coming soon

#resident evil #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #1920s au #resident evil au #the danger that draws us together

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dumbfloweralive · 1 year

Text

The salvation of humanity

Bonus Chapter : Last Christmas on earth.

Morpheus × (f) reader

Warning: no warning I think.

Be aware, this part happen in a close futur from the previous chapter. It is NOT the next part, but in the coming Christmas of the time line story. This is why some details might be weird at first.

“Would you like to spend Christmas with us? I know you don’t really like it, but you are invited.” you ask out of nowhere, speaking to Dream.

You were hunting when he found you that day. The ground was covered with snow and the cold win over everything.

Dream thought of it. He never spends Christmas with his family or with his realm, never celebrating.

But there he was on the night of the 24 of December, around the table in Oscar’s house, who were sitting next to him. You were sitting in front of him, next to you was Edith. Graham and Elizabeth were next to each other on the other side of the table. Then come Mary, Sam. All the small group you had found before ending up here were reunited as a family. You were the youngest.

Graham had entered earlier the room when he arrived dressed as Santa Claus, saying:

“Let’s celebrate this Christmas as if it were the last.”

That was a tradition. Each time, since it happened and when you found the group, you were celebrating Christmas like it would be the last one. Because, it had been the last one for many of the people you had lost.

The last Christmas on Earth.

Dream was surprised to see some sort of family meeting going so well. Usually, the one he attempted to with his brothers and sisters were chaotic, especially with Desire, always bickering him. This time, everyone was talking, laughing, Oscar and you were making sure to involved Dream in the conversation.

You had spoke with Oscar and let him know Dream had trouble trusting and all, scared of being hurt or anything else. And Oscar had noticed this while eating, seeing Dream wasn’t touching the food. He thought he might be scared of being poisoned. Instead of letting him with an empty plate, Oscar, in all his kindness, started eating, before cutting pieces of his own food, putting those in Dream plate, keeping up the conversation, reassuring Dream in the way. Action he did through all the meal. Literally taking care of him.

Dream looked over Oscar doing his little business, his heart-warming, feeling and knowing the reason of his action. Dream didn't usually ate but he forced himself to eat a little. Oscar was acting so kindly, being more a father to him than Dream's dad ever did.

At the end of the meal, everyone moved, taking drinks, talking about random things. You stayed near Dream and Oscar, joining the others turn by turn, not wanting for Dream to feel left out.

You were looking at them, happy. Your godfather acting like a dad to Dream, a being of a million years old. But Oscar had no idea of this. And there they were, talking to each other, like nothing else matter, nor the zombies, nor the fact Dream was more than a god.

After the meal, around 11pm, most of the guest returned to their house except for Graham who decided to take a drink of whisky. You took the bottle with four glasses and start pouring the whisky in them, handing them to Oscar, Graham and Dream, then taking yours.

The fire was on, and you were facing Oscar in front of your old and crappy chessboard, playing. You were crashing him. Years of passion for chess, and after years of learning thanks to Oscar, made you excellent in chess.

He was focused on his next move. You, on the other hand, were annoyed by Graham.

“Should we talk about business right now? On Christmas Eve?” you asked, bored by Graham speaking about the next meeting with one of the other communities about exchange and few issues they had met these past months. Graham, fearing to lose the alliance. Especially now that they had heard of a group of people robbing and devastating communities.

“What do you want to talk about then, minimoys?” he said, mocking you.

Oscar moved his pawn before stating.

“Right, give us a break, we already deal perfectly with the last one anyway.”

You took a look at the chessboard.

“Even if they complain about something, do you truly think they would forget our partnership? They would be the one to lose in the exchange.” you said, moving your horse, taking one of Oscar tower.

“They would be the one in trouble. We didn’t need them anyway.” you continued.

Putting the pawn on the table, you knocked one on the floor.

“Shoot” you said, bending over to take the pieces back.

Dream noticed the way Oscar, still focused on the board, move his hand to cover the corner of the table, so you don’t hit your head on it.

He found it funny, knowing you had done the same with him when you met Hob at the pub, Dream knocking his head against your hand rather than the corner of the table. It was the small things like this that made Dream, realized, how similar Oscar and you were. Probably because he was the one who took care of you the most. After all, you had told Dream your godfather was your hero.

Dream finally retrieving all his power, he was able to see through everyone memories, pain, feelings. If only you could know how much Oscar saw like his own daughter. If only you knew how much you saved his life too.

“Check maths” you said, taking Oscar king.

“Damn it” he said.

“I am always two steps forward” you told him, enjoying your victory.

“Can i play?” Dream asked.

“Yes, i play against you” Oscar said.

Knowing who Dream was, you were sure he knew how to play chess. And you were right, seeing the move he were using.

“Morpheus, you’re excellent at this.” Oscar said.

You went by Oscar side, teaming up with him against Dream. The party was a little more difficult with two brains working against Dream, but he still won in the end.

“Well, fellows, i’ll join my wife now” Graham said, fearing to have to confront one of his friend at chess. He knew he would lose, but he didn’t like that.

“See you tomorrow” he said, taking his Santa Claus coat and leaving the house.

“I would have let him win” you said, which caused Oscar to explode laughing.

“No you wouldn’t” he said.

He was right, Graham losing was a funny thing to see, as long as it were chess.

Now it was just Dream, Oscar and you, none of you were ready to sleep, so you decided to watch a Christmas film. The Grinch.

During the film, Dream lay closer to you, whispering:

“So, this is the Grinch.” referring to the moment you had told him stop being a Grinch.

It was three in the morning, Oscar went to bed, you went to sleep soon after, making sure Dream would be okay for the rest of the night.

“I’ll be here in the morning.” he said.

Now he was alone, sitting on the large sofa, thinking about this night. He had felt safe, around people that were kind to him, especially you and even Oscar, to his surprise. None of is family reunions were like this, this lovely and full of joy to spending time with each other. Yet, once again, he remembered how all of you spent this Christmas as if they were the last together. Just in case.

Dream closed his eyes, lying on the sofa totally. Everything was under control. Here and in the dreaming. He enjoyed the warmth of the fireplace. Dream even thought about getting some rest too. After all, he was safe with you and Oscar, and he didn’t need to be anywhere else or chasing anything.

Dream could sleep if he wanted, just, usually, he didn’t sleep, not wanting to, being too busy, not feeling safe enough.

Tonight was different, and he slowly accepted to drift to sleep, after more than a century, feeling safe enough to do it.

Oscar woke up at five am, walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water. On his way back, he noticed a form, lying on his couch. He came closer to it, noticing it was Dream asleep, peacefully. Oscar was happy to see the man safe enough to just fall asleep like that.

Oscar took the blanket near a chair, covering Dream with it carefully before going back upstairs. He passed in front of your door, opened it, making sure you were fine. You were sleeping peacefully, the dog resting in your arms. Good, everyone was sleeping peacefully, so he returned to his bed.

In the morning, you were the first awake, not aware Dream was sleeping. You went to the living room, taking wood and reviving the fire. Turning to Dream, at your surprise, you saw him, sleeping. You walk closer to him, making sure he was still alive, having no idea he could sleep, he never slept. The blanket over him had moved, you replaced it before leaving outside with a big coat, still in your Christmas pyjamas. The dog ran outside, playing in the snow that covered the grass and every inch of the garden and the city.

The dog was playing, fetching the snowflakes that melt directly once he caught them and, rolling over in the snow.

Soon, Dream joined you outside, the blanket over his shoulder.

“Morning sleeping beauty. Didn’t know the Dream lord could sleep.” you said, teasing him.

He was close to you, arms almost touching.

“I can sleep, i just don’t really need it” he said, contemplating the dog running crazy over the snowflakes.

“Did you cover me, with the blanket?” he asked.

“No, you already had it over you, i just replaced it.” you answered, looking at him.

“Mmh” he muttered confused.

But you knew. If Dream didn’t take the blanket himself, you knew who covered him. Oscar.

“Good morning kids, Merry Christmas.” Oscar said, opening the front door. You loved the way he referred to Dream as “kid”.

“Merry Christmas” you and Dream said at the same time. Though, your voice sounded more excited.

In front of you, the dog had sniffed a snowflake and was sneezing, growling unhappy before running behind you.

Your little crew went inside, taking morning breakfast before opening the present. The Christmas tree had now present under it.

All tree of you moved and Oscar was the first to open his gifts.

“I have no doubt from who they are” he said, mocking you and how awful the present were wrapped. You mimic a forced laugh.

He opened the first one, a black coat, perfect for the winter, and keep going to run supplies. The second one, contain a rifle, one of these use for hunting. He seemed to love this one very much. Finally, the last one. Oscar opened it and find inside a new chessboard in better condition than the one they had. He started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” you asked, vexed.

Dream knew what had happened and barely contain a smile on his lips.

“Open this one” Oscar said, handing you a present on the floor. Perfectly wrap. Oscar somehow was good for wrapping presents.

And you did, only to find inside another new chessboard. Dream let out a small laugh and, though you were surprised by him, you start laughing too.

“Oh, i get it” you said.

Dream had noticed all evening and even few days prior how similar you and Oscar were, to the point you thought about the same gifts for each other.

“I thought of how much you loved playing chess and how our chessboard is like, an ancestor.” Oscar confessed.

You looked at him, shocked.

“I thought the same for you!” you said, referring to how much Oscar liked to play. And you laugh together.

But Dream had noticed the hidden meaning behind the chessboard. You and Oscar both liked chess because you two like to spend time together. Playing chess together, for example.

You open the remaining gifts. One contains the compilation of “Modern family” and a dagger. Oh you loved Modern Family. You opened the last one, a soft and squishy gift.

"Oh, a teddy bear" you said, as you noticed the head of it while opening the gift.

"I love it" you said, holding the teddy bear against you. Oscar laugh softly, happy you liked his gifts.

Under the Christmas tree, remain a last gift, perfectly wrap. Oscar and you exchange a look before turning to Dream, who was now confused. You took the gift, walked to Dream who was sitting on the couch and handed him the present.

“This is for me?” he asked, hesitant to take the gift in his hand

“Yes, you spend Christmas with us after all” Oscar said, sitting on his sofa.

“Christmas isn’t about gifts. But it is still nice to have one” you said, nudging him in the shoulder.

And he opened the present, unwrapping carefully the paper. He found a small box and opened it, revealing inside a silver coin. Dream took the coin in his hand, admiring it before flipping it on the other side. This side, was engraved in the silver, an old oak tree. He recognized the sigil of your group and town, the one inspired by the old oak tree in the very middle of the city.

“This one is from both of us. It’s not a lot. Y/N told me you weren’t part of any group.” Oscar said, watching Dream.

Dream knew the meaning of it. Oscar moved, putting his elbow on his knee, his hand joined.

“You don’t have to stay here, not always. Look, Y/N always travels even if it’s a little different” he said, mentioning you. Of course, it was different, you were his kid, Oscar thought, if anyone were to question her place, he would kick their ass. But he didn’t say that. Perhaps Oscar was too scared to say out loud he considered you like his kid, scared of your reaction, scared of the realization of this.

“It just means you are part of our group, and we trust you. Whenever you need, whatever you need, you will always be welcome here.” He continued.

Dream was touched by the gesture. He was welcomed into a family very different from his, only this time, he didn’t have to prove himself.

“Thank you” he said, his eyes glued to the coin before turning to Oscar.

“But i didn’t bring gift for you” he said, feeling like he should have brought something now.

“That’s alright” Oscar said, standing up from his place.

Oscar walked closer to Dream, putting his hand on Dream shoulder and leaning on him.

“It’s for bringing my kid home every time.” he said, in a whisper for only Dream to hear.

“Come on kids, let’s get ready for today’s dinner” he said, moving upstairs to let the two of you some space.

You were still watching Dream while he admired the coin.

“Where did you find the silver?” he asked, perfectly aware that silver or gold wasn’t the kind of thing people find easily nowadays.

“The tradition want that the person who bring the new one here and welcome it, gave a piece of something to make the coin. I used one of my rings and Oscar gave a piece too from his old bracelet.” you answered.

He had hate humanity for what they did to him, his realm, their own world. He had hated you for being part of humanity, getting mixed feeling every time you were around him. Today, two human had welcomed him, showing him he was safe and could ask and accept help without feeling guilty or expecting something in return. A part of humanity had taken him in their family, giving a piece of themselves for him.

“I like it” he said, tidying the coin in the pocket of his coat.

Matthew made his entry, making sure no one else beside the two of you could hear him.

“Do i get any present as the favourite raven?” he said. You laugh before going to the kitchen, getting a hot dog homemade.

Meanwhile, Matthew asked Dream while you were gone:

“Did you gave her the present?”

Dream turned over your figure, watching making the hot dog for Matthew.

“I did not.” he said, answering to his raven. Matthew's sight obviously annoyed.

But he didn’t get the time to speak further, as you arrived with the hot dog in your hands.

“Merry Christmas, Matthew.” you said.

“That’s some nice manner, thank you” he said, the dog come closer to him, sniffing the hot dog. Matthew was quick to take it back, away from the dog, before trying to scare him away. An action the dog didn’t like, growling at him.

“Come here.” you said to him. He sat close to your leg, and you pet him, distracting him from Matthew teasing him.

“I am going to take a shower and get ready for the Christmas dinner, you, should do the same.” you said to Dream exiting the leaving room with the dog.

Later that day, all the town were reunited, enjoying Christmas together. Everything was fine. You had put antlers on the dog head, and he was parading around, proud.

Time passed by quickly, it was evening, and you had backup away a little from the party, letting Dream speak with everyone, especially some young lady that find herself glued to him. You didn’t like her.

You were at the edges of the town on the walls protecting the city from outside. Soon you were joined by Dream.

“Didn’t take me long to find you this time” he said, mocking you.

“What? You're going to use your power every time to find me?” you asked.

“If i need, yes.” he said, sitting next to you.

“It’s a pretty night” he said, cutting the silenced between you two.

He knew you felt jealous over that woman, as he had forgotten her name already. Dream rules over the Dreaming and every thought. He had already guessed.

He had even started guessing something else, though he didn’t like this thought.

It would never end well.

“Yep” you said.

He reached out in his pocket, taking your gift before handing it to you. You looked at him, confused.

“Your Christmas gift.” he said, almost shy.

“Why?” you asked.

“Because it’s Christmas. And, to thank you” he said.

You opened the black box, carefully, unwrapping the red knot.

Inside you find a necklace with a small red crystal. Probably a ruby. The crystal was rough, like it had been shattered.

“It’s a part of my ruby” he said.

Dream had made the necklace for you, using his old ruby. It would protect you from any harm from his sibling or from any other creation and mystical being. He didn’t say that to you. In a way, it was his way to protect you, to keep you safe.

Dream moved behind you, the jewel in his hand, carefully dropping it around your neck and closing the clasp.

“Perfect” he said. He had no doubt it was perfect on you.

You took the shattered ruby in your hand, admiring the beauty coming from it.

“Thank you, Dream.” you said.

“You are very welcome, my little dream” he said, sitting back next to you.

He knew the way he acted wouldn’t help for your feelings. But, right now, it didn’t matter. It felt right, and you had stayed by his side the most.

This would bring him sorrow.

You sat next to each other for a while. He took your hands carefully in his and kept looking at the sky.

Dream felt safe with you. He had never felt this kind of safety before. He knew you would keep him safe and gave him solace like right now. Dream could let go of everything with you, being vulnerable with you without fearing the outcome. After all, you had seen him at his lowest.

“I trust you” he said to you, as a prayer for the night.

Merry christmas Eve and Merry Christmas !!!

God, I have been running around anxious to finish the previous chapter posted yesterday and this special part for Christmas. I love it and hope you will love it too, I really wanted to give something for Christmas so here it is🎄

I will do a timeline of the story when I can !

If you have any suggestion to improve the story, any thought I will gladly take them. Meanwhile, enjoy this part and see you soon!

Love you all!🤎

@angelicwolf98 (Hope your doing better for Christmas !)

@boofy1998

@adishax

@darkfairy102190

@carrietrekkie

@xicesam

@cupcake-de-abacaxi

@lexi-anastasia

@octo-octopie

@freedomsofdream

#dream of the endless #dream x reader #morpheus x reader #the sandman #dream x you #morpheus imagine #sandman imagine #sandman x reader #the sandman fanfic #morpheus imagines

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demi-shoggoth · 2 years

Text

2022 Reading Log pt. 21

101. The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte. This book covers mammalian evolution throughout synapsid history, starting in the Carboniferous and ending in the present day. There’s a lot of good information in here, both about the species themselves and the history of their discovery and discoverers. But I found the authorial voice consistently off-putting. Brusatte writes about evolution alternately like a war or a poker game, and there are constant references to dominating, beating or tricking other lineages, particularly dinosaurs. After crowing about how mammals survived and thrived in the Mesozoic by exploiting small body sizes and niches like eating seeds and insects, he dismisses all of bird evolution (which in the Cenozoic did the same thing) in a paragraph, and never talks about Cenozoic animals other than mammals at all. What’s weird is I don’t remember his previous book, The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, being so mercilessly jingoistic about its focus clade. Maybe the publisher told him to write more enthusiastically about a “less exciting” group; maybe it’s the zeal of the newly converted (Brusatte was primarily a dinosaur paleontologist until relatively recently); maybe the first book was this annoyingly written and I have forgotten.

102. The Accidental Ecosystem by Peter S. Alagona. This book is a short overview about how wild animals have moved into American cities, why American cities developed into places where animals can thrive, how humans are reacting to these and how we should in the future. The tone is generally optimistic but realistic—that cities can serve as oases of biodiversity during climate change and extinction events, but a world with only rats, crows and sparrows would be a depauperate one. Most of the book is organized around an incident of some charismatic megafauna making the news (like Pedals the bipedal bear of New Jersey, or a nesting pair of bald eagles blithely feeding their chicks fresh kitten), and then talking about that species in greater context. I’ve read several other books recently about human/animal interactions, and this one did the best job at being inclusive, talking about how parks can and have been used as agents of gentrification, the impact of economic decisions on the fate of cities and animals alike, and existing biases within ecology and evolutionary studies. Highly recommended.

103. Travels to the Otherworld and other Fantastic Realms, edited by Claude and Corinne Lecouteux, translated by Jon E. Graham. This is a collection of medieval European fantastic literature, although not all of it is necessarily fantasy in the modern sense. Some are religious visions, others historical fantasies, others excerpts from novels and folk tales. All of them are wild. Both as a look into the medieval mindset and for their various bizarre creatures and occurrences. Some highlights include multiple versions of the adventures of Alexander the Great, the Vision of Tundale, a German journey through Hell that’s much gnarlier than anything in Dante, and the adventures of Marcolf, the Sherlock Holmes to King Solomon’s Watson (!). Also highly recommended; this might be the most fun I’ve had with a book this year.

104. Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery by Ira Rutkow. Just what it says on the cover. The book starts with trepanations of cavemen and progresses to the modern era. Rutkow follows the Great Man school of history, and many of the chapters are biographical sketches of a surgeon who was important in developing the field. It feels somewhat incomplete—not only are non-surgical advances in medicine basically ignored, the development of the modern American insurance state is glossed over, even as the book discusses how hospitals became prestigious institutions and surgeons very wealthy. The book also uses weird kennings, as if it were written by an Icelandic skald—surgeons are “scalpel wielders” or “students of the knife”, etc, as often as they’re just surgeons. I definitely learned stuff from this book (like the quack “orifical surgery”, which posed that all diseases could be cured by cutting out irregular shapes from the mouth, nose, anus and genital openings!), but found the book rather less than the sum of its parts.

105. Monster Anthropology, edited by Yasmine Musharbash and GH Presterudstuen. This is a collection of academic essays about monsters as cultural signifiers and participants. After a very good introduction (the Works Cited of which will keep me busy a long while), the bulk of the book looks at particular cultures and particular monsters. The book was published in Australia, and several of the essays are on the same group of Indigenous Australians, the Warlpiri, and their monsters (most of which have not penetrated Western consciousness, but the pankarlangu is starting to make some inroads). One minor note I found interesting—there’s an actual folkloric monster that fits the D&D concept of a rakshasa! The tepun of the Eastern Penan people in Borneo is a shapeshifting hedonist that has aspects of humans and tigers.

106. Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance by Elise Vernon Pearlstine. Gave up on 50 pages in. The book purports to be a natural history—what molecules are made by what plants, why, and how those plants live. The actual contents contain some of that, but much more cultural histories. I’ve read and enjoyed several books about the cultural history of plants recently, so I’m not inherently opposed to the concept. But the book is incredibly poorly organized. The narrative skips back and forth through time and space and species, words are used and then defined several pages later as if it’s the first time we’re seeing them, concepts will be repeated multiple times to the point of redundancy, and the preface and introduction contain the exact same sentences, twice! The fact that this book was published in this state is frankly embarrassing.

#reading log #bad books #botany #cultural history #paleontology #stem mammals #prehistoric mammals #anthropology #monster books #surgery #medical history #european folklore #medieval folklore #ecology #urban ecology

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rinphoria · 2 years

Note

kai, congrats on another milestone! you deserve it so so much! for your event, since you mentioned s’mores, how about megumi + camping/making s’mores? please and thank you :)

- 🐨

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍’ — a milestone event

დ ft. megumi & gn!reader

დ wc: 0.8k

"i can't believe you've never had s'mores."

during your walk home from the convenience store you had made the observation that the weather was perfect for camping. you all but dragged megumi home after he'd let it slip that he'd never been. all of your previous plans for the night were postponed until tomorrow, as you insisted on giving megumi one of his firsts. it likely would have gone a lot smoother and more accurately if it weren't so impromptu. the lush greens of the woods were traded in for those of the bushes in your backyard and your makeshift tent was more comparable to a fort than what it was meant to truly resemble. blankets and fairy lights were draped over the backs of your lawn chairs and megumi assisted you in bringing out just about every pillow and cushion you owned. it wasn't nearly as functional as a tent—the two of you would probably end up back in the house before it got too late. overall, it was pretty far off from the true camping experience, but megumi didn't seem like he minded. he was always content so long as you were around.

"i don't really like sweets," he commented, lithe fingers focused on sticking the squishy marshmallow onto the roasting stick.

"well, you will tonight." you replied, carefully placing the broken pieces of chocolate on one half of the graham cracker. "it's not camping without s'mores."

a small smile tugged at his lips. he wasn't entirely familiar with all that camping entailed, but he could bet it was more than this. although this was a far cry from the traditional activity, he knew you put effort into making this experience something special for him. so even though the thought of a sugary marshmallow combined with a square of sweet chocolate made his teeth hurt, he'd give the treat a shot for you.

"how long do i hold this over the fire?" he asked, rotating the metal stick in his hand. the flames from the firepit drifted with the summer breeze.

"until it's golden brown. it should expand a bit."

a moment of comfortable silence passed before megumi pulled the puff away from the fire. he examined the marshmallow, twirling the stick around so he could get a good look at the whole thing. other than a few spots that had gotten a little charred by the fire, it seemed like he had done a decent job.

"this good?" he presented it to you.

"perfect." you grabbed the now gooey marshmallow from him. you wouldn't say so, but you were a tad bit jealous that he had done so well on his first try. yours didn't go nearly as smoothly. "you're a pro."

it was time to assemble. your finger pushed the sticky marshmallow off from the metal skewer and onto the stacked graham cracker and chocolate. the brown candy began to melt as you pushed the top piece of cracker down to squish all of the ingredients together. you held the photo-worthy dessert out to megumi. "ta-da. give it a try."

you handed the sandwich of sweets to him and he accepted it easily. he raised it to his mouth, taking a bite out of the corner. the pillow of sugar stretched with the bite, leaving a white line behind on his lip. he stuck his tongue out to collect it. he chewed slowly as you stared at him, waiting for any sort of reaction.

"what do you think?" you urged him to speak.

"it's messy." he looked down to his fingers that were stained and sticky with sugar, leaving out his thoughts on the flavor. it wasn't bad, but he had no intentions of eating them again.

"guess i can't be surprised." you rolled your eyes. as excited as you were to introduce him to camping and s'mores, you weren't surprised to find out that he wasn't a fan. you didn't take it personally, though. disinterest was common in megumi. and just because he didn't enjoy it didn't mean you wouldn't. "here, gimme."

he held the treat out and you leaned forward to take a bite of your own. it had been a while since you'd last had one and it was even better than you remembered. you covered your mouth so that he wouldn't have to watch you talk with your mouth full.

"your tastebuds must be broken because this is amazing."

you swallowed, hyperaware of the melted chocolate lingering on the corner of your mouth. your tongue was readying to dart out to clean up the smeared snack but before you could, megumi's lips were pressed to yours. you let out a tiny gasp of surprise at the unexpected motion. before he pulled away, his tongue poked out to lick away the chocolate you were worried about. your eyebrows shot up towards your hairline at his uncharacteristic action. a questioning look was present in your eyes as you stared at him. the shocked expression on your face brought a smile to his as he shrugged and explained, "it tastes better coming from you."

thanks for reading! comments and reblogs are appreciated <3

#[დ] — summer lovin’#megumi x reader #jjk x reader #megumi fluff #jjk fluff #megumi imagine #jjk imagines #megumi scenarios #jjk scenarios #megumi drabbles #jjk drabbles #[დ] — jjk

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alwayslovingharry · 1 year

Text

Sign Of The Times

A/N: Here we go with another part of this story, I hope you'll like it.

previous part

PAIRING: Harry Styles x Hailey Foster (1Dmember!reader)

WORD COUNT: 3.2k

WARNING: Not an english native speaker.

SUMMARY: An anonimous guest not so anonimous, a Graham Norton Show and Good Morning Britain.

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21/04/2017

"We're here, sir," I look up from my phone as I notice the car stop and one of the doors is opened.

I lock my phone screen just before they open my door as well and I step out of the car, thanking the driver as he holds my door. I turn, finding Jack offering me his hand to walk with him towards the doors of the building. Since I've been with him again, he's started to be more affectionate towards me.

Today I am accompanying him to a small meeting he is having with one of the producers of Good Morning Britain to discuss the issues and questions he will be asked in his interview next Monday. After the meeting he has promised to take me out for dinner and we will talk about some wedding preparations, tomorrow we have one last meeting with the wedding planners before my trip to New York for the Met.

Jack lets me through the doors of the building first as I thank the man holding the door for us to pass. It's been over a year and a half since I've been to The London Studios, the last time I was here was for an interview on The Graham Norton Show at the end of 2015.

"Mr Walker?" a young woman in a suit approaches us, stretching out her hand towards Jack “I'm Amanda Ross, Mr Gordon's personal assistant, I've been sent to take you to the room where he'll be meeting you.”

"This is my fiancée, Hailey Foster," Jack replies as they shake hands.

"Nice to meet you, miss," we also shake hands a little. "Well, if you'd like to follow me, I'll show you the way. "

We start walking towards a lift and Amanda pushes the button to call it. We stand still in silence waiting for the lift.

"Are you both going to appear at the interview?" asks Amanda once the lift doors open and we step inside.

"It will just me, the interview is about business, we haven't agreed to any interviews about our relationship with anyone yet," Jack replies as I pull out my phone and start looking at my Twitter feed.

"Mr Gordon had mentioned something about that to me this morning but with all the fuss they have at the studios today with meetings and preparations I haven't had much time to get back to him before they arrived."

"Are they very busy?"

"A little busier than a normal Friday, but don't worry, Mr. Gordon won't be late for his meeting, I promise," the girl replies as the lift doors open again and we step out into a hallway where there are several doors to what appear to be meeting rooms.

We walk towards one of them, and she opens the door and gives us room to pass through first. Inside the room is a man sitting at the meeting table, who quickly rises to greet us.

"Welcome, I'm Erron Gordon," he introduces himself as he and Jack shake hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Walker. "

"Pleasure to meet you, this is my partner, Hailey." replies Jack placing a hand on my lower back.

"This girl is the great Hailey Foster, I'm proud to meet a music star like you. "

"Thank you, you' re very flattering," I reply.

"Sorry I didn't greet you at the entrance myself but they were doing some sound checks in Studio 1 for tonight's Graham Norton performance and I had to be around for a bit."

"How come you're so busy today?" asks Jack, "Your assistant also told us that you were busier than usual.

"We had some problems with the programme team during the rehearsal for today's guest performance and we spent the whole morning trying to sort it out, which we finally managed to do."

"And who is the guest? Someone important?"

"Well, maybe your girlfriend already knows, being former members of the same band she has to know that Harry Styles is going to do his first live solo performance on British television."

They both turn to look at me and I can't hide my surprise. I had no idea Harry could be here.

Oh, shit.

I'm still fresh enough from the 2 hour conversation with Niall, Louis and Liv yesterday, where they were trying to give me advice on how to handle a reunion with Harry. But I'm not ready, not at all.

"The truth is I haven't seen him for a long time, you know, to start a solo career you have to get away from the rest a bit," I say as I try to smile." I had no idea he was performing today.

"If you'd like, while Mr. Walker and I discuss the details of the interview, Amanda could accompany you to the studio where Graham's show is being recorded. You can go and say hello, if you like. "he proposed me as he pointed to his assistant.

See Harry? Now? I don't know if it's the best option. I haven't planned anything, I don't know what to say to him. Should I apologise for abandoning him in a dressing room last time? Act normal? And best of all, should I tell him I'm engaged?

Before I can answer for myself, Erron interrupts me again.

"I think that's a great idea, so we can talk about the interview without you getting bored, Hailey. Plus you can catch up with your former bandmate."

"I don't know, maybe I'm going to be annoying on the recording."

"Of course not, Amanda will accompany you and she knows how they work on the show, don't worry. You won't be any bother."

I know it's a bad idea, my instinct tells me this is all too rushed.

"Go if you want to," says Jack. "Here maybe you get bored waiting. "

I nod, as Jack leaves a kiss on my cheek and starts walking towards one of the chairs.

"I figure we won't be much longer than three quarters of an hour, we're just going to run over the interview topics and questions briefly. "

"Don't worry Mr. Gordon, I'll make sure she' s back on time and you don't have to wait," Amanda replies, reopening the door. "Shall we go now, Miss Foster?"

"Of course." I walk towards the door, turning before I walk through it." we'll be right back."

Jack and Erron nod and Amanda closes the office door.

We return to the lift and when we're in it, Amanda selects the reception floor and the lift doors close. She leans against one of the walls while I stand in the middle of the elevator car, watching the number of floors change.

"So...how long have you been working here?" I ask and that makes her lift her gaze from the floor and look at me, I try to start a small conversation so as not to be in awkward silence.

"Over half a year, at first I was just an intern but Mr. Gordon needed an assistant when my college internship ran out and I was lucky enough to be chosen for the position."

"Do you like working here...gosh, I just realised it feels like I'm taking a questionnaire about your job, I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter, really" he replies with a small laugh." I like working here, everyone in the studio is very nice and Mr. Gordon is a good boss."

"I'm glad you like your job."

"Do you like your job?" she asks me, but the sound of the lift arriving on our floor interrupts me as I was about to answer.

“Reception," the lift then says.

"Here we're"The lift doors open, but before Amanda steps out, I answer her question.

"I like my job, not every day or all the things I do but most of the time, yes," I reply and she smiles at me before stepping out of the lift.

"We just have to walk a bit, the dressing rooms in studio 1 are close by," she explains as we walk down a corridor.

"I think I remember where they might be, I've been here before for Graham's show too. "

As we walk through the studio, I notice how the walls seem to be decorated with promotional posters for the shows, adding a bit of colour to the grey corridors of the studio.

"Ross!" we both turn, a girl comes running down the corridor and stops just a few feet from where we're standing. "You're needed in studio 3."

"Now? I'm a bit busy."

"I've been told not to come back without you or Gordon, as soon as possible," she replies and Amanda turns to me again.

The dressing rooms in studio 1 are just around that corner in the first corridor on the right, would you mind if I let you go there by yourself," she says as she turns and waves to me, "I promise I'll get there as soon as I can. "

"Sure, no problem, I don't think I'll get lost," I reply smiling and she starts walking towards her companion.

"You won't even notice you' re alone, I swear."

And saying this, they both start to walk quickly back to where the girl had come from, talking about what had happened in studio 3. I turn to where Amanda had indicated me, walking to the next corner, now alone.

As I turn the corner to continue into the next corridor, I collide with someone, losing my own balance slightly and hearing something fall as the person I've collided with curses. I look down at the floor, watching as a boy quickly crouches down near an electric guitar case.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you, I was distracted," I apologise as I crouch down next to him, watching him open the guitar case.

“It's all right, I was the one running down the corridor carelessly," he replies, pushing his hair out of his face with one hand while the other continues to check his guitar.

"Is it all right?

"Looks like it," he puts the guitar back in its place and closes the case, "it would be very bad luck to break the guitar that I just played for the first time on British television, also my favourite guitar."

For the first time since our collision, the boy raises his head to look at me, he seems surprised to see me. I look at him too but I don't recognise him from anywhere, he has long hair and is dressed in a flashy red suit. We both stand up and he continues to stare at me.

"You're Hailey." he says simply and I stand there waiting for him to say something else." Mmm, the girl from...One Direction, of course."

"Excuse me, but have we met before," I ask, confused by how hesitant he seems now that he's recognised me.

"I don't think so, well, I know who you are but you don't know me," he replies and stretches out his hand that doesn't hold his guitar. "I'm Mitch."

"I don't want it to sound like an insult but, you seem like a very peculiar person to me, Mitch." I reply as I accept his hand and we shake hands.

"That's what they usually tell me."

We're both silent, until I speak again.

"Well, I should go, it was nice meeting you Mitch," I say as I take a step back towards the corner I was supposed to leave. "I hope your guitar is okay."

"I'm sure it is, don't worry about it."

"Well...bye."

I wave goodbye before turning and he does the same.

Weird

I turn the corner, finding a long hallway with several doors and other corridors leading off of it. Just as Amanda told me, I walk down what appears to be the first hallway to my right, but, when I'm a few steps away from it, a door at the end opens and I see my beloved manager emerge.

Shit

I try to slyly turn around again, ready to walk back down the hallway I've come from without him noticing I'm here.

"Hailey?"

Fuck

I turn slowly, watching as Brenda walks quickly down the hallway to where I am.

"What are you doing here?" she asks me with a blank look on her face.

"Jack's at the meeting with the producer and his assistant suggested...showing me around the studios a bit...so I wouldn't get bored."

"And where's the assistant?

"A girl came for her on the way here and said she'd come back for me in studio 1."

"And you think I suck my thumb?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We both know who's on The Graham Show as a guest today, you're already going back to where my son is because I'm not going to let you anywhere near Harry Styles. I'm sure you've used Jack as a reason to come."

"I didn't even know until 10 minutes ago that Harry was here."

"Then why did you accompany my son to a meeting?"

"Because I'm his fiancée!"

"Don't try to fool me, you came here so you could see him and you used the excuse of accompanying Jack."

"Look, you always want me to be the perfect girlfriend to him and to the public, so that's what I'm being for once. I'm the girlfriend accompanying him to a meeting that's going to be short and then we're going to dinner to talk about our wedding. I had no fucking idea he would be here, it was the producer who suggested to his assistant that she could show me around the studio during the meeting." Brenda is silent for a few seconds before she moves closer to me and begins to threaten me.

"Don't ever talk to me like that again because I can sink you and your entire career with a couple of phone calls. And you're already going back where you came from, because you're not going any further. You're an ungrateful little bitch who thinks everyone should kiss the ground you walk on, but don't worry, I'm here to take you down a peg or two."

As I'm about to answer again, I see a man coming towards us from behind Brenda. Seeing that I'm looking over her shoulder, she turns around, seeing him too.

"Is everything all right here?" he asks as he comes up to where we are.

"Of course it is." replies Brenda as she turns again to look at me. "Hailey, this is Jeffrey Azoff, Harry's current manager.

"Everyone calls me Jeff." he stretches out his hand towards me and I shake it. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Hailey, I've heard so much about you. What are you doing here?"

"She came to accompany my son to a meeting and wanted to stop by to say hello, but she's on her way out."

"I was told that I could come and see Harry while I was waiting for Jack to leave the meeting, we haven't seen each other for a long time and I'd like to take the opportunity to say hello," I said looking at Jeff.

"But she was just leaving, I'm sure Jack won't be long in finishing and she should go upstairs and wait for him so he doesn't have to be waiting for her to get back."

"I'll only be a couple of minutes.”

Jeff stares at me and then shifts his gaze to Brenda. He looks like he's about to say something, but Luke appears in the hallway catching my manager's eye.

"Brenda, some people from the production company want to talk to you," he says and she glares at me.

"Okay." she turns and starts to walk away next to Luke, when I think she's not going to say anything she turns again. "Go with Jack."

I watch her leave and then I turn to look at Jeff.

"I just want to talk to him." I explain "We didn't end well when we started the break with the band and I want us to at least be on good terms, that's why I want to talk to him."

"Harry told me that your relationship wasn't as good as it used to be and that he was disappointed...but...I'm not going to lie to you, I know your management is trying to keep you two apart to avoid misunderstandings that could stain your image."

" They are the ones who create misunderstandings, not us".

"The thing is, I don't want any of us to get in trouble if any of your managers find out that I let you in and that you've been together," I cross my arms indignantly.

"So you're not going to let me in to see him for two minutes?

"We can't risk it."

All managers are the same, "we're doing it for your own good", bullshit. I'm an adult, I know what will be good or bad for me. I don't think saying hello to Harry is such a crime that we can end up as badly as they make it out to be.

"I know Harry would have loved to see you," says Jeff.

"If he would have loved to see me so much then let me stay and talk to him for just a few minutes, please".

"I'm sorry." We stand in silence for a moment,

"You're all ass-kissers in this industry." Jeff sighs before replying.

"The performance will be over by now, Harry will be about to head back to the dressing rooms and it's best he doesn't know you were here, Hailey. Neither of us want him to get in trouble," he puts a hand on my shoulder, which I brush away as if it burns me.

I don't even say goodbye and turn to go the way I came, I retrace the same path I did minutes before, heading back to the entrance lobby quickly. As I'm reaching the lifts, Amanda reappears and walks up to me in surprise.

"The show hasn't finished shooting yet, did you get a chance to see Harry?" she asks me as I call the lift.

"No, but I thought maybe he'd be busy when he was done filming and since he's not warned that I'd be there, maybe I could interrupt something or be in the way. "I lie as the lift doors open again and we both get in. "I thought it would be a better idea to go back and wait for them to finish the meeting."

The assistant just nods and we both remain silent as the lift rises. When the doors open again and we arrive on the same floor as before, she takes me to a small waiting room with sofas where I could stay.

"Well...if you want a coffee, tea or anything else I can get it for you," he offers as I sit down on the sofa and take my mobile phone out of my trouser pocket.

"No need, thank you very much. If you need to go do other things you can go, I don't mind waiting here alone."

"Mmm...Okay, if you need anything I'm in the office next door."

"Okay, thanks." Amanda leaves the room and I'm left in silence, I can't help but think that even though I didn't know he was here until less than an hour ago, he's only a few floors away and he'll never know I was.

to continue…

next part

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Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it, please leave any comments or leave a like it if you enjoyed it.

See you soon :)

#harry styles #harry styles fanfic #harry #harry styles one shot #harry styles soft fanfic #styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x famous!reader #music #one direction

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the-green-ravenclaw · 1 year

Text

Warm-ish Welcome

Relationship: Ominis x F!OC

Word count: 1.6k

Chapter 3 of my untitled OC story... I'll name it eventually...

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“OH! Papa! Put me down!” You yelled out as your father swung you around. You pulled in your legs hoping you wouldn’t hit Ominis. He’s probably freaking out.. Shit! You start squirming trying to release yourself from the enveloped bear hug your father had you in.” Papa! Let me go! I swear, you get worse each time!”

He looked at you shocked, but scoffed in a playful manner as he put you down. You were a bit dizzy from being swung around and stumbled slightly as he let go. Recovering as quickly as possible you turned to Ominis who looked completely petrified. “Ominis! I’m right here, hang on.” You stepped over your fallen trunk reaching out for his hand that was stuck mid-air where your shoulder use to be.

As soon as your fingers made contact with his hand he had a death grip on you. Both hands clasped around your one. You grabbed his bicep, just above the elbow, in an attempt to steady yourself further.

“Sorry about that, wasn’t expecting such a loud and warm welcome back quite yet.” You chuckled and shook your head at your father.

“Hey! It’s been a while! You can’t blame me for being excited!” Your father shrugged then crossed his arms.

“I told you to wait until we got home. I need to be able to guide Ominis. But, now I’m all dizzy and jostled. Oh! By the way, Papa, this is Ominis. Ominis, this is my Papa. You can call him Graham or Mr. Carter.” Ominis let on hand go from yours to reach out towards your father who took his hand and shook it almost aggressively.

“It’s nice to meet you, boy. Now, lets get you two to the house, your mother is going to be more excited to you than I was.” He walked over and grabbed Ominis’ trunk and you bent to pick yours up from it’s toppled position beside you.

“I don’t want to hold his hand, his handshake hurt.” Ominis whispered in your ear as you stood back up.

You laughed heartily, “Oh Ominis! I’m not letting you go this time, you won’t have to hold his hand.” You giggled a bit more as you pulled lightly on his hand to get him to start walking towards the horse and cart your father had brought.

He tucked the two trunks in the back of the small cart, then met you at the side. “Ready to go?”

“Absolutely. Ominis, I’m going to climb up first and then help you up, okay.” It was less of question at this point and more of you explaining what’s going to happen next.

He nodded in understanding, “alright.” He let go of your hand and you climbed up with ease, but your father had his hands out just in case.

You turned around and stood as far to one side as you could. “Ominis, reach up to me.” Reaching down, you met him half way. “Papa is going to help with foot placement and I’ll help you up.” You watched as your father helped put Ominis’ foot on the step up and gave you a thumbs up. “And up- we- go!” Pulling with as much strength as you could, you lifted him up to you and guided him to the bench with ease. “Scoot over a bit- right there.”

You sat next to him, on the outside of the bench as your father made his way around the cart and climbed up the other side. Taking his seat and the reigns for the horse he called out, “next stop, home!” As the cart bumped forwards Ominis grabbed the seat under him.

“It’s okay, home isn’t too far, and the road shouldn’t be too bumpy.” You tried to reassure him until your father chimed in.

“Actually it rained quite a bit over the past few months, so the roads gotten worse. It’s definitely bumpier than the last time you were here Blossom.” You scowled and reached over Ominis to smack your father’s arm. He yelped at the sudden contact and Ominis flinched at the sound.

“Ach! Sorry Ominis, wasn’t trying to startle you. But, it’s going to be fine.” You wrap one arm over his shoulders and grab the back of the bench. The other arm you wrap around his torso and grab his forearm. “I should be able to keep you pretty steady this way.”

He noticed he stopped bobbing and swaying as much, but a new problem had arisen. The close proximity to you and slight bumping of the cart made it so your chest grazed his arm and shoulder. The cart hit a particularly bumpy patch that pushed out a strangled noise from his throat from the motion and friction between you two. Heat rose up his neck and to his ears, but you didn’t notice, you were focused on holding him as still as possible.

The road wasn’t as bad as your father had lead you to believe, but it wasn’t great. After some idle chitchat between the three of you, you arrived at your family home shortly after noon time from what you could tell. As the cart pulled up to the house your mother came running out the door, arms wide open, “Violet Bloom! You’re home!”

“Oh, shoot! Hold here Ominis, I’ll be right back.” Your words barely had time to reach him before you went bounding off the cart bench and into your mother’s arms. “Hi mumma!” The two of you spun in a circle before she let you go to take in your face, hands on either side.

“You’re looking well. Eating good I hope?” She eyed you carefully as she asked her question.

“Of course I am, quit it.” You shooed her hands away as you stepped back to the cart, “come on Ominis, I’ll help you down now.”

“Did you jump from the cart?” He looked at you with a bemused expression as he stood and carefully made his way to the edge of the cart.

“I did, but it’s not like it’s the first time I have.” He scoffed at you as your father walked up behind you and went to move around.

“Here, I’ll help him down, it’ll be easier, and faster.” You watched your father reach up slightly to grab Ominis under his armpits and lift him off the cart with ease. You let out a gasp and went to stop him as Ominis yelped from unexpectedly being picked up.

You moved to him as soon as his feet hit the ground and swatted your father’s arm again. “You can’t just pick people up without their permission papa! It’s worse that he couldn’t tell what was coming!” You turned your attention to Ominis, who had the most panicked face, “I’m sorry Ominis, are you alright?”

He nodded, his face relaxing as you placed your hands on his shoulders, “I’m fine, it was just a bit unexpected is all. I’ll be fine.” You slid one hand down to grasp his own and let go of his other shoulder.

Turning to introduce him to your mother, “Mumma, this is Ominis. Ominis, my mother, Lorna, or Mrs. Carter.” You helped Ominis reach out for your mother’s hand to shake it.

“It’s nice to meet you dear, I hope your travel was well.” You mother’s voice was warm and sweet, much like your own to Ominis’ ears.

He smiled lightly, “Thank you, the travel was fine, a bit odd, but nothing I couldn’t handle without Violet.” You smiled to yourself at his words.

“Alright then, let’s head inside. Papa, I’ll be back in a sec to help with the trunks.” Grabbing Ominis’ hand once more you lead him up the few stairs to the porch and through the front door of your home.

“Oh, great… Mum, there’s weeds in the house!” You heard the shrewd voice come from the couch as you waited for your eyes to adjust to the lighting, body tensing at his words as you slowly made eye contact with your brother.

“Hello to you too, Seamus.” The disgust prevalent in your voice.

“Seamus, be nice to your sister and her guest” Your mother scolded from behind you.

You lead Ominis to the couch your brother wasn’t sitting on, “couch here, sit.” Being more curt than you had meant to be you grimaced at yourself and sighed. Seamus walked up behind you and waved his hand in front of Ominis’ face making you spin on your heel to smack his hand away and shove him, “Seamus, I swear! I just got back home and you’re already trying to get a rise out of me! Remember this well, he might not be able to see you, or use magic outside of school, but I can now. Take this as you will, but I won’t hesitate to hex you if you keep causing issues.”

He scoffed at you, “well, if you want to play it like that, I guess he’ll have to sleep elsewhere! I won’t be sharing my room with someone who can’t stand up for themselves!” Ominis went to move from the couch as you pushed him back down and put yourself between the two of them.

“He can defend himself plenty fine, with and without magic, but I’ll be the force you reckon with should anything else negative come from you during this break.” You glared up at your brother, who seemed to have yet another growth spurt, causing you to look up further than you’d like.

“Seamus, leave it. They just got here.” Your father’s voice came from the door, sounding tired as ever at your brother’s antics, as he struggled to bring the two trunks in on his own. Seamus seemed to get more annoyed by you being defended yet again, but decided to leave, bounding up the stairs to his room where he slammed the door.

You sighed heavily. What a ‘warm’ welcome indeed…

#fanfic #hogwarts legacy #ominis gaunt #hogwarts legacy fanfic #ominis x oc #my own work

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kursed-curtain · 1 year

Text

@thewatercolours

I'll take any opportunity I can to twist a prompt into my latest brainrot, so!

-+-

There was once a young boy who was snatched away by three. The first mistreated him, tossed him like a toy. The second saved him, raised him to be kind and polite. The third stole his life away, replaced it with crowns and addenda and the stressors of a princehood.

The boy thought back on the tales of old from his childhood, of the stories about knights and princes venturing off to go seek their desires, which sparked something in him. Why couldn't he be like the heroes of old, of Sir Gawain and Prince Bee-gonia? What was stopping him from leaving an old life behind?

So he did. He set off on the first ship he found, a ship to Llewdor. There, he settled in an inn and started his hunt for jobs. He was quick to learn that his training in his previous life was useless to him here. Jobs wouldn't take him, he didn't have previous experience, he felt hopeless.

Until he found a lovely little family, the Cracker residence, who took pity on him, and were interested in his one useful skill - he used to do gardening, making sure he didn't tell them where or with whom he gardened with. Maybe he could learn a thing or two, and they could too…

"You remind me of someone."

Graham stopped fiddling with the beads of his bee bracelet when he overheard Mrs. Cracker.

She waves the thought away. "Sorry, I'm muttering to myself. It's true, though." She wrestled with a turnip, handing it over to Graham, then continued. "I have a younger daughter, or I suppose youngest daughter. Anisette is her name. You remind me of her,"

Graham glanced down at his feet, at the fields around him, unsure how to respond. He quietly cleared his throat, "Um… I hope this isn't rude, but… mind if I ask how?"

"Well, while working, Annie daydreamed quite a bit, for one," Mrs. Cracker smiled. Graham went red in the face. She handed him another turnip. "Although, she talked a lot more than you do."

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry, should I talk more?" Graham spouted, "Sorry, it was quiet and it felt weird to be talking while it was quiet. I'll try to talk more, I promise.

Mrs. Cracker giggled, "I apologize for making it seem like you had to. You don't, it's alright."

Graham sighed, wiping his brow. Keeping up conversation was not his strong suit - and probably one of the many reasons why he left, with how much pressure was put on the smallest of talk.

The work day went on, the animals and rustling leaves working as the two's replacement conversation. There was a faint buzzing that passed. by Graham's ear, and he turned to find a duo of bees working too, hopping from the radish crop to the cornfields. Graham smiled.

"What caught your eye?" Mrs. Cracker chimed.

"Oh um…" Graham went red and silent. "Nothing."

"It can't be nothing. This is the first time I've seen you proper smile all day."

Graham wished he had some sort of shell to crawl into. He tripped over his own words, "I, um, there's…" He spun the beads on his bracelet, at a faster tempo. "The… there's honey bees here," he finally spurted, "They'll be good for the crops."

Mrs. Cracker smileed. "Hm! I suppose so. I'm surprised I never noticed them around before," She chuckled. "I like them."

An excited glint formed in Graham's eyes, like stars, and he blurted, "You do??"

"Well, now that you have me thinking, yes I do."

Graham gasped, like he had been waiting for this moment. "I like honey bees, and they're very helpful for farming. I like a lot of bees, and there's some uncommon ones people don't talk about a lot, but I like bumblebees the most! They're small but they're round and fluffy and their hives are usually under the ground and…" Graham trailed off as he looked to Mrs. Cracker, who was amused by his ramblings, yet still intrigued. Graham still wished he had a turtle shell to slink into.

"I… um…" Graham rubbed the bee charm on his bracelet, patting it on the head. "I like bees."

Mrs. Cracker giggled, then sighed.

"Having a boy like you around makes me think about what life would be like if my son were still here." Mrs. Cracker mentioned, an offhand bittersweet comment. Graham perked up. Mrs. Cracker waved the thought away again. "Ah, I've said too much, haven't I? I don't want to bother you with wistful thinking."

Graham rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanna… hear more, if I'm not prying."

"Anisette may be my youngest daughter, but she wasn't my youngest child. I had a son. My first and only son." She wiped her face, trying to frame it as sweat from the sun, but Graham assumed a different option. Mrs. Cracker continued, "One night, I found that the window next to the cradle had been smashed through. There were little dirty footprints along the cradle, and they weren't my boy's, since he was still crawling last time I saw. Other than the prints, though… there was nothing."

Graham wrapped an arm around Mrs. Cracker, who, to his surprise, pulled him into a hug.

Being here, it reminded Graham of the family he had back at home. The one he tried to leave behind. The one he didn't want to admit he missed. He wiped away his own tears, then pulled himself from the hug.

"Your family must be very lucky to have someone as sweet as you." Mrs. Cracker said.

Graham simply nodded. He glanced at the sun. "I should be getting back to the inn, now. It's been nice talking to you."

Mrs. Cracker raised a finger. She placed a pouch of coins and a radish in Graham's hands, then sent him on his way.

#kings quest #unnamed bee boy au #fanfic #ask game #graham #rosie cracker

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